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diff --git a/19488-8.txt b/19488-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29086fc --- /dev/null +++ b/19488-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,38109 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2), by +Anatole France + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2) + +Author: Anatole France + +Translator: Winifred Stephens + +Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #19488] +Last Updated: February 26, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC + + +BY ANATOLE FRANCE + + +A TRANSLATION BY WINIFRED STEPHENS + +IN TWO VOLS., VOL. I + +[Illustration] + +LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD +NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMIX + +_Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by_ +MANZI, JOYANT ET CIE + +_Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by_ +JOHN LANE COMPANY + +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + +[Illustration: Joan of Arc] + + + + +PREFACE + +TO THE ENGLISH EDITION + + +Scholars have been good enough to notice this book; and the majority +have treated it very kindly, doubtless because they have perceived +that the author has observed all the established rules of historical +research and accuracy. Their kindness has touched me. I am especially +grateful to MM. Gabriel Monod, Solomon Reinach and Germain +Lefèvre-Pontalis, who have discovered in this work certain errors, +which will not be found in the present edition. + +My English critics have a special claim to my gratitude. To the memory +of Joan of Arc they consecrate a pious zeal which is almost an +expiatory worship. Mr. Andrew Lang's praiseworthy scruples with regard +to my references have caused me to correct some and to add several. + +The hagiographers alone are openly hostile. They reproach me, not with +my manner of explaining the facts, but with having explained them at +all. And the more my explanations are clear, natural, rational and +derived from the most authoritative sources, the more these +explanations displease them. They would wish the history of Joan of +Arc to remain mysterious and entirely supernatural. I have restored +the Maid to life and to humanity. That is my crime. And these zealous +inquisitors, so intent on condemning my work, have failed to discover +therein any grave fault, any flagrant inexactness. Their severity has +had to content itself with a few inadvertences and with a few +printer's errors. What flatterers could better have gratified "the +proud weakness of my heart?"[1] + +PARIS, _January, 1909_. + +[Footnote 1: "_De mon coeur l'orgueilleuse faiblesse_," Racine, +_Iphigénie en Aulide_, Act i, sc. i.--(W.S.)] + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +My first duty should be to make known the authorities for this +history. But L'Averdy, Buchon, J. Quicherat, Vallet de Viriville, +Siméon Luce, Boucher de Molandon, MM. Robillard de Beaurepaire, Lanéry +d'Arc, Henri Jadart, Alexandre Sorel, Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, L. +Jarry, and many other scholars have published and expounded various +documents for the life of Joan of Arc. I refer my readers to their +works which in themselves constitute a voluminous literature,[2] and +without entering on any new examination of these documents, I will +merely indicate rapidly and generally the reasons for the use I have +chosen to make of them. They are: first, the trial which resulted in +her condemnation; second, the chronicles; third, the trial for her +rehabilitation; fourth, letters, deeds, and other papers. + +[Footnote 2: Le P. Lelong, _Bibliothèque historique de la France_, +Paris, 1768 (5 vols. folio), II, n. 17172-17242. Potthast, +_Bibliotheca medii ævi_, Berlin, 1895, 8vo, vol. i, pp. 643 _seq._ U. +Chevalier, _Répertoire des sources historiques du Moyen Âge_, Paris, +8vo, 1877, pp. 1247-1255; _Jeanne d'Arc, bibliographie_, Montbéliard, +1878 [selections]; _Supplément au Répertoire_, Paris, 1883, pp. +2684-2686, 8vo. Lanéry d'Arc, _Le livre d'or de Jeanne d'Arc, +bibliographie raisonnée et analytique des ouvrages relatifs à Jeanne +d'Arc_, Paris, 1894, large 8vo, and supplement. A. Molinier, _Les +sources de l'histoire de France des origines aux guerres d'Italie, IV: +Les Valois, 1328-1461_, Paris, 1904, pp. 310-348.] + +First, in the trial[3] which resulted in her condemnation the +historian has a mine of rich treasure. Her cross-examination cannot be +too minutely studied. It is based on information, not preserved +elsewhere, gathered from Domremy and the various parts of France +through which she passed. It is hardly necessary to say that all the +judges of 1431 sought to discover in Jeanne was idolatry, heresy, +sorcery and other crimes against the Church. Inclined as they were, +however, to discern evil in every one of the acts and in each of the +words of one whom they desired to ruin, so that they might dishonour +her king, they examined all available information concerning her life. +The high value to be set upon the Maid's replies is well known; they +are heroically sincere, and for the most part perfectly lucid. +Nevertheless they must not all be interpreted literally. Jeanne, who +never regarded either the bishop or the promoter as her judge, was not +so simple as to tell them the whole truth. It was very frank of her to +warn them that they would not know all.[4] That her memory was +curiously defective must also be admitted. I am aware that the clerk +of the court was astonished that after a fortnight she should remember +exactly the answers she had given in her cross-examination.[5] That +may be possible, although she did not always say the same thing. It is +none the less certain that after the lapse of a year she retained but +an indistinct recollection of some of the important acts of her life. +Finally, her constant hallucinations generally rendered her incapable +of distinguishing between the true and the false. + +[Footnote 3: Jules Quicherat, _Procès de condamnation et de +réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 8vo, 1841, vol. i. (Called +hereafter _Trial_.--W.S.)] + +[Footnote 4: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 93, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 5: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 89, 142, 161, 176, 178, 201.] + +The record of the trial is followed by an examination of Jeanne's +sayings in _articulo mortis_.[6] This examination is not signed by the +clerks of the court. Hence from a legal point of view the record is +out of order; nevertheless, regarded as a historical document, its +authenticity cannot be doubted. In my opinion the actual occurrences +cannot have widely differed from what is related in this unofficial +report. It tells of Jeanne's second recantation, and of this +recantation there can be no question, for Jeanne received the +communion before her death. The veracity of this document was never +assailed,[7] even by those who during the rehabilitation trial pointed +out its irregularity.[8] + +[Footnote 6: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 478 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 7: _Cf._ J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux sur l'histoire de +Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1880, pp. 138-144.] + +[Footnote 8: Evidence of G. Manchon, _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 14.] + +Secondly, the chroniclers of the period, both French and Burgundian, +were paid chroniclers, one of whom was attached to every great baron. +Tringant says that his master did not expend any money in order to +obtain mention in the chronicles,[9] and that therefore he is omitted +from them. The earliest chronicle in which the Maid occurs is that of +Perceval de Cagny, who was in the service of the house of Alençon and +Duke John's master of the house.[10] It was drawn up in the year 1436, +that is, only six years after Jeanne's death. But it was not written +by him. According to his own confession he had "not half the sense, +memory, or ability necessary for putting this, or even a matter of +less than half its importance, down in writing."[11] This chronicle is +the work of a painstaking clerk. One is not surprised to find a +chronicler in the pay of the house of Alençon representing the +differences concerning the Maid, which arose between the Sire de la +Trémouille and the Duke of Alençon, in a light most unfavourable to +the King. But from a scribe, supposed to be writing at the dictation +of a retainer of Duke John, one would have expected a less inaccurate +and a less vague account of the feats of arms accomplished by the Maid +in company with him whom she called her fair duke. Although this +chronicle was written at a time when no one dreamed that the sentence +of 1431 would ever be revoked, the Maid is regarded as employing +supernatural means, and her acts are stripped of all verisimilitude by +being recorded in the manner of a hagiography. Further, that portion +of the chronicle attributed to Perceval de Cagny, which deals with the +Maid, is brief, consisting of twenty-seven chapters of a few lines +each. Quicherat is of opinion that it is the best chronicle of Jeanne +d'Arc[12] existing, and the others may indeed be even more worthless. + +[Footnote 9: _Ne donnoit point d'argent pour soy faire mettre ès +croniques._--Jean de Bueil, _Le Jouvencel_, ed. C. Fabre and L. +Lecestre, Paris, 1887, 8vo, vol. ii, p. 283.] + +[Footnote 10: Perceval de Cagny, _Chroniques_, published by H. +Moranvillé, Paris, 1902, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 11: _Le sens, mémoire, ne l'abillité de savoir faire metre +par escript ce, ne autre chose mendre de plus de la moitié_, Perceval +de Cagny, p. 31.] + +[Footnote 12: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 1.] + +Gilles le Bouvier,[13] king at arms of the province of Berry, who was +forty-three in 1429, is somewhat more judicious than Perceval de +Cagny; and, in spite of some confusion of dates, he is better +informed of military proceedings. But his story is of too summary a +nature to tell us much. + +[Footnote 13: _Ibid._, pp. 40-50. D. Godefroy, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, Paris, 1661, fol. pp. 369-474.] + +Jean Chartier,[14] precentor of Saint-Denys, held the office of +chronicler of France in 1449. Two hundred years later he would have +been described as historiographer royal. His office may be divined +from the manner in which he relates Jeanne's death. After having said +that she had been long imprisoned by the order of John of Luxembourg, +he adds: "The said Luxembourg sold her to the English, who took her to +Rouen, where she was harshly treated; in so much that after long +delay, they had her publicly burnt in that town of Rouen, without a +trial, of their own tyrannical will, which was cruelly done, seeing +the life and the rule she lived, for every week she confessed and +received the body of Our Lord, as beseemeth a good catholic."[15] When +Jean Chartier says that the English burned her without trial, he means +apparently that the Bailie of Rouen did not pronounce sentence. +Concerning the ecclesiastical trial and the two accusations of lapse +and relapse he says not a word; and it is the English whom he accuses +of having burnt a good Catholic without a trial. This example proves +how seriously the condemnation of 1431 embarrassed the government of +King Charles. But what can be thought of a historian who suppresses +Jeanne's trial because he finds it inconvenient? Jean Chartier was +extremely weak-minded and trivial; he seems to believe in the magic of +Catherine's sword and in Jeanne's loss of power when she broke it;[16] +he records the most puerile of fables. Nevertheless it is interesting +to note that the official chronicler of the Kings of France, writing +about 1450, ascribes to the Maid an important share in the delivery of +Orléans, in the conquest of fortresses on the Loire and in the victory +of Patay, that he relates how the King formed the army at Gien "by the +counsel of the said maid,"[17] and that he expressly states that +Jeanne caused[18] the coronation and consecration. Such was certainly +the opinion which prevailed at the Court of Charles VII. All that we +have to discover is whether that opinion was sincere and reasonable or +whether the King of France may not have deemed it to his advantage to +owe his kingdom to the Maid. She was held a heretic by the heads of +the Church Universal, but in France her memory was honoured, rather, +however, by the lower orders than by the princes of the blood and the +leaders of the army. The services of the latter the King was not +desirous to extol after the revolt of 1440. During this +_Praguerie_,[19] the Duke of Bourbon, the Count of Vendôme, the Duke +of Alençon, whom the Maid called her fair duke, and even the cautious +Count Dunois had been seen joining hands with the plunderers and +making war on the sovereign with an ardour they had never shown in +fighting against the English. + +[Footnote 14: Jean Chartier, _Chronique de Charles VII, roi de +France_, ed. Vallet de Viriville, Paris, 1858, 3 vols., 18mo. +(_Bibliothèque Elzévirienne_).] + +[Footnote 15: _Lequel Luxembourg la vendit aux Angloix, qui la +menèrent à Rouen, où elle fut durement traictée; et tellement que, +après grant dillacion de temps, sans procez, maiz de leur voulenté +indeue, la firent ardoir en icelle ville de Rouen publiquement ... qui +fut bien inhumainement fait, veu la vie et gouvernement dont elle +vivoit, car elle se confessoit et recepvoit par chacune sepmaine le +corps de Nostre Seigneur, comme bonne catholique._--Jean Chartier, +_Chronique de Charles VII, roi de France_, vol. i, p. 122.] + +[Footnote 16: Jean Chartier, _Chronique de Charles VII, roi de +France_, vol. i, p. 122.] + +[Footnote 17: _Par l'admonestement de ladite Pucelle_, Jean Chartier, +vol. i, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 18: _Fut cause_, _ibid._, vol. i, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 19: This revolt of the French nobles was so named because +various risings of a similar nature had taken place in the city of +Prague.--W.S.] + +"Le Journal du Siège"[20] was doubtless kept in 1428 and 1429; but the +edition that has come down to us dates from 1467.[21] What relates to +Jeanne before her coming to Orléans is interpolated; and the +interpolator was so unskilful as to date Jeanne's arrival at Chinon in +the month of February, while it took place on March 6, and to assign +Thursday, March 10, as the date of the departure from Blois, which did +not occur until the end of April. The diary from April 28 to May 7 is +less inaccurate in its chronology, and the errors in dates which do +occur may be attributed to the copyist. But the facts to which these +dates are assigned, occasionally in disagreement with financial +records and often tinged with the miraculous, testify to an advanced +stage of Jeanne's legend. For example, one cannot possibly attribute +to a witness of the siege the error made by the scribe concerning the +fall of the Bridge of Les Tourelles.[22] What is said on page 97 of P. +Charpentier's and C. Cuissart's edition concerning the relations of +the inhabitants and the men-at-arms seems out of place, and may very +likely have been inserted there to efface the memory of the grave +dissensions which had occurred during the last week. From the 8th of +May the diary ceases to be a diary; it becomes a series of extracts +borrowed from Chartier, from Berry, and from the rehabilitation +trial. The episode of the big fat Englishman slain by Messire Jean de +Montesclère at the Siege of Jargeau is obviously taken from the +evidence of Jean d'Aulon in 1446; and even this plagiarism is +inaccurate, since Jean d'Aulon expressly says he was slain at the +Battle of Les Augustins.[23] + +[Footnote 20: _Journal du siège d'Orléans_ (1428-1429), ed. P. +Charpentier and C. Cuissart, Orléans, 1896, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 21: The oldest copy extant is dated 1472 (MS. fr. 14665).] + +[Footnote 22: _Journal du siège d'Orléans_ (1428-1429), p. 87. +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 162, note.] + +[Footnote 23: _Journal du siège_, p. 97. _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 215.] + +The chronicle entitled _La Chronique de la Pucelle_,[24] as if it were +the chief chronicle of the heroine, is taken from a history entitled +_Geste des nobles François_, going back as far as Priam of Troy. But +the extract was not made until the original had been changed and added +to. This was done after 1467. Even if it were proved that _La +Chronique de la Pucelle_ is the work of Cousinot, shut up in Orléans +during the siege, or even of two Cousinots, uncle and nephew according +to some, father and son according to others, it would remain none the +less true that this chronicle is largely copied from Jean Chartier, +the _Journal du Siège_ and the rehabilitation trial. Whoever the +author may have been, this work reflects no great credit upon him: no +very high praise can be given to a fabricator of tales, who, without +appearing in the slightest degree aware of the fact, tells the same +stories twice over, introducing each time different and contradictory +circumstances. _La Chronique de la Pucelle_ ends abruptly with the +King's return to Berry after his defeat before Paris. + +[Footnote 24: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, or _Chronique de Cousinot_, +ed. Vallet de Viriville, Paris, 1859, 16mo. (_Bibliothèque +Gauloise_).] + +_Le Mystère du siège_[25] must be classed with the chronicles. It is +in fact a rhymed chronicle in dialogue, and it would be extremely +interesting for its antiquity alone were it possible to do what some +have attempted and to assign to it the date 1435. The editors, and +following them several scholars, have believed it possible to identify +this poem of 20,529 lines with a _certain mistaire_[26] played on the +sixth anniversary of the delivery of the city. They have drawn their +conclusions from the following circumstances: the Maréchal de Rais, +who delighted to organise magnificent farces and mysteries, was in +Duke Charles's city expending vast sums[27] there from September, +1434, till August, 1435; in 1439 the city purchased out of its +municipal funds "a standard and a banner, which had belonged to +Monseigneur de Reys and had been used by him to represent the manner +of the storming of Les Tourelles and their capture from the +English."[28] From such a statement it is impossible to prove that in +1435 or in 1439, on May 8, there was acted a play having the Siege for +its subject and the Maid for its heroine. If, however, we take "the +manner of the storming of Les Tourelles" to mean a mystery rather than +a pageant or some other form of entertainment, and if we consider the +_certain mistaire_ of 1435 as indicating a representation of that +siege which had been laid and raised by the English, we shall thus +arrive at a mystery of the siege. But even then we must examine +whether it be that mystery the text of which has come down to us. + +[Footnote 25: _Mystère du Siège d'Orléans_, first published by MM. F. +Guessard and E. de Certain, Paris, 1862, 4to, according to the only +manuscript, which is preserved in the Vatican Library.--_Cf._ _Étude +sur le mystère du siège d'Orléans_, by H. Tivier, Paris, 1868, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 26: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 309.] + +[Footnote 27: The Abbé E. Bossard and de Maulde, _Gilles de Rais, +Maréchal de France, dit Barbe-Bleue_ (1404-1440), 2nd edition, Paris, +1886, 8vo, pp. 94-113.] + +[Footnote 28: _Un estandart et bannière qui furent à Monseigneur de +Reys pour faire la manière de l'assault comment les Tourelles furent +prinses sur les Anglois Mistère du siège_, p. viii.] + +Among the one hundred and forty speaking personages in this work is +the Maréchal de Rais. Hence it has been concluded that the mystery was +written and acted before the lawsuit ended by that sentence to which +effect was given above the Nantes Bridge, on October 20, 1440. How, +indeed, it has been asked, after so ignominious a death could the +vampire of Machecoul have been represented to the people of Orléans as +fighting for their deliverance? How could the Maid and Blue Beard be +associated in a heroic action? It is hard to answer such a question, +because we cannot possibly tell how much of that kind of thing could +be tolerated by the barbarism of those rude old times. Perhaps our +text itself, if properly examined, will be found to contain internal +evidence as to whether it is of an earlier or later date than 1440. + +The bastard of Orléans was created Count of Dunois on July 14, +1439.[29] The lines of the mystery, in which he is called by this +title, cannot therefore be anterior to that date. They are numerous, +and, by a singularity which has never been explained, are all in the +first third of the book. When Dunois reappears later he is the Bastard +again. From this fact the editors of 1862 concluded that five thousand +lines were prefixed to the primitive text subsequently, although they +in no way differ from the rest, either in language, style, or prosody. +But may the rest of the poem be assigned to 1435 or 1439? + +[Footnote 29: _Mistère du siège_, preface, p. x.] + +That is not my opinion. In the lines 12093 and 12094 the Maid tells +Talbot he will die by the hand of the King's men. This prophecy must +have been made after the event: it is an obvious allusion to the +noble captain's end, and these lines must have been written after +1453. + +Six years after the siege no clerk of Orléans would have thought of +travestying Jeanne as a lady of noble birth. + +In line 10199 and the following of the "_Mistère du Siège_" the Maid +replies to the first President of the Parlement of Poitiers when he +questions her concerning her family: + + "As for my father's mansion, it is in the Bar country; and + he is of gentle birth and rank right noble, a good Frenchman + and a loyal."[30] + +[Footnote 30: + + Quant est de l'ostel de mon père, + Il est en pays de Barois; + Gentilhomme et de noble afaire + Honneste et loyal François. + +_Mistère du siège_, pp. 397-398.] + +Before a clerk would write thus, Jeanne's family must have been long +ennobled and the first generation must have died out, which happened +in 1469; there must have come into existence that numerous family of +the Du Lys, whose ridiculous pretensions had to be humoured. Not +content with deriving their descent from their aunt, the Du Lys +insisted on connecting the good peasant Jacquot d'Arc with the old +nobility of Bar. + +Notwithstanding that Jeanne's reference to "her father's mansion" +conflicts with other scenes in the same mystery, this lengthy work +would appear to be all of a piece. + +It was apparently compiled during the reign of Louis XI, by a citizen +of Orléans who was a fair master of his subject. It would be +interesting to make a more detailed study of his authorities than has +been done hitherto. This poet seems to have known a _Journal du siège_ +very different from the one we possess. + +Was his mystery acted during the last thirty years of the century at +the festival instituted to commemorate the taking of Les Tourelles? +The subject, the style, and the spirit are all in harmony with such an +occasion. But it is curious that a poem composed to celebrate the +deliverance of Orléans on May 8 should assign that deliverance to May +9. And yet this is what the author of the mystery does when he puts +the following lines into the mouth of the Maid: + + "Remember how Orléans was delivered in the year one thousand + four hundred and twenty-nine, and forget not also that of + May it was the ninth day."[31] + +[Footnote 31: + + ... Ayez en souvenance.... + Comment Orléans eult délivrance.... + L'an mil iiijc xxix; + Faites en mémoire tous dis; + Des jours de may ce fut le neuf. + +_Mistère du siège_, lines 14375-14381, p. 559.] + +Such are the chief chroniclers on the French side who have written of +the Maid. Others who came later or who have only dealt with certain +episodes in her life, need not be quoted here; their testimony will be +best examined when we come to that of the facts in detail. Placing on +one side any information to be obtained from _La Chronique de +l'établissement de la fête_,[32] from _La Relation_[33] of the Clerk +of La Rochelle and other contemporary documents, we are now in a +position to realise that if we depended on the French chroniclers for +our knowledge of Jeanne d'Arc we should know just as much about her as +we know of Sakya Muni. + +[Footnote 32: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 285 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 33: _Relation inédite sur Jeanne d'Arc, extraite du livre +noir de l'hôtel de ville de La Rochelle_, ed. J. Quicherat, Orléans, +1879, 8vo, and _La Revue Historique_, vol. iv, 1877, pp. 329-344.] + +We shall certainly not find her explained by the Burgundian +chroniclers. They, however, furnish certain useful information. The +earliest of these Burgundian chroniclers is a clerk of Picardy, the +author of an anonymous chronicle, called _La Chronique des +Cordeliers_,[34] because the only copy of it comes from a house of the +Cordeliers at Paris. It is a history of the world from the creation to +the year 1431. M. Pierre Champion[35] has proved that Monstrelet made +use of it. This clerk of Picardy knew divers matters, and was +acquainted with sundry state documents. But facts and dates he +curiously confuses. His knowledge of the Maid's military career is +derived from a French and a popular source. A certain credence has +been attached to his story of the leap from Beaurevoir; but his +account if accurate destroys the idea that Jeanne threw herself from +the top of the keep in a fit of frenzy or despair.[36] And it does not +agree with what Jeanne said herself. + +[Footnote 34: Bibl. Nat. fr. 23018: J. Quicherat, _Supplément aux +témoignages contemporains sur Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue Historique_, +vol. xix, May-June, 1882, pp. 72-83.] + +[Footnote 35: Pierre Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, Paris, 1906, in +8vo, pp. xi, xii.] + +[Footnote 36: _Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, introduction and +commentary by Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, text established by Léon +Dorez, vol. iii, 1901, p. 302, and vol. iv, supplement xxi.] + +Monstrelet,[37] "more drivelling at the mouth than a +mustard-pot,"[38] is a fountain of wisdom in comparison with Jean +Chartier. When he makes use of _La Chronique des Cordeliers_ he +rearranges it and presents its facts in order. What he knew of Jeanne +amounts to very little. He believed that she was an inn servant. He +has but a word to say of her indecision at Montépilloy, but that word, +to be found nowhere else, is extremely significant. He saw her in the +camp at Compiègne; but unfortunately he either did not realise or did +not wish to say what impression she made upon him. + +[Footnote 37: Enguerrand de Monstrelet, _Chronique_, ed. Doüet-d'Arcq, +Paris, 1857-1861, 6 vols. in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 38: Rabelais, Urquhart's Trans., ii-49, in Bohn's edition, +1849 (W.S.). _Plus baveux que ung pot de moutarde._--Rabelais, +_Pantagruel_, bk. iii, chap. xxiv.] + +Wavrin du Forestel,[39] who edited additions to Froissart, Monstrelet, +and Mathieu d'Escouchy, was at Patay; he never saw Jeanne there. He +knows her only by hearsay and that but vaguely. We do not therefore +attach great importance to what he relates concerning Robert de +Baudricourt, who, according to him, indoctrinated the Maid and taught +her how to appear "inspired by Divine Providence."[40] On the other +hand, he gives valuable information concerning the war immediately +after the deliverance of Orléans. + +[Footnote 39: Jehan de Wavrin, _Anchiennes croniques d'Engleterre_, +ed. Mademoiselle Dupont, Paris, 1858-1863, 3 vols., 8vo.] + +[Footnote 40: Wavrin's additions to Monstrelet in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +407.] + +Le Fèvre de Saint-Rémy, Counsellor to the Duke of Burgundy and +King-at-arms of the Golden Fleece,[41] was possibly at Compiègne when +Jeanne was taken; and he speaks of her as a brave girl. + +[Footnote 41: _Chronique de Jean le Fèvre, seigneur de Saint-Rémy_, +ed. François Morand, Paris, 1876-1881, 2 vols. in 8vo.] + +Georges Chastellain copies Le Fèvre de Saint Remy.[42] + +[Footnote 42: _Chroniques des ducs de Bourgogne_, Paris, 1827, 2 vols. +in 8vo; vols. xlii and xliii of the _Collection des Chroniques +françaises_, by Buchon. _Oeuvres de Georges Chastellain_, ed. Kervyn +de Lettenhove, Brussels, 1863, 8 vols. in 8vo.] + +The author of _Le Journal_ ascribed to _un Bourgeois de Paris_,[43] +whom we identify as a Cabochien clerk, had only heard Jeanne spoken of +by the doctors and masters of the University of Paris. Moreover he was +very ill-informed, which is regrettable. For the man stands alone in +his day for energy of feeling and language, for passion of wrath and +of pity, and for intense sympathy with the people. + +[Footnote 43: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_ (1405-1449), ed. A. +Tuetey, Paris, 1881, in 8vo.] + +I must mention a document which is neither French nor Burgundian, but +Italian. I refer to the _Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, published and +annotated with admirable erudition by M. Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis. +This chronicle, or to be more precise, the letters it contains, are +very valuable to the historian, but not on account of the veracity of +the deeds here attributed to the Maid, which on the contrary are all +imaginary and fabulous. In the _Chronique de Morosini_,[44] every +single fact concerning Jeanne is presented in a wrong character and in +a false light. And yet Morosini's correspondents are men of business, +thoughtful, subtle Venetians. These letters reveal how there were +being circulated throughout Christendom a whole multitude of +fictitious stories, imitated some from the Romances of Chivalry, +others from the Golden Legend, concerning that _Demoiselle_ as she is +called, at once famous and unknown. + +[Footnote 44: _Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, ed. Léon Dorez and +Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, Paris, 1900-1902, 4 vols. in 8vo.] + +Another document, the diary of a German merchant, one Eberhard de +Windecke,[45] a conscientious and clever edition of which has also +been published by M. Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, presents the same +phenomenon. Nothing here related of the Maid is even probable. As soon +as she appears a whole cycle of popular stories grow up round her +name. Eberhard obviously delights to relate them. Thus we learn from +these good foreign merchants that at no period of her existence was +Jeanne known otherwise than by fables, and that if she moved +multitudes it was by the spreading abroad of countless legends which +sprang up wherever she passed and made way before her. And indeed, +there is much food for thought in that dazzling obscurity, which from +the very first enwrapped the Maid, in those radiant clouds of myth, +which, while concealing her, rendered her all the more imposing. + +[Footnote 45: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Les sources allemandes de +l'histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, Eberhard Windecke, Paris, 1903, in 8vo.] + +Thirdly, with its memoranda, its consultations, and its one hundred +and forty depositions, furnished by one hundred and twenty-three +deponents, the rehabilitation trial forms a very valuable collection +of documents.[46] M. Lanéry d'Arc has done well to publish in their +entirety the memoranda of the doctors as well as the treatise of the +Archbishop of Embrun, the propositions of Master Heinrich von Gorcum +and the _Sibylla Francica_.[47] From the trial of 1431 we learn what +theologians on the English side thought of the Maid. But were it not +for the consultations of Théodore de Leliis and of Paul Pontanus and +the opinions included in the later trial we should not know how she +was regarded by the doctors of Italy and France. It is important to +ascertain what were the views held by the whole Church concerning a +damsel condemned during her lifetime, when the English were in power, +and rehabilitated after her death when the French were victorious. + +[Footnote 46: _Trial_, vols. ii to iii, 1844-1845 (vols. v and vi, +1846-1847, contain the evidence).] + +[Footnote 47: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, 1889, in 8vo. _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 411-468.] + +Doubtless many matters were elucidated by the one hundred and +twenty-three witnesses heard at Domremy, at Vaucouleurs, at Toul, at +Orléans, at Paris, at Rouen, at Lyon, witnesses drawn from all ranks +of life--churchmen, princes, captains, burghers, peasants, artisans. +But we are bound to admit that they come far short of satisfying our +curiosity, and for several reasons. First, because they replied to a +list of questions drawn up with the object of establishing a certain +number of facts within the scope of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The +Holy Inquisitor who conducted the trial was curious, but his curiosity +was not ours. This is the first reason for the insufficiency of the +evidence from our point of view.[48] + +[Footnote 48: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 378-463.] + +But there are other reasons. Most of the witnesses appear excessively +simple and lacking in discernment. In so large a number of men of all +ages and of all ranks it is sad to find how few were equipped with +lucid and judicial minds. It would seem as if the human intellect of +those days was enwrapped in twilight and incapable of seeing anything +distinctly. Thought as well as speech was curiously puerile. Only a +slight acquaintance with this dark age is enough to make one feel as +if among children. Want and ignorance and wars interminable had +impoverished the mind of man and starved his moral nature. The scanty, +slashed, ridiculous garments of the nobles and the wealthy betray an +absurd poverty of taste and weakness of intellect.[49] One of the most +striking characteristics of these small minds is their triviality; +they are incapable of attention; they retain nothing. No one who reads +the writings of the period can fail to be struck by this almost +universal weakness. + +[Footnote 49: J. Quicherat, _Histoire du costume_, Paris, 1875, large +8vo, _passim_. G. Demay, _Le costume au moyen âge d'après les sceaux_, +Paris, 1880, p. 121, figs. 76 and 77.] + +By no means all the evidence given in these one hundred and forty +depositions can be treated seriously. The daughter of Jacques Boucher, +steward to the Duke of Orléans, depones in the following terms: "At +night I slept alone with Jeanne. Neither in her words or her acts did +I ever observe anything wrong. She was perfectly simple, humble, and +chaste."[50] + +[Footnote 50: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 34.] + +This young lady was nine years old when she perceived with a +discernment somewhat precocious that her sleeping companion was +simple, humble, and chaste. + +That is unimportant. But to show how one may sometimes be deceived by +the witnesses whom one would expect to be the most reliable, I will +quote Brother Pasquerel.[51] Brother Pasquerel is Jeanne's chaplain. +He may be expected to speak as one who has seen and as one who knows. +Brother Pasquerel places the examination at Poitiers before the +audience granted by the King to the Maid in the château of +Chinon.[52] + +[Footnote 51: _Ibid._, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 52: We must notice, however, that Brother Pasquerel, who was +not present either at Chinon or at Poitiers, is careful to say that he +knows nothing of Jeanne's sojourn in these two towns save what she +herself has told him. Now we are surprised to find that she herself +placed the examination at Poitiers before the audience at Chinon, +since she says in her trial that at Chinon, when she gave her King a +sign, the clerks ceased to contend with her.--_Trial_, vol. i, p. +145.] + +Forgetting that the whole relieving army had been in Orléans since May +4, he supposes that, on the evening of Friday the 6th, it was still +expected.[53] From such blunders we may judge of the muddled condition +of this poor priest's brain. His most serious shortcoming, however, is +the invention of miracles. He tries to make out that when the convoy +of victuals reached Orléans, there occurred, by the Maid's special +intervention, and in order to carry the barges up the river, a sudden +flood of the Loire which no one but himself saw.[54] + +[Footnote 53: _Expectando succursum regis_, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. +109.] + +[Footnote 54: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105.] + +The evidence of Dunois[55] is also somewhat deceptive. We know that +Dunois was one of the most intelligent and prudent men of his day, and +that he was considered a good speaker. In the defence of Orléans and +in the coronation campaign he had displayed considerable ability. +Either his evidence must have seriously suffered at the hands of the +translator and the scribes, or he must have caused it to be given by +his chaplain. He speaks of the "great number of the enemy" in terms +more appropriate to a canon of a cathedral or a woollen draper than to +a captain entrusted with the defence of a city and expected to know +the actual force of the besiegers. All his evidence dealing with the +transport of victuals on April 28 is well-nigh unintelligible. And +Dunois is unable to state that Troyes was the first stage in the +army's march from Gien.[56] Relating a conversation he held with the +Maid after the coronation, he makes her speak as if her brothers were +awaiting her at Domremy, whereas they were with her in France.[57] +Curiously blundering, he attempts to prove that Jeanne had visions by +relating a story much more calculated to give the impression that the +young peasant girl was an apt feigner and that at the request of the +nobles she reproduced one of her ecstasies, like the Esther of the +lamented Doctor Luys.[58] + +[Footnote 55: _Ibid._, pp. 2 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 56: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 13.] + +[Footnote 57: _Ibid._, p. 15.] + +[Footnote 58: _Ibid._, p. 12.] + +In that portion of this work which deals with the rehabilitation trial +I have given my opinion of the evidence of the clerks of the court, of +the usher Massieu, of the Brothers Isambard de la Pierre and Martin +Ladvenu.[59] All these burners of witches and avengers of God worked +as heartily at Jeanne's rehabilitation as they had at her +condemnation. + +[Footnote 59: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 15, 161, 329; vol. iii, pp. 41 and +_passim_.] + +In many cases and often on events of importance, the evidence of +witnesses is in direct conflict with the truth. A woollen draper of +Orléans, one Jean Luillier, comes before the commissioners and as bold +as brass maintains that the garrison could not hold out against so +great a besieging force.[60] Now this statement is proved to be false +by the most authentic documents, which show that the English round +Orléans were very weak and that their resources were greatly +reduced.[61] + +[Footnote 60: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 23.] + +[Footnote 61: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise au siège +d'Orléans_ (1428-1429), Orléans, 1892, in 8vo.] + +When the evidence given at the second trial has obviously been dressed +up to suit the occasion, or even when it is absolutely contrary to the +truth, we must blame not only those who gave it, but those who +received it. In its elicitation the latter were too artful. This +evidence has about as much value as the evidence in a trial by the +Inquisition. In certain matters it may represent the ideas of the +judges as much as those of the witnesses. + +What the judges in this instance were most desirous to establish was +that Jeanne had not understood when she was spoken to of the Church +and the Pope, that she had refused to obey the Church Militant because +she believed the Church Militant to be Messire Cauchon and his +assessors. In short, it was necessary to represent her as almost an +imbecile. In ecclesiastical procedure this expedient was frequently +adopted. And there was yet another reason, a very strong one, for +passing her off as an innocent, a damsel devoid of intelligence. This +second trial, like the first, had been instituted with a political +motive; its object was to make known that Jeanne had come to the aid +of the King of France not by devilish incitement, but by celestial +inspiration. Consequently in order that divine wisdom might be made +manifest in her she must be shown to have had no wisdom of her own. On +this string the examiners were constantly harping. On every occasion +they drew from the witnesses the statement that she was simple, very +simple. _Una simplex bergereta_,[62] says one. _Erat multum simplex et +ignorans_,[63] says another. + +[Footnote 62: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 20.] + +[Footnote 63: _Ibid._, p. 87.] + +But since, despite her ignorance, this innocent damsel had been sent +of God to deliver or to capture towns and to lead men at arms, there +must needs be innate in her a knowledge of the art of war, and in +battle she must needs manifest the strength and the counsel she had +received from above. Wherefore it was necessary to obtain evidence to +establish that she was more skilled in warfare than any man. + +Damoiselle Marguerite la Touroulde makes this affirmation.[64] The +Duke of Alençon declares that the Maid was apt alike at wielding the +lance, ranging an army, ordering a battle, preparing artillery, and +that old captains marvelled at her skill in placing cannon.[65] The +Duke quite understands that all these gifts were miraculous and that +to God alone was the glory. For if the merit of the victories had been +Jeanne's he would not have said so much about them. + +[Footnote 64: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 65: _Ibid._, p. 100. On the other hand see the evidence of +Dunois (vol. iii, p. 16), "licet dicta Johanna aliquotiens _jocose_ +loqueretur de facto armorum, pro animando armatos ... tamen quando +loquebatur seriose de guerra ... nunquam affirmative asserebat nisi +quod erat missa ad levandum obsidionem Aurelianensem."] + +And if God had chosen the Maid to perform so great a task, it must +have been because in her he beheld the virtue which he preferred above +all others in his virgins. Henceforth it sufficed not for her to have +been chaste; her chastity must become miraculous, her chastity and her +moderation in eating and drinking must be exalted into sanctity. +Wherefore the witnesses are never tired of stating: _Erat casta, erat +castissima. Ille loquens non credit aliquam mulierem plus esse castam +quam ista Puella erat. Erat sobria in potu et cibo. Erat sobria in +cibo et potu._[66] + +[Footnote 66: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 438, 457; vol. iii, pp. 100, +219.] + +The heavenly source of such purity must needs have been made manifest +by Jeanne's possessing singular immunities. And on this point there is +a mass of evidence. Rough men at arms, Jean de Novelompont, Bertrand +de Poulengy, Jean d'Aulon; great nobles, the Count of Dunois and the +Duke of Alençon, come forward and affirm on oath that in them Jeanne +never provoked any carnal desires. Such a circumstance fills these old +captains with astonishment; they boast of their past vigour and wonder +that for once their youthful ardour should have been damped by a maid. +It seems to them most unnatural and humanly impossible. Their +description of the effect Jeanne produced upon them recalls Saint +Martha's binding of the Tarascon beast. Dunois in his evidence is very +much occupied with miracles. He points to this one as, to human +reason, the most incomprehensible of all. If he neither desired nor +solicited this damsel, of this unique fact he can find but one +explanation, it is that Jeanne was holy, _res divina_. When Jean de +Novelompont and Bertrand de Poulengy describe their sudden continence, +they employ identical forms of speech, affected and involved. And then +there comes a king's equerry, Gobert Thibaut, who declares that in the +army there was much talk of this divine grace, vouchsafed to the +Armagnacs[67] and denied to English and Burgundians, at least, so the +behaviour of a certain knight of Picardy, and of one Jeannotin, a +tailor of Rouen, would lead us to believe.[68] + +[Footnote 67: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 438; vol. iii, pp. 15, 76, 100, +219, and 457.] + +[Footnote 68: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 89 and 121.] + +Such evidence obviously answers to the ideas of the judges, and turns, +so to speak, on theological rather than on natural facts. + +In inquisitorial inquiries there abound such depositions as those of +Jean de Novelompont and of Bertrand de Poulengy, containing passages +drawn up in identical terms. But I must admit that in the +rehabilitation trial they are rare, partly because the witnesses were +heard at long intervals of time and in different countries, and partly +because in the Maid's case no elaborate proceedings were necessary +owing to her adversaries not being represented. + +It is to be regretted that all the evidence given at this trial, with +the exception of that of Jean d'Aulon, should have been translated +into Latin. This process has obscured fine shades of thought and +deprived the evidence of its original flavour. + +Sometimes the clerk contents himself with saying that the depositions +of a witness were like those of his predecessor. Thus on the raising +of the siege of Orléans all the burgesses depone like the woollen +draper, who himself was not thoroughly conversant with the +circumstances in which his town had been delivered. Thus the Sire de +Gaucourt, after a brief declaration, gives the same evidence as +Dunois, although the Count had related matters so strikingly +individual that it seems strange they should have been common to two +witnesses.[69] + +[Footnote 69: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 2 and 35.] + +Certain evidence would appear to have been cut short. Brother +Pasquerel's abruptly comes to an end at Paris. This circumstance, if +we did not possess his signature at the conclusion of the Latin letter +to the Hussites, would lead us to believe that the good Brother left +the Maid immediately after the attack on La Porte Saint-Honoré. It +surely cannot have chanced that in so long a series of questions and +answers not one word was said of the departure from Sully or of the +campaign which began at Lagny and ended at Compiègne.[70] + +[Footnote 70: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 100 _et seq._] + +We conclude, therefore, that in the study of this voluminous evidence +we must exercise great judgment and that we must not expect it to +enlighten us on all the circumstances of Jeanne's life. + +Fourthly. On certain points of the Maid's history the only exact +information is to be obtained from account-books, letters, deeds, and +other authentic documents of the period. The records published by +Siméon Luce and the lease of the Château de l'Île inform us of the +circumstances among which Jeanne grew up.[71] Neither the two trials +nor the chronicles had revealed the terrible conditions prevailing in +the village of Domremy from 1412 to 1425. + +[Footnote 71: Siméon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy, recherches +critiques sur les origines de la mission de la Pucelle_, Paris, 1886, +in 8vo; _La France pendant la guerre de cent ans: épisodes historiques +et vie privée aux xiv'e et xv'e siècles_, Paris, 1890, in 12mo.] + +The fortress accounts kept at Orléans[72] and the documents of the +English administration[73] enable us to estimate approximately the +respective forces of defenders and besiegers of the city. On this +point also they enable us to correct the statements of chroniclers and +witnesses in the rehabilitation trial. + +[Footnote 72: D. Lottin, _Recherches sur la ville d'Orléans_, Orléans, +7 vols. in 8vo; Boucher de Molandon, _Les comptes de ville d'Orléans +des xiv'e et xv'e siècles_, 1880, in 8vo; Jules Loiseleur, _Compte +des dépenses faites par Charles VII pour secourir Orléans pendant le +siège de 1428_, Orléans, 1868, in 8vo; Louis Jarry, _Le compte de +l'armée anglaise au siège d'Orléans_, Orléans, 1892, in 8vo; Couret, +_Un fragment inédit des anciens registres de la prévôté d'Orléans, +relatif au règlement des frais du siège de 1428-1429_, Orléans, 1697, +in 8vo (extract from the _Mémoires de l'Académie de Sainte Croix_).] + +[Footnote 73: Rymer, _Foedera, conventiones...._, ed. tercia, Hagae +Comitis, 1739-1745, 10 vols. in folio; Delpit, _Collection de +documents français qui se trouvent en Angleterre_, Paris, 1847, in +4to; J. Stevenson, _Letters and Papers illustrative of the Wars of the +English in France during the reign of Henry VI_, 1861-1864, 3 parts, +in 2 vols. in 8vo; Charles Gross, _The Sources and Literature of +English History_, 1900, in 8vo.] + +From the letters in the archives at Reims, copied by Rogier in the +seventeenth century, we learn how Troyes, Châlons, and Reims +surrendered to the King. From these letters also we see how very far +from accurate is Jean Chartier's account of the capitulation of the +city and how insufficient, especially considering the character of the +witness, is the evidence of Dunois on this subject.[74] + +[Footnote 74: Varin, _Archives législatives de la ville de Reims_, 2nd +part; _Statuts_, vol. i, p. 596; _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 284 _et seq._] + +Four or five records throw a faint light here and there on the +obscurity which shrouds the unfortunate campaign on the Aisne and the +Oise. + +The registers of the chapter of Rouen, the wills of canons and sundry +other documents, discovered by M. Robillard de Beaurepaire in the +archives of Seine-Inférieure, serve to correct certain errors in the +two trials.[75] + +[Footnote 75: E. Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès +de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Rouen, 1869, in 8vo [_Précis des +travaux de l'Académie de Rouen, 1867-1868_, pp. 321-448]; _Notes sur +les juges et les assesseurs du procès de condamnation de Jeanne +d'Arc_, Rouen, 1890, in 8vo [_Précis des travaux de l'Académie de +Rouen, 1888-1889_, pp. 375-504].] + +How many other detached papers, all valuable to the historian, might I +not enumerate! Surely this is another reason for mistrusting records +false or falsified, as, for example, the patent of nobility of Guy de +Cailly.[76] + +[Footnote 76: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 342 _et seq._] + +Rapid as this examination of authorities has been, I think nothing +essential has been omitted. To sum up, even in her lifetime the Maid +was scarce known save by fables. Her oldest chroniclers were devoid of +any critical sense, for the early legends concerning her they relate +as facts. + +The Rouen trial, certain accounts, a few letters, sundry deeds, public +and private, are the most trustworthy documents. The rehabilitation +trial is also useful to the historian, provided always that we +remember how and why that trial was conducted. + +By means of such records we may attain to a pretty accurate knowledge +of Jeanne d'Arc's life and character. + +The salient fact which results from a study of all these authorities +is that she was a saint. She was a saint with all the attributes of +fifteenth-century sanctity. She had visions, and these visions were +neither feigned nor counterfeited. She really believed that she heard +the voices which spoke to her and came from no human lips. These +voices generally addressed her clearly and in words she could +understand. She heard them best in the woods and when the bells were +ringing. She saw forms, she said, like myriads of tiny shapes, like +sparks on a dazzling background. There is no doubt she had visions of +another nature, since she tells us how she beheld Saint Michael in the +guise of a _prud'homme_, that is as a good knight, and Saint Catherine +and Saint Margaret, wearing crowns. She saw them saluting her; she +kissed their feet and inhaled their sweet perfume. + +What does this mean if not that she was subject to hallucinations of +hearing, sight, touch, and smell? But the most strongly affected of +her senses was her hearing. She says that her voices appear to her; +she sometimes calls them her council. She hears them very plainly +unless there is a noise around her. Generally she obeys them; but +sometimes she resists. We may doubt whether her visions were really so +distinct as she makes out. Because she either could not, or would not, +she never gave her judges at Rouen any very clear or precise +description of them. The angel she described most in detail was the +one which brought the crown, and which she afterwards confessed to +have seen only in imagination. + +At what age did she become subject to these trances? We cannot say +exactly. But it was probably towards the end of her childhood, +notwithstanding that according to Jean d'Aulon, childhood was a state +out of which she never completely developed.[77] + +[Footnote 77: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 19.] + +Although it is always hazardous to found a medical diagnosis on +documents purely historical, several men of science have attempted to +define the pathological conditions which rendered the young girl +subject to false perceptions of sight and hearing.[78] Owing to the +rapid strides made by psychiatry during recent years, I have consulted +an eminent man of science, who is thoroughly conversant with the +present stage attained by this branch of pathology, to which he has +himself rendered important service. I asked Doctor Georges Dumas, +Professor at the Sorbonne, whether sufficient material exists for +science to make a retrospective diagnosis of Jeanne's case. He replied +to my inquiry in a letter which appears as the first Appendix to this +work.[79] + +[Footnote 78: Brière de Boismont, _De l'hallucination historique, ou +étude médico-psychique sur les voix et les révélations de Jeanne +d'Arc_, 1861, in 8vo. Le Vicomte de Mouchy, _Jeanne d'Arc, étude +historique et psychologique_, Montpellier, 1868, in 8vo, 67 pp.] + +[Footnote 79: Vol. ii, Appendix i.] + +With such a subject I am not qualified to deal. But it does lie within +my province to make an observation concerning the hallucinations of +Jeanne d'Arc, which has been suggested to me by a study of the +documents. This observation is of infinite significance. I shall be +careful to restrict it to the limits prescribed by the object and the +nature of this work. + +Those visionaries, who believe they are entrusted with a divine +mission, are distinguished by certain characteristics from other +inspired persons. When mystics of this class are studied and compared +with one another, resemblances are found to exist which may extend to +very slight details: certain of their words and acts are identical. +Indeed as we come to recognise how vigorous is the determinism +controlling the actions of these visionaries, we are astonished to +find the human machine, when impelled by the same mysterious agent, +performing its functions with inevitable uniformity. To this group of +the religious Jeanne belongs. In this connection it is interesting to +compare her with Saint Catherine of Sienna,[80] Saint Colette of +Corbie,[81] Yves Nicolazic, the peasant of Kernanna,[82] Suzette +Labrousse, the inspired woman of the Revolution Church,[83] and with +many other seers and seeresses of this order, who all bear a family +likeness to one another. + +[Footnote 80: _Acta Sanctorum_, 1675, April, iii, 851.] + +[Footnote 81: _Ibid._, March 1, 1532.] + +[Footnote 82: Le Père Hugues de Saint-François, _Les grandeurs de Sainte +Anne_, Rennes, 1657, in 8vo; L'abbé Max Nicol, _Sainte-Anne-d'Auray_, +Paris, Brussels, s.d., in 8vo, pp. 37 _et seq._ M. le Docteur G. de +Closmadeuc has kindly lent me his valuable work, as yet unpublished, +on Yves Nicolazic, which is characterised by the same exactness of +information and of criticism as are to be found in his studies of +local history.] + +[Footnote 83: _Recueil des ouvrages de la célèbre Mademoiselle +Labrousse, du Bourg de Vauxains, en Périgord, canton de Ribeirac de la +Dordogne, actuellement prisonnière au château Saint-Ange, à Rome_, +Bordeaux, 1797, in 8vo; E. Lairtullier, _Les femmes célèbres de 1789 à +1795_, Paris, 1842, in 8vo, vol. i, pp. 212 _et seq._; Abbé Chr. +Moreau, _Une mystique révolutionnaire Suzette Labrousse_, Paris, 1886, +in 8vo; A. France, _Susette Labrousse_, Paris, 1907, in 12mo.] + +Three visionaries especially are closely related to Jeanne. The +earliest in date is a vavasour of Champagne, who had a mission to speak +to King John; of this holy man I have written sufficiently in the +present work. The second is a farrier of Salon, who had a mission to +speak to Louis XIV; the third, a peasant of Gallardon, named Martin, +who had a mission to speak to Louis XVIII. Articles on the farrier and +the farmer, who both saw apparitions and showed signs to their +respective kings, will be found in the appendices at the end of this +work.[84] In spite of difference in sex, the points of similarity +between Jeanne d'Arc and these three men are very close and very +significant; they are inherent in the very nature of Jeanne and her +fellow visionaries; and the variations, which at a first glance might +seem to separate widely the latter from Jeanne, are æsthetic, social, +historical, and consequently external and contingent. Between them and +her there are of course striking contrasts in appearance and in +fortune. They were entirely wanting in that charm which she never +failed to exercise; and it is a fact that while they failed miserably +she grew in strength and flowered in legend. But it is the duty of the +scientific mind to recognise common characteristics, proving identity +of origin alike in the noblest individual and in the most wretched +abortion of the same species. + +[Footnote 84: Vol. ii, Appendices ii and iii.] + +The free-thinkers of our day, imbued as they are, for the most part, +with transcendentalism, refuse to recognise in Jeanne not merely that +automatism which determines the acts of such a seeress, not only the +influence of constant hallucination, but even the suggestions of the +religious spirit. What she achieved through saintliness and +devoutness, they make her out to have accomplished by intelligent +enthusiasm. Such a disposition is manifest in the excellent and +erudite Quicherat, who all unconsciously introduces into the piety of +the Maid a great deal of eclectic philosophy. This point was not +without its drawbacks. It led free-thinking historians to a ridiculous +exaggeration of Jeanne's intellectual faculties, to the absurdity of +attributing military talent to her and to the substitution of a kind +of polytechnic phenomenon for the fifteenth century's artless marvel. +The Catholic historians of the present day when they make a saint of +the Maid are much nearer to nature and to truth. Unfortunately the +Church's idea of saintliness has grown insipid since the Council of +Trent, and orthodox historians are disinclined to study the variations +of the Catholic Church down the ages. In their hands therefore she +becomes sanctimonious and bigoted. So much so that in a search for the +most curiously travestied of all the Jeannes d'Arc we should have been +driven to choose between their miraculous protectress of Christian +France, the patroness of officers, the inimitable model of the pupils +of Saint-Cyr, and the romantic Druidess, the inspired woman-soldier of +the national guard, the patriot gunneress of the Republicans, had +there not arisen a Jesuit Father to create an ultramontane Jeanne +d'Arc.[85] + +[Footnote 85: Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, 5 vols. in large +8vo, Paris, 1894-1902. Writing of this book in a study of +_L'Abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_ (Paris, 1902, pp. 7 and 8, note), Canon +Ulysse Chevalier, author of a valuable _Répertoire des sources du +moyen âge_, displays boldness and sound sense. "From the dimensions of +these five volumes," he says, "one might expect this work to be the +fullest history of Jeanne d'Arc; it is nothing of the sort. It is a +chaos of memoranda translated or rendered into modern French, +reflections and arguments against free-thought as represented by +Michelet, H. Martin, Quicherat, Vallet de Viriville, Siméon Luce, and +Joseph Fabre. Two headings will suffice to give an idea of the book's +tone: _The Pseudo-theologians, executioners of Jeanne d'Arc, +executioners of the Papacy_ (vol. i, p. 87); _The University of Paris +and the Brigandage of Rouen_ (p. 149). The author too often judges the +fifteenth century by the standards of the nineteenth. Is he quite sure +that if he had been a member of the University of Paris in 1431 he +would have thought and pronounced in favour of Jeanne, and in +opposition to his colleagues?"] + +On the subject of Jeanne's sincerity I have raised no doubts. It is +impossible to suspect her of lying; she firmly believed that she +received her mission from her voices. But whether she were not +unconsciously directed is more difficult to ascertain. What we know of +her before her arrival at Chinon comes to very little. One is inclined +to believe that she had been subject to certain influences; it is so +with all visionaries: some unseen director leads them. Thus it must +have been with Jeanne. At Vaucouleurs she was heard to say that the +Dauphin held the kingdom in fief (_en commende_).[86] Such a term she +had not learnt from the folk of her village. She uttered a prophecy +which she had not invented and which had obviously been fabricated for +her. + +[Footnote 86: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456.] + +She must have associated with priests who were faithful to the cause +of the Dauphin Charles, and who desired above all things the end of +the war. Abbeys were being burned, churches pillaged, divine service +discontinued.[87] Those pious persons who sighed for peace, now that +they saw the Treaty of Troyes failing to establish it, looked for the +realisation of their hopes to the expulsion of the English. And the +wonderful, the unique point about this young peasant girl--a point +suggesting the ecclesiastic and the monk--is not that she felt herself +called to ride forth and fight, but that in "her great pity" she +announced the approaching end of the war, by the victory and +coronation of the King, at a time when the nobles of the two +countries, and the men-at-arms of the two parties, neither expected +nor desired the war ever to come to an end. + +[Footnote 87: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises, monastères +hôpitaux en France vers le milieu du xv'ieme siècle_, Mâcon, 1897, +in 8vo.] + +The mission, with which she believed the angel had entrusted her and +to which she consecrated her life, was doubtless extraordinary, +marvellous; and yet it was not unprecedented: it was no more than +saints, both men and women, had already endeavoured to accomplish in +human affairs. Jeanne d'Arc arose in the decline of the great Catholic +age, when sainthood, usually accompanied by all manner of oddities, +manias, and illusions, still wielded sovereign power over the minds of +men. And of what miracles was she not capable when acting according to +the impulses of her own heart, and the grace of her own mind? From the +thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries God's servants perform wondrous +works. Saint Dominic, possessed by holy wrath, exterminates heresy +with fire and sword; Saint Francis of Assisi for the nonce founds +poverty as an institution of society; Saint Antony of Padua defends +merchants and artisans against the avarice and cruelty of nobles and +bishops; Saint Catherine brings the Pope back to Rome. Was it +impossible, therefore, for a saintly damsel, with God's aid, to +re-establish within the hapless realm of France that royal power +instituted by our Lord Himself and to bring to his coronation a new +Joash snatched from death for the salvation of the holy people? + +Thus did pious French folk, in the year 1428, regard the mission of +the Maid. She represented herself as a devout damsel inspired by God. +There was nothing incredible in that. When she announced that she had +received revelations touching the war from my Lord Saint Michael, she +inspired the men-at-arms of the Armagnac party and the burghers of the +city of Orléans with a confidence as great as could have been +communicated to the troops, marching along the Loire in the winter of +1871, by a republican engineer who had invented a smokeless powder or +an improved form of cannon. What was expected from science in 1871 was +expected from religion in 1428, so that the Bastard of Orléans would +as naturally employ Jeanne as Gambetta would resort to the technical +knowledge of M. de Freycinet. + +What has not been sufficiently remarked upon is that the French party +made a very adroit use of her. The clerks at Poitiers, while inquiring +at great length into her religion and her morals, brought her into +evidence. These Poitiers clerks were no monks ignorant of the world; +they constituted the Parliament of the lawful King; they were the +banished members of the University, men deeply involved in political +affairs, compromised by revolutions, despoiled and ruined, and very +impatient to regain possession of their property. They were directed +by the cleverest man in the King's Council, the Duke Archbishop of +Reims, the Chancellor of the kingdom. By the ceremoniousness and the +deliberation of their inquiries, they drew upon Jeanne the curiosity, +the interest, and the hopes of minds lost in amazement.[88] + +[Footnote 88: O. Raguenet, _Les juges de Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers, +membres du Parlement ou gens d'Église?_ in _Lettres et mémoires de +l'Académie de Sainte-Croix d'Orléans VII_, 1894, pp. 339-442; D. +Lacombe, _L'hôte de Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers, maître Jean Rabateau, +Président au Parlement de Poitiers in Revue du Bas-Poitou_, 1891, pp. +46-66.] + +The defences of the city of Orléans consisted in its walls, its +trenches, its cannon, its men-at-arms, and its money. The English had +failed both to surround it and to take it by assault. Convoys and +companies passed between their bastions. Jeanne was introduced into +the town with a strong relieving army. She brought flocks of oxen, +sheep, and pigs. The townsfolk believed her to be an angel of the +Lord. Meanwhile the men and the money of the besiegers were waxing +scant. They had lost all their horses. Far from being in a position to +attempt a new attack, they were not likely to be able to hold out long +in their bastions. At the end of April there were four thousand +English before Orléans and perhaps less, for, as it was said, soldiers +were deserting every day; and companies of these deserters went +plundering through the villages. At the same time the city was +defended by six thousand men-at-arms and archers, and by more than +three thousand men of the town bands. At Saint Loup, there were +fifteen hundred French against four hundred English; at Les Tourelles, +there were five thousand French against four or five hundred English. +By their retreat from Orléans the _Godons_ abandoned to their fate the +small garrisons of Jargeau, Meung, and Beaugency.[89] The Battle of +Patay gives us some idea of the condition of the English army. It was +no battle but a massacre, and one which Jeanne only reached in time to +mourn over the cruelty of the conquerors. And yet the King, in his +letters to his good towns, attributed to her a share in the victory. +Evidently the Royal Council made a point of glorifying its Holy Maid. + +[Footnote 89: Mr. Andrew Lang (_La Jeanne d'Arc de M. Anatole France_, +p. 60) misreads this passage when he takes it to mean that the English +withdrew their garrisons from these places. That their ultimate +surrender became inevitable after the English retreat from Orléans is +what the writer intends to convey.--W.S.] + +But at heart what did they really think, those who employed her, those +Regnaults de Chartres, those Roberts le Maçon, those Gérards Machet? +They were certainly in no position to discuss the origin of the +illusions which enveloped her. And, albeit there were atheists even +among churchmen, to the majority there would be nothing to cause +astonishment in the appearance of Saint Michael, the Archangel. In +those days nothing appeared more natural than a miracle. But a miracle +vanishes when closely observed. And they had the damsel before their +very eyes. They perceived that good and saintly as she was, she +wielded no supernatural power. + +While the men-at-arms and all the common folk welcomed her as the maid +of God and an angel sent from heaven for the salvation of the realm, +these good lords thought only of profiting from the sentiments of +confidence which she inspired and in which they had little share. +Finding her as ignorant as possible, and doubtless deeming her less +intelligent than she really was, they intended to do as they liked +with her. They must soon have discovered that it was not always easy. +She was a saint, saints are intractable. What were the true relations +between the Royal Council and the Maid? We do not know; and it is a +mystery which will never be solved. The judges at Rouen thought they +knew that she received letters from Saint Michael.[90] It is possible +that her simplicity was sometimes taken advantage of. We have reason +for believing that the march to Reims was not suggested to her in +France; but there is no doubt that the Chancellor of the kingdom, +Messire Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop of Reims, eagerly desired his +restoration to the see of the Blessed Saint Remi and the enjoyment of +his benefices. + +[Footnote 90: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 146.] + +The coronation campaign was really nothing but a series of +negotiations, backed by an army. Its object was to show the good towns +a king saintly and pacific. Had there been any idea of fighting, the +campaign would have been directed against Paris or against Normandy. + +At the inquiry of 1456, five or six witnesses, captains, magistrates, +ecclesiastics, and an honest widow, gave evidence that Jeanne was well +versed in the art of war. They agreed in saying that she rode a horse +and wielded a lance better than any one. A master of requests stated +that she amazed the army by the length of time she could remain in the +saddle. Such qualities we are not entitled to deny her, neither can we +dispute the diligence and the ardour which Dunois praised in her, on +the occasion of a demonstration by night before Troyes.[91] As to the +opinion that this damsel was clever in arraying and leading an army +and especially skilled in the management of artillery, that is more +difficult to credit and would require to be vouched for by some one +more trustworthy than the poor Duke of Alençon, who was never +considered a very rational person.[92] What we have said about the +rehabilitation trial sufficiently explains this curious glorification +of the Maid. It was understood that Jeanne's military inspiration came +from God. Henceforth there was no danger of its being too much admired +and it came to be praised somewhat at random. + +[Footnote 91: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 13.] + +[Footnote 92: _Ibid._, p. 100. See _ante_, p. xxvi (note 4).] + +After all the Duke of Alençon was quite moderate when he represented +her as a distinguished artillery-woman. As early as 1429, a humanist +on the side of Charles VII asserted in Ciceronian language that in +military glory she equalled and surpassed Hector, Alexander, Hannibal +and Cæsar: "Non Hectore reminiscat et gaudeat Troja, exultet Græcia +Alexandro, Annibale Africa, Italia Cæsare et Romanis ducibus omnibus +glorietur, Gallia etsi ex pristinis multos habeat, hac tamen una +Puella contenta, audebit se gloriari et laude bellica caeteris +nationibus se comparare, verum quoque, si expediet, se anteponere."[93] + +[Footnote 93: Letter from Alain Chartier in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. +135, 136; Capitaine P. Marin, _Jeanne d'Arc tacticien et stratégiste_, +Paris, 1889, 4 vols. in 12mo; Le Général Canonge, _Jeanne d'Arc +guerrière_, Paris, 1907, in 8vo.] + +For ever praying and for ever wrapped in ecstasy, Jeanne never +observed the enemy; she did not know the roads; she paid no heed to +the number of troops engaged; she did not take into account either the +height of walls or the breadth of trenches. Even to-day officers are +to be heard discussing the Maid's military tactics.[94] Those tactics +were simple; they consisted in preventing men from blaspheming against +God and consorting with light women. She believed that for their sins +they would be destroyed, but that if they fought in a state of grace +they would win the victory. Therein lay all her military science, save +that she never feared danger.[95] She displayed a courage which was at +once proud and gentle; she was more valiant, more constant, more noble +than the men and in that worthy to lead them. And is it not admirable +and rare to find such heroism united to such innocence? + +[Footnote 94: _Rossel et la légende de Jeanne d'Arc_ in _la Petite +République_ of July 15, 1896; _Jeanne d'Arc soldat_ by Art Roë, in _le +Temps_ of May 8, 1907. See also the works of Captain Marin, always so +praiseworthy for their carefulness and good faith.] + +[Footnote 95: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 16.] + +Certain of the leaders indeed, and notably the princes of the blood +royal, knew no more than she. The art of war in those days resolved +itself into the art of riding. Any idea of marching along converging +lines, of concentrated movements, of a campaign methodically planned, +of a prolonged effort with a view to some great result was unknown. +Military tactics were nothing more than a collection of peasants' +stratagems and a few rules of chivalry. The freebooters, captains, and +soldiers of fortune were all acquainted with the tricks of the trade, +but they recognised neither friend nor foe; and their one desire was +pillage. The nobles affected great concern for honour and praise; in +reality they thought of nothing but gain. Alain Chartier said of them: +"They cry 'to arms,' but they fight for money."[96] + +[Footnote 96: Alain Chartier, _Oeuvres_, ed. André du Chesne, p. +412.] + +Seeing that war was to last as long as life, it was waged with +deliberation. Men-at-arms, horse-soldiers and foot, archers, +cross-bowmen, Armagnacs as well as English and Burgundians, fought +with no great ardour. Of course they were brave: but they were +cautious too and were not ashamed to confess it. Jean Chartier, +precentor of Saint-Denys, chronicler of the Kings of France, relating +how on a day the French met the English near Lagny, adds: "And there +the battle was hard and fierce, for the French were barely more than +the English."[97] These simple folk, seeing that one man is as good as +another, admitted the risk of fighting one to one. Their minds had not +fed on Plutarch as had those of the Revolution and the Empire. And for +their encouragement they had neither the _carmagnoles_ of Barrère, nor +the songs of Marie-Joseph Chénier, nor the bulletins of _la grande +armée_. Why did these captains, these men-at-arms go and fight in one +place rather than in another seems to be a natural question.... +Because they wanted goods. + +[Footnote 97: Jean Chartier, _Chronique de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. +121.] + +This perpetual warfare was not sanguinary. During what was described +as Jeanne d'Arc's mission, that is from Orléans to Compiègne, the +French lost barely a few hundred men. The English suffered much more +heavily, because they were the fugitives, and in a rout it was the +custom for the conquerors to kill all those who were not worth holding +to ransom. But battles were rare, and so consequently were defeats, +and the number of the combatants was small. There were but a handful +of English in France. And they may be said to have fought only for +plunder. Those who suffered from the war were those who did not fight, +burghers, priests, and peasants. The peasants endured terrible +hardships, and it is quite conceivable that a peasant girl should have +displayed a firmness in war, a persistence and an ardour unknown +throughout the whole of chivalry. + +It was not Jeanne who drove the English from France. If she +contributed to the deliverance of Orléans, she retarded the ultimate +salvation of France by causing the opportunity of conquering Normandy +to be lost through the coronation campaign. The misfortunes of the +English after 1428 are easily explained. While in peaceful Guyenne +they engaged in agriculture, in commerce, in navigation, and set the +finances in good order, the country which they had rendered prosperous +was strongly attached to them. On the banks of the Seine and the Loire +it was very different; there they had never taken root; in numbers +they were always too few, and they had never obtained any hold on the +country. Shut up in fortresses and châteaux, they did not cultivate +the country enough to conquer it, for one must work on the land if one +would take possession of it. They left it waste and abandoned it to +the soldiers of fortune by whom it was ravaged and exhausted. Their +garrisons, absurdly small, were prisoners in the country they had +conquered. The English had long teeth, but a pike cannot swallow an +ox. That they were too few and that France was too big had been +plainly seen after Crécy and after Poitiers. Then, after Verneuil, +during the troubled reign of a child, weakened by civil discord, +lacking men and money, and bound to keep in subjection the countries +of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, were they likely to succeed better? +In 1428, they were but a handful in France, and to maintain themselves +there they depended on the help of the Duke of Burgundy, who +henceforth deserted them and wished them every possible harm. + +They lacked means alike for the capture of new provinces and the +pacification of those they had already conquered. The very character +of the sovereignty their princes claimed, the nature of the rights +they asserted, which were founded on institutions common to the two +countries, rendered the organisation of their conquest difficult +without the consent and even, one may say, without the loyal +concurrence and friendship of the conquered. The Treaty of Troyes did +not subject France to England, it united one country to the other. +Such a union occasioned much anxiety in London. The Commons did not +conceal their fear that Old England might become a mere isolated +province of the new kingdom.[98] France for her part did not concur in +the union. It was too late. During all the time that they had been +making war on these _Coués_[99] they had grown to hate them. And +possibly there already existed an English character and a French +character which were irreconcilable. Even in Paris, where the +Armagnacs were as much feared as the Saracens, the _Godons_[100] met +with very unwilling support. What surprises us is not that the English +should have been driven from France, but that it should have happened +so slowly. Does this amount to saying that the young saint had no part +whatever in the work of deliverance? By no means. Hers was the nobler, +the better part; the part of sacrifice; she set the example of the +highest courage and displayed heroism in a form unexpected and +charming. The King's cause, which was indeed the national cause, she +served in two ways: by giving confidence to the men-at-arms of her +party, who believed her to be a bringer of good fortune, and by +striking fear into the English, who imagined her to be the devil. + +[Footnote 98: See the deliberations of the Commons on December 2, +1421, in Bréquigny, _Lettres de rois, reines et autres personnages des +cours de France et d'Angleterre_, Paris, 1847 (2 vols. in 4to), vol. +ii, pp. 393 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 99: For the origin of this term see _post_, vol. i, p. 22 +and note 2.--W.S.] + +[Footnote 100: For the origin of this term see _ibid._ and note +1.--W.S.] + +Our best historians cannot forgive the ministers and captains of 1428 +for not having blindly obeyed the Maid. But that was not at all the +advice given at the time by the Archbishop of Embrun to King Charles; +he, on the contrary, recommended him not to abandon the means inspired +by human reason.[101] + +[Footnote 101: The Reverend Father M. Fornier, _Histoire des +Alpes-Maritimes_, Paris, 1890, in 8vo, vol. ii, p. 324; Lanéry d'Arc, +_Mémoires et consultations_, pp. 565 _et seq._] + +It has frequently been repeated that the lords and captains were +jealous of her, especially old Gaucourt.[102] But such a statement +shows an absolute ignorance of human nature. They were envious one of +another; this and no other sentiment was the jealousy that made them +tolerate the Maid's assuming the title of commander in war.[103] + +[Footnote 102: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 117; _Perceval de Cagny_, p. 168; +Marquis de Gaucourt, _Le sire de Gaucourt_, Orléans, 1855, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 103: _Perceval de Cagny_, pp. 168, 170, 171; _Cronicques de +Normendie_, ed. Hellot, pp. 77, 78.] + +Those secret intrigues on the part of the King and his captains, who +are said to have plotted together the destruction of the saint, I +admit having found it impossible to discover. To certain historians +they appear very obvious: for my part, do what I may, I cannot discern +them. The Chamberlain, the Sire de la Trémouille, had no pretensions +to nobility of character; and the Chancellor Regnault de Chartres was +hard-hearted, but what strikes me is that the Sire de la Trémouille +refused to give up this valuable damsel to the Duke of Alençon when he +asked for her, and that the Chancellor retained her in order to make +use of her.[104] I am not of the opinion that Jeanne was a prisoner at +Sully. I believe that when she went to join the Chancellor, who +employed her until her capture by the Burgundians, she quitted the +castle in estate, with trumpeters, and banners flying. After the girl +saint he employed a boy saint, a shepherd who had stigmata; which +proves that he did not regret having made use of a devout person to +fight against the King's enemies and to recover his own archbishopric. + +[Footnote 104: _Perceval de Cagny_, pp. 170, 171; _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 313; Héraut Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 48.] + +The excellent Quicherat and the magnanimous Henri Martin are very hard +on the Government of 1428. According to them it was a treacherous +Government. Yet the only reproach they bring against Charles VII and +his councillors is that they did not understand the Maid as they +themselves understood her. But such an understanding has required the +lapse of four hundred years. To arrive at the illuminated ideas of a +Quicherat and a Henri Martin concerning Jeanne d'Arc, three centuries +of absolute monarchy, the Reformation, the Revolution, the wars of the +Republic and of the Empire, and the sentimental Neo-Catholicism of +'48, have all been necessary. Through all these brilliant prisms, +through all these succeeding lights do romantic historians and +broad-minded paleographers view the figure of Jeanne d'Arc; and we ask +too much from the poor Dauphin Charles, from La Trémouille, from +Regnault de Chartres, from the Lord of Trèves, from old Gaucourt, when +we require them to have seen Jeanne as centuries have made and moulded +her.[105] + +[Footnote 105: H. Martin, _Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1856, in 12mo; J. +Quicherat, _Nouvelles preuves des trahisons essuyées par la Pucelle_ +in _Revue de Normandie_, vol. vi (1866), pp. 396-401.] + +This, however, remains: after having made so much use of her, the +Royal Council did nothing to save her. + +Must the disgrace of such neglect fall upon the whole Council and upon +the Council alone? Who ought really to have interfered? And how? What +ought King Charles to have done? Should he have offered to ransom the +Maid? She would not have been surrendered to him at any price. As for +capturing her by force, that is a mere child's dream. Had they entered +Rouen, the French would not have found her there; Warwick would always +have had time to put her in a place of safety, or to drown her in the +river. Neither money nor arms would have availed to recapture her. + +But this was no reason for standing with folded arms. Influence could +have been brought to bear on those who were conducting the trial. +Doubtless they were all on the side of the _Godons_; that old +_Cabochien_ of a Pierre Cauchon was very much committed to them; he +detested the French; the clerks, who owed allegiance to Henry VI, +were naturally inclined to please the Great Council of England which +disposed of patronage; the doctors and masters of the University of +France greatly hated and feared the Armagnacs. And yet the judges of +the trial were not all infamous prevaricators; the chapter of Rouen +lacked neither courage nor independence.[106] Among those members of +the University who were so bitter against Jeanne, there were men +highly esteemed for doctrine and character. They for the most part +believed this trial to be a purely religious one. By dint of seeking +for witches, they had come to find them everywhere. These females, as +they called them, they were sending to the stake every day, and +receiving nothing but thanks for it. They believed as firmly as Jeanne +in the possibility of the apparitions which she said had been +vouchsafed to her, only they were persuaded either that she lied or +that she saw devils. The Bishop, the Vice-Inquisitor and the +assessors, to the number of forty and upwards, were unanimous in +declaring her heretical and devilish. There were doubtless many who +imagined that by passing sentence against her they were maintaining +Catholic orthodoxy and unity of obedience against the abettors of +schism and heresy; they wished to judge wisely. And even the boldest +and the most unscrupulous, the Bishop and the Promoter, would not have +dared too openly to infringe the rules of ecclesiastical justice in +order to please the English. They were priests, and they preserved +priestly pride and respect for formality. Here was their weak point; +in this respect for formality they might have been struck. Had the +other side instituted vigorous legal proceedings, theirs might +possibly have been thwarted, arrested, and the fatal sentence +prevented. If the metropolitan of the Bishop of Beauvais, the +Archbishop of Reims, had intervened in the trial, if he had suspended +his suffragan for abuse of authority, or some other reason, Pierre +Cauchon would have been greatly embarrassed; if, as he decided to do +later, King Charles VII had brought about the intervention of the +mother and brothers of the Maid; if Jacques d'Arc and la Romée had +protested in due form against an action so manifestly one-sided; if +the register of Poitiers[107] had been sent for inclusion among the +documents of the trial; if the high prelates subject to King Charles +VII had asked for a safe conduct in order to come and give evidence in +Jeanne's favour at Rouen; finally, if the King, his Council, and the +whole Church of France had demanded an appeal to the Pope, as they +were legally entitled to do, then the trial might have had a different +issue. + +[Footnote 106: Even when the canons who took part in the trial are +severally considered. _Cf._ Ch. de Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le +procès de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Rouen, 1869, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 107: Or at least the conclusions of the doctors which have +been preserved. As for the register itself it could not have contained +anything of great importance. From their evidence at the +rehabilitation trial we see that the Poitiers clerks were not desirous +for much to be said of their inquiry.] + +But they were afraid of the University of Paris. They feared lest +Jeanne might be after all what so many learned doctors maintained her +to be, a heretic, a miscreant seduced by the prince of darkness. Satan +transforms himself into an angel of light, and it is difficult to +distinguish the true prophets from the false. The hapless Maid was +deserted by the very clergy whose croziers had so recently been +carried before her; of all the Poitiers masters not one was found to +testify in the château of Rouen to that innocence which they had +officially recognised eighteen months before. + +It would be very interesting to trace the reputation of the Maid down +the ages. But to do so would require a whole book. I shall merely +indicate the most striking revolutions of public opinion concerning +her. The humanists of the Renaissance display no great interest in +her: she was too Gothic for them. The Reformers, for whom she was +tainted with idolatry, could not tolerate her picture.[108] It seems +strange to us to-day, but it is none the less certain, and in +conformity with all we know of French feeling for royalty, that whilst +the monarchy endured it was the memory of Charles VII that kept alive +the memory of Jeanne d'Arc and saved her from oblivion.[109] Respect +due to the Prince generally hindered his faithful subjects from too +closely inquiring into the legends of Jeanne as well as into those of +the Holy Ampulla, the cures for King's evil, the _oriflamme_ and all +other popular traditions relating to the antiquity and celebrity of +the royal throne of France. In 1609, when in a college of Paris, the +Maid was the subject of sundry literary themes in which she was +unfavourably treated,[110] a certain lawyer, Jean Hordal, who boasted +that he came of the same race as the heroine, complained of these +academic disputes as being derogatory to royal majesty--"I am greatly +astonished," he said, "that ... public declamations against the honour +of France, of King Charles VII and his Council,[111] should be +suffered in France." Had Jeanne not been so closely associated with +royalty, her memory would have been very much neglected by the wits of +the seventeenth century. In the minds of scholars, Catholics and +Protestants alike, who considered the life of St. Margaret as mere +superstition,[112] her apparitions did her harm. In those days even +the _Sorbonagres_ themselves were expurgating the martyrology and the +legends of saints. One of them, Edmond Richer, like Jeanne a native of +Champagne, the censor of the university in 1600, and a zealous +Gallican, wrote an apology for the Maid who had defended the Crown of +Charles VII[113] with her sword. Albeit a firm upholder of the +liberties of the French Church, Edmond Richer was a good Catholic. He +was pious and of sound doctrine; he firmly believed in angels, but he +did not believe either in Saint Catherine or Saint Margaret, and their +appearing to the Maid greatly embarrassed him. He solved the +difficulty by supposing that the angels had represented themselves to +the Maid as the two saints, whom in her ignorance she devoutly +worshipped. The hypothesis seemed to him satisfactory, "all the more +so," he said, "because the Spirit of God, which governs the Church, +accommodates himself to our infirmity." Thirty or forty years later, +another doctor of the Sorbonne, Jean de Launoy, who was always +ferreting after saints, completed the discrediting of Saint +Catherine's legend.[114] The voices of Domremy were falling into +disrepute. + +[Footnote 108: Aug. Vallet, _Observation sur l'ancien monument érigé à +Orléans_, Paris, 1858, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 109: See a curious project for the decoration of the +platform of the Pont-Neuf addressed to Louis XIV (B.N.V., p. zz'338, +in fol.). A Sieur Dupuis, Aide des Cérémonies, proposes that thereon +shall be erected statues to "those great and illustrious captains who +from reign to reign have valiantly maintained the dignity of the +crown.... Artus of Bretagne, Constable, Jean, Count of Dunois, Jeanne +Dark, Maid of Orléans, Roger de Gramont, Count of Guiche, Guillaume, +Count of Chaumont, Amaury de Severac, Vignoles, called La Hire...." +(Communications of M. Paul Lacombe, _Bulletin de la Société de +l'Histoire de Paris_, 1894, p. 115, June 11, 1907. _Ibid._)] + +[Footnote 110: _Puellæ Aureliensis causa adversariis orationibus +disceptata auctore Jacobo Jolio_, Parisiis apud Julianum Bertant, +1609.] + +[Footnote 111: Jean Hordal, _Heroinae nobilissimae Ioannæ Darc +Lotharingæ vulgo aurelianensis puellæ historia_, Ponti-Mussi, 1612, in +8vo.] + +[Footnote 112: Rabelais, _Gargantua_, chap. vi; Abbé Thiers, _Traité +des superstitions selon l'Écriture sainte_, Paris, 1697, vol. i, p. +109.] + +[Footnote 113: Edmond Richer, _Histoire de la Pucelle d'Orléans en 4 +livres_, MS. Biblioth. Nat. f. Fr. 10448, fol. 12mo.] + +[Footnote 114: "The Life of Saint Catherine, virgin and martyr, is +fabulous throughout from beginning to end," _Valesiana_, p. 48. "M. de +Launoy, doctor of theology, had cut Saint Catherine, virgin and +martyr, out of his calendar. He said that her life was a myth, and to +show that he placed no faith in it, every year when the feast of the +saint came round, he said a Requiem mass. This curious circumstance I +learn from his own telling," _Ibid._, p. 36.] + +Take Chapelain, for example, whose poem was first published in 1656. +Chapelain is unconsciously burlesque; he is a Scarron without knowing +it. It is none the less interesting to learn from him that he merely +treated his subject as an occasion for glorifying the Bastard of +Orléans. He expressly says in his preface: "I did not so much regard +her (the Maid) as the chief character of the poem, who, strictly +speaking, is the Comte de Dunois." Chapelain was in the pay of the Duc +de Longueville, a descendant of Dunois.[115] It is of Dunois that he +sings; "the illustrious shepherdess" contributes the marvellous +element to his poem, and, according to the good man's own expression, +furnishes _les machines nécessaires_ for an epic. Saint Catherine and +Saint Margaret are too commonplace to be included among _ces +machines_. Chapelain tells us that he took particular care so to +arrange his poem that "everything which happens in it by divine favour +might be believed to have taken place through human agency carried to +the highest degree to which nature is capable of ascending." Herein we +discern the dawn of the modern spirit. + +[Footnote 115: Jean Chapelain, _La Pucelle ou la France délivrée_, +Paris, 1656, in fol.] + +Bossuet also is careful not to mention Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret. The four or five quarto pages which he devotes to Jeanne +d'Arc in his "Abrégé de l'Histoire de France pour l'instruction du +Dauphin"[116] are very interesting, not for his statement of facts, +which is confused and inexact,[117] but for the care the author takes +to represent the miraculous deeds attributed to Jeanne in an +incidental and dubious manner. In Bossuet's opinion, as in Gerson's, +these things are matters of edification, not of faith. Writing for the +instruction of a prince, Bossuet was bound to abridge; but his +abridgment goes too far when, representing Jeanne's condemnation to be +the work of the Bishop of Beauvais, he omits to say that the Bishop of +Beauvais pronounced this sentence with the unanimous concurrence of +the University of Paris, and in conjunction with the Vice-Inquisitor.[118] + +[Footnote 116: _Oeuvres de messire Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet_, Paris, +in 4to, vol. xi, 1749, numbered pages; vol. xii, pp. 234 _et seq._ Cf. +what he says of inspired persons in _l'Instruction sur les états +d'oraison_, Paris, 1697, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 117: "This girl called Jeanne d'Arq ... had been a servant +in an inn," _loc. cit._, p. 233.] + +[Footnote 118: We must not be too severe on a tutor's note-books. But +Bossuet, who places the rehabilitation under the date 1431, does not +tell us that it was only pronounced twenty-five years later. On the +contrary, as far as he is concerned, we might conclude that it +occurred before the deliverance of Compiègne. The following are his +words: "In execution of this sentence, she was burned alive at Rouen +in 1431. The English spread the rumour that at the last she had +admitted the revelations which she had so loudly boasted to be false. +But some time afterwards the Pope appointed commissioners. Her trial +was solemnly revised and her conduct approved of by a final sentence +which the Pope himself confirmed. The Burgundians were forced to raise +the siege of Compiègne," _loc. cit._ p. 236. Mézeray is more credulous +than Bossuet; he mentions "the Saints Catherine and Margaret, who +purified her soul with heavenly conversations, wherefore she venerated +them with a particular devotion." In relating the trial, he like +Bossuet, ignores the Vice-Inquisitor (_Histoire de France_, vol. ii, +1746, in folio, pp. 11 _et seq._)] + +The eighteenth-century philosophers did not descend on France like a +cloud of locusts; they were the result of two centuries of the +critical spirit. If the story of Jeanne d'Arc contained too much +monkish superstition for their taste, it was because they had learned +their ecclesiastical history from the Baillets and the Tillemonts, who +were pious indeed, but very critical of legends. Voltaire, writing of +Jeanne, jeered at the rascally monks and their dupes. But if we quote +the lines of _La Pucelle_, why not also the article[119] in the +_Dictionnaire Philosophique_, which contains three pages of profounder +truth and nobler thought than certain voluminous modern works in which +Voltaire is insulted in clerical jargon? + +[Footnote 119: Voltaire ed. Beuchot, vol. xxvi. _Cf._ also _Essai sur +les moeurs_, chap. lxxx. "Finally, being accused of having once +resumed man's dress, which had been left near her on purpose to tempt +her, her judges ... declared her a relapsed heretic and caused to be +burnt at the stake one who in heroic ages, when men erected altars to +their liberators, would have had an altar raised to her for having +served her King. Afterwards Charles VII rehabilitated her memory, +which her death itself had sufficiently honoured."] + +It was precisely at the end of the eighteenth century that Jeanne +began to be better known and more justly appreciated, first through a +little book, which the Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy derived almost wholly +from the unpublished history of old Richer,[120] then by l'Averdy's +erudite researches into the two trials.[121] + +[Footnote 120: L'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy, _Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc, +vierge, héroïne et martyre d'État suscitée par la Providence pour +rétablir la monarchie française, tirée des procès et pièces originales +du temps_, Paris, 1753-1754, 3 vols. in 12mo.] + +[Footnote 121: F. de L'Averdy, _Mémorial lu au comité des manuscrits +concernant la recherche à faire des minutes originales des différentes +affaires qui ont eu lieu par rapport à Jeanne d'Arc, appelée +communément la Pucelle d'Orléans_, Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1787, in +4to; _Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du roi, +lus au comité établi par sa Majesté dans l'Académie royale des +Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_, Paris, Imp. Royale, 1790, vol. iii.] + +Nevertheless humanism, and after humanism the Reformation, and after +the Reformation Cartesianism, and after Cartesianism experimental +philosophy had banished the old credulity from thoughtful minds. When +the Revolution came, the bloom had already long faded from the flower +of Gothic legend. It seemed as if the glory of Jeanne d'Arc, so +intimately related to the traditions of the royal house of France, +could not survive the monarchy, and as if the tempest which scattered +the royal ashes of Saint Denys and the treasure of Reims, would also +bear away the frail relics and the venerated images of the saint of +the Valois. The new _régime_ did indeed refuse to honour a memory so +inseparable from royalty and from religion. The festival of Jeanne +d'Arc at Orléans, shorn of ecclesiastical pomp in 1791, was +discontinued in 1793. Later the Maid's history appeared somewhat too +Gothic even to the _emigrés_; Chateaubriand did not dare to introduce +her into his "Génie du Christianisme."[122] + +[Footnote 122: "Modern times present but two fine subjects for an epic +poem, the Crusades and the Discovery of the New World" (ed. 1802, +Paris, vol. ii, p. 7).] + +But in the year XI the First Consul, who had just concluded the +Concordat and was meditating the restoration of all the pageantry of +the coronation, reinstituted the festival of the Maid with its incense +and its crosses. Glorified of old in Charles VII's letters to his good +towns, Jeanne was now exalted in _Le Moniteur_ by Bonaparte.[123] + +[Footnote 123: "The illustrious Jeanne d'Arc has proved that there is +no miracle which the French genius is incapable of working when +national independence is at stake" (_Moniteur_ of 10 Pluviose, year +XI, January 30, 1803). For the approval of the First Consul: facsimile +in A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, p. 600. [Original +taken from the Reiset collection.]] + +Only by constant transformation do the figures of poetry and history +live in the minds of nations. Humanity cannot be interested in a +personage of old time unless it clothe it in its own sentiments and in +its own passions. After having been associated with the monarchy of +divine right, the memory of Jeanne d'Arc came to be connected with +the national unity which that monarchy had rendered possible; in +Imperial and Republican France she became the symbol of _la patrie_. +Certainly the daughter of Isabelle Romée had no more idea of _la +patrie_ as it is conceived to-day than she had of the idea of landed +property which lies at its base. She never imagined anything like what +we call the nation. That is something quite modern; but she did +conceive of the heritage of kings and of the domain of the House of +France. And it was there, in that domain and in that heritage, that +the French gathered together before forming themselves into _la +patrie_. + +Under influences which it is impossible for us exactly to discover, +the idea came to her of re-establishing the Dauphin in his +inheritance; and this idea appeared to her so grand and so beautiful +that in the fulness of her very ingenuous pride, she believed it to +have been suggested to her by angels and saints from Paradise. For +this idea she gave her life. That is why she has survived the cause +for which she suffered. The very highest enterprises perish in their +defeat and even more surely in their victory. The devotion, which +inspired them, remains as an immortal example. And if the illusion, +under which her senses laboured, helped her to this act of +self-consecration, was not that illusion the unconscious outcome of +her own heart? Her foolishness was wiser than wisdom, for it was that +foolishness of martyrdom, without which men have never yet founded +anything great or useful. Cities, empires, republics rest on +sacrifice. It is not without reason therefore, not without justice +that, transformed by enthusiastic imagination, she became the symbol +of _la patrie_ in arms. + +In 1817, Le Brun de Charmettes,[124] a royalist jealous of imperial +glory, wrote the first patriotic history of Jeanne d'Arc. The history +is an able work. It has been followed by many others, conceived in the +same spirit, composed on the same plan, written in the same style. +From 1841 to 1849, Jules Quicherat, by his publication of the two +trials and the evidence, worthily opened an incomparable period of +research and discovery. At the same time, Michelet in the fifth volume +of his "Histoire de France," wrote pages of high colour and rapid +movement, which will doubtless remain the highest expression of the +romantic art as applied to the Maid.[125] + +[Footnote 124: Le Brun de Charmettes, _Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc +surnommée la Pucelle d'Orléans_, Paris, 1817, 4 vols. in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 125: Michelet, _Histoire de France_, vol. v.] + +But of all the histories written between 1817 and 1870, or at least of +all those with which I have made acquaintance, for I have not +attempted to read them all, the most discerning in my opinion is the +fourth book of Vallet de Viriville's "Histoire de Charles VII" in +which his chief preoccupation is to place the Maid in that group of +visionaries to which she really belongs.[126] + +[Footnote 126: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, Paris, 1863, in 8vo.] + +Wallon's book has been widely circulated if not widely read. A +monotonous, conscientious work moderately enthusiastic, it owes its +success to its unimpeachable exactitude.[127] If there must be an +orthodox Jeanne d'Arc to suit fashionable persons, then for such a +purpose, M. Marius Sepet's representation of the Maid would be equally +exact and more graceful.[128] + +[Footnote 127: H. Wallon, _Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1860, 2 vols. in +8vo.] + +[Footnote 128: M. Sepet, _Jeanne d'Arc_, with an introduction by Léon +Gautier, Tours, 1869, in 8vo.] + +After the war of 1871, the twofold influence of the patriotic spirit, +exalted by defeat, and the revival of Catholicism among the middle +class gave a new impetus to admiration of the Maid. Arts and letters +completed the transfiguration of Jeanne. + +Catholics, like the learned Canon Dunand,[129] vie in zeal and +enthusiasm with free-thinking idealists like M. Joseph Fabre.[130] By +reproducing the two trials in a very artistic manner, in modern French +and in a direct form of speech, M. Fabre has popularised the most +ancient and the most touching impression of the Maid.[131] + +[Footnote 129: Chanoine Dunand, _Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, Toulouse, +1898-1899, 3 vols. in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 130: Joseph Fabre, _Jeanne d'Arc libératrice de la France_, +new edition, Paris, 1894, in 12mo.] + +[Footnote 131: _Procès de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc...._, +translated with commentary by J. Fabre, new edition, Paris, 1895, in +18mo.] + +From this period date almost innumerable works of erudition, among +which must be noted those of Siméon Luce, which henceforth no one who +would treat of Jeanne's early years can afford to neglect.[132] + +[Footnote 132: _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, _op. cit._; _La France +pendant la guerre de Cent Ans_, _op. cit._] + +We are equally indebted to M. Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis for his fine +editions and his discerning studies so eruditely graceful and exact. + +Throughout this period of romantic and Neo-Catholic enthusiasm the +arts of painting and sculpture produced numerous representations of +Jeanne, which had hitherto been very rare. Now everywhere were to be +found Jeanne in armour and on horseback, Jeanne in prayer, Jeanne in +captivity, Jeanne suffering martyrdom. Of all these images expressing +in different manners and with varying merit the taste and the +sentiment of the period, one work only appears great and true, and of +striking beauty: Rude's Jeanne d'Arc beholding a vision.[133] + +[Footnote 133: Lanéry d'Arc, _Le livre d'Or de Jeanne d'Arc_, Nos. +2080 to 2112.] + +The word _patrie_ did not exist in the days of the Maid. People spoke +of the kingdom of France.[134] No one, not even jurists, knew exactly +what were its limits, which were constantly changing. The diversity of +laws and customs was infinite, and quarrels between nobles were +constantly arising. Nevertheless, men felt in their hearts that they +loved their native land and hated the foreigner. If the Hundred Years' +War did not create the sentiment of nationality in France, it fostered +it. In his "Quadrilogue Invectif" Alain Chartier represents France, +indicated by her robe sumptuously adorned with the emblems of the +nobility, of the clergy and of the _tiers état_, but lamentably soiled +and torn, adjuring the three orders not to permit her to perish. +"After the bond of the Catholic faith," she says to them, "Nature has +called you before all things to unite for the salvation of your native +land, and for the defence of that lordship under which God has caused +you to be born and to live."[135] And these are not the mere maxims of +a humourist versed in the virtues of antiquity. On the hearts of +humble Frenchmen it was laid to serve the country of their birth. +"Must the King be driven from his kingdom, and must we become +English?" cried a man-at-arms of Lorraine in 1428.[136] The subjects +of the Lilies, as well as those of the Leopard, felt it incumbent +upon them to be loyal to their liege lord. But if any change for the +worse occurred in the lordships to which they belonged, they were +quite ready to make the best of it, because a lordship must increase +or decrease, according to power and fortune, according to the good +right or the good pleasure of the holder; it may be dismembered by +marriages, or gifts, or inheritance, or alienated by various +contracts. On the occasion of the Treaty of Bretigny, which seriously +narrowed the dominions of King John, the folk of Paris strewed the +streets with grass and flowers as a sign of rejoicing.[137] As a +matter of fact, nobles changed their allegiance as often as it was +necessary. Juvénal des Ursins relates in his Journal[138] how at the +time of the English conquest of Normandy, a young widow was known to +quit her domain with her three children in order to escape doing +homage to the King from beyond the seas. But how many Norman nobles +were like her in refusing to swear fealty to the former enemies of the +kingdom? The example of fidelity to the king was not always set by +those of his own family. The Duke of Bourbon, in the name of all the +princes of the blood royal, prisoners with him in the hands of the +English, proposed to Henry V that they should go and negotiate in +France for the cession of Harfleur, promising that if the Royal +Council met them with refusal they would acknowledge Henry V to be +King of France.[139] + +[Footnote 134: A. Thomas, _Le mot "Patrie" et Jeanne d'Arc_ in _Revue +des Idées_, July 15, 1906.] + +[Footnote 135: _Les oeuvres de Maistre Alain Chartier_, published by +André Duchesne, Paris, 1642, in 4to, p. 410.] + +[Footnote 136: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436. See _post_, vol. i, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 137: Froissart, _Chroniques_, book i, chap. 128.] + +[Footnote 138: Jean Juvénal des Ursins in Buchon, _Choix des +Chroniques_, iv.] + +[Footnote 139: Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. ix, p. 427.] + +Every one thought first of himself. Whoever possessed land owed +himself to his land; his neighbour was his enemy. The burgher thought +only of his town. The peasant changed his master without knowing it. +The three orders were not yet united closely enough to form, in the +modern sense of the word, a state. + +Little by little the royal power united the French. This union became +stronger in proportion as royalty grew more powerful. In the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries, that desire to think and act in common, +which creates great nations, became very strong among us--at least in +those families which furnished officers to the Crown--and it even +spread among the lower orders of society. Rabelais introduces François +Villon and the King of England into a tale so inflamed with military +bravado that it might have been told over the camp fire in an almost +identical manner by one of Napoleon's grenadiers.[140] In his preface +to the poem we have just quoted, Chapelain writes of the occasions +when "_la patrie_ who is our common mother, has need of all her +children." Already the old poet expresses himself like the author of +the _Marseillaise_.[141] + +[Footnote 140: _Pantagruel_, book iv, chap. lxvii.] + +[Footnote 141: _La Pucelle_, Preface.] + +It cannot be denied that the feeling for _la patrie_ did exist under +the old _régime_. The impulse imparted to this sentiment by the +Revolution was none the less immense. It added to it the idea of +national unity and national territorial integrity. It extended to all +the right of property hitherto reserved to a small number, and thus, +so to speak, divided _la patrie_ among the citizens. While rendering +the peasant capable of possessing, the new _régime_ imposed upon him +the obligations of defending his actual or potential possessions. +Recourse to arms is a necessity alike for whomsoever acquires or +wishes to acquire territory. Hardly had the Frenchman come to enjoy +the rights of a man and of a citizen, hardly had he entered into +possession or thought he might enter into possession of a home and +lands of his own, when the armies of the Coalition arrived "to drive +him back to ancient slavery." Then the patriot became a soldier. +Twenty-three years of warfare, with the inevitable alternations of +victories and defeats, built up our fathers in their love of _la +patrie_ and their hatred of the foreigner. + +Since then, as the result of industrial progress, there have arisen in +one country and another, rivalries which are every day growing more +bitter. The present methods of production by multiplying antagonism +among nations, have given rise to imperialism, to colonial expansion +and to armed peace. + +But how many contrary forces are at work in this formidable creation +of a new order of things! In all countries the great development of +trade and manufactures has given birth to a new class. This class, +possessing nothing, having no hope of ever possessing anything, +enjoying none of the good things of life, not even the light of day, +does not share the fear which haunted the peasant and burgher of the +Revolution, of being despoiled by an enemy coming from abroad; the +members of this new class, having no wealth to defend, regard foreign +nations with neither terror nor hatred. At the same time over all the +markets of the world there have arisen financial powers, which, +although they often affect respect for old traditions, are by their +very functions essentially destructive of the national and patriotic +spirit. The universal capitalist system has created in France, as +everywhere else, the internationalism of the workers and the +cosmopolitanism of the financiers. + +To-day, just as two thousand years ago, in order to discern the +future, we must regard not the enterprises of the great but the +confused movements of the working classes. The nations will not +indefinitely endure this armed peace which weighs so heavily upon +them. Every day we behold the organising of an universal community of +workers. + +I believe in the future union of nations, and I long for it with that +ardent charity for the human race, which, formed in the Latin +conscience in the days of Epictetus and Seneca, and through so many +centuries extinguished by European barbarism, has been revived in the +noblest breasts of modern times. And in vain will it be argued against +me that these are the mere dream-illusions of desire: it is desire +that creates life and the future is careful to realise the dreams of +philosophers. Nevertheless, that we to-day are assured of a peace that +nothing will disturb, none but a madman would maintain. On the +contrary, the terrible industrial and commercial rivalries growing up +around us indicate future conflicts, and there is nothing to assure us +that France will not one day find herself involved in a great European +or world conflagration. Her obligation to provide for her defence +increases not a little those difficulties which arise from a social +order profoundly agitated by competition in production and antagonism +between classes. + +An absolute empire obtains its defenders by inspiring fear; democracy +only by bestowing benefits. Fear or interest lies at the root of all +devotion. If the French proletariat is to defend the Republic +heroically in the hour of peril, then it must either be happy or have +the hope of becoming so. And what use is it to deceive ourselves? The +lot of the workman to-day is no better in France than in Germany, and +not so good as in England or America. + +On these important subjects I have not been able to forbear expressing +the truth as it appears to me; there is a great satisfaction in saying +what one believes useful and just. + +It now only remains for me to submit to my readers a few reflections +on the difficult art of writing history, and to explain certain +peculiarities of form and language which will be found in this work. + +To enter into the spirit of a period that has passed away, to make +oneself the contemporary of men of former days, deliberate study and +loving care are necessary. The difficulty lies not so much in what one +must know as in what one must not know. If we would really live in the +fifteenth century, how many things we must forget: knowledge, methods, +all those acquisitions which make moderns of us. We must forget that +the earth is round, and that the stars are suns, and not lamps +suspended from a crystal vault; we must forget the cosmogony of +Laplace, and believe in the science of Saint Thomas, of Dante, and of +those cosmographers of the Middle Age who teach the Creation in seven +days and the foundation of kingdoms by the sons of Priam, after the +destruction of Great Troy. Such and such a historian or paleographer +is powerless to make us understand the contemporaries of the Maid. It +is not knowledge he lacks, but ignorance--ignorance of modern warfare, +of modern politics, of modern religion. + +But when we have forgotten, as far as possible, all that has happened +since the youth of Charles VII, in order to think like a clerk in +exile at Poitiers, or a burgher at Orléans serving on the ramparts of +his city, we must recover all our intellectual resources in order to +embrace the entirety of events, and discover that sequence between +cause and effect which escape the clerk or the burgher. "I have +contracted my horizon," says the Chatterton of Alfred de Vigny, when +he explains how he is conscious of nothing that has happened since the +days of the old Saxons. But Chatterton wrote poems, pseudo chronicles, +and not history. The historian must alternately contract his horizon +and widen it. If he undertake to tell an old story, he must needs +successively--or sometimes at one and the same moment--assume the +credulity of the folk he restores to life, and the discernment of the +most accomplished critic. By a strange process, he must divide his +personality. He must be at once the ancient man and the modern man; he +must live on two different planes, like that curious character in a +story by Mr. H.G. Wells, who lives and moves in a little English town, +and all the time sees herself at the bottom of the ocean. + +I have carefully visited cities and countries in which the events I +propose to relate took place. I have seen the valley of the Meuse +amidst the flowers and perfumes of spring, and I have seen it again +beneath a mass of mist and cloud. I have travelled along the smiling +banks of the Loire, so full of renown; through La Beauce, with its +vast horizons bordered with snow-topped mountains; through +l'Île-de-France, where the sky is serene; through La Champagne, with +its stony hills covered with those low vines which, trampled upon by +the coronation army, bloomed again into leaves and fruit, says the +legend, and by St. Martin's Day yielded a late but rich vintage.[142] +I have lingered in barren Picardy, along the Bay of the Somme so sad +and bare beneath the flight of its birds of passage. I have wandered +through the fat meadows of Normandy to Rouen with its steeples and +towers, its ancient charnel houses, its damp streets, its last +remaining timbered houses with high gables. I have imagined these +rivers, these lands, these châteaux and these towns as they were five +hundred years ago. + +[Footnote 142: Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Les sources allemandes de +l'histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 93.] + +I have accustomed my gaze to the forms assumed by the beings and the +objects of those days. I have examined all that remains of stone, of +iron, or of wood worked by the hands of those old artisans, who were +freer and consequently more ingenious than ours, and whose handicraft +reveals a desire to animate and adorn everything. To the best of my +ability I have studied figures carved and painted, not exactly in +France--for there, in those days of misery and death, art was little +practised--but in Flanders, in Burgundy, in Provence, where the +workmanship is often in a style at once affected and _naif_, and +frequently beautiful. As I gazed at the old miniatures, they seemed to +live before me, and I saw the nobles in the absurd magnificence of +their _étoffes à tripes_,[143] the dames and the damoiselles somewhat +devilish with their horned caps and their pointed shoes; clerks seated +at the desk, men-at-arms riding their chargers and merchants their +mules, husbandmen performing from April till March all the tasks of +the rural calendar; peasant women, whose broad coifs are still worn by +nuns. I drew near to these folk, who were our fellows, and who yet +differed from us by a thousand shades of sentiment and of thought; I +lived their lives; I read their hearts. + +[Footnote 143: Imitation velvet.] + +It is hardly necessary to say that there exists no authentic +representation of Jeanne. In the art of the fifteenth century all that +relates to her amounts to very little: hardly anything remains--a +small piece of _bestion_ tapestry, a slight pen-and-ink figure on a +register, a few illuminations in manuscripts of the reigns of Charles +VII, Louis XI, and Charles VIII, that is all. I have found it +necessary to contribute to this very meagre iconography of Jeanne +d'Arc, not because I had anything to add to it, but in order to +expunge the contributions of the forgers of that period. In Appendix +IV, at the end of this work, will be found the short article in which +I point out the forgeries which, for the most part, are already old, +but had not been previously denounced. I have limited my researches to +the fifteenth century, leaving to others the task of studying those +pictures of the Renaissance in which the Maid appears decked out in +the German fashion, with the plumed hat and slashed doubtlet of a +Saxon ritter or a Swiss mercenary.[144] I cannot say who served as a +prototype for these portraits, but they closely resemble the woman +accompanying the mercenaries in _La Danse des morts_, which Nicholas +Manuel painted at Berne, on the wall of the Dominican Monastery, +between 1515 and 1521.[145] In _le Grand Siècle_ Jeanne d'Arc becomes +Clorinda, Minerva, Bellona in ballet costume.[146] + +[Footnote 144: See the picture of 1581, preserved in the Orléans +Museum and reproduced in Wallon's _Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 466.] + +[Footnote 145: _La Danse des Morts_, painted at Berne between 1515 and +1520 by Nicolas Manuel, lithographed by Guillaume Stettler, s.d. in +folio oblong, engraving xx. M. Salomon Reinach believes this prototype +may be found in the Judiths of Cranach.] + +[Footnote 146: Lanéry d'Arc, _Le livre d'Or de Jeanne d'Arc_, +Iconography, Nos. 2080-2112.] + +To my mind a continuous story is more likely than any controversy or +discussion to make my subject live, and bring home its verities to my +readers. It is true that the documents relating to the Maid do not +lend themselves very easily to this kind of treatment. As I have just +shown, they may nearly all be regarded as doubtful from several points +of view, and objections to them arise at every moment. Nevertheless, I +think that by making a cautious and judicious use of these documents +one may obtain material sufficient for a truthful history of +considerable extent. Besides, I have always indicated the sources of +my facts, so that every one may judge for himself of the +trustworthiness of my authorities. + +In the course of my story I have related many incidents which, without +having a direct relation to Jeanne, reveal the spirit, the morals, and +the beliefs of her time. These incidents are usually of a religious +order. They must necessarily be so, for Jeanne's story--and I cannot +repeat it too often--is the story of a saint, just like that of +Colette of Corbie, or of Catherine of Sienna. + +I have yielded frequently, perhaps too frequently, to the desire to +make the reader live among the men and things of the fifteenth +century. And in order not to distract him suddenly from them, I have +avoided suggesting any comparison with other periods, although many +such occurred to me. + +My history is founded on the form and substance of ancient documents; +but I have hardly ever introduced into it literal quotations; I +believe that unless it possesses a certain unity of language a book +is unreadable, and I want to be read. + +It is neither affectation of style nor artistic taste that has led me +to adhere as far as possible to the tone of the period and to prefer +archaic forms of language whenever I thought they would be +intelligible, it is because ideas are changed when words are changed +and because one cannot substitute modern for ancient expressions +without altering sentiments and characters. + +I have endeavoured to make my style simple and familiar. History is +too often written in a high-flown manner that renders it wearisome and +false. Why should we imagine historical facts to be out of the +ordinary run of things and on a scale different from every-day +humanity? + +The writer of a history such as this is terribly tempted to throw +himself into the battle. There is hardly a modern account of these old +contests, in which the author, be he ecclesiastic or professor, does +not with pen behind ear, rush into the _mêlée_ by the side of the +Maid. Even at the risk of missing the revelation of some of the +beauties of her nature, I deem it better to keep one's own personality +out of the action. + +I have written this history with a zeal ardent and tranquil; I have +sought truth strenuously, I have met her fearlessly. Even when she +assumed an unexpected aspect, I have not turned from her. I shall be +reproached for audacity, until I am reproached for timidity. + +I have pleasure in expressing my gratitude to my illustrious +_confrères_, MM. Paul Meyer and Ernest Lavisse, who have given me +valuable advice. I owe much to M. Petit Dutaillis for certain kindly +observations which I have taken into consideration. I am also greatly +indebted to M. Henri Jadart, Secretary of the Reims Academy; M. E. +Langlois, Professor at the Faculté des Lettres of Lille; M. Camille +Bloch, some time archivist of Loiret, M. Noël Charavay, autographic +expert, and M. Raoul Bonnet. + +M. Pierre Champion, who albeit still young is already known as the +author of valuable historical works, has placed the result of his +researches at my disposal with a disinterestedness I shall never be +able adequately to acknowledge. He has also carefully read the whole +of my work. M. Jean Brousson has given me the advantage of his +perspicacity which far surpasses what one is entitled to expect from +one's secretary. + +In the century which I have endeavoured to represent in this work, +there was a fiend, by name Titivillus. Every evening this fiend put +into a sack all the letters omitted or altered by the copyists during +the day. He carried them to hell, in order that, when Saint Michael +weighed the souls of these negligent scribes, the share of each one +might be put in the scale of his iniquities. Should he have survived +the invention of printing, surely this most properly meticulous fiend +must to-day be assuming the heavy task of collecting the misprints +scattered throughout the books which aspire to exactitude; it would be +very foolish of him to trouble about others. As occasion requires he +will place those misprints to the account of reader or author. I am +infinitely indebted to my publishers and friends MM. Calmann, Lévy and +to their excellent collaborators for the care and experience they have +employed in lightening the burden, which Titivillus will place on my +back on the Day of Judgment. + +PARIS, February, 1908. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +VOL. I + +CHAP. PAGE + +PREFACE v + +INTRODUCTION vii + +I. CHILDHOOD 1 + +II. VOICES 29 + +III. FIRST VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS. FLIGHT TO NEUFCHÂTEAU. +JOURNEY TO TOUL. SECOND VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS 61 + +IV. JOURNEY TO NANCY. ITINERARY FROM VAUCOULEURS +TO SAINTE-CATHERINE-DE-FIERBOIS 91 + +V. THE SIEGE OF ORLÉANS FROM THE 12TH OF OCTOBER, +1428, TO THE 6TH OF MARCH, 1429 106 + +VI. THE MAID AT CHINON--PROPHECIES 145 + +VII. THE MAID AT POITIERS 187 + +VIII. THE MAID AT POITIERS (_continued_) 204 + +IX. THE MAID AT TOURS 217 + +X. THE SIEGE OF ORLÉANS FROM THE 7TH OF MARCH +TO THE 28TH OF APRIL, 1429 230 + +XI. THE MAID AT BLOIS. LETTER TO THE ENGLISH. +DEPARTURE FOR ORLÉANS 243 + +XII. THE MAID AT ORLÉANS 258 + +XIII. THE TAKING OF LES TOURELLES AND THE DELIVERANCE +OF ORLÉANS 296 + +XIV. THE MAID AT TOURS AND SELLES-EN-BERRY. +TREATISES OF JACQUES GÉLU AND JEAN GERSON 318 + +XV. TAKING OF JARGEAU. THE MEUNG BRIDGE. +BEAUGENCY 345 + +XVI. THE BATTLE OF PATAY. OPINIONS OF ITALIAN AND +GERMAN CLERKS. THE GIEN ARMY 368 + +XVII. THE AUXERRE CONVENTION. FRIAR RICHARD. +THE SURRENDER OF TROYES 403 + +XVIII. THE SURRENDER OF CHÂLONS AND OF REIMS. +THE CORONATION 435 + +XIX. RISE OF THE LEGEND 461 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOL. I + +JOAN OF ARC _Frontispiece_ + From a painting by Deruet. + + _To face page_ + +HOUSE OF JOAN OF ARC AT DOMREMY IN 1419 12 + +VIEW OF ORLÉANS, 1428-1429 106 + +PLAN OF ORLÉANS 258 + +CHARLES VII 444 + From an old engraving. + + + + +JOAN OF ARC + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD + + +From Neufchâteau to Vaucouleurs the clear waters of the Meuse flow +freely between banks covered with rows of poplar trees and low bushes +of alder and willow. Now they wind in sudden bends, now in gradual +curves, for ever breaking up into narrow streams, and then the threads +of greenish waters gather together again, or here and there are +suddenly lost to sight underground. In the summer the river is a lazy +stream, barely bending in its course the reeds which grow upon its +shallow bed; and from the bank one may watch its lapping waters kept +back by clumps of rushes scarcely covering a little sand and moss. But +in the season of heavy rains, swollen by sudden torrents, deeper and +more rapid, as it rushes along, it leaves behind it on the banks a +kind of dew, which rises in pools of clear water on a level with the +grass of the valley. + +This valley, two or three miles broad, stretches unbroken between low +hills, softly undulating, crowned with oaks, maples, and birches. +Although strewn with wild-flowers in the spring, it looks severe, +grave, and sometimes even sad. The green grass imparts to it a +monotony like that of stagnant water. Even on fine days one is +conscious of a hard, cold climate. The sky seems more genial than the +earth. It beams upon it with a tearful smile; it constitutes all the +movement, the grace, the exquisite charm of this delicate tranquil +landscape. Then when winter comes the sky merges with the earth in a +kind of chaos. Fogs come down thick and clinging. The white light +mists, which in summer veil the bottom of the valley, give place to +thick clouds and dark moving mountains, but slowly scattered by a red, +cold sun. Wanderers ranging the uplands in the early morning might +dream with the mystics in their ecstasy that they are walking on +clouds. + +Thus, after having passed on the left the wooded plateau, from the +height of which the château of Bourlémont dominates the valley of the +Saonelle, and on the right Coussey with its old church, the winding +river flows between le Bois Chesnu on the west and the hill of Julien +on the east. Then on it goes, passing the adjacent villages of Domremy +and Greux on the west bank and separating Greux from Maxey-sur-Meuse. +Among other hamlets nestling in the hollows of the hills or rising on +the high ground, it passes Burey-la-Côte, Maxey-sur-Vaise, and +Burey-en-Vaux, and flows on to water the beautiful meadows of +Vaucouleurs.[147] + +[Footnote 147: J. Ch. Chappellier, _Étude historique et géographique +sur Domremy, pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, Saint-Dié, 1890, in 8vo. É. +Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1894, in 18mo.] + +In this little village of Domremy, situated at least seven and a half +miles further down the river than Neufchâteau and twelve and a half +above Vaucouleurs, there was born, about the year 1410 or 1412,[148] +a girl who was destined to live a remarkable life. She was born poor. +Her father,[149] Jacques or Jacquot d'Arc, a native of the village of +Ceffonds in Champagne,[150] was a small farmer and himself drove his +horses at the plough.[151] His neighbours, men and women alike, held +him to be a good Christian and an industrious workman.[152] His wife +came from Vouthon, a village nearly four miles northwest of Domremy, +beyond the woods of Greux. Her name being Isabelle or Zabillet, she +received at some time, exactly when is uncertain, the surname of +Romée.[153] That name was given to those who had been to Rome or on +some other important pilgrimage;[154] and it is possible that Isabelle +may have acquired her name of Romée by assuming the pilgrim's shell +and staff.[155] One of her brothers was a parish priest, another a +tiler; she had a nephew who was a carpenter.[156] She had already +borne her husband three children: Jacques or Jacquemin, Catherine, and +Jean.[157] + +[Footnote 148: This may be inferred from vol. i, p. 46, of the +_Trial_. But Jeanne did not know how old she was when she left her +father's house (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 51). I have ignored the letter of +Perceval de Boulainvilliers, p. 116, vol. v, of the _Trial_. It is +quite unauthentic and is too much in the manner of a hagiologist. See +post, p. 468, note 1.] + +[Footnote 149: Darc (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191; vol. ii, p. 82). Dars +(Siméon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. 360). Day (_Trial_, vol. v, +p. 150). Daiz (furnished by M. Pierre Champion). This document appears +to justify the pronunciation _Jeanne d'Arc_. Concerning the +orthography of the name d'Arc, cf. Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or de Jeanne +d'Arc_, notes 647-657.] + +[Footnote 150: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 46, 208. E. de Bouteiller and G. +de Braux, _La famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1878, in 8vo, p. 185; +_Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, Orléans, +1879, in 12mo, p. x, _passim_. Boucher de Molandon, _Jacques d'Arc, +père de la Pucelle_, Orléans, 1885, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 151: See post, pp. 57, 451, 452.] + +[Footnote 152: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 378 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 153: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 191, 208; vol. ii, p. 74, note 1. +Armand Boucher de Crèvecoeur, _Les Romée et les de Perthes, famille +maternelle de Jeanne d'Arc_, Abbeville, 1891, in 8vo. Lanéry d'Arc, +_Livre d'or_, notes 1278-1308.] + +[Footnote 154: Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under the word _Romeus_. G. de +Braux, _Jeanne d'Arc à Saint-Nicolas_, Nancy, 1889, p. 8. _Revue +catholique des institutions et du droit_, August, 1886. E. de +Bouteiller, _Nouvelles recherches_, p. xii. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 155: Probably before Jeanne's birth. "My surname is d'Arc or +Romée," said Jeanne (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191). Thus she +indiscriminately assumes either her father's or her mother's surname, +although she says (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191) that in her country girls +are called by their mother's surname.] + +[Footnote 156: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 252. E. de Bouteiller and G. de +Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, +1879, pp. 3-20. Ch. du Lys, _Traité sommaire tant du nom et des armes +que de la naissance et parenté de la Pucelle d'Orléans et de ses +frères_, ed. Vallet de Viriville, Paris, 1857, p. 28. E. Georges, +_Jeanne d'Arc considérée au point de vue Franco-Champenois_, Troyes, +1893, in 8vo, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 157: The order of the births of Jacques d'Arc's children is +extremely doubtful (_Trial_, index, under the word _Arc_).] + +Jacques d'Arc's house was on the verge of the precincts of the parish +church, dedicated to Saint Remi, the apostle of Gaul.[158] There was +only the graveyard to cross when the child was carried to the font. It +is said that in those days and in that country the form of exorcism +pronounced by the priest during the baptismal ceremony was much longer +for girls than for boys.[159] We do not know whether Messire Jean +Minet,[160] the parish priest, pronounced it over the child in all its +literal fulness, but we notice the custom as one of the numerous signs +of the Church's invincible mistrust of woman. + +[Footnote 158: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 393, _passim_. S. Luce, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Domremy_, vol. xvi, p. 357.] + +[Footnote 159: A. Monteil, _Histoire des Français_, 1853, in 18mo, +vol. ii, p. 194.] + +[Footnote 160: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 46. Jean Minet was a native of +Neufchâteau.] + +According to the custom then prevailing the child had several +godfathers and godmothers.[161] The men-gossips were Jean Morel, of +Greux,[162] husbandman; Jean Barrey, of Neufchâteau; Jean Le Langart +or Lingui, and Jean Rainguesson; the women, Jeannette, wife of +Thévenin le Royer, called Roze, of Domremy; Béatrix, wife of +Estellin,[163] husbandman in the same village; Edite, wife of Jean +Barrey; Jeanne, wife of Aubrit, called Jannet and described as Maire +Aubrit when he was appointed secretary to the lords of Bourlémont; +Jeannette, wife of Thiesselin de Vittel, a scholar of Neufchâteau. She +was the most learned of all, for she had heard stories read out of +books. Among the godmothers there are mentioned also the wife of +Nicolas d'Arc, Jacques' brother, and two obscure Christians, one +called Agnes, the other Sibylle.[164] Here, as in every group of good +Catholics, we have a number of Jeans, Jeannes, and Jeannettes. St. +John the Baptist was a saint of high repute; his festival, kept on the +24th of June, was a red-letter day in the calendar, both civil and +religious; it marked the customary date for leases, hirings, and +contracts of all kinds. In the opinion of certain ecclesiastics, +especially of the mendicant orders, St. John the Evangelist, whose +head had rested on the Saviour's breast and who was to return to earth +when the ages should have run their course, was the greatest saint in +Paradise.[165] Wherefore, in honour of the Precursor of the Saviour +or of his best beloved disciple, when babes were baptised the name +Jean or Jeanne was frequently preferred to all others. To render these +holy names more in keeping with the helplessness of childhood and the +humble destiny awaiting most of us, they were given the diminutive +forms of Jeannot and Jeannette. On the banks of the Meuse the peasants +had a particular liking for these diminutives at once unpretentious +and affectionate: Jacquot, Pierrollot, Zabillet, Mengette, +Guillemette.[166] After the wife of the scholar, Thiesselin, the child +was named Jeannette. That was the name by which she was known in the +village. Later, in France, she was called Jeanne.[167] + +[Footnote 161: J. Corblet, _Parrains et marraines_, in _Revue de l'art +chrétien_, 1881, vol. xiv, pp. 336 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 162: Siméon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, proofs and +illustrations, li, p. 98.] + +[Footnote 163: _Ibid._, p. clxxix, note.] + +[Footnote 164: Cf. _Trial_, index, under _parrains_ and _marraines_. +It is not always possible to assign to these personages the names they +bore and the position they occupied at the exact date when they are +introduced.] + +[Footnote 165: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in the _Revue +Historique_, vol. iv, p. 342. Cf. Eustache Deschamps, ballad 354, vol. +iii, p. 83, ed. Queux de Saint Hilaire.] + +[Footnote 166: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 74-388; vol. v, pp. 151, 220, +_passim_.] + +[Footnote 167: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 46. Henri Lepage, _Jeanne d'Arc +est-elle Lorraine?_ Nancy, 1852, pp. 57-79.] + +She was brought up in her father's house, in Jacques' poor +dwelling.[168] In the front there were two windows admitting but a +scanty light. The stone roof forming one side of a gable on the garden +side sloped almost to the ground. Close by the door, as was usual in +that country, were the dung-heap, a pile of firewood, and the farm +tools covered with rust and mud. But the humble enclosure, which +served as orchard and kitchen-garden, in the spring bloomed in a +wealth of pink and white flowers.[169] + +[Footnote 168: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 244 _et seq._ Jacques d'Arc's +house doubtless looked on to the road; the Du Lys, or rather the +Thiesselins, pulled it down and erected in its place a house no longer +existing. The shields which ornamented its façade have been placed +upon the door of the building now shown as Jeanne's house. What is +represented as Jeanne's room is the bakehouse (É. Hinzelin, _Chez +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 74). See an article by Henri Arsac in _L'écho de +l'Est_, 26 July, 1890. A whole literature has been written on this +subject (Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, pp. 330 _et seq._).] + +[Footnote 169: Émile Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, _passim_.] + +These good Christians had one more child, the youngest, Pierre, who +was called Pierrelot.[170] + +[Footnote 170: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 151, 220.] + +Fed on light wine and brown bread, hardened by a hard life, Jeanne +grew up in an unfruitful land, among people who were rough and sober. +She lived in perfect liberty. Among hard-working peasants the children +are left to themselves. Isabelle's daughter seems to have got on well +with the village children. + +A little neighbour, Hauviette, three or four years younger than she, +was her daily companion. They liked to sleep together in the same +bed.[171] Mengette, whose parents lived close by, used to come and +spin at Jacques d'Arc's house. She helped Jeanne with her household +duties.[172] Taking her distaff with her, Jeanne used often to go and +pass the evening at Saint-Amance, at the house of a husbandman +Jacquier, who had a young daughter.[173] Boys and girls grew up as a +matter of course side by side. Being neighbours, Jeanne and Simonin +Musnier's son were brought up together. When Musnier's son was still a +child he fell ill, and Jeanne nursed him.[174] + +[Footnote 171: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 417: "_Jacuit amorose in domo +patris sui._"] + +[Footnote 172: _Ibid._, p. 429.] + +[Footnote 173: _Ibid._, p. 408.] + +[Footnote 174: _Ibid._, p. 423.] + +In those days it was not unprecedented for village maidens to know +their letters. A few years earlier Maître Jean Gerson had counselled +his sisters, peasants of Champagne, to learn to read, and had +promised, if they succeeded, to give them edifying books.[175] Albeit +the niece of a parish priest, Jeanne did not learn her horn-book, thus +resembling most of the village children, but not all, for at Maxey +there was a school attended by boys from Domremy.[176] + +[Footnote 175: E. Georges, _Jeanne d'Arc considérée au point de vue +Franco-Champenois_, p. 115. De La Fons-Mélicocq, _Documents inédits +pour servir à l'histoire de l'instruction publique en France et à +l'histoire des moeurs au XV'ieme siècle_, in the _Bulletin de la +Société des Antiquaires de la Morinie_, vol. iii, pp. 460 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 176: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 65-66. (_Item: je donne à Oudinot, +à Richard et à Gérard, clercz enfantz du maistre de l'escole de Marcey +dessoubz Brixey, doubz escus pour priier pour mi et pour dire les sept +psaulmes._) (Item: I give to the boys, Oudinot, Richard, and Gérard, +scholars of the school-master at Marcey below Brixey, twelve crowns to +pray for me and to repeat the seven psalms.) The will of Jean de +Bourlémont, 23 October, 1399, in S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, +document in facsimile xiii.] + +From her mother she learnt the Paternoster, Ave Maria, and the +credo.[177] She heard a few beautiful stories of the saints. That was +her whole education. On holy days, in the nave of the church, beneath +the pulpit, while the men stood round the wall, she, in the manner of +the peasant women, squatted on her toes, listening to the priest's +sermon.[178] + +[Footnote 177: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 46, 47.] + +[Footnote 178: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 402. See in Montfaucon's +_Monuments de la Monarchie Française_, vol. iii, the second miniature, +the "Douze périls d'enfer" (the twelve perils of hell).] + +As soon as she was old enough she laboured in the fields, weeding, +digging, and, like the Lorraine maidens of to-day, doing the work of a +man.[179] + +[Footnote 179: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 409, 415, 420.] + +The river meadows were the chief source of wealth to the dwellers on +the banks of the Meuse. When the hay harvest was over, according to +his share of the arable land, each villager in Domremy had the right +to turn so many head of cattle into the meadows of the village. Each +family took its turn at watching the flocks and herds in the meadows. +Jacques d'Arc, who had a little grazing land of his own, turned out +his oxen and his horses with the others. When his turn came to watch +them, he delegated the task to his daughter Jeanne, who went off into +the meadow, distaff in hand.[180] + +[Footnote 180: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 51, 66; vol. ii, p. 404. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. lij.] + +But she would rather do housework or sew or spin. She was pious. She +swore neither by God nor his saints; and to assert the truth of +anything she was content to say: "There's no mistake."[181] When the +bells rang for the _Angelus_, she crossed herself and knelt.[182] On +Saturday, the Holy Virgin's day, she climbed the hill overgrown with +grass, vines, and fruit-trees, with the village of Greux nestling at +its foot, and gained the wooded plateau, whence she could see on the +east the green valley and the blue hills. On the brow of the hill, +barely two and a half miles from the village, in a shaded dale full of +murmuring sounds, from beneath beeches, ash-trees, and oaks gush forth +the clear waters of the Saint-Thiébault spring, which cure fevers and +heal wounds. Above the spring rises the chapel of Notre-Dame de +Bermont. In fine weather it is pervaded by the scent of fields and +woods, and winter wraps this high ground in a mantle of sadness and +silence. In those days, clothed in a royal cloak and wearing a crown, +with her divine child in her arms, Notre-Dame de Bermont received the +prayers and the offerings of young men and maidens. She worked +miracles. Jeanne used to visit her with her sister Catherine and the +boys and girls of the neighbourhood, or quite alone. And as often as +she could she lit a candle in honour of the heavenly lady.[183] + +[Footnote 181: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 404.] + +[Footnote 182: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 423.] + +[Footnote 183: _Trial_, index, at the word _Bermont_. Du Haldat, +_Notice sur la chapelle de Belmont_, in the _Mémoires de l'Académie +Stanislas de Nancy_, 1833-1834, p. 96. É. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 95. Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, p. 330.] + +A mile and a quarter west of Domremy was a hill covered with a dense +wood, which few dared enter for fear of boars and wolves. Wolves were +the terror of the countryside. The village mayors gave rewards for +every head of a wolf or wolf-cub brought them.[184] This wood, which +Jeanne could see from her threshold, was the Bois Chesnu, the wood of +oaks, or possibly the hoary [_chenu_] wood, the old forest.[185] We +shall see later how this Bois Chesnu was the subject of a prophecy of +Merlin the Magician. + +[Footnote 184: Alexis Monteil, _Histoire des François_, vol. i, p. +91.] + +[Footnote 185: _Trial_, index, under the words _Bois Chesnu_.] + +At the foot of the hill, towards the village, was a spring[186] on the +margin of which gooseberry bushes intertwined their branches of greyish +green. It was called the Gooseberry Spring or the Blackthorn Spring.[187] +If, as was thought by a graduate of the University of Paris,[188] Jeanne +described it as _La Fontaine-aux-Bonnes-Fées-Notre-Seigneur_, it must +have been because the village people called it by that name. By making +use of such a term it would seem as if those rustic souls were trying +to Christianise the nymphs of the woods and waters, in whom certain +teachers discerned the demons which the heathen once worshipped as +goddesses.[189] It was quite true. Goddesses as much feared and +venerated as the Parcæ had come to be called Fates,[190] and to them +had been attributed power over the destinies of men. But, fallen long +since from their powerful and high estate, these village fairies had +grown as simple as the people among whom they lived. They were invited +to baptisms, and a place at table was laid for them in the room next +the mother's. At these festivals they ate alone and came and went +without any one's knowing; people avoided spying upon their movements +for fear of displeasing them. It is the custom of divine personages to +go and come in secret. They gave gifts to new-born infants. Some were +very kind, but most of them, without being malicious, appeared +irritable, capricious, jealous; and if they were offended even +unintentionally, they cast evil spells. Sometimes they betrayed their +feminine nature by unaccountable likes and dislikes. More than one +found a lover in a knight or a churl; but generally such loves came to +a bad end. And, when all is said, gentle or terrible, they remained +the Fates, they were always the Destinies.[191] + +[Footnote 186: _Ibid._, index, under the words _Fontaine des +Groseilliers_.] + +[Footnote 187: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 67-210; vol. ii. pp. 391 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 188: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, ed. Tuetey, p. 267.] + +[Footnote 189: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 209.] + +[Footnote 190: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 67, 187, 209; vol. ii, pp. 390, +404, 450.] + +[Footnote 191: Wolf, _Mythologie des fées et des elfes_, 1828, in 8vo. +A. Maury, _Les fées au moyen âge_, 1843, in 18mo, and _Croyances et +légendes du moyen âge_, Paris, 1896, in 8vo.] + +Near by, on the border of the wood, was an ancient beech, overhanging the +highroad to Neufchâteau and casting a grateful shade.[192] The beech was +venerated almost as piously as had been those trees which were held sacred +in the days before apostolic missionaries evangelised Gaul.[193] No hand +dared touch its branches, which swept the ground. "Even the lilies are not +more beautiful,"[194] said a rustic. Like the spring the tree had many +names. It was called _l'Arbre-des-Dames_, _l'Arbre-aux-Loges-les-Dames_, +_l'Arbre-des-Fées_, _l'Arbre-Charmine-Fée-de-Bourlémont_, _le +Beau-Mai_.[195] + +[Footnote 192: Richer, _Histoire manuscrite de Jeanne d'Arc_, ms. fr. +10,448, fols. 14, 15.] + +[Footnote 193: For tree worship, see an article by M. Henry Carnoy in +_La tradition_, 15 March, 1889.] + +[Footnote 194: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 422.] + +[Footnote 195: _Ibid._, index, under the words _Arbre des Fées_.] + +Every one at Domremy knew that fairies existed and that they had been +seen under _l'Arbre-aux-Loges-les-Dames_. In the old days, when Berthe +was spinning, a lord of Bourlémont, called Pierre Granier,[196] became +a fairy's knight, and kept his tryst with her at eve under the +beech-tree. A romance told of their loves. One of Jeanne's godmothers, +who was a scholar at Neufchâteau, had heard this story, which closely +resembled that tale of Melusina so well known in Lorraine.[197] But a +doubt remained as to whether fairies still frequented the beech-tree. +Some believed they did, others thought they did not. Béatrix, another +of Jeanne's godmothers, used to say: "I have heard tell that fairies +came to the tree in the old days. But for their sins they come there +no longer."[198] + +[Footnote 196: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 404.] + +[Footnote 197: _Ibid._, p. 404, _passim_. _Simple Crayon de la +noblesse des ducs de Lorraine et de Bar_, in Le Brun des Charmettes' +_Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. i, p. 266. Jules Baudot, _Les +princesses Yolande et les ducs de Bar de la famille des Valois_, first +part. _Mélusine_, Paris, 1901, in 8vo, p. 121.] + +[Footnote 198: _Propter eorum peccata_, in the _Trial_, vol. ii, p. +396. There is no doubt as to the meaning of these words.] + +This simple-minded woman meant that the fairies were the enemies of +God and that the priest had driven them away. Jean Morel, Jeanne's +godfather, believed the same.[199] + +[Footnote 199: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 390.] + +[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF JOAN OF ARC AT DOMREMY IN 1419] + +Indeed on Ascension Eve, on Rogation days and Ember days, crosses were +carried through the fields and the priest went to _l'Arbre-des-Fées_ +and chanted the Gospel of St. John. He chanted it also at the +Gooseberry Spring and at the other springs in the parish.[200] For the +exorcising of evil spirits there was nothing like the Gospel of St. +John.[201] + +[Footnote 200: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 397.] + +[Footnote 201: _Ibid._, p. 390. Bergier, _Dictionnaire de théologie_, +under the word _Conjuration_.] + +My Lord Aubert d'Ourches held that there had been no fairies at +Domremy for twenty or thirty years.[202] On the other hand there were +those in the village who believed that Christians still held converse +with them and that Thursday was the trysting day. + +[Footnote 202: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 187.] + +Yet another of Jeanne's godmothers, the wife of the mayor Aubrit, had +with her own eyes seen fairies under the tree. She had told her +goddaughter. And Aubrit's wife was known to be no witch or soothsayer +but a good woman and a circumspect.[203] + +[Footnote 203: _Ibid._, pp. 67, 209.] + +In all this Jeanne suspected witchcraft. For her own part she had +never met the fairies under the tree. But she would not have said that +she had not seen fairies elsewhere.[204] Fairies are not like angels; +they do not always appear what they really are.[205] + +[Footnote 204: _Ibid._, pp. 178, 209 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 205: For the traditions of fairies at Domremy and for +Jeanne's opinion of them, see _Trial_, index, under the word _Fées_.] + +Every year, on the fourth Sunday in Lent,--called by the Church +"_Lætare_ Sunday," because during the mass of the day was chanted the +passage beginning _Lætare Jerusalem_,--the peasants of Bar held a +rustic festival. This was their well-dressing when they went together +to drink from some spring and to dance on the grass. The peasants of +Greux kept their festival at the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Bermont; +those of Domremy at the Gooseberry Spring and at _l'Arbre-des-Fées_.[206] +They used to recall the days when the lord and lady of Bourlémont +themselves led the young people of the village. But Jeanne was still a +babe in arms when Pierre de Bourlémont, lord of Domremy and Greux, +died childless, leaving his lands to his niece Jeanne de Joinville, +who lived at Nancy, having married the chamberlain of the Duke of +Lorraine.[207] + +[Footnote 206: Concerning the Sunday and the Festival of the +Well-Dressing at Domremy, see _Trial_, index, under the word +_Fontaine_.] + +[Footnote 207: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 67, 212, 404 _et seq._ S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xx-xxii.] + +At the well-dressing the young men and maidens of Domremy went to the +old beech-tree together. After they had hung it with garlands of +flowers, they spread a cloth on the grass and supped off nuts, +hard-boiled eggs, and little rolls of a curious form, which the +housewives had kneaded on purpose.[208] Then they drank from the +Gooseberry Spring, danced in a ring, and returned to their own homes +at nightfall. + +[Footnote 208: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 407, 411, 413, 421.] + +Jeanne, like all the other damsels of the countryside, took her part +in the well-dressing. Although she came from the quarter of Domremy +nearest Greux, she kept her feast, not at Notre-Dame de Bermont, but +at the Gooseberry Spring and _l'Arbre-des-Fées_.[209] + +[Footnote 209: _Ibid._, pp. 391-462.] + +In her early childhood she danced round the tree with her companions. +She wove garlands for the image of Notre-Dame de Domremy, whose +chapel crowned a neighbouring hill. The maidens were wont to hang +garlands on the branches of _l'Arbre-des-Fées_. Jeanne, like the +others, bewreathed the tree's branches; and, like the others, +sometimes she left her wreaths behind and sometimes she carried them +away. No one knew what became of them; and it seems their +disappearance was such as to cause wise and learned persons to wonder. +One thing, however, is sure: that the sick who drank from the spring +were healed and straightway walked beneath the tree.[210] + +[Footnote 210: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 67, 209, 210.] + +To hail the coming of spring they made a figure of May, a mannikin of +flowers and foliage.[211] + +[Footnote 211: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 434.] + +Close by _l'Arbre-des-Dames_, beneath a hazel-tree, there was a +mandrake. He promised wealth to whomsoever should dare by night, and +according to the prescribed rites, to tear him from the ground,[212] +not fearing to hear him cry or to see blood flow from his little human +body and his forked feet. + +[Footnote 212: _Atropa Mandragor_, female mandragora, _main de +gloire_, _herbe aux magiciens_. _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 89, 213. _Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 236.] + +The tree, the spring, and the mandrake caused the inhabitants of +Domremy to be suspected of holding converse with evil spirits. A +learned doctor said plainly that the country was famous for the number +of persons who practised witchcraft.[213] + +[Footnote 213: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 209.] + +When quite a little girl, Jeanne journeyed several times to Sermaize +in Champagne, where dwelt certain of her kinsfolk. The village priest, +Messire Henri de Vouthon, was her uncle on her mother's side. She had +a cousin there, Perrinet de Vouthon, by calling a tiler, and his son +Henri.[214] + +[Footnote 214: This is probable but not certain. _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. +74, 388; vol. v, p. 252. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles +recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. xviii _et seq._; 7, 8, +10, _passim_. C. Gilardoni, _Sermaize et son église_, published at +Vitry-le-François, 1893, 8vo.] + +Full thirty-seven and a half miles of forest and heath lie between +Domremy and Sermaize. Jeanne, we may believe, travelled on horseback, +riding behind her brother on the little mare which worked on the +farm.[215] + +[Footnote 215: Capitaine Champion, _Jeanne d'Arc écuyère_, Paris, +1901, 12mo, p. 28.] + +At each visit the child spent several days at her cousin Perrinet's +house.[216] + +[Footnote 216: Boucher de Molandon, _La famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. +627. E. de Bouteiller et G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. 9 +and 10. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xlv _et seq._] + +With regard to feudal overlordship the village of Domremy was divided +into two distinct parts. The southern part, with the château on the +Meuse and some thirty homesteads, belonged to the lords of Bourlémont +and was in the domain of the castellany of Grondrecourt, held in fief +from the crown of France. It was a part of Lorraine and of Bar. The +northern half of the village, in which the monastery was situated, was +subject to the provost of Montéclaire and Andelot and was in the +bailiwick of Chaumont in Champagne.[217] It was sometimes called +Domremy de Greux because it seemed to form a part of the village of +Greux adjoining it on the highroad in the direction of Vaucouleurs.[218] +The serfs of Bourlémont were separated from the king's men by a brook, +close by towards the west, flowing from a threefold source and hence +called, so it is said, the Brook of the Three Springs. Modestly the +stream flowed beneath a flat stone in front of the church, and then +rushed down a rapid incline into the Meuse, opposite Jacques d'Arc's +house, which it passed on the left, leaving it in the land of +Champagne and of France.[219] So far we may be fairly certain; but we +must beware of knowing more than was known in that day. In 1429 King +Charles' council was uncertain as to whether Jacques d'Arc was a +freeman or a serf.[220] And Jacques d'Arc himself doubtless was no +better informed. On both banks of the brook, the men of Lorraine and +Champagne were alike peasants leading a life of toil and hardship. +Although they were subject to different masters they formed none the +less one community closely united, one single rural family. They +shared interests, necessities, feelings--everything. Threatened by the +same dangers, they had the same anxieties. + +[Footnote 217: E. Misset, _Jeanne d'Arc champenoise_, Paris, s.d. +(1894), 8vo. Concerning the nationality of Joan of Arc there is a +whole literature extremely rich, the bibliography of which it is +impossible to give here. Cf. Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, pp. 295 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 218: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 208.] + +[Footnote 219: P. Jollois, _Histoire abrégée de la vie et des exploits +de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1821, engraving I, p. 190. A. Renard, _La +patrie de Jeanne d'Arc_, Langres, 1880, in 18mo, p. 6. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, supplement with proofs and illustrations, +pp. 281, 282.] + +[Footnote 220: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 152.] + +Lying at the extreme south of the castellany of Vaucouleurs, the +village of Domremy was between Bar and Champagne on the east, and +Lorraine on the west.[221] They were terrible neighbours, always +warring against each other, those dukes of Lorraine and Bar, that +Count of Vaudémont, that Damoiseau of Commercy, those Lord Bishops of +Metz, Toul, and Verdun. But theirs were the quarrels of princes. The +villagers observed them just as the frog in the old fable looked on at +the bulls fighting in the meadow. Pale and trembling, poor Jacques saw +himself trodden underfoot by these fierce warriors. At a time when the +whole of Christendom was given up to pillage, the men-at-arms of the +Lorraine Marches were renowned as the greatest plunderers in the +world. Unfortunately for the labourers of the castellany of +Vaucouleurs, close to this domain, towards the north, there lived +Robert de Saarbruck, Damoiseau of Commercy, who, subsisting on +plunder, was especially given to the Lorraine custom of marauding. He +was of the same way of thinking as that English king who said that +warfare without burnings was no good, any more than chitterlings +without mustard.[222] One day, when he was besieging a little +stronghold in which the peasants had taken refuge, the Damoiseau set +fire to the crops of the neighbourhood and let them burn all night +long, so that he might see more clearly how to place his men.[223] + +[Footnote 221: Colonel de Boureulle, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, +Saint-Dié, 1890, in 8vo, 28 small engravings. J. Ch. Chappellier, +_Étude historique sur Domremy, pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, 2 plans; C. +Niobé, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Mémoires de la Société +académique de l'Aube_, 1894, 3d series, vol. xxxi, pp. 307 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 222: Juvénal des Ursins, in the _Collection Michaud et +Poujoulat_, col. 561.] + +[Footnote 223: A. Tuetey, _Les écorcheurs sous Charles VII_, +Montbéliard, 1874, vol. i, p. 87.] + +In 1419 this baron was making war on the brothers Didier and Durand of +Saint-Dié. It matters not for what reason. For this war as for every +war the villagers had to pay. As the men-at-arms were fighting +throughout the whole castellany of Vaucouleurs, the inhabitants of +Domremy began to devise means of safety, and in this wise. At Domremy +there was a castle built in the meadow at the angle of an island +formed by two arms of the river, one of which, the eastern arm, has +long since been filled up.[224] Belonging to this castle was a chapel +of Our Lady, a courtyard provided with means of defence, and a large +garden surrounded by a moat wide and deep. This castle, once the +dwelling of the Lords of Bourlémont, was commonly called the Fortress +of the Island. The last of the lords having died without children, his +property had been inherited by his niece Jeanne de Joinville. But soon +after Jeanne d'Arc's birth she married a Lorraine baron, Henri +d'Ogiviller, with whom she went to reside at the castle of Ogiviller +and at the ducal court of Nancy. Since her departure the fortress of +the island had remained uninhabited. The village folk decided to rent +it and to put their tools and their cattle therein out of reach of the +plunderers. The renting was put up to auction. A certain Jean Biget of +Domremy and Jacques d'Arc, Jeanne's father, being the highest bidders, +and having furnished sufficient security, a lease was drawn up between +them and the representatives of Dame d'Ogiviller. The fortress, the +garden, the courtyard, as well as the meadows belonging to the domain, +were let to Jean Biget and Jacques d'Arc for a term of nine years +beginning on St. John the Baptist's Day, 1419, and in consideration of +a yearly rent of fourteen _livres tournois_[225] and three _imaux_ of +wheat.[226] Besides the two tenants in chief there were five +sub-tenants, of whom the first mentioned was Jacquemin, the eldest of +Jacques d'Arc's sons.[227] + +[Footnote 224: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 66, 215.] + +[Footnote 225: In 1390 one _livre tournois_ was worth £7 5_s_ of +present money; in 1488, £5. Cf. Avenel, _Histoire économique_, 1894 +(W.S.).] + +[Footnote 226: "_Imal_," says Le Trévoux, "is a measure of corn used +at Nancy." There are two _imaux_ in a quarter, and four quarters in a +_réal_, which contains fifteen bushels, according to the Paris +measure.] + +[Footnote 227: The Archives of the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, +collection Ruppes II, No. 28. The farm lease, dated 2nd of April, +1420, was first published by M. J. Ch. Chappellier in _Le Journal de +la Société d'Archéologie Lorraine_, Jan.-Feb., 1889; and _Deux actes +inédits du XV siècle sur Domremy_, Nancy, 1889, 8vo, 16 pages. S. +Luce, _La France pendant la guerre de cent ans_, 1890, 18mo, pp. 274 +_et seq._ Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Étude historique et géographique sur +Domremy, pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des +Chartes_, vol. lvi, pp. 154-168.] + +The precaution proved to be useful. In that very year, 1419, Robert de +Saarbruck and his company met the men of the brothers Didier and +Durand at the village of Maxey, the thatched roofs of which were to be +seen opposite Greux, on the other bank of the Meuse, along the foot of +wooded hills. The two sides here engaged in a battle, in which the +victorious Damoiseau took thirty-five prisoners, whom he afterwards +liberated after having exacted a high ransom, as was his wont. Among +these prisoners was the Squire Thiesselin de Vittel, whose wife had +held Jacques d'Arc's second daughter over the baptismal font. From one +of the hills of her village, Jeanne, who was then seven or a little +older, could see the battle in which her godmother's husband was taken +prisoner.[228] + +[Footnote 228: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 420-426. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. lxiv.] + +Meanwhile matters grew worse and worse in the kingdom of France. This +was well known at Domremy, situated as it was on the highroad, and +hearing the news brought by wayfarers.[229] Thus it was that the +villagers heard of the murder of Duke John of Burgundy on the Bridge +at Montereau, when the Dauphin's Councillors made him pay the price of +the blood he had shed in the Rue Barbette. These Councillors, however, +struck a bad bargain; for the murder on the Bridge brought their young +Prince very low. There followed the war between the Armagnacs and the +Burgundians. From this war the English, the obstinate enemies of the +kingdom, who for two hundred years had held Guyenne and carried on a +prosperous trade there,[230] sucked no small advantage. But Guyenne +was far away, and perhaps no one at Domremy knew that it had once been +a part of the domain of the kings of France. On the other hand every +one was aware that during the recent trouble the English had recrossed +the sea and had been welcomed by my Lord Philip, son of the late Duke +John. They occupied Normandy, Maine, Picardy, l'Île-de-France, and +Paris the great city.[231] Now in France the English were bitterly +hated and greatly feared on account of their reputation for cruelty. +Not that they were really more wicked than other nations.[232] In +Normandy, their king, Henry, had caused women and property to be +respected in all places under his dominion. But war is in itself +cruel, and whosoever wages war in a country is rightly hated by the +people of that country. The English were accused of treachery, and +not always wrongly accused, for good faith is rare among men. They +were ridiculed in various ways. Playing upon their name in Latin and +in French, they were called angels. Now if they were angels they were +assuredly bad angels. They denied God, and their favorite oath +_Goddam_[233] was so often on their lips that they were called +_Godons_. They were devils. They were said to be _coués_, that is, to +have tails behind.[234] There was mourning in many a French household +when Queen Ysabeau delivered the kingdom of France to the +_coués_,[235] making of the noble French lilies a litter for the +leopard. Since then, only a few days apart, King Henry V of Lancaster +and King Charles VI of Valois, the victorious king and the mad king, +had departed to present themselves before God, the Judge of the good +and the evil, the just and the unjust, the weak and the powerful. The +castellany of Vaucouleurs was French.[236] Dwelling there were clerks +and nobles who pitied that later Joash, torn from his enemies in +childhood, an orphan spoiled of his heritage, in whom centred the hope +of the kingdom. But how can we imagine that poor husbandmen had +leisure to ponder on these things? How can we really believe that the +peasants of Domremy were loyal to the Dauphin Charles, their lawful +lord, while the Lorrainers of Maxey, following their Duke, were on the +side of the Burgundians? + +[Footnote 229: Liénard, _Dictionnaire topographique de la Meuse_, +introduction, p. x.] + +[Footnote 230: Dom Devienne, _Histoire de Bordeaux_, pp. 98, 103. L. +Bachelier, _Histoire du commerce de Bordeaux_, Bordeaux, 1862, in 8vo, +p. 45. D. Brissaud, _Les Anglais en Guyenne_, Paris, 1875, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 231: Ch. de Beaurepaire, _De l'administration de la +Normandie sous la domination Anglaise_, Caen, 1859, in 4to; and _États +de Normandie sous la domination Anglaise_, Évreux, 1859, in 8vo. De +Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. v, pp. 40-56, 261-286.] + +[Footnote 232: Thomas Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, +ed. Quicherat, vol. i, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 233: La Curne, under the words _Anglois_ and _Goddons_.] + +[Footnote 234: Voragine, _La légende de Saint-Grégoire_. Du Cange, +_Glossaire_, under the word _Caudatus_. Le Roux de Lincy, _Recueil de +chants historiques français_, Paris, 1851, vol. i, pp. 300, 301. This +oath is to be found current as early as Eustache Deschamps; it was +still in use in the seventeenth century (_Sommaire tant du nom et des +armes que de la naissance et parenté de la Pucelle_, ed. Vallet de +Viriville).] + +[Footnote 235: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, ch. iii. Carlier, +_Histoire du Valois_, vol. ii, pp. 441 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 236: Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. ii, col. 631. +Bonnabelle, _Notice sur la ville de Vaucouleurs_, Bar-le-Duc, 1879, in +8vo, 75 pages.] + +Only the river divided Maxey on the right bank from Domremy. The +Domremy and Greux children went there to school. There were quarrels +between them; the little Burgundians of Maxey fought pitched battles +with the little Armagnacs of Domremy. More than once Joan, at the +Bridge end in the evening, saw the lads of her village returning +covered with blood.[237] It is quite possible that, passionate as she +was, she may have gravely espoused these quarrels and conceived +therefrom a bitter hatred of the Burgundians. Nevertheless, we must +beware of finding an indication of public opinion in these boyish +games played by the sons of villeins. For centuries the brats of these +two parishes were to fight and to insult each other.[238] Insults and +stones fly whenever and wherever children gather in bands, and those +of one village meet those of another. The peasants of Domremy, Greux, +and Maxey, we may be sure, vexed themselves little about the affairs +of dukes and kings. They had learnt to be as much afraid of the +captains of their own side as of the captains of the opposite party, +and not to draw any distinction between the men-at-arms who were their +friends and those who were their enemies. + +[Footnote 237: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 65, 66. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, pp. 18 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 238: N. Villiaumé, _Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, 1864, in 8vo, +p. 52, note 1.] + +In 1429 the English occupied the bailiwick of Chaumont and garrisoned +several fortresses in Bassigny. Messire Robert, Lord of Baudricourt +and Blaise, son of the late Messire Liébault de Baudricourt, was then +captain of Vaucouleurs and bailie of Chaumont for the Dauphin Charles. +He might be reckoned a great plunderer, even in Lorraine. In the +spring of this year, 1420, the Duke of Burgundy having sent an embassy +to the Lord Bishop of Verdun, as the ambassadors were returning they +were taken prisoners by Sire Robert in league with the Damoiseau of +Commercy. To avenge this offence the Duke of Burgundy declared war on +the Captain of Vaucouleurs, and the castellany was ravaged by bands of +English and Burgundians.[239] + +[Footnote 239: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, ch. iii.] + +In 1423 the Duke of Lorraine was waging war with a terrible man, one +Étienne de Vignolles, a Gascon soldier of fortune already famous under +the dreaded name of La Hire,[240] which he was to leave after his +death to the knave of hearts in those packs of cards marked by the +greasy fingers of many a mercenary. La Hire was nominally on the side +of the Dauphin Charles, but in reality he only made war on his own +account. At this time he was ravaging Bar west and south, burning +churches and laying waste villages. + +[Footnote 240: Pierre d'Alheim, _Le jargon Jobelin_, Paris, 1892, in +18mo: glossary, under the word _Hirenalle_, p. 61, and the verbal +communication of M. Marcel Schwob. _Cronique Martiniane_, ed. P. +Champion, p. 8, note 3; _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 270; De +Montlezun, _Histoire de Gascogne_, 1847, in 8vo, p. 143; A. Castaing, +_La patrie du valet de coeur_, in _Revue de Gascogne_, 1869, vol. x, +pp. 29-33.] + +While he was occupying Sermaize, the church of which was fortified, +Jean, Count of Salm, who was governing the Duchy of Bar for the Duke +of Lorraine, laid siege to it with two hundred horse. Collot Turlaut, +who two years before had married Mengette, daughter of Jean de +Vouthon and Jeanne's cousin-german,[241] was killed there by a bomb +fired from a Lorraine mortar. + +[Footnote 241: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. lxxiii, 87, note +1. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. +4-15.] + +Jacques d'Arc was then the elder (_doyen_) of the community. Many +duties fell to the lot of the village elder, especially in troubled +times. It was for him to summon the mayor and the aldermen to the +council meetings, to cry the decrees, to command the watch day and +night, to guard the prisoners. It was for him also to collect taxes, +rents, and feudal dues, an ungrateful office in a ruined country.[242] + +[Footnote 242: Bonvalot, _Le tiers état d'après la charte de Beaumont +et ses filiales_, Paris, 1886, p. 412.] + +Under pretence of safeguarding and protecting them, Robert de +Saarbruck, Damoiseau of Commercy, who for the moment was Armagnac, was +plundering and ransoming the villages belonging to Bar, on the left +bank of the Meuse.[243] On the 7th of October, 1423, Jacques d'Arc, as +elder, signed below the mayor and sheriff the act by which the Squire +extorted from these poor people the annual payment of two _gros_ from +each complete household and one from each widow's household, a tax +which amounted to no less than two hundred and twenty golden crowns, +which the elder was charged to collect before the winter feast of +Saint-Martin.[244] + +[Footnote 243: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. lxxi _et seq._] + +[Footnote 244: _Ibid._, proofs and illustrations, li, p. 97.] + +The following year was bad for the Dauphin Charles, for the French and +Scottish horsemen of his party met with the worst possible treatment +at Verneuil. This year the Damoiseau of Commercy turned Burgundian and +was none the better or the worse for it.[245] Captain La Hire was +still fighting in Bar, but now it was against the young son of Madame +Yolande, the Dauphin Charles's brother-in-law, René d'Anjou, who had +lately come of age and was now invested with the Duchy of Bar. At the +point of the lance Captain La Hire was demanding certain sums of money +that the Cardinal Duke of Bar owed him.[246] + +[Footnote 245: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. +16, 17.] + +[Footnote 246: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, appendix, lxii.] + +At the same time Robert, Sire de Baudricourt, was fighting with Jean +de Vergy, lord of Saint-Dizier, Seneschal of Burgundy.[247] It was a +fine war. On both sides the combatants laid hands on bread, wine, +money, silver-plate, clothes, cattle big and little, and what could +not be carried off was burnt. Men, women, and children were put to +ransom. In most of the villages of Bassigny agriculture was suspended, +nearly all the mills were destroyed.[248] + +[Footnote 247: Du Chesne, _Génealogie de la maison de Vergy_, Paris, +1625, folio. _Nouvelle biographie générale_, vol. xlv, p. 1125.] + +[Footnote 248: S. Luce, Domremy and Vaucouleurs, from 1412 to 1425, in +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, ch. iii.] + +Ten, twenty, thirty bands of Burgundians were ravaging the castellany +of Vaucouleurs, laying it waste with fire and sword. The peasants hid +their horses by day, and by night got up to take them to graze. At +Domremy life was one perpetual alarm.[249] All day and all night there +was a watchman stationed on the square tower of the monastery. Every +villager, and, if the prevailing custom were observed, even the +priest, took his turn as watchman, peering for the glint of lances +through the dust and sunlight down the white ribbon of the road, +searching the horrid depths of the wood, and by night trembling to see +the villages on the horizon bursting into flame. At the approach of +men-at-arms the watchman would ring a noisy peal of those bells, which +in turn celebrated births, mourned for the dead, summoned the people +to prayer, dispelled storms of thunder and lightning, and warned of +danger. Half clothed the awakened villagers would rush to stable, to +cattle-shed, and pell-mell drive their flocks and herds to the castle +between the two arms of the River Meuse.[250] + +[Footnote 249: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 250: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 66. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. lxxxvi, and appendix, xiv, p. 20.] + +One day in the summer of 1425, there fell upon the villages of Greux +and Domremy a certain chief of these marauding bands, who was +murdering and plundering throughout the land, by name Henri d'Orly, +known as Henri de Savoie. This time the island fortress was of no use +to the villagers. Lord Henri took all the cattle from the two villages +and drove them fifteen or twenty leagues[251] away to his _château_ of +Doulevant. He had also captured much furniture and other property; and +the quantity of it was so great that he could not store it all in one +place; wherefore he had part of it carried to Dommartin-le-Franc, a +neighbouring village, where there was a _château_ with so large a +court in front that the place was called Dommartin-la-Cour. The +peasants cruelly despoiled were dying of hunger. Happily for them, at +the news of this pillage, Dame d'Ogiviller sent to the Count of +Vaudémont in his _château_ of Joinville, complaining to him, as her +kinsman, of the wrong done her, since she was lady of Greux and +Domremy. The _château_ of Doulevant was under the immediate suzerainty +of the Count of Vaudémont. As soon as he received his kinswoman's +message he sent a man-at-arms with seven or eight soldiers to +recapture the cattle. This man-at-arms, by name Barthélemy de +Clefmont, barely twenty years of age, was well skilled in deeds of +war. He found the stolen beasts in the _château_ of Dommartin-le-Franc, +took them and drove them to Joinville. On the way he was pursued and +attacked by Lord d'Orly's men and stood in great danger of death. But +so valiantly did he defend himself that he arrived safe and sound at +Joinville, bringing the cattle, which the Count of Vaudémont caused to +be driven back to the pastures of Greux and Domremy.[252] + +[Footnote 251: A league is two and a half English miles (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 252: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. 275 _et seq._] + +Unexpected good fortune! With tears the husbandman welcomed his +restored flocks and herds. But was he not likely to lose them for ever +on the morrow? + +At that time Jeanne was thirteen or fourteen. War everywhere around +her, even in the children's play; the husband of one of her godmothers +taken and ransomed by men-at-arms; the husband of her cousin-german +Mengette killed by a mortar;[253] her native land overrun by +marauders, burnt, pillaged, laid waste, all the cattle carried off; +nights of terror, dreams of horror,--such were the surroundings of her +childhood. + +[Footnote 253: E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles +recherches_, pp. 4-15.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JEANNE'S VOICES + + +Now, when she was about thirteen, it befell one summer day, at noon, +that while she was in her father's garden she heard a voice that +filled her with a great fear. It came from the right, from towards the +church, and at the same time in the same direction there appeared a +light. The voice said: "I come from God to help thee to live a good +and holy life.[254] Be good, Jeannette, and God will aid thee." + +[Footnote 254: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 72, 73, 89, 170.] + +It is well known that fasting conduces to the seeing of visions. +Jeanne was accustomed to fast. Had she abstained from food that +morning and if so when had she last partaken of it? We cannot +say.[255] + +[Footnote 255: The manuscript runs: _non jejunaverat die præcedenti_. +Quicherat omits _non_. _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52. Cf. _Revue critique_, +March, 1908, p. 215.] + +On another day the voice spoke again and repeated, "Jeannette, be +good." + +The child did not know whence the voice came. But the third time, as +she listened, she knew it was an angel's voice and she even recognised +the angel to be St. Michael. She could not be mistaken, for she knew +him well. He was the patron saint of the duchy of Bar.[256] She +sometimes saw him on the pillar of church or chapel, in the guise of +a handsome knight, with a crown on his helmet, wearing a coat of mail, +bearing a shield, and transfixing the devil with his lance.[257] +Sometimes he was represented holding the scales in which he weighed +souls, for he was provost of heaven and warden of paradise;[258] at +once the leader of the heavenly hosts and the angel of judgment.[259] +He loved high lands.[260] That is why in Lorraine a chapel had been +dedicated to him on Mount Sombar, north of the town of Toul. In very +remote times he had appeared to the Bishop of Avranches and commanded +him to build a church on Mount Tombe, in such a place as he should +find a bull hidden by thieves; and the site of the building was to +include the whole area overtrodden by the bull. The Abbey of +Mont-Saint-Michel-au-Péril-de-la-Mer was erected in obedience to this +command.[261] + +[Footnote 256: V. Servais, _Annales historiques du Barrois_, +Bar-le-Duc, 1865, vol. i, engraving 2.] + +[Footnote 257: P. Ch. Cahier, _Caractéristique des saints dans l'art +populaire_, vol. i, p. 363. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 50. S. +Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xcv, xcvi, and proofs and +illustrations, xxiv, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 258: _Mystère de Saint Remi_, the Arsenal Library, ms. +3.364, folios 4 and 108.] + +[Footnote 259: "_Sed signifer Sanctus Michael representet eas (animas) +in lucem sanctam._" Prayer from the mass for the dead.] + +[Footnote 260: A. Maury, _Croyances et légendes du moyen âge_, pp. 171 +_et seq._ Barbier de Montault, _Traité d'iconographie chrétienne_, +vol. i, p. 191.] + +[Footnote 261: AA. SS., 1672, vol. iii, i, pp. 85 _et seq._ Dom. J. +Huynes, _Histoire générale de l'abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel_, ed. R. +de Beaurepaire, Rouen, 1872, pp. 61 _et seq._ A. Forgeais, _Collection +de plombs_ (seals) _historiés trouvés dans la Seine_, Paris, 1864, +vol. iii, p. 197. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, ch. iv. +_Chronique du Mont-Saint-Michel_ (1343-1468), ed. S. Luce, Paris, +1880-1886 (2 vols. in 8vo), vol. i, pp. 26, 146, 163 _et seq._] + +About the time when the child was having these visions, the defenders +of Mont-Saint-Michel discomfited the English who were attacking the +fortress by land and sea. The French attributed this victory to the +all-powerful intercession of the archangel.[262] And why should he not +have favoured the French who worshipped him with peculiar devoutness? +Since my Lord St. Denys had permitted his abbey to be taken by the +English, my Lord St. Michael, who carefully guarded his, was in a fair +way to become the true patron saint of the kingdom.[263] In the year +1419 the Dauphin Charles had had escutcheons painted, representing St. +Michael fully armed, holding a naked sword and in the act of slaying a +serpent.[264] The maid of Domremy, however, knew but little of the +miracles worked by my Lord St. Michael in Normandy. She recognised the +angel by his weapons, his courtesy, and the noble words that fell from +his lips.[265] + +[Footnote 262: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 272 (opinion of Jean Bochard, called de Vaucelle, +Bishop of Avranches). Dom. J. Huynes, _loc. cit._, ch. viii, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 263: Dom Félibien, _Histoire de l'abbaye royale de +Saint-Denis...._ Paris, 1706, in folio, p. 341.] + +[Footnote 264: Richer, _Histoire manuscrite de la Pucelle_, ms. fr. +10,448, fol. 13. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, proofs and +illustrations, xxiv.] + +[Footnote 265: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 173, 248, 249.] + +One day he said to her: "Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret will come +to thee. Act according to their advice; for they are appointed to +guide thee and counsel thee in all thou hast to do, and thou mayest +believe what they shall say unto thee." And these things came to pass +as the Lord had ordained.[266] + +[Footnote 266: _Ibid._, p. 170.] + +This promise filled her with great joy, for she loved them both. +Madame Sainte Marguerite was highly honoured in the kingdom of +France, where she was a great benefactress. She helped women in +labour,[267] and protected the peasant at work in the fields. She was +the patron saint of flax-spinners, of procurers of wet-nurses, of +vellum-dressers, and of bleachers of wool. Her precious relics in a +reliquary, carried on a mule's back, were paraded by ecclesiastics +through towns and villages. Plenteous alms[268] were showered upon the +exhibitors in return for permission to touch the relics. Many times +had Jeanne seen Madame Sainte Marguerite at church, painted life-size, +a holy-water sprinkler in her hand, her foot on a dragon's head.[269] +She was acquainted with her history as it was related in those days, +somewhat on the lines of the following narrative. + +[Footnote 267: _La vierge Marguerite substituée à la Lucine antique_, +analysis of an unpublished poem of the fifteenth century, Paris, 1885, +in 8vo, p. 2. Rabelais, _Gargantua_, vol. i, ch. vi. L'Abbé J.B. +Thiers, _Traité des superstitions qui regarde les sacrements selon +l'Écriture sainte_, Paris, 1697 (4 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, p. 109.] + +[Footnote 268: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, proofs and +illustrations, ccxxxiv, p. 272.] + +[Footnote 269: Abbé Bourgaut, _Guide du pélerin à Domremy_, Nancy, +1878, in 12mo, p. 60. É. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 65-72.] + +The blessed Margaret was born at Antioch. Her father, Theodosius, was +a priest of the Gentiles. She was put out to nurse and secretly +baptised. One day when she was in her fifteenth year, as she was +watching the flock belonging to her nurse, the governor Olibrius saw +her, and, struck by her great beauty, conceived a great passion for +her. Wherefore he said to his servants: "Go, bring me that girl, in +order that if she be free I may marry her, or if she be a slave I may +take her into my service." + +And when she was brought he inquired of her her country, her name, +and her religion. She replied that she was called Margaret and that +she was a Christian. + +And Olibrius said unto her: "How comes it that so noble and beautiful +a girl as you can worship Jesus the Crucified?" + +And because she replied that Jesus Christ was alive for ever, the +governor in wrath had her thrown into prison. + +The next day he summoned her to appear before him and said: "Unhappy +girl, have pity on your own beauty and for your own sake worship our +gods. If you persist in your blindness I will have your body rent in +pieces." + +And Margaret made answer: "Jesus suffered death for me, and I would +fain die for him." + +Then the governor commanded her to be hung from the wooden horse, to +be beaten with rods, and her flesh to be torn with iron claws. And the +blood flowed from the virgin's body as from a pure spring of fresh +water. + +Those who stood by wept, and the governor covered his face with his +cloak that he might not see the blood. And he commanded to unloose her +and take her back to prison. + +There she was tempted by the Spirit, and she prayed the Lord to reveal +to her the enemy whom she had to withstand. Thereupon a huge dragon, +appearing before her, rushed forward to devour her, but she made the +sign of the cross and he disappeared. Then, in order to seduce her, +the devil assumed the form of a man. He came to her gently, took her +hands in his and said: "Margaret, what you have done sufficeth." But +she seized him by the hair, threw him to the ground, placed her right +foot upon his head and cried: "Tremble, proud enemy, thou liest +beneath a woman's foot." + +The next day, in the presence of the assembled people, she was brought +before the judge, who commanded her to sacrifice to idols. And when +she refused he had her body burned with flaming pine-wood, but she +seemed to suffer no pain. And fearing lest, amazed at this miracle, +all the people should be converted, Olibrius commanded that the +blessed Margaret should be beheaded. She spoke unto the executioner +and said: "Brother, take your axe and strike me." With one blow he +struck off her head. Her soul took flight to heaven in the form of a +dove.[270] + +[Footnote 270: Voragine, _La légende dorée_ (Légende de Sainte +Marguerite). Douhet, _Dictionnaire des légendes_, pp. 824-836.] + +This story had been told in songs and mysteries.[271] It was so well +known that the name of the governor, jestingly vilified and fallen +into ridicule, was in common parlance bestowed on braggarts and +blusterers. A fool who posed as a wicked person was called _an +olibrius_.[272] + +[Footnote 271: Gaston Paris, _La littérature française au moyen âge_, +1890, in 16mo, p. 212.] + +[Footnote 272: La Curne, _Dictionnaire de l'ancien langage français_, +under the word _Olibrius_. Olibrius figures also in the legend of +Saint Reine, where he is governor of the Gallic Provinces. The legend +of Saint Reine is only a somewhat ancient variant of the legend of +Saint Margaret.] + +Madame Sainte Catherine, whose coming the angel had announced to +Jeanne at the same time as that of Madame Sainte Marguerite, was the +protectress of young girls and especially of servants and spinsters. + +Orators and philosophers too had chosen as their patron saint the +virgin who had confounded the fifty doctors and triumphed over the +magi of the east. In the Meuse valley rhymed prayers like the +following were addressed to her: + + Ave, très sainte Catherine, + Vierge pucelle nette et fine.[273] + +[Footnote 273: + + Hail, thou holy Catherine, + Virgin Maid so pure and fine. + +_Bibliothèque Mazarine, manuscrit_, 515. _Recueil de prières_, folio +55. This manuscript comes from the banks of the Meuse.] + +This fine lady was no stranger to Jeanne; she had her church at Maxey, +on the opposite bank of the river; and her name was borne by Isabelle +Romée's eldest daughter.[274] + +[Footnote 274: S. Luce, _loc. cit._, proofs and illustrations, xiii, +p. 19, note 2. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches +sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. xvi and 62. _Guide et souvenir du +pélerin à Domremy_, Nancy, 1878, in 18mo, p. 60.] + +Jeanne certainly did not know the story of Saint Catherine as it was +known to illustrious clerks; as, for example, about this time it was +committed to writing by Messire Jean Miélot, the secretary of the Duke +of Burgundy. Jean Miélot told how the virgin of Alexandria +controverted the subtle arguments of Homer, the syllogisms of +Aristotle, the very learned reasonings of the famous physicians +Æsculapius and Galen, practised the seven liberal arts, and disputed +according to the rules of dialectics.[275] Jacques d'Arc's daughter +had heard nothing of all that; she knew Saint Catherine from stories +out of some history written in the vulgar tongue, in verse or in +prose, so many of which were in circulation at that time.[276] + +[Footnote 275: J. Miélot, _Vie de sainte Cathérine_, text revised by +Marius Sepet, 1881, in large 8vo.] + +[Footnote 276: Gaston Paris, _La littérature française au moyen âge_, +pp. 82, 213.] + +Catherine, daughter of King Costus and Queen Sabinella, as she grew in +years, became proficient in the arts, and a skilful embroiderer in +silk. While her body was resplendent with beauty, her soul was clouded +by the darkness of idolatry. Many barons of the empire sought her in +marriage; she scorned them and said: "Find me a husband wise, +handsome, noble, and rich." Now in her sleep she had a vision. Holding +the Child Jesus in her arms, the Virgin Mary appeared unto her and +said: "Catherine, will you take him for your husband? And you, my +sweet son, will you have this virgin for your bride?" + +The Child Jesus made answer: "Mother, I will not have her; bid her +depart from you, for she is a worshipper of idols. But if she will be +baptised I will consent to put the nuptial ring on her finger." + +Desiring to marry the King of Heaven, Catherine went to ask for +baptism at the hands of the hermit Ananias, who lived in Armenia on +Mount Negra. A few days afterwards, when she was praying in her room, +she saw Jesus Christ appear in the midst of a numerous choir of angels +and of saints. He drew near unto her and placed his ring upon her +finger. Then only did Catherine know that her bridal was a spiritual +bridal. + +In those days Maxentius was Emperor of the Romans. He commanded the +people of Alexandria to offer great sacrifices to the idols. +Catherine, as she was at prayer in her oratory, heard the chanting of +the priests and the bellowing of the victims. Straightway she went to +the public square, and beholding Maxentius at the gate of the temple, +she said unto him: "How comes it that thou art so foolish as to +command this people to offer incense to idols? Thou admirest this +temple built by the hands of thy workmen. Thou admirest these +ornaments which are but dust blown away by the wind. Thou shouldest +rather admire the sky, and the earth, and the sea, and all that is +therein. Thou shouldest rather admire the ornaments of the heavens: +the sun, the moon, and the stars, and those circling planets, which +from the beginning of the world move from the west and return to the +east and never grow weary. And when thou hast observed all these +things, ask and learn who is their Creator. It is our God, the Lord of +Hosts, and the God of gods." + +"Woman," replied the emperor, "leave us to finish our sacrifice; +afterwards we will make answer unto thee." + +And he commanded Catherine to be taken into the palace and strictly +guarded, because he marvelled at the great wisdom and the wonderful +beauty of this virgin. He summoned fifty doctors well versed in the +knowledge of the Egyptians and the liberal arts; and, when they were +gathered together, he said unto them: "A maiden of subtle mind +maintains that our gods are but demons. I could have forced her to +sacrifice or have made her pay the penalty of her disobedience; I +judged it better that she should be confounded by the power of your +reasoning. If you triumph over her, you will return to your homes +laden with honours." + +And the wise men made answer: "Let her be brought, that her rashness +may be made manifest, that she may confess that never until now has +she met men of wisdom." + +And when she learned that she was to dispute with wise men, Catherine +feared lest she should not worthily defend the gospel of Jesus Christ. +But an angel appeared to her and said: "I am the Archangel Saint +Michael, sent by God to make known unto thee that from this strife +thou shalt come forth victorious and worthy of our Lord Jesus Christ, +the hope and crown of those who strive for him." + +And the virgin disputed with the doctors. When they maintained that it +was impossible for God to become man, and be acquainted with grief, +Catherine showed how the birth and passion of Jesus Christ had been +announced by the Gentiles themselves, and prophesied by Plato and the +Sibyl. + +The doctors had nothing to oppose to arguments so convincing. +Therefore the chief among them said to the emperor: "Thou knowest that +up till now no one has disputed with us without being straightway +confounded. But this maid, through whom the Spirit of God speaks, +fills us with wonder, and we know nothing nor dare we say anything +against Christ. And we boldly confess that if thou hast no stronger +arguments to bring forth in favour of the gods, whom hitherto we have +worshipped, we will all of us embrace the Christian religion." + +On hearing these words, the tyrant was so transported with wrath that +he had the fifty doctors burned in the middle of the town. But as a +sign that they suffered for the truth, neither their garments nor the +hairs of their heads were touched by the fire. + +Afterwards Maxentius said unto Catherine: "O virgin, issue of a noble +line, and worthy of the imperial purple, take counsel with thy youth, +and sacrifice to our gods. If thou dost consent, thou shalt take rank +in my palace after the empress, and thy image, placed in the middle of +the town, shall be worshipped by all the people like that of a +goddess." + +But Catherine answered: "Speak not of such things. The very thought of +them is sin. Jesus Christ hath chosen me for his bride. He is my love, +my glory, and all my delight." + +Finding it impossible to flatter her with soft words, the tyrant hoped +to reduce her to obedience through fear; therefore he threatened her +with death. + +Catherine's courage did not waver. "Jesus Christ," she said, "offered +himself to his Father as a sacrifice for me; it is my great joy to +offer myself as an agreeable sacrifice to the glory of his name." + +Straightway Maxentius commanded that she should be scourged with rods, +and then cast into a dark dungeon and left there without food. +Thereupon, at the call of urgent affairs, Maxentius set out for a +distant province. + +Now the empress, who was a heathen, had a vision, in which Saint +Catherine appeared to her surrounded by a marvellous light. Angels +clad in white were with her, and their faces could not be looked upon +by reason of the brightness that proceeded from them. And Catherine +told the empress to draw near. Taking a crown from the hand of one of +the angels who attended her, she placed it upon the head of the +empress, saying: "Behold a crown sent down to thee from heaven, in the +name of Jesus Christ, my God, and my Lord." + +The heart of the empress was troubled by this wonderful dream. +Wherefore, attended by Porphyrius, a knight who was commander-in-chief +of the army, in the early hours of night she repaired to the prison in +which Catherine was confined. Here in her cell a dove brought her +heavenly food, and angels dressed the virgin's wounds. The empress and +Porphyrius found the dungeon bathed in a light so bright that it +filled them with a great fear, and they fell prostrate on the ground. +But there straightway filled the dungeon an odour marvellously sweet, +which comforted them and gave them courage. + +"Arise," said Catherine, "and be not afraid, for Jesus Christ calleth +you." + +They arose, and beheld Catherine in the midst of a choir of angels. +The saint took from the hands of one among them a crown, very +beautiful and shining like gold, and she put it upon the empress's +head. This crown was the sign of martyrdom. For indeed the names of +this queen and of the knight Porphyrius were already written in the +book of eternal rewards. + +On his return Maxentius commanded Catherine to be brought before him, +and said unto her: "Choose between two things: to sacrifice and live, +or to die in torment." + +Catherine made answer: "It is my desire to offer to Jesus Christ my +flesh and my blood. He is my lover, my shepherd, and my husband." + +Then the provost of the city of Alexandria, whose name was Chursates, +commanded to be made four wheels furnished with very sharp iron +spikes, in order that upon these wheels the blessed Catherine should +die a miserable and a cruel death. But an angel broke the machine, and +with such violence that the parts of it flying asunder killed a great +number of the Gentiles. And the empress, who beheld these things from +the top of her tower, came down and reproached the emperor for his +cruelty. Full of wrath, Maxentius commanded the empress to sacrifice; +and when she refused, he commanded her breasts to be torn out and her +head to be cut off. And while she was being taken to the torturer, +Catherine exhorted her, saying: "Go, rejoice, queen beloved of God, +for to-day thou shalt exchange for a perishable kingdom an +everlasting empire, and a mortal husband for an immortal lover." + +And the empress was taken to suffer death outside the walls. +Porphyrius carried away the body and had it buried reverently as that +of a servant of Jesus Christ. Wherefore Maxentius had Porphyrius put +to death, and his body cast to the dogs. Then, summoning Catherine +before him, he said unto her: "Since, by thy magic arts thou hast +caused the empress to perish, now if thou repent thou shalt be first +in my palace. To-day, therefore, sacrifice to the gods, or thy head +shall be struck off." + +She made answer: "Do as thou hast resolved that I may take my place in +the band of maidens who are around the Lamb of God." + +The emperor sentenced her to be beheaded. And when they had led her +outside the city of Alexandria, to the place of death, she raised her +eyes to heaven and said: "Jesus, hope and salvation of the faithful, +glory and beauty of virgins, I pray thee to listen and to answer the +prayer of whomsoever, in memory of my martyrdom, shall invoke me in +death or in peril whatsoever." + +And a voice from heaven made answer: "Come, my beloved bride; the gate +of heaven is open to thee. And to those who shall invoke me through +thy intercession, I promise help from on high." From the riven neck of +the virgin flowed forth milk instead of blood. + +Thus Madame Sainte Catherine passed from this world to celestial +happiness, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of November, which was +a Friday.[277] + +[Footnote 277: Voragine, _La légende dorée_, 1846, pp. 789-797. +Douhet, _Dictionnaire des légendes_, 1855, pp. 824-836.] + +My Lord Saint Michael, the Archangel, did not forget his promise. The +ladies Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret came as he had said. On +their very first visit the young peasant maid vowed to them to +preserve her virginity as long as it should please God.[278] If there +were any meaning in such a promise, Jeanne, however old she may then +have been, could not have been quite a child. And it seems probable +that the angel and the saints appeared to her first when she was on +the threshold of womanhood, that is, if she ever became a woman.[279] + +[Footnote 278: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 128. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, +p. 29. When we come to the trial, we shall consider whether it be +possible to reconcile Jeanne's assertions with regard to this vow.] + +[Footnote 279: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 128; vol. iii, p. 219.] + +The saints soon entered into familiar relations with her.[280] They +came to the village every day, and often several times a day. When she +saw them appear in a ray of light coming down from heaven, shining and +clad like queens, with golden crowns on their heads, wearing rich and +precious jewels, the village maiden crossed herself devoutly and +curtsied low.[281] And because they were ladies of good breeding, they +returned her salutation. Each one had her own particular manner of +greeting, and it was by this manner that Jeanne distinguished one from +the other, for the dazzling light of their countenances rendered it +impossible for her to look them in the face. They graciously permitted +their earth-born friend to touch their feet, to kiss the hems of their +garments, and to inhale rapturously the sweet perfume they +emitted.[282] They addressed her courteously,[283] as it seemed to +Jeanne. They called the lowly damsel daughter of God. They taught her +to live well and go to church. Without always having anything very new +to say to her, since they came so constantly, they spoke to her of +things which filled her with joy, and, after they had disappeared, +Jeanne ardently pressed her lips to the ground their feet had +trodden.[284] + +[Footnote 280: _Ibid._, index, under the words, _Voices_, _Catherine_, +and _Marguerite_.] + +[Footnote 281: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 71-85, 167 _seq._, 186 _seq._] + +[Footnote 282: _Ibid._, pp. 185, 186.] + +[Footnote 283: In the French, _humblement_. In old French _humblement_ +means courteously. In Froissart there is a passage quoted by La Curne: +"_Li contes de Hainaut rechut ces seigneurs d'Engleterre, l'un après +l'autre, moult humblement._"] + +[Footnote 284: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 130.] + +Oftentimes she received the heavenly ladies in her little garden, +close to the precincts of the church. She used to meet them near the +spring; often they even appeared to their little friend surrounded by +heavenly companies. "For," Isabelle's daughter used to say, "angels +are wont to come down to Christians without being seen, but I see +them."[285] It was in the woods, amid the light rustling of the +leaves, and especially when the bells rang for matins or compline, +that she heard the sweet words most distinctly. And so she loved the +sound of the bells, with which her Voices mingled. So, when at nine +o'clock in the evening, Perrin le Drapier, sexton of the parish, +forgot to ring for compline, she reproached him with his negligence, +and scolded him for not doing his duty. She promised him cakes if in +the future he would not forget to ring the bells.[286] + +[Footnote 285: _Ibid._, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 286: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 413, note 2.] + +She told none of these things to her priest; for this, according to +some good doctors, she must be censured, but, according to others +equally excellent, she must be commended. For if on the one hand we +are to consult our ecclesiastical superiors in matters of faith, on +the other, where the gift of the Holy Ghost is poured out, there +reigns perfect liberty.[287] + +[Footnote 287: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52, marginal comment of the d'Urfé +MS.: _Celavit visiones curato, patri et matri et cuicumque_, in the +_Trial_, vol. i, p. 128, note. Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et +consultations en faveur de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 471.] + +Since the two saints had been visiting Jeanne, my Lord Saint Michael +had come less often; but he had not forsaken her. There came a time +when he talked to her of love for the kingdom of France, of that love +which she felt in her heart.[288] + +[Footnote 288: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 171: "_Et luy racontet l'angle la +pitié qui estoit ou royaume de France._" _Pitié_ means here occasion +for tenderness and love. The angel is thinking especially of the +Dauphin. For the meaning and use of this word, cf. Monstrelet, vol. +iii, p. 74: "_... et le peuple plorant de pitié et de joie qu'ils +avoient à regarder leur seigneur_." Gérard de Nevers in La Curne: +"_Pitié estoit de voir festoyer leur seigneur; on ne pourroit retenir +ses larmes en voyant la joie qu'ils marquoient de recevoir leur +seigneur._"] + +And the holy visitants, whose voices grew stronger and more ardent as +the maiden's soul grew holier and more heroic, revealed to her her +mission. "Daughter of God," they said, "thou must leave thy village, +and go to France."[289] + +[Footnote 289: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.] + +Had this idea of a holy militant mission, conceived by Jeanne through +the intermediary of her Voices, come into her mind spontaneously +without the intervention of any outside will, or had it been suggested +to her by some one who was influencing her? It would be impossible to +solve this problem were there not a slight indication to direct us. +Jeanne at Domremy was acquainted with a prophecy foretelling that +France would be ruined by a woman and saved by a maiden.[290] It made +an extraordinary impression upon her; and later she came to speak in a +manner which proved that she not only believed it, but was persuaded +that she herself was the maiden designated by the prophecy.[291] Who +taught her this? Some peasant? We have reason to believe that the +peasants did not know it, and that it was current among +ecclesiastics.[292] Besides, it is important to notice in this +connection that Jeanne was acquainted with a particular form of this +prophecy, obviously arranged for her benefit, since it specified that +the Maiden Redemptress should come from the borders of Lorraine. This +local addition is not the work of a cowherd; it suggests rather a mind +apt to direct souls and to inspire deeds. It is no longer possible to +doubt that the prophecy thus revised is the work of an ecclesiastic +whose intentions may be easily divined. Henceforth one is conscious of +an idea agitating and possessing the young seer of visions. + +[Footnote 290: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 444.] + +[Footnote 291: "_Nonne alias dictum fuit quod Francia per mulierem +desolaretur, et postea per Virginem restaurari debebat?_" Evidence +given by Durand Lassois in _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 444.] + +[Footnote 292: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 447. Nevertheless the woman Le +Royer of Domremy remembered it and was astonished by it. _Et hunc ipsa +testis hæc audisse recordata est et stupefacta fuit._] + +On the banks of the Meuse, among the humble folk of the countryside, +some churchman, preoccupied with the lot of the poor people of France, +directed Jeanne's visions to the welfare of the kingdom and to the +conclusion of peace. He carried the ardour of his pious zeal so far as +to collect prophecies concerning the salvation of the French crown, +and to add to them with an eye to the accomplishment of his design. +For such an ecclesiastic we must seek among the priests of Lorraine +or Champagne upon whom the national misfortunes imposed cruel +sufferings.[293] Merchants and artizans, crushed under the burden of +taxes and subsidies, and ruined by changes in the coinage,[294] +peasants, whose houses, barns, and mills had been destroyed, and whose +fields had been laid waste, no longer contributed to the expenses of +public worship.[295] Canons and ecclesiastics, deprived both of their +feudal dues and of the contributions of the faithful, quitted the +religious houses and set out to beg their bread from door to door, +leaving behind in the monasteries only two or three old monks, and a +few children. The fortified abbeys attracted captains and soldiers of +both sides. They entrenched themselves within the walls; they +plundered and burnt. When one of those holy houses succeeded in +remaining standing, the wandering village folk made it their place of +refuge, and it was impossible to prevent the refectories and +dormitories from being invaded by women.[296] In the midst of this +obscure throng of souls afflicted by the sufferings and the scandals +of the Church may be divined the prophet and the director of the Maid. + +[Footnote 293: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 180. Jean Chartier, _Chronique +latine_, ed. Vallet de Viriville, vol. i, p. 13. Th. Basin, _Histoire +de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, pp. 44 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 294: Alain Chartier, _Quadriloge invectif_, ed. André +Duchesne, Paris, 1617, pp. 440 _et seq._ _Ordonnances_, vol. xi, pp. +101 _et seq._ Viutry, _Les monnaies sous les trois premiers Valois_, +Paris, 1881, in 8vo, _passim_. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. i, ch. xi.] + +[Footnote 295: Juvénal des Ursins and _Journal d'un bourgeois de +Paris_, _passim_. Letter from Nicholas de Clemangis to Gerson, in +_Clemangis opera omnia_, 1613, in 4to, vol. ii, pp. 159 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 296: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises, monastères_, +Mâcon, 1897, in 8vo, introduction.] + +We shall not be tempted to recognise him in Messire Guillaume +Frontey, priest of Domremy. The successor of Messire Jean Minet, if we +may judge from his conversation which has been preserved, was as +simple as his flock.[297] Jeanne saw many priests and monks. She was +in the habit of visiting her uncle, the priest of Sermaize, and of +seeing in the Abbey of Cheminon,[298] her cousin, a young ecclesiastic +in minor orders, who was soon to follow her into France. She was in +touch with a number of priests who would be very quick to recognise +her exceptional piety, and her gift of beholding things invisible to +the majority of Christians. They engaged her in conversations, which, +had they been preserved, would doubtless present to us one of the +sources whence she derived inspiration for her marvellous vocation. +One among them, whose name will never be known, raised up an angelic +deliverer for the king and the kingdom of France. + +[Footnote 297: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 402, 434.] + +[Footnote 298: These two persons, however, are only known to us +through somewhat doubtful genealogical documents. _Trial_, vol. v, p. +252. Boucher de Molandon, _La famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 127. G. de +Braux and E. de Bouteiller, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. 7 _et seq._] + +Meanwhile Jeanne was living a life of illusion. Knowing nothing of the +influences she was under, incapable of recognising in her Voices the +echo of a human voice or the promptings of her own heart, she +responded timidly to the saints when they bade her fare forth into +France: "I am a poor girl, and know not how to ride a horse or how to +make war."[299] + +[Footnote 299: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 53.] + +As soon as she began to receive these revelations she gave up her +games and her excursions. Henceforth she seldom danced round the +fairies' tree, and then only in play with the children.[300] It would +seem that she also took a dislike to working in the fields, and +especially to herding the flocks. From early childhood she had shown +signs of piety. Now she gave herself up to extreme devoutness; she +confessed frequently, and communicated with ecstatic fervour; she +heard mass in her parish church every day. At all hours she was to be +found in church, sometimes prostrate on the ground, sometimes with her +hands clasped, and her face turned towards the image of Our Lord or of +Our Lady. She did not always wait for Saturday to visit the chapel at +Bermont. Sometimes, when her parents thought she was tending the +herds, she was kneeling at the feet of the miracle-working Virgin. The +village priest, Messire Guillaume Frontey, could do nothing but praise +the most guileless of his parishioners.[301] One day he happened to +say with a sigh: "If Jeannette had money she would give it to me for +the saying of masses."[302] + +[Footnote 300: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 404, 407, 409, 411, 414, 416, +_passim_.] + +[Footnote 301: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 402, 434.] + +[Footnote 302: _Ibid._, p. 402. Concerning Jeanne's religious +observances, see _Ibid._, index, under the words _Messe_, _Vierge_, +_Cloche_.] + +As for the good man, Jacques d'Arc, it is possible that he may have +occasionally complained of those pilgrimages, those meditations, and +those other practices which ill accorded with the ordinary tenor of +country life. Every one thought Jeanne odd and erratic. Mengette and +her friends, when they found her so devout, said she was too +pious.[303] They scolded her for not dancing with them. Among others, +Isabellette, the young wife of Gérardin d'Epinal, the mother of little +Nicholas, Jeanne's godson, roundly condemned a girl who cared so +little for dancing.[304] Colin, son of Jean Colin, and all the +village lads made fun of her piety. Her fits of religious ecstasy +raised a smile. She was regarded as a little mad. She suffered from +this persistent raillery.[305] But with her own eyes she beheld the +dwellers in Paradise. And when they left her she would cry and wish +that they had taken her with them. + +[Footnote 303: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 429.] + +[Footnote 304: _Ibid._, p. 427.] + +[Footnote 305: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 432.] + +"Daughter of God, thou must leave thy village and go forth into +France."[306] + +[Footnote 306: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 52, 53.] + +And the ladies Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret spoke again and +said: "Take the standard sent down to thee by the King of Heaven, take +it boldly and God will help thee." As she listened to these words of +the ladies with the beautiful crowns, Jeanne was consumed with a +desire for long expeditions on horseback, and for those battles in +which angels hover over the heads of the warriors. But how was she to +go to France? How was she to associate with men-at-arms? Ignorant and +generously impulsive like herself, the Voices she heard merely +revealed to her her own heart, and left her in sad agitation of mind: +"I am a poor girl, knowing neither how to bestride a horse nor how to +make war."[307] + +[Footnote 307: _Ibid._, p. 53.] + +Jeanne's native village was named after the blessed Remi;[308] the +parish church bore the name of the great apostle of the Gauls, who, in +baptising King Clovis, had anointed with holy oil the first Christian +prince of the noble House of France, descended from the noble King +Priam of Troy. + +[Footnote 308: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 393, 400, _passim_.] + +Thus runs the legend of Saint Remi as it was told by churchmen. In +those days the pious hermit Montan, who lived in the country of Laon, +beheld a choir of angels and an assembly of saints; and he heard a +voice full and sweet saying: "The Lord hath looked down upon the +earth. That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that +he might release the children of the slain: that they may declare the +name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem. When the people +assemble together, and kings to serve the Lord.[309] And Cilinia shall +bring forth a son for the saving of the people." + +[Footnote 309: Psalm ci, 20-23. _Vulgate_, Douai Version (W.S.).] + +Now Cilinia was old, and her husband Emilius was blind. Yet Cilinia, +having conceived, brought forth a son; and with the milk with which +she nourished her babe she rubbed the eyes of the father, and +straightway his eyes were opened, and he saw. + +This child, whose birth had been foretold by angels, was called Remi, +which, being interpreted, means oar; for by his teaching, as with a +well-cut oar, he was to guide the Church of God, and especially the +church of Reims, over the stormy sea of life, and by his merits and +his prayers bring it into the heaven of eternal salvation. + +In retirement and in the practice of holy and Christian observances, +Cilinia's son passed his pious youth at Laon. Hardly had he entered +his twenty-second year, when the episcopal seat of Reims fell vacant +on the death of the blessed Bishop Bennade. An immense concourse of +people nominated Remi the shepherd of the flock. He refused a burden +which he said was too heavy for the weakness of his youth. But +suddenly there fell upon his forehead a ray of celestial light, and a +divine liquid was shed upon his hair, and scented it with a strange +perfume. Wherefore, without further delay, the bishops of the +province of Reims, with one consent, consecrated him their bishop. +Established in the seat of Saint Sixtus, the blessed Remi revealed +himself liberal in almsgiving, assiduous in vigilance, fervent in +prayer, perfect in charity, marvellous in doctrine, and holy in all +his conversation. Like a city built on the top of a mountain, he was +admired of all men. + +In those days, Clovis, King of France, was a heathen, with all his +knights. But he had won a great victory over the Germans by invoking +the name of Christ. Wherefore, at the entreaty of the saintly Queen +Clotilde, his wife, he resolved to ask baptism at the hands of the +blessed Bishop of Reims. When this pious desire had been made known to +him, Saint Remi taught the King and his subjects that, renouncing +Satan and his pomps and his works, they must believe in God and in +Jesus Christ his Son. And as the solemn festival of Easter was +approaching, he commanded them to fast according to the custom of the +faithful. On the day of the Passion of Our Lord, the eve of the day on +which Clovis was to be baptised, early in the morning the Bishop went +to the King and Queen and led them to an oratory dedicated to the +blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Suddenly the chapel was filled +with a light so brilliant that the sunshine became as shadow, and from +the midst of this light there came a voice saying: "Peace be with you, +it is I, fear not and abide in my love." After these words the light +faded, but there remained in the chapel an odour of ineffable +sweetness. Then, with his face shining like the countenance of Moses, +and illuminated within by a divine brightness, the holy Bishop +prophesied and said: "Clovis and Clotilde, your descendants shall set +back the boundaries of the kingdom. They shall raise the church of +Jesus Christ and triumph over foreign nations provided they fall not +from virtue and depart not from the way of salvation, neither enter +upon the sinful road leading to destruction and to those snares of +deadly vices which overthrow empires and cause dominion to pass from +one nation to another." + +Meanwhile the way is being prepared from the King's palace to the +baptistry; curtains and costly draperies are hung up: the houses on +each side of the street are covered with hangings; the church is +decorated, and the baptistry is strewn with balsam and all manner of +sweet-smelling herbs. Overwhelmed with the Lord's favour the people +seem already to taste the delights of Paradise. The procession sets +out from the palace; the clergy lead with crosses and banners, singing +hymns and sacred canticles; then comes the Bishop leading the King by +the hand; and lastly the Queen follows with the people. By the way the +King asked the Bishop if yonder was the kingdom of God he had promised +him. "No," answered the blessed Remi, "but it is the beginning of the +road that leads to it." When they had reached the baptistry, the +priest who bore the holy chrism was hindered by the crowd from +reaching the sacred font; so that, as God had ordained, there was no +holy oil for the benediction at the font. Then the Pontiff raises his +eyes to heaven, and prays in silence and in tears. Straightway there +descends a dove white as snow, bearing in its beak an ampulla full of +chrism sent from heaven. The heavenly oil emits a delicious perfume, +which intoxicates the multitude with a delight such as they had never +experienced before that hour. The holy Bishop takes the ampulla, +sprinkles the baptismal water with chrism, and straightway the dove +vanishes. + +At the sight of so great a miracle of grace, the King, transported +with joy, renounces Satan and his pomps and his works. He demands +instant baptism, and bends over the fountain of life.[310] + +[Footnote 310: Grégoire de Tours, _Le livre des miracles_, ed. +Bordier, 1864, in 8vo, vol. ii, pp. 27, 31. Hincmar, _Vita sancti +Remigii_ in the _Patrologie de Migne_, vol. cxxv, pp. 1130 _et seq._ +H. Jadart, _Bibliographie des ouvrages concernant la vie et le culte +de saint Remi, évêque de Reims_, 1891, in 8vo.] + +Ever since then the kings of France have been anointed with the divine +oil which the dove brought down from heaven. The holy ampulla +containing it is kept in the church of Saint Remi at Reims. And by +God's grace on the day of the King's anointing this ampulla is always +found full.[311] + +[Footnote 311: Froissart, Bk. II, ch. lxxiv. Le doyen de +Saint-Thibaud, p. 328. Vertot, _Dissertation au sujet de la sainte +ampoule conservée à Reims_, in _Mémoires de l'Académie des +Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_, 1736, vol. ii, pp. 619-633; vol. iv, +pp. 1350-1365. Leber, _Des cérémonies du sacre ou recherches +historiques et critiques sur les moeurs, les coutumes dans +l'ancienne monarchie_, Paris, Reims, 1825, in 8vo, pp. 255 _et seq._] + +Such was the clerks' story; and doubtless the peasants of Domremy on a +humbler note might have said as much or even more. We may believe that +they used to sing the complaint of Saint Remi. Every year, when on the +1st of October the festival of the patron saint came round, the priest +was wont to pronounce an eulogium on the saint.[312] + +[Footnote 312: A. Monteil, _Histoire des Français_, 1853, vol. ii, p. +194.] + +About this time a mystery was performed at Reims in which the miracles +of the apostle of Gaul were fully represented.[313] + +[Footnote 313: _Mystère de saint Remi_, Arsenal Library, ms. no. +3.364. This mystery dates from the fifteenth century, from the time of +the wars in Champagne. The following lines relate to the misfortunes +of the kingdom: + + SAINT-ESTIENNE + + O Jhesucrist, qui les sains cieulx + As de lumiere environnez, + Soleil et lune enluminés, + Et ordonnez à ta plaisance; + Pour le tres doulz païs de France + Les martirs, non pas un mais tous, + A jointes mains et à genoux + Te requierent que tu effaces + La grant doleur de France; et faces + Par ta sainte digne vertu + Qu'ilz aient paix; adfin que tu, + Ta doulce mere et tous les sains, + Et ceulx qui sont de pechiez sains, + Devotement servis y soient!... + +SAINT STEPHEN + +O Jesus Christ who hast surrounded the heavens with light and kindled +the sun and the moon, command, if it be thy will, the martyrs, not one +only but all, to clasp their hands and on bended knee to implore thee +to remove the great sorrow from France; and by thy holy and august +merit ordain that they may have peace, that thou, thy sweet mother and +all the saints and those who are cleansed from sin may be served +devoutly!... + + SAINT-NICOLAS + + Dieu tout puissant fay tant qu'il ysse + Hors du doulz païs sans amer + Que toutes gens doivent amer + C'est France, où sont les bons Chrestiens + S'on les confort; si les soustiens + Car l'engin de leur adversaire + Et son faulx art les tire à faire + Contre ta sainte voulenté. + Ayez pitié de Crestienté + Beau sire Dieux + Tant en France qu'en autres lieux! + Ce seroit Pitié à oultrance + Que si noble roiaume, comme France, + Fust par male temptacion + Mis du tout à perdicion.... + + Fol. 3, verso. + +SAINT NICHOLAS + +God all powerful grant that he may issue forth from that sweet land +which all must love, all France, where are good Christians, and may +they be comforted, and may they be sustained; for the power of their +adversary and his false art tempt them to withstand thy holy will. +Have pity on Christendom, good lord God, on other lands as well as on +France! It would be the worst of pities if so noble a kingdom as +France were through much temptation to fall into perdition....] + +And among them were some which would appeal strongly to rustic souls. +In his mortal life my Lord Saint Remi had healed a blind man possessed +of devils. A man bestowed his goods on the chapter of Reims for the +salvation of his soul and died; ten years after his death Saint Remi +restored him to life, and made him declare his gift. Being +entertained by persons who had nothing to drink, the saint filled +their cask with miraculous wine. He received from King Clovis the gift +of a mill; but when the miller refused to yield it up to him, my Lord +Saint Remi, by the power of God, threw down the mill, and cast it into +the centre of the earth. One night when the Saint was alone in his +chapel, while all his clerks were asleep, the glorious apostles Peter +and Paul came down from Paradise to sing matins with him. + +Who better than the folk of Domremy should know of the baptism of King +Clovis of France, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost, at the singing +of Veni Creator Spiritus, bearing in its beak the holy ampulla, full +of chrism blessed by Our Lord?[314] + +[Footnote 314: _Mystère de Saint Remi_, Arsenal Library, ms. no. +3.364, fol. 69, verso.] + +Who better than they should understand the words addressed to the very +Christian King, by my Lord Saint Remi, not doubtless in the Church's +Latin, but in the good tongue of the people and very much like the +following: "Now, Sire, take knowledge and serve God faithfully and +judge justly, that thy kingdom may prosper. For if justice depart from +it then shall this kingdom be in danger of perdition."