King Charles VI of France was born in 1368 in the middle of the longest conflict in European history – the Hundred Years War.
His reign was dominated by bouts of mental illness and at one point he believed he was made of glass and he took to wearing iron reinforced clothing and refused to let anyone touch him.
His doctors diagnosed a “strange and hitherto unheard of disease” and they tried all sorts of cures including drilling a hole into his skull.
In the power vacuum created by his illness, his uncles and later his brother tried to exploit his weakness and seize power for themselves. It was even rumoured that his wife was a visitor to his brother’s bedchamber!
In this video, I’ll be exploring the fascinating world of 14th-century France, the world of “The Last Duel” and of the Shakespeare history plays and of a much-maligned monarch who signed away his kingdom to the English.
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