Charles the Mad: France’s King of Glass & the Ball of the Burning Men

0:00 Hello Bizarre Story friends. If you're tuned in now you are listening to The Bizarre AF, a place where we talk about the strange, the unusual, the unknown, and all things bizarre AFI am Alicia, your Hostess for today's spooky episode, and as always, we ask that you keep an open mind. Keep a skeptical ear, but keep on listening to those facts as we take you on our newest journey. Charles the Mad, France's King of Class and the Ball of Burning Men. Well, hello, Hello, hello, hello. Hey, girl.

1:04 How are we doing, Kevin? Great beautiful morning. Yes, we're. Casting, which I love to do. I know, I know. We're casting and it's spooky season. This is like, this is like our season. The weird, the MC Cobb. Yes. We love it. Love it. It's so, it's so funny when we were talking about what we're going to do for the month of October, it's like, where can't we go with it? Like the whole, our entire podcast is really like the creepy, the crazy, the spooky in general. Exactly so. Anything but the norm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything bizarre, right?

1:45 So we got to figure out too, what our what our costumes are going to be. We have to do a we do, we do need to do an episode with some dress up. We used to do it all the time, but. Well, then we have it's a ton. It is a podcast which we have been. Reminded of frequently. Very like, very sweetly reminded. But nonetheless, we have been reminded we we do need to and actually one thing like so unrelated. Actually, no, no, I have a tie in to this. For this we we are starting to do a DND campaign with some friends. Yes. So gosh, maybe we could dress up like our DND characters.

2:28 That could be fun. Yeah, it's not spooky, but it's dress up, it's costume. It's it's dressed up and like that's, that's. What Halloween's about. That's what we that's what we love. Yeah. And home OK. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, I. Like it? Yeah, we have. We have a campaign this month, in the month of October and you know, we never do things like half assed. We always. Know we always. Go. Right. Like we're doing full on Nerdville DND. Like imagine the stereotypical nerdy DND players and yeah, that's us. That is 100% us. We have like I am writing as my character, like I'm like creating a little diary as my. Character.

3:15 Like we, we just got from our DM, this is like, OK, I'll, I, like I said, I have a tie into this, but we just got like a, you know, an intro yeah for our, for why we're all meeting up. But I'm gonna start like creating a like a journal or a diary from the perspective of my character like it's. That's great. That's actually not to get off too off topic, but that's kind of what you're supposed to be doing as a player anyways, kind of keeping a journal. Yeah, I'm, I'm just so excited about doing this. I mean, it's been in the works plan for months, so. Yeah, and honestly, we've been talking about it for like years. Oh, and oh, by the way, this is no different than preparing for a role on stage. I was.

3:58 Just going to. Say that you have to create a back story. You having articles to help you get in character or you know artifacts is useful. Same thing. It's the exact same thing. It like like the theater to D&D pipeline is, Yeah, it's like a. Straight line it's a. Straight line, everyone's everyone's involved with it. So I'm really excited and maybe we'll we can do stuff around D&D that, you know, can be fun and interesting here. Cool. So the tie in the tie in our like the world that we're that we're going to be in and and D&D is based kind of like in the medieval times, right. Well, our story here is also in the medieval times, actually in like the 1300s.

4:42 And really, since it's October, I think it's fitting that we kind of lean into them. A cob. And today's tale is everything that you'd want from a medieval Horror Story. OK, we have a cursed king. We have madness that blurred the line between delusion and possession, and a masquerade that literally went up in flames. OK, that's that. Nails the that crosses the TS and dots the i's. Yeah, check, check and check. I'm actually talking about Charles the 5th of France and he was better known as Charles the Mad or Charles the Crazy and one of the most infamous court disasters in history, The ball of the Burning Men.

5:24 OK, literally this is what happened so. Ball of the Burning Man. OK, fascinating. Yeah, yeah, You've probably never heard this story, which is why. OK, great, great. So Charles the 5th was actually born in 1368. He was the son of King Charles Charles the Wise and then Queen Joanna of Bourbon. He was. His father was wise, right? So he was clever, cautious, rebuilding France after a ton of losses during the 100 Years War. So we're in the 100 Years War. So when his father, when Charles's father, the crazy Charles, his father died in 1380, His son was just 11 years old.

