List of regicides explained
This is a list of regicides.
Definitions
The etymology of the term regicide is from the Latin noun Latin: [[Rex (title)|rex]] ('king') and the Latin verb Latin: caedere ('to kill'); thus, a regicide is literally a 'king-killing'. Different cultures and authors in history have used different definitions for what constitutes the crime of regicide. Latin: Rex is usually but not always understood to refer to not just kings, but any type of monarch, which leads to semantic problems of scope. Some monarchs, such as Nicholas II and Haile Selassie, had already ceased to be de facto rulers at the time of their deaths due to forced or voluntary abdication, but especially after forced abdications (depositions), these monarchs (and their supporters) often still saw themselves as the de jure rulers; therefore, whether a current monarch or former monarch had been killed could be a point of view on their legitimacy. A well-known controversy in historiography is the 1793 Execution of Louis XVI: Legitimists might say it was a "regicide" of the legitimate "King Louis XVI" by "the rabble", but French Revolutionaries could have regarded it as the "lawful execution" of "citizen Louis Capet" after a "fair trial" that had found him guilty.[1] Other killings, such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, are generally disqualified as "regicides", because this crown prince had not yet taken the throne. Suicide is generally discounted as well, as are the killings of monarchs' consorts or other relatives, such as that of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1898, or Earl Mountbatten in 1979. As such, it is difficult to make a universally accepted list of what constitutes a regicide. The following is a list of cases of monarchs in history who were deliberately killed by someone else in some fashion, according to reliable sources.
2000 – 1000 BC
900 – 500 BC
- 900 BC Nadab of Israel, slain by his own captain Baasha
- 885 BC King Elah of Israel, murdered by his chariot commander Zimri
- 841 BC Jehoram of Israel, murdered by Jehu
- 836 BC Athaliah, Queen of Judah, by rebels that placed Jehoash on the throne
- 797 BC Jehoash of Judah by his own servants at Miloh
- 771 BC King You of Zhou by the Marquess of Shen
- 767 BC Amaziah of Judah assassinated at Lachish
- 752 BC Zechariah of Israel murdered by Shallum
- 740 or 737 BC Pekahiah, King of Israel, assassinated by Pekah, son of Remaliah
- 732 BC Pekah, King of Israel, by Hoshea 681 BC Sennacherib, King of Assyria, assassinated in obscure circumstances
- 641 BC Amon of Judah, assassinated by own servants
- 578 BC Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, King of Rome, by two shepherds
- 514 BC Hipparchus of Athens, assassinated by two lovers, Harmodius and Aristogeiton
5th century BC
4th century BC
- 336 BC Philip II of Macedon, assassinated by his own bodyguard.
- 330 BC Darius III of Persia, assassinated by his general Bessus
- 323 BC Alexander III of Macedon, Died of an unknown illness, though many speculate that he was poisoned
- 317 BC Philip III of Macedon, executed by his stepmother Olympias
- 315 BC, Porus the Elder, king of Pauravas, present day India, assassinated by one of Alexander's generals
- 309 BC Alexander IV of Macedon, assassinated at the age of 14 by the regent Cassander
3rd century BC
- 294 BC Alexander V of Macedon, assassinated by Demetrius Poliorcetes
- 281 BC Seleucus I Nicator, assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus
- 249 BC Demetrius of Cyrene, assassinated by his wife Berenice II
- 246 BC Antiochus II Theos, poisoned by his wife Laodice I
- 241 BC Agis IV of Sparta, executed by ephors without a regular trial
- 233 BC Deidamia II of Epirus, assassinated during a republican revolt
- 227 BC Archidamus V of Sparta, assassinated possibly by orders of his co-ruler Cleomenes III
- 223 BC Seleucus III Ceraunus, assassinated in Anatolia by members of his army
- 223 BC Diodotus II of Bactria, killed by the usurper Euthydemus I
- 214 BC Hieronymus of Syracuse, assassinated by conspirators
- 207 BC Qin Er Shi through forced suicide put on him by his eunuch Zhao Gao
- 206 BC Ziying executed by Xiang Yu
2nd century BC
1st century BC
1st century
2nd century
3rd century
4th century
5th century
6th century
- 507 Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, at the Battle of Vouillé
- after 507 Chararic, Frankish king, killed by Clovis I after the former had abdicated and become a monk
- 509 Sigobert the Lame, Frankish king, reportedly murdered by his son Chlodoric under the instigation of Clovis I
- 509 Chlodoric, Frankish king, assassinated by followers of Clovis I
- 509 Ragnachar, Frankish king, executed by Clovis I
