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| After they were presented, musicians started to play. Guests began to dance on the sound of trumpets, flutes, chalumeaus and musical instruments. The men capered about, howled like wolves, spat obscenities as the audience of ] attempted to guess the identity of each dancer. Charles' brother ] and Phillipe de Bar arrived late to the event, entering the room with burning torches. A spark fell on the costume of the one of the dances, causing it to burst into flames.<ref name = "T504"/> According to one contemporary description, "the Duke of Orleance...put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax, that he set one of the Coates on fire, and so each of them set fire on to the other, and so they were all in a bright flame.<ref>qtd in MacKay, Ellen. ''Persecution, Plague, and Fire''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011</ref> | After they were presented, musicians started to play. Guests began to dance on the sound of trumpets, flutes, chalumeaus and musical instruments. The men capered about, howled like wolves, spat obscenities as the audience of ] attempted to guess the identity of each dancer. Charles' brother ] and Phillipe de Bar arrived late to the event, entering the room with burning torches. A spark fell on the costume of the one of the dances, causing it to burst into flames.<ref name = "T504"/> According to one contemporary description, "the Duke of Orleance...put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax, that he set one of the Coates on fire, and so each of them set fire on to the other, and so they were all in a bright flame.<ref>qtd in MacKay, Ellen. ''Persecution, Plague, and Fire''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011</ref> | ||
| ] c. 1470s, showing in the foreground a dancer in the winevat, Charles huddling under the Duchess of Berry's skirt on the left middle, |
] c. 1470s, showing in the foreground a dancer in the winevat, Charles huddling under the Duchess of Berry's skirt on the left middle, while the dancers in the center burn.]] | ||
| As the dancers became engulfed in flames, the Queen who knew her husband was among the dancers, fainted as the men burned. Luckily Charles had been standing at a distance from the other dancers, near the 15-year-old ], who saved his life by throwing her skirt over his costume. A second dancer, Sire de Nantouillet, survived by throwing himself in a wine cask. In their attempts to rescue the dancers and extinguish the flames, many guests were burned severely. One of the dancers, the Count de Joigny, died immediately; two more, Yvain de Foix and Aimery Poitiers, lingered painfully for two days. Huguet de Guisay lived for three days in near madness, ranting and raving.<ref name = "T504">Tuchman, 504-505</ref> | As the dancers became engulfed in flames, the Queen who knew her husband was among the dancers, fainted as the men burned. Luckily Charles had been standing at a distance from the other dancers, near the 15-year-old ], who saved his life by throwing her skirt over his costume. A second dancer, Sire de Nantouillet, survived by throwing himself in a wine cask. In their attempts to rescue the dancers and extinguish the flames, many guests were burned severely. One of the dancers, the Count de Joigny, died immediately; two more, Yvain de Foix and Aimery Poitiers, lingered painfully for two days. Huguet de Guisay lived for three days in near madness, ranting and raving.<ref name = "T504">Tuchman, 504-505</ref> | ||
Revision as of 13:38, 12 November 2011
The Bal des Ardents ( or Ball of the Burning Men) was an incident on 28 January 1393 in which the French king, Charles VI of France, was almost killed, and four members of the French nobility were burned to death. The burning dance occurred at a celebratory masque held by the Queen on the occasion of the remarriage of a lady-in-waiting; the dance, in which the knights were costumed as wild men, was characteristic of court theater and folkloric motifs adapted by the nobility. The incident resulted in a loss of confidence in Charles' capacity to rule; popular disapproval of court decadence threatened to cause revolt in Paris.
The event was chronicled by Jean Froissart in Froissart's Chronicles, illustrated in 15th century illuminated manuscripts, and represents courtly 14th century courtly theater.
The masque
On January 28, 1393, Charles' wife Queen Isabeau held a masquerade at the Hôtel Saint-Pol to celebrate the third marriage of one her ladies-in-waiting. Traditionally a woman's remarriage was an occasion for mockery and foolery, celebrated with masques or charivari characterized by discord and disguises.