6:05 So Charles was only 11, and he was too young to rule. So all the power fell to his uncle's, which is very common. Yeah, and these were the Dukes of Burgundy, Berry and Anjou. So instead of safeguarding the Kingdom, they really gorged themselves on wealth and started raising taxes and stirring resentment within the towns and the people of France, right? Greedy old white men What? What we don't we don't know her. Are you kidding me? So Charles was actually crowned right in cathedral, which is right where Champagne's made. FYI. I've actually.

6:45 Been there. Yeah, yeah. So if you know where Champagne's made. The actual champagne. Grape. Yeah, Yeah. Champagne grape. Yeah, exactly. So crowned at that cathedral and anointed with holy oil, said to have descended from heaven itself. You know, it's kind of bullshit, but I was like, what they did. But he was just a child, really, wearing a crown that he had no, no idea of what the fuck to do, right. So he had to kind of lean on his uncles. So at 20, he actually dismissed all of his greedy uncles and he took control with the help of some advisors that he had, that they called themselves the Marmosets. What age was he? 2020 so 8 years later, like about 8 years later after he took the throne, so for a little bit of time with the marmosets and him kicking out all of his greedy uncles, it seemed like France kind of had a little bit of a glimmer of hope.

7:40 But we would not be here if you were talking about this, if that were actually what were happening. Shadows closed in, right? So in 1392, on a campaign in Brittany, Charles snapped without warning. He actually drew his sword and slaughtered four of his own Knights. He was screaming that they were traitors and he had to be physically restrained. He just fucking lost it. Was he drinking wine that was stored in lead containers? I mean. Probably. Could be we're going to actually kind of go through like what the fuck was going on because it's like he seemed like he lost it, but at the same time he's in the middle of a of the 100 years war.

8:24 It's like a. Brutal town. That would be awful. Yeah, that would F with your head. And his dad literally, like, died at 12, and he had these big shoes to fill. His dad was known as Charles the Wise. He was coming in after that 12 years old. He probably didn't really, you know, expect his dad to die. And then he has to fill the shoes of this, like, really pretty successful king. Yeah. So he's physically restrained. He loses it, you know, kills four of his Knights. Jean Forsarte actually said, excuse my French, it's awful, but chronicled that he was suddenly, without cause or warning, the king fell upon his own men with sword in hand, slaying them as though they were traitors. Great pity it was for no man knew the reason save that frenzy had seized his mind.

9:13 So that was a quote at the time after he had lost his shit. Now, it wouldn't make sense that you would think that people are traitors because I mean, he did have a ton of traitors in his midst in general. Like his his uncles were crazy. He kicked them out. We've all seen Game of Thrones, right? You can't trust anyone. So that was actually the first of many breakdowns. So from then on, the King's mind continued to unravel in cycles. He would just go through these cycles of it. He actually forgot his own name. He failed to recognize his wife, Queen Isabel, and also his children. He could not recognize them. He claimed that he was actually made of glass. Oh gosh.

9:54 And would shatter if he was touched. Wow. And he demanded that metal rods be sewn into his clothes. Oh, to keep his arms from breaking. Exactly. Oh my. Gosh, yeah, 'cause he, he wouldn't let anyone touch him or come come through like like to touch him. He was like convinced he was made of glass. How miserable. I mean, it sounds psychosomatic, right? Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So he actually, so he had those metal rods sewn into his clothes for protection and he ran through the halls howling and would also vanish into the streets of Paris, filthy and deranged. So it was not uncommon to see him just like fucking losing his shit in the middle of Paris. The man had mental problems.

10:43 Now what with the cause of them? I mean, we could speculate, but he had some mental problems. Yeah, there there is a, there's a definite like some kind of mental disorder that's going on. And can you really blame him? Like, he's right. He's facing potential, like, you know, ousting. He can't trust anyone. Paranoia, you know, is one thing you and I sitting here and being paranoid about, like, the government, you know, being crazy. But like this, you know, this guy who had legitimate reason. Yeah. As did most people then. 100% yeah. So like, you know, just talking about this for us, it like kind of sounds like schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder. But his court courtiers, like in the 14th century, it kind of looks like possession.

