Curated playlist
Monarchs killed in action
- Richard III of EnglandRichard III's skeleton was found under a car park in Leicester. The king had been buried there in 1485.
- Harold GodwinsonHow did King Harold die at Hastings in 1066? Sources disagree: lanced by knights, or an arrow to the head.
- Richard I of EnglandWhile scraping together money for a crusade, Richard I of England reputedly declared, "I would have sold London if I could find a buyer." He ruled as king from 1189 until 1199. In all that time he probably spent no more than six months on…
- Cyrus the GreatAccounts of how Cyrus the Great died never agreed. One says a queen dipped his severed head in blood.
- Olaf TryggvasonNorway's King Olaf Tryggvason vanished from his ship in a flash of light in 1000. Sagas disagree on what happened.
- Harald HardradaHarald Hardrada, King of Norway, faced an English army at Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September 1066, and a bitter bargain was reportedly put to him that day. Snorri Sturluson writes that Harold Godwinson, the English king, offered him…
- Tipu SultanTipu Sultan's iron-tubed rockets inspired a British weapon. The British copied them as the Congreve rocket.
- Constantine XI PalaiologosConstantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor, was proclaimed at Mystras with no crown.
- SomerledSomerled was killed at the Battle of Renfrew in 1164. A priest then brought his severed head to a bishop.
- Vlad the ImpalerIn the last days of June 1462, the army of Sultan Mehmed II reached the Wallachian town of Târgoviște and found it deserted. Its ruler, Vlad the Impaler, was gone. What he had left behind was a field of stakes. The chronicler Laonikos…