Kara

On September eighteenth, thirteen eighty, Charles V had died under strange circumstances, in the eyes of the written record at least.

Ed

I think he died because his heart stopped.

Kara

Well, we know that he suffered a draining fistula, which is a fun time, for 23 years before he died at the age of 42. So that probably had something to do with it.

Ed

A draining fistula?

Kara

Yeah. I even found a medical publication on it.

Ed

Oh. What the heck is a fistula?

Kara

It's like a I looked it up. I'm trying to remember. It's like a pus-filled thing. I don't know. Yeah, look it up. It's gross.

Ed

Yeah. Yeah. We'll put it in the show notes on the day of Sumserfire.com.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

Oh, oh.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

That is very rectal.

Kara

It's a good time. Imagine having that for 23 years. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Day's Dumpster Fire. As always, I am Kara, and as always, with me is Ed, my co-host. How are you doing, buddy?

Ed

I'm so glad you're back.

Kara

I'm back. With an episode, which is crazy.

Ed

It has been um, yeah, it has been weeks of like trying to like write our own, but like write my own episodes and then record it and then edit it and then get it out, and then like trying to update the website that I don't know anything about. It's just like, okay, I'm handing the baby over back to mom.

Kara

You did good. You did good.

Ed

Yeah, I know. It was actually a lot of fun. And it was one of those things where uh got to learn a lot, see aspects of the show that I normally don't uh get involved with. So yeah, hopefully, hopefully uh you guys haven't like left the show after my episode um last go around on the uh great train wreck of 1918. That was my first foray into doing something by myself. And I think Kara, you're commenting like, yeah, you were like super nervous in the beginning.

Kara

You settled in though, but yeah, I could tell.

Ed

Yeah, well, exactly. I I it it's just weird sitting in your office talking to a computer screen without like without medications, and I I literally had to put a picture of a classroom on my computer screen so it looked like I was talking to a bunch of students, and then once I did that, it was easy.

Kara

There you go. See, understandable. But yes, I'm glad I'm I'm back. That was bad.

Ed

What kind of vacation? Like uh, like, talk about getting sunburned.

Kara

Jesus. It wouldn't help me. Um, I'm back. I wrote an episode that I have been promising you guys for weeks.

Ed

Months.

Kara

Has it been months?

Ed

Well, yeah, because you think about it, because you did Prohibition, you've done Dust Bowl, you've done Great Depression, like, yeah, and then I did I did the Bat Bomb thing. Like, I mean, seriously, guys, like listen to the the past, I don't know what, eight, nine episodes. We've pretty much took care of 1900 to 1945 in its entirety.

Kara

Have covered the interwar period plus a little bit of World War II.

Ed

Yes.

Kara

In American history, at least, and some European history.

Ed

Yeah, yeah. We kinda we kind of dip a little bit and then we pick up in uh Vietnam.

Kara

Yeah, we're doing great. So there are some gaps. We'll fill them. But before we do that, I'm gonna take you to medieval France because we have not done a Middle Ages pot uh episode in a hot minute.

Ed

And it's gonna be really exciting because like you and French words are like chef's kiss, man. They are yeah, you you get along great with French words.

Kara

I do. That's exactly what I was gonna say, actually. I was gonna make the same joke and you beat me to it. So here we are.

Ed

Yes, we're talking about burning burning balls. No, burning men.

Kara

Um both. Both. So I found this little lovely event in a book that was gifted to me, and it was only a paragraph long, and I was like, I need to find out what this is because this sounds horrible. And it's and it's wonderful in a horrible way. I don't know if that makes sense, but we're gonna find out.

Ed

Well, it's been the further back you go in history, the more horrible something could be and still be funny.

Kara

Yes, if it's presented in the right way, which I hope I did. So let's let's find out, I guess. We're gonna talk about the uh the ball of burning men happened uh 1393.

Ed

There's a lot going on there.

Kara

You're welcome. All right, let's just dive in, let's get started. Ball of Burning Men. Have you ever thrown a party or a get together that you were looking forward to after a tough week just for it to get canceled, or maybe nobody shows up? Or yeah, or like maybe the plans that you were looking forward to after feeling super down to the dumps just to go up in flames, and now you're stuck at home staring at your phone like a zombie.

Ed

Well, okay, let me let me talk to you about getting old. Okay.

Kara

I'm talking to everybody, by the way.

Ed

Yeah, and I know that's rhetorical, but like I this struck a chord with me because like when I was in my 20s and 30s, and I would put like I would think about some big get together or whatever, and it would fall through at the last minute, I would be absolutely devastated. Like, like, dang, I was really hoping that this this would have been like a really cool like game night or whatever. But then as I've gotten older and stuff like this falls through, I'm like, cool. All right, I get to go to bed early.

Kara

Understandable.

Ed

Like as you get older, you're you become more and more cool with social events falling apart because you can yeah, you can just you can go sit on the toilet for three hours doom scrolling if you want.

Kara

Sure. You can't let it be able to do that. For me, it depends on for me, it depends on the social event. If I wanted to go, then yeah, I'll be disappointed. If I didn't want to go, but I told people it was gonna go, so I have to go, and then it falls through because and it wasn't my fault, then great.

Ed

But as you get older, then it's like even if it is your fault, you're like, cool, I got a good excuse.

Kara

I haven't hit that yet. No, I think I think my husband has, but that's okay.

Ed

Uh yeah, yeah, I can see Gabe being on board with that.

Kara

Yeah. So today we're gonna talk about Charles the Sixth of France. Uh, he has a reputation, so he is also known as the Mad King. His reputation in history is um the crazy or or insane king. Very, but really I just find his story really sad.

Ed

It's very Game of Thronesy.

Kara

Uh The Mad King, yes, that's probably where George R. Martin got the name from.

Ed

Yeah, got some inspiration. Yeah. If you'll ever finish a book.

Kara

Yeah. Well in a time where mental health was not understood and madness was something taboo caused by evil magic or poison or whatever, Charles VI appeared to have struggled with severe mental illness. And historians and doctors still debate what those were to this day. We may never know what those were. But what we can say is that he and many others likely struggled with mental health problems to varying degrees. He's just one of the most famous ones because he was a king. With that said, the king did enjoy kingly things: hunting, parties, weddings.

Ed

Well, what comes after the wedding is probably what they were paying more attention to.

Kara

Possibly, but the weddings could be fun.

Ed

A lot of food, yeah.

Kara

Yeah, see. And he did do some good for France early in his reign. His wife seemed to genuinely care for him, which is kind of weird for a medieval marriage. Go him. Yay, for them.

Ed

Yeah, it's more like a business contract that like very rarely is it ever like any sort of affection between king and queen. It's just right. Yeah, uh to me, that would just be cringy.

Kara

Yeah, I it's crazy. And at least, at the very least, guys, he was not a French peasant, I guess.

Ed

But oh it's okay.

Kara

He was a king, like he's got that going for him.

Ed

He was a dolphin. Yeah, which is French for dolphin and king.

Kara

I like it. Cool. Even kings and queens struggle though, but even kings and queens can throw a party that goes entirely up in flames. So, chapter one, the beloved. We're gonna talk about the mad king here for a little bit. Charles VI was born on December 3rd, 1368, in Paris, France, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, which I could probably do an episode on one day. A struggle of succession over land and power between England and France. The war would last from 1337 to 1453, and with brief periods of peace breaking up the fighting. His mother was Queen Joanna of Bourbon. Bourbon, whatever. French, my favorite.

