Isabeau of Bavaria

Who was Isabeau of Bavaria?

Isabeau of Bavaria was Queen of France as the wife of King Charles VI, whom she married in 1385. She was born into the old and prestigious House of Wittelsbach, the eldest daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti of Milan. Isabeau was sent to France when she was around 15 or 16, on approval to the young French king who liked her enough to marry her three days after meeting her.

In 1389, Isabeau was honored with a lavish coronation ceremony and entry into Paris. Charles suffered the first attack of his lifelong progressive mental illness in 1392, and was forced to temporarily withdraw from government. These episodes occurred with increasing frequency thereafter, leaving a court divided by political factions and steeped in social extravagances. A 1393 masque for one of Isabeau's ladies-in-waiting—an event later known as Bal des Ardents—ended in disaster with the King almost burned to death. Although the King demanded Isabeau's removal from his presence during his attacks of illness, he consistently allowed her the authority to act on his behalf and granted her role of regent to the Dauphin of France, giving her a seat on the regency council, far more power than was usual for a medieval queen.