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The Early Modern era: a time of incredible art, advances in science and technology, a rebirth of philosophy, quaint villages, sweeping palaces, and some completely insane rulers. (Warning: contains some content that might induce queasiness).

Which Weird Early Modern Ruler Are You?

What is your favorite pastime?

What is your favorite food?

Two emissaries show up at your palace. What do you do?

What is your pet peeve?

Describe your relationship with your neighbors:

Imagine you were an inventor. What would you contribute to the world?

What do you look for in a partner?

King Henry VIII (1491-1547) was one of the most charismatic of the English kings. Henry is perhaps best known for his six wives (remember: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived!) and for his schism with the Catholic church, in turn creating the Anglican church. Henry was obsessed with producing a male heir to carry on his name, and went to extreme lengths to do so. His favorite activities included writing songs and jousting (although he quit the latter after a serious accident). Later in life, Henry became depressed and gained so much weight, it was rumored he had to be lifted by a crane-type machine into his saddle. Some have called Henry a tyrant and others have called him a great reformer. Most would agree, however, that Henry VIII was one of England's most unusual rulers.

Henry VIII

Vlad the Impaler (1428-1476), also called Vlad Tepes or Vlad Dracua, ruled Wallachia (a region of modern-day Romania) during a tumultuous period in his country's history. Facing enemies on all sides, including the advancing Ottoman Empire, German Transylvania, Hungary, and internal strife from his own nobility, Vlad gained a reputation for extreme brutality. Although it's hard to separate fact from rumor, some said Vlad ate dinner amongst the field of impaled corpses outside his castle, and others attributed a number of disgustingly creative torture methods to him. Whether he was pragmatic (albeit overzealous) or just a psychopath, Vlad is best known today for inspiring the legendary vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Vlad the Impaler

Peter the Great (1672-1725) was undoubtedly one of the most famous and influential, but nonetheless strange, tsars in Russian history. Eager to bring Russia into the modern era, Peter forcibly westernized its culture and government, forcing men to pay a heavy tax if they wanted to keep their beards. Known for his exploits (he even founded a club called the Drunken Synod), he would show guests his scientific collection of unusual human and animal remains and fetuses in the Kunstkamera. His wife, Empress Catherine, started out as a servant, but after he suspected her of infidelity, he beheaded Catherine's lover and had the head preserved in her room (for scientific purposes, of course).

Peter the Great

Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614), known as the Blood Countess, was a noblewoman in the Kingdom of Hungary and probably a prolific serial killer. In her case, it is hard to tell how much of her legacy is owed to rumor and how much to fact. Bathory was accused and imprisoned for the murder of 80 people, mostly young peasant girls, although the number at the time was as high as 650. Apparently obsessed with youth and beauty, Elizabeth would allegedly bathe in the blood of these girls after torturing and killing them. Despite no forensic evidence of her crimes that we know of, multiple witnesses reported cases of horrific torture, including biting her victims (inspiring accusations of vampirism), some of which her husband might have participated in. Her husband was often away at war, so Elizabeth was left to defend his castle and their people from many threats. After his death, her appetite for blood increased, until so many nobles' daughters died that action had to be taken. She was put in solitary confinement in her own castle and died four years later.

Elizabeth Bathory

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Which Weird Early Modern Ruler Are You?

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