Every Mad French King Explained Explained in 15 minutes

Every mad French king, explained: in August 1392, in a forest near Le Mans, King Charles VI drew his sword and killed four of his own knights. France kept him on the throne for another thirty years. He believed he was made of glass, forgot his own name — and the kingdom tore itself apart trying to rule around him. This animated history asks why France could never remove a king who had lost his mind, and follows the answer across four centuries: Charles VI and the Ball of the Burning Men, the civil war and the Treaty of Troyes, Louis XI the "universal spider" and his iron cages, Charles IX and the St Bartholomew's Day massacre, Henry III and his lapdogs, and finally Louis XVI — the one king whose mind was perfectly clear, and the only one his own people put on trial. Chapters: 0:00 The king who cut down his own knights 1:04 Charles VI and the forest of Le Mans 4:10 The glass king and the civil war 5:41 Louis XI, the universal spider 6:51 Charles IX and Saint Bartholomew 8:01 Henry III and the lapdogs 10:15 Louis XVI, the sane king 12:37 Why France never removed a mad king Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica and standard histories (R. C. Famiglietti, "Royal Intrigue: Crisis at the Court of Charles VI"; Jean Froissart's Chronicles for the forest of Le Mans and the Bal des Ardents; Philippe de Commynes' Memoirs for Louis XI; Pierre de L'Estoile's journal for Henry III; Timothy Tackett, "When the King Took Flight"). The glass delusion is reported by contemporaries including Pope Pius II; the story that Charles IX fired on the crowd from the Louvre and the "taller dead than alive" remark about the Duke of Guise are later legends and are presented as such. Music: YouTube Audio Library. #FrenchHistory #militaryhistory #SketchyWarfare #FrenchKings #CharlesVI #GlassKing #LouisXI #HenryIII #LouisXVI #HundredYearsWar #HistoryExplained #AnimatedHistory #FrenchRevolution #MadKings #History