[315] + +[Footnote 315: _Mystère de Saint Remi_, fol. 71, verso.] + +In short, in one way or another, whether through the clerks who +directed her or through the peasants among whom she dwelt, Jeanne had +knowledge of the good Archbishop Remi, who so dearly cherished the +royal blood in the holy ampulla at Reims, and of the anointing of the +very Christian kings.[316] + +[Footnote 316: + + _Le bon archevesque Remy, + Qui tant aime le sang royal, + Qui tant a son conseil loyal, + Qui tant aime Dieu et l'Église._ + + _Mystère de Saint Remi_, fol. 77. + +The good Archbishop Remi, who so dearly cherishes the _royal_ blood, +so faithful in counsel, so devout a lover of God and the Church.] + +And the Angel appeared unto her and said: "Daughter of God, thou shalt +lead the Dauphin to Reims that he may there receive worthily his +anointing."[317] + +[Footnote 317: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.] + +The maid understood. The scales fell from her eyes; a bright light was +shed abroad in her mind. Behold wherefore God had chosen her. Through +her the Dauphin Charles was to be anointed at Reims. The white dove, +which of old was sent to the blessed Remi, was to come down again at +the Virgin's call. God, who loves the French, marks their king with a +sign, and when there is no sign the royal power has departed. The +anointing alone makes the king, and Messire Charles de Valois had not +been anointed. Notwithstanding the father lies becrowned and +besceptred in the basilica of Saint-Denys in France, the son is but +the dauphin and will not enter into his inheritance till the day when +the oil of the inexhaustible ampulla shall flow over his forehead. And +God has chosen her, a young, ignorant peasant maid, to lead him, +through the ranks of his enemies, to Reims, where he shall receive the +unction poured upon Saint Louis. Unfathomable ways of God! The humble +maid, knowing not how to ride a horse, unskilled in the arts of war, +is chosen to bring to Our Lord his temporal vicar of Christian France. + +Henceforth Jeanne knew what great deeds she was to bring to pass. But +as yet she discerned not the means by which she was to accomplish +them. + +"Thou must fare forth into France," Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret +said to her. + +"Daughter of God, thou shalt lead the Dauphin to Reims[318] that he +may there receive worthily his anointing," the Archangel Michael said +to her. + +[Footnote 318: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 130; vol. ii, p. 456; vol. iii, p. +3, _passim_.] + +She must obey them--but how? If at that time there were not just at +hand some devout adviser to direct her, one incident quite personal +and unimportant, which then occurred in her father's house, may have +sufficed to point out the way to the young saint. + +Tenant-in-chief of the Castle on the island in 1419, and in 1423 elder +of the community, Jacques d'Arc was one of the notables of Domremy. +The village folk held him in high esteem and readily entrusted him +with difficult tasks. Towards the end of March, 1427, they sent him to +Vaucouleurs as their authorised proxy in a lawsuit they were +conducting before Robert de Baudricourt. It was a question of the +payment of damages required at once from the lord and the inhabitants +of Greux and Domremy by a certain Guyot Poignant, of Montigny-le-Roi. +These damages went back four years to when, as a return for his +protection, the Damoiseau of Commercy had extorted from Greux and +Domremy a sum amounting to two hundred and twenty golden crowns. + +Guyot Poignant had become security for this sum which had not been +paid by the time fixed. The Damoiseau seized Poignant's wood, hay, and +horses to the value of one hundred and twenty golden crowns, which +amount the said Poignant reclaimed from the nobles and villeins of +Greux and Domremy. The suit was still pending in 1427, when the +community nominated Jacques d'Arc its authorised proxy, and sent him +to Vaucouleurs. The result of the dispute is not known; but it is +sufficient to note that Jeanne's father saw Sire Robert and had speech +with him.[319] + +[Footnote 319: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. cliv, clv, clvi, +97, 359 _et seq._; _La France pendant la guerre de cent ans_, p. 287.] + +On his return home he must have more than once related these +interviews, and told of the manners and words of so great a personage. +And doubtless Jeanne heard many of these things. Assuredly she must +have pricked up her ears at the name of Baudricourt. Then it was that +her dazzling friend, the Archangel Knight, came once more to awaken +the obscure thought slumbering within her: "Daughter of God," he said, +"go thou to the Captain Robert de Baudricourt, in the town of +Vaucouleurs, that he may grant unto thee men who shall take thee to +the gentle Dauphin."[320] + +[Footnote 320: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.] + +Resolved to obey faithfully the behest of the Archangel which +accorded with her own desire, Jeanne foresaw that her mother, albeit +pious, would grant her no aid in her design and that her father would +strongly oppose it. Therefore she refrained from confiding it to +them.[321] + +[Footnote 321: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 128.] + +She thought that Durand Lassois would be the man to give her the +succour of which she had need. In consideration of his age she called +him uncle,--he was her elder by sixteen years. + +Their kinship was by marriage: Lassois had married one Jeanne, +daughter of one Le Vauseul, husbandman, and of Aveline, sister of +Isabelle de Vouthon, and consequently cousin-german of Isabelle's +daughter.[322] + +[Footnote 322: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 443. Boucher de Molandon, _La +famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 146. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, +_Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, introduction, +pp. xxi, xxii.] + +With his wife, his father-in-law, and his mother-in-law, Lassois dwelt +at Burey-en-Vaulx, a hamlet of a few homesteads, lying on the left +bank of the Meuse, in the green valley, five miles from Domremy, and +less than two and a half miles from Vaucouleurs.[323] + +[Footnote 323: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 411, 431, 439. S. Luce, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Domremy_, p. clxi. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 92.] + +Jeanne went to see him, told him of her design, and showed him that +she must needs see Sire Robert de Baudricourt. That her kind kinsman +might the more readily believe in her, she repeated to him the strange +prophecy, of which we have already made mention: "Was it not known of +old," she said, "that a woman should ruin the kingdom of France and +that a woman should re-establish it?"[324] + +[Footnote 324: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 443, 444.] + +This prognostication, it appears, caused Durand Lassois to reflect. +Of the two facts foretold therein, the first, the evil one, had come +to pass in the town of Troyes, when Madame Ysabeau had given the +Kingdom of the Lilies and Madame Catherine of France to the King of +England. It only remained to hope that the second, the good, would +likewise come to pass. If in the heart of Durand Lassois there were +any love for the Dauphin Charles, such must have been his desire; but +on this point history is silent. + +During this visit to her cousin, Jeanne met with others besides her +kinsfolk, the Vouthons and their children. She visited a young +nobleman, by name Geoffroy de Foug, who dwelt in the parish of +Maxey-sur-Vayse, of which the hamlet of Burey formed part. She +confided to him that she wanted to go to France. My Lord Geoffroy did +not know much of Jeanne's parents; he was ignorant even of their +names. But the damsel seemed to him good, simple, pious, and he +encouraged her in her marvellous undertaking.[325] A week after her +arrival at Burey she attained her object: Durand Lassois consented to +take her to Vaucouleurs.[326] + +[Footnote 325: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 442.] + +[Footnote 326: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 53, 221; vol. ii, p. 443.] + +Before starting she asked a favour from her aunt Aveline who was with +child; she said to her: "If the babe you bear is a daughter, call her +Catherine in memory of my dead sister." + +Catherine, who had married Colin de Greux, had just died.[327] + +[Footnote 327: Genealogical Inquiry made by the Bailie of Chaumont +concerning Jehan Royer (8 October, 1555) in E. de Bouteiller and G. de +Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 62. +[Document of doubtful authenticity.]] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS--FLIGHT TO NEUFCHÂTEAU--JOURNEY TO +TOUL--SECOND VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS + + +Robert de Baudricourt, who in those days commanded the town of +Vaucouleurs for the Dauphin Charles, was the son of Liébault de +Baudricourt deceased, once chamberlain of Robert, Duke of Bar, +governor of Pont-à-Mousson, and of Marguerite d'Aunoy, Lady of Blaise +in Bassigny. Fourteen or fifteen years earlier he had succeeded his +two uncles, Guillaume, the Bastard of Poitiers, and Jean d'Aunoy as +Bailie of Chaumont and Commander of Vaucouleurs. His first wife had +been a rich widow; after her death he had married, in 1425, another +widow, as rich as the first, Madame Alarde de Chambley. And it is a +fact that the peasants of Uruffe and of Gibeaumex stole the cart +carrying the cakes ordered for the wedding feast. Sire Robert was like +all the warriors of his time and country; he was greedy and cunning; +he had many friends among his enemies and many enemies among his +friends; he fought now for his own side, now against it, but always +for his own advantage. For the rest he was no worse than his fellows, +and one of the least stupid.[328] + +[Footnote 328: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 271. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. Le R.P. Benoît, _Histoire ecclésiastique +et politique de la ville et du diocèse de Toul_, Toul, 1707, p. 529. +S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. clxii, clxiii. Léon Mougenot, +_Jeanne d'Arc, le Duc de Lorraine et le Sire de Baudricourt_, 1895, in +8vo. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, p. +xviii. G. Nioré, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Mémoires de la Société +académique de l'Aube_, 1894, vol. xxxi, pp. 307-320. De Pange, _Le +Pays de Jeanne d'Arc; Le fief et l'arrière-fief. Les Baudricourt_, +Paris, 1903, in 8vo.] + +Clad in a poor red gown,[329] but her heart bright with mystic love, +Jeanne climbed the hill dominating the town and the valley. Without +any difficulty she entered the castle, for its gates were opened as +freely as if it had been a fair; and she was led into the hall where +was Sire Robert among his men-at-arms. She heard the Voice saying to +her: "That is he!"[330] And immediately she went straight to him, and +spoke to him fearlessly, beginning, doubtless, by saying what she +deemed to be most urgent: "I am come to you, sent by Messire," she +said, "that you may send to the Dauphin and tell him to hold himself +in readiness, but not to give battle to his enemies."[331] + +[Footnote 329: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.] + +[Footnote 330: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53.] + +[Footnote 331: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.] + +Assuredly she must thus have spoken, prompted by a new revelation from +her Voices. And it is important to notice that she repeated word for +word what had been said seventy-five years earlier, not far from +Vaucouleurs, by a peasant of Champagne who was a vavasour, that is, a +freeman. This peasant's career had begun like Jeanne's, but had come +to a much more abrupt conclusion. Jacques d'Arc's daughter had not +been the first to say that revelations had been made to her concerning +the war. Periods of great distress are the times when inspired persons +most commonly appear. Thus it came to pass that in the days of the +Plague and of the Black Prince the vavasour of Champagne heard a voice +coming forth from a beam of light. + +While he was at work in the fields the voice had said to him: "Go +thou, and warn John, King of France, that he fight not against any of +his enemies." It was a few days before the Battle of Poitiers.[332] + +[Footnote 332: _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, ed. S. Luce, +Paris, 1861, in 8vo, pp. 46-48.] + +Then the counsel was wise; but in the month of May, 1428, it seemed +less wise, and appeared to have little bearing on the state of affairs +at that time. Since the disaster of Verneuil, the French had not felt +equal to giving battle to their enemies; and they were not thinking of +it. Towns were taken and lost, skirmishes were fought, sallies were +attempted, but the enemy was not engaged in pitched battles. There was +no need to restrain the Dauphin Charles, whom in those days nature and +fortune rendered unadventurous.[333] About the time that Jeanne was +uttering these words before Sire Robert, the English in France were +preparing an expedition, and were hesitating, unable to decide whether +to march on Angers or on Orléans.[334] + +[Footnote 333: P. de Fénin, _Mémoires_, ed. Mademoiselle Dupont, +Paris, 1837, pp. 195, 222, 223.] + +[Footnote 334: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise au siège +d'Orléans_, Orléans, 1892, in 8vo, pp. 75, 76.] + +Jeanne gave utterance according to the promptings of her Archangel and +her Saints, and touching warfare and the condition of the kingdom they +knew neither more nor less than she. But it is not surprising that +those who believe themselves sent by God should ask to be waited for. +And again in the damsel's fear lest the French knights should once +more give battle after their own guise there was much of the sound +common sense of the people. They were only too well acquainted with +knightly warfare. + +Perfectly calm and self-possessed, Jeanne went on and uttered a +prophecy concerning the Dauphin: "Before mid Lent my Lord will grant +him aid." Then straightway she added: "But in very deed the realm +belongs not to the Dauphin. Nathless it is Messire's will that the +Dauphin should be king and receive the kingdom in trust--_en +commande_.[335] Notwithstanding his enemies, the Dauphin shall be +king; and it is I who shall lead him to his anointing." + +[Footnote 335: _Et quod aberet in commendam: illud regnum_, _Trial_, +vol. ii, p. 456 (evidence of Bertrand de Poulengy).] + +Doubtless the title Messire, in the sense in which she employed it, +sounded strange and obscure, since Sire Robert, failing to understand +it, asked: "Who is Messire?" + +"The King of Heaven," the damsel answered. + +She had made use of another term, concerning which, as far as we know, +Sire Robert made no remark; and yet it is suggestive.[336] + +[Footnote 336: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456.] + +That word _commande_ employed in matters connected with inheritance +signified something given in trust.[337] If the King received the +kingdom _en commande_ he would merely hold it in trust. Thus the +maid's utterance agreed with the views of the most pious concerning +Our Lord's government of kingdoms. By herself she could not have +happened on the word or the idea; she had obviously been instructed by +one of those churchmen whose influence we have discerned already[338] +in the Lorraine prophecy, but the trace of whom has completely +vanished. + +[Footnote 337: See La Curne and Godefroy for the word _commande_. +Durand de Maillane, _Dictionnaire de droit canonique_, 1770, vol. i, +pp. 567 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 338: See _ante_, p. 59, _post_, pp. 177, 178.] + +Touching things spiritual Jeanne held converse with several priests; +among others with Messire Arnolin, of Gondrecourt-le-Château, and +Messire Dominique Jacob, priest of Moutier-sur-Saulx, who was her +confessor.[339] It is a pity we do not know what these ecclesiastics +thought of the insatiable cruelty of the English, of the pride of my +Lord Duke of Burgundy, of the misfortunes of the Dauphin, and whether +they did not hope that one day Our Lord Jesus Christ at the prayer of +the common folk would condescend to grant the kingdom _en commande_ to +Charles, son of Charles. It was possibly from one of these that Jeanne +derived her theocratic ideas.[340] + +[Footnote 339: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 392, 393, 458, 459.] + +[Footnote 340: As for Nicolas de Vouthon, priest of the Abbey of +Cheminon, what is stated concerning him in the evidence of the 2nd and +3rd November, 1476, seems improbable. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 252. E. de +Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de +Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. xviii _et seq._, 9.] + +While she was speaking to Sire Robert there was present, and not by +chance merely, a certain knight of Lorraine, Bertrand de Poulengy, who +possessed lands near Gondrecourt and held an office in the provostship +of Vaucouleurs.[341] He was then about thirty-six years of age. He was +a man who associated with churchmen; at least he was familiar with the +manner of speech of devout persons.[342] Perhaps he now saw Jeanne +for the first time; but he must certainly have heard of her; and he +knew her to be good and pious. Twelve years before he had frequently +visited Domremy; he knew the country well; he had sat beneath _l'Arbre +des Dames_, and had been several times to the house of Jacques d'Arc +and Romée, whom he held to be good honest farmer folk.[343] + +[Footnote 341: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 475. Servais, in _Mémoires de la +Société des Lettres, Sciences et Arts de Bar-le-Duc_, vol. vi, p. 139. +E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, p. xxviii. +S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, proofs and illustrations xcv, p. +143 and note 3. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +204.] + +[Footnote 342: This appears from the manner in which he reports +Jeanne's words.] + +[Footnote 343: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 451, 458.] + +It may be that Bertrand de Poulengy was struck by the damsel's speech +and bearing; it is more likely that the knight was in touch with +certain ecclesiastics unknown to us, who were instructing the peasant +seeress with an eye to rendering her better able to serve the realm of +France and the Church. However that may be, in Bertrand she had a +friend who was to be her strong support in the future. + +For the nonce, however, if our information be correct, he did nothing +and spoke not a word. Perhaps he judged it best to wait until the +commander of the town should be ready to grant a more favourable +hearing to the saint's request. Sire Robert understood nothing of all +this; one point only appeared plain to him, that Jeanne would make a +fine camp-follower and that she would be a great favourite with the +men-at-arms.[344] + +[Footnote 344: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 72. _Journal du siège_, +p. 35.] + +In dismissing the villein who had brought her, he gave him a piece of +advice quite in keeping with the wisdom of the time concerning the +chastising of daughters: "Take her back to her father and box her ears +well." + +Sire Robert held such discipline to be excellent, for more than once +he urged Uncle Lassois to take Jeanne home well whipped.[345] + +[Footnote 345: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 444. L. Mougenot, _Jeanne d'Arc, +le Duc de Lorraine et le Sire de Baudricourt_, Nancy, 1895, in 8vo.] + +After a week's absence she returned to the village. Neither the +Captain's contumely nor the garrison's insults had humiliated or +discouraged her. Imagining that her Voices had foretold them,[346] she +held them to be proofs of the truth of her mission. Like those who +walk in their sleep she was calm in the face of obstacles and yet +quietly persistent. In the house, in the garden, in the meadow, she +continued to sleep that marvellous slumber, in which she dreamed of +the Dauphin, of his knights, and of battles with angels hovering +above. + +[Footnote 346: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.] + +She found it impossible to be silent; on all occasions her secret +escaped from her. She was always prophesying, but she was never +believed. On St. John the Baptist's Eve, about a month after her +return, she said sententiously to Michel Lebuin, a husbandman of +Burey, who was quite a boy: "Between Coussey and Vaucouleurs is a girl +who in less than a year from now will cause the Dauphin to be anointed +King of France."[347] + +[Footnote 347: _Ibid._, p. 440.] + +One day meeting Gérardin d'Epinal, the only man at Domremy not of the +Dauphin's party, whose head according to her own confession she would +willingly have cut off, although she was godmother to his son, she +could not refrain from announcing even to him in veiled words her +mystic dealing with God: "Gossip, if you were not a Burgundian there +is something I would tell you."[348] + +[Footnote 348: _Ibid._, p. 423.] + +The good man thought it must be a question of an approaching betrothal +and that Jacques d'Arc's daughter was about to marry one of the lads +with whom she had broken bread under _l'Arbre des Fées_ and drunk +water from the Gooseberry Spring. + +Alas! how greatly would Jacques d'Arc have desired the secret to be of +that nature. This upright man was very strict; he was careful +concerning his children's conduct; and Jeanne's behaviour caused him +anxiety. He knew not that she heard Voices. He had no idea that all +day Paradise came down into his garden, that from Heaven to his house +a ladder was let down, on which there came and went without ceasing +more angels than had ever trodden the ladder of the Patriarch Jacob; +neither did he imagine that for Jeannette alone, without any one else +perceiving it, a mystery was being played, a thousand times richer and +finer than those which on feast days were acted on platforms, in towns +like Toul and Nancy. He was miles away from suspecting such incredible +marvels. But what he did see was that his daughter was losing her +senses, that her mind was wandering, and that she was giving utterance +to wild words. He perceived that she could think of nothing but +cavalcades and battles. He must have known something of the escapade +at Vaucouleurs. He was terribly afraid that one day the unhappy child +would go off for good on her wanderings. This agonising anxiety +haunted him even in his sleep. One night he dreamed that he saw her +fleeing with men-at-arms; and this dream was so vivid that he +remembered it when he awoke. For several days he said over and over +again to his sons, Jean and Pierre: "If I really believed that what I +dreamed of my daughter would ever come true, I would rather see her +drowned by you; and if you would not do it I would drown her +myself."[349] + +[Footnote 349: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 131, 132, 219.] + +Isabelle repeated these words to her daughter hoping that they might +alarm her and cause her to correct her ways. Devout as she was, +Jeanne's mother shared her father's fears. The idea that their +daughter was in danger of becoming a worthless creature was a cruel +thought to these good people. In those troubled times there was a +whole multitude of these wild women whom the men-at-arms carried with +them on horseback. Each soldier had his own. + +It is not uncommon for saints in their youth by the strangeness of +their behaviour to give rise to such suspicions. And Jeanne displayed +those signs of sainthood. She was the talk of the village. Folk +pointed at her mockingly, saying: "There goes she who is to restore +France and the royal house."[350] + +[Footnote 350: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 421, cf. p. 433, "_et alii juvenes +de ea deridebant_," said Colin's son, referring to her piety.] + +The neighbours had no difficulty in finding a cause for the +strangeness which possessed the damsel. They attributed it to some +magic spell. She had been seen beneath the _Beau Mai_ bewreathing it +with garlands. The old beech was known to be haunted as well as the +spring near by. It was well known, too, that the fairies cast spells. +There were those who discovered that Jeanne had met a wicked fairy +there. "Jeannette has met her fate beneath _l'Arbre des Fées_,"[351] +they said. Would that none but peasants had believed that story! + +[Footnote 351: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 68.] + +On the 22nd of June, from the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France for +Henry VI, Antoine de Vergy, Governor of Champagne, received a +commission to furnish forth a thousand men-at-arms for the purpose of +bringing the castellany of Vaucouleurs into subjection to the English. +Three weeks later, commanded by the two Vergy, Antoine and Jean, the +little company set forth. It consisted of four knights-banneret, +fourteen knights-bachelor, and three hundred and sixty-three +men-at-arms. Pierre de Trie, commander of Beauvais, Jean, Count of +Neufchâtel and Fribourg, were ordered to join the main body.[352] + +[Footnote 352: Report of André d'Epernon in S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. clxvii and proofs and illustrations, pp. 217, 218, 220.] + +On the march, as was his custom, Antoine de Vergy laid waste all the +villages of the castellany with fire and sword. Threatened once again +with a disaster with which they were only too well acquainted, the +folk of Domremy and Greux already beheld their cattle captured, their +barns set on fire, their wives and daughters ravished. Having +experienced before that the Castle on the Island was not secure +enough, they determined to flee and seek refuge in their market town +of Neufchâteau, only five miles away from Domremy. Thus they set out +towards the middle of July. Abandoning their houses and fields and +driving their cattle before them, they followed the road, through the +fields of wheat and rye and up the vine-clad hills to the town, +wherein they lodged as best they could.[353] + +[Footnote 353: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 51, 214; vol. ii, pp. 391-454. S. +Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. clxxvi.] + +The d'Arc family was taken in by the wife of Jean Waldaires, who was +called La Rousse. She kept an inn, where lodged soldiers, monks, +merchants, and pilgrims. There were some who suspected her of +harbouring bad women.[354] And there is reason to believe that certain +of her women customers were of doubtful reputation. Albeit she herself +was of good standing, that is to say, she was rich. She had money +enough to lend sometimes to her fellow-citizens.[355] Although +Neufchâteau belonged to the Duke of Lorraine, who was of the +Burgundian party, it has been thought that the hostess of this inn +inclined towards the Armagnacs; but it is vain to attempt to discover +the sentiments of La Rousse concerning the troubles of the kingdom of +France.[356] + +[Footnote 354: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 214.] + +[Footnote 355: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. clxxvii.] + +[Footnote 356: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 51, 214; vol. ii, p. 402.] + +At Neufchâteau as at Domremy Jeanne drove her father's beasts to the +field and kept his flocks.[357] Handy and robust she used also to help +La Rousse in her household duties.[358] This circumstance gave rise to +the malicious report set on foot by the Burgundians that she had been +serving maid in an inn frequented by drunkards and bad women.[359] The +truth is that Jeanne, when she was not tending the cattle, and helping +her hostess, passed all her time in church.[360] + +[Footnote 357: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 409, 423, 428, 463.] + +[Footnote 358: _Ibid._, pp. 416, 417.] + +[Footnote 359: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 314.] + +[Footnote 360: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 51.] + +There were two fine religious houses in the town, one belonging to the +Grey Friars, the other to the Sisters of St. Claire, the sons and +daughters of good St. Francis.[361] The monastery of the Grey Friars +had been built two hundred years earlier by Mathieu II of Lorraine. +The reigning duke had recently added richly to its endowments. Noble +ladies, great lords, and among others a Bourlémont lord of Domremy and +Greux lay there beneath brasses.[362] + +[Footnote 361: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. clxxvii.] + +[Footnote 362: Expilly, _Dictionnaire géographique de la France_, +under the word _Neufchâteau_.] + +In the flower of their history these mendicant monks of old had +welcomed to their third order crowds of citizens and peasants as well +as multitudes of princes and kings.[363] Now they languished corrupt +and decadent among the French friars. Quarrels and schisms were +frequent. Notwithstanding Colette of Corbie's attempted restoration of +the rule, the old discipline was nowhere observed.[364] These +mendicants distributed leaden medals, taught short prayers to serve as +charms, and vowed special devotion to the holy name of Jesus.[365] + +[Footnote 363: S.M. de Vernon, _Histoire générale et particulière du +tiers-ordre de Saint-François_, Paris, 1667, 3 vols. in 8vo. Hilarion +de Nolay, _Histoire du tiers-ordre_, Lyon, 1694, in 4to.] + +[Footnote 364: Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i, p. 549.] + +[Footnote 365: Wadding, _Annales Minorum_, vol. v, p. 183.] + +During the fortnight Jeanne spent in the town of Neufchâteau,[366] she +frequented the church of the Grey Friars monastery, and two or three +times confessed to brethren of the order.[367] It has been stated that +she belonged to the third order of St. Francis, and the inference has +been drawn that her affiliation dated from her stay at Neufchâteau.[368] + +[Footnote 366: Jean Morel declares that she was at Neufchâteau four +days, and he adds: "What I tell you I know, for I was with the others +at Neufchâteau" (_Trial_, vol. ii, p. 392); Gérard Guillemette speaks +of four or five days (_Ibid._, p. 414); Nicolas Bailly of three or +four (_Ibid._, p. 451). But Jeanne told her judges at Rouen that she +stayed a fortnight at Neufchâteau (_Ibid._, vol. i, p. 51). When she +gave her evidence, the event was less remote, and doubtless her +recollection of it was more accurate.] + +[Footnote 367: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 368: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, chs. ix, x, xi. Abbé +V. Mourot, _Jeanne d'Arc et le tiers-ordre de Saint-François_, +Saint-Dié, 1886, in 8vo. L. de Kerval, _Jeanne d'Arc et les +Franciscains_, Vanves, 1893, in 18mo. _E iera begina_, says a +correspondent of Morosini, edited by Lefèvre-Pontalis, vol. iii, p. 92 +and note 2.] + +Such an inference is very doubtful; and in any case the affiliation +cannot have been very ceremonious. It is difficult to see how in so +short a time the friars could have instructed her in the practices of +Franciscan piety. She was far too imbued with ecclesiastical notions +concerning the spiritual and the temporal power, she was too full of +mysteries and revelations to imbibe their spirit. Besides, her sojourn +at Neufchâteau was troubled by anxiety and broken by absences. + +In this town she received a summons to appear before the official of +Toul, in whose jurisdiction she was, as a native of Domremy-de-Greux. +A young bachelor of Domremy alleged that a promise of marriage had +been given him by Jacques d'Arc's daughter. Jeanne denied it. He +persisted in his statement, and summoned her to appear before the +official.[369] To this ecclesiastical tribunal such cases belonged; it +pronounced judgment on questions of nullity of marriage or validity of +betrothal. + +[Footnote 369: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 128, 219. E. Misset, _Jeanne d'Arc +Champenoise_, 1895, in 8vo, p. 28.] + +The curious part of Jeanne's case is that her parents were against +her, and on the side of the young man. It was in defiance of their +wishes that she defended the suit and appeared before the official. +Later she declared that in this matter she had disobeyed them, and +that it was the only time she had failed in the submission she owed +her parents.[370] + +[Footnote 370: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 219: _quibus obediebat in omnibus, +nisi in processu Tullensi_.] + +The journey from Neufchâteau to Toul and back involved travelling more +than twenty leagues on foot, over roads infested with bands of armed +men, through a country desolated by fire and sword, from which the +peasants of Domremy had recently fled in a panic. To such a journey, +however, she made up her mind against the will of her parents. + +Possibly she may have appeared before the judge at Toul, not once but +two or three times. And there was a great chance of her having to +journey day and night with her so-called betrothed, for he was passing +over the same road at the same time. Her Voices bade her fear nothing. +Before the judge she swore to speak the truth, and denied having made +any promise of marriage. + +She had done nothing wrong. But an evil interpretation was set upon +conduct which proceeded alone from an innocence both singular and +heroic. At Neufchâteau it was said that on those journeys she had +consumed all her substance. But what was her substance? Alas! she had +set out with nothing. She may have been driven to beg her bread from +door to door. Saints receive alms as they give them: for the love of +God. There was a story that her betrothed seeing her living during the +trial in company with bad women, had abandoned his demand for justice, +renouncing a bride of such bad repute.[371] Such calumnies were only +too readily believed. + +[Footnote 371: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 215. Article 9 of the deed of +accusation is drawn up as the result of an inquiry made at +Neufchâteau.] + +After a fortnight's sojourn at Neufchâteau, Jacques d'Arc and his +family returned to Domremy. The orchard, the house, the monastery, the +village, the fields,--in what a state of desolation did they behold +them! The soldiers had plundered, ravaged, burnt everything. Unable to +exact ransom from the villeins who had taken flight, the men-at-arms +had destroyed all their goods. The monastery once as proud as a +fortress, with its watchman's tower, was now nothing but a heap of +blackened ruins. And now on holy days the folk of Domremy must needs +go to hear mass in the church of Greux.[372] + +[Footnote 372: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 396, _passim_.] + +So full of danger were the times that the villagers were ordered to +keep in fortified houses and castles.[373] + +[Footnote 373: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. clxxx, 230.] + +Meanwhile the English were laying siege to the town of Orléans, which +belonged to their prisoner Duke Charles. By so doing they acted badly, +for, having possession of his body, they ought to have respected his +property.[374] They built fortified towers round the city of Orléans, +the very heart of France; and it was said that they had entrenched +themselves there in great strength.[375] Now Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret loved the Land of the Lilies; they were the sworn friends and +gentle cousins of the Dauphin Charles. They talked to the shepherd +maid of the misfortunes of the kingdom and continued to say: "Leave +thy village and go into France."[376] + +[Footnote 374: _Mistère du siège_, v, 497.] + +[Footnote 375: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, chs. xxxiv, xxxv. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, chs. xxxii, xxxv; _Journal du siège_, pp. 2 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 376: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 216.] + +Jeanne was all the more impatient to set forth because she had herself +announced the time of her arrival in France, and that time was drawing +near. She had told the Commander of Vaucouleurs that succour should +come to the Dauphin before mid Lent. She did not want to make her +Voices lie.[377] + +[Footnote 377: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.] + +Towards the middle of January occurred the opportunity she was looking +for of returning to Burey. At this time Durand Lassois' wife, Jeanne +le Vauseul, was brought to bed.[378] It was the custom in the country +for the young kinswomen and friends of the mother to attend and wait +upon her and her babe. A good and kindly custom, followed all the more +readily because of the opportunity it gave of pleasant meetings and +cheerful gossip.[379] Jeanne urged her uncle to ask her father that +she might be sent to tend the sick woman, and Lassois consented: he +was always ready to do what his niece asked him, and perhaps his +complaisance was encouraged by pious persons of some importance.[380] +But how this father, who shortly before had said that he would throw +his daughter into the Meuse rather than that she should go off with +men-at-arms, should have allowed her to go to the gates of the town, +protected by a kinsman of whose weakness he was well aware, is hard to +understand. However so he did.[381] + +[Footnote 378: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 428, 434. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc +à Domremy_, p. clxxx. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles +recherches_, p. xxiii.] + +[Footnote 379: _Les caquets de l'accouchée_, new edition by E. +Fournier and Le Roux de Lincy, Paris, 1855, in 16mo, introduction.] + +[Footnote 380: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53; vol. ii, p. 443.] + +[Footnote 381: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 428, 430, 434.] + +Leaving the home of her childhood, which she was never to see again, +Jeanne, in company with Durand Lassois, passed down her native valley +in its winter bareness. As she went by the house of the husbandman +Gérard Guillemette of Greux, whose children and Jacques d'Arc's were +great friends, she cried: "Good-bye! I am going to Vaucouleurs."[382] + +[Footnote 382: _Ibid._, p. 416.] + +A few paces further she saw her friend Mengette: "Good-bye, Mengette," +she said. "God bless thee."[383] + +[Footnote 383: _Ibid._, p. 431.] + +And by the way, on the doorsteps of the houses, whenever she saw faces +she knew, she bade them farewell.[384] But she avoided Hauviette with +whom she had played and slept in childhood and whom she dearly loved. +If she were to bid her good-bye she feared that her heart would fail +her. It was not till later that Hauviette heard of her friend's +departure and then she wept bitterly.[385] + +[Footnote 384: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 418.] + +[Footnote 385: _Ibid._, p. 419: _dixit quod nescivit recessum dictæ +Johannæ; quæ testis propter hoc multum flebat, quia eam multum propter +suam bonitatem diligebat et quod sua socia erat_.] + +On her second arrival at Vaucouleurs, Jeanne imagined that she was +setting foot in a town belonging to the Dauphin, and, in the language +of the day, entering the royal antechamber.[386] She was mistaken. +Since the beginning of August, 1428, the Commander of Vaucouleurs had +yielded the fortress to Antoine de Vergy, but had not yet surrendered +it to him. + +[Footnote 386: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 436.] + +It was one of those promises to capitulate at the end of a given time. +They were not uncommon in those days, and they ceased to be valid if +the fortress were relieved before the day fixed for its +surrender.[387] + +[Footnote 387: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. clxviii, 222, +234.] + +Jeanne went to Sire Robert in his castle just as she had done nine +months before; and this was the revelation she made to him: "My Lord +Captain," she said, "know that God has again given me to wit, and +commanded me many times to go to the gentle Dauphin, who must be and +who is the true King of France, and that he shall grant me men-at-arms +with whom I shall raise the siege of Orléans and take him to his +anointing at Reims."[388] + +[Footnote 388: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273; _La Chronique de +Lorraine_ in Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. iii, col. vj, +gives an amplified version of these words, the authenticity of which +is doubtful.] + +This time she announces that it is her mission to deliver Orléans. And +the anointing is not to come to pass until this the first part of her +task shall have been accomplished. We cannot fail to recognise the +readiness and the tact with which the Voices altered their commands +previously given, according to the necessities of the moment. Robert's +manner towards Jeanne had completely changed. He said nothing about +boxing her ears and sending her back to her parents. He no longer +treated her roughly; and if he did not believe her announcement at +least he listened to it readily. + +In one of her conversations with him she spoke of strange matters: +"Once I have accomplished the behest Messire has given me, I shall +marry and I shall bear three sons, the eldest of whom shall be pope, +the second emperor, and the third king." + +Sire Robert answered gayly: "Since thy sons are to be such great +personages, I should like to give thee one. Thereby should I myself +have honour." + +Jeanne replied: "Nay, gentle Robert, nay. It is not yet time. The Holy +Ghost shall appoint the time."[389] + +[Footnote 389: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 219, 220. The source is doubtful. +Nevertheless the accusation here lays stress on these facts produced +by the inquiry. If Jeanne denied having spoken these words, it was +because she had forgotten them, or because they had been so changed +that she could disavow the form in which they were presented to her.] + +To judge from the few of her words handed down to us, in the early +days of her mission the young prophetess spoke alternately two +different languages. Her speech seemed to flow from two distinct +sources. The one ingenuous, candid, naïve, concise, rustically simple, +unconsciously arch, sometimes rough, alike chivalrous and holy, +generally bearing on the inheritance and the anointing of the Dauphin +and the confounding of the English. This was the language of her +Voices, her own, her soul's language. The other, more subtle, +flavoured with allegory and flowers of speech, critical with +scholastic grace, bearing on the Church, suggesting the clerk and +betraying some outside influence. The words she uttered to Sire Robert +touching the children she should bear are of the second sort. They are +an allegory. Her triple birth signifies that the peace of Christendom +shall be born of her work, that after she shall have fulfilled her +divine mission, the Pope, the Emperor, and the King--all three sons of +God--shall cause concord and love to reign in the Church of Jesus +Christ. The apologue is quite clear; and yet a certain amount of +intelligence is necessary for its comprehension. The Captain failed to +understand it; he interpreted it literally and answered accordingly, +for he was a simple fellow and a merry.[390] + +[Footnote 390: See _ante_, page 66.] + +Jeanne lodged in the town with humble folk, Henri Leroyer and his wife +Catherine, friends of her cousin Lassois. She used to occupy her time +in spinning, being a good spinster; and the little she had she gave to +the poor. With Catherine she went to the parish church.[391] In the +morning, in her most devout moods, she would climb the hill, round the +foot of which cluster the roofs of the town, and enter the chapel of +Sainte Marie-de-Vaucouleurs. This collegiate church, built in the +reign of Philippe VI, adjoined the _château_ wherein dwelt the +Commander of Vaucouleurs. The venerable stone nave rose up boldly +towards the east, overlooking the vast extent of hills and meadows, +and dominating the valley where Jeanne had been born and bred. She +used to hear mass and remain long in prayer.[392] + +[Footnote 391: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.] + +[Footnote 392: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 461.] + +Under the chapel, in the crypt, there was an image of the Virgin, +ancient and deeply venerated, called Notre-Dame-de-la-Voûte.[393] It +worked miracles, but especially on behalf of the poor and needy. +Jeanne delighted to remain in this dark and lonely crypt, where the +saints preferred to visit her. + +[Footnote 393: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cxcxiv.] + +One day a young clerk, barely more than a child, who waited in the +chapel, saw the damsel motionless, with hands clasped, head thrown +back, eyes full of tears raised to heaven; and as long as he lived the +vision of that rapture remained imprinted on his mind.[394] + +[Footnote 394: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 460, 461 (evidence of Jean le +Fumeux in the rehabilitation trial).] + +She confessed often, usually to Jean Fournier, priest of +Vaucouleurs.[395] + +[Footnote 395: _Ibid._, p. 446.] + +Her hostess was touched by the goodness and gentleness of her manner +of life; but she was profoundly agitated when one day the damsel said +to her: "Dost thou not know it hath been prophesied that France ruined +by a woman shall be saved by a maiden from the Lorraine Marches?" + +Leroyer's wife knew as well as Durand Lassois that Madame Ysabeau, as +full of wickedness as Herodias, had delivered up Madame Catherine of +France and the Kingdom of the Lilies to the King of England. And +henceforth she was almost persuaded to believe that Jeanne was the +maid announced by the prophecy.[396] + +[Footnote 396: _Ibid._, p. 447.] + +This pious damsel held converse with devout persons and also with men +of noble rank. To all alike she said: "I must to the gentle Dauphin. +It is the will of Messire, the King of Heaven, that I wend to the +gentle Dauphin. I am sent by the King of Heaven. I must go even if I +go on my knees."[397] + +[Footnote 397: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 448.] + +Revelations of this nature she made to Messire Aubert, Lord of +Ourches. He was a good Frenchman and of the Armagnac party, since four +years earlier he had made war against the English and Burgundians. She +told him that she must go to the Dauphin, that she demanded to be +taken to him, and that to him should redound profit and honour +incomparable. + +At length through her illuminations and her prophecies, her fame was +spread abroad in the town; and her words were found to be good.[398] + +[Footnote 398: _Quæ puella multum bene loquebatur._ _Trial_, vol. ii, +p. 450. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. 103.] + +In the garrison there was a man-at-arms of about twenty-eight years of +age, Jean de Novelompont or Nouillompont, who was commonly called Jean +de Metz. By rank a freeman, albeit not of noble estate, he had +acquired or inherited the lordship of Nouillompont and Hovecourt, +situate in that part of Barrois which was outside the Duke's domain; +and he bore its name.[399] Formerly in the pay of Jean de Wals, +Captain and Provost of Stenay, he was now, in 1428, in the service of +the Commander of Vaucouleurs. + +[Footnote 399: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 363; _Journal du siège_, p. 45. S. +Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xcv, cxi, cxxvj. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 204, note. E. de Bouteiller and +G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. xxv _et seq._] + +Of his morals and manner of life we know nothing, except that three +years before he had sworn a vile oath and been condemned to pay a fine +of two _sols_.[400] Apparently when he took the oath he was in great +wrath.[401] He was more or less intimate with Bertrand de Poulengy, +who had certainly spoken to him of Jeanne. + +[Footnote 400: _A sol tournois_ is the twentieth part of a _livre +tournois_ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 401: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. cxc, 160, 161.] + +One day he met the damsel and said to her: "Well, _ma mie_, what are +you doing here? Must the King be driven from his kingdom and we all +turn English?"[402] + +[Footnote 402: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 435-457. E. de Bouteiller and G. +de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. xxvi, xxvii.] + +Such words from a young Lorraine warrior are worthy of notice. The +Treaty of Troyes did not subject France to England; it united the two +kingdoms. If war continued after as before, it was merely to decide +between the two claimants, Charles de Valois and Henry of Lancaster. +Whoever gained the victory, nothing would be changed in the laws and +customs of France. Yet this poor freebooter of the German Marches +imagined none the less that under an English king he would be an +Englishman. Many French of all ranks believed the same and could not +suffer the thought of being Anglicised; in their minds their own fates +depended on the fate of the kingdom and of the Dauphin Charles. + +Jeanne answered Jean de Metz: "I came hither to the King's territory +to speak with Sire Robert, that he may take me or command me to be +taken to the Dauphin; but he heeds neither me nor my words." + +Then, with the fixed idea welling up in her heart that her mission +must be begun before the middle of Lent: "Notwithstanding, ere mid +Lent, I must be before the Dauphin, were I in going to wear my legs to +the knees."[403] + +[Footnote 403: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 396 _et seq._] + +A report ran through the towns and villages. It was said that the son +of the King of France, the Dauphin Louis, who had just entered his +fifth year, had been recently betrothed to the daughter of the King of +Scotland, the three-year-old Madame Margaret, and the common people +celebrated this royal union with such rejoicings as were possible in a +desolated country.[404] Jeanne, when she heard these tidings, said to +the man-at-arms: "I must go to the Dauphin, for no one in the world, +no king or duke or daughter of the King of Scotland, can restore the +realm of France." + +[Footnote 404: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. cxci.] + +Then straightway she added: "In me alone is help, albeit for my part, +I would far rather be spinning by my poor mother's side, for this life +is not to my liking. But I must go; and so I will, for it is Messire's +command that I should go." + +She said what she thought. But she did not know herself; she did not +know that her Voices were the cries of her own heart, and that she +longed to quit the distaff for the sword. + +Jean de Metz asked, as Sire Robert had done: "Who is Messire?" + +"He is God," she replied. + +Then straightway, as if he believed in her, he said with a sudden +impulse: "I promise you, and I give you my word of honour, that God +helping me I will take you to the King." + +He gave her his hand as a sign that he pledged his word and asked: +"When will you set forth?" + +"This hour," she answered, "is better than to-morrow; to-morrow is +better than after to-morrow." + +Jean de Metz himself, twenty-seven years later, reported this +conversation.[405] If we are to believe him, he asked the damsel in +conclusion whether she would travel in her woman's garb. It is easy to +imagine what difficulties he would foresee in journeying with a +peasant girl clad in a red frock over French roads infested with +lecherous fellows, and that he would deem it wiser for her to disguise +herself as a boy. She promptly divined his thought and replied: "I +will willingly dress as a man."[406] + +[Footnote 405: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.] + +[Footnote 406: _Ibid._, p. 436, 437.] + +There is no reason why these things should not have occurred. Only if +they did, then a Lorraine freebooter suggested to the saint that idea +concerning her dress which later she will think to have received from +God.[407] + +[Footnote 407: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 161, 176, 332. _Journal du siège_, +p. 45. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 372.] + +Of his own accord, or rather, acting by the advice of some wise +person, Sire Robert desired to know whether Jeanne was not being +inspired by an evil spirit. For the devil is cunning and sometimes +assumes the mark of innocence. And as Sire Robert was not learned in +such matters, he determined to take counsel with his priest. + +Now one day when Catherine and Jeanne were at home spinning, they +beheld the Commander coming accompanied by the priest, Messire Jean +Fournier. They asked the mistress of the house to withdraw; and when +they were left alone with the damsel, Messire Jean Fournier put on +his stole and pronounced some Latin words which amounted to saying: +"If thou be evil, away with thee; if thou be good, draw nigh."[408] + +[Footnote 408: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.] + +It was the ordinary formula of exorcism or, to be more exact, of +conjuration. In the opinion of Messire Jean Fournier these words, +accompanied by a few drops of holy water, would drive away devils, if +there should unhappily be any in the body of this village maiden. + +Messire Jean Fournier was convinced that devils were possessed by an +uncontrollable desire to enter the bodies of men, and especially of +maidens, who sometimes swallowed them with their bread. They dwelt in +the mouth under the tongue, in the nostrils, or penetrated down the +throat into the stomach. In these various abodes their action was +violent; and their presence was discerned by the contortions and +howlings of the miserable victims who were possessed. + +Pope St. Gregory, in his Dialogues, gives a striking example of the +facility with which devils insinuate themselves into women. He tells +how a nun, being in the garden, saw a lettuce which she thought looked +tender. She plucked it, and, neglecting to bless it by making the sign +of the cross, she ate of it and straightway fell possessed. A man of +God having drawn near unto her, the demon began to cry out: "It is I! +It is I who have done it! I was seated upon that lettuce. This woman +came and she swallowed me." But the prayers of the man of God drove +him out.[409] + +[Footnote 409: Voragine, _La légende dorée_, in the Festival of the +Exaltation of the Holy Cross.] + +The caution required in such a matter was therefore not exaggerated by +Messire Jean Fournier. Possessed by the idea that the devil is subtle +and woman corrupt, carefully and according to prescribed rules he +proceeded to solve a difficult problem. It was generally no easy +matter to recognise one possessed by the devil and to distinguish +between a demoniac and a good Christian. Very great saints had not +been spared the trial to which Jeanne was to be subjected. + +Having recited the formula and sprinkled the holy water, Messire Jean +Fournier expected, if the damsel were possessed, to see her struggle, +writhe, and endeavour to take flight. In such a case he must needs +have made use of more powerful formulæ, have sprinkled more holy +water, and made more signs of the cross, and by such means have driven +out the devils until they were seen to depart with a terrible noise +and a noxious odour, in the shape of dragons, camels, or fish.[410] + +[Footnote 410: Migne, _Dictionnaire des sciences occultes_, Paris, 2 +vols. in large 8vo, under the word _Exorcisme_.] + +There was nothing suspicious in Jeanne's attitude. No wild agitation, +no frenzy. Merely anxious and intreating, she dragged herself on her +knees towards the priest. She did not flee before God's holy name. +Messire Jean Fournier concluded that no devil was within her. + +Left alone in the house with Catherine, Jeanne, who now understood the +meaning of the ceremony, showed strong resentment towards Messire Jean +Fournier. She reproached him with having suspected her: "It was wrong +of him," she said to her hostess, "for, having heard my confession, he +ought to have known me."[411] + +[Footnote 411: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.] + +She would have thanked the priest of Vaucouleurs had she known how he +was furthering the fulfilment of her mission by subjecting her to this +ordeal. Convinced that this maiden was not inspired by the devil, Sire +Robert must have been driven to conclude that she might be inspired by +God; for apparently he was a man of simple reasoning. He wrote to the +Dauphin Charles concerning the young saint; and doubtless he bore +witness to the innocence and goodness he beheld in her.[412] + +[Footnote 412: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115. _Journal du siège_, p. 48. +_Mirouer des femmes vertueuses_ in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 267.] + +Although it looked as if the Captain would have to resign his command +to my Lord de Vergy, Sire Robert did not intend to quit his country +where he had dealings with all parties. Indeed he cared little enough +about the Dauphin Charles, and it is difficult to see what personal +interest he can have had in recommending him a prophetess. Without +pretending to discover what was passing in his mind, one may believe +that he wrote to the Dauphin on Jeanne's behalf at the request of some +of those persons who thought well of her, probably of Bertrand de +Poulengy and of Jean de Metz. These two men-at-arms, seeing that the +Dauphin's cause was lost in the Lorraine Marches, had every reason for +proceeding to the banks of the Loire, where they might still fight +with the hope of advantage. + +On the eve of setting out, they appeared disposed to take the seeress +with them, and even to defray all her expenses, reckoning on repaying +themselves from the royal coffers at Chinon, and deriving honour and +advantage from so rare a marvel. But they waited to be assured of the +Dauphin's consent.[413] + +[Footnote 413: Extract from the eighth report of Guillaume Charrier, +in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 257 _et seq._] + +Meanwhile Jeanne could not rest. She came and went from Vaucouleurs to +Burey and from Burey to Vaucouleurs. She counted the days; time +dragged for her as for a woman with child.[414] + +[Footnote 414: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 447.] + +At the end of January, feeling she could wait no longer, she resolved +to go to the Dauphin Charles alone. She clad herself in garments +belonging to Durand Lassois, and with this kind cousin set forth on +the road to France.[415] A man of Vaucouleurs, one Jacques Alain, +accompanied them.[416] Probably these two men expected that the damsel +would herself realise the impossibility of such a journey and that +they would not go very far. That is what happened. The three +travellers had barely journeyed a league from Vaucouleurs, when, near +the Chapel of Saint Nicholas, which rises in the valley of Septfonds, +in the middle of the great wood of Saulcy, Jeanne changed her mind and +said to her comrades that it was not right of her to set out thus. +Then they all three returned to the town.[417] + +[Footnote 415: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53; vol. ii, pp. 443 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 416: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 445-447.] + +[Footnote 417: _Ibid._, pp. 447-457.] + +At length a royal messenger brought King Charles's reply to the +Commander of Vaucouleurs. The messenger was called Colet de +Vienne.[418] His name indicates that he came from the province which +the Dauphin had governed before the death of the late King, and which +had remained unswervingly faithful to the unfortunate prince. The +reply was that Sire Robert should send the young saint to +Chinon.[419] + +[Footnote 418: _Ibid._, p. 406. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. +160, note 6.] + +[Footnote 419: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 314, 315. Anonymous poem on +the arrival of the Maid, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 30.] + +That which Jeanne had demanded and which it had seemed impossible to +obtain was granted. She was to be taken to the King as she had desired +and within the time fixed by herself. But this departure, for which +she had so ardently longed, was delayed several days by a remarkable +incident. The incident shows that the fame of the young prophetess had +gone out through Lorraine; and it proves that in those days the great +of the land had recourse to saints in their hour of need. + +Jeanne was summoned to Nancy by my Lord the Duke of Lorraine. +Furnished with a safe-conduct that the Duke had sent her, she set +forth in rustic jerkin and hose on a nag given her by Durand Lassois +and Jacques Alain. It had cost them twelve francs which Sire Robert +repaid them later out of the royal revenue.[420] From Vaucouleurs to +Nancy is twenty-four leagues. Jean de Metz accompanied her as far as +Toul; Durand Lassois went with her the whole way.[421] + +[Footnote 420: Durand Lassois says it cost twelve francs, Jean de +Metz, sixteen. "_Ce serait aujourd'hui un cheval de cent écus._" It +would be a horse worth one hundred crowns to-day (L. Champion, _Jeanne +d'Arc écuyère_, 1901, p. 55). According to the reckoning of P. +Clément, from 400 to 800 francs (_Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_, +1873, p. lxvi).] + +[Footnote 421: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 54, 222; vol. ii, pp. 391, 406, +432, 437, 442-450, 456, 457; vol. iii, pp. 87, 115. Extract from the +eighth account of Guillaume Charrier and from the thirteenth account +of Hémon Raguier, in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 257 _et seq._] + +Before going to the Duke of Lorraine's palace, Jeanne ascended the +valley of the Meurthe and went to worship at the shrine of the great +Saint Nicholas, whose relics were preserved in the Benedictine chapel +of Saint-Nicholas-du-Port. She did well; for Saint Nicholas was the +patron saint of travellers.[422] + +[Footnote 422: _Et postquam ipsa Johanna fuit in peregrinacio in +Sancto Nicolas et exstitit versus dominum ducem Lotharingiae_, says +Bertrand de Poulengy, _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457. Cf. The Evidence of J. +Robert, in E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur +la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 33, 34. It is impossible to find in +the text of the _Trial_ a redundancy such as the evidence of D. +Lannois and the woman Le Royer would lead us to expect. A. Renard, +_Jeanne d'Arc. Examen d'une question de lieu_, Orléans, 1861, in 8vo, +16 pages. G. de Braux, _Jeanne d'Arc à Saint-Nicolas_, Nancy, 1889, in +8vo. De Pimodan, _La première étape de Jeanne d'Arc_, 1890, in 8vo, +with maps.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE JOURNEY TO NANCY--THE ITINERARY OF VAUCOULEURS--TO +SAINTE-CATHERINE-DE-FIERBOIS + + +By giving his eldest daughter, Isabelle, the heiress of Lorraine, in +marriage to René, the second son of Madame Yolande, Queen of Sicily +and of Jerusalem, and Duchess of Anjou,[423] Duke Charles II of +Lorraine, who was in alliance with the English, had recently done his +cousin and friend, the Duke of Burgundy, a bad turn. René of Anjou, +now in his twentieth year, was a man of culture as much in love with +sound learning as with chivalry, and withal kind, affable, and +gracious. When not engaged in some military expedition and in wielding +the lance he delighted to illuminate manuscripts. He had a taste for +flower-decked gardens and stories in tapestry; and like his fair +cousin the Duke of Orléans he wrote poems in French.[424] Invested +with the duchy of Bar by the Cardinal Duke of Bar, his great-uncle, +he would inherit the duchy of Lorraine after the death of Duke Charles +which could not be far off. This marriage was rightly regarded as a +clever stroke on the part of Madame Yolande. But he who reigns must +fight. The Duke of Burgundy, ill content to see a prince of the house +of Anjou, the brother-in-law of Charles of Valois, established between +Burgundy and Flanders, stirred up against René the Count of Vaudémont, +who was a claimant of the inheritance of Lorraine. The Angevin policy +rendered a reconciliation between the Duke of Burgundy and the King of +France difficult. Thus was René of Anjou involved in the quarrels of +his father-in-law of Lorraine. It befell that in this year, 1429, he +was waging war against the citizens of Metz, the War of the Basketful +of Apples.[425] It was so called because the cause of war was a +basketful of apples which had been brought into the town of Metz +without paying duty to the officers of the Duke of Lorraine.[426] + +[Footnote 423: Le Père Anselme, _Histoire généalogique de la maison de +France_, vol. ii, p. 218. Ludovic Drapeyron, _Jeanne d'Arc et Philippe +le Bon_, in _Revue de Géographie_, November, 1886, p. 236. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. lxvi, cxcix.] + +[Footnote 424: _Oeuvres du Roi René_, by Le Comte de Quatrebarbes, +Angers, 1845, vol. i, preface, pp. lxxvi _et seq._ Lecoy de la Marche, +_Le Roi René, sa vie, son administration, ses travaux artistiques et +littéraires_, Paris, 1875, 2 vols. in 8vo, and Giry, Review in the +_Revue critique_.] + +[Footnote 425: _La guerre de la hottée de pommes._] + +[Footnote 426: Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. ii, col. 695, +703.] + +Meanwhile René's mother was sending convoys of victuals from Blois to +the citizens of Orléans, besieged by the English.[427] Although she +was not then on good terms with the counsellors of her son-in-law, +King Charles, she was vigilant in opposing the enemies of the kingdom +when they threatened her own duchy of Anjou. René, Duke of Bar, had +therefore ties of kindred, friendship, and interest binding him at the +same time to the English and Burgundian party as well as to the party +of France. Such was the situation of most of the French nobles. René's +communications with the Commander of Vaucouleurs were friendly and +constant.[428] It is possible that Sire Robert may have told him that +he had a damsel at Vaucouleurs who was prophesying concerning the +realm of France. It is possible that the Duke of Bar, curious to see +her, may have had her sent to Nancy, where he was to be towards the +20th of February. But it is much more likely that René of Anjou +thought less about the Maid of Vaucouleurs, whom he had never seen, +than about the little Moor and the jester who enlivened the ducal +palace.[429] In this month of February, 1429, he was neither desirous +nor able to concern himself greatly with the affairs of France; and +although brother-in-law to King Charles, he was preparing not to +succour the town of Orléans, but to besiege the town of Metz.[430] + +[Footnote 427: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 93.] + +[Footnote 428: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. cxcvii, +clxxxvii, clxxxviii, and 236. The register of the Archives of La +Meuse, B. 1051, bears trace of a regular correspondence between the +Duke of Bar and Baudricourt.] + +[Footnote 429: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in Dom Calmet, +_Histoire de Lorraine_, proofs and illustrations, vol. ii, col. cxcix. +S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. cxcvii _et seq._] + +[Footnote 430: Letter from Jean Desch, Secretary of the town of Metz, +in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 355. Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, +vol. ii, proofs and illustrations, col. cxcix.] + +Old and ill, Duke Charles dwelt in his palace with his paramour Alison +du Mai, a bastard and a priest's daughter, who had driven out the +lawful wife, Dame Marguerite of Bavaria. Dame Marguerite was pious and +high-born, but old and ugly, while Madame Alison was pretty. She had +borne Duke Charles several children.[431] + +[Footnote 431: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cc, note.] + +The following story appears the most authentic. There were certain +worthy persons at Nancy who wanted Duke Charles to take back his good +wife. To persuade him to do so they had recourse to the exhortations +of a saint, who had revelations from Heaven, and who called herself +the Daughter of God. By these persons the damsel of Domremy was +represented to the enfeebled old Duke as being a saint who worked +miracles of healing. By their advice he had her summoned in the hope +that she possessed secrets which should alleviate his sufferings and +keep him alive. + +As soon as he saw her he asked whether she could not restore him to +his former health and strength. + +She replied that "of such things" she knew nothing. But she warned him +that his ways were evil, and that he would not be cured until he had +amended them. She enjoined upon him to send away Alison, his +concubine, and to take back his good wife.[432] + +[Footnote 432: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 87. Dom Calmet, _Histoire de +Lorraine_, vol. iii, proofs and illustrations, col. vj.] + +No doubt she had been told to say something of this kind; but it also +came from her own heart, for she loathed bad women. + +Jeanne had come to the Duke because it was his due, because a little +saint must not refuse when a great lord wishes to consult her, and +because in short she had been brought to Nancy. But her mind was +elsewhere; of nought could she think but of saving the realm of +France. + +Reflecting that Madame Yolande's son with a goodly company of +men-at-arms would be of great aid to the Dauphin, she asked the Duke +of Lorraine, as she took her leave, to send this young knight with her +into France. + +"Give me your son," she said, "with men-at-arms as my escort. In +return I will pray to God for your restoration to health." + +The Duke did not give her men-at-arms; neither did he give her the +Duke of Bar, the heir of Lorraine, the ally of the English, who was +nevertheless to join her soon beneath the standard of King Charles. +But he gave her four francs and a black horse.[433] + +[Footnote 433: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 391, 444.] + +Perhaps it was on her return from Nancy that she wrote to her parents +asking their pardon for having left them. The fact that they received +a letter and forgave is all that is known.[434] One cannot forbear +surprise that Jacques d'Arc, all through the month that his daughter +was at Vaucouleurs, should have remained quietly at home, when +previously, after having merely dreamed of her being with men-at-arms, +he had threatened that if his sons did not drown her he would with his +own hands. For he must have been aware that at Vaucouleurs she was +living with men-at-arms. Knowing her temperament, he had displayed +great simplicity in letting her go. One cannot help supposing that +those pious persons who believed in Jeanne's goodness, and desired her +to be taken into France for the saving of the kingdom, must have +undertaken to reassure her father and mother concerning their +daughter's manner of life; perhaps they even gave the simple folk to +understand that if Jeanne did go to the King her family would derive +therefrom honour and advantage. + +[Footnote 434: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 129.] + +Before or after her journey to Nancy (which is not known), certain of +the townsfolk of Vaucouleurs who believed in the young prophetess +either had made, or purchased for her ready made, a suit of masculine +clothing, a jerkin, cloth doublet, hose laced on to the coat, gaiters, +spurs, a whole equipment of war. Sire Robert gave her a sword.[435] + +[Footnote 435: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. ii, pp. 438, 445, 447, +457. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in the _Revue historique_, +vol. iv, p. 336.] + +She had her hair cut round like a boy.[436] Jean de Metz and Bertrand +de Poulengy, with their servants Jean de Honecourt and Julien, were to +accompany her as well as the King's messenger, Colet de Vienne, and +the bowman Richard.[437] There was still some delay and councils were +held, for the soldiers of Antoine de Lorraine, Lord of Joinville, +infested the country. Throughout the land there was nothing but +pillage, robbery, murder, cruel tyranny, the ravishing of women, the +burning of churches and abbeys, and the perpetration of horrible +crimes. Those were the hardest times ever known to man.[438] But the +damsel was not afraid, and said: "In God's name! take me to the gentle +Dauphin, and fear not any trouble or hindrance we may meet."[439] + +[Footnote 436: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in the _Revue +historique_, _ibid._] + +[Footnote 437: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 406, 432, 442, 457; vol. iii, p. +209. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xcv, 143 note 3. G. de +Braux and E. de Bouteiller, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. xxix _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 438: _Les routiers en Lorraine_, in the _Journal de la +Société archéologique de Lorraine_, 1866, p. 161. Dr. A. Lapierre, _La +guerre de cent ans dans l'Argonne et le Rethélois_, Sedan, 1900, in +8vo.] + +[Footnote 439: _Journal du siège_ (interpolation); _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 272 (a document of doubtful authority owing to its +hagiographical character).] + +At length, on a day in February, so it is said, the little company +issued forth from Vaucouleurs by La Porte de France.[440] + +[Footnote 440: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. ii, p. 437. _Chronique du +Mont-Saint-Michel_, vol. i, p. 30. De Boismarmin, _Mémoire sur la date +de l'arrivée de Jeanne d'Arc à Chinon_, in the _Bulletin du comité des +travaux historiques et scientifiques_, 1892, pp. 350-359. Ulysse +Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 10, note 1. Jeanne had +returned to Vaucouleurs about the first Sunday in Lent, the 13th of +February, 1429 (_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 437). Bertrand de Poulengy says +that the journey to Chinon (6th March) lasted eleven days, and that +sometimes they travelled by night only (_ibid._). It is difficult to +admit that they started from Vaucouleurs on the 23rd of February, and +that about 660 kilometres were traversed in eleven days.] + +A few friends who had followed her so far watched her go. Among them +were her hosts, Henri Leroyer and Catherine, and Messire Jean Colin, +canon of Saint-Nicolas, near Vaucouleurs, to whom Jeanne had confessed +several times.[441] They trembled for their saint as they thought of +the perils of the way and the length of the journey. + +[Footnote 441: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 431, 446.] + +"How can you," they asked her, "set forth on such a journey when there +are men-at-arms on every hand?" But out of the serene peace of her +heart she answered them: + +"I do not fear men-at-arms; my way has been made plain before me. If +there be men-at-arms my Lord God will make a way for me to go to my +Lord Dauphin. For that am I come."[442] + +[Footnote 442: _Ibid._, p. 449.] + +Sire Robert was present at her departure. According to the customary +formula he took an oath from each of the men-at-arms that they would +surely and safely conduct her whom he confided to them. Then, being a +man of little faith, he said to Jeanne in lieu of farewell: "Go! and +come what may."[443] And the little company went off into the mist, +which at that season envelops the meadows of the Meuse. + +[Footnote 443: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 55.] + +They were obliged to avoid frequented roads and to beware especially +of passing by Joinville, Montiers-en-Saulx and Sailly, where there +were soldiers of the hostile party. Sire Bertrand and Jean de Metz +were accustomed to such stealthy expeditions; they knew the byways and +were acquainted with useful precautions, such as binding up the +horses' feet in linen so as to deaden the sound of hoofs on the +ground.[444] + +[Footnote 444: De Pimodan, _La première étape de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, +1891, in 8vo, with maps.] + +At nightfall, having escaped all danger, the company approached the +right bank of the Marne and reached the Abbey of Saint-Urbain.[445] +From time immemorial it had been a place of refuge, and in those days +its abbot was Arnoult of Aulnoy, a kinsman of Robert of +Baudricourt.[446] The gate of the plain edifice opened for the +travellers who passed beneath the groined vaulting of its roof.[447] +The abbey included a building set apart for strangers. There they +found the resting-place of the first stage of their journey. + +[Footnote 445: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 54.] + +[Footnote 446: Jolibois, _Dictionnaire historique de la Haute-Marne_, +p. 492.] + +[Footnote 447: De Pimodan, _La première étape de Jeanne d'Arc_, _loc. +cit._] + +On the right of the outer door was the abbey church wherein were +preserved the relics of Pope Saint Urbain. On the 24th of February, in +the morning, Jeanne attended conventual mass there.[448] Then she and +her companions took horse again. Crossing the Marne by the bridge +opposite Saint-Urbain, they pressed on towards France. + +[Footnote 448: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 54, 55.] + +They had still one hundred and twenty-five leagues to cover and three +rivers to cross, in a country infested with brigands. Through fear of +the enemy they journeyed by night.[449] When they lay down on the +straw the damsel, keeping her hose laced to her coat, slept in her +clothes, under a covering, between Jean de Metz and Bertrand de +Poulengy in whom she felt confidence. They said afterwards that they +never desired the damsel because of the holiness they beheld in +her;[450] that may or may not be believed. + +[Footnote 449: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 437. According to the somewhat +improbable testimony of Bertrand de Poulengy. _See ante_, p. 96, note +6.] + +[Footnote 450: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457.] + +Jean de Metz was filled with no such ardent faith in the prophetess, +since he inquired of her: "Will you really do what you say?" + +To which she replied: "Have no fear. I do what I am commanded to do. +My brethren in Paradise tell me what I have to do. It is now four or +five years since my brethren in Paradise and Messire told me that I +must go forth to war to deliver the realm of France."[451] + +[Footnote 451: _Ibid._, pp. 437, 438.] + +These rude comrades did not all preserve an attitude of religious +respect in her presence. Certain mocked her and diverted themselves by +talking before her as if they belonged to the English party. +Sometimes, as a joke, they got up a false alarm and pretended to turn +back. Their jests were wasted. She believed them, but she was not +afraid, and would say gravely to those who thought to frighten her +with the English: "Be sure not to flee. I tell you in God's name, they +will not harm you."[452] + +[Footnote 452: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 199.] + +Ever at the approach of danger whether real or feigned, there came to +her lips the words of encouragement: "Do not be afraid. You will see +how graciously the fair Dauphin will look upon us when we come to +Chinon."[453] + +[Footnote 453: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 458.] + +Her greatest grief was that she could not pray in church as often as +she would like. Every day she repeated: "If we could, we should do +well to hear mass."[454] + +[Footnote 454: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 438.] + +As they avoided high roads they were not often in the way of bridges; +and they were frequently forced to ford rivers in flood. They crossed +the Aube, near Bar-sur-Aube, the Seine near Bar-sur-Seine, the Yonne +opposite Auxerre, where Jeanne heard mass in the church of +Saint-Etienne; then they reached the town of Gien, on the right bank +of the Loire.[455] + +[Footnote 455: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 54; vol. ii, p. 437.] + +At length these Lorrainers beheld a French town loyal to the King of +France. They had travelled seventy-five leagues through the enemy's +country without being attacked or molested. Afterwards this was +considered miraculous. But was it impossible for seven or eight +Armagnac horsemen to traverse English and Burgundian lands without +misadventure? The Commander of Vaucouleurs frequently sent letters to +the Dauphin which reached him, and the Dauphin was in the habit of +despatching messengers to the Commander; Colet de Vienne had just +borne his message.[456] + +[Footnote 456: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 406, 432, 445, 448, 457.] + +In point of fact the followers of the Dauphin ran risks well nigh as +great in the provinces under his sway as in lands subject to other +masters.[457] + +[Footnote 457: Monstrelet, vol. v, p. 269. Th. Basin, vol. i, p. 44. +Bueil, _Le jouvencel_, introduction. Royal Pardons, in E. Boutaric, +_Institutions militaires de la France avant les armées permanentes...._ +1863, in 8vo, p. 266. _Récit du prieur de Droillet_, ed. Quicherat, in +_Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, fourth series, vol. iii, p. +359. Mantellier, _Histoire de la communauté des marchands fréquentant +la rivière de Loire_, vol. i, p. 195. Le P. H. Denifle, _La désolation +des églises, monastères, hôpitaux en France, vers le milieu du XV'e +siècle_, Mâcon, in 8vo.] + +Freebooters in the pay of King Charles, when they pillaged travellers +and held them to ransom, did not stay to ask whether they were +Armagnacs or Burgundians. Indeed, it was after their passage of the +Loire that Bertrand de Poulengy and his companions found themselves +exposed to the greatest danger. + +Informed of their approach, certain men-at-arms of the French party +went before and lay in ambush, waiting to surprise them. They intended +to capture the damsel, cast her into a pit, and keep her there beneath +a great stone, in the hope that the King who had sent for her would +give a large sum for her rescue.[458] It was the custom for +freebooters and mercenaries thus to cast travellers into pits +delivering them on payment of ransom. Eighteen years before, at +Corbeil, five men had been kept in a pit on bread and water by +Burgundians. Three of them died, being unable to pay the ransom.[459] +Such a fate very nearly befell Jeanne. But the wretches who were lying +in wait for her, at the moment when they should have struck did +nothing, wherefore is unknown, perhaps because they were afraid of not +being the stronger.[460] + +[Footnote 458: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 459: Abbé J.-J. Bourassé, _Les miracles de Madame Sainte +Katerine de Fierboys en Touraine, d'après un manuscrit de la +Bibliothèque Impériale_, Paris, in 12mo, 1858, p. 28.] + +[Footnote 460: I have here interwoven the account given by Seguin, +_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 203, with that of Touroulde, _Trial_, vol. iii, +pp. 86, 87. It seems to me the same incident reported summarily by the +former, inexactly by the latter.] + +From Gien, the little company followed the northern boundary of the +duchy of Berry, crossed into Blésois, possibly passed through +Selles-sur-Cher and Saint-Aignan, then, having entered Touraine, +reached the green slopes of Fierbois.[461] There one of the two +heavenly ladies, who daily discoursed familiarly with the peasant +girl, had her most famous sanctuary; there it was that Saint Catherine +received multitudes of pilgrims and worked great miracles. According +to popular belief the origin of her worship in this place was warlike +and national and dated back to the beginning of French history. It was +known that after his victory over the Saracens at Poitiers Charles +Martel had placed his sword in the oratory of the Blessed +Catherine.[462] But it must be admitted that since then the sanctuary +had long suffered from desertion and neglect. Rather more than forty +years before the coming of the damsel from Domremy, its walls in the +depths of a wood were overrun by briers and brambles. + +[Footnote 461: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 56, 75; vol. iii, pp. 3, 21; vol. +v, p. 378.] + +[Footnote 462: That Saint Catherine was known in the west shortly +before the Crusades is possible, but not that her worship should date +back to Charles Martel; at any rate it flourished in the days of +Jeanne d'Arc. _Cf._ H. Moranvillé, _Un pèlerinage en Terre sainte et +au Sinai au XV'e siècle_, in the _Bibliothèque de l'École des +Chartes_, vol. lxvi (1905), pp. 70 _et seq._] + +In those days it was not uncommon for saints of both sexes, if they +had suffered from some unjust neglect, to come and complain to some +pious person of the wrong being done them on earth. They appeared +possibly to a monk, to a peasant or a citizen, denounced the impiety +of the faithful in terms urgent and sometimes violent, and commanded +him to reinstate their worship and restore their sanctuary. And this +is what Madame Saint Catherine did. In the year 1375 she entrusted a +knight of the neighbourhood of Fierbois, one Jean Godefroy, who was +blind and paralysed, with the restoration of her oratory to its old +brilliance and fame, promising to cure him if he would pray for nine +days in the place where Charles Martel had put his sword. Jean +Godefroy had himself carried to the deserted chapel, but beforehand +his servants must perforce hew a way through the thicket with their +axes. Madame Saint Catherine restored to Jean Godefroy the use of his +eyes and his limbs, and it was by this benefit that she recalled to +the people of Touraine the glory they had slighted. The oratory was +repaired; the faithful again wended their way thither, and miracles +abounded. At first the saint healed the sick; then, when the land was +ravaged by war, it was her office more especially to deliver from the +hands of the English such prisoners as had recourse to her. Sometimes +she rendered captives invisible to their guards; sometimes she broke +bonds, chains, and locks; to wit, those of a nobleman by name Cazin du +Boys, who in 1418 was taken with the garrison of Beaumont-sur-Oise. +Locked in an iron cage, bound with a strong rope on which slept a +Burgundian, he thought on Madame Saint Catherine, and dedicated +himself to this glorious virgin. Immediately the cage was opened. +Sometimes she even constrained the English to unchain their prisoners +themselves and set them free without ransom. That was a great miracle. +One no less great was worked by her on Perrot Chapon, of +Saint-Sauveur, near Luzarches. For a month Perrot had been in bonds in +an English prison, when he dedicated himself to Saint Catherine and +fell asleep. He awoke, still bound, in his own house. + +Generally she helped those who helped themselves. Such was the case of +Jean Ducoudray, citizen of Saumur, a prisoner in the castle of Bellême +in 1429. He commended his soul devoutly to Saint Catherine, then +leapt forth, throttled the guard, climbed the ramparts, dropped the +height of two lances, and went out a free man into the country.[463] + +[Footnote 463: _Les miracles de Madame Sainte Katerine_, _passim_. G. +Launay, Article in _Bull. soc. archéol. du Vendômois_, 1880, vol. xix, +pp. 23-25.] + +Perhaps these miracles would have been less frequent had the English +been in greater force in France; but their men were few: in Normandy +they intrenched themselves in towns, abandoning the open country to +soldiers of fortune who ranged the district and captured convoys, thus +greatly promoting the intervention of Madame Saint Catherine.[464] + +[Footnote 464: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La guerre des partisans dans la +Haute Normandie_ (1424-1429), in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_ +(1893-1896).] + +The prisoners, who had become her votaries and whom she had delivered, +discharged their vows by making the pilgrimage to Fierbois. In her +chapel there, they hung the cords and chains with which they had been +bound, their armour, and sometimes, in special cases, the armour of +the enemy. + +This had been done nine months before Jeanne's coming to Fierbois by a +certain knight, Jean du Chastel. He had escaped from the hands of a +captain, who accused him of having committed treason thereby, alleging +that du Chastel had given him his word of honour. Du Chastel on the +other hand maintained that he had not sworn, and he challenged the +captain to meet him in single combat. The issue of the combat proved +right to be on the side of the French knight; for with the aid of +Madame Saint Catherine he was victorious. In return he came to +Fierbois to offer to his holy protectress the armour of the vanquished +Englishman, in the presence of my Lord, the Bastard of Orléans, of +Captain La Hire and several other nobles.[465] + +[Footnote 465: _Les miracles de Madame Sainte Katerine_, _passim_.] + +Jeanne must have delighted to hear tell of such miracles, or others +like them, and to see so many weapons hanging from the chapel walls. +She must have been well pleased that the saint who visited her at all +hours and gave her counsel should so manifestly appear the friend of +poor soldiers and peasants cast into bonds, cages and pits, or hanged +on trees by the _Godons_. + +She prayed in the chapel and heard two masses.[466] + +[Footnote 466: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 75.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SIEGE OF ORLÉANS FROM THE 12TH OF OCTOBER, 1428, TILL THE 6TH OF +MARCH, 1429 + + +Since the victory of Verneuil and the conquest of Maine, the English +had advanced but little in France and their actual possessions there +were becoming less and less secure.[467] If they spared the lands of +the Duke of Orléans it was not on account of any scruple. Albeit on +the banks of the Loire it was held dishonourable to seize the domains +of a noble when he was a prisoner,[468] everything is fair in war. The +Regent had not scrupled to seize the duchy of Alençon when its duke +was a prisoner.[469] The truth is that by bribes and entreaties the +good Duke Charles dissuaded the English from attacking his duchy. From +1424 until 1426 the citizens of Orléans purchased peace by money +payments.[470] The _Godons_, not being in a position to take the +field, were all the more ready to enter into such agreements. During +the minority of their half English and half French King, the Duke of +Gloucester, the brother and deputy of the Regent, and his uncle, the +Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of the Kingdom, were tearing out each +other's hair, and their disputes were the occasion of bloodshed in the +London streets.[471] Towards the end of the year 1425 the Regent +returned to England, where he spent seventeen months reconciling uncle +and nephew and restoring public peace. By dint of craft and vigour he +succeeded so far as to render his fellow countrymen desirous and +hopeful of completing the conquest of France. With that object, in +1428, the English Parliament voted subsidies.[472] + +[Footnote 467: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 190. Alain +Chartier, _L'espérance ou consolation des trois vertus_, in +_Oeuvres_, p. 271. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 14.] + +[Footnote 468: _Mistère du siège_, line 497.] + +[Footnote 469: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 21, 22.] + +[Footnote 470: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 255. _Chronique de +l'établissement de la fête_ in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 286. Le Maire, +_Histoire et antiquités de la ville et duché d'Orléans_, Orléans, +1645, in 4to, pp. 129 _et seq._ Lottin, _Recherches historiques sur la +ville d'Orléans_, Orléans, 1836-1845 (7 vols. in 8vo), vol. i, p. +197.] + +[Footnote 471: Joseph Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, Introduction, +vol. i, p. xlvii. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +17.] + +[Footnote 472: Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. iv, part iv, p. 135. +Mademoiselle A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais dans l'Orléanais, +la Beauce chartraine et le Gâtinais_ (1421-1428), Orléans, 1893, in +8vo, original documents, p. 134. Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, vol. +i, pp. 403 _et seq._] + +[Illustration: VIEW OF ORLÉANS, 1428-1429] + +Now the most cunning, the most expert, the most fortunate in arms of +all the English captains and princes was Thomas Montacute, Earl of +Salisbury and of Perche.[473] He had long waged war in Normandy, in +Champagne, and in Maine. At present he was gathering an army in +England, intended for the banks of the Loire. He got as many bowmen as +he wanted; but of horse and men-at-arms he was disappointed. Only +those of low estate were willing to go and fight in a land ravaged by +famine.[474] At length the noble earl, the fair cousin of King Henry, +crossed the sea with four hundred and forty-nine men-at-arms and two +thousand two hundred and fifty archers.[475] In France he found troops +recruited by the Regent, four hundred horse of whom two hundred were +Norman, with three bowmen to each horseman, according to the English +custom.[476] He led his men to Paris where irrevocable resolutions +were taken.[477] Hitherto the plan had been to attack Angers; at the +last moment it was decided to lay siege to Orléans.[478] + +[Footnote 473: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 300.] + +[Footnote 474: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise au siège +d'Orléans, 1428-1429_, Orléans, 1892, in 8vo, pp. 59 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 475: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 293. Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. +iv, part iv, pp. 132, 135, 138.] + +[Footnote 476: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 26, 27.] + +[Footnote 477: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 294. Stevenson, _Letters and +Papers_, p. lxii.] + +[Footnote 478: Boucher de Molandon and A. de Beaucorps, _L'armée +anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc sous les murs d'Orléans_, Orléans, +1892, in 8vo, p. 61. L. Jarry, _loc. cit._] + +Between la Beauce and la Sologne, at the entrance to the loyal +provinces Touraine, Blésois, and Berry, the ducal city confronted the +enemy, lying on a bend of the Loire, just as the arrow's point is +lodged on the taut bow.[479] Bishopric, university, market of the +country far and wide, on its belfries, towers, and steeples it raised +proudly towards heaven the cross of Our Lord, the three _coeurs de +lis_ of the city and the three _fleurs de lis_ of the dukes. Beneath +the high slate roofs of its houses of stone or wood, built along +winding streets or dark alleys, Orléans sheltered fifteen thousand +souls. There were to be found officers of justice and of the treasury, +goldsmiths, druggists, grocers, tanners, butchers, fishmongers, rich +citizens as delicate as amber, who loved fine clothes, fine houses, +music and dancing; priests, canons, wardens, and fellows of the +university; booksellers, scriveners, illuminators, painters, scholars +who were not all founts of learning, but who played prettily on the +flute; monks of every habit, Black-friars, Grey-friars, Mathurins, +Carmelites, Augustinians, and artisans and labourers to boot, smiths, +coopers, carpenters, boatmen, fishermen.[480] + +[Footnote 479: Le Maire, _Antiquités_, p. 29.] + +[Footnote 480: Astesan in _Paris et ses historiens_, by Le Roux de +Lincy and Tisserand, pp. 528 _et seq._ Le Maire, _Antiquités_, ch. +xix, pp. 75 _et seq._ P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège d'Orléans_, in +18mo, pp. 22, 24. E. Fournier, _Le Conteur orléanais_, p. 111. C. +Cuissard, _Étude sur la musique dans l'Orléanais_, Orléans, 1886, p. +50. Jodocius Sincere, _Itirerarium Galliae_, Amstelodami, 1655, pp. +24, 25. Paul Charpentier et Cuissard, _Histoire du siège d'Orléans, +mémoire inédite de M. l'Abbé Dubois_, Orléans, 1894, in 8vo, p. 129. +De Buzonnière, _Histoire architecturale de la ville d'Orléans_, 1849 +(2 vols. in 8vo), vol. i, p. 76.] + +Of Roman origin, the form of the town was still the same as in the +days of the Emperor Aurelian. The southern side along the Loire and +the northern side extended to some three thousand feet. The eastern +and western boundaries were only one hundred and fifty feet long. The +city was surrounded by walls six feet thick and from eighteen to +thirty-three feet high above the moat. These walls were flanked by +thirty-four towers, pierced with five gates and two posterns.[481] The +following is the description of the situation of these gates, +posterns, and towers, with the names of those which became famous +during the siege. + +[Footnote 481: Jollois, _Histoire du siège d'Orléans_, Paris, 1833, in +4to, with plans. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, pp. 183 _et seq._] + +Passing from the south east to the south west angle of the wall, were: +La Tour Neuve, round and huge, washed by the Loire; three other towers +on the river bank; the postern Chesneau, the only one opening on to +the water and defended by a portcullis; the tower of La +Croiche-Meuffroy, so called from the crook or spur which protruded +from the foot of the tower into the river; two other towers washed by +the Loire; La Port du Pont, with drawbridge and flanked by two towers; +La Tour de l'Abreuvoir; la Tour de Notre-Dame, deriving its name from +a chapel built against the city walls; la Tour de la Barre-Flambert, +the last on this side, at the south west angle of the ramparts and +commanding the river. All along the Loire the walls had a stone +parapet with machicolated battlements, whence pavingstones could be +thrown, and whence, when attempts were made to scale the walls, the +enemy's ladders could be hurled down. The distance between the towers +was about a bow-shot. + +On the western side were first three towers, then two gate towers +called Regnard or Renard from the name of citizens to whom had once +belonged the adjoining palace, where in 1428 dwelt Jacques Boucher, +Treasurer of the Duke of Orléans. Then came another tower and lastly +La Porte Bernier or Bannier, at the north west angle of the ramparts. +On this side the walls had been constructed in the days of the +cross-bow, which shot a greater distance than the bow. The towers +here, therefore, were farther apart at the distance of a cross-bow +shot one from the other, and the walls were lower than elsewhere. On +the northern side, looking towards the forest, were ten towers at a +bow-shot's interval. The second, that of Saint-Samson, was used as an +arsenal. The sixth and seventh flanked the Paris Gate. + +On the eastern side were likewise ten towers at the same distance one +from the other as those on the north. The fifth and sixth were those +of the Burgundian Gate, also called the Gate of Saint-Aignan, because +it was close to the church of Saint-Aignan without the walls; the last +was the great corner tower, called La Tour Neuve, which thus comes to +have been twice counted. + +The stone bridge lined with houses which led from the town to the left +bank of the Loire was famous all over the world. It had nineteen +arches of varying breadth. The first, on leaving the town by La Porte +du Pont, was called l'Allouée or Pont Jacquemin-Rousselet; here was a +drawbridge. The fifth arch abutted on an island which was long, +narrow, and in the form of a boat, like all river islands. Above the +bridge it was called Motte-Saint-Antoine, from a chapel built upon it +dedicated to that saint; and below, Motte-des-Poissonniers, because in +order to keep captured fish alive boats with holes in them were moored +to it. In 1447, to provide against the occupation of this island by +the enemy, the people of Orléans had constructed a tower, the tower or +fortress of Saint-Antoine, beyond the sixth arch and occupying the +whole breadth of the bridge. On the buttress between the eleventh and +twelfth arch was a cross of gilded bronze, supported by a pedestal of +stone. It was indeed what it was called, the Cross Beautiful,--La +Belle-Croix. The buttresses of the eighteenth arch were extended, and +on the abutment there rose a little castle formed of two towers joined +by a vaulted porch. This little castle was called Les Tourelles. +Between the nineteenth and the twentieth arch as in the first was a +drawbridge. Outside it was Le Portereau; and thence ran the road to +Toulouse, which beyond the Loiret on the heights of Olivet joined the +road to Blois.[482] + +[Footnote 482: Jollois, _Lettre à Messieurs les membres de la Société +des Antiquaires de France, sur l'emplacement du fort des Tourelles de +l'ancien pont d'Orléans_, Paris, 1834, in folio with illustrations. +Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, dissertation, v. Lottin, +_Recherches_, vol. i, pp. 15-18. Vergniaud Romagnési, _Des différentes +enceintes de la ville d'Orléans_, pp. 17-19. A. Collin, _Le Pont des +Tourelles à Orléans_, Orléans, 1895, in 8vo. Morosini, vol. iii, p. +13, note 2.] + +In those days the lazy waters of the Loire flowed midst osier-beds and +birchen thickets, since removed for purposes of navigation. Two and a +half miles east of Orléans, on the height of Chécy, l'Île aux Bourdons +was separated from the Sologne bank by a thin arm of the river and by +a narrow channel from l'Île Charlemagne and l'Île-aux-Boeufs, with +their green grass and underwood facing Combleux on the La Beauce bank. +A boat dropping down the river would next come to the two islands +Saint-Loup, and, doubling La Tour Neuve, would glide between the two +Martinet Islets on the right and l'Île-aux-Toiles on the left. Thence +it would pass under the bridge which overspanned, as we have seen, an +island called above bridge Motte-Saint-Antoine and below, +Motte-des-Poissonniers. At length, below the ramparts, opposite +Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils, it would come to two islets Biche-d'Orge +and another, the name of which is unknown, possibly it was +nameless.[483] + +[Footnote 483: For some unknown reason modern historians have named +the little island to the right of Saint-Laurent l'Île Charlemagne, +which causes it to be confused with the Île Charlemagne lying to the +East of l'Île-aux-Boeufs. On the accompanying plan we indicate the +little island just below Biche-d'Orge by the name of Petite Île +Charlemagne. Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, engraving 1. Abbé Dubois, +_Histoire du siège_, pp. 193, 199. Boucher de Molandon, _Première +expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 16. Manuscript of M. A. Cagnieul, +librarian at Orléans.] + +The suburbs of Orléans were the finest in the kingdom. On the south +the fishermen's suburb of Le Portereau, with its Augustinian church +and monastery, extended along the river at the foot of the vineyards +of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, which produced the best wine in the +country.[484] Above, on the gentle slopes ascending to the bleak +plateau of Sologne, the Loiret, with its torrential springs, its +limpid waters, its shady banks, the gardens and the brooks of Olivet, +smiled beneath a mild and showery sky. + +[Footnote 484: Symphorien Guyon, _Histoire de l'église et diocèse +d'Orléans_, Orléans, 1647, vol. i, preface. Le Maire, _Antiquités_, p. +36.] + +The _faubourg_ of the Burgundian gate stretching eastwards was the +best built and the most populous. There were the wonderful churches of +Saint-Michel and of Saint-Aignan. The cloister of the latter was held +to be marvellous.[485] Leaving this suburb and passing by the +vineyards along the sandy branch of the Loire extending between the +bank of the river and l'Île-aux-Boeufs about a quarter of a league +further on, one comes to the steep slope of Saint-Loup; and, advancing +still further towards the east, the belfries of Saint-Jean-de-Bray, +Combleux and Chécy may be seen rising one beyond the other between the +river and the Roman road from Autun to Paris. On the north of the city +were fine monasteries and beautiful churches, the chapel of +Saint-Ladre, in the cemetery; the Jacobins, the Cordeliers, the church +of Saint-Pierre-Ensentelée. Directly north, the _faubourg_ of La Porte +Bernier lay along the Paris road, and close by there stretched the +sombre city of the wolves, the deep forest of oaks, horn-beams, +beeches, and willows, wherein were hidden, like wood-cutters and +charcoal-burners, the villages of Fleury and Samoy.[486] + +[Footnote 485: _Journal du siège_, pp. 13, 15. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 270. Hubert, _Antiquités historiques de l'église royale +d'Orléans_, Orléans, 1661, in 8vo. Le Maire, _Antiquités_, p. 284. +Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, pp. 133, 205, 277, _passim_. +Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 21. H. Baraude, _Le siège d'Orléans +et Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1906, pp. 10 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 486: Le Maire, _Antiquités_, p. 43.] + +Towards the west the _faubourg_ of La Porte Renard stretched out into +the fields along the road to Châteaudun, and the hamlet of +Saint-Laurent along the road to Blois.[487] + +[Footnote 487: Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 296. Boucher de +Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc, le ravitaillement +d'Orléans, nouveaux documents_, Orléans, 1874, in large 8vo, with +topographical plan: _Orléans, la Loire et ses îles en 1429_.] + +These _faubourgs_ were so populous and so extensive that when, on the +approach of the English, the people from the suburbs took refuge +within the city the number of its inhabitants was doubled.[488] + +[Footnote 488: Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, pp. 391, 399. +Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, pp. 41, 44. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du +siège_, Orléans, 1867, in 8vo, p. 24. Lottin, _Recherches sur +Orléans_, vol. i, p. 141.] + +The inhabitants of Orléans were resolved to fight, not for their +honour indeed; in those days no honour redounded to a citizen from the +defence of his own city; his only reward was the risk of terrible +danger. When the town was captured the great and wealthy had but to +pay ransom and the conqueror entertained them well; the lesser and +poorer nobility ran greater risks. In this year, 1428, the knights, +who defended Melun and surrendered after having eaten their horses and +their dogs, were drowned in the Seine. "Nobility was worth nothing," +ran a Burgundian song.[489] + +[Footnote 489: Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du +temps de Charles VII_, Paris, 1862, in 18mo, p. 28.] + +But generally being of noble birth saved one's life. As for those +burghers brave enough to defend themselves, they were likely to +perish. There were no fixed rules with regard to them; sometimes +several were hanged; sometimes only one, sometimes all. It was also +lawful to cut off their heads or to throw them into the water, sewn in +a sack. In that same year, 1428, Captains La Hire and Poton had failed +in their assault on Le Mans and decamped just in time. The citizens who +had aided them were beheaded in the square du Cloître-Saint-Julien, on +the Olet stone, by order of William Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who had +already arrived at Olivet, and of John Talbot, the most courteous of +English knights, who was shortly to come there too.[490] Such an +example was sufficient to warn the people of Orléans. + +[Footnote 490: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 225, 226. _Geste +des nobles_, p. 202. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 251. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 59. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, +pp. 107, 112.] + +Notwithstanding that it was under the control of the Governor, the +town administered its own affairs by means of twelve magistrates +elected for two years by the citizens, subject to the governor's +approbation.[491] These magistrates risked more than the other +citizens. One of them, as he passed the monastery of Saint-Sulpice, +where was the place of execution, might well reflect that before the +year was out he might have justice executed on him there for having +defended his lord's inheritance. Yet the twelve were resolved to +defend this inheritance; and they acted for the common weal with +promptness and with wisdom. + +[Footnote 491: Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, pp. 164, 171. P. +Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 25.] + +The people of Orléans were not taken by surprise. Their fathers had +watched the English closely, and put their city in a state of defence. +They themselves, in the year 1425, had so firmly expected a siege that +they had collected arms in the Tower of Saint-Samson, while all, rich +and poor alike, had been required to dig dykes and build +ramparts.[492] War has always been costly. They devoted three quarters +of the yearly revenue of the town to keeping up the ramparts and other +preparations for war. Hearing of the approach of the Earl of +Salisbury, with marvellous energy they prepared to receive him. + +[Footnote 492: _The Monk of Dunfermline_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 341. +Le Maire, _Antiquités_, pp. 283 _et seq._ Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. +i, pp. 160, 161.] + +The walls, except those along the river, were devoid of breastwork; +but in the shops were stakes and cross-beams intended for the +manufacture of balustrades. These were put up on the fortifications to +form parapets, with barbicans of a pent-house shape so as to provide +with cover the defenders firing from the walls.[493] At the entrance +to each suburb wooden barriers were erected, with a lodge for the +porter whose duty it was to open and shut them. On the tops of the +ramparts and in the towers were seventy-one pieces of artillery, +including cannons and mortars, without counting culverins. The quarry +of Montmaillard, three leagues from the town, produced stones which +were made into cannon balls. At great expense there were brought into +the city lead, powder, and sulphur which the women prepared for use in +the cannons and culverins. Every day there were manufactured in +thousands, arrows, darts, stacks of bolts,[494] armed with iron points +and feathered with parchment, numbers of _pavas_, great shields made +of pieces of wood mortised one into the other and covered with +leather. Corn, wine, and cattle were purchased in great quantities +both for the inhabitants and the men-at-arms, the King's men, and +adventurers who were expected.[495] + +[Footnote 493: Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 6. Lottin, +_Recherches_, vol. i, pp. 202-205.] + +[Footnote 494: An arrow shot from the long-bow, the feathers of the +arrow were spirally arranged to produce a spinning movement in its +flight (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 495: The accounts of the fortresses, in _Journal du siège_, +pp. 301 _et seq._ Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 12. P. Mantellier, +_Histoire du siège_, pp. 15-17. Loiseleur, _Comptes des dépenses +faites par Charles VII pour secourir Orléans pendant le siège de +1428_, Orléans, 1868, in 8vo, p. 113. Boucher de Molandon et de +Beaucorps, _L'armée anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 81.] + +By a jealously guarded privilege the inhabitants had the right of +defending the ramparts. According to their trades they were divided +into as many companies as there were towers. Thus defending themselves +they had the right to refuse to admit any garrison within the walls. +They held to this right because it delivered them from the pillage, +the rapine, the burnings and constant molestations inflicted by the +King's men. But now they were eager to renounce it; for they realised +that alone with only the town bands and those from the neighbouring +villages, mere peasants, they could not sustain the siege; to resist +the enemy they must have horsemen, skilled in wielding the lance, and +foot, skilled in the use of the cross-bow. While their Governor the +Sire de Gaucourt and my Lord, the Bastard of Orléans, the King's +Lieutenant General, went to Chinon and Poitiers to obtain supplies of +men and money[496] from the King, the citizens in commissions of two +and two went forth asking help of the towns, travelling as far as +Bourbonnais and Languedoc.[497] The magistrates appealed to those +soldiers of fortune who held the neighbouring country for the King of +France. By the mouths of the two heralds of the city, Orléans and +Coeur-de-Lis, they proclaimed that within the city walls were gold +and silver in abundance and such good provision of victuals and arms +as would nourish and accoutre two thousand combatants for two years, +and that every gentle, honest knight who would might share in the +defence of the city and wage battle to the death.[498] + +[Footnote 496: Accounts of Hémon Raguier, Bibl. Nat. Fr. 7858, fol. +41. Loiseleur, _Comptes des dépenses_, p. 65. Pallet, _Nouvelle +histoire du Berry_, vol. iii, pp. 78-80. Vallet de Viriville, in +_Bulletin de la Société d'histoire de France. Cabinet historique_, +vol. v, part ii, p. 107. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 15.] + +[Footnote 497: A. Thomas, _Le siège d'Orléans, Jeanne d'Arc et les +capitouls de Toulouse_, in _Annales du Midi_, April, 1889, p. 232. M. +Boudet, _Villandrando et les écorcheurs à Saint-Flour_, pp. 18, 19. A. +de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 498: The monk of Dunfermline in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +341.] + +The inhabitants of Orléans feared God. In those days God was greatly +to be feared; he was almost as terrible as in the days of the +Philistines. The poor fisher folk were afraid of being repulsed if +they addressed him in their affliction; they thought it better to take +a roundabout road and to seek the intercession of Our Lady and the +saints. God respected his Mother and sought to please her on every +occasion. Likewise he deferred to the wishes of the Blessed, seated on +his right hand and on his left in Paradise, and he inclined his ear to +listen to the petitions they presented to him. Thus in cases of dire +necessity it was customary to solicit the favour of the saints by +presenting prayers and offerings. Then also did the citizens of +Orléans remember Saint Euverte and Saint-Aignan, the patrons of their +town. In very ancient days Saint Euverte had sat upon that episcopal +seat, now, in 1428, occupied by a Scot. Messire Jean de Saint Michel, +and Saint Euverte had shone with all the glory of apostolic +virtue.[499] His successor, Saint-Aignan had prayed to God. He had +regarded the city in a peril like unto that of which it was now in +danger. + +[Footnote 499: _Journal du siège_, p. 51. _Chronique de la fête_ in +the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 296. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, pp. 27-31.] + +The following is his story as it was known to the people of Orléans. +When still young, Saint-Aignan had withdrawn to a solitary place near +Orléans. There Saint Euverte, at that time bishop of the city, +discovered him. He ordained him priest, appointed him Abbot of +Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils, and elected him to succeed him in the +government of the faithful. And when Saint Euverte had passed from +this life to the other, the blessed Aignan, with the consent of the +people of Orléans, was proclaimed bishop by the voice of a little +child. For God, who is praised out of the mouths of babes, permitted +one of them, borne in his swaddling clothes to the altar, to speak and +say: "Aignan, Aignan is chosen of God to be bishop of this town." Now +in the sixtieth year of his pontificate, the Huns invaded Gaul, led by +their King Attila, who boasted that wherever he went the stars fell +and the earth trembled beneath him, that he was the hammer of the +world, _stellas pre se cadere, terram tremere, se malleum esse +universi orbis_. Every town on his march had been destroyed by him, +and now he was advancing against Orléans. Then the blessed Aignan went +forth into the city of Arles, to the Patrician Aëtius, who commanded +the Roman army, and implored his aid in so great a peril. Having +obtained of the Patrician promise of succour, Aignan returned to his +episcopal see, which he found surrounded by barbarian warriors. The +Huns, having made breaches in the walls, were preparing an assault. +The blessed saint went up on to the ramparts, knelt and prayed, and +then, having prayed, spat upon the enemy. By God's will that drop of +his saliva was followed by all the raindrops in the sky. A tempest +arose: the rain fell in such torrents on the barbarians that their +camp was flooded; their tents were overturned by the power of the +winds, and many among them perished by lightning. The rain lasted for +three days, after which time Attila assailed the ramparts with +powerful engines of war. When they saw the walls fall down the +inhabitants were terrified. All hope of resistance being at an end, +the holy bishop, clad in his episcopal robes, went to the King of the +Huns and adjured him to take pity on the people of Orléans, +threatening him with the wrath of God if he dealt hardly with the +conquered. These prayers and these threats did not soften Attila's +heart. On his return to the faithful, the bishop warned them that +henceforth nothing remained to them but trust in God; divine succour, +however, would not fail them. And soon, according to the promise he +had given them, God delivered the town by means of the Romans and the +Franks, who defied the Huns in a great battle. Not long after the +miraculous deliverance of his beloved city, Saint Aignan fell asleep +in the Lord.[500] + +[Footnote 500: Hubert, _Antiquitez historiques de l'église royale de +Saint-Aignan d'Orléans_, 1661, in 8vo, pp. 1-15.] + +Wherefore, in this great peril of the English, the citizens of Orléans +resorted to Saint Euverte and Saint-Aignan for succour and relief. +According to the marvels accomplished by Saint-Aignan in this mortal +life they measured his power of working miracles now that he was in +Paradise. These two confessors had each his church in the faubourg de +Bourgogne, wherein their bodies were jealously guarded.[501] In those +days the bones of martyrs and confessors were devoutly worshipped. It +was said that sometimes they shed abroad a healing odour which +represented the virtues proceeding from them. They were enclosed in +gilded reliquaries adorned with precious stones, and no miracle was +thought too great to be accomplished by these holy relics. On the 6th +of August, 1428, the clergy of the city went to the church wherein was +the reliquary of Saint Euverte and bore it round the walls, that they +might be strengthened. And the holy reliquary made the round of the +whole city, followed by all the people. On the 8th of September a +_tortis_ weighing one hundred and ten livres[502] was offered to +Saint-Aignan. In time of need the favour of the saints was solicited +by all kinds of gifts, garments, jewels, coins, houses, lands, woods, +ponds; but natural wax was thought to be especially grateful to them. +A _tortis_ was a wheel of wax on which candles were placed and two +escutcheons bearing the arms of the city.[503] + +[Footnote 501: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 32. _Journal du siège_, p. 14. +Hubert, _loc. cit._, chs. iii, iv. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, pp. +82, 83.] + +[Footnote 502: A livre varied in weight from province to province; +generally it was about seventeen ounces (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 503: Le Maire, _Antiquités_, p. 285. P. Mantellier, +_Histoire du siège_, p. 16.] + +Thus did the people of Orléans strive to provision and protect their +town. + +Adventurers from all parts responded to the magistrates' appeal. The +first to hasten to the city were: Messire Archambaud de Villars, +Governor of Montargis; Guillaume de Chaumont, Lord of Guitry; Messire +Pierre de la Chapelle, a baron of La Beauce; Raimond Arnaud de +Corraze, knight of Béarn; Don Matthias of Aragon; Jean de Saintrailles +and Poton de Saintrailles. The Abbot of Cerquenceaux, sometime student +at the University of Orléans, arrived at the head of a band of +followers.[504] Thus the number of friends who entered the city was +well-nigh as great as that of the expected foe. The defenders were +paid; they were furnished with bread, meat, fish, forage in plenty, +and casks of wine were broached for them. In the beginning the +inhabitants treated them like their own children. The citizens all +contributed to the entertainment of the strangers, and gave them what +they had. But this concord did not long endure. Whatever tradition +alleges as to the friendly relations subsisting between the citizens +and their military guests,[505] affairs in Orléans were in truth not +different from what they were in other besieged towns; before long the +inhabitants began to complain of the garrison. + +[Footnote 504: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 257, 258. _Journal du +siège_, pp. 6, 7. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 204. J. Devaux, _Le +Gâtinais au temps de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Ann. Soc. hist. et arch. du +Gâtinais_, vol. v, 1887, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 505: _Journal du siège_, p. 92.] + +On the 5th of September the Earl of Salisbury reached Janville, having +taken with ease towns, fortified churches or castles to the number of +forty. But that was not his greatest achievement; for, although he had +left but few men in each place, he had by that means rid himself on +the march of that portion of his army which had already shown itself +ready to drop away.[506] + +[Footnote 506: _Geste des Nobles_, p. 204. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 256. Letter from Salisbury to the Commons of London, in Delpit, +_Collection de documents français qui se trouvent en Angleterre_, pp. +236, 237. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 79-89.] + +From Janville he sent two heralds to Orléans to summon the inhabitants +to surrender. The magistrates lodged these heralds honourably in the +faubourg Bannier, at the Hôtel de la Pomme and confided to them a +present of wine for the Earl of Salisbury; they knew their duty to so +great a prince. But they refused to open their gates to the English +garrison, alleging, doubtless, as was the custom of citizens in those +days, that they were not able to open them, having those within who +were stronger than they.[507] + +[Footnote 507: Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 11. Jarry, _Le +compte de l'armée anglaise_, p. 82. Boucher de Molandon, _Les comptes +de ville d'Orléans des quatorzième et quinzième siècles_, Orléans, +1880, in 8vo, pp. 91 _et seq._] + +Now that the danger was drawing near, on the 6th of October, priests, +burgesses, notables, merchants, mechanics, women and children walked +in solemn procession with crosses and banners, singing psalms and +invoking the heavenly guardians of the city.[508] + +[Footnote 508: Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 205. P. Mantellier, +_Histoire du siège_, p. 17.] + +On Tuesday, the 12th of this month, at the news that the enemy was +coming through Sologne, the magistrates sent soldiers to pull down the +houses of Le Portereau, the suburb on the left bank, also the +Augustinian church and monastery of that suburb, as well as all other +buildings in which the enemy might lodge or entrench himself. But the +soldiers were taken by surprise. That very day the English occupied +Olivet and appeared in Le Portereau.[509] With them were the victors +of Verneuil, the flower of English knighthood: Thomas, Lord of Scales +and of Nucelles, Governor of Pontorson, whom the King of England +called cousin; William Neville; Baron Falconbridge; William Gethyn, a +Welsh knight, Bailie of Évreux; Lord Richard Gray, nephew of the Earl +of Salisbury; Gilbert Halsall, Richard Panyngel, Thomas Guérard, +knights, and many others of great renown. + +[Footnote 509: _Journal du siège_, p. 4.] + +Over the two hundred lances from Normandy there floated the standards +of William Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and of John Pole, two brothers +descended from a comrade-in-arms of Duke William; of Thomas Rampston, +knight banneret, the Regent's chamberlain; of Richard Walter, squire, +Governor of Conches, Bailie and Captain of Évreux; of William Mollins, +knight; of William Glasdale, whom the French called Glacidas, squire, +Bailie of Alençon, a man of humble birth.[510] + +[Footnote 510: _Journal du siège_, pp. 2-4. Boucher de Molandon et de +Beaucorps, _L'armée anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 129.] + +The archers were all on horseback. There were practically no +foot-soldiers. In carts drawn by oxen were barrels of powder, +cross-bows, arrows, cannon-balls, and guns of all kinds, muskets, +fowling-pieces, and large cannon. The two English master-gunners, +Philibert de Moslant and William Appleby, accompanied the troops. +There were also two masters of mining with thirty-eight workmen. Of +women there were not a few, some of them acting as spies.[511] + +[Footnote 511: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 26, 28, +29. Boucher de Molandon and de Beaucorps, _L'armée anglaise vaincue +par Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 50 _et seq._ Mademoiselle A. de Villaret, +_Campagne des anglais_, ch. iv, pp. 39, 53; Accounts of the siege, +nos. 30, 31, p. 214. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 205.] + +When the army arrived it was greatly diminished by desertions, having +shed runaways at each victory. Some returned to England, others roamed +through the realm of France robbing and plundering. That very 12th of +October orders had been despatched from Rouen to the Bailies and +Governors of Normandy to arrest those English who had departed from +the company of my Lord, the Earl of Salisbury.[512] + +[Footnote 512: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, p. 61.] + +The fort of Les Tourelles and its outworks barred the entrance to the +bridge. The English established themselves in Le Portereau, placed their +cannon and their mortars on the rising ground of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc,[513] +and, on the following Sunday, they hurled down upon the city a shower +of stone cannon-balls, which did great damage to the houses, but +killed no one save a woman of Orléans, named Belles, who dwelt near +the Chesneau postern on the river bank. Thus the siege, which was to +be ended by a woman's victory, began with a woman's death. + +[Footnote 513: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 258. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, p. 66. Jean Raoulet in Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, +p. 198. _Journal du siège_, pp. 1, 2. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du +siège_, p. 246. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 27. H. Baraude, +_Le siège d'Orléans et Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 31.] + +That same week the English cannon destroyed twelve water mills near La +Tour Neuve. Whereupon the people of Orléans constructed within the +city eleven mills worked by horses,[514] in order that there might be +no lack of flour. There were a few skirmishes at the bridge. Then on +Thursday, the 21st of October, the English attempted to storm the +outworks of Les Tourelles. The little band of adventurers in the +service of the town and the city troops made a gallant defence. The +women helped; throughout the four hours that the assault lasted long +lines of gossips might be seen hurrying to the bridge, bearing their +pots and pans filled with burning coals and boiling oil and fat, +frantic with joy at the idea of scalding the _Godons_.[515] The attack +was repulsed; but two days later the French perceived that the +outworks were undermined; the English had dug subterranean passages, +to the props of which they had afterwards set fire. The outworks +having become untenable in the opinion of the soldiers, they were +destroyed and abandoned. It was deemed impossible to defend Les +Tourelles thus dismantled. Those towers which would once have +arrested an army's progress for a whole month were now useless against +cannon. In front of La Belle Croix the townsfolk erected a rampart of +earth and wood. Beyond this outwork two arches of the bridge were cut +and replaced by a movable platform. And when this was done, the fort +of Les Tourelles was abandoned to the English with no great regret. +The latter set up a rampart of earth and faggots on the bridge, +breaking two of its arches, one in front, the other behind their +earthwork.[516] + +[Footnote 514: _Journal du siège_, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 515: _Ibid._, pp. 7-8. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, pp. +208, 210.] + +[Footnote 516: _Journal du siège_, pp. 5-8.] + +On the Sunday, towards evening, a few hours after the flag of St. +George had been planted on the fort, the Earl of Salisbury, with +William Glasdale and several captains, went up one of the towers to +observe the lie of the city. Looking from a window he beheld the walls +armed with cannon; the towers vanishing into pinnacles or with +terraces on their flat roofs; the battlements dry and grey; the +suburbs adorned for a few days longer with the fine stone-work of +their churches and monasteries; the vineyards and the woods yellow +with autumn tints; the Loire and its oval-shaped islands,--all +slumbering in the evening calm. He was looking for the weak point in +the ramparts, the place where he might make a breach and put up his +scaling ladders. For his plan was to take Orléans by assault. William +Glasdale said to him, "My Lord, look well at your city. You have a +good bird's-eye view of it from here." + +At this moment a cannon-ball breaks off a corner of the window recess, +a stone from the wall strikes Salisbury, carrying away one eye and one +side of his face. The shot had been fired from La Tour Notre-Dame. +That at least was generally believed. It was never known who had fired +it. A townsman, alarmed by the noise, hastened to the spot, saw a +child coming out of the tower and the cannon deserted. It was thought +that the hand of an innocent child had fired the bullet by the +permission of the Mother of God, who had been irritated by the Earl of +Salisbury's despoiling monks and pillaging the Church of Notre Dame de +Cléry. It was said also that he was punished for having broken his +oath, for he had promised the Duke of Orléans to respect his lands and +his towns. Borne secretly to Meung-sur-Loire, he died there on +Wednesday the 27th of October; and the English were very +sorrowful.[517] Most of them felt that loss to be irreparable which +had deprived them of a chief who was conducting the siege vigorously, +and who in less than twelve days had captured Les Tourelles, the very +corner-stone of the city's defence. But there were others who +reflected that he must have been very simple to imagine that thick +ramparts could be overthrown by stone balls, the force of which had +already been spent in crossing the wide stretches of the river, and +that he must have been mad to attempt to storm a city which could only +be reduced by famine. Then they thought: "He is dead. God receive his +soul! But he has brought us into a sorry plight." + +[Footnote 517: _Journal du siège_, pp. 10, 12. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 264. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 298. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 63. _Mistère d'Orléans_, line 3104 _et seq._ +_Chronique de la fête_ in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 288. Morosini, vol. iii, +p. 131. Lorenzo Buonincontro in Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum +Scriptores_, vol. xxi, col. 136. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée +anglaise_, pp. 85, 86.] + +Men told how Maître Jean de Builhons, a famous astrologer, had +prophesied this death,[518] and how in the night before the fatal +day, the Earl of Salisbury himself had dreamed that he was being +clawed by a wolf. A Norman clerk composed two songs on this sad death, +one against the English, the other for them. The first, which is the +better, closes with a couplet, worthy in its profound wisdom of King +Solomon himself:[519] + + Certes le duc de Bedefort + Se sage est, il se tendra + Avec sa femme en ung fort, + Chaudement le mieulx[520] que il porra, + De bon ypocras finera, + Garde son corps, lesse la guerre: + Povre et riche porrist en terre.[521] + +[Footnote 518: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 345. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +263. _Journal du siège_, p. 10. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 519: L. Jarry, _Deux chansons normandes, Orléans_, 1894, in +8vo, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 520: The text published by M. Jarry has _mielux_.] + +[Footnote 521: Certes that wise man the Duke of Bedford, will keep +himself in a fortress with his wife as snug as may be. He will drink +good hypocras (a kind of wine). He looks after himself, leaves warfare +and the poor and rich to rot in the ground.] + +The day after the taking of Les Tourelles and when its loss had been +remedied as best might be, the King's lieutenant-general entered the +town. He was le Seigneur Jean, Count of Porcien and of Montaing, Grand +Chamberlain of France, son of Duke Louis of Orléans, who had been +assassinated in 1407 by order of Jean-Sans-Peur, and whose death had +armed the Armagnacs against the Burgundians. Dame de Cany was his +mother, but he ought to have been the son of the Duchess of Orléans +since the Duke was his father. Not only was it no drawback to children +to be born outside wedlock and of an adulterous union, but it was a +great honor to be called the bastard of a prince. There have never +been so many bastards as during these wars, and the saying ran: +"Children are like corn: sow stolen wheat and it will sprout as well +as any other."[522] The Bastard of Orléans was then twenty-six at the +most. The year before, with a small company, he had hastened to +revictual the inhabitants of Montargis, who were besieged by the Earl +of Warwick. He had not only revictualled the town; but with the help +of Captain La Hire had driven away the besiegers. This augured well +for Orléans.[523] The Bastard was the cleverest baron of his day. He +knew grammar and astrology, and spoke more correctly than any +one.[524] In his affability and intelligence he resembled his father, +but he was more cautious and more temperate. His amiability, his +courtesy and his discretion caused it to be said that he was in favour +with all the ladies, even with the Queen.[525] In everything he was +apt, in war as well as in diplomacy, marvellously adroit, and a +consummate dissembler. + +[Footnote 522: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +p. 25; vol. ii, p. 389.] + +[Footnote 523: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 273, 274. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, pp. 243, 247. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 54. +_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 221. _Cronique Martiniane_, p. +7.] + +[Footnote 524: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. ii, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 525: Mathieu d'Escouchy, _Chronique_, ed. Beaucourt, Paris, +1863, vol. i, p. 186. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 236.] + +My Lord the Bastard brought in his train several knights, captains, +and squires of renown, that is to say, of high birth or of great +valour: the Marshal de Boussac, Messire Jacques de Chabannes, +Seneschal of Bourbonnais, the Lord of Chaumont, Messire Théaulde of +Valpergue, a Lombard knight, Captain La Hire, wondrous in war and in +pillage, who had lately done so well in the relief of Montargis, and +Jean, Sire de Bueil, one of those youths who had come to the King on +a lame horse and who had taken lessons from two wise women, Suffering +and Poverty. These knights came with a company of eight hundred men, +archers, arbalesters, and Italian foot, bearing broad shields like +those of St. George in the churches of Venice and Florence. They +represented all the nobles and free-lances who for the moment could be +gathered together.[526] + +[Footnote 526: _Journal du siège_, pp. 10, 12. _Cronique Martiniane_, +p. 8. _Le jouvencel_, p. 277. Loiseleur, _Comptes des dépenses_, pp. +90, 91.] + +After the death of its chief, Salisbury's army was paralysed by +disunion and diminished by desertions. Winter was coming: the +captains, seeing there was nothing to be done for the present, broke +up their camp, and, with such men as remained to them, went off to +shelter behind the walls of Meung and Jargeau.[527] On the evening of +the 8th of November all that remained before the city was the garrison +of Les Tourelles, consisting of five hundred Norman horse, commanded +by William Molyns and William Glasdale. The French might besiege and +take them: they would not budge. The Governor, the old Sire de +Gaucourt, had just fallen on the pavement in La Rue des Hôtelleries +and broken his arm; he couldn't move.[528] But what about the rest of +the defenders? + +[Footnote 527: _Journal du siège_, pp. 12, 13. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire +du siège_, p. 245. Boucher de Molandon et de Beaucorps, _L'armée +anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 92, 111. Jean de Bueil, _Le +jouvencel_, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 528: _Journal du siège_, p. 7.] + +The truth is, no one knew what to do. These warriors were doubtless +acquainted with many measures for the succour of a besieged town, but +they were all measures of surprise.[529] Their only devices were +sallies, ambuscades, skirmishes, and other such valiant feats of +arms. Should they fail in raising a siege by surprise, then they +remained inactive,--at the end of their ideas and of their resources. +Their most experienced captains were incapable of any common +effort,--of any concerted action, of any enterprise in short, +requiring a continuous mental effort and the subordination of all to +one. Each was for his own hand and thought of nothing but booty. The +defence of Orléans was altogether beyond their intelligence. + +[Footnote 529: _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 142.] + +For twenty-one days Captain Glasdale remained entrenched, with his +five hundred Norman horse, under the battered walls of Les Tourelles, +between his earthworks on Le Portereau side, which couldn't have +become very formidable as yet, and his barrier on the bridge, which +being but wood, a spark could easily have set on fire. + +Meanwhile the citizens were at work. After the departure of the +English they performed a huge and arduous task. Concluding, and +rightly, that the enemy would return not through La Sologne this time, +but through La Beauce, they destroyed all their suburbs on the west, +north, and east, as they had already destroyed or begun to destroy Le +Portereau. They burned and pulled down twenty-two churches and +monasteries, among others the church of Saint-Aignan and its +monastery, so beautiful that it was a pity to see it spoiled, the +church of Saint Euverte, the church of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils, not +without promising the blessed patrons of the town that when they +should have delivered the city from the English, the citizens would +build them new and more beautiful churches.[530] + +[Footnote 530: _Journal du siège_, p. 19. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 270. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 61. Le P. Denifle, _La +désolation des églises de France_, petition C.] + +On the 30th of November Captain Glasdale beheld Sir John Talbot +approaching Les Tourelles. He brought three hundred men furnished with +cannon, mortars, and other engines of war. Thenceforward the +bombardment was resumed more violently than before: roofs were broken +through, walls were battered, but there was more noise than work. In +La Rue Aux-Petits-Souliers a cannon-ball fell on to a table, round +which five persons were dining, and no one was hurt. It was thought to +have been a miracle of Our Lord worked at the intercession of Saint +Aignan, the patron saint of the city.[531] The people of Orléans had +wherewith to answer the besiegers. For the seventy cannon and mortars, +of which the city artillery consisted, there were twelve professional +gunners with servants to wait on them. A very clever founder named +Guillaume Duisy had cast a mortar which from its position at the crook +or spur by the Chesneau postern, hurled stone bullets of one hundred +and twenty _livres_ on to Les Tourelles. Near this mortar were two +cannon, one called Montargis because the town of Montargis had lent +it, the other named _Rifflart_[532] after a very popular demon. A +culverin firer, a Lorrainer living at Angers, had been sent by the +King to Orléans, where he was paid twelve _livres_[533] a month. His +name was Jean de Montesclère. He was held to be the best master of his +trade. He had in his charge a huge culverin which inflicted great +damage on the English.[534] + +[Footnote 531: _Journal du siège_, pp. 16, 17.] + +[Footnote 532: _Ibid._, p. 17. J.L. Micqueau, _Histoire du siège +d'Orléans par les Anglais_, translated by Du Breton, Paris, 1631, p. +27. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 287. Lottin, _Recherches_, +vol. i, pp. 209, 210.] + +[Footnote 533: _Livre_, if it were of Paris, was equivalent to one +shilling, if of Tours, to ten pence (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 534: _Journal du siège_, p. 18. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. clxxxv. Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses faites par +Charles VII pour secourir Orléans_, in _Mém. Soc. Arch. de +l'Orléanais_, vol. xi, pp. 114, 186.] + +A jovial fellow was Maître Jean. When a cannon-ball happened to fall +near him he would tumble to the ground and be carried into the town to +the great joy of the English who believed him dead. But their joy was +short-lived, for Maître Jean soon returned to his post and bombarded +them as before.[535] These culverins were loaded with leaden bullets +by means of an iron ramrod. They were tiny cannon or rather large guns +on gun-carriages. They could be moved easily.[536] And so Maître +Jean's culverin was brought wherever it was needed. + +[Footnote 535: _Journal du siège_, p. 28. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. +i, p. 214.] + +[Footnote 536: Loiseleur, _Comptes_, p. 114. P. Mantellier, _Histoire +du siège_, p. 33.] + +On the 25th of December a truce was proclaimed for the celebration of +the Nativity of Our Lord. Of one faith and one religion, on feast days +the hostility of the combatants ceased, and courtesy reconciled the +knights of the two camps whenever the calendar reminded them that they +were Christians. Noël is a gay feast. Captain Glasdale wanted to +celebrate it with carol singing according to the English custom. He +asked my Lord Jean, the Bastard of Orléans, and Marshal de Boussac to +send him a band of musicians, which they graciously did. The Orléans +players went forth to Les Tourelles with their clarions and their +trumpets; and they played the English such carols as rejoiced their +hearts. To the folk of Orléans, who came on to the bridge to listen to +the music, it sounded very melodious; but no sooner had the truce +expired than every man looked to himself. For from one bank to the +other the cannon burst from their slumber, hurling balls of stone and +copper with renewed vigour.[537] + +[Footnote 537: _Journal du siège_, pp. 15, 18.] + +That which the people of Orléans had foreseen happened on the 30th of +December. On that day the English came in great force through La +Beauce to Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils.[538] All the French knights went +out to meet them and performed great feats of arms; but the English +occupied Saint-Laurent, and then the siege really began. They erected +a bastion on the left bank of the Loire, west of Le Portereau, in a +place called the Field of Saint-Privé. Another they erected in the +little island to the right of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils.[539] On the +right bank, at Saint-Laurent, they constructed an entrenched camp. At +a bow-shot's distance on the road to Blois, in a place called la +Croix-Boissée, they built another bastion. Two bow-shots away, towards +the north on the road to Mans, at a spot called Les Douze-Pierres, +they raised a fort which they called London.[540] + +[Footnote 538: To the number of 2500. _Journal du siège_, p. 20. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 265. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, +p. 252. Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, pp. 26, 27.] + +[Footnote 539: Cf. _ante_, p. 112, note 1. On the plan this island is +called Petite Île Charlemagne.] + +[Footnote 540: G. Girault's report in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 283. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 16, note 5; vol. iv, supplement xiii.] + +By these works half of Orléans was invested, which was as good as +saying that it was not invested at all. People went in and out as they +pleased. Small relieving companies despatched by the King arrived +without let or hindrance. On the 5th of January, 1429, Admiral de +Culant with five hundred men-at-arms crosses the Loire opposite +Saint-Loup and enters the city by the Burgundian Gate. On the 8th of +February there enters William Stuart, brother of the Constable of +Scotland, at the head of a thousand combatants well accoutred, and +accompanied by several knights and squires. On the morrow they are +followed by three hundred and twenty soldiers. Victuals and ammunition +are constantly arriving; on the 3rd of January, nine hundred and +fifty-four pigs and four hundred sheep; on the 10th, powder and +victuals; on the 12th, six hundred pigs; on the 24th, six hundred head +of fat cattle and two hundred pigs; on the 31st, eight horses loaded +with oil and fat.[541] + +[Footnote 541: _Journal du siège_, pp. 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 34.] + +It became evident to Lord Scales, William Pole, and Sir John Talbot, +who since Salisbury's[542] death had been conducting the siege, that +months and months must elapse ere the investment could be completed +and the city surrounded by a ring of forts connected by a moat. +Meanwhile the miserable _Godons_, up to the ears in mud and snow, were +freezing in their wretched hovels,--mere shelters of wood and earth. +If things went on thus they were in danger of being worse off and more +starved than the besieged. Therefore, following the example of the +late Earl, from time to time they tried to bring matters to a crisis; +without great hope of success they endeavoured to take the town by +assault.[543] + +[Footnote 542: Boucher de Molandon and A. de Beaucorps, _L'armée +anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 3 _et seq._ Jarry, _Le compte +de l'armée anglaise_, proofs and illustrations v, p. 233.] + +[Footnote 543: Jan. 1, 2. _Journal du siège_, pp. 21, 22, 30.] + +On the side of the Renard Gate the wall was lower than elsewhere; and, +as their strongest force lay in this direction, they preferred to +attack this part of the ramparts. They stormed the Renard Gate, +rushing against the barriers with loud cries of Saint George; but the +king's men and the city bands drove them back to their bastions.[544] +Each of these ill planned and useless assaults cost them many men. And +they already lacked both soldiers and horses. + +[Footnote 544: 4-27 Jan. _Journal du siège_, pp. 21, 22, 30.] + +Neither had they succeeded in alarming the people of Orléans by their +double bombardment on the south and on the west. There was a joke in +the town that a great cannon-ball had fallen near La Porte Bannière +into the midst of a crowd of a hundred people without touching one, +except a fellow who had his shoe taken off by it, but suffered no +further hurt than having to put it on again.[545] + +[Footnote 545: 17 Jan. _Ibid._, p. 26.] + +Meanwhile the French, English, and Burgundian knights took delight in +performing valiant deeds of prowess. Whenever the whim took them, and +under the slightest protest, they sallied forth into the country, but +always with the object of capturing some booty, for they thought of +little else. One day, for instance, towards the end of January, when +it was bitterly cold, a little band of English marauders entered the +vineyards of Saint-Ladre and Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle to gather sticks +for firewood. The watchman no sooner announces them than behold all +the banners flying to the wind. Marshal de Boussac, Messire Jacques de +Chabannes, Seneschal of Bourbonnais, Messire Denis de Chaîlly, and +many another baron, and with them captains and free-lances, make forth +into the fields. Not one of them can have commanded as many as twenty +men.[546] + +[Footnote 546: _Ibid._, p. 32.] + +The King's council was making every effort to succour Orléans. The +King summoned the nobles of Auvergne. They had been true to the Lilies +ever since the day when the Dauphin, Canon of Notre-Dame-d'Ancis, and +barely more than a child, had travelled over wild peaks to subdue two +or three rebellious barons.[547] At the royal call the nobles of +Auvergne came forth from their mountains. Beneath the standard of the +Count of Clermont, in the early days of February, they reached Blois, +where they joined the Scottish force of John Stuart of Darnley, the +Constable of Scotland, and a company from Bourbonnais, under the +command of the barons La Tour-d'Auvergne and De Thouars.[548] + +[Footnote 547: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, p. 732. Vallet de +Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 213; vol. ii, p. 6, +note 2. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. ccxcv.] + +[Footnote 548: _Journal du siège_, pp. 21, 36-38. The accounts of +Hémon Raguier, Bibl. Nat. Fr. 7858, fol. 41. Loiseleur, _Comptes des +dépenses de Charles VII pour secourir Orléans_, _loc. cit._] + +Just at this time tidings were received of a convoy of victuals and +ammunition which Sir John Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the +English at Orléans. With two hundred men-at-arms the Bastard started +from Orléans to concert measures with the Count of Clermont. It was +decided to attack the convoy. Commanded by the Count of Clermont and +the Bastard the whole army from Blois marched towards Étampes with the +object of encountering Sir John Fastolf.[549] + +[Footnote 549: _Journal du siège_, p. 37.] + +On the 11th of February there sallied forth from Orléans fifteen +hundred fighting men commanded by Messire Guillaume d'Albret, Sir +William Stuart, brother of the Constable of Scotland, the Marshal de +Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle, the two Captains Saintrailles, Captain +La Hire, the Lord of Verduzan, and sundry other knights and squires. +They were summoned by the Bastard and ordered to join the Count of +Clermont's army on the road to Étampes, at the village of +Rouvray-Saint-Denis, near Angerville.[550] + +[Footnote 550: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 231. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, pp. 266, 267. _Journal du siège_, pp. 37, 38.] + +The next day, Saturday, the eve of the first Sunday in Lent, when the +Count of Clermont's army was still some distance away, they reached +Rouvray. There, early in the morning, the Gascons of Poton and La Hire +perceived the head of the convoy advancing into the plain, along the +Étampes road. + +There they were, a line of three hundred carts and wagons full of arms +and victuals conducted by English soldiers and merchants and peasants +from Normandy, Picardy, and Paris, fifteen hundred men at the most, +all tranquil and unsuspecting. There naturally occurred to the Gascons +the idea of falling upon these people and making short work with them +at the moment when they least expected it.[551] In great haste they +sent to the Count of Clermont for permission to attack. As handsome as +Absalom and Paris of Troy, full of words and eaten up of vanity, the +Count of Clermont, who was but a lad and none of the wisest, had that +very day received his spurs and was at his first engagement.[552] He +foolishly sent word to the Gascons not to attack before his arrival. +The Gascons obeyed greatly disappointed; they saw what was being lost +by waiting. And at length, perceiving that they have walked into the +lion's mouth, the English leaders, Sir John Fastolf, Sir Richard +Gethyn, Bailie of Évreux, Sir Simon Morhier, Provost of Paris, place +themselves in good battle array. With their wagons they make a long +narrow enclosure in the plain. There they entrench their horsemen, +posting the archers in front, behind stakes planted in the ground with +their points inclined towards the enemy.[553] Seeing these +preparations, the Constable of Scotland loses patience and leads his +four hundred horsemen in a rush upon the stakes, where the horses' +legs are broken.[554] The English, discovering that it is only a small +company they have to deal with, bring out their cavalry and charge +with such force that they overthrow the French and slay three hundred. +Meanwhile the men of Auvergne had reached Rouvray and were scouring +the village, draining the cellars. The Bastard left them and came to +the help of the Scots with four hundred fighting men. But he was +wounded in the foot, and in great danger of being taken.[555] + +[Footnote 551: _Journal du siège_, pp. 38, 39. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, pp. 267, 268. _Mistère du siège_, line 8867. Dom Plancher, +_Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 552: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 312. _Journal du siège_, p. 43. +Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 553: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 311. _Journal du siège_, p. 39. +_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 232. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 267, 268. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 137, 139.] + +[Footnote 554: _Journal du siège_, pp. 40, 41.] + +[Footnote 555: _Ibid._, p. 43. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. +232.] + +There fell in this combat Lord William Stuart and his brother, the +Lords of Verduzan, of Châteaubrun, of Rochechouart, Jean Chabot with +many others of high nobility and great valour.[556] The English, not +yet satiated with slaughter, scattered in pursuit of the fugitives. La +Hire and Poton, beholding the enemy's standards dispersed over the +plain, gathered together as many men as they could, between sixty and +eighty, and threw themselves on a small part of the English force, +which they overcame. If at this juncture the rest of the French had +rallied they might have saved the honour and advantage of the +day.[557] But the Count of Clermont, who had not attempted to come to +the aid of the Bastard and the Constable of Scotland, displayed his +unfailing cowardice to the end. Having seen them all slain, he +returned with his army to Orléans, where he arrived well on into the +night of the 12th of February.[558] There followed him with their +troops in disorder, the Baron La Tour-d'Auvergne, the Viscount of +Thouars, the Marshal de Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle and the Bastard, +who with the greatest difficulty kept in the saddle. Jamet du Tillay, +La Hire, and Poton came last, watching to see that the English did not +complete their discomfiture by falling upon them from the forts.[559] + +[Footnote 556: _Journal du siège_, p. 43. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 269. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313.] + +[Footnote 557: _Journal du siège_, p. 42. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 63.] + +[Footnote 558: _Journal du siège_, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 559: _Ibid._, pp. 43, 44.] + +Because the Lenten fast was beginning, the victuals which Sir John +Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the English round Orléans, +consisted largely of red herrings, which had suffered during the +battle from the casks containing them having been broken in. To honour +the French for having discomfited so many natives of Dieppe the +delighted English merrily named the combat the Battle of the +Herrings.[560] + +[Footnote 560: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 230-233. +Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. ii, p. +62. Symphorien Guyon, _Histoire de la ville d'Orléans_, vol. ii, p. +195. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 37.] + +Albeit the Count of Clermont was the King's cousin, the people of +Orléans received him but coldly. He was held to have acted shamefully +and treacherously; and there were those who let him know what they +thought. On the morrow he made off with his men of Auvergne and +Bourbonnais amidst the rejoicings of the townsfolk who did not want to +support those who would not fight.[561] At the same time there left +the city Sire Louis de Culant, High Admiral of France and Captain La +Hire, with two thousand men-at-arms. At their departure there arose +from the citizens such howls of displeasure, that to appease them it +was necessary to explain that the captains were going to fetch fresh +supplies of men and victuals, which was the actual truth. My Lord +Regnault de Chartres, the date of whose arrival at Orléans is +uncertain, departed with them; but he could not be reproached for +going, since as Chancellor of France his place was in the King's +Council. But what must indeed have appeared strange was that my Lord +Saint-Michel, the successor of Saint-Euverte and Saint-Aignan, should +quit his episcopal see and desert his afflicted spouse.[562] When the +rats go the vessel is on the point of sinking. Only the Lord Bastard +and the Marshal de Boussac were left in the city. And even the Marshal +was not to stay long. A month later he went, saying that the King had +need of him and that he must go and take possession of broad lands +fallen to him through his wife, by the death of his brother-in-law, +the Lord of Châteaubrun, at the Battle of the Herrings.[563] The +townsfolk deemed the reason a good one. He promised to return before +long, and they were content. Now the Marshal de Boussac was one of the +barons who had the welfare of the kingdom most at heart.[564] But he +who has lands must needs do his duty by them. + +[Footnote 561: 18 Feb. _Journal du siège_, pp. 50, 52.] + +[Footnote 562: _Ibid._, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 563: 16 March. _Ibid._, p. 59.] + +[Footnote 564: Thaumas de la Thaumassière, _Histoire du Berry_, +Bourges, 1689, in fol., pp. 648-656.] + +Believing that they were betrayed and abandoned, the citizens +bethought them of securing their own safety. Since the King was not +able to protect them, they resolved that in order to escape from the +English, they would give themselves to one more powerful than he. +Therefore, to Lord Philip, Duke of Burgundy, they despatched Captain +Poton of Saintrailles, who was known to him because he had been his +prisoner, and two magistrates of the city, Jean de Saint-Avy and Guion +du Fossé. Their mission was to pray and entreat the Duke to look +favourably on the town, and for the sake of his good kinsman, their +Lord, Charles, Duke of Orléans, a prisoner in England, and thus +prevented from defending his own domain, to induce the English to +raise the siege until such time as the troubles of the realm should be +set at rest.[565] Thus they were offering to place their town as a +pledge in the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. Such an offer was in +accordance with the secret desire of the Duke, who, having sent a few +hundred Burgundian horse to the walls of Orléans, was helping the +English, and did not intend to do it for nothing.[566] + +[Footnote 565: _Journal du siège_, p. 52.] + +[Footnote 566: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 317. _Journal du siège_, p. 52. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 269. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, +p. 65. Morosini, pp. 16, 17, vol. iv, supplement xiv. Du Tillet, +_Recueil des traités_, p. 221.] + +Pending the uncertain and distant day when they might be thus +protected, the people of Orléans continued to protect themselves as +best they could. But they were anxious and not without reason. For +although they might prevent the enemy from entering within the city, +they could devise no means for speedily driving him away. In the early +days of March they observed with concern that the English were digging +a ditch to serve them as cover in passing from one bastion to another, +from la Croix-Boissée to Saint-Ladre. This work they attempted to +destroy. They vigorously attacked the _Godons_ and took a few +prisoners. With two shots from his culverin Maître Jean killed five +persons, including Lord Gray, the nephew of the late Earl of +Salisbury.[567] But they could not hinder the English from completing +their work. The siege continued with terrible vigour. Agitated by +doubts and fears, consumed with anxiety, without sleep, without rest, +and succeeding in nothing, they began to despair. Suddenly a strange +rumour arises, spreads, and gains credence. + +[Footnote 567: 3 March. _Journal du siège_, p. 54.] + +It is told that there had lately passed through the town of Gien a +maid (_une pucelle_), who proclaimed that she was on her way to Chinon +to the gentle Dauphin, and said that she had been sent by God to raise +the siege of Orléans and take the King to his anointing at Reims.[568] + +[Footnote 568: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 21, 23. _Journal du siège_, pp. +46 _et seq._ _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 278.] + +In colloquial language, a maid (_une pucelle_) was a girl of humble +birth, who earned her livelihood by manual work and was generally a +servant. Thus the leaden pumps used in kitchens were usually called +_pucelles_. The term was doubtless vulgar, but it had no evil meaning. +In spite of Clopinel's naughty saying: "_Je légue ma pucelle à mon +curé_," it was used to describe a respectable girl of good +morals.[569] + +[Footnote 569: La Curne, under the word _Pucelle_; Du Cange, ad. v. +_Pucella_. + + _Je laisse cent sols de deniers + A ceulx qui boivent voluntiers + Et s'ay laissié a mon curé + Ma pucelle quand je mourrai,_ + +says Eustache Deschamps (quoted by La Curne); Du Cange cites a will of +1274: "afterwards I leave to Laurence _ma pucelle_ and twelve _livres_ +of Paris."] + +The tidings that a little saint of lowly origin, one of Our Lord's +poor, was bringing divine help to Orléans made a great impression on +minds excited by the fevers of the siege and rendered religious +through fear. The Maid inspired them with a burning curiosity, which +the Lord Bastard, like a wise man, deemed it prudent to encourage. He +despatched to Chinon two knights charged to inquire concerning the +damsel. One was Sire Archambaud of Villars, Governor of Montargis, +whom the Bastard had already sent to the King during the siege; he was +an aged knight, once the intimate friend of Duke Louis of Orléans, and +one of the seven Frenchmen who fought against the seven Englishmen at +Montendre,[570] in 1402: an Orléans citizen of the early days, +notwithstanding his great age he had vigourously defended Les +Tourelles on the 21st of October. The other, Messire Jamet du Tillay, +a Breton squire, had recently won great honour by covering the retreat +of Rouvray with his men. They set forth and the whole town anxiously +awaited their return.[571] + +[Footnote 570: _Relation contemporaine du combat de Montendre_, in +_Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France_, 1834, pp. 109-113.] + +[Footnote 571: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 3, 125, 215. _Journal du siège_, +pp. 5, 6, 31, 44. _Nouvelle biographie générale_, articles by Vallet +de Viriville.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MAID AT CHINON--PROPHECIES + + +From the village of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois, Jeanne dictated a +letter to the King, for she did not know how to write. In this letter +she asked permission to come to him, and told him that to bring him +aid she had travelled over one hundred and fifty leagues, and that she +knew of many things for his good. She was said to have added that were +he hidden amidst many others she would recognise him;[572] but later, +when she was questioned on this matter, she replied that she had no +recollection of it. + +[Footnote 572: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 56, 75.] + +Towards noon, when the letter had been sealed, Jeanne and her escort +set out for Chinon.[573] She went to the King, just as in those days +there went to him the sons of poor widows of Azincourt and Verneuil +riding lame horses found in some meadow,--fifteen-year-old lads coming +forth from their ruined towers to mend their own fortunes and those of +France; just as Loyalty, Desire, and Famine went to him.[574] Charles +VII was France, the image and symbol of France. Yet he was but a poor +creature withal, the eleventh of the miserable children born to the +mad Charles VI and his prolific Bavarian Queen.[575] He had grown up +among disasters, and had survived his four elder brethren. But he +himself was badly bred, knock-kneed, and bandy-legged;[576] a +veritable king's son, if his looks only were considered, and yet it +was impossible to swear to his descent.[577] Through his presence on +the bridge at Montereau on that day, when, according to a wise man, it +were better to have died than to have been there,[578] he had grown +pale and trembling, looking dully at everything going to wrack and +ruin around him. After their victory of Verneuil and their partial +conquest of Maine, the English had left him four years' respite. But +his friends, his defenders, his deliverers had alike been terrible. +Pious and humble, well content with his plain wife, he led a sad, +anxious life in his châteaux on the Loire. He was timid. And well +might he be so, for no sooner did he show friendship towards or +confidence in one of the nobility than that noble was killed. The +Constable de Richemont and the Sire de la Trémouille had drowned the +Lord de Giac after a mock trial.[579] The Marshal de Boussac, by +order of the Constable, had slain Lecamus de Beaulieu with even less +ceremony. Lecamus was riding his mule in a meadow on the bank of the +Clain, when he was set upon, thrown down, his head split open, and his +hand cut off. The favourite's mule was taken back to the King.[580] +The Constable de Richemont had given Charles in his stead La +Trémouille, a very barrel of a man, a toper, a kind of Gargantua who +devoured the country. La Trémouille having driven away Richemont, the +King kept La Trémouille until the Constable, of whom he was greatly in +dread, should return. And indeed so meek and fearful a prince had +reason to dread this Breton, always defeated, always furious, bitter, +ferocious, whose awkwardness and violence created an impression of +rude frankness.[581] + +[Footnote 573: _Ibid._, p. 56.] + +[Footnote 574: Bueil, _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 32, and Tringant, xv; +Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, ch. cxxxviii.] + +[Footnote 575: Vallet de Viriville, _Isabeau de Bavière_, 1859, in +8vo, and _Notes sur l'état civil des princes et princesses nés +d'Isabeau de Bavière_ in the _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, +vol. xix, pp. 473-482.] + +[Footnote 576: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, +vol. i, p. 312. Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p. +178.] + +[Footnote 577: _Chronique du religieux de Saint-Denis_, vol. i, pp. +28, 43. Docteur A. Chevreau, _De la maladie de Charles VI, roi de +France, et des médecins qui ont soigné ce prince_, in _l'Union +Médicale_, February, March, 1862. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. i, p. 4, note.] + +[Footnote 578: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 347.] + +[Footnote 579: Gruel, ed. Le Vavasseur, pp. 46 _et seq._ _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 239. Berry, p. 374. Pierre de Fénin, _Mémoires_, ed. +Mademoiselle Dupont, pp. 222, 223. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 453. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, +vol. ii, p. 432.] + +[Footnote 580: Gruel, pp. 53, 193. _Geste des nobles_, p. 200. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 23, 24, 54. De Beaucourt, _Histoire +de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 132. E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de +Richemont_, Paris, 1886, in 8vo, p. 131.] + +[Footnote 581: Gruel, p. 231. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 200, 248. +Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. iii, p. 189. De +Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 142. E. Cosneau, _Le +connétable de Richemont_, p. 140.] + +In 1428 Richemont wanted to resume his influence over the King. The +Counts of Clermont and of Pardiac united to aid him. The King's +mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, the kingdomless Queen of Sicily and +Jerusalem, and the Duchess of Anjou, took the part of the discontented +barons.[582] The Count of Clermont took prisoner the Chancellor of +France, the first minister of the crown, and held him to ransom. The +King had to pay for the restoration of his Chancellor.[583] In Poitou +the Constable was warring against the King's men, while the provinces +which remained loyal were being wasted by free lances in the King's +pay, while the English were advancing towards the Loire. + +[Footnote 582: De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 143, 144 _et +seq._ E. Cosneau, _op. cit._, pp. 142 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 583: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol. +ii, col. 1199. De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 150. E. Cosneau, +_op. cit._, p. 144.] + +In the midst of such miseries, King Charles, thin, dwarfed in mind and +body, cowering, timorous, suspicious, cut a sorry figure. Yet he was +as good as another; and perhaps at that time he was just the king that +was needed. A Philippe of Valois or a Jean le Bon would have amused +himself by losing his provinces at the point of the sword. Poor King +Charles had neither their means nor their desire to perform deeds of +prowess, or to press to the front of the battle by riding down the +common herd. He had one good point: he did not love feats of prowess +and it was impossible for him to be one of those chivalrous knights +who make war for the love of it. His grandfather before him, who had +been equally lacking in chivalrous graces, had greatly damaged the +English. The grandson had not Charles V's wisdom, but he also was not +free from guile and was inclined to believe that more may be gained by +the signing of a treaty than at the point of the lance.[584] + +[Footnote 584: P. de Fénin, _Mémoires_, p. 222. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, Introduction. E. Charles, _Le caractère de +Charles VII_, in _Revue contemporaine_, vol. xxii, pp. 300-328.] + +Concerning his poverty ridiculous stories were in circulation. It was +said that a shoemaker, to whom he could not pay ready money, had torn +from his leg the new gaiter he had just put on, and gone off, leaving +the King with his old ones.[585] It was related how one day La Hire +and Saintrailles, coming to see him, had found him dining with the +Queen, with two chickens and a sheep's tail as their only +entertainment.[586] But these were merely good stories. The King still +possessed domains wide and rich; Auvergne, Lyonnais, Dauphiné, +Touraine, Anjou, all the provinces south of the Loire, except Guyenne +and Gascony.[587] + +[Footnote 585: Le doyen de Saint-Thibaud, _Tableau des rois de +France_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 325.] + +[Footnote 586: Martial d'Auvergne, _Les vigiles de Charles VII_, ed. +Coustelier, 1724 (2 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, p. 56.] + +[Footnote 587: L. Drapeyron, _Jeanne d'Arc et Philippe le Bon_, in +_Revue de géographie_, November, 1886, p. 331.] + +His great resource was to convoke the States General. The nobility +gave nothing, alleging that it was beneath their dignity to pay money. +When, notwithstanding their poverty, the clergy did contribute +something, it was still, always the third estate that bore more than +its share of the financial burden. That extraordinary tax, the +_taille_,[588] became annual. The King summoned the Estates every +year, sometimes twice a year. They met not without difficulty.[589] +The roads were dangerous. At every corner travellers might be robbed +or murdered. The officers, who journeyed from town to town collecting +the taxes, had an armed escort for fear of the Scots and other +men-at-arms in the King's service.[590] + +[Footnote 588: _Taille_, so called from a notched stick (Eng. tally), +used by the tax-collector, the number of notches indicating the amount +of the tax due. There were two _tailles_: _la taille seigneuriale_, a +contribution paid by serfs to their lord; and _la taille royale_, paid +by the third estate to the King. The latter was first levied by +Philippe le Bel (1285-1314), but was only an occasional tax until the +reign of Charles VII, who converted it into a regular impost. But +although collected at stated intervals its amount varied from reign to +reign, becoming intolerably burdensome under the spendthrift kings, +while wise rulers, like Henri IV, considerably reduced it. It was not +abolished until the Revolution (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 589: _Recueil des ordonnances_, vol. xiii, p. xcix, and the +index of this volume under the word _Impôts_. Loiseleur, _Compte des +dépenses_, pp. 51 _et seq._ A. Thomas, _Les états généraux sous +Charles VII_ in the _Cabinet historique_, vol. xxiv, 1878. _Les états +provinciaux de la France centrale sous Charles VII_, Paris, 1879, 2 +vols. in 8vo, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 590: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, p. 318. Vallet de +Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 390. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 428; vol. ii, pp. 646 _et seq._] + +In 1427 a free lance, Sabbat by name, in garrison at Langeais, was the +terror of Touraine and Anjou. Thus the representatives of the towns +were in no hurry to present themselves at the meeting of the Estates. +It might have been different had they believed that their money would +be employed for the good of the realm. But they knew that the King +would first use it to make gifts to his barons. The deputies were +invited to come and devise means for the repression of the pillage and +plunder from which they were suffering;[591] and, when at the risk of +their lives they did come to the royal presence, they were forced to +consent to the _taille_ in silence. The King's officers threatened to +have them drowned if they opened their mouths. At the meeting of the +Estates held at Mehun-sur-Yèvre in 1425 the men from the good towns +said they would be glad to help the King, but first they desired that +an end be put to pillage, and my Lord Bishop of Poitiers, Hugues de +Comberel, said likewise. On hearing his words the Sire de Giac said to +the King: "If my advice were taken, Comberel would be thrown into the +river with the others of his opinion." Whereupon the men from the good +towns voted two hundred and sixty thousand livres.[592] In September, +1427, assembled at Chinon, they granted five hundred thousand livres +for the war.[593] By writs issued on the 8th of January, 1428, the +King summoned the States General to meet six months hence, on the +following 18th of July, at Tours.[594] On the 18th of July no one +attended. On the 22nd of July came a new summons from the King, +commanding the Estates to meet at Tours on the 10th of September.[595] +But the meeting did not take place until October, at Chinon, just when +the Earl of Salisbury was marching on the Loire. The States granted +five hundred thousand livres.[596] + +[Footnote 591: _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, Introduction, pp. xix, xx.] + +[Footnote 592: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 237. Loiseleur, _Compte +des dépenses_, p. 61. Vallet de Viriville, _Mémoire sur les +institutions de Charles VII_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des +Chartes_, vol. xxxiii, p. 37.] + +[Footnote 593: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p. +471.] + +[Footnote 594: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +167.] + +[Footnote 595: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p. +471. A. Thomas, _Les états généraux sous Charles VII_, pp. 49, 50.] + +[Footnote 596: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p. +472. Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_, vol. iii, p. 20. Loiseleur, _Comptes +des dépenses_, pp. 63 _et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. ii, pp. 170 _et seq._] + +But the time could not be far off when the good people would be unable +to pay any longer. In those days of war and pillage many a field was +lying fallow, many a shop was closed, and few were the merchants +ambling on their nags from town to town.[597] + +[Footnote 597: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII_, Bk. II, ch. vi. +Antoine Loysel, _Mémoires des pays, villes, comtés et comtes de +Beauvais et Beauvoisis_, Paris, 1618, p. 229. P. Mantellier, _Histoire +de la communauté des marchands fréquentant la rivière de Loire_, vol. +i, p. 195.] + +The tax came in badly, and the King was actually suffering from want +of money. To extricate himself from this embarrassment he employed +three devices, of which the best was useless. First, as he owed every +one money,--the Queen of Sicily,[598] La Trémouille,[599] his +Chancellor,[600] his butcher,[601] the chapter of Bourges, which +provided him with fresh fish,[602] his cooks,[603] his footmen,[604]--he +made over the proceeds of the tax to his creditors.[605] Secondly, he +alienated the royal domain: his towns and his lands belonged to every +one save himself.[606] Thirdly, he coined false money. It was not with +evil intent, but through necessity, and the practice was quite +usual.[607] + +[Footnote 598: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol. +ii, cols. 1145, 1194. _Ordonnances_, vol. xv, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 599: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +p. 373. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 175. Duc +de la Trémoïlle, _Chartier de Thouars, Documents historiques et +généalogiques_, p. 17. _Les La Trémoïlle pendant cinq siècles_, vol. +i, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 600: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +632.] + +[Footnote 601: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii. Accounts, p. 316. +_Cabinet historique_, June, 1858, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 602: _Cabinet historique_, September and October, 1858, p. +263.] + +[Footnote 603: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +p. 374.] + +[Footnote 604: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +632.] + +[Footnote 605: Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses_, p. 57.] + +[Footnote 606: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +634.] + +[Footnote 607: Vuitry, _Les monnaies sous les trois premiers Valois_, +Paris, 1881, in 8vo, pp. 29 _et seq._ Loiseleur, _Compte des +dépenses_, p. 47. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +i, p. 243. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 620 +_et seq._] + +The only title borne by La Trémouille was that of +Conseiller-Chambellan, but he was also the Grand Usurer of the +kingdom. His debtors were the King and a multitude of nobles high and +low.[608] He was therefore a powerful personage. In those difficult +days he rendered the crown services self-interested, but none the less +valuable. From January to August, 1428, he advanced sums amounting to +about twenty-seven thousand livres for which he received lands and +castles as security.[609] Fortunately the Royal Council included a +number of Jurists and Churchmen who were good business men. One of +them, an Angevin, Robert Le Maçon, Lord of Trèves, of plebeian birth, +had entered the Council during the Regency. He was the first among +those of lowly origin who served Charles VII so ably that he came to +be called The Well Served (_Le Bien Servi_).[610] Another, the Sire de +Gaucourt, had aided his King in war.[611] + +[Footnote 608: Clairambault, _Titres, Scellés_, vol. 205, pp. 8769, +8771, 8773, _passim_. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 609: Archives nationales, J. 183, no. 142. Duc de La +Trémoïlle, _Les La Trémoïlle pendant cinq siècles_, vol. i, p. 177. De +Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 198.] + +[Footnote 610: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire généalogique et chronologique +de la maison de France_, vol. vi, p. 399. Vallet de Viriville, in +_Nouvelle biographie générale_. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. i, p. 63.] + +[Footnote 611: Marquis de Gaucourt, _Le Sire de Gaucourt_, Orléans, +1855, in 8vo.] + +There is yet a third whom we must learn to know as well as possible. +For he will play an important part in this story; and his part would +appear greater still if it were laid bare in its entirety. This is +Regnault de Chartres, whom we have already seen promoted to be +minister of finance.[612] Son of Hector de Chartres, master of Woods +and Waters in Normandy, he took orders, became archdeacon of Beauvais, +then chamberlain of Pope John XXIII, and in 1414, at about +thirty-four, was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Reims.[613] The +following year three of his brothers fell on the gory field of +Azincourt. In 1418 Hector de Chartres perished at Paris, assassinated +by the Butchers.[614] Regnault himself, cast into prison by the +Cabochiens, expected to be put to death. He vowed that if he escaped +he would fast every Wednesday, and drink water for breakfast every +Friday and Saturday, for the rest of his life.[615] One must not judge +a man by an act prompted by fear. Nevertheless we may well hesitate to +rank the author of this vow with those Epicureans who did not believe +in God, of whom there were said to be many among the clerks. We may +conclude rather that his intelligence submitted to the common beliefs. + +[Footnote 612: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire généalogique et chronologique +de la maison de France_, vol. vi, p. 339. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. +ix, col. 135. Hermant, _Histoire ecclésiastique de Beauvais_ (Bibl. +nat. fr. 8581), fol. 15 _et seq._ Article by Vallet de Viriville, in +_Nouvelle biographie générale_ and _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, +pp. 160 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 613: Le P. Denifle, _Cartularium Universitatis Parisiensis_, +vol. iv, p. 275.] + +[Footnote 614: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 109. In 1411 the +Butchers of Paris, led by Jean-Simonnet Caboche, rose in favour of the +Duke of Burgundy (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 615: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, vol. i, pp. +594, 595. Garnier, _Documents relatifs à la surprise de Paris par les +Bourguignons en Mai_, 1418, in _Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire +de Paris_, 1877, p. 51.] + +A tragic fidelity, an inherited loyalty to the Armagnacs recommended +my Lord Regnault to the Dauphin, who entrusted him with important +missions to various parts of Christendom, Languedoc, Scotland, +Brittany, and Burgundy.[616] The Archbishop of Reims acquitted himself +with rare skill and indefatigable zeal. In December he prayed the Holy +Father to dispense him from the fulfilment of the vow taken in the +Butchers' prison,[617] on the grounds of his feeble health and his +services rendered to the Dauphin, who required him to undertake +frequent journeys and arduous embassies. + +[Footnote 616: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. +268, 276, 339. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 4, and proofs and +illustrations, lxxj.] + +[Footnote 617: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, _loc. cit._ +According to a "legitimist" fiction he pleads the service he had +rendered to King Charles VI, and his son the Dauphin "_... tam propter +sue persone debililitatem, quam etiam propter assidua viagia et +ambassiatas, que ipse serviendo Carolo Francorum regi et Carolo, +ejusdem regis unigenito filio, dalphino Viennensi...._"] + +In 1425, when the King and the kingdom were governed by President +Louvet,[618] a learned lawyer, who may well have been a rogue, my Lord +Regnault was appointed Chancellor of France in the place of my Lord +Martin Gouges of Charpaigne, Bishop of Clermont.[619] But shortly +afterwards, when the Constable of France, Arthur of Brittany, had +dismissed Louvet, Regnault sold his appointment to Martin Gouges for a +pension of two thousand five hundred _livres tournois_.[620] + +[Footnote 618: Vallet de Viriville, _Nouvelle biographie générale_. De +Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 64 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 619: F. Duchesne, _Histoire des chanceliers et gardes des +sceaux de France_, 1680, in fol., p. 483.] + +[Footnote 620: The _livre_ of Tours was worth ten pence, while that of +Paris was worth one shilling (W.S.). National Archives, p. 2298.] + +The Reverend Father in God, my Lord the Archbishop of Reims, was not +as rich, far from it, as my Lord de la Trémouille; but he made the +best of what he had. Like the Sire de la Trémouille he lent money to +the King.[621] But in those days who did not lend the King money? +Charles VII gave him the town and castle of Vierzon in payment of a +debt of sixteen thousand _livres tournois_.[622] When La Trémouille +had treated the Constable as the Constable had treated Louvet, +Regnault de Chartres became Chancellor again. He entered into his +office on the 8th of November, 1428. By this time the Council had sent +men-at-arms and cannon to Orléans. No sooner was my Lord of Reims +appointed than he threw himself into the city and spared no +trouble.[623] He was keenly attached to the goods of this world and +might pass for a miser.[624] But there can be no doubt of his devotion +to the royal cause, nor of his hatred of those who fought under the +Leopard and the Red Cross.[625] + +[Footnote 621: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +632.] + +[Footnote 622: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire généalogique de la maison de +France_, vol. i, p. 407.] + +[Footnote 623: _Journal du siège_, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 624: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, +introduction. _Cf._ the collection of official receipts in the +National Library, fr. 20,887, original documents 693, Clairambault, +_deeds_, _seals_, vol. 29.] + +[Footnote 625: F. Duchesne, _Histoire des chanceliers et garde des +sceaux de France_, p. 487.] + +After eleven days' journey, Jeanne reached Chinon on the 6th of +March.[626] It was the fourth Sunday in Lent, that very Sunday on +which the lads and lasses of Domremy went forth in bands, into the +country still grey and leafless, to eat their nuts and hard-boiled +eggs, with the rolls their mothers had kneaded. That was what they +called their well-dressing. But Jeanne was not to recollect past +well-dressings nor the home she had left without a word of +farewell.[627] Ignoring those rustic, well-nigh pagan festivals which +poor Christians introduced into the penance of the holy forty days, +the Church had named this Sunday _Lætare_ Sunday, from the first word +in the introit for the day: _Lætare, Jerusalem_. On that Sunday the +priest, ascending the altar steps, says low mass; and at high mass the +choir sings the following words from Scripture: "_Lætare, Jerusalem; +et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam ..._: Rejoice ye with +Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy +with her all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied +with the breasts of her consolations; ..."[628] That day priests, +monks, and clerks versed in holy Scripture, as in the churches with +the people assembled they sang _Lætare, Jerusalem_, had present before +their minds the virgin announced by prophecy, raised up for the +deliverance of the kingdom, marked with a sign, who was then making +her humble entrance into the town. Perhaps more than one applied what +that passage of Scripture says of the Holy Nation to the realm of +France, and in the coincidence of that liturgical text and the happy +coming of the Maid found occasion for hope. _Lætare, Jerusalem!_ +Rejoice ye, O people, in your true King and your rightful sovereign. +_Et conventum facite_: and come together. Unite all your strength +against the enemy. _Gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis_: +after your long mourning, rejoice. The Lord sends you succour and +consolation. + +[Footnote 626: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 56.] + +[Footnote 627: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 394, 462.] + +[Footnote 628: Isaiah, ch. 66, verse 10 (W.S.).] + +By the intercession of Saint Julien, and probably with the aid of +Collet de Vienne, the King's messenger, Jeanne found a lodging in the +town, near the castle, in an inn kept by a woman of good repute.[629] +The spits were idle. And the guests, deep in the chimney-corner, were +watching the grilling of Saint Herring, who was suffering worse +torments than Saint Lawrence.[630] In those times no one in +Christendom neglected the Church's injunctions concerning the fasts +and abstinences of Holy Lent. Following the example of Our Lord Jesus +Christ who fasted forty days in the desert, the faithful observed the +fast from Quadragesima Sunday until Easter Sunday, making forty days +after abstracting the Sundays when the fast was broken but not the +abstinence. Thus fasting and with her soul comforted, Jeanne listened +to the soft whisper of her Voices.[631] The two days she spent in the +inn were passed in retirement, on her knees.[632] The banks of the +Vienne and the broad meadows, still in their black wintry garb, the +hill-slopes over which light mists floated, did not tempt her. But +when, on her way to church, climbing up a steep street, or merely +grooming her horse in the inn yard, she raised her eyes to the north, +there on a mountain close at hand, just about the distance that would +be traversed by one of those stone cannon-balls which had been in use +for the last fifty or sixty years, she saw the towers of the finest +castle of the realm. Behind its proud walls there breathed that King +to whom she had journeyed, impelled by a miraculous love. + +[Footnote 629: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 143.] + +[Footnote 630: _La vie de saint Harenc glorieux martir et comment il +fut pesché en la mer et porté à Dieppe_, in _Recueil des poésies +françaises des XV'e et XVI'e siècles_, by A. de Montaiglon, vol. +ii, pp. 325-332.] + +[Footnote 631: Still if Jeanne were the age she is said to have been, +about eighteen, she was under no obligation to fast, but only to be +abstinent. Nevertheless, when imprisoned at Rouen, she fasted during +Lent; but we do not know how old her judges considered her to be.] + +[Footnote 632: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 143.] + +There were three castles merging before her into one long mass of +embattled walls, of keeps, towers, turrets, curtains, barbicans, +ramparts, and watch-towers; three castles separated one from the other +by dykes, barriers, posterns, and portcullis. On her left, towards +sunset, crowded, one behind the other, the eight towers of Coudray, +one of which had been built for a king of England, while the newest +were more than two hundred years old. On the right could be plainly +seen the middle castle, with its ancient walls and its towers crowned +with machicolated battlements. There was the chamber of Saint Louis, +the King's chamber, the apartment of him whom Jeanne called the Gentle +Dauphin. And there also, close to the rush-strewn room, was the great +hall in which she was to be received. Towards the town the site of the +hall was indicated by an adjoining tower, square and very old. On the +right extended a vast bailey or stronghold, intended as a lodging for +the garrison, and a defence of the middle part of the castle. Near by +a large chapel raised its roof, in the form of an inverted keel, above +the ramparts. This chapel, built by Henry II of England, was under the +patronage of Saint George, and from it the bailey received its name of +Fort Saint George.[633] In those days every one knew the story of +Saint George the valiant knight, who with his lance transfixed a +dragon and delivered a King's daughter, and then suffered martyrdom +confessing his faith. Like Saint Catherine he had been bound to a +wheel with sharp spikes, and the wheel had been miraculously broken +like that on which the executioners had bound the Virgin of +Alexandria. And like her Saint George had suffered death by means of +an axe, thus proving that he was a great saint.[634] In one thing, +however, he was wrong; he was of the party of the _Godons_, who for +more than three hundred years had kept his feast as that of all the +English. They held him to be their patron saint and invoked him before +all other saints. Thus his name was pronounced as constantly by the +vilest Welsh archer as by a knight of the Garter. In truth no one +knew what he thought and whether he did not condemn all these +marauders who were fighting for a bad cause; but there was reason to +fear that such great honours would affect him. The saints of Paradise +are generally ready to take the side of those who invoke them most +devoutly. And Saint George, after all, was just as English as Saint +Michael was French. That glorious archangel had appeared as the most +vigilant protector of the Lilies ever since my Lord Saint Denys, the +patron saint of the kingdom, had permitted his abbey to be taken. And +Jeanne knew it. + +[Footnote 633: G. de Cougny, _Notice archéologique et historique sur +le château de Chinon_, Chinon, 1860, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 634: _La légende dorée_, translated by Gustave Brunet, 1846, +pp. 259, 264. Douhet, _Dictionnaire des légendes_, pp. 426, 436.] + +Meanwhile the despatches brought from the Commander of Vaucouleurs by +Colet de Vienne were presented to the King.[635] These despatches +instructed him concerning the deeds and sayings of the damsel. This +was one of those countless matters to be examined by the Council, one +which, it appears, the King must himself investigate, as pertaining to +his royal office and as interesting him especially, since it might be +a question of a damsel of remarkable piety, and he was himself the +highest ecclesiastical personage in France.[636] His grandfather, wise +prince that he was, would have been far from scorning the counsel of +devout women in whom was the voice of God. About the year 1380 he had +summoned to Paris Guillemette de la Rochelle, who led a solitary and +contemplative life, and acquired such great power therefrom, so it was +said, that during her transports she raised herself more than two feet +from the ground. In many a church King Charles V had beautiful +oratories built, where she might pray for him.[637] The grandson +should do no less, for his need was still greater. There were still +more recent examples in his family of dealings between kings and +saints. His father, the poor King Charles VI, when he was passing +through Tours, had caused Louis, Duke of Orléans, to present to him +Dame Marie de Maillé. She had taken a vow of virginity and had +transformed the spouse, who approached her like a devouring lion, into +a timorous lamb. She revealed secrets to the King, and he was pleased +with her, for three years later he wanted to see her again at Paris. +This time they talked long together in private, and she revealed more +secrets to the King, so that he sent her away with gifts.[638] This +same Prince had granted an audience to a poor knight of Caux, one +Robert le Mennot, to whom, when he was in danger of shipwreck near the +coast of Syria, had been vouchsafed a vision. He proclaimed that God +had sent him to restore peace.[639] Still more favourably had the King +received a woman, Marie Robine, who was commonly called la Gasque of +Avignon.[640] In 1429, there were those at court who remembered the +prophetess sent to Charles VI to confirm him in his subjection to Pope +Benedict XIII. This pope was held to be an antipope; nevertheless, La +Gasque was regarded as a prophetess. Like Jeanne she had had many +visions concerning the desolation of the realm of France; and she had +seen weapons in the sky.[641] The kings of England were no less ready +than the kings of France to heed the words of those saintly men and +women, multitudes of whom were at that time uttering prophecies. Henry +V consulted the hermit of Sainte-Claude, Jean de Gand, who foretold +the King's approaching death; and on his death-bed he again had the +stern prophet summoned.[642] It was the custom of saints to speak to +kings and of kings to listen to them. How could a pious prince disdain +so miraculous a source of counsel? Had he done so he would have +incurred the censure of the wisest. + +[Footnote 635: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siège_, +pp. 46, 47.] + +[Footnote 636: _Epître de Jouvenel des Ursins_, in De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_ vol. v, p. 206, note 1.] + +[Footnote 637: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. x.] + +[Footnote 638: _Acta sanctorum_, vol. iii, March, p. 742. Abbé Pétin, +_Dictionnaire hagiographique_, 1850, vol. ii, p. 1516.] + +[Footnote 639: Froissart, _Chroniques_, Bk. IV, ch. xliii _et seq._] + +[Footnote 640: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 83, note 2. Vallet de Viriville, +_Procès de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1867, in 8vo, pp. +xxxi _et seq._] + +[Footnote 641: _Le songe du vieil Pélerin_, by Philippe de Maizières +(Bibl. Nat. French collection, no. 22,542).] + +[Footnote 642: Chastellain, ed. Buchon, pp. 114, 116. _Acta Sanctorum +Junii_, vol. 1, p. 648. Le P. De Buck, _Le bienheureux Jean de Gand_, +Brussels, 1862, in 8vo, 40 pages. Le P. Chapotin, _La guerre de cent +ans; Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains_, Évreux, 1888, in 8vo, p. 89.] + +King Charles read the Commander of Vaucouleur's letters, and had the +damsel's escort examined before him. Of her mission and her miracles +they could say nothing. But they spoke of the good they had seen in +her during the journey, and affirmed that there was no evil in +her.[643] + +[Footnote 643: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siège_, +p. 46.] + +Of a truth, God speaketh through the mouths of virgins. But in such +matters it is necessary to act with extreme caution, to distinguish +carefully between the true prophetesses and the false, not to take for +messengers from heaven the heralds of the devil. The latter sometimes +create illusions. Following the example of Simon the Magician, who +worked wonders vying with the miracles of St. Peter, these creatures +have recourse to diabolical arts for the seduction of men. Twelve +years before, there had prophesied a woman, likewise from the +Lorraine Marches, Catherine Suave, a native of Thons near Neufchâteau, +who lived as a recluse at Port de Lates, yet most certainly did the +Bishop of Maguelonne know her to be a liar and a sorceress, wherefore +she was burned alive at Montpellier in 1417.[644] Multitudes of women, +or rather of females, _mulierculæ_,[645] lived like this Catherine and +ended like her. + +[Footnote 644: _Parvus Thalamus_, ed. Archæological Society of +Montpellier, p. 464. Th. de Bèze, _Histoire ecclésiastique_, 1580, +vol. i, p. 217. A. Germain, _Catherine Suave_, Montpellier, 1853, in +4to, 16 pages. H.C. Lea, _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle +Ages_ (1906), vol. ii, p. 157. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. x.] + +[Footnote 645: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +502.] + +Certain ecclesiastics briefly interrogated Jeanne and asked her +wherefore she had come. At first she replied that she would say +nothing save to the King. But when the clerks represented to her that +they were questioning her in the King's name, she told them that the +King of Heaven had bidden her do two things: one was to raise the +siege of Orléans, the other to lead the King to Reims for his +anointing and his coronation.[646] Just as at Vaucouleurs before Sire +Robert, so before these Churchmen she repeated very much what the +vavasour of Champagne had said formerly, when he had been sent to Jean +le Bon, as she was now sent to the Dauphin Charles. + +[Footnote 646: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 22. These facts were known at +Lyons on the 22nd of April, 1429. (Clerk of the Chambre des Comptes of +Brabant, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426.)] + +Having journeyed as far as the Plain of Beauce, where King John, +impatient for battle, was encamped with his army, the vavasour of +Champagne entered the camp and asked to see the wisest and best of the +King's liegemen at court. The nobles, to whom this request was +carried, began to laugh. But one among them, who had with his own eyes +seen the vavasour, recognised at once that he was a good, simple man +and without guile. He said to him: "If thou hast any advice to give, +go to the King's chaplain." The vavasour therefore went to King John's +chaplain and said to him: "Obtain for me an audience of the King; I +have something to tell that I will say to no one but to him." "What is +it?" asked the chaplain. "Tell me what is in your heart." But the good +man would not reveal his secret. The chaplain went to King John and +said to him: "Sire, there is a worthy man here who seems to me wise in +his way. He desires to say to you something that he will tell to you +alone." King John refused to see the good man. He summoned his +confessor, and, accompanied by the chaplain, sent him to learn the +vavasour's secret. The two priests went to the man and told him that +the King had appointed them to hear him. At this announcement, +despairing of ever seeing King John, and trusting to the Confessor and +the chaplain not to reveal his secret to any but the King, he uttered +these words: "While I was alone in the fields, a voice spake unto me +three times, saying: 'Go unto King John of France and warn him that he +fight not with any of his enemies.' Obedient to that voice am I come +to bring the tidings to King John." Having heard the vavasour's secret +the confessor and the chaplain took him to the King, who laughed at +him. With his comrades-in-arms he advanced to Poitiers, where he met +the Black Prince. He lost his whole army in battle, and, twice wounded +in the face, was taken prisoner by the English.[647] + +[Footnote 647: S. Luce, _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, Paris, +1861, in 8vo, pp. 46, 48.] + +The ecclesiastics, who had examined Jeanne, held various opinions +concerning her. Some declared that her mission was a hoax, and that +the King ought to beware of her.[648] Others on the contrary held +that, since she said she was sent of God, and that she had something +to tell the King, the King should at least hear her. + +[Footnote 648: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115. Thomassin, _Registre +Delphinal_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 304. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siège_, p. 47.] + +Two priests who were then with the King, Jean Girard, President of the +Parlement of Grenoble, and Pierre l'Hermite, later subdean of +Saint-Martin-de-Tours, judged the case difficult and interesting +enough to be submitted to Messire Jacques Gélu, that Armagnac prelate +who had long served the house of Orléans and the Dauphin of France +both in council and in diplomacy. When he was nearly sixty, Gélu had +withdrawn from the Council, and exchanged the archiepiscopal see of +Tours for the bishopric of Embrun, which was less exalted and more +retired. He was illustrious and venerable.[649] Jean Girard and Pierre +l'Hermite informed him of the coming of the damsel in a letter, +wherein they told him also that, having been questioned in turn by +three professors of theology, she had been found devout, sober, +temperate, and in the habit of participating once a week in the +sacraments of confession and communion. Jean Girard thought she might +have been sent by the God who raised up Judith and Deborah, and who +spoke through the mouths of the Sibyls.[650] + +[Footnote 649: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. iii, col. 1089.] + +[Footnote 650: Le R.P. Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire générale des Alpes +Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, ed. by the Abbé Paul Guillaume, Paris, +1890-1892 (3 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, pp. 313 _et seq._] + +Charles was pious, and on his knees devoutly heard three masses a day. +Regularly at the canonical hours he repeated the customary prayers in +addition to prayers for the dead and other orisons. Daily he +confessed, and communicated on every feast day.[651] But he believed +in foretelling events by means of the stars, in which he did not +differ from other princes of his time. Each one of them had an +astrologer in his service.[652] + +[Footnote 651: The Monk of Dunfermline, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +340. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 265 +_et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 243.] + +[Footnote 652: Simon de Phares, _Recueil des plus célèbres +astrologues_, fr. ms. 1357. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. i, p. 306; vol. ii, p. 345, note. De Beaucourt, _Histoire +de Charles VII_, vol. vi, p. 399.] + +The late Duke of Burgundy had been constantly accompanied by a Jewish +soothsayer, Maître Mousque. On that day, the end of which he was never +to see, as he was going to the Bridge of Montereau, Maître Mousque +counselled him not to advance any further, prophesying that he would +not return. The Duke continued on his way and was killed.[653] The +Dauphin Charles confided in Jean des Builhons, in Germain de +Thibonville and in all others of the peaked cap.[654] + +[Footnote 653: Chastellain, vol. iii, p. 446.] + +[Footnote 654: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +p. 173.] + +He always had two or three astrologers at court. These almanac makers +drew up schemes of nativity, cast horoscopes and read in the sky the +approach of wars and revolutions. One of them, Maître Rolland the +Scrivener, a fellow of the University of Paris, was one night, at a +certain hour, observing the heavens from his roof, when he saw the +apex of Virgo in the ascendant, Venus, Mercury, and the sun half way +up the sky.[655] This his colleague, Guillaume Barbin of Geneva, +interpreted to mean that the English would be driven from France and +the King restored by the hand of a mere maid.[656] If we may believe +the Inquisitor Bréhal, some time before Jeanne's coming into France, a +clever astronomer of Seville, Jean de Montalcin by name, had written +to the King among other things the following words: "By a virgin's +counsel thou shalt be victorious. Continue in triumph to the gates of +Paris."[657] + +[Footnote 655: I here correct the text of Simon de Phares (_Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 536) according to the written opinion of M. Camille +Flammarion.] + +[Footnote 656: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 536.] + +[Footnote 657: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 341.] + +At that very time the Dauphin Charles had with him at Chinon an old +Norman astrologer, one Pierre, who may have been Pierre de +Saint-Valerien, canon of Paris. The latter had recently returned from +Scotland, whither, accompanied by certain nobles, he had gone to fetch +the Lady Margaret, betrothed to the Dauphin Louis. Not long afterwards +this Maître Pierre was, rightly or wrongly, believed to have read in +the sky that the shepherdess from the Meuse valley was appointed to +drive out the English.[658] + +[Footnote 658: Recueil de Simon de Phares, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +32, note.] + +Jeanne had not long to wait in her inn. Two days after her arrival, +what she had so ardently desired came to pass: she was taken to the +King.[659] In the last century near the Grand-Carroy, opposite a +wooden-fronted house, there was shown a well on the edge of which, +according to tradition, Jeanne set foot when she alighted from her +horse, before climbing the steep ascent leading to the Castle. +Through La Vieille Porte,[660] she was already crossing the moat when +the King was still hesitating as to whether he would receive her. Many +of his familiar advisers, and those not the least important, +counselled him to beware of a strange woman whose designs might be +evil. There were others who put it before him that this shepherdess +was introduced by letters from Robert de Baudricourt carried through +hostile provinces; that in journeying to the King she had forded many +rivers in a manner almost miraculous. On these considerations the King +consented to receive her.[661] + +[Footnote 659: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 143.] + +[Footnote 660: The kerb was removed during the Second Empire. Moreover +it is admitted that no faith should be put in such traditions. G. de +Cougny, _Charles VII et Jeanne d'Arc à Chinon_, Tours, 1877, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 661: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 75; vol. iii, p. 115. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siège_, pp. 46, 47. Th. Basin, +_Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 68.] + +The great hall was crowded. As at every audience given by the King the +room was close with the breath of the assembled multitude. The vast +chamber presented that aspect of a market-house or of a rout which was +so familiar to courtiers. It was evening; fifty torches flamed beneath +the painted beams of the roof.[662] Men of middle age in robes and +furs, young, smooth-faced nobles, thin and narrow shouldered, of +slender build, their lean legs in tight hose, their feet in long, +pointed shoes; barons fully armed to the number of three hundred, +according to Aulic custom, pushed, crowded and elbowed each other +while the usher was here and there striking the courtiers on the head +with his rod.[663] + +[Footnote 662: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 75, 141.] + +[Footnote 663: Le Curial, in _Les oeuvres de Maistre Alain +Chartier_, ed. Du Chesne, Paris, 1642, in 4to, p. 398.] + +Besides the two ambassadors from Orléans, Messire Jamet du Tillay and +the old baron Archambaud de Villars, governor of Montargis, there were +present Simon Charles, Master of Requests, as well as certain great +nobles, the Count of Clermont, the Sire de Gaucourt, and probably the +Sire de La Trémouille and my Lord the Archbishop of Reims, Chancellor +of the kingdom.[664] On hearing of Jeanne's approach, King Charles +buried himself among his retainers, either because he was still +mistrustful and hesitating, or because he had other persons to speak +to, or for some other reason.[665] Jeanne was presented by the Count +of Vendôme.[666] Robust, with a firm, short neck, her figure appeared +full, although confined by her man's jerkin. She wore breeches like a +man,[667] but still more surprising than her hose was her head-gear +and the cut of her hair. Beneath a woollen hood, her dark hair hung +cut round in soup-plate fashion like a page's.[668] Women of all ranks +and all ages were careful to hide their hair so that not one lock of +it should escape from beneath the coif, the veil, or the high +head-dress which was then the mode. Jeanne's flowing locks looked +strange to the folk of those days.[669] She went straight to the +King, took off her cap, curtsied, and said: "God send you long life, +gentle Dauphin."[670] + +[Footnote 664: According to Jeanne there were present La Trémoïlle and +the Archbishop of Reims, but she also mentions the Duke of Alençon, +who was certainly not there.] + +[Footnote 665: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115.] + +[Footnote 666: _Ibid._, pp. 102-103.] + +[Footnote 667: _Ibid._, p. 219. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 205. Mathieu Thomassin, _ibid._, p. 304. _Chronique de +Lorraine_, _ibid._, p. 330. Philippe de Bergame, _ibid._, p. 523.] + +[Footnote 668: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in the _Revue +historique_, vol. iv, p. 336.] + +[Footnote 669: St. Paul, Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Labbe, +_Collection des conciles_, vol. vii, p. 978. Saumaise, _Epistola ad +Andream Colvium super cap. xi, I ad Corynth. de cæsarie virorum et +mulierum coma_. Lugd-Batavor ex off. Elz. 1644, in 12mo. _Quelques +notes d'archéologie sur la chevelure féminine_, in _Comptes rendus de +l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_, 1888, vol. xvi, pp. +419, 425.] + +[Footnote 670: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 75; vol. iii, pp. 17, 92, 115. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +273. _Journal du siège_, p. 46.] + +Afterwards there were those who marvelled that she should have +recognised him in the midst of nobles more magnificently dressed than +he. It is possible that on that day he may have been poorly attired. +We know that it was his custom to have new sleeves put to his old +doublets.[671] And in any case he did not show off his clothes. Very +ugly, knock-kneed, with emaciated thighs, small, odd, blinking eyes, +and a large bulbous nose, on his bony, bandy legs tottered and +trembled this prince of twenty-six.[672] + +[Footnote 671: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +195.] + +[Footnote 672: Th. Basin, vol. i, p. 312. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. +178. _Portrait historique du roi Charles VII_, by Henri Baude, +published by Vallet de Viriville in _Nouvelles recherches sur Henri +Baude_, p. 6. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, p. 83.] + +That Jeanne should have seen his picture already and recognised him by +it is hardly likely. Portraits of princes were rare in those days. +Jeanne had never handled one of those precious books in which King +Charles may have been painted in miniature as one of the Magi offering +gifts to the Child Jesus.[673] It was not likely that she had ever +seen one of those figures painted on wood in the semblance of her +King, with hands clasped, beneath the curtains of his oratory.[674] +And if by chance some one had shown her one of these portraits her +untrained eyes could have discerned but little therein. Neither need +we inquire whether the people of Chinon had described to her the +costume the King usually wore and the shape of his hat: for like every +one else he kept his hat on indoors even at dinner. What is most +probable is that those who were kindly disposed towards her pointed +out the King. At any rate he was not difficult to distinguish, since +those who saw her go up to him were in no wise astonished. + +[Footnote 673: As in the miniature painted by Jean Fouquet, more than +ten years later. Gruyer, _Les Quarante Fouquet de Chantilly_, Paris, +1897, in 4to.] + +[Footnote 674: _Note sur un ancien portrait de Charles VII, conservé +au Louvre_, in the _Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de France_, +1862, pp. 67 _et seq._] + +When she had made her rustic curtsey, the King asked her name and what +she wanted. She replied: "Fair Dauphin, my name is Jeanne the Maid; +and the King of Heaven speaks unto you by me and says that you shall +be anointed and crowned at Reims, and be lieutenant of the King of +Heaven, who is King of France." She asked to be set about her work, +promising to raise the siege of Orléans.[675] + +[Footnote 675: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 103. _Relation du greffier de La +Rochelle_, p. 337. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 67, 68.] + +The King took her apart and questioned her for some time. By nature he +was gentle, kind to the poor and lowly, but not devoid of mistrust and +suspicion. + +It is said that during this private conversation, addressing him with +the familiarity of an angel, she made him this strange announcement: +"My Lord bids me say unto thee that thou art indeed the heir of France +and the son of a King; he has sent me to thee to lead thee to Reims to +be crowned there and anointed if thou wilt."[676] Afterwards the +Maid's chaplain reported these words, saying he had received them +from the Maid herself. All that is certain is that the Armagnacs were +not slow to turn them into a miracle in favour of the Line of the +Lilies. It was asserted that these words spoken by God himself, by the +mouth of an innocent girl, were a reply to the carking, secret anxiety +of the King. Madame Ysabeau's son, it was said, distracted and +saddened by the thought that perhaps the royal blood did not flow in +his veins, was ready to renounce his kingdom and declare himself a +usurper, unless by some heavenly light his doubts concerning his birth +should be dispelled.[677] Men told how his face shone with joy[678] +when it was revealed to him that he was the true heir of France. + +[Footnote 676: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103 (evidence of Brother +Pasquerel).] + +[Footnote 677: The Abridger of the _Trial_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. +258, 259. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. +67. _Journal du siège_, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 678: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 116 (evidence of S. Charles). S. +Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. lxi.] + +Doubtless the Armagnac preachers were in the habit of speaking of +Queen Ysabeau as "_une grande gorre_" and a Herodias of +licentiousness; but one would like to know whence her son derived his +curious misgiving. He had not manifested it on entering into his +inheritance; and, had occasion required, the jurists of his party +would have proved to him by reasons derived from laws and customs that +he was by birth the true heir and the lawful successor of the late +King; for filiation must be proved not by what is hidden, but by what +is manifest, otherwise it would be impossible to assign the legal heir +to a kingdom or to an acre of land. Nevertheless it must be borne in +mind that the King was very unfortunate at this time. Now misfortune +agitates the conscience and raises scruples; and he might well doubt +the justice of his cause since God was forsaking him. But if he were +indeed assailed by painful doubts, how can he have been relieved from +them by the words of a damsel who, as far as he then knew, might be +mad or sent to him by his enemies? It is hard to reconcile such +credulity with what we know of his suspicious nature. The first +thought that occurred to him must have been that ecclesiastics had +instructed the damsel. + +A few moments after he had dismissed her, he assembled the Sire de +Gaucourt and certain other members of his Council and repeated to them +what he had just heard: "She told me that God had sent her to aid me +to recover my kingdom."[679] He did not add that she had revealed to +him a secret known to himself alone.[680] + +[Footnote 679: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 17, 209. As early as April the +promised deliverance of Orléans and coronation at Reims had been heard +of at Lyons (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426).] + +[Footnote 680: Pasquerel alone of the witnesses mentions this +(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103). Cf. the anecdote of the Sire de Boissy +related by P. Sala in his collection, _Les hardiesses des grands rois +et empereurs_ (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 278).] + +The King's Counsellors, knowing little of the damsel, decided that +they must have her before them to examine her concerning her life and +her belief.[681] + +[Footnote 681: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 209.] + +The Sire de Gaucourt took her from the inn and lodged her in a tower +of that Castle of Coudray, which for the last three days she had seen +dominating the town.[682] One of the three castles, Le Coudray was +only separated from the middle château in which the King dwelt by a +moat and fortifications.[683] The Sire de Gaucourt confided her to +the care of the lieutenant of the Town of Chinon, Guillaume Bellier, +the King's Major Domo.[684] He gave her for her servant one of his own +pages, a child of fifteen, Immerguet, sometimes called Minguet, and +sometimes Mugot. His real name was Louis de Coutes, and he came of an +old warrior family which had been in the service of the house of +Orléans for a century. His father, Jean, called Minguet, Lord of +Fresnay-le-Gelmert, of la Gadelière and of Mitry, Chamberlain to the +Duke of Orléans, had died in great poverty the year before. He had +left a widow and five children, three boys and two girls, one of whom, +Jeanne by name, had since 1421 been the wife of Messire Florentin +d'Illiers, Governor of Châteaudun. Thus the little page, Louis de +Coutes, and his mother, Catherine le Mercier, Dame de Noviant, who +came of a noble Scottish family, were both in a state of penury, +albeit the Duke of Orléans in acknowledgment of his Chamberlain's +faithful services had from his purse granted aid to the Lady of +Noviant.[685] Jeanne kept Minguet with her all day, but at night she +slept with the women. + +[Footnote 682: _Ibid._, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 683: G. de Cougny, _Charles VII et Jeanne d'Arc à Chinon_, +Tours, 1877, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 684: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 685: _Ibid._, pp. 65, 73. Mademoiselle A. de Villaret, +_Louis de Coutes, page de Jeanne d'Arc_, Orléans, 1890, in 8vo.] + +The wife of Guillaume Bellier, who was good and pious, at least so it +was said, watched over her.[686] At Coudray the page saw her many a +time on her knees. She prayed and often wept many tears.[687] For +several days persons of high estate came to speak with her. They found +her dressed as a boy.[688] + +[Footnote 686: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 687: _Ibid._, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 688: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 274 _et seq._ Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 68.] + +Since she had been with the King, divers persons asked her whether +there were not in her country a wood called "Le Bois-Chenu."[689] This +question was put to her because a prophecy of Merlin concerning a maid +who should come from "Le Bois-Chenu" was then in circulation. And folk +were impressed by it; for in those days every one gave heed to +prophecies and especially to those of Merlin the Magician.[690] + +[Footnote 689: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 690: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 133, 340. Thomassin, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 395. Walter Bower, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 489. Christine +de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 12. La Borderie, _Les véritables +prophéties de Merlin, examen des poèmes bretons attribués à ce barde_, +in the _Revue de Bretagne_, 1883, vol. liii.] + +Begotten of a woman by the Devil, it was from him that Merlin derived +his profound wisdom. To the science of numbers, which is the key to +the future, he added a knowledge of physics, by means of which he +worked his enchantments. Thus it was easy for him to transform rocks +into giants. And yet he was conquered by a woman; the fairy Vivien +enchanted the enchanter and kept him in a hawthorn bush under a spell. +This is only one of many examples of the power of women. + +Famous doctors and illustrious masters held that Merlin had laid bare +many future events and prophesied many things which had not yet +happened. To such as were amazed that the son of the Devil should have +received the gift of prophecy they replied that the Holy Ghost is able +to reveal his secrets to whomsoever he pleases, for had he not caused +the Sibyls to speak, and opened the mouth of Balaam's ass? + +Merlin had seen in a vision Sire Bertrand du Guesclin in the guise of +a warrior bearing an eagle on his shield. This was remembered after +the Constable had wrought his great deeds.[691] + +[Footnote 691: Cuvelier, _Le poème de Du Guesclin_, l. 3285. +Francisque-Michel and Th. Wright, _Vie de Merlin attribuée à Geoffroy +de Monmouth, suivie des prophéties de ce barde tirées de l'histoire +des Bretons_, Paris, 1837, in 8vo, pp. 67 _et seq._ La Villemarqué, +_Myrdhin ou Merlin l'Enchanteur, son histoire, ses oeuvres, son +influence_, n. ed., Paris, 1862, in 12mo. D'Arbois de Jubainville, +_Merlin est-il un personnage réel?_ in the _Revue des questions +historiques_, 1868, pp. 559-568. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Morosini_, vol. +iv, supplement xvi. "[Geoffrey of Monmouth] represented Merlin as +having prophesied all the events of the history of Britain until the +year 1135 in which he wrote. The _Historia Regum_ was very popular in +the ecclesiastical world. Its legends were held to be facts. The +exactness with which its prognostications had been fulfilled down to +1135 was marvelled at, and an attempt was made to interpret the +prophecies relating to subsequent times." Gaston Paris, _La +littérature française au moyen age_, 1890, pp. 86-104.] + +In the prophecies of this Wise Man the English believed no less firmly +than the French. When Arthur of Brittany, Count of Richemont, was +taken prisoner, held to ransom, and brought before King Henry, the +latter, when he perceived a boar on the arms of the Duke, broke forth +into rejoicing; for he called to mind the words of Merlin who had +said, "A Prince of Armorica, called Arthur, with a boar for his crest, +shall conquer England, and when he shall have made an end of the +English folk he shall re-people the land with a Breton race."[692] + +[Footnote 692: Le Baud, _Histoire de Bretagne_, Paris, 1638, in fol., +p. 451.] + +Now during the Lent of 1429 there was circulated among the Armagnacs +this prophecy, taken from a book of the prophecies of Merlin: "From +the town of the Bois-Chenu there shall come forth a maid for the +healing of the nation. When she hath stormed every citadel, with her +breath she shall dry up all the springs. Bitter tears shall she shed +and fill the Island with a terrible noise. Then shall she be slain by +the stag with ten antlers, of which six branches shall bear crowns of +gold, and the other six shall be changed into the horns of oxen; and +with a horrible sound they shall shake the Isles of Britain. The +forest of Denmark shall rise up and with a human voice say: 'Come, +Cambria, and take Cornwall unto thyself.'"[693] + +[Footnote 693: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 340-342.] + +In these mysterious words Merlin dimly foretells that a virgin shall +perform great and wonderful deeds before perishing by the hand of the +enemy. On one point only is he clear, or so it seems; that is, when he +says that this virgin shall come from the town of the Bois-Chenu. + +If this prophecy had been traced back to its original source and read +in the fourth book of the _Historia Britonum_, where it is to be found +under the title of _Guyntonia Vaticinium_, it would have been seen to +refer to the English city of Winchester, and it would have appeared +that in the version then in circulation in France, the original +meaning had been garbled, distorted, and completely metamorphosed. But +no one thought of verifying the text. Books were rare and minds +uncritical. This deliberately falsified prophecy was accepted as the +pure word of Merlin and numerous copies of it were spread abroad. + +Whence came these copies? Their origin doubtless will remain a mystery +for ever; but one point is certain: they referred to La Romée's +daughter, to the damsel who, from her father's house, could see the +edge of "Le Bois-Chenu." Thus they came from close at hand and were of +recent circulation.[694] If this amended prophecy of Merlin be not +the one that reached Jeanne in her village, forecasting that a Maid +should come from the Lorraine Marches for the saving of the kingdom, +then it was closely related to it. The two prognostications have a +family likeness.[695] They were uttered in the same spirit and with +the same intention; and they indicate that the ecclesiastics of the +Meuse valley and those of the Loire had agreed to draw attention to +the inspired damsel of Domremy. + +[Footnote 694: Morosini, vol. iv, p. 324.] + +[Footnote 695: Pierre Migiet weaves the two prophecies into one, which +he says he has read in a book, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 133.] + +As Merlin had foretold the works of Jeanne, so Bede must also have +predicted them, for Bede and Merlin were always together in matters of +prophecy. + +The Monk of Wearmouth, the Venerable Bede, who had been dead six +centuries, had been a veritable mine of knowledge in his lifetime. He +had written on theology and chronology; he had discoursed of night and +day, of weeks and months, of the signs of the zodiac, of epacts, of +the lunar cycle, and of the movable feasts of the Church. In his book +_De temporum ratione_ he had treated of the seventh and eighth ages of +the world, which were to follow the age in which he lived. He had +prophesied. During the siege of Orléans, churchmen were circulating +these obscure lines attributed to him, and foretelling the coming of +the Maid: + + _Bis sex cuculli, bis septem se sociabunt,[696] + Gallorum pulli Tauro nova bella parabunt + Ecce beant bella, tunc fert vexilla Puella._ + +[Footnote 696: Adopting the emendation made by M. Germain +Lefèvre-Pontalis in his _Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, vol. iii, pp. +126, 127; vol. iv, pp. 316 _et seq._] + +The first of these lines is a chronogram, that is, it contains a date. +To decipher it you take the numeral letters of the line and add them +together; the total gives the date. + + bIs seX CVCVLLI, bIs septeM se soCIabVnt. + + 1 + 10 + 100 + 5 + 100 + 5 + 50 + 50 + 1 + 1 + 1000 + 100 + + 1 + 5 = 1429. + +Had any one sought these lines in the works of the Venerable Bede they +would not have found them, because they are not there; but no one +thought of looking for them any more than they thought of looking for +the Forêt Chenue in Merlin.[697] And it was understood that both Bede +and Merlin had foretold the coming of the Maid. In those days +prophecies, chronograms, and charms flew like pigeons from the banks +of the Loire and spread abroad throughout the realm. Not later than +the May or June of this year the pseudo Bede will reach Burgundy. +Earlier still he will be heard of in Paris. The aged Christine de +Pisan, living in retirement in a French abbey, before the last day of +July, 1429, will write that Bede and Merlin had beheld the Maid in a +vision.[698] + +[Footnote 697: _The Complete Works of the Venerable Bede_, ed. Giles, +London, 1843-1844, 12 vols., in 8vo, in _Patres Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ_.] + +[Footnote 698: Christine de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 12. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 126. The Dean of Saint Thibaud, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 423. Herman Korner, in Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 279 _et seq._ Walter Bower, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 481.] + +The clerks, who were busy forging prophecies for the Maid's benefit, +did not stop at a pseudo Bede and a garbled Merlin. They were truly +indefatigable, and by a stroke of good luck we possess a piece of +their workmanship which has escaped the ravages of time. It is a short +Latin poem written in the obscure prophetic style, of which the +following is a translation through the old French. + +"A virgin clothed in man's attire, with the body of a maid, at God's +behest goes forth to raise the downcast King, who bears the lilies, +and to drive out his accursed enemies, even those who now beleaguer +the city of Orléans and strike terror into the hearts of its +inhabitants. And if the people will take heart and go out to battle, +the treacherous English shall be struck down by death, at the hand of +the God of battles who fights for the Maid, and the French shall cause +them to fall, and then shall there be an end of the war; and the old +covenants and the old friendship shall return. Pity and righteousness +shall be restored. There shall be a treaty of peace, and all men shall +of their own accord return to the King, which King shall weigh justice +and administer it unto all men and preserve his subjects in beautiful +peace. Henceforth no English foe with the sign of the leopard shall +dare to call himself King of France [added by the translator] and +adopt the arms of France, which arms are borne by the holy Maid."