Isabeau of Bavaria - Court Politics and Intrigue

Court Politics and Intrigue

Most likely because of Charles's illness, Isabeau's life is well-documented. Historian Tracy Adams describes Isabeau as a talented diplomat; a woman who from the time of her marriage navigated court politics with ease and grace, and that "Isabeau appears to have been charismatic"; for many years she was successful in her role as peace keeper among the various court factions.

Not long after she married Charles, a delegation from Florence approached Isabeau to gain her political influence in the Gian Galeazzo Visconti affair. Orléans and the Duke of Burgundy joined the pro-Visconti faction with the weaker anti-Visconti faction made up of Isabeau, her brother, Louis VII, Duke of Bavaria, and John III, Count of Armagnac. Isabeau lacked, at that early time in her marriage, political power to affect change. In 1396, at the wedding of Isabeau's daughter, Isabella, to Richard II of England (an event at which Charles attacked a herald for wearing Galeazzo livery), negotiations re-opened between the French and Florentines. Buonaccorso Pitti and Isabeau together negotiated an alliance between France and Florence, ratified on September 26, 1396.

In 1387 Charles assumed sole control of the monarchy at age 20. He immediately dismissed his uncles and reinstated the Marmousets—his father's traditional councilors—and increased responsibility for his brother Orléans. Tensions mounted between the Burgundian uncles and Orléans at the time of Charles' first attack of illness, with Isabeau assuming a greater role in maintaining peace in face of the growing power struggle.