Isabeau of Bavaria

Isabeau of Bavaria
Queen Isabeau receiving Christine de Pisan's Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, c 1410-14. Illumination on parchment, British Library
Queen consort of France
Tenure	1385–1422
Coronation	23 August 1389
Born	c. 1370
Died	24 September 1435 (aged 64–65) Paris
Burial	Saint Denis Basilica
Spouse	Charles VI of France
Issue among others...	Isabella, Queen of England Joan, Duchess of Brittany Marie, Prioress of Poissy Michelle, Duchess of Burgundy Louis, Dauphin of Viennois John, Dauphin of Viennois Katherine, Queen of England Charles VII of France
House	House of Wittelsbach
Father	Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria
Mother	Taddea Visconti
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Isabeau of Bavaria (or Isabelle; also Elisabeth of Bavaria-Ingolstadt; c. 1370 – 24 September 1435) was born into the House of Wittelsbach as the eldest daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti of Milan. She became Queen of France when she married King Charles VI in 1385. At age 15 or 16, Isabeau was sent to France on approval to the young French king; the couple wed three days after their first meeting.

Isabeau was honored in 1389 with a lavish coronation ceremony and entry into Paris. In 1392 Charles suffered the first attack of what was to become a lifelong and progressive mental illness, resulting in periodic withdrawal from government. The episodes occurred with increasing frequency, leaving a court both divided by political factions and steeped in social extravagances. A 1393 masque for one of Isabeau's ladies-in-waiting—an event later known as Bal des Ardents—ended in disaster with the King almost burning to death. Although the King demanded Isabeau's removal from his presence during his illness, he consistently allowed her to act on his behalf. In this way she became regent to the Dauphin of France (heir apparent), and sat on the regency council, allowing far more power than was usual for a medieval queen.

Charles' illness created a power vacuum that eventually led to the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War between supporters of his brother, Louis of Orléans and the royal dukes of Burgundy. Isabeau shifted allegiances as she chose the most favorable paths for the heir to the throne. When she followed the Armagnacs, the Burgundians accused her of adultery with Louis of Orléans; when she sided with the Burgundians the Armagnacs removed her from Paris and she was imprisoned. In 1407 John the Fearless assassinated Orléans, sparking hostilities between the factions. The war ended soon after Isabeau's eldest son, Charles, had John the Fearless assassinated in 1419—an act that saw him disinherited. Isabeau attended the 1420 signing of the Treaty of Troyes, which decided that the English king should inherit the French crown after the death of her husband, Charles VI. She lived in English-occupied Paris until her death in 1435.