Charles VI of France

Early life and imperial vicariate

Charles was born on 3 December 1368 in the royal residence of the Hotel Saint-Pol in Paris, the son of King Charles V of France and Queen Joanna of Bourbon.^[1][2] He was born eight years after the death of his elder brother John, the previous heir to the throne.^[3] By surviving his older siblings, Charles became the heir apparent and received the title and appanage of the Dauphine at birth, making him the first French prince in history to hold the title of Dauphin of France from birth.^[3] Jean Froissart noted in his chronicles that the young prince displayed a cheerful, active disposition and a fascination with chivalric deeds and military equipment.^[4] When Charles V tested the boy by presenting him with a choice between a royal crown and a warrior's steel helmet, the young Charles reportedly chose the helmet.^[5] In his youth, Charles received his education from the knight, diplomat, and writer Philippe de Mezieres.^[6][7]

At that time, the region of Dauphine was under effective French administration, but Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV still claimed ultimate suzerainty over it as part of the Kingdom of Arles within the Holy Roman Empire.^[8][9] To resolve imperial sensitivities, an arrangement was concluded in 1378 whereby Emperor Charles IV appointed the young prince Charles as the imperial vicar of the Kingdom of Burgundy for his lifetime.^[8][9]

Minority and the government of the uncles (1380–1388)

Charles V died on 16 September 1380 at the castle of Beaute-sur-Marne, leaving his eleven-year-old son to inherit the realm.^[10] Under an ordinance issued by Charles V in 1374, the royal age of majority had been established at fourteen years, which was also the canonical age of accountability under Roman Catholic canon law.^[11][12] Anticipating a minority, Charles V had devised a system to prevent any single prince of the blood from capturing total authority: Queen Joanna was designated guardian of the royal children, while Louis I, Duke of Anjou, the eldest paternal uncle, was assigned political governance without control of royal finances.^[12] However, Queen Joanna had predeceased her husband in 1378, throwing these plans into disarray and leaving the regency to customary feudal law, under which the eldest uncle expected primary authority.^[13]

Struggles for the regency and coronation

Immediately following the funeral of Charles V in late September 1380, a council convened in Paris to resolve the regency.^[13] A bitter struggle erupted between Louis I of Anjou and his younger brothers, John, Duke of Berry, and Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, alongside the king's maternal uncle, Louis II, Duke of Bourbon.^[13] As both factions began assembling armed forces around Paris, bloodshed was averted through compromise.^[13] On 2 October, the princes persuaded the council to recognize the young king as technically having attained his majority, thus formally limiting the duration of an official sole regency to two months.^[14] Anjou was granted limited executive authority as president of the council, while Philip the Bold and Bourbon were assigned custody and education of the royal children.^[13] On 30 November 1380, a collegiate system of government was instituted, creating a Great Council of fifty members spanning all estates, within which twelve councillors selected by the dukes managed practical oversight.^[13][14]

The transition was marked by financial wrongdoing. Louis of Anjou forcibly misappropriated approximately seventeen million francs from the royal treasury, along with crown jewels and bars of gold and silver that formed the kingdom's emergency reserves, by threatening the royal treasurer, Philippe de Savoisy, with execution.^[14] The council accepted the immediate resignation of Chancellor Pierre d'Orgemont, who departed anticipating impending disaster, and appointed the Bishop of Beauvais in his place, while Olivier V de Clisson was confirmed as Constable of France. In the council, Philip the Bold maintained the dominant political influence, using his position as royal guardian to shape policy.^[14][15] Louis of Anjou focused on his Italian ambitions, John of Berry was primarily interested in administering his vast appanage in Languedoc, and Louis of Bourbon played a minor role due to his lower princely status and signs of mental instability.^[15][16]

Charles VI traveled to Reims and was crowned King of France in Reims Cathedral on 4 November 1380 by the Archbishop of Reims, having been knighted earlier that day by the Duke of Anjou.^[11][14] Following the coronation, Charles knighted four young nobles, including two of his cousins from the House of Bar, and received oaths of fealty from the nobility and popular representatives. At the coronation banquet, Philip the Bold took the seat of the eldest uncle at the king's right hand, telling the Duke of Anjou that the place belonged to him by right; Anjou did not dare to resist, believing that his younger brother was acting with the king's consent. The royal party made a solemn entry into Paris beneath triumphal arches, celebrated over three days with lavish tournaments, banquets, and fountains flowing with wine, milk, and scented water.

