CHARLES VI, king of FRANCE, called the MAD. — Son of the preceding and of Joanna of Bourbon, b. in Paris on 3 December 1368, d. on 21 October 1422. His uncles, the dukes of Burgundy, Berry, and Anjou, governed for him until he had reached the age of 21. It was a period of violence and anarchy, during which the regents extracted financial resources wherever they found them and by every means. In 1385 C. assumed personal control of the government, and in 1388 married Isabella of Bavaria. Unable to quell the disturbances stirred up by the regency, he recalled his father’s wise counsellors, mockingly called Marmousets, but their good government lasted only a short time, since in 1392 the king went mad and royal power was contested by his uncles, the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans. In 1407 the latter was assassinated, and the crime gave rise to the war between the two parties into which court and nobility had divided, that of the Armagnacs and that of the Burgundians.
Henry V of England took advantage of the anarchy to invade France with the connivance of John the Fearless, the new duke of Burgundy; he defeated the French at Agincourt in 1415 and took possession of Normandy. John the Fearless, having entered Paris, assumed the government in the name of C. During a meeting with the Armagnacs, who had the dauphin on their side, John the Fearless was assassinated in 1419, and the new duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, concluded an open alliance with Henry, king of England, also plotting with Isabella of Bavaria, C.’s wife. Under the Treaty of Troyes of 1420, Henry V was to marry Catherine, C.’s daughter, and thus become king of France upon the death of his father-in-law. But two years later C. and Henry both died, only a few weeks apart.
C. sought to exploit the schism to the advantage of royal authority, but the University of Paris, interpreting public opinion, compelled him instead to work toward the union of the obediences.