FIRST VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS--FLIGHT TO NEUFCHATEAU--JOURNEY TO
TOUL--SECOND VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS
Robert de Baudricourt, who in those days commanded the town of
Vaucouleurs for the Dauphin Charles, was the son of Liebault de
Baudricourt deceased, once chamberlain of Robert, Duke of Bar,
governor of Pont-a-Mousson, and of Marguerite d'Aunoy, Lady of Blaise
in Bassigny. Fourteen or fifteen years earlier he had succeeded his
two uncles, Guillaume, the Bastard of Poitiers, and Jean d'Aunoy as
Bailie of Chaumont and Commander of Vaucouleurs. His first wife had
been a rich widow; after her death he had married, in 1425, another
widow, as rich as the first, Madame Alarde de Chambley. And it is a
fact that the peasants of Uruffe and of Gibeaumex stole the cart
carrying the cakes ordered for the wedding feast. Sire Robert was like
all the warriors of his time and country; he was greedy and cunning;
he had many friends among his enemies and many enemies among his
friends; he fought now for his own side, now against it, but always
for his own advantage. For the rest he was no worse than his fellows,
and one of the least stupid.[328]
[Footnote 328: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 271. Jean Chartier,
_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. Le R.P. Benoit, _Histoire ecclesiastique
et politique de la ville et du diocese de Toul_, Toul, 1707, p. 529.
S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. clxii, clxiii. Leon Mougenot,
_Jeanne d'Arc, le Duc de Lorraine et le Sire de Baudricourt_, 1895, in
8vo. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, p.
xviii. G. Niore, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Memoires de la Societe
academique de l'Aube_, 1894, vol. xxxi, pp. 307-320. De Pange, _Le
Pays de Jeanne d'Arc; Le fief et l'arriere-fief. Les Baudricourt_,
Paris, 1903, in 8vo.]
Clad in a poor red gown,[329] but her heart bright with mystic love,
Jeanne climbed the hill dominating the town and the valley. Without
any difficulty she entered the castle, for its gates were opened as
freely as if it had been a fair; and she was led into the hall where
was Sire Robert among his men-at-arms. She heard the Voice saying to
her: "That is he!"[330] And immediately she went straight to him, and
spoke to him fearlessly, beginning, doubtless, by saying what she
deemed to be most urgent: "I am come to you, sent by Messire," she
said, "that you may send to the Dauphin and tell him to hold himself
in readiness, but not to give battle to his enemies."[331]
[Footnote 329: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.]
[Footnote 330: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53.]
[Footnote 331: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.]
Assuredly she must thus have spoken, prompted by a new revelation from
her Voices. And it is important to notice that she repeated word for
word what had been said seventy-five years earlier, not far from
Vaucouleurs, by a peasant of Champagne who was a vavasour, that is, a
freeman. This peasant's career had begun like Jeanne's, but had come
to a much more abrupt conclusion. Jacques d'Arc's daughter had not
been the first to say that revelations had been made to her concerning
the war. Periods of great distress are the times when inspired persons
most commonly appear. Thus it came to pass that in the days of the
Plague and of the Black Prince the vavasour of Champagne heard a voice
coming forth from a beam of light.
While he was at work in the fields the voice had said to him: "Go
thou, and warn John, King of France, that he fight not against any of
his enemies." It was a few days before the Battle of Poitiers.[332]
[Footnote 332: _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, ed. S. Luce,
Paris, 1861, in 8vo, pp. 46-48.]
Then the counsel was wise; but in the month of May, 1428, it seemed
less wise, and appeared to have little bearing on the state of affairs
at that time. Since the disaster of Verneuil, the French had not felt
equal to giving battle to their enemies; and they were not thinking of
it. Towns were taken and lost, skirmishes were fought, sallies were
attempted, but the enemy was not engaged in pitched battles. There was
no need to restrain the Dauphin Charles, whom in those days nature and
fortune rendered unadventurous.[333] About the time that Jeanne was
uttering these words before Sire Robert, the English in France were
preparing an expedition, and were hesitating, unable to decide whether
to march on Angers or on Orleans.[334]
[Footnote 333: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed. Mademoiselle Dupont,
Paris, 1837, pp. 195, 222, 223.]
[Footnote 334: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armee anglaise au siege
d'Orleans_, Orleans, 1892, in 8vo, pp. 75, 76.]
Jeanne gave utterance according to the promptings of her Archangel and
her Saints, and touching warfare and the condition of the kingdom they
knew neither more nor less than she. But it is not surprising that
those who believe themselves sent by God should ask to be waited for.
And again in the damsel's fear lest the French knights should once
more give battle after their own guise there was much of the sound
common sense of the people. They were only too well acquainted with
knightly warfare.
Perfectly calm and self-possessed, Jeanne went on and uttered a
prophecy concerning the Dauphin: "Before mid Lent my Lord will grant
him aid." Then straightway she added: "But in very deed the realm
belongs not to the Dauphin. Nathless it is Messire's will that the
Dauphin should be king and receive the kingdom in trust--_en
commande_.[335] Notwithstanding his enemies, the Dauphin shall be
king; and it is I who shall lead him to his anointing."
[Footnote 335: _Et quod aberet in commendam: illud regnum_, _Trial_,
vol. ii, p. 456 (evidence of Bertrand de Poulengy).]
Doubtless the title Messire, in the sense in which she employed it,
sounded strange and obscure, since Sire Robert, failing to understand
it, asked: "Who is Messire?"
"The King of Heaven," the damsel answered.
She had made use of another term, concerning which, as far as we know,
Sire Robert made no remark; and yet it is suggestive.[336]
[Footnote 336: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456.]
