Rags to Riches: the best stories of ordinary man who became kings

[Excape Goat]

......... kings or leaders of their respective nations, tribes, people, etc.

The first Ming emperior was at one point a beggar....and then a monk.

Muhammad was a poor merchant.

Genghis Khan was chased out by his father's enemies. His tribe consisted of a few boys.... I meant he himself and his young brothers.

[nicephoras]

I've always been partial to the story of Basil I.
What Justinian's wife did (at least according to Procopius), apparently involved dancing with geese.

[Anthony]

I've always been partial to the story of Basil I.
What Justinian's wife did (at least according to Procopius), apparently involved dancing with geese.

How did I know you were going to name him?

You could also argue Justin I, but at least he worked his way up through the military to become head of a palace regiment (and according to legend, he was chosen because he was the first person to enter the emperor's bedchamber that day). Basil did it my being the emperor's drinking buddy.

As for Theodora, while I enjoyed The Secret History as much as the next guy, you have to wonder if Procopius was quite sane (at one point, he claimed Justinian was a shapeshifting demon).

[scottinkc]

Dave

King Ralph



(Oh, come on, like you really didn't think they would be mentioned)

[argentine soccer fan]

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Americas/05/neale/eva_peron.jpg

[nicephoras]

How did I know you were going to name him?

You could also argue Justin I, but at least he worked his way up through the military to become head of a palace regiment (and according to legend, he was chosen because he was the first person to enter the emperor's bedchamber that day). Basil did it my being the emperor's drinking buddy.

As for Theodora, while I enjoyed The Secret History as much as the next guy, you have to wonder if Procopius was quite sane (at one point, he claimed Justinian was a shapeshifting demon).

That's what made the Secret History great! He worked with Justinian for so long and then wrote that a holy man convulsed into fits because he could sense Justinian's eeeevil. It'd be sort of like Albert Speer writing an anonymous blog about how evil Hitler was in the late 30s.
And Basil was more than the Emperor's drinking buddy - he was a carnival attraction as a strong man! That's how he got into position of being the Emperor's drinking buddy in the first place.
The deaths or near deaths of Byzantine emperors are my favorites though. I think it was a Leo who was scheduled to be thrown into a furnace at Christmas (I think) while tied to a monkey (no, seriously), but his supporters rescued him and then disguised themselves as choir members to kill the Emperor instead. Nicephoras I was killed by a Bulgar chieftain (or Avar) and his head was used as a drinking cup. Nicephoras II was murdered by his wife and his best general.......who was then forced to dump the wife because the church told him to. Whoops for her. Or Romanos Diogenes, who, upon being blinded after Manzikert (by Byzantines) received a letter from Psellos (the chancellor), who had been conspiring against him for his entire reign, that stated the former emperor was now worthy to see God's light.
How can you not love an empire where the Patriarch (until the 11th century equal to the Pope in power) was publicly shamed whenever the emperor felt like it by being forced to ride a donkey around the Hippodrome backwards?
EDIT: I suppose if we're going with Justin being the first into a room then we have to give the subsequently pumpkinified Claudius props for being elected emperor while cowering behind some curtains. Must have cut some dashing figure.
As far as Roman Emperors, some of the later ones, like Diocletian (an Illyrian peasant) deserve a mention here.

[argentine soccer fan]

