[ANSTHRLD] incredibly random research question for the day
Tim McDaniel
tmcd at panix.com
Wed Mar 2 07:37:55 PST 2011
On Wed, 2 Mar 2011, Castellana Donea <castellana.donea at yahoo.com> wrote:
> In anyone's readings has anyone come across an example of people
> dressing up as animals for pageantry or ceremonies in period?
There was The Bal des Ardents, but that is nothing we want in the SCA:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI_of_France#The_Bal_des_Ardents>
On 29 January 1393, at the behest of the king, a grand party was
organized to celebrate the wedding of one of the queen's
ladies-in-waiting at the Hotel de Saint Pol. At the suggestion of
a Norman Squire, Huguet de Guisay, the King and four other lords
[5] dressed up as wild men and danced about chained to one
another. They were "in costumes of linen cloth sewn onto their
bodies and soaked in resinous wax or pitch to hold a covering of
frazzled hemp, so that they appeared shaggy & hairy from head to
foot".[6] At the suggestion of one of the "wild men," Yvain de
Foix, the king commanded - in view of the obvious danger of fire -
that the torch-bearers were to stand at the side of the
room. Nonetheless, the King's brother, Louis of Valois, Duke of
Orl{e'}ans, who had arrived late, approached with a lighted torch
in order to discover the identity of the masqueraders, and he
accidentally set one of them on fire. Alternatively, it may have
been a plot to kill the mentally deficient king. In any case,
there was panic as the fire spread. The Duchess of Berry, to save
a dancer who had come near her to intrigue and tease her, threw
the train of her gown over him, and it was soon revealed to her
that the life she had saved was the king's.[7] Several Knights who
tried to put out the flames were severely burned on their
hands. Four of the wild men perished: Sir Charles de Poiters son
of the Count of Valentinois, Huguet de Guisay, Yvain de Foix and
the Count of Joigny. Another, Jean son of the Lord de Nantouillet,
saved himself by jumping into a dishwater tub.[8] This incident
became known as the Bal des Ardents (the "Ball of the Burning
Men").
Danielis de Lindo
--
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com
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