Chapter XVI…

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 Etampes 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 siege, 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 a Guill. de Champeaux, eveque 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 Alencon 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 Alencon 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 Alencon'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 siege, 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. Fauche-Prunelle, Lettres tirees des archives de l'eveche 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 Alencon'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 Alencon, the Count of Vendome, 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 siege, 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-Peravy, 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 Retreve. 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 siege, pp. 103 et seq. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 85. Le Comte de Vassal, La bataille de Patay, Orleans, 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 Retreve. 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-Peravy 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 Retreve. 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 Guerard, 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 siege, Orleans, 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. Lefevre de Saint-Remy, 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 Dauphine, 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 Alencon 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 chateau, ses souvenirs du XV'e siecle, Orleans, 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 siege, p. 105; Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 307, 308.]

From Patay the victorious army marched to Orleans. 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 Chateau of Sully.[1298] Thence they started for Chateauneuf 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 siege, p. 105.]

[Footnote 1298: De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. ii, p. 222 et seq.; E. Cosneau, Le connetable 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 Alencon, and the Duke of Vendome. 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 Tremouille. 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 Dauphine, published by Fauche-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 memoires de la Societe 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 siege, 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 connetable 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 naivete. By royal command Richemont received back his lordship of Parthenay.[1303]

[Footnote 1303: 1431, 8th of May. A decree condemning Andre 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 duche de Bretagne sous le regne 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, Francois, and Bonne de Savoie, daughter of Duke Amedee. With him was Comment-Qu'il-Soit, herald of Richard of Brittany, Count of Etampes. 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 Orleans, 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 temoignage relatif a la mission de Jeanne d'Arc in Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes, vol. xlvi, pp. 649, 668. Le P. Ayroles, La Pucelle devant l'Eglise 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: Cathedrale du Puy. E.F. Corpet, Portraits des arts liberaux d'apres les ecrivains du moyen age, in Annales archeologiques, 1857, vol. xvii, pp. 89, 103. Em. Male, Les Arts liberaux dans la statuaire du moyen age, in Revue archeologique, 1891.]

[Footnote 1312: Another name for Dauphine (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'Eglise 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 Erythraean and the Cumaean. 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 guerriere, 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 Orleans.[1317] This inspiration was wholly of the spirit, and had nothing to do with the state of affairs created by the deliverance of Orleans 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 siege, 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 desolation des eglises, 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 Coues 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. Lefevre-Pontalis, La panique anglaise en mai 1429, Paris, 1894, in 8vo.]

[Footnote 1324: G. Lefevre-Pontalis, La guerre des partisans dans la Haute Normandie (1424-1429), in the Bibliotheque de l'Ecole 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 Alencon, 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 Orleanais by the capture of La Charite 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 Rene 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 Chalons. 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 connetable de Richemont, pp. 179 et seq.]

[Footnote 1330: Even after the coronation Regnault de Chartres would not "suffer the Maid and the Duke of Alencon 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 Orleans. 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 desolation des eglises, 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 Orleans.[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 siege, 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, Antiquites d'Orleans, 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 francais de la bibliotheque 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 heraut Berry, Bibl. Nat. ms. fr. 5873, fol. 7.]

The campaign was already arranged, and that very skilfully. Communications had been opened with Troyes and Chalons. 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 chateaux 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 siege, p. 108. Cagny, p. 157. Morosini, pp. 84-85. Loiseleur, Compte des depenses, 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 siege, 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 Evreux 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 Felibien, 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 siege, 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 Orleans 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 litteraires 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 Dauphine, published by Fauche-Prunelle, in Bulletin de l'Academie 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 memoires de la Societe 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 Tournesis 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 a 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 a Tournai (1422-1430) in Memoires de la Societe historique et litteraire 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 naive 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 Dauphine. Finally, a missive despatched about the 25th of June, from one of the towns of the diocese of Lucon, 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 litteraires 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 a trois sepmaines que je vous avoye escript et envoie bonnes lettres par un heraut...."]

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 connetable 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 Orleans.[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 memoires couronnees par l'Academie de Bruxelles, xxxiii (1867).]

[Footnote 1365: Journal du siege, 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 fetes, Douai, 1840, in 8vo. De Reiffenberg, Les enfants naturels du duc Philippe le Bon, in Bulletin de l'Academie 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 Tremouille, 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 siege, 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: Abbe Lebeuf, Histoire ecclesiastique 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, Chalons, and Reims.[1376]

[Footnote 1376: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 90. Journal du siege, p. 108. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 313. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 436. Abbe Lebeuf, Histoire ecclesiastique 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 Tremouille, 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'Ile 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 siege, 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 meridionale, 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 inedits relatifs a la ville de Troyes (1886).]

