10. Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I as with most in the reins of power had a royal archrival, Mary Queen of Scots. Mary had been raised in France but returned to England in her teens. She became involved in a lot of political complications that led to her abdication and flight to England to Elizabeth her cousin.
Mary was imprisoned by her sister Elizabeth. Mary was later executed in 1958 when her involvement in a plot against the Queen was revealed. Mary also executed her 2nd cousin an English Duke named Thomas Howard, who was duke of Norfolk. His involvement in multiple insurrectionary acts against Elizabeth prompted his execution by the Queen in 1957.
Robert Devereux was next to be taken by the royal sword of justice. He was the son of Elizabeth's first-cousin-once-removed Lettice Knollys. Robert secured the affection of the much older Elizabeth. But the Queen had to order his execution after numerous offences and a possible attempt at the Queen's rulership. Robert was beheaded at the tower of London in 1601
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9. Hero's the Great
Herod was wed to the Judean Mariamne, a marriage contracted between both to ensure peace between the Judean Royal Family and Herod himself, the pick of the Romans to rule Judea, though the king himself wasn't a Judean.
The marriage however met the rocks. Herod himself may have been the cause as he was intensely possessive of his wife, whom he accused of adultery. The accusation was followed up by an execution of both Mariamne and her mother in 29 BCE.
The two surviving sons of the executed Marianne Alexander and Aristobulus, who possessed a better claim to the throne than the mad Herod did shared a plot on how to effect Herod's killing, to get revenge for the killing of their mother. The plot got to the ears of Antipater II who happened to be Herod's eldest son by another woman. Antipater was persuasive enough to move Herod to end both young men's lives. They both were strangled in 7 BCE.
8. Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra of Egypt had her younger sister Arsinoe II exiled to Turkey and later murdered. This was a punishment Cleopatra saw fit for Arsinoes treason. Arsinoe had wanted to be Pharaoh, rallied an army to achieve her ends but met her eventually end when her sister Cleopatra and her Roman allies defeated and ended her campaign.
Cleopatra had married, according to Egyptian customs, her two brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, who both died under suspicious circumstances. Ptolemy XIII who set himself as Cleopatra's rival in Alexandria had died in battle with her Roman allies under Caesar. the next heir to the throne Ptolemy XIV was very possible killed by Cleopatra to ensure Ceaserion, her son by Caesar possessed the throne.
7. Henry VIII
Edward Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham under Henry VIII king of England, who was the king's first cousin once removed was executed on the orders of his relative the king on accusations of having an eye on Henry's throne 1521.
James IV of Scotland was next to fall by Henry's hand in this manner. He was the kings brother in law being the husband of his sister Margret. The two were for some time united in an alliance that held until a war broke out between the two and ended it. It resulted in James' death. This was at the battle of Flodden in 1521 after James defeat by Henry's forces.
There were other relations of the King who were unfortunate casualties of His ungodly passion. This include Edmund Da LA Pole in 1513. Margret Pole also shared the same fate, hacked to death at an old age.
He also got rid of his eight cousins who were also his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were beheaded after being charged with adultery.
6. Süleyman The Magnificent
He was the emperor of the Ottoman empire, dubbed the magnificent for his many military cultural and legal exploits. A problem typical of imperial families rose. Roxelana was his favorite wife, but was a woman of outrageous ambition. She wanted Suleyman's other sons out of the way to ensure her own sons accent to the throne on the death of the emperor. Of particular worry to her was a certain Prince named Mustapha, who would probably, as was customary, kill his half brothers Roxelanas sons once he ascended the throne.
Roxelana pushed forward determinedly with a plot. She forged a letter that implicated Mustapha in a plot againstSüleyman. When it reached the emperor, he was urged by Roxelana to execute Mustapha, though this wasn't Süleymans original intentions. Roxelana's advice got to the emperor and Mustapha was executed, and with his removal, Roxelana's son Selim became heir to the throne.
5. Empress Wu
Wu Zetian was the concubine of the former Tang Emperor Taizong. After the Emperor's death she went against tradition by becoming the concubine of the next Emperor to assume power, Gaozong. She proved really ambitious when at the age of 31 6 years later she had become the emperor's Empress consort.
She played really dirty to achieve this. She had had the former Empress Wang accused of killing Wu's one-week-old daughter since she was the last to hold the child. And thus Empress Wang was disposed and Wu replaced.
She rose to even greater heights as luck paved the way for her this time. The Emperor had suffered a debilitating stroke, and Wu ruled on his behalf, being happy to. She went forward with her wicked plans hungry for more power and control. she eliminated several members of the tang dynasty. And then she redirected her heartlessness to her own sons. In her 675AD her oldest son, Li Hong, who was the crown prince was found dead from poisoning. Li Xian, who was the next in line to succeed was accused of rebellion and was forced to live as a commoner. He was later forced to commit suicide by his mother. Wu then made her son ,Zhougzong Emperor. He was Wu's son by the hand of Emperor Gaozong who had passed away one year before. Zhougzong was later exiled and replaced by Wu's youngest son Ruizong.
ilIn 690Ad Ruizong was forced out of power by his mother, and made to live as imperial successor. Wu however may not have realized that the end was near. Her son Zhongzong returned in 705AD and removed his mother from power. The Empress died under house arrest the same year.
4. Attila The Hun
Attila wrote his name indelibly in history by nightmarishly plaguing the mighty Roman empire out of whose territories he forged his empire that stretched from Germany to the Baltic sea, causing the death of Roman citizens in the hundreds of thousands.
