WEIRD Things You Did Not Know about Charles VI of France

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Being born into royalty can seem like a pretty easy job. King Charles VI of France started his reign being known as Charles the Beloved. By the time of his passing, he was commonly known to his subjects as Charles the Mad. Charles was king of one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe at the time. He seemed destined for the throne until his mind and thus his reign grew darker and darker. The very king meant to lead France almost caused the demise of the country. But what happened in between? Keep watching to find out. Welcome to Nutty History! Today, we’ll be learning about Charles the Mad.

The Hundred Years’ War was raging when Charles was born on December 3, 1368. Already destined for great things, Charles was born in the royal residence at the Hôtel Saint-Pol. His parents, King Charles V of the House of Bourbon and Joanna of Bourbon, were delighted with their new arrival. Charles’ three older siblings had tragically passed away prior to his birth, leaving him the sole heir to the French throne with the title Dolphin of France. Charles Senior and Joanna were known for their intelligence and cunning during the war; they managed to outsmart the English during every battle and appeared close to winning the war. However, the very war they thought they were close to winning would lead their family to a tumultuous demise.

Charles’ father was killed during battle on September 16, 1380, leaving 11-year-old Charles Jr. to inherit the throne. His coronation took place two months later. No one in their right mind wanted an 11-year-old to rule, especially during a war, so his uncle stepped in as regent until he was older. Even though the royal age of majority is a mere 14 years old in France, his uncles continued to act as regents by his side until Charles himself terminated the regency at age 21, giving him full power over the French kingdom.

Unfortunately, Charles’ uncles did not act with his best interests in mind. Instead, the dukes took money from France to build up their own selfish interests, squandering Charles’ fortune. His father had worked tirelessly to help bring France to the world stage and cement their role as a power player against the English, but unfortunately, Charles V’s brothers had a different idea in mind. They wasted almost every resource that Charles Senior had left to his son in the kingdom. With no money left in the kingdom, the dukes decided to raise taxes. On his deathbed, Charles V promised to abolish taxes, and his citizens knew it. When the dukes announced their new tax plan, the citizens revolted. While this was not Charles VI’s decision, it definitely had an impact on him when he eventually took over the rule of the land.

At 17 years old, Charles was the typical teenager. He grew into an attractive man, and while he may not have had total power, he was still the king of France by title. At the age of 17, Charles attended a French nobleman’s wedding in hopes of finding himself a wife. He spent the whole affair showing off and attracting attention to himself—not the politest wedding guest, but he was the king of France, and everyone wanted to be around him. A Bavarian duke suggested his daughter to be Charles’ bride. The royal advisors agreed, and Isabelle of Bavaria was sent to France to be officially presented to Charles. She might have thought she was the luckiest girl alive, but little did she know what was to come.

Charles and Isabelle were very much attracted to each other, and they married three days after meeting. A wedding guest wrote of the event, saying the bride and groom were very beautiful and affectionate. Charles frequently bestowed lavish and expensive gifts upon her; he was a boy in love, and all his attention went to his new wife, not ruling France.

As we already discussed, Charles terminated the regency when he was 21 and now had the rule and reign of the French kingdom. He returned the kingdom to the way his father had run France in the years prior and brought back some of his father’s advisors. Early in his reign, the citizens named him Charles the Beloved. They were overjoyed that he got rid of his uncles and brought stability and reason back to France. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. The early successes were a great start, but what was to come would be the downfall.

Charles’ maternal grandfather had a long history of severe mental illness. His grandfather was well known for debilitating mental breakdowns, and his mother, Joanna, would also suffer from the same breakdowns. The advisors had closely watched Charles throughout his life to see if he would inherit the same ill-fated illness. They felt confident that he had not displayed any warning signs up until now. A few years after he turned 21, Charles started to display some dark warning signs. Charles the Beloved was now known as Charles the Mad. He went through periods of clear-headedness followed by debilitating breakdowns. Those around him were never sure which king they would get: the beloved or the mad. During his episodes, Charles couldn’t even remember his name, let alone the fact that he was the king of France. He would run wildly through the halls of his palace in various states of undress. At one point, his advisors had to board up the entrances and exits to the palace so Charles couldn’t escape half-naked into the streets.

While all this was going on, the Hundred Years’ War was still being fought, and the progress made by Charles’ father was being lost each and every day. There were times when Charles would refuse to bathe or even change his clothes for five months, yet he would still insist on carrying out his royal duties while clothed in dirty, smelly robes. That’s not exactly a king you would instill confidence in, is it? Each time Charles slipped into an episode, he would fall deeper and deeper.

