_THE CAPTURE._
We must now glance at the movements of the English since the
deliverance of Orleans and their defeat at Patay, and the French
King's coronation.
What proves the utter demoralisation of the English at this time is
that the Regent Bedford was not only afraid of remaining in Paris, but
had also taken refuge in the fortress of Vincennes. He was so poor
that he could not pay the members of Parliament sitting in Paris. Like
other bodies receiving no pay, the Parliament declined to work. So
restricted were all things then in Paris that when the child-king
(Henry VI.) was brought from London to be crowned there, not enough
parchment could be found on which to register the details of his
arrival.
For want of a victim to assuage his ire, the Regent disgraced Sir John
Fastolfe, whom he unknighted and ungartered, in order to punish him
for the defeat at Patay; and he wrote that the English reverses had
been caused by 'a disciple and lyme of the Feende, called the Pucelle,
that used fals enchantements and sorcerie.'
The Regent, whose degrading of Fastolfe and vituperation of Joan of
Arc did not serve to help, applied to his powerful brother-in-law, the
Duke of Burgundy, for aid. Burgundy came to the Regent's assistance,
bringing a small force with him from Picardy. Then Bedford bethought
him of his powerful relation in England, Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of
Winchester. Most opportunely for the Regent, the Bishop had collected
an army for the suppression of the Bohemian Hussites. The Regent
implored his uncle, the Bishop, to send this army for the defence of
the English and their interests, now in such dire jeopardy. Winchester
was a mean, avaricious prince, and his aid had to be bought. A treaty
was signed on the 1st of July, in which Winchester promised to bring
his troops to his nephew's assistance; but he delayed stirring till
the middle of that month. It pleased the crafty Bishop to know that
his great wealth made him all-powerful in England; for the English
Protector, the Duke of Gloucester, was a mere cipher compared to
Winchester; and now that his other nephew, the Protector of France,
was in distress, he could dictate his own terms to both. It was not
until the 25th of July that Winchester at length arrived with his army
in Paris. Then Bedford breathed more freely, and left the capital with
an army of observation to watch the movements of the French King.
It was now the earnest wish of Joan of Arc that Charles should march
direct on Paris, and perhaps had he done so he might have entered
that city with as little difficulty as he had entered Rheims; for if
once the King of France had appeared in person, many of the wealthy
citizens, as well as the majority of the common people, would have
welcomed him. Charles, however, as usual vacillated, and the precious
moment slipped by.
Philip (called 'the Good'), Duke of Burgundy, was at this time one of
the most powerful princes of Christendom. In addition to his titular
domain, he held the wealthy provinces of Burgundy, including Brabant,
Flanders, Franche-Comté, Holland, Namur, Lower Lorraine, Luxembourg,
Artois, Hainault, Zealand, Friesland, Malines, and Salines. This
much-territoried potentate was at the present juncture coquetting both
with Bedford and with Charles, playing one against the other. To the
former he promised an army, but only contributed a handful of men; to
the latter he made advances of friendship, as false as the man who
made them.
Joan had despatched two letters of a conciliatory tone to the Duke of
Burgundy from Rheims. The original of one of these is to be seen in
the archives at Lille. Like most of Joan of Arc's letters, it
commences with the name of Jesus and Mary. As Joan could not write,
the only portion of this letter which bears the mark of her hand is
the sign of the Cross placed at the left of those names at the top of
the document. She strongly urged the Duke in these letters to make
peace with the King; she appeals on the score of his relationship with
Charles, to his French blood, in order to prevent further bloodshed,
and to aid the rightful King. While waiting some definite answer from
the Duke, the King went to Vailly-sur-Aisne from Rheims. He arrived at
Soissons on the 28th of July, and Château Thierry on the next day.
Montmirail was reached on the 1st of August, Provins on the 2nd. It
will be seen that, instead of marching straight upon Paris, the King
was making a mere detour from Rheims towards the Loire.
It was soon evident that Charles and his civil councillors had no
intention of advancing direct upon Paris, and were merely marching and
counter-marching until they could, as they trusted, get the Duke of
Burgundy to join them.
In the meanwhile, Bedford saw his opportunity, and made prompt use of
it. Early in the month of August he issued a proclamation calling on
all the subjects of Henry of England in France and Normandy to rally
round their liege lord. Leaving Paris on the 25th of July, Bedford
marched to Melun with a force of ten thousand men. Melun was reached
on the 4th of August. On the day after Bedford's arrival at Melun a
letter was sent by Joan of Arc to her friends at Rheims, announcing
that the King's retreat on the Loire would not be continued by his
Majesty. The King had, in fact, met with a check to his advanced guard
at Bray-sur-Seine. Charles had, she informed her correspondents,
concluded a truce of fifteen days with the Duke of Burgundy, at the
expiration of which the Duke had promised to surrender Paris to the
King. But, she adds, it could not be certain whether the Duke would
keep to his promise. She concludes her letter by saying that should
the treaty not hold good, then the army of the King would be able to
take active measures.
This letter is vaguely dated from a lodging on the road to Paris. It
was, she knew, necessary to be near the capital at the close of the
period stipulated by Burgundy, and the royal army accordingly took the
northern road, leading to Paris.
On the 7th of August the royal force reached Coulommiers; on the 10th
La Ferté Milon, and on the 11th Crespy-en-Valois. Bedford, apprised of
this change in the movements of his foe, sent off an insulting letter
to Charles, whom he addressed as 'Charles who called himself Dauphin,
and now calls himself King!' The Regent reproaches the King for having
taken the crown of France, which he said belonged to the rightful King
of France and of England, King Henry; and he then styles the Maid of
Orleans 'an abandoned and ill-famed woman, draped in men's clothes and
leading a corrupt life.' He bids Charles to make either his peace with
him or to meet him face to face. Altogether a most rude, abusive, and
ungallant letter for one prince to send to another. This letter
reached Charles at Crespy-en-Valois on the 11th of August. Bedford was
then close at hand, and eager to provoke the King into attacking him.
Charles contented himself with pushing on his advanced guard as far as
Dammartin, remaining himself at Lagny-le-Sec.
During the 13th of August skirmishes took place between the advanced
guards of the armies, but without any result.
Bedford now returned to Paris--in order to collect more troops, some
said, others that he had found the French too strong to attack. The
towns and villages around Paris, hearing of these events, and that the
English had returned to the capital, showed now their readiness to
join the French cause.
On his way to Compiègne news reached the French King that Bedford had
left Paris and marched on Senlis. On the 15th of August the French
attacked the English at dawn. Their army, formed into companies, was
commanded by Alençon, René d'Anjou, the King, who had with him La
Tremoïlle, and Clermont. Joan of Arc was at the head of a detachment
with Dunois and La Hire. The English held a strong position, which
they had made still more so by throwing up palisades and digging
ditches.
What appeared destined to be a great engagement ended in a mere
skirmish. Neither Charles nor Bedford were eager to pit all on a
stake, and both preferred to play a waiting game. Charles retired on
Crecy, while Joan of Arc remained in the field. She had done all that
courage and audacity could to induce the English to attack. She had
ridden up to their palisades and struck them with the staff of her
banner. But nothing would make the English fight that day; and the
next, Joan had the mortification of watching the retreat of the
English upon Paris. Joan had nothing now left her to do but to rejoin
the King at Crecy.
On the 17th the King received the keys of the town of Compiègne, and
there he was welcomed on the next day with much loyalty. It was during
his stay at Compiègne that Charles heard the welcome news that the
people of Senlis had admitted the Count of Vendôme within their walls,
and had bestowed on him the governorship of their town. Beauvais had
also shown its loyalty, had made an ovation in honour of the King, and
had ordered the _Te Deum_ to be sung, greatly to the annoyance of the
Bishop of that place--Peter Cauchon--a creature of the Anglo-Burgundian
faction, of whom we shall hear a good deal later on.
Charles remained at Compiègne until the expiration of the term during
which the treaty with the Duke of Burgundy relating to the disposal of
Paris remained open; but the negotiations ended in Burgundy contenting
himself with sending to Charles, John of Luxembourg and the Bishop of
Arras with words of peace. Arrangements were projected that in order
to come to a general peace the Duke of Savoy was to be called in as
mediator. In the meanwhile a truce was proposed, which was to last
until Christmas, with the proviso that the town of Compiègne should be
ceded to Burgundy during the continuance of the armistice. No allusion
appears to have been made regarding the fate of Paris.
Joan of Arc, knowing that without Paris all that she had fought for
and obtained would soon again be lost, resolved to see what she could
do without coming to the King for assistance. She bade Alençon be
ready to accompany her, as she wished, so she expressed it, to see
Paris at closer quarters than she had yet been able to do.
Joan of Arc left Compiègne accompanied by the Duke of Alençon on the
23rd of August, taking a strong force with them. At Senlis they
collected more troops; on the 26th they arrived at Saint Denis. Here
they were joined by the King, who may be supposed to have felt some
shame at not having started with them from Compiègne; he came very
unwillingly, it is said, for all that.
Bedford left Paris precipitately for Normandy, owing to the discovery
of a plot having been started to make over Rouen to the French. This
event must have opened the Regent's eyes to the uncertain tenure the
English held even in the old duchy of their kings. Bedford had left
Louis of Luxembourg in Paris to command its garrison of two thousand
English soldiers. De L'Isle Adam was in command of the Burgundian
soldiers. In addition to Luxembourg, who was a bishop (of Thérouanne)
as well as a soldier, Bedford had given charge of the joint command to
an English officer named Radley. The Bishop summoned the Parliament in
order that it should swear fealty to King Henry VI. The town walls and
ditches were carefully repaired and renewed. Guns were placed on the
towers, walls, and batteries; immense quantities of ammunition of iron
and stone were piled ready at hand, to be used for the defence of all
the gates and approaches of the city. The moats were deepened, and by
dint of threats and menace, and by frightening the people as to the
terrible revenge the French King would take on the town and its people
when it fell into his power, the citizens were cajoled into being made
the agents of their natural enemies, and in sheer terror helped to
strengthen the defences of their town.
During the first days of the siege only a few unimportant skirmishes
took place between besieged and besiegers. Joan of Arc was
indefatigable, and with her keen eye sought out the likeliest place
where an assault might be successfully carried; but she lacked troops
for storming such strong outworks as Paris then had. The capital was
not only defended by walls and towers, but the English held both the
upper and lower banks of the Seine.
From Saint Denis no assistance came from the King, and it was only on
the 8th of September that, having received reinforcements, Joan of Arc
was at length enabled to make a determined attack. It was a very high
and holy day in the Church Calendar--the Feast of the Virgin's
Nativity--and, not unmindful of the sacredness of that feast-day, Joan
of Arc had determined to make a general attack; for 'the better the
day the better the deed!' was her feeling on that anniversary. In
those times the western limit of Paris was where now the wide
thoroughfare of the Avenue de l'Opéra runs from north to south. The
walls of the city erected under Charles V., flanked by huge moats and
protected by double fortress towers, each tower having a double
drawbridge, made any attack almost a forlorn hope. The Regent's
departure from Paris points to the little fear he felt that Paris
could be taken by assault; and in this matter Bedford judged rightly.
Whether or not Joan felt that some Divine assistance would enable her
to surmount the barriers that lay between her and the town she was so
determined to win back for her King, we cannot say. She fought below
the walls with a courage which, if the others had equalled, might have
made Paris their own. The attacking force was divided into two
parts--one, commanded by Joan, Rais, and De Gaucourt, was to attack
the city at the Gate of Saint Honoré; the other, led by Alençon and
Clermont, was to cover the assailants, and prevent any sorties being
made by the garrison.
Joan's impetuous onslaught successfully carried the first barriers and
the boulevard in front of the gate; but here she met with a check--the
heavy gates were barred, nor could she prevail on the enemy to make a
sortie.
Joan of Arc, carrying her flag, dashed, under a heavy fire, into the
ditch, followed by a few of the most courageous of the soldiers. The
ditch was a deep but a dry one; and rising on the further side, close
beneath the town walls, was a second and a wider moat, full of water.
Here, unable to advance, but unwilling to retire, Joan of Arc and her
followers were exposed to a murderous hail of shot, arrows, and other
missiles. Sending for fagots and fascines to be cast into the moat, in
order to enable a kind of bridge to be thrown across, while probing
with the staff of her banner the depth of the water, Joan was struck
by a cross-bow bolt, which made a deep wound in her thigh. Refusing to
leave the spot, she urged on the soldiers to fill the ditch. The day
was waxing late, and the men, who had been fighting since noon, were
nearly exhausted. The news of Joan having been wounded caused a kind
of panic among the French. There came a lull in the fighting, and the
recall was sounded. Joan had almost to be forced back from before the
walls by the Duke of Alençon and other of the officers. Placed upon
her horse, she was led back to the camp, Joan protesting the whole
time that if the attack had only been continued it would have been
crowned with success. The spot where the heroine is supposed to have
been wounded is near where now stands Fremiet's spirited statue of the
Maid of Orleans, between the Rue Saint Honoré--named in later days
after the gate she had so gallantly attacked--and the Gardens of the
Tuileries.
Within the town a great fear had fallen on the citizens, divided as
they were between the hope of their countrymen forcing their way into
the city and fear as to how they would be treated by Charles should he
be victorious. Perhaps, had Joan of Arc's urgent entreaties of
continuing the attack been more vigorously responded to by the other
French commanders, she might have been in the end successful. At any
rate Joan herself was of that opinion.
