Wilhelm II, German Emperor

EARLY LIFE 

Kaiser Wilhelm II was born on January 27, 1859 at the Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin, to Victoria, Princess Royal, the wife of Prince Frederick William of Prussia (the future Frederick III).

Portrait of Wilhelm II in 1902, by T. H. Voigt

Victoria was the eldest daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria. Wilhelm was the first grandchild of the English queen and Prince Albert.

He was born with a paralysed arm. This disability was considered shameful, and the attempts at treatment, which included the young Wilhelm having a dead hare placed around his arm – had a severe impact on his relationship with his mother.

His father was honourable, intelligent, and considerate but had neither the will nor the stamina needed to dominate.

Wilhelm with his father, in Highland dress, in 1862

His father's lack of stamina was not shared by Wilhelm's mother, who had acquired from her father (Prince Albert), seriousness of purpose and from her mother, emotion and obstinacy. Her intellect was hopelessly at the mercy of her feelings, and she took rapid likes and dislikes.

Wilhelm was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium and the University of Bonn.

REIGN 

On the death of Wilhelm I on March 9, 1888, his father was crowned Emperor as Frederick III but he was dying of throat cancer, and on June 15, 1888 Wilhelm II succeeded him as Emperor.

Wilhelm was a megalomaniac who liked to be the centre of attention. Archives have suggested that he may have experienced some brain trauma at birth, possibly leading to some brain damage. Historians are divided on whether such a mental incapacity may have contributed to his frequently aggressive, tactless, headstrong, and occasionally bullying approach to problems and people, which was evident in both his personal and political lives.

He disagreed with his father's long-time Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and dismissed him in 1890.
The phrase ‘Dropping the Pilot’ meaning to dispense with a valued leader originated in Prussia on March 29, 1890 when a Punch cartoon showed Kaiser Wilhelm II leaning over the side of the ship as Otto Bismarck dressed as a pilot walked down the steps to disembark.

Dropping the Pilot cartoon 

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Wilhelm II was at her deathbed.

He did much to alienate other Great Powers from Germany by initiating a massive build-up of his country's Navy, challenging French control over Morocco, and backing the Austrian annexation of Bosnia in 1908.

WORLD WAR I 

In 1914 three of the major world leaders were all cousins. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, King George V of England, and Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Their grandmother was Queen Victoria.

Wilhelm was obsessed with everything military and loved dressing up in military uniforms. He adopted the irrational, emotional approach of the rabid enthusiast. He was a military sentimentalist.

Wilhelm II with Nicholas II of Russia in 1905, wearing the military uniforms of each other's army.

During the crisis of 1914, Wilhelm guaranteed military support to Austria-Hungary, which resulted in the outbreak of World War I.

World War I broke out after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Serbian. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia knowing it had Germany's military support. The ensuing domino effect resulted in the worldwide conflict.

Wilhelm's role in wartime was one of ever-decreasing power as he increasingly handled awards ceremonies and honorific duties. This broad delegation of authority gave rise to a de facto military dictatorship whose authorisation of unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmerman Telegram led to the United States' entry into the conflict in April 1917.

After Germany's defeat in 1918, Wilhelm lost the support of the German army. He abdicated on November 9, 1918,

So many significant events in German history have happened on November 9 that historians have called the date 'The Day of Fate'. Other events that have occurred on this date include the the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Wilhelm fled to The Netherlands where he purchased a country house in the municipality of Doorn.

PERSONAL LIFE 

Wilhelm married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg on February 27, 1881. A plain, unimaginative woman with few intellectual interests and no talents, she bored him and encouraged his reactionary tendencies but all the same represented a point of stability in his life.

Philip de László: Empress Augusta Victoria with the Black Eagle (1908)

During their marriage, Augusta gave birth to six sons and a daughter.

Augusta died on April 11, 1921. While living in exile, Wilhelm married Hermine von Schoenaich, the widowed Princess Reuss, the following year.

He corresponded with Tsar Nicholas in fluent English and read P.G. Wodehouse aloud to his entourage, glaring at them when they failed to laugh.

Wilhelm developed a penchant for archaeology during his vacations on Corfu during the 1900s, a passion he harbored even into his exile in Doorn.

One of Wilhelm's greatest passions was hunting, and he bagged thousands of animals, both beast and bird.

Wilhelm had a habit of sketching plans for grand buildings and battleships when he was bored, although experts in construction in both fields saw his ideas as grandiose and unworkable.

His palace at Potsdam had 84 bedrooms, central heating and electric lighting throughout.

The American-made schooner Meteor III was the largest yacht in the world when built for Wilhelm II.

HEALTH 

A traumatic breech birth damaged Kaiser Wilhelm physically, leading to a withered left arm due to Erb's Palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. In many photos he carried a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer or he held his left hand with his right hand.

Prince Wilhelm posing for a photo taken around 1887.

