A certain conventional wisdom characterizes — and caricatures — Emperor Norton as an imperious, high-handed blusterer with something of a dictator complex.

But a countervailing body of evidence shows that, on matters that the Emperor saw as being of greatest consequence, his impulse often was not to try to rule by fiat — but rather to call on recognized leaders to gather at specified location a few months hence; organize themselves as a council; and chart the most productive specific path forward within the general parameters that he had set.

Or, on occasion, the Emperor cast himself in a supporting role by offering himself as a neutral diplomat to broker a peace between disputing parties.

Presented here are four examples showing how Emperor Norton’s insistence on a well-ordered and just society arose from the instincts of a thoughtful reformer seeking to bring together leaders for the purpose of influencing and leveraging their collective agendas and actions — and that he was not the cartoon autocrat of “weird history” podcasts and drive-by social media reels.