Bal des Ardents
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Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
was almost killed and four members of the French nobility
Seigneur
Seigneur may refer to:* The possessor of a seigneurie in medieval feudal or manorial systems.* The Seigneurial system of New France* The hereditary feudal ruler of the island of Sark, see also List of Seigneurs of Sark...
burned to death while at a celebratory dance held by the Queen
Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
, for the remarriage of a lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
, the dancers were accidentally set on fire.
The incident resulted in a loss of confidence in Charles' capacity to rule, coming after an attack of madness the previous summer. Parisian citizens disapproved of the incident, considered proof of courtly decadence, and threatened to revolt against Charles' advisors and the more powerful members of the nobility. The King with his brother, who was considered responsible for the tragedy, were forced into penance.
During the dance, knights were costumed as wild men. The event was chronicled by a number of contemporary writers, including a monk of St. Denis and Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
in Froissart's Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles was written in French by Jean Froissart. It covers the years 1322 until 1400 and describes the conditions that created the Hundred Years' War and the first fifty years of the conflict...
and is illustrated in 15th century illuminated manuscripts.
Background
In June of 1392, Charles VICharles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
became enraged and called for war to be waged against Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
after an assassination attempt by Pierre de Craon
Pierre de Craon
Pierre de Craon , known as "le Grand", was a medieval French aristocrat notorious for his riotous temperament, culminating in his attempted murder of Olivier de Clisson, Constable of France...
against the Constable of France, Olivier de Clisson
Olivier de Clisson
Olivier de Clisson , nicknamed "The Butcher", was a Breton soldier, the son of the Olivier de Clisson who was put to death in 1343 on the suspicion of having wished to give up Nantes to the English.- Biography :...
. Craon was vassal to the Duke of Brittany
John V, Duke of Brittany
John V the Conqueror KG was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort, from 1345 until his death.-Numbering:...
; Charles considered the attempt a threat to the monarchy and held the Duke responsible. The campaign was approved by the ruling Council and a party of knights, including the King, travelled to Brittany.
That August the young king's lifelong insanity manifested itself with the first attack. On a hot day in August while riding from Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
to Brittany, Charles suffered a sudden fit of madness. He attacked and killed an unspecified number of knights in the party, before being restrained by his chamberlain
Chamberlain
- People :* Chamberlain , the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure* Neville Chamberlain , British Prime Minister at the outbreak of World War II...
. He fell into a coma that lasted four days. Believing Charles to be dying, his uncles Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold , also Philip II, Duke of Burgundy , was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and his wife, Bonne of Luxembourg. By his marriage to Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, he also became Count Philip II of Flanders, Count Philip IV of Artois and Count-Palatine Philip IV...
and John, Duke of Berry
John, Duke of Berry
John of Valois or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was the third son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg; his brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy...
seized power and quickly replaced the members of the ruling Council, disregarding the King's younger brother Louis' claim to the throne.
Guillaume de Harsigny—a venerated and well-educated 92-year-old physician—was summoned by Lord Coucy to treat Charles, who recovered from the coma and within two months was well enough to return to Paris. The sudden unexplained attack was either seen as a sign of divine anger and punishment or thought to be caused by sorcery
Sorcery
Sorcery may refer to:* Magic * Maleficium * Witchcraft* Sorcery , a video game for the PlayStation 3 utilizing the PlayStation Move* Sorcery , 1995* Sorcery , 1974...
. Harsigny, who considered Charles to be mentally fragile, told the court to shield him from the duties of government and leadership, telling his advisors "be careful not to worry or irritate him .... Burden him with work as little as you can; pleasure and forgetfulness will be better for him than anything else."