Ed

Or if you're or if you're American, you can just say Bourbon.

Kara

Bourbon, like the drink.

Ed

Yeah, Queen Joanna Bourbon.

Kara

Oh, jeez. And his father was Charles V, or Charles the Wise, as he was known to the people of France. Charles V was a very capable king during wartime. He was successful in gaining back a majority of French land in nine in 1360, after they had lost it all to the British early in the war, blah, blah, blah. On September 18th, 1380, Charles V had died under strange circumstances, in the eyes of the written record at least.

Ed

I think he died because his heart stopped.

Kara

Well, we know that he suffered a draining fistula, which is a fun time, for 23 years before he died at the age of 42. So that probably had something to do with it.

Ed

A draining fistula?

Kara

Yeah. I even found a medical publication on it.

Ed

Oh. What the heck is a fistula?

Kara

It's like a I looked it up. I'm trying to remember. It's like a pus-filled thing. I don't know. Yeah, look it up. It's gross.

Ed

Yeah, yeah. We'll put it in the show notes on the daysympsifire.com.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

Oh, oh.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

That is very rectal.

Kara

It's a good time. Imagine having that for 23 years. Supposedly.

Ed

Yeah. I mean, he was 45. Oh, you can even have them in your teeth.

Kara

Oh, that's good.

Ed

Oh, yeah. It's like an abscess. Like a root canal.

Kara

Isn't it weird?

Ed

Uh, don't look up videos, guys.

Kara

No, no, no, that's Chris. Uh, anyway, so people, some believe that's what caused it. Others believe that he could have been poisoned or like he had a hit put on him or whatever. So the causes of his death are actually still being researched. I can't speak to what actually killed him. But yeah, September 18th. And our our uh king to be was 11 at the time. So on his deathbed, Charles summoned all of his brothers, the Dukes of Anjou, Barrie, Burgundy, and Bourbon, and told them to be his 11-year-old son's re regency after he died until Charles the Sixth was old enough to rule. In other words, what a regency is, if you don't know, is somebody who runs the kingdom until you are able or fit to do so.

Ed

Uh king uh, or um I think it was Chancellor, what's his name? Uh Denether from um Lord of the Rings.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Ed

So he was uh yeah, he was like not the king, but he was the guy that was kind of in charge until the the the true king would, or until Aragorn made his presence.

Kara

Yep, that's a regent.

Ed

Yep.

Kara

Yep. So during their regency, the king's uncles had their way with the kingdom looking for personal enrichment over the people of France. Ousted or minimized they what they did. Sorry, I just started reading a bullet point list, it's boring. Sorry. What they did was they ousted or minimized the roles of the advisors of Charles V. So they were like, these guys who actually did kind of a good job, they suck because they actually want us to do our job. And instead, they employed their own supporters in their own political roles that way they can keep lining their pockets. They also reimposed unpopular tax policies that Charles V had done away with. And this caused a few peasants' rebellions. There was a big one in 1382, and it's some smaller revolts that happened throughout Paris. So that's fun time. And then on top of that, they refused to hand over power to Charles VI. And we're not sure why. Um it's an easy thing to assume that it was because the uncles didn't want to give him power, but Charles VI did not take power for six years after he was of legal age. So he when he turned 14, uh, he was supposed to get uh the rule of the kingdom, which still sounds really young. That's crazy.

Ed

Could you imagine running an entire kingdom or country at the age of 14?

Kara

No, that's crazy. But here we are.

Ed

I'm 40 something, and I don't even feel comfortable doing that.

Kara

I know. It's it's wild. Middle ages. I love it. Finally, in 1388, Charles took control of France. He was 20 years old.

Ed

Okay. It's a bit more reasonable.

Kara

Yeah. His uncles withdrew back to their duchies. He reinstated his father's former advisors. Thank goodness. And he began to clean up the mess of corruption that his uncles had put into place. Conditions in France began to improve, and the people noticed. Eventually, he was deemed the well-beloved in his earlier as king. So he did a pretty good job.

Ed

I just like how you spelled duchies.

Kara

You like that?

Ed

Yeah, without the T, it's uh douches. Yeah, that's what you spell check. I just put the T in.

Kara

All right.

Ed

No more douches for you.

Kara

No, sir. Chapter two, Madness.

Ed

Here comes Caligula all over again.

Kara

Uh I don't know. I feel worse for him than qu than I did Caligula.

Ed

Really?

Kara

Yeah, but that might just be because of the um difference in source material. So, like for for this person, we have a lot more. Well, we have I guess, yeah, we have more information that survived we can attest to or survived as opposed to Caligula because of the time difference.

Ed

Yeah. We did have an episode on Caligula. We sure did. I did that. We'll have that linked in the show notes.

Kara

Yeah. Arguably, Charles VI is known most for his bouts of psychosis that plagued him for most of his life. Uh, and at the time they were referred to as madness. So people living at the time period, like, oh, he's just mad, which that's an outdated term. Don't use that.

Ed

Well, and and at the time they like the medical scene was more or less like, you know, one of the one of the four elements is out on the body.

Kara

Like, yeah, too much bile or yeah, or too much, what is the other stuff?

Ed

I can't remember the four.

Kara

Blood. Uh, I don't remember the other two.

Ed

Yeah, but yeah, but they would say like you would you would your body was a balance of these four things, and if one of them was more than the other, then they could kind of figure out, like, oh, this is what we need to do. Like, that's why bleeding was kind of a uh a thing for a long time. And I think they've actually kind of noticed that like the bleeding thing wasn't that hare-brained of an idea.

Kara

Uh I think uh go ahead, sorry.

Ed

Oh, I was I was gonna say, like, they they like especially with infections and stuff like that, like you crack that puppy open, man, you get that bacteria out. Yeah, I think with a lot of fermenting, right?

Kara

With a lot of um things in this time period, it sounds super crazy and wacky to us because of all of our modern medicine and such. But really, if you get down to it and you start to put yourself in their shoes, some of it actually makes logical sense. Like I can understand where they're coming from.

Ed

Yeah, yeah. I don't blame them one bit.

Kara

Yeah. So the symptoms recorded throughout his life included fever, fainting, dizziness, seizures, confusion, delusions, including the belief that he was made of glass, which came after the events of today's episode. However, I am going to note the glass thing real quick because it is the thing that he's most famous for. Charles VI was not the only person of this period who struggled with believing his body was made of glass. Uh, he's certainly the most famous, but he's not the only one. Supposedly, his anxiety went so far as he had iron rods sewn into his clothing to avoid shattering his body in case he bumped into anything. That one um is debated, but I thought it was interesting enough to put in here. But just know that we're still we'll start arguing about that.

Ed

Yeah, we're still we haven't found any of his clothing that would have that in there. But but it's one of those things it is believable. Like, I it would not surprise me if that actually happened.

Kara

Yeah, exactly. Like, we don't have hard evidence for it, but I could see it. There is an instance of another man who thought his butt was made of glass and it would shatter if he sat down.