11:27 Oh sure, right. Sure. Or a curse? Yeah. Or divine punishment. Sure. Right, like so France was actually left with this king after Charles the Wise, who believed he was as fragile as glass and he was ruling the Kingdom really like a a fraction fractured like a mirror, like dropped on stone. The like the glass that he fucking had. There was a monk, Michael, we'll say the monk of Saint Denise. OK, so he this is him quoting the king at the time. Often he believed himself to be brittle as glass, and he forbade any man to touch him lest he should be shattered into pieces.

12:11 That's just awful. I mean, I couldn't imagine living that way. And then I'm thinking about if I had to keep my arms and legs all straight all the time like I was wrong, that would make me crazy. Yeah. That would send me into a 10Z. Yeah, I mean, it's like like he probably had a lot of like, what? Like at that time you would have someone like testing every single thing that you would consume and drink for poison. So it's like all of this stuff is kind of playing in his mind already, assuming that he already is, right. So it's like he has a ton of people are kind of confirming the fact that he should be paranoid and schizophrenic.

12:52 So even though he had, you know, kind of a taste or, or he had like this turmoil, €100 war is going on. He's ousted all these very powerful political allies who now are becoming enemies. The the French court just in general loved pageantry. And this was very common. They had masquerades that were really more than parties. They were like rituals of fucking chaos. Like it would be chaotic. Nobles would disguise themselves wearing a mask, and they disguise themselves as wild men, as demons, mythical beasts. I'm sure like the scene. Oh my God, I would have loved to have gone to.

13:33 No doubt. I always think how bad it would smell. Everyone probably smells. I always. Forget about that. Yeah, that was. That's probably no good. And you know, remember, there's no electricity, right? So it's not like. And people didn't bathe daily. No, they would cover it like perfume was created. And you know, there's shit creeks. Literally shit creeks. There are literal shit creeks. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There's no, they would have like little like toilets and areas in the courts at that time. So and people would often just like sit in the corner, like Versailles was like this was, you know, years later, like hundreds of years later. But Versailles was known for being so stinky because there's so many people there who would just take a shit in the corner, like in a bucket and people would just use the shit bucket in the corner. So like, even though they tended to be a little cleaner than, well, I don't know if they were cleaner than most, but like they tended to be a little bit more clean, clean and had access to, you know, water and baths.

14:35 The IT was smelly and not we didn't have air conditioning at the time so they were just sitting and rotting. So imagine that it would be cool to see, but there's candlelight and it's warm and gross. OK, Anyways, so the spectacles of these masquerades, it was really kind of flirted with danger. It was a way for them to kind of let loose. They'd really mock the forces of the supernatural at the time. They also kind of blurred the boundaries between safety and peril, order and catastrophe. And when Charles joined in, he's already crazy.

15:16 Disaster followed this guy. So January 28th 1393 OK 1393 Yeah. So this was the year after he snapped and killed 4. So. The year after his wife holds a masquerade ball and he's She's celebrating the remarriage of a lady in waiting that she has So Charles and five companions decided to entertain the court, dressing as wild men and. What's a Wildman? Yeah. What would you say it is? Like a like a caveman, like someone that lives out in the forest, like a like a wildling. Right.

16:02 A wildling like someone like Super like dirty and like I don't kind of think of like a Sasquatch or something Yeah, right, right. Like a Wildman like, you know, remember they're they really love like transforming themselves and playing up. I'm thinking twigs. Yeah, in. Theirs and yeah yeah, gross crazy hair and. How would you dress up as a fur? Boots and fur boots, yeah, yeah, ropes to hold up, you know, hold the fur together and. Yeah. Like, like kind of like loosely put together. Yeah. Well, they the way that they dressed as wild men was they coated themselves in pitch, which pitch was like. Oh my God, isn't that mud?

16:46 Isn't that thick mud? It's like a thick mud tar. It's like a Tarish thing, right? Oh yeah, Pitch. They used that on roofs. Yeah, yes, yes. So they have, they've coated themselves in pitch resin, OK and flax fibers, so. When the hell did they get that off? Yeah, well, did they get it off or did all of the, you know, their maids? Or whatever. Oh yeah. Concubines did. So I have this new thing that I'm really into getting like lick all the pitch off of me. Gross. I would not surprise with these people. So. So they cut themselves in the pitch resin and the fat flax fibers so that every inch of their bodies looked shaggy and inhuman. OK, they're actually chained together to enhance the spectacle.

