Miriam Aronin - Merciless Monarchs and Ruthless Royalty

With love and gratitude to my family and friends, who are fortunately neither royal nor villians.

MA

Copyright 2013 by

Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Aronin, Miriam.

Merciless monarchs and ruthless royalty / by Miriam Aronin.

p. cm. (ShockZoneVillains)

Includes index.

ISBN 9781467706070 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781467710350 (PDF ISBN)

ISBN 9781467760034 (Audisee ISBN)

1. Kings and rulersBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Title.

D107.A74 2013

321.00922dc23

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 CG 12/31/12

Table of

Contents

Vlad the Impaler (r. 14561476):
Real-Life Dracula 10

Richard III (r. 14831485):
A Royal Murder Mystery 12

Cixi (r. 18611908):
Power-Hungry Empress 24

Leopold II (r. 18651909):
A Global Tyrant 28

Royal VillAIns

What do you think of when you hear the word royal? Fairy
tale kings and queens? Handsome princes
and beautiful princesses? Golden crowns and gleaming palaces? Well, check your history books. Real-life royals werent always so squeaky-clean. In fact, some were closer to storybook villains. Many were downright mean and nasty.

Englands Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who ruled in the 1800s, werent ruthless. But some of their ancestors certainly were.

Some kings or queens would stop at nothing
to gain power. These merciless monarchs
murdered anyone who got in their way. No one
was safenot even their own brothers, sons,
mothers, and wives. Some were greedy for
land, loot, or riches. They usually got what they
wanted. They didnt care how. Blackmail? Bloody battles? Raids and robbery? These ruthless rulers were up for anything.

Some had hot tempers and a taste for revenge. Some made harsh laws and ordered fearsome punishments. Their enemiesand
often their own subjectslived in terror of torture and death. After learning about these brutal royals from the past, youll be glad none of them are your leaders!

monarchs =
kings or queens
who rule over a
kingdom or an
empire

King Herod the Not-So-Great
(r. 374 B.C.)

King Herod is often called Herod the Great. But the way he treated his family? Not great. Not great at all.

Herod became king of Judea (a region of the Middle East) in 37 B.C . when the Roman army helped him overthrow the previous ruler. The new king was eager to show off his greatness. He built the port city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea. He built a grand palace inside a fortress he named Herodium. He rebuilt the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem with great splendor.