Ed

Uh I mean, I I think his dad, um, with with the the anal fistulas, he probably should have heeded that.

Kara

Uh I mean this was a different dude. It wasn't Charles V. I know.

Ed

I'm I'm talking about our king's father here. I see Charles Charles V.

Kara

So the so the butt exploding, you think that came from?

Ed

I mean, yeah, I mean, hey, why not? Like, I I like if you watch a dude actually die from uncontrollable rectal hemorrhaging, yeah. I that that may put an image in your head that I unfortunately just put in all of your head.

Kara

You sure did. Uh also this butt thing had nothing to do with the king, but it it was I thought it was worth mentioning.

Ed

Hey, it's it's all about butts, man. It it's that's what I'm saying. There's something about humanity and butts. Uh, if something goes horribly awry and there's a butt involved, that's a good time.

Kara

Yes. Now, I I will say this illness can probably be a whole episode in its own right, and I went down a really deep rabbit hole on it. It's fascinating and very interesting, and there is research out there that you can find. However, for our purposes here, we just need to know that it's part of the king's story later in life after this event. It's fine. But yes, go down the rabbit hole if you wish. If you want resources for it, I will put them on the website or give them to you if you ask, whichever comes first.

Ed

Or go down the butthole or rabbit hole.

Kara

I'm gonna stick with rabbit hole. Well, it's not possible to diagnose them after all these years. Many have speculated numerous possibilities. Uh, some have said bipolar disorder, some schizophrenia, porphyria. There's more suggestions, but we just don't know. And we may never know because it's one of those things where you can't you can't diagnose somebody who lived hundreds of years ago. There's no way.

Ed

Well, yeah, and and you look at these symptoms, right? Fever, right? If he's having chronic fevers, that's like an infection. It's almost it almost looks like he had like recurring meningitis. Which is like an infection of the spinal column or the uh like infection around the brain. Uh I mean, fainting, dizziness, seizures, confusion, delusions. Um, yeah, that I I have no idea what I don't think it was one disease. I think it could have been a mixture of diseases, heavy metal poisoning can cause stuff like that.

Kara

I don't know. Scholars don't know.

Ed

Yeah, this guy's checking all the boxes.

Kara

Yeah, it's crazy. There was also a medical journal, a couple medical journals trying to figure it out as well that you can find um the National Health Organization website.

Ed

It seems like he's the kind of guy that goes into the doctor's office, right? You know how when you go to the doctor's office and you got to fill out the forms like your medical history. This dude is like literally checking every single box on on there. Like he is the history of medical issues.

Kara

Yes, and what I found really interesting is when I was doing like my very broad start your journey research, I was listening to a podcast about him, and they were saying, and I should have done more research on this because I do find it interesting, I just didn't have time. But they were saying that his mother suffered from similar bouts of psychosis, and his grandfather suffered from similar bouts of psychosis. So some people think it's a hereditary thing, but like I said, they we just don't know and we ever know. But yeah, it's interesting. The king's first instance of psychosis or madness was in August of 1392 while traveling with his army in a forest near Le Mon in France. And I believe that is also the location of the uh racetrack, the famous racetrack. So just Google that. There's a forest somewhere. There you go.

Ed

Uh yeah, Ford versus Ferrari. That movie um is based around the Le Mans race.

Kara

That one, and then there was one that came out a couple years ago. Uh what is it? It was based on the video game. Oh, uh, I thought that was Forza or Yeah, it I think it was Forza, and there was um Laman was a big deal in that movie as well.

Ed

Yeah, where the well they they they recruited that kid that was like he played racing games. It's based on a true story, apparently.

Kara

Yeah, it was pretty good. It was a pretty good movie. Anyway, yeah. While traveling, the king, who at this time was in his twenties, was traveling on horseback through the forest, and they were walking, moving along, you know, with his army. They just uh I'm trying to remember what they were doing out there.

Ed

Uh Kingly soldiery thingy.

Kara

Kingly soldiery thingies, something to do with the war.

Ed

Oh, that's true. Yeah.

Kara

It was definitely something to do with the war, and somebody who they thought was a traitor, some something like that. I don't know. Not that important. They're walking. It's hot. It's August. The men began to notice that he had been mumbling to himself. Some sources note that his words were not very kingly, we'll say.

Ed

Okay.

Kara

Catch my drift. Then, well, as they were walking, they went through a colony of lepers. And lepers are, if you don't know, people who are suffering from leprosy. Uh today, that's called Hansen's disease. Usually at this time period, people who had that disease were ousted by the communities because they were scared of that they would get sick of the illness, and there's a lot of superstition surrounding it. At the time, it's a whole thing. Again, we could probably do an episode on it. One man who is described to be barefoot, dressed in rags, suddenly approached the king and grabbed his horse's bridles without saying something along like without while saying something at the same time. He was like talking to the king, like trying to get his attention right. Something along the lines of the king's men are betraying him and he needs to go and all of this stuff. And he said he was able to get all this stuff out before he was pulled or pulled away by the surrounding knights.

Ed

Oh, good. A delusional king being told by some weird homeless man that his knights are like screwing him over.

Kara

Correct.

Ed

Good, good. That that won't have any negative consequences at all.

Kara

Walking in full armor in the August heat.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

Yeah. It's a good time. Now, despite the knight's efforts, the man reportedly followed the army for the better part of an hour or so-ish, shouting about betrayal the whole time. So he's like following off to the side, just yelling at him. Crazy.

Ed

Yeah, it's like it's it's it's like a scene from a movie where you just get some guy in the background yelling for like the entire scene.

Kara

Yeah. And this this went on for like an hour.

Ed

Oh, jeez.

Kara

Terrible. Anyway, we do need to be careful of our source material here. I got this from one of the primary sources that you can find for this incident. I'm gonna try, guys. It's French. The Chronicles of uh Frasois F-R-O-I-S-S-A-R-T. That's how you spell it. If you want to find it, I have links. They're in the footnotes. In the show notes. But yes.

Ed

Yeah, I'm trying to. Oh, oh, there it is. Okay, yeah, it's in the show notes. Um yeah, so it would be Froissart.

Kara

Yeah, that's it. That guy.

Ed

Foissart, yeah.

Kara

Yeah, that's uh one of the main primary sources we have for this incident. Yeah, go read it. It is translated into English. I have a link in here in the footnotes that you can go and find it. It's great, it's awesome. Anyway, we do need to be careful the source material. It implies that the man did this because he was a leper. It's impossible to prove, just like the king's madness is impossible to prove. But also, leprosy can cause nerve damage and severe physical deformities. I'm the doctor, but it may not have much to do with the man's mental state. I'm just I'm just throwing it out there, my opinion.

Ed

Yeah, I mean, I I'm familiar with it. Um, like America had a leper colony in Hawaii. Um, it was like the last leper colony in in in American history. But yeah, it it literally causes, it's like a bacterial infection that literally causes usually like your fingers and your toes to like essentially die. And you can't feel it fall off.

Kara

Yeah, and you can't feel it on your nerves, so you barely notice.

Ed

That's like the first sign of it is like your your fingers and toes like start going numb. But yeah, it it it in its more advanced stage, it it like you literally have body parts that that just fall off. And I I I want to say that there was uh a degree upon which like it could affect mental states, but yeah, don't quote me on that. But I don't know, if I saw my arm fall off and it not hurt, I I would probably be in a really weird mental state.

