Jeanne d'Arc; her life and death

1 88 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430

raiders indeed, ravaging the country, taking ad-
vantage of the war to rob and lay waste churches,
villages, and the growing fields wherever they passed.
The troops was led by Franquet d'Arras, a famous
"pillard" robber of God and man. Jeanne set out
to encounter this bandit with a party of some four
hundred men, and various noble companions, among
whom, however, we find no name familiar in her
previous career, a certain Hugh Kennedy, a Scot,
who is to be met with in various records of fighting,
being one of the most notable among them. Fran-
quet's band fought vigorously but were cut to pieces,
and the leader was taken prisoner. When this man
was brought back to Lagny, a prisoner to be ran-
somed, and whom Jeanne desired to exchange for
one of her own side, the law laid claim to him as a
criminal. He was a prisoner of war: what was it the
Maid's duty to do? The question is hotly debated
by the historians and it was brought against her at
her trial. He was a murderer, a robber, the scourge
of the country especially to the poor whom Jeanne
protected and cared for everywhere, was he pitiless
and cruel. She gave him up to justice, and he was
tried, condemned, and beheaded. If it was wrong
from a military point of view, it was her only error,
and shows how little there was with which to
reproach her.

In Lagny other things passed of a more private
nature. Every day and all day long her " voices "
repeated their message in her ears. " Before the St.
Jean." She repeated it to some of her closest com-
rades but left herself no time to dwell upon it. Still

1430] Compiegne. 1 89

worse than the giving up of Franquet was the sup-
posed resuscitation of a child, born dead, which its
parents implored her to pray for that it might live
again to be baptised. She explained the story to her
judges afterwards. It was the habit of the time,
nay, we believe continues to this day in some primi-
tive places, to lay the dead infant on the altar in
such a case, in hope of a miracle. " It is true/' said
Jeanne, " that the maidens of the town were all
assembled in the church praying God to restore life
that it might be baptised. It is also true that I went
and prayed with them. The child opened its eyes,
yawned three or four times, was christened and died.
This is all I know." The miracle is not one that
will find much credit nowadays. But the devout
custom was at least simple and intelligible enough,
though it afforded an excellent occasion to attribute
witchcraft to the one among those maidens who was
not of Lagny but of God.

From Lagny Jeanne went on to various other
places in danger, or which wanted encouragement
and help. She made two or three hurried visits to
Compiegne, which was threatened by both parties
of the enemy ; at one time raising the siege of
Choicy, near Compiegne, in company with the Arch-
bishop of Rheims, a strange brother in arms. On
another of her visits to Compiegne there is said to
have occurred an incident which, if true, reveals
to us with very sad reality the trouble that over-
shadowed the Maid. She had gone to early mass
in the Church of St. Jacques, and communicated,
as was her custom. It must have been near Easter

COLLEGE
OF THE PACIFIC

foeroes of tbe nations

EDITED BY

vel?n Hbbott, fl&.B.

FELLOW OF BALL10L COLLEGE, OXFORD

FACTA OUCIS VIveNT, OPEROM4UI
ftLORIA REROM. OVIO, IN LCVIAM CM.
THE HERO'S DEED* AND HARD-WON
FAME SMALL LIVS.

JEANNE D'ARC

JEANNE D'ARC.

FROM THE STATUE BY PRINCESS MARIE OF ORLEANS IN THE GALLERY AT VERSAILLES.

JEANNE D'ARC

HER LIFE AND DEATH

BY

MRS. OLIPHANT

AUTHOR OF "MAKERS OF FLORENCE," "MAKERS
OF VENICE," BTC.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
Gbe l*nicfcerbocfcer press

COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London

3>c

:

"Cbc Unichci-bochcr pte*?. 1Acw tRocbelU, 14. y. t XI. 0. B.

TO

' COUSIN ANNIE

(MRS. HARRY COGHILL)

THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED

IN LOVE OF OUR COMMON HEROINE

AND IN REMEMBRANCE OF LONG AND FAITHFUL

AFFECTION AND FRIENDSHIP

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY (1412-1423). I

CHAPTER II.
DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS (1424-1429) . . 2O

CHAPTER III.
BEFORE THE KING (FEB.-APRIL, 1429) ... 50

CHAPTER IV.
THE RELIEF OF ORLEANS (MAY 1-8, 1429) . . 73

CHAPTER V.
THE CAMPAIGN OF THE LOIRE (jUNE, JULY, 1429) . 9!

CHAPTER VI.
THE CORONATION (jULY 17, 1429) .... 129

CHAPTER VII.
THE SECOND PERIOD (1429-1430) .... 140

CHAPTER VIII.

DEFEAT AND DISCOURAGEMENT (AUTUMN, 1429) . 162

vii

viii Contents.

CHAPTER IX.

PACK

COMPIEGNE (1430) 183

CHAPTER X.
THE CAPTIVE (MAY, I43O-JAN., 1431) . . . 2O2

CHAPTER XI.
THE JUDGES (1431) 219

CHAPTER XII.
BEFORE THE TRIAL (LENT, 1431) .... 234

CHAPTER XIII.
THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION (FEBRUARY, 1431) . 247

CHAPTER XIV.
THE EXAMINATION IN PRISON (LENT, 1431) . . 296

CHAPTER XV.
RE-EXAMINATION (MARCH-MAY, 1431) . . . 334

CHAPTER XVI.
THE ABJURATION (MAY, 1431) .... 359

CHAPTER XVII.
THE SACRIFICE (MAY 31, 1431) .... 381

CHAPTER XVIII.

AFTER 397

INDEX 407

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

STATUE OF JEANNE D*ARC. BY PRINCESS MARIE OF

ORLEANS, IN THE GALLERY AT VERSAILLES Frontispiece
THE HOME OF JEANNE D*ARC AT DOMREMY . . 12

STATUE OF JEANNE D*ARC AT DOMREMY. BY CHAPU,

IN THE LUXEMBOURG GALLERY . 14

THE VISION OF JEANNE D*ARC. FROM A PAINTING

BY J. E. LENEPVEU IN THE PANTHEON AT PARIS, 22
CHURCH AT NOTRE-DAME POITIERS. FROM A

PAINTING BY T. ALLOM ..... 58
COUNT DUNOIS. FROM AN OLD STEEL PRINT . . 68

MAP OF ORLEANS, SHOWING POSITION OF BESIEGING

FORTS. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF H.

HERLUISON, FROM A COPPER PRINT ... 82
THE TAKING OF ORLEANS BY JEANNE D*ARC. FROM

A MURAL PAINTING BY J. E. LENEPVEU IN THE

PANTHEON AT PARIS 88

PORTRAIT OF JEANNE D'ARC. FROM A PAINTING BY

J. INGRES IN THE LOUVRE .... Io6

THE CORONATION OF CHARLES VII. FROM A MURAL

PAINTING BY J. E. LENEPVEU IN THE PANTHEON

AT PARIS 128

PORTRAIT OF JOHN, DUKE OF BEDFORD, REGENT OF

FRANCE. FROM A PAINTING BY GEORGE VIRTUE, 150
ix

Illustrations.

PORTRAIT OF CHARLES VII. FROM A PAINTING BY

J. CHAPMAN l6o

THE CATHEDRAL BOURGES. FROM A DRAWING BY

T. ALLOM 178

MAP OF COMPIEGNE, SHOWING POSITION OF HOSTILE
CAMPS BURGUNDIANS AND ENGLISH. REPRO-
DUCED BY PERMISSION FROM ALEXANDER SO-
REL'S " LA PRISE DE JEANNE D*ARC " . .192

CATHEDRAL OF ST. GATIEN TOURS. FROM A DRAW-
ING BY T. ALLOM 2OO

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.
FROM A PAINTING BY J. PARKER IN THE COL-
LECTION OF HORACE WALPOLE . . . 22O

THE PALACE OF JUSTICE ROUEN .... 244

STATUE OF JEANNE D*ARC, PRISONER. BY BARRIAS,

AT BONSECOURS 260

PORTRAIT OF HENRY VI. FROM A PAINTING BY

HEATH 298

STATUE OF JEANNE D*ARC AT COMPIEGNE . . 304

STREET OF THE GREAT CLOCK ROUEN. FROM A

DRAWING BY T. ALLOM 332

FOUNTAIN OF ST. MACLOU ROUEN. FROM A DRAW-
ING BY T. ALLOM 346

MONUMENT OF JEANNE D*ARC AT BONSECOURS . 374

THE CATHEDRAL ROUEN 394

JEANNE D'ARC

JEANNE D'ARC,

THE MAID OF FRANCE.

CHAPTEPx I.

FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
1412-1423.

|T is no small effort for the mind, even
of the most well-informed, how much
more of those whose exact knowledge
is not great (which is the case with
most readers, and alas ! with most
writers also), to transport itself out of
this nineteenth century which we
know so thoroughly, and which has trained us in
all our present habits and modes of thought, into
the fifteenth, four hundred years back in time, and
worlds apart in every custom and action of life.
What is there indeed the same in the two ages?
Nothing but the man and the woman, the living
agents in spheres so different ; nothing but !ove and
grief, the affections and the sufferings by which hu-

2 yeanne d 'Arc. [1412-

inanity is ruled and of which it is capable. Every-
thing else is changed: the customs of life, and its
methods, and even its motives, the ruling principles
of its continuance. Peace and mutual consideration,
the policy which even in its selfish developments is
so far good that it enables men to live together,
making existence possible, scarcely existed in those
days. The highest ideal was that of war, war no
doubt sometimes for good ends, to redress wrongs,
to avenge injuries, to make crooked things straight
but yet always war, implying a state of affairs in
which the last thing that men thought of was the
golden rule, and the highest attainment to be looked
for was the position of a protector, doer of justice,
deliverer of the oppressed. Our aim now that no
one should be oppressed, that every man should
have justice as by the order of nature, was a thing
unthought of. What individual help did feebly for
the sufferer then, the laws do for us now, without
fear or favour : which is a much greater thing to
say than that the organisation of modern life, the
mechanical helps, the comforts, the easements of
the modern world, had no existence in those days.
We are often told that the poorest peasant in our
own time has aids to existence that had not been
dreamt of for princes in the Middle Ages. Thirty
years ago the world was mostly of opinion that the
balance was entirely on our side, and that in every-
thing we were so much better off than our fathers,
that comparison was impossible. Since then there
have been many revolutions of opinion, and we think
it is now the general conclusion of wise men, that

1423] France in the Fifteenth Century. 3

one period has little to boast itself of against another,
that one form of civilisation replaces another with-
out improving upon it, at least to the extent which
appears on the surface. But yet the general preva-
lence of peace, interrupted only by occasional wars,
even when we recognise a certain large and terrible
utility in war itself, must always make a difference
incalculable between the condition of the nations
now, and then.

It is difficult, indeed, to imagine any concate-
nation of affairs which could reduce a country now
to the condition in which France was in the begin-
ning of the fifteenth century. A strong and splendid
kingdom, to which in early ages one great man had
given the force and supremacy of a united nation,
had fallen into a disintegration which seems almost
incredible when regarded in the light of that warm
flame of nationality which now illumines, almost above
all others, the French nation. But Frenchmen were
not Frenchmen, they were Burgundians, Armagnacs,
Bretons, Provengaux five hundred years ago. The
interests of one part of the kingdom were not those
of the other. Unity had no existence. Princes of
the same family were more furious enemies to each
other, at the head of their respective fiefs and pro-
vinces, than the traditional foes of their race ; and
instead of meeting an invader with a united force of
patriotic resistance, one or more of these subordinate
rulers was sure to side with the invader and to exe-
cute greater atrocities against his own flesh and
blood than anything the alien could do.

When Charles VII. of France began, nominally,

Jeanne d' Arc. [1412-

his reign, his uncles and cousins, his nearest kinsmen,
were as determinedly his opponents, as was Henry
V. of England, whose frank object was to take the
crown from his head. The country was torn in
pieces with different causes and cries. The English
were but little farther off from the Parisian than was
the Burgundian, and the English king was only a
trifle less French than were the members of the royal
family of France. These circumstances are little
taken into consideration in face of the general his-
tory, in which a careless reader sees nothing but the
two nations pitted against each other as they might
be now, the French united in one strong and dis-
tinct nationality, the three kingdoms of Great Brit-
ain all welded into one. In the beginning of the
fifteenth century the Scots fought on the French
side, against their intimate enemy of England,
and if there had been any unity in Ireland, the
Irish would have done the same. The advantages
and disadvantages of subdivision were in full play.
The Scots fought furiously against the English and
when the latter won, as was usually the case, the
Scots contingent, whatever bounty might be shown
to the French, was always exterminated. On the
other side the Burgundians, the Armagnacs, and
Royalists met each other almost more fiercely than
the latter encountered the English. Each country
was convulsed by struggles of its own, and fiercely
sought its kindred foes in the ranks of its more
honest and natural enemy.

When we add to these strange circumstances the
facts that the French King, Charles VI., was mad, and

H23] France in the Fifteenth Century. 5

incapable of any real share either in the internal
government of his country or in resistance to its in-
vader : that his only son, the Dauphin, was no more
than a foolish boy, led by incompetent councillors,
and even of doubtful legitimacy, regarded with hesi-
tation and uncertainty by many, everybody being
willing to believe the worst of his mother, especially
after the treaty of Troyes in which she virtually gave
him up : that the King's brothers or cousins at the
head of their respective fiefs were all seeking their
own advantage, and that some of them, especially
the Duke of Burgundy, had cruel wrongs to avenge:
it will be more easily understood that France had
reached a period of depression and apparent de-
spair which no principle of national elasticity or new
spring of national impulse was present to amend.
The extraordinary aspect of whole districts in so
strong and populous a country, which disowned the
native monarch, and of towns and castles innumerable
which were held by the native nobility in the name
of a foreign king, could scarcely have been possible
under other circumstances. Everything was out of
joint. It is said to be characteristic of the nation that
it is unable to play publicly (as we say) a losing
game ; but it is equally characteristic of the race
to forget its humiliations as if they had never been,
and to come out intact when the fortune of war
changes, more French than ever, almost unabashed
and wholly uninjured, by the catastrophe which had
seemed fatal.

If we had any right to theorise on such a subject
which is a thing the French themselves above all othei

Jeanne d' Arc. [1412-

men love to do, we should be disposed to say, that
wars and revolutions, legislation and politics, are
things which go on over the head of France, so to
speak boilings on the surface, with which the great
personality of the nation, if such a word may be
used, has little to do, and cares but little for; while
she herself, the great race, neither giddy nor fickle,
but unusually obstinate, tenacious, and sober, narrow
even in the unwavering pursuit of a certain kind of
well-being congenial to her goes steadily on, less
susceptible to temporary humiliation than many
peoples much less excitable on the surface, and al-
ways coming back into sight when the commotion
is over, acquisitive, money-making, profit-loving, un-
injured in any essential particular by the most ter-
rific of convulsions. This of course is to be said more
or less of every country, the strain of common life
being always, thank God, too strong for every tem-
porary commotion but it is true in a special way of
France : witness the extraordinary manner in which
in our own time, and under our own eyes, that won-
derful country righted herself after the tremendous
misfortunes of the Franco-German war, in which for
a moment not only her prestige, her honour, but her
money and credit seemed to be lost.

It seems rather a paradox to point attention to
the extraordinary tenacity of this basis of French
character, the steady prudence and solidity which in
the end always triumph over the light heart and
light head, the excitability and often rash and dan-
gerous flan, which are popularly supposed to be the
chief distinguishing features of France at the very

14233 France in the Fifteenth Century. 7

moment of beginning such a fairy tale, such a won-
derful embodiment of the visionary and ideal, as is
the story of Jeanne d'Arc. To call it a fairy tale is,
however, disrespectful : it is an angelic revelation, a
vision made into flesh and blood, the dream of a
woman's fancy, more ethereal, more impossible than
that of any man even a poet : for the man, even
in his most uncontrolled imaginations, carries with
him a certain practical limitation of what can be
whereas the woman at her highest is absolute, and
disregards all bounds of possibility. The Maid of
Orleans, the Virgin of France, is the sole being of
her kind who has ever attained full expression in
this world. She can neither be classified, as her
countrymen love to classify, nor traced to any sys-
tem of evolution as we all attempt to do nowadays.
She is the impossible verified and attained. She is
the thing in every race, in every form of humanity,
which the dreaming girl, the visionary maid, held in
at every turn by innumerable restrictions, her feet
bound, her actions restrained, not only by outward
force, but by the law of her nature, more effectual
still, has desired to be. That voiceless poet, to
whom what can be is nothing, but only what should
be if miracle could be attained to fulfil her trance
and rapture of desire is held by no conditions, modi-
fied by no circumstances ; and miracle is all around
her, the most credible, the most real of powers, the
very air she breathes. Jeanne of France is the very
flower of this passion of the imagination. She is
altogether impossible from beginning to end of her,
inexplicable, alone, with neither rival nor even second

Jeanne d' Arc. [1412-

in the one sole ineffable path : yet all true as one of
the oaks in her wood, as one of the flowers in her
garden, simple, actual, made of the flesh and blood
which are common to us all.

And she is all the more real because it is France,
impure, the country of light loves and immodest
passions, where all that is sensual comes to the sur-
face, and the courtesan is the queen of ignoble fancy,
that has brought forth this most perfect embodiment
of purity among the nations. This is of itself one of
those miracles which captivate the mind and charm
the imagination, the living paradox in which the
soul delights. How did she come out of that stolid
peasant race, out of that distracted and ignoble age,
out of riot and license and the fierce thirst for gain,
and failure of every noble faculty? Who can tell?
By the grace of God, by the inspiration of heaven,
the only origins in which the student of nature, which
is over nature, can put any trust. No evolution, no
system of development, can explain Jeanne. There
is but one of her and no more in all the astonished
world.

With the permission of the reader I will retain her
natural and beautiful name. To translate it into
Joan seems quite unnecessary. Though she is the
finest emblem to the world in general of that noble,
fearless, and spotless Virginity which is one of the
finest inspirations of the mediaeval mind, yet she is
inherently French, though France scarcely was in
her time : and national, though as yet there were
rather the elements of a nation than any indivisible
People in that great country. Was not she herself

1423] France in tJie Fifteenth Century. 9

one of the strongest and purest threads of gold to
draw that broken race together and bind it irrevoca-
bly, beneficially, into one ?

It is curious that it should have been from the
farthest edge of French territory that this national
deliverer came. It is a commonplace that a Borderer
should be a more hot partisan of his own country
against the other from which but a line divides him
in fact, and scarcely so much in race than the calmer
inhabitant of the midland country \vho knows no
such press of constant antagonism ; and Jeanne is
another example of this well known fact. It is even
a question still languidly discussed whether Jeanne
and her family were actually on one side of the line
or the other. " II faut opter," says M. Blaze de
Bury, one of her latest biographers, as if the peasant
household of 1412 had inhabited an Alsatian cottage
in 1872. When the line is drawn so closely, it is dif-
ficult to determine, but Jeanne herself does not ever
seem to have entertained a moment's doubt on the
subject, and she after all is the best authority. Per-
haps Villon was thinking more of his rhyme than of
absolute fact when he spoke of " Jeanne la bonne
Lorraine." She was born on the 5th of January,
1412, in the village of Domremy, on the banks of
the Meuse, one of those little grey hamlets, with its
little church tower, and remains of a little chateau
on the soft elevation of a mound not sufficient for
the name of hill which are scattered everywhere
through those level countries, like places which have
never been built, which have grown out of the soil,
of undecipherable antiquity perhaps, one feels, only

JO Jeanne d'Arc. 11412-

a hundred, perhaps a thousand years old yet always
inhabitable in all the ages, with the same names lin-
gering about, the same surroundings, the same mild
rural occupations, simple plenty and bare want
mingling together with as little difference of level
as exists in the sweeping lines of the landscape
round.

The life was calm in so humble a corner which
offered nothing to the invader or marauder of the
time, but yet was so much within the universal con-
ditions of war that the next-door neighbour, so to
speak, the adjacent village of Maxey, held for the
Burgundian and English alliance, while little Dom-
remy was for the King. And once at least when
Jeanne was a girl at home, the family were startled
in their quiet by the swoop of an armed party of
Burgundians, and had to gather up babies and what
portable property they might have, and flee across
the frontier, where the good Lorrainers received and
sheltered them, till they could go back to their
village, sacked and pillaged and devastated in the
meantime by the passing storm. Thus even in their
humility and inoffensiveness the Domremy villagers
knew what war and its miseries were, and the recol-
lection would no doubt be vivid among the children,
of that half terrible, half exhilarating adventure, the
fright and excitement of personal participation in
the troubles, of which, night and day, from one
quarter or another, they must have heard.

Domremy had originally belonged * to the Abbey

* Mr. Andrew Lang informs me that the real proprietor was a cer-
tain " Dame d'Ogevillier." " On Jeanne's side of the burn," he adds,

1423] France in the Fifteenth Century. 1 1

of St. Remy at Rheims the ancient church of which,
in its great antiquity, is still an interest and a wonder
even in comparison with the amazing splendour of
the cathedral of that place, so rich and ornate,
which draws the eyes of the visitor to itself, and
its greater associations. It is possible that this
ancient connection with Rheims may have brought
the great ceremony for which it is ever memorable,
the consecration of the kings of France, more dis-
tinctly before the musing vision of the village girl ;
but I doubt whether such chance associations are
ever much to be relied upon. The village was on
the high-road to Germany ; it must have been there-
fore in the way of news, and of many rumours of
what was going on in the centres of national life,
more than many towns of importance. Feudal
bands, a rustic Seigneur with his little troop, going
out for their forty days* service, or returning home
after it, must have passed along the banks of the
lazy Meuse many days during the fighting season,
and indeed throughout the year, for garrison duty
would be as necessary in winter as in summer; or a
wandering pair of friars who had seen strange sights
must have passed with their wallets from the neigh-
bouring convents, collecting the day's provision, and
leaving news and gossip behind, such as flowed to
these monastic hostelries from all quarters tales of
battles, and anecdotes of the Court, and dreadful
stories of English atrocities, to stir the village and

with a picturesque touch of realism, " the people were probably free
as attached to the Royal Chatellenie of Vaucouleurs, as described
below."

12 Jeanne d'Are. [1412

rouse every generous sentiment and stirring of na-
tional indignation. They are said by Michelet to
have been no man's vassals, these outlying hamlets
of Champagne ; the men were not called upon to
follow their lord's banner at a day's notice, as were
the sons of other villages. There is no appearance
even of a lord at all upon this piece of Church land,
which was, we are told, directly held under the King,
and would only therefore be touched by a general
levy en masse not even perhaps by that, so far off
were they, and so near the frontier, where a reluctant
man-at-arms could without difficulty make his escape,
as the unwilling conscript sometimes does now.

There would seem to have been no one of more
importance in Domremy than Jacques d'Arc himself
and his wife, respectable peasants, with a little
money, a considerable rural property in flocks and
herds and pastures, and a good reputation among
their kind. He had three sons working with their
father in the peaceful routine of the fields; and two
daughters, of whom some authorities indicate Jeanne
as the younger, and some as the elder. The cottage
interior, however, appears more clearly to us than
the outward aspect of the family life. The daughters
were not, like the children of poorer peasants, brought
up to the rude outdoor labours of the little farm.
Painters have represented Jeanne as keeping her
father's sheep, and even the early witnesses say the
same ; but it is contradicted by herself, who ought
to know best (except in taking her turn to herd
them into a place of safety on an alarm). If she
followed the flocks to the fields, it must have been,

Ul

z
z
<

14231 France in the Fifteenth Century. 13

she says, in her childhood, and she has no recollec-
tion of it. Hers was a more sheltered and safer
lot. The girls were brought up by their mother
indoors in all the labours of housewifery, but also in
the delicate art of needlework, so much more ex-
quisite in those days than now. Perhaps Isabeau,
the mistress of the house, was of convent training,
perhaps some ancient privilege in respect to the
manufacture of ornaments for the altar, and church
vestments, was still retained by the tenants of what
had been Church lands. At all events this, and other
kindred works of the needle, seems to have been the
chief occupation to which Jeanne was brought up.

The education of this humble house seems to have
come entirely from the mother. It was natural that
the children should not know A from B, as Jeanne
afterward said ; but no one did, probably, in the
village nor even on much higher levels than that
occupied by the family of Jacques d'Arc. But the
children at their mother's knee learned the Credo,
they learned the simple universal prayers which are
common to the wisest and simplest, which no great
savant or poet could improve, and no child fail to
understand : " Our Father, which art in Heaven,"
and that " Hail, Mary, full of grace," which the world
in that day put next. These were the alphabet of
life to the little Champagnards in their rough woollen
frocks and clattering sabots; and when the house
had been set in order, a house not without comfort,
with its big wooden presses full of linen, and the
pot au feu hung over the cheerful fire, came the real
work, perhaps embroideries for the Church, perhaps

14 Jeanne d'Arc. 11412-

only good stout shirts made of flax spun by their
own hands for the father and the boys, and the fine
distinctive coif of the village for the Women. " Asked
if she had learned any art or trade, said : Yes, that
her mother had taught her to sew and spin, and so
well, that she did not think any woman in Rouen
could teach her anything." When the lady in the
ballad makes her conditions with the peasant woman
who is to bring up her boy, her " gay goss hawk,"
and have him trained in the use of sword and
lance, she undertakes to teach the " turtle-doo," the
woman child substituted for him, " to lay gold with
her hand." No doubt Isabeau's child learned this
difficult and dainty art, and how to do the beautiful
and delicate embroidery which fills the treasuries of
the old churches.

And while they sat by the table in the window,
with their shining silks and gold thread, the mother
made the quiet hours go by with tale and legend
of the saints first of all and stories from Scripture,
quaintly interpreted into the costume and manners
of their own time, as one may still hear them in the
primitive corners of Italy : mingled with incidents of
the war, of the wounded man tended in the village,
and the victors all flushed with triumph, and the
defeated with trailing arms and bowed heads, riding
for their lives: perhaps little epics and tragedies of
the young knight riding by to do his devoir with his
handful of followers all spruce and gay, and the bat-
tered and diminished remnant that would come
back. ^ And then the Black Burgundians, the horrible
English ogres, whose names would make the children

JEANNE D'ARC AT DOMREMY.

FROM A STATUE BY CHAPU IN THE LUXEMBOURG GAU.ERV-

1423] France in the Fifteenth Century. 15

shudder! No God-den* had got so far as Domrcmy ;
there was no personal knowledge to soften the pic-
ture of the invader. He was unspeakable as the
Turk to the imagination of the French peasant,
diabolical as every invader is.

This was the earliest training of the little maid
before whom so strange and so great a fortune lay.
Autre personne que sadite mire ve lui apprint any
lore whatsoever ; and she so little yet everything
that was wanted her prayers, her belief, the hap-
piness of serving God, and also man ; for when any
one was sick in the village, either a little child with
the measles, or a wounded soldier from the wars,
Isabeau's modest child no doubt the mother too
was always ready to help. It must have been a family
de bie-n, in the simple phrase of the country, helpful,
serviceable, with charity and aid for all. An honest
labourer, who came to speak for Jeanne at the second
trial, held long after her death, gave his incontesta-
ble evidence to this. " I was then a child," he said,
44 and it was she who nursed me in my illness."
They were all more or less devout in those days,
when faith was without question, and the routine of
church ceremonial was followed as a matter of course ;
but few so much as Jeanne, whose chief pleasure it
was to say her prayers in the little dark church, where
perhaps in the morning sunshine, as she made her
early devotions, there would blaze out upon her
from a window, a Holy Michael in shining armour,

* This was probably not the God-dam of later French, a reflection
of the supposed prevalent English oath, but most likely merely the
God-den or good-day, the common salutation.

1 6 Jeanne d 'Arc. [1412-

transfixing the dragon with his spear, or a St. Mar-
garet dominating the same emblem of evil with her
cross in her hand. So, at least, the historians con-
jecture, anxious to find out some reason for her
visions ; and there is nothing in the suggestion which
is unpleasing. The little country church was in the
gift of St. Remy, and some benefactor of the rural
cure might well have given a painted window to make
glad the hearts of the simple people. St. Margaret
was no warrior-saint, but she overcame the dragon
with her cross, and was thus a kind of sister spirit to
the great archangel.

Sitting much of her time at or outside the cot-
tage door with her needlework, in itself an occupa-
tion so apt to encourage musing and dreams, the
bells were one of Jeanne's great pleasures. We know
a traveller, of the calmest English temperament
and sobriety of Protestant fancy, to whom the mid-
day Angelus always brings, he says, a touching
reminder which he never neglects wherever he may
be to uncover the head and lift up the heart ; ho\v
much more the devout peasant girl softly startled in
the midst of her dreaming by that call to prayer.
She was so fond of those bells that she bribed the
careless bell-ringer with simple presents to be more
attentive to his duty. From the garden where she
sat with her work, the cloudy foliage of the bois de
ch$ne> the oak wood, where were legends of fairies
and a magic well, to which her imagination, better
inspired, seems to have given no great heed, filled
up the prospect on one side. At a later period,
her accusers attempted to make out that she had

1423] France in the Fifteenth Century. I 7

been a devotee of these nameless woodland spirits,
but in vain. No doubt she was one of the proces-
sion on the holy day once a year, when the cure" of
the parish went out through the wood to the Fairies'
Well to say his mass, and exorcise what evil enchant-
ment might be there. But Jeanne's imagination was
not of the kind to require such stimulus. The saints
were enough for her ; and indeed they supplied to a
great extent the fairy tales of the age, though it was
not of love and fame and living happy ever after,
but of sacrifice and suffering and valorous martyr-
dom that their glory was made up.

\Ye hear of the woods, the fields, the cottages, the
little church and its bells, the garden where she sat
and sewed, the mother's stories, the morning mass,
in this quiet preface of the little maiden's life; but
nothing of the highroad with its wayfarers, the con-
voys of provisions for the war, the fighting men that
were coming and going. Yet these, too, must have
filled a large part in the village life, and it is evident
that a strong impression of the pity of it all, of the
distraction of the country and all the cruelties and
miseries of which she could not but hear, must have
early begun to work in Jeanne's being, and that
while she kept silence the fire burned in her heart.
The love of God, and that love of country which
has nothing to say to political patriotism but trans-
lates itself in an ardent longing and desire to do
"some excelling thing" for the benefit and glory of
that country, and to heal its wounds were the two
principles of her life. We have not the slightest in-
dication how much or how little of this latter senti-

i8 yeanne d* Arc. [1412-

mcnt was shared by the simple community about
her; unless from the fact that the Domremy children
fought with those of Maxey, their disaffected neigh-
bours, to the occasional effusion of blood. We do
not know even of any volunteer from the village, or
enthusiasm for the King. * The district was voice-
less, the little clusters of cottages fully occupied in
getting their own bread, and probably like most
other village societies, disposed to treat any military
impulse among their sons as mere vagabondism and
love of adventure and idleness.

Nothing, so far as anyone knows, came near the
most unlikely volunteer of all, to lead her thoughts
to that art of war of which she knew nothing, and of
which her little experience could only have shown
her the horrors and miseries, the sufferings of
wounded fugitives and the ruin of sacked houses.
Of all people in the world, the little daughter of a
peasant was the last who could have been expected
to respond to the appeal of the wretched country.
She had three brothers who might have served the
King, and there was no doubt many a stout clod-
hopper about, of that kind which in every country
is the fittest material for fighting, and " food for
powder." But to none of these did the call come.
Every detail goes to increase the profound im-
pression of peacefulness which fills the atmosphere
the slow river floating by, the roofs clustered

* Domremy was split, Mr. Lang says, by the burn, and Jeanne's
side were probably King's men. We have it on her own word that
there was but one Burgundian in the village, but that might mean OP
her side.

1423J France in the Fifteenth Century. 19

together, the church bells tinkling their continual
summons, the girl with her work at the cottage
door in the shadow of the apple trees. To pack
the little knapsack of a brother or a lover, and to
'convoy him weeping a little way on his road to the
army, coming back to the silent church to pray
there, with the soft natural tears which the uses of
common life must soon dry that is all that imagina-
tion could have demanded of Jeanne. She was even
too young for any interposition of the lover, too un-
developed, the French historians tell us with their
astonishing frankness, to the end of her short life, to
have been moved by any such thought. She might
have poured forth a song, a prayer, a rude but sweet
lament for her country, out of the still bosom of that
rustic existence. Such things have been, the trouble
of the age forcing an utterance from the very
depths of its inarticulate life. But it was not for this
that Jeanne d'Arc was born.

CHAPTER II.

DOM RE MY AND VAUCOULEURS.
1424-1429.

[N the year 1424, four years after the
Treaty of Troyes, in which France
was delivered over to Henry V., an
extraordinary event occurred in the
life of this little French peasant. We
have not the same horror of that
treaty, naturally, as have the French.
Henry V. is a favourite of our history, probably not
so much for his own merit as because of that master-
magician, Shakespeare, who of his supreme good
pleasure, in the exercise of that voluntary preference,
which even God himself seems to show to some men,
has made of that monarch one of the best beloved
of our hearts. Dear to us as he is, in Eastcheap as
at Agincourt, and more in the former than the latter,
even our sense of the disgraceful character of that
bargain, le trait/ infdme of Troyes, by which Queen
Isabeau betrayed her son, and gave her daughter and
her country to the invader, is softened a little by
our high estimation of the hero. But this is simple

20

1424-29] Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 2 1

national prejudice ; regarded from the French side,
or even by the impartial judgment of general
humanity, it was an infamous treaty, and one which
might well make the blood boil in French veins.

We look at it at present, however, through the
atmosphere of the nineteenth century, when France
is all French, and when the royal house of England
has no longer any French connection. If George
III., much more George II., on the basis of his king-
dom of Hanover, had attempted to make himself
master of a large portion of Germany, the situation
would have been more like that of Henry V. in
France than anything we can think of now. It is
true the kings of England were no longer dukes of
Normandy but the past had not perished out of re-
membrance : and that noble duchy was a hereditary
appanage of the family of the Conqueror; while to
other portions of France they had the link of tem-
porary possession and inheritance through French
wives and mothers; added to which is the fact that
Philip, Count of Charolais, thirsting to avenge his
father's blood upon the Dauphin, would have been
probably a more dangerous usurper than Henry, and
that the actual sovereign, the unfortunate, mad
Charles VI. , was in no condition to maintain his
own rights.

There is little evidence, however, that this treaty,
or anything so distinct in detail, had made much
impression on the outlying borders of France. W-bat
was known there, was only that the English were
victorious, that the rightful King of France was still
uncrowned and unacknowledged, and that the country

22 Jeanne d } Arc. [1424

was oppressed and humiliated under the foot of the
invader. The fact that the new King was not yet
the Lord's anointed, and had never received the
seal of God, as it were, to his commission, was a fact
which struck the imagination of the village as of
much more importance than many greater things-
being at once more visible and matter-of-fact, and of
more mystical and spiritual efficacy than any other
circumstance in the dreadful tale.

Jeanne was in the garden as usual, seated, as we
should say in Scotland, at "her seam," not quite
thirteen, a child in all the innocence of infancy, yet
full of dreams, confused no doubt and vague, with
those impulses and wonderings impatient of trou-
ble, yearning to give help which tremble on the
chaos of a young soul like the first lightening of dawn
upon the earth. It was summer, and afternoon, the
time of dreams. It would be easy in the employ
ment of legitimate fancy to heighten the picturesque-
ness of that quiet scene the little girl with her
needlework, the soft air perhaps still athrill with her
favourite bells, the birds picking up the crumbs of
brown bread at her feet. She was thinking of
nothing, most likely, in a vague suspense of musing,
the wonder of youth, the awakening of thought, as
yet come to little definite in her child's heart look-
ing up from her work to note some passing change
of the sky, a something in the air which was new to
her. All at once between her and the church there
shone a light on the right hand, unlike anything she
had ever seen before; and out of it came a voice
equally unknown and wonderful. What did the

THE VISION OF JEANNE D'ARC.

FROM A PAINTING BY J. t. LEMEPVEU IN THE PANTHEON AT PARIS.

14291 Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 23

voice say? Only the simplest words, words fit for
a child, no maxim or mandate above her facul-
ties " Jeaiuic, sois bonne ct sage enfant ; va souvent
a rc'glise." Jeanne, be good ! What more could
an archangel, what less could the peasant mother
within doors, say? The little girl was frightened,
but soon composed herself. The voice could be
nothing but sacred and blessed which spoke thus.
It would not appear that she mentioned it to any-
one. It is such a secret as a child, in that wavering
between the real and unreal, the world not realised
of childhood, would keep, in mingled shyness and
awe, uncertain, rapt in the atmosphere of vision,
within her own heart.

It is curious how often this wonderful scene has
been repeated in France, never connected with so
high a mission, but yet embracing the same circum-
stances, the same situation, the same semi-angelic
nature of the woman-child. The little Bernadette
of Lourdes is almost of our own day ; she, too, is
one who puts the scorner to silence. What her
visions and her voices were, who can say ? The last
historian of them is not a man credulous of good or
moved towards the ideal ; yet he is silent, except in
a wondering impression of the sacred and the true,
before the little Bearnaise in her sabots ; and, not-
withstanding the many sordid results that have fol-
lowed and all that sad machinery of expected miracle
through which even, repulsive as it must always be,
a something breaks forth from time to time which
no man can define and account for except in ways
more incredible than miracle so is the rest of the

24 Jeanne d'Arc. [1424-

world. Why has this logical, sceptical, doubting
country, so able to quench with an epigram, or blow
away with a breath of ridicule the finest vision be-
come the special sphere and birthplace of these spot-
less infant-saints? This is one of the wonders which
nobody attempts to account for. Yet Bernadette is
as Jeanne, though there are more than four hun-
dred years between.

After what intervals the vision returned we are
not told, nor in what circumstances. It seems to
have come chiefly out-of-doors, in the silence and
freedom of the fields or garden. Presently the
heavenly radiance shaped itself into some semblance
of forms and figures, one of which, clearer than the
others, was like a man, but with wings and a crown
on his head and the air " d'un vrai pru<T homme" ;
a noble apparition before whom at first the little
maid trembled, but whose majestic, honest regard
soon gave her confidence. He bade her once more
to be good, and that God would help her ; then he
told her the sad story of her own suffering country,
lapitit qui estoit au royaume de France. Was it the
pity of heaven that the archangel reported to the
little trembling girl, or only that which woke with
the \vord in her own childish soul ? He has chosen
the small things of this w r orld to confound the great.
Jeanne's young heart was full of pity already, and
of yearning over the helpless mother-country which
had no champion to stand for her. " She had great
doubts at first whether it w r as St. Michael, but
afterwards when he had instructed her and shown
her many things, she believed firmly that it was he."

1429J Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 25

It was this warrior-angel who opened the matter
to her, and disclosed her mission. " Jeanne," he
said, " you must go to the help of the King of
France ; and it is you who shall give him back his
kingdom." Like a still greater Maid, trembling,
casting in her mind what this might mean, she re-
plied, confused, as if that simple detail were all :
" Messire, I am only a poor girl ; I cannot ride or
lead armed men." The vision took no notice of
this plea. He became minute in his directions,
indicating exactly what she was to do. " Go to
Messire de Baudricourt, captain of Vaucouleurs,
and he will take you to the King. St. Catherine and
St. Margaret will come and help you." Jeanne was
overwhelmed by this exactness, by the sensation of
receiving direct orders. She cried, weeping and
helpless, terrified to the bottom of her soul What
was she that she should do this ? a little girl, able to
guide nothing but her needle or her distaff, to lend
her simple aid in nursing a sick child. But behind
all her fright and hesitation, her heart was filled with
the gmotion thus suggested to her the immeasura-
ble//'/'// que estoit an royaume de France. Her heart
became heavy with this burden. By degrees it came
about that she could think of nothing else ; and her
little life was confused by expectations and recollec-
tions of the celestial visitant, who might arrive upon
her at any moment, in the midst perhaps of some
innocent play, or when she sat sewing in the garden
before her father's humble door.

After a while the vrai prnd'/wmme came seldom ;
other figures more like herself, soft forms of women,

26 Jeanne d' Arc. [1424-

white and shining, with golden circlets and orna-
ments, appeared to her in the great halo of the light ;
they bowed their heads, naming themselves, as to a
sister spirit, Catherine, and the other Margaret.
Their voices were sweet and soft with a sound that
made you weep. They were both martyrs, en-
couraging and strengthening the little martyr that
was to be. " A lady is there in the heavens who
loves thee : " Virgil could not say more to rouse the
flagging strength of Dante. When these gentle fig-
ures disappeared, the little maid wept in an anguish
of tenderness, longing if only they would take her
with them. It is curious that though she describes
in this vague rapture the appearance of her visitors,
it is always as " mes voix " that she names them
the sight must always have been more imperfect
than the message. Their outlines and their lovely
faces might shine uncertain in the excess of light ;
but the words were always plain. The pity for
France that was in their hearts spread itself into the
silent rural atmosphere, touching every sensitive
chord in the nature of little Jeanne. It was as i her
mother lay dying there before her eyes.

Curious to think how little anyone could have
suspected such meetings as these, in the cottage
hard by, where the weary ploughmen from the fields
would come clamping in for their meal, and Dame
Isabeau would call to the child, even sharply perhaps
now and then, to leave that all-absorbing needle-
work and come in and help, as Martha called Mary
fourteen hundred years before ; and where the priest,
mumbling his mass of a cold morning in the little

14291 Domrcwy and Vaucouleurs. 27

church, would smile indulgent on the faithful little
worshipper when it was done, sure of seeing Jeanne
there whoever might be absent. She was a shy girl,
blushing and drooping her head when a stranger
spoke to her, red and shame-faced when they
laughed at her in the village as a devote before her
time ; but with nothing else to blush about in all
her simple record.

Neither to her parents, nor to the cure when she
made her confession, does she seem to have com-
municated these strange experiences, though they
had lasted for some time before she felt impelled to
act upon them, and could keep silence no longer.
She was but thirteen when the revelations began,
and she was seventeen when at last she set forth to
fulfil her mission. She had no guidance from her
voices, she herself says, as to whether she should tell
or not tell what had been communicated to her ;
and no doubt was kept back by her shyness, and by
the dreamy confusion of childhood between the
real and unreal. One would have thought that a
life in which these visions were of constant recur-
rence would have been rapt altogether out of whole-
some use and wont, and all practical service. But
this does not seem for a moment to have been the
case. Jeanne was no hysterical girl, living with her
head in a mist, abstracted from the world. She had
all the enthusiasms even of youthful friendship,
other girls surrounding her with *he intimacy of the
village, paying her visits, staying all night, sharing
her room and her bed. She was ready to be sent
for by any poor woman that needed help or nursing,

28 Jeanne d'Arc. [1424-

she was always industrious at her needle ; one would
love to know if perhaps in the Trtfsor at Rheims
there was some stole or maniple with flowers on it,
wrought by her hands. But the Trhor at Rheims
is nowadays rather vulgar if truth must be told, and
the bottles and vases for the consecration of Charles
X., that pauvre sire, are more thought of than relics
of an earlier age.

At length, however, one does not know how, the
secret of her double life came out. No doubt long
brooding over these voices, long intercourse with
such celestial visitors, and the mission continually
pressed upon her meaningless to the child at first,
a thing only to shed terrified tears over and wonder
at ripened her intelligence so that she came at last
to perceive that it was practicable, a thing to be
done, a charge to be obeyed. She had this before
her, as a girl in ordinary circumstances has the new
developments of life to think of, and how to be a
wife and mother. And the news brought by every
passer-by would prove doubly interesting, doubly
important to Jeanne, in her daily growing compre-
hension of what she was called upon to do. As she
felt the current more and more catching her feet,
sweeping her on, overcoming all resistance in her
own mind, she must have been more and more
anxious to know what was going on in the dis-
tracted world, more and more touched by that great
pity which had awakened her soul. And all these
reports were of a nature to increase that pity till it
became overwhelming. The tales she would hear
of the English must have been tales of cruelty and

1429] Domrcmy and Vaucouleurs. 29

horror; not so many years ago what tales did not
\ve heat~of German ferocity in the French villages*
perhaps not true at all, yet making their impression
always ; and it was more probable in that age that
every such^story should be true. Then the compas-
sion which no one can help feeling for a young man
deprived of his rights, his inheritance taken from
him, his very life in danger, threatened by the
stranger and usurper, was deepened in every par-
ticular by the fact that it was the King, the very
impersonation of France, appointed by God as the
head of the country, who was in danger. Every-
thing that Jeanne heard would help to swell the
stream.

Thus she must have come step by step this ex-
traordinary, impossible suggestion once sown in
her dreaming soul to perceive a kind of miraculous
reasonableness in it, to see its necessity, and how
everything pointed towards such a deliverance. It
would have seemed natural to believe that the pro-
phecies of the countryside which promised a virgin
from an oak grove, a maiden from Lorraine, to deliver
France, might have affected her mind, did we not
have it from her own voice that she had never heard
that prophecy * ; but the word of the blessed Michael,
so often repeated, was more than an old wife's tale ;
and the child's alarm would seem to have died away
as she came to her full growth. And Jeanne was
no ethereal spirit lost in visions, but a robust and

* She was, however, acquainted with the simpler byword, that
France should be destroyed by a woman and afterwards redeemed by
a virgin, which she quoted to several persons on her first setting out.

30 Jeanne d' Arc. [1424-

capable peasant girl, fearing little, and full of sense
and determination, as well as of an inspiration so far
above the level of the crowd. We hear with k wonder
afterwards that she had the making of a great general
in her untutored female soul, which is perhaps the
most wonderful thing in her career, and saw with
the eye of an experienced and able soldier, as even
Dunois did not always see it, the fit order of an
attack, the best arrangement of the forces at her
command. This I honestly avow is to me the most
incredible point in the story. I am not disturbed
by the apparition of the saints ; there is in them an
ineffable appropriateness and fitness against which
the imagination, at least, has not a word to say. The
winder is not, to the natural'mind, that such inter,
positions of heaven come, but that they come so
seldom. But that Jacques d'Arc's daughter, the
little girl over her sewing, whose only fault was that
she went to church too often, should have the genius
of a soldier, is too bewildering for words to say. A
poet, yes, an inspiring influence leading on to miracu-
lous victory ; but a general, skilful with the rude artil-
lery of the time, divining the better way in strategy,
this is a wonder beyond the reach of our faculties;
yet according to Alencjon, Dunois, and other mili-
tary authorities, it was true.

We have little means of finding out how it was
that Jeanne's long musings came at last to a point
at which they could be hidden no longer, nor what
it was which induced her at last to select the confi-
dant she did. No doubt she must have been con-
sidering and weighing the matter for a long time

1429] Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 31

before she fixed upon the man who was her relation,
yet did not belong to Domremy, and was safer than
a townsman for the extraordinary revelations she
had to make. One of her neighbours, her gossip,
Gerard of Epinal, to whose child she was god-
mother, had perhaps at one moment seemed to her
a likely helper. But he belonged to the opposite
party. " If you were not a Burgundian," she said
to him once, "there is something I might tell you/'
The honest fellow took this to mean that she had
some thought of marriage, the most likely and natu-
ral supposition. It was at this moment, when her
heart was burning with her great secret, the voices
urging her on day by day, and her power of self-
constraint almost at an end, th;y^J?rovk3-eftcc sent-
Durand Laxart, her uncle by marriage, to Domremy
on some family visit. She would seem to have taken
advantage of the opportunity with eagerness, asking
him privately to take her home with him, and to ex-
plain to her father and mother that he wanted her to
take care of his wife. No doubt the girl, devoured
with so many thoughts, would have the air of re-
quiring " a change " as we say, and that the mother
would be very ready to accept for her an invitation
which might bring back the brightness to her child.
Laxart was a peasant like the rest, a prud'homme
well thought of among his people. He lived in Burey
le Petit, near to Vaucouleurs, the chief place of the
district, and Jeanne already knew that it was to the
captain of Vaucouleurs that she was to address
herself. Thus she secured her object in the simplest
and most natural way.

32 Jeanne d'Arc [1424-

Yet the reader cannot but hold his breath at the
thought of what that amazing revelation must have
been to the homely, rustic soul, her companion,
communicated as they went along the common road
in the common daylight. " She said to the witness
that she must go to France to the Dauphin, to make
him to be crowned King.'* It must have been as if
a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet when the girl
whom he had known in every development of her
little life, thus suddenly disclosed to him her secret
purpose and determination. All her simple excel-
lence the good man knew, and that she was no fan-
tastic chatterer, but truly une bonne douce fille, bold
in nothing but kindness, with nothing to blush for
but the fault of going too often to church. " Did
you never hear that France should be made deso-
late by a woman and restored by a maid ? " she
said ; and this would seem to have been an unan-
swerable argument. He had, henceforth, nothing
to do but to promote her purpose as best he could
in every way.

It Would not seem at all unlikely to this good man
that the Archangel Michael, if Jeanne's revelation
to him went so far, should have named Robert de
Baudricourt, the chief of the district, captain of the
town and its forces, the principal personage in all
the neighbourhood, as the person to whom Jeanne's
purpose'was to be revealed, but rather a guarantee
of St. Michael himself, familiar with good society ;
and the Seigneur must have been more or less in
good intelligence with his people, not too alarming
to be referred to, even on so insignificant a subject

14291 Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 33

as the vagaries of a country girl though these by
this time must have begun to seem something more
than vagaries to the half-convinced peasant. And it
was no doubt a great relief to his mind thus to put
the decision of the question into the hands of a man
better informed than himself. Laxart proceeded
to Vaucouleurs upon his mission, shyly yet with
confidence. He would seem to have had a prelimi-
nary interview with Baudricourt before introducing
Jeanne. The stammering countryman, the bluff,
rustic noble and soldier, cheerfully contemptuous,
receiving, with a loud laugh into all the echoes, the
extraordinary demand that he should send a little
girl from Domremy to the King, to deliver France,
come before us like a picture in the countryman's
simple words. Robert de Baudricourt would scarcely
hear the story out. " Box her ears," he said, " and
send her home to her mother." The little fool!
What did she know of the English, those brutal,
downright fighters, against whom no Man was suffi-
cient, who stood their ground and set up vulgar
posts round their lines, instead of trusting to the
rush of sudden valour, and the tactics of the tourna-
ment ! She to deliver France ! On a much smaller
argument and to put down a less ambition, the half
serious, half amused adviser has bidden a young
fanatic's ears to be boxed on many an unimportant
occasion, and has often been justified in so doing.
There would be a half hour of gaiety after poor
Laxart, crestfallen, had got his dismissal. The good
man must have turned back to Jeanne, where she
waited for him in courtyard or antechamber, with a

34 Jeanne d' Arc. [1424

heavy heart. No boxing of ears was possible to
him. The mere thought of it was blasphemy. This
was on Ascension Day the I3th May, 1428.

Jeanne, however, was not discouraged by M. de
Baudricourt's joke, and her interview with him
changed his views completely. She appears indeed
from the moment of setting out from her father's
house to have taken a new attitude. These great
personages of the country before whom all the peas-
ants trembled, were nothing to this village maid,
except, perhaps, instruments in the hand of God to
speed her on her way if they could see their privi-
leges if not, to be swept out of it like straws by the
wind. It had no doubt been hard for her to leave
her father's house ; but after that disruption what
did anything matter? And she had gone through
five years of gradual training of which no one knew.
The tears and terror, the plea, " I am a poor girl ; I
cannot even ride," of her first childlike alarm had
given place to a profound acquaintance with the
voices and their meaning. They were now her
familiar friends guiding her at every step ; and what
was the commonplace burly Seigneur, with his roar
of laughter, to Jeanne? She went to her audience
with none of the alarm of the peasant. A certain
young man of Baudricourt's suite, Bertrand de
Poulengy, another young D'Artagnan seeking his
fortune, was present in the hall and witnessed the
scene. The joke would seem to have been exhausted
by the time Jeanne appeared, or her perfect gravity
and simplicity, and beautiful manners so unlike her
rustic dress and village coif imposed upon the

1429] Doniremy and Vaucouleurs. 35

Seigneur and his little court. This is how the story
is told, twenty-five years after, by the witness, then
an elderly knight, recalling the story of his youth.

" She said that she came to Robert on the part of
her Lord, that he should send to the Dauphin, and
tell him to hold out, and have no fear, for the Lord
would send him succour before the middle of Lent.
She also said that France did not belong to the
Dauphin but to her Lord ; but her Lord willed that
the Dauphin should be its King, and hold it in com-
mand, and that in spite of his enemies she herself
would conduct him to be consecrated. Robert then
asked her who was this Lord ? She answered, * The
King of Heaven.' This being done [the witness
adds] she returned to her father's house with her
uncle, Durand Laxart of Burey le Petit/'

This brief and sudden preface to her career passed
over and had no immediate effect ; indeed but for
Bertrand we should have been unable to separate it
from the confused narrative to which all these wit-
nesses brought what recollection they had, often
without sequence or order, Durand himself taking no
notice of any interval between this first visit to Vau-
couleurs and the final one.* The episode of Ascen-
sion Day appears like the formal sommation of
French law, made as a matter of form before the
appellant takes action on his own responsibility ; but
Baudricourt had probably more to do with it than
appears to be at all certain from the after evidence.
One of the persons present, at all events, young

* I have to thank Mr. Andrew Lang for making the course of these
events quite clear to myself.

36 Jeanne d* Arc. [1424-

Poulengy above mentioned, bore it in mind and
pondered it in his heart.

Meantime, Jeanne returned home the strangest
home-going, for by this time her mission and her
aspiratipns could no longer be hid, and rumour must
have carried the news almost as quickly as any mod-
ern telegraph, to startle all the echoes of the village,
heretofore unaware of any difference between Jeanne
and her companions save the greater goodness to
which everybody bears testimony. No doubt, it must
have reached Jacques d'Arc's cottage even before
she came back with the kind Durand, a changed
creature, already the consecrated Maid of France,
La Pucelle, apart from all others. The French
peasant is a hard man, more fierce in his terror of
the unconventional, of having his domestic affairs
exposed to the public eye, or his family disgraced
by an exhibition of anything unusual either in actor
feeling, than almost any other class of beings. And
it is evident that he took his daughter's intention
according to the coarsest interpretation, as a wild
desire for adventure and intention of joining herself
to the roving troopers, the soldiers always hated
and dreaded in rural life. He suddenly appears
in the narrative in a fever of apprehension, with
no imaginative alarm or anxiety about his girl,
but the fiercest suspicion of her, and dread of
disgrace to ensue. We do not know what passed
when she returned, further than that her father had
a dream, no doubt after the first astounding explana-
tion of the purpose that had so long been ripening
in her mind. He dreamed that he saw her sur-

14291 Domrcmy and Vaucouleurs. 37

rounded by armed men, in the midst of the troopers,
the most evident and natural interpretation of her
purpose, for who could divine that she meant to be
their leader and general, on a level not with the
common men-at-arms, but of princes and nobles ^ In
the morning he told his dream to his wife and also
to his sons. " If I could think that the thing would
happen that I dreamed, I would wish that she should
be drowned ; and if you w r ould not do it, I should
do it with my own hands." The reader remembers
with a shudder the Meuse flowing at the foot of the
garden, while the fierce peasant, mad with fear lest
shame should be coming to his family, clenched his
strong fist and made this outcry of dismay.

No doubt his wife smoothed the matter over as
well as she could, and, whatever alarms were in her
own mind, hastily thought of a feminine expedient
to mend matters, and persuaded the angry father
that to substitute other dreams for these would be
an easier way. Isabeau most probably knew the
village lad who would fain have had her child, so
good a housewife, so industrious a workwoman,
and always so friendly and so helpful, for his wife.
At all events there was such a one, too willing to
exert himself, not discouraged by any refusal, who
could be egged up to the very strong point of appear-
ing before the bishop at Toul and swearing that
Jeanne had been promised to him from her child-
hood. So timid a girl, they all thought, so devout a
Catholic, would simply obey the bishop's decision
and would not be bold enough even to remonstrate,
though it is curious that with the spectacle of her

38 Jeanne d'Arc. [1424-

grave determination before them, and sorrowful sense
of that necessity of her mission which had steeled
her to dispense with their consent, they should have
expected such an expedient to arrest her steps.
The affair, we must suppose, had gone through all
the more usual stages of entreaty on the lover's part,
and persuasion on that of the parents, before such
an attempt was finally made. But the shy Jeanne
had by this time attained that courage of desperation
which is not inconsistent with the most gentle nature;
and without saying anything to anyone, she too
went to Toul, appeared before the bishop, and easily
freed herself from the pretended engagement, though
whether with any reference to her very different
destination we are not told.*

These proceedings, however, and the father's
dreams and the remonstrances of the mother, must
have made troubled days in the cottage, and scenes
of wrath and contradiction, hard to bear. The
winter passed distracted by these contentions, and
it is difficult to imagine how Jeanne could have
borne this had it not been that the period of her
outset had already been indicated, and that it was
only in the middle of Lent that her succour was to
reach the King. The village, no doubt, was almost as
much distracted as her father's house to hear of these
strange discussions and of the incredible purpose of
the bonne douce fille, whose qualities everybody knew
and about whom there was nothing eccentric, nothing

* Mr. Andrew Lang thinks that this appearance at Toul was made
after she had finally left Domremy, and when she was already accom-
panied by the escort which was to attend her to Chinon.

H29 Domrewy and \\incoulcurs. 39

unnatural, but only simple goodness, to distinguish
her above her neighbours. In the meantime her
voices called her continually to her work. They set
her free from the ordinary yoke of obedience, always
so strong in the mind of a French girl. The dread-
ful step of abandoning her home, not to be thought
of under any other circumstances, was more and
more urgently pressed upon her. Could it indeed
be saints and angels who ordained a step which was
outside of all the habits and first duties of nature?
But we have no reason to believe that this nine-
teenth-century doubt of her visitors, and of whether
their mandates were right, entered into the mind of
a girl who was of her own period and not of ours.
She went on steadfastly, certain of her mission now,
and inaccessible either to remonstrance or appeal.

It was towards the beginning of Lent, asPoulengy
tells us, that the decision was made, and she left
home finally, to go " to France " as is always
said. But it seems to have been in January that
she set out once more for Vaucouleurs, accom-
panied by her uncle, who took her to the house o(
some humble folk they knew, a carter and his wife,
where they lodged. Jeanne wore her peasant dress
of heavy red homespun, her rude heavy shoes, her
village coif. She never made any pretence of lady-
hood or superiority to her class, but was always equal
to the finest society in which she found herself, by
dint of that simple good faith, sense, and seriousness,
without excitement or exaggeration, and radiant
purity and straightforwardness which were apparent
to all seeing eyes. By this time all the little world

4O Jeanne d' Arc. [1424

about knew something of her purpose and followed
her every step with wonder and quickly rising
curiosity: and no doubt the whole town was astir,
women gazing at their doors, all on her side from the
first moment, the men half interested, half insolent,
as she went once more to the chateau to make her
personal appeal. Simple as she was, the bonne
douce fille was not intimidated by the guard at the
gates, the lounging soldiers, the no doubt impudent
glances flung at her by these rude companions. She
was inaccessible to alarms of that kind which, per-
haps, is one of the greatest safeguards against them
even in more ordinary cases. We find little record of
her second interview with Baudricourt. The Journal
du Siege d* Orleans and the Chronique de la Pncelle
both mention it as if it had been one of several,
which may well have been the case, as she was for
three weeks in Vaucouleurs. It is almost impossible
to arrange the incidents of this interval between
her arrival there and her final departure for Chinon
on the 23d February, during which time she
made a pilgrimage to a shrine of St. Nicolas and
also a visit to the Duke of Lorraine. It is clear,
however, that she must have repeated her demand
with such stress and urgency that the Captain of Vau-
couleurs was a much perplexed man. It was a very
natural idea then, and in accordance with every senti-
ment of the time that he should suspect this wonderful
girl, who would not be daunted, of being a witch and
capable of bringing an evil fate on all who crossed her.
All thought of boxing her ears must ere this have de-
parted from his mind. He hastened to consult the

1429] Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 41

cure*, which was the most reasonable thing to do.
The rnj^wag_as r" nr h pn7.7.1rH as the Captain. The
Church, it must be said, if always ready to take ^van-
tage afterwards of such revelations, has always been
timid, even sceptical about them at first. The wis-
dom of the rulers, secular and ecclesiastic, suggested
only one thing to do, which was to exorcise, and
perhaps to overawe and frighten, the young vision-
ary. They paid a joint and solemn visit to the car-
ter's house, where no doubt their entrance together
was spied by many eager eyes ; and there the priest
solemnly taking out his stole invested himself in his
priestly robes and exorcised the evil spirits, bidding
them come out of the girl if they were her inspira-
tion. There seems a certain absurdity in this sudden
assault upon the evil one, taking him as it were by
surprise: but it was not ridiculous to any of the
performers, though Jeanne no doubt looked on with
serene and smiling eyes. She remarked afterw r ards
to her hostess, that the cur had done wrong, as he
had already heard her in confession.

Outside, the populace were in no uncertainty at
all as to her mission. A little mob hung about the
door to see her come and go, chiefly to church, with
her good hostess in attendance, as was right and
seemly, and a crowd streaming after them who per-
haps of their own accord might have neglected mass,
but who would not, if they could help it, lose a look
at the new wonder. One day a young gentleman of
the neighbourhood was passing by, and amused by
the commotion, came through the crowd tc have a
word with the peasant lass. " What are you doing

42 Jeanne d' Arc. LH24

here, ma mic?" the young man said. 44 Is the King
to be driven out of the kingdom, and are we all to be
made English?** There is a tone of banter in the
speech, but he had already heard of the Maid from
his friend, Bertrand, and had been affected by the
other's enthusiasm. " Robert de Baudricourt will
have none of me or my words," she replied, " nev-
ertheless before Mid-Lent I must be with the King,
if I should wear my feet up to my knees ; for nobody
in the world, be it king, duke, or the King of Scot-
land's daughter, can save the kingdom of France
except me alone : though I would rather spin beside
my poor mother, and this is not my work : but I
must go and do it, because my Lord so wills it."
"And who is your Seigneur?" he asked. "God,"
said the girl. The young man was moved, he too,
by that wind which bloweth where it listeth. He
stretched out his hands through the gaping crowd
and took hers, holding them between his own, to
give her his pledge : and so swore by his faith, her
hands in his hands, that he himself would conduct
her to the King. "When will you go?" he said.
" Rather to-day than to-morrow," answered the mes-
senger of God.

This was the second convert of La Pucelle. The
peasant bonhomme first, the noble gentleman after
him ; not to say all the women wherever she went,
the gazing, weeping, admiring crowd which now
followed her steps, and watched every opening
of the door which concealed her from their eyes.
The young gentleman was Jean de Novelonpont,
'surnamed Jean de Metz'": and so moved was he

14291 Domrcmy and Vaueouleurs. 43

by the fervour of the girl, and by her strong sense of
the necessity of immediate operations, that he pro-
ceeded at once to make preparations for the journey.
They would seem to have discussed the dress she
ought to wear, and Jeanne^ecided for many obvious
reasons to adopt the costume of a man or rathe
boy. She must, one would imagine have been tall,
for no remark is ever made on this subject, as if her
dress had dwarfed her, which is generally the case
when a woman assumes the habit of a man : and
probably with her peasant birth and training, she
was, though slim, strongly made and well knit,
besides being at the age when the difference between
boy and girl is sometimes but little noticeable.

In the meantime Baudricourt had not been idle. He
must have been moved by the sight of Jeanne, at least
to perceive a certain gravity in the business for which
he was not prepared.; and her composure under the
cure"s exorcism would naturally deepen the effect
which her own manners and aspect had upon all who
were free of prejudice. Another singular event, too,
added weight to her character and demand. One
day after her return from Lorraine, February I2th,
1429, she intimated to all her surroundings and
specially to Baudricourt, that the King had suffered
a defeat near Orleans, which made it still more neces-
sary that she should be at once conducted to him.
It was found when there was time for the news to
come, that this defeat, the Battle of the Herrings, so-
called, had happened as she said, at the exact time:
and such a strange fact added much to the growing
enthusiasm and excitement. Baudricourt is said bv

44 Jeanne d'Arc. [1424-

Michelet to have sent off a secret express to the
Court to ask what he should do ; but of this there
seems to be no direct evidence, though likelihood
enough. The Court at Chinon contained a strong
feminine element, behind the scenes. And it might
be found that there were uses for the enthusiast, even
if she did not turn out to be inspired. No doubt
there were many comings and goings at this period
which can only be traced confusedly through the
depositions of Jeanne's companions twenty-five years
after. She had at least two interviews with Bau-
dricourt before the exorcism of the cur and his
consequent change of procedure towards her. Then,
escorted by her uncle Laxart, and apparently by
Jean de Metz, she had made a pilgrimage to a shrine
of St. Nicolas, as already mentioned, on which occa-
sion, being near Na-ncy, she was sent for by the Duke
of Lorraine, then lying ill at his castle in that city,
who had a fancy to consult the young prophetess, sor-
ceress who could tell what she was ? on the subject
apparently of his illness. He was the son of Queen
Yolande of Anjou, who was mother-in-law to Charles
VII., and it would no doubt be thought of some
importance to secure his good opinion. Jeanne gave
the exalted patient no light on the subject of his
health, but only the (probably unpleasing) advice to
flee from the wrath of God and to be reconciled
with his wife, from whom he was separated. He
too, however, was moved by the sight of her and
her straightforward, undeviating purpose. He gave
her four francs, Durand tells us, not much of a pres-
ent, which she gave to her uncle, and which helped

1429] Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 45

to buy her outfit. Probably he made a good report
of her to his mother, for shortly after her return to
Vaucouleurs (I again follow Michelet who ought to be
well informed) a messenger from Chinon arrived to
take her to the King.* In the councils of that troubled
Court, perhaps, the idea of a prodigy and miraculous
leader, though she was nothing but a peasant girl,
would be not without attraction, a thing to conjure
withal, so far as the multitude were concerned.

Anyhow from any point of view, in the hopeless
condition of affairs, it was expedient that nothing
which gave promise of help, either real or visionary,
should lightly be rejected. There was much anxiety
no doubt in the careless Court still dancing and sing-
ing in the midst of calamity, but the reception of the
ambitious peasant would form an exciting incident
at least, if nothing more important and notable.

Thus the whole anxious world of France stirred
round that youthful figure in the little frontier town,
repeating with many an alteration and exaggeration
the sayings of Jeanne, and those popular supersti-
tions about the Maid from Lorraine which might be
so naturally applied to her. It would seem, indeed,
that she had herself attached some importance to
this prophecy, for both her uncle Laxart and her
hostess at Vaucouleurs report that she asked them
if they had heard it : which question " stupefied " the

* Mr. Andrew Lang will not hear of this. He thinks the man was
a mere King's messenger with news, probably charged with the mel-
ancholy tidings of the loss at Rouvray (Battle of the Herrings) : and
that the fact that he did accompany Jeanne and her little party wa
entirely accidental.

46 Jeanne d' Arc. [1424-

latter, whose mind evidently jumped at once to the
conviction that the prophecy was fulfilled. Not in
Domremy itself, however, were these things con-
sidered with the same awe-stricken and admiring
faith. Nothing had softened the mood of Jacques
d'Arc. It was a shame to the village frud* komme
to think of his daughter away from all the protection
of home, living among men, encountering the young
Seigneurs who cared for no maiden's reputation,
hearing the soldiers' rude talk, exposed to their in-
sults, or worse still to their kindness. Probably even
now he thought of her as surrounded by troopers
and men-at-arms, instead of the princes and peers
with whom henceforth Jeanne's lot was to be cast ;
but in the former^ case there would have perhaps
been less to fear than in the latter. Anyhow,
Jeanne's communications with her family were more
painful to her than had been the jeers of Baudri-
court or the exorcism of the cure. They sent her
angry orders to come back, threats of parental curses
and abandonment. We may hope that the mother,
grieved and helpless, had little to do with this perse-
cution. The woman who had nourished her chil-
dren upon saintly legend and Scripture story could
scarcely have been hard upon the child, of whom
she, better than any, knew the perfect purity and
steadfast resolution. One of the little household at
least, revolted by the stern father's fury, perhaps
secretly encouraged by the mother, broke away and
joined his sister at a later period. But we hear,
during her lifetime, little or nothing of Pierre.

Much time, however, was passed in these prelimv

H29i Domremy and Vaucouleurs. 47

narics. The final start was not made till .. the. 23d

Februarfr.j42Q. when the permission is supposed to
have come by the hands of Colet de Vienne, the
King's messenger, who attended by a single archer,
was to be her escort. It is possible that he had no
mission to this effect, but he certainly did escort
her to Chinon. The whole town gathered before
the house of Baudricourt to see her depart.
Baudricourt, however, does not seem to have
provided any guard for her. Jean de Metz, who
had so chivalrously pledged himself to her ser-
vice, with his friend De Poulengy, equally ready for
adventure, each with his servant, formed her_solc_
protectors. * Jean de Metz hadhrrreSbTy^sent her
tn~e~ clbtKes of one of his retainers, with the light
breastplate and partial armour that suited it ; and
the townspeople had subscribed to buy her a further
outfit, and a horse which seems to have cost sixteen
francs not so small a sum in those days as now.
Laxart declares himself to have been responsible for
this outlay, though the money was afterwards paid
by Baudricourt, who gave Jeanne a sword, which
some of her historians consider a very poor gift :
none, however, of her equipments would seem
to have been costly. The little party set out thus,
with a sanction of authority, from the Captain's
gate, the two gentlemen and the King's messenger

* Her brother Pierre is said by some to have been of the party.
La Chroniquc dc la Pucellf says two of her brothers. Mr. Andrew
Lang, however, tells us that Pierre did not join his sister's party till
much later in the beginning of June : and this is the statement of
Jean de Metz. But Quicherat is also of opinion that they both
fought in the relief of Orleans.

48 Jeanne d' Arc. [1424-

at the head of the party with their attendants, and
the Maid in the midst. " Go : and let what will hap-
pen," was the parting salutation of Baudricourt.
The gazers outside set up a cry when the decisive
moment came, and someone, struck with the feeble
force which was all the safeguard she had for her
long journey through an agitated country perhaps
a woman in the sudden passion of misgiving which
often follows enthusiasm, called out to Jeanne
with an astonished outcry to ask how she could dare
to go by such a dangerous road. " It was for that I
was born," answered the fearless Maid. The last
thing she had done had been to write a letter to her
parents, asking their pardon if she obeyed a higher
command than theirs, and bidding them farewell.

