13. A Very Weird Medieval Monarch
The reign of French King Charles VI (1368 – 1422) started off great, and he was known as “Charles the Well-Loved”. However, that had more to do with the fact that he ascended the throne at age eleven, and his kingdom was governed by regents who were good at their job. That all changed after he came of age and took personal charge of France at age twenty one. By the time he died over four decades later, he had earned the nickname by which he is best known to history: “Charles the Mad”. His first bout of insanity struck in 1392, when the twenty-four-year-old king set out on a military expedition to punish a vassal who had attempted to assassinate a royal friend.
Charles acted weird from the campaign’s start. He was in such a fever to get at the offender, that his speech often became incoherent while he urged preparations sped up. Once on the road, the army’s slow progress drove him into a frenzy. En route, a crazy leper by the roadside yelled at the king to halt and turn back because he had been betrayed. He was shooed away, but continued to follow the king and shout his warnings. In the midst of that craziness, a drowsy page dropped a lance, which clanged off somebody’s helmet. The noise triggered Charles and made him snap. He drew his sword, charged his retinue, and proceeded to maniacally hack and stab them. By the time he was restrained, he had killed at least four knights and men at arms.