Recent analyses of records of his birth in the former Imperial Archives have also suggested that he may have experienced some brain trauma, possibly leading to some brain damage.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH 

After World War I, the defeated German Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to The Netherlands in exile. The first thing he asked for when arrived at his destination was a cup of English tea.

Wilhelm II  lived to see the rise of Adolf Hitler and the first two years of World War II, When Hitler took Paris, he wrote a telegram, writing "Congratulations, you have won using my troops."

After the German conquest of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelm retired completely from public life.

Kaiser Wilhelm II died of pneumonia in Doorn on June 5, 1941 with the German occupiers on guard at the gates of his estate.

He is buried in Huis Doorn, Doorn, Netherlands.

Hitler granted him a small military funeral but allowed only a few lower-grade officers to attend. Wilhelm's wish that no swastikas be displayed during the service was not heeded.

Trajan

Trajan was born into a non-patrician family in the city of Italica (close to modern Seville), on September 18, 53.

Wikipedia Commons

Trajan distinguished himself during the reign of Emperor Domitian. When serving as a general in the Roman army along the German frontier, he successfully put down the revolt of Antonius Saturninus in 89.

Emperor Nerva was a childless old man when he came to power in AD 96, following the assassination of the tyrannical Domitian. On October 27, 97, he adopted Trajan as his son, making him emperor apparent. 

Trajan, absent with his army, is said to have been unaware the adoption ceremony was taking place in Rome at the Temple of Jupiter. 

Nerva died on January 27, 98, and was succeeded by Trajan without incident.

Statue of Trajan, posing in military garb. By Hartmann Linge

Trajan conquered Dacia (approximately modern Romania) between 101 and 106. The future emperor Hadrian served as Trajan's companion in the emperor's first war in Dacia. 

Trajan's war against the Parthian Empire in Asia ended with the sack of its capital Ctesiphon and the annexation of Armenia and Mesopotamia.

Under Trajan's rule the Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent.

The extent of the Roman Empire under Trajan (117)  By Tataryn6

Following his successful Dacia campaign, Trajan held a three-month victory celebration in AD 107 during which 11,000 slaves and criminals were killed in gladiatorial contests.

Trajan is best known for his extensive public building program which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks. One of them was Trajan's Forum, which was built on the order of the emperor with the spoils of war from the conquest of Dacia. Designed by Trajan's architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, it was a vast expanse measuring 300 metres (980 feet) long and 185 metres (607 feet) wide and housed at least 150 shops and offices.

Trajan's Forum

Trajan's Column located in the Forum commemorates Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which artistically represents the wars between the Romans and Dacians.

Trajan was a just and conscientious ruler, who was noted for his fair treatment of the senate and his mildness toward enemies who plotted against him.

He has a place in Christian history because of correspondence with Pliny the Younger, who was governor of Bithynia between AD 111-113. The policy which Pliny followed, which Trajan commended, did not involve seeking out Christians for special punishment. But if a person was discovered to be a prison, he or she was given an opportunity to renounce their faith. Refusal to do so meant he or she was executed. This is one of the earliest mentions of Christians in pagan literature and is often quoted.

While sailing back to Rome in late 117, Trajan fell ill and died of a stroke in the city of Selinus on September 8, 117. As the emperor lay dying, nursed by his wife, Plotina, he adopted Hadrian as heir. 

He was deified by the Senate, and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajan's Column.

His successor Hadrian built a temple dedicated to the deified Trajan on the far north side of the Forum facing inwards. 

Every new emperor after Trajan was honored by the Senate with the prayer "felicior Augusto, melior Traiano," meaning "may he be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan". 

The 18th century historian Edward Gibbon popularized the notion in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire of the Five Good Emperors, of which Trajan was the second. 

The Lion Handbook of Christianity, Christianity 

Theodosius the Great

The Spanish born emperor of the eastern Roman empire, Theodosius I (January 11, 347 – January 17, 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was the prime mover of imperial Christianity during its early period as a privileged religion and the last of the great Roman emperors.

Nummus of Theodosius I  Photographed by: York Museums Trust Staff

The son of a military officer, Flavius Theodosius was raised in a Christian family and baptized in 380.

Where Theodosius was born is disputed. According to Hydatius and Zosimus, Theodosius was born in what is now Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania (now Spain). However, Marcellinus Comes writes that he was from Italica, Baetica, Hispania.

After the disastrous Battle of Adrianople in 378 where the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths, co- ruler of the Western Roman Empire Gratian invited Theodosius to take command of the Illyrian army. As Valens had no successor, Gratian's appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become emperor of the eastern half of the Empire. His reign began on January 19, 379 .