During his reign, Charles started to believe that he was made of glass. He truly believed he could shatter at any point. He became obsessed with protecting himself and what he believed to be his fragile body. He even demanded that the royal tailor sew iron rods into his clothing to give his body more support.

In 1393, when Charles was 25 years old, Isabelle planned an extravagant ball to honor her ladies-in-waiting. Charles was already experiencing many episodes of mental illness at this point. An idea was presented that Charles and five of the royal lords would dress as mythical figures who lived in the woods—wild men. Charles and the men loved the idea and went headfirst into designing their costumes. They gathered swaths of linen cloth that were soaked in resin with tiny airy wisps of hemp. They truly appeared to be wild men from the forest, but the materials also made them very flammable. The group was advised to keep away from the lit torches at the center of the room.

Charles’ brother Louis arrived fashionably late to the party and missed that important information. The costumes were so good that, with all the shag hanging over the men’s faces, Louis couldn’t tell who was underneath. He wanted to find his brother, so he grabbed one of the torches and walked over toward the men to get a closer look. The split-second decision was all it took for the flames to rise. The flames jumped from costume to costume and quickly made their way around the partygoers. Screams and panic filled the room as the smell of burning filled the air. This night became known as the Ball of the Burning Men. Four lords tragically died during the incident; one saved himself by jumping into a dishwater tub. Charles had a special woman to thank for her act of bravery: the Duchess of Berry picked up her massive skirt and threw it over the king to protect him from the fire. Charles walked away relatively unhurt from the disaster.

The people of Paris were already aware of Charles’ shortcomings and failures. After the Ball of the Burning Men, citizens were ready to revolt. They were shocked that the king and his brother could be so dim-witted. Even though the ball technically had nothing to do with Charles’ illness, the fatal consequences did not help his public image. The ball had a detrimental effect on his deteriorating mental state. Months later, Charles fell into another episode that rendered him virtually useless for six months. One of his doctors wrote, “No medicine will help him.” All his advisors and family could do was wait for his mind to return. He would frequently slip into patterns of level-headedness and madness for the following three decades, suffering severe breakdowns that rendered him useless as king for months at a time.

Isabelle was shocked at the state of her husband; it was a far cry from the man she once married. The couple had three children together, which is enough work, but now Isabelle also had to worry about the well-being of her husband. She set up a regency council to run the kingdom for Charles while he was unable to. She continued to hope that one day her husband would return to being the powerful king he once was. Despite all her efforts and devotion, there was one shocking revelation that would be a downfall.

When Isabelle went to the palace to see Charles, she found that he didn’t even recognize her. As she stood in front of him, he leaned to an advisor and whispered, “Who is this woman obstructing my view? Find out what she wants and stop her from annoying and bothering me.” Isabelle must have been devastated after she worked so hard to save her marriage and the kingdom. Charles was seemingly repulsed by Isabelle and didn’t want her around, yet his eye caught on a companion, Odette Champdivers, the daughter of a horse trader. News of their relationship spread quickly around the kingdom, and people began calling Odette the “little queen.” Even though he was still married to Isabelle, furious with her husband’s behavior, Isabelle decided to retaliate with his brother Louis. Rumors spread that Isabelle was having an affair with the man who started the fire at the Ball of the Burning Men. Even though there was no solid evidence of the two together, the rumors had already done damage. John the Fearless, the Duke of Burgundy, was outraged at the rumored affair with a greedy Louis and decimated him in the streets of Paris. Historians believe that John wanted the throne for himself and was trying to get Louis out of the way.

Charles continued to make bad decisions throughout his reign. France was still at war with England, ruled by King Henry V. Henry took advantage of the inept French king and pushed his armies into France until they finally won at the Battle of Agincourt. Even though the French army had twice as many men, things were disastrous under Charles’ leadership. Following the battle, Henry spent many years reclaiming all the land that Charles’ father had previously ruled. In 1420, Henry forced Charles to sign the Treaty of Troyes, which changed history forever. The treaty disregarded Charles’ son and instead named Henry as the heir to the French throne. Charles’ son, appropriately named Charles VII, escaped from Henry and declared his father unfit for the throne. Charles VII started a rival court in Bourges to the south of Paris.

Charles continued to waste away throughout the years and passed away in 1422 as a result of decades of deteriorating health. After all the dramatic battles and the treaty, the country to the north of France was now under British rule, while southern France remained loyal to his son. A tumultuous life and a tumultuous death followed Charles the Mad. He had quite a journey from the beloved to becoming the mad king. Were you shocked at anything that happened during Charles’ life? Let us know in the comments below. We hope you’ve enjoyed this video and learned about Charles the Mad. We’ll see you next time for another Nutty History video.

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