Fiscal policies and popular revolts

On his deathbed, Charles V had repealed the hearth taxes (fouages) across the northern provinces (pays de langue d'oil), creating severe budgetary deficits for his successors.^[17][18] With English invasions paused due to domestic turmoil in England, the French population saw no justification for continued war taxation.^[18] In November 1380, the regency council convened the Estates-General and published an ordinance on 16 November abolishing all extraordinary taxes created since the reign of Philip IV the Fair.^[18] The loss of revenue threatened royal operations, and anti-tax riots erupted in various cities alongside attacks on tax collectors and Jewish communities.^[19][20] In February 1381, a new assembly of the Estates agreed to grant a temporary tax for warfare for one year, but city contributions fell well short of expenditures.^[21]

In 1382, when Louis of Anjou diverted 60,000 francs from tax aids and melted down 50,000 francs worth of royal gold and silver plate to finance his expedition to claim the Kingdom of Naples, the regency reinstated indirect sales taxes without consent by an ordinance on 17 January.^[20][22][23] This measure sparked widespread tax revolts known collectively as the Harelle.^[17][24][25] On 27 February 1382, an uprising broke out in Rouen, followed by insurrections in Caen, Falaise, Reims, Orleans, Amiens, and Laon.^[24] On 1 March 1382, the Maillotin revolt erupted in Paris.^[20][24] Rioters seized iron and lead mallets from the city arsenal, murdered royal tax collectors, ransacked houses, and attacked Jewish residents.^[20][24][26] The rioters broke into prisons and freed inmates, including the former Provost of Paris, Hugues Aubriot, who refused their offer to lead the rebellion.^[26][27]

The royal court evacuated Paris, first to Vincennes and then to Melun. The Duke of Anjou gathered troops that ravaged the suburbs of Paris, and the city was brought to submission and forced to pay a fine of 100,000 francs. Although royal officials initially offered pardons, severe repression followed.^[27] Philip the Bold instituted a formal ritual of royal retribution, which was applied first to Rouen, where city gates were torn down, municipal self-government was revoked, civic offices were placed under a royal bailli, and leaders were executed.^[28] In Paris, royal troops garrisoned the city for seven weeks, imposing heavy fines, executing dozens of prominent citizens, and drowning suspected rebels in the River Seine.^[20][29][30] The municipal privileges of Paris were formally suspended on 27 January 1383, placing the provostship and trade guilds under direct crown control.^[29] Full royal pardon was granted only on 1 March 1383 during a staged submission where heads of households knelt bareheaded before the king at the palace.^[30] In Languedoc, municipal consulats were seized and an enormous collective fine of 800,000 francs was imposed to punish the region and crush the peasant and urban revolt of the Tuchins.^[31]

Foreign affairs and Flanders campaigns

During the regency, France took an active stance in the Western Schism, rejecting overtures from Hungarian and Castilian embassies sent to promote Pope Urban VI in Rome and maintaining loyalty to the Avignon Papacy of Clement VII. In late July 1380, two months before the death of Charles V, the Earl of Buckingham, uncle of King Richard II of England, had landed at Calais with 3,000 foot and mounted soldiers and 4,000 archers, marching through Artois, Picardy, and Champagne to Maine. Duke John IV of Brittany, who was friendly to the English, played a double game: he let Buckingham into Brittany and proposed that he besiege Nantes, promising to join him within fifteen days, but did not keep his word, and Buckingham, lacking the troops for an assault, withdrew. In early 1381, France and Brittany concluded a secret treaty in Paris, allowing the English expedition to depart peacefully while Brittany reaffirmed its vassalage to Charles VI.

In Flanders, Count Louis II of Male faced a massive insurrection by the weavers of Ghent led by Philip van Artevelde, who captured Bruges on 3 May 1382.^[32][33] Louis of Male appealed to his son-in-law, Philip the Bold, heir to the County of Flanders.^[32] Philip convinced the fourteen-year-old Charles VI, eager for military glory, to lead a royal army of over 20,000 men into Flanders, supported by Clement VII who treated the expedition as a crusade against Urbanist rebels.^[32][34][35] On 27 November 1382, the French forces met Artevelde's army at the Battle of Roosebeke.^[36] The Flemish pikemen charged the French center, but the French forces held firm and executed a double envelopment with cavalry on the flanks, annihilating the rebel ranks and killing Artevelde.^[36][37] Despite the victory benefiting Philip the Bold's personal inheritance, Charles VI ordered the burning of Courtrai to avenge the French knights killed at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302.^[38] Philip the Bold dismantled Courtrai's famous Jacquemart mechanical clock, transporting it to Dijon, where it was mounted on the tower of Notre-Dame of Dijon.^[39][40]