Arianism is the belief that the Son is not co-equal or co-eternal with the Father. Instead Christ is only the first and highest of all finite beings, created out of nothing by an act of God's free will. As Christ had a beginning he isn't eternal and because he isn't eternal he is inferior to God the Father.
Theodosius issued a series of decrees, which established Christianity as the official religion and oppressed both Arians and pagans. All sacrifices were prohibited, temples closed and private pagan worship was forbidden.

In 381 Theodisius called the First Council of Constantinople as part of his anti-heresy efforts. The council asserted the deity of the Holy Spirit and comprehensively rejected Arianism, thus marking the end of the heresy in the Roman Empire. However it continued to flourish in northern Europe where the Goths were following a more Arian form of Christianity. After the fall of Rome, the teachings spread and many 5th and 6th century European leaders adopted an Arian theology.

Theodosius subdued the Goths, allowing them autonomy as allies under the peace of 382.

Theodosius I blotted his reign by massacring 7,000 citizens of Thessalonica in 390 after a riot in the circus there. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, bravely denied the Emperor admission to the cathedral there for eight months until Theodosius later recanted.

Saint Ambrose barring Theodosius from Milan Cathedral, Anthony van Dyck, c. 1620

The new Christian teaching of the sinfulness of the body, and its abhorrence of heathen practice, dealt the deathblow to the Olympic Games, which were banned in 393 by Theodosius I, as he believed they encouraged "pagan idolatry."

Theodosius ruled as sole Emperor from 392 after the death of Gratian in a rebellion in 383 and Valentinian II nine years later.

By the mid 390s, the western part of the Roman Empire was facing a constant threat of invasion and economic collapse. When Theodosius I died from a disease involving severe edema in Milan on January 17 395, the Roman Empire was re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire was centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum (the ancient Milan) under Honorius, his 10-year-old brother.

Peter the Great

EARLY LIFE 

Peter the Great was born on June 9, 1672 in Moscow and given the name Pyotr Alekseyevich.

He was the 14th child of Czar Alexis Mikhailovich and the first of his father's second wife Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina.

Alexis I had previously married Maria Miloslavskaya, having five sons and eight daughters by her, although only two of the sons—Feodor and Ivan—were alive when Peter was born.

Alexis I went on to have two further daughters by Nataliya Naryshkina before dying in 1674, to be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who became Fyodor III.

Peter's sister Tsarevna Natalya founded the first public theater in Russia, writing a number of its plays herself.

As a boy, Peter liked to play with his toy soldiers in the country near Moscow and developed an interest in technology and science.

Peter the Great as a child

Peter's mother had the benefit of a progressive education and her influence helped develop his natural intelligence and abilities as a leader.

REIGN 

A hopeless invalid, Fyodor III did not rule for long, dying in spring 1682. On April 27, 1682, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) decided to pass over the next boy, the retarded Ivan, in favor of Peter, who was an intelligent and boisterous lad of ten.

Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April and May 1682. In the subsequent conflict some of Peter's relatives on his mother's side of the family were murdered, and the 10-year-old tsar witnessed some of these acts of political violence.

After this dissension Peter was demoted to Co- Tsar, along with his mentally-deficient half brother Ivan. Peter's older half-sister, Sophia acted as Regent.

For his first seven years, Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his own name, preferring to engage in such pastimes as ship-building and sailing. The ships he built were used during mock battles.

Though just a regent, Sophia ruled as an autocrat. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems.

Peter overthrew Sophia in 1689, after she attempted a coup, retiring her to a convent.

In 1696, Peter became sole ruler of Russia on the death of his half brother, Ivan V.

To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought to gain more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea; and his primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov on July 19 of that year, thus gaining an outlet to the Black Sea. As Captain Peter Alekseevich, he commanded from the Principium, a ship built by his own hand.

Capture of Azov, 1696, by Robert Ker Porter

The creation of the regular Imperial Russian Navy was declared by the Boyar Duma on October 20, 1696. This date is considered to be the birthdate of the Russian Navy. The first shipbuilding program consisted of 52 vessels.

Peter toured Western Europe in 1697-98 to secure allies against the Ottoman Empire where he worked as a ship’s carpenter. Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He forbade the wearing of the long Russian coat and instead wear European clothing; anyone seen wearing one had the robe cut to the knee. Peter personally snipped off the massive folds off the sleeves of his chief boyars.

The Russian Czar also commanded all of his courtiers and officials to cut off their long beards. Boyars who sought to retain their facial hair were required to pay an annual tax of one hundred rubles.

In 1700 Peter turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He launched the Great Northern War, fighting Sweden for control of the Baltic Sea. Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700.

After the battle, Charles XII of Sweden decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army.

Charles XII of Sweden invaded Russia but his Swedish forces were routed at the Battle of Poltava on July 8, 1709. The Swedish king fled to the Ottoman Empire and Peter the Great was established as the dominant force in Northern Europe.