Kara

That's a fair point, but it doesn't mean it was caused by the disease.

Ed

No, no, that would be a that would be a side effect of the disease. Like you would still be in a weird mental state if your arm fell off if it if you didn't have a leprosy.

Kara

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know we're we're into some semantics and the weeds, but it's a bad deal. It's a bad deal. Anyway, that should have been the end of it, right? Like, okay, the guy's done, he's gone now. We're gonna keep walking. And it would have been unnerving, maybe spike some anxiety. I understand that, but I don't think it warrants the beloved king's response.

Ed

Oh gosh.

Kara

Uh at some point, a squire dropped a lance he was carrying, and it landed on a helmet, which made a really loud clanging sound. Sound must have started, must have startled the king because he immediately jumped in a saddle and yelled, Forward, forward, and set on God and Saint Denis, set upon these traitors who would sell us, meaning run away. We are being betrayed. Essentially is what he's yelling about. And with that, he rushed into the crowd of knights behind him, brandishing a sword, swinging it on both sides on his horse and attacking anybody within reach, believing they were all traitors.

unknown

Okay.

Kara

I think at some point he fell off the horse or got off the horse. At some point, he's off the horse. The source doesn't really say, but go with it. It's fine.

Ed

Yeah, because imagine being one of those knights. Like, what do you do? Do you defend yourself? Like, yeah, like are you allowed to defend yourself when the king's attacking you for like no reason?

Kara

Like that's a weird spot to be in.

Ed

Yeah, there's there's not a lot of case law at this time that would help navigate these uncertain times.

Kara

Exactly. And as you point out, and as you can imagine, chaos ensued. With men dispersing like cockroaches in the sunlight, trying to find ways to disarm the king without dying or just running away because they didn't know what else to do. Fair. One of the king's chamberlains managed to grab the king from behind. His sword was wrestled away while he was being held, and finally, he calmed down enough for the men to lay him down on the grass. And at the end of it, by the time it was done, the king killed several of his own knights. And he found himself being carried back to Laman out of the forest before slipping into a coma. His first sentence of psychosis. There it is.

Ed

Could you imagine being the knight coming home? And your wife's like, Hey honey, how was work?

Kara

Um, well, my boss tried to kill us today.

Ed

Yeah, yeah, he got like four of them before we subdued the king.

Kara

Like, and then he just like fell asleep for a long time. I don't know, it was wild.

Ed

Yeah. Right? That's where you're just like, hey, uh, we still good for game night Saturday night.

Kara

I need a drink, but I'm not sure.

Ed

Yeah, I need a drink, and uh we're we're gonna put this in our tonight's session of DD.

Kara

Like Yeah, like I I need to escape for a little bit because that's crazy.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

The king was in a coma for four days. During that time, the door remained ajar to tell people he wasn't dead, and the rumor mill was in full swing. Some people blamed poison, some called it magic, and some said it was madness, all the things that you'd expect. When he woke up, he chose to rest at his castle and Creole, Creole, Crey, something like that. Help me out. It's like five letters, and I'm struggling.

Ed

Boy, that's an old, old French word. Um I think it would just be like boy, I'm not sure.

Kara

All right, we're we're just gonna wing.

Ed

Sur Srail.

Kara

Sure.

Ed

Um, how to pronounce C-R-I-E-L and Franch. Let's see here. Okay, Creel.

Kara

Okay, cool. I was not far off. Now there were you.

Ed

Uh yeah, no, that's uh yeah, pretty good.

Kara

Okay, cool. So he took rest of his castle in Creole in the country. Well, one of his uncles, the Duke of Burgundy, took regency. Charles would return to Paris and to business before the first of January in 1393. His doctors warned him, as doctors do, to take it easy and avoid stress for fear of another mental breakdown. So we are back in Paris in the castle, and he's supposed to go back to work, but everybody's a little bit nervous. We're hoping that maybe we can distract him, give him some fun things to do, not worry about the war for a little bit, right? Like, let's try to keep this guy calm so he doesn't kill a bunch of our knights. Right?

Ed

I'm sorry, like whenever you tell somebody, okay, I'm prescribing rest, relaxation, and no stress, uh-huh. That never works out right. It like whenever I'm being told by a doctor, you're like, make sure you take it easy and get some rest and all that stuff, like the following ensuing days are like the most stressful of my life. Like everything is conspiring to make life super stressful.

Kara

Well, if think if you think your life was super stressful, wait till you find out about this party. Chapter three: The Ball. The ball that you've all been waiting for, the one where the men burn. In January of 1393, the king's wife, Queen Isabel, wanted to cheer up her husband and provide a distraction from the overwhelming stresses the king was facing, such as the Hundred Years' War, um, tax revolts, um, probably some hunger because it's France. And oh oh, um, also at this time, I think there was a plague happening, if my timeline is correct. So there's that.

Ed

Yeah, it's hard to keep track of all the plugs at this time.

Kara

I'm I mean, yeah, we're it's it's a lot. I think we're coming up on the black plague, the big one. So, you know, yeah, it's fine. We're doing great. So she decided they would plan and host a masquerade wedding for one of her ladies in waiting. Her name was Catherine Day Fosteverein. Fastiverin. We're gonna go with that. Uh, she was to be married to one of the men of the court, and this one was extra special because it was her third marriage. This occasion was one of revelry, merry-making, and fart jokes. We love a good fart joke and medieval France.

Ed

We're all about their fart jokes.

Kara

Yes, they love fart jokes, it's and third marriages and whatnot.

Ed

They uh it's a party, yeah. They they they I I I don't want to say cavalier, but the French, compared to say like Britain at this time, was a little more easygoing with the uh the humor and uh marriages and and stuff like that.

Kara

Yeah. In medieval France, the tradition of the second or third marriage was not wholly matrimony, fancy ceremony, and respectful dancing. No, no, no, no, no. Uh, it was food, dancing, yes, dancing, music, and a lot of jokes at the expense of the bride and the groom. Likely it was mostly the bride. Let's be real. It was probably it was like a roast. Yeah, it was a roast. That's exactly it. So wedding was treated almost like a uh a sharivari. Do you know what that is? A shariavari?

Ed

A sharivari? Yeah. Um, no, I'm not familiar with that one either.

Kara

Wonderful. Okay, good. So, what is that? I'm glad you asked. The term usually references something along the lines of noisy music. Think like a parade of people banging pots and pans and blowing horns, singing loudly and badly, stuff like that.

Ed

Like super just uh so it's like an elementary school band concert.

Kara

Yes, with really loud singing.

Ed

Yeah, like the singing is just way out of pitch. And then they uh my daughter's school had like the trash can drum line where they banged on trash cans, and it I still I still have the ringing in my ears from those days.

Kara

Yes. So Asharivari was a common practice in Europe and in North America. It was brought to the states. Well, it was brought to the continent as a way to enforce moral practices and deteriorate. Sorry, it was a way to enforce moral practices and to deteriorate immoral ones. Uh, the demonstration or a sometimes a parade would be a representation of how unhappy people were with the marriage taking place. So a lot of times you'd see people like yelling or singing loudly and banging things and making loud noises to like in the direction of the person it was focused on. Um, a lot of the times they do it like early in the morning on that by the house, stuff like that. I found this fascinating, by the way.

Ed

Yeah, there's uh yeah, there's a lot going on here.

Kara

It's a lot, but it's fun. No, not really, but it's fun for us to read about. It was common among the lowest classes, though it would be practiced among those at court as well. Uh, I think for our circumstances, Isabeau's party was mostly inspired by a sharivari, but not a true one. I'm speculating. I don't really know. There may be evidence to suggest otherwise, but that's what I think. Now, the food, because food. Uh I did not find a menu list for the night of the ball, however, I did find a book written for the aristocracy in France in 19 in 1393, uh, about taking care of your husband. I know, but it does have some recipes in there that could be of interest, including a wedding menu. I'd say that's close. It's close enough. Uh, it's called The Goodman of Paris or The Good Wife's Guide. It's a good time.

Ed

Wow.

Kara

I know. Well, that's why I was like, I know.

Ed

Yeah, this is like this is right up your alley, Kara. I I yeah, I know how much you're all about studying how women are supposed to work for husbands, and we need to understand where we came from to know where we are and where we're going. Well, what's sad uh not to go on another tangent here, but what's sad is like in the 60s, uh, you your husband may work for a big company, and if he was high enough up in the management staff, the wife would have to attend courses on how to host a party, uh, how to behave around like executives, um, how to communicate with these people. Like, she would have to take courses on how to best support her husband in her own home in like a big get together.

Kara

It's correct. Uh, if you ever want to know where the debutante balls came from, that's part of it. Also, um, yeah, it was a big thing in the 50s and the 60s, and then it kind of exploded and died when women were like, no more of this when we get to the late 60s and the early.

Ed

Yeah, especially when women are like, why do I even have to work why what why don't I just become the executive?

Kara

Exactly. Anyway, that's a tangent.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

Just know that this book had some cool recipes in there that I thought would be useful to know what everybody was maybe having for dinner. Uh, the entree was roast lamb, gossling, which is geese, not the actor. Uh, chicken with sauces, including orange, and I don't know what these two things are, but cameline and very juicy.

Ed

I think it's like a fruit.

Kara

This sounds right. Fruit sauces with poultry of sorts.

Ed

Anyway, brutalized fruit.

Kara

Yeah, we're cool with that. The sides or appetizers uh involved pie of two rabbits and two peacocks, crayfish, rabbit, loach. I'm I'm guessing that's like a fish, maybe. I don't know.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

And pig. And then this one's really fun. Lamb organ jelly dish situation with white bread. Uh the dessert, depending on what's in season. Apple, cheese, wafers, venison, and fru menti. And lots of wine. I don't know. I don't know what that is either, but it was there. Uh, and lots of wine. Now, I don't know about you, but I would really want a vegetable at that point. But those are for poor people, so whatever.

Ed

Yeah, it's funny how like the things that were actually really, really, really good for you were for the poor people.

unknown

Yeah.

Ed

Like, yeah, it's it's just funny how and and like if you were a you know, a duke or if you're high enough up, like the act of eating a chicken was and it was boiled chicken. It had to be as white boiled meat as possible because you were advertising to everybody that I have the money and the ability to eat an animal that produces food. Like, so what you ate is what you told society how much you were worth. It then they're like, but all the vegetables, all the boring stuff, that's for the peasants, even though that's like way healthier for them.

Kara

Yeah, but I I don't know. I would I would want a vegetable because that's a lot. Now, just imagine walking into the ballroom at court, decorated with tapestries, it's beautiful. You hear music that isn't great, but it's fine. You smell food that a medieval person at court would probably consider great. And people are all dressed up, they've got masks on, there's dancing, merry-making. The king seems super excited and happy, yay! And all is well. Wonderful. We're doing great. There are two primary resources for the events of the ball, one written in Latin by a monk that I could not find easily with a translation, which is sad for everybody. And the other is called the uh the one that I mentioned earlier, the Frasoir's Chronicles. Yeah, those ones are. Frosar. That's it. Those chronicles are available with English translations, and they were created with illuminated manuscripts. That means that there are at least one or two lovely pieces of art that go along with the rest of this story. They're in there. You can find them. You can even Google it. Um, it's great. So please look it up later. Anyway, now, enter. This man's name. Enter this guy. Uh Hugonin Dagensei.

Ed

Oh, oh, beautiful.

Kara

Thank you. I'm gonna call him Hugo.

Ed

Yeah, it would be so you actually want to pronounce the I N. Uh it would it would be like oh, and you wouldn't even pronounce the H. It would be like Ugoni.

Kara

Okay.

Ed

Yeah, and then it would be like Jonse. So Ugene, yeah. Ugun de Jonse.

Kara

That's it. Um, this is the name that I copy pasted from the primary source, as you can see. I'm gonna call him Hugo for my benefit.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Kara

One of the king's esquires, uh, he had a reputation for mischief, pranks, and debauchery. Good for him. He had a grand idea, great idea, this guy. Uh, that was meant to bring fun and thrill to the king and the ladies and the wedding guests. Uh, the wedding was set before Candlemass Day, right? And what that is, it's a Christian celebration of light with lots of candles. Ironic. Uh, Candlemass Day is tied to what we know as Groundhog Day, which I thought was really interesting, and the animal's connection to spring and winter. So fun fact. Yeah. Uh, Hugo thought it would be fun to dress up him and five of his best friends in costumes to make themselves look like wood savages or wild men from European folklore. Basically, what these are is they're mythical creatures, and they're often depicted as being covered in hair apart from the face, hands, feet, knees, and elbows. They were typically connected to the forest or the wilderness, not unlike satyrs in Greek mythology, or like Pan, the god Pan, something like that. Uh, they were said to be outside of the graces of God, and they dance by the firelight and they summon evil spirits in the forest.

Ed

Sounds like Bigfoot.

Kara

Kinda like a like a smaller, more human European Bigfoot that summons demons.

unknown

Okay.

Kara

Um, I also found an article on this particular mythology. Thought it was interesting. It's in the footnotes. Go check it out. The costumes made to look like wild men were actually very clever. They were made with linen, highly flammable, soaked in tree pitch, highly flammable, and also really sticky. It's like a resin made of tree sap. And then the linen, after it was nice and sticky, sticky and soaked in this resin, uh, it was covered in frayed flax plant, like dried up flax. It almost looks like wheat, but it's not. Uh look it up so you can see what it looks like.

Ed

Yeah, it's very fibrous.

Kara

Yeah, and it when it's dried, it looks like hair. So they look like they look like wild men. And honestly, it's kind of cool. I I in my head, it looks neat, but also kind of questionable.

Ed

Uh the dancers Yeah, I feel like there's a lot going on there.

Kara

So much. The dancers were sewn into the costumes to make sure they wouldn't fall off during their dancing, and uh sources say they were also chained together somehow. So that's a good time. Yeah, honestly, guys, this the disaster. Along with the body suits, masks were provided to the men who were invited to dance in this performance. And I'm going to really butcher some of these, so I'm going to apologize in advance. The dancers chosen for this piece of entertainment were the Count of Jainy.

Ed

Yeah, Joy, yeah, yeah, it'd be Joiny.

Kara

Joiny. He was a knight. Uh Charles de Poitiers, I think he was also. A knight, Sir Evan de Foi. Okay. He's cool. Uh, the son of Lord of Nantui. Nantuy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Kara

Yeah, go me. All right. He's also a knight. And then uh our our friend Hugo was another one. And the last one on our list of uh wild men was King Charles himself. So we've got the king and five noblemen sewn into costumes made of linen, flax, and tree sap, uh dancing around. What fun! It's a good time. The king is said to have been super stoked about this, really excited, saying something about having fun to a squire that's written down, which is crazy. He must have been really excited. Uh, this little plan was a complete secret to the guests. Nobody knew except for the queen. She was very aware of this plan. Uh, it was a fun surprise for everybody else. We're we're this is great. Now, before the dance started, Sir Sir Foi had the sense to say to the king, he says, quote, Sire, command strictly that no one come near us with torches, for if a spark fall on the coats we are dressed in, the wax will instantly take fire, and we must inevitably be burnt. Take care, therefore, of what I say, unquote. Sir Foi, doing everybody a favor. We like him. Careful not to ruin the surprise. The king sent one of his men at arms guarding the door of the ballroom, ordering him to go to the room where the ladies are. Oh, sorry, this is quote, ordering him to quote, go to the room where the ladies are and command in the king's name, that all the torches be placed on one side of it, and that no other person come near six savage men who were about to enter. He was really excited, guys. This is just the best day. This poor man.

Ed

All right. I feel like there's uh uh this is uh this is gonna go sideways.

Kara

Really fast. Like a good soldier, the king's man did as he was told, and by the time the men dressed as wood savages entered the room, torch bearers were along a wall on the side of the room, and and they and they kind of emptied it a little bit. So the room only held, quote, ladies, damsels, and knights and squires, unquote. Okay. So to the delight of the guests, the men, when they came in, they danced around the room, howling and whooping and acting all wild and crazy, and then other people started dancing with them, trying to guess who they were. Uh, so that was kind of the name of the game guess who's behind the mask while we're all dancing and being crazy people. Whatever floats your boat, more power to you. It's cool. As this was all happening, the Duke of Orleans had arrived fashionably late, accompanied by four knights and six torches, ignorant of the king's order moments before.

Ed

Oh man.

Kara

Everyone in the room was so distracted by the men in highly flammable suits that they either didn't notice the torches in the room or they had completely forgotten about the order. We don't really know, but that's the guess. Uh, the Duke would look at all the dancing and the dancers, and then he joined. Good time. Friendly reminder, just I want to throw this out there. The king of France, in the midst of the hundred years' war, is currently sewn into a highly flammable costume, donning a mask, hiding his identity, and the Duke of Orleans shows up with a lit match, a very large lit match.

Ed

He's just chilling there with the Minecraft torch, just not knowing.

Kara

To be fair, in his in his defense, he didn't know. As the dancing continued, the king separated himself from his companions somehow, and made his way to the queen and the Duchess of Barrie, who was 15 years old at the time and also Charles' aunt. Uh, technically, she was his aunt by marriage, which explains the age gap, but don't worry too much about it. It's fine. Hashtag medieval things. Uh she would not let him leave.

Ed

Medieval family math.

Kara

Yeah, it's it's fine. For now, I guess. I guess it's fine. Whatever. Uh, she would not let him leave her side until he revealed who he was, saying something along the lines of a quote, you shall not escape thus, for I will know your name. So she was like, You're staying here until you tell me who you are, because this is frustrating. At around midnight, while the king was chatting it up with the ladies, the Duke of Orleans was getting very curious about the men's identities. Without thinking, he held his torch close to one of the men's costumes and set him on fire.

Ed

Oh man.

Kara

If you can imagine.

Ed

Oh, oh, oh, oh, right, here we go. I still have this queued up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Perfect. Chapter four. Fire.

Ed

I need to get one with like people screaming in the background.

Kara

No, it's worse. That's so it's accurate, but it's so much worse. If you were unsure what of what flax linen or tree resin is, I I highly encourage you to do a quick search online interwebs, please. It shouldn't be too hard to find. Uh, and they're all high, it shouldn't be too hard to find that they are all highly flammable. In fact, it should take you maybe like 30 seconds to read. This highly flammable substance is. Um also, on top of that, fun fact, linen is made of flax, and the sticky resin acts almost like an oil or a grease when it catches fire. Think like tar put on fire.

Ed

Or like napalm.

Kara

Or like napalm, which we have talked about a lot.

Ed

Or bat bombs, yeah.

Kara

Or bat bombs, or napalm bombs over the jungles of Vietnam.

Ed

Oh, and I and I know like that tree resin, uh yeah, it's a very, very sticky substance, but they would use tree resin to make torches.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

Because they can burn for a long time. So they would soak like cloth or rope in in a tree resin. So then when you light it, it will burn kind of like a like a torch. You see in the movies how somehow those torches never burned out, they just went on and on and on when a real torch would kind of maybe put itself out after about five minutes. But still.

Kara

That probably explains why they had so much of it laying around. They were able to soak linen in it to make sure the flax stuck to it.

Ed

Or or like what would happen is like the torch would run out or like it would burn out, then you would kind of like wrap some rope around it and then dip it in the uh in basically that that pine tar or the uh the uh tree resin and then relight it on fire, and then you're good for a little bit. It's like it's kind of like changing the batteries on a flashlight. Yeah, just medieval style.

Kara

I like that. So yeah, this is what we're dealing with. Um, instant chaos. But this time it wasn't fun party chaos. No, no, no. It was uh scary and deadly chaos. Screaming, probably some running. I'd imagine how flammable those suits were. This all happened very fast.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Kara

Like up in flames immediately. Once the Duke, unintentionally, as far as we know, set one of our wild men on fire, the blaze grew so fast and so large that a majority of the knights and squires were unable to help at first. Uh, there is also a record that those who did try to help were burned themselves, and it was difficult for them because the flaming resin would stick to their hands. So people who were trying to help were then getting injured themselves. Uh, there is also a source, and this is the one that I mentioned before, the one that I was sad that I couldn't find. Uh, the source written by a Latin monk by the name of Saint Denis, who was uh a little bit more gory in his details.

Ed

Oh boy.

Kara

And I'm going to give you a warning now. It is gory. If you don't want to hear it, plug your ears for a minute, skip by like 10 seconds. I personally, like I said, I had trouble finding it, but lucky for us, there have been others who were kind enough to paraphrase describing the flaming genitals on the floor releasing streams of blood. You're welcome.

Ed

That's a very specific thing. It is to mention just like, yeah, I know, like, oh yeah, the kitchen or the the dining table's on fire, and this one lady's dress caught on fire, you know, the curtains caught on fire. Uh there's some twig and dingleberries on the floor, they're on fire. Uh, you know, then it's just oh, and you're squirting out blood everywhere. Um because I yeah, apparently it has its own heartbeat and its own blood supply. So it was just written by a monk. Yeah, it was it was like a super soaker filled with gasoline.

Kara

Yes. Nuts. Like a B movie. It's like evil did.

Ed

Yes, yes.

Kara

The queen, knowing full well that her husband was one of the men who were now on fire, fainted. Just it's like a movie at this point. Everybody's on fire, there's panic, everybody's screaming, the queen's fainting.

