1392: The King's First Crisis and the Return of the Princes

The period 1388–1392 rested on one essential condition: a king present and capable of deciding. In 1392, that condition broke down: Charles VI suffered his first major episode of madness, marking the beginning of a lasting weakness of power.

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⚔️ The Trigger: Brittany, Clisson, and Pierre de Craon

Charles VI marched against John IV, Duke of Brittany, who was sheltering Pierre de Craon, accused of attempting to assassinate Constable Olivier de Clisson. The campaign was fraught with court rivalries, threats, fatigue, and high political tension surrounding the great servants of the state.

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🌳 The Forest of Le Mans (5 August 1392): A Founding Scene

Near Le Mans, in oppressive heat, a ragged old man supposedly accosted the king: “Ride no further, noble king — you are betrayed!” On 5 August 1392, at the edge of the forest, a trivial incident (a lance falling, a metallic crash) caused a sudden shock.

Charles VI then plunged into a crisis of violence and confusion: he cried treason and attacked his own escort. The Duke of Orléans fled. The king killed several men before being subdued. He was carried away unconscious and did not regain awareness for some time.

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🩺 Illness, Remissions, and the “Glass King”

From 1392 onwards, the reign became an alternation of remissions and episodes in which the king was incapacitated. Medieval accounts describe varied symptoms, and modern medical interpretation remains debated. A famous motif is that of the “glass king”: the king believed himself fragile, took extreme precautions, and altered his behaviour.

The number and duration of crises accumulated throughout the rest of the reign.

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👥 The Institutional Consequence: Return of the Princes

When the king could no longer govern continuously, the question of power immediately resurfaced: who sat on the council? who controlled taxation? who held offices and grants of favour?

The result was mechanical: the princes reasserted a central role. The monarchy entered a period in which the state existed but decisions were unstable, opening the way to the great political crises of the early fifteenth century: factional rivalries, civil war, and the English return to the offensive.

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🧠 Key Takeaways

• 1392 is a break: the continuity of government became uncertain.
• The crisis in the forest of Le Mans became a reference point: the king’s fragility reconfigured power.
• The return of the princes to the council undermined the administrative coherence inherited from Charles V.