In the Straight Dope Classic article of July 17, 1998 that’s currently on the front page, Cecil educates us that:
In his novel Immortality, Milan Kundera relates that Tycho Brahe did in fact die at the dinner of some local luminary. What Kundera adds, however, is that Brahe died when his bladder burst. Apparently, he thought it shameful to leave the table to relieve oneself.
I thought that was worth sharing.
The link to the column being discussed: Tycho Brahe
IIRC the local luminary was the king and the reason poor Brahe didn’t get up to go to the loo was not that he thought it shameful. He just couldn’t. There was NO way anyone could leave the table before the king had downed tools. You just didn’t do that (so much for a good upbringing).
BTW He didn’t die there and then, but some time later from the peritonitis that the burst bladder caused
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“Burst Bladder”: #27 on the list of “Things That Make Me Wanna Cross My Legs When I Hear About Them.” (The list includes “Circumcision”, “Kidney Stones” and “Castration”.)
Carl Sagan repeated the story of Brahe’s untimely demise in his series Cosmos.
Thanks for the welcome, the link, and the gentle reminder. Don’t know why it slipped my mind.
Well, I read the article on Tycho Brahe at Encylcopedia Britannica and a couple of online biographies.
(aside:
EB claims that, in fact, Tycho did marry the mother of his children (Kirstine) in 1753, so there is some difference of opinion on the subject. Ironic that he died from a bladder infection, since (again according to EB) he invented some kind of pressure system to help prevent unsanitary conditions in bathrooms. I’m not sure if what he invented was a sink or a flush toilet.
BTW, one of the online biographies had a picture of his “silver nose”
end of aside)
Floater, from what I read of Tycho Brahe, he seems like an unconventional man, and not prone to exaggerated respect for authority. I’m not so sure that he would make such an effort (a bursting bladder? ouch!) to avoid seeming rude by leaving the table before the King had finished eating. And Tennessee Ben, is it possible for someone to make their bladder burst by attempting to hold it in? I would think that your body would force the release of the urine before that happened.
I would think the same thing. That’ll teach me to get my physiology from a novelist.
Oh well. It’s one of those stories that, whether it’s true or not, seems like it ought to be. No matter how he died, Brahe was an odd duck.
Wow. As he died in 1601, does that make her a necrophiliac? 
Uhh, according to EB, Tycho Brahe got married in 1573, not 1753. :o
There’s a fantastic dream sequence about Brahe’s bladder in The Saskiad by Brian Hall. The book is about a girl who grows up on an old commune in upstate New York, surrounded by books. Tycho Brahe, Odysseus, and Marco Polo are her imaginary friends.
Sorry about the hijack, but it’s a really fantastic book, and that scene in particular left an indelible impression on me.
OUCH. Reading about burst bladders makes me cringe.
But,
My former music teacher actually did this: she held it so long her bladder burst. According to her, she was really, really, really busy and kept putting off the task, until BLAMMO!
That took waaay more physical control than I have. Just call me puddles.
Well, WebMD says the following:
However, in these other WebMD articles: Traumatic injury of the bladder and urethra and Urinary Hesitancy I don’t see any mention that voluntarily “holding it in” can cause injury to the bladder.
With a Google search I found information on avoidant paruresis, a link to http://www.shybladder.org, some sites that mention the Tycho Brahe story of him dying because he didn’t want to leave the table, but no recent confirmed case of someone voluntarily causing their bladder to burst (except of course Sparteye’s former music teacher). It must be very rare.