Incident
The young members of the court followed the physician's advice and indulged in a life of amusement. Fashions became excessive as Queen IsabeauIsabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
and her sister-in-law Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans indulged in extravagant clothing, jewel-laden dresses, and extreme hair-styles that reportedly required doorways to be widened to make room for braid
Braid
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...
s that were coiled into tall shells and wide double hennin
Hennin
The hennin was a headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone worn in the late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility. They were most common in Burgundy and France, but also elsewhere, especially at the English courts, and in Northern Europe, Hungary and Poland. They...
s. The extravagance seemed excessive to the common people, but they loved their young king, whom they called Charles le bien-aimé (the well-beloved); blame for unnecessary excess and expense was directed at the foreign queen brought from Bavaria and Charles' uncles.
Charles' wife Isabeau held a masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
January 28, 1393 at the Hôtel Saint-Pol
Hôtel Saint-Pol
The hôtel Saint-Pol was a royal residence begun in 1361 by Charles V of France on the ruins of a building constructed by Louis IX. It was used by Charles V and Charles VI.- Description :...
to celebrate the third marriage of one of her ladies-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
, Catherine de Fastaverin. Traditionally a woman's remarriage was an occasion for mockery and foolery, celebrated with masques or charivari
Charivari
Charivari is the term for a French folk custom in which the community gave a noisy, discordant mock serenade, also pounding on pots and pans, at the home of newlyweds. The loud, public ritual evolved to a form of social coercion, for instance, to force an as-yet-unmarried couple to wed...
characterized by discord and disguises. On Huguet de Guisay's suggestion, six high-ranking knights performed at the event costumed as wood savages. They were sewn into costumes made of linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
soaked with resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
to which flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
was attached "so that they appeared shaggy and hairy from head to foot". Their faces were covered with masks of the same materials. According to some reports, they were chained together. Unknown beforehand to the audience, King Charles
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
appeared as one of the dancers. Orders were given to prevent hall torches from being lit during the dance so as to prevent the costumes from catching fire.
The men capered about, howling "like wolves", spitting obscenities, inviting the audience of courtiers to guess their identities while dancing in a "diabolical" frenzy. Charles' brother Louis and Phillipe de Bar, arriving at the event late and drunk, entered the hall carrying lit torches. A spark fell on the leg of one of the dancers, causing it to burst into flames. According to one contemporary description, "the Duke of Orleance...put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax, that he set one of the Coates on fire, and so each of them set fire on to the other, and so they were all in a bright flame. In other accounts Louis was accused of intentionally causing the fire.
Isabeau, who knew her husband was one of the dancers, fainted as the men burned before her. Unknown to her, Charles had been standing at a distance from the other dancers, near the 15-year-old Duchesse de Berry
Joan II, Countess of Auvergne
Joan II, Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne , also known as Jeanne de Boulogne, and Joan, Duchess of Berry, , was the daughter of John II of Auvergne , and second wife of John, Duke of Berry...
, who saved his life by throwing her skirt over his costume. A second dancer, Sire de Nantouillet, survived by hiding in an open vat of wine. Many guests were severely burned after they unsuccessfully tried to rescue dancers and extinguish the flames. One of the dancers, the Count de Joigny, was immediately killed; two more, Yvain de Foix and Aimery Poitiers, lingered in pain for two days. Huguet de Guisay survived for three days, bitterly "cursing and insulting his fellow dancers, the dead and the living, until his last hour".
The people of Paris were appalled at the event and the danger posed to their monarch, and blamed Charles' advisors. After the dramatic episode of madness of the previous summer, Charles was now reduced to a pawn in a power struggle between his uncles and his younger brother. A "great commotion" swept through the city as the citizens threatened to depose the uncles and kill those courtiers thought to be dissolute and depraved. Greatly concerned at the popular outcry and chastened by the Maillotin revolt
Harelle
The Harelle was a revolt that occurred in the French city of Rouen in 1382 followed by the Maillotins Revolt a few days later in Paris, and numerous other revolts across France in the subsequent week. France was in the midst of the Hundred Years War, and had seen decades of warfare, widespread...
of the previous decade, the court sought penance at Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
, preceded by an apologetic royal progress through the city in which the uncles walked in humility behind the King on horseback. Louis of Orléans, who was blamed for the tragedy, built a chapel at the Celestine
Celestines
Celestines are a Roman Catholic monastic order, a branch of the Benedictines, founded in 1244. At the foundation of the new rule, they were called Hermits of St Damiano, or Moronites , and did not assume the appellation of Celestines until after the election of their founder to the Papacy as...
monastery in atonement.