17:33 So all of them were like, chained together. Yeah, just like this. That sounds creepy. It's. Super creepy. And once again we have candles like, you know, this like creepy light that's like going through. So they're all they're all like chained together. And I think probably it was to prevent from them stumbling in these disguises because, you know, it's kind of it's probably incredibly heavy at that at that point. But think about it. Those costumes were Tinder boxes. There is no electricity. Right. And all the candles everywhere. All the candles everywhere, resin, tar, flax. Oh my God.

18:14 Just a tiny spark would be enough to set it off. Sure. It's like like you could not make anything more flammable if you tried. Right, unless you were dunked in oil. Right, right. Well, I mean like the resin is. Are I guess pitch is kind of oil, right? Well. Same thing with the resin too. The resin's like an oily, you know, 'cause you burnt. You can burn resin and like it. Yeah, it just goes up in flames. Cray, Cray. So a single spark would be enough. Meanwhile, there's candles, there's fires out like, all over the place. So the men were dancing, they're howling, and they're, you know, moving around like beasts. And the audience is loving it.

18:55 And come. On sure. You. You see an audience. What do you do? When? When. Yeah, you. Perform you? Yeah, you let you go all out. You are just soaking it in. People are responding. Oh, yeah. And they're changed. Like, it's just like this, this like line of like, you know, creepy guys and they're moving around and and people are just laughing. And then a torch drew a little too close. And some say that it was actually carrying by carried by the King's brother, Louis of Orleans. But others say that it was just a careless person at the party. In a breath, the wild men became tortures themselves. God, so when they're chained together, it's not like you can run away.

19:42 You can't run away from from the fire that started on one end or with one person. It what happens, a fire spreads, right? They're chained together. Nightmare. This was probably one of the the smartest costumes ever. Let's do that this year, you know? Yeah, let's, let's, let's be in a fire filled room and make ourselves completely flammable. That's fucking crazy. So, so a fire breaks out clearly. That monk of Saint Denis, he was here, he chronicles it, he says. In a moment the garments of the dancers burst into flame. The hall, filled with cries most pitiful for the noblemen were consumed before the eyes of all, and no hand could save them. No.

20:30 What could you do? What could you do? You've got these men chained together on fire. What are what are you supposed to do? It's not like you can throw water on them. There's no way that's going to work. Right, right. There's no way you can't. And you're like, maybe we could throw I don't know, they're fucking crazy. Where's? The fire extinguisher. Yeah, here's the fire exchange. Yeah, how the fuck do you put these people out? I don't know you can't you? Don't you? Can't. Yeah. So these flames are shooting up. The hall is filling with screams. It's complete chaos. Which, honestly, they were going for, right? Mission accomplished. Mission accomplished. The smell of burning hair. And flesh.

21:13 Turned the whole celebration into a nightmare, right? Wow. Yeah, yeah, what a fucking sight to see. Oh my God. And so, yeah, I mean, whatever in the build I like. So the people, I'm sure some people escaped. Well, there are five people including the King in the chain, right? Yeah. So they're gone. That's to include the king. Well, so the four of the dancers died in agony. They're dying actively, like when this is happening. Yeah. Burned alive. Yeah. In front of all this nobility. Yeah. One man actually jumped into. Oh, maybe it was 6 people. One man leapt into a VAT of wine and survived. Yeah, that makes sense.

21:59 Charles himself, the only reason he actually lived is because the Duchess of Barry smothered the flames with her skirts. So she's like trying to smother all the flames off. I mean, she better have gotten some kind of fucking land deal or whatever in that. If I saw that I'd be like fuck. You know she got burned. She, of course, she got burned for sure. So Jean Versart actually saw this. And he said the Duchess of Berry, with great courage, cast her own gown upon the king and smothered the fire. By his brave act, she preserved his life, though others perished miserably. So the masquerade had transformed into macabre.

22:43 A dance of death, really. Quite literally a dance of death. Yeah. Exactly. All but two people died and these people are chained together. Remember that. It's. Up and you're already talking about a king whose mental faculties Oh yeah are shaky at the very best so you know this happens the this ball of the burning men new spreads right like the. Fire itself. And it horrified France. To a lot of people at the time, it was really proof that the King's reign was cursed.