- 524 Sigismund of Burgundy, King of the Burgundians, by Chlodomer, King of Orleans
- 524 Chlodomer, Frankish king, killed at the Battle of Vézeronce
- 534 Godomar, King of Burgundy, killed by the Franks
- 551 Emperor Jianwen of Liang, by Hou Jing
- 555 Gubazes II of Lazica, King of Lazica, by two Byzantine generals
- 565 Diarmait mac Cerbaill, King of Tara, by Áed Dub mac Suibni
- 572 Alboin, King of the Lombards, poisoned by his wife
- 575 Sigebert I, King of Austrasia, assassinated by slaves sent by his sister-in-law
- 584 Chilperic I, King of Neustria, assassinated by an unknown assailant during a hunting expedition
- 585 Gundoald, Merovingian usurper king, killed by a stone thrown by a follower of King Guntram
- 592 Emperor Sushun of Japan, by Soga no Umako
- 596 Childebert II, King of Austrasia, poisoned
7th century
8th century
9th Century
10th century
11th century
12th century
13th century
- 1206 Muhammad of Ghor, Sultan of the Ghurid Empire, assassinated while doing evening prayers
- 1208 Philip of Swabia, king of Germany, assassinated by Otto VIII, Count Palatine of Bavaria
- 1210 Sverker II of Sweden was killed in battle by Folke Jarl
- 1213 Peter II of Aragon is killed by a northern crusader knight and lieutenant of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester; Alan de Renty during the Battle of Muret
- 1227 Ken Arok, King of Singhasari, by his stepson Anusapati
- 1240 Skule Bårdsson who was a pretender to the throne of Norway was killed in battle against Haakon IV of Norway
- 1250 Eric IV of Denmark killed by Abel, King of Denmark's chamberlain Lave Gudmundsen
- 1252 Abel, King of Denmark killed by Henner the Wheelright at Husum Bridge en route to fight Frisian Peasants
- 1259 Christopher I of Denmark poisoned by abbot Arnfast of Ryd Abbey in revenge for mistreatment of Archbishop Jacob Erlandsen
- 1286 Eric V of Denmark assassinated by a group of conspirators led by his Marshal Stig Andersen Hvide and his vassal Jacob Nielsen, Count of Halland
- 1290 Ladislaus IV of Hungary assassinated by three Cumans Árbóc, Törtel, and Kemence, at the castle of Körösszeg
- 1296 Przemysł II, King of Poland, by the Margraves of Brandenburg, some Polish families, or maybe both
14th century
- 1306 Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland
- 1308 Albert I of Germany, King of Germany, murdered by his nephew John Parricida
- 1323 Emperor Gong of Song, forced to commit suicide by Emperor Yingzong of Yuan
- 1323 Emperor Yingzong of Yuan by a plot formed among Yesün Temür's supporters
- 1327 Edward II of England after forced abdication on behalf of son Edward III of England
- 1328 Jayanegara, King of Majapahit, by Ra Tanca, his doctor
- 1359 Berdi Beg of the Golden Horde by his brother Qulpa
- 1382 Joanna I of Naples was murdered by her cousin Charles II of Hungary
- 1386 Charles II of Hungary by Blaise Forgách
- 1389 Murad I, Ottoman Sultan, assassinated by Serbian knight Miloš Obilić
- 1389 Mansa Maghan II of Mali, usurped and killed by Mansa Sandaki
- 1389 Lazar of Serbia, killed at the Battle of Kosovo
- 1390 Mansa Sandaki of Mali, usurped and killed by Mansa Maghan III/Mahmud I, brother of Maghan II
- 1395 Ivan Shishman, Tsar of Bulgaria, murdered on the order of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I
15th century
16th century
- 1513 Ahmad Shah of Malacca was murdered by his father who later succeeded him.
- 1513 James IV of Scotland, killed at the Battle of Flodden
- 1520 Moctezuma II, Emperor of the Aztecs, by either the Spanish forces led by Hernán Cortés or his own people
- 1532 Huáscar, Emperor of the Incas, executed by his brother Atahualpa
- 1533 Atahualpa, Emperor of the Incas, executed by the Spanish
- 1557 Mohammed al-Shaykh, Sultan of Morocco, by Ottoman forces
- 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots executed after a trial by an English court of 36 noblemen over the Babington Plot
- 1589 Henry III of France by Jacques Clément
17th century
- 1605 False Dmitry I, an impostor who ascended Russian throne, was overthrown and killed by a local mob in Moscow, who shot his remains out of a cannon
- 1610 Henry IV of France by François Ravaillac
- 1648 Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire executed by orders from his mother Kösem Sultan
- 1649 Charles I of England executed following a trial set up by the Rump Parliament
- 1659 Ahmad al-Abbas, Sultan of Morocco, by his uncle, Abdul Karim Abu Bakr Al-Shabani
- 1664 Muhammad ibn Sharif, Sultan of Morocco, killed in battle by troops loyal to his half-brother Moulay Rashid, who succeeded him
- 1699 Mahmud II, Sultan of Johor, murdered by Megat Seri Rama, his admiral in carriage.
