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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com +Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz + + + + + +Jeanne d'Arc +Her Life and Death + + +by Mrs. Oliphant +Author of "Makers of Florence," "Makers of Venice," etc. + + + + + +TO + +COUSIN ANNIE +(MRS. HARRY COGHILL) + +THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED +IN LOVE OF OUR COMMON HEROINE +AND IN REMEMBRANCE OF LONG AND FAITHFUL +AFFECTION AND FRIENDSHIP + + + +PREPARER'S NOTE + + The original book for this text was published as a volume in a + series "Heroes of the Nations," edited by Evelyn Abbot, M.H., + Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and published by G.P. Putnam's + Sons / The Knickerbocker Press in 1896. The title material + includes the note: + + FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE + GLORIA RERUM--OVID, IN LIVIAM, 265. + THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON + FAME SHALL LIVE. + + + + + +JEANNE D'ARC + + + +CHAPTER I + +FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. +1412-1423. + +It is no small effort for the mind, even of the most well-informed, +how much more of those whose exact knowledge is not great (which is +the case with most readers, and alas! with most writers also), to +transport itself out of this nineteenth century which we know so +thoroughly, and which has trained us in all our present habits and +modes of thought, into the fifteenth, four hundred years back in time, +and worlds apart in every custom and action of life. What is there +indeed the same in the two ages? Nothing but the man and the woman, +the living agents in spheres so different; nothing but love and grief, +the affections and the sufferings by which humanity is ruled and of +which it is capable. Everything else is changed: the customs of life, +and its methods, and even its motives, the ruling principles of its +continuance. Peace and mutual consideration, the policy which even in +its selfish developments is so far good that it enables men to live +together, making existence possible,--scarcely existed in those days. +The highest ideal was that of war, war no doubt sometimes for good +ends, to redress wrongs, to avenge injuries, to make crooked things +straight--but yet always war, implying a state of affairs in which the +last thing that men thought of was the golden rule, and the highest +attainment to be looked for was the position of a protector, doer of +justice, deliverer of the oppressed. Our aim now that no one should be +oppressed, that every man should have justice as by the order of +nature, was a thing unthought of. What individual help did feebly for +the sufferer then, the laws do for us now, without fear or favour: +which is a much greater thing to say than that the organisation of +modern life, the mechanical helps, the comforts, the easements of the +modern world, had no existence in those days. We are often told that +the poorest peasant in our own time has aids to existence that had not +been dreamt of for princes in the Middle Ages. Thirty years ago the +world was mostly of opinion that the balance was entirely on our side, +and that in everything we were so much better off than our fathers, +that comparison was impossible. Since then there have been many +revolutions of opinion, and we think it is now the general conclusion +of wise men, that one period has little to boast itself of against +another, that one form of civilisation replaces another without +improving upon it, at least to the extent which appears on the +surface. But yet the general prevalence of peace, interrupted only by +occasional wars, even when we recognise a certain large and terrible +utility in war itself, must always make a difference incalculable +between the condition of the nations now, and then. + +It is difficult, indeed, to imagine any concatenation of affairs which +could reduce a country now to the condition in which France was in the +beginning of the fifteenth century. A strong and splendid kingdom, to +which in early ages one great man had given the force and supremacy of +a united nation, had fallen into a disintegration which seems almost +incredible when regarded in the light of that warm flame of +nationality which now illumines, almost above all others, the French +nation. But Frenchmen were not Frenchmen, they were Burgundians, +Armagnacs, Bretons, Provençaux five hundred years ago. The interests +of one part of the kingdom were not those of the other. Unity had no +existence. Princes of the same family were more furious enemies to +each other, at the head of their respective fiefs and provinces, than +the traditional foes of their race; and instead of meeting an invader +with a united force of patriotic resistance, one or more of these +subordinate rulers was sure to side with the invader and to execute +greater atrocities against his own flesh and blood than anything the +alien could do. + +When Charles VII. of France began, nominally, his reign, his uncles +and cousins, his nearest kinsmen, were as determinedly his opponents, +as was Henry V. of England, whose frank object was to take the crown +from his head. The country was torn in pieces with different causes +and cries. The English were but little farther off from the Parisian +than was the Burgundian, and the English king was only a trifle less +French than were the members of the royal family of France. These +circumstances are little taken into consideration in face of the +general history, in which a careless reader sees nothing but the two +nations pitted against each other as they might be now, the French +united in one strong and distinct nationality, the three kingdoms of +Great Britain all welded into one. In the beginning of the fifteenth +century the Scots fought on the French side, against their intimate +enemy of England, and if there had been any unity in Ireland, the +Irish would have done the same. The advantages and disadvantages of +subdivision were in full play. The Scots fought furiously against the +English--and when the latter won, as was usually the case, the Scots +contingent, whatever bounty might be shown to the French, was always +exterminated. On the other side the Burgundians, the Armagnacs, and +Royalists met each other almost more fiercely than the latter +encountered the English. Each country was convulsed by struggles of +its own, and fiercely sought its kindred foes in the ranks of its more +honest and natural enemy. + +When we add to these strange circumstances the facts that the French +King, Charles VI., was mad, and incapable of any real share either in +the internal government of his country or in resistance to its +invader: that his only son, the Dauphin, was no more than a foolish +boy, led by incompetent councillors, and even of doubtful legitimacy, +regarded with hesitation and uncertainty by many, everybody being +willing to believe the worst of his mother, especially after the +treaty of Troyes in which she virtually gave him up: that the King's +brothers or cousins at the head of their respective fiefs were all +seeking their own advantage, and that some of them, especially the +Duke of Burgundy, had cruel wrongs to avenge: it will be more easily +understood that France had reached a period of depression and apparent +despair which no principle of national elasticity or new spring of +national impulse was present to amend. The extraordinary aspect of +whole districts in so strong and populous a country, which disowned +the native monarch, and of towns and castles innumerable which were +held by the native nobility in the name of a foreign king, could +scarcely have been possible under other circumstances. Everything was +out of joint. It is said to be characteristic of the nation that it is +unable to play publicly (as we say) a losing game; but it is equally +characteristic of the race to forget its humiliations as if they had +never been, and to come out intact when the fortune of war changes, +more French than ever, almost unabashed and wholly uninjured, by the +catastrophe which had seemed fatal. + +If we had any right to theorise on such a subject--which is a thing +the French themselves above all other men love to do,--we should be +disposed to say, that wars and revolutions, legislation and politics, +are things which go on over the head of France, so to speak--boilings +on the surface, with which the great personality of the nation if such +a word may be used, has little to do, and cares but little for; while +she herself, the great race, neither giddy nor fickle, but unusually +obstinate, tenacious, and sober, narrow even in the unwavering pursuit +of a certain kind of well-being congenial to her--goes steadily on, +less susceptible to temporary humiliation than many peoples much less +excitable on the surface, and always coming back into sight when the +commotion is over, acquisitive, money-making, profit-loving, uninjured +in any essential particular by the most terrific of convulsions. This +of course is to be said more or less of every country, the strain of +common life being always, thank God, too strong for every temporary +commotion--but it is true in a special way of France:--witness the +extraordinary manner in which in our own time, and under our own eyes, +that wonderful country righted herself after the tremendous +misfortunes of the Franco-German war, in which for a moment not only +her prestige, her honour, but her money and credit seemed to be lost. + +It seems rather a paradox to point attention to the extraordinary +tenacity of this basis of French character, the steady prudence and +solidity which in the end always triumph over the light heart and +light head, the excitability and often rash and dangerous /élan/, +which are popularly supposed to be the chief distinguishing features +of France--at the very moment of beginning such a fairy tale, such a +wonderful embodiment of the visionary and ideal, as is the story of +Jeanne d'Arc. To call it a fairy tale is, however, disrespectful: it +is an angelic revelation, a vision made into flesh and blood, the +dream of a woman's fancy, more ethereal, more impossible than that of +any man--even a poet:--for the man, even in his most uncontrolled +imaginations, carries with him a certain practical limitation of what +can be--whereas the woman at her highest is absolute, and disregards +all bounds of possibility. The Maid of Orleans, the Virgin of France, +is the sole being of her kind who has ever attained full expression in +this world. She can neither be classified, as her countrymen love to +classify, nor traced to any system of evolution as we all attempt to +do nowadays. She is the impossible verified and attained. She is the +thing in every race, in every form of humanity, which the dreaming +girl, the visionary maid, held in at every turn by innumerable +restrictions, her feet bound, her actions restrained, not only by +outward force, but by the law of her nature, more effectual still,-- +has desired to be. That voiceless poet, to whom what can be is +nothing, but only what should be if miracle could be attained to +fulfil her trance and rapture of desire--is held by no conditions, +modified by no circumstances; and miracle is all around her, the most +credible, the most real of powers, the very air she breathers. Jeanne +of France is the very flower of this passion of the imagination. She +is altogether impossible from beginning to end of her, inexplicable, +alone, with neither rival nor even second in the one sole ineffable +path: yet all true as one of the oaks in her wood, as one of the +flowers in her garden, simple, actual, made of the flesh and blood +which are common to us all. + +And she is all the more real because it is France, impure, the country +of light loves and immodest passions, where all that is sensual comes +to the surface, and the courtesan is the queen of ignoble fancy, that +has brought forth this most perfect embodiment of purity among the +nations. This is of itself one of those miracles which captivate the +mind and charm the imagination, the living paradox in which the soul +delights. How did she come out of that stolid peasant race, out of +that distracted and ignoble age, out of riot and license and the +fierce thirst for gain, and failure of every noble faculty? Who can +tell? By the grace of God, by the inspiration of heaven, the only +origins in which the student of nature, which is over nature, can put +any trust. No evolution, no system of development, can explain Jeanne. +There is but one of her and no more in all the astonished world. + +With the permission of the reader I will retain her natural and +beautiful name. To translate it into Joan seems quite unnecessary. +Though she is the finest emblem to the world in general of that noble, +fearless, and spotless Virginity which is one of the finest +inspirations of the mediæval mind, yet she is inherently French, +though France scarcely was in her time: and national, though as yet +there were rather the elements of a nation than any indivisible People +in that great country. Was not she herself one of the strongest and +purest threads of gold to draw that broken race together and bind it +irrevocably, beneficially, into one? + +It is curious that it should have been from the farthest edge of +French territory that this national deliverer came. It is a +commonplace that a Borderer should be a more hot partisan of his own +country against the other from which but a line divides him in fact, +and scarcely so much in race--than the calmer inhabitant of the +midland country who knows no such press of constant antagonism; and +Jeanne is another example of this well known fact. It is even a +question still languidly discussed whether Jeanne and her family were +actually on one side of the line or the other. "Il faut opter," says +M. Blaze de Bury, one of her latest biographers, as if the peasant +household of 1412 had inhabited an Alsatian cottage in 1872. When the +line is drawn so closely, it is difficult to determine, but Jeanne +herself does not ever seem to have entertained a moment's doubt on the +subject, and she after all is the best authority. Perhaps Villon was +thinking more of his rhyme than of absolute fact when he spoke of +"Jeanne la bonne Lorraine." She was born on the 5th of January, 1412, +in the village of Domremy, on the banks of the Meuse, one of those +little grey hamlets, with its little church tower, and remains of a +little chateau on the soft elevation of a mound not sufficient for the +name of hill--which are scattered everywhere through those level +countries, like places which have never been built, which have grown +out of the soil, of undecipherable antiquity--perhaps, one feels, only +a hundred, perhaps a thousand years old--yet always inhabitable in all +the ages, with the same names lingering about, the same surroundings, +the same mild rural occupations, simple plenty and bare want mingling +together with as little difference of level as exists in the sweeping +lines of the landscape round. + +The life was calm in so humble a corner which offered nothing to the +invader or marauder of the time, but yet was so much within the +universal conditions of war that the next-door neighbour, so to speak, +the adjacent village of Maxey, held for the Burgundian and English +alliance, while little Domremy was for the King. And once at least +when Jeanne was a girl at home, the family were startled in their +quiet by the swoop of an armed party of Burgundians, and had to gather +up babies and what portable property they might have, and flee across +the frontier, where the good Lorrainers received and sheltered them, +till they could go back to their village, sacked and pillaged and +devastated in the meantime by the passing storm. Thus even in their +humility and inoffensiveness the Domremy villagers knew what war and +its miseries were, and the recollection would no doubt be vivid among +the children, of that half terrible, half exhilarating adventure, the +fright and excitement of personal participation in the troubles, of +which, night and day, from one quarter or another, they must have +heard. + +Domremy had originally belonged[1] to the Abbey of St. Remy at Rheims +--the ancient church of which, in its great antiquity, is still an +interest and a wonder even in comparison with the amazing splendour of +the cathedral of that place, so rich and ornate, which draws the eyes +of the visitor to itself, and its greater associations. It is possible +that this ancient connection with Rheims may have brought the great +ceremony for which it is ever memorable, the consecration of the kings +of France, more distinctly before the musing vision of the village +girl; but I doubt whether such chance associations are ever much to be +relied upon. The village was on the high-road to Germany; it must have +been therefore in the way of news, and of many rumours of what was +going on in the centres of national life, more than many towns of +importance. Feudal bands, a rustic Seigneur with his little troop, +going out for their forty days' service, or returning home after it, +must have passed along the banks of the lazy Meuse many days during +the fighting season, and indeed throughout the year, for garrison duty +would be as necessary in winter as in summer; or a wandering pair of +friars who had seen strange sights must have passed with their wallets +from the neighbouring convents, collecting the day's provision, and +leaving news and gossip behind, such as flowed to these monastic +hostelries from all quarters--tales of battles, and anecdotes of the +Court, and dreadful stories of English atrocities, to stir the village +and rouse ever generous sentiment and stirring of national +indignation. They are said by Michelet to have been no man's vassals, +these outlying hamlets of Champagne; the men were not called upon to +follow their lord's banner at a day's notice, as were the sons of +other villages. There is no appearance even of a lord at all upon this +piece of Church land, which was, we are told, directly held under the +King, and would only therefore be touched by a general levy /en +masse/--not even perhaps by that, so far off were they, and so near +the frontier, where a reluctant man-at-arms could without difficulty +make his escape, as the unwilling conscript sometimes does now. + +There would seem to have been no one of more importance in Domremy +than Jacques d'Arc himself and his wife, respectable peasants, with a +little money, a considerable rural property in flocks and herds and +pastures, and a good reputation among their kind. He had three sons +working with their father in the peaceful routine of the fields; and +two daughters, of whom some authorities indicate Jeanne as the +younger, and some as the elder. The cottage interior, however, appears +more clearly to us than the outward aspect of the family life. The +daughters were not, like the children of poorer peasants, brought up +to the rude outdoor labours of the little farm. Painters have +represented Jeanne as keeping her father's sheep, and even the early +witnesses say the same; but it is contradicted by herself, who ought +to know best--(except in taking her turn to herd them into a place of +safety on an alarm). If she followed the flocks to the fields, it must +have been, she says, in her childhood, and she has no recollection of +it. Hers was a more sheltered and safer lot. The girls were brought up +by their mother indoors in all the labours of housewifery, but also in +the delicate art of needlework, so much more exquisite in those days +than now. Perhaps Isabeau, the mistress of the house, was of convent +training, perhaps some ancient privilege in respect to the manufacture +of ornaments for the altar, and church vestments, was still retained +by the tenants of what had been Church lands. At all events this, and +other kindred works of the needle, seems to have been the chief +occupation to which Jeanne was brought up. + +The education of this humble house seems to have come entirely from +the mother. It was natural that the children should not know A from B, +as Jeanne afterward said; but no one did, probably, in the village nor +even on much higher levels than that occupied by the family of Jacques +d'Arc. But the children at their mother's knee learned the Credo, they +learned the simple universal prayers which are common to the wisest +and simplest, which no great savant or poet could improve, and no +child fail to understand: "Our Father, which art in Heaven," and that +"Hail, Mary, full of grace," which the world in that day put next. +These were the alphabet of life to the little Champagnards in their +rough woollen frocks and clattering sabots; and when the house had +been set in order,--a house not without comfort, with its big wooden +presses full of linen, and the /pot au feu/ hung over the cheerful +fire,--came the real work, perhaps embroideries for the Church, +perhaps only good stout shirts made of flax spun by their own hands +for the father and the boys, and the fine distinctive coif of the +village for the women. "Asked if she had learned any art or trade, +said: Yes, that her mother had taught her to sew and spin, and so +well, that she did not think any woman in Rouen could teach her +anything." When the lady in the ballad makes her conditions with the +peasant woman who is to bring up her boy, her "gay goss hawk," and +have him trained in the use of sword and lance, she undertakes to +teach the "turtle-doo," the woman child substituted for him, "to lay +gold with her hand." No doubt Isabeau's child learned this difficult +and dainty art, and how to do the beautiful and delicate embroidery +which fills the treasuries of the old churches. + +And while they sat by the table in the window, with their shining +silks and gold thread, the mother made the quiet hours go by with tale +and legend--of the saints first of all--and stories from Scripture, +quaintly interpreted into the costume and manners of their own time, +as one may still hear them in the primitive corners of Italy: mingled +with incidents of the war, of the wounded man tended in the village, +and the victors all flushed with triumph, and the defeated with +trailing arms and bowed heads, riding for their lives: perhaps little +epics and tragedies of the young knight riding by to do his devoir +with his handful of followers all spruce and gay, and the battered and +diminished remnant that would come back. And then the Black +Burgundians, the horrible English ogres, whose names would make the +children shudder! No /God-den/[2] had got so far as Domremy; there +was no personal knowledge to soften the picture of the invader. He was +unspeakable as the Turk to the imagination of the French peasant, +diabolical as every invader is. + +This was the earliest training of the little maid before whom so +strange and so great a fortune lay. /Autre personne que sadite mère ne +lui apprint/--any lore whatsoever; and she so little--yet everything +that was wanted--her prayers, her belief, the happiness of serving +God, and also man; for when any one was sick in the village, either a +little child with the measles, or a wounded soldier from the wars, +Isabeau's modest child--no doubt the mother too--was always ready to +help. It must have been a family /de bien/, in the simple phrase of +the country, helpful, serviceable, with charity and aid for all. An +honest labourer, who came to speak for Jeanne at the second trial, +held long after her death, gave his incontestable evidence to this. "I +was then a child," he said, "and it was she who nursed me in my +illness." They were all more or less devout in those days, when faith +was without question, and the routine of church ceremonial was +followed as a matter of course; but few so much as Jeanne, whose chief +pleasure it was to say her prayers in the little dark church, where +perhaps in the morning sunshine, as she made her early devotions, +there would blaze out upon her from a window, a Holy Michael in +shining armour, transfixing the dragon with his spear, or a St. +Margaret dominating the same emblem of evil with her cross in her +hand. So, at least, the historians conjecture, anxious to find out +some reason for her visions; and there is nothing in the suggestion +which is unpleasing. The little country church was in the gift of St. +Remy, and some benefactor of the rural curé might well have given a +painted window to make glad the hearts of the simple people. St. +Margaret was no warrior-saint, but she overcame the dragon with her +cross, and was thus a kind of sister spirit to the great archangel. + +Sitting much of her time at or outside the cottage door with her +needlework, in itself an occupation so apt to encourage musing and +dreams, the bells were one of Jeanne's great pleasures. We know a +traveller, of the calmest English temperament and sobriety of +Protestant fancy, to whom the midday Angelus always brings, he says, a +touching reminder--which he never neglects wherever he may be--to +uncover the head and lift up the heart; how much more the devout +peasant girl softly startled in the midst of her dreaming by that call +to prayer. She was so fond of those bells that she bribed the careless +bell-ringer with simple presents to be more attentive to his duty. +From the garden where she sat with her work, the cloudy foliage of the +/bois de chêne/, the oak wood, where were legends of fairies and a +magic well, to which her imagination, better inspired, seems to have +given no great heed, filled up the prospect on one side. At a later +period, her accusers attempted to make out that she had been a devotee +of these nameless woodland spirits, but in vain. No doubt she was one +of the procession on the holy day once a year, when the curé of the +parish went out through the wood to the Fairies' Well to say his mass, +and exorcise what evil enchantment might be there. But Jeanne's +imagination was not of the kind to require such stimulus. The saints +were enough for her; and indeed they supplied to a great extent the +fairy tales of the age, though it was not of love and fame and living +happy ever after, but of sacrifice and suffering and valorous +martyrdom that their glory was made up. + +We hear of the woods, the fields, the cottages, the little church and +its bells, the garden where she sat and sewed, the mother's stories, +the morning mass, in this quiet preface of the little maiden's life; +but nothing of the highroad with its wayfarers, the convoys of +provisions for the war, the fighting men that were coming and going. +Yet these, too, must have filled a large part in the village life, and +it is evident that a strong impression of the pity of it all, of the +distraction of the country and all the cruelties and miseries of which +she could not but hear, must have early begun to work in Jeanne's +being, and that while she kept silence the fire burned in her heart. +The love of God, and that love of country which has nothing to say to +political patriotism but translates itself in an ardent longing and +desire to do "some excelling thing" for the benefit and glory of that +country, and to heal its wounds--were the two principles of her life. +We have not the slightest indication how much or how little of this +latter sentiment was shared by the simple community about her; unless +from the fact that the Domremy children fought with those of Maxey, +their disaffected neighbours, to the occasional effusion of blood. We +do not know even of any volunteer from the village, or enthusiasm for +the King.[3] The district was voiceless, the little clusters of +cottages fully occupied in getting their own bread, and probably like +most other village societies, disposed to treat any military impulse +among their sons as mere vagabondism and love of adventure and +idleness. + +Nothing, so far as anyone knows, came near the most unlikely volunteer +of all, to lead her thoughts to that art of war of which she knew +nothing, and of which her little experience could only have shown her +the horrors and miseries, the sufferings of wounded fugitives and the +ruin of sacked houses. Of all people in the world, the little daughter +of a peasant was the last who could have been expected to respond to +the appeal of the wretched country. She had three brothers who might +have served the King, and there was no doubt many a stout clodhopper +about, of that kind which in every country is the fittest material for +fighting, and "food for powder." But to none of these did the call +come. Every detail goes to increase the profound impression of +peacefulness which fills the atmosphere--the slow river floating by, +the roofs clustered together, the church bells tinkling their +continual summons, the girl with her work at the cottage door in the +shadow of the apple trees. To pack the little knapsack of a brother or +a lover, and to convoy him weeping a little way on his road to the +army, coming back to the silent church to pray there, with the soft +natural tears which the uses of common life must soon dry--that is all +that imagination could have demanded of Jeanne. She was even too young +for any interposition of the lover, too undeveloped, the French +historians tell us with their astonishing frankness, to the end of her +short life, to have been moved by any such thought. She might have +poured forth a song, a prayer, a rude but sweet lament for her +country, out of the still bosom of that rustic existence. Such things +have been, the trouble of the age forcing an utterance from the very +depths of its inarticulate life. But it was not for this that Jeanne +d'Arc was born. +---------- +[1] Mr. Andrew Lang informs me that the real proprietor was a certain + "Dame d'Orgévillier." "On Jeanne's side of the burn," he adds, + with a picturesque touch of realism, "the people were probably + /free/ as attached to the Royal Châtellenie of Vancouleurs, as + described below." + +[2] This was probably not the God-dam of later French, a reflection of + the supposed prevalent English oath, but most likely merely the + God-den or good-day, the common salutation. + +[3] Domremy was split, Mr. Lang says, by the burn, and Jeanne's side + were probably King's men. We have it on her own word that there + was but one Burgundian in the village, but that might mean on her + side. + + + +CHAPTER II + +DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS. +1424-1429. + +In the year 1424, the year in which, after the battle of Agincourt, +France was delivered over to Henry V., an extraordinary event occurred +in the life of this little French peasant. We have not the same horror +of that treaty, naturally, as have the French. Henry V. is a favourite +of our history, probably not so much for his own merit as because of +that master-magician, Shakespeare, who of his supreme good pleasure, +in the exercise of that voluntary preference, which even God himself +seems to show to some men, has made of that monarch one of the best +beloved of our hearts. Dear to us as he is, in Eastcheap as at +Agincourt, and more in the former than the latter, even our sense of +the disgraceful character of that bargain, /le traité infâme/ of +Troyes, by which Queen Isabeau betrayed her son, and gave her daughter +and her country to the invader, is softened a little by our high +estimation of the hero. But this is simple national prejudice; +regarded from the French side, or even by the impartial judgment of +general humanity, it was an infamous treaty, and one which might well +make the blood boil in French veins. + +We look at it at present, however, through the atmosphere of the +nineteenth century, when France is all French, and when the royal +house of England has no longer any French connection. If George III., +much more George II., on the basis of his kingdom of Hanover, had +attempted to make himself master of a large portion of Germany, the +situation would have been more like that of Henry V. in France than +anything we can think of now. It is true the kings of England were no +longer dukes of Normandy--but they had been so within the memory of +man: and that noble duchy was a hereditary appanage of the family of +the Conqueror; while to other portions of France they had the link of +temporary possession and inheritance through French wives and mothers; +added to which is the fact that Jean sans Peur of Burgundy, thirsting +to avenge his father's blood upon the Dauphin, would have been +probably a more dangerous usurper than Henry, and that the actual +sovereign, the unfortunate, mad Charles VI., was in no condition to +maintain his own rights. + +There is little evidence, however, that this treaty, or anything so +distinct in detail, had made much impression on the outlying borders +of France. What was known there, was only that the English were +victorious, that the rightful King of France was still uncrowned and +unacknowledged, and that the country was oppressed and humiliated +under the foot of the invader. The fact that the new King was not yet +the Lord's anointed, and had never received the seal of God, as it +were, to his commission, was a fact which struck the imagination of +the village as of much more importance than many greater things--being +at once more visible and matter-of-fact, and of more mystical and +spiritual efficacy than any other circumstance in the dreadful tale. + +Jeanne was in the garden as usual, seated, as we should say in +Scotland, at "her seam," not quite thirteen, a child in all the +innocence of infancy, yet full of dreams, confused no doubt and vague, +with those impulses and wonderings--impatient of trouble, yearning to +give help--which tremble on the chaos of a young soul like the first +lightening of dawn upon the earth. It was summer, and afternoon, the +time of dreams. It would be easy in the employment of legitimate fancy +to heighten the picturesqueness of that quiet scene--the little girl +with her favourite bells, the birds picking up the crumbs of brown +bread at her feet. She was thinking of nothing, most likely, in a +vague suspense of musing, the wonder of youth, the awakening of +thought, as yet come to little definite in her child's heart--looking +up from her work to note some passing change of the sky, a something +in the air which was new to her. All at once between her and the +church there shone a light on the right hand, unlike anything she had +ever seen before; and out of it came a voice equally unknown and +wonderful. What did the voice say? Only the simplest words, words fit +for a child, no maxim or mandate above her faculties--"/Jeanne, sois +bonne et sage enfant; va souvent à l'église./" Jeanne, be good! What +more could an archangel, what less could the peasant mother within +doors, say? The little girl was frightened, but soon composed herself. +The voice could be nothing but sacred and blessed which spoke thus. It +would not appear that she mentioned it to anyone. It is such a secret +as a child, in that wavering between the real and unreal, the world +not realised of childhood, would keep, in mingled shyness and awe, +uncertain, rapt in the atmosphere of vision, within her own heart. + +It is curious how often this wonderful scene has been repeated in +France, never connected with so high a mission, but yet embracing the +same circumstances, the same situation, the same semi-angelic nature +of the woman-child. The little Bernadette of Lourdes is almost of our +own day; she, too is one who puts the scorner to silence. What her +visions and her voices were, who can say? The last historian of them +is not a man credulous of good or moved towards the ideal; yet he is +silent, except in a wondering impression of the sacred and the true, +before the little Bearnaise in her sabots; and, notwithstanding the +many sordid results that have followed and all that sad machinery of +expected miracle through which even, repulsive as it must always be, a +something breaks forth from time to time which no man can define and +account for except in ways more incredible than miracle--so is the +rest of the world. Why has this logical, sceptical, doubting country, +so able to quench with an epigram, or blow away with a breath of +ridicule the finest vision--become the special sphere and birthplace +of these spotless infant-saints? This is one of the wonders which +nobody attempts to account for. Yet Bernadette is as Jeanne, though +there are more than four hundred years between. + +After what intervals the vision returned we are not told, nor in what +circumstances. It seems to have come chiefly out-of-doors, in the +silence and freedom of the fields or garden. Presently the heavenly +radiance shaped itself into some semblance of forms and figures, one +of which, clearer than the others, was like a man, but with wings and +a crown on his head and the air "/d'un vrai prud' homme/"; a noble +apparition before whom at first the little maid trembled, but whose +majestic, honest regard soon gave her confidence. He bade her once +more to be good, and that God would help her; then he told her the sad +story of her own suffering country, /la pitié qui estoit au royaume de +France/. Was it the pity of heaven that the archangel reported to the +little trembling girl, or only that which woke with the word in her +own childish soul? He has chosen the small things of this world to +confound the great. Jeanne's young heart was full of pity already, and +of yearning over the helpless mother-country which had no champion to +stand for her. "She had great doubts at first whether it was St. +Michael, but afterwards when he had instructed her and shown her many +things, she believed firmly that it was he." + +It was this warrior-angel who opened the matter to her, and disclosed +her mission. "Jeanne," he said, "you must go to the help of the King +of France; and it is you who shall give him back his kingdom." Like a +still greater Maid, trembling, casting in her mind what this might +mean, she replied, confused, as if that simple detail were all: +"Messire, I am only a poor girl; I cannot ride or lead armed men." The +vision took no notice of this plea. He became minute in his +directions, indicating exactly what she was to do. "Go to Messire de +Baudricourt, captain of Vaucouleurs, and he will take you to the King. +St. Catherine and St. Margaret will come and help you." Jeanne was +overwhelmed by this exactness, by the sensation of receiving direct +orders. She cried, weeping and helpless, terrified to the bottom of +her soul--What was she that she should do this? a little girl, able to +guide nothing but her needle or her distaff, to lend her simple aid in +nursing a sick child. But behind all her fright and hesitation, her +heart was filled with the emotion thus suggested to her--the +immeasurable /pitié que estoit au royaume de France/. Her heart became +heavy with this burden. By degrees it came about that she could think +of nothing else; and her little life was confused by expectations and +recollections of the celestial visitant, who might arrive upon her at +any moment, in the midst perhaps of some innocent play, or when she +sat sewing in the garden before her father's humble door. + +After a while the /vrai prud' homme/ came seldom; other figures more +like herself, soft forms of women, white and shining, with golden +circlets and ornaments, appeared to her in the great halo of the +light; they bowed their heads, naming themselves, as to a sister +spirit, Catherine, and the other Margaret. Their voices were sweet and +soft with a sound that made you weep. They were both martyrs, +encouraging and strengthening the little martyr that was to be. "A +lady is there in the heavens who loves thee": Virgil could not say +more to rouse the flagging strength of Dante. When these gentle +figures disappeared, the little maid wept in an anguish of tenderness, +longing if only they would take her with them. It is curious that +though she describes in this vague rapture the appearance of her +visitors, it is always as "/mes voix/" that she names them--the sight +must always have been more imperfect than the message. Their outlines +and their lovely faces might shine uncertain in the excess of light; +but the words were always plain. The pity for France that was in their +hearts spread itself into the silent rural atmosphere, touching every +sensitive chord in the nature of little Jeanne. It was as if her +mother lay dying there before her eyes. + +Curious to think how little anyone could have suspected such meetings +as these, in the cottage hard by, where the weary ploughmen from the +fields would come clamping in for their meal, and Dame Isabeau would +call to the child, even sharply perhaps now and then, to leave that +all-absorbing needlework and come in and help, as Martha called Mary +fourteen hundred years before; and where the priest, mumbling his mass +of a cold morning in the little church, would smile indulgent on the +faithful little worshipper when it was done, sure of seeing Jeanne +there whoever might be absent. She was a shy girl, blushing and +drooping her head when a stranger spoke to her, red and shame-faced +when they laughed at her in the village as a /dévote/ before her time; +but with nothing else to blush about in all her simple record. + +Neither to her parents, nor to the curé when she made her confession, +does she seem to have communicated these strange experiences, though +they had lasted for some time before she felt impelled to act upon +them, and could keep silence no longer. She was but thirteen when the +revelations began and she was seventeen when at last she set forth to +fulfil her mission. She had no guidance from her voices, she herself +says, as to whether she should tell or not tell what had been +communicated to her; and no doubt was kept back by her shyness, and by +the dreamy confusion of childhood between the real and unreal. One +would have thought that a life in which these visions were of constant +recurrence would have been rapt altogether out of wholesome use and +wont, and all practical service. But this does not seem for a moment +to have been the case. Jeanne was no hysterical girl, living with her +head in a mist, abstracted from the world. She had all the enthusiasms +even of youthful friendship, other girls surrounding her with the +intimacy of the village, paying her visits, staying all night, sharing +her room and her bed. She was ready to be sent for by any poor woman +that needed help or nursing, she was always industrious at her needle; +one would love to know if perhaps in the /Trésor/ at Rheims there was +some stole or maniple with flowers on it, wrought by her hands. But +the /Trésor/ at Rheims is nowadays rather vulgar if truth must be +told, and the bottles and vases for the consecration of Charles X., +that /pauvre sire/, are more thought of than relics of an earlier age. + +At length, however, one does not know how, the secret of her double +life came out. No doubt long brooding over these voices, long +intercourse with such celestial visitors, and the mission continually +pressed upon her--meaningless to the child at first, a thing only to +shed terrified tears over and wonder at--ripened her intelligence so +that she came at last to perceive that it was practicable, a thing to +be done, a charge to be obeyed. She had this before her, as a girl in +ordinary circumstances has the new developments of life to think of, +and how to be a wife and mother. And the news brought by every passer- +by would prove doubly interesting, doubly important to Jeanne, in her +daily growing comprehension of what she was called upon to do. As she +felt the current more and more catching her feet, sweeping her on, +overcoming all resistance in her own mind, she must have been more and +more anxious to know what was going on in the distracted world, more +and more touched by that great pity which had awakened her soul. And +all these reports were of a nature to increase that pity till it +became overwhelming. The tales she would hear of the English must have +been tales of cruelty and horror; not so many years ago what tales did +not we hear of German ferocity in the French villages, perhaps not +true at all, yet making their impression always; and it was more +probable in that age that every such story should be true. Then the +compassion which no one can help feeling for a young man deprived of +his rights, his inheritance taken from him, his very life in danger, +threatened by the stranger and usurper, was deepened in every +particular by the fact that it was the King, the very impersonation of +France, appointed by God as the head of the country, who was in +danger. Everything that Jeanne heard would help to swell the stream. + +Thus she must have come step by step--this extraordinary, impossible +suggestion once sown in her dreaming soul--to perceive a kind of +miraculous reasonableness in it, to see its necessity, and how +everything pointed towards such a deliverance. It would have seemed +natural to believe that the prophecies of the countryside which +promised a virgin from an oak grove, a maiden from Lorraine, to +deliver France, might have affected her mind, did we not have it from +her own voice that she had never heard that prophecy[1]; but the word +of the blessed Michael, so often repeated, was more than an old wife's +tale; and the child's alarm would seem to have died away as she came +to her full growth. And Jeanne was no ethereal spirit lost in visions, +but a robust and capable peasant girl, fearing little, and full of +sense and determination, as well as of an inspiration so far above the +level of the crowd. We hear with wonder afterwards that she had the +making of a great general in her untutored female soul,--which is +perhaps the most wonderful thing in her career,--and saw with the eye +of an experienced and able soldier, as even Dunois did not always see +it, the fit order of an attack, the best arrangement of the forces at +her command. This I honestly avow is to me the most incredible point +in the story. I am not disturbed by the apparition of the saints; +there is in them an ineffable appropriateness and fitness against +which the imagination, at least, has not a word to say. The wonder is +not, to the natural mind, that such interpositions of heaven come, but +that they come so seldom. But that Jacques d'Arc's daughter, the +little girl over her sewing, whose only fault was that she went to +church too often, should have the genius of a soldier, is too +bewildering for words to say. A poet, yes, an inspiring influence +leading on to miraculous victory; but a general, skilful with the rude +artillery of the time, divining the better way in strategy,--this is a +wonder beyond the reach of our faculties; yet according to Alençon, +Dunois, and other military authorities, it was true. + +We have little means of finding out how it was that Jeanne's long +musings came at last to a point at which they could be hidden no +longer, nor what it was which induced her at last to select the +confidant she did. No doubt she must have been considering and +weighing the matter for a long time before she fixed upon the man who +was her relation, yet did not belong to Domremy, and was safer than a +townsman for the extraordinary revelations she had to make. One of her +neighbours, her gossip, Gerard of Epinal, to whose child she was +godmother, had perhaps at one moment seemed to her a likely helper. +But he belonged to the opposite party. "If you were not a Burgundian," +she said to him once, "there is something I might tell you." The +honest fellow took this to mean that she had some thought of marriage, +the most likely and natural supposition. It was at this moment, when +her heart was burning with her great secret, the voices urging her on +day by day, and her power of self-constraint almost at an end, that +Providence sent Durand Laxart, her uncle by marriage, to Domremy on +some family visit. She would seem to have taken advantage of the +opportunity with eagerness, asking him privately to take her home with +him, and to explain to her father and mother that he wanted her to +take care of his wife. No doubt the girl, devoured with so many +thoughts, would have the air of requiring "a change" as we say, and +that the mother would be very ready to accept for her an invitation +which might bring back the brightness to her child. Laxart was a +peasant like the rest, a /prud' homme/ well thought of among his +people. He lived in Burey le Petit, near to Vaucouleurs, the chief +place of the district, and Jeanne already knew that it was to the +captain of Vaucouleurs that she was to address herself. Thus she +secured her object in the simplest and most natural way. + +Yet the reader cannot but hold his breath at the thought of what that +amazing revelation must have been to the homely, rustic soul, her +companion, communicated as they went along the common road in the +common daylight. "She said to the witness that she must go to France +to the Dauphin, to make him to be crowned King." It must have been as +if a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet when the girl whom he had +known in every development of her little life, thus suddenly disclosed +to him her secret purpose and determination. All her simple excellence +the good man knew, and that she was no fantastic chatterer, but truly +/une bonne douce fille/, bold in nothing but kindness, with nothing to +blush for but the fault of going too often to church. "Did you never +hear that France should be made desolate by a woman and restored by a +maid?" she said; and this would seem to have been an unanswerable +argument. He had, henceforth, nothing to do but to promote her purpose +as best he could in every way. + +It would not seem at all unlikely to this good man that the Archangel +Michael, if Jeanne's revelation to him went so far, should have named +Robert de Baudricourt, the chief of the district, captain of the town +and its forces, the principal personage in all the neighbourhood, as +the person to whom Jeanne's purpose was to be revealed, but rather a +guarantee of St. Michael himself, familiar with good society; and the +Seigneur must have been more or less in good intelligence with his +people, not too alarming to be referred to, even on so insignificant a +subject as the vagaries of a country girl--though these by this time +must have begun to seem something more than vagaries to the half- +convinced peasant. And it was no doubt a great relief to his mind thus +to put the decision of the question into the hands of a man better +informed than himself. Laxart proceeded to Vaucouleurs upon his +mission, shyly yet with confidence. He would seem to have had a +preliminary interview with Baudricourt before introducing Jeanne. The +stammering countryman, the bluff, rustic noble and soldier, cheerfully +contemptuous, receiving, with a loud laugh into all the echoes, the +extraordinary demand that he should send a little girl from Domremy to +the King, to deliver France, come before us like a picture in the +countryman's simple words. Robert de Baudricourt would scarcely hear +the story out. "Box her ears," he said, "and send her home to her +mother." The little fool! What did she know of the English, those +brutal, downright fighters, against whom no /élan/ was sufficient, who +stood their ground and set up vulgar posts around their lines, instead +of trusting to the rush of sudden valour, and the tactics of the +tournament! She deliver France! On a much smaller argument and to put +down a less ambition, the half serious, half amused adviser has bidden +a young fanatic's ears to be boxed on many an unimportant occasion, +and has often been justified in so doing. There would be a half hour +of gaiety after poor Laxart, crestfallen, had got his dismissal. The +good man must have turned back to Jeanne, where she waited for him in +courtyard or antechamber, with a heavy heart. No boxing of ears was +possible to him. The mere thought of it was blasphemy. This was on +Ascension Day the 13 May, 1428. + +Jeanne, however, was not discouraged by M. de Baudricourt's joke, and +her interview with him changed his views completely. She appears +indeed from the moment of setting out from her father's house to have +taken a new attitude. These great personages of the country before +whom all the peasants trembled, were nothing to this village maid, +except, perhaps, instruments in the hand of God to speed her on her +way if they could see their privileges--if not, to be swept out of it +like straws by the wind. It had no doubt been hard for her to leave +her father's house; but after that disruption what did anything +matter? And she had gone through five years of gradual training of +which no one knew. The tears and terror, the plea, "I am a poor girl; +I cannot even ride," of her first childlike alarm had given place to a +profound acquaintance with the voices and their meaning. They were now +her familiar friends guiding her at every step; and what was the +commonplace burly Seigneur, with his roar of laughter, to Jeanne? She +went to her audience with none of the alarm of the peasant. A certain +young man of Baudricourt's suite, Bertrand de Poulengy, another young +D'Artagnan seeking his fortune, was present in the hall and witnessed +the scene. The joke would seem to have been exhausted by the time +Jeanne appeared, or her perfect gravity and simplicity, and beautiful +manners--so unlike her rustic dress and village coif--imposed upon the +Seigneur and his little court. This is how the story is told, twenty- +five years after, by the witness, then an elderly knight, recalling +the story of his youth. + +"She said that she came to Robert on the part of her Lord, that he +should send to the Dauphin, and tell him to hold out, and have no +fear, for the Lord would send him succour before the middle of Lent. +She also said that France did not belong to the Dauphin but to her +Lord; but her Lord willed that the Dauphin should be its King, and +hold it in command, and that in spite of his enemies she herself would +conduct him to be consecrated. Robert then asked her who was this +Lord? She answered, 'The King of Heaven.' This being done [the witness +adds] she returned to her father's house with her uncle, Durand Laxart +of Burey le Petit." + +This brief and sudden preface to her career passed over and had no +immediate effect; indeed but for Bertrand we should have been unable +to separate it from the confused narrative to which all these +witnesses brought what recollection they had, often without sequence +or order, Durand himself taking no notice of any interval between this +first visit to Vaucouleurs and the final one.[2] The episode of +Ascension Day appears like the formal /sommation/ of French law, made +as a matter of form before the appellant takes action on his own +responsibility; but Baudricourt had probably more to do with it than +appears to be at all certain from the after evidence. One of the +persons present, at all events, young Poulengy above mentioned, bore +it in mind and pondered it in his heart. + +Meantime, Jeanne returned home--the strangest home-going,--for by this +time her mission and her aspirations could no longer be hid, and +rumour must have carried the news almost as quickly as any modern +telegraph, to startle all the echoes of the village, heretofore +unaware of any difference between Jeanne and her companions save the +greater goodness to which everybody bears testimony. No doubt, it must +have reached Jacques d'Arc's cottage even before she came back with +the kind Durand, a changed creature, already the consecrated Maid of +France, La Pucelle, apart from all others. The French peasant is a +hard man, more fierce in his terror of the unconventional, of having +his domestic affairs exposed to the public eye, or his family +disgraced by an exhibition of anything unusual either in act or +feeling, than almost any other class of beings. And it is evident that +he took his daughter's intention according to the coarsest +interpretation, as a wild desire for adventure and intention of +joining herself to the roving troopers, the soldiers always hated and +dreaded in rural life. He suddenly appears in the narrative in a fever +of apprehension, with no imaginative alarm or anxiety about his girl, +but the fiercest suspicion of her, and dread of disgrace to ensue. We +do not know what passed when she returned, further than that her +father had a dream, no doubt after the first astounding explanation of +the purpose that had so long been ripening in her mind. He dreamed +that he saw her surrounded by armed men, in the midst of the troopers, +the most evident and natural interpretation of her purpose, for who +could divine that she meant to be their leader and general, on a level +not with the common men-at-arms, but of princes and nobles? In the +morning he told his dream to his wife and also to his sons. "If I +could think that the thing would happen that I dreamed, I would wish +that she should be drowned; and if you would not do it, I should do it +with my own hands." The reader remembers with a shudder the Meuse +flowing at the foot of the garden, while the fierce peasant, mad with +fear lest shame should be coming to his family, clenched his strong +fist and made this outcry of dismay. + +No doubt his wife smoothed the matter over as well as she could, and, +whatever alarms were in her own mind, hastily thought of a feminine +expedient to mend matters, and persuaded the angry father that to +substitute other dreams for these would be an easier way. Isabeau most +probably knew the village lad who would fain have had her child, so +good a housewife, so industrious a workwoman, and always so friendly +and so helpful, for his wife. At all events there was such a one, too +willing to exert himself, not discouraged by any refusal, who could be +egged up to the very strong point of appearing before the bishop at +Toul and swearing that Jeanne had been promised to him from her +childhood. So timid a girl, they all thought, so devout a Catholic, +would simply obey the bishop's decision and would not be bold enough +even to remonstrate, though it is curious that with the spectacle of +her grave determination before them, and sorrowful sense of that +necessity of her mission which had steeled her to dispense with their +consent, they should have expected such an expedient to arrest her +steps. The affair, we must suppose, had gone through all the more +usual stages of entreaty on the lover's part, and persuasion on that +of the parents, before such an attempt was finally made. But the shy +Jeanne had by this time attained that courage of desperation which is +not inconsistent with the most gentle nature; and without saying +anything to anyone, she too went to Toul, appeared before the bishop, +and easily freed herself from the pretended engagement, though whether +with any reference to her very different destination we are not +told.[3] + +These proceedings, however, and the father's dreams and the +remonstrances of the mother, must have made troubled days in the +cottage, and scenes of wrath and contradiction, hard to bear. The +winter passed distracted by these contentions, and it is difficult to +imagine how Jeanne could have borne this had it not been that the +period of her outset had already been indicated, and that it was only +in the middle of Lent that her succour was to reach the King. The +village, no doubt, was almost as much distracted as her father's house +to hear of these strange discussions and of the incredible purpose of +the /bonne douce fille/, whose qualities everybody knew and about whom +there was nothing eccentric, nothing unnatural, but only simple +goodness, to distinguish her above her neighbours. In the meantime her +voices called her continually to her work. They set her free from the +ordinary yoke of obedience, always so strong in the mind of a French +girl. The dreadful step of abandoning her home, not to be thought of +under any other circumstances, was more and more urgently pressed upon +her. Could it indeed be saints and angels who ordained a step which +was outside of all the habits and first duties of nature? But we have +no reason to believe that this nineteenth-century doubt of her +visitors, and of whether their mandates were right, entered into the +mind of a girl who was of her own period and not of ours. She went on +steadfastly, certain of her mission now, and inaccessible either to +remonstrance or appeal. + +It was towards the beginning of Lent, as Poulengy tells us, that the +decision was made, and she left home finally, to go "to France" as is +always said. But it seems to have been in January that she set out +once more for Vaucouleurs, accompanied by her uncle, who took her to +the house of some humble folk they knew, a carter and his wife, where +they lodged. Jeanne wore her peasant dress of heavy red homespun, her +rude heavy shoes, her village coif. She never made any pretence of +ladyhood or superiority to her class, but was always equal to the +finest society in which she found herself, by dint of that simple good +faith, sense, and seriousness, without excitement or exaggeration, and +radiant purity and straightforwardness which were apparent to all +seeing eyes. By this time all the little world about knew something of +her purpose and followed her every step with wonder and quickly rising +curiosity: and no doubt the whole town was astir, women gazing at +their doors, all on her side from the first moment, the men half +interested, half insolent, as she went once more to the chateau to +make her personal appeal. Simple as she was, the /bonne douce fille/ +was not intimidated by the guard at the gates, the lounging soldiers, +the no doubt impudent glances flung at her by these rude companions. +She was inaccessible to alarms of that kind--which, perhaps, is one of +the greatest safeguards against them even in more ordinary cases. We +find little record of her second interview with Baudricourt. The +/Journal du Siège d'Orleans/ and the /Chronique de la Pucelle/ both +mention it as if it had been one of several, which may well have been +the case, as she was for three weeks in Vaucouleurs. It is almost +impossible to arrange the incidents of this interval between her +arrival there and her final departure for Chinon on the 23d February, +during which time she made a pilgrimage to a shrine of St. Nicolas and +also a visit to the Duke of Lorraine. It is clear, however, that she +must have repeated her demand with such stress and urgency that the +Captain of Vaucouleurs was a much perplexed man. It was a very natural +idea then, and in accordance with every sentiment of the time that he +should suspect this wonderful girl, who would not be daunted, of being +a witch and capable of bringing an evil fate on all who crossed her. +All thought of boxing her ears must ere this have departed from his +mind. He hastened to consult the curé, which was the most reasonable +thing to do. The curé was as much puzzled as the Captain. The Church, +it must be said, if always ready to take advantage afterwards of such +revelations, has always been timid, even sceptical about them at +first. The wisdom of the rulers, secular and ecclesiastic, suggested +only one thing to do, which was to exorcise, and perhaps to overawe +and frighten, the young visionary. They paid a joint and solemn visit +to the carter's house, where no doubt their entrance together was +spied by many eager eyes; and there the priest solemnly taking out his +stole invested himself in his priestly robes and exorcised the evil +spirits, bidding them come out of the girl if they were her +inspiration. There seems a certain absurdity in this sudden assault +upon the evil one, taking him as it were by surprise: but it was not +ridiculous to any of the performers, though Jeanne no doubt looked on +with serene and smiling eyes. She remarked afterwards to her hostess, +that the curé had done wrong, as he had already heard her in +confession. + +Outside, the populace were in no uncertainty at all as to her mission. +A little mob hung about the door to see her come and go, chiefly to +church, with her good hostess in attendance, as was right and seemly, +and a crowd streaming after them who perhaps of their own accord might +have neglected mass, but who would not, if they could help it, lose a +look at the new wonder. One day a young gentleman of the neighbourhood +was passing by, and amused by the commotion, came through the crowd to +have a word with the peasant lass. "What are you doing here, /ma +mie/?" the young man said. "Is the King to be driven out of the +kingdom, and are we all to be made English?" There is a tone of banter +in the speech, but he had already heard of the Maid from his friend, +Bertrand, and had been affected by the other's enthusiasm. "Robert de +Baudricourt will have none of me or my words," she replied, +"nevertheless before Mid-Lent I must be with the King, if I should +wear my feet up to my knees; for nobody in the world, be it king, +duke, or the King of Scotland's daughter, can save the kingdom of +France except me alone: though I would rather spin beside my poor +mother, and this is not my work: but I must go and do it, because my +Lord so wills it." "And who is your Seigneur?" he asked. "God," said +the girl. The young man was moved, he too, by that wind which bloweth +where it listeth. He stretched out his hands through the gaping crowd +and took hers, holding them between his own, to give her his pledge: +and so swore by his faith, her hands in his hands, that he himself +would conduct her to the King. "When will you go?" he said. "Rather +to-day than to-morrow," answered the messenger of God. + +This was the second convert of La Pucelle. The peasant /bonhomme/ +first, the noble gentleman after him; not to say all the women +wherever she went, the gazing, weeping, admiring crowd which now +followed her steps, and watched every opening of the door which +concealed her from their eyes. The young gentleman was Jean de +Novelonpont, "surnamed Jean de Metz": and so moved was he by the +fervour of the girl, and by her strong sense of the necessity of +immediate operations, that he proceeded at once to make preparations +for the journey. They would seem to have discussed the dress she ought +to wear, and Jeanne decided for many obvious reasons to adopt the +costume of a man--or rather boy. She must, one would imagine have been +tall, for no remark is ever made on this subject, as if her dress had +dwarfed her, which is generally the case when a woman assumes the +habit of a man: and probably with her peasant birth and training, she +was, though slim, strongly made and well knit, besides being at the +age when the difference between boy and girl is sometimes but little +noticeable. + +In the meantime Baudricourt had not been idle. He must have been moved +by the sight of Jeanne, at least to perceive a certain gravity in the +business for which he was not prepared; and her composure under the +curé's exorcism would naturally deepen the effect which her own +manners and aspect had upon all who were free of prejudice. Another +singular event, too, added weight to her character and demand. One day +after her return from Lorraine, February 12th, 1429, she intimated to +all her surroundings and specially to Baudricourt, that the King had +suffered a defeat near Orleans, which made it still more necessary +that she should be at once conducted to him. It was found when there +was time for the news to come, that this defeat, the Battle of the +Herrings, so-called, had happened as she said, at the exact time; and +such a strange fact added much to the growing enthusiasm and +excitement. Baudricourt is said by Michelet to have sent off a secret +express to the Court to ask what he should do; but of this there seems +to be no direct evidence, though likelihood enough. The Court at +Chinon contained a strong feminine element, behind the scenes. And it +might be found that there were uses for the enthusiast, even if she +did not turn out to be inspired. No doubt there were many comings and +goings at this period which can only be traced confusedly through the +depositions of Jeanne's companions twenty-five years after. She had at +least two interviews with Baudricourt before the exorcism of the curé +and his consequent change of procedure towards her. Then, escorted by +her uncle Laxart, and apparently by Jean de Metz, she had made a +pilgrimage to a shrine of St. Nicolas, as already mentioned, on which +occasion, being near Nancy, she was sent for by the Duke of Lorraine, +then lying ill at his castle in that city, who had a fancy to consult +the young prophetess, sorceress--who could tell what she was?--on the +subject apparently of his illness. He was the son of Queen Yolande of +Anjou, who was mother-in-law to Charles VII., and it would no doubt be +thought of some importance to secure his good opinion. Jeanne gave the +exalted patient no light on the subject of his health, but only the +(probably unpleasing) advice to flee from the wrath of God and to be +reconciled with his wife, from whom he was separated. He too, however, +was moved by the sight of her and her straightforward, undeviating +purpose. He gave her four francs, Durand tells us,--not much of a +present,--which she gave to her uncle, and which helped to buy her +outfit. Probably he made a good report of her to his mother, for +shortly after her return to Vaucouleurs (I again follow Michelet who +ought to be well informed) a messenger from Chinon arrived to take her +to the King.[4] In the councils of that troubled Court, perhaps, the +idea of a prodigy and miraculous leader, though she was nothing but a +peasant girl, would be not without attraction, a thing to conjure +withal, so far as the multitude were concerned. + +Anyhow from any point of view, in the hopeless condition of affairs, +it was expedient that nothing which gave promise of help, either real +or visionary, should lightly be rejected. There was much anxiety no +doubt in the careless Court still dancing and singing in the midst of +calamity, but the reception of the ambitious peasant would form an +exciting incident at least, if nothing more important and notable. + +Thus the whole anxious world of France stirred round that youthful +figure in the little frontier town, repeating with many an alteration +and exaggeration the sayings of Jeanne, and those popular +superstitions about the Maid from Lorraine which might be so naturally +applied to her. It would seem, indeed, that she had herself attached +some importance to this prophecy, for both her uncle Laxart and her +hostess at Vaucouleurs report that she asked them if they had heard +it: which question "stupefied" the latter, whose mind evidently jumped +at once to the conviction that the prophecy was fulfilled. Not in +Domremy itself, however, were these things considered with the same +awe-stricken and admiring faith. Nothing had softened the mood of +Jacques d'Arc. It was a shame to the village /prud' homme/ to think of +his daughter away from all the protection of home, living among men, +encountering the young Seigneurs who cared for no maiden's reputation, +hearing the soldiers' rude talk, exposed to their insults, or worse +still to their kindness. Probably even now he thought of her as +surrounded by troopers and men-at-arms, instead of the princes and +peers with whom henceforth Jeanne's lot was to be cast; but in the +former case there would have perhaps been less to fear than in the +latter. Anyhow, Jeanne's communications with her family were more +painful to her than had been the jeers of Baudricourt or the exorcism +of the curé. They sent her angry orders to come back, threats of +parental curses and abandonment. We may hope that the mother, grieved +and helpless, had little to do with this persecution. The woman who +had nourished her children upon saintly legend and Scripture story +could scarcely have been hard upon the child, of whom she, better than +any, knew the perfect purity and steadfast resolution. One of the +little household at least, revolted by the stern father's fury, +perhaps secretly encouraged by the mother, broke away and joined his +sister at a later period. But we hear, during her lifetime, little or +nothing of Pierre. + +Much time, however, was passed in these preliminaries. The final start +was not made till the 23d February, 1429, when the permission is +supposed to have come by the hands of Colet de Vienne, the King's +messenger, who attended by a single archer, was to be her escort. It +is possible that he had no mission to this effect, but he certainly +did escort her to Chinon. The whole town gathered before the house of +Baudricourt to see her depart. Baudricourt, however, does not seem to +have provided any guard for her. Jean de Metz, who had so chivalrously +pledged himself to her service, with his friend De Poulengy, equally +ready for adventure, each with his servant, formed her sole +protectors.[5] Jean de Metz had already sent her the clothes of one of +his retainers, with the light breastplate and partial armour that +suited it; and the townspeople had subscribed to buy her a further +outfit, and a horse which seems to have cost sixteen francs--not so +small a sum in those days as now. Laxart declares himself to have been +responsible for this outlay, though the money was afterwards paid by +Baudricourt, who gave Jeanne a sword, which some of her historians +consider a very poor gift: none, however, of her equipments would seem +to have been costly. The little party set out thus, with a sanction of +authority, from the Captain's gate, the two gentlemen and the King's +messenger at the head of the party with their attendants, and the Maid +in the midst. "Go: and let what will happen," was the parting +salutation of Baudricourt. The gazers outside set up a cry when the +decisive moment came, and someone, struck with the feeble force which +was all the safeguard she had for her long journey through an agitated +country--perhaps a woman in the sudden passion of misgiving which +often follows enthusiasm,--called out to Jeanne with an astonished +outcry to ask how she could dare to go by such a dangerous road. "It +was for that I was born," answered the fearless Maid. The last thing +she had done had been to write a letter to her parents, asking their +pardon if she obeyed a higher command than theirs, and bidding them +farewell. + +The French historians, with that amazement which they always show when +they find a man behaving like a gentleman towards a woman confided to +his honour, all pause with deep-drawn breath to note that the awe of +Jeanne's absolute purity preserved her from any unseemly overture, or +even evil thought, on the part of her companions. We need not take up +even the shadow of so grave a censure upon Frenchmen in general, +although in the far distance of the fifteenth century. The two young +men, thus starting upon a dangerous adventure, pledged by their honour +to protect and convey her safely to the King's presence, were noble +and generous cavaliers, and we may well believe had no evil thoughts. +They were not, however, without an occasional chill of reflection when +once they had taken the irrevocable step of setting out upon this wild +errand. They travelled by night to escape the danger of meeting bands +of Burgundians or English on the way, and sometimes had to ford a +river to avoid the town, where they would have found a bridge. +Sometimes, too, they had many doubts, Bertrand says, perhaps as to +their reception at Chinon, perhaps even whether their mission might +not expose them to the ridicule of their kind, if not to unknown +dangers of magic and contact with the Evil One, should this wonderful +girl turn out no inspired virgin but a pretender or sorceress. Jean de +Metz informs us that she bade them not to fear, that she had been sent +to do what she was now doing; that her brothers in paradise would tell +her how to act, and that for the last four or five years her brothers +in paradise and her God had told her that she must go to the war to +save the kingdom of France. This phrase must have struck his ear, as +he thus repeats it. Her brothers in paradise! She had not apparently +talked of them to anyone as yet, but now no one could hinder her more, +and she felt herself free to speak. A great calm seems to have been in +her soul. She had at last begun her work. How it was all to end for +her she neither foresaw nor asked; she knew only what she had to do. +When they ventured into a town she insisted on stopping to hear mass, +bidding them fear nothing. "God clears the way for me," she said; "I +was born for this," and so proceeded safe, though threatened with many +dangers. There is something that breathes of supreme satisfaction and +content in her repetition of those words. +---------- +[1] She was, however, acquainted with the simpler byword, that France + should be destroyed by a woman and afterwards redeemed by a + virgin, which she quoted to several persons on her first setting + out. + +[2] I have to thank Mr. Andrew Lang for making the course of these + events quite clear to myself. + +[3] Mr. Andrew Lang thinks that this appearance at Toul was made after + she had finally left Domremy, and when she was already accompanied + by the escort which was to attend her to Chinon. + +[4] Mr. Andrew Lang will not hear of this. He thinks the man was a + mere King's messenger with news, probably charged with the + melancholy tidings of the loss at Rouvray (Battle of the + Herrings): and that the fact he did accompany Jeanne and her + little part was entirely accidental. + +[5] Her brother Pierre is said by some to have been of the party. /La + Chronique de la Pucelle/ says two of her brothers. Mr. Andrew + Lang, however, tells us that Pierre did not join his sister's + party till much later--in the beginning of June: and this is the + statement of Jean de Metz. But Quicherat is also of opinion that + they both fought in the relief of Orleans. + + + +CHAPTER III + +BEFORE THE KING. +FEB.-APRIL, 1429. + +Jeanne and her little party were eleven days on the road, but do not +seem to have encountered any special peril. They lodged sometimes in +the security of a convent, sometimes in a village hostel, pursuing the +long and tedious way across the great levels of midland France, which +has so few features of beauty except in the picturesque towns with +their castles and churches, which the escort avoided. At length they +paused in the village of Fierbois not far from Chinon where the Court +was, in order to announce their arrival and ask for an audience, which +was not immediately accorded. Charles held his Court with incredible +gaiety and folly, in the midst of almost every disaster that could +overtake a king, in the castle of Chinon on the banks of the Vienne. +The situation and aspect of this noble building, now in ruins, is +wonderfully like that of Windsor Castle. The great walls, interrupted +and strengthened by huge towers, stretch along a low ridge of rocky +hill, with the swift and clear river, a little broader and swifter +than the Thames, flowing at its foot. The red and high-pitched roofs +of the houses clustered between the castle hill and the stream, give a +point of resemblance the more. The large and ample dwelling, +defensible, but with no thought of any need of defence, a midland +castle surrounded by many a level league of wealthy country, which no +hostile force should ever have power to get through, must have looked +like the home of a well-established royalty. There was no sound or +sight of war within its splendid enclosure. Noble lords and gentlemen +crowded the corridors; trains of gay ladies, attendant upon two +queens, filled the castle with fine dresses and gay voices. There had +been but lately a dreadful and indeed shameful defeat, inflicted by a +mere English convoy of provisions upon a large force of French and +Scottish soldiers, the former led by such men as Dunois, La Hire, +Xaintrailles, etc., the latter by the Constable of Scotland, John +Stuart--which defeat might well have been enough to subdue every sound +of revelry: yet Charles's Court was ringing with music and pleasantry, +as if peace had reigned around. + +It may be believed that there were many doubts and questions how to +receive this peasant from the fields, which prevented an immediate +reply to her demand for an audience. From the first, de la Tremoille, +Charles's Prime Minister and chief adviser, was strongly against any +encouragement of the visionary, or dealings with the supernatural; but +there would no doubt be others, hoping if not for a miraculous maid, +yet at least for a passing wonder, who might kindle enthusiasm in the +country and rouse the ignorant with hopes of a special blessing from +Heaven. The gayer and younger portion of the Court probably expected a +little amusement, above all, a new butt for their wit, or perhaps a +soothsayer to tell their fortunes and promise good things to come. +They had not very much to amuse them, though they made the best of it. +The joys of Paris were very far off; they were all but imprisoned in +this dull province of Touraine; nobody knew at what moment they might +be forced to leave even that refuge. For the moment here was a new +event, a little stir of interest, something to pass an hour. Jeanne +had to wait two days in Chinon before she was granted an audience, but +considering the carelessness of the Court and the absence of any +patron that was but a brief delay. + +The chamber of audience is now in ruins. A wild rose with long, +arching, thorny branches and pale flowers, straggles over the +greensward where once the floor was trod by so many gay figures. From +the broken wall you look sheer down upon the shining river; one great +chimney, which at that season must have been still the most pleasant +centre of the large, draughty hall, shows at the end of the room, with +a curious suggestion of warmth and light which makes ruin more +conspicuous. The room must have been on the ground floor almost level +with the soil towards the interior of the castle, but raised to the +height of the cliffs outside. It was evening, an evening of March, and +fifty torches lighted up the ample room; many noble personages, almost +as great as kings, and clothed in the bewildering splendour of the +time, and more than three hundred cavaliers of the best names in +France filled it to overflowing. The peasant girl from Domremy in the +hose and doublet of a servant, a little travel-worn after her tedious +journey, was led in by one of those splendid seigneurs, dazzled with +the grandeur she had never seen before, looking about her in wonder to +see which was the King--while Charles, perhaps with boyish pleasure in +the mystification, perhaps with a little half-conviction stealing over +him that there might be something more in it, stood among the smiling +crowd. + +The young stranger looked round upon all those amused, light-minded, +sceptical faces, and without a moment's hesitation went forward and +knelt down before him. "Gentil Dauphin," she said, "God give you good +life." "But it is not I that am the King; there is the King," said +Charles. "Gentil Prince, it is you and no other," she said; then +rising from her knee: "Gentil Dauphin, I am Jeanne the Maid. I am sent +to you by the King of Heaven to tell you that you shall be consecrated +and crowned at Rheims, and shall be lieutenant of the King of Heaven, +who is King of France." The little masquerade had failed, the jest was +over. There would be little more laughing among the courtiers, when +they saw the face of Charles grow grave. He took the new-comer aside, +perhaps to that deep recess of the window where in the darkening night +the glimmer of the clear, flowing river, the great vault of sky would +still be visible dimly, outside the circle of the blazing interior +with all its smoky lights. + +Charles VII. of France was, like many of his predecessors, a /pauvre +Sire/ enough. He had thought more of his amusements than of the +troubles of his country; but a wild and senseless gaiety will +sometimes spring from despair as well as from lightness of heart; and +after all, the dread responsibility, the sense that in all his +helplessness and inability to do anything he was still the man who +ought to do all, would seem to have moved him from time to time. A +secret doubt in his heart, divulged to no man, had added bitterness to +the conviction of his own weakness. Was he indeed the heir of France? +Had he any right to that sustaining confidence which would have borne +up his heart in the midst of every discouragement? His very mother had +given him up and set him aside. He was described as the so-called +Dauphin in treaties signed by Charles and Isabeau his parents. If +anyone knew, she knew; and was it possible that more powerful even +than the English, more cruel than the Burgundians, this stain of +illegitimacy was upon him, making all effort vain? There is no telling +where the sensitive point is in any man's heart, and little worthy as +was this King, the story we are here told has a thrill of truth in it. +It is reported by a certain Sala, who declares that he had it from the +lips of Charles's favourite and close follower, the Seigneur de Boisi, +a courtier who, after the curious custom of the time, shared even the +bed of his master. This was confided to Boisi by the King in the +deepest confidence, in the silence of the wakeful night: + +"This was in the time of the good King Charles, when he knew not what +step to take, and did nothing but think how to redeem his life: for as +I have told you he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. The King in +this extreme thought, went in one morning to his oratory all alone; +and there he made a prayer to our Lord, in his heart, without +pronouncing any words, in which he asked of Him devoutly that if he +were indeed the true heir, descended from the royal House of France, +and that justly the kingdom was his, that He would be pleased to guard +and defend him, or at the worst to give him grace to escape into Spain +or Scotland, whose people, from all antiquity, were brothers-in-arms, +friends and allies of the kings of France, and that he might find a +refuge there." + +Perhaps there is some excuse for a young man's endeavour to forget +himself in folly or even in dissipation when his secret thoughts are +so despairing as these. + +It was soon after this melancholy moment that the arrival of Jeanne +took place. The King led her aside, touched as all were, by her look +of perfect sincerity and good faith; but it is she herself, not +Charles, who repeats what she said to him. "I have to tell you," said +the young messenger of God, "on the part of my Lord (/Messire/) that +you are the true heir of France and the son of the King; He has sent +me to conduct you to Rheims that you may receive your consecration and +your crown,"--perhaps here, Jeanne caught some look which she did not +understand in his eyes, for she adds with, one cannot but think a +touch of sternness--"if you will." + +Was it a direct message from God in answer to his prayer, uttered +within his own heart, without words, so that no one could have guessed +that secret? At least it would appear that Charles thought so: for how +should this peasant maid know the secret fear that had gnawed at his +heart? "When thou wast in the garden under the fig-tree I saw thee." +Great was the difference between the Israelite without guile and the +troubled young man, with whose fate the career of a great nation was +entangled; but it is not difficult to imagine what the effect must +have been on the mind of Charles when he was met by this strange, +authoritative statement, uttered like all that Jeanne said, /de la +part de Dieu/. + +The impression thus made, however, was on Charles alone, and he was +surrounded by councillors, so much the more pedantic and punctilious +as they were incapable, and placed amidst pressing necessities with +which in themselves they had no power to cope. It may easily be +allowed, also, that to risk any hopes still belonging to the hapless +young King on the word of a peasant girl was in itself, according to +every law of reason, madness and folly. She would seem to have had the +women on her side always and at every point. The Church did not stir, +or else was hostile; the commanders and military men about, regarded +with scornful disgust the idea that an enterprise which they +considered hopeless should be confided to an ignorant woman--all with +perfect reason we are obliged to allow. Probably it was to gain time-- +yet without losing the aid of such a stimulus to the superstitious +among the masses--and to retard any rash undertaking--that it was +proposed to subject Jeanne to an examination of doctors and learned +men touching her faith and the character of her visions, which all +this time had been of continual recurrence, yet charged with no +further revelation, no mystic creed, but only with the one simple, +constantly repeated command. + +Accordingly, after some preliminary handling by half a dozen bishops, +Jeanne was taken to Poitiers--where the university and the local +parliament, all the learning, law, and ecclesiastical wisdom which +were on the side of the King, were assembled--to undergo this +investigation. It is curious that the entire history of this wildest +and strangest of all visionary occurrences is to be found in a series +of processes at law, each part recorded and certified under oath; but +so it is. The village maid was placed at the bar, before a number of +acute legists, ecclesiastics, and statesmen, to submit her to a not- +too-benevolent cross-examination. Several of these men were still +alive at the time of the Rehabilitation and gave their recollections +of this examination, though its formal records have not been +preserved. A Dominican monk, Aymer, one of an order she loved, +addressed her gravely with the severity with which that institution is +always credited. "You say that God will deliver France; if He has so +determined, He has no need of men-at-arms." "Ah!" cried the girl, with +perhaps a note of irritation in her voice, "the men must fight; it is +God who gives the victory." To another discomfited Brother, Jeanne, +exasperated, answered with a little roughness, showing that our Maid, +though gentle as a child to all gentle souls, was no piece of subdued +perfection, but a woman of the fields, and lately much in the company +of rough-spoken men. He was of Limoges, a certain Brother Seguin, +"/bien aigre homme/," and disposed apparently to weaken the trial by +questions without importance: he asked her what language her celestial +visitors spoke? "Better than yours," answered the peasant girl. He +could not have been, as we say in Scotland, altogether "an ill man," +for he acknowledged that he spoke the patois of his district, and +therefore that the blow was fair. But perhaps for the moment he was +irritated too. He asked her, a question equally unnecessary, "do you +believe in God?" to which with more and more impatience she made a +similar answer: "Better than you do." There was nothing to be made of +one so well able to defend herself. "Words are all very well," said +the monk, "but God would not have us believe you, unless you show us +some sign." To this Jeanne made an answer more dignified, though still +showing signs of exasperation, "I have not come to Poitiers to give +signs," she said; "but take me to Orleans--I will then show the signs +I am sent to show. Give me as small a band as you please, but let me +go." + +The situation of Orleans was at the time a desperate one. It was +besieged by a strong army of English, who had built a succession of +towers round the city, from which to assail it, after the manner of +the times. The town lies in the midst of the plain of the Loire, with +not so much as a hillock to offer any advantage to the besiegers. +Therefore these great works were necessary in face of a very strenuous +resistance, and the possibility of provisioning the besieged, which +their river secured. The English from their high towers kept up a +disastrous fire, which, though their artillery was of the rudest kind, +did great execution. The siege was conducted by eminent generals. The +works were of themselves great fortifications, the assailants +numerous, and strengthened by the prestige of almost unbroken success; +there seemed no human hope of the deliverance of the town unless by an +overwhelming army, which the King's party did not possess, or by some +wonderful and utterly unexpected event. Jeanne had always declared the +destruction of the English and the relief of Orleans to be the first +step in her mission. + +Besides the formal and official examination of her faith and +character, held at Poitiers, private inquests of all kinds were made +concerning of the claims of the miraculous maid. She was visited by +every curious person, man or woman, in the neighbourhood, and plied +with endless questions, so that her simple personal story, and that of +her revelations--/mes voix/, as she called them--became familiarly +known from her own report, to the whole country round about. The women +pressed a question specially interesting--for no doubt, many a good +mother half convinced otherwise, shook her head at Jeanne's costume-- +Why she wore the dress of a man? for which the Maid gave very good +reasons: in the first place because it was the only dress for +fighting, which, though so far from her desires or from the habits of +her life, was henceforward to be her work; and also because in her +strange circumstances, constrained as she was to live among men, she +considered it safest for herself--statements which evidently convinced +the minds of the questioners. It was, no doubt, good policy to make +her thus widely and generally known, and the result was a daily +growing enthusiasm for her and belief in her, in all classes. The +result of the formal process was that the doctors could find nothing +against her, and they reluctantly allowed that the King might lawfully +take what advantage he could of her offered services. + +Jeanne was then brought back to Chinon, where she was lodged in one of +the great towers still standing, though no special room is pointed out +as hers. And there she was subjected to another process, more +penetrating still than the interrogations of the graver tribunals. The +Queens and their ladies and all the women of the Court took her in +hand. They inquired into her history in every subtle and intimate +feminine way, testing her innocence and purity; and once more she came +out triumphant. The final judgment was given as follows: "After +hearing all these reports, the King taking into consideration the +great goodness that was in the Maid, and that she declared herself to +be sent by God, it was by the said Seigneur and his council determined +that from henceforward he should make use of her for his wars, since +it was for this that she was sent." + +It was now necessary to equip Jeanne for her service. She had a +/maison/, an /état majeur/, or staff, formed for her, the chief of +which, Jean d'Aulon, already distinguished and worthy of such a trust +never left her thenceforward until the end of her active career. Her +chaplain, Jean Pasquerel, also followed her fortunes faithfully. +Charles would have given her a sword to replace the probably +indifferent weapon given her by Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs; but Jeanne +knew where to find the sword destined for her. She gave orders that +someone should be sent to Fierbois, the village at which she had +paused on her way to Chinon, to fetch a sword which would be found +there buried behind the high altar of the church of St. Catherine. To +make this as little miraculous as possible, we are told by some +historians that it was common for knights to be buried with their +arms, and that Jeanne, in her visit to this church, where she heard +three masses in succession to make up for the absence of constant +religious services on her journey--had probably seen some tomb or +other token that such an interment had taken place. However, as we are +compelled to receive the far greater miracle of Jeanne herself and her +work, without explanation, it is foolish to take the trouble to +attempt any explanation of so small a matter as this. The sword in +fact was found, by the clergy of the church, and was by them cleaned +and polished and put in a scabbard of crimson velvet, scattered over +with fleur-de-lys in gold, for her use. Her standard, which she +considered of the greatest importance was made apparently at Tours. It +was of white linen, fringed with silk and embroidered with a figure of +the Saviour holding a globe in His hands, while an angel knelt at +either side in adoration. Jhesus' Maria was inscribed at the foot. A +repetition of this banner, which must have been re-copied from age to +age is to be seen now at Tours. Having indicated the exact device to +be emblazoned upon the banner, as dictated to her by her saints,-- +Margaret and Catherine--Jeanne announced her intention of carrying it +herself, a somewhat surprising office for one who was to act as a +general. But it was the command of her heavenly guides. "Take the +standard on the part of God, and carry it boldly," they had said. She +had, besides, a simple, half-childish intention of her own in this, +which she explained shame-faced--she had no wish to use her sword +though she loved it, and would kill no man. The banner was a more safe +occupation, and saved her from all possibility of blood-shedding; it +must however, have required the robust arm of a peasant to sustain the +heavy weight. + +It will show how long a time all these examinations and preparations +had taken when we read that Jeanne set out from Blois, where she had +passed some time in military preparations, only on the 27th day of +April; nearly two whole months had thus been taken up in testing her +truth, and arranging details, trifling and unnecessary in her eyes:--a +period which had been passed in great anxiety by the people of +Orleans, with the huge bastilles of the English--three of which were +named Paris, Rouen, and London--towering round them, their provisions +often intercepted, all the business of life come to a standstill, and +the overwhelming responsibility upon them of being almost the last +barrier between the invader and the final subjugation of France. It is +strange to add that, judging by ordinary rules, the garrison of +Orleans ought to have been quite sufficient in itself in numbers and +science of war, to have beaten and dispersed the English force which +had thus succeeded in shutting them in; there were many notable +captains among them, with Dunois, known as the Bastard of Orleans, one +of the most celebrated and brave of French generals, at their head. +Dunois was in no way inferior to the generals of the English army; he +was popular, beloved by the people and soldiers alike, and though +illegitimate, of the House of Orleans, one of the native seigneurs of +the place. The wonder is how he and his officers permitted the +building of these towers, and the shutting in of the town which they +were quite strong enough to protect. But it was a losing game which +they were playing, a part which does not suit the genius of the +nation; and the superstition in favour of the English who had won so +many battles with all the disadvantages on their side,--cutting the +finest armies to pieces--was strong upon the imagination of the time. +It seemed a fate which no valour or skill upon the side of the French +could avert. Dunois, himself an unlikely person, one would have +thought, to yield the honour of the fight to a woman, seems to have +perceived that without a strong counter-motive, not within the range +of ordinary methods, the situation was beyond hope. + +Accordingly, on the 27th or 28th of April, Jeanne set out at the head +of her little army, accompanied by a great number of generals and +captains. She had been equipped by the Queen of Sicily (with a touch +of that keen sense of decorative effect which belonged to the age) in +white armour inlaid with silver--all shining like her own St. Michael +himself, a radiance of whiteness and glory under the sun--armed /de +toutes pièces sauve la teste/, her uncovered head rising in full +relief from the dazzling breastplate and gorget. This is the +description given of her by an eye-witness a little later. The country +is flat as the palm of one's hand. The white armour must have flashed +back the sun for miles and miles of the level road, to the eyes which +from the height of any neighbouring tower watched the party setting +out. It is all fertile now, the richest plain, and even then, corn and +wine must have been in full bourgeon, the great fresh greenness of the +big leaves coming out upon such low stumps of vine as were left in the +soil; but the devastated country was in those days covered with a wild +growth like the /macchia/ of Italian wilds, which half hid the +movements of the expedition. They went by the Loire to Tours, where +Jeanne had been assigned a dwelling of her own, with the estate of a +general; and from thence to Blois, where they had to wait for some +days while the convoy of provisions, which they were to convey to +Orleans, was being prepared. And there Jeanne fulfilled one of the +preliminary duties of her mission. She had informed her examiners at +Poitiers that she had been commanded to write to the English generals +before attacking them, appealing to them /de la part de Dieu/, to give +up their conquests, and leave France to the French. The letter which +we quote would seem to have been dictated by her at Poitiers, probably +to the confessor who now formed part of her suite and who attended her +wherever she went: + + JHESUS MARIA. + + King of England, and you Duke of Bedford calling yourself Regent + of France, you, William de la Poule, Comte de Sulford, John, Lord + of Talbot, and you Thomas, Lord of Scales, who call yourself + lieutenants of the said Bedford, listen to the King of Heaven: + Give back to the Maid who is here sent on the part of God the King + of Heaven, the keys of all the good towns which you have taken by + violence in His France. She is ready to make peace if you will + hear reason and be just towards France and pay for what you have + taken. And you archers, brothers-in-arms, gentles and others who + are before the town of Orleans, go in peace on the part of God; if + you do not so you will soon have news of the Maid who will see you + shortly to your great damage. King of England, if you do not this, + I am captain in this war, and in whatsoever place in France I find + your people I will make them go away. I am sent here on the part + of God the King of Heaven to push you all forth of France. If you + obey I will be merciful. And be not strong in your own opinion, + for you do not hold the kingdom from God the Son of the Holy Mary, + but it is held by Charles the true heir, for God, the King of + Heaven so wills, and it is revealed by the Maid who shall enter + Paris in good company. If you will not believe this news on the + part of God and the Maid, in whatever place you may find + yourselves we shall make our way there, and make so great a + commotion as has not been in France for a thousand years, if you + will not hear reason. And believe this, that the King of Heaven + will send more strength to the Maid than you can bring against her + in all your assaults, to her and to her good men-at-arms. You, + Duke of Bedford, the Maid prays and requires you to destroy no + more. If you act according to reason you may still come in her + company where the French shall do the greatest work that has ever + been done for Christianity. Answer then if you will still continue + against the city of Orleans. If you do so you will soon recall it + to yourself by great misfortunes. Written the Saturday of Holy + Week (22 March, 1429).[1] + +Jeanne had by this time made a wonderful moral revolution in her +little army; most likely she had not been in the least aware what an +army was, until this moment; but frank and fearless, she had +penetrated into every corner, and it was not in her to permit those +abuses at which an ordinary captain has to smile. The pernicious and +shameful crowd of camp followers fled before her like shadows before +the day. She stopped the big oaths and unthinking blasphemies which +were so common, so that La Hire, one of the chief captains, a rough +and ready Gascon, was reduced to swear by his /bâton/, no more sacred +name being permitted to him. Perhaps this was the origin of the +harmless swearing which abounds in France, meaning probably just as +much and as little as bigger oaths in careless mouths; but no doubt +the soldiers' language was very unfit for gentle ears. Jeanne moved +among the wondering ranks, all radiant in her silver armour and with +her virginal undaunted countenance, exhorting all those rude and noisy +brothers to take thought of their duties here, and of the other life +that awaited them. She would stop the march of the army that a +conscience-stricken soldier might make his confession, and desired the +priests to hear it if necessary without ceremony, or church, under the +first tree. Her tender heart was such that she shrank from any man's +death, and her hair rose up on her head, as she said, at the sight of +French blood shed--although her mission was to shed it on all sides +for a great end. But the one thing she could not bear was that either +Frenchmen or Englishmen should die unconfessed, "unhouseled, +disappointed, unannealed." The army went along attended by songs of +choristers and masses of priests, the grave and solemn music of the +Church accompanied strangely by the fanfares and bugle notes. What a +strange procession to pass along the great Loire in its spring +fulness, the raised banners and crosses, and that dazzling white +figure, all effulgence, reflected in the wayward, quick flowing +stream! + +La Hire, who is like a figure out of Dumas, and indeed did service as +a model to that delightful romancer, had come from Orleans to escort +Jeanne upon her way, and Dunois met her as she approached the town. +There could not be found more unlikely companions than these two, to +conduct to a great battle the country maid who was to carry the +honours of the day from them both, and make men fight like heroes, who +under them did nothing but run away. The candour and true courage of +such leaders in circumstances so extraordinary, are beyond praise, for +it was an offence both to their pride and skill in their profession, +had she been anything less than the messenger of God which she claimed +to be; and these rude soldiers were not men to be easily moved by +devout imaginations. There would seem, however, even in the case of +the greater of the two, to have arisen a strange friendship and mutual +understanding between the famous man of war and the peasant girl. +Jeanne, always straightforward and simple, speaks to him, not with the +downcast eyes of her humility, but as an equal, as if the great Dunois +had been a /prud' homme/ of her own degree. There is no appearance +indeed that the Maid allowed herself to be overborne now by any +shyness or undue humility. She speaks loudly, so as to be heard by +those fighting men, taking something of their own brief and decisive +tone, often even impatient, as one who would not be put aside either +by cunning or force. + +Her meeting with Dunois makes this at once evident. She had been +deceived in the manner of her approach to Orleans, her companions, +among whom there were several field-marshals and distinguished +leaders, taking advantage of her ignorance of the place to lead her by +the opposite bank of the river instead of that on which the English +towers were built, which she desired to attack at once. This was the +beginning of a long series of deceits and hostile combinations, by +which at every step of her way she was met and retarded; but it +turned, as these devices generally did, to the discomfiture of the +adverse captains. She crossed the river at Chécy above Orleans, to +meet Dunois who had come so far to meet her. It will be seen by the +conversation which she held with him on his first appearance, how +completely Jeanne had learnt to assert herself, and how much she had +overcome any fear of man. "Are you the Bastard of Orleans?" she said. +"I am; and glad of your coming," he replied. "Is it you who have had +me led to this side of the river and not to the bank on which Talbot +is and his English?" He answered that he and the wisest of the leaders +had thought it the best and safest way. "The counsel of God, our Lord, +is more sure and more powerful than yours," she replied. The +expedition, as a matter of fact, had to turn back, and to lose +precious time, there being, it is to be presumed, no means of +transporting so large a force across the river. The large convoy of +provisions which Jeanne brought was embarked in boats while the +majority of the army returned to Blois, in order to cross by the +bridge. + +Jeanne, however, having freely expressed her opinion, adapted herself +to the circumstances, though extremely averse to separate herself from +her soldiers, good men who had confessed and prepared their souls for +every emergency. She finally consented, however, to ride on with +Dunois and La Hire. The wind was against the convoy, so that the heavy +boats, deeply laden with beeves and corn, had a dangerous and slow +voyage before them. "Have patience," cried Jeanne; "by the help of God +all will go well"; and immediately the wind changed, to the +astonishment and joy of all, and the boats arrived in safety "in spite +of the English, who offered no hindrance whatever," as she had +predicted. The little party made their way along the bank, and in the +twilight of the April evening, about eight o'clock, entered Orleans. +The Deliverer, it need not be said, was hailed with joy indescribable. +She was on a white horse, and carried, Dunois says, the banner in her +hand, though it was carried before her when she entered the town. The +white figure in the midst of those darkly gleaming mailed men, would +in itself throw a certain glory through the dimness of the night, as +she passed the gates and came into view by the blaze of all the +torches, and the lights in the windows, over the dark swarming crowds +of the citizens. Her white banner waving, her white armour shining, it +was little wonder that the throng that filled the streets received the +Maid "as if they had seen God descending among them." "And they had +good reason," says the Chronicle, "for they had suffered many +disturbances, labours, and pains, and, what is worse, great doubt +whether they ever should be delivered. But now all were comforted, as +if the siege were over, by the divine strength that was in this simple +Maid whom they regarded most affectionately, men, women, and little +children. There was a marvellous press around her to touch her or the +horse on which she rode, so much so that one of the torchbearers +approached too near and set fire to her pennon; upon which she touched +her horse with her spurs, and turning him cleverly, extinguished the +flame, as if she had long followed the wars." + +There could have been nothing she resembled so much as St. Michael, +the warrior-angel, who, as all the world knew, was her chief +counsellor and guide, and who, no doubt, blazed, a familiar figure, +from some window in the cathedral to which this his living picture +rode without a pause, to give thanks to God before she thought of +refreshment or rest. She spoke to the people who surrounded her on +every side as she went on through the tumultuous streets, bidding them +be of good courage and that if they had faith they should escape from +all their troubles. And it was only after she had said her prayers and +rendered her thanksgiving, that she returned to the house selected for +her--the house of an important personage, Jacques Boucher, treasurer +to the Duke of Orleans, not like the humble places where she had +formerly lodged. The houses of that age were beautiful, airy and +light, with much graceful ornament and solid comfort, the arched and +vaulted Gothic beginning to give place to those models of domestic +architecture which followed the Renaissance, with their ample windows +and pleasant space and breadth. There the table was spread with a +joyous meal in honour of this wonderful guest, to which, let us hope, +Dunois and La Hire and the rest did full justice. But Jeanne was +indifferent to the feast. She mixed with water the wine poured for her +into a silver cup, and dipped her bread in it, five or six small +slices. The visionary peasant girl cared for none of the dainty meats. +And then she retired to the comfort of a peaceful chamber, where the +little daughter of the house shared her bed: strange return to the +days when Hauvette and Mengette in Domremy lay by her side and talked +as girls love to do, through half the silent night. Perhaps little +Charlotte, too, lay awake with awe to wonder at that other young head +on the pillow, a little while ago shut into the silver helmet, and +shining like the archangel's. The /état majeur/, the Chevalier +d'Aulon, Jean de Metz, and Bertrand de Poulengy, who had never left +her, first friends and most faithful, and her brother Pierre d'Arc, +were lodged in the same house. It was the last night of April, 1429. +---------- +[1] The dates must of course be reckoned by the old style.--This + letter was dispatched from Tours, during her pause there. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RELIEF OF ORLEANS. +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 Jeanne that an +assault should be made at once, in all the enthusiasm of the moment, +upon the English towers, without waiting even for the arrival of the +little army which she had 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 Guillaume de Gamache felt himself insulted above all by the +suggestion. "What," he cried, "is the advice of this hussy from the +fields (/une péronnelle de bas lieu/) to be taken against that of a +knight and captain! I will fold up my banner and become again a simple +soldier. I would rather have a nobleman for my master than a woman +whom nobody knows." + +Dunois, who was too wise to weaken the forces at his command by such a +quarrel, is said to have done his best to reconcile and soothe the +angry captain. This, however, if it was true, was only a mild 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 /péronnelle/ to these +men of war (with the noble exception, of course, of Alençon, Dunois, +Xaintrailles, La Hire, and others). They were sore and wounded by her +appearance and her claims. If they could cheat her, balk her designs, +steal a march in any way, they did so, from first to last, always +excepting the few who were faithful to her. Dunois could afford to be +magnanimous, but the lesser men were jealous, envious, embittered. A +/péronnelle/, 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. + +Jeanne was angry, too, and disappointed, more than she had been by all +discouragements before. She had believed, perhaps, that once in the +field these oppositions would be over, and that her mission would be +rapidly accomplished. But she neither rebelled nor complained. What +she did was to occupy herself about what she felt to be her business, +without reference to any commander. She sent out two heralds,[1] who +were attached to her staff, and therefore at her personal disposal, to +summon once more Talbot and Glasdale (Classidas, as the French called +him) /de la part de Dieu/ to evacuate their towers and return home. It +would seem that in her miraculous soul she had a visionary hope that +this appeal might be successful. What so noble, what so Christian, as +that the one nation should give up, of free-will, its attempt upon the +freedom and rights of another, if once the duty were put simply before +it--and both together joining hands, march off, as she had already +suggested, to do the noblest deed that had ever yet been done for +Christianity? That same evening she rode forth with her little train; +and placing herself on the town end of the bridge (which had been +broken in the middle), as near as the breach would permit to the +bastille, or fort of the Tourelles, which was built across the further +end of the bridge, on the left side of the Loire--called out to the +enemy, summoning them once more to withdraw while there was time. She +was overwhelmed, as might have been expected, with a storm of abusive +shouts and evil words, Classidas and his captains hurrying to the +walls to carry on the fierce exchange of abuse. To be called dairy- +maid and /péronnelle/ was a light matter, but some of the terms used +were so cruel that, according to some accounts, she betrayed her +womanhood by tears, not prepared apparently for the use of such foul +weapons against her. The /Journal du Siège/ declares, however, that +she was "aucunement yrée" (angry), but answered that they lied, and +rode back to the city. + +The next Sunday, the 1st of May, Dunois, alarmed by the delay of his +main body, set out for Blois to meet them, and we are told that Jeanne +accompanied him to the special point of danger, where the English from +their fortifications might have stopped his progress, and took up a +position there, along with La Hire, between the expedition and the +enemy. But in the towers not a man budged, not a shot was fired. It +was again a miracle, and she had predicted it. The party of Dunois +marched on in safety, and Jeanne returned to Orleans, once more +receiving on 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, "/Retournez de la par Dieu à +Angleterre./" The townsfolk watched her coming and going with an +excitement impossible to describe; they walked by the side of her +charger to the cathedral, which was the end of every progress; they +talked to her, all speaking together, pressing upon her--and she to +them, bidding them to have no fear. "Messire has sent me," she said +again and again. She went out again, Wednesday, 4th May, on the return +of Dunois, to meet the army, with the same result, that they entered +quietly, the English not firing a shot. + +On this same day, in the afternoon, after the early dinner, there +happened a wonderful scene. Jeanne, it appeared, had fallen asleep +after her meal, no doubt tired with the expedition of the morning, and +her chief attendant, D'Aulon, who had accompanied Dunois to fetch the +troops from Blois, being weary after his journey, had also stretched +himself on a couch to rest. They were all tired, the entry of the +troops having been early in the morning, a fact of which the angry +captains of Orleans, who had not shared in that expedition, took +advantage to make a secret sortie unknown to the new chiefs. All at +once the Maid awoke in agitation and alarm. Her "voices" had awakened +her from her sleep. "My council tell me to go against the English," +she cried; "but if to assail their towers or to meet Fastolfe I 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 down stairs 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 D'Aulon, who knew better than to contradict his mistress, +armed her rapidly, and Luis, the page, brought her horse to the door. +By this time there began to rise a distant rumour and outcry, at which +they all pricked their ears. As Jeanne put her foot in the stirrup she +perceived that her standard was wanting, and called to the page, Louis +de Contes, above, to hand it to her out of the window. Then with the +heavy flag-staff in her hand she set spurs to her horse, her +attendants one by one clattering after her, and dashed onward "so that +the fire flashed from the pavement under the horse's feet." + +Jeanne's presentiment was well-founded. There had been a private +expedition against the English fort of St. Loup carried out quietly to +steal a march upon her--Gamache, possibly, or other malcontents of his +temper, in the hope perhaps of making use of her prestige to gain a +victory without her presence. But it had happened with this sally as +with many others which had been made from Orleans; and when Jeanne +appeared outside the gate which she and the rest of the followers +after her had almost forced--coming down upon them at full gallop, her +standard streaming, her white armour in a blaze of reflection, she met +the fugitives flying back towards the shelter of the town. She does +not seem to have paused or to have deigned 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 Jeanne had +felt when she met several wounded men who were being carried towards +the town. She had never seen French blood shed before, and the +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 mysterious force which overwhelmed +them, at the same time that it redoubled the ardour of every +Frenchman. Lord Talbot sent forth parties from the other forts to help +their companions, but these were met in the midst by the rest of the +army arriving from Orleans, which stopped their course. It was not +till evening, "the hour of Vespers," that the bastille was finally +taken, with great slaughter, the Orleanists giving 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 Orleans 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 held a crowded and anxious council of war, taking care +that no news of it should reach the ears of the Maid. When, however, +they had decided upon the course to pursue they sent for her, and +intimated to her their decision to attack only the smaller forts, +which she heard with great impatience, not sitting down, but walking +about the room in disappointment and anger. It is difficult[2] 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 fact seems certain that their plan failed at first, the +English having themselves abandoned one of the smaller forts on the +right side of the river and concentrated their forces in the greater +ones of Les Augustins and Les Tourelles on the left bank. For all +this, reference to the map is necessary, which will make it quite +clear. It was Classidas, as he is called, Glasdale, the most furious +enemy of France, and one of the bravest 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 reining up her horse from +the bank, down which she was being forced by the crowd, turned back +again, closely followed by La Hire, and at once, no doubt, by the +stouter hearts who only wanted a leader--and charging the English, who +had regained their courage as the white armour 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. Jeanne herself did not +draw bridle till she had planted her standard on the edge of the moat +which surrounded the tower. + +Michelet is very brief concerning this first victory, and claims only +that "the success was due in part to the Maid," although the crowd of +captains and men-at-arms where 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 Jeanne was turned, they were again the men of Agincourt; when she +turned upon them, her white breastplate blazing out like a star, the +sunshine striking dazzling rays from her helmet, they trembled before +the sorceress; an angel to her own side, she was the very spirit of +magic and witchcraft to her opponents. Classidas, or which captain +soever of the English side it might happen to be, blaspheming from the +battlements, hurled all the evil names of which a trooper was capable, +upon her, while she from below summoned them, in different tones of +appeal and menace, 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 Les Augustins on the left bank was +taken. It will be seen by reference to the map, that this bastille, an +ancient convent, stood at some distance from the river, in peaceful +times a little way beyond the bridge, and no doubt a favourite Sunday +walk from the city. The bridge was now closed up by the frowning bulk +of the Tourelles built upon it, with a smaller tower or "boulevard" on +the left bank communicating with it by a drawbridge. When Les +Augustins was 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 Les Augustins. Here in the dark, which suited their purpose, +another council was held. The captains decided that 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 Jeanne, 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 calthrop, it is said. This message was sent after her into +Orleans. 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 to-morrow at dawn," she said, "and do not +leave me; I shall have much to do. My blood will be shed. I shall be +wounded[3] to-morrow," pointing above her right breast. Up to this +time no weapon had touched her; she had stood fast among all the +flying arrows, the fierce play of spear and sword, and had taken no +harm. + +In the morning early, at sunrise, she dashed forth from the town +again, though the generals, her hosts, and all the authorities who +were in the plot endeavoured to detain her. "Stay with us, Jeanne," +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 Goddens to have their share." She had +already brought in a party of the Goddens on the night before to +protect them from the fury of the crowd. The peculiarity of this +promise lay in the fact that the bridge was broken, and could not be +passed, even without that difficulty, without passing through the +Tourelles and the boulevard which blocked it at the other end. At the +closed gates another great official stood by, to prevent her passing, +but he was soon swept away by the flood of enthusiasts who followed +the white horse and its white rider. The crowd flung themselves into +the boats to cross the river with her, horse and man. Les Tourelles +stood alone, black and frowning across the shining river in its early +touch of golden sunshine, on the south side of the Loire, the lower +tower of the boulevard on the bank blackened with the fire of last +night's attack, and the smoking ruins of Les Augustins beyond. The +French army, whom Orleans had been busy all night feeding and +encouraging, lay below, not yet apparently moving either for action or +retreat. Jeanne plunged among them like a ray of light, D'Aulon +carrying her banner; and passing through the ranks, she took up her +place on the border of the moat of the boulevard. Her followers rushed +after with that /élan/ of desperate and uncalculating valour which was +the great power of the French arms. In the midst of the fray the +girl's clear voice, /assez voix de femme/, kept shouting +encouragements, /de la part de Dieu/ always her war-cry. "/Bon cœur, +bonne espérance/," she cried--"the hour is at hand." But after hours +of desperate fighting the spirit of the assailants began to flag. +Jeanne, who apparently did not at any time take any active part in the +struggle, though she exposed herself to all its dangers, seized a +ladder, placed it against the wall, and was about to mount, when an +arrow struck her full in the breast. The Maid fell, the crowd closed +round; for a moment it seemed as if all were lost. + +Here we have over again in the fable our friend Gamache. It is a +pretty story, and though we ask no one to take it for absolute fact, +there is no reason why some such incident might not have occurred. +Gamache, the angry captain who rather than follow a /péronnelle/ to +the field was prepared to fold his banner round its staff, and give up +his rank, is supposed to have been the nearest to her when she fell. +It was he who cleared the crowd from about her and raised her up. +"Take my horse," he said, "brave creature. Bear no malice. I confess +that I was in the wrong." "It is I that should be wrong if I bore +malice," cried Jeanne, "for never was a knight so courteous" +(/chevalier si bien apprins/). She was surrounded immediately by her +people, the chaplain whom she had bidden to keep near her, her page, +all her special attendants, who would have conveyed her out of the +fight had she consented. Jeanne had the courage to pull the arrow out +of the wound with her own hand,--"it stood a hand breadth out" behind +her shoulder--but then, being but a girl and this her first experience +of the sort, notwithstanding her armour and her rank as General-in- +Chief, she cried with the pain, this commander of seventeen. Somebody +then proposed to charm the wound with an incantation, but the Maid +indignant, cried out, "I would rather die." Finally a compress soaked +in oil was placed upon it, and Jeanne withdrew a little with her +chaplain, and made her confession to him, as one who might be about to +die. + +But soon her mood changed. She saw the assailants waver and fall back; +the attack grew languid, and Dunois talked of sounding the retreat. +Upon this she got to her feet, and scrambled somehow on her horse. +"Rest a little," she implored the 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 Jeanne withdrew a little into a +vineyard close by, where there must have been a tuft of trees, to +afford her a little shelter. There she said her prayers, and tasted +that meat to eat that men wot not of, which restores the devout soul. +Turning back she took her standard from her squire's hand, and planted +it again on the edge of the moat. "Let me know," she said, "when the +pennon touches the wall." The folds of white and gold with the benign +countenance of the Saviour, now visible, now lost in the changes of +movement, floated over their heads on the breeze of the May day. +"Jeanne," said the squire, "it touches!" "On!" cried the Maid, her +voice ringing through the momentary quiet. "On! All is yours!" 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 /élan/ been so +wildly inspired, so irresistible; they swarmed up the wall "as if it +had been a stair." "Do they think themselves immortal?" the panic- +stricken English cried among themselves--panic-stricken not by their +old enemies, but by the white figure at the foot of the wall. Was she +a witch, as had been thought? was not she indeed the messenger of God? +The dazzling rays that shot from her armour seemed like butterflies, +like doves, like angels 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 do much? +Arrows flew round her on every side but never touched her. She struck +no blow, but the folds of her standard blew against the wall, and her +voice rose through all the tumult. "On! Enter! /de la part de Dieu!/ +for all is yours." + +The Maid had other words to say, "/Renty, renty/, 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 from the boulevard by the drawbridge to Les Tourelles, which +crossed a narrow strip of the river. But the bridge had been fired by +a fire-ship from Orleans and gave way under the rush of the heavily- +armed men; and the fierce Classidas and his companions were plunged +into the river, where a knight in armour, like a tower falling, went +to the bottom in a moment. Nearly thirty of them, it is said, plunged +thus into the great Loire and were seen no more. + +It was the end of the struggle. The French flag swung forth on the +parapet, the French shout rose to heaven. Meanwhile a strange sight +was to be seen--the St. Michael in shining armour, who had led that +assault, shedding tears for the ferocious Classidas, who had cursed +her with his last breath. "/J'ai grande pitié de ton âme./" Had he but +had time to clear his soul and reconcile himself with God! + +This was virtually the end of the siege of Orleans. The broken bridge +on the Loire had been rudely mended, with a great /gouttière/ and +planks, and the people of Orleans had poured out over it to take the +Tourelles in flank--the English being thus taken between Jeanne's army +on the one side and the 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 several great generals on the other side with strong +fortifications to fall back upon, they seem to have been paralysed, +and did not strike a blow. Jeanne was not afraid of them, but her +ardour to continue the fight dropped all at once; enough had been +done. She awaited the conclusion with confidence. Needless to say that +Orleans was half mad with joy, every church sounding its bells, +singing its song of triumph and praise, the streets so crowded that it +was with difficulty that the Maid could make her progress through +them, with throngs of people pressing round to kiss her hand, if might +be, her greaves, her mailed shoes, her charger, the floating folds of +her banner. She had said she would be wounded and so she was, as might +be seen, the envious rent of the arrow showing through the white +plates of metal on her shoulder. She had said all should be theirs /de +par Dieu:/ and all was theirs, thanks to our Lord and also to St. +Aignan and St. Euvert, patrons of Orleans, and to St. Louis and St. +Charlemagne in heaven who had so great pity of the kingdom of France: +and to the Maid on earth, the Heaven-sent deliverer, the spotless +virgin, the celestial warrior--happy he who could reach to kiss it, +the point of her mailed shoe. + +Someone says that she rode through all this half-delirious joy like a +creature in a dream,--fatigue, pain, the happy languor of the end +attained, and also the profound pity that was the very inspiration of +her spirit, for all those souls of men gone to their account without +help of Church or comfort of priest--overwhelming her. But next day, +which was Sunday, she was up again and eagerly watching all that went +on. A strange sight was Orleans on that Sunday of May. On the south +side of the Loire, all those half-ruined bastilles smoking and +silenced, which once had threatened not the city only but all the +south of France; on the north the remaining bands of English drawn up +in order of battle. The excitement of the town and of the generals in +it, was intense; worn as they were with three days of continuous +fighting, should they sally forth again and meet that compact, silent, +doubly defiant army, which was more or less fresh and unexhausted? +Jeanne's opinion was, No; there had been enough of fighting, and it +was Sunday, the holy day; but apparently the French did go out though +keeping at a distance, watching the enemy. By orders of the Maid an +altar was raised between the two armies in full sight of both sides, +and there mass was celebrated, under the sunshine, by the side of the +river which had swallowed Classidas and all his men. French and +English together devoutly turned towards and responded to that Mass in +the pause of bewildering uncertainty. "Which way are their heads +turned?" Jeanne asked when it was over. "They are turned away from us, +they are turned to Meung," was the reply. "Then let them go, /de par +Dieu/," the Maid replied. + +The siege had lasted for seven months, but eight days of the Maid were +enough to bring it to an end. The people of Orleans still, every year, +on the 8th of May, make a procession round the town and give thanks to +God for its deliverance. Henceforth, the Maid was known no longer as +Jeanne d'Arc, the peasant of Domremy, but as /La Pucelle d'Orléans/, +in the same manner in which one might speak of the Prince of Waterloo, +or the Duc de Malakoff. +---------- +[1] Their special mission seems to have been a demand for the return + of a herald previously sent who had never come back. As Dunois + accompanied the demand by a threat to kill the English prisoners + in Orleans if the herald was not sent back, the request was at + once accorded, with fierce defiances to the Maid, the dairy-maid + as she is called, bidding her go back to her cows, and threatening + to burn her if they caught her. + +[2] I avail myself here as elsewhere of Mr. Lang's lucid description. + "It is really perfectly intelligible. The Council wanted a feint + on the left bank, Jeanne an attack on the right. She knew their + scheme, untold, but entered into it. There was, however, no feint. + She deliberately forced the fighting. There was grand fighting, + well worth telling," adds my martial critic, who understands it so + much better than I do, and who I am happy to think is himself + telling the tale in another way. + +[3] She had made this prophecy a month before, and it was recorded + three weeks before the event in the Town Book of Brabant.--A. L. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAMPAIGN OF THE LOIRE. +JUNE, JULY, 1429. + +The rescue of Orleans and the defeat of the invincible English were +news to move France from one end to the other, and especially to raise +the 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, arousing every village, and breathing new heart and +encouragement everywhere; while in the meantime Jeanne, partially +healed of her wound (on May 9th she rode out in a /maillet/, a light +coat of chain-mail), after a few days' rest in the joyful city which +she had saved with all its treasures, set out on her return to Chinon. +She found the King at Loches, another of the strong places on the +Loire where there was room for a Court, and means of defence for a +siege should such be necessary, 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, Jeanne's +object was to march on at once with the young Prince, with or without +his immense retinue, to Rheims where he should be crowned and anointed +King as she had promised. Her 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 give her from Heaven, +to accomplish this great act without delay, urged her on. She was +straitened, if we may quote the most divine of words, till it should +be accomplished. + +But the Maid, flushed with victory, with the shouts of Orleans still +ringing in her ears, the applause of her fellow-soldiers, the sound of +the 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 to-morrow we die." Was it worth while to lose everything +that was enjoyable in the present moment, to subject a young sovereign +to toils and excitement, and probable loss, for the uncertain +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, all his graver advisers (with the exception of Gerson, the +great theologian to whom has been ascribed the authorship of the +/Imitation of Christ/, who is reported to have said, "If France +deserts her, and she fails, she is none the less inspired") shook +their 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 Jeanne +was received when, newly alighted from her charger, her shoulder still +but half healed, her eyes scarcely clear of the dust and smoke, she +found herself once more in the ante-chamber, wasting the days, waiting +in vain behind closed doors, tormented by the lutes and madrigals, the +light women and lighter men, useless and contemptible, of a foolish +Court. The Maid, in all the energy and impulse of a success which had +proved all her claims, had also a premonition that her own time was +short, if not a direct intimation, as some believe, to that effect: +and mingled her remonstrances and appeals with the cry of warning: "I +shall only last a year: take the good of me as long as it is +possible." + +No doubt she was a very great entertainment to the idle seigneurs and +ladies who would try to persuade her to tell them what was to happen +to them, she who had prophesied the death of Glasdale and her own +wound and so many other things. The Duke of Lorraine on her first +setting out had attempted to discover from Jeanne what course his +illness would take, and whether he should get better; and all the +demoiselles and demoiseaux, the flutterers of the ante-chamber, 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 comrades, and had never been slow at any time +in answering a fool according to his folly; for Jeanne was no meek or +sentimental maiden, but a robust and vigorous young woman, ready with +a quick response, as well as with a ready blow did any one touch her +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 councillors, Jeanne's patience failed her +altogether. She knocked at the door, and being admitted threw herself +at the feet of the King. To Jeanne he was no king till he had received +the consecration necessary for every sovereign of France. "Noble +Dauphin," she cried, "why should you hold such long and tedious +councils? Rather come to Rheims and receive your worthy crown." + +The Bishop of Castres, Christopher de Harcourt, who was present, asked +her if she would not now in the presence of the King describe to them +the manner in which her council instructed her, when they talked with +her. Jeanne reddened and replied: "I understand that you would like to +know, and I would gladly satisfy you." "Jeanne," said the King in his +turn, "it would be very good if you could do what they ask, in the +presence of those here." She answered at once and with great feeling: +"When I am vexed to find myself disbelieved in the things I say from +God, I retire by myself and pray to God, complaining and asking of Him +why I 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 the glory 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 Rheims should be free of the English, especially +the towns on the Loire in which a great part of the army dispersed +from Orleans had taken refuge, with the addition of the auxiliary +forces of Sir John Fastolfe, a name so much feared by the French, but +at which the English reader can scarcely forbear a smile. That the +young King did not think of putting himself at the head of the troops +or of taking part in the campaign shows sufficiently that he was +indeed a /pauvre sire/, unworthy his gallant people. Jeanne, 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 Seigneur Guy de Laval 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 /ses mères/, that is, it seems, his mother and +grandmother, to whom, in their distant château, 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 Selles where she was just setting out +on the campaign. + +From Selles, he writes on the 8th June, exactly a month after the +deliverance of Orleans: + + "I went to her lodging to see her, and she sent for wine and told + me we should soon drink wine in Paris. It was a miraculous thing + (/toute divine/) to see her and hear her. She left Selles on + Monday at the hour of vespers for Romorantin, the Marshal de + Boussac and a great many armed men with her. I saw her mount her + horse, all in white armour excepting the head, a little axe in her + hand. The great black charger was very restive at her door and + would not let her mount. 'Lead him,' she said, 'to the cross which + is in front of the church,' and there she mounted, the horse + standing still as if he had been bound. Then turning towards the + church which was close by she said in a womanly voice (/assez voix + de femme/), 'You priests and 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 rode a brother + who had joined her eight days before. The Maid told me in her + lodging that she had sent you, grandmother, a small gold ring, + which was indeed a very small affair, and that she would fain have + sent you something better, considering your recommendation. To-day + M. d'Alençon, the Bastard of Orleans, and Gaucourt were to leave + Selles, following the Maid. And men are arriving from all parts + every day, all with good hope in God who I believe will help us. + But money there is none at the Court, so that for the present I + have no hope of any help or assistance. Therefore I desire you, + /Madame ma mère/, who have my seal, spare not the land neither in + sale nor mortgage . . . . My much honoured ladies and mothers, I + pray the blessed Son of God that you have a good life and long; + and both of us recommend ourselves to our brother Louis. And we + send our greetings to the reader of this letter. Written from + Selles, Wednesday, 8th June, 1429. This afternoon are arrived M. + de Vendôme, M. de Boussac, and others, and La Hire has joined the + army, and we shall soon be at work (/on besognera bientôt/)--May + God grant that it should be according to your desire." + +It was with difficulty that the Duc d'Alençon had been got 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 Jeanne be content and stay where she was? Jeanne +comforted the lady, perhaps with a little good-humoured contempt. +"Fear nothing, Madame," 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 lass, even though she had delivered +Orleans; and if he set out at all he would have preferred to take +another direction and to protect his own property and province. The +gathering of the army thus becomes visible to us; parties are +continually coming in; and no doubt, as they marched along, many a +little château--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, as the +little property could raise, to swell the forces with the best and +surest of material, the trained gentlemen with hearts full of chivalry +and pride, but with the same hardy, self-denying habits as the sturdy +peasants who followed them, ready for any privation; with a proud +delight to hear that /on besognera bientôt/--with that St. Michael at +their head, and no longer any fear of the English in their hearts. + +The first /besogne/ on which this army entered was the siege of +Jargeau, June 11th, into which town Suffolk had thrown himself and his +troops when the siege of Orleans was raised. The town was strong and +so was the garrison, experienced too in all the arts of war, and +already aware of the wild enthusiasm by which Jeanne was surrounded. +She passed through Orleans 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, which means, as each +"lance" was a separate party, about three thousand six hundred men, +though the /Journal du Siège/ 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. It would +seem that this hesitation continued until the very moment of attack, +and was only put an end to when Jeanne herself impatiently seized her +banner from the hand of her squire, and planting herself at the foot +of the walls let loose the fervour of the troops and cheered them on +to the irresistible rush in which lay their strength. For it was with +the commanders, not with the followers, that the weakness lay. The +Maid herself was struck on the head by a stone from the battlements +which threw her down; but she sprang up again in a moment unhurt. +"/Sus! Sus!/ Our Lord has condemned the English--all is yours!" she +cried. She would seem to have stood there in her place with her +banner, a rallying-point and centre in the midst of all the confusion +of the fight, taking this for her part in it, and though 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 and dreadful arrows, must of itself +have been indescribable. + +In the midst of the fiery struggle, there is almost a comic point in +her watch over Alençon, 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. de Lude, who took his place in the front was +killed, which seems hard upon the poor gentleman, who was probably +quite as well worth caring for as Alençon. "/Avant, gentil duc/," 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 armour gleams. "/Sus! Sus!/" the bold cry +is almost audible, sibilant, whistling amid the whistling of the +arrows. + +Suffolk, the English Bayard, the most chivalrous of knights, was at +last forced to yield. One story tells us that he would give up his +sword only to Jeanne herself,[1] 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; Guillame Regnault, +gentleman of Auvergne." "Are you a knight?" "Not yet." The victor put +a knee to the ground before his captive, the vanquished touched him +lightly on the shoulder with the sword which he then gave over to him. +Suffolk was always the finest gentleman, the most perfect gentle +knight of his time. + +"Now let us go and see the English of Meung," cried Jeanne, +unwearying, as soon as this victory was assured. That place fell +easily; it is called the bridge of Meung, in the Chronicle, without +further description, therefore presumably the fortress was not +attacked--and they proceeded onward to Beaugency. These towns still +shine over the plain, along the line of the Loire, visible as far as +the eye will carry over the long levels, the great stream linking one +to 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 centres of life. The great white Castle of +Blois, the darker tower of Beaugency, still stand where they stood +when Jeanne and her men drew near, as conspicuous in their elevation +of walls and towers as if they had been planted on a mountain top. On +more than one occasion during this wonderful progress from victory to +victory, the triumphant leaders returned for a day or two to Orleans +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 men with a sort +of infallible instinct which adds force to her absolute quick +perception of every difficulty and advantage, the unhesitating +promptitude, attending like so many servants upon the inspiration +which is the soul of all. These are things to which a writer 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, most of whom would have thwarted her if they could, with a +consciousness of her own superior place, in which there is never the +slightest token of presumption or self-esteem. She guarded and guided +Alençon with a good-natured and affectionate disdain; and when there +was risk of a great quarrel and a splitting of forces she held the +balance like an old and experienced guide of men. + +This latter crisis occurred before Beaugency on the 15th of June, when +the Comte de Richemont, Constable of France, the brother of the Duc 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 Jeanne; though +he apparently asked her help and influence to reconcile him with the +King. He seems indeed to have thought it a disgrace to France that her +troops should be led, and victories gained by no properly appointed +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 Orleans and its total failure, reports to +England that the discomfiture of the hitherto always triumphant army +was "caused in great part by the fatal faith and vain fear that the +French had, of a disciple and servant of the enemy of man, called the +Maid, who uses many false enchantments, and witchcraft, by which not +only is the number of our soldiers diminished but their courage +marvellously beaten down, and the boldness of our enemies increased." +Richemont was a sworn enemy of all such. "Never man hated more, all +heresies, sorcerers, and sorceresses, than he; for he burned more in +France, in Poitou, and Bretagne, 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. Alençon, 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. Jeanne, 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 given by a retainer of Richemont, which is +picturesque enough. "The Maid alighted from her horse, and the +Constable also. 'Jeanne,' he said, 'they tell me that you are against +me. I know not if you are from God (/de la part de Dieu/) or not. If +you are from God I do not fear you; if you are of the devil, I fear +you still less.' 'Brave Constable,' said Jeanne, 'you have not come +here by any will of mine; but since you are here you are welcome.'" + +Armed neutrality but suspicion on one side, dignified indifference but +acceptance on the other, could not be better shown. + +These successes, however, had been attended by various /escarmouches/ +going on behind. The English, who had been driven out of one town +after another, had now drawn together under the command of Talbot, and +a party of troops under Fastolfe, who came to relieve them, had turned +back as Jeanne proceeded, making various unsuccessful attempts to +recover what had been lost. Failing in all their efforts they 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 which Jeanne as yet +had known nothing. She had been successful in assault, in the +operations of the siege, but to meet the enemy hand to hand in battle +was what she had never been required to do; and every tradition, every +experience, was in favour of the English. From Agincourt to the Battle +of the Herrings at Rouvray near Orleans, which had taken place in the +beginning of the year (a fight so named because the field of battle +had been covered with herrings, the conquerors in this case being +merely the convoy in charge of provisions for the English, which +Fastolfe commanded), such a thing had not been known as that the +French should hold their own, much less attain any victory over the +invaders. In these circumstances there was much talk of falling back +upon the camp near Beaugency and of retreating or avoiding an +engagement; anything rather than hazard one of those encounters which +had infallibly ended in disaster. But Jeanne was of the same mind as +always, to go forward and fear nothing. "Fall upon them! Go at them +boldly," she cried. "If they were in the clouds we should have them. +The gentle King will now gain the greatest victory he has ever had." + +It is curious to hear that in that great plain of the Beauce, so flat, +so fertile, with nothing but vines and cornfields now against the +horizon, the two armies at last almost stumbled upon each other by +accident, in the midst of the brushwood by which the country was +wildly overgrown. The story is that a stag roused by the French scouts +rushed into the midst of the English, who were advantageously placed +among the brushwood to arrest the enemy on their march; the wild +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 defences. They +were so taken by surprise that the rush of the French came without +warning, with a suddenness which gave it double force. La Hire made +the first attack as leader of the van, and there was thus emulation +between the two parties, which should be first upon the enemy. When +Alençon asked Jeanne what was to be the issue of the fight, she said +calmly, "Have you good spurs?" "What! You mean we shall turn our backs +on our enemies?" cried her questioner. "Not so," she replied. "The +English will not fight, they will fly, and you will want good spurs to +pursue them." Even this somewhat fantastic prophecy put heart into the +men, who up to this time had been wont to fly and not to fight. + +And this was what happened, strange as it may seem. Talbot himself was +with the English forces, and many a gallant captain beside: but the +men and their leaders were alike broken in spirit and filled with +superstitious terrors. Whether these were the forces of hell or those +of heaven that came against them no one could be sure; but it was a +power 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 who thought her a servant of the +enemy of men. But she was a pernicious witch to Talbot, and strangely +enough to Richemont also, who was on her own side. The English force +was thrown into confusion, partly, we may suppose, from the broken +ground on which they were discovered, the 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 +miserable part. Not all the chivalry of France had 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 valour +of Talbot could preserve his English force from the infection now. +Fastolfe, with the philosophy of an old soldier, deciding that it was +vain to risk his men when the field was already lost, rode off with +all his band. Talbot fought with desperation, half mad with rage to be +thus a second time overcome by so unlikely an adversary, and finally +was taken prisoner; while the whole force behind him fled and were +killed in their flight, the plain being scattered with their dead +bodies. + +Jeanne herself made use of those spurs concerning which she had +enquired, and carried away by the passion of battle, followed in the +pursuit, we are told, until she met a Frenchman brutally ill-using a +prisoner whom he had taken, upon which the Maid, indignant, flung +herself from her horse, and, seating herself on the ground beside the +unfortunate Englishman, took 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, and climbs the first as some say; but we never +see her strike a blow. On the banks of the Loire the fate of the mail- +clad Glasdale, hopeless in the strong stream underneath the ruined +bridge, brought tears to her eyes, and now all the excitement of the +pursuit vanished in an instant from her mind, when she saw the English +man-at-arms dying without the succour of the Church. Pity was always +in her heart; she was ever on the side of the angels, though an angel +of war and not of peace. + +It is perhaps because the numbers engaged were so few that this flight +or "Chasse de Patay," has not taken a more important place in the +records of French historians. In general it is only by means of +Fontenoy that the /amour propre/ of the French nation defends itself +against the overwhelming list of battles in which the English have had +the better of it. But this was probably the most complete victory that +has ever been gained over the stubborn enemy whom French tactics are +so seldom able to touch; and the conquerors were purely French without +any alloy of alien arms, except a few Scots, to help them. The entire +campaign on the Loire 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 Frenchman +could desire, beaten not only in the result, but in the conduct of the +campaign, in heart and in courage, in skill and in genius. There is no +reason in the world why it should not be admitted. But it was not the +French generals, not even Dunois, who secured these 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 generals, no less a person than +Alençon 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 Duc d'Alençon 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 and +sunshine when the victorious army and its chiefs turned back to the +Court where the King and his councillors sat idle, waiting for news of +what was being done for them. A battle-field is no fine sight; the +excitement of the conflict, the 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 +carry the mind away; but the bravest soldier holds his breath when he +remembers the after scene, the dead and dying, the horrible injuries +inflicted, the loss and misery. However, not even the miserable scene +of the Chasse de Patay is so painful as the reverse of 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 favourites, and the +musicians played, the assemblies were held, and all went on as in the +Tuileries. We feel as if we had fallen fathoms deep into the +meannesses of 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 advantage of three important towns brought back to 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. + +Jeanne had given the signs that had been demanded from her. She had +delivered Orleans, she cleared the King's road toward the north. She +had filled the French forces with an enthusiasm and transport of +valour which swept away all the traditions of ill fortune. From every +point of view the instant march upon Rheims and the accomplishment of +the great object of her mission had not only 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 Rheims, and La Tremouille, 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, and even +the victory itself, if only they would have left him in quiet where he +was, sufficiently comfortable, amused, and happy, without forcing +necessary dangers. Jeanne'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 Rheims to be crowned? +yes, some time when it was convenient, when it was safe. But in the +meantime what was more important was to forbid Richemont, whom the +Chancellor hated and the King did not love, to come into the presence +or to have any share either in warfare or in pageant. This was not +only in itself an extremely foolish thing to do, which is always a +recommendation, but it was at the same time an excuse for wasting a +little precious time. When this was at last accomplished, and +Richemont, though deeply wounded and offended, proved himself so much +a man of honour and a patriot, that though dismissed by the King he +still upheld, if languidly, his cause--there was yet a great deal of +resistance to be overcome. Paris though so far off was thrown into +great excitement and alarm by the flight at Patay, and the whole city +was in commotion fearing an immediate advance and attack. But in +Loches, or wherever Charles may have been, it was all taken very +easily. Fastolfe, the fugitive, had his Garter taken from him as the +greatest disgrace that could be inflicted, for his shameful flight, +about the time when Richemont, one of the victors, was being sent off +and disgraced on the other side 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 +at Gien, where he joined it, and the great wave of enthusiasm awakened +by Jeanne, and on which he now moved forth as on the top of the wave, +was for the time triumphant. No one dared say now that the Maid was a +sorceress, or that it was by the aid of Beelzebub that she cast out +devils; but a hundred jealousies and hatreds worked against her behind +backs, among the courtiers, among the clergy, strange as that may +sound, in sight of the absolute devotion of her mind, and the saintly +life she led. So 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 Troyes, 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, though perfectly orthodox and a good Catholic, Jeanne had been +independent of all priestly guidance and had sought no sanction from +the Church to her commission, which she believed to be given by +Heaven. "Give God the praise; but we know that this woman is a +sinner." This was the best they could find to say of her in the moment +of her greatest victories; but indeed it is no disparagement to Jeanne +or to any saint that she should share with her Master the opprobrium +of such words as these. + +At last however a reluctant start was made. Jeanne with her "people," +her little staff, in which, now, were two of her brothers, a second +having joined her after Orleans, left Gien on the 28th of June; and +the next day the King very unwillingly set out. There is given a long +list of generals who surrounded and accompanied him, three or four +princes of the blood, the Bastard of Orleans, the Archbishop of +Rheims, marshals, admirals, and innumerable seigneurs, among whom was +our young Guy de Laval who wrote the letter to his "mothers" which we +have already quoted and whose faith in the Maid we thus know; and our +ever faithful La Hire, the big-voiced Gascon who had permission to +swear by his /bâton/, the d'Artagnan of this history. We reckon these +names as those of friends: Dunois the ever-brave, Alençon the /gentil +Duc/ for whom Jeanne had a special and protecting kindness, La Hire +the rough captain of Free Lances, and the graceful young seigneur, Sir +Guy as we should have called him had he been English, who was so ready +to sell or mortgage his land that he might convey his troop +befittingly to the wars. This little group brightens the march for us +with their friendly faces. We know that they have but one thought of +the warrior maiden in whose genius they had begun to have a wondering +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 that in the progress of the +army Jeanne had no definite place. She rode where 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 Auxerre, 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 +Tremouille, secured itself from the attack which Jeanne longed to +lead. Other smaller strongholds on the road yielded without +hesitation. At last they came to Troyes, a large and strong place, +well garrisoned and confident in its strength, the town distinguished +in the history of the time by the treaty made there, by which the +young King had been disinherited--and by the marriage of Henry of +England with the Princess Catherine of France, in whose right he was +to succeed to the throne. It was an ill-omened place for a French king +and the camp was torn with dissensions. Should the army march by, +taking no notice of it and so get all the sooner to Rheims? or should +they pause first, to try their fortune against those solid walls? But +indeed it was not the camp that debated this question. The camp was of +Jeanne's mind whichever side she took, and her side was always that of +the promptest action. The garrison made a bold sortie, the very day of +the arrival of Charles and his forces, but had been beaten back: and +the King encamped under the walls, wavering and uncertain whether he +might not still depart on the morrow, but sending a 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 Jeanne was anxiously held back, +while every silken fool gave his opinion. At last, one of the +councillors was stirred by this strange anomaly. He declared among +them all, that as it was by the advice of the Maid that the expedition +had been undertaken, without her acquiescence it ought not to be +abandoned. "When the King set out it was not because of the great +puissance of the army he then had with him, or the great treasure he +had to provide for them, nor yet because it seemed to him a probable +thing to be accomplished; but the said expedition was undertaken +solely at the suit of the said Jeanne, who urged him constantly to go +forward, to be crowned at Rheims, and that he should find little +resistance, for it was the pleasure and will of God. If the said +Jeanne is not to be allowed to give her advice now, it is my opinion +that we should turn back," said the Seigneur de Treves, who had never +been a partisan of or believer in Jeanne. We are told that at this +fortunate moment when one of her opponents had thus pronounced in her +favour, Jeanne, impatient and restless, knocked at the door of the +council chamber as she had done before in her rustic boldness; and +then there occurred a brief and characteristic dialogue. + +"Jeanne," said the Archbishop of Rheims, taking the first word, +probably with the ready instinct of a conspirator to excuse himself +from having helped to shut her out, "the King and his council are in +great perplexity to know what they should do." + +"Shall I be believed if I speak?" said the Maid. + +"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 Troyes, to hold no more councils; for, by my God, in three days I +will introduce you into the town of Troyes, by love or by force, and +false Burgundy shall be dismayed." + +"Jeanne," said the Chancellor, "if you could do that in six days, we +might well wait." + +"You shall be master of the place," said the Maid, addressing herself +steadily to the King, "not in six days, but to-morrow." + +And then there occurred once more the now habitual scene. It was no +longer the miracle it had been to see her dash forward to her post +under the walls with her standard which was the signal for battle, to +which the impatient troops responded, confident in her, as she in +herself. But for the first time we hear how the young general, +learning her trade of war day by day, made her preparations for the +siege. She was a gunner born, according to all we hear, and was quick +to perceive the advantage of her rude artillery though she had never +seen one of these /bouches de feu/ till she encountered them at +Orleans. The whole army was set to work during the night, knights and +men-at-arms alike, to raise--with any kind of handy material, palings +faggots, tables, even doors and windows, taken it must be feared from +some neighbouring village or faubourg--a mound on which to place the +guns. The country as we have said is as flat as the palm of one's +hand. They worked all night under cover of the darkness with +incredible devotion, while the alarmed townsfolk not knowing what was +being done, but no doubt divining something from the unusual +commotion, betook themselves to the churches to pray, and began to +ponder whether after all it might not be better to join the King whose +armies were led by St. Michael himself in the person of his +representative, than to risk a siege. Once more the spell of the Maid +fell on the defenders of the place. It was witchcraft, it was some +vile art. They had no heart to man the battlements, to fight like +their brothers at Orleans and Jargeau in face of all the powers of the +evil one: the cry of "/Sus! Sus!/" was like the death-knell in their +ears. + +While the soldiers within the walls were thus trembling and drawing +back, the bishop and his clergy took the matter in hand; they sallied +forth, a long procession attended by half the city, to parley with the +King. It was in the earliest dawn, while yet the peaceful world was +scarcely awake; but the town had been in commotion all night, every +visionary person in it seeing visions and dreaming dreams, and a panic +of superstition and spiritual terror taking the strength out of every +arm. Jeanne was already at her post, 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 Troyes, and to permit the garrison to depart in peace, +if the town was given up to him. We are not told whether the Maid +acquiesced in this arrangement, though it at once secured the +fulfilment of her prophecy; but in any case she would seem to have +been suspicious of the good faith of the departing garrison. Instead +of retiring to her tent she took 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 aught they knew lay them under some dreadful spell, even in +the moment of passing. But in the midst of them came a darker band, +the French prisoners whom they had previously taken, who were as a +sort of funded capital in their hands, each man worth so much money as +a ransom, It was for this that Jeanne had prepared herself. "/En nom +Dieu/," she cried, "they shall not be carried away." The march was +stopped, the alarm given, the King unwillingly aroused once more from +his slumbers. Charles must have been disturbed at the most untimely +hour by the ambassadors from the town, and it mattered little to his +supreme indolence and indifference what might happen to his +unfortunate lieges; but he was forced to bestir himself, and even to +give something from his impoverished exchequer for the ransom of the +prisoners, which must have been more disagreeable still. The feelings +of these men who would have been dragged away in captivity under the +eyes of their victorious countrymen, but for the vigilance of the +Maid, may easily be imagined. + +Jeanne seems to have entered the town at once, to prepare for the +reception of the King, and to take instant possession of the place, +forestalling all further impediment. The people in the streets, +however, received her in a very different way from those of Orleans, +with trouble and alarm, staring at her as at a dangerous and malignant +visitor. The Brother Richard, before mentioned, the great preacher and +reformer, was the oracle of Troyes, and held the conscience of the +city in his hands. When he suddenly appeared to confront her, every +eye was turned upon them. But the friar himself was in no less doubt +than his disciples; he approached her dubiously, crossing himself, +making the sacred sign in the air, and sprinkling a shower of holy +water before him to drive away the demon, if demon there was. Jeanne +was not unused to support the rudest accost, and her frank voice, +still /assez femme/, made itself heard over every clamour. "Come on, I +shall not fly away," she cried, with, one hopes, a laugh of confident +innocence and good-humour, in face of those significant gestures and +the terrified looks of all about her. French art has been unkind to +Jeanne, occupying itself very little about her till recently; but her +short career is full of pictures. Here the simple page grows bright +with the ancient houses and highly coloured crowd: the frightened and +eager faces at every window, the white warrior in the midst, sending +forth a thousand rays from the polished steel and silver of +breastplate and helmet: and the brown Franciscan monk advancing amid a +shower of water drops, a mysterious repetition of signs. It gives us +an extraordinary epitome of the history of France at that period to +turn from this scene to the wild enthusiasm of Orleans, its crowd of +people thronging about her, its shouts rending the air; while Troyes +was full of terror, doubt, and ill-will, though its nearest neighbour, +so to speak, the next town, and so short a distance away. + +A little later in the same day, the next after the surrender, Jeanne, +riding with her standard by the side of the King, conducted him to the +cathedral where he confirmed his previous promises and received the +homage of the town. It was a beautiful sight, the chronicle tells us, +to see all these magnificent people, so well dressed and well mounted; +"/il feroit très beau voir./" + +The fate of Troyes decided that of Chalons, the only other important +town on the way, the gates of which were thrown open as Charles and +his army, which grew and increased every day, proceeded on its road. +Every promise of the Maid had been so far accomplished, both in the +greater object and in the details: and now there was nothing between +Charles the disinherited and almost ruined Dauphin of three months +ago, trying to forget himself in the seclusion and the sports of +Chinon--and the sacred ceremonial which drew with it every tradition +and every assurance of an ancient and lawful throne. + +Jeanne 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 Meuse +from Troyes on the Loire, and it appears that a little group of +peasants, bolder than the rest, had come forth to hang about the road +when the army passed and see what was so fine a sight, and perhaps to +catch a glimpse of their /payse/, their little neighbour, the +/commère/ who was godmother to Gerard d'Epinal's child, the youthful +gossip of his young wife--but who was now, if all tales were true, a +great person, and rode by the side of the King. They went as far as +Chalons to see if perhaps all this were true and not a fable; and no +doubt stood astonished to see her ride by, to hear all the marvellous +tales that were told of her, and to assure themselves that it was +truly Jeanne upon whom, more than upon the King, every eye was bent. +This small scene in the midst of so many great ones would probably +have been the most interesting of all had it been told us at any +length. The peasant travellers surrounded her with wistful questions, +with wonder and admiration. Was she never afraid among all those risks +of war, when the arrows hailed about her and the /bouches de feu/, the +mouths of fire, bellowed and flung forth great stones and bullets upon +her? "I fear nothing but treason," said the victorious Maid. She knew, +though her humble visitors did not, how that base thing skulked at her +heels, and infested every path. It must not be forgotten that this +wonderful and victorious campaign, with all its lists of towns taken +and armies discomfited, lasted six weeks only, almost every day of +which was distinguished by some victory. +---------- +[1] The former story was written in 1429, by the Greffier of Rochelle. + "I will yield me only to her, the most valiant woman in the + world." The Greffier was writing at the moment, but not, of + course, as an eyewitness.--A. L. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CORONATION. +JULY 17, 1429. + +The road was now clear, and even the most timid of counsellors could +not longer hold back the most indolent of kings. Jeanne had kept her +word once more and fulfilled her own prophecy, and a force of +enthusiasm and certainty, not to be put down, pressed forward the +unwilling Court towards the great ceremonial of the coronation, to +which all 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 Rheims, 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, mediæval 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 dignities. The King alighted with the Archbishop at the +Archevêché 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 Rheims, and all the prophecies +fulfilled. The Archbishop marched into the city in the morning; +Charles and his Court, and all his great seigneurs, and the body of +his army, in which there were many fighting men half armed, and some +in their rustic clothes as they had left their fields to join the King +in his march--poured in in the evening, after the ecclesiastical +procession, filling the town with commotion. Jeanne rode beside the +King, her banner in her hand. It was July, the vigil of the Madeleine, +and every church poured forth its crowd to witness the entry, and the +populace, half troubled, half glad, gazed its eyes out upon the white +warrior at the side of the King. Her father and uncle were there to +meet her at the old inn in the Place, which still proudly preserves +the record of the peasant guests: two astonished rustics, 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 chevalière at the head of the procession. +This was very different from what he had thought of when his village +respectability was tortured by the idea of his girl among the +troopers, yet probably the rigid peasant had never changed his mind. + +We are told by M. Blaze de Bury of an ancient custom which we do not +find stated elsewhere. A platform was erected, he tells us, outside +the choir of the cathedral to which the King was led the 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, peers of France, crown as King and sovereign lord. And if +there is a soul here which has any objection to make, let him speak +and we will answer him. And to-morrow he shall be consecrated by the +grace of the Holy Spirit if you have nothing to say against it." The +people replied by cries of "Noël, Noël!" It is not to be supposed that +the veto of the people of Rheims would have been effectual had they +opposed: but the scene is wonderfully picturesque. No doubt Jeanne too +was there, watching over her King, as she seems to have done, like a +mother over her child, at this crisis of his affairs. + +That night there was little sleep in Rheims, for everything had to be +prepared in haste, the decorations of the cathedral, the provisions +for the ceremonial. Many of the necessary articles were at Saint Denis +in the hands of the English, and the treasury of the cathedral had to +be ransacked to find the fitting vessels. Fortunately it was rich, +more rich probably than it is now, when the commonplace silver of the +beginning of this century has replaced the ancient vials. Through the +short summer night everyone was at work in these preparations; and by +the dawn of day visitors began to flow into the city, great personages +and small, to attend the great ceremonial and to pay their homage. The +greatest of all was the Duke of Lorraine, he who had consulted Jeanne +about his health, husband of the heiress of that rich principality, +and son of Queen Yolande who was no doubt with the Court. All France +seemed to pour into the famous town, where so important an act was +about to be accomplished, with money and wine flowing on all hands, +and the enthusiasm growing along with the popular excitement and +profit. Even great London is stirred to its limits, many miles off +from the centre of proceedings, by such a great event; how much more +the little mediæval city, in which every one might hope to see +something of the pageant, as one shining group after another, with +armour blazing in the sun, and sleek horses caracoling, arrived at the +great gates of the Archevêché: and lesser parties scarcely less +interesting poured in in need of lodging, of equipment and provisions; +while every housewife searched her stores for a piece of brilliant +stuff, of old silk or embroidery, to make her house shine like the +rest. + +Early in the morning, a wonderful procession came out of the +Archbishop's house. Four splendid peers of France, in full armour with +their banners, rode through the streets to the old Abbey of Saint Remy +--the old church which Leo IX. consecrated, in the eleventh century, +on an equally splendid occasion, and which may still be seen to-day-- +to fetch from its shrine, where it was strictly guarded by the monks, +the Sainte Ampoule, the holy and sacred vial in which the oil of +consecration had been sent to Clovis out of Heaven. These noble +messengers were the "hostages" of this sacred charge, engaging +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 Abbot of St. Remy, in his richest robes, appeared surrounded by +his monks, carrying the treasure in his hands; and under a splendid +canopy, blazing in the sunshine with cloth of gold, marched towards +the cathedral under the escort of the Knights Hostages, blazing also +in the flashes of their armour. This procession was met half-way, +before the Church of St. Denis, by another, that of the Archbishop and +his train, to whom the holy oil was solemnly 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 Durand the good +uncle who had helped her in the beginning of her career; though it was +Durand who was sent for to the King and questioned as to Jeanne's life +in her childhood and early youth; which we may take as proof that +Jacques d'Arc still stood aloof, /dour/, as a Scotch peasant father +might have been, suspicious of his daughter's intimacy with all these +fine people, and in no way cured of his objections to the publicity +which is little less than shame to such rugged folk. 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 Jeanne. What the Maid +had to do on the morning of the coronation day was something very +different from any home talk with her relations. She who felt herself +commissioned not only to lead the armies of France, but to deal with +her princes and take part in her councils, occupied the morning in +dictating a letter to the Duke of Burgundy. 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 in two: + + JHESUS, MARIA. + + High and redoubtable Prince, Duke of Burgundy. Jeanne the Maid + requires on the part of the King of Heaven, my most just sovereign + and Lord (/mon droicturier souverain seigneur/), that the King of + France and you make peace between yourselves, firm, strong and + that will endure. Pardon each other of good heart, entirely, as + loyal Christians ought to do, and if you desire to fight let it be + against the Saracens. Prince of Burgundy, I pray, supplicate, and + require, as humbly as may be, fight no longer against the holy + kingdom of France: withdraw, at once and speedily, your people who + are in any strongholds or fortresses of the said holy kingdom; and + on the part of the gentle King of France, he is ready to make + peace with you, having respect to his honour, and upon your life + that you never will gain a battle against loyal Frenchmen and that + all those who war against the said holy kingdom of France, war + against the King Jesus, King of Heaven and of all the world and my + just and sovereign Lord. And I pray and require with clasped hands + that you fight not, nor make any battle against us, neither your + friends nor your subjects; but believe always however great in + number may be the men you lead against us, that you will never + win, and it would be great pity for the great battle and the blood + that would be shed of those who came against us. Three weeks ago I + sent you a letter by a herald that you should be present at the + consecration of the King, which to-day, Sunday, the seventeenth of + the present month of July, is done in the city of Rheims: to which + I have had no answer, nor even any news by the said herald. To God + I commend you, and may He be your guard if it pleases Him, and I + pray God to make good peace. + + Written at the aforesaid Rheims, the seventeenth day of July, + 1429. + +When the letter was finished Jeanne put on her armour and prepared for +the great ceremony. We are not told what part she took in it, nor is +any more prominent position assigned to her than among the noble crowd +of peers and generals who surrounded the altar, where her place would +naturally be, upon the broad raised platform of the choir, so +excellently adapted for such ceremonies. Her banner we are told was +borne into the cathedral, in order, as she proudly explained +afterwards, that having been foremost in the danger it should share +the honour. + +But we have no right to suppose that the Maid took the position of the +chief actor in the pageant and stood alone by the side of Charles, as +the exigencies of the pictorial art have required her to do. When, +however, the ceremony was completed, and he had received on his knees +the anointing which separated him as king from every other class of +men, and while the lofty vaults echoed with the cries of Noël! Noël! +by which the people hailed the completed ceremony, Jeanne could +contain herself no longer. The object was attained for which she had +laboured 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, embracing his knees. "Gentle King," she cried +with tears, "now is the pleasure of God fulfilled--whose will it was +that I should raise the siege of Orleans and lead you to this city of +Rheims to receive your consecration. Now has He shown that you are +true King, and that the kingdom of France truly belongs to you alone." + +Those broken words, her tears, the cry of that profound satisfaction +which is almost anguish, the "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant +depart in peace," which is so suitable to the lips of the old, so +poignant from those of the young, pierced all hearts. It is added that +she asked leave to withdraw, her work being done, and that all who saw +her were filled with sympathy. It was no doubt the irresistible +outburst of a heart too full; and though that fulness 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. + +There is a considerable controversy as to the 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 /bouter/ +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 made her invulnerable. In the +other, her "voices," her inspiration, must have failed her, for her +course of triumph went no farther. 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 +/bouter/ the English out of the kingdom. At the same time she betrayed +a constant conviction that her office had limitations and must come to +an end. "I will last but a year," she said to the King and to Alençon. +The testimony of Dunois seems to be the best we can have on this +point. He says in his deposition, made many years after her death: +"Although Jeanne sometimes talked playfully to amuse people, of things +concerning the war which were not afterwards accomplished, yet when +she spoke seriously of the war, and of her own career and her +vocation, she never affirmed anything but that she was sent to raise +the siege of Orleans and to lead the King to Rheims to be crowned." + +If this were so was she wrong in continuing her warfare, and did she +place herself in the position of one who goes on her own charges, +finding the 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 prefer to think +that Jeanne's commission concerned only those two things which she +accomplished so completely; but that in continuing the war, she acted +only as a well inspired and honourable 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 intrigue sprang up +again afresh on the evening of that brilliant and triumphant +ceremonial, and that from the moment of the accomplishment of her +great work the failure of the Maid began. + +These intrigues had been in her way since her very first beginning, as +has been seen. At Orleans, in the very field as well as in the council +chamber and the presence, everything was done to balk her, and to +cross her plans, but in vain; she triumphed over every contrivance +against her, and broke through the plots, and overcame the plotters. +But after Rheims the combination of dangers became ever greater and +greater, and we may say that no merely human general would have had a +chance in face of the many and bewildering influences of evil. Charles +who was himself, at least at this period of his career, sufficiently +indolent and unenterprising to have damped the energies of any +commander, was, in addition, surrounded by advisers who had always +been impatient and jealous of the interference of Jeanne, and would +have cast her off as a witch, or passed her by as an impostor, had +that been possible, without 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 more hopeful, now that so much had been done by +her means, of being able to shake her off and pursue their fate in +their own way. + +The position of Charles crowned King of France with all the +traditional pomp, master of the Orleannais, with fresh bands of +supporters coming in to swell his army day by day, and Paris itself +almost within his reach, was very different from that of the +discredited Dauphin at Chinon, whom half the world believed to have no +right to the crown which his own mother had signed away from him, and +who wasted his idle days in folly to the profit of the greedy +councillors 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 Tremouille and his party; and Charles--though he seems to have had +a certain appreciation of the Maid, and even a liking for her frank +and 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 and favour with Heaven had a great deal +to do with this dazzling triumph and success: certainly he was not the +man to make any stand for his deliverer. But that she was an auxiliary +too important to be sent away was reluctantly apparent to them all. To +keep her as a sort of tame angel about the Court in order to be +produced when she was wanted, to put heart into the soldiers and +frighten the English as she certainly 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 Alençon, +Dunois, La Hire, and the rest have tolerated thus the abandonment of +their comrade. To dismiss her even at her own word would have been +impossible, and it is hard to believe that Jeanne, after that +extraordinary brief career as a triumphant general and leader, could +have gone back to her father's cottage of the village, though she +thought she would fain 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 discouraged +her. They seem to have changed a little in their burden, they began to +mingle a sadder tone in their intimations. It began to be breathed +into her mind though not immediately, that something was to happen to +her, some disaster not explained, yet that God was to be with her. It +seems to me that all the circumstances are compatible with a change in +Jeanne's consciousness, from the moment of the coronation. It might +have been a grander thing had she retired there and then, her work +being accomplished as she declared it to be; but it would not have +been human. She was still a power, if no longer the direct messenger +from Heaven; a general, with much skill and natural aptitude if not +the Sent of God; and the ardour 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 Isabeau d'Arc at Domremy, and working even into a piece +of embroidery for the altar, her remembrances and visions of camp and +siege and the intoxication of victory. She remained, conscious that +she was no longer exactly as of old, to fight not only against the +English, but with 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 Jeanne 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 sceptical of her divine +commission; while the populace never saw any change in her, and +believed that at one time as well as at another the Maid was the Maid, +and had victory at her 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 Paris as she had done upon +Orleans, carrying on the campaign swiftly, promptly, without pause or +uncertainty. Bedford himself said that Paris "would fall at a blow," +if she came on. It had been hard enough, however, to do that, as we +have seen, when she was the only hope of France and had the fire of +the divine enthusiasm in her veins; but it was still more hard now to +mould a young King elated with triumph, beginning to feel the crown +safe upon his head, and to feel that if there was still much to gain, +there was now a great deal to be lost. The position was complicated +and made more difficult for Jeanne by every advantage 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 Paris into the King's hands within fifteen +days. This agreement furnished a sufficient pretext for the delay in +marching against Paris, delay which was Charles's invariable method, +and which but for Jeanne's hardihood and determination, had all but +crushed the expedition to Rheims itself. It was never with any will of +his or of his adviser, La Tremouille, that any stronghold was +assailed. He would fain have passed by Troyes, as the reader will +remember, he would fain have delayed going to Rheims; in each case he +had been forced to move by the impetuosity of the Maid. But a treaty +which touched the honour of the King was a different matter. Philip of +Burgundy, with whom it was made, seems to have held the key of the +position. He was called to Paris by Bedford on one side to defend the +city against its lawful King; he had pledged himself on the other to +Charles to give it up. He had in his hands, though it is uncertain +whether he ever read it, that missive of the sorceress, the letter of +Jeanne which I have quoted, calling upon him on the part of God to +make peace. What was he to do? There were reasons drawing him to both +sides. He was the enemy of Charles on account of the murder of his +father, and therefore had every interest in keeping Paris from him; he +was angry with the English on account of the marriage of the Duke of +Gloucester with Jacqueline of Brabant, which interfered with his own +rights and safety in Flanders, and therefore might have served himself +by giving up the capital to the King. As for the appeal of Jeanne, +what was the letter of that mad creature to a prince and statesman? +The progress of affairs was arrested by this double problem. Jeanne +had been the prominent, the only important figure in the history of +France for some months past. Now that shining figure was jostled +aside, and the ordinary laws of life, with all the counter changes of +negotiation, the ineffectual 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. + +Jeanne would seem to have already foreseen and felt this change even +before she left Rheims; 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 splendours. 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 Ferté, Jeanne rode between +the Archbishop of Rheims and Dunois. The Archbishop had never been +friendly to the Maid, and now it was clear, watched her with that half +satirical, half amused look of the wise man, curious and cynical in +presence of the 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 "Noël!" though it does not +appear that any part of their devotion was addressed to Jeanne +herself. "Oh, the good people," she cried with tears in her eyes, "how +joyful they are to see their noble King! And how happy should I be to +end my days and be buried here among them!" The priest unmoved by such +an 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. "Jeanne," he said, +"in what place do you expect to die?" It was a direct challenge to the +messenger of Heaven to take upon herself the gift of prophecy. But +Jeanne in her simplicity shattered the snare which probably she did +not even perceive: "When it pleases God," she said. "I know neither +the place nor the time." + +It was enough, however, that she should think of death and of the +sweetness of it, after her work 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, Jeanne did receive. Her father and +uncle were lodged at the public cost as benefactors of the kingdom, as +may still be seen by the inscription on the old inn in the great Place +at Rheims; and when Jacques d'Arc left the city he carried with him a +patent--better than one of nobility which, however, came to the family +later--of exemption for the villages of Domremy and Greux of all taxes +and tributes; "an exemption maintained and confirmed up to the +Revolution, in favour of the said Maid, native of that parish, in +which are her relations." "In the register of the Exchequer," says M. +Blaze de Bury, "at the name of the parish of Greux and Domremy, the +place for the receipt is blank, with these words as explanation: /à +cause de la Pucelle/, 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 to-day, 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 Jeanne parted with her father and uncle with tears, +longing that she might return with them and go back to her mother who +would rejoice to see her again. This was no doubt quite true, though +it might be equally true that she could not have gone back. Did not +the father return, a little sullen, grasping the present he had +himself received, not sure still that it was not disreputable to have +a daughter who wore coat armour and rode by the side of the King, a +position certainly not proper for maidens of humble birth? The dazzled +peasants turned their backs upon her while she was thus at the height +of glory, and never, so far as appears, saw her face again. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SECOND PERIOD. +1429-1430. + +The epic so brief, so exciting, so full of wonder had now reached its +climax. Whatever we may think on the question as to whether Jeanne had +now reached the limit of her commission, it is at least evident that +she had reached the highest point of her triumph, and that her short +day of glory and success came to an end in the great act which she had +always spoken of as her chief object. She had crowned her King; she +had recovered for him one of the richest of his provinces, and +established a strong base for further action on his part. She had +taught Frenchmen how not to fly before the English, and she had filled +those stout-hearted English, who for a time had the Frenchmen in their +powerful steel-clad grip, with terror and panic, and taught them how +to fly in their turn. This was, from the first, what she had said she +was appointed to do, and not one of her promises had been broken. Her +career had been a short one, begun in April, ending in July, one brief +continuous course of glory. But this triumphant career had come to its +conclusion. The messenger of God had done her work; the servant must +not desire to be greater than his Lord. There have been heroes in this +world whose career has continued a glorious and a happy one to the +end. Our hearts follow them in their noble career, but when the strain +and pain are over they come into their kingdom and reap their reward +the interest fails. We are glad, very glad, that they should live +happy ever after, but their happiness does not attract us like their +struggle. + +It is different with those whose work and whose motives are not those +of this world. When they step out of the brilliant lights of triumph +into sorrow and suffering, all that is most human in us rises to +follow the bleeding feet, our hearts swell with indignation, with +sorrow and love, and that instinctive admiration for the noble and +pure, which proves that our birthright too is of Heaven, however we +may tarnish or even deny that highest pedigree. The chivalrous romance +of that age would have made of Jeanne d'Arc the heroine of human +story. She would have had a noble lover, say our young Guy de Laval, +or some other generous and brilliant Seigneur of France, and after her +achievements she would have laid by her sword, and clothed herself +with the beautiful garments of the age, and would have grown to be a +noble lady in some half regal chateau, to which her name would have +given new lustre. The young reader will probably long that it should +be so; he will feel it an injustice, a wrong to humanity that so +generous a soul should have no reward; it will seem to him almost a +personal injury that there should not be a noble chevalier at hand to +snatch that devoted Maid out of the danger that threatened her, out of +the horrible fate that befell her; and we can imagine a generous boy, +and enthusiastic girl, ready to gnash their teeth at the terrible and +dishonouring thought that it was by English hands that this noble +creature was tied to the stake and perished in the flames. For the +last it becomes us[1] to repent, for it was to our everlasting shame; +but not more to us than to France who condemned her, who lifted no +finger to help her, who raised not even a cry, a protest, against the +cruelty and wrong. But for her fate in itself let us not mourn over- +much. Had the Maid become a great and honoured lady should not we all +have said as Satan says in the Book of Job: Did Jeanne serve God for +nought? We should say: See what she made by it. Honour and fame and +love and happiness. She did nobly, but nobly has she been rewarded. + +But that is not God's way. The highest saint is born to martyrdom. To +serve God for nought is the greatest distinction which He reserves for +His chosen. And this was the fate to which the Maid of France was +consecrated from the moment she set out upon her mission. She had the +supreme glory of accomplishing that which she believed herself to be +sent to do, and which I also believe she was sent to do, miraculously, +by means undreamed of, and in which no one beforehand could have +believed. But when that was done a higher consecration awaited her. +She had to drink of the cup of which our Lord drank, and to be +baptised with the baptism with which He was baptised. It was involved +in every step of the progress that it should be so. And she was +herself aware of it, vaguely, at heart, as soon as the object of her +mission was attained. What else could have put the thought of dying +into the mind of a girl of eighteen in the midst of the adoring crowd, +to whom to see her, to touch her, was a benediction? When she went +forth from those gates she was going to her execution, though the end +was not to be yet. There was still a long struggle before her, +lingering and slow, more bitter than death, the preface of +discouragement, of disappointment, of failure when she had most hoped +to succeed. + +She was on the threshold of this second period when she rode out of +Rheims all brilliant in the summer weather, her banner faded now, but +glorious, her shining armour bearing signs of warfare, her end +achieved--yet all the while her heart troubled, uncertain, and full of +unrest. And it is impossible not to note that from this time her plans +were less defined than before. Up to the coronation she had known +exactly what she meant to do, and in spite of all obstructions had +done it, keeping her genial humour and her patience, steering her +simple way through all the intrigues of the Court, without bitterness +and without fear. But now a vague mist seems to fall about the path +which was so open and so clear. Paris! Yes, the best policy, the true +generalship would have been to march straight upon Paris, to lose no +time, to leave as little leisure as possible to the intriguers to +resume their old plots. So the generals thought as well as Jeanne: but +the courtiers were not of that mind. The weak and foolish notion of +falling back upon what they had gained, and of contenting themselves +with that, was all they thought of; and the un-French, unpatriotic +temper of Paris which wanted no native king, but was content with the +foreigner, gave them a certain excuse. We could not even imagine +London as being ever, at any time, contented with an alien rule. But +Paris evidently was so, and was ready to defend itself to the death +against its lawful sovereign. Jeanne had never before been brought +face to face with such a complication. It had been a straightforward +struggle, each man for his own side, up to this time. But now other +things had to be taken into consideration. Here was no faithful +Orleans holding out eager arms to its deliverer, but a crafty, self- +seeking city, deaf to patriotism, indifferent to freedom, calculating +which was most to its profit--and deciding that the stranger, with +Philip of Burgundy at his back, was the safer guide. This was enough +of itself to make a simple mind pause in astonishment and dismay. + +There is no evidence that the supernatural leaders who had shaped the +course of the Maid failed her now. She still heard her "voices." She +still held communion with the three saints who, she believed devoutly, +came out of Heaven to aid her. The whole question of this supernatural +guidance is one which is of course open to discussion. There are many +in these days who do not believe in it at all, who believe in the +exaltation of Jeanne's brain, in the excitement of her nerves, in some +strange complication of bodily conditions, which made her believe she +saw and heard what she did not really see or hear. For our part, we +confess frankly that these explanations are no explanation at all so +far as we are concerned; we are far more inclined to believe that the +Maid spoke truth, she who never told a lie, she who fulfilled all the +promises she made in the name of her guides, than that those people +are right who tell us on their own authority that such interpositions +of Heaven are impossible. Nobody in Jeanne's day doubted that Heaven +did interpose directly in human affairs. The only question was, Was it +Heaven in this instance? Was it not rather the evil one? Was it +sorcery and witchcraft, or was it the agency of God? The English +believed firmly that it was witchcraft; they could not imagine that it +was God, the God of battles, who had always been on their side, who +now took the courage out of their hearts and taught their feet to fly +for the first time. It was the devil, and the Maid herself was a +wicked witch. Neither one side nor the other believed that it was from +Jeanne's excited nerves that these great things came. There were +plenty of women with excited nerves in France, nerves much more +excited than those of Jeanne, who was always reasonable at the height +of her inspiration; but to none of them did it happen to mount the +breach, to take the city, to drive the enemy--up to that moment +invincible,--flying from the field. + +But it would seem as if these celestial visitants had no longer a +clear and definite message for the Maid. Their words, which she +quotes, were now promises of support, vague warnings of trouble to +come. "Fear not, for God will stand by you." She thought they meant +that she would be delivered in safety as she had been hitherto, her +wounds healing, her sacred person preserved from any profane touch. +But yet such promises have always something enigmatical in them, and +it might be, as proved to be the case, that they meant rather +consolation and strength to endure than deliverance. For the first +time the Maid was often sad; she feared nothing, but the shadow was +heavy on her heart. Orleans and Rheims had been clear as daylight, her +"voices" had said to her "Do this" and she had done it. Now there was +no definite direction. She had to judge for herself what was best, and +to walk in darkness, hoping that what she did was what she was meant +to do, but with no longer any certainty. This of itself was a great +change, and one which no doubt she felt to her heart. M. Fabre tells +(alone among the biographers of Jeanne) that there were symptoms of +danger to her sound and steady mind, in her words and ways during the +moment of triumph. Her chaplain Pasquerel wrote a letter in her name +to the Hussites, against whom the Pope was then sending crusades, in +which "I, the Maid," threatened, if they were not converted, to come +against them and give them the alternative of death or amendment. +Quicherat says that to the Count d'Armagnac who had written to her, +whether in good faith or bad, to ask which of the three then existent +Popes was the real one, she is reported to have answered that she +would tell him as soon as the English left her free to do so. But this +is a perverted account of what she really did say, and M. Fabre seems +to be, like the rest of us, a little confused in his dates: and the +documents themselves on which he builds are not of unquestioned +authority. These, however, would be but small speck upon the sunshine +of her perfect humility and sobriety; if indeed they are to be +depended upon as authentic at all. + +The day of Jeanne, her time of glory and success, was but a short one +--Orleans was delivered on the 8th of May, the coronation of Charles +took place on the 17th of July; before the earliest of these dates she +had spent nearly two months in an anxious yet hopeful struggle of +preparation, before she was permitted to enter upon her career. The +time of her discouragement was longer. It was ten months from the day +when she rode out of Rheims, the 25th of July, 1429, till the 23d of +May, 1430, when she was taken. She had said after the deliverance of +Orleans that she had but a year in which to accomplish her work, and +at a later period, Easter, 1430, her "voices" told her that "before +the St. Jean" she would be in the power of her enemies. Both these +statements came true. She rose quickly but fell more slowly, +struggling along upon the downward course, unable to carry out what +she would, hampered on every hand, and not apparently followed with +the same fervour as of old. It is true that the principal cause of all +seems to have been the schemes of the Court and the indolence of +Charles; but all these hindrances had existed before, and the King and +his treacherous advisers had been unwillingly dragged every mile of +the way, though every step made had been to Charles's advantage. But +now though the course is still one of victory the Maid no longer seems +to be either the chief cause or the immediate leader. Perhaps this may +be partly due to the fact that little fighting was necessary, town +after town yielding to the King, which reduced the part of Jeanne to +that of a spectator; but there is a change of atmosphere and tone +which seems to point to something more fundamental than this. The +historians are very unwilling to acknowledge, except Michelet who does +so without hesitation, that she had herself fixed the term of her +commission as ending at Rheims; it is certain that she said many +things which bear this meaning, and every fact of her after career +seems to us to prove it: but it is also true that her conviction +wavered, and other sayings indicate a different belief or hope. She +did no wrong in following the profession of arms in which she had made +so glorious a beginning; she had many gifts and aptitudes for it of +which she was not herself at first aware: but she was no longer the +Envoy of God. Enough had been done to arouse the old spirit of France, +to break the spell of the English supremacy; it was right and fitting +that France should do the rest for herself. Perhaps Jeanne was not +herself very clear on this point, and after her first statement of it, +became less assured. It is not necessary that the servant should know +the designs of the master. It did not after all affect her. Her +business was to serve God to the best of her power, not to take the +management out of His hands. + +The army went forth joyously upon its way, directing itself towards +Paris. There was a pilgrimage to make, such as the Kings of France +were in the habit of making after their coronation; there were +pleasant incidents, the submission of a village, the faint resistance, +instantly overcome, of a small town, to make the early days pleasant. +Laon and Soissons both surrendered. Senlis and Beauvais received the +King's envoys with joy. The independent captains of the army made +little circles about, like parties of pleasure, bringing in another +and another little stronghold to the allegiance of the King. When he +turned aside, taking as he passed through, without as yet any serious +deflection, the road rather to the Loire than to Paris, success still +attended him. At Château-Thierry resistance was expected to give zest +to the movement of the forces, but that too yielded at once as the +others had done. The dates are very vague and it seems difficult to +find any mode of reconciling them. Almost all the historians while +accusing the King of foolish dilatoriness and confusion of plans give +us a description of the undefended state of Paris at the moment, which +a sudden stroke on the part of Charles might have carried with little +difficulty, during the absence of all the chiefs from the city and the +great terror of the inhabitants; but a comparison of dates shows that +the Duke of Bedford re-entered Paris with strong reinforcements on the +very day on which Charles left Rheims three days only after his +coronation, so that he scarcely seems so much to blame as appears. But +the general delay, inefficiency, and hesitation existing at +headquarters, naturally lead to mistakes of this kind. + +The great point was that Paris itself was by no means disposed to +receive the King. Strange as it seems to say so Paris was bitterly, +fiercely English at that extraordinary moment, a fact which ought to +be taken into account as the most important in the whole matter. There +was no answering enthusiasm in the capital of France to form an +auxiliary force behind its ramparts and encourage the besiegers +outside. The populace perhaps might be indifferent: at the best it had +no feeling on the subject; but there was no welcome awaiting the King. +During the time of Bedford's absence the city felt itself to have "no +lord"--/ceux de Paris avoit grand peur car nul seigneur n' y avoit/. +It was believed that Charles would put all the inhabitants to the +sword, and their desperation of feeling was rather that which leads to +a wild and hopeless defence than to submission. The Duke of Bedford, +governing in the name of the infant Henry VI. Of England, was their +seigneur, instead of their natural sovereign. It is a fact which to us +seems scarcely credible, but it was certainly true. There seems to +have been no feeling even, on the subject, no general shame as of a +national betrayal; nothing of the kind. Paris was English, holding by +the English kings who had never lost a certain hold on France, and +thinking no shame of its party. It was a hostile town, the chief of +the English possessions. In the /Journal du Bourgeois de Paris/--who +was no /bourgeois/ but a distinguished member of that university which +held the Maid and all her ways in horror--Jeanne the deliverer, the +incarnation of patriotism and of France is spoken of as "a creature in +the form of a woman." How extraordinary is this evidence of a state of +affairs in which it is almost impossible to believe! Paris is France +nowadays to many people, though no doubt this is but a superficial +judgment; but in the early part of the fifteenth century, she was +frankly English, not by compulsion even, but by habit and policy. +Perhaps the delays, the hesitation, the terrors of Charles and his +counsellors are thus rendered more excusable than by any other +explanation. + +In the meantime it is almost impossible to follow the wanderings of +this vacillating army without a map. If the reader should trace its +movements, he would see what a stumbling and devious course it took as +of a man blundering in the dark. From Rheims to Soissons the way was +clear; then there came a sudden move southward to Château-Thierry from +which indeed there was still a straight line to Paris but which still +more clearly indicated the highroad leading to the Orleannais, the +faithful districts of the Loire. This retrograde movement was not made +without a great outcry from the generals. Their opinion was that the +King ought to press on to conquer everything while the English forces +were still depressed and discouraged. In their mind this deflection +towards the south was an abandonment at once of honour and safety. An +unimportant check on the way, however, gave an argument to the leaders +of the army, and Charles permitted himself to be dragged back. They +then made their way by La Ferté-Milon, Crépy, and Daumartin, and on +this road the English troops which had been led out from Paris by +Bedford to intercept them came twice within fighting distance of the +French army. The English, as all the French historians are eager to +inform us, invariably entrenched themselves in their positions, +surrounding their lines with sharp-pointed posts by which the equally +invariable rush of the French could be broken. But the French on these +occasions were too wise to repeat the impetuous charge which had +ruined them at Crécy and Agincourt, and the consequence was that the +two forces remained within sight of each other, with a few skirmishes +going on at the flanks, but without any serious encounter. + +It will be more satisfactory, however, to copy the following +/itineraire/ of Charles's movements from the Chronicle of Perceval de +Cagny who was a member of the household of the Duc d'Alençon, and +probably present, certainly at all events bound to have the best and +most correct information. He informs us that the King left Rheims on +Thursday the 21st of July, and dined, supped, and lay at the Abbey of +St. Nanuol that night, where were brought to him the keys of the city +of Laon. He then set out on /le voyage à venir devant Paris/. + +"And on Saturday the 23d of the same month the King dined, supped and +lay at Soissons, and was there received the most honourably that the +churchmen, burghers and other people of the town were capable of: for +they had all great fear because of the destruction of the town which +had been taken by the Burgundians and made to rebel against the King. + +"Friday the 29th day of July the King and his company were all day +before Château-Thierry in order of battle, hoping that the Duke of +Bedford would appear to fight. The place surrendered at the hour of +vespers, and the King lodged there till Monday the first of August. On +that day the King lay at Monmirail in Brie. + +"Tuesday the 2d of August he passed the night in the town of Provins, +and had the best possible reception there, and remained till the +Friday following, the 5th August. Sunday the 7th the King lay at the +town of Coulommièrs in Brie. Wednesday the 10th he lay at La Ferté- +Milon, Thursday at Crespy in Valois--Friday at Laigny-le-Sec. The +following Saturday the 13th the King held the field near Dammartin-en- +Gouelle, for the whole day looking out for the English: but they came +not. + +"On Sunday the 14th August the Maid, the Duc d'Alençon, the Count de +Vendosme, the Marshals and other captains accompanied by six or seven +thousand combatants were at the hour of vespers lodged in the fields +near Montépilloy, nearly two leagues from the town of Senlis--The Duke +of Bedford and other English captains with between eight and ten +thousand English lying half a league from Senlis between our people +and the said city on a little stream, in a village called Notre Dame +de la Victoire. That evening our people skirmished with the English +near to their camp and in this skirmish were people taken on each +side, and of the English Captain d'Orbec and ten or twelve others, and +people wounded on both sides: when night fell each retired to their +own quarters." + +The same writer records an appeal in the true tone of chivalry +addressed to the English by Jeanne and Alençon desiring them to come +out from their entrenchments and fight: and promising to withdraw to a +sufficient distance to permit the enemy to place himself in the open +field. The French troops had first "put themselves in the best state +of conscience that could possibly be, hearing mass at an early hour +and then to horse." But the English would not come out. Jeanne, with +her standard in her hand rode up to the English entrenchments, and +some one says (not de Cagny) struck the posts with her banner, +challenging the force within to come out and fight; while they on +their side waved at the French in defiance, a standard copied from +that of Jeanne, on which was depicted a distaff and spindle. But +neither host approached any nearer. Finally, Charles made his way to +Compiègne. + +At Château-Thierry there was concluded an arrangement with Philip of +Burgundy for a truce of fifteen days, before the end of which time the +Duke undertook to deliver Paris peaceably to the French. That this was +simply to gain time and that no idea of giving up Paris had ever been +entertained is evident; perhaps Charles was not even deceived. He, no +more than Philip, had any desire to encounter the dangers of such a +siege. But he was able at least to silence the clamours of the army +and the representations of the persistent Maid by this truce. To wait +for fifteen days and receive the prize without a blow struck, would +not that be best? The counsellors of the King held thus a strong +position, though the delay made the hearts of the warriors sick. + +The figure of Jeanne appears during these marchings and counter- +marchings like that of any other general, pursuing a skilful but not +unusual plan of campaign. That she did well and bravely there can be +no doubt, and there is a characteristic touch which we recognise, in +the fact that she and all of her company "put themselves in the best +state of conscience that could be," before they took to horse; but the +skirmishes and repulses are such as Alençon himself might have made. +"She made much diligence," the same chronicler tells us, "to reduce +and place many towns in the obedience of the King," but so did many +others with like success. We hear no more her vigorous knock at the +door of the council chamber if the discussion there was too long or +the proceedings too secret. Her appearances are those of a general +among many other generals, no longer with any special certainty in her +movements as of a person inspired. We are reminded of a story told of +a previous period, after the fight at Patay, when blazing forth in the +indignation of her youthful purity at the sight of one of the camp +followers, a degraded woman with some soldiers, she struck the wanton +with the flat of her sword, driving her forth from the camp, where was +no longer that chastened army of awed and reverent soldiers making +their confession on the eve of every battle, whom she had led to +Orleans. The sword she used on this occasion, was, it is said, the +miraculous sword which had been found under the high altar of St. +Catharine at Fierbois; but at the touch of the unclean the maiden +brand broke in two. If this was an allegory[2] to show that the work +of that weapon was over, and the common sword of the soldier enough +for the warfare that remained, it could not be more clearly realised +than in the history of this campaign. The only touch of our real Maid +in her own distinct person comes to us in a letter written in a field +on that same wavering road to Paris, dated as early as the 5th of +August and addressed to the good people of Rheims, some of whom had +evidently written to her to ask what was the meaning of the delay, and +whether she had given up the cause of the country. There is a terse +determination in its brief, indignant sentences which is a relief to +the reader weary of the wavering and purposeless campaign: + + "Dear and good friends, good and loyal Frenchmen of the town of + Rheims. Jeanne, the Maid, sends you news of her. It is true that + the King has made a truce of fifteen days with the Duke of + Burgundy, who promises to render peaceably the city of Paris in + that time. Do not, however, be surprised if I enter there sooner, + for I like not truces so made, and know not whether I will keep + them, but if I keep them, it will be only because of the honour of + the King." + +While Jeanne and her army thus played with the unmoving English, +advancing and retiring, attempting every means of drawing them out, +the enemy took advantage of one of these seeming withdrawals to march +out of their camp suddenly and return to Paris, which all this time +had been lying comparatively defenceless, had the French made their +attack sooner. At the same time Charles moved on to Compiègne where he +gave himself up to fresh intrigues with Philip of Burgundy, this time +for a truce to last till Christmas. The Maid was grievously troubled +by this step, /moult marrie/, and by the new period of delay and +negotiation on which the Court had entered. Paris was not given up, +nor was there any appearance that it ever would be, and to all the +generals as well as to the Maid it was very evident that this was the +next step to be taken. Some of the leaders wearied with inaction had +pushed on to Normandy where four great fortresses--greatest of all the +immense and mysterious stronghold on the high cliffs of the Seine, +that imposing Château Gaillard which Richard Cœur-de-lion had built, +the ruins of which, white and mystic, still dominate, like some +Titanic ghost, above the course of the river--had yielded to them. So +great was the danger of Normandy, the most securely English of all +French provinces, that Bedford had again been drawn out of Paris to +defend it. Here then was another opportunity to seize the capital. But +Charles could not be induced to move. He found many ways of amusing +himself at Compiègne, and the new treaty was being hatched with +Burgundy which gave an excuse for doing nothing. The pause which +wearied them all out, both captains and soldiers, at last became more +than flesh and blood could bear. + +Jeanne once more was driven to take the initiative. Already on one +occasion she had forced the hand of the lingering Court, and resumed +the campaign of her own accord, an impatient movement which had been +perfectly successful. No doubt again the army itself was becoming +demoralised, and showing symptoms of falling to pieces. One day she +sent for Alençon in haste during the absence of the ambassadors at +Arras. "/Beau duc/," she cried, "prepare your troops and the other +captains. /En mon Dieu, par mon martin/,[3] I will see Paris nearer +than I have yet seen it." She had seen the towers from afar as she +wandered over the country in Charles's lingering train. Her sudden +resolution struck like fire upon the impatient band. They set out at +once, Alençon and the Maid at the head of their division of the army, +and all rejoiced to get to horse again, to push their way through +every obstacle. They started on the 23d August, nearly a month after +the departure from Rheims, a month entirely lost, though full of +events, lost without remedy so far as Paris was concerned. At Senlis +they made a pause, perhaps to await the King, who, it was hoped, would +have been constrained to follow; then carrying with them all the +forces that could be spared from that town, they spurred on to St. +Denis where they arrived on the 27th: St. Denis, the other sacred town +of France, the place of the tomb, as Rheims was the place of the +crown. + +The royalty of France was Jeanne's passion. I do not say the King, +which might be capable of malinterpretation, but the kings, the +monarchy, the anointed of the Lord, by whom France was represented, +embodied and made into a living thing. She had loved Rheims, its +associations, its triumphs, the rejoicing of its citizens. These had +been the accompaniments of her own highest victory. She came to St. +Denis in a different mood, her heart hot with disappointment and the +thwarting of all her plans. From whatever cause it might spring, it +was clear that she was no longer buoyed up by that certainty which +only a little while before had carried her through every danger and +over every obstacle. But to have reached St. Denis at least was +something. It was a place doubly sacred, consecrated to that royal +House for which she would so willingly have given her life. And at +last she was within sight of Paris, the greatest prize of all. Up to +this time she had known in actual warfare nothing but victory. If her +heart for the first time wavered and feared, there was still no +certain reason that, /de par Dieu/, she might not win the day again. + +At St. Denis there was once more a cruel delay. Nearly a fortnight +passed and there was no news of the King. The Maid employed the time +in skirmishes and reconnoissances, but does not seem to have ventured +on an attack without the sanction of Charles, whom Alençon, finally, +going back on two several occasions, succeeded in setting in motion. +Charles had remained at Compiègne to carry out his treaty with +Burgundy, and the last thing he desired was this attack; but when he +could resist no longer he moved on reluctantly to St. Denis, where his +arrival was hailed with great delight. This was not until the 5th of +September, and the army, wrought up to a high pitch of excitement and +expectation, was eager for the fight. "There was no one of whatever +condition, who did not say, 'She will lead the King into Paris, if he +will let her,'" says the chronicler. + +In the meantime the authorities in Paris were at work, strengthening +its fortifications, frightening the populace with threats of the +vengeance of Charles, persuading every citizen of the danger of +submission. + +The /Bourgeois/ tells us that letters came from "les Arminoz," that +is, the party of the King, sealed with the seal of the Duc d'Alençon, +and addressed to the heads of the city guilds and municipality +inviting their co-operation as Frenchmen. "But," adds the Parisian, +"it was easy to see through their meaning, and an answer was returned +that they need not throw away their paper as no attention was paid to +it." There is no sign at all that any national feeling existed to +respond to such an appeal. Paris--its courts of law, Parliaments +(salaried by Bedford), University, Church--every department, was +English in the first place, Burgundian in the second, dependent on +English support and money. There was no French party existing. The +Maid was to them an evil sorceress, a creature in the form of a woman, +exercising the blackest arts. Perhaps there was even a breath of +consciousness in the air that Charles himself had no desire for the +fall of the city. He had left the Parisians full time to make every +preparation, he had held back as long as was possible. His favour was +all on the side of his enemies; for his own forces and their leaders, +and especially for the Maid, he had nothing but discouragement, +distrust, and auguries of evil. + +Nevertheless, these oppositions came to an end, and Jeanne, though +less ready and eager for the assault, found herself under the walls of +Paris at last. +---------- +[1] "The English, not US," says Mr. Andrew Lang: and it is pleasant to + a Scot to know that this is true. England and Scotland were then + twain, and the Scots fought in the ranks of our auld Ally. But for + the present age the distinction lasts no longer, and to the writer + of an English book on English soil it would be ungenerous to take + the advantage. + +[2] It is taken as a miraculous sign by another chronicler, Jean + Chartier, who tells us that when this fact came to the knowledge + of the King the sword was given by him to the workmen to be re- + founded--"but they could not do it, nor put the pieces together + again: which is a great proof (/grant approbation/) that the sword + came to her divinely. And it is notorious that since the breaking + of that sword, the said Jeanne neither prospered in arms to the + profit of the King nor otherwise as she had done before." + +[3] "It was her oath," adds the chronicler; no one is quite sure what + it means, but Quicherat is of opinion that it was her /baton/, her + stick or staff. Perceval de Cagny puts in this exclamation in + almost all the speeches of the Maid. It must have struck him as a + curious adjuration. Perhaps it explains why La Hire, unable to do + without something to swear by, was permitted by Jeanne in their + frank and humorous /camaraderie/ to swear by his stick, the same + rustic oath. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +DEFEAT AND DISCOURAGEMENT. +AUTUMN, 1429. + +It was on the 7th September that Jeanne and her immediate followers +reached the village of La Chapelle, where they encamped for the night. +The next day was the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, a +great festival of the Church. It could scarcely be a matter of choice +on the part of so devout a Catholic as Jeanne to take this day of all +others, when every church bell was tinkling forth a summons to the +faithful, for the day of assault. In all probability she was not now +acting on her own impulse but on that of the other generals and +nobles. Had she refused, might it not have been alleged against her +that after all her impatience it was she who was the cause of delay? +The forces with Jeanne were not very large, a great proportion of the +army remaining with Charles no one seems to know where, either at St. +Denis or at some intermediate spot, possibly to form a reserve force +which could be brought up when wanted. The best informed historian +only knows that Charles was not with the active force. But Alençon was +at the head of the troops, along with many other names well known to +us, La Hire, and young Guy de Laval, and Xantrailles, all mighty men +of valour and the devoted friends of Jeanne. There is a something, a +mist, an incertitude in the beginning of the assault which was unlike +the previous achievements of Jeanne, a certain want of precaution or +knowledge of the difficulties which does not reflect honour upon the +generals with her. Absolutely new to warfare as she was before Orleans +she had ridden out at once on her arrival there to inspect the +fortifications of the besiegers. But probably the continual +skirmishing of which we are told made this impossible here, so that, +though the Maid studied the situation of the town in order to choose +the best point for attack, it was only when already engaged that the +army discovered a double ditch round the walls, the inner one of which +was full of water. By sheer impetuosity the French took the gate of +St. Honoré and its "boulevard" or tower, driving its defenders back +into the city: but their further progress was arrested by that +discovery. It was on this occasion that Jeanne is supposed to have +seized from a Burgundian in the mêlée, a sword, of which she boasted +afterwards that it was a good sword capable of good blows, though we +have no certain record that in all her battles she ever gave one blow, +or shed blood at all. + +It would seem to have been only after the taking of this gate that the +discovery was made as to the two deep ditches, one dry, the other +filled with water. Jeanne, whose place had always been with her +standard at the immediate foot of the wall, from whence to direct and +cheer on her soldiers, pressed forward to this point of peril, +descending into the first fosse, and climbing up again on the second, +the /dos d'ane/, which separated them, where she stood in the midst of +a rain of arrows, fully exposed to all the enraged crowd of archers +and gunners on the ramparts above, testing with her lance the depth of +the water. We seem in the story to see her all alone or with her +standard-bearer only by her side making this investigation; but that +of course is only a pictorial suggestion, though it might for a moment +be the fact. She remained there, however, from two in the afternoon +till night, when she was forced away. The struggle must have raged +around while she stood on the dark edge of the ditch probing the muddy +water to see where it could best be crossed, shouting directions to +her men in that voice /assez femme/, which penetrated the noise of +battle, and summoning the active and desperate enemy overhead. +"/Renty! Renty!/" she cried as she had done at Orleans--"/surrender to +the King of France!/" + +We hear nothing now of the white armour; it must have been dimmed and +worn by much fighting, and the banner torn and glorious with the +chances of the war; but it still waved over her head, and she still +stood fast, on the ridge between the two ditches, shouting her +summons, cheering the men, a spot of light still, amid all the steely +glimmering of the mail-coats and the dark downpour of that iron rain. +Half a hundred war cries rending the air, shrieks from the walls of +"Witch, Devil, Ribaude," and names still more insulting to her purity, +could not silence that treble shout, the most wonderful, surely, that +ever ran through such an infernal clamour, so prodigious, the +chronicler says, that it was a marvel to hear it. /De par Dieu, Rendez +vous, rendez vous, au roy de France/. If as we believe she never +struck a blow, the aspect of that wonderful figure becomes more +extraordinary still. While the boldest of her companions struggled +across to fling themselves and what beams and ladders they could drag +with them against the wall, she stood without even such shelter as +close proximity to it might have given, cheering them on, exposed to +every shot. + +The fight was desperate, and though there was no marked success on the +part of the besiegers, yet there seems to have been nothing to +discourage them, as the fight raged on. Few were wounded, +notwithstanding the noise of the cannons and culverins, "by the grace +of God and the good luck of the Maid." But towards the evening Jeanne +herself suddenly swayed and fell, an arrow having pierced her thigh; +she seems, however, to have struggled to her feet again, undismayed, +when a still greater misfortune befell: her standard-bearer was hit, +first in the foot, and then, as he raised his visor to pull the arrow +from the wound, between his eyes, falling dead at her feet. What +happened to the banner, we are not told; Jeanne most likely herself +caught it as it fell. But at this stroke, more dreadful than her own +wound, her strength failed her, and she crept behind a bush or heap of +stones, where she lay, refusing to quit the place. Some say she +managed to slide into the dry ditch where there was a little shelter, +but resisted all attempts to carry her away, and some add that while +she lay there she employed herself in a vain attempt to throw faggots +into the ditch to make it passable. It is said that she kept calling +out to them to persevere, to go on and Paris would be won. She had +promised, they say, to sleep that night within the conquered city; but +this promise comes to us with no seal of authority. Jeanne knew that +it had taken her eight days to free Orleans, and she could scarcely +have promised so sudden a success in the more formidable achievement. +But she was at least determined in her conviction that perseverance +only was needed. She must have lain for hours on the slope of the +outer moat, urging on the troops with such force as her dauntless +voice could give, repeating again and again that the place could be +taken if they but held on. But when night came Alençon and some other +of the captains overcame her resistance, and there being clearly no +further possibility for the moment, succeeded in setting her upon her +horse, and conveyed her back to the camp. While they rode with her, +supporting her on her charger, she did nothing but repeat "/Quel +dommage!/" Oh, what a misfortune, that the siege of Paris should fail, +all for want of constancy and courage. "If they had but gone on till +morning," she cried, "the inhabitants would have known." It is evident +from this that she must have expected a rising within, and could not +yet believe that no such thing was to be looked for. "/Par mon +martin/, the place would have been taken," she said in the hearing one +cannot but feel of the chronicler, who reports so often those homely +words. + +Thus Jeanne was led back after the first day's attack. Her wound was +not serious, and she had been repulsed during one of the day's +fighting at Orleans without losing courage. But something had changed +her spirit as well as the spirit of the army she led. There is a +curious glimpse given us into her camp at this point, which indeed +comes to us through the observation of an enemy, yet seems to have in +it an unmistakable gleam of truth. It comes from one of the parties +which had been granted a safe-conduct to carry away the dead of the +English and Burgundian side. They tell us, among other circumstances, +--such as that the French burnt their dead, a manifest falsehood, but +admirably calculated to make them a horror to their neighbours,--that +many in the ranks cursed the Maid who had promised that they should +without any doubt sleep that night in Paris and plunder the wealthy +city. The men with their safe-conduct creeping among the dead, to +recover those bodies which had fallen on their own side, and furtively +to count the fallen on the other--who were delighted to bring a report +that the Maid was no longer the fountain of strength and blessing, but +secretly cursed by her own forces--are sinister figures groping their +way through the darkness of the September night. + +Next morning, however, her wound being slight, Jeanne was up early and +in conference with Alençon, begging him to sound his trumpets and set +forth once more. "I shall not budge from here, till Paris is taken," +she said. No doubt her spirit was up, and a determination to recover +lost ground strong in her mind. While the commanders consulted +together, there came a band of joyful augury into the camp, the +Seigneur of Montmorency with sixty gentlemen, who had left the party +of Burgundy in order to take service under the banner of the Maid. No +doubt this important and welcome addition to their number exhilarated +the entire camp, in the commotion of the reveillé, while each man +looked to his weapons, wiping off from breastplate and helmet the +heavy dew of the September morning, greeting the new friends and +brothers-in-arms who had come in, and arranging, with a better +knowledge of the ground than that of yesterday, the mode of attack. +Jeanne would not confess that she felt her wound, in her eagerness to +begin the assault a second time. And all were in good spirits, the +disappointment of the night having blown away, and the determination +to do or die being stronger than ever. Were the men-at-arms perhaps +less amenable? Were they whispering to each other that Jeanne had +promised them Paris yesterday, and for the first time had not kept her +word? It would almost require such a fact as this to explain what +follows. For as they began to set out, the whole field in movement, +there was suddenly seen approaching another party of cavaliers-- +perhaps another reinforcement like that of Montmorency? This new band, +however, consisted but of two gentlemen and their immediate +attendants, the Duc de Bar and the Comte de Clermont,[1] always a bird +of evil omen, riding hot from St. Denis with orders from the King. +These orders were abrupt and peremptory--to turn back. Jeanne and her +companions were struck dumb for the moment. To turn back, and Paris at +their feet! There must have burst forth a storm of remonstrance and +appeal. We cannot tell how long the indignant parley lasted; the +historians do not enlarge upon the disastrous incident. But at last +the generals yielded to the orders of the King--Jeanne humiliated, +miserable, and almost in despair. We cannot but feel that on no former +occasion would she have given way so completely; she would have rushed +to the King's presence, overwhelmed him with impetuous prayers, +extorted somehow the permission to go on. But Charles was safe at +seven miles' distance, and his envoys were imperious and peremptory, +like men able to enforce obedience if it were not given. She obeyed at +last, recovering courage a little in the hope of being able to +persuade Charles to change his mind, and sanction another assault on +Paris from the other side, by means of a bridge over the Seine towards +St. Denis, which Alençon had constructed. Next morning it appears that +without even asking that permission a portion of the army set out very +early for this bridge: but the King had divined their project, and +when they reached the river side the first thing they saw was their +bridge in ruins. It had been treacherously destroyed in the night, not +by their enemies, but by their King. + +It is natural that the French historians should exhaust themselves in +explanation of this fatal change of policy. Quicherat, who was the +first to bring to light all the most important records of this period +of history, lays the entire blame upon La Tremoïlle, the chief adviser +of Charles. But that Charles himself was at heart equally guilty no +one can doubt. He was a man who proved himself in the end of his +career to possess both sense and energy, though tardily developed. It +was to him that Jeanne had given that private sign of the truth of her +mission, by which he was overawed and convinced in the first moment of +their intercourse. Within the few months which had elapsed since she +appeared at Chinon every thing that was wonderful had been done for +him by her means. He was then a fugitive pretender, not even very +certain of his own claim, driven into a corner of his lawful +dominions, and fully prepared to abandon even that small standing +ground, to fly into Spain or Scotland, and give up the attempt to hold +his place as King of France. Now he was the consecrated King, with the +holy oil upon his brows, and the crown of his ancestors on his head, +accepted and proclaimed, all France stirring to her old allegiance, +new conquests falling into his hands every day, and the richest +portion of his kingdom secure under his sway. To check thus +peremptorily the career of the deliverer who had done so much for him, +degrading her from her place, throwing more than doubt upon her +inspiration, falsifying by force the promises which she had made-- +promises which had never failed before,--was a worse and deeper sin on +the part of a young man, by right of his kingly office the very head +of knighthood and every chivalrous undertaking, than it could be on +the part of an old and subtle diplomatist who had never believed in +such wild measures, and all through had clogged the steps and +endeavoured to neutralise the mission of the warrior Maid. It is very +clear, however, that between them it was the King and his chamberlain +who made this assault upon Paris so evident and complete a failure. +One day's repulse was nothing in a siege. There had been one great +repulse and several lesser ones at Orleans. Jeanne, even though +weakened by her wound, had sprung up that morning full of confidence +and courage. In no way was the failure to be laid to her charge. + +But this could never, perhaps, have been explained to the whole body +of the army, who had believed her word without a doubt and taken her +success for granted. If they had been wavering before, which seems +possible--for they must have been, to a considerable extent, new +levies, the campaigners of the Loire having accomplished their period +of feudal service,--this sudden downfall must have strengthened every +doubt and damped every enthusiasm. The Maid of whom such wonderful +tales had been told, she who had been the angel of triumph, the +irresistible, before whom the English fled, and the very walls fell +down--was she after all only a sorceress, as the others called her, a +creature whose incantations had failed after the flash of momentary +success? Such impressions are too apt to come like clouds over every +popular enthusiasm, quenching the light and chilling the heart. + +Jeanne was thus dragged back to St. Denis against her will and every +instinct of her being, and there ensued three days of passionate +debate and discussion. For a moment it appeared as if she would have +thrown off the bonds of loyal obedience and pursued her mission at all +hazards. Her "voices," if they had previously given her uncertain +sound, promising only the support and succour of God, but no success, +now spoke more plainly and urged the continuance of the siege; and the +Maid was torn in pieces between the requirements of her celestial +guardians and the force of authority around her. If she had broken out +into open rebellion who would have followed her? She had never yet +done so; when the King was against her she had pleaded or forced an +agreement, and received or snatched a consent from the malevolent +chamberlain, as at Jargeau and Troyes. Never yet had she set herself +in public opposition to the will of her sovereign. She had submitted +to all kinds of tests and trials rather than this. And to have lain +half a day wounded outside Paris and to stand there pleading her cause +with her wound still unhealed were not likely things to strengthen her +powers of resistance. "The Voices bade me remain at St. Denis," she +said afterwards at her trial, "and I desired to remain; but the +seigneurs took me away in spite of myself. If I had not been wounded I +should never have left." Added to the force of these circumstances, it +was no doubt apparent to all that to resume operations after that +forced retreat, and the betrayal it gave of divided counsels, would be +less hopeful than ever. These arguments even convinced the bold La +Hire, who for his part, being no better than a Free Lance, could move +hither and thither as he would; and thus the first defeat of the Maid, +a disaster involving all the misfortunes that followed in its train, +was accomplished. + +Jeanne's last act in St. Denis was one to which perhaps the modern +reader gives undue significance, but which certainly must have had a +certain melancholy meaning. Before she left, dragged almost a captive +in the train of the King, we are told that she laid on the altar of +the cathedral the armour she had worn on that evil day before Paris. +It was not an unusual act for a warrior to do this on his return from +the wars. And if she had been about to renounce her mission it would +have been easily comprehensible. But no such thought was in her mind. +Was it a movement of despair, was it with some womanish fancy that the +arms in which she had suffered defeat should not be borne again?--or +was it done in some gleam of higher revelation made to her that +defeat, too, was a part of victory, and that not without that +bitterness of failure could the fame of the soldier of Christ be +perfected? I have remarked already that we hear no more of the white +armour, inlaid with silver and dazzling like a mirror, in which she +had begun her career; perhaps it was the remains of that panoply of +triumph which she laid out before the altar of the patron saint of +France, all dim now with hard work and the shadow of defeat. It must +have marked a renunciation of one kind or another, the sacrifice of +some hope. She was no longer Jeanne the invincible, the triumphant, +whose very look made the enemy tremble and flee, and gave double force +to every Frenchman's arm. Was she then and there abdicating, becoming +to her own consciousness Jeanne the champion only, honest and true, +but no longer the inspired Maid, the Envoy of God? To these questions +we can give no answer; but the act is pathetic, and fills the mind +with suggestions. She who had carried every force triumphantly with +her, and quenched every opposition, bitter and determined though that +had been, was now a thrall to be dragged almost by force in an +unworthy train. It is evident that she felt the humiliation to the +bottom of her heart. It is not for human nature to have the triumph +alone: the humiliation, the overthrow, the chill and tragic shadow +must follow. Jeanne had entered into that cloud when she offered the +armour, that had been like a star in front of the battle, at the +shrine of St. Denis.[2] Hers was now to be a sadder, a humbler, +perhaps a still nobler part. + +It is enough to trace the further movements of the King to perceive +how at every step the iron must have entered deeper and deeper into +the heart of the Maid. He made his arrangements for the government of +each of the towns which had acknowledged him: Beauvais, Compiègne, +Senlis, and the rest. He appointed commissioners for the due +regulation of the truce with Philip of Burgundy. And then the +retreating army took its march southward towards the mild and wealthy +country, all fertility and quiet, where a recreant prince might feel +himself safe and amuse himself at his leisure--by Lagny, by Provins, +by Bercy-sur Seine, where he had been checked before in his retreat +and almost forced to the march on Paris--by Sens, and Montargis: until +at last on the 29th of September, no doubt diminished by the +withdrawal of many a local troop and knight whose service was over, +the forces arrived at Gien, whence they had set forth at the end of +June for a series of victories. It is to be supposed that the King was +well enough satisfied with the conquests accomplished in three months. +And, indeed, in ordinary circumstances they would have formed a +triumphant list. Charles must have felt himself free to play after the +work which he had not done; and to leave his good fortune and the able +negotiators, who hoped to get Paris and other good things from Philip +of Burgundy without paying anything for them, to do the rest. + +We can imagine nothing more dreadful for the Maid than the months that +followed. The Court was not ungrateful to her; she received the +warmest welcome from the Queen; she had a /maison/ arranged for her +like the household of a noble chief, with the addition of women and +maidens of rank to her existing staff, and everything which could +serve to show that she was one whom the King delighted to honour. And +Charles would have her apparelled gloriously like the king's daughter +in the psalm. "He gave her a mantle of cloth of gold, open at both +sides, to wear over her armour," and apparently did his best to make +her, if not a noble lady, yet into the semblance of a noble young +chevalière, one the glories of his Court, with all the distinction of +her achievements and all the complacences of a carpet knight. It was +said afterwards, in the absence of any graver possibility of +accusation, that she liked her fine clothes. The tears rise to the +eyes at such a suggestion. She was so natural that let us hope she +did, the martyr Maid whose torture had already begun. If that mantle +of gold gave her a moment of pleasure, it is something to be thankful +for in the midst of the dismal shadows that were already closing round +her. They were ready to give her any shining mantle, any beautiful +dress, even a title and a noble name if she would; but what the King +and his counsellors were determined on, was, that she should no more +have the fame of individual triumph, or do anything save under their +orders. + +Alençon, the gentle duke, with whom she had taken so much trouble, and +who had grown into a true and noble comrade, made one effort to free +his friend and leader. He planned an expedition into Normandy, where, +with the help of Jeanne, he hoped to inflict upon the English a loss +so tremendous, the destruction of their base of operations, that they +would be compelled to abandon the centre of France altogether, and +leave the way open to Paris and to the recovery of the entire kingdom; +but the King, or La Tremoïlle, as the historians prefer to say, would +not permit Jeanne to accompany him, and this hope came to nothing. +Alençon disbanded his troops, everything in the form of an army was +broken up--the short period of feudal service making this inevitable, +unless new levies were made--and no forces were left under arms except +those bands which formed the body-guard of the King. Nevertheless, +there was plenty of work to be done still, and the breaking up of the +French forces encouraged many a little garrison of English partisans, +which would have yielded naturally and easily to a strong national +party. + +In the midst of the winter, however, it seemed appropriate to the +Court to launch forth an expedition against some of the unsubdued +towns, perhaps on account of the mortal languishment of Jeanne +herself, perhaps for some other reason of its own. The first necessity +was to collect the necessary forces, and for this reason Jeanne came +to Bourges, where she was lodged in one of the great houses of the +city, that of Raynard de Bouligny, /conseiller de roi/, and his wife, +Marguerite, one of the Queen's ladies. She was there for three weeks +collecting her men, and the noble gentlewoman, who was her hostess, +was afterwards in the Rehabilitation trial, one of the witnesses to +the purity of her life. + +From this lady and others we have a clear enough view of what the Maid +was in this second chapter of her history. She spent her time in the +most intimate intercourse with Madam Marguerite, sharing even her +room, so that nothing could be more complete than the knowledge of her +hostess of every detail of her young guest's life. And wonderful as +was the difference between the peasant maiden of Domremy and the most +famous woman in France, the life of Jeanne, the Deliverer of her +country, is as the life of Jeanne, the cottage sempstress,--as simple, +as devout, and as pure. She loved to go to church for the early +matins, but as it was not fit that she should go out alone at that +hour, she besought Madame Marguerite to go with her. In the evening +she went to the nearest church, and there with all her old childish +love for the church bells, she had them rung for half an hour, calling +together the poor, the beggars who haunt every Catholic church, the +poor friars and bedesmen, the penniless and forlorn from all the +neighbourhood. This custom would, no doubt, soon become known, and not +only her poor pensioners, but the general crowd would gather to gaze +at the Maid as well as to join in her prayers. It was her great +pleasure to sing a hymn to the Virgin, probably one of the litanies +which the unlearned worshipper loves, with its choruses and constant +repetitions, in company with all those untutored voices, in the +dimness of the church, while the twilight sank into night, and the +twinkling stars of candles on the altar made a radiance in the middle +of the gloom. When she had money to give she divided it, according to +the liberal custom of her time, among her poor fellow-worshippers. +These evening services were her recreation. The days were full of +business, of enrolling soldiers, and regulating the "lances," groups +of retainers, headed by their lord, who came to perform their feudal +service. + +The ladies of the town who had the advantage of knowing Madame +Marguerite did not fail to avail themselves of this privilege, and +thronged to visit her wonderful guest. They brought her their sacred +medals and rosaries to bless, and asked her a hundred questions. Was +she afraid of being wounded; or was she assured that she would not be +wounded? "No more than others," she said; and she put away their +religious ornaments with a smile, bidding Madame Marguerite touch +them, or the visitors themselves, which would be just as good as if +she did it. She would seem to have been always smiling, friendly, +checking with a laugh the adulation of her visitors, many of whom wore +medals with her own effigy (if only one had been saved for us!) as +there were many banners made after the pattern of hers. But cheerful +as she was, a prevailing tone of sadness now appears to run through +her life. On several occasions she spoke to her confessor and +chaplain, who attended her everywhere, of her death. "If it should be +my fate to die soon, tell the King our master on my part to build +chapels where prayer may be made to the Most High for the salvation of +the souls of those who shall die in the wars for the defence of the +kingdom." This was the one thing she seemed anxious for, and it +returned again and again to her mind. Her thoughts indeed were heavy +enough. Her larger enterprises had been cruelly put a stop to: her +companions-in-arms had been dispersed: she had been separated from +her lieutenant Alençon, and from all the friends between whom and +herself great mutual confidence had sprung up. Even the commission +which had at last been put in her hands was a trifling one and led to +nothing, bringing the King no nearer to any satisfactory end: and the +troops were under command of a new captain whom she scarcely knew, +d'Albert, who was the son-in-law of La Tremoïlle, and probably little +inclined to be a friend to Jeanne. In these circumstances there was +little of an exhilarating or promising kind. + +Nevertheless as an episode, few things had happened to Jeanne more +memorable than the siege of St. Pierre-le-Moutier. The first assault +upon the town was unsuccessful; the retreat had sounded and the troops +were streaming back from the point of attack, when Jean d'Aulon, the +faithful friend and brave gentleman who was at the head of the Maid's +military household, being himself wounded in the heel and unable to +stand or walk, saw the Maid almost alone before the stronghold, four +or five men only with her. He dragged himself up as well as he could +upon his horse, and hastened towards her, calling out to her to ask +what she did there, and why she did not retire with the rest. She +answered him, taking off her helmet to speak, that she would leave +only when the place was taken--and went on shouting for faggots and +beams to make a bridge across the ditch. It is to be supposed that +seeing she paid no attention, nor budged a step from that dangerous +point, this brave man, wounded though he was, must have made an effort +to rally the retiring besiegers: but Jeanne seems to have taken no +notice of her desertion nor ever to have paused in her shout for +planks and gabions. "All to the bridge," she shouted, "/aux fagots et +aux claies tout le monde!/ every one to the bridge." "Jeanne, +withdraw, withdraw! You are alone," some one said to her. Bareheaded, +her countenance all aglow, the Maid replied: "I have still with me +fifty thousand of my men." Were those the men whom the prophet's +servant saw when his eyes were opened and he beheld the innumerable +company of angels that surrounded his master? But Jeanne, rapt in the +trance and ecstasy of battle, gave no explanation. "To work, to work!" +her clear voice went on, ringing over the startled head of the good +knight who knew war, but not any rapture like this. History itself, +awe-stricken, would almost have us believe that alone with her own +hand the Maid took the city, so entirely does every figure disappear +but that one, and the perplexed and terrified spectator vainly urging +her to give up so desperate an attempt. But no doubt the shouts of a +voice so strange to every such scene, the /vox infantile/, the amazing +and clear voice, silvery and womanly, /assez femme/, and the efforts +of d'Aulon to bring back the retreating troops were successful, and +Jeanne once more, triumphantly kept her word. The place was strongly +fortified, well provisioned, and full of people. Therefore the whole +narrative is little less than miraculous, though very little is said +of it. Had they but persevered, as she had said, a few hours longer +before Paris, who could tell that the same result might not have been +obtained? + +She was not successful, however, with La Charité, which after a siege +of a month's duration still held out, and had to be abandoned. These +long operations of regular warfare were not in Jeanne's way; and her +coadjutor in command, it must be remembered, was in this case +commissioned by her chief enemy. We are told that she was left without +supplies, and in the depths of winter, in cold and rain and snow, with +every movement hampered, and the ineffective government ever ready to +send orders of retreat, or to cause bewildering and confusing delays +by the want of every munition of war. Finally, at all events, the +French forces withdrew, and again an unsuccessful enterprise was added +to the record of the once victorious Maid. That she went on +continually promising victory as in her early times, is probably the +mere rumour spread by her detractors who were now so many, for there +is no real evidence that she did so. Everything rather points to +discouragement, uncertainty, and to a silent rage against the coercion +which she could not overcome. +---------- +[1] Clermont it was who deserted the Scots at the Battle of the + Herrings. + +[2] Jeanne's arms, offered at St. Denis, were afterwards taken by the + English and sent to the King of England (all except the sword with + its ornaments of gold) without giving anything to the church in + return: "qui est pur sacrilege et manifeste," says Jean Chartier. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +COMPIÈGNE. +1430. + +By this time France was once more all in flames: the English and +Burgundians had entered and then abandoned Paris--Duke Philip +cynically leaving that city, which he had promised to give up to +Charles, to its own protection, in order to look after his more +pressing personal concerns: while Bedford spread fire and flame about +the adjacent country, retaking with much slaughter many of the towns +which had opened their gates to the King. Thus while Charles gave no +attention to anything beyond the Loire, and kept his chief champion +there, as it were, on the leash, permitting no return to the most +important field of operations, almost all that had been gained was +again lost upon the banks of the Seine. This was the state of affairs +when Jeanne returned humbled and sad from the abandoned siege of La +Charité. Her enemy's counsels had triumphed all round and this was the +result. Individual fightings of no particular account and under no +efficient organisation were taking place day by day; here a town stood +out heroically, there another yielded to the foreign arms; the +population were thrown back into universal misery, the spring fields +trampled under foot, the villages burned, every evil of war in full +operation, invasion aggravated by faction, the English always aided by +one side of France against the other, and neither peace nor security +anywhere. + +This was the aspect of affairs on one side. On the other appeared a +still less satisfactory scene. Charles amusing himself, his +counsellors, La Tremoïlle, and the Archbishop of Rheims carrying on +fictitious negotiations with Burgundy and playing with the Maid who +was in their power, sending her out to make a show and cast a spell, +then dragging her back at the end of their shameful chain: while the +Court, the King and Queen, and all their flattering attendants gilded +that chain and tried to make her forget by fine clothes and caresses, +at once her mission and her despair. They were not ungrateful, no: let +us do them justice, for they might well have added this to the number +of their sins: mantles of cloth of gold, patents of nobility were at +her command, had these been what she wanted. The only personal wrong +they did to Jeanne was to set up against her a sort of opposition, +another enchantress and visionary who had "voices" and apparitions +too, and who was admitted to all the councils and gave her advice in +contradiction of the Maid, a certain Catherine de la Rochelle, who was +ready to say anything that was put into her mouth, but who had done +nothing to prove any mission for France or from God. We have little +light however upon the state of affairs in those castles, which one +after another were the abode of the Court during this disastrous +winter. They were safe enough on the other side of the Loire in the +fat country where the vines still flourished and the young corn grew. +Now and then a band of armed men was sent forth to succour a fighting +town in the suffering and struggling Île-de-France, always under the +conflicting orders of those intrigants and courtiers: but within the +Court, all was gay; "never man," as rough La Hire had said on an +earlier occasion, "lost his kingdom more gaily or with better grace" +than did Charles. Where was La Hire? Where was Dunois?--there is no +appearance of these champions anywhere. Alençon had returned to his +province. Only La Tremoïlle and the Archbishop holding all the strings +in their hands, upsetting all military plans, disgusting every chief, +met and talked and carried on their busy intrigues, and played their +Sibyl--/Sibylle de carrefour/, says one of the historians indignantly +--against the Maid, who, all discouraged and downcast, fretted by +caresses, sick of inactivity, dragged out the uneasy days in an +uncongenial world; but Jeanne has left no record of the sensations +with which she saw these days pass, eating her heart out, gazing over +that rapid river, on the other side of which all the devils were +unchained and every result of her brief revolution was being lost. + +At length however the impatience and despair were more than she could +bear; the Court was then at Sully and the spring had begun with its +longer days and more passable roads. Without a word to anyone the Maid +left the castle. The war had rolled towards these princely walls, as +near as Melun, which was threatened by the English. A little band of +intimate servants and associates, her two brothers, and a few faithful +followers, were with her. So far as we know she never saw Charles or +his courtiers again. They arrived at Melun in time to witness and to +take part in the repulse of the English, and it was here that a +communication was make to Jeanne by her saints of which afterwards +there was frequent mention. Little had been said of them during her +dark time of inaction, and their tone was no longer as of old. It was +on the side of the moat of Melun where probably she was superintending +some necessary work to strengthen the fortifications or to put them in +better order for defence, that this message reached her. The "Voices" +which so often had urged her to victory and engaged the faith of +heaven for her success, had now a word to say, secret and personal to +herself. It was that she should be taken prisoner; and the date was +fixed, before the St. Jean. It was the middle of April when this +communication was made and the Feast of St. Jean, as everybody knows, +is in the end of June; two months only to work in, to strike another +blow for France. The "Voices" bade her not to fear, that God would +sustain her. But it would be impossible not to be startled by such a +sudden intimation in the midst of her reviving plans. The Maid made +one terrified prayer, that God would let her die when she was taken, +not subject her to long imprisonment; her heart prophetically sprang +to a sudden consciousness of the most likely, most terrible end that +lay before her, for she had been often enough threatened with the +stake and the fire to know what to expect. But the saintly voices made +no reply. They bade her be strong and of good courage: is not that the +all-sustaining, all-delusive message for every martyr? It was the will +of God, and His support and sustaining power, which we often take to +mean deliverance, but which is not always so--were promised. She asked +where this terrible thing was to happen, but received no reply. +Natural and simple as she was, she confessed afterwards that had she +known she was to be taken on any certain day, she would not have gone +out to meet the catastrophe unless she had been forced by evident duty +to do so. But this was not revealed to her. "Before the St. Jean!" It +must almost have seemed a guarantee that until that time or near it +she was safe. She would seem to have said nothing immediately of this +vision to sadden those about her. + +In the meantime, however, there were other adventures in store for +her. From Melun to Lagny was no long journey, but it was through a +country full of enemies in which she must have been subject to attack +at every corner of every road or field. And she had not been long in +the latter place which is said to have had a garrison of Scots, when +news came of the passing of a band of Burgundians, a troop of raiders +indeed, ravaging the country, taking advantage of the war to rob and +lay waste churches, villages, and the growing fields wherever they +passed. The troops was led by Franquet d'Arras, a famous "/pillard/," +robber of God and man. Jeanne set out to encounter this bandit with a +party of some four hundred men, and various noble companions, among +whom, however, we find no name familiar in her previous career, a +certain Hugh Kennedy, a Scot, who is to be met with in various records +of fighting, being one of the most notable among them. Franquet's band +fought vigorously but were cut to pieces, and the leader was taken +prisoner. When this man was brought back to Lagny, a prisoner to be +ransomed, and whom Jeanne desired to exchange for one of her own side, +the law laid claim to him as a criminal. He was a prisoner of war: +what was it the Maid's duty to do? The question is hotly debated by +the historians and it was brought against her at her trial. He was a +murderer, a robber, the scourge of the country--especially to the poor +whom Jeanne protected and cared for everywhere, was he pitiless and +cruel. She gave him up to justice, and he was tried, condemned, and +beheaded. If it was wrong from a military point of view, it was her +only error, and shows how little there was with which to reproach her. + +In Lagny other things passed of a more private nature. Every day and +all day long her "voices" repeated their message in her ears. "Before +the St. Jean." She repeated it to some of her closest comrades but +left herself no time to dwell upon it. Still worse than the giving up +of Franquet was the supposed resuscitation of a child, born dead, +which its parents implored her to pray for that it might live again to +be baptised. She explained the story to her judges afterwards. It was +the habit of the time, nay, we believe continues to this day in some +primitive places, to lay the dead infant on the altar in such a case, +in hope of a miracle. "It is true," said Jeanne, "that the maidens of +the town were all assembled in the church praying God to restore life +that it might be baptised. It is also true that I went and prayed with +them. The child opened its eyes, yawned three or four times, was +christened and died. This is all I know." The miracle is not one that +will find much credit nowadays. But the devout custom was at least +simple and intelligible enough, though it afforded an excellent +occasion to attribute witchcraft to the one among those maidens who +was not of Lagny but of God. + +From Lagny Jeanne went on to various other places in danger, or which +wanted encouragement and help. She made two or three hurried visits to +Compiègne, which was threatened by both parties of the enemy; at one +time raising the siege of Choicy, near Compiègne, in company with the +Archbishop of Rheims, a strange brother in arms. On another of her +visits to Compiègne there is said to have occurred an incident which, +if true, reveals to us with very sad reality the trouble that +overshadowed the Maid. She had gone to early mass in the Church of St. +Jacques, and communicated, as was her custom. It must have been near +Easter--perhaps the occasion of the first communion of some of the +children who are so often referred to, among whom she loved to +worship. She had retired behind a pillar on which she leaned as she +stood, and a number of people, among whom were many children, drew +near after the service to gaze at her. Jeanne's heart was full, and +she had no one near to whom she could open it and relieve her soul. As +she stood against the pillar her trouble burst forth. "Dear friends +and children," she said, "I have to tell you that I have been sold and +betrayed, and will soon be given up to death. I beg of you to pray for +me; for soon I shall no longer have any power to serve the King and +the kingdom." These words were told to the writer who records them, in +the year 1498, by two very old men who had heard them, being children +at the time. The scene was one to dwell in a child's recollection, +and, if true, it throws a melancholy light upon the thoughts that +filled the mind of Jeanne, though her actions may have seemed as +energetic and her impulses as strong as in her best days. + +At last the news came speeding through the country that Compiègne was +being invested on all sides. It had been the headquarters of Charles +and had received him with acclamations, and therefore the alarm of the +townsfolk for the retribution awaiting them, should they fall into the +hands of the enemy, was great; it was besides a very important +position. Jeanne was at Crespy en Valois when this news reached her. +She set out immediately (May 22, 1430) to carry aid to the garrison: +"/F'irai voir mes bons amis de Compiègne/," she said. The words are on +the base of her statue which now stands in the Place of that town. +Something of her early impetuosity was in this impulse, and no +apparent dread of any fatality. She rode all night at the head of her +party, and arrived before the dawn, a May morning, the 23d, still a +month from the fatal "St. Jean." Though the prophecy was always in her +ears, she must have felt that whole month still before her, with a +sensation of almost greater safety because the dangerous moment was +fixed. The town received her with joy, and no doubt the satisfaction +and relief which hailed her and her reinforcements gave additional +fervour to the Maid, and drove out of her mind for a moment the fatal +knowledge which oppressed it. There is some difficulty in +understanding the events of this day, but the lucid narrative of +Quicherat, which we shall now quote, gives a very vivid picture of it. +Jeanne had timed her arrival so early in the morning, probably with +the intention of keeping the adversaries in their camps unaware of so +important an addition to the garrison, in order that she might +surprise them by the sortie she had determined upon; but no doubt the +news had leaked forth somehow, if through no other means, by the +sudden ringing of the bells and sounds of joy from the city. She paid +her usual visits to the churches, and noted and made all her +arrangements for the sortie with her usual care, occupying the long +summer day in these preparations. And it was not till five o'clock in +the evening that everything was complete, and she sallied forth. We +hear nothing of the state of the town, or of any suspicion existing at +the time as to the governor Flavy who was afterwards believed by some +to be the man who sold and betrayed her. It is a question debated +warmly like all these questions. He was a man of bad reputation, but +there is no evidence that he was a traitor. The incidents are all +natural enough, and seem to indicate clearly the mere fortune of war +upon which no man can calculate. We add from Quicherat the description +of the field and what took place there: + +"Compiègne is situated on the left bank of the Oise. On the other side +extends a great meadow, nearly a mile broad, at the end of which the +rising ground of Picardy rises suddenly like a wall, shutting in the +horizon. The meadow is so low and so subject to floods that it is +crossed by an ancient foot of the low hills. Three village churches +mark the extent of the landscape visible from the walls of Compiègne; +Margny (sometimes spelt Marigny) at the end of the road; Clairoix +three quarters of a league higher up, at the confluence of the two +rivers, the Aronde and the Oise, close to the spot where another +tributary, the Aisne, also flows into the Oise; and Venette a mile and +a half lower down. The Burgundians had one camp at Margny, another at +Clairoix; the headquarters of the English were at Venette. As for the +inhabitants of Compiègne, their first defence facing the enemy was one +of those redoubts or towers which the chronicles of the fifteenth +century called a boulevard. It was placed at the end of the bridge and +commanded the road. + +"The plan of the Maid was to make a sortie towards the evening, to +attack Margny and afterwards Clairoix, and then at the opening of the +Aronde valley to meet the Duke of Burgundy and his forces who were +lodged there, and who would naturally come to the aid of his other +troops when attacked. She took no thought for the English, having +already carefully arranged with Flavy how they should be prevented +from cutting off her retreat. The governor provided against any chance +of this by arming the boulevard strongly with archers to drive off any +advancing force, and also by keeping ready on the Oise a number of +covered boats to receive the foot-soldiers in case of a retrograde +movement. + +"The action began well: the garrison of Margny yielded in the +twinkling of an eye. That of Clairoix rushing to the support of their +brothers in arms was repulsed, then in its turn repulsed the French; +and three times this alternative of advance and retreat took place on +the flat ground of the meadow without serious injury to either party. +This gave time to the English to take part in the fray;[1] though +thanks to the precautions of Flavy all they could do was to swell the +ranks of the Burgundians. But unfortunately the rear of the Maid's +army was struck with the possibility that a diversion might be +attempted from behind, and their retreat cut off. A panic seized them; +they broke their ranks, turned back and fled, some to the boats, some +to the barrier of the boulevard. The English witnessing this flight +rushed after them, secure now on the side of Compiègne, where the +archers no longer ventured to shoot lest they should kill the +fugitives instead of the enemies. They (the English) thus got +possession of the raised road, and pushed on so hotly after the +fugitives that their horses' heads touched the backs of the crowd. It +thus became necessary for the safety of the town to close the gates +until the barrier of the boulevard should be set up again." + +***** + +These disastrous accidents had taken place while Jeanne, charging in +front with her companions and body-guard, remained quite unaware of +any misfortune. She would hear no call to retreat, even when her +companions were roused to the dangers of their position. "Forward, +they are ours!" was all her cry. As at St. Pierre-le-Moutier she was +ready to defeat the Burgundian army alone. At length the others +perceiving something of what had happened seized her bridle and forced +her to retire. She was of herself too remarkable a figure to be +concealed amid the group of armed men who rode with her, encircling +her, defending the rear of the flying party. Over her armour she wore +a crimson tunic, or according to some authorities a short cloak, of +gorgeous material embroidered with gold, and though by this time the +twilight must have afforded a partial shelter, yet the knowledge that +she was there gave keenness to every eye. Behind, the scattered +Burgundians had rallied and begun to pursue, while the armour and +spears of the English glittered in front between the little party and +the barrier which was blocked by a terrified crowd of fugitives. Even +then a party of horsemen might have cut their way through; but at the +moment when Jeanne and her followers drew near, the barrier was +sharply closed and the wild, confused, and fighting crowd, treading +each other down, struggling for life, were forced back upon the +English lances. Thus the retreating band riding hard along the raised +road, in order and unbroken, found the path suddenly barred by the +forces of the enemy, the fugitives of their own army, and the closed +gates of the town. + +An attempt was then made by the Maid and her companions to turn +towards the western gate where there still might have been a chance of +safety; but by this time the smaller figure among all those steel-clad +men, and the waving mantle, must have been distinguished through the +dusk and the dust. There was a wild rush of combat and confusion, and +in a moment she was surrounded, seized, her horse and her person, +notwithstanding all resistance. With cries of "Rendez vous," and many +an evil name, fierce faces and threatening weapons closed round her. +One of her assailants--a Burgundian knight, a Picard archer, the +accounts differ--caught her by her mantle and dragged her from her +horse; no Englishman let us be thankful, though no doubt all were +equally eager and ready. Into the midst of that shouting mass of men, +in the blinding cloud of dust, in the darkening of the night, the Maid +of France disappeared for one terrible moment, and was lost to view. +And then, and not till then, came a clamour of bells into the night, +and all the steeples of Compiègne trembled with the call to arms, a +sally to save the deliverer. Was it treachery? Was it only a +perception, too late, of the danger? There are not wanting voices to +say that a prompt sally might have saved Jeanne, and that it was quite +within the power of the Governor and city had they chosen. Who can +answer so dreadful a suggestion? it is too much shame to human nature +to believe it. Perhaps within Compiègne as without, they were too slow +to perceive the supreme moment, too much overwhelmed to snatch any +chance of rescue till it was too late. + +Happily we have no light upon the tumult around the prisoner, the ugly +triumph, the shouts and exultation of the captors who had seized the +sorceress at last; nor upon the thoughts of Jeanne, with her +threatened doom fulfilled and unknown horrors before her, upon which +imagination must have thrown the most dreadful light, however strongly +her courage was sustained by the promise of succour from on high. She +had not been sent upon this mission as of old. No heavenly voice had +said to her "Go and deliver Compiègne." She had undertaken that +warfare on her own charges with no promise to encourage her, only the +certainty of being overthrown "before the St. Jean." But the St. Jean +was still far off, a long month of summer days between her and that +moment of fate! So far as we can see Jeanne showed no unseemly +weakness in this dark hour. One account tells us that she held her +sword high over her head declaring that it was given by a higher than +any who could claim its surrender there. But she neither struggled nor +wept. Not a word against her constancy and courage could any one, then +or after, find to say. The Burgundian chronicler tells us one thing, +the French another. "The Maid, easily recognised by her costume of +crimson and by the standard which she carried in her hand, alone +continued to defend herself," says one; but that we are sure could not +have been the case as long as d'Aulon, who accompanied her, was still +able to keep on his horse. "She yielded and gave her parole to +Lyonnel, bâtard de Wandomme," says another; but Jeanne herself +declares that she gave her faith to no one, reserving to herself the +right to escape if she could. In that dark evening scene nothing is +clear except the fact that the Maid was taken, to the exultation and +delight of her captors and to the terror and grief of the unhappy +town, vainly screaming with all its bells to arms,--and with its sons +and champions by hundreds dying under the English lances and in the +dark waves of the Oise. + +The archer or whoever it was who secured this prize, took Jeanne back, +along the bloody road with its relics of the fight, to Margny, the +Burgundian camp, where the leaders crowded together to see so +important a prisoner. "Thither came soon after," says Monstrelet, "the +Duke of Burgundy from his camp of Coudon, and there assembled the +English, the said Duke and those of the other camps in great numbers, +making, one with the other, great cries and rejoicings on the taking +of the Maid: whom the said Duke went to see in the lodging where she +was and spoke some words to her which I cannot call to mind, though I +was there present; after which the said Duke and the others withdrew +for the night, leaving the Maid in the keeping of Messer John of +Luxembourg"--to whom she had been immediately sold by her first +captor. The same night, Philip, this noble Duke and Prince of France, +wrote a letter to convey the blessed information: + + "The great news of this capture should be spread everywhere and + brought to the knowledge of all, that they may see the error of + those who could believe and lend themselves to the pretensions of + such a woman. We write this in the hope of giving you joy, + comfort, and consolation, and that you may thank God our Creator. + Pray that it may be His holy will to be more and more favourable + to the enterprises of our royal master and to the restoration of + his sway over all his good and faithful subjects." + +This royal master was Henry VI. of England, the baby king, doomed +already to expiate sins that were not his, by the saddest life and +reign. The French historians whimsically but perhaps not unnaturally, +have the air of putting down this baseness on Philip's part, and on +that of his contemporaries in general, to the score of the English, +which is hard measure, seeing that the treachery of a Frenchman could +in no way be attributed to the other nation of which he was the +natural enemy, or at least, antagonist. Very naturally the subsequent +proceedings in all their horror and cruelty are equally put down to +the English account, although Frenchmen took, exulted over as a +prisoner, tried and condemned as an enemy of God and the Church, the +spotless creature who was France incarnate, the very embodiment of her +country in all that was purest and noblest. We shall see with what +spontaneous zeal all France, except her own small party, set to work +to accomplish this noble office. + +Almost before one could draw breath the University of Paris claimed +her as a proper victim for the Inquisition. Compiègne made no sally +for her deliverance; Charles, no attempt to ransom her. From end to +end of France not a finger was lifted for her rescue; the women wept +over her, the poor people still crowded around the prisoner wherever +seen, but the France of every public document, of every practical +power, the living nation, when it did not utter cries of hatred, kept +silence. We in England have over and over again acknowledged with +shame our guilty part in her murder; but still to this day the +Frenchman tries to shield his under cover of the English influence and +terror. He cannot deny La Tremoïlle, nor Cauchon, nor the University, +nor the learned doctors who did the deed; individually he is ready to +give them all up to the everlasting fires which one cannot but hope +are kept alive for some people in spite of all modern benevolences; +but he skilfully turns back to the English as a moving cause of +everything. Nothing can be more untrue. The English were not better +than the French, but they had the excuse at least of being the enemy. +France saved by a happy chance her /blanches mains/ from the actual +blood of the pure and spotless Maid; but with exultation she prepared +the victim for the stake, sent her thither, played with her like a cat +with a mouse and condemned her to the fire. This is not to free us +from our share: but it is the height of hypocrisy to lay the blood of +Jeanne, entirely to our door. + +Thus Jeanne's inspiration proved itself over again in blood and tears; +it had been proved already on battle-field and city wall, with loud +trumpets of joy and victory. But the "voices" had spoken again, +sounding another strain; not always of glory--it is not the way of +God; but of prison, downfall, distress. "Be not astonished at it," +they said to her; "God will be with you." From day to day they had +spoken in the same strain, with no joyful commands to go forth and +conquer, but the one refrain: "Before the St. Jean." Perhaps there was +a certain relief in her mind at first when the blow fell and the +prophecy was accomplished. All she had to do now was to suffer, not to +be surprised, to trust in God that He would support her. To Jeanne, no +doubt, in the confidence and inexperience of her youth, that meant +that God would deliver her. And so He did; but not as she expected. +The sunshine of her life was over, and now the long shadow, the bitter +storm was to come. + +Nothing could be more remarkable than the response of France in +general to this extraordinary event. In Paris there were bonfires +lighted to show their joy, the /Te Deum/ was sung at Notre Dame. At +the Court Charles and his counsellors amused themselves with another +prophet, a shepherd from the hills who was to rival Jeanne's best +achievements, but never did so. Only the towns which she had delivered +had still a tender thought for Jeanne. At Tours the entire population +appeared in the streets with bare feet, singing the /Miserere/ in +penance and affliction. Orleans and Blois made public prayers for her +safety. Rheims, in which there was much independent interest in Jeanne +and her truth, had to be specially soothed by a letter from the +Archbishop, in which he made out with great cleverness that it was the +fault of Jeanne alone that she was taken. "She did nothing but by her +own will, without obeying the commandments of God," he says; "she +would hear no counsel, but followed her own pleasure,"; and it is in +this letter that we hear of the shepherd lad who was to replace +Jeanne, and that it was his opinion or revelation that God had +suffered the Maid to be taken because of her growing pride, because +she loved fine clothes, and preferred her own will to any guidance. We +do not know whether this contented the city of Rheims; similar +reasoning however seems to have silenced France. Nobody uttered a +protest, nor struck a blow; the mournful procession of Tours, where +she had been first known in the outset of her career, the prayers of +Orleans which she had delivered, are the only exceptions we know of. +Otherwise there was lifted in France neither voice nor hand to avert +her doom. +---------- +[1] The three camps must have formed a sort of irregular triangle. The + English at Venette being only half a mile from the gates of + Compiègne. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CAPTIVE. +MAY, 1430-JAN., 1431. + +We have here to remark a complete suspension of all the ordinary laws +at once of chivalry and of honest warfare. Jeanne had been captured as +a general at the head of her forces. She was a prisoner of war. Such a +prisoner ordinarily, even in the most cruel ages, is in no bodily +danger. He is worth more alive than dead--a great ransom perhaps-- +perhaps the very end of the warfare, and the accomplishment of +everything it was intended to gain: at least he is most valuable to +exchange for other important prisoners on the opposite side. It was +like taking away so much personal property to kill a prisoner, an +outrage deeply resented by his captor and unjustified by any law. It +was true that Jeanne herself had transgressed this universal custom +but a little while before, by giving up Franquet d'Arras to his +prosecutors. But Franquet was beyond the courtesies of war, a noted +criminal, robber, and destroyer: yet she ought not perhaps to have +departed from the military laws of right and wrong while everything in +the country was under the hasty arbitration of war. No one, however, +so far as we know, produces this matter of Franquet as a precedent in +her own case. From the first moment of her seizure there was no +question of the custom and privilege of warfare. She was taken as a +wild animal might have been taken, the only doubt being how to make +the most signal example of her. Vengeance in the gloomy form of the +Inquisition claimed her the first day. No such word as ransom was +breathed from her own side, none was demanded, none was offered. Her +case is at once separated from every other. + +Yet the reign of chivalry was at its height, and women were supposed +to be the objects of a kind of worship, every knight being sworn to +succour and help them in need and trouble. There was perhaps something +of the subtle jealousy of sex so constantly denied on the stronger +side, but yet always existing, in the abrogation of every law of +chivalry as well as of warfare, in respect to the Maid. That man is +indeed of the highest strain of generosity who can bear to be beaten +by a woman. And all the seething, agitated world of France had been +beaten by this girl. The English and Burgundians, in the ordinary +sense of the word, had been overcome in fair field, forced to fly +before her; the French, her own side, had experienced an even more +penetrating downfall by having the honours of victory taken from them, +she alone winning the day where they had all failed. This is bitterer, +perhaps, than merely to be compelled to raise a siege or to fail in a +fight. The Frenchmen fought like lions, but the praise was to Jeanne +who never struck a blow. Such great hearts as Dunois, such a courteous +prince as Alençon, were too magnanimous to feel, or at least to +resent, the grievance; they seconded her and fought under her with a +nobility of mind and disinterestedness beyond praise; but it was not +to be supposed that the common mass of the French captains were like +these; she had wronged and shamed them by taking the glory from them, +as much as she had shamed the English by making those universal +victors fly before her. The burghers whom she had rescued, the poor +people who were her brethren and whom she sought everywhere, might +weep and cry out to Heaven, but they were powerless at such a moment. +And every law that might have helped her was pushed aside. + +On the 25th the news was known in Paris, and immediately there appears +in the record a new adversary to Jeanne, the most bitter and +implacable of all; the next day, May 26, 1430, without the loss of an +hour, a letter was addressed to the Burgundian camp from the capital. +Quicherat speaks of it as a letter from the Inquisitor or vicar- +general of the Inquisition, written by the officials of the +University; others tell us that an independent letter was sent from +the University to second that of the Inquisitor. The University we may +add was not a university like one of ours, or like any existing at the +present day. It was an ecclesiastical corporation of the highest +authority in every cause connected with the Church, while gathering +law, philosophy, and literature under its wing. The first theologians, +the most eminent jurists were collected there, not by any means always +in alliance with the narrower tendencies and methods of the +Inquisition. It is notable, however, that this great institution lost +no time in claiming the prisoner, whose chief offence in its eyes was +less her career as a warrior than her position as a sorceress. The +actual facts of her life were of secondary importance to them. +Orleans, Rheims, even her attack upon Paris were nothing in comparison +with the black art which they believed to be her inspiration. The +guidance of Heaven which was not the guidance of the Church was to +them a claim which meant only rebellion of the direst kind. They had +longed to seize her and strip her of her presumptuous pretensions from +the first moment of her appearance. They could not allow a day of her +overthrow to pass by without snatching at this much-desired victim. + +No one perhaps will ever be able to say what it is that makes a trial +for heresy and sorcery, especially in the days when fire and flame, +the rack and the stake, stood at the end, so exciting and horribly +attractive to the mind. Whether it is the revelations that are hoped +for, of these strange commerces between earth and the unknown, into +which we would all fain pry if we could, in pursuit of some better +understanding than has ever yet fallen to the lot of man; whether it +is the strange and dreadful pleasure of seeing a soul driven to +extremity and fighting for its life through all the subtleties of +thought and fierce attacks of interrogation--or the mere love of +inflicting torture, misery, and death, which the Church was prevented +from doing in the common way, it is impossible to tell; but there is +no doubt that a thrill like the wings of vultures crowding to the +prey, a sense of horrible claws and beaks and greedy eyes is in the +air, whenever such a tribunal is thought of. The thrill, the stir, the +eagerness among those black birds of doom is more evident than usual +in the headlong haste of that demand. /Sous l'influence de +l'Angleterre/, say the historians; the more shame for them if it was +so; but they were clearly under influence wider and more infallible, +the influence of that instinct, whatever it may be, which makes a +trial for heresy ten thousand times more cruel, less restrained by any +humanities of nature, than any other kind of trial which history +records. + +That is what the Inquisitor demanded after a long description of +Jeanne, "called the Maid," as having "dogmatised, sown, published, and +caused to be published, many and diverse errors from which have ensued +great scandals against the divine honour and our holy faith." "Using +the rights of our office and the authority committed to us by the Holy +See of Rome we instantly command, and enjoin you in the name of the +Catholic faith, and under penalty of the law: and all other Catholic +persons of whatsoever condition, pre-eminence, authority, or estate, +to send or to bring as prisoner before us with all speed and surety +the said Jeanne, vehemently suspected of various crimes springing from +heresy, that proceedings may be taken against her before us in the +name of the Holy Inquisition, and with the favour and aid of the +doctors and masters of the University of Paris, and other notable +counsellors present there." + +It was the English who put it into the heads of the Inquisitor and the +University to do this, all the anxious Frenchmen cry. We can only +reply again, the more shame for the French doctors and priests! But +there was very little time to bring that influence to bear; and there +is an eagerness and precipitation in the demand which is far more like +the headlong natural rush for a much desired prize than any course of +action suggested by a third party. Nor is there anything to lead us to +believe that the movement was not spontaneous. It is little likely, +indeed, that the Sorbonne nowadays would concern itself about any +inspired maid, any more than the enlightened Oxford would do so. But +the ideas of the fifteenth century were widely different, and +witchcraft and heresy were the most enthralling and exciting of +subjects, as they are still to whosoever believes in them, learned or +unlearned, great or small. + +It must be added that the entire mind of France, even of those who +loved Jeanne and believed in her, must have been shaken to its depths +by this catastrophe. We have no sympathy with those who compare the +career of any mortal martyr with the far more mysterious agony and +passion of our Lord. Yet we cannot but remember what a tremendous +element the disappointment of their hopes must have been in the misery +of the first disciples, the Apostles, the mother, all the spectators +who had watched with wonder and faith the mission of the Messiah. Had +it failed? had all the signs come to nothing, all those divine words +and ways, to our minds so much more wonderful than any miracles? Was +there no meaning in them? Were they mere unaccountable delusions, +deceptions of the senses, inspirations perhaps of mere genius--not +from God at all except in a secondary way? In the three terrible days +that followed the Crucifixion the burden of a world must have lain on +the minds of those who had seen every hope fail: no legions of angels +appearing, no overwhelming revelation from heaven, no change in a +moment out of misery into the universal kingship, the triumphant +march. That was but the self-delusion of the earth which continually +travesties the schemes of Heaven; yet the most terrible of all +despairs is such a pause and horror of doubt lest nothing should be +true. + +But in the case of this little Maiden, this handmaid of the Lord, the +deception might have been all natural and perhaps shared by herself. +Were her first triumphs accidents merely, were her "voices" delusions, +had she been given up by Heaven, of which she had called herself the +servant? It was a stupor which quenched every voice--a great silence +through the country, only broken by the penitential psalms at Tours. +The Compiègne people, writing to Charles two days after May 23d, do +not mention Jeanne at all. We need not immediately take into account +the baser souls always plentiful, the envious captains and the rest +who might be secretly rejoicing. The entire country, both friends and +foes, had come to a dreadful pause and did not know what to think. The +last circumstance of which we must remind the reader, and which was of +the greatest importance, is, that it was only a small part of France +that knew anything personally of Jeanne. From Tours it is a far cry to +Picardy. All her triumphs had taken place in the south. The captive of +Beaulieu and Beaurevoir spent the sad months of her captivity among a +population which could have heard of her only by flying rumours coming +from hostile quarters. From the midland of France to the sea, near to +which her prison was situated, is a long way, and those northern +districts were as unlike the Orleannais as if they had been in two +different countries. Rouen in Normandy no more resembled Rheims, than +Edinburgh resembled London: and in the fifteenth century that was +saying a great deal. Nothing can be more deceptive than to think of +these separate and often hostile duchies as if they bore any +resemblance to the France of to-day. + +The captor of Jeanne was a vassal of Jean de Luxembourg and took her +as we have seen to the quarters of his master at Margny, into whose +hands she thenceforward passed. She was kept in the camp three or four +days and then transferred to the castle of Beaulieu, which belonged to +him; and afterwards to the more important stronghold of Beaurevoir, +which seems to have been his principal residence. We know very few +details of her captivity. According to one chronicler, d'Aulon, her +faithful friend and intendant, was with her at least in the former of +those prisons, where at first she would appear to have been hopeful +and in good spirits, if we may trust to the brief conversation between +her and d'Aulon, which is one of the few details which reach us of +that period. While he lamented over the probable fate of Compiègne she +was confident. "That poor town of Compiègne that you loved so much," +he said, "by this time it will be in the hands of the enemies of +France." "No," said the Maid, "the places which the king of Heaven +brought back to the allegiance of the gentle King Charles by me, will +not be retaken by his enemies." In this case at least the prophecy +came true. + +And perhaps there might have been at first a certain relief in +Jeanne's mind, such as often follows after a long threatened blow has +fallen. She had no longer the vague tortures of suspense, and probably +believed that she would be ransomed as was usual: and in this silence +and seclusion her "voices" which she had not obeyed as at first, but +yet which had not abandoned her, nor shown estrangement, were more +near and audible than amid the noise and tumult of war. They spoke to +her often, sometimes three times a day, as she afterwards said, in the +unbroken quiet of her prison. And though they no longer spoke of new +enterprises and victories, their words were full of consolation. But +it was not long that Jeanne's young and vigorous spirit could content +itself with inaction. She was no mystic; willingly giving herself over +to dreams and visions is more possible to the old than to the young. +Her confidence and hope for her good friends of Compiègne gave way +before the continued tale of their sufferings, and the inveterate +siege which was driving them to desperation. No doubt the worst news +was told to Jeanne, and twice over she made a desperate attempt to +escape, in hope of being able to succour them, but without any +sanction, as she confesses, from her spiritual instructors. At +Beaulieu the attempt was simple enough: the narrative seems to imply +that the doorway, or some part of the wall of her room, had been +closed with laths or planks nailed across an opening: and between +these she succeeded in slipping, "as she was very slight," with the +hope of locking the door to an adjoining guard-room upon the men who +had charge of her, and thus getting free. But alas! The porter of the +château, who had no business there, suddenly appeared in the corridor, +and she was discovered and taken back to her chamber. At Beaurevoir, +which was farther off, her attempt was a much more desperate one, and +indicates a despair and irritation of mind which had become +unbearable. At this place her own condition was much alleviated; the +castle was the residence of Jean de Luxembourg's wife and aunt, ladies +who visited Jeanne continually, and soon became interested and +attached to her; but as the master of the house was himself in the +camp before Compiègne, they had the advantage or disadvantage, as far +as the prisoner was concerned, of constant news, and Jeanne's trouble +for her friends grew daily. + +She seems, indeed, after the assurance she had expressed at first, to +have fallen into great doubt and even carried on within herself a +despairing argument with her spiritual guides on this point, battling +with these saintly influences as in the depths of the troubled heart +many have done with the Creator Himself in similar circumstances. +"How," she cried, "could God let them perish who had been so good and +loyal to their King?" St. Catherine replied gently that He would +Himself care for these /bons amis/, and even promised that "before the +St. Martin" relief would come. But Jeanne had probably by this time-- +in her great disappointment and loneliness, and with the sense in her +of so much power to help were she only free--got beyond her own +control. They bade her to be patient. One of them, amid their +exhortations to accept her fate cheerfully, and not to be astonished +at it, seems to have conveyed to her mind the impression that she +should not be delivered till she had seen the King of England. "Truly +I will not see him! I would rather die than fall into the hands of the +English," cried Jeanne in her petulance. The King of England is spoken +of always, it is curious to note, as if he had been a great, severe +ruler like his father, never as the child he really was. But Jeanne in +her helplessness and impotence was impatient even with her saints. Day +by day the news came in from Compiègne, all that was favourable to the +Burgundians received with joy and thanksgiving by the ladies of +Luxembourg, while the captive consumed her heart with vain +indignation. At last Jeanne would seem to have wrought herself up to +the most desperate of expedients. Whether her room was in the donjon, +or whether she was allowed sufficient freedom in the house to mount to +the battlements there, we are not informed--probably the latter was +the case: for it was from the top of the tower that the rash girl at +last flung herself down, carried away by what sudden frenzy of alarm +or sting of evil tidings can never be known. Probably she had hoped +that a miracle would be wrought on her behalf, and that faith was all +that was wanted, as on so many other occasions. Perhaps she had heard +of the negotiations to sell her to the English, which would give a +keener urgency to her determination to get free; all that appears in +the story, however, is her wild anxiety about Compiègne and her /bons +amis/. How she escaped destruction no one knows. She was rescued for a +more tremendous and harder fate. + +The Maid was taken up as dead from the foot of the tower (the height +is estimated at sixty feet); but she was not dead, nor even seriously +hurt. Her frame, so slight that she had been able to slip between the +bars put up to secure her, had so little solidity that the shock would +seem to have been all that ailed her. She was stunned and unconscious +and remained so far some time; and for three days neither ate nor +drank. But though she was so humbled by the effects of the fall, "she +was comforted by St. Catherine, who bade her confess and implore the +mercy of God" for her rash disobedience--and repeated the promise that +before Martinmas Compiègne should be relieved. Jeanne did not perhaps +in her rebellion deserve this encouragement; but the heavenly ladies +were kind and pitiful and did not stand upon their dignity. The +wonderful thing was that Jeanne recovered perfectly from this +tremendous leap. + +The earthly ladies, though so completely on the other side, were +scarcely less kind to the Maid. They visited her daily, carried their +news to her, were very friendly and sweet: and no doubt other visitors +came to make the acquaintance of a prisoner so wonderful. There was +one point on which they were very urgent, and this was about her +dress. It shamed and troubled them to see her in the costume of a man. +Jeanne had her good reasons for that, which perhaps she did not care +to tell them, fearing to shock the ears of a demoiselle of Luxembourg +with the suggestion of dangers of which she knew nothing. No doubt it +was true that while doing the serious work of war, as she said +afterwards, it was best that she should be dressed as a man; but +Jeanne had reason to know besides, that it was safer, among the rough +comrades and gaolers who now surrounded her, to wear the tight-fitting +and firmly fastened dress of a soldier. She answered the ladies and +their remonstrances with all the grace of a courtier. Could she have +done it she would rather have yielded the point to them, she said, +than to any one else in France, except the Queen. The women wherever +she went were always faithful to this young creature, so pure-womanly +in her young angel-hood and man-hood. The poor followed to kiss her +hands or her armour, the rich wooed her with tender flatteries and +persuasions. There is not record in all her career of any woman who +was not her friend. + +For the last dreary month of that winter she was sent to the fortress +of Crotoy on the Somme, for what reason we are not told, probably to +be more near the English into whose hands she was about to be given +up: again another shameful bargain in which the guilt lies with the +Burgundians and not with the English. If Charles I. was sold as we +Scots all indignantly deny, the shame of the sale was on our nation, +not on England, whom nobody has ever blamed for the transaction. The +sale of Jeanne was brutally frank. It was indeed a ransom which was +paid to Jean of Luxembourg with a share to the first captor, the +archer who had secured her; but it was simple blood-money as everybody +knew. At Crotoy she had once more the solace of female society, again +with much pressing upon her of their own heavy skirts and hanging +sleeves. A fellow-prisoner in the dungeon of Crotoy, a priest, said +mass every day and gave her the holy communion. And her mind seems to +have been soothed and calmed. Compiègne was relieved; the saints had +kept their word: she had that burden the less upon her soul: and over +the country there were against stirrings of French valour and success. +The day of the Maid was over, but it began to bear the fruit of a +national quickening of vigour and life. + +It was at Crotoy, in December, that she was transferred to English +hands. The eager offer of the University of Paris to see her speedy +condemnation had not been accepted, and perhaps the Burgundians had +been willing to wait, to see if any ransom was forthcoming from +France. Perhaps too, Paris, which sang the /Te Deum/ when she was +taken prisoner, began to be a little startled by its own enthusiasm +and to ask itself the question what there was to be so thankful about? +--a result which has happened before in the history of that impulsive +city:--and Paris was too near the centre of France, where the balance +seemed to be turning again in favour of the national party, to have +its thoughts distracted by such a trial as was impending. It seemed +better to the English leaders to conduct their prisoner to a safer +place, to the depths of Normandy where they were most strong. They +seem to have carried her away in the end of the year, travelling +slowly along the coast, and reaching Rouen by way of Eu and Dieppe, as +far away as possible from any risk of rescue. She arrived in Rouen in +the beginning of the year 1431, having thus been already for nearly +eight months in close custody. But there were no further ministrations +of kind women for Jeanne. She was now distinctly in the hands of her +enemies, those who had no sympathy or natural softening of feeling +towards her. + +The severities inflicted upon her in her new prison at Rouen were +terrible, almost incredible. We are told that she was kept in an iron +cage (like the Countess of Buchan in earlier days by Edward I.), bound +hands, and feet, and throat, to a pillar, and watched incessantly by +English soldiers--the latter being an abominable and hideous method of +torture which was never departed from during the rest of her life. +Afterwards, at the beginning of her trial she was relieved from the +cage, but never from the presence and scrutiny of this fierce and +hateful bodyguard. Such detestable cruelties were in the manner of the +time, which does not make us the less sicken at them with burning +indignation and the rage of shame. For this aggravation of her +sufferings England alone was responsible. The Burgundians at their +worst had not used her so. It is true that she was to them a piece of +valuable property worth so much good money; which is a powerful +argument everywhere. But to the English she meant no money: no one +offered to ransom Jeanne on the side of her own party, for whom she +had done so much. Even at Tours and Orleans, so far as appears, there +was no subscription--to speak in modern terms,--no cry among the +burghers to gather their crowns for her redemption--not a word, not an +effort, only a barefooted procession, a mass, a Miserere, which had no +issue. France stood silent to see what would come of it; and her +scholars and divines swarmed towards Rouen to make sure that nothing +but harm should come of it to the ignorant country lass, who had set +up such pretences of knowing better than others. The King +congratulated himself that he had another prophetess as good as she, +and a Heaven-sent boy from the mountains who would do as well and +better than Jeanne. Where was Dunois? Where was La Hire,[1] a soldier +bound by no conventions, a captain whose troop went like the wind +where it listed, and whose valour was known? Where was young Guy de +Laval, so ready to sell his lands that his men might be fit for +service? All silent; no man drawing a sword or saying a word. It is +evident that in this frightful pause of fate, Jeanne had become to +France as to England, the Witch whom it was perhaps a danger to have +had anything to do with, whose spells had turned the world upside down +for a moment: but these spells had become ineffectual or worn out as +is the nature of sorcery. No explanation, not even the well-worn and +so often valid one of human baseness, could explain the terrible +situation, if not this. +---------- +[1] La Hire was at Louvain, which we hear a little later the new + English levies would not march to besiege till the Maid was dead, + and where Dunois joined him in March of this fatal year. These two + at Louvain within a few leagues of Rouen and not a sword drawn for + Jeanne!--the wonder grows. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE JUDGES. +1431. + +The name of Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, appears to us at this +long distance as arising out of the infernal mists, into which, when +his ministry of shame was accomplished, he disappeared again, bearing +with him nothing but hatred and ill fame. Yet in his own day and to +his contemporaries, he was not an inconsiderable man. He was of +Rheims, a great student, and excellent scholar, the friend of many +good men, highly esteemed among the ranks of the learned, a good man +of business, which is not always the attribute of a scholar, and at +the same time a Burgundian of pronounced sentiments, holding for his +Duke, against the King. When Beauvais was summoned by Charles, after +his coronation, at that moment of universal triumph when all seemed +open for him to march upon Paris if he would, the city had joyfully +thrown open its doors to the royal army, and in doing so had driven +out its Bishop, who was hot on the other side. He would not seem to +have been wanted in Paris at that moment. The "triste Bedford," as +Michelet calls him, had no means of employing an ambitious priest, no +dirty work for the moment to give him. It is natural to suppose that a +man so admirably adapted for that employment went in search of it to +the ecclesiastical court, not beloved of England, which the Cardinal +Bishop of Winchester held there. Winchester was the only one of the +House of Lancaster who had money to carry on the government either at +home or abroad. The two priests, as the historians are always pleased +to insinuate in respect to ecclesiastics, soon understood each other, +and Winchester became aware that he had in Cauchon a tool ready for +any shameful enterprise. It is not, however, necessary to assume so +much as this, for we have not the least reason to believe that either +one or the other of them had the slightest doubt on the subject of +Jeanne, or as to her character. She was a pernicious witch, filling a +hitherto invincible army with that savage fright which is but too well +understood among men, and which produces cruel outrages as well as +cowardly panic. The air of this very day, while I write, is ringing +with the story of a woman burnt to death by her own family under the +influence of that same horrible panic and terror. Cauchon was the +countryman, almost the /pays/--an untranslatable expression,--of +Jeanne; but he did not believe in her any more than the loftier +ecclesiastics of France believed in Bernadette of Lourdes, who was of +the spiritual lineage of Jeanne, nor than we should believe to-day in +a similar pretender. It seems unnecessary then to think of dark plots +hatched between these two dark priests against the white, angelic +apparition of the Maid. + +What services Cauchon had done to recommend him to the favour of +Winchester we are not told, but he was so much in favour that the +Cardinal had recommended him to the Pope for the vacant archbishopric +of Rouen a few months before there was any immediate question of +Jeanne. The appointment was opposed by the clergy of Rouen, and the +Pope had not come to any decision as yet on the subject. But no doubt +the ambition of Cauchon made him very eager, with such a tempting +prize before him, to recommend himself to his English patron by every +means in his power. And he it was who undertook the office of +negotiating the ransom of Jeanne from the hands of Jean de Luxembourg. +We doubt whether after all it would be just even to call this a +nefarious bargain. To the careless seigneur it would probably be very +much a matter of course. The ransom offered--six thousand francs--was +as good as if she had been a prince. The ladies at home might be +indignant, but what was their foolish fancy for a high-flown girl in +comparison with these substantial crowns in his pocket; and to be free +from the responsibility of guarding her would be an advantage too. And +if her own party did not stir on her behalf, why should he? A most +pertinent question. Cauchon, on the other hand, could assure all +objectors that no summary vengeance was to be taken on the Maid. She +was to be judged by the Church, and by the best men the University +could provide, and if she were found innocent, no doubt would go free. + +They must have been sanguine indeed who hoped for a triumphant +acquittal of Jeanne; but still it may have been hoped that a trial by +her countrymen would in every case be better for her than to languish +in prison or to be seized perhaps by the English on some after +occasion, and to perish by their hands. Let us therefore be fair to +Cauchon, if possible, up to the beginning of the /Procès/. He was no +Frenchman, but a Burgundian; his allegiance was to his Duke, not to +the King of England; but his natural sovereign did so, and many, very +many men of note and importance were equally base, and did not esteem +it base at all. Had the inhabitants of Rheims, his native town, or of +Rouen, in which /his/ trial and downfall took place as well as +Jeanne's, pronounced for the King of Prussia in the last war, and +proclaimed themselves his subjects, the traitors would have been hung +with infamy from their own high towers, or driven into their river +headlong. But things were very different in the fifteenth century. +There has never been a moment in our history when either England or +Scotland has pronounced for a foreign sway. Scotland fought with +desperation for centuries against the mere name of suzerainty, though +of a kindred race. There have been terrible moments of forced +subjugation at the point of the sword; but never any such phenomena as +appeared in France, so far on in the world's history as was that +brilliant and highly cultured age. Such a state of affairs is to our +minds impossible to understand or almost to believe: but in the +interests of justice it must be fully acknowledged and understood. + +Cauchon arises accordingly, not at first with any infamy, out of the +obscurity. He had been expelled and dethroned from his See, but this +only for political reasons. He was ecclesiastically Bishop of Beauvais +still; it was within his diocese that the Maid had taken prisoner, and +there also her last acts of magic, if magic there was, had taken +place. He had therefore a legal right to claim the jurisdiction, a +right which no one had any interest in taking from him. If Paris was +disappointed at not having so interesting a trial carried on before +its courts, there was compensation in the fact that many doctors of +the University were called to assist Cauchon in his examination of the +Maid, and to bring her, witch, sorceress, heretic, whatever she might +be, to question. These doctors were not undistinguished or unworthy +men. A number of them held high office in the Church; almost all were +honourably connected with the University, the source of learning in +France. "With what art were they chosen!" exclaims M. Blaze de Bury. +"A number of theologians, the élite of the time, had been named to +represent France at the council of Bâle; of these Cauchon chose the +flower." This does not seem on the face of it to be a fact against, +but rather in favour of, the tribunal, which the reader naturally +supposes must have been the better, the more just, for being chosen +among the flower of learning in France. They were not men who could be +imagined to be the tools of any Bishop. Quicherat, in his moderate and +able remarks on this subject, selects for special mention three men +who took a very important part in it, Guillame Érard, Nicole Midi, and +Tomas de Courcelles. They were all men who held a high place in the +respect of their generation. Érard was a friend of Machet, the +confessor of Charles VII., who had been a member of the tribunal at +Poitiers which first pronounced upon the pretensions of Jeanne; yet +after the trial of the Maid Machet still describes him as a man of the +highest virtue and heavenly wisdom. Nicole Midi continued to hold an +honourable place in his University for many years, and was the man +chosen to congratulate Charles when Paris finally became again the +residence of the King. Courcelles was considered the first theologian +of the age. "He was an austere and eloquent young man," says +Quicherat, "of a lucid mind, though nourished on abstractions. He was +the first of theologians long before he had attained the age at which +he could assume the rank of doctor, and even before he had finished +his studies he was considered as the successor of Gerson. He was the +light of the council of Bâle. Eneas Piccolomini (Pope Pius II.) speaks +with admiration of his capacity and his modesty. In him we recognise +the father of the freedom of the Gallican Church. His +disinterestedness is shown by the simple position with which he +contented himself. He died with no higher rank than that of Dean of +the Chapter of Paris." + +Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious? Was this the man to be used for +their vile ends by a savage English party thirsting for the blood of +an innocent victim, and by the vile priest who was its tool? It does +not seem so to our eyes across the long level of the centuries which +clear away so many mists. And no more dreadful accusation can be +brought against France than the suggestion that men like these, her +best and most carefully trained, were willing to act as blood-hounds +for the advantage and the pay of the invader. But there are many +French historians to whom the mere fact of a black gown or at least an +ecclesiastical robe, confounds every testimony, and to whom even the +name of Frenchman does not make it appear possible that a priest +should retain a shred of honour or of honesty. We should have said by +the light of nature and probability that had every guarantee been +required for the impartiality and justice of such a tribunal, they +could not have been better secured than by the selection of such men +to conduct its proceedings. They made a great and terrible mistake, as +the wisest of men have made before now. They did much worse, they +behaved to an unfortunate girl who was in their power with +indescribable ferocity and cruelty; but we must hope that this was +owing to the period at which they lived rather than to themselves. + +It is not perhaps indeed from the wise and learned, the Stoics and +Pundits of a University, that we should choose judges for the divine +simplicity of those babes and sucklings out of whose mouth praise is +perfected. At the same time to choose the best men is not generally +the way adopted to procure a base judgement. Cauchon might have been +subject to this blame had he filled the benches of his court with +creatures of his own, nameless priests and dialecticians, knowing +nothing but their own poor science of words. He did not do so. There +were but two Englishmen in the assembly, neither of them men of any +importance or influence although there must have been many English +priests in the country and in the train of Winchester. There were not +even any special partisans of Burgundy, though some of the assessors +were Burgundian by birth. We should have said, had we known no more +than this, that every precaution had been taken to give the Maid the +fairest trial. But at the same time a trial which is conducted under +the name of the Inquisition is always suspect. The mere fact of that +terrible name seems to establish a foregone conclusion; few are the +prisoners at that bar who have ever escaped. This fact is almost all +that can be set against the high character of the individuals who +composed the tribunal. At all events it is no argument against the +English that they permitted the best men in France to be chosen as +Jeanne's judges. It is the most bewildering and astonishing of +historical facts that they were so, and yet came to the conclusion +they did, by the means they did, and that without falling under the +condemnation, or scorn, or horror of their fellow-men. + +This then was the assembly which gathered in Rouen in the beginning of +1431. Quicherat will not venture to affirm even that intimidation was +directly employed to effect their decision. He says that the evidence +"tends to prove" that this was the case, but honestly allows that, "it +is well to remark that the witnesses contradict each other." "In all +that I have said," he adds, "my intention has been to prove that the +judges of the Maid had in no way the appearance of partisans hotly +pursuing a political vengeance; but that, on the contrary, their known +weight, the consideration which most of them enjoyed, and the nature +of the tribunal for which they were assembled, were all calculated to +produce generally an expectation full of confidence and respect." + +Meanwhile there is not a word to be said for the treatment to which +Jeanne herself was subjected, she being, so far as is apparent, +entirely in English custody. She had been treated with tolerable +gentleness it would seem in the first part of her captivity while in +the hands of Jean de Luxembourg, the Count de Ligny. The fact that the +ladies of the house were for her friends must have assured this, and +there is no complaint made anywhere of cruelty or even unkindness. +When she arrived in Rouen she was confined in the middle chamber of +the donjon, which was the best we may suppose, neither a dungeon under +the soil, nor a room under the leads, but one to which there was +access by a short flight of steps from the courtyard, and which was +fully lighted and not out of reach or sight of life. But in this +chamber was an iron cage,[1] within which she was bound, feet, and +waist and neck, from the time of her arrival until the beginning of +the trial, a period of about six weeks. Five English soldiers of the +lowest class watched her night and day, three in the room itself, two +at the door. It is enough to think for a moment of the probable +manners and morals of these troopers to imagine what torture must have +been inflicted by their presence upon a young woman who had always +been sensitive above all things to the laws of personal modesty and +reserve. Their course jests would no doubt be unintelligible to her, +which would be an alleviation; but their coarse laughter, their +revolting touch, their impure looks, would be an endless incessant +misery. We are told that she indignantly bestowed a hearty buffet on +the cheek of a tailor who approached her too closely when it was +intended to furnish her with female dress; but she was helpless to +defend herself when in her irons, and had to endure as she best could +--the bars of her cage let us hope, if cage there was, affording her +some little protection from the horror of the continual presence of +these rude attendants, with whom it was a shame to English gentlemen +and knights to surround a helpless woman. + +When her trial began Jeanne was released from her cage, but was still +chained by one foot to a wooden beam during the day, and at night to +the posts of her bed. Sometimes her guards would wake her to tell her +that she had been condemned and was immediately to be led forth to +execution; but that was a small matter. Attempts were also made to +inflict the barest insult and outrage upon her, and on one occasion +she is said to have been saved only by the Earl of Warwick, who heard +her cries and went to her rescue. By night as by day she clung to her +male garb, tightly fastened by the innumerable "points" of which +Shakespeare so often speaks. Such were the horrible circumstances in +which she awaited her public appearance before her judges. She was +brought before them every day for months together, to be badgered by +the keenest wits in France, coming back and back with artful questions +upon every detail of every subject, to endeavour to shake her firmness +or force her into self-contradiction. Imagine a cross-examination +going on for months, like those--only more cruel than those--to which +we sometimes see an unfortunate witness exposed in our own courts of +law. There is nothing more usual than to see people break down +entirely after a day or two of such a tremendous ordeal, in which +their hearts and lives are turned inside out, their minds so +bewildered that they know not what they are saying, and everything +they have done in their lives exhibited in the worst, often in an +entirely fictitious, light, to the curiosity and amusement of the +world. + +But all our processes are mercy in comparison with those to which +French prisoners at the bar are still exposed. It is unnecessary to +enter into an account of these which are so well known; but they show +that even such a trial as that of Jeanne was by no means so contrary +to common usage, as it would be, and always would have been in +England. In England we warn the accused to utter no rash word which +may be used against him; in France the first principle is to draw from +him every rash word that he can be made to bring forth. This was the +method employed with Jeanne. Her judges were all Churchmen and +dialecticians of the subtlest wit and most dexterous faculties in +France; they had all, or almost all, a strong prepossession against +her. Though we cannot believe that men of such quality were suborned, +there was, no doubt, enough of jealous and indignant feeling among +them to make the desire of convicting Jeanne more powerful with them +than the desire for pure justice. She was a true Christian, but not +perhaps the soundest of Church-women. Her visions had not the sanction +of any priest's approval, except indeed the official but not warm +affirmation of the Council at Poitiers. She had not hastened to take +the Church into her confidence nor to put herself under its +protection. Though her claims had been guaranteed by the company of +divines at Poitiers, she herself had always appealed to her private +instructions, through her saints, rather than to the guiding of any +priest. The chief ecclesiastical dignitary of her own party had just +held her up to the reprobation of the people for this cause: she was +too independent, so proud that she would take no advice but acted +according to her own will. The more accustomed a Churchman is to +experience the unbounded devotion and obedience of women, the more +enraged he is against those who judge for themselves or have other +guides on whom they rely. Jeanne was, beside all other sins alleged +against her, a presumptuous woman: and very few of these men had any +desire to acquit her. They were little accustomed to researches which +were solely intended to discover the truth: their principle rather +was, as it has been the principle of many, to obtain proofs that their +own particular way of thinking was the right one. It is not perhaps +very good even for a system of doctrine when this is the principle by +which it is tested. It is more fatal still, on this principle, to +judge an individual for death or for life. It will be abundantly +proved, however, by all that is to follow, that in face of this +tribunal, learned, able, powerful, and prejudiced, the peasant girl of +nineteen stood like a rock, unmoved by all their cleverness, undaunted +by their severity, seldom or never losing her head, or her temper, her +modest steadfastness, or her high spirit. If they hoped to have an +easy bargain of her, never were men more mistaken. Not knowing a from +b, as she herself said, untrained, unaided, she was more than a match +for them all. + +Round about this centre of eager intelligence, curiosity, and +prejudice, the cathedral and council chamber teeming with Churchmen, +was a dark and silent ring of laymen and soldiers. A number of the +English leaders were in Rouen, but they appear very little. +Winchester, who had very lately come from England with an army, which +according to some of the historians would not budge from Calais, where +it had landed, "for fear of the Maid"--was the chief person in the +place, but did not make any appearance at the trial, curiously enough; +the Duke of Bedford we are informed was visible on one shameful +occasion, but no more. But Warwick, who was the Governor of the town, +appears frequently and various other lords with him. We see them in +the mirror held up to us by the French historians, pressing round in +an ever narrowing circle, closing up upon the tribunal in the midst, +pricking the priests with perpetual sword points if they seem to +loiter. They would have had everything pushed on, no delay, no +possibility of escape. It is very possible that this was the case, for +it is evident that the Witch was deeply obnoxious to the English, and +that they were eager to have her and her endless process out of the +way; but the evidence for their terror and fierce desire to expedite +matters is of the feeblest. A canon of Rouen declared at the trial +that he had heard it said by Maître Pierre Morice, and Nicolas +l'Oyseleur, judges assessors, and by other whose names he does not +recollect, "that the said English were so afraid of her that they did +not dare to begin the siege of Louviers until she was dead; and that +it was necessary if one would please them, to hasten the trial as much +as possible and to find the means of condemning her." Very likely this +was quite true: but it cannot at all be taken for proved by such +evidence. Another contemporary witness allows that though some of the +English pushed on her trial for hate, some were well disposed to her; +the manner of Jeanne's imprisonment is the only thing which inclines +the reader to believe every evil thing that is said against them. + +Such were the circumstances in which Jeanne was brought to trail. The +population, moved to pity and to tears as any population would have +been, before the end, would seem at the beginning to have been +indifferent and not to have taken much interest one way or another: +the court, a hundred men and more with all their hangers-on, the +cleverest men in France, one more distinguished and impeccable than +the others: the stern ring of the Englishmen outside keeping an eye +upon the tedious suit and all its convolutions: these all appear +before us, surrounding as with bands of iron the young lonely victim +in the donjon, who submitting to every indignity, and deprived of +every aid, feeling that all her friends had abandoned her, yet stood +steadfast and strong in her absolute simplicity and honesty. It was +but two years in that same spring weather since she had left +Vaucouleurs to seek the fortune of France, to offer herself to the +struggle which now was coming to an end. Not a soul had Jeanne to +comfort or stand by her. She had her saints who--one wonders if such a +thought ever entered into her young visionary head--had lured her to +her doom, and who still comforted her with enigmatical words, promises +which came true in so sadly different a sense from that in which they +were understood. +---------- +[1] We are glad to add that the learned Quicherat has doubts on the + subject of the cage. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BEFORE THE TRIAL. +LENT, 1431. + +We have not, however, sufficiently described the horror of the prison, +and the treatment to which Jeanne was exposed, though the picture is +already dark enough. It throws a horrible yet also a grotesque light +upon the savage manners of the time to find that the chamber in which +she was confined, had secret provision for an /espionnage/ of the most +base kind, openings made in the walls through which everything that +took place in the room, every proceeding of the unfortunate prisoner, +could be spied upon and every word heard. The idea of such a secret +watch has always been attractive to the vulgar mind, and no doubt it +has been believed to exist many times when there was little or no +justification for such an infernal thought. From the "ear" of +Dionysius, down to the /Trou Judas/, which early tourists on the +Continent were taught to fear in every chamber door, the idea has +descended to our own times. It would seem, however, to be beyond doubt +that this odious means of acquiring information was in full operation +during the trial of Jeanne, and various spies were permitted to peep +at her, and to watch for any unadvised word she might say in her most +private moments. We are told that the Duke of Bedford made use of the +opportunity in a still more revolting way, and was present, a secret +spectator, at the fantastic scene when Jeanne was visited by a +committee of matrons who examined her person to prove or to disprove +one of the hateful insinuations which were made about her. The +imagination, however, refuses to conceive that a man of serious age +and of high functions should have degraded himself to the level of a +Peeping Tom in this way; all the French historians, nevertheless, +repeat the story though on the merest hearsay evidence. And they also +relate, with more apparent truth, how a double treachery was committed +upon the unfortunate prisoner by stationing two secretaries at these +openings, to take down her conversation with a spy who had been sent +to her in the guise of a countryman of her own; and that not only +Cauchon but Warwick also was present on this occasion, listening, +while their plot was carried out by the vile traitor inside. The +clerks, we are glad to say, are credited with a refusal to act: but +Warwick did not shrink from the ignominy. The Englishmen indeed shrank +from no ignominy; nor did the great French savants assembled under the +presidency of the Bishop. It is necessary to grant to begin with that +they were neither ignorant nor base men, yet from the beginning of the +trial almost every step taken by them appears base, as well as marked, +in the midst of all their subtlety and diabolical cunning, by the +profoundest ignorance of human nature. The spy of whom we have spoken, +L'Oyseleur (bird-snarer, a significant name), was sent, and consented +to be sent, to Jeanne in her prison, as a fellow prisoner, a /pays/, +like herself from Lorraine, to invite her confidence: but his long +conversations with the Maid, which were heard behind their backs by +the secretaries, elicited nothing from her that she did not say in the +public examination. She had no secret devices to betray to a traitor. +She would not seem, indeed, to have suspected the man at all, not even +when she saw him among her judges taking part against her. Jeanne +herself suspected no falsehood, but made her confession to him, when +she found that he was a priest, and trusted him fully. The bewildering +and confusing fact, turning all the contrivances of her judges into +foolishness, was, that she had nothing to confess that she was not +ready to tell in the eye of day. + +The adoption of this abominable method of eliciting secrets from the +candid soul which had none, was justified, it appears, by the manner +of her trial, which was after the rules of the Inquisition--by which +even more than by those which regulate an ordinary French trial the +guilt of the accused is a foregone conclusion for which proof is +sought, not a fair investigation of facts for abstract purposes of +justice. The first thing to be determined by the tribunal was the +counts of the indictment against Jeanne; was she to be tried for +magical arts, for sorcery and witchcraft? It is very probable that the +mission of L'Oyseleur was to obtain evidence that would clear up this +question by means of recalling to her the stories of her childhood, of +the enchanted tree, and the Fairies' Well; from which sources, her +accusers anxiously hoped to prove that she derived her inspiration. +But it is very clear that no such evidence was forthcoming, and that +it seemed to them hopeless to attribute sorcery to her; therefore the +accusation was changed to that of heresy alone. The following mandate +from the University authorising her prosecution will show what the +charge was; and the reader will note that one of its darkest items is +the costume, which for so many good and sufficient reasons she wore. +Here is the official description of the accused: + +"A woman, calling herself the Maid, leaving the dress and habit of her +sex against the divine law, a thing abominable to God, clothed and +armed in the habit and condition of a man, has done cruel deeds of +homicide, and as is said has made the simple people believe, in order +to abuse and lead them astray, that she was sent by God, and had +knowledge of His divine secrets; along with several other doctrines +(/dogmatisations/), very dangerous, prejudicial, and scandalous to our +holy Catholic faith, in pursuing which abuses, and exercising +hostility against us and our people, she has been taken in arms, +before Compiègne, and brought as a prisoner before us." + +According to French law the indictment ought to have been founded upon +a preliminary examination into the previous life of the accused, +which, as it does not appear in the formal accusations, it was +supposed had never been made. Recent researches, however, have proved +that it was made, but was not of a nature to strengthen or justify any +accusation. All that the examiners could discover was that Jeanne +d'Arc was a good and honest maid who left a spotless reputation behind +her in her native village, and that not a suspicion of +/dogmatisations/, nor worship of fairies, nor any other unseemly thing +was associated with her name. Other things less favourable, we are +told, were reported of her: the statement, for instance, made in +apparent good faith by Monstrelet the Burgundian chronicler, that she +had been for some time a servant in an /auberge/, and there had +learned to ride, and to consort with men--a statement totally without +foundation, which was scarcely referred to in the trial. + +The skill of M. Quicherat discovered the substance of those inquiries +among the many secondary papers, but they were not made use of in the +formal proceedings. This also we are told, though contrary to the +habit of French law, was justified by the methods of the Inquisition, +which were followed throughout the trial. One breach of law and +justice, however, is permitted by no code. It is expressly forbidden +by French, and even by inquisitorial law, that a prisoner should be +tried by his enemies--that is by judges avowedly hostile to him: an +initial difficulty which it would have been impossible to get over and +which had therefore to be ignored. One brave and honest man, Nicolas +de Houppeville, had the courage to make this observation in one of the +earliest sittings of the assembly: + +"Neither the Bishop of Beauvais" (he said) "nor the other members of +the tribunal ought to be judges in the matter; and it did not seem to +him a good mode of procedure that those who were of the opposite party +to the accused should be her judges--considering also that she had +been examined already by the clergy of Poitiers, and by the Archbishop +of Rheims, who was the metropolitan of the said Bishop of Beauvais." + +Nicolas de Houppeville was a lawyer and had a right to be heard on +such a point; but the reply of the judges was to throw him into +prison, not without threats on the part of the civil authorities to +carry the point further by throwing him into the Seine. This was the +method by which every honest objection was silenced. That the +examination at Poitiers, where the judges, as has been seen, were by +no means too favourable to Jeanne, should never have been referred to +by her present examiners, though there was no doubt it ought to have +been one of the most important sources of the preliminary information +--is also very remarkable. It was suggested indeed to Jeanne at a late +period of the trial, that she might appeal to the Archbishop; but he +was, as she well knew, one of her most cruel enemies. + +Still more important was the breach of all justice apparent in the +fact that she had no advocate, no counsel on her side, no one to speak +to her and conduct her defence. It was suggested to her near the end +of the proceedings that she might choose one of her judges to fill +this office; but even if the proposal had been a genuine one or at all +likely to be to her advantage, it was then too late to be of any use. +These particulars, we believe, were enough to invalidate any process +in strict law; but the name of law seems ridiculous altogether as +applied to this rambling and cruel cross-examination in which was +neither sense nor decorum. The reader will understand that there were +no witnesses either for or against her, the answers of the accused +herself forming the entire evidence. + +One or two particulars may still be added to make the background at +least more clear. The prison of Jeanne, as we have seen, was not left +in the usual silence of such a place; the constant noise with which +the English troopers filled the air, jesting, gossiping, and carrying +on their noisy conversation, if nothing worse and more offensive-- +sometimes, as Jeanne complains, preventing her from hearing (her sole +solace) the soft voices of her saintly visitors--was not her only +disturbance. Her solitude was broken by curious and inquisitive +visitors of various kinds. L'Oyseleur, the abominable detective, who +professed to be her countryman and who beguiled her into talk of her +childhood and native place, was the first of these; and it is possible +that at first his presence was a pleasure to her. One other visitor of +whom we hear accidentally, a citizen of Rouen, Pierre Casquel, seems +to have got in private interest and with a more or less good motive +and no evil meaning. He warned her to answer with prudence the +questions put to her, since it was a matter of life and death. She +seemed to him to be "very simple" and still to believe that she might +be ransomed. Earl Warwick, the commander of the town, appears on +various occasions. He probably had his headquarters in the Castle, and +thus heard her cry for help in her danger, executing, let us hope, +summary vengeance on her brutal assailant; but he also evidently took +advantage of his power to show his interesting prisoner to his friends +on occasion. And it was he who took her original captor, Jean de +Luxembourg, now Comte de Ligny, by whom she had been given up, to see +her, along with an English lord, sometimes named as Lord Sheffield. +The Belgian who had put so many good crowns in his pocket for her +ransom, thought it good taste to enter with a jesting suggestion that +he had come to buy her back. + +"Jeanne, I will have you ransomed if you will promise never to bear +arms against us again," he said. The Maid was not deceived by this +mocking suggestion. "It is well for you to jest," she said, "but I +know you have no such power. I know that the English will kill me, +believing, after I am dead, that they will be able to win all the +kingdom of France: but if there were a hundred thousand more Goddens +than there are, they shall never win the kingdom of France." The +English lord drew his dagger to strike the helpless girl, all the +stories say, but was prevented by Warwick. Warwick, however, we are +told, though he had thus saved her twice, "recovered his barbarous +instincts" as soon as he got outside, and indignantly lamented the +possibility of Jeanne's escape from the stake. + +Such incidents as these alone lightened or darkened her weary days in +prison. A traitor or spy, a prophet of evil shaking his head over her +danger, a contemptuous party of jeering nobles; afterwards +inquisitors, for ever repeating in private their tedious questions: +these all visited her--but never a friend. Jeanne was not afraid of +the English lord's dagger, or of the watchful eye of Warwick over her. +Even when spying through a hole, if the English earl and knight, +indeed permitted himself that strange indulgence, his presence and +inspection must have been almost the only defence of the prisoner. Our +historians all quote, with an admiration almost as misplaced as their +horror of Warwick's "barbarous instincts," the /vrai galant homme/ of +an Englishman who in the midst of the trial cried out "/Brave femme/!" +(it is difficult to translate the words, for /brave/ means more than +brave)--"why was she not English?" However we are not concerned to +defend the English share of the crime. The worst feature of all is +that she never seems to have been visited by any one favourable and +friendly to her, except afterwards, the two or three pitying priests +whose hearts were touched by her great sufferings, though they +remained among her judges, and gave sentence against her. No woman +seems ever to have entered that dreadful prison except those "matrons" +who came officially as has been already said. The ladies de Ligny had +cheered her in her first confinement, the kind women of Abbeville had +not been shut out even from the gloomy fortress of Le Crotoy. But here +no woman ever seems to have been permitted to enter, a fact which must +either be taken to prove the hostility of the population, or the very +vigorous regulations of the prison. Perhaps the barbarous watch set +upon her, the soldiers ever present, may have been a reason for the +absence of any female visitor. At all events it is a very distinct +fact that during the whole period of her trial, five months of misery, +except on the one occasion already referred to, no woman came to +console the unfortunate Maid. She had never before during all her +vicissitudes been without their constant ministrations. + +One woman, the only one we ever hear of who was not the partisan and +lover of the Maid, does, however, make herself faintly seen amid the +crowd. Catherine of La Rochelle--the woman who had laid claim to +saintly visitors and voices like those of Jeanne, and who had been for +a time received and fêted at the Court of Charles with vile +satisfaction, as making the loss of the Maid no such great thing--had +by this time been dropped as useless, on the appearance of the +shepherd boy quoted by the Archbishop of Rheims, and had fallen into +the hands of the English: was not she too a witch, and admirably +qualified to give evidence as to the other witch, for whose blood all +around her were thirsting? Catherine was ready to say anything that +was evil of her sister sorceress. "Take care of her," she said; "if +you lose sight of her for one moment, the devil will carry her away." +Perhaps this was the cause of the guard in Jeanne's room, the +ceaseless scrutiny to which she was exposed. The vulgar slanderer was +allowed to escape after this valuable testimony. She comes into +history like a will-o'-the-wisp, one of the marsh lights that mean +nothing but putrescence and decay, and then flickers out again with +her false witness into the wastes of inanity. That she should have +been treated so leniently and Jeanne so cruelly! say the historians. +Reason good: she was nothing, came of nothing, and meant nothing. It +is profane to associate Jeanne's pure and beautiful name with that of +a mountebank. This is the only woman in all her generation, so far as +appears to us, who was not the partisan and devoted friend of the +spotless Maid. + +The aspect of that old-world city of Rouen, still so old and +picturesque to the visitor of to-day, though all new since that time +except the churches, is curious and interesting to look back upon. It +must have hummed and rustled with life through every street; not only +with the English troops, and many a Burgundian man-at-arms, swaggering +about, swearing big oaths and filling the air with loud voices,--but +with all the polished bands of the doctors, men first in fame and +learning of the famous University, and beneficed priests of all +classes, canons and deans and bishops, with the countless array that +followed them, the cardinal's tonsured Court in addition, standing by +and taking no share in the business: but all French and English alike, +occupied with one subject, talking of the trial, of the new points +brought out, of the opinions of this doctor and that, of Maître +Nicolas who had presumed on his lawyership to correct the bishop, and +had suffered for it: of the bold canon who ventured to whisper a +suggestion to the prisoner, and who ever since had had the eye of the +governor upon him: of Warwick, keeping a rough shield of protection +around the Maid but himself fiercely impatient of the law's delay, +anxious to burn the witch and be done with her. And Jeanne herself, +the one strange figure that nobody understood; was she a witch? Was +she an angelic messenger? Her answers so simple, so bold, so full of +the spirit and sentiment of truth, must have been reported from one to +another. This is what she said; does that look like a deceiver? could +the devils inspire that steadfastness, that constancy and quiet? or +was it not rather the angels, the saints as she said? Never, we may be +sure, had there been in Rouen a time of so much interest, such a theme +for conversations, such a subject for all thoughts. The eager court +sat with their tonsured heads together, keen to seize every weak +point. Did you observe how she hesitated on this? Let us push that, +we'll get an admission on that point to-morrow. It is impossible to +believe that in such an assembly every man was a partisan, much less +that each one of them was thinking of the fee of the English, the +daily allowance which it was the English habit to make. That were to +imagine a France, base indeed beyond the limits of human baseness. All +the Norman dignitaries of the Church, all the most learned doctors of +the University--no! that is too great a stretch of our faith. The +greater part no doubt believed as an indisputable fact, that Jeanne +was either a witch or an impostor, as we should all probably do now. +And the vertigo of Inquisition gained upon them; they became day by +day more exasperated with her seeming innocence, with what must have +seemed to them the cunning and cleverness, impossible to her age and +sex, of her replies. Who could have kept the girl so cool, so +dauntless, so embarrassing in her straight-forwardness and sincerity? +The saints? the saints were not dialecticians; far more likely the +evil one himself, in whom the Church has always such faith. "He hath a +devil and by Beelzebub casteth out devils." It was all like a play, +only more exciting than any play, and going on endlessly, the +excitement always getting stronger till it became the chief stimulus +and occupation of life. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION. +FEBRUARY, 1431. + +It was in the chapel of the Castle of Rouen, on the 21st of February, +that the trial of Jeanne was begun. The judges present numbered about +forty, and are carefully classed as doctors in theology, abbots, +canons, doctors in canonical and civil law, with the Bishop of +Beauvais at their head (the archepiscopal see of Rouen being vacant, +as is added: but not that my lord of Beauvais hoped for that +promotion). They were assembled there in all the solemnity of their +priestly and professional robes, the reporters ready with their pens, +the range of dark figures forming a semicircle round the presiding +Bishop, when the officer of the court led in the prisoner, clothed in +her worn and war-stained tunic, like a boy, with her hair cut close as +for the helmet, and her slim figure, no doubt more slim than ever, +after her long imprisonment. She had asked to be allowed to hear mass +before coming to the bar, but this was refused. It was a privilege +which she had never failed to avail herself of in her most triumphant +days. Now the chapel--the sanctuary of God contained for her no sacred +sacrifice, but only those dark benches of priests amid whom she found +no responsive countenance, no look of kindness. + +Jeanne was addressed sternly by Cauchon, in an exhortation which it is +sad to think was not in Latin, as it appears in the /Procès/. She was +then required to take the oath on the Scriptures to speak the truth, +and to answer all questions addressed to her. Jeanne had already held +that conversation with L'Oyseleur in the prison which Cauchon and +Warwick had listened to in secret with greedy ears, but which Manchon, +the honest reporter, had refused to take down. Perhaps, therefore, the +Bishop knew that the slim creature before him, half boy half girl, was +not likely to be overawed by his presence or questions; but it cannot +have been but a wonder to the others, all gazing at her, the first men +in Normandy, the most learned in Paris, to hear her voice, /assez +femme/, young and clear, arising in the midst of them, "I know not +what things I may be asked," said Jeanne. "Perhaps you may ask me +questions which I cannot answer." The assembly was startled by this +beginning. + +"Will you swear to answer truly all that concerns the faith, and that +you know?" + +"I will swear," said Jeanne, "about my father and mother and what I +have done since coming to France; but concerning my revelations from +God I will answer to no man, except only to Charles my King; I should +not reveal them were you to cut off my head, unless by the secret +counsel of my visions." + +The Bishop continued not without gentleness, enjoining her to swear at +least that in everything that touched the faith she would speak truth; +and Jeanne kneeling down crossed her hands upon the book of the +Gospel, or Missal as it is called in the report, and took the required +oath, always under the condition she stated, to answer truly on +everything she knew concerning the faith, except in respect to her +revelations. + +The examination then began with the usual formalities. She was asked +her name (which she said with touching simplicity was Jeannette at +home but Jeanne in France), the names of her father and mother, +godfather and godmothers, the priest who baptised her, the place where +she was born, etc., her age, almost nineteen; her education, +consisting of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo, which her mother +had taught her. + +Here she was asked, a curious interruption to the formal +interrogatory, to say the Pater Noster--the reason of which sudden +demand was that witches and sorcerers were supposed to be unable to +repeat that prayer. As unexpected as the question was Jeanne's reply. +She answered that if the Bishop would hear her in confession she would +say it willingly. She had been refused all the exercises of piety, and +she was speaking to a company of priests. + +There is a great dignity of implied protest against this treatment in +such an answer. The request was made a second time with a promise of +selecting two worthy Frenchmen to hear her: but her reply was the +same. She would say the prayer when she made her confession but not +otherwise. She was ready it would seem in proud humility to confess to +any or to all of her enemies, as one whose conscience was clear, and +who had nothing to conceal. + +She was then commanded not to attempt to escape from her prison, on +pain of being condemned for heresy, but to this again she demurred at +once. She would not accept the prohibition, but would escape if she +could, so that no man could say that she had broken faith; although +since her capture she had been bound in chains and her feet fastened +with irons. To this, her examiner said that it was necessary so to +secure her in order that she might not escape. "It is true and +certain," she replied, "whatever others may wish, that to every +prisoner it is lawful to escape if he can." It may be remarked, as she +forcibly pointed out afterwards, that she had never given her faith, +never surrendered, but had always retained her freedom of action. + +The tribunal thereupon called in the captain in charge of Jeanne's +prison, a gentleman called John Gris in the record, probably John +Grey, along with two soldiers, Bernoit and Talbot, and enjoined them +to guard her securely and not to permit her to talk with any one +without the permission of the court. This was all the business done on +the first day of audience. + +On the 22d of February at eight o'clock in the morning, the sitting +was resumed. In the meantime, however, the chapel had been found too +small and too near the outer world, the proceedings being much +interrupted by shouts and noises from without, and probably incommoded +within by the audience which had crowded it the first day. The judges +accordingly assembled in the great hall of the castle; they were +forty-nine in number on the second day, the number being chiefly +swelled by canons of Rouen. After some preliminary business the +accused was once more introduced, and desired again to take the oath. +Jeanne replied that she had done so on the previous day and that this +was enough; upon which there followed a short altercation, which, +however, ended by her consent to swear again that she would answer +truly in all things that concerned the faith. The questioner this day +was Jean Beaupère (/Pulchri patris/, as he is called in the Latin), a +theologian, Master of Arts, Canon of Paris and of Besançon, "one of +the greatest props of the University of Paris," a man holding a number +of important offices, and who afterwards appeared at the Council of +Bâle as the deputy of Normandy. He began by another exhortation to +speak the truth, to which Jeanne replied as before that what she did +say she would say truly, but that she would not answer upon all +subjects. "I have done nothing but by revelation," she said. + +These preliminaries on both sides having been gone through, the +examination was resumed. Jeanne informed the court in answer to +Beaupère's question that she had been taught by her mother to sew and +did not fear to compete with any woman in Rouen in these crafts; that +she had once been absent from home when her family were driven out of +their village by fear of the Burgundians, and that she had then lived +for about fifteen days in the house of a woman called La Rousse, at +Neufchâteau; that when she was at home she was occupied in the work of +the house and did not go to the fields with the sheep and other +animals; that she went to confession regularly to the Curé of her own +village, or when he could not hear her, to some other priest, by +permission of the Curé; also that two or three times she had made her +confession to the mendicant friars--this being during her stay in +Neufchâteau (where presumably she was not acquainted with the clergy); +and that she received the sacrament always at Easter. Asked whether +she had communicated at other feasts than Easter, she said briefly +that this was enough. "Go on to the rest," /passez outre/, she added, +and the questioner seems to have been satisfied. Then came the really +vital part of the matter. She proceeded--no direct question on the +point being recorded, though no doubt it was made--to tell how when +she was about thirteen she heard voices from God bidding her to be +good and obedient. The first time she was much afraid. The voice came +about the hour of noon, in summer, in her father's garden. She was +fasting but had not fasted the preceding day. The voice came from the +right, towards the church; and came rarely without a great light. This +light came always from the side whence the voice proceeded, and was a +very bright radiance. When she came into France she still continued to +hear the same voices. + +She was then asked how she could see the light when it was at the +side; to which foolish question Jeanne gave no reply, but "turned to +other matters," saying voluntarily with a soft implied reproof of the +noise around her--that if she were in a wood, that is in a quiet +place, she could hear the voices coming towards her. She added (going +on, one could imagine, in a musing, forgetting the congregation of +sinners about her) that it seemed to her a noble voice, and that she +believed it came from God, and that when she had heard it three times +she knew it was the voice of an angel; the voice always came quite +clearly to her, and she understood it well. + +She was then asked what it said to her concerning the salvation of her +soul. + +She said that it taught her to rule her life well, to go often to +church: and told her that it was necessary that she, Jeanne, should go +to France. The said Jeanne added that she would not be questioned +further concerning the voice, or the manner in which it was made known +to her, but that two or three times in a week it had said to her that +she must go to France; but that her father knew nothing of this. The +voice said to her that she should go to France, until she could endure +it no longer; it said to her that she should raise the siege, which +was set against the city of Orleans. It said also that she must go to +Robert of Baudricourt, in the city of Vaucouleurs, who was captain of +that place, and that he would give her people to go with her; to which +she had answered that she was a poor girl who knew not how to ride, +nor how to conduct war. She then said that she went to her uncle and +told him that she wished to go with him for a little while to his +house, and that she lived there for eight days; she then told her +uncle that she must go to Vaucouleurs, and the said uncle took her +there. Also she went on to say that when she came to the said city of +Vaucouleurs, she recognised Robert of Baudricourt; though she had +never seen him before she knew him by the voice that said to her which +was he. She then told this Robert that it was necessary that she +should go to France, but twice over he refused and repulsed her; the +third time, however, he received her, and gave her certain men to go +with her; the voice had told her that this would be so. + +She said also that the Duke of Lorraine sent for her to come to him, +and that she went under a safe conduct granted by him, and told him +that she must go to France. He asked her whether he should recover +from his illness; but she told him that she knew nothing of that, and +she talked very little to him of her journey. She told the Duke that +he ought to send his son and his people with her to take her to +France, and that she would pray God to restore his health; and then +she was taken back to Vaucouleurs. She said also that when she left +Vaucouleurs she wore the dress of a man, without any other arms than a +sword which Robert de Baudricourt had given her; and that she had with +her a chevalier, a squire, and four servants, and that they slept for +the first night at St. Urbain, in the abbey there. She was then asked +by whose advice she wore the dress of a man, but refused to answer. +Finally she said that she charged no man with giving her this advice. + +She went on to say that the said Robert de Baudricourt exacted an oath +from those who went with her, that they would conduct her to the end +of her journey well and safely; and that he said, as she left him, +"Go, and let come what will." She also said that she knew well that +God loved the Duke of Orleans, concerning whom she had more +revelations than about any other living man, except him whom she +called her King. She added that it was necessary for her to wear male +attire, and that whoever advised her to do so had given her wise +counsel. + +She then said that she sent a letter to the English before Orleans, in +which she required them to go away, a copy of which letter had been +read to her in Rouen; but there were two or three mistakes, especially +in the words which called upon them to surrender to the Maid instead +of to surrender to the King. (There is no indication why these two +latter statements should have been introduced into the midst of her +narrative of the journey; it may have been in reply to some other +question interjected by another of her examiners: /Passez outre/, as +she herself says. She immediately resumes the simple and +straightforward tale.) + +The said Jeanne went on to say that her further journey to him whom +she called her King was without any impediment; and that when she +arrived at the town of St. Catherine de Fierbois she sent news of her +arrival to the town of Chasteau-Chinon where the said King was. She +arrived there herself about noon and went to an inn[1]; and after +dinner went to him whom she called her King, who was in the castle. +She then said that when she entered the chamber where he was, she knew +him among all others, by the revelation of her "voices." She told her +King that she wished to make war against the English. + +She was then asked whether when she heard the "voices" in the presence +of the King the light was also seen in that place. She answered as +before: /Passez outre: Transeatis ultra/. "Go on," as we might say, +"to the other questions." + +She was asked if she had seen an angel hovering over her King. She +answered: "Spare me; /passez outre/." She added afterwards, however, +that before he put his hand to the work, the King had many beautiful +apparitions and revelations. She was asked what these were. She +answered: "I will not tell you; it is not I who should answer; send to +the King and he will tell you." + +She was then asked if her voices had promised her that when she came +to the King he would receive her. She answered that those of her own +party knew that she had been sent from God and that some had heard and +recognised the voices. Further, she said that her King and various +others had heard and seen[2] the voices coming to her--Charles of +Bourbon (Comte de Clermont) and two or three others with him. She then +said that there was no day in which she did not hear that voice; but +that she asked nothing from it except the salvation of her soul. +Besides this, Jeanne confessed that the voice said she should be led +to the town of St. Denis in France, where she wished to remain--that +is after the attack on Paris--but that against her will the lords +forced her to leave it: if she had not been wounded she would not have +gone: but she was wounded in the moats of Paris: however she was +healed in five days. She then said that she had made an assault, +called in French /escarmouche/ (skirmish), upon the town of Paris. She +was asked if it was on a holy day, and said that she believed it was +on a festival. She was then asked if she thought it well done to fight +on a holy day, and answered, "/Passez outre/." Go on to the next +question." + +This is a verbatim account of one day of the trial. Most of the +translations which exist give questions as well as answers: but these +are but occasionally given in the original document, and Jeanne's +narrative reads like a calm, continuous statement, only interrupted +now and then by a question, usually a cunning attempt to startle her +with a new subject, and to hurry some admission from her. The great +dignity with which she makes her replies, the occasional flash of high +spirit, the calm determination with which she refuses to be led into +discussion of the subjects which she had from the first moment +reserved, are very remarkable. We have seen her hitherto