The French historians, with that amazement
which they always show when they find a man be-
having like a gentleman towards a woman confided
to his honour, all pause with deep-drawn breath to
note that the awe of Jeanne's absolute purity pre-
served her from any unseemly overture, or even evil
thought, on the part of her companions. We need
not take up even the shadow of so grave a censure
upon Frenchmen in general, although in the far
distance of the fifteenth century. The two young
men, thus starting upon a dangerous adventure,
pledged by their honour to protect and convey her
safely to the King's presence, were noble and gener-
ous cavaliers, and we may well believe had no evil
thoughts. They were not, however, without an oc-
casional chill of reflection when once they had taken
the irrevocable step of setting out upon this wild

14291 Domremy and \\iuconlc i< 49

errand. They travelled by night to escape the dan-
ger of meeting bands of Burgundians or English on
the way, and sometimes had to ford a river to avoid
the town, where they would have found a bridge.
Sometimes, too, they had many doubts, Bertram!
says, perhaps as to their reception at Chinon, per-
haps even whether their mission might not expose
them to the ridicule of their kind, if not to unknown
dangers of magic and contact with the Evil One,
should this wonderful girl turn out no inspired
virgin but a pretender or sorceress. Jean de Metz
informs us that she bade them not to fear, that she
had been sent to do what she was now doing ;
that her brothers in paradise would tell her how
to act, and that for the last four or five years
her brothers in paradise and her God had told her
that she must go to the war to save the kingdom
of France. This phrase must have struck his ear, as
he thus repeats it. Her brothers in paradise ! She
had not apparently talked of them to anyone as yet,
but now no one could hinder her more, and she felt
herself free to speak. A great calm seems to have
been in her soul. She had at last begun her work.
How it was all to end for her she neither foresaw
nor asked ; she knew only what she had to do.
When they ventured into a town she insisted on
stopping to hear mass, bidding them fear nothing.
"God clears the way for me," she said; "I was
born for this," and so proceeded safe, though threat
ened with many dangers. There is something that
breathes of supreme satisfaction and content in her
repetition of those words.

CHAPTER III.

BEFORE Til E KING.
FKB.-APRIL, 1429.

JEANNE and her little party were eleven
days on the road, but do not seem to
have encountered any special peril.
They lodged sometimes in the secu-
rity of a convent, sometimes in a vil-
lage hostel, pursuing the long and
tedious way across the great levels of
midland France, which has so few features of beauty
except in the picturesque towns with their castles
and churches, which the escort avoided. At length
they paused in the village of Fierbois not far from
Chinon where the Court was, in order to announce
their arrival and ask for an audience, which was not
immediately accorded. Cbarle^lieldJii5_ou^\v^h
^incredible gaiGiy_^^_Jo\\v^_m the midst of almost

every disaster that could overtake a king, in the
n the banks of the-Y-i^nne. The

situation and aspect of this noble building, now in
ruins, is wonderfully like that of Windsor Castle.
The great walls, interrupted and strengthened by

50

1429] Before Ike King. 5 \

huge towers, stretch along a low ridge of rocky hill,
with the swift and clear river, a little broader and
swifter than the Thames, flowing at its foot. The
red and high-pitched roofs of the houses clustered
between the castle hill and the stream, give a
point of resemblance the more. The large and
ample dwelling, defensible, but with no thought
of any need of defence, a midland castle surrounded
by many a level league of wealthy country, which no
hostile force should ever have power to get through,
must have looked like the home of a well estab-
lished royalty. There was no sound or sight of war
within its splendid enclosure. Noble lords and gen-
tlemen crowded the corridors ; trains of gay ladies,
attendant upon two queens, filled the castle with fine
dresses and gay voices. There had been but lately
a dreadful and indeed shameful defeat, inflicted by a
mere English convoy of provisions upon a large force
of French and Scottish soldiers, the former led by
such men as Dunois, La Hire, Xaintrailles, etc., the
latter by the Constable of Scotland, John Stuart
which defeat might well have been enough to subdue
every sound of revelry : yet Charles's Court was ring-
ing with music and pleasantry, as if peace had reigned
around.

It may be believed that there were many doubts
and questions how to receTveTriis peasant from tlie
fields, which' prevented an immediate feply""tb her
demand Tor an audience. From the first, de la
Trcmouille, Charles's Prime Minister and chief ad-
viser, was strongly~ligamstr~any encouragement of
the visionary, or dealings with the supernatural ;

52 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

but there would no doubt be others, hoping if not
for a miraculous maid, yet at least for a passing won-
der, who might kindle enthusiasm in the country and
rouse the ignorant with hopes of a special blessing
from Heaven. The gayer and younger portion of
the Court probably expected a little amusement,
above all, a new butt for their wit, or perhaps a
soothsayer to tell their fortunes and promise good
things to come. They had not very much to amuse
them, though they made the best of it. The joys
of Paris were very far off ; they were all but im-
prisoned in this dull province of Touraine : nobody
knew at what moment they might be forced to leave
even that refuge. For the moment here was a new
event, a little stir of interest, something to pass an
hour. Jeanne had to wait two days in Chinon be-
fore she was granted an audience, but considering
the carelessness of the Court and the absence of any
patron that was but a brief delay.

The chamber of audience is now in ruins. A
wild rose with long, arching, thorny branches and
pale flowers, straggles over the greensward where
once the floor was trod by so many gay figures.
From the broken wall you look sheer down upon the
shining river ; one great chimney, which at that sea-
son must have been still the most pleasant centre of
the large, draughty hall, shows at the end of the
room, with a curious suggestion of \varmth and light
which makes ruin more conspicuous. The room
must have been on the ground floor almost level
with the soil towards the interior of the castle, but
raised to the height of the cliffs outside. It was

1429] Before the King. 53

evening, an evening of March, and fifty torches
lighted up the ample room ; many noble person-
ages, almost as great as kings, and clothed in the
bewildering splendour of the time, and more than
three hundred cavaliers of the best names in France
filled it to overflowing. The peasant girl from
Domremy in the hose and doublet of a servant, a
little travel-worn after her tedious journey, was led
in by one of those splendid seigneurs, dazzled with
the grandeur she had never seen before, looking
about her in wonder to see which was the King
while Charles, perhaps with boyish pleasure in the
mystification, perhaps with a little half-conviction
stealing over him that there might be something
more in it, stood among the smiling crowd.

The young stranger looked round upon all those
amused, light-minded, sceptical faces, and without a
moment's hesitation went forward and knelt down
before him. " Gentil Dauphin," she said, " God give
you good life." " But it is not I that am the King;
there is the King," said Charles. " Gentil Prince, it
is you and no other," she said ; then rising from her
knee : " Gentil Dauphin, I am Jeanne the Maid. I
am sent to you by the King of Heaven to tell you
that you shall be consecrated and crowned at Rheims,
and shall be lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is
King of France." The little masquerade had failed,
the jest was over. There would be little more laugh-
ing among the courtiers, when they saw the face of
Charles grow grave. He took the new-comer aside,
perhaps to that deep recess of the window where in
the darkening night the glimmer of the clear, flow-

54 Jeanne d'Arc. [H29

ing river, the great vault of sky would still be visible
dimly, outside the circle of the blazing interior with
all its smoky lights.

Charles VII. of France was, like many of his pre-
decessors, a pauvre Sire enough. He had thought
more of his amusements than of the troubles of his
country ; but a wild and senseless gaiety will some-
times spring from despair as well as from light-
ness of heart ; and after all, the dread responsi-
bility, the sense that in all his helplessness and
inability to do anything he was still the man who
ought to do all, would seem to have moved him
from time to time. A secret doubt in his heart,
divulged to no man, had added bitterness to the
conviction of his own weakness. Was he indeed
the heir of France ? Had he any right to that
sustaining confidence which would have borne
up his heart in the midst of every discourage-
ment? His very mother had given him up and set
him aside. He was described as the so-called
Dauphin in treaties signed by Charles and Isabeau
his parents. If anyone knew, she knew ; and was
it possible that more powerful even than the Eng-
lish, more cruel than the Burgundians, this stain of
illegitimacy was upon him, making all effort vain?
There is no telling where the sensitive point is in
any man's heart, and little worthy as was this King,
the story we are here told has a thrill of truth in
it. It is reported by a certain Sala, who declares
that he had it from the lips of Charles's favourite
and close follower, the Seigneur de Boisi, a courtier
who, after the curious custom of the time, shared

1429! Before the King. 55

even the bed of his master. This was confided to
Hoisi by the King in the deepest confidence, in the
silence of the wakeful night :

44 This was in the time of the good King Charles,
when -lie knew not what stepTo take, and did nothing
but think how to redeem his life: for as I have told
you he was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
The King in this extreme thought, went in one
morning to his oratory all alone ; and there he made
a prayer to our Lord, in his heart, without pro-
nouncing any words, in which he asked of Him de-
voutly that if he were indeed the true heir, descended
from the royal House of France, and that justly the
Kingdom was his, that He would be pleased to guard
and defend him, or at the worst to give him grace to
escape into Spain or Scotland, whose people, from
ail antiquity, were brothers-in-arms, friends and allies
of the kings of France, and that he might find a
refuge there."

Perhaps there is some excuse for a young man's
endeavour to forget himself in folly or even in dissi-
j M< ion when his secret thoughts are so despairing as
these.

It was soon after this melancholy moment that
the arrival of Jeanne took~"place.~ The King led her
aside, touched as all were, by her look of perfect sin-
cerity and good faith; but it is she herself, not
Charles, who repeats what she said to him. " I have
to tell you," said the young messenger of God, " on
the part of my Lord (Messire) that you are the true
heir of France and the son of the King ; He has
sent me to conduct you to Rheims that you may

56 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

receive your consecration and your crown/* per-
haps here, Jeanne caught some look which she did
not understand in his eyes, for she adds with, one
cannot but think a touch of sternness u if you
will."

Was it a direct message from God in answer to his
prayer, uttered within his own heart, without words,
so that no one could have guessed that secret ? At
least it would appear that Charles thought so : for
how should this peasant maid know the secret fear
that had gnawed at his heart ? " When thou wast
in the garden under the fig-tree I saw thee." Great
was the difference between the Israelite without
guile and the troubled young man, with whose fate
the career of a great nation was entangled ; but it is
not difficult to imagine what the effect must have
been on the mind of Charles when he was met by
this strange, authoritative statement, uttered like all
that Jeanne said, de la part de Dieu.

The impression thus made, however, was on
Charles alone, and he was surrounded by council-
lors, so much the more pedantic and punctilious as
they were incapable, and placed amidst pressing
necessities with which in themselves they had no
power to cope. It may easily be allowed, also, that
to risk any hopes still belonging to the hapless
young King on the word of a peasant girl was in
itself, according to every law of reason, madness and
folly. She would seem to have had the women on
her side always and at every point. The Church did
not stir, or else was hostile; the commanders and
military men about, regarded with scornful disgust

14291

Before the King. 57

the idea that an enterprise which they considered
hopeless should be confided to an ignorant woman-
all with perfect reason we are obliged to allow.
Probably it was to gain time yet without losing the
aid of such a stimulus to the superstitious among the
masses and to retard any rash undertaking that it
d to subject Jeanne to an examination
<>f doctors and learned men touching her faith and
the character of her visions, which all this time had
been of continual recurrence, yet charged with no
further revelation, no mystic creed, but only with
the one simple, constantly repeated command.

Accordingly, after some preliminary handling by
half a do/en bishops. Jeanne was taken to Poitiers
where the university and the local parliament, all the
learning, law, and ecclesiastical wisdom which were
on the side of the King, were assembled to under-
go this investigation. It is curious that the entire
history of this wildest and strangest of all visionary
occurrences is to be found in a series of processes at
law, each part recorded and certified under oath ; but
so it is. The village maid was placed at the bar, be-
fore a number of acute legists, ecclesiastics, and states-
men, to submit her to a not-too-benevolent cross-
examination. Several of these men were still alive at
the time of the Rehabilitation and gave their recollec-
tions of this examination, though its formal records
have not been preserved. A Dominican monk,
Aymer, one of an order she loved, addressed her
gravely with the severity with which that institution
is always credited. " You say that God will deliver
France ; if He has so determined, He has no need of

58 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

men-at-arms." " Ah ! " cried the girl, with perhaps
a note of irritation in her voice, " the men must
fight ; it is God who gives the victory." To another
discomfited Brother, Jeanne, exasperated, answered
with a little roughness, showing that our Maid,
though gentle as a child to all gentle souls, was no
piece of subdued perfection, but a woman of the
fields, and lately much in the company of rough-
spoken men. He was of Limoges, a certain Brother
Seguin, " bien aigre homme" and disposed apparently
to weaken the trial by questions without importance :
he asked her what language her celestial visitors
spoke ? " Better than yours," answered the peasant
girl. He could not have been, as we say in Scotland,
altogether " an ill man," for he acknowledged that
he spoke the patois of his district, and therefore that
the blow was fair. But perhaps for the moment he
was irritated too. He asked her, a question equally
unnecessary, " Do you believe in God ? " to which
with more and more impatience she made a similar
answer: " Better than you do." There was nothing
to be made of one so well able to defend herself.
" Words are all very well," said the monk, " but God
would not have us believe you, unless you show us
some sign." To this Jeanne made an answer more
dignified, though still showing signs of exasperation,
" I have not come to Poitiers to give signs," she said ;
"but take me to Orleans I will then show the signs
I am sent to show. Give me as small a band as you
please, but let me go."

The situation of Orleans was at the time a des-
perate one. It was besieged by a strong army of

CO

tr

1429J Before the King. 59

English, who had built a succession of towers
round the city, from which to assail it, after the
manner of the times. The town lies in the midst of
the plain of the Loire, with not so much as a hillock
to offer any advantage to the besiegers. Therefore
these great works were necessary in face of a very
strenuous resistance, and the possibility of provision-
ing the besieged, which their river secured. The
English from their high towers kept up a disastrous
fire, which, though their artillery was of the rudest
kind, did great execution. The siege was conducted
by eminent generals. The works were of themselves
great fortifications, the assailants numerous, and
strengthened by the prestige of almost unbroken
success ; there seemed no human hope of the deliver-
ance of the town unless by an overwhelming army,
which the King's party did not possess, or by some
wonderful and utterly unexpected event. Jeanne had
always declared the destruction of the English and
the relief of Orleans to be the first step in her
mission.

Besides the formal and official examination of her
faith and character, held at Poitiers, private- inquests
of all kinds were made concerning the claims of the
miraculous maid. She was visited by every curious
person, man or woman, in the neighbourhood, and
plied with endless questions, so that her simple per-
sonal story, and that of her revelations ntes voi.r, as
she called them became familiarly known from her
own report, to the whole country round about. The
women pressed a question specially interesting for
no doubt, many a good mother half convinced other-

60 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

wise, shook her head at Jeanne's costume Why she
wore the dress of a man? for which the Maid gave
very good reasons : in the first place because it was
the only dress for fighting, which, though so far from
her desires or from the habits of her life, was hence-
forward to be her work ; and also because in her
strange circumstances, constrained as she was to live
among men, she considered it safest for herself
statements which evidently convinced the minds of
the questioners. It was, no doubt, good policy to
make her thus widely and generally known, and the
result was a daily growing enthusiasm for her and
belief in her, in all classes. The result of the formal
process was that the doctors could find nothing
against her, and they reluctantly allowed that the
King might lawfully take what advantage he could
of her offered services.

Jeanne was then brought back to Chinon, where
she was lodged in one of the great towers still stand-
ing, though no special room is pointed out as hers.
And there she was subjected to another process,
more penetrating still than the interrogations of the
graver tribunals. The Queens and their ladies and
all the women of the Court took her in hand. They
inquired into her history in every subtle and intimate
feminine way, testing her innocence and purity ; and
once more she came out triumphant. The final
judgment was given as follows: " After hearing all
these reports, the King taking into consideration the
great goodness that was in the Maid, and that she
declared herself to be sent by God, it was by the
said Seigneur and his council determined that from

1429] Before the AV;/;>. 61

henceforward he should make use of her for his wars,
since it was for this that she was sent."

It was now necessary to equip Jeanne for her
service. She had a maison, an ctat majcnr, or staff,
formed for her, the chief of which, Jean d'Aulon,
already distinguished and worthy of such a trust
never left her thenceforward until the end of her
active career. Her chaplain, Jean Pasquerel, also
followed her fortunes faithfully. Charles would
have given her a sword to replace the probably in-
different weapon given her by Baudricourt at Vau-
couleurs ; but Jeanne knew where to find the sword
destined for her. She gave orders that someone
should be sent to Fierbois, the village at which she had
paused on her way to Chinon, to fetch a sword which
would be found there buried behind the high altar of
the church of St. Catherine. To make this as little
miraculous as possible, we are told by some his-
torians that it was common for knights to be buried
with their arms, and that Jeanne, in her visit to this
church, where she heard three masses in succession
to make up for the absence of constant religious
services on her journey had probably seen some
tomb or other token that such an interment had taken
place. However, as we are compelled to receive
the far greater miracle of Jeanne herself and her
work, without explanation, it is foolish to take the
trouble to attempt any explanation of so small a
matter as this. The sword in fact was found, by the
clergy of the church, and was by them cleaned and
polished and put in a scabbard of crimson velvet,
scattered over with fleur-de-lys in gold, for her use

62 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

Her standard, which she considered of the greatest
importance was made apparently at Tours. It was
of white linen, fringed with silk and embroidered
with a figure of the Saviour holding a globe in His
hands, while an angel knelt at either side in adora-
tion. Jhesus* Maria was inscribed at the foot. A
repetition of this banner, which must have been
re-copied from age to age is to be seen now at Tours.
Having indicated the exact device to be emblazoned
upon the banner, as dictated to her by her saints,
Margaret and Catherine Jeanne announced her in-
tention of carrying it herself, a somewhat surprising
office for one who was to act as a general. But it
was the command of her heavenly guides. " Take
the standard on the part of God, and carry it boldly/'
they had said. She had, besides, a simple, half-child-
ish intention of her own in this, which she explained
shame-faced she had no wish to use her sword
though she loved it, and would kill no man. The
banner was a more safe occupation, and saved her
from all possibility of blood-shedding ; it must how-
ever, have required the robust arm of a peasant to
sustain the heavy weight.

It will show how long a time all these examina-
tions and preparations had taken when we read that
Jeanne set out from Blois, where she had passed some
time in military preparations, only on the 2/th day
of April ; nearly two whole months had thus been
taken up in testing her truth, and arranging details,
trifling and unnecessary in her eyes : a period which
had been passed in great anxiety by the people of
Orleans, with the huge bastilles of the English three

429J Before the Kin^. 63

of which were named Paris, Rouen, and London
towering round them, their provisions often inter-
cepted, all the business of life come to a standstill,
and the overwhelming responsibility upon them of
being almost the last barrier between the invader
and the final subjugation of France. It is strange to
add that, judging by ordinary rules, the garrison of
Orleans ought to have been quite sufficient in itself
in numbers and science of war, to have beaten and
dispersed the English force which had thus succeed-
ed in shutting them in ; there were many notable
captains among them, with Dunois, known as the
Bastard of Orleans, one of the most celebrated and
brave of French generals, at their head. Dunois was
in no way inferior to the generals of the English
army ; he was popular, beloved by the people and
soldiers alike, and though illegitimate, of the House
of Orleans, one of the native seigneurs of the place.
The wonder is how he and his officers permitted the
building of these towers, and the shutting in of the
town which they were quite strong enough to pro-
tect. But it was a losing game which they were
playing, a part which does not suit the genius of the
nation ; and the superstition in favour of the English
who had won so many battles with all the disadvan-
tages on their side, cutting the finest armies to
pieces was strong upon the imagination of the time.
It seemed a fate which no valour or skill upon the
side of the French could avert. Dunois, himself an
unlikely person, one would have thought, to yield
the honour of the fight to a woman, seems to have
perceived that without a strong counter-motive, not

64 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

within the range of ordinary methods, the situation
was beyond hope.

Accordingly, on the 2;th or 28th of April, Jeanne
set out at the head of her little army, accompanied
by a great number of generals and captains. She
had been equipped by the Queen of Sicily (with a
touch of that keen sense of decorative effect which
belonged to the age) in white armour inlaid with
silver all shining like her own St. Michael himself,
a radiance of whiteness and glory under the sun
armed de toutes ptices sauve la teste,\\er uncovered
head rising in full relief from the dazzling breastplate
and gorget. This is the description given of her by
an eye-witness a little later. The country is flat as
the palm of one's hand. The white armour must
have flashed back the sun for miles and miles of the
level road, to the eyes which from the height of any
neighbouring tower watched the party setting out.
It is all fertile now, the richest plain, and even then,
corn and wine must have been in full bourgeon, the
great fresh greenness of the big leaves coming out
upon such low stumps of vine as were left in the
soil ; but the devastated country was in those days
covered with a wild growth like the macchia of Italian
wilds, which half hid the movements of the expedi-
tion. They went by the Loire to Tours, where
Jeanne had been assigned a dwelling of her own, with
th estate of a general ; and from thence to Blois,
where they had to wait for some days while the
convoy of provisions, which they were to convey to
Orleans, was being prepared. And there Jeanne
fulfilled one of the preliminary duties of her mission.

14291 He fore the AV;/; r . 65

She had informed her examiners at Poitiers that she
had been commanded to write to the English gen-
eraU before attacking them, appealing to them dc la
part dc l)icn. to give up their conquests, and leave
France to the French. The letter which we quote
would seem to have been dictated by her at Poi-
tiers, probably to the confessor who now formed part
of her suite and who attended her wherever she
went :

JHESUS MARIA.

King of England, and you Duke of Bedford calling yourself Regent
of France, you, William de la Poule, Comte de Sulford, John, Lord
of Talbot, and you Thomas, Lord of Scales, who call yourself lieu-
tenants of the said Bedford, listen to the King of Heaven : Give back
to the Maid who is here sent on the part of God the King of Heaven,
the keys of all the good towns which you have taken by violence in
1 1 is France. She is sent on the part of God to redeem the royal
rights. She is ready to make peace if you will hear reason and be
just towards France and pay for what you have taken. And you
archers, brothers-in-arms, gentles and others who are before the town
of Orleans, go in peace on the part of God ; if you do not so you will
soon have news of the Maid who will see you shortly to your great
damage. King of England, if you do not this, I am captain in this
war, and in whatsoever place in France I find your people I will
make them go away. I am sent here on the part of God the King of
Heaven to push you all forth of France. If you obey I will be
merciful. And be not strong in your own opinion, for you do not
hold the kingdom from God the Son of the Holy Mary, but it is held
by Charles the true heir, for God, the King of Heaven so wills, and
it is revealed by the Maid who shall enter Paris in good company. If
you will not believe this news on the part of God and the Maid, in
whatever place you may find yourselves we shall make our way there,
and make so great a commotion as has not been in France for a
thousand years, if you will not hear reason. And believe this, that
the King of Heaven will send more strength to the Maid than you
can bring against her in all your assaults, to her and to her good men-

66 Jeanne d' Arc. tt429

at-arms. You, Duke of Bedford, the Maid prays and requires you
to destroy no more. If you act according to reason you may still
come in her company where the French shall do the greatest work
that has ever been done for Christianity. Answer then if you will
still continue against the city of Orleans. If you do so you will soon
recall it to yourself by great misfortunes. Written the Saturday of
Holy Week (22 March, 1429).*

Jeanne had by this time made a wonderful moral
revolution in her little army ; most likely she had
not been in the least aware what an army was, until
this moment ; but frank and fearless, she had pene-
trated into every corner, and it was not in her to
permit those abuses at which an ordinary captain
has to smile. The pernicious and shameful crowd
of camp followers fled before her like shadows before
the day. She stopped the big oaths and unthinking
blasphemies which were so common, so that La Hire,
one of the chief captains, a rough and ready Gascon,
was reduced to swear by his baton, no more sacred
name being permitted to him. Perhaps this was the
origin of the harmless swearing which abounds in
France, meaning probably just as much and as little
as bigger oaths in careless mouths ; but no doubt
the soldiers' language was very unfit for gentle ears.
Jeanne moved among the wondering ranks, all
radiant in her silver armour and with her virginal
undaunted countenance, exhorting all those rude
and noisy brothers to take thought of their duties
here, and of the other life that awaited them. She
would stop the march of the army that a conscience-

* The dates must of course be reckoned by the old style. This
letter was dispatched from Tours, during her pause there.

1429J Before the Ki)ig. 67

stricken soldier might make his confession, and
desired the priests to hear it if necessary without
ceremony, or church, under the first tree. Her
tender heart was such that she shrank from any
man's death, and her hair rose up on her head, as
she said, at the sight of French blood shed
although her mission was to shed it on all sides for
a great end. But the one thing she could not bear
was that either Frenchmen or Englishmen should
die unconfessed, " unhouseled, disappointed, un-
annealed." The army went along attended by songs
of choristers and masses of priests, the grave and
solemn music of the Church accompanied strangely
by the fanfares and bugle notes. What a strange
procession to pass along the great Loire in its spring
fulness, the raised banners and crosses, and that
dazzling white figure, all effulgence, reflected in the
wayward, quick flowing stream !

La Hire, who is like a figure out of Dumas, and
indeed did service as a model to that delightful
romancer, had come from Orleans to escort Jeanne
upon her way, and Dunois met her as she approached
the town. There could not be found more unlikely
companions than these two, to conduct to a great
battle the country maid who was to carry the
honours of the day from them both, and make men
fight like heroes, who under them did nothing but run
away. The candour and true courage of such leaders
in circumstances so extraordinary, are beyond praise,
for it was an offence both to their pride and skill in
their profession, had she been anything less than the
messenger of God which she claimed to be; and

68 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

these rude soldiers were not men to be easily moved
by devout imaginations. There would seem, how-
ever, even in the case of the greater of the two, to
have arisen a strange friendship and mutual under-
standing between the famous man of war and the
peasant girl. Jeanne, always straightforward and
simple, speaks to him, not with the downcast eyes of
her humility, but as an equal, as if the great Dunois
had been & prud'liomme of her own degree. There
is no appearance indeed that the Maid allowed her-
self to be overborne now by any shyness or undue
humility. She speaks loudly, so as to be heard by
those righting men, taking something of their own
brief and decisive tone, often even impatient, as one
who would not be put aside either by cunning or
force.

Her meeting with Dunois makes this at once evi-
dent. She had been deceived in the manner of her
approach to Orleans, her companions, among whom
there were several field-marshals and distinguished
leaders, taking advantage of her ignorance of the
place to lead her by the opposite bank of the river
instead of that on which the English towers were
built, which she desired to attack at once. This was
the beginning of a long series of deceits and hostile
combinations, by which at every step of her way she
was met and retarded ; but it turned, as these de-
vices generally did, to the discomfiture of the adverse
captains. She crossed the river at Chcy above
Orleans, to meet Dunois who had come so far to
meet her. It will be seen by the conversation which
she held with him on his first appearance, how com-

COUNT DUNOIS.

FROM AN OLD STEEL PRINT.

14291 Before the King. 69

pletely Jeanne had learnt t<> assert herself, and how
much she had overcome any fear of man. " Are
you the Bastard of Orleans?" she said. "I am;
and glad of your coming," he replied. u Is it you
who have had me led to this side of the river and not
to the bank on which Talbot is and his English ? " He
answered that he and the wisest of the leaders had
thought it the best and safest way. " The counsel
of God, our Lord, is more sure and more powerful
than yc r s" she replied. The expedition, as a
matter of fact, had to turn back, and to lose pre-
cious time, there being, it is to be presumed, no
means of transporting so large a force across the
river. The large convoy of provisions which Jeanne
brought was embarked in boats while the majority '
of the army returned to Blois, in order to cross by
the bridge.

Jeanne, however, having freely expressed her

opinion, adapted herself to the circumstances,

though extremely averse to separate herself from her

soldiers, good men who had confessed and prepared

their souls for every emergency. She finally consented,

however, to ride on with Dunois and La Hire. The

wind was against the convoy, so that the heavy boats,

ply laden with beeves and corn, had a dangerous

and sl9\v voyage before them. " Have patience,"

cried Jeanne ; " by the help of God all will go

well"; and immediately the wind changed, to the

nishment and joy of all, and the boats arrived in

safety " in spite of the English, who offered no bin-

drance whatever," as she had predicted. The little

party made their way along the bank, and in the

70 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

twilight of the April evening, about eight o'clock,
entered Orleans. The Deliverer, it need not be
said, was hailed with joy indescribable. She was
on a white horse, and carried, Dunois says, the ban-
ner in her hand, though it was carried before her
when she entered the town. The white figure in the
midst of those darkly gleaming mailed men, would
in itself throw a certain glory through the dimness
of the night, as she passed the gates and came into
view by the blaze of all the torches, and the lights
in the windows, over the dark swarming crowds of
the citizens. Her white banner waving, her white
armour shining, it was little wonder that the throng
that filled the streets received the Maid "as if they
had seen God descending among them." " And
they had good reason," says the Chronicle, " for they
had suffered many disturbances, labours, and pains,
and, what is worse, great doubt whether they ever
should be delivered. But now all were comforted,
as if the siege were over, by the divine strength
that was in this simple Maid whom they regarded
most affectionately, men, women, and little children.
There was a marvellous press around her to touch
her or the horse on which she rode, so much so that
one of the torchbearers approached too near an4 set
fire to her pennon ; upon which she touched her
horse with her spurs, and turning him cleverly, ex-
tinguished the flame, as if she had long followed the
wars."

There could have been nothing she resembled so

nuch as St. Michael, the warrior-angel, who, as all the

world knew, was her chief counsellor and guide, and

14291 Kcforc the King. 71

who, no doubt, blazed, a familiar figure, from some
window in the cathedral to which this his living pic-
ture rode without a pau.se, to give thanks to God
before she thought of refreshment or rest. She spoke
to the people who surrounded her on every side as
she went on through the tumultuous streets, bidding
them be of good courage and that if they had faith
they should escape from all their troubles. And
it was only after she had said her prayers and
rendered her thanksgiving, that she returned to the
house selected for her the house of an important
personage, Jacques Boucher, treasurer to the Duke
of Orleans, not like the humble places where she
had formerly lodged. The houses of that age were
beautiful, airy and light, with much graceful orna-
ment and solid comfort, the arched and vaulted
Gothic beginning to give place to those models of
domestic architecture which followed the Renais
sance, with their ample windows and pleasant space
and breadth. There the table was spread with a
joyous meal in honour of this wonderful guest, to
which, let us hope, Dunois and La Hire and the rest
did full justice. But Jeanne was indifferent to the
feast. She mixed with water the wine poured for
her into a silver cup, and dipped her bread in it, five
or six small slices. The visionary peasant girl cared
for none of the dainty meats. And then she retired
to the comfort of a peaceful chamber, where the little
daughter of the house shared her bed : strange re-
turn to the days when Hauvette and Mengette in
Domremy lay by her side and talked as girls love
to do, through half the silent night. Perhaps little

Jeanne d' Arc.

[1429

Charlotte, too, lay awake with awe to wonder at that
other young head on the pillow, a little while ago
shut into the silver helmet, and shining like the
archangel's. The etat majeur, the Chevalier d'Aulon,
Jean de Metz, and Bertrand de Poulengy, who had
never left her, first friends and most faithful, and
her brother Pierre d'Arc, were lodged in the same
house. It was the night of the 2gth of April, 1429.

CHAPTER IV.

THE RELIEF OF ORLEANS.
APRIL 30-MAY I, 1429.

EXT morning there was a council of
war among the many leaders now col-
lected within the town. It was the
eager desire of Jeanne that an assault
should be made at once, in all the
enthusiasm of the moment, upon the
English towers, without waiting even
for the arrival of the little army which she had pre-
ceded. But the captains of the defence, who had
borne the heat and burden of the day, and who
might naturally enough be irritated by the enthusi-
asm with which this stranger had been received,
were of a different opinion. I quote here a story,
for which I am told there is no foundation whatever,
touching a personage who probably never existed,
so that the reader may take it as he pleases, with
indulgence for the writer's weakness, or indignation
at her credulity. It seems to me, however, to ex-
press very naturally a sentiment which must have
existed among the many captains who had been

73

74 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

fighting unsuccessfully for months in defence of the
beleaguered city. A certain Guillaume de Gamache
felt himself insulted above all by the suggestion.
44 What," he cried, "is the advice of this hussy from
the fields (line pc'ronnelle de bas lint) to be taken
against that of a knight and captain ! I will fold
up my banner and become again a simple soldier.
I would rather have a nobleman for my master than
a woman whom nobody knows."

Dunois, who was too wise to weaken the forces at
his command by such a quarrel, is said to have done
his best to reconcile and soothe the angry captain.
This, however, if it was true, was only a mild in-
stance of the perpetual opposition which the Maid
encountered from the very beginning of her career
and wherever she went. Notwithstanding her vic-
tories, she remained through all her career a ptron-
nelle to these men of war (with the noble exception,
of course, of Alengon, Dunois, Xaintrailles, La Hire,
and others). They were sore and wounded by her
appearance and her claims. If they could cheat her,
balk her designs, steal a march in any way, they did
so, from first to last, always excepting the few who
were faithful to her. Dunois could afford to be

,. magnanimous, but the lesser men \vere jealou&,en-
vious, embittered. A ptronnelle, a woman nobody

"TcnewT "Arrd-they themselves were belted knights,
experienced soldiers, of the best blood of France.
It was not unnatural ; but this atmosphere of hate,
malice, and mortification forms the background of
the picture wherever the Maid moves in her white-
ness, illuminating to us the whole scene. The

1429] The Relief of Orleans. 75

English hated her lustily as their enemy and a witch,
':ig spells and enchantments so that the strength
sucked out of a man's arm and the courage from
his heart : but the Frenchmen, all but those who
were devoted to her, regarded her with an ungener-
ous opposition, the hate of men shamed and morti-
fied by every triumph she achieved.

Jeanne was angry, too, and disappointed, more
than she had been by all discouragements before.
She had believed, perhaps, that once in the field
these oppositions would be over, and that her mission
would be rapidly accomplished. But she neither
rebelled nor complained. What she did was to
occupy herself about what she felt to be her own
business, without reference to any commander. She
sent out two heralds,* who were attached to her
staff, and therefore at her personal disposal, to sum-
mon once more Talbot and Glasdale (Classidas, as
the French called him) de la part tie Dicu to evacuate
their towers and return home. It would seem that
in her miraculous soul she had a visionary hope that
this appeal might be successful. What so noble,
what so Christian, as that the one nation should give
up, of free-will, its attempt upon the freedom and
rights of another, if once the duty were put simply
before it and both together joining hands, march

* Their special mission seems to have been a demand for the
return of a herald previously sent who had never come back. A^,
Ounois accompanied the demand by a threat to kill the English
prisoners in Orleans if the herald was not sent back, the request was
at once accorded, with fierce defiances to the Maid, the dairymaid as
she is called, bidding her go back to her cows, and threatening to
burn her if they caught her.

76 Jeanne d^Arc. [1429

off, as she had already suggested, to do the noblest
deed that had ever yet been done for Christianity?
That same evening she rode forth with her little
train ; and placing herself on the town end of the
bridge (which had been broken in the middle), as
near as the breach would permit to the bastille, or
fort of the Tourelles, which was built across the
further end of the bridge, on the left side of the
Loire called out to the enemy, summoning them
once more to withdraw while there was time. She
was overwhelmed, as might have been expected, with
a storm of abusive shouts and evil words, Classidas
and his captains hurrying to the walls to carry on
the fierce exchange of abuse. To be called dairy-
maid and peronnelle was a light matter, but some of
the terms used were so cruel that, according to some
accounts, she betrayed her womanhood by tears, not
prepared apparently for the use of such foul weapons
against her. The Journal die Siege declares, how-
ever, that she was "aucunement yree " (angry), but
answered that they lied, and rode back to the city.

The next Sunday, the 1st of May, Dunois, alarmed
by the delay of his main body, set out for Blois to
meet them, and we are told that Jeanne accompanied
him to the special point of danger, where the English
from their fortifications might have stopped his
progress, and took up a position there, along with La
Hire, between the expedition and the enemy. But
in the towers not a man budged, not a shot was
fired. It was again a miracle, and she had predicted
it. The party of Dunois marched on in safety, and
Jeanne returned to Orleans, once more receiving on

H291 The Relief of Orleans. 77

the breeze some words of abuse from the defenders
of those battlements, which sent forth no more
dangerous missile, and replying again with her sum-
mons, " Ret our tic- dc la par Dicu a Anglcterrc" The
townsfolk watched her coming and going with an
excitement impossible to describe ; they walked by
the side of her charger to the cathedral, which was
the end of every progress ; they talked to her, all
speaking together, pressing upon her and she to
them, bidding them to have no fear. " Messire has
sent me," she said again and again. She went out
again, Wednesday, 4th May, on the return of Dunois,
to meet the army, with the same result, that they
entered quietly, the English not firing a shot.

On this same day, in the afternoon, after the early
dinner, there happened a wonderful scene. Jeanne,
it appeared, had fallen asleep after her meal, no
doubt tired with the expedition of the morning,
and her chief attendant, D'Aulon, who had accom-
panied Dunois to fetch the troops from Blois,
being weary after his journey, had also stretched
himself on a couch to rest. They were all tired,
the entry of the troops having been early in the
morning, a fact of which the angry captains of
Orleans, who had not shared in that expedition,
took advantage to make a secret sortie unknown
to the new chiefs. All at once the Maid awoke in
agitation and alarm. Her " voices " had awakened
her from her sleep. " My council tell me to go
against the English," she cried ; 4t but if to assail
their towers or to meet Fastolfe I cannot tell." As
she came to the full command of her faculties her

Jeanne d' Arc* LH29

trouble grew. " The blood of our soldiers is flow-
ing," she said; " why did they not tell me? My
arms, my arms ! " Then she rushed down stairs to
find her page amusing himself in the tranquil after-
noon, and called to him for her horse. All was quiet,
and no doubt her attendants thought her mad : but
D'Aulon, who knew better than to contradict his
mistress, armed her rapidly, and Louis, the page,
brought her horse to the door. By this time there
began to rise a distant rumour and outcry, at which
they all pricked their ears. As Jeanne put her foot in
the stirrup she perceived that her standard was want-
ing, and called to the page, Louis de Contes, above,
to hand it to her out of the window. Then with the
heavy flag-staff in her hand she set spurs to her
horse, her attendants one by one clattering after her,
and dashed onward " so that the fire flashed from
the pavement under the horse's feet."

Jeanne's presentiment was well-founded. There
had been a private expedition against the English
fort of St. Loup carried out quietly to steal a march
upon her Gamache, possibly, or other malcontents of
his temper, in the hope perhaps of making use of her
prestige to gain a victory without her presence. But
it had happened with this sally as with many others
which had been made from Orleans ; and when
Jeanne appeared outside the gate which she and the
rest of the followers after her had almost forced-
coming down upon them at full gallop, her standard
streaming, her white armour in a blaze of reflection,
she met the fugitives flying back towards the shelter
of the town. She does not seem to have paused or

H291

The Relief of \

to have deigned to address a word to them, though
the troop of soldiers and citizens who had snatched
arms and flung themselves after lu-r, arrested and
turned them back. Straight to the foot of the tower
she went, Dunois startled in his turn, thundering
after her. It is not for a woman to describe, any-
more than it was for a woman to execute such a feat
of war. It is said that she put herself at the head
of the citizens, Dunois at the head of the soldiers.
One moment of pity and horror and heart-sickness
Jeanne had felt when she met several wounded men
who were being carried towards the town. She had
never seen French blood shed before, and the dread-
ful thought that they might die unconfessed, over-
\\ helmed her soul ; but this was but an incident of
h.r breathless gallop to the encounter. To isolate
the tower which was attacked was the first necessity,
and then the conflict was furious the English dis-
couraged, but fighting desperately against a mysteri-
ous force which overwhelmed them, at the same time
that it redoubled the ardour of every Frenchman.
Lord Talbot sent forth parties from the other forts
to help their companions, but these were met in the
midst by the rest of the army arriving from Orleans,
which stopped their course. It was not till evening,
"the hour of Vespers/' that the bastille was finally-
taken, with great slaughter, the Orleanists giving lit-
tle quarter. During these dreadful hours the Maid
was everywhere visible with her standard, the most
marked figure, shouting to her men, weeping for the
others, not fighting herself so far as we hear, but
always in the front of the battle. When she went

8o Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

back to Orleans triumphant, she led a band of pris-
oners with her, keeping a wary eye upon them that
they might not come to harm.

The next day, May 5th, was the Feast of the As-
cension, and it was spent by Jeanne in rest and in
prayer. But the other leaders were not so devout.
They held a crowded and anxious council of war,
taking care that no news of it should reach the ears
of the Maid. When, however, they had decided
upon the course. to pursue they sent for her, and
intimated to her their decision to attack only the
smaller forts, which she heard with great impatience,
not sitting down, but walking about the room in
disappointment and anger. It is difficult * for the
present writer to follow the plans of this council or
to understand in what way Jeanne felt herself con-
tradicted and set aside. However it was, the fact
seems certain that their plan failed at first, the
English having themselves abandoned one of the
smaller forts on the right side of the river and
concentrated their forces in the greater ones of
Les Augustins and Les Tourelles on the left bank.
For all this, reference to the map is necessary,
which will make it quite clear. It was Classidas, as
he is called, Glasdale, the most furious enemy of

* I avail myself here as elsewhere of Mr. Lang's lucid descrip-
tion. " It is really perfectly intelligible. The Council wanted a feint
on the left bank, Jeanne an attack on the right. She knew their
scheme, untold, but entered into it. There was, however, no feint.
She deliberately forced the fighting. There was grand fighting, well
worth telling," adds my martial critic, who understands it so much
better than I do, and who I am happy to think is himself telling the
tale in another way.

1429] The Relief of Orleans. 81

France, and one of the bravest of the English cap-
tains who held the former, and for a moment suc-
ceeded in repulsing the attack. The fortune of war
seemed about to turn back to its former current, and
the French fell back on the boats which had brought
them to the scene of action, carrying the Maid with
them in their retreat. But she perceived how critical
the moment was, and reining upjier horse from the
bank, down which she was befyg forced by the
crowd, turned back again, closel^ followed by La
Hire, and at once, no doubt, by the stouter hearts
who only wanted a leader and charging the English,
who had regained their courage as tne \vhite armour
of the witch disappeared, and were in full career
after the fugitives drove them back to their fortifica-
tions, which they gained with a rush, leaving the
ground strewn with the wounded and dying. Jeanne
herself did not draw bridle till she had planted her
standard on the edge of the moat which surrounded
the tower.

Michelet is very brief concerning this first victory,
and claims only that " the success was due in part to
the Maid," although the crowd of captains and men-
at-arms were by themselves quite sufficient for the
work, had there been any heart in them. But this
was true to fact in almost every case : and it is
:lear that she was simply the heart, which was the
only thing wanted to those often beaten Frenchmen ;
where she was, where they could hear her robust
young voice echoing over all the din, they were as
men inspired ; when the impetus of their flight car-
ried her also away, they became once more the de-

82 Jeanne d 1 Arc. [1429

feated of so many battles. The effect upon the
English was equally strong ; when the back of Jeanne
was turned, they were again the men of Agincourt ;
when she turned upon them, her white breastplate
blazing out like a star, the sunshine striking dazzling
rays from her helmet, they trembled before the sorcer-
ess ; an angel to her own side, she was the very spirit
of magic and witchcraft to her opponents. Classidas,
or which captain soever of the English side it might
.Happen to be, blaspheming from the battlements,
hurled all the evil names of which a trooper was
capable, upon her, while she from below summoned
them, in different tones of appeal and menace, call-
ing upon them to yield, to go home, to give up the
struggle. Her form, her voice are always evident in
the midst of the great stone bullets, the cloth-yard
shafts that were flying they were so near, the one
above, the other below, that they could hear each
other speak.

On the 6th of May the fort of Les Augustins on the
left bank was taken. It will be seen by reference to
the map, that this bastille, an ancient convent, stood
at some distance from the river, in peaceful times
a little way beyond the bridge, and no doubt a
favourite Sunday walk from the city. The bridge
was now closed up by the frowning bulk of the
Tourelles built upon it, with a smaller tower or
" boulevard " on the left bank communicating with
it by a drawbridge. When Les Augustins was
taJwt, the victorious French turned their arms
against this boulevard, but as night had fallen by
*his time, they suspended the fighting, having driven

Wall* of the town with it five

fortified gates and 31 tower*.
. . . . Existing limits of the town.

A. The Tour Neuve.

B. Gate of the Bridge or of St. Catherine.

C. Burgundy Gate.

D. The Gate Parisis.

E. The Bernier or Baunier Gate.

F. The Renart Gate.

Q. Earthwork: des Poissonniers.

H. Earthwork : St. Antoine.

j. Fort St. Antoine.

L. The barricade of La Belle Croix.

M. The Cathedral of Ste. Croix.

N. St. Paul.

O. St. Pierre-au font,

p. St. Pierre-le-puellier.

Q. St. Pouair(St. Paterne).

R. St. Aignan.

S. St. Euvert.

T. House of the Treasurer Jaqnes Boucher, where

Jeanne d'Arc was lodged.

U. Croix Morin.

V. IledeSable.

X. Island before St. Aignan, now called lie aux

Toilcs.

1429J The Relief of Orleans. 83

back the Knglish, who had made a sally in help of
Augustins. Here in the dark, which suited
their purpose, another council was held. The cap-
tains decided that they would now pursue their vic-
tory no further, the town being fully supplied with
provisions and joyful with success, but that they
would await the arrival of reinforcements before
they proceeded further; probably their object was
solely to get rid of Jeanne, to conclude the struggle
without her, and secure the credit of it. The coun-
cil was held in the camp within sight of the fort, by
the light of torches; after she had been persuaded
to withdraw, on account of a slight wound in her
foot from a calthrop, it is said. This message was sent
after her into Orleans. She heard it with quiet dis-
dain. " You have held your council, and I have had
mine," she said calmly to the messengers; then turn-
ing to her chaplain, " Come to me to-morrow at
dawn," she said, " and do not leave me ; I shall have
much to do. My blood will be shed. I shall be
wounded * to-morrow," pointing above her right
breast. Up to this time no weapon had touched her ;
she had stood fast among all the flying arrows, the
fierce play of spear and sword, and had taken no
harm.

In the morning early, at sunrise, she dashed forth
from the town again, though the generals, her hosts,
and all the authorities who were in the plot endeav-
oured to detain her. " Stay with us, Jeanne," said
the people with whom she lodged - official people,

* She had made this prophecy a month before, and it was recorded
three weeks before the event in the Town Book of Brabant. A. L.

84 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

much above the rank of the Maid " stay and help
us to eat this fish fresh out of the river." " Keep it
for this evening," she said, " and I shall return by
the bridge and bring you some Goddens to have
their share/' She had already brought in a party of
the Goddens on the night before to protect them
from the fury of the crowd. The peculiarity of this
promise lay in the fact that the bridge was broken,
and could not be passed, even without that diffi-
culty, without passing through the Tourelles and
the boulevard which blocked it at the other end.
At the closed gates another great official stood
by, to prevent her passing, but he was soon swept
away by the flood of enthusiasts who followed
the white horse and its white rider. The crowd
flung themselves into the boats to cross the river
with her, horse and man. Les Tourelles stood alone,
black and frowning across the shining river in its
early touch of golden sunshine, on the south side of
the Loire, the lower tower of the boulevard on the
bank blackened with the fire of last night's attack,
and the smoking ruins of Les Augustins beyond.
The French army, whom Orleans had been busy all
night feeding and encouraging, lay below, not yet ap-
parently moving either for action or retreat. Jeanne
plunged among them like a ray of light, D'Aulon
carrying her banner ; and passing through the ranks,
she took up her place on the border of the moat of
the boulevard. Her followers rushed after with that
elan of desperate and uncalculating valour which was
the great power of the French arms. In the midst
of the fray the girl's clear voice, assez voix de femme,

H29J The Relief of Orleans. 85

kept shouting encouragements, tic la part de Dieu
always her war-cry. " Bon c&ur, bonne csperance"
she cried " the hour is at hand." But after hours of
desperate fighting the spirit of the assailants began to
flag. Jeanne, who apparently did not at any time
take any active part in the struggle, though she ex-
posed herself to all its dangers, seized a ladder, placed
it against the wall, and was about to mount, when an
arrow struck her full in the breast. The Maid fell,
the crowd closed round ; for a moment it seemed as
if all were lost.

Here we have over again in the fable our friend
Gamache. It is a pretty story, and though we ask
no one to take it for absolute fact, there is rjo reason
why some such incident might not 'have occurred.
Gamache, the angry captain who rather than follow
*,pr<mntlU to the field was prepared to fold his ban-
ner round its staff, and give up his rank, is supposed
to have been the nearest to her when she fell. It was
he who cleared the crowd from about her and raised
her up. "Take my horse," he said, " brave creature.
Bear no malice. I confess that I was in the wrong."
" It is I that should be wrong if I bore malice," cried
Jeanne, " for never was a knight so courteous "
(chevalier si bien apprins). She was surrounded im-
mediately by her people, the chaplain whom she had
bidden to keep near her, her page, all her special
attendants, who would have conveyed her out of the
fight had she consented. Jeanne had the courage
to pull the arrow out of the wound with her own
hand, "it stood a hand breadth out" behind her
shoulder but then, being but a girl and this her

86 y eanne d* Arc. [1429

first experience of the sort, notwithstanding her
armour and her rank as General-in-Chief, she cried
with the pain, this commander of seventeen. Some-
body then proposed to charm the wound with an
incantation, but the Maid indignant, cried out, " I
would rather die." Finally a compress soaked in
oil was placed upon it, and Jeanne withdrew a little
with her chaplain, and made her confession to him,
as one who might be about to die.

But soon her mood changed. She saw the assail-
ants waver and fall back ; the attack grew languid,
and Dunois talked of sounding the retreat. Upon
this she got to her feet, and scrambled somehow on
her horse. " Rest a little/' she implored the gen-
erals about her, "eat something, refresh yourselves:
and when you see my standard floating against the
wall, forward, the place is yours." They seem to
have done as she suggested, making a pause, while
Jeanne withdrew a little into a vineyard close by,
where there must have been a tuft of trees, to afford
her a little shelter. There she said her prayers, and
tasted that meat to eat that men wot not of, which
restores the devout soul Turning back she took
her standard from her squire's hand, and planted it
again on the edge of the moat. " Let me know,"
she said, " when the pennon touches the wall." The
folds of white and gold with the benign countenance
of the Saviour, now visible, now lost in the changes
of movement, floated over their heads on the breeze
of the May day. " Jeanne," said the squire, " it
touches ! " " On ! " cried the Maid, her voice ringing
through the momentary quiet. " On ! all is yours ! "

1429; The Relief of Or/cans. 87

The troops rose as one man ; they flung themselves
against the wall, at the foot of which that white
figure stood, the staff of her banner in her hand,
.shouting. " All is yours." Never had the French
clan been .so wildly inspired, so irresistible; they
swarmed up the wall " as if it had been a stair."
"Do they think themselves immortal ? " the panic-
stricken English cried among themselves panic-
stricken not by their old enemies, but by the white
figure at the foot of the wall. Was she a witch, as had
been thought? was not she indeed the messenger of
God ? The dazzling rays that shot from her armour
seemed like butterflies, like doves, like angels float-
ing about her head. They had thought her dead,
yet here she stood again without a sign of injury ;
or was it Michael himself, the great archangel whom
she resembled so much ? Arrows flew round her
on every side but never touched her. She struck no
blow, but the folds of her standard blew against the
wall, and her voice rose through all the tumult.
M ( )n ! Enter ! dc la part dc Dicu ! for all is yours."
The Maid had other words to say, "AV;//r, rcnty,
-idas!" she cried, "you called me vile names,
but I have a great pity for your soul." He on his
side showered down blasphemies. lie was at the
last gasp ; one desperate last effort he made with a
handful of men to escape from the boulevard by the
drawbridge to Les Tourelles, which crossed a narrow
strip of the river. Hut the bridge had been fired by a
fire-ship from Orleans and gave way under the rush
of the heavily-armed men ; and the fierce Classidas
and his companions were plunged into the river,

88 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

where a knight in armour, like a tower falling, went
to the bottom in a moment. Nearly thirty of them,
it is said, plunged thus into the great Loire and were
seen no more.

It was the end of the struggle. The French flag
swung forth on the parapet, the French shout rose
to heaven. Meanwhile a strange sight was to be
seen the St. Michael in shining armour, who had
led that assault, shedding tears for the ferocious
Classidas, who had cursed her with his last breath.
" J'aigrande pitti de ton dme." Had he but had time
to clear his soul and reconcile himself with God !

This was virtually the end of the siege of Orleans.
The broken bridge on the Loire had been rudely
mended, with a great gouttiere and planks, and the
people of Orleans had poured out over it to take the
Tourelles in flank the English being thus taken
between Jeanne's army on the one side and the citi-
zens on the other. The whole south bank of the
river was cleared, not an Englishman left to threaten
the richest part of France, the land flowing with
milk and honey. And though there still remained
several great generals on the other side with strong
fortifications to fall back upon, they seem to have
been paralysed, and did not strike a blow. Jeanne
was not afraid of them, but her ardour to continue
the fight dropped all at once ; enough had been done.
She awaited the conclusion with confidence. Need-
less to say that Orleans was half mad with joy, every
church sounding its bells, singing its song of triumph
and praise, the streets so crowded that it was with
difficulty that the Maid could make her progress

THE TAKING OF ORLEANS BY JEANNE D'ARC.

FROM A MURAL PAINTING BY J. E. LtNEPVEU IN THE PANTHEON AT PARIS.

H29] The Relief of Orleans. 89

through them, with throngs of people pressing round
to kiss her hand, if might be, her greaves, her mailed
shoes, her charger, the floating folds of her banner.
She had said she would be wounded and so she
was, as might be seen, the envious rent of the arrow
showing through the white plates of metal on her
shoulder. She had said all should be theirs de par
Dicu : and all was theirs, thanks to our Lord and also
to St. Aignan and St. Euvert, patrons of Orleans, and
to St. Louis and St. Charlemagne in heaven who
had so great pity of the kingdom of France : and to
the Maid on earth, the Heaven-sent deliverer, the
spotless virgin, the celestial warrior happy he who
could reach to kiss it, the point of her mailed shoe.

Someone says that she rode through all this half-
delirious joy like a creature in a dream, fatigue,
pain, the happy languor of the end attained, and
also the profound pity that was the very inspiration
of her spirit, for all those souls of men gone to their
account without help of Church or comfort of priest
overwhelming her. But next day, which was Sun-
day, she was up again and eagerly watching all that
went on. A strange sight was Orleans on that Sun-
day of May. On the south side of the Loire, all
those half-ruined bastilles smoking and silenced,
which once had threatened not the city only but all
the south of France ; on the north the remaining
bands of English drawn up in order of battle. The
excitement of the town and of the generals in it, was
intense ; worn as they were with three days of con-
tinuous fighting, should they sally forth again and
meet that compact, silent, doubly defiant army, which

90 Jeanne d* Arc. LH29

was more or less fresh and unexhausted ? Jeanne's
opinion was, No; there had been enough of fighting,
and it was Sunday, the holy day ; but apparently the
French did go out though keeping at a distance,
watching the enemy. By orders of the Maid an altar
was raised between the two armies in full sight of
both sides, and there mass was celebrated, under the
sunshine, by the side of the river which had swallowed
Classidas and all his men. French and English to-
gether devoutly turned towards and responded to
that Mass in the pause of bewildering uncertainty.
" Which way are their heads turned ? " Jeanne asked
when it was over. " They are turned away from us,
they are turned to Meung," was the reply. " Then
let them go, de par Dicu" the Maid replied.

The siege had lasted for seven months, but eight
days of the Maid were enough to bring it to an end.
The people of Orleans still, every year, on the 8th
of May, make a procession round the town and give
thanks to God for its deliverance. Henceforth, the
Maid was known no longer as Jeanne d'Arc, the
peasant of Domremy, but as La Pucelle d' Orleans,
in the same manner in which one might speak of the
Prince of Waterloo, or the Due de Malakoff.

CHAPTER V.

THK CAMPAIGN <>F THK LOIRE.

JUNE, JULY, 1429.

HE rescue of Orleans and the defeat
of the invincible English were news
to move France from one end to the
other, and especially to raise the spir-
its and restore the courage of that
part of France which had no sym-
pathy with the invaders and to which
the English yoke was unaccustomed and disgraceful.
The news Hew up and down the Loire from point t<>
point, arousing every village, and breathing new
heart and encouragement everywhere ; while in the
meantime Jeanne, partially healed of her wound
(on May Qth she rode out in ^maillct, a light coat of
chain-mail), after a few days' rest in the joyful city
which she had saved with all its treasures, set out
on her return to Chinon. She found the King at
Loches, another of the strong places on the Loire
where there was room for a Court, and means of
defence for a siege should such be necessary, ;* is
the case with so many of those wonderful castles

9'

92 Jeanne d' Arc. [1479

upon the great French river. Hot with eagerness to
follow up her first great success and accomplish her
mission, J e^rjne's object was to march on at once
with the young Prince, with or without his immense
retinue, to Rheims where he should be crowned and
anointed King as she had promised. Her instinct-
ive sense of the necessities of the position, if we
use that language more justly, her boundless faith
in the orders which she believed had been given her
from Heaven, to accomplish this great act without
delay, urged her on. She was straitened, if we may
quote the most divine of words, till it should be
accomplished.

But the Maid, flushed with victory, with the
shouts of Orleans still ringing in her ears, the
applause of her fellow-soldiers, the sound of the tri-
umphant bells, was plunged all at once into the
indolence, the intrigues, the busy nothingness of the
Court, in which whispering favourites surrounded a
foolish young prince, beguiling him into foolish
amusements, alarming him with coward fears. Wise
men and buffoons alike dragged him down into that
paltry abyss, the one always counselling caution,
the other inventing amusements. " Let us eat and
drink for to-morrow we die." Was it worth while to
lose everything that was enjoyable in the present
.moment, to subject a young sovereign to toils and
excitement, and probable loss, for the uncertain ad-
vantage of a vain ceremony, when he might be
enjoying himself safely and at his ease, throughout
the summer months, on the cheerful banks of the
Loire ? On the other hand, the Chancellor, the

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. 93

Chamberlains, the Church, all his graver advisers
(with the exception of Gerson, the great theologian
to whom has been ascribed the authorship of the
Imitation of Christ, who is reported to have said,
" If France deserts her, and she fails, she is none the
less inspired ") shook their heads and advised that
the way should be quite safe and free of danger
before the King risked himself upon it. It was thus
that Jeanne was received when, newly alighted from
her charger, her shoulder still but half healed, her
eyes scarcely clear of the dust and smoke, she found
herself once more in the ante-chamb^ wasting the
days, waiting in vain behind closed doors, tormented
by the lutes and madrigals, the light women and
lighter men, useless and contemptible, of a foolish
Court. The Maid, in all the energy and impulse of a
success which had proved all her claims, had also a
premonition that her own time was short, if not a
direct intimation, as some believe, to that effect :
and mingled her remonstrances and appeals with the
cry of warning: " I shall only last a year: take the
good of me as long as it is possible."

No doubt she was a very great entertainment to
the idle seigneurs and ladies who would try to per-
suade her to tell them what was to happen to them,
she who had prophesied the death of Glasdale and
her own wound and so many other things. The
Duke of Lorraine on her first setting out had at-
tempted to discover from Jeanne what course his
illness would take, and whether he should get bet-
ter; and all the demoiselles and demoiseaux, the
flutterers of the ante-chamber, would be still more

94 Jeanne d' Arc. [1479

likely to surround with their foolish questions the
stout-hearted, impatient girl who had acquired a little
of the roughness of her soldier comrades, and had
never been slow at any time in answering a fool
according to his folly; for Jeanne was no meek or
sentimental maiden, but a robust and vigorous
young woman, ready with a quick response, as well
as with a ready blow did any one touch her unad-
visedly, or use any inappropriate freedom. At last,
one day while she waited vainly outside the cabinet
in which the King was retired with a few of his
councillors, Jeanne's patience failed her altogether.
She knocked at the door, and being admitted threw
herself at the feet of the King. To Jeanne he was
no king till he had received the consecration neces-
sary for every sovereign of France. " Noble Dau-
phin," she cried, " why should you hold such long
and tedious councils ? Rather come to Rheims and
receive your worthy crown."

The Bishop of Castres, Christopher de Harcourt,
who was present, asked her if she would not now in
the presence of the King describe to them the man-
ner in which her council instructed her, when they
talked with her. Jeanne reddened and replied : " I
understand that you would like to know, and I
would gladly satisfy you." " Jeanne," said the King
in his turn, " it would be very good if you could do
what they ask, in the presence of those here."
She answered at once and with great feeling :
" When I am vexed to find myself disbelieved in
the things I say from God, I retire by myself and
pray to God, complaining and asking of Him why I

I429J The Campaign of the Lu, 95

am not listened to. And when I have prayed I
hear a voice which says, * Daughter of God, go, go,
go! I will help tliee, go!' And when I hear that
voice I frrl a givat joy." Her face shone as she
spoke, "lifting her eyes to heaven," like the face of
Mosrs while still it bore the reflection of the glory
of God, so that the men were dazzled who sat,
speechless, looking on.

The rcsujt__was that Charles kindly promised to
set out as soon as the road between him and Rheims
should 1) >f the English, especially the towns

on the Loire in wlilcfiTa great part of the army dis-
persed from Orleans had taken refuge, with the
addition of the auxiliary forces of Sir John Fastolfe,
a name so much feared by the French, but at which
the English reader can scarcely forbear a smile.
That the young King did not think of putting him-
self at the head of the troops or of taking part in
the campaign shows sufficiently that he was indeed
a panvre sire, unworthy his gallant people. Jeanne,
however, nothing better being possible, seems to
have accepted this mission with readiness, and in-
stantly began her preparations to carry it out. It is
here that the young Seigneur Guy de Laval comes
in with his description of her already quoted. lie
was no humble squire but a great personage to
whom the King was civil and pleased to show cour-
tesy. The young man writes to scs meres, that is,
it seems, his mother and grandmother, to whom, in
their distant chateau, anxiously awaiting news of the
two youths gone to the wars, their faithful son
makes his report of himself and his brother. The

96 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

King, he says, sent for the Maid, in order, Sir Guy
believes, that he might see her. And afterwards the
young man went to Selles where she was just setting
out on the campaign.

From Selles, he writes on the 8th June, exactly a
month after the deliverance of Orleans :

*' I went to her lodging to see her, and she sent for wine and told
me we should soon drink wine in Paris. It was a miraculous thing
(toute divine) to see her and hear her. She left Selles on Monday at
the hour of vespers for Romorantin, the Marshal de Boussac and a
great many armed men with her. I saw her mount her horse, all in
white armour excepting the head, a little axe in her hand. The great
black charger was very restive at her door and would not let her mount.
1 Lead him,' she said, ' to the cross which is in front of the church/
and there she mounted, the horse standing still as if he had been
bound. Then turning towards the church which was close by she
said in a Womanly voice (assez voix de femme), ' You priests and peo-
ple of the Church, make processions and prayers to God for us ' ;
then turning to the road, 4 Forward,' she said. Her unfolded stand-
ard was carried by a page ; she had her little axe in her hand, and by
her side rode a brother who had joined her eight days before. The
Maid told me in her lodging that she had sent you, grandmother, a
small gold ring, which was indeed a very small affair, and that she
would fain have sent you something better, considering your recom-
mendation. To-day M. d'Alencon, the Bastard of Orleans, and
Gau court were to leave Selles, following the Maid. And men are
arriving from all parts every day, all with good hope in God who I
believe will help us. But money there is none at the Court, so that
for the present I have no hope of any help or assistance. Therefore
I desire you, Madame ma mere^ who have my seal, spare not the land f
neither in sale nor mortgage. . . . My much honoured ladies and
mothers, I pray the blessed Son of God that you have a good life and
long ; and both of us recommend ourselves to our brother Louis.
And we send our greetings to the reader of this letter. Written from
Selles, Wednesday, 8th June, 1429. This afternoon are arrived M.
de Vendome, M. de Boussac, and others, and La Hire has joined the
army, and we shall soon be at work (on besognera bientot) May God
grant that it should be according to your desire."

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. 97

It was with difficulty that the Due d'Alen<jon had
been got to start, his wife consenting with great re-
luctance, lie had been long a prisoner in England,
and had lately been ransomed for a great sum of
money; " Was not that a sufficient sacrifice? M the
Duchess asked indignantly. To risk once more a
husband so costly was naturally a painful thing to
do, and why could not Jeanne be content and stay
where she was? Jeanne comforted the lady, per-
haps with a little good-humoured contempt. " Fear
nothing, Madame," she said ; " I will bring him back
to you safe and sound/* Probably Alen$on himself
had no great desire to be second in command to this
country lass, even though she had delivered Orleans ;
and if he set out at all he would have preferred to
take another direction and to protect his own prop-
erty and province. The gathering of the army thus
becomes visible to us ; parties are continually coming
in ; and no doubt, as they marched along, many a
little chateau and they abound through the coun-
try each with its attendant hamlet gave forth its
master or heir, poor but noble, followed by as many
men-at-arms, perhaps only two or three, as the little
property could raise, to swell the forces with the best
and surest of material, the trained gentlemen with
hearts full of chivalry and pride, but with the same
hardy, self-denying habits as the sturdy peasants who
followed them, ready for any privation ; with a proud
delight to hear that on besognera bientot with that
St. Michael at their head, and no longer any fear of
the English in their hearts.

The first bcsogne on which this army entered was

98 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

the siege o^Jargeau, June nth, into which town
Suffolk had thrown himself and his troops when the
siege of Orleans was raised. The town was strong
and so was the garrison, experienced too in all the
arts of war, and already aware of the wild enthusi-
asm by which Jeanne was surrounded. She passed
through Orleans on the loth of June, and had there
been joined by various new detachments. The
number of her army was now raised, we are told, to
twelve hundred lances, which means, as each
" lance " was a separate party, about three thousand
six hundred men, though the Journal du Siege gives
a much larger number; at all events it was a small
army with which to decide a quarrel between the
two greatest nations of Christendom. Her associates
in command were here once more seized by the pre-
vailing sin of hesitation, and many arguments were
used to induce her to postpone the assault. It w r ould
seem that this hesitation continued until the very mo-
ment of attack, and was only put an end to when
Jeanne herself impatiently seized her banner from the
hand of her squire, and planting herself at the foot
of the walls let loose the fervour of the troops and
cheered them on to the irresistible rush in which lay
their strength. For it was with the commanders,
not with the followers, that the weakness lay. The
Maid herself was struck on the head by a stone from
the battlements which threw her down ; but she
sprang up again in a moment unhurt. " Sus ! sus !
our Lord has condemned the English all is yours ! "
she cried. She would seem to have stood there in
her place with her banner, a rallying-point and cen-

1429] The Campaign- of the Loire. 99

tre in the midst of all the confusion of the fight,
taking this for her part in it, and though she is al-
9 in the thick of the combat, never, so far as we
are told, striking a blow, exposed to all the instru-
ments of war, but injured by none. The effect of
her mere attitude, the steadiness of her stand, under
tlie terrible rain of stone bullets and dreadful arrows,
must of itself have been indescribable.

In the midst of the fiery struggle, there is almost
a comic point in her watch over Alencon, for whose
safety she had pledged herself, now dragging him
from a dangerous spot with a cry of warning, now
pushing him forward with an encouraging word.
( )n the first of these occasions a gentleman of Anjou,
M. de Lude, who took his place in the front was
killed, which seems hard upon the poor gentleman,
who was probably quite as well worth caring for as
Alengon. " Avant, gent il due" she cried at another
moment, " forward ! are you afraid ? you know I prom-
ised your wife to bring you safe home." Thus her
voice keeps ringing through the din, her white
armour gleams. *' Sus / sus / " the bold cry is al-
most audible, sibilant, whistling amid the whistling
of the arrows.

the English Bayard, the most chivalrous

of knights, was-At last forced to yield. One story
tells us that he would give up his sword only to
Jeanne herself/ but there is a more authentic de-

* The former story was written in 1429, by the Greffier of Rochelle.
" I will yield me only to her, the most valiant woman in the world."
The Gremer was writing at the moment, but not, of course, as an eye-
witness. A. L,

ioo Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

scription of his selection of one youth among his
assailants whom the quick perceptions of the leader
had singled out. " Are you noble ?" Suffolk asks in
the brevity of such a crisis. " Yes ;' Guillame Reg-
nault, gentleman of Auvergne." " Are you a
knight?" " Not yet." The victor put a knee to
the ground before his captive, the vanquished
touched him lightly on the shoulder with the sword
which he then gave over to him. Suffolk was always
the finest gentleman, the most perfect gentle knight
of his time.

" Now let us go and see the English of Meung,"
cried Jeanne, unwearying, as soon as this victory was
assured. That place fell easily ; it is called the
bridge of Meung, in the Chronicle, without further de-
scription, therefore presumably the fortress was not
attacked and they proceeded onward to Beaugency.
These towns still shine over the plain, along the line
of the Loire, visible as far as the eye will carry over
the long levels, the great stream linking one to an-
other like pearls on a thread. There is nothing in
the landscape now to give even a moment's shelter
to the progress of a marching army which must have
been seen from afar, wherever it moved ; or to veil
the shining battlements, and piled up citadels rising
here and there, concentrated points and centres
of life. The great white Castle of Blois, the darker
tower of Beaugency, still stand where they stood
when Jeanne and her men drew near, as conspicuous
in their elevation of walls and towers as if they had
been planted on a mountain top. On more than one
occasion during this wonderful progress from victory

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. 101

to victory, the triumphant leaders returned for a
da}- or two to Orleans to tell their good tidings, and
to celebrate their succc

And there is but one voice as to the military skill
which she displayed in these repeated operations.
The reader sees her, with her banner, posted in the
middle of the fight, guiding her men with a sort of
infallible instinct which adds force to her absolute
certainty of the event ; the intuitive science, the
quick perception of every difficulty and advantage,
the unhesitating promptitude, attending like so
many servants upon the inspiration which is the
soul of all. These are things to which a writer igno-
rant of war is quite unable to do justice. What was
almost more wonderful still was the manner in which
the Maid held her place among the captains, most
of whom would have thwarted her if they could,
with a consciousness of her own superior place, in
which there is never the slightest token of presump-
tion or self-esteem. She guarded and guided Alen-
5011 with a good-natured and affectionate disdain ;
and when there was risk of a great quarrel and a
splitting of forces she held the balance like an old
and experienced guide of men.

This latter crisis occurred before Beaugency on
the 1 5th of June, when the Comte de Richemont,
Constable of France, the brother of the Due de
Bretagne, a great nobleman and famous leader, but
in disgrace with the King and exiled from the
Court, suddenly appeared with a considerable army
to join himself to the royalist forces, probably with
the hope of securing the leading place. Richemont

IO2 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

was no friend to Jeanne ; though he apparently
asked her help and influence to reconcile him with
the King. He seems indeed to have thought it* a
disgrace to France that her troops should be led,
and victories gained by no properly appointed gen-
eral, but by a woman, probably a witch, a creature
unworthy to stand before armed men. It must not
be forgotten that even now this was the general
opinion of her out of the range of her immediate
influence. The English held it like a religion.
Bedford, in his description of the siege of Orleans
and its total failure, reports to England that the dis-
comfiture of the hitherto always triumphant army
was " caused in great part by the fatal faith and vain
fear that the French had, of a disciple and servant
of the enemy of man, called the Maid, who uses
many false enchantments, and witchcraft, by which
not only is the number of our soldiers diminished
but their courage marvellously beaten down, and
the boldness of our enemies increased." Richemont
was a sworn enemy of all such. " Never man hated
more, all heresies, sorcerers, and sorceresses, than he ;
for he burned more in France, in Poitou, and Bre-
tagne, than any other of his time/' The French
generals were divided as to the merits of Riche-
mont and the advantages to be derived from his
support. Alengon, the nominal commander, de-
clared that he would leave the army if Richemont
were permitted to join it. The letters of the King
were equally hostile to him ; but on the other hand
there were some who held that the accession of the
Constable was of more importance than all the Maids

1429: The Campaign of I he Loire. 103

in France. It was a moment which demanded very
wary guidance. Jeanne, it would seem, did not re-
gard his arrival with much pleasure ; probably even
the in* f her forces did not please her as it

would have pleased most commanders, holding
so strongly as she did, to the miraculous char-
acter of her own mission and that it was not so
much the strength of her troops as the help of God
that got her the victory. But it was not her part to
reject or alienate any champion of France. We
have an account of their meeting given by a retainer
of Richemont, which is picturesque enough. " The
Maid alighted from her horse, and the Constable
also. ' Jeanne, ' he said, ' they tell me that you are
against me. I know not if you are from God (de la
part de Dieii) or not. If you are from God I do not
fear you; if you are of the devil, I fear you still
less/ ' Brave Constable/ said Jeanne, ' you have not
come here by any will of mine ; but since you are
here you are welcome.' '

Armed neutrality but suspicion on one side, dig-
nified indifference but acceptance on the other,
could not be better shown.

JThesc successes, however, had been attended by
various escarmouc'Jies going on behind. The English,
who had been driven out of one town affer another,
had now drawn together under the command of
^Talbot, and a party of tt^ps~umtr*-Fastolfe y wKo
came to relieve them, had turned back as Jeanne
proceeded, making various unsuccessful attempts to
recover what had been lost. Failing in all their
efforts they retired across the country to Gen\qlk r ,

IO4 Jeanne d'Arc.

[1429

and were continuing their retreat to Paris when the
two enemies came within reach of each other. An
encounter in open field was a new experience of
which Jeanne as yet had known nothing. She had
been successful in assault, in the operations of the
siege, but to meet the enemy hand to hand in battle
was what she had never been required to do ; and
every tradition, every experience, was in favour of
the English. From Agincourt to the Battle of the
Herrings at Rouvray near Orleans, which had taken
place in the beginning of the year (a fight so named
because the field of battle had been covered with
herrings, the conquerors in this case being merely
the convoy in charge of provisions for the English,
which Fastolfe commanded), such a thing had not
been known as that the French should hold their
own, much less attain any victory over the invaders.
In these circumstances there was much talk of falling
back upon the camp near Beaugency and of retreat-
ing or avoiding an engagement ; anything rather than
hazard one of those encounters which had infallibly
ended in disaster. But Jeanne was of the same mind
as always, to go forward and fear nothing. " Fall
upon them ! Go at them boldly," she cried. " If
they were in the clouds we should have them. The
gentle King will now gain the greatest victory he
has ever had."

It is curious to hear that in that great plain of the
Beauce, so flat, so fertile, with nothing but vines
and cornfields now against the horizon, the two
armies at last almost stumbled upon each other by
accident, in the midst of the brushwood by which

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. 105

the country was wildly overgrown. The story is
that a stag roused by the French scouts rushed into
the midst of the English, who were advantageously
placed among the brushwood to arrest the enemy
on their march ; the wild creatures terrified and fly-
ing before an army blundered into the midst of the
others, was fired at and thus betrayed the vicinity
of the foe. The English had no time to form or set
up their usual defences. They w r ere so taken by
surprise that the rush of the French came without
warning, with a suddenness which gave it double
force. La Hire made the first attack as leader of
the van, and there was thus emulation between the
two parties, which should be first upon the enemy.
When Alen^on asked Jeanne what was to be the
issue of the fight, she said calmly, " Have you good
spurs ? " " What ! you mean we shall turn our backs
on our enemies ? " cried her questioner. " Not so,"
she replied. " The English will not fight, they will
fly, and you will want good spurs to pursue them."
Even this somewhat fantastic prophecy put heart
into the men, who up to this time had been wont
to fly and not to fight.

And this was what happened, strange as it may
seem. Talbot himself was with the English forces,
and many a gallant captain beside: but the men and
their leaders were alike broken in spirit and filled
with superstitious terrors. Whether these were the
forces of hell or those of heaven that came against
them no one could be sure ; but it was a power be-
yond that of earth. The dazzled eyes which seemed
to see flights of white butterflies fluttering about the

io6 Jeanne d * Arc. [1429

standard of the Maid, could scarcely belong to one
who thought her a servant of the enemy of men.
But she was a pernicious witch to Talbot, and
strangely enough to Richemont also, who was on
her own side. The English force was thrown into
confusion, partly, we may suppose, from the broken
ground on which they were discovered, the under-
growth of the wood which hid both armies from
each other. But soon that disorder turned into the
wildest panic and flight. It would almost seem as
if between these two hereditary opponents one must
always be forced into this miserable part. Not all
the chivalry of France had been able to prevent it
at the long string of battles which had brought
things to the dismal pass in which they were, before
the revelation of the Maid ; and not the desperate
and furious valour of Talbot could preserve his
English force from the infection now. Fastolfe, with
the philosophy of an old soldier, deciding that it
was vain to risk his men when the field was already
lost, rode off with all his band. Talbot fought with
desperation, half mad with rage to be thus a second
time overcome by so unlikely an adversary, and
finally was taken prisoner ; while the whole force
behind him fled and were killed in their flight, the
plain being scattered with their dead bodies.

Jeanne herself made use of those spurs concern-
ing which she had enquired, and, carried away by
the passion of battle, followed in the pursuit, we are
told, until she met a Frenchman brutally ill-using a
prisoner whom he had taken, upon which the Maid,
indignant, flung herself from her horse, and, seating

JEANNE D'ARC.

FROM A PAINTING BY J. INGRES IN THE LOUVRE.

1429J The Campaign of the Loire. 107

herself on the ground beside the unfortunate Eng-
lishman, took his bleeding head upon her lap, and,
.sending for a priest, made his departure from life at
pity and spiritual consolation could
make it on such a disastrous field. In all the records
there is no mention of any actual fighting on her
part. She stands in the thick of the flying arrows
with her banner, exposing herself to every danger;
in moments of alarm, when her forces seem flagging,
she seizes and places a ladder against the wall for an
axault, and climbs the first as some say; but we
never see her strike a blow. On the banks of the
Loire the fate of the mail-clad Glasdale, hopeless in
the strong stream underneath the ruined bridge,
brought tears to her eyes, and now all the excite-
ment of the pursuit vanished in an instant from her
mind, when she saw the English man-at-arms dying
without the succour of the Church. Pity was always
in her heart ; she was ever on the side of the angels,
though an angel of war and not of peace.

It is perhaps because the numbers engaged were
so few that this flight or " Chasse de Patay," has
not taken a more important place in the records of
French historians. In general it is only by means
<>f Fontenoy that the amour proprc of the French
nation defends itself against the overwhelming list
of battles in which the English have had the better
of it. But this was probably the most complete
victory that has ever been gained over the stubborn
enemy whom French tactics are so seldom able to
touch ; and the conquerors were purely French with-
out any alloy of alien arms, except a few Scots, to

io8 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

help them. The^ejitirecampaign on theLojrewas
one of--tniiiiipli^fot^the Frencl^arnas^ jHHof disaster
for the F.ngU^rh. They it is perhaps a point of
national pride to admit it frankly were as well
beaten as heart of Frenchman could desire, beaten
not only in the result, but in the conduct of the
campaign, in heart and in courage, in skill and in
genius. There is no reason in the world why it
should not be admitted. But it was not the French
generals, not even Dunois, who secured these vic-
tories. It was the young peasant woman, the
dauntless Maid, who underneath the white mantle
of her inspiration, miraculous indeed, but not so
miraculous as this, had already developed the genius
of a soldier, and who in her simplicity, thinking
nothing but of her " voices " and the counsel they
gave her, was already the best general of them all.

When Talbot stood before the French generals,
no less a person than Alengon himself is reported
to have made a remark to him, of that ungenerous
kind which we call in feminine language " spiteful,"
and which is not foreign to the habit of that great
nation. " You did not think this morning what
would have happened to you before sunset," said
the Due d'Alengon to the prisoner. " It is the for-
tune of war/' replied the English chief.

Once more, however, it is like a sudden fall from
the open air and sunshine when the victorious army
and its chiefs turned back to the Court where the
King and his councillors sat idle, waiting for news
of what was being done for them. A battle-field is
no fine sight ; the excitement of the conflict, the

14291 Tlic Campaign of t lie Loire. 109

great end to be served by it, the sense of God's
special protection, even the tremendous uproar of
the fight, the intoxication of personal action, danger,
and success have, we do not doubt, a rapture and
ion in them for the moment, which carry the
mind away ; but the bravest soldier holds his breath
when he remembers the after scene, the dead and dy-
ing, the horrible injuries inflicted, the loss and misery.
However, not even the miserable scene of the Chasse
de Patay is so painful as the reverse of that dismal
picture, the halls of the royal habitation where,
while men died for him almost within hearing of the
fiddling and the dances, the young King trifled away
his useless days among his idle favourites, and the
musicians played, the assemblies were held, and all
went on as in the Tuileries. We feel as if we had
fallen fathoms deep into the meannesses of man-
kind when we come back from the bloodshed and
the horror outside, to the King's presence within.
The troops which had gone out in uncertainty, on
an enterprise which might well have proved too
great for them, had returned in full flush of triumph,
having at last fully broken the spell of the English
superiority which was the greatest victory that
could have been achieved : besides gaining the sub-
stantial advantage of three important towns brought
back to the King's allegiance only to find them-
selves as little advanced as before, coming back to
the self-same struggle with indolent complaining, in-
difference, and ingratitude.

Jeanne had given the signs that had been de-
manded from her. She had delivered Orleans, she

no Jeanne d' Arc. [1479

had cleared the King's road toward the north. She
had filled the French forces with an enthusiasm and
transport of valour which swept away all the tradi-
tions of ill fortune. From every point of view the
instant march upon Rheims and the accomplishment
of the great object of her mission had not only be-
come practicable, but was the wisest and most pru-
dent thing to do.

But this was not the opinion of the Chancellor of
France, the Archbishop of Rheims, and La Tremou-
ille, or of the indolent young King himself, who was
very willing to rejoice in the relief from all immedi-
ate danger, the restoration of the surrounding coun-
try, and even the victory itself, if only they would
have left him in quiet where he was, sufficiently
comfortable, amused, and happy, without forcing
him to take tiresome journeys and to encounter un-
necessary dangers. Jeanne's successes and her un-
seasonable zeal and the commotion that she and her
train of captains made, pouring in, in all the excite-
ment of their triumph, into the midst of the mad-
rigals seem to have been anything but welcome.
Go to Rheims to be crowned ? yes, some time when
it was convenient, when it was safe. But in the
meantime what was more important was to forbid
Richemont, whom the Chancellor hated and the
King did not love, to come into the presence, or to
have any share either in warfare or in pageant. This
was not only in itself an extremely foolish thing to
do, which is always a recommendation, but it was at
the same time an excuse for wasting a little precious
time. When this was at last accomplished, and

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. ill

Richemont, though deeply wounded and offended,
proved himself so much a man of honour and a
patriot, that though dismissed by the King he Still
upheld, if languidly, his cause there was yet a great
deal of resistance to be overcome. Paris though so
far off was thrown into great excitement and alarm
by the flight at Patay, and the whole city was in
commotion fearing an immediate advance and at-
tack. But in Loches, or wherever Charles may have
been, it was all taken very easily. Fastolfe, the
fugitive, had his Garter taken from him as the great-
est disgrace that could be inflicted, for his shameful
flight, about the time when Richemont, one of th
victors, was being sent off and disgraced on the other
side for the crime of having helped to inflict, with-
out the consent of the King, the greatest blow which
had yet been given to the English domination ! So
the Court held on its ridiculous and fatal course.

However the force of public feeling which must
have been very frankly expressed, by many impor-
tant voices was too much for Charles and he was at
length compelled to put himself in motion. The
army had assembled at Gien, where he joined it, and
the great wave of enthusiasm awakened by Jeanne,
and on which he now moved forth as on the top of
the wave, was for the time triumphant. No one
dared say now that the Maid was a sorceress, or that
it was by the aid of Beelzebub that she cast out
devils ; but a hundred jealousies and hatreds worked
against her behind backs, among the courtiers, among
the clergy, strange as that may sound, in sight of
the absolute devotion of her mind, and the saintly

112 Jeanne d 'Arc. [1429

life she led. So much was this the case still, not-
withstanding the practical proofs she had given of
her claims, that even persons of kindred mind, par-
tially sharing her inspirations, such as the famous
Brother Richard of Troyes, looked upon her with
suspicion and alarm fearing a delusion of Satan.
It is more easy perhaps to understand why the arch-
bishops and bishops should have been inclined
against her, since, though perfectly orthodox and a
good Catholic, Jeanne had been independent of all
priestly guidance and had sought no sanction from
the Church to her commission, which she believed
to be given by Heaven. " Give God the praise;
but we know that this woman is a sinner/' This was
the best they could find to say of her in the moment
of her greatest victories ; but indeed it is no dispar-
agement to Jeanne or to any saint that she should
share with her Master the opprobrium of such words
as these.

At last howevef a reluctant start was made. Jeanne
with her " people," her little staff, in w r hich, now, were
two of her brothers, a second having joined her after
Orleans, left Gien on the 28th of June ; and the next
day the King very unwillingly set out. There is
given a long list of generals who surrounded and
accompanied him, three or four princes of the blood,
the Bastard of Orleans, the Archbishop of Rheims,
marshals, admirals, and innumerable seigneurs, among
whom was our young Guy de Laval who wrote the
letter to his " mothers" which we have already
quoted, and whose faith in the Maid we thus know ;
and our ever faithful La Hire, the big-voiced Gascon

1429) The Campaign of the Loire. 113

who had permission to swear by his baton, the d'Ar-
tagnan of this history. We reckon these names as
those of friends: Dunois the ever-brave, Alen^on
\\\z gcntil Due for whom Jeanne had a special and
protecting kindness, La Hire the rough captain of
Free Lances, and the graceful young seigneur, Sir
Guy as we should have called him had he been Eng-
lish, who was so ready to sell or mortgage his land
that he might convey his troop befittingly to the
wars. This little group brightens the march for us
with their friendly faces. We know that they have
but one thought of the warrior maiden in whose
genius they had begun to have a wondering confi-
dence as well as in her divine mission. While they
were there we feel that she had at least so many
who understood her, and who bore her the affection
of brothers. We are told that in the progress of
the army Jeanne had no definite place. She rode
where she pleased, sometimes in the front, some-
times in the rear. One imagines with pleasure that
wherever her charger passed along the lines it would
be accompanied by one or other of those valiant and
faithful companions.

The first place at which a halt was made was
Auxerre, a town occupied chiefly by Burgundians,
wjiich closed its gates, but by means of bribes,
partly of provisions to be supplied, partly of gifts to
La Tremouille, secured itself from the attack which
Jeanne longed to lead. Other smaller strongholds
on the road yielded without hesitation. At last
they came to Troyes, a large and strong place, well
garrisoned and confident in its strength, the town

H4 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

distinguished in the history of the time by the
treaty made there, by which the young King had
been disinherited and by the marriage of Henry
of England with the Princess Catherine of France,
in whose right he was to succeed to the throne. It
was an ill-omened place for a French king, and the
camp was torn with dissensions. Should the army
march by, taking no notice of it and so get all the
sooner to Rheims ? or should they pause first, to
try their fortune against those solid walls ? But in-
deed it was not the camp that debated this question.
The camp was of Jeanne's mind whichever side she
took, and her side was always that of the promptest
action. The garrison made a bold sortie, the very
day of the arrival of Charles and his forces, but had
been beaten back : and the King encamped under
the walls, wavering and uncertain whether he might
not still depart on the morrow, but sending a re-
peated summons to surrender, to which no attention
was paid.

Once more there was a pause of indecision ; the
King was not bold enough either to push on and
leave the city, or to attack it. Again councils of war
succeeded each other day after day, discussing the
matter over and over, leaving the King each time
more doubtful, more timid than before. From these
debates Jeanne was anxiously held back, while every
silken fool gave his opinion. At last, one of the
councillors was stirred by this strange anomaly. He
declared among them all, that as it was by the advice
of the Maid that the expedition had been under-
taken, without her acquiescence it ought not to be

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. I 15

abandoned. " When the King set out it was not
because of the great puissance of the army he then
had with him, <>r the great treasure he had to pro-
vide for them, nor yet because it seemed to him a
probable thing to be accomplished ; but the said ex-
pedition was undertaken solely at the suit of the
said Jeanne, who urged him constantly to go for-
ward, to be crowned at Rheims, and that he should
find little resistance, for it was the pleasure and will
of God. If the said Jeanne is not to be allowed to
give her advice now, it is my opinion that we should
turn back," said the Seigneur de Treves, who had
never been a partisan of or believer in Jeanne. \Ve
are told that at this fortunate moment when one of
her opponents had thus pronounced in her favour,
Jeanne, impatient and restless, knocked at the door
of the council chamber as she had done before in
her rustic boldness; and then there occurred a brief
and characteristic dialogue.

44 Jeanne," said the Archbishop of Rheims, taking
the first word, probably with the ready instinct of a
conspirator to excuse himself from having helped to
shut her out, " the King and his council are in great
perplexity to know what they should do."

" Shall I be believed if I speak ? " said the Maid.

44 I cannot tell," replied the King, interposing;
44 though if you say things that are reasonable and
profitable, I shall certainly believe you."

44 Shall I be believed ? " she repeated.

4< Yes," >uid the King, 4< according as you speak."

44 Noble Dauphin," she exclaimed, " order your
people to assault the city of Troyes, to hold no

n6 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

more councils ; for, by my God, in three days I will
introduce you into the town of Troyes, by love or
by force, and false Burgundy shall be dismayed."

" Jeanne," said the Chancellor, " if you could do
that in six days, we might well wait."

" You shall be master of the place," said the Maid,
addressing herself steadily to the King, " not in six
days, but to-morrow."

And then there occurred once more the now habit-
ual scene. It was no longer the miracle it had been
to see her dash forward to her post under the walls
with her standard which was the signal for battle, to
which the impatient troops responded, confident in
her, as she in herself. But for the first time we hear
how the young general, learning her trade of war day
by day, made her preparations for the siege. She
was a gunner born, according to all we hear, and was
quick to perceive the advantage of her rude artillery
though she had never seen one of these bouches de
feu till she encountered them at Orleans. The whole
army was set to work during the night, knights and
men-at-arms alike, to raise with any kind of handy
material, palings, faggots, tables, even doors and
windows, taken it must be feared from some neigh-
bouring village or faubourg a mound on which to
place the guns. The country as we have said is as flat
as the palm of one's hand. They worked all night
under cover of the darkness with incredible devo-
tion, while the alarmed townsfolk not knowing what
was being done, but no doubt divining something
from the unusual cornmotion, betook themselves to
the churches to pray, and began to ponder whether

1429] The Campaign of tJie Loire. i i 7

after all it might not be better t<> join the King
whose armies were led by St. Michael himself in the
person of his representative, than to risk a siege.
Once more the spell of the Maid fell on the defend-
ers of the place. It was witchcraft, it was some vile
art. They had no heart to man the battlements, to
fight like their brothers at Orleans and Jargeau in
face of all the powers of the evil one : the cry of
" Sus ! Sus / " was like the death-knell in their ears.
While the soldiers within the walls were thus
trembling and drawing back, the bishop and his
clergy took the matter in hand ; they sallied forth, a
long procession attended by half the city, to parley
with the King. It was in the earliest dawn, while yet
the peaceful world was scarcely awake ; but the town
had been in commotion all night, every visionary
person in it seeing visions and dreaming dreams, and
a panic of superstition and spiritual terror taking the
strength out of every arm. Jeanne was already at het
post, a glimmering white figure in the faint and vis-
ionary twilight of the morning, when the gates of the
city swung back before this tremulous procession.
The King, however, received the envoys graciously,
and readily promised to guarantee all the rights of
Troyes, and to permit the garrison to depart in
peace, if the town was given up to him. We are not
told whether the Maid acquiesced in this arrange-
ment, though it at once secured the fulfilment of her
prophecy ; but in any case she would seem to have
been suspicious of the good faith of the departing
garrison. Instead of retiring to her tent she took
up her place at the gate, watchful, to see the enemy

Il8 Jeanne d 'Arc. [1429

march forth. And her suspicion was not without
reason. The allied troops, English and Burgundian,
poured forth from the city gates, crestfallen, unwill-
ing to look the way of the white witch, who might
for aught they knew lay them under some dreadful
spell, even in the moment of passing. But in the
midst of them came a darker band, the French
prisoners whom they had previously taken, who
were as a sort of funded capital in their hands, each
man worth so much money as a ransom, It was for
this that Jeanne had prepared herself. " En nom
Dieu" she cried, " they shall not be carried away."
The march was stopped, the alarm given, the King
unwillingly aroused once more from his slumbers.
Charles must have been disturbed at the most un-
timely hour by the ambassadors from the town, and
it mattered little to his supreme indolence and in-
difference what might happen to his unfortunate
lieges ; but he was forced to bestir himself, and even
to give something from his impoverished exchequer
for the ransom of the prisoners, which must have been
more disagreeable still. The feelings of these men who
would have been dragged away in captivity under
the eyes of their victorious countrymen, but for the
vigilance of the Maid, may easily be imagined.

Jeanne seems to have entered the town at once,
to prepare for the reception of the King, and to
take instant possession of the place, forestalling all
further impediment. The people in the streets,
however, received her in a very different way from
those of Orleans, with trouble and alarm, staring at
her as at a dangerous and malignant visitor. The

1429] The Campaign of the Loire. 119

Brother Richard, before mentioned, the great
preacher and reformer, was the oracle of Troyes, and
held the conscience of the city in his hands. When
he suddenly appeared to confront her, every eye
was turned upon them. But the friar himself was in
no less doubt than his disciples ; he approached her
dubiously, crossing himself, making the sacred sign
in the air, and sprinkling a shower of holy water
before him to drive away the demon, if demon there
was. Jeanne was not unused to support the rudest
accost, and her frank voice, still asses femmc, made
itself heard over every clamour. " Come on, I shall
not fly away," she cried, with, one hopes, a laugh of
confident innocence and good-humour, in face of
those significant gestures and the terrified looks of all
about her. French art has been unkind to Jeanne,
occupying itself very little about her till recently;
but her short career is full of pictures. Here the
simple page grows bright with the ancient houses
and highly coloured crowd : the frightened and eager
faces at every window, the white warrior in the
midst, sending forth a thousand rays from the pol-
ished steel and silver of breastplate and helmet : and
the brown Franciscan monk advancing amid a
shower of water drops, a mysterious repetition of
signs. It gives us an extraordinary epitome of the
history of France at that period to turn from this
scene to the wild enthusiasm of Orleans, its crowd
of people thronging about her, its shouts rending
the air; while Troyes was full of terror, doubt, and
ill-will, though its nearest neighbour, so to speak, the
next town, and so short a distance away.

I2O Jeanne d* Arc. [H29

A little later in the same day, the next after the
surrender, Jeanne, riding with her standard by the
side of the King, conducted him to the cathedral
where he confirmed his previous promises and
received the homage of the town. It was a beautiful
sight, the chronicle tells us, to see all these magnifi-
cent people, so well dressed and well mounted ;
" il feroit tres bean voir"

The fate of Troyes decided that of Chalons, the
only other important town on the way, the gates of
which were thrown open as Charles and his army,
which grew and increased every day, proceeded on
its road. Every promise of the Maid had been so far
accomplished, both in the greater object and in the
details: and now there was nothing between Charles
the disinherited and almost ruined Dauphin of three
months ago, trying to forget himself in the seclusion
and the sports of Chinon and the sacred cere-
monial which drew with it every tradition and every
assurance of an ancient and lawful throne.

Jeanne had her little adventure, personal to her-
self, on the way. Though there were neither posts
nor telegraphs in those days, there has always been
a strange swift current in the air or soil which has
conveyed news, in a great national crisis, from one
end of the country to the other. It was not so great
a distance to Domremy on the Meuse from Troyes
on the Loire, and it appears that a little group of
peasants, bolder than the rest, had come forth to
hang about the road when the army passed and see
what was so fine a sight, and perhaps to catch a
glimpse of their payse, their little neighbour, the

1429J The Campaign of the Loire. 121

comnurc who was godmother to Gerard d'Epinal's
child, the youthful gossip of his young wife but
who was now, if all talcs were true, a great person,
and rode by the side of the King. They went as far
halons to sire if perhaps all this were true and
not a fable; and no doubt stood astonished to see
her ride by, to hear all the marvellous tales that
were told of her, and to assure themselves that it
was truly Jeanne upon whom, more than upon the
King, every eye was bent. This small scene in the
midst of so many great ones would probably have
been the most interesting of all had it been told us
at any length. The peasant travellers surrounded
her with wistful questions, with wonder and admira-
tion. Was she never afraid among all those risks of
war, when the arrows hailed about her and the bouches
de fen, the mouths of fire, bellowed and flung forth
great stones and bullets upon her? "I fear nothing
but treason," said the victorious Maid. She knew,
though her humble visitors did not, how that base
thing skulked at her heels, and infested every path.
It must not be forgotten that this wonderful and
victorious campaign, with all its lists of to\vns taken
and armies discomfited, lasted six weeks only, almost
every day of which was distinguished by some
victory.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CORONATION.

JULY

1429.

HE road was now clear, and even the
most timid of counsellors could not
longer hold back the most indolent
of kings. Jeanne had kept her word
once more and fulfilled her own
prophecy, and a force of enthusiasm
and certainty, not to be put down,
pressed forward the unwilling Court towards the
great ceremonial of the coronation, to which all ex-
cept those most chiefly concerned attached so great
an importance. Charles would have hesitated still,
and questioned the possibility of resistance on the
part of Rheims, if that city had not sent a deputa-
tion of citizens with the keys of the town, to meet
him. .&fter this it was but a triumphal march into
the sacred place, where trie great caTHedral domi-
nated a swarming, busy, mediaeval city. King and^
Archbishop had a double triumph, for the priest like
the monarch had been shut out from his lawful
throne, and it was only in the train of the Maid that

122

14291 The Coronation. 123

this great ecclesiastic was able to take possession of
his dignities. The King alighted with the Arch-
bishop at the Archeveche which is close to the cathe-
dral, an immense, old palace in which the heads of
the expedition were lodged. There is a magnificent
old hall still remaining in which no doubt they all
assembled, scarcely able to believe that their object
was accomplished and that the King of France was
actually in Rheims, and all the prophecies fulfilled.
The Archbishop marched into the city in the morn-
ing ; Charles and his Court, and all his great seign-
eurs, and the body of his army, in which there were
many fighting men half armed, and some in their
rustic clothes as they had left their fields to join the
King in his march poured in in the evening, after
the ecclesiastical procession, filling the town with
commotion. Jeanne rode beside the King, her ban-
ner in her hand. It was July, the vigil of the
Madeleine, and every church poured forth its crowd
to witness the entry, and the populace, half troubled,
half glad, gazed its eyes out upon the white warrior
at the side of the King. Her father and uncle were
there to meet her at the old inn in the Place, which
still proudly preserves the record of the peasant
guests: two astonished rustics, whose ruddy, coun-
try faces, paled with wonder, no doubt, were thrust
forth from some window to watch that incredible
sight Jacques who would rather have drowned his
daughter with his own hands, than have seen her
thus launched among men, gazing still aghast at the
resplendent figure of the chevaliere at the head of
the procession. This was very different from what

124 Jeanne d* Arc. [5429

he had thought of when his village respectability
was tortured by the idea of his girl among the
troopers, yet probably the rigid peasant had never
changed his mind.

We are told by M. Blaze de Bury of an ancient
custom which we do not find stated elsewhere. A
platform was erected, he tells us, outside the choir
of the cathedral to which the King was led the even-
ing before the coronation, surrounded by his peers,
who showed him to the assembled people with a
traditional proclamation : " Here is your King whom
we, peers of France, crown as King and sovereign
lord. And if there is a soul here which has any ob-
jection to make, let him speak and we will answer
him. And to-morrow he shall be consecrated by the
grace of the Holy Spirit if you have nothing to say
against it." The people replied by cries of " Noel,
Noel ! " It is not to be supposed that the veto of
the people of Rheims would have been effectual had
they opposed : but the scene is wonderfully pictu-
resque. No doubt Jeanne too was there, watching
over her King, as she seems to have done, like a
mother over her child, at this crisis of his affairs.

That night there was little sleep in Rheims, for
everything had to be prepared in haste, the decora-
tions of the cathedral, the provisions for the cere-
monial. Many of the necessary articles were at
Saint Denis in the hands of the English, and the
treasury of the cathedral had to be ransacked to find
the fitting vessels. Fortunately it was rich, more
rich probably than it is now, when the commonplace
silver of the beginning of this century has replaced

1429] The Coronation. 125

the ancient vials. Through the short summer night
everyone was at work in these preparations ; and by
the dawn of day visitors began to flow into the city,
great personages and small, to attend the great
ceremonial and to pay their homage. The greatest
of all was the Duke of Lorraine, he who had con-
sulted Jeanne about his health, husband of the heir-
ess of that rich principality, and son of Queen
Yolande who was no doubt with the Court. All
France seemed to pour into the famous town, where
so important an act was about to be accomplished,
with money and wine flowing on all hands, and the
enthusiasm growing along with the popular excite-
ment and profit. Even great London is stirred to
its limits, many miles off from the centre of proceed-
ings, by such a great event ; how much more the
little mediaeval city, in which every one might hope
to see something of the pageant, as one shining
group after another, with armour blazing in the sun,
and sleek horses caracoling, arrived at the great
gates of the Archeveche': and lesser parties scarcely
less interesting poured in in need of lodging, of
equipment and provisions ; while every housewife
searched her stores for a piece of brilliant stuff, of
old silk or embroidery, to make her house shine like
the rest.

Early in the morning, a wonderful procession came
out of the Archbishop's house. Four splendid peers
of France, in full armour with their banners, rode
through the streets to the old Abbey of Saint Remy
the old church which Leo IX. consecrated, in the
eleventh century, on an equally splendid occasion,

126 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

and which may still be seen to-day to fetch from its
shrine, where it was strictly guarded by the monks,
the Sainte Ampoule, the holy and sacred vial in
which the oil of consecration had been sent to Clovis
out of Heaven. These noble messengers were the
"hostages" of this sacred charge, engaging them-
selves by an oath never to lose sight of it by night
or day, till it was restored to its appointed guard-
ians. This vow having been made, the Abbot of
St. Remy, in his richest robes, appeared surrounded
by his monks, carrying the treasure in his hands ;
and under a splendid canopy, blazing in the sun-
shine with cloth of gold, marched towards the cathe-
dral under the escort of the Knights Hostages,
blazing also in the flashes of their armour. This
procession was met half-way, before the Church of
St. Denis, by another, that of the Archbishop and
his train, to whom the holy oil was solemnly con-
fided, and carried by them to the cathedral, already
filled by a dazzled and dazzling crowd.

The Maid had her occupations this July morning
like the rest. We hear nothing of any interview
with her father, or with Durand the good uncle who
had helped her in the beginning of her career ;
though it was Durand who was sent for to the King
and questioned as to Jeanne's life in her childhood
and early youth ; which we may take as a proof that
Jacques d'Arc still stood aloof, dour, as a Scotch
peasant father might have been, suspicious of his
daughter's intimacy with all these fine people, and
in no way cured of his objections to the publicity
which is little less than shame to such rugged folk.

1429 Tii ;uttUm.

And there were his two sons who would take-
about, and with whom probably in their easier com-
monplace he was more at home than with Jeanne.
What the Maid had to do on the morning of the
coronation day was something very different from
any home talk with her relations. She who felt
herself commissioned not only to lead the armies
of France, but to deal witli her princes and take
part in her councils, occupied the morning in dic-
tating a letter to the Duke of Burgundy. She
had summoned the English by letter three til
repeated, to withdraw peaceably from the p-
sions which by God's will were French. It was \\ itii
still better reason that she summoned PhiKp of Bur-
gundy to renounce his feud with his cousin, and thus
to heal the breach which had torn France in two:

JHESUS, MARIA.

High and redoubtable Prince, Duke of Burgundy. Jeanne the
Maid requires on the part of the King of Heaven, my most \\\-\
sovereign and Lord (in on droicturier sourerain s?ign t 't<r) t that the
King of France and you make peace between yourselves, firm, strong
and that will endure. Pardon each other of good heart, entirely, as
loyal Christians ought to do, and if you desire to fight let it 1 e
against the Saracens. Prince of Burgundy, I pray, v.ipplkate, and
require, as humbly as may be, fight no longer against the holy king-
dom of France : withdraw, at once and speedily, your people who
are in any strongholds or fortresses of the said holy kingdom ; and on
the part of the gentle King of France, he is ready to make peace
with you, having respect to his honour, and upon your life that you
never will gain a battle against loyal Frenchmen and that all those
who war against the said holy kingdom of France, war against the
King Jesus, King of Heaven and of all the world and my ju>i and
>overeign Lord. And I pray and require \\iih clasped
you fight n< t, nor make any battle :v;:ii:M i.<, neither your friends

128 J canned' Arc.

11429

nor your subjects ; but believe always however great in number may
be the men you lead against us, that you will never win, and it would
be great pity for the great battle and the blood that would be shed of
those who came against us. Three weeks ago I sent you a letter by
a herald that you should be present at the consecration of the King,
which to-day, Sunday, the seventeenth of the present month of July,
is done in the city of Rheims : to which I have had no answer, nor
even any news by the said herald. To God I commend you, and
may He be your guard if it pleases Him, and I pray God to make
good peace.

Written at the aforesaid Rheims, the seventeenth day of July,
1429.

When the letter was finished Jeanne put on her
armour, and prepared for the great ceremony. We
are not told what part she took in it, nor is any more
prominent position assigned to her than among the
noble crowd of peers and generals who surrounded
the altar, where her place would naturally be, upon
the broad raised platform of the choir, so excellently
adapted for such ceremonies. Her banner we are
told was borne into the cathedral, in order, as she
proudly explained afterwards, that having been fore-
most in the danger it should share the honour.

But we have no right to suppose that the Maid
took the position of the chief actor in the pageant
and stood alone by the side of Charles, as the ex-
igencies of the pictorial art have required her to do.
When, however, the ceremony was completed, and
he had received on his knees the anointing which
separated him as King from every other class of
men, and while the lofty vaults echoed with the
cries of Noel ! Noel ! by which the people hailed
the completed ceremony, Jeanne could contain her-
self no longer. The object was attained for which

THE CORONATION OF CHARLES VII.

FROM A MURAL PAINTING BY J. E. LENEPVEU IN THE PANTHEON AT PARIS.

1429 The Coronation. 129

she had laboured and struggled, and overcome c
opponent. She stepped forward out of the brilliant
and threw 1 it the feet of the now

crowned monarch, embracing his knc< ntle

King," she cried with tears. " now is the pleasure of
God fulfilled whose will it was that I should :
the siege of Orleans and lead you to this city <>f
Rheims to receive your consecration. Now has He
shown that you are true King, and that the kingdom
of France truly belongs to you alone."

Those broken words, her tears, the cry of that
profound satisfaction which is dngui>h.

tk Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."
which is so suitable to the lips of the old, so :
nant from those of the young, pierced all hearts. It
is added that she asked leave to withdraw, her work-
being done, and that all who saw her were filled
with sympathy. It was no doubt the irresistible
outburst of a heart too full ; and though that ful
was all joy and triumph, yet there was in it a sense
of completed work, a rending asunder and tearing
away from life, the end of a wonderful and triumph-
ant tale.

There is a considerable controversy as to the pre-
cise meaning of that outburst of emotion. Did the
Maid mean that her work was over, and her divine
mission fulfilled? Was this all that she believed
herself to be appointed to do ? or did she expect, as
^ie sometimes said, to banter the English out of
France altogether? In the one case she ought to
have relinquished her work, and in not doing so she
acted without the protection of God which had

130 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

hitherto made her invulnerable. In the other, her
*' voices," her inspiration, must have failed her, for
her course of triumph went no farther. It is im-
possible to decide between these contending the-
ories. She did speak in both senses, sometimes
declaring that she was to take Paris, sometimes, her
intention to boutcr the English out of the kingdom.
At the same time she betrayed a constant conviction
that her office had limitations and must come to an
end. " I will last but a year," she said to the King
and to Alengon. The testimony of Dunois seems
to be the best we can have on this point. He says
in his deposition, made many years after her death :
" Although Jeanne sometimes talked playfully to
amuse people, of things concerning the war which
were not afterwards accomplished, yet when she
spoke seriously of the war, and of her own career
and her vocation, she never affirmed anything but
that she was sent to raise the siege of Orleans and
to lead the King to Rheims to be crowned."

If this were so was she wrong in continuing her
warfare, and did she place herself in the position of
one who goes on her own charges, finding the mis-
sion from on high unnecessary? Or in the other
case did her inspiration fail her, or were the intrigues
of Charles and his Court sufficient to balk the de-
signs of Heaven ? We prefer to think that Jeanne's
commission concerned only those two things which
she accomplished so completely ; but that in con-
tinuing the war, she acted only as a w r ell inspired
and honourable young soldier might, though no
longer as the direct messenger of God. She had

1429J The Coronation. 131

as much right to do so as to return to her distaff or
her needle in her native village ; but she became
subject to all the ordinary laws of war by so doing,
e\ posed herself to be taken or overthrown like any
man-at-arms, and accepted that risk. What is cer-
tain is, that every intrigue sprang up again afresh
on the evening of that brilliant and triumphant
ceremonial, and that from the moment of the accom-
plishment of her great work the failure of the Maid
began.

These intrigues had been in her way since her very
first beginning, as has been seen. At Orleans, in the
very field as well as in the council chamber and the
presence, everything was done to balk her, and to
cross her plans, but in vain ; she triumphed over
every contrivance against her, and broke through the
plots, and overcame the plotters. But after Rheims
the combination of dangers became ever greater and
greater, and we may say that no merely human gen-
eral would have had a chance in face of the many
and bewildering influences of evil. Charles who was
of himself, at least at this period of his career, suffi-
ciently indolent and unenterprising to have damped
the energies of any commander, was, in addition,
surrounded by advisers who had always been impa-
tient and jealous of the interference of Jeanne, and
would have cast her off as a witch, or passed her by
as an impostor, had that been possible, without per-
mitting her to strike a blow. They had now grudg-
ingly made use of her, or rather, for this is too much
to say, had permitted her action where they had no
power to restrain it : but they were as little friendly,

132 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

as malignant in their treatment of the Maid as ever,
and more hopeful, now that so much had been done
by her means, of being able to shake her off and
pursue their fate in their own way.

The position of Charles crowned King of France
with all the traditional pomp, master of the Orlean-
nais, with fresh bands of supporters coming in to
swell his army day by day, and Paris itself almost
within his reach, was very different from that of the
discredited Dauphin at Chinon, whom half the world
believed to have no right to the crown which his own
mother had signed away from him, and who wasted
his idle days in folly to the profit of the greedy coun-
cillors who schemed and trafficked with his enemies,
and to the destruction of all his hopes. The strange
apparition of virginal purity, energy, and faith which
had taken up and saved him against his will and all
his efforts, had not ceased for a moment to be hate-
ful to La Tremouille and his party ; and Charles
though he seems to have had a certain appreciation
of the Maid, and even a liking for her frank and fear-
less character, apart from any faith in her mission
was far too ready to accept the facts of the moment,
and probably to believe that, after all, his own worth
and favour with Heaven had a great deal to do with
this dazzling triumph and success : certainly he was
not the man to make any stand for his deliverer. But
that she was an auxiliary too important to be sent
away was reluctantly apparent to them all. To keep
her as a sort of tame angel about the Court in order to
be produced when she was wanted, to put heart into
the soldiers and frighten the English as she certainly

14291 The Coronation. 133

had the gift of doing, no doubt appeared to all as a
thing desirable enough. And they dared not let her
go t4 because of the people," nor, may we believe,
would Alen^on, Dunois, La Hire, and the rest have
tolerated thus the abandonment of their comrade.
To dismiss her even at her own word would have
been impossible, and it is hard to believe that Jeanne,
after that extraordinary brief career as a triumphant
general and leader, could have gone back to her
father's cottage and her needlework, and to the small
occupations of the village, though she thought she
would fain have clone so. If we are to believe that
she felt her mission to be fulfilled, she was yet mis-
tress of her fate to serve France and the King as
seemed best.

And we have no evidence that her " voices " for-
sook her, or discouraged her. They seem to have
changed a little in their burden, they began to mingle
a sadder tone in their intimations. It began to be
breathed into her mind though not immediately,
that something was to happen to her, some disaster
not explained, yet that God was to be with her. It
seems to me that all the circumstances are compati-
ble with a change in Jeanne's consciousness, from
the moment of the coronation. It might have been
a grander thing had she retired there and then, her
work being accomplished as she declared it to be;
but it would not have been human. She was still a
power, if no longer the direct messenger from
Heaven ; a general, with much skill and natural apti-
tude if not the Sent of God; and the ardour of a
military career had got into her veins. No doubt

134 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

she was much more good for that, now, than for sit-
ting by the side of Isabeau d'Arc at Domremy, and
working even into a piece of embroidery for the
altar, her remembrances and visions of camp and
siege and the intoxication of victory. She remained,
conscious that she was no longer exactly as of old,
to fight not only against the English, but with in-
timate enemies, far more bitter, whom now she knew,
against the ordinary fortune of war, and against
that which is a thousand times worse, the hatred
and envy, the cruel carelessness, and the malignant
schemes of her own countrymen for whom she
had fought.

This, so far as we can judge, appears to be the
position of Jeanne in the second portion of her
career ; perhaps only dimly apprehended and at
moments, by herself ; not much thought of proba^
bly by those around her, the wisest of whom had
always been sceptical of her divine commission ;
while the populace never saw any change in her, and
believed that at one time as well as at another the
Maid was the Maid, and had victory at her com-
mand. And no doubt that influence would have
endured for some time at least, and her dauntless
rush against every obstacle \vould have carried suc-
cess with it, had she been able to carry out her plans,
and fly forth upon Paris as she had done upon Or-
leans, carrying on the campaign swiftly, promptly,
without pause or uncertainty. Bedford himself said
that Paris " would fall at a blow/' if she came on.
It had been hard enough, however, to do that, as
we have seen, when she was the only hope of France

14291 The Coronation. 135

and had the fire of the divine enthusiasm in her

veins ; but it was still more hard now to mould a
young King elated with triumph, beginning to feel
the crown safe upon his head, and to feel that if
there was still much to gain, there was now a great
deal to be lost. The position was complicated and
made more difficult for Jeanne by every advantage
-he had gained.

In the meantime the secret negotiations, which
were always being carried on under the surface, had
come to this point, that Charles had made a private
treaty with Philip of Burgundy by which that prince
pledged himself to give up Paris into the King's
hands within fifteen days. This agreement furnished
a sufficient pretext for the delay in marching against
Paris, delay which was Charles's invariable method,
and which but for Jeanne's hardihood and determina-
tion, had all but crushed the expedition to Rheims
itself. It was never with any will of his or of his
adviser, La Tremouille, that any stronghold was as-
sailed. He would fain have passed by Troyes, as
the reader will remember, he would fain have de-
layed going to Rheims ; in each case he had been
forced to move by the impetuosity of the Maid.
But a treaty which touched the honour of the King
was a different matter. Philip of Burgundy, with
whom it was made, seems to have held the key of
the position. He was called to Paris by Bedford on
one side to defend the city against its lawful King;
he had pledged himself on the other to Charles to
give it up. He had in his hands, though it is un-
certain whether he ever read it, that missive of the

136 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

sorceress, the letter of Jeanne which I have quoted,
calling upon him on the part of God to make peace.
What was he to do ? There were reasons drawing
him to both sides. He was the enemy of Charles
on account of the murder of his father, and there-
fore had every interest in keeping Paris from him ;
he was angry with the English on account of the
marriage of the Duke of Gloucester with Jacqueline
of Brabant, which interfered with his own rights and
safety in Flanders, and therefore might have served
himself by giving up the capital to the King. As
for the appeal of Jeanne, what was the letter of that
mad creature to a prince and statesman? The
progress of affairs was arrested by this double
problem. Jeanne had been the prominent, the only
important figure in the history of France for some
months past. Now that shining figure was jostled
aside, and the ordinary laws of life, with all the
counter changes of negotiation, the ineffectual com-
ings and goings, the meaner hralf-secn persons, the
fierce contending personal interests in which there
was no love of either God or man, or any elevated
notion of patriotism came again into play.

Jeanne would seem to have already foreseen and
felt this change even before she left Rheims ; there
is ia new tone of sadness in some of her recorded
words ; or if not of sadness, at least of consciousness
that an end was approaching to all these triumphs
and splendours. The following tale is told in vari-
ous different versions, as occurring with different
people; but the account I*.give is taken from the
lips of Dunois himself, a -very competent witness.

14291 The Coronation. 137

As the King, after his coronation, wended his way
through the country, receiving submission and joy-
ous welcome from every village and little town, it
happened that while passing through the town of La
Ferte, Jeanne rode between the Archbishop of Rheims
and Dunois. The Archbishop had never been friendly
to the Maid, and now it was clear, watched her with
that half satirical, half amused look of the wise man,
curious and cynical in presence of the incomprehensi-
ble, observing her ways and very ready to catch her
tripping and to entangle her if possible in her own
words. The people thronged the way, full of en-
thusiasm, acclaiming the King and shouting their
joyful exclamations of " Noel!" though it does not
appear that any part of their devotion was ad-
dressed to Jeanne herself. " Oh, the good people,"
she cried with tears in her eyes, " how joyful they
are to see their noble King ! and how happy should
I be to end my days and be buried here among
them ! " The priest unmoved by such an exclama-
tion from so young a mouth attempted instantly,
like the Jewish doctors with our Lord, to catch her
in her words and draw from her some expression
that might be used against her. " Jeanne," he said,
"in what place do you expect to die?" It was a
direct challenge to the messenger of Heaven to take
upon herself the gift of prophecy. But Jeanne in
her simplicity shattered the snare which probably
she did not even perceive: " When it pleases God/'
she said. " I know neither the place nor the time."
It was enough, however, that she should think of
death and of the sweetness of it, after her work ac-

138 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

complished, in the very moment of her height of
triumph to show something of a new leaven work-
ing in her virgin soul.

One characteristic reward, however, Jeanne did
receive. Her father and uncle were lodged at the
public cost as benefactors of the kingdom, as may
still be seen by the inscription on the old inn in the
great Place at Rheims; and when Jacques d'Arc
left the city he carried with him a patent better
than one of nobility which, however, came to the
family later of exemption for the villages of Dom-
remy and Greux of all taxes and tributes ; " an
exemption maintained and confirmed up to the
Revolution, in favour of the said Maid, native of
that parish, in which are her relations." "In the
register of the Exchequer," says M. Blaze de Bury,
" at the name of the parish of Greux and Domremy,
the place for the receipt is blank, with these words
as explanation : a cause de la Pucelle, on account of
the Maid." There could not have been a more de-
lightful reward or one more after her own heart. It
would be a graceful act of the France of to-day,
which has so warmly revived the name and image of
her maiden deliverer, to renew so touching a dis-
tinction to her native place.

We are told that Jeanne parted with her father
and uncle with tears, longing that she might return
with them and go back to her mother who would
rejoice to see her again. This was no doubt quite
true, though it might be equally true that she could
not have gone back. Did not the father return, a
little sullen, grasping the present he had himself re-

1429]

The Coronation.

'39

ccived, not sure still that it was not disreputable to
Ihivc a daughter who wore coat armour and rode by
the side of the King, a position certainly not proper
for maidens of humble birth ? The dazzled peasants
turned their backs upon her while she was thus at
the height of glory, and never, so far as appears, saw
her face again.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND PERIOD.
1429-1430.

[HE epic so brief, so exciting, so full of
wonder had now reached its climax.
Whatever we may think on the ques-
tion as to whether Jeanne had now
reached the limit of her commission,
it is at least evident that -she had
reached the highest point of her tri-
umph, and that her short day of glory and success
came.~ta. an end "-in-- the great act which she had
always spoken of as her chief object. She had
crow r ned her King ; she had recovered for him one
of the richest of his provinces, and established a
strong base for further action on his part. She had
taught Frenchmen how not to fly before the English,
and she had filled those stout-hearted English, who
for a time had the Frenchmen in their powerful
steel-clad grip, with terror and panic, and taught
them how to fly in their turn. This was, from the
first, what she had said she was appointed to do,
and not one of her promises had been broken. Her

140

1429-30] Tlic Second Period. 141

career had been a short one, begun in April, ending

in July, one brief continuous course of glory But

this triumphant career had come to its conclusion.
The messenger of God had done her work ; the serv-
ant must not desire to be greater than his Lord.
There have been heroes in this world whose career
has continued a glorious and a happy one to the end.
Our hearts follow them in their noble career, but
when the stiain and pain are over and they come
into their kingdom and reap their reward the inter-
est fails. We are glad, very glad, that they should
live happy ever after, but their happiness does not
attract us like their struggle.

It is different with those whose work and whose
motives are not those of this world. When they
step out of the brilliant lights of triumph into sor-
row and suffering, all that is most human in us rises
to follow the bleeding feet, our hearts swell with
indignation, with sorrow and love, and that instinct-
ive admiration for the noble and pure, which proves
that our birthright too is of Heaven, however we
may tarnish or even deny that highest pedigree.
The chivalrous romance of that age would have
made of Jeanne d'Arc the heroine of human story.
She would have had a noble lover, say our young
Guy de Laval, or some other generous and brilliant
Seigneur of France, and after her achievements she
would have laid by her sword, and clothed herself
with the beautiful garments of the age, and would
have grown to be a noble lady in some half regal
chateau, to which her name would have given new
lustre. The young reader will probably long that

142 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429-

it should be so ; he will feel it an injustice, a wrong
to humanity that so generous a soul should have no
reward ; it will seem to him almost a personal injury
that there should not be a noble chevalier at hand
to snatch that devoted Maid out of the danger that
threatened her, out of the horrible fate that befell
her ; and we can imagine a generous boy, an enthu-
siastic girl, ready to gnash their teeth at the terrible
and dishonouring thought that it was by English
hands that this noble creature was tied to the stake
and perished in the flames. For the last it becomes
us* to repent, for it was to our everlasting shame ;
but not more to us than to France who condemned
her, who lifted no finger to help her, who raised riot
even a cry, a protest, against the cruelty and wrong.
But for her fate in itself let us not mourn over-
much. Had the Maid become a great and honoured
lady should not we all have said as Satan says in
the Book of Job : Did Jeanne serve God for
nought ? We should say : See what she made by it.
Honour and fame and love and happiness. She did
nobly, but nobly has she been rewarded.

But that is not God's way. The highest saint is
born to martyrdom. To serve God for nought is
the greatest distinction which He reserves for His
chosen. And this was the fate to which the Maid

* " The English, not us," says Mr. Andrew Lang : and it is pleas-
ant to a Scot to know that this is true. England and Scotland were
then twain, and the Scots fought in the ranks of our auld Ally. But
for the present age the distinction lasts no longer, and to the writer
of an English book on English soil it would be ungenerous to take
the advantage.

1430] The Second I'criod. 143

uf France was consecrated from the moment she set
out upon her mission. She had the supreme glory
of accomplishing that which she believed herself to
be sent to do, and which I also believe she was sent
to do, miraculously, by means undreamed of, and in
which no one beforehand could have believed. But
when that was done a higher consecration awaited
her. She had to drink of the cup of which our
Lord drank, and to be baptised with the baptism
with which He was baptised. It was involved in
every step of the progress that it should be so. And
she was herself aware of it, vaguely, at heart, as
soon as the object of her mission was attained.
What else could have put the thought of dying into
the mind of a girl of eighteen in the midst of the
adoring crowd, to whom to see her, to touch her,
was a benediction ? When she went forth from those
gates she was going to her execution, though the
end was not to be yet. There was still a long strug-
gle before her, lingering and slow, more bitter than
death, the preface of discouragement, of disappoint-
ment, of failure when she had most hoped to succeed.
She was on the threshold uf this second jxjtted-
when she rode out of Rheims all brilliant in the
summer weather, her banner faded now, but glori-
ous, her shining armour bearing signs of warfare,
her end achieved yet all the while her heart
troubled, uncertain, and full of unrest. And it
is impossible not to note that from this time Jier
,plans were less defined than before^ Up to the
coronation she had known exactly what she meant
to do, and in spite of all obstructions had done

144 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429-

it, keeping her genial humour and her patience,
steering her simple way through all the intrigues
of the Court, without bitterness and without fear.
But now a vague mist seems to fall about the
path which was so open and so clear. Paris ! yes,
the best policy, the true generalship would have
been to march straight upon Paris, to lose no time,
to leave as little leisure as possible to the intriguers
to resume their old plots. So the generals thought
as well as Jeanne : but the courtiers were not of that
mind. The weak and foolish notion of falling back
upon what they had gained, and of contenting them-
selves with that, was all they thought of ; and the
un-French, unpatriotic temper of Paris which wanted
no native king, but was content with the foreigner,
gave them a certain excuse. We could not even
imagine London as being ever, at any time, contented
with an alien rule.. But Paris evidently wa^ so, and
was ready to defend itself to the death against its
Jawful sovereign"! 'Jeanne had never before been
brought face to face with such a complication. It
had been a straightforward struggle, each man for
his own side, up to this time. But now other things
had to be taken into consideration. Here was no
faithful Orleans holding out eager arms to its deliv-
erer, but a crafty, self-seeking city, deaf to patriot-
ism, indifferent to freedom, calculating which was
most to its profit and deciding that the stranger,
with Philip of Burgundy at his back, was the safer
guide. This was enough of itself to make a simple
mind pause in astonishment and dismay.

There is no evidence that the supernatural leaders

1430] The Second Period. 145

who had shaped the course of the Maid failed her
no\v. She still heard her " voices." She still held
communion with the three saint:, who, she beli-
devoutly. Came out of Heaven to aid her. The
whole question of this supernatural guidance is one
which is of course open to discussion. There are
many in these days who do not believe in it at all,
who believe in the exaltation of Jeanne's brain, in
the excitement of her nerves, in some strange com-
plication of bodily conditions, which made her be-
lieve she saw and heard what she did not really see
or hear. For our part, we confess frankly that these
explanations are no explanation at all so far as we
are concerned ; we are far more inclined to believe
that the Maid spoke truth, she who never told a lie,
she who fulfilled all the promises she made in the
name of her guides, than that those people are right
who tell us on their own authority that such inter-
positions of Heaven are impossible. Nobody in
Jeanne's day doubted that Heaven did interpose di-
rectly in human affairs. The only question was, Wa ,
it Heaven in this instance? Was it not rather the
evil one ? Was it sorcery and witchcraft, or was it
the agency of God ? The English believed firmly
that it was witchcraft'; they~could not imagine- that
it was God, the God of battles, who had always been
on their side, who now took the courage out of their
hearts and taught their feet to fly for the fifst time.
It was the devil, and the Maid herself was a wicked
witch. Neither one side nor the other believed that
it was from Jeanne's excited nerves that these great
things came. There were plenty of women with ex-

146 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429-

cited nerves in France, nerves much more excited
than those of Jeanne, who was always reasonable at
the height of her inspiration ; but to none of them
did it happen to mount the breach, to take the city,
to drive the enemy up to that moment invincible,
flying from the field.

But it would seem as if these celestial visitants had
no longer a clear and definite message for the Maid.
Their words, which she quotes, were now promises of
support, vague warnings of trouble to come. " Fear
not, for God will stand by you." She thought they
meant that she would be delivered in safety as she
had been hitherto, her wounds healing, her sacred
person preserved from any profane touch. But yet
such promises have always something enigmatical in
them, and it might be, as proved to be the case, that
they meant rather consolation and strength to en-
dure than deliverance. For the first time the Maid
was often sad ; she feared nothing, but the shadow
was heavy on her heart. Orleans and Rheims had
been clear as daylight, her " voices " had said to her
" Do this " and she had done it. Now there was no
definite direction. She had to judge for herself
what was best, and to walk in darkness, hoping that
what she did was what she was meant to do, but
with no longer any certainty. This of itself was
a great change, and one which no doubt she felt to
her heajt. M. Fabre tells (alone among the bio-
graphers of Jeanne) that there were symptoms of
danger to her sound and steady mind, in her words
and ways during the moment of triumph. Her chap-
lain Pasquerel wrote a letter in her name to the Huss-

1430J

The Secojid Period. 147

ites, against whom the Pope was then sending
crusades, in which tk I, the Maid," threatened, if they
were not converted, to come aga'inst them and give
them tin- alternative of death or amendment.
Quicherat says that to the Count d'Armagnac who
had written to her, whether in good faith or bad, to
ask which of the three then existent Popes was the
real one, she is reported to have answered that she
would tell him as soon as the English left her free
to do so. But this is a perverted account of
what she really did say, and M. Fabre seems to be,
like the rest of us, a little confused in his dates: and
the documents themselves on which he builds are
not of unquestioned authority. These, however,
would be but small specks upon the sunshine of her
perfect humility and sobriety ; if indeed they are to
be depended upon as authentic at all.

The day of Jeanne, her time of glory and success,
was but a short one Orleans was delivered on the
8th of May, the coronation of Charles took place on
the I7th of July; before the earliest of these dates
she had spent nearly two months in an anxious yet
hopeful struggle of preparation, before she was per-
mitted to enter upon her career. The time of her
discouragement was longer. It^w_asten months from
the day when she rode out of Rheims, the 25th of
--^ly, 1429, till the 23d of May, 1430, when she was

taken. She had said after the deliverance of Or-
leans that she had but a year in which to accomplish
her work, and at a later period, Easter, 1430, her
" voices" told her that " before the St. Jean"
she would be in the power of her enemies. Both

148 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429-

these statements came true. She rose quickly
but fell more slowly, struggling along upon the down-
ward course, unable to carry out what she would,
hampered on every hand, and not apparently fol-
lowed with the same fervour as of old. It is true
that the principal cause of all seems to have been
the schemes of the Court and the indolence of
Charles ; but all these hindrances had existed before,
and the King and his treacherous advisers had been
unwillingly dragged every mile of the way, though
every step made had been to Charles's advantage.
But now though the course is still one of victory the
Maid no longer seems to be either the chief cause or
the immediate leader. Perhaps this may be partly
due to the fact that little fighting was necessary,

Jtown after town yielding to the King, which reduced

the part of Jeanne to that of a spectator ; but there
is a change of atmosphere and tone which seems to
point-to something jnoreL .f ^uiidam_e.njtal tlian this. The
historians are very unwilling to acknowledge, except
Michelet who does so without hesitation, that she
had herself fixed the term of her commission as end-
ing at Rheims ; it is certain that she said many
things which bear this meaning, and every fact of her
after career seems to us to prove it ; but it is also
true that her conviction wavered, and other sayings
indicate a different belief or hope. She did no
wrong in following the profession of arms in which
she had made so glorious a beginning ; she had many
gifts and aptitudes for it of which she was not her-
self at first aware: hut she was no longer the Envoy
of God. Enough had been done to arouse the old

1430] The Second Period. 149

spirit of France, to break the spell of the English
supremacy ; it was right and fitting that France
should do the rest for herself. Perhaps Jeanne was
not herself very clear on this point, and after her first
statement of it, became less assured. It is not
necessary that the servant should know the designs
of the master. It did not after all affect her. Her
business was to serve God to the best of her power,
not to take the management out of His hands.

The army went forth joyously upon its way, di-
recting itself towards Paris. There was a pilgrim-
age to make, such as the Kings of France were in
the habit of making after their coronation ; there
were pleasant incidents, the submission of a village,
the faint resistance, instantly overcome, of a small
town, to make the early days pleasant. Laon and
Soissons both surrendered. Senlis and Beauvais re-
ceived the King's envoys with joy. The independ-
ent captains of the army made little circles about,
like parties of pleasure, bringing in another and an-
other little stronghold to the allegiance of the King.
When he turned aside, taking as he passed through,
without as yet any serious deflection, the road rather
to the Loire than to Paris, success still attended him.
At Chateau-Thierry resistance was expected to give
zest to the movement of the forces, but that; too
yielded at once as the others had done. The dates
are very vague and it seems difficult to find any
mode of reconciling them. Almost all the historians
while accusing the King of foolish dilatoriness and
confusion of plans give us a description of the un-
defended state of Paris at the moment, which a sud-

150 Jeanne d'Arc. L1429-

den stroke on the part of Charles might have carried
with little difficulty, during the absence of all the
chiefs from the city and the great terror of the in-
habitants ; but a comparison of dates shows that
the Duke of Bedford re-entered Paris with strong
reinforcements on the very day on which Charles
left Rheims three days only after his coronation, so
that he scarcely seems so much to blame as appears.
But the general delay, inefficiency, and hesitation ex-
isting at headquarters, naturally lead to mistakes of
this kind.

The great point was that Paris itself was by no
jcaean-s disposed to receive the King. Strange as it
se^ms to say so PaTis^l^aT^brtTerly, fiercely English
at that extraordinary moment, a fact which ought to
be taken into account as the most important in the
whole matter. There was no answering enthusiasm
in the capital of France to form an auxiliary force
behind its ramparts and encourage the besiegers out-
side. The populace perhaps might be indifferent :
at the best it had no feeling on the subject ; but there
was no welcome awaiting the King. During the
time of Bedford's absence the city felt itself to have
" no lord " ceux de Paris avoit grand peur car nul
seigneur riy avoit. It was believed that Charles
would put all the inhabitants to the sword, and their
desperation of feeling was rather that which leads to
a wild and hopeless defence than to submission.
The Duke of Bedford, governing in the name of the
infant Henry VI. of England, was their seigneur, in-
stead of their natural sovereign. It is a fact which
to us seems scarcely credible, but it was certainly

) ) ! I N I ) U K

JOHN, DUKE OF BEDFORD, REGENT OF FRANCE.

FROM A PAINTING BY GEORGE VIRTUE.

1430 The Second Period. 1 5 i

true. There seems to have been no feeling even,
on the subject, no general shame as of a national

tyal ; nothing of the kind. Paris was English,
holding by the English kings who had never lost a

iin hold on France, and thinking no shame of
its party. It was a hostile town, the chief of the
English possessions. In the Journal dii Bourgeois
dc Paris who was no bourgeois but a distinguished
member of that university which held the Maid and
all her ways in horror Jeanne the deliverer, the
incarnation of patriotism and of France is spoken of
as "a creature in the form of a woman.'* How
extraordinary is this evidence of a state of affairs
in which it is almost impossible to believe ! Paris
is France nowadays to many people, though no
doubt this is but a superficial judgment ; but in the
earl}- part of the fifteenth century, she was frankly
English, not by compulsion even, but by habit and
policy. Perhaps the delays, the hesitation, the
terrors of Charles and his counsellors are thus ren-
dered more excusable than by any other explanation.
In the meantime it is almost impossible to follow
the wanderings of this vacillating army without a
map. If the reader should trace its movements, he
would see what a stumbling and devious course it
took as of a man blundering in the dark. From
Rheims to Soissons the way was clear ; then there
came a sudden move southward to Chateau-Thierry
from which indeed there was still a straight line
to Paris but which still more clearly indicated
the highroad leading to the Orleannais, the faithful
districts of the Loire. This retrograde movement

152 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429-

was not made without a great outcry from the gen-
erals. Their opinion was that the King ought to
press on to conquer everything while the English
forces were still depressed and discouraged. In
their mind this deflection towards the south was an
abandonment at once of honour and safety. An
unimportant check on the way, however, gave an
argument to the leaders of the army, and Charles
permitted himself to be dragged back. They then
made their way by La Fert-Milon, Crepy, and Dau-
martin, and on this road the English troops which
had been led out from Paris by Bedford to intercept
them came twice within fighting distance of the
French army. The English, as all the French his-
torians are eager to inform us, invariably entrenched
themselves in their positions, surrounding their lines
with sharp-pointed posts by which the equally invari-
able rush of the French could be broken. But the
French on these occasions were too wise to repeat
the impetuous charge which had ruined them at
Crcy and Agincourt, and the consequence was that
the two forces remained within sight of each other,
with a few skirmishes going on at the flanks, but
without any serious encounter.

It will be more satisfactory, however, to copy the
following itineraire of Charles's movements from the
Chronicle of Perceval de Cagny who was a member of
the household of the Due d'Alenc.on, and probably
present, certainly at all events bound to have the
best and most correct information. He informs us
that the King left Rheims on Thursday the 2 1st of
July, and dined, supped, and lay at the Abbey of St.

1430J

The Second Period. 153

Nanuol that night, where were brought to him the
keys of the city of Laon. lie then set out on le
voyage h "ccnir deva)it Pcfris.

" And on Saturday the 23d of the same month the King dined,
supped and lay at Sois,uns, and was there received the most honour-
ably that the churchmen, burghers and other people of the town were
capable of : for they had all great fear because of the destruction o"
the town which had been taken by the Burgundians and made to
rebel against the King.

" l-'riday the 2Qth day of July the King and his company were
all day before Chateau-Thierry in order of battle, hoping that the
Duke of Bedford WOtild appear to fight. The place surrendered at
the hour of vespers, and the King lodged there till Monday the first
of August. On that day the King lay at Monmirail in Brie.

14 Tuesday the 2d of August he passed the night in the town of
Provins, and had the best possible reception there, and remained till
the Friday following, the 5th August. Sunday the yth the King
lay at the town of Coulommiers in Brie. Wednesday the loth he
lay at La Ferte-Milon, Thursday at Crespy in Yalois Friday at
Laigny-le-Sec. The following Saturday the I3th the King held the
field near Dammartin-en-Gouelle, for the whole day looking out for
the English : but they came not.

"On Sunday the I4th August the Maid, the Due d* Alen^on, the
Count de Vendosme, the Marshals and other captains accompanied
by six or seven thousand combatants were at the hour of vespers lodged
in the fields near Montepilloy, nearly two leagues from the town of
Senlis The Duke of Bedford and other English captains with be-
tween eight and ten thousand English lying half a league from Senlis
between our people and the said city on a little stream, in a village
called Notre Dame de la Victoire. That evening our people skir-
mished with the English near to their camp and in this skirmish were
people taken on each side, and of the English Captain d'Orbec and
ten or twelve others, and people wounded on both sides : when night
fell each retired to their own quarters."

The same writer records an appeal in the true tone
of chivalry addressed to the English by Jeanne and
Alen^on desiring them to come out from their en-

154 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429-

trenchments and fight : and promising to withdraw
to a sufficient distance to permit the enemy to place
himself in the open field. The French troops had
first " put themselves in the best state of conscience
that could possibly be, hearing mass at an early hour
and then to horse." But the English would not
come out. Jeanne, with her standard in her hand
rode up to the English entrenchments, and some
one says (not de Cagny) struck the posts with
her banner, challenging the force within to come
out and fight ; while they on their side waved
at the French in defiance, a standard copied
from that of Jeanne, on which was depicted a
distaff and spindle. But neither host approached
any nearer. Finally, Charles made his way to
Compiegne.

At Chateau-Thierry there was concluded an ar-
rangement with Philip of Burgundy for a truce of
fifteen days, before the end of which time the Duke
undertook to deliver Paris peaceably to the French.
That this was simply to gain time and that no idea
of giving up Paris had ever been entertained is evi-
dent ; perhaps Charles was not even deceived. He,
no more than Philip, had any desire to encounter the
dangers of such a siege. But he was able at least to
silence the clamours of the army and the repre-
sentations of the persistent Maid by this truce.
To wait for fifteen days and receive the prize
without a blow struck, would not that be best ?
The counsellors of the King held thus a strong
position, though the delay made the hearts of the
warriors sick.

1430] The Second Period. 155

The figure of Jeanne appears during these march-
ings and counter-marchings like that of any other
general, pursuing a skilful but not unusual plan of
campaign. That she did well and bravely there can be
no doubt, and there is a characteristic touch which we
recognise, in the fact that she and all of her company
"put themselves in the best state of conscience that
could be," before they took to horse ; but the skir-
mishes and repulses are such as Alen^on himself
might have made. " She made much diligence,"
the same chronicler tells us, " to reduce and place
many towns in the obedience of the King," but so
did many others with like success. We hear no
more her vigorous knock at the door of the council
chamber if the discussion' there was too long or
the proceedings too secret. Her appearances are
those of a general among many other generals, no
longer with any special certainty in her movements
as of a person inspired. We are reminded of a
story told of a previous period, after the fight at
Patay, when blazing forth in the indignation of her
youthful purity at the sight of one of the camp fol-
lowers, a degraded woman with some soldiers, she
struck the wanton with the flat of her sword, driv-
ing her forth from the camp, where was no longer
that chastened army of awed and reverent soldiers
making their confession on the eve of every battle,
whom she had led to Orleans. The sword she
used on this occasion, was, it is said, the miracu-
lous sword which had been found under the high
altar of St. Catherine at Fierbois ; but at the touch
of the unclean the maiden brand broke in two. If

156 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429-

this was an allegory * to show that the work of that
weapon was over, and the common sword of the sol-
dier enough for the warfare that remained, it could
not be more clearly realised than in the history
of this campaign. The only touch of our real Maid
in her own distinct person comes to us in a letter
written in a field on that same wavering road to
Paris, dated as early as the 5th of August and ad-
dressed to the good people of Rheims, some of
whom had evidently written to her to ask what was
the meaning of the delay, and whether she had
given up the cause of the country. There is a terse
determination in its brief, indignant sentences which
is a relief to the reader weary of the wavering and
purposeless campaign :

" Dear and good friends, good and loyal French-
men of the town of Rheims. Jeanne, the Maid,
sends you news of her. It is true that the King has
made a truce of fifteen days with the Duke of Bur-
gundy, who promises to render peaceably the city
of Paris in that time. Do not, however, be surprised
if I enter there sooner, for I like not truces so made,
and know not whether I will keep them, but if I
keep them, it will be only because of the honour of
the King/*

* It is taken as a miraculous sign by another chronicler, Jean Char-
tier, who tells us that when this fact came to the knowledge of the
King the sword was given by him to the workmen to be re-founded
" but they could not do it, nor put the pieces together again : which
is a great proof (grant approbation) that the sword came to her di-
vinely. And it is notorious that since the breaking of that sword,
the said Jeanne neither prospered in arms to the profit of the King
nor otherwise as she had done before."

1430]

The Second Period, 1 5 7

While Jeanne and her army thus played with the
unmoving English, advancing and retiring, attempt-
ing every means of drawing them out, the enemy
took advantage of one of these seeming withdrawals
to march out of their camp suddenly and return to
Paris, which all this time had been lying compara-
tively defenceless, had the French made their attack
sooner. At the same time Charles moved on to
Compigne where he gave himself up to fresh in-
trigues with Philip of Burgundy, this time for a truce
to last till Christmas. The Maid was grievously
troubled by this step, moult marrie, and by the
new period of delay and negotiation on which the
Court had entered. Paris was not given up, nor was
there any appearance that it ever would be, and to
all the generals as well as to the Maid it was very
evident that this was the next step to be taken. Some
of the leaders wearied with inaction had pushed on
to Normandy where four great fortresses greatest
of all the immense and mysterious stronghold on the
high cliffs of the Seine, that imposing Chateau Gail-
lard which Richard Cceur-de-lion had built, the ruins
of which, white and mystic, still dominate, like some
Titanic ghost, the course of the river had yielded to
them. So great was the danger of Normandy, the
most securely English of all French provinces, that
Bedford had again been drawn out of Paris to de-
fend it. Here then was another opportunity to
seize the capital. But Charles could not be induced
to move. He found many ways of amusing himself
at Compi&gne, and the new treaty was being hatched
with Burgundy which gave an excuse for doing

158 Jeanne d'Arc. U429-

nothing. The pause which wearied them all out,
both captains and soldiers, at last became more than
flesh and blood could bear.

Jeanne once more was driven to take the initiative.
Already on one occasion she had forced the hand of
the lingering Court, and resumed the campaign of her
own accord, an impatient movement which had been
perfectly successful. No doubt again the army itself
was becoming demoralised, and showing symptoms of
falling to pieces. One day she sent for Alengon in
haste during the absence of the ambassadors at
Arras. " Beau due" she cried, " prepare your troops
and the other captains. En mon Dieu, par mon mar-
tin* I will see Paris nearer than I have yet seen it."
She had seen the towers from afar as she wandered
over the country in Charles's lingering train. Her
sudden resolution struck like fire upon the impatient
band. They set out at once, Alen^on and the
Maid at the head of their division of the army, and all
rejoiced to get to horse again, to push their way
through every obstacle. They started on the 23d
August, nearly a month after the departure from
Rheims, a month entirely lost, though full of events,
lost without remedy so far as Paris was concerned.
At Senlis they made a pause, perhaps to await the
King, who, it was hoped, would have been con-

* *' It was her oath," adds the chronicler ; no one is quite sure
what it means, but Quicherat is of opinion that it was her baton, her
stick or staff. Perceval de Cagny puts in this exclamation in almost all
the speeches of the Maid. It must have struck him as a curious ad-
juration. Perhaps it explains why La Hire, unable to do without some-
thing to swear by, was permitted by Jeanne in their frank and
humorous camaraderie to swear by his stick, the same rustic oath.

14301

The Second Period. 159

strained to follow ; then carrying with them all the
forces that could be spared from that town, they
spurred on to St. Denis where they arrived on the
26th : St. Denis, the other sacred town of France,
the place of the tomb, as Rheims was the place of
the crown.

The royalty of France was Jeanne's passion. I
do not say the King, which might be capable of mal-
interpretation, but the kings, the monarchy, the
anointed of the Lord, by whom France was repre-
sented, embodied and made into a living thing. She
had loved Rheims, its associations, its triumphs, the
rejoicing of its citizens. These had been the ac-
companiments of her own highest victory. She
came to St. Denis in a different mood, her heart
hot with disappointment and the thwarting of all
her plans. From whatever cause it might spring,
it was clear that she was no longer buoyed up by
that certainty which only a little while before had
carried her through every danger and over every
obstacle. But to have reached St. Denis at least
was something. It was a place doubly sacred, con-
secrated to that royal Mouse for which she would so
willingly have given her life. And at last she was
within sight of Paris, the greatest prize of all. Up
to this time she had known in actual warfare nothing
but victory. If her heart for the first time wavered
and feared, there was still no certain reason that,
dc par Dicn, she might not win the day again.

At St. Denis there was once more a cruel delay.
Nearly a fortnight passed and there was no news of
the King. The Maid employed the time in skir^

160 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429-

mishes and reconnoissances, but does not seem to
have ventured on an attack without the sanction of
Charles, whom Alen^on, finally, going back on two
several occasions, succeeded in setting in motion.
Charles had remained at Compiegne to carry out his
treaty with Burgundy, and the last thing he desired
was this attack; but when he could resist no longer
he moved on reluctantly to St. Denis, where his
arrival Was hailed with great delight. This was not
until the 5th of September, and the army, wrought
up to a high pitch of excitement and expectation,
was eager for the fight. " There was no one of
whatever condition, who did not say, ' She will lead
the King into Paris, if he will let her,' " says the
chronicler.

In the meantime the authorities in Paris were at
work, strengthening its fortifications, frightening the
populace with threats of the vengeance of Charles,
persuading every citizen of the danger of submission.

The Bourgeois tells us that letters came from " les
Arfninoz," that is, the party of the King, -sealed
with the seal of the Due d'Alengon, and addressed
to the heads of the city guilds and municipality
inviting their co-operation as Frenchmen. " But,"
adds the Parisian, " it was easy to see through their
meaning, and an answer was returned that they
need not throw away their paper as no attention
was paid to it/' There is no sign at all that any
national feeling existed to respond to such an appeal.
p ar i s its courts of law, Parliaments (salaried by
Bedford), University, Church every department,
was English in the first place, Burgundian in the

CHARLES VII.

FROM A PAINTING BY J. CHAPMAN.

1430]

The Second Period.

161

second, dependent on English support and money.
There was no French party existing. The Maid was
to them an evil sorceress, a creature in the form of a
woman, exercising the blackest arts. Perhaps there
was even a breath of consciousness in the air that
Charles himself had no desire for the fall of the city.
He had left the Parisians full time to make every
preparation, he had held back as long as was possible.
His favour was all on the side of his enemies; for
his own forces and their leaders, and especially for
the Maid, he had nothing but discouragement, dis-
trust, and auguries of evil.

Nevertheless, these oppositions came to an end,
and Jeanne, though less ready and eager for the
assault, found herself under the walls of Paris at last.

CHAPTER VIII.

DEFEAT AND DISCOURAGEMENT.
AUTUMN, 1429.

:T was on t he ^lluJS cptcmber that
Jeanne and her immediate followers
reached the village of L^
where they encamped for the
The next day was the day of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, a
great festival of the Church. It
could scarcely be a matter of choice on the part of
so devout a Catholic as Jeanne to take this day of
all others, when every church bell was tinkling forth
a summons to the faithful, for the day of assault.
In all probability she was not now acting on her own
impulse but on that of the other generals and nobles.
Had she refused, might it not have been alleged
against her that after all her impatience it was she
who was the cause of delay ? The forces with Jeanne
were not very large, a great proportion of the army
remaining with Charles no one seems to know where,
either at St. Denis or at some intermediate spot, pos-
sibly to form a reserve force which could be brought

H29J Defeat and Discouragement. 163

up when wanted. The best informed historian only
knows that Charles was not with the active force. But
Alen^on was at the head of the troops, along with
many other names well known to us, La Hire, and
young Guy de Laval, and Xaintailles, all might)' men
of valour and the devoted friends of Jeanne. There is
a something, a mist, an incertitude in the beginning
of the assault which was unlike the previous achieve-
ments of Jeanne, a certain want of precaution or know-
ledge of the difficulties which does not reflect honour
upon the generals with her. Absolutely new to warfare
as she was before Orleans she had ridden out at once
on her arrival there to inspect the fortifications of
the besiegers. But probably the continual skirmish-
ing of which we are told made this impossible here,
so that, though the Maid studied the situation of
the town in order to choose the best point for attack,
it was only when already engaged that the army clis-
Goy_ercd a dou-ble-,ilitcb^- round- the walls, the inner
one of which was full of water. By sheer impetu-
osity the French took the gate of St. Honor and its
"boulevard" or tower, driving its defenders back
into the city: but their further progress was arrested
by that discovery. It was on this occasion that
Jeanne is supposed to have seized from a Burgundian
in the mele"e, a sword, of which she boasted afterwards
that it was a good sword capable of good blows,
though we have no certain record that in all her
battles she ever gave one blow, or shed blood at all.
It would seem to have been only after the taking
of this gate that the discovery was made as to the
two deep ditches, one dry, the other filled with

164 Jeanne d'Arc. [1429

water. Jeanne, whose place had always been with
her standard at the immediate foot of the wall, from
whence to direct and cheer on her soldiers, pressed
forward to this point of peril, descending into the
first fosse, and climbing up again on to the second,
the dos d'ane, which separated them, where she
stood in the midst of a rain of arrows, fully exposed
to all the enraged crowd of archers and gunners on
the ramparts above, testing with her lance the depth
of the water. We seem in the story to see her all
alone or with her standard-bearer only by her side
making this investigation ; but that of course is only
a pictorial suggestion, though it might for a moment
be the fact. She remained there, however, from two
in the afternoon till night, when she was forced away.
The struggle must have raged around while she stood
on the dark edge of the ditch probing the muddy
water to see where it could best be crossed, shouting
directions to her men in that voice assez femrne,
which penetrated the noise of battle, and summon-
ing the active and desperate enemy overhead. "Ren-
ty ! Renty ! " she cried as she had done at Orleans
" surrender to the King of France ! "

We hear nothing now of the white armour ; it
must have been dimmed and worn by much fighting,
and the banner torn and glorious with the chances
of the war ; but it still waved over her head, and she
still stood fast, on the ridge between the two ditches,
shouting her summons, cheering the men, a spot of
light still, amid all the steely glimmering of the mail-
coats and the dark downpour of that iron rain.
Half a hundred war cries rending the air, shrieks

H29 Defeat and Discouragement. 165

from the walls of "Witch, Devil, Ribaude," and
names still more insulting to her purity, could not
silence that treble shout, the most wonderful, surely,
that ever rang through such an infernal clamour, so
prodigious, the chronicler says, that it was a marvel
to hear it. DC par Dicn, Rcndcz voiis, render voits,
an roy de France. If as we believe she never
struck a blow, the aspect of that wonderful figure
becomes more extraordinary still. While the boldest
of her companions struggled across to fling them-
selves and what beams and ladders they could drag
with them against the wall, she stood without even
such shelter as close proximity to it might have
given, cheering them on, exposed to every shot.

The fight was desperate, and though there was iu>
marked success on the part of the besiegers, yet
there seems to have been nothing to discourage
them, as the fight raged on. Few were wounded,
notwithstanding the noise of the cannons and cul-
verins, " by the grace of God and the good luck of the
Maid." But towards the evening Jeanne herself
suddenly swayed and fell, an arrow having pierced

Jier thigh ; she seems, however, to have struggled to
her feet again, undismayed, when a still greater mis-

jfortune befell : her standard-bearer was hit, first in
the foot, and then, as he raised his visor to pull the
arrow from the wound, between his eyes, falling
dead at her feet. What happened to the banner, we
are not told ; Jeanne most likely herself caught it as it
fell. But at this stroke, more dreadful than her own
wound, her strength failed her, and she crept behind
a bush or heap of stones, where she lay, refusing to

1 66 Jeanne d' Arc. [H29

quit the place. Some say she managed to slide into
the dry ditch where there was a little shelter, but
resisted all attempts to carry her away, and some
add that while she lay there she employed herself in
a vain attempt to throw faggots into the ditch to
make it passable. It is said that she kept calling out
to them to persevere, to go on and Paris would be
won. She had promised, they say, to sleep that
night within the conquered city ; but this promise
comes to us with no seal of authority. Jeanne knew
that it had taken her eight days to free Orleans, and
she could scarcely have promised so sudden a suc-
cess in the more formidable achievement. But she
was at least determined in her conviction that per-
severance only was needed. She must have lain for
hours on the slope of the outer moat, urging on the
troops with such force as her dauntless voice could
give, repeating again and again that the place could
be taken if they but held on. But when night came
Alen$on and some other of the captains overcame her
resistance, and there being clearly no further possi-
bility for the moment, succeeded in setting her upon
her horse, and conveyed her back to the camp.
While they rode with her, supporting her on her
charger, she did nothing but repeat " Quel dom~
mage!" Oh, what a misfortune, that the siege of
Paris should fail, all for want of constancy and
courage. " If they had but gone on till morning,"
she cried, " the inhabitants would have known." It
is evident from this that she must have expected a
rising within, and could not yet believe that no such
thing was to be looked for. "Par mon martin^ the

1429] Defeat and Dt -*nt. 167

place would have been taken," she said in the hear-
>ne cannot but feel of the chronicler, who report >
so often these homely words.

Thus Jeanne was led back after the first day' -
tack. Her wound was not serious, and she had been
repulsed during one of the day's fighting at Orleans
without losing courage. But something had changed
her spirit as well as the spirit of the army she led.
There is a curious glimpse given us into her camp at
this point, which indeed comes to us through the
observation of an enemy, yet seems to have in it an
unmistakable gleam of truth. It comes from one of
the parties which had been granted a safe-conduct
to carry away the dead of the English and Burgun-
dian side. They tell us, among other circumstances,
such as that the French burnt their dead, a mani-
fest falsehood, but admirably calculated to make
them a horror to their neighbours, that many in the
ranks cursed the Maid who had promised that they
should without any doubt sleep that night in Paris,
and plunder the wealthy city. The men with their
safe-conduct creeping among the dead, to rccovci
those bodies which had fallen on their own side, and
furtively to count the fallen on the other who were
delighted to bring a report that the Maid was no
longer the fountain of strength and blessing, but
secretly cursed by her own forces are sinister
figures groping their way through the darkness of
the September night.

Next morning, however, her wound being slight,
Jeanne was up early and in conference with Alen^on,
begging him to sound his trumpets and set forth

1 68 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

once more. "-I shall not budge from here, till Paris
is- taken," she said. No doubt her spirit was up,
and a determination to recover lost ground strong in
her mind. While the commanders consulted to-
gether, there came a band of joyful augury into the
camp, the Seigneur of Montmorency with sixty
gentlemen, who had left the party of Burgundy in
order to take service under the banner of the Maid.
No doubt this important and welcome addition to
their number exhilarated the entire camp, in the
commotion of the reveille, while each man looked to
his weapons, wiping off from breastplate and helmet
the heavy dew of the September morning, greeting
the new friends and brothers-in-arms who had come
in, and arranging, with a better knowledge of the
ground than that of yesterday, the mode of attack.
Jeanne would not confess that she felt her wound, in
her eagerness to begin the assault a second time.
And all were in good spirits, the disappointment of
the night having blown away, and the determination
to do or die being stronger than ever. Were the
men-at-arms perhaps less amenable? Were they
whispering to each other that Jeanne had prom-
ised them Paris yesterday, and for the first time had
not kept her word ? It would almost require such
a fact as this to explain what follows. For as they
began to set out, the whole field in movement, there
was suddenly seen approaching another party of
cavaliers perhaps another reinforcement like that
of Montmorency ? This new band, however, con-
sisted but of two gentlemen and their immediate
attendants, the Due de Bar and the Comte de Cler-

1429] Defeat and Discouragement. 1 69

mont,* always a bird of evil omen, riding hot from St.
Denis with orders from the King. These orders were
abrupt and peremptory taJjarn back? ^ea*me and
her companions were struck dumb for the moment.
To turn back, and Paris at their feet ! There must
have burst forth a storm of remonstrance and appeal.
\Ve cannot tell how long the indignant parley lasted ;
the historians do not enlarge upon the disastrous
incident. But at last the generals yielded to the
orders of the King Jeanne humiliated, miserable,
and almost in despair. \Ye cannot but feel that on
no former occasion would she have given way so
completely ; she would have rushed to the King's
presence, overwhelmed him with impetuous prayers,
extorted somehow the permission to go on. But
Charles was safe at seven miles' distance, and his
envoys were imperious and peremptory, like men
able to enforce obedience if it were not given. She
obeyed at last, recovering courage a little in the
hope of being able to persuade Charles to change his
mind, and sanction another assault on Paris from
the other side, by means of a bridge over the Seine
towards St. Denis, which Alengon had constructed.
Next morning it appears that without even asking
that permission a portion of the army set out very
early for this bridge: but the King had divined their
project, and when they reached the river side the
first thing they saw was their bridge in ruins. It
had been treacherously destroyed in the night, not
by their enemies, but by their King.

*Clermunt it was \vho deserted the Scots at the Battle of the Her-
ring.

1 70 Jeanne d* Arc. [H29

It is natural that the French historians should
exhaust themselves in explanation of this fatal
change of policy. Quicherat, who was the first to
bring to light all the most important records of this
period of history, lays the entire blame upon La
Tremouille, the chief adviser of Charles. But that
Charles himself was at heart equally guilty no one
can doubt. He was a man who proved himself in
the end of his career to possess both sense and
energy, though tardily developed. It was to him
that Jeanne had given that private sign of the truth
of her mission, by which he was overawed and con-
vinced in the first moment of their intercourse.
Within the few months which had elapsed since she
appeared at Chinon every thing that was wonderful
had been done for him by her means. He was then
a fugitive pretender, not even very certain of his
own claim, driven into a corner of his lawful domin-
ions, and fully prepared to abandon even that small
standing ground, to fly into Spain or Scotland, and
give up the attempt to hold his place as King of
France. Now he was the consecrated King, with the
holy oil upon his brows, and the crown of his ances-
tors on his head, accepted and proclaimed, all France
stirring to her old allegiance, new conquests falling
into his hands every day, and the richest portion of
his kingdom secure under his sway. To check thus
peremptorily the career of the deliverer who had
done so much for him, degrading her from her place,
throwing more than doubt upon her inspiration,
falsifying by force the promises which she had made
promises which had never failed before, was a

14291 Defeat and Discouragement. \ 71

i sin on the part of a young man, by
right of his kingly office the very head of knight-
hood and every chivalrous undertaking, than it
could be on the part of an old and subtle diplomat-
ist who had never believed in such wild measures,
and all through had clogged the steps and en-
deavoured to neutralise the mission of the warrior
Maid. It is very clear, however, that between them
it was the King and his chamberlain who made this
assault upon Paris so evident and complete a failure.
One clay's repulse was nothing in a siege. There
had been one great repulse and several lesser ones at
Orleans. Jeanne, even though weakened by her
wound, had sprung up that morning full of confi-
dence and courage. In no way was the failure to
be laid to her charge.

But this could never, perhaps, have been explained
to the whole body of the army, who had believed
her word without a doubt and taken her success for
granted. If they had been wavering before, which
seems possible for they must have been, to a con-
siderable extent, new levies, the campaigners of the
Loire having accomplished their period of feudal
service, this sudden downfall must have strength-
ened every doubt and damped every enthusiasm.
The Maid of whom such wonderful tales had been
told, she who had been the angel of triumph, the
irresistible, before whom the English fled, and the
very walls fell down was she after all only a sorcer-
ess, as the others called her, a creature whose incan-
tations had failed after the flash of momentary suc-
cess ? Such impressions arc too apt to come like

172 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

clouds over every popular enthusiasm, quenching
the light and chilling the heart.

Jeanne was thus dragged back to St. Denis against
her will and every instinct of her being, and there
ensued three days of passionate debate and discus-
sion. For a moment it appeared as if she would
have thrown off the bonds of loyal obedience and
pursued her mission at all hazards. Her " voices,"
if they had previously given an uncertain sound,
promising only the support and succour of God, but
no success, now spoke more plainly and urged the
continuance of the siege ; and the Maid was torn in
pieces between the requirements of her celestial
guardians and the force of authority around her. If
she had broken out into open rebellion who would
have followed her? She had never yet done so;
when the King was against her she had pleaded or
forced an agreement, and received or snatched a
consent from the malevolent chamberlain, as at Jar-
geau and Troyes. Never yet had she set herself in
public opposition to the will of her sovereign. She
had submitted to all kinds of tests and trials rather
than this. And to have lain half a day wounded
outside Paris and to stand there pleading her cause
with her wound still unhealed were not likely things
to strengthen her powers of resistance. " The Voices
bade me remain at St. Denis," she said afterwards at
her trial, " and I desired to remain ; but the seigneurs
took me away in spite of myself. If I had not been
wounded I should never have left." Added to the
force of these circumstances, it was no doubt ap-
parent to all that to resume operations after that

H291 Ay/w/ a)id Discouragement. \ 73

forced retreat, and the betrayal it gave of divided
counsels, would be less hopeful than ever. These
arguments even convinced the bold La Hire, who
for his part, being no better than a Free Lance, could
move hither and thither as he would ; and thus the
first defeat of the Maid, a disaster involving all the
misfortunes that followed in its train, was accom-
plished.

Jeanne's last act in St. Denis was one to which
perhaps the modern reader gives undue significance,
but which certainly must have had a certain melan-
choly meaning. Before she left, dragged almost a
captive in the train of the King, we are told that she
laid on the altar of the cathedral the armour she had
\yorrTon that evil day before Paris. It was not an
unusual act for a warrior to do this on his return
from the wars. And if she had been about to re-
nounce her mission it would have been easily com-
prehensible. But no such thought was in her mind.
Was it a movement of despair, was it with some
womanish fancy that the arms in which she had suf-
fered dcfe.it should not be borne again? or was it
done in some gleam of higher revelation made to her
that defeat, too, was a part of victory, and that not
without that bitterness of failure could the fame of
the soldier of Christ be perfected ? I have remarked
already that we hear no more of the white armour,
inlaid with silver and dazzling like a mirror, in which
she had begun her career ; perhaps it was the remains
of that panoply of triumph which she laid out before
the altar of the patron saint of France, all dim now
with hard work and the shadow of defeat. It must

174 Jeanne d* Arc. [1429

have marked a renunciation of one kind or another,
the sacrifice of some hope. She was no longer
Jeanne the invincible, the triumphant, whose very
look made the enemy tremble and flee, and gave
double force to every Frenchman's arm. Was she
then and there abdicating, becoming to her own
consciousness Jeanne the champion only, honest and
true, but no longer the inspired Maid, the Envoy
of God ? To these questions we can give no answer ;
but the act is pathetic, and fills the mind with sug-
gestions. She who had carried every force tri-
umphantly with her, and quenched every opposition,
bitter and determined though that had been, was
now a thrall to be dragged almost by force in an
unworthy train. It is evident that she felt the
humiliation to the bottom of her heart. It is not for
human nature to have the triumph alone: the hu-
miliation, the overthrow, the chill and tragic shadow
must follow. Jeanne had entered into that cloud
when she offered the armour, that had been like a
star in front of the battle, at the shrine of St. Denis. *
Hers was now to be a sadder, a humbler, perhaps a
still nobler part.

It is enough to trace the further movements of the
King to perceive how at every step the iron must
have entered deeper and deeper into the heart of the
Maid. He made his arrangements for the govern-
ment of each of the towns which had acknowledged

* Jeanne's arms, offered at St. Denis, were afterwards taken by
the English and sent to the King of England (all except the sword
with its ornaments of gold) without giving anything to the church in
return : " qui est pur sacrilege et manifeste," says Jean Chartier.

H29J Dcftat and Discouragement. 175

him : Bcauvais, Compiegne, Senlis, and the rest. He
appointed commissioners for the due regulation of
the truce with Philip of Burgundy. And then the
retreating army took its march southward towards
the mild and wealthy country, all fertility and quiet,
where a recreant prince might feel himself safe and
amuse himself at his leisure by Lagny, by Provins,
by Bercy-sur Seine, where he had been checked be-
fore in his retreat and almost forced to the march on
Paris by Sens, and Montargis : until at last on the
29th of September, no doubt diminished by the
withdrawal of many a local troop and knight whose
service was over, the forces arrived at Gien, whence
they had set forth at the end of June for a series of
victories. It is to be supposed that the King was
well enough satisfied with the conquests accom-
plished in three months. And, indeed, in ordinary
circumstances they would have formed a triumphant
list. Charles must have felt himself free to play
after the work which he had not done ; and to leave
his good fortune and the able negotiators, who
hoped to get Paris and other good things from Philip
of Burgundy without paying anything for them, to
do the rest.

We can imagine nothing more dreadful for the
Maid than the months that followed. The Court
was not ungrateful to her ; she received the warmest
welcome from the Queen ; she had ^inaison arranged
for her like the household of a noble chief, with the
addition of women and maidens of rank to her exist-
ing staff, and everything which could serve to show
that she was one whom the King delighted to hon-

176 yeanne d' Arc. [1429

our. And Charles would have her apparelled glori-
ously like the king's daughter in the psalm. " He
gave her a mantle of cloth of gold, open at both
sides, to wear over her armour," and apparently did
his best to make her, if not a noble lady, yet into
the semblance of a noble young chevaliere, one of
the glories of his Court, with all the distinction of
her achievements and all the complacences of a car-
pet knight. It was said afterwards, in the absence of
any graver possibility of accusation, that she liked
her fine clothes. The tears rise to the eyes at such
a suggestion. She was so natural that let us hope
she did, the martyr Maid whose torture had already
begun. If that mantle of gold gave her a moment
of pleasure, it is something to be thankful for in the
midst of the dismal shadows that were already clos-
ing round her. They were ready to give her any
shining mantle, any beautiful dress, even a title and
noble name if she would ; but what the King and his
counsellors were determined on, was, that she should
no more have the fame of individual triumph, or do
anything save under their orders.

Alenc^on, the gentle duke, with whom she had
taken so much trouble, and who had grown into a
true and noble comrade, made one effort to free his
friend and leader. He planned an expedition into
Normandy, where, with the help of Jeanne, he hoped
to inflict upon the English a loss so tremendous, the
destruction of their base of operations, that they
would be compelled to abandon the centre of France
altogether, and leave the way open to Paris and to
the recovery of the entire kingdom ; but the King, or

1429] Defeat and Discouragement. \ 77

La Tremoille, as the historians prefer to say, would
not permit Jeanne to accompany him, and this hope
came to nothing. Alen^on disbanded his troops,
everything in the form of an army was broken up
the short period of feudal service making this inevi-
table, unless new levies were made and no forces
were left under arms except those bands which
formed the body-guard of the King. Nevertheless,
there was plenty of work to be done still, and the
breaking up of the French forces encouraged many a
little garrison of English partisans, which would have
yielded naturally and easily to a strong national party.

In the midst of the winter, however, it seemed
jij3rjDj3jiate to the Cuuit tu hrnnch fofTrr~tt-xped i-
tion against some of {fre unsiihd"^ t^'pg, perhaps
on account of the mortal languishment of Jeanne
herself, perhaps for some other reason of its own.
The first necessity was to collect the necessary forces,
and for this reason Jeanne came to Bourges, where
she was lodged in one of the great houses of the city,
that of Raynard de Bouligny, conseiller de roi, and
his wife, Marguerite, one of the Queen's ladies. She
was there for three weeks collecting her men, anc
the noble gentlewoman, who was her hostess, was
afterwards in the Rehabilitation trial, one of the wit-
nesses to the purity of her life.

From this Lid}- and others we have a clear enough
view of what the Maid was in this second chapter of
her history. She spent her time in the most inti-
mate intercourse with Madame Marguerite, sharing
even her room, so that nothing could be more
complete than the knowledge of her hostess of every

1/8 J canned' Arc. [1429

detail of her young guest's life. And wonderful as
was the difference between the peasant maiden of
Domremy and the most famous woman in France,
the life of Jeanne, the Deliverer of her country, is as
the life of Jeanne, the cottage sempstress, as simple, -
as devout, and as pure. She loved to go to church for
the early matins, but as it was not fit that she should
go out alone at that hour, she besought Madame
Marguerite to go with her. In the evening she went
to the nearest church, and there with all her old
childish love for the church bells, she had them rung
for half an hour, calling together the poor, the beggars
who haunt every Catholic church, the poor friars and
bedesmen, the penniless and forlorn from all the
neighbourhood. This custom would, no doubt, soon
become known, and not only her poor pensioners, but
the general crowd would gather to gaze at the Maid
as well as to join in her prayers. It was her great
pleasure to sing a hymn to the Virgin, probably one of
the litanies which the unlearned worshipper loves,
with its choruses and constant repetitions, in com-
pany with all those untutored voices, in the dimness
of the church, while the twilight sank into night, and
the twinkling stars of candles on the altar made a
radiance in the middle of the gloom. When she
had money to give she divided it, according to the
liberal custom of her time, among her poor fellow-
worshippers. These evening services were her recrea-
tion. The days were full of business, of enrolling
soldiers, and regulating the " lances," groups of re-
tainers, headed by their lord, who came to perform
their feudal service.

UJ 5

O o

II

< <

o 5

OJ g

1429] Defeat and Discouragement. 1 79

The ladies of the town who had the advantage of
knowing Madame Marguerite did not fail to avail
themselves of this privilege, and thronged to visit
her wonderful guest. They brought her their sacred
medals and rosaries to bless, and asked her a hun-
dred questions. \Yas she afraid of being wounded ;
or was she assured that she would not be wounded ?
" No more than others/' she said ; and she put away
their religious ornaments with a smile, bidding
Madame Marguerite touch them, or the visitors
themselves, which would be just as good as if she did
it. She would seem to have been always smiling,
friendly, checking with a laugh the adulation of her
visitors, many of whom wore medals with her own
effigy (if only one had been saved for us!) as there
were many banners made after the pattern of hers.
But cheerful as she was, a prevailing tone of sadness
now appears to run through her life. On several
occasions she spoke to her confessor and chaplain,
who attended her everywhere, of her death. " If it
should be my fate to die soon, tell the King our
master on my part to build chapels where prayer
may be made to the Most High for the salvation of
the souls of those who shall die in the wars for the
defence of the kingdom." This was the one thing she
seemed anxious for, and it returned again and again to
her mind. Her thoughts indeed were heavy enough.
Her larger enterprises had been cruelly put a stop
to: her companions-in-arms had been dispersed : she
had been separated from her lieutenant Alen^on, and
from all the friends between whom and herself great
mutual confidence had sprung up. Even the com-

180 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

mission which had at last been put in her hands was
a trifling one and led to nothing, bringing the King
no nearer to any satisfactory end : and the troops were
under command of a new captain whom she scarcely
knew, d'Albert, who was the son-in-law of La Tre-
moille, and probably little inclined to be a friend to
Jeanne. In these circumstances there was little of
an exhilarating or promising kind.

Nevertheless as an episode, few things had hap-
pened to Jeanne more memorable than the siege of
Pierre-le-Moutier. The first assault upon the
town was unsuccessful ; the retreat had sounded and
the troops were streaming back from the point of
attack, when Jean d'Aulon, the faithful friend and
brave gentleman who was at the head of the Maid's
military household, being himself wounded in the
heel and unable to stand or walk, saw the Maid
almost alone before the stronghold, four or five men
only with her. He dragged himself up as well
as he could upon his horse, and hastened towards
her, calling out to her to ask what she did there, and
why she did not retire with the rest. She answered
him, taking off her helmet to speak, that she would
leave only when the place was taken and went on
shouting for faggots and beams to make a bridge
across the ditch. It is to be supposed that seeing
she paid no attention, nor budged a step from that
dangerous point, this brave man, wounded though he
was, must have made an effort to rally the retiring
besiegers: but Jeanne seems to have taken no notice
of her desertion nor ever to have paused in her shout
for planks and gabions. "All to the bridge," she

1429] Defeat and Discouragement. 181

shouted, " aux fagots ct aux dales tout le monde !
every one to the bridge." " Jeanne, withdraw, with-
draw ! you are alone," some one said to her. Bare-
headed, her countenance all aglow, the Maid
replied : " I have still with me fifty thousand of my
men." Were those the men whom the prophet's
servant saw when his eyes were opened and he
beheld the innumerable company of angels that sur-
rounded his master? But Jeanne, rapt in the trance
and ecstasy of battle, gave no explanation. " To
work, to work!" her clear voice went on, ringing
over the startled head of the good knight who knew
war, but not any rapture like this. History itself,
awe-stricken, would almost have us believe that alone
with her own hand the Maid took the city, so entirely
does every figure disappear but that one, and the
perplexed and terrified spectator vainly urging her
to give up so desperate an attempt. But no doubt
the shouts of a voice so strange to every such scene,
the vox infantile, the amazing and clear voice, silvery
and womanly, assez femme, and the efforts of d'Aulon
to bring back the retreating troops were success-
ful, and Jeanne once more, triumphantly kept her
word. The place was strongly fortified, well pro-
visioned, and full of people. Therefore the whole
narrative is little less than miraculous, though very
little is said of it. Had they but persevered, as she
had said, a few hours longer before Paris, who could
tell that the same result might not have been
obtained ?

She was not successful, however, with La Charite',
which after a siege of a month's duration still held

182 Jeanne d' Arc. [1429

out, and had to be abandoned. These long opera-
tions of regular warfare were not in Jeanne's way ;
and her coadjutor in command, it must be remem-
bered, was in this case commissioned by her chief
enemy. We are told that she was left without sup-
plies, and in the depths of winter, in cold and rain
and snow, with every movement hampered, and the
ineffective government ever ready to send orders of
retreat, or to cause bewildering and confusing delays
by the want of every munition of war. Finally, at
all events, the French forces withdrew, and again an
unsuccessful enterprise was added to the record of
the once victorious Maid. That she went on con-
tinually promising victory as in her early times, is
probably the mere rumour spread by her detractors
who were now so many, for there is no real evidence
that she did so. Everything rather points to dis-
couragement, uncertainty, and to a silent rage against
the coercion which she could not overcome.

CHAPTER IX.

COMPIEGNE.
1430.

Y this time France was once more all
in flames : the English and Burgun-
dians had entered and then aban-
doned Paris Duke Philip cynically
leaving that city, which he had prom-
ised to give up to Charles, to its own
protection, in order to look after his
pressing personal concerns: while Bedford
spread fire and flame about the adjacent country,
retaking with much slaughter many of the towns
which had 'opened their gates to the King. Thus
while Charles gave no attention to anything beyond
the Loire, and kept his chief champion there, as it
were, on the leash, permitting no return to the most
important field of operations, almost all that had
J:>en_jc^jid~wa& again lost upon the banks of trnr
Selne, This was the state of affairs when Jeanne

more

returned humbled and sad from the abandoned siege
of La Charite. Her enemy's counsels had triumphed

T8 3

1 84 Jeanne d 'Arc. [1430

all round and this was the result. Individual fight- -
ings of no particular account and under no efficient
organisation were taking place day by day ; here a
town stood out heroically, there another yielded to
the foreign arms ; the population were thrown back
into universal misery, the spring fields trampled
under foot, the villages burned, every evil of war in
full operation, invasion aggravated by faction, the
English always aided by one- side of France against
the other, and neither peace nor security any-
where.

This was the aspect of affairs on one side. On
the other appeared a still less satisfactory scene.
Charles amusing himself, his counsellors, La Tremou-
ille, and the Archbishop of Rheims carrying on ficti-
tious negotiations with Burgundy and playing with
the Maid who was in their power, sending her out to
make a show and cast a spell, then dragging her back
at the end of their shameful chain : while the Court,
the King and Queen, and all their flattering attend-
ants gilded that chain and tried to make her forget
by fine clothes and caresses, at once her mission and
her despair. They were not ungrateful, no : let us
do them justice, for they might well have added this
to the number of their sins : mantles of cloth of gold,
patents of nobility were at her command, had these
been what she wanted. The only personal wrong
they did to Jeanne was to set up against her a sort
of opposittmi, another '

had " voices " and apparitions too, and who was ad-
mitted to all the councils and gave her advice in
contradiction of the Maid, a certain Catherine de la

1430] Compiegn*\ 185

Rochelle, who was ready to say anything that was
put into her mouth, but who had done nothing to
prove any mission for France or from (iod. We have
little light however upon the state of affairs in those
castles, which one after another were the abode of
the Court during this disastrous winter. JThey were
safe" enough on the other side 6t trie Loire in the fat
country where the vines still flourished and the young
corn grew. Now and then a band of armed men
was sent forth to succour a fighting town in the suf-
fering and struggling Ilc-de-France, always under the
conflicting orders of those intrigants and courtiers:
but within the Court, all was gay ; " never man,"
as rough La Hire had said on an earlier occa-
sion, " lost his kingdom more gaily or with better
grace" than did Charles. Where was La Hire?
Where was Dunois ? there is no appearance of
these champions anywhere. Alen^on had returned
to his province. Only La TremoYlle and the Arch-
bishop holding all the strings in their hands, upset-
ting all military plans, disgusting every chief, met
and talked and carried on their busy intrigues, and
played their Sibyl Sibylle de carrefour, says one of
the historians indignantly against the Maid, who,
all discouraged and downcast, fretted by caresses,
sick of inactivity, dragged out the uneasy days in an
-tmcongenial world ; but Jeanne has left no record of
the sensations with which she saw these days pass,
eating her heart out, gazing over that rapid river, on
the other side of which all the devils were unchained
and every result of her brief revolution was being
lost.

j 86 Jeanne d'Arc.

11430

At length however the impatience and despair were
more than she could bear ; the Court was then at
SuHy ajid the spring had begun with its longer days
and more passable roads. - Without .^.^^IllJtQ^any-

one the Maid left the castle .The war had rolled

towards these princely walls, as near as Melun,
which was threatened by the English. A little band
of intimate servants and associates, her two brothers,
and a few faithful followers, were with her. So far
as we know she never saw Charles or his courtiers
again. They arrived at Melun in time to witness
and to take part in the repulse of the English, and it
was here that a communication was made to Jeanne
by her saints of which afterwards there was frequent
mention. Little had been said of them during her
darl^ time of inaction, and now their tone was no longer
as of old. It was on the side of the moat of Melun
where probably she was superintending some neces-
sary work to strengthen the fortifications or to put
them in better order for defence, that this message
reached her. The " Voices " which so often had
urged her on to victory and engaged the faith of
heaven for her success, had now a word to say, secret
and personal to herself. It was that she should be
taken prisoner ; and the date w r as fixed, before the St.
Jean. It was the middle of April when this communi-
cation was made and the Feast of St. Jean, as every,
body knows, is in the end of June ; two months only
to work in, to strike another blow for France. The
"Voices " bade her not to fear, that God would sustain
her. But it would be impossible not to be startled by
such a sudden intimation in the midst of her reviving

1430] Compikgne. 1 8 7

plans. The Maid made one terrified prayer, that
would let her die when she was taken, not sub-
ject her to long imprisonment; her heart, prophet-
ically sprang to a sudden consciousness of the most
likely, most terrible end that lay before her, for she
had been often enough threatened with the stake and
the fire to know what to expect. But the saintly
voices made no reply. They bade her be strong and
of good courage: is not that the all-sustaining, all-
delusive message for every martyr? It was
the will of God, and His support and sustaining
power, which we often take to mean deliverance,
but which is not always so were promised. She
asked where this terrible thing was to happen, but
received no reply. Natural and simple as she was,
she confessed afterwards that had she known she
was to be taken on any certain day, she would not
have gone out to meet the catastrophe unless she had
been forced by evident duty to do so. But this was
not revealed to her. "Before the St. Jean!" It
must almost have seemed a guarantee that until that
time or near it she was safe. She would seem to
have said nothing immediately of this vision to sad-
den those about her/

In the meantime, however, there were other adven-
tures in store for her. From Melun to Lagny was
no long journey, but it was through a country full of
enemies in which she must have been subject to
attack at every corner of every road or field. And
she had not been long in the latter place which is
said to have had a garrison of Scots, when news came
of the passing of a band of Burgundians, a troop of

1 88 yeanne d' Arc. [1430

raiders indeed, ravaging the country, taking ad-
vantage of the war to rob and lay waste churches,
villages, and the growing fields wherever they passed.
The troops was led by Franquet d'Arras, a famous
"pillard" robber of God and man. Jeanne set out
to encounter this bandit with a party of some four
hundred men, and various noble companions, among
whom, however, we find no name familiar in her
previous career, a certain Hugh Kennedy, a Scot,
who is to be met with in various records of fighting,
being one of the most notable among them. Fran-
quet's band fought vigorously but were cut to pieces,
and the leader was taken prisoner. When this man
was brought back to Lagny, a prisoner to be ran-
somed, and whom Jeanne desired to exchange for
one of her own side, the law laid claim to him as a
criminal. He was a prisoner of war: what was it the
Maid's duty to do? The question is hotly debated
by the historians and it was brought against her at
her trial. He was a murderer, a robber, the scourge
of the country especially to the poor whom Jeanne
protected and cared for everywhere, was he pitiless
and cruel. She gave him up to justice, and he was
tried, condemned, and beheaded. If it was wrong
from a military point of view, it was her only error,
and shows how little there was with which to
reproach her.

In Lagny other things passed of a more private
nature. Every day and all day long her "voices"
repeated their message in her ears. " Before the St.
Jean." She repeated it to some of her closest com-
rades but left herself no time to dwell upon it. Still

1430] CompTcgnc. 189

worse than the giving up of Franquet was the sup-
posed resuscitation of a child, born dead, which its
parents implored her to pray for that it might live
again to be baptised. She explained the story to her
judges afterwards. It was the habit of the time,
nay, we believe continues to this day in some primi-
tive places, to lay the dead infant on the altar in
such a case, in hope of a miracle. " It is true," said
Jeanne, " that the maidens of the town were all
assembled in the church praying God to restore life
that it might be baptised. It is also true that I went
and prayed with them. The child opened its eyes,
yawned three or four times, was christened and died.
This is all I know." The miracle is not one that
will find much credit nowadays. But the devout
custom was at least simple and intelligible enough,
though it afforded an excellent occasion to attribute
witchcraft to the one among those maidens who was
not of Lagny but of God.

From Lagny Jeanne went on to various other
places in danger, or which wanted encouragement
and help. She made two or three hurried visits to
Compicgne, which was threatened by both parties
of the enemy ; at one time raising the siege of
Choicy, near Compicgne, in company with the Arch-
bishop of Rhcims, a strange brother in arms. On
another of her visits to Compiegne there is said to
have occurred an incident which, if true, reveals
to us with very sad reality the trouble that over-
shadowed the Maid. She had gone to early mass
in the Church of St. Jacques, and communicated,
as was her custom. It must have been near Easter

190 Jeanne d' Arc. [H30

perhaps the occasion of the first communion of
some of the children who are so often referred to,
among whom she loved to worship. She had re-
tired behind a pillar on which she leaned as she
stood, and a number of people, among whom were
many children, drew near after the service to gaze
at her. Jeanne's heart was full, and she had no
one near to whom she could open it and relieve
her soul. As she stood against the pillar her trouble
burst forth. " Dear friends and children," she said,
" I have to tell you that I have been sold and be-
trayed, and will soon be given up to death. I beg
of you to pray for me ; for soon I shall no longer
have any power to serve the King and the king-
dom." These words were told to the writer who
records them, in the year 1498, by two very old men
who had heard them, being children at the time.
The scene was one to dwell in a child's recollection,
and, if true, it throws a melancholy light upon the
thoughts that filled the mind of Jeanne, though her
actions may have seemed as energetic and her im-
pulses as strong as in her best days.

At last the news came speeding through the
country that Compiegne was being invested on all
sides. It had been the headquarters of Charles and
had received him with acclamations, and therefore
the alarm of the townsfolk for the retribution await-
ing them, should they fall into the hands of the
enemy, was great ; it was besides a very important
position. Jeanne was at Crespy en Valois when this
news reached her. She set out immediately (May 22,
1430) to carry aid to the garrison : " J'irai voir mes

1430] I 9 J

amis de Compicgnc" she said. The words are
on the base of her statue which now stands in the
Place of that town. Something of her early impetu-
osity \\ as in this impulse, and no apparent dread of
any fatality. She rode all night at the head of her
part}-, and arrived before the dawn, a May morning,
the 23d, still a month from the fatal " St. Jean."
Though the prophecy was always in her ears, she
must have felt that whole month still before her,
with a sensation of almost greater safety because the
dangerous moment was fixed. The town received
her with joy, and no doubt the satisfaction and re-
lief which hailed her and her reinforcements gave
additional fervour to the Maid, and drove out of
her mind for a moment the fatal knowledge which
oppressed it. There is some difficulty in under-
standing the events of this day, but the lucid narra-
tive of Quicherat, which we shall now quote, gives a
very vivid picture of it. Jeanne had timed her
arrival so early in the morning, probably with the
intention of keeping the adversaries in their camps
unaware of so important an addition to the garrison,
in order that she might surprise them by the sortie
she had determined upon ; but no doubt the news
had leaked forth somehow, if through no other means,
by the sudden ringing of the bells and sounds of joy
from the city. She paid her usual visits to the
churches, and noted and made all her arrangements
for the sortie with her usual care, occupying the long
summer day in these preparations. And it was not
till five o'clock in the evening that everything was
complete, and she sallied forth. We hear nothing

192 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430

of the state of the town, or of any suspicion ex-
isting at the time as to the governor Flavy who
was afterwards believed by some to be the man who
sold and betrayed her. It is a question debated
warmly like all these questions. He was a man of
bad reputation, but there is no evidence that he was
a traitor. The incidents are all natural enough, and
seem to indicate clearly the mere fortune of war
upon which no man can calculate. We add from
Quicherat the description of the field and what took
place there :

" Compigne is situated on the left bank of the
Oise. On the other side extends a great meadow,
nearly a mile broad, at the end of which the rising
ground of Picardy rises suddenly like a wall, shut-
ting in the horizon. The meadow is so low and so
subject to floods that it is crossed by an ancient
raised road from the bridge of Comptegne to the
foot of the low hills. Three village churches mark
the extent of the landscape visible from the walls of
Compiegne ; Margny (sometimes spelt Marigny) at
the end of the road ; Clairoix three quarters of a
league higher up, at the confluence of the two rivers,
the Aronde and the Oise, close to the spot where
another tributary, the Aisne, also flows into the
Oise ; and Venette a mile and a half lower down.
The Burgundians had one camp at Margny, another
at Clairoix ; the headquarters of the English were
at Venette. As for the inhabitants of Compi&gne,
their first defence facing the enemy was one
of those redoubts or towers which the chronicles
of the fifteenth century called a boulevard. It was

From Alexandre SoreTs "Z,a /Vw* dSf Jeanne d'Arc?

1430; Compicgnc. 193

placed at the end of the bridge and commanded the

4t The plan of the Maid was to make a sortie towards
the evening, to attack Margny and afterwards
Clairoix, and then at the opening of the Aronde val-
ley to meet the Duke of Burgundy and his forces
who were lodged there, and who would naturally
come to the aid of his other troops when attacked.
She took no thought for the English, having already
carefully arranged with Flavy how they should be
prevented from cutting off her retreat. The govern-
or provided against any chance of this by arming
the boulevard strongly with archers to drive off any
advancing force, and also by keeping ready on the
Oise a number of covered boats to receive the foot-
soldiers in case of a retrograde movement.

" The action began well : the garrison of Margny
yielded in the twinkling of an eye. That of Clairoix
rushing to the support of their brothers in arms was
repulsed, then in its turn repulsed the French;
and three times this alternative of advance and re-
treat took place on the flat ground of the meadow
without serious injury to either party. This gave
time to the English to take part in the fray ; *
though thanks to the precautions of Flavy all they
could do was to swell the ranks of the Burgundians.
But unfortunately the rear of the Maid's army was
struck with the possibility that a diversion might be
attempted from behind, and their retreat cut of. A

* The three camps must have formed a sort of irregular triangle.
The English at Venette being only half a mile from the gates of Com-
piegne.

194 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430

panic seized them ; they broke their ranks, turned
back and fled, some to the boats, some to the barrier
of the boulevard. The English witnessing this flight
rushed after them, secure now on the side of Com-
piegne, where the archers no longer ventured to
shoot lest they should kill the fugitives instead of
the enemies. They (the English) thus got possession
of the raised road, and pushed on so hotly after the
fugitives that their horses* heads touched the backs
of the crowd. It thus became necessary for the
safety of the town to close the gates until the bar-
rier of the boulevard should be set up again."

These disastrous accidents had taken place while
Jeanne, charging in front with her companions and
body-guard, remained quite unaware of any misfor-
tune. She would hear no call to retreat, even when
her companions were roused to the dangers of their
position. " Forward, they are ours ! " was all her
cry. As at St. Pierre-le-Moutier she was ready to
defeat the Burgundian army alone. At length the
others perceiving something of what had happened
seized her bridle and forced her to retire. She was
of herself too remarkable a figure to be concealed
amid the group of armed men who rode with her,
encircling her, defending the rear of the flying party.
Over her armour she wore a crimson tunic, or ac-
cording to some authorities a short cloak, of gorgeous
material embroidered with gold, and though by this
time the twilight must have afforded a partial shelter,
yet the knowledge that she was there gave keenness
to every eye. Behind, the scattered Burgundians

1430] Compftgne. 195

had rallied and begun to pursue, while the armour
and spears of the English glittered in front between
the little party and the barrier which was blocked
by a terrified crowd of fugitives. Even then a
party of horsemen might have cut their way through ;
but at the moment when Jeanne and her followers
drew near, the barrier was sharply closed and the
wild, confused, and fighting crowd, treading each
other down, struggling for life, were forced back
upon the English lances. Thus the retreating band
riding hard along the raised road, in order and un-
broken, found the path suddenly barred by the
forces of the enemy, the fugitives of their own army,
and the closed gates of the town.

An attempt was then made by the Maid and her
companions to turn towards the western gate where
there still might have been a chance of safety ; but
by this time the smaller figure among all those steel-
clad men, and the waving mantle, must have been
distinguished through the dusk and the dust. There
was a wild rush of combat and confusion, and in a
moment she was surrounded, seized, her horse and
her person, notwithstanding all resistance. With
cries of " Rendez vous," and many an evil name,
fierce faces and threatening weapons closed round
her. One of her assailants a Burgundian knight, a
Picard archer, the accounts differ caught her by her
mantle and dragged her from her horse ; no English-
man let us be thankful, though no doubt all were
equally eager and ready. Into the midst of that
shouting mass of men, in the blinding cloud of dust,
in the darkening of the night, the Maid of France

196 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430

disappeared for one terrible moment, and was lost to
view. And then, and not till then, came a clamour
of bells into the night, and all the jsteeples of Com-
piegne trembled with the call to arms, a sally to save
the deliverer. Was it treachery ? Was it only a
perception, too late, of the danger ? There are not
wanting voices to say that a prompt sally might have
saved Jeanne, and that it was quite within the power
of the Governor and city had they chosen. Who can
answer so dreadful a suggestion ? it is too much
shame to human nature to believe it. Perhaps with-
in Compiegne as without, they were too slow to per-
ceive the supreme moment, too much overwhelmed
to snatch any chance of rescue till it was too late.

Happily we have no light upon the tumult around
the prisoner, the ugly triumph, the shouts and ex-
ultation of the captors who had seized the sorceress
at last ; nor upon the thoughts of Jeanne, with her
threatened doom fulfilled and unknown horrors be-
fore her, upon which imagination must have thrown
the most dreadful light, however strongly her cour-
age was sustained by the promise of succour from on
high. She had not been sent upon this mission as
of old. No heavenly voice had said to her " Go and
deliver Compi&gne." She had undertaken that war-
fare on her own charges w r ith no promise to encour-
age her, only the certainty of being overthrown " be-
fore the St. Jean/' But the St. Jean was still far
off, a long month of summer days between her and
that moment of fate ! So far as we can see Jeanne
showed no unseemly weakness in this dark hour.
One account tells us that she held her sword high

1430] Compilgne. 197

over her head declaring that it was given by a higher
than any who could claim its surrender there. But
she neither struggled nor wept. Not a word against
her constancy and courage could any one, then or
after, find to say. The Burgundian chronicler
tells us one thing, the French another. " The Maid,
easily recognised by her costume of crimson and by
the standard which she carried in her hand, alone
continued to defend herself," says one ; but that we
arc sure could not have been the case as long as
d'Aulon, who accompanied her, was still able to keep
on his horse. "She yielded and gave her parole to
Lyonnel, batard de Wandomme," says another; but
Jeanne herself declares that she gave her faith to no
one, reserving to herself the right to escape if she
could. In that dark evening scene nothing is clear
except the fact that the Maid was taken, to the ex-
ultation and delight of her captors and to the terror
and grief of the unhappy town, vainly screaming
with all its bells to arms, and with its sons and
champions by hundreds dying under the English
lances and in the dark waves of the Oise.

The archer or whoever it was who secured this
prize, took Jeanne back, along that bloody road with
its relics of the fight, to Margny, the Burgundian
camp, where the leaders crowded together to see so
important a prisoner. " Thither came soon after,"
says Monstrelet, " the Duke of Burgundy from his
camp of Coudon, and there assembled the English,
the said Duke and those of the other camps in great
numbers, making, one with the other, great cries and
rejoicings on the taking of the Maid : whom the said

198 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430

Duke went to see in the lodging where she was and
spoke some words to her which I cannot call to mind,
though I was there present ; after which the said
Duke and the others withdrew for the night, leaving
the Maid in the keeping of Messer John of Luxem-
bourg " to whom she had been immediately sold
by her first captor. The same night, Philip, this noble
Duke and Prince of France, wrote a letter to convey
the blessed information :

" The great news of this capture should be spread
everywhere and brought to the knowledge of all,
that they may see the error of those who could be-
lieve and lend themselves to the pretensions of such
a woman. \Ye write this in the hope of giving you
joy, comfort, and consolation, and that you may
thank God our Creator. Pray that it may be His
holy will to be more and more favourable to the
enterprises of our royal master and to the restora-
tion of his sway over all his good and faithful
subjects."

This royal master was Henry VI. of England, the
baby king, doomed already to expiate sins that were
not his, by the saddest life and reign. The French
historians whimsically but perhaps not unnaturally,
have the air of putting down this baseness on Philip's
part, and on that of his contemporaries in general, to
the score of the English, which is hard measure, see-
ing that the treachery of a Frenchman could in no
way be attributed to the other nation of which he
was the natural enemy, or at least, antagonist. Very

1430 orn/in^ 199

naturally th -quent proceedings in all their

horror and cruelty are equally put down to the Eng-
lish account, although Frenchmen took, exulted over
a- a prisoner, tried and condemned as an enemy of
and the Church, the spotless creature who was
France incarnate, the very embodiment of her coun-
try in all that was purest and noblest. We shall see
with what spontaneous zeal all France, except her
own small party, set to work to accomplish this noble
office.

Almost before one could draw breath the Univer-
sity of Paris claimed her as a proper victim for the
Inquisition. Compiegne made no sally for her de-
liverance ; Charles, no attempt to ransom her. From
end to end of France not a finger was lifted for her
rescue ; the women wept over her, the poor people
still crowded around the prisoner wherever seen, but
the France of every public document, of every prac-
tical power, the living nation, when it did not utter
cries of hatred, kept silence. We in England have
over and over again acknowledged with shame our
guilt}' part in her murder ; but still to this day the
Frenchman tries to shield his under cover of the
English influence and terror. lie cannot deny La
Tremoille, nor Cauchon, nor the University, nor the

:ied doctors who did the deed ; individually he
is read}' to give them all up to the everlasting fires
which one cannot but hope are kept alive for some
people in spite of all modern benevolences ; but he
skilfully turns back to the English as a moving

e of even-thing. Nothing can be more untrue.
The English were no better than the French, but

2oo Jeanne d* Arc. [1430

they had the excuse at least of being the enemy.
France saved by a happy chance her blanches mains
from the actual blood of the pure and spotless Maid ;
but with exultation she prepared the victim for the
stake, sent her thither, played with her like a cat
with a mouse and condemned her to the fire. This
is not to free us from our share : but it is the height
of hypocrisy to lay the blood of Jeanne, entirely to
our door.

Thus Jeanne's inspiration proved itself over again
in blood and tears ; it had been proved already on
battle-field and city wall, with loud trumpets of joy
and victory. But the " voices " had spoken again,
sounding another strain ; not always of glory it is
not the way of God ; but of prison, downfall, distress.
" Be not astonished at it," they said to her ; " God
will be with you." From day to day they had
spoken in the same strain, with no joyful commands
to go forth and conquer, but the one refrain : " Be-
fore the St. Jean." Perhaps there was a certain re-
lief in her mind at first when the blow fell and the
prophecy was accomplished. All she had to do now
was to suffer, riot to be surprised, to trust in God
that He would support her. To Jeanne, no doubt,
in the confidence and inexperience of her youth,
that meant that God would deliver her. And so He
did ; but not as she expected. The sunshine of her
life was over, and now the long shadow, the bitter
storm was to come.

Nothing could be more remarkable than the re-
sponse of France in general to this extraordinary
event. In Paris there were bonfires lighted to show

m

CATHEDRAL OF ST. QATIEN TOURS

PROM A DRAWING BY T. ALLOM.

1430] Compftgne. 20 1

their joy, the Te Dcitm was sung at Notre Dame.
At the Court Charles and his counsellors amused
themselves with another prophet, a shepherd from the
hills who was to rival Jeanne's best achievements,
but never did so. Only the towns which she had
delivered had still a tender thought for Jeanne. At
Tours the entire population appeared in the streets
with bare feet, singing the ]\Iisercre in penance and
affliction. Orleans and Blois made public prayers
for her safety. Rheims, in which there was much
independent interest in Jeanne and her truth, had
to be specially soothed by a letter from the Arch-
bishop, in which he made out with great cleverness
that it was the fault of Jeanne alone that she was
taken. " She did nothing but by her own will, with-
out obeying the commandments of God," he says ;
" she would hear no counsel, but followed her own
pleasure " ; and it is in this letter that we hear of the
shepherd lad who was to replace Jeanne, and that it
was his opinion or revelation that God had suffered
the Maid to be taken because of her growing pride,
because she loved fine clothes, and preferred her own
will to any guidance. We do not know whether
this contented the city of Rheims ; similar reasoning
however seems to have silenced France. Nobody
uttered a protest, nor struck a blow ; the mournful
procession of Tours, where she had been first known
in the outset of her career, the prayers of Orleans
which she had delivered, are the only exceptions
we know of. Otherwise there was lifted in France
neither voice nor hand to avert her doom.

CHAPTER X.

THE CAPTIVE.
MAY, I430-JAX., 1431.

E have here to remark a complete sus-
pension of all the ordinary laws at
once of chivalry and of honest warfare.
Jeanne had been captured as a general
at the K^4 ^f - hp.E-..fcircePi fc -~he wa g a-

prisoner of war._ Such a prisoner ordi-
narily, even in the most cruel ages, is
in no bodily danger. He is worth more alive than
dead a great ransom perhaps perhaps the very end
of the warfare, and the accomplishment of everything
it was intended to gain : at least he is most valuable
to exchange for other important prisoners on the
opposite side. It was like taking away so much per-
sonal property to kill a prisoner, an outrage deeply
resented by his captor and unjustified by any law.
It was true that Jeanne herself had transgressed this
universal custom but a little while before, by giving up
Franquet d'Arras to his prosecutors. But Franquet
was beyond the courtesies of war, a noted crimi-
nal, robber, and destroyer : yet she ought not per-

202

1430-31] Tli'- Lapii, 203

t<> have departed from the military laws of right
and \\rong while everything in the country was under
the ha-ty arbitration of war. No one, however, so
far as \ve know, produces this matter of Franquet as
a precedent in her own case. From the first moment
of her seizure there was no question of the custom
and privilege of warfare. She__was taken as a wild
animal might-have been t alien, the only doubt being
how to make the most signal example of her. Ven-
_geance in the gloomy form of the Inquisition claimed
her the first day. No such word as ransom was
breathed &&m her own side, none was demanded,
none was offered. Her case is at once separated
from every other.

Vet the reign of chivalry was at its height, and
women were supposed to be the objects of a kind of
worship, every knight being sworn to succour and
help them in need and trouble. There was perhaps
something of the subtle jealousy of sex so constantly
denied on the stronger side, but yet always existing,
in the abrogation of every law of chivalry as well as
of warfare, in respect to the Maid. That man is in-
deed of the highest strain of generosity who can bear
to be beaten by a woman. And all the seething, agi-
tated world of France had been beaten by this girl.
The English and Burgundians, in the ordinary sense
of the word, had been overcome in fair field, forced
to fly before her; the French, her own side, had ex-
perienced an even more penetrating downfall by
having the honours of victory taken from them, she
alone winning the day where they had all failed.
This is bitterer, perhaps, than merely to be com-

2O4 Jeanne d* Arc. [1430-

pelled to raise a siege or to fail in a fight. The
Frenchmen fought like lions, but the praise was to
Jeanne who never struck a blow. Such great hearts
as Dunois, such a courteous prince as Alengon, were
too magnanimous to feel, or at least to resent, the
grievance ; they seconded her and fought under her
with a nobility of mind and disinterestedness beyond
praise ; but it was not to be supposed that the com-
mon mass of the French captains were like these ;
she had wronged and shamed them by taking the
glory from them, as much as she had shamed the
English by making those universal victors fly before
her. The burghers whom she had rescued, the poor
people who were her brethren and whom she sought
everywhere, might weep and cry out to Heaven, but
they were powerless at such a moment. And every
law that might have helped her was pushed aside.

On the 25th the news was known in Paris, and im-
mediately there appears in the record a new adver-
sary to Jeanne, the most bitter and implacable of
all; the next day, May 26, 1430, without the loss of
an hour, a letter was addressed to the Burgundian
camp from the capital. Quicherat speaks of it as a
letter from the Inquisitor or vicar-general of the
Inquisition, written by the officials of the University ;
others tell us that an independent letter was sent
from the University to second that of the Inquisitor.
The University we may add was not a university
like one of ours, or like any existing at the present
day. It was an ecclesiastical corporation of the high-
est authority in every cause connected with the
Church, while gathering law, philosophy, and litera-

14311 The Captive. 205

lure under its wing. The first theologians, the most

eminent jurists were collected there, not by any
means always in alliance with the narrower tenden-
and methods of the Inquisition. It is notable,
however, that: this great institution lost no time in
claiming the prisoner, whose chief offence in its eyes
was less her career as a warrior than her position as a
sorceress. The actual facts of her life were of sec-
ondary importance to them. Orleans, Rheims, even
her attack upon Paris were nothing in comparison
with the black art which they believed to be her
inspiration. The guidance of Heaven which was not
the guidance of the Church was to them a claim
which meant only rebellion of the direst kind. They'
had longed to seize her and strip her of her pre-
sumptuous pretensions from the first moment of her
appearance. They could not allow a day of her
overthrow to pass by without snatching at this much-
desired victim.

No one perhaps will ever be able to say what it is
that makes a trial for heresy and SQiTr r y

in the days when fire and flame, the rack and the
stake, stood at the end, so exciting and horribly at-
tractive to the mind. Whether it is the revelations
that are hoped for, of these strange commerces
between earth and the unknown, into which we
would all fain pry if we could, in pursuit of some
better understanding than has ever yet fallen to the
lot of man ; whether it is the strange and dreadful
pleasure of seeing a soul driven to extremity and
fighting for its life through all the subtleties of
thought and fierce attacks of interrogation or the

206 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430-

merc love of inflicting torture, misery, and death,
which the Church was prevented from doing in the
common way, it is impossible to tell ; but there is no
doubt that a thrill like the wings of vultures crowd-
ing to the prey, a sense of horrible claws and beaks
and greedy eyes is in the air, whenever such a tri-
bunal is thought of. The thrill, the stir, the eagerness
among those black birds of doom is more evident
than usual in the headlong haste of that demand.
Sous r influence de rAngleterre, say the historians ;
the more shame for them if it was so ; but they were
clearly under influence wider and more infallible, the
influence of that instinct, whatever it may be, which
makes a trial for heresy ten thousand times more
cruel, less restrained by any humanities of nature,
than any other kind of trial which history records.

This is what the Inquisitor demanded after a long
description of Jeanne, " called the Maid/' as having
" dogmatised, sown, published, and caused to be
published, many and diverse errors from which have
ensued great scandals against the divine honour and
our holy faith." " Using the rights of our office and
the authority committed to us by the Holy See of
Rome we instantly command, and enjoin you in the
name of the Catholic faith, and under penalty of the
law : and all other Catholic persons of whatsoever
condition, pre-eminence, authority, or estate, to send
or to bring as prisoner before us with all speed and
surety the said Jeanne, vehemently suspected of
various crimes springing from heresy, that proceed-
ings may be taken against her before us in the name
of the Holy Inquisition, and with the favour and aid

1431 The CaptL 207

of the doctors and masters of the University of Paris,
and other notable counsellors present there."

It was the English who put it into the heads of
the Inquisitor and the University to do this, all the
anxious Frenchmen cry. We can only reply again,
the more shame for the French doctors and priests!
But there was very little time to bring that influence
to bear ; and there is an eagerness and precipitation
in the demand which is far more like the headlong
natural rush fora much desired prize than any course
of action suggested by a third party. Nor is there
anything to lead us to believe that the movement was
not spontaneous. It is little likely, indeed, that the
Sorbonne nowadays would concern itself about any
inspired maid, any more than that enlightened Oj*
ford would do so. But the ideas of the fifteenth
century were widely different, and witchcraft and
heresy were the most enthralling and exciting of
.subjects, as they are still to whosoever believes in
them, learned or unlearned, great or small.

It must be added that the entire mind of France,
even of those who loved Jeanne and believed in
her, must have been .shaken to its depths by this
catastrophe. We have no sympathy with those
who compare the career of any mortal martyr
with the far more mysterious agony and passion
of our Lord. Yet we cannot but remember what a
tremendous element the disappointment of their
hopes must have been in the misery of the first
disciples, the Apostles, the mother, all the spec-
tators who had watched with wonder and faith
the mission of the Messiah. Had it failed? had

208 Jeanne d'Arc. [1430-

all the signs come to nothing, all those divine words
and ways, to our minds so much more wonderful
than any miracles ? Was there no meaning in them ?
Were they mere unaccountable delusions, decep-
tions of the senses, inspirations perhaps of mere
genius not from God at all except in a secondary
way ? In the three terrible days that followed the
Crucifixion the burden of a world must have lain on
the minds of those who had seen every hope fail :
no legions of angels appearing, no overwhelming
revelation from Heaven, no change in a moment
out of misery into the universal kingship, the tri-
umphant march. That was but the self-delusion of
the earth which continually travesties the schemes of
Heaven ; yet the most terrible of all despairs is such a
pause and horror of doubt lest nothing should be true.
But in the case of this little Maiden, this handmaid
of the Lord, the deception might have been all natu-
ral and perhaps shared by herself. Were her first
triumphs accidents merely, were her " voices " delu-
sions, had she been given up by Heaven, of which
she had called herself the servant ? It was a stupor
which quenched every voice a great silence through
the country, only broken by the penitential psalms
at Tours. The Compi&gne people, writing to Charles
two days after May 23d, do not mention Jeanne at
all. We need not immediately take into account the
baser souls always plentiful, the envious captains and
the rest who might be secretly rejoicing. The entire
country, both friends and foes, had come to a dread-
ful pause and did not know what to think. The last
circumstance of which we must remind the reader,

1431] The Captive. 209

and which was of the greatest importance, is, that it
mall part of France that knew anything
personally of Jeanne. From Tours it is a far cry to
Picardy. All her triumphs had taken place in the
south. The captive of Beaulieu and Beaurevoir
spent the sad months of her captivity among a popu-
lation which could have heard of her only by flying
rumours coming from hostile quarters. From the
midland of France to the sea, near to which her last
prison was situated, is a long way, and those northern
districts were as unlike the Orleannais as if they had
been in two different countries. Rouen in Nor-
mandy no more resembled Rheims, than Edinburgh
resembled London : and in the fifteenth century that
was saying a great deal. Nothing can be more de-
ceptive than to think of these separate and often
hostile duchies as if they bore any resemblance to
the France of to-day.

The captor of Jeanne was a vassal of Jean de Lux-
embourg and took her as we have seen to the quar-
ters of his master at Margny, into whose hands she
thenceforward passed. She was kept in the camp
three or four days and then transferred to the castle
of Beaulieu, which belonged to him ; and afterwards
to the more important stronghold of Beaurevoir,
which seems te^Tave beerrtrls principal residence.
\Ye know very few details of her captivity. Accord-
ing to one chronicler, d'Aulon, her faithful friend and
intendant, \\ as with her at least in the former of those
prisons, where at first she would appear to have been
hopeful and in good spirits, if we may trust to the brief
conversation between her and d'Aulon, which is one

2 1 o Jeanne d 'A re. [1430-

of the few details which reach us of that period.
While he lamented over the probable fate of Com-
piegne she was confident. " That poor town of
Compi&gne that you loved so much," he said, " by
this time it will be in the hands of the enemies of
France." " No/* said the Maid, u the places which
the king of Heaven brought back to the allegiance
of the gentle King Charles by me, will not be retaken
by his enemies/* In this case at least the prophecy
came true.

And perhaps there might have been at first a certain
relief in Jeanne's mind, such as often follows after a
long threatened blow has fallen. She had no longer
the vague tortures of suspense, and probably believed
that she would be ransomed as was usual: and in this
silence and seclusion her " voices " which she had
not obeyed as at first, but yet which had not aban-
doned her, nor shown estrangement, were more near
and audible than amid the noise and tumult of war.
They spoke to her often, sometimes three times a
day, as she afterwards said, in the unbroken quiet of
her prison. And though they no longer spoke of
new enterprises and victories, their words were full
of consolation. But it was not long that Jeanne's
young and vigorous spirit could content itself with
inaction. She was no mystic, willingly giving her-
self over to dreams and visions or content with that
heroic role of patience which is more possible to the
old than to the young. Her confidence and hope
for her good friends of Compi&gne gave way before
the continued tale of their sufferings, and the in-
veterate siege which was driving them to desperation.

H31] The Capli ' 2 i i

No doubt the worst news \v'is told to Jeanne, and
twice over she made a desperate attempt to escape,
in hope of bum-- able to succour them, but without
any sanction, as she confesses, from her spiritual in-
structors. At Beaulieu the attempt was simple
enough : the narrative seems to imply that the door-
way, <>r some part of the wall of IK.T room, had been
closed with laths or planks nailed across an opening:
and between these .she succeeded in slipping, " as
she was very slight," with the hope of locking the
door to an adjoining guard-room upon the men
who had charge of her, and thus getting free. But
alas! the porter of the chateau, who had no busi-
there, suddenly appeared in the corridor, and
she was discovered and taken back to her chamber.
At Beaurevoir, which was farther off, her attempt
was a much more desperate one, and indicates a
despair and irritation of mind which had become
unbearable. At this place her own condition was
much alleviated ; the castle was the residence of
Jean de Luxembourg's wife and aunt, ladies who
visited Jeanne continually, and soon became inter-
ested and attached to her ; but as the master of the
house was himself in the camp before Compiegne,
they had the advantage or disadvantage, as far as
the prisoner was concerned, of constant news, and
Jeanne's trouble for her friends grew daily.

She seems, indeed, after the assurance she had
expressed at first, to have fallen into great doubt
and even carried on within herself a despairing argu-
ment with her spiritual guides on this point, battling
with these saintly influences as in the depths of

2 1 2 yeanne d* Arc. [1430-

the troubled heart many have done with the Creator
Himself in similar circumstances. " How," she
cried, " could God let them perish who had been
so good and loyal to their King?" St. Catherine
replied gently that He would Himself care for these
bons amis, and even promised that " before the St.
Martin " relief would come. But Jeanne had proba-
bly by this time in her great disappointment and
loneliness, and with the sense in her of so much
power to help were she only free got beyond her
own control. They bade her to be patient. One of
them, amid their exhortations to accept her fate
cheerfully, and not to be astonished at it, seems to
have conveyed to her mind the impression that
she should not be delivered till she had seen the
King of England. " Truly I will not see him ! I
would rather die than fall into the hands of the
English/' cried Jeanne in her petulance. The King
of England is spoken of always, it is curious to
note, as if he had been a great, severe ruler like his
father, never as the child he really was. But Jeanne
in her helplessness and impotence was impatient
even with her saints. Day by day the news came
in from Compiegne, all that was favourable to the
Burgundians received with joy and thanksgiving
by the ladies of Luxembourg, while the captive
consumed her heart with vain indignation. At last
Jeanne would seem to have wrought herself up to
the most desperate of expedients. Whether her
room was in the donjon, or whether she was allowed
sufficient freedom in the house to mount to the
battlements there, we are not informed probably

1431] The Captive. 213

the latter was the case ufor it was from the top of
the tower that the rash girl at last flung herself down,
carried away by what sudden frenzy of alarm or sting
of evil tidings can never be known. Probably she had
hoped that a miracle would be wrought on her be-
half, and that faith was all that was wanted, as on
so many other occasions. Perhaps she had heard of
the negotiations to sell her to the English, which
would give a keener urgency to her determination to
get free ; all that appears in the story, however, is
her wild anxiety about Compiegne and her bans amis.
How she escaped destruction no one knows. She
was rescued for a more tremendous and harder fate.
The Maid was taken up as dead from the foot of
the tower (the height is estimated at sixty feet) ;
but she was not dead, nor even seriously hurt. Her
frame, so slight that she had been able to slip be-
tween the bars put up to secure her, had so little
solidity that the shock would seem to have been all
that ailed her. She was stunned and unconscious
and remained so for some time ; and for three days
neither ate nor drank. But though she was so
humbled by the effects of the fall, " she was com-
forted by St. Catherine, who bade her confess and
implore the mercy of God " for her rash diso-
bedience and repeated the promise that before Mar-
tinmas Compiegne should be relieved. Jeanne did
not perhaps in her rebellion deserve this encourage-
ment ; but the heavenly ladies were kind and pitiful
and did not stand upon their dignity. The wonder-
ful thing was that Jeanne recovered perfectly from
this tremendous leap.

214 Jeanne d' Arc. [1430-

The earthly ladies, though so completely on the
other side, were scarcely less kind to the Maid.
They visited her daily, carried their news to ha*,
were very friendly and sweet : and no doubt other*
visitors came to make the acquaintance of a prisoner
so wonderful. There was one point on which they
were very urgent, and this was about her dress. It
shamed and troubled them to see her in the costume
of a man. Jeanne had her good reasons for that,
which perhaps she did not care to tell them, fearing
to shock the ears of a demoiselle of Luxembourg
with the suggestion of dangers of which she knew
nothing. No doubt it was true that while doing
the serious work of war, as she said afterwards, it
was best that she should be dressed as a man ; but
Jeanne had reason to know besides, that it was
safer, among the rough comrades and gaolers who
now surrounded her, to wear the tight-fitting and
firmly fastened dress of a soldier. She answered
the ladies and their remonstrances with all the
grace of a courtier. Could she have done it she
would rather have yielded the point to them, she
said, than to any one else in France, except the
Queen. The women wherever she went were
always faithful to this young creature, so pure-
womanly in her young angel-hood and man-hood.
The poor followed to kiss her hands or her armour,
the rich wooed her with tender flatteries and per-
suasions. There is no record in all her career of any
woman who was not her friend.

For the last dreary month of that winter she was
sent to the fortress of Crotoy on the Somme, for

14311 The Capti, 215

what reason we arc not told, probably to be more
near the English into whose hands she was about to
rivetl up : again another shameful bargain in
which the guilt lies with the Burgundians and not
with the English. If Charles I. was sold as we S
all indignantly deny, the shame of the sale

'iir nation, not on England, whom nobody ha>

blamed for the transaction. The sale of Jeanne

brutajly frank: it- was indeed a ransom which

was paid to Jean of Luxembourg with a share to the

first captor, the archer who had secured her; but it

was simple blood-money as everybody knew. At

toy she had once more the solace of female
ciety, the ladies of Abbeville coming in parties to see
her, again with much pressing upon her of their own
heavy skirts and hanging sleeves. A fellow-prisoner
in the dungeon of Crotoy, a priest, said mass every
day and gave her the holy communion. And her
mind seems to have been soothed and calmed. Com-
;ie was relieved ; the saints had kept their word :
she had that burden the less upon her soul : and over
the country there were again stirrings of French
valour and success. The day of the Maid was over,
but it began to bear the fruit of a national quicken-
ing of vigour and life.

It was at Crotoy, in December, that she was trans-
ferred to English hands. The eager offer of the
University of Paris to see to her speedy condemna-
tion had not been accepted, and perhaps the Bur-
gundians had been willing to wait, to see if any
ransom was forthcoming from France. Perhaps too,
Tails, which sang the Tc Dcuin when she was taken

2i6 Jeanne d* Arc. [1430-

pnsoner, began to be a little startled by its own en-
thusiasm and to ask itself the question what there
was to be so thankful about? a result which has
happened before in the history of that impulsive
city : and Paris was too near the centre of France,
where the balance seemed to be turning again in
favour of the national party, to have its thoughts
distracted by such a trial as was impending. It
seemed better to the English leaders f *tb conduct
their prisoner to a safer place, to the depths of Nor-
mandy where they were most strong. They seem
to have carried her away in the end of the year,
travelling slowly along the coast, and reaching
Rouen by way of Eu and Dieppe, as far away as
possible from any risk of rescue. Ske^amv^d itf
Rouen in the beginning of the year 1431, having
thus been already for nearly eight months in close
custody. But there were no further ministrations
of kind women for Jeanne. She was now distinctly
in tke hands of her enemies, those who had no sym-
pathy or natural softening of feeling towards her.

The severities inflicted upon her in her new prison
at RmreiTjyere terrible^jdmost incredible. We are
tericTthat she was^fept in an iron cage~(lTke the Coun-
tess of Buchan in earlier days by Edward I.), bound
hands, and feet, and throat, to a pillar, and watched
incessantly by English soldiers the latter being an
abominable and hideous method of torture which
was never departed from during the rest of her life.
Afterwards, at the beginning of her trial she was re-
lieved from the cage, but never from the presence
and scrutiny of this fierce and hateful bodyguard.

1431] The Captive. 2 1 7

Such detestable cruelties were in the manner of the
time, which does not make us the less sicken at them
with burning indignation and the rage of shame.
For this aggravation of her sufferings England alone
was responsible. The Burgundians at their worst
had not used her so. It is true that she was to them
a piece of valuable property worth so much good
money ; which is a powerful argument everywhere.
But to the English shie meant no money: no one
offered to ransom Jeanne on the side of her own
party, for whom she had done so much. Even at
Tours and Orleans, so far as appears, there was no
subscription to speak in modern terms, no cry
among the burghers to gather their crowns for her
redemption not a word, not an effort, only a bare-
footed procession, a mass, a Miserere, which had no
issue. France stood silent to see what would come
of it ; and her scholars and divines swarmed towards
Rouen to make sure that nothing but harm should
come of it to the ignorant country lass, who had set
up such pretences of knowing better than others.
The King congratulated himself that he had another
prophetess as good as she, and a Heaven-sent boy
from the mountains who would do as well 'and better
than Jeanne. Where was Dunois? Where was La
Hire,* a soldier bound by no conventions, a captain
whose troop went like the wind where it listed, and
whose valour was known ? Where was young Guy

* I. a Hire was at Lou vain, which we hear a little later the new

Kn^li-h levies would not march to besiege till the Maid was dead,
and where Dunois joined him in March of this fatal year. These two
at l.ouvain within a few leagues of Rouen ami not a sword drawn for
Jeanne ! the wonder grows.

218

Jeanne d' Arc.

[1431

de Laval, so ready to sell his lands that his men
might be fit for service ? All silent ; no man draw-
ing a sword or saying a word. It is evident that in
this frightful pause of fate, Jeanne had become to
France as to England, the Witch whom it was per-
haps a danger to have had anything to do with,
whose spells had turned the world upside down for
a moment : but these spells had become ineffectual
or worn out as is the nature of sorcery. No explana-
tion, not even the well-worn and so often valid one of
human baseness, could explain the terrible situation,
if not this.

CHAPTER XI.

THE JL'DCKS.

appears to us at this long
distance as arising out of the infernal
mists, into which, when his ministry
of shame was accomplished, he disap-
peared again, bearing with him noth-
ing but hatred and ill fame. Yet in
his own day and to his contemporaries, he was not
an inconsiderable man. Ile^w^s of Rhcim.s, a great
student, an excellent scholar, the friencT~of many
good men, highly esteemed among the ranks of the
learned, a good man of business, which is not always
the attribute of a scholar, and at the same time a
Burgundian of pronounced sentiments, holding for
his Duke, against the King. When Beauvais was
summoned by Charles, after his coronation, at that
moment of universal triumph when all seemed open
for him to march upon Paris if he would, the city
had joyfully thrown open its doors to the royal army,
and in doing so had driven <>ut its Bishop, who was

219

22O Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

hot on the other side. He would not seem to have
been wanted in Paris at that moment. The " triste
Bedford/' as Michelet calls him, had no means of
employing an ambitious priest, no dirty work for the
moment to give him. It is natural to suppose that
a man so admirably adapted for that employment
went in search of it to the ecclesiastical court, not
beloved of England, which the Cardinal Bishop of
Winchester held there. V^fffchester was^jtlj, only
one of the House of Lancaster\\TToTTad: money to
carry on the government either at home or abroad.
The two priests, as the historians are always pleased
to insinuate in respect to ecclesiastics, soon under-
stood each other, and Winchester became aware that
he had in Cauchon a tool ready for any shameful
enterprise. It is not, however, necessary to assume
so much as this, for we have not the least reason to
believe that either one or the other of them had the
slightest doubt on the subject of Jeanne, or as to
her character. She was a pernicious witch, filling a
hitherto invincible army with that savage fright
which is but^too well understood among men, and
wnich produces cruel outrages as well as cowardly
panic. The air of this very day, while I write, is
ringing with the story of a woman burnt to death by
her own family under the influence of that same hor-
rible panic and terror. Cauchon was the countryman,
almost the pays an untranslatable expression,
of Jeanne ; but he did not believe in her any more
than the loftier ecclesiastics of France believed in
Bernadette of Lourdes, who was of the spiritual
lineage of Jeanne, nor than we should believe to-day

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.

FROM A PAINTING BY J. PARKER IN THE COLLECTION OF HORACE WALPOLE.

14311

The Judges. 221

in a similar pretender. It seems unnecessary then to
think of dark plots hatched between these two dark
priests against the white, angelic apparition of the
Maid.

What services Cauchon had done to recommend
him to the favour of Winchester we are not told, but
he was so much in favour that the Cardinal had rec-
ommcnded him to the Pope for the vacant archbish-
opric of Rouen a few months before there was any
immediate question of Jeanne. The appointment
was opposed by the clergy of Rouen, and the Pope
had not come to any decision as yet on the subject.
But no doubt the ambition of Cauchon made him
very eager, with such a tempting prize before him,
to recommend himself to his English patron by
every means in his power. And he it was who un-
dertook the office of negotiating the ransom of
Jeanne from the hands of Jean de Luxembourg.
We doubt whether after all it would be just even
to call this a nefarious bargain. To the careless
seigneur it would probably be very much a matter
of course. The ransom offered six thousand francs
was as good as if she had been a prince. The
ladies at home might be indignant, but what was
their foolish fancy for a high-flown girl in compari-
son with these substantial crowns in his pocket ,-
and to be free from the responsibility of guarding
her would be an advantage too. And if her own
party did not stir on her behalf, why should he? A
most pertinent question. Cauchon, on the other
hand, could assure all objectors that no summary
vengeance was to be taken on the Maid. She was

222 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

to be judged by the Church, and by the best men
the University could provide, and if she were found
innocent, no doubt would go free.

They must have been sanguine indeed who hoped
for a triumphant acquittal of Jeanne; but still it
may have been hoped that a trial by her countrymen
would in every case be better for her than to languish
in prison or to be seized perhaps by the English on
some after occasion, and to perish by their hands.
Let us therefore be fair to Cauchon, if possible, up
to the beginning of the Proces. He was no French-
man, but a Burgundian ; his allegiance was to his
Duke, not to the King. It was base to call himself
the subject of the King of England ; but his natural
sovereign did so, and many, very many men of n0te
and importance were equally base, and did not
esteem it base at all. Had the inhabitants of
Rheims, his native town, or of Rouen, in which his
trial and downfall took place as well as Jeanne's,
pronounced for the King of Prussia in the last war,
and proclaimed themselves his subjects, the traitors
would have been hung with infamy from their own
high towers, or driven into their river headlong.
But things were very different in the fifteenth cen-
tury. There has never been a moment in our
history when either England or Scotland has pro-
nounced for a foreign sway. Scotland fought with
desperation for centuries against the mere name of
suzerainty, though of a kindred race. There have
been terrible moments of forced subjugation at the
point of the sword ; but never any such phenomena
as appeared in France, so far on in the world's

Hail The yWv 22 3

liistory as was that brilliant and highly cultured age.
Such a state of affairs is in our minds impossible to
understand or almost to believe : but in the inte:
of justice it must be fully acknowledged and uiuler-

d.

Caqidiou -arises accord ingly^iot at first with any
infamy, out of the obscurity. He had been expelled
and dethroned from his See, but this only for politi-
cal reasons, lie was ecclesiastically Bishop of Beau-
vais still ; it was within his diocese that the Maid
had been taken prisoner, and there also her last
acts of magic, if magic there was. had taken place.
He had therefore a legal right to claim the jurisdic-
tion, a right which no one had any interest in taking
from him. If Paris was disappointed at not having
so interesting a trial carried on before its courts,
there was compensation in the fact that many doc-
tors of the University were called to assist Cauchon
in his examination of the Maid, and to bring her,
witch, sorceress, heretic, whatever she might be, to
question. These doctors were not undistinguished
or unworthy men. A number of them held high
office in the Church ; almost all were honourably con-
nected with the University, the source of learning in
France. *' With what art were they chosen ! " ex-
claims M. Blaze de Bury. " A number of theologians,
the elite of the time, had been named to represent
France at the council of Bale ; of these Cauchon
chose the flower." This does not seem on the face
of it to be a fact against, but rather in favour of, the
tribunal, which the reader naturally supposes must
have been the better, the more just, for being chosen

224 Jeanne d* Arc. [H31

ampng the flower of learning in France. They were
not men who could be imagined to be the tools of
any Bishop. Quicherat, in his moderate and able
remarks on this subject, selects for special mention
three men who took a very important part in it,
Guillame Erard, Nicole Midi, and Thomas de Cour-
celles. They were all men who held a high place in
the respect of their generation. Erard was a friend
of Machet, the confessor of Charles VII., who had
been a member of the tribunal at Poitiers which first
pronounced upon the pretensions of Jeanne; yet
after the trial of the Maid Machet still describes him
as a man of the highest virtue and heavenly wisdom.
Nicole Midi continued to hold an honourable place
in his University for many years, and was the man
chosen to congratulate Charles when Paris finally
became again the residence of the King. Courcelles
was considered the first theologian of the age. " He
was an austere and eloquent young man/' says
Quicherat, " of a lucid mind, though nourished on
abstractions. He was the first of theologians long
before he had attained the age at which he could
assume the rank of doctor, and even before he had
finished his studies he was considered as the suc-
cessor of Gerson. He was the light of the council of
Bale. Eneas Piccolomini (Pope Pius II.) speaks with
admiration of his capacity and his modesty. In him
we recognise the father of the freedom of the Galli-
can Church. His disinterestedness is shown by the
simple position with which he contented himself.
He died with no higher rank than that of Dean of
the Chapter of Paris."

14311 The Judges. 225

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious ? Was this the
man to be used for their vile ends by a savage Eng-
lish party thirsting for the blood of an innocent
victim, and by the vile priest who was its tool ? It
does not seem so to our eyes across the long level of
the centuries which clear away so many mists. And
no more dreadful accusation can be brought against
France than the suggestion that men like these, her
best and most carefully trained, were willing to act
as blood-hounds for the advantage and the pay of
the invader. But there are many French historians
to whom the mere fact of a black gown or at
least an ecclesiastical robe, confounds every testi-
mony, and to whom even the name of French-
man does not make it appear possible that a
priest should retain a shred of honour or of honesty.
\Ve should have said by the light of nature and
probability that had every guarantee been required
for the impartiality and justice of such a tribunal,
they could not have been better secured than by the
selection of such men to conduct its proceedings.
They made a great and terrible mistake, as the
wisest of men have made before now. They did
much worse, they behaved to an unfortunate girl
who was in their power with indescribable ferocity
and cruelty ; but we must hope that this was owing
to the period at which they lived rather than to
themselves.

It is not perhaps indeed from the wise and
learned, the Stoics and Pundits of a University,
that we should choose judges for the divine sim-
plicity of those babes and sucklings out of whose

226 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

mouth praise is perfected. At the same time
to choose the best men is not generally the way
adopted to procure a base judgment. Cauchon
might have been subject to this blame had he filled
the benches of his court with creatures of his own,
nameless priests and dialecticians, knowing nothing
but their own poor science of words. He did not do
so. There were but two Englishmen in the assembly,
neither of them men of any importance or influence
although there must have been many English priests
in the country and in the train of Winchester. There
were not even any special partisans of Burgundy,
though some of the assessors were Burgundian by
birth. We should have said, had we known no
more than this, that every precaution had been taken
to give the Maid the fairest trial. But at the same
time a trial which is conducted under the name of
the Inquisition is always suspect. The mere fact of
that terrible name seems to establish a foregone con-
clusion ; few are the prisoners at that bar who have
ever escaped. This fact is almost all that can be set
against the high character of the individuals who
composed the tribunal. At all events it is no argu-
ment against the English that they permitted the
best men in France to be chosen as Jeanne's judges.
It is the most bewildering and astonishing of histori-
cal facts that they were so, and yet came to the
conclusion they did, by the means they did, and
that without falling under the condemnation, or
scorn, or horror of their fellow-men.

This then was the assembly which gathered in
Rouen in the beginning of 1431. Quicherat will not

1431, The Judges. 227

venture to affirm even that intimidation was directly
employed to effect their decision. lie says that the
evidence M tends to prove " that this was the case, but
honestly allows that, " it is well to remark that the
witnesses contradict each other." " In all that I
have said," he adds, " my intention has been to
prove that the judges of the Maid had in no way
the appearance of partisans hotly pursuing a politi-
cal vengeance ; but that, on the contrary, their
known weight, the consideration which most of them
enjoyed, and the nature of the tribunal for which they
were assembled, were all calculated to produce gener-
ally an expectation full of confidence and respect."

Meanwhile there is not a word to be said for the
treatment to which Jeanne herself was subjected,
she being, so far as is apparent, entirely in English
custody. She had been treated with tolerable gen-
tleness it would seem in the first part of her cap-
tivity while in the hands of Jean de Luxembourg, the
Count de Ligny. The fact that the ladies of the
house were her friends must have assured this, and
there is no complaint made anywhere of cruelty or
even unkindness. When she arrived in Rouen she
was confined in the middle chamber of the donjon,
which was the best we may suppose, neither a dun-
geon under the soil, nor a room under the leads, but
one to which there was access by a short flight of steps
from the courtyard, and which was fully lighted and
not out of reach or sight of life. But in this cham-
ber was an iron cage,* within which she was bound,

* We are ^lad to add that the learned Quicherat has doubts on the
subject of the cage.

228 Jeanne d'Arc. [1431

feet, and waist and neck, from* : the time of her arri-
val until the beginning of the trial, a period of about
six weeks. Five English soldiers of the lowest class
watched her night and day, three in the room itself.
two at the door. It is enough to think for a moment
of the probable manners and morals of these troopers
to imagine what torture must have been inflicted by
their presence upon a young woman who had always
been sensitive above all things to the laws of personal
modesty and reserve. Their coarse jests would no
doubt be unintelligible to her, which would be an
alleviation ; but their coarse laughter, their revolting
touch, their impure looks, would be an endless inces-
sant misery. We are told that she indignantly be-
stowed a hearty buffet on the cheek of a tailor who
approached her too closely when it was intended to
furnish her with female dress; but "she was helpless
to defend herself when in her irons, and had to en-
dure as she best could the bars of her cage let us
hope, if cage there was, affording her some little pro-
tection from the horror of the continual presence of
these rude attendants, with whom it was a shame to
English gentlemen and knights to surround a help-
less woman.

% When herJtriaLbega- Jeanne was released from her
-cage, but was still chained by one foot to a wooden
'beam during the day, and at night to the posts of her
"bed. Sometimes her guards would wake her to tell
her that she had been condemned and was immedi-
ately to be led forth to execution ; but that was a
small matter. Attempts were also made to inflict
the basest insult and outrage upon her, and on one

1431] The Judges. 229

ision she is said to have been saved only by the
Karl of Warwick, who heard her cries and went to
her rescue. \\\ night as by day she clung to her
male garb, tightly fastened by the innumerable
"points" of which Shakespeare so often speaks.
Such were the horrible circumstances in which she
awaited her public appearance before her judges.
She was brought before them every day for months
together, to be badgered by the keenest wits in
France, coming bark and back with artful questions
upon every detail of even- subject, to endeavour to
shake her firmness or force her into self-contradic-
tion. Imagine a cross-examination going on for
months, like those only more cruel than those to
which we sometimes see an unfortunate witness ex-
posed in our own courts of law. There is nothing
more usual than to see people break down entirely
after a day or two of such a tremendous ordeal, in
which their hearts and lives are turned inside out,
their minds so bewildered that they know not what
they are saying, and everything they have done in
their lives exhibited in the worst, often in an entirely
fictitious, light, to the curiosity and amusement of
the world.

But all our processes are mercy in comparison with
those to which French prisoners at the bar are still
exposed. It is unnecessary to enter into an account
of these which are so well known ; but they show that
even such a trial as that of Jeanne was by no means
so contrary to common usage, as it would be, and
always would have been in England. In England
we warn the accused to utter no rash word which

230 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

may be used against him ; in France the first
principle is to draw from him every rash word that
he can be made to bring forth. This was the
method employed with Jeanne. Her judges were
all Churchmen and dialecticians of the subtlest wit
and most dexterous faculties in France ; they had
all, or almost all, a strong prepossession against her.
Though we cannot believe that men of such quality
were suborned, there was, no doubt, enough of jeal-
ous and indignant feeling among them to make the
desire of convicting Jeanne more powerful with them
than the desire for pure justice. She was a true
Christian, but not perhaps the soundest of Church-
women. Her visions had not the sanction of any
priest's approval, except indeed the official but not
warm affirmation of the Council at Poitiers. She
had not hastened to take the Church into her confi-
dence nor to put herself under its protection.
Though her claims had been guaranteed by the com-
pany of divines at Poitiers, she herself had always
appealed to her private instructions, through her
saints, rather than to the guiding of any priest. The
chief ecclesiastical dignitary of her own party had
just held her up to the reprobation of the people for
this cause : she was too independent, so proud that
she would take no advice but acted according to her
own will. The more accustomed a Churchman is to
experience the unbounded devotion and obedience
of women, the more enraged he is against those who
judge for themselves or have other guides on whom
they rely. Jeanne was, beside all other sins alleged
against her, a presumptuous woman : and very few

1431] The 7W;- 231

of these men had any desire to acquit her. They
were little accustomed to researches which were
solely intended to discover the truth: their principle
rather was, as it has been the principle of many, to ob-
tain proofs that their own particular way of thinking
was the right one. It is not perhaps very good even
fr a system of doctrine when this is the principle
by which it is tested. It is more fatal still, on this
principle, to judge an individual for death or for life.
It will be abundantly proved, however, by all that is
to follow, that in face of this tribunal, learned, able,
powerful, and prejudiced, the peasant girl of nineteen
stood like a rock, unmoved by all their cleverness,
undaunted by their severity, seldom or never losing
her head, or her temper, her modest steadfastness,
or her high spirit. If they hoped to have an easy
bargain of her, never were men more mistaken.
Not knowing a from b, as she herself said, untrained,
unaided, she was more than a match for them all.

Round about this centre of eager intelligence,
curiosity, and prejudice, the cathedral and council
chamber teeming with Churchmen, was a dark and
silent ring of laymen and soldiers. A number of
the English leaders were in Rouen, but they appear
very little. Winchester, who had very lately come
from England with an army, which according to
some of the historians would not budge from
Calais, where it had landed, *' for fear of the Maid "
was the chief person in the place, but did not
make any appearance at the trial, curiously enough;
the Duke of Bedford we are informed was visible on
one shameful occasion, but no mure. But Warwick,

232 Jeanne d' Are. [1431

who was the Governor of the town, appears fre-
quently and various other lords with him. We see
them in the mirror held up to us by the French his-
torians, pressing round in an ever narrowing circle,
closing up upon the tribunal in the midst, pricking
the priests with perpetual sword points if they
seemed to loiter. They would have had everything
pushed on, no delay, no possibility of escape. It is
very possible that this was the case, for it is evident
that the Witch was deeply obnoxious to the English,
and that they were eager to have her and her end-
less process out of the way ; but the evidence for
their terror and fierce desire to expedite matters is
of the feeblest. A canon of Rouen declared at the
trial that he had heard it said by Maitre Pierre
Morice, and Nicolas 1'Oyseleur, judges assessors, and
by others whose names he does not recollect, *' that
the said English were so afraid of her that they did
not dare to begin the siege of Louviers until she was
dead ; and that it was necessary if one would please
them, to hasten the trial as much as possible and to
find the means of condemning her." Very likely
this was quite true : but it cannot at all be taken for
proved by such evidence. Another contemporary
witness allows that though some of the English
pushed on her trial for hate, some were well dis-
posed to her ; the manner of Jeanne's imprisonment
is the only thing which inclines the reader to believe
every evil thing that is said against them.

Such were the circumstances in which Jeanne was
brought to trial. The population, moved to pity
and to tears as any population would have been,

1431] The Judges. 233

before the end, would seem at the beginning to
have been indifferent and not to have taken much
interest one way or another: the court, a hundred
men and more with all their hangers-on, the clever-
est men in France, one more distinguished and im-
peccable than the others : the stern ring of the
Englishmen outside keeping an eye upon the tedious
suit and all its convolutions: these all appear before
us, surrounding as with bands of iron the young
lonely victim in the donjon, who submitting to every
indignity, and deprived of every aid, feeling that all
her friends had abandoned her, yet stood steadfast
and strong in her absolute simplicity and honesty.
It was but two years in that same spring weather
>ince she had left Vaucouleurs to seek the fortune of
France, to offer herself to the struggle which now
was coming to an end. Not a soul had Jeanne to
comfort or stand by her. She had her saints who-
one wonders if such a thought ever entered into her
young visionary head had lured her to her doom,
and who still comforted her with enigmatical words,
promises which came true in so sadly different a
sense from that in which they were understood.

CHAPTER XII.

BEFORE THE TRIAL.
LENT, 1431.

have not, however, sufficiently_.de~-
^scx[bed the horror "oTTHe prison, and
the treatment frr~\rhich Jeanne was
exposed, J^hou-gh the picture is al-
ready dark enough. It throws a hor-
rible yet also a grotesque light upon
the savage manners of the time to
find that the chamber in which she was confined,
had secret provision for an espionnage of the most
base kind, openings made in the walls through
which everything that took place in the room, every
proceeding of the unfortunate prisoner, could be
spied upon and every word heard. The idea of
such a secret watch has always been attractive to
the vulgar mind, and no doubt it has been believed
to exist many times when there was little or no jus-
tification for such an infernal thought. From the
" ear " of Dionysius, down to the Tron Judas, which
early tourists on the Continent were taught to fear
in every chamber door, the idea has descended to

234

1431

Before tlit Trial.

235

our own times. It would seem, however, to be be-
yond doubt th.it this odious means of acquiring
information was in full operation during the trial of
Jeanne, and various spies were permitted to peep at
her, and to watch for any unadvised word she might
say in her most private moments. \Ye are told that
the Duke of Bedford made use of the opportunity in
a still more revolting way, and was present, a secret
spectator, at the fantastic scene when Jeanne was
visited by a committee of matrons who examined
her person to prove or to disprove one of
the hateful insinuations which were made about
her. The imagination, however, refuses to conceive
that a man ' of serious age atld of Ifigli functions
^should have de^uduJ himaLJf^crthg-lcvicl of- a Pcep^
- i"g Tom j^HiU way; all the Jhrench historian-**;
nevertheless, repeal the story though on the merest
hearsay evidence. And they also relate, with more
apparent truth, how a double treachery was com-
mitted upon the unfortunate prisoner by station-
ing two secretaries at these openings, to take down
her conversation with a spy who had been sent to
her in the guise of a countryman of her own; and
that not only Cauchon but Warwick also was pres-
ent on this occasion, listening, while their plot was
carried out by the vile traitor inside. The clerks,
we are glad to say, are credited with a refusal to act:
but Warwick did not shrink from the ignominy.
The Englishmen indeed shrank from no ignominy ;
nor did the great French savants assembled under
the presidency of the Bishop. It is necessary to
grant to begin with that they were neither ignorant

236 Jeanne d' Arc.

nor base men, yet from the beginning of the trial
almost every step taken by them appears base, as
well as marked, in the midst of all their subtlety and
diabolical cunning, by the profoundest ignorance of
human nature. The spy of whom we have spoken,
L'Oyseleur (bird-snarer, a significant name), was sent,
and consented to be sent, to Jeanne in her prison, as
a fellow prisoner, a pays, like herself from Lorraine,
to invite her confidence : but his long conversations
with the Maid, which were heard behind their backs
by the secretaries, elicited nothing from her that
she did not say in the public examination. She had
no secret devices to betray to a traitor. She would
not seem, indeed, to have suspected the man at
all, not even when she saw him among her judges
taking part against her. Jeanne herself suspected
no falsehood, but made her confession to him, when
she found that he was a priest, and trusted him
fully. The bewildering and confusing fact, turning
all the contrivances of her judges into foolishness,
was, that she had nothing to confess that she was
not ready to tell in the eye of day.

The adoption of this abominable method of elicit-
ing secrets from the candid soul which had none,
was justified, it appears, by the manner of her trial,
which was after the rules of the Inquisition by which
even more than by those which regulate an ordinary
French trial the guilt of the accused is a foregone con-
clusion for which proof is sought, not a fair investiga-
tion of facts for abstract purposes of justice. The
first thing to be determined by the tribunal was the
counts of the indictment against Jeanne ; was she to

H31 Before the Trial. 237

be tried for magical arts, for sorcery and witchcraft?
It is very probable that the mission of L'Oyseleur
was to obtain evidence that would clear up this
question by means of recalling to her the stories
of her childhood, of the enchanted tree, and the
Fairies' Well ; from which sources, her accusers anx-
iously hoped to prove that she derived her inspira-
tion. But it is very clear that no such evidence was
forthcoming, and that it seemed to them hopeless to
attribute sorcery to her; therefore the accusation
was changed to that of heresy alone. The follow-
ing mandate from the University authorising her
prosecution will show what the charge was ; and the
reader will note that one of its darkest items is the
costume, which for so many good and sufficient rea-
sons she wore. Here is the official description of
the accused :

" A woman, calling herself the Maid, leaving the
dress and habit of her sex against the divine law, a
thing abominable to God, clothed and armed in the
habit and condition of a man, has done cruel deeds
of homicide, and as is said has made the simple peo-
ple believe, in order to abuse and lead them astray,
that she was sent by God, and had knowledge of
His divine secrets ; along with several other doctrines
(dogmatisations\ very dangerous, prejudicial, and
scandalous to our holy Catholic faith, in pursuing
which abuses, and exercising hostility against us and
our people, she has been taken in arms, before Com-
piegne, and brought as a prisoner before us."

According to French law the indictment ought to
have been founded upon a preliminary examination

238 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

into the previous life of the accused, which, as it
does not appear in the formal accusations, it was
supposed had never been made. Recent researches,
however, have proved that it was made, but was not
of a nature to strengthen or justify any accusation.
All that the examiners could discover was that
Jeanne d'Arc was a good and honest maid who had
left a spotless reputation behind her in her native
village, and that not a suspicion of dogmatisations,
nor worship of fairies, nor any other unseemly thing
was associated with her name. Other things less
favourable, we are told, were reported of her: the
statement, for instance, made in apparent good faith
by Monstrelet the Burgundian chronicler, that she
had been for some time a servant in an auberge> and
there had learned to ride, and to consort with men
a statement totally without foundation, which was
scarcely referred to in the trial.

The skill of M. Ouicherat discovered the substance
of those inquiries among the many secondary papers,
but they were not made use of in the formal pro-
ceedings. This also we are told, though contrary to
the habit of French law, was justified by the methods
of the Inquisition, which were followed throughout
the trial. One breach of law and justice, however,
is permitted by no code. It is expressly forbidden
by French, and even by inquisitorial law, that a
prisoner should be tried by his enemies that is by
judges avowedly hostile to him : an initial difficulty
which it would have been impossible to get over and
which had therefore to be ignored. One brave and
honest man, Nicolas de Houppeville, had the cour-

1431 fitfc>rr the Trial. 239

to make this observation in one of the earliest

sittings of the assembly :

cither the Bishop of Beauvais " (he said) " nor
the other mrmbers of the tribunal ought to be judges
in the matter; and it did not seem to him a good
mode of procedure that those who were of the oppo-
site part\ T to the accused should be her judges
considering also that she had been examined already
by the clergy of Poitiers, and by the Archbishop of
Rheims, who was the metropolitan of the said Bishop
of Beauvais."

Nicolas de Houppeville was a lawyer and had a
right to be heard on such a point ; but the reply of
the judges was to throw him into prison, not with-
out threats on the part of the civil authorities to
carry the point further by throwing him into the
Seine. This was the method by which every honest
objection was silenced. That the examination at
Poitiers, where the judges, as has been seen, were by
no means too favourable to Jeanne, should never have
been referred to by her present examiners, though
there was no doubt it ought to have been one of the
most important sources of the preliminary informa-
tion is also very remarkable. It was suggested in-
deed to Jeanne at a late period of the trial, that she
might appeal to the Archbishop ; but he was/as she
well knew, one of her most cruel enemies.

Still more import an t_wasjji^ hrparh nf all jnQtir^

she had -no- ^rlvo^at^ no
coTrrracl on her -srtte, no one i7T~speak for her and
conduct her defence. It was suggested to her near
the end of the proceedings that she might choose

240 Jeanne d' Arc.

one of her judges to fill this office ; but even if the
proposal had been a genuine one or at all likely to
be to her advantage, it was then too late to be of any
use. These particulars, we believe, were enough to
invalidate any process in strict law ; but the name
of law seems ridiculous altogether as applied to this
rambling and cruel cross-examination in which was
neither sense nor decorum. The reader will under-
stand that there were no witnesses either for or
against her, the answers of the accused herself form-
ing the entire evidence.

One or two particulars may still be added to make
the background at least more clear. The prison of
Jeanne, as we have seen, was not left in the usual
silence of such a place ; the constant noise with
which the English troopers filled the air, jesting,
gossiping, and carrying on their noisy conversation,
if nothing worse and more offensive sometimes, as
Jeanne complains, preventing her from hearing (her
sole solace) the soft voices of her saintly visitors
was not her only disturbance. Her solitude was
broken by curious and inquisitive visitors of various
kinds. L'Oyseleur, the abominable detective, who
professed to be her countryman and who beguiled
her into talk of her childhood and native place, was
the first of these ; and it is possible that at first his
presence was a pleasure to her. One other visitor of
whom we hear accidentally, a citizen of Rouen, Pierre
Casquel, seems to have got in by private interest
and with a more or less good motive and no evil
meaning. He warned her to answer with prudence
the questions put to her, since it was a matter of life

Before the Trial. 241

and death. She seemed to him to be " very simple "
and still to believe that she might be ransomed. Karl
Warwick, the commander of the town, appears on
various occasions. I le probably had his headquarters
in the Castle, and thus heard her cry for help in her
danger, executing, let us hope, summary vengeance on
her brutal assailant ; but he also evidently took ad-
vantage of his power to show his interesting prisoner to
his friends on occasion. And it was he who took her
original captor, Jean de Luxembourg, now Comte de
Ligny, by whom she had been given up, to see her,
along with an English lord, sometimes named as
Lord Sheffield. The Belgian who had put so many
good crowns in his pocket for her ransom, thought
it good taste to enter with a jesting suggestion that
he had come to buy her back.

" Jeanne, I will have you ransomed if you will
promise never to bear arms against us again," he
said. The Maid was not deceived by this mocking
suggestion. " It is well for you to jest," she said,
" but I know you have no such power. I know that
the English will kill me, believing, after I am dead,
that they will be able to win all the kingdom of
France : but if there were a hundred thousand more
Goddens than there are, they shall never win the
kingdom of France." The English lord drew his
dagger to strike the helpless girl, all the stories say,
but was prevented by Warwick. Warwick, however,
we are told, though he had thus saved her twice,
" recovered his barbarous instincts " as soon as he
got outside, and indignantly lamented the possibility
of Jeanne's escape from the stake.

242 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

Such incidents as these alone lightened or darkened
her weary days in prison. A traitor or spy, a
prophet of evil shaking his head over her danger, a
contemptuous party of jeering nobles ; afterwards
inquisitors, for ever repeating in private their tedious
questions : these all visited her but never a friend.
Jeanne was not afraid of the English lord's dagger, or
of the watchful eye of Warwick over her. Even when
spying through a hole, if the English earl and knight,
indeed permitted himself that strange indulgence, his
presence and inspection must have been almost the
only defence of the prisoner. Our historians all quote,
with an admiration almost as misplaced as their
horror of Warwick's " barbarous instincts," the vrai
galant homme of an Englishman who in the midst of
the trial cried out " Brave fe mine \ " (it is difficult to
translate the words, for brave means more than
brave) " why was she not English ? " However we
are not concerned to defend the English share of the
crime. The worst feature of all is that she never
seems to have been visited by any one favourable and
friendly to her, except afterwards, the two or three
pitying priests whose hearts were touched by her
great sufferings, though they remained among her
judges, and gave sentence against her. No woman
seems ever to have entered that dreadful prison ex-
cept those " matrons " who came officially as has
been already said. The ladies de Ligny had cheered
her in her first confinement, the kind women of
Abbeville had not been shut out even from the
gloomy fortress of Le Crotoy. But here no woman
ever seems to have been permitted to enter, a fact

1431J

Before tlie Trial. 243

which must cither be taken to prove the hostility of
the population, or the very vigorous regulations of
the prison. Perhaps the barbarous watch set upon
her, the soldiers ever present, may have been a reason
for the absence of any female visitor. At all events
it is a very distinct fact that during the whole period
of her trial, five months of miser}', except on the one
occasion already referred to, no woman came to con-
sole the unfortunate Maid. She had never before
during all her vicissitudes been without their constant
ministrations.

One woman, the only one we ever hear of -
who was not the partisan and lover of the Maid,
does, however, make herself faintly seen amid the"'
crowd. Catherine of La Rochelle the woman who
had laid claim to saintly visitors and voices like
those of Jeanne, and who had been for a time
received and feted at the Court of Charles with vile
satisfaction, as making the loss of the Maid no
such great thing had by this time been dropped
as useless, on the appearance of the shepherd boy
quoted by the Archbishop of Rheims, and had
fallen into the hands of the English : was not
she too a witch, and admirably qualified to give
evidence as to the other witch, for whose blood all
around her were thirsting? Catherine was ready to
say anything that was evil of her sister sorceress.
" Take care of her," she said ; " if you lose sight of
her for one moment, the devil will carry her away."
Perhaps this was the cause of the guard in Jeanne's
room, the ceaseless scrutiny to which she was ex-
posed. The vulgar slanderer was allowed to escape

244 Jeanne d'Arc.

after this valuable testimony. She comes into
history like a will-o'-the-wisp, one of the marsh
lights that mean nothing but putrescence and decay,
and then flickers out again with her false witness into
the wastes of inanity. That she should have been
treated so leniently and Jeanne so cruelly ! say the
historians. Reason good : she was nothing, came
of nothing, and meant nothing. It is profane to
associate Jeanne's pure and beautiful name with that
of a mountebank. \ This is the only woman in all
her generation, so faf as^appears to us, who was not
the partisan and devoted frfend of the spotless Maid.
The aspect of that old-world city of Rouen, still so
old and picturesque to the visitor of to-day, though
all new since that time except the churches, is
curious and interesting to look back upon. It must
have hummed and rustled with life througruevery
street ; not only with the English troops, and many
a Burguridian man-at-arms, swaggering about, swear,
ing big oaths and filling the air with loud voices,
but with all the polished bands of the doctors, men
first in fame and learning of the famous University,
and beneficed priests of all classes, canons and
deans and bishops, with the countless array that
followed them, the cardinal's tonsured Court in
addition, standing by and taking no share in the
business: but all French and English alike, occupied
with one subject, talking of the trial, of the new
points brought out, of the opinions of this doctor
and that, of Maitre Nicolas who had presumed on
his lawyership to correct the bishop, and had
suffered for it: of the bold canon who ventured

1431J

Before the Trial. 245

to whisper a suggestion to the prisoner, and who
ever since had had the eye of the governor
upon him : of Warwick, keeping a rough shield of
protection around the Maid but himself fiercely
impatient of the law's delay, anxious to burn the
witch and be done with her. And Jeanne herself,
the one strange figure that nobody understood ;
was she a witch ? Was she an angelic messenger?
Her answers so simple, so bold, so full of the
spirit and sentiment of truth, must have been re-
ported from one to another. This is what she said ;
does that look like a deceiver? could the devils
inspire that steadfastness, that constancy and quiet?
or was it not rather the angels, the saints as she
said? Never, we may be sure, had there been in
Rouen a time of so much interest, such a theme
for conversations, such a subject for all thoughts.
The eager court sat with their tonsured heads to-
gether, keen to seize every weak point. Did you
observe how she hesitated on this? Let us push
that, we '11 get an admission on that point to-mor-
row. It is impossible to believe that in such an
assembly every man was a partisan, much less that
each one of them was thinking of the fee of the
English, the daily allowance which it was the Eng-
lish habit to make. That were to imagine a France,
base indeed beyond the limits of human baseness.
All the Norman dignitaries of the Church, all the
most learned doctors of the University no ! that
is too great a stretch of our faith. The greater part
no doubt believed as an indisputable fact, that
Jeanne was either a witch or an impostor, as we

246

Jeanne d'Arc.

[1431

should all probably do now. And the vertigo of
Inquisition gained upon them ; they became day
by day more exasperated with her seeming inno-
cence, with what must have seemed to them the
cunning and cleverness, impossible to her age and
sex, of her replies. Who could have kept the girl
so cool, so dauntless, so embarrassing in her straight-
forwardness and sincerity ? The saints ? the saints
were not dialecticians ; far more likely the evil one
himself, in whom the Church has always such faith.
" He hath a devil and by Beelzebub casteth out
devils." It was all like a play, only more exciting
than any play, and going on endlessly, the excite-
ment always getting stronger till it became the chief
stimulus and occupation of life.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE I'UHLIC EXAMINATION.
FEBRUARY, 1431.

was in the chapel of the . Castle of
Rouen, on the 2ist of February,
that the trial of Jeanne was begun.
The judges present numbered about
forty, and are carefully classed as
doctors in theology, abbots, canons,
doctors in canonical and civil law,
with the Bishop of Bcauvais at their head (the
archepiscopal see of Rouen being vacant, as is ad-
ded : but not that my lord of Beauvais hoped for
that promotion). They were assembled there in all
the solemnity of their priestly and professional robes,
the reporters ready with their pens, the range of
dark figures forming a semicircle round the pre-
siding Bishop, when the officer of the court led in
the prisoner, clothed in her worn and war-stained
tunic, like a boy, with her hair cut close as for the
helmet, and her slim figure, no doubt more slim
than ever, after her long imprisonment. She had
asked to be allowed to hear mass before coming to

247

248 Jeanne d' Arc.

[1431

the bar, but this was refused. It was a privilege
which she had never failed to avail herself of in her
most triumphant days. Now the chapel the sanc-
tuary of God contained for her no sacred sacrifice,
but only those dark benches of priests amid whom
she found no responsive countenance, no look of
kindness.

Jeanne was addressed sternly by Cauchon, in
an exhortation which it is sad to think was not in
Latin, as it appears in the Proccs. She was then re-
quired to take the oath on the Scriptures to speak the
truth, and to answer all questions addressed to her.
Jeanne had already held that conversation with
L'Oyseleur in the prison which Cauchon and War-
wick had listened to in secret with greedy ears, but
which Manchon, the honest reporter, had refused to
take down. Perhaps, therefore, the Bishop knew
that the slim creature before him, half boy half
girl, was not likely to be overawed by his presence
or questions ; but it cannot have been but a wonder
to the others, all gazing at her, the first men in
Normandy, the most learned in Paris, to hear her
voice, asscz femme, young and clear, arising in the
midst of them, " I know not what things I may be
asked," said Jeanne. " Perhaps you may ask me
questions which I cannot answer/' The assembly
was startled by this beginning.

" Will you swear to answer truly all that concerns
the faith, and that you know?"

"I will swear," said Jeanne, " about my father
and mother and what I have done since coming to
France ; but concerning my revelations from God I

1431] The Public Examination. 249

will answer to no man, except only to Charles my
King; I should not reveal them were you to cut
off my head, unless by the secret counsel of my
visions."

The Bishop continued not without gentleness,
enjoining her to swear at least that in everything
that touched the faith she would speak truth ;
and Jeanne kneeling down crossed her hands upon
the book of the Gospel, or Missal as it is called in
the report, and took the required oath, always under
the condition she had stated, to answer truly on
everything she knew concerning the faith, except in
respect to her revelations.

The examination then began with the usual for-
malities. She was asked her name (which she said
with touching simplicity was Jeannette at home but
Jeanne in France), the names of her father and
mother, godfather and godmothers, the priest who
baptised her, the place where she was born, etc., her
age, almost nineteen ; her education, consisting of
the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo, which her
mother had taught her.

Here she was asked, a curious interruption to the
formal interrogatory, to say the Pater Noster the
reason of which sudden demand was that witches
and sorcerers were supposed to be unable to repeat
that prayer. As unexpected as the question was
Jeanne's reply. She answered that if the Bishop
would hear her in confession she would say it will-
ingly. She had been refused all the exercises of
piety, and she was speaking to a company of priests.

There is a great dignity of implied protest against

250 Jeanne d' Arc. 11431

this treatment in such an answer. The request was
made a second time with a promise of selecting two
worthy Frenchmen to hear her : but her reply was
the same. She would say the prayer when she made
her confession but not otherwise. She was ready it
would seem in proud humility to confess to any or
to all. of her enemies, as one whose conscience was
clear, and who had nothing to conceal.

She, was then commanded not to attempt to
escape from her prison, on pain of being condemned
for heresy, but to this again she demurred at once.
She would not accept the prohibition, but would
escape if she could, so that no man could say that
she, bad broken faith ; although since her capture
she , had been bound in chains and her feet fastened
with irons. To this, her examiner said that it was
necessary so to secure her in order that she might
not escape. "It is true and certain/' she replied,
"whatever others may wish, that to every prisoner
it is lawful to escape if he can." It may be re-
marked, as she forcibly pointed out afterwards, that
she had never given her faith, never surrendered,
but had always retained her freedom of action.

The tribunal thereupon called in the captain in
charge of Jeanne's prison, a gentleman called John
Gris in the record, probably John Grey, along with
two soldiers, Bernoit and Talbot, and enjoined them
to guard her securely and not to permit her to talk
with any one without the permission of the court.
This was all the business done on the first day of
audience.

On the. 22d of February at eight o'clock in the

1431] The Public Examination. 251

morning, the sitting was resumed. In the mean-
time, however, the chapel had been found too small
and too near the outer world, the proceedings being
much interrupted by shouts and noises from with-
out, and probably incommoded within by the audi-
ence which had crowded it the first day. The
judges accordingly assembled in the great hall of
the castle; they were forty-nine in number on the
second day, the number being chiefly swelled by
canons of Rouen. After some preliminary business
the accused was once more introduced, and desired
again to take the oath. Jeanne replied that she had
done so on the previous day and that this was
enough ; upon which there followed a short alterca-
tion, which, however, ended by her consent to swear
again that she would answer truly in all things that
concerned the faith. The questioner this day was
Jean Beaupere {PulcJiri patris, as he is called in the
Latin), a theologian, Master of Arts, Canon of Paris
and of Besangon, " one of the greatest props of the
University of Paris," a man holding a number of
important offices, and who afterwards appeared at
the Council of Bale as the deputy of Normandy. I f e
began by another exhortation to speak the truth,
to which Jeanne replied as before that what she did
say she would say truly, but that she would not
answer upon all subjects. " I have done nothing
but by revelation," she said.

These preliminaries on both sides having been gone
through, the examination was resumed. Jeanne in-
formed the court in answer to Beaupere's question
that she had been taught by her mother to' sew and

252 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

spin and did not fear to compete with any woman
in Rouen in these crafts ; that she had once been
absent from home when her family were driven out
of their village by fear of the Burgundians, and that
she had then lived for about fifteen days in the house
of a woman called La Rousse,at Neufchateau ; that
when she was at home she was occupied in the work
of the house and did not go to the fields with the
sheep and other animals ; that she went to confession
regularly to the Cure" of her own village, or when he
could not hear her, to some other priest, by permis-
sion of the Cure* ; also that two or three times she
had made her confession to the mendicant friars
this being during her stay in Neufchateau (where
presumably she was not acquainted with the clergy) ;
and that she received the sacrament always at Easter.
Asked whether she had communicated at other feasts
than Easter, she said briefly that this was enough.
" Go on to the rest/' passez outre, she added, and
the questioner seems to have been satisfied. Then
came the really vital part of the matter. She pro-
ceeded no direct question on the point being re-
corded, though no doubt it was made to tell how
when she was about thirteen she heard voices from
God bidding her to be good and obedient. The first
time she was much afraid. The voice came about
the hour of noon, in summer, in her father's garden.
She was fasting but had not fasted the preceding
day. The voice came from the right, towards the
church; and came rarely without a great light. This
light came always from the side whence the voice
proceeded, and was a very bright radiance. When

1431 The Public Examination. 253

she came into France she still continued to hear the
same voices.

She was then asked how she could sec the light
when it was at the side ; to which foolish question
Jeanne gave no reply, but " turned to other matters,"
saying voluntarily with a soft implied reproof of the
noise around her that if she were in a wood, that is
in a quiet place, she could hear the voices coming
towards her. She added (going on, one could im-
agine, in a musing, forgetting the congregation of
sinners about her) that it seemed to her a noble
voice, and that she believed it came from God, and
that when she had heard it three times she knew it
was the voice of an angel ; the voice always came
quite clearly to her, and she understood it well.

She was then asked what it said to her concerning
the salvation of her soul.

She said that it taught her to rule her life well, to
go often to church : and told her that it was neces-
sary that she, Jeanne, should go to France. The
said Jeanne added that she would not be questioned
further concerning the voice, or the manner in which
it was made known to her, but that two or three
times in a week it had said to her that she must go
to France ; but that her father knew nothing of this.
The voice said to her that she should go to France,
until she could endure it no longer ; it said to her that
she should raise the siege, which was set against the
city of Orleans. It said also that she must go to
Robert of Baudricourt, in the city of Vaucouleurs,
who was captain of that place, and that he would
give her people to go with her; to which she had

254 Jeanne d' Arc.

answered that she was a poor girl who knew not how
to ride, nor how to conduct war. She then said that
she went to her uncle .and told him that she wished
to go with him for a little while to his house, and that
she lived there for eight days ; she then told her
uncle that she must go to Vaucouleurs, and the said
uncle took her there. Also she went on to say that
when she came to the said city of Vaucouleurs, she
recognised Robert of Baudricourt though she had
never seen him before she knew him by the voice
that said to her which was he. She then told this
Robert that it was necessary that she should go to
France, but twice over he refused and repulsed her ;
the third time, however, he received her, and gave
her certain men to go with her ; the voice had told
her that this would be so.

She said also that the Duke of Lorraine sent for
her to come to him, and that she went under a safe
conduct granted by him, and told him that she must
go to France. He asked her whether he should re-
cover from his illness ; but she told him that she
knew nothing of that, and she talked very little to
him of her journey. She told the Duke that he
ought to send his son and his people with her to
take her to France, and that she would pray God to
restore his health ; and then she was taken back to
Vaucouleurs. She said also that when she left Vau-
couleurs she wore the dress of a man, without any
other arms than a sword which Robert de Baudri-
court had given her ; and that she had with her a
chevalier, a squire, and four servants, and that they
slept for the first night at St. Urbain, in the abbey

1431] Public Examination. 255

there. She was then asked by whose advice she
the dress of a man, but refused to answer.
Finally she said that she charged no man with giving
her this advice.

She went on to say that the said Robert de Bau-
dricourt exacted an oath from those who went with
that they would conduct her to the end of her
journey well and safely ; and that he said, as she left
.him, 4l Go, and let come what will." She also said
that she knew well that God loved the Duke of
Orleans, concerning whom she had more revelations
than about any other living man, except him whom
she called her King. She added that it was neces-
sary for her to wear male attire, and that whoever
advised her to do so had given her wise counsel.

She then said that she had sent a letter to the
English before Orleans, in which she required them
to go away, a copy of which letter had been read to
her in Rouen ; but there were two or three mistakes,
especially in the words which called upon them to
surrender to the Maid instead of to surrender to the
King. (There is no indication why these two latter
statements should have been introduced into the
midst of her narrative of the journey ; it may have
been in reply to some other question interjected by
another of her examiners : Passes outre, as she her-
self says. She immediately resumes the simple and
straightforward tale.)

The said Jeanne went on to say that her further
journey to him whom she called her King was with-
out any impediment ; and that when she arrived at
the town of St. Catherine de Fierbois she sent news

256 yeanne d } Arc.

of her arrival to the town of Chasteau-Chinon where
the said King was. She arrived there herself about
noon and went to an inn * ; and after dinner went to
him whom she called her King, who was in the castle.
She then said that when she entered the chamber
where he was, she knew him among all the others,
by the revelation of her " voices." She told her King
that she wished to make war against the English.

She was then asked whether when she heard the
" voices" in the presence of the King the light was
also seen in that place. She answered as before:
Passes outre : Transeatis ultra. " Go on," as we
might say, " to the other questions/'

She was asked if she had seen an angel hovering
over her King. She answered : " Spare me ; passez
outre'' She added afterwards, however, that before
he put his hand to the work, the King had many
beautiful apparitions and revelations. She was
asked what these were. She answered : " I will not
tell you ; it is not I who should answer ; send to the
King and he will tell you."

She was then asked if her voices had promised
her that when she came to the King he would
receive her. She answered that those of her own
party knew that she had been sent from God and
that some had heard and recognised the voices.
Further, she said that her King and various others
had heard and seen f the voices coming to her

* She was in reality detained two days, which fact, no doubt, she
judged to be an unimportant detail.

f Probably meaning, had been present when the voices came to her
and had perceived her state of listening and abstraction.

11-31' The Public Examination. 257

.^ of Bourbon (Comte dc Clcrmont) and two or
three others with him. She then said that there was
no day in which she did not hear that voice; but
that she a4a-d nothing from it except the salvation
of her soul. Besides this, Jeanne confessed that the
voice said she should be led to the town of St.
Denis in France, where she wished to remain that
is after the attack on Paris but that against her will
the lords forced her to leave it : if she had not been
wounded she would not have gone : but she was
wounded in the moats of Paris : however, she was
healed in five days. She then said that she had
made an assault, called in French escannouche
(skirmish), upon the town of Paris. She was asked
if it was on a holy day, and said that she believed
it was on a festival. She was then asked if she
thought it well done to fight on a holy day, and
answered, "Passes outre. Go on to the next ques-
tion."

This is a verbatim account of one day of the trial.
Most of the translations which exist give questions
as well as answers : but these are but occasionally
given in the original document, and Jeanne's narra-
tive reads like a calm, continuous statement, only
interrupted now and then by a question, usually a
cunning attempt to startle her with a new subject,
and to hurry some admission from her. The great
dignity with which she makes her replies, the occa-
sional flash of high spirit, the calm determination
with which she refuses to be led into discussion of
the subjects which she had from the first moment
reserved, are very remarkable. We have seen her

7

258 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

hitherto only in conflict, in the din of battle and the
fatigue, yet exuberant energy, of rapid journeys.
Her circumstances were now very different. She
had been shut up in prison for months, for six weeks
at least she had been in irons, and the air of heaven
had not blown upon this daughter of the fields ; her
robust yet sensitive maidenhood had been exposed
to a hundred offences, and to the constant society,
infecting the very air about, of the rudest of men;
yet so far is her spirit from being broken that she
meets all those potent, grave, and reverend doctors
and ecclesiastics, with the simplicity and freedom of
a princess, answering frankly or holding her peace
as seems good to her, afraid of nothing, keeping her
self-possession, all her wits about her as we say, with-
out panic and without presumption. The trial of
Jeanne is indeed almost more miraculous than her
fighting ; a girl not yet nineteen, forsaken of all, with-
out a friend ! It is less wonderful that she should
have developed the qualities of a general, of a gun-
ner, every gift of war than that in her humiliation
and distress she should thus hold head against all
the most subtle intellects in France, and bear, with
but one moment of faltering, a continued cross-ex-
amination of three months, without losing her
patience, her heart, or her courage.

The third day brought a still larger accession of
judges, sixty-two of them taking their places on
the benches round the Bishop in the great hall ; and
the day began with another and longer altercation be-
tween Cauchon and Jeanne on the subject of the oath

143U The Public Examination. 259

again demanded of her. She maintained her resolu-
tion to say nothing of her voices. " \Ve " accord-
ing to the record " required of her that she should
swear simply and absolutely without reservation."
She would seem to have replied with impatience,
" Let me speak freely : " adding " By my faith you
may ask me many questions which I will not
answer": then explaining, " Many things you may
ask me, but I will tell you nothing truly that con-
cerns my revelations ; for you might compel me to
say things which I have sworn not to say; and so I
should perjure myself, which you ought not to wish."
This explains several statements which she made
later in respect to her introduction to the King.
She repeated emphatically: "I warn you well, you
who call yourselves my judges, that you take a great
responsibility upon you, and that you burden me too
much." She said also that it was enough to have
already sworn twice. She was again asked to swear
simply and absolutely, and answered, " It is enough
to have sworn twice," and that all the clerks in
Rouen and Paris could not condemn her unless law-
fully ; also that of her coming she would speak the
truth but not all the truth ; and that the space of
eight days would not be enough to tell all.

" We the said Bishop (continues the report) then
said to her that she should ask advice from those
present whether she ought to swear or not. She re-
plied again that of her coming she would speak truly
and not otherwise, nor would it be fit that she should
talk at large. We then told her that it would throw
suspicion on what she said if she did not swear to speak

260 Jeanne d' Arc.

the truth. She answered as before. We repeated
that she must swear precisely and absolutely. She
answered that she would say what she knew, but not
all, and that she had come on the part of God, and
appealed to God from whom she came. Again re-
quested and admonished to swear on pain of every
punishment that could be put on her, again answered
" Passes outre'' Finally she consented to swear that
she would speak the truth in everything that con-
cerned the trial.

Her examination was then resumed by Beaupere
as before, who elicited from her that she had
fasted (he seems to have wished to make out
that the fasting had something to do with her
visions) since noon the day before (it was Lent);
and also that she had heard her voices both on
that day and the day before, three times on the pre-
vious day, the first time in the morning when she
was asleep, and awakened by them. Did she kneel
and thank them ? She thanked them, sitting up in
her bed (to which she was chained, as her questioner
knew) and clasping her hands. She asked them
what she was to do, and they told her to answer
boldly.

It may be remarked here that more frequently as
the examination goes on, part of Jeanne's words are
quoted in the first person, as if the reporters had
been specially struck by them, while the bulk of her
evidence goes on more calmly in the third person,
the narrative form. After saying that she was bid-
den to answer boldly, she seems to have turned to
the Bishop, and to have addressed him individually :

JEANNE D'ARC, PRISONER.

FROM A STATUE Br BARRIAS AT BONSECOUR8.

1431] Public Examination. 261

y yu art my jiul; ' to take

wh.it you a
and .-self in much peiil "

Ms the report^: nit dan-

Sh .--I- chan

their meaning, and answered that she had r,
heard two 3] h other; what they

had said that day was that she should speak boldly,
d, if the voice forbade her to reply to q
d, she replied ; M I will not answer you. I have
touching the King which I will not tell
Asked, if the voices forbade her t< reveal these
revelations, she answered, " I have not consulted
them ; give me fifteen days' delay and I will an

but being again exhorted to rep!;
" If the voice forbade me to speak, how many times
should I tell you?" Again asked, if she were for-
bidden to speak, answered, " I believe I am not
forbidden by men "--repeating that she would not
reply, and knew not how far she .should reply, for it
had not vealed to her; but that she bell'

firmly, as firmly as in the Christian faith, and that
! had redeemed us from the pains of hell, that
this voice came from I lim.

d concerning the voice, what it appeared
to be when it spoke, if that of an angel, or 1
Himself ; or if it was the voice of a saint or of saints

1 : " The voice coin

and I believe that I >hould not tell you all I know,

for I should d: these voices if I answered

id as for this question I pi. to leave

262 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

me free." Asked if she thought that to speak the
truth would displease God, she answered, " What
the voices say I am to tell to the King, not to you,"
adding that during that night they had said much to
her for the good of the King, and that if she could
but let him know she would willingly drink no wine
up to Easter (the reader will remember that her fru-
gal fare consisted of bread dipped in the wine and
water, which is justly called eau rougie in France).
Asked, if she could not induce the voices to
speak to her King directly, she answered that she
knew not whether her voices would consent, un-
less it were the will of God, and God consented to it,
adding, " They might well reveal it to the King ; and
with that I should be content." Asked, if the
voices could not communicate with the King as
they did in her presence, she answered, that she did
not know whether this was God's will ; and added, that
unless it were the will of God she would not know
how to act. Asked, if it was by the advice of her
voices that she attempted to escape from her prison,
she answered, " I have nothing to say to you on
that point." Asked, if she always saw a light when
the voices were heard, she answered : " Yes : that
with the sound of the voices light came." Asked, if
she saw anything else coming with the voices, an-
swered : " I do not tell you all. I am not allowed
to do so, nor does my oath touch that ; the voices
are good and noble, but neither of that will I
answer." She was then asked to give in writing the
points on which she would not reply. Then she
was asked if her voices had eyes and ears, and

1431: The Public Examination. 263

answered, u You shall not have this either," adding,
that it v. ing among children that men were

sometimes hanged f>r speaking the truth.

She was then asked if she knew herself to be in
the grace of God. She replied: "If I am not so,
may God put me in His grace ; if I am, may God
keep me in it. I should be the most miserable
in the world if I were not in the grace of God." She
said besides, that if she were in a state of sin she did
not believe her voices would come to her, and
she wished that everyone could understand them a3
she did, adding, that she was about thirteen when
they came to her first.

She was then asked, whether in her childhood she
had played with the other children in the fields, and
various other particulars about Domremy, whether
there were any Burgundians there ? to which Jeanne
answered boldly that there was one, and that she
wished his head might be cut off, adding piously,
" that is, if it pleased God " * ; she was also asked
whether she had fought along with the other children
against the children of the neighbouring Burgundian
village of Maxy (Maxcy sur Meuse) : why she hated
the Burgundians, and many questions of this kind,
with a close examination about a certain tree near the
village of Domremy, which some called the Tree of
the good Ladies, and others, the Fairies' Tree ; and
also about a well there, the Fairies' Well, of which
poor patients were said to drink and get well. Jeanne

* This was her special friend, Gerard of Epinal her compare and
; was it jesting, beguiled by some childish recollection, or
mock threat >f youthful days that she said this ?

264 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

(no doubt relieved by the simple character of these
questions) made answer freely and without hesitation,
in no way denying that she had danced and sung with
the other children, and made garlands for the image
of the Blessed Marie of Domremy ; but she did not
remember whether she had ever done so after at-
taining years of discretion, and certainly she had
never seen a fairy, nor worked any spell by their
means. At the end, after having thus been put off
her guard, she was suddenly asked about her dress
(a capital point in the eyes of her judges) : whether
she wished to have a woman's dress. Probably she
was, as they hoped, tired, and expecting no such
question, for she answered quickly yet with instant
recovery : " Bring me one to go home in and I
will accept it ; otherwise no. I prefer this, since it
pleases God that I should wear it." The recollec-
tion of Domremy and of the pleasant fields, must
have carried her back to the days when the little
Jeanne was like the rest in her short, full petticoats
of crimson stuff, free of any danger; what could be
better to go home in? but she immediately remem-
bered the obvious and excellent reasons she had for
wearing another costume now. So ended the third
day.

In the meantime there had been, we are told,
various interruptions during the examination ; per-
haps it was then that Nicolas de Houppeville pro-
tested against Bishop Cauchon as a partisan and
a Burgundian, and therefore incapable by law of
judging a member of the opposite party: and had
been rudely silenced, and afterwards punished, as we

1431] The Public Examination. 265

have already heard. Another kind of opposition
less bold had begun to be remarked, which was that
one of the persons present, by word and sign, whis-
pering suggestions to her, or warning her with his
eyes, was helping the unfortunate prisoner in her
defence. Probably this did little good, " for she
was often troubled and hurried in her answers," we
are told ; but it was a sign of good-will, at least.
When Frere Isambard, who was the person in ques-
tion, speaks at a later period he tells us that " the
questions put to Jeanne were too difficult, subtle, and
dangerous, so that the great clerks and learned men
who were present scarcely would have known how to
answer them, and that many in the assembly mur-
mured at them." Perhaps the good Frere Isambard
might have spared himself the trouble ; for Jeanne,
however she may have suffered, was probably more
able to hold her own than many of those great clerks,
and did so with unfailing courage and spirit. One of
the other judges, Jean Fabry, a bishop, declared after-
wards that " her answers were so good, that for three
weeks he believed that they were inspired." Man.
chon, the reporter, he who had refused to take down
the private conversation of Jeanne in her prison with
the vile traitor, L'Oyseleur, makes his voice heard also
to the effect that " Monseigneur of Beauvais would
have had everything written as pleased him, and when
there was anything that displeased him he forbade
the secretaries to report it as being of no importance
for the trial." On another day a humbler witness
still, Massieu, one of the officers of the court, who
had the charge of taking Jeanne daily from her

266 Jeanne d' Arc.

prison to the hall, and back again, met in the court-
yard an Englishman, who seems to have been a
singing man or lay clerk " of the King's chapel in
England/' probably attached to Winchester's ecclesi-
astical retinue. This man asked him: " What do you
think of her answers? Will she be burned ? What
will happen ? " " Up to this time," said Massieu, " I
have heard nothing from her that was not honour-
able and good. She seems to me a good woman,
but how it will all end God only knows ! "

No doubt conversations of this kind were being
carried on all over Rouen. Would she be burned ?
What would happen ? Could any one stand and
answer like that hour after hour and day by day,
inspired only by the devil ? There was no popular en-
thusiasm for her even now. How should there have
been in that partisan province, more English than
French ? But a chill doubt began to steal into many
minds whether she was so bad as had been thought,
whether indeed she might not after all be something
quite different from what she had been thought ?
Nature had begun to work in the agitated place, and
even in that black-robed, eager assembly. If there
was a vile L'Oyseleur trying to get her confidence
in private, and so betray her, there was also a kind
Frere Isambard, privately plucking at her sleeve, im-
ploring her to be cautious, whispering an answer
probably not half so wise as her own natural reply,
yet warming her heart with the suggestion of a
friend at hand.

On the fourth day, Jeanne was again required to
swear, and replied as before, that so far as concerned

1431]

The Public Examination. 267

the trial she would answer truly, but not all she
knew. 4i You ought to be satisfied: I have sworn
sufficiently," she said ; and with this her judges seem
to have been content. Heaupere then resumed his
questions, but first asked her, perhaps with a moment-
ary gleam of compassion and a sudden conscious-
ness of the pallor and weariness of the young
prisoner, how she did. She answered, one can im-
agine with what tone of indignant disdain : " You
see how I am : I am as well as I can be." He then
cross-examined her closely as to what voices she had
heard since her last appearance in court, but drew
from her only the same answer, " The voice tells me
to answer boldly," and that she would tell them as
much as she was permitted by God to tell them, but
concerning her revelations for the King of France she
would say nothing except by permission of her
voices.

She was then asked what kind of voices they were
which she heard, were they voices of angels, or of
saints (sancti aut sancta, male or female saints) or
from God Himself? She answered that the voices
were those of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, whose
heads were crowned with beautiful crowns, very rich
and precious. " So much as this God allows me to
say. If you doubt send to Poitiers, where I was
questioned before." (It may perhaps be permissible
to suppose that the kind whisperer at her elbow might
have suggested the repeated references to Poitiers
that follow, but winch are not to be found before:
though it was most natural she should refer to
this place where she was examined at the begin-

268 Jeanne d'Arc. C1431

ning of her mission.) Asked how she knew which
was which of these two saints, she answered that she
could quite distinguish one from the other by the
manner of their salutation ; that she had been led
and guided by them for seven years, and that she
knew them because they had named themselves to
her. She was then asked how they were dressed ?
and answered : " I cannot tell you ; I am not per-
mitted to reveal this ; if you do not believe me send
to Poitiers/* She said also that at her coming into
France she had revealed these things, but could not
now. She was asked what was the age of her
saints, but replied that she was not permitted to tell.
Asked, if both saints spoke at once or one after the
other, she replied : " I have not permission to tell
you : but I always consult them both together."
Asked, which had appeared to her first, and answered:
" I do not know which it was ; I did know, but have
forgotten. It is written in the register of Poitiers."
" She then said she had much comfort from St.
Michael. Again, asked, which had come first, she
replied that it was St. Michael. Asked, if a long
time had passed since she first heard the voice of St.
Michael, answered : " I do not name to you the voice
of St Michael ; but his conversation was of great
comfort to me/' Asked, again, what voice came first
to her when she was thirteen, answered, that it was
St. Michael whom she saw before her eyes, and that
he was not alone, but accompanied by many angels
of Heaven. She said also that she would not have
come into France but by the command of God.
Asked, if she saw St. Michael and the angels really,

14311 TIic Public Examination. 269

with her ordinary senses, she answered : " I saw
them with my bodily eyes as I see you, and when
they left me I wept, desiring much that they would
take me with them." Asked, what was the form in
which he appeared, she replied : " I cannot answer
you ; I am not permitted." Asked, what St. Michael
said to her the first time, she cried, " You shall have
no answer to-day." Then went on to say that her
voices told her to reply boldly. Afterwards she
said that she had told her King once all that had
been revealed to her ; said also that she was not per-
mitted to say here what St. Michael had said ; but
that it would be better to send for a copy of the
books which were at Poitiers than to question heron
this subject. Asked, what sign she had that these
were revelations of God, and that it was really St.
Catherine and St. Margaret with whom she talked,
she ans\vered : " It is enough that I tell you they were
St. Catherine and St. Margaret : believe me or not
as you will."

Asked how she distinguished the points on which
she was allowed to speak from the others, she an-
swered, that on some points she had asked permission
to speak, and not on others, adding, that she would
rather have been torn by wild horses than to have
come to France, unless by the license of God.
Asked how it was that she put on a man's dress, she
answered, that dress appeared to her a small matter,
that she did not adopt that dress by the counsel of
any man, and that she neither put on a dress nor did
anything, but according as God, or the angels, com-
manded her to do so. Asked, if she knew whether

270 Jeanne d'Arc.

such a command to assume the dress of a man was
lawful, she answered: " All that I did, I did by the
precepts of our Lord ; and if I were bidden to wear
another dress I would do so, because it was at the bid-
ding of God." Asked, if she had done it by the orders
of Robert de Baudricourt, answered " No." Asked, if
she thought that she had done well in assuming a
man's dress, answered, that as all she did was by the
command of the Lord, she believed that she had
done well, and expected a good guarantee and good
succour. Asked, if in this particular case of assuming
the dress of a man she thought she had done well,
answered, that nothing in the world had made her do
it, but the command of God.

She was then asked whether light always ac-
companied the voices when they came to her, she
answered, with an evident reference to her first inter-
view with Charles, that there were many lights on
every side as was fit. " It is not only to you that light
comes " (or you have not all the light to yourself, a
curious phrase). Asked, if there was an angel over
the head of the King when she saw him for the first
time, she answered : " By the Blessed Mary, if there
were, I know not, I saw none." Asked, if there was
light, she answered : " There were about three hun-
dred soldiers, and fifty of them held torches, without
counting any spiritual light. And rarely do I have the
revelations without light." Asked, if her King had
faith in what she said, she answered, that he had good
signs, and also by his clergy. Asked, what revela-
tions her King had, she answered : " You shall have
nothing from me this year." Then added that for

1431. The Public Examination. 271

three weeks she was cross-examined by the clergy,
both in the town of Chinon and at Poitiers, and that
her King had signs concerning her, before he believed
in her. And the clergy of his party had found noth-
ing in her, in respect to her faith, that was not good.
Asked, whether she had gone to the church of St.
Catherine of Fierbois, answered : 4t yes/' and that she
had there heard three masses in one day, and from
thence went to Chinon ; she added that she had sent
a letter thence to the King, in which it was contained
that she sent this to know if she might come to the
town in which the King was ; for that she had travelled
a hundred and fifty leagues to come to him and to
bring him help, for she knew much good concerning
him. And she thought it was contained in this letter
that she should recognise the King among all the rest.
She said besides, that she had a sword which was
given to her at Vaucouleurs ; she said also that, being
in Tours or at Chinon, she sent for a sword which
was in the church of St. Catherine of Fierbois be-
hind the altar, and that when it was found it was
rusty. Asked, how she knew about this sword, she
answered, that it was rusty because of being in the
ground, and there were five crosses on it, and that
she knew this sword by her voices, and not by
any man's report. She wrote to the ecclesiastics of
the place where it was and asked them for this
sword, and they sent it to her. It was found not
much below the ground behind the altar; she was
not sure if it was before or behind the altar, but
wrote that it was behind the altar. And when it
found the clergy cleaned it and rubbed off the

272 Jeanne d'Arc.

rust, which came off easily ; and it was an armourer
of Tours who went to fetch it. The clergy made a
scabbard for it before sending it to the said Jeanne,
and they of Tours made another, so that it had two
scabbards, one of crimson velvet and one of cloth of
gold. And she herself procured another of strong
leather. She said also that when she was captured
she had not that sword. Said also that she con-
tinued to wear the said sword until she left St.
Denis after the assault on Paris. Asked, what bene-
diction she made, or if she made any on this sword,
she answered, that she made no benediction, nor knew
how to make one, but that she loved the sword be-
cause it had come to her from the Church of the
blessed Catherine whom she loved much. Asked, if
she had placed it on the altar at the village of
Coulenges, Les Vineuses, or elsewhere, placing it
there that it might bring good luck, she answered,
that she knew nothing of this. Asked, if she did not
pray that the sword might have good fortune : " It
is good to know that I wish all my armour (harnes-
seum meum ; gallice, man harnois) to be very for-
tunate." Asked, where she had left that sword,
answered, that she had deposited a sword and
armour at St. Denis, but it was not this sword.
She added that she had it in Lagny : but that she
afterwards wore the sword which had been taken
from a Burgundian, which was a good sword for
war and gave good strokes (gallice, de bonnes bouffes
and de bons torchons). Said also that to tell where
she left it had nothing to do with the trial, and she
would answer nothing.

1431] The Public Examination. 273

She said also that her brothers had everything
that belonged to her, her horses, swords, and every-
thing, and that she believed they were worth in all
about 12,000 francs. She was also asked whether
when she was at Orleans she had a standard, and what
colour it was ; answered, that she had a standard,
the field of which was sown with lilies, and on it was
a figure of the world with angels on each side. It
was white, and made of a stuff called boucassin,
upon which was written the name Jhesus Maria, so
that all might see, and it was fringed with silk.
Asked, if the name JJiesns Maria was written above
or below or at the side, she answered, " At the side/'
Asked, if she loved her sword or standard best, she
answered, that she loved her standard best. Asked,
why she had that picture on the standard, she an-
swered : " I have sufficiently told you that I did
nothing but by the command of God." She added
that she herself carried her standard when in battle
that she might not hurt anyone, and said that she
had never killed any man.

Asked, how many men her King gave her when
she began her work, answered, from ten to twelve*
thousand men, and that she attacked first the bastile
of St. Loup at Orleans, and afterwards that of the
bridge. Asked, from which bastile it was that her
men were driven back, she answered, that she did not
remember; adding, that she had been sure that she
could raise the siege at Orleans, for it had been so
revealed to her; and that she told this to her King

* An answer evidently given in the vaguepess of imperfect know-
ledge, meaning a very great number.

18

274 Jeanne d * Arc. [1431

before it occurred. Asked, whether, when she made
assault, she told her men that all the arrows, stones,
cannon-balls, etc., would be intercepted by her,
she answered no that more than a hundred were
wounded : that what she had said to her people was
that they should have no doubts, for they should
certainly raise the siege of Orleans. She said also
that in attacking the bastile of the bridge she her-
self was wounded by an arrow in the neck, and
was much comforted by St. Catherine, and was
healed in fifteen days ; but that she never gave up
riding and working all that time. Asked, if she
knew that she would be wounded, she answered, that
she knew it well and had told her King, but that,
notwithstanding, she went about her business. It
was revealed to her by the voices of her two
saints, the blessed Catherine and the blessed Mar-
garet. She said besides, that she was the first to
place a scaling ladder on the bastile of the bridge,
and as she raised it she was struck in the neck.

She was then asked why she did not treat with
the Captain of Jargeau ; she answered that the lords
of her party had replied to the English, who had
asked for a truce of fifteen days, that they could not
have it, but that they might retire, they and their
horses at once ; she had said for her part that if they
retired in their doublets and tunics their lives should
be spared, otherwise the city would be taken by
storm. Asked, if she had consulted with her coun-
sel, that is with her voices, whether the truce
should be granted or not, she answered, that she did
not remember.

H3U The Public Examination. 275

It will be remarked, as the slow examination goes
on clay after clay, that Jeanne, becoming at moments
impatient, Sometimes gives a rough answer, and at
other times plays a little with her questioner as if in
contempt. " By the Blessed Mary, I know not!*'
vidently an outburst <>f impatience at the ex-
hausting, exasperating folly of some of these ques-
tions, and this will be further visible in future sittings.
It seems very likely that the reference to Poitiers,
which was an excellent suggestion, commending
itself to her invariable good sense, came from the
kind priest who tried to serve her as he best could ;
but there are other answers a little incoherent, which
look as if Frere Isambard, if it were he, had confused
her in her own response without conveying anything
better to her mind, especially on the occasions when
she refuses to reply, and then does so, abandoning
her ground at once. Her patience and steadiness
are quite extraordinary however even in the less self-
collected moments. Thus end the proceedings of
the fourth day.

The fifth day began with the usual dispute about
the oath, Jeanne still retaining her reservation with
the greatest firmness. She seems, however, at the
end, to have repeated her oath to answer everything
that had to do with the trial " And as much as I
1 will say as if I were before the Pope of Rome."
These words must have given the Magister Beaupere
an admirable occasion for introducing one of the
things charged against her for which there was ac-
tual proof her letter to the Comte d'Armagnac in

276 Jeanne d'Arc. [1431

respect to the Pope. He seized upon it evidently
with eagerness, and asked her which she held to be
the true Pope. To this she answered quietly, " Are
there two?" the most confusing reply.*

She was asked if she had received letters from the
Comte d'Armagnac, asking to know which of the
three existing Popes he ought to obey ; she answered
that she had his letter, and had replied to it, saying
among other things that when she was in Paris and
at rest she would answer him ; and added that she
was on the point of mounting her horse when she
gave that reply. The copy of the letter and the
reply being read to her she was asked if that was
what she had said ; to which she replied that she had
answered his letter in part, not in full. Asked, if she
knew the counsels of the King of Kings so as to be
able to say which the count should obey, she answered,
that she knew nothing. Asked, if she was in doubt
as to which the count ought to obey, she replied that
she knew not which to bid him obey ; but that she,
the said Jeanne, held and believed that we ought to
obey our Pope who was in Rome ; that as for what
he asked, that she should tell him which God desired

* Quicherat gives a note on this subject to point out that there
really was but one Pope at this moment, the question having been
settled by the abdication of Clement VIII., Benedict XIV. being a
mere impostor. We cannot believe, however, that this historical
cutting of the knot could be known to Jeanne. She probably felt only,
with her fine instinct, that there could be but one Pope, and that to be
deceived on such a matter ought to have been a thing impossible to
all those priests and learned men ; as a matter of fact the three
claimants, on account of whom the Comte d'Armagnac had appealed
to her, were no longer existing at the time he wrote.

1431 ] The Public Examination. 277

him to obey, she had said she knew nothing; but
she sent much to him which was not put in writing.
And as for herself she believed in the Lord Pope of
Rome. Asked, whether in respect to the three pon-
tiffs she had received counsel, she answered, that she
had neither written nor made to be written anything
about the three pontiffs. And this she swore on her
oath. Asked, if she were in the habit of putting on
her letters the name Jhesns Maria with a cross,
answered, that she did so sometimes but not always,
and that sometimes she put a cross to shew that
these letters were not to be taken seriously (as likely
to fall into the enemy's hands).

Some questions were then put to her about her
letters to the Duke of Bedford and to the English
King, and copies were read to her to which she ob-
jected on some small points, but mistakenly it would
seem, as that she had summoned them to surrender
to the King, while the scribe had put " surrender to
the Maid." She said, however, that they were her
letters, and that she held by them. She added that
before seven years the English would lose more than
they had lost at Orleans,* and that their cause would
be lost in France ; she said also that the said English
should have greater disasters than they had yet had in
France, and that God would give greater victories
to France. Asked, how she knew this, she replied :
" I know it by the revelations made to me, and that
it will happen in seven years, and I might well be
angry that it is deferred so long." Asked, when this

* She meant Paris, which was lost by the English, according to her
prophecy within the time named.

278 Jeanne d' Arc. [t43t

would happen, she said that she knew neither the day
nor the hour.

She was tormented a little further as to the dates,
whether this would happen before the St. Jean,
or before the St. Martin in winter, but made no
answer except that before the St. Martin in winter
they should see many things, and it might be that
the English should. fail; as a matter of fact Paris
opened its gates to Charles VII. within the seven
years specified, so that Jeanne's prophecy may be
held to have been fulfilled.

We then come once more to a long and profitless
interrogatory upon her saints, in which the crowd of
judges forgot their dignity and overwhelmed her
with a flood of often very foolish, and sometimes
worse than foolish questions.

Asked, how she knew the future, she answered
that she knew it by St. Catherine and St. Margaret ;
asked, if St. Gabriel was with St. Michael when he
came to her, she answered, that she could not remem-
ber. Asked, if she saw them always in the same
dress, answered yes, and that they were crowned very
richly. Of their other garments she could not speak ;
she knew nothing of their tunics. Asked, how she
knew whether they were men or women, answered,
that she knew well by their voices which revealed
them to her ; and that she knew nothing save by
revelation and the precepts of God. Asked, what
appearances she saw, she answered, that she saw faces.
Asked, if these saints had hair, she answered, " It is
good to know." Asked, if there was anything be-
tween their crowns and their hair, answered, no.

1431 1 The Public Examination. 279

A^ked, if their hair was long and hanging down,
answered, " I know nothing about it." She also said
that their voice> were beautiful sweet, and humble,
and that she understood them well. Asked, how,
they could speak when they had no bodies, she
answered, " I refer it to God." She repeated that
the voices were beautiful, humble, and sweet, and
that they could speak French. Asked, if St. Mar-
garet did not speak English, answered : " How could
she speak English when she was not on the English
side?"

This would seem to infer that the St. Margaret re-
ferred to was not the legendary St. Margaret of the
dragon, but St. Margaret of Scotland, well known
in France from the long connection between those
two countries, and a popular mediaeval saint. She
would naturally have spoken English, being a Saxon,
but also quite naturally would have been against the
English, as a Scottish queen; but of these refine-
ments it is very unlikely that Jeanne knew any-
thing, and her prompt and somewhat sharp reply
evidently cut the inquiry short. The next question
was, did they wear gold rings in their ears or else-
where, these crowned saints ; to which she answered
a little contemptuously, *' I know nothing about it."
She was then asked if she herself had rings : on
which 4< turning to us the aforesaid Bishop, she said,
'You have one of mine; give it back to me.' She
then said that the Burgundians had her other ring,
and asked of us if we had the ring, to shew it to
her. Asked, who gave her this ring, answered, her
father or her mother, and that the name Jhesus

280 Jeanne d 'Arc. [1431

Maria was written upon it, but that she knew not
who put it there, nor even whether there was a stone
in the ring ; it was given to her in the village of Dom-
remy. She added that her brother gave her another
ring which we had, and said that she desired that it
might be given to the Church."

A sudden change was now made in the cross-
examination according to the methods of that opera-
tion, throwing her back without warning upon the
village superstitions of Domremy, the magic tree
and fountain. Many of the questions which follow
are so trivial and are so evidently instinct with evil
meaning, that it seems a wrong to Beaupere to im-
pute the whole of the interrogatory to him ; other
questions were evidently interposed by the excited
assembly.

Asked, if St. Catherine and St. Margaret talked
with her under the tree of which mention had been
made above, she answered, " I know nothing about
it." Asked, if the saints were seen at the fountain
near the tree, answered yes, that she had heard them
there ; but what they said she did not remember.
Asked, what her saints promised to her, there or
elsewhere, she answered, that nothing was prom-
ised except by permission from God. Asked, what
promises were made to her, she answered, "This
has nothing at all to do with your trial," but
added, that among other things they said to her
that her King should be restored to his kingdom,
and that his adversaries should be destroyed. She
said also that they promised to take her, the said
Jeanne, to Paradise, as she had asked them to do.

14311 The Public Examination. 281

Asked, if she had any other promises, she said
there was one promise that had nothing to do with
the trial, but that in three months she would tell
them what that other promise was. Asked, if the
voices told her she would be set free from her
prison in three months, she answered: "This does
not concern your trial ; nor do I know when I shall
be set free." And she added that those who wished
to send her out of this world might well go before
her. Asked, if her council did not tell her when she
should be set free from her present prison, answered :
"Ask me this in three months' time; I can promise
you as much as that " but added : " You may ask
those present, on their oaths, if this has anything to
do with the trial."

Startled by this suggestion, the judges seem to have
held a hurried consultation among themselves to see
whether these matters did really touch the trial; the
result apparently decided them to return again to
the question of the local superstitions of Domremy,
the only point on which there seemed a chance of
breaking down the extraordinarily just and stead-
fast intelligence of the girl who stood before them.
After this pause she resumed, apparently not in an-
swer to any question.

" I have well told you that there were things you
should not know, and some time I must needs be
set free. But I must have permission if I speak;
therefore I will ask to have delay in this." Asked, if
her voices forbade her to speak the truth, she said :
" Do you expect me to tell you things that concern
the King of France? There is a great deal here

282 Jeanne d* Arc. [H3t

that has nothing to do with the trial." She said
also that she knew that her King should enjoy the
kingdom of France, as well as she knew that they
were there before her in judgment. She added that
she would have been dead but for the revelations
which comforted her daily. She was then asked
what she had done with her mandragora (mandrake)?
she answered, that she had no mandragora, nor
had ever had. She had heard say that near her vil-
lage there was one, but had never seen it. She had
heard say that it was a dangerous thing, and that it
was wicked to keep it ; but knew nothing of its use.
Asked, in what place this mandrake was, and what
she had heard of it? she said that she had heard
that it grew under the tree of which mention has
been made, but did not know the place ; she said
also that she had heard that above this mandragora
was a hazel tree. Asked, what she heard was done
with the mandragora, answered, that she had heard
that it brought money, but did not believe it ; and
added that her voices had never told her anything
about it.

Asked, what was the appearance of St. Michael
when she saw him first, she answered, that she saw no
crown, and knew nothing of his dress. Asked, if he
was naked, she answered, " Do you think God has
nothing to clothe him with ? " Asked, if he had hair,
she answered, " Why should it have been cut ? " She
said further that she had not seen the blessed
Michael since she left the castle of Crotoy, nor did
she see him often. At last she said that she knew
not whether he had hair or not. Asked, whether

1431] The Public Examination. 283

he carried scales, she answered, " I know nothing of
it," but added that she had much joy in seeing him,
and she knew when she saw him that she was not in
a state of sin. She also said that St. Catherine and
St. Margaret often made her confess to them, and
said that if she had been in a state of sin it was with-
out knowing it. She was then asked whether, when
she confessed, she believed herself to be in a state of
mortal sin ; she answered, that she knew not whether
she had been in that state, but did not believe she
had done the works of sin. " It would not have
pleased God," she said, " that I should have been s< > ;
nor would it have pleased Him that 1 should have
done the works of sin by which my soul should have
been burdened."

She was then asked what sign she gave to the
King that she came to him from God ; she answered :
" I have told you always that nothing should draw
this from me."- Ask me no more." Asked, if she had
not sworn to reveal what was asked of her touching
the trial, answered, k< I have told you that I will tell
you nothing that was for our King ; and of this which
belongs to him I will not speak." Asked, if she
knew the sign which she gave to the King, she an-
swered : li You shall know nothing from me." When
it was said to her that this did concern the trial, she
answered, " Of that which I have promised to keep

* It should here be noted that Jeanne's sign to the King being. n>
lie afterwards declared, the answer to his most private devotions and
the final setting at rest of a doubt which might have injured him
much had it been known that he entertained it it would have been
dishonourable on her part and a great wrong to him had she revealed it.

284 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

secret I shall tell you nothing"; and further she
said, " I promised in that place and I could not tell
you without perjuring myself." Asked, to whom
she promised ? answered, that she had promised to
Saints Catherine and Margaret, and this was shown
to the King. She also said she had promised it to
these two saints, because they had required it of
her. And the same Jeanne had done this at their re-
quest. " Too many people would have asked me
concerning it, if I had not promised to the aforesaid
saints." She was then asked, when she showed this
sign to the King if there were others with him ; she
answered, that to her there was no one near him, even
though many people might have been present. (As
a matter of fact the sign was given to Charles when
he talked with the Maid apart in a recess, the great
hall being full of the Court and followers ; so that
this was strictly true.) Asked further, if she saw a
crown over the head of her King when she showed
him this sign, but replied : " I cannot answer you
without perjury." Asked further if her King had
a crown when he was at Rheims, answered, that in
her opinion her King had a crown which he found at
Rheims, but a very fine one was afterwards brought
for him. He did this to hasten matters, at the de-
sire of the city of Rheims ; but if he had been more
certain, he could have had a crown a thousand times
richer. (All this is very obscure.)

Asked, if she had seen this crown, she answered :
" I could not tell you without perjury, but I heard
that it was a very rich one." It was then deter-
mined to conclude for this day.

1431] The Public Examination. 285

On the sixth day there were again the same ques-
tions about the oath, ending in the usual way. And
the cross-examination was at once continued.

She was asked if she would say whether St.
Michael had wings, and what bodies and members
had St. Catherine and St. Margaret ; and she an-
swered, " I have told you what I know, and will
make no other reply " ; she said, moreover, that
when she saw St. Michael and St. Catherine and St.
Margaret, she knew at once that they were saints of
Paradise. Asked, if she saw anything more than their
faces, she answered : " I have told you all I know of
them : and I would rather have had my head taken
off than tell you all I know." She then said that in
whatever concerned the trial she would speak freely.
Asked, if she believed that St. Michael and St. Ga-
briel had natural heads, she answered : " I saw them
with my eyes and I believe that they are, as firmly
as I believe that God is." Asked, if she believed
that God made them in the form in which she saw
them, she answered, " Yes." Asked, if she believed
that God had created them in the same form from
the beginning, answered : " You shall have no
more for the present, except what I have already
said."

This subject was then dropped, and the examiner
made another leap forward to a different part of her
life. 4< Did you know by revelation that you should
break prison ? " he said. To this Jeanne answered
indignantly : " This has nothing to do with your
trial. Would you have me speak against myself?"

Again questioned what her " voices " had said to

286 Jeanne d' Arc. [H31

her in respect to her attempts at escape, she again
answered : " This has nothing to do with the trial ;
I go back to the trial. If all your questions were
about that, I should tell you all." She said besides,
on her faith, that she knew neither the day nor the
hour when she should escape. She was then asked
what the voices said to her generally, and an-
swered : " In truth, they tell me I shall be freed, but
neither the day nor the hour ; and that I ought to
speak boldly, and with a glad countenance." She was
then asked whether, when first she saw her King, he
asked her whether it \vas by revelation that she had
assumed the dress of a man ? she replied : " I have an-
swered this. I cannot recollect whether he asked me.
But it is written in the book at Poitiers." Asked,
whether the doctors who examined her there, some for
a month, some for three weeks, had asked her about
her change of dress ; she answered : " I don't re-
member ; but I know they asked me when I assumed
the dress of a man, and I told them it was in the
town of Vaucouleurs. Asked, whether these doctors
had inquired whether it was her voices which had
made her take that dress, answered, " I don't re-
member." Asked if her Queen wished her to change
her dress when she first saw her, answered, " I don't
remember." Asked if her King, Queen, and all of
her party did not ask her to lay aside the dress of a
man, she answered, " This has nothing to do with the
trial." Asked, if the same was not requested of her
in the castle of Beaurevoir, she answered : " It is
true. And I replied that I could not lay it aside
without the permission of God." She said further,

14311 The Public Examination. 287

that the demoiselle of Luxembourg (aunt of Jeanne's
captor, and a very old woman) and the lady of
Beaurevoir offered her a woman's dress, or stuff to
make one, and begged her to wear it ; but she re-
plied that she had not yet the permission of our
Lord, and that it was not yet time. Asked, if M.
Jean de Pre^y and others at Arras had offered her
a woman's dress, she answered, " He and others have
often asked it of me." Asked, if she thought she
would have done wrong in putting on a woman's
dress, she answered, that it was better to obey her
sovereign Lord, that is, God ; she said also that if
she had done it, she would rather have done it at
the request of these two ladies than of any other in
France, except her Queen. Asked, if, when God re-
vealed to her that she should change her dress, it
was by the voice of St. Michael, St. Catherine, or
St. Margaret, she answered, " You shall hear no more
about it." Asked, when the King first employed
her, and her standard was made, whether the men-
at-arms and others who took part in the war did not
have flags imitated from hers? she answered, " It
is well to know that the lords retained their own
arms " ; she also added that her brothers-in-arms
made such pennons as pleased them. Asked, how
these were made, if they were of linen or cloth,
answered, that they were of white satin, some of
them with lilies ; that she had but two or three
lances in her own company but that in the rest of
the army some carried pennons like hers, but only
to distinguish them from others. Asked, if the ban-
ners were often renewed, answered : " I know not ;

288 Jeanne d'Arc. 11431

when the staff was broken it was renewed." Asked, if
she had not said that the pennons copied from hers
were fortunate, answered, that she had said, " Go
in boldly among the English " ; and that she had
done the same herself. Asked, if she said that
they should have good luck if they bore the ban-
ners well, answered, that she had told them what
would happen, and what should still happen. Asked,
if she had caused holy water to be sprinkled on the
pennons when they were new, she answered, "That
has nothing to do with the trial " ; but added that if
she did so sprinkle them she was not instructed to
answer that question now. Asked, if the others put
Jhesus Maria upon their pennons, she answered :
" By my faith, I know nothing about it." Asked, if
she had ever carried or caused to be carried in a pro-
cession round a church or altar the linen of which
the pennons were made, answered no, that she had
never seen anything of the kind done.

Asked, when she was before Jargeau, what it was
that she wore behind her helmet, and if she had not
something round it, she answered : " By my faith,
there was nothing/* Asked, if she knew a certain
Brother Richard, she answered : " I never saw him till
I was before Troyes." Asked, what cheer Brother
Richard made to her, answered, that she thought
the people of Troyes had sent him to her, doubting
whether she had come on the part of God, and that
as he approached her he made the sign of the cross,
and sprinkled holy water ; she said to him : " Come
on boldly ; I shall not fly away." Asked, if she had
seen, or had caused to be made, any images or pic-

1431] TJie Public Examination. 289

tures of herself, she answered, that at Arras she had
seen a picture in the hands of a Scot, where she was
represented fully armed, kneeling on one knee, and
presenting a letter to the King ; but that she had
never caused any image or picture of herself to be
made. Asked concerning a table in the house of
her host, upon which were painted three women,
with Justice, Peace, Union inscribed beneath, an-
swered, that she knew nothing of it. Asked, if she
knew that those of her party caused masses and
prayers to be made in her honour, she answered, that
she knew not ; and if they did so, it was not by any
command of hers ; but that if they did so, her
opinion was that they did no wrong. Asked, if
those of her party firmly believed that she was sent
from God, she answered : " I know not whether they
believed it; but even if they did not believe it, I
am none the less sent on the part of God." Asked,
whether she thought that to believe that she was sent
from God was a worthy faith, she answered, that if
they believed that she was sent from God they were
not mistaken. Asked, if she knew what her party
meant by kissing her feet and hands and her garments,
answered, that many people did it, but that her hands
were kissed as little as she could help it. The poor
people, however, came to her of their own free will,
because she never oppressed them, but protected
them as far as was in her power. Asked, what
reverence the people of Troyes made to her, she an-
swered, " None at all," and added that she believed
Brother Richard came into Troyes with her army,
but that she had not seen him coming in. Asked,

290 Jeanne d* Arc* [1431

if he had not preached at the gates when she came,
answered, that she scarcely paused there at all, and
knew nothing of any sermon. Asked, how long she
was at Rheims, and answered, four or five days.
Asked, whether she baptised (stood godmother to)
children there, she answered : To one at Troyes, but
did not remember any at Rheims or at Chateau-
Thierry ; but there were two at St. Denis ; and will-
ingly she called the boys " Charles," in honour of her
King, and the girls " Jeanne," according to what their
mothers wished. Asked, if the good women of the
town did not touch with their rings the rings she
wore, she answered, that many women touched her
hands and her rings ; but she did not know why
they did it. Asked, what she did with the gloves
in which her King was consecrated, she answered
that " Gloves were distributed to the knights and
nobles that came there " ; and there was one who
lost his ; but she did not say that she would find it
for him. Also she said that her standard was in the
church at Rheims, and she believed near the altar,
and she herself had .carried it for a short time, but
did not know whether Brother Richard had held it.

She was then asked if she communicated and went
to confession often while moving about the country,
and if she received the sacrament in her male cos-
tume ; to which she answered "yes, but without her
arms" ; she was then questioned about a horse be-
longing to the Bishop of Senlis, which had not suited
her, a matter completely without importance. The
inference intended was that it was taken from him
without being paid for ; but there was no evidence

1431] The Publtc Examination. 291

that the Maid knew anything about it. We then
come to the incident of Lagny.

She was asked how old the child was which she
saw at Lagny, and answered, three days ; it had
been brought to Lagny to the Church of Notre
Dame, and she was told that all the maids in Lagny
were before our Lady praying for 'it, and she also
wished to go and pray God and our Lady that its
life might come back ; and she went, and prayed
with the rest. And finally life appeared ; it yawned
three times, and was baptised and buried in conse-
crated ground. It had given no sign of life for
three days and was black as her coat, but when it
yawned its colour began to come back. She was
there with the other maids on her knees before our
Lady to make her prayer.

The reader must understand that this was no
special appeal to Jeanne's miraculous power, but
a custom of that intense and tender charity with
which the Church of Rome corrects her dogmatism
upon questions of salvation. A child unbaptised
could not be buried in consecrated ground, and was
subject to all the sorrows of the unredeemed ; but
who could doubt that the priest would be easily
persuaded by some wavering of the tapers on the
altar upon the little dead face, some flicker of his
own compassionate eyelids, that sufficient life had
come back to permit the holy rite to be adminis-
tered ? The whole little scene is affecting in the
extreme, the young creatures all kneeling, fervently
appealing to the Maiden-mother, the priest ready to
take instant advantage of any possible flicker, the

292 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

Maid of France, no conspicuous figure, but weeping
and praying among the rest. There was no thought
here of the raising of the dead the prayer was for
breath enough only to allow of the holy observance,
the blessed water, the last possibility of human love
and effort.

Jeanne was then questioned concerning Catherine
of La Rochelle, the supposed prophetess, who had
been played against her by La Tremouille and his
followers, and narrated how she had watched two
nights to see the mysterious lady clothed in cloth of
gold who was said to appear to Catherine, but had
not seen her, and that she had advised the woman
to return to her husband and children. Catherine's
mission was to go through the "good towns" with
heralds and trumpets to call upon those who had
money or treasure of any kind to give it to the
King, and she professed to have a supernatural
knowledge where such money was hidden. [No
doubt La Tremouille must have thought that to get
money, which was so scarce, in such a simple way,
was worth trying at least. But Jeanne's opinion
was that it was folly, and that there was nothing in
it ; an opinion fully verified. Catherine's advice
had been that Jeanne should go to the Duke of
Burgundy to make peace ; but Jeanne had answered
that no peace could be made save at the end of the
lance.]

She was then asked about the siege of La Charite* ;
she answered, that she had made an assault : but had
not sprinkled holy water, or caused it to be sprinkled.
Asked, why she did not enter the city as she had

14311 The Public Examination. 293

the command of God to do so, she replied : "Who
told you that I was commanded to enter?" Asked,
if she had not had the advice of her voices, she
answered, that she had desired to go into France
(meaning towards Paris), but the generals had told
her that it was better to go first to La Charite". She
was then asked if she had been long in the tower of
Beaurevoir; answered, that she was there about four
months, and that when she heard the English come
she was angry and much troubled. Her voices
forbade her several times to attempt to escape; but
at last, in the doubt she had of the English she
threw herself down, commending herself to God and
to our Lady, and was much hurt. But after she
had done this the voice of St. Catherine said to her
not to be afraid, that she should be healed, and that
Compi&gne would be relieved.

Also she said that she prayed always for the
relief of Compiegne with her council. Asked, what
she said after she had thrown herself down, she an-
swered, that some said that she was dead ; and as
soon as the Burgundians saw that she was not dead,
they told her that she had thrown herself down.
Asked, if she had said that she would rather die
than fall into the hands of the English, she answered,
that she would much rather have rendered her soul
to God than have fallen into the hands of the Eng-
lish. Asked, if she was not in a great rage, and if
she did not blaspheme the name of God, she an-
swered, that she never said evil of any saint, and
that it was not her custom to swear. Asked re-
specting Soissons, when the captain had surrendered

294 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

the town, whether she had not cursed God, and said
that if she had gotten hold of the captain, she would
have cut him into four pieces ; she answered, that
she never swore by any saint, and that those who
said so had not understood her.

At this point the public trial of Jeanne came to a
sudden end. Either the feeling produced in the
town, and even among the judges, by her unde-
viating, simple, and dignified testimony had begun
to be more than her persecutors had calculated
upon ; or else they hoped to make shorter work
with her when deprived of the free air of publicity,
the sight no doubt of some sympathetic faces, and
the consciousness of being still able to vindicate
her cause and to maintain her faith before men.
Two or three fierce Inquisitors within her cell, and
the Bishop, that man without heart or pity, at their
head, might still tear admissions from her weari-
ness, which a certain sympathetic atmosphere in a
large auditory, swept by waves of natural feeling,
would strengthen her to keep back. The Bishop
made a proclamation that in order not to vex and
tire his learned associates he would have the minutes
of the previous sittings reduced into form, and sub-
mitted to them for judgment, while he himself
carried on apart what further interrogatory was nec-
essary. We are told that he was warned by a
counsellor of the town that secret examinations
without witnesses or advocate on the prisoner's side,
were illegal ; but Monseigneur de Beauvais was well
aware that anything would be legal which effected

14311 The Public Examination. 295

his purpose, and that once Jeanne was disposed of,
the legality or illegality of the proceedings would be
of small importance. I have thought it right to give
to the best of my power a literal translation of these
examinations, notwithstanding their great length;
as, except in one book, now out of print and very
difficult to procure, no such detailed translation,* so
far as I am aware, exists ; and it seems to me that,
even at the risk of fatiguing the reader (always cap-
able of skipping at his pleasure), it is better to unfold
the complete scene with all its tedium and badger-
ing, which brings out by every touch the extra-
ordinary self-command, valour, and sense of this
wonderful Maid, the youngest, perhaps, and most
ignorant of the assembly, yet meeting all with a
modest and unabashed countenance, true, pure, and
natural, a far greater miracle in her simplicity and
noble steadfastness than even in the wonders she
had done.

* The translation of M. Kabrc i^ now, I believe, reprinted, but it
is not satisfactory.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE EXAMINATION IN PRISON.
LENT 1431.

jT must not be forgotten, in the history
of this strange trial, that the prisoner
was brought from the other side of
France expressly that she might be
among a people who were not of her
own party, and who had no natural
sympathies with her, but a hereditary
connection with England, which engaged all its par-
tialities on that side. For this purpose it was that the
venue, as we should say, was changed. On the other
hand, the town expected the coming of the Witch,
and all the dark revelations that might be extracted
from her, her spells, and the details of that contract
with the devil which was so entrancing to the popular
imagination, with excitement and eagerness. Such
a Cause Ce'lebre had never taken place among them
before ; and everybody no doubt looked forward to
the pleasure of seeing it proved that it was not by
the will of Heaven, but by some monstrous com-
bination of black arts, that such an extraordinary

206

1431] The Examination in Prison. 297

result as the defeat of the invincible English soldiers
had been brought about. The litigious and logical
Normans no doubt looked forward to it as to the
most interesting entertainment, ending in the com-
plete vindication of their own side and the exposure
of the nefarious arms used by their adversaries.

But when the proceedings had been opened, and

in place of some dark-browed and termagant sor-

58, with the mark of every evil passion in her

face-, there appeared before the spectators crowding

into every available corner, the slim, youthful figure

was it boy or girl ? the serene and luminous coun-
tenance of the Maid, the flower of youth raising its
whiteness and innocence in the midst of all those
black-robed, subtle Doctors, it is impossible but that
the very first glance must have given a shock and
thrill of amazement and doubt to what may be
called the lay spectators, those who had no especial
bias more than common report, and whose credit or
interest were not involved in bringing this unlikely
criminal to condemnation. " A girl ! like our own
Jeanne at home," might many a father have said,
dismayed and confounded. She had, they all say,
those eyes of innocence which it is so impossible not
to believe, and that virginal voice, asscz femaie,
which a sentimental Frenchman insists upon as be-
longing only to the spotless. At all events she had
the bearing of honesty, purity, and truth. She was
not afraid though all the powers of hell or was it
only of the Church and the Law ? were arrayed
against her: no guilty mystery to be discovered, was
in her countenance. But it must have been plain to

298 Jeanne d' Arc.

the keen and not too charitable Normans that such
semblances are not always to be trusted, and that
the devil himself even, on occasion, can take upon
himself the appearance of an angel of light ; so that
after the first shock of wonder they no doubt settled
themselves to listen, believing that soon they would
have their imaginations fed with tales of horror, and
would discover the hoofs and the horns and unveil
with triumph the lurking demon. The French his-
torians never take into consideration the fact that it
was the belief of Rouen and Normandy, as well as
of any similar town or province in England, that the
child Henry VI. was lawful king, and that whatever
was on the other side was a hateful adversary, to be
brought to such disaster and shame as was possible,
without mercy and without delay.

But after a few days of the examination which we
have just reported, public opinion was greatly stag-
gered, and knew not how to turn. Gradually the
conviction must have been forced upon every mind
which had any candour left, that Jeanne, at that
dreadful bar, with the stake in sight, and all the learn-
ing of Paris the entire power of one great nation and
half of another, all England and half France against
her (many more than half France, for the other
part had abandoned her cause), showed nothing of
the demon, but all if not of the angel, yet of the
Maid, the emblem of perfection to that rude world,
though often so barbarously handled. It might al-
most be said of the age, notwithstanding its im-
morality and rampant viciousness, that in its eyes a
true virgin could do no harm. And here was one if

HENRY VI.
From a painting by Heath,

1431] The Examination in Prison. 299

ever such a thing existed on earth. The talk in the
Streets began to take a very different tone. Massieu
the clerical sheriff's officer saw nothing in her answers
that was not good and right. Out of the midst of
the crowd of listeners would burst an occasional cry
of " Well said!" An Englishman, even a knight,
overcome by his feelings, cried out : " Why was not
she English, this brave girl ! " All these were ominous
sounds. Still more ominous was the utterance of
Maitre Jean Lohier, a lawyer of Rouen, who declared
loudly that the trial was not a legal trial for the
reasons which follow :

" In the first place because it was not in the form
of an ordinar\' trial ; secondly, because it was not
held in a public court, and those present had not full
and complete freedom to say what was their full and
unbiassed opinion ; thirdly, because there was ques-
tion of the honour of the King of France of whose
party Jeanne was, without calling him, or any one
for him ; fourthly, because neither libel nor articles
were produced, and this woman who was only an
un instructed girl, had no advocate to answer for her
before so many Masters and Doctors, on such grave
matters, and especially those which touched upon
the revelations of which she spoke ; therefore it
seemed to him that the trial was worth nothing.
For these things Monscigneur de Beauvais was very
indignant against the said Maitre Lohier, saying:
' Here is Lohier who is going to make a fine fuss
about our tried; he calumniates us all, and tells the
world it is of no good. If one were to go by him,
one would have to begin everything over again, and

300 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

all that has been done would be of no use.' Mon-
seigneur de Beauvais said besides : * It is easy to see
on which foot he halts \de quel pied il cloche]. By St.
John, we shall do nothing of the kind ; we shall go
on with our trial as we have begun it.' "

A day or two later Manchon, the Clerk of the
Court (he who refused to take down Jeanne's con-
versation with her Judas), met this same lawyer
Lohier at church, and asked him, as no doubt every
man asked every other whom he met, how did he
think the trial was going ? to which Lohier answered :
" You see the manner in which they proceed ; they
will take her, if they can, in her words that is to say,
the assertions in which she says / know for certain,
things that concern her apparitions. If she would say,
* It seems to me ' instead of ' 1 'know for certain,' I do
not see how any man could condemn her. It appears
that they proceed against her rather from hate than
from any other cause, and for this reason I shall not
remain here. I will have nothing to do with it."
This I think shows very clearly that Lohier, like the
bulk of the population, by no means thought at first
that it was " from hate " that the trial proceeded,
but honestly believed that he had been called to try
Jeanne as a professor of the black arts; and that he
had discovered from her own testimony that she was
not so, and that the motive of the trial was entirely
a different one from that of justice ; one in fact with
which an honest man could have nothing to do.

It is very significant also that the number of judges
present in court on the sixth day, the last of the
public examination, was only thirty-eight, as against

1431] The Examination in Prison. 301

the sixty-two of the second day, which seems to
prove that a general disgust and alarm was growing
in the minds of those most closely concerned. War-
wick and the soldiers, impatient of all such business,
striding in noisily from time to time to give a care-
less glance at the proceedings, might not stay long
i -Hough to share the impression or might, who can
say ? Their business was to get this pestilent woman,
even if by chance she might be an innocent fanatic,
cleared off the face of the earth and out of their
way.

After the sixth day, however, it would seem that
the Bishop and his tools had taken fright at the pro-
gress of public opinion. Before dismissing the court
on that occasion, Cauchon made an address to the
disturbed and anxious judges, informing them that
he would not tire them out with prolonged sittings,
but that a few specially chosen assistants would now
examine into what further details were necessary.
In the meantime all would be put in writing ; so
that they might think it over and deliberate within
themselves, so as to be able each to make a report
cither to himself, the Bishop, or to some one de-
puted by him. The assessors, thus thrown out of
work, were however forbidden to leave Rouen with-
out the Bishop's permission probably because of
the threat of Lohier. Repeated meetings were held
in Cauchon's house to arrange the details of the
proceedings to follow ; and during this time it was
perhaps hoped that any excitement outside would
quiet down. The Bishop himself had in the mean-
time other work in hand. He had to receive cer-

302 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

tain important visitors, one of them the man who
held the appointment of Chancellor of France on
the English side, and who was well acquainted
with the mind of his masters. We have no in-
formation whatever whether Cauchon ever himself
wavered, or allowed the possibility of acquitting
Jeanne to enter his mind ; but he must have seen
that it was of the last necessity to know what would
satisfy the English chiefs. No doubt he was con-
firmed and strengthened in the conviction that by
hook or by crook her condemnation must be ac-
complished, by the conversation of these illustrious
visitors. To save Jeanne was impossible he must
have been told. No English soldier would strike a
blow while she lived. England itself, the whole
country, trembled at her name. Till she was got
rid of nothing could be done.

There was of course great exaggeration in all this,
for the English had fought desperately enough in
her presence except on the one occasion of Patay,
notwithstanding all the early prestige of Jeanne.
But at all events it was made perfectly clear that
the foregoing conclusion must be carried out, and
that Jeanne must die : and, not only so, but she must
die with opprobrium and disgrace as a witch, which
almost everybody out of Rouen now believed her to
be. The public examination which lasted six days
was concluded on the third of March, 1430. On the
following days, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth, and ninth of March, meetings were held, as
we have said, in the Bishop's house to consider what
it would be well to do next, at one of which a select

H3U The Examination in Prison. 303

;>any of Inquisitors was chosen to carry on the
examination in private. These were Jean de la Fon-
taine, a lawyer learned in canon law ; Jean Bcaupcre,
already her interrogator ; Nicolas Midi, a Doctor in
Theology ; Pierre Morice, Canon of Rouen and Am-

ador from the English King to the Council of
Rale ; Thomas de Courcelles, the learned and excel-
lent young Doctor already described ; Nicolas 1'Oyse-
leur, the traitor, also already sufficiently referred to ;
and Manchon, the honest Clerk of the court : the
names of Gerard Feuillet, also a distinguished man,
and Jean Fecardo, an advocate, are likewise also
mentioned. They seem to have served in their
turn, three or four at a time. This private session
began on the loth of March, a week after the con-
clusion of the public trial, and was held in the prison
chamber inhabited by the Maid.

\Ve shall not attempt to follow literally those pri-
vate examinations, which would take a great deal
more space than we have at our command, and
would be fatiguing to the reader from the constant
and prolonged repetitions ; we shall therefore quote
only such parts as are new or so greatly enlarged from
Jeanne's original statements as to seem so. At the
first day's examination in her prison she was ques-
tioned about Compiegne and her various proceed-
ings before reaching that place.* She was asked,
for one thing, if her voices had bidden her make

* Compiegne was a strong point. Had she proclaimed a promise

from St. Catherine, of victory ? Chastelain says so, long after date

and with errors in fact. Two Anglo-Compiegnais were at her trial.

Rehabilitation does not go into this question. (From Mr. Lang.)

304 Jeanne d'Arc. 11431

the sally in which she was taken ; to which she
answered that had she known the time she was
to be taken she would not have gone out, unless
upon the express command of the saints. She was
then asked about her standard, her arms, and her
horses, and replied that she had no coat-of-arms,
but her brothers had, who also had all her money,
from ten to twelve thousand francs, which was " no
great treasure to make \var upon,'* besides five
chargers, and about seven other horses, all from the
King. The examiners then came to their principal
object, and having lulled her mind with these trifles,
turned suddenly to a subject on which they still
hoped she might commit herself, the sign which had
proved her good faith to the King. It is scarcely
possible to avoid the feeling, grave as all the circum-
stances were, that a little malice, a glance of mis-
chievous pleasure, kindled in Jeanne's eye. She had
refused to enter into further explanations again and
again. She had warned them that she would give
them no true light on the subjects that concerned
the King. Now she would seem to have had sudden
recourse to the mystification that is dear to youth,
to have tossed her young head and said : " Have
then your own way " / and forthwith proceeded to
romance, according to the indications given her of
what was wanted, without thought of preserving
any appearance of reality. Most probably indeed,
her air and tone would make it apparent to her per-
sistent questioners how complete a fable, or at least
parable, it was.

Asked, what sign she gave to the King, she replied

THE STATUE OF JEANNE D'ARC AT COMPIEQNE.

14311 The Examination in Prison. 305

that it was a beautiful and honourable sign, very
creditable and very good, and rich above all.
Asked, if it still lasted ; answered, " It would be
good to know ; it will last a thousand years and
more if well guarded," adding that it was in the
treasure of the King. Asked, if it was of gold or
silver or of precious stones, or in the form of a
crown; answered: "I will tell you nothing more;
but no man could devise a thing so rich as this sign ;
but the sign that is necessary for you is that God
should deliver me out of your hands, and that is
what He will do." She also said that when she had
to go to the King it was said by her voices : " Go
boldly ; and when you are before the King he will
have a sign which will make him receive and believe
in you." Asked, what reverence she made when the
sign came to the King, and if it came from God ;
answered, that she had thanked God for having de-
livered her from the priests of her own party who
had argued against her, and that she had knelt down
several times ; she also said that an angel from God,
and not from another, brought the sign to the King ;
and she had thanked the Lord many times ; she
added that the priests ceased to argue against her
when they had seen that sign. Asked, if the clergy
of her party (dc par delii) saw the above sign ; an-
swered yes, that her King and those who were with
him saw it, and even the angel who brought it ; and
she asked the King if he were satisfied ; and he an-
swered yes. And afterwards she went to a little
chapel close by, and heard them say that after she
was gone more than three hundred people saw the

306 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

said sign. She said besides that for love of her, and
that they should give up questioning her, God
permitted those of her party to see the sign.
Asked, if the King and she made reverence to
the angel when he brought the sign ; answered yes,
for herself, that she knelt down and took off her
hood.

What Jeanne meant by this strange romance can
only, I think, be explained by this hypothesis. She
was " dazed and bewildered/' say some of the his-
torians, evidently not knowing how to interpret so
strange an interruption to her narrative ; but there
is no other sign of bewilderment ; her mind was
always clear and her intelligence complete. Grant-
ing that the whole story was boldly ironical, its
object is very apparent. Honour forbade her to
betray the King's secret, and she had expressly
said she would not do so. But her story seems to
say since yon ivill insist that there was a sign,
though I hare told yon I could give yon no informa-
tion, Jiave it your own way ; yon shall have a sign and
one of the very best ; it delivered me from the priests
of my own party (de par dcla). Jeanne was no milk-
sop ; she was bold enough to send a winged shaft to
the confusion of the priests of the other side who
had tormented her in the same way. One can
imagine a lurking smile at the corner of her mouth.
Let them take it since they would have it. And we
may well believe there was that in her eye, and in
the details heaped up so lightly to form the miracu-
lous tale, which left little doubt in the minds of the
questioners, of the spirit in which she spoke : though

1431] The Examination in Prison. 307

to us who only read the record the effect is of a
more bewildering kind.

Two days after, on Monday, the I2th of March,
the Inquisitors began by several additional question^
concerning the angel who brought the sign to the
King ; was it the same whom she first saw, or
another? She answered that it was the same, ami
no other was wanted. Asked, if this angel had not
deceived her since she had been taken prisoner ; an-
swered, that SHE BELIEVED SINCE IT SO PLEASL1>
Ol'k LORD THAT IT \\AS HKST THAT SIIK SHOULD
A KEN. Asked, if the angel had not failed her ;
answered, " How could he have failed me, when he
comforts me every day?" This comfort is what
she understands to come through St. Catherine and
St. Margaret. Asked, whether she called them, or
they came without being called, she answered, that
they often came without being called, and if they
did not come soon enough, she asked our Saviour to
send them. Asked, if St. Denis had ever appeared
to her ; answered, not that she knew. Asked, if
when she promised to our Lord to remain a virgin
she spoke to Him; answered, that it ought to be
enough to speak to those who were sent by Him,
that is to say, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.
Asked, what induced her to summon a man to Toul,
in respect to marriage; answered, " I did not sum-
mon him ; it was he who summoned me " ; and that
on that occasion she had sworn before the judge to
speak the truth, which was that she had not made
him any promise. She also said that the first time
she had heard the voices she made a vow of virginity

308 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

so long as it pleased God, being then about the age
of thirteen.

It was the object of the judges by these questions
to prove that, according to a fable which had ob-
tained some credit, Jeanne during her visit to La
Rousse, the village inn-keeper at Neufchateau, had
acted as servant in the house and tarnished her good
fame so that her betrothed had refused to marry
her : and that he had been brought before the
Bishop's court at Toul for his breach of promise, as
we should say. Exactly the reverse was the case, as
the reader will remember.

Jeanne was further asked, if she had spoken of
her visions to her cur or to any ecclesiastic : and
answered no, but only to Robert de Baudricourt
and to her King ; but added that she was not bidden
by her voices to conceal them, but feared to reveal
them lest the Burgundians should hear of them and
prevent her going. And especially she had much
doubt of her father, lest he should hinder her from
going. Asked, if she thought she did well to go
away without the permission of her father and
mother, when it is certain we ought to honour our
father and mother ; answered, that in every other
thing she had fully obeyed him, except in respect
to her departure ; but she had written to them, and
they had pardoned her. Asked, if when she left
her father and mother she did not think it was a sin ;
answered, that her voices were quite willing that she
should tell them, if it were not for the pain it would
have given them ; but as for herself, she would
not have told them for any consideration ; also

H3U The Examination in Prison. 309

that her voices left her to do as she pleased, to tell
or not.

Having gone so far the reverend fathers went to
dinner, and Jeanne we hope had her piece of bread
and her can rougic. In the afternoon these inde-
fatigable questioners returned, and the first few ques-
tions throw a fuller light on the troubled cottage at
Domremy, out of which this wonderful maiden came
like a being of another kind.

She was questioned as to the dreams of her father ;
and answered, that while she was still at home her
mother told her several times that her father said he
had dreamt that Jeanne his daughter had gone away
with the troopers, that her father and mother took
great care of her and held her in great subjection :
and she obeyed them in every point except that of
her affair at Toul in respect to marriage. She also
said that her mother had told her what her father
had said to her brothers: " If I could think that the
thing would happen of which I have dreamed, I wish
she might be drowned first ; and if you would not
do it, I would drown her with my own hands" ; and
that he nearly lost his senses when she went to Vau-
couleurs.

How profound is this little village tragedy ! The
suspicious, stern, and unhopeful peasant, never sure
even that the most transparent and pure may not be
capable of infamy, distracted with that horror of
personal degradation which is involved in family
disgrace, cruel in the intensity of his pride and fear
of shame! He has been revealed to us in many

3io Jeanne d* Arc. [H31

lands, always one of the most impressive of human
pictures, with no trust of love in him but an over-
whelming faith in every vicious possibility. If there
is no evidence to prove that, even at the moment
when Jeanne was supreme, when he was induced to
go to Rheims to see the coronation, Jacques d'Arc
was still dark, unresponsive, never more sure than
any of the Inquisitors that his daughter was not a
witch, or worse, a shameless creature linked to the
captains and the splendid personages about her by
very different ties from those which appeared
there is at least not a word to prove that he had
changed his mind. She does not add anything to
soften the description here given. The sudden ap-
pearance of this dark remorseless figure, looking on
from his village, who probably in all Domremy
when Domremy got to hear the news would be the
only person who would in his desperation almost
applaud that stake and devouring flame, is too
startling for words.

The end of this day's examination was remark-
able also for a sudden light upon the method she
had intended to adopt in respect to the Duke of
Orleans, then in prison in England, whom it was
one of her most cherished hopes to deliver.

Asked, how she meant to rescue the Due d' Or-
leans : she answered, that by that time she hoped
to have taken English prisoners enough to ex-
change for him : and if she had not taken enough
she should have crossed the sea, in power, to
search for him in England. Asked, if St. Catherine
and St. Margaret had told her absolutely and

14311 The Examination in Prison. 31 1

without condition that she should take enough
prisoners to exchange for the Due d'Orleans, who
was in England, or otherwise, that she should cross
the sea to fetch him and bring him back within
three years ; she answered yes : and that she had told
the King and had begged him to permit her to
make prisoners. She said further that if she had
lasted three years without hindrance, she should have
delivered him. Otherwise she said she had not
thought of so long a time as three years, although
it should have been more than one ; but she did not
at present recollect exactly.

There is a curious story existing, though we do
not remember whence it comes and there is not a
scrap of evidence for it, which suggests a rumour
that Jeanne was not the child of the d'Arc family at
all, but in fact an abandoned and illegitimate child
of the Queen, Isabel of Bavaria, and that her real
father was the murdered Due d' Orleans. This sug-
gestion might explain the ease with which she fell
into the way of Courts, a sort of air h la Princesse
which certainly was about her, and her especial
devotion to Orleans, both to the city and the duke.
A shadow of a supposed child of our own Queen
Maty has also appeared in history, quite without
warrant or likelihood. It is a little conventional
and well worn even in the way of romance, yet
there are certain fanciful suggestions in the thought.

After the above, Jeanne was again questioned and
at great length upon the sign given to the King, upon
the angel who brought it, the manner of his coming
and going, the persons who saw him, those who saw

3 1 2 Jeanne d 'A re. [1431

the crown bestowed upon the King, and so on, in
the most minute detail. That the purpose of the
sign was that " they should give up arguing and so
let her proceed on her mission/' she repeated again
and again ; but here is a curious additional note.

She was asked how the King and the people with
him were convinced that it was an angel ; and an-
swered, that the King knew it by the instruction of
the ecclesiastics who were there, and also by the sign
of the crown. Asked, how the ecclesiastics (gens d*e-
glise) knew it was an angel she answered, " By their
knowledge [science], and because they were priests."

Was this the keenest irony, or was it the wander-
ing of a weary mind ? We cannot tell ; but if the
latter, it was the only occasion on which Jeanne's
mind wandered ; and there was method and meaning
in the strange tale.

She was further questioned whether it was by the
advice of her voices that she attacked La Charite,
and afterwards Paris, her two points of failure ; the
purpose of her examiners clearly being to convince
her that those voices had deceived her. To both
questions she answered no. To Paris she went at
the request of gentlemen who wished to make a
skirmish, or assault of arms (vaillancc d'armes) ; but
she intended to go farther, and to pass the moats;
that is, to force the fighting and make the skirmish
into a serious assault ; the same was the case before
La Charite*. She was asked whether she had no
revelation concerning Pont 1'Eveque, and said
that since it was revealed to her at Melun that she
should be taken, she had had more recourse to the

H31] The Examination in Prison. 3 I 3

will of the captains than to her own ; but she did not
tell them that it was revealed to her that she should
be taken. Asked, if she thought it was well done to
attack Paris on the day of the Nativity of our Lady,
which was a festival of the Church ; she answered, that
it was always well to keep the festivals of our Lady :
and in her conscience it seemed to her that it was
and always would be a good thing to keep the feasts
of our Lady, from one end to the other.

In the afternoon the examiners returned to the
attempt at escape or suicide they seemed to have
preferred the latter explanation made at Beau-
revoir ; and as Jeanne expresses herself with more
freedom as to her personal motives in these prison
examinations and opens her heart more freely, there
is much here which we give in full.

She was asked first what was the cause of her
leap from the tower of Beaurevoir. She answered
that she had heard that all the people of Com-
piegne, down to the age of seven, were to be put
to the sword, and that she would rather die than
live after such a destruction of good people ; this
was one of the reasons ; the other was that she kne\v
that she was sold to the English and that she would
rather die than fall into the hands of the English,
her enemies. Asked, if she made that leap by the
command of her voices ; answered, that St. Cath-
erine said to her almost every day that she was not
to leap, for that God would help her, and also the
people of Compiegne : and she, Jeanne, said to St.
Catherine that since God intended to help the
people of Compiegne she would fain be there. And

314 Jeanne d'Arc. [1431

St. Catherine said : " You must take it in good part,
but you will not be delivered till you have seen the
King of the English/* And she, Jeanne, answered :
" Truly I do not wish to see him. I would rather
die than fall into the hands of the English." Asked,
if she had said to St. Catherine and St. Margaret,
" Will God leave the good people of Compigne to
die so criielly ?" answered, that she did not say " so
cruelly," but said it in this way : " Will God leave
these good people of Compi&gne to die, who have
been arid are so loyal to their lord ? " She added
that after she fell there were two or three days that
she would not eat ; and that she was so hurt by the
leap that she could not eat ; but all the time she was
comforted by St. Catherine, who told her to confess
and ask pardon of God for that act, and that with-
out doubt the people of Compiegne would have
succbur before Martinmas. And then she took pains
to recover and began to eat, and shortly was healed.
Asked, whether, when she threw herself down, she
wished to kill herself, she answered no ; but that in
throwing herself down she commended herself to
God, and hoped by means of that leap to escape
and to avoid being delivered to the English. Asked,
if, when she recovered the power of speech, she had
denied and blasphemed God and the saints, as had
been reported ; answered, that she remembered
nothing of the kind, and that, as far as she knew, she
had never denied and blasphemed God and His saints
there nor anywhere else, and did not confess that
she had done so, having no recollection of it. Asked,
if she would like to see the information taken on the

1431] The Examination in Prison. 315

spot, answered : " I refer myself to God, and not
another, and to a good confession." Asked, if her
voices ever desired delay for their replies ; answered,
that St. Catherine always answered her at once, but
sometimes she, Jeanne, could not hear because of
the tumult round her (turbation dcs pcrsonncs) and
the noise of her guards; but that when she asked
anything of St. Catherine, sometimes she, and some-
times St. Margaret asked of our Lord, and then by
the command of our Lord an answer was given to
her. Asked, if, when they came, there was always
light accompanying them, and if she did not see
that light when she heard the voice in the castle
without knowing whether it was in her chamber or
not: answered, that there was never a day that they
did not come into the castle, and that they never
came without light : and that time she heard the
voice, but did not remember whether she saw the
light, or whether she saw St. Catherine. Also she
said she had asked from her voices three things :
one, her release: the other, that God would help the
French, and keep the town faithful : and the other,
the salvation of her soul. Afterwards she asked
that she might have a copy of these questions and
her answers if she were to be taken to Paris, that she
may give them to the people in Paris, and say to
them, " This is how I was questioned in Rouen, and
here are my replies/' that she might not be ex-
hausted by so many questions.

Asked, what she meant when she said that Mon-
seigneur dc Bcauvais put himself in danger by bring-
ing her to trial, and why Monseigneur de Beauvais

316 Jeanne d* Arc* [1431

more than others, she answered, that this was and is
what she said to Monseigneur de Beauvais : "You
say that you are my judge. I know not whether
you are so ; but take care that you judge well, or
you will put yourself in great danger. I warn you,
so that if our Lord should chastise you for it, I may
have done my duty in warning you/* Asked, what
was that danger? she answered, that St. Catherine
had said that she should l^ave succour, but that she
knew not whether this meant that she would be de-
livered from prison, or that, when she was before
the tribunal, there might come trouble by which she
should be delivered ; she thought, however, it would
be the one or the other. And all the more that her
voices told her that she would be delivered by a
great victory; and afterwards they said to her:
" Take everything cheerfully, do not be disturbed
by this martyrdom : thou shalt thence come at last
to the kingdom of Heaven." And this the voices
said simply and absolutely that is to say, without
fail ; she explained that she called it martyrdom be-
cause of all the pain and adversity that she had
suffered in prison ; and she knew not whether she
might have still more to suffer, but waited upon our
Lord. She was then asked whether, since her voices
had said that she should go to Paradise, she felt
assured that she should be saved and not damned
in hell ; she answered, that she believed firmly what
her voices said about her being saved, as firmly as if
she were so already. And when it was said to her
that this answer was of great weight, she answered
that she herself held it as a great treasure.

1431] The Examination in Prison. 3 1 7

We have said that Jeanne's answers to the In-
quisitors in prison had a more familiar form than in
the public examination ; which seems to prove that
they were not unkind to her, further, at least, than
by the persistence and tediousness of their questions.
The Bishop for one thing was seldom present ; the
sittings were frequently presided over by the Deputy
Inquisitor, who had made great efforts to be free
of the business altogether, and had but very recently
been forced into it ; so that we may at least imagine,
as he was so reluctant, that he did what he could to
soften the proceedings. Jean de la Fontaine, too,
was a milder man than her former questioners, and
in so small an assembly she could not be disturbed
and interrupted by Frere Isambard's well-meant
signs and whispers. She speaks at length and with
a self-disclosure which seems to have little that was
painful in it, like one matured into a kind of age
by long weariness and trouble, who regards the
panorama of her life passing before her with almost
a pensive pleasure. And it is clear that Jeanne's
ear, still so young and keen, notwithstanding that
attitude of mind, was still intent upon sounds from
without, and that Jeanne's heart still expected a
sudden assault, a great victory for France, which
should open her prison doors or even a rising in
the very judgment hall to deliver her. How could
they keep still outside, Dunois, Alengon, La Hire,
the mighty men of valour, while they knew that
she was being racked and tortured within ? She
who could not bear to be out of the conflict to serve
her friends at Compiegne, even when succour from

3 1 8 Jeanne d'A re.

on high had been promised, how was it possible
that these gallant knights could live and let her
die, their gentle comrade, their dauntless leader?
In those long hours, amid the noise of the guards
within and the garrison around, how she must have
thought, over and over again, where were they ?
when were they coming ? how often imagined that a
louder clang of arms than usual, a rush of hasty feet,
meant that they were here !

But honour and love kept Jeanne's lips closed.
Not a word did she say that could discredit King,
or party, or friends ; not a reproach to those who
had abandoned her. Up to this time, however, hope
had not abandoned her, She still looked for the
great victory in which Monseigneur, if he did not
take care, might run the risk of being roughly han-
dled, or of a sudden tumult in his own very court
that would pitch him from his guilty seat. It was
but the fourteenth of March still, and there were six
weary weeks to come. She did not know the hour
or the day, but yet she believed that this great
deliverance was on its way.

And there was a great deliverance to come : but
not of this kind. The voices of God how can we
deny it ? are often, though in a loftier sense, like
those fantastic voices that keep the word of promise
to the ear but break it to the heart. They promised
her a great victory : and she had it, and also the
fullest deliverance : but only by the stake and the
fire, which were not less dreadful to Jeanne than to
any other girl of her age. They did not speak to
deceive her, but she was deceived ; they kept their

*43i] The Examination in Prison. 319

promise, but not as she understood it. " These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of
them, and embraced them." Jeanne too was per-
suaded of them, but was not to receive them except
in the other way.

On the afternoon of the same day (it was still
Lent, and Jeanne fasted, whatever our priests may
have done), she was again closely questioned on the
subject, this time, of Franquet d'Arras, who, as has
been above narrated, was taken by her in the course
of some indiscriminate fighting in the north. She
was asked if it was not mortal sin to take a man as
prisoner of war and then give him up to be executed.
There was evidently no perception of similarities in
the minds of the judges, for this was precisely what
had been done in the case of Jeanne herself; but
even she does not seem to have been struck by the
fact. Their object, apparently, was by proving that
she was in a state of sin, to prove also that her
voices were of no authority, as being unable to dis-
cover so simple a principle as this.

When they spoke to her of " one named Franquet
d'Arras, who was executed at Lagny," she answered
that she consented to his death, as he deserved it,
for he had confessed to being a murderer, a thief,
and a traitor. She said that his trial lasted fifteen
days, the Bailli de Senlis and the law officers of
Lagny being the judges ; and she added that she
had wished to have Franquet, to exchange him for a
man of Paris, Seigneur de Lours (corrected, inn-
keeper at the sign of 1'Ours) ; but when she heard

320 Jeanne d'Arc.

that this man was dead, and when the Bailli told
her that she would go very much against justice if
she set Franquet free, she said to the Bailli : " Since
my man is dead whom I wished to deliver, do with
this one whatever justice demands/' Asked, if she
took the money or allowed it to be taken by him
who had taken Franquet, she answered, that she was
not a money changer or a treasurer of France, to
deal with money.

She was then reminded that having assaulted
Paris on a holy day, having taken the horse of Mon-
seigneur de Senlis, having thrown hefself down from
the tower of Beaurevoir, having consented to the
death of Franquet d'Arras, and being still dressed
in the costume of a man, did she not think that she
must be in a state of mortal sin ? she answered to
the first question about Paris: " I do not think I
was guilty of mortal sin, and if I have sinned it is
to God that I would make it known, and in confes-
sion to God by the priest." To the second question,
concerning the horse of Senlis, she answered, that
she believed firmly that there was no mortal sin in
this, seeing it was valued, and the Bishop had due
notice of it, and at all events it was sent back to the
Seigneur de la Trmouille to give it back to Mon-
seigneur de Senlis. The said horse was of no use
to her ; and, on the other hand, she did not wish to
keep it because she heard that the Bishop was dis-
pleased that his horse should have been taken. And
as for the tower of Beaurevoir : " I did it not to
destroy myself, but in the hope of saving myself
and of going to the aid of the good people who

/431] The Examination in Prison. 321

were in need." But after having done it, she had
confessed her sin, and asked pardon of our Lord,
and had pardon of Him. And she allowed that it
was not right to have made that leap, but that she
did wrong.

The next day an important question was intro-
duced, the only one as yet which Jeanne does not
seem to have been able to answer with understand-
ing. On points of fact or in respect to her visions
she was always quite clear, but questions concerning
the Church were beyond her knowledge. It is only
indeed after some time has elapsed that we perceive
why such a question was introduced.

After admonitions made to her she was required,
if she had done anything contrary to the faith, to
submft herself to the decision of the Church. She
replied, that her answers had all been heard and
seen by clerks, and that they could say whether
there was anything in them against the faith : and
that if they would point out to her where any error
was, afterwards she would tell them what was said
by her counsellors. At all events if there was any-
thing against the faith which our Lord had com-
manded, she would not sustain it, and would be
very sorry to go against that. Here it was shown
to her that there was a Church militant and a
Church triumphant, and she was asked if she knew
the difference between them. She was also required
to put herself under the jurisdiction of the Church,
in respect to what she had done, whether it was
good or evil, but replied, " I will answer no more on
this point for the present."

322 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

Having thrown in this tentative question which
she did not understand, they returned to the ques-
tion of her dress, which holds such an important place
in the entire interrogatory. If she were allowed to
hear mass as she wished, having been all this time
deprived of religious ordinances, did not she think
it would be more honest and befitting that she should
go in the dress of a woman ? To this she replied
vaguely, that she would much rather go to mass in
the dress of a woman than to retain her male cos-
tume and not to hear mass ; and that if she were
certified that she should hear mass, she would be
there in a woman's dress. " I certify you that you
shall hear mass/' the examiner replied, " but you
must be dressed as a woman." " What would you
say," she answered as with a momentary doubt, "if
I had sworn to my King never to change ? " but she
added : " Anyhow I answer for it. Find me a dress,
long, touching the ground, without a train, and give
it to me to go to mass ; but I will return to my
present dress when I come back." She was then
asked why she would not have all the parts of a
female dress to go to mass in ; she said, " I will take
counsel upon that, and answer you," and begged
again for the honour of God and our Lady that she
might be allowed to hear mass in this good to\yn.
Afterwards she was again recommended to assume
the whole dress of a woman and gave a conditional
assent : " Get me a dress like that of a young boitr*
geoise, that is to say, a long liouppdande ; I will wear
that and a woman's hood to go to mass." After
having promised, however, she made an appeal to

1431; TIic Examination in Prison. 323

them to leave her free, and to think no more of her
garb, but to allow her to hear mass without changing
it. This would seem to have been refused, and all
at once without warning the jurisdiction of the
Church was suddenly introduced again.

She was asked, whether in all she did and said
she would submit herself to the Church, and replied :
*' All my deeds and works are in the hands of God,
and I depend only on Him ; and I certify that I de-
sire to do nothing and say nothing against the
Christian faith ; and if I have done or said anything
in the body that was against the Christian faith
which our Lord has established, I should not defend
it but cast it forth from me." Asked again, if she
would not submit to the laws of the Church she
replied : " I can answer no more to-day on this point ;
but on Saturday send the clerk to me, if you do not
come, and I will answer by the grace of God, and it
can be put in writing."

A great many questions followed as to her visions,
but chiefly what had been asked before. One thing
only we may note, since it was one of the special
sayings all her own, which fell from the lips of
Jeanne, during this private and almost sympathetic
examination. After being questioned closely as to
how she knew her first visitor to be St. Michael, etc.,
she was asked, how she would have known had he
been " 1'Anemy " himself (a Norman must surely
have used this word), taking the form of an angel :
and finally, what doctrine he taught her?

She answered ; above all things he said that she

324 Jeanne d' Arc.

was to be a good child and that God would help
her: and among other things that she was to go
to the succour of the King of France. But the
greater part of what the angel taught her, she con-
tinued, was already in their book ; and THE ANGEL
SHOWED HER THE GREAT TITY THERE WAS OF THE
KINGDOM OF FRANCE.

The pity of it ! that which has always gone most
to the tender heart : a country torn in pieces, brother
fighting against brother, the invader seated at the
native hearth, and blood and fire making the smiling
land a desert : " la pitie qui cstoit au royaume de
France"

Did the Inquisitor break down here ? Could no
one go on ? or was it mere human incompetence to
feel the divine touch ? Some one broke into a fool-
ish question about the height of the angel, and the
sitting was hurriedly concluded. Monseigneur might
well be on his mettle ; that very pity, was it not
stealing into the souls of his private committee de-
puted for so different a use?

Next day the questions about St. Michael's per-
sonal appearance were resumed, as a little feint we
can only suppose, for the great question of the
Church was again immediately introduced ; but in
the meantime Jeanne had described her visitor in
terms which it is pleasant to dwell on. " He was
in the form of a trcs vrai prud'homme" The term
is difficult to translate, as is the Galantuomo of
Italy. The " King-Honest Man," we used to say in
English in the days of his late Majesty Victor Em-

1431 J The Examination in Prison. 325

manuel of Italy; but that is not all that is meant
un vraiprud'komme % a man good, honest, brave, the
best man, is more like it. The girl's honest imagina-
tion thought of no paraphernalia of wings or shining
plumes. It was not the theatrical angel, not even
the angel of art whom she saw whom it would have
been so easy to invent, nay to take quite truthfully
from the first painted window, radiating colour and
brightness through the dim, low-roofed church. But
even with such material handy, Jeanne was not led
into the conventional. She knew nothing about
wings or emblematic scales. He was in the form of
a brave and gentle man. She knew not anything
greater, nor would she be seduced into fable how-
ever sacred. Then once more the true assault began.
She was asked, if she would submit all her sayings
and doings, good or evil, to the judgment of our
Holy Mother, the Church. She replied, that as for
the Church, she loved it and would sustain it with
all her might for our Christian faith ; and that it was
not she whom they ought to disturb and hinder
from going to church or from hearing mass. As to
the good things she had done, and that had hap-
pened, she must refer all to the King of Heaven,
who had sent her to Charles, King of France ; and it
should be seen that the French would soon gain a
great advantage which God would send them, so
great that all the kingdom of France would be
shaken. And this, she said, that when it came to
pass, they might remember that she had said it.
She was again asked, if she would submit to the
jurisdiction of the Church, and answered, '* I refer

326 Jeanne d } Arc.

everything to our Lord who sent me, to our Lady,
and to the blessed Saints of Paradise " ; and added
her opinion was that our Lord and the Church meant
the same thing, and that difficulties should not be
made concerning this, when there was no difficulty,
and they were both one. She was then told that
there was the Church triumphant, in which are God,
the saints, the angels, and all saved souls. The
Church militant is our Holy Father the Pope, vicar
of God on earth, the cardinals, the prelates of the
Church, and the clergy and all good Christians and
Catholics, which Church properly assembled cannot
err, but is guided by the Holy Spirit. And this
being the case she was asked if she would refer her
cause to the Church militant thus explained to her.
She replied that she had come to the King of
France on the part of God, on the part of the Virgin
Mary, the blessed Saints of Paradise, and the Church
victorious in Heaven, and at their commandment ;
and to that Church she submitted all her good
deeds, and all that she had done and might do.
And if they asked her whether she would submit to
the Church militant, answered, that she would now
answer no more than this.

Here again the argument strayed back to the
futile subject of dress, always at hand to be taken
up again, one would say, when the judges were non-
plussed. Her first reply on this subject is remarka-
ble and shows that dark and terrible forebodings
were already beginning to mingle with her hopes.

Asked, what she had to say about the woman's

1431 TJic Examination in Prison. 327

;s that had been offered to her, to hear mass in :
S he answered, that she would not take it yet, not until
the Lord pleased ; but that if it were necessary to
lead her out to be executed, and if she should then
have to be undressed, she required of the Lords of
the Church that they would give her the grace to
have a long chemise, and a kerchief for her head ;
that she would prefer to die rather than to alter
what our Lord had directed her to do, and that she
firmly believed our Lord would not let her descend
so low, but that she should soon be helped by God
and by a miracle. She was then asked, if what she
did in respect to the man's costume was by com-
mand of God, why she asked for a woman's chemise
in case of death ? answered, // is enough tJiat it should
be long.

The effect of these words in which so much was
implied, must have made a supreme sensation among
the handful of men gathered round the helpless girl
in her prison, bringing the stake in all its horror
before the eyes of the judges as before her own.
No other thing could have been suggested by that
piteous prayer. The stake, the scaffold, the fire
and the shrinking figure all maidenly, helpless, ex-
posed to every evil gaze, must have showed them-
selves at least for a moment against that dark-
background of prison wall. It was enough that it
should be long to hide her as much as \vas possible
from those dreadful staring eyes.

The interrogatory goes on wildly after this about
the age and the dress of the saints. But a tone of fate
had come into it, and Jeanne herself, it was evident,

328 Jeanne d* Arc.

was very serious; her mind turned to more weighty
thoughts. Presently they asked if the saints hated
the English, to which she replied that they hated
what God hated and loved what He loved. She
was then asked if God hated the English. She
replied that of the love or hate that God had for
the English, or what God did for their souls, she
knew nothing; but she knew w r ell that they should
be driven out of France, except those who died
there ; and that God would send victory to the
French against the English. Asked, if God was for
the English so long as they were prosperous in
France : she answered, that she knew not whether
God hated the French, but believed He had allowed
them to be beaten because of their sins.

Jeanne was then brought to a test which, had she
been a great statesman or a learned doctor, would
have been as dangerous, as the question concerning
John the Baptist was to the priests and scribes. " If
we shall say: From heaven, he will say, Why then
believed ye him not? but if we shall say of men we
fear the people." And she was only a peasant girl
and the event of which they spoke had been before
her little time.

Asked, if she thought and believed firmly that her
King did well to kill Monseigneur de Bourgogne,
she answered that IT WAS A GREAT MISFORTUNE
FOR THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE : but that however it
might be among themselves, God had sent her to
the succour of the King.

One or two other questions of some importance
followed amid perpetual changes of the subject :

1431] The Examination in Prison. 329

one of which called forth as follows her last deliver-
ance on the subject of the Pope.

Asked, if she had said to Monseigneur de Beau-
vais that she would answer as exactly to him and to
his clerks as she would have done before our Holy
Father the Pope, although at several points in the
trial she would have had to refuse to answer, if she
did not answer more plainly than before Monseign-
eur de Beauvais she said that she had answered as
much as she knew, and that if anything came to her
memory that she had forgotten to say, she would
say it willingly. Asked, if it seemed to her that she
would be bound to answer the plain truth to the
Pope, the vicar of God, in all he asked her touching
the faith and her conscience, she replied that she
desired to be taken before him, and then she would
answer all that she ought to answer.

Here we seem to perceive dimly that there was
beginning to be a second party among those exami-
ners, one of which was covertly but earnestly
attempting to lead Jeanne into an appeal to the
Pope, which would have conveyed her out of the
hands of the English at least, and gained time,
probably deliverance for her, could Jeanne have
been made to understand it.

This, however, was by no means the wish of
Cauchon, whose spy and whisperer, L'Oyseleur,, was
working against it in the background. Jeanne evi-
dently failed to take up what they meant. She did
not understand the distinction between the Church
militant and the Church triumphant : that God
alone was her judge, and that no tribunal could de-

330 Jeanne d' Arc. 11431

cide upon the questions which were between her
Lord and herself, was too firmly fixed in her mind :
and again and again the men whose desire was to
make her adopt this expedient, were driven back
into the ever repeated questions about St. Catherine
and St. Margaret.

One other of her distinctive sayings fell from her
in the little interval that remained, in a series of
useless questions about her standard. Was it true
that this standard had been carried into the Cathe-
dral at Rheims when those of the other captains
were left behind ? " It had been through the labour
and the pain," she said, " there was good reason that
it should have the honour/'

This last movement of a proud spirit, absolutely
disinterested and without thought of honour or
advancement in the usual sense of the word, gives
a sort of trumpet note at the end of these wonderful
wranglings in prison, in which, however, there is a
softening of tone visible throughout, an evident
effect of human nature bringing into immediate con-
tact divers human creatures day after day. Jeanne
is often at her best, and never so frequently as
during these less formal sittings utters those flying
words, simple and noble and of absolute truth to
nature, which are noted everywhere, even in the
most rambling records.

The private examination, concluding with that last
answer about the banner, came to an end on the
1 7th March, the day before Passion Sunday. Sev-
eral subsequent days were occupied with repeated

1431] The Examination in Prison. 331

i lt.it ions in the Bishop's palace, and the read-
ing o\vr of the minutes of the examinations, to the
judges first and afterwards to Jeanne, who acknow-
ledged their correctness, with one or two small
amendments. It is only now that Cauchon reap-
pears in his own person. On the morning of the
following Sunday, which was Palm Sunday, he and
four other doctors with him had a conversation with
Jeanne in her prison, very early in the morning,
touching her repeated application to be allowed to
hear mass and to communicate. The Bishop offered
her his ultimatum : if she consented to resume her
woman's dress, she might hear mass, but not other-
wise ; to which Jeanne replied, sorrowfully, that she
would have done so before now if she could ; but
that it was not in her power to do so. Thus after
the long and bitter Lent her hopes of sharing in the
sacred feast were finally taken from her. It remains
uncertain whether she considered that her change of
dress would be direct disobedience to God, which
her words seem often to imply ; or whether it would
mean renunciation of her mission, which she still
hoped against hope to be able to resume ; or if the
fear of personal insult weighed most with her. The
latter reason had evidently something to do with it,
but, as evidently, not all.

The background to these curious sittings, after-
wards revealed to us, casts a hazy side-light upon
them. Probably the Bishop, never present, must
have been made aware by his spies of an intention
on the part of those most favourable to Jeanne to
support an appeal to the Pope ; and L'Oyseleur, th*

332 yeanne d' Arc. [1431

traitor, who was all this time admitted to her cell by
permission of Cauchon, and really as his tool and
agent, was actively employed in prejudicing her
mind against them, counselling her not to trust to
those clerks, not to yield to the Church. How he
managed to explain his own appearance on the other
side, his official connection with the trial, and con-
stant presence as one of her judges, it is hard to
imagine. Probably he gave her to believe that he
had sought that position (having got himself liber-
ated from the imprisonment which he had repre-
sented himself as sharing) for her sake, to be able
to help her.

On the other hand her friends, whose hearts were
touched by her candour and her sufferings, were not
inactive. Jean de la Fontaine and the two monks
1'Advenu and Frere Isambard also succeeded in
gaining admission to her, and pressed upon her the
advantage of appealing to the Church, to the Coun-
cil of Bale about to assemble, or to the Pope him-
self, which would have again changed the venue, and
transferred her into less prejudiced hands. It is
very likely that Jeanne in her ignorance and inno-
cence might have held by her reference to the
supreme tribunal of God in any case ; and it is
highly unlikely that the English authorities, intent
on removing the only thing in France of which their
forces were afraid, should have given her up into
the hands of the Pope, or allowed her to be trans-
ferred to any place of defence beyond their reach ;
but at least it is a relief to the mind to find that all
these men were not base, as appears on the face of

STREET OF THE GREAT CLOCK ROUEN.

FROM A DRAWING BY T. ALLO*'

14311 The Examination in Prison. 333

things, but that pity and justice and human feeling
sometimes existed under the priest's gown and the
monk's cowl, if. also treachery and falsehood of the
blackest kind. The Bishop, who remained with-
drawn, we know not why, from all these private
sittings in the prison (probably busy with his eccle-
siastical duties as Holy Week was approaching),
heard with fury of this visit and advice, and threat-
ened vengeance upon the meddlers, not without
effect, for Jean de la Fontaine, we are told who
had been deep in his councils, and indeed his dep-
uty, as chief examiner disappeared from Rouen
immediately after, and was heard of no more.

CHAPTER XV.

RE-EXAMINATION.
MARCH TO MAY, 1431.

UPON all these contentions followed the
calm of Palm Sunday, a great and
touching festival, the first break upon
the gloom of Lent, and a forerunner
of the blessedness of Easter. We
have already told how a semblance
of charity with which the reader
might easily be deceived the Bishop and four of
his assessors had gone to the prison to offer to the
Maid permission to receive the sacrament if she
would do so in a woman's dress : and how after
pleading that she might be allowed that privilege as
she was, in her male costume, and with a pathetic
statement that she would have yielded if she could,
but that it was impossible she finally refused ; and
was so left in ner prison to pass that sacred day un-
succoured and alone. The historian Michelet, in the
wonderful sketch in which he rises superior to him-
self, and which amidst all after writings remains the
most beautiful and touching memorial of Jeanne

334

1431 Re-examination. 335

d'Arc, has made this day a central point in his tale,
using with the skill of genius the service of the
Church appropriate to the day, in heart-rending con-
trast with those doors of the prison which did not
open, and the help of (jod which did not come to
the young and solitary captive. Lc beau jour jlcuri
passed over her in darkness and desertion : her
agony and passion lay before her like those of the
Divine Sufferer, to whom every day of the succeed-
ing week is specially consecrated. There is almost
indeed a painful following of the Saviour's steps in
these dark clays, the circumstances lending them-
selves in a wonderful way to the comparison which
1 Yench writers love to make, but which many of us
must always feel, however spotless the sufferer, to
have a certain irreverence in them. But if ever mar-
tyr were worthy of being called a partaker of the
sufferings of Christ it was surely this girl, free, if
ever human creature was, from self-seeking, or
thought of reward, or ambitious hope, in whose
heart there had never been any motive but the

ice of God and the deliverance of her country,
who had neither looked before nor after, nor put her
own interests into consideration in any way. Silently
the feast passed with no holy privileges of religion,
no blessed token of the spring, no remembrance of
the waving palms and scattered blossoms over which
her Lord rode into Jerusalem to die. She had not
that sweet fallacious triumph ; but the darker ordeal
remained for her to follow.

On Tuesday the 2/th of March, her troubles began

i. Hefore Palm Sunday, the report of the trial

336 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

had been read to her. She had now to hear the for-
mal reading of the articles founded upon it, to give a
final response if she had any to give, or explanation,
or addition, if she thought proper. The sitting was
held in the great hall of the Castle of Rouen before
a band of more than forty, all assembled for this
final test. The Bishop made a prefatory speech to
the prisoner, pointing out to her how benign and
merciful were the judges now assembled, that they
had no wish to punish, but rather to instruct and lead
her in the right way ; and requesting her at this late
period in the proceedings to choose one or more from
among them to help her. To which Jeanne replied ;
" In the first place concerning my good and our
faith, I thank you and all the company. As for the
counsellor you offer me I thank you also, but I have
no need to depart from our Lord as my counsellor/'
The articles, in which the former questions put to
her and answered by her, were now repeated in the
form of accusations, were then read to her one by
one ; her sorcery, sacrilege, etc., being taken as
facts. To a few she repeated, with various forcible
and fine turns of phrase, her previous answers, with
here and there a new explanation ; but to the great
majority she referred simply to her former replies,
or denied the charge, as follows : " The second arti-
cle concerning sortilege, superstitious acts and divina-
tion, she denied, and in respect to adoration (/. e.
allowing herself to be adored) said : If any kissed
her hands or her garments, it was not by her will,
and that she kept herself from it as much as she
could ; and the rest of the article she denies." This

1431] Rc'C.vami nation. 337

-pecimcn of the manner in which she responded,
with a clear-headed and undisturbed intelligence,
point after point ipsa Johanna ncgat, is the usual
refrain : or else she referred with dignity to previous
replies as her sole answer. But sometimes the girl
was moved to indignation, sometimes added a word
in her own defence: " As for fairies she knew not
what they were, and as for her education she had been
well and duly instructed what to believe, as a good
child should." This was her answer to the article in
which all the folk-lore of Domremy, all the fairy tales,
had been collected into a solemn statement of heresy.
The matter of dress was once more treated in end-
less detail', with many interjected questions and
reports of what she had already said : and at the end,
answering the statement that woman's dress was
most fit for woman's work, Jeanne added the quick
mot : u As for the usual work of women, there are
enough of other women to do it." On another occa-
sion when the report ran that she claimed to have
done all things by the counsel of God, she inter-
rupted and said " that it ought to be, all that I have
done well." To filer former answer that she had
yielded to the desire of the French knights in at-
tacking Paris, she added the fine words, " It seemed
to me that it was their duty to attack their adver-
saries." In respect to her visions she added to her
former answer, " that she had not asked advice of
bishop, cure, or any other before believing her revela-
tions, but had many times prayed God to reveal them
to others of her party." About calling her saints
when she required their aid she added, that she

338 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

asked God and Our Lady to send her council and
comfort, and immediately her heavenly visitors
came ; and that this was the prayer she made :

u Gentle God, in honour of Your* passion, I pray
You, if You love me, that You would reveal to me
how I ought to answer these people of the Church.
I know well by what command it was that I took
this dress, but I know not in what manner I ought to
give it up. For this may it please You to teach me."

In respect to the reproach that she had been a
general in the war (chef de guerre), she explained
that if she were, it was to drive out the English, re-
pelling the accusation that she had assumed this title
in pride ; and to that which accused her of preferring
to live among men, she explained that when she was
in a lodging she generally had a woman with her ; but
that when engaged in war she lived in her clothes
whenever there was not a woman present. In respect
to her hope of escaping from prison, she was asked
if her council had thrown any light on that question,
and replied, " I have yet to tell you." Manchon,
the clerk, makes a note upon his margin at these
words, " Proudly answered " superbe responsum.

This re-examination lasted for two long days, the
2/th and 28th of March. On several points Jeanne
requested that she might be allowed to give an
answer on Saturday, and accordingly, on Saturday,

* It is correct in French to use the second person plural in address-
ing God, thou being a more intimate and less respectful form of
speech. Such a difference is difficult to remember, and troubles the
ear. The French, even those who ought to know better, sometimes
speak of it as a supreme profanity on the part of the profane Eng-
lish, that they address God as thou.

H31] Re-examination. 339

the last day of March, Easter E\ r c, she was visited
in prison by the Bishop and seven or eight assessors.
She was then asked if she would submit to the judg-
ment of the Church on earth all that she had done
and said, specially in things that concerned her trial.
She answered that she would submit to the judg-
ment of the Church militant, provided that it did
not enforce anything that was impossible. She
explained that what she called impossible was to
acknowledge that the visions and revelations came
otherwise than from God, or that what she had done
was not on the part of God : these she would never
deny or revoke for any power on earth : and that
which our Lord had commanded or should com-
mand, she would not give up for any living man, and
this would be impossible to her. And in case the
Church should command her to do anything con-
trary to the command given her by God she would
not do it for any reason whatsoever. Asked whether
she would submit to the Church if the Church mili-
tant pronounced that her revelations were delusions
or from the devil, or superstitious, or evil things, she
answered that she would refer everything to our
T ord, whose commands she always obeyed; and
that she knew well that everything had come to her
by the commandment of God ; and that what she
had affirmed during this trial to have been done by
the commandment of God it would be impossible
for her to deny. And in case the Church militant
commanded her to go against God, she would sub-
mit herself to no man in this world but to our Lord,
whose good commandment she had always obeyed.

340 Jeanne d' Arc. 11431

She was asked if she did not believe that she was
subject to the Church on earth, that is, to our Holy
Father the Pope, the Cardinals, Bishops, and other
prelates of the Church. She answered, " Yes, our Lord
being served first" Asked if she had directions from
her voices not to submit to the Church militant
which is on earth, nor to its judgment, she replied
that she does not answer according to what comes
into her head, but that when she replies it is by com-
mandment ; and that she has never been told not to
obey the Church, our Lord being served first (iioster
Sire premier servi ).

Other less formal particulars come to us long aj:er,
from various witnesses at the proccs de reliabilita-
//<?;/, in which a lively picture is given of this scene.
Frere Isambard had apparently managed, as was his
wont, to get close to the prisoner, and to whisper to
her to appeal to the Council of Bale. " What is
this Council of Bale?" she asked in the same tone.
Isambard replied that it was the " congregation of
the whole Church, Catholic and Universal, and that
there would be as many there on her side as on that
of the English. " Ah ! " she cried, " since there will
be some of our party in that place, I will willingly
yield and submit to the Council of Bale, to our
Holy Father the Pope, and to the sacred Council." *
And immediately continues the deposition the
Bishop of Beauvais cried out, " Silence, in the

* The French report goes on, " et requiert ," but no more. It

is not in the Latin. The scribe was stopped by the Bishop's profane
outcry, and forbidden to register the fact that she was about to
a direct appeal to the Pope.

1431] Re-examination. 341

devil's name ! " and told the notary to take no
notice of what she said, that she would submit
herself to the Council of Bale ; whereupon a second
cry burst from the bosom of Jeanne, " You write
what is against me, but you will not write what is
for me." " Because of these things, the English and
their officers threatened terribly the said Frere Isam-
bard, warning him that if he did not hold his peace
he would be thrown into the Seine." No notice
whatever is taken of any such interruption in the
formal record. It must have been before this time
that Jean de la Fontaine disappeared. He left
Rouen secretly and never returned, nor does he
ever appear again. Frere Isambard is said to have
taken temporary refuge in his convent ; they scat-
tered, de par rdiablc, according to the Christian
adjuration of Mgr. de Beauvais ; though 1'Advenu
would seem to have held his ground, and served as
Confessor to Jeanne in her agony, at which Frere
Isambard was also present. We are told that the
Deputy Inquisitor Lemaitre, he who had been got
to lend the aid of his presence with such difficulty,
fiercely warned the authorities that he would have
no harm done to those two friars, from which we
may infer that he too had leanings towards the
Maid ; and these honest and loyal men, well deserv-
ing of their country and of mankind, should not
lose their record when the tragic story of so much
human treachery and baseness has to be told.

After this there came a long pause, full of much
business to the judges, councillors, and clerks who

342 Jeanne d'Arc. [H31

had to reduce the seventy articles to twelve, in order
to forward a summary of the case to the Univer-
sity of Paris for their judgment. Jeanne in the
meantime had been left, but not neglected, in her
prison. The great Feast of Easter had passed with-
out any sacred consolation of the Church ; but
Monseigneur de Beauvais, in his kindness, sent her
a carp to keep the feast withal, if not any spiritual
food. It was quite congenial to the spirit of the
time to imagine that the carp had been poisoned,
and such a thought seems to have crossed the mind
of Jeanne, who was very ill after eating of it, and
like to die. But it was not thus, poisoned in prison,
that it would have suited any of her persecutors to
let her die. As a matter of fact, as soon as it was
known that she was ill, the best doctors procurable
were sent to the prison with peremptory orders to
prolong her life and cure her at any cost. But for a
little time we lose sight of the sick-bed on which the
unfortunate Maid lay fully dressed, never relinquish-
ing the garb which was her protection, with her feet
chained to her uneasy couch. Even at the moment
when her life hung in the balance we read of no in-
dulgence granted in this respect, no unlocking of
the infamous chain, nor substitution of a gentler
nurse for the attendant Jiouspillers, who were her
guards night and day.

When the Bishop and his court had completed
their business and sent off to Paris the important
document on which so much depended, they found
themselves at leisure to return to Jeanne, to inquir^
after her health and to make her " a charitable ad-

1431] Rc-exantination< 343

monition." It was on the iSth of April, after the
>ilcnce of more than a fortnight, that their vi-'t
made with this benevolent purpose. Seven of her
judges attended the Bishop into the sick-chamber.
They had come, he assured her, charitably and
familiarly, to visit her in her sickness and to carry
her comfort and consolation. Most of these men
were indeed familiar enough : she had seen their
faces already through many a dreadful day, though
there were one or two which were new and strange,
come to stare at her in the depths of her dist*
Cauchon reminded her how much and how carefully
she had been questioned by the most wise and
learned men ; and that those there present were
read\- to do anything for the salvation of her soul
and body in every possible way, by instructing or
advising her. He added, however, that if she still
refused to accept advice, and to act according to
the counsel of the Church, she was in the greatest
danger to which she replied :

" It seems to me, being so ill as I am, that I am in
great danger of death. And if it is thus that God
pleases to decide for me, I ask of you to be allowed
to confess and receive my Saviour, and to be laid in
holy ground."

" If you desire to have the rites and sacraments of
the Church," said Cauchon, " you must do as good
Catholics ought to do, submit to Holy Church."
She answered, " I can say no other thing to you."
She was then told that if she was in fear of death
through sickness she ought all the more to amend
her life; but that she could not have the privileges

344 Jeanne d* Arc. 1431

of the Church as a Catholic, if she did not submit
to the Church. She answered : " If my body dies in
prison, I hope that you will bury me in consecrated
ground : yet if not, I still hope in our Lord/'

She was then reminded that she had said in her
trial if anything had been said or done by her
against our Christian faith ordained by our Lord,
that she would not stand by it. She answered, " I
refer to the answer I made, and to our Lord/'

It was then asked of her, since she believed herself
to have had many revelations from God by St.
Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, whether,
if there should appear some good creature (sic) who
professed to have had a revelation from God in re-
spect to her, she would believe that ? She answered
that there was no Christian in the world who could
come to her professing to have had a revelation, of
whom she should not know whether he spoke the
truth or not : she would know it through St. Cathe-
rine and St. Margaret.

Asked, if she could not imagine that God might
reveal something to a good creature who might be
unknown to her, she answered : " Yes ; but I would
not believe either man or woman without a sign/'

Asked, if she believed that the Holy Scripture was
revealed by God, she answered, " You know that I
do, and it is good to know."

The last answer she made in respect to submission
to Holy Church was this, " Whatever may happen
to me I will neither do nor say anything else, for I
have answered before, during the trial/'

She was then " exhorted powerfully by the vener-

143U Re-examination. 345

able doctors present " (four are mentioned by name)
to submit to our Mother the Church, with many au-
thorities and examples drawn from the Holy Scrip-
tures ; and finally, Magister Nicolas Midi made her
an exhortation from Matthew xviii. : " If your
brother trespass against you," and what follows,
" If he will not hear the Church, let him be to
you as a heathen man and a publican." This was
expounded to Jeanne in the French tongue and,
finally, she was told that if she would not obey and
submit to the Church she must be given up as if
she were a Saracen. To which Jeanne replied that
she was a good Christian and well baptised, and that
she desired to die as a Christian. She was then
asked whether, since she begged leave of the Church
to receive her Saviour, she would submit to the
Church if it were promised to her that she should
receive. She answered that she would say no more
than she had said ; that she loved God, served Him,
and was a good Christian, and would aid and uphold
the Holy Church with all her power. Asked if she
wished that a beautiful procession should be made
for her to restore her to health, she answered that
she would be glad if the Church and the Catholics
would pray for her.

For another fortnight Jeanne was sent back into the
silence, and to her own thoughts, which must have
grown heavier and heavier as the weary days went
on, and no sound of approaching deliverance came,
no rumour of help at hand. All was quiet and safe
at Rouen ; amid the babble of the courtyard which
she might hear fitfully when her guardians were

346 Jeanne d'Arc. [H31

quieter than usual, there was not one word which
brought the hope of a French army at hand, or of
any movement to rescue her. All was silent in the
world around, not a breath of hope, not the whisper
of a friend. It was not till the 2d of May that the
dreadful blank was again broken, and she was called
to the great hall of the castle for another interview
with her tormentors. When she was led into the
hall it was full, as in the first sitting, sixty-three
judges in all being present. The interest had
flagged or the pity had grown as the trial dragged
its slow length along ; but now, when every day the
verdict was expected from Paris, the interest had
risen again. On her way from her prison to the hall,
it was necessary to pass the door of the castle chapel :
and here once or twice Massieu, the officer of the
court, had permitted her to pause and kneel down
as she passed. This was all the celebration of the
Paschal Feast that was permitted to Jeanne. The
compassionate official, however, was discovered in
this small service of charity, and sternly reprimanded
and threatened. Henceforward she had to pass
without even a longing look through the door at the
altar on which was the holy sacrament.

She came in on the renewed sitting of the 2d May
to find the assembled priests settling themselves,
after the address which had been made to them, to
hear another address which John de Chasteillon,
Archdeacon, had prepared for herself, in which he
said much that was good both for body and soul, to
which she consented. He had a list of twelve articles
in his hands, and explained and expounded them to

FOUNTAIN OF ST. MACLOU ROUEN

Re- examination. 347

her, as they were the occasion of the sitting. lie then
" admonished her in charity/' explaining that those
who were faithful to Christ should hold firmly and
closely to the Christian creed, and adjuring her to
consent and to amend her ways. To this Jeanne
answered : 44 Read your book," meaning the schedule
held by Monseigneur the Archdeacon, "and then I
will answer you. I refer myself to God my master
in all things ; and I love Him with all my heart/*

To read this book, however, was precisely what
Monseigneur the Archdeacon had no intention of
doing. She was never allowed to hear the twelve
articles upon which the verdict against her was
founded ; but the speaker gave her a long discourse
by way of explanation, following more or less the
schedule which he held. This " monition general,"
however, elicited no detailed reply from Jeanne, who
answered briefly with some impatience, " I refer my-
self to my judge, who is the King of Heaven ami
earth." The " Lord Archdeacon " then proceeded
to "monitions particularcs."

It was then once more explained to her that this
reference to God alone was a refusal to submit to the
Church militant, and she was instructed in the
authority of the Church, which it was the duty of
every Christian to believe unain sanctain lu'desiam
always guided by the Holy Spirit and which could
not err, to the judgment of which every question
should be referred. She answered : " I believe in tho
Church here below ; but my doings and sayings, as I
have already said, I refer and submit to God. I

348 Jeanne d'Arc. H431

believe that the Church militant cannot err or fail ;
but as for my deeds and words I put them all before
God, who has made me do that which I have done ";
she also said that she submitted herself to God, her
Creator, who had made her do everything, and re-
ferred everything to Him, and to Him alone.

She was then asked, if she would have no judge on
earth and if our Holy Father the Pope were not her
judge ; she answered : " I will tell you nothing more.
I have a good master, that is our Lord, on whom
I depend for everything, and not on any other."

She was then told that if she would not believe
the Church and the article Ecclesiam sanctam
Catholicam, that she might be reckoned as a heretic
and punished by burning: to which she answered:
" I can say nothing else to you ; and if I saw the fire
before me, I should say only that which I say, and
could do nothing else." (Once more at this point
the clerk writes on his margin, " Proud reply "
Snperba responsio but whether in admiration or in
blame it would be hard to say.)

Asked, if the Council General, or the Holy Father,
Cardinals, etc., were there whether she would sub-
mit to them. " You shall have no other answer from
me," she said.

Asked, if she would submit to our Holy Father
the Pope : she answered, " Take me to him and I
will answer him," but would say no more.

Questioned in respect to her dress, she answered,
that she would willingly accept a long dress and a
woman's hood to go to church to receive her
Saviour, provided that, as she had already said, she

14311 fit --examination. 349

were allowed to wear it on that occasion only, and
then to take back that which she at present wore.
Further, when it was set before her that she wore
that dress without any need, being in prison, she
answered, ' 4 \Vhcn I have done that for which I
\V,IN sent by God, I will then take back a woman's
dress." Asked, if she thought she did well in being
dressed like a man, she answered, " I refer every
thing to our Lord."

Again, after the exhortation made to her, namely,
that in saying that she did well and did not sin in
wearing that dress, and in the circumstances which
concerned her assuming and wearing it, and in say-
ing that God and the saints made her do so she
blasphemed, and as is contained in this schedule,
erred and did evil: she answered that she never
blasphemed God or the saints.

She was then admonished to give up that dress,
and no longer to think it was right, and to return to
the garb of a woman ; but answered that she would
make no change in this respect.

Concerning her revelations: she replied in regard
to them, that she referred everything to her judge,
that is God, and that her revelations were from God,
without any other medium.

Asked concerning the sign given to the King, if she
would refer to the Archbishop of Rheims, the Sire
dc Houssac, Charles de Bourbon, La Tremouille, and
La Hire, to them or to any one of them, who, accord-
ing to what she formerly said, had seen the crown,
and were present when the angel brought it, and gave
it to the Archbishop ; or if she would refer to any

J5O Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

others of her party who might write under their seals
that it was so; she answered, " Send a messenger,
and I will write to them about the whole trial:"
but otherwise she was not disposed to refer to
them.

In respect to her presumption in divining the
future, etc., she answered, " I refer everything to my
judge who is God, and to what I have already
answered, which is written in the book."

Asked, if two or three or four knights of her party
were to be brought here under a safe conduct,
whether she would refer to them her apparitions
and other things contained in this trial ; answered,
" Let them come and then I will answer:" but
otherwise she was not willing to refer to anyone.

Asked whether, at the Church of Poitiers where
she was examined, she had submitted to the Church,
she answered, " Do you hope to catch me in this
way, and by that draw advantage to yourselves?"

In conclusion, " afresh and abundantly," she was
admonished to submit herself to the Church, on pain
of being abandoned by the Church ; for if the
Church left her she would be in great danger of
body and of soul ; and she might well put herself in
peril of eternal fire for the soul, as well as of tem-
poral fire for the body, by the sentence of other
judges. " You will not do this which you say against
me, without doing injury to your own bodies and
souls," she said.

Asked T whether she could give a reason why she
would not submit to the Church : but to this she
would make no additional reply.

1431] Re-examinaiion. 351

Again a week passed in busy talk and consultation
without, in silence and desertion within. On theQth
of May the prisoner was again led, this time to the
great tower, apparently the torture chamber of the
castle, where she found nine of her judges awaiting
her, and was once more adjured to speak the truth,
with the threat of torture if she continued to refuse.
Never was her attitude more calm, more dignified
and lofty in its simplicity, than at this grim moment.

kk Truly," she replied, " if you tear the limbs from
my body, and my soul out of it, I can say nothing
other than what I have said ; or if I said anything
different, I should afterwards say that you had com-
pelled me to do it by force." She added that on the
day of the Holy Cross, the 3d of May past, she had
been comforted by St. Gabriel. She believed that it
was St. Gabriel : and she knew by her voices that
it was St. Gabriel. She had asked counsel of her
voices whether she should submit to the Church,
because the priests pressed her so strongly to sub-
mit : but it had been said to her that if she desired
our Lord to help her she must depend upon Him
for everything. She added that she knew well that
our Lord had always been the master of all she did,
and that the Enemy had nothing to do with her
deeds. Also she had asked her voices if she should
be burned, and the said voices had replied to her
that she was to wait for the Lord and that He
would help her.

Afterwards in respect to the crown which had
been handed by the angel to the Archbishop of
Rheims, she was asked if she would refer to him.

352 Jeanne d'Arc. H431

She answered : " Bring him here, that I may hear
what he says, and then I shall answer you ; he will
not dare to say the contrary of that which I have
said to you/*

The Archbishop of Rheims had been her constant
enemy ; all the hindrances that had occurred in her
active life, and the constant attempts made to balk
her even in her brief moment of triumph, came from
him and his associate La Tre*mouille. He w r as the
last person in the world to whom Jeanne naturally
would have appealed. Perhaps that was the admira-
ble reason why he was suggested in this dreadful
crisis of her fate.

A few days later, it was discussed among those
dark inquisitors whether the torture should be ap-
plied or not. Finally, among thirteen there were
but two (let not the voice of sacred vengeance be
silent on their shame though after four centuries
and more), Thomas de Courcelles, first of theolo-
gians, cleverest of ecclesiastical lawyers, mildest of
men, and Nicolas L'Oyseleur, the spy and traitor,
who voted for the torture. One man most reasona-
bly asked why she should be put to torture when
they had ample material for judgment without it?
One cannot but feel that the proceedings on this
occasion were either intended to beguile the im-
patience of the English authorities, eager to be done
with the whole business, or to add a quite gratuitous
pang to the sufferings of the heroic girl. As the
men were not devils, though probably possessed by
this time, the more cruel among them, by the horri-
ble curiosity, innate alas ! in human nature, of seeing

14311 Re-examination. 353

how far a suffering soul could go, it is probable that
the first motive was the true one. The English,
Warwick especially, whose every movement was re-
strained by this long-pending affair, were exceedingly
impatient, and tempted at times to take the matter
into their own hands, and spoil the perfectness of
this well constructed work of art, conducted accord-
ing to all the rules, the beautiful trial which was dear
to the Bishop's heart and destined to be, though
perhaps in a sense somewhat different to that which
he hoped, his chief title to fame.

Ten days after, the decision of the University of
Paris arrived, and a great assembly of counsellors,
fifty-one in all, besides the permanent presidents,
collected together in the chapel of the Archbishop's
house, to hear that document read, along with many
other documents, the individual opinions of a host
of doctors and eminent authorities. After an ex-
planation of the solemn care given by the University
to the consideration of every one of the twelve articles
of the indictment, that learned tribunal pronounced
its verdict upon each. The length of the proceedings
makes it impossible to reproduce these. First as to
the early revelations given to Jeanne, described in the
first and second articles, they are denounced as
" murderous, seductive, and pernicious fictions," the
apparitions those of " malignant spirits and devils,
Belial, Satan, and Behemoth." The third article,
which concerned her recognition of the saints, was '
described more mildly as containing errors in faith ;
the fourth, as to her knowledge of future events, was
characterised as " superstitious and presumptuous

354 ycanned'Arc. 1431

divination." The fifth, concerning her dress, declared
her to be " blasphemous and contemptuous of God in
His Sacraments." The sixth, by which she was
accused of loving bloodshed, because she made war
against those who did not obey the summons in her
letters bearing the name Jhesus Maria, was declared
to prove that she was cruel, " seeking the shedding
of blood, seditious, and a blasphemer of God/' The
tenor is the same to the end : Blasphemy, supersti-
tion, pernicious doctrine, impiety, cruelty, presump-
tion, lying; a schismatic, a heretic, an apostate, an
idolater, an invoker of demons. These are the con-
clusions drawn by the most solemn and weighty
tribunal on matters of faith in France. The precau-
tions taken to procure a full and trustworthy judg-
ment, the appeal to each section in turn, the Faculty
of Theology, the Faculty of Law, the " Nations/' all
separately and then all together passing every item
in review are set forth at full length. Every form-
ality had been fulfilled, every rule followed, every
detail was in the fullest order, signed and sealed and
attested by solemn notaries, bristling with well-
known names. A beautiful judgment, equal to the
trial, which was beautiful too not a rule omitted
except those of justice, fairness, and truth ! The
doctors sat and listened with every fine professional
sense satisfied.

"If the beforesaid woman, charitably exhorted
and admonished by competent judges, does not
return spontaneously to the Catholic faith, publicly
abjure her errors, and give full satisfaction to her

1431 1 Rt--c.vtiwinnlioH. 355

judges, she is hereby given up to the secular judge to
receive the reward of her deeds."

The attendant judges, each in his place, now added
their adhesion. Most of them simply stated their
agreement with the judgment of the University, or
with that of the Bishop of Fecamp, which was of
similar tenor ; a few wished that Jeanne should be
again " charitably admonished " ; many desired that
on this selfsame day the final sentence should be pro-
nounced. One among them, a certain Raoul Sauv-
age(Radulphus Silvestris), suggested that she should
be brought before the people in a public place, a
suggestion afterwards carried out. Frere Isambard
desired that she should be charitably admonished
again and have another chance, and that her final
fate should still be in the hands of " us her judges."
The conclusion was that one more " charitable
admonition " should be given to Jeanne, and that
the law should then take its course. The suggestion
that she should make a public appearance had only
one supporter.

This dark scene in the chapel is very notable, each
man rising to pronounce what was in reality a sen-
tence of death, fifty of them almost unanimous,
filled no doubt with a hundred different motives, to
please this man or that, to win favour, to get into the
way of promotion, but all with a distinct conscious-
ness of the great yet horrible spectacle, the stake, the
burning: though perhaps here and there was one
with a hope that perpetual imprisonment, bread of
sorrow and water of anguish, might be substituted

356 Jeanne d'Arc. "431

for that terrible death. Finally, it was decided that
always on the side of mercy, as every act proved
the tribunal should once more " charitably admon-
ish " the prisoner for the salvation of her soul and
body, and that after all this " good deliberation and
wholesome counsel " the case should be concluded.

Again there follows a pause of four days. No
doubt the Bishop and his assessors had other things
to do, their ecclesiastical functions, their private
business, which could not always be put aside be-
cause one forsaken soul was held in suspense day
after day. Finally on the 24th of May, Jeanne
again received in her prison a dignified company,
some quite new and strange to her (indeed the idea
may cross the reader's mind that it was perhaps to
show off the interesting prisoner to two new and
powerful bishops, the first, Louis of Luxembourg, a
relative of her first captor, that this last examination
was held), nine men in all, crowding her chamber
cxponuntur Johannce defectus sui, says the record
to expound to Jeanne her faults. It was Magister
Peter Morice to whom this office was confided.
Once more the " schedule " was gone over, and an
address delivered laden with all the bad words of
the University. " Jeanne, dearest friend/' said the
orator at last, " it is now time, at the end of the
trial, to think well what words these are." She
would seem to have spoken during this address, at
least once to say that she held to everything she
had said during the trial. When Morice had finished
she was once more questioned personally.

She was asked if she still thought and believed

1431] A'< -cxainin-ilion. 357

that it was not her duty to submit her deeds and
words to the Church militant, or to any other except
< i<ul, upon which she replied, " What I have always
said and held to during the trial, I maintain to this
moment " ; and added that if she were in judgment
and saw the fire lighted, the faggots burning, and the
executioner ready to rake the fire, and she herself
within the fire, she could say nothing else, but would
sustain what she had said in her trial, to death.

Once more the scribe has written on his margin the
words Responsio Johanna snpcrba the proud an-
swer of Jeanne. Her raised head, her expanded
breast, something of a splendour of indignation
about her, must have moved the man, thus for the
third time to send down to us his distinctly human
impression of the worn out prisoner before her
judges. "And immediately the promoter and she
refusing to say more, the cause was concluded,"
says the record, so formal, sustained within such
purely abstract limits, yet here and there with a sort
of throb and reverberation of the mortal encounter.
From the lips of the Inquisitor too all words seemed
to have been taken. It is as when amid the excited
crowd in the Temple the officers of the Pharisees
approaching to lay hands on a greater than Jeanne,
fell back, not knowing why, and could not do their
office. This man was silenced also. Two bishops
were present, and one a great man full of patronage ;
but not for the richest living in Normandy could
Peter Morice find any more to say.

These are in one sense the last words of Jeanne ;
the last we have from her in her prison, the last of

Jeanne d'Arc.

[1431

her consistent and unbroken life. After, there was a
deeper horror to go through, a moment when all her
forces failed. Here on the verge of eternity she
stands heroic and unyielding, brave, calm, and sted-
fast as at the outset of her career, the Maid of
France. Were the fires lighted and the faggots'
burning, and she herself within the fire, she had no
other word to say.

CHAPTER XVI.

Till-; AUJURATION.
MAY 24, 1431.

|N the 23d <>f May Jeanne was taken
back to her prison attended by the
officer of the court, Massieu, her frame
still thrilling, her heart still high, with
that great note of constancy yet defi-
ance. She had been no doubt strongly
excited, the commotion within her
growing with every repetition of these scenes, each
one of which promised to be the last. And the fire
and the stake and the executioner had come very
near to her ; no doubt a whole murmuring world of
rumour, of strange information about herself, never
long inaudible, never heard outside of the Castle of
Rouen, rose half-comprehended from the echoing
courtyard outside and the babble of her guards
within. She would hear even as she was conveyed
along the echoing stone passages something here and
there of the popular expectation : a burning ! the
wonderful unheard of sight, which by hook or by
k everyone must see ; and no doubt among the
353

360 Jeanne d' Arc. [1431

English talk she might now be able to make out
something concerning this long business which had
retarded all warlike proceedings but which would
soon be over now, and the witch burnt. There
must have been some, even among those rude com-
panions, who would be sorry, who would feel that
she \vas no witch, yet be helpless to do anything
for her, any more than Massieu could, or Frere
Isambard : and if it was all for the sake of certain
words to be said, was the wench mad ? would it not
be better to say anything, to give up anything rather
than be burned at the stake ? Jeanne, notwithstand-
ing the wonderful courage of her last speech, must
have returned to her cell with small illusion possible
to her intelligent spirit. The stake had indeed come
very near, the flames already dazzled her eyes, she
must have felt her slender form shrink" together at
the thought. All that long night, through the early
daylight of the May morning did she lie and ponder,
as for far less reasons so many of us have pondered
as \ve lay wakeful through those morning watches.
God's promises are great, but where is the fulfil-
ment ? We ask for bread and he gives us, if not
a stone, yet something which we cannot realise to be
bread till after many days. Jeanne's voices had
never paused in their pledge to her of succour.
" Speak boldly, God will help you fear nothing " ;
there would be aid for her before three months, and
great victory. They went on saying so, though the
stake was already being raised. What did they mean ?
what did they mean ? Could she still trust them ?
or was it possible ?

H31] The Abjuration. 361

Her heart was like to break. At their word she
would have faced the fire. She meant to do so now,
notwithstanding the terrible, the heartrending ache
of hope that was still in her. But they did not give
her that heroic command. Still and always, they
said God will help you, our Lord will stand by you.
What did that mean ? It must mean deliverance,
deliverance! what else could it mean? If she held
her head high as she returned to the horrible mo-
notony of that prison so often left with hope, so
often re-entered in sadness, it must soon have
dropped upon her tired bosom. Slowly the clouds
had settled round her. Over and over again had she
affirmed them to be true these voices that had
guided her steps and led her to victory. And they
had promised her the aid of God if she went forward
boldly, and spoke and did not fear. But now every
way of salvation was closing ; all around her were
fierce soldiers thirsting for her blood, smooth priests
who admonished her in charity, threatening her with
eternal fire for the soul, temporal fire for the body. She
felt that fire, already blowing towards her as if on the
breath of the evening wind, and her girlish flesh shrank.
Was that what the voices had called deliverance ?
was that the grand victory, the aid of the Lord ?

It may well be imagined that Jeanne slept but
little that night ; she had reached the lowest depths ;
her soul had begun to lose itself in bitterness, in the
horror of a doubt. The atmosphere of her prison
became intolerable, and the noise of her guards keep-
ing up their rough jests half through the night, their
stamping and clamour, and the clang of their arms

362 Jeanne d* Are. fi43i

when relieved. Early next morning a party of her
usual visitors came in upon her to give her fresh in-
struction and advice. Something new was about to
happen to-day. She was to be led forth, to breathe
the air of heaven, to confront the people, the raging
sea of men's faces, all the unknown world about her.
The crowd had never been unfriendly tc Jeanne. It
had closed about her, almost wherever she was visi-
ble, with s \veet applause and outcries of joy. Per-
haps a little hope stirred her heart in the thought of
being surrounded once more by the common folk,
though probably it did not occur to her to think of
these Norman strangers as her own people. And a
great day was before her, a day in which something
might still be done, in which deliverance might yet
come. L'Oyseleur, who was one of her visitors,
adjured her now to change her conduct, to accept
whatever means of salvation might be offered to her.
There was no longer any mention of Pope or Coun-
cil, but only of the Church to which she ought to
yield. How it was that he preserved his influence
over her, having been proved to be a member of the
tribunal that judged her, and not a fellow-prisoner,
nor a fellow-countryman, nor any of the things he
had professed to be, no one can tell us ; but evidently
he had managed to do so. Jeanne would seem to
have received him without signs of repulsion or dis-
pleasure. Indeed she seems to have been ready to
hear anyone, to believe in those who professed
to wish her well, even when she did not follow their
counsel.

It would require, however, no great persuasion

14311 The Abjuration. 363

on L'Oysclcur's part to convince her that this was a
more than usually important day, and that some-
thing decisive must be done, now or never. Why
should she be so determined to resist her only chance
of safety ? If she were but delivered from the hands
of the English, safe in the gentler keeping of the
Church, there would be time to think of everything,
even to make her peace with her voices who would
surely understand if, for the saving of her life, and
out of terror for the dreadful fire, she abandoned
them for a moment. She had disobeyed them at
Beaurevoir and they had forgiven. One faltering
word now, a mark of her hand upon a paper, and she
would be safe even if still all they said was true ;
and if indeed and in fact, after buoying her up from
day to day, such a dreadful thing might be as that
they were not true

The traitor was at her ear whispering ; the cold
chill of disappointment, of disillusion, of sickening
doubt was in her heart.

Then there came into the prison a better man
than L'Oyseleur, Jean Beaupcre, her questioner in
the public trial, the representative of all these nota-
bilities. What he said was spoken with authority
and he came in all seriousness, may not we believe
in some kindness too? to warn her. He came with
permission of the Bishop, no stealthy visitor. " Jean
Beaupere entered alone into the prison of the said
Jeanne by permission, and advertised her that she
would straightway be taken to the scaffold to be ad-
dressed (four r etrc frcschcc), and that if she was a
good Christian she would on that scaffold place all

364 Jeanne d' Arc. 1431

her acts and words under the jurisdiction of our
Holy Mother, the Church, and specially of the
ecclesiastical judges." "Accept the woman's dress
and do all that you are told/' her other adviser had
said. When the car that was to convey her came to
the prison doors, L'Oyseleur accompanied her, no
doubt with a show of supporting her to the end.
What a change from the confined and gloomy prison
to the dazzling clearness of the May daylight, the
air, the murmuring streets, the throng that gazed
and shouted and followed ! Life that had run so
low in the prisoner's veins must have bounded up
within her in response to that sunshine and open
sky, and movement and sound of existence summer
weather too, and everything softened in the medium
of that soft breathing air, sound and sensation and
hope. She had been three months in her prison.
As the charrette rumbled along the roughly paved
streets drawing all those crowds after it, a strange
object appeared to Jeanne's eyes in the midst of the
market-place, a lofty scaffold with a stake upon it,
rising over the heads of the crowd, the logs all
arranged ready for the fire, a car waiting below with
four horses, to bring hither the victim. The place
of sacrifice was ready, everything arranged for
whom? for her? They drove her noisily past that
she might see the preparations. It was all ready;
and where then was the great victory, the deliver-
ance in which she had believed ?

In front of the beautiful gates of St. Ouen there
was a different scene. That stately church was sur-
rounded then by a churchyard, a great open space,

1431] The Abjuration. 365

\\hich afforded room for a very large assembly. In
this were erected two platforms, one facing the
other. On the first sat the court of judges in num-
ber about forty, Cardinal Winchester having a place
by the side of Monseigneur cle Beauvais, the presi-
dent, with several other bishops and dignified eccles-
iastics. Opposite, on the other platform, were a
pulpit and a place for the accused, to which Jeanne
was conducted by Massieu, who never left her, and
L'Oyseleur, who kept as near as he could, the rest
of the platform being immediately covered by law-
yers, doctors, all the camp followers, so to speak,
of the black army, who could find footing there.
Jeanne was in her usual male dress, the doublet and
hose, with her short-clipped hair no doubt looking
like a slim boy among all this dark crowd of men.
The people swayed like a sea all about and around
the throng which had gathered in her progress
through the streets pushing out the crowd already
assembled with a movement like the waves of the
sea. Every step of the trial all through had been
attended by preaching, by discourses and reasoning
and admonishments, charitable and otherwise. Now
she was to be " preached " for the last time.

It was Doctor Guillaume firard who ascended the
pulpit, a great preacher, rfhe whom the " copious
multitude" ran after and were eager to hear. He
himself had not been disposed to accept this office,
but no doubt, set up there on that height before the
of all the people, he thought of his own repu-
tation, and of the great audience, and Winchester
the more than king, the great English Prince, the

366 Jeanne d' Arc* [1431

wealthiest and most influential of men. The
preacher took his text from a verse in St. John's
Gospel : " A branch cannot bear fruit except it re-
main in the vine." The centre circle containing the
two platforms was surrounded by a close ring of
English soldiers, understanding none of it, and
anxious only that the witch should be condemned.

It was in this strange and crowded scene that the
sermon which was long and eloquent began. When
it was half over, in one of his fine periods admired
by all the people, the preacher, after heaping every
reproach upon the head of Jeanne, suddenly turned
to apostrophise the House of France, and the head
of that House, " Charles who calls himself King."
u He has," cried the preacher, stimulated no doubt
by the eye of Winchester upon him, " adhered, like
a schismatic and heretical person as he is, to the
words and acts of a useless woman, disgraced and
full of dishonour; and not he only, but the clergy
who are under his sway, and the nobility. This
guilt is thine, Jeanne, and to thee I say that thy
King is a schismatic and a heretic."

In the full flood of his oratory the preacher was
arrested here by that clear voice that had so often
made itself heard through the tumult of battle.
Jeanne could bear much, but not this. She was
used to abuse in her own person, but all her spirit
came back at this assault on her King. An inter-
ruption to a sermon has always a dramatic and start-
ling effect, but when that voice arose now, when the
startled speaker stopped, and every dulled attention
revived, it is easy to imagine what a stir, what a

H31] The Abjuration. 367

wonderful, sudden sensation must have arisen in the
midst of the crowd. " By my faith, sire," cried
Jeanne, "saving your respect, I swear upon my life
that my King is the most noble Christian of all
Christians, that he is not what you say."

The sermon, however, was resumed after this
interruption. And finally the preacher turned to
Jeanne, who had subsided from that start of anima-
tion, and was again the subdued and silent prisoner,
her heart overwhelmed with many heavy thoughts.
" Here," said firard, " are my lords the judges who
have so often summoned and required of you to
submit your acts and words to our Holy Mother
the Church ; because in these acts and words there
are many things which it seemed to the clergy were
not good either to say or to sustain."

To which she replied (we quote again from the
formal records), " I will answer you." And as to
her submission to the Church she said : " I have
told them on that point that all the works which I
have done and said may be sent to Rome, to our
Holy Father the Pope, to whom, but to God first, I
refer in all. And as for my acts and words I have
done all on the part of God." She also said that no
one was to blame for her acts and w r ords, neither her
King nor any other; and if there were faults in
them, the blame was hers and no other's.

Asked, if she would renounce all that she had
done wrong; answered, " I refer everything to God
and to our Holy Father the Pope."

It was then told her that this was not enough, and
that our Holy Father was too far off: also that the

368 Jeanne d* Arc.

[1431

Ordinaries were judges each in his diocese, and it
was necessary that she should submit to our Mother
the Holy Church, and that she should confess that
the clergy and officers of the Church had a right to
determine in her case. And of this she was admon-
ished three times.

After this the Bishop began to read the definitive
sentence. When a great part of it was read, Jeanne
began to speak and said that she would hold to all
that the judges and the Church said, and obey in
everything their ordinance and will. And there in
the presence of the above-named and of the great
multitude assembled she made her abjuration in the
manner that follows :

And she said several times that since the Church
said her apparitions and revelations should not be
sustained or believed, she would not sustain them ;
but in everything submit to the judges and to our
Mother the Holy Church.

In this strange, brief, subdued manner is the for-
mal record made. Manchon writes on his margin :
At the end of the sentence Jeanne, fearing the fire,
said she would obey tlie Church. Even into the bare
legal document there comes a hush as of awe, the
one voice responding in the silence of the crowd,
with a quiver in it ; the very animation of the pre-
vious outcry enhancing the effect of this low and
faltering submission, timens ignem in fear of the
fire.

The more familiar record, and the recollections
long after of those eye-witnesses, give us another

14311 The Abjuration. 369

version of the scene, firard, from his pulpit, read
the form of abjuration prepared. But Jeanne an-
swered that she did not know what abjuration
meant, and the preacher called upon Massieu to
explain it to her. "And he" (we quote from his
own deposition), " after excusing himself, said that it
meant thi^ . that if she opposed the said articles she
would be burnt ; but he advised her to refer it to
the Church universal whether she should abjure or
not. Which thing she did, saying to firard, ' I
refer to the Church universal whether I should
abjure or not.' To which Erard answered, * You
shall abjure at once or you will be burnt/ Massieu
gives further particulars in another part of the Re-
habilitation process. Erard, he says, asked what he
-aying to the prisoner, and he answered that she
would sign if the schedule was read to her; but
Jeanne said that she could not write, and then
added that she wished it to be decided by the
Church, and ought not to sign unless that was
done: and also required that she should be placed
in the custody of the Church, and freed from the
hands of the English. The same ferard answered
that there had been ample delay, and that if she did
not sign at once she should be burned, and forbade
Massieu to say any more."

Meanwhile many cries and entreaties came, as far
as they dared, from the crowd. Some one, in the
excitement of the moment, would seem to have
promised that she should be transferred to the
custody of the Church. " Jeanne, why will you die?
Jeanne will you not save yourself?" was called

3/o yeanne d' Arc. [1431

to her by many a bystander. The girl stood fast,
but her heart failed her in this terrible climax of her
suffering. Once she called out over their heads,
"All that I did was done for good, and it was well
to do it : " her last cry. Then she would seem to
have recovered in some measure her composure.
Probably her agitated brain was unable to under-
stand the formula of recantation which was read to
her amid all the increasing noises of the crowd, but
she had a vague faith in the condition she had her-
self stated, that the paper should be submitted to the
Church, and that she should at once be transferred to
an ecclesiastical prison. Other suggestions are made,
namely, that it was a very short document upon
which she hastily in her despair made a cross, and
that it was a long one, consisting of several pages,
which was shown afterwards with Jehanne scribbled
underneath. " In fact," says Massieu, "she abjured
and made a cross with the pen which the witness
handed to her : " he, if any one must have known
exactly what happened.

No doubt all this would be imperfectly heard
on the other platform. But the agitation must
have been visible enough, the spectators closing
round the young figure in the midst, the plead-
ings, the appeals, seconded by many a cry from
the crowd. Such a small matter to risk her young
life for! "Sign, sign; why should you die!"
Cauchon had gone on reading the sentence, half
through the struggle. He had two sentences all
ready, two courses of procedure, cut and dry: either
to absolve her which meant condemning her to

The Abjuration. 371

perpetual imprisonment on bread and water : or to
carry her off at once to the stake. The English
were impatient for the last. It is a horrible thing
to acknowledge, but it is evidently true. They had
never wished to play with her as a cat with a mouse,
as her learned countrymen had done those three
months past ; they had desired at once to get her
out of their way. But the idea of her perpetual
imprisonment did not please them at all ; the risk
of such a prisoner was more than they chose to
encounter. Nevertheless there are some things a
churchman cannot do. When it was seen that
Jeanne had yielded, that she had put her mark to
something on a paper flourished forth in some-
body's hand in the sunshine, the Bishop turned
to the Cardinal on his right hand, and asked
what he was to do? There was but one answer
possible to Winchester, had he been English and
Jeanne's natural enemy ten times over. To admit
her to penitence was the only practicable way.

Here arises a great question, already referred to,
as to what it was that Jeanne signed. She could
not write, she could only put her cross on the
document hurriedly read to her, amid the confusion
and the murmurs of the crowd. The ce'diile to
which she put her sign " contained eight lines:"
what she is reported to have signed is three pages
long, and full of detail. Massieu declares certainly
that this (the abjuration published) was not the
one of which mention is made in the trial ; " for
the one read by the deponent and signed by the said
Jeanne was quite different." This would seem to

372 Jeanne d' Arc. U431

prove the fact that a much enlarged version of an
act of abjuration, in its original form strictly con-
fined to the necessary points and expressed in few
words was afterwards published as that bearing the
sign of the penitent. Her own admissions, as will
be seen, are of the scantiest, scarcely enough to tell
as an abjuration at all.

When the shouts of the people proved that this
great step had been taken, and Winchester had sig-
nified his conviction that the penitence must be
accepted, Cauchon replaced one sentence by another
and pronounced the prisoner's fate. " Seeing that
thou hast returned to the bosom of the Church by
the grace of God, and hast revoked and denied all
thy errors, we, the Bishop aforesaid, commit thee to
perpetual prison, with the bread of sorrow and water
of anguish, to purge thy soul by solitary penitence."
Whether the words reached her over all those crowd-
ing heads, or whether they were reported to her, or
what Jeanne expected to follow standing there upon
her platform, more shamed and downcast than
through all her trial, no one can tell. There seems
even to have been a moment of uncertainty among
the officials. Some of them congratulated Jeanne,
L'Oyseleur for one pressing forward to say, " You
have done a good day's work, you have saved your
soul." She herself, excited and anxious, desired
eagerly to know where she was now to go. She
would seem for the moment to have accepted the
fact of her perpetual imprisonment with complete
faith and content. It meant to her instant relief
from her hideous prison-house, and she could not

1431] The Abjuration. 373

contain her impatience and eagerness. 4< People of
the Church gens dc Elglise lead me to your prison ;
let me be no longer in the hands of the English,"
she cried with feverish anxiety. To gain this point,
to escape the irons and the dreadful durance which
she had suffered so long, was all her thought. The
men about her could not answer this appeal. Some
of them no doubt knew very well what the answer
must be, and some must have seen the angry looks
and stern exclamation which Warwick addressed to
Cauchon, deceived like Jeanne by this unsatisfactory
conclusion, and the stir among the soldiers at sight of
his displeasure. But perhaps flurried by all that had
happened, perhaps hoping to strengthen the victim
in her moment of hope, some of them hurried across
to the Bishop to ask where they were to take her.
One of these was Pierre Miger, friar of Longueville.
Where was she to be taken ? In Winchester's hear-
ing, perhaps in Warwick's, what a question to put !
An English bishop, says this witness, turned to him
angrily and said to Cauchon that this was a " fau-
teur de ladite Jeanne," " this fellow was also one of
them." Miger excused himself in alarm as St. Peter
did before him, and Cauchon turning upon him
commanded grimly that she should be taken back
whence she came. Thus ended the last hope of the
Maid. Her abjuration, which by no just title could
be called an abjuration, had been in vain.

Jeanne was taken back, dismayed and miserable,
to the prison which she had perilled her soul to
escape. It was very little she had done in reality, and
at that moment she could scarcely yet have realised

374 J canned* Arc. [H3f

what she had done, except that it had failed. At
the end of so long and bitter a struggle she had
thrown down her arms but for what? to escape
those horrible gaolers and that accursed room with
its ear of Dionysius, its Judas hole in the wall. The
bitterness of the going back was beyond words.
We hear of no word that she said when she realised
the hideous fact that nothing was changed for her ;
the bitter waters closed over her head. Again the
chains to be locked and double locked that bound
her to her dreadful bed, again the presence of those
men who must have been all the more odious to her
from the momentary hope that she had got free from
them for ever.

The same afternoon the Vicar-Inquisitor, who had
never been hard upon her, accompanied by Nicole
Midi, by the young seraphic doctor, Courcelles, and
L'Oyseleur, along with various other ecclesiastical
persons, visited her prison. The Inquisitor con-
gratulated and almost blessed her, sermonising as
usual, but briefly and not ungently, though with a
word of warning that should she change her mind
and return to her evil ways there would be no further
place for repentance. As a return for the mercy and
clemency of the Church, he required her immedi-
ately to put on the female dress which his attendants
had brought. There is something almost ludicrous,
could we forget the tragedy to follow, in the bundle
of humble clothing brought by such exalted per-
sonages, with the solemnity which became a thing
upon which hung the issues of life or death. Jeanne
replied with the humility of a broken spirit. " I take

MONUMENT TO JEANNE D'ARC AT BONSECOURS.

H31 J The Abjuration. 375

them willingly," she said, "and in everything I will
obey the Church." Then silence closed upon her,
the horrible silence of the prison, full of hidden
listeners and of watching ey

Meantime there was great discontent and strife of
tongues outside. It was said that man}' even of the
doctors who condemned her would fain have seen
Jeanne removed to some less dangerous prison: but
Monseigneur de Beauvais had to hold head against
the great English authorities who were out of all
patience, fearing that the witch might still slip
through their fingers and by her spells and incanta-
tions make the heart of the troops melt once more
within them. If the mind of the Church had been
as charitable as it professed to be, I doubt if all the
power of Rome could have got the Maid now out of
the English grip. They were exasperated, and felt
that they too, as well as the prisoner, had been played
with. But the Bishop had good hope in his mind,
still to be able to content his patrons. Jeanne had
abjured, it was true, but the more he inquired into
that act, the less secure he must have felt about it.
And she might relapse ; and if she relapsed there
would be no longer any place for repentance. And
it is evident that his confidence in the power of the
clothes was boundless. In any case a few days more
would make all clear.

They did not have many days to wait. There are
two, to all appearance, well-authenticated stories of
the cause of Jeanne's " relapse." One account is
given by Frere Isambard, whom she told in the
presence of several others, that she had been assaulted

376 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

in her cell by a Millourt Anglois, and barbarously
used, and in self-defence had resumed again the man's
dress which had been left in her cell. The story of
Massieu is different : To him Jeanne explained that
when she asked to be released from her bed on the
morning of Trinity Sunday, her guards took away
her female dress which she was wearing, and emptied
the sack containing the other upon her bed. She
appealed to them, reminding them that these were
forbidden to her ; but got no answer except a brutal
order to get up. It is very probable that both
stories were true. Frere Isambard found her weep-
ing and agitated, and nothing is more probable than
that this was the occasion on which Warwick heard
her cries, and interfered to save her. Massieu's ver-
sion, of which he is certain, was communicated to
him a day or two after when they happened to be
alone together. It was on the Thursday before Trin-
ity Sunday that she put on the female dress, but it
would seem that rumours on the subject of a relapse
had begun to spread even before the Sunday on
which that event happened : and Beaupere and
Midi were sent by the Bishop to investigate. But
they were very ill-received in the Castle, sworn at
by the guards, and forced to go back without seeing
Jeanne, there being as yet, it appeared, nothing to
see. On the morning of the Monday, however,
the rumours arose with greater force ; and no doubt
secret messages must have informed the Bishop
that the hoped-for relapse had taken place. He set
out himself accordingly, accompanied by the Vicar-
Inquisitor and attended by eight of the familiar

H31 The Abjuration. 377

names so often quoted, triumphant, important, no
doubt with much show of pompous solemnity, to
find out for himself. The Castle was all in ex-
citement, report and gossip already busy with the
new event so trifling, so all-important. There was
no idea now of turning back the visitors. The prison
doors were eagerly thrown open, and there indeed
once more, in her tunic and hose, was Jeanne,
whom they had left four clays before painfully con-
templating the garments they had given her, and
humbly promising obedience. The men burst in
upon her with an outcry of astonishment. What,
she had changed her dress again? " Yes," she re-
plied, " she had resumed the costume of a man."
There was no triumph in what she said, but rather a
subdued tone of sadness, as of one who in the most
desperate strait has taken her resolution and must
abide by it, whether she likes it or not. She was
asked why she had resumed that dress, and who had
made her do so. There was no question of anything
else at first. The tunic and gippon were at once
enough to decide her fate.

