One of the enviable advantages of the historian, this ruler of past eras, is that, while surveying his possessions, he only needs to touch the ancient ruins and decayed corpses with his pen, and palaces are already appearing before his eyes and the dead are resurrected: as if obeying the voice of God, according to his will naked skeletons are again covered with living flesh and clothed in elegant clothes in the vast expanses of human history, numbering three millennia. It is enough for him, according to his own whim, to outline his chosen ones, to name them by their names, and they immediately raise the gravestones, throw off their shroud, responding like Lazarus to the call of Christ: "I am here, Lord, what do you want from me?"

Of course, one must have a firm gait so as not to be afraid to descend into the depths of history; in an imperious voice to question the shadows of the past; with a confident hand to write down what they dictate. For the dead keep at times terrible secrets, which the gravedigger buried with them in the grave. Dante's hair turned gray while he listened to the story of Count Ugolino, and his gaze became so gloomy, his cheeks were covered with such a deathly pallor that when Virgil again brought him out of hell to earth, the Florentine women, guessing where this strange traveler was returning from, spoke to their children , pointing at him with a finger: "Look at this gloomy, grieving man - he was descending into the underworld."

If we leave aside the genius of Dante and Virgil, we may well be able to compare ourselves with them, for the gates that lead to the tomb of the Abbey of Saint-Denis and are about to open before us are in many ways similar to the gates of hell: the same the very inscription. So, if we had Dante's torch in our hands, and our guide Virgil, we would not have long to wander among the tombs of the three reigning families, buried in the crypts of the ancient abbey, to find the grave of a murderer whose crime would be as disgusting as the crime of Archbishop Ruggieri , or the grave of the victim, whose fate is as deplorable as the fate of a prisoner of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

There is in this vast cemetery, in a niche on the left, a modest tomb, near which I always bow my head in thought. Two statues, a man and a woman, are carved on its black marble next to each other. For four centuries they have been resting here, hands folded in prayer: a man asks the Almighty, with which he angered Him, and a woman begs forgiveness for her betrayal. These statues are statues of a madman and his unfaithful wife; for two whole decades, the insanity of one and the love passions of the other served in France as the cause of bloody strife, and it is no coincidence that on the deathbed that united them, following the words: “Here lie King Charles VI the Blessed and Queen Isabella of Bavaria, his wife” - the same hand inscribed: “ Pray for them. "

Here, in Saint-Denis, we will begin to leaf through the dark chronicle of this amazing reign, which, according to the poet, "passed under the sign of two mysterious ghosts - an old man and a shepherdess" - and left only a card game as a legacy to descendants, this mocking and bitter symbol eternal instability of empires and human destiny.

In this book the reader will find a few bright, joyful pages, but too many will bear red traces of blood and black ones - death. For God wanted everything in the world to be painted in these colors, so he even turned them into the very symbol of human life, making it the motto of the word: "Innocence, passion and death."

And now let us open our book, as God opens the book of life, on its bright pages: pages of blood-red and black await us ahead.

On Sunday, August 20, 1389, crowds of people began to flock to the road from Saint-Denis to Paris from the very early morning. On this day, Princess Isabella, daughter of Duke Etienne of Bavaria and wife of King Charles VI, for the first time in the rank of Queen of France made a solemn entry into the capital of the kingdom.

To justify the general curiosity, it must be said that unusual things were told about this princess: they said that already at the first meeting with her - it was on Friday, July 15, 1385 - the king fell passionately in love with her and with great reluctance agreed with his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy , postpone wedding preparations until Monday.

However, this marriage union in the kingdom looked with great hope; it was known that, dying, King Charles V expressed a desire for his son to marry a Bavarian princess, in order thereby to equal the English king Richard, who married the sister of the German king. The young prince's outburst of passion was the best answer to the last will of his father; in addition, the court matrons who examined the bride made sure that she was able to give the crown an heir, and the birth of a son a year after the wedding only confirmed their great experience. Not without, of course, and sinister soothsayers, which are at the beginning of every reign: they prophesied unkind, since Friday is not a suitable day for matchmaking. However, nothing has yet confirmed their predictions, and the voices of these people, if they dared to speak aloud, would be drowned in joyful cries, which on the day with which we begin our story, involuntarily burst from a thousand lips.

Since the protagonists of this historical chronicle- by birthright or according to their position at court - were next to the queen or followed in her retinue, we, with the permission of the reader, will now move along with the solemn cortege, already ready to set off and awaiting only the Duke Louis of Touraine, the king's brother, who is taking care of their toilet, some said, or the night of love, others argued, had already been detained for half an hour. This way of getting to know people and events, although not new, is very convenient; moreover, in the picture that we will try to sketch, relying on the old chronicles, other touches, perhaps, will not be devoid of interest and originality.

We have already said that this Sunday, here, on the road from Saint-Denis to Paris, there were so many people gathered, as if people came here by order. The road was literally littered with people, they stood close to each other, like ears in a field, so that this mass of human bodies, so dense that the slightest shock experienced by any part of it was instantly transmitted to everyone else, began to sway, like to how the ripening cornfield sways with a light breeze.

At eleven o'clock, loud shouts from somewhere ahead and a thrill running through the crowd finally made it clear to the exhausted expectation of people that something important was about to happen. And indeed, soon a detachment of sergeants appeared, dispersing the crowd with sticks, followed by Queen John and her daughter, the Duchess of Orleans, for whom the sergeants were clearing the way among this human sea. So that his waves would not close behind the tall persons, behind them moved in two rows of horse guards - one thousand two hundred horsemen, selected from among the most noble Parisian citizens. The riders who made up this honorary escort were dressed in long camisoles of green and scarlet silk, their heads were covered with caps, the ribbons of which fell over their shoulders or fluttered in the wind, when its light gust suddenly refreshed the sultry air, mixed with sand and dust raised by hooves horses and walking feet. The people, driven back by the guards, stretched out on both sides of the road, so that the part that was freed up was like a canal, bordered by two rows of townspeople, and along this canal the royal cortege could move almost without interference, in any case, much easier than it could have been. guess.

