THE MAID AT CHINON--PROPHECIES
From the village of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois, Jeanne dictated a
letter to the King, for she did not know how to write. In this letter
she asked permission to come to him, and told him that to bring him
aid she had travelled over one hundred and fifty leagues, and that she
knew of many things for his good. She was said to have added that were
he hidden amidst many others she would recognise him;[572] but later,
when she was questioned on this matter, she replied that she had no
recollection of it.
[Footnote 572: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 56, 75.]
Towards noon, when the letter had been sealed, Jeanne and her escort
set out for Chinon.[573] She went to the King, just as in those days
there went to him the sons of poor widows of Azincourt and Verneuil
riding lame horses found in some meadow,--fifteen-year-old lads coming
forth from their ruined towers to mend their own fortunes and those of
France; just as Loyalty, Desire, and Famine went to him.[574] Charles
VII was France, the image and symbol of France. Yet he was but a poor
creature withal, the eleventh of the miserable children born to the
mad Charles VI and his prolific Bavarian Queen.[575] He had grown up
among disasters, and had survived his four elder brethren. But he
himself was badly bred, knock-kneed, and bandy-legged;[576] a
veritable king's son, if his looks only were considered, and yet it
was impossible to swear to his descent.[577] Through his presence on
the bridge at Montereau on that day, when, according to a wise man, it
were better to have died than to have been there,[578] he had grown
pale and trembling, looking dully at everything going to wrack and
ruin around him. After their victory of Verneuil and their partial
conquest of Maine, the English had left him four years' respite. But
his friends, his defenders, his deliverers had alike been terrible.
Pious and humble, well content with his plain wife, he led a sad,
anxious life in his chateaux on the Loire. He was timid. And well
might he be so, for no sooner did he show friendship towards or
confidence in one of the nobility than that noble was killed. The
Constable de Richemont and the Sire de la Tremouille had drowned the
Lord de Giac after a mock trial.[579] The Marshal de Boussac, by
order of the Constable, had slain Lecamus de Beaulieu with even less
ceremony. Lecamus was riding his mule in a meadow on the bank of the
Clain, when he was set upon, thrown down, his head split open, and his
hand cut off. The favourite's mule was taken back to the King.[580]
The Constable de Richemont had given Charles in his stead La
Tremouille, a very barrel of a man, a toper, a kind of Gargantua who
devoured the country. La Tremouille having driven away Richemont, the
King kept La Tremouille until the Constable, of whom he was greatly in
dread, should return. And indeed so meek and fearful a prince had
reason to dread this Breton, always defeated, always furious, bitter,
ferocious, whose awkwardness and violence created an impression of
rude frankness.[581]
[Footnote 573: _Ibid._, p. 56.]
[Footnote 574: Bueil, _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 32, and Tringant, xv;
Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, ch. cxxxviii.]
[Footnote 575: Vallet de Viriville, _Isabeau de Baviere_, 1859, in
8vo, and _Notes sur l'etat civil des princes et princesses nes
d'Isabeau de Baviere_ in the _Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes_,
vol. xix, pp. 473-482.]
[Footnote 576: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_,
vol. i, p. 312. Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p.
178.]
[Footnote 577: _Chronique du religieux de Saint-Denis_, vol. i, pp.
28, 43. Docteur A. Chevreau, _De la maladie de Charles VI, roi de
France, et des medecins qui ont soigne ce prince_, in _l'Union
Medicale_, February, March, 1862. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
VII_, vol. i, p. 4, note.]
[Footnote 578: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 347.]
[Footnote 579: Gruel, ed. Le Vavasseur, pp. 46 _et seq._ _Chronique de
la Pucelle_, p. 239. Berry, p. 374. Pierre de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed.
Mademoiselle Dupont, pp. 222, 223. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de
Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 453. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_,
vol. ii, p. 432.]
[Footnote 580: Gruel, pp. 53, 193. _Geste des nobles_, p. 200. Jean
Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 23, 24, 54. De Beaucourt, _Histoire
de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 132. E. Cosneau, _Le connetable de
Richemont_, Paris, 1886, in 8vo, p. 131.]
[Footnote 581: Gruel, p. 231. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 200, 248.
Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. iii, p. 189. De
Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 142. E. Cosneau, _Le
connetable de Richemont_, p. 140.]
In 1428 Richemont wanted to resume his influence over the King. The
Counts of Clermont and of Pardiac united to aid him. The King's
mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, the kingdomless Queen of Sicily and
Jerusalem, and the Duchess of Anjou, took the part of the discontented
barons.[582] The Count of Clermont took prisoner the Chancellor of
France, the first minister of the crown, and held him to ransom. The
King had to pay for the restoration of his Chancellor.[583] In Poitou
the Constable was warring against the King's men, while the provinces
which remained loyal were being wasted by free lances in the King's
pay, while the English were advancing towards the Loire.
[Footnote 582: De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 143, 144 _et
seq._ E. Cosneau, _op. cit._, pp. 142 _et seq._]
[Footnote 583: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol.
ii, col. 1199. De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 150. E. Cosneau,
_op. cit._, p. 144.]
In the midst of such miseries, King Charles, thin, dwarfed in mind and
body, cowering, timorous, suspicious, cut a sorry figure. Yet he was
as good as another; and perhaps at that time he was just the king that
was needed. A Philippe of Valois or a Jean le Bon would have amused
himself by losing his provinces at the point of the sword. Poor King
Charles had neither their means nor their desire to perform deeds of
prowess, or to press to the front of the battle by riding down the
common herd. He had one good point: he did not love feats of prowess
and it was impossible for him to be one of those chivalrous knights
who make war for the love of it. His grandfather before him, who had
been equally lacking in chivalrous graces, had greatly damaged the
English. The grandson had not Charles V's wisdom, but he also was not
free from guile and was inclined to believe that more may be gained by
the signing of a treaty than at the point of the lance.[584]
[Footnote 584: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, p. 222. De Beaucourt,
_Histoire de Charles VII_, Introduction. E. Charles, _Le caractere de
Charles VII_, in _Revue contemporaine_, vol. xxii, pp. 300-328.]
Concerning his poverty ridiculous stories were in circulation. It was
said that a shoemaker, to whom he could not pay ready money, had torn
from his leg the new gaiter he had just put on, and gone off, leaving
the King with his old ones.[585] It was related how one day La Hire
and Saintrailles, coming to see him, had found him dining with the
Queen, with two chickens and a sheep's tail as their only
entertainment.[586] But these were merely good stories. The King still
possessed domains wide and rich; Auvergne, Lyonnais, Dauphine,
Touraine, Anjou, all the provinces south of the Loire, except Guyenne
and Gascony.[587]
[Footnote 585: Le doyen de Saint-Thibaud, _Tableau des rois de
France_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 325.]
[Footnote 586: Martial d'Auvergne, _Les vigiles de Charles VII_, ed.
Coustelier, 1724 (2 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, p. 56.]
[Footnote 587: L. Drapeyron, _Jeanne d'Arc et Philippe le Bon_, in
_Revue de geographie_, November, 1886, p. 331.]
His great resource was to convoke the States General. The nobility
gave nothing, alleging that it was beneath their dignity to pay money.
When, notwithstanding their poverty, the clergy did contribute
something, it was still, always the third estate that bore more than
its share of the financial burden. That extraordinary tax, the
_taille_,[588] became annual. The King summoned the Estates every
year, sometimes twice a year. They met not without difficulty.[589]
The roads were dangerous. At every corner travellers might be robbed
or murdered. The officers, who journeyed from town to town collecting
the taxes, had an armed escort for fear of the Scots and other
men-at-arms in the King's service.[590]
[Footnote 588: _Taille_, so called from a notched stick (Eng. tally),
used by the tax-collector, the number of notches indicating the amount
of the tax due. There were two _tailles_: _la taille seigneuriale_, a
contribution paid by serfs to their lord; and _la taille royale_, paid
by the third estate to the King. The latter was first levied by
Philippe le Bel (1285-1314), but was only an occasional tax until the
reign of Charles VII, who converted it into a regular impost. But
although collected at stated intervals its amount varied from reign to
reign, becoming intolerably burdensome under the spendthrift kings,
while wise rulers, like Henri IV, considerably reduced it. It was not
abolished until the Revolution (W.S.).]
[Footnote 589: _Recueil des ordonnances_, vol. xiii, p. xcix, and the
index of this volume under the word _Impots_. Loiseleur, _Compte des
depenses_, pp. 51 _et seq._ A. Thomas, _Les etats generaux sous
Charles VII_ in the _Cabinet historique_, vol. xxiv, 1878. _Les etats
provinciaux de la France centrale sous Charles VII_, Paris, 1879, 2
vols. in 8vo, _passim_.]