The idea was conceived by Huguet de Guisay who suggested that six members of the nobility, or knights, perform at the event in a costumed dance. The knights disguised themselves as wood savages, in costumes made of linen soaked in resin to which flax was attached "so that they appeared shaggy and hairy from head to foot", and chained themselves together. Their faces were covered with masks made of similar materials. Torches were kept out of the hall during their appearance to prevent the combustible costumes from catching fire. Unknown to the audience, Charles, also disguised, joined the group.
After they were presented, musicians started to play. Guests began to dance on the sound of trumpets, flutes, chalumeaus and musical instruments. The men capered about, howled like wolves, spat obscenities as the audience of courtiers attempted to guess the identity of each dancer. Charles' brother Louis I, Duke of Orléans and Phillipe de Bar arrived late to the event, entering the room with burning torches. A spark fell on the costume of the one of the dances, causing it to burst into flames. According to one contemporary description, "the Duke of Orleance...put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax, that he set one of the Coates on fire, and so each of them set fire on to the other, and so they were all in a bright flame.
As the dancers became engulfed in flames, the Queen who knew her husband was among the dancers, fainted as the men burned. Luckily Charles had been standing at a distance from the other dancers, near the 15-year-old Duchesse de Berry, who saved his life by throwing her skirt over his costume. A second dancer, Sire de Nantouillet, survived by throwing himself in a wine cask. In their attempts to rescue the dancers and extinguish the flames, many guests were burned severely. One of the dancers, the Count de Joigny, died immediately; two more, Yvain de Foix and Aimery Poitiers, lingered painfully for two days. Huguet de Guisay lived for three days in near madness, ranting and raving.
The people of Paris, appalled at the event and the danger posed to their monarch, blamed Charles' advisors. Having previously suffered several episodes of madness, Charles was a pawn in a power struggle between the Philip the Bold and the Duke of Berry, his uncles, and his younger brother Louis. A "great commotion" swept through Paris at the news and the people threatened to depose the uncles and other dissolute courtiers. Greatly concerned at the popular outcry, and chastened by the Maillotin revolt of the previous decade, the court sought penance at Notre Dame proceeded by an apologetic Royal progress through the city in which the uncles walked in humility behind the King on horseback. Louis de Orleans, who was blamed for the tragedy, built a chapel at the Celestine monastery in atonement.
Courtly theater and illustrations
The mythology of wildmen or forest men was closely associated with demonology in the medieval period, and by the time of Isabeau's masque, the folkloric depiction of wildmen had become an acceptable theme in noble society. The masque itself is considered by scholars to be a form of courtly theater which may or may not have encouraged audience participation. The Duchess of Berry's actions have been described variously as participatory or not; she either pulled him out of the dance to speak with her, or he stepped away to speak to her. Froissart's chronicles that "The King, who proceeded ahead of , departed from his companions...and went to the ladies to show himself to them...and so passed by the Queen and came near the Duchess of Berry"
The event was chronicled by Jean Froissart in Froissart's Chronicles and is illustrated in various illuminated editions. The Harley edition in the British Museum illustrated c. 1470 to 1472, identifies the costumed dancers as wodewoses, and shows four dancers capering in the cleared hall; the queen sits with two ladies on the dais. The Gruuthus manuscript housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France shows the Bal des Ardents, illustrated by Master of Anthony of Burgundy, with the Queen in a standing position flanked by ladies-in-waiting, with tall hennins. The dancers are engulfed in flames; the King cowers beneath the Duchess' skirts.
References
- ^ Tuchman, 504-505
- qtd in MacKay, Ellen. Persecution, Plague, and Fire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011
- Heckscher, William. Review of Wild Men in the Middle Ages: A Study in Art, Sentiment, and Demonology by Richard Bernheimer. The Art Bulletin. Vol. 35, No. 3, p. 241
- Stock, Lorraine Kochanske. Review of The Performance of Self: Ritual, Clothing, and Identity during the Hundred Years War by Susan Crane. Speculum , Vol. 79, No. 1 (Jan., 2004), pp. 159-160
- Beadle, Richard. The Cambridge companion to medieval English theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 68
Sources
- Tuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Ballantine, 1979.