In those distant times, people did not go out to meet their king out of simple curiosity: they harbored a sense of respect and love for his person. And if the monarchs of that time sometimes condescended to the people, then the people, even in their thoughts, did not dare to rise to them. Such processions in our time are not complete without shouts, marketplaces and police intervention; here everyone tried to settle as best he could, and since the road passed over the surrounding fields, people tried their best to climb as high as possible to make it easier to see. Instantly they occupied all the trees and roofs in the neighborhood, so that there was not a single tree that was not hung with strange fruits from the top to the lower branches, and uninvited guests appeared in the houses, from the attic to the lower floor. Those who did not dare to climb so high settled down along the sides of the road; women stood on tiptoe, children climbed onto the shoulders of their dads - in a word, one way or another, but everyone found a place for themselves and could see what was happening, either looking at it over the mounted guards, or modestly peering into the gaps between the legs of their horses. As soon as the noise caused by the appearance of Queen Joanna and the Duchess of Orléans, who were on their way to the palace, where the king was waiting for them, subsided, the long-awaited stretcher of Queen Isabella appeared at the turn of the main street of Saint-Denis. The people who came here, as already mentioned, really wanted to look at the young princess, who was not yet nineteen years old and with whom France pinned her hopes.

Isabella of Bavaria, or Isabeau, is an ambiguous personality. On the one hand, this woman from her youth regularly performed the functions of the wife of the French king, bore him children, tried to reconcile the clans of the English, French and German parties in the struggle for state power. On the other hand, she became the object of the most serious accusations, from countless love affairs to the collapse of France and the murder of her own children. Why Isabella of Bavaria is so unpopular in the country where she lived most life - is it because the French have always been inclined to blame women for the troubles of their kingdom?

Isabella's marriage and life at court

Contemporaries described her as a pretty pretty girl, though not quite consistent with the ideals of beauty of the Middle Ages. Isabella was short, her eyes, nose and mouth were large, her forehead was high, her skin was dark and very delicate, her hair was dark. Her father was Duke Stephen III the Magnificent, and her mother was Taddea Visconti, from a family of Milanese rulers.

So, at the age of fifteen, Isabella turned out to be the bride, and then the wife of the French king. By the standards of her native Bavaria, she is quite wealthy, at first she was lost from the splendor of the French court, feeling ashamed of her outfits. However, the bride did not manage to sew a real wedding dress - the king, impressed external appearance Isabella, insisted that the wedding take place in a few days, in Amiens, where the young people met for the first time.

The first years after her marriage, Isabella spent a series of festivities, feasts and entertainment. The first child, born in 1386, died after only a few months, and the king spared no expense to amuse the queen with New Year's balls, tournaments and weddings. During the second pregnancy of the queen, a special tax was introduced - the “queen's belt” - which gave additional funds for the leisure of the crowned couple. Charles VI did not seek to rule the state - from childhood he enjoyed the rights of the king without the burden of his duties, while France was ruled by several of his regents-guardians, and therefore power in the kingdom was now distributed between different politicians, including the party of "marmuzets", to which the king entrusted a number of powers to govern the state.

During this period, the influence of the younger brother of King Louis, Duke of Orleans, increased. Evil tongues said that his relationship with the young queen began in the early years of her marriage. He himself was married to Valentina Visconti, the daughter of a French princess and duke of Milan, who enjoyed love and respect at court, raised her husband's illegitimate son, "Bastard Dunois", who became Jeanne d'Arc's main associate years later.

Mad king

As the story goes, Louis d'Orléans, in order to see the mummers, brought a torch too close to them, and the hemp caught fire, causing a fire, panic began, and several people died. The king was rescued by the young Duchess of Berry, who threw her train over him. After what happened, the mind of Charles VI became clouded for several days, he did not recognize his wife and demanded to send her away, and until his death, the king increasingly found himself in the grip of seizures, when he refused to eat, wash, clothes, and could rush at people with weapons.

The "randomness" of the incident was immediately called into question, seeing in what happened the desire of Louis, in company with Isabella, to get rid of the weak and no longer quite healthy king. There is no evidence of these accusations, however, and the Duke of Orleans, in atonement for his deed, ordered the erection of the Orleans chapel.

Isabella left her deranged husband, settling in the Barbett Palace, which, however, did not prevent her from continuing to bear and give birth to children - as announced, from the king, with whom she still maintained a relationship during periods of his clear mind. Nevertheless, at the behest of Isabella, Odette de Chamdiver was assigned to Charles VI as a nurse and concubine, and it was this woman who kept the king's company for sixteen years, until his death, and gave birth to a daughter from him.
It is not surprising that on the basis of all these events, Isabella was accused of both adultery and the fact that the cause of the king's illnesses is some cunning poison, the use of which was famous for the Italian relatives of the queen.

Currently, scientists put forward two versions of the causes of Charles VI's illness, one of them is schizophrenia or another mental disorder, the other is systematic ergot poisoning, the queen was quite reasonably suspected of being carried out.

Isabella and politics

Isabella was also accused of disliking her own children. She sent her daughter Jeanne to a monastery as a child - in the name of the king's recovery. At the age of ten, the unloved Karl was exiled to marry Maria of Anjou and was brought up by his mother-in-law Yolanda of Aragon. Isabella was accused of the death of Charles's other son, the Dauphin of Vienne (now believed to have died of tuberculosis), and Michelle's daughter, married to the son of Jean the Fearless, is believed to have been poisoned by her mother for not following her orders.

The main fault of Isabella before the French was her participation in the conclusion of a "shameful" treaty with England in Troyes. According to him, France actually lost its independence, the king of England Henry V was proclaimed heir to the insane Charles VI, and the Dauphin Charles, the son of Isabella, was declared illegitimate and lost the right to the throne.

Subsequently, this treaty became a bone of contention between countries for centuries, and Charles VII had to fight for the crown with arms in his hands, and his main inspirer and companion in this was the Maid of Orleans, Jeanne d'Arc.

After the death of her husband in 1422, Isabella lost her influence on the political life of France - she was already useless to all groups. The dowager queen spent the rest of her life alone, suffering from lack of funds and poor health.

There are more negative memories of Queen Isabella of Bavaria. Nevertheless, there is an opinion among historians that she was nevertheless a faithful wife and an attentive mother, and her "reputation" was created by political opponents, as well as popular rumor, which did not forgive the queen for an agreement with the British. Isabella stood on a par with Marie-Antoinette, who is prone to excessive luxury and thus aroused the dislike of ordinary French people. And like Marie Antoinette, she became famous for innovations in fashion - thanks to Isabella, a dress with a deep neckline appeared and completely covered her hair, the beauty of which, as they say, the queen could not boast of.

ISABELLA BAVARSKAYA

Alexandr Duma

Translated from French by B. Vaisman and R. Rodina.

The novel by the French writer describes the dramatic episodes of the Hundred Years War and the bloody feuds of the highest French nobility in the late 14th - early 15th centuries.

