Le Mans anchors the account of the royal army’s abrupt return on August 8: as the force passed through the countryside nearby, a warning and an accidental noise preceded an episode in which Charles VI no longer recognized those around him. The king was brought back to Le Mans, and the military expedition was called off.

Setting and Approach

The army was passing through a large forest near Le Mans in hot, dry weather. A man ran into the road and seized the king’s horse by its bridle, warning him not to continue because he had been betrayed. The attendants took the man for mad; once he let go, the procession moved on.

Around noon, the party emerged from the forest onto a broad sandy plain. The great lords rode in separate companies: Charles kept apart from the army to avoid its dust, while the dukes of Berry and Burgundy rode roughly a hundred yards to his left. The king’s clothing was ill suited to the heat, and pages followed behind him, one carrying a lance.

The Episode on the Plain

The second page accidentally dropped the lance, which struck the helmet of the page riding ahead. The sudden clang came while Charles was still preoccupied with the warning in the forest. He imagined that enemies were approaching, spurred his horse forward, and acted as though he were in battle, no longer recognizing his pages or the people around him.

A knight came up behind the king and restrained him. Those with the procession took away his sword and lifted him from his horse. Charles did not speak or recognize even his uncles or his brother. The account thus places the episode not within Le Mans itself but on the route back toward the city, after the army had crossed the plain.

Return and Significance

Charles was carried back to Le Mans in a litter. The military expedition was immediately called off, making the city the endpoint of a campaign interrupted by the king’s condition. The sequence links the earlier warning, the accidental sound, and the king’s mistaken perception, while distinguishing the countryside where the episode unfolded from Le Mans, where the royal party returned.