[Footnote 590: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, p. 318. Vallet de
Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 390. De Beaucourt,
_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 428; vol. ii, pp. 646 _et seq._]
In 1427 a free lance, Sabbat by name, in garrison at Langeais, was the
terror of Touraine and Anjou. Thus the representatives of the towns
were in no hurry to present themselves at the meeting of the Estates.
It might have been different had they believed that their money would
be employed for the good of the realm. But they knew that the King
would first use it to make gifts to his barons. The deputies were
invited to come and devise means for the repression of the pillage and
plunder from which they were suffering;[591] and, when at the risk of
their lives they did come to the royal presence, they were forced to
consent to the _taille_ in silence. The King's officers threatened to
have them drowned if they opened their mouths. At the meeting of the
Estates held at Mehun-sur-Yevre in 1425 the men from the good towns
said they would be glad to help the King, but first they desired that
an end be put to pillage, and my Lord Bishop of Poitiers, Hugues de
Comberel, said likewise. On hearing his words the Sire de Giac said to
the King: "If my advice were taken, Comberel would be thrown into the
river with the others of his opinion." Whereupon the men from the good
towns voted two hundred and sixty thousand livres.[592] In September,
1427, assembled at Chinon, they granted five hundred thousand livres
for the war.[593] By writs issued on the 8th of January, 1428, the
King summoned the States General to meet six months hence, on the
following 18th of July, at Tours.[594] On the 18th of July no one
attended. On the 22nd of July came a new summons from the King,
commanding the Estates to meet at Tours on the 10th of September.[595]
But the meeting did not take place until October, at Chinon, just when
the Earl of Salisbury was marching on the Loire. The States granted
five hundred thousand livres.[596]
[Footnote 591: _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, Introduction, pp. xix, xx.]
[Footnote 592: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 237. Loiseleur, _Compte
des depenses_, p. 61. Vallet de Viriville, _Memoire sur les
institutions de Charles VII_, in _Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des
Chartes_, vol. xxxiii, p. 37.]
[Footnote 593: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.
471.]
[Footnote 594: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
167.]
[Footnote 595: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.
471. A. Thomas, _Les etats generaux sous Charles VII_, pp. 49, 50.]
[Footnote 596: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.
472. Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_, vol. iii, p. 20. Loiseleur, _Comptes
des depenses_, pp. 63 _et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
VII_, vol. ii, pp. 170 _et seq._]
But the time could not be far off when the good people would be unable
to pay any longer. In those days of war and pillage many a field was
lying fallow, many a shop was closed, and few were the merchants
ambling on their nags from town to town.[597]
[Footnote 597: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII_, Bk. II, ch. vi.
Antoine Loysel, _Memoires des pays, villes, comtes et comtes de
Beauvais et Beauvoisis_, Paris, 1618, p. 229. P. Mantellier, _Histoire
de la communaute des marchands frequentant la riviere de Loire_, vol.
i, p. 195.]
The tax came in badly, and the King was actually suffering from want
of money. To extricate himself from this embarrassment he employed
three devices, of which the best was useless. First, as he owed every
one money,--the Queen of Sicily,[598] La Tremouille,[599] his
Chancellor,[600] his butcher,[601] the chapter of Bourges, which
provided him with fresh fish,[602] his cooks,[603] his footmen,[604]--he
made over the proceeds of the tax to his creditors.[605] Secondly, he
alienated the royal domain: his towns and his lands belonged to every
one save himself.[606] Thirdly, he coined false money. It was not with
evil intent, but through necessity, and the practice was quite
usual.[607]
[Footnote 598: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol.
ii, cols. 1145, 1194. _Ordonnances_, vol. xv, p. 147.]
[Footnote 599: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i,
p. 373. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 175. Duc
de la Tremoille, _Chartier de Thouars, Documents historiques et
genealogiques_, p. 17. _Les La Tremoille pendant cinq siecles_, vol.
i, p. 175.]
[Footnote 600: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
632.]
[Footnote 601: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii. Accounts, p. 316.
_Cabinet historique_, June, 1858, p. 176.]
[Footnote 602: _Cabinet historique_, September and October, 1858, p.
263.]
[Footnote 603: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i,
p. 374.]
[Footnote 604: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
632.]
[Footnote 605: Loiseleur, _Compte des depenses_, p. 57.]
[Footnote 606: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
634.]
[Footnote 607: Vuitry, _Les monnaies sous les trois premiers Valois_,
Paris, 1881, in 8vo, pp. 29 _et seq._ Loiseleur, _Compte des
depenses_, p. 47. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol.
i, p. 243. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 620
_et seq._]
The only title borne by La Tremouille was that of
Conseiller-Chambellan, but he was also the Grand Usurer of the
kingdom. His debtors were the King and a multitude of nobles high and
low.[608] He was therefore a powerful personage. In those difficult
days he rendered the crown services self-interested, but none the less
valuable. From January to August, 1428, he advanced sums amounting to
about twenty-seven thousand livres for which he received lands and
castles as security.[609] Fortunately the Royal Council included a
number of Jurists and Churchmen who were good business men. One of
them, an Angevin, Robert Le Macon, Lord of Treves, of plebeian birth,
had entered the Council during the Regency. He was the first among
those of lowly origin who served Charles VII so ably that he came to
be called The Well Served (_Le Bien Servi_).[610] Another, the Sire de
Gaucourt, had aided his King in war.[611]
[Footnote 608: Clairambault, _Titres, Scelles_, vol. 205, pp. 8769,
8771, 8773, _passim_. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol.
ii, p. 293.]
[Footnote 609: Archives nationales, J. 183, no. 142. Duc de La
Tremoille, _Les La Tremoille pendant cinq siecles_, vol. i, p. 177. De
Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 198.]
[Footnote 610: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire genealogique et chronologique
de la maison de France_, vol. vi, p. 399. Vallet de Viriville, in
_Nouvelle biographie generale_. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
VII_, vol. i, p. 63.]
[Footnote 611: Marquis de Gaucourt, _Le Sire de Gaucourt_, Orleans,
1855, in 8vo.]
There is yet a third whom we must learn to know as well as possible.
For he will play an important part in this story; and his part would
appear greater still if it were laid bare in its entirety. This is
Regnault de Chartres, whom we have already seen promoted to be
minister of finance.[612] Son of Hector de Chartres, master of Woods
and Waters in Normandy, he took orders, became archdeacon of Beauvais,
then chamberlain of Pope John XXIII, and in 1414, at about
thirty-four, was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Reims.[613] The
following year three of his brothers fell on the gory field of
Azincourt. In 1418 Hector de Chartres perished at Paris, assassinated
by the Butchers.[614] Regnault himself, cast into prison by the
Cabochiens, expected to be put to death. He vowed that if he escaped
he would fast every Wednesday, and drink water for breakfast every
Friday and Saturday, for the rest of his life.[615] One must not judge
a man by an act prompted by fear. Nevertheless we may well hesitate to
rank the author of this vow with those Epicureans who did not believe
in God, of whom there were said to be many among the clerks. We may
conclude rather that his intelligence submitted to the common beliefs.
[Footnote 612: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire genealogique et chronologique
de la maison de France_, vol. vi, p. 339. _Gallia Christiana_, vol.
ix, col. 135. Hermant, _Histoire ecclesiastique de Beauvais_ (Bibl.
nat. fr. 8581), fol. 15 _et seq._ Article by Vallet de Viriville, in
_Nouvelle biographie generale_ and _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii,
pp. 160 _et seq._]
[Footnote 613: Le P. Denifle, _Cartularium Universitatis Parisiensis_,
vol. iv, p. 275.]
[Footnote 614: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 109. In 1411 the
Butchers of Paris, led by Jean-Simonnet Caboche, rose in favour of the
Duke of Burgundy (W.S.).]
[Footnote 615: Le P. Denifle, _La desolation des eglises_, vol. i, pp.
594, 595. Garnier, _Documents relatifs a la surprise de Paris par les
Bourguignons en Mai_, 1418, in _Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire
de Paris_, 1877, p. 51.]
A tragic fidelity, an inherited loyalty to the Armagnacs recommended
my Lord Regnault to the Dauphin, who entrusted him with important
missions to various parts of Christendom, Languedoc, Scotland,
Brittany, and Burgundy.[616] The Archbishop of Reims acquitted himself
with rare skill and indefatigable zeal. In December he prayed the Holy
Father to dispense him from the fulfilment of the vow taken in the
Butchers' prison,[617] on the grounds of his feeble health and his
services rendered to the Dauphin, who required him to undertake
frequent journeys and arduous embassies.
[Footnote 616: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp.
268, 276, 339. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 4, and proofs and
illustrations, lxxj.]