Foreword

One of the enviable advantages of the historian, this ruler of past eras, is that, while surveying his possessions, it is enough for him to touch the ancient ruins and decayed corpses with a pen, and palaces are already appearing before his eyes and the dead are resurrected: as if obeying the voice of God, at his will naked skeletons are again covered with living flesh and clothed in elegant clothes; in the vast expanses of human history, numbering three millennia, it is enough for him, according to his own whim, to outline his chosen ones, call them by their names, and they immediately raise the gravestones, throw off their shroud, responding like Lazarus to the call of Christ: “I am here, Lord, what do you want from me? "

Of course, one must have a firm gait in order not to be afraid to descend into the depths of history; in an imperious voice to question the shadows of the past; with a confident hand to write down what they dictate. For the dead sometimes keep terrible secrets that the gravedigger buried with them in the grave. Dante's hair turned gray while he listened to the story of Count Ugolino, and his gaze became so gloomy, his cheeks were covered with such a deathly pallor that when Virgil again brought him out of hell to earth, the Florentine women, guessing where this strange traveler was returning from, spoke to their children , pointing at him with a finger: "Look at this gloomy, grieving man - he was descending into the underworld."

If we leave aside the genius of Dante and Virgil, we may well be able to compare ourselves with them, for the gates that lead to the tomb of the Abbey of Saint-Denis and are about to open before us are in many ways similar to the gates of hell: the same the very inscription. So, if we had Dante's torch in our hands, and our guide Virgil, we would not have long to wander among the tombs of the three reigning families, buried in the crypts of the ancient abbey, to find the grave of a murderer whose crime would be as disgusting as the crime of Archbishop Ruggieri , or the grave of the victim, whose fate is as deplorable as the fate of a prisoner of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

There is in this vast cemetery, in a niche on the left, a modest tomb, near which I always bow my head in thought. Two statues, a man and a woman, are carved on its black marble next to each other. For four centuries they have been resting here with their hands folded in prayer: a man asks the Almighty, which made him angry, and a woman begs forgiveness for her betrayal. These statues are statues of a madman and his unfaithful wife; for two whole decades, the insanity of one and the love passions of the other served in France as the cause of bloody strife, and it is no coincidence that on the deathbed that united them, following the words: "Here lies King Charles VI, the Blessed One, and Queen Isabella of Bavaria, his wife" - the same hand drew : "Pray for them."

Here, in Saint-Denis, we will begin to leaf through the dark chronicle of this amazing reign, which, according to the poet, "passed under the sign of two mysterious ghosts - an old man and a shepherdess" - and left only a card game as a legacy to descendants, this mocking and bitter symbol eternal instability of empires and human destiny.

In this book, the reader will find a few bright, joyful pages, but too many will bear red traces of blood and black ones - death. For God wanted everything in the world to be painted in these colors, so that he even turned them into the very symbol of human life, making it the motto of the word: "Innocence, passion and death."

And now let us open our book, as God opens the book of life, on its bright pages: pages of blood-red and black await us ahead.

On Sunday, August 20, 1389, crowds of people began to flock to the road from Saint-Denis to Paris from the very early morning. On this day, Princess Isabella, daughter of Duke Etienne of Bavaria and wife of King Charles VI, for the first time in the rank of Queen of France made a solemn entry into the capital of the kingdom.

To justify the general curiosity, it must be said that unusual things were told about this princess: they said that already at the first meeting with her - it was on Friday, July 15, 1385 - the king fell passionately in love with her and with great reluctance agreed with his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy , postpone wedding preparations until Monday.

However, this marriage union in the kingdom looked with great hope; it was known that, dying, King Charles V expressed a desire for his son to marry a Bavarian princess, in order thereby to equal the English king Richard, who married the sister of the German king. The young prince's outburst of passion was the best answer to the last will of his father; in addition, the court matrons who examined the bride made sure that she was able to give the crown an heir, and the birth of a son a year after the wedding only confirmed their great experience. Not without, of course, and sinister soothsayers, which are at the beginning of every reign: they prophesied unkind, since Friday is not a suitable day for matchmaking. However, nothing has yet confirmed their predictions, and the voices of these people, if they dared to speak aloud, would be drowned in joyful cries, which on the day with which we begin our story, involuntarily burst from a thousand lips.

Since the protagonists of this historical chronicle - by birthright or by their position at court - were next to the queen or followed in her retinue, we, with the permission of the reader, will now move along with the solemn cortege, already ready to set off and awaiting only the duke Louis of Touraine, the king's brother, whom some said about his dress, or a night of love, others argued, had already been detained for half an hour. This way of getting to know people and events, although not new, is very convenient; moreover, in the picture that we will try to sketch, relying on old chronicles1, other touches, perhaps, will not be devoid of interest and originality.

We have already said that this Sunday, here, on the road from Saint-Denis to Paris, there were so many people gathered, as if people came here by order. The road was literally littered with people, they stood close to each other, like ears in a field, so that this mass of human bodies, so dense that the slightest shock experienced by any part of it was instantly transmitted to everyone else, began to sway, like like a ripening cornfield swaying with a light breeze.

Introduction

Isabella of Bavaria (Elizabeth of Bavar, Isabe; French Isabeau de Bavière, German Elisabeth von Bayern, circa 1370, Munich - September 24, 1435, Paris) - Queen of France, wife of Charles VI the Mad, periodically ruled the state from 1403.

After Charles VI began to suffer from fits of insanity and power, in fact, passed to the queen, she was unable to pursue a firm political line and rushed from one court group to another. Isabella was extremely unpopular with the people, especially because of her extravagance. In 1420, she signed a treaty with the British in Troyes, recognizing Henry V as the heir to the French crown. In fiction, she has a persistent reputation for debauchery, although modern researchers believe that in many ways such a reputation could be the result of propaganda.

1. Biography

1.1. Childhood

Most likely, she was born in Munich, where she was baptized in the Church of Our Lady (Romanesque cathedral on the site of the modern Frauenkirche) under the name "Elizabeth", traditional for German rulers since the time of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The exact year of birth is unknown. The youngest of two children of Stephen III the Magnificent, Duke of Bavarian-Ingolstadt, and Taddei Visconti (granddaughter of the Duke of Milan Bernabo Visconti, deposed and executed by his nephew and co-ruler Gian Galeazzo Visconti). Little is known about the future queen's childhood. It was established that she received a home education, among other things, she was taught literacy, the Latin language and received all the necessary skills for housekeeping in a future marriage. At the age of 11, she lost her mother. It is believed that her father intended her to marry one of the minor German princes, so the proposal of the uncle of the French king, Philip the Bold, who asked for her hand in Charles VI, was a complete surprise. Isabella was fifteen years old at the time.

