The Bal des Ardents (Ball of the Burning Men), or the Bal des Sauvages (Ball of the Wild Men), was a masquerade ball held on 28 January 1393 in Paris, France, at which King Charles VI had a dance performance with five members of the French nobility. Four of the dancers were killed in a fire caused by a torch brought in by Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother. The ball, held at the royal palace of Saint-Pol, was one of a series of events organised to entertain Charles, who had suffered an attack of insanity in the previous summer of that year during an expedition at Le Mans.

Key figuresHugh Capet of FranceCharles VLouis XIV of France