That word _commande_ employed in matters connected with inheritance
signified something given in trust.[337] If the King received the
kingdom _en commande_ he would merely hold it in trust. Thus the
maid's utterance agreed with the views of the most pious concerning
Our Lord's government of kingdoms. By herself she could not have
happened on the word or the idea; she had obviously been instructed by
one of those churchmen whose influence we have discerned already[338]
in the Lorraine prophecy, but the trace of whom has completely
vanished.
[Footnote 337: See La Curne and Godefroy for the word _commande_.
Durand de Maillane, _Dictionnaire de droit canonique_, 1770, vol. i,
pp. 567 _et seq._]
[Footnote 338: See _ante_, p. 59, _post_, pp. 177, 178.]
Touching things spiritual Jeanne held converse with several priests;
among others with Messire Arnolin, of Gondrecourt-le-Chateau, and
Messire Dominique Jacob, priest of Moutier-sur-Saulx, who was her
confessor.[339] It is a pity we do not know what these ecclesiastics
thought of the insatiable cruelty of the English, of the pride of my
Lord Duke of Burgundy, of the misfortunes of the Dauphin, and whether
they did not hope that one day Our Lord Jesus Christ at the prayer of
the common folk would condescend to grant the kingdom _en commande_ to
Charles, son of Charles. It was possibly from one of these that Jeanne
derived her theocratic ideas.[340]
[Footnote 339: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 392, 393, 458, 459.]
[Footnote 340: As for Nicolas de Vouthon, priest of the Abbey of
Cheminon, what is stated concerning him in the evidence of the 2nd and
3rd November, 1476, seems improbable. _Trial_, vol. v, p. 252. E. de
Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de
Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. xviii _et seq._, 9.]
While she was speaking to Sire Robert there was present, and not by
chance merely, a certain knight of Lorraine, Bertrand de Poulengy, who
possessed lands near Gondrecourt and held an office in the provostship
of Vaucouleurs.[341] He was then about thirty-six years of age. He was
a man who associated with churchmen; at least he was familiar with the
manner of speech of devout persons.[342] Perhaps he now saw Jeanne
for the first time; but he must certainly have heard of her; and he
knew her to be good and pious. Twelve years before he had frequently
visited Domremy; he knew the country well; he had sat beneath _l'Arbre
des Dames_, and had been several times to the house of Jacques d'Arc
and Romee, whom he held to be good honest farmer folk.[343]
[Footnote 341: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 475. Servais, in _Memoires de la
Societe des Lettres, Sciences et Arts de Bar-le-Duc_, vol. vi, p. 139.
E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, p. xxviii.
S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, proofs and illustrations xcv, p.
143 and note 3. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
204.]
[Footnote 342: This appears from the manner in which he reports
Jeanne's words.]
[Footnote 343: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 451, 458.]
It may be that Bertrand de Poulengy was struck by the damsel's speech
and bearing; it is more likely that the knight was in touch with
certain ecclesiastics unknown to us, who were instructing the peasant
seeress with an eye to rendering her better able to serve the realm of
France and the Church. However that may be, in Bertrand she had a
friend who was to be her strong support in the future.
For the nonce, however, if our information be correct, he did nothing
and spoke not a word. Perhaps he judged it best to wait until the
commander of the town should be ready to grant a more favourable
hearing to the saint's request. Sire Robert understood nothing of all
this; one point only appeared plain to him, that Jeanne would make a
fine camp-follower and that she would be a great favourite with the
men-at-arms.[344]
[Footnote 344: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 72. _Journal du siege_,
p. 35.]
In dismissing the villein who had brought her, he gave him a piece of
advice quite in keeping with the wisdom of the time concerning the
chastising of daughters: "Take her back to her father and box her ears
well."
Sire Robert held such discipline to be excellent, for more than once
he urged Uncle Lassois to take Jeanne home well whipped.[345]
[Footnote 345: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 444. L. Mougenot, _Jeanne d'Arc,
le Duc de Lorraine et le Sire de Baudricourt_, Nancy, 1895, in 8vo.]
After a week's absence she returned to the village. Neither the
Captain's contumely nor the garrison's insults had humiliated or
discouraged her. Imagining that her Voices had foretold them,[346] she
held them to be proofs of the truth of her mission. Like those who
walk in their sleep she was calm in the face of obstacles and yet
quietly persistent. In the house, in the garden, in the meadow, she
continued to sleep that marvellous slumber, in which she dreamed of
the Dauphin, of his knights, and of battles with angels hovering
above.
[Footnote 346: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.]
She found it impossible to be silent; on all occasions her secret
escaped from her. She was always prophesying, but she was never
believed. On St. John the Baptist's Eve, about a month after her
return, she said sententiously to Michel Lebuin, a husbandman of
Burey, who was quite a boy: "Between Coussey and Vaucouleurs is a girl
who in less than a year from now will cause the Dauphin to be anointed
King of France."[347]
[Footnote 347: _Ibid._, p. 440.]
One day meeting Gerardin d'Epinal, the only man at Domremy not of the
Dauphin's party, whose head according to her own confession she would
willingly have cut off, although she was godmother to his son, she
could not refrain from announcing even to him in veiled words her
mystic dealing with God: "Gossip, if you were not a Burgundian there
is something I would tell you."[348]
[Footnote 348: _Ibid._, p. 423.]
The good man thought it must be a question of an approaching betrothal
and that Jacques d'Arc's daughter was about to marry one of the lads
with whom she had broken bread under _l'Arbre des Fees_ and drunk
water from the Gooseberry Spring.