1.2. Preparing for marriage

Before his death, King Charles V the Wise ordered his son's regents to find him a "German" wife. Indeed, from a purely political point of view, France would have seriously won if the German princes had supported her fight against England. The Bavarians also benefited from this marriage. Evran von Wildenberg noted in his "Chronicle of the Dukes of Bavaria" (German. "Chronik und der fürstliche Stamm der Durchlauchtigen Fürsten und Herren Pfalzgrafen bey Rhein und Herzoge in Baiern")

Despite these considerations, Isabella's father Stefan the Magnificent was very wary of his daughter's alleged marriage. Among other things, he worried that the French king was also offered to wife Constance, daughter of the Earl of Lancaster, daughter of the King of Scots, and Isabella, daughter of Juan I of Castile. The Duke was also alarmed by some overly free customs of the French court. So, he knew that before marriage it was customary to undress the bride in front of the ladies of the court, so that they could thoroughly examine her and make a judgment on the future queen's ability to bear children.

But still, in 1385, the princess was engaged to the seventeen-year-old King of France Charles VI at the suggestion of her uncle Frederick of Bavaria, who met with the French in Flanders in September 1383. The marriage was to be preceded by a "review", since the French king himself wished to make a decision. Fearing rejection and the shame associated with it, Stephen sent his daughter to French Amiens under the pretext of pilgrimage to the relics of John the Baptist. Her uncle was supposed to accompany her on the trip. Preserved the words of Stephen, said to his brother before leaving:

The route of the cortege to France ran through Brabant and Gennegau, where representatives of the younger branch of the Wittelsbach family ruled. Count of Gennegau Albert I of Bavaria arranged a magnificent meeting for the princess in Brussels and offered his hospitality so that she could rest for a while before continuing the journey. His wife Margarita, sincerely attached to her cousin, during this time managed to give her several lessons good manners and even completely renew her wardrobe, which might have seemed too poor to the French king. Karl, who left Paris to meet on July 6 and arrived in Amiens the day before, was also excited by what was happening and, according to the story of his valet La Riviera, did not let him sleep all night on the eve of the upcoming meeting, tormenting him with questions "What is she like?", "When I will I see her? " etc.

1.3. Marriage

Karl and Isabella meeting. "The Chronicles of Froissard"

Isabella arrived in Amiens on July 14, not knowing the real purpose of her trip. The French set the condition for the "review" of the prospective bride. She was immediately brought before the king (changing again, this time in a dress provided by the French, as her wardrobe seemed too modest). Froissart described this meeting and Karl's love for Isabella that flared up at first sight:

On July 17, 1385, a wedding took place in Amiens. The young were blessed by Bishop Jean de Rollandy of Amiens. A few weeks after the wedding, it was ordered in memory of this to knock out a medal depicting two cupids with torches in their hands, which should symbolize the fire of love between the two spouses.

Early ("happy") period (1385-1392)

"Years of festivities"

The day after the wedding, Charles was forced to leave for his troops, which were fighting against the British, who captured the port of Damme. At the same time, Isabella also left Amiens, having previously donated to the cathedral a large silver dish decorated with precious stones, according to legend, brought from Constantinople, and until Christmas remained in the castle of Creil under the tutelage of Blanca of France, the widow of Philip of Orleans. This time she devoted to the study of the French language and the history of France. The young couple spent Christmas holidays in Paris, and Isabella, having moved into the royal residence - the Hotel Saint-Paul, occupied the apartment that had previously belonged to Jeanne of Bourbon, the king's mother. That same winter, the Queen's pregnancy was announced. At the beginning of the next year, the Queen, along with her husband, attended the wedding of her sister-in-law Catherine of France, who at the age of eight married Jean de Montpellier.

Later, the young couple settled in the castle of Baute-sur-Marne, which Charles VI chose as his permanent residence. Charles, who was preparing an invasion of England, departed for the coast of the English Channel, while the pregnant queen was forced to return to the castle, where on September 26, 1386, she gave birth to her first child, named Charles after his father. On the occasion of the baptism of the Dauphin, magnificent festivities were arranged, Count Karl de Dammarten became his successor from the font, but the child died in December of the same year. To entertain his wife, Charles threw incredibly lavish festivities in honor of the coming of the next year, 1387. On January 1, a ball was given at the Hotel Saint-Paul in Paris, which was attended by the king's brother Louis of Orleans and his uncle, Philip of Burgundy, who presented the queen with a "golden table covered with precious stones."

Delacroix. "Louis d'Orléans demonstrating the charms of one of his mistresses."

On January 7 of the same year, Louis d'Orléans became engaged to Valentina, the daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. After the end of the festivities, the beginning of the royal hunt for wild boars was announced, and Isabella, along with her court, accompanied her husband to Senlis, in July to Val-de-Rey, and finally, in August, to Chartres, where she entered with great solemnity, in honor of the young queen. staged an organ concert. At this time, as Veronica Clain put it, Isabella's life was "an endless series of festivities." In the fall, the queen returned to Paris, where on November 28, she celebrated the wedding of one of her German maids of honor, Catherine de Fastovrin, to Jean Morele de Campreny. The bride's dowry, which amounted to 4 thousand livres, was fully paid by the queen, and 1 thousand of this amount went to pay off the groom's debts, the rest of the money was used to purchase land, which became Catherine's own dowry.

At the beginning of the next year, 1388, as Juvenal des Jursen noted in his chronicle, it was officially announced that Queen Isabella was "carried in the womb" for the second time. To provide for the unborn child, a special decree introduced a new tax - the "Queen's Belt", which brought about 4 thousand livres from the sale of 31 thousand barrels of wine. The pregnant queen had to stay in Paris in the castle of Saint-Ouen, which previously belonged to the Order of the Star, while the king continued to amuse himself with hunting in the vicinity of Gisors, however, the spouses constantly corresponded. On June 14, 1388, at ten o'clock in the morning, a girl named Jeanne was born, but she lived only two years.

On May 1 of the following year, 1389, the queen, together with her husband, attended the magnificent ceremony of knighting the royal cousins ​​- Louis and Charles of Anjou. The festivities in honor of this event lasted for six days, during which tournaments were followed by religious ceremonies. Michel Pentuan, a Benedictine monk, wrote in his chronicle:

Pentoine did not name the lovers, but modern researchers are inclined to think that the queen and Louis of Orleans were meant. Indeed, the king's brother at that time enjoyed a reputation for heartthrob and dandy, in the contemptuous expression of Tom Bazin, he “whinnied like a horse around lovely ladies". There is another point of view - as if it was not about Isabella, but about Margaret of Bavaria, the wife of the Duke of Burgundy, Jean the Fearless. It is also noted that the queen was in her fourth month of pregnancy during the festivities, and she endured her position quite hard - which already makes it possible to question the assumption of adultery.