[699] + +[Footnote 699: Buchon, _Math. d'Escouchy_, etc., p. 537. G. +Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eberhard Windecke, pp. 21-31. A Latin text of this +prophecy is to be found on the fly-leaf of the Cartulary of +Thérouanne.] + +These false prophecies give some idea of the means employed for the +setting to work of the inspired damsel. Such methods may be somewhat +too crafty for our liking. These clerks had but one object,--the peace +of the realm and of the church. The miraculous deliverance of the +people had to be prepared. We must not be too hasty to condemn those +pious frauds without which the Maid could not have worked her +miracles. Much art and some guile are necessary to contrive for +innocence a hearing. + +Meanwhile, on a steep rock, on the bank of the Durance, in the remote +see of Saint-Marcellin, Jacques Gélu remained faithful to the King he +had served and careful for the interests of the house of Orléans and +of France. To the two churchmen, Jean Girard and Pierre l'Hermite, he +replied that, for the sake of the orphan and the oppressed, God would +doubtless manifest himself, and would frustrate the evil designs of +the English; yet one should not easily and lightly believe the words +of a peasant girl bred in solitude, for the female sex was frail and +easily deceived, and France must not be made ridiculous in the eyes of +the foreigner. "The French," he added, "are already famous for the +ease with which they are duped." He ended by advising Pierre l'Hermite +that it would be well for the King to fast and do penance so that +Heaven might enlighten him and preserve him from error.[700] + +[Footnote 700: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 393-407; vol. v, p. 473. +Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, vol. +ii, pp. 313, 314.] + +But the mind of the oracle and ex-councillor could not rest. He wrote +direct to King Charles and Queen Marie to warn them of the danger. To +him it seemed that there could be no good in the damsel. He mistrusted +her for three reasons: first, because she came from a country in the +possession of the King's enemies, Burgundians and Lorrainers; +secondly, she was a shepherdess and easily deceived; thirdly, she was +a maid. He cited as an example Alexander of Macedon, whom a Queen +endeavoured to poison. She had been fed on venom by the King's enemies +and then sent to him in the hope that he would fall a victim to the +wench's[701] wiles. But Aristotle dismissed the seductress and thus +delivered his prince from death. The Archbishop of Embrun, as wise as +Aristotle, warned the King against conversing with the damsel in +private. He advised that she should be kept at a distance and +examined, but not repulsed. + +[Footnote 701: [In the original French _garce_.] The text has _grace_, +which is not possible. I have conjectured that the word should be +_garce_.] + +A prudent answer to those letters reassured Gélu. In a new epistle he +testified to the King his satisfaction at hearing that the damsel was +regarded with suspicion and left in uncertainty as to whether she +would or would not be believed. Then, with a return to his former +misgivings, he added: "It behoves not that she should have frequent +access to the King until such time as certainty be established +concerning her manner of life and her morals."[702] + +[Footnote 702: M. Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou +Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313, 314.] + +King Charles did indeed keep Jeanne in uncertainty as to what was +believed of her. But he did not suspect her of craftiness and he +received her willingly. She talked to him with the simplest +familiarity. She called him gentle Dauphin, and by that term she +implied nobility and royal magnificence.[703] She also called him her +_oriflamme_, because he was her _oriflamme_, or, as in modern language +she would have expressed it, her standard.[704] The _oriflamme_ was +the royal banner. No one at Chinon had seen it, but marvellous things +were told of it. The _oriflamme_ was in the form of a gonfanon with +two wings, made of a costly silk, fine and light, called +_sandal_,[705] and it was edged with tassels of green silk. It had +come down from heaven; it was the banner of Clovis and of Saint +Charlemagne. When the King went to war it was carried before him. So +great was its virtue that the enemy at its approach became powerless +and fled in terror. It was remembered how, when in 1304 Philippe le +Bel defeated the Flemings, the knight who bore it was slain. The next +day he was found dead, but still clasping the standard in his +arms.[706] It had floated in front of King Charles VI before his +misfortunes, and since then it had never been unfurled. + +[Footnote 703: Clerk of the Town Hall of Albi, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +300.] + +[Footnote 704: Thomassin, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 304.] + +[Footnote 705: _Sandal_ or _cendal_, a silk bearing some resemblance +to taffetas. Cf. Godefroy, _Lexique de l'ancien français_ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 706: Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under the word _auriflamma_. Le +Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses historiens_, pp. 150, 251, +257, 259. [_Histoire générale de Paris._]] + +One day when the Maid and the King were talking together, the Duke of +Alençon entered the hall. When he was a child, the English had taken +him prisoner at Verneuil and kept him five years in the Crotoy +Tower.[707] Only recently set at liberty, he had been shooting quails +near Saint-Florent-lès-Saumur, when a messenger had brought the +tidings that God had sent a damsel to the King to turn the English out +of France.[708] This news interested him as much as any one because he +had married the Duke of Orléans' daughter; and straightway he had come +to Chinon to see for himself. In the days of his graceful youth the +Duke of Alençon appeared to advantage, but he was never renowned for +his wisdom. He was weak-minded, violent, vain, jealous, and extremely +credulous. He believed that ladies find favour by means of a certain +herb, the mountain-heath; and later he thought himself bewitched. He +had a disagreeable, harsh voice; he knew it, and the knowledge annoyed +him.[709] As soon as she saw him approaching, Jeanne asked who this +noble was. When the King replied that it was his cousin Alençon, she +curtsied to the Duke and said: "Be welcome. The more representatives +of the blood royal are here the better."[710] In this she was +completely mistaken. The Dauphin smiled bitterly at her words. Not +much of the royal blood of France ran in the Duke's veins. + +[Footnote 707: Perceval de Cagny, p. 136. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 224, 249.] + +[Footnote 708: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 709: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +iii, pp. 408, 409. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi, +pp. 43, 44.] + +[Footnote 710: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 91.] + +On the next day Jeanne went to the King's mass. When she approached +her Dauphin she bowed before him. The King took her into a room and +sent every one away except the Sire de la Trémouille and the Duke of +Alençon. + +Then Jeanne addressed to him several requests. More especially did she +ask him to give his kingdom to the King of Heaven. "And afterwards," +she added, "the King of Heaven will do for you what he has done for +your predecessors and will restore you to the condition of your +fathers."[711] + +[Footnote 711: _Ibid._, pp. 91, 92. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 152 _et +seq._] + +In discoursing thus of things spiritual, in giving utterance to those +precepts of reformation and of a new life, she was repeating what the +clerks had taught her. Nevertheless she was by no means imbued with +this doctrine. It was too subtle for her, and it was shortly to fade +from her mind and give place to an ardour less monastic but more +chivalrous. + +That same day she rode out with the King and threw a lance in the +meadow with so fine a grace that the Duke of Alençon, marvelling, made +her a present of a horse.[712] + +[Footnote 712: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92.] + +A few days later this young noble took her to the Abbey of +Saint-Florent-lès-Saumur,[713] the church of which was so greatly +admired that it was called La Belle d'Anjou. Here in this abbey there +dwelt at that time his mother and his wife. It is said that they were +glad to see Jeanne. But they had no great faith in the issue of the +war. The young Dame of Alençon said to her: "Jeannette, I am full of +fear for my husband. He has just come out of prison, and we have had +to give so much money for his ransom that gladly would I entreat him +to stay at home." To which Jeanne replied: "Madame, have no fear. I +will bring him back to you in safety, and either such as he is now or +better."[714] + +[Footnote 713: Perceval de Cagny, p. 148.] + +[Footnote 714: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 96.] + +She called the Duke of Alençon her fair Duke,[715] and loved him for +the sake of the Duke of Orléans, whose daughter he had married. She +loved him also because he believed in her when all others doubted or +denied, and because the English had done him wrong. She loved him too +because she saw he had a good will to fight. It was told how when he +was a captive in the hands of the English at Verneuil, and they +proposed to give him back his liberty and his goods if he would join +their party, he had rejected their offer.[716] He was young like her; +she thought that he like her must be sincere and noble. And perhaps in +those days he was, for doubtless he was not then seeking to discover +powders with which to dry up the King.[717] + +[Footnote 715: Perceval de Cagny, p. 151, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 716: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 240.] + +[Footnote 717: Cf. 1 Kings xiii, 4 (W.S.). P. Dupuy, _Procès de Jean +II, duc d'Alençon, 1458-1474_, 1658, in 4to. Michelet, _Histoire de +France_, vol. v, p. 382. Docteur Chereau, _Médecins du quinzième +siècle_, in _l'Union Médicale_, vol. xiv, August, 1862. Joseph +Guibert, _Jean II duc d'Alençon_, in _Les positions de l'École des +Chartes_, 1893.] + +It was decided that Jeanne should be taken to Poitiers to be examined +by the doctors there.[718] In this town the Parlement met. Here also +were gathered together many famous clerks learned in theology, secular +as well as regular,[719] and grave doctors and masters were summoned +to join them. Jeanne set out under escort. At first she thought she +was being taken to Orléans. Her faith was like that of the ignorant +but believing folk, who, having taken the cross, went forth and +thought every town they approached was Jerusalem. Half way she +inquired of her guides where they were taking her. When she heard that +it was to Poitiers: "In God's name!" she said, "much ado will be +there, I know. But my Lord will help me. Now let us go on in God's +strength!"[720] + +[Footnote 718: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 209.] + +[Footnote 719: Bélisaire Ledain, _Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers_, +Saint-Maixent, 1891, in 8vo, 15 pages. Neuville, _Le Parlement royal à +Poitiers_, in the _Revue historique_, vol. vi, p. 284.] + +[Footnote 720: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 275. _Journal du siège_, +p. 48. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 316.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MAID AT POITIERS + + +For fourteen years the town of Poitiers had been the capital of that +part of France which belonged to the French. The Dauphin Charles had +transferred his Parlement there, or rather had assembled there those +few members who had escaped from the Parlement of Paris. The Parlement +of Poitiers consisted of two chambers only. It would have judged as +wisely as King Solomon had there been any questions on which to +pronounce judgment, but no litigants presented themselves--they were +afraid of being captured on the way by freebooters and captains in the +King's pay; besides, in the disturbed state of the kingdom justice had +little to do with the settlement of disputes. The councillors, who for +the most part had lands near Paris, were hard put to it for food and +clothing. They were rarely paid and there were no perquisites. In vain +they had inscribed their registers with the formula: _Non deliberetur +donec solvantur species_; no payments were forthcoming from the +suitors.[721] The Attorney General, Messire Jean Jouvenel des Ursins, +who owned rich lands and houses in Île-de-France, Brie, and Champagne, +was filled with pity at the sight of that good and honourable lady +his wife, his eleven children, and his three sons-in-law going +barefoot and poorly clad through the streets of the town.[722] As for +the doctors and professors who had followed the King's fortunes, in +vain were they wells of knowledge and springs of clerkly learning, +since, for lack of a University to teach in, they reaped no advantage +from their eloquence and their erudition. The town of Poitiers, having +become the first city in the realm, had a Parlement but no University, +like a lady highly born but one-eyed withal, for the Parlement and the +University are the two eyes of a great city. Thus in their doleful +leisure they were consumed with a desire, if it were God's will, to +restore the King's fortunes as well as their own. Meanwhile, shivering +with cold and emaciated with hunger, they groaned and lamented. Like +Israel in the desert they sighed for the day when the Lord, inclining +his ear to their supplications, should say: "At even ye shall eat +flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall +know that I am the Lord your God." _Vespere comedetis carnes et mane +saturabimini panibus: scietisque quod ego sum Dominus deus vester._ +(Exodus xvi, 12.) It was from among these poor and faithful servants +of a poverty-stricken King that were chosen for the most part the +doctors and clerks charged with the examination of the Maid. They +were: the Lord Bishop of Poitiers;[723] the Lord Bishop of +Maguelonne;[724] Maître Jean Lombard, doctor in theology, sometime +professor of theology at the University of Paris;[725] Maître +Guillaume le Maire, bachelor of theology, canon of Poitiers;[726] +Maître Gérard Machet, the King's Confessor;[727] Maître Jourdain +Morin;[728] Maître Jean Érault, professor of theology;[729] Maître +Mathieu Mesnage, bachelor of theology;[730] Maître Jacques +Meledon;[731] Maître Jean Maçon, a very famous doctor of civil law and +of canon law;[732] Brother Pierre de Versailles, a monk of Saint-Denys +in France, of the order of Saint Benedict, professor of theology, +Prior of the Priory of Saint-Pierre de Chaumont, Abbot of Talmont in +the diocese of Laon, Ambassador of his most Christian Majesty the King +of France;[733] Brother Pierre Turelure, of the Order of Saint +Dominic, Inquisitor at Toulouse;[734] Maître Simon Bonnet;[735] +Brother Guillaume Aimery, of the Order of Saint-Dominic, doctor and +professor of theology;[736] Brother Seguin of Seguin of the Order of +Saint Dominic, doctor and professor of theology;[737] Brother Pierre +Seguin, Carmelite;[738] several of the King's Councillors, +licentiates of civil as well as of canon law. + +[Footnote 721: Neuville, _Le Parlement royal à Poitiers_, in the +_Revue historique_, vol. vi, p. 18. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. ii, pp. 571 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 722: Louis Battifol, _Jean Jouvenel, prévot des marchands de +la ville de Paris_, Paris, 1894, in 8vo. Juvénal des Ursins, _Histoire +de Charles VI_, pp. 359, 360.] + +[Footnote 723: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, +col. 1198.] + +[Footnote 724: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle +devant l'Église de son temps_, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 725: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 203, 204.] + +[Footnote 726: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 203.] + +[Footnote 727: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75. Launoy, _Historia Collegii +Navarrici_, lib. ii, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 728: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 92, 102.] + +[Footnote 729: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75.] + +[Footnote 730: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 92, 102.] + +[Footnote 731: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 732: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 27, 28.] + +[Footnote 733: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 74, 92, 203. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. +iii, col. 1128.] + +[Footnote 734: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 203. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. +iii, col. 1129.] + +[Footnote 735: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92.] + +[Footnote 736: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 83, 203.] + +[Footnote 737: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 203. Le P. Chapotin, _La guerre de +cent ans; Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains_, p. 132.] + +[Footnote 738: Canon Dunand, _La légende anglaise de Jeanne_, Paris, +1903, in 8vo, p. 118.] + +Here was a large assembly of doctors for the cross-examination of one +shepherdess. But we must remember that in those days theology subtle +and inflexible dominated all human knowledge and forced the secular +arm to give effect to its judgment. Therefore, as soon as an ignorant +girl caused it to be believed that she had seen God, the Virgin, the +saints, and the angels, she must either pass from miracle to miracle, +through an edifying death to beatification, or from heresy to heresy +through an ecclesiastical prison, to be burnt as a witch. And, as the +holy inquisitors were fully persuaded that the Devil easily entered +into a woman, the unhappy creature was more likely to be burnt alive +than to die in an odour of sanctity. But Jeanne before the doctors at +Poitiers was an exception; she ran no risk of being suspected in +matters of faith. Even Brother Pierre Turelure himself had no desire +to find in her one of those heretics he zealously sought to discover +at Toulouse. In her presence the illustrious masters drew in their +theological claws. They were churchmen, but they were Armagnacs, for +the most part business men, diplomatists, old councillors of the +Dauphin.[739] As priests, doubtless they were possessed of a certain +body of dogma and morality, and of a code of rules for judging matters +of faith. But now it was a question not of curing the disease of +heresy, but of driving out the English. Jeanne was in favour with my +Lord the Duke of Alençon and with my Lord the Bastard; the inhabitants +of Orléans were looking to her for their deliverance. She promised to +take the King to Reims; and it happened that the cleverest and the +most powerful man in France, the Chancellor of the kingdom, my Lord +Regnault de Chartres, was Archbishop and Count of Reims; and that had +great weight.[740] + +[Footnote 739: O. Raguenet de Saint-Albin, _Les juges de Jeanne d'Arc +à Poitiers, membres du Parlement ou gens d'Église_, Orléans, 1894, in +8vo, 46 pages.] + +[Footnote 740: See _ante_, pp. 153, 154.] + +If it should be as she said, if God had verily sent her to the aid of +the Lilies, to the mind of whomsoever possessed sense and learning it +appeared marvellous but not incredible. No one denied that God could +directly intervene in the affairs of kingdoms, for he himself had +said: _Per me reges regnant_. + +In this Church holy and indivisible, there were the doctors of +Poitiers who deliberately pronounced God to be on the side of the +Dauphin, while the University of Paris as deliberately pronounced God +to be on the side of the Burgundians and the English. His messenger +need not necessarily be an angel. He might employ a creature human or +not human, like the raven that fed Elijah. And that a woman should +engage in war accorded with what was written in books concerning +Camilla, the Amazons, and Queen Penthesilea, and with what the Bible +says of the strong women, Deborah, Jahel, Judith of Bethulia, raised +up by God for the salvation of Israel. For it is written: "The mighty +one did not fall by the young men, neither did the sons of Titans +smite him, nor high giants set upon him; but Judith the daughter of +Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance."[741] + +[Footnote 741: Judith, xvi, 7 (W.S.).] + +Jeanne was taken to the mansion where dwelt Maître Jean Rabateau, not +far from the law-courts, in the heart of the town.[742] Maître Jean +Rabateau was Lay Attorney General; all criminal cases went to him, +while civil cases went to the ecclesiastical Attorney General, Jean +Jouvenel. Alike King's advocates, in the King's service, they both +represented him in cases wherein he was concerned. The King was an +unprofitable client. For representing him in criminal trials Maître +Jean Rabateau received four hundred livres a year. He was forbidden to +appear in any but crown cases; and no one suspected him of receiving +many bribes. If in addition he held the office of Councillor to the +Duke of Orléans he gained little by it. Like most Parlement officials +he was for the moment very poor. A stranger in Poitiers, he had no +house there, but lodged in a mansion, which, because it belonged to a +family named Rosier, was called the Hôtel de la Rose. It was a large +dwelling. Witnesses whom it was necessary to keep securely and deal +with honourably were entertained there. Jeanne was taken there +although the Parlement had nothing to do with her cross-examination.[743] +Once again she was placed in charge of a man who served both the Duke +of Orléans and the King of France. + +[Footnote 742: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 19, 74, 82, 203. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 275. B. Ledain, _Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers_, +Saint-Maixent, 1891, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 743: Nevertheless see _Le mistère du siège_, pp. 397-406.] + +Jean Rabateau's wife, in common with the wives of all lawyers, was a +woman of good reputation.[744] While she was at La Rose, Jeanne would +stay long on her knees every day after dinner. At night she would +rise from her bed to pray, and pass long hours in the little oratory +of the mansion. It was in this house that the doctors conducted her +examination. When their coming was announced she was seized with cruel +anxiety. The Blessed Saint Catherine was careful to reassure her.[745] +She likewise had disputed with doctors and confounded them. True, +those doctors were heathen, but they were learned and their minds were +subtle; for in the life of the Saint it is written: "The Emperor +summoned fifty doctors versed in the lore of the Egyptians and the +liberal arts. And when she heard that she was to dispute with the wise +men, Catherine feared lest she should not worthily defend the Gospel +of Jesus Christ. But an angel appeared unto her and said: 'I am the +Archangel Saint Michael, and I am come to tell thee that thou shalt +come forth from the strife victorious and worthy of Our Lord Jesus +Christ, the hope and crown of those who strive for him.' And the +Virgin disputed with the doctors."[746] + +[Footnote 744: There can be no reason for suspecting this lady of not +living up to her reputation, for nothing is known of her, not even +whether she were Maître Jean Rabateau's first or second wife, for he +had two. The first was the daughter of Benoît Pidelet. Cf. B. Ledain, +_La maison de Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers, Maître Jean Rabateau_ (_Revue +du Bas-Poitou_, April, 1891, pp. 48, 66). A. Barbier, _Jeanne d'Arc et +l'hôtellerie de la Rose_, Poitiers, 1892, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 745: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 746: Voragine, _La légende dorée_ (Vie de Sainte +Catherine).] + +The grave doctors and masters and the principal clerks of the +Parlement of Poitiers, in companies of two and three, repaired to the +house of Jean Rabateau, and each one of them in turn questioned +Jeanne. The first to come were Jean Lombard, Guillaume le Maire, +Guillaume Aimery, Pierre Turelure, and Jacques Meledon. Brother Jean +Lombard asked: "Wherefore have you come? The King desires to know what +led you to come to him." + +Jeanne's reply greatly impressed these clerks: "As I kept my flocks a +_Voice appeared to me_. The Voice said: 'God has great pity on the +people of France. Jeanne, thou must go into France.' On hearing these +words I began to weep. Then the Voice said unto me: 'Go to +Vaucouleurs. There shalt thou find a captain, who will take thee +safely into France, to the King. Fear not.' I did as I was bidden, and +I came to the King without hindrance."[747] + +[Footnote 747: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 204 (evidence of Brother +Seguin).] + +Then the word fell to Brother Guillaume Aimery: "According to what you +have said, the Voice told you that God will deliver the people of +France from their distress; but if God will deliver them he has no +need of men-at-arms." + +"In God's name," replied the Maid, "the men-at-arms will fight, and +God will give the victory." + +Maître Guillaume declared himself satisfied.[748] + +[Footnote 748: _Ibid._, pp. 203, 204.] + +On the 22nd of March, Maître Pierre de Versailles and Maître Jean +Érault went together to Jean Rabateau's lodging. The squire, Gobert +Thibault, whom Jeanne had already seen at Chinon, came with them. He +was a young man and very simple, one who believed without asking for a +sign. As they came in Jeanne went to meet them, and, striking the +squire on the shoulder, in a friendly manner, she said: "I wish I had +many men as willing as you."[749] + +[Footnote 749: _Ibid._, p. 74.] + +With men-at-arms she felt at her ease. But the doctors she could not +tolerate, and she suffered torture when they came to argue with her. +Although these theologians showed her great consideration, their +eternal questions wearied her; their slowness and heaviness +exasperated her. She bore them a grudge for not believing in her +straightway, without proof, and for asking her for a sign, which she +could not give them, since neither Saint Michael nor Saint Catherine +nor Saint Margaret appeared during the examination. In retirement, in +the oratory, and in the lonely fields the heavenly visitants came to +her in crowds; angels and saints, descending from heaven, flocked +around her. But when the doctors came, immediately the Jacob's ladder +was drawn up. Besides, the clerks were theologians, and she was a +saint. Relations are always strained between the heads of the Church +Militant and those devout women who communicate directly with the +Church Triumphant. She realised that the revelations granted to her so +abundantly inspired her most favourable judges with doubts, suspicion, +and even mistrust. She dared not confide to them much of the mystery +of her Voices, and when the Churchmen were not present she told +Alençon, her fair Duke, that she knew more and could do more than she +had ever told all those clerks.[750] It was not to them she had been +sent; it was not for them that she had come. She felt awkward in their +presence, and their manners were the occasion of that irritation which +is discernible in more than one of her replies.[751] Sometimes when +they questioned her she retreated to the end of her bench and sulked. + +[Footnote 750: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92.] + +[Footnote 751: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 275.] + +"We come to you from the King," said Maître Pierre de Versailles. + +She replied with a bad grace: "I am quite aware that you are come to +question me again. I don't know A from B."[752] But to the question: +"Wherefore do you come?" she made answer eagerly: "I come from the +King of Heaven to raise the siege of Orléans, and take the King to be +crowned and anointed at Reims. Maître Jean Érault, have you ink and +paper? Write what I shall tell you." And she dictated a brief +manifesto to the English captains: "You, Suffort, Clasdas, and La +Poule, in the name of the King of Heaven I call upon you to return to +England."[753] + +[Footnote 752: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 74 (evidence of Gobert +Thibault).] + +[Footnote 753: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 74. Boucher de Molandon and A. de +Beaucorps, _L'armée anglaise_, p. 111. La Poule, as he is called here, +is identical with Suffort, and is none other than William Pole, Earl +of Suffolk, unless John Pole, William's brother, be intended, but he +was not one of the three organisers of the siege. As for Clasdas or +Glasdale, as the French called him, he served under the orders of the +Commander of Les Tourelles. These errors may have been Jeanne's, or +possibly they were made by the witness. They do not recur in the +letter to the English.] + +Maître Jean Érault, who wrote at her dictation, was, like most of the +clerks, favourably disposed towards her. Further, he had his own +ideas. He recollected that Marie of Avignon, surnamed La Gasque, had +uttered true and memorable prophecies to King Charles VI. Now La +Gasque had told the King that the realm was to suffer many sorrows; +and she had seen weapons in the sky. Her story of her vision had +concluded with these words: "While I was afeard, believing myself +called upon to take these weapons, a voice comforted me, saying: 'They +are not for thee, but for a Virgin, who shall come and with these +weapons deliver the realm of France.'" Maître Jean Érault meditated on +these marvellous revelations and came to believe that Jeanne was the +Virgin announced by Marie of Avignon.[754] + +[Footnote 754: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 83.] + +Maître Gérard Machet, the King's Confessor, had found it written that +a Maid should come to the help of the King of France. He remarked on +it to Gobert Thibault, the Squire, who was no very great +personage;[755] and he certainly spoke of it to several others. +Gérard Machet, Doctor of Theology, sometime Vice Chancellor of the +University, from which he was now excluded, was regarded as one of the +lights of the Church. He loved the court,[756] although he would not +admit it, and enjoyed the favour of the King, who had just rewarded +his services by giving him money with which to purchase a mule.[757] +All doubts concerning the disposition of these doctors are removed by +the discovery that the King's Confessor himself put into circulation +those prophecies which had been distorted in favour of the Maid from +the Bois-Chenu. + +[Footnote 755: _Ibid._, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 756: _Lettres de Gérard Machet_, Bibl. nat. Latin documents, +no. 8577. Launoy, _Regii Navarræ Gymnasii Parisiensis historia_, +Paris, 1682 (2 vols. in 4to), vol. ii, pp. 533, 557. Du Boulay, _Hist. +Univ. Parisiensis_, vol. v, p. 875. Vallet de Viriville, in _Nouvelle +biographie générale_.] + +[Footnote 757: De Beaucourt, _Extrait du catalogue des actes de +Charles VII_, p. 18.] + +The damsel was interrogated concerning her Voices, which she called +her Council, and her saints, whom she imagined in the semblance of +those sculptured or painted figures peopling the churches.[758] The +doctors objected to her having cast off woman's clothing and had her +hair cut round in the manner of a page. Now it is written: "The woman +shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man +put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the +Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy xxii, 5). The Council of Gangres, held in +the reign of the Emperor Valens, had anathematised women who dressed +as men and cut short their hair.[759] Many saintly women, impelled by +a strange inspiration of the Holy Ghost, had concealed their sex by +masculine garb. At Saint-Jean-des-Bois, near Compiègne, was preserved +the reliquary of Saint Euphrosyne of Alexandria, who lived for +thirty-eight years in man's attire in the monastery of the Abbot +Theodosius.[760] For these reasons, and because of these precedents, +the doctors argued: since Jeanne had put on this clothing not to +offend another's modesty but to preserve her own, we will put no evil +interpretation on an act performed with good intent, and we will +forbear to condemn a deed justified by purity of motive. + +[Footnote 758: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 71, 72, 73, 171.] + +[Footnote 759: Labbe, _Sacro-Sancta Consilia_ (1671), vol. ii, pp. +413, 434.] + +[Footnote 760: Surius, _Vitæ S.S._ (1618), vol. i, pp. 21-24. Gabriel +Brosse, _Histoire abrégée de la vie et de la translation de Sainte +Euphrosine, Vierge d'Alexandrie, patronne de l'abbaye de +Beaulieu-lès-Compiègne_, Paris, 1649, in 8vo.] + +Certain of her questioners inquired why she called Charles Dauphin +instead of giving him his title of King. This title had been his by +right since the 30th of October, 1422; for on that day, the ninth +since the death of the King his father, at Mehun-sur-Yèvre, in the +chapel royal, he had put off his black gown and assumed the purple +robe, while the heralds, raising aloft the banner of France, cried: +"Long live the King!" + +She answered: "I will not call him King until he shall have been +anointed and crowned at Reims. To that city I intend to take +him."[761] + +[Footnote 761: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 20.] + +Without this anointing there was no king of France for her. Of the +miracles which had followed that anointing she had heard every year +from the mouth of her priest as he recited the glorious deeds of the +Blessed Saint Remi, the patron saint of her parish. This reply was +such as to satisfy the interrogators because, both for things +spiritual and temporal, it was important that the King should be +anointed at Reims.[762] And Messire Regnault de Chartres must have +ardently desired it. + +[Footnote 762: It may be noticed that during the consultation of the +doctors, according to the report of it given by Thomassin in _Le +registre Delphinal_, Charles of Valois is designated alike by the +title of King and by that of Dauphin (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 303).] + +Contradicted by the clerks, she opposed the Church's doctrine by the +inspiration of her own heart, and said to them: "There is more in the +Book of Our Lord than in all yours."[763] + +[Footnote 763: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 86.] + +This was a bold and biting reply, which would have been dangerous had +the theologians been less favourably inclined to her. Otherwise they +might have held it to be trespassing on the rights of the Church, who, +as the guardian of the Holy Books, is their jealous interpreter, and +does not suffer the authority of Scripture to be set up against the +decisions of Councils.[764] What were those books, which without +having read she judged to be contrary to those of Our Lord, wherein +with mind and spirit she seemed to read plainly? They would seem to be +the Sacred Canons and the Sacred Decretals. This child's utterance +sapped the very foundations of the Church. Had the doctors of Poitiers +been less zealously Armagnac they would henceforth have mistrusted +Jeanne and suspected her of heresy. But they were loyal servants of +the houses of Orléans and of France. Their cassocks were ragged and +their larders empty;[765] their only hope was in God, and they feared +lest in rejecting this damsel they might be denying the Holy Ghost. +Besides, everything went to prove that these words of Jeanne were +uttered without guile and in all ignorance and simplicity. No doubt +that is why the doctors were not shocked by them. + +[Footnote 764: Le Père Didon, _Vie de Jésus_, vol. i, Preface.] + +[Footnote 765: Juvénal des Ursins, _Histoire de Charles VI_, p. 359.] + +Brother Seguin of Seguin in his turn questioned the damsel. He was +from Limousin, and his speech betrayed his origin. He spoke with a +drawl and used expressions unknown in Lorraine and Champagne. Perhaps +he had that dull, heavy air, which rendered the folk of his province +somewhat ridiculous in the eyes of dwellers on the Loire, the Seine, +and the Meuse. To the question: "What language do your Voices speak?" +Jeanne replied: "A better one than yours."[766] + +[Footnote 766: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 204.] + +Even saints may lose patience. If Brother Seguin did not know it +before, he learnt it that day. And what business had he to doubt that +Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, who were on the side of the +French, spoke French? Such a doubt Jeanne could not bear, and she gave +her questioner to understand that when one comes from Limousin one +does not inquire concerning the speech of heavenly ladies. +Notwithstanding he pursued his interrogation: "Do you believe in God?" +"Yes, more than you do," said the Maid, who, knowing nothing of the +good Brother, was somewhat hasty in esteeming herself better grounded +in the faith than he. + +But she was vexed that there should be any question of her belief in +God, who had sent her. Her reply, if favourably interpreted, would +testify to the ardour of her faith. Did Brother Seguin so understand +it? His contemporaries represented him as being of a somewhat bitter +disposition. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that he was +good-natured.[767] + +[Footnote 767: It seems to have been the fate of the inhabitants of +Limousin to be jeered at by the French of Champagne and of l'Île de +France. After Brother Seguin we have the student from Limousin to whom +Pantagruel says: "Thou art Limousin to the bone and yet here thou wilt +pass thyself off as a Parisian." It is the lot of M. de Pourceaugnac. +La Fontaine, in 1663, writes from Limoges to his wife that the people +of Limousin are by no means afflicted; neither do they labour under +Heaven's displeasure "as the folk of our provinces imagine." But he +adds that he does not like their habits. It would seem that at first +Brother Seguin was annoyed by Jeanne's mocking vivacious repartees. +But he cherished no ill-will against her. "The Limousin's good nature +does not permit the endurance of any unfriendly feeling," says Abel +Hugo in _La France pittoresque: Haute-Vienne_. Cf. A. Précicou, +_Rabelais et les Limousins_, Limoges, 1906, in 8vo.] + +"But after all," he said, "it cannot be God's will that you should be +believed unless some sign appear to make us believe in you. On your +word alone we cannot counsel the King to run the risk of granting you +men-at-arms." + +"In God's name," she answered, "it was not to give a sign that I came +to Poitiers. But take me to Orléans and I will show you the signs +wherefore I am sent. Let me be given men, it matters not how many, and +I will go to Orléans." + +And she repeated what she was continually saying: "The English shall +all be driven out and destroyed. The siege of Orléans shall be raised +and the city delivered from its enemies, after I shall have summoned +it to surrender in the name of the King of Heaven. The Dauphin shall +be anointed at Reims, the town of Paris shall return to its allegiance +to the King, and the Duke of Orléans shall come back from +England."[768] + +[Footnote 768: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 205.] + +Long did the doctors and masters, following the example of Brother +Seguin of Seguin, urge her to show a sign of her mission. They thought +that if God had chosen her to deliver the French nation he would not +fail to make his choice manifest by a sign, as he had done for Gideon, +the son of Joash. When Israel was sore pressed by the Midianites, and +when God's chosen people hid from their enemies in the caves of the +mountains, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon under an oak, and +said unto him: "Surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the +Midianites as one man." To which Gideon made answer: "If now I have +found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with +me." And Gideon made ready a kid and kneaded unleavened cakes; the +flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot and brought +the pot and the basket beneath the oak. Then the Angel of God said +unto him: "Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon +this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. Then the angel of +the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and +touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out +of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. When +Gideon perceived that he had seen an angel of the Lord, he cried out: +"Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face +to face."[769] With three hundred men Gideon subdued the Midianites. +This example the doctors had before their minds.[770] + +[Footnote 769: Judges, ch. vi. (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 770: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 20.] + +But for the Maid the sign of victory was victory itself. She said +without ceasing: "The sign that I will show you shall be Orléans +relieved and the siege raised."[771] + +[Footnote 771: _Ibid._, pp. 20, 205. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +278. _Journal du siège_, p. 49.] + +Such persistency made an impression on most of her interrogators. They +determined to make of it, not a stone of stumbling, but rather an +example of zeal and a subject of edification. Since she promised them +a sign it behoved them in all humility to ask God to send it, and, +filled with a like hope, joining with the King and all the people, to +pray to the God, who delivered Israel, to grant them the banner of +victory. Thus were overcome the arguments of Brother Seguin and of +those who, led away by the precepts of human wisdom, desired a sign +before they believed. + +After an examination which had lasted six weeks, the doctors declared +themselves satisfied.[772] + +[Footnote 772: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 19, 20.] + +There was one point it was necessary to ascertain; they must know +whether Jeanne was, as she said, a virgin. Matrons had indeed already +examined her on her arrival at Chinon. Then there was a doubt as to +whether she were man or maid; and it was even feared that she might be +an illusion in woman's semblance, produced by the art of demons, which +scholars considered by no means impossible.[773] It was not long since +the death of that canon who held that now and again knights are +changed into bears and spirits travel a hundred leagues in one night, +then suddenly become sows or wisps of straw.[774] Suitable measures +had therefore been taken. But they must be carried out exactly, +wisely, and cautiously, for the matter was of great importance. + +[Footnote 773: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 95; vol. iii, p. 209.] + +[Footnote 774: Mary Darmesteter, _Froissart_, Paris, 1894, in 12mo, p. +96.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MAID AT POITIERS (_continued_) + + +A belief, common to learned and ignorant alike, ascribed special +virtues to the state of virginity. Such ideas had been handed down +from a remote antiquity; their origin was pre-Christian; they were an +immemorial inheritance, one part of which came from the Gauls and +Germans, the other from the Romans and Greeks. In the land of Gaul +there still lingered a memory of the sacred beauty of the white +priestesses of the forest; and sometimes in the Island of Sein, along +the misty shores of the Ocean, there wandered the shades of those nine +sisters at whose bidding, in days of yore, the tempest raged and was +stilled. + +According to these beliefs, which had dawned in the childhood of +races, the gift of prophecy is bestowed on virgins alone. It is the +heritage of a Cassandra or a Velleda. It was said that Sibyls had +prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Church they were +considered the first witnesses of Christ among the Gentiles, and they +were venerated as the august sisters of the prophets of Israel. The +_Dies Iræ_ mentions one of them in the same breath with King David +himself. By what pious frauds their fame for prophecy was established, +we cannot tell any more than Jean Gerson or Gérard Machet. With the +doctors of the fifteenth century we must look upon these virgins as +speaking the word of truth to the nations, who venerated but did not +understand them. Such was the ancient tradition of the Christian +Church. The most ancient fathers of the Church, Justin, Origen, +Clement of Alexandria, frequently made use of the Sibylline oracles; +and the heathen were at a loss for a reply when Lactantius confronted +them with these prophetesses of the nations. Trusting in the word of +Varro, Saint Jerome firmly believed in their existence. Into _The City +of God_ Saint Augustine introduces the Erythrean Sibyl, who, he says, +faithfully foretold the Life of the Saviour. As early as the +thirteenth century, these virgins of old had their places in +cathedrals by the side of patriarchs and prophets. But it was not +until the fifteenth century that multitudes of them were represented; +sculptured on church porches, carved on choir stalls, painted on +chapel walls or glass windows. Each one has her distinctive attribute. +The Persian holds the lantern and the Libyan the torch, which +illuminated the darkness of the Gentiles. The Agrippine, the European, +and Erythrean are armed with the sword; the Phrygian bears the Paschal +cross; the Hellespontine presents a rose tree in flower; the others +display the visible signs of the mystery they foretell: the Cumæan a +manger; the Delphian, the Samian, the Tiburtine, the Cimmerian a crown +of thorns, a sceptre of reeds, scourges, a cross.[775] + +[Footnote 775: Jean Philippe de Lignan, Rome, 1481 (not paginated), +leaf 10 and the following. For the comparison of Jeanne d'Arc to the +ancient Sibyl, see the Clerk of Spire, _Sibylla Francica_, in the +_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 422. Christine de Pisano in the _Trial_, vol. v, +p. 12. Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 8-10. Barbier de Montault, _Iconographie des Sibylles_, in +the _Revue de l'art chrétien_, xiii-xiv (1869-1870). Barraud, _Notice +sur les attributs avec lesquelles on représente les Sibylles aux +XV'e et XVI'e siècles_, in the _Bulletin archéologique de la +Commission historique des arts mon._, vol. iv (1848). Cf. Morosini, +vol. iv, supplement xiv, p. 319.] + +The very economy of the Christian religion--the ordering of its +mysteries, wherein humanity is represented as ruined by a woman and +saved by a virgin, and all flesh is involved in Eve's curse--led to +the triumph of virginity and the exaltation of a condition which, in +the words of a Father of the Church, is in the flesh, yet not of the +flesh. + +"It is because of virginity," says Saint Gregory of Nyssa, "that God +vouchsafes to dwell with men. It is virginity which gives men wings to +soar towards heaven." Celibacy raises the Apostle John above the +Prince of the Apostles himself. At the funeral of the Virgin Mary, +Peter gave John a palm branch, saying: "It becometh one who is +celibate to bear the Virgin's palm."[776] + +[Footnote 776: Voragine, _La légende dorée_ (Assomption de la +Vierge).] + +Throughout western Christendom the Virgin Mary--the Virgin _par +excellence_--had been the object of zealous devout worship[777] ever +since the twelfth century. The great cathedrals of northern France, +dedicated to Our Lady, celebrated the feast of their patron saint on +the day of the Assumption. On the sculptured pillar of the central +porch was the Virgin, with her divine Child and the Virgin's lily. +Sometimes Eve figured beneath, in order to represent at once sin and +its redemption: the second Eve redeeming the first, the Virgin exalted +the woman humbled. Marvellous scenes are portrayed on the tympanums of +porches. The Virgin is kneeling; at her side is a flowering lily in a +vase. The Angel, book in hand, greets her with an AVE, thus +transposing the name EVA, _mutans Evæ nomen_. Or again, with her feet +resting on the crescent moon, she rises to the highest heaven: +_Exaltata est super choros angelorum_. Further, from Jesus Christ she +receives the precious crown: _Posuit in capite ejus coronam de lapide +pretioso_. In gems of painted glass, church windows portrayed the +figures of Mary's virginity; the stone which Daniel saw dug from the +mountain by no human hand, Gideon's fleece, Moses' burning bush, and +Aaron's budding rod. + +[Footnote 777: Le Curé de Saint-Sulpice, _Notre Dame de France ou +histoire du culte de la Sainte Vierge en France_, Paris, 1862, 7 vols. +in 8vo. Abbé Mignard, _La Sainte Vierge_, Paris, 1877, in 8vo, pp. 382 +_et seq._] + +In an inexhaustible flow of images, expressed in hymns, sequences, and +litanies, she was the Mystic Rose, the Ivory Tower, the Ark of the +Covenant, the Gate of Heaven, the Morning Star. She was the Well of +Living Water, the Fountain of the Garden, the Walled Orchard, the +Bright and Shining Stone, the Flower of Virtue, the Palm of Sweetness, +the Myrtle of Temperance, the Sweet Ointment. + +In the Golden Legend, images rich and charming clothed the idea that +grace and power resided in virginity. The hagiographers burst forth in +loving praise of the brides of Jesus Christ; of those especially who +put on the white robe of virginity and the red roses of martyrdom. It +was during the passion of virgins that miracles of the most abounding +grace were worked. Angels bring down to Dorothea celestial roses, +which she scatters over her executioners. Virgin martyrs exercise +their power over beasts. The lions of the amphitheatre lick the feet +of Saint Thecla. The wild beasts of the circus gather together, and +with tails interlaced, prepare a throne for Saint Euphemia; in the +pit, aspics form a pleasing necklace for Saint Christina. It is not +the will of the divine Spouse for whom they endure anguish that they +should suffer in their modesty. When the executioner tears off Saint +Agnes's garments, her hair grows thicker and clothes her in a +miraculous garment. When Saint Barbara is to be taken naked through +the streets, an angel brings her a white tunic. These Agneses and +these Dorotheas, these Catherines and these Margarets, this legion of +innocent conquerors prepared men's minds to believe in the miracle of +a virgin stronger than armed men. Had not Saint Geneviève turned away +Attila and his barbarian warriors from Paris? + +The fable of the Maid and the Unicorn, so widely known in those days, +is a lively expression of this belief in a special virtue residing in +the state of virginity. + +The unicorn was half goat and half horse, of immaculate whiteness; it +bore a marvellous sword upon its forehead. Hunters, when they saw it +pass in the thicket, had never been able to reach it, so rapid was its +course. But if a virgin in the forest called the unicorn, the creature +obeyed, came and laid its head on her lap, and allowed such feeble +hands to take and bind it. If however a damsel corrupt and no longer a +maid approached it, the unicorn slew her immediately.[778] + +[Footnote 778: _De l'unicorne qu'une jeune fille séduit_, in the +_Bestiaire_ of R. de Fournival (Paulin Paris, _Manuscrits français_, +vol. iv, p. 25). Berger de Xivrey, _Traditions tératologiques_, p. +559. J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys_, vol. i, p. +320. Vallet de Viriville, _Nouvelles recherches sur Agnès Sorel_, in +_Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie_, vol. vi, p. 621. +A. Maury, _Croyances et légendes du moyen âge_, pp. 262 _et seq._] + +It was even said that a virgin had the power to cure king's evil, by +reciting, fasting and naked, certain magic words; but they were not +words from the Gospel.[779] + +[Footnote 779: Leber, _Des cérémonies du sacre_, Paris, 1825, in 8vo, +p. 459.] + +While mystics and visionaries were glorifying virginity, the Church, +bent on governing the body as well as the soul, condemned opinions +denying the lawfulness of marriage, which she had constituted a +sacrament. Those who would anathematise all works of the flesh she +held to be abominable and impious. A maid deserved praise for +preserving her virginity, provided always that her motives were +praiseworthy. Two hundred years before the reign of Charles VII, a +young girl of Reims realised that a grave sin may be committed against +the Church of God by refusing the solicitations of a clerk in a +vineyard. Here is the damsel's story as related by the canon Gervais. + +"On a day, Guillaume with the White Hands, Uncle of King Philippe of +France, for his pleasure rode forth from his town. A clerk of his +following, Gervais by name, who was in the heat of youth, saw a maiden +walking alone in a vineyard. He went to her, greeted her and asked: +'What are you doing in such great haste?' And with fitting words he +courteously solicited her. + +"Without even looking at him, calmly and gravely she replied: 'God +forbid, youth, that I should ever be yours or any man's, for if I were +to lose my virginity and my body its purity, I should inevitably fall +into eternal damnation.' + +"Such words caused the clerk to suspect that the maiden belonged to +the impious sect of the Cathari, whom the Church was in those days +pursuing relentlessly and punishing severely. One of the errors of +these heretics was indeed to condemn all carnal intercourse. Impatient +to resolve his doubts, Gervais straightway provoked the damsel to a +discussion on the Church's teaching in this matter. Meanwhile, the +Archbishop, Guillaume with the White Hands, turned his steed, and, +followed by his monks, came to the vineyard where the clerk and the +maiden were disputing together. When he learnt the cause of their +disagreement he ordered the maiden to be seized and brought into the +town. There he exhorted her, and, in charity, endeavoured to convert +her to the Catholic Faith. + +"She would not submit, however. 'I am not well enough grounded in +doctrine to defend myself,' she said to him. 'But in the town I have a +mistress, who, with good reasons, will easily refute all your +arguments. She it is who lodges in that house.' + +"The Archbishop Guillaume straightway sent to inquire after this +woman; and, having questioned her, perceived that what the maiden had +said concerning her was true. The very next day he convoked an +assembly of clerks and nobles to judge the two women. Both of them +were condemned to be burnt. The mistress contrived to escape, but +promises and persuasions having failed to turn the maiden from the +pernicious error of her ways, she was delivered up to the executioner. +She died without shedding a tear, without uttering a complaint."[780] + +[Footnote 780: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition en +France_, Paris, 1893, in 8vo, p. 293.] + +In the year 1416 there was a certain woman, a native of the Duchy of +Bar, Catherine Sauve by name. She was then a solitary, living at +Montpellier, on the road to Lattes. Having been publicly accused, she +was examined by the Inquisitor's Vicar, Maître Raymond Cabasse, and +found to be infected with the heresy of the Cathari. Among other +errors she maintained that all carnal intercourse is sinful, even in +wedlock. Wherefore she was delivered to the secular arm and burned at +the stake on the 2nd of November in that year.[781] + +[Footnote 781: Germain, _Catherine Sauve_, in _Académie des sciences +et lettres de Montpellier, Lettres_, vol. i, 1854, in 4to, pp. +539-552.] + +It was then commonly believed that such maidens as gave themselves to +the devil were straightway stripped of their virginity; and that thus +he obtained power over these unhappy creatures.[782] Such ways +accorded with what was known of his libidinous disposition. These +pleasures were tempered to his woeful state. And thereby he gained a +further advantage,--that of unarming his victim,--for virginity is as +a coat of mail against which the darts of hell are but blades of +straw. Hence it was all but certain that a soul vowed to the devil +could not reside within a maid.[783] Wherefore, there was one +infallible way of proving that the peasant girl from Vaucouleurs was +not given up to magic or to sorcery, and had made no pact with the +Evil One. Recourse was had to it. + +[Footnote 782: Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under the word _Matrimonium_.] + +[Footnote 783: Pierre Le Loyer, _Livre des spectres_, 1586, in 4to, +pp. 527, 551.] + +Jeanne was seen, visited, privately inspected, and thoroughly examined +by wise women, _mulieres doctas_; by knowing virgins, _peritas +virgines_; by widows and wives, _viduas et conjugates_. First among +these matrons were: the Queen of Sicily and of Jerusalem, Duchess of +Anjou; Dame Jeanne de Preuilly, wife of the Sire de Gaucourt, Governor +of Orléans, who was about fifty-seven years of age; and Dame Jeanne de +Mortemer, wife of Messire Robert le Maçon, Lord of Trèves, a man full +of years.[784] The last was only eighteen, and one would have expected +her to be better acquainted with the _Calendrier des Vieillards_ than +with the formulary of matrons. It is strange with what assurance the +good wives of those days undertook the solution of a problem which had +appeared difficult to King Solomon in all his wisdom. + +[Footnote 784: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 102. Vallet de Viriville, article +_Le Maçon_, in _Nouvelle biographie générale_.] + +Jeanne of Domremy was found to be a maid pure and intact.[785] + +[Footnote 785: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 210. Eberhard Windecke, p. 157. +Morosini, p. 99.] + +While she herself was being subjected to the interrogatories of +doctors and the examination of matrons, certain clerics who had been +despatched to her native province were there prosecuting an inquiry +concerning her birth, her life, and her morals.[786] The ecclesiastics +had been chosen from those mendicant Friars[787] who could pass freely +along the highways and byways of the enemy's country without exciting +the suspicion of English and Burgundians. And, indeed, they were in no +way molested. From Domremy and from Vaucouleurs they brought back sure +testimony to the humility, the devotion, the honesty, and the +simplicity of Jeanne. But, most important, they had found no +difficulty in gleaning certain pious tales, such as commonly adorned +the childhood of saints. To these monks we must attribute an important +share in the development of those legends of Jeanne's early years, +which were so soon to become popular. From this time, apparently, +dates the story that when Jeanne was in her seventh year, wolves +spared her sheep, and birds of the woods came at her call and ate +crumbs from her lap.[788] Such saintly flowers suggest a Franciscan +origin; among them are the wolf of Gubbio and the birds preached to by +Saint Francis. These mendicants may also have furnished examples of +the Maid's prophetic gift. They may have spread abroad the story that, +when she was at Vaucouleurs, on the day of the Battle of the Herrings, +she knew of the great hurt inflicted on the French at Rouvray.[789] +The success of such little stories was immediate and complete. + +[Footnote 786: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 787: Siméon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cxliii. +_Trial_, vol. ii, p. 397.] + +[Footnote 788: Letter from Perceval de Boulainvilliers to the Duke of +Milan, in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 115, 121. _Journal d'un bourgeois +de Paris_, p. 237.] + +[Footnote 789: _Journal du siège_, p. 48. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 275.] + +After this examination and inquiry, the doctors came to the following +conclusions: "The King, beholding his own need and that of his realm, +and considering the constant prayers to God of his poor subjects and +all others who love peace and justice, ought not to repulse or reject +the Maid who says that God has sent her to bring him succour, albeit +these promises may be nothing[790] but the works of man; neither ought +he lightly or hastily to believe in her. But, according to Holy +Scripture he must try her in two ways: to wit, with human wisdom, by +inquiring of her life, her morals, and her motive, as saith Saint Paul +the Apostle: _Probate spiritus, si ex Deo sunt_; and by earnest prayer +to ask for a sign of her work and her divine hope, by which to tell +whether it is by God's will that she is come. Thus God commanded Ahaz +that he should ask for a sign when God promised him victory, saying +unto him: _Pete signum a Domino_; and Gideon did likewise when he +asked for a sign and many others, etc. Since the coming of the said +Maid, the King hath observed her in the two manners aforesaid: to wit, +by trial of human wisdom and by prayer, asking God for a sign. As for +the first, which is trial by human wisdom, he has tested the said Maid +in her life, her origin, her morals, her intention; and has kept her +near him for the space of six weeks to show her to all people, whether +clerks, ecclesiastics, monks, men-at-arms, wives, widows or others. In +public and in private she hath conversed with persons of all +conditions. But there hath been found no evil in her, nothing but +good, humility, virginity, devoutness, honesty, simplicity. Of her +birth, as well as of her life, many marvellous things are related." + +[Footnote 790: The word _seules_ in the text is doubtful.] + +"As for the second ordeal, the King asked her for a sign, to which she +replied that before Orléans she would give it, but neither earlier nor +elsewhere, for thus it is ordained of God. + +"Now, seeing that the King hath made trial of the aforesaid Maid as +far as it was in his power to do, that he findeth no evil in her, and +that her reply is that she will give a divine sign before Orléans; +seeing her persistency, and the consistency of her words, and her +urgent request that she be sent to Orléans to show there that the aid +she brings is divine, the King should not hinder her from going to +Orléans with men-at-arms, but should send her there in due state +trusting in God. For to fear her or reject her when there is no +appearance of evil in her would be to rebel against the Holy Ghost, +and to render oneself unworthy of divine succour, as Gamaliel said of +the Apostles in the Council of the Jews."[791] + +[Footnote 791: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 391, 392.] + +In short, the doctors' conclusion was that as yet nothing divine +appeared in the Maid's promises, but that she had been examined and +been found humble, a virgin, devout, honest, simple, and wholly good; +and that, since she had promised to give a sign from God before +Orléans, she must be taken there, for fear that in her the gift of the +Holy Ghost should be rejected. + +Of these conclusions a great number of copies were made and sent to +the towns of the realm as well as to the princes of Christendom. The +Emperor Sigismond, for example, received a copy.[792] + +[Footnote 792: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 32, 41.] + +If the doctors of Poitiers had intended this six weeks inquiry, +culminating in a favourable and solemn conclusion, to bring about the +glorification of the Maid and the heartening of the French people by +the preparation and announcement of the marvel they had before them, +then they succeeded perfectly.[793] + +[Footnote 793: The conclusions of the Poitiers commission were +circulated everywhere. Traces of them are to be found in Brittany +(Buchon and _Chronique de Morosini_), in Flanders (_Chronique de +Tournai_ and _Chronique de Morosini_), in Germany (Eb. Windecke), in +Dauphiné (Buchon).] + +That prolonged investigation, that minute examination reassured those +doubting minds among the French, who suspected a woman dressed as a +man of being a devil; they flattered men's imaginations with the hope +of a miracle; they appealed to all hearts to judge favourably of the +damsel who came forth radiant from the fire of ordeal and appeared as +if glorified with a celestial halo. Her vanquishing the doctors in +argument made her seem like another Saint Catherine.[794] But that she +should have met difficult questions with wise answers was not enough +for a multitude eager for marvels. It was imagined that she had been +subjected to a strange probation from which she had come forth by +nothing short of a miracle. Thus a few weeks after the inquiry, the +following wonderful story was related in Brittany and in Flanders: +when at Poitiers she was preparing to receive the communion, the +priest had one wafer that was consecrated and another that was not. He +wanted to give her the unconsecrated wafer. She took it in her hand +and told the priest that it was not the body of Christ her Redeemer, +but that the body was in the wafer which the priest had covered with +the corporal.[795] After that there could be no doubt that Jeanne was +a great saint. + +[Footnote 794: "_Altra santa Catarina_" (Morosini, vol. iii, p. 52). +There is no doubt that here she is compared to Saint Catherine of +Alexandria and not to Saint Catherine of Sienna.] + +[Footnote 795: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 101.] + +At the termination of the inquiries, a favourable opportunity for +introducing the Maid into Orléans arrived in the beginning of April. +For her arming and her accoutring she was sent first to Tours.[796] + +[Footnote 796: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 66, 210.] + +Sixty-six years later, an inhabitant of Poitiers, almost a hundred +years old, told a young fellow-citizen that he had seen the Maid set +out for Orléans on horseback, in white armour.[797] He pointed to the +very stone from which she had mounted her horse in the corner of the +Rue Saint-Etienne. Now, when Jeanne was at Poitiers, she was not in +armour. But the people of Poitou had named the stone "the Maid's +mounting stone." With what a glad eager step the Saint must have leapt +from that stone on to the horse which was to carry her away from those +furred cats to the afflicted and oppressed whom she was longing to +succour.[798] + +[Footnote 797: Jean Bouchet, _Annales d'Aquitaine_, in the _Trial_, +vol. iv, pp· 536, 537.] + +[Footnote 798: Guilbert, _Histoire des villes de France_, vol. iv, +Poitiers. Cf. B. Ledain, _La Maison de Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers_, +Saint-Maixent, 1892, in 8vo. According to M. Ledain the Hôtel de la +Rose was on the spot now occupied by a house, number 13 in La Rue +Notre-Dame-la-Petite.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MAID AT TOURS + + +At Tours the Maid lodged in the house of a dame commonly called +Lapau.[799] She was Eléonore de Paul, a woman of Anjou, who had been +lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie of Anjou. Married to Jean du Puy, Lord +of La Roche-Saint-Quentin, Councillor of the Queen of Sicily, she had +remained in the service of the Queen of France.[800] + +[Footnote 799: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 800: Vallet de Viriville, _Notices et extraits de chartes et +de manuscrits appartenant au British Museum de Londres_, in the +_Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. viii, pp. 139, 140.] + +The town of Tours belonged to the Queen of Sicily, who grew richer and +richer as her son-in-law grew poorer and poorer. She aided him with +money and with lands. In 1424, the duchy of Touraine with all its +dependencies, except the castellany of Chinon, had come into her +possession.[801] The burgesses and commonalty of Tours earnestly +desired peace. Meanwhile they made every effort to escape from pillage +at the hands of men-at-arms. Neither King Charles nor Queen Yolande +was able to defend them, so they must needs defend themselves.[802] +When the town watchmen announced the approach of one of those +marauding chiefs who were ravaging Touraine and Anjou, the citizens +shut their gates and saw to it that the culverins were in their +places. Then there was a parley: the captain from the brink of the +moat maintained that he was in the King's service and on his way to +fight the English; he asked for a night's rest in the town for himself +and his men. From the heights of the ramparts he was politely +requested to pass on; and, in case he should be tempted to force an +entry, a sum of money was offered him.[803] Thus the citizens fleeced +themselves for fear of being robbed. In like manner, only a few days +before Jeanne's coming, they had given the Scot, Kennedy, who was +ravaging the district, two hundred livres to go on. When they had got +rid of their defenders, their next care was to fortify themselves +against the English. On the 29th of February of this same year, 1429, +these citizens lent one hundred crowns to Captain La Hire, who was +then doing his best for Orléans. And even on the approach of the +English they consented to receive forty archers belonging to the +company of the Sire de Bueil, only on condition that Bueil should +lodge in the castle with twenty men, and that the others should be +quartered in the inns, where they were to have nothing without paying +for it. Thus it was or was not; and the Sire de Bueil went off to +defend Orléans.[804] + +[Footnote 801: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +77.] + +[Footnote 802: Vallet de Viriville, _Analyse et fragments tirés des +Archives municipales de Tours_ in _Cabinet historique_, vol. v, pp. +102-121.] + +[Footnote 803: Quicherat, _Rodrigue de Villandrando_, Paris, 1879, in +8vo, pp. 14 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 804: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, Introduction, p. xxii, note 1.] + +In Jean du Puy's house, Jeanne was visited by an Augustinian monk, one +Jean Pasquerel. He was returning from the town of Puy-en-Velay where +he had met Isabelle Romée and certain of those who had conducted +Jeanne to the King.[805] + +[Footnote 805: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 101.] + +In this town, in the sanctuary of Anis, was preserved an image of the +Mother of God, brought from Egypt by Saint Louis. It was of great +antiquity and highly venerated, for the prophet Jeremiah had with his +own hands carved it out of sycamore wood in the semblance of the +virgin yet to be born, whom he had seen in a vision.[806] In holy week, +pilgrims flocked from all parts of France and of Europe,--nobles, +clerks, men-at-arms, citizens and peasants; and many, for penance or +through poverty, came on foot, staff in hand, begging their bread from +door to door. Merchants of all kinds betook themselves thither; and it +was at once the most popular of pilgrimages and one of the richest +fairs in the world. All round the town the stream of travellers +overflowed from the road on to vineyards, meadows, and gardens. On the +day of the Festival, in the year 1407, two hundred persons perished, +crushed to death in the throng.[807] + +[Footnote 806: Francisque Mandet, _Histoire du Velay_, Le Puy, +1860-1862 (7 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, pp. 590 _et seq._ S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, ch. xii.] + +[Footnote 807: Jean Juvénal des Ursins, 1407.] + +In certain years the feast of the conception of Our Lord fell on the +same day as that of his death; and thus there coincided the promise +and the fulfilment of the promise of the greatest of mysteries. Then +Holy Friday became still holier. It was called Great Friday, and on +that day such as entered the sanctuary of Anis received plenary +indulgence. On that day the crowd of pilgrims was greater than usual. +Now, in the year 1429, Good Friday fell on the 25th of March, the day +of the Annunciation.[808] + +[Footnote 808: Nicole de Savigni, _Notes sur les exploits de Jeanne +d'Arc et sur divers évènements de son temps_, in the _Bulletin de la +Société de l'Histoire de Paris_, 1, 1874, p. 43. Chanoine Lucot, +_Jeanne d'Arc en Champagne_, Châlons, 1880, pp. 12, 13.] + +There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary in Brother Pasquerel's +meeting Jeanne's relatives at Puy during Holy Week. That a peasant +woman should travel two hundred and fifty miles on foot, through a +country infested with soldiers and other robbers, in a season of snows +and mist, to obtain an indulgence, was an every-day matter if we +remember the surname which had for long been hers.[809] This was not +La Romée's first pilgrimage. As we do not know which members of the +Maid's escort the good Brother met, we are at liberty to conjecture +that Bertrand de Poulengy was among them. We know little about him, +but his speech would suggest that he was a devout person.[810] + +[Footnote 809: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 191; vol. ii, p. 74, note. La Romée +may have received her surname for an entirely different reason. Most +of our knowledge of Jeanne's mother is derived from documents of very +doubtful authenticity.] + +[Footnote 810: Francis C. Lowell considers the idea of La Romée's +pilgrimage to Puy as a "characteristic example of the madness" of +Siméon Luce (_Joan of Arc_, Boston, 1896, in 8vo, p. 72, note). +Nevertheless, after considerable hesitation, I, like Luce, have +rejected the corrections proposed by Lebrun de Charmettes and +Quicherat, and adopted unamended the text of the _Trial_.] + +Jeanne's comrades, having made friends with Pasquerel, said to him: +"You must go with us to Jeanne. We will not leave you until you have +taken us to her." They travelled together. Brother Pasquerel went with +them to Chinon, which Jeanne had left; then he went on to Tours, where +his convent was. + +The Augustinians, who claimed to have received their rule from St. +Francis himself, wore the grey habit of the Franciscans. It was from +their order that in the previous year the King had chosen a chaplain +for his young son, the Dauphin Louis. Brother Pasquerel held the +office of reader (_lector_) in his monastery.[811] He was in priest's +orders. Quite young doubtless and of a wandering disposition, like +many mendicant monks of those days, he had a taste for the miraculous, +and was excessively credulous. + +[Footnote 811: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 101. For the meaning of _Lector_, +professor of theology, cf. Du Cange.] + +Jeanne's comrades said to her: "Jeanne, we have brought you this good +father. You will like him well when you know him." + +She replied: "The good father pleases me. I have already heard tell of +him, and even to-morrow will I confess to him." The next day the good +father heard her in confession, and chanted mass before her. He became +her chaplain, and never left her.[812] + +[Footnote 812: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 101 _et seq._] + +In the fifteenth century Tours was one of the chief manufacturing +towns of the kingdom. The inhabitants excelled in all kinds of trades. +They wove tissues of silk, of gold, and of silver. They manufactured +coats of mail; and, while not competing with the armourers of Milan, +of Nuremberg, and of Augsburg, they were skilled in the forging and +hammering of steel.[813] Here it was that, by the King's command, the +master armourer made Jeanne a suit of mail.[814] The suit he furnished +was of wrought iron; and, according to the custom of that time, +consisted of a helmet, a cuirass in four parts, with epaulets, +armlets, elbow-pieces, fore-armlets, gauntlets, cuisses, knee-pieces, +greaves and shoes.[815] The maker had doubtless no thought of +accentuating the feminine figure. But the armour of that period, full +in the bust, slight in the waist, with broad skirts beneath the +corselet, in its slender grace and curious slimness, always has the +air of a woman's armour, and seems made for Queen Penthesilea or for +the Roman Camilla. The Maid's armour was white and unadorned, if one +may judge from its modest price of one hundred _livres tournois_. The +two suits of mail, made at the same time by the same armourer for Jean +de Metz and his comrade, were together worth one hundred and +twenty-five _livres tournois_.[816] Possibly one of the skilful and +renowned drapers of Tours took the Maid's measure for a _houppelande_ +or loose coat in silk or cloth of gold or silver, such as captains +wore over the cuirass. To look well, the coat, which was open in +front, must be cut in scallops that would float round the horseman as +he rode. Jeanne loved fine clothes but still more fine horses.[817] + +[Footnote 813: E. Giraudet, _Histoire de la ville de Tours_, Tours, +1874, 2 vols. in 8vo, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 814: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 67, 94, 210; vol. iv, pp. 3, +301, 363.] + +[Footnote 815: J. Quicherat, _Histoire du costume en France_, Paris, +1875, large 8vo, pp. 270, 271.] + +[Footnote 816: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 67, 94, 210. _Relation du +greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 60. "The white armour of fifteenth +century soldiers, simple as it was, was expensive; it cost about ten +thousand francs of our present money. But the complete horse's armour +was included in this" (Maurice Maindron, _Pour l'histoire de +l'armure_, in _Le monde moderne_, 1896). According to the calculation +of P. Clément (_Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_, 1873, p. lxvi), 100 +livres would be equal to 4000 francs of present money.] + +[Footnote 817: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 76. Letter from Perceval de +Boulainvilliers, _ibid._, vol. v, p. 120. Greffier de la Chambre des +comptes of Brabant, _ibid._, vol. iv, p. 428. Le Fèvre de Saint-Rémy, +_ibid._, p. 439.] + +The King invited her to choose a horse from his stables. If we may +believe a certain Latin poet, she selected an animal of illustrious +origin, but very old. It was a war horse, which Pierre de Beauvau, +Governor of Maine and Anjou, had given to one of the King's two +brothers; who had both been dead, the one thirteen years, the other +twelve.[818] This steed, or another, was brought to Lapau's house and +the Duke of Alençon went to see it. The horse must likewise be +accoutred, it must be furnished with a chanfrin to protect its head +and one of those wooden saddles with broad pommels which seemed to +encase the rider.[819] A shield was out of the question. Since +chain-armour, which was not proof against blows, had been succeeded by +that plate-armour, on which nothing could make an impression, they had +ceased to be used save in pageants. As for the sword,--the noblest +part of her accoutrement and the bright symbol of strength joined to +loyalty,--Jeanne refused to take that from the royal armourer; she was +resolved to receive it from the hand of Saint Catherine herself. + +[Footnote 818: Anonymous poem in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 38 and note.] + +[Footnote 819: Capitaine Champion, _Jeanne d'Arc écuyère_, pp. 146 _et +seq._] + +We know that on her coming into France she had stopped at Fierbois and +heard three masses in Saint Catherine's chapel.[820] Therein the +Virgin of Alexandria had many swords, without counting the one Charles +Martel was said to have given her, and which it would not have been +easy to find again. A good Touranian in Touraine, Saint Catherine was +an Armagnac ever on the side of those who fought for the Dauphin +Charles. When captains and soldiers of fortune stood in danger of +death, or were prisoners in the hands of their enemies, she was the +saint they most willingly invoked; for they knew she wished them +well. She did not save them all, but she aided many. They came to +render her thanks; and as a sign of gratitude they offered her their +armour, so that her chapel looked like an armoury.[821] The walls +bristled with swords; and, as gifts had been flowing in for half a +century, ever since the days of King Charles V, the sacristans were +probably in the habit of taking down the old weapons to make room for +the new, hoarding the old steel in some store-house until an +opportunity arrived for selling it.[822] Saint Catherine could not +refuse a sword to the damsel, whom she loved so dearly that every day +and every hour she came down from Paradise to see and talk with her on +earth,--a maiden who in return had shown her devotion by travelling to +Fierbois to do the Saint reverence. For we must not omit to state that +Saint Catherine in company with Saint Margaret had never ceased to +appear to Jeanne both at Chinon and at Tours. She was present at all +those secret assemblies, which the Maid called sometimes her Council +but oftener her Voices, doubtless because they appealed more to her +ears and her mind than to her eyes, despite the burst of light which +sometimes dazzled her, and notwithstanding the crowns she was able to +discern on the heads of the saints. The Voices indicated one sword +among the multitude of those in the Chapel at Fierbois. Messire +Richard Kyrthrizian and Brother Gille Lecourt, both of them priests, +were then custodians of the chapel. Such is the title they assumed +when they signed the accounts of miracles worked by their saint. +Jeanne in a letter caused them to be asked for the sword, which had +been revealed to her. In the letter she said that it would be found +underground, not very deep down, and behind the altar. At least these +were all the directions she was able to give afterwards, and then she +could not quite remember whether it was behind the altar or in front. +Was she able to give the custodians of the chapel any signs by which +to recognise the sword? She never explained this point, and her letter +is lost.[823] + +[Footnote 820: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 56, 75, 76, 77.] + +[Footnote 821: Abbé Bourassé, _Les miracles de madame sainte Katerine +de Fierboys en Touraine_ (1375-1446), Tours, 1858, in 8vo, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 822: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 277. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 823: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 77. _Les miracles de madame sainte +Katerine_, _passim_.] + +It is certain, however, that she believed the sword had been shown to +her in a vision and in no other manner. An armourer of Touraine, whom +she did not know (afterwards she maintained that she had never seen +him), was appointed to carry the letter to Fierbois. The custodians of +the chapel gave him a sword marked with five crosses, or with five +little swords on the blade, not far from the hilt. In what part of the +chapel had they found it? No one knows. A contemporary says it was in +a coffer with some old iron. If it had been buried and hidden it was +not very long before, because the rust could easily be removed by +rubbing. The priests were careful to offer it to the Maid with great +ceremony[824] before giving it to the armourer who had come for it. +They enclosed it in a sheath of red velvet, embroidered with the royal +flowers de luce. When Jeanne received it she recognised it to be the +one revealed to her in a celestial vision and promised her by her +Voices, and she failed not to let the little company of monks and +soldiers who surrounded her know that it was so. This they took to be +a good omen and a sign of victory.[825] To protect Saint Catherine's +sword the priests of the town gave her a second sheath; this one was +of black cloth. Jeanne had a third made of very tough leather.[826] + +[Footnote 824: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 76, 234, 236. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 277. _Journal du siège_, p. 49. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 69, 70. Guerneri Berni, in the _Trial_, vol. +iv, p. 519. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 267. Morosini, vol. +iii, p. 109. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, pp. 337, 338. +_Chronique Messine_, edition Bouteiller, 1878, Orléans, in 8vo, 26 +pages.] + +[Footnote 825: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 75, 235.] + +[Footnote 826: _Ibid._, p. 76.] + +The story of the sword spread far and wide and was elaborated by many +a curious fable. It was said to be the sword of the great Charles +Martel, long buried and forgotten. Many believed it had belonged to +Alexander and the knights of those ancient days. Every one thought +well of it and esteemed it likely to bring good fortune. When the +English and the Burgundians heard tell of the matter, there soon +occurred to them the idea that the Maid had discovered what was hidden +beneath the earth by taking counsel of demons; or they suspected her +of having herself craftily hidden the sword in the place she had +indicated in order to deceive princes, clergy, and people. They +wondered anxiously whether those five crosses were not signs of the +devil.[827] Thus there began to arise conflicting illusions, according +to which Jeanne appeared either saint or sorceress.[828] + +[Footnote 827: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 108, 109. _Chronique de +Lorraine_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 332. Eberhard Windecke, p. 101. +Cf. _Journal du siège_, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 828: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 122.] + +The King had given her no command. Acting according to the counsel of +the doctors, he did not hinder her from going to Orléans with +men-at-arms. He even had her taken there in state in order that she +might give the promised sign. He granted her men to conduct her, not +for her to conduct. How could she have conducted them since she did +not know the way? Meanwhile she had a standard made according to the +command of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, who had said: "Take the +standard in the name of the King of Heaven!" It was of a coarse white +cloth, or buckram, edged with silk fringe. At the bidding of her +Voices, Jeanne caused a painter of the town to represent on it what +she called "the World,"[829] that is, Our Lord seated upon his throne, +blessing with his right hand, and in his left holding the globe of the +world. On his right and on his left were angels, both painted as they +were in churches, and presenting Our Lord with flowers de luce. Above +or on one side were the names Jhesus--Maria, and the background was +strewn with the royal lilies in gold.[830] She also had a coat-of-arms +painted: on an azure shield a silver dove, holding in its beak a +scroll on which was written: "_De par le Roi du Ciel_."[831] This +coat-of-arms she had painted on the reverse of the standard bearing on +the front the picture of Our Lord. A servant of the Duke of Alençon, +Perceval de Cagny, says that she ordered to be made another and a +smaller standard, a banner, on which was the picture of Our Lady +receiving the angel's salutation. The Tours painter Jeanne employed +came from Scotland and was called Hamish Power. He provided the +material and executed the paintings of the two escutcheons, of the +small one as well as of the large. For this he received from the +keeper of the war treasury twenty-five _livres tournois_.[832] Hamish +Power had a daughter, Héliote by name, who was about to be married and +to whom Jeanne afterwards showed kindness.[833] + +[Footnote 829: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 77, 179, 236; vol. iii, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 830: _Ibid._, pp. 78, 117.] + +[Footnote 831: _Ibid._, pp. 78, 117, 181, 300. _Relation du greffier +de La Rochelle_, p. 338. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 110; vol. iv, +supplement, xv, pp. 313, 315.] + +[Footnote 832: Perceval de Cagny, p. 150. _Journal du siège_, p. 76. +_Relation du greffier d'Albi_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 301. +_Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 338. _Chronique du doyen de +Saint-Thibaud de Metz_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 322. Extract from +the thirteenth account of Hémon Raguier, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +258.] + +[Footnote 833: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 65; _Un épisode de la vie de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Bibliothèque de +l'École des Chartes_, vol. iv, first series, p. 488.] + +The standard was the signal for rallying. For long only kings, +emperors, and leaders in war had had the right of raising it. The +feudal suzerain had it carried before him; vassals ranged themselves +beneath their lord's banners. But in 1429 banners had ceased to be +used save in corporations, guilds, and parishes, borne only before the +armies of peace. In war they were no longer needed. The meanest +captain, the poorest knight had his own standard. When fifty French +men-at-arms went forth from Orléans against a handful of English +marauders, a crowd of banners like a swarm of butterflies waved over +the fields. "To raise one's standard" came to be a figure of speech +for "to be puffed up."[834] So indeed it was permissible for a +freebooter to raise his standard when he commanded scarce a score of +men-at-arms and half-naked bowmen. Even if Jeanne, as she may have +done, held her standard to be a sign of sovereign command, and if, +having received it from the King of Heaven, she thought to raise it +above all others, was there a soul in the realm to say her nay? What +had become of all those feudal banners which for eighty years had been +in the vanguard of defeat; sown over the fields of Crécy; collected +beneath bushes and hedges by Welsh and Cornish swordsmen; lost in the +vineyards of Maupertuis, trampled underfoot by English archers on the +soft earth into which sank the corpses of Azincourt; gathered in +handfuls under the walls of Verneuil by Bedford's marauders? It was +because all these banners had miserably fallen, it was because at +Rouvray a prince of the blood royal had shamefully trailed his nobles' +banners in flight, that the peasant now raised her banner. + +[Footnote 834: In Beaudouin de Sebourg (xx, 249) is the passage: + + _Il est cousin au conte + Il en fait estandart_ + +quoted by Godefroy. Cf. La Curne and Littré.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SIEGE OF ORLÉANS FROM THE 7TH OF MARCH TO THE 28TH OF APRIL, 1429 + + +Since the terrible and ridiculous discomfiture of the King's men in +the Battle of the Herrings, the citizens of Orléans had lost all faith +in their defenders.[835] Their minds agitated, suspicious and +credulous were possessed by phantoms of fear and wrath. Suddenly and +without reason they believe themselves betrayed. One day it is +announced that a hole big enough for a man to pass through has been +made in the town wall just where it skirts the outbuildings of the +Aumône.[836] A crowd of people hasten to the spot; they see the hole +and a piece of the wall which had been restored, with two loop-holes; +they fail to understand, and think themselves sold and betrayed into +the enemy's hands; they rave and break forth into howls, and seek the +priest in charge of the hospital to tear him to pieces.[837] A few +days after, on Holy Thursday, a similar rumour is spread abroad: +traitors are about to deliver up the town into the hands of the +English. The folk seize their weapons; soldiers, burgesses, villeins +mount guard on the outworks, on the walls and in the streets. On the +morrow, the day after that on which the panic had originated, fear +still possesses them.[838] + +[Footnote 835: "_Pourquoy la Hire, Poton et plusieurs autres vaillants +hommes qui moult enviz s'en alloient ainsi honteusement_," _Journal du +siège_, p. 42.] + +[Footnote 836: The hospital of Orléans, close to the cathedral.] + +[Footnote 837: 9 March. _Journal du siège_, pp. 56, 57.] + +[Footnote 838: _Journal du siège_, p. 64.] + +In the beginning of March the besiegers saw approaching the Norman +vassals, summoned by the Regent. But they were only six hundred and +twenty-nine lances all told, and they were only bound to serve for +twenty-six days. Under the leadership of Scales, Pole, and Talbot, the +English continued the investment works as best they could.[839] On the +10th of March, two and a half miles east of the city, they occupied +without opposition the steep slope of Saint-Loup and began to erect a +bastion there, which should command the upper river and the two roads +from Gien and Pithiviers, at the point where they meet near the +Burgundian gate.[840] On the 20th of March they completed the bastion +named London, on the road to Mans. Between the 9th and 15th of April +two new bastions were erected towards the west, Rouen nine hundred +feet east of London, Paris nine hundred feet from Rouen. About the +20th they fortified Saint-Jean-le-Blanc across the Loire and +established a watch to guard the crossing of the river.[841] This was +but little in comparison with what remained to be done, and they were +short of men; for they had less than three thousand round the town. +Wherefore they fell upon the peasants. Now that the season for tending +the vines was drawing near, the country folk went forth into the +fields thinking only of the land; but the English lay in wait for +them, and when they had taken them prisoners, set them to work.[842] + +[Footnote 839: Boucher de Molandon, _L'armée anglaise vaincue par +Jeanne d'Arc_, ch. ii. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 60, +107, 110, 112.] + +[Footnote 840: _Journal du siège_, pp. 57, 58. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire +du siège_, dissertation vi.] + +[Footnote 841: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 265, 267. Morosini, vol. +iv, supplement xiii.] + +[Footnote 842: _Journal du siège_, p. 58.] + +In the opinion of those most skilled in the arts of war, these +bastions were worthless. They were furnished with no stabling for +horses. They could not be built near enough to render assistance to +each other; the besieger was in danger of being himself besieged in +them. In short, from these vexatious methods of warfare the English +reaped nothing but disappointment and disgrace. The Sire de Bueil, one +of the defenders, perceived this when he was reconnoitring.[843] In +fact it was so easy to pass through the enemy's lines that merchants +were willing to run the risk of taking cattle to the besieged. There +entered into the town, on the 7th of March, six horses loaded with +herrings; on the 15th, six horses with powder; on the 29th, cattle and +victuals; on the 2nd of April, nine fat oxen and horses; on the 5th, +one hundred and one pigs and six fat oxen; on the 9th, seventeen pigs, +horses, sucking-pigs, and corn; on the 13th, coins with which to pay +the garrison; on the 16th, cattle and victuals; on the 23rd, powder +and victuals. And more than once the besieged had carried off, in the +very faces of the English, victuals and ammunition destined for the +besiegers and including casks of wine, game, horses, bows, forage, and +even twenty-six head of large cattle.[844] + +[Footnote 843: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. xxii; vol. ii, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 844: _Journal du siège_, pp. 56, 62.] + +The siege was costing the English dear,--forty thousand _livres +tournois_ a month.[845] They were short of money; they were obliged to +resort to the most irritating expedients. By a decree of the 3rd of +March King Henry had recently ordered all his officers in Normandy to +lend him one quarter of their pay.[846] In their huts of wood and +earth, the men-at-arms, who had endured much from the cold, now began +to suffer hunger. + +[Footnote 845: Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 50, 58.] + +[Footnote 846: Pierre Sureau's account in Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée +anglaise_, proofs and illustrations, no. vi, pp. 45, 46.] + +The wasted fields of La Beauce, of l'Île-de-France, and of Normandy +could furnish them with no great store of sheep or oxen. Their food +was bad, their drink worse. The vintage of 1427 had been bad, that of +the following year was poor and weak--more like sour grapes than +wine.[847] Now an old English author has written of the soldiers of +his country: + + "They want their porridge and their fat bull-beeves: + Either they must be dieted like mules + And have their provender tied to their mouths + Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice."[848] + +[Footnote 847: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 221, 222 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 848: Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act i, scene ii. +According to M. G. Duval the first part of this play was adapted from +one of Shakespeare's predecessors.] + +A sudden humiliation still further weakened the English. Captain Poton +de Saintrailles and the two magistrates, Guyon du Fossé and Jean de +Saint-Avy, who had gone on an embassy to the Duke of Burgundy, +returned to Orléans on the 17th of April. The Duke had granted their +request and consented to take the town under his protection. But the +Regent, to whom the offer had been made, would not have it thus. + +He replied that he would be very sorry if after he had beaten the bush +another should go off with the nestlings.[849] Therefore the offer was +rejected. Nevertheless the embassy had been by no means useless, and +it was something to have raised a new cause of quarrel between the +Duke and the Regent. The ambassadors returned accompanied by a +Burgundian herald who blew his trumpet in the English camp, and, in +the name of his master, commanded all combatants who owed allegiance +to the Duke to raise the siege. Some hundreds of archers and +men-at-arms, Burgundians, men of Picardy and of Champagne, departed +forthwith.[850] + +[Footnote 849: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 65.] + +[Footnote 850: _Journal du siège_, pp. 69, 70. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 270. Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 317 _et seq._ Morosini, +vol. iii, pp. 19, 20, 21; vol. iv, supplement xiv, p. 311. Jarry, _Le +compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 68 _et seq._ Boucher de Molandon, +_L'armée anglaise vaincue par Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 145.] + +On the next day, at four o'clock in the morning, the citizens +emboldened and deeming the opportunity a good one, attacked the camp +of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. They slew the watch and entered the +camp, where they found piles of money, robes of martin, and a goodly +store of weapons. Absorbed in pillage, they paid no heed to defending +themselves and were surprised by the enemy, who in great force had +hastened to the place. They fled pursued by the English who slew many. +On that day the town resounded with the lamentations of women weeping +for a father, a husband, a brother, kinsmen.[851] + +[Footnote 851: _Journal du siège_, p. 70.] + +Within those walls, in a space where there was room for not more than +fifteen thousand inhabitants, forty thousand[852] were huddled +together, one vast multitude agonised by all manner of suffering; +depressed by domestic sorrow; racked with anxiety; maddened by +constant danger and perpetual panic. Although the wars of those days +were not so sanguinary as they became later, the sallies of the +inhabitants of Orléans were the occasion of constant and considerable +loss of life. Since the middle of March the English bullets had fallen +more into the centre of the town; and they were not always harmless. +On the eve of Palm Sunday one stone, fired from a mortar, killed or +wounded five persons; another, seven.[853] Many of the inhabitants, +like the provost, Alain Du Bey, died of fatigue or of the infected +air.[854] + +[Footnote 852: Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, part vi, ch. i. Abbé +Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, dissertation ix. Loiseleur, _Compte des +dépenses de Charles VII_, ch. v. Lottin, _Recherches historiques sur +la ville d'Orléans_, vol. ii, p. 205. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 25, note +2.] + +[Footnote 853: _Journal du siège_, p. 64.] + +[Footnote 854: _Ibid._, p. 59.] + +In the Christendom of those days all men were taught to believe that +earthquakes, wars, famine, pestilence are punishments for wrong-doing. +Charles, the Fair Duke of Orléans, good Christian that he was, held +that great sorrows had come upon France as chastisement for her sins, +to wit: swelling pride, gluttony, sloth, covetousness, lust, and +neglect of justice, which were rife in the realm; and in a ballad he +discoursed of the evil and its remedy.[855] The people of Orléans +firmly believed that this war was sent to them of God to punish +sinners, who had worn out his patience. They were aware both of the +cause of their sorrows and of the means of remedying them. Such was +the teaching of the good friars preachers; and, as Duke Charles put it +in his ballad, the remedy was to live well, to amend one's life, to +have masses said and sung for the souls of those who had suffered +death in the service of the realm, to renounce the sinful life, and to +ask forgiveness of Our Lady and the saints.[856] This remedy had been +adopted by the people of Orléans. They had had masses said in the +Church of Sainte-Croix for the souls of nobles, captains, and +men-at-arms killed in their service, and especially for those who had +died a piteous death in the Battle of the Herrings. They had offered +candles to Our Lady and to the patron saints of the town, and had +carried the shrine of Saint-Aignan round the walls.[857] + +[Footnote 855: Charles d'Orléans, _Poésies_, edited by A. +Champollion-Figeac, Paris, 1842, in 8vo, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 856: Miniature in the MS. of the poems of Charles d'Orléans, +in the British Museum, Royal 16 F. ii, fol. 73 v'o.] + +[Footnote 857: _Journal du siège_, p. 43. Symphorien Guyon, _Histoire +de la ville d'Orléans_, vol. ii, p. 43.] + +Every time they felt themselves in great danger, they brought it forth +from the Church of Sainte-Croix, carried it in grand procession round +the town and over the ramparts,[858] then, having brought it back to +the cathedral, they listened to a sermon preached in the porch by a +good monk chosen by the magistrates.[859] They said prayers in public +and resolved to amend their lives. Wherefore they believed that in +Paradise Saint Euverte and Saint-Aignan, touched by their piety, must +be interceding for them with Our Lord; and they thought they could +hear the voices of the two pontiffs. Saint Euverte was saying, +"All-powerful Father, I pray and entreat thee to save the city of +Orléans. It is mine. I was its bishop. I am its patron saint. Deliver +it not up to its enemies." + +[Footnote 858: _Chronique de la fête_, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +297.] + +[Footnote 859: Accounts of the Commune, _passim_, in _Journal du +siège_, pp. 210 _et seq._] + +Then afterwards spoke Saint-Aignan: "Give peace to the people of +Orléans. Father, thou who by the mouth of a child didst appoint me +their shepherd, grant that they fall not into the hands of the enemy." + +The inhabitants of Orléans expected that the Lord would not at once +answer the prayers of the two confessors. Knowing the sternness of his +judgments they feared lest he would reply: "For their sins are the +French people justly chastised. They suffer because of their +disobedience to Holy Church. From the least to the greatest in the +realm each vies with the other in evil-doing. The husbandmen, +citizens, lawyers and priests are hard and avaricious; the princes, +dukes and noble lords are proud, vain, cursers, swearers, and +traitors. The corruptness of their lives infects the air. It is just +that they suffer chastisement." + +That the Lord should speak thus must be expected, because he was angry +and because the people of Orléans had greatly sinned. But now, behold, +Our Lady, she who loves the King of the Lilies, prays for him and for +the Duke of Orléans to the Son, whose pleasure it is to do her will in +all things: "My Son, with all my heart I entreat thee to drive the +English from the land of France; they have no right to it. If they +take Orléans, then they will take the rest at their pleasure. Suffer +it not, O my Son, I beseech thee." And Our Lord, at the prayer of his +holy Mother, forgives the French and consents to save them.[860] + +[Footnote 860: _Mistère du siège_, lines 6964 _et seq._] + +Thus in those days, according to their ideas of the spiritual world, +did men represent even the councils of Paradise. There were folk not a +few, and those not unlearned, who believed that as the result of these +councils Our Lord had sent his Archangel to the shepherdess. And it +might even be possible that he would save the kingdom by the hand of a +woman. Is it not in the weak things of the world that he maketh his +power manifest? + +Did he not allow the child David to overthrow the giant Goliath, and +did he not deliver into the hands of Judith the head of Holophernes? +In Orléans itself was it not by the mouth of a babe that he had caused +to be named that shepherd who was to deliver the besieged town from +Attila?[861] + +[Footnote 861: Aug. Theiner, _Saint Aignan ou le siège d'Orléans par +Attila, notice historique suivie de la vie de ce saint, tirée des MSS. +de la Bibliothèque du Roi_, Paris, 1832, in 8vo.] + +The Lord of Villars and Messire Jamet du Tillay, having returned from +Chinon, reported that they had with their own eyes seen the Maid; and +they told of the marvels of her coming. They related how she had +travelled far, fording rivers, passing by many towns and villages held +by the English, as well as through those French lands wherein were +rife pillage and all manner of evils. Then they went on to tell how, +when she was taken to the King, she had spoken fair words to him as +she curtsied, saying: "Gentle Dauphin, God sends me to help and +succour you. Give me soldiers, for by grace divine and by force of +arms, I will raise the siege of Orléans and then lead you to your +anointing at Reims, according as God hath commanded me, for it is his +will that the English return to their country and leave in peace your +kingdom which shall remain unto you. Or, if they do not quit the land, +then will God cause them to perish." Further, they told how, +interrogated by certain prelates, knights, squires, and doctors in +law, her bearing had been found honest and her words wise. They +extolled her piety, her candour, that simplicity which testified that +God dwelt with her, and that skill in managing a horse and wielding +weapons which caused all men to marvel.[862] + +[Footnote 862: _Journal du siège_, p. 46. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 278. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 66.] + +At the end of March, tidings came, that, taken to Poitiers, she had +there been examined by doctors and famous masters, and had replied to +them with an assurance equal to that of Saint Catherine before the +doctors at Alexandria. Because her words were good and her promises +sure, it was said that the King, trusting in her, had caused her to be +armed in order that she might go to Orléans, where she would soon +appear, riding on a white horse, wearing at her side the sword of +Saint Catherine and holding in her hand the standard she had received +from the King of Heaven.[863] + +[Footnote 863: _Journal du siège_, pp. 47, 48. P. Mantellier, +_Histoire du siège_, pp. 61 _et seq._] + +To the ecclesiastics what was told of Jeanne seemed marvellous but not +incredible, since parallel instances were to be found in sacred +history, which was all the history they knew. To those who were +lettered among them their erudition furnished fewer reasons for denial +than for doubt or belief. Those who were simple frankly wondered at +these things. + +Certain of the captains, and certain even of the people, treated them +with derision. But by so doing they ran the risk of ill usage. The +inhabitants of the city believed in the Maid as firmly as in Our Lord. +From her they expected help and deliverance. They summoned her in a +kind of mystic ecstasy and religious frenzy. The fever of the siege +had become the fever of the Maid.[864] + +[Footnote 864: _Journal du siège_, p. 77.] + +Nevertheless, the use made of her by the King's men proved that, +following the counsel of the theologians, they were determined to +adopt only such methods as were prompted by human prudence. She was to +enter the town with a convoy of victuals, then being prepared at Blois +by order of the King assisted by the Queen of Sicily.[865] In all the +loyal provinces a new effort was being made for the relief and +deliverance of the brave city. Gien, Bourges, Blois, Châteaudun, Tours +sent men and victuals; Angers, Poitiers, La Rochelle, Albi, Moulins, +Montpellier, Clermont sulphur, saltpetre, steel, and arms.[866] And if +the citizens of Toulouse gave nothing it was because their city, as +the notables consulted by the _capitouls_[867] ingenuously declared, +had nothing to give--_non habebat de quibus_.[868] + +[Footnote 865: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 93. _Geste des nobles_, in _La +chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 250. The Accounts of fortresses +(1428-1430), in Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 30 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 866: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287. _Journal du siège_, +p. 81. Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. +28, 29. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 230.] + +[Footnote 867: The name by which the town councillors of Toulouse were +called.] + +[Footnote 868: _Le siège d'Orléans, Jeanne d'Arc et les capitouls de +Toulouse_, by A. Thomas, in _Annales du Midi_, 1889, p. 232. It would +appear that Saint-Flour, although solicited, did not contribute: it +had enough to do to defend itself from the freebooters who were +constantly hovering round. Cf. _Villandrando et les écorcheurs à +Saint-Flour_ by M. Boudet, Clermont-Ferrand, 1895, in 8vo, pp. 18 _et +seq._] + +The King's councillors, notably my Lord Regnault de Chartres, +Chancellor of the Realm, were forming a new army. What they had failed +to accomplish, by means of the men of Auvergne, they would now attempt +with troops from Anjou and Le Mans. The Queen of Sicily, Duchess of +Touraine and Anjou, willingly lent her aid. Were Orléans taken she +would be in danger of losing lands by which she set great store. +Therefore she spared neither men, money, nor victuals. After the +middle of April, a citizen of Angers, one Jean Langlois, brought +letters informing the magistrates of the imminent arrival of the corn +she had contributed. The town gave Jean Langlois a present, and the +magistrates entertained him at dinner at the Écu Saint-Georges. This +corn was a part of that large convoy which the Maid was to +accompany.[869] + +[Footnote 869: Receipts of the town of Orléans in 1429, in Boucher de +Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 36.] + +Towards the end of the month, by order of my Lord the Bastard, the +captains of the French garrisons of La Beauce and Gâtinais, betook +themselves to the town to reinforce the army of Blois, the arrival of +which was announced. On the 28th, there entered my Lord Florent +d'Illiers,[870] Governor of Châteaudun, with four hundred fighting +men.[871] + +[Footnote 870: Florent d'Illiers, descended from an old family of the +Chartres country, had married Jeanne, daughter of Jean de Coutes and +sister of the little page whom the Sire de Gaucourt had given the Maid +(A. de Villaret).] + +[Footnote 871: _Journal du siège_, p. 73. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 278.] + +What was to become of Orléans? The siege, badly conducted, was causing +the English the most grievous disappointments. Further, their captains +perceived they would never succeed in taking the town by means of +those bastions, between which anything, either men, victuals, or +ammunition, could pass, and with an army miserably quartered in mud +hovels, ravaged by disease, and reduced by desertions to three +thousand, or at the most to three thousand two hundred men. They had +lost nearly all their horses. Far from being able to continue the +attack it was hard for them to maintain the defensive and to hold out +in those miserable wooden towers, which, as Le Jouvencel said, were +more profitable to the besieged than to the besiegers.[872] + +[Footnote 872: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 44.] + +Their only hope, and that an uncertain and distant one, lay in the +reinforcements, which the Regent was gathering with great +difficulty.[873] Meanwhile, time seemed to drag in the besieged town. +The warriors who defended it were brave, but they had come to the end +of their resources and knew not what more to do. The citizens were +good at keeping guard, but they would not face fire. They did not +suspect the miserable condition to which the besiegers had been +reduced. Hardship, anxiety, and an infected atmosphere depressed their +spirits. Already they seemed to see _Les Coués_ taking the town by +storm, killing, pillaging, and ravaging. At every moment they believed +themselves betrayed. They were not calm and self-possessed enough to +recognise the enormous advantages of their situation. The town's means +of communication, whereby it could be indefinitely reinforced and +revictualled, were still open. Besides, a relieving army, well in +advance of that of the English, was on the point of arriving. It was +bringing a goodly drove of cattle, as well as men and ammunition +enough to capture the English fortresses in a few days. + +[Footnote 873: Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 75 _et +seq._] + +With this army the King was sending the Maid who had been promised. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MAID AT BLOIS--THE LETTER TO THE ENGLISH--THE DEPARTURE FOR +ORLÉANS + + +With an escort of soldiers of fortune the Maid reached Blois at the +same time as my Lord Regnault de Chartres, Chancellor of France, and +the Sire de Gaucourt, Governor of Orléans.[874] She was in the domain +of the Prince, whom it was her great desire to deliver: the people of +Blois owed allegiance to Duke Charles, a prisoner in the hands of the +English. Merchants were bringing cows, rams, ewes, herds of swine, +grain, powder and arms into the town.[875] The Admiral, De Culant, and +the Lord Ambroise de Loré had come from Orléans to superintend the +preparations. The Queen of Sicily herself had gone to Blois. +Notwithstanding that at this time the King consulted her but seldom, +he now sent to her the Duke of Alençon, commissioned to concert with +her measures for the relief of the city of Orléans.[876] There came +also the Sire de Rais, of the house of Laval and of the line of the +Dukes of Brittany, a noble scarce twenty-four, generous and +magnificent, bringing in his train, with a goodly company from Maine +and Anjou, organs for his chapel, choristers, and little singing-boys +from the choir school.[877] The Marshal de Boussac, the Captains La +Hire and Poton came from Orléans.[878] An army of seven thousand men +assembled beneath the walls of the town.[879] All that was now waited +for was the money necessary to pay the cost of the victuals and the +hire of the soldiers. Captains and men-at-arms did not give their +services on credit. As for the merchants, if they risked the loss of +their victuals and their life, it was only for ready money.[880] No +cash, no cattle--and the wagons stayed where they were. + +[Footnote 874: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 875: _Journal du siège_, _passim_. _Chronique de Tournai_, +ed. Smedt (vol. iii, in the _Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_), p. +409.] + +[Footnote 876: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 93.] + +[Footnote 877: Wavrin, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 407. Monstrelet, +vol. iv, p. 316. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 278. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, p. 68. _Mistère du siège_, lines 11,431 _et seq._ Abbé +Bossard, _Gilles de Rais, Maréchal de France, dit Barbe-Bleue_ +(1404-1440), Paris, 1886, 8vo, pp. 31, 106.] + +[Footnote 878: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 879: Jeanne says (in her _Trial_) from 10,000 to 12,000 men; +Monstrelet says, 7000; Eberhard Windecke, 3000; Morosini, 12,000.] + +[Footnote 880: "_Car vous ne trouverez nulz marchans qu'ils se mettent +en ceste peine ne en ce danger, s'ilz n'ont l'argent contant._" ("For +you will find no merchants who will take that trouble, and run that +risk, unless they are paid ready money.") _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. +184.] + +In the month of March, Jeanne had dictated to one of the doctors at +Poitiers a brief manifesto intended for the English.[881] She expanded it +into a letter, which she showed to certain of her companions and afterwards +sent by a Herald from Blois to the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. +This letter was addressed to King Henry, to the Regent and to the +three chiefs, who, since Salisbury's death, had been conducting the +siege, Scales, Suffolk, and Talbot. The following is the text of +it:[882] + +[Footnote 881: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 882: There are eight ancient texts of this letter: (1) the +text used in the Rouen trial (_Trial_, i, p. 240); (2) a text probably +written by a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; the +original document has been lost, but there are two copies dating from +the 18th century (_Ibid._, v, p. 95); (3) the text contained in _Le +journal du siège_ (_Ibid._, iv, p. 139); (4) the text in _La chronique +de la Pucelle_ (_Ibid._, iv, p. 215); (5) the text in Thomassin's +_Registre Delphinal_ (_Ibid._, iv, p. 306); (6) the text of the +Greffier de La Rochelle (_Revue historique_, vol. iv); (7) the text of +the Tournai Chronicle (_Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, +p. 407); (8) the text in _Le mistère du siège_. There may be mentioned +also a German contemporary translation by Eberhard Windecke. + +The text from the _Trial_ is the one quoted here. It is a reproduction +of the original. The others differ from it and from original too +widely for it to be possible to indicate the differences except by +giving the whole of each text. And after all these variations are of +no great importance.] + + [cross symbol] JHESUS MARIA [cross symbol] + + King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself + Regent of the realm of France,--you, Guillaume de la Poule, + Earl of Sulford; Jehan, Sire de Talebot, and you Thomas, + Sire d'Escales, who call yourselves Lieutenants of the said + Duke of Bedfort, do right in the sight of the King of + Heaven. Surrender to the Maid sent hither by God, the King + of Heaven, the keys of all the good[883] towns in France + that you have taken and ravaged.[884] She is come here in + God's name to claim the Blood Royal.[885] She is ready to + make peace if so be you will do her satisfaction by giving + and paying back to France what you have taken from + her.[886] And you, archers, comrades-in-arms, gentle and + otherwise,[887] who are before the town of Orléans, go ye + hence into your own land, in God's name. And if you will + not, then hear the wondrous works[888] of the Maid who will + shortly come upon you to your very great hurt. And you, King + of England, if you do not thus, I am a Chieftain of + war,--and in whatsoever place in France I meet with your + men, I will force them to depart willy nilly; and if they + will not, then I will have them all slain. I am sent hither + by God, the King of Heaven, body for body, to drive them all + out of the whole of France. And if they obey, then will I + show them mercy. And think not in your heart that you will + hold the kingdom of France [from] God, the King of Heaven, + Son of the Blessed Mary, for it is King Charles, the true + heir, who shall so hold it. God, the King of Heaven, so + wills it, and he hath revealed it unto King Charles by the + Maid. With a goodly company the King shall enter Paris. If + ye will not believe these wondrous works wrought by God and + the Maid, then, in whatsoever place ye shall be, there shall + we fight. And if ye do me not right, there shall be so great + a noise as hath not been in France for a thousand years. And + know ye that the King of Heaven will send such great power + to the Maid, to her and to her good soldiers, that ye will + not be able to overcome her in any battle; and in the end + the God of Heaven will reveal who has the better right. You, + Duke of Bedfort, the Maid prays and beseeches you that you + bring not destruction upon yourself. If you do her right, + you may come in her company where the French will do the + fairest deed ever done for Christendom. And if ye will have + peace in the city of Orléans, then make ye answer; and, if + not, then remember it will be to your great hurt and that + shortly. Written this Tuesday of Holy Week. + +[Footnote 883: The King of France himself designated as _good_ such of +his towns as he wished to honour.] + +[Footnote 884: Compare: "Et ardirent la ville et _violèrent +l'abbaye_." ("And burnt the town and _violated the abbey_.") +Froissart, quoted by Littré. As early as _Le chanson de Roland_ we +find: "_Les castels pris, les cités violées._" ("The castles taken, +the cities violated.")] + +[Footnote 885: The deliverance of the Duke of Orléans. _Réclamer_ in +the French. M. S. Reinach proposes to substitute _relever_, which is +plausible (cf. _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 421).] + +[Footnote 886: _Le journal du siège_ omits the word _France_ and thus +renders the phrase unintelligible. This omission proceeds from a text +of great antiquity on which are based notably _La chronique de la +Pucelle_ and the account of the Greffier de La Rochelle whom this +mangled phrase visibly embarrassed.] + +[Footnote 887: _Gentle_ is here in opposition to _villein_. _Gentle +and otherwise_: nobles and villeins. Here we must interpret the terms +_comrades_ and _gentle_ according to their true meaning and not +consider them as used ironically, as in the following passage from +Froissart: "_Il (le duc de Lancastre) entendit comme il pourroit estre +saisy de quatre gentils compaignons qui estranglé avoyent son oncle, +le duc de Glocestre, au chasteau de Calais._" "He (the Duke of +Lancaster) realised how he might be seized by the four gentle comrades +who had strangled his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, in the Castle of +Calais." (Froissart in La Curne.)] + +[Footnote 888: French. _Attendez les nouvelles de la Pucelle_ and +further on: _Si vous ne voulés croire lez nouvelles de par Dieu de la +Pucelle...._ This word _Nouvelles_ then as now meant _tidings_, but it +also had a sense of _marvels_ as in the following phrase: "_En celle +année apparurent maintes nouvelles à Rosay en Brie; le vin fut mué en +sang et le pain en chair sensiblement ou (au) sacrement de l'autel._" +("In that year many _marvels_ were wrought at Rosay in Brie; the wine +was turned to blood and the bread to flesh visibly at the sacrament of +the altar.") (_Chroniques de Saint Denys_, in La Curne.)] + +Such is the letter. It was written in a new spirit; for it proclaimed +the kingship of Jesus Christ and declared a holy war. It is hard to +tell whether it proceeded from Jeanne's own inspiration or was +dictated to her by the council of ecclesiastics. On first thoughts one +might be inclined to attribute to the priests the idea of a summons, +which is a literal application of the precepts of Deuteronomy: + +"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim +peace unto it. + +"And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, +then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be +tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. + +"And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against +thee, then thou shalt besiege it: + +"And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou +shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: + +"But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is +in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto +thyself." (Deuteronomy xx, 10-14.) + +But at least it is certain that on this occasion the Maid is +expressing her own sentiments. Afterwards we shall find her saying: "I +asked for peace, and when I was refused I was ready to fight."[889] +But, as she dictated the letter and was unable to read it, we may ask +whether the clerks who held the pen did not add to it. + +[Footnote 889: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 55, 84, 240.] + +Two or three passages suggest the ecclesiastical touch. Afterwards the +Maid did not remember having dictated "body for body," which is quite +unimportant. But she declared that she had not said: "I am chief in +war" and that she had dictated: "Surrender to the King" and not +"Surrender to the Maid."[890] Possibly her memory failed her; it was +not always faithful. Nevertheless she appeared very certain of what +she said, and twice she repeated that "chief in war" and "surrender to +the Maid" were not in the letter. It may have been that the monks who +were with her used these expressions. To these wandering priests a +dispute over fiefs mattered little, and it was not their first concern +to bring King Charles into the possession of his inheritance. +Doubtless they desired the good of the kingdom of France; but +certainly they desired much more the good of Christendom; and we shall +see that, if those mendicant monks, Brother Pasquerel and later Friar +Richard, follow the Maid, it will be in the hope of employing her to +the Church's advantage. Thus it would be but natural that they should +declare her at the outset commander in war, and even invest her with a +spiritual power superior to the temporal power of the King, and +implied in the phrase: "Surrender to the Maid ... the keys of the good +towns." + +[Footnote 890: _Ibid._, pp. 55, 56, 84.] + +This very letter indicates one of those hopes which among others she +inspired. They expected that after she had fulfilled her mission in +France, she would take the cross and go forth to conquer Jerusalem, +bringing all the armies of Christian Europe in her train.[891] At this +very time a disciple of Bernardino of Siena, Friar Richard, a +Franciscan lately come from Syria,[892] and who was shortly to meet +the Maid, was preaching at Paris, announcing the approach of the end +of the world, and exhorting the faithful to fight against +Antichrist.[893] It must be remembered that the Turks, who had +conquered the Christian knights at Nicopolis and at Semendria, were +threatening Constantinople and spreading terror throughout Europe. +Popes, emperors, kings felt the necessity of making one great effort +against them. + +[Footnote 891: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 64, 82 _et seq._ Christine de +Pisan, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 16. Concerning the subject of the +Crusade, cf. N. Jorga, Philippe de Mezières, 1896, in 8vo: _Notes et +extraits pour servir à l'histoire des Croisades au XV'e siècle_, +Paris, 1899-1902, 3 vols. in 8vo (taken from _La revue de l'Orient +Latin_).] + +[Footnote 892: _Pii Secundi commentarii_, 1614 edition, p. 440. +Wadding, _Annales Minorum_, vol. v, pp. 130 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 893: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 233. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xv, ccxxxvii. See the pictures in the +numerous fifteenth century little popular books concerning Antichrist. +(Brunet, _Manuel du libraire_, vol. i, col. 316.)] + +In England it was said that between Saint-Denys and Saint-George there +had been born to King Henry V and Madame Catherine of France a boy, +half English and half French, who would go to Egypt and pluck the +Grand Turk's beard.[894] On his death-bed the conqueror Henry V was +listening to the priests repeating the penitential psalms. When he +heard the verse: _Benigne fac Domine in bona voluntate tua ut +ædificentur muri Jerusalem_, he murmured with his dying breath: "I +have always intended to go to Syria and deliver the holy city out of +the hand of the infidel."[895] These were his last words. Wise men +counselled Christian princes to unite against the Crescent. In France, +the Archbishop of Embrun, who had sat in the Dauphin's Council, cursed +the insatiable cruelty of the English nation and those wars among +Christians which were an occasion of rejoicing to the enemies of the +Cross of Christ.[896] + +[Footnote 894: Félix Rabbe, _Jeanne d'Arc en Angleterre_, Paris, 1891, +p. 12.] + +[Footnote 895: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 112. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 340.] + +[Footnote 896: Le P. Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes, Maritimes +ou Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 315 _et seq._] + +To summon the English and French to take the cross together, was to +proclaim that after ninety-one years of violence and crime the cycle +of secular warfare had come to an end. It was to bid Christendom +return to the days when Philippe de Valois and Edward Plantagenet +promised the Pope to join together against the infidel. + +But when the Maid invited the English to unite with the French in a +holy and warlike enterprise, it is not difficult to imagine with what +kind of a reception the _Godons_ would greet such an angelic summons. +And at the time of the siege of Orléans, the French on their side had +good reasons for not taking the cross with the _Coués_.[897] + +[Footnote 897: In all extant copies of the Letter to the English, +except that of the Trial, at the passage "you may come" [_Encore que +pourrez venir_] the text is completely illegible.] + +The learned did not greatly appreciate the style of this letter. The +Bastard of Orléans thought the words very simple; and a few years +later a good French jurist pronounced it coarse, heavy, and badly +arranged.[898] We cannot aspire to judge better than the jurist and +the Bastard, both men of erudition. Nevertheless, we wonder whether it +were not that her manner of expression seemed bad to them, merely +because it differed from the style of legal documents. True it is that +the letter from Blois indicates the poverty of the French prose of +that time when not enriched by an Alain Chartier; but it contains +neither term nor expression which is not to be met with in the good +authors of the day. The words may not be correctly ordered, but the +style is none the less vivacious. There is nothing to suggest that the +writer came from the banks of the Meuse; no trace is there of the +speech of Lorraine or Champagne.[899] It is clerkly French. + +[Footnote 898: _Per unam litteram suo materno idiomate confectam, +verbis bene simplicibus_, _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 7, evidence of the +Bastard of Orléans. Mathieu Thomassin, _Registre Delphinal_, in the +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 306.] + +[Footnote 899: On the contrary it contains forms which would never +have been penned by a native of Picardy, Burgundy, Lorraine, or +Champagne, such as the participle _envoyée_. Both the grammar and the +writing are those of a French clerk. (Contributed by M. E. +Langlois.)] + +While Isabelle de Vouthon had gone on a pilgrimage to Puy, her two +youngest children, Jean and Pierre, had set out for France to join +their sister, with the intention of making their fortunes through her +or the King. Likewise, Brother Nicolas of Vouthon, Jeanne's cousin +german, a monk in priest's orders in the Abbey of Cheminon, joined the +young saint.[900] To have thus attracted her kinsfolk before giving +any sign of her power, Jeanne must have had witnesses on the banks of +the Meuse; and certain venerable ecclesiastical personages, as well as +noble lords of Lorraine, must have answered for her reputation in +France. Such guarantors of the truth of her mission were doubtless +those who had instructed her in and accredited her by prophecy. +Perhaps Brother Nicolas of Vouthon was himself of the number. + +[Footnote 900: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 252. E. de Bouteiller and G. de +Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. xx, +9, 10. [Document of very doubtful authenticity.]] + +In the army she was regarded as a holy maiden. Her company consisted +of a chaplain, Brother Jean Pasquerel;[901] two pages, Louis de Coutes +and Raymond;[902] her two brethren, Pierre and Jean; two heralds, +Ambleville and Guyenne;[903] two squires, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de +Poulengy. + +[Footnote 901: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 902: _Ibid._, pp. 65, 67, 124. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +277. A. de Villaret, _Louis de Coutes, page de Jeanne d'Arc_, Orléans, +1890, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 903: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 26, 27.] + +Jean de Metz kept the purse which was filled by the crown.[904] She +had also certain valets in her service. A squire, one Jean d'Aulon, +whom the King gave her for a steward, joined her at Blois.[905] He +was the poorest squire of the realm. He was entirely dependent on the +Sire de La Trémouille, who lent him money; but he was well known for +his honour and his wisdom.[906] Jeanne attributed the defeats of the +French to their riding forth accompanied by bad women and to their +taking God's holy name in vain. And this opinion, far from being held +by her alone, prevailed among persons of learning and religion; +according to whom the disaster of Nicopolis was occasioned by the +presence of prostitutes in the army, and by the cruelty and +dissoluteness of the knights.[907] + +[Footnote 904: Extracts from the Accounts of Hémon Raguier, _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 257, 258.] + +[Footnote 905: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 211. D'Aulon had seen her at +Poitiers.] + +[Footnote 906: _Ibid._, p. 15. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. ii, p. 292, note 3. The loans mentioned occurred later, but +there is no reason to believe that they were the first. Duc de La +Tremoïlle, _Les La Trémouille pendant cinq siècles, Guy VI et Georges_ +(1346-1446), Nantes, 1890, pp. 196, 201.] + +[Footnote 907: Juvénal des Ursins, year 1396.] + +On several occasions, between 1420 and 1425, the Dauphin had forbidden +cursing and denying and blaspheming the name of God, of the Virgin +Mary and of the saints under penalty of a fine and of corporal +punishment in certain cases. The decrees embodying this prohibition +asserted that wars, pestilence, and famine were caused by blasphemy +and that the blasphemers were in part responsible for the sufferings +of the realm.[908] Wherefore the Maid went among the men-at-arms, +exhorting them to turn away the women who followed the army, and to +cease taking the Lord's name in vain. She besought them to confess +their sins and receive divine grace into their souls, maintaining that +their God would aid them and give them the victory if their souls were +right.[909] + +[Footnote 908: _Ordonnances des rois de France_, vol. xi, p. 105; vol. +xiii, p. 247. S. de Bouillerie, _La répression du blasphème dans +l'ancienne législation_, in the _Revue historique et archéologique du +Maine_, 1884, pp. 369 _et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. i, p. 370; vol. ii, p. 189. A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la +domination anglaise_, Paris, 1878, in 8vo, pp. 11, 56.] + +[Footnote 909: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 78, 104, 105. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 283. Very early she was mentioned in connection with La +Hire, the most valiant of the French, and it was imagined that she +taught him to confess and to cease swearing. These are pretty stories +(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 32; vol. iv, p. 327).] + +Jeanne took her standard to the Church of Saint-Sauveur and gave it to +the priests to bless.[910] The little company formed at Tours was +joined at Blois by ecclesiastics and monks, who, on the approach of +the English, had fled in crowds from the neighbouring abbeys, and were +now suffering from cold and hunger. It was generally thus. Monks were +for ever flocking to the armies. Many churches and most abbeys had +been reduced to ruin. Those of the mendicants, built outside the +towns, had all perished,--plundered and burnt by the English or pulled +down by the townsfolk; for, when threatened with siege, the +inhabitants always dealt thus with the outlying portions of their +town. The homeless monks found no welcome in the cities, which were +sparing of their goods; they must needs take the field with the +soldiers and follow the army. From such a course their rule suffered +and piety gained nothing. Among mercenaries, sumpters and camp +followers, these hungry nomad monks lived an edifying life. Those who +accompanied the Maid were doubtless neither worse nor better than the +rest, and as they were very hungry their first care was to eat.[911] + +[Footnote 910: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103. Boucher de Molandon, +_Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 47. L.A. Bosseboeuf, +_Jeanne d'Arc en Touraine_, Tours, 1899, pp. 34 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 911: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises, monastères, +hôpitaux, en France, vers le milieu du XV'e siècle_, Mâcon, 1897, in +8vo, introduction.] + +The men-at-arms were much too accustomed to seeing monks and nuns +mingling side by side in the army to feel any surprise at the sight of +the holy damsel in the midst of a band so disreputable. It is true +that the damsel was said to work wonders. Many believed in them; +others mocked and said aloud: "Behold the brave champion and captain +who comes to deliver the realm of France."[912] + +[Footnote 912: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 327. Tringant, _Le Jouvencel_, +vol. ii, p. 277, merely says that few soldiers went willingly to the +relief of Orléans, which is not strictly accurate.] + +The Maid had a banner made for the monks to assemble beneath and +summon the men-at-arms to prayer. This banner was white, and on it +were represented Jesus on the Cross between Our Lady and Saint +John.[913] The Duke of Alençon went back to the King to make known to +him the needs of the company at Blois. The King sent the necessary +funds; and at length they were ready to set out.[914] At the start +there were two roads open, one leading to Orléans along the right bank +of the Loire, the other along the left bank. At the end of twelve or +fourteen miles the road along the right bank came out on the edge of +the Plain of La Beauce, occupied by the English who had garrisons at +Marchenoir, Beaugency, Meung, Montpipeau, Saint-Sigismond, and +Janville. In that direction lay the risk of meeting the army, which +was coming to the aid of the English round Orléans. After the +experience of the Battle of the Herrings such a meeting was to be +feared. If the road along the left bank were taken, the march would +lie through the district of La Sologne, which still belonged to King +Charles; and if the river were left well on one side, the army would +be out of sight of the English garrisons of Beaugency and of Meung. +True, it would involve crossing the Loire, but by going up the river +five miles east of the besieged city a crossing could conveniently be +effected between Orléans and Jargeau. On due deliberation it was +decided that they should go by the left bank through La Sologne. It +was decided to take in the victuals in two separate lots for fear the +unloading near the enemy's bastions should take too long.[915] On +Wednesday, the 27th of April, they started.[916] The priests in +procession, with a banner at their head, led the march, singing the +_Veni creator Spiritus_.[917] The Maid rode with them in white armour, +bearing her standard. The men-at-arms and the archers followed, +escorting six hundred wagons of victuals and ammunition and four +hundred head of cattle.[918] The long line of lances, wagons, and +herds defiled over the Blois bridge into the vast plain beyond. The +first day the army covered twenty miles of rutty road. Then at +curfew, when the setting sun, reflected in the Loire, made the river +look like a sheet of copper between lines of dark reeds, it +halted,[919] and the priests sang _Gabriel angelus_. + +[Footnote 913: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 104 (Brother Pasquerel's +evidence). _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 281. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. +110, 111; vol. iv, pp. 313-315. G. Martin, _L'étendard de Jeanne +d'Arc_, in _Notes d'art et d'arch._, 1834, pp. 65-71, 81-88, +illustrated.] + +[Footnote 914: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 93. _Chronique du doyen de +Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 327.] + +[Footnote 915: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 5, 67, 78, 105, 212. Martial +d'Auvergne, _ibid._, vol. v, p. 53. _Chronique de la fête_, _ibid._, +p. 290. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 281. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 71. Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 38 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 916: The 28th of April, according to Eberhard Windecke, p. +165. The 27th, if, as Pasquerel says, the army spent two nights on the +march.] + +[Footnote 917: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 918: Eberhard Windecke, p. 167.] + +[Footnote 919: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 104 (Brother Pasquerel's +evidence).] + +That night they encamped in the fields. Jeanne, who had not been +willing to take off her armour, awoke aching in every limb.[920] She +heard mass and received communion from her chaplain, and exhorted the +men-at-arms always to confess their sins.[921] Then the army resumed +its march towards Orléans. + +[Footnote 920: _Ibid._, p. 67 (evidence of Louis de Coutes).] + +[Footnote 921: _Ibid._, p. 67. Pasquerel says (vol. iii, p. 105) that +the soldiers of fortune were permitted to join the congregation if +they had confessed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAID AT ORLÉANS + + +On the evening of Thursday, the 28th of April, Jeanne was able to +discern from the heights of Olivet the belfries of the town, the +towers of Saint-Paul and Saint-Pierre-Empont, whence the watchmen +announced her approach. The army descended the slopes towards the +Loire and stopped at the Bouchet wharf, while the carts and the cattle +continued their way along the bank as far as l'Île-aux-Bourdons, +opposite Chécy, two and a half miles further up the river.[922] There +the unloading was to take place. At a signal from the watchmen my Lord +the Bastard, accompanied by Thibaut de Termes and certain other +captains, left the town by the Burgundian Gate, took a boat at +Saint-Jean-de-Braye, and came down to hold counsel with the Lords de +Rais and de Loré, who commanded the convoy.[923] + +[Footnote 922: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 4, 5. Boucher de Molandon, +_Bulletin de la Société archéologique de l'Orléanais_, vol. iv, p. +427; vol. ix, p. 73. The same author, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 41 _et seq._ _Mistère du siège_, lines 11,480 _et seq._ +_Chronique de l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +289.] + +[Footnote 923: _Journal du siège_, p. 75. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 283.] + +[Illustration: PLAN D'ORLÉANS + +Siège de 1429] + +Meanwhile the Maid had only just perceived that she was on the Sologne +bank,[924] and that she had been deceived concerning the line of +march. Sorrow and wrath possessed her. She had been misled, that was +certain. But had it been done on purpose? Had they really intended to +deceive her? It is said that she had expressed a wish to go through La +Beauce and not through La Sologne, and that she had received the +answer: "Jeanne, be reassured; we will take you through La +Beauce."[925] Is it possible? Why should the barons have thus trifled +with the holy damsel, whom the King had confided to their care, and +who already inspired most of them with respect? Certain of them, it is +true, believing her not to be in earnest, would willingly have turned +her to ridicule; but if one of them had played her the trick of +representing La Beauce as La Sologne, how was it there was no one to +undeceive her? How could Brother Pasquerel, her chaplain, her steward, +and the honest squire d'Aulon, have become the accomplices of so +clumsy a jest? It is all very mysterious, and, when one comes to think +of it, what is most mysterious is that Jeanne should have expressly +asked to go to Orléans through La Beauce. Since she was so ignorant of +the way that when crossing the Blois bridge she never suspected that +she was going into La Sologne, there is not much likelihood of her +realising so exactly the lie of Orléans as to choose between entering +it from the south or the west. A damsel knowing naught beyond the name +of the gate through which she is to enter the city, and who is yet +persuaded by malicious captains to take one road rather than another, +sounds too much like a Mother Goose's tale. + +[Footnote 924: "_Et cuidoit bien qu'ils deussent passer par devers les +bastides du siège devers la Beausse._" _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +281.] + +[Footnote 925: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285 (the Chronicle here +amplifies the evidence of Dunois, vol. iii, p. 67).] + +Jeanne knew no more of Orléans than she did of Babylon. We may +therefore conjecture that there was a misunderstanding. She had spoken +neither of Sologne nor of Beauce. Her Voices had told her that the +English would not budge. They had not shown her a picture of the town, +they had not given her either maps or plans: soldiers did not use +them. Doubtless Jeanne had said to the captains and priests what she +was soon to repeat to the Bastard: "I must go to Talbot and the +English." And the priests and soldiers had replied quite frankly: +"Jeanne, we are going to Talbot and the English."[926] They had +thought they were speaking the truth, since Talbot, who was conducting +the siege, would be before them, so to speak, from whatever side they +approached the town. But apparently they had not thoroughly understood +what the Maid said, and the Maid had not understood what they had +replied. For now she was angry and sad at finding herself separated +from the town by the sands and waters of the river. What was there to +vex her in this? Those who were with her then did not discover; and +perhaps her reasons were misunderstood because they were spiritual and +mystic. She certainly could not have judged that a military mistake +had been made by the bringing of troops and victuals through La +Sologne. As she did not know the roads, it was impossible for her to +tell which was the best. She was ignorant alike of the enemy's +position, of the outworks of the besiegers, and of the defences of the +besieged. She had just learnt on what bank of the river the town was +situated, yet she must have thought she had good ground for complaint; +for she approached the Lord Bastard and inquired sharply: "Are you the +Bastard of Orléans?" "I am he. I rejoice at your coming." "Was it +through your counsel that I came hither on this side of the river, and +that I did not go straight to where Talbot and the English are?" "It +was I and those wiser than I who gave this counsel, believing we acted +for the best and for the greatest safety." But Jeanne retorted: "In +God's name! Messire's counsel is better and wiser than yours. You +thought to deceive me, but you deceive yourselves. For I bring you +surer aid than ever came yet to knight or city; it is the aid of the +King of Heaven and comes from God himself, who not merely for my sake +but at the prayer of Saint Louis and Saint Charlemagne has had pity +upon the town of Orléans, and will not suffer the enemy to hold at +once both the body and the city of the Duke."[927] + +[Footnote 926: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 5, 6.] + +[Footnote 927: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 5, 6. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 284. Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. +49.] + +One may conclude that what really vexed her was that she had not been +taken straight to Talbot and the English. She had just heard that +Talbot with his camp was on the right bank. And when she spoke of +Talbot and the English she meant only those English who were with +Talbot. For, as she came down into the Loire valley, near the ford of +Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, she must have seen the bastion of Les Augustins +and Les Tourelles at the end of the bridge; and she must have known +that there were also English on the left bank. But still, it is not +clear why she should have desired to appear first before Talbot and +his English, and why she was now so annoyed at being separated from +him by the Loire. Did she think that the entrenched camp, +Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils, commanded by Scales, Suffolk, and Talbot +would be attacked immediately? Such an idea would never of itself +have occurred to her, since she did not know the place, and no soldier +would ever have put such madness into her head as an attack on an +entrenched camp by a convoy of cattle and wagons. Neither, as has so +often been asserted, can she have thought of forcing a passage between +the bastion Saint-Pouair and the outskirts of the wood, since of the +bastions and of the forest she knew as little as of the rest. If such +had been her intention she would have announced it plainly to the +Bastard; for she knew how to make her meaning clear, and even educated +persons considered that she spoke well. Then what was her idea? It is +not impossible to discover it if one remembers what must have been in +the saint's mind at that time, or if one merely recollects by what +words and deeds Jeanne had announced and prepared her mission. She had +said to the doctors of Poitiers: "The siege of Orléans shall be raised +and the town delivered from the enemy after I have summoned it to +surrender in God's name."[928] In the name of the King of Heaven she +had called upon Scales, Suffolk, and Talbot to raise the siege. She +had written that she was ready to make peace, and had bidden them +return to England. Now she asked Talbot, Suffolk, and Scales for an +answer. Since the English had not sent back her herald she herself +came to their leaders as the herald of Messire. She came to require +them to make peace, and if they would not make peace she was ready to +fight. It was not until they had refused that she could be certain of +conquering, not for any human reason, but because her Council had so +promised her. Perhaps even she may have hoped that by appearing to the +English captains, her standard in hand, accompanied by Saint +Catherine and Saint Margaret and Saint Michael the Archangel, she +would persuade them to leave France. She may have believed that +Talbot, falling on his knees, would obey not her, but Him who sent +her; that thus she would accomplish that for which she came, without +shedding one drop of that French blood which was so dear to her; +neither would the English whom she pitied lose their bodies or their +souls. In any case God must be obeyed and charity shown: it was only +at such a price that victory could be gained. A victory so spiritual, +a conquest so angelic, she had come to win; but now it was snatched +from her by the false wisdom of the leaders of her party. They were +hindering her from fulfilling her mission,--perhaps from giving the +promised sign,--and they were involving her with themselves in +enterprises less certain of success and less noble in spirit. Hence +her sorrow and her wrath. + +[Footnote 928: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273.] + +Even after the discomfiture of her arrival, in order that she might +please God, she did not consider herself freed from the obligation of +offering peace to her enemies.[929] And since she could not go +straight to Talbot's camp she wanted to appear before the fort of +Saint-Jean-le-Blanc.[930] + +[Footnote 929: Opinion of Martin Berruyer, in Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires +et consultations_, ch. vii.] + +[Footnote 930: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 78, 214.] + +There was no one left behind the palisades. But if she had gone and +found any of the enemy there she would first have offered them peace. +Of this her subsequent behaviour within the city walls is positive +proof. Her mission was not to contribute to the defence of Orléans +plans of campaign or stratagems of war; her share in the work of +deliverance was higher and nobler. To suffering men, weak, unhappy, +and selfish, she brought the invincible forces of love and faith, the +virtue of sacrifice. + +My Lord the Bastard who regarded Jeanne's mission as purely religious, +and who would have been greatly astonished had any one told him that +he ought to consult this peasant on military matters,[931] appeared as +if he did not understand the reproaches she addressed to him. And he +went away to see that operations were carried out according to the +plans he had made. + +[Footnote 931: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 16.] + +Everything had been carefully concerted and prepared, but a slight +obstacle occurred. The barges that the people of Orléans were to send +for the victuals were not yet unmoored.[932] They were sailing +vessels, and, as the wind was blowing from the east, they could not +set out. No one knew how long they would be delayed, and time was +precious. Jeanne said confidently to those who were growing anxious: +"Wait a little, for in God's name everything shall enter the +town."[933] + +[Footnote 932: _Ibid._, p. 78. _Journal du siège_, pp. 74, 75. +_Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 290.] + +[Footnote 933: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105. _Chronique du la Pucelle_, +p. 284.] + +She was right. The wind changed: the sails were unfurled, and the +barges were borne up the river by a favourable wind, so strong that +one boat was able to tow two or three others.[934] Without hindrance +they passed the Saint-Loup bastion. My Lord the Bastard sailed in one +of these boats with Nicole de Giresme, Grand Prior of France of the +order of Rhodes. And the flotilla came to the port of Chécy, where it +remained at anchor all night.[935] It was decided that the relieving +army should that night encamp at the port of Bouchet and guard the +convoy by watching down the river, while one detachment was stationed +near the Islands of Chécy to watch up the river in the direction of +Jargeau. In company with certain captains, and with a body of +men-at-arms and archers, the Maid followed the bank as far as +l'Île-aux-Bourdons.[936] + +[Footnote 934: Boucher de Molandon, _La délivrance d'Orléans et +l'institution de la fête du 8 mai, Chronique anonyme du XV'e +siècle_, Orléans, 1883, in 8vo, pp. 28, 29.] + +[Footnote 935: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 6. _Journal du siège_, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 936: _Chronique de la fête_, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 290. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 23, note 5. Boucher de Molandon, _Première +expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 52-56.] + +The lords who had brought the convoy decided that they would set out +immediately after the unloading. Having accomplished the first part of +its task, the army would return to Blois to fetch the remaining +victuals and ammunition, for everything had not been brought at once. +Hearing that the soldiers, with whom she had come, were going away, +Jeanne wished to go with them; and, after having so urgently asked to +be taken to Orléans, now that she was before the gates of the city, +her one idea was to go back.[937] Thus is the soul of the mystic blown +hither and thither by the breath of the Spirit. Now as always Jeanne +was guided by impulses purely spiritual. She would not be parted from +these soldiers because she believed they had made their peace with +God, and she feared that she might not find others as contrite. For +her, victory or defeat depended absolutely on whether the combatants +were in a state of grace or of sin. To lead them to confession was her +only art of war; no other science did she know, whether for fighting +behind ramparts or in the open field.[938] + +[Footnote 937: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285. This document very +untrustworthy as a whole is in certain passages a better authority +than _Le journal du siège_.] + +[Footnote 938: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 104, 105 (Pasquerel's +evidence).] + +"As for entering the town," she said, "it would hurt me to leave my +men, and I ought not to do it. They have all confessed, and in their +company I should not fear the uttermost power of the English."[939] + +[Footnote 939: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 284, 285.] + +In reality, as one may well imagine, whether or no they had confessed, +whether they were near or far from her, these mercenaries committed +all the sins compatible with the simplicity of their minds. But the +innocent damsel did not see them. Sensitive to things invisible, her +eyes were closed to things material. + +She was confirmed in her resolution to return to Blois by the captains +who had brought her and who wanted to take her back, alleging the +King's command. They wished to keep her because she brought good luck. +My Lord the Bastard, however, saw serious obstacles and even dangers +in the way of her return.[940] In the state in which he had left the +people of Orléans, if their Maid were not straightway brought before +them they would rise in fury and despair, with cries, threats, +rioting, and violence; everything was to be feared, even massacres. He +entreated the captains, in the King's interest, to agree to Jeanne's +entering Orléans; and without great difficulty, he induced them to +return to Blois without her. But Jeanne did not give in so quickly. He +besought her to decide to cross the Loire. She refused and with such +insistence that he must have realised how difficult it is to influence +a saint. It was necessary for one of the lords who had brought her, +the Sire de Rais or the Sire de Loré, to join his entreaties to those +of the Bastard, and to say to her: "Assuredly you must go, for we +promise to return to you shortly."[941] + +[Footnote 940: "_Ex tunc dictus deponens habuit bonam spem de ea et +plus quam ante_," _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 941: _Timens ne recedere vellent et quod opus remaneret +imperfectum_, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 78. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +286. _Chronique de la fête_, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 285. Boucher +de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 61, 62.] + +At last, when she heard that Brother Pasquerel would go with them to +Blois, accompanied by the priests and bearing her standard, believing +that her men would have a good spiritual director, she consented to +stay.[942] She crossed the Loire with her brothers, her little +company, the Bastard, the Marshal de Boussac, the Captain La Hire, and +reached Chécy, which was then quite a town, with two churches, an +infirmary, and a lepers' hospital.[943] She was received by a rich +burgess, one Guy de Cailly, in whose manor of Reuilly she passed the +night.[944] + +[Footnote 942: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105. _Mistère du siège_, line +11,616.] + +[Footnote 943: Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 62, 99, note xiv, and in _Bulletin de la Société +archéologique de l'Orléanais_, vol. iv, p. 429; vol. ix, p. 73.] + +[Footnote 944: _Journal du siège_, p. 75. Ch. du Lys, _Traité sommaire +tant du nom et des armes que de la naissance et parenté de la Pucelle +d'Orléans et de ses frères_, Paris, 1628, in 4to, p. 50. Abbé Dubois, +_Histoire du siège_, p. 344. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. +86. Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 65, +proofs and illustrations, note xv.] + +On the morning of the 29th the barges, which had been anchored at +Chécy, crossed the Loire, and those who were with the convoy loaded +them with victuals, ammunition, and cattle.[945] The river was +high.[946] The barges were able to drift down the navigable channel +near the left bank. The birches and osiers of l'Île-aux-Boeufs hid +them from the English in the Saint-Loup bastion. Besides, at that +moment, the enemy was occupied elsewhere. The town garrison was +skirmishing with them in order to distract their attention. The +fighting was somewhat hard. There were slain and wounded; prisoners +were taken on both sides; and the English lost a banner.[947] Beneath +the deserted[948] watch of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc the barges passed +unprotected. Between l'Île-aux-Boeufs and the Islet of Les Martinets +they turned starboard, to go down again, following the right bank, +under l'Île-aux-Toiles, as far as La Tour Neuve, the base of which was +washed by the Loire, at the south-eastern corner of the town. Then +they took shelter in the moat near the Burgundian Gate.[949] + +[Footnote 945: _Journal du siège_, pp. 75, 76.] + +[Footnote 946: Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 947: _Chronique de la Fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 290.] + +[Footnote 948: _Journal du siège_, pp. 74, 75. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 69. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 284, 285.] + +[Footnote 949: Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 51 _et seq._] + +The whole day the manor of Reuilly was besieged by a procession of +citizens, who could not forbear coming at the risk of their lives to +see the promised Maid. It was six o'clock in the evening before she +left Chécy. The captains wanted her to enter the town at nightfall for +fear of disorders and lest the crush around her should be too +great.[950] Doubtless they passed along the broad valleys leading from +Semoy towards the south, on the borders of the parishes of Saint-Marc +and Saint-Jean-de-Braye. On the way she said to those who rode with +her: "Fear nothing. No harm shall happen to you."[951] And indeed the +only danger was for pedestrians. Horsemen ran little risk of being +pursued by the English, who were short of horses in their bastions. + +[Footnote 950: _Journal du siège_, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 951: _Ibid._, p. 76.] + +On that Friday, the 29th of April, in the darkness, she entered +Orléans, by the Burgundian Gate. She was in full armour and rode a +white horse.[952] A white horse was the steed of heralds and +archangels.[953] The Bastard had placed her on his right. Before her +was borne her standard, on which figured two angels, each holding a +flower de luce, and her pennon, painted with the picture of the +Annunciation. Then came the Marshal de Boussac, Guy de Cailly, Pierre +and Jean d'Arc, Jean de Metz, and Bertrand de Poulengy, the Sire +d'Aulon, and those lords, captains, men-of-war, and citizens who had +come to meet her at Chécy.[954] Bearing torches and rejoicing as +heartily as if they had seen God himself descending among them, the +townfolk of Orléans pressed around her.[955] They had suffered great +privations, they had feared that help would never come; but now they +were heartened and felt as if the siege had been raised already by the +divine virtue, which they had been told resided in this Maid. They +looked at her with love and veneration; elbowing and pushing each +other, men, women, and children rushed forward to touch her and her +white horse, as folk touch the relics of saints. In the crush a torch +set her pennon on fire. The Maid, beholding it, spurred on her horse +and galloped to the flame, which she extinguished with a skill +apparently miraculous; for everything in her was marvellous.[956] +Men-at-arms and citizens, enraptured, accompanied her in crowds to the +Church of Sainte-Croix, whither she went first to give thanks, then to +the house of Jacques Boucher, where she was to lodge.[957] + +[Footnote 952: _Journal du siège_, pp. 74, 75.] + +[Footnote 953: And even now trumpeters ride white horses (_Histoire de +Jeanne d'Arc_, by Lebrun de Charmettes, 1817, in 8vo, vol. ii, p. +21).] + +[Footnote 954: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 7. _Journal du siège_, p. 76. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, +p. 72. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 28, 30.] + +[Footnote 955: "_Comme se ilz veissent Dieu descendre entre eulx_," +says _Le journal du siège_, p. 76. Luillier (_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 24) +calls her "the angel of the Lord" (_l'ange de Dieu_).] + +[Footnote 956: _Journal du siège_, pp. 76, 77.] + +[Footnote 957: _Chronique de l'établissement de la fête_, p. 28.] + +Jacques or Jacquet Boucher, as he was called, had been the Duke of +Orléans' treasurer for several years. He was a very rich man and had +married the daughter of one of the most influential burgesses of the +city.[958] Having stayed in the town throughout the siege, he +contributed to the defence by gifts of wheat, oats, and wine, and by +advancing funds for the purchase of ammunition and weapons. As the +care of the ramparts fell to the burgesses, it was Jacques' duty to +keep in repair and ready for defence the Renard Gate, where he dwelt, +which was the most exposed to the English attack. His mansion, one of +the finest and largest in the town, once inhabited by Regnart or +Renard, the family which had given its name to the gate, was in the +Rue des Talmeliers, quite near the fortifications. The captains held +their councils of war there, when they did not meet at the house of +Chancellor Guillaume Cousinot in the Rue de la Rose.[959] Jacques +Boucher's dwelling was doubtless well furnished with silver plate and +storied tapestry. It would appear that in one of the rooms there was +a picture representing three women and bearing this inscription: +_Justice, Peace, Union_.[960] + +[Footnote 958: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 101; vol. iii, pp. 34, 68, 124 _et +seq._, 211. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285. Boucher de Molandon, +_Jacques Boucher, sieur de Guilleville, trésorier général du district +d'Orléans...._ in _Mémoires de la Société archéologique de +l'Orléanais_, vol. xxii, 1889, p. 373. Boucher de Molandon, _Première +expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 101, note xvi; proofs and +illustrations, p. 108.] + +[Footnote 959: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 73. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, ed. Vallet de Viriville, p. 20. [Note on G. Cousinot +the Chancellor.] Cf. _Nouvelle biographie générale_. Vallet de +Viriville, _Essais critiques sur les historiens originaux du règne de +Charles VII_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, 1857, fourth +series, vol. iii, pp. 11-14, 105-111.] + +[Footnote 960: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 101; vol. iii, pp. 68, 124 _et +seq._; vol. iv, pp. 153, 219, 227. _Journal du siège_, pp. 77, 78. +Boucher de Molandon, _Première expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 69, +107, note xvi.] + +Into this house the Maid was received with her two brothers, the two +comrades who had brought her to the King, and their valets. She had +her armour taken off.[961] Jacques Boucher's wife and daughter passed +the night with her. Jeanne shared the child's bed. She was nine years +old and was called Charlotte after Duke Charles, who was her father's +lord.[962] It was the custom in those days for the host to share his +bed with his man guest and the hostess with her woman guest. This was +the rule of courtesy; kings observed it as well as burgesses. Children +were taught how to behave towards a sleeping companion, to keep to +their own part of the bed, not to fidget, and to sleep with their +mouths shut.[963] + +[Footnote 961: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis (_Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, +vol. iii, p. 101, note) discovers in _La chronique de la Pucelle_ +(xliv, p. 285) a wrong use of an incident cited by Dunois in his +evidence, which must be allowed to have happened on the 7th of May, as +Dunois cited it (_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 9).] + +[Footnote 962: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 34, 68.] + +[Footnote 963: Franklin, _La vie privée d'autrefois_, vols. ii, xix, +_passim_. H. Havard, _Dictionnaire de l'ameublement_, under the word +_lit_.] + +Thus the Duke's treasurer took the Maid into his house and entertained +her at the town's expense. Jeanne's horses were stabled by a burgess +named Jean Pillas. + +As for the D'Arc brothers, they did not stay with their sister, but +lodged in the house of Thévenin Villedart. The town paid all their +expenses; for example it furnished them with the shoes and gaiters +they needed and gave them a few gold crowns. Three of the Maid's +comrades, who were very destitute and came to see her at Orléans, +received food.[964] + +[Footnote 964: Accounts of the fortress in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 259, +260.] + +On the next day, the 30th of April, the town bands of Orléans were +early afoot. From morn till eve everything in the town was +topsy-turvy; the rebellion, which had been repressed so long, now +broke forth. As early as February the citizens had begun to mistrust +and hate the knights;[965] now at last they shook off their yoke and +broke it.[966] Henceforth they would recognise no King's lieutenant, +no governor, no lords, no generals; there was but one power and one +defence: the Maid.[967] The Maid was the people's captain. This +damsel, this shepherdess, this nun did the knights the greatest injury +they ever experienced: she reduced them to nothing. On the morning of +the 30th they must have been convinced that the popular revolution had +taken place. The town bands were waiting for the Maid to put herself +at their head, and with her to march immediately against the _Godons_. +The captains endeavoured to make them understand that they must wait +for the army from Blois and the company of Marshal de Boussac, who +that night had set out to meet the army. The citizens in arms would +listen to nothing, and with loud cries clamoured for the Maid. She did +not appear. My Lord the Bastard, who was honey-tongued, had advised +her to keep away.[968] This was the last advantage the leaders gained +over her. And now as before, when she appeared to give way to them, +she was merely doing as she liked. As for the citizens, with the Maid +or without her, they were determined to fight. The Bastard could not +hinder them. They sallied forth,[969] accompanied by the Gascons of +Captain La Hire and the men of Messire Florent d'Illiers. They bravely +attacked the bastion Saint-Pouair, which the English called Paris, and +which was about eight hundred yards from the walls. They overcame the +outposts and approached so close to the bastion that they were already +clamouring for faggots and straw to be brought from the town to set +fire to the palisades. But at the cry "Saint George!" the English +gathered themselves together, and after a sore and sanguinary fight +repulsed the attack of the citizens and free-lances.[970] + +[Footnote 965: _Journal du siège_, pp. 43, 44.] + +[Footnote 966: _Ibid._, pp. 78, 79.] + +[Footnote 967: See the evidence of S. Charles (vol. iii, pp. 116, 117) +and certain details in _La chronique de la Pucelle_.] + +[Footnote 968: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 7, 211; vol. iv, pp. 221, 222. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 250, 251, 287. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 74, 75.] + +[Footnote 969: _Journal du siège_, pp. 78, 79.] + +[Footnote 970: _Ibid._, p. 78. _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 291, 292. Cf. Letter written from Germany, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 349.] + +The Maid had known nothing of it. Sent from God, on her white horse, a +messenger armed yet peaceful, she held it neither just nor pious to +fight the English before they had refused her offers of peace. On that +day as before her one wish was to go in true saintly wise straight to +Talbot. She asked for tidings of her letter and learnt that the +English captains had paid no heed to it, and had detained her herald, +Guyenne.[971] This is what had happened: + +[Footnote 971: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 27, 108. _Journal du siège_, p. +79.] + +That letter, which the Bastard deemed couched in vulgar phrase, +produced a marvellous impression on the English. It filled them with +fear and rage. They kept the herald who had brought it; and, although +use and custom insisted on the person of such officers being +respected, alleging that a sorceress's messenger must be a heretic, +they put him in chains, and after some sort of a trial condemned him +to be burnt as the accomplice of the seductress.[972] + +[Footnote 972: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 284. _Trial_, vol. iii, +pp. 26, 27.] + +They even put up the stake to which he was to be bound. And yet, +before executing the sentence, they judged it well to consult the +University of Paris, as in like manner the Bishop of Beauvais was to +consult it eighteen months later.[973] Their evil disposition arose +from fear. These unfortunates, who were treated as devils, were afraid +of devils. They suspected the subtle French of being necromancers and +sorcerers. They said that by repeating magic lines the Armagnacs had +compassed the death of the great King, Henry V. Fearing lest their +enemies should make use of sorcery and enchantment against them, in +order to protect themselves from all evil influences, they wore bands +of parchment inscribed with the formulæ of conjuration and called +_periapts_.[974] The most efficacious of these amulets was the first +chapter of the Gospel of St. John. At this time the stars were +unfavourable to them, and astrologers were reading their approaching +ruin in the sky. Their late King, Henry V, when he was studying at +Oxford, had learnt there the rules of divination by the stars. For his +own special use he kept in his coffers two astrolabes, one of silver +and one of gold. When his queen, Catherine of France, was about to be +confined, he himself cast the horoscope of the expected child. And +further, as there was a prophecy in England[975] which said that +Windsor would lose what Monmouth had gained, he determined that the +Queen should not be confined at Windsor. But destiny cannot be +thwarted. The royal child was born at Windsor. His father was in +France when he heard the tidings. He held them to be of ill omen, and +summoned Jean Halbourd of Troyes, minister general of the Trinitarians +or Mathurins, "excellent in astrology," who, having drawn up the +scheme of nativity, could only confirm the King in his doleful +presentiments.[976] And now the time had come. Windsor reigned; all +would be lost. Merlin had predicted that they would be driven out of +France and by a Virgin utterly undone. When the Maid appeared they +grew pale with fright, and fear fell upon captains and soldiers.[977] +Those whom no man could make afraid, trembled before this girl whom +they held to be a witch. They could not be expected to regard her as a +saint sent of God. The best they could think of her was that she was a +very learned sorceress.[978] To those she came to help she appeared a +daughter of God, to those she came to destroy she appeared a horrid +monster in woman's form. In this double aspect lay all her strength: +angelic for the French, devilish for the English, to one and the other +she appeared invincible and supernatural. + +[Footnote 973: Martial de Paris, called d'Auvergne, _Vigiles de +Charles VII_, ed. Coustelier, 1724, vol. i, p. 98.] + +[Footnote 974: La Curne, under the word _Periapt_. Shakespeare, _Henry +VI_, part i, act v, sc. iii.] + +[Footnote 975: Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act iii, sc. i.] + +[Footnote 976: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +p. 306. Carlier, _Histoire du Valois_, vol. ii, p. 442.] + +[Footnote 977: Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 978: Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act i, sc. ii.] + +In the evening of the 30th she sent her herald, Ambleville, to the +camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils to ask for Guyenne, who had borne +the letter from Blois and had not returned. Ambleville was also +instructed to tell Sir John Talbot, the Earl of Suffolk, and the Lord +Scales that in God's name the Maid required them to depart from France +and go to England; otherwise they would suffer hurt. The English sent +back Ambleville with an evil message. + +"The English," he said to the Maid, "are keeping my comrade to burn +him." + +She made answer: "In God's name they will do him no harm." And she +commanded Ambleville to return.[979] + +[Footnote 979: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 27. _Journal du siège_, p. 79. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 285, 286.] + +She was indignant, and, no doubt, greatly disappointed. In truth, she +had never anticipated that Talbot and the leaders of the siege would +give such a welcome to a letter inspired by Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret and Saint Michael; but so broad was her charity that she was +still willing to offer peace to the English. In her innocence she may +have believed that her proclamations in God's name were misunderstood +after all. Besides, whatever happened, she was determined to go +through with her duty to the end. At night she sallied forth from the +Bridge Gate and went as far as the outwork of La Belle-Croix. It was +not unusual for the two sides to address each other. La Belle-Croix +was within ear-shot of Les Tourelles. The Maid mounted the rampart and +cried to the English: "Surrender in God's name. I will grant you your +lives only." + +But the garrison and even the Captain, William Glasdale himself, +hurled back at her coarse insults and horrible threats. + +"Milk-maid! If ever we get you, you shall be burned alive."[980] + +[Footnote 980: _Journal du siège_, p. 79. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 290.] + +She answered that it was a lie. But they were in earnest and sincere. +They firmly believed that this damsel was arming legions of devils +against them. + +On Sunday, the 1st of May, my Lord the Bastard went to meet the army +from Blois.[981] He knew the country; and, being both energetic and +cautious, he was desirous to superintend the entrance of this convoy +as he had done that of the other. He set out with a small escort. He +did not dare to take with him the Saint herself; but, in order, so to +speak, to put himself under her protection and tactfully to flatter +the piety and affections of the folk of Orléans, he took a member of +her suite, her steward, Sire Jean d'Aulon.[982] Thus he grasped the +first opportunity of showing his good will to the Maid, feeling that +henceforth nothing could be done except with her or under her +patronage. + +[Footnote 981: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 7. _Journal du siège_, p. 79.] + +[Footnote 982: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 211.] + +The fervour of the citizens was not abated. That very day, in their +passionate desire to see the Saint, they crowded round Jacques +Boucher's house as turbulently as the pilgrims from Puy pressed into +the sanctuary of La Vierge Noire. There was a danger of the doors +being broken in. The cries of the townsfolk reached her. Then she +appeared: good, wise, equal to her mission, one born for the salvation +of the people. In the absence of captains and men-at-arms, this wild +multitude only awaited a sign from her to throw itself in tumult on +the bastions and perish there. Notwithstanding the visions of war +that haunted her, that sign she did not give. Child as she was, and +as ignorant of war as of life, there was that within her which turned +away disaster. She led this crowd of men, not to the English bastions, +but to the holy places of the city. Down the streets she rode, +accompanied by many knights and squires; men and women pressed to see +her and could not gaze upon her enough. They marvelled at the manner +of her riding and of her behaviour, in every point like a man-at-arms; +and they would have hailed her as a veritable Saint George had they +not suspected Saint George of turning Englishman.[983] + +[Footnote 983: _Journal du siège_, p. 80. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du +siège_, pp. 92, 95.] + +That Sunday, for the second time, she went forth to offer peace to the +enemies of the kingdom. She passed out by the Renard Gate and went +along the Blois Road, through the suburbs that had been burnt down, +towards the English bastion. Surrounded by a double moat, it was +planted on a slope at the crossroads called La Croix Boissée or +Buissée, because the townsfolk of Orléans had erected a cross there, +which every Palm Sunday they dressed with a branch of box blessed by +the priest. Doubtless she intended to reach this bastion, and perhaps +to go on to the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils situated between La +Croix Boissée and the Loire, where, as she had said, were Talbot and +the English. For she had not yet given up hope of gaining a hearing +from the leaders of the siege. But at the foot of the hill, at a place +called La Croix-Morin, she met some _Godons_ who were keeping watch. +And there, in tones grave, pious, and noble, she summoned them to +retreat before the hosts of the Lord. "Surrender, and your lives shall +be spared. In God's name go back to England. If ye will not I will +make you suffer for it."[984] + +[Footnote 984: 1 May. _Journal du siège_, p. 80.] + +These men-at-arms answered her with insults as those of Les Tourelles +had done. One of them, the Bastard of Granville, cried out to her: +"Would you have us surrender to a woman?" + +The French, who were with her, they dubbed pimps and infidels, to +shame them for being in the company of a bad woman and a witch.[985] +But whether because they thought her magic rendered her invulnerable, +or because they held it dishonourable to strike a messenger, now, as +on other occasions, they forbore to fire on her. + +[Footnote 985: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 68 (evidence of Louis de +Coutes).] + +That Sunday, Jacquet le Prestre, the town varlet, offered the Maid +wine.[986] The magistrates and citizens could not have more highly +honoured her whom they regarded as their captain. Thus they treated +barons, kings and queens when they were entertained in the city. In +those days wine was highly valued on account of its beneficent power. +Jeanne, when she emphasised a wish, would say: "If I were never to +drink wine between now and Easter!..."[987] But in reality she never +drank wine except mixed with water, and she ate little.[988] + +[Footnote 986: Extracts from fortress accounts, in the _Trial_, vol. +v, p. 259.] + +[Footnote 987: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 64.] + +[Footnote 988: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 9, 15, 18, 22, 60; vol. v, p. +120. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285. Morosini, p. 101. _Relation du +greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 337.] + +Throughout this time of waiting the Maid never rested for a moment. On +Monday, May 2nd, she mounted her horse and rode out into the country +to view the English bastions. The people followed her in crowds; they +had no fear and were glad to be near her. And when she had seen all +that she wanted, she returned to the city, to the cathedral church, +where she heard vespers.[989] + +[Footnote 989: _Journal du siège_, p. 80. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du +siège_, p. 95.] + +On the morrow, the 3rd of May, the day of the Invention of the Holy +Cross, which was the Cathedral Festival, she followed in the +procession, with the magistrates and the townsfolk. It was then that +Maître Jean de Mâcon, the precentor of the cathedral,[990] greeted her +with these words: "My daughter, are you come to raise the siege?" + +[Footnote 990: Charles Cuissard, _Notes chronologiques sur Jean de +Mâcon_, in _Mémoires de la Société archéologique de l'Orléanais_, vol. +xi, 1897, pp. 529, 545.] + +She replied: "Yea, in God's name."[991] + +[Footnote 991: _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291. +Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 30.] + +The people of Orléans all believed that the English round the city +were as innumerable as the stars in the sky; the notary, Guillaume +Girault, expected nothing short of a miracle.[992] Jean Luillier, +woollen draper[993] by trade, thought it impossible for the citizens +to hold out longer against an enemy so enormously their superior.[994] +Messire Jean de Mâcon was likewise alarmed at the power and the +numbers of the _Godons_. + +[Footnote 992: Note by Guill. Girault, notary in the _Trial_, vol. iv, +p. 282. _Journal du siège_, p. 135.] + +[Footnote 993: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 112, 113.] + +[Footnote 994: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 24. Cf. _Ibid._, pp. 7, 8 (the +evidence of Dunois amounts to much the same).] + +"My daughter," he said to the Maid, "their force is great and they are +strongly intrenched. It will be a difficult matter to turn them +out."[995] + +[Footnote 995: _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291.] + +If notary Guillaume Girault, if draper Jean Luillier, if Messire Jean +de Mâcon, instead of fostering these gloomy ideas, had counted the +numbers of the besieged and the besieging, they would have found that +the former were more numerous than the latter; and that the army of +Scales, of Suffolk, of Talbot appeared mean and feeble when compared +with the great besieging armies of the reign of King Henry V. Had they +looked a little more closely they would have perceived that the +bastions, with the formidable names of London and of Paris, were +powerless to prevent either corn, cattle, pigs, or men-at-arms being +brought into the city; and that these gigantic dolls were being mocked +at by the dealers, who, with their beasts, passed by them daily. In +short, they would have realised that the people of Orléans were for +the moment better off than the English. But they had examined nothing +for themselves. They were content to abide by public opinion which is +seldom either just or correct. The Maid did not share Messire Jean de +Mâcon's illusions. She knew no more of the English than he did; yet +because she was a saint, she replied tranquilly: "With God all things +are possible."[996] And Maître Jean de Mâcon thought it well that such +should be her opinion. + +[Footnote 996: _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291.] + +What aggravated the trouble, the danger, and the panic of the +situation, was that the citizens believed they were betrayed. They +recollected the Count of Clermont at the Battle of the Herrings, and +they suspected the King's men of deserting them once again. After +having done so much and spent so much they saw themselves given up to +the English. This idea made them mad.[997] There was a rumour that the +Marshal de Boussac, who had started with my Lord the Bastard to meet +the second convoy of supplies, and who was to return on Tuesday the +3rd, would not come back. It was said that the Chancellor of France +wanted to disband the army. It was absurd. On the contrary, great +efforts for the deliverance of the city were being made by the King's +Council and that of the Queen of Sicily. But the people's brains had +been turned by their long suffering and their terrible danger. A more +reasonable fear was lest any mishap should occur on the road from +Blois like that which had overtaken the force at Rouvray. The Maid's +comrades were infected with the anxieties of the townsfolk; one of +them betrayed his fears to her, but she was not affected by them. With +the radiant tranquillity of the illuminated, she said:[998] "The +Marshal will come. I am confident that no harm will happen to +him."[999] + +[Footnote 997: _Journal du siège_, pp. 51, 52.] + +[Footnote 998: Beaucroix, in his evidence, says it was Jean d'Aulon +(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 79); but, according to his own testimony, +d'Aulon was then following the Bastard (_Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 210).] + +[Footnote 999: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 79. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +286. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 85.] + +On that day there entered into the city the little garrisons of Gien, +of Château-Regnard, and of Montargis.[1000] But the Blois army did not +come. On the morrow, at daybreak, it was descried in the plain of La +Beauce. And, indeed, the Sire de Rais and his company, escorted by the +Marshal de Boussac and my Lord the Bastard, were skirting the Forest +of Orléans.[1001] At these tidings the citizens must needs exclaim +that the Maid had been right in wishing to march straight against +Talbot since the captains now followed the very road she had +indicated. But in reality it was not just as they thought. Only one +part of the Blois army had risked forcing its way between the western +bastions; the convoy, with its escort, like the first convoy, was +coming through La Sologne and was to enter the town by water. Those +arrangements for the entrance of supplies, which, in the first +instance, had proved successful, were naturally now repeated.[1002] + +[Footnote 1000: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287.] + +[Footnote 1001: _Ibid._, p. 287. _Journal du siège_, p. 81. Abbé +Dubois, _Histoire du siège_, dissertation ix. Lottin, _Recherches_, +vol. i, p. 205. Loiseleur, _Comptes des dépenses_, ch. vii.] + +[Footnote 1002: On the 4th of May, as on the 29th of April, the corn +was brought down the Loire. Indeed there exists a bill which makes +mention of "sailors who brought the corn which came from Blois on the +4th day of May," "_nottoniers qui amenèrent les blés qui furent amenés +de Blois le iiij'e jour de may_" (Boucher de Molandon, _Première +expédition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 58, 59).] + +Captain La Hire and certain other commanders, who had remained in the +city with five hundred fighting men, went out to meet the Sire de +Rais, the Marshal de Boussac and the Bastard. The Maid mounted her +horse and went with them. They passed through the English lines; and, +a little further on, having met the army, they returned to the town +together. The priests, and among them Brother Pasquerel bearing the +banner, were the first to pass beneath the Paris bastion, singing +psalms.[1003] + +[Footnote 1003: The 4th of May, _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 105, 211. +_Journal du siège_, p. 81. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287.] + +Jeanne dined at Jacques Boucher's house with her steward, Jean +d'Aulon. When the table was cleared, the Bastard, who had come to the +treasurer's house, talked with her for a moment. He was gracious and +polite, but spoke with restraint. + +"I have heard on good authority," he remarked, "that Fastolf is soon +to join the English who are conducting the siege. He brings them +supplies and reinforcements and is already at Janville." + +At these tidings Jeanne appeared very glad and said, laughing: +"Bastard, Bastard, in God's name, I command thee to let me know as +soon as thou shalt hear of Fastolf's arrival. For should he come +without my knowledge, I warn thee thou shalt lose thy head."[1004] + +[Footnote 1004: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 212 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).] + +Far from betraying any annoyance at so rude a jest, he replied that +she need have no fear, he would let her know.[1005] + +[Footnote 1005: _Ibid._, p. 212.] + +The approach of Sir John Fastolf had already been announced on the +26th of April. It was expressly in order to avoid him that the army +had come through La Sologne. It is possible that on the 4th of May the +tidings of his coming had no surer foundation. But the Bastard knew +something else. The corn of the second convoy, like that of the first, +was coming down the river. It had been resolved, in a council of war, +that in the afternoon the captains should attack the Saint-Loup +bastion, and divert the English as had been done on the 29th of +April.[1006] The attack had already begun. But of this the Bastard +breathed not a word to the Maid. He held her to be the one source of +strength in the town. But he believed that in war her part was purely +spiritual.[1007] + +[Footnote 1006: _Ibid._, p. 212. _Journal du siège_, p. 78.] + +[Footnote 1007: I have followed the account of Jean Chartier, vol. i, +p. 73 (amplified in _La chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 288), which is +more plausible than that of _Le journal du siège_.] + +After he had withdrawn, Jeanne, worn out by her morning's expedition, +lay down on her bed with her hostess for a short sleep. Sire Jean +d'Aulon, who was very weary, stretched himself on a couch in the same +room, thinking to take the rest he so greatly needed. But scarce had +he fallen asleep when the Maid leapt from her bed and roused him with +a great noise. He asked her what she wanted. + +"In God's name," she answered in great agitation, "my Council have +told me to go against the English; but I know not whether I am to go +against their bastions or against Fastolf, who is bringing them +supplies."[1008] + +[Footnote 1008: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 212, 213 (Jean d'Aulon's +evidence).] + +In her dreams she had been present at her Council, that is to say, she +had beheld her saints. She had seen Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret. There had happened to her what always happens. The saints +had told her no more than she herself knew. They had revealed to her +nothing of what she needed to know. They had not informed her how, at +that very moment, the French were attacking the Saint-Loup bastion and +suffering great hurt. And the Blessed Ones had departed leaving her in +error and in ignorance of what was going on, and in uncertainty as to +what she was to do. The good Sire d'Aulon was not the one to relieve +her from her embarrassment. He, too, was excluded from the Councils of +War. Now he answered her nothing, and set to arming himself as quickly +as possible. He had already begun when they heard a great noise and +cries coming up from the street. From the passers-by, they gleaned +that there was fighting near Saint-Loup and that the enemy was +inflicting great hurt on the French. Without staying to inquire +further, Jean d'Aulon went straightway to his squire to have his +armour put on. Almost at the same time Jeanne went down and asked: +"Where are my armourers? The blood of our folk is flowing."[1009] + +[Footnote 1009: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 106.] + +In the street she found Brother Pasquerel, her chaplain, with other +priests, and Mugot, her page, to whom she cried: "Ha! cruel boy, you +did not tell me that the blood of France was being shed!... In God's +name, our people are hard put to it."[1010] + +[Footnote 1010: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 68 (evidence of Louis de +Coutes).] + +She bade him bring her horse and leave the wife and daughter of her +host to finish arming her. On his return the page found her fully +accoutred. She sent him to fetch her standard from her room. He gave +it her through the window. She took it and spurred on her horse into +the high street, towards the Burgundian Gate, at such a pace that +sparks flashed from the pavement. + +"Hasten after her!" cried the treasurer's wife.[1011] + +[Footnote 1011: _Ibid._, p. 69.] + +Sire d'Aulon had not seen her start. He imagined, why, it is +impossible to say, that she had gone out on foot, and, having met a +page on horseback in the street, had made him dismount and give her +his horse.[1012] The Renard Gate and the Burgundian Gate were on +opposite sides of the town. Jeanne, who for the last three days had +been going up and down the streets of Orléans, took the most direct +way. Jean d'Aulon and the page, who were hastily pursuing her, did not +come up with her until she had reached the gate. There they met a +wounded man being brought into the town. The Maid asked his bearers +who the man was. He was a Frenchman, they replied. Then she said: "I +have never seen the blood of a Frenchman flow without feeling my heart +stand still."[1013] + +[Footnote 1012: _Ibid._, p. 212.] + +[Footnote 1013: _Ibid._, pp. 212, 213 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).] + +The Maid and Sire d'Aulon, with a few fighting men of their company, +pressed on through the fields to Saint-Loup. On the way they saw +certain of their party. The good squire, unaccustomed to great +battles, never remembered having seen so many fighting men at +once.[1014] + +[Footnote 1014: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 213.] + +For an hour the Sire de Rais' Bretons and the men from Le Mans had +been skirmishing before the bastion. As the custom was those who had +arrived last were keeping watch.[1015] But if these combatants, who +had reached the town only that very morning, had attacked without +taking time to breathe, they must have been hard pressed. They were +doing what had been done on the 29th of April, and for the same +reason:[1016] namely, occupying the English while the barges +corn-laden were coming down the river to the moat. On the top of their +high hill, in their strong fortress, the English had easily held out +albeit they were but few; and the French King's men can hardly have +been able to make head against them, since the Maid and Sire d'Aulon +found them scattered through the fields. She gathered them together +and led them back to the attack. They were her friends: they had +journeyed together: they had sung psalms and hymns together: together +they had heard mass in the fields. They knew that she brought good +luck: they followed her. As she marched at their head her first idea +was a religious one. The bastion was built upon the church and convent +of the Ladies of Saint-Loup. With the sound of a trumpet she had it +proclaimed that nothing should be taken from the church.[1017] She +remembered how Salisbury had come to a bad end for having pillaged the +Church of Notre Dame de Cléry; and she desired to keep her men from +an evil death.[1018] This was the first time she had seen fighting; +and no sooner had she entered into the battle than she became the +leader because she was the best. She did better than others, not +because she knew more; she knew less. But her heart was nobler. When +every man thought of himself, she alone thought of others: when every +man took heed to defend himself, she defended herself not at all, +having previously offered up her life. And thus this child,--who +feared suffering and death like every human being, who knew by her +Voices and her presentiments that she would be wounded,--went straight +on and stood beneath showers of arrows and cannon-balls on the edge of +the moat, her standard in hand, rallying her men.[1019] Through her +what had been merely a diversion became a serious attack. The bastion +was stormed. + +[Footnote 1015: Gruel, _Chronique d'Arthur de Richemont_, p. 72.] + +[Footnote 1016: _Journal du siège_, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 1017: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 124, 126. Abbé Dubois, +_Histoire du siège_, dissertation vi. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement +xiii. _Journal du siège_, pp. 83, 84. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. +i, p. 72.] + +[Footnote 1018: Robert Blondel, _De reductione Normanniæ_, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 347. _Journal du siège_, p. 13. _Chronique de la fête_, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 286 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1019: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 109, 127. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 295. Clerk of the Chambre des Comptes de Brabant, in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426. Eberhard Windecke, p. 172.] + +When he heard that the fort of Saint-Loup was being attacked, Sir John +Talbot sallied forth from the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. In +order to reach the threatened bastion he had some distance to go down +his lines and along the border of the forest. He set out, and on his +way was reinforced by the garrisons of the western bastions. The town +watchmen observed his movements and sounded the alarm. Marshal Boussac +passing through the Parisis Gate, went out to meet Talbot on the +north, towards Fleury. The English captain was preparing to break +through the French force when he saw a thick cloud of smoke rising +over the fort Saint-Loup. He understood that the French had captured +and set fire to it; and sadly he returned to the camp of +Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils.[1020] + +[Footnote 1020: Perceval de Cagny says: "Soon after [the arrival of +the Maid on the edge of the entrenchments] those in the fort wished to +surrender to her: she would not take them for ransom and said she +would capture them in any event, and redoubled the attack. And +straightway the fort was taken and almost all put to death." This is +hard to believe. The English would sooner have surrendered to the +humblest menial in the Armagnac host than to the Maid: and it is not +likely that she would have refused to hold them as prisoners for +ransom. Besides, Perceval de Cagny has not the remotest idea of what +happened on the 4th of May. For example, he believes that the Maid +opened the attack. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 144 _et seq._ _Journal du +siège_, p. 82. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 289. _Chronique de la +fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294.] + +The attack had lasted three hours. After the burning of the bastion +the English climbed into the church belfry. The French had difficulty +in dislodging them; but they ran no danger thereby. Of prisoners, they +took two score, and the rest they slew. The Maid was very sorrowful +when she saw so many of the enemy dead. She pitied these poor folk who +had died unconfessed.[1021] Certain _Godons_, wearing the +ecclesiastical habit and ornaments, came to meet her. She perceived +that they were soldiers disguised in stoles and hoods taken from the +sacristy of the Abbaye aux Dames. But she pretended to take them for +what they represented themselves to be. She received them and had them +conducted to her house without allowing any harm to come to them. With +a charitable jest she said: "One should never question priests."[1022] + +[Footnote 1021: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 1022: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 289.] + +Before leaving the fort she confessed to Brother Pasquerel, her +chaplain. And she charged him to make the following announcement to +all the men-at-arms: "Confess your sins and thank God for the victory. +If you do not, the Maid will never help you more and will not remain +in your company."[1023] + +[Footnote 1023: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 106.] + +The Saint-Loup bastion, attacked by fifteen hundred French, had been +defended by only three hundred English. That they made no vigorous +defence is indicated by the fact that only two or three Frenchmen were +slain.[1024] It was not by any severe mental effort or profound +calculation that the French King's men had gained this advantage. It +had cost them little, and yet it was immense. It meant the cutting off +of the besiegers' communications with Jargeau: it meant the opening of +the upper Loire: it was the first step towards the raising of the +siege. Better still, it afforded positive proof that these devils who +had inspired such fear were miserable creatures, who might be +entrapped like mice and smoked out like wasps in their nest. Such +unhoped-for good fortune was due to the Maid. She had done everything, +for without her nothing would have been done. She it was, who, in +ignorance wiser than the knowledge of captains and free-lances, had +converted an idle skirmish into a serious attack and had won the +victory by inspiring confidence. + +[Footnote 1024: At the capture of the Saint-Loup bastion: + + _Number of _Number of + French engaged._ French slain._ + +Journal du Siège 1,500 + without counting nobles. +Letter of Charles VII 2 +Morosini's correspondent 3,500 +Eberhard Windecke 2 + + + _Number of _Number of + English engaged._ English slain._ + +Brother Pasquerel 100 picked men 100 slain or taken +Jean d'Aulon all killed or taken +G. Girault 120 killed or taken +Charles VII's letter all killed or taken +_Journal du siège_ 114 killed, 40 taken +_Relation de la fête du 8 Mai_ From 120 to 140 all killed or taken +Perceval de Cagny 3,000 all killed or taken +_Chronique de la Pucelle_ 160 killed +Monstrelet From 300 to 400 all killed or taken +Eberhard Windecke 170 killed, 1,300 taken +_Les Vigiles de Charles VII_ 60 killed, 22 taken] + +That very evening the magistrates sent workmen to Saint-Loup to +demolish the captured fortifications.[1025] + +[Footnote 1025: The accounts of the fortress in _Journal du siège_, p. +284.] + +When at night she returned to her lodging, Jeanne told her chaplain +that on the morrow, which was the day of the Ascension of Our Lord, +she would keep the Festival by not wearing armour and by abstaining +from fighting. She commanded that no one should think of quitting the +town, of attacking or making an assault, until he had first confessed. +She added that the men-at-arms must pay heed that no dissolute women +followed in their train for fear lest God should cause them to be +defeated on account of their sins.[1026] + +[Footnote 1026: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 107. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 289, 290.] + +When need was the Maid herself saw that her orders concerning bad +women and blasphemers were scrupulously obeyed. More than once she +drove away the camp-followers. She rebuked men-at-arms who swore and +blasphemed. One day, in the open street, a knight began to swear and +take God's name in vain. Jeanne heard him. She seized him by the +throat, exclaiming, "Ah, Sir! dare you take in vain the name of Our +Lord and Master? In God's name you shall take back those words before +I move from this place." + +A citizen's wife, passing down the street at that moment, beheld this +man, who seemed to her to be a great baron, humbly receiving the +Saint's reproaches and testifying his repentance.[1027] + +[Footnote 1027: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 34, 35 (evidence of the widow +Huré).] + +On the morrow, which was Ascension Day, the captains held a +council-of-war in the house of Chancellor Cousinot in the Rue de la +Rose.[1028] There were present, as well as the Chancellor, my Lord the +Bastard, the Sire de Gaucourt, the Sire de Rais, the Sire de Graville, +Captain La Hire, my Lord Ambroise de Loré and several others. It was +decided that Les Tourelles, the chief stronghold of the besiegers, +should be attacked on the morrow. Meanwhile, it would be necessary to +hold in check the English of the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. +On the previous day, when Talbot set out from Saint-Laurent, he had +not been able to reach Saint-Loup in time because he had been obliged +to make a long circuit, going round the town from west to east. But, +although, on that previous day, the enemy had lost command of the +Loire above the town, they still held the lower river. They could +cross it between Saint-Laurent and Saint-Privé[1029] as rapidly as the +French could cross it by the Île-aux-Toiles; and thus the English +might gather in force at Le Portereau. This, the French must prevent +and, if possible, draw off the garrisons from Les Augustins and Les +Tourelles to Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. With this object it was +decided that the people of Orléans with the folk from the communes, +that is, from the villages, should make a feigned attack on the +Saint-Laurent camp, with mantelets, faggots, and ladders. Meanwhile, +the nobles would cross the Loire by l'Île-aux-Toiles, would land at Le +Portereau under the watch of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc which had been +abandoned by the English, and attack the bastion of Les Augustins; and +when that was taken, the fort of Les Tourelles.[1030] Thus there would +be one assault made by the citizens, another by the nobles; one real, +the other feigned; both useful, but only one glorious and worthy of +knights. When the plan was thus drawn up, certain captains were of +opinion that it would be well to send for the Maid and tell her what +had been decided.[1031] And, indeed, on the previous day, she had done +so well that there was no longer need to hold her aloof. Others deemed +that it would be imprudent to tell her what was contemplated +concerning Les Tourelles. For it was important that the undertaking +should be kept secret, and it was feared that the holy damsel might +speak of it to her friends among the common people. Finally, it was +agreed that she should know those decisions which affected the +train-bands of Orléans, since, indeed, she was their captain, but that +such matters as could not be safely communicated to the citizens +should be concealed from her. + +[Footnote 1028: May 5th. Quicherat is mistaken when he says (_Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 57, note) that this council was held at Jacques Boucher's. +Cf. _Journal du siège_, p. 83. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 73. +Boucher de Molandon in _Mémoires de la Société archéologique de +l'Orléanais_, vol. xxii, p. 373.] + +[Footnote 1029: By the little island without a name which is marked on +the plan as Petite Île Charlemagne. The English had fortified it. See +plan.] + +[Footnote 1030: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 1031: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75. These statements are very +doubtful.] + +Jeanne was in another room of the house with the Chancellor's wife. +Messire Ambroise de Loré went to fetch her; and, when she had come, +the Chancellor told her that the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils +was to be attacked on the morrow. She divined that something was being +kept back; for she possessed a certain acuteness. Besides, since they +had hitherto concealed everything, it was natural she should suspect +that something was still being kept from her. This mistrust annoyed +her. Did they think her incapable of keeping a secret? She said +bitterly: "Tell me what you have concluded and ordained. I could keep +a much greater secret than that."[1032] + +[Footnote 1032: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 74, 75. Very +doubtful.] + +And refusing to sit down she walked to and fro in the room. + +My Lord the Bastard deemed it well to avoid exasperating her by +telling her the truth. He pacified her without incriminating anybody: +"Jeanne, do not rage. It is impossible to tell you everything at once. +What the Chancellor has said has been concluded and ordained. But if +those on the other side [of the water, the English of La Sologne] +should depart to come and succour the great bastion of Saint-Laurent +and the English who are encamped near this part of the city, we have +determined that some of us shall cross the river to do what we can +against those on the other side [those of Les Augustins and Les +Tourelles]. And it seems to us that such a decision is good and +profitable." + +The Maid replied that she was content, that such a decision seemed to +her good, and that it should be carried out in the manner +determined.[1033] + +[Footnote 1033: _Ibid._, p. 75. _Journal du siège_, pp. 82, 83. Cf. +the evidence of S. Charles (_Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 117).] + +It will be seen that by this proceeding the secrecy of the +deliberations had been violated, and that the nobles had not been able +to do what they had determined or at least not in the way they had +determined. On that Ascension Day the Maid for the last time sent a +message of peace to the English, which she dictated to Brother +Pasquerel in the following terms: _Ye men of England, who have no +right in the realm of France, the King of Heaven enjoins and commands +you by me, Jeanne the Maid, to leave your forts and return to your +country. If ye will not I will make so great a noise as shall remain +for ever in the memory of man: This I write to you for the third and +last time, and I will write to you no more._ + +Signed thus: Jhesus--Maria. Jeanne the Maid. + +And below: _I should have sent to you with more ceremony. But you keep +my heralds. You kept my herald Guyenne. If you will send him back to +me, I will send you some of your men taken at the bastion Saint-Loup; +they are not all dead._[1034] + +[Footnote 1034: May 5th. _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 107 (Pasquerel's +evidence).] + +Jeanne went to La Belle Croix, took an arrow, and tied her letter to +it with a string, then told an archer to shoot it to the English, +crying: "Read! This is the message." + +The English received the arrow, untied the letter, and having read it +they cried: "This a message from the Armagnac strumpet." + +When she heard them, tears came into Jeanne's eyes and she wept. But +soon she beheld her saints, who spoke to her of Our Lord, and she was +comforted. "I have had a message from my Lord," she said +joyfully.[1035] + +[Footnote 1035: _Ibid._, p. 108.] + +My Lord the Bastard himself demanded the Maid's herald, threatening +that if he were not sent back he would keep the heralds whom the +English had sent to treat for the exchange of prisoners. It is +asserted that he even threatened to put those prisoners to death. But +Ambleville did not return.[1036] + +[Footnote 1036: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 286. _Journal du siège_, +p. 79, gives a different account of this episode.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TAKING OF LES TOURELLES AND THE DELIVERANCE OF ORLÉANS + + +On the morrow, Friday the 6th of May, the Maid rose at daybreak. She +confessed to her chaplain and heard mass sung before the priests and +fighting men of her company.[1037] The zealous townsfolk were already +up and armed. Whether or no she had told them, the citizens, who were +strongly determined to cross the Loire and attack Les Tourelles +themselves, were pressing in crowds to the Burgundian Gate. They found +it shut. The Sire de Gaucourt was guarding it with men-at-arms. The +nobles had taken this precaution in case the citizens should discover +their enterprise and wish to take part in it. The gate was closed and +well defended. Bent on fighting and themselves recovering their +precious jewel, Les Tourelles, the citizens had recourse to her before +whom gates opened and walls fell; they sent for the Saint. She came, +frank and terrible. She went straight to the old Sire de Gaucourt, +and, refusing to listen to him, said: "You are a wicked man to try to +prevent these people from going out. But whether you will or no, they +will go and will do as well as they did the other day."[1038] + +[Footnote 1037: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 108 (Pasquerel's evidence).] + +[Footnote 1038: _Ibid._, pp. 116, 117. Evidence of S. Charles. P. +Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 105.] + +Excited by Jeanne's voice and encouraged by her presence, the +citizens, crying slaughter, threw themselves on Gaucourt and his +men-at-arms. When the old baron perceived that he could do nothing +with them, and that it was impossible to bring them to his way of +thinking, he himself joined them. He had the gates opened wide and +cried out to the townsfolk: "Come, I will be your captain." + +And with the Lord of Villars and Sire d'Aulon he went out at the head +of the soldiers, who had been keeping the gate, and all the +train-bands of the town. At the foot of La Tour-Neuve, at the eastern +corner of the ramparts, there were boats at anchor. In them +l'Île-aux-Toiles was reached, and thence on a bridge formed by two +boats they crossed over the narrow arm of the river which separates +l'Île-aux-Toiles from the Sologne bank.[1039] Those who arrived first +entered the abandoned fort of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, and, while waiting +for the others, amused themselves by demolishing it.[1040] Then, when +all had passed over, the townsfolk gayly marched against Les +Augustins. The bastion was situated in front of Les Tourelles, on the +ruins of the monastery; and the bastion would have to be taken before +the fortifications at the end of the bridge could be attacked. But the +enemy came out of their entrenchments and advanced within two +bow-shots of the French, upon whom from their bows and cross-bows they +let fly so thick a shower of arrows that the men of Orléans could not +stand against them. They gave way and fled to the bridge of boats: +then, afraid of being cast into the river, they crossed over to +l'Île-aux-Toiles.[1041] The fighting men of the Sire de Gaucourt were +more accustomed to war. With the Lord of Villars, Sire d'Aulon, and a +valiant Spaniard, Don Alonzo de Partada, they took their stand on the +slope of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc and resisted the enemy. Although very few +in number, they were still holding out when, about three o'clock in +the afternoon, Captain La Hire and the Maid crossed the river with the +free-lances. Seeing the French hard put to it, and the English in +battle array, they mounted their horses, which they had brought over +with them, and holding their lances in rest spurred on against the +enemy. The townsfolk, taking heart, followed them and drove back the +English. But at the foot of the bastion they were again +repulsed.[1042] In great agitation the Maid galloped from the bastion +to the bank, and from the bank to the bastion, calling for the +knights; but the knights did not come. Their plans had been upset, +their order of battle reversed, and they needed time to collect +themselves. At last she saw floating over the island the banners of my +Lord the Bastard, the Marshal de Boussac, and the Lord de Rais. The +artillery came too, and Master Jean de Montesclère with his culverin +and his gunners, bringing all the engines needed for the assault. Four +thousand men assembled round Les Augustins. But much time had been +lost; they were only just beginning, and the sun was going down.[1043] + +[Footnote 1039: _Journal du siège_, pp. 83, 84. Abbé Dubois, _Histoire +du siège_, p. 535. Jollois, _Histoire du siège_, p. 39.] + +[Footnote 1040: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 290.] + +[Footnote 1041: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 76. _Journal du +siège_, pp. 84, 85.] + +[Footnote 1042: "_Et les rebouterent ils par maintes fois et +tresbucherent de hault en bas._" _Journal du siège_, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 1043: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 214, 215 (Jean d'Aulon's +evidence).] + +The Sire de Gaucourt's men were ranged behind, to cover the besiegers +in case the English from the bridge end should come to the aid of +their countrymen in Les Augustins. But a quarrel arose in de +Gaucourt's company. Some, like Sire d'Aulon and Don Alonzo, judged it +well to stay at their post. Others were ashamed to stand idle. Hence +haughty words and bravado. Finally Don Alonzo and a man-at-arms, +having challenged each other to see who would do the best, ran towards +the bastion hand in hand. At one single volley Maître Jean's culverin +overthrew the palisade. Straightway the two champions forced their way +in.[1044] + +[Footnote 1044: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 215 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).] + +"Enter boldly!" cried the Maid.[1045] And she planted her standard on +the rampart. The Sire de Rais followed her closely. + +[Footnote 1045: _Ibid._, p. 78 (evidence of Beaucroix). _Journal du +siège_, p. 86.] + +The numbers of the French were increasing. They made a strong attack +on the bastion and soon took it by storm. Then one by one they had to +assault the buildings of the monastery in which the _Godons_ were +entrenched. In the end all the English were slain or taken, except a +few, who took refuge in Les Tourelles. In the huts the French found +many of their own men imprisoned. After bringing them out, they set +fire to the fort, and thus made known to the English their new +disaster.[1046] It is said to have been the Maid who ordered the fire +in order to put a stop to the pillage in which her men were +mercilessly engaging.[1047] + +[Footnote 1046: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 291. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 72. _Journal du siège_, pp. 84, 85. Of +doubtful authenticity.] + +[Footnote 1047: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 291.] + +A great advantage had been won. But the French were slow to regain +confidence. When, in the darkness by the light of the fire, they +beheld for the first time close to them the bulwarks of Les Tourelles, +the men-at-arms were afraid. Certain said: "It would take us more than +a month to capture it."[1048] + +[Footnote 1048: Perceval de Cagny, p. 146.] + +The lords, captains, and men-at-arms went back to the town to pass a +quiet night. The archers and most of the townsfolk stayed at Le +Portereau. The Maid would have liked to stay too, so as to be sure of +beginning again on the morrow.[1049] But, seeing that the captains +were leaving their horses and their pages in the fields, she followed +them to Orléans.[1050] Wounded in the foot by a caltrop,[1051] +overcome with fatigue, she felt weak, and contrary to her custom she +broke her fast, although the day was Friday.[1052] According to +Brother Pasquerel, who in this matter is not very trustworthy, while +she was finishing her supper in her lodging, there came to her a noble +whose name is not mentioned and who addressed her thus: "The captains +have met in council.[1053] They recognise how few we were in +comparison with the English, and that it was by God's great favour +that we won the victory. Now that the town is plentifully supplied we +may well wait for help from the King. Wherefore, the council deems it +inexpedient for the men-at-arms to make a sally to-morrow." + +[Footnote 1049: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 79 (evidence of Beaucroix).] + +[Footnote 1050: _Ibid._, p. 70. _Chronique de la fête_, p. 33.] + +[Footnote 1051: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 291.] + +[Footnote 1052: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 108.] + +[Footnote 1053: The council is mentioned in _La chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 292; but this document is a mere echo of Brother +Pasquerel's evidence.] + +Jeanne replied: "You have been at your council; I have been at mine. +Now believe me the counsel of Messire shall be followed and shall hold +good, whereas your counsel shall come to nought." And turning to +Brother Pasquerel who was with her, she said: "To-morrow rise even +earlier than to-day, and do the best you can. Stay always at my side, +for to-morrow I shall have much ado--more than I have ever had, and +to-morrow blood shall flow from my body."[1054] + +[Footnote 1054: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 108, 109. Brother Pasquerel, +whom I follow here, reports Jeanne's saying in the following terms: +_Exibit crastina die sanguis a corpore meo supra mammam._ I suspect +him of having added to the prophecy. He was too fond of miracles and +prophecies. On the 28th of April the Maid says that the wind will +change, and it changed. Brother Pasquerel is not satisfied with so +moderate a marvel. He relates that Jeanne raised the waters of the +Loire. We know on other authority that the Loire was high. It cannot +be denied that long before this Jeanne had foretold that she would be +wounded. This fact, stated in a letter from Lyon, dated the 22nd of +April, 1429, was recorded in a register of La Cour des Comptes of +Brabant. But she did not specify the day. _Dixit ... quod ipsa ante +Aureliam in conflictu telo vulnerabitur_ (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426).] + +It was not true that the English outnumbered the French. On the +contrary they were far less numerous. There were scarce more than +three thousand men round Orléans. The succour from the King having +arrived, the captains could not have said that they were waiting for +it. True it is that they were hesitating to proceed forthwith to +attack Les Tourelles on the morrow; but that was because they feared +lest the English under Talbot should enter the deserted town during +the assault, since the townsfolk, refusing to march against +Saint-Laurent, had all gone to Le Portereau. The Maid's Council +troubled about none of these difficulties. No fears beset Saint +Catherine and Saint Margaret. To doubt is to fear; they never doubted. +Whatever may be said to the contrary, of military tactics and strategy +they knew nothing. They had not read the treatise of Vegetius, _De re +militari_. Had they read it the town would have been lost. Jeanne's +Vegetius was Saint Catherine. + +During the night it was cried in the streets of the city that bread, +wine, ammunition and all things necessary must be taken to those who +had stayed behind at Le Portereau. There was a constant passing to and +fro of boats across the river. Men, women and children were carrying +supplies to the outposts.[1055] + +[Footnote 1055: _Journal du siège_, p. 84.] + +On the morrow, Saturday the 7th of May, Jeanne heard Brother Pasquerel +say mass and piously received the holy sacrament.[1056] Jacques +Boucher's house was beset with magistrates and notable citizens. After +a night of fatigue and anxiety, they had just heard tidings which +exasperated them. They had heard tell that the captains wanted to +defer the storming of Les Tourelles. With loud cries they appealed to +the Maid to help the townsfolk, sold, abandoned, and betrayed.[1057] +The truth was that my Lord the Bastard and the captains, having +observed during the night a great movement among the English on the +upper Loire, were confirmed in their fears that Talbot would attack +the walls near the Renard Gate while the French were occupied on the +left bank. At sunrise they had perceived that during the night the +English had demolished their outwork Saint Privé, south of +l'Île-Charlemagne.[1058] That also caused them to believe firmly that +in the evening the English had concentrated in the Saint-Laurent camp +and the bastion, London. The townsfolk had long been irritated by the +delay of the King's men in raising the siege. And there is no doubt +that the captains were not so eager to bring it to an end as they +were.[1059] The captains lived by war, while the citizens died of +it,--that made all the difference. The magistrates besought the Maid +to complete without delay the deliverance she had already begun. They +said to her: "We have taken counsel and we entreat you to accomplish +the mission you have received from God and likewise from the King." + +[Footnote 1056: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 109. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 295.] + +[Footnote 1057: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292. _Trial_, vol. iii, +p. 215. _Journal du siège_, pp. 84, 85.] + +[Footnote 1058: _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 1059: "_Par l'accord et consentement des bourgeois d'Orléans +mais contre l'opinion et volonté de tous les chefs et capitaines_," +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292.] + +"In God's name, I will," she said. And straightway she mounted her +horse, and uttering a very ancient phrase, she cried: "Let who loves +me follow me!"[1060] + +[Footnote 1060: _Chronique de l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 293. Le Roux de Lincy, _Proverbes_, vol. ii, p. 395.] + +As she was leaving the treasurer's house a shad was brought her. She +said to her host, smiling, "In God's name! we will have it for supper. +I will bring you back a _Godon_ who shall eat his share." She added: +"This evening we shall return by the bridge."[1061] For the last +ninety-nine days it had been impossible. But happily her words proved +true. + +[Footnote 1061: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 124 (evidence of the woman P. +Milet). _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292.] + +The townsfolk had been too quick to take alarm. Notwithstanding their +fear of Talbot and the English of the Saint-Laurent camp, the nobles +crossed the Loire in the early morning, and at Le Portereau rejoined +their horses and pages who had passed the night there with the +archers and train-bands. They were all there, the Bastard, the Sire de +Gaucourt, and the lords of Rais, Graville, Guitry, Coarraze, Villars, +Illiers, Chailly, the Admiral de Culant, the captains La Hire, and +Poton.[1062] The Maid was with them. The magistrates sent them great +store of engines of war: hurdles, all kinds of arrows, hammers, axes, +lead, powder, culverins, cannon, and ladders.[1063] The attack began +early. What rendered it difficult was not the number of English +entrenched in the bulwark and lodged in the towers: there were barely +more than five hundred of them;[1064] true, they were commanded by +Lord Moleyns, and under him by Lord Poynings and Captain Glasdale, who +in France was called Glassidas, a man of humble birth, but the first +among the English for courage.[1065] The assailants, citizens, +men-at-arms and archers were ten times more numerous. That so many +combatants had been assembled was greatly to the credit of the French +nation; but so great an army of men could not be employed at once. +Knights were not much use against earthworks; and the townsfolk +although very zealous, were not very tenacious.[1066] Finally, the +Bastard, who was prudent and thoughtful, was afraid of Talbot.[1067] +Indeed if Talbot had known and if he had wanted he might have taken +the town while the French were trying to take Les Tourelles. War is +always a series of accidents, but on that day no attempt whatever was +made to carry out any concerted movement. This vast army was not an +irresistible force, since no one, not even the Bastard, knew how to +bring it into action. In those days the issue of a battle was in the +hands of a very few combatants. On the previous day everything had +been decided by two or three men. + +[Footnote 1062: Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 43, 44.] + +[Footnote 1063: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292. _Journal du siège_, +p. 284, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1064: _Journal du siège_, p. 87. Letter from Charles VII to +the people of Narbonne (10 May, 1429), in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 101 _et +seq._ _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 77. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 32, note +1.] + +[Footnote 1065: Jarry, _Le compte de l'armée anglaise_, pp. 94, 95, +136, 206. Boucher de Molandon, _L'armée anglaise_, pp. 94 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1066: They were employed chiefly in carrying munitions of +war. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292.] + +[Footnote 1067: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 5.] + +The French assembled before the entrenchments had the air of an +immense crowd of idlers looking on while a few men-at-arms attempted +an escalade. Notwithstanding the size of the army, for a long while +the assault resolved itself into a series of single combats. Twenty +times did the most zealous approach the rampart and twenty times they +were forced to retreat.[1068] There were some wounded and some slain, +but not many. The nobles, who had been making war all their lives, +were cautious, while the soldiers of fortune were careful of their +men. The townsfolk were novices in war.[1069] The Maid alone threw +herself into it with heart and soul. She was continually saying: "Be +of good cheer. Do not retreat. The fort will soon be yours."[1070] + +[Footnote 1068: _Journal du siège_, p. 85. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 293. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 77. Morosini, vol. iii, +pp. 31 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1069: Accounts of fortresses in _Journal du siège_, pp. 296, +300. Vergniaud-Romagnési, _Notice historique sur le fort des +Tourelles_, Paris, in 8vo, 1832, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 1070: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 293.] + +At noon everyone went away to dinner. Then about one o'clock they set +to work again.[1071] The Maid carried the first ladder. As she was +putting it up against the rampart, she was struck on the shoulder over +the right breast, by an arrow shot so straight that half a foot of the +shaft pierced her flesh.[1072] She knew that she was to be wounded; +she had foretold it to her King, adding that he must employ her all +the same. She had announced it to the people of Orléans and spoken of +it to her chaplain[1073] on the previous day; and certainly for the +last five days she had been doing her best to make the prophecy come +true.[1074] When the English saw that the arrow had pierced her flesh +they were greatly encouraged: they believed that if blood were drawn +from a witch all her power would vanish. It made the French very sad. +They carried her apart. Brother Pasquerel and Mugot, the page, were +with her. Being in pain, she was afraid and wept.