[Footnote 1384: F. Bourquelot, Les foires de Champagne, Paris, 1865, vol. i, p. 65. Louis Batiffol, Jean Jouvenel, prevot 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 Laiguises, 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 Laiguise, son of Master Huet Laiguise, 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 Laiguise 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 diocese 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'arriere-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 Orleans.[1388]

[Footnote 1387: Simeon Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, p. ccxxii, according to Labbe and Cossart, Sacro-Sancta-Consilia, vol. xii, col. 390.]

[Footnote 1388: S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, p. ccxx and proofs and illustrations, ccix, pp. 238-239. Robillard de Beaurepaire, Les etats de Normandie sous la domination anglaise, Evreux, 1859, in 8vo.]

Messire Jean Laiguise 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 Laiguise'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'arriere-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 cite champenoise au xv'e siecle, Troyes, 1875, in 12mo.]

[Footnote 1395: Trial, vol. i, pp. 99, 100. Relation du Greffier de La Rochelle, p. 338. Journal du siege, 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. Simeon Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy (chap. x, Jeanne d'Arc et frere 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, Proces de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc, 1867. Introduction, Notes sur deux medailles de plomb relatives a Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, 1861, p. 22. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a 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 siege, 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-Genevieve; 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 regnes 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 medailles de plomb relatives a Jeanne d'Arc, in Revue archeologique, 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 regnes 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 Chalons 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'Archeveque, 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 Orleans, the Englishman Falconbridge likewise treats Jeanne as a boaster, lines 12689-90:

_'Y nous fault prandre la coquarde, Qui veult les Francois 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, Etude sur les travaux d'achevement de la cathedrale de Troyes, p. 9. A. Babeau, Les vues d'ensemble de Troyes, Troyes, 1892, in 8vo, p. 13. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, 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 Orleans 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 cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, 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 Chalons 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 siege, 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 siege, 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 Macon 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 siege, 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 Treves[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 Comporte 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 siege, 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 cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, 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 Laiguise, 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 siege, Chronique de la Pucelle. Camusat, Mel. hist., part ii, fol. 214.]

Jean Laiguise 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 siege, 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 Laiguise 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 deliberations du conseil de la ville de Troyes in Coll. de Doc. inedits 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 generale de la Champagne et de la Brie, Chalons, 1885, vol. i, pp. 352 et seq. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, 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 siege. 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 siege, 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: Lefevre de Saint-Remy, vol. ii, p. 168. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, pp. clxxiii, clxxiv. P. Champion, Notes sur Jeanne d'Arc, I. Madame d'Or et Jeanne d'Arc in Le moyen age, 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 siege, p. 112. Un prince de facon, 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 Alencon 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, "Noel!" 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 Lore, 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 a Troyes, pp. 4 et seq.]

[Footnote 1470: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, p. 342. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319. Journal du siege, p. 112. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 505. A. Roserot, Le plus ancien registre des deliberations du conseil de Troyes in Coll. des documents inedits de la ville de Troyes, vol. iii, pp. 175 et seq.]

XVIII. THE SURRENDER OF CHALONS 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 Lettree, twelve and a half miles from Chalons. From Lettree the King sent his herald Montjoie to the people of Chalons 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 Barthelemy of L'histoire de la ville de Chalons-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'Archeveque, the people of Chalons 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 Chalons 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 legislatives de la ville de Reims, Statuts, vol. 1, pp. 596 et seq. (Coll. des documents inedits 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 Chalons came out to Lettree to meet the King and gave up to him the keys of the town. He was Jean de Montbeliard-Saarbrueck, 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 Chalons, 1855 (2 vols. in 4to), vol. i, p. 350. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a 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 Chalons.[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 Neufchateau on the passing of the men-at-arms. Jeanne gave him a red gown which she had worn.[1475] At Chalons also she met another husbandman, younger than Morel by about ten years, Gerardin from Epinal, whom she called her compeer,[1476] just as she called Gerardin's wife Isabellette her commere[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 Gerardin because he was a Burgundian. At Chalons 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 Barthelemy, Chalons pendant l'invasion anglaise, Chalons, 1851, p. 16.]

[Footnote 1475: Trial, vol. ii, pp. 391, 392 (Jean Morel's evidence).]

[Footnote 1476: French compere, 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: Commere, fellow godmother (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1478: Trial, vol. ii, p. 423 (evidence of Gerardin of Epinal).]

The people of Chalons, 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 Chalons 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 a 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 a 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'Archeveque, 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 Orleans 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 a Reims, pp. 17 et seq.]

The Sire de Chastillon, Commander of the town, was then at Chateau-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 a 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 a 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 siege, p. 118. Rymer, Foedera, vol. x, p. 424. S. Bougenot, Notices et extraits des manuscrits interessants l'histoire de France conserves a la Bibliotheque imperiale 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 a 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 siege, p. 112. Bergier, Poeme sur la tapisserie de Jeanne d'Arc, p. 112. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, pp. 20, 21. F. Pinon, Notice sur Sept-Saulx, in Travaux de l'academie 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 a 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 a 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'academie 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.]