In 1383, Bishop Henry Despenser of Norwich led an English crusade in Flanders on behalf of Urban VI, landing at Calais in May with 3,000 men and besieging Ypres.^[41][42] Charles VI and Philip the Bold mobilized the royal army at Arras in August, forcing Despenser to lift the siege and retreat to Bergues and Bourbourg, where the English garrison capitulated and negotiated their evacuation.^[43] When Louis of Male died in January 1384, Philip the Bold assumed rule over Flanders, fortifying Lille and Sluis and ending the rebellion through the Treaty of Tournai on 18 December 1385 by confirming Flemish municipal privileges in exchange for submission.^{[44][45][46][47]}

The crown pursued additional territorial and economic policies during this period. On 20 March 1385, Charles VI permanently confiscated the County of Evreux and the Cotentin from King Charles II of Navarre, using an alleged poisoning attempt by Navarre's agents as justification.^[48][49] To restore northern textile commerce, Philip the Bold struck Flemish gold nobles with a slightly lower gold content than English coin; in April 1385, the royal council followed this success by officially devaluing the French franc to stimulate trade and liquidity.^[50][51] Meanwhile, preparations were launched in 1386 and 1387 for an invasion of England.^[3] A fleet of 1,287 vessels was assembled at Sluis alongside prefabricated wooden assault fortifications.^[3] However, the Duke of Berry delayed until the autumn storms began, forcing the king to abandon the invasion.^[3] A French expeditionary force dispatched to assist King Robert II of Scotland returned home in spring 1386 with heavy losses following disputes with the Scots.

Marriage and relations with Armenia

To secure alliances within the Holy Roman Empire and counteract English ties to the House of Luxembourg, the royal uncles arranged a marriage alliance with the House of Wittelsbach.^[52][53] Princesses from Lorraine, Lancaster, Austria, and Bavaria were evaluated, and portraits were commissioned.^[52] Charles insisted on meeting his prospective bride in person, declaring he would only marry a woman who pleased him.^[52][54] Isabeau of Bavaria, daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti, was escorted to Amiens by the Duchess of Brabant; upon her arrival, her German clothing was replaced with contemporary French court fashion.^[52] Charles was immediately enamored and married her on 17 July 1385 in Amiens Cathedral, with her royal coronation following shortly thereafter.^[52][55][56]

In June 1384, King Levon V (Leo VI) of Cilician Armenia arrived at the French royal court in Paris seeking assistance to recover his realm, following his release from Mamluk captivity in Cairo.^[57] Philippe de Mezieres, who had previously served the Lusignans of Cyprus, used his influence as royal councillor to champion Levon's cause.^[6] Charles VI granted Levon a lavish reception outside Paris, provided him with the Chateau of Saint-Ouen, an annual royal pension, and a seat on the royal council.^[57] Supported by Mezieres, who advocated for Christian unity in works such as Le Songe du Vieil Pelerin, Levon acted as an official diplomatic mediator between France and England to end the Hundred Years' War and redirect European armies toward the defense of Middle Eastern Christians.^[6][58]

Breton affair and the Guelders expedition

Tensions in Brittany threatened royal stability in 1387 when Duke John IV arrested Constable Olivier de Clisson during an assembly of the Breton nobility at Vannes.^[59] Clisson, who maintained low taxes on his estates and served as the monarch's representative, had incurred the enmity of both John IV and the Duke of Berry.^[60][61] John IV released Clisson only after extorting a ransom of 100,000 francs and enforcing a disadvantageous treaty.^[59] When Clisson sought redress from Charles VI, the royal uncles offered no support, resentful of the Constable's influence.^[59]

Concurrently, Duke William of Guelders formed an alliance with King Richard II of England and sent an insulting challenge written in Latin to Charles VI.^[62][63] Philip the Bold persuaded the royal council to launch an invasion of Guelders to secure his own border territories.^[63] In August 1388, Charles VI led an army of 6,000 men from Montereau.^[64] To avoid damaging the lands of Philip's ally, the Duchess of Brabant, the army took an eastward circuitous route through difficult terrain.^[65] Autumn rains flooded the rivers and bogged down the supply trains, enabling William of Guelders to negotiate an honorable submission at Corenzich on 13 October 1388 without fighting.^[65] The subsequent French retreat through the Ardennes proved disastrous, as supply wagons were lost, swollen rivers claimed lives, and German raiding companies ambushed the columns, generating severe public resentment against the Duke of Burgundy.^[65]

Personal rule and the Marmousets (1388–1392)