That's what made the Secret History great! He worked with Justinian for so long and then wrote that a holy man convulsed into fits because he could sense Justinian's eeeevil. It'd be sort of like Albert Speer writing an anonymous blog about how evil Hitler was in the late 30s.
And Basil was more than the Emperor's drinking buddy - he was a carnival attraction as a strong man! That's how he got into position of being the Emperor's drinking buddy in the first place.
The deaths or near deaths of Byzantine emperors are my favorites though. I think it was a Leo who was scheduled to be thrown into a furnace at Christmas (I think) while tied to a monkey (no, seriously), but his supporters rescued him and then disguised themselves as choir members to kill the Emperor instead. Nicephoras I was killed by a Bulgar chieftain (or Avar) and his head was used as a drinking cup. Nicephoras II was murdered by his wife and his best general.......who was then forced to dump the wife because the church told him to. Whoops for her. Or Romanos Diogenes, who, upon being blinded after Manzikert (by Byzantines) received a letter from Psellos (the chancellor), who had been conspiring against him for his entire reign, that stated the former emperor was now worthy to see God's light.
How can you not love an empire where the Patriarch (until the 11th century equal to the Pope in power) was publicly shamed whenever the emperor felt like it by being forced to ride a donkey around the Hippodrome backwards?
EDIT: I suppose if we're going with Justin being the first into a room then we have to give the subsequently pumpkinified Claudius props for being elected emperor while cowering behind some curtains. Must have cut some dashing figure.
As far as Roman Emperors, some of the later ones, like Diocletian (an Illyrian peasant) deserve a mention here.

Lol! Is this for real? A patriarch forced to ride a donkey backwards, a man schedulled to be thrown into a furnace tied to a monkey? I mean what did the poor monkey do to deserve this fate? History is stranger than fiction.

As far as humiliations, how about the story of the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid I? After defeating the armies of the Holy Roman empire, the Sultan had the misfortunate of having to face the Mongols in battle. He was defeated by the Mongol emperor Timur (Tamerlane). The story is that Timur kept the Sultan in a small cage for the rest of his life, and always took him with him everywhere he went, as a sort of trophy.

Is this story likely to be true, or just another legendary tale about the mongols?

[nicephoras]

Lol! Is this for real? A patriarch forced to ride a donkey backwards, a man schedulled to be thrown into a furnace tied to a monkey? I mean what did the poor monkey do to deserve this fate? History is stranger than fiction.

As far as humiliations, how about the story of the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid I? After defeating the armies of the Holy Roman empire, the Sultan had the misfortunate of having to face the Mongols in battle. He was defeated by the Mongol emperor Timur (Tamerlane). The story is that Timur kept the Sultan in a small cage for the rest of his life, and always took him with him everywhere he went, as a sort of trophy.

Is this story likely to be true, or just another legendary tale about the mongols?

I had thought Bayazid was treated well, actually. That's how I remember learning of it. The monkey story is true. The patriarch riding a donkey backwards was rather common, iirc.
However, Louis the Spider did keep Cardinal Balue in a very small iron cage made of led for something like 9 years.

[Nanbawan]

However, Louis the Spider did keep Cardinal Balue in a very small iron cage made of led for something like 9 years.

Wow, conversations with the poor dude must have been intriguing after 7 years or so...

_Hey, yo, wassup ?

_Bah, same old shit.

[Nanbawan]

Saddam Hussein. :D



Saddam Hussein was born in the town of Al-Awja, 8 miles (13 km) from the Iraqi town of Tikrit, to a family of shepherds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_hussein

[nicephoras]

Wow, conversations with the poor dude must have been intriguing after 7 years or so...

_Hey, yo, wassup ?

_Bah, same old shit.

So THAT'S what old French sounds like.

[Nanbawan]

Roughly :o

[Anthony]

An honorable mention should go to the Hautevilles. While not exactly beggars, they were extremely minor knights who ended up founding the Kingdom of Sicily, which was really one of the most magnificent places of the Middle Ages.

Robert Giscard went off with his armor and a horse and ended up (in the words of his epitaph) "The Terror of the World," defeating both the eastern and western Emperors and creating a Mediterranean empire.

[CrewDust]

Bill Clinton

[DoctorD]

However, Louis the Spider did keep Cardinal Balue in a very small iron cage made of led for something like 9 years.So was it an iron cage or a lead cage? :)

[nicephoras]

So was it an iron cage or a lead cage? :)

Arf. Me write pretty one day.

[Excape Goat]

Bill Clinton


All the Yale alumus will neg-rep you. :)