|AFTER Orleans was quite safe, and when Talbot had led the English army
to the town of Meun, Joan wanted to take the Dauphin to Rheims, to be
crowned and anointed with the holy oil, and made King in earnest. But
the way was long, and the road passed through towns which were held
by friends of the English. So the Dauphin loitered about in pleasant
castles near the Loire, in the bright May weather, and held councils,
and wondered what he ought to do. Then Joan rode with the brave Dunois
to Loches where the Dauphin was. Some lords and priests were in the room
with him, but Joan went straight in, and knelt before him, saying, “Fair
Dauphin, do not hold so many weary councils, but come to Rheims, and
take your crown.”
So they said that they would think about it, but was it safe to leave
English armies behind them, at Meun, where Talbot was, and at Jargeau,
where the Earl of Suffolk was the English captain? Joan said that she
and the young Duke of Alençon would make their minds easy on that point,
and would begin by taking Jargeau, where the French, without Joan, had
fought already and been beaten. The Duke was newly married to a young
wife, who was anxious about him, but Joan said, “Madam, I will bring
back the Duke to you, safe and well!” So they rode away, six hundred
lances, with some infantry, and slept in a wood. The Duke of Alençon has
left an account of all that they did. Next day Dunois and other captains
joined them with another six hundred lances, so that, with the infantry,
they would be about five thousand men. Some of the captains thought
they were not strong enough, as Jargeau had thick walls and rowers, and
cannon. But Joan insisted on fighting and first she led her men to drive
the English from the houses lying under the walls on the outside, which
is dangerous fighting, as all the garden walls would protect English
cross-bowmen, and men with muskets, who could shoot in safety, many
of them from windows of houses, at the French in the open. The French,
however, drove the English from the houses and gardens, and brought up
their cannon, and fired at the town.
In these days cannon were small, and shot small balls, which did not
carry far, and could do no damage to thick stone walls. There were no
shells, which explode, but there were a few very large iron guns, like
Mons Meg in Edinburgh Castle. Out of these they shot huge, heavy stone
balls, and if one of them fell into a street, and broke, the splinters
flew about dangerously. But, somehow, they seldom did much harm, besides
Joan’s army had none of these great guns, which are not easily dragged
about.
So for days the French fired at the town, and it is to be supposed that
they broke a hole, or breach, in a part of the wall, for they decided to
rush in and take the place sword in hand.
“Forward, fair Duke!” said Joan to the Duke of Alençon, who rather
thought that they had not made a good enough breach in the wall. “You
know that I told the Duchess I would bring you back safe? But do not
stand _there_,” she said, “or that English cannon on the wall will kill
you.”
The Duke moved from the place where he was, and a gentleman named da
Luce went to it, and was killed.
So Joan saved the Duke, as she had promised.
Then they ran together to the wall, and Jean was climbing up a ladder,
when a heavy stone thrown by the English struck her helmet, and she
fell.
She rose again at once, crying, “Forward, we shall take them all,” and
the English ran through the streets to the bridges, the French following
and cutting them down, or taking them prisoners. It is said that the
Earl of Suffolk surrendered to Joan, as “the bravest woman in the
world.” If this is true, she might have made a great deal of money out
of his ransom, that is, the price which a prisoner paid for his freedom.
There is another story that Suffolk was taken by a squire, and that he
dubbed him knight before he surrendered as it was more honourable to
yield to a knight. This is more likely to be true, for the English
thought that Joan was a witch. Now, as Suffolk was general of all the
English forces on the Loire he would not choose to surrender to a lass
of sixteen, whether he believed in witches or not Besides, he could not
dub Joan a knight.