[1075] As was usual +when combatants were wounded in battle, a group of soldiers surrounded +her; some wanted to charm her. It was a custom with men-at-arms to +attempt to close wounds by muttering paternosters over them. Spells +were cast by means of incantations and conjurations. Certain +paternosters had the power of stopping hemorrhage. Papers covered with +magic characters were also used. But it meant having recourse to the +power of devils and committing mortal sin. Jeanne did not wish to be +charmed. + +[Footnote 1071: "Post prandium," says Brother Pasquerel (_Trial_, vol. +iii, p. 108). Cf. the evidence of Dunois (_Ibid._, p. 8).] + +[Footnote 1072: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 79. Eberhard Windecke, p. 172.] + +[Footnote 1073: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 109.] + +[Footnote 1074: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 292. Clerk of _La +Chambre des Comptes_ of Brabant, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426.] + +[Footnote 1075: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 109. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 292, 293.] + +"I would rather die," she said, "than do anything I knew to be sin or +contrary to God's will." + +Again she said: "I know that I am to die. But I do not know when or +how, neither do I know the hour. If my wound may be healed without sin +then am I willing to be made whole."[1076] + +[Footnote 1076: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 109 (Pasquerel's evidence).] + +Her armour was taken off. The wound was anointed with olive oil and +fat, and, when it was dressed, she confessed to Brother Pasquerel, +weeping and groaning. Soon she beheld coming to her her heavenly +counsellors, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. They wore crowns and +emitted a sweet fragrance. She was comforted.[1077] She resumed her +armour and returned to the attack.[1078] + +[Footnote 1077: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 79; vol. iii, p. 110.] + +[Footnote 1078: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 293.] + +The sun was going down; and since morning the French had been wearing +themselves out in a vain attack upon the palisades of the bulwark. My +Lord the Bastard, seeing his men tired and night coming on, and afraid +doubtless of the English of the Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils Camp, +resolved to lead the army back to Orléans. He had the retreat sounded. +The trumpet was already summoning the combatants to Le Portereau.[1079] +The Maid came to him and asked him to wait a little. + +[Footnote 1079: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 216 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence), +p. 25; (evidence of J. Luillier). _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 293.] + +"In God's name!" she said, "you will enter very soon. Be not afraid +and the English shall have no more power over you." + +According to some, she added: "Wherefore, rest a little; drink and +eat."[1080] + +[Footnote 1080: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 25. _Journal du siège_, pp. 85, +86. Eberhard Windecke, p. 173.] + +While they were refreshing themselves, she asked for her horse and +mounted it. Then, leaving her standard with a man of her company, she +went alone up the hill into the vineyards, which it had been +impossible to till this April, but where the tiny spring leaves were +beginning to open. There, in the calm of evening, among the vine props +tied together in sheaves and the lines of low vines drinking in the +early warmth of the earth, she began to pray and listened for her +heavenly voices.[1081] Too often tumult and noise prevented her from +hearing what her angel and her saints had to say to her. She could +only understand them well in solitude or when the bells were tinkling +in the distance, and evening sounds soft and rhythmic were ascending +from field and meadow.[1082] + +[Footnote 1081: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 8 (evidence of Dunois). I +emphatically reject the facts alleged by Charles du Lys, concerning +Guy de Cailly, who is said to have accompanied Jeanne into the +vineyard and seen the angels coming down to her. Guy de Cailly's +patent of nobility is apocryphal. Charles du Lys, _Traité sommaire_, +pp. 50, 52.] + +[Footnote 1082: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 62, 153, 480; vol. ii, pp. +420, 424.] + +During her absence Sire d'Aulon, who could not give up the idea of +winning the day, devised one last expedient. He was the least of the +nobles in the army; but in the battles of those days every man was a +law unto himself. The Maid's standard was still waving in front of the +bulwark. The man who bore it was dropping with fatigue and had passed +it on to a soldier, surnamed the Basque, of the company of my Lord of +Villars.[1083] It occurred to Sire d'Aulon, as he looked upon this +standard blessed by priests and held to bring good luck, that if it +were borne in front, the fighting men, who loved it dearly, would +follow it and in order not to lose it would scale the bulwark. With +this idea he went to the Basque and said: "If I were to enter there +and go on foot up to the bulwark would you follow me?" + +[Footnote 1083: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 216. The Count Couret, _Un +fragment inédit des anciens registres de la Prévoté d'Orléans_, +Orléans, 1897, pp. 12, 20, 21, _passim_.] + +The Basque promised that he would. Straightway Sire d'Aulon went down +into the ditch and protecting himself with his shield, which sheltered +him from the stones fired from the cannon, advanced towards the +rampart.[1084] + +[Footnote 1084: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 216.] + +After a quarter of an hour, the Maid, having offered a short prayer, +returned to the men-at-arms and said to them: "The English are +exhausted. Bring up the ladders."[1085] + +[Footnote 1085: _Journal du siège_, p. 86.] + +It was true. They had so little powder that their last volley fired in +an insufficient charge carried no further than a stone thrown by +hand.[1086] Nothing but fragments of weapons remained to them. She +went towards the fort. But when she reached the ditch she suddenly +beheld the standard so dear to her, a thousand times dearer than her +sword, in the hands of a stranger. Thinking it was in danger, she +hastened to rescue it and came up with the Basque just as he was going +down into the ditch. There she seized her standard by the part known +as its tail, that is the end of the flag, and pulled at it with all +her might, crying: + +"Ha! my standard, my standard!" + +[Footnote 1086: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 293.] + +The Basque stood firm, not knowing who was pulling thus from above. +And the Maid would not let it go. The nobles and captains saw the +standard shake, took it for a sign and rallied. Meanwhile Sire d'Aulon +had reached the rampart. He imagined that the Basque was following +close behind. But, when he turned round he perceived that he had +stopped on the other side of the ditch, and he cried out to him: "Eh! +Basque, what did you promise me?" + +At this cry the Basque pulled so hard that the Maid let go, and he +bore the standard to the rampart.[1087] + +[Footnote 1087: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 216, 217.] + +Jeanne understood and was satisfied. To those near her she said: "Look +and see when the flag of my standard touches the bulwark." + +A knight replied: "Jeanne, the flag touches." + +Then she cried: "All is yours. Enter."[1088] + +[Footnote 1088: _Journal du siège_, p. 86. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 293.] + +Straightway nobles and citizens, men-at-arms, archers, townsfolk threw +themselves wildly into the ditch and climbed up the palisades so +quickly and in such numbers that they looked like a flock of birds +descending on a hedge.[1089] And the French, who had now entered +within the fortifications, saw retreating before them, but with their +faces turned proudly towards the enemy, the Lords Moleyns and +Poynings, Sir Thomas Giffart, Baillie of Mantes, and Captain Glasdale, +who were covering the flight of their men to Les Tourelles.[1090] In +his hand Glasdale was holding the standard of Chandos, which, after +having waved over eighty years of victories, was now retreating before +the standard of a child.[1091] For the Maid was there, standing upon +the rampart. And the English, panic-stricken, wondered what kind of a +witch this could be whose powers did not depart with the flowing of +her blood, and who with charms healed her deep wounds. Meanwhile she +was looking at them kindly and sadly and crying out, her voice broken +with sobs: + +"Glassidas! Glassidas! surrender, surrender to the King of Heaven. +Thou hast called me strumpet; but I have great pity on thy soul and on +the souls of thy men."[1092] + +[Footnote 1089: _Chronique de la fête_, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. +294.] + +[Footnote 1090: _Journal du siège_, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 1091: Letter from Charles VII to the inhabitants of +Narbonne, 10 May, 1429, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 103. Monstrelet, in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 365.] + +[Footnote 1092: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 110 (Pasquerel's evidence).] + +At the same time, from the walls of the town and the bulwark of La +Belle Croix cannon balls rained down upon Les Tourelles.[1093] +Montargis and Rifflart cast forth stones. Maître Guillaume Duisy's new +cannon, from the Chesneau postern, hurled forth balls weighing one +hundred and twenty pounds.[1094] Les Tourelles were attacked from the +bridge side. Across the arch broken by the English a narrow footway +was thrown, and Messire Nicole de Giresme, a knight in holy orders, +was the first to pass over.[1095] Those who followed him set fire to +the palisade which blocked the approach to the fort on that side. Thus +the six hundred English, their strength and their weapons alike +exhausted, found themselves assailed both in front and in the rear. In +a crafty and terrible manner they were also attacked from beneath. The +people of Orléans had loaded a great barge with pitch, tow, faggots, +horse-bones, old shoes, resin, sulphur, ninety-eight pounds of olive +oil and such other materials as might easily take fire and smoke. They +had steered it under the wooden bridge, thrown by the enemy from Les +Tourelles to the bulwark: they had anchored the barge there and set +fire to its cargo. The fire from the barge had caught the bridge just +when the English were retreating. Through smoke and flames the six +hundred passed over the burning platform. At length it came to the +turn of William Glasdale, Lord Poynings and Lord Moleyns, who with +thirty or forty captains, were the last to leave the lost bulwark; but +when they set foot on the bridge, its beams, reduced to charcoal, +crumbled beneath them, and they all with the Chandos standard were +engulfed in the Loire.[1096] + +[Footnote 1093: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 293, 294. Morosini, +vol. iii, p. 31.] + +[Footnote 1094: _Journal du siège_, p. 17. Jollois, _Histoire du +siège_, p. 12.] + +[Footnote 1095: _Journal du siège_, p. 87. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 294. _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294.] + +[Footnote 1096: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 9, 25, 80. _Chronique de +l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 294. _Journal du siège_, pp. 87, 88. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 78. Perceval de Cagny, p. 145. Eberhard +Windecke, p. 173. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 321. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. +31 _et seq._] + +Jeanne moved to pity wept over the soul of Glassidas and over the +souls of those drowned with him.[1097] The captains, who were with +her, likewise grieved over the death of these valiant men, reflecting +that they had done the French a great wrong by being drowned, for +their ransom would have brought great riches.[1098] + +[Footnote 1097: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 110 (Pasquerel's evidence).] + +[Footnote 1098: _Journal du siège_, p. 87.] + +Having escaped from the French on the bulwark, across the burning +planks the six hundred were set upon by the French on the bridge. Four +hundred were slain, the others taken. The day had cost the people of +Orléans a hundred men.[1099] + +[Footnote 1099: The number of the English who defended Les Tourelles +is given in _Le journal du siège_ as 400 or 500; in Charles VII's +letter as 600; in _La relation de la fête du 8 mai_ as 800; in _La +chronique de la Pucelle_ as 500. It is impossible to fix exactly the +number of the French, but they were more than ten times as many as the +English. + +The English losses, by Guillaume Girault, are said to have been 300 +slain and taken; by Berry, 400 or 500 slain and taken; by Jean +Chartier, about 400 slain, the rest taken; by _La chronique de la +Pucelle_, 300 slain, 200 taken; by _Le journal du siège_, 400 or 500 +slain besides a few taken. By Monstrelet, in the MSS., 600 or 800 +slain or taken; in the printed editions, 1000; by Bower, 600 and more +slain. + +The losses of the French are said by Perceval de Cagny to have been 16 +to 20 slain; by Eberhard Windecke, 5 slain and a few wounded; by +Monstrelet, about 100. The Maid estimated that in the various +engagements at Orléans in which she took part "one hundred and even +more" of the French were wounded.] + +When in the black darkness, along the fire-reddened banks of the +Loire, the last cries of the vanquished had died away, the French +captains, amazed at their victory, looked anxiously towards +Saint-Laurent-des Orgerils, for they were still afraid lest Sir John +Talbot should sally forth from his camp to avenge those whom he had +failed to succour. Throughout that long attack, which had lasted from +sunrise to sunset, Talbot, the Earl of Suffolk and the English of +Saint-Laurent had not left their entrenchments. Even when Les +Tourelles were taken the conquerors remained on the watch, still +expecting Talbot.[1100] But this Talbot, with whose name French +mothers frightened their children, did not budge. He had been greatly +feared that day, and he himself had feared lest,[1101] if he withdrew +any of his troops to succour Les Tourelles, the French would capture +his camp and his forts on the west. + +[Footnote 1100: _Journal du siège_, p. 88.] + +[Footnote 1101: Perceval de Cagny, p. 147. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 295.] + +The army prepared to return to the town. In three hours, the bridge, +three arches of which had been broken, was rendered passable. Some +hours after darkness, the Maid entered the city by the bridge as she +had foretold.[1102] In like manner all her prophecies were fulfilled +when their fulfilment depended on her own courage and determination. +The captains accompanied her, followed by all the men-at-arms, the +archers, the citizens and the prisoners who were brought in two by +two. The bells of the city were ringing; the clergy and people sang +the Te Deum.[1103] After God and his Blessed Mother, they gave thanks +in all humility to Saint Aignan and Saint Euverte, who had been +bishops in their mortal lives and were now the heavenly patrons of the +city. The townsfolk believed that both before and during the siege +they had given the saints so much wax and had paraded their relics in +so many processions that they had deserved their powerful +intercession, and that thereby they had won the victory and been +delivered out of the enemy's hand. There was no doubt about the +intervention of the saints because at the time of assault on Les +Tourelles two bishops bright and shining had been seen in the sky, +hovering over the fort.[1104] + +[Footnote 1102: _Journal du siège_, p. 88. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 295. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 78.] + +[Footnote 1103: _Chronique de l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 294 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1104: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 163.] + +Jeanne was brought back to Jacques Boucher's house, where a surgeon +again dressed the wound she had received above the breast. She took +four or five slices of bread soaked in wine and water, but neither ate +nor drank anything else.[1105] + +[Footnote 1105: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 295.] + +On the morrow, Sunday, the 8th of May, being the Feast of the +Appearance of St. Michael, it was announced in Orléans, in the +morning, that the English issuing forth from those western bastions +which were all that remained to them, were ranging themselves before +the town moat in battle array and with standards flying. The folk of +Orléans, both the men-at-arms and the train-bands, greatly desired to +fall upon them. At daybreak Marshal de Boussac and a number of +captains went out and took up their positions over against the +enemy.[1106] + +[Footnote 1106: _Journal du siège_, p. 89. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 296. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 78, 79. _Le +Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 208. The passage beginning with the words, "The +Sire of Rocquencourt said," must be taken as historical.] + +The Maid went out into the country with the priests. Being unable to +put on her cuirass because of the wound on her shoulder, she merely +wore one of those light coats-of-mail called _jaserans_.[1107] + +[Footnote 1107: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 9 (evidence of Dunois).] + +The men-at-arms inquired of her: "To-day being the Sabbath, is it +wrong to fight?" + +She replied: "You must hear mass."[1108] + +[Footnote 1108: _Ibid._, p. 29 (evidence of J. de Champeaux).] + +She did not think the enemy should be attacked. + +"For the sake of the holy Sabbath do not give battle. Do not attack +the English, but if the English attack you, defend yourselves stoutly +and bravely, and be not afraid, for you will overcome them."[1109] + +[Footnote 1109: _Journal du siège_, p. 89.] + +In the country, at the foot of a cross, where four roads met, one of +those consecrated stones, square and flat, which priests carried with +them on their journeys, was placed upon a table. Very solemnly did the +officiating ecclesiastics sing hymns, responses and prayers; and at +this altar the Maid with all the priests and all the men-at-arms heard +mass.[1110] + +[Footnote 1110: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 296.] + +After the _Deo gratias_ she recommended them to observe the movements +of the English. "Now look whether their faces or their backs be +towards you." + +She was told that they had turned their backs and were going away. + +Three times she had told them: "Depart from Orléans and your lives +shall be saved." Now she asked that they should be allowed to go +without more being required of them. + +"It is not well pleasing to my Lord that they should be engaged +to-day," she said. "You will have them another time. Come, let us give +thanks to God."[1111] + +[Footnote 1111: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 296.] + +The _Godons_ were going. During the night they had held a council of +war and resolved to depart.[1112] In order to put a bold front on +their retreat and to prevent its being cut off, they had faced the +folk of Orléans for an hour, now they marched off in good order.[1113] +Captain La Hire and Sire de Loré, curious as to which way they would +take and desiring to see whether they would leave anything behind +them, rode three or four miles in pursuit with a hundred or a hundred +and twenty horse. The English were retreating towards Meung.[1114] + +[Footnote 1112: _Chronique de l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 294, 295. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 296.] + +[Footnote 1113: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 296.] + +[Footnote 1114: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 71, 97, 110. _Journal du +siège_, p. 89. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 297. Morosini, vol. iii, +p. 34. Walter Bower, _Scotichronicon_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 478, +479. Eberhard Windecke, p. 177.] + +A crowd of citizens, villeins and villagers rushed into the abandoned +forts. The _Godons_ had left their sick and their prisoners there. The +townsfolk discovered also ammunition and even victuals, which were +doubtless not very abundant and not very excellent. "But," says a +Burgundian, "they made good cheer out of them, for they cost them +little."[1115] Weapons, cannons and mortars were carried into the +town. The forts were demolished so that they might henceforth be +useless to the enemy.[1116] + +[Footnote 1115: Charles VII's letter to the people of Narbonne, in the +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 101. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 323.] + +[Footnote 1116: _Journal du siège_, pp. 209 _et seq._] + +On that day there were grand and solemn processions and a good +friar[1117] preached. Clerks, nobles, captains, magistrates, +men-at-arms and citizens devoutly went to church and the people cried: +"Noël!"[1118] + +[Footnote 1117: _Ibid._, p. 216. _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 295.] + +[Footnote 1118: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 110. _Journal du siège_, p. 92.] + +Thus, on the 8th of May, in the morning, was the town of Orléans +delivered, two hundred and nine days after the siege had been laid and +nine days after the coming of the Maid. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE MAID AT TOURS AND AT SELLES-EN-BERRY--THE TREATISES OF JACQUES +GÉLU AND OF JEAN GERSON. + + +On the morning of Sunday the 8th of May, the English departed, +retreating towards Meung and Beaugency. In the afternoon of the same +day, Messire Florent d'Illiers with his men-at-arms left the town and +went straight to his captaincy of Châteaudun to defend it against the +_Godons_ who had a garrison at Marchenoir and were about to descend on +Le Dunois. On the next day the other captains from La Beauce and +Gâtinais returned to their towns and strongholds.[1119] + +[Footnote 1119: _Journal du siège_, p. 91. G. Met-Gaubert, _Notice sur +Florent d'Illiers_, Chartres, 1864, in 8vo.] + +On the ninth of the same month, the combatants brought by the Sire de +Rais, receiving neither pay nor entertainment, went off each man on +his own account; and the Maid did not stay longer.[1120] After having +taken part in the procession by which the townsfolk rendered thanks to +God, she took her leave of those to whom she had come in the hour of +distress and affliction and whom she now quitted in the hour of +deliverance and rejoicing. They wept with joy and with gratitude and +offered themselves to her for her to do with them and their goods +whatever she would. And she thanked them kindly.[1121] + +[Footnote 1120: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 298.] + +[Footnote 1121: _Journal du siège_, pp. 91, 92. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 71.] + +From Chinon the King caused to be sent to the inhabitants of the towns +in his dominion and notably to those of La Rochelle and Narbonne, a +letter written at three sittings, between the evening of the 9th of +May and the morning of the 10th, as the tidings from Orléans were +coming in. In this letter he announced the capture of the forts of +Saint-Loup, Les Augustins and Les Tourelles and called upon the +townsfolk to praise God and do honour to the great feats accomplished +there, especially by the Maid, who "had always been present when these +deeds were done."[1122] Thus did the royal power describe Jeanne's +share in the victory. It was in no wise a captain's share; she held no +command of any kind. But, sent by God, at least so it might be +believed, her presence was a help and a consolation. + +[Footnote 1122: _Charles VII's Letter to the Inhabitants of Narbonne_, +in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 101, 104. Arcère, _Histoire de La Rochelle_, +vol. i, p. 271 (1756). Moynès, _Inventaire des archives de l'Aude_, +supplement, p. 390. _Procession d'actions de grâces à Brignoles (Var) +en l'honneur de la délivrance d'Orléans par Jeanne d'Arc_ (1429). +Communication made to the Congress of learned Societies at the +Sorbonne (April, 1893) by F. Mireur, Draguignan, 1894, in 8vo, p. +175.] + +In company with a few nobles she went to Blois, stayed there two +days,[1123] then went on to Tours, where the King was expected.[1124] +When, on the Friday before Whitsunday, she entered the town, Charles, +who had set out from Chinon, had not yet arrived. Banner in hand, she +rode out to meet him and when she came to him, she took off her cap +and bowed her head as far as she could over her horse. The King lifted +his hood, bade her look up and kissed her. It is said that he felt +glad to see her, but in reality we know not what he felt.[1125] + +[Footnote 1123: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 80. _Journal du siège_, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1124: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 72, 76, 80.] + +[Footnote 1125: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 116 (evidence of S. Charles). +Eberhard Windecke, p. 177, and _Chronique de Tournai_, edition Smedt, +pp. 407 _et seq._ (vol. iii of _Les chroniques de Flandre_).] + +In this month of May, 1429, he received from Messire Jacques Gélu a +treatise concerning the Maid, which he probably did not read, but +which his confessor read for him. Messire Jacques Gélu, sometime +Councillor to the Dauphin and now my Lord Archbishop of Embrun,[1126] +had at first been afraid that the King's enemies had sent him this +shepherdess to poison him, or that she was a witch possessed by +demons. In the beginning he had advised her being carefully +interrogated, not hastily repulsed, for appearances are deceptive and +divine grace moves in a mysterious manner. Now, after having read the +conclusions of the doctors of Poitiers, learnt the deliverance of +Orléans, and heard the cry of the common folk, Messire Jacques Gélu no +longer doubted the damsel's innocence and goodness. Seeing that the +doctors were divided in their opinion of her, he drew up a brief +treatise, which he sent to the King, with a very ample, a very humble, +and a very worthy dedicatory epistle. + +[Footnote 1126: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 394, 407; vol. v, p. 413. Le P. +Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, vol. +ii, p. 320. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'Église de son temps_, +pp. 39, 52.] + +About that time, on the pavement of the cathedral of Reims a labyrinth +had been traced with compass and with square.[1127] Pilgrims who were +patient and painstaking followed all its winding ways. The Archbishop +of Embrun's treatise is likewise a carefully planned scholastic +labyrinth. Herein one advances only to retreat and retreats only to +advance, but without entirely losing one's way provided one walks with +sufficient patience and attention. Like all scholastics, Gélu begins +by giving the reasons against his own opinion and it is not until he +has followed his opponent at some length that he returns to his own +argument. Into all the intricacies of his labyrinth it would take too +long to follow him. But since those who were round the King consulted +this theological treatise, since it was addressed to the King and +since the King and his Council may have based on it their opinion of +Jeanne and their conduct towards her, one is curious to know what, on +so singular an occasion, they found taught and recommended therein. + +[Footnote 1127: L. Paris, _Notice sur le dédale ou labyrinthe de +l'église de Reims_, in _Ann. des Inst. provinc._, 1857, vol. ix, p. +233.] + +Treating first of the Church's weal, Jacques Gélu holds that God +raised up the Maid to confound the heretics, the number of whom, +according to him, is by no means small. "To turn to confusion those +who believe in God as if they believed not," he writes, "the Almighty, +who hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, _King of +Kings and Lord of Lords_, was pleased to succour the King of France by +the hand of a child of low estate." The Archbishop of Embrun discerns +five reasons why the divine succour was granted to the King; to wit: +the justice of his cause, the striking merits of his predecessors, the +prayers of devout souls and the sighs of the oppressed, the injustice +of the enemies of the kingdom and the insatiable cruelty of the +English nation. + +That God should have chosen a maid to destroy armies in no way +surprises him. "He created insects, such as flies and fleas, with +which to humble man's pride." So persistently do these tiny creatures +worry and weary us that they prevent our studying or acting. However +strong his self-control, a man may not rest in a room infested with +fleas. By the hand of a young peasant, born of poor and lowly parents, +subject to menial labour, ignorant and simple beyond saying, it hath +pleased Him to strike down the proud, to humble them and make His +Majesty manifest unto them by the deliverance of the perishing. + +That to a virgin the Most High should have revealed His designs +concerning the Kingdom of the Lilies cannot astonish us; on virgins He +readily bestows the gift of prophecy. To the sibyls it pleased Him to +reveal mysteries hidden from all the Gentiles. On the authority of +Nicanor, of Euripides, of Chrysippus, of Nennius, of Apollodorus, of +Eratosthenes, of Heraclides Ponticus, of Marcus Varro and of +Lactantius, Messire Jacques Gélu teaches that the sibyls were ten in +number: the Persian, the Libyan, the Delphian, the Cimmerian, the +Erythrean, the Samian, the Cumæan, the Hellespontine, the Phrygian and +the Tiburtine. They prophesied to the Gentiles the glorious +incarnation of Our Lord, the resurrection of the dead and the +consummation of the ages. This example appears to him worthy of +consideration. + +As for Jeanne, she is in herself unknowable. Aristotle teaches: there +is nothing in the intellect which hath not first been in the senses, +and the senses cannot penetrate beyond experience. But what the mind +cannot grasp directly it may come to comprehend by a roundabout way. +When we consider her works, as far as in our human weakness we can +know, we say the Maid is of God. Albeit she hath adopted the +profession of arms, she never counsels cruelty; she is merciful to her +enemies when they throw themselves upon her mercy and she offers +peace. Finally the Archbishop of Embrun believes that this Maid is an +angel sent by God, the Lord of Hosts, for the saving of the people; +not that she has the nature, but that she does the work of an angel. + +Concerning the conduct to be followed in circumstances so marvellous, +the doctor is of opinion that in war the King should act according to +human wisdom. It is written: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." +In vain would an active mind have been bestowed on man were he not to +make use of it in his undertakings. Long deliberation must precede +prompt execution. It is not by a woman's desires or supplications that +God's help is obtained. A prosperous issue is the fruit of action and +of counsel. + +But the inspiration of God must not be rejected. Wherefore the will of +the Maid must be accomplished, even should that will appear doubtful +and mistaken. If the words of the Maid are found to be stable, then +the King must follow her and confide to her as to God the conduct of +the enterprise to which she is committed. Should any doubt occur to +the King, let him incline rather towards divine than towards human +wisdom, for as there is no comparing the finite with the infinite so +there is no comparing the wisdom of man with the wisdom of God. +Wherefore we must believe that He who sent us this child is able to +impart unto her a counsel superior to man's counsel. Then from this +Aristotelian reasoning the Archbishop of Embrun draws the following +two-headed conclusion: "On the one hand we give it to be understood +that the wisdom of this world must be consulted in the ordering of +battle, the use of engines, ladders and all other implements of war, +the building of bridges, the sufficient despatch of supplies, the +raising of funds, and in all matters without which no enterprise can +succeed save by miracle. + +"But when on the other hand divine wisdom is seen to be acting in some +peculiar way, then human reason must be humble and withdraw. Then it +is, we observe, that the counsel of the Maid must be asked for, sought +after and adopted before all else. He who gives life gives wherewithal +to support life. On his workers he bestows the instruments for their +work. Wherefore let us hope in the Lord. He makes the King's cause his +own. Those who support it he will inspire with the wisdom necessary to +make it triumphant. God leaves no work imperfect." + +The Archbishop concludes his treatise by commending the Maid to the +King because she inspires holy thoughts and makes manifest the works +of piety. "This counsel do we give the King that every day he do such +things as are well pleasing in the sight of the Lord and that he +confer with the Maid concerning them. When he shall have received her +advice let him practise it piously and devoutly; then shall not the +Lord withdraw His hand from Him but continue His loving kindness unto +him."[1128] + +[Footnote 1128: Bibl. Nat. Latin Collection, no. 6199, folio 36. +_Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 395-410. Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et +consultations_, pp. 365 _et seq._ Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant +l'Église de son temps_, pp. 31-52.] + +The great doctor Gerson, former Chancellor of the University, was then +ending his days at Lyon in the monastery of Les Célestins, of which +his brother was prior. His life had been full of work and +weariness.[1129] In 1408 he was priest of Saint-Jean-en-Grève in +Paris. In that year he delivered in his parish church the funeral +oration of the Duke of Orléans, assassinated by order of the Duke of +Burgundy; and he roused the passions of the mob to such a fury that he +ran great danger of losing his life. At the Council of Constance, +possessed by a so-called "merciful cruelty"[1130] which goaded him to +send a heretic to the stake, he urged the condemnation of John Huss, +regardless of the safe-conduct which the latter had received from the +Emperor; for in common with all the fathers there assembled he held +that according to natural law both divine and human, no promise should +be kept if it were prejudicial to the Catholic Faith. With a like +ardour he prosecuted in the Council the condemnation of the thesis of +Jean Petit concerning the lawfulness of tyrannicide. In things +temporal as well as spiritual he advocated uniform obedience and the +respect of established authority. In one of his sermons he likens the +kingdom of France to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, making the +merchants and artisans the legs of the statue, "which are partly iron, +partly clay, because of their labour and humility in serving and +obeying...." Iron signifies labour, and clay humility. All the evil +has arisen from the King and the great citizens being held in +subjection by those of low estate.[1131] + +[Footnote 1129: Launoy, _Historia Navarrici Gymasii_, book iv, ch. v. +J.B. Lecuy, _Essai sur la vie de Jean Gerson, chancelier de l'église +et de l'université de Paris, sur sa doctrine, sur ses écrits...._ +Paris, 1832, 2 vols. in 8vo. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. ii, p. 94. A.L. Masson, _Jean Gerson, sa vie, son temps, +ses oeuvres_, Lyon, 1894, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1130: _Par une cruauté miséricordieuse._ Du Boulay, +_Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 270.] + +[Footnote 1131: Gerson, _Opera_, vol. iv, pp. 668-678.] + +Now, crushed by suffering and sorrow, he was teaching little children. +"It is with them that reforms must begin," he said.[1132] + +[Footnote 1132: Gerson, _Adversus corruptionem Juventutis_. A. +Lafontaine, _De Johanne Gersonio puerorum adulescentiumque +institutore...._ La Chapelle-Montligeon, 1902, in 8vo.] + +The deliverance of the city of Orléans must have gladdened the heart +of the old Orleanist partisan. The Dauphin's Councillors, eager to set +the Maid to work, had told him of the deliberations at Poitiers, and +asked him, as a good servant of the house of France, for his opinion +concerning them. In reply he wrote a compendious treatise on the Maid. + +In this work he is careful from the first to distinguish between +matters of faith and matters of devotion. In questions of faith doubt +is forbidden. With regard to questions of devotion the unbeliever, to +use a colloquial expression, is not necessarily damned. Three +conditions are necessary if a question is to be considered as one of +devotion: first, it must be edifying; second, it must be probable and +attested by popular report or the testimony of the faithful; third, it +must touch on nothing contrary to faith. When these conditions are +fulfilled, it is fitting neither persistently to condemn nor to +approve, but rather to appeal to the church. + +For example, the conception of the very holy Virgin, indulgences, +relics, are matters of faith and not of devotion. A relic may be +worshipped in one place or another, or in several places at once. +Recently the Parlement of Paris disputed concerning the head of Saint +Denys, worshipped at Saint-Denys in France and likewise in the +cathedral at Paris. This is a matter of devotion.[1133] + +[Footnote 1133: Gallia Christiana, vol. vii, col. 142. Jean Juvénal +des Ursins, year 1406.] + +Whence it may be concluded that it is lawful to consider the question +of the Maid as a matter of devotion, especially when one reflects on +her motives, which are the restitution of his kingdom to her King and +the very righteous expulsion or destruction of her very stubborn +enemies. + +And if there be those who make various statements concerning her idle +talk, her frivolity, her guile, now is the time to quote the saying of +Cato: "Common report is not our judge." According to the words of the +Apostle, it doth not become us to call in question the servant of God. +Much better is it to abstain from judgment, as is permitted, or to +submit doubtful points to ecclesiastical superiors. This is the +principle followed in the canonisation of saints. The catalogue of the +saints is not, strictly speaking, necessarily a matter of faith, but +of pious devotion. Nevertheless, it is not to be highly censured by +any manner of man. + +To come to the present case, the following circumstances are to be +noted: First, the royal council and the men-at-arms were induced to +believe and to obey; and they faced the risk of being put to shame by +defeat under the leadership of a girl. Second, the people rejoice, and +their pious faith seems to tend to the glory of God and the +confounding of his enemies. Third, the enemy, even his princes, are in +hiding and stricken with many terrors. They give way to weakness like +a woman with child; they are overthrown like the Egyptians in the song +sung by Miriam, sister of Moses, to the sound of the timbrel in the +midst of the women who went out with her with timbrels and with +dances: "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the +horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea."[1134] And let us +likewise sing the song of Miriam with the devotion which becometh our +case. + +[Footnote 1134: Exodus, xv, 20, 21 (W.S.).] + +Fourth, and in conclusion, this point is worthy of consideration: The +Maid and her men-at-arms despise not the wisdom of men; they tempt +not God. Wherefore it is plain that the Maid goes no further than what +she interprets to be the instruction or inspiration received from God. + +Many of the incidents of her life from childhood up have been +collected in abundance and might be set forth; but these we shall not +relate. + +Here may be cited the examples of Deborah and of Saint Catherine who +miraculously converted fifty doctors or rhetoricians, of Judith and of +Judas Maccabeus. As is usually the case, there were many circumstances +in their lives which were purely natural. + +A first miracle is not always followed by the other miracles which men +expect. Even if the Maid should be disappointed in her expectation and +in ours (which God forbid) we ought not to conclude therefrom, that +the first manifestation of her miraculous power proceeded from an evil +spirit and not from heavenly grace; we should believe rather that our +hopes have been disappointed because of our ingratitude and our +blasphemy, or by some just and impenetrable judgment of God. We +beseech him to turn away his anger from us and vouchsafe unto us his +favour. + +Herein we perceive lessons, first for the King and the Blood Royal, +secondly for the King's forces and the kingdom; thirdly for the clergy +and people; fourthly for the Maid. Of all these lessons the object is +the same, to wit: a good life, consecrated to God, just towards +others, sober, virtuous and temperate. With regard to the Maid's +peculiar lesson, it is that God's grace revealed in her be employed +not in caring for trifles, not in worldly advantage, nor in party +hatred, nor in violent sedition, nor in avenging deeds done, nor in +foolish self-glorification, but in meekness, prayer, and thanksgiving. +And let every one contribute a liberal supply of temporal goods so +that peace be established and justice once more administered, and that +delivered out of the hands of our enemies, God being favourable unto +us, we may serve him in holiness and righteousness. + +At the conclusion of his treatise, Gerson briefly examines one point +of canon law which had been neglected by the doctors of Poitiers. He +establishes that the Maid is not forbidden to dress as a man. + +Firstly. The ancient law forbade a woman to dress as a man, and a man +as a woman. This restriction, as far as strict legality is concerned, +ceases to be enforced by the new law. + +Secondly. In its moral bearing this law remains binding. But in such a +case it is merely a matter of decency. + +Thirdly. From a legal and moral standpoint this law does not refuse +masculine and military attire to the Maid, whom the King of Heaven +appoints His standard-bearer, in order that she may trample underfoot +the enemies of justice. In the operations of divine power the end +justifies the means. + +Fourthly. Examples may be quoted from history alike sacred and +profane, notably Camilla and the Amazons. + +Jean Gerson completed this treatise on Whit-Sunday, a week after the +deliverance of Orléans. It was his last work. He died in the July of +that year, 1429, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.[1135] + +[Footnote 1135: _Oeuvres de Gerson_, ed. Ellies Dupin, Paris, 1706, +in folio, vol. iv, p. 864. _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 298; vol. v, p. 412. +Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'Église de son temps_, p. 24.] + +The treatise is the political testament of the great university doctor +in exile. The Maid's victory gladdened the last days of his life. With +his dying voice he sings the Song of Miriam. But with his rejoicings +over this happy event are mingled the sad presentiments of +keen-sighted old age. While in the Maid he beholds a subject for the +rejoicing and edification of the people, he is afraid that the hopes +she inspires may soon be disappointed. And he warns those who now +exalt her in the hour of triumph not to forsake her in the day of +disaster. + +His dry close reasoning does not fundamentally differ from the ampler, +more flowery argument of Jacques Gélu. One and the other contain the +same reasons, the same proofs; and in their conclusions both doctors +agree with the judges of Poitiers. + +For the Poitiers doctors, for the Archbishop of Embrun, for the +ex-chancellor of the University, for all the theologians of the +Armagnac party the Maid's case is not a matter of faith. How could it +be so before the Pope and the Council had pronounced judgment +concerning it? Men are free to believe in her or not to believe in +her. But it is a subject of edification; and it behoves men to +meditate upon it, not in a spirit of prejudice, persisting in doubt, +but with an open mind and according to the Christian faith. Following +the counsel of Gerson, kindly souls will believe that the Maid comes +from God, just as they believe that the head of Saint Denys may be +venerated by the faithful either in the Cathedral Church of Paris or +in the abbey-church of Saint Denys in France. They will think less of +literal than of spiritual truths and they will not sin by inquiring +too closely. + +In short neither the treatise of Jacques Gélu nor that of Jean Gerson +brought much light to the King and his Council. Both treatises +abounded in exhortations, but they all amounted to saying: "Be good, +pious and strong, let your thoughts be humble and prudent," Concerning +the most important point, the use to be made of Jeanne in the conduct +of war, the Archbishop of Embrun wisely recommended: "Do what the Maid +commands and prudence directs; for the rest give yourselves to works +of piety and prayers of devotion." Such counsel was somewhat +embarrassing to a captain like the Sire de Gaucourt and even to a man +of worth like my Lord of Trèves. It appears that the clerks left the +King perfect liberty of judgment and of action, and that in the end +they advised him not to believe in the Maid, but to let the people and +the men-at-arms believe in her. + +During the ten days he spent at Tours the King kept Jeanne with him. +Meanwhile the Council were deliberating as to their line of +action.[1136] The royal treasury was empty. Charles could raise enough +money to make gifts to the gentlemen of his household, but he had +great difficulty in defraying the expenses of war.[1137] Pay was owing +to the people of Orléans. They had received little and spent much. +Their resources were exhausted and they demanded payment. In May and +in June the King distributed among the captains, who had defended the +town, sums amounting to forty-one thousand six hundred and thirty-one +livres.[1138] He had gained his victory cheaply. The total cost of +the defence of Orléans was one hundred and ten thousand livres. The +townsfolk did the rest; they gave even their little silver +spoons.[1139] + +[Footnote 1136: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 12, 72, 76, 80. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 298. _Journal du siège_, p. 93. _Chronique de la +fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 299. Letter written by the agents of a +German town, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 349. _Chronique de Tournai_ +(_Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, p. 412). Eberhard +Windecke, p. 177. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +215.] + +[Footnote 1137: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, pp. 634 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 1138: Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses_, pp. 147 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1139: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 256 _et seq._, and taken from the +Commune and Fortress Accounts in _Journal du siège_. A. de Villaret, +_loc. cit._ p. 61. Couret, _Un fragment inédit des anciens registres +de la Prévôté d'Orléans_.] + +It would doubtless have been expedient to attempt to destroy that +formidable army of Sir John Fastolf which had lately terrified the +good folk of Orléans. But no one knew where to find it. It had +disappeared somewhere between Orléans and Paris. It would have been +necessary to go forth to seek it; that was impossible, and no one +thought of doing such a thing. So scientific a manoeuvre was never +dreamed of in the warfare of those days. An expedition to Normandy was +suggested; and the idea was so natural that the King was already +imagined to be at Rouen.[1140] Finally it was decided to attempt the +capture of the châteaux the English held on the Loire, both below and +above Orléans, Jargeau, Meung, Beaugency.[1141] A useful undertaking +and one which presented no very great difficulties, unless it involved +an encounter with Sir John Fastolf's army, and whether it would or no +it was impossible to tell. + +[Footnote 1140: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 1141: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 9, 10.] + +Without further delay my Lord the Bastard marched on Jargeau with a +few knights and some of Poton's soldiers of fortune; but the Loire was +high and its waters filled the trenches. Being unprovided with siege +train, they retreated after having inflicted some hurt on the English +and slain the commander of the town.[1142] + +[Footnote 1142: _Journal du siège_, p. 93. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 300.] + +By the reasons of the captains the Maid set little store. She listened +to her Voices alone, and they spoke to her words which were infinitely +simple. Her one idea was to accomplish her mission. Saint Catherine, +Saint Margaret and Saint Michael the Archangel, had sent her into +France not to calculate the resources of the royal treasury, not to +decree aids and taxes, not to treat with men-at-arms, with merchants +and the conductors of convoys, not to draw up plans of campaign and +negotiate truces, but to lead the Dauphin to his anointing. Wherefore +it was to Reims that she wished to take him, not that she knew how to +go there, but she believed that God would guide her. Delay, tardiness, +deliberation saddened and irritated her. When with the King she urged +him gently. + +Many times she said to him: "I shall live a year, barely longer. +During that year let as much as possible be done."[1143] + +[Footnote 1143: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 99.] + +Then she enumerated the four charges which she must accomplish during +that time. After having delivered Orléans she must drive the _Godons_ +out of France, lead the King to be crowned and anointed at Reims and +rescue the Duke of Orléans from the hands of the English.[1144] One +day she grew impatient and went to the King when he was in one of +those closets of carved wainscot constructed in the great castle halls +for intimate or family gatherings. She knocked at the door and entered +almost immediately. There she found the King conversing with Maître +Gérard Machet, his confessor, my Lord the Bastard, the Sire de Trèves +and a favourite noble of his household, by name Messire Christophe +d'Harcourt. She knelt embracing the King's knees (for she was +conversant with the rules of courtesy), and said to him: "Fair +Dauphin, do not so long and so frequently deliberate in council, but +come straightway to Reims, there to receive your rightful +anointing."[1145] + +[Footnote 1144: _Ibid._, p. 99 (evidence of the Duke of Alençon).] + +[Footnote 1145: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 12. _Journal du siège_, p. 93. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 299.] + +The King looked graciously upon her but answered nothing. The Lord +d'Harcourt, having heard that the Maid held converse with angels and +saints, was curious to know whether the idea of taking the King to +Reims had really been suggested to her by her heavenly visitants. +Describing them by the word she herself used, he asked: "Is it your +Council who speak to you of such things?" + +She replied: "Yes, in this matter I am urged forward." Straightway my +Lord d'Harcourt responded: "Will you not here in the King's presence +tell us the manner of your Council when they speak to you?" + +At this request Jeanne blushed. + +Willing to spare her constraint and embarrassment, the King said +kindly: "Jeanne, does it please you to answer this question before +these persons here present?" + +But Jeanne addressing my Lord d'Harcourt said: "I understand what you +desire to know and I will tell you willingly." + +And straightway she gave the King to understand what agony she endured +at not being understood and she told of her inward consolation: +"Whenever I am sad because what I say by command of Messire is not +readily believed, I go apart and to Messire I make known my complaint, +saying that those to whom I speak are not willing to believe me. And +when I have finished my prayer, straightway I hear a voice saying unto +me: 'Daughter of God, go, I will be thy help.' And this voice fills me +with so great a joy, that in this condition I would forever +stay."[1146] + +[Footnote 1146: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 12 (evidence of Dunois).] + +While she was repeating the words spoken by the Voice, Jeanne raised +her eyes to heaven. The nobles present were struck by the divine +expression on the maiden's face. But those eyes bathed in tears, that +air of rapture, which filled my Lord the Bastard with amazement, was +not an ecstasy, it was the imitation of an ecstasy.[1147] The scene +was at once simple and artificial. It reveals the kindness of the +King, who was incapable of wounding the child in any way, and the +light-heartedness with which the nobles of the court believed or +pretended to believe in the most wonderful marvels. It proves likewise +that henceforth the little Saint's dignifying the project of the +coronation with the authority of a divine revelation was favourably +regarded by the Royal Council. + +[Footnote 1147: _Ibid._, p. 12.] + +The Maid accompanied the King to Loches and stayed with him until +after the 23rd of May.[1148] + +[Footnote 1148: _Ibid._, p. 116, vol. iv, p. 245.] + +The people believed in her. As she passed through the streets of +Loches they threw themselves before her horse; they kissed the Saint's +hands and feet. Maître Pierre de Versailles, a monk of Saint-Denys in +France, one of her interrogators at Poitiers, seeing her receive these +marks of veneration, rebuked her on theological grounds: "You do +wrong," he said, "to suffer such things to which you are not entitled. +Take heed: you are leading men into idolatry." + +Then Jeanne, reflecting on the pride which might creep into her heart, +said: "In truth I could not keep from it, were not Messire watching +over me."[1149] + +[Footnote 1149: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 84.] + +She was displeased to see certain old wives coming to salute her; that +was a kind of adoration which alarmed her. But poor folk who came to +her she never repulsed. She would not hurt them, but aided them as far +as she could.[1150] + +[Footnote 1150: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 102.] + +With marvellous rapidity the fame of her holiness had been spread +abroad throughout the whole of France. Many pious persons were wearing +medals of lead or some other metal, stamped with her portrait, +according to the customary mode of honouring the memory of +saints.[1151] Paintings or sculptured figures of her were placed in +chapels. At mass the priest recited as a collect "the Maid's prayer +for the realm of France:" + +[Footnote 1151: _Ibid._, pp. 290, 291. A. Forgeais, _Collection de +plombs historiés trouvés dans la Seine_, Paris, 1869 (5 vol. in 8vo), +vol. ii, iv, and _passim_. Vallet de Viriville, _Notes sur deux +médailles de plomb relatives à Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1861, in 8vo, 30 +p. [Taken from _La revue archéologique_] N. Valois, _Un nouveau +témoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 8, 13. Cf. Appendix iv.] + +"O God, author of peace, who without bow or arrow dost destroy those +enemies who hope in themselves,[1152] we beseech thee O Lord, to +protect us in our adversity; and, as Thou hast delivered Thy people by +the hand of a woman, to stretch out to Charles our King, Thy +conquering arm, that our enemies, who make their boast in multitudes +and glory in bows and arrows, may be overcome by him at this present, +and vouchsafe that at the end of his days he with his people may +appear gloriously before Thee who art the way, the truth and the +life. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc."[1153] + +[Footnote 1152: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104. I read _in se sperantes_.] + +[Footnote 1153: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104. Lanéry d'Arc, _Le culte de +Jeanne d'Arc au XV'e siècle_, 1886, in 8vo.] + +In those days the saintly, both men and women, were consulted in all +the difficulties of life. The more they were deemed simple and +innocent the more counsel was asked of them. For if of themselves they +knew nothing then all the surer was it that the voice of God was to be +heard in their words. The Maid was believed to have no intelligence of +her own, wherefore she was held capable of solving the most difficult +questions with infallible wisdom. It was observed that knowing nought +of the arts of war, she waged war better than captains, whence it was +concluded that everything, which in her holy ignorance she undertook, +she would worthily accomplish. Thus at Toulouse it occurred to a +_capitoul_ to consult her on a financial question. In that city the +indignation of the townsfolk had been aroused because the guardians of +the mint had been ordered to issue coins greatly inferior to those +which had been previously in circulation. From April till June the +_capitouls_ had been endeavouring to get this order revoked. On the +2nd of June, the _capitoul_, Pierre Flamenc, proposed that the Maid +should be written to concerning the evils resulting from the +corruption of the coinage and that she should be asked to suggest a +remedy. Pierre Flamenc made this proposal at the Capitole because he +thought that a saint was a good counsellor in all matters, especially +in anything which concerned the coinage, particularly when, like the +Maid, she was the friend of the King.[1154] + +[Footnote 1154: A. Thomas, _Le siège d'Orléans, Jeanne d'Arc et les +capitouls de Toulouse_, in _Annales du Midi_, 1889, pp. 235, 236.] + +From Loches Jeanne sent a little gold ring to the Dame de Laval, who +had doubtless asked for some object she had touched.[1155] Fifty-four +years previously Jeanne Dame de Laval had married Sire Bertrand Du +Guesclin whose memory the French venerated and who in the House of +Orléans was known as the tenth of _Les Preux_. Dame Jeanne's renown, +however, fell short of that of Tiphaine Raguenel, astrologer and +fairy,[1156] who had been Sire Bertrand's first wife. Jeanne was a +choleric person and a miser. Driven out of her domain of Laval by the +English, she lived in retirement at Vitré with her daughter Anne. +Thirteen years before, the latter had incurred her mother's +displeasure by secretly marrying a landless younger son of a noble +house. When Dame Jeanne discovered it she imprisoned her daughter in a +dungeon and welcomed the younger son by shooting at him with a +cross-bow. After which the two ladies dwelt together in peace.[1157] + +[Footnote 1155: Letter from the Lavals, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 109. +Bertrand de Broussillon, _La maison de Laval, les Montfort-Laval_, +Paris, 1900, in 8vo, vol. iii, p. 75. Quicherat is mistaken when +(_Trial_, vol. v, p. 105) he gives the name of Anne to Du Guesclin's +widow and calls the mother of Guy and of André Jeanne.] + +[Footnote 1156: Cuvelier, _Poème de Duguesclin_, line 2325 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1157: Bertrand de Broussillon, _La maison de Laval_ in 8vo, +1900, vol. iii, _loc. cit._] + +From Loches the Maid went to Selles-en-Berry, a considerable town on +the Cher. Here, shortly before had met the three estates of the +kingdom; and here the troops were now gathering.[1158] + +[Footnote 1158: Letter from Gui de Laval, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 105. +Lucien Jeny and P. Lanéry d'Arc, _Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, Paris, s.d. +in 8vo, p. 53.] + +On Saturday, the 4th of June, she received a herald sent by the people +of Orléans to bring her tidings of the English.[1159] As commander in +war they recognised none but her. + +[Footnote 1159: Fortress accounts in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 262.] + +Meanwhile, surrounded by monks, and side by side with men-at-arms, +like a nun she lived apart, a saintly life. She ate and drank +little.[1160] She communicated once a week and confessed +frequently.[1161] During mass at the moment of elevation, at +confession and when she received the body of Our Lord she used to weep +many tears. Every evening, at the hour of vespers, she would retire +into a church and have the bells rung for about half an hour to summon +the mendicant friars who followed the army. Then she would begin to +pray while the brethren sang an anthem in honour of the Virgin +Mary.[1162] + +[Footnote 1160: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 3, 9, 15, 18, 22, 69, 219, +_passim_.] + +[Footnote 1161: _Ibid._, vol. v, under the words _Confession_ and +_Communion_. The Duke of Alençon says twice a week (_Ibid._, vol. iii, +p. 100).] + +[Footnote 1162: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 14; vol. ii, pp. 420, 424.] + +While practising as far as she was able the austerities required by +extreme piety, she appeared magnificently attired, like a lord, for +indeed she held her lordship from God. She wore the dress of a knight, +a small hat, doublet and hose to match, a fine cloak of silk and cloth +of gold well lined and shoes laced on the outer side of the +foot.[1163] Such attire in no wise scandalised even the most austere +members of the Dauphin's party. They read in holy Scripture that +Esther and Judith, inspired by the Lord, loaded themselves with +ornaments; true it was for sexual reasons and in order for the +salvation of Israel to attract Ahasuerus and Holophernes. Wherefore +they held that when Jeanne decked herself with masculine adornments, +in order to appear before the men-at-arms as an angel giving victory +to the Christian King, far from yielding to the vanities of the world, +she, like Esther and Judith, had nothing in her heart but the interest +of the holy nation and the glory of God. The English and Burgundian +clerks on the other hand converted into scandal what was a subject of +edification, and maintained that she was a woman dissolute in dress +and in manners. + +[Footnote 1163: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 220, 253; vol. ii, pp. 294, 438. +_Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 60. Analysis of a letter +from Regnault de Chartres in Rogier (_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 168-169). +Martin le Franc, _Le champion des dames_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 48.] + +For seven years now Saint Michael the Archangel and the Saints +Catherine and Margaret, wearing rich and precious crowns, had been +visiting and conversing with her. It was when the bells were ringing, +at the hour of compline and of matins, that she could best hear their +words.[1164] In those days bells of all kinds, large and small, +metropolitan, parochial or conventual, sounded in peals, or, chiming +harmoniously, in voices grave or gay, spoke to all men and of all +things. Their song descended from the sky to mark the ecclesiastical +and civic calendar. They called priests and people to church; they +mourned for the dead and they praised God; they announced fairs and +field work; they clashed portentous tidings through the sky, and in +times of war they called to arms and sounded the alarm. Friendly to +the husbandman they scattered the tempest, they warded off hail-storms +and drove away pestilence. They put to flight those demons that, +flying ceaselessly through the air, haunt the children of men; and to +their blessed sound was attributed the power of calming +violence.[1165] Saint Catharine, she who visited Jeanne every day, +was the patron of bells and bell-ringers. Thus many bells bore her +name. In the ringing of bells as in the rustling of leaves, Jeanne was +wont to hear her Voices. She seldom heard them without seeing a light +in the direction whence they came.[1166] Those Voices called her: +"Jeanne, daughter of God!"[1167] Often the Archangel and the Saints +appeared to her. When they came she did them reverence, bending her +knee and bowing her head; she kissed their feet, knowing it to be a +greater mark of respect than kissing the countenance. She was +conscious of the fragrance and grateful warmth of their glorified +bodies.[1168] + +[Footnote 1164: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 61, 62, 481.] + +[Footnote 1165: P. Blavignac, _La cloche_, Geneva, 1877, in 8vo. L. +Morillot, _Étude sur l'emploi des clochettes_, in _Bulletin hist. +archéolog. du diocèse de Dijon_, 1887, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1166: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 64, 153, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1167: _Ibid._, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 1168: _Ibid._, p. 186.] + +Saint Michael the Archangel did not come alone. There accompanied him +angels so numerous and so tiny that they danced like sparks in the +damsel's dazzled eyes. When the saints and the Archangel went away, +she wept with grief because they had not taken her with them.[1169] In +like manner an angel visited Judith in the camp of Holofernes. + +[Footnote 1169: _Ibid._, pp. 72, 75.] + +One day Jeanne's equerry, Jean d'Aulon, asked her what her Council +was, just as my Lord d'Harcourt had done. She replied that she had +three councillors, one of whom was always with her. Another was +constantly going and coming; the third was the one with whom the other +two deliberated. + +Sire d'Aulon, more curious than the King, besought and requested her +to let him see this Council for once. + +She replied: "Your virtues are not great enough and you are not worthy +to behold it."[1170] + +[Footnote 1170: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 219, 220.] + +The good squire never asked again. If he had read the Bible he would +have known that Elisha's servant did not see the angels beheld by the +prophet (2 Kings VI, 16, 17). + +And yet Jeanne imagined that her Council had appeared to the King and +his court. + +"My King," she said later, "my King and many besides saw and heard the +Voices that came to me. The Count of Clermont and two or three others +were with him."[1171] + +[Footnote 1171: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 57.] + +She believed it was so. But in reality she never showed her Voices to +anyone. Not even, despite what has been said to the contrary, to that +Guy de Cailly who had been following her since Chécy.[1172] + +[Footnote 1172: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 342. Guy de Cailly's patent of +nobility cannot be regarded as authentic. Vallet de Viriville, _Petit +traité...._ p. 92.] + +With Brother Pasquerel Jeanne engaged in pious conversation. To him +she often expressed the desire that the Church after her death should +pray for her and for all the French slain in the war. + +"If I were to depart from this world," she used to say to him, "I +should like the King to build chantries, where prayers should be +offered to Messire for the salvation of the souls of those who died in +war or for the defence of the realm."[1173] + +[Footnote 1173: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 112.] + +Such a wish was common to all devout souls. What Christian in those +days did not hold the practice of saying masses for the dead to be +good and salutary? Thus, in the matter of devotion, the Maid was in +accord with Duke Charles of Orléans, who, in one of his complaints, +recommends the saying and singing of masses for the souls of those who +had suffered violent death in the service of the realm.[1174] + +[Footnote 1174: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 112. _Poésies de Charles +d'Orléans_, ed. A. Champollion-Figeac, p. 174.] + +She said one day to the good brother: "There is succour that I am +appointed to bring." + +And Pasquerel, albeit he had studied the Bible, cried out in +amazement: "Such a history as yours there hath never been before in +the world. Nought like unto it can be read in any book." + +Jeanne answered him even more boldly than the doctors at Poitiers: +"Messire has a book in which no clerk, however perfect his learning, +has ever read."[1175] + +[Footnote 1175: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 108, 109.] + +She had received her mission from God alone, and she read in a book +sealed against all the doctors of the Church. + +On the reverse of her standard, sprinkled by mendicants with holy +water, she had had a dove painted, holding in its beak a scroll, +whereon were written the words "in the name of the King of +Heaven."[1176] These were the armorial bearings she had received from +her Council. The emblem and the device seemed appropriate to her, +since she proclaimed that God had sent her, and since at Orléans she +had given the sign promised at Poitiers. The King, notwithstanding, +changed this shield for arms representing a crown supported upon a +sword between two flowers-de-luce and indicating clearly what was the +aid that the Maid of God was bringing to the realm of France. It is +said that she regretted having to abandon the arms communicated to her +by divine revelation.[1177] + +[Footnote 1176: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 78, 117, 182.] + +[Footnote 1177: _Ibid._, pp. 117, 300; vol. v, p. 227.] + +She prophesied, and, as happens to all prophets, she did not always +foretell what was to come to pass. It was the fate of the prophet +Jonah himself. And doctors explain how the prophecies of true prophets +cannot be all fulfilled. + +She had said: "Before Saint John the Baptist's Day, in 1429, there +shall not be one Englishman, howsoever strong and valiant, to be seen +throughout France, either in battle or in the open field."[1178] + +[Footnote 1178: Letter written from Germany, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +351. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 33, 46, 62.] + +The nativity of Saint John the Baptist is celebrated on the 24th of +June. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE TAKING OF JARGEAU--THE BRIDGE OF MEUNG--BEAUGENCY + + +On Monday, the 6th of June, the King lodged at Saint-Aignan near +Selles-en-Berry.[1179] Among the gentlemen of his company were two +sons of that Dame de Laval who, in her widowhood, had made the mistake +of loving a landless cadet. André, the younger, at the age of twenty, +had just passed under the cloud of a disgrace common to nearly all +nobles in those days; his grandmother's second husband, Sire Bertrand +Du Guesclin, had experienced it several times. Taken prisoner in the +château of Laval by Sir John Talbot, he had incurred a heavy debt in +order to furnish the sixteen thousand golden crowns of his +ransom.[1180] + +[Footnote 1179: Letter from Gui and André de Laval to the Ladies de +Laval, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 106. L. Jeny and Lanéry d'Arc, _Jeanne +D'Arc en Berry_, Paris, 1892, in 8vo, p. 54.] + +[Footnote 1180: Bertrand de Broussillon, _La maison de Laval_, vol. +iii, p. 21.] + +Being in great need of money, the two young nobles offered their +services to the King, who received them very well, gave them not a +crown, but said he would show them the Maid. And as he was going with +them from Saint-Aignan to Selles, he summoned the Saint,[1181] who +straightway, armed at all points save her head, and lance in hand, +rode out to meet the King. She greeted the two young nobles heartily +and returned with them to Selles. The eldest, Lord Guy, she received +in the house where she was lodging, opposite the church, and called +for wine. Such was the custom among princes. Cups of wine were +brought, into which the guests dipped slices of bread called +sops.[1182] When offering him the wine cup, the Maid said to Lord Guy: +"I will shortly give you to drink at Paris." + +[Footnote 1181: Letter from Gui and André de Laval, in _Trial_, vol. +v, pp. 106 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1182: N. Villiaumé, _Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 88.] + +She told him that, three days before, she had sent a gold ring to Dame +Jeanne de Laval. + +"It was a small matter," she added graciously. "I should like to have +sent her something of greater value, considering her reputation."[1183] + +[Footnote 1183: _Recommandation_ in French. The esteem in which she +was held. Compare Froissart cited by La Curne, Glossary, _ad v. "Six +bourgeois de la ville de Calais et de plus grande recommandation."_ +("Six citizens of Calais and of the highest reputation.")] + +That same day, at the hour of vespers, she set out from Selles for +Romorantin with a numerous company of men-at-arms and train-bands, +commanded by Marshal de Boussac. She was surrounded by mendicant +friars and one of her brothers went with her. She wore white armour +and a hood. Her horse was brought to her at the door of her house. It +was a great black charger which resolutely refused to let her mount +him. She had him led to the Cross by the roadside, opposite the +church, and there she leapt into the saddle. Whereupon Lord Guy +marvelled; for he saw that the charger was as still as if he had been +bound. She turned her horse's head towards the church porch, and in +her clear woman's voice cried: "Ye priests and churchmen, walk in +processions and pray to God." + +Then, gaining the highroad: "Go forward, go forward," she said. + +In her hand she carried a little axe. Her page bore her standard +furled.[1184] + +[Footnote 1184: Letter from Gui and André de Laval, in _Trial_, vol. +v, pp. 106, 107.] + +The meeting-place was Orléans. On Thursday, the 9th of June, in the +evening, Jeanne passed over the bridge she had crossed on the 8th of +May. Saturday, the 11th, the army set out for Jargeau.[1185] It +consisted of horse brought by the Duke of Alençon, the Count of +Vendôme, the Bastard, the Marshal de Boussac, Captain La Hire, Messire +Florent d'Illiers, Messire Jamet du Tillay, Messire Thudal de +Kermoisan of Brittany, as well as of contingents furnished by the +communes, in all, perhaps eight thousand combatants, many of whom were +armed with pikes, axes, cross-bows and leaden mallets.[1186] The young +Duke of Alençon was placed in command. He was not remarkable for his +intelligence.[1187] But he knew how to ride, and in those days that +was the only knowledge indispensable to a general. Again the people of +Orléans defrayed the cost of the expedition. For the payment of the +fighting men they contributed three thousand livres, for their +feeding, seven hogsheads of corn. At their own request, the King +imposed on them a new _taille_ of three thousand livres.[1188] At +their own expense they despatched workmen of all trades,--masons, +carpenters, smiths. They lent their artillery. They sent culverins, +cannons, La Bergère, and the large mortar to which four horses were +harnessed, with the gunners Megret and Jean Boillève.[1189] They +furnished ammunition, engines, arrows, ladders, pickaxes, spades, +mattocks; and all were marked, for they were a methodical folk. +Everything for the siege was sent to the Maid. For in this undertaking +she was the one commander they recognised, not the Duke of Alençon, +not even the Bastard their own lord's noble brother. For the +inhabitants of Orléans, Jeanne was the leader of the siege; and to +Jeanne, before the besieged town, they despatched two of their +citizens,--Jean Leclerc and François Joachim.[1190] After the citizens +of Orléans, the Sire de Rais contributed most to the expenses of the +siege of Jargeau.[1191] This unfortunate noble spent thoughtlessly +right and left, while rich burgesses made great profits by lending to +him at a high rate of interest. The sorry state of his affairs was +shortly to bring him to attempt their readjustment by vowing his soul +to the devil. + +[Footnote 1185: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 94; vol. iv, p. 12.] + +[Footnote 1186: _Mistère du siège_, line 15,761. _Journal du siège_, +p. 95. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 299. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 81. Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 338.] + +[Footnote 1187: See _ante_, p. 211. A. Duveau, _Le jugement du duc +d'Alençon_, in _Bull. soc. archéol. du Vendômois_ (1874), vol. xiii, +pp. 132 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1188: Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses faites par Charles VII +pour secourir Orléans_, p. 158.] + +[Footnote 1189: _Journal du siège_, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 1190: Taken from the Book of Accounts, in _Trial_, vol. v, +pp. 262, 263. A. de Villaret, _Campagnes de Jeanne d'Arc sur la +Loire_, pp. 77-80. Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses_, p. 149.] + +[Footnote 1191: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 261.] + +The town of Jargeau, which was shortly to be taken after a severe +siege, had surrendered to the English without resistance on the 5th of +October in the previous year.[1192] The bridge leading to the town +from the Beauce bank was furnished with two castlets.[1193] The town +itself, surrounded by walls and towers, was not strongly fortified; +but its means of defence had been improved by the English. Warned +that the army of the French King was coming to besiege it, the Earl of +Suffolk and his two brothers threw themselves into the town, with five +hundred knights, squires, and other fighting men, as well as two +hundred picked bowmen.[1194] The Duke of Alençon with six hundred +horse was at the head of the force, and with him, the Maid. The first +night they slept in the woods.[1195] On the morrow, at daybreak, my +Lord the Bastard, my Lord Florent d'Illiers, and several other +captains joined them. They were in a great hurry to reach Jargeau. +Suddenly they hear that Sir John Fastolf is at hand, coming from Paris +with two thousand combatants, bringing supplies and artillery to +Jargeau.[1196] + +[Footnote 1192: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 258.] + +[Footnote 1193: Berry, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 45.] + +[Footnote 1194: _Journal du siège_, p. 96. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 299. _Chronique de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 295. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 82. Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +44. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 325.] + +[Footnote 1195: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 94. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 150, +151.] + +[Footnote 1196: _Journal du siège_, _Chronique de la Pucelle_, Berry, +Jean Chartier, _loc. cit._ Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, +vol. i, p. 284. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 452.] + +This was the army which had been the cause of Jeanne's anxiety on the +4th of May, because her saints had not told her where Fastolf was. The +captains held a council of war. Many thought the siege ought to be +abandoned and that the army should go to meet Fastolf. Some actually +went off at once. Jeanne exhorted the men-at-arms to continue their +march on Jargeau. Where Sir John Fastolf's army was, she knew no more +than the others; her reasons were not of this world. + +"Be not afraid of any armed host whatsoever," she said, "and make no +difficulty of attacking the English, for Messire leads you." + +And again she said: "Were I not assured that Messire leads, I would +rather be keeping sheep than running so great a danger." + +She gained a better hearing from the Duke of Alençon than from any of +the Orléans leaders.[1197] Those who had gone were recalled and the +march on Jargeau was continued.[1198] + +[Footnote 1197: Perceval de Cagny, p. 148, _passim_. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 300.] + +[Footnote 1198: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 95.] + +The suburbs of the town appeared undefended; but, when the French +King's men approached, they found the English posted in front of the +outbuildings, wherefore they were compelled to retreat. When the Maid +beheld this, she seized her standard and threw herself upon the enemy, +calling on the fighting men to take courage. That night, the French +King's men were able to encamp in the suburbs.[1199] They kept no +watch, and yet from the Duke of Alençon's own avowal they would have +been in great danger if the English had made a sally.[1200] The Maid's +judgment was even more fully justified than she expected. Everything +in her army depended upon the grace of God. + +[Footnote 1199: The night of Friday, the 10th to 11th of June.] + +[Footnote 1200: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 95.] + +The very next day, in the morning the besiegers brought their siege +train and their mortars up to the walls. The Orléans cannon fired upon +the town and did great damage. Three of La Bergère's volleys wrecked +the greatest tower on the fortifications.[1201] + +[Footnote 1201: _Ibid._ _Journal du siège_, p. 97.] + +The train-bands reached Jargeau on Saturday, the 11th. Straightway, +without staying to take counsel, they hastened to the trenches and +began the assault. They were too zealous; consequently, they went +badly to work, received no aid from the men-at-arms and were driven +back in disorder.[1202] + +[Footnote 1202: Perceval de Cagny, p. 150.] + +On Saturday night, the Maid, who was accustomed to summon the enemy +before fighting, approached the entrenchments, and cried out to the +English: "Surrender the town to the King of Heaven and to King +Charles, and depart, or it will be the worse for you."[1203] + +[Footnote 1203: _Ibid._] + +To this summons the English paid no heed, albeit they had a great +desire to come to some understanding. The Earl of Suffolk came to my +Lord the Bastard, and told him that if he would refrain from the +attack, the town should be surrendered to him. The English asked for a +fortnight's respite, after which time, they would undertake to +withdraw immediately, they and their horses, provided, doubtless, that +by that time they had not been relieved.[1204] On both sides such +conditional surrenders were common. The Sire de Baudricourt had signed +one at Vaucouleurs just before Jeanne's arrival there.[1205] In this +case it was mere trickery to ask the French to enter into such an +agreement just when Sir John Fastolf was coming with artillery and +supplies.[1206] It has been asserted that the Bastard was taken in +this snare; but such a thing is incredible; he was far too wily for +that. Nevertheless, on the morrow, which was Sunday and the 12th of +the month, the Duke of Alençon and the nobles, who were holding a +council concerning the measures for the capture of the town, were told +that Captain La Hire was conferring with the Earl of Suffolk. They +were highly displeased.[1207] Captain La Hire, who was not a general, +could not treat in his own name, and had doubtless received powers +from my Lord the Bastard. The latter commanded for the Duke, a +prisoner in the hands of the English, while the Duke of Alençon +commanded for the King; and hence the disagreement. + +[Footnote 1204: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 79, 95.] + +[Footnote 1205: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. clxviii.] + +[Footnote 1206: _Journal du siège, Chronique de la Pucelle_, J. +Chartier, Monstrelet, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 1207: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 95.] + +The Maid, who was always ready to show mercy to prisoners when they +surrendered and at the same time always ready to fight, said: "If they +will, let them in their jackets of mail depart from Jargeau with their +lives! If they will not, the town shall be stormed."[1208] + +[Footnote 1208: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 79-80, 234.] + +The Duke of Alençon, without even inquiring the terms of the +capitulation, had Captain La Hire recalled. + +He came, and straightway the ladders were brought. The heralds sounded +the trumpets and cried: "To the assault." + +The Maid unfurled her standard, and fully armed, wearing on her head +one of those light helmets known as _chapelines_,[1209] she went down +into the trenches with the King's men and the train-bands, well within +reach of arrows and cannon-balls. She kept by the Duke of Alençon's +side, saying: "Forward! fair duke, to the assault." + +[Footnote 1209: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 97. Perceval de Cagny, pp. +150-151.] + +The Duke, who was not so courageous as she, thought that she went +rather hastily to work; and this he gave her to understand. + +Then she encouraged him: "Fear not. God's time is the right time. When +He wills it you must open the attack. Go forward, He will prepare the +way." + +And seeing him lack confidence, she reminded him of the promise she had +recently made concerning him in the Abbey of Saint-Florent-lès-Saumur. +"Oh! Fair Duke, can you be afraid? Do you not remember that I promised +your wife to bring you back safe and sound?"[1210] + +[Footnote 1210: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 95-96.] + +In the thick of the attack, she noticed on the wall one of those long +thin mortars, which, from the manner of its charging, was called a +breechloader. Seeing it hurl stones on the very spot where the King's +fair cousin was standing, she realised the danger, but not for +herself. "Move away," she said quickly. "That cannon will kill you." + +The Duke had not moved more than a few yards, when a nobleman of +Anjou, the Sire Du Lude, having taken the place he had quitted, was +killed by a ball from that same cannon.[1211] The Duke of Alençon +marvelled at her prophetic gift. Doubtless the Maid had been sent to +save him, but she had not been sent to save the Sire Du Lude. The +angels of the Lord are sent for the salvation of some, for the +destruction of others. When the French King's men reached the wall, +the Earl of Suffolk cried out for a parley with the Duke of Alençon. +No heed was paid to him and the assault continued.[1212] + +[Footnote 1211: _Ibid._, pp. 96, 97. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +301. _Journal du siège_, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 1212: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 97.] + +The attack had lasted four hours,[1213] when Jeanne, standard in hand, +climbed up a ladder leaning against the rampart. A stone fired from a +cannon struck her helmet and knocked it with its escutcheon, bearing +her arms, off her head. They thought she was crushed, but she rose +quickly and cried to the fighting men: "Up, friends, up! Messire has +doomed the English. They are ours at this moment. Be of good +cheer."[1214] + +[Footnote 1213: _Journal du siège_, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 1214: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 97. _Journal du siège_, p. 98. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 301-302. Perceval de Cagny, pp. +150-151.] + +The wall was scaled and the French King's men penetrated into the +town. The English fled into La Beauce and the French rushed in pursuit +of them. Guillaume Regnault, a squire of Auvergne, came up with the +Earl of Suffolk on the bridge and took him prisoner. + +"Are you a gentleman?" asked Suffolk. + +"Yes." + +"Are you a knight?" + +"No." + +The Earl of Suffolk dubbed him a knight and surrendered to him.[1215] + +[Footnote 1215: _Journal du siège_, p. 99. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 302. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 82. Berry, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 65.] + +Very soon the rumour ran that the Earl of Suffolk had surrendered on +his knees to the Maid.[1216] It was even stated that he had asked to +surrender to her as to the bravest lady in the world.[1217] But it is +more likely that he would have surrendered to the lowest menial of the +army rather than to a woman whom he held to be a witch possessed of +the devil. + +[Footnote 1216: Fragment of a letter concerning the wonders which +happened in Poitou, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 122.] + +[Footnote 1217: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 340. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 70. _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 121-122.] + +John Pole, Suffolk's brother, was likewise taken on the bridge. The +Duke's third brother, Alexander Pole, was slain in the same place or +drowned in the Loire.[1218] + +[Footnote 1218: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 72. Perceval de Cagny, p. 151. +_Journal du siège_, p. 99. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 328. Morosini, vol. +iii, pp. 128, 129.] + +The garrison surrendered at discretion. Now, as always, no great harm +was done during the battle, but afterwards the conquerors made up for +it. Five hundred English were massacred; the nobles alone were held to +ransom. And over them, the French fell to quarrelling. The French +nobles kept them all for themselves; the train-bands claimed their +share, and, not getting it, began to destroy everything. What the +nobles could save was carried off during the night, by water, to +Orléans. The town was completely sacked; the old church, which had +served the _Godons_ as a magazine, was pillaged.[1219] + +[Footnote 1219: _Journal du siège_, p. 99.] + +Including killed and wounded, the French had not lost twenty +men.[1220] + +[Footnote 1220: Perceval de Cagny, p. 151. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 302. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 82, 83. Berry, in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 65.] + +Without disarming, the Maid and the knights returned to Orléans. To +celebrate the taking of Jargeau, the magistrates organised a public +procession. An eloquent sermon was preached by a Jacobin monk, Brother +Robert Baignart.[1221] + +[Footnote 1221: Accounts of the town of Orléans at the end of _Le +Journal du siège_, ed. Charpentier and Cuissard, p. 229. Le R.P. +Chapotin, _La guerre de cent ans, Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains_, +Paris, 1889, 8vo, p. 82.] + +The inhabitants of Orléans presented the Duke of Alençon with six +casks of wine, the Maid with four, the Count of Vendôme with +two.[1222] + +[Footnote 1222: A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, proofs and +illustrations, p. 51.] + +As an acknowledgment of the good and acceptable services rendered by +the holy maiden, the councillors of the captive Duke Charles of +Orléans, gave her a green cloak and a robe of crimson Flemish cloth +or fine Brussels purple. Jean Luillier, who furnished the stuff, +asked eight crowns for two ells of fine Brussels at four crowns the +ell; two crowns for the lining of the robe; two crowns for an ell of +yellowish green cloth, making in all twelve golden crowns.[1223] Jean +Luillier was a young woollen draper who adored the Maid and regarded +her as an angel of God. He had a good heart; but fear of the English +dazzled him, and where they were concerned caused him to see +double.[1224] One of his kinsfolk was a member of the council elected +in 1429. He himself was to be appointed magistrate a little +later.[1225] + +[Footnote 1223: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 112-113.] + +[Footnote 1224: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 23.] + +[Footnote 1225: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 306.] + +Jean Bourgeois, tailor, asked one golden crown for the making of the +robe and the cloak, as well as for furnishing white satin, taffeta, +and other stuffs.[1226] + +[Footnote 1226: _Ibid._, pp. 112, 114.] + +The town had previously given the Maid half an ell of cloth of two +shades of green worth thirty-five _sous_ of Paris to make "nettles" +for her gown.[1227] Nettles were the Duke of Orléans' device, green or +purple or crimson his colours.[1228] This green was no longer the +bright colour of earlier days, it had gradually been growing darker as +the fortunes of the house declined. It had first been a vivid green, +then a brownish shade, and, finally, the tint of the faded leaf with a +suggestion of black in it which signified sorrow and mourning. The +Maid's colour was _feuillemort_. She, like the officers of the duchy +and the men of the train-bands, wore the Orléans livery; and thus +they made of her a kind of herald-at-arms or heraldic angel. + +[Footnote 1227: _Accounts of the Fortress_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +259.] + +[Footnote 1228: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 106, 259. _Catalogue des Arch. de +Joursanvault_, vol. i, p. 129, nos. 603, 607, 619, 645, 772. +Dambreville, _Abrégé de l'histoire des ordres de chevalerie_, p. 167. +P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, p. 92.] + +The cloak of yellowish green and the robe embroidered with nettles, +she must have been glad to wear for love of Duke Charles, whom the +English had treated with such sore despite. Having come to defend the +heritage of the captive prince, she said that in Jesus' name, the good +Duke of Orléans was on her mind and she was confident that she would +deliver him.[1229] Her design was first to summon the English to give +him up; then, if they refused, to cross the sea and with an army to +seek him in England.[1230] In case such means failed her, she had +thought of another course which she would adopt, with the permission +of her saints. She would ask the King if he would let her take +prisoners, believing that she could take enough to exchange for Duke +Charles.[1231] Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret had promised her +that thus his deliverance would take her less than three years and +longer than one.[1232] Such were the pious dreams of a child lulled to +sleep by the sound of her village bells! Deeming it just that she +should labour and suffer to rescue her princes from trouble and +weariness, she used to say, like a good servant: "I know that in +matters of bodily ease God loves my King and the Duke of Orléans +better than me; and I know it because it hath been revealed unto +me."[1233] + +[Footnote 1229: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 55, 258.] + +[Footnote 1230: _Ibid._, p. 254.] + +[Footnote 1231: _Ibid._, p. 133.] + +[Footnote 1232: _Ibid._, pp. 133, 254.] + +[Footnote 1233: _Ibid._, p. 258.] + +Then, speaking of the captive duke she would say: "My Voices have +revealed much to me concerning him. Duke Charles hath oftener been the +subject of my revelations than any man living except my King."[1234] + +[Footnote 1234: _Ibid._, p. 55.] + +In reality, all that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret had done was +to tell her of the well-known misfortunes of the Prince. Valentine of +Milan's son and Isabelle Romée's daughter were separated by a gulf +broader and deeper than the ocean which stretched between them. They +dwelt at the antipodes of the world of souls, and all the saints of +Paradise would have been unable to explain one to the other. + +All the same Duke Charles was a good prince and a debonair; he was +kind and he was pitiful. More than any other he possessed the gift of +pleasing. He charmed by his grace, albeit but ill-looking and of weak +constitution.[1235] His temperament was so out of harmony with his +position that he may be said to have endured his life rather than to +have lived it. His father assassinated by night in the Rue Barbette in +Paris by order of Duke John; his mother a perennial fount of tears, +dying of anger and of grief in a Franciscan nunnery; the two S's, +standing for _Soupirs_ (sighs) and _Souci_ (care), the emblems and +devices of her mourning, revealing her ingenious mind fancifully +elegant even in despair; the Armagnacs, the Burgundians, the +Cabochiens, cutting each other's throats around him; these were the +sights he had witnessed when little more than a child. Then he had +been wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Azincourt. + +[Footnote 1235: Bibliothèque Nationale, ms. fr. 966, fol. 1.] + +Now, for fourteen years, dragged from castle to castle, from one end +to the other of the island of fogs; imprisoned within thick walls, +closely guarded, receiving two or three of his countrymen at long +intervals, but never permitted to converse with one except before +witnesses, he felt old before his time, blighted by misfortune. "Fruit +fallen in its greenness, I was put to ripen on prison straw. I am +winter fruit,"[1236] he said of himself. In his captivity, he suffered +without hope, knowing that on his death-bed Henry V had recommended +his brother not to give him up at any price.[1237] + +[Footnote 1236: _Les poésies de Charles d'Orléans_, ed. Guichard, +1842, in 12mo, p. 145.] + +[Footnote 1237: A. Champollion-Figeac, _Louis et Charles, ducs +d'Orléans, leur influence sur les arts, la littérature et l'ésprit de +leur siècle_, Paris, 1844, 1 vol. in 8vo, with an atlas, pp. 300-337.] + +Kind to others, kind to himself, he took refuge in his own thoughts, +which were as bright and clear as his life was dark and sad. In the +gloom of the stern castles of Windsor and of Bolingbroke, in the Tower +of London, side by side with his gaolers, he lived and moved in the +world of phantasy of the _Romance of the Rose_. Venus, Cupid, Hope, +Fair-Welcome, Pleasure, Pity, Danger, Sadness, Care, Melancholy, +Sweet-Looks were around the desk, on which, in the deep embrasure of a +window, beneath the sun's rays, he wrote his ballads, as delicate and +fresh as an illumination on the page of a manuscript. For him it was +the world of allegory that really existed. He wandered in the forest +of Long Expectation; he embarked on the vessel Good Tidings. He was a +poet; Beauty was his lady; and courteously did he sing of her. From +his verses one would say that he was but the Captive of Lord +Love.[1238] + +[Footnote 1238: _Les poésies de Charles d'Orléans_, ed. A. +Champollion-Figeac, Paris, 1842, 8vo. Pierre Champion, _Le manuscrit +autographe des poésies de Charles d'Orléans_, Paris, 1907, 8vo.] + +He was left in ignorance of the affairs of his duchy; and, if he ever +concerned himself about it, it was when he collected the books of King +Charles V which had been bought by the Duke of Bedford and resold to +London merchants;[1239] or when he commanded that on the approach of +the English to Blois, its fine tapestries and his father's library +should be carried off to La Rochelle. After Beauty rich hangings and +delicate miniatures were what he loved most in the world.[1240] The +bright sunshine of France, the lovely month of May, dancing and ladies +were what he longed for most. He was cured of prowess and of chivalry. + +[Footnote 1239: L. Delisle, _Recherches sur la librairie de Charles V_ +(1907), vol. i, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 1240: Le Roux de Lincy, _La bibliothèque de Charles +d'Orléans à son château de Blois, en 1427_, Paris, 1843, 8vo, pp. 5-7. +Comte de Laborde, _Les ducs de Bourgogne, études sur les lettres, les +arts et l'industrie pendant le XV'e siècle_, Paris, 1852, vol. iii, +pp. 235 _et seq._--_Inventaires et documents relatifs aux joyaux et +tapisseries des princes d'Orléans-Valois_, Paris, 1894, 8vo.] + +Some have wished to believe that from his duchy news reached him of +the Maid's coming. They have gone so far as to imagine that a faithful +servant kept him informed of the happy incidents of May and June, +1429;[1241] but nothing is less certain. On the contrary, the +probability is that the English refused to let him receive any +message, and that he was totally ignorant of all that was going on in +the two kingdoms.[1242] + +[Footnote 1241: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, Introduction by Vallet de +Viriville, pp. 8, 19 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1242: With regard to the year 1433, this is well established +(_Poésies complètes de Charles d'Orléans_, ed. Charles d'Héricault, +Paris, 1874, 2 vols. 8vo, introduction).] + +Possibly he did not care for news of the war as much as one might +expect. He hoped nothing from men-at-arms; and it was not to his fair +cousins of France and to feats of prowess and battles that he looked +for deliverance. He knew too much about them. It was in peace that he +put his trust, both for himself and for his people. Since the fathers +were dead, he thought that the sons might forgive and forget. He +placed his hope in his cousin of Burgundy; and he was right, for the +fortunes of the English were in the hands of Duke Philip. Charles +brought himself, or at any rate he was to bring himself later, to +recognise the suzerainty of the King of England. It is less important +to consider the weakness of men than the force of circumstances. And +the prisoner could never do enough to obtain peace: "joy's greatest +treasure."[1243] + +[Footnote 1243: _Poésies de Charles d'Orléans_, ed. A. +Champollion-Figeac, pp. 175-176.] + +No, despite her revelations, the picture Jeanne imagined of her fair +Duke was not the true one. They were never to meet; but if they had +met there would have been serious misunderstandings between them, and +they would have remained incomprehensible one to the other. Jeanne's +elemental, straight-forward way of thinking could never have accorded +with the ideas of so great a noble and so courteous a poet. They could +never have understood each other because she was simple, he subtle; +because she was a prophetess while he was filled with courtly +knowledge and lettered grace; because she believed, and he was as one +not believing; because she was a daughter of the common folk and a +saint ascribing all sovereignty to God, while for him law consisted in +feudal uses and customs, alliances and treaties;[1244] because, in +short, they held conflicting ideas concerning life and the world. The +Maid's mission, her being sent by Messire to recover his duchy for +him, would never have appealed to the good Duke; and Jeanne would +never have understood his behaviour towards his English and Burgundian +cousins. It was better they should never meet. + +[Footnote 1244: For him every treaty of peace was a good treaty, even +that of 1420, the Treaty of Troyes (Pierre Champion, _Le manuscrit +autographe des poésies de Charles d'Orléans_, Paris, 1907, 8vo, p. +32).] + +The capture of Jargeau had given the French control of the upper +Loire. In order to free the city of Orléans from all danger, it was +necessary to make sure of the banks of the lower river. There the +English still held Meung and Beaugency. On Tuesday, the 14th of June, +at the hour of vespers, the army took the field.[1245] + +[Footnote 1245: Perceval de Cagny, p. 152: "_Je veux demain, après +dîner, aller voir ceux de Meung_." ["To-morrow after dinner I will go +to the people of Meung."] The turn of expression which this chronicle +attributes to Jeanne is really that of the clerk who wrote it.] + +They passed through La Sologne, and that same evening gained the +Bridge of Meung, situated above the town and separated from its walls +by a broad meadow. Like most bridges, it was defended by a castlet at +each end; and the English had provided it with an earthen outwork, as +they had done for Les Tourelles at Orléans.[1246] They defended it +badly, however, and the French King's men forced their way in before +nightfall. They left a garrison there, and went out to encamp in +Beauce, almost under the walls. The young Duke of Alençon lodged in a +church with a few men-at-arms; and, as was his wont, did not keep +watch. He was surprised and ran great danger.[1247] + +[Footnote 1246: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 71, 97, 110. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 305. _Journal du siège_, p. 101. Berry, in _Trial_, vol. +iv, p. 44. Walter Bower, _Scotichronicon_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +479. Eberhard Windecke, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 1247: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 97.] + +The town garrison, which was a small one, was commanded by Lord +Scales, and "the Child of Warwick." The next day, early in the +morning, the King's men, passing within a cannon shot of the town of +Meung, marched straight on Beaugency, which they reached in the +morning.[1248] + +[Footnote 1248: _Ibid._, pp. 97, 98.] + +The ancient little town, built on the side of a hill and girt around +with vineyards, gardens, and cornfields, sloped before them towards +the green valley of the Ru. Straight in front of them rose its square +tower of somewhat proud aspect, although it had oftentimes been taken. +The suburbs were not fortified; but the French, when they entered +them, were riddled by a shower of arrows of every kind, fired by +archers concealed in dwellings and outhouses. On both sides there were +killed and wounded. Finally, the English retreated into the castle and +the bridge bastions.[1249] + +[Footnote 1249: _Journal du siège_, p. 101. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 304. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 83.] + +The Duke of Alençon stationed sentinels in front of the castle to +watch the English. Just then, he saw coming towards him, two nobles of +Brittany, the Lords of Rostrenen and of Kermoisan, who said to him: +"The Constable asks the besiegers for entertainment."[1250] + +[Footnote 1250: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 97, 98. Gruel, _Chronique de +Richemont_, p. 70.] + +Arthur of Brittany, Sire de Richemont, Constable of France, had spent +the winter in Poitou waging war against the troops of the Sire de La +Trémouille. Now in defiance of the King's prohibition the Constable +came to join the King's men.[1251] He had crossed the Loire at Amboise +and arrived before Beaugency with six hundred men-at-arms and four +hundred archers.[1252] His coming caused the captains great +embarrassment. Some esteemed him a man of strong will and great +courage. But many were dependent upon the Sire de La Trémouille, as +for example the poor squire, Jean d'Aulon. The Duke of Alençon wanted +to retreat, alleging that the King had commanded him not to receive +the Constable. + +[Footnote 1251: E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de Richemont_, pp. 93 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 1252: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 315, 516. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 84. _Journal du siège_, pp. 101, 102. Perceval +de Cagny, p. 153.] + +"If the Constable comes, I shall retire," he said to Jeanne. + +To the Breton nobles he replied, that if the Constable came into the +camp, the Maid, and the besiegers would fight against him.[1253] + +[Footnote 1253: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 98. E. Cosneau, _Le connétable +de Richemont_, p. 168.] + +So decided was he that he mounted his horse to ride straight up to the +Bretons. The Maid, out of respect for him and for the King, was +preparing to follow him. But many of the captains restrained the Duke +of Alençon[1254] deeming that now was not the time to break a lance +with the Constable of France. + +[Footnote 1254: Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, pp. 70 _et seq._] + +On the morrow a loud alarm was sounded in the camp. The heralds were +crying: "To arms!" The English were said to be approaching in great +numbers. The young Duke still wanted to retreat in order to avoid +receiving the Constable. This time Jeanne dissuaded him: "We must +stand together," she said.[1255] + +[Footnote 1255: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 98.] + +He listened to this counsel and went forth to meet the Constable, +followed by the Maid, my Lord the Bastard, and the Lords of Laval. +Near the leper's hospital at Beaugency they encountered a fine +company. As they approached, a thick-lipped little man, dark and +frowning, alighted from his horse.[1256] It was Arthur of Brittany. +The Maid embraced his knees as she was accustomed to do when holding +converse with the great ones of heaven and earth. Thus did every baron +when he met one nobler than himself.[1257] + +[Footnote 1256: Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, p. 71. Cf. E. +Cosneau, _Le connétable de Richemont_, pp. 169, 583. See a drawing in +the Gaignières collection reproduced by J. Lair, _Essai sur la +bataille de Formigny_, 1903, 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1257: _Lors le saluèrent et le vinrent accoller par les +jambes._ (Then they saluted him and embraced his knees.) J. de Bueil, +_Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 191.] + +The Constable spoke to her as a good Catholic, a devout servant of God +and the Church, saying: "Jeanne, I have heard that you wanted to fight +against me. Whether you are sent by God I know not. If you are I do +not fear you. For God knows that my heart is right. If you are sent by +the devil I fear you still less."[1258] + +[Footnote 1258: Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, pp. 71-72. I have +here followed Gruel, who is not generally very trustworthy, but whose +account in this particular seems probable, at least he is no mere +hagiographer.] + +He was entitled to speak thus, for he made a point of never +acknowledging the devil's power over him. His love of God he showed by +seeking out wizards and witches with a greater zeal than was displayed +by bishops and inquisitors. In France, in Poitou, and in Brittany he +had sent more to the stake than any other man living.[1259] + +[Footnote 1259: _Ibid._, p. 228.] + +The Duke of Alençon dared not either dismiss him or grant him a +lodging for the night. It was the custom for new comers to keep the +watch. The Constable with his company kept watch that night in front +of the castle.[1260] + +[Footnote 1260: _Ibid._, p. 72. E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de +Richemont_, p. 170.] + +Without more ado the young Duke of Alençon proceeded to the attack. +Here, again, those who bore the brunt of the attack and provided for +the siege were the citizens of Orléans. The magistrates of the town +had sent by water from Meung to Beaugency the necessary siege train, +ladders, pickaxes, mattocks, and those great pent-houses beneath which +the besiegers protected themselves like tortoises under their shells. +They had sent also cannons and mortars. The gay gunner, Master Jean de +Montesclère, was there.[1261] All these supplies were addressed to the +Maid. The magistrate, Jean Boillève, brought bread and wine in a +barge.[1262] Throughout Friday, the 7th, mortars and cannon hurled +stones on the besieged. At the same time from the valley and from the +river the attack was being made from barges. On the 17th of June, at +midnight, Sir Richard Gethyn, Bailie of Évreux, who commanded the +garrison, offered to capitulate. It was agreed that the English should +surrender the castle and bridge, and depart on the morrow, taking with +them horses and harness with each man his property to the value of not +more than one silver mark. Further, they were required to swear that +they would not take up arms again before the expiration of ten days. +On these terms, the next day, at sunrise, to the number of five +hundred, they crossed the drawbridge and retreated on Meung, where the +castle, but not the bridge, remained in the hands of the +English.[1263] The Constable wisely sent a few men to reinforce the +garrison on the Meung Bridge.[1264] Sir Richard Gethyn and Captain +Matthew Gough were detained as hostages.[1265] + +[Footnote 1261: _Journal du siège_, p. 97. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 301.] + +[Footnote 1262: A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, pp. 87-88, and +proofs and illustrations, pp. 153, 158.] + +[Footnote 1263: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 305. _Journal du siège_, +p. 102. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 84. Wavrin du Forestel, +_Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, pp. 279, 282. Monstrelet, vol. iii, +pp. 325 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1264: Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, p. 72.] + +[Footnote 1265: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +279.] + +The Beaugency garrison had been in too great haste to surrender. +Scarce had it gone when a man-at-arms of Captain La Hire's company +came to the Duke of Alençon saying: "The English are marching upon us. +We shall have them in front of us directly. They are over there, full +one thousand fighting men." + +Jeanne heard him speak but did not seize his meaning. + +"What is that man-at-arms saying?" she asked. + +And when she knew, turning to Arthur of Brittany, who was close by, +she said: "Ah! Fair Constable, it was not my will that you should +come, but since you are here, I bid you welcome."[1266] + +[Footnote 1266: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 98.] + +The force the French had to face was Sir John Talbot and Sir John +Fastolf with the whole English army. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BATTLE OF PATAY--OPINIONS OF ITALIAN AND GERMAN ECCLESIASTICS--THE +GIEN ARMY + + +Having left Paris on the 9th of June, Sir John Fastolf was coming +through La Beauce with five thousand fighting men. To the English at +Jargeau he was bringing victuals and arrows in abundance. Learning by +the way that the town had surrendered, he left his stores at Étampes +and marched on to Janville, where Sir John Talbot joined him with +forty lances and two hundred bowmen.[1267] + +[Footnote 1267: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, ed. +Dupont, vol. i, p. 281. Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 44. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 85. _Journal du siège_, pp. 102, +103. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 306. Gruel, _Chronique de +Richemont_, p. 72. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 452. +Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 71-73.] + +There they heard that the French had taken the Meung bridge and laid +siege to Beaugency. Sir John Talbot wished to march to the relief of +the inhabitants of Beaugency and deliver them with the aid of God and +Saint George. Sir John Fastolf counselled abandoning Sir Richard +Gethyn and his garrison to their fate; for the moment he deemed it +wiser not to fight. Finding his own men fearful and the French full of +courage, he thought the best thing the English could do would be to +establish themselves in the towns, castles, and strongholds remaining +to them, there to await the reinforcements promised by the Regent. + +"In comparison with the French we are but a handfull," he said. "If +luck should turn against us, then we should be in a fair way to lose +all those conquests won by our late King Henry after strenuous effort +and long delay."[1268] + +[Footnote 1268: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 331. Wavrin du Forestel, +_Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, pp. 283 _et seq._] + +His advice was disregarded and the army marched on Beaugency. The +force was not far from the town on Friday, the 17th of June, just when +the garrison was issuing forth with horses, armour, and baggage to the +amount of one silver mark's worth for each man.[1269] + +[Footnote 1269: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, J. Chartier, Gruel, +Morosini, Berry, Monstrelet, Wavrin, _loc. cit_. _Lettre de Jacques de +Bourbon, Comte de la Marche à Guill. de Champeaux, évêque de Laon_, +according to a Vienna MS. by Bougenot, in _Bull. du Com. des travaux +hist. et scientif. hist. et phil., 1892_, pp. 56-65. (French +translation by S. Luce, in _La revue bleue_, February 13, 1892, pp. +201-204.)] + +Informed of the army's approach the French King's men went forth to +meet it. The scouts had not far to ride before they descried the +standards and pennons of England waving over the plain, about two and +a half miles from Patay. Then the French ascended a hill whence they +could observe the enemy. Captain La Hire and the young Sire de Termes +said to the Maid: "The English are coming. They are in battle array +and ready to fight." + +As was her wont, she made answer: "Strike boldly and they will flee." + +And she added that the battle would not be long.[1270] + +[Footnote 1270: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 120. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. +328. The clerk who wrote down Thibault de Termes' evidence, being +ill-informed, described these words as having been uttered at the +Battle of Patay. At Patay, Jeanne and La Hire were not near each +other.] + +Believing that the French were offering them battle, the English took +up their position. The archers planted their stakes in the ground, +their points inclined towards the enemy. Thus they generally prepared +to fight; they had not done otherwise at the Battle of the Herrings. +The sun was already declining on the horizon.[1271] + +[Footnote 1271: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +286.] + +The Duke of Alençon had by no means decided to descend into the plain. +In presence of the Constable, my Lord the Bastard and the captains, he +consulted the holy Maid, who gave him an enigmatical answer: "See to +it that you have good spurs." + +Taking her to mean the Count of Clermont's spurs, the spurs of +Rouvray, the Duke of Alençon exclaimed: "What do you say? Shall we +turn our backs on them?" + +"Nay," she replied. + +On all occasions her Voices counselled unwavering confidence. "Nay. In +God's name, go down against them; for they shall flee and shall not +stay and shall be utterly discomfited; and you shall lose scarce any +men; wherefore you will need your spurs to pursue them."[1272] + +[Footnote 1272: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 11. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 307. It is clear that this passage from Dunois' evidence and from +_La chronique de la Pucelle_ cannot refer to the battle of June 18th, +as has been thought. "All the English divisions," says Dunois, "united +into one army. We thought they were going to offer us battle." He is +evidently referring to what happened on the 17th of June. The Duke of +Alençon's evidence confuses everything. How could the Maid have said +of the English: "God sends them against us," when they were fleeing?] + +According to the opinions of doctors and masters it was well to listen +to the Maid, but at the same time to follow the course marked out by +human wisdom. + +The commanders of the army, either because they judged the occasion +unfavourable or because, after so many defeats, they feared a pitched +battle, did not come down from their hill. The two heralds sent by two +English knights to offer single combat received the answer: "For +to-day you may go to bed, because it grows late. But to-morrow, if it +be God's will, we will come to closer quarters."[1273] + +[Footnote 1273: Those who would attribute this saying to the Maid have +misunderstood Wavrin. _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. 287.] + +The English, assured that they would not be attacked, marched off to +pass the night at Meung.[1274] + +[Footnote 1274: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +287. Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 326 _et seq._] + +On the morrow, Saturday, the 18th, Saint Hubert's day, the French went +forth against them. They were not there. The _Godons_ had decamped +early in the morning and gone off, with cannon, ammunition, and +victuals, towards Janville,[1275] where they intended to entrench +themselves. + +[Footnote 1275: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, _Journal du siège_, Gruel, +J. Chartier, Berry, _loc. cit._] + +Straightway King Charles's army of twelve thousand men[1276] set out +in pursuit of them. Along the Paris road they went, over the plain of +Beauce, wooded, full of game, covered with thickets and brushwood, +wild, but finely to the taste of English and French riders, who +praised it highly.[1277] + +[Footnote 1276: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +289. Fauché-Prunelle, _Lettres tirées des archives de l'évêché de +Grenoble_, in _Bull. acad. Delph._, vol. ii, 1847, pp. 458 _et seq._ +Letter from Charles VII to the town of Tours, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. +262, 263.] + +[Footnote 1277: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +289. The herald Berry, _Le livre de la description des pays_, ed. +Hamy.] + +Gazing over the infinite plain, where the earth seems to recede +before one's glance, the Maid beheld the sky in front of her, that +cloudy sky of plains, suggesting marvellous adventures on the +mountains of the air, and she cried: "In God's name, if they were +hanging from the clouds we should have them."[1278] + +[Footnote 1278: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 98, 99. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 306. _Chronique normande_, ch. xlviii, ed. Vallet de +Viriville. Monstrelet, vol. iii, pp. 325 _et seq._ Morosini, vol. iii, +pp. 72-73. Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, pp. +289-290. These words are said to have been uttered when the English +had been discovered, but then they would have been meaningless.] + +Now, as on the previous evening, she prophesied: "To-day our fair King +shall win a victory greater than has been his for a long time. My +Council has told me that they are all ours." + +She foretold that there would be few, or none of the French +slain.[1279] + +[Footnote 1279: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 99 (the Duke of Alençon's +evidence).] + +Captain Poton and Sire Arnault de Gugem went forth to reconnoitre. The +most skilled men-of-war, and among them my Lord the Bastard and the +Marshal de Boussac, mounted on the finest of war-steeds, formed the +vanguard. Then under the leadership of Captain La Hire, who knew the +country, came the horse of the Duke of Alençon, the Count of Vendôme, +the Constable of France, with archers and cross-bowmen. Last of all +came the rear-guard, commanded by the lords of Graville, Laval, Rais, +and Saint-Gilles.[1280] + +[Footnote 1280: _Ibid._, p. 71 (evidence of Louis de Coutes). Letter +from Jacques de Bourbon in _La revue bleue_, February 13, 1892, pp. +201-204. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 327. Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes +chroniques_, p. 289.] + +The Maid, ever zealous, desired to be in the vanguard; but she was +kept back. She did not lead the men-at-arms, rather the men-at-arms +led her. They regarded her, not as captain of war but as a bringer of +good luck. Greatly saddened, she must needs take her place in the +rear, in the company, doubtless, of the Sire de Rais, where she had +originally been placed.[1281] The whole army pressed forward for fear +the enemy should escape them. + +[Footnote 1281: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 71. _Journal du siège_, p. 140. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 307. _Deux documents sur Jeanne d'Arc_ +in _La revue bleue_, February 13, 1892.] + +After they had ridden twelve or thirteen miles in overpowering heat, +and passed Saint-Sigismond on the left and got beyond Saint-Péravy, +Captain Poton's sixty to eighty scouts reached a spot where the +ground, which had been level hitherto, descends, and where the road +leads down into a hollow called La Retrève. They could not actually +see the hollow, but beyond it the ground rose gently; and, dimly +visible, scarcely two and a half miles away was the belfry of +Lignerolles on the wooded plain known as Climat-du-Camp. A league +straight in front of them was the little town of Patay.[1282] + +[Footnote 1282: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 11, 71, 98. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, pp. 306 _et seq._ _Journal du siège_, pp. 103 _et seq._ Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 85. Le Comte de Vassal, _La bataille +de Patay_, Orléans, 1890.] + +It is two o'clock in the afternoon. Poton's and Gugem's horse chance +to raise a stag, which darts out of a thicket and plunges down into +the hollow of La Retrève. Suddenly a clamour of voices ascends from +the hollow. It proceeds from the English soldiers loudly disputing +over the game which has fallen into their hands. Thus informed of the +enemy's presence, the French scouts halt and straightway despatch +certain of their company to go and tell the army that they have +surprised the _Godons_ and that it is time to set to work.[1283] + +[Footnote 1283: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 328.] + +Now this is what had been happening among the English. They were +retreating in good order on Janville, their vanguard commanded by a +knight bearing a white standard.[1284] Then came the artillery and the +victuals in waggons driven by merchants; then the main body of the +army, commanded by Sir John Talbot and Sir John Fastolf. The +rear-guard, which was likely to bear the brunt of the attack, +consisted only of Englishmen from England.[1285] It followed at some +distance from the rest. Its scouts, having seen the French without +being seen by them, informed Sir John Talbot, who was then between the +hamlet of Saint-Péravy and the town of Patay. On this information he +called a halt and commanded the vanguard with waggons and cannon to +take up its position on the edge of the Lignerolles wood. The position +was excellent: backed by the forest, the combatants were secure +against being attacked in the rear,[1286] while in front they were +able to entrench themselves behind their waggons. The main body did +not advance so far. It halted some little distance from Lignerolles, +in the hollow of La Retrève. On this spot the road was lined with +quickset hedges. Sir John Talbot with five hundred picked bowmen +stationed himself there to await the French who must perforce pass +that way. His design was to defend the road until the rear-guard had +had time to join the main body, and then, keeping close to the hedges, +he would fall back upon the army. + +[Footnote 1284: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +291.] + +[Footnote 1285: _Ibid._, pp. 291-292.] + +[Footnote 1286: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 329.] + +The archers, as was their wont, were making ready to plant in the +ground those pointed stakes, the spikes of which they turned against +the chests of the enemy's horses, when the French, led by Poton's +scouts, came down upon them like a whirlwind, overthrew them, and cut +them to pieces.[1287] + +[Footnote 1287: Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, p. +292. Monstrelet, vol. iii, pp. 329, 350.] + +At this moment, Sir John Fastolf, at the head of the main body, was +preparing to join the vanguard. Feeling the French cavalry at his +heels, he gave spur and at full gallop led his men on to Lignerolles. +When those of the white standard saw him arriving thus in rout, they +thought he had been defeated. They took fright, abandoned the edge of +the wood, rushed into the thickets of Climat-du-Camp and in great +disorder came out on the Paris road. With the main body of the army, +Sir John Fastolf pushed on in the same direction. There was no battle. +Marching over the bodies of Talbot's archers, the French threw +themselves on the English, who were as dazed as a flock of sheep and +fell before the foe without resistance. Thus the French slew two +thousand of those common folk whom the _Godons_ were accustomed to +transport from their own land to be killed in France. When the main +body of the French, commanded by La Hire, reached Lignerolles, they +found only eight hundred foot whom they soon overthrew. Of the twelve +to thirteen thousand French on the march, scarce fifteen hundred took +part in the battle or rather in the massacre. Sir John Talbot, who had +leapt on to his horse without staying to put on his spurs, was taken +prisoner by the Captains La Hire and Poton.[1288] The Lords Scales, +Hungerford and Falconbridge, Sir Thomas Guérard, Richard Spencer and +Fitz Walter were taken and held to ransom. In all, there were between +twelve and fifteen hundred prisoners.[1289] + +[Footnote 1288: "In the neighbourhood of Lignerolles there have been +found horse-shoes, a javelin-point, the iron pieces of carts, and +bullets." P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siège_, Orléans, 1867, 12mo, p. +139.] + +[Footnote 1289: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 11. Gruel, _Chronique de +Richemont_, pp. 73-74. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 154 _et seq._ _Chronique +normande_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 340. Eberhard Windecke, p. 180. +Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, pp. 144, 145. Falconbridge, in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 452. _Commentaires de Pie_ II, in _Trial_, vol. +iv, p. 512. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 72-75. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 306. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 86. Monstrelet, vol. +iv, pp. 330-333. Wavrin du Forestel, _Anciennes chroniques_, vol. i, +p. 293. Letter from J. de Bourbon in _La revue bleue_, February 13, +1892. Letter from Charles VII to Tours and the people of Dauphiné, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 345, 346.] + +Not more than two hundred men-at-arms pursued the fugitives to the +gates of Janville. Except for the vanguard, which had been the first +to take flight, the English army was entirely destroyed. On the French +side, the Sire de Termes, who was present, states that there was only +one killed; a man of his own company. Perceval de Boulainvilliers, +Councillor and King's Chamberlain, says there were three.[1290] + +[Footnote 1290: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 120; vol. v, p. 120.] + +The Maid arrived[1291] before the slaughter was ended.[1292] She saw a +Frenchman, who was leading some prisoners, strike one of them such a +blow on the head that he fell down as if dead. She dismounted and +procured the Englishman a confessor. She held his head and comforted +him as far as she could. Such was the part she played in the Battle of +Patay.[1293] It was the part of a saintly maid. + +[Footnote 1291: "Et habuit _l'avant garde La Hire_ de quo ipsa Johanna +fuit multum irata, quia ipsa multum affectabat habere onus de _l'avant +garde_ La Hire qui conducebat _l'avant garde_ percussit super +Anglicos," _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 71 (evidence of Louis de Coutes).] + +[Footnote 1292: "Habebat magnam pietatem de tanta occisione," _Trial_, +vol. iii, p. 71.] + +[Footnote 1293: After an examination of the documents I have concluded +that Louis de Coutes' narrative refers to Patay.] + +The French spent the night in the town. Sir John Talbot, having been +brought before the Duke of Alençon and the Constable, was thus +addressed by the young Duke: "This morning you little thought what +would happen to you." + +Talbot replied: "It is the chance of war."[1294] + +[Footnote 1294: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 99.] + +A few breathless _Godons_ succeeded in reaching Janville.[1295] But +the townsfolk, with whom on their departure they had deposited their +money and their goods, shut the gates in their faces and swore loyalty +to King Charles. + +[Footnote 1295: Boucher de Molandon, _Janville, son donjon, son +château, ses souvenirs du XV'e siècle_, Orléans, 1886, 8vo.] + +The English commanders of the two small strongholds in La Beauce, +Montpipeau and Saint Sigismond, set fire to them and fled.[1296] + +[Footnote 1296: _Journal du siège_, p. 105; _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 307, 308.] + +From Patay the victorious army marched to Orléans. The inhabitants +were expecting the King. They had hung up tapestries ready for his +entrance.[1297] But the King and his Chamberlain, fearing and not +without reason, some aggressive movement on the part of the Constable, +held themselves secure in the Château of Sully.[1298] Thence they +started for Châteauneuf on the 22nd of June. That same day the Maid +joined the King at Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire. He received her with his +usual kindness and said: "I pity you because of the suffering you +endure." And he urged her to rest. + +[Footnote 1297: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 307-308. _Journal du +siège_, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 1298: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +222 _et seq._; E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de Richemont_, p. 172.] + +At these words she wept. It has been said that her tears flowed +because of the indifference and incredulity towards her that the +King's urbanity implied.[1299] But we must beware of attributing to +the tears of the enraptured and the illuminated a cause intelligible +to human reason. To her Charles appeared clothed in an ineffable +splendour like that of the holiest of kings. How, since she had shown +him her angels, invisible to ordinary folk, could she for one moment +have thought that he lacked faith in her? + +[Footnote 1299: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 116 (evidence of S. Charles). +"_Et audivit ipse loquens ex ore regis multa bona de ea ... rex habuit +pietatem de ea et de poena quam portabat._"] + +"Have no doubt," she said to him, confidently, "you shall receive the +whole of your kingdom and shortly shall be crowned."[1300] + +[Footnote 1300: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 76, 116.] + +True, Charles seemed in no great haste to employ his knights in the +recovery of his kingdom. But his Council just then had no idea of +getting rid of the Maid. On the contrary, they were determined to use +her cleverly, so as to put heart into the French, to terrify the +English, and to convince the world that God, Saint Michael, and Saint +Catherine, were on the side of the Armagnacs. In announcing the +victory of Patay to the good towns, the royal councillors said not one +word of the Constable, neither did they mention my Lord the +Bastard.[1301] They described as leaders of the army, the Maid, with +the two Princes of the Blood Royal, the Duke of Alençon, and the Duke +of Vendôme. In such wise did they exalt her. And, indeed, she must +have been worth as much and more than a great captain, since the +Constable attempted to seize her. With this enterprise, he charged one +of his men, Andrieu de Beaumont, who had formerly been employed to +carry off the Sire de la Trémouille. But, as Andrieu de Beaumont had +failed with the Chamberlain, so he failed with the Maid.[1302] + +[Footnote 1301: Letter from Charles VII to the people of Dauphiné, +published by Fauché-Prunelle, in _Bull. de l'Acad. Delphinale_, vol. +ii, p. 459; to the inhabitants of Tours (Archives de Tours, _Registre +des comptes XXIV_), in _Cabinet historique_, I, C. p. 109; to those of +Poitiers, Redet, in _Les mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de +l'Ouest_, vol. iii, p. 406; _Relation du greffier de la Rochelle_ in +_Revue historique_, vol. iv, p. 459.] + +[Footnote 1302: _Journal du siège_, pp. 106, 108; Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 89; Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, p. 74; +Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 344, 347; E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de +Richemont_, pp. 181, 182.] + +Probably she herself knew nothing of this plot. She besought the King +to pardon the Constable,--a request which proves how great was her +naïveté. By royal command Richemont received back his lordship of +Parthenay.[1303] + +[Footnote 1303: 1431, 8th of May. A decree condemning André de +Beaumont to suffer capital punishment as being guilty of high treason. +(Arch. nat. J. 366.) For a complete copy of this document I am +indebted to Monsieur Pierre Champion.] + +Duke John of Brittany, who had married a sister of Charles of Valois, +was not always pleased with his brother-in-law's counsellors. In 1420, +considering him too Burgundian, they had devised for him a Bridge of +Montereau.[1304] In reality, he was neither Armagnac nor Burgundian +nor French nor English, but Breton. In 1423 he recognised the Treaty +of Troyes; but two years later, when his brother, the Duke of +Richemont, had gone over to the French King and received the +Constable's sword from him, Duke John went to Charles of Valois, at +Saumur, and did homage for his duchy.[1305] In short, he extricated +himself cleverly from the most embarrassing situations and succeeded +in remaining outside the quarrel of the two kings who were both eager +to involve him in it. While France and England were cutting each +other's throats, he was raising Brittany from its ruins.[1306] + +[Footnote 1304: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 30; De Beaucourt, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 202 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1305: Dom Morice, _Histoire de Bretagne_, vol. ii, col. +1135-6; De Beaucourt, _loc. cit._, vol. ii, chap. vii.] + +[Footnote 1306: Bellier-Dumaine, _L'administration du duché de +Bretagne sous le règne de Jean V_ (1399-1442) in _Les annales de +Bretagne_, vol. xiv-xvi (1898-99) _passim_, and 3rd part, Jean V and +commerce, industry, agriculture, public education (vol. xvi, p. 246), +and 4th part, chap. iii, Jean V and towns, rural parishes (vol. xvi, +p. 495).] + +The Maid filled him with curiosity and admiration. Shortly after the +Battle of Patay, he sent to her, Hermine, his herald-at-arms, and +Brother Yves Milbeau, his confessor, to congratulate her on her +victory.[1307] The good Brother was told to question Jeanne. + +[Footnote 1307: Eberhard Windecke, p. 179.] + +He asked her whether it was God who had sent her to succour the King. + +Jeanne replied that it was. + +"If it be so," replied Brother Yves Milbeau, "my Lord the Duke of +Brittany, our liege lord, is disposed to proffer his service to the +King. He cannot come in person for he is sorely infirm. But he is to +send his son with a large army." + +The good Brother was speaking lightly and making a promise for his +duke which would never be kept. The only truth in it was that many +Breton nobles were coming in to take service with King Charles. + +On hearing these words, the little Saint made a curious mistake. She +thought that Brother Yves had meant that the Duke of Brittany was her +liege lord as well as his, which would have been altogether senseless. +Her loyalty revolted: "The Duke of Brittany is not my liege lord," she +replied sharply. "The King is my liege lord." + +As far as we can tell, the Duke of Brittany's caution had produced no +favourable impression in France. He was censured for having set the +King's war ban at nought and made a treaty with the English. Jeanne +was of that opinion and to Brother Yves she said so plainly: "The Duke +should not have tarried so long in sending his men to aid the +King."[1308] + +[Footnote 1308: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 178, 179.] + +A few days later, the Sire de Rostrenen, who had accompanied the +Constable to Beaugency and to Patay, came from Duke John to treat of +the prospective marriage between his eldest son, François, and Bonne +de Savoie, daughter of Duke Amédée. With him was Comment-Qu'il-Soit, +herald of Richard of Brittany, Count of Étampes. The herald was +commissioned to present the Maid with a dagger and horses.[1309] + +[Footnote 1309: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 264. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 68-70, +179. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 90. Dom Lobineau, _Histoire de Bretagne_, +vol. i, p. 587. Dom Morice, _Histoire de Bretagne_, vol. i, pp. 508, +580.] + +At Rome, in 1428, there was a French clerk, a compiler of one of those +histories of the world so common in those days and so much alike. His +cosmography, like all of them, began with the creation and came down +to the pontificate of Martin V who was then Pope. "Under this +pontificate," wrote the author, "the realm of France, the flower and +the lily of the world, opulent among the most opulent, before whom the +whole universe bowed, was cast down by its invader, the tyrant Henry, +who was not even the lawful lord of the realm of England." Then this +churchman vows the Burgundians to eternal infamy and hurls upon them +the most terrible maledictions. "May their eyes be torn out: may they +perish by an evil death!" Such language indicates a good Armagnac and +possibly a clerk despoiled of his goods and driven into exile by the +enemies of his country. When he learns the coming of the Maid and the +deliverance of Orléans, transported with joy and wonder, he re-opens +his history and consigns to its pages arguments in favour of the +marvellous Maid, whose deeds appear to him more divine than human, but +concerning whom he knows but little. He compares her to Deborah, +Judith, Esther, and Penthesilea. "In the books of the Gentiles it is +written," he says, "that Penthesilea, and a thousand virgins with her, +came to the succour of King Priam and fought so valiantly that they +tore the Myrmidons in pieces and slew more than two thousand Greeks." +According to him, both in courage and feats of prowess, the Maid far +surpasses Penthesilea. Her deeds promptly refute those who maintain +that she is sent by the Devil.[1310] + +[Footnote 1310: L. Delisle, _Un nouveau témoignage relatif à la +mission de Jeanne d'Arc_ in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, +vol. xlvi, pp. 649, 668. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'Église de +son temps_, pp. 53, 60.] + +In a moment the fame of the French King's prophetess had been spread +abroad throughout Christendom. While in temporal affairs the people +were rending each other, in spiritual matters obedience to one common +head made Europe one spiritual republic with one language and one +doctrine, governed by councils. The spirit of the Church was +all-pervading. In Italy, in Germany, the talk was all of the Sibyl of +France and her prowess which was so intimately associated with the +Christian faith. In those days it was sometimes the custom of those +who painted on the walls of monasteries to depict the Liberal Arts as +three noble dames. Between her two sisters, Logic would be painted, +seated on a lofty throne, wearing an antique turban, clothed in a +sparkling robe, and bearing in one hand a scorpion, in the other a +lizard, as a sign that her knowledge winds its way into the heart of +the adversary's argument, and saves her from being herself entrapped. +At her feet, looking up to her, would be Aristotle, disputing and +reckoning up his arguments on his fingers.[1311] This austere lady +formed all her disciples in the same mould. In those days nothing was +more despicable than singularity. Originality of mind did not then +exist. The clerks who treated of the Maid all followed the same +method, advanced the same arguments, and based them on the same texts, +sacred and profane. Conformity could go no further. Their minds were +identical, but not their hearts; it is the mind that argues, but the +heart that decides. These scholastics, dryer than their parchment, +were men, notwithstanding; they were swayed by sentiment, by passion, +by interests spiritual or temporal. While the Armagnac doctors were +demonstrating that in the Maid's case reasons for belief were stronger +than reasons for disbelief, the German or Italian masters, caring +nought for the quarrel of the Dauphin of Viennois,[1312] remained in +doubt, unmoved by either love or hatred. + +[Footnote 1311: Cathédrale du Puy. E.F. Corpet, _Portraits des arts +libéraux d'après les écrivains du moyen âge_, in _Annales +archéologiques_, 1857, vol. xvii, pp. 89, 103. Em. Male, _Les Arts +libéraux dans la statuaire du moyen âge_, in _Revue archéologique_, +1891.] + +[Footnote 1312: Another name for Dauphiné (W.S.).] + +There was a doctor of theology, one Heinrich von Gorcum, a professor +at Cologne. As early as the month of June, 1429, he drew up a memorial +concerning the Maid. In Germany, minds were divided as to whether the +nature of the damsel were human or whether she were not rather a +celestial being clothed in woman's form; as to whether her deeds +proceeded from a human origin or had a supernatural source; and, if +the latter, whether that source were good or bad. Meister Heinrich von +Gorcum wrote his treatise to present arguments from Holy Scripture on +both sides, and he abstained from drawing any conclusion.[1313] + +[Footnote 1313: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 411-421. Le P. Ayroles, _La +Pucelle devant l'Église de son temps_, vol. i, pp. 61-68.] + +In Italy, the same doubts and the same uncertainty prevailed +concerning the deeds of the Maid. Those there were who maintained that +they were mere inventions. At Milan, it was disputed whether any +credence could be placed in tidings from France. To discover the truth +about them, the notables of the city resolved to despatch a Franciscan +friar, Brother Antonio de Rho, a good humanist and a zealous preacher +of moral purity. + +And Giovanni Corsini, Senator of the duchy of Arezzo, impelled by a +like curiosity, consulted a learned clerk of Milan, one Cosmo Raimondi +of Cremona. The following is the gist of the learned Ciceronian's +reply: + +"Most noble lord, they say that God's choice of a shepherdess for the +restoration of a kingdom to a prince, is a new thing. And yet we know +that the shepherd David was anointed king. It is told how the Maid, at +the head of a small company, defied a great army. The victory may be +explained by an advantageous position and an unexpected attack. But +supposing we refrain from saying that the enemy was surprised and that +his courage forsook him, matters which are none the less possible, +supposing we admit that there was a miracle: what is there astonishing +in that? Is it not still more wonderful that Samson should have slain +so many Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass? + +"The Maid is said to possess the power of revealing the future. +Remember the Sibyls, notably the Erythræan and the Cumæan. They were +heathens. Why should not a like power be granted to a Christian? This +woman is a shepherdess. Jacob, when he kept Laban's flocks, conversed +familiarly with God. To such examples and to such reasons, which +incline me to give credence to the rumour, I add another reason +derived from physical science. In treatises on astrology I have often +read that by the favourable influence of the stars, certain men of +lowly birth have become the equals of the highest princes and been +regarded as men divine charged with a celestial mission. Guido da +Forli, a clever astronomer, quotes a great number of such instances. +Wherefore I should not deem myself to be incurring any reproach if I +believed that through the influence of the stars, the Maid has +undertaken what is reported of her." + +At the conclusion of his arguments the clerk of Cremona says that, +while not absolutely rejecting the reports concerning her, he does not +consider them to be sufficiently proved.[1314] + +[Footnote 1314: Le P. Ayroles, vol. iv, _La vierge guerrière_, pp. 240 +_et seq._] + +Jeanne maintained her resolution to go to Reims and take the King to +his anointing.[1315] She did not stay to consider whether it would be +better to wage war in Champagne than in Normandy. She did not know +enough of the configuration of the country to decide such a question, +and it is not likely that her saints and angels knew more of geography +than she did. She was in haste to take the King to Reims for his +anointing, because she believed it impossible for him to be king +until he had been anointed.[1316] The idea of leading him to be +anointed with the holy oil had come to her in her native village, long +before the siege of Orléans.[1317] This inspiration was wholly of the +spirit, and had nothing to do with the state of affairs created by the +deliverance of Orléans and the victory of Patay. + +[Footnote 1315: "_Sed dicta puella semper fuit opinionis quod +opportebat ire Remis._" _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 12 (evidence of +Dunois).] + +[Footnote 1316: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 20. _Journal du siège_, pp. 93, +94.] + +[Footnote 1317: See _ante_, pp. 53 _et seq._] + +The best course would have been to march straight on Paris after the +18th of June. The French were then only ninety miles from the great +city, which at that juncture would not have thought of defending +itself. Considering it as good as lost, the Regent shut himself up in +the Fort of Vincennes.[1318] They had missed their opportunity. The +French King's Councillors, Princes of the Blood, were deliberating, +surprised by victory, not knowing what to do with it. Certain it is +that not one of them thought of conquering, and that speedily, the +whole inheritance of King Charles. The forces at their disposal, and +the very conditions of the society in which they lived, rendered it +impossible for them to conceive of such an undertaking. The lords of +the Great Council were not like the poverty stricken monks, dreaming +in their ruined cloisters[1319] of an age of peace and concord. The +King's Councillors were no dreamers; they did not believe in the end +of the war, neither did they desire it. But they intended to conduct +it with the least possible risk and expenditure. There would always be +folk enough to don the hauberk and go a-plundering they said to +themselves; the taking and re-taking of towns must continue; +sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof; to fight long one must +fight gently; nine times out of ten more is gained by negotiations and +treaties than by feats of prowess; truces must be concluded craftily +and broken cautiously; some defeats must be expected, and some work +must be left for the young. Such were the opinions of the good +servants of King Charles.[1320] + +[Footnote 1318: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 451. _Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 239. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 291. +De Barante, _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne_, vol. iii, p. 323.] + +[Footnote 1319: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, +introduction.] + +[Footnote 1320: Those of Louis XI were of a like mind: "One should +fear risking a great battle if one be not constrained to it." Philippe +de Comynes, ed. Mdlle. Dupont, vol. i, p. 146.] + +Certain among them wished the war to be carried on in Normandy.[1321] +The idea had occurred to them as early as the month of May, before the +Loire campaign, and indeed there was much to be said for it. In +Normandy they would cut the English tree at its root. It was quite +possible that they might immediately recover a part of that province +where the English had but few fighting men. In 1424 the Norman +garrisons consisted of not more than four hundred lances and twelve +hundred bowmen.[1322] Since then they had received but few +reinforcements. The Regent was recruiting men everywhere and +displaying marvellous activity, but he lacked money, and his soldiers +were always deserting.[1323] In the conquered province, as soon as the +_Coués_ came out of their strongholds they found themselves in the +enemy's territory. From the borders of Brittany, Maine, Perche as far +as Ponthieu and Picardy, on the banks of the Mayenne, Orne, the Dive, +the Touque, the Eure, the Seine, the partisans of the various factions +held the country, watching the roads, robbing, ravaging, and +murdering.[1324] Everywhere the French would have found these brave +fellows ready to espouse their cause; the peasants and the village +priests would likewise have wished them well. But the campaign would +involve long sieges of towns, strongly defended, albeit held by but +small garrisons. Now the men-at-arms dreaded the delays of sieges, and +the royal treasury was not sufficient for such costly undertakings.[1325] +Normandy was ruined, stripped of its crops, and robbed of its cattle. +Were the captains and their men to go into this famine-stricken land? +And why should the King reconquer so poor a province? + +[Footnote 1321: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 12, 13. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 300. Perceval de Cagny, p. 170. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, p. 87. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 63, note 2.] + +[Footnote 1322: Wallon, _Jeanne d'Arc_, 1875, vol. i, p. 213.] + +[Footnote 1323: Rymer, _Foedera_, 18 June, 1429. Morosini, vol. iii, +pp. 132-133; vol. iv, supplement, xvii. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La +panique anglaise en mai 1429_, Paris, 1894, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1324: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La guerre des partisans dans la +Haute Normandie_ (1424-1429), in the _Bibliothèque de l'École des +Chartes_ since 1893.] + +[Footnote 1325: "The King had no great sums of money with which to pay +his army." Perceval de Cagny, pp. 149, 157.] + +And these freebooters, who were willing to stretch out a hand to the +French, were not very attractive. It was well known that brigands they +were, and brigands would remain, and that Normandy once reconquered, +they would have to be got rid of, to the last man, without honour and +without profit. In which case would it not be better to leave them to +be dealt with by the _Godons_? + +Other nobles clamoured for an expedition into Champagne.[1326] And in +spite of all that has been said to the contrary, the Maid's visions +had no influence whatever on this determination. The King's +Councillors led Jeanne and were far from being led by her. Once +before they had diverted her from the road to Reims by providing her +with work on the Loire. Once again they might divert her into +Normandy, without her even perceiving it, so ignorant was she of the +roads and of the lie of the land. If there were certain who +recommended a campaign in Champagne, it was not on the faith of saints +and angels, but for purely human reasons. Is it possible to discover +these reasons? There were doubtless certain lords and captains who +considered the interest of the King and the kingdom, but every one +found it so difficult not to confound it with his own interest, that +the best way to discover who was responsible for the march on Reims is +to find out who was to profit by it. It was certainly not the Duke of +Alençon, who would have greatly preferred to take advantage of the +Maid's help for the conquest of his own duchy.[1327] Neither was it my +Lord the Bastard, nor the Sire de Gaucourt, nor the King himself, for +they must have desired the securing of Berry and the Orléanais by the +capture of La Charité held by the terrible Perrinet Gressart.[1328] On +the other hand we may conclude that the Queen of Sicily would not be +unfavourable to the march of the King, her son-in-law, in a north +easterly direction. This Spanish lady was possessed by the Angevin +mania. Reassured for the moment concerning the fate of her duchy of +Anjou, she was pursuing eagerly, and to the great hurt of the realm of +France, the establishment of her son René in the duchy of Bar and in +the inheritance of Lorraine. She cannot have been displeased, +therefore, when she saw the King keeping her an open road between Gien +and Troyes and Châlons. But since the Constable's exile she had lost +all influence over her son-in-law, and it is difficult to discover who +could have watched her interests in the Council of May, 1429.[1329] +Besides, without seeking further, it is obvious that there was one +person, who above all others must have desired the anointing of the +King, and who more than any was in a position to make his opinion +prevail. That person was the man on whom devolved the duty of holding +in his consecrated hands the Sacred Ampulla, my Lord Regnault de +Chartres, Archbishop Duke of Reims, Chancellor of the Kingdom.[1330] + +[Footnote 1326: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 1327: Perceval de Cagny, p. 170.] + +[Footnote 1328: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 1329: E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de Richemont_, pp. 179 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 1330: Even after the coronation Regnault de Chartres would +not "suffer the Maid and the Duke of Alençon to be together nor that +he should recover her." Perceval de Cagny, p. 171.] + +He was a man of rare intelligence, skilled in business, a very clever +diplomatist, greedy of wealth, caring less for empty honours than for +solid advantage, avaricious, unscrupulous, one who at the age of about +fifty had lost nothing of his consuming energy; he had recently +displayed it by spending himself nobly in the defence of Orléans. Thus +gifted, how could he fail to exercise a powerful control over the +government? + +Fifteen years had passed since his elevation to the archiepiscopal see +of Reims; and of his enormous revenue he had not yet received one +penny. Albeit the possessor of great wealth from other sources, he +pleaded poverty. To the Pope he addressed heart-rending +supplications.[1331] If the Maid had found favour in the eyes of the +Poitiers doctors, Monseigneur Regnault had had something to do with +it. Had it not been for him, the doctors at court would never have +proposed her examination. And we shall not be making too bold a +hypothesis if we conclude, that when the march on Reims was decided in +the royal council, it was because the Archbishop, on grounds suggested +by human reason, approved of what the Maid proposed by divine +inspiration.[1332] + +[Footnote 1331: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, +introduction.] + +[Footnote 1332: See _ante_, pp. 153-159.] + +While the coronation campaign was attended with grave drawbacks and +met with serious obstacles, it nevertheless brought great gain and a +certain subtle advantage to the royal cause. Unfortunately it left +free from attack the rest of France occupied by the English, and it +gave the latter time to recover themselves and procure aid from over +sea. We shall shortly see what good use they made of their +opportunities.[1333] As to the advantages of the expedition, they were +many and various. First, Jeanne truly expressed the sentiments of the +poor priests and the common folk when she said that the Dauphin would +reap great profit from his anointing.[1334] From the oil of the holy +Ampulla the King would derive a splendour, a majesty which would +impress the whole of France, yea, even the whole of Christendom. In +those days royalty was alike spiritual and temporal; and multitudes of +men believed with Jeanne that kings only became kings by being +anointed with the holy oil. Thus it would not be wrong to say that +Charles of Valois would receive greater power from one drop of oil +than from ten thousand lances. On a consideration like this the King's +Councillors must needs set great store. They had also to take into +account the time and the place. Might not the ceremony be performed in +some other town than Reims? Might not the so-called "mystery" take +place in that city which had been delivered by the intercession of its +blessed patrons, Saint-Aignan and Saint Euverte? Two kings descended +from Hugh Capet, Robert the Wise and Louis the Fat, had been crowned +at Orléans.[1335] But the memory of their royal coronation was lost in +the mists of antiquity, while folk still retained the memory of a long +procession of most Christian kings anointed in the town where the holy +oil had been brought down to Clovis by the celestial dove.[1336] +Besides, the lord Archbishop and Duke of Reims would never have +suffered the King to receive his anointing save at his hand and in his +cathedral. + +[Footnote 1333: Morosini, vol. iv, supplement, xvii.] + +[Footnote 1334: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 20, 300. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, pp. 322, 323. _Journal du siège_, pp. 93, 114. "And although +the King had not money wherewith to pay his army, all knights, +squires, men-at-arms, and the commonalty refused not to serve the King +in this journey in company with the Maid." Perceval de Cagny, p. 157.] + +[Footnote 1335: Le Maire, _Antiquités d'Orléans_, ch. xxv, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 1336: Pius II, _Commentarii_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. +513-514. Pierre des Gros, _Jardin des nobles_ in P. Paris, _Manuscrits +français de la bibliothèque du roi_, vol. ii, p. 149, and _Trial_, +vol. iv, pp. 533, 534.] + +Therefore it was necessary to go to Reims. It was necessary also to +anticipate the English who had resolved to conduct thither their +infant King that he might receive consecration according to the +ancient ceremonial.[1337] But if the French had invaded Normandy they +would have closed the young Henry's road to Paris and to Reims, a road +which was already insecure for him; and it would be childish to +maintain that the coronation could not have been postponed for a few +weeks. If the conquest of Norman lands and Norman towns was renounced +therefore, it was not merely for the sake of capturing the holy +Ampulla. The Lord Archbishop of Reims had other objects at heart. He +believed, for example, that, by pressing in between the Duke of +Burgundy and his English allies, an excellent impression would be +produced on the mind of that Prince and the edifying object-lesson +presented to his consideration of Charles, son of Charles, King of +France, riding at the head of a powerful army. + +[Footnote 1337: William of Worcester [1415-1482, or Botoner, +chronicler and traveller, secretary to Sir John Fastolf, disputed with +John Paston concerning some land near Norwich, and frequently referred +to in the Paston Letters. W.S.] in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 475. In 1430 +it was the intention of the English to take their King to Reims "for +which cause all the subjects of the kingdom would be more inclined to +him" (advice given by Philippe le Bon to Henry VI, as cited by H. de +Lannoy, in P. Champion, _G. de Flavy_, p. 156). There was an English +project for carrying off the holy Ampulla from Reims. Pius II, +_Commentarii_ in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 513.] + +To attain the city of the Blessed Saint Remi two hundred and fifty +miles of hostile country must be traversed. But for some time the army +would be in no danger of meeting the enemy on the road. The English +and Burgundians were engaged in using every means both fair and foul +for the raising of troops. For the moment the French need fear no foe. +The rich country of Champagne, sparsely wooded, well cultivated, +teemed with corn and wine, and abounded in fat cattle.[1338] Champagne +had not been devastated like Normandy. There was a likelihood of +obtaining food for the men-at-arms, especially if, as was hoped, the +good towns supplied victuals. They were very wealthy; their barns +overflowed with corn. While owing allegiance to King Henry, no bonds +of affection united them to the English or to the Burgundians. They +governed themselves. They were rich merchants, who only longed for +peace and who did their best to bring it about. Just now they were +beginning to suspect that the Armagnacs were growing the stronger +party. These folk of Champagne had a clergy and a _bourgeoisie_ who +might be appealed to. It was not a question of storming their towns +with artillery, mines, and trenches, but of getting round them with +amnesties, concessions to the merchants and elaborate engagements to +respect the privileges of the clergy. In this country there was no +risk of rotting in hovels or burning in bastions. The townsfolk were +expected to throw open their gates and partly from love, partly from +fear, to give money to their lord the King. + +[Footnote 1338: _Voyages du héraut Berry_, Bibl. Nat. ms. fr. 5873, +fol. 7.] + +The campaign was already arranged, and that very skilfully. +Communications had been opened with Troyes and Châlons. By letters and +messages from a few notables of Reims it was made known to King +Charles that if he came they would open to him the gates of their +town. He even received three or four citizens, who said to him, "Go +forth in confidence to our city of Reims. It shall not be our fault if +you do not enter therein."[1339] + +[Footnote 1339: Jean Rogier in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 284-285.] + +Such assurances emboldened the Royal Council; and the march into +Champagne was resolved upon. + +The army assembled at Gien; it increased daily. The nobles of Brittany +and Poitou came in in great numbers, most of them mounted on sorry +steeds[1340] and commanding but small companies of men. The poorest +equipped themselves as archers, and in default of better service were +ready to act as bowmen. Villeins and tradesmen came likewise.[1341] +From the Loire to the Seine and from the Seine to the Somme the only +cultivated land was round _châteaux_ and fortresses. Most of the +fields lay fallow. In many places fairs and markets had been +suspended. Labourers were everywhere out of work. War, after having +ruined all trades, was now the only trade. Says Eustache Deschamps, +"All men will become squires. Scarce any artisans are left."[1342] At +the place of meeting there assembled thirty thousand men, of whom many +were on foot and many came from the villages, giving their services in +return for food. There were likewise monks, valets, women and other +camp-followers. And all this multitude was an hungered. The King went +to Gien and summoned the Queen who was at Bourges.[1343] + +[Footnote 1340: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 312. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, pp. 93-94. _Journal du siège_, p. 108. Cagny, p. 157. +Morosini, pp. 84-85. Loiseleur, _Compte des dépenses_, pp. 90, 91.] + +[Footnote 1341: "_Gens de guerre et de commun_," says Perceval de +Cagny, p. 157.] + +[Footnote 1342: Eustache Deschamps ed. Queux de Saint-Hilaire and G. +Raynaud, vol. i, p. 159, _passim_. Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII +et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 44. Letter from Nicholas de Clamanges to +Gerson, LIV.] + +[Footnote 1343: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 308. Perceval de Cagny, +p. 157. _Journal du siège_, p. 180. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 85.] + +His idea was to take her to Reims and have her crowned with him, +following the example of Queen Blanche of Castille, of Jeanne de +Valois, and of Queen Jeanne, wife of King John. But queens had not +usually been crowned at Reims; Queen Ysabeau, mother of the present +King, had received the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Rouen +in the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris.[1344] Before her time, the wives of +the kings, following the example set by Berthe, wife of Pepin the +Short, generally came to Saint-Denys to receive the crown of gold, of +sapphire and of pearls given by Jeanne of Évreux to the monks of the +Abbey.[1345] Sometimes the queens were crowned with their husbands, +sometimes alone and in a different place; many had never been crowned +at all. + +[Footnote 1344: S.J. Morand, _Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle royale du +Palais_, Paris, 1790, in 4to, p. 77, and _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1345: Le P. J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys +en France_, Paris, 1625, in fol., ch. 1, pp. 373 _et seq._ Dom +Félibien, _Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denis_, 1706, in fol., +pp. 203, 275, 543.] + +That King Charles should have thought of taking Queen Marie on this +expedition proves that he did not anticipate great fatigue or great +danger. Nevertheless, at the last moment the plan was changed. The +Queen, who had come to Gien, was sent back to Bourges. The King set +out without her.[1346] + +[Footnote 1346: _Journal du siège_, p. 107. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 310.] + + Quand le roy s'en vint en France, + Il feit oindre ses houssiaulx, + Et la royne lui demande: + Ou veult aller cest damoiseaulx?[1347] + +[Footnote 1347: When the King set out in France, he had his gaiters +greased; and the Queen asked him: whither will wend these damoiseaux? +Quoted according to _La Chronique Messine_ by Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 424, note 1.] + +In reality the Queen asked nothing. She was ill-favoured and weak of +will.[1348] But the song says that the King on his departure had his +old gaiters greased because he had no new ones. Those old jokes about +the poverty of the King of Bourges still held good.[1349] The King had +not grown rich. It was customary to pay the men-at-arms a part of +their wages in advance. At Gien each fighting man received three +francs. It did not seem much, but they hoped to gain more on the +way.[1350] + +[Footnote 1348: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iv, p. +88.] + +[Footnote 1349: See _ante_, pp. 148-152.] + +[Footnote 1350: Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 87. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 313.] + +On Friday, the 24th of June, the Maid set out from Orléans for Gien. +On the morrow she dictated from Gien a letter to the inhabitants of +Tournai, telling them how the English had been driven from all their +strongholds on the Loire and discomfited in battle. In this letter she +invited them to come to the anointing of King Charles at Reims and +called upon them to continue loyal Frenchmen. Here is the letter: + + [cross symbol] JHESUS [cross symbol] MARIA. + + Fair Frenchmen and loyal, of the town of Tournay, from this + place the Maid maketh known unto you these tidings: that in + eight days, by assault or otherwise, she hath driven the + English from all the strongholds they held on the River + Loire. Know ye that the Earl of Suffort, Lapoulle his + brother, the Sire of Tallebord, the Sire of Scallez and my + lords Jean Falscof and many knights and captains have been + taken, and the brother of the Earl of Suffort and Glasdas + slain. I beseech you to remain good and loyal Frenchmen; and + I beseech and entreat you that ye make yourselves ready to + come to the anointing of the fair King Charles at Rains, + where we shall shortly be, and come ye to meet us when ye + know that we draw nigh. To God I commend you. God keep you + and give you his grace that ye may worthily maintain the + good cause of the realm of France. Written at Gien the xxvth + day of June. + + Addressed "to the loyal Frenchmen of the town of + Tournay."[1351] + +[Footnote 1351: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 125. _Registre des consaux, +extraits analytiques des anciens consaux de la ville de Tournay_, ed. +H. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, p. 329. F. Hennebert, _Une lettre de Jeanne +d'Arc aux Tournaisiens_ in _Arch. hist. et littéraires du nord de la +France_, 1837, vol. i, p. 525. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles +VII_, vol. iii, p. 516.] + +An epistle in the same tenor must have been sent by the Maid's monkish +scribes to all the towns which had remained true to King Charles, and +the priests themselves must have drawn up the list of them.[1352] +They would certainly not have forgotten that town of the royal domain, +which, situated in Flanders,[1353] in the heart of Burgundian +territory, still remained loyal to its liege lord. The town of +Tournai, ceded to Philip the Good by the English government, in 1423, +had not recognised its new master. Jean de Thoisy, its bishop, resided +at Duke Philip's court;[1354] but it remained the King's town,[1355] +and the well-known attachment of its townsfolk to the Dauphin's +fortunes was exemplary and famous.[1356] The Consuls of Albi, in a +short note concerning the marvels of 1429, were careful to remark that +this northern city, so remote that they did not exactly know where it +was, still held out for France, though surrounded by France's enemies. +"The truth is that the English occupy the whole land of Normandy, and +of Picardy, except Tournay,"[1357] they wrote. + +[Footnote 1352: Letter from Charles VII to the people of Dauphiné, +published by Fauché-Prunelle, in _Bulletin de l'Académie Delphinale_, +vol. ii, p. 459; to the inhabitants of Tours, in _Le Cabinet +historique_, vol. i, C. p. 109; to those of Poitiers, by Redet, in +_Les mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest_, vol. iii, p. +106. _Relation du greffier de la Rochelle_ in _Revue historique_, vol. +iv, p. 341.] + +[Footnote 1353: This is a mere form of speech. Le Tournésis has always +been territory separate from the County of Flanders, the Bishops of +which were the former Lords of Tournai. As early as 1187 the King of +France nominally held sovereign sway there. In reality the town was +divided into two factions: the rich and the merchants were for the +Burgundian party, the common folk for the French (De La Grange, +_Troubles à Tournai_, 1422-1430).] + +[Footnote 1354: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 352.] + +[Footnote 1355: _Chambre du Roi._] + +[Footnote 1356: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 184-185. _Chronique de +Tournai_, ed. Smedt (_Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, +_passim_); _Troubles à Tournai_ (1422-1430) in _Mémoires de la Société +historique et littéraire de Tournai_, vol. xvii (1882). _Extraits des +anciens registres des consaux_, ed. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, _passim_. +Monstrelet, ch. lxvii, lxix. A. Longnon, _Paris sous la domination +anglaise_, pp. 143, 144.] + +[Footnote 1357: The Town Clerk of Albi in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 301.] + +Indeed the inhabitants of the bailiwick of Tournai, jealously guarding +the liberties and privileges accorded to them by the King of France, +would not have separated themselves from the Crown on any +consideration. They protested their loyalty, and in honour of the King +and in the hope of his recovering his kingdom they had grand +processions; but their devotion stopped there; and, when their liege +Lord, King Charles, urgently demanded the arrears of their +contribution, of which he said he stood in great need, their +magistrates deliberated and decided to ask leave to postpone payment +again, and for as long as possible.[1358] + +[Footnote 1358: H. Vandenbroeck, _Extraits analytiques des anciens +registres des consaux de la ville de Tournai_, vol. ii, pp. 328-330.] + +There is no doubt that the Maid herself dictated this letter. It will +be noticed that therein she takes to herself the credit and the whole +credit for the victory. Her candour obliged her to do so. In her +opinion God had done everything, but he had done everything through +her. "The Maid hath driven the English out of all their strongholds." +She alone could reveal so naïve a faith in herself. Brother Pasquerel +would not have written with such saintly simplicity. + +It is remarkable that in this letter Sir John Fastolf should be +reckoned among the prisoners. This mistake is not peculiar to Jeanne. +The King announces to his good towns that three English captains have +been taken, Talbot, the Lord of Scales and Fastolf. Perceval de +Boulainvilliers, in his Latin epistle to the Duke of Milan, includes +Fastolf, whom he calls _Fastechat_, among the thousand prisoners taken +by the folk of Dauphiné. Finally, a missive despatched about the 25th +of June, from one of the towns of the diocese of Luçon, shows great +uncertainty concerning the fate of Talbot, Fastolf and Scales, "who +are said to be either prisoners or dead."[1359] Possibly the French +had laid hands on some noble who resembled Fastolf in appearance or in +name; or perhaps some man-at-arms in order to be held to ransom had +given himself out to be Fastolf. The Maid's letter reached Tournai on +the 7th of July. On the morrow the town council resolved to send an +embassy to King Charles of France.[1360] + +[Footnote 1359: Letter from Perceval de Boulainvilliers, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 120. Fragment of a letter concerning the marvels which have +occurred in Poitou, _ibid._, p. 122. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 74-76.] + +[Footnote 1360: Hennebert, _Archives historiques et littéraires du +nord de la France_, 1837, vol. i, p. 520. _Extraits des anciens +registres des consaux_, ed. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, _loc. cit._] + +On the 27th of June, or about then, the Maid caused letters to be +despatched to the Duke of Burgundy, inviting him to come to the King's +coronation. She received no reply.[1361] Duke Philip was the last man +in the world to correspond with the Maid. And that she should have +written to him courteously was a sign of her goodness of heart. As a +child in her village she had been the enemy of the Burgundians before +being the enemy of the English, but none the less she desired the good +of the kingdom and a reconciliation between Burgundians and French. + +[Footnote 1361: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 127. These letters are now lost. +Jeanne alludes to them in her letter of the 17th of July, 1429. "_Et à +trois sepmaines que je vous avoye escript et envoie bonnes lettres par +un héraut...._"] + +The Duke of Burgundy could not lightly pardon the ambush of Montereau; +but at no time of his life had he vowed an irreconcilable hatred of +the French. An understanding had become possible after the year 1425, +when his brother-in-law, the Constable of France, had excluded Duke +John's murderers from the Royal Council. As for the Dauphin Charles, +he maintained that he had had nothing to do with the crime; but among +the Burgundians he passed for an idiot.[1362] In the depths of his +heart Duke Philip disliked the English. After King Henry V's death he +had refused to act as their regent in France. Then there was the +affair of the Countess Jacqueline which very nearly brought about an +open rupture.[1363] For many years the House of Burgundy had been +endeavouring to gain control over the Low Countries. At last Duke +Philip attained his object by marrying his second cousin, John, Duke +of Brabant to Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of Hainault, Holland and +Zealand, and Lady of Friesland. Jacqueline, finding her husband +intolerable, fled to England, and there, having had her marriage +annulled by the Antipope, Benedict XIII, married the Duke of +Gloucester, the Regent's brother. + +[Footnote 1362: Dom Plancher, _Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, pp. +lvi, lvii. E. Cosneau, _Le connétable de Richemont_, pp. 114 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 1363: Dom Plancher, _Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, proofs +and illustrations, p. lv.] + +Bedford, as prudent as Gloucester was headstrong, made every effort to +retain the great Duke in the English alliance; but the secret hatred +he felt for the Burgundians burst forth occasionally in sudden acts of +rage. Whether he planned the assassination of the Duke and the Duke +knew it, is uncertain. But at any rate it is alleged that one day the +courteous Bedford forgot himself so far as to say that Duke Philip +might well go to England and drink more beer than was good for +him.[1364] The Regent had just tactlessly offended him by refusing to +let him take possession of the town of Orléans.[1365] Now Bedford was +biting his fingers with rage. Regretting that he had refused the Duke +the key to the Loire and the heart of France, he was at present eager +to offer him the province of Champagne which the French were preparing +to conquer: this was indeed just the time to present some rich gift to +his powerful ally.[1366] + +[Footnote 1364: De Barante, _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne_, vol. v, +p. 270. Desplanques, _Projet d'assassinat de Philippe le Bon par les +Anglais_ (1424-1426), in _Les mémoires couronnées par l'Académie de +Bruxelles_, xxxiii (1867).] + +[Footnote 1365: _Journal du siège_, p. 70. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 270. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 20 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1366: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 332, 333. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 36, note 7.] + +Meanwhile the great Duke could think of nothing but the Low Countries. +Pope Martin had declared the marriage of the Countess Jacqueline and +Gloucester to be invalid; and Gloucester was marrying another wife. +Now the Gargantua of Dijon could once more lay hands on the broad +lands of the fair Jacqueline. He remained the ally of the English, +intending to make use of them but not to play into their hands, and +prepared, should he find it to his advantage, to make war on the +French before being reconciled to them; he saw no harm in that. After +the Low Countries what he cared most about were ladies and beautiful +paintings, like those of the brothers Van Eyck. He would not be likely +therefore to pay much attention to a letter from the Maid of the +Armagnacs.[1367] + +[Footnote 1367: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 308-309. Quenson, _Notice sur +Philippe le Bon, la Flandre et ses fêtes_, Douai, 1840, in 8vo. De +Reiffenberg, _Les enfants naturels du duc Philippe le Bon_, in +_Bulletin de l'Académie de Bruxelles_, vol. xiii (1846).] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CONVENTION OF AUXERRE--FRIAR RICHARD--THE SURRENDER OF TROYES + + +On the 27th of June,[1368] the vanguard, commanded by Marshal de +Boussac, the Sire de Rais, the Captains La Hire and Poton, set out +from Gien in the direction of Montargis with the design of pressing on +to Sens, which, so they had been wrongly informed, was deemed likely +to open its gates to the Dauphin. But, at the news that the town had +hoisted the flag of St. Andrew, as a sign of fidelity to the English +and Burgundians, the army changed its route, so little did it desire +to take towns by force. The march was now directed towards Auxerre, +where a more favourable reception was expected.[1369] The Maid in her +impatience had not waited for the King. She rode with the company +which had started first. Had she been its leader she would not have +turned from a town when its cannon were directed against her. + +[Footnote 1368: According to Perceval de Cagny, p. 157; the 28th of +June, according to Chartier, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 1369: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 286.] + +The King set forth two days later, with the Princes of the Blood, many +knights, the main battle, as it was called, and the Sire de la +Trémouille, who commanded the expedition.[1370] All these troops +arrived before Auxerre on the 1st of July.[1371] There on the +hill-slope, encircled with vineyards and cornfields, rose the +ramparts, towers, roofs, and belfries of the blessed Bishop Germain's +city. That town towards which in the summer sunshine, in the company +of gallant knighthood, she was now riding, fully armed like a handsome +Saint Maurice, Jeanne had seen only three months before, under a dark +and cloudy sky; then, clad like a stable-boy, in the company of two or +three poor soldiers of fortune, she was travelling over a bad road, on +her way to the Dauphin Charles.[1372] + +[Footnote 1370: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 90. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, pp. 309, 310. Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Morosini, +vol. iii, pp. 142, 143.] + +[Footnote 1371: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 314. _Journal du siège_, +pp. 108, 109. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 330. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 92. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 142, note 2.] + +[Footnote 1372: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 54, 222.] + +Since 1424 the County of Auxerre had belonged to the Duke of Burgundy, +upon whom it had been bestowed by the Regent. The Duke governed it +through a bailie and a captain.[1373] + +[Footnote 1373: Abbé Lebeuf, _Histoire ecclésiastique et civile +d'Auxerre_, vol. ii, p. 251; vol. iii, pp. 302, 506.] + +The lord Bishop, Messire Jean de Corbie, formerly Bishop of Mende, was +thought to be on the Dauphin's side.[1374] The Chapter of the +Cathedral on the other hand held to Burgundy.[1375] Twelve jurors, +elected by the burgesses and other townsfolk, administered the affairs +of the city. One can easily imagine that fear must have been the +dominant sentiment in their hearts when they saw the royal army +approaching. Men-at-arms, no matter whether they wore the white cross +or the red, inspired all town dwellers with a well-grounded terror. +And, in order to turn from their gates these violent and murderous +thieves, the townsfolk were capable of resorting to the strongest +measures, even to that of putting their hands in their purses. + +[Footnote 1374: Chardon, _Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre_, Auxerre, +1834 (2 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, p. 258.] + +[Footnote 1375: Dom Plancher, _Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, p. 76. +Chardon, _Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre_, vol. ii, pp. 257 _et seq._ +Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 383.] + +The royal heralds summoned the people of Auxerre to receive the King +as their natural and lawful lord. Such a summons, backed by lances, +placed them in a very embarrassing position. Alike by refusing and by +consenting these good folk ran great risk. To transfer their +allegiance was no light matter; their lives and their goods were +involved. Foreseeing this danger, and conscious of their weakness, +they had entered into a league with the cities of Champagne. The +object of the league was to relieve its members from the burden of +receiving men-at-arms and the peril of having two hostile masters. +Certain of the townsfolk therefore presented themselves before King +Charles and promised him such submission as should be accorded by the +towns of Troyes, Châlons, and Reims.[1376] + +[Footnote 1376: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 90. _Journal du +siège_, p. 108. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 313. Monstrelet, vol. +iv, p. 436. Abbé Lebeuf, _Histoire ecclésiastique d'Auxerre_, vol. ii, +p. 51. Chardon, _Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre_, vol. ii, p. 259.] + +This was not obedience, neither was it rebellion. Negotiations were +begun; ambassadors went from the town to the camp and from the camp to +the town. Finally the confederates, who were not lacking in +intelligence, proposed an acceptable compromise,--one that princes +were constantly concluding with each other, to wit, a truce. + +They said to the King: "We entreat and request you to pass on, and we +ask you to agree to refrain from fighting." And, in order to secure +their request being granted, they gave two thousand crowns to the +Sire de la Trémouille, who, it is said, kept them without a blush. +Further, the townsfolk undertook to revictual the army in return for +money down; and that was worth considering, for there was famine in +the camp.[1377] This truce by no means pleased the men-at-arms, who +thereby lost a fine opportunity for robbery and pillage. Murmurs +arose; many lords and captains said that it would not be difficult to +take the town, and that its capture should have been attempted. The +Maid, who was always receiving promises of victory from her Voices, +never ceased calling the soldiers to arms.[1378] Unaffected by any of +these things, the King concluded the proposed truce; for he cared not +by force of arms to obtain more than could be compassed by peaceful +methods. Had he attacked the town he might have taken it and held it +in his mercy; but it would have meant certain pillage, murder, +burning, and ravishing. On his heels would have come the Burgundians, +and there would have been plundering, burning, ravishing, massacring +over again. How many examples had there not been already of unhappy +towns captured and then lost almost immediately, devastated by the +French, devastated by the English and the Burgundians, when each +citizen kept in his coffer a red cap and a white cap, which he wore in +turns! Was there to be no end to these massacres and abominations, +resentment against which caused the Armagnacs to be cursed throughout +l'Île de France, and which made it so hard for the lawful King to +recover his town of Paris. The royal Council thought the time had come +to put an end to these things. It was of opinion that Charles of +Valois would the more easily reconquer his inheritance if, while +manifesting his power, he showed himself lenient and exercised royal +clemency, as in arms and yet pursuing peace, he continued his march to +Reims.[1379] + +[Footnote 1377: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 90. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, p. 313. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 149. Monstrelet, vol. +iv, p. 336. Gilles de Roye, in _Collection des chroniques belges_, pp. +206, 207. Chardon, _Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre_, vol. ii, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 1378: "_De laquelle chose furent bien mal coutans aucuns +seigneurs et cappitaines d'icellui ost et en parloient bien fort._" +Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1379: In the following manner this march is described by a +contemporary: "On the said day (29th of June, 1429), after much +discussion, the King set out and took his way for to go straight to +the city of Troye in Champaigne, and, as he passed, all the fortresses +on the one hand and the other, rendered him allegiance." Perceval de +Cagny, p. 157.] + +After having spent three days under the walls of the town, the army +being refreshed, crossed the Yonne and came to the town of +Saint-Florentin, which straightway submitted to the King.[1380] On the +4th of July, they reached the village of Saint-Phal, four hours' +journey from Troyes.[1381] + +[Footnote 1380: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1381: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 287. Monstrelet, +vol. iv, p. 336. _Journal du siège_, p. 109. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 314. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 91. _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 264-265.] + +In this strong town there was a garrison of between five and six +hundred men at the most.[1382] A bailie, Messire Jean de Dinteville, +two captains, the Sires de Rochefort and de Plancy, commanded in the +town for King Henry and for the Duke of Burgundy.[1383] Troyes was a +manufacturing town; the source of its wealth was the cloth +manufacture. True, this industry had long been declining through +competition and the removal of markets; its ruin was being +precipitated by the general poverty and the insecurity of the roads. +Nevertheless the cloth workers' guild maintained its importance and +sent a number of magistrates to the Council.[1384] + +[Footnote 1382: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1383: Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes et de la +Champagne méridionale_, Paris, 1872 (5 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, p. 482. +For the members of this Council see the most ancient register of its +deliberations by A. Roserot, in _Collection des documents inédits +relatifs à la ville de Troyes_ (1886).] + +[Footnote 1384: F. Bourquelot, _Les foires de Champagne_, Paris, 1865, +vol. i, p. 65. Louis Batiffol, _Jean Jouvenel, prévôt des marchands_, +Paris, 1894, in 8vo.] + +In 1420, these merchants had sworn to the treaty which promised the +French crown to the House of Lancaster; they were then at the mercy of +English and Burgundians. For the holding of those great fairs, to +which they took their cloth, they must needs live at peace with their +Burgundian neighbours, and if the _Godons_ had closed the ports of the +Seine against their bales, they would have died of hunger. Wherefore +the notables of the town had turned English, which did not mean that +they would always remain English. Within the last few weeks great +changes had taken place in the kingdom; and the Gilles Laiguisés, the +Hennequins, the Jouvenels did not pride themselves on remaining +unchanged amidst vicissitudes of fortune which were transferring the +power from one side to the other. The French victories gave them food +for reflection. Along the banks of the streams, which wound through +the city, there were weavers, dyers, curriers who were Burgundian at +heart.[1385] As for the Churchmen, if they were thrilled by no love +for the Armagnacs, they felt none the less that King Charles was sent +to them by a special dispensation of divine providence. + +[Footnote 1385: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 292.] + +The Bishop of Troyes was my lord Jean Laiguisé, son of Master Huet +Laiguisé, one of the first to swear to the treaty of 1420.[1386] The +Chapter had elected him without waiting for the permission of the +Regent, who declared against the election, not that he disliked the +new pontiff; Messire Jean Laiguisé had sucked hatred of the Armagnacs +and respect for the Rose of Lancaster from his _alma mater_ of Paris. +But my Lord of Bedford could not forgive any slighting of his +sovereign rights. + +[Footnote 1386: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. xiii, cols. 514-516. +Courtalon-Delaistre, _Topographie historique du diocèse de Troyes_ +(Troyes, 1783, 3 vols. in 8vo), vol. i, p. 384. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire +de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, pp. 477, 478. De Pange, _Le pays de +Jeanne d'Arc, le fief et l'arrière-fief_, Paris, 1902, in 8vo, p. 33.] + +Shortly afterwards he incurred the censure of the whole Church of +France and was judged by the bishops worse than the cruellest tyrants +of Scripture--Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Artaxerxes[1387]--who, when +they chastised Israel had spared the Levites. More wicked than they +and more sacrilegious, my Lord of Bedford threatened the privileges of +the Gallican Church, when, on behalf of the Holy See, he robbed the +bishops of their patronage, levied a double tithe on the French +clergy, and commanded churchmen to surrender to him the contributions +they had been receiving for forty years. That he was acting with the +Pope's consent made his conduct none the less execrable in the eyes of +the French bishops. The episcopal lords resolved to appeal from a Pope +ill informed to one with wider knowledge; for they held the authority +of the Bishop of Rome to be insignificant in comparison with the +authority of the Council. They groaned: the abomination of desolation +was laying waste Christian Gaul. In order to pacify the Church of +France thus roused against him, my lord of Bedford convoked at Paris +the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Sens, which included the +dioceses of Paris, Troyes, Auxerre, Nevers, Meaux, Chartres, and +Orléans.[1388] + +[Footnote 1387: Siméon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. ccxxii, +according to Labbe and Cossart, _Sacro-Sancta-Consilia_, vol. xii, +col. 390.] + +[Footnote 1388: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. ccxx and proofs +and illustrations, ccix, pp. 238-239. Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Les +états de Normandie sous la domination anglaise_, Évreux, 1859, in +8vo.] + +Messire Jean Laiguisé attended this Convocation. The Synod was held at +Paris, in the Priory of Saint-Eloi, under the presidency of the +Archbishop, from the 1st of March till the 23rd of April, 1429.[1389] +The assembled bishops represented to my Lord the Regent the sorry +plight of the ecclesiastical lords: the peasants, pillaged by +soldiers, no longer paid their dues; the lands of the Church were +lying waste; divine service had ceased to be held because there was no +money with which to support public worship. Unanimously they refused +to pay the Pope and the Regent the double tithe; and they threatened +to appeal from the Pope to the Council. As for despoiling the clergy +of all the contributions they had received during the last forty +years, that, they declared, would be impious; and with great charity +they reminded my Lord of Bedford of the fate reserved by God's +judgment for the impious even in this world. "The Prince," they said, +"should beware of the miseries and sorrows already fallen upon a +multitude of princes, who with such demands had oppressed the Church +which God redeemed with his own precious blood: some had perished by +the sword, some had been driven into exile, others had been despoiled +of their illustrious sovereignties. Wherefore such as set themselves +to enslave the Church, the Bride of God, may not hope to deserve the +grace of his divine Majesty."[1390] + +[Footnote 1389: Labbe and Cossart, _Sacro-Sancta-Consilia_, vol. xii, +col. 392.] + +[Footnote 1390: Labbe and Cossart, _Sacro-Sancta-Consilia_, vol. xii, +col. 390, 399.] + +Jean Laiguisé's sentiments towards the English Regent were those of +the Synod. It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the Bishop of +Troyes desired the death of the sinner, or even that he was hostile to +the English.[1391] The Church is usually capable of temporising with +the powers of this world. Wide is her mercy, and great her +longsuffering. She threatens oft before striking and receives the +repentance of the sinner at the first sign of contrition. But we may +believe that if Charles of Valois were to win the power and show the +will to protect the Church of France, the Lord Bishop and the Chapter +of Troyes would fear lest if they resisted him they might be resisting +God himself, since all power comes from God who _deposuit potentes_. + +[Footnote 1391: De Pange, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc, le fief et +l'arrière-fief_, p. 33.] + +King Charles had not ventured to enter Champagne without taking +measures for his safety; he knew on what he could rely in the town of +Troyes. He had received information and promises; he maintained secret +relations with several burgesses of the city, and those none of the +least.[1392] During the first fortnight of May, a royal notary, ten +clerks and leading merchants, on their way to the king, were arrested +just outside the walls, on the Paris road, by the Sire de +Chateauvillain,[1393] a captain in the English service. This mission +was probably fulfilled by others more fortunate. It is easy to divine +what questions were discussed at these audiences. The merchants would +ask whether Charles, if he became their Lord, would guarantee absolute +freedom to their trade; the clerks would ask his promise to respect +the goods of the Church. And the King doubtless was not sparing of his +pledges. + +[Footnote 1392: J. Rogier in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 285.] + +[Footnote 1393: Th. Boutiot in _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. +ii, pp. 316 _et seq._] + +The Maid, with one division of the army, halted before the stronghold +of Saint-Phal, belonging to Philibert de Vaudrey, commander of the +town of Tonnerre, in the service of the Duke of Burgundy.[1394] In +that place of Saint-Phal, Jeanne beheld approaching her a Franciscan +friar, who was crossing himself and sprinkling holy water, for he +feared lest she were the devil, and dared not draw near without having +first exorcised the evil spirit. It was Friar Richard who was coming +from Troyes.[1395] It will be interesting to see who this monk was as +far as we can tell. + +[Footnote 1394: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 288. Th. Boutiot, +_Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, p. 490. A. Assier, _Une +cité champenoise au xv'e siècle_, Troyes, 1875, in 12mo.] + +[Footnote 1395: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 99, 100. _Relation du Greffier de +La Rochelle_, p. 338. _Journal du siège_, pp. 109-110. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 315.] + +The place of his birth is unknown.[1396] A disciple of Brother Vincent +Ferrier and of Brother Bernardino of Sienna, like them, he taught the +imminent coming of Antichrist and the salvation of the faithful by the +adoration of the holy name of Jesus.[1397] After having been on a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he returned to France, and preached at +Troyes, during the Advent of 1428. Advent, sometimes called Saint +Martin's Lent, begins on the Sunday which falls between the 27th of +November and the 3rd of December. It lasts four weeks, which +Christians spend in making themselves ready to celebrate the mystery +of the Nativity. + +[Footnote 1396: Ed. Richer says his name was Roch Richard and that he +was licentiate in theology. _Histoire manuscrite de la Pucelle_ (Bibl. +Nat. fr. 10448), book 1, folios 50 _et seq._ Siméon Luce, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Domremy_ (chap. x, Jeanne d'Arc et frère Richard).] + +[Footnote 1397: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 235. Th. Basin, +_Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 104. Vallet de +Viriville, _Procès de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, 1867. +Introduction, _Notes sur deux médailles de plomb relatives à Jeanne +d'Arc_, Paris, 1861, p. 22. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. +ccxxxix.] + +"Sow, sow your seed, my good folk," he said. "Sow beans ready for the +harvest, for He who is to come will come quickly."[1398] + +[Footnote 1398: _Journal du siège_, p. 110. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 315.] + +By beans he meant the good works to be performed before Our Lord +should come in the clouds to judge the quick and the dead. Now it was +important to sow those good works quickly, for the harvest-tide was +drawing nigh. The coming of Antichrist was but shortly to precede the +end of the world and the consummation of the ages. In the month of +April, 1429, Friar Richard went to Paris; the Synod of the Province of +Sens was then holding its final session. It is possible that the good +Friar was summoned to the great city by the Bishop of Troyes who was +present at the Synod; but at any rate it would appear that it was not +the rights of the Gallican Church the wandering monk went there to +defend.[1399] + +[Footnote 1399: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 233. Labbe, +Boutiot.] + +On the 16th of April, he preached his first sermon at +Sainte-Geneviève; on the next and the following days, until Sunday, +the 24th, he preached every morning, from five until ten or eleven +o'clock, in the open air, on a platform, erected against the +charnel-house of the Innocents, on the spot whereon was celebrated the +dance of death. Around the platform, about nine feet high, there +crowded five or six thousand persons, to whom he announced the speedy +coming of Antichrist and the end of the world.[1400] "In Syria," he +said, "I met bands of Jews; I asked them whither they were going, and +they replied: 'We are wending in a multitude towards Babylon, for of a +truth the Messiah is born among men, and he will restore unto us our +inheritance, and he will bring us again to the land of promise.' Thus +spake those Syrian Jews. Now Scripture teaches us that He, whom they +call the Messiah, is in truth that Antichrist, of whom it is said he +shall be born in Babylon, capital of the kingdom of Persia, he shall +be brought up at Bethsaida and in his youth he shall dwell at +Chorazin. Wherefore our Lord said: 'Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto +thee, Bethsaida.' The year 1430," added Friar Richard, "shall witness +greater marvels than have ever been seen before.[1401] The time +draweth nigh. He is born, the man of sin, the child of perdition, the +wicked one, the beast vomited forth from the abyss, the abomination of +desolation; he came out of the tribe of Dan, of whom it is written: +'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path.' Soon shall +return to the earth the prophets Elijah and Enoch, Moses, Jeremiah and +Saint John the Evangelist; and soon shall dawn that day of wrath which +shall grind the age in a mill and beat it in a mortar, according to +the testimony of David and the Sibyl."[1402] Then the good Brother +concluded by calling upon them to repent, to do penance and to +renounce empty riches. In short, in the opinion of the clerks, he was +a man of worship and an orator. His sermons produced more devoutness +among the people, it was thought, than those of all the sermonizers +who for the last century had been preaching in the town. And it was +time that he came, for in those days the folk of Paris were greatly +addicted to games of chance; yea, even priests unblushingly indulged +in them, and seven years before, a canon of Saint-Merry, a great lover +of dice was known to have gamed in his own house.[1403] Despite war +and famine, the women of Paris loaded themselves with ornaments. They +troubled more about their beauty than about the salvation of their +souls. + +[Footnote 1400: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 234.] + +[Footnote 1401: _Ibid._, p. 235.] + +[Footnote 1402: Th. Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII et de +Louis XI_, vol. iv, pp. 103, 104.] + +[Footnote 1403: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 236.] + +Friar Richard thundered most loudly against the draught boards of the +men and the ornaments of the women. One day notably, when he was +preaching at Boulogne-la-Petite, he cried down dice and +_hennins_,[1404] and spoke with such power that the hearts of those +who listened were changed. On returning to their homes, the citizens +threw into the streets gaming-tables, draught-boards, cards, billiard +cues and balls, dice and dice-boxes, and made great fires before their +doors. More than one hundred of these fires continued burning in the +streets for three or four hours. Women followed the good example set +by the men that day, and the next they burnt in public their +head-dresses, pads, ornaments, and the pieces of leather or whalebone +on which they mounted the fronts of their hoods. Young misses threw +off their horns[1405] and their tails,[1406] ashamed to clothe +themselves in the devil's garb.[1407] + +[Footnote 1404: A very high head-dress, fashionable in the fifteenth +century (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1405: _Cornes_, the high-horned head-dress (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1406: _Queues_, trains (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1407: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 234, 235.] + +The good Brother likewise caused to be burnt the mandrake roots which +many folk kept in their houses.[1408] Those roots are sometimes in +the form of an ugly little man, of a curious and devilish aspect. On +that account possibly, singular virtues are attributed to them. These +mannikins were dressed in fine linen and silk and were kept in the +belief that they would bring good luck and procure wealth. Witches +made much of them; and those who believed that the Maid was a witch +accused her of carrying a mandrake on her person. Friar Richard hated +these magic roots all the more strongly because he believed in their +power of attracting wealth, the root of all evil. Once again his word +was obeyed; and many a Parisian threw away his mandrake in horror, +albeit he had bought it dear from some old wife who knew more than was +good for her.[1409] Friar Richard caused the Parisians to replace +these evil treasures by objects of greater edification,--pewter +medals, on which was stamped the name of Jesus, to the worship of whom +he was especially devoted.[1410] + +[Footnote 1408: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 236.] + +[Footnote 1409: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 89, 213. _Journal d'un bourgeois +de Paris_, p. 236.] + +[Footnote 1410: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 242, 243. +Vallet de Viriville, _Notes sur deux médailles de plomb relatives à +Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue archéologique_, 1861, pp. 429, 433.] + +Having preached ten times in the town and once in the village of +Boulogne, the good Brother announced his return to Burgundy and took +his leave of the Parisians. + +"I will pray for you," he said; "pray for me. Amen." + +Whereupon all the folk, high and lowly, wept bitterly and copiously, +as if each one were bearing to the grave his dearest friend. He wept +with them and consented to delay his departure for a little.[1411] + +[Footnote 1411: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 236.] + +On Sunday, the 1st of May, he was to preach to the devout Parisians +for the last time. Montmartre, the very spot where Saint Denis had +suffered martyrdom, was the place chosen for the meeting of the +faithful. In those unhappy days the hill was well-nigh uninhabited. +But on the evening before that day more than six thousand people +flocked to the mount to be certain of having good places; and there +they passed the night, some in deserted hovels, but the majority in +the open, under the stars. When the morning came no Friar Richard +appeared, and in vain they waited for him. Disappointed and sad, at +length they learnt that the Friar had been forbidden to preach.[1412] +He had said nothing in his sermons to offend the English. The +Parisians who had heard him believed him to be a good friend to the +Regent and to the Duke of Burgundy. Perhaps he had taken flight owing +to a report that the theologians of the University intended to proceed +against him. His views concerning the end of the world were indeed +both singular and dangerous.[1413] + +[Footnote 1412: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 237.] + +[Footnote 1413: It is yet to be explained how the author of the diary +called _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_ avoided being scandalised by +them, orthodox university professor as he was; on the contrary he +seems to have found the views of the good father edifying. Th. Basin, +_Histoire des règnes de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. iv, p. 104.] + +Friar Richard had gone off to Auxerre. Thence he went preaching +through Burgundy and Champagne. If he was on the King's side he did +not let it appear. For in the month of June the folk of Champagne, and +the inhabitants of Châlons especially, deemed him a worthy man and +attached to the Duke of Burgundy.[1414] And we have seen that on the +4th of July he suspected the Maid of being either the devil or +possessed by a devil.[1415] + +[Footnote 1414: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 290.] + +[Footnote 1415: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 100, see _ante_, p. 412.] + +She understood. When she saw the good Brother crossing himself and +sprinkling holy water she knew that he took her for something +evil,--for a phantom fashioned by the spirit of wickedness, or at +least for a witch.[1416] However, she was by no means offended as she +had been by the suspicions of Messire Jean Fournier. The priest, to +whom she had confessed, could not be forgiven for having doubted +whether she were a good Christian.[1417] But Friar Richard did not +know her, had never seen her. Besides, she was growing accustomed to +such treatment. The Constable, Brother Yves Milbeau, and many others +who came to her asked whether she were from God or the devil.[1418] It +was without a trace of anger, although in a slightly ironical tone, +that she said to the preacher: "Approach boldly, I shall not fly +away."[1419] + +[Footnote 1416: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 1417: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 446.] + +[Footnote 1418: Gruel, _Chronique de Richemont_, p. 71. Eberhard +Windecke, pp. 178, 179.] + +[Footnote 1419: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 100.] + +Meanwhile Friar Richard, by the ordeal of holy water and by the sign +of the cross, had proved that the damsel was not a devil and that +there was no devil in her. And when she said she had come from God he +believed her with all his heart and esteemed her an angel of the +Lord.[1420] + +[Footnote 1420: _Ibid._, pp. 99, 100.] + +He confided to her the reason for his coming.[1421] The inhabitants of +Troyes doubted whether she were of God; to resolve their doubts he had +come to Saint-Phal. Now he knew she was of God, and he was not +amazed; for he knew that the year 1430 would witness greater marvels +than had ever been seen before, and one day or other he was expecting +to behold the Prophet Elias walking and conversing with men.[1422] +From that moment he threw in his lot with the party of the Maid and +the Dauphin. It was not the Maid's prophecies concerning the realm of +France that attracted him to her. The world was too near its end for +him to take any interest in the re-establishment of the madman's son +in his inheritance. But he expected that once the kingdom of Jesus +Christ had been established in the Land of the Lilies, Jeanne, the +prophetess, and Charles, the temporal vicar of Jesus Christ, would +lead the people of Christendom to deliver the Holy Sepulchre. That +would be a meritorious work and one which must be accomplished before +the consummation of the ages. + +[Footnote 1421: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 342.] + +[Footnote 1422: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 235.] + +To the burgesses and inhabitants of the town of Troyes Jeanne dictated +a letter. Herein, calling herself the servant of the King of Heaven +and speaking in the name of God Himself, in terms gentle yet urgent, +she called upon them to render obedience to King Charles of France, +and warned them that whether they would or no she with the King would +enter into all the towns of the holy kingdom and bring them peace. +Here is the letter:[1423] + +[Footnote 1423: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 287-288.] + + JHESUS [cross symbol] MARIA + + Good friends and beloved, an it please you, ye lords, + burgesses and inhabitants of the town of Troies, Jehanne the + Maid doth call upon and make known unto you on behalf of the + King of Heaven, her sovereign and liege Lord, in whose + service royal she is every day, that ye render true + obedience and fealty to the Fair King of France. Whosoever + may come against him, he shall shortly be in Reins + [Transcriber's Note: so in original] and in Paris, and in + his good towns of his holy kingdom, with the aid of King + Jhesus. Ye loyal Frenchmen, come forth to King Charles and + fail him not. And if ye come have no fear for your bodies + nor for your goods. An if ye come not, I promise you and on + your lives I maintain it, that with God's help we shall + enter into all the towns of the holy kingdom and shall there + establish peace, whosoever may oppose us. To God I commend + you. God keep you if it be his will. Answer speedily. Before + the city of Troyes, written at Saint-Fale, Tuesday the + fourth day of July.[1424] + +[Footnote 1424: It should be Monday, 4th July.] + +On the back: + + "To the lords and burgesses of the city of Troyes." + +The Maid gave this letter to Friar Richard, who undertook to carry it +to the townsfolk.[1425] + +[Footnote 1425: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 290.] + +From Saint-Phal the army advanced towards Troyes along the Roman +road.[1426] When they heard of the army's approach, the Council of the +town assembled on Tuesday, the 5th, early in the morning, and sent the +people of Reims a missive of which the following is the purport: + +[Footnote 1426: Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. +ii, p. 493.] + + "This day do we expect the enemies of King Henry and the + Duke of Burgundy who come to besiege us. In view of the + design of these our foes and having considered the just + cause we support and the aid of our princes promised unto + us, we have resolved in council, no matter what may be the + strength of our enemies, to continue in our obedience waxing + ever greater to King Henry and to the Duke of Burgundy, + even until death. And this have we sworn on the precious + body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore we pray the + citizens of Reims to take thought for us as brethren and + loyal friends, and to send to my Lord the Regent and the + Duke of Burgundy to beseech and entreat them to take pity on + their poor subjects and come to their succour."[1427] + +[Footnote 1427: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 288, 289.] + +On that same day, in the morning, from his lodging at +Brinion-l'Archevêque, King Charles despatched his heralds bearing +closed letters, signed by his hand, sealed with his seal, addressed to +the members of the Council of the town of Troyes. Therein he made +known unto them that by the advice of his Council, he had undertaken +to go to Reims, there to receive his anointing, that his intention was +to enter the city of Troyes on the morrow, wherefore he summoned and +commanded them to render the obedience they owed him and prepare to +receive him. He wisely made a point of reassuring them as to his +intentions, which were not to avenge the past. Such was not his will, +he said, but let them comport themselves towards their sovereign as +they ought, and he would forget all and maintain them in his +favour.[1428] + +[Footnote 1428: _Ibid._, p. 287. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de +Troyes_, vol. ii, p. 494.] + +The Council refused to admit King Charles' heralds within the town; +but they received his letters, read them, deliberated over them, and +made known to the heralds the result of their deliberations which was +the following: + + "The lords, knights and squires who are in the town, on + behalf of King Henry and the Duke of Burgundy, have sworn + with us, inhabitants of the city, that we will not receive + into the town any who are stronger than we, without the + express command of the Duke of Burgundy. Having regard to + their oath, those who are in the town would not dare to + admit King Charles." + +And the councillors added for their excuse: + + "Whatever we the citizens may wish we must consider the men + of war in the city who are stronger than we."[1429] + +[Footnote 1429: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 289.] + +The councillors had King Charles' letter posted up and below it their +reply. + +In council they read the letter the Maid had dictated at Saint-Phal +and entrusted to Friar Richard. The monk had not prepared them to give +it a favourable reception, for they laughed at it heartily. "There is +no rhyme or reason in it," they said. "'Tis but a jest."[1430] They +threw it in the fire without sending a reply. Jeanne was a +braggart,[1431] they said. And they added: "We certify her to be mad +and possessed of the devil."[1432] + +[Footnote 1430: _Ibid._, p. 290.] + +[Footnote 1431: In the _Mystery of the siege of Orléans_, the +Englishman Falconbridge likewise treats Jeanne as a boaster, lines +12689-90: + + _'Y nous fault prandre la coquarde, + Qui veult les François gouverner._ + +"We must capture that braggart who desires to govern the French."] + +[Footnote 1432: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 289.] + +That same day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the army began to march +by the walls and take up its position round the town.[1433] + +[Footnote 1433: _Ibid._ Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, +vol. ii, p. 492.] + +Those who encamped to the south west could thence admire the long +walls, the strong gates, the high towers and the belfry of the city +rising in the midst of a vast plain. On their right they would see +above the roofs the church of Saint-Pierre, the huge structure of +which was devoid of tower and steeple.[1434] It was there that eight +years before had been celebrated the betrothal of King Henry V of +England to the Lady Catherine of France. For in that town of Troyes, +Queen Ysabeau and Duke Jean had made King Charles VI, bereft of sense +and memory, sign away the Kingdom of the Lilies to the King of England +and put his name to the ruin of Charles of Valois. At her daughter's +betrothal, Madame Ysabeau was present wearing a robe of blue silk +damask and a coat of black velvet lined with the skins of fifteen +hundred minevers.[1435] After the ceremony she caused to be brought +for her entertainment her singing birds, goldfinches, chaffinches, +siskins and linnets.[1436] + +[Footnote 1434: L. Pigeotte, _Étude sur les travaux d'achèvement de la +cathédrale de Troyes_, p. 9. A. Babeau, _Les vues d'ensemble de +Troyes_, Troyes, 1892, in 8vo, p. 13. A. Assier, _Une cité champenoise +au XV'e siècle_, Paris, 1875, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1435: Ermine (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1436: _Comptes de l'argenterie de la reine_, in Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, pp. 236, 237. De Barante, _Histoire +des ducs de Bourgogne_, vol. iii, pp. 122, 125. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 216. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de +la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, pp. 418, 419.] + +When the French arrived, most of the townsfolk were on the ramparts +looking more curious than hostile and apparently fearing nothing. They +desired above all things to see the King.[1437] + +[Footnote 1437: It is impossible to take seriously those protestations +of loyalty to the English, addressed to the people of Reims by the +townsfolk of Troyes, when the latter were on the point of surrendering +to the French King, and especially after the reply they had just sent +to King Charles's letters. See J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 289. +"Which reply having been made each of them had gone up on to the +walls, and assumed his guard with the intent and in the firm +resolution that if any attack were made on them, they would resist to +the death."] + +The town was strongly defended. The Duke of Burgundy had long been +keeping up the fortifications. In 1417 and 1419 the people of Troyes, +like those of Orléans in 1428, had pulled down their suburbs and +destroyed all the houses outside the town for two or three hundred +paces from the ramparts. The arsenal was well furnished; the stores +overflowed with victuals; but the Anglo-Burgundian garrison amounted +only to between five and six hundred men.[1438] + +[Footnote 1438: J. Chartier, vol. i, p. 92. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de +la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, pp. 391, 418, 419. A. Assier, _Une cité +champenoise au XV'e siècle_, p. 8.] + +On that day also, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the Councillors of +the town of Troyes sent to inform the people of Reims of the arrival +of the Armagnacs, and despatched to them copies of the letter from +Charles of Valois, of their reply to it and of the Maid's letter, +which they cannot therefore have burned immediately. They likewise +communicated to them their resolution to resist to the death in case +they should receive succour. In like manner they wrote to the people +of Châlons to tell them of the Dauphin's coming; and to them they made +known that the letter of Jeanne the Maid had been brought to Troyes by +Friar Richard the preacher.[1439] + +[Footnote 1439: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 289, 290.] + +These writings amounted to saying: like all citizens in such +circumstances, we are in danger of being hanged either by the +Burgundians or by the Armagnacs, which would be very grievous. To +avoid this calamity as far as in us lies, we give King Charles of +Valois to understand that we do not open our gates to him because the +garrison prevents us and that we are the weaker, which is true. And +we make known to our Lords, the Regent and the Duke of Burgundy, that +the garrison being too weak to defend us, which is true, we ask for +succour, which is loyal; and we trust that the succour will not be +sent, for if it were we should have to endure a siege, and risk being +taken by assault which for us merchants would be grievous. But, having +asked for succour and not receiving it, we may then surrender without +reproach. The important point is to cause the garrison, fortunately a +small one, to make off. Five hundred men are too few for defence, but +too many for surrender. As for enjoining the citizens of Reims to +demand succour for themselves and for us, that is merely to prove our +good-will to the Duke of Burgundy; and we risk nothing by it, for we +know that our trusty comrades of Reims will take care that when they +ask for succour they do not receive it, and that they will await a +favourable opportunity for opening their gates to King Charles, who +comes with a strong army. And now to conclude, we will resist to the +death if we are succoured, which God forbid! + +Such were the crafty thoughts of those dwellers in Champagne. The +citizens fired a few stone bullets on to the French. The garrison +skirmished awhile and returned into the town.[1440] + +[Footnote 1440: _Journal du siège_, p. 109. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 314, 315. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 91. Th. Boutiot, +_Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, p. 497.] + +Meanwhile King Charles' army was stricken with famine.[1441] The +Archbishop of Embrun's counsel to provide the army with victuals by +means of human wisdom was easier to give than to follow. There were +between six and seven thousand men in camp who had not broken bread +for a week. The men-at-arms were reduced to feeding on pounded ears of +corn still green and on the new beans they found in abundance. Then +they called to mind how during Saint Martin's Lent Friar Richard had +said to the folk of Troyes: "Sow beans broadcast: He who is to come +shall come shortly." What the good brother had said of the spiritual +seed-time was interpreted literally: by a curious misunderstanding, +what had been uttered concerning the coming of the Messiah was applied +to the coming of King Charles. Friar Richard was held to be the +prophet of the Armagnacs and the men-at-arms really believed that this +evangelical preacher had caused the beans they gathered to grow; thus +had he provided for their nourishment by his excellence, his wisdom +and his penetration into the counsels of God, who gave manna unto the +people of Israel in the desert.[1442] + +[Footnote 1441: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 92.] + +[Footnote 1442: _Journal du siège_, pp. 109, 110. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 315.] + +The King, who had been lodging at Brinion since the 4th of July, +arrived before Troyes in the afternoon of Friday the 8th.[1443] That +very day he held council of war with the commanders and princes of the +blood to decide whether they should remain before the town until by +dint of promises[1444] or threats they obtained its submission, or +whether they should pass on, leaving it to itself, as they had done at +Auxerre.[1445] + +[Footnote 1443: Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Nevertheless see also +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 143, note.] + +[Footnote 1444: "And always desiring and discussing the submission of +this city." Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1445: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 13. Evidence of Dunois. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 92. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +315. Chartier and the _Chronique de la Pucelle_ put words into the +mouths of Regnault de Chartres and Robert le Maçon which are very +improbable.] + +The discussion had lasted long when the Maid arrived and prophesied: + +"Fair Dauphin," said she, "command your men to attack the town of +Troyes and delay no further in councils too prolonged, for, in God's +name, before three days, I will cause you to enter the town, which +shall be yours by love or by force and courage. And false Burgundy +shall look right foolish."[1446] + +[Footnote 1446: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 13. Evidence of Dunois. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 317. _Journal du siège_, p. 110. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 94.] + +Wherefore had they contrary to their custom summoned her to the +Council? It was merely a question of firing a few cannon balls and +pretending to scale the walls, in short, of making a false attack. +Such a feigned assault was due to the people of Troyes, who could not +decently surrender save to some display of force; and besides the +lower orders must be frightened, for they remained at heart +Burgundian. Probably my Lord of Trèves[1447] or another judged that +the little Saint by appearing beneath the ramparts of Troyes would +strike a religious terror into the weavers of the city. + +[Footnote 1447: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 95.] + +They had only to leave her to go her own way. The Council over, she +mounted her horse, and lance in hand hurried to the moat, followed by +a crowd of knights, squires, and craftsmen.[1448] The point of attack +was to be the north west wall, between the Madeleine and the Comporté +Gates.[1449] Jeanne, who firmly believed that the town would be taken +by her, spent the night inciting her people to bring faggots and put +the artillery in position. "To the assault," she cried, and signed to +them to throw hurdles into the trenches.[1450] + +[Footnote 1448: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 13, 14, 117. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 96. _Journal du siège_, p. 111. _Chronique de +la Pucelle_, p. 78. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, +p. 225.] + +[Footnote 1449: Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. +ii, p. 497, note. A. Assier, _Une cité champenoise au XV'e siècle_, +Paris, 1875, in 8vo, p. 26.] + +[Footnote 1450: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 117. (De Gaucourt's evidence.)] + +This threat had the desired effect. The lower orders, imagining the +town already taken, and expecting the French to come to pillage, +massacre and ravish, as was the custom, took refuge in the churches. +As for the clerics and notables, this was just what they wanted.[1451] + +[Footnote 1451: _Ibid._, p. 117. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, +p. 96. J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 296.] + +Being assured by Charles of Valois that they might come to him in +safety, the Lord Bishop Jean Laiguisé, my Lord Guillaume Andouillette, +Master of the Hospital, the Dean of the Chapter, the clergy and the +notables went to the King.[1452] + +[Footnote 1452: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 295. _Trial_, pp. +13, 14, 17. Chartier, _Journal du siège_, _Chronique de la Pucelle_. +Camusat, _Mél. hist._, part ii, fol. 214.] + +Jean Laiguisé was the spokesman. He came to do homage to the King and +to offer excuse for the townsfolk. + +It is not their fault, he said, if the King enter not according to his +good pleasure. The Bailie and those of the garrison, some three or +four hundred, guard the gates, and forbid their being opened. Let it +please the King to have patience until I have spoken to those of the +town. I trust that as soon as I have spoken to them, they will open +the gates and render the King such obedience as he shall be pleased +withal.[1453] + +[Footnote 1453: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in _Revue +historique_, vol. iv, p. 342. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, _Journal du +siège_, Chartier, _loc. cit._ Gilles de Roye in Chartier, vol. iii, p. +205.] + +In replying to the Bishop, the King set forth the reasons for the +expedition and the rights he held over the town of Troyes. + +Without exception, he said, I will forgive all the deeds of past +times, and, according to the example of Saint Louis,[1454] I will +maintain the people of Troyes in peace and liberty. + +[Footnote 1454: J. Rogier in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 296.] + +Jean Laiguisé demanded that such revenues and patronage as had been +bestowed on churchmen by the late King, Charles VI, should be retained +by them, and that those who had received the same from King Henry of +England should be given charters by King Charles authorizing them to +keep their benefices, even in cases where the King had bestowed them +on others. + +The King consented and the Lord Bishop beheld in him a new Cyrus. This +conference he reported to the Council of the Town. Thereupon it +deliberated and resolved to render allegiance to the King, in +consideration of his legal right and provided he would grant an +amnesty for all offences, would leave no garrison in the city and +would abolish all aids, save the _gabelle_.[1455] Whereupon the +Council sent letters to the citizens of Reims making known to them +this resolution and exhorting them to take a similar one: + +[Footnote 1455: _Gabelle_, word of German origin (_gabe_), originally +applied to all taxes, came to signify only the tax on salt. This tax +was first rendered oppressive by Philippe de Valois (1328-1350) who +created a monopoly of salt in favour of the crown. He obliged each +family to pay a tax on a certain quantity whether they consumed it or +not. The _Gabelle_, which led to several rebellions, was not abolished +until the Revolution (1790). (W.S.) _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 296. +_Ordonnances des rois de France_, vol. xiii, p. 142. Th. Boutiot, +_Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, p. 500. A. Roserot, _Le +plus ancien registre des délibérations du conseil de la ville de +Troyes_ in _Coll. de Doc. inédits sur la ville de Troyes_, vol. iii, +p. 175.] + +"Thus," they said, "we shall have the same lord over us. You will keep +your lives and your goods, as we have done. For otherwise we should +all be lost. We do not regret our submission. Our only grief is that +we delayed so long. You will be right glad to follow our example; for +King Charles is a prince of greater discretion, understanding and +valour than any who for many a long year have arisen in the noble +house of France."