 The physician recommended a program of amusements. A member of the court suggested that Charles surprise Isabeau and the other ladies by joining a group of courtiers who would disguise themselves as wild men and invade the masquerade celebrating the remarriage of Isabeau's lady-in-waiting, Catherine de Fastaverin. This came to be known as the Bal des Ardents. Charles was almost killed and four of the dancers burned to death, when a spark from a torch brought by Orléans lit one of the dancer's costumes. The disaster undermined confidence in Charles'capacity to rule. Parisians considered it proof of courtly decadence and threatened to rebel against the more powerful members of the nobility. The public's outrage forced the King and Orléans, whom a contemporary chronicler accused of attempted regicide and sorcery, into offering penance for the event.
