possession of his
kingdom of Sicily. The King was of age to be his own master, according
to the will of his father, at fourteen; yet his uncles governed both
his estate and his person till he was twenty. In 1385, he was married
to Isabella, daughter of Stephen, Duke of Bavaria.

In 1388, Charles assumed the reins of government, discharging his
uncles, and keeping about his person his brother, the Duke of Orleans,
then seventeen, and his maternal uncle the Duke of Bourbon.

The Duke of Burgundy could not endure to see the Dukes of (p. 080)
Orleans and Bourbon govern the kingdom in the name of the King; and in
1391 he succeeded in causing the Estates-General to transfer the
government to him under the pretext of aiding his nephew to bear the
burden of the state. Probably the King had already shown symptoms of
that imbecility which afterwards incapacitated him altogether for
managing the affairs of his kingdom. In 1395 his malady increased in
violence; and for some time the Queen his wife, the Dukes of Orleans,
Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, each struggled hard to retain the reins
of government in their own hands. At length the Dukes of Orleans and
Burgundy formed two opposite parties; under the banners of which, as
well the members of the court, as the subjects of the kingdom at
large, arranged themselves in hostile ranks. Queen Isabella joined the
Duke of Orleans. The Duke of Berry fluctuated between the two
factions, and had great difficulty in preventing them from coming to
extremities. In these struggles the two chiefs were so equal, and so
determined not to yield either to the other, that they left the
government to the council of the King. The Duke of Burgundy withdrew
to the Netherlands, where he was master of the earldoms of Flanders
and Artois, and the duchy of Brabant: there he died in 1403, leaving
his son John to succeed him, who became Duke of Burgundy and Count of
Flanders and Artois. His brothers shared the residue of their father's
inheritance.

Whilst the new Duke of Burgundy was employed in arranging his (p. 081)
own affairs, the Queen and the Duke of Orleans conducted the
government; but with little satisfaction to the people, who found
themselves grievously oppressed by taxation. Meanwhile, the Duke of
Burgundy married his son Philip, Earl of Charolois, to Michelle, the
King's daughter; and one of his daughters was also espoused to the
Dauphin, Louis, then only nine years of age.

So