#charles vi

[illustratus]

The Bal des Ardents — Froissart's Chronicles

[marthajefferson]

The Ball of the Burning Men (Le Bal des Ardents) Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse, c.1889

On 28 January 1393, a masquerade ball was held at the French royal court to celebrate the marriage of one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting. The King Charles VI and five of his noble companions performed a dance, a charivari, as ‘wild men’, in masks and shaggy costumes made from linen and resin. Such events were encouraged to distract the unstable Charles VI of France, who had suffered several "attacks of insanity" previously.

Due to the highly flammable nature of the costumes it was decreed that no candles or torches were to be brought into the room during the performance. But sadly the message did not reach the King’s brother, Louis, Duc D’Orléans, who appeared late and drunk with a lighted torch.

The result was grimly inevitable. One of the dancers caught a spark from the torches. As he careered around trying to put himself out, he soon set light to other dancers and pandemonium ensued. The five dancers and the King shrieked in pain as they burned in their costumes, and the audience, many of them also sustaining burns, screamed as they tried to rescue the burning men.

The King was saved when his teenage aunt threw her skirts over him to put out the fire. Another dancer leapt into a vat of wine. The other four performers were less fortunate, being "burned alive… releasing a stream of blood".

The event increased the King's mental illness and psychotic episodes, and fits of madness would recur for the rest of his life (the true cause of his illness is not known but based on his symptoms and family background, he probably suffered from schizophrenia).

The event went down in history as Le Bal des Ardents – the Ball of the Burning Men.

[eve-to-adam]

The medieval love bureaucracy: I love you, sign here (1420 edition)

Henry V: You will become my father-in-law today. Charles VI: Well… that’s not exactly what I had in mind for the princess Cath— Henry V, raising his mace: I’ll give you time to get used to the idea. You will become my father-in-law today.

[gwydionmisha]

Terrifying Thomas (De Marle)

Plantagenet Punch-Ups

Laughing Lionhearts

Bewildering Banners

Chivalry

Hilarious Historical Heraldry

Mad Monarchs (Charles VI)

Blockading Buccaneers

Nauseating Napoleonic Novelty Notes

Brutal Ballet

[seamajoor]

« Le Bal des Ardents »

Finished a seven pages summary of one of my favorite historic moment in French history «  Le Bal des Ardents » ! It is set the 28 January 1389 .

Now some facts I couldn’t put in it !

Charles VI killed four men in a frenzy because he thought they were British soldier send to kill him ! They were in facts, only his close guard. The episode started after a man talked to him in the forest it all took place. He took 8 months to recover from this.

Strangely enough, even though « le Bal des Ardents » was a hugely traumatizing event, it is not the one that granted him his nickname « Le Fol » (the crazy ). It’s only 7 months after his mental health declined again without signs of improvements.

Infos kind of vary there but the event took place in the Hotel Saint-Pol OR the destructed and then reconstructed Hotel de la Reine Blanche.

Louis d’Orléans was 17 when it happened. People did think he did this to kill Charles VI and took the thrones. After the event he build the chapel « Le Couvent des Célestins » to expiate his crimes.

English is not my first languages also , sorry about the mistakes !!

[3liza]

After the company emerged from the forest at noon, a page who was drowsy from the sun dropped the king's lance, which clanged loudly against a steel helmet carried by another page. Charles shuddered, drew his sword and yelled, "Forward against the traitors! They wish to deliver me to the enemy!" The king then drew his sword, spurred his mount, and attacked his own knights before one of his chamberlains and a group of soldiers were able to grab him from his mount and lay him on the ground. He lay still and did not react, but then fell into a coma; as a temporary measure, he was taken to the castle of Creil,[8] where it was hoped that good air and pleasant surroundings might bring him to his senses. The king had killed a knight known as "The Bastard of Polignac" and several other men during the attack.[9]

[pierrotsloop]

I don't even know what this is a moodboard about just pondering real and false guys in leadership positions that make me feel feelings of sorrow and warmth ... 😵😵😵😵

[tiny-librarian]

Eleonora of Pfalz Neuburg not only outlived him but bore him ten children, of whom six survived to maturity. Their first-born was a son, Joseph, born 1678, but a second son, Leopold Joseph, died of smallpox in 1684. Their third son, Charles, was born in the following year. Both Joseph and Charles succeeded their father as Holy Roman Emperor, while most of their daughters, all of whom bore the name Maria (Both their parents had and extraordinary veneration for the cults of the Virgin), survived their brothers.

Habsburgs, Embodying Empire - Andrew Wheatcroft