Quotation from: A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 3

Written by: Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot


It was not a mere fit of delirious fever; it was the beginning of a
radical mental derangement, sometimes in abeyance, or at least for some
time alleviated, but bursting out again without appreciable reason, and
aggravated at every fresh explosion. Charles VI. had always had a taste
for masquerading. When in 1389 the young queen, Isabel of Bavaria, came
to Paris to be married, the king, on the morning of her entry, said to
his chamberlain, Sire de Savoisy, "Prithee, take a good horse, and I will
mount behind thee; and we will dress so as not to be known and go to see
my wife cone in." Savoisy did not like it, but the king insisted; and so
they went in this guise through the crowd, and got many a blow from the
officers' staves when they attempted to approach too near the procession.
In 1393, a year after his first outbreak of madness, the king, during an
entertainment at court, conceived the idea of disguising as savages
himself and five of his courtiers. They had been sewn up in a linen skin
which defined their whole bodies; and this skin had been covered with a
resinous pitch, so as to hold sticking upon it a covering of tow, which
made them appear hairy from head to foot. Thus disguised these savages
went dancing into the ball-room; one of those present took up a lighted
torch and went up to them; and in a moment several of them were in
flames. It was impossible to get off the fantastic dresses clinging to
their bodies. "Save the king!" shouted one of the poor masquers; but it
was not known which was the king. The Duchess de Berry, his aunt,
recognized him, caught hold of him, and wrapped him in her robe, saying,
"Do not move; you see your companions are burning." And thus he was
saved amidst the terror of all present. When he was conscious of his mad
state, he was horrified; he asked pardon for the injury he had done,
confessed and received the communion. Later, when he perceived his
malady returning, he would allude to it with tears in his eyes, ask to
have his hunting-knife taken away, and say to those about him, "If any of
you, by I know not what witchcraft, be guilty of my sufferings, I adjure
him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to torment me no more, and to put an
end to me forthwith without making me linger so." He conceived a horror
of Queen Isabel, and, without recognizing her, would say when he saw her,
"What woman is this? What does she want? Will she never cease her
importunities? Save me from her persecution!" At first great care was
taken of him. They sent for a skilful doctor from Laon, named William de
Harsely, who put him on a regimen from which, for some time, good effects
were experienced. But the doctor was uncomfortable at court; he
preferred going back to his little place at Laon, where he soon
afterwards died; and eleven years later, in 1405, nobody took any more
trouble about the king. He was fed like a dog, and allowed to fall
ravenously upon his food. For five whole months he had not a change of
clothes. At last some shame was felt for this neglect, and an attempt
was made to repair it. It took a dozen men to overcome the madman's
resistance. He was washed, shaved, and dressed in fresh clothes. He
became more composed, and began once more to recognize certain persons,
amongst others, the former provost of Paris, Juvenal des Ursins, whose
visit appeared to give him pleasure, and to whom he said, without well
knowing why, "Juvenal, let us not waste our time." On his good days he
was sometimes brought in to sit at certain councils at which there was a
discussion about the diminution of taxes and relief of the people, and he
showed symptoms, at intervals, of taking an interest in them. A fair
young Burgundian, Odette de Champdivers, was the only one amongst his
many favorites who was at all successful in soothing him during his
violent fits. It was Duke John the Fearless, who had placed her near the
king, that she might promote his own influence, and she took advantage of
it to further her own fortunes, which, however, did not hinder her from
afterwards passing into the service of Charles VII. against the house of
Burgundy.

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