On 28 October 1388, Charles VI arrived in Reims at the head of his returning army.^[66] Although royal legal majority was fourteen, twenty was customary for nobles to assume full management of estates.^[66] On 3 November 1388, a full council was convened at the episcopal palace of Reims.^[67][68] Pierre Aycelin de Montaigut, Cardinal Bishop of Laon and former councillor of Charles V, formally asked whether the king was of an age to govern without tutors.^[68] With the concurrence of the Archbishop of Reims and military commanders, Charles VI declared that he would assume personal control of the kingdom, thanking his uncles for their past services and dismissing them from the royal council.^[67][68] The Cardinal of Laon died suddenly the following day, with contemporaries universally suspecting poison.^[67]

Charles VI entrusted executive authority to former advisers of his father, whom the displaced dukes derisively termed the Marmousets.^[7][69][70] This group included Constable Olivier de Clisson, Bureau de La Riviere as master of the palace, Jean Le Mercier and Jean de Montagu in charge of finances, and Arnaud de Corbie as chancellor.^[7][70] The Marmousets introduced administrative and fiscal reforms: judicial functions in the Parlement of Paris were balanced equally between clerical and lay councillors, public offices were made elective through the royal council, and specialized financial bodies, such as the Cour des Aides, were reorganized. Coinage was regulated through the introduction of secret marks, Paris had its ancient privileges returned, and Jean Juvenal des Ursins, appointed provost of the merchants of Paris, worked to restore the river fleet. In 1389, a three-year truce was negotiated with England at Leulinghem, earning Charles popularity and the moniker the Beloved.^[69][71]

Between late 1389 and early 1390, Charles VI undertook a royal progress through the south of France, accompanied by his council.^[13] In Avignon, he met Antipope Clement VII and celebrated the coronation of his cousin Louis II of Anjou as King of Naples on 1 November 1389.^[13] Continuing into Languedoc to inspect local administration, the Marmousets uncovered extensive financial corruption committed during the governorship of the Duke of Berry.^[13] Berry's chief financial treasurer, Betizac, who had embezzled 100,000 francs for himself, was arrested, convicted of financial crimes and heresy, and burned at the stake.^[13] Charles made his principal residence at the Hotel Saint-Pol in Paris, an expansive estate featuring audience chambers, council rooms, chapels, tennis courts, a menagerie housing lions, and heated rooms.

Mental illness

The successful early years of personal rule ended abruptly in 1392 when Charles VI experienced his first major psychotic episode.^[72][73][74] The king had experienced bouts of high fever and abnormal irritability in April 1392, reacting violently to loud noises and exhibiting irregular gestures.^[74][75] Pierre de Craon attempted to assassinate Constable Olivier V de Clisson.^[73] Clisson survived severe wounds, but Craon fled to Brittany, where Duke John IV refused to surrender him.^[73] Charles assembled an army at Le Mans to invade Brittany.^[73][74]

The crisis in the Forest of Le Mans

Charles departed Le Mans with his army on a hot morning in August 1392, wearing a black velvet doublet and a red hat, having recently suffered another bout of fever in Amiens.^[73][74] As the party traveled through the forest of Le Mans, a barefoot, ragged leper dashed from the trees, grabbed the king's bridle, and shouted that the king was betrayed and must ride no further.^[73][76] Escorts struck the man to clear the path but did not arrest him, and he followed the procession for half an hour repeating his cries.^[76] At midday, as the column emerged from the woods into the heat, a page dozing in the saddle dropped the king's lance, which struck loudly against a steel helmet carried by another page.^[73][77]

Startled by the clash, Charles drew his sword, shouted that traitors were delivering him to the enemy, spurred his mount, and charged his own retinue.^[73][77] He killed a knight known as the Bastard of Polignac and three other soldiers, and pursued his brother Louis of Orleans, who escaped into the forest.^[78][79] The king slashed at his escort for nearly an hour until his sword broke, whereupon royal chamberlain Guillaume Martel leaped onto his horse from behind and dragged him to the ground.^[75] Charles lay rigid, unresponsive, and slipped into a coma that lasted two days, his body cooling while physicians detected only faint heart tones.^[73][77] He was taken to the castle of Creil, where it was hoped that good air and pleasant surroundings would bring him back to his senses.^[77] When he regained consciousness, he asked forgiveness for what he had done.^[80]