[Footnote 617: Le P. Denifle, _La desolation des eglises_, _loc. cit._
According to a "legitimist" fiction he pleads the service he had
rendered to King Charles VI, and his son the Dauphin "_... tam propter
sue persone debililitatem, quam etiam propter assidua viagia et
ambassiatas, que ipse serviendo Carolo Francorum regi et Carolo,
ejusdem regis unigenito filio, dalphino Viennensi...._"]
In 1425, when the King and the kingdom were governed by President
Louvet,[618] a learned lawyer, who may well have been a rogue, my Lord
Regnault was appointed Chancellor of France in the place of my Lord
Martin Gouges of Charpaigne, Bishop of Clermont.[619] But shortly
afterwards, when the Constable of France, Arthur of Brittany, had
dismissed Louvet, Regnault sold his appointment to Martin Gouges for a
pension of two thousand five hundred _livres tournois_.[620]
[Footnote 618: Vallet de Viriville, _Nouvelle biographie generale_. De
Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 64 _et seq._]
[Footnote 619: F. Duchesne, _Histoire des chanceliers et gardes des
sceaux de France_, 1680, in fol., p. 483.]
[Footnote 620: The _livre_ of Tours was worth ten pence, while that of
Paris was worth one shilling (W.S.). National Archives, p. 2298.]
The Reverend Father in God, my Lord the Archbishop of Reims, was not
as rich, far from it, as my Lord de la Tremouille; but he made the
best of what he had. Like the Sire de la Tremouille he lent money to
the King.[621] But in those days who did not lend the King money?
Charles VII gave him the town and castle of Vierzon in payment of a
debt of sixteen thousand _livres tournois_.[622] When La Tremouille
had treated the Constable as the Constable had treated Louvet,
Regnault de Chartres became Chancellor again. He entered into his
office on the 8th of November, 1428. By this time the Council had sent
men-at-arms and cannon to Orleans. No sooner was my Lord of Reims
appointed than he threw himself into the city and spared no
trouble.[623] He was keenly attached to the goods of this world and
might pass for a miser.[624] But there can be no doubt of his devotion
to the royal cause, nor of his hatred of those who fought under the
Leopard and the Red Cross.[625]
[Footnote 621: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
632.]
[Footnote 622: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire genealogique de la maison de
France_, vol. i, p. 407.]
[Footnote 623: _Journal du siege_, p. 51.]
[Footnote 624: Le P. Denifle, _La desolation des eglises_,
introduction. _Cf._ the collection of official receipts in the
National Library, fr. 20,887, original documents 693, Clairambault,
_deeds_, _seals_, vol. 29.]
[Footnote 625: F. Duchesne, _Histoire des chanceliers et garde des
sceaux de France_, p. 487.]
After eleven days' journey, Jeanne reached Chinon on the 6th of
March.[626] It was the fourth Sunday in Lent, that very Sunday on
which the lads and lasses of Domremy went forth in bands, into the
country still grey and leafless, to eat their nuts and hard-boiled
eggs, with the rolls their mothers had kneaded. That was what they
called their well-dressing. But Jeanne was not to recollect past
well-dressings nor the home she had left without a word of
farewell.[627] Ignoring those rustic, well-nigh pagan festivals which
poor Christians introduced into the penance of the holy forty days,
the Church had named this Sunday _Laetare_ Sunday, from the first word
in the introit for the day: _Laetare, Jerusalem_. On that Sunday the
priest, ascending the altar steps, says low mass; and at high mass the
choir sings the following words from Scripture: "_Laetare, Jerusalem;
et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam ..._: Rejoice ye with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy
with her all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied
with the breasts of her consolations; ..."[628] That day priests,
monks, and clerks versed in holy Scripture, as in the churches with
the people assembled they sang _Laetare, Jerusalem_, had present before
their minds the virgin announced by prophecy, raised up for the
deliverance of the kingdom, marked with a sign, who was then making
her humble entrance into the town. Perhaps more than one applied what
that passage of Scripture says of the Holy Nation to the realm of
France, and in the coincidence of that liturgical text and the happy
coming of the Maid found occasion for hope. _Laetare, Jerusalem!_
Rejoice ye, O people, in your true King and your rightful sovereign.
_Et conventum facite_: and come together. Unite all your strength
against the enemy. _Gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis_:
after your long mourning, rejoice. The Lord sends you succour and
consolation.
[Footnote 626: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 56.]
[Footnote 627: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 394, 462.]
[Footnote 628: Isaiah, ch. 66, verse 10 (W.S.).]
By the intercession of Saint Julien, and probably with the aid of
Collet de Vienne, the King's messenger, Jeanne found a lodging in the
town, near the castle, in an inn kept by a woman of good repute.[629]
The spits were idle. And the guests, deep in the chimney-corner, were
watching the grilling of Saint Herring, who was suffering worse
torments than Saint Lawrence.[630] In those times no one in
Christendom neglected the Church's injunctions concerning the fasts
and abstinences of Holy Lent. Following the example of Our Lord Jesus
Christ who fasted forty days in the desert, the faithful observed the
fast from Quadragesima Sunday until Easter Sunday, making forty days
after abstracting the Sundays when the fast was broken but not the
abstinence. Thus fasting and with her soul comforted, Jeanne listened
to the soft whisper of her Voices.[631] The two days she spent in the
inn were passed in retirement, on her knees.[632] The banks of the
Vienne and the broad meadows, still in their black wintry garb, the
hill-slopes over which light mists floated, did not tempt her. But
when, on her way to church, climbing up a steep street, or merely
grooming her horse in the inn yard, she raised her eyes to the north,
there on a mountain close at hand, just about the distance that would
be traversed by one of those stone cannon-balls which had been in use
for the last fifty or sixty years, she saw the towers of the finest
castle of the realm. Behind its proud walls there breathed that King
to whom she had journeyed, impelled by a miraculous love.
[Footnote 629: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 143.]
[Footnote 630: _La vie de saint Harenc glorieux martir et comment il
fut pesche en la mer et porte a Dieppe_, in _Recueil des poesies
francaises des XV'e et XVI'e siecles_, by A. de Montaiglon, vol.
ii, pp. 325-332.]
[Footnote 631: Still if Jeanne were the age she is said to have been,
about eighteen, she was under no obligation to fast, but only to be
abstinent. Nevertheless, when imprisoned at Rouen, she fasted during
Lent; but we do not know how old her judges considered her to be.]
[Footnote 632: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 143.]
There were three castles merging before her into one long mass of
embattled walls, of keeps, towers, turrets, curtains, barbicans,
ramparts, and watch-towers; three castles separated one from the other
by dykes, barriers, posterns, and portcullis. On her left, towards
sunset, crowded, one behind the other, the eight towers of Coudray,
one of which had been built for a king of England, while the newest
were more than two hundred years old. On the right could be plainly
seen the middle castle, with its ancient walls and its towers crowned
with machicolated battlements. There was the chamber of Saint Louis,
the King's chamber, the apartment of him whom Jeanne called the Gentle
Dauphin. And there also, close to the rush-strewn room, was the great
hall in which she was to be received. Towards the town the site of the
hall was indicated by an adjoining tower, square and very old. On the
right extended a vast bailey or stronghold, intended as a lodging for
the garrison, and a defence of the middle part of the castle. Near by
a large chapel raised its roof, in the form of an inverted keel, above
the ramparts. This chapel, built by Henry II of England, was under the
patronage of Saint George, and from it the bailey received its name of
Fort Saint George.[633] In those days every one knew the story of
Saint George the valiant knight, who with his lance transfixed a
dragon and delivered a King's daughter, and then suffered martyrdom
confessing his faith. Like Saint Catherine he had been bound to a
wheel with sharp spikes, and the wheel had been miraculously broken
like that on which the executioners had bound the Virgin of
Alexandria. And like her Saint George had suffered death by means of
an axe, thus proving that he was a great saint.[634] In one thing,
however, he was wrong; he was of the party of the _Godons_, who for
more than three hundred years had kept his feast as that of all the
English. They held him to be their patron saint and invoked him before
all other saints. Thus his name was pronounced as constantly by the
vilest Welsh archer as by a knight of the Garter. In truth no one
knew what he thought and whether he did not condemn all these
marauders who were fighting for a bad cause; but there was reason to
fear that such great honours would affect him. The saints of Paradise
are generally ready to take the side of those who invoke them most
devoutly. And Saint George, after all, was just as English as Saint
Michael was French. That glorious archangel had appeared as the most
vigilant protector of the Lilies ever since my Lord Saint Denys, the
patron saint of the kingdom, had permitted his abbey to be taken. And
Jeanne knew it.
[Footnote 633: G. de Cougny, _Notice archeologique et historique sur
le chateau de Chinon_, Chinon, 1860, in 8vo.]