Alas! how greatly would Jacques d'Arc have desired the secret to be of
that nature. This upright man was very strict; he was careful
concerning his children's conduct; and Jeanne's behaviour caused him
anxiety. He knew not that she heard Voices. He had no idea that all
day Paradise came down into his garden, that from Heaven to his house
a ladder was let down, on which there came and went without ceasing
more angels than had ever trodden the ladder of the Patriarch Jacob;
neither did he imagine that for Jeannette alone, without any one else
perceiving it, a mystery was being played, a thousand times richer and
finer than those which on feast days were acted on platforms, in towns
like Toul and Nancy. He was miles away from suspecting such incredible
marvels. But what he did see was that his daughter was losing her
senses, that her mind was wandering, and that she was giving utterance
to wild words. He perceived that she could think of nothing but
cavalcades and battles. He must have known something of the escapade
at Vaucouleurs. He was terribly afraid that one day the unhappy child
would go off for good on her wanderings. This agonising anxiety
haunted him even in his sleep. One night he dreamed that he saw her
fleeing with men-at-arms; and this dream was so vivid that he
remembered it when he awoke. For several days he said over and over
again to his sons, Jean and Pierre: "If I really believed that what I
dreamed of my daughter would ever come true, I would rather see her
drowned by you; and if you would not do it I would drown her
myself."[349]
[Footnote 349: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 131, 132, 219.]
Isabelle repeated these words to her daughter hoping that they might
alarm her and cause her to correct her ways. Devout as she was,
Jeanne's mother shared her father's fears. The idea that their
daughter was in danger of becoming a worthless creature was a cruel
thought to these good people. In those troubled times there was a
whole multitude of these wild women whom the men-at-arms carried with
them on horseback. Each soldier had his own.
It is not uncommon for saints in their youth by the strangeness of
their behaviour to give rise to such suspicions. And Jeanne displayed
those signs of sainthood. She was the talk of the village. Folk
pointed at her mockingly, saying: "There goes she who is to restore
France and the royal house."[350]
[Footnote 350: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 421, cf. p. 433, "_et alii juvenes
de ea deridebant_," said Colin's son, referring to her piety.]
The neighbours had no difficulty in finding a cause for the
strangeness which possessed the damsel. They attributed it to some
magic spell. She had been seen beneath the _Beau Mai_ bewreathing it
with garlands. The old beech was known to be haunted as well as the
spring near by. It was well known, too, that the fairies cast spells.
There were those who discovered that Jeanne had met a wicked fairy
there. "Jeannette has met her fate beneath _l'Arbre des Fees_,"[351]
they said. Would that none but peasants had believed that story!
[Footnote 351: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 68.]
On the 22nd of June, from the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France for
Henry VI, Antoine de Vergy, Governor of Champagne, received a
commission to furnish forth a thousand men-at-arms for the purpose of
bringing the castellany of Vaucouleurs into subjection to the English.
Three weeks later, commanded by the two Vergy, Antoine and Jean, the
little company set forth. It consisted of four knights-banneret,
fourteen knights-bachelor, and three hundred and sixty-three
men-at-arms. Pierre de Trie, commander of Beauvais, Jean, Count of
Neufchatel and Fribourg, were ordered to join the main body.[352]
[Footnote 352: Report of Andre d'Epernon in S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a
Domremy_, p. clxvii and proofs and illustrations, pp. 217, 218, 220.]
On the march, as was his custom, Antoine de Vergy laid waste all the
villages of the castellany with fire and sword. Threatened once again
with a disaster with which they were only too well acquainted, the
folk of Domremy and Greux already beheld their cattle captured, their
barns set on fire, their wives and daughters ravished. Having
experienced before that the Castle on the Island was not secure
enough, they determined to flee and seek refuge in their market town
of Neufchateau, only five miles away from Domremy. Thus they set out
towards the middle of July. Abandoning their houses and fields and
driving their cattle before them, they followed the road, through the
fields of wheat and rye and up the vine-clad hills to the town,
wherein they lodged as best they could.[353]
[Footnote 353: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 51, 214; vol. ii, pp. 391-454. S.
Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. clxxvi.]
The d'Arc family was taken in by the wife of Jean Waldaires, who was
called La Rousse. She kept an inn, where lodged soldiers, monks,
merchants, and pilgrims. There were some who suspected her of
harbouring bad women.[354] And there is reason to believe that certain
of her women customers were of doubtful reputation. Albeit she herself
was of good standing, that is to say, she was rich. She had money
enough to lend sometimes to her fellow-citizens.[355] Although
Neufchateau belonged to the Duke of Lorraine, who was of the
Burgundian party, it has been thought that the hostess of this inn
inclined towards the Armagnacs; but it is vain to attempt to discover
the sentiments of La Rousse concerning the troubles of the kingdom of
France.[356]
[Footnote 354: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 214.]
[Footnote 355: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. clxxvii.]
[Footnote 356: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 51, 214; vol. ii, p. 402.]
At Neufchateau as at Domremy Jeanne drove her father's beasts to the
field and kept his flocks.[357] Handy and robust she used also to help
La Rousse in her household duties.[358] This circumstance gave rise to
the malicious report set on foot by the Burgundians that she had been
serving maid in an inn frequented by drunkards and bad women.[359] The
truth is that Jeanne, when she was not tending the cattle, and helping
her hostess, passed all her time in church.[360]
[Footnote 357: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 409, 423, 428, 463.]
[Footnote 358: _Ibid._, pp. 416, 417.]
[Footnote 359: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 314.]
[Footnote 360: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 51.]
There were two fine religious houses in the town, one belonging to the
Grey Friars, the other to the Sisters of St. Claire, the sons and
daughters of good St. Francis.[361] The monastery of the Grey Friars
had been built two hundred years earlier by Mathieu II of Lorraine.
The reigning duke had recently added richly to its endowments. Noble
ladies, great lords, and among others a Bourlemont lord of Domremy and
Greux lay there beneath brasses.[362]
[Footnote 361: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. clxxvii.]
[Footnote 362: Expilly, _Dictionnaire geographique de la France_,
under the word _Neufchateau_.]