The Bal des Ardents

On 29 January 1393, Queen Isabeau organized a masquerade ball at the Hotel Saint-Pol to celebrate the remarriage of her lady-in-waiting, Catherine de Fastaverin (Catherine the German).^[81] At the suggestion of courtier Huguet de Guisay, Charles VI and five noblemen disguised themselves as wild men (hommes sauvages), donning linen suits soaked in pitch, resin, and wax covered with shaggy flax and hemp sewn directly to their bodies.^[82] The king ordered the torch-bearers to stand at the side of the room, and the dancers were chained to one another.^[83][84] The king's brother, Louis of Orleans, arrived late and intoxicated, carrying a lighted torch into the room to discern the identity of the dancers.^[83][84] The torch touched one of the flammable costumes, which ignited immediately and spread across the chained performers.^[83][84]

Panic engulfed the banquet hall as flames engulfed the dancers.^[83][85] The Duchess of Berry recognized Charles VI, threw the voluminous train of her gown over him, and held him down to suffocate the flames, saving his life.^[83][85] Four dancers perished in the fire: Charles de Poitiers (son of the Count of Valentinois), Huguet de Guisay, Yvain de Foix, and the Count of Joigny.^[86] A fifth nobleman, Jean, son of the Lord of Nantouillet, saved himself by leaping into a large tub of dishwater in the pantry.^[85][86] The horror of the event caused Charles to suffer a total relapse into madness, during which he failed to recognize his family, forgot his identity as king, and demanded the removal of Queen Isabeau from his presence.^[87][88]

Manifestations of illness and glass delusion

For the remaining thirty years of his life, Charles experienced alternating cycles of psychosis and lucidity.^[87][88][89] Modern counts identify between 44 and 52 discrete psychotic episodes between 1392 and his death, lasting anywhere from three to nine months, interspersed with remissions of three to five months.^[75][90][91] During these periods, he failed to recognize his children and accused Isabeau of being a strange woman sent to spy on him.^[87][88] In 1395–1396, he claimed his name was Saint George and that his arms consisted of a lion impaled on a sword; he defaced royal Valois arms found on his tableware and danced violently in his chambers.^[92] During psychotic episodes, he sprinted through the corridors of the Hotel Saint-Pol until exhausted, prompting officials to wall up doorways to keep him contained.^[93] In 1405, he refused to wash, shave, or change clothes for five months, requiring ten to twelve armored attendants wearing hidden breastplates to bathe and change him by force.^[93]

Charles VI also exhibited the condition known as glass delusion.^[94][95][96] Writing in his Commentaries, Pope Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini) noted that Charles frequently believed his body was made of glass and feared he would shatter upon contact with others.^[94][95][96] To protect himself, the king had iron rods sewn into his clothing and traveled in cushioned carriages pulled slowly by oxen rather than riding horseback.^[94][95] Royal secretary Pierre Salmon spent considerable time in discussion with Charles during his periods of intermittent psychosis and oversaw the production of two richly illuminated versions of his Dialogues, a set of guidebooks to good kingship.^[97][98]

Medical treatments and Odette de Champdivers

Courtiers sought numerous treatments for the king, ranging from traditional medical regimens of bleeding, trepanning, and sedatives to superstitious practices.^[99] Self-proclaimed sorcerers and alchemists were hired at great expense, including one who administered crushed pearls that caused agonizing stomach ailments.^[99] A swindler named Perchier, who posed as a wandering monk, was arrested after boasting while drunk in Paris that he wished to poison the king; the king's physician examined a pouch of herbs taken from his neck and concluded that one herb could cure madness and another was certainly poisonous, and Perchier was hanged for lese-majesty. When the king demonstrated affection only toward his sister-in-law Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orleans, courtiers and rival princes accused her of witchcraft and poisoning, forcing her exile from the royal court in 1395.^[100]

Around 1405 to 1407, Queen Isabeau established a separate household, leaving her husband under the care of Odette de Champdivers, the daughter of a royal horse master.^[88] Nicknamed la petite reine (the little queen), Odette spent sixteen years at the king's side until his death, and she alone could calm his fits of rage; according to chroniclers, a single reproachful look was usually enough.^[101] Odette is credited with introducing playing cards to France, ordering them from a painter who was paid six sous parisis from the treasury; the king took up the game with her and greeted each win with the cry "I have beaten the English!" In 1407, Odette gave birth to a daughter, Marguerite de Valois, whom Charles VII formally legitimized in 1428.^[102]

