Ludwig’s Madness

Many books have been written and movies have been filmed about Ludwig’s increasingly eccentric acts. Taking the form of some legendary character who only appeared at night to terrify anyone unwise enough to be out late, his night-time sleigh-rides have become the stuff of fairy tales. The huge golden sleigh, with a gilt mast capped by a crown, all wrapped around by climbing gilt cherubs, and pulled by four horses, would glide silently through the night, guided by Ludwig with a huge fur greatcoat wrapped around him. Illuminated by its great torches, the sleigh was an astonishing sight, and must have frightened the more superstitious villagers into believing in the ancient Teutonic myths of troll kings.

As his mind weakened, Ludwig began to make nocturnal rides rather than travel far from home. To his disturbed mind, these rides actually represented the journeys to his destination. For instance, instead of travelling to Innsbruck in Austria, he first calculated the distance and then worked out how many laps of his stable he had to complete before claiming to have gotten there. He would then order his grooms to provide fresh horses and continue riding round and round until, sometime in the middle of the night, he would “arrive”, whereupon he would dismount and go to bed.

On the rare occasions when he was forced to hold state receptions for visiting dignitaries, he took the precaution of becoming drunk beforehand, regularly drinking at least ten glasses of champagne, so that he knew nothing of what occurred either during the evening or afterwards. During one occasion, he ordered an enormous spread of flowers and spent part of the evening hiding in it, presumably jumping out at one stage and shouting ‘boo’. On another occasion he ordered his band to play so loudly that no one could engage in conversation. Rarely entertaining anyone to dinner, his most famous guest was his horse named Cosa Rova. Ludwig was not upset at his horse breaking the dinner service with her hooves, declaring that he could at least trust horses not to indulge in deceit and treachery.

Abdication

As Ludwig grew older, his unconventional behavior became less eccentric and more distressing. By 1880 Bavaria was facing debts of close to ten million marks, but Ludwig was still demanding more – at least twenty million marks – to build a new castle with jewel-encrusted walls. When his ministers refused, Ludwig was infuriated at what he saw as treachery, threatening to leave Bavaria forever and take his skills elsewhere. When relatively few of his ministers begged him to stay, he tried to raise loans to pay off his debts, but all of his fellow European monarchs declined to extend him a loan, citing ‘cash-flow problems’ at critical moments. When no one obliged him, Ludwig devised an audacious – and extreme – scheme to rob banks throughout Germany, leading a gang of Italian bandits. His night-time rides became even more bizarre, taking him on marathon rides to such real and make-believe locations as Afghanistan and Shangri-la. Having completed these rides, he would descend from his horse and spend some time in meditation. (Regan 57)