Records of his ascents to the throne are few and the few available to us were made available to us by Chroniclers of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, who were Attilas enemies. The most reliable accounts state that Attila inherited the throne from his uncle Regila, together with his brother Bleda. Regila had no sons and so naturally found heirs in both his nephews, who were well educated. When Regila died during one of the Gun campaigns against Constantinople, in 433AD Attila and his brother ascended his throne.
But acted jointly though in charge of their different territories, while they continued unleashing terror on the Roman empire. Bleda was soon to disappear from history as Attila became the only leader of the Huns. Huns disappearance has been a thing of controversy. Priscus a well know Roman historian and chronicler was told, as he recorded, by Bledas widow that her husband was killed by Atilla's plots. Other accounts points to a hunting incident being the point Bleda was eliminated by his brother, some say in mutual combat, others say Attila did away with Bleda in self defense.
3. John The Fearless
He was the son of the Duke of Burgundy, by Margaret Flanders. Though well prepared for leadership he was denied that opportunity for the first 33 years of his life. At 24 while a leader of the Burgundian crusade in Hungary against the Ottoman Turks, he suffered a crushing defeat at the battle of Nicopolis, mainly because most of the decisions were made on his behalf.
He was held in exile by the Turks, as also during the campaign where through his daring and fearless character he earned the name the "fearless".
He then succeeded his father as Duke upon his death in 1403 and then began his rise to influence and power. He soon left Burgundy and became involved in the government of France, the King of France, Charles VI being his first cousin. The French king was deemed unfit of occupation of the the throne due to mental illness and John schemed to replace him.
However a rival was in John's way, who was Charles's brother, the Duke of Orleans. John sought to realize his schemes first politically. He began by marrying his daughter Margaret to the heir to the French throne and afterwards declared himself guardian of all royal children. Civil war erupted soon afterwards as this greatly angered his archival the Duke of Orleans. Peace was sought for by their mutual uncle John, the Duke Berry in November 1407, which collapsed after 3 days.
Later that year John, assassinated Louis on the street of Paris, an act he didn't try at all to deny or hide. King Charles later absolved John and made him Regent of France, a position he served in until 1418.
Fresh opposition arose by the hands of Armagnac father-in- law of charles. Armagnac and his allies succeeded in driving John, out of France. John tried to set up a deal with the invading English, which faiked , making him move on seeking reconciliation with Armagnac. A meeting was agreed Upon by both sides at the bridge at Montereau. John went unknowing to his death as Armagnac exacted revenge upon him for his murdered brother by assassinating him.
2. Edward IV
Edward's parents was Richard Duke of York and Cecily Neville. His father had been acting as the Lord Protector of England because of the mental unstability of the King Henry VI. Tensions between the houses of York and Lancaster was unavoidable due to Henry's weakness and Richards desire for the throne, and the war of Roses broke out. The arrest of Henry VI resulted in the agreement that Richard and his heirs should possess the throne after Henrys death. However the case was not to rest there as as the house of Lancaster pushed one last time to cling to the throne, which prompted the battle of Wakefield where Richard was killed. Edward made sure his houses' victory at the battle of Towton and then ascended the throne though Henry was still alive. Richard had strongly in his side his maternal cousin, Richard Neville the Earl of Warwick. He soon fell out of Richard's favour by marrying against his wish. Warwick shifted his support to the disposed King, also having the support of his son-in-law, George Clarence who was also Edwards's youngest brother, whom he promised the throne. With Edward's disposal in 1470 Warwick reinstated Henry as King. This violation of already-agreed-upon-plans angered Clarence who helped his brother Edward regain power in 1471. Edward was later supposedly involved in the death of the King Henry who died in his private chapel while at prayer. Warwick had died in battle before.
Clarence was rewards by his brother for his support. But his ambition grew. He was openly insubordinate towards his brother the King who ordered his arrest and set him up for trial for treason in 1478. Clarence was later secretly killed in the Tower by a means not disclosed.
1. Peter The Great
Peter The Great whose real name was Peter Alekseyevich Romanov took control of the rulership of the Russian Empire at the young age of ten together with his older half brother Ivan. The corulership was instituted to broker peace between two feudind parties. On one side was Peter’s mother, the former tsar Alexei’s second wife and Sophia, and on the other Alexis’s daughter from his first marriage.
Peter was initially little interested in ruling directly. W marriage organized by his mother to a young noble woman,Eudoxia Lopukhina seemed to prop him from his slumber. He then moved to remove his sister Sophia from being regent and had her committed to a convent, while he continued to share power with his older brother Ivan. He then embarked on travels to the Western world, often disguised. His travel enterprises bore fruit as upon his return he began the lon hard effort of transitioning Russian from the dark ages to the age of enlightenment. He dealt with a few revolts upon his return and then began the repositioning of his country. He iniated numerous reforms in various areas that set Russia on the part to modernization. His marriage to Eudoxia ended that same year as he divorced he because of he plot against him and committed her to a convent. He also dealt with many other relatives who posed obstacles in his part, though his hand had not yet been stained with Familial blood.
However, in 1718, a situation soon arose with his son Alexei who was implicated in a plot against his father. Prince Alexei faced trial in a secular court as his father had ordered. The court officials saw fit to torture a confession out of the Prince. This have in been done, an execution was in the waiting for the young Prince. However it only the Kings Signature that could ratify the order of execution. Peter hesitated over doing this, even though he don't over his torture. While the King still struggled with his doubts fate had to lend a hand, though uninvited and Alexei died in Prison.