The etiology of Charles VI's madness remains debated by historians and medical researchers. Contemporaries often suspected demonic possession, witchcraft, or ergotism (poisoning from spurred rye).^[75][99] Since the late nineteenth century, modern retrospective diagnoses have suggested hereditary schizophrenia, noting that his mother Joanna of Bourbon suffered a major psychotic breakdown in 1373, his maternal uncle Louis II of Bourbon exhibited melancholia, and his great-great-grandfather Robert of Clermont experienced mental instability.^[72][103] Other proposed diagnoses include bipolar affective disorder, porphyria, neurosarcoidosis, arsenic poisoning, and typhoid encephalopathy.^{[75][104][105][106][107][108][109]} The physical fevers that preceded his breakdowns, alongside skin eruptions, have also been cited by advocates of an infectious trigger.^[75][110]

Domestic and foreign affairs under regency councils (1392–1407)

The king's madness allowed his uncles, John of Berry, Philip the Bold and Louis II of Bourbon, to regain power, and the princes drove the Marmousets from government.^[111] On 17 September 1394, Charles VI issued an irrevocable royal ordinance ordering the permanent expulsion of all Jews from the royal domain.^[112] The edict stated that numerous complaints had been received regarding financial misconduct and violations of agreements.^[112] According to the chronicler of Saint-Denis, the decree was promoted by Queen Isabeau.^[112] Jewish residents were granted a grace period to liquidate real property and settle accounts, escorted by royal provosts to the borders, while Christian subjects were subsequently released from debts owed to Jewish lenders.^[112]

Diplomatic efforts brought a prolonged truce with England. The truce concluded at Leulinghem in 1389 was extended several times, and in 1396 King Richard II of England married Charles VI's daughter Isabella.^[71][113] However, Richard II was deposed in 1399 by Henry IV of Lancaster, and the alliance lost its effect. In church affairs, France twice refused obedience to the rival popes, in 1398 and 1408, while theologians of the University of Paris, with the support of the authorities, preached the priority of councils over popes. The idea of crusade also revived: in 1390–1391, the king's uncle Louis II of Bourbon led an unsuccessful campaign against the Muslims of Tunisia, while in 1396, French knights led by John the Fearless took part in the crusade of King Sigismund of Hungary against the Turks, which ended in catastrophe at Nicopolis, where the Ottoman army of Sultan Bayezid I crushed the crusaders. French chronicler Froissart alleged that Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, had covertly warned Bayezid of the crusaders' strength due to rivalries with the French princes.^[114] In 1399, France dispatched Marshal Boucicaut with 1,200 men to Constantinople, temporarily repelling Ottoman forces from the Byzantine capital.^[115]

Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War (1407–1415)

Following the death of Philip the Bold in April 1404, his son and successor John the Fearless clashed fiercely with the king's brother, Louis I, Duke of Orleans.^[70][111] Louis of Orleans had gained preeminence on the regency council with the support of Queen Isabeau, amid widespread rumors that he was her lover.^[70][111] In 1405, armed conflict was narrowly averted when John the Fearless marched on Paris while Louis and Isabeau attempted to move the heir apparent, Dauphin Louis, Duke of Guyenne, to Melun.^[70] On 23 November 1407, assassins hired by John the Fearless ambushed and murdered Louis of Orleans on the Rue Vieille-du-Temple in Paris.^[70] John the Fearless did not deny responsibility, and in March 1408 the University doctor Jean Petit gave a speech before the king and court that accused the murdered Louis of tyranny and justified the killing. In 1409, at Chartres, the princes swore before the king to forget their grievances, and the king pardoned John the Fearless.^[116]

The murder initiated the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War.^[70] In 1410, Louis of Orleans's son, Charles, Duke of Orleans, married Bonne d'Armagnac, daughter of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac; the Orleans party took its more common name, the Armagnacs, from Bernard, its most active member. Bernard brought Gascon bands to his party's aid, who wore on their chests the family emblem of the counts of Armagnac, a white cross. In Paris, John the Fearless relied on his party and the support of the Parisian population. In April 1413, a revolt broke out in Paris led by the skinner Simon Caboche, after whom the rebels were called Cabochiens. The rebels seized the Bastille, broke into the palace of the Dauphin Louis, Duke of Guyenne, killed his friends, and then killed every Armagnac they found in Paris. Under pressure from the rebels, the Great Reform Ordinance was issued on 26–27 May 1413, setting out a detailed plan of administrative, financial and judicial reforms. However, when the Cabochiens took control of the Estates and the city courts and began levying taxes, the Sorbonne and the wealthier burghers of Paris changed sides; John the Fearless fled Paris on 23 August 1413, Armagnac troops entered the city on 1 September, and the Great Reform Ordinance was repealed on 5 September.

