12. A Crazy King’s Weird Conviction That He Was Made of Glass
A year after he went crazy on his retinue and slaughtered four of them, King Charles VI got amnesia. He forgot his own name and that he was king, and failed to recognize his wife. Between 1395-1396, he went full on crazy, and imagined that he was Saint George. He recognized his companions and officials, but for some reason could not recognize his wife and children. Then again, at least as far as his wife, he might have simply tired of her, and was crazy like a fox when he pretended not to recognize her.
Another manifestation of the king’s behavior and beliefs was his conviction that he was made of glass. He grew extremely frightened of shattering if he fell or was jostled, and in an attempt to avert the danger, he inserted iron rods in his clothes. At other times, he would run wildly at top speed, on the streets or in the halls of his palace. It got so bad, that to keep him inside his Parisian residence, its entrances were bricked up. The unfortunate monarch continued to slip in and out of insanity until his death in 1422.
