But the financial and political dangers which arose from the king's way of life were so great that interference became necessary. On the 8th of June 1886 medical opinion declared him to be affected with chronic and incurable madness and he was pronounced incapable of governing. On the 10th of June his uncle, Prince Luitpold, assumed the regency, and after violent resistance the late king was placed under the charge of a mental specialist. On the 13th of June 1886 he met with his death by drowning in the Starnberger See, together with his doctor von Gudden, who had unwisely gone for a walk alone with his patient, whose physical strength was enormous. The details of his death will never be fully known, as the only possible eye-witness died with him. An examination of the brain revealed a condition of incurable insanity, and the faculty submitted a report giving the terrible details of his malady. Louis's brother Otto, who succeeded him as king of Bavaria, was also incurably insane. BIBLIOGRAPHY.--K. v. Heigel, _Ludwig II._ (1893); Luise v. Kobell, _Unter den vier ersten Königen Bayerns_ (1894); C. Bujer, _Ludwig II._ (1897); Luise v. Kobell, "Wilhelm I. und Ludwig II." _Deutsche Revue, 22; Ludwig II. und die Kunst_ (1898); _Ludwig II. und Bismarck_ (1870, 1899); Anonym, _Endlich völlige Klarheit über den Tod des Königs Ludwig II. ..._ (1900); Freiherr v. Völderndorff, "Aus meiner Hofzeit," in _Velhagen und Klasings Monatshefte_ (1900); Francis Gerard, _The Romance of Ludwig II. of Bavaria_; J. Bainville, _Louis II. de Bavière_ (Paris, 1900); E. v. Possart, _Die Separatvorstellungen von König Ludwig II._ (1901); O. Bray-Steinburg, _Denkwürdigkeiten_ (1901); S. Röcke, _Ludwig II. und Richard Wagner_ (1903); W. Busch, _Die Kämpfe über Reichsverfassung und Kaisertum_ (1906); Chlodwig Hohenlohe, _Denkwürdigkeiten_ (2 vols., 1907); A. v. Ruville, _Bayern und die Wiederaufrichtung des Deutschen Reiches_ (1909); K. A. v. Müller, _Bayern im Jahre 1866 und die Berufung des Fürsten Hohenlohe_ (1909); G. Kuntzel, _Bismarck und Bayern in der Zeit der Reichsgründung_ (1910); Hesselbarth, _Die Enstehung des deutsch-framözischen Krieges_ (1910); W. Strohmayer, "Die Ahnentafel Ludwigs II. und Ottos I.," _Archiv für Rassen- und Gesellschaftsbiologie_, vol. vii. (1910). (J. Hn.) FOOTNOTES: [1] It was on Wagner's advice that the king appointed Hohenlohe prime minister in 1866. See Hohenlohe-Schillingfurst, Prince Chlodwig zu, under HOHENLOHE. [ED.] [2] Hohenlohe (_Denkwürdigkeiten_) comments on the fact that the king did not even take the trouble to review the troops proceeding to the war. [ED.]