English invasion and the Treaty of Troyes (1415–1420)

Taking advantage of the continuing civil war in France, King Henry V of England invaded France in 1415.^[117] In August 1415, Henry landed an army at the mouth of the Seine and captured Harfleur after a month-long siege. In 1415 the English defeated the French army at the Battle of Agincourt.^{[118][119][120]} Dauphin Louis died of illness in December 1415, followed in April 1417 by his brother John, Duke of Touraine, leaving Charles, Count of Ponthieu, as the new Dauphin.^[3]

In 1417 the English took Normandy, and in 1419 they took Rouen.^[119] In Paris, Bernard VII of Armagnac imposed a reign of terror, exiling Queen Isabeau to Tours.^[3] In November 1417, Isabeau escaped from Tours to Troyes, where she reconciled with John the Fearless and established a rival regency council.^[3] On 29 May 1418, Parisian citizens opened the gates to Burgundian forces; a massacre ensued, resulting in the slaughter of Armagnac partisans and the murder of Bernard VII.^[3] Dauphin Charles fled Paris to Bourges with the assistance of Parisian provost Tanneguy du Chastel.^[3] With the war against England going badly, the two factions sought a reconciliation, and in 1419 negotiations were held at Montereau.^[121] On 10 September 1419, members of the Dauphin's entourage killed John the Fearless there.^[121][122]

To avenge his father's death, John's son Philip the Good allied with the English and opened negotiations with Henry V.^{[122][123][124]} On 21 May 1420, Charles VI and Queen Isabeau signed the Treaty of Troyes with Henry V.^[122][124] Under the treaty, Henry V was declared regent of France and heir to the French crown, while Dauphin Charles was disinherited for what the treaty called his crimes.^[124] To cement the agreement, Henry V married Charles VI's daughter Catherine of Valois in June 1420.^[125] Burgundian propaganda subsequently implied that the Dauphin was an illegitimate child resulting from an adulterous liaison between Isabeau and Louis of Orleans.^[124] In December 1420, Charles VI, Henry V, and Philip the Good entered Paris, where the Parlement of Paris registered the Treaty of Troyes and summoned the Dauphin to stand trial, banishing him from the realm.^[120]

Final years, death, and burial

Dauphin Charles refused to accept his exclusion from the succession, and he had established a court at Bourges.^[120][124] Henry V died in August 1422, leaving his infant son Henry VI, who under the Treaty of Troyes was also to become King of France.^[123][126]

Charles VI survived Henry V by less than two months, dying on 21 October 1422 at the Hotel Saint-Pol in Paris at the age of fifty-three.^[127] His death followed a thirty-seven-day bout of malaria and fever, during which he was attended by Odette de Champdivers and their daughter Marguerite.^[70] Lawyer Jean Juvenal des Ursins recorded that the king briefly regained clarity on his deathbed, whispering blessings to his daughter and calling for Odette.^[70] Charles was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis on 11 November 1422.^[120][127] John of Bedford walked behind his coffin, and reportedly eighteen thousand Parisians came to bid him farewell.^[120] Henry VI of England was then proclaimed King of France.^[126] Concurrently, the Dauphin was proclaimed King Charles VII.^[126]

Marriage and issue

Charles VI married Isabeau of Bavaria on 17 July 1385 in Amiens.^[56] They had twelve children: * Charles, Dauphin of Viennois (born 1386), died in infancy at three months old.^[128] * Jeanne (1388 – 1390), died in childhood.^[128] * Isabella (9 November 1389 – 13 September 1409), married first Richard II, King of England, in 1396, and second Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1406; had issue.^[113][129] * Marie (24 August 1393 – 19 August 1438), dedicated to the church at birth by her mother in hopes of the king's recovery, became Prioress of Poissy, and died of plague.^[130][131] * Michelle (11 January 1395 – 8 July 1422), married Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1409; had no surviving issue.^[132] * Louis, Dauphin of Viennois, Duke of Guyenne (22 January 1397 – 18 December 1415), married Margaret of Burgundy; had no issue.^[3][133] * John, Dauphin of Viennois, Duke of Touraine (31 August 1398 – 5 April 1417), married Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut; had no issue.^[125] * Catherine (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437), married first Henry V, King of England, in 1420 (mother of Henry VI), and second Owen Tudor (grandmother of Henry VII); had issue.^[125] * Charles VII of France (22 February 1403 – July 1461), King of France, married Marie of Anjou in 1422; had issue.^[125] * Philip (10 November 1407 – November 1407), died shortly after birth.