[Footnote 634: _La legende doree_, translated by Gustave Brunet, 1846,
pp. 259, 264. Douhet, _Dictionnaire des legendes_, pp. 426, 436.]
Meanwhile the despatches brought from the Commander of Vaucouleurs by
Colet de Vienne were presented to the King.[635] These despatches
instructed him concerning the deeds and sayings of the damsel. This
was one of those countless matters to be examined by the Council, one
which, it appears, the King must himself investigate, as pertaining to
his royal office and as interesting him especially, since it might be
a question of a damsel of remarkable piety, and he was himself the
highest ecclesiastical personage in France.[636] His grandfather, wise
prince that he was, would have been far from scorning the counsel of
devout women in whom was the voice of God. About the year 1380 he had
summoned to Paris Guillemette de la Rochelle, who led a solitary and
contemplative life, and acquired such great power therefrom, so it was
said, that during her transports she raised herself more than two feet
from the ground. In many a church King Charles V had beautiful
oratories built, where she might pray for him.[637] The grandson
should do no less, for his need was still greater. There were still
more recent examples in his family of dealings between kings and
saints. His father, the poor King Charles VI, when he was passing
through Tours, had caused Louis, Duke of Orleans, to present to him
Dame Marie de Maille. She had taken a vow of virginity and had
transformed the spouse, who approached her like a devouring lion, into
a timorous lamb. She revealed secrets to the King, and he was pleased
with her, for three years later he wanted to see her again at Paris.
This time they talked long together in private, and she revealed more
secrets to the King, so that he sent her away with gifts.[638] This
same Prince had granted an audience to a poor knight of Caux, one
Robert le Mennot, to whom, when he was in danger of shipwreck near the
coast of Syria, had been vouchsafed a vision. He proclaimed that God
had sent him to restore peace.[639] Still more favourably had the King
received a woman, Marie Robine, who was commonly called la Gasque of
Avignon.[640] In 1429, there were those at court who remembered the
prophetess sent to Charles VI to confirm him in his subjection to Pope
Benedict XIII. This pope was held to be an antipope; nevertheless, La
Gasque was regarded as a prophetess. Like Jeanne she had had many
visions concerning the desolation of the realm of France; and she had
seen weapons in the sky.[641] The kings of England were no less ready
than the kings of France to heed the words of those saintly men and
women, multitudes of whom were at that time uttering prophecies. Henry
V consulted the hermit of Sainte-Claude, Jean de Gand, who foretold
the King's approaching death; and on his death-bed he again had the
stern prophet summoned.[642] It was the custom of saints to speak to
kings and of kings to listen to them. How could a pious prince disdain
so miraculous a source of counsel? Had he done so he would have
incurred the censure of the wisest.
[Footnote 635: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siege_,
pp. 46, 47.]
[Footnote 636: _Epitre de Jouvenel des Ursins_, in De Beaucourt,
_Histoire de Charles VII_ vol. v, p. 206, note 1.]
[Footnote 637: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol.
ii, p. x.]
[Footnote 638: _Acta sanctorum_, vol. iii, March, p. 742. Abbe Petin,
_Dictionnaire hagiographique_, 1850, vol. ii, p. 1516.]
[Footnote 639: Froissart, _Chroniques_, Bk. IV, ch. xliii _et seq._]
[Footnote 640: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 83, note 2. Vallet de Viriville,
_Proces de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1867, in 8vo, pp.
xxxi _et seq._]
[Footnote 641: _Le songe du vieil Pelerin_, by Philippe de Maizieres
(Bibl. Nat. French collection, no. 22,542).]
[Footnote 642: Chastellain, ed. Buchon, pp. 114, 116. _Acta Sanctorum
Junii_, vol. 1, p. 648. Le P. De Buck, _Le bienheureux Jean de Gand_,
Brussels, 1862, in 8vo, 40 pages. Le P. Chapotin, _La guerre de cent
ans; Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains_, Evreux, 1888, in 8vo, p. 89.]
King Charles read the Commander of Vaucouleur's letters, and had the
damsel's escort examined before him. Of her mission and her miracles
they could say nothing. But they spoke of the good they had seen in
her during the journey, and affirmed that there was no evil in
her.[643]
[Footnote 643: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siege_,
p. 46.]
Of a truth, God speaketh through the mouths of virgins. But in such
matters it is necessary to act with extreme caution, to distinguish
carefully between the true prophetesses and the false, not to take for
messengers from heaven the heralds of the devil. The latter sometimes
create illusions. Following the example of Simon the Magician, who
worked wonders vying with the miracles of St. Peter, these creatures
have recourse to diabolical arts for the seduction of men. Twelve
years before, there had prophesied a woman, likewise from the
Lorraine Marches, Catherine Suave, a native of Thons near Neufchateau,
who lived as a recluse at Port de Lates, yet most certainly did the
Bishop of Maguelonne know her to be a liar and a sorceress, wherefore
she was burned alive at Montpellier in 1417.[644] Multitudes of women,
or rather of females, _mulierculae_,[645] lived like this Catherine and
ended like her.
[Footnote 644: _Parvus Thalamus_, ed. Archaeological Society of
Montpellier, p. 464. Th. de Beze, _Histoire ecclesiastique_, 1580,
vol. i, p. 217. A. Germain, _Catherine Suave_, Montpellier, 1853, in
4to, 16 pages. H.C. Lea, _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle
Ages_ (1906), vol. ii, p. 157. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de
Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. x.]
[Footnote 645: Jean Nider, _Formicarium_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p.
502.]
Certain ecclesiastics briefly interrogated Jeanne and asked her
wherefore she had come. At first she replied that she would say
nothing save to the King. But when the clerks represented to her that
they were questioning her in the King's name, she told them that the
King of Heaven had bidden her do two things: one was to raise the
siege of Orleans, the other to lead the King to Reims for his
anointing and his coronation.[646] Just as at Vaucouleurs before Sire
Robert, so before these Churchmen she repeated very much what the
vavasour of Champagne had said formerly, when he had been sent to Jean
le Bon, as she was now sent to the Dauphin Charles.
[Footnote 646: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 22. These facts were known at
Lyons on the 22nd of April, 1429. (Clerk of the Chambre des Comptes of
Brabant, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426.)]
Having journeyed as far as the Plain of Beauce, where King John,
impatient for battle, was encamped with his army, the vavasour of
Champagne entered the camp and asked to see the wisest and best of the
King's liegemen at court. The nobles, to whom this request was
carried, began to laugh. But one among them, who had with his own eyes
seen the vavasour, recognised at once that he was a good, simple man
and without guile. He said to him: "If thou hast any advice to give,
go to the King's chaplain." The vavasour therefore went to King John's
chaplain and said to him: "Obtain for me an audience of the King; I
have something to tell that I will say to no one but to him." "What is
it?" asked the chaplain. "Tell me what is in your heart." But the good
man would not reveal his secret. The chaplain went to King John and
said to him: "Sire, there is a worthy man here who seems to me wise in
his way. He desires to say to you something that he will tell to you
alone." King John refused to see the good man. He summoned his
confessor, and, accompanied by the chaplain, sent him to learn the
vavasour's secret. The two priests went to the man and told him that
the King had appointed them to hear him. At this announcement,
despairing of ever seeing King John, and trusting to the Confessor and
the chaplain not to reveal his secret to any but the King, he uttered
these words: "While I was alone in the fields, a voice spake unto me
three times, saying: 'Go unto King John of France and warn him that he
fight not with any of his enemies.' Obedient to that voice am I come
to bring the tidings to King John." Having heard the vavasour's secret
the confessor and the chaplain took him to the King, who laughed at
him. With his comrades-in-arms he advanced to Poitiers, where he met
the Black Prince. He lost his whole army in battle, and, twice wounded
in the face, was taken prisoner by the English.[647]
[Footnote 647: S. Luce, _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, Paris,
1861, in 8vo, pp. 46, 48.]
The ecclesiastics, who had examined Jeanne, held various opinions
concerning her. Some declared that her mission was a hoax, and that
the King ought to beware of her.[648] Others on the contrary held
that, since she said she was sent of God, and that she had something
to tell the King, the King should at least hear her.
[Footnote 648: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115. Thomassin, _Registre
Delphinal_, in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 304. _Chronique de la
Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siege_, p. 47.]
Two priests who were then with the King, Jean Girard, President of the
Parlement of Grenoble, and Pierre l'Hermite, later subdean of
Saint-Martin-de-Tours, judged the case difficult and interesting
enough to be submitted to Messire Jacques Gelu, that Armagnac prelate
who had long served the house of Orleans and the Dauphin of France
both in council and in diplomacy. When he was nearly sixty, Gelu had
withdrawn from the Council, and exchanged the archiepiscopal see of
Tours for the bishopric of Embrun, which was less exalted and more
retired. He was illustrious and venerable.[649] Jean Girard and Pierre
l'Hermite informed him of the coming of the damsel in a letter,
wherein they told him also that, having been questioned in turn by
three professors of theology, she had been found devout, sober,
temperate, and in the habit of participating once a week in the
sacraments of confession and communion. Jean Girard thought she might
have been sent by the God who raised up Judith and Deborah, and who
spoke through the mouths of the Sibyls.[650]
[Footnote 649: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. iii, col. 1089.]
