Did Henry VI inherit catatonic schizophrenia? It has been suggested Charles suffered from a form of either schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or encephalitis. When news of the disaster at Castillon reached Henry in August the same year, it seems very likely it contributed heavily to the king’s sudden, sharp mental decline.Ī miniature depicting Charles VI being seized by madness in the forest near Le Mans. The success achieved during the reign of his father and during the early years of his regency – when English victories at Agincourt and Verneuil allowed the nation to reach the zenith of its power on the European mainland – had become a distant memory. Henry’s reign had witnessed the downfall of English dominance in France, undoing much of the work his forebears had achieved. Losing this territory was thus particularly humiliating for an English monarch – sparking further resentment to the Lancastrian dynasty at home. Prior to the clash at Castillon, he had even started to reverse English fortunes in the region – perhaps in hindsight a forlorn hope.įurthermore, the irrevocable loss of Aquitaine was also highly-significant: the region had been an English possession for nearly 300 years, since Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1154. Talbot, a fierce warrior and commander known by his contemporaries as the ‘English Achilles’, was one of Henry’s closest allies and his greatest military leader. News of this decisive defeat presumably hit Henry particularly hard. Only the vital port of Calais remained in Henry’s hands. The French victory was highly-significant: both John Talbot, the English commander, and his son were killed and English control of Bordeaux and Aquitaine was eliminated. On 17 July 1453 the final nail for the English coffin in the Hundred Years War was struck when French forces won a decisive victory against an English army at Castillon in Gascony. John Talbot, ‘the English Achilles’, is pictured in red falling from his horse. A miniature depicting the Battle of Castillon.

King charles vi