[1456] + +[Footnote 1456: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 295, 296.] + +Friar Richard went to find the Maid. As soon as he saw her, and when +he was still afar off, he knelt before her. When she saw him, she +likewise knelt before him, and they bowed low to each other. When he +returned to the town, the good Friar preached to the folks at length +and exhorted them to obey King Charles. "God is preparing his way," he +said. "To accompany him and to lead him to his anointing God hath sent +him a holy Maid, who, as I firmly believe, is as able to penetrate the +mysteries of God as any saint in Paradise, save Saint John the +Evangelist."[1457] The good Brother found himself obliged to recognise +as superior to Jeanne at least one saint,--one who was the first of +saints, the apostle who had lain with his head on Jesus' breast, the +prophet who was ere long to return to earth, when the ages should have +been consummated. + +[Footnote 1457: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in _Revue +historique_, vol. iv, p. 342.] + +"If she wished," continued Friar Richard, "she could bring in all the +King's men-at-arms, over the walls or in any other manner that pleased +her. And many other things can she do." + +The townsfolk had great faith and confidence in this good Brother who +spoke so eloquently. What he said of the Maid appeared to them +admirable, and won their obedience to a king so powerfully +accompanied. With one voice they all cried aloud, "Long live King +Charles of France!"[1458] + +[Footnote 1458: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in _Revue +historique_, vol. iv, p. 342.] + +But now it was necessary to treat with the Bailie. He was not +unapproachable, seeing that he had suffered this going and coming from +the town to the camp and the camp to the town; and with him must be +devised some honest means of getting rid of the garrison. With this +object the commonalty, preceded by the Lord Bishop, went in great +numbers to the Bailie and the Captains, and called upon them to +provide for the safety of the town.[1459] This demand they were +incapable of granting, for to safeguard a city against its will and to +drive out thirty thousand French was beyond their power. + +[Footnote 1459: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 296, 297.] + +As the townsfolk had anticipated, the Bailie was greatly embarrassed. +Beholding his perplexity, the Councillors of the town said to him, "If +you will not keep the treaty you have made for the public weal, then +will we bring the King's men into the city, whether you will or no." + +The Bailie and the Captains refused to betray their English and +Burgundian masters, but they consented to go. That was all that was +required of them.[1460] + +[Footnote 1460: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 13, 117; vol. iv, pp. 296, 297. +Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, p. 205. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire +de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, pp. 499, 500. M. Poinsignon, +_Histoire générale de la Champagne et de la Brie_, Châlons, 1885, vol. +i, pp. 352 _et seq._ A. Assier, _Une cité champenoise au XV'e +siècle_, Paris, 1875, in 12mo, pp. 16, 17.] + +The town opened its gates to Charles. On Sunday, the 10th of July, +very early in the morning, the Maid entered first into Troyes and +with her the common folk whom she so dearly loved. Friar Richard +accompanied her. She posted archers along the streets which the +procession was to follow, so that the King of France should pass +through the town between a double row of those foot soldiers of his +army who had so nobly aided him.[1461] + +[Footnote 1461: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 102. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +319.] + +While Charles of Valois was entering by one gate, the Burgundian +garrison was going out by the other.[1462] As had been agreed, the men +of King Henry and Duke Philip bore away their arms and other +possessions. Now, in their possessions they included such French +prisoners as they were holding to ransom. And, according to the use +and custom of war, it would seem that they were not altogether wrong; +but pitiful it was to see King Charles's men led away captive just as +their lord was arriving. The Maid heard of it, and her kind heart was +touched. She hurried to the gate of the town, where with arms and +baggage the fighting men were assembled. She found there the lords of +Rochefort and Philibert de Moslant. She challenged them and called to +them to leave the Dauphin's men. But the Captains thought otherwise. + +[Footnote 1462: Chartier, _Journal du siège_. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 319.] + +"Thus to proceed against the treaty is fraudulent and wicked," they +said to her. + +Meanwhile the prisoners on their knees were entreating the Saint to +keep them. + +"In God's name," she cried, "they shall not go."[1463] + +[Footnote 1463: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 95, 96. +_Journal du siège_, p. 112. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 319.] + +During this altercation there was standing apart a certain Burgundian +squire, and through his mind were passing concerning the Maid of the +Armagnacs certain reflections to which he was to give utterance +later. "By my faith," he was thinking, "it is the simplest creature +that ever I saw. There is neither rhyme nor reason in her, no more +than in the greatest stupid. To so valiant a woman as Madame d'Or, I +will not compare her, and the Burgundians do but jest when they appear +afraid of her."[1464] + +[Footnote 1464: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 296, 297.] + +To taste the full flavour of this joke it must be explained that +Madame d'Or, about as high as one's boot, held the office of fool to +my Lord Philip.[1465] + +[Footnote 1465: Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 168. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. clxxiii, clxxiv. P. Champion, _Notes sur +Jeanne d'Arc_, I. _Madame d'Or et Jeanne d'Arc_ in _Le moyen âge_, +July to August, 1907, pp. 193-199.] + +The Maid failed to come to an understanding with the Lords de +Rochefort and de Moslant concerning the prisoners. They had right on +their side. She had only the promptings of her kind heart. This +discussion afforded great entertainment to the men-at-arms of both +parties. When King Charles was informed of it, he smiled and said that +to settle the dispute he would pay the prisoners' ransom, which was +fixed at one silver mark per head. On receiving this sum the +Burgundians extolled the generosity of the King of France.[1466] + +[Footnote 1466: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 319. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 96. _Journal du siège_, p. 112. _Un prince de +façon_, Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, vol. i, pp. 106, 107.] + +On that same Sunday, about nine o'clock in the morning, King Charles +entered the city. He had put on his festive robes, gleaming with +velvet, with gold, and with precious stones. The Duke of Alençon and +the Maid, holding her banner in her hand, rode at his side. He was +followed by all the knighthood. The townsfolk lit bonfires and danced +in rings. The little children cried, "Noël!" Friar Richard +preached.[1467] + +[Footnote 1467: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 102. Letter from three noblemen of +Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 130. _Relation du greffier de La +Rochelle_, p. 342. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 319. Morosini, vol. +iii, p. 176. Th. Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, +pp. 504 _et seq._] + +The Maid prayed in the churches. In one church she held a babe over +the baptismal font. Like a princess or a holy woman, she was +frequently asked to be godmother to children she did not know and was +never to see again. She generally named the children Charles in honour +of the King, and to the girls she gave her own name of Jeanne. +Sometimes she called the children by names chosen by their +mothers.[1468] + +[Footnote 1468: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 103.] + +On the morrow, the 11th of July, the army, which had remained outside +the walls, under the command of Messire Ambroise de Loré, passed +through the town. The entrance of men-at-arms was a scourge, of which +the citizens were as much afraid as of the Black Death.[1469] King +Charles, being careful to spare the citizens, took measures to control +this scourge. By his command the heralds cried that under pain of +hanging no soldier must enter the houses or take anything against the +will of the townsfolk.[1470] + +[Footnote 1469: T. Babeau, _Le guet et la milice bourgeoise à Troyes_, +pp. 4 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1470: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 342. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 319. _Journal du siège_, p. 112. Th. +Boutiot, _Histoire de la ville de Troyes_, vol. ii, p. 505. A. +Roserot, _Le plus ancien registre des délibérations du conseil de +Troyes_ in _Coll. des documents inédits de la ville de Troyes_, vol. +iii, pp. 175 _et seq._] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SURRENDER OF CHÂLONS AND OF REIMS--THE CORONATION + + +Leaving Troyes, the royal army entered into the poorer part of +Champagne, crossed the Aube near Arcis, and took up its quarters at +Lettrée, twelve and a half miles from Châlons. From Lettrée the King +sent his herald Montjoie to the people of Châlons to ask them to +receive him and render him obedience.[1471] + +[Footnote 1471: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 298. Morosini, vol. +iii, p. 179. Edition Barthélémy of _L'histoire de la ville de +Châlons-sur-Marne_, proofs and illustrations no. 25, pp. 334, 335.] + +The towns of Champagne were as closely related as the fingers of one +hand. When the Dauphin was at Brinion-l'Archevêque, the people of +Châlons had heard of it from their friends of Troyes. The latter had +even told them that Friar Richard, the preacher, had brought them a +letter from Jeanne the Maid. Whereupon the folk of Châlons wrote to +those of Reims: + +"We are amazed at Friar Richard. We esteemed him a man right worthy. +But he has turned sorcerer. We announce unto you that the citizens of +Troyes are making war against the Dauphin's men. We are resolved to +resist the enemy with all our strength."[1472] + +[Footnote 1472: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 290, 291. Varin, +_Archives législatives de la ville de Reims, Statuts_, vol. 1, pp. 596 +_et seq._ (_Coll. des documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_, +1845).] + +They thought not one word of what they wrote, and they knew that the +citizens of Reims would believe none of it. But it was important to +display great loyalty to the Duke of Burgundy before receiving another +master. + +The Count Bishop of Châlons came out to Lettrée to meet the King and +gave up to him the keys of the town. He was Jean de Montbéliard-Saarbrück, +one of the Sires of Commercy.[1473] + +[Footnote 1473: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. v, col. 891-895. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, pp. 319-320. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. +96. L. Barbat, _Histoire de la ville de Châlons_, 1855 (2 vols. in +4to), vol. i, p. 350. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, proofs and +illustrations no. 33. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 182, note 2.] + +On the 14th of July the King and his army entered the town of +Châlons.[1474] There the Maid found four or five peasants from her +village come to see her, and with them Jean Morel, who was her +kinsman. By calling a husbandman, and about forty-three years of age, +he had fled with the d'Arc family to Neufchâteau on the passing of the +men-at-arms. Jeanne gave him a red gown which she had worn.[1475] At +Châlons also she met another husbandman, younger than Morel by about +ten years, Gérardin from Épinal, whom she called her _compeer_,[1476] +just as she called Gérardin's wife Isabellette her _commère_[1477] +because she had held their son Nicolas over the baptismal font and +because a godmother is a mother in the spirit. At home in the village +Jeanne mistrusted Gérardin because he was a Burgundian. At Châlons she +showed more confidence in him and talked to him of the progress of the +army, saying that she feared nothing except treason.[1478] Already she +had dark forebodings; doubtless she felt that henceforth the frankness +of her soul and the simplicity of her mind would be hardly assailed by +the wickedness of men and the confusing forces of circumstance. +Already the words of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret +had lost some of their primitive clearness, for they had come to treat +of those French and Burgundian state secrets which were not heavenly +matters. + +[Footnote 1474: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 298. Letter from +three noblemen of Anjou in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 130. Perceval de Cagny, +p. 158. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 96, 97. _Chronique des +Cordeliers_, fol. 85, v. E. de Barthélémy, _Châlons pendant l'invasion +anglaise_, Châlons, 1851, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 1475: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 391, 392 (Jean Morel's +evidence).] + +[Footnote 1476: French _compère_, gossip or fellow godfather, +sometimes a close friend. Cf. Chaucer, Prologue to Canterbury Tales: + + "With hym ther was a gentil Pardoner + Of Rouncivale, his freend and his compeer" (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1477: _Commère_, fellow godmother (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1478: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 423 (evidence of Gérardin of +Épinal).] + +The people of Châlons, following the example of their friends of +Troyes, wrote to the inhabitants of Reims that they had received the +King of France and that they counselled them to do likewise. In this +letter they said they had found King Charles kind, gracious, pitiful, +and merciful; and of a truth the King was dealing leniently with the +towns of Champagne. The people of Châlons added that he had a great +mind and a fine bearing.[1479] That was saying much. + +[Footnote 1479: "In as much as he is the prince of the greatest +discretion, understanding, and valour that has long been seen in the +noble house of France." J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 296. Varin, +_Archives de Reims, Statuts_, vol. i, p. 601. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc +à Reims_, pp. 13 _et seq._] + +The citizens of Reims acted with extreme caution. On the arrival of +the King of France in the neighbourhood of the town, while they sent +informing him that their gates should be opened to him, to their Lord +Philip and likewise to the Burgundians and English captains, they sent +word of the progress of the royal army as far as they knew it, and +called upon them to oppose the enemy's march.[1480] But they were in +no hurry to obtain succour, reckoning that, should they receive none, +they could surrender to King Charles without incurring any censure +from the Burgundians, and that thus they would have nothing to fear +from either party. For the moment they preserved their loyalty to the +two sides, which was wise in circumstances so difficult and so +dangerous. While observing the craft with which these towns of +Champagne practised the art of changing masters, it is well to +remember that their lives and possessions depended on their knowledge +of that art. + +[Footnote 1480: J. Rogier, _loc. cit._ Varin, p. 599.] + +As early as the 1st of July Captain Philibert de Moslant wrote to them +from Nogent-sur-Seine, where he was with his Burgundian company, that +if they needed him he would come to their help like a good +Christian.[1481] They feigned not to understand. After all, the Lord +Philibert was not their captain. What he proposed to do was, as he +said, only out of Christian charity. The notables of Reims, who did +not wish for deliverance, had to beware, above all, of their natural +deliverer, the Sire de Chastillon, Grand Steward of France, the +commander of the town.[1482] And they must needs request help in such +a manner as not to obtain their request, for fear of being like the +Israelites, of whom it is written: _Et tribuit eis petitionem eorum_. + +[Footnote 1481: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 286 _et seq._ +Varin, pp. 600 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1482: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 18. Dom Marlot, +_Hist. metrop. Remensis_, vol. ii, pp. 709 _et seq._] + +When the royal army was yet before the walls of Troyes, a herald +appeared at the gates of Reims, bearing a letter given by the King, at +Brinion-l'Archevêque, on Monday, the 4th of July. This letter was +delivered to the Council. "You may have heard tidings," said the King +to his good people of Reims, "of the success and victory it hath +pleased God to vouchsafe unto us over our ancient enemies, the +English, before the town of Orléans and since then at Jargeau, +Beaugency, and Meung-sur-Loire, in each of which places our enemies +have received grievous hurt; all their leaders and others to the +number of four thousand have been slain or taken prisoners. Such +things having happened, more by divine grace than human skill, we, +according to the advice of our Princes of the Blood and the members of +our Great Council, are coming to the town of Reims to receive our +anointing and coronation. Wherefore we summon you, on the loyalty and +obedience you owe us, to dispose yourselves to receive us in the +accustomed manner as you have done for our predecessors."[1483] + +[Footnote 1483: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 291-292.] + +And King Charles, adopting towards the citizens of Reims that same +wise benignity he had shown to the citizens of Troyes, promised them +full pardon and oblivion. + +"Be not deterred," he said, "by matters that are past and the fear +that we may remember them. Be assured that if now ye act towards us as +ye ought, ye shall be dealt with as becometh good and loyal subjects." + +He even asked them to send notables to treat with him. "If, in order +to be better informed concerning our intentions, certain citizens of +Reims would come to us with the herald, whom we send, we should be +well pleased. They may come in safety and in such numbers as shall +seem good to them."[1484] + +[Footnote 1484: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 291.] + +On the delivery of this letter the Council was convoked, but it so +befell that there were not enough aldermen to deliberate; hence the +Council was relieved from a serious embarrassment. Whereupon the +common folk were assembled in the various quarters of the city, and +from the citizens thus consulted was obtained the following crafty +declaration: "It is our intention to live and die with the Council and +the Notables. According to their advice we shall act in concord and in +peace, without murmuring or making answer, unless it be by the counsel +and decree of the Commander of Reims and his Lieutenant."[1485] + +[Footnote 1485: _Ibid._, p. 292. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, +pp. 17 _et seq._] + +The Sire de Chastillon, Commander of the town, was then at +Château-Thierry with his lieutenants, Jean Cauchon and Thomas de +Bazoches, both of them knights. The citizens of Reims deemed it wise +that he should see King Charles's letter. Their Bailie, Guillaume +Hodierne, went to the Lord Captain and showed it to him. Most +faithfully did the Bailie express the sentiments of the people of +Reims: he asked the Sire de Chastillon to come to their deliverance, +but he asked in such a manner that he did not come. That was the +all-important point; for by not appealing to him they laid themselves +open to a charge of treason, while if he did come they risked having +to endure a siege grievous and dangerous. + +With this object the Bailie declared that the citizens of Reims, +desirous to communicate with their captains, were willing to receive +him if he were accompanied by no more than fifty horse. Herein they +displayed their good will, being entitled to refuse to receive a +garrison within their walls; this privilege notwithstanding, they +consented to admit fifty horse, which meant about two hundred fighting +men. As the citizens had foreseen, the Sire de Chastillon judged such +a number insufficient for his safety. He demanded as the conditions of +his coming, that the town should be victualled and put in a state of +defence, that he should enter it with three or four hundred +combatants, that the defence of the city as well as of the castle +should be entrusted to him, and that there should be delivered up to +him five or six notables as hostages. On these conditions he declared +himself ready to live and die for them.[1486] + +[Footnote 1486: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 292, 293. Varin, +_Archives de Reims_, pp. 910, 912. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, +p. 18.] + +He marched with his company to within a short distance of the town, +and then made known to the townsfolk that he had come to succour +them.[1487] + +[Footnote 1487: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 295. H. Jadart, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, pp. 18, 19.] + +The English were indeed recruiting troops wherever they could and +pressing all manner of folk into their service. They were said to be +arming even priests; and the Regent was certainly pressing into his +service the crusaders disembarked in France, whom the Cardinal of +Winchester was intending to lead against the Hussites.[1488] As we may +imagine, King Henry's Council did not fail to inform the inhabitants +of Reims of the armaments which were being assembled. On the 3rd of +July they were told that the troops were crossing the sea, and on the +10th Colard de Mailly, Bailie of Vermandois, announced that they had +landed. But these tidings failed to inspire the folk of Champagne with +any great confidence in the power of the English. While the Sire de +Chastillon was promising that in forty days they should have a fine +large army from beyond the seas, King Charles with thirty thousand +combatants was but a few miles from their gates. The Sire de +Chastillon perceived, what he had previously suspected, that he was +tricked. The citizens of Reims refused to admit him. Nothing remained +for him but to turn round and join the English.[1489] + +[Footnote 1488: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 451. Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 101, 102. _Journal du siège_, p. +118. Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. x, p. 424. S. Bougenot, _Notices et +extraits des manuscrits intéressants l'histoire de France conservés à +la Bibliothèque impériale de Vienne_, p. 62. Raynaldi, _Annales +ecclesiastici_, vol. ix, pp. 77, 78. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement, +xvii.] + +[Footnote 1489: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 295, 298.] + +On the 12th of July, from my Lord Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop and +Duke of Reims, the townsfolk received a letter requesting them to make +ready for the King's coming.[1490] + +[Footnote 1490: _Ibid._, p. 297. L. Paris, _Cabinet historique_, 1865, +p. 77.] + +The Council of the city having assembled on that day, the clerk +proceeded to draw up an official report of its deliberations: + +"... After having represented to my Lord of Chastillon that he is the +Commander and that the lords and the mass of the people who...."[1491] + +[Footnote 1491: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 19.] + +He wrote no more. Finding it difficult to protest their loyalty to the +English while making ready King Charles's coronation, and considering +it imprudent to recognize a new prince without being forced to it, the +citizens abruptly renounced the silver of speech and took refuge in +the gold of silence. + +On Saturday, the 16th, King Charles took up his quarters in the +Castle of Sept-Saulx, ten miles from the city where he was to be +crowned. This fortress had been erected two hundred years before by +the warlike predecessors of my Lord Regnault. Its proud keep commanded +the crossing of the Vesle.[1492] There the King received the citizens +of Reims, who came in great numbers to do him homage.[1493] Then, with +the Maid and his whole army, he resumed his march. Having traversed +the last stage of the highroad which wound along the bank of the +Vesle, he entered the great city of Champagne at nightfall. The +southern gate, called Dieulimire, lowered its drawbridge and raised +its two portcullises to let him pass.[1494] + +[Footnote 1492: Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +p. 97; _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 320. _Chronique des Cordeliers_, +fol. 85, v'o. _Journal du siège_, p. 112. Bergier, _Poème sur la +tapisserie de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 112. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Reims_, pp. 20, 21. F. Pinon, _Notice sur Sept-Saulx_, in _Travaux de +l'académie de Reims_, vol. vi, p. 328.] + +[Footnote 1493: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, pp. 298 _et seq._ Dom Marlot, +_Histoire de la ville de Reims_, vol. iv, Reims, 1846 (4 vol. in 4to), +vol. iii, p. 174.] + +[Footnote 1494: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 23.] + +According to tradition the coronation should take place on a Sunday. +This rule was found mentioned in a ceremonial which was believed to +have served for the coronation of Louis VIII and was considered +authoritative.[1495] The citizens of Reims worked all night in order +that everything might be ready on the morrow.[1496] They were urged +on by their sudden affection for the King of France and likewise by +their fear lest he and his army[1497] should spend many days in their +city. Their horror of receiving and maintaining men-at-arms within +their gates they shared with the citizens of all towns, who in their +panic were incapable of distinguishing Armagnac soldiers from English +and Burgundians. Wherefore in all things were they diligent, but with +the firm intention of paying as little as possible. Seeing that to +them the coronation brought neither profit nor honour, the aldermen +were accustomed to throw the burden of it on the Archbishop, who, they +said, as peer of France,[1498] would receive the emoluments. + +[Footnote 1495: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 322, 323, note. "This +ritual dates back certainly as far as the 13th century. It is +preserved in the library at Reims in a MS. which appears to have been +written about 1274." Communicated by M. H. Jadart. Varin, _Archives de +Reims_, vol. i, p. 522. Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville de Reims_, +vol. iii, p. 566, and vol. iv, proofs and illustrations no. 142. H. +Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 1496: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 321. Perceval de Cagny, +p. 159. Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +128.] + +[Footnote 1497: _Pro evitando onus armatorum_, _Trial_, vol. i, p. +91.] + +[Footnote 1498: Thirion, _Les frais du sacre_ in _Travaux de +l'académie de Reims_, 1894. See Varin, _Archives de Reims_, table of +contents under the word, _Sacre_. Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville de +Reims_, vol. iii, pp. 461, 566, 640, 651, 819; vol. iv, pp. 25, 31, +45.] + +[Illustration: CHARLES VII, KING OF FRANCE + +_From an old engraving_] + +The royal ornaments, which, after the coronation of the late King, had +been deposited in the sacristy of Saint-Denys, were in the hands of +the English. The crown of Charlemagne, brilliant with rubies, +sapphires and emeralds, adorned with four flowers-de-luce, which the +Kings of France received on their coronation, the English wished to +place on the head of their King Henry. This child King they were +preparing to gird with the sword of Charlemagne, the illustrious +Joyeuse, which in its sheath of violet velvet slept in the keeping of +the Burgundian Abbot of Saint-Denys. In English hands likewise were +the sceptre surmounted by a golden Charlemagne in imperial robes, the +rod of justice terminated by a hand in horn of unicorn, the golden +clasp of Saint Louis' mantle, and the golden spurs and the Pontifical, +containing within its enamelled binding of silver-gilt the ceremonial +of the coronation.[1499] The French must needs make shift with a crown +kept in the sacristy of the cathedral.[1500] The other signs of +royalty handed down from Clovis, from Saint Charlemagne and Saint +Louis must be represented as well as could be. After all, it was not +unfitting that this coronation, won by a single expedition, should be +expressive of the labour and suffering it had cost. It was well that +the ceremony should suggest something of the heroic poverty of the +men-at-arms and the common folk who had brought the Dauphin thither. + +[Footnote 1499: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 322, note 1. C. Leber, +_Des cérémonies du sacre ou Recherches historiques et antiques sur les +moeurs, les coutumes, les institutions et le droit public des +Français dans l'ancienne monarchie_, Paris-Reims, 1825, in 8vo. A. +Lenoble, _Histoire du sacre et du couronnement des rois et des reines +de France_, Paris, 1825, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1500: "Et si ipse expectasset habuisset unam coronam +millesies ditiorem," _Trial_, vol. i, p. 91. Varin, _Archives de +Reims_, vol. iii, pp. 559 _et seq._] + +Kings were anointed with oil, because oil signifies renown, glory, and +wisdom. In the morning the Sires de Rais, de Boussac, de Graville and +de Culant were deputed by the King to go and fetch the Holy +Ampulla.[1501] + +[Footnote 1501: _Journal du siège_, p. 113. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 321. Varin, _Archives de Reims_, vol. ii, p. 569; vol. iii, p. +555.] + +It was a crystal flask which the Grand Prior of Saint-Remi kept in the +tomb of the Apostle, behind the high altar of the Abbey Church. This +flask contained the sacred chrism with which the Blessed Remi had +anointed King Clovis. It was enclosed in a reliquary in the form of a +dove, because the Holy Ghost in the semblance of a dove had been seen +descending with the oil for the anointing of the first Christian +King.[1502] Of a truth in ancient books it was written that an angel +had come down from heaven with the miraculous ampulla,[1503] but men +were not disturbed by such inconsistencies, and among Christian folk +no one doubted that the sacred chrism was possessed of miraculous +power. For example, it was known that with use the oil became no less, +that the flask remained always full, as a premonition and a pledge +that the kingdom of France would endure for ever. According to the +observation of witnesses, at the time of the coronation of the late +King Charles, the oil had not diminished after the anointing.[1504] + +[Footnote 1502: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 129. In 1483, when Louis XI was +dying, he had it brought from Reims to Plessis, "and it was upon his +sideboard at the very time of his death, and his intent was to receive +the same anointing he had received at his coronation, wherefore many +believed that he wished to anoint his whole body, which would have +been impossible, for the said Ampulla is very small and contains +little. I see it at this moment." Commynes, bk. vi, ch. 9.] + +[Footnote 1503: Flodoard, _Hist. ecclesiae Remensis_, in _Coll. +Guizot_, vol. v, pp. 41 _et seq._ Eustache Deschamps, Ballade 172, +vol. i, p. 305; vol. ii, p. 104. Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville de +Reims_, vol. ii, p. 48, note 1. Vertot, in _Académie des +Inscriptions_, vol. ii.] + +[Footnote 1504: Froissart, book ii, ch. lxxiv.] + +At nine o'clock in the morning Charles of Valois entered the church +with a numerous retinue. The king-at-arms of France called by name the +twelve peers of the realm to come before the high altar. Of the six +lay peers not one replied. In their places came the Duke of Alençon, +the Counts of Clermont and of Vendôme, the Sires de Laval, de La +Trémouille, and de Maillé. + +Of the six ecclesiastical peers, three replied to the summons of the +king-at-arms,--the Archbishop Duke of Reims, the Bishop Count of +Châlons, the Bishop Duke of Laon. For the missing bishops of Langres +and Noyon were substituted those of Seez and Orléans. In the absence +of Arthur of Brittany, Constable of France, the sword was held by +Charles, Sire d'Albret.[1505] + +[Footnote 1505: Letters from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. +v, pp. 127, 129. Monstrelet, vol. iv, ch. lxiv. Perceval de Cagny, p. +159. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 343. _Chronique de +Tournai_ (vol. iii of the _Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_), p. +414. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ix, col. 551; vol. xi, col. 698.] + +In front of the altar was Charles of Valois, wearing robes open on the +chest and shoulders. He swore, first, to maintain the peace and +privileges of the Church; second, to preserve his people from +exactions and not to burden them too heavily; third, to govern with +justice and mercy.[1506] + +[Footnote 1506: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 322, note 1.] + +From his cousin d'Alençon he received the arms of a knight.[1507] Then +the Archbishop anointed him with the holy oil, with which the Holy +Ghost makes strong priests, kings, prophets and martyrs. So this new +Samuel consecrated the new Saul, making manifest that all power is of +God, and that, according to the example set by David, kings are +pontiffs, the ministers and the witnesses of the Lord. This pouring +out of the oil, with which the Kings of Israel were anointed, had +rendered the kings of most Christian France burning and shining lights +since the time of Charlemagne, yea, even since the days of Clovis; for +though it was baptism and confirmation rather than anointing that +Clovis received at the hands of the Blessed Saint Remi, yet he was +anointed Christian and King by the blessed bishop, and at the same +time and with that same holy oil which God himself had sent to this +prince and to his successors.[1508] + +[Footnote 1507: Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. _Journal du siège_, p. 114. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 322. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, +p. 97.] + +[Footnote 1508: Chifletius, _De ampula Remensi nova et acurata +disquisitio_, Antwerp, 1651, in 4to.] + +And Charles received the anointing, the sign of power and victory, for +it is written in the Book of Samuel:[1509] "And Samuel took a vial of +oil and poured it upon his head and kissed him, and said, 'Is it not +because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance +and to deliver his people from their enemies round about. _Ecce unxit +te Dominus super hereditatem suam in principem, et liberabis populum +suum de manibus inimicorum ejus, qui in circuitu ejus sunt._'" (Reg. +1. x. 1. 6.) + +[Footnote 1509: The first book of Kings according to the Vulgate +(W.S.).] + +During the mystery, as it was called in the old parlance,[1510] the +Maid stayed by the King's side. Her white banner, before which the +ancient standard of Chandos had retreated, she held for a moment +unfurled. Then others in their turn held her standard, her page Louis +de Coutes, who never left her, and Friar Richard the preacher, who had +followed her to Châlons and to Reims.[1511] In one of her dreams she +had lately given a crown to the King; she was looking for this crown +to be brought into the church by heavenly messengers.[1512] Did not +saints commonly receive crowns from angels' hands? To Saint Cecilia an +angel offered a crown with garlands of roses and lilies. To +Catherine, the Virgin, an angel gave an imperishable crown, which she +placed upon the head of the Empress of Rome. But the crown curiously +rich and magnificent that Jeanne looked for came not.[1513] + +[Footnote 1510: Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. +v, p. 129. F. Boyer, _Variante inédite d'un document sur le sacre de +Charles VII_, Clermont and Orléans, 1881.] + +[Footnote 1511: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 104, 300. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 322. Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 129. Varin, D. Marlot, H. Jadart, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 1512: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1513: See _post_, vol. i, p. 476.] + +From the altar the Archbishop took the crown of no great value +provided by the chapter, and with both hands raised it over the King's +head. The twelve peers, in a circle round the prince, stretched forth +their arms to hold it. The trumpets blew and the folk cried: +"Noël."[1514] + +[Footnote 1514: Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. +v, p. 129.] + +Thus was anointed and crowned Charles of France issue of the royal +line of Priam, great Troy's noble King. + +Two hours after noon the mystery came to an end.[1515] We are told +that then the Maid knelt low before the King, and, weeping said: + +[Footnote 1515: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 181. Letter from three +noblemen, _loc. cit._] + +"Fair King, now is God's pleasure accomplished. It was His will that I +should raise the siege of Orléans and bring you to this city of Reims +to receive your holy anointing, making manifest that you are the true +King and he to whom the realm of France should belong."[1516] + +[Footnote 1516: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 322, 323. _Journal du +siège_, p. 114.] + +The King made the customary gifts. To the Chapter he presented +hangings of green satin as well as ornaments of red velvet and white +damask. Moreover, he placed upon the altar a silver vase with thirteen +golden crowns. Regardless of the claims asserted by the canons, the +Lord Archbishop took possession of it, but it profited him little, +for he had to give it up.[1517] After the ceremony King Charles put +the crown on his head and over his shoulders the royal mantle, blue as +the sky, flowered with lilies of gold; and on his charger he passed +down the streets of Reims city. The people in great joy cried, "Noël!" +as they had cried when my Lord the Duke of Burgundy entered. On that +day the Sire de Rais was made marshal of France and the Sire de la +Trémouille count. The eldest of Madame de Laval's two sons, he to whom +the Maid had offered wine at Selles-en-Berry, was likewise made count. +Captain La Hire received the county of Longueville with such parts of +Normandy as he could conquer.[1518] + +[Footnote 1517: Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville de Reims_, vol. iv, +p. 175. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 107.] + +[Footnote 1518: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 322. _Journal du siège_, +p. 114. Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. Letter of three noblemen of Anjou, +in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 129. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 97. +Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 99, note +2.] + +King Charles dined in the archiepiscopal palace in the ancient hall of +Tau, and was served by the Duke of Alençon and the Count of +Clermont.[1519] As was customary, the royal table extended into the +street, and there was feasting throughout the town. It was a day of +free drinking and fraternity. In the houses, at the doors, by the +wayside, folk made good cheer, and the kitchens were busy; there were +that day consumed oxen in dozens, sheep in hundreds, chicken and +rabbits in thousands. Folk stuffed themselves with spices, and (for it +was a thirsty day) they quaffed full many a beaker of wine of +Burgundy, and especially of that wine of delicate flavour that comes +from Beaune. At every coronation the ancient stag, made of bronze and +hollow, which stood in the courtyard of the archiepiscopal palace was +carried into the Rue du Parvis; it was filled with wine and the people +drank from it as from a fountain. Finally the burgesses and all the +inhabitants of Blessed Saint Remi's city, rich and poor alike, stuffed +and satiated with good wine, having howled "Noël!" till they were +hoarse, fell asleep over the wine-casks and the victuals, the remains +of which were to be a cause of bitter dispute between the grim +aldermen and the King's men on the morrow.[1520] + +[Footnote 1519: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 339. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc +à Reims_, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 1520: Thirion, _Les frais du sacre_, in _Travaux de +l'Académie de Reims_, 1894. Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville de +Reims_, vol. iv, p. 45, n. 1. Varin, _Arch. adm. de la ville de +Reims_, vol. iii, p. 39.] + +Jacques d'Arc had come to see the coronation for which his daughter +had so zealously laboured. He lodged at the Sign of _L'Ane Rayé_ in +the Rue du Parvis in a hostelry kept by Alix, widow of Raulin Morieau. +As well as his daughter, he saw once more his son Pierre.[1521] The +cousin, whom Jeanne called uncle and who had accompanied her to +Vaucouleurs to Sire Robert, had likewise come hither to the +coronation. He spoke to the King and told him all he knew of his +cousin.[1522] At Reims also Jeanne found her young fellow-countryman, +Husson Le Maistre, coppersmith of the village of Varville, about seven +miles from Domremy. She did not know him; but he had heard tell of +her, and he was very familiar with Jacques and Pierre d'Arc.[1523] + +[Footnote 1521: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 198; vol. v, pp. 141, 266. H. +Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, pp. 47, 48. L'abbé Cerf, _Le vieux +Reims_, 1875, pp. 35 and 110.] + +[Footnote 1522: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 445.] + +[Footnote 1523: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 198.] + +Jacques d'Arc was one of the notables and perhaps the best business +man of his village.[1524] It was not merely to see his daughter riding +through the streets in man's attire that he had come to Reims. He had +come doubtless for himself and on behalf of his village to ask the +King for an exemption from taxation. This request, presented to the +King by the Maid, was granted. On the 31st of the month the King +decreed that the inhabitants of Greux and of Domremy should be free +from all _tailles_, aids, subsidies, and subventions.[1525] Out of the +public funds the magistrates of the town paid Jacques d'Arc's +expenses, and when he was about to depart they gave him a horse to +take him home.[1526] + +[Footnote 1524: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. 1 _et seq._; +proofs and illustrations no. li, pp. 97, 100; supplement, pp. 359, +362. Boucher de Molandon, _Jacques d'Arc, père de la Pucelle, sa +notabilité personnelle_, Orléans, 1885, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 1525: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 137, 139. In the royal records +this privilege is described as having been granted at Jeanne's +request; in such a request we cannot fail to discern the influence of +her father.] + +[Footnote 1526: _Ibid._, pp. 141, 266, 267.] + +During the five or six days she spent at Reims the Maid appeared +frequently before the townsfolk. The poor and humble came to her; good +wives took her by the hand and touched their rings with hers.[1527] On +her finger she wore a little ring made of a kind of brass, sometimes +called electrum.[1528] Electrum was said to be the gold of the poor. +In place of a stone the ring had a collet inscribed with the words +"Jhesus Maria" with three crosses. Oftentimes she reverently fixed her +gaze upon it, for once she had had it touched by Saint Catherine.[1529] +And that the Saint should have actually touched it was not incredible, +seeing that some years before, in 1413, Sister Colette, who was vowed +to virginal chastity, had received from the Virgin apostle a rich +golden ring, as a sign of her spiritual marriage with the King of +Kings. Sister Colette permitted the nuns and monks of her order to +touch this ring, and she confided it to the messengers she sent to +distant lands to preserve them from perils by the way.[1530] The Maid +ascribed great powers to her ring, albeit she never used it to heal +the sick.[1531] + +[Footnote 1527: _Ibid._, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 1528: Du Cange, _Glossarium_, under the words _Auriacum_, +_electrum_, and _leto_. Vallet de Viriville, _Les anneaux de Jeanne +d'Arc_, in _Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de France_, vol. +xxx, January, 1867.] + +[Footnote 1529: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 185, 238. Walter Bower, _ibid._, +vol. iv, p. 480.] + +[Footnote 1530: _Sanctissimæ virginis Coletæ vita_, Paris, in 8vo, +black letter, undated, leaf 8 on the reverse side. Bollandistes, _Acta +sanctorum_, March, vol. i, p. 611.] + +[Footnote 1531: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 86, 87.] + +She was expected to render those trifling services which it was usual +to ask from holy folk and sometimes from magicians. Before the +coronation ceremony the nobles and knights had been given gloves, +according to the custom. One of them lost his; he asked the Maid to +find them, or others asked her for him. She did not promise to do it; +notwithstanding the matter became known, and various interpretations +were placed upon it.[1532] + +[Footnote 1532: _Ibid._, p. 104. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. +37.] + +After the King's coronation, jostled by the crowd in the Rue du +Parvis, one can imagine some thoughtful clerk raising his eyes to the +glorious façade of the Cathedral, that Bible in stone, already +appearing ancient to men, who, knowing naught of the chronicles, +measured time by the span of human existence. Such a clerk would have +certainly beheld on the left of the pointed arch above the rose +window the colossal image of Goliath rising proudly in his coat of +mail, and that same figure repeated on the right of the arch in the +attitude of a man tottering and ready to fall.[1533] Then this clerk +must have remembered what is written in the first book of Kings:[1534] + +[Footnote 1533: "These figures (Goliath and David) must have been +sculptured at the end of the 13th century." (L. Demaison, _Notice +historique sur la cathédrale de Reims_, s.d. in 4to, p. 44.) The date +of the rose window is 1280 (H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. +44).] + +[Footnote 1534: According to the Vulgate. First book of Samuel +according to the Authorized Version (W.S.).] + +"And there went out a man base-born from the camp of the Philistines, +named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he +had a helmet of brass upon his head and he was clothed with a coat of +mail with scales; and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand +sicles of brass. And standing he cried out to the bands of Israel and +said to them: I bring reproach unto the armies of Israel. Choose out a +man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. + +"Now David had gone to feed his Father's sheep at Bethlehem. But he +arose in the morning and gave the charge of the flock to the keeper. +And he came to the place of Magala and to the army which was going out +to fight. And, seeing Goliath, he asked: 'Who is this uncircumcised +Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?' + +"And the words which David spoke, were rehearsed before Saul; and he +sent for him. David said to Saul, 'Let not any man's heart be dismayed +in him; I, thy servant, will go and fight against this Philistine.' +And Saul said to David 'Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine +nor to fight against him; for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior +from his youth.' And David made answer, 'I will go against him and I +will take away the reproach from Israel.' Then Saul said to David, 'Go +and the Lord be with thee.' + +"And David took his staff which he had always in his hands, and chose +him five smooth stones out of the brook, and he took a sling in his +hand; and went forth against the Philistine. + +"And when the Philistine looked and beheld David, he despised him. For +he was a young man, and ruddy, and of a comely countenance. And the +Philistine said to David: 'Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a +staff?' Then said David to the Philistine: 'Thou comest to me with a +sword, and with a spear and with a shield: but I come to thee in the +name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou +hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand that +all the earth may know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: +for it is his battle, and he will deliver you into our hands.' + +"And when the Philistine arose and was coming and drew nigh to meet +David, David made haste and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. +And he put his hand into his scrip and took a stone, and cast it with +the sling and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead, +and the stone was fixed in his forehead and he fell on his face upon +the earth."[1535] + +[Footnote 1535: 1 Samuel xvii. Where the author quotes direct from the +Vulgate the translator has followed the Douai version (W.S.).] + +Then the clerk, meditating on these words of the Book, would reflect +how God, the Unchanging, who saved Israel and struck down Goliath by +the sling of a shepherd lad, had raised up the daughter of a +husbandman for the deliverance of the most Christian realm and the +reproach of the Leopard.[1536] + +[Footnote 1536: See the coronation of David and that of Louis XII by +an unknown painter, about 1498, in the Cluny Museum. H. Bouchot, +_L'exposition des primitifs français. La peinture en France sous les +Valois_, book ii, figure C.] + +From Gien, about June the 27th, the Maid had had a letter written to +the Duke of Burgundy, calling upon him to come to the King's +anointing. Having received no reply, on the day of the coronation she +dictated a second letter to the Duke. Here it is: + + [cross symbol] JHESUS MARIA + + "High and greatly to be feared Prince, Duke of Burgundy, + Jehanne the Maid, in the name of the King of Heaven, her + rightful and liege lord, requires you and the King of France + to make a good peace which shall long endure. Forgive one + another heartily and entirely as becometh good Christians; + an if it please you to make war, go ye against the Saracens. + Prince of Burgundy, I pray you, I entreat you, I beseech you + as humbly as lieth in my power, that ye make war no more + against the holy realm of France, and that forthwith and + speedily ye withdraw those your men who are in any + strongholds and fortresses of the said holy kingdom; and in + the name of the fair King of France, he is ready to make + peace with you, saving his honour if that be necessary. And + in the name of the King of Heaven, my Sovereign liege Lord, + for your good, your honour and your life, I make known unto + you, that ye will never win in battle against the loyal + French and that all they who wage war against the holy realm + of France, will be warring against King Jhesus, King of + Heaven and of the world, my lawful liege lord. And with + clasped hands I beseech and entreat you that ye make no + battle nor wage war against us, neither you, nor your + people, nor your subjects; and be assured that whatever + number of folk ye bring against us, they will gain nothing, + and it will be sore pity for the great battle and the blood + that shall be shed of those that come against us. And three + weeks past, I did write and send you letters by a herald, + that ye should come to the anointing of the King, which + to-day, Sunday, the 17th day of this present month, is made + in the city of Reims: to which letter I have had no answer, + neither news of the said herald. To God I commend you; may + he keep you, if it be his will; and I pray God to establish + good peace. Written from the said place of Reims, on the + said seventeenth of July." + + Addressed: "to the Duke of Burgundy."[1537] + +[Footnote 1537: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 126-127. Hennebert, _Une lettre +de Jeanne d'Arc aux Tournaisiens_ in _Arch. hist. et litt. du nord de +la France et du midi de la Belgique_, nouv. série, vol. i, 1837, p. +525. Facsimile in _l'Album des archives départementales_, no. 123.] + +Had Saint Catherine of Sienna been at Reims she would not have written +otherwise. Albeit the Maid liked not the Burgundians, in her own way +she realized forcibly how desirable was peace with the Duke of +Burgundy. With clasped hands she entreats him to cease making war +against France. "An it please you to make war then go ye against the +Saracens." Already she had counselled the English to join the French +and go on a crusade. The destruction of the infidel was then the dream +of gentle peace-loving souls; and many pious folk believed that the +son of the knight, who had been vanquished at Nicopolis, would make +the Turks pay dearly for their former victory.[1538] + +[Footnote 1538: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 82, 83. Eberhard Windecke, p. +61, note 9, p. 108. Christine de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 416. +Jorga, _Notes et extraits pour servir à l'histoire des croisades au +XV'e siècle_, Paris, 1889-1902. 3 vols. in 8vo.] + +In this letter, the Maid, in the name of the King of Heaven, tells +Duke Philip that if he fight against the King, he will be conquered. +Her voices had foretold to her the victory of France over Burgundy; +they had not revealed to her that at the very moment when she was +dictating her letter the ambassadors of Duke Philip were at Reims; +that was so, notwithstanding.[1539] + +[Footnote 1539: _Mémoires du Pape Pie II_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. +514, 515. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 190.] + +Esteeming King Charles, master of Champagne, to be a prince worthy of +consideration, Duke Philip sent to Reims, David de Brimeu, Bailie of +Artois, at the head of an embassy, to greet him and open negotiations +for peace.[1540] The Burgundians received a hearty welcome from the +Chancellor and the Council. It was hoped that peace would be concluded +before their departure. The Angevin lords announced it to their +queens, Yolande and Marie.[1541] By so doing they showed how little +they knew the consummate old fox of Dijon. The French were not strong +enough yet, neither were the English weak enough. It was agreed that +in August an embassy should be sent to the Duke of Burgundy in the +town of Arras. After four days negotiation, a truce for fifteen days +was signed and the embassy left Reims.[1542] At the same time, the +Duke at Paris solemnly renewed his complaint against Charles of +Valois, his father's assassin, and undertook to bring an army to the +help of the English.[1543] + +[Footnote 1540: _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 514, 515. Monstrelet, vol. iv, +p. 340. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 37. Letter from +three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 130. Third account of +Jean Abonnel in De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +404, no. 3.] + +[Footnote 1541: Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in _Trial_, vol. +v, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 1542: The 20th or 21st. Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 348 _et +seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. II, pp. 404 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 1543: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 455. _Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 240, 241. Stevenson, _Letters and +papers_, vol. ii, pp. 101 _et seq._ Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. iv, part +iv, p. 150.] + +Leaving Antoine de Hellande, nephew of the Duke-Archbishop[1544] to +command Reims, the King of France departed from the city on the 20th +of July and went to Saint-Marcoul-de-Corbeny, where on the day after +their coronation, the Kings were accustomed to touch for the +evil.[1545] + +[Footnote 1544: Archives de Reims, Municipal Accounts, vol. i, years +1428-29. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 141. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 339. H. +Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 1545: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 199. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 323. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 97. _Journal du siège_, +p. 114. Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, vol. i, p. 111.] + +Saint Marcoul cured the evil.[1546] He was of royal race, but his +power, manifested long after his death, came to him especially from +his name, and it was believed that Saint Marcoul was able to cure +those afflicted with marks on the neck, as Saint Clare was to give +sight to the blind, and Saint Fort to give strength to children. The +King of France shared with him the power of healing scrofula; and as +the power came to him from the holy oil brought down from heaven by a +dove, it was thought that this virtue would be more effectual at the +time of the anointing, all the more because by lewdness, disobedience +to the Christian Church, and other irregularities, he stood in danger +of losing it. That is what had happened to King Philippe I.[1547] The +Kings of England touched for the evil; notably King Edward III worked +wondrous cures on scrofulous folk who were covered with scars. For +these reasons scrofula was called Saint Marcoul's evil or King's evil. +Virgins as well as kings could cure this royal malady. + +[Footnote 1546: _Gallia Christ_: ix, pp, 239, 51 [Transcriber's Note: +so in original; does not match other citations to this work]. Le +Poulle, _Notice sur Corbeny, son prieuré, et le pèlerinage de +Saint-Marcoul_, Soissons, 1883, 8vo. E. de Barthélèmy, _Notice +historique sur le pèlerinage de Saint-Marcoul et Corbeny_, in _Ann. +Soc. Acad. de Saint-Quentin_, 1878.] + +[Footnote 1547: A. Du Laurent, _De mirabili strumas sanandi vi solis +regibus Galliarum christianissimis divinitus concessa liber_, Paris, +1607, 8vo. Cerf, _Du toucher des écrouelles par le roi de France_, in +_Trav. Acad. de Reims_, 1865-1867. Dom Marlot, _Histoire de la ville +de Reims_, vol. iii, pp. 196 _et seq._] + +King Charles worshipped and presented offerings at the shrine of Saint +Marcoul, and there touched for the evil. At Corbeny he received the +submission of the town of Laon. Then, on the morrow, the 22nd, he went +off to a little stronghold in the valley of the Aisne, called Vailly, +which belonged to the Archbishop Duke of Reims. At Vailly he received +the submission of the town of Soissons.[1548] In the words of an +Armagnac prophet of the time: "the keys of the war gates knew the +hands that had forged them."[1549] + +[Footnote 1548: Perceval de Cagny, p. 160. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 323, 324. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 98. _Journal du +siège_, p. 115. _Chronique des Cordeliers_, fol. 486 r'o. Morosini, +iii, p. 182, note 3.] + +[Footnote 1549: Bréhal, in _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 345.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RISE OF THE LEGEND + + +It is always difficult to ascertain what happens in war. In those days +it was quite impossible to form any clear idea of how things came +about. At Orléans, doubtless, there were certain who were keen enough +to perceive that the numerous and ingenious engines of war, gathered +together by the magistrates, had been of great service; but folk +generally prefer to ascribe results to miraculous causes, and the +merit of their deliverance the people of Orléans attributed first to +their Blessed Patrons, Saint Aignan and Saint Euverte, and after them +to Jeanne, the Divine Maid, believing that there was no easier, +simpler, or more natural explanation of the deeds they had +witnessed.[1550] + +[Footnote 1550: _Journal du siège_, pp. 16, 88. _Chronique de +l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 296. Lottin, +_Récits historiques sur Orléans_, vol. i, p. 279.] + +Guillaume Girault, former magistrate of the town and notary at the +Châtelet, wrote and signed, with his own hand, a brief account of the +deliverance of the city. Herein he states that on Wednesday, Ascension +Eve, the bastion of Saint-Loup was stormed and taken as if by miracle, +"there being present, and aiding in the fight, Jeanne the Maid, sent +of God;" and that, on the following Saturday, the siege laid by the +English to Les Tourelles at the end of the bridge was raised by the +most obvious miracle since the Passion. And Guillaume Girault +testifies that the Maid led the enterprise.[1551] When eye-witnesses, +participators in the deeds themselves, had no clear idea of events, +what could those more remote from the scene of action think of them? + +[Footnote 1551: _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 282, 283.] + +The tidings of the French victories flew with astonishing +rapidity.[1552] The brevity of authentic accounts was amply +supplemented by the eloquence of loquacious clerks and the popular +imagination. The Loire campaign and the coronation expedition were +scarcely known at first save by fabulous reports, and the people only +thought of them as supernatural events. + +[Footnote 1552: Tidings of the Deliverance of Orléans sent from Bruges +to Venice the 10th of May (Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 23, 24).] + +In the letters sent by royal secretaries to the towns of the realm and +the princes of Christendom, the name of Jeanne the Maid was associated +with all the deeds of prowess. Jeanne herself, by her monastic scribe, +made known to all the great deeds which, it was her firm belief, she +had accomplished.[1553] + +[Footnote 1553: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 123, 139, 145, 147, 156, 159, +161.] + +It was believed that everything had been done through her, that the +King had consulted her in all things, when in truth the King's +counsellors and the Captains rarely asked her advice, listened to it +but seldom, and brought her forth only at convenient seasons. +Everything was attributed to her alone. Her personality, associated +with deeds attested and seemingly marvellous, became buried in a vast +cycle of astonishing fables and disappeared in a forest of heroic +stories.[1554] + +[Footnote 1554: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 60, 61.] + +Contrite souls there were in those days, who, ascribing all the woes +of the kingdom to the sins of the people, looked for salvation to +humility, repentance, and penance.[1555] They expected the end of +iniquity and the kingdom of God on earth. Jeanne, at least in the +beginning, was one of those pious folk. Sometimes, speaking as a +mystic reformer, she would say that Jesus is King of the holy realm of +France, that King Charles is his lieutenant, and does but hold the +kingdom "in fief."[1556] She uttered words which would create the +impression that her mission was all charity, peace, and love,--these, +for example, "I am sent to comfort the poor and needy."[1557] Such +gentle penitents as dreamed of a world pure, faithful, and good, made +of Jeanne their saint and their prophetess. They ascribed to her +edifying words she had never uttered. + +[Footnote 1555: Saint Vincent Ferrier; and Saint Bernardino of Siena.] + +[Footnote 1556: See _ante_, p. 64.] + +[Footnote 1557: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 88.] + +"When the Maid came to the King," they said, "she caused him to make +three promises: the first was to resign his kingdom, to renounce it +and give it back to God, from whom he held it; the second, to pardon +all such as had turned against him and afflicted him; the third, to +humiliate himself so far as to receive into favour all such as should +come to him, poor and rich, friend and foe."[1558] + +[Footnote 1558: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 52-53. See _ante_, p. 184.] + +Or again, in apologues, simple and charming, like the following, they +represented her accomplishing her mission: + +"One day, the Maid asked the King to bestow a present upon her; and +when he consented, she claimed as a gift the realm of France. Though +astonished, the King did not withdraw his promise. Having received +her present, the Maid required a deed of gift to be solemnly drawn up +by four of the King's notaries and read aloud. While the King listened +to the reading, she pointed him out to those that stood by, saying: +'Behold the poorest knight in the kingdom.' Then, after a short time, +disposing of the realm of France, she gave it back to God. Thereafter, +acting in God's name, she invested King Charles with it and commanded +that this solemn act of transmission should be recorded in +writing."[1559] + +[Footnote 1559: L. Delisle, _Un nouveau témoignage relatif à la +mission de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, +vol. xlvi, p. 649. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'Église de son +temps_, pp. 57, 58.] + +It was believed that Jeanne had prophesied that on Saint John the +Baptist's Day, 1429, not an Englishman should be left in France.[1560] +These simple folk expected their saint's promises to be fulfilled on +the day she had fixed. They maintained that on the 23rd of June she +had entered the city of Rouen, and that on the morrow, Saint John the +Baptist's day, the inhabitants of Paris had of their own accord, +opened their gates to the King of France. In the month of July these +stories were being told in Avignon.[1561] Reformers, numerous it would +seem in France and throughout Christendom, believed that the Maid +would organise the English and French on monastic lines and make of +them one nation of pious beggars, one brotherhood of penitents. +According to them, the following were the intentions of the two +parties and the clauses of the treaty: + +[Footnote 1560: Letter written by the agents of a town or of a prince +of Germany, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 351.] + +[Footnote 1561: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 38, 46, 61.] + +"King Charles of Valois bestows universal pardon and is willing to +forget all wrongs. The English and French, having turned to +contrition and repentance, are endeavouring to conclude a good and +binding peace. The Maid herself has imposed conditions upon them. +Conforming to her will, the English and French for one year or for two +will wear a grey habit, with a little cross sewn upon it; on every +Friday they will live on bread and water; they will dwell in unity +with their wives and will seek no other women. They promise God not to +make war except for the defense of their country."[1562] + +[Footnote 1562: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 64, 65.] + +During the coronation campaign, nothing being known of the agreement +between the King's men and the people of Auxerre, towards the end of +July, it was related that the town having been taken by storm, four +thousand five hundred citizens had been killed and likewise fifteen +hundred men-at-arms, knights as well as squires belonging to the +parties of Burgundy and Savoy. Among the nobles slain were mentioned +Humbert Maréchal, Lord of Varambon, and a very famous warrior, le Viau +de Bar. Stories were told of treasons and massacres, horrible +adventures in which the Maid was associated with that knave of hearts +who was already famous. She was said to have had twelve traitors +beheaded.[1563] Such tales were real romances of chivalry. Here is one +of them: + +[Footnote 1563: _Ibid._, pp. 144 _et seq._] + +About two thousand English surrounded the King's camp, watching to see +if they could do him some hurt. Then the Maid called Captain La Hire +and said to him: "Thou hast in thy time done great prowess, but to-day +God prepares for thee a deed greater than any thou hast yet performed. +Take thy men and go to such and such a wood two leagues herefrom, and +there shalt thou find two thousand English, all lance in hand; them +shalt thou take and slay." + +La Hire went forth to the English and all were taken and slain as the +Maid had said.[1564] + +[Footnote 1564: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 150, 153.] + +Such were the fairy-stories told of Jeanne to the joy of simple +primitive folk, who delighted in the idea of a maid slayer of giants +and remover of mountains. + +There was a rumour that after the sack of Auxerre, the Duke of +Burgundy had been defeated and taken in a great battle, that the +Regent was dead and that the Armagnacs had entered Paris.[1565] +Prodigies were said to have attended the capitulation of Troyes. On +the coming of the French, it was told how the townsfolk beheld from +their ramparts a vast multitude of men-at-arms, some five or six +thousand, each man holding a white pennon in his hand. On the +departure of the French, they beheld them again, ranged but a bow-shot +behind King Charles. These knights with white pennons vanished when +the King had gone; for they were as miraculous as those white-scarfed +knights, whom the Bretons had seen riding in the sky but shortly +before.[1566] + +[Footnote 1565: _Ibid._, pp. 166, 167.] + +[Footnote 1566: Fragment of a letter on the marvels in Poitou, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 121, 122. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, +_op. cit._, p. 343.] + +All that the people of Orléans beheld when their siege was suddenly +raised, all that Armagnac mendicants and the Dauphin's clerks related +was greedily received, accredited, and amplified. Three months after +her coming to Chinon, Jeanne had her legend, which grew and increased +and extended into Italy, Flanders, and Germany.[1567] In the summer of +1429, this legend was already formed. All the scattered parts of what +may be described as the gospel of her childhood existed. + +[Footnote 1567: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 78, note 1. Eberhard Windecke, +_passim_. Fauché-Prunelle, _Lettres tirées des archives de Grenoble_ +in _Bull. Acad. delph._, vol. ii, 1847, 1849, pp. 459, 460. Letter +written by deputies, agents of a German town, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +347. Letter from Jean Desch, Secretary of the town of Metz, _ibid._, +pp. 352, 355.] + +At the age of seven Jeanne kept sheep; the wolves did not molest her +flock; the birds of the field, when she called them, came and ate +bread from her lap. The wicked had no power over her. No one beneath +her roof need fear man's fraud or ill-will.[1568] + +[Footnote 1568: Letters from Perceval de Boulainvilliers to the Duke +of Milan, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 114, 116.] + +When it is a Latin poet who is writing, the miracles attending +Jeanne's birth assume a Roman majesty and are clothed with the august +dignity of ancient myths. Thus it is curious to find a humanist of +1429 summoning the Italian muse to the cradle of Zabillet Romée's +daughter. + +"The thunder rolled, the ocean shuddered, the earth shook, the heavens +were on fire, the universe rejoiced visibly; a strange transport +mingled with fear moved the enraptured nations. They sing sweet verses +and dance in harmonious motion at the sign of the salvation prepared +for the French people by this celestial birth."[1569] + +[Footnote 1569: Anonymous poem on the coming of the Maid and the +Deliverance of Orléans, _Trial_, vol. v, p. 27, line 70 _et seq._] + +Moreover an attempt was made to represent the wonders that had +heralded the nativity of Jesus as having been repeated on the birth of +Jeanne. It was imagined that she was born on the night of the +Epiphany. The shepherds of her village, moved by an indescribable joy, +the cause of which was unknown to them, hastened through the darkness +towards the marvellous mystery. The cocks, heralds of this new joy, +sing at an unusual season and, flapping their wings, seem to prophesy +for two hours. Thus the child in her cradle had her adoration of the +shepherds.[1570] + +[Footnote 1570: "_In nocte Epiphaniarum_," says the letter from +Perceval de Boulainvilliers (_Trial_, vol. v, p. 116), that is, Jan. +6. For centuries, even after the fourth century, the birth of our Lord +was celebrated on that day. In France it was the Feast of Kings and +then was sung the anthem: _Magi videntes stellam_.] + +Of her coming into France there was much to tell. It was related that +in the Château of Chinon she had recognised the King, whom she had +never seen before, and had gone straight to him, although he was but +poorly clad and surrounded by his baronage.[1571] It was said that she +had given the King a sign, that she had revealed a secret to him; and +that on the revelation of the secret, known to him alone, he had been +illuminated with a heavenly joy. Concerning this interview at Chinon, +while those present had little to say, the stories of many who were +not there were interminable.[1572] + +[Footnote 1571: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 192. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siège_, p. 47. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, pp. +336, 337. Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, vol. i, p. 96.] + +[Footnote 1572: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 103, 116, 209, _passim_. +_Journal du siège_, p. 48. Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +i, p. 68. _Mirouer des femmes vertueuses_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +271. Pierre Sala, _ibid._, p. 280. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 104. +Eberhard Windecke, p. 153.] + +On the 7th of May, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a white dove +alighted on the Maid's standard; and on the same day, during the +assault, two white birds were seen to be flying over her head.[1573] +Saints were commonly visited by doves. One day when Saint Catherine +of Sienna was kneeling in the fuller's house, a dove as white as snow +perched on the child's head.[1574] + +[Footnote 1573: _Journal du siège_, p. 294. _Chronique de +l'établissement de la fête_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294.] + +[Footnote 1574: AA. SS., April 3rd. Didron, _Iconographie chrétienne_, +pp. 438, 439. Alba Mignati, _Sainte Catherine de Sienne_, p. 16.] + +A tale then in circulation is interesting as showing the idea which +prevailed concerning the relations of the King and the Maid; it +serves, likewise, as an example of the perversions to which the story +of an actual fact is subject as it passes from mouth to mouth. Here is +the tale as it was gathered by a German merchant. + +On a day, in a certain town, the Maid, hearing that the English were +near, went into the field; and straightway all the men-at-arms, who +were in the town, leapt to their steeds and followed her. Meanwhile, +the King, who was at dinner, learning that all were going forth in +company with the Maid, had the gates of the town closed. + +The Maid was told, and she replied without concern: "Before the hour +of nones, the King will have so great need of me, that he will follow +me immediately, spurless, and barely staying to throw on his cloak." + +And thus it came to pass. For the men-at-arms shut up in the town +besought the King to open the gates forthwith or they would break them +down. The gates were opened and all the fighting men hastened to the +Maid, heedless of the King, who threw on his cloak and followed them. + +On that day a great number of the English were slain.[1575] + +[Footnote 1575: Eberhard Windecke, p. 103.] + +Such is the story which gives a very inaccurate representation of what +happened at Orléans on the 6th of May. The citizens hastened in crowds +to the Burgundian Gate, resolved to cross the Loire and attack Les +Tourelles. Finding the gate closed, they threw themselves furiously on +the Sire de Gaucourt who was keeping it. The aged baron had the gate +opened wide and said to them, "Come, I will be your captain."[1576] In +the story the citizens have become men-at-arms, and it is not the Sire +de Gaucourt but the King who maliciously closes the gates. But the +King gained nothing by it; and it is astonishing to find that so early +there had grown up in the minds of the people the idea that, far from +aiding the Maid to drive out the English, the King had put obstacles +in her way and was always the last to follow her. + +[Footnote 1576: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 117.] + +Seen through this chaos of stories more indistinct than the clouds in +a stormy sky, Jeanne appeared a wondrous marvel. She prophesied and +many of her prophecies had already been fulfilled. She had foretold +the deliverance of Orléans and Orléans had been delivered. She had +prophesied that she would be wounded, and an arrow had pierced her +above the right breast. She had prophesied that she would take the +King to Reims, and the King had been crowned in that city. Other +prophecies had she uttered touching the realm of France, to wit, the +deliverance of the Duke of Orléans, the entering into Paris, the +driving of the English from the holy kingdom, and their fulfilment was +expected.[1577] + +[Footnote 1577: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 55, 84 _et seq._, 133, 174, 232, +251, 252, 254, 331; vol. iii, pp. 99, 205, 254, 257, _passim_. +_Journal du siège_, pp. 34, 44, 45, 48. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. +212, 295. Perceval de Cagny, p. 141. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 320. +Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 143. The Clerk of the Chamber of +Accounts of Brabant, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426. _Chronique de +Tournai_ (vol. iii, _du recueil des chroniques de Flandre_), p. 411. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 121.] + +Every day she prophesied and notably concerning divers persons who had +failed in respect towards her and had come to a bad end.[1578] + +[Footnote 1578: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 57.] + +At Chinon, when she was being taken to the King, a man-at-arms who was +riding near the château, thinking he recognised her, asked, "Is not +that the Maid? By God, an I had my way she should not be a maid long." + +Then Jeanne prophesied and said "Ha, thou takest God's name in vain, +and thou art so near thy death!" + +Less than an hour later the man fell into the water and was +drowned.[1579] + +[Footnote 1579: Brother Pasquerel's evidence, in _Trial_, vol. iii, p. +102.] + +Straightway this miracle was related in Latin verse. In the poem which +records this miraculous history of Jeanne up to the deliverance of +Orléans, the lewd blasphemer, who like all blasphemers, came to a bad +end, is noble and by name Furtivolus.[1580] + +[Footnote 1580: Anonymous poem on the Maid, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 38, +lines 105 _et seq._] + + _... generoso sanguine natus, + Nomine Furtivolus, veneris moderator iniquus._ + +Captain Glasdale called Jeanne strumpet and blasphemed his Maker. +Jeanne prophesied that he would die without shedding blood; and +Glasdale was drowned in the Loire.[1581] + +[Footnote 1581: Evidence of J. Luillier and Brother Pasquerel, in +_Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 25, 108.] + +Many of these tales were obvious imitations of incidents in the lives +of the saints, which were widely read in those days. A woman, who was +a heretic, pulled the cassock of Saint Ambrose, whereupon the blessed +bishop said to her, "Take heed lest one day thou be chastised of God." +On the morrow the woman died, and the Blessed Ambrose conducted her to +the grave.[1582] + +[Footnote 1582: The _Golden Legend_. Life of Saint Ambrose.] + +A nun, who was then alive and who was to die in an odour of sanctity, +Sister Colette of Corbie, had met her Furtivolus and had punished him, +but less severely. On a day when she was praying in a church of +Corbie, a stranger drew near and spoke to her libidinous words: "May +it please God," she said, "to bring home to you the hideousness of the +words you have just uttered." The stranger in shame went to the door. +But an invisible hand arrested him on the threshold. Then he realised +the gravity of his sin; he asked pardon of the saint and was free to +leave the church.[1583] + +[Footnote 1583: Abbé J. Th. Bizouard, _Histoire de sainte Colette et +des clarisses en Franche-Comté, d'après des documents inédits et des +traditions locales_, Paris, 1888, in 8vo.] + +After the royal army had departed from Gien, the Maid was said to have +prophesied that a great battle would be fought between Auxerre and +Reims.[1584] When such predictions were not fulfilled they were +forgotten. Besides, it was admitted that true prophets might sometimes +utter false prophecies. A subtle theologian distinguished between +prophecies of predestination which are always fulfilled and those of +condemnation, which being conditioned, may not be fulfilled and that +without reflecting untruthfulness on the lips that uttered them.[1585] +Folk wondered that a peasant child should be able to forecast the +future, and with the Apostle they cried, "I praise thee, O Father, +because thou hast hidden those things from the wise and prudent and +revealed them unto babes." + +[Footnote 1584: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 148, 156. Eberhard Windecke, +pp. 103, 105, 187. Noël Valois, _Un nouveau témoignage sur Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 1585: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations_, pp. 220, +222. Théodore de Leliis, in _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 39, 42. Le P. +Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'Église de son temps_, p. 342. Abbé +Hyacinthe Chassagnon, _Les voix de Jeanne d'Arc_, Lyon 1896, in 8vo, +pp. 312, 313.] + +The Maid's prophecies were speedily spread abroad throughout the whole +of Christendom.[1586] A clerk of Spiers wrote a treatise on her, +entitled _Sibylla Francica_, divided into two parts. The first part +was drawn up not later than July, 1429. The second is dated the 17th +of September, the same year. This clerk believes that the Maid +practised the art of divination by means of astrology. He had heard a +French monk of the order of the Premonstratensians[1587] say that +Jeanne delighted to study the heavens by night. He observes that all +her prophecies concerned the kingdom of France; and he gives the +following as having been uttered by the Maid: "After having ruled for +twenty years, the Dauphin will sleep with his fathers. After him, his +eldest son, now a child of six, will reign more gloriously, more +honourably, more powerfully than any King of France since +Charlemagne."[1588] + +[Footnote 1586: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 138 _et seq._ Morosini, vol. +iii, pp. 62-63.] + +[Footnote 1587: The monastery of the Premonstratensians, near Laon, +was founded in 1122, by St. Norbert (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1588: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 422 _et seq._, 433, 434, 465; +vol. v, pp. 475, 476.] + +The Maid possessed the gift of beholding events which were taking +place far away. + +At Vaucouleurs, on the very day of the Battle of the Herrings, she +knew the Dauphin's army had suffered grievous hurt.[1589] + +[Footnote 1589: _Journal du siège_, p. 44. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 272.] + +On a day when she was dining, seated near the King, she began to laugh +quietly. The King, perceiving, asked her: "My beloved, wherefore laugh +ye so merrily?" + +She made answer that she would tell him when the repast was over. And, +when the ewer was brought her, "Sire," she said, "this day have been +drowned in the sea five hundred English, who were crossing to your +land to do you hurt. Therefore did I laugh. In three days you will +know that it is true." + +And so it was.[1590] + +[Footnote 1590: Eberhard Windecke, p. 117.] + +Another time, when she was in a town some miles distant from the +château where the King was, as she prayed before going to sleep, it +was revealed to her that certain of the King's enemies wished to +poison him at dinner. Straightway she called her brothers and sent +them to the King to advise him to take no food until she came. + +When she appeared before him, he was at table surrounded by eleven +persons. + +"Sire," she said, "have the dishes brought." + +She gave them to the dogs, who ate from them and died forthwith. + +Then, pointing to a knight, who was near the King and to two other +guests: "Those persons," she said, "wished to poison you." + +The knight straightway confessed that it was true; and he was dealt +with according to his deserts.[1591] + +[Footnote 1591: _Ibid._, p. 97.] + +It was borne in upon her that a certain priest kept a concubine;[1592] +and one day, meeting in the camp a woman dressed as a man, it was +revealed to her that the woman was pregnant and that having already +had one child she had made away with it.[1593] + +[Footnote 1592: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 1593: Eberhard Windecke, p. 97.] + +She was likewise said to possess the power of discovering things +hidden. She herself had claimed this power when she was at Tours. It +had been revealed to her that a sword was buried in the ground in the +chapel of Saint Catherine of Fierbois, and that was the sword she +wore. Some deemed it to be the sword with which Charles Martel had +defeated the Saracens. Others suspected it of being the sword of +Alexander the Great.[1594] + +[Footnote 1594: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 76, 234. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 277. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 69, 70. +_Journal du siège_, pp. 49, 50. _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, +pp. 337, 338. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 108, 109. Abbé Bourassé, _Les +miracles de Madame Sainte Katerine_, Introduction.] + +In like manner it was said that before the coronation Jeanne had known +of a precious crown, hidden from all eyes. And here is the story told +concerning it: + +A bishop kept the crown of Saint Louis. No one knew which bishop it +was, but it was known that the Maid had sent him a messenger, bearing +a letter in which she asked him to give up the crown. The bishop +replied that the Maid was dreaming. A second time she demanded the +sacred treasure, and the bishop made the same reply. Then she wrote to +the citizens of the episcopal city, saying that if the crown were not +given up to the King, the Lord would punish the town, and straightway +there fell so heavy a storm of hail that all men marvelled. Wizards +commonly caused hail storms. But this time the hail was a plague sent +by the God who afflicted Egypt with ten plagues. After which the Maid +despatched to the citizens a third letter in which she described the +form and fashion of the crown the bishop was hiding, and warned them +that if it were not given up even worse things would happen to them. +The bishop, who believed that the wondrous circlet of gold was known +to him alone, marvelled that the form and fashion thereof should be +described in this letter. He repented of his wickedness, wept many +tears, and commanded the crown to be sent to the King and the +Maid.[1595] + +[Footnote 1595: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 160, 163.] + +It is not difficult to discern the origin of this story. The crown of +Charlemagne, which the kings of France wore at the coronation +ceremony, was at Saint-Denys in France, in the hands of the English. +Jeanne boasted of having given the Dauphin at Chinon a precious crown, +brought by angels. She said that this crown had been sent to Reims for +the coronation, but that it did not arrive in time.[1596] As for the +hiding of the crown by the bishop, that idea arose probably from the +well-known cupidity of my Lord Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop of +Reims, who had appropriated the silver vase intended for the chapter +and placed by the King upon the high altar after the ceremony.[1597] + +[Footnote 1596: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1597: Dom Marlot, _Histoire de l'Église de Reims_, vol. iv, +p. 175. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, appendix xvii.] + +There was likewise talk of gloves lost at Reims and of a cup that +Jeanne had found.[1598] + +[Footnote 1598: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 104.] + +Maiden, at once a warrior and a lover of peace, _béguine_, prophetess, +sorceress, angel of the Lord, ogress, every man beholds her according +to his own fashion, creates her according to his own image. Pious +souls clothe her with an invincible charm and the divine gift of +charity; simple souls make her simple too; men gross and violent +figure her a giantess, burlesque and terrible. Shall we ever discern +the true features of her countenance? Behold her, from the first and +perhaps for ever enclosed in a flowering thicket of legends! + + +END OF VOL. I. + + * * * * * + +THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC + + +BY ANATOLE FRANCE + + +A TRANSLATION BY WINIFRED STEPHENS + +IN TWO VOLS., VOL. II + +[Illustration] + +LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD +NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMIX + +_Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by_ +MANZI, JOYANT ET CIE + +_Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by_ +JOHN LANE COMPANY + +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + +[Illustration: The Duke of Bedford + +from The Bedford Missal] + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOL. II + + +CHAP. PAGE + +I. THE ROYAL ARMY FROM SOISSONS TO COMPIÈGNE. +POEM AND PROPHECY 1 + +II. THE MAID'S FIRST VISIT TO COMPIÈGNE. THE +THREE POPES. SAINT-DENYS. TRUCES 34 + +III. THE ATTACK ON PARIS 54 + +IV. THE TAKING OF SAINT-PIERRE-LE-MOUSTIER. +FRIAR RICHARD'S SPIRITUAL DAUGHTERS. THE +SIEGE OF LA CHARITÉ 78 + +V. LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF REIMS. LETTER TO +THE HUSSITES. DEPARTURE FROM SULLY 103 + +VI. THE MAID IN THE TRENCHES OF MELUN. LE +SEIGNEUR DE L'OURS. THE CHILD OF LAGNY 122 + +VII. SOISSONS AND COMPIÈGNE. CAPTURE OF THE MAID 138 + +VIII. THE MAID AT BEAULIEU. THE SHEPHERD OF GÉVAUDAN 156 + +IX. THE MAID AT BEAUREVOIR. CATHERINE DE LA +ROCHELLE AT PARIS. EXECUTION OF LA PIERRONNE 170 + +X. BEAUREVOIR. ARRAS. ROUEN. THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE 188 + +XI. THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_) 227 + +XII. THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_) 264 + +XIII. THE ABJURATION. THE FIRST SENTENCE 299 + +XIV. THE TRIAL FOR RELAPSE. SECOND SENTENCE. +DEATH OF THE MAID 323 + +XV. AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MAID. THE END OF +THE SHEPHERD. LA DAME DES ARMOISES 343 + +XVI. AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MAID (_continued_). THE +ROUEN JUDGES AT THE COUNCIL OF BÂLE AND +THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION. THE REHABILITATION +TRIAL. THE MAID OF SARMAIZE. THE MAID OF LE MANS 378 + + +APPENDICES + +I. LETTER FROM DOCTOR G. DUMAS 401 + +II. THE FARRIER OF SALON 407 + +III. MARTIN DE GALLARDON 413 + +IV. ICONOGRAPHICAL NOTE 420 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOL. II + + +THE DUKE OF BEDFORD _Frontispiece_ + From the Bedford Missal. + + _To face page_ + +PHILIP, DUKE OF BURGUNDY 140 + +HENRY VI 194 + From a portrait in the "Election Chamber" at Eton, + reproduced by permission of the Provost. + +THE BASTARD OF ORLÉANS 388 + From an old engraving. + + + + +JOAN OF ARC + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ROYAL ARMY FROM SOISSONS TO COMPIÈGNE--POEM AND PROPHECY + + +On the 22nd of July, King Charles, marching with his army down the +valley of the Aisne, in a place called Vailly, received the keys of +the town of Soissons.[1599] + +[Footnote 1599: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 323, 324. Perceval de +Cagny, pp. 160, 161. _Journal du siège_, p. 115. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 98. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 196.] + +This town constituted a part of the Duchy of Valois, held jointly by +the Houses of Orléans and of Bar.[1600] Of its dukes, one was a prisoner +in the hands of the English; the other was connected with the French +party through his brother-in-law, King Charles, and with the +Burgundian party through his father-in-law, the Duke of Lorraine. No +wonder the fealty of the townsfolk was somewhat vacillating; +downtrodden by men-at-arms, forever taken and retaken, red caps and +white caps alternately ran the danger of being cast into the river. +The Burgundians set fire to the houses, pillaged the churches, +chastised the most notable burgesses; then came the Armagnacs, who +sacked everything, made great slaughter of men, women, and children, +ravished nuns, worthy wives, and honest maids. The Saracens could not +have done worse.[1601] City dames had been seen making sacks in which +Burgundians were to be sewn up and thrown into the Aisne.[1602] + +[Footnote 1600: _Ordonnances des rois de France_, vol. ix, p. 71. H. +Martin and Lacroix, _Histoire de la ville de Soissons_, Soissons, +1837, in 8vo, ii, pp. 283 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1601: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 53, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1602: _Ibid._, p. 103.] + +King Charles made his entry into the city on Saturday the 23rd, in the +morning.[1603] The red caps went into hiding. The bells pealed, the folk +cried "Noël," and the burgesses proffered the King two barbels, six +sheep and six gallons of "_bon suret_,"[1604] begging the King to forgive +its being so little, but the war had ruined them.[1605] They, like the +people of Troyes, refused to open their gates to the men-at-arms, by +virtue of their privileges, and because they had not food enough for +their support. The army encamped in the plain of Amblény.[1606] + +[Footnote 1603: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 323, 324. Perceval de +Cagny, p. 160. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 339.] + +[Footnote 1604: _Suret_ is sour wine (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1605: C. Dormay, _Histoire de la ville de Soissons_, Soissons, +1664, vol. ii, pp. 382 _et seq._ H. Martin and Lacroix, _Histoire de +Soissons_, vol. ii, p. 319. Pécheur, _Annales du diocèse de Soissons_, +vol. iv, p. 513. Félix Brun, _Jeanne d'Arc et le capitaine de Soissons +en 1430_, Soissons, 1904, p. 34.] + +[Footnote 1606: Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 49, 50. Le P. Daniel, +_Histoire de la milice française_, vol. i, p. 356. Félix Brun, _Jeanne +d'Arc et le capitaine de Soissons_, pp. 26, 39.] + +It would seem that at that time the leaders of the royal army had the +intention of marching on Compiègne. Indeed it was important to capture +this town from Duke Philip, for it was the key to l'Île-de-France and +ought to be taken before the Duke had time to bring up an army. But +throughout this campaign the King of France was resolved to recapture +his towns rather by diplomacy and persuasion than by force. Between +the 22nd and the 25th of July he three times summoned the inhabitants +of Compiègne to surrender. Being desirous to gain time and to have the +air of being constrained, they entered into negotiations.[1607] + +[Footnote 1607: De l'Epinois, _Notes extraites des archives communales de +Compiègne_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. xxix, p. +483. Sorel, _Prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 101, 102.] + +Having quitted Soissons, the royal army reached Château-Thierry on the +29th. All day it waited for the town to open its gates. In the evening +the King entered.[1608] Coulommiers, Crécy-en-Brie, and Provins +submitted.[1609] + +[Footnote 1608: Perceval de Cagny, p. 160. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 340.] + +[Footnote 1609: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 340. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 323. Félix Bourquelot, _Histoire de Provins_, Provins, vol. iv, pp. +79 _et seq._ Th. Robillard, _Histoire pittoresque topographique et +archéologique de Crécy-en-Brie_, 1852, p. 42. L'Abbé C. Poquet, +_Histoire de Château-Thierry_, 1839, vol. i, pp. 290 _et seq._] + +On Monday, the 1st of August, the King crossed the Marne, over the +Château-Thierry Bridge, and that same day took up his quarters at +Montmirail. On the morrow he gained Provins and came within a short +distance of the passage of the Seine and the high-roads of central +France.[1610] The army was sore anhungered, finding nought to eat in +these ravaged fields and pillaged cities. Through lack of victuals +preparations were being made for retreat into Poitou. But this design +was thwarted by the English. While ungarrisoned towns were being +reduced, the English Regent had been gathering an army. It was now +advancing on Corbeil and Melun. On its approach the French gained La +Motte-Nangis, some twelve miles from Provins, where they took up their +position on ground flat and level, such as was convenient for the +fighting of a battle, as battles were fought in those days. For one +whole day they remained in battle array. There was no sign of the +English coming to attack them.[1611] + +[Footnote 1610: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 160, 161.] + +[Footnote 1611: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 324, 325. _Journal du +siège_, p. 115. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 98, 99. +Perceval de Cagny, p. 161. Rymer, _Foedera_, June to July, 1429. +_Proceedings_, vol. iii, pp. 322 _et seq._ Morosini, vol. iv, appendix +xvii.] + +Meanwhile the people of Reims received tidings that King Charles was +leaving Château-Thierry and was about to cross the Seine. Believing +that they had been abandoned, they were afraid lest the English and +Burgundians should make them pay dearly for the coronation of the King +of the Armagnacs; and in truth they stood in great danger. On the 3rd +of August, they resolved to send a message to King Charles to entreat +him not to forsake those cities which had submitted to him. The city's +herald set out forthwith. On the morrow they sent word to their good +friends of Châlons and of Laon, how they had heard that King Charles +was wending towards Orléans and Bourges, and how they had sent him a +message.[1612] + +[Footnote 1612: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 98. Varin, +_Archives législatives de la ville de Reims_, Statuts, vol. i (annot. +according to doc. no. xxi), p. 741. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, +original doc. no. 19, p. 118.] + +On the 5th of August, while the King is still at Provins[1613] or in the +neighbourhood, Jeanne addresses to the townsfolk of Reims a letter +dated from the camp, on the road to Paris. Herein she promises not to +desert her friends faithful and beloved. She appears to have no +suspicion of the projected retreat on the Loire. Wherefore it is clear +that the magistrates of Reims have not written to her and that she is +not admitted to the royal counsels. She has been instructed, however, +that the King has concluded a fifteen days' truce with the Duke of +Burgundy, and thereof she informs the citizens of Reims. This truce is +displeasing to her; and she doubts whether she will observe it. If she +does observe it, it will be solely on account of the King's honour; +and even then she must be persuaded that there is no trickery in it. +She will therefore keep the royal army together and in readiness to +march at the end of the fifteen days. She closes her letter with a +recommendation to the townsfolk to keep good guard and to send her +word if they have need of her. + +[Footnote 1613: Perceval de Cagny, p. 160.] + +Here is the letter: + + "Good friends and beloved, ye good and loyal French of the + city of Rains, Jehanne the Maid lets you wit of her tidings + and prays and requires you not to doubt the good cause she + maintains for the Blood Royal; and I promise and assure you + that I will never forsake you as long as I shall live. It is + true that the King has made truce with the Duke of Burgundy + for the space of fifteen days, by which he is to surrender + peaceably the city of Paris at the end of fifteen days. + Notwithstanding, marvel ye not if I do not straightway enter + into it, for truces thus made are not pleasing unto me, and + I know not whether I shall keep them; but if I keep them it + will be solely to maintain the King's honour; and further + they shall not ensnare the Royal Blood, for I will keep and + maintain together the King's army that it be ready at the + end of fifteen days, if they make not peace. Wherefore my + beloved and perfect friends, I pray ye to be in no + disquietude as long as I shall live; but I require you to + keep good watch and to defend well the good city of the + King; and to make known unto me if there be any traitors who + would do you hurt, and, as speedily as I may, I will take + them out from among you; and send me of your tidings. To + God I commend you. May he have you in his keeping." + + Written this Friday, 5th day of August, near Provins,[1614] a + camp in the country or on the Paris road. Addressed to: the + loyal French of the town of Rains.[1615] + +[Footnote 1614: This place name is not to be found in Rogier's copy.] + +[Footnote 1615: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 139, 140, and Varin, _loc. cit._ +_Statuts_, vol. i, p. 603, according to Rogier's copy. H. Jadart, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, proofs and illustrations, vol. xiv, pp. 104, +105, and facsimile of the original copy formerly in the Reims +municipal archives, now in the possession of M. le Comte de +Maleissye.] + +It cannot be doubted that the monk who acted as scribe wrote down +faithfully what was dictated to him, and reproduced the Maid's very +words, even her Lorraine dialect. She had then attained to the very +highest degree of heroic saintliness. Here, in this letter, she takes +to herself a supernatural power, to which the King, his Councillors +and his Captains must submit. She ascribes to herself alone the right +of recognising or denouncing treaties; she disposes entirely of the +army. And, because she commands in the name of the King of Heaven, her +commands are absolute. There is happening to her what necessarily +happens to all those who believe themselves entrusted with a divine +mission; they constitute themselves a spiritual and temporal power +superior to the established powers and inevitably hostile to them. A +dangerous illusion and productive of shocks in which the illuminated +are generally the worst sufferers! Every day of her life living and +holding converse with saints and angels, moving in the splendour of +the Church Triumphant, this young peasant girl came to believe that in +her resided all strength, all prudence, all wisdom and all counsel. +This does not mean that she was lacking in intelligence; on the +contrary she rightly perceived that the Duke of Burgundy, with his +embassies, was but playing with the King and that Charles was being +tricked by a Prince, who knew how to disguise his craft in +magnificence. Not that Duke Philip was an enemy of peace; on the +contrary he desired it, but he was desirous not to come to an open +quarrel with the English. Jeanne knew little of the affairs of +Burgundy and of France, but her judgment was none the less sound. +Concerning the relative positions of the Kings of France and England, +between whom there could be no agreement, since the matter in dispute +was the possession of the kingdom, her ideas were very simple but very +correct. Equally accurate were her views of the position of the King +of France with regard to his great vassal, the Duke of Burgundy, with +whom an understanding was not only possible and desirable, but +necessary. She pronounced thereupon in a perfectly straightforward +fashion: On the one hand there is peace with the Burgundians and on +the other peace with the English; concerning the peace with the Duke +of Burgundy, by letters and by ambassadors have I required him to come +to terms with the King; as for the English, the only way of making +peace with them is for them to go back to their country, to +England.[1616] + +[Footnote 1616: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 233, 234.] + +This truce that so highly displeased her we know not when it was +concluded, whether at Soissons or Château-Thierry, on the 30th or 31st +of July, or at Provins between the 2nd and 5th of August.[1617] It would +appear that it was to last fifteen days, at the end of which time the +Duke was to undertake to surrender Paris to the King of France. The +Maid had good reason for her mistrust. + +[Footnote 1617: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 202, 203, note 2.] + +When the Regent withdrew before him, King Charles eagerly returned to +his plan of retreating into Poitou. From La Motte-Nangis he sent his +quartermasters to Bray-sur-Seine, which had just submitted. Situated +above Montereau and ten miles south of Provins, this town had a bridge +over the river, across which the royal army was to pass on the 5th of +August or in the morning of the 6th; but the English came by night, +overcame the quartermasters and took possession of the bridge; with +its retreat cut off, the royal army had to retrace its march.[1618] + +[Footnote 1618: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 325. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 99, 100. _Journal du siège_, pp. 119, 120. +Gilles de Roye, p. 207.] + +Within this army, which had not fought and which was being devoured by +hunger, there existed a party of zealots, led by those whom Jeanne +fondly called the Royal Blood.[1619] They were the Duke of Alençon, the +Duke of Bourbon, the Count of Vendôme, and likewise the Duke of Bar, +who had just come from the War of the Apple Baskets.[1620] Before he +took to painting pictures and writing moralities in rhyme, this young +son of the Lady Yolande had been a warrior. Duke of Bar and heir of +Lorraine, he had been forced to join the English and Burgundians. +Brother-in-law of King Charles, he must needs rejoice when the latter +was victorious, because, but for that victory, he would never have +been able to range himself on the side of the Queen, his sister, for +which he would have been very sorry.[1621] Jeanne knew him; not long +before, she had asked the Duke of Lorraine to send him with her into +France.[1622] He was said to have been one of those who of their own +free will followed her to Paris. Among the others were the two sons of +the Lady of Laval, Gui, the eldest to whom she had offered wine at +Selles-en-Berry, promising soon to give him to drink at Paris, and +André, who afterwards became Marshal of Lohéac.[1623] This was the army +of the Maid: a band of youths, scarcely more than children, who ranged +their banners side by side with the banner of a girl younger than +they, but more innocent and better. + +[Footnote 1619: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 1620: _Guerre de la Hottée de Pommes_, cf. vol. i, p. 92. +(W.S.)] + +[Footnote 1621: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaut de Metz_ in D. +Calmet. _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. v, orig. docs., cols, xli-xlvii. +Villeneuve-Bargemont, _Précis historique de la vie du roi René_, Aix, +1820, in 8vo. Lecoy de la Marche, _Le roi René_, Paris, 1875, 2 vols. +in 8vo. Vallet de Viriville, in _Nouvelle biographie générale_, 1866, +xli, pp. 1009-1015.] + +[Footnote 1622: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 444. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à +Domremy_, p. cxcix. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 156, note 3.] + +[Footnote 1623: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 105-111.] + +On learning that the retreat had been cut off, it is said that these +youthful princes were well content and glad.[1624] This was valour and +zeal; but it was a curious position and a false when the knighthood +wished for war while the royal council was desiring to treat, and when +the knighthood actually rejoiced at the campaign being prolonged by +the enemy and at the royal army being cornered by the _Godons_. +Unhappily this war party could boast of no very able adherents; and +the favourable opportunity had been lost, the Regent had been allowed +time to collect his forces and to cope with the most pressing +dangers.[1625] + +[Footnote 1624: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, Jean Chartier. _Journal du +siège_, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 1625: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 340, 344.] + +Its retreat cut off, the royal army fell back on Brie. On the morning +of Sunday, the 7th, it was at Coulommiers; it recrossed the Marne at +Château-Thierry.[1626] King Charles received a message from the +inhabitants of Reims, entreating him to draw nearer to them.[1627] He +was at La Ferté on the 10th, on the 11th at Crépy in Valois.[1628] + +[Footnote 1626: Perceval de Cagny, p. 161. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 100. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 325.] + +[Footnote 1627: Varin, _Archives législatives de la ville de Reims_, +Statuts, vol. i, p. 742.] + +[Footnote 1628: Perceval de Cagny, p. 161.] + +At one stage of the march on La Ferté and Crépy, the Maid was riding +in company with the King, between the Archbishop of Reims and my Lord +the Bastard. Beholding the people hastening to come before the King +and crying "Noël!" she exclaimed: "Good people! Never have I seen folk +so glad at the coming of the fair King...."[1629] + +[Footnote 1629: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 326.] + +These peasants of Valois and of l'Île de France, who cried "Noël!" on +the coming of King Charles, in like manner hailed the Regent and the +Duke of Burgundy when they passed. Doubtless they were not so glad as +they seemed to Jeanne, and if the little Saint had listened at the +doors of their poor homes, this is about what she would have heard: +"What shall we do? Let us surrender our all to the devil. It matters +not what shall become of us, for, through treason and bad government, +we must needs forsake our wives and children and flee into the woods, +like wild beasts. And it is not one year or two but fourteen or +fifteen since we have been led this unhappy dance. And most of the +great nobles of France have died by the sword, or unconfessed have +fallen victims to poison or to treachery, or in short have perished by +some manner of violent death. Better for us would it have been to +serve Saracens than Christians. Whether one lives badly or well it +comes to the same thing. Let us do all the evil that lieth in our +power. No worse can happen to us than to be slain or taken."[1630] + +[Footnote 1630: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 164.] + +It was only in the neighbourhood of towns or close to fortresses and +castles, within sight of the watchman's eye as he looked from the top +of tower or belfry, that land was cultivated. On the approach of +men-at-arms, the watchman rang his bell or sounded his horn to warn +the vine-dressers or the ploughmen to flee to a place of safety. In +many districts the alarm bell was so frequent that oxen, sheep, and +pigs, of their own accord went into hiding, as soon as they heard +it.[1631] + +[Footnote 1631: Thomas Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII_, chap. vi. A. +Tuetey, _Les écorcheurs sous Charles VII_, Montbéliard, 1874, 2 vols. +in 8vo, _passim_. H. Lepage, _Épisodes de l'histoire des routiers en +Lorraine_ (1362-1446), in _Journal d'archéologie lorraine_, vol. xv, +pp. 161 _et seq._ Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises_, +_passim_. H. Martin et Lacroix, _Histoire de Soissons_, p. 318, +_passim_. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Épisodes de l'invasion anglaise. La +guerre de partisans dans la Haute Normandie_ (1424-1429), in +_Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. liv, pp. 475-521; vol. lv, +pp. 258-305; vol. lvi, pp. 432-508.] + +In the plains especially, which were easy of access, the Armagnacs and +the English had destroyed everything. For some distance from Beauvais, +from Senlis, from Soissons, from Laon, they had caused the fields to +lie fallow, and here and there shrubs and underwood were springing up +over land once cultivated.--"Noël! Noël!" + +Throughout the duchy of Valois, the peasants were abandoning the open +country and hiding in woods, rocks, and quarries.[1632] + +[Footnote 1632: Pardon issued by King Henry VI to an inhabitant of +Noyant, in Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, vol. i, pp. 23, 31. F. +Brun, _Jeanne d'Arc et le capitaine de Soissons_, note iii, p. 41.] + +Many, in order to gain a livelihood, did like Jean de Bonval, the +tailor of Noyant near Soissons, who, despite wife and children, joined +a Burgundian band, which went up and down the country thieving, +pillaging, and, when occasion offered, smoking out the folk who had +taken refuge in churches. On one day Jean and his comrades took two +hogsheads of corn, on another six or seven cows; on another a goat and +a cow, on another a silver belt, a pair of gloves and a pair of shoes; +on another a bale of eighteen ells of cloth to make cloaks withal. And +Jean de Bonval said that within his knowledge many a man of worship +did as much.[1633]--"Noël! Noël!" + +[Footnote 1633: Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, vol. i, pp. 23, 31.] + +The Armagnacs and Burgundians had torn the coats off the peasants' +backs and seized even their pots and pans. It was not far from Crépy +to Meaux. Every one in that country had heard of the Tree of Vauru. + +At one of the gates of the town of Meaux was a great elm, whereon the +Bastard of Vauru, a Gascon noble of the Dauphin's party, used to hang +the peasants he had taken, when they could not pay their ransom. When +he had no executioner at hand he used to hang them himself. With him +there lived a kinsman, my Lord Denis de Vauru, who was called his +cousin, not that he was so in fact, but just to show that one was no +better than the other.[1634] In the month of March, in the year 1420, my +Lord Denis, on one of his expeditions, came across a peasant tilling +the ground. He took him prisoner, held him to ransom, and, tying him +to his horse's tail, dragged him back to Meaux, where, by threats and +torture, he exacted from him a promise to pay three times as much as +he possessed. Dragged half dead from his dungeon, the villein sent to +the wife he had married that year to ask her to bring the sum demanded +by the lord. She was with child, and near the time of her delivery; +notwithstanding, she came because she loved her husband and hoped to +soften the heart of the Lord of Vauru. She failed; and Messire Denis +told her that if by a certain day he did not receive the ransom, he +would hang the man from the elm-tree. The poor woman went away in +tears, fondly commending her husband to God's keeping. And her husband +wept for pity of her. By a great effort, she succeeded in obtaining +the sum demanded, but not by the day appointed. When she returned, her +husband had been hanged from the Vauru Tree without respite or mercy. +With bitter sobs she asked for him, and then fell exhausted by the +side of that road, which, on the point of her delivery, she had +traversed on foot. Having regained consciousness, a second time she +asked for her husband. She was told that she would not see him till +the ransom had been paid. + +[Footnote 1634: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 170, 171. +Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 96. _Livre des trahisons_, pp. 167, 168.] + +While she was before the Gascon, there in sight of her were brought +forth several craftsmen, held to ransom, who, unable to pay, were +straightway despatched to be hanged or drowned. At this spectacle a +great fear for her husband came over her; nevertheless, her love for +him gave her heart of courage and she paid the ransom. As soon as the +Duke's men had counted the coins, they dismissed her saying that her +husband had died like the other villeins. + +At those cruel words, wild with sorrow and despair, she broke forth +into curses and railing. When she refused to be silent, the Bastard +of Vauru had her beaten and taken to the Elm-tree. + +There she was stripped to the waist and tied to the Tree, whence hung +forty to fifty men, some from the higher, some from the lower +branches, so that, when the wind blew, their bodies touched her head. +At nightfall she uttered shrieks so piercing that they were heard in +the town. But whosoever had dared to go and unloose her would have +been a dead man. Fright, fatigue, and exertion brought on her +delivery. The wolves, attracted by her cries, came and consumed the +fruit of her womb, and then devoured alive the body of the wretched +creature. + +In 1422, the town of Meaux was taken by the Burgundians. Then were the +Bastard of Vauru and his cousin hanged from that Tree on which they +had caused so many innocent folk to die so shameful a death.[1635] + +[Footnote 1635: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 170. According to +Monstrelet (vol. iv, p. 96), Denis de Vauru, the Bastard's cousin, was +beheaded in the Market of Paris.] + +For the poor peasants of these unhappy lands, whether Armagnac or +Burgundian, it was all of a piece; they had nothing to gain by +changing masters. Nevertheless, it is possible that, on beholding the +King, the descendant of Saint Louis and Charles the Wise, they may +have taken heart of courage and of hope, so great was the fame for +justice and for mercy of the illustrious house of France. + +Thus, riding by the side of the Archbishop of Reims, the Maid looked +with a friendly eye on the peasants crying "Noël!" After saying that +she had nowhere seen folk so joyful at the coming of the fair King, +she sighed: "Would to God I were so fortunate as, when I die, to find +burial in this land."[1636] + +[Footnote 1636: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 326.] + +Peradventure the Lord Archbishop was curious to know whether from her +Voices she had received any revelation concerning her approaching +death. She often said that she would not last long. Doubtless he was +acquainted with a prophecy widely known at that time, that the maid +would die in the Holy Land, after having reconquered with King Charles +the sepulchre of our Lord. There were those who attributed this +prophecy to the Maid herself; for she had told her Confessor that she +would die in battle with the Infidel, and that after her God would +send a Maid of Rome who would take her place.[1637] And it is obvious +that Messire Regnault knew what store to set on such things. At any +rate, for that reason or for another, he asked: "Jeanne, in what place +look you for to die?" + +[Footnote 1637: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 108, 109, 188, 189.] + +To which she made answer: "Where it shall please God. For I am sure +neither of the time nor of the place, and I know no more thereof than +you." + +No answer could have been more devout. My Lord the Bastard, who was +present at this conversation, many years later thought he remembered +that Jeanne had added: "But I would it were now God's pleasure for me +to retire, leaving my arms, and to go and serve my father and mother, +keeping sheep with my brethren and sister."[1638] + +[Footnote 1638: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. It is Dunois who is +giving evidence, and the text runs: _In custodiendo oves ipsorum, cum +sorore et fratribus meis, qui multum gauderent videre me_. But there +is reason to believe she had only one sister, whom she had lost before +coming into France. As for her brothers, two of them were with her. +Dunois' evidence appears to have been written down by a clerk +unacquainted with events. The hagiographical character of the passage +is obvious.] + +If she really spoke thus, it was doubtless because she was haunted by +dark forebodings. For some time she had believed herself betrayed.[1639] +Possibly she suspected the Lord Archbishop of Reims of wishing her +ill. But it is hard to believe that he can have thought of getting rid +of her now when he had employed her with such signal success; rather +his intention was to make further use of her. Nevertheless he did not +like her, and she felt it. He never consulted her and never told her +what had been decided in council. And she suffered cruelly from the +small account made of the revelations she was always receiving so +abundantly. May we not interpret as a subtle and delicate reproach the +utterance in his presence of this wish, this complaint? Doubtless she +longed for her absent mother. And yet she was mistaken when she +thought that henceforth she could endure the tranquil life of a +village maiden. In her childhood at Domremy she seldom went to tend +the flocks in the field; she preferred to occupy herself in household +affairs;[1640] but if, after having waged war beside the King and the +nobles, she had had to return to her country and keep sheep, she would +not have stayed there six months. Henceforth it was impossible for her +to live save with that knighthood, to whose company she believed God +had called her. All her heart was there, and she had finished with the +distaff. + +[Footnote 1639: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 423.] + +[Footnote 1640: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 51, 66.] + +During the march on La Ferté and Crépy, King Charles received a +challenge from the Regent, then at Montereau with his baronage, +calling upon him to fix a meeting at whatsoever place he should +appoint.[1641] "We, who with all our hearts," said the Duke of Bedford, +"desire the end of the war, summon and require you, if you have pity +and compassion on the poor folk, who in your cause have so long time +been cruelly treated, downtrodden, and oppressed, to appoint a place +suitable either in this land of Brie, where we both are, or in +l'Île-de-France. There will we meet. And if you have any proposal of +peace to make unto us, we will listen to it and as beseemeth a good +Catholic prince we will take counsel thereon."[1642] + +[Footnote 1641: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 340, 344.] + +[Footnote 1642: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 342.] + +This arrogant and insulting letter had not been penned by the Regent +in any desire or hope of peace, but rather, against all reason, to +throw on King Charles's shoulders the responsibility for the miseries +and suffering the war was causing the commonalty. + +Writing to the King crowned in Reims Cathedral, from the beginning he +addresses him in this disdainful manner: "You who were accustomed to +call yourself Dauphin of Viennois and who now without reason take unto +yourself the title of King." He declares that he wants peace and then +adds forthwith: "Not a peace hollow, corrupt, feigned, violated, +perjured, like that of Montereau, on which, by your fault and your +consent, there followed that terrible and detestable murder, committed +contrary to all law and honour of knighthood, on the person of our +late dear and greatly loved Father, Jean, Duke of Burgundy."[1643] + +[Footnote 1643: _Ibid._, pp. 342, 343.] + +My Lord of Bedford had married one of the daughters of that Duke Jean, +who had been treacherously murdered in revenge for the assassination +of the Duke of Orléans. But indeed it was not wisely to prepare the +way of peace to cast the crime of Montereau in the face of Charles of +Valois, who had been dragged there as a child and with whom there had +remained ever after a physical trembling and a haunting fear of +crossing bridges.[1644] + +[Footnote 1644: Georges Chastellain, fragments published by J. Quicherat +in _La Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, 1st series, vol. iv, p. +78.] + +For the moment the Duke of Bedford's most serious grievance against +Charles was that he was accompanied by the Maid and Friar Richard. +"You cause the ignorant folk to be seduced and deceived," he said, +"for you are supported by superstitious and reprobate persons, such as +this woman of ill fame and disorderly life, wearing man's attire and +dissolute in manners, and likewise by that apostate and seditious +mendicant friar, they both alike being, according to Holy Scripture, +abominable in the sight of God." + +To strike still greater shame into the heart of the enemy, the Duke of +Bedford proceeds to a second attack on the maiden and the monk. And in +the most eloquent passage of the letter, when he is citing Charles of +Valois to appear before him, he says ironically that he expects to see +him come led by this woman of ill fame and this apostate monk.[1645] + +[Footnote 1645: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 341, 342.] + +Thus wrote the Regent of England; albeit he had a mind, subtle, +moderate, and graceful, he was moreover a good Catholic and a believer +in all manner of devilry and witchcraft. + +His horror at the army of Charles of Valois being commanded by a witch +and a heretic monk was certainly sincere, and he deemed it wise to +publish the scandal. There were doubtless only too many, who, like +him, were ready to believe that the Maid of the Armagnacs was a +heretic, a worshipper of idols and given to the practice of magic. In +the opinion of many worthy and wise Burgundians a prince must forfeit +his honour by keeping such company. And if Jeanne were in very deed a +witch, what a disgrace! What an abomination! The Flowers de Luce +reinstated by the devil! The Dauphin's whole camp was tainted by it. +And yet when my Lord of Bedford spread abroad those ideas he was not +so adroit as he thought. + +Jeanne, as we know, was good-hearted and in energy untiring. By +inspiring the men of her party with the idea that she brought them +good luck, she gave them courage.[1646] Nevertheless King Charles's +counsellors knew what she could do for them and avoided consulting +her. She herself felt that she would not last long.[1647] Then who +represented her as a great war leader? Who exalted her as a +supernatural power? The enemy. + +[Footnote 1646: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 324; vol. iii, p. 130. Monstrelet, +vol. iv, p. 388.] + +[Footnote 1647: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 99.] + +This letter shows how the English had transformed an innocent child +into a being unnatural, terrible, redoubtable, into a spectre of hell +causing the bravest to grow pale. In a voice of lamentation the Regent +cries: The devil! the witch! And then he marvels that his fighting men +tremble before the Maid, and desert rather than face her.[1648] + +[Footnote 1648: _Ibid._, vol. iv, pp. 206, 406, 444, 470, 472. Rymer, +_Foedera_, vol. iv, p. 141. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La panique +anglaise_.] + +From Montereau, the English army had fallen back on Paris. Now it once +again came forth to meet the French. On Saturday, the 13th of August, +King Charles held the country between Crépy and Paris. Now the Maid +from the heights of Dammartin could espy the summit of Montmartre +with its windmills, and the light mists from the Seine veiling that +great city of Paris, promised to her by those Voices which alas! she +had heeded too well.[1649] On the morrow, Sunday, the King and his army +encamped in a village, by name Barron, on the River Nonnette on which, +five miles lower down, stands Senlis.[1650] + +[Footnote 1649: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 246, 298. Letter from Alain +Chartier in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 131 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1650: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 344, 345. Perceval de Cagny, +pp. 161, 162.] + +Senlis was subject to the English.[1651] It was said that the Regent was +approaching with a great company of men-at-arms, commanded by the Earl +of Suffolk, the Lord Talbot and the Bastard Saint Pol. With him were +the crusaders of the Cardinal of Winchester, the late King's uncle, +between three thousand five hundred and four thousand men, paid with +the Pope's money to go and fight against the Hussites in Bohemia. The +Cardinal judged it well to use them against the King of France, a very +Christian King forsooth, but one whose hosts were commanded by a witch +and an apostate.[1652] It was reported that, in the English camp, was a +captain with fifteen hundred men-at-arms, clothed in white, bearing a +white standard, on which was embroidered a distaff whence was +suspended a spindle; and on the streamer of the banner was worked in +fine letters of gold: "_Ores, vienne la Belle!_"[1653] By these words +the men-at-arms wished to proclaim that if they were to meet the Maid +of the Armagnacs she would find her work cut out. + +[Footnote 1651: Flammermont, _Histoire de Senlis pendant la seconds +partie de la guerre de cent ans_ (1405-1441), in _Mémoires de la +Société de l'Histoire de Paris_.] + +[Footnote 1652: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 101, 102. +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 328. _Journal du siège_, p. 118. +Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 453. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. +188, 189; vol. iv, appendix xvii. Rymer, _Foedera_, July, 1429. +Raynaldi, _Annales ecclesiastici_, pp. 77, 88. S. Bougenot, _Notices +et extraits de manuscrits intéressant l'histoire de France conservés a +la Bibliothèque impérial de Vienne_, p. 62.] + +[Footnote 1653: Now, come forth Beauty (W.S.). _Le Livre des trahisons +de France_, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, in _La collection des chroniques +belges_, 1873, p. 198.] + +Captain Jean de Saintrailles, the Brother of Poton, observed the +English first when, marching towards Senlis, they were crossing La +Nonnette by a ford so narrow that two horses could barely pass +abreast. But King Charles's army, which was coming down the Nonnette +valley, did not arrive in time to surprise them.[1654] It passed the +night opposite them, near Montepilloy. + +[Footnote 1654: Perceval de Cagny, p. 162. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, p. 102. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 329. _Journal du siège_, +pp. 119, 120.] + +On the morrow, Monday, the 15th of August, at daybreak, the +men-at-arms heard mass in camp and, as far as might be, cleared their +consciences; for great plunderers and whoremongers as they were, they +had not given up hope of winning Paradise when this life should be +over. That day was a solemn feast, when the Church, on the authority +of St. Grégoire de Tours, commemorates the physical and spiritual +exaltation to heaven of the Virgin Mary. Churchmen taught that it +behoves men to keep the feasts of Our Lord and the Holy Virgin, and +that to wage battle on days consecrated to them is to sin grievously +against the glorious Mother of God. No one in King Charles's camp +could maintain a contrary opinion, since all were Christians as they +were in the camp of the Regent. And yet, immediately after the _Deo +Gratias_, every man took up his post ready for battle.[1655] + +[Footnote 1655: Perceval de Cagny, p. 161.] + +According to the established rule, the army was in several divisions: +the van-guard, the archers, the main body, the rear-guard and the +three wings.[1656] Further, and according to the same rule, there had +been formed a skirmishing company, destined if need were to succour +and reinforce the other divisions. It was commanded by Captain La +Hire, my Lord the Bastard, and the Sire d'Albret, La Trémouille's +half-brother. With this company was the Maid. At the Battle of Patay, +despite her entreaties, she had been forced to keep with the +rear-guard; now she rode with the bravest and ablest, with those +skirmishers or scouts, whose duty it was, says Jean de Bueil,[1657] to +repulse the scouts of the opposite party and to observe the number and +the ordering of the enemy.[1658] At length justice was done her; at +length she was assigned the place which her skill in horsemanship and +her courage in battle merited; and yet she hesitated to follow her +comrades. According to the report of a Burgundian knight chronicler, +there she was, "swayed to and fro, at one moment wishing to fight, at +another not."[1659] + +[Footnote 1656: _Le Jouvencel_, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1657: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 329. _Journal du siège_, +p. 121.] + +[Footnote 1658: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 1659: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 346.] + +Her perplexity is easily comprehensible. The little Saint could not +bring herself to decide whether to ride forth to battle on the day of +our Lady's Feast or to fold her arms while fighting was going on +around her. Her Voices intensified her indecision. They never +instructed her what to do save when she knew herself. In the end she +went with the men-at-arms, not one of whom appears to have shared her +scruples. The two armies were but the space of a culverin shot +apart.[1660] She, with certain of her company, went right up to the +dykes and to the carts, behind which the English were entrenched. +Sundry _Godons_ and men of Picardy came forth from their camp and +fought, some on foot, others on horseback against an equal number of +French. On both sides there were wounded, and prisoners were taken. +This hand to hand fighting continued the whole day; at sunset the most +serious skirmish happened, and so much dust was raised that it was +impossible to see anything.[1661] On that day there befell what had +happened on the 17th of June, between Beaugency and Meung. With the +armaments and the customs of warfare of those days, it was very +difficult to force an army to come out of its entrenched camp. +Generally, if a battle was to be fought, it was necessary for the two +sides to be in accord, and, after the pledge of battle had been sent +and accepted, for each to level his own half of the field where the +engagement was to take place. + +[Footnote 1660: Perceval de Cagny, p. 162.] + +[Footnote 1661: Jean Chartier, _Chronique de la Pucelle_. _Journal du +siège._ Monstrelet, _loc. cit._] + +At nightfall the skirmishing ceased, and the two armies slept at a +crossbow-shot from each other. Then King Charles went off to Crépy, +leaving the English free to go and relieve the town of Évreux, which +had agreed to surrender on the 27th of August. With this town the +Regent made sure of Normandy.[1662] + +[Footnote 1662: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 332. Perceval de Cagny, p. +165. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. Cochon, p. 457. G. +Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La panique anglaise_, Paris, 1894, in 8vo, pp. 10, +11. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 215, note 3. Ch. de Beaurepaire, _De +l'administration de la Normandie sous la domination anglaise aux +années 1424, 1425, 1429_, p. 62 (_Mémoires de la Société des +Antiquaires de Normandie_, vol. xxiv).] + +Their loss of the opportunity of conquering Normandy was the price the +French had to pay for the royal coronation procession, for that march +to Reims, which was at once military, civil and religious. If, after +the victory of Patay, they had hastened at once to Rouen, Normandy +would have been reconquered and the English cast into the sea; if, +from Patay they had pushed on to Paris they would have entered the +city without resistance. Yet we must not too hastily condemn that +ceremonious promenading of the Lilies through Champagne. By the march +to Reims the French party, those Armagnacs reviled for their cruelty +and felony, that little King of Bourges compromised in an infamous +ambuscade, may have won advantages greater and more solid than the +conquest of the county of Maine and the duchy of Normandy and than a +victorious assault on the first city of the realm. By retaking his +towns of Champagne and of France without bloodshed, King Charles +appeared to advantage as a good and pacific lord, as a prince wise and +debonair, as the friend of the townsfolk, as the true king of cities. +In short, by concluding that campaign of honest and successful +negotiations and by the august ceremonial of the coronation, he came +forth at once as the lawful and very holy King of France. + +An illustrious lady, a descendant of Bolognese nobles and the widow of +a knight of Picardy, well versed in the liberal arts, was the author +of a number of lays, virelays,[1663] and ballads. Christine de Pisan, +noble and high-minded, wrote with distinction in prose and verse. +Loyal to France and a champion of her sex, there was nothing she more +fervently desired than to see the French prosperous and their ladies +honoured. In her old age she was cloistered in the Abbey of Poissy, +where her daughter was a nun. There, on the 31st of July, 1429, she +completed a poem of sixty-one stanzas, each containing eight lines of +eight syllables, in praise of the Maid. In halting measures and +affected language, these verses expressed the thoughts of the finest, +the most cultured and the most pious souls touching the angel of war +sent of God to the Dauphin Charles.[1664] + +[Footnote 1663: A virelay was a later variation of the lay, differing +from it chiefly in the arrangement of the rhymes (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1664: Le Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses +historiens_, pp. 426 _et seq._] + +In this work she begins by saying that for eleven years she has spent +her cloistered life in weeping. And in very truth, this noble-hearted +woman wept over the misfortunes of the realm, into which she had been +born, wherein she had grown up, where kings and princes had received +her and learned poets had done her honour, and the language of which +she spoke with the precision of a purist. After eleven years of +mourning, the victories of the Dauphin were her first joy. + +"At length," she says, "the sun begins to shine once more and the fine +days to bloom again. That royal child so long despised and offended, +behold him coming, wearing on his head a crown and accoutred with +spurs of gold. Let us cry: 'Noël! Charles, the seventh of that great +name, King of the French, thou hast recovered thy kingdom, with the +help of a Maid.'" + +Christine recalls a prophecy concerning a King, Charles, son of +Charles, surnamed The Flying Hart,[1665] who was to be emperor. Of this +prophecy we know nothing save that the escutcheon of King Charles VII +was borne by two winged stags and that a letter to an Italian +merchant, written in 1429, contains an obscure announcement of the +coronation of the Dauphin at Rome.[1666] + +[Footnote 1665: A winged stag (_le cerf-volant_) is the symbol of a +king. Froissart thus explains its origin. Before setting out for +Flanders, in 1382, Charles VI dreamed that his falcon had flown away. +"Th[=e] [Transcriber's Note: e with macron] apered sodenly before hym +a great hart with wynges whereof he had great joye." And the hart bore +him to his lost bird. Froissart, Bk. II, ch. clxiv. [The Chronycle of +Syr John Froissart translated by Lord Berners, vol. iii, p. 339, Tudor +Translation, 1901.] (W.S.) According to Juvénal des Ursins, Charles +VI, in 1380, met in the Forest of Senlis a stag with a golden collar +bearing this inscription: _Hoc me Cæsar donavit_ (Paillot, _Parfaite +science des armoiries_, Paris, 1660, in fo., p. 595). In the works of +Eustache Deschamps this same allegory is frequently employed to +designate the king. (Eustache Deschamps, _OEuvres_, ed. G. Raynaud, +vol. ii, p. 57.)] + +[Footnote 1666: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 66, 67.] + +"I pray God," continued Christine, "that thou mayest be that one, that +God will grant thee life to see thy children grow up, that through +thee and through them, France may have joy, that serving God, thou +wage not war to the utterance. My hope is that thou shalt be good, +upright, a friend of justice, greater than any other, that pride sully +not thy prowess, that thou be gentle, favourable to thy people and +fearing God who hath chosen thee to serve him. + +"And thou, Maid most happy, most honoured of God, thou hast loosened +the cord with which France was bound. Canst thou be praised enough, +thou who hast brought peace to this land laid low by war? + +"Jeanne, born in a propitious hour, blessed be thy creator! Maid, sent +of God, in whom the Holy Ghost shed abroad a ray of his grace, who +hast from him received and dost keep gifts in abundance; never did he +refuse thy request. Who can ever be thankful enough unto thee?" + +The Maid, saviour of the realm, Dame Christine compares to Moses who +delivered Israel out of the Land of Egypt. + +"That a Maid should proffer her breast, whence France may suck the +sweet milk of peace, behold a matter which is above nature! + +"Joshua was a mighty conqueror. What is there strange in that, since +he was a strong man? But now behold, a woman, a shepherdess doth +appear, of greater worship than any man. But with God all things are +easy. + +"By Esther, Judith and Deborah, women of high esteem, he delivered his +oppressed people. And well I know there have been women of great +worship. But Jeanne is above all. Through her God hath worked many +miracles. + +"By a miracle was she sent; the angel of the Lord led her to the +King." + +"Before she could be believed, to clerks and to scholars was she taken +and thoroughly examined. She said she was come from God, and history +proved her saying to be true, for Merlin, the Sibyl and Bede had seen +her in the spirit. In their books they point to her as the saviour of +France, and in their prophecies they let wit of her, saying: 'In the +French wars she shall bear the banner.' And indeed they relate all the +manner of her history." + +We are not astonished that Dame Christine should have been acquainted +with the Sibylline poems; for it is known that she was well versed in +the writings of the ancients. But we perceive that the obviously +mutilated prophecy of Merlin the Magician and the apocryphal +chronogram of the Venerable Bede had come under her notice. The +predictions and verses of the Armagnac ecclesiastics were spread +abroad everywhere with amazing rapidity.[1667] + +[Footnote 1667: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 133, 338, 340 _et seq._; vol. iv, +pp. 305, 480; vol. v, p. 12.] + +Dame Christine's views concerning the Maid accord with those of the +doctors of the French party; and the poem she wrote in her convent in +many passages bears resemblance to the treatise of the Archbishop of +Embrun. + +There it is said: + +"The goodness of her life proves that Jeanne possesses the grace of +God. + +"It was made manifest, when at the siege of Orléans her might revealed +itself. Never was miracle plainer. God did so succour his own people, +that the strength of the enemy was but as that of a dead dog. They +were taken or slain. + +"Honour to the feminine sex, God loves it. A damsel of sixteen, who is +not weighed down by armour and weapons, even though she be bred to +endure hardness, is not that a matter beyond nature? The enemy flees +before her. Many eyes behold it. + +"She goeth forth capturing towns and castles. She is the first captain +of our host. Such power had not Hector or Achilles. But God, who leads +her, does all. + +"And you, ye men-at-arms, who suffer durance vile and risk your lives +for the right, be ye faithful: in heaven shall ye have reward and +glory, for whosoever fighteth for the just cause, winneth Paradise. + +"Know ye that by her the English shall be cast down, for it is the +will of God, who inclineth his ear to the voice of the good folk, whom +they desired to overthrow. The blood of the slain crieth against +them." + +In the shadow of her convent Dame Christine shares the hope common to +every noble soul; from the Maid she expects all the good things she +longs for. She believes that Jeanne will restore concord to the +Christian Church. The gentlest spirits of those days looked to fire +and sword for the bringing in of unity and obedience; they never +dreamed that Christian charity could mean charity towards the whole +human race. Wherefore, on the strength of prophecy, the poetess +expects the Maid to destroy the infidel and the heretic, or in other +words the Turk and the Hussite. + +"In her conquest of the Holy Land, she will tear up the Saracens like +weeds. Thither will she lead King Charles, whom God defend! Before he +dies he shall make that journey. He it is who shall conquer the land. +There shall she end her life. There shall the thing come to pass." + +The good Christine would appear to have brought her poem to this +conclusion when she received tidings of the King's coronation. She +then added thirteen stanzas to celebrate the mystery of Reims and to +foretell the taking of Paris.[1668] + +[Footnote 1668: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 3 _et seq._ R. Thomassy, _Essai sur +les écrits politiques de Christine de Pisan, suivi d'une notice +littéraire et de pièces inédites_, Paris, 1838, in 8vo.] + +Thus in the gloom and silence of one of those convents where even the +hushed noises of the world penetrated but seldom, this virtuous lady +collected and expressed in rhyme all those dreams of church and state +which centred round a child. + +In a fairly good ballad written at the time of the coronation, in love +and honour "of the beautiful garden of the noble flowers de luce,"[1669] +and for the elevation of the white cross, King Charles VII is +described by that mysterious name "the noble stag," which we have +first discovered in Christine's poem. The unknown author of the ballad +says that the Sibyl, daughter of King Priam, prophesied the +misfortunes of this royal stag; but such a prediction need not +surprise us, when we remember that Charles of Valois was of Priam's +royal line, wherefore Cassandra, when she revealed the destiny of the +Flying Hart, did but prolong down the centuries the vicissitudes of +her own family.[1670] + +[Footnote 1669: _Du beau jardin des nobles fleurs de lis._] + +[Footnote 1670: M. Pierre Champion has kindly communicated to me the +text of this unpublished ballad, which he discovered in a French MS. +at Stockholm, LIII, fol. 238. This is the title which the copyist +affixed to it about 1472: _Ballade faicte quant le Roy Charles +VII'eme fut couronne a Rains du temps de Jehanne daiz dicte la +Pucelle_.] + +Rhymers on the French side celebrated the unexpected victories of +Charles and the Maid as best they knew how, in a commonplace fashion, +by some stiff poem but scantily clothing a thin and meagre muse. + +Nevertheless there is a ballad,[1671] by a Dauphinois poet, beginning +with this line; "Back, English _coués_, back!"[1672] which is powerful +through the genuine religious spirit which prevails throughout. The +author, some poor ecclesiastic, points piously to the English banner +cast down, "by the will of King Jesus and of Jeanne the sweet +Maid."[1673] + +[Footnote 1671: P. Meyer, _Ballade contre les Anglais_ (1429), in +_Romania_, xxi (1892), pp. 50, 52.] + +[Footnote 1672: _Arrière, Englois coués, arrière!_ For Coués see vol. i, +p. 22, note 2.] + +[Footnote 1673: + + _Par le vouloir dou roy Jésus + Et Jeanne la douce Pucelle._] + +The Maid had derived her influence over the common folk from the +prophecies of Merlin the Magician and the Venerable Bede.[1674] As +Jeanne's deeds became known, predictions foretelling them came to be +discovered. For example it was found that Engélide, daughter of an old +King of Hungary,[1675] had known long before of the coronation at Reims. +Indeed to this royal virgin was attributed a prophecy recorded in +Latin, of which the following is a literal translation: + +[Footnote 1674: For the legend cf. _Merlin, roman en prose du XIII'e +siècle_, ed. G. Paris and J. Ulrich, 1886, 2 vols. in 8vo, +introduction. _Premier volume de Merlin_, Paris, Vérard, 1498, in fol. +Hersart de la Villemarqué, _Myrdhin ou l'enchanteur Merlin, son +histoire, ses oeuvres, son influence_, Paris, 1862, in 12mo. La +Borderie, _Les véritables prophéties de Merlin; examen des poèmes +bretons attribués à ce barde_, in _Revue de Bretagne_, vol. liii +(1883). D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Merlin est il un personnage réel ou +les origines de la légende de Merlin_, in _Revue des questions +historiques_, vol. v (1868), pp. 559, 568.] + +[Footnote 1675: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 340. Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et +consultations_, p. 402.] + +"O Lily illustrious, watered by princes, by the sower planted in the +open, in an orchard delectable, by flowers and sweet-smelling roses +surrounded. But, alas! dismay of the Lily, terror of the orchard! +Sundry beasts, some coming from without, others nourished within the +orchard, hurtling horns against horns, have well nigh crushed the +Lily, which fades for lack of water. Long do they trample upon it, +destroying nearly all its roots and assaying to wither it with their +poisoned breath. + +"But the beasts shall be driven forth in shame from the orchard, by a +virgin coming from the land whence flows the cruel venom. Behind her +right ear the Virgin bears a little scarlet sign; she speaks softly, +and her neck is short. To the Lily shall she give fountains of living +water, and shall drive out the serpent, to all men revealing its +venom. With a laurel wreath woven by no mortal hand shall she at Reims +engarland happily the gardener of the Lily, named Charles, son of +Charles. All around the turbulent neighbours shall submit, the waters +shall surge, the folk shall cry: 'Long live the Lily! Away with the +beast! Let the orchard flower!' He shall approach the fields of the +Island, adding fleet to fleet, and there a multitude of beasts shall +perish in the rout. Peace for many shall be established. The keys of a +great number shall recognise the hand that had forged them. The +citizens of a noble city shall be punished for perjury by defeat, +groaning with many groans, and at the entrance [of Charles?] high +walls shall fall low. Then the orchard of the Lily shall be ... (?) +and long shall it flower."[1676] + +[Footnote 1676: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 344, 345.] + +This prophecy attributed to the unknown daughter of a distant king +would seem to us to proceed from a French ecclesiastic and an +Armagnac. French royalty is portrayed in the figure of the delectable +orchard, around which contend beasts nourished in the orchard as well +as foreign beasts, that is Burgundians and English. King Charles of +Valois is mentioned by his own name and that of his father, and the +name of the coronation town occurs in full. + +The reduction of certain towns by their liege lord is stated most +clearly. Doubtless the prediction was made at the very time of the +coronation. It explicitly mentions deeds already accomplished and +dimly hints at events looked for, fulfilment of which was delayed, or +happened in a manner other than what was expected, or never happened +at all, such as the taking of Paris after a terrible assault, the +invasion of England by the French, the conclusion of peace. + +It is highly probable that when announcing that the deliverer of the +orchard might be recognised by her short neck, her sweet voice and a +little scarlet mark, the pseudo Engélide was carefully depicting +characteristics noticeable in Jeanne herself. Moreover we know that +Isabelle Romée's daughter had a sweet woman's voice.[1677] That her neck +was broad and firmly set on her shoulders accords with what is known +concerning her robust appearance.[1678] And doubtless the so-called +daughter of the King of Hungary did not imagine the birth-mark behind +her right ear.[1679] + +[Footnote 1677: Philippe de Bergame, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 523; vol. +v, pp. 108, 120.] + +[Footnote 1678: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 100. Philippe de Bergame, _De +claris mulieribus_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 323. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 271. Perceval de Boulainvilliers, _Lettre au duc de +Milan_, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 119, 120.] + +[Footnote 1679: J. Bréhal, in _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 345.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAID'S FIRST VISIT TO COMPIÈGNE--THE THREE POPES--SAINT +DENYS--TRUCES + + +After the English army had departed for Normandy, King Charles sent +from Crépy to Senlis the Count of Vendôme, the Maréchal de Rais and +the Maréchal de Boussac with their men-at-arms. The inhabitants gave +them to wit that they inclined to favour the Flowers de Luce.[1680] +Henceforth the submission of Compiègne was sure. The King summoned the +citizens to receive him; on Wednesday the 18th, the keys of the town +were brought to him; on the next day he entered.[1681] The Attorneys[1682] +(for by that name the aldermen of the town were called) presented to +him Messire Guillaume de Flavy, whom they had elected governor of +their town, as being their most experienced and most faithful citizen. +On his being presented they asked the King, according to their +privilege, to confirm and ratify his appointment. But the sire de la +Trémouille took for himself the governorship of Compiègne and +appointed as his lieutenant Messire Guillaume de Flavy, whom, +notwithstanding, the inhabitants regarded as their captain.[1683] + +[Footnote 1680: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 328. _Journal du siège_, +p. 18. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. Perceval de Cagny, +pp. 163, 164. Morosini, pp. 212, 213. Flammermont, _Senlis pendant la +seconde période de la guerre cent ans_, in _Mémoires de la Société de +l'Histoire de Paris_, vol. v, 1878, p. 241.] + +[Footnote 1681: Perceval de Cagny, p. 164. Monstrelet, p. 352. De +l'Epinois, _Notes extraites des archives communales de Compiègne_, pp. +483, 484. A. Sorel, _Séjours de Jeanne d'Arc à Compiègne, maisons ou +elle a logé en 1429 et 1430_, Paris, 1889, in 8vo, 20 pages.] + +[Footnote 1682: French _attournés_, cf. La Curne, _attournés_, Godefroi, +_atornés_, magistrates at Compiègne, elected on St. John the Baptist's +Day for three years (W.S.). _Procès_, vol. v, p. 174.] + +[Footnote 1683: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 331. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. A. Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc +devant Compiègne_, Paris, 1889, in 8vo, pp. 117, 118. Duc de la +Trémoïlle, _Les La Trémoïlle pendant cinq siècles_, Nantes, 1890, in +4to, vol. i, pp. 185, 212. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy, capitaine +de Compiègne_, Paris, 1906, in 8vo, proofs and illustrations, vol. +xiii, p. 137.] + +One by one, the King was recovering his good towns. He charged the +folk of Beauvais to acknowledge him as their lord. When they saw the +flowers-de-luce borne by the heralds, the citizens cried: "Long live +Charles of France!" The clergy chanted a _Te Deum_ and there was great +rejoicing. Those who refused fealty to King Charles were put out of +the town with permission to take away their possessions.[1684] The +Bishop and Vidame of Beauvais, Messire Pierre Cauchon, who was Grand +Almoner of France to King Henry, and a negotiator of important +ecclesiastical business, grieved to see his city returning to the +French;[1685] it was to the city's hurt, but he could not help it. He +failed not to realise that part of this disgrace he owed to the Maid +of the Armagnacs, who was influential with her party and had the +reputation of being all powerful. As he was a good theologian he must +have suspected that the devil was leading her and he wished her all +possible harm. + +[Footnote 1684: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 327. _Journal du siège_, +p. 118. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. Monstrelet, vol. +iv, pp. 353, 354. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 214, 215.] + +[Footnote 1685: A. Sarrazin, _Pierre Cauchon, juge de Jeanne d'Arc_, +Paris, 1901, in 8vo, pp. 49 _et seq._] + +At this time Artois, Picardy, all the Burgundian territory in the +north, was slipping away from Burgundy. Had King Charles gone there +the majority of the dwellers in the strong towers and castles of +Picardy would have received him as their sovereign.[1686] But meanwhile +his enemies would have recaptured what he had just won in Valois and +the Île de France. + +[Footnote 1686: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 354.] + +Having entered Compiègne with the King, Jeanne lodged at the Hôtel du +Boeuf, the house of the King's proctor. She slept with the proctor's +wife, Marie Le Boucher, who was a kinswoman of Jacques Boucher, +Treasurer of Orléans.[1687] + +[Footnote 1687: A. Sorel, _Séjours de Jeanne d'Arc à Compiègne_, p. 6.] + +She longed to march on Paris, which she was sure of taking since her +Voices had promised it to her. It is related that at the end of two or +three days she grew impatient, and, calling the Duke of Alençon, said +to him: "My fair Duke, command your men and likewise those of the +other captains to equip themselves," then she is said to have cried: +"By my staff! I must to Paris."[1688] But this could not have happened: +the Maid never gave orders to the men-at-arms. The truth of the matter +is that the Duke of Alençon, with a goodly company of fighting men, +took his leave of the King and that Jeanne was to accompany him. She +was ready to mount her horse when on Monday the 22nd of August, a +messenger from the Count of Armagnac brought her a letter which she +caused to be read to her.[1689] The following are the contents of the +missive: + +[Footnote 1688: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 164, 165. _Chronique de Tournai_, +vol. iii, in the _Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, ed. Smedt, p. +414.] + +[Footnote 1689: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 82, 83.] + + "My very dear Lady, I commend myself humbly to you, and I + entreat you, for God's sake, that seeing the divisions which + are at present in the holy Church Universal, concerning the + question of the popes (for there are three contending for + the papacy: one dwells at Rome and calls himself Martin V, + whom all Christian kings obey: the other dwells at + Peñiscola, in the kingdom of Valentia, and calls himself + Clement VIII; the third dwells no man knows where, unless it + be the Cardinal de Saint-Estienne and a few folk with him, + and calls himself Pope Benedict XIV; the first, who is + called Pope Martin, was elected at Constance by consent of + all Christian nations; he who is called Clement was elected + at Peñiscola, after the death of Pope Benedict XIII, by + three of his cardinals; the third who is called Pope + Benedict XIV was elected secretly at Peñiscola, by that same + Cardinal Saint-Estienne himself): I pray you beseech Our + Lord Jesus Christ that in his infinite mercy, he declare + unto us through you, which of the three aforesaid is the + true pope and whom it shall be his pleasure that henceforth + we obey, him who is called Martin, or him who is called + Clement or him who is called Benedict; and in whom we should + believe, either in secret or under reservation or by public + pronouncement: for we shall all be ready to work the will + and the pleasure of Our Lord Jesus Christ. + + Yours in all things, + + COUNT D'ARMAGNAC."[1690] + +[Footnote 1690: _Ibid._, pp. 245, 246.] + +He who wrote thus, calling Jeanne his very dear lady, recommending +himself humbly to her, not in self-abasement, but merely, as we should +say to-day, out of courtesy, was one of the greater vassals of the +crown. + +She had never seen this baron, and doubtless she had never heard of +him. Jean IV, son of that Constable of France who had been killed in +1418, was the cruellest man in the kingdom. At that time he was +between thirty-three and thirty-four years of age. He held both +Armagnacs, the Black and the White, the country of the Four Valleys, +the counties of Pardiac, of Fesenzac, Astarac, La Lomagne, and +l'Île-Jourdain. After the Count of Foix he was the most powerful noble +of Gascony.[1691] + +[Footnote 1691: A. Longnon, _Les limites de la France et l'étendue de la +domination anglaise à l'époque de la mission de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, +1875, in 8vo. Vallet de Viriville, in _Nouvelle biographie générale_, +iii, col. 255, 257.] + +While his name was among those of the adherents of the King and while +it was used to designate those who were hostile to the English and +Burgundians, Jean IV himself was neither French nor English, but +simply Gascon. He called himself count by the grace of God, but he was +ever ready to acknowledge himself the King's vassal when it was a +question of receiving gifts from that suzerain, who might not always +be able to afford himself new gaiters, but who must perforce spend +large sums on his great vassals. Meanwhile Jean IV showed +consideration to the English, protected an adventurer in the Regent's +pay, and gave appointments in his household to men wearing the red +cross. He was as violent and treacherous as any of his retainers. +Having unlawfully seized the Marshal de Séverac, he exacted from him +the cession of all his goods and then had him strangled.[1692] + +[Footnote 1692: _Chronique de Mathieu d'Escouchy_, vol. i, p. 68, and +proofs and illustrations, pp. 126, 128, 139, 140. Dom Vaissette, +_Histoire générale du Languedoc_, vol. iv, pp. 469, 470. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 151. Vallet de Viriville, in +_Nouvelle biographie générale_, 1861, vol. iii, pp. 255-257. Le P. +Ayroles, _La vierge guerrière_, p. 66.] + +This murder was quite recent. And now we have the docile son of Holy +Church appearing eager to discover who is his true spiritual father. +It would seem, however, that his mind was already made up on the +subject and that he already knew the answer to his question. In verity +the long schism, which had rent Christendom asunder, had terminated +twelve years earlier. It had ended when the Conclave, which had +assembled at Constance in the House of the Merchants on the 8th of +November, 1417, on the 11th of that month, Saint Martin's Day, +proclaimed Pope, the Cardinal Deacon Otto Colonna, who assumed the +title of Martin V. In the Eternal City Martin V wore that tiara which +Lorenzo Ghiberti had adorned with eight figures in gold;[1693] and the +wily Roman had contrived to obtain his recognition by England and even +by France, who thenceforward renounced all hope of a French pontiff. +While Charles VII's advisers may not have agreed with Martin V on the +question of a General Council, all the rights of the Pope of Rome in +the Kingdom of France had been restored to him by an edict, in 1425. +Martin V was the one and only pope. Nevertheless, Alphonso of Aragon, +highly incensed because Martin V supported against him the rights of +Louis d'Anjou to the Kingdom of Naples, determined to oppose to the +Pope of Rome a pontiff of his own making. And just ready to hand he +had a canon who called himself pope, and on the following grounds: +the Anti-pope, Benedict XIII, having fled to Peñiscola, had on his +death-bed nominated four cardinals, three of whom appointed to succeed +him a canon of Barcelona, one Gil Muñoz, who assumed the title of +Clement VIII. Imprisoned in the château of Peñiscola on a barren neck +of land on three sides washed by the sea, this was the Clement whom +the King of Aragon had chosen to be the rival of Martin V.[1694] + +[Footnote 1693: _Annales juris pontificis_ (1872-1875), vii, 385. E. +Muntz, _La tiare pontificale du VIII'e au XVI'e siècle_ in _Mem. +Acad. Inscript. et Belles Lettres_, vol. xxvi, I, pp. 235-324, fig. +_Les arts à la cour des papes pendant les XV'e et XVI'e siècles_, +in _Bibl. des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et Rome_, vol. iv.] + +[Footnote 1694: Baluze, _Vitæ paparum Avenionensium_, 1693, I, pp. 1182 +_et seq._ Fabricius, _Bibliotheca medii ævi_, 1734, I, p. 1109.] + +The Pope excommunicated the King of Aragon and then opened +negotiations with him. The Count of Armagnac joined the King's party. +For the baptism of his children the Count had holy water blessed by +Benedict XIII brought from Peñiscola. He likewise was excommunicated. +The blow had fallen upon him in this very year, 1429. Thus for some +months he had been deprived of the sacraments and excluded from public +worship. Hence arose all manner of secular difficulties, in addition +to which he was probably afraid of the devil. + +Moreover his position was becoming impossible. His powerful ally, King +Alfonso, gave in, and himself called upon Clement VIII to resign. When +he addressed his inquiry to the Maid of France, the Armagnac was +evidently meditating the withdrawal of his allegiance from an +unfortunate anti-pope, who was himself renouncing or about to renounce +the tiara; for Clement VIII abdicated at Peñiscola on the 26th of +July. The dictation of the Count's letter cannot have occurred long +before that date and may have been after. At any rate whenever he +dictated it he must have been aware of the position of the Sovereign +Pontiff Clement VIII. + +As for the third Pope mentioned in his missive, Benedict XIV, he had +no tidings of him, and indeed he was keeping very quiet. His election +to the Holy See had been singular in that it had been made by one +cardinal alone. Benedict XIV's right to the papacy had been +communicated to him by a cardinal created by the Anti-pope, Benedict +XIII, at the time of his promotion in 1409. That Cardinal was Jean +Barrère, a Frenchman, Bachelor of laws, priest and Cardinal of +Saint-Étienne _in Coelio monte_. It was not to Benedict XIV that the +Armagnac was thinking of giving his allegiance; obviously he was eager +to submit to Martin V. + +It is not easy therefore to discover why he should have asked Jeanne +to indicate the true pope. Doubtless it was customary in those days to +consult on all manner of questions those holy maids to whom God +vouchsafed illumination. Such an one the Maid appeared, and her fame +as a prophetess had been spread abroad in a very short time. She +revealed hidden things, she drew the curtain from the future. We are +reminded of that _capitoul_[1695] of Toulouse, who about three weeks +after the deliverance of Orléans, advised her being consulted as to a +remedy for the corruption of the coinage. Bona of Milan, married to a +poor gentleman in the train of her cousin, Queen Ysabeau, besought the +Maid's help in her endeavour to regain the duchy which she claimed +through her descent from the Visconti.[1696] It was just as appropriate +to question the Maid concerning the Pope and the Anti-pope. But the +most difficult point in this question is to discover what were the +Count of Armagnac's reasons for consulting the Holy Maid on a matter +concerning which he appears to have been sufficiently informed. The +following seems the most probable. + +[Footnote 1695: Cf. vol. i, p. 337 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1696: According to Le Maire, _Histoire et antiquités de la +ville et duché d'Orléans_, p. 197, this request is addressed to +"Jeanne the Maid, greatly to be honoured and most devout, sent by the +King of Heaven for the restoration, and for the extirpation of the +English who tyrannize over France." _Trial_, vol. v, p. 253. Vallet de +Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 131.] + +Jean IV was prepared to recognise Martin V as Pope; but he desired his +submission to appear honourable and reasonable. Wherefore he conceived +the idea of ascribing his conduct to the command of Jesus Christ, +speaking through the Holy Maid. But it was necessary for the command +to be in accordance with his wishes. The letter provides for that. He +is careful to indicate to Jeanne, and consequently to God, what reply +would be suitable. He lays stress on the fact that Martin V, who had +recently excommunicated him, was elected at Constance by the consent +of all Christian nations, that he dwells at Rome and that he is obeyed +by all Christian kings. He points out on the other hand the +circumstances which invalidate the election of Clement VIII by only +three cardinals, and the still more ridiculous election of that +Benedict, who was chosen by a conclave consisting of only one +cardinal.[1697] + +[Footnote 1697: Noël Valois, _La France et le grand schisme d'Occident_, +vol. iv (1902), in 8vo, _passim_.] + +After such a setting forth could there possibly remain a single doubt +as to whether Pope Martin was the true pope? But such guile was lost +on Jeanne; it escaped her entirely. The Count of Armagnac's letter, +which she had read to her as she was mounting her horse, must have +struck her as very obscure.[1698] The names of Benedict, of Clement and +of Martin she had never heard. The Saints, Catherine and Margaret, +with whom she was constantly holding converse, revealed to her nothing +concerning the Pope. They spoke to her of nought save of the realm of +France; and Jeanne's prudence generally led her to confine her +prophecies to the subject of the war. This circumstance was pointed +out by a German clerk as a matter extraordinary and worthy of +note.[1699] But for this once she consented to reply to Jean IV, in +order to maintain her reputation as a prophet and because the title of +Armagnac strongly appealed to her. She told him that at that moment +she was unable to instruct him concerning the true pope, but that +later she would inform him in which of the three he must believe, +according as God should reveal it unto her. In short, she in a measure +followed the example of such soothsayers as postpone the announcement +of the oracle to a future day. + +[Footnote 1698: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 1699: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 466, 467.] + + Jhesus [cross symbol] Maria + + Count of Armagnac, my good friend and beloved, Jehanne the + Maid lets you to wit that your message hath come before me, + the which hath told me that you have sent from where you are + to know from me in which of the three popes, whom you + mention in your memorial, you ought to believe. This thing + in sooth I cannot tell you truly for the present, until I be + in Paris or at rest elsewhere, because for the present I am + too much hindered by affairs of war; but when you hear that + I am in Paris send a message to me, and I will give you to + understand what you shall rightfully believe, and what I + shall know by the counsel of my Righteous and Sovereign + Lord, the King of all the world, and what you should do, as + far as I may. To God I commend you; God keep you. Written at + Compiengne, the 22nd day of August.[1700] + +[Footnote 1700: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 245, 246.] + +Jeanne before she made this reply can have consulted neither the good +Brother Pasquerel nor the good Friar Richard nor indeed any of the +churchmen of her company. They would have told her that the true pope +was the Pope of Rome, Martin V. They might also have represented to +her that she was belittling the authority of the Church by appealing +to a revelation from God concerning popes and anti-popes. Sometimes, +they would have told her, God confides the secrets of his Church to +holy persons. But it would be rash to count upon so rare a privilege. + +Jeanne exchanged a few words with the messenger who had brought her +the missive; but the interview was brief. The messenger was not safe +in the town, not that the soldiers would have made him pay for his +master's crimes and treasons; but the Sire de la Trémouille was at +Compiègne; and he knew that Count Jean, who for the nonce was in +alliance with the Constable De Richemont, was meditating something +against him. La Trémouille was not so malevolent as the Count of +Armagnac: and yet the poor messenger only narrowly escaped being +thrown into the Oise.[1701] + +[Footnote 1701: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 83.] + +On the morrow, Tuesday the 23rd of August, the Maid and the Duke of +Alençon took leave of the King and set out from Compiègne with a +goodly company of fighting men. Before marching on Saint-Denys in +France, they went to Senlis to collect a company of men-at-arms whom +the King had sent there.[1702] As was her custom, the Maid rode +surrounded by monks. Friar Richard, who predicted the approaching end +of the world, had joined the procession. It would seem that he had +superseded the others, even Brother Pasquerel, the chaplain. It was to +him that the Maid confessed beneath the walls of Senlis. In that same +spot, with the Dukes of Clermont and Alençon,[1703] she took the +communion on two consecutive days. She must have been in the hands of +monks who were in the habit of making a very frequent use of the +Eucharist. + +[Footnote 1702: Perceval de Cagny, p. 165. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 331. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. Morosini, vol. +iii, pp. 212, 213. The accounts of Hémon Raguier, in the _Trial_, vol. +iv, p. 24.] + +[Footnote 1703: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 450.] + +The Lord Bishop of Senlis was Jean Fouquerel. Hitherto, he had been on +the side of the English and entirely devoted to the Lord Bishop of +Beauvais. On the approach of the royal army, Jean Fouquerel, who was a +cautious person, had gone off to Paris to hide a large sum of money. +He was careful of his possessions. Some one in the army took his nag +and gave it to the Maid. By means of a draft on the receiver of taxes +and the _gabelle_ officer of the town, two hundred golden +_saluts_[1704] were paid for it. The Lord Bishop did not approve of +this transaction and demanded his hackney. Hearing of his displeasure, +the Maid caused a letter to be written to him, saying that he might +have back his nag if he liked; she did not want it for she found it +not sufficiently hardy for men-at-arms. The horse was sent to the Sire +de La Trémouille with a request that he would deliver it to the Lord +Bishop, who never received it.[1705] + +[Footnote 1704: So called because stamped with the picture of the +Annunciation and bearing the inscription: _Salus populi suprema lex +est_; the coin was worth about £1 of our money (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1705: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 104. Extracts from the 13th account +of Hémon Raguier, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 267. E. Dupuis, _Jean +Fouquerel, évêque de Senlis_, in _Mémoires du comité archéologique de +Senlis_, 1875, vol. i, p. 93. Vatin, _Combat sous Senlis entre Charles +VII et les Anglais_, in _Comité archéologique de Senlis, Comptes +rendus et mémoires_, 1866, pp. 41, 54.] + +As for the bill on the tax receiver and _gabelle_ officer, it may +have been worthless; and probably the Reverend Father in God, Jean +Fouquerel, never had either horse or money. Jeanne was not at fault, +and yet the Lord Bishop of Beauvais and the clerks of the university +were shortly to bring home to her the gravity of the sacrilege of +laying hands on an ecclesiastical hackney.[1706] + +[Footnote 1706: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 264.] + +To the north of Paris, about five miles distant from the great city, +there rose the towers of Saint-Denys. On the 26th of August, the army +of the Duke of Alençon arrived there, and entered without resistance, +albeit the town was strongly fortified.[1707] The place was famous for +its illustrious abbey very rich and very ancient. The following is the +story of its foundation. + +[Footnote 1707: Perceval de Cagny, p. 165. The 25th according to _Le +journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 243.] + +Dagobert, King of the French, had from childhood been a devout +worshipper of Saint Denys. And whenever he trembled before the ire of +King Clotaire his father, he would take refuge in the church of the +holy martyr. When he died, a pious man dreamed that he saw Dagobert +summoned before the tribunal of God; a great number of saints accused +him of having despoiled their churches; and the demons were about to +drag him into hell when Saint Denys appeared; and by his intercession, +the soul of the King was delivered and escaped punishment. The story +was held to be true, and it was thought that the King's soul returned +to animate his body and that he did penance.[1708] + +[Footnote 1708: J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys en +France, contenant les antiquités d'icelle, les fondations, +prérogatives et privileges_, Paris, 1625, 2 vol. in 4to, vol. i, ch. +xx and xxiv. Des Rues, _Les antiquités, fondations et singularités des +plus célèbres villes_, pp. 84, 85.] + +When the Maid with the army occupied Saint-Denys, the three porches, +the embattled parapets, the tower of the Abbey Church, erected by the +Abbot Suger, were already three centuries old. There were buried the +kings of France; and thither they came to take the _oriflamme_. +Fourteen years earlier the late King Charles had fetched it forth, but +since then none had borne it.[1709] + +[Footnote 1709: J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys_, vol. +i, ch. xxxi, xxxiv.] + +Many were the wonders told touching this royal standard. And with some +of those marvels the Maid must needs have been acquainted, since on +her coming into France, she was said to have given the Dauphin Charles +the surname of _oriflamme_,[1710] as a pledge and promise of +victory.[1711] At Saint-Denys was preserved the heart of the Constable +Du Guesclin.[1712] Jeanne had heard of his high renown; she had +proffered wine to Madame de Laval's eldest son; and to his +grandmother, who had been Sire Bertrand's second wife, she had sent a +little ring of gold, out of respect for the widow of so valiant a +man,[1713] asking her to forgive the poverty of the gift. + +[Footnote 1710: Cf. vol. i, p. 182 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1711: Thomassin, _Registre Delphinal_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, +p. 304. See Du Cange, _Glossaire_ under the word _Auriflamme_.] + +[Footnote 1712: J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys_, vol. +i, ch. xxii. D. Michel Félibien, _Histoire de l'abbaye royale de +Saint-Denys en France_, Paris, in folio, 1706, pp. 229, 320. Vallet de +Viriville, _Notice du manuscrit de P. Cochon_, at the end of _La +chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 360. _Chronique de Du Guesclin_, ed. +Francisque-Michel, pp. 452 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1713: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 107, 109.] + +The monks of Saint-Denys preserved precious relics, notably a piece of +the wood of the true cross, the linen in which the Child Jesus had +been wrapped, a fragment of the pitcher wherein the water had been +changed to wine at the Cana marriage feast, a bar of Saint Lawrence's +gridiron, the chin of Saint Mary Magdalen, a cup of tamarisk wood used +by Saint Louis as a charm against the spleen. There likewise was to be +seen the head of Saint Denys. True, at the same time one was being +shown in the Cathedral church of Paris. The Chancellor, Jean Gerson, +treating of Jeanne the Maid, a few days before his death, wrote that +of her it might be said as of the head of Saint Denys, that belief in +her was a matter of edification and not of faith, albeit in both +places alike the head ought to be worshipped in order that edification +should not be turned into scandal.[1714] + +[Footnote 1714: D. M. Félibien, _op. cit._, ch. ii, pp. 528 _et seq._ +Illustrations. J. Doublet, _op. cit._, vol. i, ch. xliii, xlvi. +_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 301. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. vii, col. 142.] + +In this abbey everything proclaimed the dignity, the prerogatives and +the high worship of the house of France. Jeanne must joyously have +wondered at the insignia, the symbols and signs of the royalty of the +Lilies gathered together in this spot,[1715] if indeed those eyes, +occupied with celestial visions, had leisure to perceive the things of +earth, and if her Voices, endlessly whispering in her ear, left her +one moment's respite. + +[Footnote 1715: _Religieux de Saint-Denis_, pp. 154, 156, 226.] + +Saint Denys was a great saint, since there was no doubt of his being +in very deed the Areopagite himself.[1716] But since he had permitted +his abbey to be taken he was no longer invoked as the patron saint of +the Kings of France. The Dauphin's followers had replaced him by the +Blessed Archangel Michael, whose abbey, near the city of Avranches, +had victoriously held out against the English. It was Saint Michael +not Saint Denys who had appeared to Jeanne in the garden at Domremy; +but she knew that Saint Denys was the war cry of France.[1717] + +[Footnote 1716: Estienne Binet, _La vie apostolique de saint Denys +l'Aréopagite, patron et apostre de la France_, Paris, 1624, in 12mo. +J. Doublet, _Histoire chronologique pour la vérité de Saint Denys +l'Aréopagite, apôtre de France et premier évêque de Paris_, Paris, +1646, in 4to, and _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys en France_, p. +95. J. Havet, _Les origines de Saint-Denis_, in _Les Questions +mérovingiennes_.] + +[Footnote 1717: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 179.] + +The monks of that rich abbey wasted by war lived there in poverty and +in disorder.[1718] Armagnacs and Burgundians in turn descended upon the +neighbouring fields and villages, plundering and ravaging, leaving +nought that it was possible to carry off. At Saint-Denys was held the +Fair of Le Lendit, one of the greatest in Christendom. But now +Merchants had ceased to attend it. At the Lendit of 1418, there were +but three booths, and those for the selling of shoes from Brabant, in +the high street of Saint-Denys, near the Convent of Les Filles-Dieu. +Since 1426, there had been no fair at all.[1719] + +[Footnote 1718: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 179, note 5.] + +[Footnote 1719: _Ibid._, pp. 101, 209, note 1.] + +At the tidings that the Armagnacs were approaching Troyes, the +peasants had cut their corn before it was ripe and brought it into +Paris. On entering Saint-Denys, the Duke of Alençon's men-at-arms +found the town deserted. The chief burgesses had taken refuge in +Paris.[1720] Only a few of the poorer families were left. The Maid +held two newly born infants over the baptismal font.[1721] + +[Footnote 1720: _Ibid._, pp. 241, 242. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 354.] + +[Footnote 1721: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 103.] + +Hearing of these Saint-Denys baptisms, her enemies accused her of +having lit candles and held them inclined over the infant's heads, in +order that she might read their destinies in the melted wax. It was +not the first time, it appeared, that she indulged in such practices. +When she entered a town, little children were said to offer her +candles kneeling, and she received them as an agreeable sacrifice. +Then upon the heads of these innocents she would let fall three drops +of burning wax, proclaiming that by virtue of this ceremony they could +not fail to be good. In such acts Burgundian ecclesiastics discerned +idolatry and witchcraft, in which was likewise involved heresy.[1722] + +[Footnote 1722: _Ibid._, p. 304. Noël Valois, _Un nouveau témoignage +sur Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire +de France_, Paris, 1907, in 8vo, separate issue, pp. 17, 18.] + +Here again, at Saint-Denys, she distributed banners to the +men-at-arms. Churchmen on the English side strongly suspected her of +charming those banners. And as everyone in those days believed in +magic, such a suspicion was not without its danger.[1723] + +[Footnote 1723: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 236.] + +The Maid and the Duke of Alençon lost no time. Immediately after their +arrival at Saint-Denys they went forth to skirmish before the gates of +Paris. Two or three times a day they engaged in this desultory +warfare, notably by the wind-mill at the Saint-Denys Gate and in the +village of La Chapelle. "Every day there was booty taken," says +Messire Jean de Bueil.[1724] It seems hardly credible that in a country +which had been plundered and ravaged over and over again, there +should have been anything left to be taken; and yet the statement is +made and attested by one of the nobles in the army. + +[Footnote 1724: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 281.] + +Out of respect for the seventh commandment, the Maid forbade the men +of her company to commit any theft whatsoever. And she always refused +victuals offered her when she knew they had been stolen. In reality +she, like the others, lived on pillage, but she did not know it. One +day when a Scotsman gave her to wit that she had just partaken of some +stolen veal, she flew into a fury and would have beaten him: saintly +women are subject to such fits of passion.[1725] + +[Footnote 1725: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 81.] + +Jeanne is said to have observed the walls of Paris carefully, seeking +the spot most favourable for attack.[1726] The truth is that in this +matter as in all others she depended on her Voices. For the rest she +was far superior to all the men-at-arms in courage and in good will. +From Saint-Denys she sent the King message after message, urging him +to come and take Paris.[1727] But at Compiègne the King and his Council +were negotiating with the ambassadors of the Duke of Burgundy, to wit: +Jean de Luxembourg, Lord of Beaurevoir, Hugues de Cayeux, Bishop of +Arras, David de Brimeu and my Lord of Charny.[1728] + +[Footnote 1726: Perceval de Cagny, p. 166.] + +[Footnote 1727: _Ibid._, p. 166.] + +[Footnote 1728: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 112. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 404, +408. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 192; vol. iv, appendix xviii.] + +The fifteen days' truce had expired. Our only information concerning +it is contained in Jeanne's letter to the citizens of Reims. According +to Jeanne, the Duke of Burgundy had undertaken to surrender the city +to the King of France on the fifteenth day.[1729] If he had so agreed +it was on conditions of which we know nothing; we are not therefore in +a position to say whether or no those conditions had been carried out. +The Maid placed no trust in this promise, and she was quite right; but +she did not know everything; and on the very day when she was +complaining of the truce to the citizens of Reims, Duke Philip was +receiving the command of Paris at the hands of the Regent, and was +henceforth in a position to dispose of the city as he liked.[1730] Duke +Philip could not bear the sight of Charles of Valois, who had been +present at the murder on the Bridge of Montereau, but he detested the +English and wished they would go to the devil or return to their +island. The vineyards and the cloth looms of his dominions were too +numerous and too important for him not to wish for peace. He had no +desire to be King of France; therefore he could be treated with, +despite his avarice and dissimulation. Nevertheless the fifteenth day +had gone by and the city of Paris remained in the hands of the English +and the Burgundians, who were not friends but allies. + +[Footnote 1729: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 1730: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 332. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 106. P. Cochon, p. 457. Perceval de Cagny, p. +165.] + +On the 28th of August a truce was concluded. It was to last till +Christmas and was to extend over the whole country north of the Seine, +from Nogent to Harfleur, with the exception of such towns as were +situated where there was a passage over the river. Concerning the city +of Paris it was expressly stated that "Our Cousin of Burgundy, he and +his men, may engage in the defence of the town and in resisting such +as shall make war upon it or do it hurt."[1731] The Chancellor +Regnault de Chartres, the Sire de la Trémouille, Christophe +d'Harcourt, the Bastard of Orléans, the Bishop of Séez, and likewise +certain young nobles very eager for war, such as the Counts of +Clermont and of Vendôme and the Duke of Bar, in short all the +Counsellors of the King and the Princes of the Blood who signed this +article, were apparently giving the enemy a weapon against them and +renouncing any attempt upon Paris. But they were not all fools; the +Bastard of Orléans was keen witted and the Lord Archbishop of Reims +was anything but an Olibrius.[1732] They doubtless knew what they were +about when they recognised the Duke of Burgundy's rights over Paris. +Duke Philip, as we know, had been governor of the great town since the +13th of August. The Regent had ceded it with the idea that Burgundy +would keep the Parisians in order better than England, for the English +were few in number and were disliked as foreigners. What did it profit +King Charles to recognise his cousin's rights over Paris? We fail to +see precisely; but after all this truce was no better and no worse +than others. In sooth it did not give Paris to the King, but neither +did it prevent the King from taking it. Did truces ever hinder +Armagnacs and Burgundians from fighting when they had a mind to fight? +Was one of those frequent truces ever kept?[1733] After having signed +this one, the King advanced to Senlis. The Duke of Alençon came to him +there twice. Charles reached Saint-Denys on Wednesday the 7th of +September.[1734] + +[Footnote 1731: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 352, 353. _Journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 247, 248. D. Félibien, _Histoire de Paris_, +vol. ii, p. 813, and proofs and illustrations, vol. iv, p. 591. +Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 208, 209, 224, note 2; vol. iv, appendix +xviii, pp. 343, 344.] + +[Footnote 1732: Cf. vol. i, p. 34, note 3 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1733: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, ch. +vii. _La diplomatie de Charles VII jusqu'au traité d'Arras_.] + +[Footnote 1734: Perceval de Cagny, p. 166.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ATTACK ON PARIS + + +In the days when King John was a prisoner in the hands of the English, +the townsfolk of Paris, beholding the enemy in the heart of the land, +feared lest their city should be besieged. In all haste therefore they +proceeded to put it in a state of defence; they surrounded it with +trenches and counter trenches. On the side of the University the +suburbs were left defenceless; small and remote, they were burned +down. But on the right bank the more extensive suburbs well nigh +touched the city. One part of them was enclosed by the trenches. When +peace was concluded, Charles, Regent of the Realm, undertook to +surround the town on the north with an embattled wall, flanked with +square towers, with terraces and parapets, with a road round and steps +leading up to the ramparts. + +In certain places the trench was single, in others double. The work +was superintended by Hugues Aubriot, Provost of Paris, to whom was +entrusted also the building of the Saint-Antoine bastion, completed +under King Charles VI.[1735] This new fortification began on the east, +near the river, on the rising ground of Les Célestins. Within its +circle it enclosed the district of Saint Paul, the Culture +Sainte-Catherine, the Temple, Saint-Martin, Les Filles-Dieu, Saint +Sauveur, Saint Honoré, Les Quinze Vingts, which hitherto had been in +the suburbs and undefended; and it reached the river below the Louvre, +which was thus united to the town. There were six gates in the +circumvallation, to wit: beginning on the east, the Baudet Gate or +Saint-Antoine Gate, the Saint-Avoye or Temple Gate, the Gate of the +Painters or of Saint-Denis, the Saint-Martin or Montmartre Gate, the +Saint-Honoré Gate and the Gate of the Seine.[1736] + +[Footnote 1735: Le Roux de Lincy, _Hugues Aubriot, prévôt de Paris sous +Charles V_, Paris, 1862, in 8vo, _passim_. _Paris et ses historiens au +XIV'e et XV'e siècle_ by Le Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, Paris, in +fol. [_Histoire générale de Paris._]] + +[Footnote 1736: Delamare, _Traité de la police_, Paris, 1710, in folio, +vol. i, p. 79. A. Bonnardot, _Dissertation archéologique sur les +enceintes de Paris, suivie de recherches sur les portes fortifiées qui +dépendaient des enceintes de Paris_, 1851, in 4to, with plan. _Études +archéologiques sur les anciens plans de Paris_, 1853, in 4to. +_Appendice aux études archéologiques sur les anciens plans de Paris et +aux dissertations sur les enceintes de Paris_, Paris, 1877, in 4to. +_Étude sur Gilles Corrozet, suivie d'une notice sur un manuscrit de la +Bibliothèque des ducs de Bourgogne, contenant une description de +Paris, en 1432_, par Guillebert de Metz, Paris, 1846, in 8vo, 56 +pages. Kausler, _Atlas des plus mémorables batailles_, Carlsruhe, +1831, pl. 34. H. Legrand, _Paris en 1380_, with plan conjecturally +reconstructed, Paris in fol. 1868, p. 58. A. Guilaumot, _Les Portes de +l'enceinte de Paris sous Charles V_, Paris, 1879. Rigaud, _Chronique +de la Pucelle, campagne de Paris, cartes et plans_, Bergerac, 1886, in +8vo.] + +The Parisians did not like the English and were sorely grieved by +their occupation of the city. The folk murmured when, after the +funeral of the late King, Charles VI, the Duke of Bedford had the +sword of the King of France borne before him.[1737] But what cannot be +helped must be endured. The Parisians may have disliked the English; +they admired Duke Philip, a prince of comely countenance and the +richest potentate of Christendom. As for the little King of Bourges, +mean-looking and sad-faced, strongly suspected of treason at +Montereau, there was nothing pleasing in him; he was despised and his +followers were regarded with fear and horror. For ten years they had +been ranging round the town, pillaging, taking prisoners and holding +them to ransom. The English and Burgundians indeed did likewise. When, +in the August of 1423, Duke Philip came to Paris, his men ravaged all +the neighbouring fields, albeit they belonged to friends and allies. +But they were only passing through,[1738] while the Armagnacs were for +ever raiding, eternally stealing all they could lay hands on, setting +fire to barns and churches, killing women and children, ravishing +maids and nuns, hanging men by the thumbs. In 1420, like devils let +loose, they descended upon the village of Champigny and burned at once +oats, wheat, sheep, cows, oxen, women and children. Likewise did they +and worse still at Croissy.[1739] One ecclesiastic said they had caused +more Christians to suffer martyrdom than Maximian and Diocletian.[1740] + +[Footnote 1737: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 180.] + +[Footnote 1738: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 189.] + +[Footnote 1739: _Ibid._, pp. 136, 137.] + +[Footnote 1740: _Ibid._, p. 107. _Document inédit relatif à l'état de +Paris en 1430_, in _Revue des sociétés savantes_, 1863, p. 203.] + +And yet, in the year 1429, there might have been discovered in the +city of Paris not a few followers of the Dauphin. Christine de Pisan, +who was very loyal to the House of Valois, said: "In Paris there are +many wicked. Good are there also and faithful to their King. But they +dare not lift up their voices."[1741] + +[Footnote 1741: Christine de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, stanza 56, p. +20. Le Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses historiens_, p. +426.] + +It was common knowledge that in the Parlement and even in the Chapter +of Notre-Dame were to be found those who had dealings with the +Armagnacs.[1742] + +[Footnote 1742: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 251. A. Longnon, +_Paris pendant la domination anglaise (1420-1436), documents extraits +des registres de la chancellerie de France_, Paris, 1877, in 8vo, +introduction, p. xiij. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, +vol. ii, p. 116, note 1.] + +On the morrow of their victory at Patay, those terrible Armagnacs had +only to march straight on the town to take it. They were expected to +enter it one day or the other. In the mind of the Regent it was as if +they had already taken it. He went off and shut himself in the Castle +of Vincennes with the few men who remained to him.[1743] Three days +after the discomfiture of the English there was a panic in the town. +"The Armagnacs are coming to-night," they said. Meanwhile the +Armagnacs were at Orléans awaiting orders to assemble at Gien and to +march on Auxerre. At these tidings the Duke of Bedford must have +sighed a deep sigh of relief; and straightway he set to work to +provide for the defence of Paris and the safety of Normandy.[1744] + +[Footnote 1743: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 248. _Chronique +de la Pucelle_, p. 297. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 79, note.] + +[Footnote 1744: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 257. +Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 453. Morosini, vol. iii, p. +198.] + +When the panic was past, the heart of the great town returned to its +allegiance, not to the English cause--it had never been English--but +to the Burgundian. Its Provost, Messire Simon Morhier, who had made +great slaughter of the French at the Battle of the Herrings, remained +loyal to the Leopard.[1745] The aldermen on the contrary were suspected +of inclining a favourable ear to King Charles's proposals. On the +12th of July, the Parisians elected a new town council composed of the +most zealous Burgundians they could find in commerce and on change. To +be provost of the merchants they appointed the treasurer, Guillaume +Sanguin, to whom the Duke of Burgundy owed more then seven thousand +_livres tournois_[1746] and who had the Regent's jewels in his +keeping.[1747] Such an alteration was greatly to the detriment of King +Charles, who preferred to win back his good towns by peaceful means +rather than by force, and who relied more on negotiations with the +citizens than on cannon balls and stones. + +[Footnote 1745: _Journal du siège_, p. 38. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. i, pp. 106, 107. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 454.] + +[Footnote 1746: See vol. i, p. 222, note 2 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1747: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 239, note 2. Le +Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses historiens_, pp. 340 _et +seq._] + +Just in the nick of time the Regent surrendered the town to Duke +Philip, not, we may be sure, without many regrets for having recently +refused him Orléans. He realised that thus, by returning to its French +allegiance, the chief city of the realm would make a more energetic +defense against the Dauphin's men. The Parisians' old liking for the +magnificent Duke would revive, and so would their old hatred of the +disinherited son of Madame Ysabeau. In the Palais de Justice the Duke +read the story of his father's death, punctuated with complaints of +Armagnac treason and violated treaties; he caused the blood of +Montereau[1748] to cry to heaven; those who were present swore to be +right loyal to him and to the Regent. On the following days the same +oath was taken by the regular and secular clergy.[1749] + +[Footnote 1748: 14th July, 1429, _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. +240, 241. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 240. Morosini, vol. +iii, p. 186.] + +[Footnote 1749: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 241.] + +But the citizens were strengthened in their resistance more by their +remembrance of Armagnac cruelty than by their affection for the fair +Duke. A rumour ran and was believed by them that Messire Charles of +Valois had abandoned to his mercenaries the city and the citizens of +all ranks, high and low, men and women, and that he intended to plough +up the very ground on which Paris stood. Such a rumour represented him +very falsely; on all occasions he was pitiful and debonair; his +Council had prudently converted the coronation campaign into an armed +and peaceful procession. But the Parisians were incapable of judging +sanely when the intentions of the King of France were concerned; and +they knew only too well that once their town was taken there would be +nothing to prevent the Armagnacs from laying it waste with fire and +sword.[1750] + +[Footnote 1750: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 356.] + +One other circumstance intensified their fear and their dislike. When +they heard that Friar Richard, to whose sermons they had once listened +so devoutly, was riding with the Dauphin's men and with his nimble +tongue winning such good towns as Troyes in Champagne, they called +down upon him the malediction of God and his Saints. They tore from +their caps the pewter medals engraved with the holy name of Jesus, +which the good Brother had given them, and in their bitter hatred +towards him they returned straightway to the dice, bowls and draughts +which they had renounced at his exhortation. With no less horror did +the Maid inspire them. It was said that she was acting the prophetess +and uttering such words as: "In very deed this or that shall come to +pass." "With the Armagnacs is a creature in woman's form. What it is +God only knows," they cried. They spoke of her as a woman of ill +fame.[1751] Among these enemies, there were those who filled them with +even greater horror than pagans and Saracens--to wit: a monk and a +maid. They all took the cross of Saint Andrew.[1752] + +[Footnote 1751: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 242.] + +[Footnote 1752: _Ibid._, p. 243.] + +While the Dauphin had been away at his coronation an army had come +from England into France. The Regent intended it to overrun Normandy. +In its march on Rouen he commanded it in person. The defence and ward +of Paris he left to Louis of Luxembourg, Bishop of Thérouanne, +Chancellor of France for the English, to the Sire de l'Isle-Adam, +Marshal of France, Captain of Paris, to two thousand men-at-arms and +to the Parisian train-bands. To the last were entrusted the defence of +the ramparts and the management of the artillery. They were commanded +by twenty-four burgesses, called _quarteniers_ because they +represented the twenty-four quarters of the city. From the end of July +all danger of a surprise had been guarded against.[1753] + +[Footnote 1753: Rymer, _Foedera_, May. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. +332. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 355. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, +pp. 106, 107. Wallon, _Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. i, p. 290, note 1. G. +Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La panique anglaise_, p. 9. Morosini, vol. iii, p. +216, note 5; vol. iv, appendix xviii.] + +On the 10th of August, on Saint-Laurence's Eve, while the Armagnacs +were encamped at La Ferté-Milon, the Saint-Martin Gate, flanked by +four towers and a double drawbridge, was closed; and all men were +forbidden to go to Saint-Laurent, either to the procession or to the +fair, as in previous years.[1754] + +[Footnote 1754: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 243.] + +On the 28th of the same month, the royal army occupied Saint-Denys. +Henceforth no one dared leave the city, neither for the vintage nor +for the gathering of anything in the kitchen gardens, which covered +the plain north of the town. Prices immediately went up.[1755] + +[Footnote 1755: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 243. Perceval de +Cagny, p. 166. _Chronique des cordeliers_, folio, 486 verso.] + +In the early days of September, the _quarteniers_, each one in his own +district, had the trenches set in order and the cannons mounted on +walls, gates, and towers. At the command of the aldermen, the hewers +of stone for the cannon made thousands of balls.[1756] + +[Footnote 1756: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 243.] + +From My Lord, the Duke of Alençon, the magistrates received letters +beginning thus: "To you, Provost of Paris and Provost of the Merchants +and Aldermen...." He named them by name and greeted them in eloquent +language. These letters were regarded as an artifice intended to +render the townsfolk suspicious of the aldermen and to incite one +class of the populace against the other. The only answer sent to the +Duke was a request that he would not spoil any more paper with such +malicious endeavours.[1757] + +[Footnote 1757: _Ibid._, pp. 243, 244.] + +The chapter of Notre-Dame ordered masses to be said for the salvation +of the people. On the 5th of September, three canons were authorised +to make arrangements for the defence of the monastery. Those in charge +of the sacristy took measures to hide the relics and the treasure of +the cathedral from the Armagnac soldiers. For two hundred golden +_saluts_[1758] they sold the body of Saint Denys; but they kept the +foot, which was of silver, the head and the crown.[1759] + +[Footnote 1758: Cf. _ante_, p. 45, note 2 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1759: Register of the Deliberations of the Chapter of Notre +Dame (Arch. Nat., LL, 716, pp. 173, 174), in _Le journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris_, _loc. cit._ Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne +d'Arc_, vol. iii, pp. 530, 531, proofs and illustrations, J, p. 639. +Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Le procès de Jeanne d'Arc et +l'université de Paris_, Nogent-le-Rotrou, 1898, in 8vo.] + +On Wednesday, the 7th of September, the Eve of the Virgin's Nativity, +there was a procession to Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont with the object of +counteracting the evil of the times and allaying the animosity of the +enemy. In it walked the canons of the Palace, bearing the True +Cross.[1760] + +[Footnote 1760: Register of the Deliberations of the Chapter of Notre +Dame, in Tuetey, notes to _Le Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. +241, note 1. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 456. Le P. Ayroles, +_La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iii, proofs and illustrations, p. 640.] + +That very day the army of the Duke of Alençon and of the Maid was +skirmishing beneath the walls. It retreated in the evening; and on +that night the townsfolk slept in peace, for on the morrow Christians +celebrated the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.[1761] + +[Footnote 1761: Register of the Deliberations of the Chapter of Notre +Dame, _loc. cit._ _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 332. _Journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris_, p. 244. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 354. Martial +d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, ed. Coustelier, vol. i, p. 113. Perceval de +Cagny, p. 166. _Chronique des cordeliers_, folio, 486 verso. Le P. +Ayroles, _La vrai Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iii, p. 531.] + +It was a great festival and a very ancient one. Its origin is +described in the following manner. There was a certain holy man, who +passed his life in meditation. On a day he called to mind that for +many years, on the 8th of September, he had heard marvellous angelic +music in the air, and he prayed to God to reveal to him the reason for +this concert of instruments and of celestial voices. He was vouchsafed +the answer that it was the anniversary of the birth of the glorious +Virgin Mary; and he received the command to instruct the faithful in +order that they on that solemn day might join their voices to the +angelic chorus. The matter was reported to the Sovereign Pontiff and +the other heads of the Church, who, after having prayed, fasted and +consulted the witnesses and traditions of the Church, decreed that +henceforth that day, the 8th of September, should be universally +consecrated to the celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary.[1762] + +[Footnote 1762: Voragine, _Legenda Aurea_. Anquetil, _La nativité, +miracle extrait de la légende dorée_, in _Mem. Soc. Agr. de Bayeux_, +1883, vol. x, p. 286. Douhet, _Dictionnaire des mystères_, 1854, p. +545.] + +That day were read at mass the words of the prophet Isaiah: "And there +shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall +grow out of his roots." + +The people of Paris thought that even the Armagnacs would do no work +on so high a festival and would keep the third commandment. + +On this Thursday, the 8th of September, about eight o'clock in the +morning, the Maid, the Dukes of Alençon and of Bourbon, the Marshals +of Boussac and of Rais, the Count of Vendôme, the Lords of Laval, of +Albret and of Gaucourt, who with their men, to the number of ten +thousand and more, had encamped in the village of La Chapelle, +half-way along the road from Saint-Denys to Paris, set out on the +march. At the hour of high mass, between eleven and twelve o'clock, +they reached the height of Les Moulins, at the foot of which the Swine +Market was held.[1763] Here there was a gibbet. Fifty-six years +earlier, a woman of saintly life according to the people, but +according to the holy inquisitors, a heretic and _a Turlupine_, had +been burned alive on that very market-place.[1764] + +[Footnote 1763: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 166, 168. _Chronique de la +Pucelle_, pp. 333, 334. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 107, +109. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 456, 458. _Journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 244, 245. _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. +486 verso. P. Cochon, ed. Beaurepaire, p. 307. Morosini, vol. iii, p. +210.] + +[Footnote 1764: Gaguin, _Hist. Francorum_, Frankfort, 1577, book viii, +chap. ii, p. 158. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition en +France_, p. 121. Lea, History of the Inquisition in the Middle Age, +vol. ii, p. 126. (The Turlupins were a German sect who called +themselves "the Brethren of the Free Spirit." W.S.)] + +Wherefore did the King's men appear first before the northern walls, +those of Charles V, which were the strongest? It is impossible to +tell. A few days earlier they had thrown a bridge across the River +above Paris,[1765] which looks as if they intended to attack the old +fortification and get into the city from the University side. Did they +mean to carry out the two attacks simultaneously? It is probable. Did +they renounce the project of their own accord or against their will? +We cannot tell. + +[Footnote 1765: Perceval de Cagny, p. 161. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 120, note 1. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, +_Un détail du siège de Paris, par Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Bibliothèque de +l'École des Chartes_, vol. xlvi, 1885, pp. 5 _et seq._] + +Beneath the walls of Charles V they assembled a quantity of artillery, +cannons, culverins, mortars; and in hand-carts they brought fagots to +fill up the trenches, hurdles to bridge them over and seven hundred +ladders: very elaborate material for the siege, despite their having, +as we shall see, forgotten what was most necessary.[1766] They came not +therefore to skirmish nor to do great feats of arms. They came to +attempt in broad daylight the escalading and the storming of the +greatest, the most illustrious, and the most populous town of the +realm; an undertaking of vast importance, proposed doubtless and +decided in the royal council and with the knowledge of the King, who +can have been neither indifferent nor hostile to it.[1767] Charles of +Valois wanted to retake Paris. It remains to be seen whether for the +accomplishment of his desire he depended merely on men-at-arms and +ladders. + +[Footnote 1766: Deliberation of the Chapter of Notre Dame, _loc. cit._ +_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 245. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 457.] + +[Footnote 1767: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 240, 246, 298; vol. iii, pp. 425, +427; vol. v, pp. 97, 107, 130, 140.] + +It would seem that the Maid had not been told of the resolutions +taken.[1768] She was never consulted and was seldom informed of what +had been decided. But she was as sure of entering the town that day as +of going to Paradise when she died. For more than three years her +Voices had been drumming the attack on Paris in her ears.[1769] But the +astonishing point is that, saint as she was, she should have consented +to arm and fight on the day of the Nativity. It was contrary to her +action on the 5th of May, Ascension Day, and inconsistent with what +she had said on the 8th of the same month: "As ye love and honour the +Sacred Sabbath do not begin the battle."[1770] + +[Footnote 1768: _Ibid._, pp. 57, 146, 168, 250.] + +[Footnote 1769: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 130 (letter of the 17th of July, +1429), vol. i, p. 298. "Et hoc sciebar per revelationem." Cf. vol. i, +pp. 57, 260, 288 in contradiction.] + +[Footnote 1770: _Journal du siège_, p. 89.] + +True it is that afterwards, at Montepilloy, she had engaged in a +skirmish on the Day of the Assumption, and thus scandalized the +masters of the University. She acted according to the counsel of her +Voices and her decisions depended on the vaguest murmurings in her +ear. Nothing is more inconstant and more contradictory than the +inspirations of such visionaries, who are but the playthings of their +dreams. What is certain at least is that Jeanne now as always was +convinced that she was doing right and committing no sin.[1771] Arrayed +on the height of Les Moulins, in front of Paris with its grey +fortifications, the French had immediately before them the outermost +of the trenches, dry and narrow, some sixteen or seventeen feet deep, +separated by a mound from the second trench, nearly one hundred feet +broad, deep and filled with water which lapped the walls of the city. +Quite close, on their right, the road to Roule led up to the Saint +Honoré Gate, also called the Gate of the Blind because it was near the +Hospital of Les Quinze Vingts.[1772] It opened beneath a castlet +flanked by turrets, and for an advanced defence it had a bulwark +surrounded by wooden barriers, like those of Orléans.[1773] + +[Footnote 1771: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 147, 148.] + +[Footnote 1772: In 1254 Saint Louis founded this hospital for three +hundred blind knights whose eyes had been put out by the Saracens. +(W.S.)] + +[Footnote 1773: Le Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses +historiens_, pp. 205 and 231, note 4. Adolphe Berty, _Topographie +historique du vieux Paris, région du Louvre et des Tuileries_, p. 180, +and app. vi, p. ix. E. Eude, _L'attaque de Jeanne d'Arc contre Paris, +1429_, in _Cosmos_, nouv. série, xxix (1894), pp. 241, 244.] + +The Parisians did not expect to be attacked on a feast day.[1774] And +yet the ramparts were by no means deserted, and on the walls standards +could be seen waving, and especially a great white banner with a Saint +Andrew's cross in silver gilt.[1775] + +[Footnote 1774: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 246.] + +[Footnote 1775: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 332, 333. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 108.] + +The French arrayed themselves slightly behind the Moulin hill, which +was to protect them from the stream of lead and stones beginning to be +discharged from the artillery on the ramparts. There they ranged their +mortars, their culverins and their cannon, ready to fire on the city +walls. In this position, which commanded the widest stretch of the +fortifications, was the main body of the army. Led by Messire de +Saint-Vallier a knight of Dauphiné, several captains and men-at-arms +approached the Saint Honoré Gate and set fire to the barriers. As the +garrison of the gate had withdrawn within the fortification, and as +the enemy was not seen to be coming out by any other exit, the +Maréchal de Rais' company advanced with fagots, bundles and ladders +right up to the ramparts. The Maid rode at the head of her company. +They halted between the Saint-Denys and the Saint-Honoré Gates, but +nearer the latter, and went down into the first trench, which was not +difficult to cross. But on the mound they found themselves exposed to +bolts and arrows which rained straight down from the walls.[1776] As at +Orléans, and at Les Tourelles, Jeanne had given her banner to a man of +valour to hold. + +[Footnote 1776: Perceval de Cagny, p. 167.] + +When she reached the top of the mound, she cried out to the folk in +Paris: "Surrender the town to the King of France."[1777] + +[Footnote 1777: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 148.] + +The Burgundians heard her saying also: "In Jesus' name surrender to us +speedily. For if ye yield not before nightfall, we shall enter by +force, whether ye will or no, and ye shall all be put to death without +mercy."[1778] + +[Footnote 1778: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 245.] + +On the mound she remained, sounding the great dyke with her lance and +marvelling to find it so full and so deep. And yet for eleven days she +and her men-at-arms had been reconnoitring round the walls and seeking +the most favourable point of attack. That she should not have known +how to plan an attack was quite natural. But what is to be thought of +the men-at-arms, who were there on the mound, taken by surprise, as +baffled as she, and all aghast at finding so much water close to the +Seine when the River was in flood? To be able to reconnoitre the +defences of a fortress was surely the _a b c_ of the trade of war. +Captains and soldiers of fortune never risked advancing against a +fortification without knowing first whether there were water, morass +or briars, and arming themselves accordingly with siege train suitable +to the occasion. When the water of the moat was deep they launched +leather boats carried on horses' backs.[1779] The men-at-arms of the +Maréchal de Rais and my Lord of Alençon were more ignorant than the +meanest adventurers. What would the doughty La Hire have thought of +them? Such gross ineptitude and ignorance appeared so incredible that +it was supposed that those fighting men knew the depth of the moat but +concealed it from the Maid, desiring her discomfiture.[1780] In such a +case, while entrapping the damsel they were themselves entrapped, for +there they stayed moving neither backwards nor forwards. + +[Footnote 1779: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 67.] + +[Footnote 1780: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 333. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 109. _Journal du siège_, p. 127. Martial +d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, ed. Coustelier, 1724, vol. i, p. 113.] + +Certain among them idly threw fagots into the moat. Meanwhile the +defenders assailed by flights of arrows, disappeared one after the +other.[1781] But towards four o'clock in the afternoon, the citizens +arrived in crowds. The cannon of the Saint-Denys Gate thundered. +Arrows and abuse flew between those above and those below. The hours +passed, the sun was sinking. The Maid never ceased sounding the moat +with the staff of her lance and crying out to the Parisians to +surrender. + +[Footnote 1781: Perceval de Cagny, p. 167. Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. +355, 356. Morosini, vol. iii, note 3. E. Eude, _L'attaque de Jeanne +d'Arc contre Paris_, in _Cosmos_, 22 Sept., 1894, vol. xxix. P. Marin, +_Le génie militaire de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Grande revue de Paris et de +Saint-Pétersbourg_, 2nd year, vol. i, 1889, p. 142.] + +"There, wanton! There, minx!" cried a Burgundian. + +And planting his cross-bow in the ground with his foot, he shot an +arrow which split one of her greaves and wounded her in the thigh. +Another Burgundian took aim at the Maid's standard-bearer and wounded +him in the foot. The wounded man raised his visor to see whence the +arrow came and straightway received another between the eyes. The Maid +and the Duke of Alençon sorely regretted the loss of this +man-at-arms.[1782] + +[Footnote 1782: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 57, 246. _Journal d'un bourgeois +de Paris_, p. 245. Deliberations of the Chapter of Notre Dame, _loc. +cit._ Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 457. Perceval de Cagny, +Jean Chartier, _Journal du siège_, Monstrelet, Morosini, _loc. cit._] + +After she had been wounded, Jeanne cried all the more loudly that the +walls must be reached and the city taken. She was placed out of reach +of the arrows in the shelter of a breast-work. There she urged the +men-at-arms to throw fagots into the water and make a bridge. About +ten or eleven o'clock in the evening, the Sire de la Trémouille +charged the combatants to retreat. The Maid would not leave the place. +She was doubtless listening to her Saints and beholding celestial +hosts around her. The Duke of Alençon sent for her. The aged Sire de +Gaucourt[1783] carried her off with the aid of a captain of Picardy, +one Guichard Bournel, who did not please her on that day, and who by +his treachery six months later, was to please her still less.[1784] Had +she not been wounded she would have resisted more strongly.[1785] She +yielded regretfully, saying: "In God's name! the city might have been +taken."[1786] + +[Footnote 1783: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 298.] + +[Footnote 1784: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 111, 273. Berry, in _Trial_, vol. +iv, p. 50. F. Brun, _Jeanne d Arc et le capitaine de Soissons_, pp. 31 +_et seq._] + +[Footnote 1785: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 57.] + +[Footnote 1786: The oath "_Par mon martin_" (by my staff) is an +invention of the scribe who wrote the _Chronicle_ which is attributed +to Perceval de Cagny, p. 168.] + +They put her on horseback; and thus she was able to follow the army. +The rumour ran that she had been shot in both thighs; in sooth her +wound was but slight.[1787] + +[Footnote 1787: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 334. _Journal du siège_, +p. 128. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 109. Monstrelet, vol. +iv, pp. 355, 356.] + +The French returned to La Chapelle, whence they had set out in the +morning. They carried their wounded on some of the carts which they +had used for the transport of fagots and ladders. In the hands of the +enemy they left three hundred hand-carts, six hundred and sixty +ladders, four thousand hurdles and large fagots, of which they had +used but a small number.[1788] Their retreat must have been somewhat +hurried, seeing that, when they came to the Barn of Les Mathurins, +near The Swine Market, they forsook their baggage and set fire to it. +With horror it was related that, like pagans of Rome, they had cast +their dead into the flames.[1789] Nevertheless the Parisians dared not +pursue them. In those days men-at-arms who knew their trade never +retreated without laying some snare for the enemy. Consequently the +King's men posted a considerable company in ambush by the roadside, to +lie in wait for the light troops who should come in pursuit of the +retreating army.[1790] It was precisely such an ambuscade that the +Parisians feared; wherefore they permitted the Armagnacs to regain +their camp at La Chapelle-Saint-Denys unmolested.[1791] + +[Footnote 1788: Deliberation of the Chapter of Notre Dame, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 1789: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 245.] + +[Footnote 1790: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 1791: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 245, 246.] + +If we regard only the military tactics of the day, there is no doubt +that the French had blundered and had lacked energy. But it was not on +military tactics that the greatest reliance had been placed. Those who +conducted the war, the King and his council, certainly expected to +enter Paris that day. But how? As they had entered Châlons, as they +had entered Reims, as they had entered all the King's good towns from +Troyes to Compiègne. King Charles had shown himself determined to +recover his towns by means of the townsfolk; towards Paris he acted as +he had acted towards his other towns. + +During the coronation march, he had entered into communication with +the bishops and burgesses of the cities of Champagne; and like +communications he had entered into in Paris.[1792] He had dealings with +the monks and notably with the Carmelites of Melun, whose Prior, +Brother Pierre d'Allée, was working in his interest.[1793] For some +time paid agents had been watching for an opportunity of throwing the +city into disorder and of bringing in the enemy in a moment of panic +and confusion. During the assault they were working for him in the +streets. In the afternoon, on both sides of the bridges, were heard +cries of "Let every man look to his own safety! The enemy has entered! +All is lost!" Such of the citizens as were listening to the sermon +hastened to shut themselves in their houses. And others who were out +of doors sought refuge in the churches. But the tumult was quelled. +Wise men, like the clerk of the Parlement, believed that it was but a +feigned attack, and that Charles of Valois looked to recover the town +not so much by force of arms as by a movement of the populace.[1794] + +[Footnote 1792: For the opinions of the townsfolk of Paris, see various +acts of Henry VI of the 18th and 25th of Sept., 1429 (MS. Fontanieu, +115). Sauval, _Antiquités de Paris_, vol. iii, p. 586 and _circ._] + +[Footnote 1793: A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la domination anglaise_, p. +302.] + +[Footnote 1794: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 456, 458.] + +Certain monks who were acting in Paris as the King's spies, went out +to him at Saint-Denys and informed him that the attempt had failed. +According to them it had very nearly succeeded.[1795] + +[Footnote 1795: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 344.] + +The Sire de la Trémouille is said to have commanded the retreat, for +fear of a massacre. Indeed, once the French had entered they were +quite capable of slaughtering the townsfolk and razing the city to the +ground.[1796] + +[Footnote 1796: _Chronique de Normandie_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 342, +343.] + +On the morrow, Friday the 9th, the Maid, rising with the dawn, despite +her wound, asked the Duke of Alençon to have the call to arms sounded; +for she was strongly determined to return to the walls of Paris, +swearing not to leave them until the city should be taken.[1797] +Meanwhile the French captains sent a herald to Paris, charged to ask +for a safe conduct for the removing of the bodies of the dead left +behind in great numbers.[1798] + +[Footnote 1797: Perceval de Cagny, p. 168.] + +[Footnote 1798: _Ibid._ _Chronique normande_, in _La chronique de la +Pucelle_, p. 465. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 120, note 1.] + +Notwithstanding that they had suffered cruel hurt, after a retreat +unmolested it is true, but none the less disastrous and involving the +loss of all their siege train, several of the leaders were, like the +Maid, inclined to attempt a new assault. Others would not hear of it. +While they were disputing, they beheld a baron coming towards them and +with him fifty nobles; it was the Sire de Montmorency, the first +Christian peer of France, that is the first among the ancient vassals +of the bishop of Paris. He was transferring his allegiance from the +Cross of St. Andrew to the Flowers-de-luce.[1799] His coming filled the +King's men with courage and a desire to return to the city. The army +was on its way back, when the Count of Clermont and the Duke of Bar +were sent to arrest the march by order of the King, and to take the +Maid back to Saint-Denys.[1800] + +[Footnote 1799: Duchesne, _Histoire de la maison de Montmorency_, p. +232. Perceval de Cagny, p. 168. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 118, 119.] + +[Footnote 1800: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Un détail du siège de Paris_, in +_Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. xlvi, 1885, p. 12.] + +On Saturday the 10th, at daybreak, the Duke of Alençon, with a few +knights, appeared on the bank above the city, where a bridge had been +thrown over the Seine some days earlier. The Maid, always eager for +danger, accompanied the venturesome warriors. But the night before, +the King had prudently caused the bridge to be taken down, and the +little band had to retrace its steps.[1801] It was not that the King +had renounced the idea of taking Paris. He was thinking more than ever +of the recovery of his great town; but he intended to regain it +without an assault, by means of the compliance of certain burgesses. + +[Footnote 1801: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 168, 169. Morosini, vol. iii, p. +219, note 4. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, +p. 120, note 1. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Un détail du siège de Paris_, +_loc. cit._] + +At this same place of Saint-Denys there happened to Jeanne a +misadventure, which would seem to have impressed her comrades and +possibly to have lessened their faith in her good luck in war. As was +customary, women of ill-fame followed the army in great numbers; each +man had his own; they were called _amiètes_.[1802] Jeanne could not +tolerate them because they caused disorder, but more especially +because their sinful lives filled her with horror. At that very time, +stories like the following were circulated far and wide, and spread +even into Germany. + +[Footnote 1802: Diminutive of _amie_ (W.S.).] + +There was a certain man in the camp, who had with him his _amiète_. +She rode in armour in order not to be recognised. Now the Maid said to +the nobles and captains: "There is a woman with our men." They replied +that they knew of none. Whereupon the Maid assembled the army, and, +approaching the woman said: "This is she." + +Then addressing the wench: "Thou art of Gien and thou art big with +child. Were it not so I would put thee to death. Thou hast already let +one child die and thou shalt not do the same for this one." + +When the Maid had thus spoken, servants took the wench and conveyed +her to her own home. There they kept her under watch and ward until +she was delivered of her child. And she confessed that what the Maid +had said was true. + +After which, the Maid again said: "There are women in the camp." +Whereupon two wantons, who did not belong to the army, and had already +been dismissed from it, hearing these words, rode off on horseback. +But the Maid hastened after them crying: "Ye foolish women, I have +forbidden you to come into my company." And she drew her sword and +struck one of them on the head, so sore that she died.[1803] + +[Footnote 1803: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 184, 186.] + +The tale was true; Jeanne could not suffer these wenches. Every time +she met one she gave chase to her. This was precisely what she did at +Gien, when she saw women of ill-fame awaiting the King's men.[1804] At +Château-Thierry, she espied an _amiète_ riding behind a man-at-arms, +and, running after her, sword in hand, she came up with her, and +without striking, bade her henceforth avoid the society of +men-at-arms. "If thou wilt not," she added, "I shall do thee +hurt."[1805] + +[Footnote 1804: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 1805: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 73.] + +At Saint-Denys, being accompanied by the Duke of Alençon, Jeanne +pursued another of these wantons. This time she was not content with +remonstrances and threats. She broke her sword over her.[1806] Was it +Saint Catherine's sword? So it was believed, and doubtless not without +reason.[1807] In those days men's minds were full of the romantic +stories of Joyeuse and Durandal. It would appear that Jeanne, when she +lost her sword, lost her power. A slight variation of the story was +told afterwards, and it was related how the King, when he was +acquainted with the matter of the broken sword, was displeased and +said to the Maid: "You should have taken a stick to strike withal and +should not have risked the sword you received from divine hands."[1808] +It was told likewise how the sword had been given to an armourer for +him to join the pieces together, and that he could not, wherein lay a +proof that the sword was enchanted.[1809] + +[Footnote 1806: _Ibid._, p. 99.] + +[Footnote 1807: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 76.] + +[Footnote 1808: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 1809: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 122, 123.] + +Before his departure, the King appointed the Count of Clermont +commander of the district with several lieutenants: the Lords of +Culant, Boussac, Loré, and Foucault. He constituted joint +lieutenants-general the Counts of Clermont and of Vendôme, the lords +Regnault de Chartres, Christophe d'Harcourt and Jean Tudert. Regnault +de Chartres established himself in the town of Senlis, the +lieutenant's headquarters. Having thus disposed, the King quitted +Saint-Denys on the 13th of September.[1810] The Maid followed him +against her will notwithstanding that she had the permission of her +Voices to do so.[1811] She offered her armour to the image of Our Lady +and to the precious body of Saint Denys.[1812] This armour was white, +that is to say devoid of armorial bearings.[1813] She was thus +following the custom of men-at-arms, who, after they had received a +wound, if they did not die of it, offered their armour to Our Lady and +the Saints as a token of thanksgiving. Wherefore, in those warlike +days, chapels, like that of Notre-Dame de Fierbois, often presented +the appearance of arsenals. To her armour the Maid added a sword which +she had won before Paris.