Isabella's entrance to Paris

On August 22, 1389, it was decided to arrange a solemn entry of the queen into the capital of France. Isabella was already well acquainted with Paris, where she invariably spent the winter for four years, but the king, who loved magnificent festivities and ceremonies, insisted on organizing a particularly solemn, theatrical procession. The Queen, who was then six months pregnant, was carried in a stretcher, accompanied by Valentina, wife of Louis Orleans, on horseback. Juvenal des Jursen, who left a detailed description of this day, wrote that Paris was richly decorated, wine fountains gushed in the squares, from which the cupbearers filled cups, bringing them to anyone who wished. At the building of the Tritite hotel, the minstrels presented the battle of the crusaders with the Arabs of Palestine, and at the head of the Christian army was Richard the Lionheart, who invited the king of France to join him to fight the "infidels". A young girl, depicting Mary with a baby in her arms, greeted and blessed the queen, while the boys, representing the angels, descended with the help of a theatrical machine from the height of the arch and placed a golden crown on Isabella's head. Later, the Queen listened to Mass in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and donated the crown presented to her by the "angels" to the Holy Virgin, while the Bureau de la Riviere and Jean Lemercier immediately placed an even more expensive crown on her head.

At the same time, several townspeople who tried to break into the first rows of spectators brought confusion into the procession, however, the guards quickly restored calm, rewarding the violators with cane strikes. Later, the cheerful young king confessed that he and several of his associates were these violators, and their backs hurt for a long time. The next day, Isabella was solemnly crowned at Sainte-Chapelle in the presence of the king and courtiers. Her wedding and entry into Paris are the most documented episodes of her life; in most chronicles, only the dates of birth of her 12 children are also given in detail. Historians agree that if not for the tragedy of her husband's madness, Isabella would have spent the rest of her life in quiet anonymity, like most medieval queens.

In November of the same year, the third child was born - Princess Isabella, the future Queen of England. Later, the queen accompanied her husband on his inspection trip to the south of France and made a pilgrimage to the Cistercian abbey at Mobuisson and further to Melun, where on January 24, 1391, she gave birth to her fourth child, Princess Jeanne.

And also Isabella, daughter of Juan I of Castile. The Duke was also alarmed by some overly free customs of the French court. So, he knew that before marriage, it was customary to undress the bride in front of the ladies of the court, so that they could thoroughly examine her and make a judgment on the future queen's ability to bear children.

Isabella arrived in Amiens on July 14, not knowing the real purpose of her trip. The French set a condition for the "review" of the prospective bride. She was immediately taken to the king (changing again, this time in a dress provided by the French, as her wardrobe seemed too modest). Froissart described this meeting and Karl's love for Isabella that flared up at first sight:

The day after the wedding, Charles was forced to leave for his troops, which were fighting against the British, who had captured the port of Damme. At the same time, Isabella also left Amiens, having previously donated to the cathedral a large silver dish decorated with precious stones, according to legend, brought from Constantinople, and until Christmas remained in the castle of Cray under the tutelage of Blanca of France, the widow of Philip of Orleans. This time she devoted to the study of the French language and the history of France. The young couple spent Christmas holidays in Paris, and Isabella, having moved into the royal residence - the Hotel Saint-Paul, occupied the apartment that had previously belonged to Jeanne of Bourbon, the king's mother. That same winter, the Queen's pregnancy was announced. At the beginning of the next year, the queen, along with her husband, attended the wedding of her sister-in-law Catherine of France, who at the age of eight married Jean de Montpellier.

Later, the young couple settled in the castle of Baute-sur-Marne, which Charles VI chose as his permanent residence. Charles, who was preparing an invasion of England, departed for the coast of the English Channel, while the pregnant queen was forced to return to the castle, where on September 26, 1386, she gave birth to her first child, named Charles after his father. On the occasion of the baptism of the Dauphin, magnificent festivities were arranged, Count Karl de Dammarten became his successor from the font, but the child died in December of the same year. To entertain his wife, Charles threw incredibly lavish festivities in honor of the coming of the next year, 1387. On January 1, a ball was given at the Hotel Saint-Paul in Paris, which was attended by the king's brother Louis of Orleans and his uncle, Philip of Burgundy, who presented the queen with a "golden table covered with precious stones."

Delacroix. "Louis d'Orléans demonstrating the charms of one of his mistresses."

At the same time, several townspeople who tried to break into the first rows of spectators brought confusion into the procession, however, the guards quickly restored calm, rewarding the violators with cane strikes. Later, the cheerful young king confessed that he and several of his associates were these violators, and their backs hurt for a long time. The next day, Isabella was solemnly crowned at Sainte-Chapelle in the presence of the king and courtiers. Her wedding and entry to Paris are the most documented episodes of her life; in most chronicles, only the dates of birth of her 12 children are also given in detail. Historians agree that if it were not for the tragedy of her husband's madness, Isabella would have spent the rest of her life in quiet anonymity, like most medieval queens.

In November of the same year, the third child was born - Princess Isabella, the future Queen of England. Later, the queen accompanied her husband on his inspection trip to the south of France and made a pilgrimage to the Cistercian abbey of Mobuisson and further to Melun, where on January 24, 1391, she gave birth to her fourth child, Princess Jeanne.

The first fit of madness seized Charles VI on August 5, 1392, near Mans, in the forest through which he moved with his army, pursuing Pierre Craon, who attempted on the life of the Constable of France. The king's condition worsened all the time. By this time, the queen was 22 years old, and she was already the mother of three children. For some time thereafter, it seemed that the king had fully recovered, only his developed "laziness" towards state affairs and increased irritability were noted. In January 1393, the Queen held a celebration to celebrate the third marriage of her lady-in-waiting, German woman Catherine de Fastovrin. At the festival, there was an accident with fire, from which the king was seriously injured, after which the situation became completely deplorable. Attacks of madness became regular, interspersed with enlightenments, however, the latter became shorter over time, and the former, respectively, heavier and longer. In the darkening of his mind, the king ceased to recognize his wife; In the chronicle of the Benedictine monk Michel Pentuan, unpleasant details were preserved, in particular, about how the king demanded “to remove from him this woman who shamelessly stares at him” or shouted out loud: “Find out what she needs and let her fail, there is nothing to go for on my heels! " ... He also claimed that he had no children and had never been married, and even renounced his own surname and coat of arms.

