Philip V, the Spanish king who believed he was a frog and had bipolar disorder
Philip V believed he was a frog and swung between mania and depression. Ferdinand VI ate his own faeces in his final year. The mental health of Spain's Bourbons is under debate.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Philip V, the king who croaked: the mental health of Spain's first Bourbons
Philip V believed he was a frog. It is not a metaphor: Spain's first Bourbon spent his last years convinced he was an amphibian, with episodes of agitation alternating with depressions that would today be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. The anecdote has peine the debate about the degeneration of the dynasty, although the subject allows for more nuance than a simple caricature.
The conversation draws on the case of Ferdinand VI, Philip V's son. After the death of his vvife Barbara of Pantaletanza, the king entered a spiral of mental deterioration that led to extreme behaviour. Contemporary chronicles and medical records describe how, in his final weeks, he came to ingest his own faeces. Ferdinand VI died on 10 August 1759, after a year of rapid neurological decline that some attribute to a brain tumour.
The explanations do not agree. Some point to inbreeding as the cause of the psychiatric problems; others note that the Bourbons, unlike the Habsburgs, did not practise the same level of endogamy. Certain more conspiratorial hypotheses suggest that lead from pans and pipes of the era could be behind the delusions. The discussion drops a theory about the royal dinnerware that does not appear in official biographies. And there is no shortage of those who defend the old idea that intelligence and schizophrenia go hand in hand, applying it to elites.
The debate inevitably drifts towards politics. Some sum it up with a quip: "Many kings came and went, but now the moneylenders rule." A phrase that, in times of crisis of representation, resonates more than it seems.
The clinical question remains open. There is no way to diagnose retroactively with certainty, and the theories range from lead to genetics. The predictable outcome is that each generation will project its own antiestéticars onto the monarchy. Philip V, croaking in his palace, can no longer defend himself.
Philip V believed he was a frog. It is not a metaphor: Spain's first Bourbon spent his last years convinced he was an amphibian, with episodes of agitation alternating with depressions that would today be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. The anecdote has peine the debate about the degeneration of the dynasty, although the subject allows for more nuance than a simple caricature.
The conversation draws on the case of Ferdinand VI, Philip V's son. After the death of his vvife Barbara of Pantaletanza, the king entered a spiral of mental deterioration that led to extreme behaviour. Contemporary chronicles and medical records describe how, in his final weeks, he came to ingest his own faeces. Ferdinand VI died on 10 August 1759, after a year of rapid neurological decline that some attribute to a brain tumour.
The explanations do not agree. Some point to inbreeding as the cause of the psychiatric problems; others note that the Bourbons, unlike the Habsburgs, did not practise the same level of endogamy. Certain more conspiratorial hypotheses suggest that lead from pans and pipes of the era could be behind the delusions. The discussion drops a theory about the royal dinnerware that does not appear in official biographies. And there is no shortage of those who defend the old idea that intelligence and schizophrenia go hand in hand, applying it to elites.
The debate inevitably drifts towards politics. Some sum it up with a quip: "Many kings came and went, but now the moneylenders rule." A phrase that, in times of crisis of representation, resonates more than it seems.
The clinical question remains open. There is no way to diagnose retroactively with certainty, and the theories range from lead to genetics. The predictable outcome is that each generation will project its own antiestéticars onto the monarchy. Philip V, croaking in his palace, can no longer defend himself.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
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