23:23 He was a cursed man. Gotcha. Right Whisper whispers actually started to spread that God himself had judged the kingdom's sinfulness. Of course. It always happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When in doubt. Yeah, it's God. It's God and you're, you're a Sinner. You're you're cursed. Yeah. Anything bad happens to you, then yes, it was. It's warranted. Yeah, it's totally warranted, you Sinner. So the monk of Saint Denise actually says the people murmured that this calamity was no accident, but a judgement from God upon the pride and folly of the court. We have the 100 Years War going on at the time.

24:04 People are dying. There is no peace. And then you have this king who's spending all this money dressing up and fucking tar and pitch and, you know, looking like a Wildman, having this elaborate party where people are dying, you know, soldiers are dying. People's like sons and family members have died. Of course, of course you're going to look at it and say you've, you deserved this. This was coming to you, right? Exactly. And what do you think happened to Charles's mental faculties? They got better. Oh, yeah. No, no, he was totally great. Yeah. He was like, I just needed that to have to happen. And now I'm feeling way better.

24:45 Exactly, his fucking madness deepened and his reputation really never recovered from this. Civil wars split France, so he had already been sowing the seeds of of civil wars within the country. He he ousted all of his uncles, brings in a totally new group of people who were probably tied to him on that chain of death and the English at the time. We're trying to gain Fland in France. It's right next to England. The English started pressing their invasion, and the monarchy sank into care. It was inevitable, to be honest. This guy was. This guy was crazy. So when Charles finally died in 1422, he left behind no legacy of wisdom or glory like his father did, only a memory of a king who really thought himself. Out of glass, no airs, right?

25:34 Well, even if he had airs the the problem with it is nobody trusts him and they think there's a fucking curse that's attached to to him and and. So hence his child, if that were to the case, yeah. Well, it's all civil war. Nobody trusts, nobody trusts him. The whole country is in shards. They're all searching for power. Allah, Game of Thrones, the English are coming in. It's totally chaos. It's any France is anyones ball game. You know, this guy thought himself made of glass and and he had a masquerade where men quite literally became human bonfires like things were not good you. Know right, Right. So one thing that I kept on thinking about like during this was, was like, how did Charles lose his mind? Right, that's right.

26:24 Yeah, We, I, like I said, we we've talked about this before. You know, they used lead. We know how poisonous lead is it. It could be that. It could be that he poisons. You know, he was just susceptible to the lead poisoning. It could be just a genetic thing. You know, there's people that are born. Yeah. Cucamonga, right? It just just. It happens. Yeah, there's a there's a chemical imbalance. Yeah, exactly. And then all of the stresses of war and the pressures of having to be the king and in control, you know, that's not for everybody, No.

27:10 So that could contribute to or trigger some sort of something. Yes. Do you know has anyone else speculate about what caused it? We're going to talk a little bit about some of the modern thoughts in it and talk about like what they thought at the time. Like what the fuck was? Yeah, well, they, yeah, I'm pretty sure it was possession or it was God's punishment, or yeah, like you said, some bingo put a curse on him. So any of those. Yeah, like in the 14th century, you know, his whole, his courtiers actually had their own answers. They thought that madness wasn't a medical condition like you were saying. Exactly. It was a curse. It was a punishment from God. It was demonic possession. Well, even recently some some mental problems people don't don't acknowledge as actual mental problems even as recently as this century. So yes.

27:58 Please. Yes, exactly like you know, they at the time. It's like you look, look at him and you're like, well, this court was incredibly greedy and they they're having these big ass masquerades. They're, you know, probably having like or group orgies and stuff. Lust, reckless indulgence. Some people said that it was sorcery at the time, right? The specific rivals had cursed him with powders and charms and, you know, all that kind of thing. This was really an era where even noble families accused one another of witchcraft and politics turned ugly, which I mean, whether you're spying on someone, you're really whether you're Spain and you're spying on all of your people.