[Footnote 650: Le R.P. Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire generale des Alpes
Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, ed. by the Abbe Paul Guillaume, Paris,
1890-1892 (3 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, pp. 313 _et seq._]
Charles was pious, and on his knees devoutly heard three masses a day.
Regularly at the canonical hours he repeated the customary prayers in
addition to prayers for the dead and other orisons. Daily he
confessed, and communicated on every feast day.[651] But he believed
in foretelling events by means of the stars, in which he did not
differ from other princes of his time. Each one of them had an
astrologer in his service.[652]
[Footnote 651: The Monk of Dunfermline, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p.
340. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 265
_et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 243.]
[Footnote 652: Simon de Phares, _Recueil des plus celebres
astrologues_, fr. ms. 1357. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles
VII_, vol. i, p. 306; vol. ii, p. 345, note. De Beaucourt, _Histoire
de Charles VII_, vol. vi, p. 399.]
The late Duke of Burgundy had been constantly accompanied by a Jewish
soothsayer, Maitre Mousque. On that day, the end of which he was never
to see, as he was going to the Bridge of Montereau, Maitre Mousque
counselled him not to advance any further, prophesying that he would
not return. The Duke continued on his way and was killed.[653] The
Dauphin Charles confided in Jean des Builhons, in Germain de
Thibonville and in all others of the peaked cap.[654]
[Footnote 653: Chastellain, vol. iii, p. 446.]
[Footnote 654: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i,
p. 173.]
He always had two or three astrologers at court. These almanac makers
drew up schemes of nativity, cast horoscopes and read in the sky the
approach of wars and revolutions. One of them, Maitre Rolland the
Scrivener, a fellow of the University of Paris, was one night, at a
certain hour, observing the heavens from his roof, when he saw the
apex of Virgo in the ascendant, Venus, Mercury, and the sun half way
up the sky.[655] This his colleague, Guillaume Barbin of Geneva,
interpreted to mean that the English would be driven from France and
the King restored by the hand of a mere maid.[656] If we may believe
the Inquisitor Brehal, some time before Jeanne's coming into France, a
clever astronomer of Seville, Jean de Montalcin by name, had written
to the King among other things the following words: "By a virgin's
counsel thou shalt be victorious. Continue in triumph to the gates of
Paris."[657]
[Footnote 655: I here correct the text of Simon de Phares (_Trial_,
vol. iv, p. 536) according to the written opinion of M. Camille
Flammarion.]
[Footnote 656: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 536.]
[Footnote 657: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 341.]
At that very time the Dauphin Charles had with him at Chinon an old
Norman astrologer, one Pierre, who may have been Pierre de
Saint-Valerien, canon of Paris. The latter had recently returned from
Scotland, whither, accompanied by certain nobles, he had gone to fetch
the Lady Margaret, betrothed to the Dauphin Louis. Not long afterwards
this Maitre Pierre was, rightly or wrongly, believed to have read in
the sky that the shepherdess from the Meuse valley was appointed to
drive out the English.[658]
[Footnote 658: Recueil de Simon de Phares, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p.
32, note.]
Jeanne had not long to wait in her inn. Two days after her arrival,
what she had so ardently desired came to pass: she was taken to the
King.[659] In the last century near the Grand-Carroy, opposite a
wooden-fronted house, there was shown a well on the edge of which,
according to tradition, Jeanne set foot when she alighted from her
horse, before climbing the steep ascent leading to the Castle.
Through La Vieille Porte,[660] she was already crossing the moat when
the King was still hesitating as to whether he would receive her. Many
of his familiar advisers, and those not the least important,
counselled him to beware of a strange woman whose designs might be
evil. There were others who put it before him that this shepherdess
was introduced by letters from Robert de Baudricourt carried through
hostile provinces; that in journeying to the King she had forded many
rivers in a manner almost miraculous. On these considerations the King
consented to receive her.[661]
[Footnote 659: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 143.]
[Footnote 660: The kerb was removed during the Second Empire. Moreover
it is admitted that no faith should be put in such traditions. G. de
Cougny, _Charles VII et Jeanne d'Arc a Chinon_, Tours, 1877, in 8vo.]
[Footnote 661: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 75; vol. iii, p. 115. _Chronique de
la Pucelle_, p. 273. _Journal du siege_, pp. 46, 47. Th. Basin,
_Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 68.]
The great hall was crowded. As at every audience given by the King the
room was close with the breath of the assembled multitude. The vast
chamber presented that aspect of a market-house or of a rout which was
so familiar to courtiers. It was evening; fifty torches flamed beneath
the painted beams of the roof.[662] Men of middle age in robes and
furs, young, smooth-faced nobles, thin and narrow shouldered, of
slender build, their lean legs in tight hose, their feet in long,
pointed shoes; barons fully armed to the number of three hundred,
according to Aulic custom, pushed, crowded and elbowed each other
while the usher was here and there striking the courtiers on the head
with his rod.[663]
[Footnote 662: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 75, 141.]
[Footnote 663: Le Curial, in _Les oeuvres de Maistre Alain
Chartier_, ed. Du Chesne, Paris, 1642, in 4to, p. 398.]
Besides the two ambassadors from Orleans, Messire Jamet du Tillay and
the old baron Archambaud de Villars, governor of Montargis, there were
present Simon Charles, Master of Requests, as well as certain great
nobles, the Count of Clermont, the Sire de Gaucourt, and probably the
Sire de La Tremouille and my Lord the Archbishop of Reims, Chancellor
of the kingdom.[664] On hearing of Jeanne's approach, King Charles
buried himself among his retainers, either because he was still
mistrustful and hesitating, or because he had other persons to speak
to, or for some other reason.[665] Jeanne was presented by the Count
of Vendome.[666] Robust, with a firm, short neck, her figure appeared
full, although confined by her man's jerkin. She wore breeches like a
man,[667] but still more surprising than her hose was her head-gear
and the cut of her hair. Beneath a woollen hood, her dark hair hung
cut round in soup-plate fashion like a page's.[668] Women of all ranks
and all ages were careful to hide their hair so that not one lock of
it should escape from beneath the coif, the veil, or the high
head-dress which was then the mode. Jeanne's flowing locks looked
strange to the folk of those days.[669] She went straight to the
King, took off her cap, curtsied, and said: "God send you long life,
gentle Dauphin."[670]
[Footnote 664: According to Jeanne there were present La Tremoille and
the Archbishop of Reims, but she also mentions the Duke of Alencon,
who was certainly not there.]
[Footnote 665: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 115.]
[Footnote 666: _Ibid._, pp. 102-103.]
[Footnote 667: _Ibid._, p. 219. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, in _Trial_,
vol. iv, p. 205. Mathieu Thomassin, _ibid._, p. 304. _Chronique de
Lorraine_, _ibid._, p. 330. Philippe de Bergame, _ibid._, p. 523.]
[Footnote 668: _Relation du greffier de La Rochelle_, in the _Revue
historique_, vol. iv, p. 336.]
[Footnote 669: St. Paul, Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Labbe,
_Collection des conciles_, vol. vii, p. 978. Saumaise, _Epistola ad
Andream Colvium super cap. xi, I ad Corynth. de caesarie virorum et
mulierum coma_. Lugd-Batavor ex off. Elz. 1644, in 12mo. _Quelques
notes d'archeologie sur la chevelure feminine_, in _Comptes rendus de
l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_, 1888, vol. xvi, pp.
419, 425.]
[Footnote 670: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 75; vol. iii, pp. 17, 92, 115. Jean
Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p.
273. _Journal du siege_, p. 46.]
Afterwards there were those who marvelled that she should have
recognised him in the midst of nobles more magnificently dressed than
he. It is possible that on that day he may have been poorly attired.
We know that it was his custom to have new sleeves put to his old
doublets.[671] And in any case he did not show off his clothes. Very
ugly, knock-kneed, with emaciated thighs, small, odd, blinking eyes,
and a large bulbous nose, on his bony, bandy legs tottered and
trembled this prince of twenty-six.[672]
[Footnote 671: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.
195.]
[Footnote 672: Th. Basin, vol. i, p. 312. Chastellain, vol. ii, p.
178. _Portrait historique du roi Charles VII_, by Henri Baude,
published by Vallet de Viriville in _Nouvelles recherches sur Henri
Baude_, p. 6. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, p. 83.]
