is
son.

6. House of Burgundy.--_Charles VI._ was a boy of nine years old,
motherless, and beset with ambitious uncles. These uncles were Louis,
Duke of Anjou, to whom Queen Joanna, the last of the earlier Angevin
line in Naples, bequeathed her rights; John, Duke of Berry, a weak
time-server; and Philip, the ablest and most honest of the three. His
grandmother Joan, the wife of Philip VI., had been heiress of the duchy
and county of Burgundy, and these now became his inheritance, giving him
the richest part of France. By still better fortune he had married
Margaret, the only child of Louis, Count of Flanders. Flanders contained
the great cloth-manufacturing towns of Europe--Ghent, Bruges, Ypres,
etc., all wealthy and independent, and much inclined to close alliance
with England, whence they obtained their wool, while their counts were
equally devoted to France. Just as Count Louis II. had, for his lawless
rapacity, been driven out of Ghent by Jacob van Arteveldt, so his son,
Louis III., was expelled by Philip van Arteveldt, son to Jacob. Charles
had been disgusted by Louis's coarse violence, and would not help him;
but after the old king's death, Philip of Burgundy used his influence in
the council to conduct the whole power of France to Flanders, where
Arteveldt was defeated and trodden to death in the battle of Rosbecque,
in 1382. On the count's death, Philip succeeded him as Count of Flanders
in right of his wife; and thus was laid the foundation of the powerful
and wealthy house of Burgundy, which for four generations almost
overshadowed the crown of France.

7. Insanity of Charles VI.--The Constable, Clisson, was much hated by
the Duke of Brittany, and an attack which was made on him in the
streets of Paris was clearly traced to Montfort. The young king, who was
much attached to Clisson, set forth to exact punishment. On his way, a
madman rushed out of a forest and called out, "King, you are betrayed!"
Charles was much frightened, and further seems to have had a sunstroke,
for he at once became insane. He recovered for a time; but at Christmas,
while he and five others were dancing, disguised as wild men, their
garments of pitched flax caught fire. Four were burnt, and the shock
brought back the king's madness. He became subject to fits of insanity
of longer or shorter duration, and in their intervals he seems to have
been almost imbecile. No provision had then been made for the
contingency of a mad king. The