In the flower of their history these mendicant monks of old had
welcomed to their third order crowds of citizens and peasants as well
as multitudes of princes and kings.[363] Now they languished corrupt
and decadent among the French friars. Quarrels and schisms were
frequent. Notwithstanding Colette of Corbie's attempted restoration of
the rule, the old discipline was nowhere observed.[364] These
mendicants distributed leaden medals, taught short prayers to serve as
charms, and vowed special devotion to the holy name of Jesus.[365]
[Footnote 363: S.M. de Vernon, _Histoire generale et particuliere du
tiers-ordre de Saint-Francois_, Paris, 1667, 3 vols. in 8vo. Hilarion
de Nolay, _Histoire du tiers-ordre_, Lyon, 1694, in 4to.]
[Footnote 364: Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i, p. 549.]
[Footnote 365: Wadding, _Annales Minorum_, vol. v, p. 183.]
During the fortnight Jeanne spent in the town of Neufchateau,[366] she
frequented the church of the Grey Friars monastery, and two or three
times confessed to brethren of the order.[367] It has been stated that
she belonged to the third order of St. Francis, and the inference has
been drawn that her affiliation dated from her stay at Neufchateau.[368]
[Footnote 366: Jean Morel declares that she was at Neufchateau four
days, and he adds: "What I tell you I know, for I was with the others
at Neufchateau" (_Trial_, vol. ii, p. 392); Gerard Guillemette speaks
of four or five days (_Ibid._, p. 414); Nicolas Bailly of three or
four (_Ibid._, p. 451). But Jeanne told her judges at Rouen that she
stayed a fortnight at Neufchateau (_Ibid._, vol. i, p. 51). When she
gave her evidence, the event was less remote, and doubtless her
recollection of it was more accurate.]
[Footnote 367: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 51.]
[Footnote 368: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, chs. ix, x, xi. Abbe
V. Mourot, _Jeanne d'Arc et le tiers-ordre de Saint-Francois_,
Saint-Die, 1886, in 8vo. L. de Kerval, _Jeanne d'Arc et les
Franciscains_, Vanves, 1893, in 18mo. _E iera begina_, says a
correspondent of Morosini, edited by Lefevre-Pontalis, vol. iii, p. 92
and note 2.]
Such an inference is very doubtful; and in any case the affiliation
cannot have been very ceremonious. It is difficult to see how in so
short a time the friars could have instructed her in the practices of
Franciscan piety. She was far too imbued with ecclesiastical notions
concerning the spiritual and the temporal power, she was too full of
mysteries and revelations to imbibe their spirit. Besides, her sojourn
at Neufchateau was troubled by anxiety and broken by absences.
In this town she received a summons to appear before the official of
Toul, in whose jurisdiction she was, as a native of Domremy-de-Greux.
A young bachelor of Domremy alleged that a promise of marriage had
been given him by Jacques d'Arc's daughter. Jeanne denied it. He
persisted in his statement, and summoned her to appear before the
official.[369] To this ecclesiastical tribunal such cases belonged; it
pronounced judgment on questions of nullity of marriage or validity of
betrothal.
[Footnote 369: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 128, 219. E. Misset, _Jeanne d'Arc
Champenoise_, 1895, in 8vo, p. 28.]
The curious part of Jeanne's case is that her parents were against
her, and on the side of the young man. It was in defiance of their
wishes that she defended the suit and appeared before the official.
Later she declared that in this matter she had disobeyed them, and
that it was the only time she had failed in the submission she owed
her parents.[370]
[Footnote 370: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 219: _quibus obediebat in omnibus,
nisi in processu Tullensi_.]
The journey from Neufchateau to Toul and back involved travelling more
than twenty leagues on foot, over roads infested with bands of armed
men, through a country desolated by fire and sword, from which the
peasants of Domremy had recently fled in a panic. To such a journey,
however, she made up her mind against the will of her parents.
Possibly she may have appeared before the judge at Toul, not once but
two or three times. And there was a great chance of her having to
journey day and night with her so-called betrothed, for he was passing
over the same road at the same time. Her Voices bade her fear nothing.
Before the judge she swore to speak the truth, and denied having made
any promise of marriage.
She had done nothing wrong. But an evil interpretation was set upon
conduct which proceeded alone from an innocence both singular and
heroic. At Neufchateau it was said that on those journeys she had
consumed all her substance. But what was her substance? Alas! she had
set out with nothing. She may have been driven to beg her bread from
door to door. Saints receive alms as they give them: for the love of
God. There was a story that her betrothed seeing her living during the
trial in company with bad women, had abandoned his demand for justice,
renouncing a bride of such bad repute.[371] Such calumnies were only
too readily believed.
[Footnote 371: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 215. Article 9 of the deed of
accusation is drawn up as the result of an inquiry made at
Neufchateau.]
After a fortnight's sojourn at Neufchateau, Jacques d'Arc and his
family returned to Domremy. The orchard, the house, the monastery, the
village, the fields,--in what a state of desolation did they behold
them! The soldiers had plundered, ravaged, burnt everything. Unable to
exact ransom from the villeins who had taken flight, the men-at-arms
had destroyed all their goods. The monastery once as proud as a
fortress, with its watchman's tower, was now nothing but a heap of
blackened ruins. And now on holy days the folk of Domremy must needs
go to hear mass in the church of Greux.[372]
[Footnote 372: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 396, _passim_.]
So full of danger were the times that the villagers were ordered to
keep in fortified houses and castles.[373]
[Footnote 373: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. clxxx, 230.]
Meanwhile the English were laying siege to the town of Orleans, which
belonged to their prisoner Duke Charles. By so doing they acted badly,
for, having possession of his body, they ought to have respected his
property.[374] They built fortified towers round the city of Orleans,
the very heart of France; and it was said that they had entrenched
themselves there in great strength.[375] Now Saint Catherine and Saint
Margaret loved the Land of the Lilies; they were the sworn friends and
gentle cousins of the Dauphin Charles. They talked to the shepherd
maid of the misfortunes of the kingdom and continued to say: "Leave
thy village and go into France."[376]
[Footnote 374: _Mistere du siege_, v, 497.]