By his mistress Odette de Champdivers, Charles VI had one illegitimate daughter: * Marguerite de Valois (1407–1458), legitimised by royal letters of Charles VII in 1428, married Jean III de Harpedanne, Lord of Belleville and Montaigu, Seneschal of Saintonge.^{[101][102][134]}

Cultural depictions and legacy

Charles VI appears as a character in William Shakespeare's historical play Henry V as the King of France.^[135] Romantic poet Gerard de Nerval dedicated the poem Reverie de Charles VI to the king, and contemporary writer Christine de Pizan dedicated the poem Priere pour le roi Charles, pleading for the king's health.^[135] Edgar Allan Poe's short story Hop-Frog was based on the events of the Bal des Ardents.^[136] The king's later years and mental illness are depicted in Rainer Maria Rilke's novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910) and Hella Haasse's historical novel In a Dark Wood Wandering (1949).^[135] In theatrical music, Fromental Halevy composed the five-act opera Charles VI (1843), premiered at the Salle Le Peletier with baritone Paul Barroilhet in the title role, and Jules Perrot choreographed the ballet Odette, ou la Demence de Charles VI (1847) at La Scala in Milan.

In cinema and television, Charles VI has been portrayed by Harcourt Williams in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944), Paul Scofield in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V (1989), Lambert Wilson in the television film Henry V from the series The Hollow Crown (2012), Thibault de Montalembert in David Michod's The King (2019), and Alex Lawther in Ridley Scott's The Last Duel (2021). An illuminated card deck preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale de France was historically termed the Tarot of Charles VI, purported to have been commissioned from painter Jacquemin Gringonneur in 1392 to soothe the king's madness, though modern art history dates the cards to c. 1469–1471 and holds that they were made for Borso d'Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio.^[137] Under statutes issued by Charles VI in 1411, journeyman locksmiths in France had to make a comb-bit key with at least seven openings in its bit; journeymen without privileges toward master status, namely those who had not trained in Paris and those who were not sons of master locksmiths, had to make between seven and twenty-one openings.

References

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34. Georges Minois, La guerre de cent ans, Perrin 2008, p. 250.
35. D'après Pierre d'Orgemont dont les chiffres sont considérés comme les plus fiables parmi les chroniqueurs de l'époque, elle est composée de 2 000 lances, 500 arbalétriers, 400 archers, 1 500 valets armés de haches, puis la bataille (3 000 chevaliers et 600 archers) et enfin l'arrière-garde de 1 500 lances et 600 valets armés. Autrand 1986, p. 126.
36. Autrand 1986, p. 133.
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38. P. Bérigal, L'Illustre Jacquemart de Dijon, Dijon, 1832, p. 15, r.1 nous rapporte : « L'abbé Richard dit, dans ses Tablettes de Bourgogne, année 1754, p. 42 : Ce prince fut dédommagé des frais immenses qu'il avait fait dans cette guerre, par le roi, son neveu, qui lui donna une somme de 103 000 livres et par le comte de Flandre, qui lui permit de tirer un subside de 100 000 livres de la ville d'Ypres et du pays d'alentour ».
39. P. Bérigal, L'Illustre Jacquemart de Dijon, Dijon, 1832, p. 16. Cette devise du duc de Bourgogne, serait selon certains à l'origine du mot moutarde. L'auteur ajoute que Tabourot, facétieux Dijonnais aurait, dans ses Bigarures du seigneurs des Accords, édition de 1586, p. 38 et 39, parlé de ce cri de guerre, et prétend qu'il est à l'origine du mot moutarde. Selon lui, les Chartreux de cette ville firent sculpter sur le portail de leur église les armoiries du prince, et au-dessous, la devise Moult me tarde était gravée sur un ruban (en pierre), mais disposé tel que le monosyllabe me était dans le repli un peu enfoncé du ruban, de sorte que les seuls mots moult tarde étaient en évidence. Aussi les passans (sic), ignorants ou malins, lisant le mot moutarde, disaient qu'aux chartreux était la troupe des moultardiers de Dijon. D'autres donnent des explications plus sérieuses à l'étymologie de ce mot.
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44. Schnerb 2005, p. 77-78.
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124. R.C. Famiglietti, Royal Intrigue: Crisis at the Court of Charles VI, 1392–1420, New York, 1986, Chapter X.
125. Barker 2009, p. xxi. (Barker, Juliet (2009). Conquest: The English Kingdom of France, 1417-1450. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-06560-4.)
126. Chartier, Jean, Chronique de Charles VII, Roi de France, publié avec notes par Vallet de Viriville, Paris 1858
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129. Архівована копія. Архів оригіналу за 10 липня 2020. Процитовано 8 липня 2020.
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