A History of Mentally Sick Rulers in Europe

Paper Summary:

Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Western Europe experienced a large number of mentally unbalanced monarchs. There are many theories attempting to explain this trend. In this paper, several examples of these ?mad sovereigns? will be presented in hopes to reveal a common link among them. The theory presented by the author is that the common practice of inbreeding royal bloodlines is the cause for so many crazy kings.

From the Paper:

"As is shown, mental imbalances seem to "run in the family." This seems to support the theory that royal inbreeding was at least a factor in promoting the occurrences of mentally disturbed rulers. This doesn't mean, though, that inbreeding was the cause, only a factor to consider. In many cases, a disease such as porphyria was simply spread through families through inbreeding and affected just those involved. In a way, inbreeding was the reason for such illness because, otherwise, the disease may not have spread quite as easily. The answer to the question, though, is ?no.?; inbreeding was not the primary cause for so many mentally imbalanced monarchs.

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