18th century
- 1727 Soltan Hoseyn of the Safavid Dynasty, Shahanshah of Persia (Iran), executed on the orders of Ashraf Hotak 1747 Nader Shah of the Afshar Dynasty, Shahanshah of Persia by Salah Bey
- 1748 Adel Shah of the Afshar Dynasty, Shahanshah of Persia, executed on the orders of Shahrukh Afshar
- 1762 Peter III of Russia deposed and supposedly murdered by orders from his wife Catherine the Great shortly thereafter
- 1773 Šćepan Mali of Montenegro, on the orders of Ottoman governor Kara Mahmud Pasha
- 1782 Taksin, King of Thailand, deposed and executed in a coup
- 1792 Gustav III of Sweden by Jacob Johan Anckarström
- 1793 Louis XVI of France executed following a trial by the National Convention
- 1794 Lotf Ali Khan, last Zand king of Persia (Iran), deposed and murdered by his successor, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
- 1797 Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, Shahanshah of Persia, by Sadegh Gorji, Khodadad Esfahani and Abbas Mazandarani
19th century
20th century
- 1903 Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga by a group of army officers
- 1908 Carlos I of Portugal, assassinated with his son Infante Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal by Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buiça, both connected to the Carbonária (the Portuguese section of the Carbonari)
- 1908 The Guangxu Emperor by arsenic poisoning, perhaps on orders from Empress Dowager Cixi or Yuan Shikai.[3] [4]
- 1913 George I of Greece by Alexandros Schinas
- 1918 Nicholas II of Russia and the Imperial Family - including Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, who is sometimes referred to as Alexei II - executed by a Bolshevik firing squad under the command of Yakov Yurovsky
- 1933 Mohammed Nadir Shah, king of Afghanistan, assassinated by student Abdul Khaliq Hazara
- 1934 Alexander I of Yugoslavia by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
- 1936 George V of the United Kingdom, involuntarily euthanized by Lord Dawson of Penn
- 1938 Queen Genepil was shot during Stalinist repressions in Mongolia.
- 1946 Ananda Mahidol of Thailand. The King's death is still a mystery and may have been either regicide or suicide.
- 1948 Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, king of North Yemen, assassinated in the Alwaziri coup
- 1951 Abdullah I of Jordan by Mustafa Ashi
- 1958 Faisal II of Iraq executed by firing squad under the command of Captain Abdus Sattar As Sab, a member of the coup d'état led by Colonel Abdul Karim Qassim
- 1975 Faisal of Saudi Arabia by his nephew Faisal bin Musa'id (Assassin publicly beheaded)
- 1975 Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, widely suspected to have been murdered in his sleep by asphyxiation on the orders of the Derg junta, which had deposed him a year earlier.[5]
21st century
Notes and References
- Book: Jansen . Harry . 2010 . Triptiek van de tijd. Geschiedenis in drievoud . Nijmegen . Uitgeverij Vantilt . 179 . 9789460040511. Chris Lorenz gives a helpful example from the time of the French Revolution. He presents a royalist, Jean, who attends the decapitation of Louis XVI on 21 January 1793. That night, Jean writes in his personal diary: 'King Louis has been murdered by the rabble today.' A more revolution-inclined Pierre also keeps a personal diary, and writes down on the same night: 'Citizen Capet has been put to death by the executioner today.' Both cases concern factual statements referring to the same event. Yet Jean writes about 'King Louis', 'rabble' and 'murder', whereas Pierre talks about 'citizen Capet', 'executioner' and 'put to death'.[...] Jean mourns the death of Louis, while Pierre regards it as a case of justice served.[...] [Historian Lorenz himself] described the situation as 'the decapitation of ex-king Louis XVI', [thus recognising] the factual course of events that Louis was no longer King Louis XVI.'.
- Book: Pernicone. Nunzio. Ottanelli. Fraser M. Fatti di Maggio and Gaetano Bresci . Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe. . 2018 . 978-0-252-05056-5. 1050163307 . 10.5406/j.ctv513d7b.10 . 197856146 . 123–153.
- Mu, Eric. Reformist Emperor Guangxu was Poisoned, Study Confirms" . Danwei. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- 钟里满,耿左车,李军等 . 国家清史纂修工程重大学术问题研究专项课题成果:清光绪帝死因研究工作报告 . 清史研究 . 2008 . 4 . 1–12 .
- News: Ethiopian Court Hears How Emperor Was Killed. 15 December 2017. The Washington Post. December 15, 1994. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171231103240/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/15/ethiopian-court-hears-how-emperor-was-killed/af51020c-547c-4b9c-92df-52be6e2a2241/. 31 December 2017.
- Encyclopedia: Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva . . 2002 . Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum . nl.