Charles VI of France

Charles VI the Well-Beloved, later known as the Mad (French: Charles VI le Bien-Aimé, later known as le Fol) (December 3, 1368 – October 21, 1422) was a King of France (1380 – 1422) and a member of the Valois Dynasty.

He was born in Paris, the son of King Charles V and Jeanne de Bourbon. At the age of eleven, he was crowned King of France in 1380 in the cathedral at Reims. Until he took complete charge as king in 1388, France was run by his uncle, Philip the Bold.

Charles VI was known both as Charles the Mad and as Charles the Well Beloved, since, beginning in his mid-twenties, he experienced bouts of psychosis. These fits of madness would recur for the rest of his life. Doctors today believe, based on his ups and downs, that he may in fact have suffered from bipolar disorder.

He married:

Isabeau de Bavière (1371 – September 24, 1435) on July 17, 1385.

Children:

1. Charles (September 26, 1386 – December 28, 1386)

2. Jeanne (June 14, 1388 – 1390)

3. Isabella of Valois (November 9, 1389 – September 13, 1409), married Richard II of England

4. Jeanne (January 24, 1391 – September 27, 1433), married John VI, Duke of Brittany

5. Charles (February 6, 1392 – January 13, 1401)

6. Marie (August 24, 1393 – August 19, 1438), an abbess

7. Michèle (January 11, 1395 – July 8, 1422)

8. Louis, Duke of Guyenne (January 22, 1396 – December 18, 1415), married Marguerite of Burgundy

9. Jean, Duke of Touraine (August 31, 1398 – April 4, 1417), married Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut

10. Catherine (October 27, 1401 – January 3, 1437), married Henry V of England and Owen Tudor

11. King Charles VII (February 22, 1403 – July 21, 1461)

12. Philippe (November 10, 1407 – November 10, 1407)

He also had one illegitimate child by Odette de Champdivers, Marguerite bâtarde de France (1407 – 1458).

Charles VI's reign was marked by the continuing war with the English (the Hundred Years' War), culminating in 1415 when the French army was defeated at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1420, Charles signed the Treaty of Troyes which recognized Henry V of England as his successor and meant his own son could not succeed him (see English Kings of France). Many citizens, including Joan of Arc, believed that the king only agreed to such disastrous and unprecedented terms, under the mental stress of his illness and that, as a result, France could not be held to them.

Charles VI died in 1422 at Paris and is interred with his wife, Isabeau de Bavière in Saint Denis Basilica.

He was eventually succeeded by his son Charles VII.

Portrayals in literature

• Rainer Marie Rilke wrote a poetically infused portarait of Charles VI in his Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge (Trans. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge)