 CHAPTER 4 THE RELIEF OF ORLEAN May 1-8, 1429 Next morning there was a council of war among the many leaders now collected within the town. It was the eager desire of Jean 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 preceded. 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 enthusiasm 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 express very naturally a sentiment which must have existed among the many captains who had been fighting unsuccessfully for months in defence of the beleaguered city. A certain Gaume de Gamache felt himself insulted above all by the suggestion. What? he cried. Is the advice of this Hussie from the field un pirenelle devalue, 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 no-woman 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 instance of the perpetual opposition which the maid encountered from the very beginning of her career and wherever she went. Notwithstanding her victories, she remained through all her career a pirenelle to these men of war, with the noble exception, of course, of Alonsoon, Dunois, Saint-Trel, Laïre and others. They were sore and wounded by her appearance and her claims. If they could cheat her, bulk her designs, steal a march in any way, they did so, from first to last, always accepting the few who were faithful to her. Dunois could afford to be magnanimous, but the lesser men were jealous andvious, embittered. A pirenelle, a woman nobody knew, and 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 whiteness, illuminating to us the whole scene. The English hated her lustily as their enemy and a witch, casting spells and enchantments so that the strength was 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 ungenerous opposition, the hate of men shamed and mortified by every triumph she achieved. Jean 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 business, without reference to any commander. She sent out two heralds, who were attached to her staff and therefore at her personal disposal to summon once more Talbot and Glastel, Clasidas, as the French called him, and de la part des deux, 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's so noble? What's 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 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 Torrell, which was built across the further end of the bridge, on the left side of the wall, 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, Clasidas and his captains hurrying to the walls to carry on the fierce exchange of abuse. To be called Dere made, Empyronelle, 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 Jeunant des Seiges declares, however, that she was, Angrie, but answered that they lied, and rode back to the city. The next Sunday, the first of May, Dounmois, alarmed by the delay of his main body, set out for Blois to meet them, and we are told that Jean 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 Lahire, 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 Dounmois marched on in safety, and Jean returned to Orleans, once more receiving on the breeze some words of abuse from the defenders of those battlements, which sent forth no more dangerous missile, and replying again with her summons, 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, asking them to have no fear. Monsieur has sent me, she said again and again. She went out again, Wednesday, 4th May, on the return of Dounmois to meet the army, with the same result, that they entered quietly, the English not firing a shot. On the same day, in the afternoon, after the early dinner, there happened a wonderful scene. Jean, it appeared, had fallen asleep after her meal, no doubt tired with the expedition of the morning, and her chief attendant, Dolon, who had accompanied Dounmois 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 Orléans who had not shared in that expedition took advantage to make a secret sortie unknown to the new chiefs. All at once, they made awoke in agitation and alarm. Her voices had awakened her from her sleep. My council told me to go against the English, she cried, but if to assail their towers, or to meet Festofa cannot tell. As she came to the full command of her faculties her trouble grew. The blood of our soldiers is flowing, she said. Why did they not tell me? My arms, my arms! Then she rushed downstairs to find her page amusing himself in the tranquil afternoon, and called to him for her horse. All was quiet, and no doubt her attendants thought her mad, but Dallon, who knew better than to contradict his mistress, armed her rapidly, and Louis the page brought her horse to the door. By this time they began to rise a distant rumor and outcry at which they all pricked their ears. As Jean put her foot in the stirrup she perceived that her standard was wanting and called to the page, Louis de Conte, above, to hand it to her at 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. Jean's presentiment was well founded. There had been a private expedition against the English fort of St. Louis 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 Orléans. And when Jean 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 armor 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 to have remained to address a word to them, though the troop of soldiers and citizens who had snatched arms and flung themselves after her, 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 Jean had felt when she met several wounded men who were being carried towards the town. She had never seen French bled, shed before, and the dreadful thought that they might die unconfessed, overwhelmed her soul. But this was but an incident of her breathless gallop to the encounter. To isolate the tower which was attacked was the first necessity and then the conflict was furious, the English discouraged but fighting desperately against a furious force which overwhelmed them at the same time that it redoubled the ardor 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 Orlean 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 little 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 back to Orlean triumphant she led a band of prisoners 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 Ascension and it was spent by Jeanne in rest and in prayer. But the other leaders were not so devout. They crowded an 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 contradicted and set aside. However it was, the facts seemed 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 La Augustine and La Torrelle on the left bank. For all this, reference to the map is necessary, which will make it quite clear. It was Clasides, as he is called, Glassdale, the most furious enemy of the English captains who held the former and for a moment succeeded 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 reigning up her horse from the bank down which she was being forced by the crowd turned back again closely followed by La Jure and at once no doubt by the stouter hearts who only wanted a leader and charging the English who had regained their courage as the white armor of the witch disappeared and were in full career after the fugitives drove them back to their fortifications which they gained with a rush leaving the ground strewn with the wounded and dying. Jean herself did not draw bridle till she had planted her standard on the edge of the moat which surrounded the tower. Miquelet is very brief concerning her 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 clear 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 carried her also away they became once more the defeated of so many battles the effect upon the English was equally strong when the back of Jean 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 