Explanation and Warning

It was recently brought to my attention that since 2010 I have written profiles on all the rulers of the original Julio-Claudian dynasty of the Roman Empire except for one. I have covered Julius Caesar, Emperor Augustus, Emperor Tiberius, Emperor Claudius and even Emperor Nero. Readers will probably notice what name is conspicuously absent from that list. The person who pointed this out to me also noted that I had tried to be positive in my coverage of even notorious emperors such as Tiberius and Nero. I will stop there to add that I do not share the opinion of most people regarding Emperor Tiberius. Yes, he went a little off the deep end toward the end of his life but I maintain that if one looks at the bare facts and not the salacious gossip he was a pretty good, strong and stable emperor.

However, I think it is no secret that when it comes to these monarch profiles I am coming from a sympathetic point of view and try to emphasize the good since there is certainly no shortage of people willing to emphasize the bad. However, I try to be as fair as possible and I have covered controversial monarchs in the past. In the case of Emperor Nero, I don’t think I was being favorable at all but simply fair. In any event, the person who brought this up was making the argument that it seemed I was purposely omitting that one member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty because there was simply no way I could put a positive “spin” on the guy and so was trying to sweep him under the rug (so to speak).

I can assure everyone that that was certainly never my intention. I honestly did not realize that I had not written a profile about the emperor in question, perhaps because I had written a very extensive piece on him many years ago. His name, of course, came up when I was writing my “Emperor’s Library” series but, by pure chance, he was not included in that and I do recall thinking at the time that his story would be rather difficult to write about simply because there is so much to his story that is not proper for polite conversation. Believe it or not, I really had no intention of purposely ignoring this monarch simply because it is an unpleasant subject for someone of my point of view. Personally, I have no problem with it, his short hold on power in no way effects my beliefs and opinions. Still, I am sure some will not like it and I cannot help that. Because so much requires explanation, it will be a rather lengthy piece but I am determined to post it all at once rather than in 2 or 3 parts simply because I would prefer not to linger on this particular subject.

Something else I want to make clear is that I do not write on subjects in response to someone daring me to do so. I would never write something just because someone complained that I had not, just out of principle and also because I would never be finished with all of them. I did have to take notice that I had written a profile for every monarch of the original Roman Imperial Family save one and that is the only reason that I have decided to go ahead with this. I wanted everyone to know the back story here, to know why I am doing this and to be warned in case any would prefer to skip it (certainly understandable). There will be some extremely scandalous and despicable behavior being talked about so I am warning you all now. I don’t want to get any angry comments from people in Kansas saying that I ruined the lives of their children who were reading my blog. Everyone is on notice, the subject of the next monarch profile will be the (notorious) Emperor Gaius “Caligula”.

Comments & Blog Business

The last five all at once have done it for me; "Anonymous" comments will no longer be accepted. It doesn't matter much to me other than the fact that there were occasionally good ones but most I immediately deleted anyway. There have been a few painfully obvious trolls at work, one at least I do have to salute for being a persistent little SOB, going on very lengthy rants against the Manchu dynasty anytime China was even mentioned in a post despite the fact that most were out of place and immediately deleted. I also get very tired of those who pretend to be regular readers thinking that their criticism will somehow "hurt" more -even though it is blatantly obvious that they are not. No one who is in any way hostile toward monarchy or a fan of republicans could possibly be a regular reader...unless they are a masochist or something I guess. This is a blog by a monarchist for monarchists to (hopefully) enjoy. If some open-minded republicans happen to read it and be converted -great, but I have no desire to deal with devoted republicans/revolutionaries/assorted leftists. If you're a republican, democrat, revolutionary, socialist, communist etc there are plenty of other places where you will be welcome and can in comfort congratulate yourselves on destroying human civilization. You will not be happy here and I have no desire to hear you cry about how disturbing you find my little corner of the internet. However, that being said, I am sure this will not totally be "the end". I've never actually posted my email address but plenty have been able to figure it out and send me fan mail pretty consistently, and that's fine. I do rather enjoy hearing them howl when they are pricked and it is so easy considering that they seem to be a rather thin-skinned, humorless lot. For all actual readers, followers, members & subscribers I do hope you enjoy the posts and will continue on with me as long as these old bones hold me up.

Keep it Royal!

Comments & Company Policy

Having been reluctantly obliged to delete several comments & links within the last week I thought it appropriate to lay out some of the basic policies of The Mad Monarchist in case anyone has missed the trend. The paramount issue behind most of these has been plain and simple bigotry. Whether religious, ethnic or national such talk will not be tolerated here. Policies, actions, individuals even and actual events can be bad or evil but there the list ends. Why so strict? I am a pan-monarchist and the backbone "theme" of this blog is pan-monarchism and regardless of my own feelings I will not tolerate comments or give webspace to anything which encourages hatred between monarchists regardless of their religion or nationality. I recently had to deal with a carpet-bombing campaign across my web dominions of anti-Catholicism. I have featured monarchs, monarchies and monarchists on this blog who were Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto and Buddhist to name a few. Anyone who can refrain from making negative or inflamatory comments about one can do so for the rest or they can take a hike. On the other side there was a derogatory comment about the former Kingdom of Tibet that had to be deleted which came from a professed Catholic. This little advisory is not meant to squelch criticism (as any reader of this blog should know) but blanket insults against entire religions, ethnic groups or nations will not be allowed. Be outraged, be vicious if you like, but be specific and remember that this is a monarchist blog so if you bash a monarchy don't be surprised if your comment never appears. Also keep in mind that it is a pan-monarchist blog and monarchists need to attract supporters not drive them away with prejudice. I'll leave it there for now but will of course answer any questions anyone might have. I am trying to be fair, not trying to be nice but remember I am often angry, always deranged and I am - The Mad Monarchist.