The Zhengde Emperor Would Kidnap Unmarried Woman To Add To His Harem
[ranking: 11]
This Ming Dynasty ruler Zhengde loved three things: animals, drinking, and women. He collected exotic beasts from all over the world in his royal menagerie, downed tons of alcohol in his spare time, and added lots of women to his harem. Whenever he'd travel, he would have his guards seize women to bring home with him.
His propensity to add more women to his harem was so well known that widowers and single women would rush to be married if they heard the emperor was on their way to visit their village.
Extraordinary Sexual Habits And Stories Of Royals Throughout History
[ranking: 4]
Tiberius Allegedly Had Young Boys Fellate Him
[ranking: 3]
The second Roman emperor, Tiberius, was into some pretty awful stuff. Legend has it, he trained a bunch of little boys, his "minnows," to "to swim between his thighs to nibble and lick him." He even snatched up "weaned healthy babies" and let them "suck his penis instead of their mother??s nipple, he being, by age and nature, fond of such perversions."
At his seaside villa in Capri, he hosted illicit parties to help keep his own libido up, according to Suetonius. Tiberius also collected scandalous writings and had sexy frescoes painted on his walls. Also, in the gardens, he made boys and girls dress up as Pan and wild nymphs and get it on. And that's not even counting all his depravities with adults.
Of course, the major source of the salacious stories we have about Tiberius come from accounts written by Tacitus and Suetonius, both of whom had their own possible motivations for wanting to tarnish the reputation of a Roman emperor after the fact. Given this, it's possible that the incredibly disturbing stories that emerged about Tiberius after his death could be propaganda.
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Charlemagne May Have Had Relations With His Dead Wife And His Living Sister
[ranking: 2]
He might be best known as the first Holy Roman Emperor, but Charlemagne (derived from "Carolus Magnus," or "Charles the Great") may have also been history's most prominent necrophile. Ninth century legends said that Charlemagne had committed an "unspeakable sin" that had to be pardoned directly by God. While the actual sin was secret, medieval rumors filled in the blank with the most unspeakable act imaginable: sleeping with dead people.
German chronicles from the 13th and 14th centuries said that one of his wives had a magic ring that made him love her; when she died, she had it in her mouth, so Charlemagne stayed in love with his deceased spouse and wouldn't let her go. Some have suggested that the "unspeakable sin" that he committed was the son he deliberately conceived with his sister. Either way, he clearly had some issues.
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Juana "The Mad" Of Castile Traveled With Her Husband's Corpse For Three Years
[ranking: 6]
The daughter of the famed "Catholic Monarchs" Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, Juana "la Loca" (or Joan the Mad) inherited their thrones, but also her family's mental health issues. Juana's maternal grandmother, also named Isabella, suffered from severe depression after she was widowed, and her granddaughter appeared to have inherited this condition.
Juana married a notorious lecher named Philip the Handsome, and he drove her crazy (or more crazy, anyway) with his infidelities. But she still was madly in love with him, so much so that, after he died young, Juana dug up his body and carried his casket everywhere with her. She went around Spain in a giant funeral procession, showing off his deceased body from 1506 to 1509. Juana refused to bathe or sleep in a bed until her father, Ferdinand, put her in a monastery.
Catherine The Great May Have Been Mounted By Her Favorite Horse, Definitely Got Around
[ranking: 12]
Pervasive rumors hold that Catherine II of Russia was so lascivious that she died having sex with her horse. In reality, Catherine was more likely just a woman with a healthy sexual appetite rather than an equine infatuation. Throughout her adult life, she took many lovers, which contemporaries and historians used to depict her as an insatiable harlot. Unfortunately, such mockery was often part and parcel for being a powerful woman in that day and age.
Catherine actually kicked the bucket after having a stroke on the toilet.
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