[Footnote 375: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, chs. xxxiv, xxxv. Jean
Chartier, _Chronique_, chs. xxxii, xxxv; _Journal du siege_, pp. 2 _et
seq._]
[Footnote 376: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 52, 216.]
Jeanne was all the more impatient to set forth because she had herself
announced the time of her arrival in France, and that time was drawing
near. She had told the Commander of Vaucouleurs that succour should
come to the Dauphin before mid Lent. She did not want to make her
Voices lie.[377]
[Footnote 377: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.]
Towards the middle of January occurred the opportunity she was looking
for of returning to Burey. At this time Durand Lassois' wife, Jeanne
le Vauseul, was brought to bed.[378] It was the custom in the country
for the young kinswomen and friends of the mother to attend and wait
upon her and her babe. A good and kindly custom, followed all the more
readily because of the opportunity it gave of pleasant meetings and
cheerful gossip.[379] Jeanne urged her uncle to ask her father that
she might be sent to tend the sick woman, and Lassois consented: he
was always ready to do what his niece asked him, and perhaps his
complaisance was encouraged by pious persons of some importance.[380]
But how this father, who shortly before had said that he would throw
his daughter into the Meuse rather than that she should go off with
men-at-arms, should have allowed her to go to the gates of the town,
protected by a kinsman of whose weakness he was well aware, is hard to
understand. However so he did.[381]
[Footnote 378: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 428, 434. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc
a Domremy_, p. clxxx. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles
recherches_, p. xxiii.]
[Footnote 379: _Les caquets de l'accouchee_, new edition by E.
Fournier and Le Roux de Lincy, Paris, 1855, in 16mo, introduction.]
[Footnote 380: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53; vol. ii, p. 443.]
[Footnote 381: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 428, 430, 434.]
Leaving the home of her childhood, which she was never to see again,
Jeanne, in company with Durand Lassois, passed down her native valley
in its winter bareness. As she went by the house of the husbandman
Gerard Guillemette of Greux, whose children and Jacques d'Arc's were
great friends, she cried: "Good-bye! I am going to Vaucouleurs."[382]
[Footnote 382: _Ibid._, p. 416.]
A few paces further she saw her friend Mengette: "Good-bye, Mengette,"
she said. "God bless thee."[383]
[Footnote 383: _Ibid._, p. 431.]
And by the way, on the doorsteps of the houses, whenever she saw faces
she knew, she bade them farewell.[384] But she avoided Hauviette with
whom she had played and slept in childhood and whom she dearly loved.
If she were to bid her good-bye she feared that her heart would fail
her. It was not till later that Hauviette heard of her friend's
departure and then she wept bitterly.[385]
[Footnote 384: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 418.]
[Footnote 385: _Ibid._, p. 419: _dixit quod nescivit recessum dictae
Johannae; quae testis propter hoc multum flebat, quia eam multum propter
suam bonitatem diligebat et quod sua socia erat_.]
On her second arrival at Vaucouleurs, Jeanne imagined that she was
setting foot in a town belonging to the Dauphin, and, in the language
of the day, entering the royal antechamber.[386] She was mistaken.
Since the beginning of August, 1428, the Commander of Vaucouleurs had
yielded the fortress to Antoine de Vergy, but had not yet surrendered
it to him.
[Footnote 386: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 436.]
It was one of those promises to capitulate at the end of a given time.
They were not uncommon in those days, and they ceased to be valid if
the fortress were relieved before the day fixed for its
surrender.[387]
[Footnote 387: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. clxviii, 222,
234.]
Jeanne went to Sire Robert in his castle just as she had done nine
months before; and this was the revelation she made to him: "My Lord
Captain," she said, "know that God has again given me to wit, and
commanded me many times to go to the gentle Dauphin, who must be and
who is the true King of France, and that he shall grant me men-at-arms
with whom I shall raise the siege of Orleans and take him to his
anointing at Reims."[388]
[Footnote 388: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273; _La Chronique de
Lorraine_ in Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. iii, col. vj,
gives an amplified version of these words, the authenticity of which
is doubtful.]
This time she announces that it is her mission to deliver Orleans. And
the anointing is not to come to pass until this the first part of her
task shall have been accomplished. We cannot fail to recognise the
readiness and the tact with which the Voices altered their commands
previously given, according to the necessities of the moment. Robert's
manner towards Jeanne had completely changed. He said nothing about
boxing her ears and sending her back to her parents. He no longer
treated her roughly; and if he did not believe her announcement at
least he listened to it readily.
In one of her conversations with him she spoke of strange matters:
"Once I have accomplished the behest Messire has given me, I shall
marry and I shall bear three sons, the eldest of whom shall be pope,
the second emperor, and the third king."
Sire Robert answered gayly: "Since thy sons are to be such great
personages, I should like to give thee one. Thereby should I myself
have honour."
Jeanne replied: "Nay, gentle Robert, nay. It is not yet time. The Holy
Ghost shall appoint the time."[389]
[Footnote 389: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 219, 220. The source is doubtful.
Nevertheless the accusation here lays stress on these facts produced
by the inquiry. If Jeanne denied having spoken these words, it was
because she had forgotten them, or because they had been so changed
that she could disavow the form in which they were presented to her.]