[1814] + +[Footnote 1810: Perceval de Cagny, p. 169. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +pp. 335 _et seq._ Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 112 _et +seq._ Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 356. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, +p. 246. Berry in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 48. Gilles de Roye, p. 208.] + +[Footnote 1811: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 1812: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 109. Perceval de +Cagny, p. 170. Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, vol. i, p. 114. Jacques +Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys_, pp. 13, 14.] + +[Footnote 1813: La Curne, at the word _Blanc_: white armour was worn by +squires, gilded armour by knights. Bouteiller, in his _Somme Rurale_, +refers to the "_harnais doré_" (gilded armour) of the knights. Cf. Du +Tillet, _Recueil des rois de France_, ch. _Des chevaliers_, p. 431. Du +Cange, _Observations sur les établissements de la France_, p. 373.] + +[Footnote 1814: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 179.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TAKING OF SAINT-PIERRE-LE-MOUSTIER--FRIAR RICHARD'S SPIRITUAL +DAUGHTERS--THE SIEGE OF LA CHARITÉ + + +The King slept at Lagny-sur-Marne on the 14th of September, then +crossed the Seine at Bray, forded the Yonne near Sens and went on +through Courtenay, Châteaurenard and Montargis. On the 21st of +September he reached Gien. There he disbanded the army he could no +longer pay, and each man went to his own home. The Duke of Alençon +withdrew into his viscounty of Beaumont-sur-Oise.[1815] + +[Footnote 1815: _Journal du siège_, p. 130. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 170, +171. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 246, 247. Berry, in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 79. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 219.] + +Learning that the Queen was coming to meet the King, Jeanne went +before her and greeted her at Selles-en-Berry.[1816] She was afterwards +taken to Bourges, where my Lord d'Albret, half-brother of the Sire de +la Trémouille, lodged her with Messire Régnier de Bouligny. Régnier +was then Receiver General. He had been one of those whose dismissal +the University had requested in 1408, as being worse than useless, +for they held him responsible for many of the disorders in the +kingdom. He had entered the Dauphin's service, passed from the +administration of the royal domain to that of taxes and attained the +highest rank in the control of the finances.[1817] His wife, who had +accompanied the Queen to Selles, beheld the Maid and wondered. Jeanne +seemed to her a creature sent by God for the relief of the King and +those of France who were loyal to him. She remembered the days not so +very long ago when she had seen the Dauphin and her Husband not +knowing where to turn for money. Her name was Marguerite La Touroulde; +she was damiselle, not dame; a comfortable _bourgeoise_ and that was +all.[1818] + +[Footnote 1816: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 86. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 265. P. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, _Jeanne +d'Arc en Berry, avec des documents et des éclaircissements inédits_, +Paris, 1892, in 12mo, chap. vi.] + +[Footnote 1817: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 85, note 1. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 418, note 7.] + +[Footnote 1818: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 85.] + +Three weeks Jeanne sojourned in the Receiver General's house. She +slept there, drank there, ate there. Nearly every night, Damiselle +Marguerite La Touroulde slept with her; the etiquette of those days +required it. No night-gowns were worn; folk slept naked in those vast +beds. It would seem that Jeanne disliked sleeping with old women.[1819] +Damiselle La Touroulde, although not so very old, was of matronly +age;[1820] she had moreover a matron's experience, and further she +claimed, as we shall see directly, to know more than most matrons +knew. Several times she took Jeanne to the bath and to the +sweating-room.[1821] That also was one of the rules of etiquette; a +host was not considered to be making his guests good cheer unless he +took them to the bath. In this point of courtesy princes set an +example; when the King and Queen supped in the house of one of their +retainers or ministers, fine baths richly ornamented were prepared for +them before they came to table.[1822] Mistress Marguerite doubtless did +not possess what was necessary in her own house; wherefore she took +Jeanne out to the bath and the sweating-room. Such are her own +expressions; and they probably indicate a vapour bath[1823] not a bath +of hot water. + +[Footnote 1819: _Ibid._, pp. 81, 86.] + +[Footnote 1820: Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, _Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, pp. +72, 73.] + +[Footnote 1821: "_In balneo et stuphis._" _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 88.] + +[Footnote 1822: _L'amant rendu cordelier à l'observance d'amour_; poem +attributed to Martial d'Auvergne, A. de Montaiglon, Paris, 1881, in +8vo, lines 1761-1776 and note p. 184. A. Franklin, _La vie privée +d'autrefois_, vol. ii, _Les soins de la toilette_, Paris, 1887, in +18mo, pp. 20 _et seq._ A. Lecoy de la Marche, _Le bain au moyen âge_, +in _Revue du monde catholique_, vol. xiv, pp. 870-881.] + +[Footnote 1823: _Livre des métiers_, by Étienne Boileau, edited by De +Lespinasse and F. Bonnardot, Paris, 1879, pp. 154, 155, and note. G. +Bayle, _Notes pour servir à l'histoire de la prostitution au moyen +âge_, in _Mémoires de l'Académie de Vauctuse_, 1887, pp. 241, 242. Dr. +P. Pansier, _Histoire des prétendus statuts de la reine Jeanne_, in +_Le Janus_, 1902, p. 14.] + +At Bourges the sweating-rooms were in the Auron quarter, in the lower +town, near the river.[1824] Jeanne was strictly devout, but she did not +observe conventual rule; she, like chaste Suzannah therefore, might +permit herself to bathe and she must have had great need to do so +after having slept on straw.[1825] What is more remarkable is that, +after having seen Jeanne in the bath, Mistress Marguerite judged her a +virgin according to all appearances.[1826] + +[Footnote 1824: Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, _Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, pp. +76, 77.] + +[Footnote 1825: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 1826: _Ibid._, p. 88.] + +In Messire Régnier de Bouligny's house and likewise wherever she +lodged, she led the life of a _béguine_ but did not practise +excessive austerity. She confessed frequently. Many a time she asked +her hostess to come with her to matins. In the cathedral and in +collegiate churches there were matins every day, between four and six, +at the hour of sunset. The two women often talked together; the +Receiver General's wife found Jeanne very simple and very ignorant. +She was amazed to discover that the maiden knew absolutely +nothing.[1827] + +[Footnote 1827: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 87. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, +_Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, pp. 73, 74.] + +Among other matters, Jeanne told of her visit to the old Duke of +Lorraine, and how she had rebuked him for his evil life; she spoke +likewise of the interrogatory to which the doctors of Poitiers had +subjected her.[1828] She was persuaded that these clerks had questioned +her with extreme severity, and she firmly believed that she had +triumphed over their ill-will. Alas! she was soon to know clerks even +less accommodating. + +[Footnote 1828: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 86, 87.] + +Mistress Marguerite said to her one day: "If you are not afraid when +you fight, it is because you know you will not be killed." Whereupon +Jeanne answered: "I am no surer of that than are the other +combatants." + +Oftentimes women came to the Bouligny house, bringing paternosters and +other trifling objects of devotion for the Maid to touch. + +Jeanne used to say laughingly to her hostess: "Touch them yourself. +Your touch will do them as much good as mine."[1829] + +[Footnote 1829: _Ibid._, pp. 86, 88.] + +This ready repartee must have shown Mistress Marguerite that Jeanne, +ignorant as she may have been, was none the less capable of +displaying a good grace and common sense in her conversation. + +While in many matters this good woman found the Maid but a simple +creature, in military affairs she deemed her an expert. Whether, when +she judged the saintly damsel's skill in wielding arms, she was giving +her own opinion or merely speaking from hearsay, as would seem +probable, she at any rate declared later that Jeanne rode a horse and +handled a lance as well as the best of knights and so well that the +army marvelled.[1830] Indeed most captains in those days could do no +better. + +[Footnote 1830: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 88.] + +Probably there were dice and dice-boxes in the Bouligny house, +otherwise Jeanne would have had no opportunity of displaying that +horror of gaming which struck her hostess. On this matter Jeanne +agreed with her comrade, Friar Richard, and indeed with everyone else +of good life and good doctrine.[1831] + +[Footnote 1831: _Ibid._, p. 87.] + +What money she had Jeanne distributed in alms. "I am come to succour +the poor and needy," she used to say.[1832] + +[Footnote 1832: _Ibid._, pp. 87, 88.] + +When the multitude heard such words they were led to believe that this +Maid of God had been raised up for something more than the +glorification of the Lilies, and that she was come to dispel such ills +as murder, pillage and other sins grievous to God, from which the +realm was suffering. Mystic souls looked to her for the reform of the +Church and the reign of Jesus Christ on earth. She was invoked as a +saint, and throughout the loyal provinces were to be seen carved and +painted images of her which were worshipped by the faithful. Thus, +even during her lifetime, she enjoyed certain of the privileges of +beatification.[1833] + +[Footnote 1833: Noël Valois, _Un nouveau témoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc_, +in _Annuaire bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France_, Paris, +1907, in 8vo, pp. 8 and 18 (separate issue).] + +North of the Seine meanwhile, English and Burgundians were at their +old work. The Duke of Vendôme and his company fell back on Senlis, the +English descended on the town of Saint-Denys and sacked it once more. +In the Abbey Church they found and carried off the Maid's armour, +thus, according to the French clergy, committing undeniable sacrilege +and for this reason: because they gave the monks of the Abbey nothing +in exchange. + +The King was then at Mehun-sur-Yèvre, quite close to Bourges, in one +of the finest châteaux in the world, rising on a rock and overlooking +the town. The late Duke Jean of Berry, a great builder, had erected +this château with the care that he never failed to exercise in matters +of art. Mehun was King Charles's favourite abode.[1834] + +[Footnote 1834: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 217. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 265. A. Buhot de Kersers, _Histoire et +statistique du département du Cher, canton de Mehun_, Bourges, 1891, +in 4to, pp. 261 _et seq._ A. de Champeaux and P. Gauchery, _Les +travaux d'art exécutés pour Jean de France, duc de Berry_, Paris, +1894, in 4to, pp. 7, 9, and the miniature in _Les grandes heures_ of +Duke Jean of Berry at Chantilly.] + +The Duke of Alençon, eager to reconquer his duchy, was waiting for +troops to accompany him into Normandy, across the marches of Brittany +and Maine. He sent to the King to know if it were his good pleasure to +grant him the Maid. "Many there be," said the Duke, "who would +willingly come with her, while without her they will not stir from +their homes." Her discomfiture before Paris had not, therefore, +entirely ruined her prestige. The Sire de la Trémouille opposed her +being sent to the Duke of Alençon, whom he mistrusted, and not without +cause. He gave her into the care of his half-brother, the Sire +d'Albret, Lieutenant of the King in his own country of Berry.[1835] + +[Footnote 1835: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 170, 171. Berry, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 48. Letter from the Sire d'Albret to the people of Riom, +in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 148, 149. Martin Le Franc, _Champion des +dames_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 71.] + +The Royal Council deemed it necessary to recover La Charité, left in +the hands of Perrinet Gressart at the time of the coronation campaign;[1836] +but it was decided first to attack Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier, which +commanded the approaches to Bec-d'Allier.[1837] The garrison of this +little town was composed of English and Burgundians, who were +constantly plundering the villages and laying waste the fields of +Berry and Bourbonnais. The army for this expedition assembled at +Bourges. It was commanded by my Lord d'Albret,[1838] but popular report +attributed the command to Jeanne. The common folk, the burgesses of +the towns, especially the citizens of Orléans knew no other commander. + +[Footnote 1836: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 310. _Journal du siège_, +p. 107. Morosini, vol. ii, p. 229, note 4. Perceval de Cagny, p. 172.] + +[Footnote 1837: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 217. Jaladon de la Barre, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier et deux juges nivernais à Rouen_, +Nevers, 1868, in 8vo, chaps. ix _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1838: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 356. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, +_Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, p. 89.] + +After two or three days' siege, the King's men stormed the town. But +they were repulsed. Squire Jean d'Aulon, the Maid's steward, who some +time before had been wounded in the heel and consequently walked on +crutches, had retreated with the rest.[1839] He went back and found +Jeanne who had stayed almost alone by the side of the moat. Fearing +lest harm should come to her, he leapt on to his horse, spurred +towards her and cried: "What are you doing, all alone? Wherefore do +you not retreat like the others?" + +[Footnote 1839: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 217.] + +Jeanne doffed her sallet and replied: "I am not alone. With me are +fifty thousand of my folk. I will not quit this spot till I have taken +the town." + +Casting his eyes around, Messire Jean d'Aulon saw the Maid surrounded +by but four or five men. + +More loudly he cried out to her: "Depart hence and retreat like the +others." + +Her only reply was a request for fagots and hurdles to fill up the +moat. And straightway in a loud voice she called: "To the fagots and +the hurdles all of ye, and make a bridge!" + +The men-at-arms rushed to the spot, the bridge was constructed +forthwith and the town taken by storm with no great difficulty. At any +rate that is how the good Squire, Jean d'Aulon, told the story.[1840] +He was almost persuaded that the Maid's fifty thousand shadows had +taken Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier. + +[Footnote 1840: _Ibid._, p. 218.] + +With the little army on the Loire at that time were certain holy women +who like Jeanne led a singular life and held communion with the Church +Triumphant. They constituted, so to speak, a kind of flying squadron +of _béguines_, which followed the men-at-arms. One of these women was +called Catherine de La Rochelle; two others came from Lower +Brittany.[1841] + +[Footnote 1841: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 106. _Journal d'un bourgeois de +Paris_, pp. 259, 260, 271, 272. Nider, _Formicarium_, in _Trial_, vol. +iv, pp. 503, 504. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 74 _et seq._ +N. Quellien, _Perrinaïc, une compagne de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1891, +in 8vo. Mme. Pascal-Estienne, _Perrinaïk_, Paris, 1893, in 8vo. J. +Trévedy, _Histoire du roman de Perrinaïc_, Saint-Brieuc, 1894, in 8vo. +_Le roman de Perrinaïc_, Vannes, 1894, in 8vo. A. de la Borderie, +_Pierronne et Perrinaïc_, Paris, 1894, in 8vo.] + +They all had miraculous visions; Jeanne saw my Lord Saint Michael in +arms and Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret wearing crowns;[1842] +Pierronne beheld God in a long white robe and a purple cloak;[1843] +Catherine de La Rochelle saw a white lady, clothed in cloth of gold; +and, at the moment of the consecration of the host all manner of +marvels of the high mystery of Our Lord were revealed unto her.[1844] + +[Footnote 1842: _Trial_, vol. v, index at the words _Catherine_, +_Michel_, _Marguerite_.] + +[Footnote 1843: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 1844: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 271, 272.] + +Jean Pasquerel was still with Jeanne in the capacity of chaplain.[1845] +He hoped to take his penitent to fight in the Crusade against the +Hussites, for it was against these heretics that he felt most +bitterly. But he had been entirely supplanted by the Franciscan, Friar +Richard, who, after Troyes, had joined the mendicants of Jeanne's +earlier days. Friar Richard dominated this little band of the +illuminated. He was called their good Father. He it was who instructed +them.[1846] His designs for these women did not greatly differ from +those of Jean Pasquerel: he intended to conduct them to those wars of +the Cross, which he thought were bound to precede the impending end of +the world.[1847] + +[Footnote 1845: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 104 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1846: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 450. _Journal d'un bourgeois de +Paris_, pp. 271, 272.] + +[Footnote 1847: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 235.] + +Meanwhile, it was his endeavour to foster a good understanding +between them, which, eloquent preacher though he was, he found very +difficult. Within the sisterhood there were constant suspicions and +disputes. Jeanne had been on friendly terms with Catherine de la +Rochelle at Montfaucon in Brie and at Jargeau; but now she began to +suspect her of being a rival, and immediately she assumed an attitude +of mistrust.[1848] Possibly she was right. At any moment either +Catherine or the Breton women might be made use of as she had +been.[1849] In those days a prophetess was useful in so many ways: in +the edification of the people, the reformation of the Church, the +leading of men-at-arms, the circulation of money, in war, in peace; no +sooner did one appear than each party tried to get hold of her. It +seems as if, after having employed the Maid Jeanne to deliver Orléans, +the King's Councillors were now thinking of employing Dame Catherine +to make peace with the Duke of Burgundy. Such a task was deemed +fitting for a saint less chivalrous than Jeanne. Catherine was married +and the mother of a family. In this circumstance there need be no +cause for astonishment; for if the gift of prophecy be more especially +reserved for virgins, the example of Judith proves that the Lord may +raise up strong matrons for the serving of his people. + +[Footnote 1848: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 1849: _Ibid._, p. 107.] + +If we believe that, as her surname indicates, she came from La +Rochelle, her origin must have inspired the Armagnacs with confidence. +The inhabitants of La Rochelle, all pirates more or less, were too +profitably engaged in preying upon English vessels to forsake the +Dauphin's party. Moreover, he rewarded their loyalty by granting them +valuable commercial privileges.[1850] They had sent gifts of money to +the people of Orléans; and when, in the month of May, they learned the +deliverance of Duke Charles's city, they instituted a public festival +to commemorate so happy an event. + +[Footnote 1850: Arcère, _Histoire de La Rochelle_, 1756, in 4to, vol. +i, p. 271. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104, note. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 24, 75 _et seq._, 219, 279.] + +The first duty of a saint in the army, it would appear, was to collect +money. Jeanne was always sending letters asking the good towns for +money or for munitions of war; the burgesses always promised to grant +her request and sometimes they kept their promise. Catherine de la +Rochelle appears to have had special revelations concerning the funds +of the party; her mission, therefore, was financial, while Jeanne's +was martial. She announced that she was going to the Duke of Burgundy +to conclude peace.[1851] If one may judge from the little that is known +of her, the inspirations of this holy dame were not very elevated, not +very orderly, not very profound. + +[Footnote 1851: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 107, 108.] + +Meeting Jeanne at Montfaucon in Berry (or at Jargeau) she addressed +her thus: + +"There came unto me a white lady, attired in cloth of gold, who said +to me: 'Go thou through the good towns and let the King give unto thee +heralds and trumpets to cry: "Whosoever has gold, silver or hidden +treasure, let him bring it forth instantly."'" + +Dame Catherine added: "Such as have hidden treasure and do not thus, I +shall know their treasure, and I shall go and find it." + +She deemed it necessary to fight against the English and seemed to +believe that Jeanne's mission was to drive them out of the land, since +she obligingly offered her the whole of her miraculous takings. + +"Wherewithal to pay your men-at-arms," she said. But the Maid answered +disdainfully: + +"Go back to your husband, look after your household, and feed your +children."[1852] + +[Footnote 1852: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 107.] + +Disputes between saints are usually bitter. In her rival's missions +Jeanne refused to see anything but folly and futility. Nevertheless it +was not for her to deny the possibility of the white lady's +visitations; for to Jeanne herself did there not descend every day as +many saints, angels and archangels as were ever painted on the pages +of books or the walls of monasteries? In order to make up her mind on +the subject, she adopted the most effectual measures. A learned doctor +may reason concerning matter and substance, the origin and the form of +ideas, the dawn of impressions in the intellect, but a shepherdess +will resort to a surer method; she will appeal to her own eyesight. + +Jeanne asked Catherine if the white lady came every night, and +learning that she did: "I will sleep with you," she said. + +When night came, she went to bed with Catherine, watched till +midnight, saw nothing and fell asleep, for she was young, and she had +great need of sleep. In the morning, when she awoke, she asked: "Did +she come?" + +"She did," replied Catherine; "you were asleep, so I did not like to +wake you." + +"Will she not come to-morrow?" + +Catherine assured her that she would come without fail. + +This time Jeanne slept in the day in order that she might keep awake +at night; so she lay down at night in the bed with Catherine and kept +her eyes open. Often she asked: "Will she not come?" + +And Catherine replied: "Yes, directly." + +But Jeanne saw nothing.[1853] She held the test to be a good one. +Nevertheless she could not get the white lady attired in cloth of gold +out of her head. When Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret came to her, +as they delayed not to do, she spoke to them concerning this white +lady and asked them what she was to think of her. The reply was such +as Jeanne expected: + +"This Catherine," they said, "is naught but futility and folly."[1854] + +[Footnote 1853: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 108, 109.] + +[Footnote 1854: _Ibid._, p. 107.] + +Then was Jeanne constrained to cry: "That is just what I thought." + +The strife between these two prophetesses was brief but bitter. Jeanne +always maintained the opposite of what Catherine said. When the latter +was going to make peace with the Duke of Burgundy, Jeanne said to her: + +"Me seemeth that you will never find peace save at the lance's +point."[1855] + +[Footnote 1855: _Ibid._, p. 108.] + +There was one matter at any rate wherein the White Lady proved a +better prophetess than the Maid's Council, to wit, the siege of La +Charité. When Jeanne wished to go and deliver that town, Catherine +tried to dissuade her. + +"It is too cold," she said; "I would not go."[1856] + +[Footnote 1856: _Ibid._] + +Catherine's reason was not a high one; and yet it is true Jeanne would +have done better not to go to the siege of La Charité. + +Taken from the Duke of Burgundy by the Dauphin in 1422, La Charité had +been retaken in 1424, by Perrinet Gressart,[1857] a successful +captain, who had risen from the rank of mason's apprentice to that of +pantler to the Duke of Burgundy and had been created Lord of Laigny by +the King of England.[1858] On the 30th of December, 1425, Perrinet's +men arrested the Sire de La Trémouille, when he was on his way to the +Duke of Burgundy, having been appointed ambassador in one of those +eternal negotiations, forever in process between the King and the +Duke. He was for several months kept a prisoner in the fortress which +his captor commanded. He must needs pay a ransom of fourteen thousand +golden crowns; and, albeit he took this sum from the royal +treasury,[1859] he never ceased to bear Perrinet a grudge. Wherefore it +may be concluded that when he sent men-at-arms to La Charité it was in +good sooth to capture the town and not with any evil design against +the Maid. + +[Footnote 1857: "Perrinet Crasset, mason and captain of men-at-arms." +_Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 446 verso. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 117. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 174. Vallet de +Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 328.] + +[Footnote 1858: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cclxxviii. A. de +Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, p. 109. Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie +Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iii, pp. 20, 21, 373 _et seq._ J. de Fréminville, +_Les écorcheurs en Bourgogne_ (1435-1445); _Étude sur les compagnies +franches au XV'e siècle_, Dijon, 1888, in 8vo. P. Champion, +_Guillaume de Flavy_. Proofs and illustrations, xxx.] + +[Footnote 1859: Sainte-Marthe, _Histoire généalogique de la maison de +la Trémoïlle_, 1668, in 12mo, pp. 149 _et seq._ L. de La Trémoïlle, +_Les La Trémoïlle pendant cinq siècles_, Nantes, 1890, vol. i, p. +165.] + +The army despatched against this Burgundian captain and this great +plunder of pilgrims was composed of no mean folk. Its leaders were +Louis of Bourbon, Count of Montpensier, and Charles II, Sire d'Albret, +La Trémouille's half-brother and Jeanne's companion in arms during the +coronation campaign. The army was doubtless but scantily supplied +with stores and with money.[1860] That was the normal condition of +armies in those days. When the King wanted to attack a stronghold of +the enemy, he must needs apply to his good towns for the necessary +material. The Maid, at once saint and warrior, could beg for arms with +a good grace; but possibly she overrated the resources of the towns +which had already given so much. + +[Footnote 1860: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 149. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, +vol. iii. _Journal du siège_, p. 129. Monstrelet, vol. v, chap, lxxii. +A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, p. 108.] + +On the 7th of November, she and my Lord d'Alençon signed a letter +asking the folk of Clermont in Auvergne for powder, arrows and +artillery. Churchmen, magistrates, and townsfolk sent two +hundredweight of saltpetre, one hundredweight of sulphur, two cases of +arrows; to these they added a sword, two poniards and a battle-axe for +the Maid; and they charged Messire Robert Andrieu to present this +contribution to Jeanne and to my Lord d'Albret.[1861] + +[Footnote 1861: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 146. F. Perot, _Un document inédit +sur Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Bulletin de la Société archéologique de +l'Orléanais_, vol. xii, 1898-1901, p. 231.] + +On the 9th of November, the Maid was at Moulins in Bourbonnais.[1862] +What was she doing there? No one knows. There was at that time in the +town an abbess very holy and very greatly venerated. Her name was +Colette Boilet. She had won the highest praise and incurred the +grossest insults by attempting to reform the order of Saint Clare. +Colette lived in the convent of the Sisters of Saint Clare, which she +had recently founded in this town. It has been thought that the Maid +went to Moulins on purpose to meet her.[1863] But we ought first to +ascertain whether these two saints had any liking for each other. They +both worked miracles and miracles which were occasionally somewhat +similar;[1864] but that was no reason why they should take the +slightest pleasure in each other's society. One was called _La +Pucelle_,[1865] the other _La Petite Ancelle_.[1866] But these names, +both equally humble, described persons widely different in fashion of +attire and in manner of life. _La Petite Ancelle_ wended her way on +foot, clothed in rags like a beggar-woman; _La Pucelle_, wrapped in +cloth of gold, rode forth with lords on horseback. That Jeanne, +surrounded by Franciscans who observed no rule, felt any veneration +for the reformer of the Sisters of Saint Clare, there is no reason to +believe; neither is there anything to indicate that the pacific +Colette, strongly attached to the Burgundian house,[1867] had any +desire to hold converse with one whom the English regarded as a +destroying angel.[1868] + +[Footnote 1862: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 147-150. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, +_Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, ch. viii.] + +[Footnote 1863: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cclxxix.] + +[Footnote 1864: Acta Sanctorum, March, i, 554, col. 2, no. 61. Abbé +Bizouard, _Histoire de sainte Colette_, pp. 35, 37. S[ilvere], +_Histoire chronologique de la bienheureuse Colette_, Paris, 1628, in +8vo.] + +[Footnote 1865: _The Maid_ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1866: _Servant._ Cf. Godefroy, _Lexique de l'ancien Français_ +(W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1867: _Histoire chronologique de la bienheureuse Colette_, +pp. 168-200.] + +[Footnote 1868: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc et les ordres mendiants_, in +_Revue des deux mondes_, 1881, vol. xlv, p. 90. L. de Kerval, _Jeanne +d'Arc et les Franciscains_, Vanves, 1893, pp. 49, 51. S. Luce, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. cclxxviii _et seq._ F. Perot, _Jeanne d'Arc en +Bourbonnais_, Orléans, in 8vo, 26 pp., 1889. F. André, _La vérité sur +Jeanne d'Arc_, in 8vo, 1895, pp. 308 _et seq._] + +From this town of Moulins, Jeanne dictated a letter by which she +informed the inhabitants of Riom that Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier was +taken, and asked them for materials of war as she had asked the folk +of Clermont.[1869] + +[Footnote 1869: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 146-148.] + +Here is the letter: + + Good friends and beloved, ye wit how that the town of Saint + Père le Moustier hath been taken by storm; and with God's + help it is our intention to cause to be evacuated the other + places contrary to the King; but for this there hath been + great expending of powder, arrows and other munition of war + before the said town, and the lords who are in this town are + but scantily provided for to go and lay siege to La Charité, + whither we wend presently; I pray you as ye love the welfare + and honour of the King and likewise of all others here, that + ye will straightway help and send for the said siege powder, + saltpetre, sulphur, arrows, strong cross-bows and other + munition of war. And do this lest by failure of the said + powder and other habiliments of war, the siege should be + long and ye should be called in this matter negligent or + unwilling. Good friends and beloved, may our Lord keep you. + Written at Molins, the ninth day of November. + + Jehanne. + + Addressed to: My good friends and beloved, the churchmen, + burgesses and townsfolk of the town of Rion.[1870] + +[Footnote 1870: _Ibid._, pp. 146, 148. Facsimile in _Le Musée des +archives départementales_, p. 124.] + +The magistrates of Riom, in letters sealed with their own seal, +undertook to give Jeanne the Maid and my Lord d'Albret the sum of +sixty crowns; but when the masters of the siege-artillery came to +demand this sum, the magistrates would not give a farthing.[1871] + +[Footnote 1871: F. Perot (_Bulletin de la Société archéologique de +l'Orléanais_, vol. xii, p. 231).] + +The folk of Orléans, on the other hand, once more appeared both +zealous and munificent; for they eagerly desired the reduction of a +town commanding the Loire for seventy-five miles above their own city. +They deserve to be considered the true deliverers of the kingdom; had +it not been for them neither Jargeau nor Beaugency would have been +taken in June. Quite in the beginning of July, when they thought the +Loire campaign was to be continued, they had sent their great mortar, +La Bougue, to Gien. With it they had despatched ammunition and +victuals; and now, in the early days of December, at the request of +the King addressed to the magistrates, they sent to La Charité all the +artillery brought back from Gien; likewise eighty-nine soldiers of the +municipal troops, wearing the cloak with the Duke of Orléans' colours, +the white cross on the breast; with their trumpeter at their head and +commanded by Captain Boiau; craftsmen of all conditions, master-masons +and journeymen, carpenters, smiths; the cannoneers Fauveau, Gervaise +Lefèvre and Brother Jacques, monk of the Gray friars monastery, at +Orléans.[1872] What became of all this artillery and of these brave +folk? + +[Footnote 1872: A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, p. 107, proofs +and illustrations, xvii, pp. 159, 168. _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 268, 270, +according to the original documents in the Orléans Library.] + +On the 24th of November, the Sire d'Albret and the Maid, being hard +put to it before the walls of La Charité, likewise solicited the town +of Bourges. On receipt of their letter, the burgesses decided to +contribute thirteen hundred golden crowns. To raise this sum they had +recourse to a measure by no means unusual; it had been employed +notably by the townsfolk of Orléans when, some time previously, to +furnish forth Jeanne with munition of war, they had bought from a +certain citizen a quantity of salt which they had put up to auction +in the city barn. The townsfolk of Bourges sold by auction the annual +revenue of a thirteenth part of the wine sold retail in the town. But +the money thus raised never reached its destination.[1873] + +[Footnote 1873: La Thaumassière, _Histoire du Berry_, p. 161. _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 356, 357. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, _Jeanne d'Arc en +Berry_, pp. 105 _et seq._ A. de Villaret, _Campagne des Anglais_, pp. +111, 112.] + +A right goodly knighthood was gathered beneath the walls of La +Charité; besides Louis de Bourbon and the Sire d'Albret, there was the +Maréchal de Broussac, Jean de Bouray, Seneschal of Toulouse, and +Raymon de Montremur, a Baron of Dauphiné, who was slain there.[1874] It +was bitterly cold and the besiegers succeeded in nothing. At the end +of a month Perrinet Gressart, who was full of craft, caused them to +fall into an ambush. They raised the siege, abandoning the artillery +furnished by the good towns, those fine cannon bought with the savings +of thrifty citizens.[1875] Their action was the less excusable because +the town which had not been relieved and could not well expect to be, +must have surrendered sooner or later. They pleaded that the King had +sent them no victuals and no money;[1876] but that was not considered +an excuse and their action was deemed dishonourable. According to a +knight well acquainted with points of honour in war: "One ought never +to besiege a place without being sure of victuals and of pay +beforehand. For to besiege a stronghold and then to withdraw is great +disgrace for an army, especially when there is present with it a king +or a king's lieutenant."[1877] + +[Footnote 1874: _Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires du Centre_, +vol. iv, 1870-1872, pp. 211, 239.] + +[Footnote 1875: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 126. Lanéry d'Arc and L. Jeny, _Jeanne d'Arc en Berry_, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 1876: Perceval de Cagny, p. 172.] + +[Footnote 1877: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, pp. 216, 217.] + +On the 13th of December there preached to the people of Périgueux a +Dominican friar, Brother Hélie Boudant, Pope Martin's Penitentiary in +that town. He took as his text the great miracles worked in France by +the intervention of a Maid, whom God had sent to the King. On this +occasion the Mayor and the magistrates heard mass sung and presented +two candles. Now for two months Brother Hélie had been under order to +appear before the Parlement of Poitiers.[1878] On what charge we do not +know. Mendicant monks of those days were for the most part irregular +in faith and in morals. The doctrine of Friar Richard himself was not +altogether beyond suspicion. + +[Footnote 1878: Extract from the Book of Accounts of the town of +Périgueux, in _Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du +Périgord_, vol. xiv, January to February, 1887. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc +à Domremy_, proofs and illustrations, ccxvii, p. 252. Le P. Chapotin, +_La guerre de cent ans et les dominicains_, pp. 74 _et seq._] + +At Christmas, in the year 1429, the flying squadron of _béguines_ +being assembled at Jargeau,[1879] this good Brother said mass and +administered the communion thrice to Jeanne the Maid and twice to that +Pierronne of Lower Brittany, with whom our Lord conversed as friend +with friend. Such an action might well be regarded, if not as a formal +violation of the Church's laws, at any rate as an unjustifiable abuse +of the sacrament.[1880] A menacing theological tempest was then +gathering and was about to break over the heads of Friar Richard's +daughters in the spirit. A few days after the attack on Paris, the +venerable University had had composed or rather transcribed a +treatise, _De bono et maligno spiritu_, with a view probably to +finding therein arguments against Friar Richard and his prophetess +Jeanne, who had both appeared before the city with the Armagnacs.[1881] + +[Footnote 1879: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 1880: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 271.] + +[Footnote 1881: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 232, 233. Le P. Denifle and +Chatelain, _Cartularium Univ. Paris_, vol. iv, p. 515.] + +About the same time, a clerk of the faculty of law had published a +summary reply to Chancellor Gerson's memorial concerning the Maid. "It +sufficeth not," he wrote, "that one simply affirm that he is sent of +God; every heretic maketh such a claim; but he must prove the truth of +that mysterious mission by some miraculous work or by some special +testimony in the Bible." This Paris clerk denies that the Maid has +presented any such proof, and to judge her by her acts, he believes +her rather to have been sent by the Devil than by God. He reproaches +her with wearing a dress forbidden to women under penalty of anathema, +and he refutes the excuses for her conduct in this matter urged by +Gerson. He accuses her of having excited between princes and Christian +people a greater war than there had ever been before. He holds her to +be an idolatress using enchantments and making false prophecies. He +charges her with having induced men to slay their fellows on the two +high festivals of the Holy Virgin, the Assumption and the Nativity. +"Sins committed by the Enemy of Mankind, through this woman, against +the Creator and his most glorious Mother. And albeit there ensued +certain murders, thanks be to God they were not so many as the Enemy +had intended." + +"All these things do manifestly prove error and heresy," adds this +devout son of the University. Whence he concludes that the Maid +should be taken before the Bishop and the Inquisitor; and he ends by +quoting this text from Saint Jérôme: "The unhealthy flesh must be cut +off; the diseased sheep must be driven from the fold."[1882] + +[Footnote 1882: Noël Valois, _Un nouveau témoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc_, +Paris, 1907, in 8vo, 19 pages.] + +Such was the unanimous opinion of the University of Paris concerning +her in whom the French clerks beheld an Angel of the Lord. At Bruges, +in November, a rumour ran and was eagerly welcomed by ecclesiastics +that the University of Paris had sent an embassy to the Pope at Rome +to denounce the Maid as a false prophetess and a deceiver, and +likewise those who believed in her. We do not know the veritable +object of this mission.[1883] But there is no doubt whatever that the +doctors and masters of Paris were henceforward firmly resolved that if +ever they obtained possession of the damsel they would not let her go +out of their hands, and certainly would not send her to be tried at +Rome, where she might escape with a mere penance, and even be enlisted +as one of the Pope's mercenaries.[1884] + +[Footnote 1883: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 232.] + +[Footnote 1884: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 354, 355.] + +In English and Burgundian lands, not only by clerks but by folk of all +conditions, she was regarded as a heretic; in those countries the few +who thought well of her had to conceal their opinions carefully. After +the retreat from Saint-Denys, there may have remained some in Picardy, +and notably at Abbeville, who were favourable to the prophetess of the +French; but such persons must not be spoken of in public. + +Colin Gouye, surnamed Le Sourd, and Jehannin Daix, surnamed Le Petit, +a man of Abbeville, learned this to their cost. In this town about +the middle of September, Le Sourd and Le Petit were near the +blacksmith's forge with divers of the burgesses and other townsfolk, +among whom was a herald. They fell to talking of the Maid who was +making so great a stir throughout Christendom. To certain words the +herald uttered concerning her, Le Petit replied eagerly: + +"Well! well! Everything that woman does and says is nought but +deception." + +Le Sourd spoke likewise: "That woman," he said, "is not to be trusted. +Those who believe in her are mad, and there is a smell of burning +about them."[1885] + +[Footnote 1885: _Sentent la persinée_: literally, smell of roast +parsley. Cf. Godefroy, _Lexique de l'ancien français_ at the word +_persinée_. _Sentir la persinée_: to be suspected of heresy (W.S.).] + +By that he meant that their destiny was obvious, and that they were +sure to be burned at the stake as heretics. + +Then he had the misfortune to add: "In this town there be many with a +smell of burning about them." + +Such words were for the dwellers in Abbeville a slander and a cause of +suspicion. When the Mayor and the aldermen heard of this speech they +ordered Le Sourd to be thrown into prison. Le Petit must have said +something similar, for he too was imprisoned.[1886] + +[Footnote 1886: Pardon granted to Le Sourd and Jehannin Daix, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 142-145.] + +By saying that divers of his fellow-citizens were suspect of heresy, +Le Sourd put them in danger of being sought out by the Bishop and the +Inquisitor as heretics and sorcerers of notoriously evil repute. As +for the Maid, she must have been suspect indeed, for a smell of +burning to be caused by the mere fact of being her partisan. + +While Friar Richard and his spiritual daughters were thus threatened +with a bad end should they fall into the hands of the English or +Burgundians, serious troubles were agitating the sisterhood. On the +subject of Catherine, Jeanne entered into an open dispute with her +spiritual father. Friar Richard wanted the holy dame of La Rochelle to +be set to work. Fearing lest his advice should be adopted, Jeanne +wrote to her King to tell him what to do with the woman, to wit that +he should send her home to her husband and children. + +When she came to the King the first thing she had to say to him was: +"Catherine's doings are nought but folly and futility." + +Friar Richard made no attempt to hide from the Maid his profound +displeasure.[1887] He was thought much of at court, and it was +doubtless with the consent of the Royal Council that he was +endeavouring to compass the employment of Dame Catherine. The Maid had +succeeded. Why should not another of the illuminated succeed? + +[Footnote 1887: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 107.] + +Meanwhile the Council had by no means renounced the services Jeanne +was rendering to the French cause. Even after the misfortunes of Paris +and of La Charité, there were many who now as before held her power to +be supernatural; and there is reason to believe that there was a party +at Court intending still to employ her.[1888] And even if they had +wished to discard her she was now too intimately associated with the +royal lilies for her rejection not to involve them too in dishonour. +On the 29th of December, 1429, at Mehun-sur-Yèvre, the King gave her a +charter of nobility sealed with the great seal in green wax, with a +double pendant, on a strip of red and green silk.[1889] + +[Footnote 1888: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 84; vol. iv, pp. 312 _et passim_. +A. de Villaret, _loc. cit._ Proofs and illustrations.] + +[Footnote 1889: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 150-153. J. Hordal, _Heroinae +nobilissimae Joannae Darc, lotharingæ, vulgo aurelianensis puellae +historia...._ Ponti-Mussi, 1612, small 4to. C. du Lys, _Traité +sommaire tant du nom et des armes que de la naissance et parenté de la +Pucelle, justifié par plusieurs patentes et arrêts, enquêtes et +informations...._ Paris, 1633, in 4to. De la Roque, _Traité de la +noblesse_, Paris, 1678, in 4to, ch. xliii. Lanéry d'Arc, _Jeanne d'Arc +en Berry_, ch. x.] + +The grant of nobility was to Jeanne, her father, mother, brothers even +if they were not free, and to all their posterity, male and female. It +was a singular grant corresponding to the singular services rendered +by a woman. + +In the title she is described as Johanna d'Ay, doubtless because her +father's name was given to the King's scribes by Lorrainers who would +speak with a soft drawl; but whether her name were Ay or Arc, she was +seldom called by it, and was commonly spoken of as Jeanne the +Maid.[1890] + +[Footnote 1890: See analytical index, in _Trial_, vol. v, at the word +_Pucelle_.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF REIMS--LETTER TO THE HUSSITES--DEPARTURE +FROM SULLY + + +The folk of Orléans were grateful to the Maid for what she had done +for them. Far from reproaching her with the unfortunate conclusion of +the siege of La Charité, they welcomed her into their city with the +same rejoicing and with as good cheer as before. On the 19th of +January, 1430, they honoured her and likewise Maître Jean de Velly and +Maître Jean Rabateau with a banquet, at which there was abundance of +capons, partridges, hares, and even a pheasant.[1891] Who that Jean de +Velly was, who was feasted with her, we do not know. As for Jean +Rabateau, he was none other than the King's Councillor, who had been +Attorney-General at the Parlement of Poitiers since 1427.[1892] He had +been the Maid's host at Orléans. His wife had often seen Jeanne +kneeling in her private oratory.[1893] The citizens of Orléans offered +wine to the Attorney-General, to Jean de Velly, and to the Maid. In +good sooth, 'twas a fine feast and a ceremonious. The burgesses loved +and honoured Jeanne, but they cannot have observed her very closely +during the repast or they would not eight years later, when an +adventuress gave herself out to be the Maid, have mistaken her for +Jeanne, and offered her wine in the same manner and at the hands of +the same city servant, Jacques Leprestre, as now presented it.[1894] + +[Footnote 1891: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 270.] + +[Footnote 1892: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 19, 74, 203. H. Daniel Lacombe, +_L'hôte de Jeanne d'Arc à Poitiers, Maître Jean Rabateau, président du +parlement de Paris_, in _Revue du Bas-Poitou_, 1891, pp. 48, 66.] + +[Footnote 1893: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 88 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1894: Extract from the Accounts of the town of Orléans, in +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 331.] + +The standard that Jeanne loved even more than her Saint Catherine's +sword had been painted at Tours by one Hamish Power. He was now +marrying his daughter Héliote; and when Jeanne heard of it, she sent a +letter to the magistrates of Tours, asking them to give a sum of one +hundred crowns for the bride's trousseau. The nuptials were fixed for +the 9th of February, 1430. The magistrates assembled twice to +deliberate on Jeanne's request. They described her honourably and yet +not without a certain caution as "the Maid who hath come into this +realm to the King, concerning the matter of the war, announcing that +she is sent by the King of Heaven against the English." In the end +they refused to pay anything, because, they said, it behoved them to +expend municipal funds on municipal matters and not otherwise; but +they decided that for the affection and honour they bore the Maid, the +churchmen, burgesses, and other townsfolk should be present in the +church at the wedding, and should offer prayers for the bride and +present her with bread and wine. This cost them four _livres_, ten +_sous_.[1895] + +[Footnote 1895: Vallet de Viriville, _Un épisode de la vie de Jeanne +d'Arc_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. iv (1st +series), p. 488. _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 154-156.] + +At a time which it is impossible to fix exactly the Maid bought a +house at Orléans. To be more precise she took it on lease.[1896] A +lease (_bail à vente_) was an agreement by which the proprietor of a +house or other property transferred the ownership to the lessee in +return for an annual payment in kind or in money. The duration of such +leases was usually fifty-nine years. The house that Jeanne acquired in +this manner belonged to the Chapter of the Cathedral. It was in the +centre of the town, in the parish of Saint-Malo, close to the +Saint-Maclou Chapel, next door to the shop of an oil-seller, one Jean +Feu, in the Rue des Petits-Souliers. It was in this street that, +during the siege, there had fallen into the midst of five guests +seated at table a stone cannon-ball weighing one hundred and +sixty-four pounds, which had done no one any harm.[1897] What price did +the Maid give for this house? Apparently six crowns of fine gold (at +sixty crowns to the mark), due half-yearly at Midsummer and Christmas, +for fifty-nine years. In addition, she must according to custom have +undertaken to keep the house in good condition and to pay out of her +own purse the ecclesiastical dues as well as rates for wells and +paving and all other taxes. Being obliged to have some one as surety, +she chose as her guarantor a certain Guillot de Guyenne, of whom we +know nothing further.[1898] + +[Footnote 1896: Jules Doinel, _Note sur une maison de Jeanne d'Arc_, in +_Mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de l'Orléanais_, +vol. xv, pp. 491-500.] + +[Footnote 1897: _Journal du siège_, pp. 15, 16.] + +[Footnote 1898: Jules Doinel, _Note sur une maison de Jeanne d'Arc_, +_loc. cit._] + +There is no reason to believe that the Maid did not herself negotiate +this agreement. Saint as she was, she knew well what it was to possess +property. Such knowledge ran in her family; her father was the best +business man in his village.[1899] She herself was domesticated and +thrifty; for she kept her old clothes, and even in the field she knew +where to find them when she wanted to make presents of them to her +friends. She counted up her possessions in arms and horses, valued +them at twelve thousand crowns, and, apparently made a pretty accurate +reckoning.[1900] But what was her idea in taking this house? Did she +think of living in it? Did she intend when the war was over to return +to Orléans and pass a peaceful old age in a house of her own? Or was +she planning for her parents to dwell there, or some Vouthon uncle, or +her brothers, one of whom was in great poverty and had got a doublet +out of the citizens of Orléans?[1901] + +[Footnote 1899: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. 360.] + +[Footnote 1900: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 295.] + +[Footnote 1901: Accounts of the fortress, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 259, +260.] + +On the third of March she followed King Charles to Sully.[1902] The +château, in which she lodged near the King, belonged to the Sire de la +Trémouille, who had inherited it from his mother, Marie de Sully, the +daughter of Louis I of Bourbon. It had been recaptured from the +English after the deliverance of Orléans.[1903] A stronghold on the +Loire, on the highroad from Paris to Autun, and commanding the plain +between Orléans and Briare and the ancient bridge with twenty arches, +the château of Sully linked together central France and those northern +provinces which Jeanne had so regretfully quitted, and whither with +all her heart she longed to return to engage in fresh expeditions and +fresh sieges. + +[Footnote 1902: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 159.] + +[Footnote 1903: Perceval de Cagny, p. 173. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, +p. 258. _Berry_, in Godefroy, p. 376. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 294, +notes 4, 5. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, +pp. 139, 163. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +144.] + +During the first fortnight of March, from the townsfolk of Reims she +received a message in which they confided to her fears only too well +grounded.[1904] On the 8th of March the Regent had granted to the Duke +of Burgundy the counties of Champagne and of Brie on condition of his +reconquering them.[1905] Armagnacs and English vied with each other in +offering the biggest and most tempting morsels to this Gargantuan +Duke. Not being able to keep their promise and deliver to him +Compiègne which refused to be delivered, the French offered him in its +place Pont-Sainte-Maxence.[1906] But it was Compiègne that he wanted. +The truces, which had been very imperfectly kept, were to have expired +at Christmas, but first they had been prolonged till the 15th of March +and then till Easter. In the year 1430 Easter fell on the 16th of +April; and Duke Philip was only waiting for that date to put an army +in the field.[1907] + +[Footnote 1904: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 378. D. Plancher, _Histoire de +Bourgogne_, vol. iv, p. 137. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 268.] + +[Footnote 1905: Du Tillet, _Recueil des rois de France_, vol. ii, p. 39 +(ed. 1601-1602). Rymer, _Foedera_, March, 1430.] + +[Footnote 1906: P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, pp. 35, 152.] + +[Footnote 1907: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. +351, 389.] + +In a manner concise and vivacious the Maid replied to the townsfolk of +Reims: + + "Dear friends and beloved and mightily desired. Jehenne the + Maid hath received your letters making mention that ye fear + a siege. Know ye that it shall not so betide, and I may but + encounter them shortly. And if I do not encounter them and + they do not come to you, if you shut your gates firmly, I + shall shortly be with you: and if they be there, I shall + make them put on their spurs so hastily that they will not + know where to take them and so quickly that it shall be very + soon. Other things I will not write unto you now, save that + ye be always good and loyal. I pray God to have you in his + keeping. Written at Sully, the 16th day of March. + + I would announce unto you other tidings at which ye would + mightily rejoice; but I fear lest the letters be taken on + the road, and the said tidings be seen. + + Signed. Jehanne. + + _Addressed_ to my dear friends and beloved, churchmen, + burgesses and other citizens of the town of Rains."[1908] + +[Footnote 1908: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 160, according to Rogier's copy. H. +Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, proofs and illustrations xv. Facsimile +in Wallon, 1876 edition, p. 200. The original of this letter exists, +likewise the original of the letter addressed on the 9th of November, +1429, to the citizens of Riom. These two letters, about one hundred +and twenty-six days apart, are not written by the same scribe. The +signature of neither one nor the other can be attributed to the hand +which indited the rest of the letter. The seven letters of the name +_Jehanne_ seem to have been written by some one whose hand was being +held, which is not surprising, seeing that the Maid did not know how +to write. But a comparison of the two signatures reveals their close +similarity. In both the stem of the J slopes in the same direction and +is of identical length; the first _n_ through one letter being written +on the top of another has three pothooks instead of two; the second +pothook of the second _n_ obviously written in two strokes is too +long, in short the two signatures correspond exactly. We must conclude +therefore that having once obtained the Maid's signature by guiding +her hand, an impression was taken to serve as a model for all her +other letters. To judge from the two missives of the 9th of November, +1429 and the 16th of March, 1430, this impression was most faithfully +reproduced. Cf. _post_, p. 117, note 2.] + +There can be no doubt that the scribe wrote this letter faithfully as +it was dictated by the Maid, and that he wrote her words as they fell +from her lips. In her haste she now and again forgot words and +sometimes whole phrases; but the sense is clear all the same. And what +confidence! "You will have no siege if I encounter the enemy." How +completely is this the language of chivalry! On the eve of Patay she +had asked: "Have you good spurs?"[1909] Here she cries: "I will make +them put on their spurs." She says that soon she will be in Champagne, +that she is about to start. Surely we can no longer think of her shut +up in the Castle of La Trémouille as in a kind of gilded cage.[1910] In +conclusion, she tells her friends at Reims that she does not write +unto them all that she would like for fear lest her letter should be +captured on the road. She knew what it was to be cautious. Sometimes +she affixed a cross to her letters to warn her followers to pay no +heed to what she wrote, in the hope that the missive would be +intercepted and the enemy deceived.[1911] + +[Footnote 1909: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 1910: Perceval de Cagny, p. 172.] + +[Footnote 1911: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 83.] + +It was from Sully that on the 23rd of March Brother Pasquerel sent the +Emperor Sigismund a letter intended for the Hussites of Bohemia.[1912] + +[Footnote 1912: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 156.] + +The Hussites of those days were abhorred and execrated throughout +Christendom. They demanded the free preaching of God's word, communion +in both kinds, and the return of the Church to that evangelical life +which allowed neither the wealth of priests nor the temporal power of +popes. They desired the punishment of sin by the civil magistrates, a +custom which could prevail only in very holy society. They were saints +indeed and heretics too on every possible point. Pope Martin held the +destruction of these wicked persons to be salutary, and such was the +opinion of every good Catholic. But how could this armed heresy be +dealt with when it routed all the forces of the Empire and the Holy +See? The Hussites were too much for that worn-out ancient chivalry of +Christendom, for the knighthood of France and of Germany, which was +good for nothing but to be thrown on to the refuse heaps like so much +old iron. And this was precisely what the towns of the realm of France +did when over these knights of chivalry they placed a peasant +girl.[1913] + +[Footnote 1913: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 24, 86, 87. J. Zeller, +_Histoire d'Allemagne_, vol. vii, _La réforme_, Paris, 1891, pp. 78 +_et seq._ E. Denis, _Jean Hus et la guerre des Hussites_ (1879); _Les +origines de l'Unité des Frères Bohêmes_, Angers, 1885, in 8vo, pp. 5 +_et seq._] + +At Tachov, in 1427, the Crusaders, blessed by the Holy Father, had +fled at the mere sound of the chariot wheels of the Procops.[1914] Pope +Martin knew not where to turn for defenders of Holy Church, one and +indivisible. He had paid for the armament of five thousand English +crusaders, which the Cardinal of Winchester was to lead against these +accursed Bohemians; but in this force the Holy Father was cruelly +disappointed; hardly had his five thousand crusaders landed in France, +than the Regent of England diverted them from their route and sent +them to Brie to occupy the attention of the Maid of the +Armagnacs.[1915] + +[Footnote 1914: Two of the great leaders of the Hussites who held large +parts of central Germany in terror from 1419-1434 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1915: L. Paris, _Cabinet historique_, vol. i, 1855, pp. 74, +76. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 294. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 132, +133, 136, 137, 168, 169, 188, 189; vol. iv, supplement, xvii.] + +Since her coming into France Jeanne had spoken of the crusade as a +work good and meritorious. In the letter dictated before the +expedition to Orléans, she summoned the English to join the French and +go together to fight against the Church's foe. And later, writing to +the Duke of Burgundy, she invited the son of the Duke vanquished at +Nicopolis to make war against the Turks.[1916] Who but the mendicants +directing her can have put these crusading ideas into Jeanne's head? +Immediately after the deliverance of Orléans it was said that she +would lead King Charles to the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre and that +she would die in the Holy Land.[1917] At the same time it was rumoured +that she would make war on the Hussites. In the month of July, 1429, +when the coronation campaign had barely begun, it was proclaimed in +Germany, on the faith of a prophetess of Rome, that by a prophetess of +France the Bohemian kingdom should be recovered.[1918] + +[Footnote 1916: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 240; vol. v, p. 126.] + +[Footnote 1917: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 82-85. Christine de Pisan, in +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 416. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 60-63.] + +[Footnote 1918: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 108, 115, 188.] + +Already zealous for the Crusade against the Turks, the Maid was now +equally eager for the Crusade against the Hussites. Turks or +Bohemians, it was all alike to her. Of one and the other her only +knowledge lay in the stories full of witchcraft related to her by the +mendicants of her company. Touching the Hussites, stories were told, +not all true, but which Jeanne must have believed; and they cannot +have pleased her. It was said that they worshipped the devil, and that +they called him "the wronged one." It was told that as works of piety +they committed all manner of fornication. Every Bohemian was said to +be possessed by a hundred demons. They were accused of killing +thousands of churchmen. Again, and this time with truth, they were +charged with burning churches and monasteries. The Maid believed in +the God who commanded Israel to wipe out the Philistines from the face +of the earth. But recently there had arisen Cathari who held the God +of the Old Testament to be none other than Lucifer or Luciabelus, +author of evil, liar and murderer. The Cathari abhorred war; they +refused to shed blood; they were heretics; they had been massacred, +and none remained. The Maid believed in good faith that the +extirpation of the Hussites was a work pleasing to God. Men more +learned than she, not like her addicted to chivalry, but of gentle +life, clerks like the Chancellor Jean Gerson, believed it +likewise.[1919] Of these Bohemian heretics she thought what every one +thought: her opinions were those of the multitude; her views were +modelled on public opinion. Wherefore in all the simplicity of her +heart she hated the Hussites, but she feared them not, because she +feared nothing and because she believed, God helping her, that she was +able to overcome all the English, all the Turks, and all the Bohemians +in the world. At the first trumpet call she was ready to sally forth +against them. On the 23rd of March, 1430, Brother Pasquerel sent the +Emperor Sigismund a letter written in the name of the Maid and +intended for the Hussites of Bohemia. This letter was indited in +Latin. The following is the purport of it: + +[Footnote 1919: Lea, _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_, +vol. ii, p. 481 (1906).] + + JESUS [cross symbol] MARIE + + Long ago there reached me the tidings that ye from the true + Christians that ye once were have become heretics, like unto + the Saracens, that ye have abolished true religion and + worship and have turned to a superstition corrupt and fatal, + the which in your zeal to maintain and to spread abroad + there be no shame nor cruelty ye do not dare to perpetrate. + You defile the sacraments of the Church, tear to pieces the + articles of her faith, overthrow her temples. The images + which were made for similitudes you break and throw into the + fire. Finally such Christians as embrace not your faith you + massacre. What fury, what folly, what rage possesses you? + That religion which God the All Powerful, which the Son, + which the Holy Ghost raised up, instituted, exalted and + revealed in a thousand manners, by a thousand miracles, ye + persecute, ye employ all arts to overturn and to + exterminate. + + It is you, you who are blind and not those who have not eyes + nor sight. Think ye that ye will go unpunished? Do ye not + know that if God prevent not your impious violence, if he + suffer you to grope on in darkness and in error, it is that + he is preparing for you a greater sorrow and a greater + punishment? As for me, in good sooth, were I not occupied + with the English wars, I would have already come against + you. But in very deed if I learn not that ye have turned + from your wicked ways, I will peradventure leave the English + and hasten against you, in order that I may destroy by the + sword your vain and violent superstition, if I can do so in + no other manner, and that I may rid you either of heresy or + of life. Notwithstanding, if you prefer to return to the + Catholic faith and to the light of primitive days, send unto + me your ambassadors and I will tell them what ye must do. If + on the other hand ye will be stiff-necked and kick against + the pricks, then remember all the crimes and offences ye + have perpetrated and look for to see me coming unto you with + all strength divine and human to render unto you again all + the evil ye have done unto others. + + Given at Sully, on the 23rd of March, to the Bohemian + heretics. + + Signed. Pasquerel.[1920] + +[Footnote 1920: Th. de Sickel, _Lettre de Jeanne d'Arc aux Hussites_, +in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, 3rd series, vol. ii, p. 81. +A wrong date is given in the German translation used by Quicherat, +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 156-159.] + +This was the letter sent to the Emperor. How had Jeanne really +expressed herself in her dialect savouring alike of the speech of +Champagne and of that of l'Île de France? There can be no doubt but +that her letter had been sadly embellished by the good Brother. Such +Ciceronian language cannot have proceeded from the Maid. It is all +very well to say that a saint of those days could do everything, could +prophesy on any subject and in any tongue, so fine an epistle remains +far too rhetorical to have been composed by a damsel whom even the +Armagnac captains considered simple. Nevertheless, a careful +examination will reveal in this missive, at any rate in the second +half of it, certain of those bluntly naive passages and some of that +childish assurance which are noticeable in Jeanne's genuine letters, +especially in her reply to the Count of Armagnac;[1921] and more than +once there occurs an expression characteristic of a village sibyl. The +following, for example, is quite in Jeanne's own manner: "If you will +return to the bosom of the Catholic Church, send me your ambassadors; +I will tell you what you have to do." And her usual threat: "Expect me +with all strength human and divine."[1922] As for the phrase: "If I +hear not shortly of your conversion, of your return to the bosom of +the Church, I will peradventure leave the English and come against +you," here we may suspect the mendicant friar, less interested in the +affairs of Charles VII than in those of the Church, of having ascribed +to the Maid greater eagerness to set forth on the Crusade than she +really felt. Good and salutary as she deemed the taking of the Cross, +as far as we know her, she would never have consented to take it until +she had driven the English out of the realm of France. She believed +this to be her mission, and the persistence, the consistency, the +strength of will she evinced in its fulfilment, are truly admirable. +It is quite probable that she dictated to the good Brother some phrase +like: "When I have put the English out of the kingdom, I will turn +against you." This would explain and excuse Brother Pasquerel's error. +It is very likely that Jeanne believed she would dispose of the +English in a trice and that she already saw herself distributing good +buffets and sound clouts to the renegade and infidel Bohemians. The +Maid's simplicity makes itself felt through the clerk's Latin. This +epistle to the Bohemians recalls, alas! that fagot placed upon the +stake whereon John Huss was burning, by the pious zeal of the good +wife whose saintly simplicity John Huss himself teaches us to admire. + +[Footnote 1921: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 246.] + +[Footnote 1922: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 95.] + +One cannot help reflecting that Jeanne and those very men against whom +she hurled menace and invective had much in common; alike they were +impelled by faith, chastity, simple ignorance, pious duty, resignation +to God's will, and a tendency to magnify the minor matters of +devotion. Zizka[1923] had established in his camp that purity of morals +which the Maid was endeavouring to introduce among the Armagnacs. The +peasant soldiers of Bohemia and the peasant Maid of France bearing her +sword amidst mendicant monks had much in common. On the one hand and +on the other, we have the religious spirit in the place of the +political spirit, the fear of sin in the place of obedience to the +civil law, the spiritual introduced into the temporal. Here is indeed +a woeful sight and a piteous; the devout set one against the other, +the innocent against the innocent, the simple against the simple, the +heretic against heretics; and it is painful to think that when she is +threatening with extermination the disciples of that John Huss, who +had been treacherously taken and burned as a heretic, she herself is +on the point of being sold to her enemies and condemned to suffer as a +witch. It would have been different if this letter, at which the +accomplished wits and humorists of the day looked askance, had won the +approval of theologians. But they also found fault with it, an +illustrious canonist, a zealous inquisitor deemed highly presumptuous +this threatening of a multitude of men by a Maid.[1924] + +[Footnote 1923: Another of the Hussite leaders (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 1924: J. Nider, _Formicarium_ in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. +502-504.] + +We were right in saying that she was not prepared to leave the English +immediately and hasten against the Bohemians. Five days after her +appeal to the Hussites she wrote to her friends at Reims and in +mysterious words gave them to understand that she would come to them +shortly.[1925] + +[Footnote 1925: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 161, 162.] + +The partisans of Duke Philip were at that time hatching plots in the +towns of Champagne, notably at Troyes and at Reims. On the 22nd of +February, 1430, a canon and a chaplain were arrested and brought +before the chapter for having conspired to deliver the city to the +English. It was well for them that they belonged to the Church, for +having been condemned to perpetual imprisonment, they obtained from +the King a mitigation of their sentence, and the canon a complete +remittance.[1926] The aldermen and ecclesiastics of the city, fearing +they would be thought badly of on the other side of the Loire, wrote +to the Maid entreating her to speak well of them to the King. The +following is her reply to their request:[1927] + +[Footnote 1926: _Ibid._, vol. iv, p. 299, and H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc +à Reims_, pp. 60 _et seq._ Mémoires de Pierre Coquault, _ibid._, pp. +109 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1927: This letter was published by J. Quicherat, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 161, 162, and by M. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, pp. +106, 107 and document XVI, according to Rogier's inaccurate copy. The +original which had disappeared from the municipal archives at Reims +was considered to be lost; but it has been found in the possession of +the Count de Maleissye. Cf. the reproduction by A. Marty and M. Lepet, +_L'histoire de Jeanne d'Arc.... Cent facsimilés de manuscrits, de +miniatures_, Paris, 1907, in large 4to. Here for the first time is to +be found a text correct according to the original document.] + + "Very good friends and beloved, may it please you to wit + that I have received your letters, the which make mention + how it hath been reported to the King that within the city + of Reims there be many wicked persons. Therefore I give you + to wit that it is indeed true that even such things have + been reported to him and that he grieves much that there be + folk in alliance with the Burgundians; that they would + betray the town and bring the Burgundians into it. But since + then the King has known the contrary by means of the + assurance ye have sent him, and he is well pleased with you. + And ye may believe that ye stand well in his favour; and if + ye have need, he would help you with regard to the siege; + and he knows well that ye have much to suffer from the + hardness of those treacherous Burgundians, your adversaries: + thus may God in his pleasure deliver you shortly, that is as + soon as may be. So I pray and entreat you my friends dearly + beloved that ye hold well the said city for the King and + that ye keep good watch. Ye will soon have good tidings of + me at greater length. Other things for the present I write + not unto you save that the whole of Brittany is French and + that the Duke is to send to the King three thousand + combatants paid for two months. To God I commend you, may he + keep you. + + Written at Sully, the 28th of March. + + Jehanne.[1928] + + Addressed to: My good friends and dearly beloved, the + churchmen, aldermen, burgesses and inhabitants and masters + of the good town of Reyms."[1929] + +[Footnote 1928: The signature appears to be autograph. It differs from +the two identical signatures of the letters from Riom and Reims (see +_ante_, p. 108, note 1); and it bears trace of the resistance of a +hand which was being guided.] + +[Footnote 1929: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 161, 162. Varin, _Archives +législatives de la ville de Reims_, vol. i, p. 596. H. Jadart, _Jeanne +d'Arc à Reims_, pp. 106, 107.] + +Touching the succour to be expected from the Duke of Brittany, the +Maid was labouring under a delusion. Like all other prophetesses she +was ignorant of what was passing around her. Despite her failures, she +believed in her good fortune; she doubted herself no more than she +doubted God; and she was eager to pursue the fulfilment of her +mission. "Ye shall soon have tidings of me," she said to the townsfolk +of Reims. A few days after, and she left Sully to go into France and +fight, on the expiration of the truces. + +It has been said that she feigned an expedition of pleasure and set +out without taking leave of the King, that it was a kind of innocent +stratagem, an honourable flight.[1930] But it was nothing of the +sort.[1931] The Maid gathered a company of some hundred horse, +sixty-eight archers and cross-bowmen, and two trumpeters, commanded by +a Lombard captain, Bartolomeo Baretta.[1932] In this company were +Italian men-at-arms, bearing broad shields, like some who had come to +Orléans at the time of the siege; possibly they were the same.[1933] +She set out at the head of this company, with her brothers and her +steward, the Sire Jean d'Aulon. She was in the hands of Jean d'Aulon, +and Jean d'Aulon was in the hands of the Sire de la Trémouille, to +whom he owed money.[1934] The good squire would not have followed the +Maid against the King's will. + +[Footnote 1930: Perceval de Cagny, who was in the pay of the Duke of +Alençon, is the only chronicler to suggest it, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 1931: "In the year 1430, Jeanne the Maid started from the +country of Berry accompanied by divers fighting men...." Jean +Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 120.] + +[Footnote 1932: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 120. Martial +d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, ed. Coustellier, vol. i, p. 117. Note +concerning G. de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 177. P. Champion, +_Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 36, note 2.] + +[Footnote 1933: _Journal du siège_, p. 12.] + +[Footnote 1934: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. +293, note 3. True, the loan was made later; none the less the +dependence of Jean d'Aulon on the Sire de la Trémouille existed at +this time.] + +The flying squadron of _béguines_ had recently been divided by a +schism. Friar Richard, who was then in high favour with Queen Marie, +and who had preached the Lenten sermons of 1430[1935] at Orléans, +stayed behind, on the Loire, with Catherine de la Rochelle. Jeanne +took with her Pierronne and the younger Breton prophetess.[1936] If she +went into France, it was not without the knowledge or against the will +of the King and his Council. Very probably the Chancellor of the +kingdom had asked La Trémouille to send her in order that he might +employ her in the approaching campaign against the Burgundians, who +were threatening his government of Beauvais and his city of +Reims.[1937] He was not very kindly disposed towards her, but already +he had made use of her and he intended to do so again. Possibly his +intention was to employ her in a fresh attack on Paris. + +[Footnote 1935: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 99, note. _Journal du siège_, pp. +235, 238.] + +[Footnote 1936: This comes from the _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, +p. 271.] + +[Footnote 1937: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 159, 160.] + +The King had not abandoned the idea of taking his great city by the +peaceful methods he always preferred. Throughout Lent, between Sully +and Paris, there had been a constant passing to and fro of certain +Carmelite monks of Melun, disguised as artisans. These were the +churchmen who, during the attack on the Porte Saint Honoré, on the Day +of the Festival of Our Lady, had stirred up the popular rising which +had spread from one bank of the Seine to the other. Now they were +negotiating with certain influential citizens the entrance of the +King's men into the rebel city. The Prior of the Melun Carmelites was +directing the conspiracy.[1938] There is reason to believe that Jeanne +had herself seen him or one of his monks. True it is that since the +22nd or the 23rd of March it was known at Sully that the conspiracy +had been discovered;[1939] but perhaps the hope of success still +lingered. It was to Melun that Jeanne went with her company; and it is +difficult to believe that there was no connection between the +conspiracy of the Carmelites and the expedition of the Maid. + +[Footnote 1938: The Pardon of Jean de Calais in A. Longnon, _Paris sous +la domination anglaise_, pp. 301-309. Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, +vol. i, pp. 34-50.] + +[Footnote 1939: So it appears from Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 274-275.] + +Why should Charles VII's Councillors have ceased to employ her? It +cannot be said that she appeared less divine to the French or less +evil to the English. Her failures, either unknown, or partially known, +rendered unimportant by the fame of her victories, had not dispelled +the idea that within her resided invincible power. At the time when +the hapless damsel with the flower of French knighthood was receiving +sore treatment under the walls of La Charité at the hands of an +ex-mason's apprentice, in Burgundian lands it was rumoured that she +was carrying by storm a castle twelve miles from Paris.[1940] She was +still considered miraculous; the burgesses, the men-at-arms of her +party still believed in her. And as for the _Godons_, from the Regent +to the humblest swordsman of the army, they all regarded her with a +terror as great as that which had possessed them at Orléans and Patay. +At this time so many English soldiers and captains refused to go to +France, that a special edict was issued obliging them to do so.[1941] +But they doubtless discovered reasons enough for not going into a +country where henceforth they could hope only for hard knocks and +nothing tempting; so that many declined, terrified by the enchantments +of the Maid.[1942] + +[Footnote 1940: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 228-231. Concerning Perrinet +Gressart see vol. i, p. 389.] + +[Footnote 1941: May 3, 1430.] + +[Footnote 1942: G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La panique anglaise_. Le P. +Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iii, pp. 572-574.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MAID IN THE TRENCHES OF MELUN--LE SEIGNEUR DE L'OURS--THE CHILD OF +LAGNY + + +In Easter week, Jeanne, at the head of a band of mercenaries, is +before the walls of Melun.[1943] She arrives just in time to fight. The +truces have expired.[1944] Is it possible that the town which was +subject to King Charles[1945] can have refused to admit the Maid with +her company when she came to it so generously? Apparently it was so. +Was Jeanne able to communicate with the Carmelites of Melun? Probably. +What misfortune befell her at the gates of the town? Did she suffer +ill treatment at the hands of a Burgundian band? We know not. But when +she was in the trenches she heard Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret +saying unto her: "Thou wilt be taken before Saint John's Day." + +[Footnote 1943: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 115, 253, April 17-23. Perceval de +Cagny, p. 173. _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 502 recto. P. +Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 158, note 2.] + +[Footnote 1944: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 363 (April 16).] + +[Footnote 1945: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 125. Monstrelet, +vol. iv, p. 378. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 28. Melun certainly belonged +to the French on the 23rd of April, 1430.] + +And she entreated them: "When I am taken, let me die immediately +without suffering long." And the Voices repeated that she would be +taken and thus it must be. + +And they added gently: "Be not troubled, be resigned. God will help +thee."[1946] + +[Footnote 1946: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 114-116. G. Leroy, _Histoire de +Melun_, Melun, 1887, in 8vo, ch. xvi ... x ... [Transcriber's Note: +ellipses in original] _Jeanne d'Arc à Melun, mi-avril_, 1430, Melun, +1896, 32 pp.] + +Saint John's Day was the 24th of June, in less than ten weeks. Many a +time after that, Jeanne asked her saints at what hour she would be +taken; but they did not tell her; and thus doubting she ceased to +follow her own ideas and consulted the captains.[1947] + +[Footnote 1947: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 147.] + +On her way from Melun to Lagny-sur-Marne, in the month of May, she had +to pass Corbeil. It was probably then, and in her company, that the +two devout women from Lower Brittany, Pierronne and her younger sister +in the spirit, were taken at Corbeil by the English.[1948] + +[Footnote 1948: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 259.] + +For eight months the town of Lagny had been subject to King Charles +and governed by Messire Ambroise de Loré, who was energetically waging +war against the English of Paris and elsewhere.[1949] For the nonce +Messire Ambroise de Loré was absent; but his lieutenant, Messire Jean +Foucault, commanded the garrison. Shortly after Jeanne's coming to +this town, tidings were brought that a company of between three and +four hundred men of Picardy and of Champagne, fighting for the Duke of +Burgundy, after having ranged through l'Île de France, were now on +their way back to Picardy with much booty. Their captain was a valiant +man-at-arms, one Franquet d'Arras.[1950] The French determined to cut +off their retreat. Under the command of Messire Jean Foucault, Messire +Geoffroy de Saint-Bellin, Lord Hugh Kennedy, a Scotchman, and Captain +Baretta, they sallied forth from the town.[1951] + +[Footnote 1949: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 334, 335. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 110, 111. F.A. Denis, _Le séjour de Jeanne +d'Arc à Lagny_, Lagny, 1894, in 8vo, pp. 3 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 1950: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 384. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 120, 121. Perceval de Cagny, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 1951: Jean Chartier, _loc. cit._ Martial d'Auvergne, +_Vigiles_, vol. i, p. 117. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 38, +note.] + +The Maid went with them. They encountered the Burgundians near Lagny, +but failed to surprise them. Messire Franquet's archers had had time +to take up their position with their backs to a hedge, in the English +manner. King Charles's men barely outnumbered the enemy. A certain +clerk of that time, a Frenchman, writes of the engagement. His innate +ingeniousness was invincible. With candid common sense he states that +this very slight numerical superiority rendered the enterprise very +arduous and difficult for his party.[1952] And the battle was strong +indeed. The Burgundians were mightily afraid of the Maid because they +believed her to be a witch and in command of armies of devils; +notwithstanding, they fought right valiantly. Twice the French were +repulsed; but they returned to the attack, and finally the Burgundians +were all slain or taken.[1953] + +[Footnote 1952: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 121.] + +[Footnote 1953: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 384.] + +The conquerers returned to Lagny, loaded with booty and taking with +them their prisoners, among whom was Messire Franquet d'Arras. Of +noble birth and the lord of a manor, he was entitled to expect that he +would be held to ransom, according to custom. Both Jean de Troissy, +Bailie of Senlis,[1954] and the Maid demanded him from the soldier who +was his captor. It was to the Maid that he was finally delivered.[1955] +Did she obtain him in return for money? Probably, for soldiers were +not accustomed to give up noble and profitable prisoners for nothing. +Nevertheless, the Maid, when questioned on this subject, replied, that +being neither mistress nor steward of France, it was not for her to +give out money. We must suppose, therefore, that some one paid for +her. However that may be, Captain Franquet d'Arras was given up to +her, and she endeavoured to exchange him for a prisoner in the hands +of the English. The man whom she thus desired to deliver was a +Parisian who was called Le Seigneur de l'Ours.[1956] + +[Footnote 1954: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc à Reims_, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 1955: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 158.] + +[Footnote 1956: _Ibid._, pp. 158, 159.] + +He was not of gentle birth and his arms were the sign of his hostelry. +It was the custom in those days to give the title of Seigneur to the +masters of the great Paris inns. Thus Colin, who kept the inn at the +Temple Gate, was known as Seigneur du Boisseau. The hôtel de l'Ours +stood in the Rue Saint-Antoine, near the Gate properly called La Porte +Baudoyer, but commonly known as Porte Baudet, Baudet possessing the +double advantage over Baudoyer of being shorter and more +comprehensible.[1957] It was an ancient and famous inn, equal in renown +to the most famous, to the inn of L'Arbre Sec, in the street of that +name, to the Fleur de Lis near the Pont Neuf, to the Epée in the Rue +Saint-Denis, and to the Chapeau Fétu of the Rue Croix-du-Tirouer. As +early as King Charles V's reign the inn was much frequented. Before +huge fires the spits were turning all day long, and there were hot +bread, fresh herrings, and wine of Auxerre in plenty. But since then +the plunderings of men-at-arms had laid waste the countryside, and +travellers no longer ventured forth for fear of being robbed and +slain. Knights and pilgrims had ceased coming into the town. Only +wolves came by night and devoured little children in the streets. +There were no fagots in the grate, no dough in the kneading-trough. +Armagnacs and Burgundians had drunk all the wine, laid waste all the +vineyards, and nought was left in the cellar save a poor piquette of +apples and of plums.[1958] + +[Footnote 1957: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 71, 72. Sauval, +_Antiquités de Paris_, vol. i, p. 104. A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la +domination anglaise_, p. 118. H. Legrand, _Paris en 1380_, Paris, +1868, in 4to, p. 65.] + +[Footnote 1958: _Piquette_, a sour wine or cider, made from the residue +of grapes or apples. A kind of second brewing (W.S.). _Journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 150, 154, 156, 187. Francisque-Michel and +Edouard Fournier, _Histoire des hôtelleries, cabarets, hôtels garnis_, +Paris, 1851 (2 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, p. 5.] + +The Seigneur de l'Ours, whom the Maid demanded, was called Jaquet +Guillaume.[1959] Although Jeanne, like other folk, called him Seigneur, +it is not certain that he personally directed his inn, nor even that +the inn was open through these years of disaster and desolation. The +only ascertainable fact is that he was the proprietor of the house +with the sign of the Bear (_l'Ours_). He held it by right of his wife +Jeannette, and had come into possession of it in the following manner. + +[Footnote 1959: A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la domination anglaise_, p. +117.] + +Fourteen years before, when King Henry with his knighthood had not yet +landed in France, the host of the Bear Inn had been the King's +sergeant-at-arms, one Jean Roche, a man of wealth and fair fame. He +was a devoted follower of the Duke of Burgundy, and that was what +ruined him. Paris was then occupied by the Armagnacs. In the year +1416, in order to turn them out of the city, Jean Roche concerted with +divers burgesses. The plot was to be carried out on Easter Day, which +that year fell on the 29th of April. But the Armagnacs discovered it. +They threw the conspirators into prison and brought them to trial. On +the first Saturday in May the Seigneur de l'Ours was carried to the +market place in a tumbrel with Durand de Brie, a dyer, master of the +sixty cross-bowmen of Paris, and Jean Perquin, pin-maker and brasier. +All three were beheaded, and the body of the Seigneur de l'Ours was +hanged at Montfaucon where it remained until the entrance of the +Burgundians. Six weeks after their coming, in July, 1418, his body was +taken down from gibbet and buried in consecrated ground.[1960] + +[Footnote 1960: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 71, 72. A. +Longnon, _Paris pendant la domination anglaise_, p. 118, note 1.] + +Now the widow of Jean Roche had a daughter by a first marriage. Her +name was Jeannette; she took for her first husband a certain Bernard +le Breton; for her second, Jaquet Guillaume, who was not rich. He owed +money to Maître Jean Fleury, a clerk at law and the King's secretary. +His wife's affairs were not more prosperous; her father's goods had +been confiscated and she had been obliged to redeem a part of her +maternal inheritance. In 1424, the couple were short of money, and +they sold a house, concealing the fact that it was mortgaged. Being +charged by the purchaser, they were thrown into prison, where they +aggravated their offence by suborning two witnesses, one a priest, the +other a chambermaid. Fortunately for them, they procured a +pardon.[1961] + +[Footnote 1961: A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la domination anglaise_, pp. +119-123.] + +The Jaquet Guillaume couple, therefore, were in a sorry plight. There +remained to them, however, the inheritance of Jean Roche, the inn near +the Place Baudet, at the sign of the Bear, the title of which Jaquet +Guillaume bore. This second Seigneur de l'Ours was to be as strongly +Armagnac as the other had been Burgundian, and was to pay the same +price for his opinions. + +Six years had passed since his release from prison, when, in the March +of 1430, there was plotted by the Carmelites of Melun and certain +burgesses of Paris that conspiracy which we mentioned on the occasion +of Jeanne's departure for l'Île de France. It was not the first plot +into which the Carmelites had entered; they had plotted that rising +which had been on the point of breaking out on the Day of the +Nativity, when the Maid was leading the attack near La Porte +Saint-Honoré; but never before had so many burgesses and so many +notables entered into a conspiracy. A clerk of the Treasury, Maître +Jean de la Chapelle, two magistrates of the Châtelet, Maître Renaud +Savin and Maître Pierre Morant, a very wealthy man, named Jean de +Calais, burgesses, merchants, artisans, more than one hundred and +fifty persons, held the threads of this vast web, and among them, +Jaquet Guillaume, Seigneur de l'Ours. + +The Carmelites of Melun directed the whole. Clad as artisans, they +went from King to burgesses, from burgesses to King; they kept up the +communications between those within and those without, and regulated +all the details of the enterprise. One of them asked the conspirators +for a written undertaking to bring the King's men into the city. Such +a demand looks as if the majority of the conspirators were in the pay +of the Royal Council. + +In exchange for this undertaking these monks brought acts of oblivion +signed by the King. For the people of Paris to be induced to receive +the Prince, whom they still called Dauphin, they must needs be assured +of a full and complete amnesty. For more than ten years, while the +English and Burgundians had been holding the town, no one had felt +altogether free from the reproach of their lawful sovereign and the +men of his party. And all the more desirous were they for Charles of +Valois to forget the past when they recalled the cruel vengeance taken +by the Armagnacs after the suppression of the Butchers. + +One of the conspirators, Jaquet Perdriel, advocated the sounding of a +trumpet and the reading of the acts of oblivion on Sunday at the Porte +Baudet. + +"I have no doubt," he said, "but that we shall be joined by the +craftsmen, who, in great numbers will flock to hear the reading." + +He intended leading them to the Saint Antoine Gate and opening it to +the King's men who were lying in ambush close by. + +Some eighty or a hundred Scotchmen, dressed as Englishmen, wearing the +Saint Andrew's cross, were then to enter the town, bringing in fish +and cattle. + +"They will enter boldly by the Saint-Denys Gate," said Perdriel, "and +take possession of it. Whereupon the King's men will enter in force by +the Porte Saint Antoine." + +The plan was deemed good, except that it was considered better for the +King's men to come in by the Saint-Denys Gate. + +On Sunday, the 12th of March, the second Sunday in Lent, Maître Jean +de la Chapelle invited the magistrate Renaud Savin to come to the +tavern of _La Pomme de Pin_ and meet divers other conspirators in +order to arrive at an understanding touching what was best to be done. +They decided that on a certain day, under pretext of going to see his +vines at Chapelle-Saint-Denys, Jean de Calais should join the King's +men outside the walls, make himself known to them by unfurling a white +standard and bring them into the town. It was further determined that +Maître Morant and a goodly company of citizens with him, should hold +themselves in readiness in the taverns of the Rue Saint-Denys to +support the French when they came in. In one of the taverns of this +street must have been the Seigneur de l'Ours, who, dwelling near by, +had undertaken to bring together divers folk of the neighbourhood. + +The conspirators were acting in perfect agreement. All they now +awaited was to be informed of the day chosen by the Royal Council; and +they believed the attempt was to be made on the following Sunday. But +on the 21st of March Brother Pierre d'Allée, Prior of the Carmelites +of Melun, was taken by the English. Put to the torture, he confessed +the plot and named his accomplices. On the information he gave, more +than one hundred and fifty persons were arrested and tried. On the 8th +of April, the Eve of Palm Sunday, seven of the most important were +taken to the market-place on a tumbrel. They were: Jean de la +Chapelle, clerk of the Treasury; Renaud Savin and Pierre Morant, +magistrates at the Châtelet; Guillaume Perdriau; Jean le François, +called Baudrin; Jean le Rigueur, baker, and Jaquet Guillaume, Seigneur +de l'Ours. All seven were beheaded by the executioner, who afterwards +quartered the bodies of Jean de la Chapelle and of Baudrin. + +Jaquet Perdriel was merely deprived of his possessions. Jean de Calais +soon procured a pardon. Jeannette, the wife of Jaquet Guillaume, was +banished from the kingdom and her goods confiscated.[1962] + +[Footnote 1962: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 251, 253. +Falconbridge, in A. Longnon, _Paris pendant la domination anglaise_, +p. 302, note 1. Sauval, _Antiquités de Paris_, vol. iii, p. 536. +Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 140. +Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 274 _et seq._] + +How can the Maid have known the Seigneur de l'Ours? Possibly the +Carmelites of Melun had recommended him to her, and perhaps it was on +their advice that she demanded his surrender. She may have seen him in +the September of 1429, at Saint-Denys or before the walls of Paris, +and he may have then undertaken to work for the Dauphin and his party. +Why were attempts made at Lagny to save this man alone of the one +hundred and fifty Parisians arrested on the information of Brother +Pierre d'Allée? Rather than Renaud Savin and Pierre Morant, +magistrates at the Châtelet, rather than Jean de la Chapelle, clerk of +the Treasury, why choose the meanest of the band? And how could they +look to exchange a man accused of treachery for a prisoner of war? All +this seems to us mysterious and inexplicable. + +In the early days of May, Jeanne did not know what had become of +Jaquet Guillaume. When she heard that he had been tried and put to +death she was sore grieved and vexed. None the less, she looked upon +Franquet as a captive held to ransom. But the Bailie of Senlis, who +for some unknown reason was determined on the captain's ruin, took +advantage of the Maid's vexation at Jaquet Guillaume's execution, and +persuaded her to give up her prisoner. + +He represented to her that this man had committed many a murder, many +a theft, that he was a traitor, and that consequently he ought to be +brought to trial. + +"You will be neglecting to execute justice," he said, "if you set this +Franquet free." + +These reasons decided her, or rather she yielded to the Bailie's +entreaty. + +"Since the man I wished to have is dead," she said, "do with Franquet +as justice shall require you."[1963] + +[Footnote 1963: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 158, 159.] + +Thus she surrendered her prisoner. Was she right or wrong? Before +deciding we must ask whether it were possible for her to do otherwise +than she did. She was the Maid of God, the angel of the Lord of Hosts, +that is clear. But the leaders of war, the captains, paid no great +heed to what she said. As for the Bailie, he was the King's man, of +noble birth and passing powerful. + +Assisted by the judges of Lagny, he himself conducted the trial. The +accused confessed that he was a murderer, a thief, and a traitor. We +must believe him; and yet we cannot forbear a doubt as to whether he +really was, any more than the majority of Armagnac or Burgundian +men-at-arms, any more than a Damoiseau de Commercy or a Guillaume de +Flavy, for example. He was condemned to death. + +Jeanne consented that he should die, if he had deserved death, and +seeing that he had confessed his crimes[1964] he was beheaded. + +[Footnote 1964: _Ibid._, p. 159.] + +When they heard of the scandalous treatment of Messire Franquet, the +Burgundians were loud in their sorrow and indignation.[1965] It would +seem that in this matter the Bailie of Senlis and the judges of Lagny +did not act according to custom. We, however, are not sufficiently +acquainted with the circumstances to form an opinion. There may have +been some reason, of which we are ignorant, why the King of France +should have demanded this prisoner. He had a right to do so on +condition that he paid the Maid the amount of the ransom. A soldier of +those days, well informed in all things touching honour in war, was +the author of _Le Jouvencel_. In his chivalrous romances he writes +approvingly of the wise Amydas, King of Amydoine, who, learning that +one of his enemies, the Sire de Morcellet, has been taken in battle +and held to ransom, cries out that he is the vilest of traitors, +ransoms him with good coins of the realm, and hands him over to the +provost of the town and the officers of his council that they may +execute justice upon him.[1966] Such was the royal prerogative. + +[Footnote 1965: _Ibid._, p. 254. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 385. E. +Richer, _Histoire manuscrite de la Pucelle_, book i, folio 82.] + +[Footnote 1966: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, pp. 210, 211.] + +Whether it was that camp life was hardening her, or whether, like all +mystics, she was subject to violent changes of mood, Jeanne showed at +Lagny none of that gentleness she had displayed on the evening of +Patay. The virgin who once had no other arm in battle than her +standard, now wielded a sword found there, at Lagny, a Burgundian +sword and a trusty. Those who regarded her as an angel of the Lord, +good Brother Pasquerel, for example, might justify her by saying that +the Archangel Saint Michael, the standard-bearer of celestial hosts, +bore a flaming sword. And indeed Jeanne remained a saint. + +While she was at Lagny, folk came and told her that a child had died +at birth, unbaptized.[1967] Having entered into the mother at the time +of her conception, the devil held the soul of this child, who, for +lack of water, had died the enemy of its Creator. The greatest anxiety +was felt concerning the fate of this soul. Some thought it was in +limbo, banished forever from God's sight, but the more general and +better founded opinion was that it was seething in hell; for has not +Saint Augustine demonstrated that souls, little as well as great, are +damned because of original sin. And how could it be otherwise, seeing +that Eve's fall had effaced the divine likeness in this child? He was +destined to eternal death. And to think that with a few drops of water +this death might have been avoided! So terrible a disaster afflicted +not only the poor creature's kinsfolk, but likewise the neighbours and +all good Christians in the town of Lagny. The body was carried to the +Church of Saint-Pierre and placed before the image of Our Lady, which +had been highly venerated ever since the plague of 1128. It was called +Notre-Dame-des-Ardents because it cured burns, and when there were no +burns to be cured it was called Notre-Dame-des-Aidants, or rather Des +Aidances, that is, Our Lady the Helper, because she granted succour to +those in dire necessity.[1968] + +[Footnote 1967: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 1968: A. Denis, _Jeanne d'Arc à Lagny_, Lagny, 1896, in 8vo, +pp. 4 _et seq._ J.A. Lepaire, _Jeanne d'Arc à Lagny_, Lagny, 1880, in +8vo, 38 pages.] + +The maidens of the town knelt before her, the little body in their +midst, beseeching her to intercede with her divine Son so that this +little child might have his share in the Redemption brought by our +Saviour.[1969] In such cases the Holy Virgin did not always deny her +powerful intervention. Here it may not be inappropriate to relate a +miracle she had worked thirty-seven years before. + +[Footnote 1969: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 105.] + +At Paris, in 1393, a sinful creature, finding herself with child, +concealed her pregnancy, and, when her time was come, was without aid +delivered. Then, having stuffed linen into the throat of the girl she +had brought forth, she went and threw her on to the dust-heap outside +La Porte Saint-Martin-des-Champs. But a dog scented the body, and +scratching away the other refuse, discovered it. A devout woman, who +happened to be passing by, took this poor little lifeless creature, +and, followed by more than four hundred people, bore it to the Church +of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, there placed it on the altar of Our Lady, +and kneeling down with the multitude of folk and the monks of the +Abbey, with all her heart prayed the Holy Virgin not to suffer this +innocent babe to be condemned eternally. The child stirred a little, +opened her eyes, loosened the linen, which gagged her, and cried +aloud. A priest baptized her on the altar of Our Lady, and gave her +the name of Marie. A nurse was found, and she was fed from the breast. +She lived three hours, then died and was carried to consecrated +ground.[1970] + +[Footnote 1970: _Religieux de Saint-Denis_, vol. ii, p. 82. Jean +Juvénal des Ursins, in _Coll. Michaud et Poujoulat_, p. 395, col. 2.] + +In those days resurrections of unbaptized children were frequent. That +saintly Abbess, Colette of Corbie, who, when Jeanne was at Lagny, +dwelt at Moulins with the reformed Sisters of Saint Clare, had brought +back to life two of these poor creatures: a girl, who received the +name of Colette at the font and afterwards became nun, then abbess at +Pont-à-Mousson; a boy, who was said to have been two days buried and +whom the servant of the poor declared to be one of the elect. He died +at six months, thus fulfilling the prophecy made by the saint.[1971] + +[Footnote 1971: _Acta Sanctorum_, 6th of March, pp. 381 and 617. Abbé +Bizouard, _Histoire de Sainte Colette_, pp. 35, 37. Abbé Douillet, +_Sainte Colette, sa vie, ses oeuvres_, 1884, pp. 150-154.] + +With this kind of miracle Jeanne was doubtless acquainted. About +twenty-five miles from Domremy, in the duchy of Lorraine, near +Lunéville, was the sanctuary of Notre-Dame-des-Aviots, of which she +had probably heard. Notre-Dame-des-Aviots, or Our Lady of those +brought back to life, was famed for restoring life to unbaptized +children. By means of her intervention they lived again long enough to +be made Christians.[1972] + +[Footnote 1972: Le Curé de Saint-Sulpice, _Notre-Dame de France_, +Paris, in 8vo, vol. vi, 1860, p. 57.] + +In the duchy of Luxembourg, near Montmédy, on the hill of Avioth,[1973] +multitudes of pilgrims worshipped an image of Our Lady brought there +by angels. On this hill a church had been built for her, with slim +pillars and elaborate stonework in trefoils, roses and light foliage. +This statue worked all manner of miracles. At its feet were placed +children born dead; they were restored to life and straightway +baptized.[1974] + +[Footnote 1973: For the etymology of Avioth see C. Bonnabelle, _Petite +étude sur Avioth et son église_, in _Annuaire de la Meuse_, 1883, in +18mo, p. 14.] + +[Footnote 1974: Le Curé de Saint-Sulpice, _loc. cit._, vol. v, pp. 107 +_et seq._ Bonnabelle, _loc. cit._, pp. 13 _et seq._ Jacquemain, +_Notre-Dame d'Avioth et son église monumentale_, Sedan, 1876, in 8vo.] + +The folk, gathered in the Church of Saint-Pierre de Lagny, around the +statue of Notre-Dame-des-Aidances, hoped for a like grace. The damsels +of the town prayed round the child's lifeless body. The Maid was asked +to come and join them in praying to Our Lord and Our Lady. She went to +the church, and knelt down with the maidens and prayed. The child was +black, "as black as my coat," said Jeanne. When the Maid and the +damsels had prayed, it yawned three times and its colour came back. It +was baptized and straightway it died; it was buried in consecrated +ground. Throughout the town this resurrection was said to be the work +of the Maid. According to the tales in circulation, during the three +days since its birth the child had given no sign of life;[1975] but the +gossips of Lagny had doubtless extended the period of its comatose +condition, like those good wives who of a single egg laid by the +husband of one of them, made a hundred before the day was out. + +[Footnote 1975: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 105, 106.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOISSONS AND COMPIÈGNE--CAPTURE OF THE MAID + + +Leaving Lagny, the Maid presented herself before Senlis, with her own +company and with the fighting men of the French nobles whom she had +joined, in all some thousand horse. And for this force she demanded +entrance into the town. No misfortune was more feared by burgesses +than that of receiving men-at-arms, and no privilege more jealously +guarded than that of keeping them outside the walls. King Charles had +experienced it during the peaceful coronation campaign. The folk of +Senlis made answer to the Maid that, seeing the poverty of the town in +forage, corn, oats, victuals and wine, they offered her an entrance +with thirty or forty of the most notable of her company and no +more.[1976] + +[Footnote 1976: Arch. mun. of Senlis in _Musé des archives +départementales_, pp. 304, 305. J. Flammermont, _Histoire de Senlis +pendant la seconds partie de la guerre de cent ans_, p. 245. Perceval +de Cagny, p. 173. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 294, note 5.] + +It is said that from Senlis Jeanne went to the Castle of Borenglise in +the parish of Elincourt, between Compiègne and Ressons; and, in +ignorance as to what can have taken her there, it is supposed that she +made a pilgrimage to the Church of Elincourt, which was dedicated to +Saint Margaret; and it is possible that she wished to worship Saint +Margaret there as she had worshipped Saint Catherine at Fierbois, in +order to do honour to one of those heavenly ladies who visited her +every day and every hour.[1977] + +[Footnote 1977: Manuscript History of Beauvais by Hermant, in _Trial_, vol. +v, p. 165. G. Lecocq, _Étude historique sur le séjour de Jeanne d'Arc à +Elincourt-Sainte-Marguerite_, Amiens, 1879, in 8vo, 13 pages. A. Peyrecave, +_Notes sur le séjour de Jeanne d'Arc à Elincourt-Sainte-Marguerite_, +Paris, 1875, in 8vo. _Elincourt-Sainte-Marguerite, notice historique et +archéologique_, Compiègne, 1888. Ch. vii, pp. 113, 123.] + +In those days, in the town of Angers, was a licentiate of laws, canon +of the churches of Tours and Angers and Dean of Saint-Jean d'Angers. +Less than ten days before Jeanne's coming to Sainte-Marguerite +d'Elincourt, on April 18, about nine o'clock in the evening, he felt a +pain in the head, which lasted until four o'clock in the morning, and +was so severe that he thought he must die. He prayed to Saint +Catherine, for whom he professed a special devotion, and straightway +was cured. In thankfulness for so great a grace, he wended on foot to +the sanctuary of Saint Catherine of Fierbois; and there, on Friday, +the 5th of May, in a loud voice, said a mass for the King, for "the +Maid divinely worthy," and for the peace and prosperity of the +realm.[1978] + +[Footnote 1978: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 164, 165. _Les miracles de Madame +Sainte Katerine de Fierboys_, pp. 16, 62, 63.] + +The Council of King Charles had made over Pont-Sainte-Maxence to the +Duke of Burgundy, in lieu of Compiègne, which they were unable to +deliver to him since that town absolutely refused to be delivered, and +remained the King's despite the King. The Duke of Burgundy kept +Pont-Sainte-Maxence which had been granted him and resolved to take +Compiègne.[1979] + +[Footnote 1979: P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_. Proofs and +illustrations, pp. 150, 154. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 276, note 3. Note +concerning G. de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 176.] + +On the 17th of April, when the truce had expired, he took the field +with a goodly knighthood and a powerful army, four thousand +Burgundians, Picards and Flemings, and fifteen hundred English, +commanded by Jean de Luxembourg, Count of Ligny.[1980] + +[Footnote 1980: Monstrelet, ch. xxx. Note concerning G. de Flavy, in +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 175. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_. Proofs and +illustrations, xliv, xlv.] + +Noble pieces of artillery did the Duke bring to that siege; notably, +Remeswelle, Rouge Bombarde and Houppembière, from all three of which +were fired stone balls of enormous size. Mortars, which the Duke had +brought and paid ready money for to Messire Jean de Luxembourg, were +brought likewise; Beaurevoir and Bourgogne, also a great "_coullard_" +and a movable engine of war. The vast states of Burgundy sent their +archers and cross-bowmen to Compiègne. The Duke provided himself with +bows from Prussia and from Caffa in Georgia,[1981] and with arrows +barbed and unbarbed. He engaged sappers and miners to lay powder mines +round the town and to throw Greek fire into it. In short my Lord +Philip, richer than a king, the most magnificent lord in Christendom +and skilled in all the arts of knighthood, was resolved to make a +gallant siege.[1982] + +[Footnote 1981: "In this country the Emperor [of Constantinople] has a +city called Capha, which is a seaport belonging to the Genoese and +whence is obtained wood for the making of bows and cross-bows, +likewise wine called Rommenie." _Le Livre de description des pays de +Gilles le Bouvier._ Ed. E.T. Hamy, Paris, 1908, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 1982: De La Fons-Mélicocq, _Documents inédits sur le siège de +Compiègne de 1430_ in _La Picardie_, vol. iii, 1857, pp. 22, 23. P. +Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_. Proofs and illustrations, p. 176.] + +[Illustration: PHILIP, DUKE OF BURGUNDY] + +The town, then one of the largest and strongest in France, was +defended by a garrison of between four and five hundred men,[1983] +commanded by Guillaume de Flavy. Scion of a noble house of that +province, forever in dispute with the nobles his neighbours, and +perpetually picking quarrels with the poor folk, he was as wicked and +cruel as any Armagnac baron.[1984] The citizens would have no other +captain, and in that office they maintained him in defiance of King +Charles and his chamberlains. They did wisely, for none was better +able to defend the town than my Lord Guillaume, none was more set on +doing his duty. When the King of France had commanded him to deliver +the place he had refused point-blank; and when later the Duke promised +him a good round sum and a rich inheritance in exchange for Compiègne, +he made answer that the town was not his, but the King's.[1985] + +[Footnote 1983: Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 178. H. de Lépinois, +_Notes extraites des archives communales de Compiègne_, in +_Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, 1863, vol. xxiv, p. 486. A. +Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc devant Compiègne et l'histoire des +sièges de la même ville sous Charles VI et Charles VII, d'après des +documents inédits avec vues et plans_, Paris, 1889, in 8vo, p. 268.] + +[Footnote 1984: Jacques Duclercq, _Mémoires_, ed. Reiffenberg, vol. i, +p. 419. _Le Temple de Bocace_ in _Les oeuvres de Georges +Chastellain_, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. vii, p. 95. P. Champion, +_Guillaume de Flavy, capitaine de Compiègne, contribution à l'histoire +de Jeanne d'Arc et à l'étude de la vie militaire et privée au +XV'ième siècle_, Paris, 1906, in 8vo, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 1985: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 125. _Chronique +des cordeliers_, fol. 495 recto. Rogier, in Varin, _Arch. de la ville +de Reims_, 11th part, Statuts, vol. i, p. 604. A. Sorel, _loc. cit._, +p. 167. P. Champion, _loc. cit._, p. 33.] + +The Duke of Burgundy easily took Gournay-sur-Aronde, and then laid +siege to Choisy-sur-Aisne, also called Choisy-au-Bac, at the junction +of the Aisne and the Oise.[1986] + +[Footnote 1986: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 379, 381. _Chronique des +cordeliers_, fol. 495 recto. _Livre des trahisons_, p. 202.] + +The Gascon squire, Poton de Saintrailles and the men of his company +crossed the Aisne between Soissons and Choisy, surprised the +besiegers, and retired immediately, taking with them sundry +prisoners.[1987] + +[Footnote 1987: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 382, 383. Berry, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 49.] + +On the 13th of May, the Maid entered Compiègne, where she lodged in +the Rue de l'Etoile.[1988] On the morrow, the Attorneys[1989] offered +her four pots of wine.[1990] They thereby intended to do her great +honour, for they did no more for the Lord Archbishop of Reims, +Chancellor of the realm, who was then in the town with the Count of +Vendôme, the King's lieutenant and divers other leaders of war. These +noble lords resolved to send artillery and other munitions to the +Castle of Choisy, which could not hold out much longer;[1991] and now, +as before, the Maid was made use of. + +[Footnote 1988: According to a note by Dom Bertheau, in A. Sorel, +_Séjours de Jeanne d'Arc à Compiègne, maisons où elle a logé en 1429 +et 1430_, with view and plans, Paris, 1888, in 8vo, pp. 11, 12.] + +[Footnote 1989: Magistrates of the town. Cf. _ante_, p. 34, note 3.] + +[Footnote 1990: _Accounts of the town of Compiègne_, CC 13, folio 291. +Dom Gillesson, _Antiquités de Compiègne_, vol. v, p. 95. A. Sorel, _La +prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 145, note 3.] + +[Footnote 1991: Choisy surrendered on the 16th of May. _Chronique des +cordeliers_, fol. 497, verso. _Livre des trahisons_, p. 201. +Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 382. Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 49. A. +Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 145, 146. P. Champion, +_Guillaume de Flavy_, pp. 40-41, 162-163.] + +The army marched towards Soissons in order to cross the Aisne.[1992] +The captain of the town was a squire of Picardy, called by the French +Guichard Bournel, by the Burgundians Guichard de Thiembronne; he had +served on both sides. Jeanne knew him well; he reminded her of a +painful incident. He had been one of those, who finding her wounded in +the trenches before Paris, had insisted on putting her on her horse +against her will. On the approach of King Charles's barons and +men-at-arms, Captain Guichard made the folk of Soissons believe that +the whole army was coming to encamp in their town. Wherefore they +resolved not to receive them. Then happened what had already befallen +at Senlis: Captain Bournel received the Lord Archbishop of Reims, the +Count of Vendôme and the Maid, with a small company, and the rest of +the army abode that night outside the walls.[1993] On the morrow, +failing to obtain command of the bridge, they endeavoured to ford the +river, but without success; for it was spring and the waters were +high. The army had to turn back. When it was gone, Captain Bournel +sold to the Duke of Burgundy the city he was charged to hold for the +King of France; and he delivered it into the hand of Messire Jean de +Luxembourg for four thousand golden _saluts_.[1994] + +[Footnote 1992: Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 49, 50.] + +[Footnote 1993: F. Brun, _Jeanne d'Arc et le capitaine de Soissons en +1430_, Soissons, 1904, p. 5 (extract from _l'Argus Soissonnais_). P. +Champion, _loc. cit._, p. 41.] + +[Footnote 1994: Berry, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 50. P. Champion, _loc. +cit._, p. 168. Proofs and illustrations, xxxv, p. 168. F. Brun, +_Nouvelles recherches sur le fait de Soissons (Jeanne d'Arc et Bournel +en 1430) à propos d'un livre récent_, Meulan, 1907, in 8vo.] + +At the tidings of this treacherous and dishonourable action on the +part of the Captain of Soissons, Jeanne cried out that if she had him, +she would cut his body into four pieces, which was no empty imagining +of her wrath. As the penalty of certain crimes it was the custom for +the executioner, after he had beheaded the condemned, to cut his body +in four pieces, which was called quartering. So that it was as if +Jeanne had said that the traitor deserved quartering. The words +sounded hard to Burgundian ears; certain even believed that they heard +Jeanne in her wrath taking God's name in vain. They did not hear +correctly. Never had Jeanne taken the name of God or of any of his +saints in vain. Far from swearing when she was angered, she used to +exclaim: "God's good will!" or "Saint John!" or "By Our Lady!"[1995] + +[Footnote 1995: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 273.] + +Before Soissons, Jeanne and the generals separated. The latter with +their men-at-arms went to Senlis and the banks of the Marne. The +country between the Aisne and the Oise was no longer capable of +supporting so large a number of men or such important personages. +Jeanne and her company wended their way back to Compiègne.[1996] +Scarcely had she entered the town when she sallied forth to ravage the +neighbourhood. + +[Footnote 1996: I have rejected the story told by Alain Bouchard of +Jeanne's meeting with the little children in the Church of Saint +Jacques. (_Les grandes croniques de Bretaigne_, Paris, Galliot Du Pré, +1514, fol. cclxxxi.) M. Pierre Champion (_Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 283) +has irrefutably demonstrated its unauthenticity.] + +For example, she took part in an expedition against Pont-l'Evêque, a +stronghold, some distance from Noyon, occupied by a small English +garrison, commanded by Lord Montgomery. + +The Burgundians, who were besieging Compiègne, made Pont-l'Evêque +their base. In the middle of May, the French numbering about a +thousand, commanded by Captain Poton, by Messire Jacques de Chabannes +and divers others, and accompanied by the Maid, attacked the English +under Lord Montgomery, and the battle was passing fierce. But the +enemy, being relieved by the Burgundians of Noyon, the French must +needs beat a retreat. They had slain thirty of their adversaries and +had lost as many, wherefore the combat was held to have been right +sanguinary.[1997] There was no longer any question of crossing the +Aisne and saving Choisy. + +[Footnote 1997: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 382. Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, +vol. ii, p. 178. _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 498 verso.] + +After returning to Compiègne, Jeanne, who never rested for a moment, +hastened to Crépy-en-Valois, where were gathering the troops intended +for the defence of Compiègne. Then, with these troops, she marched +through the Forest of Guise, to the besieged town and entered it on +the 23rd, at daybreak, without having encountered any Burgundians. +There were none in the neighbourhood of the Forest, on the left bank +of the Oise.[1998] + +[Footnote 1998: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 114. Perceval de Cagny, p. 174. +Extract from a note concerning G. de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +176. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 296, note 1.] + +They were all on the other side of the river. There meadowland extends +for some three-quarters of a mile, while beyond rises the slope of +Picardy. Because this meadow was low, damp and frequently flooded, a +causeway had been built leading from the bridge to the village of +Margny, which rose on the steep slope of the hill. Some two miles up +the river there towered the belfry of Clairoix, at the junction of the +Aronde and the Oise. On the opposite bank rose the belfry of Venette, +about a mile and a quarter lower down, towards Pont-Sainte-Maxence.[1999] + +[Footnote 1999: Manuscript map of Compiègne in 1509, in Debout, _Jeanne +d'Arc_, vol. ii, p. 293. Plan of the town of Compiègne, engraved by +Aveline in the 17th century, reduction published by _La Société +historique de Compiègne_, May, 1877. Lambert de Ballyhier, _Compiègne +historique et monumental_, 1842, 2 vols. in 8vo, engravings. Plan of +the restitution of the town of Compiègne in 1430, in A. Sorel, _La +prise de Jeanne d'Arc_. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 43.] + +A little band of Burgundians commanded by a knight, Messire Baudot de +Noyelles, occupied the high ground of the village of Margny. Most +renowned among the men of war of the Burgundian party was Messire Jean +de Luxembourg. He with his Picards was posted at Clairoix, on the +banks of the Aronde, at the foot of Mount Ganelon. The five hundred +English of Lord Montgomery watched the Oise at Venette. Duke Philip +occupied Coudun, a good two and a half miles from the town, towards +Picardy.[2000] Such dispositions were in accordance with the precepts +of the most experienced captains. It was their rule that when +besieging a fortified town a large number of men-at-arms should never +be concentrated in one spot, in one camp, as they said. In case of a +sudden attack, it was thought that a large company, if it has but one +base, will be surprised and routed just as easily as a lesser number, +and the disaster will be grievous. Wherefore it is better to divide +the besiegers into small companies and to place them not far apart, in +order that they may aid one another. In this wise, when those of one +body are discomfited those of another have time to put themselves in +battle array for their succour. While the assailants are sore aghast +at seeing fresh troops come down upon them, those who are being +attacked take heart of grace. At any rate such was the opinion of +Messire Jean de Bueil.[2001] + +[Footnote 2000: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 383, 384.] + +[Footnote 2001: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 196.] + +That same day, the 23rd of May, towards five o'clock in the +evening[2002] riding a fine dapple-grey horse, Jeanne sallied forth, +across the bridge, on to the causeway over the meadow. With her were +her standard-bearer and her company of Lombards, Captain Baretta and +his three or four hundred men, both horse and foot, who had entered +Compiègne by night. She was girt with the Burgundian sword, found at +Lagny, and over her armour she wore a surcoat of cloth of gold.[2003] +Such attire would have better beseemed a parade than a sortie; but in +the simplicity of her rustic and religious soul she loved all the +pompous show of chivalry. + +[Footnote 2002: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 116. Letter from Philippe le Bon to +the inhabitants of Saint-Quentin, _Trial_, vol. v, p. 166. Letter from +Philippe le Bon to Amédée, Duke of Savoy in P. Champion, _loc. cit._ +Proofs and illustrations, xxxvii. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, +p. 458. William Worcester, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 475, and _Le +Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 255.] + +[Footnote 2003: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 78, 223, 224. Chastellain, vol. +ii, p. 49. The Clerk of the Brabant _Chambre des Comptes_, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 428.] + +The enterprise had been concerted between Captain Baretta, the other +leaders of the party and Messire Guillaume de Flavy. The last-named, +in order to protect the line of retreat for the French, had posted +archers, cross-bowmen, and cannoneers at the head of the bridge, while +on the river he launched a number of small covered boats, intended if +need were to bring back as many men as possible.[2004] Jeanne was not +consulted in the matter; her advice was never asked. Without being +told anything she was taken with the army as a bringer of good luck; +she was exhibited to the enemy as a powerful enchantress, and they, +especially if they were in mortal sin, feared lest she should cast a +spell over them. Certain there were doubtless on both sides, who +perceived that she did not greatly differ from other women;[2005] but +they were folk who believed in nothing, and that manner of person is +always outside public opinion. + +[Footnote 2004: Notes concerning G. de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +177. _Chronique de Tournai_, in _Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre_, +1856, vol. iii, pp. 415, 416.] + +[Footnote 2005: Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 49.] + +This time she had not the remotest idea of what was to be done. With +her head full of dreams, she imagined she was setting forth for some +great and noble emprise. It is said that she had promised to discomfit +the Burgundians and bring back Duke Philip prisoner. But there was no +question of that; Captain Baretta and those who commanded the soldiers +of fortune proposed to surprise and plunder the little Burgundian +outpost, which was nearest the town and most accessible. That was +Margny, and there on a steep hill, which might be reached in twenty or +twenty-five minutes along the causeway, was stationed Messire Baudot +de Noyelles. The attempt was worth making. The taking of outposts +constituted the perquisites of men-at-arms. And, albeit the enemy's +positions were very wisely chosen, the assailants if they proceeded +with extreme swiftness had a chance of success. The Burgundians at +Margny were very few. Having but lately arrived, they had erected +neither bastion nor bulwark, and their only defences were the +outbuildings of the village. + +It was five o'clock in the afternoon when the French set out on the +march. The days being at their longest, they did not depend on the +darkness for success. In those times indeed, men-at-arms were chary of +venturing much in the darkness. They deemed the night treacherous, +capable of serving the fool's turn as well as the wise man's, and thus +ran the saw: "Night never blushes at her deed."[2006] + +[Footnote 2006: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 91.] + +Having climbed up to Margny, the assailants found the Burgundians +scattered and unarmed. They took them by surprise; and the French set +to work to strike here and there haphazard. The Maid, for her part, +overthrew everything before her. + +Now just at this time Sire Jean de Luxembourg and the Sire de Créquy +had ridden over from their camp at Clairoix.[2007] Wearing no armour, +and accompanied by eight or ten gentlemen-at-arms, they were climbing +the Margny hill. They were on their way to visit Messire Baudot de +Noyelles, and all unsuspecting, they were thinking to reconnoitre the +defences of the town from this elevated spot, as the Earl of Salisbury +had formerly done from Les Tourelles at Orléans. Having fallen into a +regular skirmish, they sent to Clairoix in all haste for their arms +and to summon their company, which would take a good half hour to +reach the scene of battle. Meanwhile, all unarmed as they were, they +joined Messire Baudot's little band, to help it to hold out against +the enemy.[2008] Thus to surprise my Lord of Luxembourg might be a +stroke of good luck and certainly could not be bad; for in any event +the Margny men would have straightway summoned their comrades of +Clairoix to their aid, as they did in very deed summon the English +from Venette and the Burgundians from Coudun. + +[Footnote 2007: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 387. Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, +vol. ii, p. 179. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 48. Note concerning G. de +Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 2008: Letter from the Duke of Burgundy to the inhabitants of +Saint-Quentin, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 166. Monstrelet, Lefèvre de +Saint-Rémy, Chastellain. Notes concerning G. de Flavy, _loc. cit._] + +Having stormed the camp and pillaged it, the assailants should in all +haste have fallen back on the town with their booty; but they dallied +at Margny, for what reason is not difficult to guess: that reason +which so often transformed the robber into the robbed. The wearers of +the white cross as well as those of the red, no matter what danger +threatened them, never quitted a place as long as anything remained to +be carried away. + +If the mercenaries of Compiègne incurred peril by their greed, the +Maid on her side by her valour and prowess ran much greater risk; +never would she consent to leave a battle; she must be wounded, +pierced with bolts and arrows, before she would give in. + +Meanwhile, having recovered from so sudden an alarm, Messire Baudot's +men armed as best they might and endeavoured to win back the village. +Now they drove out the French, now they themselves were forced to +retreat with great loss. The Seigneur de Créquy, among others, was +sorely wounded in the face. But the hope of being reinforced gave them +courage. The men of Clairoix appeared. Duke Philip himself came up +with the band from Coudun. The French, outnumbered, abandoned Margny, +and retreated slowly. It may be that their booty impeded their march. +But suddenly espying the _Godons_ from Venette advancing over the +meadowland, they were seized with panic; to the cry of "_Sauve qui +peut!_" they broke into one mad rush and in utter rout reached the +bank of the Oise. Some threw themselves into boats, others crowded +round the bulwark of the Bridge. Thus they attracted the very +misfortune they feared. For the English followed so hard on the +fugitives that the defenders on the ramparts dared not fire their +cannon for fear of striking the French.[2009] + +[Footnote 2009: Perceval de Cagny, p. 176. Falconbridge, in _Trial_, +vol. iv, p. 458. Monstrelet. Note concerning G. de Flavy; Lefèvre de +Saint-Rémy, Chastellain, _loc. cit._] + +The latter having forced the barrier of the bulwark, the English were +about to enter on their heels, cross the bridge and pass into the +town. The captain of Compiègne saw the danger and gave the command to +close the town gate. The bridge was raised and the portcullis +lowered.[2010] + +[Footnote 2010: Note concerning G. de Flavy, _loc. cit._ Du Fresne de +Beaucourt, _Jeanne d'Arc et Guillaume de Flavy_ in _Bulletin de la +Société de l'Histoire de France_, vol. iii, 1861, pp. 173 _et seq._ Z. +Rendu, _Jeanne d'Arc et G. de Flavy_, Compiègne, 1865, in 8vo, 32 pp. +A. Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 209. P. Champion, _Guillaume +de Flavy_, appendix i, pp. 282, 286.] + +In the meadow, Jeanne still laboured under the heroic delusion of +victory. Surrounded by a little band of kinsmen and personal +retainers, she was withstanding the Burgundians, and imagining that +she would overthrow everything before her. + +Her comrades shouted to her: "Strive to regain the town or we are +lost." + +But her eyes were dazzled by the splendour of angels and archangels, +and she made answer: "Hold your peace; it will be your fault if we are +discomfited. Think of nought but of attacking them." + +And once again she uttered those words which were forever in her +mouth: "Go forward! They are ours!"[2011] + +[Footnote 2011: Perceval de Cagny, p. 175.] + +Her men took her horse by the bridle and forced her to turn towards +the town. It was too late; the bulwarks commanding the bridge could +not be entered: the English held the head of the causeway. The Maid +with her little band was penned into the corner between the side of +the bulwark and the embankment of the road. Her assailants were men of +Picardy, who, striking hard and driving away her protectors, succeeded +in reaching her.[2012] A bowman pulled her by her cloak of cloth of +gold and threw her to the ground. They all surrounded her and together +cried: + +"Surrender!" + +[Footnote 2012: Perceval de Cagny, p. 175. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 49. +Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 122; vol. iii, p. 207. +Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 87.] + +Urged to give her parole, she replied: "I have plighted my word to +another, and I shall keep my oath."[2013] + +[Footnote 2013: Perceval de Cagny, p. 176.] + +One of those who pressed her said that he was of gentle birth. She +surrendered to him. + +He was an archer, by name Lyonnel, in the company of the Bastard of +Wandomme. Deeming that his fortune was made, he appeared more joyful +than if he had taken a king.[2014] + +[Footnote 2014: Letter from the Duke of Burgundy in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +166. Perceval de Cagny, p. 175. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 400. Lefèvre +de Saint-Rémy, p. 175. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 49. Note concerning G. +de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 174. Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, +vol. i, p. 118. P. Champion, _loc. cit._, pp. 46, 49. Lanéry d'Arc, +_Livre d'Or_, pp. 513-518.] + +With the Maid was taken her brother, Pierre d'Arc, Jean d'Aulon, her +steward, and Jean d'Aulon's brother, Poton, surnamed the +Burgundian.[2015] According to the Burgundians, the French in this +engagement lost four hundred fighting men, killed or drowned;[2016] but +according to the French most of the foot soldiers were taken up by the +boats which were moored near the bank of the Oise.[2017] + +[Footnote 2015: Richer, _Histoire manuscrite de la Pucelle_, book iv, +fol. 188 _et seq._ P. Champion, _loc. cit._ Proofs and illustrations, +xxxiii. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 388. Note concerning G. de Flavy, +_loc. cit._ Letter from the Duke of Burgundy to the inhabitants of +Saint-Quentin, _loc. cit._ _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 255. +Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 459.] + +[Footnote 2016: According to _Le Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. +255, four hundred French were killed or drowned.] + +[Footnote 2017: Note concerning G. de Flavy, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +176. Perceval de Cagny, p. 175.] + +Had it not been for the archers, cross-bowmen and cannoneers posted at +the bridge end by the Sire de Flavy, the bulwark would have been +captured. The Burgundians had but twenty wounded and not one +slain.[2018] The Maid had not been very vigorously defended. + +[Footnote 2018: Letter from the Duke of Burgundy to the inhabitants of +Saint-Quentin, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 166.] + +She was disarmed and taken to Margny.[2019] At the tidings that the +witch of the Armagnacs had been taken, cries and rejoicings resounded +throughout the Burgundian camp. Duke Philip wished to see her. When he +drew near to her, there were certain of his clergy and his knighthood +who praised his piety, extolled his courage, and wondered that this +mighty Duke was not afraid of the spawn of Hell.[2020] + +[Footnote 2019: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 388. Chastellain, vol. ii, p. +50. A. Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 253 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2020: Jean Jouffroy, in d'Achery, _Spicilegium_, iii, pp. 823 +_et seq._] + +In this respect, his knighthood were as valiant as he, for many +knights and squires flocked to satisfy this same curiosity. Among them +was Messire Enguerrand de Monstrelet, a native of the County of +Boulogne, a retainer of the House of Luxembourg, the author of the +Chronicles. He heard the words the Duke addressed to the prisoner, +and, albeit his calling required a good memory, he forgot them. +Possibly he did not consider them chivalrous enough to be written in +his book.[2021] + +[Footnote 2021: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 388.] + +Jeanne remained in the custody of Messire Jean de Luxembourg, to whom +she belonged henceforward. The bowman, her captor, had given her up to +his captain, the Bastard of Wandomme, who, in his turn, had yielded +her to his Master, Messire Jean.[2022] + +[Footnote 2022: _Ibid._, p. 389. P. Champion, _loc. cit._, p. 168.] + +Branches of the Luxembourg tree extended from the west to the east of +Christendom, as far as Bohemia and Hungary; and it had produced six +queens, an empress, four kings, and four emperors. A scion of a +younger branch of this illustrious house and himself a but poorly +landed cadet, Jean de Luxembourg, had with great labour won his spurs +in the service of the Duke of Burgundy. When he held the Maid to +ransom, he was thirty-nine years of age, covered with wounds and +one-eyed.[2023] + +[Footnote 2023: _La Chronique des cordeliers_, and Monstrelet, +_passim_. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. +165, 166.] + +That very evening from his quarters at Coudun the Duke of Burgundy +caused letters to be written to the towns of his dominions telling of +the capture of the Maid. "Of this capture shall the fame spread far +and wide," is written in the letter to the people of Saint-Quentin; +"and there shall be bruited abroad the error and misbelief of all such +as have approved and favoured the deeds of this woman."[2024] + +[Footnote 2024: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 167. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, p. 95.] + +In like manner did the Duke send the tidings to the Duke of Brittany +by his herald Lorraine; to the Duke of Savoy and to his good town of +Ghent.[2025] + +[Footnote 2025: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 358. Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie +Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iii, p. 534. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, +pp. 169-171.] + +The survivors of the company the Maid had taken to Compiègne abandoned +the siege, and on the morrow returned to their garrisons. The Lombard +Captain, Bartolomeo Baretta, Jeanne's lieutenant, remained in the town +with thirty-two men-at-arms, two trumpeters, two pages, forty-eight +cross bowmen, and twenty archers or targeteers.[2026] + +[Footnote 2026: Note concerning Guillaume de Flavy in _Trial_, vol. v, +p. 177. A. Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 333.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MAID AT BEAULIEU--THE SHEPHERD OF GÉVAUDAN + + +The tidings that Jeanne was in the hands of the Burgundians reached +Paris on the morning of May the 25th.[2027] On the morrow, the 26th, +the University sent a summons to Duke Philip requiring him to give up +his prisoner to the Vicar-General of the Grand Inquisitor of France. +At the same time, the Vicar-General himself by letter required the +redoubtable Duke to bring prisoner before him the young woman +suspected of divers crimes savouring of heresy.[2028] + +[Footnote 2027: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 458. _Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 255. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. +96. U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc au cimetière de +Saint-Ouen et l'authenticité de sa formule_, Paris, 1902, in 8vo, p. +18.] + +[Footnote 2028: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 8-10. E. O'Reilly, _Les deux +procès_, vol. ii, pp. 13, 14. P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Chartularium +Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 516, no. 2372.] + +"... We beseech you in all good affection, O powerful Prince," he +said, "and we entreat your noble vassals that by them and by you +Jeanne be sent unto us surely and shortly, and we hope that thus ye +will do as being the true protector of the faith and the defender of +God's honour...."[2029] + +[Footnote 2029: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 12. E. O'Reilly, _Les deux +procès_.] + +The Vicar-General of the Grand Inquisitor of France, Brother Martin +Billoray,[2030] Master of theology, belonged to the order of friars +preachers, the members of which exercised the principal functions of +the Holy office. In the days of Innocent III, when the Inquisition was +exterminating Cathari and Albigenses, the sons of Dominic figured in +paintings in monasteries and chapels as great white hounds spotted +with black, biting at the throats of the wolves of heresy.[2031] In +France in the fifteenth century the Dominicans were always the dogs of +the Lord; they, jointly with the bishops, drove out the heretic. The +Grand Inquisitor or his Vicar was unable of his own initiative to set +on foot and prosecute any judicial action; the bishops maintained +their right to judge crimes committed against the Church. In matters +of faith trials were conducted by two judges, the Ordinary, who might +be the bishop himself or the Official, and the Inquisitor or his +Vicar. Inquisitorial forms were observed.[2032] + +[Footnote 2030: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 3, 12; vol. iii, p. 378; vol. v, +p. 392.] + +[Footnote 2031: _Domini canes._ Thus they are represented in the +frescoes of the Capella degli Spagnuoli in Santa-Maria-Novella at +Florence.] + +[Footnote 2032: Tanon, _Histoire des tribuneaux de l'inquisition en +France_, ch. ii.] + +In the Maid's case it was not the Bishop only who was prompting the +Holy Inquisition, but the Daughter of Kings, the Mother of Learning, +the Bright and Shining Sun of France and of Christendom, the +University of Paris. She arrogated to herself a peculiar jurisdiction +in cases of heresy or other matters of doctrine occurring in the city +or its neighbourhood; her advice was asked on every hand and regarded +as authoritative over the face of the whole world, wheresoever the +Cross had been set up. For a year her masters and doctors, many in +number and filled with sound learning, had been clamouring for the +Maid to be delivered up to the Inquisition, as being good for the +welfare of the Church and conducive to the interests of the faith; for +they had a deep-rooted suspicion that the damsel came not from God, +but was deceived and seduced by the machinations of the Devil; that +she acted not by divine power but by the aid of demons; that she was +addicted to witchcraft and practised idolatry.[2033] + +[Footnote 2033: Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Chartularium +universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 510; _Le procès de Jeanne +d'Arc et l'université de Paris_, Paris, 1897, in 8vo, 32 pp.] + +Such knowledge as they possessed of things divine and methods of +reasoning corroborated this grave suspicion. They were Burgundians and +English by necessity and by inclination; they observed faithfully the +Treaty of Troyes to which they had sworn; they were devoted to the +Regent who showed them great consideration; they abhorred the +Armagnacs, who desolated and laid waste their city, the most beautiful +in the world;[2034] they held that the Dauphin Charles had forfeited +his rights to the Kingdom of the Lilies. Wherefore they inclined to +believe that the Maid of the Armagnacs, the woman knight of the +Dauphin Charles, was inspired by a company of loathsome demons. These +scholars of the University were human; they believed what it was to +their interest to believe; they were priests and they beheld the Devil +everywhere, but especially in a woman. Without having devoted +themselves to any profound examination of the deeds and sayings of +this damsel, they knew enough to cause them to demand an immediate +inquiry. She called herself the emissary of God, the daughter of God; +and she appeared loquacious, vain, crafty, gorgeous in her attire. She +had threatened the English that if they did not quit France she would +have them all slain. She commanded armies, wherefore she was a slayer +of her fellow-creatures and foolhardy. She was seditious, for are not +all those seditious who support the opposite party? But recently +having appeared before Paris in company with Friar Richard, a heretic, +and a rebel,[2035] she had threatened to put the Parisians to death +without mercy and committed the mortal sin of storming the city on the +Anniversary of the Nativity of Our Lady. It was important to examine +whether in all this she had been inspired by a good spirit or a +bad.[2036] + +[Footnote 2034: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, _passim_. +Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 450.] + +[Footnote 2035: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 237. T. Basin, +_Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. iv, pp. 103, 104. +Monstrelet, vol. iv, ch. lxiii. Bougenot, _Deux documents inédits +relatifs à Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue bleue_, 13 Feb., 1892, pp. 203, +204.] + +[Footnote 2036: Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Chartularium +Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 515, no. 2370; _Le procès de +Jeanne d'Arc et l'université de Paris_.] + +Despite his strong attachment to the interests of the Church, the Duke +of Burgundy did not respond to the urgent demand of the University; +and Messire Jean de Luxembourg, after having kept the Maid three or +four days in his quarters before Compiègne, had her taken to the +Castle of Beaulieu in Vermandois, a few leagues from the camp.[2037] +Like his master, he ever appeared the obedient son of Mother Church; +but prudence counselled him to await the approach of English and +French and to see what each of them would offer. + +[Footnote 2037: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 389. Perceval de Cagny, p. 176. +Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 300-302; vol. iv, pp. 254-355. De La +Fons-Mélicocq, _Une cité picarde au moyen âge ou Noyon et les +Noyonnais aux XIV'e et XV'e siècles_, Noyon, 1841, vol. ii, pp. +100-105. In 1441 Lyonnel de Wandomme, who was governor of this town, +was driven out by the inhabitants on the death of Jean de Luxembourg +(Monstrelet, vol. v, p. 456).] + +At Beaulieu, Jeanne was treated courteously and ceremoniously. Her +steward, Messire Jean d'Aulon, waited on her in her prison; one day he +said to her pitifully: + +"That poor town of Compiègne, which you so dearly loved, will now be +delivered into the hands of the enemies of France, whom it must needs +obey." + +She made answer: "No, that shall not come to pass. For not one of +those places, which the King of Heaven hath conquered through me and +restored to their allegiance to the fair King Charles, shall be +recaptured by the enemy, so diligently will he guard them."[2038] + +[Footnote 2038: Perceval de Cagny, p. 177, very doubtful.] + +One day she tried to escape by slipping between two planks. She had +intended to shut up her guards in the tower and take to the fields, +but the porter saw and stopped her. She concluded that it was not +God's will that she should escape this time.[2039] Notwithstanding she +had far too much self-reliance to despair. Her Voices, like her +enamoured of marvellous encounters and knightly adventures, told her +that she must see the King of England.[2040] Thus did her dreams +encourage and console her in her misfortune. + +[Footnote 2039: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 163-164, 249.] + +[Footnote 2040: _Ibid._, p. 151.] + +Great was the mourning on the Loire when the inhabitants of the towns +loyal to King Charles learnt the disaster which had befallen the Maid. +The people, who venerated her as a saint, who went so far as to say +that she was the greatest of all God's saints after the Blessed Virgin +Mary, who erected images of her in the chapels of saints, who ordered +masses to be said for her, and collects in the churches, who wore +leaden medals on which she was represented as if the Church had +already canonized her,[2041] did not withdraw their trust, but +continued to believe in her.[2042] Such faithfulness scandalized the +doctors and masters of the University, who reproached the hapless Maid +herself with it. "Jeanne," they said, "hath so seduced the Catholic +people, that many have adored her as a saint in her presence, and now +in her absence they adore her still."[2043] + +[Footnote 2041: Vallet de Viriville, _Note sur deux médailles de plomb +relatives à Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1861, in 8vo, 30 pages. Forgeais, +_Notice sur les plombs historiés trouvés dans la Seine_, Paris, 1860, +in 8vo. J. Quicherat, _Médaille frappée en l'honneur de la Pucelle, +Six dessins sur Jeanne d'Arc tirés d'un manuscrit du XV'e siècle_, +in _L'autographe_, No. 24, 15 Nov., 1864.] + +[Footnote 2042: P. Lanéry d'Arc, _Le culte de Jeanne d'Arc au XV'e +siècle_, Paris, 1887, in 8vo, 29 pages.] + +[Footnote 2043: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 290.] + +This was indeed true of many folk and many places. The councillors of +the town of Tours ordered public prayers to be offered for the +deliverance of the Maid. There was a public procession in which took +part the canons of the cathedral church, the clergy of the town, +secular and regular, all walking barefoot.[2044] + +[Footnote 2044: Carreau, _Histoire manuscrite de Touraine_, in +_Procès_, vol. v, pp. 253, 254.] + +In the towns of Dauphiné prayers for the Maid were said at mass. + +"_Collect._ O God, all powerful and eternal, who, in thy holy and +ineffable mercy, hast commanded the Maid to restore and deliver the +realm of France, and to repulse, confound and annihilate her enemies, +and who hast permitted her, in the accomplishment of this holy work, +ordained by thee, to fall into the hands and into the bonds of her +enemies, we beseech thee, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin +Mary and of all the saints to deliver her out of their hands, without +her having suffered any hurt, in order that she may finish the work +whereto thou hast sent her." + +"For the sake of Jesus Christ, etc." + +"_Secret._ O God all powerful, Father of virtues, let thy holy +benediction descend upon this sacrifice; let thy wondrous power be +made manifest, that by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and +of all the saints, it may deliver the Maid from the prisons of the +enemy so that she may finish the work whereto thou hast sent her. +Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc." + +"_Post Communion._ O God all powerful, incline thine ear and listen +unto the prayers of thy people: by the virtue of the Sacrament we have +just received, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of +all the saints, burst the bonds of the Maid, who, in the fulfilment of +thy commands, hath been and is still confined in the prisons of our +enemy; through thy divine compassion and thy mercy, permit her, freed +from peril, to accomplish the work whereto thou hast sent her. Through +our Lord Jesus Christ, etc."[2045] + +[Footnote 2045: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104. E. Maignien, _Oraisons latines +pour la délivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_. Grenoble, 1867, in 8vo (_Revue +des Sociétés savantes_, vol. iv, pp. 412-414). G. de Braux, _Trois +oraisons pour la délivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Journal de la +Société d'Archéologie Lorraine_, June, 1887, pp. 125, 127.] + +Learning that the Maid, whom he had once suspected of evil intentions +and then recognised to be wholly good, had just fallen into the hands +of the enemy of the realm, Messire Jacques Gélu, my Lord Archbishop of +Embrun, despatched to King Charles a messenger bearing a letter +touching the line of conduct to be adopted in such an unhappy +conjuncture.[2046] + +[Footnote 2046: _Vita Jacobi Gelu ab ipso conscripta_, in _Bulletin de +la Société archéologique de Touraine_, iii, 1867, pp. 266 _et seq._ +The Rev. Father Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes Maritimes ou +Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313 _et seq._] + +Addressing the Prince, whom in childhood he had directed, Messire +Jacques begins by recalling what the Maid had wrought for him by God's +help and her own great courage. He beseeches him to examine his +conscience and see whether he has in any wise sinned against the grace +of God. For it may be that in wrath against the King the Lord hath +permitted this virgin to be taken. For his own honour he urges him to +strain every effort for her deliverance. + +"I commend unto you," he said, "that for the recovery of this damsel +and for her ransom, ye spare neither measures nor money, nor any cost, +unless ye be ready to incur the ineffaceable disgrace of an +ingratitude right unworthy." + +Further he advises that prayers be ordered to be said everywhere for +the deliverance of the Maid, so that if this disaster should have +befallen through any misdoing of the King or of his people, it might +please God to pardon it.[2047] + +[Footnote 2047: _Ibid._, pp. 319, 320.] + +Such were the words, lacking neither in strength nor in charity, of +this aged prelate, who was more of a hermit than of a bishop. He +remembered having been the Dauphin's Councillor in evil days and he +dearly loved the King and the kingdom. + +The Sire de la Trémouille and the Lord Archbishop of Reims have been +suspected of desiring to get rid of the Maid and of having promoted +her discomfiture. There are those who think they have discovered the +treacherous methods employed to compass her defeat at Paris, at La +Charité and at Compiègne.[2048] But in good sooth such methods were +unnecessary. At Paris there was but little chance of her being able to +cross the moat, since neither she nor her companions in arms had +ascertained its depth; besides, it was not the fault of the King and +his Council that the Carmelites, on whom they relied, failed to open +the gates. The siege of La Charité was conducted not by the Maid, but +by the Sire d'Albret and divers valiant captains. In the sortie from +Compiègne, it was certain that any dallying at Margny would cause the +French to be cut off by the English from Venette and by the +Burgundians from Clairoix and to be promptly overcome by the +Burgundians from Coudun. They forgot themselves in the delights of +pillage; and the inevitable result followed. + +[Footnote 2048: Thomassin, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 312. _Chronique du +doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 323. _Chronique de +Tournai_, in _Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, p. 415. +_Chronique de Normandie_, ed. A. Hellot, Rouen, 1881, in 8vo, pp. 77, +78. _Chronique de Lorraine_, ed. Abbé Marchal (_Recueil de documents +sur l'histoire de Lorraine_, vol. v).] + +And why should the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Archbishop have +wanted to get rid of the Maid? She did not trouble them; on the +contrary they found her useful and employed her. By her prophecy that +she would cause the King to be anointed at Reims, she rendered an +immense service to my Lord Regnault, who more than any other profited +from the Champagne expedition, more even than the King, who, while he +succeeded in being crowned, failed to recover Paris and Normandy. +Notwithstanding this great advantage, the Lord Archbishop felt no +gratitude towards the Maid; he was a hard man and an egoist. But did +he wish her harm? Had he not need of her? At Senlis he was maintaining +the King's cause; and he was maintaining it well, we may be sure, +since, with the towns that had returned to their liege lord, he was +defending his own episcopal and ducal city, his benefices and his +canonries. Did he not intend to use her against the Burgundians? We +have already noted reasons for believing that towards the end of +March, he had asked the Sire de la Trémouille to send her from Sully +with a goodly company to wage war in l'Île-de-France. And our +hypothesis is confirmed when, after they had been unhappily deprived +of Jeanne's services, we find the bishop and the Chamberlain driven to +replace her by someone likewise favoured with visions and claiming to +be sent of God. Unable to discover a maid they had to make shift with +a youth. This resolution they took a few days after Jeanne's capture +and this is how it came about. + +Some time before, a shepherd lad of Gévaudan, by name Guillaume, while +tending his flocks at the foot of the Lozère Mountains and guarding +them from wolf and lynx, had a revelation concerning the realm of +France. This shepherd, like John, Our Lord's favourite disciple, was +virgin. In one of the caves of the Mende Mountain, where the holy +apostle Privat had prayed and fasted, his ear was struck by a heavenly +voice, and thus he knew that God was sending him to the King of +France. He went to Mende, just as Jeanne had gone to Vaucouleurs in +order that he might be taken to the King. There he found pious folk, +who, touched by his holiness and persuaded that there was power in +him, provided for his equipment and for his journey, which provisions, +in sooth, amounted to very little. The words he addressed to the King +were much the same as those uttered by the Maid. + +"Sire," he said, "I am commanded to go with your people; and without +fail the English and Burgundians shall be discomfited."[2049] + +[Footnote 2049: Summary of a letter from Regnault de Chartres to the +inhabitants of Reims, _Trial_, vol. v, p. 168.] + +The King received him kindly. The clerks who had examined the Maid +must have feared lest if they repulsed this shepherd lad they might be +rejecting the aid of the Holy Ghost. Amos was a shepherd, and to him +God granted the gift of prophecy: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of +heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and +prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." MATT. xi, 25. + +But before this shepherd could be believed he must give a sign. The +clerks of Poitiers, who in those evil days languished in dire penury, +did not appear exacting in their demand for proofs; they had +counselled the King to employ the Maid merely on the promise that as a +token of her mission she would deliver Orléans. The Gévaudan shepherd +had more than promises to allege; he showed wondrous marks on his +body. Like Saint Francis he had received the stigmata; and on his +hands, his feet and in his side were bleeding wounds.[2050] + +[Footnote 2050: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 272. Lefèvre de +Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 263. Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, vol. i, p. +124.] + +The mendicant monks rejoiced that their spiritual father had thus +participated in the Passion of Our Lord. A like grace had been granted +to the Blessed Catherine of Sienna, of the order of Saint Dominic. +But if there were miraculous stigmata imprinted by Jesus Christ +himself, there were also the stigmata of enchantment, which were the +work of the Devil, and very important was it to distinguish between +the two.[2051] It could only be done by great knowledge and great +piety. It would appear that Guillaume's stigmata were not the work of +the devil; for it was resolved to employ him in the same manner as +Jeanne, as Catherine de la Rochelle, and as the two Breton women, the +spiritual daughters of Friar Richard. + +[Footnote 2051: A. Maury, _La stigmatisation et les stigmates_, in +_Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1854, ch. viii, pp. 454-482. Dr. Subled, _Les +stigmates selon la science_, in _Science catholique_, 1894, vol. viii, +pp. 1073 _et seq._; vol. ix, pp. 2 _et seq._] + +When the Maid fell into the hands of the Burgundians, the Sire de la +Trémouille was with the King, on the Loire, where fighting had ceased +since the disastrous siege of La Charité. He sent the shepherd youth +to the banks of the Oise, to the Lord Archbishop of Reims, who was +there opposing the Burgundians, commanded by Duke Philip, himself. +Messire Regnault had probably asked for the boy. In any case he +welcomed him willingly and kept him at Beauvais, supervising and +interrogating him, ready to use him at an auspicious moment. One day, +either to try him or because the rumour was really in circulation, +young Guillaume was told that the English had put Jeanne to death. + +"Then," said he, "it will be the worse for them."[2052] + +[Footnote 2052: Letter from Regnault de Chartres, in _Trial_, vol. v, +p. 168.] + +By this time, after all the rivalries and jealousies which had torn +asunder this company of the King's _béguines_, there remained to Friar +Richard one only of his penitents, Dame Catherine of La Rochelle, who +had the gift of discovering hidden treasure.[2053] The young shepherd +approved of the Maid as little as Dame Catherine had done. + +[Footnote 2053: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 295 _et seq._] + +"God suffered Jeanne to be taken," he said, "because she was puffed up +with pride and because of the rich clothes she wore and because she +had not done as God commanded her but according to her own will."[2054] + +[Footnote 2054: Letter from Regnault de Chartres, in _Ibid._, vol. v, +p. 168.] + +Were these words suggested to him by the enemies of the Maid? That may +be: but it is also possible that he derived them from inspiration. +Saints are not always kind to one another. + +Meanwhile Messire Regnault de Chartres believed himself possessed of a +marvel far surpassing the marvel he had lost. He wrote a letter to the +inhabitants of his town of Reims telling them that the Maid had been +taken at Compiègne. + +This misfortune had befallen her through her own fault, he added. "She +would not take advice, but would follow her own will." In her stead +God had sent a shepherd, "who says neither more nor less than Jeanne." +God has strictly commanded him to discomfit the English and the +Burgundians. And the Lord Archbishop neglects not to repeat the words +by which the prophet of Gévaudan had represented Jeanne as proud, +gorgeous in attire, rebellious of heart.[2055] The Reverend Father in +God, my Lord Regnault, would never have consented to employ a heretic +and a sorcerer; he believed in Guillaume as he had believed in Jeanne; +he held both one and the other to have been divinely sent, in the +sense that all which is not of the devil is of God. It was sufficient +for him that no evil had been found in the child, and he intended to +essay him, hoping that Guillaume would do what Jeanne had done. +Whether the Archbishop thus acted rightly or wrongly the issue was to +decide, but he might have exalted the shepherd without denying the +Saint who was so near her martyrdom. Doubtless he deemed it necessary +to distinguish between the fortune of the kingdom and the fortune of +Jeanne. And he had the courage to do it. + +[Footnote 2055: _Ibid._, p. 168.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MAID AT BEAUREVOIR--CATHERINE DE LA ROCHELLE AT PARIS--EXECUTION +OF LA PIERRONNE + + +The Maid had been taken captive in the diocese of Beauvais.[2056] At +that time the Bishop Count of Beauvais was Pierre Cauchon of Reims, a +great and pompous clerk of the University of Paris, which had elected +him rector in 1403. Messire Pierre Cauchon was not a moderate man; +with great ardour he had thrown himself into the Cabochien riots.[2057] +In 1414, the Duke of Burgundy had sent him on an embassy to the +Council of Constance to defend the doctrines of Jean Petit;[2058] then +he had appointed him Master of Requests in 1418, and finally raised +him to the episcopal see of Beauvais.[2059] Standing equally high in +the favour of the English, Messire Pierre was Councillor of King Henry +VI, Almoner of France and Chancellor to the Queen of England. Since +1423, his usual residence had been at Rouen. By their submission to +King Charles the people of Beauvais had deprived him of his episcopal +revenue.[2060] And, as the English said and believed that the army of +the King of France was at that time commanded by Friar Richard and the +Maid, Messire Pierre Cauchon, the impoverished Bishop of Beauvais, had +a personal grievance against Jeanne. It would have been better for his +own reputation that he should have abstained from avenging the +Church's honour on a damsel who was possibly an idolatress, a +soothsayer and the invoker of devils, but who had certainly incurred +his personal ill-will. He was in the Regent's pay;[2061] and the Regent +was filled with bitter hatred of the Maid.[2062] Again for his +reputation's sake, my Lord Bishop of Beauvais should have reflected +that in prosecuting Jeanne for a matter of faith he was serving his +master's wrath and furthering the temporal interests of the great of +this world. On these things he did not reflect; on the contrary, this +case at once temporal and spiritual, as ambiguous as his own position, +excited his worst passions. He flung himself into it with all the +thoughtlessness of the violent. A maiden to be denounced, a heretic +and an Armagnac to boot, what a feast for the prelate, the Councillor +of King Henry! After having concerted with the doctors and masters of +the University of Paris, on the 14th of July, he presented himself +before the camp of Compiègne and demanded the Maid as subject to his +jurisdiction.[2063] + +[Footnote 2056: This point was not called in question at the time; but +what might be discussed is whether the Bishop of Beauvais could +exercise ordinary jurisdiction over the Maid. On this subject see: +Abbé Ph. H. Dunand, _Histoire complète de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1899, +vol. ii, pp. 412, 413.] + +[Footnote 2057: Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges et +assesseurs du procès de Jeanne d'Arc_, Rouen, 1890, p. 12. Douet +d'Arcq, _Choix de pièces inédites relatives au règne de Charles VI_, +vol. i, pp. 356, 357. Chanoine Cerf, _Pierre Cauchon de Sommièvre, +chanoine de Reims et de Beauvais, évêque de Beauvais et de Lisieux; +son origine, ses dignités, sa mort et ses sépultures_, in _Travaux de +l'Académie de Reims_, CI (1898), pp. 363 _et seq._, A. Sarrazin, +_Pierre Cauchon, juge de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1901, in 8vo, pp. 26 +_et seq._] + +[Footnote 2058: Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. i, p. 116. +A. Sarrazin, _P. Cauchon_, pp. 36, 37.] + +[Footnote 2059: Du Boulay, _Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, 1670, +vol. v, p. 912. The Abbé Delettre, _Histoire du diocèse de Beauvais_, +Beauvais, 1842, vol. ii, p. 348.] + +[Footnote 2060: Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. +13.] + +[Footnote 2061: A. Sarrazin, _P. Cauchon_, pp. 58 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2062: Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. x, p. 408, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 2063: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 13. Vallet de Viriville, _Procès de +condamnation_, pp. 10 _et seq._ A. Sarrazin, _P. Cauchon_, pp. 108 _et +seq._] + +He supported his demand by letters from the _Alma Mater_ to the Duke +of Burgundy and the Lord Jean de Luxembourg. + +The University made known to the most illustrious Prince, the Duke of +Burgundy, that once before it had claimed this woman, called the Maid, +and had received no reply. + +"We greatly fear," continued the doctors and masters, "that by the +false and seductive power of the Hellish Enemy and by the malice and +subtlety of wicked persons, your enemies and adversaries who, it is +said, are making every effort to deliver this woman by crooked means, +will in some manner remove her out of your power. + +"Wherefore, the University hopes that so great a dishonour may be +spared to the most Christian name of the house of France, and again it +supplicates your Highness, the Duke of Burgundy, to deliver over this +woman either to the Inquisitor of the evil of heresy or to my Lord +Bishop of Beauvais within whose spiritual jurisdiction she was +captured." + +Here follows the letter which the doctors and masters of the +University entrusted to the Lord Bishop of Beauvais for the Lord Jean +de Luxembourg: + + Most noble, honoured and powerful lord, to your high + nobility we very affectionately commend us. Your noble + wisdom doth well know and recognise that all good Catholic + knights should employ their strength and their power first + in God's service and then for the common weal. Above all, + the first oath of the order of knighthood is to defend and + keep the honour of God, the Catholic Faith and holy Church. + This sacred oath was present to your mind when you employed + your noble power and your person in the taking of the woman + who calleth herself the Maid, by whom the glory of God hath + been infinitely offended, the Faith deeply wounded and the + Church greatly dishonoured: for through her there have + arisen in this kingdom, idolatries, errors, false doctrines + and other evils and misfortunes without end. And in truth + all loyal Christians must give unto you hearty thanks for + having rendered so great service to our holy Faith and to + all the kingdom. As for us, we thank God with all our + hearts, and you we thank for your noble prowess as + affectionately as we may. But such a capture alone would be + but a small thing were it not followed by a worthy issue + whereby this woman may answer for the offences she hath + committed against our merciful Creator, his faith and his + holy Church, as well as for her other evil deeds which are + said to be without number. The mischief would be greater + than ever, the people would be wrapped in yet grosser error + than before and his Divine Majesty too insufferably + offended, if matters continued in their present state, or if + it befell that this woman were delivered or retaken, as we + are told, is wished, plotted and endeavoured by divers of + our enemies, by all secret ways and by what is even worse by + bribe or by ransom. But it is our hope that God will not + permit so great an evil to betide his people, and that your + great and high wisdom will not suffer it so to befall but + will provide against it as becometh your nobility. + + For if without the retribution that behoveth she were to be + delivered, irreparable would be the dishonour which should + fall on your great nobility and on all those who have dealt + in this matter. But your good and noble wisdom will know how + to devise means whereby such scandal shall cease as soon as + may be, whereof there is great need. And because all delay + in this matter is very perilous and very injurious to this + kingdom, very kindly and with a cordial affection do we + beseech your powerful and honoured nobility to grant that + for the glory of God, for the maintenance of the Holy + Catholic Faith, for the good and honour of the kingdom, this + woman be delivered up to justice and given over here to the + Inquisitor of the Faith, who hath demanded her and doth now + demand her urgently, in order that he may examine the + grievous charges under which she labours, so that God may be + satisfied and the folk duly edified in good and holy + doctrine. Or, an it please you better, hand over this woman + to the reverend Father in God, our highly honoured Lord + Bishop of Beauvais, who it is said hath likewise claimed + her, because she was taken within his jurisdiction. This + prelate and this inquisitor are judges of this woman in + matters of faith; and every Christian of whatsoever estate + owes them obedience in this case under heavy penalty of the + law. By so doing you will attain to the love and grace of + the most High and you will be the means of exalting the holy + Faith, and likewise will you glorify your own high and noble + name and also that of the most high and most powerful + Prince, our redoubtable Lord and yours, my Lord of Burgundy. + Every man shall be required to pray God for the prosperity + of your most noble worship, whom may it please God our + Saviour in his grace, to guide and keep in all his affairs + and finally to grant eternal joy. + + Given at Paris, the 14th day of July, 1430.[2064] + +[Footnote 2064: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 10, 11. M. Fournier, _La faculté +de décret_, vol. i, p. 353, note.] + +At the same time that he bore these letters, the Reverend Father in +God, the Bishop of Beauvais was charged to offer money.[2065] To us it +seems strange indeed that just at the very time when, by the mouth of +the University, he was representing to the Lord of Luxembourg that he +could not sell his prisoner without committing a crime, the Bishop +should himself offer to purchase her. According to these +ecclesiastics, Jean would incur terrible penalties in this world and +in the next, if in conformity with the laws and customs of war he +surrendered a prisoner held to ransom in return for money, and he +would win praise and blessing if he treacherously sold his captive to +those who wished to put her to death. But at least we might expect +that this Lord Bishop who had come to buy this woman for the Church, +would purchase her with the Church's money. Not at all! The purchase +money is furnished by the English. In the end therefore she is +delivered not to the Church but to the English. And it is a priest, +acting in the interests of God and of his Church, by virtue of his +episcopal jurisdiction, who concludes the bargain. He offers ten +thousand golden francs, a sum in return for which, he says, according +to the custom prevailing in France, the King has the right to claim +any prisoner even were he of the blood royal.[2066] + +[Footnote 2065: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 13, 14.] + +[Footnote 2066: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 14.] + +There can be no doubt whatever that the high and solemn ecclesiastic, +Pierre Cauchon, suspected Jeanne of witchcraft. Wishing to bring her +to trial, he exercised his ecclesiastical functions. But he knew her +to be the enemy of the English as well as of himself; there is no +doubt on that point. So when he wished to bring her to trial he acted +as the Councillor of King Henry. Was it a witch or the enemy of the +English he was buying with his ten thousand gold francs? And if it +were merely a witch and an idolatress that the Holy Inquisitor, that +the University, that the Ordinary demanded for the glory of God, and +at the price of gold, wherefore so much ado, wherefore so great an +expenditure of money? Would it not be better in this matter to act in +concert with the ecclesiastics of King Charles's party? The Armagnacs +were neither infidels nor heretics; they were neither Turks nor +Hussites; they were Catholics; they acknowledged the Pope of Rome to +be the true head of Christendom. The Dauphin Charles and his clergy +had not been excommunicated. Neither those who regarded the Treaty of +Troyes as invalid nor those who had sworn to it had been pronounced +anathema by the Pope. This was not a question of faith. In the +provinces ruled over by King Charles the Holy Inquisition prosecuted +heresy in a curious manner and the secular arm saw to it that the +sentences pronounced by the Church did not remain a dead letter. The +Armagnacs burned witches just as much as the French and the +Burgundians. For the present doubtless they did not believe the Maid +to be possessed by devils; most of them on the contrary were inclined +to regard her as a saint. But might they not be undeceived? Would it +not be good Christian charity to present them with fine canonical +arguments? If the Maid's case were really a case for the +ecclesiastical court why not join with Churchmen of both parties and +take her before the Pope and the Council? And just at that time a +Council for the reformation of the Church and the establishment of +peace in the kingdom was sitting in the town of Bâle; the University +was sending its delegates, who would there meet the ecclesiastics of +King Charles, also Gallicans and firmly attached to the privileges of +the Church of France.[2067] Why not have this Armagnac prophetess +tried by the assembled Fathers? But for the sake of Henry of Lancaster +and the glory of Old England matters had to take another turn. The +Regent's Councillors were already accusing Jeanne of witchcraft when +she summoned them in the name of the King of Heaven to depart out of +France. During the siege of Orléans, they wanted to burn her heralds +and said that if they had her they would burn her also at the stake. +Such in good sooth was their firm intent and their unvarying +intimation. This does not look as if they would be likely to hand her +over to the Church as soon as she was taken. In their own kingdom they +burned as many witches and wizards as possible; but they had never +suffered the Holy Inquisition to be established in their land, and +they were ill acquainted with that form of justice. Informed that +Jeanne was in the hands of the Sire de Luxembourg, the Great Council +of England were unanimously in favour of her being purchased at any +price. Divers lords recommended that as soon as they obtained +possession of the Maid she should be sewn in a sack and cast into the +river. But one of them (it is said to have been the Earl of Warwick) +represented to them that she ought first to be tried, convicted of +heresy and witchcraft by an ecclesiastical tribunal, and then solemnly +degraded in order that her King might be degraded with her.[2068] What +a disgrace for Charles of Valois, calling himself King of France, if +the University of Paris, if the French ecclesiastical dignitaries, +bishops, abbots, canons, if in short the Church Universal were to +declare that a witch had sat in his Council and that a witch led his +host, that one possessed had conducted him to his impious, +sacrilegious and void anointing! Thus would the trial of the Maid be +the trial of Charles VII, the condemnation of the Maid the +condemnation of Charles VII. The idea seemed good to them and was +adopted. + +[Footnote 2067: Du Boulay, _Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. +v, pp. 393-408. _Monumenta conciliorum generalium seculi decimi +quinti_, vol. i, pp. 70 _et seq._ Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Le +procès de Jeanne d'Arc et l'Université de Paris_.] + +[Footnote 2068: Valeran Varanius, ed. Prarond, Paris, 1889, book iv, p. +100.] + +The Lord Bishop of Beauvais was eager to put it into execution. He, a +priest and Councillor of State, was consumed with a desire, under the +semblance of trying an unfortunate heretic, to sit in judgment on the +descendant of Clovis, of Saint Charlemagne and of Saint Louis. + +Early in August, the Sire de Luxembourg had the Maid taken from +Beaulieu, which was not safe enough, to Beaurevoir, near Cambrai.[2069] +There dwelt Dame Jeanne de Luxembourg and Dame Jeanne de Béthune. +Jeanne de Luxembourg was the aunt of Lord Jean, whom she loved dearly. +Among the great of this world she had lived as a saint, and she had +never married. Formerly lady-in-waiting to Queen Ysabeau, King Charles +VII's godmother, one of the most important events of her life had been +to solicit from Pope Martin the canonisation of her Brother, the +Cardinal of Luxembourg, who had died at Avignon in his ninetieth year. +She was known as the Demoiselle de Luxembourg. She was sixty-seven +years of age, infirm and near her end.[2070] + +[Footnote 2069: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 109, 110; vol. ii, p. 298; vol. +iii, p. 121. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 389. E. Gomart, _Jeanne d'Arc au +château de Beaurevoir_, Cambrai, 1865, in 8vo, 47 pages (_Mem. de la +Société d'émulation de Cambrai_, xxxviii, 2, pp. 305-348). L. Sambier, +_Jeanne d'Arc et la région du Nord_, Lille, 1901, in 8vo, 63 pages. +Cf. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 300, notes 3 and 4, vol. iv, supplement +xxi.] + +[Footnote 2070: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 95, 231. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. +402. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 2; +vol. ii, pp. 72, 73.] + +Jeanne de Béthune, widow of Lord Robert de Bar, slain at the Battle +of Azincourt, had married Lord Jean in 1418. She was reputed pitiful, +because, in 1424, she had obtained from her husband the pardon of a +nobleman of Picardy, who had been brought prisoner to Beaurevoir and +was in great danger of being beheaded and quartered.[2071] + +[Footnote 2071: A. Duchêne, _Histoire de la maison de Béthune_, ch. +iii, and proofs and illustrations, p. 33. Vallet de Viriville, _loc. +cit._, and Morosini, vol. iv, pp. 352, 354.] + +These two ladies treated Jeanne kindly. They offered her woman's +clothes or cloth with which to make them; and they urged her to +abandon a dress which appeared to them unseemly. Jeanne refused, +alleging that she had not received permission from Our Lord and that +it was not yet time; later she admitted that had she been able to quit +man's attire, she would have done so at the request of these two dames +rather than for any other dame of France, the Queen excepted.[2072] + +[Footnote 2072: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 95, 231.] + +A noble of the Burgundian party, one Aimond de Macy, often came to see +her and was pleased to converse with her. To him she seemed modest in +word and in deed. Still Sire Aimond, who was but thirty, had found her +personally attractive.[2073] If certain witnesses of her own party are +to be believed, Jeanne, although beautiful, did not inspire men with +desire. + +[Footnote 2073: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 438, 457; vol. iii, p. 121.] + +This singular grace however applied to the Armagnacs only; it was not +extended to the Burgundians, and Seigneur Aimond did not experience +it, for one day he tried to thrust his hand into her bosom. She +resisted and repulsed him with all her strength. Lord Aimond concluded +as more than one would have done in his place that this was a damsel +of rare virtue. He took warning.[2074] + +[Footnote 2074: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 120, 121.] + +Confined in the castle keep, Jeanne's mind was for ever running on her +return to her friends at Compiègne; her one idea was to escape. +Somehow there reached her evil tidings from France. She got the idea +that all the inhabitants of Compiègne over seven years of age were to +be massacred, "to perish by fire and sword," she said; and indeed such +a fate was bound to overtake them if the town were taken. + +Confiding her distress and her unconquerable desire to Saint +Catherine, she asked: "How can God abandon to destruction those good +folk of Compiègne who have been so loyal to their Lord?"[2075] + +[Footnote 2075: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 150.] + +And in her dream, surrounded by saints, like the donors in church +pictures, kneeling and in rapture, she wrestled with her heavenly +counsellors for the poor folk of Compiègne. + +What she had heard of their fate caused her infinite distress; she +herself would rather die than continue to live after such a +destruction of worthy people. For this reason she was strongly tempted +to leap from the top of the keep. And because she knew all that could +be said against it, she heard her Voices putting her in mind of those +arguments. + +Nearly every day Saint Catherine said to her: "Do not leap, God will +help both you and those of Compiègne." + +And Jeanne replied to her: "Since God will help those of Compiègne, I +want to be there." + +And once again Saint Catherine told her the marvellous story of the +shepherdess and the King: "To all things must you be resigned. And you +will not be delivered until you have seen the King of the English." + +To which Jeanne made answer: "But in good sooth I do not desire to see +him. I would rather die than fall into the hands of the English."[2076] + +[Footnote 2076: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 150, 151.] + +One day she heard a rumour that the English had come to fetch her. The +arrival of the Lord Bishop of Beauvais who came to offer the blood +money at Beaurevoir may have given rise to the report.[2077] +Straightway Jeanne became frantic and beside herself. She ceased to +listen to her Voices, who forbade her the fatal leap. The keep was at +least seventy feet high; she commended her soul to God and leapt. + +[Footnote 2077: _Ibid._, p. 13; vol. v, p. 194.] + +Having fallen to the ground, she heard cries: "She is dead." + +The guards hurried to the spot. Finding her still alive, in their +amazement they could only ask: "Did you leap?" + +She felt sorely shaken; but Saint Catherine spoke to her and said: "Be +of good courage. You will recover." At the same time the Saint gave +her good tidings of her friends. "You will recover and the people of +Compiègne will receive succour." And she added that this succour would +come before Saint Martin's Day in the winter.[2078] + +[Footnote 2078: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 110, 151, 152.] + +Henceforth Jeanne believed that it was her saints who had helped her +and guarded her from death. She knew well that she had been wrong in +attempting such a leap, despite her Voices. + +Saint Catherine said to her: "You must confess and ask God to forgive +you for having leapt." + +Jeanne did confess and ask pardon of Our Lord. And after her +confession Saint Catherine made known unto her that God had forgiven +her. For three or four days she remained without eating or drinking; +then she took some food and was whole.[2079] + +[Footnote 2079: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 166. _Journal d'un bourgeois de +Paris_, p. 268. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 53, 58.] + +Another story was told of the leap from Beaurevoir; it was related +that she had tried to escape through a window letting herself down by +a sheet or something that broke; but we must believe the Maid: she +says she leapt; if she had been attached to a cord, she would not have +committed sin and would not have confessed. This leap was known and +the rumour spread abroad that she had escaped and joined her own +party.[2080] + +[Footnote 2080: _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 507, recto. Morosini, +vol. iii, pp. 301-303. _Chronique de Tournai_, ed. Smedt, in _Recueil +des Chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, pp. 416, 417.] + +Meanwhile the Lenten sermons at Orléans had been delivered by that +good preacher, Friar Richard, who was ill content with Jeanne, and +whom Jeanne disliked and had quitted. The townsfolk as a token of +regard presented him with the image of Jesus sculptured in copper by a +certain Philippe, a metal-worker of the city. And the bookseller, Jean +Moreau, bound him a book of hours at the town's expense.[2081] + +[Footnote 2081: Lottin, _Recherches sur la ville d'Orléans_, vol. i, p. +252. _Trial_, vol. i, p. 99, note 1. _Journal du siège_, pp. 235-238. +S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. cclxiii, note 2.] + +He brought back Queen Marie to Jargeau and succeeded in obtaining her +favour. Jeanne was spared the bitterness of learning that while she +was languishing in prison her friends at Orléans, her fair Dauphin and +his Queen Marie, were making good cheer for the monk who had turned +from her to prefer a dame Catherine whom she considered +worthless.[2082] Only lately the idea of employing Dame Catherine had +filled Jeanne with alarm; she wrote to her King about it, and as soon +as she saw him besought him not to employ her. However the King set no +store by what she had said; he agreed to Friar Richard's favourite +being allowed to set forth on her mission to obtain money from the +good towns and to negotiate peace with the Duke of Burgundy. But +perhaps this saintly dame was not possessed of all the wisdom +necessary for the performance of man's work and King's service. For +immediately she became a cause of embarrassment to her friends. + +[Footnote 2082: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 296, 297.] + +Being in the town of Tours, she fell to saying: "In this town there be +carpenters who work, but not at houses, and if ye have not a care, +this town is in the way to a bad end and there be those in the town +that know it."[2083] + +[Footnote 2083: Register of the Accounts of the town of Tours for the +year 1430, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 473, note 1.] + +This was a denunciation in the form of a parable. Dame Catherine was +thereby accusing the churchmen and burgesses of Tours of working +against Charles of Valois, their lord. The woman must have been held +to have influence with the King, his kinsmen and his Council; for the +inhabitants of Tours took fright and sent an Augustinian monk, Brother +Jean Bourget, to King Charles, to the Queen of Sicily, to the Bishop +of Séez, and to the Lord of Trèves, to inquire whether the words of +this holy woman had been believed by them. The Queen of Sicily and the +Councillors of King Charles gave the monk letters wherein they +announced to the townsfolk of Tours that they had never heard of such +things, and King Charles declared that he had every confidence in the +churchmen, the burgesses and the other citizens of his town of +Tours.[2084] + +[Footnote 2084: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 473.] + +Dame Catherine had in like manner slandered the inhabitants of +Angers.[2085] + +[Footnote 2085: _Ibid._, p. 473.] + +Whether, following the example of the Blessed Colette of Corbie, this +devout person wished to pass from one party to the other, or whether +she had chanced to be taken captive by Burgundian men-at-arms, she was +brought before the Official at Paris. In their interrogation of her +the ecclesiastics appear to have been concerned less about her than +about the Maid Jeanne, whose prosecution was then being instituted. + +On the subject of the Maid, Catherine said: "Jeanne has two +counsellors, whom she calls Counsellors of the Spring."[2086] + +[Footnote 2086: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 295.] + +Such was the confused recollection of the conversations she had had at +Jargeau and at Montfaucon. The term Council was the one Jeanne usually +employed when speaking of her Voices; but Dame Catherine was confusing +Jeanne's heavenly visitants with what the Maid had told her of the +Gooseberry Spring at Domremy. + +If Jeanne felt unkindly towards Catherine, Catherine did not feel +kindly towards Jeanne. She did not assert Jeanne's mission to be +nought; but she let it be clearly understood that the hapless damsel, +then a prisoner in the hands of the Burgundians, was addicted to +invoking evil spirits. + +"If Jeanne be not well guarded," Catherine told the Official, "she +will escape from prison with the aid of the devil."[2087] + +[Footnote 2087: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 106, note. _Journal d'un bourgeois +de Paris_, p. 271. Vallet de Viriville, _Procès de condamnation de +Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. lxi-lxv.] + +Whether Jeanne was or was not aided by the devil was a matter to be +decided between herself and the doctors of the church. But it is +certain that her one thought was to burst her bonds, and that she was +ceaselessly imagining means of escape. Catherine de la Rochelle knew +her well and wished her ill. + +Catherine was released. Her ecclesiastical judges would not have +treated her so leniently had she spoken well of the Maid. The La +Rochelle Dame returned to King Charles.[2088] + +[Footnote 2088: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 271.] + +The two religious women who had followed Jeanne on her departure from +Sully and had been taken at Corbeil, Pierronne of Lower Brittany and +her companion, had been confined in ecclesiastical prisons at Paris +since the spring. They openly said that God had sent them to succour +the Maid Jeanne. Friar Richard had been their spiritual father and +they had been in the Maid's company. Wherefore they were strongly +suspected of having offended against God and his Holy Religion. The +Grand Inquisitor of France, Brother Jean Graverent, Prior of the +Jacobins at Paris, prosecuted them according to the forms usual in +that country. He proceeded in concurrence with the Ordinary, +represented by the official. + +Pierronne maintained and believed it to be true that Jeanne was good, +and that what she did was well done and according to God's will. She +admitted that on the Christmas night of that year, at Jargeau, Friar +Richard had twice given her the body of Jesus Christ and had given it +three times to Jeanne.[2089] Besides, the fact had been well proved by +information gathered from eye-witnesses. The judges, who were +authorities on this subject, held that the monk should not thus have +lavished the bread of angels on such women. However, since frequent +communion was not formally forbidden by canon law, Pierronne could not +be censured for having received it. The informers, who were then +giving evidence against Jeanne, did not remember the three communions +at Jargeau.[2090] + +[Footnote 2089: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 271, 272.] + +[Footnote 2090: Voltaire, _Dictionnaire philosophique_, article, Arc.] + +Heavier charges weighed upon the two Breton women. They were labouring +under the accusation of witchcraft and sorcery. + +Pierronne stated and took her oath that God often appeared to her in +human form and spoke to her as friend to friend, and that the last +time she had seen him he was clothed in a purple cloak and a long +white robe.[2091] + +[Footnote 2091: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 259, 260.] + +The illustrious masters who were trying her, represented to her that +to speak thus of such apparitions was to blaspheme. And these women +were convicted of being possessed by evil spirits, who caused them to +err in word and in deed. + +On Sunday, the 3rd of September, 1430, they were taken to the Parvis +Notre Dame to hear a sermon. Platforms had been erected as usual, and +Sunday had been chosen as the day in order that folk might benefit +from this edifying spectacle. A famous doctor addressed a charitable +exhortation to both women. One of them, the youngest, as she listened +to him and looked at the stake that had been erected, was filled with +repentance. She confessed that she had been seduced by an angel of the +devil and duly renounced her error. + +Pierronne, on the contrary, refused to retract. She obstinately +persisted in the belief that she saw God often, clothed as she had +said. The Church could do nothing for her. Given over to the secular +arm, she was straightway conducted to the stake which had been +prepared for her, and burned alive by the executioner.[2092] + +[Footnote 2092: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 259-260, +271-272. Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 504. A. de +la Borderie, _Pierronne et Perrinaïc_, pp. 7 _et seq._] + +Thus did the Grand Inquisitor of France and the Bishop of Paris +cruelly cause to perish by an ignominious death one of those women who +had followed Friar Richard, one of the saints of the Dauphin Charles. +But the most famous of these women and the most abounding in works was +in their hands. The death of La Pierronne was an earnest of the fate +reserved for the Maid. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEAUREVOIR--ARRAS--ROUEN--THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE + + +In the month of September, 1430, two inhabitants of Tournai, the chief +alderman, Bietremieu Carlier, and the chief Councillor, Henri Romain, +were returning from the banks of the Loire, whither their town had +despatched them on a mission to the King of France. They stopped at +Beaurevoir. Albeit this place lay upon their direct route and afforded +them a halt between two stages of their journey, one cannot help +supposing some connection to have existed between their mission to +Charles of Valois and their arrival in the domain of the Sire de +Luxembourg. The existence of such a connection seems all the more +probable when we remember the attachment of their fellow-citizens to +the Fleurs-de-Lis, and when we know the relations already existing +between the Maid and these emissaries.[2093] + +[Footnote 2093: H. Vandenbroeck, _Extraits des anciens registres des +consaux de la ville de Tournai_, vol. ii (1422-1430), and Morosini, +vol. iii, pp. 185, 186.] + +It has been said that the district of the provost of Tournai was loyal +to the King of France, who had granted it freedom and privileges. +Message after message it sent him; it organised public processions in +his honour, and it was ready to grant him anything, so long as he +demanded neither men nor money. The alderman, Carlier, and the +Councillor, Romain, had both previously gone to Reims as +representatives of their town to witness the anointing and the +coronation of King Charles. There they had doubtless seen the Maid in +her glory and had held her to be a very great saint. In those days, +their town, attentively watching the progress of the royal army, was +in regular correspondence with the warlike _béguine_, and with her +confessor, Friar Richard, or more probably Friar Pasquerel. To-day +they wended to the castle, wherein she was imprisoned in the hands of +her cruel enemies. We know not what it was they came to say to the +Sire de Luxembourg, nor even whether he received them. He cannot have +refused to hear them if he thought they came to make secret offers on +the part of King Charles for the ransom of the Maid, who had fought in +his battles. We know not, either, whether they were able to see the +prisoner. The idea that they did enter her presence is quite tenable; +for in those days it was generally easy to approach captives, and +passers by when they visited them were given every facility for the +performance of one of the seven works of mercy. + +One thing, however, is certain; that when they left Beaurevoir, they +carried with them a letter which Jeanne had given them, charging them +to deliver it to the magistrates of their town. In this letter she +asked the folk of Tournai, for the sake of her Lord the King and in +view of the good services she had rendered him, to send unto her +twenty or thirty crowns, that she might employ them for her +necessities.[2094] + +[Footnote 2094: H. Vandenbroeck, _Extraits analytiques des anciens +registres des consaux de la ville de Tournai_, vol. ii, pp. 338, +371-373. Canon H. Debout, _Jeanne d'Arc et les villes d'Arras et de +Tournai_, Paris, n.d., p. 24.] + +It was the custom in those days thus to permit prisoners to beg their +bread. + +It is said that the Demoiselle de Luxembourg, who had just made her +will, and had but a few days longer to live,[2095] entreated her noble +nephew not to give the Maid up to the English.[2096] But what power had +this good dame against the Norman gold of the King of England and +against the anathemas of Holy Church? For if my Lord Jean had refused +to give up this damsel suspected of enchantments, of idolatries, of +invoking devils and committing other crimes against religion, he would +have been excommunicated. The venerable University of Paris had not +neglected to make him aware that a refusal would expose him to heavy +legal penalties.[2097] + +[Footnote 2095: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire généalogique de la maison de +France_, vol. iii, pp. 723, 724. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 175, 176. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement +xix.] + +[Footnote 2096: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 95, 231.] + +[Footnote 2097: _Ibid._, pp. 13, 14.] + +The Sire de Luxembourg, meanwhile, was ill at ease; he feared that in +his castle of Beaurevoir, a prisoner worth ten thousand golden livres +was not sufficiently secure in case of a descent on the part of the +French or of the English or of the Burgundians, or of any of those +folk, who, caring nought for Burgundy or England or France, might wish +to carry her off, cast her into a pit, and hold her to ransom, +according to the custom of brigands in those days.[2098] + +[Footnote 2098: _Les miracles de madame Sainte Katerine_, Bourassé, +_passim_.] + +Towards the end of September, he asked his lord, the Duke of Burgundy, +who ruled over fine towns and strong cities, if he would undertake +the safe custody of the Maid. My Lord Philip consented and, by his +command, Jeanne was taken to Arras. This town was encircled by high +walls; it had two castles, one of which, La Cour-le-Comte, was in the +centre of the town. It was probably in the cells of Cour-le-Comte that +Jeanne was confined, under the watch and ward of my Lord David de +Brimeu, Lord of Ligny, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Governor of Arras. + +At that time it was rare for prisoners to be kept in isolation.[2099] +At Arras, Jeanne received visitors; and among others, a Scotsman, who +showed her her portrait, in which she was represented kneeling on one +knee and presenting a letter to her King.[2100] This letter might be +supposed to have been from the Sire de Baudricourt, or from any other +clerk or captain by whom the painter may have thought Jeanne to have +been sent to the Dauphin; it might have been a letter announcing to +the King the deliverance of Orléans or the victory of Patay. + +[Footnote 2099: "Was waited on in prison like a lady," says _Le Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 271, concerning the Rouen prison.] + +[Footnote 2100: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 100.] + +This was the only portrait of herself Jeanne ever saw and, for her own +part, she never had any painted; but during the brief duration of her +power, the inhabitants of the French towns placed images of her, +carved and painted, in the chapels of the saints, and wore leaden +medals on which she was represented; thus in her case following a +custom established in honour of the saints canonised by the +Church.[2101] + +[Footnote 2101: _Ibid._, pp. 101, 206, 291; vol. iii, p. 87; vol. v, +pp. 104, 305. Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p. 46. +P. Lanéry d'Arc, _Le culte de Jeanne d'Arc au XV'e siècle_, Orléans, +1887, in 8vo. Noël Valois, _Un nouveau témoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc_, +pp. 8, 13, 18.] + +Many Burgundian lords, and among them a knight, one Jean de Pressy, +Controller of the Finances of Burgundy, offered her woman's dress, as +the Luxembourg dame had done, for her own good and in order to avoid +scandal; but for nothing in the world would Jeanne have cast off the +garb which she had assumed according to divine command. + +She also received in her prison at Arras a clerk of Tournai, one Jean +Naviel, charged by the magistrates of his town to deliver to her the +sum of twenty-two golden crowns. This ecclesiastic enjoyed the +confidence of his fellow citizens, who employed him in the town's most +urgent affairs. In the May of this year, 1430, he had been sent to +Messire Regnault de Chartres, Chancellor of King Charles. He had been +taken by the Burgundians at the same time as Jeanne and held to +ransom; but out of that predicament he soon escaped and at no great +cost. + +He acquitted himself well of his mission[2102] to the Maid, and, it +would seem, received nothing for his trouble, doubtless because he +wanted the reward of this work of mercy to be placed to his account in +heaven.[2103] + +[Footnote 2102: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 95, 96, 231. Canon Henri Debout, +_Jeanne d'Arc prisonnière à Arras_, Arras, 1894, in 16mo; _Jeanne +d'Arc et les villes d'Arras et de Tournai_, Paris, 1904, in 8vo; +_Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. ii, pp. 394 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2103: On the 7th of November, 1430, a messenger from the town +of Arras received forty shillings for having taken two sealed letters +to the Duke of Burgundy, one from Jean de Luxembourg, the other from +David de Brimeu, Governor of the Bailiwick of Arras; we know nothing +of the tenor of these letters written concerning "the case of the +Maid." P. Champion, _Notes sur Jeanne d'Arc, II; Jeanne d'Arc à +Arras_, in _Le Moyen Âge_, July-August, 1907, pp. 200, 201.] + +Neither the capture of the Maid nor the retreat of the men-at-arms she +had brought, put an end to the siege of Compiègne. Guillaume de Flavy +and his two brothers, Charles and Louis, and Captain Baretta with his +Italians, and the five hundred of the garrison[2104] displayed skill, +vigour, and untiring energy. The Burgundians conducted the siege in +the same manner as the English had conducted that of Orléans; mines, +trenches, bulwarks, cannonades and bastions, those gigantic and absurd +erections good for nothing but for burning. The suburbs of the town +Guillaume de Flavy had demolished because they were in the way of his +firing; boats he had sunk in order to bar the river. To the mortars +and huge _couillards_ of the Burgundians he replied with his +artillery, and notably with those little copper culverins which did +such good service.[2105] If the gay cannoneer of Orléans and Jargeau, +Maître Jean de Montesclère, were absent, there was a shoemaker of +Valenciennes, an artilleryman, named Noirouffle, tall, dark, terrible +to see, and terrible to hear.[2106] The townsfolk of Compiègne, like +those of Orléans, made unsuccessful sallies. One day Louis de Flavy, +the governor's brother, was killed by a Burgundian bullet. But none +the less on that day Guillaume did as he was wont to do and made the +minstrels play to keep his men-at-arms in good cheer.[2107] + +[Footnote 2104: H. de Lépinois, _Notes extraites des archives +communales de Compiègne_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, +1863, vol. xxiv, p. 486. A. Sorel, _Prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 268. P. +Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, pp. 38, 48 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2105: _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 500 verso.] + +[Footnote 2106: Chastellain, vol. ii, p. 53.] + +[Footnote 2107: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 390.] + +In the month of June the bulwark, defending the bridge over the Oise, +like les Tourelles at Orléans which defended the bridge over the +Loire, was captured by the enemy without bringing about the reduction +of the town. In like manner, the capture of Les Tourelles had not +occasioned the fall of the town of Duke Charles.[2108] + +[Footnote 2108: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 390, 391. Lefèvre de +Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 180. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 306, 307. +Chastellain, vol. ii, pp. 51, 54. A. Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 233 _et seq._ P. Champion. _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 50.] + +[Illustration: HENRY VI + +_From a portrait in the "Election Chamber" at Eton, reproduced by +permission of the Provost_] + +As for the bastions, they were just as little good on the Oise as they +had been on the Loire; everything passed by them. The Burgundians were +unable to invest Compiègne because its circumference was too +great.[2109] They were short of money; and their men-at-arms, for lack +of food and of pay, deserted with that perfect assurance which in +those days characterised alike mercenaries of the red cross and of the +white.[2110] To complete his misfortunes, Duke Philip was obliged to +take away some of the troops engaged in the siege and send them +against the inhabitants of Liège who had revolted.[2111] On the 24th of +October, a relieving army, commanded by the Count of Vendôme and the +Marshal de Boussac, approached Compiègne. The English and the +Burgundians having turned to encounter them, the garrison and all the +inhabitants of the town, even the women, fell upon the rear of the +besiegers and routed them.[2112] The relieving army entered Compiègne. +The flaring of the bastions was a fine sight. The Duke of Burgundy +lost all his artillery.[2113] The Sire de Luxembourg, who had come to +Beaurevoir, where he had received the Count Bishop of Beauvais, now +appeared before Compiègne just in time to bear his share in the +disaster.[2114] The same causes which had constrained the English to +depart, as they put it, from Orléans, now obliged the Burgundians to +leave Compiègne. But in those days the most ordinary events must needs +have a supernatural cause assigned to them, wherefore the deliverance +of the town was attributed to the vow of the Count of Vendôme, who, in +the cathedral of Senlis, had promised an annual mass to +Notre-Dame-de-la-Pierre if the place were not taken.[2115] + +[Footnote 2109: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. i, pp. 49 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2110: _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 502 verso. P. +Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, proofs and illustrations, xli, xlii, +xliii.] + +[Footnote 2111: _Livre des trahisons_, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 2112: Monstrelet, vol. iii, pp. 410-415. Lefèvre de +Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 185. _Livre des trahisons_, p. 202. A. Sorel, +_La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, proofs and illustrations, xiii, p. 341. P. +Champion, _loc. cit._, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 2113: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 418. De La Fons-Mélicocq, +_Documents inédits sur le siège de Compiègne_, in _La Picardie_, vol. +iii, 1857, pp. 22, 23. Stevenson, _Letters and Papers_, vol. ii, part +i, p. 156.] + +[Footnote 2114: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 419. P. Champion, _Guillaume de +Flavy_, p. 57.] + +[Footnote 2115: Sorel, _La prise de Jeanne d'Arc_, proofs and +illustrations, p. 343.] + +The Lord Treasurer of Normandy raised aids to the amount of eighty +thousand _livres tournois_, ten thousand of which were to be devoted +to the purchase of Jeanne. The Count Bishop of Beauvais, who was +taking this matter to heart, urged the Sire de Luxembourg to come to +terms, mingled threats with coaxings, and caused the Norman gold to +glitter before his eyes. He seemed to fear, and his fear was shared by +the masters and doctors of the University, that King Charles would +likewise make an offer, that he would promise more than King Henry's +ten thousand golden francs and that in the end, by dint of costly +gifts, the Armagnacs would succeed in winning back their +fairy-godmother.[2116] The rumour ran that King Charles, hearing that +the English were about to gain possession of Jeanne for a sum of +money, sent an ambassador to warn the Duke of Burgundy not on any +account to consent to such an agreement, adding that if he did, the +Burgundians in the hands of the King of France would be made to pay +for the fate of the Maid.[2117] Doubtless the rumour was false; albeit +the fears of the Lord Bishop and the masters of the Paris University +were not entirely groundless; and it is certain that from the banks of +the Loire the negotiations were being attentively followed with a view +to intervention at a favourable moment. + +[Footnote 2116: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 9. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire +de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 2117: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 236. U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration +de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 18, note.] + +Besides, some sudden descent of the French was always to be feared. +Captain La Hire was ravaging Normandy, the knight Barbazan, la +Champagne, and Marshal de Boussac, the country between the Seine, the +Marne and the Somme.[2118] + +[Footnote 2118: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 276, note.] + +At length, about the middle of November, the Sire de Luxembourg +consented to the bargain; Jeanne was delivered up to the English. It +was decided to take her to Rouen, through Ponthieu, along the +sea-shore, through the north of Normandy, where there would be less +risk of falling in with the scouts of the various parties. + +From Arras she was taken to the Château of Drugy, where the monks of +Saint-Riquier were said to have visited her in prison.[2119] She was +afterwards taken to Crotoy, where the castle walls were washed by the +ocean waves. The Duke of Alençon, whom she called her fair Duke, had +been imprisoned there after the Battle of Verneuil.[2120] At the time +of her arrival, Maître Nicolas Gueuville, Chancellor of the Cathedral +church of Notre Dame d'Amiens, was a prisoner in that castle in the +hands of the English. He heard her confess and administered the +Communion to her.[2121] And there on that vast Bay of the Somme, grey +and monotonous, with its low sky traversed by sea-birds in their long +flight, Jeanne beheld coming down to her the visitant of earlier days, +the Archangel Saint Michael; and she was comforted. It was said that +the damsels and burgesses of Abbeville went to see her in the castle +where she was imprisoned.[2122] At the time of the coronation, these +burgesses had thought of turning French; and they would have done so +if King Charles had come to their town; he did not come; and perhaps +it was through Christian charity that the folk of Abbeville visited +Jeanne; but those among them who thought well of her did not say so, +for fear they too should be suspected of heresy.[2123] + +[Footnote 2119: Chronicle of Jean de la Chapelle, in _Trial_, vol. v, +pp. 358-360. Lefils, _Histoire de la ville du Crotoy et de son +château_, pp. 111-118. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La panique anglaise_, p. +8, note 5. L'Abbé Bouthors, _Histoire de Saint-Riquier_, Abbeville, +1902, pp. 185, 215, 220.] + +[Footnote 2120: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 22, 137.] + +[Footnote 2121: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 121. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc +et la Normandie_, pp. 63 _et seq._; Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, p. +521.] + +[Footnote 2122: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 89; vol. iii, p. 121. Le P. Ignace +de Jésus Maria, _Histoire généalogique des comtes de Ponthieu et +maïeurs d'Abbeville_, Paris, 1657, p. 490. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 361.] + +[Footnote 2123: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 353, 354. _Trial_, vol. v, p. +143.] + +The doctors and masters of the University pursued her with a +bitterness hardly credible. In November, after they had been informed +of the conclusion of the bargain between Jean de Luxembourg and the +English, they wrote through their rector to the Lord Bishop of +Beauvais reproaching him for his delay in the matter of this woman and +exhorting him to be more diligent. + +"For you it is no slight matter, holding as you do so high an office +in God's Church," ran this letter, "that the scandals committed +against the Christian religion be stamped out, especially when such +scandals arise within your actual jurisdiction."[2124] + +[Footnote 2124: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 15, 16. M. Fournier, _La Faculté +de décret et l'Université de Paris_, vol. i, p. 353.] + +Filled with faith and zeal for the avenging of God's honour, these +clerks were, as they said, always ready to burn witches. They feared +the devil; but, perchance, though they may not have admitted it even +to themselves, they feared him twenty times more when he was Armagnac. + +Jeanne was taken out of Crotoy at high tide and conveyed by boat to +Saint-Valery, then to Dieppe, as is supposed, and certainly in the end +to Rouen.[2125] + +[Footnote 2125: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 21. Le P. Ignace de Jésus Maria, in +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 363. F. Poulaine, _Jeanne d'Arc à Rouen_, Paris, +1899, in 16mo. Ch. Lemire, _Jeanne d'Arc en Picardie et en Normandie_, +Paris, 1903, p. 10, _passim_. Lanéry d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, pp. 524, +549.] + +She was conducted to the old castle, built in the time of +Philippe-Auguste on the slope of the Bouvreuil hill.[2126] King Henry +VI, who had come to France for his coronation, had been there since +the end of August. He was a sad, serious child, harshly treated by the +Earl of Warwick, who was governor of the castle.[2127] The castle was +strongly fortified;[2128] it had seven towers, including the keep. +Jeanne was placed in a tower looking on to the open country.[2129] Her +room was on the middle storey, between the dungeon and the state +apartment. Eight steps led up to it.[2130] It extended over the whole +of that floor, which was forty-three feet across, including the +walls.[2131] A stone staircase approached it at an angle. There was but +a dim light, for some of the window slits had been filled in.[2132] +From a locksmith of Rouen, one Étienne Castille, the English had +ordered an iron cage, in which it was said to be impossible to stand +upright. If the reports of the ecclesiastical registrars are to be +believed, Jeanne was placed in it and chained by the neck, feet, and +hands,[2133] and left there till the opening of the trial. At Jean +Salvart's, at _l'Écu de France_, in front of the Official's +courtyard,[2134] a mason's apprentice saw the cage weighed. But no one +ever found Jeanne in it. If this treatment were inflicted on Jeanne, +it was not invented for her; when Captain La Hire, in the February of +this same year, 1430, took Château Gaillard, near Rouen, he found the +good knight Barbazan in an iron cage, from which he would not come +out, alleging that he was a prisoner on parole.[2135] Jeanne, on the +contrary, had been careful to promise nothing, or rather she had +promised to escape as soon as she could.[2136] Therefore the English, +who believed that she had magical powers, mistrusted her greatly.[2137] +As she was being prosecuted by the Church, she ought to have been +detained in an ecclesiastical prison,[2138] but the _Godons_ were +resolved to keep her in their custody. One among them said she was +dear to them because they had paid dearly for her. On her feet they +put shackles and round her waist a chain padlocked to a beam five or +six feet long. At night this chain was carried over the foot of her +bed and attached to the principal beam.[2139] In like manner, John +Huss, in 1415, when he was delivered up to the Bishop of Constance and +transferred to the fortress of Gottlieben, was chained night and day +until he was taken to the stake. + +[Footnote 2126: A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie au XV'e +siècle_, Rouen, 1896, in 4to, ch. v.] + +[Footnote 2127: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 136-137. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 198.] + +[Footnote 2128: L. de Duranville, _Le château de Bouvreuil_, in _La +Revue de Rouen_, 1852, p. 387. A. Deville, _La tour de la Pucelle du +château de Rouen_, in _Précis des travaux de l'Académie de Rouen_, +1865-1866, pp. 236-268. Bouquet, _Notice sur le donjon du château de +Philippe-Auguste_, Rouen, 1877, pp. 7 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2129: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 317, 345; vol. iii, p. 121.] + +[Footnote 2130: _Ibid._, p. 154. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la +Normandie_, p. 190, note 1. L. Delisle, _Revue des Sociétés savantes_, +1867, 4th series, vol. v, p. 440. F. Bouquet, _Jeanne d'Arc au donjon +de Rouen_, in _Revue de Normandie_, 1867, vol. vi, pp. 873-883. L. +Delisle, _Revue des Sociétés savantes_, vol. v (1867). Lanéry d'Arc, +pp. 528-533.] + +[Footnote 2131: Ballin, _Renseignements sur le Vieux-Château de Rouen_, +in _Revue de Rouen_, 1842, p. 35. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la +Normandie_, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 2132: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 2133: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 155.] + +[Footnote 2134: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 180. A. Sarrazin, pp. 191, 192.] + +[Footnote 2135: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, pp. 240, 241.] + +[Footnote 2136: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 47.] + +[Footnote 2137: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 322.] + +[Footnote 2138: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 216, 217. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, p. 112.] + +[Footnote 2139: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 18.] + +Five English men-at-arms,[2140] common soldiers (_houspilleurs_), +guarded the prisoner;[2141] they were not the flower of chivalry. They +mocked her and she rebuked them, a circumstance they must have found +consolatory. At night two of them stayed behind the door; three +remained with her, and constantly troubled her by saying first that +she would die, then that she would be delivered. No one could speak to +her without their consent.[2142] + +[Footnote 2140: Lea, _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_ +(1906), vol. iii, p. 359.] + +[Footnote 2141: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 154.] + +[Footnote 2142: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 318, 319; vol. iii, pp. 131, 140, +148, 161. A. Sarrazin, _P. Cauchon_, p. 200.] + +Nevertheless folk entered the prison as if it were a fair (_comme au +moulin_); people of all ranks came to see Jeanne as they pleased. Thus +Maître Laurent Guesdon, Lieutenant of the Bailie of Rouen, came,[2143] +and Maître Pierre Manuel, Advocate of the King of England, who was +accompanied by Maître Pierre Daron, magistrate of the city of Rouen. +They found her with her feet in shackles, guarded by soldiers.[2144] + +[Footnote 2143: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 186, 187.] + +[Footnote 2144: _Ibid._, pp. 199, 200.] + +Maître Pierre Manuel felt called upon to tell her that for certain she +would never have come there if she had not been brought. Sensible +persons were always surprised when they saw witches and soothsayers +falling into a trap like any ordinary Christian. The King's Advocate +must have been a sensible person, since his surprise appeared in the +questions he put to Jeanne. + +"Did you know you were to be taken?" he asked her. + +"I thought it likely," she replied. + +"Then why," asked Maître Pierre again, "if you thought it likely, did +you not take better care on the day you were captured?" + +"I knew neither the day nor the hour when I should be taken, nor when +it should happen."[2145] + +[Footnote 2145: _Ibid._, p. 200.] + +A young fellow, one Pierre Cusquel, who worked for Jean Salvart, also +called Jeanson, the master-mason of the castle, through the influence +of his employer, was permitted to enter the tower. He also found +Jeanne bound with a long chain attached to a beam, and with her feet +in shackles. Much later, he claimed to have warned her to be careful +of what she said, because her life was involved in it. It is true that +she talked volubly to her guards and that all she said was reported +to her judges. And it may have happened that the young Pierre, whose +master was on the English side, wished to advise her and even did so. +There is a suspicion, however, that like so many others he was merely +boasting.[2146] + +[Footnote 2146: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 179.] + +The Sire Jean de Luxembourg came to Rouen. He went to the Maid's tower +accompanied by his brother, the Lord Bishop of Thérouanne, Chancellor +of England; and also by Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, Constable of +France for King Henry; and the Earl of Warwick, Governor of the Castle +of Rouen. At this interview there was also present the young Seigneur +de Macy, who held Jeanne to be of very modest bearing, since she had +repulsed his attempted familiarity. + +"Jeanne," said the Sire de Luxembourg, "I have come to ransom you if +you will promise never again to bear arms against us." + +These words do not accord with our knowledge of the negotiation for +the purchase of the Maid. They seem to indicate that even then the +contract was not complete, or at any rate that the vendor thought he +could break it if he chose. But the most remarkable point about the +Sire de Luxembourg's speech is the condition on which he says he will +ransom the Maid. He asks her to promise never again to fight against +England and Burgundy. From these words it would seem to have been his +intention to sell her to the King of France or to his representative.[2147] + +[Footnote 2147: Morosini, vol. iii, p. 236.] + +There is no evidence, however, of this speech having made any +impression on the English. Jeanne set no store by it. + +"In God's name, you do but jest," she replied; "for I know well that +it lieth neither within your will nor within your power." + +It is related that when he persisted in his statement, she replied: + +"I know that these English will put me to death, believing that +afterwards they will conquer France." + +Since she certainly did not believe it, it seems highly improbable +that she should have said that the English would have put her to +death. Throughout the trial she was expecting, on the faith of her +Voices, to be delivered. She knew not how or when that deliverance +would come to pass, but she was as certain of it as of the presence of +Our Lord in the Holy Sacrament. She may have said to the Sire de +Luxembourg: "I know that the English want to put me to death." Then +she repeated courageously what she had already said a thousand times: + +"But were there one hundred thousand _Godons_ more than at present, +they would not conquer the kingdom." + +On hearing these words, the Earl of Stafford unsheathed his sword and +the Earl of Warwick had to restrain his hand.[2148] That the English +Constable of France should have raised his sword against a woman in +chains would be incredible, did we not know that about this time this +Earl of Stafford, hearing some one speak well of Jeanne, straightway +wished to transfix him.[2149] + +[Footnote 2148: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 121, 123.] + +[Footnote 2149: _Ibid._, p. 140.] + +In order that the Bishop and Vidame of Beauvais might exercise +jurisdiction at Rouen it was necessary that a concession of territory +should be granted him. The archiepiscopal see of Rouen was +vacant.[2150] For this concession, therefore, the Bishop of Beauvais +applied to the chapter, with whom he had had misunderstandings.[2151] +The canons of Rouen lacked neither firmness nor independence; more of +them were honest than dishonest; some were highly educated, +well-lettered and even kind-hearted. None of them nourished any ill +will toward the English. The Regent Bedford himself was a canon of +Rouen, as Charles VII was a canon of Puy.[2152] On the 20th of October, +in that same year 1430, the Regent, donning surplice and amice, had +distributed the dole of bread and wine for the chapter.[2153] The +canons of Rouen were not prejudiced in favour of the Maid of the +Armagnacs; they agreed to the demand of the Bishop of Beauvais and +granted him the formal concession of territory.[2154] + +[Footnote 2150: C. de Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès de +condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Précis des travaux de l'Académie de +Rouen_, 1867-1868, pp. 470-479. U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 29.] + +[Footnote 2151: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 2152: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, p. 732. Vallet de +Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 213, 214. S. Luce, +_Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, p. ccxcv.] + +[Footnote 2153: C. de Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès de +condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, _loc. cit._ A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc +et la Normandie_, pp. 168, 171.] + +[Footnote 2154: 28 December, 1430. _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 20, 23. De +Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 46.] + +On the 3rd of January, 1431, by royal decree, King Henry ordered the +Maid to be given up to the Bishop and Count of Beauvais, reserving to +himself the right to bring her before him, if she should be acquitted +by the ecclesiastical tribunal.