That Jeanne should have seen his picture already and recognised him by
it is hardly likely. Portraits of princes were rare in those days.
Jeanne had never handled one of those precious books in which King
Charles may have been painted in miniature as one of the Magi offering
gifts to the Child Jesus.[673] It was not likely that she had ever
seen one of those figures painted on wood in the semblance of her
King, with hands clasped, beneath the curtains of his oratory.[674]
And if by chance some one had shown her one of these portraits her
untrained eyes could have discerned but little therein. Neither need
we inquire whether the people of Chinon had described to her the
costume the King usually wore and the shape of his hat: for like every
one else he kept his hat on indoors even at dinner. What is most
probable is that those who were kindly disposed towards her pointed
out the King. At any rate he was not difficult to distinguish, since
those who saw her go up to him were in no wise astonished.
[Footnote 673: As in the miniature painted by Jean Fouquet, more than
ten years later. Gruyer, _Les Quarante Fouquet de Chantilly_, Paris,
1897, in 4to.]
[Footnote 674: _Note sur un ancien portrait de Charles VII, conserve
au Louvre_, in the _Bulletin de la Societe des Antiquaires de France_,
1862, pp. 67 _et seq._]
When she had made her rustic curtsey, the King asked her name and what
she wanted. She replied: "Fair Dauphin, my name is Jeanne the Maid;
and the King of Heaven speaks unto you by me and says that you shall
be anointed and crowned at Reims, and be lieutenant of the King of
Heaven, who is King of France." She asked to be set about her work,
promising to raise the siege of Orleans.[675]
[Footnote 675: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 103. _Relation du greffier de La
Rochelle_, p. 337. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 273. Jean Chartier,
_Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 67, 68.]
The King took her apart and questioned her for some time. By nature he
was gentle, kind to the poor and lowly, but not devoid of mistrust and
suspicion.
It is said that during this private conversation, addressing him with
the familiarity of an angel, she made him this strange announcement:
"My Lord bids me say unto thee that thou art indeed the heir of France
and the son of a King; he has sent me to thee to lead thee to Reims to
be crowned there and anointed if thou wilt."[676] Afterwards the
Maid's chaplain reported these words, saying he had received them
from the Maid herself. All that is certain is that the Armagnacs were
not slow to turn them into a miracle in favour of the Line of the
Lilies. It was asserted that these words spoken by God himself, by the
mouth of an innocent girl, were a reply to the carking, secret anxiety
of the King. Madame Ysabeau's son, it was said, distracted and
saddened by the thought that perhaps the royal blood did not flow in
his veins, was ready to renounce his kingdom and declare himself a
usurper, unless by some heavenly light his doubts concerning his birth
should be dispelled.[677] Men told how his face shone with joy[678]
when it was revealed to him that he was the true heir of France.
[Footnote 676: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103 (evidence of Brother
Pasquerel).]
[Footnote 677: The Abridger of the _Trial_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp.
258, 259. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p.
67. _Journal du siege_, p. 48.]
[Footnote 678: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 116 (evidence of S. Charles). S.
Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. lxi.]
Doubtless the Armagnac preachers were in the habit of speaking of
Queen Ysabeau as "_une grande gorre_" and a Herodias of
licentiousness; but one would like to know whence her son derived his
curious misgiving. He had not manifested it on entering into his
inheritance; and, had occasion required, the jurists of his party
would have proved to him by reasons derived from laws and customs that
he was by birth the true heir and the lawful successor of the late
King; for filiation must be proved not by what is hidden, but by what
is manifest, otherwise it would be impossible to assign the legal heir
to a kingdom or to an acre of land. Nevertheless it must be borne in
mind that the King was very unfortunate at this time. Now misfortune
agitates the conscience and raises scruples; and he might well doubt
the justice of his cause since God was forsaking him. But if he were
indeed assailed by painful doubts, how can he have been relieved from
them by the words of a damsel who, as far as he then knew, might be
mad or sent to him by his enemies? It is hard to reconcile such
credulity with what we know of his suspicious nature. The first
thought that occurred to him must have been that ecclesiastics had
instructed the damsel.
A few moments after he had dismissed her, he assembled the Sire de
Gaucourt and certain other members of his Council and repeated to them
what he had just heard: "She told me that God had sent her to aid me
to recover my kingdom."[679] He did not add that she had revealed to
him a secret known to himself alone.[680]
[Footnote 679: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 17, 209. As early as April the
promised deliverance of Orleans and coronation at Reims had been heard
of at Lyons (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426).]
[Footnote 680: Pasquerel alone of the witnesses mentions this
(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103). Cf. the anecdote of the Sire de Boissy
related by P. Sala in his collection, _Les hardiesses des grands rois
et empereurs_ (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 278).]
The King's Counsellors, knowing little of the damsel, decided that
they must have her before them to examine her concerning her life and
her belief.[681]
[Footnote 681: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 209.]
The Sire de Gaucourt took her from the inn and lodged her in a tower
of that Castle of Coudray, which for the last three days she had seen
dominating the town.[682] One of the three castles, Le Coudray was
only separated from the middle chateau in which the King dwelt by a
moat and fortifications.[683] The Sire de Gaucourt confided her to
the care of the lieutenant of the Town of Chinon, Guillaume Bellier,
the King's Major Domo.[684] He gave her for her servant one of his own
pages, a child of fifteen, Immerguet, sometimes called Minguet, and
sometimes Mugot. His real name was Louis de Coutes, and he came of an
old warrior family which had been in the service of the house of
Orleans for a century. His father, Jean, called Minguet, Lord of
Fresnay-le-Gelmert, of la Gadeliere and of Mitry, Chamberlain to the
Duke of Orleans, had died in great poverty the year before. He had
left a widow and five children, three boys and two girls, one of whom,
Jeanne by name, had since 1421 been the wife of Messire Florentin
d'Illiers, Governor of Chateaudun. Thus the little page, Louis de
Coutes, and his mother, Catherine le Mercier, Dame de Noviant, who
came of a noble Scottish family, were both in a state of penury,
albeit the Duke of Orleans in acknowledgment of his Chamberlain's
faithful services had from his purse granted aid to the Lady of
Noviant.[685] Jeanne kept Minguet with her all day, but at night she
slept with the women.
[Footnote 682: _Ibid._, p. 66.]
[Footnote 683: G. de Cougny, _Charles VII et Jeanne d'Arc a Chinon_,
Tours, 1877, p. 40.]
[Footnote 684: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 17.]
[Footnote 685: _Ibid._, pp. 65, 73. Mademoiselle A. de Villaret,
_Louis de Coutes, page de Jeanne d'Arc_, Orleans, 1890, in 8vo.]
The wife of Guillaume Bellier, who was good and pious, at least so it
was said, watched over her.[686] At Coudray the page saw her many a
time on her knees. She prayed and often wept many tears.[687] For
several days persons of high estate came to speak with her. They found
her dressed as a boy.[688]
[Footnote 686: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 17.]
[Footnote 687: _Ibid._, p. 66.]
[Footnote 688: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 274 _et seq._ Jean
Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 68.]
Since she had been with the King, divers persons asked her whether
there were not in her country a wood called "Le Bois-Chenu."[689] This
question was put to her because a prophecy of Merlin concerning a maid
who should come from "Le Bois-Chenu" was then in circulation. And folk
were impressed by it; for in those days every one gave heed to
prophecies and especially to those of Merlin the Magician.[690]
[Footnote 689: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 68.]
[Footnote 690: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 133, 340. Thomassin, in _Trial_,
vol. iv, p. 395. Walter Bower, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 489. Christine
de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 12. La Borderie, _Les veritables
propheties de Merlin, examen des poemes bretons attribues a ce barde_,
in the _Revue de Bretagne_, 1883, vol. liii.]
Begotten of a woman by the Devil, it was from him that Merlin derived
his profound wisdom. To the science of numbers, which is the key to
the future, he added a knowledge of physics, by means of which he
worked his enchantments. Thus it was easy for him to transform rocks
into giants. And yet he was conquered by a woman; the fairy Vivien
enchanted the enchanter and kept him in a hawthorn bush under a spell.
This is only one of many examples of the power of women.
Famous doctors and illustrious masters held that Merlin had laid bare
many future events and prophesied many things which had not yet
happened. To such as were amazed that the son of the Devil should have
received the gift of prophecy they replied that the Holy Ghost is able
to reveal his secrets to whomsoever he pleases, for had he not caused
the Sibyls to speak, and opened the mouth of Balaam's ass?
Merlin had seen in a vision Sire Bertrand du Guesclin in the guise of
a warrior bearing an eagle on his shield. This was remembered after
the Constable had wrought his great deeds.[691]
[Footnote 691: Cuvelier, _Le poeme de Du Guesclin_, l. 3285.