The Duke of Orléans' reputation was severely damaged. Already associated with sorcery
Sorcery
Sorcery may refer to:* Magic * Maleficium * Witchcraft* Sorcery , a video game for the PlayStation 3 utilizing the PlayStation Move* Sorcery , 1995* Sorcery , 1974...
, he now shared blame for the tragedy. Jean Petit would later say that the Duke practiced sorcery, and that he attempted regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
in retaliation for having been attacked by Charles in his fit of madness the previous summer. In 1404 John the Fearless had Orléans assassinated for reasons of "vice, corruption, sorcery, and a long list of public and private villainies".
Folkloric and Christian representations
The mythology of wild or forest men was then often associated with demonology
Demonology
Demonology is the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons. It is the branch of theology relating to superhuman beings who are not gods. It deals both with benevolent beings that have no circle of worshippers or so limited a circle as to be below the rank of gods, and with malevolent...
. At the time of Isabeau's masque, the folkloric depiction of wild men was an acceptable theme in the literature of noble society. Common superstition held that areas such as the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
contained wild men with long black hair who danced in firelight either to conjure up demons or as part of fertility rituals. In remote villages it was believed that by dressing as wild men dancers imitated demons. Some village charivaries included dancers dressed as wild men or demons who were ceremonially captured and symbolically burnt to appease evil spirits at harvest or planting time. The Church, however, considered the rituals pagan and demonic.
In his Magic and divination at the courts of Burgundy and France, Jan Veenstra notes that a ritual burning on the wedding night of a woman re-marrying has Christian origins. In the apocryphal Book of Tobit
Book of Tobit
The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent...
, the demon Asmodeus
Asmodeus
Asmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
is banished through the burning of the heart and liver of a fish after the murder of each husband of a woman who married seven times. By the 15th century ritual burning of evil, demonic, or Satanic
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
forces became commonplace as exemplified by the Duke of Orleans' later persecution of the King's physician Jehan de Bar, who under torture confessed to practicing sorcery and was burned to death.
Chronicles
The event was recorded by Jean FroissartJean Froissart
Jean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
in his Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles was written in French by Jean Froissart. It covers the years 1322 until 1400 and describes the conditions that created the Hundred Years' War and the first fifty years of the conflict...
and has been illustrated in miniature
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
The word miniature, derived from the Latin minium, red lead, is a picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple decoration of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment...
in many illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
copies. The Harley Froissart in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, dated from c. 1470 to 1472, identifies the costumed dancers as wodewoses and shows four dancers in the hall; the Queen sits with two ladies on the dais
Dais
Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....
. The Gruuthus manuscript housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
shows the Bal des Ardents, illustrated by the Master of Anthony of Burgundy
Master of Anthony of Burgundy
The Master of Anthony of Burgundy was a Flemish miniature painter active in Bruges between about 1460 and 1490, apparently running a large workshop, and producing some of the most sophisticated work of the final flowering of Flemish illumination...
, with the Queen in a standing position flanked by ladies-in-waiting, wearing high conical hennin
Hennin
The hennin was a headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone worn in the late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility. They were most common in Burgundy and France, but also elsewhere, especially at the English courts, and in Northern Europe, Hungary and Poland. They...
s. The King cowers beneath the Duchess' skirts and the dancers are engulfed in flames.
Sources
- Gibbons, Rachel. Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France (1385-1422): The Creation of an Historical Villainess. The Royal Historical Society, Vol. 6 (1996), pp. 51-73
- Tuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Ballantine, 1979.
- Veenstra, Jan R.and Laurens Pignon. Magic and divination at the courts of Burgundy and France. New York: Brill, 1997 ISBN 90-04-10925-0