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These Vicious Crimes Will Make You See the Medieval Period in a New Light

Khalid Elhassan November 25, 2022 31 min

A Criminal Medieval Emperor

The young Zhengde Emperor liked to travel incognito – although most of the time it was obvious just who he was. He was into make believe in a big way. He created an alter ego for himself, a general Zhu Zhu, upon whom he lavished praise and rewards. He also built a city block within the imperial palace so he could pretend to be a shopkeeper. Less innocent and harmful was his habit of taking his companions on thrill raids. They burst into the homes of rich citizens, violently kidnapped their daughters, and held them for ransom.

Officials who criticized the emperor’s erratic and irresponsible criminal behavior were arrested, tortured, and executed by the hundreds. The young emperor eventually drowned in 1521 when his pleasure barge capsized, an accident that finally brought his reign to a merciful end. Although he left the scene, the damage he left behind proved permanent. In the Zhengde Emperor’s reign, without oversight from the throne, palace eunuchs secured so much power within the government’s structure that subsequent emperors were unable to dislodge them.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.