Although in the Middle Ages everyone only did that they died a strange and untimely death (in a softened form for our mores, this can be observed in the "Game of Thrones"), the scientific resource Medievalists made up its top 10 …
1. Zeno, the Byzantine emperor got very drunk - his wife put it in the sarcophagus, covered it and ordered not to open it until the noise stopped. As they say in our century, because "nefig" …
2. Prince Philip, son of Louis VI of France. I was riding a horse, a pig jumped out to meet him, the horse got scared, fell, and the next day he died. And he could become a king. Again, I remember the "adult pig", who also unexpectedly jumped out into the street in the Gogol Overcoat.
3. Sigurd Eysteinsson, Earl of Orkney. He cut off the head of some rival count, strapped it into the saddle, the head bit him on the way, the wound festered, died. Firstly, I don’t believe in this, this is an obvious “Dante-like” legend, and secondly, how harmful it is not to brush your teeth!
4. Griefeed ap Llyweelin, Irish prince. They locked me in the Tower, tied a rope out of my clothes, climbed out of the window, the rope broke, fell, and died. Check the equipment carefully!
5. Pope Adrian IV. He drank a fly with wine, coughed, choked, died. He also had some kind of chronic runny nose, which contributed.
6. Henry II Count of Champagne. I looked out of the window at the parade, leaning on the grating, the grating caved in, fell out of the window … The court dwarf jumped after him in despair, fell from above. The count is dead, but history is silent about the fate of the dwarf. Learn today, O kings! Not all loyalty is good.
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7. Henry I English. The lamprey (such a fish) ate too much, although the doctor did not advise, and died. Well, they wrote it in the chronicle, there the chronicler strongly disliked him, he could have added it. But the detail is expressive, so everyone now remembers the surfeit of lampreys … You never know how you will go down in history.
8. Basil I, Byzantine emperor. He hunted, the belt caught on the antlers of the deer, the deer dragged, the huntsman caught up, cut off the belt with a knife. The emperor died anyway, but previously ordered the huntsman to be executed, on suspicion of attempted murder. Moral: don't bother the deer.
9. George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence. Having got involved in a conspiracy against his brother Edward IV, he was imprisoned in the Tower and brought to trial on charges of treason. Following his conviction, the duke was "executed privately" at the Tower on February 18, 1478. According to legend, the duke chose as his death drowning in a barrel of sweet wine - Malvasia.
The tradition is probably based on a joke, since the duke had a reputation for being a big drunkard. Be that as it may, the volume of a pipa (barrel) of wine was equal to 477.3 liters - quite enough to drown. Clarence's alleged body was later exhumed and showed no signs of decapitation, the usual method of execution of noblemen at the time.
10. Martin I Humane (sometimes it happens), king of Sicily and Aragon (his father was Ceremonial, and his successor was Just. It seems that they lived well there, in Aragon). Heard a funny joke, and laughed so hard that he died …
The joke is this: the King asked his jester where he was, he replied: "I was in the vineyard, there a deer hangs from the tree by the tail, as if he was punished for stealing figs."
True, it is known that before that, the king alone ate a whole roast goose. Maybe it somehow sharpened his sense of humor?