She answered that she had done it by her own
will, no one influencing her to do so; and that she
preferred the dress of a man to that of a woman.

She was reminded that she had promised and
sworn not to resume the dress of a man. She
answered that she was not aware she had ever sworn
or had made any such oath.

She was asked why she had done it. She an-
swered that it was more lawful to wear a man's
dress among men, than the dress of a woman ; and

378 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

also that she had taken it back because the promise
made to her had not been kept, that she should hear
the mass, and receive her Saviour, and be delivered
from her irons.

She was asked if she had not abjured that dress,
and sworn not to resume it. She answered that she
would rather die than be left in irons ; but if they
would allow her to go to mass and take her out of
her irons and put her in a gracious prison, and a
woman with her, she would be good, and do what-
ever the Church pleased.

She was then asked suddenly, as if there had
been no condemnation of her voices as lying fables,
whether since Thursday she had heard them again.
To this she answered, recovering a little courage,
-Yes."

She was asked what they said to her; she an-
swered that they said God had made known to her
by St. Catherine and St. Margaret the great pity
there was of the treason to which she had consented
by making abjuration and revocation in order to
save her life : and that she had earned damnation
for herself to save her life. Also that before Thurs-
day her voices had told her that she should do
what she did that day, that on the scaffold they had
told her to answer the preachers boldly, and that this
preacher whom she called a false preacher had ac-
cused her of many things she never did. She also
added that if she said God had not sent her she
would damn herself, for true it was that God had
sent her. Also that her voices had told her since,
that she had done a great sin in confessing that she

The Abjuration. 379

had sinned ; but that for fear of the fire she had said
that which she had said.

She was asked (all over again) if she believed that
these voices were those of St. Catherine and St.
Margaret. She answered, Yes, they were so ; and
from God. And as for what had been said to her on
the scaffold that she had spoken lies and boasted
concerning St. Catherine and St. Margaret, she had
not intended any such thing. Also she said that she
had never intended to deny her apparitions, or to say
that they were not St. Catherine and St. Margaret.
All that she had done was in fear of the fire, and she
had denied nothing but what was contrary to truth ;
and she said that she would like better to make her
penitence all at one time that is to say, in dying,
than to endure a long penitence in prison. Also that
she had never done anything against God or the faith,
whatever they might have made her say ; and that
for what was in the schedule of the abjuration she
did not know what it was. Also she said that she
never intended to revoke anything so long as it
pleased our Lord. At the end she said that if her
judges would have her do so, she might put on again
her female dress ; but for the rest she would do no
more.

" What need we any further witness ; for we our-
selves have heard of his own mouth." Jeanne's pro-
tracted, broken, yet continuous apology and defence,
overawed her judges ; they do not seem to have
interrupted it with questions. It was enough and
more than enough. She had relapsed ; the end of
all things had come, the will of her enemies could

380

Jeanne d* Arc.

[1431

now be accomplished. No one could say she had not
had full justice done her ; every formality had been
fulfilled, every lingering formula carried out. Now
there was but one thing before her, whose sad young
voice with $many pauses thus sighed forth its last
utterance ; and for her judges, one last spectacle to
prepare, and the work to complete which it had
taken them three long months to do.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SACRIFICE.
MAY 30, 1431.

|T is not necessary to be a good man in
order to divine what in certain cir-
cumstances a good and pure spirit
will do. The Bishop of Beauvais had
entertained no doubt as to what would
happen. He knew exactly, with a per-
spicuity creditable to his perceptions
at least, that, notwithstanding the effect which his
theatrical wise en scene had produced upon the
imagination of Jeanne, no power in heaven or earth
would induce that young soul to content itself with
a lie. He knew it, though lies were his daily bread ;
the children of this world are wiser in their genera-
tion than the children of light. He had bidden his
English patrons to wait a little, and now his predic-
tions were triumphantly fulfilled. It is hard to be-
lieve of any man that on such a certainty he could
have calculated and laid his devilish plans ; but there
would seem to have existed in the mediaeval church-
man a certain horrible thirst for the blood of a relapsed

381

382 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

heretic which was peculiar to their age and profession,
and which no better principle in their own minds
could subdue. It was their appetite, their delight
of sensation, in distinction from the other appetites
perhaps scarcely less cruel which other men indulged
with no such horrified denunciation from the rest
of the world. Others, it is evident, shared with
Cauchon that sharp sensation of dreadful pleasure
in finding her out ; young Courcelles, so modest and
unassuming and so learned, among the rest ; not
L'Oyseleur, it appears by the sequel. That Judas,
like the greater traitor, was struck to the heart ; but
the less bad man who had only persecuted, not
betrayed, stood high in superior virtue, and only re-
joiced that at last the victim was ready to drop into
the flames which had been so carefully prepared.

The next morning, Tuesday after Trinity Sunday,
the witnesses hurried with their news to the quickly
summoned assembly in the chapel of the Arch-
bishop's house; thirty-three of the judges, having
been hastily called together, were there to hear.
Jeanne had relapsed ; the sinner escaped had been
re-caught ; and what was now to be done ? One by
one each man rose again and gave his verdict. Once
more Egidius, Abbot of Fecamp, led the tide of
opinion. There was but one thing to be done : to
give her up to secular justice, "praying that she
might be gently dealt with." Man after man added
his voice " to that of the Abbot of Fecamp afore-
said " that she might be gently dealt with ! Not
one of them could be under any doubt what gentle
meaning would be in the execution ; but apparently

1431] The Sacrifice. 383

the words were of some strange use in salving their
consciences.

The decree was pronounced at once without fur-
ther formalities. In point of view of the law, there
should have followed another trial, more evidence,
pleadings, and admonitions. We may be thankful
to Monseigneur de Beauvais that he now defied law,
and no longer prolonged the useless ceremonials of
that mockery of justice. It is said that in coming
out of the prison, through the courtyard full of Eng-
lishmen, where Warwick was in waiting to hear what
news, the Bishop greeted them with all the satisfac-
tion of success, laughing and bidding them " Make
good cheer, the thing is done." In the same spirit
of satisfaction was the rapid action of the further
proceedings. On Tuesday she was condemned,
summoned on Wednesday morning at eight 'clock
to the Old Market of Rouen to hear her sentence,
and there, without even that formality, the penalty
was at once carried out. No time, certainly, was
lost in this last stage.

All the interest of the heart-rending tragedy now
turns to the prison where Jeanne woke in the early
morning without, as yet, any knowledge of her fate.
It must be remembered that the details of this won-
derful scene, which we have in abundance, are taken
from reports made twenty years after by eye-wit-
nesses indeed, but men to whom by that time it had
become the only policy to represent Jeanne in the
brightest colours, and themselves as her sympathetic
friends. There is no doubt that so remarkable an
occurrence as her martyrdom must have made a deep

84 Jeanne d' Arc.

impression on the minds of all those who were in any
way actors in or spectators of that wonderful scene.
And every word of all these different reports is on
oath ; but notwithstanding, a touch of unconscious
colour, a more favourable sentiment, influenced by
the feeling of later days, may well have crept in.
With this warning we may yet accept these deposi-
tions as trustworthy, all the more for the atmosphere
of truth, perfectly realistic, and in no way idealised,
which is in every description of the great catas-
trophe ; in which Jeanne figures as no supernatu-
ral heroine, but as a terrified, tormented, and often
trembling girl.

On the fatal morning very early, Brother Martin
1'Advenu appeared in the cell of the Maid. He had
a mingled tale to tell first " to announce to her her
approaching death, and to lead her to true contrition
and penitence ; and also to hear her confession, which
the said 1'Advenu did very carefully and charitably."
Jeanne on her part received the news with no con-
ventional resignation or calm. Was it possible that
she had been deceived and really hoped for mercy ?
She began to weep and to cry at the sudden stroke
of fate. Notwithstanding the solemnity of her
last declaration, that she would rather bear her
punishment all at once than to endure the long pun-
ishment of her prison, her heart failed before the
imminent stake, the immediate martyrdom. She
cried out to heaven and earth : " My body, which
has never been corrupted, must it be burned to
ashes to-day ! " No one but Jeanne knew at what
cost she had kept her perfect purity ; was it good

H3U The Sacrifice. 385

for nothing but to be burned, that young body not
nineteen years old ? " Ah," she said, " I would rather
be beheaded seven times than burned ! I appeal to
God against all these great wrongs they do me."
But after a while the passion wore itself out, the
child's outburst \vas stilled ; calming herself, she
knelt down and made her confession to the com-
passionate friar, then asked for the sacrament, to
44 receive her Saviour " as she had so often prayed
and entreated before. It would appear that this had
not been within Friar Martin's commission. He sent
to ask the Bishop's leave, and it was granted " any-
thing she asked for " as they give whatever he may
wish to eat to a condemned convict. But the Host
was brought into the prison without ceremony, with-
out accompanying candles or vestment for the priest.
There are always some things which are insupporta-
ble to a man. Brother Martin could bear the sight
of the girl's anguish, but not to administer to her a
diminished rite. He sent again to demand what was
needful, out of respect for the Holy Sacrament and
the present victim. And his request had come, it
would seem, to some canon or person in authority
whose heart had been touched by the wonderful
Maid in her long martyrdom. This nameless sym-
pathiser did all that a man could do. He sent the
Host with a train of priests chanting litanies as they
went through the streets, with torches burning in
the pure early daylight ; some of these exhorted the
people who knelt as they passed, to pray for her.
She must have heard in her prison the sound of the
bell, the chant of the clergy, the pause of awe, and

386 Jeanne d' Arc.

then the rising, irregular murmur of the voices, that
sound of prayer never to be mistaken. Pray for
her ! at last the city was touched to its heart.
There is no sign that it had been sympathetic to
Jeanne before; it was half English or more. But
she was about to die : she had stood bravely against
the world and answered like a true Maid ; and they
had now seen her led through their streets, a girl
just nineteen. The popular imagination at least was
subjugated for the time.

Thus Jeanne for the first time, after all the feasts
were over, received at last " her Saviour " as she said,
the consecration of that rite which He himself had
instituted before He died. But she was not per-
mitted to receive it in simplicity and silence as be-
comes that sacred commemoration. All the time
she was still prescJrfe and admonished by the men
about her. A few days after her death the Bishop
and his followers assembled, and set down in evi-
dence their different parts in that scene. How far
it is to be relied upon, it is difficult to say. The
speakers did not testify under oath ; there is no for-
mal warrant for their truth, and an anxious attempt
to prove her change of mind is evident throughout ;
still there seem elements of truth in it, and a
certain glimpse is afforded of Jeanne in the depths,
when hope and strength were gone. The general
burden of their testimony is that she sadly allowed
herself to have been deceived, as to the liberation
for which all along she had hoped. Peter Morice,
often already mentioned, importuning her on the
subject of the spirits, endeavouring to get from her

1431] The Sacrifice. 387

an admission that she had not seen them at all, and
was herself a deceiver: or if not that, at least that
they were evil spirits, not good, drew from her the
impatient exclamation : " Be they good spirits, or
be they evil, they appeared to me." Even in the act
of giving her her last communion, Brother Martin
paused with the consecrated Host in his hands.

" Do you believe," he said, " that this is the body
of Christ ? " Jeanne answered : " Yes, and He alone
can free me ; I pray you to administer." Then this
brother said to Jeanne : " Do you believe as fully in
your voices?" Jeanne answered: "I believe in
God alone and not in the voices, which have deceived
me." L'Advenu himself, however, does not give
this deposition, but another of the persons present,
Le Camus, who did not live to revise his testimony
at the Rehabilitation.

The rite being over, the Bishop himself bustled in
with an air of satisfaction, rubbing his hands, one
may suppose from his tone. " So, Jeanne," he said,
" you have always told us that your * voices * said
you were to be delivered, and you see now they
have deceived you. Tell us the truth at last."
Then Jeanne answered : " Truly I see that they
have deceived me." The report is Cauchon's, and
therefore little to be trusted ; but the sad reply is at
least not unlike the sentiment that, even in records
more trustworthy, seems to have breathed forth in
her. The other spectators all report another portion
of this conversation. " Bishop, it is by you I die," are
the words with which the Maid is said to have met
him. " Oh Jeanne, have patience," he replied. " It

388 Jeanne d* Arc. [1431

is because you did not keep your promise.*' " If
you had kept yours, and sent me to the prison of
the Church, and put me in gentle hands, it would
not have happened/' she replied. " I appeal from
you to God." Several of the attendants, also,
according to the Bishop's account, heard from her the
same sad words: " They have deceived me"; and
there seems no reason why we should not believe it.
Her mind was weighed clown under this dreadful
unaccountable fact. She was forsaken as a greater
sufferer was ; and a horror of darkness had closed
around her. " Ah, Sieur Pierre," she said to Morice,
"where shall I be to-night?" The man had con-
demned her as a relapsed heretic, a daughter of
perdition. lie had just suggested to her that her
angels must have been devils. Nevertheless perhaps
his face was not unkindly, he had not meant all the
harm he did. He ought to have answered, " In
Hell, with the spirits you have trusted " ; that would
have been the only logical response. What he did
say was very different*. " Have you not good faith
in the Lord?" said the judge who had doomed
her. Amazing and notable speech ! They had
sentenced her to be burned for blasphemy as an
envoy of the devil ; they believed in fact that she
was the child of God, and going straight in that
flame to the skies. Jeanne, with the sound, clear
head and the " sane mind " to which all of them
testified, did she perceive, even at that dreadful
moment, the inconceivable contradiction? " Ah,"
she said, "yes, God helping me, I shall be in
Paradise."

1431] ?7/* Sacrifice. 389

There is one point in the equivocal report which
commends itself to the mind, which several of these
men unite in, but which was carefully not repeated
at the Rehabilitation : and this was that Jeanne
allowed "as if it had been a thing of small import-
ance," that her story of the angel bearing the crown
at Chinon was a romance which she neither expected
nor intended to be believed. For this we have to
thank L'Oyseleur and the rest of the reverend
ghouls assembled on that dreadful morning in the
prison.

Jeanne was then dressed, for her last appear-
ance in this world, in the long white garment of
penitence, the robe of sacrifice: and the mitre was
placed on her head which was worn by the victims
of the Holy Office. She was led for the last time
down the echoing stair to the crowded courtyard
where her " chariot" awaited her. It \vas her con-
fessor's part to remain by her side, and Frere Isam-
bard and Massieu, the officer, both her friends, were
also with her. It is said that L'Oyseleur rushed for-
ward at this moment, either to accompany her also,
or, as many say, to fling himself at her feet and
implore her pardon. He was hustled aside by the
crowd and would have been killed by the English,
it is said, but for Warwick. The bystanders would
seem to have been seized with a sudden disgust for
all the priests about, thinking them Jeanne's friends,
the historians insinuate more likely in scorn and
horror of their treachery. And then the melancholy
procession set forth.

The streets were overflowing as was natural,

390 Jeanne (T Arc. [1431

crowded in every part: eight hundred English
soldiers surrounded and followed the cortege, as the
car rumbled along over the rough stones. Not yet
had the Maid attained to the calm of consent. She
looked wildly about her at all the high houses and
windows crowded with gazers, and at the throngs
that gaped and gazed upon her on every side. In
the midst of the consolations of the confessor who
poured pious words in her ears, other words, the
plaints of a wondering despair fell from her lips,
" Rouen ! Rouen ! " she said ; " am I to die here ? "
It seemed incredible to her, impossible. She looked
about still for some sign of disturbance, some rising
among the crowd, some cry of " France ! France ! " or
glitter of mail. Nothing : but the crowds ever gaz-
ing, murmiiring at her, the soldiers roughly clearing
the way, the rude chariot rumbling on. " Rouen,
Rouen ! I fear that you shall yet suffer because of
this/' she murmured in her distraction, amid her
mornings and tears.

At last the procession came to the Old Market, an
open space encumbered with three erections one
reaching up so high that the shadow of it seemed to
touch the sky, the horrid stake with wood piled up
in an enormous mass, made so high, it is said, in
order that the executioner himself might not reach
it to give a merciful blow, to secure unconsciousness
before the flames could touch the trembling form.
Two platforms were raised opposite, one furnished
with chairs and benches for Winchester and his
court, another for the judges, with the civil officers
of Rouen who ought to have pronounced sentence

143U The Sacrifice. 391

in their turn. Without this form the execution was
illegal : what did it matter ? N<> sentence at all was
re. id to her, not even the .istical one which was

ilk-gal also. She was j)robably placed first on the
same platform with her judges, where there was a
pulpit from which she was to be />rcsc/u f e for the last
time. Of all Jeanne's sufferings this could scarcely
be the least, that she was always prcscJit'e, lectured,
addressed, sermonised through every painful step of
IKT career.

The moan was still unsilenced on her lips, and her
distracted soul scarcely yet freed fiom the sick
thought of a possible deliverance, wher the ever-
lasting strain of admonishment, and re-enumeration
of her errors, again penetrated the hum of the crowd.
The preacher was Nicolas Midi, one of the eloquent
members of that dark fraternity ; and his text was
in St. Paul's words: " If any of the members suffer,
all the other members suffer with it." Jeanne was a
rotten branch which had to be cut off from the
Church for the good of her own soul, and that the
Church might not suffer by her sin ; a heretic, a blas-
phemer, an impostor, giving forth false fables at one
time, and making a false penitence the next. It is
very unlikely that she heard anything of that flood
of invective. At the end of the sermon the preacher
bade her " Go in peace." Even then, however, the
fountain of abuse did not cease. The Bishop him-
self rose, and once more by way of exhorting her to
a final repentance, heaped ill names upon her help-
head. The narrative shows that the prisoner,
now arrived at the last point in her career, paid no

39 2 J eanne d* Arc. [1431

attention to the tirade levelled at her from the
president's place. " She knelt down on the platform
showing great signs and appearance of contrition, so
that all those who looked upon her wept. She called
on her knees upon the blessed Trinity, the blessed
glorious Virgin Mary, and all the blessed saints of
Paradise." She called specially was it with still a
return towards the hoped for miracle? was it with
the instinctive cry towards an old and faithful friend ?
-" St. Michael, St. Michael, St. Michael, help ! "
There would seem to have been a moment in which
the hush and silence of a great crowd surrounded
this wonderful stage, where was that white figure
on her knees, praying, speaking sometimes to God,
sometimes to the saintly unseen companions of
her life, sometimes in broken phrases to those about
her. She asked the priests, thronging all round,
those who had churches, to say a mass for her soul.
She asked all whom she might have offended to
forgive her. Through her tears and prayers broke
again and again the sorrowful cry of " Rouen,
Rouen ! is it here truly that I must die?" No rea-
son is given for the special pang that seems to echo
in this cry. Jeanne had once planned a campaign
in Normandy with Alengon. Had there been per-
haps some special hope which made this conclusion
all the more bitter, of setting up in the Norman
capital her standard and that of her King?

There have been martyrs more exalted above the
circumstances of their fate than Jeanne. She was no
abstract heroine. She felt every pang to the depth
of her natural, spontaneous being, and the humilia-

1431] The Sacrifice. "393

lion and ihc deep distress of having been aban-
doned in the sight of men, perhaps ihc profoundest
pang <>f which nature is capable. u lie trusted in
(iod that he would deliver him: let him deliver him
if he will have him." That which her Lord had
borne, the little sister had now to bear. She called
upon the saints, but they did not answer. She was
shamed in the sight of men. But as she knelt there
weeping, the Bishop's evil voice scarcely silenced,
the soldiers waiting impatient the entire crowd,
touched to its heart with one impulse, broke into
a burst of weeping and lamentation, "a chaitdcs
lanncs " according to the graphic French expres-
sion. They wept hot tears as in the keen personal
pang of sorrow and fellow-feeling and impotence to
help. Winchester withdrawn high on his platform,
ostentatiously separated from any share in it, a
spectator merely wept ; and the judges wept. The
Bishop of Boulogne was overwhelmed with emo-
tion, iron tears flowed down the accursed Cauchon's
cheeks. The very world stood still to see that white
form of purity, and valour, and faith, the Maid, not
shouting triumphant on the height of victory, but
kneeling, weeping, on the verge of torture. Human
nature could not bear this long. A hoarse cry burst
forth : " Will you keep us here all day ; must we
dine here?" a voice perhaps of unendurable pain
that simulated cruelty. And then the executioner
stepped in and seized the victim.

It has been said that her stake was set so high,
that there might be no chance of a merciful blow, or
of strangulation to spare the victim the atrocities of

394 Jeanne d' Arc.

(1431

the fire ; perhaps, let us hope, it was rather that the
ascending smoke might suffocate her before the flame
could reach her: the fifteenth century would natu-
rally accept the most cruel explanation. There was
a writing set over the little platform which gave
footing to the attendants below the stake, upon
which were written the following words :

JEANNE CALLED THE MAID, LIAR, ABUSER OF
THE PEOPLE, SOOTHSAYER, BLASPHEMER OF GOD,
PERNICIOUS, SUPERSTITIOUS, IDOLATROUS, CRUEL,
DISSOLUTE, INVOKER OF DEVILS, APOSTATE, SCHIS-
MATIC, HERETIC.

This was how her countrymen in the name of law
and justice and religion branded the Maid of France
one half of her countrymen : the other half, silent,
speaking no word, looking on.

Before she began to ascend the stake, Jeanne,
rising from her knees, asked for a cross. No place
so fit for that emblem ever was : but no cross was to
be found. One of the English soldiers who kept
the way seized a stick from some one by, broke it
across his knee in unequal parts, and bound them
hurriedly together; so, in the legend and in all the
pictures, when Mary of Nazareth was led to her
espousals, one of her disappointed suitors broke his
wand. The cross was rough with its broken edges
which Jeanne accepted from her enemy, and carried,
pressing it against her bosom. One would rather
have that rude cross to preserve as a sacred thing,
than the highest effort of art in gold and silver.

THE CATHEDRAL ROUEN.

1431] The Sacrifice. 395

This was her ornament and consolation as she trod
the few remaining steps and mounted the pile of the
faggots to her place high over all that sea of heads.
When she was bound securely to her stake, she asked
again for a cross, a cross blessed and sacred from a
church, to be held before her as long as her eyes
could see. Frere Isambard and Massieu, following
her closely still, sent to the nearest church, and pro-
cured probably some cross which was used for proces-
sional purposes on a long staff which could be held
up before her. The friar stood upon the faggots
holding it up, and calling out broken words of en-
couragement so long that Jeanne bade him with-
draw, lest the fire should catch his robes. And so
at last, as the flames began to rise, she was left alone,
the good brother always at the foot of the pile, pain-
fully holding up with uplifted arms the cross that
she might still see it, the soldiers crowdin o , lit up
with the red glow of the fire, the horrified, trembling
crowd like an agitated sea around. The wild flames
rose and fell in sinister gleams and flashes, the smoke
blew upwards, by times enveloping that white Maid
standing out alone against a sky still blue $nd sweet
with May Pandemonium underneath, but Heaven
above. Then suddenly there came a great cry from
among the black fumes that began to reach the
clouds : " My voices were of God ! they have not
deceived me! " She had seen and recognised it at
last. Here it was, the miracle : the great victory
that had been promised though not with clang of
swords and triumph of rescuing knights, and " St.
Denis for France! " but by the sole hand of God,

Jeanne d* Arc.

rust

a victory and triumph for all time, for her country a
crown of glory and ineffable shame.

Thus died the Maid of France with " Jesus,
Jesus," on her lips till the merciful smoke breath-
ing upwards choked that voice in her throat ; and
one who was like unto the Son of God, who was with
her in the fire, wiped all memory of the bitter cross,
wavering uplifted through the air in the good monk's
trembling hands from eyes which opened bright
upon the light and peace of that Paradise of which
she had so long thought and dreamed.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AFTER.

|HE natural burst of remorse which
follows such an event is well known
in hist or}- ; and is as certainly to be
expected as the details of the great
catastrophe itself. \Yc feel almost
as if, had there not been fact and
evidence for such a revulsion of feel'
ing, it must have been recorded all the same, being
inevitable. The executioner, perhaps the most in-
nocent of all, sought out Frere Isambard, and con-
fessed to him in an anguish of remorse, fearing never
to be pardoned for what he had done. An English-
man who had sworn to add a faggot to the flames in
which the witch should be burned, when he rushed
forward to keep his word was seized with sudden
compunction believed that he saw a white dove
flutter forth from amid the smoke over her head, and,
almost fainting at the sight, had to be led by his
comrades to the nearest tavern for refreshment, a
life-like touch in which we recognise our country-

397

398 Jeanne cV Arc.

man ; but he too found his way that afternoon to
Frcre Isambard like the other. A horrible story is
told by the Bourgeois de Par is , whose contemporary
journal is one of the authorities for this period, that
"the fire was drawn aside** in order that Jeanne's
form, with all its clothing burned away, should be
visible by one last act of shameless insult to the
crowd. The fifteenth century believed, as we have
said, everything that is cruel and horrible, as indeed
the vulgar mind does at all ages ; but such brutal
imaginings have seldom any truth to support them,
and there is no such suggestion in the actual record.
Isambard and Massieu heard from one of the officials
that when every other part of her body was de-
stroyed the heart was found intact, but was, by the
order of Winchester, flung into the Seine along with
all the ashes of that sacrifice. It was wise no doubt
that no relics should be kept.

Other details were murmured abroad amid the
excited talk that followed this dreadful scene.
" When she was enveloped by the smoke, she cried
out for water, holy water, and called to St. Michael ;
then hung her head upon her breast and breathing
forth the name of Jesus, gently died." " Being in
the flame her voice never ceased repeating in a loud
voice the holy name of Jesus, and invoking with-
out cease the saints of paradise, she gave up her
spirit, bowing her head and saying the name of
Jesus in sign of the fervour of her faith." One of
the Canons of Rouen, standing sobbing in the crowd,
said to another : " Would that my soul were in the
same place where the soul of that woman is at this

After. 399

moment" ; which indeed is not very different from
the authorised saying of Pierre Morice in the prison.
Guillaume Manchun, the reporter, he who wrote
sitpcrba rcsponsiou\\ his margin, and had written down
every word of her long examination his occupation
for three months, says that he " never wept so
much for anything that happened to himself, and
that for a whole month he could not recover his
calm." This man adds a very characteristic touch,
to wit, that u with part of the pay which he had for
the trial, he bought a missal, that he might have a
reason for praying for her/' Jean Tressat, " secre-
tary to the King of England " (whatever that office
may have been), went home from the execution cry-
ing out, " \Ve are all lost, for we have burned a saint."
A priest, afterwards bishop, Jean Fabry, " did not
believe that there was any man who could restrain
his tears."

The modern historians speak of the mockeries of
the English, but none are visible in the record. In-
deed, the part of the English in it is extraordinarily
diminished on investigation ; they are the supposed
inspirers of the whole proceedings ; they are believed
to be continually pushing on the inquisitors; still
more, they are supposed to have bought all that
large tribunal, the sixty or seventy judges, among
whom were the most learned and esteemed Doctors
in France; but of none of this is there any proof
given. That they were anxious to procure Jeanne's
condemnation and death, is very certain. Not one
among them believed in her sacred mission, almost
all considered her a sorceress, the most dangerous

4OO Jeanne d' Arc,

of evil influences, a witch who had brought shame
and loss to England by her incantations and evil
spells. On that point there could be no doubt
whatever. She alone had stopped the progress of
the invaders, and broken the charm of their invaria-
ble success. But all that she had done had been in
favour of Charles, who made no attempt to serve or
help her, and who had thwarted her plans, and hin-
dered her work so long as it was possible to do so,
even when she was performing miracles for his sake.
And Alengon, Dunois, La Hire, where were they
and all the knights ? Two of them at least were at
Louvins, within a day's march, but never made a
step to rescue her. We need not ask where were
the statesmen and clergy on the French side, for
they were unfeignedly glad to have the burden of
condemning her taken from their hands. No one in
her own country said a word or struck a blow for
Jeanne. As for the suborning of the University of
Paris en masse, and all its best members in particu-
lar, that is a general baseness in which it is impos-
sible to believe. There is no appearance even of
any particular pressure put upon the judges. Jean
de la Fontaine disappeared, we are told, and no one
ever knew what became of him : but it was from
Cauchon he fled. And nothing seems to have hap-
pened to the monks who attended the Maid to the
scaffold, nor to the others who sobbed about the
pile. On the other side, the Doctors who con-
demned her were in no way persecuted or troubled
by the French authorities when the King came to
his own. There was at the time a universal tacit

After. 401

consent in France to all that \vas done at Rouen on
the 3 ist of May, 1431.

One reason for this was not far to seek. We have
perhaps already Sufficiently dwelt upon it. It was
that France was not France at that dolorous mo-
ment. It was no unanimous nation repulsing an
invader. It was two at least, if not more coun-
tries, one of them frankly and sympathetically
attaching itself to the invader, almost as nearly
allied to him in blood, and more nearly by
other bonds, than any tie existing between France
and Burgundy. This does not account for the
hostile indifference of southern France and of the
French monarch to Jeanne, who had delivered
them ; but it accounts for the hostility of Paris and
the adjacent provinces, and Normandy. She was as
much against them as against the English, and the
national sentiment to which she, a patriot before her
age, appealed, bidding not only the English go
home, or fight and be vanquished, which was their
only alternative but the Burgundians to be con-
verted and to live in peace with their brothers, did
not exist. Neither to Burgundians, Picards, or Nor-
mans was the daughter of far Champagne a fellow
countrywoman. There was neither sympathy nor
kindness in their hearts on that score. Some were
humane and full of pity for a simple woman in such
terrible straits; but no more in Paris than in Rouen
was the Maid of Orleans a native champion perse-
cuted by the English ; she was to both an enemy, a
sorceress, putting their soldiers and themselves to
shame.

4

402 Jeanne d' Arc.

I have no desire to lessen our * guilt, whatever
cruelty may have been practised by English hands
against the Heavenly Maid. And much was prac-
tised the iron cage, the chains, the brutal guards,
the final stake, for which may God and also the
world, forgive a crime fully and often confessed. But
it was by French wits and French ingenuity that she
was tortured for three months and betrayed to her
death. A prisoner of war, yet taken and tried as a
criminal, the first step in her downfall was a disgrace
to two chivalrous nations ; but the shame is greater
upon those who sold than upon those who bought ;
and greatest of all upon those who did not move
Heaven and earth, nay, did not move a finger, to
rescue. And indeed we have been the most peni-
tent of all concerned ; we have shrived ourselves by
open confession and tears. We have quarrelled
with our Shakespeare on account of the Maid, and
do not know how we could have forgiven him, but
for the notable and delightful discovery that it was
not he after all, but another and a lesser hand that
endeavoured to befoul her shining garments. France
has never quarrelled with her Voltaire for a much
fouler and more intentional blasphemy.

* The writer must add that personally, as a Scot, she has no right
to use this pronoun. Scotland is entirely guiltless of this crime.
The Scots were fighting on the side of France through all these wars,
a little perhaps for love of France, but much more out of natural
hostility to the English. Yet at this time of day, except to state that
fact, it is scarcely necessary to throw off the responsibility. The
English side is now our side, though it was not so in the fifteenth
century : and a writer of the English tongue must naturally desire
that there should at least be fair play.

After. 403

The most significant and the most curious after-
scene, a pendant to the remorse and pity of so many
of the humbler spectators, was the assembly held on
the Thursday after Jeanne's death, how and when
we are not told. It consisted of " nos judices ante-
dicti," but neither is the place of meeting named,
nor the person who presided. Its sole testimonial is
that the manuscript is in the same hand which has
written the previous records : but whereas each page
in that record was signed at the bottom by respon-
sible notaries, Manchon and his colleagues, no name
whatever certifies this. Seven men, Doctors and
persons of high importance, all judges on the trial,
all concerned in that last scene in the prison, stand
up and give their report of what happened there-
part of which we have quoted their object being
to establish that Jeanne at the last acknowledged
herself to be deceived. According to their own
showing it was exactly such an acknowledgment as
our Lord might have been supposed to make in the
moment of his agony when the words of the psalm,
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
burst from his lips. There seems no reason that
we can see, why this evidence should not be received
as substantially true. The inference that any real
recantation on Jeanne's part was then made, is un-
true, and not even asserted. She was deceived in
respect to her deliverance, and felt it to the bottom
of her heart. It was to her the bitterness of death.
But the flames of her burning showed her the truth,
and with her last breath she proclaimed her renewed
conviction. The scene at the stake would lose some-

404 Jeanne d*Arc.

thing of its greatness without that momentary cloud
which weighed down her troubled soul.

Twenty years after the martyrdom of Jeanne,
long after he had, according to her prophecy, re-
gained Paris and all that had been lost, it became a
danger to the King of France that it should be pos-
sible to imagine that his kingdom had been recovered

o o

for him by means of sorcery ; and accordingly a great
new trial was appointed to revise the decisions of
the old. In the same palace of the Archbishop at
Rouen, which had witnessed so many scenes of the
previous tragedy, the depositions of witnesses col-
lected with the minutest care, and which it had
taken a long time to gather from all quarters, were
submitted for judgment, and a full and complete
reversal of the condemnation was given. The/ra*A?
was a civil one, instituted (nominally) by the mother
and brothers of Jeanne, one of the latter being now
a knight, Pierre de Lys, a gentleman of coat armour
against the heirs and representatives of Cauchon,
Bishop of Beauvais, and Lemaitre, the Deputy In-
quisitor with other persons chiefly concerned in the
judgment. Some of these men were dead, some,
wisely, not to be found. The result was such a
mass of testimony as put every incident of the life
of the Maid in the fullest light from her childhood
to her death, and in consequence secured a trium-
phant and full acquittal of herself and her name
from every reproach. This remarkable and indeed
unique occurrence does not seem, however, to have
roused any enthusiasm. Perhaps France felt herself
too guilty : perhaps the extraordinary calm of con-

After. 405

;>inion which was still too near the catas-
trophe to sec it fully: perhaps that difficulty in the
diffusion of news which hindered the common know-
ledge of a trial a thing too heavy to be blown upon
the winds, while it promulgated the legend, a thing
so much more light to cany: may be the cause of
this. But it is an extraordinary fact that Jeanne's
name remained in abeyance for many ages, and that
only in this century has it come to any sort of
glory, in the country of which Jeanne is the first
and greatest of patriots and champions, a country, too,
to which national glory is more dear than daily bread.
In the new and wonderful spring of life that suc-
ceeded the revolution of 1830, the martyr of the
fifteenth century came to light as by a revelation.
The episode of the Pucelle in Michelet's History of
1 : ranee touched the heart of the world, and remains
one of the finest efforts of history and the most
popular picture of the saint.. And perhaps, though
so much less important in point of art, the maiden
work of another maiden of Orleans the little statue
of Jeanne, so pure, so simple, so spiritual, made
by the Princess Marie of that house, the daughter
of the race which the Maid held in visionary
love, and which thus only has ever attempted
any return of that devotion had its part in re-
awakening her name and memory. It fell again,
however, after the great work of Quicherat had finally
given to the country the means of fully forming its
opinion on the subject means which Fabre's trans-
lation, though unfortunately not literal and adorned
with modern decorations, was calculated to render

406 Jeanne d'Arc.

popular. A great crop of statues and some pictures
not of any great artistic merit have since been dedi-
cated to the memory of the Maid : but yet the
public enthusiasm has never risen above the tide
mark of literary applause.

There has been, however, a great movement of
enthusiasm lately to gain for Jeanne the honour of
canonisation * ; but it seems to have failed, or at
least to have sunk again for the moment into silence.
Perhaps these honours are out of date in our time.
One of the most recent writers on the subject, M.
Henri Blaze de Bury, suggests that one reason which
retards this final consecration is " England, certainly
not a negligible quantity to a Pope of our time."
Let no such illusion move any mind, French or
ecclesiastical. Canonisation means to us, I presume,
and even to a great number of Catholics, simply the
highest honour that can be paid to a holy and spot-
less name. In that sense there is no distinction of
nation, and the English as warmly as the French,
both being guilty towards her, and before God on
her account would welcome all honour that could
be paid to one who, more truly than any princess of
the blood, is Jeanne of France, the Maid, alone in
her lofty humility and valour, and in everlasting
fragrance of modesty and youth.

* I am informed, however, that she is already " Venerable," not
a very appropriate title the same, I presume, as Bienheureuse,
which is prettier, and may therefore be addressed by the faithful in
prayer, though her rank is only, as it were, brevet rank, and her
elevation incomplete.

THE END.

INDEX.

Abbeville, ladies of, visit Jeanne

at Crotoy, 242
Abjuration, the, account of,

Advenu, Brother Martin 1',
friendly to Jeanne, 332 ; pre-
pares Jeanne for death, 341,

3.84

Agincourt, battle of, 20, 104

Aignan. St., 89

Aisne, the river, 192

Albert, d', captain of French
troops, 1 80

Alei^on, Due d', 30, 74, 96 ;
persuaded to rejoin the army,
97: Jeanne's care of, 99, 101 ;
interview with Talbot, 108 ; at
the head of French troops, 158,
163 ; plans expedition into
Normandy, 176

Alencon, Duchess of, Jeanne's
promise to, 97

Anjou, Yolancle of, 44

Arc, Isabeau d', 13, 26

Arc, Jacques d', position of, in
Domremy, 12 ; family of, 12 ;
opposition to Jeanne's mission
by, 36^, 4, 309; lodged at
public cost in Kheinis, 138 ;
carries patent of exemption of
taxes to Domremy, 138

Arc, Jeanne d', see under Jeanne

Arc, Pierre d', 46^", 72

Archangel, Michael, see wider
Jeanne

Armagnac, Count d', and Jeanne,
147 ; letter to, 275

Armagnacs, 3

Aronde, the river, 192

Arras, city of, 158, 287, 289

Arras, Franquet d', Burgundian
raider, 188

Augustins, les, besieging tower
at Orleans, 80 ; carried by the
French, 82

Aulon, Chevalier Jean d', ap-
pointed etatmajcur to Jeanne,
01 j 72 ; accompanies Dunois,
77 ; carries Jeanne's banner,
84 ; wounded at St. Prerrele-
Moutier, 1 80 ; taken prisoner
with Jeanne, 209

Auxrrre, city of, 113

Aymer, a Dominican monk, 57

B

Bale, Council of, 223 ; Beaupere,
deputy of Normandy at, 251 ;
appeal of Jeanne to, 340

Bar, Due de, 168

Bastiles, surrounding Orleans,
62/1

Battle of Herrings, defeat of,
foretold by Jeanne, 43 ; refer-
ence to, 104

407

408

Index.

Baudricotirt, Robert de, 25, 32 ;
presents Jeanne with a sword,

47 .

Bavaria, Queen Isabel of, repu-
ted mother of Jeanne, 311

Beauce, plain of the, 104

Beaugency, 100 ; incident be-
fore, 101

Beaulieu, castle of, Jeanne im-
prisoned in, 209 ; attempts to
escape from, 211, 213

Beaupere, Jean, Canon of Paris
and of Besan9on, 251 ; In-
quisitor at Jeanne's trial, 251,
260, 303

Beaurevoir, castle of, Jeanne im-
prisoned in, 209 ; attempts to
escape from, 21 1

Beauvais, city of, receives the
King joyfully, 149

Beauvais, Bishop of, illegal
methods of conducting Jeanne's
trial, 294 ; disturbed by change
in public opinion, 301 ; seldom
present at the private trial,
317 ; waiting for Jeanne to
41 relapse," 375 ; meeting of
judges at house of, 382 ; evi-
dence of judges and, 386 ; ex-
horts the prisoner, 391 ; 404

Bedford, Duke of, Regent of
France, 65 , reinforces Paris,
1 5O ; goes to the defence of
Normandy, 157 ; present once
at the trial, 231 ; makes use of
the Trou Judas, 235

Benedict XIV., Pope, 276

Bercy-sur Seine, 175

Bernadette of Lourdes, 23

Bernoit, one of Jeanne's guard,
250

Biographers of Jeanne, stories
told by, 146 ff.

Blois, Jeanne at, 62, 64 ; public
prayers in, for Jeanne's safety,
201

Boisi, Seigneur de, 54

Boucher, Charlotte, 71 ff.

Boucher, Jacques, treasurer of
Duke of Orleans, 71

Bouligny, Marguerite de, testi-
mony of, at the Rehabilitation
trial, 177

Bouligny, Raynard de, 177

Bourbon, Charles of, Comte de
Clermont, 257

Bourges, city of, 177

Bourgogne, Monseigneur de,
death of, 328

Boussac, M arshal de, 96, 349

Bretagne, Due de, 101

Bretons, 2

Buchan, Countess of, 216

Burgundy, Jean sans Peur,
Duke of, 5, 21

Burgundy, Philip of, 127 ; prom-
ises to give up Paris, 135 ;
double dealing of, 136 ; aban-
dons Paris, 183 ; hastens to
Margny upon capture of
Jeanne, 197 ; letter relating to
capture, 198

Burgundians, 3 ; the Black, 14

Burey le Petit, village of, 31

Bury, M. Henri Blaze de, bio-
grapher of Jeanne, 9, 406 ;
account of an ancient custom,
124 ; of the exemption of
taxes, 138 ; of the doctors
chosen to try Jeanne, 223

Cagny, Perceval de, chronicle of,
152, 158 /:

Campaign of the Loire, 91 ff.

Camus, Le, account of adminis-
tration of sacred rite to Jeanne,

387

Casquel, Pierre, citizen of Rouen,
240

Castres, Christopher de Har-
court, Bishop of, 94

Cauchon, Pierre, Bishop of Beau-
vais, 199, 219 ; character of,
219, 220 ; negotiates bargain
for Jeanne, 221 ; addresses the
judges, 301 ; meeting of In-
quisitors at house of, 303 ; pre-

Index,

409

pared to sentence Jeanne, 370,
ff. ; report of Jeanne's words,

387 ; 404

Chalons capitulates, 120
Champagne, hamlets of, 12
Chapelle, La, village of, 162
Charite, La, unsuccessful siege

of, llff.
Chaiies VI., 4, 21
Charles VII., 3, 5 ; position after '
treaty of Troyes, 21 ; Jeanne's |
mission to, 3J ; at Chinon,
50 ; first interview with Jeanne,
53 ; secret doubts of, 54 ; re-
moved by Jeanne's words, 56 ;
appoints Jeanne to command
the army, 61 jf. ; amusements
at Loches, 91 ; urged by
Jeanne to go to Rheims, 95 ;
indolence of, 1 10 ff, ; unwil-
lingly sets out for Rheims 1 12 ;
indecision of, 114^". / capture
of Troyes foretold by Jeanne,
H5 ff- ! entry into Troyes,
J2o; triumphant march to
Rheims, 122; coronation of,
1 25 ff, ; makes private treaty
\\itli Duke of Burgundy, 135 ;
joyous welcome by the people,
137 ; dilatory march to Paris,
149 ; turns aside from direct
road to Paris, 152 ; at Com-
piegne, 154 ; concludes truce
with Duke of Burgundy, 154 ;
renews the truce, 157 ; reluc-
tantly moves on. to St. Denis
1 60; letter of, to Parisians,
160 ; orders Jeanne to retreat
from Paris, 169 ; retreats to
(lien, 175 ; disbands his army,
177; raises new levies, 177;
prefers pleasure to warfare,
184 ; makes no attempt to save
Jeanne, 199, 217 ; Rehabilita-
tion trial appointed, 4<>4
Charles X., 28

Charlier, Jean, chronicler, 156
Cha.tcillon, Jean de, Archdea-
con, admonishes Jeanne, 346
n, chronicler, 303

Chateau Gaillard, fortre

Normandy, 157
Chateau-Thierry, surrenders to

Charles, 149 ; truce concluded

at, 154
Checy, 68
Chinon, Jeanne's departure for,

40 ; the Court at, 44 ; castle of,

50^". ; Jeanne returns to, 91
riioicy, siege of, raised, 189
Chroniclers differ in accounts of

Jeanne's capture, 197, 209
Chronique de la PucelU^ 40, 47
Clairoix, Burgundiau camp at,

192
Classidas, 75, 80, 82 ; death of,

Clement VIII., Pope, 276

Clermont, Comte de, messenger
to Jeanne, 169

Compiegne, Charles at, 154 ; in-
cident at, 189 ; invested by the
enemy, 190 ; situation of, de-
scribed, 192 ; indifference to
Jeanne's capture, 208 ; 303

Contes, Louis de, Jeanne's page,
78

Coronation of Charles VII.,
125 ff-

Coudon, Burgundian camp at,

197

Coulenges, village of, 272
Coulommiers in Brie, 153
Courcelles, Thomas de, first

theologian of his age, 224,

303 ; voles for the torture, 352
Cre'py, village of, 152
Crespy en Valois, 153, 190
Crotoy, fortress of, Jeanne sent

to, 214 ; kindness shown to

Jeanne at, 215, 242

D

Dammartin-en-Gouelle, 153
Daumartin, 152
Dauphin, see Charles VII.
Dean of the Chapter of

see Courcelles
Dieppe, 216

410

Index.

Document signed by Jeanne, 371
Domremy, birthplace of Jeanne
d'Arc, description of, 9 ; origi-
nal proprietor of, 10 ; sacked
by Burgundians, 10 ; church
of, 15 ; bois de chcne y 1 6 ;
Jeanne's departure from, 31,
39 ; peasants of, at Chalons to
see Jeanne, 120 ff. ; receives
patent of exemption from
taxes, 138 ; life in, as de-
scribed by Jeanne, 263^.
Dunois, Comte, the ** Bastard
of Orleans," 30, 51, 62 ; first
meeting with Jeanne, 67 ;
fetches troops from Blois, 77 ;
loyal to Jeanne, 74^'., 79, 86,
96

English, the, responsible for
death of Jeanne d'Arc, 403

English army, method of en-
camping, 152 ; victories of,
183 ; stories of fears inspired
by Jeanne, 231^". / dissatisfac-
tion with result of Jeanne's
trial, 373

Epinal, Gerard d', 31, 263

Erard, Guillaume, a celebrated
preacher, 224 ; publicly ex-
horts Jeanne, 365 ; reads form
of abjuration to Jeanne, 369

Eu, 216

Euvert, St., 89

Executioner of Jeanne, remorse
of, 397

Fabre, M., biographer of Jeanne

d'Arc, 146, 295, 405
Fabry, Jean, Bishop, 265
Fairies' Well, the, 17, 237, 280
Fastolfe, Sir John, 95, 104 ; de-
prived of the Order of the
Garter, in

Fecamp, Bishop of, 355
Fecamp, Egidius, Abbot of, 382

Fecardo, Jean, advocate, 303

Ferte, La, town of, 137

Ferte-Milon, La, 152

Feudal bands, n

Feuillet, Gerard, at private trial,
303

Fierbois, village of, 50 ; sword
found at, 61

Fontaine, Jean de la, Inquisitor
at Jeanne's trial, 303 ; friendly
to Jeanne, 332 ; punishment of,
333

France in the fifteenth century,
3, 5, 6

France, the Virgin of, see Names
of Jeanne

France, Jeanne's love for, 25 ff.;
prophecy concerning deliver-
ance of, 29 ; Regent of, 65 ;
origin of harmless swearing in,
66 ; Chancellor of, no ; forget-
ful of Jeanne's services, 199 ;
"pity of the Kingdom of,"
324; no enthusiasm aroused
in, at result of Rehabilitation,
404

French army, shameful defeat
of, 51 ; Jeanne's reformation
in, 66 ; enters Orleans, 77 ;
Jeanne's influence on, 84^.,
92, 106 ff. y 114 ; campaign
of the Loire, 97 ff. ; victori-
ous, 98 ff. y 105 ; on the way
to Rheims, \\2ff.; on the
way to Paris, 149 ff. ; con-
fronting the English, 153 ; as-
sembled at Gien, in ; retreats
to Gien, 175 ; demoralised by
inactivity, 158 ; disbanded,
177 ; new captain of, 180 ;
seized by panic at Compiegne,
194 ; Jeanne's estimate of size
of, 273

French Court, at Chinon, $off.;
at Loches, 91 ; gaiety of, 184,
185 ff.; at Sully, 186

French historians concerning
Jeanne, 48, 198, 298, 400

French law, requirements of
237 ff,

411

damache, Guillaume de, story of,

74, 85

Gaucourt, M., 96
(lenville, 103
Gerson, a celebrated theologian,

93, 224
Gien, French army assembled at,

III ; retreats to, 175
Glasdale, see Classidas
Greux, village of, exempted from

taxes, 138
(iris, John, in charge of Jeanne's

prison, 250

H

JIauvette, girl friend of Jeanne,

71

Henry V. of England, 4, 20
Henry VI., 150, 198, 298
Hire, La, 51 ; profanity of,
checked, 66 ; first meeting with
Jeanne, 67 ; 74, 163 ; at Lou-
vin, 217
Ilouppelaiide^ the dress of a bsitr-

geoise, 322

Ilouppeville, Nicolas de, law-
yer, 238 ; criticises the methods
of the tribunal, 239 ; protests
against Bishop Cauchon, 264

I

Ile-de-France, 185

Inquisitors chosen to continue
examination of Jeanne, 303 ;
vte upon question of torture,
352 ; agree with verdict of Uni-
versity of Paris, 355

Isabeau, Queen, 2O

Isabel of Bavaria, Queen, 311

l^ambarcl, Frere, helpful sugges-
tions to Jeanne, 265, 332, 340 ;
life of, threatened, 341 ; sug-
gestion of, 355 ; account of the
"relapse, "375 ; attends Jeanne
to the stake, 390, 397

J

Jargeau, besieged, 98 ; capitu-
lates, 99

Jeanne d'Arc, 7 ; birthplace of,
9 ; "la bonne Lorraine," 9 ,
brothers and sisters of, 12 :
education and training of, 12,

1 3 ff-> *7 I l ve f r lne An-
gelus, 16 ; love for her coun-
try, 17, 25^". / first vision of,
12. ff.; mission of, disclosed by
St. Michael, 25^". / taught by
11 Voices," 26 ; character of, 27 ;
final comprehension and ac-
ceptance of the mission by, 29;
revelation of mission, by, 31 ;
goes to Burey le Petit, 31 ; to
Yaucouleurs, 34^".; first inter-
view of, with De Baudricourt,
34^f./her father's opposition
to her mission, 36, 46, 309 ;
marriage proposed for, 37 ; ap-
peals to the Bishop of Toul,
38 ; urged by the " Voices" to
depart on her mission, 39 ;
further interviews with 1 >e Bau-
dricourt, 40, 44 ff. ; visits
Duke of Lorraine, 40, 44 ;
visits shrine of St. Nicholas,
40 ; exorcised by the cure, 41 ;
aided by De Novelonpoint, 42
ff. ; adopts a man's costume,
^3 ; foretells result of the Bat-
tle of Herrings, 43 ; escorted
to Chinon, 40, 45, 47, 49 ; re-
ceives a sword from De Bau-
dricourt, 47 ; arrives at Fier-
bois, 50 ; first interview with
the Dauphin, 53 ; message to,
55 ; investigation at Poitiers of
character of, 57^"./ private in-
vestigations of character, %<^ff.;
result of investigations, 60 ;
services accepted by the King,
6l ; miraculous finding of
sword at Fierbois, 61 ; stand-
ard made for, 62 ; sets out
from Blois, 62, 64 ; description
of armour of. 64 ; arrival at

412

Index.

Tours, 64 ; sends letter to the
English generals, 65 ; reforms
the morals of her army, 66 ;
first meeting with La Hire, 67;
first meeting with Dunois, 67
ff.; delay in reaching Orleans,
69 ff.; residence in Orleans of,
71 ; jealousy of generals at ap-
pointment of, 74 ; arrival of
army of, 77 ; secret sortie un-
dertaken by generals of, 77 ;
retrieves the defeat, 78 ff. ;
captures Les Augustins, 82 ;
foretells being wounded, 83,
85 ; captures Les Tourelles, 84
ff., 88 ; the siege raised, 88/".y
called La Pucelle d' Or leans,
90 ; returns to Chinon, 91 ; de-
tained at Court, 92 ff. ; fore-
tells her short career, 93; ques-
tioned as to her * * Voices, " Q<\ff;
urges the King to prosecute
the campaign, Q4 ff. ; descrip-
tion of, by Seigneur de Laval,
96 ; promise to the Duchess
of Alenfon, 97, 99 ; captures
Jargeau, 99 ; captures Meung,
100 ; military skill of, 30, 101,
116 ; gains over the Comte de
Richemont, 101 ff.\ story of
interview with De Richemont,
103 ; defeats the English in
open battle at Patay, 105 ff. ;
victorious campaign of the
Loire, 108 ff.\ sets out from
Gien, 112 ; joined by another
brother, 112 ; captures Troyes
by assault, 113, 116^*.; res-
cues French prisoners, 118 ;
triumphal march to Kheims,
122; Jacques d'Arc and Lax-
art witness the triumphal
entry, 123 ; letter to Philip of
Burgundy, 127 ; assists at
coronation of Charles VII.,
124^"., 128 ; outburst of emo-
tion of, 129 ; commission and
success of, 130 ; forebodings
of disaster, 133 ; fear of,
among the English, 134 ; re-

warded by the exemption ol
taxes forDomremyand Greux,
138 ; beginning of discourage-
ments, 144 ; urges speedy
march upon Paris, 144 ; cause
of her supernatural visitations,
145 ; new tone to the messages
of the "Voices," 146 ; length
of period of success of, 147 ; of
discouragement, 147 ; story of
daring the English to fight,
154 ; story of, at Patay, 155 ;
no longer the leader of the
army, 155 ; letter to the people
of Kheims, by, 156 ; halts at
Senlis, 158 ; starts for Paris,
] 58 moves on to St. Denis,
159 encamps at La Chapelle,
162 captures gate of St.
Honore, 163 ; position of, in
attacking fortifications, 164 ;
wounded, 165 ; glimpse of her
camp, 167 ; eager to renew
the attack, 168 ; ordered to
retreat from Paris, 169 ; re-
lates the command of her
"Voices," 172 ; leaves her
armour on the altar of Cathe-
dral of St. Denis, 173 ; arms
of, afterwards sent to King of
England, 174; the retreat to
Gien, 174 ff.; languishes at
Court, I75^./ expedition into
Normandy planned, 1 76 ; raises
new levies, 177; lif eat Bourges,
178 ; premonitions of death,
179; anecdote of, at siege of
St. Pierre-le-Moutier, I So/"./
fails to take La Charite, 181
ff. ; flattered and caressed, but
miserable, at Court, 184 ff.;
the rival prophetess, 184 ff.;
departs secretly to the aid of
Melun, 186 ; "Voices" tell
of forthcoming imprisonment,
186 ff.; incidents at Lagny,
1 88 ff.; incident at Com-
piegne, 189^". / raises siege of
Choicy, 189 ; Compiegne in-
vested by the English, 190 ;

Illlli'X.

413

plans attack on the enemy,

193 ; forced to retreat, 194 ;

; taken to

Margny, 1 97 ; bought by John
of Luxembourg, 198, 221 ;
hopeful of deliverance, 2OO ;
not treated as a prisoner of
war, 203 ; claimed by Uni-
versity of Paris for trial, 205
ff. ; taken from Margny to
Beaulieu, 209 ; transferred to
the stronghold of Bcaurevoir,
209 ; kindly treated at Beau-
revoir, 211; attempts to es-
cape from prison, 211, 213;
urged to give up man's cos-
tume, 214 ; sent to fortress of
Crotoy, 214 ; sold to the Lng-
lish, 215, 221, 227 ; taken to
Rouen, 216; no ransom of-
fered for, 217; to be judged
by the Church, 222 ; horrors
of prison life of, 216, 227 ff.,

234 ; visited by Jean de Lux-
embourg and Sheffield, 241 ;
protected by Warwick, 241,
376 ; trial of, begun, 226, 247
ff.; duration of trial, 229,
258 ; reputation of judges
chosen to try, 219 ff., 226,

235 ; number of judges present
at trial of, 247, 251, 258, 300 ;
official description of, 237 ; no
advocate or counsel provided
for, 239 ; exhorted by Cauchon,
24^ ; public examination of,
lasts six days, 247-294, 302 ;
1st day of examination, 249^". /
2d day, 25 iff.; Sdday, *&jf.j
4th day, 267 ff.; 5th day, 275
ff.; 6th day, 2^ff.; change
in public opinion towards,
298 ff.; private examination
of, decided upon, 294, 301 ;
illegality of private examina-
tion, 294 ; duration of private
examination of, 330 ff.; re-
port of the trial read to, 335 ;
summary in form of accusa-
tions, ami ansxscis to, by, 336

ff.\ duration of re-examina-
tion of, 334^"., 338; report
of trial sent to Paris, 342 ; ill-
ness of, 342 ; exhorted and
admonished, 345, 346, 349,
35. 356 I threatened with tor-
ture, 351 ; last speech of, in
self-defence, 357 ; judgment
of University of Paris, 35 3 ff.;
opinion of judges, 355 ; ab-
juration or the stake, 339, 354,
363^"., 369; still hoping for
deliverance, 361 ; taken to the
scaffold to be publicly exhort-
ed, 363 ff.; court of judges pres-
ent, 365 ; interrupts the dis-
course, 366 ; abjuration of, 368
ff.; deceived in regard to the
document of abjuration, 371 ;
sentence pronounced upon,
372 puts on woman's dress,

374 resumes male costume,
376 causes of 4< relapse " of,

375 ff.; recantation of, 378 ;
judges re-assemble, 382 ; de-
cree of death pronounced,
383 ; despair of, 384 ; con-
fesses to Friar Martin and re-
ceives the sacrament, 385^". ;
attended to the stake by Mar-
tin, Isambeau, and Mas^icu,
390 ; last exhortation to, 391 ;
calls upon her saints, 392 ff.;
the crowds moved to tears,
393 ; inscription of accusatior
of, 394 ; sustained by the
sight of the cross, 395 ; last
words of, 395 ff.; stories con-
cerning parentage of, 311 ;
concerning death of, 398 ff. ;
family of, ennobled, 404 ;
statue of, made by Marie of
Orleans, 405 ; character of,
fully acquitted in Rehabilita-
tion trial, 404 ; statues and
pictures in honour of, 406;
steps towards canonisation of,
4<>6

Journal Jit Bourgeois Jf Paris
151, I Co ; story told by, 398

Index.

journal du Siege d* Orleans, 40 ;
gives number of Jeanne's
army, 98

K
Kennedy, Hugh, 188

Lagny, 175, 188, 272, 291, 319

Laigny-le-Sec, 153

Lang, Mr. Andrew, 10, 35, 38,

45, 47
Laon, surrendered to Charles,

149, 153.

Laval, Seigneur Guy de, 95 ;
describes Jeanne, 96 ; devotion
to Jeanne, 112, 163

Laxart, Durand, Jeanne's uncle,
31 ; convinced of Jeanne's
mission, 32 ; preliminary in-
terview with Baudricourt, 33 ;
lodged at public cost in
Rheims, 138

Lemaitre, deputy Inquisitor, 404

Leo IX., Pope, 125

Letters of Jeanne d'Arc : to
English generals, 65 ; to Duke
of Burgundy, 127 ; to the Hus-
sites, 146 ; to the people of
Rheims, 156; to Comte d'Ar-
magnac, 275

Ligny, Comte de, see John of
Luxembourg.

Ligny, ladies de, cheer Jeanne's
imprisonment, 242

Limoges, Brother Seguin of, 58

Loches, the French Court at, 91,
ill

Lohier, Maitre Jean, lawyer of
Rouen, declares illegality of
the trial, 299 ; conversation
with Manchon, 300

Loire, the river, 64 ; plain of
the, 64, loo ; victorious cam-
paign of, 1 08

Lorraine, Duke of, interview
with Jeanne, 40, 44 ; present
at coronation, 125

Lourdes, Bernadette of, 23, 220

Lours, Seigneur de, 319

Louviers, siege of, 232

Lude, M. de, 99

Luxembourg, Louis, Bishop of,
visits Jeanne, 356

Luxembourg, John of, Comte de
Ligny, buys Jeanne from her
captor, 198, 209 ; sells her to
the English, 215, 221, 227

Luxembourg, demoiselle of, 211,
287

Lyonnel, batard de Wandomme,
reputed captor of Jeanne, 197.
209

Lys, Pierre de, or Pierre d'Arc,
404 ; institutes trial of Re-
habilitation, 404

M

Machet, the Confessor of Charles
VII., 224

Manchon, the reporter, 248 ;
testimony of, 265 ; the clerk
of the court, 300, 303 ; con-
versation with Lohier, 300 ;
records Jeanne's abjuration,

368, 403

Margny, Burgundian camp at,
192

Martin, attends Jeanne to the
stake, 390

Massieu, officer of the court,
265 ; opinion of Jeanne, 266 ;
compassionates Jeanne, 346,
359 ; relates details in Reha-
bilitation trial, 369 ; upon the
abjuration, 370 ff.; account
of the "relapse," 376 ; attends
Jeanne to the stake, 390

Maxey, village of, on the Meuse,
9 ; loyal to Burgundy, 10

Melun, Jeanne at, 186

Mengette, girl friend of Jeanne,

71

Metz, Jean de Novelonpont,
Seigneur de, 42 ; accompanies
Jeanne on pilgrimage to St.
Nicholas, 44 ; accompanies
Jeanne to Chinon, 47, 72

Index.

415

Meung, 90 ; bridge cf, captured,
JfO

Meusc, the river, 9, 120

Michael, St., see Archangel

\lichelet, historian, 12; account
of Baudricourt'i perplexity,
44 ; reference to, 8r, 148, 220,
334 ; history of France, 405

Midi, Nicole, 224 ; Inquisitor,
303 ; exhortation to Jeanne,
345 ; final exhortation to
Jeanne, 391

Miger, Pierre, Friar of Longue-
yille, 373

Mission of Jeanne d'Arc, see
under Jeanne

Monrimail in Brie, 153

Monstrelet, Burgundian chroni-
cler, 197, 238

Montargis, 175

Montmorency, Seigneur de,
joins Jeanne's army, 168

Morice, Maitre Pierre, Canon of
Rouen, 232, 303 ; exhortation
to Jeanne, 356 ; Jeanne's re-
mark to, 388

Names of Jeanne d'Arc, 7, 9, 90,
178, 406

Nanuol, St., Abbey of, 752 ff.

Neufchateau, La Rousse, inn-
keeper at, 308

Normandy, campaign in. 157

Novelonpont, Jean de. see de
Metz

O

Oath required of Jeanne each
day of public trial, 249, 251,
258, 267, 275, 285

Ogevillier, Dame d', 10

Oise, the river, 192

Oilcans, Bastard of, see Dunois

( >rk-ans, desperate situation of
city of, *$ ff. ; siege of, de-
scribed, 58 jr., 70, 73/".y joy of

the inhabitants at Jeanne's ar-
rival, 70 ; relief of, 73^". / the
siege raised, 88 ; joy in, 83^". ;
position of city, 89 ; length of
siege, 90; public prayers in,
for Jeanne's safety, 201

Orleans, Due d* (the murdered),
reputed father of Jeanne, 311

Orleans, Duke of, prisoner in
England, 310

Orleans, Princess Marie of, stat-
ue of Jeanne, 405

Orleans, the Maid of, 7

Oyseleur, Nicolas 1', spy sent
to Jeanne, 232, 235 ft., 240,
303, 329, 331, 352, 3^2, 365,
374, 389

Paris, more English than French,
151 ; fortifications of, strength-
ened, 160; joy in, at capture
of Jeanne, 200 ff. ; University
of, see University

Pasquerel, Jean, Jeanne's chap-
lain, 6 r ; writes letter for
Jeanne, 146

Patay, victorious battle with the
English at, 107

Piccolomini, Eneas, 224

Poitiers, Jeanne examined at,
57, 267, 268, 271

Pont 1'Kveque, 312

Pope Benedict XIV., 276

Pope Clement VIII., 276

Pope Leo IX., 125

Pope Pius II., see Piccolomini

Pope, the, Jeanne appeals to,
340

Poulengy, Bertrand de, 34 ; ac-
count of Jeanne's visit to De
Baudricourt by, 35 ; accom-
panies Jeanne to Chinon, 47 ;
faithful friend to Jeanne, 72

Pressy, M. Jean de, 287

Prophecy concerning deliverance
of France, 29, 277

Provencaux, 3

Provins, 175

416

Index.

^uicherat, M., history by, 47,
405 ; accounts of Jeanne, 147 ;
blames the King's advisers,
170 ; account of battle of Com-
piegne, 191 ; mentions letter
of Inquisitor, 204 ; describes
the judges, 224 ; doubts the
truth of the ** cage," 227 ; in-
vestigations of, 238, 276

R

Recantation of Jeanne d'Arc, see
under Jeanne

Regnault, Guillaume, 100

Rehabilitation trial, details given
at, 57, 340; appointed by
Charles VII., 404 ; instituted
by Jeanne's family against
those concerned in the judg-
ment, 404 ; Jeanne fully ac-
quitted by, 404 ; no enthusiasm
in France at result of, 404

Rheims, Archbishop of, no ;
enters city in triumph, 122 ;
negotiations of, with Burgun-
dy, 184 ; and shepherd boy,

243

Rheims, city of, 1 1 ; Tr&or of,
28 ; sends deputation with
keys to Charles, 122 ; coro-
nation of Charles VII. at,
122 ff. ; pacified by Arch-
bishop, 201

Richemont, Comte de, Constable
of France, 101 ; ill-treatment
of, no^.

Rochelle, Catherine de la, the
rival Maid, 184^*. / testifies
against Jeanne, 243^".

Rochelle, Greffier of, story told

by, 99

Romorantin, 96

Rouen, Jeanne imprisoned in,
21 6; life in, 244; trial of
Jeanne held in castle of, 247,
336; execution of Jeanne in
market place of, 390 ff. ; Re-

habilitation trial held in palace

of Archbishop of, 404
Rousse, La, Jeanne's visit to, 308
Rouvray (Battle of Herrings),

45, 104

St. Aignan, patron saint of Or-
leans, 89

St. Catherine, 25 ff.

St. Denis, city of, still in posses-
sion of the English, 124 ;
church of, 126 ; Jeanne enters,
159 ; delay of the King in
reaching, 1 59 ; Jeanne, god-
mother in, 290

St. Euvert, patron saint of Or-
leans, 89

St. Gabriel appears to Jeanne,

351

St. Jacques, church of, at Com-
piegne, 189

St. Loup attacked (fort of be-
siegers), 78

St. Margaret, 16, 25 ff.

St. Michael, appeared to Jeanne
d'Arc, 15, 29 ; personal ap-
pearance of, 324 ; 392

St. Ouen, church of, in Rouen,

304

St. Pierre-le-Moutier, siege of,
1 80; surrenders, 181

St. Remy, Abbey of, n, 16, 125 ;
Abbot of, 126

St. Urbain, Abbey of, 254

Sainte Ampoule, the sacred vial,
containing the oil of consecra-
tion, 126

Sala, 54

Sauvage, Raoul (Radulphus Sil-
vestris), suggestion of, 355

Scales, Thomas, Lord of, 65

Scots, allies of France, 4

Sequin, Brother, of Limoges, 58

Selles, 96

Senlis, receives the King joy.
fully, 149; town of, 158;
story of Bishop of, and horse*
290, 320 ; Bailli de, 319.

Index.

417

Sens. 175

Sentences pronounced on Jeanne

d'Arc, 372, 383
Sheffield, Lord, 241
Sicily, Queen of, equips Jeanne,

64
Soissons, surrendered to Charles,

M9. 293

Somme, the river, 214
Sorbonne, 207
Standard, the, of Jeanne d'Arc,

62, 273, 330
Stuart, John, the Constable of

Scotland, 51
Suffolk, Duke of, at Jargeau, 98 ;

story of capture of, 99^".
Sulford, William de la Poule,

Comte de, 65
Sully, French Court at, 186

T

Talbot, John, Lord of, 65, 75 ;

taken prisoner at Patay, 106
Talbot, English soldier, 250
Thomas, Lord of Scales, 65
Toul, Bishop of, ^1 ff., 38, 309
Touraine, province of, 52
Tourelles, Les, besieging fort at
Orleans, 76, 80 ; captured, 88
Tours, 62, 64 ; mourning in, at

capture of Jeanne, 201
Treaty of Troyes, see Troyes
Tree of the Good Ladies, or

Fames' Tree, 237, 263, 280
Tremouille, de la, prime minister
of Charles VII. , 51 ; influence
over the King, no, 170; ad-
vises retreat from Paris, 1 70 ;
negotiations with Duke of Bur-
gundy, 184 ; patron of Cathe-
rine de la Rochelle, 292, 349
Trial of Jeanne d'Arc, 247-359

Sec under Jeanne
Tribunal, 219-246

Troyes, treaty of, 5, 20 ff.; army
reaches, 113; Brother Richard
of, attempts to exorcise Jeanne,
112, 119 ; Jeanne, god-mother
at, 290

U

University of Paris, description
of, 204 ff. ; claims Jeanne
for trial, 199, 206 ; sends judg-
ment of trial, 353^". ; said to
have been suborned by the
English, 207, 400

Vaucouleurs, Royal Chatellenie
of, II : Jeanne visits, 25, 31 ;
subscription raised for Jeanne's
outfit, 47 ; 233

Vendome, M. de, 96

Venette, English headquarters
at, 192

Vienne, Colet de, the King's mes-
senger, 47

Villon, 9

Vineuses, Les, village of, 272

Visions of Jeanne d Arc, see mi-
der Jeanne

"Voices" of Jeanne d'Arc, see
under Jeanne

W

Warwick, Earl of, Governor of
Rouen, 229; at the trial of

Jeanne d'Arc, 232 ; protects
eanne, 241, 376

William de la Poule, see Sulford
Winchester, Cardinal Beaufort,
Bishop of, 220, 231

Xaintrailles, 51, 74, 163

f / ?

tl ^

> .

DATE DUE

JUN. 9

1983

-STORAGE

*INTeON U.S.,

3 5132 00261 1812

University ol the Pacific Library

DC

Oliphant, Margaret . 103
Jeanne D'Arc 052

'79

Oliphant
jeanne D

.9^79