28:44 But they're, they're also astrologers. We have astrologers today who insisted that the King's fate was actually written in the stars and he was born under unlucky alignments. They said that Charles really had no choice but to succumb to mad madness. He it was just written in the stars. It's simple to said that God struck Charles down for the sins of the core. And others just said it was, you know, sorcery. The monk of Saint Denise said the King's frenzy was not natural, but born of enchantments and spells set upon him by the malice of men who desired his crown. Today, when we look at it, his symptoms kind of tell a very different story. His own delusions, believing that he was made of glass and failing to recognize his wife and children, running through the palace screaming and howling, all of these things kind of point towards schizophrenia.

29:32 Yeah, Right. Yeah. Others you know today may argue that he had severe bipolar disorder with psychotic features because he would swing between long periods of lucidity and then he would go go and become completely psycho and violent. Yeah, that aligns. And then there's also the the matter of his bloodline. So his madness seemed to stock his entire line, his genetic family like a shadow. His mother, Joanna of Bourbon, was said to have nervous collapses. OK, other branches of his family tree had carried depression, instability and obsession. So, you know, kind of mix that all together and it's. Like all makes sense that way.

30:23 100% centuries later. The Hapsburgs, which we actually have spoken about before. They're incredibly inbred. The Hapsburgs jaw. Oh my God, yes, if anybody, oh we, we. I wonder if we can remember to put a link in the show 'cause that is mind blowing. Yeah. The the inbreeding going on and that they you could see it. You could see it like like transform with every generation because they're keeping their bloodlines pure. AKA like first cousins, sisters and brothers were, you know, having children.

31:09 And that never ends well. Like the the last one, I think it was Charles. I think it was another Charles. Actually. I think it was. They said that he couldn't really even string together like words and his tongue was so big. Yeah. Yeah. So you, you combine potentially hereditary mental disease with inbreeding? Yes. Well, get this, this Charles, they became descendants of the Habsburgs. So this is like pre haps. This is like right before the Habsburgs there. Yeah. So that genetic makeup, like they're it's all tied together. Wow. Yeah.

31:50 So they're all from the same royal stock, which the Habsburgs were infamous for, their fragile minds and bodies, Right? So really, the question that we can ask ourselves is, was Charles a victim of bad blood? Was it hereditary, you know, curses? Or was it just really the weight of being a king, you know, war, political betrayal, the burden of a crown inherited at the age of 11, You know, that really cracked him. And ultimately, like, you know, whatever the cause, his illness really convinced the people of France that the throne itself was cursed.

32:31 And when the fire engulfed the court at the ball of the burning men, that belief was even more confirmed. So. Is did they? Is this what triggered their elimination of? 01 of. Their Last King or something. Or it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't. No, no, the Hapsburgs were all over like Spain, France, like you know, but no, because we had King Louis and. Oh yeah, sure, sure. Later, like 403 hundred, 400 years later, OK, but really I just wanted to tell a kind of a creepy story of Charles the Mad and the ball of the Burning Men. I think he kind of checked all those boxes.

33:12 It did. Oh my God. And like I said, that that being changed together in tar on fire, I mean, that's like a literal, that's a nightmare. It's a total nightmare. That that's a nightmare you would have. It's a nightmare for someone with like schizophrenia like it. Like honestly it would it would make anyone go into psychosis. I'm sure every person there struggled with mental like instability after seeing a site like that. Oh my God no it's it's insane insane. Could you imagine the headlines if this happened today? No, no, no, no. No, we would be thinking the same thing, like of course they're doing something like this and maybe they deserved it.

33:58 Like you hear questions or, or like, you know, comments like this today, you know, we're just go back in time, you know, a few 100 years and the same shit's happening, right? Yeah, today you might be like, are they smoking the crack or are they? Smoking the crack? Yeah. What the heck? They said bad things. They deserve it, you know? Well, thank you so much for today. And honestly, you guys enjoyed this. Go ahead and rate US on Spotify at where anywhere you're getting it, and follow us on social media. Yeah. And we we like to hear you guys like go to TikTok minus on TikTok. Yeah. What? The hell we. Want to. We want to engage. Yeah, yeah. What did you think about this? And are you dressing up like the Burning Men chained together? Because that is a deep historic pull. Right, exactly.

34:46 I would want if. Anybody knew what it was? You like 100? Bucks, you won. You, you win. You win Halloween. Yeah. Anyways, cool. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, we'll see ya. See ya. Bye. None.