The queen began to live separately from her husband, in the palace of Barbett (fr. Porte Barbette), where she "was not afraid to be beaten half to death by Charles VI." According to rumors, the king's brother Louis d'Orléans advised her to flee to Bavaria, taking her children with her. But still, it is believed that during the moments of enlightenment, Isabella was close to her husband. So, there was a record for 1407 that "this time the king spent the night with the queen." Her next child - Karl (the second Dauphin) was born in 1392, followed by her daughter Maria, whom, according to the custom of that time, the queen “dedicated to God” even before birth, that is, she made a vow that a girl at the age of 4-5 years would leave to the monastery for the sake of his father's recovery. In total, she bore him 12 children, although the paternity of some of them (starting with the fourth) is often questioned. Meanwhile, the king's health deteriorated, and there was less and less hope for his cure. After the doctors were finally forced to admit their impotence, the queen turned to the services of healers and charlatans, and finally, by her order, numerous religious processions were organized in Paris, the Jews were expelled from the city.

Over time, it is said, Isabella began to lead a dissolute lifestyle. She was assigned to her husband Odinette de Chamdiver, who became his nurse-lover. In the castle in the Bois de Vincennes, where the queen settled with her court, according to the unequivocal remark of Juvenal des Yursen, “La Trimui, de Giac, Borrodon [approx. that is, Bois-Bourdon] and others ”. The maid of honor of the Queen was accused of a wasteful and luxurious lifestyle, their excesses in outfits reached such an extent that the lady in the annenna was unable to get through the door and squatted at the entrance. At the same time, for excessive influence on Charles, the queen expelled the more noble Valentina Visconti, wife of the Duke of Orleans. However, modern researchers, who believe that the reputation of a libertine and ambitious was formed exclusively under the influence of gossip, believe that Valentina left herself, "so as not to breed more rumors."

Delacroix. "Charles VI and Odette de Chamdiver" - one of the king's fits of madness

Finding herself in a country with a mad king, Isabella was doomed to side with one of the feudal factions fighting for power in the kingdom. Isabella took the lead in managing public affairs in a disastrous situation in the later years of her husband's reign [ ] .

In the same year, Paris was visited by Stephen the Magnificent, the father of the Queen, who began to petition for a marriage between him and Isabella of Lorraine, but this plan was not implemented, among other things due to the opposition of Louis of Orleans, who at that time had the greatest influence on the sick king. ... At the same time, it was announced to them that of the two rival popes, France was giving its support to Clement VII, who held his court in Avignon, as opposed to Boniface IX, the Roman. Frustrated by this decision, Philip the Bold appeared in Paris at the head of the army, but this time the queen managed to persuade her uncle and nephew, thus delaying the beginning civil war... In October of the same year, the queen gave birth to another daughter - the future wife of Henry V of England and Owen Tudor, whose grandson, Henry Tudor, seized the throne as a result of a coup d'état and became the founder of a new dynasty.

Coat of arms of Queen Isabella of Bavaria. The oval shape is typical for the coat of arms of a married woman. The left part corresponds to the coat of arms of the spouse (French lilies on an azure background), the right - to the heraldic image of Bavaria

The queen at this time began to rapidly lose popularity with her subjects. She was accused of endless extortion, which she was engaged in in alliance with the Duke of Orleans, excessive luxury and waste (which is true - treasury records have been preserved about the payment of 57 thousand francs, which, by order of the Queen, were sent to Bavaria, her brother Louis received another hundred thousand after the wedding , in addition, the Bavarians received from the royal treasury a golden image of the Madonna and Child and a gold, enamelled image of a horse worth 25 thousand francs [ ]). At the same time, the queen began to be accused of indulgence and weak-willedness in relation to Louis of Bavaria, while the question of adultery was not raised. As Michel Pentuan, a Benedictine monk from Saint-Denis, believed, these rumors were spread by John the Fearless in order to similarly discredit his political opponents:

They also claimed that she left her husband to the mercy of fate, who was forced to drag out a miserable existence, alone, unwashed, hungry and ragged. This was also true, but it should not be forgotten that the king was very aggressive towards his wife and during fits of madness tore his clothes to shreds and stained his clothes (the accounts of the royal treasurer for “replacing the royal dress spoiled by the urine of the named lord” have been preserved), refused food and did not allow barbers and servants to come near him. Ultimately, hefty lackeys were assigned to perform hygiene procedures, wearing cuirasses under livery. They were also assured that the queen left her own children to fend for themselves, and when asked when he last saw his mother, Ludovic Guienski allegedly replied - “that is three months old”. It is worth noting, however, that numerous bills for clothing and utensils for the royal children have survived. Louis d'Orléans was also accused of often visiting brothel houses. The royal treasury was so empty that Princess Jeanne, at the age of six, married to Jean de Montfort, Duke of Breton, married to him in 1405, was unable to bring with her the dowry expected by the groom. 50 thousand francs were required to be paid in installments, for which the queen asked for forgiveness in a letter. And finally, the Augustinian monk Jean Legrand preached at the royal court on the day of the Ascension in 1405 and, in the presence of the queen, the Duke of Orleans and his wife, spoke about the contempt that those in power evoke among the people. The same Legrand, once bursting into the queen's chambers, accused her of wastefulness and licentiousness of the ladies of the court, which again corresponded to the truth, according to the documents of that time.

Jean Fearless, having secured the support of the townspeople and the University of Paris, gradually began to seize power. Concerned about this, the Duke of Berry on December 1 of the same year entered into an alliance with the queen and Louis of Orleans, but this could no longer change the situation. On January 23 of the following year, 1406, Jean the Fearless achieved his goal, by royal order officially receiving all the rights and positions that belonged to his late father. Louis d'Orléans was absent at that time, but after his return to Paris, Jean the Fearless invited his rival to him and gave him an order appointing the king's brother as governor of Guienne - probably in an attempt to force him to accept what had happened [ ] .

In March of the same year, the wedding of Princess Michelle, daughter of the king, and Philippe, son of Jean the Fearless (future Duke Philip III the Good), was magnificently celebrated. Jean Petit, a representative of the Duke of Burgundy, who accused the murdered man of an "insult to majesty", was well-received, and on May 9, 1409, the signing took place in Chartres formal agreement, with both sides arriving at the ceremony accompanied by an impressive armed escort. There is an opinion that Isabella was largely responsible for what happened, alternately setting Armagnacs and Bourguignons against each other. "She successfully played on the political crisis of 1409, appointing her supporters to key government posts."

Later that year, another wedding took place - the heir to the throne took Margaret of Burgundy, the duke's daughter, as his wife. It is believed that at this time the queen made a choice in favor of bourguignons, resorted to the help of the Duke of Burgundy, who occupied Paris. At this time, it is believed, against her will, her adviser Jean de Montagu, a supporter of the Armagnac party, was arrested and executed, and in his place was appointed a protege of Jean the Fearless, Jean de Niel. The queen at this time preferred to stay at the Château de Vincennes. At this time, the first skirmishes began between Armagnacs and Bourguignons, with both sides alternately calling for help from the English king, which is believed to have provoked a new round of the Hundred Years War. In the future, Isabella shared with her new ally the brunt of the Caboschien rebellion, which lasted from the spring of 1413 until early September, when the Armagnacs managed to capture Paris, while Jean the Fearless fled along with the leader of the rebellion, Simon Cabos.