[2155] + +[Footnote 2155: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 18, 19.] + +Nevertheless she was not placed in the Church prison, in one of those +dungeons near the Booksellers' Porch, where in the shadow of the +gigantic cathedral there rotted unhappy wretches who had erred in +matters of faith.[2156] There she would have endured sufferings far +more terrible than even the horrors of her military tower. The wrong +the Great Council of England inflicted on Jeanne by not handing her +over to the ecclesiastical powers of Rouen was far less than the +indignity they thereby inflicted on her judges. + +[Footnote 2156: A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, pp. 1771, +1778.] + +With the way thus opened before him, the Bishop of Beauvais proceeded +with all the violence one might expect from a Cabochien, albeit that +violence was qualified by worldly arts and canonical knowledge.[2157] +As promoter in the case, that is, as the magistrate who was to conduct +the prosecution, he selected one Jean d'Estivet, called Bénédicité, +canon of Bayeux and of Beauvais, Promoter-General of the diocese of +Beauvais. Jean d'Estivet was a friend of the Lord Bishop, and had been +driven out of the diocese by the French at the same time. He was +suspected of hostility to the Maid.[2158] The Lord Bishop appointed +Jean de la Fontaine, master of arts, licentiate of canon law, to be +"councillor commissary" of the trial.[2159] One of the clerks of the +ecclesiastical court of Rouen, Guillaume Manchon, priest, he appointed +first registrar. + +[Footnote 2157: J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 147. De +Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 9.] + +[Footnote 2158: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 24; vol. iii, p. 162. De +Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 26. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc +et la Normandie_, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 2159: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25.] + +In the course of instructing this official as to what would be +expected of him, the Lord Bishop said to Messire Guillaume: + +"You must do the King good service. It is our intention to institute +an elaborate prosecution (_un beau procès_) against this Jeanne."[2160] + +[Footnote 2160: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25; vol. iii, p. 137. A. Sarrazin, +_loc. cit._, pp. 221, 222.] + +As to the King's service, the Lord Bishop did not mean that it should +be rendered at the expense of justice; he was a man of some priestly +pride and was not likely to reveal his own evil designs. If he spoke +thus, it was because in France, for a century at least, the +jurisdiction of the Inquisition had been regarded as the jurisdiction +of the King.[2161] And as for the expression "an elaborate prosecution" +(_un beau procès_), that meant a trial in which legal forms were +observed and irregularities avoided, for it was a case in which were +interested the doctors and masters of the realm of France and indeed +the whole of Christendom. Messire Guillaume Manchon, well skilled in +legal procedure, was not likely to err in a matter of legal language. +An elaborate trial was a strictly regular trial. It was said, for +example, that "N---- and N---- had by elaborate judicial procedure +found such an one to be guilty."[2162] + +[Footnote 2161: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition en +France_, pp. 550, 551.] + +[Footnote 2162: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès de +condamnation_, p. 320.] + +Charged by the Bishop to choose another registrar to assist him, +Guillaume Manchon selected as his colleague Guillaume Colles, surnamed +Boisguillaume, who like him was a notary of the Church.[2163] + +[Footnote 2163: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25; vol. iii, p. 137. De +Beaurepaire, _Recherches...._ p. 103. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. +222, 223.] + +Jean Massieu, priest, ecclesiastical dean of Rouen, was appointed +usher of the court.[2164] + +[Footnote 2164: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 26. De Beaurepaire, +_Recherches...._ p. 115. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 223, 224.] + +In that kind of trial, which was very common in those days, there were +strictly only two judges, the Ordinary and the Inquisitor. But it was +the custom for the Bishop to summon as councillors and assessors +persons learned in both canon and civil law. The number and the rank +of those councillors varied according to the case. And it is clear +that the obstinate upholder of a very pestilent heresy must needs be +more particularly and more ceremoniously tried than an old wife, who +had sold herself to some insignificant demon, and whose spells could +harm nothing more important than cabbages. For the common wizard, for +the multitude of those females, or _mulierculæ_, as they were +described by one inquisitor who boasted of having burnt many, the +judges were content with three or four ecclesiastical advocates and as +many canons.[2165] When it was a question of a very notable personage +who had set a highly pernicious example, of a king's advocate, for +instance like Master Jean Segueut, who that very year, in Normandy, +had spoken against the temporal power of the Church, a large assembly +of doctors and prelates, English and French, were convoked, and the +doctors and masters of the University of Paris were consulted in +writing.[2166] Now it was fitting that the Maid of the Armagnacs should +be yet more elaborately and more solemnly tried, with a yet greater +concourse of doctors and of prelates; and thus it was ordained by the +Lord Bishop of Beauvais. As councillors and assessors he summoned the +canons of Rouen in as great a number as possible. Among those who +answered his summons we may mention Raoul Roussel, treasurer of the +chapter; Gilles Deschamps, who had been chaplain to the late King, Charles +VI, in 1415; Pierre Maurice, doctor in theology, rector of the University +of Paris in 1428; Jean Alespée, one of the sixteen who during the siege of +1418 had gone robed in black and with cheerful countenance to place at the +feet of King Henry V the life and honour of the city; Pasquier de Vaux, +apostolic notary at the Council of Constance, President of the Norman +_Chambre des Comptes_; Nicolas de Vendères, whose candidature for the +vacant see of Rouen was being advocated by a powerful party; and, lastly, +Nicolas Loiseleur. For the same purpose, the Lord Bishop summoned the +abbots of the great Norman abbeys, Mont Saint-Michel-au-Péril-de-la-Mer, +Fécamp, Jumièges, Préaux, Mortemer, Saint-Georges de Boscherville, la +Trinité-du-mont-Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Ouen, Bec, Cormeilles, the +priors of Saint-Lô, of Rouen, of Sigy, of Longueville, and the abbot +of Saint Corneille of Compiègne. He summoned twelve ecclesiastical +advocates; likewise famous doctors and masters of the University of +Paris, Jean Beaupère, rector in 1412; Thomas Fiefvé, rector in 1427; +Guillaume Erart, Nicolas Midi,[2167] and that young doctor, abounding +in knowledge and in modesty, the brightest star in the Christian +firmament of the day, Thomas de Courcelles.[2168] The Lord Bishop is +bent upon turning the tribunal, which is to try Jeanne, into a +veritable synod; it is indeed a provincial council, before which she +is cited. Moreover, in effect, it is not only Jeanne the Maid, but +Charles of Valois, calling himself King of France, and lawful +successor of Charles VI who is to be brought to justice. Wherefore are +assembled so many croziered and mitred abbots, so many renowned +doctors and masters. + +[Footnote 2165: Eymeric, _Directorium Inquisitorium_, quest. 85. J. +Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 109. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les +juges_, p. 9.] + +[Footnote 2166: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches...._ pp. 321 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2167: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 27-114. J. +Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 103, 104. Boucher de Molandon, +_Guillaume Erard l'un des juges de la Pucelle_, in _Bulletin du comité +hist. and phil._, 1892, pp. 3-10.] + +[Footnote 2168: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 30, note. Du Boulay, _Historia +Universitatis, Paris_, vol. v, pp. 912, 920. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, p. 105. De Beaurepaire, _Notes_, pp. 30, 31. A. Sarrazin, +_loc. cit._, pp. 226, 227.] + +Nevertheless, there were other bright and shining lights of the +Church, whom the Bishop of Beauvais neglected to summon. He consulted +the two bishops of Coutances and Lisieux; he did not consult the +senior bishop of Normandy, the Bishop of Avranches, Messire Jean de +Saint-Avit, whom the chapter of the cathedral had charged with the +duty of ordination throughout the diocese during the vacancy of the +see of Rouen. But Messire Jean de Saint-Avit was considered and +rightly considered to favour King Charles.[2169] On the other hand +those English doctors and masters, residing at Rouen, who had been +consulted in Segueut's trial, were not consulted in that of +Jeanne.[2170] The doctors and masters of the University of Paris, the +abbots of Normandy, the chapter of Rouen, held firmly to the Treaty of +Troyes; they were as prejudiced as the English clerks against the Maid +and the Dauphin Charles, and they were less suspected; it was all to +the good.[2171] + +[Footnote 2169: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 5, 6. De Beaurepaire, _Notes_, +pp. 121-125. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 308-310.] + +[Footnote 2170: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches_, pp. 321 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2171: J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 101.] + +On Tuesday, the 9th of January, my Lord of Beauvais summoned eight +councillors to his house: the abbots of Fécamp and of Jumièges, the +prior of Longueville, the canons Roussel, Venderès, Barbier, +Coppequesne and Loiseleur. + +"Before entering upon the prosecution of this woman," he said to them, +"we have judged it good, maturely and fully to confer with men learned +and skilled in law, human and divine, of whom, thank God, there be +great number in this city of Rouen." + +The opinion of the doctors and masters was that information should be +collected concerning the deeds and sayings publicly imputed to this +woman. + +The Lord Bishop informed them that already certain information had +been obtained by his command, and that he had decided to order more to +be collected, which would be ultimately presented to the Council.[2172] + +[Footnote 2172: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 5-8.] + +It is certain that a tabellion[2173] of Andelot in Champagne, Nicolas +Bailly, requisitioned by Messire Jean de Torcenay, Bailie of Chaumont +for King Henry, went to Domremy, and with Gérard Petit, provost of +Andelot, and divers mendicant monks, made inquiry touching Jeanne's +life and reputation. The interrogators heard twelve or fifteen +witnesses and among others Jean Hannequin[2174] of Greux and Jean +Bégot, with whom they lodged.[2175] We know from Nicolas Bailly himself +that they gathered not a single fact derogatory to Jeanne. And if we +may believe Jean Moreau, a citizen of Rouen, Maître Nicolas, having +brought my Lord of Beauvais the result of his researches, was treated +as a wicked man and a traitor; and obtained no reward for his +expenditure or his labour.[2176] This is possible, but it seems +strange. It can in no wise be true, however, that neither at +Vaucouleurs nor at Domremy, nor in the neighbouring villages was +anything discovered against Jeanne. Quite on the contrary, numbers of +accusations were collected against the inhabitants in general, who +were addicted to evil practices, and in particular against Jeanne, who +held intercourse with fairies,[2177] carried a mandrake in her bosom, +and disobeyed her father and mother.[2178] + +[Footnote 2173: A notary or secretary in France under the old monarchy +(W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2174: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 463.] + +[Footnote 2175: _Ibid._, p. 453.] + +[Footnote 2176: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 192, 193.] + +[Footnote 2177: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 105, 146, 234.] + +[Footnote 2178: _Ibid._, pp. 208, 209, 213.] + +Abundant information was forthcoming, not only from Lorraine and from +Paris, but from the districts loyal to King Charles, from Lagny, +Beauvais, Reims, and even from so far as Touraine and Berry;[2179] +which was information enough to burn ten heretics and twenty witches. +Devilries were discovered which filled the priests with horror: the +finding of a lost cup and gloves, the exposure of an immoral priest, +the sword of Saint Catherine, the restoration of a child to life. +There was also a report of a rash letter concerning the Pope and there +were many other indications of witchcraft, heresy, and religious +error.[2180] Such information was not to be included among the +documents of the trial.[2181] It was the custom of the Holy Inquisition +to keep secret the evidence and even the names of the witnesses.[2182] +In this case the Bishop of Beauvais might have pleaded as an excuse +for so doing the safety of the deponents, who might have suffered had +he published information gathered in provinces subject to the Dauphin +Charles. Even if their names were concealed, they would be identified +by their evidence. For the purposes of the trial, Jeanne's own +conversation in prison was the best source of information: she spoke +much and without any of the reserve which prudence might have +dictated. + +[Footnote 2179: J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 2180: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 245, 246.] + +[Footnote 2181: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 2182: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches_, _loc. cit._ J. Quicherat, +_Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 122-124. L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de +l'inquisition_, pp. 389-395.] + +A painter, whose name is unknown, came to see her in her tower. He +asked her aloud and before her guards what arms she bore, as if he +wished to represent her with her escutcheon. In those days portraits +were very seldom painted from life, except of persons of very high +rank, and they were generally represented kneeling and with clasped +hands in an attitude of prayer. Though in Flanders and in Burgundy +there may have been a few portraits bearing no signs of devotion, they +were very rare. A portrait naturally suggested a person praying to +God, to the Holy Virgin, or to some saint. Wherefore the idea of +painting the Maid's picture doubtless must have met with the stern +disapproval of her ecclesiastical judges. All the more so because they +must have feared that the painter would represent this excommunicated +woman in the guise of a saint, canonised by the Church, as the +Armagnacs were wont to do. + +A careful consideration of this incident inclines us to think that +this man was no painter but a spy. Jeanne told him of the arms which +the King had granted to her brothers: an azure shield bearing a sword +between two golden _fleurs de lis_. And our suspicion is confirmed +when at the trial she is reproached with pomp and vanity for having +caused her arms to be painted.[2183] + +[Footnote 2183: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 117, 300.] + +Sundry clerks introduced into her prison gave her to believe that they +were men-at-arms of the party of Charles of Valois.[2184] In order to +deceive her, the Promoter himself, Maître Jean d'Estivet, disguised +himself as a poor prisoner.[2185] One of the canons of Rouen, who was +summoned to the trial, by name Maître Nicolas Loiseleur, would seem to +have been especially inventive of devices for the discovery of +Jeanne's heresies. A native of Chartres, he was not only a master of +arts, but was greatly renowned for astuteness. In 1427 and 1428 he +carried through difficult negotiations, which detained him long months +in Paris. In 1430 he was one of those deputed by the chapter to go to +the Cardinal of Winchester in order to obtain an audience of King +Henry and commend to him the church of Rouen. Maître Nicolas Loiseleur +was therefore a _persona grata_ with the Great Council.[2186] + +[Footnote 2184: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 362.] + +[Footnote 2185: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 63.] + +[Footnote 2186: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 72-82. A. +Sorel, _loc. cit._, pp. 243, 247.] + +Having concerted with the Bishop of Beauvais and the Earl of Warwick, +he entered Jeanne's prison, wearing a short jacket like a layman. The +guards had been instructed to withdraw; and Maître Nicolas, left alone +with his prisoner, confided to her that he, like herself, was a native +of the Lorraine Marches, a shoemaker by trade, one who held to the +French party and had been taken prisoner by the English. From King +Charles he brought her tidings which were the fruit of his own +imagination. No one was dearer to Jeanne than her King. Thus having +won her confidence, the pseudo-shoemaker asked her sundry questions +concerning the angels and saints who visited her. She answered him +confidingly, speaking as friend to friend, as countryman to +countryman. He gave her counsel, advising her not to believe all these +churchmen and not to do all that they asked her; "For," he said, "if +thou believest in them thou shalt be destroyed." + +Many a time, we are told, did Maître Nicolas Loiseleur act the part of +the Lorraine shoemaker. Afterwards he dictated to the registrars all +that Jeanne had said, providing thus a valuable source of information +of which a memorandum was made to be used during the examination. It +would even appear that during certain of these visits the registrars +were stationed at a peep-hole in an adjoining room.[2187] If we may +believe the rumours current in the town, Maître Nicolas also disguised +himself as Saint Catherine, and by this means brought Jeanne to say +all that he wanted. + +[Footnote 2187: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 10, 342; vol. iii, pp. 140, 141, +156, 160 _et seq._] + +He may not have been proud of such deceptions, but at any rate he made +no secret of them.[2188] Many famous masters approved him; others +censured him.[2189] + +[Footnote 2188: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 181.] + +[Footnote 2189: _Ibid._, p. 141.] + +The angel of the schools, Thomas de Courcelles, when Nicolas told him +of his disguises, counselled him to abandon them. + +Afterwards the registrars pretended that it had been extremely +repugnant to them thus to overhear in hiding a conversation so +craftily contrived. The golden age of inquisitorial justice must have +been well over when so strict a doctor as Maître Thomas was willing +thus to criticise the most solemn forms of that justice. Inquisitorial +proceedings must indeed have fallen into decay when two notaries of +the Church dream of eluding its most common prescriptions. The clerks +who disguised themselves as soldiers, the Promoter who took on the +semblance of a poor prisoner, were exercising the most regular +functions of the judicial system instituted by Innocent III. + +In acting the shoemaker and Saint Catherine, if he were seeking the +salvation and not the destruction of the sinner, if, contrary to +public report, far from inciting her to rebellion, he was reducing her +to obedience, if, in short, he were but deceiving her for her own +temporal and spiritual good, Maître Nicolas Loiseleur was proceeding +in conformity with established rules. In the _Tractatus de Hæresi_ it +is written: "Let no man approach the heretic, save from time to time +two persons of faith and tact, who may warn him with precaution and as +having compassion upon him, to eschew death by confessing his errors, +and who may promise him that by so doing he shall escape death by +fire; for the fear of death, and the hope of life may peradventure +soften a heart which could be touched in no other wise."[2190] + +[Footnote 2190: _Tractatus de hæresi pauperum de Lugduno_, apud +Martene, _Thesaurus anecd._, vol. v, col. 1787. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, pp. 131, 132.] + +The duty of registrars was laid down in the following manner: + +"Matters shall be ordained thus, that certain persons shall be +stationed in a suitable place so as to surprise the confidences of +heretics and to overhear their words."[2191] + +[Footnote 2191: Eymeric, _Directorium_, part iii, _Cautelæ inquisitorum +contra hæreticorum cavilationes et fraudes_.] + +As for the Bishop of Beauvais, who had ordained and permitted such +procedure, he found his justification and approbation in the words of +the Apostle Saint Paul to the Corinthians: "I did not burden you: +nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile." "_Ego vos non +gravavi; sed cum essem astutus, dolo vos cepi_" (II Corinthians xii, +16).[2192] + +[Footnote 2192: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition en +France_, p. 394.] + +Meanwhile, when Jeanne saw the Promoter, Jean d'Estivet, in his +churchman's habit she did not recognise him. And Maître Nicolas +Loiseleur also often came to her in monkish dress. In this guise he +inspired her with great confidence; she confessed to him devoutly and +had no other confessor.[2193] She saw him sometimes as a shoemaker and +sometimes as a canon and never perceived that he was the same person. +Wherefore we must indeed believe her to have been incredibly simple in +certain respects; and these great theologians must have realised that +it was not difficult to deceive her. + +[Footnote 2193: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 10, 342.] + +It was well known to all men versed in science, divine and human, that +the Enemy never entered into dealings with a maid without depriving +her of her virginity.[2194] At Poitiers the French clerks had thought +of it, and when Queen Yolande assured them that Jeanne was a virgin, +they ceased to fear that she was sent by the devil.[2195] The Lord +Bishop of Beauvais in a different hope awaited a similar examination. +The Duchess of Bedford herself went to the prison. She was assisted by +Lady Anna Bavon and another matron. It has been said that the Regent +was hidden meanwhile in an adjoining room and looking through a hole +in the wall.[2196] This is by no means certain, but it is not +impossible; he was at Rouen a fortnight after Jeanne had been brought +there.[2197] Whether the charge were groundless or well founded he was +seriously reproached for this curiosity. If there were many who in his +place would have been equally curious, every one must judge for +himself; but we must bear in mind that my Lord of Bedford believed +Jeanne a witch, and that it was not the custom in those days to treat +witches with the respect due to ladies. We must remember also that +this was a matter in which Old England was greatly concerned, and the +Regent loved his country with all his heart and all his strength. + +[Footnote 2194: Vallet de Viriville, _Nouvelles recherches sur Agnès +Sorel_, pp. 33 _et seq._ Du Cange, _Glossaire_, at the word +_Matrimonium_.] + +[Footnote 2195: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 102, 209.] + +[Footnote 2196: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 155, 163.] + +[Footnote 2197: A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, p. 40.] + +Upon the examination of the Duchess of Bedford as upon that of the +Queen of Sicily Jeanne appeared a virgin. The matrons knew various +signs of virginity; but for us a more certain sign is Jeanne's own +word. When she was asked wherefore she called herself the Maid, +whether she were one in reality, she replied: "I may tell you that +such I am."[2198] The judges, as far as we know, set no store by this +favourable result of the examination. Did they believe with the wise +King Solomon that in such matters all inquiry is vain, and did they +reject the matrons' verdict by virtue of the saying: _Virginitatis +probatio non minus difficilis quam custodia_? No, they knew well that +she was indeed a virgin. They allowed it to be understood when they +did not assert the contrary.[2199] And since they persisted in +believing her a witch, it must have been because they imagined her to +have given herself to devils who had left her as they found her. The +morals of devils abounded in such inconsistencies, which were the +despair of the most learned doctors; every day new inconsistencies +were being discovered. + +[Footnote 2198: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 2199: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 217, 218.] + +On Saturday, the 13th of January, the Lord Abbot of Fécamp, the +doctors and masters, Nicolas de Venderès, Guillaume Haiton, Nicolas +Coppequesne, Jean de la Fontaine, and Nicolas Loiseleur, met in the +house of the Lord Bishop. There was read to them the information +concerning the Maid gathered in Lorraine and elsewhere. And it was +decided that according to this information a certain number of +articles should be drawn up in due form; which was done.[2200] + +[Footnote 2200: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 27, 28.] + +On Tuesday, the 23rd of January, the doctors and masters above named +considered the terms of these articles, and, finding them sufficient, +they decided that they might be used for the examination. Then they +resolved that the Bishop of Beauvais should order a preliminary +inquiry as to the deeds and sayings of Jeanne.[2201] + +[Footnote 2201: _Ibid._, pp. 28, 29.] + +On Tuesday, the 13th of February, Jean d'Estivet, called Bénédicité, +Promoter, Jean de la Fontaine, Commissioner, Boisguillaume and +Manchon, Registrars, and Jean Massieu, Usher, took the oath faithfully +to discharge their various offices. Then straightway Maître Jean de la +Fontaine, assisted by two registrars, proceeded to the preliminary +inquiry.[2202] + +[Footnote 2202: _Ibid._, pp. 29, 31.] + +On Monday, the 19th of February, at eight o'clock in the morning, the +doctors and masters assembled, to the number of eleven, in the house +of the Bishop of Beauvais; there they heard the reading of the +articles and the preliminary information. Whereupon they gave it as +their opinion, and, in conformity with this opinion, the Bishop +decided that there was matter sufficient to justify the woman called +the Maid being cited and charged touching a question of faith.[2203] + +[Footnote 2203: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 31-33.] + +But now a fresh difficulty arose. In such a trial it was necessary for +the accused to appear at once before the Ordinary and before the +Inquisitor. The two judges were equally necessary for the validity of +the trial. Now the Grand Inquisitor for the realm of France, Brother +Jean Graverent, was then at Saint-Lô, prosecuting on a religious +charge a citizen of the town, one Jean Le Couvreur.[2204] In the +absence of Brother Jean Graverent, the Bishop of Beauvais had invited +the Vice-Inquisitor for the diocese of Rouen to proceed against Jeanne +conjointly with himself. Meanwhile the Vice-Inquisitor seemed not to +understand; he made no response; and the Bishop was left in +embarrassment with his lawsuit on his hands. + +[Footnote 2204: _Ibid._, p. 32. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. +102. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 24-27. Le P. Chapotin, +_La guerre de cent ans, Jeanne d'Arc et les dominicains_, pp. 141-143. +A. Sarrazin, _P. Cauchon_, p. 124.] + +This Vice-Inquisitor was Brother Jean Lemaistre, Prior of the +Dominicans of Rouen, bachelor of theology, a monk right prudent and +scrupulous.[2205] At length in answer to a summons from the Usher, at +four o'clock on the 19th of February, 1413, he appeared in the house +of the Bishop of Beauvais. He declared himself ready to intervene +provided that he had the right to do so, which he doubted. As the +reason for his uncertainty he alleged that he was the Inquisitor of +Rouen; now the Bishop of Beauvais was exercising his jurisdiction as +bishop of the diocese of Beauvais, but on borrowed territory; +wherefore was it not rather for the Inquisitor of Beauvais not for the +Inquisitor of Rouen, to sit on the judgment seat side by side with the +Bishop?[2206] He declared that he would ask the Grand Inquisitor of +France for an authorisation which should hold good for the diocese of +Beauvais. Meanwhile he consented to act in order to satisfy his own +conscience and to prevent the proceedings from lapsing, which, in the +opinion of all, must have ensued had the trial been instituted without +the concurrence of the Holy Inquisition.[2207] All preliminary +difficulties were now removed. The Maid was cited to appear on +Wednesday, the 21st of February,[2208] 1431. + +[Footnote 2205: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 33.] + +[Footnote 2206: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 35. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les +juges_, p. 394. Doinel, _Mémoire de la Société archéologique-historique +de l'Orléanais_, 1892, vol. xxiv, p. 403. Le P. Chapotin, _La guerre de +cent ans, Jeanne d'Arc et les dominicains_, p. 141. U. Chevalier, +_L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 2207: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 2208: _Ibid._, pp. 40-42.] + +On that day, at eight o'clock in the morning, the Bishop of Beauvais, +the Vicar of the Inquisitor, and forty-one Councillors and Assessors +assembled in the castle chapel. Fifteen of them were doctors in +theology, five doctors in civil and canon law, six bachelors in +theology, eleven bachelors in canon law, four licentiates in civil +law. The Bishop sat as judge. At his side were the Councillors and +Assessors, clothed either in the fine camlet of canons or in the +coarse cloth of mendicants, expressive, the one of sacerdotal +solemnity, the other of evangelical meekness. Some glared fiercely, +others cast down their eyes. Brother Jean Lemaistre, Vice-Inquisitor +of the faith, was among them, silent, in the black and white livery of +poverty and obedience.[2209] + +[Footnote 2209: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 38, 39.] + +Before bringing in the accused, the usher informed the Bishop that +Jeanne, to whom the citation had been delivered, had replied that she +would be willing to appear, but she demanded that an equal number of +ecclesiastics of the French party should be added to those of the +English party. She requested also the permission to hear mass.[2210] +The Bishop refused both demands;[2211] and Jeanne was brought in, +dressed as a man, with her feet in shackles. She was made to sit down +at the table of the registrars. + +[Footnote 2210: _Ibid._, pp. 42-43.] + +[Footnote 2211: _Ibid._, p. 43.] + +And now from the very outset these theologians and this damsel +regarded each other with mutual horror and hatred. Contrary to the +custom of her sex, a custom which even loose women did not dare to +infringe, she displayed her hair, which was brown and cut short over +the ears. It was possibly the first time that some of those young +monks seated behind their elders had ever seen a woman's hair. She +wore hose like a youth. To them her dress appeared immodest and +abominable.[2212] She exasperated and irritated them. Had the Bishop of +Beauvais insisted on her appearing in hood and gown their anger +against her would have been less violent. This man's attire brought +before their minds the works performed by the Maid in the camp of the +Dauphin Charles, calling himself king. By the stroke of a magic wand +she had deprived the English men-at-arms of all their strength, and +thereby she had inflicted sore hurt on the majority of the churchmen +who were to judge her. Some among them were thinking of the benefices +of which she had despoiled them; others, doctors and masters of the +University, recalled how she had been about to lay Paris waste with +fire and sword;[2213] others again, canons and abbots, could not +forgive her perchance for having struck fear into their hearts even in +remote Normandy. Was it possible for them to pardon the havoc she had +thus wrought in a great part of the Church of France, when they knew +she had done it by sorcery, by divination and by invoking devils? "A +man must be very ignorant if he will deny the reality of magic," said +Sprenger. As they were very learned, they saw magicians and wizards +where others would never have suspected them; they held that to doubt +the power of demons over men and things was not only heretical and +impious, but tending to subvert the whole natural and social order. +These doctors, seated in the castle chapel, had burned each one of +them ten, twenty, fifty witches, all of whom had confessed their +crimes. Would it not have been madness after that to doubt the +existence of witches? + +[Footnote 2212: _Ibid._, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 2213: Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Le procès de Jeanne d'Arc +et l'Université de Paris_.] + +To us it seems curious that beings capable of causing hail-storms and +casting spells over men and animals should allow themselves to be +taken, judged, tortured, and burned without making any defence; but it +was constantly occurring; every ecclesiastical judge must have +observed it. Very learned men were able to account for it: they +explained that wizards and witches lost their power as soon as they +fell into the hands of churchmen. This explanation was deemed +sufficient. The hapless Maid had lost her power like the others; they +feared her no longer. + +At least Jeanne hated them as bitterly as they hated her. It was +natural for unlettered saints, for the fair inspired, frank of mind, +capricious, and enthusiastic to feel an antipathy towards doctors all +inflated with knowledge and stiffened with scholasticism. Such an +antipathy Jeanne had recently felt towards clerks, even when as at +Poitiers they had been on the French side, and had not wished her evil +and had not greatly troubled her. Wherefore we may easily imagine how +intense was the repulsion with which the clerks of Rouen now inspired +her. She knew that they sought to compass her death. But she feared +them not; confidently she awaited from her saints and angels the +fulfilment of their promise, their coming for her deliverance. She +knew not when nor how her deliverance should come; but that come it +would she never once doubted. To doubt it would indeed have been to +doubt Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and even Our Lord; it would have +been to believe evil of her Voices. They had told her to fear nothing, +and of nothing was she afeard.[2214] Fearless simplicity; whence came +her confidence in her Voices if not from her own heart? + +[Footnote 2214: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 88, 94, 151, 155, _passim_.] + +The Bishop required her to swear, according to the prescribed form +with both hands on the holy Gospels, that she would reply truly to all +that should be asked her. + +She could not. Her Voices forbade her telling any one of the +revelations they had so abundantly vouchsafed to her. + +She answered: "I do not know on what you wish to question me. You +might ask me things that I would not tell you." + +And when the Bishop insisted on her swearing to tell the whole truth: + +"Touching my father and mother and what I did after my coming into +France I will willingly swear," she said; "but touching God's +revelations to me, those I have neither told nor communicated to any +man, save to Charles my King. And nought of them will I reveal, were I +to lose my head for it." + +Then, either because she wished to gain time or because she counted on +receiving some new directions from her _Council_, she added that in a +week she would know whether she might so reveal those things. + +At length she took the oath, according to the prescribed form, on her +knees, with both hands on the missal.[2215] Then she answered +concerning her name, her country, her parents, her baptism, her +godfathers and godmothers. She said that to the best of her knowledge +she was about nineteen years of age.[2216] + +[Footnote 2215: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 45.] + +[Footnote 2216: _Ibid._, p. 46.] + +Questioned concerning her education, she replied: "From my mother I +learnt my Paternoster, my Ave Maria and my Credo." + +But, asked to repeat her Paternoster, she refused, for, she said, she +would only say it in confession. This was because she wanted the +Bishop to hear her confess.[2217] + +[Footnote 2217: _Ibid._, pp. 46-47.] + +The assembly was profoundly agitated; all spoke at once. Jeanne with +her soft voice had scandalised the doctors. + +The Bishop forbade her to leave her prison, under pain of being +convicted of the crime of heresy. + +She refused to submit to this prohibition. "If I did escape," she +said, "none could reproach me with having broken faith, for I never +gave my word to any one." + +Afterwards she complained of her chains. + +The Bishop told her they were on account of her attempt to escape. + +She agreed: "It is true that I wanted to escape, and I still want to, +just like every other prisoner."[2218] + +[Footnote 2218: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 47.] + +Such a confession was very bold, if she had rightly understood the +judge when he said that by flight from prison she would incur the +punishment of a heretic. To escape from an ecclesiastical prison was +to commit a crime against the Church, but it was folly as well as +crime; for the prisons of the Church are penitentiaries, and the +prisoner who refuses salutary penance is as foolish as he is guilty; +for he is like a sick man who refuses to be cured. But Jeanne was not, +strictly speaking, in an ecclesiastical prison; she was in the castle +of Rouen, a prisoner of war in the hands of the English. Could it be +said that if she escaped she would incur excommunication and the +spiritual and temporal penalties inflicted on the enemies of religion? +There lay the difficulty. The Lord Bishop removed it forthwith by an +elaborate legal fiction. Three English men-at-arms, John Grey, John +Berwoist, and William Talbot, were appointed by the King to be +Jeanne's custodians. The Bishop, acting as an ecclesiastical judge, +himself delivered to them their charge, and made them swear on the +holy Gospels to bind the damsel and confine her.[2219] In this wise +the Maid became the prisoner of our holy Mother, the Church; and she +could not burst her bonds without falling into heresy. The second +sitting was appointed for the next day, the 22nd of February.[2220] + +[Footnote 2219: _Ibid._, pp. 47, 48.] + +[Footnote 2220: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 48.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_) + + +When a record of the proceedings came to be written down after the +first sitting, a dispute arose between the ecclesiastical notaries and +the two or three royal registrars who had likewise taken down the +replies of the accused. As might be expected, the two records differed +in several places. It was decided that on the contested points Jeanne +should be further examined.[2221] The notaries of the Church complained +also that they experienced great difficulty in seizing Jeanne's words +on account of the constant interruptions of the bystanders. + +[Footnote 2221: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 131-136.] + +In a trial by the Inquisition there was no place fixed for the +examination any more than for the other acts of the procedure. The +judges might examine the accused in a chapel, in a chapter-house, or +even in a prison or a torture-chamber. According to Messire Guillaume +Manchon it was in order to escape from the tumult of the first +sitting,[2222] and because there was no longer any reason for +proceeding with such solemn ceremony as at the opening of the trial, +that the judge and his councillors met in the Robing Room, a little +chamber at one end of the castle hall;[2223] and two English guards +were stationed at the door. According to the rules of inquisitorial +procedure, the assessors were not bound to be present at all the +deliberations.[2224] This time forty-two were present, twenty-six of +the original ones and six newly appointed. Among these high clerics +was Brother Jean Lemaistre, Vice Inquisitor of the Faith, a humble +preaching friar. No longer as in the days of Saint Dominic was the +Vice Inquisitor the hunting hound of the Lord, now he was but the dog +of the Bishop, a poor monk, who dared neither to do nor to abstain +from doing. Such was the result of the assertion of Gallican +independence against papal supremacy. Dumb and timid, Brother Jean +Lemaistre was the last and the least of all the brethren in that +assembly, but he was ever looking for the day when he should be +sovereign judge and without appeal.[2225] + +[Footnote 2222: _Ibid._, p. 135.] + +[Footnote 2223: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 48. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et +la Normandie_, pp. 323, 324.] + +[Footnote 2224: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition_, p. +420.] + +[Footnote 2225: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 48-50.] + +Jeanne was brought in by the Usher, Messire Jean Massieu. Again she +endeavoured to avoid taking the oath to tell everything; but she had +to swear on the Gospel.[2226] + +[Footnote 2226: _Ibid._, p. 50.] + +She was examined by Maître Jean Beaupère, doctor in theology. In his +University of Paris he was regarded as a scholar of light and leading; +it had twice appointed him rector. It had charged him with the +functions of chancellor in the absence of Gerson, and, in 1419, had +sent him with Messire Pierre Cauchon to the town of Troyes, to give +aid and counsel to King Charles VI. Three years later it had +despatched him to the Queen of England and the Duke of Gloucester to +enlist their support in its endeavour to obtain the confirmation of +its privileges. King Henry VI had just appointed him canon of +Rouen.[2227] + +[Footnote 2227: Du Boulay, _Historia Universitatis Paris._, vol. v, p. +919. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 27-30.] + +Maître Jean's first question to Jeanne was what was her age when she +left her father's house. She was unable to say, although on the +previous day she had stated her present age to be about nineteen.[2228] + +[Footnote 2228: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 51.] + +Interrogated as to the occupations of her childhood, she replied that +she was busy with household duties and seldom went into the fields +with the cattle. + +"For spinning and sewing," she said, "I am as good as any woman in +Rouen."[2229] + +[Footnote 2229: _Ibid._] + +Thus even in things domestic she displayed her ardour and her +chivalrous zeal; at the spinning-wheel and with the needle she +challenged all the women in a town, without knowing one of them. + +Questioned as to her confessions and her communions, she answered that +she confessed to her parish priest or to another priest when the +former was not able to hear her. But she refused to say whether she +had received the communion on other feast-days than Easter.[2230] + +[Footnote 2230: _Ibid._, pp. 51, 52.] + +In order to take her unawares, Maître Jean Beaupère proceeded without +method, passing abruptly from one subject to another. Suddenly he +spoke of her Voices. She gave him the following reply: + +"Being thirteen years of age, I heard the Voice of God, bidding me +lead a good life. And the first time I was sore afeard. And the Voice +came almost at the hour of noon, in summer, in my father's garden...." + +She heard the Voice on the right towards the church. Rarely did she +hear it without seeing a light. This light was in the direction whence +the Voice came.[2231] + +[Footnote 2231: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52.] + +When Jeanne said that her Voice spoke to her from the right, a doctor +more learned and more kindly disposed than Maître Jean would have +interpreted this circumstance favourably; for do we not read in +Ezekiel that the angels were upon the right hand of the dwelling; do +we not find in the last chapter of Saint Mark, that the women beheld +the Angel seated on the right, and finally does not Saint Luke +expressly state that the Angel appeared unto Zacharias on the right of +the altar burning with incense; whereupon the Venerable Bede observes: +"he appeared on the right as a sign that he was the bringer of divine +mercy."[2232] But such things never occurred to the examiner. Thinking +to embarrass Jeanne, he asked how she came to see the light if it +appeared at her side.[2233] Jeanne made no reply, and as if distraught, +she said: + +"If I were in a wood I should easily hear the Voices coming towards +me.... It seems to me to be a Voice right worthy. I believe that this +Voice was sent to me by God. After having heard it three times I knew +it to be the voice of an angel." + +[Footnote 2232: Bréhal, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de Jeanne +d'Arc_, ed. Lanéry d'Arc, p. 409.] + +[Footnote 2233: See Appendix I, Letter from Doctor G. Dumas.] + +"What instruction did this Voice give you for the salvation of your +soul?" + +"It taught me to live well, to go to church, and it told me to fare +forth into France."[2234] + +[Footnote 2234: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52.] + +Then Jeanne related how, by the command of her Voice, she had gone to +Vaucouleurs, to Sire Robert de Baudricourt, whom she had recognised +without ever having seen him before, how the Duke of Lorraine had +summoned her to cure him, and how she had come into France.[2235] + +[Footnote 2235: _Ibid._, pp. 53, 54.] + +Thereafter she was brought to say that she knew well that God loved +the Duke of Orléans and that concerning him she had had more +revelations than concerning any man living, save the King; that she +had been obliged to change her woman's dress for man's attire and that +her _Council_ had advised her well.[2236] + +[Footnote 2236: _Ibid._, p. 54.] + +The letter to the English was read before her. She admitted having +dictated it in those terms, with the exception of three passages. She +had not said _body for body_ nor _chieftain of war_; and she had said +_surrender to the King_ in the place _of surrender to the Maid_. That +the judges had not tampered with the text of the letter we may assure +ourselves by comparing it with other texts, which did not pass through +their hands, and which contain the expressions challenged by +Jeanne.[2237] + +[Footnote 2237: _Ibid._, pp. 55, 56; vol. v, p. 95.] + +In the beginning of her career, she believed that Our Lord, the true +King of France, had ordained her to deliver the government of the +realm to Charles of Valois, as His deputy. The words in which she gave +utterance to this idea are reported by too many persons strangers one +to another for us to doubt her having spoken them. "The King shall +hold the kingdom as a fief (_en commande_); the King of France is the +lieutenant of the King of Heaven." These are her own words and she did +actually say to the Dauphin: "Make a gift of your realm to the King of +Heaven."[2238] But we are bound to admit that at Rouen not one of these +mystic ideas persists, indeed there they seem altogether beyond her. +In all her replies to her examiners, she seems incapable of any +abstract reasoning whatsoever and of any speculation however simple, +so that it is hard to understand how she should ever have conceived +the idea of the temporal rule of Jesus Christ over the Land of the +Lilies. There is nothing in her speech or in her thoughts to suggest +such meditations, wherefore we are led to believe that this +politico-theology had been taught her in her tender, teachable years +by ecclesiastics desiring to remove the woes of Church and kingdom, +but that she had failed to seize its spirit or grasp its inner +meaning. Now, in the midst of a hard life lived with men-at-arms, +whose simple souls accorded better with her own than the more +cultivated minds of the early directors of her meditations, she had +forgotten even the phraseology in which those suggested meditations +were expressed. Interrogated concerning her coming to Chinon, she +replied: + +"Without let or hindrance I went to my King. When I reached the town +of Sainte-Catherine de Fierbois, I sent first to the town of +Château-Chinon, where my King was. I arrived there about the hour of +noon and lodged in an inn, and, after dinner, I went to my King who +was in his castle." + +[Footnote 2238: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456; vol. iii, pp. 91, 92. +Morosini, vol. iii, p. 104. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 152, 153. J. +Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 131-133. Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie +Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iv, p. 440, ch. i, _La royauté de Jésus Christ_.] + +If we may believe the registrars, they never ceased wondering at her +memory. They were amazed that she should recollect exactly what she +had said a week before.[2239] Nevertheless her memory was sometimes +curiously uncertain, and we have reason for thinking with the Bastard +that she waited two days at the inn before being received by the +King.[2240] + +[Footnote 2239: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 89, 142, 161, 176, 178, 201.] + +[Footnote 2240: _Ibid._, p. 4.] + +With regard to this audience in the castle of Chinon, she told her +judges she had recognised the King as she had recognised the Sire de +Baudricourt, by revelation.[2241] + +[Footnote 2241: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 56.] + +The interrogator asked her: "When the Voice revealed your King to you, +was there any light?"[2242] + +[Footnote 2242: _Ibid._, p. 56.] + +This question bore upon matters which were of great moment to her +judges; for they suspected the Maid of having committed a sacrilegious +fraud, or rather witchcraft, with the complicity of the King of +France. Indeed, they had learnt from their informers that Jeanne +boasted of having given the King a sign in the form of a precious +crown.[2243] The following is the actual truth of the matter: + +[Footnote 2243: We find it impossible to agree with Quicherat (_Aperçus +nouveaux_) and admit that Jeanne gradually invented the fable of the +crown during her examination and while her judges were questioning her +as to "the sign." The manner in which the judges conducted this part +of their examination proves that they were acquainted with the whole +of the extraordinary story.] + +The legend of Saint Catherine relates that on a day she received from +the hand of an angel a resplendent crown and placed it on the head of +the Empress of the Romans. This crown was the symbol of eternal +blessedness.[2244] Jeanne, who had been brought up on this legend, +said that the same thing had happened to her. In France she had told +sundry marvellous stories of crowns, and in one of these stories she +imagined herself to be in the great hall of the castle at Chinon, in +the midst of the barons, receiving a crown from the hand of an angel +to give it to her King.[2245] This was true in a spiritual sense, for +she had taken Charles to his anointing and to his coronation. Jeanne +was not quick to grasp the distinction between two kinds of truth. She +may, nevertheless, have doubted the material reality of this vision. +She may even have held it to be true in a spiritual sense only. In any +case, she had of her own accord promised Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret not to speak of it to her judges.[2246] + +[Footnote 2244: _Legenda Aurea_, ed. 1846, pp. 789 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2245: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 120-122.] + +[Footnote 2246: _Ibid._, p. 90.] + +"Saw you any angel above the King?" + +She refused to reply.[2247] + +[Footnote 2247: _Ibid._, p. 56.] + +This time nothing more was said of the crown. Maître Jean Beaupère +asked Jeanne if she often heard the Voice. + +"Not a day passes without my hearing it. And it is my stay in great +need."[2248] + +[Footnote 2248: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 57.] + +She never spoke of her Voices without describing them as her refuge +and relief, her consolation and her joy. Now all theologians agreed in +believing that good spirits when they depart leave the soul filled +with joy, with peace, and with comfort, and as proof they cited the +angel's words to Zacharias and Mary: "Be not afraid."[2249] This +reason, however, was not strong enough to persuade clerks of the +English party that Voices hostile to the English were of God. + +[Footnote 2249: Jean Bréhal, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, ed. Lanéry d'Arc, p. 409.] + +And the Maid added: "Never have I required of them any other final +reward than the salvation of my soul."[2250] + +[Footnote 2250: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 57.] + +The examination ended with a capital charge: the attack on Paris on a +feast day. It was in this connection possibly that Brother Jacques of +Touraine, a friar of the Franciscan order, who from time to time put a +question, asked Jeanne whether she had ever been in a place where +Englishmen were being slain. + +"In God's name, was I ever in such a place?" Jeanne responded +vehemently. "How glibly you speak. Why did they not depart from France +and go into their own country?" + +A nobleman of England, who was in the chamber, on hearing these words, +said to his neighbours: "By my troth she is a good woman. Why is she +not English?"[2251] + +[Footnote 2251: _Ibid._, p. 48.] + +The third public sitting was appointed for two days thence, Saturday, +the 24th of February.[2252] + +[Footnote 2252: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 57.] + +It was Lent. Jeanne observed the fast very strictly.[2253] + +[Footnote 2253: _Ibid._, pp. 61, 70.] + +On Friday, the 23rd, in the morning, she was awakened by her Voices +themselves. She arose from her bed and remained seated, her hands +clasped, giving thanks. Then she asked what she should reply to her +judges, beseeching the Voices thereupon to take counsel of Our Lord. +First the Voices uttered words she could not understand. That happened +sometimes, in difficult circumstances especially. Then they +said:[2254] "Reply boldly, God will aid thee." + +[Footnote 2254: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 62.] + +That day she heard them a second time at the hour of vespers and a +third time when the bells were ringing the _Ave Maria_ in the evening. +In the night of Friday and Saturday they came and revealed to her many +secrets for the weal of the King of France. Thereupon she received +great consolation.[2255] Very probably they repeated the assurance that +she would be delivered from the hands of her enemies, and that on the +other hand her judges stood in great danger. + +[Footnote 2255: _Ibid._, pp. 61-64.] + +She depended absolutely on her Voices for direction. When she was in +difficulty as to what to say to her judges, she prayed to Our Lord; +she addressed him devoutly, saying: "Good God, for the sake of thy +holy Passion, I beseech thee if thou lovest me to reveal unto me what +I should reply to these churchmen. Touching my dress I know well how I +was commanded to put it on; but as to leaving it I know nothing. In +this may it please thee to teach me." + +Then straightway the Voices came.[2256] + +[Footnote 2256: _Ibid._, p. 279.] + +At the third sitting, held in the Robing Chamber, there were present +sixty-two assessors, of whom twenty were new.[2257] + +[Footnote 2257: _Ibid._, pp. 58-60.] + +Jeanne showed a greater repugnance than before to swearing on the holy +Gospels to reply to all that should be asked her. In charity the +Bishop warned her that this obstinate refusal caused her to be +suspected, and he required her to swear, under pain of being convicted +upon all the charges.[2258] Such was indeed the rule in a trial by the +Inquisition. In 1310 a _béguine_, one La Porète, refused to take the +oath as required by the Holy Inquisitor of the Faith, Brother +Guillaume of Paris. She was excommunicated forthwith, and without +being further examined, after lengthy proceedings, she was handed over +to the Provost of Paris, who caused her to be burned alive. Her piety +at the stake drew tears from all the bystanders.[2259] + +[Footnote 2258: _Ibid._, pp. 60, 61.] + +[Footnote 2259: _Grandes chroniques_, ed. P. Paris, vol. v, p. 188.] + +Still the Bishop failed to force an unconditional oath from the Maid; +she swore to tell the truth on all she knew concerning the trial, +reserving to herself the right to be silent on everything which in her +opinion did not concern it. She spoke freely of the Voices she had +heard the previous day, but not of the revelations touching the King. +When, however, Maître Jean Beaupère appeared desirous to know them, +she asked for a fortnight's delay before replying, sure that before +then she would be delivered; and straightway she fell to boasting of +the secrets her Voices had confided to her for the King's weal. + +"I would wish him to know them at this moment," she said; "even if as +the result I were to drink no wine from now till Easter."[2260] + +[Footnote 2260: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 64.] + +"Drink no wine from now till Easter!" Did she thus casually use an +expression common in that land of the rose-tinted wine (_vin gris_), a +drop or two of which with a slice of bread sufficed the Domremy women +for a meal?[2261] Or had she caught this manner of speech with the +habit of dealing hard clouts and good blows from the men-at-arms of +her company? Alas! what hypocras was she to drink during the five +weeks before Easter! She was merely making use of a current phrase, as +was frequently her custom, and attributing no precise meaning to it, +unless it were that wine vaguely suggested to her mind the idea of +cordiality and the hope that after her deliverance she would see the +Lords of France filling a cup in her honour. + +[Footnote 2261: E. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 37, 177.] + +Maître Jean Beaupère asked her whether she saw anything when she heard +her Voices. + +She replied: "I cannot tell you everything. I am not permitted. The +Voice is good and worthy.... To this question I am not bound to +reply." + +And she asked them to give her in writing the points concerning which +she had not given an immediate reply.[2262] + +[Footnote 2262: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 64, 65.] + +What use did she intend to make of this writing? She did not know how +to read; she had no counsel. Did she want to show the document to some +false friend, like Loiseleur, who was deceiving her? Or was it her +intent to present it to her saints? + +Maître Beaupère asked whether her Voice had a face and eyes. + +She refused to answer and quoted a saying frequently on the lips of +children: "One is often hanged for having spoken the truth."[2263] + +[Footnote 2263: _Ibid._, p. 65. "_Souvent on est blâmé de trop +parler_," a proverb common in the 15th century. Cf. Le Roux de Lincy, +_Les proverbes français_, vol. ii, p. 417.] + +Maître Beaupère asked: "Do you know whether you stand in God's grace?" + +This was an extremely insidious question; it placed Jeanne in the +dilemma of having to avow herself sinful or of appearing unpardonably +bold. One of the assessors, Maître Jean Lefèvre of the Order of the +Hermit Friars, observed that she was not bound to reply. There was +murmuring throughout the chamber. + +But Jeanne said: "If I be not, then may God bring me into it; if I be, +then may God keep me in it."[2264] + +[Footnote 2264: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 65.] + +The assessors were astonished at so ready an answer. And yet no +improvement ensued in their disposition towards her. They admitted +that touching her King she spoke well, but for the rest she was too +subtle, and with a subtlety peculiar to women.[2265] + +[Footnote 2265: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 21, 358.] + +Thereafter, Maître Jean Beaupère examined Jeanne concerning her +childhood in her village. He essayed to show that she had been cruel, +had displayed a homicidal tendency from her earliest years, and had +been addicted to those idolatrous practices which had given the folk +of Domremy a bad name.[2266] + +[Footnote 2266: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 65-68.] + +Then he touched on a point of prime importance in elucidating the +obscure origin of Jeanne's mission: + +"Were you not regarded as the one who was sent from the Oak Wood?" + +In this direction he might have succeeded in obtaining important +revelations. False prophecies had indeed established Jeanne's +reputation in France; but these clerks were incapable of +discriminating amongst all these pseudo-Bedes and pseudo-Merlins.[2267] + +[Footnote 2267: _Ibid._, p. 68.] + +Jeanne replied: "When I came to the King, certain asked me whether +there were in my country a wood called the Oak Wood; because of +prophecies saying that from the neighbourhood of this wood should +come a damsel who would work wonders. But to such things I paid no +heed." + +This statement we must needs believe; but if she denied credence to +the prophecy of Merlin touching the Virgin of the Oak Wood, she paid +good heed to the prophecy foretelling the appearance of a Deliverer in +the person of a Maid coming from the Lorraine Marches, since she +repeated that prophecy to the two Leroyers and to her Uncle Lassois, +with an emphasis which filled them with astonishment. Now we must +admit that the two prophecies are as alike as two peas.[2268] + +[Footnote 2268: The French expression runs, "_se resemblent comme deux +soeurs_."] + +Passing abruptly from Merlin the Magician, Maître Jean Beaupère asked: +"Jeanne, will you have a woman's dress?" + +She answered: "Give me one; and I will accept it and depart. Otherwise +I will not have it. I will be content with this one, since God is +pleased for me to wear it." + +On this reply, which contained two errors tending to heresy, the Lord +Bishop adjourned the court.[2269] + +[Footnote 2269: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 68.] + +The morrow, the 25th of February, was the first Sunday in Lent. On +that day or another, but probably on that day, my Lord Bishop sent +Jeanne a shad. Having partaken of this fish she had fever and was +seized with vomiting.[2270] Two masters of arts of the Paris +University, both doctors of medicine, Jean Tiphaine and Guillaume +Delachambre, assessors in the trial, were summoned by the Earl of +Warwick, who said to them: + +"According to what has been told me, Jeanne is sick. I have summoned +you to devise measures for her recovery. The King would not for the +world have her die a natural death. She is dear to him, for he has +bought her dearly; his intent is that she die not, save by the hand of +justice, and that she should be burned. Do all that may be necessary, +therefore, visit her attentively, and endeavour to restore her."[2271] + +[Footnote 2270: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 48, 49.] + +[Footnote 2271: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 51.] + +Conducted to Jeanne by Maître Jean d'Estivet, the doctors inquired of +her the cause of her suffering. + +She answered that she had eaten a carp sent her by the Lord Bishop of +Beauvais, and that she believed it to be the cause of her sickness. + +Did Jeanne suspect the Bishop of designing to poison her? That is what +Maître Jean d'Estivet thought, for he flew into a violent rage: + +"Whore!" he cried, "it is thine own doing; thou hast eaten herrings +and other things which have made thee ill." + +"I have not," she answered. + +They exchanged insults, and Jeanne's sickness thereupon grew +worse.[2272] + +[Footnote 2272: _Ibid._, p. 49.] + +The doctors examined her and found that she had fever. Wherefore they +decided to bleed her. + +They informed the Earl of Warwick, who became anxious: + +"A bleeding!" he cried; "take heed! She is artful and might kill +herself." + +Nevertheless Jeanne was bled and recovered.[2273] + +[Footnote 2273: _Ibid._, pp. 51, 52.] + +On Monday, the 26th, there was no examination.[2274] On the opening of +the fourth sitting, Tuesday, the 27th, Maître Jean Beaupère asked her +how she had been, which inquiry touched her but little. She replied +drily: + +"You can see for yourself. I am as well as it is possible for me to +be."[2275] + +[Footnote 2274: What induces me to fix this illness on the 25th of +February is Jean Beaupère's question at the sitting of the 27th, "How +have you been?" and Jeanne's ironical reply. This indisposition must +not be confused, as it generally has been, with Jeanne's serious +illness, which occurred after Easter. The shad and the herrings belong +naturally to Lent; and Maître Delachambre says explicitly that Jeanne +recovered after the bleeding.] + +[Footnote 2275: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 70.] + +This sitting was held in the Robing Chamber in the presence of +fifty-four assessors.[2276] Five of them had not been present before, +and among them was Maître Nicolas Loiseleur, canon of Rouen, whose +share in the proceedings had been to act the Lorraine shoemaker and +Saint Catherine of Alexandria.[2277] + +[Footnote 2276: _Ibid._, pp. 68, 69.] + +[Footnote 2277: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 332, 362; vol. iii, pp. 60, 133, +141, 156, 162, 173, 181.] + +Maître Jean Beaupère, as on the previous Saturday, was curious to know +whether Jeanne had heard her Voices. She heard them every day.[2278] + +[Footnote 2278: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 70.] + +He asked her: "Is it an angel's voice that speaketh unto you, or the +voice of a woman saint or of a man saint? Or is it God speaking +without an interpreter?" + +Said Jeanne: "This voice is the voice of Saint Catherine and of Saint +Margaret; and on their heads are beautiful crowns, right rich and +right precious. I am permitted to tell you so by Messire. If you doubt +it send to Poitiers, where I was examined."[2279] + +[Footnote 2279: _Ibid._, p. 71.] + +She was right in appealing to the clerks of France. The Armagnac +doctors had no less authority in matters of faith than the English +and Burgundian doctors. Were they not all to meet at the Council? + +The examiner asked: "How know ye that they are these two saints? Know +ye them one from another?" + +Said Jeanne: "Well do I know who they are; and I do know one from the +other." + +"How?" + +"By the greeting they give me."[2280] + +[Footnote 2280: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 72.] + +Let not Jeanne be hastily taxed with error or untruth. Did not the +Angel salute Gideon (Judges vi), and Raphaël salute Tobias (Tobit +xii)?[2281] + +[Footnote 2281: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 406.] + +Thereafter Jeanne gave another reason: "I know them because they call +themselves by name."[2282] + +[Footnote 2282: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 72.] + +When she was asked whether her saints were both clothed alike, whether +they were of the same age, whether they spoke at once, whether one of +them appeared before the other, she refused to reply, saying she had +not permission to do so.[2283] + +[Footnote 2283: _Ibid._, pp. 72, 73.] + +Maître Jean Beaupère inquired which of the apparitions came to her the +first when she was about thirteen. + +Jeanne said: "It was Saint Michael. I beheld him with my eyes. And he +was not alone, but with him were angels from heaven. It was by +Messire's command alone that I came into France." + +"Did you actually behold Saint Michael and these angels in the body?" + +"I saw them with the eyes of my head as plainly as I see you; and when +they went away I wept and should have liked them to take me with +them." + +"In what semblance was Saint Michael?"[2284] + +[Footnote 2284: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 73.] + +She was not permitted to say. + +She was asked whether she had received permission from God to go into +France and whether God had commanded her to put on man's dress. + +By keeping silence on this point she became liable to be suspected of +heresy, and however she replied she laid herself open to serious +charges,--she either took upon herself homicide and abomination, or +she attributed it to God, which manifestly was to blaspheme. + +Concerning her coming into France, she said: "I would rather have been +dragged by the hair of my head than have come into France without +permission from Messire." Concerning her dress she added: "Dress is +but a little thing, less than nothing. It was not according to the +counsel of any man of this world that I put on man's clothing. I +neither wore this attire nor did anything save by the command of +Messire and his angels."[2285] + +[Footnote 2285: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75.] + +Maître Jean Beaupère asked: "When you behold this Voice coming towards +you, is there any light?" + +Then she replied with a jest, as at Poitiers: "Every light cometh not +to you, my fair lord."[2286] + +[Footnote 2286: _Ibid._, p. 75. I have re-inserted "my fine lord" +according to _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 80.] + +After all it was virtually against the King of France that these +doctors of Rouen were proceeding with craft and with cunning. + +Maître Jean Beaupère threw out the question: "How did your King come +to have faith in your sayings?" + +"Because they were proved good to him by signs and also because of his +clerks." + +"What revelations were made unto your King?" + +"That you will not hear from me this year." + +As he listened to the damsel's words, must not my Lord of Beauvais, +who was in the counsels of King Henry, have reflected on that verse in +the Book of Tobias (xii, 7): "It is good to keep close the secret of a +king"? + +Thereafter Jeanne was called upon to reply at length concerning the +sword of Saint Catherine. The clerks suspected her of having found it +by the art of divination, and by invoking the aid of demons, and of +having cast a spell over it. All that she was able to say did not +remove their suspicions.[2287] + +[Footnote 2287: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 75-77.] + +Then they passed on to the sword she had captured from a Burgundian. + +"I wore it at Compiègne," she said, "because it was good for dealing +sound clouts and good buffets."[2288] The buffet was a flat blow, the +clout was a side stroke. Some moments later, on the subject of her +banner, she said that, in order to avoid killing any one, she bore it +herself when they charged the enemy. And she added: "I have never +slain any one."[2289] + +[Footnote 2288: _Ibid._, pp. 77, 78.] + +[Footnote 2289: _Ibid._, p. 78.] + +The doctors found that her replies varied.[2290] Of course they varied. +But if like her every hour of the day and night the doctors had been +seeing the heavens descending, if all their thoughts, all their +instincts, good and bad, all their desires barely formulated, had +been undergoing instant transformation into divine commands, their +replies would likewise have varied, and they would have doubtless been +in such a state of illusion that in their words and in their actions +they would have displayed less good sense, less gentleness and less +courage. + +[Footnote 2290: _Ibid._, p. 34; vol. ii, p. 318.] + +The examinations were long; they lasted between three and four +hours.[2291] Before closing this one, Maître Jean Beaupère wished to +know whether Jeanne had been wounded at Orléans. This was an +interesting point. It was generally admitted that witches lost their +power when they shed blood. Finally, the doctors quibbled over the +capitulation of Jargeau, and the court adjourned.[2292] + +[Footnote 2291: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 350, 365.] + +[Footnote 2292: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 79, 80.] + +A famous Norman clerk, Maître Jean Lohier, having come to Rouen, the Count +Bishop of Beauvais commanded that he should be informed concerning the +trial. On the first Saturday in Lent, the 24th of February, the Bishop +summoned him to his house near Saint-Nicolas-le-Painteur, and invited +him to give his opinion of the proceedings. The views of Maître Jean +Lohier greatly disturbed the Bishop. Off he rushed to the doctors and +masters, Jean Beaupère, Jacques de Touraine, Nicolas Midi, Pierre +Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loiseleur, and said to them: + +"Here's Lohier, who holds fine views concerning our trial! He wants to +object to everything, and says that our proceedings are invalid. If we +were to take his advice we should begin everything over again, and all +we have done would be worthless! It is easy to see what he is aiming +at. By Saint John, we will do nothing of the kind; we will go on with +our trial now it is begun." + +The next day, in the Church of Notre Dame, Guillaume Manchon met +Maître Jean Lohier and asked him: + +"Have you seen anything of the records of the trial?" + +"I have," replied Maître Jean. "This trial is void. It is impossible +to support it on many grounds: firstly, it is not in regular +form."[2293] + +[Footnote 2293: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 11, 341.] + +By that he meant that proceedings should not have been taken against +Jeanne without preliminary inquiries concerning the probability of her +guilt; either he did not know of the inquiries instituted by my Lord +of Beauvais, or he deemed them insufficient.[2294] + +[Footnote 2294: See the evidence of Thomas de Courcelles in _Trial_, +vol. iii, p. 38.] + +"Secondly," continued Maître Jean Lohier, "the judges and assessors +when they are trying this case are shut up in the castle, where they +are not free to utter their opinions frankly. Thirdly, the trial +involves divers persons who are not called, notably it touches the +reputation of the King of France, to whose party Jeanne belonged, yet +neither he nor his representative is cited. Fourthly, neither +documents nor definite written charges have been produced, wherefore +this woman, this simple girl, is left to reply without guidance to so +many masters, to such great doctors and on such grave matters, +especially those concerning her revelations. For all these reasons the +trial appears to me to be invalid." Then he added: "You see how they +proceed. They will catch her if they can in her words. They take +advantage of the statements in which she says, 'I know for certain,' +concerning her apparitions. But if she were to say, 'It seems to me,' +instead of 'I know for certain,' it is my opinion that no man could +convict her. I perceive that the dominant sentiment which actuates +them is one of hatred. Their intention is to bring her to her death. +Wherefore I shall stay here no longer. I cannot witness it. What I say +gives offence."[2295] + +[Footnote 2295: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 12, 300, 341; vol. iii, p. 138.] + +That same day Maître Jean left Rouen.[2296] + +[Footnote 2296: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 12, 203, 252, 300; vol. iii, pp. +50, 138.] + +A somewhat similar incident occurred with regard to Maître Nicolas de +Houppeville, a famous cleric. In conference with certain churchmen, he +expressed the opinion that to appoint as Jeanne's judges members of +the party hostile to her was not a correct method of procedure; and he +added that Jeanne had already been examined by the clerks of Poitiers +and by the Archbishop of Reims, the metropolitan of this very Bishop +of Beauvais. Hearing of this expression of opinion, my Lord of +Beauvais flew into a violent rage, and summoned Maître Nicolas to +appear before him. The latter replied that the Official of Rouen was +his superior, and that the Bishop of Beauvais was not his judge. If it +be true, as is related, that Maître Nicolas was thereafter cast into +the King's prison, it was doubtless for a reason more strictly +judicial than that of having offended the Lord Bishop of Beauvais. It +is more probable, however, that this famous cleric did not wish to act +as assessor, and that he left Rouen in order to avoid being summoned +to take part in the trial.[2297] + +[Footnote 2297: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 252, 326, 354, 356; vol. iii, pp. +171, 172.] + +Certain ecclesiastics, among others Maître Jean Pigache, Maître Pierre +Minier, and Maître Richard de Grouchet, discovered long afterwards +that being threatened they had given their opinions under the +influence of fear. "We were present at that trial," they said, "but +throughout the proceedings we were always contemplating flight."[2298] +As a matter of fact, no violence was done to any man's opinions, and +such as refused to attend the trial were in no way molested. Threats! +But why should there be any? Was it difficult to convict a witch in +those days? Jeanne was no witch. But, then, neither were the others. +Still, between Jeanne and the other alleged witches there was this +difference, that Jeanne had cast her spells in favour of the +Armagnacs, and to convict her was to render a service to the English, +who were the masters. This was a point to be taken into consideration; +but there was something else which ought also to be borne in mind by +thoughtful folk: such a conviction would at the same time offend the +French, who were in a fair way to become the masters once more in the +place of the English. These matters were very perplexing to the +doctors; but the second consideration had less weight with them than +the first; they had no idea that the French were so near reconquering +Normandy. + +[Footnote 2298: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 356, 359.] + +The fifth session of the court took place in the usual chamber on the +1st of March, in the presence of fifty-eight assessors, of whom nine +had not sat previously.[2299] + +[Footnote 2299: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 80, 81.] + +The first question the examiner put Jeanne was: + +"What say you of our Lord the Pope, and whom think you to be the true +pope?" + +She adroitly made answer by asking another question: "Are there +two?"[2300] + +[Footnote 2300: _Ibid._, p. 82.] + +No, there were not two; Clement VIII's abdication had put an end to +the schism; the great rift in the Church had been closed for thirteen +years and all Christian nations recognized the Pope of Rome; even +France who had become resigned to the disappearance of her Avignon +popes. There was something, however, which neither the accused nor her +judges knew; on that 1st of March, 1431, far from there being two +popes, there was not even one; the Holy See had fallen vacant by the +death of Martin V on the 20th of February, and the vacancy was only to +be filled on the 3rd of March, by the election of Eugenius IV.[2301] + +[Footnote 2301: _Analecta juris Pontif._, vol. xiv, p. 117.] + +The examiner in questioning Jeanne concerning the Holy See was not +without a motive. That motive became obvious when he asked her whether +she had not received a letter from the Count of Armagnac. She admitted +having received the letter and having replied to it. + +Copies of these two letters were included in the evidence to be used +at the trial. They were read to Jeanne. + +It appeared that the Count of Armagnac had asked the Maid by letter +which of the three popes was the true one, and that Jeanne had replied +to him, likewise by letter, that for the moment she had not time to +answer, but that she would do so at her leisure when she should come +to Paris. + +Having heard these two letters read, Jeanne declared that the one +attributed to her was only partially hers. And since she always +dictated and could never read what had been taken down, it is +conceivable that hasty words, uttered with her foot in the stirrup, +may not have been accurately transcribed; but in a series of involved +and contradictory replies she was unable to demonstrate how that which +she had dictated differed from the written text;[2302] and in itself +the letter appears much more likely to have proceeded from an ignorant +visionary than from a clerk who would have some knowledge, however +little, of church affairs. + +[Footnote 2302: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 82, 84.] + +It contains certain words and turns of expression which are to be +found in Jeanne's other letters. There can hardly be any doubt that +this letter is by her; she had forgotten it. There is nothing +surprising in that; her memory, as we have seen, was curiously liable +to fail her.[2303] + +[Footnote 2303: The expression, "_À Dieu vous recommande, Dieu soit +garde de vous_," occurs in the letters to the people of Tournai, to +those of Troyes and of Reims, and in the letter to the Duke of +Burgundy. And what is still more significant, in two of these letters, +one to the people of Troyes, the other to the Duke of Burgundy, are +the words: "_Le Roi du ciel, mon droiturier et souverain seigneur_." +_Trial_, vol. i, p. 246.] + +On this document the judges based the most serious of charges; they +regarded it as furnishing proof of a most blamable temerity. What +arrogance on the part of this woman, so it seemed to them, to claim to +have been told by God himself that which the Church alone is entitled +to teach! And to undertake by means of an inner illumination to point +out the true pope, was that not to commit grave sin against the Bride +of Christ, and with sacrilegious hand to rend the seamless robe of our +Lord? + +For once Jeanne saw clearly how her judges were endeavouring to entrap +her, wherefore she twice declared her belief in the Sovereign Pontiff +of Rome.[2304] How bitterly she would have smiled had she known that +the lights of the University of Paris, these famous doctors who held +it mortal sin to believe in the wrong pope, themselves believed in his +Holiness about as much as they disbelieved in him; that at that very +time certain of their number, Maître Thomas de Courcelles, so great a +doctor, Maître Jean Beaupère, the examiner, Maître Nicolas Loiseleur, +who acted the part of Saint Catherine, were hastening to despatch her, +in order that they might bestride their mules and amble away to Bâle, +there in the Synagogue of Satan to hurl thunderbolts against the Holy +Apostolic See, and diabolically to decree the subjection of the Pope +to the Council, the confiscation of his annates, dearer to him than +the apple of his eye, and finally his own deposition.[2305] Now would +have been the time for her to have cried, with the voice of a simple +soul, to the priests so keen to avenge upon her the Church's honour: +"I am more of a Catholic than you!" And the words in her mouth would +have been even more appropriate than on the lips of the Limousin clerk +of old. Yet we must not reproach these clerics for having been good +Gallicans at Bâle, but rather for having been cruel and hypocritical +at Rouen. + +[Footnote 2304: _Ibid._, pp. 82, 83.] + +[Footnote 2305: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 27, 32, 75, +82.] + +In her prison the Maid prophesied before her guard, John Grey. +Informed of these prophecies, the judges wished to hear them from +Jeanne's own mouth. + +"Before seven years have passed," she said to them, "the English shall +lose a greater wager than any they lost at Orléans. They shall lose +everything in France. They shall suffer greater loss than ever they +have suffered in France, and that shall come to pass because God shall +vouchsafe unto the French great victory." + +"How do you know this?" + +"I know it by revelation made unto me and that this shall befall +within seven years. And greatly should I sorrow were it further +delayed. I know it by revelation as surely as I know that you are +before my eyes at this moment." + +"When shall this come to pass?" + +"I know neither the day nor the hour." + +"But the year?" + +"That ye shall not know for the present. But I should wish it to be +before Saint John's Day." + +"Did you not say that it should come to pass before Saint Martin in +the winter?" + +"I said that before Saint Martin in the winter many things should +befall and it might be that the English would be discomfited." + +Whereupon the examiner asked Jeanne whether when Saint Michael came to +her he was accompanied by Saint Gabriel. + +Jeanne replied: "I do not remember."[2306] + +[Footnote 2306: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 84, 85.] + +She did not remember whether, in the multitude of angels who visited +her, was the Angel Gabriel who had saluted Our Lady and announced unto +her the salvation of mankind. So many angels and archangels had she +seen that this one had not particularly impressed her. + +After an answer of such perfect simplicity how could these priests +proceed to question her on her visions? Were they not sufficiently +edified? But no! These innocent answers whetted the examiner's zeal. +With intense ardour and copious amplification, passing from angels to +saints, he multiplied petty and insidious questions. Did you see the +hair on their heads? Had they rings in their ears? Was there anything +between their crowns and their hair? Was their hair long and hanging? +Had they arms? How did they speak? What kind of voices had they?[2307] + +[Footnote 2307: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 86.] + +This last question touched on an important theological point. Demons, +whose voices are as rasping as a cart wheel or a winepress screw, +cannot imitate the sweet tones of saints.[2308] + +[Footnote 2308: Le Loyer, iv, _Livres des Spectres_, Angers, 1605, in +4to.] + +Jeanne replied that the Voice was beautiful, sweet, and soft, and +spoke in French. + +Whereupon she was asked craftily wherefore Saint Margaret did not +speak English. + +She replied: "How should she speak English, since she is not on the +side of the English?"[2309] + +[Footnote 2309: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 86.] + +Two hundred years before, a poet of Champagne had said that the French +language, which Our Lord created beautiful and graceful, was the +language of Paradise. + +She was afterwards asked concerning her rings. This was a hard matter; +in those days there were many magic rings or rings bearing amulets. +They were fashioned by magicians under the influence of planets; and, +by means of wonder-working herbs and stones, these rings had spells +cast upon them and received miraculous virtues. Constellation rings +worked miracles. Jeanne, alas! had possessed but two poor rings, one +of brass, inscribed with the names Jésus and Marie, which she received +from her father and mother, the other her brother had given her. The +Bishop kept the latter; the other had been taken from her by the +Burgundians.[2310] + +[Footnote 2310: _Ibid._, pp. 86, 87. Vallet de Viriville, _Les anneaux +de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de +France_, vol. xxx, 1868, pp. 82, 97.] + +An attempt was made to incriminate her in a pact made with the Devil +near the Fairy Tree. She was not to be caught thus, but retorted by +prophesying her deliverance and the destruction of her enemies. "Those +who wish to banish me from this world may very likely leave it before +me.... I know that my King will win the realm of France." + +She was asked what she had done with her mandrake. She said she had +never had one.[2311] + +[Footnote 2311: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 86.] + +Then the examiner appeared to be seized with curiosity concerning +Saint Michael. "Was he clothed?" + +She replied: "Doubt ye that Messire lacks wherewithal to clothe +himself?" + +"Had he hair?" + +"Wherefore should he have cut it off?" + +"Did he hold scales?" + +"I don't know."[2312] + +[Footnote 2312: _Ibid._, p. 89.] + +Their object was to ascertain whether she saw Saint Michael as he was +represented in the churches, with scales for weighing souls.[2313] + +[Footnote 2313: A. Maury, _Croyances et légendes du moyen âge_, pp. 171 +_et seq._] + +When she said that at the sight of the Archangel it seemed to her she +was not in a state of mortal sin, the examiner fell to arguing on the +subject of her conscience. She replied like a true Christian.[2314] +Then he returned to the miracle of the sign, which had not been +referred to since the first sitting, to the mystery of Chinon, to that +wondrous crown, which Jeanne, following Saint Catherine of Alexandria, +believed she had received from the hand of an angel. But she had +promised Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret to say nothing about it. + +[Footnote 2314: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 90.] + +"When you showed the King the sign was there any one with him?" + +"I think there was no other person, albeit there were many folk not +far off." + +"Did you see a crown on the King's head when you gave him this sign?" + +"I cannot say without committing perjury." + +"Had your King a crown at Reims?" + +"My King, methinketh, took with pleasure the crown he found at Reims. +But afterwards a very rich crown was brought him. He did not wait for +it, because he wished to hurry on the ceremony according to the +request of the inhabitants of Reims who desired to rid their town of +the burden of men-at-arms. If he had waited he would have had a crown +a thousand times more rich." + +"Have you seen that richer crown?" + +"I cannot tell you without committing perjury. If I have not seen it I +have heard tell how rich and how magnificent it is."[2315] + +[Footnote 2315: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 90, 91.] + +Jeanne suffered intensely from being deprived of the sacraments. One +day when Messire Jean Massieu, performing the office of ecclesiastical +usher, was taking her before her judges, she asked him whether there +were not on the way some church or chapel in which was the body of Our +Lord Jesus Christ.[2316] + +[Footnote 2316: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 16.] + +Messire Jean Massieu, dean of Rouen, was a cleric of manners +dissolute; his inveterate lewdness had involved him in difficulties +with the Chapter and with the Official.[2317] He may have been neither +as brave nor as frank as he wished to make out, but he was not hard +or pitiless. + +[Footnote 2317: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès de +condamnation_, p. 115.] + +He told his prisoner that there was a chapel on the way. And he +pointed out to her the chapel of the castle. + +Then she besought him urgently to take her into the chapel in order +that she might worship Messire and pray. + +Readily did Messire Jean Massieu consent; and he permitted her to +kneel before the sanctuary. Devoutly bending, Jeanne offered her +prayer. + +The Lord Bishop, being informed of this incident, was highly +displeased. He instructed the Usher that in the future such devotions +must not be tolerated. + +And the Promoter, Maître Jean d'Estivet, on his part, addressed many a +reprimand to Messire Jean Massieu. + +"Rascal," he said, "what possesses thee to allow an excommunicated +whore to approach a church without permission? If ever thou doest the +like again I will imprison thee in that tower, where for a month thou +wilt see neither sun nor moon." + +Messire Jean Massieu heeded not this threat. And the Promoter, +perceiving this, himself took up his post at the chapel door when +Jeanne went that way. Thus he prevented the hapless damsel from +engaging in her devotions.[2318] + +[Footnote 2318: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 16.] + +The sixth sitting was held in the same court as before, in the +presence of forty-one assessors, of whom six or seven were new, and +among them was Maître Guillaume Erart, doctor in theology.[2319] + +[Footnote 2319: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 91, 92.] + +In the beginning, the examiner asked Jeanne whether she had seen Saint +Michael and the saints, and whether she had seen anything but their +faces. He insisted: "You must say what you know." + +"Rather than say all that I know, I would have my head cut off."[2320] + +[Footnote 2320: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 93.] + +They puzzled her with questions touching the nature of angelic bodies. +She was simple; with her own eyes she had seen Saint Michael; she said +so and could not say otherwise. + +The examiner, now as always, informed of the words she had let fall in +prison, asked her whether she had heard her Voices. + +"Yes, in good sooth. They told me that I should be delivered. But I +know neither the day nor the hour. And they told me to have good +courage, and to be of good cheer."[2321] + +[Footnote 2321: _Ibid._, p. 94.] + +Of all this the judges believed nothing, because demonologists teach +that witches lose their power when an officer of Holy Church lays +hands upon them. + +The examiner recurred to her man's dress. Then he endeavoured to find +out whether she had cast spells over the banners of her companions in +arms. + +He sought out by what secret power she led the soldiers. + +This power she was willing to reveal: "I said to them: 'Go on boldly +against the English;' and at the same time I went myself."[2322] + +[Footnote 2322: _Ibid._, pp. 95-97.] + +In this examination, which was the most diffuse and the most captious +of all, the following curious question was put to the accused: "When +you were before Jargeau, what was it you were wearing behind your +helmet? Was there not something round?"[2323] + +[Footnote 2323: _Ibid._, p. 99.] + +At the siege of Jargeau she had been struck on the head by a huge +stone which had not hurt her; and this her own party deemed +miraculous.[2324] Did the judges of Rouen imagine that she wore a +golden halo, like the saints, and that this halo had protected her? + +[Footnote 2324: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 301. _Journal du siège_, +pp. 98, 99.] + +Later she was examined on a more ordinary subject, concerning a +picture in the house of her host at Orléans, representing three women: +Justice, Peace, Union. + +Jeanne knew nothing about it;[2325] she was no connoisseur in tapestry +and in paintings, like the Duke of Bar and the Duke of Orléans; +neither were her judges, not on this occasion at any rate. And if they +were concerned about a picture in the house of Maître Boucher, it was +not so much on account of the painting as of the doctrine. These three +women that the wealthy Maître Boucher kept in his house were doubtless +nude. The painters of those days depicted on small panels allegories +and bathing scenes, and they painted nude women. Full foreheads, round +heads, golden hair, short figures of small build but with embonpoint, +their nudity minutely represented and but thinly veiled; many such +were produced in Flanders and in Italy. The illustrious masters, to +whom those pictures appeared corrupt and indecent, doubtless wished to +reproach Jeanne with having looked at them in the house of the +treasurer of the Duke of Orléans. It is not difficult to divine what +were the doctors' suspicions when they are found asking Jeanne whether +Saint Michael wore clothes, in what manner she greeted her saints, and +how she gave them her rings to touch.[2326] + +[Footnote 2325: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 2326: _Ibid._, p. 89.] + +They also wanted to make her admit that she had caused herself to be +honoured as a saint. She disconcerted them by the following reply: +"The poor folk came to me readily, because I did them no hurt, but +aided them to the best of my power."[2327] + +[Footnote 2327: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 102.] + +Then the examination ranged over many and various subjects: Friar +Richard; the children Jeanne had held over the baptismal fonts; the +good wives of the town of Reims who touched rings with her; the +butterflies caught in a standard at Château Thierry.[2328] + +[Footnote 2328: _Ibid._, p. 103.] + +In this town, certain of the Maid's followers were said to have caught +butterflies in her standard. Now doctors in theology knew for a +certainty that necromancers sacrificed butterflies to the devil. A +century before, at Pamiers, the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition had +condemned the Carmelite Pierre Recordi, who was accused of having +celebrated such a sacrifice. He had killed a butterfly and the devil +had revealed his presence by a breath of wind.[2329] Jeanne's judges +may have wished to involve her in similar fashion, or their design may +have been quite different. In war a butterfly in the cap was a sign +either of unconditional surrender or of the possession of a safe +conduct.[2330] Were the judges accusing her or her followers of having +feigned to surrender in order treacherously to attack the enemy? They +were quite capable of making such a charge. However that may be, the +examiner passed on to inquire concerning a lost glove found by Jeanne +in the town of Reims.[2331] It was important to know whether it had +been discovered by magic art. Then the magistrate returned to several +of the capital charges of the trial: communion received in man's +dress; the hackney of the Bishop of Senlis, which Jeanne had taken, +thus committing a kind of sacrilege; the discoloured child she had +brought back to life at Lagny; Catherine de La Rochelle, who had +recently borne witness against her before the Official at Paris; the +siege of La Charité which she had been obliged to raise; the leap +which she had made in her despair from the keep of Beaurevoir, and, +finally, certain blasphemy she was falsely accused of having uttered +at Soissons concerning Captain Bournel.[2332] + +[Footnote 2329: Lea (1906), vol. iii, p. 456.] + +[Footnote 2330: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 237.] + +[Footnote 2331: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 104.] + +[Footnote 2332: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 111.] + +Then the Lord Bishop declared the examination concluded. He added, +however, that should it appear expedient to interrogate Jeanne more +fully, certain doctors and masters would be appointed for that +purpose.[2333] + +[Footnote 2333: _Ibid._, pp. 111, 112.] + +Accordingly, on Saturday, March the 10th, Maître Jean de la Fontaine, +the Bishop's commissioner, went to the prison. He was accompanied by +Nicolas Midi, Gérard Feuillet, Jean Fécard, and Jean Massieu.[2334] The +first point touched upon at this inquiry was the sortie from +Compiègne. The priests took great pains to prove to Jeanne that her +Voices must be bad or that she must have failed to understand them +since her obedience to them had brought about her destruction. Jacques +Gélu[2335] and Jean Gerson had foreseen this dilemma and had met it in +anticipation with elaborate theological arguments.[2336] She was +examined concerning the paintings on her standard, and she replied: + +"Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret bade me take the standard and bear +it boldly, and have painted upon it the King of Heaven. And this, much +against my will, I told to my King. Touching its meaning I know nought +else."[2337] + +[Footnote 2334: _Ibid._, p. 113.] + +[Footnote 2335: Gélu, _Questio quinta_, in _Mémoires et consultations +en faveur de Jeanne d'Arc_, ed. Lanéry d'Arc, pp. 593 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2336: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 299 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2337: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 117.] + +They tried to make her out avaricious, proud, and ostentatious because +she possessed a shield and arms, a stable, chargers, demi-chargers, +and hackneys, and because she had money with which to pay her +household, some ten to twelve thousand livres.[2338] But the point on +which they questioned her most closely was the sign which had already +been twice discussed in the public examinations. On this subject the +doctors displayed an insatiable curiosity. For the sign was the exact +reverse of the coronation at Reims; it was an anointing, not with +divine unction but with magic charm, the crowning of the King of +France by a witch. Maître Jean de la Fontaine had this advantage over +Jeanne, he knew what she was going to say and what she wished to +conceal. "What is the sign that was given to your King?" + +[Footnote 2338: _Ibid._, pp. 117, 119.] + +"It is beautiful and honourable and very credible; it is the best and +the richest in the world...." + +"Does it still last?" + +"It is well to know that it lasts and will last for a thousand years. +My sign is in the King's treasury." + +"Is it of gold or silver, or of precious stones, or is it a crown?" + +"Nothing more will I tell unto you and no man can devise anything so +rich as is this sign. Nevertheless, the sign that you need is that God +should deliver me out of your hands and no surer sign can he send +you...." + +"When the sign came to your King what reverence did you make to it?" + +"I thanked Our Lord for having delivered me from the troubles caused +me by the clerks of our party, who were arguing against me. And I +knelt down several times. An angel from God and from none other gave +the sign to my King. And many times did I give thanks to Our Lord. The +clerks ceased to attack me when they had seen the said sign."[2339] + +[Footnote 2339: On the contrary it was then that they began to argue +against her or that they began to argue most effectively. She seems to +forget that the interview at Chinon preceded the examination at +Poitiers. It is interesting to notice that Brother Pasquerel, who was +informed of these matters by her, makes the same error in his +evidence.] + +"Did the churchmen of your party behold the sign?" + +"When my King and such as were with him had seen the sign and also the +angel who gave it, I asked my King whether he were pleased, and he +replied that he was. Then I departed and went into a little chapel +near by. I have since heard that after my departure more than three +hundred persons saw the sign. For love of me and in order that I +should be questioned no further, God was pleased to permit this sign +to be seen by all those of my party who did see it." + +"Did your King and you make any reverence to the angel when he brought +the sign?" + +"Yes, for my part, I did. I knelt and took off my hood."[2340] + +[Footnote 2340: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 120, 122.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_) + + +On Monday, the 12th of March, Brother Jean Lemaistre received from +Brother Jean Graverent, Inquisitor of France, an order to proceed +against and to pronounce the final sentence on a certain woman, named +Jeanne, commonly called the Maid.[2341] On that same day, in the +morning, Maître Jean de la Fontaine, in presence of the Bishop, for +the second time examined Jeanne in her prison.[2342] + +[Footnote 2341: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 122-124.] + +[Footnote 2342: _Ibid._, p. 125.] + +He first returned to the sign. "Did not the angel who brought the sign +speak?" + +"Yes, he told my King that he must set me to work in order that the +country might soon be relieved." + +"Was the angel, who brought the sign, the angel who first appeared +unto you or another?" + +"It was always the same and never did he fail me." + +"But inasmuch as you have been taken hath not the angel failed you +with regard to the good things of this life?" + +"Since it is Our Lord's good pleasure, I believe it was best for me to +be taken." + +"In the good things of grace hath not your angel failed you?" + +"How can he have failed me when he comforteth me every day?"[2343] + +[Footnote 2343: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 126.] + +Maître Jean de la Fontaine then put her a subtle question and one as +nearly approaching humour as was permissible in an ecclesiastical +trial. + +"Did Saint Denys ever appear to you?"[2344] + +[Footnote 2344: _Ibid._] + +Saint Denys, patron of the most Christian kings, Saint Denys, the war +cry of France, had allowed the English to take his abbey, that rich +church, to which queens came to receive their crowns, and wherein +kings had their burying. He had turned English and Burgundian, and it +was not likely he would come to hold converse with the Maid of the +Armagnacs. + +To the question: "Were you addressing God himself when you promised to +remain a virgin?" she replied: + +"It sufficed to give the promise to the messengers of God, to wit, +Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret."[2345] + +[Footnote 2345: _Ibid._] + +They had sought to entrap her, for a vow must be made directly to God. +However, it might be argued, that it is lawful to promise a good thing +to an angel or to a man; and that this good thing, thus promised, may +form the substance of a vow. One vows to God what one has promised to +the saints. Pierre of Tarentaise (iv, dist: xxviii, a. 1) teaches that +all vows should be made to God: either to himself directly or through +the mediation of his saints.[2346] + +[Footnote 2346: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations_, pp. 224, +434, 435. Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. i, pp. 351 _et +seq._, 481 _et seq._] + +According to a statement made during the inquiry, Jeanne had given a +promise of marriage to a young peasant. Now the examiner endeavoured +to prove that she had been at liberty to break her vow of virginity +made in an irregular form; but Jeanne maintained that she had not +promised marriage, and she added: + +"The first time I heard my Voices, I vowed to remain a virgin as long +as it should please God." + +But this time it was Saint Michael and not the saints who had appeared +to her.[2347] She herself found it difficult to unravel the tangled web +of her dreams and her ecstasies. And from these vague visions of a +child the doctors were laboriously essaying to elaborate a capital +charge. + +[Footnote 2347: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 128.] + +Then a very grave and serious question was asked her by the examiner: +"Did you speak to your priest or to any other churchman of those +visions which you say were vouchsafed to you?" + +"No, I spoke of them only to Robert de Baudricourt and to my +King."[2348] + +[Footnote 2348: _Ibid._] + +The vavasour of Champagne, a man of mature years and sound sense, when +in the days of King John, he, like the Maid, had heard a Voice in the +fields bidding him go to his King, went straightway and told his +priest. The latter commanded him to fast for three days, to do +penance, and then to return to the field where the Voice had spoken to +him. + +The vavasour obeyed. Again the Voice was heard repeating the command +it had previously given. The peasant again told his priest, who said +to him: "My brother, thou and I will abstain and fast for three days, +and I will pray for thee to Our Lord Jesus Christ." This they did, and +on the fourth day the good man returned to the field. After the Voice +had spoken for the third time, the priest enjoined his parishioner to +go forthwith and fulfil his mission, since such was the will of +God.[2349] + +[Footnote 2349: _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, p. 47.] + +There is no doubt that, according to all appearances, this vavasour +had acted with greater wisdom than La Romée's daughter. By concealing +her visions from the priest the latter had slighted the authority of +the Church Militant. Still there might be urged in her defence the +words of the Apostle Paul, that where the spirit of God is there is +liberty.[2350] If ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the +law.[2351] Was she a heretic or was she a saint? Therein lay the whole +trial. + +[Footnote 2350: II Corinthians, iv.] + +[Footnote 2351: Galatians v, 18. Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et +consultations_, p. 275.] + +Then came this remarkable question: "Have you received letters from +Saint Michael or from your Voices?" + +She replied: "I have not permission to tell you; but in a week I will +willingly say all I know."[2352] + +[Footnote 2352: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 130.] + +Such was her manner of speaking when there was something she wanted to +conceal but not to deny. The question must have been embarrassing +therefore. Moreover, these interrogatories were based on a good store +of facts either true or false; and in the questions addressed to the +Maid we may generally discern a certain anticipation of her replies. +What were those letters from Saint Michael and her other saints, the +existence of which she did not deny, but which were never produced by +her judges? Did certain of her party send them in the hope that she +would carry out their intentions, while under the impression that she +was obeying divine commands? + +Without insisting further for the present, the examiner passed on to +another grievance: + +"Have not your Voices called you _daughter of God_, _daughter of the +Church_, _great-hearted damsel_?" + +"Before the siege of Orléans and since, every day when they speak to +me, many times have they called me _Jeanne the Maid, daughter of +God_."[2353] + +[Footnote 2353: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 130, 131.] + +The examination was suspended and resumed in the afternoon. + +Maître Jean de la Fontaine questioned Jeanne concerning a dream of her +father, of which the judges had been informed in the preliminary +inquiry.[2354] + +[Footnote 2354: _Ibid._, pp. 131, 132.] + +Sad it is to reflect that when Jeanne was accused of the sin of having +broken God's commandment, "Thou shalt honour thy father and thy +mother," neither her mother nor any of her kin asked to be heard as +witnesses. And yet there were churchmen in her family;[2355] but a +trial on a question of faith struck terror into all hearts. + +[Footnote 2355: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 252. E. de Bouteiller and G. de +Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 14, +15. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_, pp. xlvi _et seq._] + +Again her man's dress was reverted to, and not for the last time.[2356] +We marvel at the profound meditations into which the Maid's doublet +and hose plunged these clerics. They contemplated them with gloomy +terror and in the light of the precepts of Deuteronomy. + +[Footnote 2356: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 133.] + +Thereafter they questioned her touching the Duke of Orléans. Their +object was to show from her own replies that her Voices had deceived +her when they promised the prisoner's deliverance. Here they easily +succeeded. Then she pleaded that she had not had sufficient time. + +"Had I continued for three years without let or hindrance I should +have delivered him." + +In her revelations there had been mentioned a term shorter than three +years and longer than one.[2357] + +[Footnote 2357: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 134.] + +Questioned again touching the sign vouchsafed to her King, she replied +that she would take counsel with Saint Catherine. + +On the morrow, Tuesday, the 13th of March, the Bishop and the +Vice-Inquisitor went to her prison. For the first time the +Vice-Inquisitor opened his mouth:[2358] "Have you promised and sworn to +Saint Catherine that you will not tell this sign?" + +[Footnote 2358: _Ibid._, pp. 134, 138.] + +He spoke of the sign given to the King. Jeanne replied: + +"I have sworn and I have promised that I will not myself reveal this +sign, because I was too urgently pressed to tell it. I vow that never +again will I speak of it to living man."[2359] + +[Footnote 2359: _Ibid._, p. 139.] + +Then she continued forthwith: "The sign was that the Angel assured my +King, when bringing him the crown, that he should have the whole realm +of France, with God's help and my labours, and that he should set me +to work. That is to say, he should grant me men-at-arms. Otherwise he +would not be so soon crowned and anointed." + +"In what manner did the Angel bring the crown? Did he place it on your +King's head?" + +"It was given to an archbishop, to the Archbishop of Reims, meseemeth +in the King's presence. The said Archbishop received it and gave it +to the King; and I myself was present; and it is put in the King's +treasury." + +"To what place was the crown brought?" + +"To the King's chamber in the castle of Chinon." + +"On what day and at what hour?" + +"The day I know not, the hour was full day. No further recollection +have I of the hour or of the month. But meseemeth it was the month of +April or March; it will be two years this month or next April. It was +after Easter."[2360] + +[Footnote 2360: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 140, 141.] + +"On the first day that you saw the sign did your King see it?" + +"Yes. He had it the same day." + +"Of what was the crown made?" + +"It is well to know that it was of fine gold, and so rich that I +cannot count its riches; and the crown meant that he would hold the +realm of France." + +"Were there jewels in it?" + +"I have told you that I do not know." + +"Did you touch it or kiss it?" + +"No." + +"Did the Angel who bore it come from above, or did he come from the +earth?" + +"He came from above. I understand that he came by Our Lord's command, +and he came in by the door of the chamber." + +"Did the Angel come along the ground, walking from the door of the +room?" + +"When he was come before the King he did him reverence, bowing low +before him and uttering the words concerning the sign which I have +already repeated; and thereupon the Angel recalled to the King's mind +the great patience he had had in the midst of the long tribulation +that had befallen him; and as he came towards the King the Angel +walked and touched the ground." + +"How far was it from the door to the King?" + +"Methinketh it was a full lance's length;[2361] and as he had come so +he returned. When the Angel came, I accompanied him and went with him +up the steps into the King's chamber; and the Angel went in first. And +I said to the King: 'Sire, behold your sign; take it.'"[2362] + +[Footnote 2361: About ten feet (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2362: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 141-142.] + +In a spiritual sense we may say that this fable is true. This crown, +which "flowers sweetly and will flower sweetly if it be well +guarded,"[2363] is the crown of victory. When the Maid beholds the +Angel who brought it, it is her own image that appears before her. Had +not a theologian of her own party said that she might be called an +angel? Not that she had the nature of an angel, but she did the work +of one.[2364] + +[Footnote 2363: "_Fleure bon et fleurera bon, pourvu qu'elle soit bien +gardée._"] + +[Footnote 2364: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations_, p. 212. Le +P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. i, p. 346.] + +She began to describe the angels who had come with her to the King: + +"So far as I saw, certain among them were very like, the others +different. Some had wings. Some wore crowns, others did not. And they +were with Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, and they accompanied the +Angel of whom I have spoken and the other angels also into the chamber +of the King."[2365] + +[Footnote 2365: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 144.] + +And thus for a long time, as she was pressed by her interrogator, she +continued to tell these marvellous stories one after another. + +When she was asked for the second time whether the Angel had written +her letters, she denied it.[2366] But now it was the Angel who bore the +crown and not Saint Michael who was in question. And despite her +having said they were one and the same, she may have distinguished +between them. Therefore we shall never know whether she did receive +letters from Saint Michael the Archangel, or from Saint Catherine and +from Saint Margaret. + +[Footnote 2366: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 145.] + +Thereafter the examiner inquired touching a cup lost at Reims and +found by Jeanne as well as the gloves.[2367] Saints sometimes +condescended to find things that had been lost, as is proved by the +example of Saint Antony of Padua. It was always with the help of God. +Necromancers imitated their powers by invoking the aid of demons and +by profaning sacred things. + +[Footnote 2367: _Ibid._, p. 146.] + +She was also questioned concerning the priest who had a concubine. +Here again she was reproached with being possessed of a magic gift of +clairvoyance. It was by magic she had known that this priest had a +concubine. Many other such things were reported of her. For example, +it was said that at the sight of a certain loose woman she knew that +this woman had killed her child.[2368] + +[Footnote 2368: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 184, 186.] + +Then recurred the same old questions: "When you went to the attack on +Paris did you receive a revelation from your Voices? Was it revealed +to you that you should go against La Charité? Was it a revelation that +caused you to go to Pont-l'Evêque?" + +She denied that she had then received any revelation from her Voices. + +The last question was: "Did you not say before Paris, 'Surrender the +town in the name of Jesus'?" + +She answered that she had not spoken those words, but had said, +"Surrender the town to the King of France."[2369] + +[Footnote 2369: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 147, 148.] + +The Parisians who were engaged in repelling the attack had heard her +saying, "Surrender to us speedily in the name of Jesus." These words +are consistent with all we know of Jeanne in the early years of her +career. She believed it to be the will of Messire that the towns of +the realm should surrender to her, whom he had sent to reconquer them. +We have noticed already that at the time of her trial Jeanne had +completely lost touch with her early illuminations and that she spoke +in quite another language. + +On the morrow, Wednesday, the 14th of March, there were two more +examinations in the prison. The morning interrogatory turned on the +leap from Beaurevoir. She confessed to having leapt without permission +from her Voices, preferring to die rather than to fall into the hands +of the English.[2370] + +[Footnote 2370: _Ibid._, pp. 150, 152.] + +She was accused of blasphemy against God; but that was false.[2371] + +[Footnote 2371: _Ibid._, p. 157.] + +The Bishop intervened: "You have said that we, the Lord Bishop, run +great danger by bringing you to trial. Of what danger were you +speaking? In what peril do we stand, we, your judges, and others?" + +"I said to my Lord of Beauvais: 'You declare that you are my judge, I +know not if you be. But take heed that ye judge not wrongly, for thus +would ye run great danger; and I warn you, so that if Our Lord +chastise you for it, I have done my duty by warning you.'" + +"What is this peril or this danger?" + +"Saint Catherine has told me that I shall have succour. I know not +whether it will be my deliverance from prison, or whether, during the +trial, some tumult shall arise whereby I shall be delivered. I think +it will be either one or the other. My Voices most often tell me I +shall be delivered by a great victory. And afterwards they say to me: +'Be thou resigned, grieve not at thy martyrdom; thou shalt come in the +end to the kingdom of Paradise.' This do my Voices say unto me simply +and absolutely. I mean to say without fail. And I call my martyrdom +the trouble and anguish I suffer in prison. I know not whether still +greater sufferings are before me, but I wait on the Lord."[2372] + +[Footnote 2372: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 154, 156.] + +It would seem that thus her Voices promised the Maid at once a +spiritual and a material deliverance, but the two could hardly occur +together. This reply, expressive alike of fear and of illusion, was +one to call forth pity from the hardest; and yet her judges regarded +it merely as a means whereby they might entrap her. Feigning to +understand that from her revelations she derived a heretical +confidence in her eternal salvation, the examiner put to her an old +question in a new form. She had already given it a saintly answer. He +inquired whether her Voices had told her that she would finally come +to the kingdom of Paradise if she continued in the assurance that she +would be saved and not condemned in Hell. To this she replied with +that perfect faith with which her Voices inspired her: "I believe what +my Voices have told me touching my salvation as strongly as if I were +already in Paradise." + +Such a reply was heretical. The examiner, albeit he was not accustomed +to discuss the Maid's replies, could not forbear remarking that this +one was of great importance.[2373] + +[Footnote 2373: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 156.] + +Accordingly in the afternoon of that same day, she was shown a +consequence of her error; to wit, that if she received from her Voices +the assurance of eternal salvation she needed not to confess.[2374] + +[Footnote 2374: _Ibid._, p. 157.] + +On this occasion Jeanne was questioned touching the affair of Franquet +d'Arras. The Bailie of Senlis had done wrong in asking the Maid for +her prisoner,[2375] the Lord Franquet,[2376] in order to put him to +death, and Jeanne's judges now incriminated her. + +[Footnote 2375: See _ante_, pp. 124 _et seq._ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2376: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 158, 159.] + +The examiner pointed out the mortal sins with which the accused might +be charged: first, having attacked Paris on a feast-day; second, +having stolen the hackney of the Lord Bishop of Senlis; third, having +leapt from Beaurevoir; fourth, having worn man's dress; fifth, having +consented to the death of a prisoner of war. Touching all these +matters, Jeanne did not believe that she had committed mortal sin; but +with regard to the leap from Beaurevoir she acknowledged that she was +wrong, and that she had asked God to forgive her.[2377] + +[Footnote 2377: _Ibid._, pp. 159, 161.] + +It was sufficiently established that the accused had fallen into +religious error. The tribunal of the Inquisition, out of its abounding +mercy, desired the salvation of the sinner. Wherefore on the morning +of the very next day, Thursday, the 15th of March, my Lord of Beauvais +exhorted Jeanne to submit to the Church, and essayed to make her +understand that she ought to obey the Church Militant, for the Church +Militant was one thing and the Church Triumphant another. Jeanne +listened to him dubiously.[2378] On that day she was again questioned +touching her flight from the château of Beaulieu and her intention to +leave the tower without the permission of my Lord of Beauvais. As to +the latter she was firmly resolute. + +[Footnote 2378: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 162.] + +"Were I to see the door open, I would go, and it would be with the +permission of Our Lord. I firmly believe that if I were to see the +door open and if my guards and the other English were beyond power of +resistance, I should regard it as my permission and as succour sent +unto me by Our Lord. But without permission I would not go, save that +I might essay to go, in order to know whether it were Our Lord's will. +The proverb says: 'Help thyself and God will help thee.'[2379] This I +say so that, if I were to go, it should not be said I went without +permission."[2380] + +[Footnote 2379: _Ayde-toy, Dieu te aidera._ _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. +33.] + +[Footnote 2380: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 163, 164.] + +Then they reverted to the question of her wearing man's dress. + +"Which would you prefer, to wear a woman's dress and hear mass, or to +continue in man's dress and not to hear mass?" + +"Promise me that I shall hear mass if I am in woman's dress, and then +I will answer you." + +"I promise you that you shall hear mass when you are in woman's +dress." + +"And what do you say if I have promised and sworn to our King not to +put off these clothes? Nevertheless, I say unto you: 'Have me a robe +made, long enough to touch the ground, but without a train. I will go +to mass in it; then, when I come back, I will return to my present +clothes.'" + +"You must wear woman's dress altogether and without conditions." + +"Send me a dress like that worn by your burgess's daughters, to wit, a +long _houppelande_; and I will take it and even a woman's hood to go +and hear mass. But with all my heart I entreat you to leave me these +clothes I am now wearing, and let me hear mass without changing +anything."[2381] + +[Footnote 2381: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 165, 166.] + +Her aversion to putting off man's dress is not to be explained solely +by the fact that this dress preserved her best against the violence of +the men-at-arms; it is possible that no such objection existed. She +was averse to wearing woman's dress because she had not received +permission from her Voices; and we may easily divine why not. Was she +not a chieftain of war? How humiliating for such an one to wear +petticoats like a townsman's wife! And above all things just now, when +at any moment the French might come and deliver her by some great feat +of arms. Ought they not to find their Maid in man's attire, ready to +put on her armour and fight with them? + +Thereafter the examiner asked her whether she would submit to the +Church, whether she made a reverence to her Voices, whether she +believed the saints, whether she offered them lighted candles, whether +she obeyed them, whether in war she had ever done anything without +their permission or contrary to their command.[2382] + +[Footnote 2382: _Ibid._, pp. 166-169.] + +Then they came to the question which they held to be the most +difficult of all: + +"If the devil were to take upon himself the form of an angel, how +would you know whether he were a good angel or a bad?" + +She replied with a simplicity which appeared presumptuous: "I should +easily discern whether it were Saint Michael or an imitation of +him."[2383] + +[Footnote 2383: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 170, 171.] + +Two days later, on Saturday, the 17th of March, Jeanne was examined in +her prison both morning and evening.[2384] + +[Footnote 2384: _Ibid._, p. 173.] + +Hitherto she had been very loath to describe the countenance and the +dress of the angel and the saints who had visited her in the village. +Maître Jean de la Fontaine endeavoured to obtain some light on this +subject. + +"In what form and semblance did Saint Michael come to you? Was he tall +and how was he clothed?" + +"He came in the form of a true _prud'homme_."[2385] + +[Footnote 2385: _Ibid._] + +Jeanne was not one to believe she saw the Archangel in a long doctor's +robe or wearing a cope of gold. Moreover it was not thus that he +figured in the churches. There he was represented in painting and in +sculpture, clothed in glittering armour, with a golden crown on his +helmet.[2386] In such guise did he appear to her "in the form of a +right true _prud'homme_," to take a word from the _Chanson de Roland_, +where a great sword thrust is called the thrust of a _prud'homme_. He +came to her in the garb of a great knight, like Arthur and +Charlemagne, wearing full armour. + +[Footnote 2386: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc à Domremy_. Proofs and +illustrations, pp. 74, 75.] + +Once again the examiner put to Jeanne that question on which her life +or death depended: + +"Will you submit all your deeds and sayings, good or bad, to the +judgment of our mother, Holy Church?" + +"As for the Church, I love her and would maintain her with all my +power, for religion's sake," the Maid replied; "and I am not one to be +kept from church and from hearing mass. But as for the good works +which I have wrought, and touching my coming, for them I must give an +account to the King of Heaven, who has sent me to Charles, son of +Charles, King of France. And you will see that the French will shortly +accomplish a great work, to which God will appoint them, in which they +will shake nearly all France. I say it in order that when it shall +come to pass, it may be remembered that I have said it."[2387] + +[Footnote 2387: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 174.] + +But she was unable to name the time when this great work should be +accomplished; and Maître Jean de la Fontaine returned to the point on +which Jeanne's fate depended. + +"Will you submit to the judgment of the Church?" + +"I appeal to Our Lord, who hath sent me, to Our Lady and to all the +blessed saints in Paradise. To my mind Our Lord and his Church are +one, and no distinction should be made. Wherefore do you essay to make +out that they are not one?" + +In justice to Maître Jean de la Fontaine we are bound to admit the +lucidity of his reply. "There is the Church Triumphant, in which are +God, his saints, the angels and the souls that are saved," he said. +"There is also the Church Militant, which is our Holy Father, the +Pope, the Vicar of God on earth; the cardinals, the prelates of the +Church and the clergy, with all good Christians and Catholics; and +this Church in its assembly cannot err, for it is moved by the Holy +Ghost. Will you appeal to the Church Militant?" + +"I am come to the King of France from God, from the Virgin Mary and +all the blessed saints in Paradise and from the Church Victorious +above and by their command. To this Church I submit all the good deeds +I have done and shall do. As to replying whether I will submit to the +Church Militant, for the present, I will make no further answer."[2388] + +[Footnote 2388: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 174, 176.] + +Again she was offered a woman's dress in which to hear mass; she +refused it. + +"As for a woman's dress, I will not take it yet, not until it be Our +Lord's will. And if it should come to pass that I be taken to judgment +and there divested of my clothes, I beg my lords of the Church the +favour of a woman's smock and covering for my head. I would rather die +than deny what Our Lord hath caused me to do. I believe firmly that +Our Lord will not let it come to pass that I should be cast so low, +and that soon I shall have help from God, and that by a miracle." + +Thereafter the following questions were put to her: "Do you not +believe to-day that fairies are evil spirits?" + +"I do not know." + +"Do you know whether Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret hate the +English?" + +"They love what Our Lord loves and hate what God hates." + +"Does God hate the English?" + +"Touching the love or hatred of God for the English and what he will +do for their souls I know nothing. But I do know that they will all +be driven out of France, save those who die there, and that God will +send victory to the French and defeat to the English." + +"Was God on the side of the English when they prospered in France?" + +"I know not whether God hated the French. But I believe that he +permitted them to be beaten for their sins, if they were in sin."[2389] + +[Footnote 2389: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 178.] + +Jeanne was asked certain questions touching the banner on which she +had caused angels to be painted. + +She replied that she had had angels painted as she had seen them +represented in churches.[2390] + +[Footnote 2390: _Ibid._, p. 180.] + +At this point the examination was adjourned. The last interrogation in +the prison[2391] took place after dinner. She had now endured fifteen +in twenty-five days, but her courage never flagged. This last time the +subjects were more than usually diverse and confused. First, the +examiner essayed to discover by what charms and evil practices good +fortune and victory had attended the standard painted with angelic +figures. Then he wanted to know wherefore the clerks put on Jeanne's +letters the sacred names of Jésus and Marie.[2392] + +[Footnote 2391: _Ibid._, p. 181.] + +[Footnote 2392: _Ibid._, pp. 182-183.] + +Then came the following subtle question: "Do you believe that if you +were married your Voices would come to you?" + +It was well known that she dearly cherished her virginity. Certain of +her words might be interpreted to mean that she considered this +virginity to be the cause of her good fortune; wherefore her examiners +were curious to know whether if she were adroitly approached she +might not be brought to cast scorn on the married state and to condemn +intercourse between husbands and wives. Such a condemnation would have +been a grievous error, savouring of the heresy of the Cathari.[2393] + +[Footnote 2393: Martène and Durand, _Thesaurus novus anecdotorum_, vol. +v, col. 1760 _et seq._] + +She replied: "I know not and I appeal to Our Lord."[2394] Then there +followed another question much more dangerous for one who like Jeanne +loved her King with all her heart. + +[Footnote 2394: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 183.] + +"Do you think and firmly believe that your King did right to kill or +cause to be killed my Lord of Burgundy?" + +"It was sore pity for the realm of France."[2395] + +[Footnote 2395: _Ibid._, p. 184.] + +Then did the examiner put to her this grave question: "Do you hold +yourself bound to answer the whole truth to the Pope, God's Vicar, on +all that may be asked you touching religion and your conscience?" + +"I demand to be taken before him. Then will I make unto him such +answer as behoveth."[2396] + +[Footnote 2396: _Ibid._, pp. 184, 185.] + +These words involved an appeal to the Pope, and such an appeal was +lawful. "In doubtful matters touching on religion," said St. Thomas, +"there ought always to be an appeal to the Pope or to the General +Council." If Jeanne's appeal were not in regular judicial form, it was +not her fault. She was ignorant of legal matters and neither guide nor +counsel had been granted to her. To the best of her knowledge, and +according to wont and justice, she appealed to the common father of +the faithful. + +The doctors and masters were silent. And thus was closed against the +accused the one way of deliverance remaining to her. She was now +hopelessly lost. It is not surprising that Jeanne's judges, who were +partisans of England, ignored her right of appeal; but it is +surprising that the doctors and masters of the French party, the +clerks of the provinces loyal to King Charles, did not all and with +one voice sign an appeal and demand that the Maid, who had been judged +worthy by her examiners at Poitiers, should be taken before the Pope +and the Council. + +Instead of replying to Jeanne's request, the examiners inquired +further concerning those much discussed magic rings and apparitions of +demons.[2397] + +[Footnote 2397: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 185.] + +"Did you ever kiss and embrace the Saints, Catherine and Margaret?" + +"I embraced them both." + +"Were they of a sweet savour?" + +"It is well to know. Yea, their savour was sweet." + +"When embracing them did you feel heat or anything else?" + +"I could not have embraced them without feeling and touching them." + +"What part did you kiss, face or feet?" + +"It is more fitting to kiss their feet than their faces." + +"Did you not give them chaplets of flowers?" + +"I have often done them honour by crowning with flowers their images +in churches. But to those who appeared to me never have I given +flowers as far as I can remember." + +"Know you aught of those who consort with fairies?" + +"I have never done so nor have I known anything about them. Yet I have +heard of them and that they were seen on Thursdays; but I do not +believe it, and to me it seems sorcery."[2398] + +[Footnote 2398: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 187.] + +Then came a question touching her standard, deemed enchanted by her +judges. It elicited one of those epigrammatic replies she loved. + +"Wherefore was your standard rather than those of the other captains +carried into the church of Reims?" + +"It had been in the contest, wherefore should it not share the +prize?"[2399] + +[Footnote 2399: _Ibid._] + +Now that the inquiries and examinations were concluded, it was +announced that the preliminary trial was at an end. The so-called +trial in ordinary opened on the Tuesday after Palm Sunday, the 27th of +March, in a room near the great hall of the castle.[2400] + +[Footnote 2400: _Ibid._, p. 194.] + +Before ordering the deed of accusation to be read, my Lord of Beauvais +offered Jeanne the aid of an advocate.[2401] If this offer had been +postponed till then, it was doubtless because in his opinion Jeanne +had not previously needed such aid. It is well known that a heretic's +advocate, if he would himself escape falling into heresy, must +strictly limit his methods of defence. During the preliminary inquiry +he must confine himself to discovering the names of the witnesses for +the prosecution and to making them known to the accused. If the +heretic pleaded guilty then it was useless to grant him an +advocate.[2402] Now my Lord maintained that the accusation was founded +not on the evidence of witnesses but on the avowals of the accused. +And this was doubtless his reason for not offering Jeanne an advocate +before the opening of the trial in ordinary, which bore upon matters +of doctrine. + +[Footnote 2401: _Ibid._, p. 195.] + +[Footnote 2402: J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, pp. 130, 131. E. +Méru, _Directorium Inquisitorium_, Romæ, 1578, p. 295.] + +The Lord Bishop thus addressed the Maid: "Jeanne," said he, "all +persons here present are churchmen of consummate knowledge, whose will +and intention it is to proceed against you in all piety and kindness, +seeking neither vengeance nor corporal chastisement, but your +instruction and your return into the way of truth and salvation. As +you are neither learned nor sufficiently instructed in letters or in +the difficult matters which are to be discussed, to take counsel of +yourself, touching what you should do or reply, we offer you to choose +as your advocate one or more of those present, as you will. If you +will not choose, then one shall be appointed for you by us, in order +that he may advise you touching what you may do or say...."[2403] + +[Footnote 2403: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 200, 201. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, pp. 129, 130.] + +Considering what the method of procedure was, this was a gracious +offer. And even though my Lord of Beauvais obliged the accused to +choose from among the counsellors and assessors, whom he had himself +summoned to the trial, he did more than he was bound to do. The choice +of a counsel did not belong to the accused; it belonged to the judge, +whose duty it was to appoint an honest, upright person. Moreover, it +was permissible for an ecclesiastical judge to refuse to the end to +grant the accused any counsel whatsoever. Nicolas Eymeric, in his +_Directorium_, decides that the Bishop and the Inquisitor, acting +conjointly, may constitute authority sufficient for the interpretation +of the law and may proceed informally, _de plano_, dispensing with the +ceremony of appointing counsel and all the paraphernalia of a +trial.[2404] + +[Footnote 2404: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition_, +pp. 400 _et seq._ U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. +34.] + +We may notice that my Lord of Beauvais offered the accused an advocate +on the ground of her ignorance of things divine and human, but without +taking her youthfulness into account. In other courts of law +proceedings against a minor--that is, a person under twenty-five--who +was not assisted by an advocate, were legally void.[2405] If this rule +had been binding in Inquisitorial procedure the Bishop, by his offer +of legal aid, would have avoided any breach of this rule; and as the +choice of an advocate lay with him, he might well have done so without +running any risk. "Our justice is not like theirs," Bernard Gui +rightly said, when he was comparing inquisitorial procedure with that +of the other ecclesiastical courts which conformed to the Roman law. + +[Footnote 2405: Méru, _Directorium Inquisitorium_, p. 147.] + +Jeanne did not accept the judge's offer: "First," she said, "touching +what you admonish me for my good and in matters of religion, I thank +you and the company here assembled. As for the advocate you offer me, +I also thank you, but it is not my intent to depart from the counsel +of Our Lord. As for the oath you wish me to take, I am ready to swear +to speak the truth in all that concerns your suit."[2406] + +[Footnote 2406: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 201.] + +Thereupon Maître Thomas de Courcelles began to read in French the +indictment which the Promoter had drawn up in seventy articles.[2407] +This text set forth in order the deeds with which Jeanne had already +been reproached and which were groundlessly held to have been +confessed by her and duly proved. There were no less than seventy +distinct charges of horrible crimes committed against religion and +Holy Mother Church. Questioned on each article, Jeanne with heroic +candour repeated her previous replies. The tedious reading of this +long accusation was continued and completed on the 28th of March, the +Wednesday after Palm Sunday.[2408] As was her wont, she asked for delay +in order to reply on certain points. On Easter Eve, the 31st of March, +the time granted having expired, my Lord of Beauvais went to the +prison, and, in the presence of the doctors and masters of the +University, demanded the promised replies. They nearly all touched on +the one accusation which included all the rest, the heresy in which +all heresies were comprehended,--the refusal to obey the Church +Militant. Jeanne finally declared her resolve to appeal to Our Lord +rather than to any man; this was to set at naught the authority of the +Pope and the Council.[2409] + +[Footnote 2407: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 202-323.] + +[Footnote 2408: _Ibid._, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 2409: _Ibid._, pp. 324, 325.] + +The doctors and masters of the University of Paris advised that an +epitome should be made of the Promoter's voluminous indictment, its +chief points selected, and the seventy charges considerably +reduced.[2410] Maître Nicolas Midi, doctor in theology, performed this +task and submitted it when done to the judges and assessors.[2411] One +of them proposed emendations. Brother Jacques of Touraine, a friar of +the Franciscan order, who was charged to draw up the document in its +final stage, admitted most of the corrections requested.[2412] In this +wise the incriminating propositions,[2413] which the judges claimed, +but claimed falsely, to have derived from the replies of the accused, +were resolved into twelve articles.[2414] + +[Footnote 2410: _Ibid._, p. 327; vol. iii, p. 143.] + +[Footnote 2411: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 60. U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration +de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 38.] + +[Footnote 2412: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 232. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, pp. 124, 129.] + +[Footnote 2413: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 22, 212; vol. iii, p. 306; vol. +v, p. 461.] + +[Footnote 2414: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 328, 336.] + +These twelve articles were not communicated to Jeanne. On Thursday, +the 12th of April, twenty-one masters and doctors met in the chapel of +the Bishop's Palace, and, after having examined the articles, engaged +in a conference, the result of which was unfavourable to the +accused.[2415] + +[Footnote 2415: _Ibid._, p. 337.] + +According to them, the apparitions and revelations of which she +boasted came not from God. They were human inventions, or the work of +an evil spirit. She had not received signs sufficient to warrant her +believing in them. In the case of this woman these doctors and masters +discovered lies; a lack of verisimilitude; faith lightly given; +superstitious divinings; deeds scandalous and irreligious; sayings +rash, presumptuous, full of boasting; blasphemies against God and his +saints. They found her to have lacked piety in her behaviour towards +father and mother; to have come short in love towards her neighbour; +to have been addicted to idolatry, or at any rate to the invention of +lying tales and to schismatic conversation destructive of the unity, +the authority and the power of the Church; and, finally, to have been +skilled in the black art and to have strongly inclined to heresy.[2416] + +[Footnote 2416: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 337, 374.] + +Had she not been sustained and comforted by her heavenly Voices, the +Voices of her own heart, Jeanne would never have endured to the end of +this terrible trial. Not only was she being tortured at once by the +princes of the Church and the rascals of the army, but her sufferings +of body and mind were such as could never have been borne by any +ordinary human being. Yet she suffered them without her constancy, her +faith, her divine hope, one might almost say her cheerfulness, ever +being diminished. Finally she gave way; her physical strength, but not +her courage, was exhausted; she fell a victim to an illness which was +expected to be fatal. She seemed near her end, or rather, alas! near +her release.[2417] + +[Footnote 2417: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 51.] + +On Wednesday, the 18th of April, my Lord of Beauvais and the +Vice-Inquisitor of the Faith went to her with divers doctors and +masters to exhort her in all charity; she was still very seriously +sick.[2418] My Lord of Beauvais represented to her that when on certain +difficult matters she had been examined before persons of great +wisdom, many things she had said had been noted as contrary to +religion. Wherefore, considering that she was but an unlettered woman, +he offered to provide her with men learned and upright who would +instruct her. He requested the doctors present to give her salutary +counsel, and he invited her herself, if any other such persons were +known to her, to indicate them, promising to summon them without fail. + +[Footnote 2418: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 374-375.] + +"The Church," he added, "never closes her heart against those who will +return to her." + +Jeanne answered that she thanked him for what he had said for her +salvation, and she added: "Meseemeth, that seeing the sickness in +which I lie, I am in great danger of death. If it be thus, then may +God do with me according to his good pleasure. I demand that ye permit +me to confess, that ye also give me the body of my Saviour and bury me +in holy ground." + +My Lord of Beauvais represented to her that if she would receive the +sacraments she must submit to the Church. + +"If my body die in prison," she replied, "I depend on you to have it +put in holy ground; if you do not, then I appeal to Our Lord."[2419] + +[Footnote 2419: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 376, 378.] + +Then she vehemently maintained the truth of the revelations she had +received from God, Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret. + +And when she was asked yet again whether she would submit herself and +her acts to Holy Mother Church, she replied: "Whatever happens to me, +I will never do or say aught save what I have already said at the +trial."[2420] + +[Footnote 2420: _Ibid._, p. 379.] + +The doctors and masters one after the other exhorted her to submit to +Holy Mother Church. They quoted numerous passages from Holy Writ. They +promised her the body of Our Lord if she would obey; but she remained +resolute. + +"Touching this submission," she said, "I will reply naught save what I +have said already. I love God, I serve him, I am a good Christian, and +I wish with all my power to aid and support Holy Church."[2421] + +[Footnote 2421: _Ibid._, pp. 380, 381.] + +In times of great need recourse was had to processions. "Do you not +wish," she was asked, "that a fine and famous procession be ordained +to restore you to a good estate if you be not therein?" + +She replied, "I desire the Church and all Catholics to pray for +me."[2422] + +[Footnote 2422: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 381.] + +Among the doctors consulted there were many who recommended that she +should be again instructed and charitably admonished. On Wednesday, +the 2nd of May, sixty-three reverend doctors and masters met in the +Robing Room of the castle.[2423] She was brought in, and Maître Jean de +Castillon, doctor in theology, Archdeacon of Évreux,[2424] read a +document in French, in which the deeds and sayings with which Jeanne +was reproached were summed up in six articles. Then many doctors and +masters addressed to her in turn admonitions and charitable counsels. +They exhorted her to submit to the Church Militant Universal, to the +Holy Father the Pope and to the General Council. They warned her that +if the Church abandoned her, her soul would stand in great peril of +the penalty of eternal fire, whilst her body might be burned in an +earthly fire, and that by the sentence of other judges. + +[Footnote 2423: _Ibid._, pp. 381, 382.] + +[Footnote 2424: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 114, 117.] + +Jeanne replied as before.[2425] On the morrow, Thursday, the 3rd of +May, the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, the Archangel Gabriel +appeared to her. She was not sure whether she had seen him before. But +this time she had no doubt. Her Voices told her that it was he, and +she was greatly comforted. + +[Footnote 2425: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 383, 399.] + +That same day she asked her Voices whether she should submit to the +Church and obey the exhortation of the clerics. + +Her Voices replied: "If thou desirest help from Our Lord, then submit +to him all thy doings." + +Jeanne wanted to know from her Voices whether she would be burned. + +Her Voices told her to wait upon the Lord and he would help her.[2426] +This mystic aid strengthened Jeanne's heart. + +[Footnote 2426: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 400, 401.] + +Among heretics and those possessed, such obstinacy as hers was not +unparalleled. Ecclesiastical judges were well acquainted with the +stiff-neckedness of women who had been deceived by the Devil. In order +to force them to tell the truth, when admonitions and exhortations +failed, recourse was had to torture. And even such a measure did not +always succeed. Many of these wicked females (_mulierculæ_) endured +the cruellest suffering with a constancy passing the ordinary strength +of human nature. The doctors would not believe such constancy to be +natural; they attributed it to the machinations of the Evil One. The +devil was capable of protecting his servants even when they had fallen +into the hands of judges of the Church; he granted them strength to +bear the torture in silence. This strength was called the gift of +taciturnity.[2427] + +[Footnote 2427: Nicolas Eymeric, _Directorium inquisitorium...._ Rome, +1586, in fol. p. 24, col. 1. Ludovicus a Paramo, _De origine et +progressu officii sanctæ inquisitionis_, MDXCIIX, in fol., lib. III, +questio 5, p. 709.] + +On Wednesday, the 9th of May, Jeanne was taken to the great tower of +the castle, into the torture-chamber. There my Lord of Beauvais, in +the presence of the Vice Inquisitor and nine doctors and masters, +read her the articles, to which she had hitherto refused to reply; and +he threatened her that if she did not confess the whole truth she +would be put to the torture.[2428] + +[Footnote 2428: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 399.] + +The instruments were prepared; the two executioners, Mauger +Leparmentier, a married clerk, and his companion, were in readiness +close by her, awaiting the Bishop's orders. + +Six days before Jeanne had received great comfort from her Voices. Now +she replied resolutely: "Verily, if you were to tear my limbs asunder +and drive my soul out of my body, naught else would I tell you, and if +I did say anything unto you, I would always maintain afterwards that +you had dragged it from me by force."[2429] + +[Footnote 2429: _Ibid._, pp. 399, 400.] + +My Lord of Beauvais decided to defer the torture, fearing that it +would do no good to so hardened a subject.[2430] On the following +Saturday, he deliberated in his house, with the Vice-Inquisitor and +thirteen doctors and masters; opinion was divided. Maître Raoul +Roussel advised that Jeanne should not be tortured lest ground for +complaint should be given against a trial so carefully conducted. It +would seem that he anticipated the Devil's granting Jeanne the gift of +taciturnity, whereby in diabolical silence she would be able to brave +the tortures of the Holy Inquisition. On the other hand Maître Aubert +Morel, licentiate in canon law, counsellor to the Official of Rouen, +Canon of the Cathedral, and Maître Thomas de Courcelles, deemed it +expedient to apply torture. Maître Nicolas Loiseleur, master of arts, +Canon of Rouen, whose share in the proceedings had been to act Saint +Catherine and the Lorraine shoemaker, had no very decided opinion on +the subject, still it seemed to him by no means unprofitable that +Jeanne for her soul's welfare should be tortured. The majority of +doctors and masters agreed that for the present there was no need to +subject her to this trial. Some gave no reasons, others alleged that +it behoved them yet once again to warn her charitably. Maître +Guillaume Erard, doctor in theology, held that sufficient material for +the pronouncing of a sentence existed already.[2431] Thus among those, +who spared Jeanne the torture, were to be found the least merciful; +for the spirit of ecclesiastical tribunals was such that to refuse to +torture an accused was in certain cases to refuse him mercy. + +[Footnote 2430: _Ibid._, pp. 401, 402.] + +[Footnote 2431: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 402, 404.] + +To the trial of Marguerite la Porète, the judges summoned no +experts.[2432] Touching the charges held as proven, they submitted a +written report to the University of Paris. The University gave its +opinion on everything but the truth of the charges. This reservation +was merely formal, and the decision of the University had the force of +a sentence. In Jeanne's trial this precedent was cited. On the 21st of +April, Maître Jean Beaupère, Maître Jacques de Touraine and Maître +Nicolas Midi left Rouen, and, at the risk of being attacked on the +road by men-at-arms, journeyed to Paris in order to present the twelve +articles to their colleagues of the University. + +[Footnote 2432: _Recueil des historiens de la France_, vol. xx, p. 601; +vol. xxi, p. 34. _Histoire littéraire de la France_, vol. xxvii, p. +70.] + +On the 28th of April, the University, meeting in its general assembly +at Saint-Bernard, charged the Holy Faculty of Theology and the +Venerable Faculty of Decrees with the examination of the twelve +articles.[2433] + +[Footnote 2433: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 407, 413, 420. M. Fournier, _La +faculté de décret de l'Université de Paris_, p. 353. Le P. Denifle and +Chatelain, _Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, pp. 510 +_et seq._] + +On the 14th of May, the deliberations of the two Faculties were +submitted to all the Faculties in solemn assembly, who ratified them +and made them their own. The University then sent them to King Henry, +beseeching his Royal Majesty to execute justice promptly, in order +that the people, so greatly scandalised by this woman, be brought back +to good doctrine and holy faith.[2434] It is worthy of notice that in a +trial, in which the Pope, represented by the Vice-Inquisitor, was one +judge, and the King, represented by the Bishop, another, the Eldest +Daughter of Kings[2435] should have communicated directly with the King +of France, the guardian of her privileges. + +[Footnote 2434: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 407, 408. U. Chevalier, +_L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 42.] + +[Footnote 2435: The University of Paris (W.S.).] + +According to the Sacred Faculty of Theology, Jeanne's apparitions were +fictitious, lying, deceptive, inspired by devils. The sign given to +the King was a presumptuous and pernicious lie, derogatory to the +dignity of angels. Jeanne's belief in the visitations of Saint +Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret was an error rash and +injurious because Jeanne placed it on the same plane as the truths of +religion. Jeanne's predictions were but superstitions, idle +divinations and vain boasting. Her statement that she wore man's dress +by the command of God was blasphemy, a violation of divine law and +ecclesiastical sanction, a contemning of the sacraments and tainted +with idolatry. In the letters she had dictated, Jeanne appeared +treacherous, perfidious, cruel, sanguinary, seditious, blasphemous and +in favour of tyranny. In setting out for France she had broken the +commandment to honour father and mother, she had given an occasion for +scandal, she had committed blasphemy and had fallen from the faith. In +the leap from Beaurevoir, she had displayed a pusillanimity bordering +on despair and homicide; and, moreover, it had caused her to utter +rash statements touching the remission of her sin and erroneous +pronouncements concerning free will. By proclaiming her confidence in +her salvation, she uttered presumptuous and pernicious lies; by saying +that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret did not speak English, she +blasphemed these saints and violated the precept: "Thou shalt love thy +neighbour." The honours she rendered these saints were nought but +idolatry and the worship of devils. Her refusal to submit her doings +to the Church tended to schism, to the denial of the unity and +authority of the Church and to apostasy.[2436] + +[Footnote 2436: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 414, 419.] + +The doctors of the Faculty of Theology were very learned. They knew +who the three evil spirits were whom Jeanne in her delusion took for +Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret. They were Belial, +Satan, and Behemoth. Belial, worshipped by the people of Sidon, was +sometimes represented as an angel of great beauty; he is the demon of +disobedience. Satan is the Lord of Hell; and Behemoth is a dull, heavy +creature, who feeds on hay like an ox.[2437] + +[Footnote 2437: _Ibid._, p. 414. Migne, _Dictionnaire des sciences +occultes_.] + +The venerable Faculty of Decrees decided that this schismatic, this +erring woman, this apostate, this liar, this soothsayer, be charitably +exhorted and duly warned by competent judges, and that if +notwithstanding she persisted in refusing to abjure her error, she +must be given up to the secular arm to receive due chastisement.[2438] +Such were the deliberations and decisions which the Venerable +University of Paris submitted to the examination and to the verdict of +the Holy Apostolic See and of the sacrosanct General Council. + +[Footnote 2438: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 417, 420.] + +Meanwhile, where were the clerks of France? Had they nothing to say in +this matter? Had they no decision to submit to the Pope and to the +Council? Why did they not urge their opinions in opposition to those +of the Faculties of Paris? Why did they keep silence? Jeanne demanded +the record of the Poitiers trial. Wherefore did those Poitiers +doctors, who had recommended the King to employ the Maid lest, by +rejecting her, he should refuse the gift of the Holy Spirit, fail to +send the record to Rouen?[2439] Before the Maid espoused their waning +cause, these Poitiers doctors, these magistrates, these University +professors banished from Paris, advocates and counsellors of an exiled +Parlement, had not a robe to their backs nor shoes for their children. +Now, thanks to the Maid, they were every day regaining new hope and +vigour. And yet they left her, who had so nobly served their King, to +be treated as a heretic and a reprobate. Where were Brother Pasquerel, +Friar Richard, and all those churchmen who but lately surrounded her +in France and who looked to go with her to the Crusade against the +Bohemians and the Turks? Why did they not demand a safe-conduct and +come and give evidence at the trial? Or at least why did they not send +their evidence? Why did not the Archbishop of Embrun, who but recently +gave such noble counsels to the King, send some written statement in +favour of the Maid to the judges at Rouen? My Lord of Reims, +Chancellor of the Kingdom, had said that she was proud but not +heretical. Wherefore now, acting contrary to his own interests and +honour, did he refrain from testifying in favour of her through whom +he had recovered his episcopal city? Wherefore did he not assert his +right and do his duty as metropolitan and censure and suspend his +suffragan, the Bishop of Beauvais, who was guilty of prevarication in +the administration of justice? Why did not the illustrious clerics, +whom King Charles had appointed deputies at the Council of Bâle, +undertake to bring the cause of the Maid before the Council? And +finally, why did not the priests, the ecclesiastics of the realm, with +one voice demand an appeal to the Holy Father? + +[Footnote 2439: From a theological point of view the record of the +Poitiers trial may have been insignificant; but at any rate it +contained the arguments presented to the King and the memoranda of +Gélu and of Gerson.] + +They all with one accord, as if struck dumb with astonishment, +remained passive and silent. Can they have feared that too searching a +light would be cast on Jeanne's cause by that illustrious University, +that Sun of the Church, which was consulted on religious matters by +all Christian states? Can they have suspected that this woman, who in +France had been considered a saint, might after all have been inspired +by the devil? But if what they had once believed they still held to be +true, if they believed that the Maid had come from God to lead their +King to his glorious coronation, then what are we to think of those +clerks, those ecclesiastics who denied the Daughter of God, on the eve +of her passion? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ABJURATION--THE FIRST SENTENCE + + +On Saturday, the 19th of May, the doctors and masters, to the number +of fifty, assembled in the archiepiscopal chapel of Rouen. There they +unanimously declared their agreement with the decision of the +University of Paris; and my Lord of Beauvais ordained that a new +charitable admonition be addressed to Jeanne.[2440] Accordingly, on +Wednesday the 23rd, the Bishop, the Vice-Inquisitor, and the Promoter +went to a room in the castle, near Jeanne's cell. They were +accompanied by seven doctors and masters, by the Lord Bishop of Noyon +and by the Lord Bishop of Thérouanne.[2441] The latter, brother to +Messire Jean de Luxembourg who had sold the Maid, was held one of the +most notable personages of the Great Council of England; he was +Chancellor of France for King Henry, as Messire Regnault de Chartres +was for King Charles.[2442] + +[Footnote 2440: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 404, 429.] + +[Footnote 2441: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 429, 430.] + +[Footnote 2442: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 126-127.] + +The accused was brought in, and Maître Pierre Maurice, doctor in +theology, read to her the twelve articles as they had been abridged +and commented upon, in conformity with the deliberations of the +University; the whole was drawn up as a discourse addressed to Jeanne +directly:[2443] + +[Footnote 2443: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 430.] + + ARTICLE I + + First, Jeanne, thou saidst that at about the age of + thirteen, thou didst receive revelations and behold + apparitions of angels and of the Saints, Catherine and + Margaret, that thou didst behold them frequently with thy + bodily eyes, that they spoke unto thee and do still + oftentimes speak unto thee, and that they have said unto + thee many things that thou hast fully declared in thy trial. + + The clerks of the University of Paris and others have + considered the manner of these revelations and apparitions, + their object, the substance of the things revealed, the + person to whom they were revealed; all points touching them + have they considered. And now they pronounce these + revelations and apparitions to be either lying fictions, + deceptive and dangerous, or superstitions, proceeding from + spirits evil and devilish. + + ARTICLE II + + Item, thou hast said that thy King received a sign, by which + he knew that thou wast sent of God: to wit that Saint + Michael, accompanied by a multitude of angels, certain of + whom had wings, others crowns, and with whom were Saint + Catherine and Saint Margaret, came to thee in the town of + Château-Chinon; and that they all entered with thee and went + up the staircase of the castle, into the chamber of thy + King, before whom the angel who wore the crown made + obeisance. And once didst thou say that this crown which + thou callest a sign, was delivered to the Archbishop of + Reims who gave it to thy King, in the presence of a + multitude of princes and lords whom thou didst call by name. + + Now concerning this sign, the aforesaid clerks declare it to + lack verisimilitude, to be a presumptuous lie, deceptive, + pernicious, a thing counterfeited and attacking the dignity + of angels. + + ARTICLE III + + Item, thou hast said that thou knewest the angels and the + saints by the good counsel, the comfort and the instruction + they gave thee, because they told thee their names and + because the saints saluted thee. Thou didst believe also + that it was Saint Michael who appeared unto thee; and that + the deeds and sayings of this angel and these saints are + good thou didst believe as firmly as thou believest in + Christ. + + Now the clerks declare such signs to be insufficient for the + recognition of the said saints and angels. The clerks + maintain that thou hast lightly believed and rashly + affirmed, and further that when thou sayst thou dost believe + as firmly etc., thou dost err from the faith. + + ARTICLE IV + + Item, thou hast said thou art assured of certain things + which are to come, that thou hast known hidden things, that + thou hast also recognized men whom thou hadst never seen + before, and this by the Voices of Saint Catherine and Saint + Margaret. + + Thereupon the clerks declare that in these sayings are + superstition, divination, presumptuous assertion and vain + boasting. + + ARTICLE V + + Item, thou hast said that by God's command and according to + his will, thou hast worn and dost still wear man's apparel. + Because thou hast God's commandment to wear this dress thou + hast donned a short tunic, jerkin, and hose with many + points. Thou dost even wear thy hair cut short above the + ears, without keeping about thee anything to denote the + feminine sex, save what nature hath given thee. And + oftentimes hast thou in this garb received the Sacrament of + the Eucharist. And albeit thou hast been many times + admonished to leave it, thou wouldest not, saying that thou + wouldst liefer die than quit this apparel, unless it were by + God's command; and that if thou wert still in this dress and + with those of thine own party it would be for the great weal + of France. Thou sayest also that for nothing wouldst thou + take an oath not to wear this dress and bear these arms; and + for all this that thou doest thou dost plead divine command. + + In such matters the clerks declare that thou blasphemest + against God, despising him and his Sacraments, that thou + dost transgress divine law, Holy Scripture and the canons of + the Church, that thou thinkest evil and dost err from the + faith, that thou art full of vain boasting, that thou art + addicted to idolatry and worship of thyself and thy clothes, + according to the customs of the heathen. + + ARTICLE VI + + Item, thou hast often said, that in thy letters thou hast + put these names, _Jhesus Maria_, and the sign of the cross, + to warn those to whom thou didst write not to do what was + indicated in the letter. In other letters thou hast boasted + that thou wouldst slay all those who did not obey thee, and + that by thy blows thou wouldst prove who had God on his + side. Also hast thou oftentimes said that all thy deeds were + by revelation and according to divine command. + + Touching such affirmations the clerks declare thee to be a + traitor, perfidious, cruel, desiring human bloodshed, + seditious, an instigator of tyranny, a blasphemer of God's + commandments and revelations. + + ARTICLE VII + + Item, thou sayest that according to revelations vouchsafed + unto thee at the age of seventeen, thou didst leave thy + parents' house against their will, driving them almost mad. + Thou didst go to Robert de Baudricourt, who, at thy + request, gave thee man's apparel and a sword, also + men-at-arms to take thee to thy King. And being come to the + King, thou didst say unto him that his enemies should be + driven away, thou didst promise to bring him into a great + kingdom, to make him victorious over his foes, and that for + this God had sent thee. These things thou sayest thou didst + accomplish in obedience to God and according to revelation. + + In such things the clerks declare thee to have been + irreverent to thy father and mother, thus disobeying God's + command; to have given occasion for scandal, to have + blasphemed, to have erred from the faith and to have made a + rash and presumptuous promise. + + ARTICLE VIII + + Item, thou hast said, that voluntarily thou didst leap from + the Tower of Beaurevoir, preferring rather to die than to be + delivered into the hands of the English and to live after + the destruction of Compiègne. And albeit Saint Catherine and + Saint Margaret forbade thee to leap, thou couldst not + restrain thyself. And despite the great sin thou hast + committed in offending these saints, thou didst know by thy + Voices, that after thy confession, thy sin was forgiven + thee. + + This deed the clerks declare thee to have committed through + cowardice turning to despair and probably to suicide. In + this matter likewise thou didst utter a rash and + presumptuous statement in asserting that thy sin is + forgiven, and thou dost err from the faith touching the + doctrine of free will. + + ARTICLE IX + + Item, thou hast said that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret + promised to lead thee to Paradise provided thou didst remain + a virgin; and that thou hadst vowed and promised them to + cherish thy virginity, and of that thou art as well assured + as if already thou hadst entered into the glory of the + Blessed. Thou believest that thou hast not committed mortal + sin. And it seemeth to thee that if thou wert in mortal sin + the saints would not visit thee daily as they do. + + Such an assertion the clerks pronounce to be a pernicious + lie, presumptuous and rash, that therein lieth a + contradiction of what thou hadst previously said, and that + finally thy beliefs do err from the true Christian faith. + + ARTICLE X + + Item, thou hast declared it to be within thy knowledge that + God loveth certain living persons better than thee, and that + this thou hast learnt by revelation from Saint Catherine and + Saint Margaret: also that those saints speak French, not + English, since they are not on the side of the English. And + when thou knewest that thy Voices were for thy King, you + didst fall to disliking the Burgundians. + + Such matters the clerks pronounce to be a rash and + presumptuous assertion, a superstitious divination, a + blasphemy uttered against Saint Catherine and Saint + Margaret, and a transgression of the commandment to love our + neighbours. + + ARTICLE XI + + Item, thou hast said that to those whom thou callest Saint + Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, thou didst do + reverence, bending the knee, taking off thy cap, kissing the + ground on which they trod, vowing to them thy virginity: + that in the instruction of these saints, whom thou didst + invoke and kiss and embrace, thou didst believe as soon as + they appeared unto thee, and without seeking counsel from + thy priest or from any other ecclesiastic. And, + notwithstanding, thou believest that these Voices came from + God as firmly as thou believest in the Christian religion + and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover thou hast + said that did any evil spirit appear to thee in the form of + Saint Michael thou wouldest know such a spirit and + distinguish him from the saint. And again hast thou said, + that of thine own accord, thou hast sworn not to reveal the + sign thou gavest to thy King. And finally thou didst add: + "Save at God's command." + + Now touching these matters, the clerks affirm that supposing + thou hast had the revelations and beheld the apparitions of + which thou boastest and in such a manner as thou dost say, + then art thou an idolatress, an invoker of demons, an + apostate from the faith, a maker of rash statements, a + swearer of an unlawful oath. + + ARTICLE XII + + Item, thou hast said that if the Church wished thee to + disobey the orders thou sayest God gave thee, nothing would + induce thee to do it; that thou knowest that all the deeds + of which thou hast been accused in thy trial were wrought + according to the command of God and that it was impossible + for thee to do otherwise. Touching these deeds, thou dost + refuse to submit to the judgment of the Church on earth or + of any living man, and will submit therein to God alone. And + moreover thou didst declare this reply itself not to be made + of thine own accord but by God's command; despite the + article of faith: _Unam sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam_, + having been many times declared unto thee, and + notwithstanding that it behoveth all Christians to submit + their deeds and sayings to the Church militant especially + concerning revelations and such like matters. + + Wherefore the clerks declare thee to be schismatic, + disbelieving in the unity and authority of the Church, + apostate and obstinately erring from the faith.[2444] + +[Footnote 2444: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 430, 437.] + +Having completed the reading of the articles, Maître Pierre Maurice, +on the invitation of the Bishop, proceeded to exhort Jeanne. He had +been rector of the University of Paris in 1428.[2445] He was esteemed +an orator. He it was who, on the 5th of June, had discoursed in the +name of the chapter, before King Henry VI on the occasion of his +entering Rouen. He would seem to have been distinguished by some +knowledge of and taste for ancient letters, and to have been possessed +of precious manuscripts, amongst which were the comedies of Terence +and the _Æneid_ of Virgil.[2446] + +[Footnote 2445: Du Boulay, _Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. +v, p. 929.] + +[Footnote 2446: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 88.] + +In terms of calculated simplicity did this illustrious doctor call +upon Jeanne to reflect on the effects of her words and sayings, and +tenderly did he exhort her to submit to the Church. After the wormwood +he offered her the honey; he spoke to her in words kind and familiar. +With remarkable adroitness he entered into the feelings and +inclinations of the maiden's heart. Seeing her filled with knightly +enthusiasm and loyalty to King Charles, whose coronation was her +doing, he drew his comparisons from chivalry, thereby essaying to +prove to her that she ought rather to believe in the Church Militant +than in her Voices and apparitions. + +"If your King," he said to her, "had appointed you to defend a +fortress, forbidding you to let any one enter it, would you not refuse +to admit whomsoever claiming to come from him did not present letters +and some other token. Likewise, when Our Lord Jesus Christ, on his +ascension into heaven, committed to the Blessed Apostle Peter and to +his successors the government of his Church, he forbade them to +receive such as claimed to come in his name but brought no +credentials." + +And, to bring home to her how grievous a sin it was to disobey the +Church, he recalled the time when she waged war, and put the case of a +knight who should disobey his king: + +"When you were in your King's dominion," he said to her, "if a knight +or some other owing fealty to him had arisen, saying, 'I will not obey +the King; I will not submit either to him or to his officers,' would +you not have said, 'He is a man to be censured'? What say you then of +yourself, you who, engendered in Christ's religion, having become by +baptism the daughter of the Church and the bride of Christ, dost now +refuse obedience to the officers of Christ, that is, to the prelates +of the Church?"[2447] + +[Footnote 2447: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 437, 441.] + +Thus did Maître Pierre Maurice endeavour to make Jeanne understand +him. He did not succeed. Against the courage of this child all the +reasons and all the eloquence of the world would have availed nothing. +When Maître Pierre had finished speaking, Jeanne, being asked whether +she did not hold herself bound to submit her deeds and sayings to the +Church, replied: + +"What I have always held and said in the trial that will I +maintain.... If I were condemned and saw the fagots lighted, and the +executioner ready to stir the fire, and I in the fire, I would say and +maintain till I died nought other than what I said during the trial." + +At these words the Bishop declared the discussion at an end, and +deferred the pronouncing of the sentence till the morrow.[2448] + +[Footnote 2448: _Ibid._, pp. 441, 442.] + +The next day, the Thursday after Whitsuntide and the 24th day of May, +early in the morning, Maître Jean Beaupère visited Jeanne in her +prison and warned her that she would be shortly taken to the scaffold +to hear a sermon. + +"If you are a good Christian," he said, "you will agree to submit all +your deeds and sayings to Holy Mother Church, and especially to the +ecclesiastical judges." + +Maître Jean Beaupère thought he heard her reply, "So I will."[2449] + +[Footnote 2449: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 21.] + +If such were her answer, then it must have been because, worn out by a +flight of agony, her physical courage quailed at the thought of death +by burning. + +Just when he was leaving her, as she stood near a door, Maître Nicolas +Loiseleur gave her the same advice, and in order to induce her to +follow it, he made her a false promise: + +"Jeanne, believe me," he said. "You have your deliverance in your own +hands. Wear the apparel of your sex, and do what shall be required of +you. Otherwise you stand in danger of death. If you do as I tell you, +good will come to you and no harm. You will be delivered into the +hands of the Church."[2450] + +[Footnote 2450: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 146. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur +les juges_, pp. 445 _et seq._] + +She was taken in a cart and with an armed guard to that part of the +town called Bourg-l'Abbé, lying beneath the castle walls. And but a +short distance away the cart was stopped, in the cemetery of +Saint-Ouen, also called _les aitres[2451] Saint-Ouen_. Here a highly +popular fair was held every year on the feast day of the patron saint +of the Abbey.[2452] Here it was that Jeanne was to hear the sermon, as +so many other unhappy creatures had done before her. Places like this, +to which the folk could flock in crowds, were generally chosen for +these edifying spectacles. On the border of this vast charnel-house +for a hundred years there had towered a parish church, and on the +south there rose the nave of the abbey. Against the magnificent +edifice of the church two scaffolds had been erected,[2453] one large, +the other smaller. They were west of the porch which was called +_portail des Marmousets_, because of the multitudes of tiny figures +carved upon it.[2454] + +[Footnote 2451: Old name for a cemetery close to a church. Godefroy, +_Lexique de l'ancien français_ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2452: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 351.] + +[Footnote 2453: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 54.] + +[Footnote 2454: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur le cimetière de Saint-Ouen +de Rouen_, in _Précis analytique des travaux de l'Académie de Rouen_ +1875-1876, pp. 211, 230, plan. U. Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne +d'Arc et l'authenticité de sa formule_, p. 44. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne +d'Arc et la Normandie_, p. 351.] + +On the great scaffold the two judges, the Lord Bishop and the +Vice-Inquisitor, took their places. They were assisted by the most +reverend Cardinal of Winchester, the Lord Bishops of Thérouanne, of +Noyon, and of Norwich, the Lord Abbots of Fécamp, of Jumièges, of Bec, +of Corneilles, of Mont-Saint-Michel-au-Péril-de-la-Mer, of Mortemart, +of Préaux, and of Saint-Ouen of Rouen, where the assembly was held, +the Priors of Longueville and of Saint-Lô, also many doctors and +bachelors in theology, doctors and licentiates in canon and civil +law.[2455] Likewise were there many high personages of the English +party. The other scaffold was a kind of pulpit. To it ascended the +doctor who, according to the use and custom of the Holy Inquisition +was to preach the sermon against Jeanne. He was Maître Guillaume +Erard, doctor in theology, canon of the churches of Langres and of +Beauvais.[2456] At this time he was very eager to go to Flanders, where +he was urgently needed; and he confided to his young servitor, +Brother Jean de Lenisoles, that the preaching of this sermon caused +him great inconvenience. "I want to be in Flanders," he said. "This +affair is very annoying for me."[2457] + +[Footnote 2455: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 442, 444. O'Reilly, _Les deux +procès_, vol. i, pp. 70-93.] + +[Footnote 2456: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 402, 408.] + +[Footnote 2457: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 113.] + +From one point of view, however, he must have been pleased to perform +this duty, since it afforded him the opportunity of attacking the King +of France, Charles VII, and of thereby showing his devotion to the +English cause, to which he was strongly attached. + +Jeanne, dressed as a man, was brought up and placed at his side, +before all the people.[2458] + +[Footnote 2458: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 469, 470.] + +Maître Guillaume Erard began his sermon in the following manner: + +"I take as my text the words of God in the Gospel of Saint John, +chapter xv: 'The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide +in the vine.'[2459] Thus it behoveth all Catholics to remain abiding in +Holy Mother Church, the true vine, which the hand of Our Lord Jesus +Christ hath planted. Now this Jeanne, whom you see before you, falling +from error into error, and from crime into crime, hath become separate +from the unity of Holy Mother Church and in a thousand manners hath +scandalised Christian people." + +[Footnote 2459: _Ibid._, p. 444. E. Richer, _Histoire manuscrite de la +Pucelle d'Orléans_, bk. i, fol. 8; bk. ii, fol. 198, v'o.] + +Then he reproached her with having failed, with having sinned against +royal Majesty and against God and the Catholic Faith; and all these +things must she henceforth eschew under pain of death by burning. + +He declaimed vehemently against the pride of this woman. He said that +never had there appeared in France a monster so great as that which +was manifest in Jeanne; that she was a witch, a heretic, a schismatic, +and that the King, who protected her, risked the same reproach from +the moment that he became willing to recover his throne with the help +of such a heretic.[2460] + +[Footnote 2460: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 61.] + +Towards the middle of his sermon, he cried out with a loud voice: + +"Ah! right terribly hast thou been deceived, noble house of France, +once the most Christian of houses! Charles, who calls himself thy head +and assumes the title of King hath, like a heretic and schismatic, +received the words of an infamous woman, abounding in evil works and +in all dishonour. And not he alone, but all the clergy in his lordship +and dominion, by whom this woman, so she sayeth, hath been examined +and not rejected. Full sore is the pity of it."[2461] + +[Footnote 2461: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 15, 17.] + +Two or three times did Maître Guillaume repeat these words concerning +King Charles. Then pointing at Jeanne with his finger he said: + +"It is to you, Jeanne, that I speak; and I say unto you that your King +is a heretic and a schismatic." + +At these words Jeanne was deeply wounded in her love for the Lilies of +France and for King Charles. She was moved with great feeling, and she +heard her Voices saying unto her: + +"Reply boldly to the preacher who is preaching to you."[2462] + +[Footnote 2462: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 456, 457. U. Chevalier, +_L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 46, 47.] + +Then obeying them heartily, she interrupted Maître Jean: + +"By my troth, Messire," she said to him, "saving your reverence, I +dare say unto you and swear at the risk of my life, that he is the +noblest Christian of all Christians, that none loveth better religion +and the Church, and that he is not at all what you say."[2463] + +[Footnote 2463: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 15, 17, 335, 345, 353, 367.] + +Maître Guillaume ordered the Usher, Jean Massieu, to silence her.[2464] +Then he went on with his sermon, and concluded with these words: +"Jeanne, behold my Lords the Judges, who oftentimes have summoned you +and required you to submit all your acts and sayings to Mother Church. +In these acts and sayings were many things which, so it seemed to +these clerics, were good neither to say nor to maintain."[2465] + +[Footnote 2464: _Ibid._, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 2465: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 444, 445.] + +"I will answer you," said Jeanne. Touching the article of submission +to the Church, she recalled how she had asked for all the deeds she +had wrought and the words she had uttered to be reported to Rome, to +Our Holy Father the Pope, to whom, after God, she appealed. Then she +added: "And as for the sayings I have uttered and the deeds I have +done, they have all been by God's command."[2466] + +[Footnote 2466: _Ibid._, p. 445.] + +She declared that she had not understood that the record of her trial +was being sent to Rome to be judged by the Pope. + +"I will not have it thus," she said. "I know not what you will insert +in the record of these proceedings. I demand to be taken to the Pope +and questioned by him."[2467] + +[Footnote 2467: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 358.] + +They urged her to incriminate her King. But they wasted their breath. + +"For my deeds and sayings I hold no man responsible, neither my King +nor another."[2468] + +[Footnote 2468: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 445.] + +"Will you abjure all your deeds and sayings? Will you abjure such of +your deeds and sayings as have been condemned by the clerks?" + +"I appeal to God and to Our Holy Father, the Pope." + +"But that is not sufficient. We cannot go so far to seek the Pope. +Each Ordinary is judge in his own diocese. Wherefore it is needful for +you to appeal to Our Holy Mother Church, and to hold as true all that +clerks and folks well learned in the matter say and determine touching +your actions and your sayings."[2469] + +[Footnote 2469: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 445, 446.] + +Admonished with yet a third admonition, Jeanne refused to recant.[2470] +With confidence she awaited the deliverance promised by her Voices, +certain that of a sudden there would come men-at-arms from France and +that in one great tumult of fighting-men and angels she would be +liberated. That was why she had insisted on retaining man's attire. + +[Footnote 2470: _Ibid._, p. 446.] + +Two sentences had been prepared: one for the case in which the accused +should abjure her error, the other for the case in which she should +persevere. By the first there was removed from Jeanne the ban of +excommunication. By the second, the tribunal, declaring that it could +do nothing more for her, abandoned her to the secular arm. The Lord +Bishop had them both with him.[2471] + +[Footnote 2471: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 146.] + +He took the second and began to read: "In the name of the Lord, Amen. +All the pastors of the Church who have it in their hearts faithfully +to tend their flocks...."[2472] + +[Footnote 2472: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 473.] + +Meanwhile, as he read, the clerks who were round Jeanne urged her to +recant, while there was yet time. Maître Nicolas Loiseleur exhorted +her to do as he had recommended, and to put on woman's dress.[2473] + +[Footnote 2473: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 146.] + +Maître Guillaume Erard was saying: "Do as you are advised and you will +be delivered from prison."[2474] + +[Footnote 2474: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 17, 331; vol. iii, pp. 52, 156.] + +Then straightway came the Voices unto her and said: "Jeanne, passing +sore is our pity for you! You must recant what you have said, or we +abandon you to secular justice.... Jeanne, do as you are advised. +Jeanne, will you bring death upon yourself!"[2475] + +[Footnote 2475: _Ibid._, p. 123.] + +The sentence was long and the Lord Bishop read slowly: + + "We judges, having Christ before our eyes and also the + honour of the true faith, in order that our judgment may + proceed from the Lord himself, do say and decree that thou + hast been a liar, an inventor of revelations and apparitions + said to be divine; a deceiver, pernicious, presumptuous, + light of faith, rash, superstitious, a soothsayer, a + blasphemer against God and his saints. We declare thee to be + a contemner of God even in his sacraments, a prevaricator of + divine law, of sacred doctrine and of ecclesiastical + sanction, seditious, cruel, apostate, schismatic, having + committed a thousand errors against religion, and by all + these tokens rashly guilty towards God and Holy + Church.[2476]" + +[Footnote 2476: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 474, 475.] + +Time was passing. Already the Lord Bishop had uttered the greater part +of the sentence.[2477] The executioner was there, ready to take off the +condemned in his cart.[2478] + +[Footnote 2477: _Ibid._, p. 473 note.] + +[Footnote 2478: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 65, 147, 149, 273. De +Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le procès_, p. 358.] + +Then suddenly, with hands clasped, Jeanne cried that she was willing +to obey the Church.[2479] + +[Footnote 2479: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 323.] + +The judge paused in the reading of the sentence. + +An uproar arose in the crowd, consisting largely of English +men-at-arms and officers of King Henry. Ignorant of the customs of the +Inquisition, which had not been introduced into their country, these +_Godons_ could not understand what was going on; all they knew was +that the witch was saved. Now they held Jeanne's death to be necessary +for the welfare of England; wherefore the unaccountable actions of +these doctors and the Lord Bishop threw them into a fury. In their +Island witches were not treated thus; no mercy was shown them, and +they were burned speedily. Angry murmurs arose; stones were thrown at +the registrars of the trial.[2480] Maître Pierre Maurice, who was doing +his best to strengthen Jeanne in the resolution she had taken, was +threatened and the _coués_ very nearly made short work with him.[2481] +Neither did Maître Jean Beaupère and the delegates from the University +of Paris escape their share of the insults. They were accused of +favouring Jeanne's errors.[2482] Who better than they knew the +injustice of these reproaches? + +[Footnote 2480: _Ibid._, pp. 137, 376.] + +[Footnote 2481: _Ibid._, p. 356; vol. iii, pp. 157, 178.] + +[Footnote 2482: _Ibid._, p. 55.] + +Certain of the high personages sitting on the platform at the side of +the judge complained to the Lord Bishop that he had not gone on to the +end of the sentence but had admitted Jeanne to repentance. + +He was even reproached with insults, for one was heard to cry: "You +shall pay for this." + +He threatened to suspend the trial. + +"I have been insulted," he said. "I will proceed no further until +honourable amends have been done me."[2483] + +[Footnote 2483: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 90, 147, 156.] + +In the tumult, Maître Guillaume Erard unfolded a double sheet of +paper, and read Jeanne the form of abjuration, written down according +to the opinion of the masters. It was no longer than the Lord's Prayer +and consisted of six or seven lines of writing. It was in French and +began with these words: "I, Jeanne...." The Maid submitted therein to +the sentence, the judgment, and the commandment of the Church; she +acknowledged having committed the crime of high treason and having +deceived the people. She undertook never again to bear arms or to wear +man's dress or her hair cut round her ears.[2484] + +[Footnote 2484: _Ibid._, pp. 52, 65, 132, 156, 197. U. Chevalier, +_L'Abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_.] + +When Maître Guillaume had read the document, Jeanne declared she did +not understand it, and wished to be advised thereupon.[2485] She was +heard to ask counsel of Saint Michael.[2486] She still believed firmly +in her Voices, albeit they had not aided her in her dire necessity, +neither had spared her the shame of denying them. For, simple as she +was, at the bottom of her heart she knew well what the clerks were +asking of her; she realised that they would not let her go until she +had pronounced a great recantation. All that she said was merely in +order to gain time and because she was afraid of death; yet she could +not bring herself to lie. + +[Footnote 2485: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 156, 157 (evidence of Jean +Massieu, Usher of the court).] + +[Footnote 2486: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 323.] + +Without losing a moment Maître Guillaume said to Messire Jean +Massieu, the Usher: "Advise her touching this abjuration." + +And he passed him the document.[2487] + +[Footnote 2487: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 157.] + +Messire Jean Massieu at first made excuse, but afterwards he complied +and warned Jeanne of the danger she was running by her refusal to +recant. + +"You must know," he said, "that if you oppose any of these articles +you will be burned. I counsel you to appeal to the Church Universal as +to whether you should abjure these articles or not." + +Maître Guillaume Erard asked Jean Massieu: "Well, what are you saying +to her?" + +Jean Massieu replied: "I make known unto Jeanne the text of the deed +of abjuration and I urge her to sign it. But she declares that she +knoweth not whether she will." + +At this juncture, Jeanne, who was still being pressed to sign, said +aloud: "I wish the Church to deliberate on the articles. I appeal to +the Church Universal as to whether I should abjure them. Let the +document be read by the Church and the clerks into whose hands I am to +be delivered. If it be their counsel that I ought to sign it and do +what I am told, then willingly will I do it."[2488] + +[Footnote 2488: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 331; vol. iii, p. 157. This deed, +written in a large hand and containing but a few lines, appears to be +an abridgment of that contained in the _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 447, 448 +(cf. vol. iii, pp. 156, 197).] + +Maître Guillaume Erard replied: "Do it now, or you will be burned this +very day." + +And he forbade Jean Massieu to confer with her any longer. + +Whereupon Jeanne said that she would liefer sign than be burned.[2489] + +[Footnote 2489: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 156, 197.] + +Then straightway Messire Jean Massieu gave her a second reading of the +deed of abjuration. And she repeated the words after the Usher. As she +spoke her countenance seemed to express a kind of sneer. It may have +been that her features were contracted by the violent emotions which +swayed her and that the horrors and tortures of an ecclesiastical +trial may have overclouded her reason, subject at all times to strange +vagaries, and that after such bitter suffering there may have come +upon her the actual paroxysm of madness. On the other hand it may have +been that with sound sense and calm mind she was mocking at the clerks +of Rouen; she was quite capable of it, for she had mocked at the +clerks of Poitiers. At any rate she had a jesting air, and the +bystanders noticed that she pronounced the words of her abjuration +with a smile.[2490] And her gaiety, whether real or apparent, roused +the wrath of those burgesses, priests, artisans, and men-at-arms who +desired her death. + +[Footnote 2490: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 338; vol. iii, p. 147.] + +"'Tis all a mockery. Jeanne doth but jest,"[2491] they cried. + +[Footnote 2491: _Ibid._, pp. 55, 143.] + +Among the most irate was Master Lawrence Calot, Secretary to the King +of England. He was seen to be in a violent rage and to approach first +the judge and then the accused. A noble of Picardy who was present, +the very same who had essayed familiarities with Jeanne in the Castle +of Beaurevoir, thought he saw this Englishman forcing Jeanne to sign a +paper.[2492] He was mistaken. In every crowd there are those who see +things that never happen. The Bishop would not have permitted such a +thing; he was devoted to the Regent, but on a question of form he +would never have given way. Meanwhile, under this storm of insults, +amidst the throwing of stones and the clashing of swords, these +illustrious masters, these worthy doctors grew pale. The Prior of +Longueville was awaiting an opportunity to make an apology to the +Cardinal of Winchester.[2493] + +[Footnote 2492: _Ibid._, p. 123.] + +[Footnote 2493: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 361. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, p. 135.] + +On the platform a chaplain of the Cardinal violently accused the Lord +Bishop. "You do wrong to accept such an abjuration. 'Tis a mere +mockery," he said. + +"You lie," retorted my Lord Pierre. "I, the judge of a religious suit, +ought to seek the salvation of this woman rather than her death." + +The Cardinal silenced his chaplain.[2494] + +[Footnote 2494: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 147, 156.] + +It is said that the Earl of Warwick came up to the judges and +complained of what they had done, adding: "The King is not well +served, since Jeanne escapes." + +And it is stated that one of them replied: "Have no fear, my Lord. She +will not escape us long."[2495] + +[Footnote 2495: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 376.] + +It is hardly credible that any one should have actually said so, but +doubtless there were many at that time who thought it. + +With what scorn must the Bishop of Beauvais have regarded those dull +minds, incapable of understanding the service he was rendering to Old +England by forcing this damsel to acknowledge that all she had +declared and maintained in honour of her King was but lying and +illusion. + +With a pen that Massieu gave her Jeanne made a cross at the bottom of +the deed.[2496] + +[Footnote 2496: _Ibid._, p. 17; vol. iii, p. 164.] + +In the midst of howls and oaths from the English, my Lord of Beauvais +read the more merciful of the sentences. It relieved Jeanne from +excommunication and reconciled her to Holy Mother Church.[2497] Further +the sentence ran: + + "... Because thou hast rashly sinned against God and Holy + Church, we, thy judges, that thou mayest do salutary + penance, out of our Grace and moderation, do condemn thee + finally and definitely to perpetual prison, with the bread + of sorrow and the water of affliction, so that there thou + mayest weep over thy offences and commit no other that may + be an occasion of weeping."[2498] + +[Footnote 2497: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 450, 452.] + +[Footnote 2498: _Ibid._, p. 452.] + +This penalty, like all other penalties, save death and mutilation, lay +within the power of ecclesiastical judges. They inflicted it so +frequently that in the early days of the Holy Inquisition, the Fathers +of the Council of Narbonne said that stones and mortar would become as +scarce as money.[2499] It was a penalty doubtless, but one which in +character and significance differed from the penalties inflicted by +secular courts; it was a penance. According to the mercy of +ecclesiastical law, prison was a place suitable for repentance, where, +in one perpetual penance, the condemned might eat the bread of sorrow +and drink the waters of affliction. + +[Footnote 2499: L. Tanon, _Tribunaux de l'inquisition_, p. 454.] + +How foolish was he, who by refusing to enter that prison or by +escaping from it, should reject the salutary healing of his soul! By +so doing he was fleeing from the gentle tribunal of penance, and the +Church in sadness cut him off from the communion of the faithful. By +inflicting this penalty, which a good Catholic must needs regard +rather as a favour than a punishment, my Lord the Bishop and my Lord +the Holy Vicar of the Inquisition were conforming to the custom, +whereby our Holy Mother Church became reconciled to heretics. But had +they power to execute their sentence? The prison to which they +condemned Jeanne, the expiatory prison, the salutary confinement, must +be in a dungeon of the Church. Could they send her there? + +Jeanne, turning towards them, said: "Now, you Churchmen, take me to +your prison. Let me be no longer in the hands of the English."[2500] + +[Footnote 2500: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 14.] + +Many of those clerics had promised it to her.[2501] They had deceived +her. They knew it was not possible; for it had been stipulated that +the King of England's men should resume possession of Jeanne after the +trial.[2502] + +[Footnote 2501: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 52, 149.] + +[Footnote 2502: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 19.] + +The Lord Bishop gave the order: "Take her back to the place whence you +brought her."[2503] + +[Footnote 2503: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 14.] + +He, a judge of the Church, committed the crime of surrendering the +Church's daughter reconciled and penitent, to laymen. Among them she +could not mourn over her sins; and they, hating her body and caring +nought for her soul, were to tempt her and cause her to fall back into +error. + +While Jeanne was being taken back in the cart to her tower in the +fields, the soldiers insulted her and their captains did not rebuke +them.[2504] + +[Footnote 2504: _Ibid._, p. 376.] + +Thereafter, the Vice-Inquisitor and with him divers doctors and +masters, went to her prison and charitably exhorted her. She promised +to wear woman's apparel, and to let her head be shaved.[2505] + +[Footnote 2505: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 452-453.] + +The Duchess of Bedford, knowing that she was a virgin, saw to it that +she was treated with respect.[2506] As the ladies of Luxembourg had +done formerly, she essayed to persuade her to wear the clothing of her +sex. By a certain tailor, one Jeannotin Simon, she had had made for +Jeanne a gown which she had hitherto refused to wear. Jeannotin +brought the garment to the prisoner, who this time did not refuse it. +In putting it on, Jeannotin touched her bosom, which she resented. She +boxed his ears;[2507] but she consented to wear the gown provided by +the Duchess. + +[Footnote 2506: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 155.] + +[Footnote 2507: _Ibid._, p. 89.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TRIAL FOR RELAPSE--SECOND SENTENCE--DEATH OF THE MAID + + +On the following Sunday, which was Trinity Sunday, there arose a +rumour that Jeanne had resumed man's apparel. The report spread +rapidly from the castle down the narrow streets where lived the clerks +in the shadow of the cathedral. Straightway notaries and assessors +hastened to the tower which looked on the fields. + +In the outer court of the castle they found some hundred men-at-arms, +who welcomed them with threats and curses.[2508] These fellows did not +yet understand that the judges had conducted the trial so as to bring +honour to old England and dishonour to the French. They did not +realise what it meant when the Maid of the Armagnacs, who hitherto had +obstinately persisted in her utterances, was at length brought to +confess her impostures. They did not see how great was the advantage +to their country when it was published abroad throughout the world +that Charles of Valois had been conducted to his coronation by a +heretic. But no, the only idea these brutes were capable of grasping +was the burning of the girl prisoner who had struck terror into their +hearts. The doctors and masters they treated as traitors, false +counsellors and Armagnacs.[2509] + +[Footnote 2508: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 148.] + +[Footnote 2509: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 14; vol. iii, p. 148.] + +In the castle yard is Maître André Marguerie, bachelor in decrees, +archdeacon of Petit-Caux, King's Counsellor,[2510] who is inquiring +what has happened. He had displayed great assiduity in the trial. The +Maid he held to be a crafty damsel.[2511] Now again he desired to give +an expert's judgment touching what had just occurred. + +[Footnote 2510: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 82 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 2511: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 354.] + +"That Jeanne is to be seen dressed as a man is not everything," he +said. "We must know what motives induced her to resume masculine +attire." + +Maître André Marguerie was an eloquent orator, one of the shining +lights of the Council of Constance. But, when a man-at-arms raised his +axe against him and called out "Traitor! Armagnac!" Maître Marguerie +asked no further questions, but speedily departed, and went to bed +very sick.[2512] + +[Footnote 2512: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 158, 180.] + +The next day, Monday the 25th, there came to the castle the +Vice-Inquisitor, accompanied by divers doctors and masters. The +Registrar, Messire Guillaume Manchon, was summoned. He was such a +coward that he dared not come save under the escort of one of the Earl +of Warwick's men-at-arms.[2513] They found Jeanne wearing man's +apparel, jerkin and short tunic, with a hood covering her shaved head. +Her face was in tears and disfigured by terrible suffering.[2514] + +[Footnote 2513: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 454; vol. iii, p. 148.] + +[Footnote 2514: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 5. Isambart's evidence refers to +this day, the 28th.] + +She was asked when and why she had assumed this attire. + +She replied: "'Tis but now that I have donned man's dress and put off +woman's." + +"Wherefore did you put it on and who made you?" + +"I put it on of my own will and without constraint. I had liefer wear +man's dress than woman's." + +"You promised and swore not to wear man's dress." + +"I never meant to take an oath not to wear it." + +"Wherefore did you return to it?" + +"Because it is more seemly to take it and wear man's dress, being +amongst men, than to wear woman's dress.... I returned to it because +the promise made me was not kept, to wit, that I should go to mass and +should receive my Saviour and be loosed from my bonds." + +"Did you not abjure, and promise not to return to this dress?" + +"I had liefer die than be in bonds. But if I be allowed to go to mass +and taken out of my bonds and put in a prison of grace, and given a +woman to be with me, I will be good and do as the Church shall +command." + +"Have you heard your Voices since Thursday?" + +"Yes." + +"What did they say unto you?" + +"They told me that through Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret God gave +me to wit his sore pity for the treachery, to which I consented in +abjuring and recanting to save my life, and that in saving my life I +was losing my soul. Before Thursday my Voices had told me what I +should do and what I did do on that day. On the scaffold my Voices +told me to reply boldly to the preacher. He is a false preacher.... +Many things did he say that I have never done. If I were to say that +God has not sent me I should be damned. It is true that God has sent +me. My Voices have since told me that by confessing I committed a +great wickedness which I ought never to have done. All that I said I +uttered through fear of the fire."[2515] + +[Footnote 2515: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 455-457.] + +Thus spake Jeanne in sore sorrow. And now what becomes of those +monkish tales of attempted violence related long afterwards by a +registrar and two churchmen?[2516] And how can Messire Massieu make us +believe that Jeanne, unable to find her petticoats, put on her hose in +order not to appear before her guards unclothed?[2517] The truth is +very different. It is Jeanne herself who confesses bravely and simply. +She repented of her abjuration, as of the greatest sin she had ever +committed. She could not forgive herself for having lied through fear +of death. Her Voices, who, before the sermon at Saint-Ouen had +foretold that she would deny them, now came to her and spoke of "the +sore pity of her treachery." Could they say otherwise since they were +the voices of her own heart? And could Jeanne fail to listen to them +since she had always listened to them whenever they had counselled her +to sacrifice and self-abnegation? + +[Footnote 2516: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 5, 8, 365; vol. iii, pp. 148, +149.] + +[Footnote 2517: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 18.] + +It was out of obedience to her heavenly _Council_ that Jeanne had +returned to man's apparel, because she would not purchase her life at +the price of denying the Angel and the Saints, and because with her +whole heart and soul she rebelled against her recantation. + +Still the English were seriously to blame for having left her man's +clothes. It would have been more humane to have taken them from her, +since if she wore them she must needs die. They had been put in a +bag.[2518] Her guards may even be suspected of having tempted her by +placing under her very eyes those garments which recalled to her days +of happiness. They had taken away all her few possessions, even her +poor brass ring, everything save that suit which meant death to her. + +[Footnote 2518: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 18.] + +To blame also were her ecclesiastical judges who should not have +sentenced her to imprisonment if they foresaw that they could not +place her in an ecclesiastical prison, nor have commanded her a +penance which they knew they were unable to enforce. Likewise to blame +were the Bishop of Beauvais and the Vice-Inquisitor; because after +having, for the good of her sinful soul, prescribed the bread of +bitterness and the water of affliction, they gave her not this bread +and this water, but delivered her in disgrace into the hands of her +cruel enemies. + +When she uttered the words, "God by Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret +hath given me to wit the sore pity of the treason to which I +consented," Jeanne consummated the sacrifice of her life.[2519] + +[Footnote 2519: "_Responsio mortifera_," wrote the notary Boisguillaume +in the margin of his minutes. _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 456, 457.] + +The Bishop and the Inquisitor had now to proceed in conformity with +the law. The interrogatory however lasted a few moments longer. + +"Do you believe that your Voices are Saint Margaret and Saint +Catherine?" + +"Yes, and they come from God." + +"Tell us the truth touching the crown." + +"To the best of my knowledge I told you the truth of everything at the +trial." + +"On the scaffold, at the time of your abjuration, you did acknowledge +before us your judges and before many others, and in the presence of +the people, that you had falsely boasted your Voices to be those of +Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret." + +"I did not mean thus to do or to say. I did not deny, neither did I +intend to deny, my apparitions and to say that they were not Saint +Margaret and Saint Catherine. All that I have said was through fear of +the fire, and I recanted nothing that was not contrary to the truth. I +had liefer do my penance once and for all, to wit by dying, than +endure further anguish in prison. Whatsoever abjuration I have been +forced to make, I never did anything against God and religion. I did +not understand what was in the deed of abjuration, wherefore I did not +mean to abjure anything unless it were Our Lord's will. If the judges +wish I will resume my woman's dress. But nothing else will I do."[2520] + +[Footnote 2520: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 456-458.] + +Coming out of the prison, my Lord of Beauvais met the Earl of Warwick +accompanied by many persons. He said to him: "Farewell. _Faites bonne +chère._" It is said that he added, laughing: "It is done! We have +caught her."[2521] The words are his, doubtless, but we are not certain +that he laughed. + +[Footnote 2521: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 5, 8, 305.] + +On the morrow, Tuesday the 29th, he assembled the tribunal in the +chapel of the Archbishop's house. The forty-two assessors present were +informed of what had happened on the previous day and invited to state +their opinions, the nature of which might easily be anticipated.[2522] +Every heretic who retracted his confession was held a perjurer, not +only impenitent but relapsed. And the relapsed were given up to the +secular arm.[2523] + +[Footnote 2522: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 459, 467.] + +[Footnote 2523: Bernard Gui, _Pratique_, part iii, p. 144. L. Tanon, +_Tribunaux de l'inquisition_, pp. 464 _et seq._] + +Maître Nicholas de Venderès, canon, archdeacon, was the first to state +his opinion. + +"Jeanne is and must be held a heretic. She must be delivered to the +secular authority."[2524] + +[Footnote 2524: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 462, 463.] + +The Lord Abbot of Fécamp expressed his opinion in the following terms: +"Jeanne has relapsed. Nevertheless it is well that the terms of her +abjuration once read to her, be read a second time and explained, and +that at the same time she be reminded of God's word. This done, it is +for us, her judges, to declare her a heretic and to abandon her to the +secular authority, entreating it to deal leniently with her."[2525] + +[Footnote 2525: _Ibid._, p. 463.] + +This plea for leniency was a mere matter of form. If the Provost of +Rouen had taken it into consideration he also would have been +excommunicated, with a further possibility of temporal punishment.[2526] +And yet there were certain counsellors who even wished to dispense with +this empty show of pity, urging that there was no need for such a +supplication. + +[Footnote 2526: L. Tanon, _Tribunaux de l'inquisition_, pp. 472, 473.] + +Maître Guillaume Erard and sundry other assessors, among whom were +Maîtres Marguerie, Loiseleur, Pierre Maurice, and Brother Martin +Ladvenu, were of the opinion of my Lord Abbot of Fécamp.[2527] + +[Footnote 2527: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 463, 467.] + +Maître Thomas de Courcelles advised the woman being again charitably +admonished touching the salvation of her soul. + +Such likewise was the opinion of Brother Isambart de la Pierre.[2528] + +[Footnote 2528: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 466.] + +The Lord Bishop, having listened to these opinions, concluded that +Jeanne must be proceeded against as one having relapsed. Accordingly +he summoned her to appear on the morrow, the 30th of May, in the old +Market Square.[2529] + +[Footnote 2529: _Ibid._, pp. 467, 469.] + +On the morning of that Wednesday, the 30th of May, by the command of +my Lord of Beauvais, the two young friars preachers, bachelors in +theology, Brother Martin Ladvenu and Brother Isambart de la Pierre, +went to Jeanne in her prison. Brother Martin told her that she was to +die that day. + +At the approach of this cruel death, amidst the silence of her Voices, +she understood at length that she would not be delivered. Cruelly +awakened from her dream, she felt heaven and earth failing her, and +fell into a deep despair. + +"Alas!" she cried, "shall so terrible a fate betide me as that my body +ever pure and intact shall to-day be burned and reduced to ashes? Ah +me! Ah me! Liefer would I be seven times beheaded than thus be burned. +Alas! had I been in the prison of the Church, to which I submitted, +and guarded by ecclesiastics and not by my foes and adversaries, so +woeful a misfortune as this would not have befallen me. Oh! I appeal +to God, the great judge, against this violence and these sore wrongs +with which I am afflicted."[2530] + +[Footnote 2530: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 3, 4 (evidence of Brother +Isambart de la Pierre). _Ibid._, p. 8 (evidence of Brother Martin +Ladvenu).] + +While she was lamenting, the doctors and masters, Nicolas de +Venderès, Pierre Maurice and Nicolas Loiseleur, entered the prison; +they came by order of my Lord of Beauvais.[2531] On the previous day +thirty-nine counsellers out of forty-two, declaring that Jeanne had +relapsed, had added that they deemed it well she should be reminded of +the terms of her abjuration.[2532] Wherefore, according to the counsel +of these clerics, the Lord Bishop had sent certain learned doctors to +the relapsed heretic and had resolved to come to her himself. + +[Footnote 2531: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 481. (In the Introduction I have +given my reasons for regarding the information given after the death +of the Maid as possessing great historical significance.)] + +[Footnote 2532: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 462-467.] + +She must needs submit to one last examination. + +"Do you believe that your Voices and apparitions come from good or +from evil spirits?" + +"I know not; but I appeal to my Mother the Church."[2533] + +[Footnote 2533: _Ibid._, p. 479. Or "to such of you as are churchmen." +_Ibid._, p. 482 (information furnished after her death).] + +Maître Pierre Maurice, a reader of Terence and Virgil, was filled with +pity for this hapless Maid.[2534] On the previous day he had declared +her to have relapsed because his knowledge of theology forced him to +it; and now he was concerned for the salvation of this soul in peril, +which could not be saved except by recognising the falseness of its +Voices. + +[Footnote 2534: Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_.] + +"Are they indeed real?" he asked her. + +She replied, "Whether they be good or bad, they appeared to me." + +She affirmed that with her eyes she had seen, with her ears heard, the +Voices and apparitions which had been spoken of at the trial. + +She heard them most frequently, she said, at the hour of compline and +of matins, when the bells were ringing.[2535] + +[Footnote 2535: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 480.] + +Maître Pierre Maurice, being the Pope's secretary, was debarred from +openly professing the Pyrrhonic philosophy. He inclined, however, to a +rational interpretation of natural phenomena, if we may judge from his +remarking to Jeanne that the ringing of bells often sounded like +voices. + +Without describing the exact form of her apparitions, Jeanne said they +came to her in a great multitude and were very tiny. She believed in +them no longer, being fully persuaded that they had deceived her. + +Maître Pierre Maurice asked about the Angel who had brought the crown. + +She replied that there had never been a crown save that promised by +her to her King, and that the Angel was herself.[2536] + +[Footnote 2536: _Ibid._, pp. 480, 481 (information furnished after her +death).] + +At that moment the Lord Bishop of Beauvais and the Vice-Inquisitor +entered the prison, accompanied by Maître Thomas de Courcelles and +Maître Jacques Lecamus.[2537] + +[Footnote 2537: _Ibid._, pp. 482, 483.] + +At the sight of the Judge who had brought her to such a pass she +cried, "Bishop, I die through you." + +He replied by piously admonishing her. "Ah! Jeanne, bear all in +patience. You die because you have not kept your promise and have +returned to evil-doing.[2538] Now, Jeanne," he asked her, "you have +always said that your Voices promised you deliverance; you behold how +they have deceived you, wherefore tell us the truth." + +[Footnote 2538: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 114 (evidence of Brother Jehan +Toutmouillé).] + +She replied, "Verily, I see that they have deceived me."[2539] + +[Footnote 2539: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 481, 482 (information given after +Jeanne's death).] + +The Bishop and the Vice-Inquisitor withdrew. They had triumphed over a +poor girl of twenty. + +"If after their condemnation heretics repent, and if the signs of +their repentance are manifest, the sacraments of confession and the +eucharist may not be denied them, provided they demand them with +humility."[2540] Thus ran the sacred decretals. But no recantation, no +assurance of conformity, could save the relapsed heretic. He was +permitted confession, absolution, and communion; which means that at +the bar of the Sacrament the sincerity of his repentance and +conversion was believed in. But at the same time it was declared +judicially that his repentance was not believed in and that +consequently he must die.[2541] + +[Footnote 2540: _Textus decretalium_, lib. v, ch. iv.] + +[Footnote 2541: Ignace de Doellinger, _La Papauté_, traduit par A. +Giraud-Teulon, Paris, 1904, in 8vo, p. 105.] + +Brother Martin Ladvenu heard Jeanne's confession. Then he sent Messire +Massieu, the Usher, to my Lord of Beauvais, to inform him that she +asked to be given the body of Jesus Christ. + +The Bishop assembled certain doctors to confer on this subject; and +after they had deliberated, he replied to the Usher: "Tell Brother +Martin to give her the communion and all that she shall ask."[2542] + +[Footnote 2542: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 158.] + +Messire Massieu returned to the castle to bear this reply to Brother +Martin. For a second time Brother Martin heard Jeanne in confession +and gave her absolution.[2543] + +[Footnote 2543: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 334.] + +A cleric, one Pierre, brought the body of Our Lord in an unceremonious +fashion, on a paten covered with the cloth used to put over the +chalice, without lights or procession, without surplice or stole.[2544] + +[Footnote 2544: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 19, 334. De Beaurepaire, +_Recherches sur le procès_, pp. 116, 117.] + +This did not please Brother Martin, who sent to fetch a stole and +candles. + +Then, taking the consecrated host in his fingers and presenting it to +Jeanne, he said: "Do you believe this to be the body of Christ?" + +"Yes, and it alone is able to deliver me." + +And she entreated that it should be given to her. + +"Do you still believe in your Voices?" asked the officiating priest. + +"I believe in God alone, and will place no trust in the Voices who +have thus deceived me."[2545] + +[Footnote 2545: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 482, 483 (information procured +after Jeanne's death).] + +And shedding many tears she received the body of Our Lord very +devoutly. Then to God, to the Virgin Mary and to the saints she +offered prayers beautiful and reverent and gave such signs of +repentance that those present were moved to tears.[2546] + +[Footnote 2546: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 19, 308, 320; vol. iii, pp. 114, +158, 183, 197.] + +Contrite and sorrowful she said to Maître Pierre Maurice:[2547] "Maître +Pierre, where shall I be this evening?" + +[Footnote 2547: For Jeanne's communion see also De Beaurepaire, +_Recherches sur le procès_, pp. 116-117.] + +"Do you not trust in the Lord?" asked the canon. + +"Yea, God helping me, I shall be in Paradise."[2548] + +[Footnote 2548: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 191.] + +Maître Nicolas Loiseleur exhorted her to correct the error she had +caused to grow up among the people. + +"To this end you must openly declare that you have been deceived and +have deceived the folk and that you humbly ask pardon." + +Then, fearing lest she might forget when the time came for her to be +publicly judged, she asked Brother Martin to put her in mind of this +matter and of others touching her salvation.[2549] + +[Footnote 2549: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 485. Maître N. Taquel would lead us +to believe that the interrogatories took place after Jeanne's +communion, but this can hardly be admitted.] + +Maître Loiseleur went away giving signs of violent grief. Walking +through the streets like a madman, he was howled at by the +_Godons_.[2550] + +[Footnote 2550: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 320; vol. iii, p. 162.] + +It was about nine o'clock in the morning when Brother Martin and +Messire Massieu took Jeanne out of the prison, wherein she had been in +bonds one hundred and seventy-eight days. She was placed in a cart, +and, escorted by eighty men-at-arms, was driven along the narrow +streets to the Old Market Square, close to the River.[2551] This square +was bordered on the east by a wooden market-house, the butcher's +market, on the west by the cemetery of Saint-Sauveur, on the edge of +which, towards the square, stood the church of Saint-Sauveur.[2552] In +this place three scaffolds had been raised, one against the northern +gable of the market-house; and in its erection several tiles of the +roof had been broken.[2553] On this scaffold Jeanne was to be +stationed, there to listen to the sermon. Another and a larger +scaffold had been erected adjoining the cemetery. There the judges and +the prelates were to sit.[2554] The pronouncing of sentence in a +religious trial was an act of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. For the +place of its pronouncement the Inquisitor and the Ordinary preferred +consecrated territory, holy ground. True it is that a bull of Pope +Lucius forbade such sentences to be given in churches and cemeteries; +but the judges eluded this rule by recommending the secular arm to +modify its sentence. The third scaffold, opposite the second, was of +plaster, and stood in the middle of the square, on the spot whereon +executions usually took place. On it was piled the wood for the +burning. On the stake which surmounted it was a scroll bearing the +words: + +"Jehanne, who hath caused herself to be called the Maid, a liar, +pernicious, deceiver of the people, soothsayer, superstitious, a +blasphemer against God, presumptuous, miscreant, boaster, idolatress, +cruel, dissolute, an invoker of devils, apostate, schismatic, and +heretic."[2555] + +[Footnote 2551: A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, p. 369.] + +[Footnote 2552: Bouquet, _Rouen aux différentes époques de son +histoire_, pp. 25 _et seq._ A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la +Normandie_, pp. 374, 375. De Beaurepaire, _Mémoires sur le lieu du +supplice de Jeanne d'Arc_, with plan of the Old Market Square of Rouen +according to the _Livre de fontaine de 1525_, Rouen, 1867, in 8vo.] + +[Footnote 2553: De Beaurepaire, _Note sur la prise du château de Rouen, +par Ricarville_, Rouen, 1857, in 8vo, p. 5.] + +[Footnote 2554: Bouquet, _Jeanne d'Arc au château de Rouen_, p. 25. De +Beaurepaire, _Mémoire sur le lieu du supplice de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 32. +A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, pp. 376 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2555: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 459.] + +The square was guarded by one hundred and sixty men-at-arms. A crowd +of curious folk pressed behind the guards, the windows were filled and +the roofs covered with onlookers. Jeanne was brought on to the +scaffold which had its back to the market-house gable. She wore a long +gown and hood.[2556] Maître Nicolas Midi, doctor in theology, came up +on to the same platform and began to preach to her.[2557] As the text +of his sermon he took the words of the Apostle in the first Epistle to +the Corinthians:[2558] "And whether one member suffer, all the members +suffer with it." Jeanne patiently listened to the sermon.[2559] + +[Footnote 2556: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 470; vol. ii, pp. 14, 303, 328; +vol. iii, pp. 159, 173.] + +[Footnote 2557: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 470; vol. ii, p. 334; vol. iii, pp. +53, 114, 159.] + +[Footnote 2558: Chapter xii, 26 (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2559: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 194.] + +Then my Lord of Beauvais, in his own name and that of the +Vice-Inquisitor, pronounced the sentence. + +He declared Jeanne to be a relapsed heretic. + +"We declare that thou, Jeanne, art a corrupt member, and in order that +thou mayest not infect the other members, we are resolved to sever +thee from the unity of the Church, to tear thee from its body, and to +deliver thee to the secular power. And we reject thee, we tear thee +out, we abandon thee, beseeching this same secular power, that +touching death and the mutilation of the limbs, it may be pleased to +moderate its sentence...."[2560] + +[Footnote 2560: _Ibid._, p. 159.] + +By this formula, the ecclesiastical judge withdrew from any share in +the violent death of a fellow creature: _Ecclesia abhorret a +sanguine_.[2561] But every one knew how much such an entreaty was +worth; and all were aware that if the impossible had happened and the +magistrate had granted it, he would have been subject to the same +penalties as the heretic. Things had now come to such a pass that had +the city of Rouen belonged to King Charles, he himself could not have +saved the Maid from the stake. + +[Footnote 2561: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition_, p. +374.] + +When the sentence was announced Jeanne breathed heart-rending sighs. +Weeping bitterly, she fell on her knees, commended her soul to God, to +Our Lady, to the blessed saints of Paradise, many of whom she +mentioned by name. Very humbly did she ask for mercy from all manner +of folk, of whatsoever rank or condition, of her own party and of the +enemy's, entreating them to forgive the wrong she had done them and to +pray for her. She asked pardon of her judges, of the English, of King +Henry, of the English princes of the realm. Addressing all the priests +there present she besought each one to say a mass for the salvation of +her soul.[2562] + +[Footnote 2562: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 19; vol. iii, p. 177.] + +Thus for one half hour did she continue with sighs and tears to give +expression to the sentiments of humiliation and contrition with which +the clerics had inspired her.[2563] + +[Footnote 2563: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 19, 351.] + +And even now she did not neglect to defend the honour of the fair +Dauphin, whom she had so greatly loved. + +She was heard to say: "It was never my King who induced me to do +anything I have done, either good or evil."[2564] + +[Footnote 2564: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 56.] + +Many of the bystanders wept. A few English laughed. Certain of the +captains, who could make nothing of the edifying ceremonial of +ecclesiastical justice, grew impatient. Seeing Messire Massieu in the +pulpit and hearing him exhort Jeanne to make a good end, they cried: + +"What now, priest! Art thou going to keep us here to dinner?"[2565] + +[Footnote 2565: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 6, 20; vol. iii, pp. 53, 177, +186.] + +At Rouen, when a heretic was given up to the secular arm, it was +customary to take him to the town hall, where the town council made +known unto him his sentence.[2566] In Jeanne's case these forms were +not observed. The Bailie, Messire le Bouteiller, who was present, +waved his hand and said: "Take her, take her."[2567] Straightway, two +of the King's sergeants dragged her to the base of the scaffold and +placed her in a cart which was waiting. On her head was set a great +fool's cap made of paper, on which were written the words: +"_Hérétique, relapse, apostate, idolâtre_"; and she was handed over to +the executioner.[2568] + +[Footnote 2566: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 188. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc +et la Normandie_, p. 386. Guedon and Ladvenu added to their evidence +that not long afterwards a certain Georges Folenfant was also given up +to the secular arm. But the Archbishop and the Inquisitor sent Ladvenu +to the Bailie "in order to warn him that the said Georges was not to +be treated like the Maid who was burned without the pronouncement of +any definite and final sentence." _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 9.] + +[Footnote 2567: _Ibid._, p. 344.] + +[Footnote 2568: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 459. Yet Martin +Ladvenu says "until the last hour," etc., which is obviously false.] + +A bystander heard her saying: "Ah! Rouen, sorely do I fear that thou +mayest have to suffer for my death."