To judge from the few of her words handed down to us, in the early
days of her mission the young prophetess spoke alternately two
different languages. Her speech seemed to flow from two distinct
sources. The one ingenuous, candid, naive, concise, rustically simple,
unconsciously arch, sometimes rough, alike chivalrous and holy,
generally bearing on the inheritance and the anointing of the Dauphin
and the confounding of the English. This was the language of her
Voices, her own, her soul's language. The other, more subtle,
flavoured with allegory and flowers of speech, critical with
scholastic grace, bearing on the Church, suggesting the clerk and
betraying some outside influence. The words she uttered to Sire Robert
touching the children she should bear are of the second sort. They are
an allegory. Her triple birth signifies that the peace of Christendom
shall be born of her work, that after she shall have fulfilled her
divine mission, the Pope, the Emperor, and the King--all three sons of
God--shall cause concord and love to reign in the Church of Jesus
Christ. The apologue is quite clear; and yet a certain amount of
intelligence is necessary for its comprehension. The Captain failed to
understand it; he interpreted it literally and answered accordingly,
for he was a simple fellow and a merry.[390]
[Footnote 390: See _ante_, page 66.]
Jeanne lodged in the town with humble folk, Henri Leroyer and his wife
Catherine, friends of her cousin Lassois. She used to occupy her time
in spinning, being a good spinster; and the little she had she gave to
the poor. With Catherine she went to the parish church.[391] In the
morning, in her most devout moods, she would climb the hill, round the
foot of which cluster the roofs of the town, and enter the chapel of
Sainte Marie-de-Vaucouleurs. This collegiate church, built in the
reign of Philippe VI, adjoined the _chateau_ wherein dwelt the
Commander of Vaucouleurs. The venerable stone nave rose up boldly
towards the east, overlooking the vast extent of hills and meadows,
and dominating the valley where Jeanne had been born and bred. She
used to hear mass and remain long in prayer.[392]
[Footnote 391: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.]
[Footnote 392: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 461.]
Under the chapel, in the crypt, there was an image of the Virgin,
ancient and deeply venerated, called Notre-Dame-de-la-Voute.[393] It
worked miracles, but especially on behalf of the poor and needy.
Jeanne delighted to remain in this dark and lonely crypt, where the
saints preferred to visit her.
[Footnote 393: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. cxcxiv.]
One day a young clerk, barely more than a child, who waited in the
chapel, saw the damsel motionless, with hands clasped, head thrown
back, eyes full of tears raised to heaven; and as long as he lived the
vision of that rapture remained imprinted on his mind.[394]
[Footnote 394: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 460, 461 (evidence of Jean le
Fumeux in the rehabilitation trial).]
She confessed often, usually to Jean Fournier, priest of
Vaucouleurs.[395]
[Footnote 395: _Ibid._, p. 446.]
Her hostess was touched by the goodness and gentleness of her manner
of life; but she was profoundly agitated when one day the damsel said
to her: "Dost thou not know it hath been prophesied that France ruined
by a woman shall be saved by a maiden from the Lorraine Marches?"
Leroyer's wife knew as well as Durand Lassois that Madame Ysabeau, as
full of wickedness as Herodias, had delivered up Madame Catherine of
France and the Kingdom of the Lilies to the King of England. And
henceforth she was almost persuaded to believe that Jeanne was the
maid announced by the prophecy.[396]
[Footnote 396: _Ibid._, p. 447.]
This pious damsel held converse with devout persons and also with men
of noble rank. To all alike she said: "I must to the gentle Dauphin.
It is the will of Messire, the King of Heaven, that I wend to the
gentle Dauphin. I am sent by the King of Heaven. I must go even if I
go on my knees."[397]
[Footnote 397: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 448.]
Revelations of this nature she made to Messire Aubert, Lord of
Ourches. He was a good Frenchman and of the Armagnac party, since four
years earlier he had made war against the English and Burgundians. She
told him that she must go to the Dauphin, that she demanded to be
taken to him, and that to him should redound profit and honour
incomparable.
At length through her illuminations and her prophecies, her fame was
spread abroad in the town; and her words were found to be good.[398]
[Footnote 398: _Quae puella multum bene loquebatur._ _Trial_, vol. ii,
p. 450. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. 103.]
In the garrison there was a man-at-arms of about twenty-eight years of
age, Jean de Novelompont or Nouillompont, who was commonly called Jean
de Metz. By rank a freeman, albeit not of noble estate, he had
acquired or inherited the lordship of Nouillompont and Hovecourt,
situate in that part of Barrois which was outside the Duke's domain;
and he bore its name.[399] Formerly in the pay of Jean de Wals,
Captain and Provost of Stenay, he was now, in 1428, in the service of
the Commander of Vaucouleurs.
[Footnote 399: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 363; _Journal du siege_, p. 45. S.
Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. xcv, cxi, cxxvj. De Beaucourt,
_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 204, note. E. de Bouteiller and
G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. xxv _et seq._]
Of his morals and manner of life we know nothing, except that three
years before he had sworn a vile oath and been condemned to pay a fine
of two _sols_.[400] Apparently when he took the oath he was in great
wrath.[401] He was more or less intimate with Bertrand de Poulengy,
who had certainly spoken to him of Jeanne.
[Footnote 400: _A sol tournois_ is the twentieth part of a _livre
tournois_ (W.S.).]
[Footnote 401: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. cxc, 160, 161.]
One day he met the damsel and said to her: "Well, _ma mie_, what are
you doing here? Must the King be driven from his kingdom and we all
turn English?"[402]
[Footnote 402: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 435-457. E. de Bouteiller and G.
de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, pp. xxvi, xxvii.]
Such words from a young Lorraine warrior are worthy of notice. The
Treaty of Troyes did not subject France to England; it united the two
kingdoms. If war continued after as before, it was merely to decide
between the two claimants, Charles de Valois and Henry of Lancaster.
Whoever gained the victory, nothing would be changed in the laws and
customs of France. Yet this poor freebooter of the German Marches
imagined none the less that under an English king he would be an
Englishman. Many French of all ranks believed the same and could not
suffer the thought of being Anglicised; in their minds their own fates
depended on the fate of the kingdom and of the Dauphin Charles.