The following day she was, in spite of the previous evening's failure
and her wound, as urgent as ever for further fighting; and again and
again implored Alençon to renew the attack. It seems the Duke was on
the point of complying, when there appeared on the scene René d'Anjou
and Clermont, sent by the King with the order for the Maid's immediate
return to Saint Denis. There was nothing to do but to obey, but it
must have been a bitter disappointment to the brave maiden when she
turned her back on Paris. Alençon did his best to encourage her in the
hope that it might yet fall. He gave orders for a bridge to be thrown
across the Seine at Saint Denis, in order to make a fresh attack on
the city from that quarter. However, on the next night this bridge was
ordered by Charles to be removed, and with its destruction fell any
hopes Joan might still have entertained of being able to take Paris.
All the blame of the want of success of the army before Paris was now
laid at the door of Joan of Arc; and the creatures of the Court, who
had long waited for an opportunity of this kind to show their bitter
jealousy of the heroine, now made no secret of their enmity. Foremost
of these was the Archbishop of Rheims, who now, in spite of Joan of
Arc's entreaties, was allowed by the King to make a truce with the
enemy. Another powerful foe was La Tremoïlle, who (as has been
pointed out by Captain Marin in his work on Joan of Arc) thought it to
be against his personal influence that the French should take Paris.
La Tremoïlle had shown, from Joan's first appearance at Court, his
entire want of confidence in her mission. He had unwillingly, after
the examination of the Maid by the doctors and lawyers at Poitiers,
conformed to the King's wish that a command should be given her in the
army. He had done all in his power to induce the King not to undertake
the expedition to Rheims. He had told the King, when nothing else
could be urged against the journey, that there was no money in the
royal coffers, and that consequently the soldiers would not receive
their pay. As it turned out, volunteers offered their services
gratuitously to escort Charles to his crowning. At Auxerre, La
Tremoïlle concluded a treaty with the citizens, which prevented Joan
from taking that town. At Troyes he tried to create a like impediment;
but here he was foiled, for Troyes capitulated. After the coronation,
he persuaded Charles not to go to Paris, but to go instead to linger
in his castle on the Loire; and thereby prevented what might then have
proved a successful attack on the capital. And he again succeeded in
thwarting the Maid of Orleans when he resisted her wish to make a
second attack upon Paris. Later on it was La Tremoïlle who tried to
make Joan of Arc fail at the siege of Saint Pierre-le-Moutier. When
she was unsuccessful before La Charité-sur-Loire, and when the blame
of that failure was laid at Joan's door, La Tremoïlle for very
shame was obliged publicly to acknowledge the heroic zeal with which
she had carried out the operations of that siege. The higher Joan's
popularity rose among the people and in the army, the more her two
bitter enemies, La Tremoïlle and the Archbishop of Rheims, shared
between them their jealous dislike.
[Illustration: XV CENTURY HOUSE--COMPIÈGNE.]
Thus, even before her capture and trial, Joan of Arc met with some of
her worst foes among those whose duty it was to have been her
staunchest friends and helpers; and, deplorable to say, among her own
countrymen.
Charles left Saint Denis on the 13th of September. Before his
departure, Joan of Arc performed an act which indicated that she felt
her mission to be finished. In the old fane of Saint Denis, the
tomb-house of the long line of French kings, she solemnly placed her
armour and arms at the foot of an image of the Holy Mother, near the
spot where were kept the relics of the Patron Saint of France. By that
act of humility she seemed to wish to show her abnegation of any
further earthly victory by the aid of arms.
We have now arrived at the turning-point of Joan of Arc's successes,
and although the heroine is even more admirable in her days of
misfortune and suffering than in those of her triumphs, when she led
her followers on from victory to victory, the course of her brief life
now darkens rapidly, and the approaching fate of the brave-hearted
maiden is so terrible that it requires some courage to follow her to
the very end, glorious as that end was, and bright with its sainted
heroism.
The King's return journey from Compiègne to Gien was so hurried that
it almost resembled a flight. Avoiding the towns still doubtful in
their loyalty to him, Charles sped from Lagny to Bovins, then to Bray,
Courtenay, Château-Regnaut, and Montargis, arriving at Gien on the
21st of September. Ere this time there could be little doubt of the
Duke of Burgundy's unwillingness to abide by his pledge, and restore
Paris to Charles. The Duke and Bedford had in fact already come to
terms. The Regent resigned to Burgundy the Lieutenancy of the country,
keeping only the now empty title of Regent and the charge of Normandy.
The result of the King's withdrawal from the neighbourhood of Paris,
and his hurried march, or rather retreat, to Gien, was that the
English felt that there was now no longer any fear of their being
drawn out of the capital. They promptly marched on and occupied Saint
Denis, pillaging that town and carrying off as a trophy the arms which
Joan of Arc had placed by the shrine of Saint Denis, in the ancient
basilica of Dagobert.
The other towns, which had so recently returned to their allegiance to
Charles, were again abandoned to the English, who punished them by
levying large ransoms on the citizens. The surrounding country was
laid waste, and Joan of Arc had the mortification of seeing that,
without any attempt being made to defend her people, the places which
had so shortly before been the scene of her triumphs were now allowed
to be reoccupied by the English and their allies. Normandy, Picardy,
and Burgundy were once more in possession of the enemy.
At length Joan obtained Charles' permission to attack La Charité,
where the enemy were in force, and from whence they threatened the
French forts on the Loire. At Bourges she assembled a few troops, and
in company with the Sire d'Albret she laid siege to Saint
Pierre-le-Moutier. Then, although feebly supported, Joan led the first
column of attack. This attacking column might have been called a
forlorn hope, so few men had she with her. The little party were
repulsed, and at one moment her squire, d'Aulon, saw that his brave
mistress was fighting alone, surrounded by the English. At great peril
she was rescued from the mêlée. Asked how she could hope to succeed in
taking the place with hardly any support, she answered, while she
raised her helmet, 'There are fifty thousand of my host around me,'
alluding to the vision of angels that in moments of extreme peril she
relied on. D'Aulon in vain urged her to beat a retreat, and retire to
a place of safety; she insisted on renewing the attack, and gave
orders for crossing the moat on logs and fascines. A roughly
constructed bridge over the fosse was then made, and after a desperate
struggle the fortress was taken.
This occurred early in the month of November (1429). A few years ago a
stained-glass window commemorative of the Maid of Orleans having saved
the church in Saint Pierre-le-Moutier (it had been converted by the
besieged into a warehouse for the goods and chattels of the citizens)
was placed in the building she had preserved from destruction.
The next siege undertaken by Joan of Arc was that of La Charité--a far
larger and more strongly garrisoned town than the other. La Charité was
held by one Peter Grasset, who had been its governor for seven years.
It was not only strongly defended by fortifications, but fully
victualled for a prolonged siege. Joan and her little army had not the
material necessary for carrying on such a siege as that of La Charité
would require--the very sinews of war were wanting. Charles would not
or could not contribute a single écu d'or, and Joan had to solicit help
and funds from the towns. In the public library at Riom is preserved
the original letter addressed by the Maid of Orleans to 'My dear and
good friends the clergy, burghers, and citizens of the town of Riom.'
It was sent to that place on the 9th of November from Moulins. In this
letter, the only one to which is affixed the Maid's signature, spelt
'Jehonne,' possibly signed by herself, she says that her friends at
Riom are aware of how the town of Saint Pierre-le-Moutier had been
taken, and she adds that she has the intention of driving out (_de
faire vider_) the other towns hostile to King Charles. She begs the
citizens of Riom, in order to accomplish this, to provide her with the
means of pushing forward the siege of La Charité, and asks them to
supply her with powder, saltpetre, sulphur, bows and arrows,
cross-bows, and other material of war, having exhausted all her stock
of such things in the late siege. Whether or not the burghers of Riom
were able to carry out Joan's wishes is not known. The town of Bourges,
however, provided funds out of its customs, and Orleans also sent
soldiers and artillerymen ('_joueurs de coulverines_') to the Maid's
army for the siege of La Charité.
But in spite of all efforts Joan of Arc was destined to fail in this
undertaking. No doubt her enemies at Court helped to thwart all her
attempts at raising a sufficient force to beleaguer so strong a place
of arms, and seeing her hopes of taking La Charité by assault vanish,
Joan of Arc relinquished the undertaking.
The remainder of that winter Joan of Arc passed in what must have
tried her high spirit sorely--inaction.
Accompanying the Court, she went from Bourges to Sully-sur-Loire, and
revisited Orleans. In the latter town we find some traces of her
passage, and some further traits of her sweet nature, and of that
simplicity which had endeared her so deeply to the hearts of the
people: a disposition no success altered, no disappointment
embittered. What was the chief charm of her character was this
simplicity, her entire freedom from self-glorification, her horror of
it being imagined that she was a supernatural or miraculous being,
even when those supernatural and miraculous powers were considered as
coming direct to her from Heaven--in fact, to use a slang but
expressive phrase, her utter freedom from humbug. This is one of the
most marked features of her character, although not the most glorious
or salient to those who are dazzled by her triumphs and extraordinary
career.