Ed

Um I I think the fainting thing was kind of bogus. I think they actually quote unquote fainted, so that there would be an excuse for them to just get out of there.

Kara

Like maybe I'm not sure.

Ed

If a situation was super awkward, you're like, I'm not hanging around here anymore. I'm out. Oh, what was me? And then back you go.

Kara

I don't know. Maybe that's just what the record said, so I'm going with it because I have no other record to prove otherwise. So while she was being tended to by her ladies in waiting, the Duchess, who was unknowingly speaking with the king anyway, shoved him under her train of the her under the train of her dress to protect him from the fire. The 15-year-old Duchess said something along the lines of, stop your squirming. Do you not see what that your friends are on fire? Who are you? What is happening? This is ridiculous. And when the king revealed himself, the Duchess told him to get the hell out and find a safer room where he and his wife would be safe. Just just I said safe twice in the same sentence, and that's where we're at. It's okay.

Ed

So wait, shoved him under her train of her dress, so like that long trail of like okay, material that hangs out.

Kara

So Yep.

Ed

Okay.

Kara

So he is no longer chained to his buddies, he already has some separation, and she covered him up to try to protect them from the flames. Okay. While telling him you need to leave, like get out.

unknown

Yeah.

Ed

Well, because I mean, it sounds like while he was under there, he was kind of like exploring the territory or something.

Kara

Like, no, he was trying to get out because he didn't understand why she was doing what she was doing.

Ed

Okay.

Kara

Yeah.

Ed

Yeah, it's just it's just a situation I've never found myself in.

Kara

Right. So I hope not, considering her age.

Ed

Yeah. Yeah. No, no body part of mine has ever been accused of being on the ground on fire.

Kara

That too. It's just chaos. It's it's it's insane. It's ridiculous.

Ed

It's a hot mess.

Kara

It's a hot, literally a hot mess.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

So after he left into like a he found a different room somewhere, uh, she found the queen to be awake after her fainting. She was able to tell her that the queen, that the king, sorry, was not dead and he was waiting for her. Relieved, she was carried out of the room by a couple of knights here chamber chambers. So the king and queen are okay. Um, yay, 15-year-old duchess, you're awesome. Thank you for saving the king's life. We all applaud you. Now, the knight from Nantu, Nantu, Nantu, there's lots of L's in it. I don't know. Uh, they found a way I L L.

Ed

It makes like a yeah sound. Okay. So it it would be nanti.

Kara

Non-t-ye. Cool.

Ed

Nantille. Yeah.

Kara

All right. So the knight from nanti found a way to break the chain. I don't know how. Uh while engulfed in flames.

Ed

Multitasker. Yes. Well done.

Kara

Well done. And he managed to remember where the cooking area was. After flailing about with some trial and error, he managed to find himself in a tub of water meant for doing dishes. It saved his life. He survived. Yay. Yeah. I mean, good for that guy. He figured it out.

Ed

Yeah, talk about having the wherewithal to like you're you're you're on flames, and then yeah, no, he's he's a good multitasker. He he kept his head about him.

Kara

Yeah, he needs to keep his job, that one. Yeah.

Ed

And not get killed by the king for paranoid reasons.

Kara

Correct. Uh the other four men were not so lucky. Our boy Sir Flo was reported to have been screaming, save the king, as he himself was still burning alive. I mean, good on him, I guess.

Ed

I don't know.

Kara

Duty.

Ed

I I I guess. But if I'm on fire, I'm not saying save the king. I'm more like, put me the hell out. Like, then go save the king.

Kara

Like uh he was eventually put out, but he was in really rough shape, alive but suffering. Uh the Count De Johnny uh still had a similar fate that night. Both men would be carried to separate rooms and they died two days later. Hugo, the guy who organized this lovely dance in costumes, he died three days later of his injuries. And then the last guy, Charles Despoitiers, he uh he died in the fire that that night.

Ed

And these aren't going to be pleasant deaths. Like, I don't think they had like opium or anything like that back then. Um, because like today, if you if you've got super, super bad burns over a significant portion of your body, like you're on a morphine drip. Like, yeah, they're they're just gonna give you the good drugs so you don't even have to think about it. These guys would have they wouldn't have any of that. And oh man, like I days later, those would be some long days.

Kara

Mm-hmm. It's rough. It's rough. Yeah. So now we're at chapter five. Enbers and ashes. Word of the incident spread all over France. From what I read, most people were upset about the whole affair, which is understandable, considering their king almost needlessly died while France was at war and struggling to pay for it. The Duke of Orleans was blamed for the whole thing. He held himself accountable and claimed it was an accident. He donated a large sum of money to the uh the Celestine monastery that was being built at the time in a way to show penance to the church and the people. I mean, some people remembered, some people forgot, but I think overall, I don't know, some stuff happened to him later during the war. The Duke of Orleans actually fairly interesting if you want to look.

Ed

Yeah, I don't I I can't remember much about him, but I I definitely think like, yeah, he he was pretty involved in the time period.

Kara

His his reputation went downhill during the war, but that's a story for another time.

Ed

Well, he almost turned into uh human hash browns.

Kara

Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. The wedding was supposed to be a distraction for the king to give him some joy after suffering from a mental health crisis. That plan went up in flames.

Ed

Oh, jeez.

Kara

You're welcome.

Ed

Up in smoke.

Kara

Up in smoke. In the following June, the king suffered another bout of psychosis. He forgot who he was, he didn't know he was the king. And when Isabeau approached him, it said that he was terrified of her. He retired to his chambers to recover for six months. A year and a half later, he would suffer another where he believed he was a religious saint. Over the years, he would continue to have mental breaks similar or shorter, while developing the glass delusions that became famous.

Ed

Jeez. Yeah. When the king That's a rough way to live.

Kara

It's hard. That's hard. That's why in the beginning I was like, I actually feel bad.

Ed

Yeah.

Kara

That's a that's a tough way to go. When the king went into recovery, so after like a um a mental break, and then he had to recover for a long period of time. Uh Queen Isabeau would be his regent at this point, and and she actually held quite a lot of power because of it when she was alive.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

Kara

And then in 1420, Charles VI signed the Treaty of Troy with England. He married his daughter to Henry V, placing him as regent of France, increasing the political tensions of the wars of succession between the two countries. So that treaty there is uh very famous in English history because it gave Henry V France, essentially, uh, which was a big deal, and Henry V is supposed to be this like awesome crazy king or whatever. Um, but you know, we're talking French perspective here, so for them, that's a bad deal.

Ed

Well, it in in this time period it is so confusing to me because like the family trees get all convoluted and all these treaties, and and then it seemed like every week there was a different war between uh England and France. It just yeah, it it is super hard to try to keep track of of everything. It's almost like they had nothing else to do other than to like try to record stuff and think make things way more complicated than what they needed to be.

Kara

Yeah, it had a lot to do with the monarchy system of government and yeah, the land and the resources and all of that fun stuff. I may dig out my Hundred Years War PowerPoint and just go off on this podcast.

Ed

Just do a whole episode on the Hundred Years War. I know that's like one of your like favorite things to I do love it. Look up.