Jeanne answered Jean de Metz: "I came hither to the King's territory
to speak with Sire Robert, that he may take me or command me to be
taken to the Dauphin; but he heeds neither me nor my words."
Then, with the fixed idea welling up in her heart that her mission
must be begun before the middle of Lent: "Notwithstanding, ere mid
Lent, I must be before the Dauphin, were I in going to wear my legs to
the knees."[403]
[Footnote 403: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de
Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 396 _et seq._]
A report ran through the towns and villages. It was said that the son
of the King of France, the Dauphin Louis, who had just entered his
fifth year, had been recently betrothed to the daughter of the King of
Scotland, the three-year-old Madame Margaret, and the common people
celebrated this royal union with such rejoicings as were possible in a
desolated country.[404] Jeanne, when she heard these tidings, said to
the man-at-arms: "I must go to the Dauphin, for no one in the world,
no king or duke or daughter of the King of Scotland, can restore the
realm of France."
[Footnote 404: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a
Domremy_, p. cxci.]
Then straightway she added: "In me alone is help, albeit for my part,
I would far rather be spinning by my poor mother's side, for this life
is not to my liking. But I must go; and so I will, for it is Messire's
command that I should go."
She said what she thought. But she did not know herself; she did not
know that her Voices were the cries of her own heart, and that she
longed to quit the distaff for the sword.
Jean de Metz asked, as Sire Robert had done: "Who is Messire?"
"He is God," she replied.
Then straightway, as if he believed in her, he said with a sudden
impulse: "I promise you, and I give you my word of honour, that God
helping me I will take you to the King."
He gave her his hand as a sign that he pledged his word and asked:
"When will you set forth?"
"This hour," she answered, "is better than to-morrow; to-morrow is
better than after to-morrow."
Jean de Metz himself, twenty-seven years later, reported this
conversation.[405] If we are to believe him, he asked the damsel in
conclusion whether she would travel in her woman's garb. It is easy to
imagine what difficulties he would foresee in journeying with a
peasant girl clad in a red frock over French roads infested with
lecherous fellows, and that he would deem it wiser for her to disguise
herself as a boy. She promptly divined his thought and replied: "I
will willingly dress as a man."[406]
[Footnote 405: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.]
[Footnote 406: _Ibid._, p. 436, 437.]
There is no reason why these things should not have occurred. Only if
they did, then a Lorraine freebooter suggested to the saint that idea
concerning her dress which later she will think to have received from
God.[407]
[Footnote 407: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 161, 176, 332. _Journal du siege_,
p. 45. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 372.]
Of his own accord, or rather, acting by the advice of some wise
person, Sire Robert desired to know whether Jeanne was not being
inspired by an evil spirit. For the devil is cunning and sometimes
assumes the mark of innocence. And as Sire Robert was not learned in
such matters, he determined to take counsel with his priest.
Now one day when Catherine and Jeanne were at home spinning, they
beheld the Commander coming accompanied by the priest, Messire Jean
Fournier. They asked the mistress of the house to withdraw; and when
they were left alone with the damsel, Messire Jean Fournier put on
his stole and pronounced some Latin words which amounted to saying:
"If thou be evil, away with thee; if thou be good, draw nigh."[408]
[Footnote 408: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.]
It was the ordinary formula of exorcism or, to be more exact, of
conjuration. In the opinion of Messire Jean Fournier these words,
accompanied by a few drops of holy water, would drive away devils, if
there should unhappily be any in the body of this village maiden.
Messire Jean Fournier was convinced that devils were possessed by an
uncontrollable desire to enter the bodies of men, and especially of
maidens, who sometimes swallowed them with their bread. They dwelt in
the mouth under the tongue, in the nostrils, or penetrated down the
throat into the stomach. In these various abodes their action was
violent; and their presence was discerned by the contortions and
howlings of the miserable victims who were possessed.
Pope St. Gregory, in his Dialogues, gives a striking example of the
facility with which devils insinuate themselves into women. He tells
how a nun, being in the garden, saw a lettuce which she thought looked
tender. She plucked it, and, neglecting to bless it by making the sign
of the cross, she ate of it and straightway fell possessed. A man of
God having drawn near unto her, the demon began to cry out: "It is I!
It is I who have done it! I was seated upon that lettuce. This woman
came and she swallowed me." But the prayers of the man of God drove
him out.[409]
[Footnote 409: Voragine, _La legende doree_, in the Festival of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross.]
The caution required in such a matter was therefore not exaggerated by
Messire Jean Fournier. Possessed by the idea that the devil is subtle
and woman corrupt, carefully and according to prescribed rules he
proceeded to solve a difficult problem. It was generally no easy
matter to recognise one possessed by the devil and to distinguish
between a demoniac and a good Christian. Very great saints had not
been spared the trial to which Jeanne was to be subjected.
Having recited the formula and sprinkled the holy water, Messire Jean
Fournier expected, if the damsel were possessed, to see her struggle,
writhe, and endeavour to take flight. In such a case he must needs
have made use of more powerful formulae, have sprinkled more holy
water, and made more signs of the cross, and by such means have driven
out the devils until they were seen to depart with a terrible noise
and a noxious odour, in the shape of dragons, camels, or fish.[410]
[Footnote 410: Migne, _Dictionnaire des sciences occultes_, Paris, 2
vols. in large 8vo, under the word _Exorcisme_.]
There was nothing suspicious in Jeanne's attitude. No wild agitation,
no frenzy. Merely anxious and intreating, she dragged herself on her
knees towards the priest. She did not flee before God's holy name.
Messire Jean Fournier concluded that no devil was within her.
Left alone in the house with Catherine, Jeanne, who now understood the
meaning of the ceremony, showed strong resentment towards Messire Jean
Fournier. She reproached him with having suspected her: "It was wrong
of him," she said to her hostess, "for, having heard my confession, he
ought to have known me."[411]
[Footnote 411: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 446.]