sorceress an angel to her own side she was the very spirit of magic to her opponents Clasetus, or which captain so ever of the English side it might happen to be blessed feeling 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 calling 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 7th of May the fort of Lay Augustine on the left bank was taken it will be seen by reference to the map that this best deal and ancient convent stood at some distance from the river in peaceful times a little way beyond the bridge and no doubt a favorite Sunday walk from the city the bridge was now closed up with a building bulk of the Terrell built upon it with a smaller tower or boulevard on the left bank communicating with it by a drawbridge when Lay Augustine was taken the victorious French turned their arms against this boulevard but as night had fallen by this time they suspended the fighting having driven back the English who had made a sally in help of Lay Augustine here in the dark which suited their purpose another council was held the captains decided they would now pursue their victory 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 Jean to conclude the struggle without her and secure the credit of it the council 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 coutrop it is said a message was sent after her into Orlean she heard it with quiet disdain you have held your council and I have had mine she said calmly to the messengers then turning to her chaplain come to me tomorrow at dawn she said and do not leave me I shall have much to do my blood will be shed I shall be wounded tomorrow pointing above her ripe 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 it 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 endeavored to detain her stay with us Jean said the people with whom she lodged official people 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 gardens to have their share she had already brought in a party of the gardens 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 difficulty without passing through the torel and the boulevard which blocked it at the other end at the closed gates another great officials stood by to prevent her passing but he was soon swept away by the flood of enthusiasts and followed the white horse and its white rider the crowd flung themselves into the boats to cross the river with her horse and man late who else 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 la augustine beyond the french army all night feeding and encouraging lay below not yet apparently moving either for action or retreat Jean plunged among them like a ray of light the Elan 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 her with that Elan of desperate and uncalculating valor which was the great power of the french arms in the midst of the fray the girls clear voice a savoir de femme kept shouting encouragements de la part de deux always her war cry bon corps, bon espace the hour is at hand but after hours of desperate fighting the spirit of the assailants began to flag Jean who apparently did not at any time take any active part in the struggle though she exposed herself to all its dangers seized a ladder placed it against the wall 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 that we ask no one to take it for absolute fact there is no reason why some such incident might not have occurred Gamache, the angry captain who rather than follow a peronelle to the field was prepared to fold his banner around 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, bernot malice I confess that I was in the wrong it is I that should be wrong if I wore malice cries Jean for never was a night so courteous she was surrounded immediately by her people the chaplain whom she had bitten to keep near her, her page all her special attendants who would have conveyed her out of the fight as she consented Jean had the courage to pull the arrow out of the wound with her own hand it stood a hand breath out behind her shoulder but then, being but a girl in this her first experience of the sort notwithstanding her armor and her rank as general in chief she cried with the pain this commander of 17 armed 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 Jean 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 assailants waver and fall back the attack grew languid and duneois talked of sounding the retreat upon this she got to her feet and scrambled somehow on her horse rest a little she implored the generals 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 Jean 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 want not of 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 mayday Jean said the squire it touches on cried the maid her voice ringing through the momentary quiet on all is yours 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 Elan been so wildly inspired so irresistible they swarmed up the wall as if it had been a stare do they think themselves immortal the panic-stricken English cried among themselves panic-stricken not by their old enemies 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 armor seemed like butterflies like doves like angels floating 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 she entered blue against the wall and her voice rose through all the tumult on enter de la parte de deux for all is yours the maid had other words to say rente rente classidas she cried you called me vile names but I have a great pity for your soul he on his side showered down blasphemies he was at the last gasp one desperate last effort he made with a handful of men to escape a bullet-vard by the drawbridge which crossed a narrow strip of the river but the bridge had been fired by a fire ship from Orlean and gave way under the rush of the heavily armored men and the fierce classidas and his companions were plunged into the river where a knight in armor like a tower falling went to the bottom in a moment nearly thirty of them it is said plunged thus into the great louis 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 saint michael in shining armor who had led that assault shedding tears for the ferocious classidas who had cursed her with his last breath sa grande pique de tondom had he but had time to clear his soul and reconcile himself with god this was virtually the end of the siege of Orlean the broken bridge on the louis had been rudely mended with the great coutierre and planks and the people of Orlean had poured out over it to take the taurel in flank the english being thus taken between Jean's army on the one side and the citizens 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 generals on the other side with strong fortifications to fall back upon they seemed to have been paralyzed and did not strike a blow Jean was not afraid of them but her ardor to continue the fight dropped all at once enough had been done she awaited the conclusion with confidence needless to say that Orleum 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 progressed 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 des partures and all was theirs thanks to our lord and also to Saint Eigen and Saint Uver patrons of Orleum and to Saint Louis and Saint 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 the big pain the happy langer of the end attained and also the profound pity that was the very inspiration of her spirit for all those souls of men go on to their account without help of church or comfort of priest overwhelming her but next day which was Sunday she was up again and eagerly watching all that went on a strange sight was Orleum on that Sunday of May on the south side of the Lois all those half ruined best deals were being 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 continuous fighting should they sally forth again and meet that compact silent doubly defiant army which is more or less fresh and unexhausted Jean'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 Clasidis and all his men French and English together devoutly turned towards and responded to that mass in the pause of bewildering uncertainty which way are their heads turned Jean asked when it was over they are turned away from us they are turned to Meillon was the reply then let them go des pas deux, 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 Orléans 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 Jean Dark the peasant of Don Rémy but as La Pousselle de Orléans in the same manner in which one might speak of the Prince of Waterloo or the Duke of Malikov end of chapter 4 chapter 5 of Jean Dark her life and death this is a Libravox recording all Libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libravox.org recording by Ella Quint of Applebacksville, Pennsylvania Jean Dark her life and death by Margaret O. Oliphant chapter 5 the campaign of the Loire June, July 1429 the rescue of Orléans and the defeat of the invincible English were news to move France from one end to the other and especially to raise the spirits and restore the courage of that part of France which had no sympathy with the invaders and to which the English yoke was unaccustomed and disgraceful the news flew up and down the Loire from point to point rousing every village and breathing new heart and encouragement everywhere while in the meantime Jean partially healed of her wound on May 9th she rode out in a Malais a light coat of chainmail 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 Locke another of the strong places on the Loire where there was room for a court a means of defence for a siege should such be necessary as is the case with so many of these wonderful castles upon the great French river hot with eagerness to follow up her first great success and accomplish her mission Jean's object was to march on at once with the young Prince with or without his immense retinue to ream where he should be crowned an anointed King as she had promised her instinctive 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 straightened 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 so ringing in her ears the applause of her fellow soldiers the sound of the triumphant 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 tomorrow we die was it worthwhile 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 advantage 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 Chamberlains the Church with the exception of Gershon the great theologian to whom has been ascribed the authorship of the imitation of Christ who was reported to have said if France deserts her and she fails she is none the less inspired shook their hands and advised that the way should be quite safe and free of danger before the King risked himself upon it it was thus that Jean was received when newly lighted from her charger her shoulders still but have healed her eyes scarcely clear of the dust and smoke she found herself once more in the antechamber 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 idols and yours and ladies who would try to persuade her to tell them what was to end to them she who had prophesied the death of glassdale and her own wound and so many other things the Duke of Lorraine on her first setting out had attempted to discover from Jean what course his illness would take and whether he should get better and all the demoiselles and demousins the flutterers of the antechamber would be still more likely to surround with their foolish questions the stout hearted impatient girl who had acquired a little of the roughness of her soldier and had never been slow at any time in answering a fool according to his folly for Jean 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 anyone touch her unadvisedly 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 counselors Jean's patient failed her all together she knocked at the door and being admitted through herself at the feet of the king to Jean he was no king till he had received the consecration necessary for every sovereign of France noble dolphin she cried why should you hold such long and tedious councils rather come to ream and receive your worthy crown the bishop of castor Christopher de Harcourt who was present asked her if she would not now in the presence of the king describe to them the manner in which her council instructed her when they talked with her Jean read and replied I understand that you would like to know and I would gladly satisfy you Jean 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 am not listened to and when I have prayed I hear a voice which says daughter of God go, go, go I will help thee go and when I hear that voice I feel a great joy her face shone as she spoke lifting her eyes to heaven like the face of Moses while still it bore the reflection of God so that the men were dazzled who sat speechless looking on the result was that Charles kindly promised to set out as soon as the road between him and Rheem should be free of the English especially the towns on the Lois in which a great part of the army dispersed from Orlean had taken refuge with the addition of the auxiliary forces of Sir John Faustoff 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 himself at the head of the troops or of taking part in the campaign sure sufficiently that he was indeed a pauvre asir unworthy his gallant people John however nothing better being possible seems to have accepted this mission with readiness and instantly began her preparations to carry it out it is here that the young senior Guy Delavon comes in with his description of her already quoted he was no humble squire but a great personage to whom the king was civil and pleased to show courtesy the young man writes to Seimei 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 king he says sent for the maid in order Sir Guy believes that he might see her and afterwards the young man went to Céla where she was just setting out on the campaign from Céla he writes on the 8th June exactly a month after the deliverance of Orléans 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 told divine to see her and hear her she left Céla on Monday at the hour of Vespers the Marshal de Bouzac and a great many armed men with her I saw her mount her horse all in white armor accepting the head a little axe in her hand the great black charger was very restive at her door and would not let her mount 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 as Cévoix de Femme you priests and people of the church make processions and prayers to God for us then turning to the road forward she said her unfolded standard was carried by a page she had her little axe in her hand and by her side wrote a brother who had joined her 8 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 feign have sent you something better considering your recommendation today M. D'Alençon the bastard of Orléans and Galcourt were to leave Céla 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 I desire you, madame ma mère who have my seal spare not the land, neither in sale nor mortgage my much honored 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 Céla Wednesday 8th June 1429 this afternoon are arrived M. de Vadum, M. de Boussac and others and Lahira has joined the army and we shall soon be at work on Bessonero viento may God grant that it should be according to your desire it was with difficulty that the Duke D'Alençon had been God to start his wife consenting with great reluctance he had been long a prisoner in England and had lately been ransomed for a great sum of money was not that a sufficient sacrifice? the Duchess asked indignantly to risk once more a husband so costly was naturally a painful thing to do and why could not Jean be content and stay where she was Jean comforted the lady perhaps with a little good-humored contempt fear nothing M. de Vadum, she said I will bring him back to you safe and sound probably Alençon himself had no great desire to be second in command to this country last even though she had delivered Orléans without at all he would have preferred to take another direction and to protect his own property in 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 country 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 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 hearty self-denying habits as the sturdy peasants who followed them ready for any privation with the proud delight to hear that on with that Saint Michael at their head and no longer any fear of the English in their hearts the first base on on which this army entered was the siege of Jaju 11th into which town Suffolk had thrown himself and his troops when the siege of Orléans 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 enthusiasm by which Jaju was surrounded she passed through Orléans on the 10th 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 as each lance was a separate party about three thousand six hundred men though the Jeunant du Seige 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 prevailing sin of hesitation and many arguments were used to induce her to postpone the assault if it seemed that this hesitation continued until the very moment of attack and was only put an end to when Jaune herself impatiently seized her banner from the hand of her squire and planting herself at the foot of the walls let loose the fervor 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 Su Su English all is yours she cried she would seem to have stood there in her place with her banner a rallying point and center in the midst of all the confusion of the fight taking this for her part in it and there she is always in the thick of the combat never so far as we are told striking a blow exposed to all the instruments of war but injured by none the effect of her mere attitude the steadiness of her stand under the terrible rain of stone bullets must of itself have been indescribable in the midst of the fiery struggle there is almost a comic point in her watch over Alonso 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 on the first of these occasions a gentleman of Anjou M. Deloud who took his place in the front was killed which seems hurt upon the poor gentlemen who was probably quite as well worth caring for as Alonso Avant, gentile Duke she cried at another moment forward are you afraid? you know I promised your wife to bring you safe home thus her voice keeps ringing through the din her white armor gleams Sue! Sue! the bold cry is almost audible sibilant whistling amid the whistling of the arrows Suffolk, the English Bayard the most civil russ of knights was at last forced to yield one story tells us he gave up his sword only to Jean herself but there is a more authentic description 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 Gallum Reno gentlemen of Avone are you a knight? not yet the victor put a knee to the ground before his captive the vanquished touch him lately on the shoulder with the sword 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 Meng cry Jean I'm wearying as soon as his victory was assured that place fell easily it is called the bridge of Meng in the chronicle without further description therefore presumably the fortress was not attacked and they proceeded onward to bourgeoisie these towns still shine over the plain along the line of the Lois visible as far as the eye will carry over the long levels the great stream linking one to another 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 centers of life the great white castle of Lois the darker tower of Bourgeoisie still stand where they stood when Jean and her men drew near as conspicuous in their elevation of walls and towers as if they have been planted on a mountaintop on more than one occasion during this wonderful progress from victory to victory the triumphant leaders returned for a day or two to Orlean to tell their good tidings and to celebrate their success 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 man with a sort of infallible instinct which adds force to her absolute quick perception of every difficulty and advantage the unhesitating pompitude attending like so many servants upon the inspiration which is the soul of all these are things to which a writer ignorant 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 whom would have thwarted her if they could with the consciousness of her own superior place in which there is never the slightest token of presumption or self-esteem she guarded and guided Alençon with a good nature 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 Bujancy on the 15th of June when the Camp de Richemont responsible of France the brother of the Duke 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 was no friend to Jean 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 general 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 Orléans and its total failure reports to England that the discomfort 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 marvelously 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 Petu and Britannia than any other of his time the French generals were divided as to the merits of Richemont and the advantages to be derived from his support Alain Saum the nominal commander declared 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 in France it was a moment which demanded very wary guidance Jean it would seem did not regard his arrival with much pleasure probably even the increase of her forces did not please her as it would have pleased most commanders holding so strongly as she did to the miraculous character 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 by a retainer of Richemont which is picturesque enough the maid alighted from her horse and the Constable also Jean he said they tell me that you are against me I know not if you are from God de la part de deux 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 c'est Jean 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 dignified indifference but acceptance on the other could not be better shown end of section 6 Chapter 5 Part 2 of Jean Doug her life and death this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ella Quint of Applebacksville, Pennsylvania Jean Doug her life and death by Margaret O. Oliphant Chapter 5 The Campaign of the Loire June, July 1429 Part 2 these successes however have been attended by various Eskimosis going on behind the English who have been driven out of one town after another had now drawn together under the command of Talbot and a party of troops under Festof who came to relieve them had turned back as Jean proceeded making various unsuccessful attempts to recover what had been lost failing in all their efforts they returned across the country to Genville 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 what Jean 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 favor of the English from Agincourt to the Battle of the Herrings at Ouvres near Orléans 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 Festof 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 Beaujean sea and of retreating or avoiding an engagement anything rather than hazard one of those encounters which had infallibly ended in disaster but Jean was of the same mind as always to go forward and fear nothing fall upon them go with 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 plane of abuse 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 the country was wildly overgrown the story is that a stag roused by the French scouts brushed into the midst of the English who were advantageously placed among the brushwood to arrest the enemy on their march the wild creature terrified and flying 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 defenses they were so taken by surprise that the rush of the French came with that warning with a suddenness which gave it double force Lahire made the first attack as leader of the van and there was thus the party's which should be first upon the enemy when Alan soon asked Jean 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 have been want 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 beyond that of earth the dazzled eyes which seemed to see flights of white butterflies fluttering about the standard of the maid could scarcely belong to one or a servant of the enemy of men but she was a pernicious witch to Talbot and strangely enough to Richmond 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 undergrowth 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 not all the chivalry of fronts have been able to prevent it at the long string of battles in which they were before the revelation of the maid and not the desperate and furious valor of Talbot could preserve his English force from the infection now fast off 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 and finally was taken prisoner while the whole force behind him fled and were killed in their flight the plane being scattered with their dead bodies Jean herself made use of those spurs concerning what she had inquired 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 his bleeding head upon her lap and sending for a priest made his departure from life at least as easy as 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 assault we will never see her strike a blow on the banks of the Loire the fate of the mail clad glassdale hopeless in the strong stream underneath the ruined bridge brought tears to her eyes and now all the excitement of the pursuit vanished in an instant from her mind when she saw the English men at arms dying without the sucker of the church pity was always in her heart she was so few that this flight or in chess has not taken a more important place in the records of French historians in general it is only by means of fontanoy that the armor 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 much without any alloy of alien arms except a few scots to help them the entire campaign on the Lois was one of triumph for the French arms and of disaster for the English they it is perhaps a point of national pride to admit it frankly were as well beaten as heart of Frenchmen could desire beaten not only in the result but in the conduct of the campaign in heart and in courage would not be admitted but it was not the French generals not even Dunois who secured these victories 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 a person then Alonsoin 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 Duke D'Alonsoin to the prisoner it is the fortune of war replied the English chief once more however it is like a sudden fall from the open air where the king and his counselors sat idle waiting for news of what was being done for them a battlefield is no fine sight the excitement of the conflict the 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 passion in them for the moment which carried the mind away but the bravest soldier died and dying the horrible injuries inflicted the loss and misery however not even the miserable scene of the chaste paté is so painful as the reverse of the 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 favorites and the musicians played the assemblies to feel as if we had fallen fathoms deep into the meanness of mankind 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 substantial of the king's allegiance only to find themselves as little advanced as before coming back to the self-same struggle with indolent complaining indifference and ingratitude Jean had given the signs that had been demanded from her she had delivered Orléan she cleared the king's road toward the north she had filled the French forces with an enthusiasm and transport of valor which swept away all the traditions of ill fortune the establishment of the great object of her mission had not only become practicable but was the wisest and most prudent thing to do but this was not the opinion of the Chancellor of France the Archbishop of Reims and La Tremuelle or of the indolent young king himself who was very willing to rejoice in the relief from all immediate danger the restoration of the surrounding country without forcing necessary dangers Jean's successes and her unseasonable zeal and the commotion that she and her train of captains made pouring in in all the excitement of their triumph into the midst of the madrigals seem to have been anything but welcome go to Reims to be crowned yes sometime when it was convenient when it was safe but in the meantime what was more important was to forbid Richemont whom the Chancellor hated 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 in Richemont though deeply wounded and offended proved himself so much a man of honour and a patriot that though dismissed by the army overcome parry though so far off was thrown into great excitement and alarm by the flight up at day and the whole city was in commotion fearing an immediate advance and attack but in luck or wherever Charles may have been it was all taken very easily Festof the fugitive had his garter taken from him as the greatest disgrace that could be inflicted for his shameful flight about the time when Richemont one of the victors for the crime of having helped to inflict without 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 important voices was too much for Charles and he was at length compelled to put himself in motion the army had assembled it and the great wave of enthusiasm awakened by Jean 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 strangers that may sound in sight of the absolute diversion of her mind much was this the case still notwithstanding the practical proofs she had given of her claims that even persons of kindred mind partially sharing her inspirations such as the famous brother Richard of Troy looked upon her with suspicion and alarm fearing a delusion of Satan it is more easy perhaps to understand why the archbishops and bishops should have been inclined against her since the perfectly orthodox and a good Catholic Jean had been independent of all priestly guidance but 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 disparagement to Jean or to any saint that she should share with her master the approbrium of such words as these at last however a reluctant start was made Jean in which now were two of her brothers a second having joined her after Orlean left Guillaume 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 Orlean the archbishop of Reem marshals admirals and innumerable seniors among whom was our young Guy de Leval who wrote the letter to his mothers which we have already made with us now and our ever faithful Lahire the big voiced Gascon who had permission to swear by his baton the dartanin of this history we reckon these names as those of friends Dunois the ever brave Alençon the gentile Duke for whom Jean had a special and protecting kindness Lahire the rough captain of Freelances and the graceful young senior Sir Guy as we should have called him had he been English who was so ready to 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 have begun to have a wandering confidence 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 whether she pleased sometimes in the front sometimes 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 a town occupied chiefly by Burgundians which closed its gates but by means of bribes partly of provisions to be supplied partly of gifts to la tremuel other smaller strongholds on the road yielded without hesitation at last they came to choy a large and strong place while garrisoned and confident in its strength the town distinguished in the history of 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-omined 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 ream or should they pause first to try their fortune against those solid walls but indeed it was not the camp that debated this question the camp was of Jean'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 have been beaten back and the king encamped under the walls wavering and uncertain whether he might still depart on the morrow but sending a repeated 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 Jean was anxiously held back while every one gave his opinion at last one of the councilors 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 undertaken without her acquiescence it ought not to be abandoned when the king set out it was not because of the great pure sense of the army he then had with him or the great treasure he had to provide for them nor yet taken solely at the suit of the says Jean who urged him constantly to go forward to be crowned a ream and that he should find little resistance for it was the pleasure and will of God if the says Jean is not to be allowed to give her advice now it is my opinion that we should turn back said the senior de Treve who had never been a partisan of or believer in Jean we are told that this fortunate moment when one of her Jean 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 Jean said the archbishop of ream 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 I cannot tell replied the king interposing though if you say things that are reasonable and profitable I shall certainly believe you shall I be believed she repeated yes said the king according as you speak Noble Dauphin she exclaimed order your people to assault the city of Troy to hold no more councils for by my god in three days I will introduce you into the town love or by force and false burgundy shall be dismayed Jean 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 tomorrow and then there occurred once more the now habitable scene it was no longer the miracle it had been to see her dash forward to her post under the walls with her standard to which the impatient troops responded confident in her as she and 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 butte de feu till she encountered them at Orlean the whole army was set to work during the night knights and men to raise with any kind of handy material palings, faggots tables even doors and windows taken it must be feared from some neighboring village or foe board 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 undercover of the darkness with incredible devotion while the alarmed townsfolk not knowing what was being done but no doubt dividing something away and began to ponder whether after all it might not be better to join the king whose armies were led by saint Michael himself in the person of his representative than to risk a siege once more the spell of the maid fell on the defenders of the place it was witchcraft it was some vile art they had no heart to mend the battlements to fight like their brothers at Orlean and Jarju in face of all the powers of the evil one the cry of Sue was like the death knell 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 a glimmering white figure in the faint and visionary 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 Troy 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 arrangement though it at once secured the fulfillment of her prophecy but in any case she would seem to have been suspicious of the departing garrison instead of retiring to her tent she took her place at the gate watchful to see the enemy march forth and her suspicion was not without reason the allied troops English and Burgundian poured forth from the city gates crestfallen unwilling to look the way of the white witch who might for ought they knew lay them under some dreadful spell even in the moment of passing but in the midst of them came a darker band who were 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 Jean had prepared herself an am deux 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 untimely hour by the ambassadors from the town and it mattered the difference what might happen to his unfortunate lesions but he was forced to bister himself and even to give something from his impoverished a checker 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 Jean seems to be in possession of the place for stalling all further impediment the people in the streets however received her in a very different way from those of Orlean with trouble and alarm staring at her as at a dangerous and malignant visitor the brother Richard before mentioned the great preacher and reformer was the oracle of Troy and held the conscience of 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 Jean was not unused to support the rudest accost and her frank voice still as if made itself heard over every clamor come on I shall not fly away she cried with one hopes significant gestures and the terrified looks of all about her French art has been unkind to Jean 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 colored crowd the frightened and eager faces at every window the white warrior in the midst sending forth a thousand 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 Orléans its crowd of people thronging about her its shouts rending the air while Troy was full of terror doubt and ill will though its nearest neighbor so to speak the next town and so short later in the same day the next after the surrender Jean 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 magnificent people so well dressed and well mounted ill thorough Trebovois the fate of Troy decided that of 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 dolphin of three months ago trying to forget himself in the seclusion and the sports of Chinon and the sacred ceremonial Joan had her little adventure personal to herself 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 moose from Troy on the Lois and it appears and see what was so fine a sight and perhaps to catch a glimpse of their bays their little neighbor the Comere who was godmother to Gerard de Penel's child the youthful gossip of his young wife but who was now if all tales were true a great person enrode by the side of the king they went as far as Charlem to see if perhaps all this were true and not a fable and no doubts to Distanish to see her ride by to hear all the marvelous tales that were told of her and to assure themselves truly Jean 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 travelers surrounded her with wistful questions with wonder and admiration was she never afraid among all those risks of war when the arrows hailed about her and the bouche de Beau the mouths of fire bellowed with 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 sulked at her heels and infested every path it must not be forgotten that this wonderful and victorious campaign with all its lists of towns taken and armies discomfited lasted six weeks only almost every day of which was distinguished by some victory End of section 7 Chapter 6 of Jean-Doc Her Life and Death This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Eloquent of Applebacksville, Pennsylvania Jean-Doc Her Life and Death by Margaret O. Oliphant Chapter 6 The Coronation July 17, 1429 The road was now clear and even the most timid of counselors could not longer hold back the most indolent of kings Jean 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 except those most chiefly concerned attached so great an importance Charles would have hesitated still and questioned the possibility of resistance on the part of Reem if that city had not sent a deputation of citizens with the keys of the town to meet him After this it was but a triumphal march into the sacred place where the great cathedral dominated a swarming, busy medieval 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 this great ecclesiastic was able to take possession of his archbishop at the archavichie which is close to the cathedral 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 Reem and all the prophecies fulfilled The archbishop marched into the city in the morning Charles and his court and summoned 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 Jean rode beside the king her banner in her hand It was July the vigil of the Madeline and every church poured forth its crowd to witness the entry and the populous half troubled half glad gazed at the place which still proudly preserves the record of the peasant guests two astonished rustics 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 Chevalier at the head of the procession This was very different from what he had thought of yet probably the rigid peasant had never changed his mind We are told by M. Blauze 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 evening before the coronation surrounded by his peers who showed him to the assembled people with a traditional proclamation Here is your king whom we have a soul here which has any objection to make let him speak and we will answer him and tomorrow 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 Noelle Noelle It is not to be supposed that the video of the people of that night there was little sleep in rain for everything had to be prepared in haste the decorations of the cathedral that provisions for the ceremonial many of the necessary articles were at St. Dennis 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 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 consulted Jean about his health husband of the heiress of that rich principality and son of Queen Newland who was in all hands and the enthusiasm growing along with the popular excitement and profit even great London is stirred to its limits many miles off from the center of proceedings by such a great event how much more the little medieval city in which everyone might hope to see something of the pageant as one shining group after another with armor blazing in the sun and sleek horses caracalling arrived at the great gates of the Archivich and lesser parties 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 piers of trants in full armor with their banners rode through the streets to the old Abbey of St. Remi the old church which Leo the 9th consecrated in the 11th century on an equally splendid occasion today to fetch from its shrine where it was strictly guarded by the monks the Saint 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 themselves by an oath never to lose sight of it by night or day till it was restored to its appointed guardians this vow having been made the Abbey of St. Remi in his richest robes appeared surrounded by his monks the treasure in his hands and under a splendid canopy blazing in the sunshine with cloth of gold marched towards the cathedral under the escort of the night's hostages blazing also in the flashes of their armor this procession was met halfway before the church of St. Dennis by another that of the archbishop and his train to whom the holy oil was solemnly confided 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 the ronde the good uncle who had helped her in the beginning of her career though it was the ronde who was sent for to the king and questioned as to Jean's life and her childhood and early youth which we may take as proof that Jacques Dark still stood aloof dour as a scotch-present father might have been suspicious of his daughter's intimacy and shame to such rugged folk and there were his two sons who would take him about and with whom probably in their easier commonplace he was more at home than with Jean 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 with her princes and take part in her councils occupied the morning in dictating she had summoned the English by letter three times repeated to withdraw peaceably from the possessions which by God's will were French it was with still better reason that she summoned Philip of Burgundy to renounce his feud with his cousin and thus to heal the breach which had torn France into Jesus Maria High and redoubtable Prince Duke of Burgundy Jean the maid requires on the part of the king of heaven my most just sovereign and lord that the king of France and you make peace between yourselves firm strong and that will endure part in each other of good heart entirely as loyal Christians ought to do and if you desire to fight let it be against the seracines Prince of Burgundy I pray supplicate and require as humbly as may be fight no longer against the holy kingdom of France withdrawal at once and speedily your people your 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 honor and upon your life that you never will gain a battle against loyal Frenchman 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 but believe always however great a 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 today Sunday the 17th of the present month of July is done in the city of Rome to which I have written it may he be your guard if it pleases him and I pray God to make good peace written at the aforesaid Rome the 17th of July 1429 when the letter was finished Jean put on her armor 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 form of the choir so accidentally adapted for such ceremonies her banner we are told was born into the cathedral in order as she proudly explained afterwards that having been foremost in the danger it should share the honor 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 exigencies of the pictorial art which separated him as king from every other class of men and while the lofty vaults echoed with the cries of no well no well by which the people hailed the completed ceremony Jean could contain herself no longer the object was attained for which she had labored and struggled and overcome every opponent she stepped forward out of the brilliant crowd and threw herself at the feet of the now crowned monarch of the world whose will it was that I should raise the seas of Orlean and lead you to the city of Rhian 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 almost anguish the Lord now let 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 fullness 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 triumphant tale a precise 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 she sometimes said to bouch 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 hitherto failed her for her course of triumph went no further it is impossible to decide between these contending theories she did speak in both senses sometimes declaring that she was to take Paris sometimes her intention to belter 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 the testimony of D'Onoin seems to be the best we can have on this point he says in his deposition made many years after her death although Jean 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 Orlean and to lead the king to heaven 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 mission 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 designs of heaven we preferred to think that Jean's commissioned only those two things that inspired and honorable young soldier might though no longer as the direct messenger of God she had 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 exposed herself to be taken or overthrown like any man at arms and accepted that risk what is certain is that every intrigues sprang up again afresh from the moment of the accomplishment of her great work the failure of the maid began these intrigues had been in her ways since her very first beginning as has been seen at Orlean 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 rain the combination of a bolder outlaw a more more more bolder and more bolder and we may say know merely human general would have had a chance in face of the many in the wilder influences of evil Charles who was himself at least at this period of his career sufficient indolent and unentiprising to have damped the energies evil, without permitting her to strike a blow. They had now grudgingly 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 as malignant in their treatment of the maid as ever, and were hopeful, now that so much had been done by her maids, 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 Orléans, with fresh bands of supporters coming in to swell his army day by day, and Perry itself almost within his reach, was very different from that of the discredited Dauphin as she known, whom half of 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 counsellors 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 hateful to La Tramewell 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 fearless 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 in favour with heaven had a great deal to do with this dazzling triumphant 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 had the gift of doing, no doubt appeared to all as a thing desirable enough. And they dared not let her go, because of the people. Nor may we believe would Ellenson, Dunois, Lahire, 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 Jean, after that extraordinary brief career as a triumphant general and leader, could have gone back to her father's cottage of the village, though she thought she would faint have done so. If we are to believe that she felt her mission to be fulfilled, she was yet mistress of her fate to serve France and the king as seemed best. And we have no evidence that her voices, forsook her, or discourage her. They seemed 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. But that God was to be with her. It seems to me that all the circumstances are compatible with the change in Jean'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 aptitude, if not the scent of God. And the ardor of a military career had got into her veins. No doubt she was much more good for that now than for sitting by the side of Isabel Dark at Delmerie, 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 intimate 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 Jean in the second portion of her career, perhaps only dimly apprehended and at moments by herself. Not much thought of probably by those around her. The wisest of whom had always been skeptical 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 command. And no doubt that influence would have endured for some time, at least, and her dauntless rush against every obstacle would have carried success with it. Had she been able to carry out her plans, and fly forth upon Perry as she had done upon Orlean, carrying on the campaign swiftly, promptly, without pause or uncertainty. Bedford himself said that Perry 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, and had the fire of the divine enthusiasm in her veins. But it was still more hard now to mold 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 Jean by every advantage she 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 Perry into the king's hands within fifteen days. This agreement furnished a sufficient pretext for the delay in marching against Perry. The delay which was Charles's invariable method, and which but for Jean's hardyhood and determination, had all but crushed the expedition to Ream itself. It was never with any will of his or of his advisor, La Tramewell, that any stronghold was assailed. He would feign have passed by Troy, as the reader will remember. He would feign have delayed going to Ream. 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. But of Burgundy, with whom it was made, seems to have held the key of the position. He was called to Perry 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 uncertain whether he ever read it, that misive of the sorceress, the letter of Jean 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 therefore had every interest in keeping Perry from him. He was angry with the English on account of the marriage of the Duke of Galchester 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 Jean, what was the letter of that mad creature to a prince and statesman? The progress of affairs was arrested by this double problem. Jean 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 comings and goings, the meaner, half-seen 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. Jean would seem to have already foreseen and felt this change even before she left Rome. There is a 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 splendors. The following tale is told in various different versions, as occurring with different people, but the account I give is taken from the lips of Dunois himself, a very competent witness. As the king, after his coronation, wended his way through the country, receiving submission and joyous welcome from every village and little town, it happened that while passing through the town of La Ferte, Jean rode between the Archbishop of Rime 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 incomprehensible, 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 enthusiasm, acclaiming the king and shouting their joyful exclamations of, Noelle, though it does not appear that any part of their devotion was addressed to Jean 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 priests unmoved by such an exclamation, 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. Jean, 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 Jean 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 accomplished, in the very moment of her height of triumph, to show something of a new leaven working in her virgin soul. One characteristic reward, however, Jean 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 Rhine. And when Jacques Dark 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 Damremy and Gru, of all taxes and tributes. An exemption maintained and confirmed up to the revolution in favor of the said maid, native of that parish in which are her relations. In the register of the Exchequer, says M. Blaise de Burry. At the name of the parish of Gru and Damremy, the place for the receipt is blank, with these words as explanation, à cause de la pousselle, on account of the maid. There could not have been a more delightful reward or one more after her own heart. It would be a graceful act of the France of today, which has so warmly revived the name and image of her maiden deliverer, to renew so touching a distinction to her native place. We are told that Jean 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 received? Not sure still that it was not disreputable to have a daughter who wore coat armor 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. End of chapter 6.