[2569] + +[Footnote 2569: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 53.] + +She evidently still regarded herself as the messenger from Heaven, the +angel of the realm of France. Possibly the illusion, so cruelly reft +from her, returned at last to enfold her in its beneficent veil. At +any rate, she appears to have been crushed; all that remained to her +was an infinite horror of death and a childlike piety. + +The ecclesiastical judges had barely time to descend and flee from a +spectacle which they could not have witnessed without violating the +laws of clerical procedure. They were all weeping: the Lord Bishop of +Thérouanne, Chancellor of England, had his eyes full of tears. The +Cardinal of Winchester, who was said never to enter a church save to +pray for the death of an enemy,[2570] had pity on this damsel so woeful +and so contrite. Brother Pierre Maurice, the canon who was a reader of +the Æneid, could not keep back his tears. All the priests who had +delivered her to the executioner were edified to see her make so holy +an end. That is what Maître Jean Alespée meant when he sighed: "I +would that my soul were where I believe the soul of that woman to +be."[2571] To himself and the hapless sufferer he applied the following +lines from the _Dies iræ_: + + _Qui Mariam absolvisti, + Mihi quoque spem dedisti._[2572] + +[Footnote 2570: Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 1, act i, scene 1.] + +[Footnote 2571: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 6; vol. iii, pp. 53, 191, 375.] + +[Footnote 2572: _Missel Romain, Office des morts._ Cf. Le P. C. Clair, +_Le Dies iræ, histoire, traduction et commentaire_, Paris, in 8vo, +1881, pp. 38-142.] + +But none the less he must have believed that by her heresies and her +obstinacy she had brought death on herself. + +The two young friars preachers and the Usher Massieu accompanied +Jeanne to the stake. + +She asked for a cross. An Englishman made a tiny one out of two pieces +of wood, and gave it to her. She took it devoutly and put it in her +bosom, on her breast. Then she besought Brother Isambart to go to the +neighbouring church to fetch a cross, to bring it to her and hold it +before her, so that as long as she lived, the cross on which God was +crucified should be ever in her sight. + +Massieu asked a priest of Saint-Sauveur for one, and it was brought. +Jeanne weeping kissed it long and tenderly, and her hands held it +while they were free.[2573] + +[Footnote 2573: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 6, 20.] + +As she was being bound to the stake she invoked the aid of Saint +Michael; and now at length no examiner was present to ask her whether +it were really he she saw in her father's garden. She prayed also to +Saint Catherine.[2574] + +[Footnote 2574: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 170.] + +When she saw a light put to the stake, she cried loudly, "Jesus!" This +name she repeated six times.[2575] She was also heard asking for holy +water.[2576] + +[Footnote 2575: _Ibid._, p. 186.] + +[Footnote 2576: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 8; vol. iii, pp. 169, 194.] + +It was usual for the executioner, in order to cut short the sufferings +of the victim, to stifle him in dense smoke before the flames had had +time to ascend; but the Rouen executioner was too terrified of the +prodigies worked by the Maid to do thus; and besides he would have +found it difficult to reach her, because the Bailie had had the +plaster scaffold made unusually high. Wherefore the executioner +himself, hardened man that he was, judged her death to have been a +terribly cruel one.[2577] + +[Footnote 2577: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 7.] + +Once again Jeanne uttered the name of Jesus; then she bowed her head +and gave up her spirit.[2578] + +[Footnote 2578: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 186.] + +As soon as she was dead the Bailie commanded the executioner to +scatter the flames in order to see that the prophetess of the +Armagnacs had not escaped with the aid of the devil or in some other +manner.[2579] Then, after the poor blackened body had been shown to the +people, the executioner, in order to reduce it to ashes, threw on to +the fire coal, oil and sulphur. + +[Footnote 2579: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 191. _Journal d'un bourgeois de +Paris_, pp. 269, 270.] + +In such an execution the combustion of the corpse was rarely +complete.[2580] Among the ashes, when the fire was extinguished, the +heart and entrails were found intact. For fear lest Jeanne's remains +should be taken and used for witchcraft or other evil practices,[2581] +the Bailie had them thrown into the Seine.[2582] + +[Footnote 2580: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition_, p. +478.] + +[Footnote 2581: _Chronique des cordeliers_, fol. 507 verso. _Journal +d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 269.] + +[Footnote 2582: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 159, 160, 185; vol. iv, p. 518. +Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 83. +Th. Cochard, _Existe-t-il des reliques de Jeanne d'Arc?_ Orléans, +1891, in 8vo.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MAID--THE END OF THE SHEPHERD--LA DAME DES +ARMOISES + + +In the evening, after the burning, the executioner, as was his wont, +went whining and begging to the monastery of the preaching friars. The +creature complained that he had found it very difficult to make an end +of Jeanne. According to a legend invented afterwards, he told the +monks that he feared damnation for having burned a saint.[2583] Had he +actually spoken thus in the house of the Vice-Inquisitor he would have +been straightway cast into the lowest dungeon, there to await a trial +for heresy, which would have probably resulted in his being sentenced +to suffer the death he had inflicted on her whom he had called a +saint. And what could have led him to suppose that the woman condemned +by good Father Lemaistre and my Lord of Beauvais was not a bad woman? +The truth is that in the presence of these friars he arrogated to +himself merit for having executed a witch and taken pains therein, +wherefore he came to ask for his pot of wine. One of the monks, who +happened to be a friar preacher, Brother Pierre Bosquier, forgot +himself so far as to say that it was wrong to have condemned the +Maid. These words, albeit they were heard by only a few persons, were +carried to the Inquisitor General. When he was summoned to answer for +them, Brother Pierre Bosquier declared very humbly that his words were +altogether wrong and tainted with heresy, and that indeed he had only +uttered them when he was full of wine. On his knees and with clasped +hands he entreated Holy Mother Church, his judges and the most +redoubtable lords to pardon him. Having regard to his repentance and +in consideration of his cloth and of his having spoken in a state of +intoxication, my Lord of Beauvais and the Vice-Inquisitor showed +indulgence to Brother Pierre Bosquier. By a sentence pronounced on the +8th of August, 1431, they condemned him to be imprisoned in the house +of the friars preachers and fed on bread and water until Easter.[2584] + +[Footnote 2583: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 7, 352, 366.] + +[Footnote 2584: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 493, 495.] + +On the 12th of June the judges and counsellors, who had sat in +judgment on Jeanne, received letters of indemnity from the Great +Council. What was the object of these letters? Was it in case the +holders of them should be proceeded against by the French? But in that +event the letters would have done them more harm than good.[2585] + +[Footnote 2585: Le P. Denifle and Chatelain, _Cartularium Universitatis +Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 527.] + +The Lord Chancellor of England sent to the Emperor, to the Kings and +to the princes of Christendom, letters in Latin; to the prelates, +dukes, counts, lords, and all the towns of France, letters in +French.[2586] Herein he made known unto them that King Henry and his +Counsellors had had sore pity on the Maid, and that if they had caused +her death it was through their zeal for the faith and their +solicitude Christian folk.[2587] + +[Footnote 2586: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 240, 243.] + +[Footnote 2587: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 485, 496; vol. iv, p. 403. +Monstrelet, vol. iv, ch. cv.] + +In like tenor did the University of Paris write to the Holy Father, +the Emperor and the College of Cardinals.[2588] + +[Footnote 2588: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 496, 500.] + +On the 4th of July, the day of Saint-Martin-le-Bouillant, Master Jean +Graverent, Prior of the Jacobins, Inquisitor of the Faith, preached at +Saint-Martin-des-Champs. In his sermon he related the deeds of Jeanne, +and told how for her errors and shortcomings she had been delivered to +the secular judges and burned alive. + +Then he added: "There were four, three of whom have been taken, to +wit, this Maid, Pierronne, and her companion. One, Catherine de la +Rochelle, still remaineth with the Armagnacs. Friar Richard, the +Franciscan, who attracted so great a multitude of folk when he +preached in Paris at the Innocents and elsewhere, directed these +women; he was their spiritual father."[2589] + +[Footnote 2589: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 270, 272. This +sermon contains curious inaccuracies. Are they the fault of the +Inquisitor or of the author of _Le Journal_?] + +With Pierronne burned in Paris, her companion eating the bread of +bitterness and drinking the water of affliction in the prison of the +Church, and Jeanne burned at Rouen, the royal company of _béguines_ +was now almost entirely annihilated. There only remained to the King +the holy dame of La Rochelle, who had escaped from the hands of the +Paris Official; but her indiscreet talk had rendered her +troublesome.[2590] While his penitents were being discredited, good +Friar Richard himself had fallen on evil days. The Vicars in the +diocese of Poitiers and the Inquisitor of the Faith had forbidden him +to preach. The great orator, who had converted so many Christian folk, +could no longer thunder against gaming-tables and dice, against +women's finery, and mandrakes arrayed in magnificent attire. No longer +could he declare the coming of Antichrist nor prepare souls for the +terrible trials which were to herald the imminent end of the world. He +was ordered to lie under arrest in the Franciscan monastery at +Poitiers. And doubtless it was with no great docility that he +submitted to the sentence of his superiors; for on Friday, the 23rd of +March, 1431, we find the Ordinary and the Inquisitor, asking aid in +the execution of the sentence from the Parliament of Poitiers, which +did not refuse it. Why did Holy Church exercise such severity towards +a preacher endowed with so wondrous a power of moving sinful souls? We +may at any rate suspect the reason. For some time the English and +Burgundian clergy had been accusing him of apostasy and magic. Now, +owing to the unity of the Church in general and to that of the +Gallican Church in particular, owing also to the authority of that +bright sun of Christendom, the University of Paris, when a clerk was +suspected of error and heresy by the doctors of the English and +Burgundian party he came to be looked at askance by the clergy who +were loyal to King Charles. Especially was this so when in a matter +touching the Catholic faith, the University had pronounced against him +and in favour of the English. It is quite likely that the clerks of +Poitiers had been prejudiced against Friar Richard by Pierronne's +conviction and even by the Maid's trial. The good brother, who +persisted in preaching the end of the world, was strongly suspected of +dealing in the black art. Wherefore, realising the fate which was +threatening him, he fled, and was never heard of again.[2591] + +[Footnote 2590: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 473.] + +[Footnote 2591: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, +vol. iv, pp. 103, 104. Monstrelet, ch. lxiii. Bougenot, _Deux +documents inédits relatifs à Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue bleue_, 13 Feb., +1892, pp. 203, 204.] + +None the less, however, did the counsellors of King Charles continue +to employ the devout in the army. At the time of the disappearance of +Friar Richard and his penitents, they were making use of a young +shepherd whom my Lord the Archbishop, Duke of Reims and Chancellor of +the kingdom, had proclaimed to be Jeanne's miraculous successor. And +it was in the following circumstance that the shepherd was permitted +to display his power. + +The war continued. Twenty days after Jeanne's death the English in +great force marched to recapture the town of Louviers. They had +delayed till then, not, as some have stated, because they despaired of +succeeding in anything as long as the Maid lived, but because they +needed time to collect money and engines for the siege.[2592] In the +July and August of this same year, at Senlis and at Beauvais, my Lord +of Reims, Chancellor of France and the Maréchal de Boussac, were +upholding the French cause. And we may be sure that my Lord of Reims +was upholding it with no little vigour since at the same time he was +defending the benefices which were so dear to him.[2593] A Maid had +reconquered them, now he intended a lad to hold them. With this object +he employed the little shepherd, Guillaume, from the Lozère Mountains, +who, like Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine of Sienna, had +received stigmata. A party of French surprised the Regent at Mantes +and were on the point of taking him prisoner. The alarm was given to +the army besieging Louviers; and two or three companies of men-at-arms +were despatched. They hastened to Mantes, where they learnt that the +Regent had succeeded in reaching Paris. Thereupon, having been +reinforced by troops from Gournay and certain other English garrisons, +being some two thousand strong and commanded by the Earls of Warwick, +Arundel, Salisbury, and Suffolk, and by Lord Talbot and Sir Thomas +Kiriel, the English made bold to march upon Beauvais. The French, +informed of their approach, left the town at daybreak, and marched out +to meet them in the direction of Savignies. King Charles's men, +numbering between eight hundred and one thousand combatants, were +commanded by the Maréchal de Boussac, the Captains La Hire, Poton, and +others.[2594] + +[Footnote 2592: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 3, 344, 348, 373; vol. iii, p. +189; vol. v, pp. 169, 179, 181. Dibon, _Essai sur Louviers_, Rouen, +1836, in 8vo, pp. 33 _et seq._ Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de +Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 246 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2593: Le P. Denifle, _La désolation des églises de France +vers le milieu du XV'e siècle_, vol. i, p. xvi.] + +[Footnote 2594: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 132. Monstrelet, +vol. iv, p. 433. Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 265.] + +The shepherd Guillaume, whom they believed to be sent of God, was at +their head, riding side-saddle and displaying the miraculous wounds in +his hands, his feet, and his left side.[2595] + +[Footnote 2595: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 272.] + +When they were about two and a half miles from the town, just when +they least expected it, a shower of arrows came down upon them. The +English, informed by their scouts of the French approach, had lain in +wait for them in a hollow of the road. Now they attacked them closely +both in the van and in the rear. Each side fought valiantly. A +considerable number were slain, which was not the case in most of the +battles of those days, when few but the fugitives were killed. But the +French, feeling themselves surrounded, were seized with panic, and +thus brought about their own destruction. Most of them, with the +Maréchal de Boussac and Captain La Hire, fled to the town of Beauvais. +Captain Poton and the shepherd, Guillaume, remained in the hands of +the English, who returned to Rouen in triumph.[2596] + +[Footnote 2596: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 272.] + +Poton made sure of being ransomed in the usual manner. But the little +shepherd could not hope for such a fate; he was suspected of heresy +and magic; he had deceived Christian folk and accepted from them +idolatrous veneration. The signs of our Saviour's passion that he bore +upon him helped him not a whit; on the contrary the wounds, by the +French held to have been divinely imprinted, to the English seemed the +marks of the devil. + +Guillaume, like the Maid, had been taken in the diocese of Beauvais. +The Lord Bishop of this town, Messire Pierre Cauchon, who had claimed +the right to try Jeanne, made a similar claim for Guillaume; and the +shepherd was granted what the Maid had been refused, he was cast into +an ecclesiastical prison.[2597] He would seem to have been less +difficult to guard than Jeanne and also less important. But the +English had recently learnt what was involved in a trial by the +Inquisition; they now knew how lengthy and how punctilious it was. +Moreover, they did not see how it would profit them if this shepherd +were convicted of heresy. If the French had set their hope of success +in war[2598] in Guillaume as they had done in Jeanne, then that hope +was but short-lived. To put the Armagnacs to shame by proving that +their shepherd lad came from the devil, that game was not worth the +candle. The youth was taken to Rouen and thence to Paris.[2599] + +[Footnote 2597: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +ii, p. 248. De Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur les juges_, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 2598: Lea, _History of the Inquisition_, vol. iii, 377 (ed. +1905).] + +[Footnote 2599: Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, pp. 263, 264.] + +He had been a prisoner for four months when King Henry VI, who was +nine years old, came to Paris to be crowned in the church of Notre +Dame with the two crowns of France and England. With high pomp and +great rejoicing he made his entrance into the city on Sunday, the 16th +of December. Along the route of the procession, in the Rue du +Ponceau-Saint-Denys, had been constructed a fountain adorned with +three sirens; and from their midst rose a tall lily stalk, from the +buds and blossoms of which flowed streams of wine and milk. Folk +flocked to drink of the fountain; and around its basin men disguised +as savages entertained them with games and sham fights. + +From the Porte Saint-Denys to the Hôtel Saint-Paul in the Marais, the +child King rode beneath a great azure canopy, embroidered with +flowers-de-luce in gold, borne first by the four aldermen hooded and +clothed in purple, then by the corporations, drapers, grocers, +money-changers, goldsmiths and hosiers. Before him went twenty-five +heralds and twenty-five trumpeters; followed by nine handsome men and +nine beautiful ladies, wearing magnificent armour and bearing great +shields, representing the nine _preux_ and the nine _preuses_, also by +a number of knights and squires. In this brilliant procession +appeared the little shepherd Guillaume; he no longer stretched out his +arms to show the wounds of the passion, for he was strongly +bound.[2600] + +[Footnote 2600: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 274.] + +After the ceremony he was conducted back to prison, whence he was +taken later to be sewn in a sack and thrown into the Seine.[2601] Even +the French admitted that Guillaume was but a simpleton and that his +mission was not of God.[2602] + +[Footnote 2601: Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. ii, p. 264.] + +[Footnote 2602: Martial d'Auvergne, _Vigiles_, ed. Coustelier, vol. +i.] + +In 1433, the Constable, with the assistance of the Queen of Sicily, +caused the capture and planned the assassination of La Trémouille. It +was the custom of the nobles of that day to appoint counsellors for +King Charles and afterwards to kill them. However, the sword which was +to have caused the death of La Trémouille, owing to his corpulence, +failed to inflict a mortal wound. His life was saved, but his +influence was dead. King Charles tolerated the Constable as he had +tolerated the Sire de la Trémouille.[2603] + +[Footnote 2603: Gruel, _Chronique d'Arthur de Richemont_, p. 81. +Vallet de Viriville, in _Nouvelle biographie générale_. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 297. E. Cosneau, _Le connétable +de Richemont_, pp. 200, 201.] + +The latter left behind him the reputation of having been grasping and +indifferent to the welfare of the kingdom. Perhaps his greatest fault +was that he governed in a time of war and pillage, when friends and +foes alike were devouring the realm. He was charged with the +destruction of the Maid, of whom he was said to have been jealous. +This accusation proceeds from the House of Alençon, with whom the Lord +Chamberlain was not popular.[2604] On the contrary, it must be +admitted, that after the Lord Chancellor, La Trémouille was the +boldest in employing the Maid, and if later she did thwart his plans +there is nothing to prove that it was his intention to have her +destroyed by the English. She destroyed herself and was consumed by +her own zeal. + +[Footnote 2604: Perceval de Cagny, pp. 170, 173, _passim_.] + +Rightly or wrongly, the Lord Chamberlain was held to be a bad man; +and, although his successor in the King's favour, the Duc de +Richemont, was avaricious, hard, violent, incredibly stupid, surly, +malicious, always beaten and always discontented, the exchange +appeared to be no loss. The Constable came in a fortunate hour, when +the Duke of Burgundy was making peace with the King of France. + +In the words of a Carthusian friar, the English who had entered the +kingdom by the hole made in Duke John's head on the Bridge of +Montereau, only retained their hold on the kingdom by the hand of Duke +Philip. They were but few in number, and if the giant were to withdraw +his hand a breath of wind would suffice to blow them away. The Regent +died of sorrow and wrath, beholding the fulfilment of the horoscope of +King Henry VI: "Exeter shall lose what Monmouth hath won."[2605] + +[Footnote 2605: Carlier, _Histoire des Valois_, 1764, in 4to, vol. ii, +p. 442. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. +307. The Regent also believed in astrology (B.N. MS. 1352).] + +On the 13th of April, 1436, the Count of Richemont entered Paris. The +nursing mother of Burgundian clerks and _Cabochien_ doctors, the +University herself, had helped to mediate peace.[2606] + +[Footnote 2606: Gruel, _Chronique d'Arthur de Richemont_, pp. 120, +121. Dom Félibien, _Histoire de Paris_, vol. iv, p. 597.] + +Now, one month after Paris had returned to her allegiance to King +Charles, there appeared in Lorraine a certain damsel. She was about +twenty-five years old. Hitherto she had been called Claude; but she +now made herself known to divers lords of the town of Metz as being +Jeanne the Maid.[2607] + +[Footnote 2607: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud de Metz_, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 321, 324. Jacomin Husson, _Chronique de Metz_, +ed. Michelant, Metz, 1870, pp. 64, 65. Cf. Lecoy de la Marche, _Une +fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue des questions historiques_, October, +1871, pp. 562 _et seq._ Vergniaud-Romagnési, _Des portraits de Jeanne +d'Arc et de la fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Mémoires de la Société +d'Agriculture d'Orléans_, vol. i (1853), pp. 250, 253. De Puymaigre, +_La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue nouvelle d'Alsace-Lorraine_, vol. +v (1885), pp. 533 _et seq._ A. France, _Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in +_Revue des familles_, 15 February, 1891.] + +At this time, Jeanne's father and eldest brother were dead.[2608] +Isabelle Romée was alive. Her two youngest sons were in the service of +the King of France, who had raised them to the rank of nobility and +given them the name of Du Lys. Jean, the eldest, called +Petit-Jean,[2609] had been appointed Bailie of Vermandois, then +Captain of Chartres. About this year, 1436, he was provost and captain +of Vaucouleurs.[2610] + +[Footnote 2608: Varanius alone says that Jacques d'Arc died of sorrow +at the loss of his daughter. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 2609: _Ibid._, p. 280.] + +[Footnote 2610: _Ibid._, pp. 279, 280. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La fausse +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 6, note 1.] + +The youngest, Pierre, or Pierrelot, who had fallen into the hands of +the Burgundians before Compiègne at the same time as Jeanne, had just +been liberated from the prison of the Bastard of Vergy.[2611] + +[Footnote 2611: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 210. Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, vol. +ii, p. 176.] + +Both brothers believed that their sister had been burned at Rouen. But +when they were told that she was living and wished to see them, they +appointed a meeting at La-Grange-aux-Ormes, a village in the meadows +of the Sablon, between the Seille and the Moselle, about two and a +half miles south of Metz. They reached this place on the 20th of May. +There they saw her and recognised her immediately to be their sister; +and she recognised them to be her brothers.[2612] + +[Footnote 2612: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 321, 324.] + +She was accompanied by certain lords of Metz, among whom was a man +right noble, Messire Nicole Lowe, who was chamberlain to Charles +VII.[2613] By divers tokens these nobles recognised her to be the Maid +Jeanne who had taken King Charles to be crowned at Reims. These tokens +were certain signs on the skin.[2614] Now there was a prophecy +concerning Jeanne which stated her to have a little red mark beneath +the ear.[2615] But this prophecy was invented after the events to +which it referred. Consequently we may believe the Maid to have been +thus marked. Was this the token by which the nobles of Metz recognised +her? + +[Footnote 2613: _Le Metz ancien_ (Metz, 1856, 2 vol. in folio) by the +Baron d'Hannoncelles, which contains the genealogy of Nicole Lowe.] + +[Footnote 2614: "And was recognised by divers tokens" (_enseignes_) +(_Trial_, vol. v, p. 322). M. Lecoy de la Marche (_Une fausse Jeanne +d'Arc_, in _Revue des questions historiques_, October, 1871, p. 565), +and M. Gaston Save (_Jehanne des Armoises, Pucelle d'Orléans_, Nancy, +1893, p. 11) understand that she was recognised by several officers or +ensigns (_enseignes_). I have interpreted _enseignes_ in the ordinary +sense of marks on the skin, birth-marks. (Cf. La Curne.)] + +[Footnote 2615: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 322.] + +We do not know by what means she claimed to have escaped death; but +there is reason to think[2616] that she attributed her deliverance to +her holiness. Did she say that an angel had saved her from the fire? +It might be read in books how in the ancient amphitheatres lions +licked the bare feet of virgins, how boiling oil was as soothing as +balm to the bodies of holy martyrs; and how according to many of the +old stories nothing short of the sword could take the life of God's +maidens. These ancient histories rested on a sure foundation. But if +such tales had been related of the fifteenth century they might have +appeared less credible. And this damsel does not seem to have employed +them to adorn her adventure. She was probably content to say that +another woman had been burned in her place. + +[Footnote 2616: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 354.] + +According to a confession she made afterwards, she came from Rome, +where, accoutred in harness of war, she had fought valiantly in the +service of Pope Eugenius. She may even have told the Lorrainers of the +feats of prowess she had there accomplished. + +Now Jeanne had prophesied (at least so it was believed) that she would +die in battle against the infidel and that her mantle would fall upon +a maid of Rome. But such a saying, if it were known to these nobles of +Metz, would be more likely to denounce this so-called Jeanne as an +imposture than witness to the truth of her mission.[2617] However this +might be, they believed what this woman told them. + +[Footnote 2617: Nevertheless see on this subject M. Germain +Lefèvre-Pontalis, who is our authority for this prophecy (Eberhard +Windecke, pp. 108-111).] + +Perhaps, like many a noble of the republic,[2618] they were more +inclined to King Charles than to the Duke of Burgundy. And we may be +sure that, chivalrous knights as they were, they esteemed chivalry +wherever they found it; wherefore, because of her valour they admired +the Maid; and they made her good cheer. + +[Footnote 2618: The republic of Metz (W.S.)] + +Messire Nicole Lowe gave her a charger and a pair of hose. The charger +was worth thirty francs--a sum wellnigh royal--for of the two horses +which at Soissons and at Senlis the King gave the Maid Jeanne, one was +worth thirty-eight livres ten sous, and the other thirty-seven livres +ten sous.[2619] Not more than sixteen francs had been paid for the +horse with which she had been provided at Vaucouleurs.[2620] + +[Footnote 2619: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 322. Chronique de Philippe de Vigneulles, in _Les +chroniques Messines_ of Huguenin, p. 198.] + +[Footnote 2620: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457. L. Champion, _Jeanne d'Arc +écuyère_, ch. ii, ch. vi.] + +Nicole Grognot, governor of the town,[2621] offered a sword to the +sister of the Du Lys brothers; Aubert Boullay presented her with a +hood.[2622] + +[Footnote 2621: Variant of _La chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_ +sent from Metz to Pierre du Puy, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 322, 324.] + +[Footnote 2622: _Ibid._, pp. 322, 324.] + +She rode her horse with the same skill which seven years earlier, if +we may believe some rather mythical stories, had filled with wonder +the old Duke of Lorraine.[2623] And she spoke certain words to Messire +Nicole Lowe which confirmed him in his belief that she was indeed that +same Maid Jeanne who had fared forth into France. She had the ready +tongue of a prophetess, and spoke in symbols and parables, revealing +nought of her intent. + +[Footnote 2623: D. Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. vii. Proofs +and illustrations, col. vi.] + +Her power would not come to her before Saint John the Baptist's Day, +she said. Now this was the very time which the Maid, after the Battle +of Patay, in 1429, had fixed for the extermination of the English in +France.[2624] + +[Footnote 2624: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 322, 324. Eberhard Windecke, p. +108. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 62, note.] + +This prophecy had not been fulfilled and consequently had not been +mentioned again. Jeanne, if she ever uttered it, and it is quite +possible that she did, must have been the first to forget it. +Moreover, Saint John's Day was a term commonly cited in leases, fairs, +contracts, hirings, etc., and it is quite conceivable that the +calendar of a prophetess may have been the same as that of a labourer. + +The day after their arrival at La Grange-aux-Ormes, Monday, the 21st +of May, the Du Lys brothers took her, whom they held to be their +sister, to that town of Vaucouleurs[2625] whither Isabelle Romée's +daughter had gone to see Sire Robert de Baudricourt. In this town, in +the year 1436, there were still living many persons of different +conditions, such as the Leroyer couple and the Seigneur Aubert +d'Ourches,[2626] who had seen Jeanne in February, 1429. + +[Footnote 2625: M. le Baron de Braux was kind enough to write to me +from Boucq near Foug, Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the 28th of June, 1896, +explaining that Bacquillon (_Trial_, vol. v, p. 322) is an erroneous +reading of one of the manuscripts of the Doyen of Saint-Thibaud. "By +comparing," he added, "the various versions (V. Quicherat and _Les +chroniques Messines_) we may ascertain that it is really Vaucouleurs, +Valquelou," mistaken for Bacquillon.] + +[Footnote 2626: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 406, 408, 445, 449.] + +After a week at Vaucouleurs she went to Marville, a small town between +Corny and Pont-á-Mousson. There she spent Whitsuntide and abode for +three weeks in the house of one Jean Quenat.[2627] On her departure +she was visited by sundry inhabitants of Metz, who gave her jewels, +recognising her to be the Maid of France.[2628] Jeanne, it will be +remembered, had been seen by divers knights of Metz at the time of +King Charles's coronation at Reims. At Marville, Geoffroy Desch, +following the example of Nicole Lowe, presented the so-called Jeanne +with a horse. Geoffroy Desch belonged to one of the most influential +families of the Republic of Metz. He was related to Jean Desch, +municipal secretary in 1429.[2629] + +[Footnote 2627: The _Chronique de Tournai_ says of the true Jeanne +that she came from Mareville, a small town between Metz and +Pont-à-Mousson. "This Jeanne had long dwelt and served in a _métairie_ +[a kind of farm] of this place."] + +[Footnote 2628: _Chronique du doyen Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. +v, pp. 322, 324. Lecoy de la Marche, _Jeanne des Armoises_, p. 566. G. +Save, _Jehanne des Armoises, pucelle d'Orléans_, p. 14.] + +[Footnote 2629: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 352 _et seq._] + +From Marville, she went on a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Liance, +called Lienche by the Picards and known later as Notre Dame de Liesse. +At Liance was worshipped a black image of the Virgin, which, according +to tradition, had been brought by the crusaders from the Holy Land. +The chapel containing this image was situated between Laon and Reims. +It was said, by the priests who officiated there, to be one of the +halting places on the route of the coronation procession, where the +kings and their retinues were accustomed to stop on their return from +Reims; but this is very likely not to be true. Whether it were such a +halting place or no, there is no doubt that the folk of Metz displayed +a particular devotion to Our Lady of Liance; and it seemed fitting +that Jeanne, who had escaped from an English prison, should go and +give thanks for her marvellous deliverance to the Black Virgin of +Picardy.[2630] + +[Footnote 2630: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 322, 324. Dom Lelong, _Histoire du diocèse de Laon_, 1783, +p. 371. Abbé Ledouble, _Les origines de Liesse et du pèlerinage de +Notre-Dame_, Soissons, 1885, pp. 6 _et seq._] + +Thence she went on her way to Arlon, to Elisabeth of Gorlitz, Duchess +of Luxembourg, an aunt by marriage of the Duke of Burgundy.[2631] She +was an old woman, who had been twice a widow. By extortion and +oppression she had made herself detested by her vassals. By this +princess Jeanne was well received. There was nothing strange in that. +Persons living holy lives and working miracles were much sought after +by princes and nobles who desired to discover secrets or to obtain the +fulfilment of some wish. And the Duchess of Luxembourg might well +believe this damsel to be the Maid Jeanne herself, since the brothers +Du Lys, the nobles of Metz and the folk of Vaucouleurs were of that +opinion. + +[Footnote 2631: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 322, note 2. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, +_La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 21, note 1.] + +For the generality of men, Jeanne's life and death were surrounded by +marvels and mysteries. Many had from the first doubted her having +perished by the hand of the executioner. Certain were curiously +reticent on this point; they said: "the English had her publicly burnt +at Rouen, or some other woman like her."[2632] Others confessed that +they did not know what had become of her.[2633] + +[Footnote 2632: _Chronique normande_ (MS. in the British Museum), in +_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 344. Symphorien Champier, _Nef des Dames_, Lyon, +1503, _ibid._] + +[Footnote 2633: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 272. _Chronique +normande_, in _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, second series, +vol. iii, p. 116. D. Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, p. vi, proofs and +illustrations. G. Save, _Jehanne des Armoises_, pp. 6, 7. It is well +known that Gabriel Naudé maintained the paradox that Jeanne was only +burned in effigy. _Considérations politiques sur les coups d'état_, +Rome, 1639, in 4to. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. +8.] + +Thus, when throughout Germany and France the rumour spread that the +Maid was alive and had been seen near Metz, the tidings were variously +received. Some believed them, others did not. An ardent dispute, which +arose between two citizens of Arles, gives some idea of the emotion +aroused by such tidings. One maintained that the Maid was still alive; +the other asserted that she was dead; each one wagered that what he +said was true. This was no light wager, for it was made and registered +in the presence of a notary, on the 27th of June, 1436, only five +weeks after the interview at La Grange-aux-Ormes.[2634] + +[Footnote 2634: Lanéry d'Arc, _Le culte de Jeanne d'Arc_, Orléans, +1887, in 8vo. _Revue du Midi._] + +Meanwhile, in the beginning of August, the Maid's eldest brother, Jean +du Lys, called Petit-Jean, had gone to Orléans to announce that his +sister was alive. As a reward for these good tidings, he received for +himself and his followers ten pints of wine, twelve hens, two +goslings, and two leverets.[2635] + +[Footnote 2635: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 275. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. +ii, p. 286.] + +The birds had been purchased by two magistrates; the name of one, +Pierre Baratin, is to be found in the account books of the fortress, +in 1429,[2636] at the time of the expedition to Jargeau; the other was +an old man of sixty-six, a burgess passing rich, Aignan de +Saint-Mesmin.[2637] + +[Footnote 2636: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 262. Lecoy de la Marche, _Jeanne +des Armoises_, p. 568.] + +[Footnote 2637: He died at the age of one hundred and eighteen. +_Trial_, iii, p. 29.] + +Messengers were passing to and fro between the town of Duke Charles +and the town of the Duchess of Luxembourg. On the 9th of August a +letter from Arlon reached Orléans. About the middle of the month a +pursuivant arrived at Arlon. He was called Coeur-de-Lis, in honour +of the heraldic symbol of the city of Orléans, which was a lily-bud, a +kind of trefoil. The magistrates of Orléans had sent him to Jeanne +with a letter, the contents of which are unknown. Jeanne gave him a +letter for the King, in which she probably requested an audience. He +took it straight to Loches, where King Charles was negotiating the +betrothal of his daughter Yolande to Prince Amedée of Savoie.[2638] + +[Footnote 2638: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 326. Vallet de Viriville, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 376, note. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, +_La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 23, note 5.] + +After forty-one days' journey the pursuivant returned to the +magistrates, who had despatched him on the 2nd of September. The +messenger complained of a great thirst, wherefore the magistrates, +according to their wont, had him served in the chamber of the +town-hall with bread, wine, pears, and green walnuts. This repast cost +the town two _sous_ four _deniers_ of Paris, while the pursuivant's +travelling expenses amounted to six _livres_ which were paid in the +following month. The town varlet who provided the walnuts was that +same Jacquet Leprestre who had served during the siege. Another letter +from the Maid had been received by the magistrates on the 25th of +August.[2639] + +[Footnote 2639: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 327.] + +Jean du Lys proceeded just as if his miracle-working sister had in +very deed been restored to him. He went to the King, to whom he +announced the wonderful tidings. Charles cannot have entirely +disbelieved them since he ordered Jean du Lys to be given a gratuity +of one hundred francs. Whereupon Jean promptly demanded these hundred +francs from the King's treasurer, who gave him twenty. The coffers of +the victorious King were not full even then. + +Having returned to Orléans, Jean appeared before the town-council. He +gave the magistrates to wit that he had only eight francs, a sum by no +means sufficient to enable him and four retainers to return to +Lorraine. The magistrates gave him twelve francs.[2640] + +[Footnote 2640: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 326. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, +pp. 284-285.] + +Every year until then the anniversary of the Maid had been celebrated +in the church of Saint-Sanxon[2641] on the eve of Corpus Christi and +on the previous day. In 1435, eight ecclesiastics of the four +mendicant orders sang a mass for the repose of Jeanne's soul. In this +year, 1436, the magistrates had four candles burnt, weighing together +nine and a half pounds, and pendent therefrom the Maid's escutcheon, a +silver shield bearing the crown of France. But when they heard the +Maid was alive they cancelled the arrangements for a funeral service +in her memory.[2642] + +[Footnote 2641: Since 1432. But there is no evidence of any +anniversary service having been held in 1433 and 1434. It was +reinstituted in 1439.] + +[Footnote 2642: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 274, 275. Lottin, _Recherches_, +vol. i, p. 286.] + +While these things were occurring in France, Jeanne was still with the +Duchess of Luxembourg. There she met the young Count Ulrich of +Wurtemberg, who refused to leave her. He had a handsome cuirasse made +for her and took her to Cologne. She still called herself the Maid of +France sent by God.[2643] + +[Footnote 2643: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 323. Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +325. Lecoy de la Marche, _loc. cit._, p. 566.] + +Since the 24th of June, Saint John the Baptist's Day, her power had +returned to her. Count Ulrich, recognising her supernatural gifts, +entreated her to employ them on behalf of himself and his friends. +Being very contentious, he had become seriously involved in the schism +which was then rending asunder the diocese of Trèves. Two prelates +were contending for the see; one, Udalric of Manderscheit, appointed +by the chapter, the other Raban of Helmstat, Bishop of Speyer, +appointed by the Pope.[2644] Udalric took the field with a small force +and twice besieged and bombarded the town of which he called himself +the true shepherd. These proceedings brought the greater part of the +diocese on to his side.[2645] But although aged and infirm, Raban too +had weapons; they were spiritual but powerful: he pronounced an +interdict against all such as should espouse the cause of his rival. + +[Footnote 2644: _Art de vérifier les dates_, vol. xv, pp. 236 _et +seq._ _Gallia Christiana_, vol. xiii, pp. 970 _et seq._; Gams, _Series +Episcoporum_ (1873), pp. 317, 319.] + +[Footnote 2645: Quicherat, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 502, note, +erroneously states that the contest for the Archbishopric of Trèves +was between Raban of Helmstat and Jacques of Syrck. Concerning Jacques +of Syrck or Sierck, see de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. +iv, p. 264.] + +Count Ulrich of Wurtemberg, who was among the most zealous of +Udalric's supporters, questioned the Maid of God concerning him.[2646] +Similar cases had been submitted to the first Jeanne when she was in +France. She had been asked, for example, which of the three popes, +Benedict, Martin, or Clement, was the true father of the faithful, and +without immediately pronouncing on the subject she had promised to +designate the Pope to whom obedience was due, after she had reached +Paris and rested there.[2647] The second Jeanne replied with even more +assurance; she declared that she knew who was the true archbishop and +boasted that she would enthrone him. + +[Footnote 2646: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, book v, ch. viii. D. +Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. ii, p. 906.] + +[Footnote 2647: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 245-246.] + +According to her, it was Udalric of Manderscheit, he whom the Chapter +had appointed. But when Udalric was summoned before the Council of +Bâle, he was declared an usurper; and the fathers did what it was by +no means their unvarying rule to do,--they confirmed the nomination of +the Pope. + +Unfortunately the Maid's intervention in this dispute attracted the +attention of the Inquisitor General of the city of Cologne, Heinrich +Kalt Eysen, an illustrious professor of theology. He inquired into the +rumours which were being circulated in the city touching the young +prince's protégée; and he learnt that she wore unseemly apparel, +danced with men, ate and drank more than she ought, and practised +magic. He was informed notably that in a certain assembly the Maid +tore a table-cloth and straightway restored it to its original +condition, and that having broken a glass against the wall she with +marvellous skill put all its pieces together again. Such deeds caused +Kalt Eysen to suspect her strongly of heresy and witchcraft. He +summoned her before his tribunal; she refused to appear. This +disobedience displeased the Inquisitor General, and he sent to fetch +the defaulter. But the young Count of Wurtemberg hid his Maid in his +house, and afterwards contrived to get her secretly out of the town. +Thus she escaped the fate of her whom she was willing only partially +to imitate. As he could do nothing else, the Inquisitor excommunicated +her.[2648] She took refuge at Arlon with her protectress, the Duchess +of Luxembourg. There she met Robert des Armoises, Lord of Tichemont. +She may have seen him before, in the spring, at Marville, where he +usually resided. This nobleman was probably the son of Lord Richard, +Governor of the Duchy of Bar in 1416. Nothing is known of him, save +that he surrendered this territory to the foreigner without the Duke +of Bar's consent, and then beheld it confiscated and granted to the +Lord of Apremont on condition that he should conquer it. + +[Footnote 2648: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. +502; vol. v, p. 324.] + +It was not extraordinary that Lord Robert should be at Arlon, seeing +that his château of Tichemont was near this town. He was poor, albeit +of noble birth.[2649] + +[Footnote 2649: H. Vincent, _La maison des Armoises, originaire de +Champagne_, in _Mémoires de la Société d'Archéologie Lorraine_, 3rd +series, vol. v (1877), p. 324. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La fausse Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 2, note 4.] + +The so-called Maid married him,[2650] apparently with the approval of +the Duchess of Luxembourg. According to the opinion of the Holy +Inquisitor of Cologne, this marriage was contracted merely to protect +the woman against the interdict and to save her from the sword of the +Church.[2651] + +[Footnote 2650: In his _Histoire de Lorraine_ (vol. v, pp. clxiv _et +seq._), Dom Calmet says that the contract of marriage between Robert +des Armoises and the Maid of France, which had long been preserved in +the family, was lost in his day. There is no need to regret it, for it +is now known that this contract was forged by Father Jérôme Vignier. +Le Comte de Marsy (_La fausse Jeanne d'Arc, Claude des Armoises; du +degré de confiance à accorder aux découvertes de Jérôme Vignier_, +Compiègne, 1890) and M. Tamizey de Larroque (_Revue critique_, the +20th October, 1890). For Vignier's other forgeries cf. Julien Havet, +_Questions Mérovingiennes_, ii.] + +[Footnote 2651: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, bk. v, ch. viii. _Trial_, +vol. iv, pp. 503, 504.] + +Soon after her marriage she went to live at Metz in her husband's +house, opposite the church of Sainte-Ségolène, over the Sainte-Barbe +Gate. Henceforth she was Jeanne du Lys, the Maid of France, the Lady +of Tichemont. By these names she is described in a contract dated the +7th of November, 1436, by which Robert des Armoises and his wife, +authorised by him, sell to Collard de Failly, squire, dwelling at +Marville, and to Poinsette, his wife, one quarter of the lordship of +Haraucourt. At the request of their dear friends, Messire Robert and +Dame Jeanne, Jean de Thoneletil, Lord of Villette, and Saubelet de +Dun, Provost of Marville, as well as the vendors, put their seals to +the contract to testify to its validity.[2652] + +[Footnote 2652: The preceding deed, by which "_Robert des Harmoises et +la Pucelle Jehanne d'Arc, sa femme_," acquired the estate of Fléville, +is very doubtful (D. Calmet, 2nd edition, vol. v, p. clxiv, note).] + +In her dwelling, opposite the Sainte-Ségolène Church, la Dame des +Armoises gave birth to two children.[2653] Somewhere in +Languedoc[2654] there was an honest squire who, when he heard of these +births, seriously doubted whether Jeanne the Maid and la Dame des +Armoises could be one and the same person. This was Jean d'Aulon, who +had once been Jeanne's steward. From information he had received from +women who knew, he did not believe her to be the kind of woman likely +to have children.[2655] + +[Footnote 2653: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, p. 323. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 354-355.] + +[Footnote 2654: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 206, note 2.] + +[Footnote 2655: _Ibid._, p. 219.] + +According to Brother Jean Nider, doctor in theology of the University +of Vienne, this fruitful union turned out badly. A priest, and, as he +says, a priest who might more appropriately be called a pander, +seduced this witch with words of love and carried her off. But Brother +Jean Nider adds that the priest secretly took la Dame des Armoises to +Metz and there lived with her as his concubine.[2656] Now it is proved +that her own home was in that very town; hence we may conclude that +this friar preacher does not know what he is talking about.[2657] + +[Footnote 2656: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +325.] + +[Footnote 2657: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, +vol. v, pp. 323-324.] + +The fact of the matter is that she did not remain longer than two +years in the shadow of Sainte-Ségolène. + +Although she had married, it was by no means her intention to forswear +prophesying and chivalry. During her trial Jeanne had been asked by +the examiner: "Jeanne, was it not revealed to you that if you lost +your virginity your good fortune would cease and your Voices desert +you?" She denied that such things had been revealed to her. And when +he insisted, asking her whether she believed that if she were married +her Voices would still come to her, she answered like a good +Christian: "I know not, and I appeal to God."[2658] Jeanne des +Armoises likewise held that good fortune had not forsaken her on +account of her marriage. Moreover, in those days of prophecy there +were both widows and married women who, like Judith of Bethulia, acted +by divine inspiration. Such had been Dame Catherine de la Rochelle, +although perhaps after all she had not done anything so very +great.[2659] + +[Footnote 2658: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 183.] + +[Footnote 2659: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 106, 108, 119, 296. _Journal d'un +bourgeois de Paris._] + +In the summer of 1439, la Dame des Armoises went to Orléans. The +magistrates offered her wine and meat as a token of gladness and +devotion. On the first of August they gave her a dinner and presented +her with two hundred and ten livres of Paris as an acknowledgment of +the service she had rendered to the town during the siege. These are +the very terms in which this expenditure is entered in the account +books of that city.[2660] + +[Footnote 2660: Extracts from the accounts of the town of Orléans, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 331-332. Lecoy de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne +d'Arc_, pp. 570-571.] + +If the folk of Orléans did actually take her for the real Maid, +Jeanne, then it must have been more on account of the evidence of the +Du Lys brothers, than on that of their own eyes. For, when one comes +to think of it, they had seen her but very seldom. During that week in +May, she had only appeared before them armed and on horseback. +Afterwards in June, 1429, and January, 1430, she had merely passed +through the town. True it was she had been offered wine and the +magistrates had sat at table with her;[2661] but that was nine years +ago. And the lapse of nine years works many a change in a woman's +face. They had seen her last as a young girl, now they found her a +woman and the mother of two children. Moreover they were guided by the +opinion of her kinsfolk. Their attitude provokes some astonishment, +however, when one thinks of the conversation at the banquet, and of +the awkward and inconsistent remarks the dame must have uttered. If +they were not then undeceived, these burgesses must have been passing +simple and strongly prejudiced in favour of their guest. + +[Footnote 2661: Original documents of Orléans, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. +270.] + +And who can say that they were not? Who can say that, after having +given credence to the tidings brought by Jean du Lys, the townsfolk +did not begin to discover the imposture? That the belief in the +survival of Jeanne was by no means general in the city, during the +visit of la Dame des Armoises, is proved by the entries in the +municipal accounts of sums expended on the funeral services, which we +have already mentioned. Supposing we abstract the years 1437 and 1438, +the anniversary service had at any rate been held in 1439, two days +before Corpus-Christi, and only about three months before the banquet +on the 1st of August.[2662] Thus these grateful burgesses of Orléans +were at one and the same time entertaining their benefactress at +banquets and saying masses in memory of her death. + +[Footnote 2662: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 274. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, +p. 286.] + +La Dame des Armoises only spent a fortnight with them. She left the +city towards the end of July. Her departure would seem to have been +hasty and sudden. She was invited to a supper, at which she was to +have been presented with eight pints of wine, but when the wine was +served she had gone, and the banquet had to be held without her.[2663] +Jean Quillier and Thévanon of Bourges were present. This Thévanon may +have been that Thévenin Villedart, with whom Jeanne's brothers dwelt +during the siege.[2664] In Jean Quillier we recognise the young draper +who, in June, 1429, had furnished fine Brussels cloth of purple, +wherewith to make a gown for the Maid.[2665] + +[Footnote 2663: Extracts from the accounts of the town of Orléans, in +_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 331-332. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 287.] + +[Footnote 2664: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 2665: _Ibid._, pp. 112-113.] + +La Dame des Armoises had gone to Tours, where she gave herself out to +be the true Jeanne. She gave the Bailie of Touraine a letter for the +King; and the Bailie undertook to see that it was delivered to the +Prince, who was then at Orléans, having arrived there but shortly +after Jeanne's departure. The Bailie of Touraine in 1439 was none +other than that Guillaume Bellier who ten years before as lieutenant +of Chinon had received the Maid into his house and committed her to +the care of his devout wife.[2666] + +[Footnote 2666: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 17; vol. v, p. 327.] + +To the messenger, who bore this letter, Guillaume Bellier also gave a +note for the King written by himself, and "touching the deeds of la +Dame des Armoises."[2667] We know nothing of its purport.[2668] + +[Footnote 2667: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 332. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La +fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 23-24.] + +[Footnote 2668: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 332.] + +Shortly afterwards the Dame went off into Poitou. There she placed +herself at the service of Seigneur Gille de Rais, Marshal of +France.[2669] He it was who in his early youth had conducted the Maid +to Orléans, had been with her throughout the coronation campaign, had +fought at her side before the walls of Paris. During Jeanne's +captivity he had occupied Louviers and pushed on boldly to Rouen. Now +throughout the length and breadth of his vast domains he was +kidnapping children, mingling magic with debauchery, and offering to +demons the blood and the limbs of his countless victims. His monstrous +doings spread terror round his castles of Tiffauges and Machecoul, and +already the hand of the Church was upon him. + +[Footnote 2669: Vallet de Viriville, _Notices et extraits de chartes +et de manuscrits appartenant au British Museum_, in _Bibliothèque de +l'École des Chartes_, vol. viii, 1846, p. 116.] + +According to the Holy Inquisitor of Cologne, la Dame des Armoises +practised magic; but it was not as an invoker of demons that the +Maréchal de Rais employed her; he placed her in authority over the +men-at-arms,[2670] in somewhat the same position as Jeanne had +occupied at Lagny and Compiègne. Did she do great prowess? We do not +know. At any rate she did not hold her office long; and after her it +was bestowed on a Gascon squire, one Jean de Siquemville.[2671] In the +spring of 1440 she was near Paris.[2672] + +[Footnote 2670: Abbé Bossard, _Gille de Rais_, p. 174.] + +[Footnote 2671: Pardon, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 332-334.] + +[Footnote 2672: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 335. Lecoy de la +Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 574.] + +For nearly two years and a half the great town had been loyal to King +Charles. He had entered the city, but had failed to restore it to +prosperity. Deserted houses were everywhere falling into ruins; wolves +penetrated into the suburbs and devoured little children.[2673] The +townsfolk, who had so recently been Burgundian, could not all forget +how the Maid in company with Friar Richard and the Armagnacs had +attacked the city on the day of the Nativity of Our Lady. There were +many, doubtless, who bore her ill will and believed she had been +burned for her sins; but her name no longer excited universal +reprobation as in 1429. Certain even among her former enemies regarded +her as a martyr to the cause of her liege lord.[2674] Even in Rouen +such an opinion was not unknown, and it was much more likely to be +held in the city of Paris which had lately turned French. At the +rumour that Jeanne was not dead, that she had been recognised by the +people of Orléans and was coming to Paris, the lower orders in the +city grew excited and disturbances were threatening. + +[Footnote 2673: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 338 _et seq._ +De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, pp. 384 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2674: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 270.] + +Under Charles of Valois in 1440, the spirit of the University was just +the same as it had been under Henry of Lancaster in 1431. It honoured +and respected the King of France, the guardian of its privileges and +the defender of the liberties of the Gallican Church. The illustrious +masters felt no remorse at having demanded and obtained the +chastisement of the rebel and heretic, Jeanne the Maid. Whosoever +persists in error is a heretic; whosoever essays and fails to +overthrow the powers that be is a rebel. It was God's will that in +1440 Charles of Valois should possess the city of Paris; it had not +been God's will in 1429; wherefore the Maid had striven against God. +With equal bitterness would the University, in 1440, have proceeded +against a Maid of the English. + +The magistrates who had returned to their Paris homes from their long +dreary exile at Poitiers sat in the Parlement side by side with the +converted Burgundians.[2675] In the days of adversity these faithful +servants of King Charles had set the Maid to work, but now in 1440 it +was none of their business to maintain publicly the truth of her +mission and the purity of her faith. Burned by the English, that was +all very well. But a trial conducted by a bishop and a vice-inquisitor +with the concurrence of the University is not an English trial; it is +a trial at once essentially Gallican and essentially Catholic. +Jeanne's name was forever branded throughout Christendom. That +ecclesiastical sentence could be reversed by the Pope alone. But the +Pope had no intention of doing this. He was too much afraid of +displeasing the King of Catholic England; and moreover were he once to +admit that an inquisitor of the faith had pronounced a wrong sentence +he would undermine all human authority. The French clerks submit and +are silent. In the assemblies of the clergy no one dares to utter +Jeanne's name. + +[Footnote 2675: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, ch. +xvi.] + +Fortunately for them neither the doctors and masters of the University +nor the sometime members of the Parlement of Poitiers share the +popular delusion touching la Dame des Armoises. They have no doubt +that the Maid was burned at Rouen. And they fear lest this woman, who +gives herself out to be the deliverer of Orléans, may arouse a tumult +by her entrance into the city. Wherefore the Parlement and the +University send out men-at-arms to meet her. She is arrested and +brought to the Palais.[2676] + +[Footnote 2676: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 354, 355. Lecoy +de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 574.] + +She was examined, tried and sentenced to be publicly exhibited. In the +Palais de Justice, leading up from the court called the Cour-de-Mai, +there was a marble slab on which malefactors were exhibited. La Dame +des Armoises was put up there and shown to the people whom she had +deceived. The usual sermon was preached at her and she was forced to +confess publicly.[2677] + +[Footnote 2677: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, _loc. cit._] + +She declared that she was not the Maid, that she was married to a +knight and had two sons. She told how one day, in her mother's +presence, she heard a woman speak slightingly of her; whereupon she +proceeded to attack the slanderer, and, when her mother restrained +her, she turned her blows against her parent. Had she not been in a +passion she would never have struck her mother. Notwithstanding this +provocation, here was a special case and one reserved for the papal +jurisdiction. Whosoever had raised his hand against his father or his +mother, as likewise against a priest or a clerk, must go and ask +forgiveness of the Holy Father, to whom alone belonged the power of +convicting or acquitting the sinner. This was what she had done. "I +went to Rome," she said, "attired in man's apparel. I engaged as a +soldier in the war of the Holy Father Eugenius, and in this war I +twice committed homicide." + +When had she journeyed to Rome? Probably before the exile of Pope +Eugenius to Florence, about the year 1433, when the condottieri of the +Duke of Milan were advancing to the gates of the Eternal City.[2678] + +[Footnote 2678: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 354, 355. Lecoy +de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 574. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, +_La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 27.] + +We do not find either the University, or the Ordinary, or the Grand +Inquisitor demanding the trial of this woman, who was suspected of +witchcraft and of homicide, and who was attired in unseemly garments. +She was not prosecuted as a heretic, doubtless because she was not +obstinate, and obstinacy alone constitutes heresy. + +Henceforth she attracted no further attention. It is believed, but on +no very trustworthy evidence, that she ended by returning to Metz, to +her husband, le Chevalier des Armoises, and that she lived quietly and +respectably to a good old age, dwelling in the house over the door of +which were her armorial bearings, or rather those of Jeanne the Maid, +the sword, the crown and the Lilies.[2679] + +[Footnote 2679: Vergnaud-Romagnési, _Des portraits de Jeanne d'Arc et +de la fausse Jeanne d'Arc_ and _Mémoire sur les fausses Jeanne d'Arc_, +in _Les Mémoires de la Société d'Agriculture d'Orléans_, 1854, in +8vo.] + +The success of this fraud had endured four years. After all it is not +so very surprising. In every age people have been loath to believe in +the final end of existences which have touched their imagination; they +will not admit that great personalities can be struck down by death +like ordinary folk; such an end to a noble career is repugnant to +them. Impostors, like la Dame des Armoises, never fail to find some +who will believe in them. And the Dame appeared at a time which was +singularly favourable to such a delusion; intellects had been dulled +by long suffering; communication between one district and another was +rendered impossible or difficult, and what was happening in one place +was unknown quite near at hand; in the minds of men there reigned +dimness, ignorance, confusion. + +But even then folk would not have been imposed upon so long by this +pseudo-Jeanne had it not been for the support given her by the Du Lys +brothers. Were they her dupes or her accomplices? Dull-witted as they +may have been, it seems hardly credible that the adventuress could +have imposed upon them. Admitting that she very closely resembled La +Romée's daughter, the woman from La Grange-aux-Ormes cannot possibly +for any length of time have deceived two men who knew Jeanne +intimately, having been brought up with her and come with her into +France. + +If they were not imposed upon, then how can we account for their +conduct? They had lost much when they lost their sister. When he +arrived at La Grange-aux-Ormes, Pierre du Lys had just quitted a +Burgundian prison; his ransom had been paid with his wife's dowry, and +he was then absolutely destitute.[2680] Jean, Bailie of Vermandois, +afterwards Governor of Chartres and about 1436 Bailie of Vaucouleurs, +was hardly more prosperous.[2681] Such circumstances explained much. +And yet it is unlikely that they of themselves alone and unsupported +would have played a game so difficult, so risky, and so dangerous. +From the little we know of their lives we should conclude that they +were both too simple, too naïf, too placid, to carry on such an +intrigue. + +[Footnote 2680: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 210, 213.] + +[Footnote 2681: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 279.] + +We are tempted to believe that they were urged on by some higher and +greater power. Who knows? Perhaps by certain indiscreet persons in the +service of the King of France. The condemnation and death of Jeanne +was a serious attack upon the prestige of Charles VII. May he not have +had in his household or among his counsellors certain subjects who +were rashly jealous enough to invent this appearance, in order to +spread abroad the belief that Jeanne the Maid had not died the death +of a witch, but that by virtue of her innocence and her holiness she +had escaped the flames? If this were so, then we may regard the +imposture of the pseudo-Jeanne, invented at a time when it seemed +impossible ever to obtain a papal revision of the trial of 1431, as an +attempt, surreptitious and fraudulent and speedily abandoned, to bring +about her rehabilitation. + +Such a hypothesis would explain why the Du Lys brothers were not +punished or even disgraced, when they had put themselves in the wrong, +had deceived King and people and committed the crime of high treason. +Jean continued provost of Vaucouleurs for many a long year, and then, +when relieved of his office, received a sum of money in lieu of it. +Pierre, as well as his mother, La Romée, was living at Orléans. In 1443 +he received from Duke Charles, who had returned to France three years +before, the grant of an island in the Loire, l'Île-aux-Boeufs,[2682] +which was fair grazing land. Nevertheless, he remained poor, and was +constantly receiving help from the Duke and the townsfolk of Orléans.[2683] + +[Footnote 2682: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 212, 214. Lottin, _Recherches_, +vol. i, p. 287. Duleau, _Vidimus d'une charte de Charles VII, +concédant à Pierre du Lys la possession de l'Isle-aux-Boeufs_, +Orléans, 1860, in 8vo. 6. G. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La fausse Jeanne +d'Arc_, p. 28, note 1.] + +[Footnote 2683: I have not made use of the very late evidence given by +Pierre Sala (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 281). It is vague and somewhat +legendary, and cannot possibly be introduced into the Life of La Dame +des Armoises. For the bibliography of this interesting subject, see +Lanéry d'Arc, _Le livre d'or de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 573, 580, and G. +Lefèvre-Pontalis, _La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1895, in 8vo, +concerning the account given by M. Gaston Save. + +There are those who have supposed, without adducing any proof, that +this pseudo-Jeanne was a sister of the Maid (Lebrun de Charmettes, +_Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc_, vol. iv, pp. 291 _et seq._). Francis +André, _La vérité sur Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1895, in 18mo, pp. 75 _et +seq._] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MAID (_continued_)--THE ROUEN JUDGES AT THE +COUNCIL OF BÂLE AND THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION--THE REHABILITATION +TRIAL--THE MAID OF SARMAIZE--THE MAID OF LE MANS + + +From year to year the Council of Bâle drew out its deliberations in a +series of sessions well nigh as lengthy as the tail of the dragon in +the Apocalypse. Its manner of reforming at once the Church, its +members, and its head struck terror into the hearts of the sovereign +Pontiff and the Sacred College. Sorrowfully did Æneus Sylvius exclaim, +"There is assembled at Bâle, not the Church of God indeed, but the +synagogue of Satan."[2684] But though uttered by a Roman cardinal, +even such an expression can hardly be termed violent when applied to +the synod which established free elections to bishoprics, suppressed +the right of bestowing the pallium, of exacting annates and payments +to the papal chancery, and which was endeavouring to restore the +papacy to evangelical poverty. The King of France and the Emperor, on +the other hand, looked favourably on the Council when it essayed to +bridle the ambition and greed of the Bishop of Rome. + +[Footnote 2684: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, p. +335.] + +Now among the Fathers who displayed the greatest zeal in the +reformation of the Church were the masters and doctors of the +University of Paris, those who had sat in judgment on Jeanne the Maid, +and notably Maître Nicolas Loiseleur and Maître Thomas de Courcelles. +Charles VII convoked an assembly of the clergy of the realm in order +to examine the canons of Bâle. The assembly met in the Sainte-Chapelle +at Bourges, on the 1st of May, 1438. Master Thomas de Courcelles, +appointed delegate by the Council, there conferred with the Lord +Bishop of Castres. Now in 1438 the Bishop of Castres was that elegant +humanist, that zealous counsellor of the crown, who, in style truly +Ciceronian, complained in his letters that so closely was he bound to +his glebe, the court, that no time remained to him to visit his +spouse.[2685] He was none other than that Gérard Machet, the King's +confessor, who had, in 1429, along with the clerks at Poitiers, +pleaded the authority of prophecy in favour of the Maid, in whom he +found nought but sincerity and goodness.[2686] Maître Thomas de +Courcelles at Rouen had urged the Maid's being tortured and delivered +to the secular arm.[2687] At the Bourges assembly the two churchmen +agreed touching the supremacy of General Councils, the freedom of +episcopal elections, the suppression of annates and the rights of the +Gallican Church. At that moment it was not likely that either one or +the other remembered the poor Maid. From the deliberations of this +assembly, in which Maître Thomas played an important part, there +issued the solemn edict promulgated by the King on the 7th of July, +1438; the Pragmatic Sanction. By this edict the canons of Bâle became +the constitution of the Church of France.[2688] + +[Footnote 2685: Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'église de son +temps_, p. 10.] + +[Footnote 2686: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 565.] + +[Footnote 2687: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 403.] + +[Footnote 2688: _Ordonnances_, vol. xiii, pp. 267, 291. _Preuves des +libertés de l'église gallicane_, edited by Lenglet-Dufresnoy, second +part, p. 6. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, pp. +353, 361. N. Arlos, _Histoire de la pragmatique sanction, etc._] + +The Emperor also agreed to the reforms of Bâle. So audacious did the +Fathers become that they summoned Pope Eugenius to appear before their +tribunal. When he refused to obey their summons, they deposed him, +declaring him to be disobedient, obstinate, rebellious, a breaker of +rules, a perturber of ecclesiastical unity, a perjurer, a schismatic, +a hardened heretic, a squanderer of the treasures of the Church, +scandalous, simoniacal, pernicious and damnable.[2689] Such was the +condemnation of the Holy Fathers pronounced among other doctors by +Maître Jean Beaupère, Maître Thomas de Courcelles and Maître Nicolas +Loiseleur, who had all three so sternly reproached Jeanne with having +refused to submit to the Pope.[2690] Maître Nicolas had been extremely +energetic throughout the Maid's trial, playing alternately the parts +of the Lorraine prisoner and Saint Catherine; when she was led to the +stake he had run after her like a madman.[2691] This same Maître +Nicolas now displayed great activity in the Council wherein he +attained to some eminence. He upheld the view that the General Council +canonically convoked, was superior to the Pope and in a position to +depose him. And albeit this canon was a mere master of arts, he made +such an impression on the Fathers at Bâle that in 1439, they +despatched him to act as juris-consult at the Diet of Mainz. Meanwhile +his attitude was strongly displeasing to the chapter which had sent +him as deputy to the Council. The canons of Rouen sided with the +Sovereign Pontiff and against the Fathers, on this point joining issue +with the University of Paris. They disowned their delegate and sent to +recall him on the 28th of July, 1438.[2692] + +[Footnote 2689: Hefelé, _Histoire de l'Église gallicane_, vol. xx, p. +357. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, p. 363. De +Beaurepaire, _Les états de Normandie sous la domination anglaise_, pp. +66, 67, 185, 188.] + +[Footnote 2690: Du Boulay, _Hist. Universitatis_, vol. v, p. 431. De +Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 28.] + +[Footnote 2691: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 10, 12, 332, 362; vol. iii, pp. +60, 133, 141, 145, 156, 162, 173, 181.] + +[Footnote 2692: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges et assesseurs du +procès de condamnation_, pp. 78, 82.] + +Maître Thomas de Courcelles, one of those who had declared the Pope +disobedient, obstinate, rebellious and the rest, was nominated one of +the commissioners to preside over the election of a new pope, and, +like Loiseleur, a delegate to the Diet of Mainz. But, unlike +Loiseleur, he was not disowned by those who had appointed him, for he +was the deputy of the University of Paris who recognised the Pope of +the Council, Felix, to be the true Father of the Faithful.[2693] In +the assembly of the French clergy held at Bourges in the August of +1440, Maître Thomas spoke in the name of the Fathers of Bâle. He +discoursed for two hours to the complete satisfaction of the +King.[2694] Charles VII, while remaining loyal to Pope Eugenius, +maintained the Pragmatic Sanction. Maître Thomas de Courcelles was +henceforth one of the pillars of the French Church. + +[Footnote 2693: J. Quicherat, _Aperçus nouveaux_, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 2694: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iii, p. +372.] + +Meanwhile the English government had declared for the Pope and against +the Council.[2695] My Lord Pierre Cauchon, who had become Bishop of +Lisieux, was Henry VI's ambassador at the Council. And at Bâle a +somewhat unpleasant experience befell him. By reason of his +translation to the see of Lisieux he owed Rome annates to the amount +of 400 golden florins. In Germany he was informed by the Pope's +Treasurer that by his failure to pay this sum, despite the long delays +granted to him, he had incurred excommunication, and that being +excommunicate, by presuming to celebrate divine service he had +committed irregularity.[2696] Such accusations must have caused him +considerable annoyance. But after all, such occurrences were frequent +and of no great consequence. On churchmen these thunderbolts fell but +lightly, doing them no great hurt. + +[Footnote 2695: De Beaurepaire, _Les états de Normandie sous la +domination anglaise_, pp. 66, 67, 185, 188. De Beaucourt, _loc. cit._ +p. 362.] + +[Footnote 2696: De Beaurepaire, _loc. cit._, p. 17. _Notes sur les +juges et assesseurs du procès de condamnation_, p. 117. _Recherches +sur le procès_, p. 124.] + +From 1444, the realm of France, disembarrassed alike of adversaries +and of defenders, was free to labour, to work at various trades, to +engage in commerce and to grow rich. In the intervals between wars and +during truces, King Charles's government, by the interchange of +natural products and of merchandise, also, we may add, by the +abolition of tolls and dues on the Rivers Seine, Oise, and Loire, +effected the actual conquest of Normandy. Thus, when the time for +nominal conquest came, the French had only to take possession of the +province. So easy had this become, that in the rapid campaign of +1449,[2697] even the Constable was not beaten, neither was the Duke of +Alençon. In his royal and peaceful manner Charles VII resumed +possession of his town of Rouen, just as twenty years before he had +taken Troyes and Reims, as the result of an understanding with the +townsfolk and in return for an amnesty and the grant of rights and +privileges to the burghers. He entered the city on Monday, the 10th of +November, 1449. + +[Footnote 2697: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. v, ch. +i.] + +The French government felt itself strong enough even to attempt the +reconquest of that essentially English province, Aquitaine. In 1451, +my Lord the Bastard, now Count of Dunois, took possession of the +fortress of Blaye. Bordeaux and Bayonne surrendered in the same year. +In the following manner did the Lord Bishop of Le Mans celebrate these +conquests, worthy of the majesty of the most Christian King. + +"Maine, Normandy, Aquitaine, these goodly provinces have returned to +their allegiance to the King. Almost without the shedding of French +blood hath this been accomplished. It hath not been necessary to +overthrow the ramparts of many strongly walled towns, or to demolish +their fortifications or for the inhabitants to suffer either pillage +or murder."[2698] + +[Footnote 2698: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 249.] + +Indeed Normandy and Maine were quite content at being French once +more. The town of Bordeaux was alone in regretting the English, whose +departure spelt its ruin. It revolted in 1452; and then after +considerable difficulty was reconquered once and for all. + +King Charles, henceforth rich and victorious, now desired to efface +the stain inflicted on his reputation by the sentence of 1431. He +wanted to prove to the whole world that it was no witch who had +conducted him to his coronation. He was now eager to appeal against +the condemnation of the Maid. But this condemnation had been +pronounced by the church, and the Pope alone could order it to be +cancelled. The King hoped to bring the Pope to do this, although he +knew it would not be easy. In the March of 1450, he proceeded to a +preliminary inquiry;[2699] and matters remained in that position until +the arrival in France of Cardinal d'Estouteville, the legate of the +Holy See. Pope Nicolas had sent him to negotiate with the King of +France a peace with England and a crusade against the Turks. Cardinal +d'Estouteville, who belonged to a Norman family, was just the man to +discover the weak points in Jeanne's trial. In order to curry favour +with Charles, he, as legate, set on foot a new inquiry at Rouen, with +the assistance of Jean Bréhal, of the order of preaching friars, the +Inquisitor of the Faith in the kingdom of France. But the Pope did not +approve of the legate's intervention;[2700] and for three years the +revision was not proceeded with. Nicolas V would not allow it to be +thought that the sacred tribunal of the most holy Inquisition was +fallible and had even once pronounced an unjust sentence. And there +existed at Rome a stronger reason for not interfering with the trial +of 1431: the French demanded revision; the English were opposed to it; +and the Pope did not wish to annoy the English, for they were then +just as good and even better Catholics than the French.[2701] + +[Footnote 2699: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 1, 22.] + +[Footnote 2700: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. iii, col. 1129 and vol. xi, +col. 90. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. v, p. 219. Le +P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'église de son temps_, ch. vi.] + +[Footnote 2701: De Beaurepaire, _Les états de Normandie sous la +domination anglaise_, pp. 185, 188.] + +In order to relieve the Pope from embarrassment and set him at his +ease, the government of Charles VII invented an expedient: the King +was not to appear in the suit; his place was to be taken by the family +of the Maid. Jeanne's mother, Isabelle Romée de Vouthon, who lived in +retirement at Orléans,[2702] and her two sons, Pierre and Jean du Lys, +demanded the revision.[2703] By this legal artifice the case was +converted from a political into a private suit. At this juncture +Nicolas V died, on the 24th of March, 1455. His successor, Calixtus +III, a Borgia, an old man of seventy-eight, by a rescript dated the +11th of June, 1455, authorised the institution of proceedings. To this +end he appointed Jean Jouvenel des Ursins, Archbishop of Reims, +Guillaume Chartier, Bishop of Paris, and Richard Olivier, Bishop of +Coutances, who were to act conjointly with the Grand Inquisitor of +France.[2704] + +[Footnote 2702: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 276.] + +[Footnote 2703: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 108, 112.] + +[Footnote 2704: _Ibid._, p. 95. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant +l'église de son temps_, p. 607. J. Belon and F. Balme, _Jean Bréhal, +grand inquisiteur de France et la réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc_, +Paris, 1893, in 4to.] + +From the first it was agreed that certain of those concerned in the +original trial were not now to be involved, "for they had been +deceived." Notably it was admitted that the Daughter of Kings, the +Mother of Learning, the University of Paris, had been led into error +by a fraudulent indictment consisting of twelve articles. It was +agreed that the whole responsibility should be thrown on to the Bishop +of Beauvais and the Promoter, Guillaume d'Estivet, who were both +deceased. The precaution was necessary. Had it not been taken, certain +doctors very influential with the King and very dear to the Church of +France would have been greatly embarrassed. + +On the 7th of November, 1455, Isabelle Romée and her two sons, +followed by a long procession of innumerable ecclesiasties, laymen, +and worthy women, approached the church of Notre Dame in Paris to +demand justice from the prelates and papal commissioners.[2705] + +[Footnote 2705: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 82, 92.] + +Informers and accusers in the trial of the late Jeanne were summoned +to appear at Rouen on the 12th of December. Not one came.[2706] The +heirs of the late Messire Pierre Cauchon declined all liability for +the deeds of their deceased kinsman, and touching the civil +responsibility, they pleaded the amnesty granted by the King on the +reconquest of Normandy.[2707] As had been expected, the proceedings +went forward without any obstacle or even any discussion. + +[Footnote 2706: _Ibid._, pp. 92, 112.] + +[Footnote 2707: _Ibid._, pp. 193, 196.] + +Inquiries were instituted at Domremy, at Orléans, at Paris, at +Rouen.[2708] The friends of Jeannette's childhood, Hauviette, +Mengette, either married or grown old; Jeannette, the wife of +Thévenin; Jeannette, the widow of Estellin; Jean Morel of Greux; +Gérardin of Épinal, the Burgundian, and his wife Isabellette, who had +been godmother to Jacques d'Arc's daughter; Perrin, the bell-ringer; +Jeanne's uncle Lassois; the Leroyer couple and a score of peasants +from Domremy all appeared. Bertrand de Poulengy, then sixty-three and +gentleman of the horse to the King of France, was heard; likewise Jean +de Novelompont, called Jean de Metz, who had been raised to noble rank +and was now living at Vaucouleurs, where he held some military office. +Gentlemen and ecclesiasties of Lorraine and Champagne were +examined.[2709] Burgesses of Orléans were also called, and notably +Jean Luillier, the draper, who in June, 1429, had furnished fine +Brussels cloth of purple for Jeanne's gown and ten years later had +been present at the banquet given by the magistrates of Orléans in +honour of the Maid who, as it was believed, had escaped burning.[2710] +Jean Luillier was the most intelligent of the witnesses; as for the +others, of whom there were about two dozen townsmen and townswomen, of +between fifty and sixty years of age, they did little but repeat his +evidence.[2711] He spoke well; but the fear of the English dazzled him +and he saw many more of them than there had ever been. + +[Footnote 2708: _Ibid._, pp. 291, 463; vol. iii, pp. 1, 202.] + +[Footnote 2709: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 378, 463.] + +[Footnote 2710: _Ibid._, vol. v, pp. 112, 113, 331.] + +[Footnote 2711: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 23, 35.] + +Touching the examination at Poitiers there were called an advocate, a +squire, a man of business, François Garivel, who was fifteen at the +time of Jeanne's interrogation.[2712] The only cleric summoned was +Brother Seguin of Limousin.[2713] The clerics of Poitiers were first +as disinclined to risk themselves in this matter as were those of +Rouen; a burnt child dreads the fire. La Hire and Poton of +Saintrailles were dead. The survivors of Orléans and of Patay were +called; the Bastard Jean, now Count of Dunois and Longueville, who +gave his evidence like a clerk;[2714] the old Sire de Gaucourt, who in +his eighty-fifth year made some effort of memory, and for the rest +gave the same evidence as the Count of Dunois;[2715] the Duke of +Alençon, on the point of making an alliance with the English and of +procuring a powder with which to dry up the King,[2716] but who was +none the less talkative and vain-glorious;[2717] Jeanne's steward, +Messire Jean d'Aulon, who had become a knight, a King's Counsellor and +Seneschal of Beaucaire,[2718] and the little page Louis de Coutes, now +a noble of forty-two.[2719] Brother Pasquerel too was called; even in +his old-age he remained superficial and credulous.[2720] And there was +heard also the widow of Maître René de Bouligny, Demoiselle Marguerite +la Toroulde, who delicately and with a good grace related what she +remembered.[2721] + +[Footnote 2712: _Ibid._, pp. 1, 19.] + +[Footnote 2713: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 2714: _Ibid._, pp. 2 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2715: _Ibid._, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 2716: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi, p. +43. P. Dupuy, _Histoire des Templiers_, 1658, in 4to. Cimber and +Danjou, _Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_, vol. i, pp. +137-157. (See also, Michelet, History of France, translated by G.H. +Smith, vol. ii, p. 206.) Note--Alençon says to his English valet: "If +I could have a powder that I wot of and put it in the vessel in which +the King's sheets are washed, he should sleep sound enough [_dormir +tout sec_]." _Trial of Alençon_ (W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2717: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 2718: _Ibid._, p. 209.] + +[Footnote 2719: _Ibid._, p. 65.] + +[Footnote 2720: _Ibid._, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 2721: _Ibid._, p. 85.] + +Care was taken not to summon the Lord Archbishop of Rouen, Messire +Raoul Roussel, as a witness of the actual incidents of the trial, +albeit he had sat in judgment on the Maid, side by side with my Lord +of Beauvais. As for the Vice Inquisitor of Religion, Brother Jean +Lemaistre, he might have been dead, so completely was he ignored. +Nevertheless, certain of the assessors were called: Jean Beaupère, +canon of Paris, of Besançon and of Rouen; Jean de Mailly, Lord Bishop +of Noyon; Jean Lefèvre, Bishop of Démétriade; divers canons of Rouen, +sundry ecclesiastics who appeared some unctuous, others stern and +frowning;[2722] and, finally, the most illustrious Thomas de +Courcelles, who, after having been the most laborious and assiduous +collaborator of the Bishop of Beauvais, recalled nothing when he came +before the commissioners for the revision.[2723] + +[Footnote 2722: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 20, 21, 161; vol. iii, pp. 43, +53, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 2723: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 44, 56. J. Quicherat, _Aperçus +nouveaux_, p. 106.] + +[Illustration: THE BASTARD OF ORLEANS + +_From an old engraving_] + +Among those who had been most zealous to procure Jeanne's condemnation +were those who were now most eagerly labouring for her rehabilitation. +The registrars of the Lord Bishop of Beauvais, the Boisguillaumes, the +Manchons, the Taquels, all those ink-pots of the Church who had been +used for her death sentence, worked wonders when that sentence had to +be annulled; all the zeal they had displayed in the institution of the +trial they now displayed in its revision; they were prepared to +discover in it every possible flaw.[2724] + +[Footnote 2724: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 161; vol. iii, pp. 41, 42, 195.] + +And in what a poor and paltry tone did these benign fabricators of +legal artifices denounce the cruel iniquity which they had themselves +perpetrated in due form! Among them was the Usher, Jean Massieu, a +dissolute priest,[2725] of scandalous morals, but a kindly fellow for +all that, albeit somewhat crafty and the inventor of a thousand +ridiculous stories against Cauchon, as if the old Bishop were not +black enough already.[2726] The revision commissioners produced a +couple of sorry monks, Friar Martin Ladvenu and Friar Isambart de la +Pierre, from the monastery of the preaching friars at Rouen. They wept +in a heart-rending manner as they told of the pious end of that poor +Maid, whom they had declared a heretic, then a relapsed heretic, and +had finally burned alive. There was not one of the clerks charged +with the examination of Jeanne but was touched to the heart at the +memory of so saintly a damsel.[2727] + +[Footnote 2725: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_.] + +[Footnote 2726: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 329 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2727: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 363 _et seq._, 434 _et seq._] + +Huge piles of memoranda drawn up by doctors of high repute, canonists, +theologians and jurists, both French and foreign, were furnished for +the trial. Their chief object was to establish by scholastic reasoning +that Jeanne had submitted her deeds and sayings to the judgment of the +Church and of the Holy Father. These doctors proved that the judges of +1431 had been very subtle and Jeanne very simple. Doubtless, it was +the best way to make out that she had submitted to the Church; but +they over-reached themselves and made her too simple. According to +them she was absolutely ignorant, almost an idiot, understanding +nothing, imagining that the clerics who examined her in themselves +alone constituted the Church Militant. This had been the impression of +the doctors on the French side in 1429. _La Pucelle_, "_une puce_," +said the Lord Archbishop of Embrun.[2728] + +[Footnote 2728: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations en faveur de +Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 576.] + +But there was another reason for making her appear as weak and +imbecile as possible. Such a representation exalted the power of God, +who through her had restored the King of France to his inheritance. + +Declarations confirming this view of the Maid were obtained by the +commissioners from most of the witnesses. She was simple, she was very +simple, she was absolutely simple, they repeated one after the other. +And they all in the same words added: "Yes, she was simple, save in +deeds of war, wherein she was well skilled."[2729] Then the captains +said how clever she was in placing cannon, albeit they knew well to +the contrary. But how could she have failed to be well versed in deeds +of war, since God himself led her against the English? And in this +possession of the art of war by an unskilled girl lay the miracle. + +[Footnote 2729: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 32, 87, 100, 116, 119, 120, +126, 128 _et passim_.] + +The Grand Inquisitor of France, Jean Bréhal, in his reminiscence +enumerates the reasons for believing that Jeanne came from God. One of +the proofs which seems to have struck him most forcibly is that her +coming is foretold in the prophecies of Merlin, the Magician.[2730] + +[Footnote 2730: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations_, p. 402.] + +Believing that he could prove from one of Jeanne's answers that her +first apparitions were in her thirteenth year, Brother Jean Bréhal +argues that the fact is all the more credible seeing that this number +13, composed of 3, which indicates the Blessed Trinity, and of 10, +which expresses the perfect observation of the Decalogue, is +marvellously favourable to divine visitations.[2731] + +[Footnote 2731: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 398.] + +On the 16th of June, 1455, the sentence of 1431 was declared unjust, +unfounded, iniquitous. It was nullified and pronounced invalid. + +Thus was honour restored to the messenger of the coronation, thus was +her memory reconciled with the Church. But that abundant source whence +on the appearance of this child there had flowed so many pious legends +and heroic fables was henceforth dried up. The rehabilitation trial +added little to the popular legend. It rendered it possible to connect +with Jeanne's death the usual incidents narrated of the martyrdom of +virgins, such as the dove taking flight from the stake, the name of +Jesus written in letters of flame, the heart intact in the +ashes.[2732] The miserable deaths of the wicked judges were insisted +upon. True it is that Jean d'Estivet, the Promoter, was found dead in +a dove-cot,[2733] that Nicolas Midi was attacked by leprosy, that +Pierre Cauchon died when he was being shaved.[2734] But, among those +who aided and accompanied the Maid, more than one came to a bad end. +Sire Robert de Baudricourt, who had sent Jeanne to the King, died in +prison, excommunicated for having laid waste the lands of the chapter +of Toul.[2735] The Maréchal de Rais was sentenced to death.[2736] The +Duke of Alençon, convicted of high treason, was pardoned only to fall +under a new condemnation and to die in captivity.[2737] + +[Footnote 2732: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 355.] + +[Footnote 2733: _Ibid._, p. 162.] + +[Footnote 2734: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. xi, col. 793.] + +[Footnote 2735: _Histoire ecclésiastique et politique de la ville et +du diocèse de Toul_, 1707, p. 529.] + +[Footnote 2736: Abbé Bossard, _Gilles de Rais_, pp. 333 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 2737: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi, p. +197.] + +Two years after Charles VII had ordered the preliminary inquiry into +the trial of 1431, a woman, following the example of la Dame des +Armoises, passed herself off as the Maid Jeanne. + +At this time there lived in the little town of Sarmaize, between the +Marne and the Meuse, two cousins german of the Maid, Poiresson and +Périnet, both sons of the late Jean de Vouthon, Isabelle Romée's +brother, who in his lifetime had been a thatcher by trade. Now, on a +day in 1452, it befell that the curé of Notre Dame de Sarmaize, Simon +Fauchard, being in the market-house of the town, there came to him a +woman dressed as a youth who asked him to play at tennis with her. + +He consented, and when they had begun their game the woman said to +him, "Say boldly that you have played tennis with the Maid." And at +these words Simon Fauchard was right joyful. + +The woman afterwards went to the house of Périnet, the carpenter, and +said, "I am the Maid; I come to visit my Cousin Henri." + +Périnet, Poiresson, and Henri de Vouthon made her good cheer and kept +her in their house, where she ate and drank as she pleased.[2738] + +[Footnote 2738: Inquiry of 1476, in G. de Braux and E. de Bouteiller, +_Nouvelles recherches_, p. 10.] + +Then, when she had had enough, she went away. + +Whence came she? No one knows. Whither did she go? She may probably be +recognised in an adventuress, who not long afterwards, with her hair +cut short and a hood on her head, wearing doublet and hose, wandered +through Anjou, calling herself Jeanne the Maid. While the doctors and +masters, engaged in the revision of the trial, were gathering evidence +of Jeanne's life and death from all parts of the kingdom, this false +Jeanne was finding credence with many folk. But she became involved in +difficulties with a certain Dame of Saumoussay,[2739] and was cast +into the prison of Saumur, where she lay for three months. At the end +of this time, having been banished from the dominions of the good King +René, she married one Jean Douillet; and, by a document dated the 3rd +day of February, 1456, she received permission to return to Saumur, on +condition of living there respectably and ceasing to wear man's +apparel.[2740] + +[Footnote 2739: Or Chaumussay. Lecoy de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne +d'Arc_, Paris, 1871, in 8vo, p. 19.] + +[Footnote 2740: Lecoy de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in +_Revue des questions historiques_, October, 1871, p. 576. _Le roi +René_, Paris, 1875, vol. i, pp. 308-327; vol. ii, pp. 281-283.] + +About this time there came to Laval in the diocese of Le Mans, a +damsel between eighteen and twenty-two, who was a native of a +neighbouring place called Chassé-les-Usson. Her father's name was Jean +Féron and she was commonly called Jeanne la Férone. + +She was inspired from heaven, and the names Jesus and Mary were for +ever on her lips; yet the devil cruelly tormented her. The Dame de +Laval, mother of the Lords André and Guy, being now very aged, +marvelled at the piety and the sufferings of the holy damsel; and she +sent her to Le Mans, to the Bishop. + +Since 1449, the see of Le Mans had been held by Messire Martin +Berruyer of Touraine. In his youth he had been professor of philosophy +and rhetoric at the University of Paris. Later he had devoted himself +to theology and had become one of the directors of the College of +Navarre. Although he was infirm with age, his learning was such that +he was consulted by the commissioners for the rehabilitation +trial,[2741] whereupon he drew up a memorandum touching the Maid. +Herein he believes her to have been verily sent of God because she was +abject and very poor and appeared well nigh imbecile in everything +that did not concern her mission. Messire Martin argues that it was by +reason of the King's virtues that God had vouchsafed to him the help +of the Maid.[2742] Such an idea found favour with the theologians of +the French party. + +[Footnote 2741: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 314, note 1. _Gallia +Christiana_, vol. ii, fol. 518. Du Boulay, _Hist. Univ. Paris_, vol. +v, p. 905. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'église de son temps_, +pp. 403, 404.] + +[Footnote 2742: Lanéry d'Arc, _Mémoires et consultations_, p. 247.] + +The Lord Bishop, Martin Berruyer, heard Jeanne la Férone in +confession, renewed her baptism, confirmed her in the faith and gave +her the name of Marie, in gratitude for the abounding grace which the +most Holy Virgin, Mother of God, had granted to his servant. + +This maid was subject to the violent attacks of evil spirits. Many a +time did my Lord of Mans behold her covered with bleeding wounds, +struggling in the grasp of the enemy, and on several occasions he +delivered her by means of exorcisms. Greatly was he edified by this +holy damsel, who made known unto him marvellous secrets, who abounded +in pious revelations and noble Christian utterances. Wherefore in +praise of La Férone he wrote many letters[2743] to princes and +communities of the realm. + +[Footnote 2743: Du Clercq, _Mémoires_, ed. Reiffenberg, Brussels, +1823, vol. iii, pp. 98 _et seq._ Jean de Roye, _Chronique +scandaleuse_, ed. Bernard de Mandrot, 1894, vol. i, pp. 13, 14. +_Chronique de Bourdigné_, ed. Quatrebarbes, vol. ii, p. 212. Dom +Piolin, _Histoire de l'église du Mans_, vol. v, p. 163.] + +The Queen of France, who was then very old and whose husband had long +ago deserted her, heard tell of the Maid of Le Mans, and wrote to +Messire Martin Berruyer, requesting him to make the damsel known unto +her. + +Thus there befel, what we have seen happening over and over again in +this history, that when a devout person, leading a contemplative life +uttered prophecies, those in places of authority grew curious +concerning her and desired to submit her to the judgment of the Church +that they might know whether the goodness that appeared in her were +true or false. Certain officers of the King visited La Férone at Le +Mans. + +As revelations touching the realm of France had been vouchsafed to +her, she spoke to them the following words: + +"Commend me very humbly to the King and bid him recognise the grace +which God granteth unto him, and lighten the burdens of his people." + +In the December of 1460, she was summoned before the Royal Council, +which was then sitting at Tours, while the King, who was sick of an +ulcer in the leg, was residing in the Château of Les Montils.[2744] +The Maid of Le Mans was examined in like manner as the Maid Jeanne had +been, but the result was unfavourable; she was found wanting in +everything. Brought before the ecclesiastical court she was convicted +of imposture. It appeared that she was no maid, but was living in +concubinage with a cleric, that certain persons in the service of my +Lord of Le Mans instructed her in what she was to say, and that such +was the origin of the revelations she made to the Reverend Father in +God, Messire Martin Berruyer, under the seal of the confession. +Convicted of being a hypocrite, an idolatress, an invoker of demons, a +witch, a magician, lascivious, dissolute, an enchantress, a mine of +falsehood, she was condemned to have a fool's cap put on her head and +to be preached at in public, in the towns of Le Mans, Tours and Laval. +On the 2nd of May, 1461, she was exhibited to the folk at Tours, +wearing a paper cap and over her head a scroll on which her deeds were +set forth in lines of Latin and of French. Maître Guillaume de +Châteaufort, Grand Master of the Royal College of Navarre, preached to +her. Then she was cast into close confinement in a prison, there to +weep over her sins for the space of seven years, eating the bread of +sorrow and drinking the water of affliction;[2745] at the end of which +time she rented a house of ill fame.[2746] + +[Footnote 2744: Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. iii, p. +444.] + +[Footnote 2745: Jacques du Clercq, _Mémoires_, vol. iii, pp. 107 _et +seq._] + +[Footnote 2746: Antoine du Faur, _Livre des femmes célèbres_, in +_Trial_, vol. v, p. 336.] + +On Wednesday, the 22nd of July, 1461, covered with ulcers internal and +external, believing himself poisoned and perhaps not without reason, +Charles VII died, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, in his Château +of Mehun-sur-Yèvre.[2747] + +[Footnote 2747: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi, pp. +442, 451. _Chronique Martiniane_, ed. P. Champion, p. 110.] + +On Thursday, the 6th of August, his body was borne to the Church of +Saint-Denys in France and placed in a chapel hung with velvet; the +nave was draped with black satin, the vault was covered with blue +cloth embroidered with flowers-de-luce.[2748] During the ceremony, +which took place on the following day, a funeral oration was delivered +on Charles VII. The preacher was no less a personage than the most +highly renowned professor at the University of Paris, the doctor, who +according to the Princes of the Roman Church was ever aimable and +modest, he who had been the stoutest defender of the liberties of the +Gallican Church, the ecclesiastic who, having declined a Cardinal's +hat, bore to the threshold of an illustrious old age none other title +than that of Dean of the Canons of Notre Dame de Paris, Maître Thomas +de Courcelles.[2749] Thus it befell that the assessor of Rouen, who +had been the most bitterly bent on procuring Jeanne's cruel +condemnation, celebrated the memory of the victorious King whom the +Maid had conducted to his solemn coronation. + +[Footnote 2748: Mathieu d'Escouchy, vol. ii, p. 422. Jean Chartier, +_Chronique_, vol. iii, pp. 114-121.] + +[Footnote 2749: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. vii, col. 151 and 214. +Hardouin, _Acta Conciliorum_, vol. ix, col. 1423. De Beaucourt, +_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi, p. 444.] + + + + +APPENDICES + + + + +APPENDIX I + +LETTER FROM DOCTOR G. DUMAS + + +My Dear Master,--You ask for my medical opinion in the case of Jeanne +d'Arc. Had I been able to examine it at my leisure with the Doctors +Tiphaine and Delachambre, who were summoned before the tribunal at +Rouen, I might have found it difficult to come to any definite +conclusion. And even more difficult do I find it now, when my +diagnosis must necessarily be retrospective and based upon +examinations conducted by persons who never dreamed of attempting to +discover the existence of any nervous disease. However since they +ascribed what we now call disease to the influence of the devil, their +questions are not without significance for us. Therefore with many +reservations I will endeavour to answer your question. + +Of Jeanne's inherited constitution we know nothing; and of her +personal antecedents we are almost entirely ignorant. Our only +information concerning such matters comes from Jean d'Aulon, who, on +the evidence of several women, states[2750] that she was never fully +developed, a condition which frequently occurs in neurotic subjects. + +[Footnote 2750: _Trial_, vol. iii. p. 219.] + +We should, however, be unable to arrive at any conclusion concerning +Jeanne's nervous constitution had not her judges, and in particular +Maître Jean Beaupère, in the numerous examinations to which they +subjected her, elicited certain significant details on the subject of +her hallucinations. + +Maître Beaupère begins by inquiring very judiciously whether Jeanne +had fasted the day before she first heard her voices. Whence we infer +that the interdependence of inanition and hallucinations was +recognised by this illustrious professor of theology. Before +condemning Jeanne as a witch he wanted to make sure that she was not +merely suffering from weakness. Some time later we find Saint Theresa +suspecting that the visions said to have been seen by a certain nun +were merely the result of long fasting. Saint Theresa insisted on the +nun's partaking of food, and the visions ceased. + +Jeanne replies that she had only fasted since the morning, and Maître +Beaupère proceeds to ask: + +_Q._ "In what direction did you hear the voice?" + +_A._ "I heard it on the right, towards the church." + +_Q._ "Was the voice accompanied by any light?" + +_A._ "I seldom heard it without there being a light. This light +appeared in the direction whence the voice came."[2751] + +[Footnote 2751: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52 and _passim_.] + +We might wonder whether by the expression "_à droite_" (_a latere +dextro_) Jeanne meant her own right side or the position of the church +in relation to her; and in the latter case, the information would have +no clinical significance; but the context leaves no doubt as to the +veritable meaning of her words. + +"How can you," urges Jean Beaupère, "see this light which you say +appears to you, if it is on your right?" + +If it had been merely a question of the situation of the church and +not of Jeanne's own right side, she would only have had to turn her +face to see the light in front of her, and Jean Beaupère's objection +would have been pointless. + +Consequently at about the age of thirteen, at the period of puberty, +which for her never came, Jeanne would appear to have been subject on +her right side to unilateral hallucinations of sight and hearing. Now +Charcot[2752] considered unilateral hallucinations of sight to be +common in cases of hysteria.[2753] He even thought that in hysterical +subjects they are allied to a hemianæsthesia situated on the same side +of the body, and which in Jeanne would be on the right side. Jeanne's +trial might have proved the existence of this hemianæsthesia, an +extremely significant symptom in the diagnosis of hysteria, if the +judges had applied torture or merely had examined the skin of the +subject in order to discover anæsthesia patches which were called +marks of the devil.[2754] But from the merely oral examination which +took place we can only draw inferences concerning Jeanne's general +physical condition. In case excessive importance should be attached to +such inferences I should add that in the diagnosis of hysteria +contemporary neurologists pay less attention than did Charcot to +unilateral hallucinations of sight. + +[Footnote 2752: A famous French alienist (1825-1893).--W.S.] + +[Footnote 2753: _Progrès medical_, January 19, 1878.] + +[Footnote 2754: The existence of patches devoid of feeling was +considered in the Middle Ages to prove that the subject was a witch. +Hence needles were run into the supposed witch. And if she felt them +in every part of her body she was acquitted.--W.S.] + +The other characteristics of Jeanne's hallucinations revealed by her +examinations during the trial are no less interesting than these, +although they do not lead to any more certain conclusions. + +Those visions and voices, which the subject refers to an external +source and which are so characteristic of hysterical hallucinations, +proceed suddenly from the subconscious self. Jeanne's conscious self +was so far from being prepared for her voices that she declares she +was very much afraid when she first heard them: "I was thirteen when I +heard a voice coming from God telling me to lead a good life. And the +first time I was very much afraid. This voice came to me about noon; +it was in the summer, in my father's garden."[2755] + +[Footnote 2755: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52.] + +And then straightway the voice becomes imperative. It demands an +obedience which is not refused: "It said to me: 'Go forth into +France,' and I could no longer stay where I was."[2756] + +[Footnote 2756: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.] + +Her visions all occur in the same manner. They appeal to the senses in +exactly the same way and are received by the Maid with equal +credulity. + +Finally, these hallucinations of hearing and of sight are soon +associated with similar hallucinations of smell and touch, which serve +to confirm Jeanne's belief in their reality. + +_Q._ "Which part of Saint Catherine did you touch?" + +_A._ "You will hear nothing more." + +_Q._ "Did you kiss or embrace Saint Catherine or Saint Margaret?" + +_A._ "I embraced them both." + +_Q._ "In embracing them did you feel heat or anything?" + +_A._ "I could not embrace them without feeling and touching +them."[2757] + +[Footnote 2757: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 186.] + +Because they thus appeal to the senses and seem to possess a certain +material reality, hysterical hallucinations make a profound and +ineffaceable impression on those who experience them. The subjects +speak of them as being actual and very striking facts. When they +become accusers, as so many women do who claim to have been the +victims of imaginary assaults, they support their assertions in the +most energetic fashion. + +Not only does Jeanne see, hear, smell and touch her saints, she joins +the procession of angels they bring in their train. With them she +performs actual deeds, as if there were perfect unity between her life +and her hallucinations. + +"I was in my lodging, in the house of a good woman, near the _château_ +of Chinon, when the angel came. And then he and I went together to the +King." + +_Q._ "Was this angel alone?" + +_A._ "This angel was with a goodly company of other angels.[2758] +They were with him, but not every one saw them.... Some were very much +alike; others were not, or at any rate not as I saw them. Some had +wings. Certain even wore crowns, and in their company were Saint +Catherine and Saint Margaret. With the angel aforesaid and with the +other angels they went right into the King's chamber." + +[Footnote 2758: According to the evidence of Maître Pierre Maurice, at +the condemnation trial (vol. i. p. 480), Jeanne must have seen the +angels "in the form of certain infinitesimal things" (_sub specie +quarumdam rerum minimarum_). This was also the character of the +hallucinations experienced by Saint Rose of Lima ("Vie de Sainte Rose +de Lima," by P. Léonard Hansen, p. 179).] + +_Q._ "Tell us how the angel left you." + +_A._ "He left me in a little chapel, and at his departure I was very +sorrowful, and I even wept. Willingly would I have gone away with him; +I mean my soul would have gone."[2759] + +[Footnote 2759: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 144.] + +In all these hallucinations there is the same objective clearness, the +same subjective certitude as in toxic hallucinations; and this +clearness, this certitude, may in Jeanne's case suggest hysteria. + +But if in certain respects Jeanne resembles hysterical subjects, in +others she differs from them. She seems early to have acquired an +independence of her visions and an authority over them. + +Without ever doubting their reality, she resists them and sometimes +disobeys them, when, for example, in defiance of Saint Catherine, she +leaps from her prison of Beaurevoir: "Well nigh every day Saint +Catherine told me not to leap and that God would come to my aid, and +also would succour those of Compiègne. And I said to Saint Catherine: +'Since God is to help those of Compiègne, I want to be with +them.'"[2760] + +[Footnote 2760: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 110.] + +On another occasion she assumes such authority over her visions that +she can make the two saints come at her bidding when they do not come +of themselves. + +_Q._ "Do you call these saints, or do they come without being called?" + +_A._ "They often come without being called, and sometimes when they +did not come I asked God to send them speedily."[2761] + +[Footnote 2761: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 279 and _passim_.] + +All this is not in the accepted manner of the hysterical, who are +usually somewhat passive with regard to their nervous fits and +hallucinations. But Jeanne's dominance over her visions is a +characteristic I have noted in many of the higher mystics and in those +who have attained notoriety. This kind of subject, after having at +first passively submitted to his hysteria, afterwards uses it rather +than submits to it, and finally by means of it attains in his ecstasy +to that divine union after which he strives. + +If Jeanne were hysterical, such a characteristic would help us to +determine the part played by the neurotic side of her nature in the +development of her character and in her life. + +If there were any hysterical strain in her nature, then it was by +means of this hysterical strain that the most secret sentiments of her +heart took shape in the form of visions and celestial voices. Her +hysteria became the open door by which the divine--or what Jeanne +deemed the divine--entered into her life. It strengthened her faith +and consecrated her mission; but in her intellect and in her will +Jeanne remains healthy and normal. Nervous pathology can therefore +cast but a feeble light on Jeanne's nature. It can reveal only one +part of that spirit which your book resuscitates in its entirety. With +the expression of my respectful admiration, believe me, my dear +master, + +DOCTOR G. DUMAS. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +THE FARRIER OF SALON + + +Towards the end of the seventeenth century, there lived at +Salon-en-Crau, near Aix, a farrier, one François Michel. He came of a +respectable family. He himself had served in the cavalry regiment of +the Chevalier de Grignan. He was held to be a sensible man, honest and +devout. He was close on forty when, in February, 1697, he had a +vision. + +Returning to his home one evening, he beheld a spectre, holding a +torch in its hand. This spectre said to him: + +"Fear nothing. Go to Paris and speak to the King. If thou dost not +obey this command thou shalt die. When thou shalt approach to within a +league of Versailles, I will not fail to make known unto thee what +things thou shalt say to his Majesty. Go to the Governor of thy +province, who will order all that is necessary for thy journey." + +The figure which thus addressed him was in the form of a woman. She +wore a royal crown and a mantle embroidered with flowers-de-luce of +gold, like the late Queen, Marie-Thérèse, who had died a holy death +full fourteen years before. + +The poor farrier was greatly afraid. He fell down at the foot of a +tree, knowing not whether he dreamed or was awake. Then he went back +to his house, and told no man of what he had seen. + +Two days afterwards he passed the same spot. There again he beheld +the same spectre, who repeated the same orders and the same threats. +The farrier could no longer doubt the reality of what he saw; but as +yet he could not make up his mind what to do. + +A third apparition, more imperious and more importunate than the +first, reduced him to obedience. He went to Aix, to the Governor of +the province; he saw him and told him how he had been given a mission +to speak to the King. The Governor at first paid no great heed to him. +But the visionary's patient persistence could not fail to impress him. +Moreover, since the King was personally concerned in the matter, it +ought not to be entirely neglected. These considerations led the +Governor to inquire from the magistrates of Salon touching the +farrier's family and manner of life. The result of these inquiries was +very favourable. Accordingly the Governor deemed it fitting to proceed +forthwith to action. In those days no one was quite sure whether +advice, very useful to the most Christian of Kings, might not be sent +by some member of the Church Triumphant through the medium of a common +artisan. Still less were they sure that some plot in which the welfare +of the State was concerned might not be hatched under colour of an +apparition. In both contingencies, the second of which was quite +probable, it would be advisable to send François Michel to Versailles. +And this was the decision arrived at by the Governor. + +For the transport of François Michel he adopted measures at once sure +and inexpensive. He confided him to an officer who was taking recruits +in that direction. After having received the communion in the church +of the Franciscans, who were edified by his pious bearing, the farrier +set out on February 25 with his Majesty's young soldiers, with whom he +travelled as far as La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. On his arrival at +Versailles, he asked to see the King or at least one of his Ministers +of State. He was directed to M. de Barbezieux, who, when he was still +very young, had succeeded his father, M. de Louvois, and in that +position had displayed some talent. But the good farrier declined to +tell him anything, because he was not a Minister of State. + +And it was true that Barbezieux, although a Minister, was not a +Minister of State. But that a farrier from Provence should be capable +of drawing such a distinction occasioned considerable surprise. + +M. de Barbezieux doubtless did not evince such scorn for this +compatriot of Nostradamus as would have been shown in his place by a +man of broader mind. For he, like his father, was addicted to the +practice of astrology, and he was always inquiring concerning his +horoscope of a certain Franciscan friar who had predicted the hour of +his death. + +We do not know whether he gave the King a favourable report of the +farrier, or whether the latter was admitted to the presence of M. de +Pomponne, who was then at the head of the administration of Provence. +But we do know that Louis XIV consented to see the man. He had him +brought up the steps leading to the marble courtyard, and then granted +him a lengthy audience in his private apartments. + +On the morrow, as the King was coming down his private staircase on +his way out hunting, he met Marshal de Duras, who was Captain of the +King's bodyguard for the day. With his usual freedom of speech the +Marshal spoke to the King of the farrier, using a common saying: + +"Either the man is mad, or the King is not noble." + +At these words the King, contrary to his usual habit, paused and +turned to the Marshal de Duras: + +"Then I am not noble," he said, "for I talked to him for a long time, +and he spoke very sensibly; I assure you he is far from being mad." + +The last words he uttered with so solemn a gravity that those who were +present were astonished. + +Persons who claim to be inspired are expected to show some sign of +their mission. In a second interview, François Michel showed the King +a sign in fulfilment of a promise he had given. He reminded him of an +extraordinary circumstance which the son of Anne of Austria believed +known to himself alone. Louis XIV himself admitted it, but for the +rest preserved a profound silence touching this interview. + +Saint Simon, always eager to collect every court rumour, believed it +was a question of some phantom, which more than twenty years before +had appeared to Louis XIV in the Forest of Saint-Germain. + +For the third and last time the King received the farrier of Salon. + +The courtiers displayed so much curiosity in this visionary that he +had to be shut up in the monastery of Des Rècollets. There the little +Princess of Savoy, who was shortly to marry the Duke of Burgundy, came +to see him with several lords and ladies of the court. + +He appeared slow to speak, good, simple, and humble. The King ordered +him to be furnished with a fine horse, clothes, and money; then he +sent him back to Provence. + +Public opinion was divided on the subject of the apparition which had +appeared to the farrier and the mission he had received from it. Most +people believed that he had seen the spirit of Marie-Thérèse; but some +said it was Nostradamus.[2762] + +[Footnote 2762: Michel de Nostre-Dame, called Nostradamus (1503-1566), +a Provençal astrologer, whose prophecies were published under the +title of "Centuries." He was invited to the French court by Catherine +de' Medici, and became the doctor of Charles IX.--W.S.] + +It was only at Salon, where he slept in the church of the Franciscans, +that this astrologer was absolutely believed in. His "Centuries," +which appeared at Paris and at Lyon in no less than ten editions in +the course of one century, entertained the credulous throughout the +kingdom. In 1693, there had just been published a book of the +prophecies of Nostradamus showing how they had been fulfilled in +history from the reign of Henry II down to that of Louis the Great. + +It came to be believed that in the following mysterious quatrain the +farrier's coming had been prophesied: + + "Le penultiesme du surnom du Prophète, + Prendra Diane pour son iour et repos: + Loing vaguera par frénétique teste, + En délivrant un grand peuple d'impos."[2763] + +[Footnote 2763: The last syllable but one of the surname of the +Prophet will Diane take for her day and her rest. Far shall wander +that inspired one delivering a great nation from the burden of taxes.] + +An attempt was made to apply these obscure lines to the poor prophet +of Salon. In the first line he is said to figure as one of the twelve +minor prophets, Micah, which name is closely allied to Michel. In the +second line Diane was said to be the mother of the farrier, who was +certainly called by that name. But if the line means anything at all, +it is more likely to refer to the day of the moon, Monday. It was +carefully pointed out that in the third line _frénétique_ means not +_mad_ but _inspired_. The fourth and only intelligible line would +suggest that the spectre bade Michel ask the King to lessen the taxes +and dues which then weighed so heavily on the good folk of town and +country: + +_En délivrant un grand peuple d'impos._ This was enough to make the +farrier popular and to cause those unhappy sufferers to centre in this +poor windbag their hopes for a better future. His portrait was +engraved in copper-plate, and below it was written the quatrain of +Nostradamus. M. d'Argenson,[2764] who was at the head of the police +department, had these portraits seized. They were suppressed, so says +the _Gazette d'Amsterdam_, on account of the last line of the quatrain +written beneath the portrait, the line which runs: _En délivrant un +grand peuple d'impos_. Such an expression was hardly likely to please +the court. + +[Footnote 2764: Marc René Marquis d'Argenson (1652-1721), after being +Lieutenant Général de la Police at Paris, became, from 1718-1720, +Président du Conseil des Finances and Garde des Sceaux.--W.S.] + +No one ever knew exactly what was the mission the farrier received +from his spectre. Subtle folk suspected one of Madame de Maintenon's +intrigues. She had a friend at Marseille, a Madame Arnoul, who was as +ugly as sin, it was said, and yet who managed to make men fall in love +with her. They thought that this Madame Arnoul had shown Marie-Thérèse +to the good man of Salon in order to induce the King to live +honourably with widow Scarron. But in 1697 widow Scarron had been +married to Louis for twelve years at least; and one cannot see why +ghostly aid should have been necessary to attach the old King to her. + +On his return to his native town, François Michel shoed horses as +before. + +He died at Lançon, near Salon, on December 10, 1726.[2765] + +[Footnote 2765: _Gazette d'Amsterdam_, March-May, 1697; _Annales de la +cour et de Paris_ (vol. ii. pp. 204, 219); _Theatrum Europæum_ (vol. +xv. pp. 359-360); _Mémoires de Sourches_ (vol. v. pp. 260, 263); +_Lettres de Madame Dunoyer_ (Letter xxvi); _Saint Simon, Mémoires_, +ed. Régnier (_Collection des Grands Ecrivains de la France_), vol. vi. +pp. 222, 228, 231; Appendix X, p. 545; _Mémoires du duc de Luynes_, +vol. x. pp. 410, 412--Abbé Proyart, _Vie du duc de Bourgogne_ (ed. +1782), vol. i. pp. 978, 981.] + + + + +APPENDIX III + +MARTIN DE GALLARDON + + +Ignace Thomas Martin was by calling a husbandman. A native of +Gallardon in Eure-et-Loir, he dwelt there with his wife and four +children in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Those who knew +him tell us that he was of average height, with brown straight hair, a +calm glance, a thin countenance and an air of quiet and assurance. A +pencil portrait, which his son, M. le Docteur Martin, has kindly sent +me, gives a more exact idea of the visionary. The portrait, which is +in profile, presents a forehead curiously high and straight, a long +narrow head, round eyes, broad nostrils, a compressed mouth, a +protruding chin, hollow cheeks and an air of austerity. He is dressed +as a _bourgeois_, with a collar and white cravat. + +According to the evidence of his brother, a man both physically and +mentally sound, his was the gentlest of natures; he never sought to +attract attention; in his regular piety there was nothing ecstatic. +Both the mayor and the priest of Gallardon confirmed this description. +They agreed in representing him to have been a good simple creature, +with an intellect well-balanced although not very active. + +In 1816 he was thirty-three. On January 15 in this year he was alone +in his field, over which he was spreading manure, when in his ear he +heard a voice which had not been preceded by footsteps. Then he +turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a figure which +alarmed him. In comparison with human size it was but slight; its +countenance, which was very thin, dazzled by its unnatural whiteness. +It was wearing a high hat and a frock-coat of a light colour, with +laced shoes. + +It said in a kindly tone: "You must go to the King; you must warn him +that his person is in danger, that wicked people are seeking to +overthrow his Government." + +It added further recommendations to Louis XVIII touching the +necessity of having an efficient police, of keeping holy the Sabbath, +of ordering public prayers and of suppressing the disorders of the +Carnival. If such measures be neglected, it said, "France will fall +into yet greater misfortunes." All this was doubtless nothing more or +less than what M. La Perruque, Priest of Gallardon, had a hundred +times repeated from the pulpit on Sunday. + +Martin replied: + +"Since you know so much about it, why don't you perform your errand +yourself? Why do you appeal to a poor man like me who knows not how to +express himself?" + +Then the unknown replied to Martin: + +"It is not I who will go, but you; do as I command you." + +As soon as he had uttered these words, his feet rose from the ground, +his body bent, and with this double movement he vanished. + +From this time onwards, Martin was haunted by the mysterious being. +One day, having gone down into his cellar, he found him there. On +another occasion, during vespers, he saw him in church, near the holy +water stoup, in a devout attitude. When the service was over, the +unknown accompanied Martin on his way home and again commanded him to +go and see the King. The farmer told his relatives who were with him, +but neither of them had seen or heard anything. + +Tormented by these apparitions, Martin communicated them to his +priest, M. La Perruque. He, being certain of the good faith of his +parishioner and deeming that the case ought to be submitted to the +diocesan authority, sent the visionary to the Bishop of Versailles. +The Bishop was then M. Louis Charrier de la Roche, a priest who in the +days of the Revolution had taken the oath to the Republic. He resolved +to subject Martin to a thorough examination; and from the first he +told him to ask the unknown what was his name, and who it was who sent +him. + +But when the messenger in the light-coloured frock-coat appeared +again, he declared that his name must remain unknown. + +"I come," he added, "from him who has sent me, and he who has sent me +is above me." + +He may have wished to conceal his name; but at least he did not +conceal his views; the vexation he displayed on the escape of La +Valette[2766] proved that in politics he was an ultra Royalist of the +most violent type. + +[Footnote 2766: Antoine Marie Chamans, Comte de La Valette +(1769-1830), was a French general during the first empire. Having been +arrested in 1815 and condemned to death, he was saved by his +wife.--W.S.] + +Meanwhile the Comte de Bréteuil, Prefect of Eure-et-Loir, had been +told of the visionary at the same time as the Bishop. He also +questioned Martin. He expected to find him a nervous, agitated person; +but when he found him tranquil, speaking simply, but with logical +sequence and precision, he was very astonished. + +Like M. l'Abbé La Perruque he deemed the matter sufficiently important +to bring before the higher authorities. Accordingly he sent Martin, +under the escort of a lieutenant of _gendarmerie_, to the Ministre de +la Police Générale. + +Having reached Paris on March 8, Martin lodged with the _gendarme_ at +the Hôtel de Calais, in the Rue Montmartre. They occupied a +double-bedded room. One morning, when Martin was in bed, he beheld an +apparition and told Lieutenant André, who could see nothing, although +it was broad daylight. Indeed, Martin's visitations became so +frequent that they ceased to cause him either surprise or concern. It +was only to the abrupt disappearance of the unknown that he could +never grow accustomed. The voice continued to give the same command. +One day it told him that if it were not obeyed France would not know +peace until 1840. + +In 1816 the Ministre de la Police Générale was the Comte Decazes who +was afterwards created a duke. He was in the King's confidence. But he +knew that the extreme Royalists were hatching plots against his royal +master. Decazes wished to see the good man from Gallardon, suspecting +doubtless, that he was but a tool in the hands of the Extremists. +Martin was brought to the Minister, who questioned him and at once +perceived that the poor creature was in no way dangerous. He spoke to +him as he would to a madman, endeavouring to regard the subject of his +mania as if it were real, and so he said: + +"Don't be agitated; the man who has been troubling you is arrested; +you will have nothing more to fear from him." + +But these words did not produce the desired effect. Three or four +hours after this interview, Martin again beheld the unknown, who, +after speaking to him in his usual manner, said: "When you were told +that I had been arrested, you were told a lie; he who said so has no +power over me." + +On Sunday, March 10, the unknown returned; and on that day he +disclosed the matter concerning which the Bishop of Versailles had +inquired, and which he had said at first he would never reveal. + +"I am," he declared, "the Archangel Raphaël, an angel of great renown +in the presence of God, and I have received power to afflict France +with all manner of suffering." + +Three days later, Martin was shut up in Charenton on the certificate +of Doctor Pinel, who stated him to be suffering from intermittent +mania with alienation of mind. + +He was treated in the kindest manner and was even permitted to enjoy +some appearance of liberty. Pinel himself originated the humane +treatment of the insane. Martin in the asylum was not forsaken by the +blessed Raphaël. On Friday, the 15th, as the peasant was tying his +shoe laces, the Archangel in his frock-coat of a light colour, spoke +to him these words: + +"Have faith in God. If France persists in her incredulity, the +misfortunes I have predicted will happen. Moreover, if they doubt the +truth of your visions, they have but to cause you to be examined by +doctors in theology." + +These words Martin repeated to M. Legros; Director of the Royal +Institution of Charenton, and asked him what a doctor in theology was. +He did not know the meaning of the term. In the same manner, when he +was at Gallardon he had asked the priest, M. La Perruque, the meaning +of certain expressions the voice had used. For example, he did not +understand the wild frenzy of France [_le délvie de la France_] nor +the evils to which she would fall a victim [_elle serait en proie_]. +But there is nothing that need puzzle us in such ignorance, if it +really existed. Martin may well have remembered the words he did not +understand and which he afterwards attributed to his Archangel still +without understanding them. + +The visions recurred at brief intervals. On Sunday, March 31, the +Archangel appeared to him in the garden, took his hand, which he +pressed affectionately, opened his coat and displayed a bosom of so +dazzling a whiteness that Martin could not bear to gaze on it. Then he +took off his hat. + +"Behold my forehead," he said, "and give heed that it beareth not the +mark of the beast whereby the fallen angels were sealed." + +Louis XVIII expressed a desire to see Martin and to question him. The +King, like his favourite Minister, believed the visionary to be a tool +in the hands of the extreme party. + +On Tuesday, April 2, Martin was taken to the Tuileries and brought +into the King's closet, where was also M. Decazes. As soon as the King +saw the farmer, he said to him: "Martin, I salute you." + +Then he signed to his Minister to withdraw. Thereupon Martin, +according to his own telling, repeated to the King all that the +Archangel had revealed to him, and disclosed to Louis XVIII sundry +secret matters concerning the years he had spent in exile; finally he +made known to him certain plots which had been formed against his +person. Then the King, profoundly agitated and in tears, raised his +hands and his eyes to heaven and said to Martin: + +"Martin, these are things which must never be known save to you and to +me." + +The visionary promised him absolute secrecy. + +Such was the interview of April 2, according to the account given of +it by Martin, who then, under the influence of M. La Perruque's +sermons, was an infatuated Royalist. It would be interesting to know +more of this priest whose inspiration is obvious throughout the whole +story. Louis XVIII agreed with M. Decazes that the man was quite +harmless; and he was sent back to his plough. + +Later, the agents of one of those false dauphins so numerous under the +Restoration, got hold of Martin and made use of him in their own +interest. After Louis XVIII's death, under the influence of these +adventurers, the poor man, reconstituting the story of his interview +with the late King, introduced into it other revelations he claimed to +have received and completely changed the whole character of the +incident. In this second version the passionate Royalist of 1816 was +transformed into an accusing prophet, who came to the King's own +palace to denounce him as a usurper and a regicide, forbidding him in +God's name to be crowned at Reims. + +Such ramblings I cannot relate at length. They are to be found fully +detailed in the book of M. Paul Marin. The author of this work would +have done well to indicate that these follies were suggested to the +unhappy man by the partisans of Naundorf, who was passing himself off +as the Duke of Normandy, who had escaped from the Temple. + +Thomas Ignace Martin died at Chartres in 1834. It is alleged, but it +has never been proved, that he was poisoned.[2767] + +[Footnote 2767: _Rapport adressé à S. Ex. le Ministre de la Police +Générale sur l'état du nommé Martin, envoyé par son ordre à la maison +royale de Charenton, le 13 Mars, 1816, par MM. Pinel, médecin en chef +de l'hôpital de la Salpêtriere, et Royer-Collard, médecin en chef de +la maison royale de Charenton, et l'un et l'autre professeurs à la +faculté de médecine de Paris._ Inscribed at the end with the +date--Paris, 6 May, 1816--39 pages in 4'o MS. in the library of the +author. Le Capitaine Paul Marin, _Thomas Martin de Gallardon Les +Médecins et les thaumaturges du XIX'e siècle_, Paris, s.d. in +18'o. _Mémoires de la Comtesse de Boignes_, edited by Charles +Nicoullaud, Paris, 1907, vol. iii. pp. 355 and _passim_.] + + + + +APPENDIX IV + +ICONOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +There is no authentic picture of Jeanne. From her we know that at +Arras she saw in the hands of a Scotsman a picture in which she was +represented on her knees presenting a letter to her King. From her we +know also that she never caused to be made either image or painting of +herself, and that she was not aware of the existence of any such image +or painting. The portrait painted by the Scotsman, which was doubtless +very small, is unfortunately lost and no copy of it is known.[2768] +The slight pen-and-ink figure, drawn on a register of May 10, 1429, by +a clerk of the Parlement of Paris, who had never seen the Maid, must +be regarded as the mere scribbling of a scribe who was incapable of +even designing a good initial letter.[2769] I shall not attempt to +reconstruct the iconography of the Maid.[2770] The bronze equestrian +statue in the Cluny Museum produces a grotesque effect that one is +tempted to believe deliberate, if one may ascribe such an intention to +an old sculptor. It dates from the reign of Charles VIII. It is a +Saint George or a Saint Maurice, which, at a time doubtless quite +recent, was taken to represent the Maid. Between the legs of the +miserable jade, on which the figure is mounted, was engraved the +inscription: _La pucelle dorlians_, a description which would not +have been employed in the fifteenth century.[2771] About 1875, the +Cluny Museum exhibited another statuette, slightly larger, in painted +wood, which was also believed to be fifteenth century, and to +represent Jeanne d'Arc. It was relegated to the store-room, when it +turned out to be a bad seventeenth-century Saint Maurice from a church +at Montargis.[2772] Any saint in armour is frequently described as a +Jeanne d'Arc. This is what happened to a small fifteenth-century head +wearing a helmet, found buried in the ground at Orléans, broken off +from a statue and still bearing traces of painting: a work in good +style and with a charming expression.[2773] I have not patience to +relate how many initial letters of antiphonaries and sixteenth-, +seventeenth- and even eighteenth-century miniatures have been touched +up or repainted and passed off as true and ancient representations of +Jeanne. Many of them I have had the opportunity of seeing.[2774] On +the other hand, if they were not so well known, it would give me +pleasure to recall certain manuscripts of the fifteenth century, +which, like _Le Champion des Dames_ and _Les Vigiles de Charles VII_, +contain miniatures in which the Maid is portrayed according to the +fancy of the illuminator. Such pictures are interesting because they +reveal her as she was imagined by those who lived during her lifetime +or shortly afterwards. It is not their merit that appeals to us; they +possess none; and in no way do they suggest Jean Foucquet.[2775] + +[Footnote 2768: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 100, 292.] + +[Footnote 2769: There is a wood engraving of this figure in Wallon, +_Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 95.] + +[Footnote 2770: E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Notes +iconographiques sur Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris and Orléans, 1879, in 18'o +royal paper.] + +[Footnote 2771: Reproduced in many works, notably opposite p. 17 in +the book of E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, referred to above.] + +[Footnote 2772: _Ibid._, see woodcut opposite p. 8.] + +[Footnote 2773: In the Orléans Museum. A copper-plate engraving by M. +Georges Lavalley, in the _Jeanne d'Arc_, of M. Raoul Bergot, Tours, +s.d. large 8'o.] + +[Footnote 2774: Of this class of so-called portrait, I will merely +mention the miniature which serves as frontispiece to vol. iv. of _La +Vrai Jeanne d'Arc_, of P. Ayroles, Paris, 1898, in large 8'o, and +the miniature of the Spetz Collection, reproduced in the _Jeanne +d'Arc_ of Canon Henri Debout, vol. ii. p. 103 (also in _The Maid of +France_ by Andrew Lang, 1908. W.S.).] + +[Footnote 2775: _Le champion des dames_, MS. of the fifteenth century; +_Bibl. nat._, fonds français, No. 841; Martial d'Auvergne, MS. of the +end of the fifteenth century, fonds français, No. 5054. An initial of +a fifteenth-century Latin MS., _Bibl. nat._, No. 14665.] + +While the Maid lived, and especially while she was in captivity, the +French hung her picture in churches.[2776] In the Museum of Versailles +there is a little painting on wood which is said to be one of those +votive pictures. It represents the Virgin with the Child Jesus, having +Saint Michael on her right and Jeanne d'Arc on her left.[2777] It is +of Italian workmanship and very roughly executed. Jeanne's head, which +has disappeared beneath the blows of some hard-pointed instrument, +must have been execrably drawn, if we may judge from the others +remaining on this panel. All four figures are represented with a +scrolled and beaded nimbus, which would have certainly been condemned +by the clerics of Paris and Rouen. And indeed others less strict might +accuse the painter of idolatry when he exalted to the left hand of the +Virgin, to be equal with the Prince of Heavenly Hosts, a mere creature +of the Church Militant. + +[Footnote 2776: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 100. N. Valois, _Un nouveau +témoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 8, 13.] + +[Footnote 2777: Reproduced in chromo in Wallon's _Jeanne d'Arc_.] + +Standing, her head, neck, and shoulders covered with a kind of furred +hood and tippet fringed with black, her gauntlets and shoes of mail, +girt above her red tunic with a belt of gold, Jeanne may be recognised +by her name inscribed over her head, and also by the white banner, +embroidered with _fleurs-de-lis_, which she raises in her right hand, +and by her silver shield, embossed in the German style; on the shield +is a sword bearing on its point a crown. A three-lined inscription in +French is on the steps of the throne, whereon sits the Virgin Mary. +Although the inscription is three parts effaced and almost +unintelligible, with the aid of my learned friend, M. Pierre de +Nolhac, Director of the Museum of Versailles, I have succeeded in +deciphering a few words. These would convey the idea that the +inscription consisted of prayers and wishes for the salvation of +Jeanne, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. It would appear +therefore that we have here one of those _ex voto_ hung in the +churches of France during the captivity of the Maid. In such a case +the nimbus round the head of a living person and the isolated +position of Jeanne would be easily explained; it is possible that +certain excellent Frenchmen, thinking no evil, adapted to their own +use some picture which originally represented the Virgin between two +personages of the Church Triumphant. By a few touches they transformed +one of these personages into the Maid of God. In so small a panel they +could find no place more suitable to her mortal state, none like those +generally occupied at the feet of the Virgin and saints by the +kneeling donors of pictures. This too might explain perhaps why Saint +Michael, the Virgin and the Maid have their names inscribed above +them. Over the head of the Maid we read _ane darc_. This form _Darc_ +may have been used in 1430.[2778] In the inscription on the steps of +the throne I discern _Jehane dArc_, with a small _d_ and a capital _A_ +for _dArc_, which is very curious. This causes me to doubt the +genuineness of the inscription. + +[Footnote 2778: The form _Darc_ occurs in the condemnation trial +(_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191, vol. ii, p. 82). But side by side we find +also _Dars_ (document dated March 31, 1427), _Day_ (patent of +nobility), _Daiz_ (communicated to me by M. Pierre Champion) and +_Daix_ (_Chronique de la Pucelle_).] + +The _bestion_ tapestry[2779] in the Orléans Museum,[2780] which +represents Jeanne's arrival before the King at Chinon, is of German +fifteenth-century workmanship. Coarse of tissue, barbarous in design, +and monotonous in colour, it evinces a certain taste for sumptuous +adornment but also an absolute disregard for literal truth. + +[Footnote 2779: Tapestry representing small animals.--W.S.] + +[Footnote 2780: Reproduced in chromo in Wallon's _Jeanne d'Arc_, _cf._ +J. Quicherat, _Histoire du costume en France depuis les temps les plus +reculés, jusqu' la fin du XVIII'e siècle_, Paris, 1875, large +octavo, p. 271.] + +Another German work was exhibited at Ratisbonne in 1429. It +represented the Maid fighting in France. But this painting is +lost.[2781] + +[Footnote 2781: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 270.] + + + + +INDEX + + +AARON, i. 207 + +Arras, Bishop of, ii. 51 + +Abbeville, ii. 99, 197 + +Absalom, i. 138 + +Achilles, ii. 28 + +Ænius Sylvius, ii. 378 + +Aëtius, i. 119 + +Ahasuerus, i. 339 + +Ahaz, i. 213 + +Aimery, Guillaume, examines Jeanne, i. 189, 193, 194 + +Aisne, The, i. 460; ii. 1, 142 + +Aix, ii. 407 + +Alain du Bey, i. 235 + +Alain, Jacques, i. 88, 89 + +Albi, Consuls of, i. 240, 398 + +Albigenses, The, ii. 157 + +Albret, Charles, Sire d', i. 137, 447; ii. 22, 63, 78, 164 + Jeanne in charge of ii. 84, 94, 96 + +Alençon, Bailie of, i. 124 + Dame of, i. 185 + Duchy of, i. 106 + Duke of, i. ix, xii, 255, 389; ii. 78 + and Jeanne, i. 183, 186, 190, 195; ii. 92 + at Beaugency, i. 363-367 + at Blois, i. 243 + at Reims, i. 446, 447, 450 + career of, i. 183 + commands the army, i. 347-355, 362; ii. 8, 36, 44, 49, 53, 63 + consults Jeanne before Patay, i. 370, 378 + evidence of, i. xxviii, xxix, xliv, xlix; ii. 382, 387, 392 + heads attack on Paris, ii. 63, 70, 73 + skirmishes round Paris, ii. 49, 53, 61 + uses Jeanne as a mascotte, ii. 83 + imprisoned, ii. 197 + +Alespée, Jean, ii. 208, 340 + +Alexander the Great, i. 181, 226, 475 + +Alexandria, i. 36, 40, 198, 239 + +Alison du Mai, i. 93, 94 + +Allée, Pierre d', ii. 71, 130 + +Alphonso of Aragon, ii. 39, 40 + +Amazons, The, i. 191, 329 + +Amblény, plain of, ii. 2 + +Ambleville, i. 252, 276 + detained by English, i. 295 + +Amboise, i. 363 + +Amedée of Savoie, Prince, i. 381; ii. 155, 361 + +Amiens, ii. 197 + +_Amiète_, ii. 74 + +Amos, ii. 166 + +Ampulla, the Sacred, i. liv, 390, 391, 393, 445-448, 459 + +Amydas, King, ii. 133 + +Ananias, a hermit, i. 36 + +Andelot, i. 16; ii. 210 + +Andouillette, Lord Guillaume, i. 428 + +André, Lieutenant, ii. 415 + +Andrieu, Robert, ii. 92 + +Angers, i. 63, 108, 132, 240; ii. 139, 184 + +Angerville, i. 138 + +Anis, i. 219 + +Anjou, i. 149, 150, 218, 389 + Duchess of, i. 147 + +Anne of Austria, ii. 410 + +Annunciation, The, i. 219 + +Antichrist, coming of, i. 412 + +Antoine de Lorraine, Lord of Joinville, i. 96 + +Antonio de Rho, i. 384 + +Apollodorus, i. 322 + +Appleby, William, i. 124 + +Apples, cause of war, i. 92 + +Apremont, Lord of, ii. 365 + +Aquitaine, ii. 383 + +Aragon, i. 121 + +_Arbre-des-Dames_, or _Arbre-des-Fées_, romance of, i. 12 + +Arc, Catherine d', i. 4, 9, 35, 60 + family ennobled, i. xvii; ii. 102, 212 + Isabelle d', i. 68, 218, 358; ii. 353 + origin of mother of Jeanne, i. 3 + at Puy, i. 218, 220, 252 + demands rehabilitation, ii. 385 + Jacques d', i. xvii, 3, 9 + home of, i. 6 + freeman or serf, i. 17 + rents fortress of Domremy, i. 19 + his duties as village elder, i. 25 + visits Vaucouleurs, i. 57 + his anxiety about Jeanne, i. 68 + simplicity of, i. 95 + at Reims, i. 451 + Jacques or Jacquemin d', brother of Jeanne, i. 4, 20 + Jean d', i. 4; ii. 353 + joins Jeanne, i. 252 + enters Orléans, i. 267, 269, 272 + believes Jeanne to be alive, ii. 353-376 + demands rehabilitation, ii. 385 + M. Lanéry d', i. vii, xxii + Nicolas d', i. 5 + Pierre d', i. 7, 451; ii. 353, 375, 376 + joins Jeanne, i. 252 + enters Orléans, i. 267, 269, 272 + taken prisoner, ii. 152 + demands rehabilitation, ii. 385 + +Archambaud of Villars, i. 121, 144, 169 + +Arcis, i. 435 + +Areopagite, The, ii. 48 + +Arezzo, i. 384 + +Argenson, M. d', ii. 411 + +Aristotle, i. 181, 322, 383 + +Arles, i. 119; ii. 360 + +Arlon, ii. 359, 365 + +Armagnac Conspiracy to enter Paris, ii. 128-130 + Count of, _see_ Jean IV + +Armagnacs and Burgundians, war between, i. 21 _et passim_ + +Armoises, Robert des, Lord of Tichemont, ii. 365, 374 + +Arnaud of Corraze, Raimond, i. 121 + +Arnolin, Messire, i. 65 + +Arnoul, Madame, ii. 412 + +Arnoult of Aulnoy, i. 98 + +Aronde, The, ii. 145 + +Arras, i. 458 + Jeanne at, ii. 191-196, 420 + Franquet d', ii. 275 + +Artaxerxes, i. 409 + +Arthur of Brittany, _see_ Count of Richemont + +Artois, Bailie of, i. 458 + +Arundel, Earl of, ii. 348 + +Ascension Day, i. 291-294; ii. 65 + +Astarac, ii. 38 + +Astrologers, i. 166, 473; ii. 409 + foretell the death of Salisbury, i. 127 + _see_ Nostradamus + +Attila, i. 119, 208, 238 + +Aube, The, i. 100, 435 + +Aubriot, Hugues, ii. 54 + +Aubrit, Jannet, i. 5 + Jeanne, i. 5, 13 + +Augsburg, i. 221 + +Augustinians, i. 109, 220 + +Aulnoy, i. 98 + +Aulon, Jean d', Squire to Jeanne, i. xiv, xxix, xxx, xxxiv, 252, 259, + 269, 277, 283, 284, 364; ii. 119, 160, 366, 388, 401 + at St.-Loup, i. 285, 287 + at Les Tourelles, i. 297, 299, 308 + questions Jeanne as to her Council, i. 341 + at St. Pierre-le-Moustier, ii. 84, 85 + taken prisoner, ii. 152 + +Aunoy, Jean d', i. 61 + Marguerite d', i. 61 + +Autun, i. 113; ii. 106 + +Auvergne, i. 137, 139, 149, 240 + +Aurelian, the Emperor, i. 109 + +Auxerre, i. 100, 410, 465, 472 + Bishop of, i. 404 + Charles VII at, i. 403-407 + +Avignon, i. 161, 464; ii. 178 + +Avioth, hill of, ii. 136 + +Avranches, ii. 49 + Bishop of, i. 30; ii. 209 + +Ayroles, Le Père, i. xxxvii + +Azincourt, i. 145, 154, 229, 358; ii. 178 + + +BABYLON, i. 260, 414 + +Baignart, Robert, i. 355 + +Bailiet, i. lvii + +Balaam's Ass, i. 175 + +Bâle, Council of, ii. 176, 252, 364, 378 + +Bar, i. 13, 389 + ravaged by La Hire, i. 24 + Cardinal, Duke of, i. 92; ii. 1, 8, 53, 73, 178 + +Bar-sur-Aube, i. 100 + +Bar-sur-Seine, i. 100 + +Baratin, Pierre, ii. 360 + +Barbazan, ii. 196, 199 + +Barbezieux, M. de, ii. 408 + +Barbier, Canon, ii. 210 + +Barbin, Guillaume, i. 167 + +Barcelona, i. 40 + +Baretta, Bartolomeo, ii. 118, 124, 147, 148, 155, 193 + +Barrère, Jean, i. xlvi, ii. 41 + +Barrey, Edite, i. 5 + Jean, godfather of Jeanne, i. 5 + +Barrois, i. 81 + +Barron, ii. 20 + +Basque, The, upholds the standard, i. 308-310 + +Bassigny, i. 24, 26 + +Bastard of Granville, i. 279 + of Orléans, i. xiii, lvi, 105, 190, 251, 258, 333, 347, 349, 389; + ii. 10, 15, 22 + evidence of, i. xxv, xxix, xxxii + becomes Count of Dunois, i. xvi; ii. 383, 387 + obtains supplies, i. 117 + parentage of, i. 128 + enters Orléans, i. 129, 264-269 + achievements of, i. 129 + lends musicians to the English, i. 133 + leaves Orléans, i. 137 + attacks Fastolf's convoy, i. 139 + sends to inquire of Jeanne, i. 144 + regards Jeanne's mission as religious, i. 264, 266, 284 + advises Jeanne to hold aloof, i. 272 + meets the army from Blois, i. 277, 282 + speaks with Jeanne of Falstolf, i. 283 + pacifies Jeanne, i. 294 + demands Jeanne's heralds, i. 295 + at Les Tourelles, i. 298, 304 + attacks Jargeau, i. 332, 351-355 + marvels at Jeanne, i. 335 + at Patay, i. 370, 372 + policy of, ii. 53 + of Poitiers, _see_ Guillaume + of Vauru, ii. 12-14 + of Vergy, ii. 353 + of Wandomme, ii. 152, 154 + +Bastardy, i. 128 + +Battle of the Herrings, i. 138-140, 213, 230, 236, 256, 281, 370, 473; + ii. 57 + +Baudot de Noyelles, ii. 146, 149 + +Baudricourt, Lord of, _see_ Robert de Baudricourt + +Baudrin, Jean, ii. 130 + +Bavon, Lady Anna, ii. 216 + +Bayeux, ii. 205 + +Bayonne, ii. 383 + +Bazoches, Thomas de, i. 440 + +Beans sown at Troyes, i. 413, 426 + +Béarn, i. 121 + +Beaucaire, ii. 388 + +Beaugency, i. xli, 255, 256, 439; ii. 23, 95 + English at, i. 318, 332 + French take, i. 362-368 + +Beaulieu, Castle of, Jeanne at, ii. 159, 178, 276 + +Beaumont, Andrieu de, i. 379 + +Beaumont-sur-Oise, i. 103; ii. 78 + +Beaune, i. 450 + +Beaupère, Jean, ii. 208, 294, 307, 315, 380, 388 + questions Jeanne, ii. 228-234, 237-240, 242, 401-406 + +Beaurepaire, M. Robillard de, i. vii, xxxii + +Beaurevoir, i. xix; ii. 51, 140, 195 + Jeanne at, ii. 178-191, 261, 273, 318, 405 + +Beauvais, i. 70; ii. 11, 119, 211, 309 + archdeacon of, i. 153 + bishop of, _see_ Cauchon + surrenders to Charles VII, ii. 35 + English march on, ii. 348 + +Bec, Abbot of, ii. 208, 309 + +Bec-d'Allier, ii. 84 + +Bede, the Venerable, prophecies of, i. 178; ii. 27, 30, 230 + +Bedford, Duchess of, ii. 216, 217, 321 + Duke of, i. 69, 359; ii. 60, 348 + seizes Alençon, i. 106 + returns to England, i. 107 + addressed by Jeanne, i. 245, 247 + policy towards Burgundy, i. 401 + robs the bishops, i. 409 + challenges Charles, ii. 16-19 + believes Jeanne a witch, ii. 18, 217 + cedes Paris to Philip, ii. 57, 58 + keeps the crusaders in France, ii. 110 + canon of Rouen, ii. 204 + death of, ii. 352 + +Bégot, Jean, ii. 210 + +_Beguines_, ii. 119 + +Behemoth, ii. 296 + +Belial, ii. 296 + +Bellême, Château de, i. 103 + +Belles, Dames, i. 125 + +Bellier, Guillaume, i. 174; ii. 370 + +Bellona, i. lxxii + +Bells and St. Catherine, i. 341 + +Bénédicité, _see_ Estivet + +Benedict XIII, pope, i. 40, 161; ii. 37, 40, 41, 363 + +Benedict XIV, pope, ii. 37, 41, 42 + +Bennade, Bishop, i. 50 + +Bernard le Breton, ii. 127 + +Bernardino of Siena, i. 249, 412 + +Berne, i. lxxi + +Berruyer, Martin, ii. 394, 396 + +Berry, Duc de, Jean, ii. 83 + duchy of, i. xiv, 101, 108, 389; ii. 211 + +Berthe, Queen, i. 12, 395 + +Bertrand de Poulengy, i. xxix, xxx, 65, 82, 87, 220, 269 + accompanies Jeanne, i. 96-105 + at Blois, i. 252 + +Berwoist, John, ii. 225 + +Besançon, ii. 388 + +Bethlehem, i. 454 + +Bethsaida, i. 414 + +Bethulia, i. 191; ii. 366 + +Béthune, Jeanne de, ii. 178 + +Biget, Jean, i. 19 + +Billoray, Martin, Grand Inquisitor, ii. 157 + +Blackfriars, i. 109 + +Black Prince, i. 164 + +Blaise, i. 24 + +Blanche of Castile, Queen, i. 395 + +Blasphemy forbidden, i. 253 + +Blaye, ii. 383 + +Blésois, i. 101, 108 + +Bloch, M. Camille, i. lxxiv + +Blois, i. 92, 111, 114, 134, 137, 239, 240 + Jeanne at, i. xiii, 243, 319 + St. Sauveur, i. 253 + army returns to, i. 265, 272, 277, 282 + English at, i. 360 + +Boian, Captain, ii. 95 + +Boilet, Colette, ii. 92, 93 + +Boillève, Jean, i. 348, 366 + +Bois-Chênu, i. 2, 10, 175; ii. 239 + +Boisguillaume, _see_ Colles + +Bolingbroke, i. 359 + +Bona of Milan, ii. 41 + +Bonne de Savoie, i. 381 + +Bonnet, M. Raoul, i. lxxiv + Simon, i. 189 + +Bonval, Jean de, ii. 12 + +Bordeaux, ii. 383 + +Borenglise, Castle of, ii. 138 + +Bosquier, Pierre, ii. 343 + +Bossuet, i. lvi + +Boucher, Charlotte, i. xxiv, 271 + Jacques, i. 110, 283, 302, 314; ii. 36 + Jeanne lodges with, i. xxiv, 270; ii. 259 + +Bouchet, i. 265 + +Boudant, Hélie, ii. 97 + +Boulainvilliers, Percevalde, i. 376, 399 + +Bouligny, René de, ii. 388 + +Boullay, Aubert, ii. 356 + +Boulogne, ii. 153 + +Boulogne-la-Petite, i. 415 + +Bouray, Jean de, ii. 96 + +Bourbon, Duke of, i. xii, lxiv; ii. 8, 63 + +Bourbonnais, i. 117, 129, 137 + +Bourgeois, Jean, i. 356 + +Bourges, i. 240, 395, 396; ii. 4 + chapter of, i. 152; ii. 379 + Jeanne at, ii. 78 + defray costs of war, ii. 95 + +Bourget, Jean, ii. 183 + +Bourgogne, ii. 140 + +Bourlémont, Château of, i. 2, 16 + Pierre de, i. 14, 16 + +Bournel, Guichard, ii. 70, 143, 261 + +Boussac, Marshal de, i. 141, 147, 267, 281 + in command, i. 129, 133, 136, 137, 140, 272, 282, 315, 346, 347, 445; + ii. 34, 63, 76, 96, 194, 347, 348 + at Blois, i. 244 + enters Orléans with Jeanne, i. 269 + goes to meet Talbot, i. 288 + at Les Tourelles, i. 298, 304 + at Patay, i. 372 + leads army towards Reims, i. 403 + +Bouteiller, Sire le, ii. 339 + +Bouvier, Gilles le, i. x + +Brabant, ii. 49 + +Bray-sur-Seine, ii. 8, 78 + +Bréhal, Jean, i. 167; ii. 384, 391 + +Bréteuil, Comte de, ii. 415 + +Bretigny, Treaty of, i. lxiv + +Bretons, The, i. 287 + +Briare, ii. 106 + +Brie, i. 187; ii. 9, 17, 110 + +Brimeu, David de, _see_ Lord of Ligny + +Brinion-l'Archevêque, i. 421, 426, 435, 439 + +Brittany, i. 154, 387 + restored by Duke John, i. 380 + +Brook of the Three Springs, i. 17 + +Brousson, M. Jean, i. lxxiv + +Bruges, ii. 99 + +Buchon, i. vii + +Bueil, Jean de, i. 129, 218, 232; ii. 22, 50, 147 + +Builhon, Jean de, i. 127, 166 + +Burey-en-Vaux, i. 2, 59, 67, 75 + +Burey-la-Côte, i. 2 + +Burgundy, i. 154 + Duke of, _see_ Philip + +Butchers of Paris, i. 154; ii. 129 + +Butterflies, significance of, ii. 260 + + +CABASSE, Raymond, i. 210 + +Cabochiens, The, i. xxi, 154, 358; ii. 170, 352 + +Caffa, ii. 140 + +Cagny, Perceval de, i. ix, x + +Cailly, Guy de, i. xxxii, 267, 269, 342 + +Calais, Jean de, ii. 128, 130 + +_Calendrier des Vieillards_, i. 211 + +Calixtus III, ii. 385 + +Calot, Lawrence, ii. 318 + +Cambrai, ii. 178 + +Camilla, i. 191, 222, 329 + +Cana, ii. 48 + +Cany, Dame de, i. 128 + +_Capitouls_ of Toulouse, i. 337; ii. 41 + +Carlier, Bietremieu, ii. 188 + +Carmelites, The, i. 109, 189; ii. 71, 120, 164 + plots of, ii. 128-131 + +Cartesianism, i. lviii + +Cassandra, i. 204; ii. 30 + +Castille, Étienne, ii. 199 + +Castillon, Jean de, ii. 291 + +Castres, Bishop of, ii. 379 + +Cathari, The, i. 209, 210; ii. 111, 157, 282 + +Catherine de la Rochelle, ii. 85-88, 101, 119, 167 + and Jeanne, ii. 88-90, 184 + employed by Friar Richard, ii. 183-185, 261, 345, 367 + +Cato, i. 327 + +Catherine, Queen, i. 60, 250, 275, 423 + +Cauchon, Pierre, Bishop of Beauvais, i. xxvii, li, lii, 440; ii. 35, + 46, 299 + consults the University of Paris, i. 274 + claims Jeanne, ii. 170-178, 181, 195, 197, 203, 204 + conducts her trial, ii. 205-284 + reads the sentence on Jeanne, ii. 314, 320, 337 + hears her retract, ii. 324-328 + claims Guillaume the shepherd, ii. 349 + at Bâle, ii. 382 + responsibility thrown on, deceased, ii. 385 + death of, ii. 392 + +Cayeux, Hugues de, ii. 51 + +Cazin du Boys, i. 103 + +Ceffonds, i. 3 + +Cerquenceaux, Abbot of, i. 121 + +Chabannes, Jacques de, i. 129; ii. 145 + +Chabot, Jean, i. 139 + +Chailly, Denis de, i. 136 + Lord de, i. 304 + +Châlons, i. xxxii, 389, 394, 405, 417, 424; ii. 4, 71 + Count of, i. 447 + surrenders to Charles VII, i. 435-437 + +Chambley, Alarde de, i. 61 + +_Chambre des Comptes_, ii. 208 + +Champagne, i. lxix, 3, 187 + war in, i. 385, 388 + route through, i. 393 + +Champigny, ii. 56 + +Champion, M. Pierre, i. xix, lxxiv + +Chandos, standard of, i. 310, 448 + +_Chanson de Roland_, ii. 278 + +Chapelain, i. lv, lxv + +Chapelle, Jean de la, ii. 128-130 + +Chapelle-St.-Denys, ii. 130 + +Chapon, Perrot, i. 103 + +Charavay, M. Noël, i. lxxiv + +Charcot, Dr., ii. 403 + +Charenton, ii. 416 + +Charlemagne, crown and sword of, i. 444, 476 + +Charles II, Duke of Lorraine, _see_ Lorraine + Sire d'Albret, _see_ Albret + +Charles V, i. 148, 224, 359; ii. 64 + piety of, i. 160 + +Charles VI, i. 22, 146, 161, 183, 423, 429; ii. 54, 208, 228 + believer in prophecy, i. 196 + death of, i. 198 + +Charles VII, i. lxxi, 24, 82, 137, 209; ii. 361 + attacked through Jeanne, i. xii; ii. 177, 209, 233, 244, 310, 376 + escutcheons of, i. 31; ii. 26 + Jeanne's prophecies concerning, i. 64, 67, 77, 81 + prisoner of the English, i. 75 + sends for Jeanne, i. 89 + character of, i. 145-149, 160, 166 + resources of, i. 149-155, 331, 396 + _Le Bien Servi_, i. 153 + examines reports of Jeanne, i. 160, 162, 168, 323, 328 + interviews Jeanne, i. 168-173, 183 + personal appearance of, i. 170 + legitimacy of, i. 172 + warned against Jeanne, i. 181 + seeks a sign, i. 213, 214 + has Jeanne armed and mounted, i. 221-223 + announces the relief of Orléans, i. 319 + urged by Jeanne to Reims, i. 333, 385 + Voices not heard by, i. 342 + receives Jeanne after Patay, i. 377 + coronation of; moral value of, i. 391 + innocent of death of Duke John, i. 401 + starts for Reims, i. 403 + at Troyes, i. 421-434 + at Châlons, i. 436 + summons Reims to surrender, i. 439 + crowned at Reims, i. 443-449 + progress to Compiègne, ii. 1-24, 34, 51 + challenged by Bedford, ii. 16-19 + makes truce with Burgundy, ii. 51-53 + hated in Paris, ii. 58, 59 + orders army back from Paris, ii. 73 + leaves St. Denys, ii. 76 + disbands the army, ii. 78 + peaceful policy of, ii. 120 + schemes to win Paris, ii. 128 + maintains the Pragmatic Sanction, ii. 381 + enters Rouen, ii. 383 + urges trial for rehabilitation, ii. 383-385 + death of, ii. 397 + +Charles VIII, i. lxxi + +Charles, Duke of Orléans, i. 91, 142, 243; ii. 1, 269 + bribes the English, i. 106 + raises supplies, i. 117 + ballad by, i. 235 + to be rescued by Jeanne, i. 333, 357 + piety of, i. 342, 358 + colours of, i. 356 + captivity of, i. 359 + +Charles Martel, i. 102, 223, 226, 475 + Simon, i. 169 + +Charles the Wise, ii. 14 + +Charny, Lord of, ii. 51 + +Charpaigne, i. 155 + +Charpentier, P., i. xiii + +Chartier, Alain, i. xlv, lxiii, 251 + Jean, i. xi-xiii, xx, xxxii, xlv + +Chartiers, Guillaume, ii. 385 + +Chartres, i. 410; ii. 213, 353, 419 + +Chassé-les-Usson, ii. 394 + +Chastel, Jean du, i. 104 + +Chastellain, Georges, i. xxi + +Chastillon, Sire de, commander of Reims, i. 438-442 + +Châteaubriand, i. lix + +Châteaubrun, Lord of, i. 139, 141 + +Châteaudun, i. 114, 240, 318 + Governor of, i. 174, 241 + +Châteaufort, Guillaume de, ii. 396 + +Châteauneuf, i. 377 + +Château-of-Sully, i. 377 + +Châteaurenard, i. 282; ii. 78 + +Château-Thierry, i. 440; ii. 3, 4, 7, 10, 260 + Jeanne at, ii. 75 + +Châteauvillain, Sire de, i. 411 + +Chatterton, Thomas, i. lxix + +Chaumont, i. 16, 61, 121, 129 + occupied by the English, i. 23 + Lord of, i. 129, 210 + +Chécy, i. 112, 113, 258, 341 + army reaches, i. 264 + Jeanne at, i. 267 + +Cheminon, Abbey of, i. 47, 252 + +Chénier, Marie-Joseph, i. xlvi, lxv + +Cher, The, i. 338 + +Chinon, i. xxxviii, 87, 89, 99, 117, 143, 144, 151, 217, 238, 466, 476; + ii. 300, 370 + Jeanne at, i. xiii, xxv, 145, 156-185, 468; ii. 232, 404 + castles of, i. 158 + Grand Carroy, i. 167 + La Vieille Porte, i. 168 + Castle of Coudray, i. 173 + Charles VII at, i. 319 + +Choisy-au-Bac, ii. 142 + +Choisy-sur-Aisne, ii. 142 + +Chorazin, i. 414 + +Christine de Pisan, i. 179; ii. 56 + poems of, ii. 24-30 + +Chroniclers of the period, i. ix + +_Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, i. xxi + +_Chronique de la Pucelle_, _La_, i. xiv + +_Chronique de l'Etablissement de la fête_, _Le_, i. xviii + +_Chronique des Cordeliers_, _Le_, i. xix, xx + +Chrysippus, i. 322 + +Chursates, i. 40 + +Cilinia, i. 50 + +_City of God_, _The_, i. 205 + +Clain, The, i. 147 + +Clairoix, ii. 145, 147, 164 + +Claude de Metz, ii. 353 + +Clefmont, Barthélemy de, i. 28 + +Clement VIII, pope, ii. 37, 40, 42, 250, 363 + +Clement of Alexandria, i. 205 + +Clermont, i. 240; ii. 92 + bishop of, i. 155 + Count of, i. 137, 147, 169, 281, 342, 446, 450; ii. 45, 53, 73, 76 + cowardice of, i. 138, 140, 370 + +Climat-du-Camp, i. 373, 375 + +Clopinel, i. 143 + +Clorinda, i. lxxii + +Clotaire, King, ii. 46 + +Clotilde, Queen, i. 51-53 + +Clovis, King, i. 49-53, 55, 182, 392, 445, 447; ii. 178 + +Coarraze, Lord de, i. 304 + +Coeur-de-Lis, i. 118; ii. 361 + +Coinage, the Maid an authority on, i. 337 + +Colard de Mailly, i. 442 + +Colet de Vienne, i. 88, 96, 100, 157, 160 + +Colette of Corbie, i. xxxv, lxxii, 72, 453, 472; ii. 135, 184 + +Colin, Jean, i. 48, 97 + +Colles, Guillaume, ii. 206, 218 + +Cologne, i. 383; ii. 362, 364, 365, 370 + +Colonna, Otto, ii. 39 + +Comberel, Hugues de, i. 150 + +Combleux, i. 113 + +Comment-Qu'il-Soit, i. 381 + +Commercy, i. 436 + Damoiseau de, _see_ Robert de Saarbruck + +Compiègne, i. xx, xxxi, 198; ii. 2, 71, 107, 138, 160, 168, 180, 261, 353 + surrenders to Charles VII, ii. 34, 51 + Jeanne at, ii. 36, 142, 405 + siege of, ii. 140, 151, 155, 193-196 + St. Corneille, ii. 208 + +Conches, Governor of, i. 124 + +Confessor, The King's, i. 189 + +Constable of France, i. 400, 447; ii. 44, 382 + feared by the King, i. 377 + plots to seize Jeanne, i. 379 + succeeds as favourite, ii. 351, 352 + +Constable of Scotland, i. 135, 137, 139 + +Constance, Bishop of, ii. 200 + Council of, i. 325; ii. 37, 39, 42, 208 + +Constantinople, i. 249 + +Coppequesne, Nicolas, ii. 210, 218 + +Corbeil, i. 101; ii. 3, 123, 185 + +Corbie, Jean de, i. 404, 472 + +Cordeliers, the, i. xix, 113 + +Cormeilles, ii. 208 + +Corneille, Abbot of, ii. 309 + +Corny, ii. 357 + +Coronation, moral value of, i. 391 + at Orléans, i. 392 + at Reims, i. 392 + of queens, i. 395 + +Corraze, i. 121 + +Corsini, Giovanni, i. 384 + +Costus, King, i. 35 + +Coudray, i. 158 + +Coudun, ii. 146, 150, 164 + +Coulommiers, ii. 3, 9 + +Council, Jeanne's, _see_ Voices, &c. + of Charles VII, makes use of the Maid as a mascotte, i. 378; ii. 101 + plans of, regarding the coronation, i. 386-394 + ceases to employ Jeanne, ii. 120 + +Courcelles, Thomas de, during the trial, ii. 208, 214, 246, 252, 286, + 293, 329, 332, 389 + at Bâle, ii. 379 + delivers the funeral oration on Charles VII, ii. 397 + +Courtenay, ii. 78 + +Cousinot, Guillaume, Chronicle of, i. xiv, 270, 292 + +Coussey, i. 2, 67 + +Coutances, ii. 209 + bishop of, ii. 385 + +Coutes, Jean de, i. 174 + Jeanne de, i. 174 + Louis de, i. 174, 252, 448; ii. 388 + +Couvreur, Jean le, ii. 219 + +Crécy-en-Brie, i. xlvii, 229; ii. 3 + +Cremona, i. 384 + +Crépy-en-Valois, ii. 10, 12, 16, 19, 23, 34, 145 + +Créquy, Sire de, ii. 149, 150 + +Croissy, ii. 56 + +Crotoy, ii. 196 + +Crusades, The, i. 250, 419, 457; ii. 15, 29, 110 + +Cuissart, C., i. xiii + +Culant, Admiral de, i. 134, 141, 243, 304; ii. 76 + +Currency of the period, i. 19 + +Cusquel, Pierre, ii. 201 + +Cyrus, i. 429 + + +DAGOBERT, King, ii. 46 + +Daix, Jehannin, ii. 99 + +Dammartin, ii. 19 + +Daniel, i. 207 + +Dante Alighieri, i. lxviii + +Darnley, i. 137 + +Daron, Pierre, ii. 201 + +Dauphin, The, _see_ Charles VII + Jeanne's use of title explained, i. 198 + +Dauphiné, i. 149 + +David, King, i. 204, 237, 384, 414, 447, 454 + +Deborah, i. 165, 191, 328, 382; ii. 27 + +Decazes, Comte, ii. 415, 418 + +Delachambre, Guillaume, ii. 240, 401 + +Démétriade, ii. 388 + +Denmark, i. 177 + +Desch, Geoffroy, ii. 358 + Jean, ii. 358 + +Deschamps, Eustache, i. 395 + Gilles, ii. 208 + +Devils, entrance of, i. 85 + +Didier of Saint Dié, i. 18, 20 + +Dieppe, i. 140; ii. 198 + +_Dies Iræ_, i. 204; ii. 340 + +Dijon, i. 402, 458 + +Diminutives, origin of, i. 6 + +Dinteville, Jean de, i. 407 + +Diocletian, ii. 56 + +_Directorium_, ii. 285 + +Dive, The, i. 388 + +Dominicans, The, ii. 157 + +Dommartin-la-Cour, i. 27 + +Dommartin-le-Franc, i. 27, 28 + +Domremy, i. xxiii, xxxi, 58, 73, 212 + situation of, i. 2, 16, 17 + inhabitants of suspected of witchcraft, i. 15 + feudal overlordship of, i. 16 + fortress of the island let, i. 19 + precautions against pillage, i. 26 + pillaged by Henri of Savoy, i. 27 + pillaged by Antoine de Vergy, i. 70, 74 + inquiries at, ii. 386 + freed from _tailles_, i. 452 + +Douillet, Jean, ii. 393 + +Doulevant, i. 27 + +Drapier, Perrin le, i. 43 + +Drugy, Château of, ii. 196 + +Ducoudray, Jean, i. 103 + +Duisy, Guillaume, i. 132, 311 + +Dumas, Dr. Georges, i. xxxiv; ii. 401-406 + +Dun, Saubelet de, ii. 366 + +Dunand, Canon, i. lxii + +Dunois, Count of, _see_ Bastard of Orléans + +Durance, The, i. 180 + +Durand de Brie, ii. 127 + of Saint-Dié, i. 18, 20 + +Durandal, ii. 75 + +Duras, Marshal de, ii. 409 + +Dutaillis, M. Petit, i. lxxiii + + +EDWARD III, i. 460 + +Elijah, i. 191, 414, 419 + +Elincourt, ii. 138 + +Elisha, i. 342 + +Embrun, archbishop of, _see_ Jacques Gélu + +Emilius, i. 50 + +Engélide, ii. 31 + +English, hatred of the, i. 21, 22 + occupation of France, i. 21, 23 + army driven from France, i. xlvii-xlix + hesitates between Angers and Orléans, i. 63 + lays siege to Orléans, i. 75 + position in France, i. 106 + composition of, i. 123, 124 + deserters from, i. 124 + disorganised by Salisbury's death, i. 130 + celebrates Noël, i. 133 + plight of, outside Orléans, i. 135 + appears in Le Portereau, i. 123, 124 + occupies St.-Loup, i. 231 + erects worthless bastions, i. 232, 281 + privations of, i. 232, 233, 241 + summoned by Jeanne to surrender, i. 245, 278, 295, 351 + receives Jeanne's letter, i. 273-277 + regards Jeanne as a witch, i. 274-277, 310; ii. 121 + defends Les Tourelles, i. 296-313 + defends Les Augustins, i. 297 + leaves Orléans, i. 316 + in Jargeau, i. 348, 351, 353 + at the battle of Patay, i. 369-376 + at Bray-sur-Seine, ii. 8 + skirmishes with French, ii. 23 + at Jeanne's capture, ii. 152 + buys Jeanne, ii. 175, 196 + gives her up to the Bishop of Beauvais, ii. 204 + tumult at the recantation, ii. 315, 318 + +Enoch, i. 414 + +Epictetus, i. lxvii + +Épinal, Gérardin d', i. 48, 67, 436; ii. 386 + Isabellette d', i. 48, 436 + Nicholas d', i. 48, 437 + +Erard, Guillaume, ii. 208, 257, 294, 329 + preaches against Jeanne, ii. 309-314 + reads the abjuration, ii. 316 + +Eratosthenes, i. 322 + +Érault, Jean, i. 189 + examines Jeanne, i. 194 + writes at her dictation, i. 196 + +Escouchy, Mathieu d', i. xx + +Estellin, Beatrix, i. 5, 12 + Jeannette, ii. 386 + +Esther, i. xxvi, 339, 382; ii. 27 + +Estivet, Jean d', ii. 205, 213, 216, 240, 385, 392 + +Estouteville, Cardinal d', ii. 384 + +Étampes, i. 137, 368 + Count of, i. 381 + +Eugenius IV, pope, ii. 250, 355, 374, 380 + +Eure, The, i. 388 + +Euripides, i. 322 + +Eve, i. 206 + +Évreux, i. 124, 139, 366; ii. 23 + Bailie of, i. 123 + +Eymerie, Nicolas, ii. 285 + +Ezekiel, ii. 230 + + +FABRE, M. Joseph, i. lxii + +Failly, Collard, ii. 366 + +Fair of le Lendit, ii. 49 + +Fairy lore of Domremy, i. 11 + +Falconbridge, Baron, i. 123, 375 + +Fastolf, Sir John, i. 332 + convoys victuals, i. 137 + at Janville, i. 283 + approaches Jargeau, i. 349, 351, 367 + plans of, i. 368, 349 + at Patay, i. 375 + uncertainty of fate of, i. 397, 399 + +Fauchard, Simon, ii. 392 + +Fauveau, ii. 95 + +Fécamp, abbot of, ii. 208, 209, 218, 309, 329 + +Fécard, Jean, ii. 261 + +Felix, pope, ii. 381 + +Féron, Jean, ii. 394 + +Férone, Jeanne la, ii. 394, 396 + +Ferrier, Vincent, i. 412 + +Fesenzac, i. 38 + +Feuillet, Gérard, ii. 261 + +Fiefvé, Thomas, ii. 208 + +Fierbois, i. 102, 475; ii. 139 + St. Catherine's Chapel, i. 223-226 + +Fitz Walter, i. 375 + +Flamenc, Pierre, i. 337 + +Flavy, Guillaume de, ii. 34, 132, 141, 147, 193 + Louis de, ii. 193 + +Fleury, i. 114, 288 + Jean, ii. 127 + +Florence, i. 130; ii. 374 + +Flyeng Hart, The, ii. 26 + +Foix, Count of, ii. 38 + +_Fontaine-auz-Bonnes-Fées-Notre-Seigneur_, romance of, i. 10, 13, 14 + +Fontaine, Jean de la, ii. 205, 218, 261, 264, 268, 278 + +Forest of Guise, ii. 145 + +Forestel, Wavrin du, i. xx + +Fort St. George, i. 159 + +Fossé, Guion du, i. 142 + +Foucault, Jean, ii. 123 + Lord of, ii. 76 + +Foucquet, Jean, ii. 421 + +Foug, Geoffrey de, i. 60 + +Fouquerel, Jean, ii. 45 + +Fournier, Jean, i. 80, 418 + exorcises Jeanne, i. 84-86 + +France, kingdom of, distressful state of, i. 20, 151 + +Franciscans, The, i. 220 + +Franquet d'Arras, prisoner of Jeanne, ii. 124 + +French army, ii. 21 + famine in, i. 425; ii. 3 + +Fresnay-le-Gelmert, Lord of, i. 174 + +Fresnoy, Abbé Longlet du, i. lviii + +Freycinet, M. de, i. xl + +Friar Richard, Jeanne's chaplain, i. 249, 448; ii. 18, 44, 82, 97, 101, + 119, 189, 260, 345-347 + history of, i. 412 + preaches in Paris, i. 413-417; ii. 59 + suspects Jeanne of witchcraft, i. 412, 418 + at Troyes, i. 422, 424, 430, 434, 435 + designs of, ii. 86 + at Orléans, ii. 182 + +Fribourg, i. 70 + +Friesland, Lady of, i. 401 + +Froissart, i. xx + +Frontey, Guillaume, Vicar of Domremy, i. 47, 48 + +Furtivolus, i. 471 + + +GABRIEL, Archangel appears to Jeanne, ii. 291 + +Gaillard, Château, ii. 199 + +Galelière, la, lord of, i. 174 + +Gallardon, i. xxxvi; ii. 413 + +Gamaliel, i. 214 + +Gambetta, i. xl + +Gangres, Council of, i. 197 + +Garivel, François, ii. 387 + +Gascon's plan to fall on Fastolf's + convoy, i. 138 + +Gascony, i. 149 + +Gasque of Avignon, la, i. 161, 196 + +Gath, i. 454 + +Gâtinais, i. 241, 318 + +Gaucourt, Sire de, Governor of Orléans, i. xxx, 130, 153, 169, 211, 292, + 331, 389; ii. 63, 69, 387 + obtains supplies, i. 117 + lodges Jeanne at Coudray, i. 173 + at Blois, i. 243 + leads the attack on Les Tourelles, i. 296, 297, 304, 470 + +_Gazette d'Amsterdam_, ii. 411 + +Gélu, Jacques, bishop of Embrun, i. 165, 181, 250, 425; ii. 28, 261 + his treatise on Jeanne, i. 165, 180, 320-325 + mistrusts Jeanne, i. 181 + on Jeanne's captivity, ii. 162 + +Geneva, i. 167 + +Germain, Bishop, i. 404 + +Gerson, Jean, i. lvii, 7, 204; ii. 112, 228, 261 + career of, i. 324 + his treatise on Jeanne, i. xlix, 326-331; ii. 48, 98 + +Gervais, Canon, i. 209 + +_Geste des nobles François_, i. xiv + +Gethyn, Sir Richard, i. 123, 139, 366-368 + +Gévaudan, ii. 165 + +Ghent, ii. 155 + +Ghiberti, Lorenzo, ii. 39 + +Giac, Lord de, i. 146, 150 + +Gibeaumex, i. 61 + +Gideon, i. 207, 213; ii. 243 + story of, i. 202 + +Gien, i. 100, 101, 231, 240, 282, 389, 472; ii. 78, 95 + French army at, i. xii, xxvi, 394, 396 + Jeanne at, i. 143; ii. 75 + +Giffart, Sir Thomas, i. 310 + +Girard, Jean, i. 165, 181 + +Girault, Guillaume, i. 280, 461 + +Giresme, Nicole de, i. 311 + +Glacidas, i. 124 + +Glasdale, William, i. 124, 126, 130, 132, 304, 310 + answers Jeanne, i. 276 + summoned to surrender, i. 311 + death of, i. 312, 471 + +Gloucester, Duke of, i. 107; ii. 229 + marriage of, i. 401, 402 + +Godefroy, Jean, i. 102, 103 + +_Godons_, The, i. 22 + +Golden Legend, The, i. 207 + +Goliath, i. 238, 454 + +Gondrecourt, Castellany of, i. 16 + le-Château, i. 65 + +Good Friday, coinciding with the Annunciation, i. 219 + +Gooseberry Spring, _see_ Fontaine-aux-Bonnes-Fées + +Gorcum, Heinrich von, i. xxii, 383, 384 + +Gorlitz, Elizabeth of, ii. 359 + +Gottlieben, ii. 200 + +Gouges, Lord Martin, i. 155 + +Gough, Matthew, i. 367 + +Gournay-sur-Aronde, ii. 141, 348 + +Gouye, Colin, ii. 99 + +Granier, Pierre, i. 12 + +Graverent, Jean, Grand Inquisitor, ii. 185, 219, 264, 345 + +Graville, Lord of, i. 137, 140, 292, 304, 372, 445 + +Gray, Lord Richard, i. 123, 143 + +Great Friday, i. 219 + +Grenoble, Parliament of, i. 165 + +Gressart, Perrinet, i. 389; ii. 84, 91, 96 + +Greux, i. 5, 16, 58, 70; ii. 210, 386 + situation of, i. 2, 9 + freed from _tallies_, i. 452 + Colin de, i. 60 + +Grey Friars, Neufchâteau, monastery of, i. 71, 72, 109 + +Grey, John, ii. 225, 252 + +Grignan, Chevalier de, ii. 407 + +Grognot, Nicolas, ii. 356 + +Grouchet, Richard de, ii. 249 + +Gubbio, i. 213 + +Guérard, Sir Thomas, i. 123, 375 + +Guesclin, Bertrand du, i. 175, 338, 345; ii. 47 + +Guesdon, Laurent, ii. 201 + +Gueuville, Nicolas, ii. 197 + +Gugen, Arnault de, i. 372, 373 + +Gui, Bernard, ii. 286 + +Guido da Forli, i. 385 + +Guillaume, Jaquet, ii. 126, 127 + of Chaumont, i. 121 + of Gévaudan, ii. 165-169, 348-351 + the Bastard of Poitiers, i. 61 + with the White Hands, i. 209 + +Guillemette de la Rochelle, i. 160 + Gérard, i. 76 + +Guillot de Guyenne, ii. 105 + +Guitry, i. 121 + Lord de, i. 304 + +Guyenne, held by England, i. 21, 149 + a herald, i. 252 + detained by the English, i. 273-276, 295 + +_Guyntonia Vaticinium_, i. 177 + +Guyon du Fossé, i. 233 + + +HAINAULT, Countess of, i. 401 + +Haiton, Guillaume, ii. 218 + +Halbourd, Jean, i. 275 + +Halsall, Gilbert, i. 123 + +Hannequin, Jean, ii. 210 + +Harancourt, ii. 366 + +Harcourt, Christophe d', ii. 53, 76 + questions Jeanne, i. 333, 334 + +Harfleur, i. lxiv; ii. 52 + +Hauviette, i. 77; ii. 386 + +Hector de Chartres, i. 153, 154; ii. 28 + +Hellande, Antoine de, i. 459 + +Hennequins, The, i. 408 + +Hennins, i. 415 + +Henri de Savoie, pillages Domremy, i. 27, 28 + +Henry II of England, i. 159 + +Henry II of France, ii. 410 + +Henry V of England, i. lxiv, 21, 22, 60, 162, 176, 281, 359, 401; ii. 208 + death of, i. 250, 274 + betrothal of, i. 423 + +Henry VI of England, i. li, 69, 82, 123, 432; ii. 171, 306, 382 + minority of, i. 107 + resources of, i. 233 + summoned to surrender, i. 244-247 + to be crowned at Reims, i. 392 + at Rouen, ii. 198 + coronation of, ii. 350 + +_Henry VI_, i. 233 + +Heraclides Ponticus, i. 322 + +Heresy, Church's treatment of, i. 190 + +Heretics burnt at the stake, ii. 100, 237 + +Hermine, i. 380 + +Hermit Friars, The, ii. 239 + +Hermite, Pierre l', i. 165, 181 + +Herodias, i. 172 + +_Historia Britonum_, i. 177 + +History, art of writing, i. lxviii + +Hodierne, Guillaume, i. 440 + +Holophernes, i. 238, 339, 341 + +Honecourt, Jean de, i. 96 + +Hordal, Jean, i. lv + +Hospitality, rules of, i. 271; ii. 79 + +Houppembière, ii. 140 + +Houppeville, Nicolas de, ii. 248 + +Hovecourt, i. 81 + +Hugh Capet, i. 392 + +Hungerford, Lord, i. 375 + +Huns invade Gaul, i. 119 + +Huss, John, i. 325; ii. 115, 200 + +Hussites, The, i. xxx, 441; ii. 20, 86 + campaign against, ii. 109 + + +ÎLE-AUX-BOEUFS, i. 112, 113, 267; ii. 377 + +Île-aux-Bourdons, i. 112, 258, 265 + +Île-aux-Toiles, i. 112, 268, 292, 297 + +Île Biche-d'Orge, i. 112 + +Île-Charlemagne, i. 112, 302 + +Île-de-France, i. lxix, 187, 233; ii. 2, 10, 123, 165 + held by England, i. 21 + +Île-Jourdain, ii. 38 + +Île Martinet, i. 112 + +Île Saint-Loup, i. 112 + +Illiers, Florent d', i. 174, 241, 273, 304, 318, 347, 349 + +Immerguet, i. 174 + +Innocent III, pope, ii. 157, 215 + +Inquisition, The, ii. 157, 176 + secrecy of, ii. 211 + +Invention of the Holy Cross, i. 280 + +Isabeau of Bavaria, i. 146 + +Isabella of Lorraine, i. 91 + +Isle-Adam, Sire de l', ii. 60 + + +JACOB, i. 385 + Dominique, i. 65 + +Jacobins, The, i. 113; ii. 185 + +Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess, i. 401, 402 + +Jacques de Chabannes, i. 129, 136 + of Touraine, ii. 95, 235, 246, 288, 294 + +Jacquier, i. 7 + +Jadart, M. Henri, i. vii, lxxiv + +Jahel, i. 191 + +Janville, i. 122, 256, 283, 368 + English at, i. 371, 376, 377 + +Jargeau, i. xli, 130, 256, 265, 290-439; ii. 87, 88, 95, 182, 184, 246, 360 + French attack on, i. xiv, 332, 349, 355, 362 + English occupy, i. 348 + Jeanne at, ii. 97, 259 + +Jarry, M. L., i. vii + +Jean IV, Count d'Armagnac asks Jeanne to indicate true pope, ii. 37-43 + cruelty of, ii. 38 + excommunicated, ii. 40 + +Jean, Count of Neufchâtel, i. 70 + Count of Salm, i. 24 + de Gand, i. 162 + de Metz, i. 81, 87, 222; ii. 386 + questions Jeanne, i. 82, 83, 99 + accompanies Jeanne, i. 89, 96, 105 + at Blois, i. 252 + enters Orléans, i. 269 + of Saintrailles, i. 121; ii. 21 + le Bon, i. 148 + warned by the vavasour, i. 163 + +Jean-Sans-Peur, i. 128 + +Jeanne d'Arc, authorities for life of, i. vii-xxxiii, lxi + mission of, i. xii, xxxix, lx; ii. 231, 279 + its political aspect, i. 190, 333; ii. 164 + simplicity of, i. xxvii, lx + military skill of, i. xxviii, xliii; ii. 82, 391 + visionary nature of, i. xxxiii-xxxvii + priests' influence on, i. xxxviii, 44-47, 64, 66 + virginity of, i. xxviii, 211; ii. 80, 216, 265, 281 + character of, i. xxxiii + historical reputation of, i. liv + portraits of, i. liii, lxii, lxxi, 336; ii. 191, 212, 420-423 + birth of, i. 2, 467 + parentage of, i. 3 + baptism of, i. 4-6 + early childhood of, i. 6, 8, 9, 14, 16, 23 + education of, i. 8 + piety of, i. 9, 48, 80, 339, 463 + shares the village rites, i. 14, 15 + childhood of, i. 28 + first hears Voices, i. 29 + recognises St. Michael, i. 29 + visited at Domremy by SS. Catherine and Marguerite, i. 43, 47, 57, 75 + vows to preserve her virginity, i. 42 + her love of bells, i. 43 + visited by St. Michael, i. 56, 58 + visits Robert de Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs, i. 61-66 + prophesies concerning the Dauphin, i. 64, 67, 77, 81 + ridiculed, i. 67, 69, 99 + suspected of witchcraft, i. 69, 320, 412, 418; ii. 19, 20, 36, 50, + 121, 175, 177 + at Neufchâteau, i. 71-74 + summoned to appear at Toul, i. 73 + visits Robert de Baudricourt again, i. 77 + her second visit to Vaucouleurs, i. 77-89 + announces her mission to relieve Orléans, i. 77 + declares her mission to the Dauphin, i. 77, 81-84 + prophesies her death, i. 78, 333; ii. 15, 203 + sent for by the Dauphin, i. 88, 96-105 + adopts man's attire, i. 84, 88, 89, 96 + exorcised by Jean Fournier, i. 84-86 + sent for by Duke of Lorraine, i. 89-95 + writes to her parents, i. 95 + dictates a letter to the King, i. 145 + at Chinon, i. xiii, 156, 185, 423 + questioned as to her mission, i. 163, 165 + her interviews with Charles, and the Sign, i. 167-173, 183; ii. 262, + 264, 269, 295 + dress of, i. 169, 197, 329, 339, 356; ii. 147, 179, 192, 221, 240, + 244, 258, 268, 276, 280, 295 + and the Duke of Alençon, i. 183-186, 195 + is taken to Poitiers, i. 185 + examined at Poitiers, i. 191-203 + her aversion to theologians, i. 194; ii. 221, 223 + dictates a manifesto to the English, i. 196 + prophesies the coronation at Reims, i. 198, 200 + retorts on Seguin, i. 200 + foretells the raising of the siege, i. 201 + her sign victory itself, i. 202, 214 + result of examination at Poitiers, i. 213 + miracles attributed to, i. 215, 461-477; ii. 137, 261 + sets out for Orléans, i. 216 + armour of, i. 216, 221; ii. 76, 83 + her chaplain, i. 221 + horses of, i. 222, 346; ii. 356 + sword of, i. xii, 223, 475; ii. 75-77, 133, 245 + standard of, i. 227; ii. 104, 262, 281, 284 + at Blois, i. 243 + dictates manifestoes to the English from Poitiers and Blois, i. 244 + exhorts the French soldiers to repentance, i. 254 + her banner, i. 255 + leaves Blois for Orléans, i. xiii, 256 + misled as to route, i. 258-263 + approaches the Bastard, i. 260 + her ignorance of Orléans, i. 260 + her mission at Orléans, i. 263 + prophesies change of wind, i. 264 + asks to return to Blois, i. 265 + at Chécy, i. 267 + summons the English to surrender, i. 262, 273, 276, 278, 295, 311, + 316, 351 + enters Orléans, i. 264-269 + leads the Orléannais to the holy places, i. 277 + surveys the bastions, i. 279 + is offered wine, i. 279 + her belief in herself, i. 282, 343; ii. 6, 66, 112 + meets the army from Blois, i. 283 + jests with the Bastard, i. 283 + roused from sleep by her Council, i. 284 + at St.-Loup, i. 285-291 + her influence in Orléans, i. 291, 319 + plans kept from, i. 293 + receives counsel in Orléans, i. 295 + at Les Tourelles, i. xiii, 296-313 + wounded in the foot, i. 300 + prophesies her wound, i. 301, 306 + prophesies success in Orléans, i. 303 + is wounded in the shoulder, i. 306, 314; ii. 246 + hears Mass on the Sabbath, i. 315 + leaves Orléans for Blois and Tours, i. 318 + approved by Gélu, i. 320 + approved by Gerson, i. 326-331 + urges the King to Reims, i. 333 + questioned as to her Voices, i. 334, 341; ii. 229-235, 238, 242, 253, + 258, 261, 268, 272, 274, 277, 283, 327, 331-334, 402-406 + at Loches, i. 335-338 + fame of, i. 336, 381-385; ii. 160-163, 461-477 + her prayer for France, i. 336 + consulted as a saint, i. 337, 434, 452, 453; ii. 41-43, 81-83, 260, 272 + at Selles-en-Berry, i. 338 + wishes for prayers for her soul, i. 342 + prophesies the English evacuation, i. 344 + prophesies to Guy de Laval, i. 346 + marches on Jargeau, i. 349-355 + receives gifts at Orléans, i. 355, 356 + hopes to rescue the captive Duke, i. 357 + meets the Constable, i. 364 + at Beaugency, i. 364-367 + at Patay, i. 369, 376 + prophesies victory at Patay, i. 370, 372 + at Orléans, i. 377, 396 + prophesies the coronation of Charles, i. 378 + Constable's plot to seize, i. 379 + her loyalty to Charles VII, i. 380 + her progress to Reims, i. 385, 403 + led by the King's Council, i. 388 + at Gien, i. 396 + dictates a letter to Tournai, i. 396-400 + invites Burgundy to the coronation, i. 400 + dictates a letter to Troyes, i. 419, 422 + at Troyes, i. 424, 427, 430, 432-434 + prophesies victory at Troyes, i. 427 + at Châlons, i. 436 + at Reims, i. 448-458 + dreams of a crown, i. 448, 475; ii. 233, 234, 255, 269 + ring of, i. 453; ii. 254 + writes to the Duke of Burgundy, i. 456 + legends of, i. 463-476 + prophecies by, i. 470-477; ii. 355, 356 + _re_ the English, i. xvi; ii. 252, 281 + writes to Reims, ii. 4-6, 51, 107, 116 + political judgment of, ii. 7 + betrayed, ii. 16 + rides with the scouts, ii. 22 + poems in honour of, ii. 25 + prophecies relating to, ii. 29-32 + personal appearance of, ii. 32 + at Compiègne, ii. 36 + marches towards Paris, ii. 36-77 + replies to the Count d'Armagnac, ii. 43 + stands as godmother, ii. 50, 260 + Parisian opinion of, ii. 59, 98, 99, 158 + summons Paris to surrender, ii. 67, 273 + is wounded in the thigh, ii. 69, 72 + turned from Paris, ii. 72 + drives prostitutes from the army, ii. 74, 75 + at Selles-en-Berry, ii. 78-82 + at the attack on St.-Pierre-le-Moustier, ii. 85 + and Catherine de la Rochelle, ii. 87-90, 101, 183 + collects money for the army, ii. 88, 92, 94, 95 + at Moulins, ii. 92 + writes to Riom, ii. 93, 94 + grant of nobility, ii. 102, 212 + fêted at Orléans, ii. 103 + writes to Tours, ii. 104 + leases a house in Orléans, ii. 105 + at Sully, ii. 106-118 + on crusading, ii. 110 + her letter to Sigismund, ii. 112 + in the trenches of Melun, ii. 122 + attempts to exchange prisoners, ii. 124-132 + at Senlis, ii. 138 + used as a mascotte, ii. 148 + at Margny, ii. 148-150 + is taken prisoner, ii. 152 + attempts escape from Beaulieu, ii. 160 + prayers for deliverance of, ii. 161-163 + claimed by Cauchon, ii. 170-178, 181, 195, 197, 204 + at Beaurevoir, ii. 178 + leaps from the Tower, i. xix; ii. 181, 261, 273, 275, 295, 405 + writes to Tournai, ii. 189 + at Arras, ii. 191-196, 420 + taken to Rouen, ii. 196-198 + in prison at Rouen, ii. 198-204, 212-217 + information against, ii. 210-212, 239 + her wish to escape, ii. 225, 276 + becomes a prisoner of the Church, ii. 225 + preliminary trial, i. viii, xxiii, lii; ii. 221-284 + place of trial of, ii. 227, 247 + her letter to the English, ii. 231 + illness of, ii. 220-242, 289 + refuses to reveal the King's secret, ii. 245, 262, 264, 295 + trial of, pronounced illegal, ii. 246-248 + her letter to the Count d'Armagnac, ii. 250 + does not speak to the priests of her visions, ii. 266 + charges against, ii. 275, 287-289, 291, 295, 300-305 + would appeal to the pope, ii. 282, 312 + is offered an advocate, ii. 284-286 + trial in ordinary, ii. 284-322 + sustained by her Voices, ii. 289, 291 + her desire for the sacraments, ii. 290 + in the torture chamber, ii. 292 + deserted by her friends, i. liv; ii. 297 + exhorted by Maurice, ii. 305-307 + refuses to recant, ii. 307, 313 + preached at by Erard, ii. 308-314 + sentence against, ii. 314 + recants, ii. 315-319 + English resume possession of, ii. 321 + resumes woman's attire, ii. 322 + resumes man's attire, ii. 324 + retracts her recantation, ii. 325-328 + is told of her death, ii. 380 + second recantation of, i. ix, xxvii; ii. 331 + confesses and receives the Sacrament, ii. 333 + is burnt at the stake, ii. 335-342 + trial for rehabilitation, i. xxvi-xxxii, xlii; ii. 384-392 + medical opinion on, ii. 401-406 + +Jeanne of Évreux, i. 395 + de Valois, Queen, i. 395 + du Lys, Claude de Metz, impersonates Jeanne d'Arc, ii. 353-376 + the Maid of Sermaize, ii. 392, 393 + +Jeremiah, i. 414 + image carved by, i. 219 + +Jerusalem, i. 186, 249 + Queen of, _see_ Yolande + +Jesus Christ, i. 207 + +Jhesus-Maria on the standard, i. 227 + on letters, i. 245, 295, 397, 419, 456; ii. 43, 281 + on Jeanne's ring, i. 452 + +Joachim, François, i. 348 + +Joash, i. xl, 202 + +John, Count of Porcien, _see_ the Bastard of Orléans + Duke of Brittany, caution of, i. 379-381 + Duke of Burgundy, murder of, i. 21, 400, 422; ii. 17 + King of France, i. xxxvi, 63; ii. 54 + XXIII, Pope, i. 153 + +Joinville, Jeanne de, inherits Bourlémont, i. 14, 19, 27 + Château de, i. 27, 98 + +Jonah, i. 344 + +Joshua, ii. 27 + +_Journal du Siège, Le_, i. xiii + +Jouvenel des Ursins, Jean, i. lxiv, 187, 192, 408; ii. 385 + +Judas Maccabæus, i. 328 + +Judith, i. 165, 191, 238, 328, 339, 341, 382; ii. 27, 87, 367 + +Julien, hill of, i. 2 + +Jumièges, Abbot of, ii. 208, 209, 309 + +Justin, i. 205 + + +KALT EYSEN, Heinrich, ii. 364 + +Kennedy, Lord Hugh, i. 218; ii. 124 + +Kermoisan, Thudal de, i. 347, 363 + +Kernanna, i. xxxv + +King's Evil, i. 459 + +Kiriel, Sir Thomas, ii. 348 + +Kyrthrizian, Richard, i. 224 + + +L'AVERDY, i. vii, lix + +La Beauce, i. lxix, 108, 112, 121, 131, 134, 318, 233, 241, 255, 354 + plain of, i. 163 + route through, i. 259, 282, 371 + +La Belle d'Anjou, i. 184 + +La Bergère, i. 348, 350 + +La Bougue, ii. 95 + +La Chapelle, ii. 50, 63, 70 + +La Charité, i. 389; ii. 84, 164, 167, 272 + siege of, ii. 90, 94, 96, 103, 261 + +La Croix-Boissée, i. 134, 143 + +La Croix-Morin, i. 278 + +La Ferté-Milon, ii. 10, 16, 60 + +La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, ii. 408 + +La Grange-aux-Ormes, ii. 353, 357, 375 + +La Hire, i. 105, 115, 137, 139, 141, 149, 267, 273, 347, 450, 465; + ii. 22, 68, 196, 199, 348, 387 + ravages Bar, i. 24, 26 + comes to Orléans, i. 129 + bribed by Tours, i. 218 + at Blois, i. 244 + meets the army from Blois, i. 283 + in Orléans, i. 292, 298, 304 + pursues the English, i. 316 + at Jargeau, i. 351 + at Patay, i. 369, 372 + on the way to Reims, i. 403 + +La Joyeuse, i. 75 + +La Lomagne, ii. 38 + +La Motte-Nangis, ii. 38 + +La Perruque, M., ii. 414, 415 + +_La Petite Ancelle_, ii. 93 + +La Porète, ii. 237, 294 + +_La Pucelle_, ii. 93, 390 + +La Retrève, i. 373, 374 + +La Roche-St.-Quentin, i. 217 + +La Rochelle, i. xviii, 240, 319, 360; ii. 87 + +La Romée, i. 177 + +La Rousse, i. 70 + +La Sologne, i. 108, 113, 123, 131 + route through, i. 256, 259, 283, 284 + +La Trémouille, Sire de, i. x, xlix, 146, 363, 379, 446, 450; ii. 53, + 84, 106 + King's favourite, i. 147, 152, 155, 169, 253 + at Chinon, i. 184 + starts for Reims, i. 403 + bribed by Auxerre, i. 406 + governs Compiègne, ii. 35, 44, 45 + before Paris, ii. 69, 72 + held to ransom, ii. 91 + Jeanne in charge of, ii. 109, 119 + tries a substitute for Jeanne, ii. 163-169 + taken prisoner, ii. 351 + +La Tour-d'Auvergne, Baron, i. 137, 140 + +La Valette, Comte de, ii. 415 + +Laban, i. 385 + +Labrousse, Suzette, i. xxxv + +Lactantius, i. 205, 322 + +Ladvenu, Martin, i. xxvi; ii. 329, 330, 333, 389 + +Lagny-sur-Marne, i. xxxi, xlvi; ii. 78, 147, 211, 261, 371 + Jeanne at, ii. 123, 133-137 + +Laiguisé, Gille, i. 408 + Huet, i. 408 + Jean, policy of, i. 408-411, 428 + +Lançon, ii. 412 + +Lang, Mr. Andrew, i. v + +Langeais, i. 150 + +Langres, Bishop of, i. 447; ii. 309 + +Langlois, Jean, i. 240 + M. E., i. lxxiv + +Languedoc, i. 117, 154 + +Laon, i. 50, 189, 460; ii. 4, 11, 358 + Duke of, i. 447 + +Lapau, i. 217 + +Laplace, i. lxviii + +Lassois, Durand, i. 59, 60, 66, 75, 76, 88, 89; ii. 240, 386 + +Lattes, i. 210 + +Launoy, Jean de, i. lv + +Laval, André de, i. 345, 364; ii. 9, 394 + Anne de, i. 338 + château of, i. 345; ii. 393, 396 + family, The, i. 243 + Dame Jeanne de, i. 338, 346; ii. 47, 394 + Guy de, i. 346, 364, 372, 446, 450; ii. 9, 47, 63, 394 + +Lavisse, M. Ernest, i. lxxiii + +Le Boucher, Marie, ii. 36 + +Le Brun de Charmettes, i. lxi + +Le Dunois, i. 318 + +Le Fèvre de St.-Remy, i. xx + +_Le Jouvencel_, i. 241; ii. 133 + +Le Langart, Jean, i. 5 + +Le Lendit, Fair of, ii. 49 + +Le Maçon, Robert, i. xlii, 153, 211 + +Le Maistre, Husson, i. 451 + +Le Mans, i. 115, 134, 231, 240, 287 + Bishop of, ii. 383, 394 + Maid of, ii. 394-396 + +Les Martinets, i. 26 + +Les Montils, Château of, ii. 396 + +Le Petit, ii. 99 + +Le Portereau, i. 292, 300 + Orléannais at, i. 301, 302, 307 + +Le Sourd, ii. 99 + +Le Vauseul, Aveline, i. 59, 60 + Jeanne, i. 59 + +Les Augustins, Battle of, i. xiv + +Les-Douze-Pierres, i. 134 + +Lebuin, Michel, i. 67 + +Lecamus de Beaulieu, i. 147; ii. 332 + +Leclerc, Jean, i. 348 + +Lecourt, Gille, i. 224 + +Lefèvre, Gervaise, ii. 95 + Jean, ii. 238, 388 + +Lefèvre-Pontalis, M. Germain, i. v, vii, xxi, xxii, lxii + +Legends of Jeanne, i. xxii, liv + +Legros, M., ii. 417 + +Leliis, Théodore de, i. xxiii + +Lemaistre, Jean, ii. 219, 221, 228, 264, 343, 388 + +Lenisoles, Jean de, ii. 310 + +Lenten observances, i. 156-158 + +Leparmentier, Mauger, ii. 293 + +Leprestre, Jacques, i. 279; ii. 104, 361 + +Leroyer, Catherine, i. 79, 80, 84, 86, 97 + Henri, i. 79, 97; ii. 240, 357, 386 + +Lettrée, i. 435 + +Lévy, MM. Calmann, i. lxxiv + +Liébault de Baudricourt, i. 24, 61 + +Liège, ii. 194 + +Lignerolles, i. 373, 374, 375 + +Ligny, David de Brimeu, Lord of, i. 458; ii. 51, 91, 140 + Jeanne in charge of, ii. 191 + +Lille, i. lxxiv + +Limousin, i. 200 + +Lingui, Jean, i. 5 + +Lisieux, ii. 209 + Bishop of, ii. 382 + +Loches, ii. 361 + Jeanne at, i. 335-338 + +_Lætare_ Sunday, i. 13, 156 + +Logic, picture of, i. 382 + +Lohéac, Marshal of, ii. 98 + +Lohier, Jean, ii. 246-248 + +Loire, The, i. 100, 112; ii. 4 + +Loiret, The, i. lxxiv, 111-113 + +Loiseleur, Nicolas, at the trial of Jeanne, ii. 208, 210, 213, 238, + 242, 246, 252, 293, 308, 314, 329, 331, 334 + at Bâle, ii. 379-381 + +Lombard, Jean, examines Jeanne, i. 189, 193 + +London, fort, i. 134, 231 + Tower of, i. 359 + +Longueville, i. 450; ii. 208, 387 + Duc de, i. lvi + Prior of, ii. 309, 319 + +Loré, Lord Ambrose de, i. 243, 258, 267, 292, 316, 434; ii. 76, 123 + +Lorraine, i. 389 + a herald, ii. 155 + Charles II, Duke of, i. 14, 18; ii. 1, 9, 81, 231 + makes war on La Hire, i. 24 + sends for Jeanne, i. 89-95 + +Louis I of Bourbon, ii. 91, 96, 106 + +Louis VIII, i. 443 + +Louis XI, i. xviii, lxxi + +Louis XIV, i. xxxvi; ii. 409-412 + +Louis XVIII, i. xxxvi; ii. 414-419 + +Louis, Dauphin, i. 221; ii. 39 + betrothed to Margaret of Scotland, i. 83 + +Louis, Duke of Orléans, i. 128, 144, 161, 325 + death of, i. 358 + +Louis of Luxembourg, ii. 60 + +Louis the Fat, i. 392 + +Louvet, President, i. 155 + +Louviers, ii. 348, 370 + +Louvois, M. de, ii. 408 + +Lowe, Nicole, ii. 354, 356 + +Lozère Mountains, ii. 165, 348 + +Luce, Siméon, i. vii, xxxi, lxii + +Luciabelus, ii. 111 + +Lucifer, ii. 111 + +Lucius, Pope, ii. 336 + +Luçon, i. 399 + +Lude, Sire du, i. 353 + +Luillier, Jean, i. xxvi, 280, 356; ii. 386 + +Lunéville, ii. 136 + +Luxembourg, Dame Jeanne de, ii. 178, 190, 359, 362, 365 + Jean de, i. xi; ii. 51, 299 + Count of Ligny, ii. 140, 143, 149 + Jeanne in charge of, ii. 154, 159, 172, 177, 188-191, 196 + visits her at Rouen, ii. 202 + +Luys, Doctor, i. xxvi + +Luzarches, i. 103 + +Lyon, i. xxiii; ii. 410 + Les Célestins, i. 324 + +Lyonnais, i. 149 + +Lyonnel, ii. 152 + +Lys, Du, i. xvii; _see_ Jean and Pierre d'Arc + + +MACHECOUL, i. xvi; ii. 370 + +Machet, Gérard, i. xlii, 1, 9, 204, 333; ii. 379 + circulates prophecies of Jeanne, i. 196, 197 + +Maçon, Jean de, i. 189, 280, 281 + +Macy, Aimond de, ii. 179, 202 + +Magala, i. 454 + +Maguelonne, Bishop of, i. 163 + examines Jeanne, i. 188 + +Maillé, Sire de, i. 446 + +Mailly, Jean de, ii. 388 + +Maine, i. 21, 106, 387; ii. 383 + +Maintenon, Mme. de, ii. 412 + +Mainz, Diet of, ii. 381 + +Maire, Guillaume le, i. 189 + examines Jeanne, i. 193 + +Manchon, Guillaume, ii. 205, 218, 227, 247, 257, 324, 389 + +Mandrakes, i. 415; ii. 255 + +Mantes, i. 310; ii. 348 + +Manuel, Nicolas, i. lxxi + Pierre, ii. 201 + +Marchenoir, i. 255, 318 + +Maréchal, Humbert, i. 465 + +Margaret of Scotland, i. 83, 167 + +Margny, ii. 164, 145, 146, 153 + attack on, ii. 148-150 + +Marguerie, André, ii. 324, 329 + +Marguerite of Bavaria, i. 93 + +Marie de Maillé, i. 161 + +Marie de Sully, ii. 106 + +Marie, Queen, i. 181, 217, 395, 396, 458; ii. 78, 119, 182, 395 + +Marie-Thérèse, Queen, ii. 407 + +Marne, The, i. 98; ii. 3, 9 + +Marseilles, ii. 412 + +Martin V, Pope, i. 381, 402; ii. 37, 175, 250, 363 + policy of, ii. 39 + crusaders of, ii. 109, 110 + +Martin, Henri, i. l + +Martin, Ignace Thomas, i. xxxvi + mission of, ii. 413-419 + +Martin, M. le Dr., ii. 413 + +Martin, M. Paul, ii. 418 + +Marville, ii. 357, 358, 368 + +Massieu, Jean, i. xxvi; ii. 206, 218, 228, 256, 261, 312, 317, 319, + 326, 333, 338, 340, 389 + +Mathieu II, of Lorraine, i. 71 + +Mathurins, The, i. 109, 275; ii. 70 + +Matthias, Don, i. 121 + +Maupertuis, i. 229 + +Maurice, Pierre, ii. 280, 246, 299, 329, 331, 334, 340 + exhorts Jeanne, ii. 305-307, 315 + +Maxentius, the Emperor, i. 36-41 + +Maxey-sur-Meuse, i. 2, 8, 20, 23, 35 + +Maxey-sur-Vaise, i. 2, 60 + +Maximian, ii. 56 + +Mayenne, The, i. 388 + +Meaux, i. 410 + tree of Vauru, ii. 12 + +Megret, i. 348 + +Mehun-sur-Yèvre, i. 150, 198; ii. 83, 102, 397 + +Meledon, Jacques, i. 189, 193 + +Melun, ii. 3, 71, 120 + defenders of, i. 114 + Jeanne at, ii. 122 + +Melusina, i. 12 + +Mende, Bishop of, i. 404 + Mountain, ii. 165 + +Mengette, ii. 386 + +Mennot, Robert le, i. 161 + +Merari, i. 191 + +Mercier, Catherine le, i. 174 + +Mercury, i. 166 + +Merlin, prophecies of, i. 10, 175-177, 275; ii. 27, 30, 240, 391 + story of, i. 175 + +Mesnage, Mathieu, i. 189 + +_Messire_, Jeanne's use of, i. 64 + Jeanne as the herald of, i. 261, 262 + +Metz, ii. 354, 357, 365, 374 + Bishop of, i. 18 + war against, i. 92 + +Meung-sur-Loire, i. xli, 127, 130, 255, 256, 366, 439; ii. 23 + English retreat to, i. 316, 318, 332, 362, 366, 371 + French take, i. 368 + +Meurthe, The, i. 89 + +Meuse, course of the, i. 1, 2 + +Meyer, M. Paul, i. lxxiii + +Micah, ii. 411 + +Michel, François, farrier, mission of, i. xxxvi; ii. 407-412 + +Michelet, i. lxi + +Midi, Nicolas, ii. 208, 246, 261, 287, 294, 337, 392 + +Midianites, i. 202 + +Miélot, Jean, i. 35 + +Milan, i. 221, 384 + Duke of, i. 399; ii. 374 + +Milbeau, Yves, questions Jeanne, i. 380, 418 + +Minerva, i. lxxii + +Minet, Jean, Vicar of Domremy, i. 4 + +Minguet, i. 174 + +Minier, Pierre, ii. 248 + +Miriam, i. 327, 330 + +Mitry, Lord of, i. 174 + +Molandon, Boucher, de, i. vii + +Moleyns, Lord, i. 304, 310, 312 + +Molyns, William, i. 124, 130 + +_Moniteur_, _Le_, i. lx + +Monks spread legends of Jeanne, i. 212 + join the armies, i. 254 + +Monmouth, i. 275 + +Monod, M. Gabriel, i. v + +Monstrelet, Enguerrand de, i. xix; ii. 153 + +Montacute, Thomas, _see_ Salisbury, Earl of + +Montaing, i. 128 + +Montalcin, Jean de, i. 167 + +Montan, the hermit, i. 50 + +Montargis, i. 121, 282, 311, 403; ii. 8, 421 + siege of, i. 129, 132 + Governor of, i. 144, 169 + +Montbéliard-Saarbruck, Jean de, i. 436 + +Montéclaire, i. 16 + +Montendre, i. 144 + +Montepilloy, i. xx; ii. 21, 65 + +Montereau, Bridge of, i. 21, 146, 166, 379, 400; ii. 8, 16, 17, 19, 52, + 58, 352 + +Montesclère, Jean de, i. xiv, 132, 143, 298, 299, 366; ii. 193 + +Montfaucon, ii. 87, 88, 127, 184 + +Montgomery, Lord, ii. 144 + +Montier-en-Saulx, i. 65, 98 + +Montigny-le-Roi, i. 58 + +Montjoie, i. 435 + +Montmaillard, i. 116 + +Montmédy, ii. 136 + +Montmirail, ii. 3 + +Montmorency, Sire de, ii. 73 + +Montpellier, i. 163, 210, 240 + +Montpensier, Count of, ii. 91 + +Montpipeau, i. 256 + burnt by the English, i. 377 + +Montremur, Raymon de, ii. 96 + +Mont-Saint-Michel-au-Péril-de-la-Mer, Abbey of, i. 30; ii. 208, 309 + +Morant, Pierre, ii. 128, 130 + +Morcellet, Sire de, ii. 133 + +Morel, Aubert, ii. 293 + Jean, godfather of Jeanne, i. 5, 12, 436; ii. 386 + +Moreau, Jean, ii. 182, 210 + +Morhier, Sir Simon, i. 139; ii. 57 + +Morieau, Raulin, i. 451 + +Morin, Jourdain, i. 189 + +Mortemart, Abbot of, ii. 309 + +Mortemer, ii. 208 + Jeanne de, i. 211 + +Moselle, The, ii. 353 + +Moses, i. 207, 327, 414; ii. 27 + +Moslant, Philibert de, i. 124, 432, 433, 438 + +Moulins, i. 240; ii. 13 + Jeanne at, ii. 92 + +Mount Ganelon, ii. 146 + Sombar, i. 30 + Tombe, i. 30 + +Mousque, Maître, i. 166 + +Mugot, i. 174, 285, 306 + +Muñoz, Gil, ii. 40 + +Musnier, Simonin, i. 7 + +Myrmidons, The, i. 382 + +_Mystère du Siège_, _Le_, i. xiv + + +NOTRE Dame d'Amiens, ii. 197 + d'Ancis, i. 137 + des Ardents, ii. 134 + des-Aviots, ii. 136 + de Bermont, i. 9, 14, 48 + de Clèry, i. 127, 288 + de Fierbois, ii. 76 + de Liance or Liesse, ii. 358 + de-la-Pierre, ii. 195 + de-la-Voûte, i. 80 + +Nancy, i. 14, 68, 89, 93, 95 + +Nantes Bridge, i. xvi + +Napoleon Bonaparte, i. lix + +Narbonne, Council of, i. 318; ii. 320 + +Nations, union of, i. lxvii + +Nativity of the B.V.M., ii. 62 + +Naundorf, ii. 419 + +Navarre, College of, ii. 394 + +Naviel, Jean, ii. 192 + +Nebuchadnezzar, i. 325, 409 + +Nennius, i. 322 + +Nettles, i. 356 + +Neufchâteau, i. 5, 11, 163, 436 + situation of, i. 1, 2 + people of Domremy shelter at, i. 70 + +Neufchâtel, i. 70 + +Nevers, i. 410 + +Neville, William, i. 123 + +Nicanor, i. 322 + +Nicolas V, Pope, ii. 384 + +Nicolazic, Yves, i. xxxv + +Nicole de Giresme, i. 264 + +Nicopolis, i. 249, 253, 457; ii. 110 + +Nider, Jean, ii. 366 + +Noël, feast of, i. 133 + +Nogent-sur-Seine, i. 438; ii. 52 + +Noirouffle, ii. 193 + +Nolhac, M. Pierre de, ii. 422 + +Nonnette, ii. 20 + +Normandy, held by England, i. 21, 233 + war in, i. 385, 387 + French lose, ii. 23, 24 + French conquest of, ii. 382 + +Norwich, Bishop of, ii. 309 + +Nostradamus, i. xxxvi; ii. 409, 410 + +Novelompont, Jean de, i. xxix, xxx, 81; ii. 386 + +Noviant, Dame de, i. 174 + +Noyon, Bishop of, i. 447; ii. 144, 299, 309, 388 + +Nucelles, Lord of, i. 123 + +Nuremberg, i. 221 + +Nyssa, i. 206 + + +OGIVILLER, Château d', i. 19 + Henri d', i. 19 + +Oise, The, ii. 44, 142, 145 + +Olet Stone, i. 115 + +Olibrius, Governor, i. 32-34; ii. 53 + +Olivet, i. 111, 113, 258 + +Olivier, Richard, ii. 385 + +Or, Mme. d', i. 433 + +_Oriflamme_, i. 182 + +Origen, i. 205 + +Orléans, i. xxii, 63, 410; ii. 4, 360, 386 + administration of, prior to siege, i. 115 + Bishop of, i. 447 + citizens and garrison of, i. 122 + description of, i. 108-114 + Jeanne's house in, ii. 105 + citizens of, buy off the English, i. 106 + prepare for war, i. 116-121 + refuse to surrender, i. 122 + destroy their suburbs, i. 131 + celebrate Noël, i. 133 + send to the Duke of Burgundy, i. 142 + hear of the Maid, i. 144 + lose faith in their defenders, i. 230, 242, 281 + pillage St.-Laurent, i. 234 + penitence of, i. 236 + their belief in Jeanne, i. 239, 461 + welcome Jeanne, i. 268-273, 277; ii. 103 + rebel against the knights, i. 272 + overestimate the English forces, i. 280-282, 301 + attack St.-Loup, i. 284-291 + attack Les Tourelles, i. 296-313 + poverty of, i. 331 + recognise Jeanne as their commander, i. 339, 348, 366; ii. 84 + defray expedition to Jargeau, i. 347; and to Beaugency, i. 366 + their gifts to Jeanne, i. 355 + defray costs, ii. 94 + welcome Jeanne's impersonator, ii. 360, 367 + City of: + Aumône, i. 230 + Bouchet Wharf, i. 258 + Chesneau, i. 109, 125, 132, 311 + Écu St.-Georges, i. 241 + Field of St.-Privé, i. 134 + Hôtel de la Pomme, i. 122 + Île de Charlemagne, i. 134 + Île Motte des Poissonniers, i. 111, 112 + Île Motte S.-Antoine, i. 111, 112 + La Belle Croix, i. 111, 126, 295, 311 + Jeanne at, i. 276 + La Croix Boissée, i. 278 + Le Portereau, i. 111, 112, 123, 131 + Les Augustins, i. 261, 292 + capture of, i. 297, 319 + Les Tourelles, i. xviii, xxx, xli, 111, 124, 261, 362; ii. 149, 194 + attack on, i. 125, 292, 296-313, 319, 461, 470 + abandoned by French, i. 126 + English garrison in, i. 130 + London, i. 231, 281, 303 + Olivet, i. 123 + Paris, i. 231, 281, 283 + attacked, i. 273 + Pont Jacquemin-Rousselet, i. 111 + Porte Bernier or Bannier, i. 110, 113, 122, 136 + Porte de Bourgogne, i. 113, 120, 135, 258, 286, 296, 470 + Jeanne enters by, i. 268, 269 + Porte Paris, i. 110, 288 + Porte du Pont, i. 110, 111, 276 + Porte Renard, i. 114, 270, 278, 286, 302 + stormed, i. 135, 136 + Porte S.-Aignan, i. 110 + Rouen, i. 231 + Rue Aux-Petits-Souliers, i. 132; ii. 105 + Rue de la Rose, i. 270, 294 + Rue des Hôtelleries, i. 130 + Rue des Talmeliers, i. 270 + S.-Aignan, i. 113, 120, 131 + Ste.-Croix, i. 236, 270 + S.-Euverte, i. 131 + S.-Jean-de-Bray, i. 113 + S.-Jean-le-Blanc, i. 113, 124 + S.-Ladre, Chapel of, i. 113 + S.-Laurent-des-Orgerils, _see_ under St.-Laurent + St.-Loup, _see_ under St.-Loup + S.-Michel, Church of, i. 113 + St.-Paul, i. 258 + St.-Pierre-Empont, i. 258 + S.-Pierre-Ensentelée, i. 113 + St.-Pouair, i. 262; attacked, i. 273 + S.-Sulpice, i. 115 + Tour de l'Abreuvoir, i. 110 + Tour de la Barre-Flambert, i. 110 + Tour Croiche-Meuffroy, i. 110 + Tour Neuve, i. 109, 111, 125, 268, 297 + Tour de Notre Dame, i. 110, 126 + Tour Regnard, i. 110 + Tour St.-Antoine, i. 111 + Tour S. Samson, i. 110, 115 + University of, i. 121 + Siege of, i. xli + journal of, i. xiii + defences of, i. xli + surrounded by English, i. 75 + victuals sent by Mme. Yolande, i. 92 + procession in, i. 123 + first attack, i. 125 + attack by Talbot, i. 132 + semi-investment of, i. 134 + sally from, i. 137 + victuals enter, i. 232 + Burgundians leave, i. 234 + raised, i. 316 + cost of, i. 332 + +Orléans, a herald, i. 118 + +Orléans, Duke of, _see_ Charles + +Orly, Henri d', _see_ Henri of Savoy + +Orne, The, i. 3 + +Ourches, Aubert d', i. 13, 81; ii. 357 + +Ours, Seigneur de l', ii. 125-133 + +Oxford, i. 274 + + +PALM Sunday, i. 278 + +Pamiers, ii. 260 + +Panyngel, Richard, i. 123 + +Paradise, mediæval conception of, i. 236, 237 + +Pardiac, ii. 38 + Count of, i. 147 + +Paris, i. xxiii, 137, 154, 368, 386; ii. 9, 19 + English occupation of, i. 21, 108; ii. 55, 57 + Jeanne prophesies concerning, i. 201 + Charles VII to enter, i. 247 + Parliament of, i. 326 + synod at, i. 410, 413 + Jeanne outside, ii. 50-77 + governed by Duke Philip, ii. 52, 53, 58 + defences of, ii. 54, 55, 60, 66 + Burgundian allegiance of, ii. 57, 58 + citizens of, their dislike of Charles VII, ii. 58-60 + their horror of Jeanne, ii. 59 + attack on, ii. 64-70, 97 + Armagnac Conspiracy in, ii. 128-131 + examinations for witchcraft in, ii. 1, 185-187 + Bishop of, ii. 187 + Henry VI crowned in, ii. 350 + returns to Charles VII, ii. 352 + under Charles VII, ii. 371 + Jeanne's impersonator in, ii. 371-374 + City of: + Hôtel de l'Arbre-See, ii. 125 + Hôtel de l'Ours, ii. 125 + Hôtel de la Pomme de Pin, ii. 129 + Inns of, ii. 125 + Les Célestins, ii. 55 + Les Moulins, ii. 63, 66 + Montmartre, i. 417; ii. 20, 415 + Pont Neuf, ii. 125 + Porte St.-Antoine, ii. 129 + Porte St.-Denys, ii. 55, 350 + Porte St.-Martin, ii. 53, 60 + Rue Barbette, i. 358 + Rue St.-Antoine, ii. 125 + St.-Antoine, ii. 54 + Ste.-Chapelle, i. 395 + St.-Denys, i. 326, 330 + St.-Eloi, i. 410 + Ste.-Geneviève, i. 413; ii. 62 + St.-Honoré, i. xxx; ii. 66 + St.-Jean-en-Grève, i. 325 + St.-Laurent, i. 60 + St.-Merry, i. 415 + University of, i. 166, 189, 409; ii. 54, 371 + consulted, by the English, i. 274 + opinion of Jeanne, ii. 98, 99, 294-297 + rectors of, ii. 208 + claim Jeanne for the inquisition, ii. 156, 172, 177, 190 + decision of, ii. 299 + mediates peace, ii. 352 + error of, ii. 385 + of Troy, i. 138 + +Parlament at Poitiers, i. 186 + +Partada, Alonzo de, i. 298, 299 + +Parthenay, i. 379 + +Pasquerel, Jean, i. xxiv, xxx, 249, 252, 259, 267, 283, 285, 300, 302, + 306, 399; ii. 41, 109, 133, 189, 388 + becomes Jeanne's chaplain, i. 218, 220, 221 + Jeanne confesses to, i. 290, 307 + writes at Jeanne's dictation, i. 295 + Jeanne talks with, i. 342, 343 + superseded, ii. 86 + writes to Sigismund, ii. 112 + +Patay, Battle of, i. xii, xx, xlii, 369-376; ii. 22, 57, 109, 356 + Town of, i. 373 + +_Patrie, la_, idea of, i. lx, lxiii-lxviii + +Paul, Eléonore de, i. 217 + +Peñiscola, ii. 37, 40 + +Penthesilea, Queen, i. 191, 222, 382 + +Pepin the Short, i. 395 + +Perceval de Cagny, i. 227 + +Perche, i. 387 + Earl of, _see_ Salisbury + +Perdriau, Guillaume, ii. 130 + +Perdriel, Jaquet, ii. 129, 130 + +_Periapts_, i. 274 + +Périgueux, ii. 97 + +Périnet, ii. 392 + +Perquin, Jean, ii. 127 + +Perrin, ii. 386 + +Petit, Gérard, ii. 210 + Jean, i. 325; ii. 170 + +Pharaoh, i. 409 + +Philip, Duke of Burgundy, i. 91, 92, 325, 358, 361, 432, 438 + welcomes the English, i. 21 + ravages Vaucouleurs, i. 24 + is offered Orléans as a pledge, i. 142, 233 + invited to the coronation, i. 400, 456 + the truce with, i. 458; ii. 7, 51-53, 107 + commands Paris, ii. 52 + his designs on Compiègne, ii. 139-151 + exults over Jeanne, ii. 153 + refuses to give her up, ii. 156, 159 + makes peace with Charles, ii. 352 + +Philip the Good, i. 398 + +Philippe I, i. 459 + +Philippe VI, i. 79 + +Philippe le Bel, i. 183 + +Philippe of Valois, i. 148, 209, 250 + +Picardy, i. 388 + held by England, i. 21 + +Pierre de Beauvau, i. 223 + de la Chapelle, i. 121 + de St.-Valerien, i. 167 + +Pierre de Versailles, i. 189 + examines Jeanne, i. 194 + rebukes Jeanne, i. 335 + Isambard de la, i. xxvi; ii. 330, 341, 389 + +Pierronne of Brittany, ii. 86, 97, 119, 123, 185-187, 345 + +Pigache, Jean, ii. 248 + +Pillas, Jean, i. 271 + +Pinel, Dr., ii. 416 + +Pithiviers, i. 231 + +Plancy, Sire de, i. 407 + +Plutarch, i. xlvi + +Poignant, Guyot, i. 58 + +Poiresson, ii. 392 + +Poissy, Abbey of, ii. 25 + +Poitiers, i. xlvii, 117, 164, 240, 326, 329, 343; ii. 81, 297, 318, 346 + Battle of, i. 63, 102 + Bishop of, i. 150 + charged with examination of Jeanne, i. 188 + Hôtel de la Rose, i. 192 + Parliament of, i. xvii, xxv, 187; ii. 103 + examines Jeanne, i. xli, 185, 223, 239, 242; ii. 387 + examines Guillaume the shepherd, ii. 166 + poverty of, i. 188 + Rue St.-Étienne, i. 216 + +Poitou, i. 148, 363; ii. 3 + +Pole, Alexander, i. 354 + John, i. 123, 231 + Sir John, i. 354 + William, _see_ Suffolk, Earl of + +Pomponne, M. de, ii. 409 + +Pont-à-Mousson, i. 61; ii. 135, 357 + +Pontanus, Paul, i. xxiii + +Ponthieu, i. 388; ii. 196 + +Pont-l'Evêque, ii. 144, 272 + +Pontorson, Governor of, i. 123 + +Pont-Ste.-Maxence, ii. 107, 139, 146 + +Porcien, i. 128 + +Porète, Marguerite la, ii. 237, 294 + +Porphyrius, i. 39, 41 + +Port de Lates, i. 163 + +Poton de Saintrailles, i. 115, 121, 137, 139, 142, 149, 233, 304; + ii. 142, 145, 348, 357 + at Blois, i. 244 + attacks Jargean, i. 332 + at Patay, i. 372 + on the way to Reims, i. 403 + taken prisoner, ii. 349 + +Poulengy, _see_ Bertrand + +Power, Hamish, i. 227; ii. 104 + Héliote, i. 228; ii. 104 + +Poynings, Lord, i. 304, 310, 312 + +Pragmatic Sanction, ii. 379 + +Préaux, ii. 208 + Abbot of, ii. 309 + +Premonstratensians, the, i. 473 + +Pressy, Jean de, ii. 192 + +Prestre, Jacquet le, i. 279 + +Preuilly, Jeanne de, i. 211 + +_Preux_, _Les_, i. 338 + +Priam of Troy, i. xiv, lxviii, 49, 382, 448; ii. 30 + +Priests, influence on Jeanne, i. xxxviii, 45-47, 64, 66, 79 + adapt the prophecy of Merlin, i. 178-180 + their view of her mission, i. 190 + spread legends, ii. 28 + +Privat, ii. 165 + +Procops, The, ii. 110 + +Prophecies, adaptation of, i. 178-180 + by Bede, i. 178 + by Jeanne, i. 64, 67, 78, 143, 470-477; _see also_ under Jeanne d'Arc + two distinct sources of, i. 78 + by Merlin, i. 175-177 + concerning Jeanne, i. 166, 196; ii. 29-32, 111, 239 + literal interpretation of, i. 413, 426 + of our Lord by Sibyls, i. 204, 205 + of the Maiden Redemptress, revised, i. 45, 59, 80 + royal heed of, i. 160-162 + +Prostitutes in the French army, i. 253, 291; ii. 74 + +Provins, ii. 3, 7, 8 + +Pucelle, i. 143 + +Puy-en-Velay, i. 218, 252; ii. 204 + La Vierge Noire, i. 277 + +Puy, Jean du, i. 217 + + +QUENAT, Jean, ii. 357 + +Quicherat, Jules, i. vii, x, xxxvii, l, lxi + +Quillier, Jean, ii. 369 + + +RABAN of Helmstat, ii. 363 + +Rabateau, Jean, Lay Attorney-General, + Jeanne in the house of, i. 191-203; ii. 103 + +Rabelais, i. lxv + +Raguenel, Tiphaine, i. 338 + +Raimondi, Cosmo, i. 384 + +Rainguesson, Jean, i. 5 + +Rais, Maréchal de, Marshal of France, i. xv, xvi, 243, 258, 266, 282, + 287, 292, 318, 372, 445, 450; ii. 34, 63, 67, 370, 392 + at Les Tourelles, i. 298, 299, 304 + resources of, i. 348 + leads to Reims, i. 403 + +Rampston, Thomas, i. 124 + +Raphaël, ii. 243, 416 + +Ratisbonne, ii. 423 + +Raymond, i. 252 + +Récollets, Des, ii. 410 + +Recordi, Pierre, ii. 260 + +Regent, _see_ Bedford + +Regnart family, The, i. 270 + +Régnier de Bouligny, ii. 78 + +Regnault de Chartres, Chancellor of France, Archbishop of Reims, i. xli, + xliii, xlix, 141, 169; ii. 10, 76, 142, 192, 299 + held to ransom, i. 148 + finds the coronation at Reims politic, i. 199, 392, 393, 442 + at Blois, i. 243 + career of, i. 153-156 + gathers an army, i. 240 + character of, i. 390, 476 + approves of Jeanne, i. 390 + crowns Charles VII, i. 447-449 + questions Jeanne as to her death, ii. 15 + policy of, ii. 53 + tries a substitute for Jeanne, ii. 163-169, 347-351 + +Regnault, Guillaume, i. 354 + +Reims, i. 77, 143, 163, 209, 405; ii. 71, 116, 119, 211, 358, 383 + Archbishop of, _see_ Regnault de Chartres + ampulla of, i. 52, 56 + Cathedral of, i. 445, 453 + labyrinth in, i. 320 + Charles VII, crowned at, i. 443-449 + citizens of, welcome Charles VII, i. 394 + surrender to Charles VII, i. 437-443 + invoke help of Charles VII, ii. 4, 10 + coronation at, prophesied, i. 198 + Jeanne's letter to, ii. 107 + Jeanne's progress to, i. 333, 385 + Porte Dieulimire, i. 443 + Remi, Bishop of, i. 50-53 + route to, i. 393 + Rue du Parvis, i. 451 + St.-Denys, i. 444 + Tau, i. 450 + +Reinach, M. Solomon, i. v + +_Relation, La_, i. xviii + +Remeswelle, ii. 140 + +Réné d'Anjou, Duke of Bar, Count of Vaudémont, i. 18, 26, 96, 389; ii. 393 + restores cattle to Domremy, i. 27 + character of, i. 91 + succession of, disputed, i. 92 + +Requests, master of, i. 169 + +Ressons, ii. 138 + +Resurrections of unbaptized children, ii. 135-137, 261 + +Reuilly, i. 267 + +Rhodes, order of, i. 264 + +Richemont, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, Constable of France, Count of, i. 146, + 147, 155, 370, 372 + held to ransom, i. 176 + at Beaugency, i. 363-367 + +Richer, Edmond, i. lv, viii + +_Rifflart_, i. 132, 311 + +Rigueur, Jean le, ii. 130 + +Riom, ii. 93 + +Robert de Baudricourt, Captain of Vaucouleurs, i. xx, 61, 77, 81, 160, + 351, 451; ii. 231, 266, 357 + offends the Duke of Burgundy, i. 24 + seen by Jacques d'Arc, i. 58 + character of, i. 61 + his opinion of Jeanne, i. 66, 78, 84, 87, 97 + his letters concerning Jeanne, i. 87, 160, 162, 168 + death of, ii. 392 + +Robert de Saarbruck, makes war against Didier et Durand de Saint-Dié, + i. 18, 20 + a formidable neighbour, i. 22, 24, 58 + taxes Domremy, i. 25 + +Robert, Duke of Bar, i. 61 + the Wise, i. 392 + +Robine, Marie, i. 161 + +Roche, Jean, ii. 126 + +Roche, M. Louis Charrier de la, ii. 415 + +Rochechouart, Lord of, i. 139 + +Rochefort, Sire de, i. 407, 432, 433 + +Rogier, i. xxxii + +Rolland the Scrivener, i. 166 + +Romain, Henri, ii. 188 + +_Romance of the Rose_, i. 359 + +Rome, i. 381; ii. 26, 99, 111, 374 + Empress of, i. 449 + +Romée, Isabelle, mother of Jeanne, _see_ Isabelle + origin of surname, i. 3 + +Romorantin, Jeanne at, i. 346 + +Rosier family, The, i. 192 + +Rostrenen, François de, i. 363, 381 + +Rouge Bombarde, ii. 140 + +Roule, ii. 66 + +Roussel, Raoul, ii. 208, 210, 293, 388 + +Rouvray-St.-Denis, i. 138, 139, 213, 229, 282 + Battle of, i. 370 + +Rouen, i. xxiii, xxxii, li, 124, 332; ii. 24, 60, 171, 196, 386 + Archbishop of, i. 395 + Bourg-l'Abbé, ii. 308 + Jeanne at, i. 464; ii. 198 + Old Market Square, Jeanne is burnt in, ii. 335-342 + +Royer, Thévenin le, i. 5 + +Roze, Jeannette, i. 5 + +Ru, The, i. 363 + +Rude, i. lxiii + + +SAARBRUCK, Robert de, _see_ Robert + +Sabbat, i. 150 + +Sabbath, fighting on the, i. 315 + +Sabinella, Queen, i. 35 + +Sablon, The, ii. 353 + +Sailly, i. 98 + +St.-Agnes, i. 208 + +St.-Aignan, i. 101, 392 + story of, i. 118-120 + shrine of, i. 236 + intercedes for Orléans, i. 236, 314, 461 + Charles VII at, i. 345 + +St.-Amance, i. 7 + +St.-Ambrose, i. 471 + +St.-Andrew, Cross of, i. 403; ii. 60, 66, 129 + +St.-Anthony of Padua, i. xxxix; ii. 272 + +St.-Augustine, i. 205 + +St.-Avy, Jean de, i. 142, 233; ii. 209 + +St.-Barbara, i. 208 + +St.-Bellin, Geoffroy de, ii. 124 + +St.-Benedict, order of, i. 189 + +St.-Benoit-sur-Loire, Jeanne at, i. 377 + +St.-Catherine, i. xxxix; ii. 139 + history and martyrdom of, i. 34-41, 159, 328 + her shrine and miracles at Fierbois, i. 102-105, 475 + sword of, i. 223; ii. 75, 245 + language of, i. 200 + touches rings, i. 453 + comforts Jeanne at Beaurevoir, ii. 180, 182 + crown of, ii. 233 + comforts Jeanne in prison, ii. 274 + of Siena, i. xxxv, lxxii, 457, 469; ii. 167, 348 + +St. Catherine and St. Margaret, i. lvi, 194, 215, 239, 263, 333, 378, + 437, 449; ii. 43 + appear to Jeanne at Domremy, i. 42, 49, 57, 75 + reassure Jeanne at Poitiers, i. 193 + appear to Jeanne at Chinon and Tours, i. 224 + bid Jeanne take the standard, i. 227 + appear to Jeanne at Orléans, i. 285, 301, 340, 357 + comfort Jeanne wounded, i. 307 + appear at Rouen, ii. 325, 327 + speak of Catherine de la Rochelle, ii. 90 + foretell Jeanne's death, ii. 122 + Jeanne's testimony concerning, ii. 242, 295, 296, 403-406 + embraced by Jeanne, i. xxxiii; ii. 283, 404 + +Ste.-Catherine-de-Fierbois, i. 145; ii. 232 + +St.-Cecilia, i. 448 + +St.-Charlemagne, i. 182, 261; ii. 178 + +St.-Christina, i. 207 + +St.-Claire, Convent of Neufchâteau, i. 71 + +St.-Clare, i. 459 + order of, ii. 92 + +St.-Claude, i. 162 + +St.-Cyr, i. xxxvii + +St.-Denys, i. xlv, 31, 57, 160, 189, 250, 335, 395, 417, 476; ii. 44, + 46-49, 63, 265 + head of, i. 326, 330; ii. 48, 61 + story of, ii. 46-49 + Jeanne at, ii. 46-53, 75 + English sack, ii. 83 + burial of Charles VII at, ii. 397 + +St.-Dizier, i. 26 + +St.-Dominic, i. xxxix + order of, i. 189 + +St.-Dorothea, i. 207 + +St.-Etienne, i. 100; ii. 41 + Cardinal, ii. 37 + +St.-Euphemia, i. 207 + +St.-Euphrosyne, i. 198 + +St.-Euverte, i. 118, 120, 392 + intercedes for Orléans, i. 236, 314, 461 + +St.-Florentin, i. 407 + +St.-Florent-les-Saumur, i. 183, 353 + Abbey of, i. 184 + +St.-Fort, i. 459 + +St.-Francis of Assisi, i. xxxix, 213, 220; ii. 166, 348 + order of, i. 71-73 + +St.-Gabriel, ii. 253 + +St.-Geneviève, i. 208 + +St.-George, i. 250, 278; ii. 420 + shield of, i. 130 + story of, i. 159 + English cry of, i. 273 + +St.-Georges de Boscherville, ii. 208 + +St.-Gilles, Lord, i. 372 + +St.-Grégoire de Tours, ii. 21 + +St.-Gregory, Pope, i. 85 + of Nyssa, i. 206 + +St.-Hubert's Day, i. 371 + +St.-Jean-d'-Angers, ii. 139 + +St.-Jean-de-Braye, i. 258, 268 + +St.-Jean-de-la Ruelle, i. 136 + +St.-Jean-des-Bois, i. 198 + +St.-Jean-le-Blanc, i. 231, 261, 263, 268, 293, 297, 298 + +St.-Jerome, i. 205 + +St.-John the Baptist, high repute of, i. 5 + day of, i. 344, 464; ii. 123, 253, 356, 362 + +St.-John the Evangelist, i. 206, 414, 430; ii. 165, 310 + +St.-Julien, i. 157 + +St.-Ladre, i. 136, 143 + +St.-Laurent-des-Orgerils, i. 112, 114, 119 + English camp at, i. 131, 134, 244, 261, 276, 278, 288, 292, 303, 307, 313 + pillaged by citizens of Orléans, i. 234 + +St.-Laurence's Eve, ii. 60 + +St.-Lawrence, i. 157; ii. 48 + +St.-Lô, ii. 208, 219 + prior of, ii. 309 + +St.-Louis, i. 57, 159, 219, 261, 445; ii. 14, 48, 178 + crown of, i. 475 + +St.-Loup, i. xli, 113, 134, 264 + Abbaye aux Dames, i. 289 + attack on, i. 284-291, 319, 461 + Convent of the Ladies of, i. 287 + English occupy, i. 231, 268 + +St.-Luke, ii. 230 + +St.-Marc, i. 268 + +St.-Marcellin, i. 180 + +St.-Marcoul, i. 459 + +St.-Marcoul-de-Corberry, i. 459 + +St.-Marie-de-Vaucouleurs, i. 79 + +St.-Margaret, i. liv, 194, 263 + history and martyrdom of, i. 32-34 + honoured in France, i. 31 + language of, i. 200; ii. 254 + Church of, at Elincourt, ii. 139 + _see_ St. Catherine and St. Margaret + +St.-Mark, ii. 230 + +St.-Martha, i. xxix + +St.-Martin-de-Tours, i. 165 + +St.-Martin-le-Bouillant, ii. 345 + +St.-Martin's Day, i. lxix; ii. 181, 253 + +St.-Mary Magdalen, ii. 48 + +St.-Maurice, i. 404; ii. 420 + +St.-Mesmin, Aignan de, ii. 360 + +St.-Michael, i. lxxiv, 118, 141, 160, 194, 263, 333, 378, 437; ii. 316, 341 + patron saint of France, i. 29, 30; ii. 49 + appears to St. Catherine, i. 37, 193 + visits Jeanne, i. 29, 44, 56, 57, 58, 340; ii. 197, 243 + Feast of, i. 314 + personal appearance of, i. xxxiii; ii. 255, 278 + letters from, i. xliii; ii. 267, 272 + +St.-Nicholas, Chapel of, i. 88 + +St.-Nicholas-du-Port, i. 90, 97 + +St.-Nicolas-le-Painteur, ii. 246 + +St.-Ouen, ii. 208, 308 + +St.-Paul, i. 55, 213; ii. 216, 267 + +St.-Péravy, i. 373, 374 + +St.-Peter, i. 51, 55, 162, 206 + +St.-Phal, i. 407, 412, 418, 422 + +St.-Pierre de Chaumont, Priory of, i. 189 + +St.-Pierre-le-Moustier, attack on, ii. 84, 85, 93 + +St.-Pol, Bastard, i. 20 + +St.-Privé, i. 292, 302 + +St.-Quentin, ii. 154 + +St.-Remi, i. 4, 198, 445, 447 + history of, i. 49-53 + miracles of, i. 54, 55 + +St.-Riquier, ii. 196 + +St.-Sanxon, ii. 362 + +St.-Sauveur, i. 103 + +Ste.-Ségolène, ii. 366 + +St.-Sigismond, i. 256, 373, 377 + +St.-Sixtus, i. 51 + +St.-Thecla, i. 207 + +St.-Theresa, ii. 402 + +St.-Thiébault Spring, i. 9 + +St.-Thomas, i. lxviii + +St.-Urbain, Abbey of, i. 98 + +St.-Urbain, Pope, i. 98 + +St.-Valery, ii. 198 + +St.-Vallier, Sire de, ii. 67 + +Saint Simon, ii. 410 + +Saints consulted, i. 337 + +Sakya Muni, i. xix + +Salisbury, Earl of, i. 116, 151, 287; 149, 348 + invades France, i. 108 + reaches Janville, i. 122 + death of, i. 126, 127 + +Salm, Count of, _see_ Jean + +Salon-en-Crau, i. xxxvi; ii. 407 + +Salvart, Jean, ii. 199, 201 + +Samoy, i. 113 + +Samson, i. 384 + +Samuel, i. 447, 448 + +Sanguin, Guillaume, ii. 58 + +Saonelle, The, i. 2 + +Sarmaize, Maid of, ii. 392, 393 + +Satan, ii. 296 + +Saul, i. 447, 454 + +Saulcy, i. 88 + +Saumoussay, ii. 393 + +Saumur, i. 103, 379; ii. 393 + +Sauve, Catherine, i. 210 + +Savignies, ii. 348 + +Savin Renaud, ii. 128-130 + +Savoy, Duke of, _see_ Amédée + +Scales, Thomas, Lord of, i. 123, 135, 231, 245, 261 + summoned by Jeanne to surrender, i. 276 + at Meung, i. 362 + taken prisoner at Patay, i. 375, 397, 399 + +Scarron, i. lv; ii. 412 + +Scotland, i. 154 + +Secret, the King's, i. 172 + +Seguent, Jean, ii. 207 + +Seguin, Brother, examines Jeanne, i. 189, 200; ii. 387 + +Séez, Bishop of, i. 447; ii. 53, 183 + +Seille, The, ii. 353 + +Sein, Island of, i. 204 + +Seine, The, i. 100, 388; ii. 4, 78 + +Selles-en-Berry, i. 450; ii. 9 + Jeanne at, i. 338-346; ii. 78 + +Selles-sur-Cher, i. 101 + +Semendria, i. 249 + +Semoy, i. 268 + +Seneca, i. lxvii + +Senlis, ii. 11, 20, 34, 44, 53, 76, 83, 144 + Jeanne at, ii. 138, 165, 195, 356 + +Senlis, Bailie of, ii. 131 + horse of bishop of, ii. 45, 261 + +Sens, i. 403, 410, 413; ii. 78 + +Sepet, Marius, i. lxi + +Septfonds, i. 88 + +Sept-Saulx, Castle of, i. 443 + +Sermaize, i. 15, 16 + siege of, i. 24 + +Séverac, Marshal de, ii. 38 + +Seville, i. 167 + +Shakespeare, quoted, i. 233 + +_Sibylla Francica_, i. xxii, 473 + +Sibyls, The, i. 165, 175, 204, 205, 322, 385, 414; ii. 27, 30 + +Sicily, Queen of, _see_ Yolande + +Sidon, ii. 296 + +Siena, i. 249, 412 + +Sigismund, Emperor, i. 215; ii. 109, 112, 380 + +Sigy, ii. 208 + +Simon, Jeannotin, ii. 322 + Magus, i. 162 + +Siquemville, Jean de, ii. 371 + +Soissons, i. 460; ii. 7, 11, 142, 261, 356 + Charles III at, ii. 1-3 + +Solomon, King, i. 128, 212; ii. 187, 217 + +Somme, The, i. 394; ii. 197 + +Songs, by a Norman Clerk, i. 128 + +Sorel, M. Alexandre, i. vii + +Spencer, Richard, i. 375 + +Speyer, Bishop of, ii. 363 + +Spiers, i. 473 + +Sprenger, ii. 222 + +Stafford, Humphrey, Earl of, ii. 202, 203 + +Standard, Jeanne's, i. 227, 343, 448; ii. 67 + at Les Tourelles, i. 308-310 + +States General, The, i. 149-151 + +Stenay, i. 81 + +Stuart, John, i. 137 + Lord William, i. 135, 137, 139 + +Suave, Catherine, i. 163 + +Suffolk, Earl of, i. 123, 245, 261; ii. 20, 348 + summoned by, Jeanne, i. 276 + in Jargeau, i. 349-354 + William Pole, Earl of, i. 115, 135 + +Suger, Abbot, ii. 47 + +Sully, i. xxxi, xlix; ii. 120, 185 + Jeanne at, ii. 106-118 + +Suzannah, ii. 80 + + +TACHOV, ii. 110 + +_Taille_, i. 150 + +Talbot, Sir John, i. xvi, 115, 135, 231, 245, 345, 368; ii. 20, 348 + approaches Les Tourelles, i. 132 + conducts the siege, i. 260 + summoned by Jeanne to surrender, i. 262, 276 + sallies from St.-Laurent, i. 288 + plans of, i. 301-305, 313 + advance of, i. 367 + taken prisoner at Patay, i. 374, 375, 377, 397, 399 + William, ii. 225 + +Talmont, Abbot of, i. 189 + +Taquel, ii. 389 + +Tarascon, beast of, i. xxix + +Tarentaise, Pierre of, ii. 265 + +Terence, ii. 306, 331 + +Termes, Sire de, i. 369, 376 + +Théaulde de Valpergue, i. 129 + +Theodosius, i. 32, 198 + +Thérouanne, Bishop of, defends Paris, ii. 60, 202, 299, 309, 340 + +Thévanon of Bourges, ii. 369 + +Thévenin, Jeannette, ii. 386 + +Thibault, Gobert, i. xxix, 194, 196, 258 + +Thibonville, Germain de, i. 166 + +Thiembronne, Guichard de, ii. 143 + +Thoisy, Jean de, i. 398 + +Thoneletil, Jean de, ii. 366 + +Thons, i. 163 + +Thouars, Baron de, i. 137, 140 + +Tichemont, ii. 365 + +Tiffanges, ii. 370 + +Tiphaine, Jean, ii. 240, 401 + +Tillay, Jamet du, i. 140, 144, 169, 347 + reports of Jeanne, i. 238 + +Tillemonts, i. lvii + +Titivillus, i. lxxiv + +Tobias, ii. 243 + +Tonnerre, i. 412 + +Torcenay, Jean de, ii. 210 + +Toul, i. xxiii, 30, 68, 73 89 + Bishop of, i. 18 + +Toulouse, i. 111, 189, 190, 240, 337 + seneschal of, ii. 96 + +Touque, The, i. 388 + +Touraine, i. 101, 108, 149, 150, 217; ii. 211 + +Tournai, citizens of, invited to Reims, i. 397 + their loyalty to France, i. 398, 399; ii. 188, 192 + +Touroulde, Marguerite de la, i. xxviii; ii. 79-82, 388 + +Tours, i. 151, 161, 240, 254, 475; ii. 104, 139, 369 + Jeanne at, i. 216-229, 319 + resists pillage, i. 217 + trades of, i. 221 + Charles VII at, i. 331 + Council at, ii. 396 + prays for deliverance of Jeanne, ii. 161 + loyal to Charles VII, ii. 183, 184 + +_Tractatus_, _de Hæresi_ ii. 215 + +Tree of Vauru, ii. 12-14 + +Trent, Council of, i. xxxvii + +Trèves, ii. 363 + Lord of, i. l, 153, 211, 331, 333, 427; ii. 183 + +Trie, Pierre de, i. 70 + +Tringant, i. ix + +Trinitarians, The, i. 275 + +Trinte-du-mont-St.-Catherine, ii. 208 + +Troissy, Jean de, ii. 124, 131, 132 + +Troyes, i. xxvi, xxxii, 275, 389, 394, 405, 410; ii. 2, 49, 59, 71, 86, + 116, 228, 383 + English disposition of, i. 407 + manufactures of, i. 407 + Bishop of, i. 408 + Charles VII at, i. 411, 421-434 + Jeanne's letter to, i. 419 + Council of, write to Reims, i. 420, 424, 429 + treat with Charles, i. 421-431 + opinion of Jeanne, i. 422 + St.-Pierre, i. 423 + fortifications of, i. 424 + Comporté Gates, i. 427 + the Madeleine, i. 427 + surrender of, i. 466 + Treaty of, i. xxxix, xlviii, 60, 82, 379, 408, 409, 423; ii. 158, + 176, 209 + +Truce, with Burgundy, ii. 51-53 + +Tudert, Jean, ii. 76 + +Turelure, Pierre, i. 189, 190 + examines Jeanne, i. 193 + +Turks, threaten Constantinople, i. 249 + +Turlaut, Collot, i. 24 + +Turlupines, The, ii. 64 + + +UDALRIC OF MANDERSCHEIT, ii. 363 + +Ulrich, Count of Wurtemberg, ii. 362 + +Unicorn and the Maid, i. 208 + +Ursins, Jean Jouvenel des, ii. 385 + +Uruffe, i. 60 + + +VAILLY, i. 460; ii. 1 + +Valenciennes, ii. 193 + +Valens, the Emperor, i. 197 + +Valentia, ii. 37 + +Valentine of Milan, i. 358 + +Valois, peasants of, ii. 10 + +Valpergue, i. 129 + +Van Eyck, Brothers, i. 402 + +Varambon, Lord of, i. 465 + +Varro, i. 205, 322 + +Varville, i. 451 + +Vaucouleurs, situation of, i. 1, 2 + castellany of, i. 19, 22, 24, 26 + besieged by de Vergy, i. 69, 77 + Jeanne at, i. xxiii, xxxviii, 57, 61, 67, 95, 161, 211, 212, 351, 451, + 473; ii. 231, 353, 357, 386 + +Vaudémont, Count of, _see_ Réné d'Anjou + +Vaudrey, Philibert de, i. 412 + +Vauru, Lord Denis de, ii. 12-14 + +Vauseul, Jeanne le, i. 76 + +Vaux, Pasquier de, ii. 208 + +Vavasour warns King John, i. xxxvi, 63, 163; ii. 266 + +Vegetius, i. 302 + +Velleda, i. 204 + +Velly, Jean de, ii. 103 + +Venderès, Nicolas de, ii. 208, 210, 218, 329, 331 + +Vendôme, Count of, i. xii, 347, 355, 446; ii. 8, 34, 53, 63, 76, 83, + 142, 194 + presents Jeanne to Charles, i. 169 + at Patay, i. 372, 379 + +Venette, ii. 145, 150, 164 + +Venice, i. 130 + +Venus, i. 166 + +Verdun, Bishop of, i. 18, 24 + +Verduzan, Lord of, i. 137, 139 + +Vergy, Antoine de, i. 69, 70, 77 + lays siege to Vaucouleurs, i. 87 + +Vergy Jean de, Seneschal of Burgundy, i. 26, 69 + +Vermandois, i. 442; ii. 159 + bailie of, ii. 353 + +Verneuil, i. xlvii, 25, 63, 106, 123, 229, 145, 146; ii. 197 + Crotoy Tower, i. 183, 185 + +Versailles, ii. 407 + bishop of, ii. 415 + +Vesle, The, i. 443 + +Vian de Bar, i. 465 + +Vienne, The, i. 158 + University of, ii. 366 + +Vierzon, i. 155 + +Vignolles, Etienne de, _see_ La Hire + +Vigny, Alfred de, i. lxix + +Villars, i. 121 + Lord of, i. 296, 304 + reports of Jeanne, i. 238 + +Villedart, Thévenin, i. 272; ii. 369 + +Villette, Lord of, ii. 366 + +Villon, François, i. lxv + +Vincennes, Castle of, ii. 57 + Fort of, i. 386 + +Virgil's _Æneid_, ii. 306, 331 + +Virgin Mary, The, position of, i. 206 + image of, at Tours, i. 219 + intercedes for Orléans, i. 327 + +Virginity, special virtues of, i. 204-211, 322; ii. 367 + +Virgo, i. 166 + +Viriville, Vallet de, i. vii, lxi + +Visconti, The, ii. 41 + +Vittel, Jeannette de, i. 5, 12 + Thiesselin, de, i. 5, 20 + +Vivien, i. 175 + +Vitré, i. 338 + +Voices, hallucinatory, i. xxxiii; ii. 22, 401-406 + first heard by Jeanne, i. 29 + reveal her mission, i. 44, 47, 56 + at Vaucouleurs, i. 62, 78 + at Neufchâteau, i. 74 + at Chinon and Tours, i. 224 + at Orléans, i. 295 + at Les Tourelles, i. 308 + at St.-Denys, ii. 76 + Jeanne questioned concerning, i. 193, 197; ii. 229-235, 238, 242, 253, + 258, 261, 268, 272, 277, 283 + instruct Jeanne as to the English, i. 260 + visit Jeanne daily, i. 340 + counsel Jeanne before Patay, i. 370 + foretell French victory, i. 457 + speak of Paris, ii. 65 + forbid escape, ii. 181 + instruct Jeanne that she must see Henry VI, ii. 160 + forbid her revelations, ii. 223, 234, 237, 255, 269 + Jeanne in prison sustained by, ii. 235, 258, 289, 291, 293 + bid Jeanne protest against Erard, ii. 311, 325 + bid her recant, ii. 314 + _see also_ under Ste.-Catherine, St.-Michael, _and_ Jeanne d'Arc + +Voltaire, i. lvii + +Vouthon, Henri de, i. 3, 15, 16, 47; ii. 393 + Isabella de, i. 59 + at Puy, i. 252 + Jean de, i. 25; ii. 392 + Mengette de, i. 7, 24, 48, 76 + Nicolas de, i. 252 + Perrinet de, i. 16 + + +WALDAIRES, Jean, i. 70 + +Wallon, H., i. lxi + +Wals, Jean de, i. 81 + +Walter, Richard, i. 124 + +War of the Apple Baskets, i. 92; ii. 8 + a punishment for sin, i. 235 + a trade, i. 395 + +Warwick, Earl of, i. li, 129; ii. 177, 198, 202, 213, 240, 319, 324, + 328, 348 + +Wearmouth, i. 178 + +Well-dressings, i. 156 + +Wells, Mr. H.G., i. lxix + +William, Duke of Normandy, i. 123 + +Winchester, i. 177 + Bishop of, i. 107 + Cardinal of, i. 441; ii. 20, 110, 213, 309, 319, 340 + +Windecke, Eberhard de, i. xxii + +Windsor, i. 275, 359 + +Wine, valued, i. 279 + +Witchcraft, i. 190 + suspected at Domremy, i. 13, 15 + Jeanne suspected of, i. 69, 274; _see_ Jeanne + and wounds, i. 306 + trials for, ii. 207, 222 + +Witches, burnt, i. 163; ii. 187 + +Wurtemberg, Count Ulrich of, ii. 362 + + +YOLANDE of Aragon, Queen of Sicily, Duchess of Anjou, i. 26, 91, 92, + 147, 152, 211, 217, 240, 389, 458; ii. 8, 183, 216, 351 + sends victuals to Orléans, i. 92, 240 + at Blois, i. 243 + +Yonne, The, i. 100, 407; ii. 78 + +Ysabeau, Queen, i. 22, 60, 80, 172, 395, 423; ii. 41, 58, 178 + + +ZABILLET, Romée, i. 3 + +Zacharias, ii. 230 + +Zizka, ii. 115 + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 +(of 2), by Anatole France + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC *** + +***** This file should be named 19488-8.txt or 19488-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/8/19488/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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