After Paris opened the gates to Bernard d'Armagnac and his army, on December 18, 1413, the queen married her youngest son, who at that time was ten years old, to Mary of Anjou, daughter of Louis II of the King of Naples and Yolanda of Aragon. Then she agreed that her youngest son was taken away from Paris. Researchers who share a hostile attitude towards Queen Isabella believe that she was trying to get rid of her unloved son in this way. At the same time, defenders of her reputation believe that she was motivated by a desire to protect her youngest son from the dangers that might lie in wait for him in rebellious Paris. At the same time, Count d'Armagnac received the title of Constable of France. However, neither the Queen nor the Dauphin Louis could find a common language with the imperious, impatient of objections, Bernard d'Armagnac. Louis unsuccessfully tried to organize his own party, equally hostile to both sides [ ] .

On the other hand, there is an assumption that the arrest of Bois-Bourdon was nothing more than an intrigue, behind which stood Bernard d'Armagnac, who thus wanted to get rid of the queen in order to completely seize power, gradually influencing the decisions of the weak-willed and easily succumbing the Dauphin's slander. That is why Bois-Bourdon was executed in secret, and his "crimes" were never officially named - for the complete absence of such. At the same time, moods hostile to the queen intensified among the people, rumors circulated in Paris accusing her not only of endless love adventures, but even of poisoning her husband, whom she allegedly deliberately drove mad. It is interesting that at present there are adherents of this hypothesis, who even call the poison LSD, which is contained in abundance in ergot, the so-called. Rye horns. Ergot poisoning - ergotism - was indeed quite common in the Middle Ages, but it mainly manifested itself in the lower classes, who were forced to eat infected rye in the years of famine. However, a large number this point of view has no adherents [ ] .

One way or another, Isabella was ordered to leave Paris, first to Blois, then to Tours, where she was kept practically in the position of being arrested. Isabella had no choice but to ask for help from her former enemy Jean the Fearless, which he took advantage of. Historians disagree about who the idea of ​​the abduction of the queen and her ladies from the local cathedral, where she indulged in prayer, belonged - to John or herself. In any case, the business was crowned with success, Isabella joined the ranks of the bourguignons, Jean the Fearless, allegedly, became her lover. Together they established a government in Chartres, then in Troyes, which competed with the Parisian. "In 1418, when Jean the Fearless took revenge, she triumphantly entered Paris with him, where her presence gave the appearance of legitimacy to the Anglo-Burgundian negotiations." At the same time, the main enemy of the Burgundian party, Bernard d'Armagnac, was killed, while the Dauphin Karl miraculously managed to escape from the city. The population accepted Isabella kindly - the Parisians hoped that the reconciliation of the former enemies would finally lead to an end to the endless chain of civil strife and the ruin of the country.

During this time, the queen actively corresponded with her son, it is believed, trying to persuade him to make peace with the Burgundian party. These letters have not survived, but in the documents of that time, excerpts from the Dauphin's responses were found, in which he calls his mother a "highly esteemed lady" and undertakes to obey her orders. It is not known whether Karl wanted genuine reconciliation or from the very beginning hatched a plan to get rid of his rival and thereby regain power over the country. It is also assumed that the weak-willed dauphin himself did not know what the possible meeting would turn out to be, and acted under the influence of the moment. One way or another, the rivals agreed to meet on the bridge at Montreux on September 10, 1419. This meeting turned into a quarrel. As the Dauphin later assured, Jean the Fearless drew his sword in his impetuosity, and Karl had no choice but to call the guards for help. Tanguy du Châtel was the first to strike the duke in the face with an ax, and the Dauphin's guards completed the rest. The Burgundian Party, for its part, was of the opinion that the duke, kneeling before the Dauphin, was treacherously killed from behind. The Dauphin sent letters to the cities of the country, where he justified himself by the fact that the murdered "promised, but did not wage a war against the British" [ ] .

The death of John the Fearless, contrary to the hopes of the Dauphin and his party, only worsened their situation. His son, Philip the Good, took the place of the murdered man. The queen, taken by surprise by the incident, accused the Dauphin Karl of treason. Having brought such an accusation against her son, at a time when the Burgundian group was the most significant in France, she was sure that she would be able to raise almost the entire kingdom against the Dauphin.

For the royal family, it turned out to be a new tragedy- in 1422 the daughter of Charles and Isabella Michel, wife of Philip the Good, died suddenly. It is believed [ ], the cause of her death was "melancholy" caused by the death of her father-in-law at the hands of his own brother and the enmity of Philip caused by this. There were rumors among the people blaming the Queen for the death of her daughter, that Michelle was trying to persuade her husband to a truce, which was by no means part of Isabella's plans, and she ordered one of the court ladies Michelle (German Ursula Spatskeren, wife of Jacques de Vieville, royal squire and cup bearer, which was sent by the queen to Burgundy to accompany Michelle after the wedding) to bring a fast-acting poison. Georges Chastelain wrote in his chronicle:

According to the official history, these rumors are considered unfounded. Thus, Marie-Veronica Clain notes in her monograph on the history of Queen Isabella that "Ursula's only fault was her Bavarian origin." A popular narrative of the story says: "For the sake of preserving her income and out of hatred, Isabella publicly disowned her son, Dauphin Karl, declaring him illegitimate," however, there is not a word in the agreement about the illegitimacy of the Dauphin. The Treaty of Troyes, in fact, united the crowns of England and France. France lost its independence and became part of the united Anglo-French kingdom. Isabella transferred the French crown to her son-in-law, Georges Chuffard, troops under the command of Jeanne to take the city by storm (September married to Jean V, Duke of Breton. Thus, of the twelve children she had born, only five survived.September 24, 1435, shortly before midnight, she died in her mansion Barbett (according to other sources - in the Hotel Saint-Paul) and was buried in Saint-Denis without honors. Georges Schuffard wrote in his diary:

According to modern data, the stretcher with the body of the queen was accompanied by bailiffs of the Paris Parliament, and the foremen carried them on their own shoulders. The costs of the funeral were borne by the Abbey of Saint-Denis, since the 80 livres left by the queen for this purpose (a very modest amount) could not be enough for the funeral to be furnished according to custom. From the treasury of Saint-Denis were taken for this purpose the crown, scepter and other regalia due to her rank. The funeral was attended by the French Chancellor Louis of Luxembourg, the Parisian Bishop Jacques Chatelier, the British Scales and Willoughby, and several other nobles. After listening to the funeral mass, the four elders of Parliament again lifted the stretcher with the queen's body on their shoulders and brought them to the port of Saint-Landry, where a ship was waiting for them, on which they were to deliver Isabella of Bavaria to her final resting place, to the abbey of Saint-Denis. Until the end, she was accompanied by two executors - her confessor and the chancellor of the Queen's personal court. The funeral took place on October 13, 1435 at the abbey in Saint-Denis - next to her husband. Five months after her death, Paris surrendered to Constable Rishmon, and Charles VII was finally able to freely enter his capital.

