 Charles suffered a second and more prolonged attack of insanity the following June ; it removed him for about six months and set a pattern that would hold for the next three decades as his condition deteriorated . Froissart described the bouts of illness as so severe that the King was " far out of the way ; no medicine could help him " , although he had recovered from the first attack within months . For the first 20 years of his illness he sustained periods of lucidity , enough that he continued to rule . Suggestions were made to replace him with a regent , although there was uncertainty and debate as to whether a regency could assume the full role of a living monarch . When he was incapable of ruling , his brother Orléans , and their cousin John the Fearless , the new Duke of Burgundy , were chief among those who sought to take control of the government . 