Francisque-Michel and Th. Wright, _Vie de Merlin attribuee a Geoffroy
de Monmouth, suivie des propheties de ce barde tirees de l'histoire
des Bretons_, Paris, 1837, in 8vo, pp. 67 _et seq._ La Villemarque,
_Myrdhin ou Merlin l'Enchanteur, son histoire, ses oeuvres, son
influence_, n. ed., Paris, 1862, in 12mo. D'Arbois de Jubainville,
_Merlin est-il un personnage reel?_ in the _Revue des questions
historiques_, 1868, pp. 559-568. Lefevre-Pontalis, _Morosini_, vol.
iv, supplement xvi. "[Geoffrey of Monmouth] represented Merlin as
having prophesied all the events of the history of Britain until the
year 1135 in which he wrote. The _Historia Regum_ was very popular in
the ecclesiastical world. Its legends were held to be facts. The
exactness with which its prognostications had been fulfilled down to
1135 was marvelled at, and an attempt was made to interpret the
prophecies relating to subsequent times." Gaston Paris, _La
litterature francaise au moyen age_, 1890, pp. 86-104.]
In the prophecies of this Wise Man the English believed no less firmly
than the French. When Arthur of Brittany, Count of Richemont, was
taken prisoner, held to ransom, and brought before King Henry, the
latter, when he perceived a boar on the arms of the Duke, broke forth
into rejoicing; for he called to mind the words of Merlin who had
said, "A Prince of Armorica, called Arthur, with a boar for his crest,
shall conquer England, and when he shall have made an end of the
English folk he shall re-people the land with a Breton race."[692]
[Footnote 692: Le Baud, _Histoire de Bretagne_, Paris, 1638, in fol.,
p. 451.]
Now during the Lent of 1429 there was circulated among the Armagnacs
this prophecy, taken from a book of the prophecies of Merlin: "From
the town of the Bois-Chenu there shall come forth a maid for the
healing of the nation. When she hath stormed every citadel, with her
breath she shall dry up all the springs. Bitter tears shall she shed
and fill the Island with a terrible noise. Then shall she be slain by
the stag with ten antlers, of which six branches shall bear crowns of
gold, and the other six shall be changed into the horns of oxen; and
with a horrible sound they shall shake the Isles of Britain. The
forest of Denmark shall rise up and with a human voice say: 'Come,
Cambria, and take Cornwall unto thyself.'"[693]
[Footnote 693: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 340-342.]
In these mysterious words Merlin dimly foretells that a virgin shall
perform great and wonderful deeds before perishing by the hand of the
enemy. On one point only is he clear, or so it seems; that is, when he
says that this virgin shall come from the town of the Bois-Chenu.
If this prophecy had been traced back to its original source and read
in the fourth book of the _Historia Britonum_, where it is to be found
under the title of _Guyntonia Vaticinium_, it would have been seen to
refer to the English city of Winchester, and it would have appeared
that in the version then in circulation in France, the original
meaning had been garbled, distorted, and completely metamorphosed. But
no one thought of verifying the text. Books were rare and minds
uncritical. This deliberately falsified prophecy was accepted as the
pure word of Merlin and numerous copies of it were spread abroad.
Whence came these copies? Their origin doubtless will remain a mystery
for ever; but one point is certain: they referred to La Romee's
daughter, to the damsel who, from her father's house, could see the
edge of "Le Bois-Chenu." Thus they came from close at hand and were of
recent circulation.[694] If this amended prophecy of Merlin be not
the one that reached Jeanne in her village, forecasting that a Maid
should come from the Lorraine Marches for the saving of the kingdom,
then it was closely related to it. The two prognostications have a
family likeness.[695] They were uttered in the same spirit and with
the same intention; and they indicate that the ecclesiastics of the
Meuse valley and those of the Loire had agreed to draw attention to
the inspired damsel of Domremy.
[Footnote 694: Morosini, vol. iv, p. 324.]
[Footnote 695: Pierre Migiet weaves the two prophecies into one, which
he says he has read in a book, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 133.]
As Merlin had foretold the works of Jeanne, so Bede must also have
predicted them, for Bede and Merlin were always together in matters of
prophecy.
The Monk of Wearmouth, the Venerable Bede, who had been dead six
centuries, had been a veritable mine of knowledge in his lifetime. He
had written on theology and chronology; he had discoursed of night and
day, of weeks and months, of the signs of the zodiac, of epacts, of
the lunar cycle, and of the movable feasts of the Church. In his book
_De temporum ratione_ he had treated of the seventh and eighth ages of
the world, which were to follow the age in which he lived. He had
prophesied. During the siege of Orleans, churchmen were circulating
these obscure lines attributed to him, and foretelling the coming of
the Maid:
_Bis sex cuculli, bis septem se sociabunt,[696]
Gallorum pulli Tauro nova bella parabunt
Ecce beant bella, tunc fert vexilla Puella._
[Footnote 696: Adopting the emendation made by M. Germain
Lefevre-Pontalis in his _Chronique d'Antonio Morosini_, vol. iii, pp.
126, 127; vol. iv, pp. 316 _et seq._]
The first of these lines is a chronogram, that is, it contains a date.
To decipher it you take the numeral letters of the line and add them
together; the total gives the date.
bIs seX CVCVLLI, bIs septeM se soCIabVnt.
1 + 10 + 100 + 5 + 100 + 5 + 50 + 50 + 1 + 1 + 1000 + 100 +
1 + 5 = 1429.
Had any one sought these lines in the works of the Venerable Bede they
would not have found them, because they are not there; but no one
thought of looking for them any more than they thought of looking for
the Foret Chenue in Merlin.[697] And it was understood that both Bede
and Merlin had foretold the coming of the Maid. In those days
prophecies, chronograms, and charms flew like pigeons from the banks
of the Loire and spread abroad throughout the realm. Not later than
the May or June of this year the pseudo Bede will reach Burgundy.
Earlier still he will be heard of in Paris. The aged Christine de
Pisan, living in retirement in a French abbey, before the last day of
July, 1429, will write that Bede and Merlin had beheld the Maid in a
vision.[698]
[Footnote 697: _The Complete Works of the Venerable Bede_, ed. Giles,
London, 1843-1844, 12 vols., in 8vo, in _Patres Ecclesiae Anglicanae_.]
[Footnote 698: Christine de Pisan, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 12.
Morosini, vol. iii, p. 126. The Dean of Saint Thibaud, in _Trial_,
vol. iv, p. 423. Herman Korner, in Le P. Ayroles, _La vraie Jeanne
d'Arc_, pp. 279 _et seq._ Walter Bower, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 481.]
The clerks, who were busy forging prophecies for the Maid's benefit,
did not stop at a pseudo Bede and a garbled Merlin. They were truly
indefatigable, and by a stroke of good luck we possess a piece of
their workmanship which has escaped the ravages of time. It is a short
Latin poem written in the obscure prophetic style, of which the
following is a translation through the old French.
"A virgin clothed in man's attire, with the body of a maid, at God's
behest goes forth to raise the downcast King, who bears the lilies,
and to drive out his accursed enemies, even those who now beleaguer
the city of Orleans and strike terror into the hearts of its
inhabitants. And if the people will take heart and go out to battle,
the treacherous English shall be struck down by death, at the hand of
the God of battles who fights for the Maid, and the French shall cause
them to fall, and then shall there be an end of the war; and the old
covenants and the old friendship shall return. Pity and righteousness
shall be restored. There shall be a treaty of peace, and all men shall
of their own accord return to the King, which King shall weigh justice
and administer it unto all men and preserve his subjects in beautiful
peace. Henceforth no English foe with the sign of the leopard shall
dare to call himself King of France [added by the translator] and
adopt the arms of France, which arms are borne by the holy Maid."[699]
[Footnote 699: Buchon, _Math. d'Escouchy_, etc., p. 537. G.
Lefevre-Pontalis, Eberhard Windecke, pp. 21-31. A Latin text of this
prophecy is to be found on the fly-leaf of the Cartulary of
Therouanne.]
These false prophecies give some idea of the means employed for the
setting to work of the inspired damsel. Such methods may be somewhat
too crafty for our liking. These clerks had but one object,--the peace
of the realm and of the church. The miraculous deliverance of the
people had to be prepared. We must not be too hasty to condemn those
pious frauds without which the Maid could not have worked her
miracles. Much art and some guile are necessary to contrive for
innocence a hearing.