Kara

Yeah, it's fun to read about. Well, the king died in 1422. By the time he died, he had suffered 44 mental breakdowns. It seems that the wedding that was meant to cheer him up ended up in a burst of flames. So the next time you find yourself scrolling on your phone in the dark after the plans you were looking forward to had been cancelled, maybe you dodged a blazing ball of fire by missing out on that costume party.

Ed

I mean, there's that and not having your genitals on the ground squirting blood and on fire. And that. That's a huge no pun intended. That that's uh that unto itself is a good outcome.

Kara

I'm just saying if your plans get cancelled, it's okay. You might have dodged a medieval evil dead movie.

Ed

That's a medieval evil dead movie.

Kara

You're so welcome for that.

Ed

Uh nothing like a midnight pun type thing.

Kara

That's right. That's what I'm here for.

Ed

That's uh yeah, no, that that really encapsulates the theme of the show.

Kara

It's got everything. It's got kings, it's got queens, it's got mental illness, and it's got fire. What else do you need?

Ed

Yeah, and that mental illness, man, that uh that that it's rough. It always it almost because I I had another thing that popped in my head. Um, like Julius Caesar, towards the end of his life, he had really, really bad seizures. And uh they think he may have caught like a uh or contracted a venereal disease, uh, but there's also the idea that he had a parasite, like a brain parasite.

Kara

Oh.

Ed

And I know those things can cause a lot of issues. Yeah, you know, we we have somebody in our uh government that had a brain parasite that is now in charge of the medical decisions being made by the government, but but yeah, there's something about having a worm in your brain that really messes things up. And and for me, what really sucks about all that is like that that Charles the the sixth guy. I mean, not to know what had to wake up not knowing who you are or where you're at or why you are somewhere and and all that, and then have the 44 mental breakdowns and and whatnot. Yeah, that's that's rough. That's that's just a tough way to live. It's rough.

Kara

So, but yeah, that is the ball of burning ment. So if you ever are asked at a fun party, hey, do you know any good stories? There's one.

Ed

Yeah, yeah. If you're at a party and like, hey, let me tell you how this party can go downhill real fast. That's right. Give me a handful of men that we can light on fire and then we'll talk.

Kara

That's it.

Ed

All right, so man. Yeah. Yeah, I know that you bring up a good point there. It's uh maybe if your party that you had lined up fell through, that may not be a bad thing.

Kara

It's okay. We can relax a little bit. We'll we'll we'll get to the next one. But that is our episode for tonight. I do know that Ed here has some updates for the website, and he's super excited about it.

Ed

So you make it sound like I'm a little kid. Like I just got home from school with a gold star on my paper.

Kara

Sorry.

Ed

You gotta run around and tell everybody about it for like a week. Um, so uh one of the things that I I I was doing while uh uh Kara was actually enjoying time off was uh I've been updating the website. So it probably doesn't have all the flashy artwork in it that that Kara probably has in it, but I have managed to put in a MP3 or an episode player for each episode. Uh I'm uh uh I I actually shouldn't say each episode. I've only gotten from like episode 74 to episode 47, I believe. Yeah, it's about half of it, or yeah, or like a a third of the way. But yeah, if you go to the website, thedaysemsifier.com, and you look at our episodes tab up in the top, and uh you open that up, you will see a grid of all the essays or essays, yes, all of our essays that we have just sitting in there, all of our episodes, uh, and you open up whatever episode you want. There should be a player at the top, and uh, if you click on that, you can listen to each episode that way. I found out that not everybody is avid podcast listeners. Um, some of us, like myself, we have like a podcatcher that has, you know, access to the full podcasting world, and uh that's what I mostly listen to. Other people are like, can I just get it up on on YouTube and listen to it that way? Well, the answer is yeah, kind of. Uh, the nice thing is that when you access our episodes on our website, uh, what you do is you are you listen to our show while you're at work, and uh as it's playing in one earbud or whatever headphone, you can just minimize the screen and it's still going to be playing. So there's a way to listen at work and not get caught. Um the other thing that is really nice about all of this is that we have show notes now uh that actually line up very closely with the recording. So you can actually like click through the show notes and it will actually jump you through all the different parts of the episode, and then probably what's even nicer on top of all that is uh if you are listening to our show via the website, you get no ads. So, like for those of you who like to listen to uh our show on YouTube or whatever, that's cool, but the issue is it seems like you every like two minutes you have like 30 seconds of ads, or or is it every 30 seconds of content you have two minutes of ads? I don't know. I I I I find that like YouTube, if it's not paid for, is like unwatchable just because of all the ads. But if you listen to our show via our website, the day semifier.com, uh you don't have to worry about ads. So you you get the full episode in all of its glory, plus the show notes, plus the articles that we we try to attach to each episode, um, plus links to other episodes that kind of uh have a similar theme to uh that current episode. So yeah, it's uh it's pretty cool. Um be sure to go over there, check it out, let us know what you think. Um, the other thing that we are working on is a way that you can help support the show it without having to listen to ads or sign up for like beef boxes and about buying a mattress or you know, all the uh the typical ads that are out there. We wanted to really keep the show ad-free, right? That is that's kind of like the heart of the show. Um it's kind of like uh the ads are funny because you can have like a show that is about like overcoming alcoholism, and then like the ad pops up about you know Jim Beam. You know, it's like why that ad doesn't really fit with the the show, so to speak. So uh Kara and I aren't huge proponents of filling the show full of ads, so we are holding off on that. But uh if you do want to support us, we are working on a way that if you go to our website, not only do you get our show ad-free and you get our show notes and the articles and the artwork and and all the other fun stuff, but you can also support us in any way you see fit. So it's uh it's it's a great way to really kind of like pay it forward. It's one of those things is uh we're real big on the um uh value for value. So if you find the show entertaining or educational, um if it makes you laugh, I I I guess if it makes you cry, I'm sorry about that episode, but hey, maybe it it maybe it r it really helped you out. So if you if you find value in that, then yeah, you can help Karen I out and support the show um in your own way. That should be coming up here in the next couple of weeks. So feel free to stop by there and um yeah, and uh check us out. We got some good stuff coming up on our on our website.

Kara

Cool. Well, I think um I think we're all set. So yeah, uh check out the website, look at all the new fun thingies that we've got going on, and then uh we'll see you in the next one, whatever that may be, because I don't know yet.

Ed

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do next because I kind of I had my four or five ideas, and that was been the past four or five episodes.

Kara

I have some ideas, so hopefully I can work them out.

Ed

Yeah, and if you out there in the audience, you have ideas, like send them in. Like, you send us an idea and we use it on the show, we will give you a shout out for it. Like it it's only fair. Like, we we would love to have you guys uh throw out your own ideas. We've gotten a couple of them, um, like that, like the uh the polar bear incident with William Barents and stuff like that. That came from a uh that came from a listener. So like yeah, send them in and um yeah, we'll try to do some research on it and uh get that out there.

Kara

So Yep, you can do that by sending us an email at thedaysdumpsterfire.com, or there is actually a fun little uh forum that you can fill out on the website as well. I think it's still on the homepage. If not, we'll put it back up. But with that, have an excellent night.

Ed

Yes, and I'm going to go cancel my party tomorrow.

Kara

Yes, cancel your parties. Um bye.

Ed

Yeah, see you later, and uh yeah, don't don't let your genitals on fire.