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 ceremonies du sacre ou Recherches historiques et antiques sur les moeurs, les coutumes, les institutions et le droit public des Francais 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 siege, 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 Academie 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 Alencon, the Counts of Clermont and of Vendome, the Sires de Laval, de La Tremouille, and de Maille.

Of the six ecclesiastical peers, three replied to the summons of the king-at-arms,--the Archbishop Duke of Reims, the Bishop Count of Chalons, the Bishop Duke of Laon. For the missing bishops of Langres and Noyon were substituted those of Seez and Orleans. 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'Alencon 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 siege, 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 Chalons 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 inedite d'un document sur le sacre de Charles VII, Clermont and Orleans, 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: "Noel."[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 Orleans 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 siege, 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, "Noel!" 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 Tremouille 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 a Reims, p. 107.]

[Footnote 1518: Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 322. Journal du siege, 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 Alencon 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 "Noel!" 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 a Reims, p. 32.]

[Footnote 1520: Thirion, Les frais du sacre, in Travaux de l'Academie 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 Raye 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 a Reims, pp. 47, 48. L'abbe 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 a Domremy, pp. 1 et seq.; proofs and illustrations no. li, pp. 97, 100; supplement, pp. 359, 362. Boucher de Molandon, Jacques d'Arc, pere de la Pucelle, sa notabilite personnelle, Orleans, 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 Memoires de la Societe 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: Sanctissimae virginis Coletae 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 a 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 facade 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 cathedrale de Reims, s.d. in 4to, p. 44.) The date of the rose window is 1280 (H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a 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 francais. 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. serie, vol. i, 1837, p. 525. Facsimile in l'Album des archives departementales, 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 a l'histoire des croisades au XV'e siecle, 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: Memoires 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 a 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 siege, 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 prieure, et le pelerinage de Saint-Marcoul, Soissons, 1883, 8vo. E. de Barthelemy, Notice historique sur le pelerinage 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 ecrouelles 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 siege, p. 115. Chronique des Cordeliers, fol. 486 r'o. Morosini, iii, p. 182, note 3.]

[Footnote 1549: Brehal, in Trial, vol. iii, p. 345.]

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 Orleans, 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 Orleans 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 siege, pp. 16, 88. Chronique de l'etablissement de la fete, in Trial, vol. v, p. 296. Lottin, Recits historiques sur Orleans, vol. i, p. 279.]

Guillaume Girault, former magistrate of the town and notary at the Chatelet, 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 Orleans 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 temoignage relatif a la mission de Jeanne d'Arc, in Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes, vol. xlvi, p. 649. Le P. Ayroles, La Pucelle devant l'Eglise 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 Marechal, 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 Orleans 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. Fauche-Prunelle, Lettres tirees 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 Romee'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 Orleans, 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 Chateau 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 siege, 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 siege, 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 siege, p. 294. Chronique de l'etablissement de la fete, in Trial, vol. v, p. 294.]

[Footnote 1574: AA. SS., April 3rd. Didron, Iconographie chretienne, 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 Orleans 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 Orleans and Orleans 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 Orleans, 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 siege, pp. 34, 44, 45, 48. Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 212, 295. Perceval de Cagny, p. 141. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 320. Lefevre de Saint-Remy, 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 chateau, 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 Orleans, 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: Abbe J. Th. Bizouard, Histoire de sainte Colette et des clarisses en Franche-Comte, d'apres des documents inedits 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. Noel Valois, Un nouveau temoignage sur Jeanne d'Arc, p. 17.]

[Footnote 1585: Lanery d'Arc, Memoires et consultations, pp. 220, 222. Theodore de Leliis, in Trial, vol. ii, pp. 39, 42. Le P. Ayroles, La Pucelle devant l'Eglise de son temps, p. 342. Abbe 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 siege, 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 chateau 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 siege, pp. 49, 50. Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, pp. 337, 338. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 108, 109. Abbe Bourasse, 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'Eglise de Reims, vol. iv, p. 175. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a 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, beguine, 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

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.

CONTENTS

VOL. II

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE ROYAL ARMY FROM SOISSONS TO COMPIEGNE. POEM AND PROPHECY 1

II. THE MAID'S FIRST VISIT TO COMPIEGNE. 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 CHARITE 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 COMPIEGNE. CAPTURE OF THE MAID 138

VIII. THE MAID AT BEAULIEU. THE SHEPHERD OF GEVAUDAN 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 BALE 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 ORLEANS 388 From an old engraving.

JOAN OF ARC