Meanwhile, on a steep rock, on the bank of the Durance, in the remote
see of Saint-Marcellin, Jacques Gelu remained faithful to the King he
had served and careful for the interests of the house of Orleans and
of France. To the two churchmen, Jean Girard and Pierre l'Hermite, he
replied that, for the sake of the orphan and the oppressed, God would
doubtless manifest himself, and would frustrate the evil designs of
the English; yet one should not easily and lightly believe the words
of a peasant girl bred in solitude, for the female sex was frail and
easily deceived, and France must not be made ridiculous in the eyes of
the foreigner. "The French," he added, "are already famous for the
ease with which they are duped." He ended by advising Pierre l'Hermite
that it would be well for the King to fast and do penance so that
Heaven might enlighten him and preserve him from error.[700]
[Footnote 700: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 393-407; vol. v, p. 473.
Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, vol.
ii, pp. 313, 314.]
But the mind of the oracle and ex-councillor could not rest. He wrote
direct to King Charles and Queen Marie to warn them of the danger. To
him it seemed that there could be no good in the damsel. He mistrusted
her for three reasons: first, because she came from a country in the
possession of the King's enemies, Burgundians and Lorrainers;
secondly, she was a shepherdess and easily deceived; thirdly, she was
a maid. He cited as an example Alexander of Macedon, whom a Queen
endeavoured to poison. She had been fed on venom by the King's enemies
and then sent to him in the hope that he would fall a victim to the
wench's[701] wiles. But Aristotle dismissed the seductress and thus
delivered his prince from death. The Archbishop of Embrun, as wise as
Aristotle, warned the King against conversing with the damsel in
private. He advised that she should be kept at a distance and
examined, but not repulsed.
[Footnote 701: [In the original French _garce_.] The text has _grace_,
which is not possible. I have conjectured that the word should be
_garce_.]
A prudent answer to those letters reassured Gelu. In a new epistle he
testified to the King his satisfaction at hearing that the damsel was
regarded with suspicion and left in uncertainty as to whether she
would or would not be believed. Then, with a return to his former
misgivings, he added: "It behoves not that she should have frequent
access to the King until such time as certainty be established
concerning her manner of life and her morals."[702]
[Footnote 702: M. Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou
Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313, 314.]
King Charles did indeed keep Jeanne in uncertainty as to what was
believed of her. But he did not suspect her of craftiness and he
received her willingly. She talked to him with the simplest
familiarity. She called him gentle Dauphin, and by that term she
implied nobility and royal magnificence.[703] She also called him her
_oriflamme_, because he was her _oriflamme_, or, as in modern language
she would have expressed it, her standard.[704] The _oriflamme_ was
the royal banner. No one at Chinon had seen it, but marvellous things
were told of it. The _oriflamme_ was in the form of a gonfanon with
two wings, made of a costly silk, fine and light, called
_sandal_,[705] and it was edged with tassels of green silk. It had
come down from heaven; it was the banner of Clovis and of Saint
Charlemagne. When the King went to war it was carried before him. So
great was its virtue that the enemy at its approach became powerless
and fled in terror. It was remembered how, when in 1304 Philippe le
Bel defeated the Flemings, the knight who bore it was slain. The next
day he was found dead, but still clasping the standard in his
arms.[706] It had floated in front of King Charles VI before his
misfortunes, and since then it had never been unfurled.
[Footnote 703: Clerk of the Town Hall of Albi, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p.
300.]
[Footnote 704: Thomassin, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 304.]
[Footnote 705: _Sandal_ or _cendal_, a silk bearing some resemblance
to taffetas. Cf. Godefroy, _Lexique de l'ancien francais_ (W.S.).]
[Footnote 706: Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under the word _auriflamma_. Le
Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses historiens_, pp. 150, 251,
257, 259. [_Histoire generale de Paris._]]
One day when the Maid and the King were talking together, the Duke of
Alencon entered the hall. When he was a child, the English had taken
him prisoner at Verneuil and kept him five years in the Crotoy
Tower.[707] Only recently set at liberty, he had been shooting quails
near Saint-Florent-les-Saumur, when a messenger had brought the
tidings that God had sent a damsel to the King to turn the English out
of France.[708] This news interested him as much as any one because he
had married the Duke of Orleans' daughter; and straightway he had come
to Chinon to see for himself. In the days of his graceful youth the
Duke of Alencon appeared to advantage, but he was never renowned for
his wisdom. He was weak-minded, violent, vain, jealous, and extremely
credulous. He believed that ladies find favour by means of a certain
herb, the mountain-heath; and later he thought himself bewitched. He
had a disagreeable, harsh voice; he knew it, and the knowledge annoyed
him.[709] As soon as she saw him approaching, Jeanne asked who this
noble was. When the King replied that it was his cousin Alencon, she
curtsied to the Duke and said: "Be welcome. The more representatives
of the blood royal are here the better."[710] In this she was
completely mistaken. The Dauphin smiled bitterly at her words. Not
much of the royal blood of France ran in the Duke's veins.
[Footnote 707: Perceval de Cagny, p. 136. _Chronique de la Pucelle_,
pp. 224, 249.]
[Footnote 708: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 91.]
[Footnote 709: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol.
iii, pp. 408, 409. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. vi,
pp. 43, 44.]
[Footnote 710: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 91.]
On the next day Jeanne went to the King's mass. When she approached
her Dauphin she bowed before him. The King took her into a room and
sent every one away except the Sire de la Tremouille and the Duke of
Alencon.
Then Jeanne addressed to him several requests. More especially did she
ask him to give his kingdom to the King of Heaven. "And afterwards,"
she added, "the King of Heaven will do for you what he has done for
your predecessors and will restore you to the condition of your
fathers."[711]
[Footnote 711: _Ibid._, pp. 91, 92. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 152 _et
seq._]
In discoursing thus of things spiritual, in giving utterance to those
precepts of reformation and of a new life, she was repeating what the
clerks had taught her. Nevertheless she was by no means imbued with
this doctrine. It was too subtle for her, and it was shortly to fade
from her mind and give place to an ardour less monastic but more
chivalrous.
That same day she rode out with the King and threw a lance in the
meadow with so fine a grace that the Duke of Alencon, marvelling, made
her a present of a horse.[712]
[Footnote 712: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92.]
A few days later this young noble took her to the Abbey of
Saint-Florent-les-Saumur,[713] the church of which was so greatly
admired that it was called La Belle d'Anjou. Here in this abbey there
dwelt at that time his mother and his wife. It is said that they were
glad to see Jeanne. But they had no great faith in the issue of the
war. The young Dame of Alencon said to her: "Jeannette, I am full of
fear for my husband. He has just come out of prison, and we have had
to give so much money for his ransom that gladly would I entreat him
to stay at home." To which Jeanne replied: "Madame, have no fear. I
will bring him back to you in safety, and either such as he is now or
better."[714]
[Footnote 713: Perceval de Cagny, p. 148.]
[Footnote 714: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 96.]
She called the Duke of Alencon her fair Duke,[715] and loved him for
the sake of the Duke of Orleans, whose daughter he had married. She
loved him also because he believed in her when all others doubted or
denied, and because the English had done him wrong. She loved him too
because she saw he had a good will to fight. It was told how when he
was a captive in the hands of the English at Verneuil, and they
proposed to give him back his liberty and his goods if he would join
their party, he had rejected their offer.[716] He was young like her;
she thought that he like her must be sincere and noble. And perhaps in
those days he was, for doubtless he was not then seeking to discover
powders with which to dry up the King.[717]
[Footnote 715: Perceval de Cagny, p. 151, _passim_.]
[Footnote 716: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 240.]
[Footnote 717: Cf. 1 Kings xiii, 4 (W.S.). P. Dupuy, _Proces de Jean
II, duc d'Alencon, 1458-1474_, 1658, in 4to. Michelet, _Histoire de
France_, vol. v, p. 382. Docteur Chereau, _Medecins du quinzieme
siecle_, in _l'Union Medicale_, vol. xiv, August, 1862. Joseph
Guibert, _Jean II duc d'Alencon_, in _Les positions de l'Ecole des
Chartes_, 1893.]
It was decided that Jeanne should be taken to Poitiers to be examined
by the doctors there.[718] In this town the Parlement met. Here also
were gathered together many famous clerks learned in theology, secular
as well as regular,[719] and grave doctors and masters were summoned
to join them. Jeanne set out under escort. At first she thought she
was being taken to Orleans. Her faith was like that of the ignorant
but believing folk, who, having taken the cross, went forth and
thought every town they approached was Jerusalem. Half way she
inquired of her guides where they were taking her. When she heard that
it was to Poitiers: "In God's name!" she said, "much ado will be
there, I know. But my Lord will help me. Now let us go on in God's
strength!"[720]
[Footnote 718: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 209.]
[Footnote 719: Belisaire Ledain, _Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers_,
Saint-Maixent, 1891, in 8vo, 15 pages. Neuville, _Le Parlement royal a
Poitiers_, in the _Revue historique_, vol. vi, p. 284.]
[Footnote 720: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 275. _Journal du siege_,
p. 48. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 316.]