[Loch-Ruadh] Today in History January 30

[PBW]

> 1393 Aimery Poitiers French nobleman, burned at royal ball
> 1393 Yvain son of Earl of Foix, burned at royal ball

Remind me never to attend a royal ball!  Of course this got me to wondering 
so I just had to look it up...

http://www.answers.com/topic/masquerade-ball-1

A famous mascarade that was long remembered as the Bal des Ardents ("Burning 
Men's Ball") was intended as a Bal des sauvages ("Wild Men's Ball") a 
costumed ball (morisco). It was in celebration of the marriage of a 
lady-in-waiting of Charles VI of France's queen in Paris on January 28, 
1393. The King and five courtiers dressed as wildmen of the woods 
(woodwoses), with costumes of flax and pitch. When they came too close to a 
torch, the dancers caught fire. (This episode was later adapted into Edgar 
Allan Poe's short story "Hop Frog".) Such costumed dances were a special 
luxury of the ducal court of Burgundy.

Magdalia/Pook