The Battle of Poltava by Denis Martens the Younger (1726)

In 1703 Peter cut two strips of turf on a desolate swamp taken from the Swedes at the mouth of the River Neva, laid them across one another and declared "Here there shall be a city". That city was St Petersburg and the Peter and Paul Fortress, the first brick and stone building of the new city was founded by Peter the Great on May 27, 1703.

During the building of St Petersburg, Peter forbade even the slightest repair on stone buildings in Moscow asserting that every mason was needed in the new city.

Built in record time within nine years St Petersburg was completed and became Russian capital in 1712.

Peter the Great ordered every Moscow family with family of fewer than 30 families of serfs to pack up their belongings and move to the newly created city.

Peter the Great Meditating the Idea of Building St Petersburg at the Shore of the Baltic Sea by Alexandre Benois, 1916

In 1721 the Treaty of Nystad ended what became known as the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a substantial portion of Karelia. This resulted in Russia controlling the Baltic Eastern shores and consequently becoming a European power.

Because Russia was now a major power, Peter the Great changed its name from the Tsardom of Russia to the Russian Empire in 1721 and he became Emperor of all Russia.

An updated version of the renaissance man, Peter the Great modernized his nation, remodeling the legal systems, centralizing Russian administration and encouraging education.  He also extended Russian territory to the west and south east and made Russia one of the major sea powers of Europe. His reign was the golden age of Russia.

TRAVEL 

In 1697-98 Peter visited England and the Netherlands to study western techniques. He worked in Dutch and English shipyards.

Thanks to the mediation of the mayor of Amsterdam, Peter was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months.

Peter was accompanied by a travelling retinue of 250 and was the first Tsar to cross his frontiers except on a military campaign.

William III of England lent Sayes Court to Peter for three months in 1698. The leaseholder diarist, John Evelyn, noted the Rusiian Tsar's drunken antics there which included using the paintings for target practice, the furniture for firewood, and the curtains to wipe his backside.

Portrait of Peter I by Godfrey Kneller, 1698. This portrait was Peter's gift to William III 

What most took Peter's fancy in England was wheelbarrows. The Russian Tsar had never seen a wheelbarrow, so he organized wheelbarrow races, which churned up the lawn of his rented house in Deptford.

BELIEFS 

Peter was not especially religious and had a low regard for the Church, so he put it under state control.

The Tsar celebrated his victories in battle with a Te Deum and closed his letters with "God's will be done."

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 

His first wife was chosen by his mother when Peter was 17. Eudoxia Lopuizhina was the daughter of an aristocrat and they married on January 27, 1689.

Picture from the matrimonial love book, which was given as a marriage gift for their marriage 

The marriage was a huge failure, and during his prolonged journey to Western Europe, Peter asked his relatives to persuade Eudoxia to enter a monastery. This could not be effected until 1698, when she was finally banished to the Intercession Convent of Suzdal, thus freeing him from the marriage. Eudoxia was incarcerated in the Convent of the Intercession for twenty years

The Tsaritsa bore Peter three children, although only one—the Tsarevich Alexei—survived past his childhood.

In 1718, the Tsarevich Alexei was suspected of leading a conspiracy against his father. Peter had his son arrested in the Kremlin's grand dining room. As a warm-up, the boy received 25 blows of the knout (a whip with a lash of leather thongs) and, under torture, he finally confessed that "I wished for my father's death."

Peter personally visited Alexei in the torture chamber, remaining to watch for some hours.

Simon Sebag Montefiore says in his book The Romanovs that Peter's son died on July 7, 1718 of "shock, blood loss or infection after knouting, which would have flayed and shredded his back to the bone". At Alexei's funeral, Peter is said to have wept and kissed his son's lips in the open coffin.

Peter I interrogating his son Alexei, a painting by Nikolai Ge (1871)

Alexei's mother Eudoxia was also punished; she was dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery. The Tsarevich 's friends were also tortured.

When still married to Eudoxia, Peter had taken a mistress Catherine Skavronskaya, the daughter of a Livonian peasant, who was a prisoner in the war against Sweden. They married at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg on February 9, 1712. Upon their wedding, Catherine took the style of her husband and became Tsarina.

Catherine was a strong character with the capacity of soothing Peter when caught up in a temper, nursing his head on her lap and stroking his brow.

Catherine I of Russia by Nattier

When Peter elevated the Russian Tsardom to Empire in 1724, Catherine became Empress, although he continued to remain Russia's actual ruler. By this stage, all of Peter's male children had died.

Peter the Great had an African godson, Abram Gannibal.

APPEARANCE

Peter was extraordinarily tall at six foot seven inches (2 meters) and a powerful man, although his gangly legs and arms were said to have limited his handsomeness.

Peter the Great Paul Delaroche 1838

He had a permanent nervous facial twitch.

Peter was renowned for his great strength. Supposedly he could snap a horseshoe with his bare hands.