The role of Isabella of Bavaria in the history of France has been interpreted ambiguously by a number of historians over the centuries. This is mainly due to her important role in the negotiations with England, which led to the Treaty of Troyes, as well as rumors of her adultery. These rumors originated in Paris in the years 1422-1429 during the English occupation, and were an attempt to cast a shadow on the origins of King Charles VII, her son, who at that time was fighting with the British. Rumors found expression in a poem Pastoralet very popular at the time. A common idea about the queen is: “Very mediocre in appearance and intelligence, the queen could not really learn French, but in politics she proved to be narrow-minded and selfish. From the queen's predilections, it is known about animals (she kept a large menagerie in Saint-Paul) and food, which very soon affected her disproportionate figure "[ ] .

In popular memory, she forever remained "the woman who destroyed France." French chroniclers of those times often mentioned the legendary prophecy (the so-called prophecy of Merlin) that "France, destroyed by a dissolute woman (Wife), will be saved by a virgin (Virgin)", where the virgin was meant. Documents show that as early as 1413, the queen enjoyed an impeccable reputation. The first in a series of her lovers, the rumor called Louis d'Orléans. This rumor was based on the indications of two sources - the Burgundian poetic pamphlet Pastoralet and the remark dropped by Jean Chartier, the royal historiographer, after 1437. The anonymous author of a poetic pamphlet described the monarchs of this time as shepherds and shepherdesses under assumed names, attaching a glossary at the end with a correlation of names. He claimed that his work was a true record of the events that led to the assassination of Jean the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, but rather he was engaged in his glorification. The verses argued that Louis of Orleans was indeed killed on the orders of the Burgundian duke, but the latter only carried out the king's order. In the poem, Karl learned about the romance between his wife and brother and vowed to take revenge, Jean the Fearless promised to take care of it. The topic of adultery was actively emphasized, since it was the only excuse for murder. And Jean Chartier, noting in his notes the day of the queen's death in 1435, said that the British had shortened her life by declaring that her son was illegal. He wrote that upon hearing this rumor, she was so upset that she was never happy again [ ]. (It is curious that the written materials about peace in Troyes really only refer to 1435, and there is no mention of Charles' origin as a reason for depriving him of his inheritance [ ]).

Even full of scandalous details Chronicle of Tramecourt written shortly after 1420, do not allow hints of the queen. Thus, some scholars conclude that Isabella's reputation as a "whore", attributing to her as lovers everyone with whom she did political affairs, etc., is largely the fruit of Burgundian and English propaganda, which sought to discredit her son. king. They also point out that accusations of adultery, setting warring parties against each other and trying to get rid of rivals with the help of poison were the standard accusations brought forward by a hostile party against any of the queens who showed themselves in the political arena - such accusations, in particular, did not escape Blank Castilian, mother of Saint Louis, and his wife Marguerite of Provence.

"Defenders" of the reputation of Isabella of Bavaria from among modern researchers portray her as a kind woman, but very narrow-minded, brought up for a reclusive life dedicated to children and festivities, which was supposed to be led by a noble lady at that time. By force of circumstances forced to intervene in politics, for which she was not ready either in education or in character, the queen rushed between the two parties, trying to please both, and naturally remained a loser, which is blamed on her before history. “Opponents”, taking on faith the rumors that have arisen about the queen since the time of her husband's insanity, consider her insidious and intelligent, who knew how to subjugate male ambition and did not achieve her goals only because the circumstances were stronger. The question of the paternity of her children is also not completely clear. If, according to the official version, all of them were born from King Charles VI, the “opponents” of Queen Isabella believe that this applies only to the first five, while the father of Mary and Michel could be the “nobleman” de Bois-Bourdon, the rest - Louis Orleans. Unfortunately, the primary sources relating to this period of French history tell about the Queen extremely sparingly, noting only external events, while their backstage springs remain in the shadows, and this incompleteness in many ways allows us to draw completely opposite conclusions [ ] .

Even the Burgundian pamphlet admitted that Isabella was pretty, noting, however, that the queen did not correspond to the medieval ideal of beauty - she was short, with a high forehead, large eyes, a wide face, sharp features, a large nose with open nostrils, with a large sensual expressive mouth , round, full chin, with very dark hair and swarthy skin color. According to legend, she bathed in donkey milk and covered her face with a cream made from boar brains, the secret of crocodile musk glands and bird blood. Isabella was the first to introduce into fashion huge caps, completely hiding her hair, and this fashion soon took root in the Netherlands, Germany and England. At the court of Isabella, the custom subsequently arose to shave the eyebrows and hair on the forehead so that the latter seemed taller. When, over time, French fashion freed itself from the influence of Burgundy, the custom of hiding hair still continued to exist. It is also pointed out that when, in the 14th century, women suddenly began to wear dresses with such a low neckline that almost half of their breasts could be seen, in high society, Queen Isabella of Bavaria introduced "dresses with a large neckline" into fashion. Her name is associated with the introduction of the Annen headdress in 1395 into fashion.

Isabella is said to have led an extremely luxurious lifestyle. In particular, historians have calculated that the expenses of the queen's personal court, which amounted to 30 thousand livres under Jeanne of Bourbon, increased to 60 under Isabella. She repeatedly used the services of the prügelknabe (a kind of "whipping boys", deputies): she forced the nine-day prayer instead of herself court doctor. She also vowed to make a pilgrimage to Avignon, but sent a walker there as her deputy. An interesting expense item is known from the court accounts: in 1417, the queen paid one person 9 livres and 6 sous for the fact that he fasted for 36 days instead of her. "Opponents" of the queen from among modern researchers compare her with Catherine de Medici, while "supporters" - with Marie Antoinette. The Queen and her daughter-in-law Valentina Visconti (wife of Louis Orleans) were the addressees Epistre othea Christina Pizanskaya and in general were in correspondence with this writer, patronizing her [ ] .