28th January 1393: Charles VI of France and the Bal des Ardents скачать в хорошем качестве

28th January 1393: Charles VI of France and the Bal des Ardents

Charles VI of France inherited the throne when he was 11 years old, but the government was dominated by his regents for a decade before he took up personal rule. The return of his father’s trusted advisors brought renewed prosperity and respect for the crown, but Charles soon began experiencing extreme episodes of psychosis. In response to the king’s mental illness his doctor, Guillaume de Harsigny, stated that ‘pleasure and forgetfulness will be better for him than anything else.’ In response, the court began to organise extravagant festivities that included an elaborate masquerade to celebrate the third marriage of Charles’ wife Queen Isabeau’s lady-in-waiting, Catherine de Fastaverin. Tradition dictated that a woman’s remarriage should be marked with a charivari or mock-serenade and, on the suggestion of Huguet de Guisay, six nobles performed a frenzied dance while dressed as wood savages. They wore linen costumes soaked in resin or pitch and covered with flax and frazzled hemp to give the appearance of being covered in shaggy hair. These materials were highly flammable, so guests were forbidden from carrying torches close to the dancers. Despite this decree the king’s brother, Louis of Orléans, and Phillipe de Bar entered the hall carrying torches after the performance had begun. The exact details are unclear, but it is recorded that a spark ignited one of the dancers which quickly set fire to others. The king was saved by Joan, Duchess of Berry, who covered him with her skirt to shield him from the sparks while a second dancer jumped into an open vat of wine to extinguish the flames. The remaining four dancers died horrific deaths.