Peter dressed simply and was renowned throughout Europe for his lack of personal hygiene. He was incredibly dirty and smelly with lice dropping off him as he walked.

PERSONAL LIFE

Peter the Great generally ate simple food and had lousy table manners, The energetic Czar regularly trampled across the banquet table, treading on dishes and cutlery with his unwashed feet.

Despite his simple personal culinary tastes, Peter laid on lavish banquets, modeled on the splendor of Versailles. The embroidered cloths, caviar from the Caspian Sea and oysters from the Baltic all matched the sumptuous feasts of Louis XIV of France. However, the Tsar preferred to be seated near the door so he could slip away early.

Lisette, a small Italian Greyhound, constantly followed the Russian Tsar whenever he was at home. During Peter's afternoon nap, Lisette always slept at his feet.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS 

Peter was a keen craftsman and carpenter, and as well as building ships, he enjoyed cabinet making.

The first skating boots were made for Peter while he was travelling in Holland in 1698.

Peter was simple though sometimes coarse in his tastes in the arts. He bought many western European artists to Russia.

Portrait of Peter I by Carel de Moor

He was greatly interested in dentistry and often assisted dentists in their operations. Peter's retinue of 250 courtiers were unwilling accomplices to his hobby. He carried out spot-checks on the mouths of anyone who happened to be passing and if any tooth looked suspect he whipped it out. The Tsar kept the teeth in a little bag and would often show them off to visitors.

Peter had a fascination with freaks of nature and established a bizarre private collection known as the Museum of Curiosities. They included a two-headed child and a five-footed sheep.

The caretaker of Peter’s museum was a dwarf who only had two fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. He knew when he died he’d be stuffed and put on display in the gallery.

HOMES

Peter hated the Kremlin where as a child he had witnessed the brutal torture and murder of his mother's family by the Miloslavskys. He ordered a new palace to be built, on the Gulf of Finland.

In 1725, construction of Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court"), a palace near St Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof was a grand residence, which became known as the "Russian Versailles" after the great French Palace of Versailles on which it was modeled on.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH 

From the winter of 1723, Peter had problems with his urinary tract and bladder. A team of doctors released upwards of four pounds of blocked urine, but the condition was exacerbated by a heroic act a year later, when the Russian Tsar jumped into icy water in the Finnish Gulf to help rescue some sailors from a sinking ship.

From early January 1725, Peter was bedridden with uremia. He died aged 52 between four and five in the morning of February 8, 1725.

Peter the Great on his deathbed, by Nikitin

An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene.

Sources 100 Great Kings, Queens and Rulers of the World by John Canning, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

Nero

EARLY LIFE

Nero was born in December 15, 37 in Antium (modern Anzio and Nettuno), near Rome.

He was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the younger, sister and reputed lover of Caligula.

His full name at birth was not Nero but Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.

Lucius came to the attention of his uncle Caligua soon after his birth. Agrippina reportedly asked her brother to name the child. This would be an act of favor and would mark the child as a possible heir to his uncle. However Caligula only offered to name his nephew Claudius after their lame and stuttering uncle, apparently implying that he was as unlikely to become Augustus as Claudius.

Lucius' father died of dropsy in 40. He was now effectively an orphan with an uncertain fate under the increasingly erratic Caligula.

Lucius' luck would change the following year, when on January 24, 41 Caligula was murdered. Agrippina was soon remarried to the wealthy Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus.

Passienus died in 47. Agrippina was reportedly suspected of poisoning her husband in order to inherit his fortune. Lucius was the only heir to his now wealthy mother.

Nero and Agrippina. Agrippina crowns her young son Nero with a laurel wreath

On January 1, 49 Agrippina became the fourth wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus. The marriage would last for five years.

The great stoic philosopher and playwright Seneca was Nero’s tutor. Seneca’s brother was Gallio the proconsul of Achaia mentioned in Acts 18 v11-12.

RISE TO POWER 

Early in year 50 the Roman Senate offered Agrippina the honorable title of Augusta, previously only held by Livia (14 - 29). On February 25, 50 Lucius was officially adopted by Claudius as Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus.

Claudius honoured his adoptive son in several ways. Nero was proclaimed an adult in 51 at the age of 14. He was appointed proconsul, entered and first addressed the Senate, made joint public appearances with Claudius, and was featured in coinage.

Coin issued under Claudius celebrating young Nero as the future emperor, c. 50.

Agrippina was determined to secure the Emperorship for her son despite Claudius' plans to name Nero's step brother Britannicus as his successor. She fed her husband poisonous mushrooms then his physician, Xenophon, shoved a feather down his throat to induce vomiting. Claudius died in agony choking to death without making his wishes known.

EMPEROR 

In 54 Nero succeeded his step-father, Claudius, as Emperor.

