The Fifth Elephant

9

Shades of both Holy Russia and the Holy Roman Empire.

Tsar Ivan “the Terrible” nailed some visiting Turkish ambassadors’ turbans to their heads when he felt they did not show him the proper respect.

(But the same story is also told of Vlad ‘Dracula’: supposedly, the Venetian ambassadors failed to take their skullcaps off before him, explaining that they had special dispensation saying that they were allowed to keep their heads covered even in the presence of the Pope, whereupon Uncle Vlad had the caps nailed to their heads.)