She would have thanked the priest of Vaucouleurs had she known how he
was furthering the fulfilment of her mission by subjecting her to this
ordeal. Convinced that this maiden was not inspired by the devil, Sire
Robert must have been driven to conclude that she might be inspired by
God; for apparently he was a man of simple reasoning. He wrote to the
Dauphin Charles concerning the young saint; and doubtless he bore
witness to the innocence and goodness he beheld in her.[412]
[Footnote 412: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115. _Journal du siege_, p. 48.
_Mirouer des femmes vertueuses_ in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 267.]
Although it looked as if the Captain would have to resign his command
to my Lord de Vergy, Sire Robert did not intend to quit his country
where he had dealings with all parties. Indeed he cared little enough
about the Dauphin Charles, and it is difficult to see what personal
interest he can have had in recommending him a prophetess. Without
pretending to discover what was passing in his mind, one may believe
that he wrote to the Dauphin on Jeanne's behalf at the request of some
of those persons who thought well of her, probably of Bertrand de
Poulengy and of Jean de Metz. These two men-at-arms, seeing that the
Dauphin's cause was lost in the Lorraine Marches, had every reason for
proceeding to the banks of the Loire, where they might still fight
with the hope of advantage.
On the eve of setting out, they appeared disposed to take the seeress
with them, and even to defray all her expenses, reckoning on repaying
themselves from the royal coffers at Chinon, and deriving honour and
advantage from so rare a marvel. But they waited to be assured of the
Dauphin's consent.[413]
[Footnote 413: Extract from the eighth report of Guillaume Charrier,
in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 257 _et seq._]
Meanwhile Jeanne could not rest. She came and went from Vaucouleurs to
Burey and from Burey to Vaucouleurs. She counted the days; time
dragged for her as for a woman with child.[414]
[Footnote 414: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 447.]
At the end of January, feeling she could wait no longer, she resolved
to go to the Dauphin Charles alone. She clad herself in garments
belonging to Durand Lassois, and with this kind cousin set forth on
the road to France.[415] A man of Vaucouleurs, one Jacques Alain,
accompanied them.[416] Probably these two men expected that the damsel
would herself realise the impossibility of such a journey and that
they would not go very far. That is what happened. The three
travellers had barely journeyed a league from Vaucouleurs, when, near
the Chapel of Saint Nicholas, which rises in the valley of Septfonds,
in the middle of the great wood of Saulcy, Jeanne changed her mind and
said to her comrades that it was not right of her to set out thus.
Then they all three returned to the town.[417]
[Footnote 415: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53; vol. ii, pp. 443 _et seq._]
[Footnote 416: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 445-447.]
[Footnote 417: _Ibid._, pp. 447-457.]
At length a royal messenger brought King Charles's reply to the
Commander of Vaucouleurs. The messenger was called Colet de
Vienne.[418] His name indicates that he came from the province which
the Dauphin had governed before the death of the late King, and which
had remained unswervingly faithful to the unfortunate prince. The
reply was that Sire Robert should send the young saint to
Chinon.[419]
[Footnote 418: _Ibid._, p. 406. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p.
160, note 6.]
[Footnote 419: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 314, 315. Anonymous poem on
the arrival of the Maid, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 30.]
That which Jeanne had demanded and which it had seemed impossible to
obtain was granted. She was to be taken to the King as she had desired
and within the time fixed by herself. But this departure, for which
she had so ardently longed, was delayed several days by a remarkable
incident. The incident shows that the fame of the young prophetess had
gone out through Lorraine; and it proves that in those days the great
of the land had recourse to saints in their hour of need.
Jeanne was summoned to Nancy by my Lord the Duke of Lorraine.
Furnished with a safe-conduct that the Duke had sent her, she set
forth in rustic jerkin and hose on a nag given her by Durand Lassois
and Jacques Alain. It had cost them twelve francs which Sire Robert
repaid them later out of the royal revenue.[420] From Vaucouleurs to
Nancy is twenty-four leagues. Jean de Metz accompanied her as far as
Toul; Durand Lassois went with her the whole way.[421]
[Footnote 420: Durand Lassois says it cost twelve francs, Jean de
Metz, sixteen. "_Ce serait aujourd'hui un cheval de cent ecus._" It
would be a horse worth one hundred crowns to-day (L. Champion, _Jeanne
d'Arc ecuyere_, 1901, p. 55). According to the reckoning of P.
Clement, from 400 to 800 francs (_Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_,
1873, p. lxvi).]
[Footnote 421: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 54, 222; vol. ii, pp. 391, 406,
432, 437, 442-450, 456, 457; vol. iii, pp. 87, 115. Extract from the
eighth account of Guillaume Charrier and from the thirteenth account
of Hemon Raguier, in the _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 257 _et seq._]
Before going to the Duke of Lorraine's palace, Jeanne ascended the
valley of the Meurthe and went to worship at the shrine of the great
Saint Nicholas, whose relics were preserved in the Benedictine chapel
of Saint-Nicholas-du-Port. She did well; for Saint Nicholas was the
patron saint of travellers.[422]
[Footnote 422: _Et postquam ipsa Johanna fuit in peregrinacio in
Sancto Nicolas et exstitit versus dominum ducem Lotharingiae_, says
Bertrand de Poulengy, _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457. Cf. The Evidence of J.
Robert, in E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur
la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 33, 34. It is impossible to find in
the text of the _Trial_ a redundancy such as the evidence of D.
Lannois and the woman Le Royer would lead us to expect. A. Renard,
_Jeanne d'Arc. Examen d'une question de lieu_, Orleans, 1861, in 8vo,
16 pages. G. de Braux, _Jeanne d'Arc a Saint-Nicolas_, Nancy, 1889, in
8vo. De Pimodan, _La premiere etape de Jeanne d'Arc_, 1890, in 8vo,
with maps.]