A plaster bust of Nero, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

In the first months of Nero's reign, Agrippina controlled her son and the Roman Empire. She lost control over Nero when he began to have an affair with the freed woman Claudia Acte, which Agrippina strongly disapproved of and violently scolded him for. Agrippina began to support Nero's step brother Britannicus in an attempt to make him emperor.

Britannicus was secretly poisoned on Nero's orders during his own banquet in February 55. The power struggle between Agrippina and her son had begun.

For the first seven years of his reign Nero ruled with clemency and justice. He abolished excessive taxes and distributed money to the common people. However, his lust for power eventually got the better of him.

While his advisers took care of affairs of state, Nero surrounded himself with a circle of favorites. Roman historians report nights of drunken revelry and violence while more mundane matters of politics were neglected. Among his new favorites was Marcus Salvius Otho. By all accounts Otho was as dissolute as Nero but served as a good and intimate friend to him.

Nero liked to roam the streets of Rome at night in disguise with some of his friends beating up and even killing innocents. By 56 AD this was becoming a scandal.

Nero reportedly machinated the murder of Agrippina on March 23, 59. Seneca attempted to convince the Senate that she had been orchestrating a conspiracy against her son, but the reputation of the Emperor was damaged beyond repair by this case of matricide. His friend and adviser Otho was soon also removed from the imperial environment, and sent to Lusitania as governor.

Nero's tutor Seneca, later became his chief adviser. Nero's mistress Poppaea disliked Seneca's stoic ideals and as a result Seneca was named in a conspiracy. The frame was so lavish, Seneca was forced to commit suicide.

The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of July 18 to 19 July 64. For seven nights it burned and Nero watched from the Tower of Maecenas, enraptured by what he called, "The beauty of the flames". He hoped the Christians would be blamed, but many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea.

Artwork depicting the Great Fire of Rome.

After the Great Fire of Rome, Nero set up a relief program for the homeless and allowed them to temporary reside in his gardens.

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

After The Great Fire of Rome, Nero was intent on persecuting the Christians who were suspected of causing the blaze. Often he put on a public show in his own gardens, in which the Christians were killed by being covered in skins of wild animals and being torn to death by dogs, or by crucifixion.

Some of these early martyrs were covered in pitch, slung up on poles and set alight. These "on fire" Christians in the dark were like torches in the night. Instead of screaming for mercy and recanting, the early believers went to their death with dignity, singing hymns.

Nero's Torches by Henryk Siemiradzki - 

Among the Christians murdered by Nero was St Paul who was beheaded and St Peter who was crucified upside down.

The emperore put Christians to death in an area called "Nero's Circus". Today St Peters Cathedral stands on the site of this area.

A Christian Dirce, by Henryk Siemiradzki. A Christian woman is martyred in this re-enactment of the myth of Dirce.

People begun to feel sorry for the members of this sect, realizing they were being massacred to satisfy Nero's mania rather than the public good.

The letters of the name "Nero Caesar" written in Hebrew represents numbers together which make 666.

APPEARANCE 

Nero was red-headed with a chubby face.

Bust of Nero at the Musei Capitolini, Rome

He used make-up included powder, rouge kohl and blond wigs.

The near-sighted Nero used a form of glasses ( a jewel with curved facets) to get a closer view of gladiatorial exchanges.

RELATIONSHIPS

On June 9, 53 AD, when Nero was 16, he married Claudia Octavia, his father’s daughter from an earlier marriage.

Portrait head of Claudia Octavia, National Museum of Rome

Nero became bored of Octavia and tried to strangle her on several occasions.

Nero's good friend Marcus Salvius Otho was married to the auburn haired Poppaea Sabina, who was described as a woman of great beauty, charm, and wit. Gossip began to appear of Nero, Otho, and Poppaea being parts of a love triangle. By 58, Poppaea had been established in her position as the favorite mistress of Nero.

By the time he was twenty-five years old, Nero had yet to produce an heir. When Poppaea became pregnant, Nero finally decided to marry his mistress, but his marriage to Octavia had to be dissolved before doing so.

At first Nero resorted to accusing her of adultery. However, Nero had already gained a reputation for this offence while Octavia was reputed to be an example of virtue. Some testimony was needed against her, but torturing one of her slaves only produced the famous declaration of Pythias reporting the genitalia of Octavia to be cleaner than the mouth of Tigellinus. Nero proceeded to declare the divorce on grounds of infertility, leaving him free to marry Poppaea and wait for her to give birth.

Octavia was banished to the island of Pandateria (modern Ventotene) on a false charge of adultery with Nero's former tutor Anicetus. On June 8, 62, Octavia was suffocated in an exceedingly hot vapor bath. Her sudden death brought much sorrow to Rome and prompted incidents of public protest.

In 62 Nero married his mistress, Poppaea. She loved the lavish lifestyle of being an emperor's wife and always traveled with 500 nursing asses so she could take milk baths to keep her skin smooth and supple. She used depilatory creams to remove unwanted body hair on a daily bonus.