When she was told by people that they could well understand how little
she feared being in action and under fire, knowing that she had a
charmed life, she answered them that she had no more assurance of not
being killed than the commonest of her soldiers; and when some foolish
creatures brought her their rosaries and beads to touch, she told them
to touch these themselves, and that their rosaries would benefit quite
as much as if she had done so.
On one occasion at Lagny she was asked to resuscitate a dead child.
One of the greatest of the French nobles wrote to ask her which of the
rival Popes was the true one. When asked on the eve of a battle who
would be victor, she answered that she could no more tell than any of
the soldiers could. A woman named Catherine de la Rochelle, who
assumed the power of knowing where money was hidden, was commanded by
the King to take Joan of Arc into her confidence. The latter soon
discovered that Catherine was a fraud, and refused to have anything
to do with her. Catherine had suggested going to the Duke of Burgundy
to arrange a peace between him and the French King, to which
proposition Joan of Arc very sensibly said that it seemed to her that
no peace could be made between them but at the lance's point. Joan had
seen too much of the duplicity of the Duke to believe in any of his
treaties and promises.
The early months of the year 1430 were months of anxiety for the
citizens of Orleans and the other towns which had thrown off the
English allegiance. The truce made between Burgundy and France expired
at Christmas of the former year, but was renewed till Easter. Early in
the year, the burghers of Rheims implored help of Joan of Arc, and not
of the King, thus proving how far greater trust was placed in the
hands of the Maid of Orleans, by such a town as Rheims, than in the
goodwill of the King.
Twice during the month of March did Joan have letters written to
reassure them of aid in case of need. 'Know,' she says in a letter
dated the 16th of March, 'that if I can prevent it you will not be
assailed; and if I cannot come to your rescue, close your gates, and I
will make them [the English] buckle on their spurs in such a hurry
that they will not be able to use them.'
In the second letter to the people of Rheims, written at Sully on the
28th of March, Joan tells them that they will soon hear some good
news about herself. This good news referred no doubt to her return to
the field, for we find that by the end of that month she was again on
the march.
It was early in the month of April, 1430, that Joan of Arc left the
Court and rode to the north, on what was to prove her last expedition.
It is said that while at Melun, during Easter week, she was told by
her voices that she would be taken prisoner before St. John's Day.
It was at Lagny that an incident occurred which formed one of the
accusations brought against the Maid by her judges, and to which
reference may now be made. A freebooter, named Franquet d'Arras, had,
at the head of a band of about three hundred English freelances, held
all the country-side in terror round about Lagny. Hearing of this,
being in the neighbourhood of Lagny, Joan of Arc gave orders that
Franquet and his band should be attacked. The French were in number
about equal to the English. After a stubborn fight, the English were
all killed or captured. Among the latter was the chief of the robbers,
Franquet d'Arras. It was proved before the bailiff and justices of
Lagny that Franquet had not only been a thief, but a murderer, and he
was consequently condemned to die. Joan of Arc wished that he should
be exchanged for a French prisoner, but this French prisoner had
meanwhile died. The justices of Lagny insisted on having their
sentence carried out, to which Joan at length unwillingly gave way,
and Franquet met with his deserts. We cannot see how the Maid was to
blame in this affair; but this thing was one of the accusations which
helped to bring her to the stake.
On the 17th of April the truce agreed to between King Charles and
Burgundy came to an end. At this time the town of greatest strategical
importance to Burgundy was that of Compiègne. Holding Compiègne, the
Duke of Burgundy held the key of France. King Charles, with his
habitual carelessness, had been on the point of handing over Compiègne
to the Duke as a pledge of peace; and no doubt he would have done so
had not the inhabitants protested. Charles then surrendered the town
of Pont Sainte-Maxence to Burgundy instead of Compiègne. But this sop
did not at all satisfy the greedy Duke, whose mouth watered for
Compiègne, which he was determined to obtain by fair or by foul means.
At Soissons the Duke had succeeded in gaining the Governor by a bribe,
and had, through this bribe, obtained the place; and there is little
reason not to suppose that he was still more ready to offer a still
greater bribe to obtain Compiègne. The Governor of Compiègne, William
de Flavigny--a man very deeply suspected, writes Michelet of him--was
not likely to refuse a bribe; and, as we shall see, he acted in a
manner that has made the accusation of his treachery to his country
and Joan of Arc almost a certainty.
It was to prevent, if possible, Compiègne falling into the hands of
Burgundy that Joan of Arc hastened to its defence. On the 13th of May
she reached Compiègne, where she was received with great joy by the
citizens. The Maid lodged in the town with Mary le Boucher, wife of
the _Procureur_ of the King. At Compiègne were some important Court
officials--the Chancellor Regnault de Chartres, no friend to Joan as
we have seen, Vendôme, and others. The country around and the places
of armed strength were all in the occupation of the English and
Burgundians; near Noyon, the town of Pont-l'Evêque was in the
possession of the English. This place Joan of Arc attacked, and she
was on the point of capturing it when a strong force of Burgundians
arrived from Noyon, and Joan had to beat a retreat on Crecy. On the
23rd of May, news reached Joan that Compiègne was threatened by the
united English and Burgundian forces, under the command of the Duke
and the Earl of Arundel. By midnight of that day, Joan of Arc was back
again in Compiègne. She had been warned of the danger of passing, to
gain the town, through the enemies' lines with so small a company.
'Never fear!' she answered, 'we are enough. I must go and see my good
friends at Compiègne.'
These words have been appropriately placed on the pedestal of the
statue of the heroine in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Compiègne.
By sunrise all her troopers were within the town: not a man was
missing.
Compiègne was a strongly fortified place, resting on the left bank of
the river Oise, across which, as at Orleans, one long stoutly defended
bridge connected the right bank with the town. In front of the bridge
was one of those redoubts which were in those days called
'boulevards.' This boulevard was surrounded by a wet moat or ditch
connected with the principal bridge by a drawbridge, closed or opened
from within at pleasure. The town was surrounded and protected by a
broad and deep moat, filled from the river. Behind this moat rose the
town walls, girt with strong towers at short intervals. On the right
bank of the river extended a wide stretch of fertile meadow land,
bounded on the northern horizon by the soft low-lying hills of
Picardy. From the circuit of the walls across the plain the eye rested
on the towns of Margny, of Clairvoix, and of Venette. The Burgundians
were encamped at Margny and at Clairvoix; the English, under the
command of Montgomery, were encamped at Venette.
The evening of the day on which she had arrived at Compiègne (the 24th
of May), Joan of Arc resolved to attack the Burgundians, both at
Margny and also at Clairvoix. Her plan was to draw out the Duke of
Burgundy, should he come to the support of his men at these places. As
to the English at Venette, she trusted that Flavy with his troops at
Compiègne would prevent them from cutting her off after her attack on
the Burgundians, and so intercepting her return to the town; but this
unfortunately was the very disaster which occurred.
In front of the bridge the redoubts were filled by French archers to
keep off any attack made by the English, and Flavy had placed a large
number of boats filled with armed men, principally bowmen, in
readiness along the river to receive their companions should they meet
with a repulse in their attack on the Burgundians.
It was about five o'clock that afternoon when Joan of Arc rode out of
Compiègne at the head of five hundred horsemen and foot soldiers.
Flavy remained within the town, of which he was Governor. The attack
led by the Maid on Margny, with splendid impetuosity, proved a
complete success, and the enemy fled for shelter to their companions
at Clairvoix. Here the resistance made was far more stubborn. While
the French and Burgundians were combating in the meadows at Clairvoix,
the English came from Venette to the assistance of their allies, and
attacked the French in their rear. A panic was created by this attack
among the French troops, and a _sauve qui peut_ ensued, both foot and
horse dashing back in confusion towards Compiègne, and when they
reached the river either taking refuge in the boats or on the redoubts
near the bridge. Mixed among this panic-stricken crowd of fugitives
came the English in hot pursuit, followed by the Burgundians.
Carried away by the throng of frightened soldiers, Joan was among the
last to leave the field, and to those who cried to her to make her
escape she answered that all might yet be saved, and urged her men to
rally. Nevertheless, she was forced back towards the bridge, across
which fugitives were making their escape into the town. In a few
seconds Joan could have been safe across the drawbridge, and under
shelter of the towers which defended it. At this instant, whether
intentionally to exclude the heroine from safety, or through panic and
fear of the Burgundians and English entering the town along with the
French, the drawbridge was lifted, and Joan, with a handful of the
faithful few who were ever at her side in time of peril, was
surrounded by a sea of foemen. In a moment half a dozen soldiers
secured her horse and seized her on every side, trying to drag her out
of the saddle. The long skirts which the heroine wore were soon torn
off by these rough hands. An archer of Picardy, belonging to the army
of John of Luxembourg, wrenched her from her horse and made her
prisoner. Her brother Peter, her faithful squire d'Aulon, and Pothon
de Xaintrailles were all captured at the same time.
Thus fell Joan of Arc into the hands of her enemies, and the question
whether through treachery or not has never been settled.
According to an old work published early in the sixteenth century,
called _Le Miroir des Femmes Vertueuses_, Joan of Arc had taken the
communion in the Church of Saint James at Compiègne, and was standing
leaning against a pillar of that church; a large number of citizens
with many children stood around, to whom she said: 'My children and
dear friends, I bid you to mark that I have been sold and betrayed,
and that I shall be shortly put to death. So I beseech you all to pray
to God for me, for never more shall I be able to be of service to the
King or to the kingdom of France.'
This story, which, whether authentic or not, is surely a touching one,
is full of the spirit of the heroine. It rests upon the testimony of
two persons, one eighty-six and the other eighty-eight years of age,
by whom the author was told the tale in 1498, both affirming that they
had been in the church when Joan of Arc spoke of her betrayal. There
can be but little doubt that Joan had had for some time before she
went to Compiègne a presentiment of her soon falling into her enemies'
power. On the eve of the King's coronation at Rheims she said to her
friends that what she alone feared was treason--a foreboding too soon,
alas! to come true. She never, however, seems to have fixed on any
particular period when the treason she dreaded would occur; and during
her trial she acknowledged that, had she known she would have been
taken prisoner during the sortie on the 24th of May, she would not
have undertaken that adventure.
One of her best historians, M. Wallon, thinks that the words which she
is supposed to have spoken to the people in the Church of Saint James
at Compiègne were owing to her discouragement at not having, a few
weeks previously, been able to cross the river Aisne at Soissons, and
thus finding herself prevented from attacking the Duke of Burgundy at
Choisy, and thence having been obliged to return to Compiègne. Wallon
points out that in coming to defend Compiègne, Joan of Arc came
entirely at her own instigation, and that during the previous six
months Flavy had defended Compiègne against the English and
Burgundians with success and energy; nay more, that, in spite of
bribes from the Duke of Burgundy, Flavy contrived to hold the town
till the close of the war.
On the other side, a recent writer of the heroine's life, especially
as regarded from a military standpoint, M. Marin, gives at great
length his reasons for believing in the treachery of Flavy. M. Marin
points out that, in the first place, Flavy's character was a
notoriously bad one; secondly, that he was very possibly under the
influence of both La Tremoïlle and the Chancellor Regnault de
Chartres, bitter opponents, as we have already shown, of the Maid;
thirdly, that it was in Flavy's interest that the prestige of saving
Compiègne from the Burgundians and English should be entirely owing to
his own conduct; and fourthly, that he, Flavy, with the majority of
the French officers, was affected against Joan of Arc since the
execution of Franquet d'Arras. M. Marin goes on to prove that Joan of
Arc might have been rescued without difficulty, and that the enemy
could not have forced their way into the town alongside of the
retreating French, unless they were ready to be cut up as soon as they
had come within its walls. M. Marin's opinion, having the authority of
a soldier, carries weight with it; and his opinion is that Joan of Arc
was deliberately betrayed by Flavy, and purposely allowed to fall into
the hands of her enemies.
The names of La Tremoïlle and Regnault de Chartres should also be
pilloried by the side of that of Flavy--the two great courtiers who
held the ear of the King, and who had always plotted against Joan of
Arc. As has already been said, it was Regnault de Chartres who had the
effrontery to announce the news of Joan of Arc's capture to the
citizens of Rheims as being a judgment of Heaven upon her. She had,
this mean prelate said, offended God by her pride, and in wearing rich
apparel, and in having preferred to follow her own will rather than
that of God! Verily, and with reason, might poor Joan have prayed to
be delivered from such friends as those creatures and courtiers about
her King, for whom she had done and suffered so much.
* * * * *
The archer who had captured Joan of Arc was in the pay of the Bastard
of Wandome, or Wandoune, and this Wandome was himself in the service
of John de Ligny, a vassal of the Duke of Burgundy, and a cadet of
the princely house of Luxembourg. Like most younger sons, John de
Ligny was badly off, and the temptation of the English reward in
exchange for his prisoner, whose escape he greatly feared, overtopped
any scruples he may have felt in receiving this blood-money.
[Illustration: TOUR DE LA PUCELLE--COMPIÈGNE.]
The historian Monstrelet tells us he was present when Joan of Arc was
brought into the Burgundian camp, at Margny, and before the Duke of
Burgundy. But the old chronicler relates nothing with regard to that
eventful meeting; only he is eloquent on the joy caused by the capture
of the Maid of Orleans among the English and their allies; and he
tells us that in their opinion Joan's capture was equal by itself to
that of five hundred ordinary prisoners, for they had feared her, he
adds, more than all the other French leaders put together. Of the high
opinion held by her enemies of the Maid's influence, one could not ask
for a more remarkable proof than this testimony, coming as it does
from a partisan of her foes.
After three days passed at Margny, Joan of Arc was taken, for greater
security, by Luxembourg to the castle of Beaulieu, in Picardy.