Ball of the Burning Man (1393)
The wedding celebration for one of French Queen Isabeau’s ladies in waiting started well but descended into chaos. A guessing game, charivari, went horribly awry. Knights disguised as “wild men,” making themselves look hairy and dirty, and guests were to guess who they were. To achieve that dirty and hairy look, the knights covered themselves with pitch. Servants removed torches, candles, and other flames from the room for the safety of the men.
Enter the Duc d’Orleans, who drunkenly ignored basic safety. The torch he carried lit one of the knights on fire, and the flames spread quickly. Four men died in the fire, but it became a bigger problem because King Charles VI was among the disguised men. The Duchess de Berri saved him by smothering the flames with her skirt. The court was punished not for lighting knights on fire, but for (unwittingly) endangering the King.