Bust of Poppaea Sabina at Palazzo Massimi alle Terme

Claudia Augusta was born on January 21, 63. At the birth of Claudia, Nero honored mother and child with the title of Augusta. However, the child died three months later, meaning Nero was still with no heir. Her father was devastated and many believe this was the event that unhinged the emperor.

Poppaea was killed by a kick from Nero when pregnant with her second child in the summer of 65. She had criticized him for coming home late from the races.

Around 65, Statilia Messalina became Nero's mistress. After the death of the emperor's second wife Poppaea Sabina, Statilia's consul husband Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry her.

In 67 Nero married the castrated male slave Sporus in a public ceremony. Sporus was a male lookalike of his dead wife Poppaea Sabrina, whom he even called by her name. During their marriage, Nero had Sporus appear in public as his wife wearing the regalia that was customary for Rome.

FOOD AND DRINK

Nero had leek soup served to him every day, as he believed the leek made his speech honeyed and thus gives him a clear and sonorous voice for delivering his orations.

Due to his inordinate appetite for leeks some people nicknamed Nero "Porrophagus" ("porrum" meaning leek in Latin.)

Nero sent slaves to the tops of the Apennines Mountains to bring fresh snow down to the royal kitchens where the snow was then flavored with fruit pulp and honey or nectar.

On February 11, 55 Nero was hosting a dinner when his 13-year-old stepbrother and rival Britannicus keeled over and died as the water used to cool his wine had been poisoned (his taster forgot to taste it). The other dinner guests faced a dilemma. Should they take no notice and carry on tucking into their meal or should they call a doctor and risk offending the paranoid emperor. Nero dismissed the murder by claiming that the boy suffered from epilepsy.

Nero liked to drink a traditional charioteer's potion of dried boar dung in water in the belief that it gave him strength.

Nero, painting of Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen, 

On one occasion when the unstable emperor heard of a battle being lost, he became so upset that he smashed a crystal glass, crying that he would punish the world by making sure that no one would be able to drink from such a glass again.

SPORT AND ARTS 

Nero had more faith in his artistic abilities than anyone else. He grew intensely jealous of his rival poets and musicians.

His first public stage performance was at Naples in 64AD where he recited poetry and sang and played music with the lyre. It is said there was an earth tremor in the theater as he sang.

He continued to perform publicly as an actor and singer. It is said few left the building during his performances; citizens were so forbidden to leave that pregnant women would have to give birth during them. Despite this, the historian Suetonius records, some people were so desperate to leave that they would fake their own deaths in order to get dragged out.

In the 2nd century AD, Suetonius described Nero as a player of the tibia utricularis, an early form of bagpipe.

Nero once wrote a song about his second wife Poppaea's beautiful long auburn hair.

During The Great Fire of Rome, Nero put on his tragedians costume and sang "The Fall of Ilium" from the beginning to the end.

At the 67AD Olympic Games in Greece, Nero entered the singing contest and was judged the winner even though according to Suetonius, some male listeners fell off the wall and feigned death in order to remove themselves from earshot without causing imperial offence.

A drunken Nero also competed in the Greeks Olympics at chariot racing-no one else took part. The Roman Emperor fell off but he was put back on in his chariot, restarted, failed to complete the course and was still awarded the crown.

Nero won a number of Olympic titles for horse riding, tragedy and harp, singing competitions and declamation. In all these cases the competition finished with a crown adorning his head, a "feat" probably achieved by bribing the judges.

Nero awarded his favorite horses pensions when they grew old and dressed them in costumes.

HOMES 

The Domus Aurea was a large landscaped portico villa built by Nero in the heart of ancient Rome, after the Great Fire in 64 AD had cleared away the aristocratic dwellings on the slopes of the Palatine Hill

The Emperor Caesar Augustus had lived there in a purposely modest house only set apart from his neighbors by the two laurel trees planted to flank the front door as a sign of triumph granted by the Senate. However, Nero enlarged the house and grounds over and over until it took up the hill top.

The Emperor issued orders that all other private homes situated there should be razed. The edifice, the sole residence on Palatine Hill, soon was identified with that name and became known as the Palātium or palace. That is how, ever since a royal abode, is called by this name.

In his golden palace Nero possessed a spectacular dining room in which there was a revolving ceiling which turned day and night, in time with the sky. When slid back, a rain of fragrant waters, or rose leaves was showered on the heads of the diners.

DEATH 

Following a military revolt, the Senate condemned Nero to death. He fled Rome and took refuge in a villa a few miles outside the city. On June 9, 68 Nero drove his dagger into his throat rather than being taken alive. As Nero's four faithful servants prepared his funeral pyre, the Emperor muttered through his tears: "Qualis artifex Pereo", ("How great an Artist dies here".)

The alleged Tomb of Nero.

The Coliseum received its name not for its size, but for a colossal statue of Nero that stood close by. It was placed there after the destruction of his palace.

Sources Food for Thought by Ed Pearce, The Faber Book Of Anecdotes, Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999.

Napoleon III

EARLY LIFE

Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, later known as Napoleon III, was born in Paris on April 20, 1808.

His father was Louis Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was Louis the King of Holland from 1806 until 1810.

His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleon's wife Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Louis-Napoléon was a second son and a replacement child as his older brother, Napoléon Charles Bonaparte, died at age four.

After Napoleon I's military defeats and deposition in 1815 and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France, all members of the Bonaparte dynasty were forced into exile. Charles-Louis spent much of his youth and exile at a lakeside house at Arenenberg, Switzerland.

Charles-Louis received some of his education in Germany at the gymnasium school at Augsburg, Bavaria. As a result, for the rest of his life his French had a slight but noticeable German accent.

Louis-Napoleon in 1836.

POLITICAL CAREER

In 1844, Charles-Louis's uncle Joseph died, making him the direct heir apparent to the Bonaparte claim. Two years later, his father Louis died, making Charles-Louis (now known as Louis-Napoléon) the clear Bonapartist candidate to rule France.

Louis-Napoléon was living in the United Kingdom when the revolution of February 1848 forced King Louis Philippe I to abdicate. It opened the way for Louis-Napoleon to return to France and to run for the National Assembly.

Louis-Napoleon was elected President of France in a land slide victory later in 1848, capturing 74.2 percent of votes cast.

He was blocked by the Constitution and Parliament from running for a second term, so Louis-Napoleon organized a successful coup d'état in 1851. He emerged as master of France and took the throne as Napoleon III on December 2, 1852, the forty-eighth anniversary of his uncle's coronation.

Napoleon III by Alexandre Cabanel 

Four years later, Louis-Napoleon crowned himself as Emperor Napoleon III and the Second French Empire was born.

The earliest surviving blue plaque in the UK is in King Street, St James's, Westminster. It was erected in 1867 and commemorates Napoleon III.

PERSONAL LIFE

Louis Napoléon first met Eugénie de Montijo after he had become president of the Second Republic at a reception at the Elysée Palace on April 12, 1849. Her beauty immediately attracted him.

They married on January 29, 1853, in a civil ceremony at the Tuileries, and a day later there was a much grander religious ceremony at Notre Dame.

The Empress Eugénie in 1853, after her marriage to Napoleon III

The Empress Eugenie held sway over the world of feminine fashions. Her royal couturier (designer) was Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman, who established the first fashion house in Paris during the 1850s.

In 1856, Eugenie gave birth to a legitimate son and heir, Louis Napoléon, the Prince Impérial.

Eugénie and the Prince Imperial in 1862.

The emperor was particularly fond of barley sugar sweets, which became very fashionable because of his liking for them.

While passing through the Vallee d'Auge region of Normandy, Napoleon III tasted the local Camembert cheese and found it delicious. He named it after the village in Normandy in which the creator of the cow's milk cheese, Marie Harel, lived.

FINAL YEARS AND DEATH

In 1866, France saw its dominance on the continent of Europe eroded by Prussia's crushing victory over Austria in the Austro-Prussian War in June–August 1866. The Prussian forces under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck then began the Franco-Prussian War.

The French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870. He was deposed by the forces of the Third Republic in Paris two days later.

Bismarck with Napoleon III after his capitulation

When peace was arranged between France and Germany, Bismarck released Napoleon. He decided to go into exile in England and arrived on March 20, 1871.

Napoleon, Eugénie, their son and their entourage settled at Camden Place, a large three-story country house in the village of Chislehurst, a half-hour by train from London.

In his later years, Napoleon III suffered agonies from stones in the bladder. The pain damaging his health and prematurely aged him. He had to be lifted on and off his horse and was incapable of command. On one occasion a witness saw him holding his arm against the flame of a candle in an attempt to find some relief through a change of pain.

The last photograph of Napoleon III (1872)

In the summer of 1872, Louis-Napoleon's health began to worsen. Doctors recommended surgery to remove his gallstones. After two operations he became very seriously ill. Louis-Napoleon was haunted to the end by bitter regrets and by painful memories of the battle at which he lost everything. His last words were, "Isn't it true that we weren't cowards at Sedan?" He was given last rites, and died on January 9, 1873.

Napoleon III after his death; wood-engraving in the Illustrated London News 

He was originally buried at St. Mary's, the Catholic Church in Chislehurst. However, after Louis-Napoleon's son died in 1879 fighting in the British Army against the Zulus in South Africa, the bereaved Eugenie decided to build a monastery. The building would house monks driven out of France by the anti-religious laws of the Third Republic, and would provide a suitable resting place for her husband and son.