only in +conflict, in the din of battle and the fatigue, yet exuberant energy, +of rapid journeys. Her circumstances were now very different. She had +been shut up in prison for months, for six weeks at least she had been +in irons, and the air of heaven had not blown upon this daughter of +the fields; her robust yet sensitive maidenhood had been exposed to a +hundred offences, and to the constant society, infecting the very air +about, of the rudest of men; yet so far is her spirit from being +broken that she meets all those potent, grave, and reverend doctors +and ecclesiastics, with the simplicity and freedom of a princess, +answering frankly or holding her peace as seems good to her, afraid of +nothing, keeping her self-possession, all her wits about her as we +say, without panic and without presumption. The trial of Jeanne is +indeed almost more miraculous than her fighting; a girl not yet +nineteen, forsaken of all, without a friend! It is less wonderful that +she should have developed the qualities of a general, of a gunner, +every gift of war--than that in her humiliation and distress she +should thus hold head against all the most subtle intellects in +France, and bear, with but one moment of faltering, a continued cross- +examination of three months, without losing her patience, her heart, +or her courage. + +***** + +The third day brought a still larger accession of judges, sixty-two of +them taking their places on the benches round the Bishop in the great +hall; and the day began with another and longer altercation between +Cauchon and Jeanne on the subject of the oath again demanded of her. +She maintained her resolution to say nothing of her voices. "We" +according to the record "required of her that she should swear simply +and absolutely without reservation." She would seem to have replied +with impatience, "Let me speak freely:" adding "By my faith you may +ask me many questions which I will not answer": then explaining, "Many +things you may ask me, but I will tell you nothing truly that concerns +my revelations; for you might compel me to say things which I have +sworn not to say; and so I should perjure myself, which you ought not +to wish." This explains several statements which she made later in +respect to her introduction to the King. She repeated emphatically: "I +warn you well, you who call yourselves my judges, that you take a +great responsibility upon you, and that you burden me too much." She +said also that it was enough to have already sworn twice. She was +again asked to swear simply and absolutely, and answered, "It is +enough to have sworn twice," and that all the clerks in Rouen and +Paris could not condemn her unless lawfully; also that of her coming +she would speak the truth but not all the truth; and that the space of +eight days would not be enough to tell all. + +"We the said Bishop" (continues the report) "then said to her that she +should ask advice from those present whether she ought to swear or +not. She replied again that of her coming she would speak truly and +not otherwise, nor would it be fit that she should talk at large. We +then told her that it would throw suspicion on what she said if she +did not swear to speak the truth. She answered as before. We repeated +that she must swear precisely and absolutely. She answered that she +would say what she knew, but not all, and that she had come on the +part of God, and appealed to God from whom she came. Again requested +and admonished to swear on pain of every punishment that could be put +on her, again answered '/Passez outre/.' Finally she consented to +swear that she would speak the truth in everything that concerned the +trial." + +Her examination was then resumed by Beaupère as before, who elicited +from her that she had fasted (he seems to have wished to make out that +the fasting had something to do with her visions) since noon the day +before (it was Lent); and also that she had heard her voices both on +that day and the day before, three times on the previous day, the +first time in the morning when she was asleep, and awakened by them. +Did she kneel and thank them? She thanked them, sitting up in her bed +(to which she was chained, as her questioner knew) and clasping her +hands. She asked them what she was to do, and they told her to answer +boldly. + +It may be remarked here that more frequently as the examination goes +on, part of Jeanne's words are quoted in the first person, as if the +reporters had been specially struck by them, while the bulk of her +evidence goes on more calmly in the third person, the narrative form. +After saying that she was bidden to answer boldly, she seems to have +turned to the Bishop, and to have addressed him individually: "You say +you are my judge; I warn you to take care what you are doing, for I am +sent from God, and you are putting yourself in much peril" (/magno +periculo: gallice/, adds the reporter, /en grant dangier/). + +She was then asked if her voices ever changed their meaning, and +answered that she had never heard two speak contrary to each other; +what they had said that day was that she should speak boldly. Asked, +if the voice forbade her to reply to questions asked, she replied; "I +will not answer you. I have revelations touching the King which I will +not tell you." Asked, if the voices forbade her to reveal these +revelations, she answered, "I have not consulted them; give me fifteen +days' delay and I will answer you"; but being again exhorted to reply, +said: "If the voice forbade me to speak, how many times should I tell +you?" Again asked, if she were forbidden to speak, answered, "I +believe I am not forbidden by men"--repeating that she would not +reply, and knew not how far she should reply, for it had not been +revealed to her; but that she believed firmly, as firmly as the +Christian faith, and that God had redeemed us from the pains of hell, +that this voice came from Him. + +Questioned concerning the voice, what it appeared to be when it spoke, +if that of an angel, or from God Himself; or if it was the voice of a +saint or of saints (feminine), answered: "The voice comes from God; +and I believe that I should not tell you all I know, for I should +displease these voices if I answered you; and as for this question I +pray you to leave me free." Asked if she thought that to speak the +truth would displease God, she answered, "What the voices say I am to +tell to the King, not to you," adding that during that night they had +said much to her for the good of the King, and that if she could but +let him know she would willingly drink no wine up to Easter (the +reader will remember that her frugal fare consisted of bread dipped in +the wine and water, which is justly called /eau rougie/ in France). +Asked, if she could not induce the voices to speak to her King +directly, she answered that she knew not whether her voices would +consent, unless it were the will of God, and God consented to it, +adding, "They might well reveal it to the King; and with that I should +be content." Asked, if the voices could not communicate with the King +as they did in her presence, she answered, that she did not know +whether this was God's will; and added, that unless it were the will +of God she would not know how to act. Asked, if it was by the advice +of her voices that she attempted to escape from her prison, she +answered, "I have nothing to say to you on that point." Asked, if she +always saw a light when the voices were heard, she answered: "Yes: +that with the sound of the voices light came." Asked if she saw +anything else coming with the voices, answered: "I do not tell you +all. I am not allowed to do so, nor does my oath touch that; the +voices are good and noble, but neither of that will I answer." She was +then asked to give in writing the points on which she would not reply. +Then she was asked if her voices had eyes and ears, and answered, "You +shall not have this either," adding, that it was a saying among +children that men were sometimes hanged for speaking the truth. + +She was then asked if she knew herself to be in the grace of God. She +replied: "If I am not so, may God put me in His grace; if I am, may +God keep me in it. I should be the most miserable in the world if I +were not in the grace of God." She said besides, that if she were in a +state of sin she did not believe her voices would come to her, and she +wished that everyone could understand them as she did, adding, that +she was about thirteen when they came to her first. + +She was then asked, whether in her childhood she had played with the +other children in the fields, and various other particulars about +Domremy, whether there were any Burgundians there? to which Jeanne +answered boldly that there was one, and that she wished his head might +be cut off, adding piously, "that is, if it pleased God"[3]; she was +also asked whether she had fought along with the other children +against the children of the neighbouring Burgundian village of Maxy +(Maxey sur Meuse): why she hated the Burgundians, and many questions +of this kind, with a close examination about a certain tree near the +village of Domremy, which some called the Tree of the good Ladies, and +others, the Fairies' Tree; and also about a well there, the Fairies' +Well, of which poor patients were said to drink and get well. Jeanne +(no doubt relieved by the simple character of these questions) made +answer freely and without hesitation, in no way denying that she had +danced and sung with the other children, and made garlands for the +image of the Blessed Marie of Domremy; but she did not remember +whether she had ever done so after attaining years of discretion, and +certainly she had never seen a fairy, nor worked any spell by their +means. At the end, after having thus been put off her guard, she was +suddenly asked about her dress (a capital point in the eyes of her +judges): whether she wished to have a woman's dress. Probably she was, +as they hoped, tired, and expecting no such question, for she answered +quickly yet with instant recovery: "Bring me one to go home in and I +will accept it; otherwise no. I prefer this, since it pleases God that +I should wear it." The recollection of Domremy and of the pleasant +fields, must have carried her back to the days when the little Jeanne +was like the rest in her short, full petticoats of crimson stuff, free +of any danger: what could be better to go home in? but she immediately +remembered the obvious and excellent reasons she had for wearing +another costume now. So ended the third day. + +In the meantime there had been, we are told, various interruptions +during the examination; perhaps it was then that Nicolas de +Houppeville protested against Bishop Cauchon as a partisan and a +Burgundian, and therefore incapable by law of judging a member of the +opposite party: and had been rudely silenced, and afterwards punished, +as we have already heard. Another kind of opposition less bold had +begun to be remarked, which was that one of the persons present, by +word and sign, whispering suggestions to her, or warning her with his +eyes, was helping the unfortunate prisoner in her defence. Probably +this did little good, "for she was often troubled and hurried in her +answers," we are told; but it was a sign of good-will, at least. When +Frère Isambard, who was the person in question, speaks at a later +period he tells us that "the questions put to Jeanne were too +difficult, subtle, and dangerous, so that the great clerks and learned +men who were present scarcely would have known how to answer them, and +that many in the assembly murmured at them." Perhaps the good Frère +Isambard might have spared himself the trouble; for Jeanne, however +she may have suffered, was probably more able to hold her own than +many of those great clerks, and did so with unfailing courage and +spirit. One of the other judges, Jean Fabry, a bishop, declared +afterwards that "her answers were so good, that for three weeks he +believed that they were inspired." Manchon, the reporter, he who had +refused to take down the private conversation of Jeanne in her prison +with the vile traitor, L'Oyseleur, makes his voice heard also to the +effect that "Monseigneur of Beauvais would have had everything written +as pleased him, and when there was anything that displeased him he +forbade the secretaries to report it as being of no importance for the +trial." On another day a humbler witness still, Massieu, one of the +officers of the court, who had the charge of taking Jeanne daily from +her prison to the hall, and back again, met in the courtyard an +Englishman, who seems to have been a singing man or lay clerk "of the +King's chapel in England," probably attached to Winchester's +ecclesiastical retinue. This man asked him: "What do you think of her +answers? Will she be burned? What will happen?" "Up to this time," +said Massieu, "I have heard nothing from her that was not honourable +and good. She seems to me a good woman, but how it will all end God +only knows!" + +No doubt conversations of this kind were being carried on all over +Rouen. Would she be burned? What would happen? Could any one stand and +answer like that hour after hour and day by day, inspired only by the +devil? There was no popular enthusiasm for her even now. How should +there have been in that partisan province, more English than French? +But a chill doubt began to steal into many minds whether she was so +bad as had been thought, whether indeed she might not after all be +something quite different from what she had been thought? Nature had +begun to work in the agitated place, and even in that black-robed, +eager assembly. If there was a vile L'Oyseleur trying to get her +confidence in private, and so betray her, there was also a kind Frère +Isambard, privately plucking at her sleeve, imploring her to be +cautious, whispering an answer probably not half so wise as her own +natural reply, yet warming her heart with the suggestion of a friend +at hand. + +On the fourth day, Jeanne was again required to swear, and replied as +before, that so far as concerned the trial she would answer truly, but +not all she knew. "You ought to be satisfied: I have sworn +sufficiently," she said; and with this her judges seem to have been +content. Beaupère then resumed his questions, but first asked her, +perhaps with a momentary gleam of compassion and a sudden +consciousness of the pallor and weariness of the young prisoner, how +she did. She answered, one can imagine with what tone of indignant +disdain: "You see how I am: I am as well as I can be." He then cross- +examined her closely as to what voices she had heard since her last +appearance in court, but drew from her only the same answer, "The +voice tells me to answer boldly," and that she would tell them as much +as she was permitted by God to tell them, but concerning her +revelations for the King of France she would say nothing except by +permission of her voices. + +She was then asked what kind of voices they were which she heard, were +they voices of angels, or of saints (/sancti aut sanctæ/, male or +female saints) or from God Himself? She answered that the voices were +those of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, whose heads were crowned with +beautiful crowns, very rich and precious. "So much as this God allows +me to say. If you doubt send to Poitiers, where I was questioned +before." (It may perhaps be permissible to suppose that the kind +whisperer at her elbow might have suggested the repeated references to +Poitiers that follow, but which are not to be found before: though it +was most natural she should refer to this place where she was examined +at the beginning of her mission.) Asked how she knew which of these +two saints, she answered that she could quite distinguish one from the +other by the manner of their salutation; that she had been led and +guided by them for seven years, and that she knew them because they +had named themselves to her. She was then asked how they were dressed? +and answered: "I cannot tell you; I am not permitted to reveal this; +if you do not believe me send to Poitiers." She said also that at her +coming into France she had revealed these things, but could not now. +She was asked what was the age of her saints, but replied that she was +not permitted to tell. Asked, if both saints spoke at once or one +after the other, she replied: "I have not permission to tell you: but +I always consult them both together." Asked, which had appeared to her +first, and answered: "I do not know which it was; I did know, but have +forgotten. It is written in the register of Poitiers." + +"She then said she had much comfort from St. Michael. Again, asked, +which had come first, she replied that it was St. Michael. Asked, if a +long time had passed since she first heard the voice of St. Michael, +answered: "I do not name to you the voice of St. Michael; but his +conversation was of great comfort to me." Asked, again, what voice +came first to her when she was thirteen, answered, that it was St. +Michael whom she saw before her eyes, and that he was not alone, but +accompanied by many angels of Heaven. She said also that she would not +have come into France but by the command of God. Asked, if she saw St. +Michael and the angels really, with her ordinary senses, she answered: +"I saw them with my bodily eyes as I see you, and when they left me I +wept, desiring much that they would take me with them." Asked, what +was the form in which he appeared, she replied: "I cannot answer you; +I am not permitted." Asked, what St. Michael said to her the first +time, she cried, "You shall have no answer to-day." Then went on to +say that her voices told her to reply boldly. Afterwards she said that +she had told her King once all that had been revealed to her; said +also that she was not permitted to say here what St. Michael had said; +but that it would be better to send for a copy of the books which were +at Poitiers than to question her on this subject. Asked, what sign she +had that these were revelations of God, and that it was really St. +Catherine and St. Margaret with whom she talked, she answered: "It is +enough that I tell you they were St. Catherine and St. Margaret: +believe me or not as you will." + +Asked how she distinguished the points on which she was allowed to +speak from the others, she answered, that on some points she had asked +permission to speak, and not on others, adding, that she would rather +have been torn by wild horses than to have come to France, unless by +the license of God. Asked how it was that she put on a man's dress, +she answered, that dress appeared to her a small matter, that she did +not adopt that dress by the counsel of any man, and that she neither +put on a dress nor did anything, but according as God, or the angels, +commanded her to do so. Asked, if she knew whether such a command to +assume the dress of a man was lawful, she answered: "All that I did, I +did by the precepts of our Lord; and if I were bidden to wear another +dress I would do so, because it was at the bidding of God." Asked, if +she had done it by the orders of Robert de Baudricourt, answered "No." +Asked, if she thought that she had done well in assuming a man's +dress, answered, that as all she did was by the command of the Lord, +she believed that she had done well, and expected a good guarantee and +good succour. Asked, if in this particular case of assuming the dress +of a man she thought she had done well, answered, that nothing in the +world had made her do it, but the command of God. + +She was then asked whether light always accompanied the voices when +they came to her, she answered, with an evident reference to her first +interview with Charles, that there were many lights on every side as +was fit. "It is not only to you that light comes" (or you have not all +the light to yourself,--a curious phrase). Asked, if there was an +angel over the head of the King when she saw him for the first time, +she answered: "By the Blessed Mary, if there were, I know not, I saw +none." Asked, if there was light, she answered: "There were about +three hundred soldiers, and fifty of them held torches, without +counting any spiritual light. And rarely do I have the revelations +without light." Asked, if her King had faith in what she said, she +answered, that he had good signs, and also by his clergy. Asked, what +revelations her King had, she answered: "You shall have nothing from +me this year." Then added that for three weeks she was cross-examined +by the clergy, both in the town of Chinon and at Poitiers, and that +her King had signs concerning her, before he believed in her. And the +clergy of his party had found nothing in her, in respect to her faith, +that was not good. Asked, whether she gone to the church of St. +Catherine of Fierbois, answered: "yes," and that she had there heard +three masses in one day, and from thence went to Chinon; she added +that she had sent a letter thence to the King, in which it was +contained that she sent this to know if she might come to the town in +which the King was; for that she had travelled a hundred and fifty +leagues to come to him and to bring him help, for she knew much good +concerning him. And she thought it was contained in this letter that +she should recognise the King among all the rest. + +She said besides, that she had a sword which was given to her at +Vaucouleurs; she said also that, being in Tours or at Chinon, she sent +for a sword which was in the church of St. Catherine of Fierbois +behind the altar, and that when it was found it was rusty. Asked, how +she knew about this sword, she answered, that it was rusty because of +being in the ground, and there were five crosses on it, and that she +knew this sword by her voices, and not by any man's report. She wrote +to the ecclesiastics of the place where it was and asked them for this +sword, and they sent it to her. It was found not much below the ground +behind the altar; she was not sure if it was before or behind the +altar, but wrote that it was behind the altar. And when it was found +the clergy cleaned it and rubbed off the rust, which came off easily; +and it was an armourer of Tours who went to fetch it. The clergy made +a scabbard for it before sending it to the said Jeanne, and they of +Tours made another, so that it had two scabbards, one of crimson +velvet and one of cloth of gold. And she herself procured another of +strong leather. She said also that when she was captured she had not +that sword. Said also that she continued to wear the said sword until +she left St. Denis after the assault on Paris. Asked, what benediction +she made, or if she made any on this sword, she answered, that she +made no benediction, nor knew how to make one, but that she loved the +sword because it had come to her from the Church of the blessed +Catherine whom she loved much. Asked, if she had placed it on the +altar at the village of Coulenges, Les Vineuses, or elsewhere, placing +it there that it might bring good luck, she answered, that she knew +nothing of this. Asked, if she did not pray that the sword might have +good fortune: "It is good to know that I wish all my armour +(/harnesseum meum; gallice, mon harnois/) to be very fortunate." +Asked, where she had left the sword, answered, that she had deposited +a sword and armour at St. Denis, but it was not this sword. She added +that she had it in Lagny: but that she afterwards wore the sword which +had been taken from a Burgundian, which was a good sword for war and +gave good strokes (/gallice, de bonnes bouffes/ and /de bons +torchons/). Said also that to tell where she left it had nothing to do +with the trial, and she would answer nothing. + +She said also that her brothers had everything that belonged to her, +her horses, swords, and everything, and that she believed they were +worth in all about 12,000 francs. She was also asked whether when she +was at Orleans she had a standard, and what colour it was; answered, +that she had a standard, the field of which was sown with lilies, and +on it was a figure of the world with angels on each side. It was +white, and made of a stuff called boucassin, upon which was written +the name /Jhesus Maria/, so that all might see, and it was fringed +with silk. Asked, if the name /Jhesus Maria/ was written above or +below or at the side, she answered, "At the side." Asked, if she loved +her sword or standard best, she answered, that she loved her standard +best. Asked, why she had that picture on the standard, she answered: +"I have sufficiently told you that I did nothing but by the command of +God." She added that she herself carried her standard when in battle +that she might not hurt anyone, and said that she had never killed any +man. + +Asked, how many men her King gave her when she began her work, +answered, from ten to twelve[4] thousand men, and that she attacked +first the bastile of St. Loup at Orleans, and afterwards that of the +bridge. Asked, from which bastile it was that her men were driven +back, she answered, that she did not remember; adding, that she had +been sure that she could raise the siege at Orleans, for it had been +so revealed to her; and that she told this to her King before it +occurred. Asked, whether, when she made assault, she told her men that +all the arrows, stones, cannon-balls, etc., would be intercepted by +her, she answered no--that more than a hundred were wounded: that what +she had said to her people was that they should have no doubts, for +they should certainly raise the siege of Orleans. She said also that +in attacking the bastile of the bridge she herself was wounded by an +arrow in the neck, and was much comforted by St. Catherine, and was +healed in fifteen days; but that she never gave up riding and working +all that time. Asked, if she knew that she would be wounded, she +answered, that she knew it well and had told her King, but that, +notwithstanding, she went about her business. It was revealed to her +by the voices of her two saints, the blessed Catherine and the blessed +Margaret. She said besides, that she was the first to place a scaling +ladder on the bastile of the bridge, and as she raised it she was +struck in the neck. + +She was then asked why she did not treat with the Captain of Jargeau; +she answered that the lords of her party had replied to the English, +who had asked for a truce of fifteen days, that they could not have +it, but that they might retire, they and their horses at once; she had +said for her part that if they retired in their doublets and tunics +their lives should be spared, otherwise the city would be taken by +storm. Asked, if she had consulted with her counsel, that is with her +voices, whether the truce should be granted or not, she answered, that +she did not remember. + +It will be remarked, as the slow examination goes on day after day, +that Jeanne, becoming at moments impatient, sometimes gives a rough +answer, and at other times plays a little with her questioner as if in +contempt. "By the Blessed Mary, I know not!" is evidently an outburst +of impatience at the exhausting, exasperating folly of some of these +questions, and this will be further visible in future sittings. It +seems very likely that the reference to Poitiers, which was an +excellent suggestion, commending itself to her invariable good sense, +came from the kind priest who tried to serve her as he best could; but +there are other answers a little incoherent, which look as if Frère +Isambard, if it were he, had confused her in her own response without +conveying anything better to her mind, especially on the occasions +when she refuses to reply, and then does so, abandoning her ground at +once. Her patience and steadiness are quite extraordinary however even +in the less self-collected moments. Thus end the proceedings of the +fourth day. + +***** + +The fifth day began with the usual dispute about the oath, Jeanne +still retaining her reservation with the greatest firmness. She seems, +however, at the end, to have repeated her oath to answer everything +that had to do with the trial--"And as much as I say I will say as if +I were before the Pope of Rome." These words must have given the +Magister Beaupère an admirable occasion for introducing one of the +things charged against her for which there was actual proof--her +letter to the Comte d'Armagnac in respect to the Pope. He seized upon +it evidently with eagerness, and asked her which she held to be the +true Pope. To this she answered quietly, "Are there two?"--the most +confusing reply.[5] + +She was asked if she had received letters from the Comte d'Armagnac, +asking to know which of the three existing Popes he ought to obey; she +answered that she had his letter, and had replied to it, saying among +other things that when she was in Paris and at rest she would answer +him; and added that she was on the point of mounting her horse when +she gave that reply. The copy of the letter and the reply being read +to her she was asked if that was what she had said; to which she +replied that she had answered his letter in part, not in full. Asked, +if she knew the counsels of the King of Kings so as to be able to say +which the count should obey, she answered, that she knew nothing. +Asked, if she was in doubt as to which the count ought to obey, she +replied that she knew not which to bid him obey; but that she, the +said Jeanne, held and believed that we ought to obey our Pope who was +in Rome; that as for what he asked, that she should tell him which God +desired him to obey, she had said she knew nothing; but she sent much +to him which was not put in writing. And as for herself she believed +in the Lord Pope of Rome. Asked, whether in respect to the three +pontiffs she had received counsel, she answered, that she had neither +written nor made to be written anything about the three pontiffs. And +this she swore on her oath. Asked, if she were in the habit of putting +on her letters the name /Jhesus Maria/ with a cross, answered, that +she did so sometimes but not always, and that sometimes she put a +cross to shew that these letters were not to be taken seriously (as +likely to fall into the enemy's hands). + +Some questions were then put to her about her letters to the Duke of +Bedford and to the English King, and copies were read to her to which +she objected on some small points, but mistakenly it would seem, as +that she had summoned them to surrender to the King, while the scribe +had put "surrender to the Maid." She said, however, that they were +her letters, and that she held by them. She added that before seven +years the English would lose more than they had lost at Orleans,[6] +and that their cause would be lost in France; she said also that the +said English should have greater disasters than they had yet had in +France, and that God would give greater victories to France. Asked, +how she knew this, she replied: "I know it by the revelations made to +me, and that it will happen in seven years, and I might well be angry +that it is deferred so long." Asked, when this would happen, she said +that she knew neither the day nor the hour. + +She was tormented a little further as to the dates, whether this would +happen before the St. Jean, or before the St. Martin in winter, but +made no answer except that before the St. Martin in winter they should +see many things, and it might be that the English should fail; as a +matter of fact Paris opened its gates to Charles VII. within the seven +years specified, so that Jeanne's prophecy may be held to have been +fulfilled. + +We then come once more to a long and profitless interrogatory upon her +saints, in which the crowd of judges forgot their dignity and +overwhelmed her with a flood of often very foolish, and sometimes +worse than foolish questions. + +Asked, how she knew the future, she answered that she knew it by St. +Catherine and St. Margaret; asked, if St. Gabriel was with St. Michael +when he came to her, she answered, that she could not remember. Asked, +if she saw them always in the same dress, answered yes, and they were +crowned very richly. Of their other garments she could not speak; she +knew nothing of their tunics. Asked, how she knew whether they were +men or women, answered, that she knew well by their voices which +revealed them to her; and that she knew nothing save by revelation and +the precepts of God. Asked, what appearances she saw, she answered, +that she saw faces. Asked, if these saints had hair, she answered, "It +is good to know." Asked, if there was anything between their crowns +and their hair, answered, no. Asked, if their hair was long and +hanging down, answered, "I know nothing about it." She also said that +their voices were beautiful sweet, and humble, and that she understood +them well. Asked, how they could speak when they had no bodies, she +answered, "I refer it to God." She repeated that the voices were +beautiful, humble, and sweet, and that they could speak French. Asked, +if St. Margaret did not speak English, answered: "How could she speak +English when she was not on the English side?" + +This would seem to infer that the St. Margaret referred to was not the +legendary St. Margaret of the dragon, but St. Margaret of Scotland, +well known in France from the long connection between those two +countries, and a popular mediæval saint. She would naturally have +spoken English, being a Saxon, but also quite naturally would have +been against the English, as a Scottish queen; but of these +refinements it is very unlikely that Jeanne knew anything, and her +prompt and somewhat sharp reply evidently cut the inquiry short. The +next question was, did they wear gold rings in their ears or +elsewhere, these crowned saints; to which she answered a little +contemptuously, "I know nothing about it." She was then asked if she +herself had rings: on which "turning to us the aforesaid Bishop, she +said, 'You have one of mine; give it back to me.' She then said that +the Burgundians had her other ring, and asked of us if we had the ring +to shew it to her. Asked, who gave her this ring, answered, her father +or her mother, and that the name /Jhesus Maria/ was written upon it, +but that she knew not who put it there, nor even whether there was a +stone in the ring; it was given to her in the village of Domremy. She +added that her brother gave her another ring which we had, and said +that she desired that it might be given to the Church." + +A sudden change was now made in the cross-examination according to the +methods of that operation, throwing her back without warning upon the +village superstitions of Domremy, the magic tree and fountain. Many of +the questions which follow are so trivial and are so evidently +instinct with evil meaning, that it seems a wrong to Beaupère to +impute the whole of the interrogatory to him; other questions were +evidently interposed by the excited assembly. + +Asked, if St. Catherine and St. Margaret talked with her under the +tree of which mention had been made above, she answered, "I know +nothing about it." Asked, if the saints were seen at the fountain near +the tree, answered yes, that she had heard them there; but what her +saints promised to her, there or elsewhere, she answered, that nothing +was promised except by permission from God. Asked, what promises were +made to her, she answered, "This has nothing at all to do with your +trial," but added, that among other things they said to her that her +King should be restored to his kingdom, and that his adversaries +should be destroyed. She said also that they promised to take her, the +said Jeanne, to Paradise, as she had asked them to do. Asked, if she +had any other promises, she said there was one promise that had +nothing to do with the trial, but that in three months she would tell +them what that other promise was. Asked, if the voices told her she +would be set free from her prison in three months, she answered: "This +does not concern your trial; nor do I know when I shall be set free." +And she added that those who wished to send her out of this world +might well go before her. Asked, if her council did not tell her when +she should be set free from her present prison, answered: "Ask me this +in three months' time; I can promise you as much as that"--but added: +"You may ask those present, on their oaths, if this has anything to do +with the trial." + +Startled by this suggestion, the judges seem to have held a hurried +consultation among themselves to see whether these matters did really +touch the trial; the result apparently decided them to return again to +the question of the local superstitions of Domremy, the only point on +which there seemed a chance of breaking down the extraordinarily just +and steadfast intelligence of the girl who stood before them. After +this pause she resumed, apparently not in answer to any question. + +"I have well told you that there were things you should not know, and +some time I must needs be set free. But I must have permission if I +speak; therefore I will ask to have delay in this." Asked, if her +voices forbade her to speak the truth, she said: "Do you expect me to +tell you things that concern the King of France? There is a great deal +here that has nothing to do with the trial." She said also that she +knew that her King should enjoy the kingdom of France, as well as she +knew that they were there before her in judgment. She added that she +would have been dead but for the revelations which comforted her +daily. She was then asked what she had done with her mandragora +(mandrake)? she answered that she had no mandragora, nor had ever had. +She had heard say that near her village there was one, but had never +seen it. She had heard say that it was a dangerous thing, and that it +was wicked to keep it; but knew nothing of its use. Asked, in what +place this mandrake was, and what she had heard of it? she said that +she had heard that it grew under the tree of which mention has been +made, but did not know the place; she said also that she had heard +that above the mandragora was a hazel tree. Asked, what she heard was +done with the mandragora, answered, that she had heard that it brought +money, but did not believe it; and added that her voices had never +told her anything about it. + +Asked, what was the appearance of St. Michael when she saw him first, +she answered, that she saw no crown, and knew nothing of his dress. +Asked, if he was naked, she answered, "Do you think God has nothing to +clothe him with?" Asked, if he had hair, she answered, "Why should it +have been cut?" She said further that she had not seen the blessed +Michael since she left the castle of Crotoy, nor did she see him +often. At last she said that she knew not whether he had hair or not. +Asked, whether he carried scales, she answered, "I know nothing of +it," but added that she had much joy in seeing him, and she knew when +she saw him that she was not in a state of sin. She also said that St. +Catherine and St. Margaret often made her confess to them, and said +that if she had been in a state of sin it was without knowing it. She +was then asked whether, when she confessed, she believed herself to be +in a state of mortal sin; she answered, that she knew not whether she +had been in that state, but did not believe she had done the works of +sin. "It would not have pleased God," she said, "that I should have +been so; nor would it have pleased Him that I should have done the +works of sin by which my soul should have been burdened." + +She was then asked what sign she gave to the King that she came to him +from God; she answered: "I have told you always that nothing should +draw this from me.[7] Ask me no more." Asked, if she had not sworn to +reveal what was asked of her touching the trial, answered, "I have +told you that I will tell you nothing that was for our King; and of +this which belongs to him I will not speak." Asked, if she knew the +sign which she gave to the King, she answered: "You shall know nothing +from me." When it was said to her that this did concern the trial, she +answered, "Of that which I have promised to keep secret I shall tell +you nothing"; and further she said, "I promised in that place and I +could not tell you without perjuring myself." Asked, to whom she +promised? answered, that she had promised to Saints Catherine and +Margaret, and this was shown to the King. She also said she had +promised it to these two saints, because they had required it of her. +And the same Jeanne had done this at their request. "Too many people +would have asked me concerning it, if I had not promised to the +aforesaid saints." She was then asked, when she showed this sign to +the King if there were others with him; she answered, that to her +there was no one near him, even though many people might have been +present. (As a matter of fact the sign was given to Charles when he +talked with the Maid apart in a recess, the great hall being full of +the Court and followers; so that this was strictly true.) Asked +further, if she saw a crown over the head of her King when she showed +him this sign, but replied: "I cannot answer you without perjury." +Asked further if her King had a crown when he was at Rheims, answered, +that in her opinion her King had a crown which he found at Rheims, but +a very fine one was afterwards brought for him. He did this to hasten +matters, at the desire of the city of Rheims; but if he had been more +certain, he could have had a crown a thousand times richer. (All this +is very obscure.) + +Asked, if she had seen this crown, she answered: "I could not tell you +without perjury, but I heard that it was a very rich one." It was then +determined to conclude for this day. + +On the sixth day there was again the same questions about the oath, +ending in the usual way. And the cross-examination was at once +continued. + +She was asked if she would say whether St. Michael had wings, and what +bodies and members had St. Catherine and St. Margaret; and she +answered, "I have told you what I know, and will make no other reply"; +she said, moreover, that when she saw St. Michael and St. Catherine +and St. Margaret, she knew at once that they were saints of Paradise. +Asked, if she saw anything more than their faces, she answered: "I +have told you all I know of them: and I would rather have had my head +taken off than tell you all I know." She then said that in whatever +concerned the trial she would speak freely. Asked, if she believed +that St. Michael and St. Gabriel had natural heads, she answered: "I +saw them with my eyes and I believe that they are, as firmly as I +believe that God is." Asked, if she believed that God made them in the +form in which she saw them, she answered, "Yes." Asked, if she +believed that God had created them in the same form from the +beginning, answered: "You shall have no more for the present, except +what I have already said." + +This subject was then dropped, and the examiner made another leap +forward to a different part of her life. "Did you know by revelation +that you should break prison?" he said. To this Jeanne answered +indignantly: "This has nothing to do with your trial. Would you have +me speak against myself?" + +Again questioned what her "voices" had said to her in respect to her +attempts at escape, she again answered: "This has nothing to do with +the trial; I go back to the trial. If all your questions were about +that, I should tell you all." She said besides, on her faith, that she +knew neither the day nor the hour when she should escape. She was then +asked what the voices said to her generally, and answered: "In truth, +they tell me I shall be freed, but neither the day nor the hour; and +that I ought to speak boldly, and with a glad countenance." She was +then asked whether, when first she saw her King, he asked her whether +it was by revelation that she had assumed the dress of a man? she +replied: "I have answered this. I cannot recollect whether he asked +me. But it is written in the book at Poitiers." Asked, whether the +doctors who examined her there, some for a month, some for three +weeks, had asked her about her change of dress; she answered: "I don't +remember; but I know they asked me when I assumed the dress of a man, +and I told them it was in the town of Vaucouleurs." Asked, whether +these doctors had inquired whether it was her voices which had made +her take that dress, answered, "I don't remember." Asked if her Queen +wished her to change her dress when she first saw her, answered, "I +don't remember." Asked if her King, Queen, and all of her party did +not ask her to lay aside the dress of a man, she answered, "This has +nothing to do with the trial." Asked, if the same was not requested of +her in the castle of Beaurevoir, she answered: "It is true. And I +replied that I could not lay it aside without the permission of God." +She said further that the demoiselle of Luxembourg (aunt of Jeanne's +captor, and a very old woman) and the lady of Beaurevoir offered her a +woman's dress, or stuff to make one, and begged her to wear it; but +she replied that she had not yet the permission of our Lord, and that +it was not yet time. Asked, if M. Jean de Pressy and others at Arras +had offered her a woman's dress, she answered, "He and others have +often asked it of me." Asked, if she thought she would have done wrong +in putting on a woman's dress, she answered, that it was better to +obey her sovereign Lord, that is, God; she said also that if she had +done it, she would rather have done it at the request of these two +ladies than of any other in France, except her Queen. Asked, if, when +God revealed to her that she should change her dress, it was by the +voice of St. Michael, St. Catherine, or St. Margaret, she answered, +"You shall hear no more about it." Asked, when the King first employed +her, and her standard was made, whether the men-at-arms and others who +took part in the war did not have flags imitated from hers? she +answered, "It is well to know that the lords retained their own arms"; +she also added that her brothers-in-arms made such pennons as pleased +them. Asked, how these were made, if they were of linen or cloth, +answered, that they were of white satin, some of them with lilies; +that she had but two or three lances in her own company--but that in +the rest of the army some carried pennons like hers, but only to +distinguish them from others. Asked, if the banners were often +renewed, answered: "I know not; when the staff was broken it was +renewed." Asked, if she had not said that the pennons copied from hers +were fortunate, answered, that she had said, "Go in boldly among the +English"; and that she had done the same herself. Asked, if she said +that they should have good luck if they bore the banners well, +answered, that she had told them what would happen, and what should +still happen. Asked, if she had caused holy water to be sprinkled on +the pennons when they were new, she answered, "That has nothing to do +with the trial"; but added that if she did so sprinkle them she was +not instructed to answer that question now. Asked, if the others put +/Jhesus Maria/ upon their pennons, she answered: "By my faith, I know +nothing about it." Asked, if she had ever carried or caused to be +carried in a procession round a church or altar the linen of which the +pennons were made, answered no, that she had never seen anything of +the kind done. + +Asked, when she was before Jargeau, what it was that she wore behind +her helmet, and if she had not something round it, she answered: "By +my faith, there was nothing." Asked, if she knew a certain Brother +Richard, she answered: "I never saw him till I was before Troyes." +Asked, what cheer Brother Richard made to her, answered, that she +thought the people of Troyes had sent him to her, doubting whether she +had come on the part of God, and that as he approached her he made the +sign of the cross, and sprinkled holy water; she said to him: "Come on +boldly; I shall not fly away." Asked, if she had seen, or had caused +to be made, any images or pictures of herself, she answered, that at +Arras she had seen a picture in the hands of a Scot, where she was +represented fully armed, kneeling on one knee, and presenting a letter +to the King; but that she had never caused any image or picture of +herself to be made. Asked concerning a table in the house of her host, +upon which were painted three women, with /Justice, Peace, Union/ +inscribed beneath, answered, that she knew nothing of it. Asked, if +she knew that those of her party caused masses and prayers to be made +in her honour, she answered, that she knew not; and if they did so, it +was not by any command of hers; but that if they did so, her opinion +was that they did no wrong. Asked, if those of her party firmly +believed that she was sent from God, she answered: "I know not whether +they believed it; but even if they did not believe it, I am none the +less sent on the part of God." Asked, whether she thought that to +believe that she was sent from god was a worthy faith, she answered, +that if they believed that she was sent from God they were not +mistaken. Asked, if she knew what her party meant by kissing her feet +and hands and her garments, answered, that many people did it, but +that her hands were kissed as little as she could help it. The poor +people, however, came to her of their own free will, because she never +oppressed them, but protected them as far as was in her power. Asked, +what reverence the people of Troyes made to her, she answered, "None +at all," and added that she believed Brother Richard came into Troyes +with her army, but that she had not seen him coming in. Asked, if he +had not preached at the gates when she came, answered, that she +scarcely paused there at all, and knew nothing of any sermon. Asked, +how long she was at Rheims, and answered, four or five days. Asked, +whether she baptised (stood godmother to) children there, she +answered: To one at Troyes, but did not remember any at Rheims or at +Château-Thierry; but there were two at St. Denis; and willingly she +called the boys "Charles," in honour of her King, and the girls +"Jeanne," according to what their mothers wished. Asked, if the good +women of the town did not touch with their rings the rings she wore, +she answered, that many women touched her hands and her rings; but she +did not know why they did it. Asked, what she did with the gloves in +which her King was consecrated, she answered that "Gloves were +distributed to the knights and nobles that came there"; and there was +one who lost his; but she did not say that she would find it for him. +Also she said that her standard was in the church at Rheims, and she +believed near the altar, and she herself had carried it for a short +time, but did not know whether Brother Richard had held it. + +She was then asked if she communicated and went to confession often +while moving about the country, and if she received the sacrament in +her male costume; to which she answered "yes, but without her arms"; +she was then questioned about a horse belonging to the Bishop of +Senlis, which had not suited her, a matter completely without +importance. The inference intended was that it was taken from him +without being paid for; but there was no evidence that the Maid knew +anything about it. We then come to the incident of Lagny. + +She was asked how old the child was which she saw at Lagny, and +answered, three days; it hed been brought to Lagny to the Church of +Nôtre Dame, and she was told that all the maids in Lagny were before +our Lady praying for it, and she also wished to go and pray God and +our Lady that its life might come back; and she went, and prayed with +the rest. And finally life appeared; it yawned three times, and was +baptised and buried in consecrated ground. It had given no sign of +life for three days and was black as her coat, but when it yawned its +colour began to come back. She was there with the other maids on her +knees before our Lady to make her prayer. + +The reader must understand that this was no special appeal to Jeanne's +miraculous power, but a custom of that intense and tender charity with +which the Church of Rome corrects her dogmatism upon questions of +salvation. A child unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated +ground, and was subject to all the sorrows of the unredeemed; but who +could doubt that the priest would be easily persuaded by some wavering +of the tapers on the altar upon the little dead face, some flicker of +his own compassionate eyelids, that sufficient life had come back to +permit the holy rite to be administered? The whole little scene is +affecting in the extreme, the young creatures all kneeling, fervently +appealing to the Maiden-mother, the priest ready to take instant +advantage of any possible flicker, the Maid of France, no conspicuous +figure, but weeping and praying among the rest. There was no thought +here of the raising of the dead--the prayer was for breath enough only +to allow of the holy observance, the blessed water, the last +possibility of human love and effort. + +Jeanne was then questioned concerning Catherine of La Rochelle, the +supposed prophetess, who had been played against her by La Tremouille +and his follows, and narrated how she had watched two nights to see +the mysterious lady clothed in cloth of gold who was said to appear to +Catherine, but had not seen her, and that she had advised the woman to +return to her husband and children. Catherine's mission was to go +through the "good towns" with heralds and trumpets to call upon those +who had money or treasure of any kind to give it to the King, and she +professed to have a supernatural knowledge where such money was +hidden. [No doubt La Tremouille must have thought that to get money, +which was so scarce, in such a simple way, was worth trying at least. +But Jeanne's opinion was that it was folly, and that there was nothing +in it; an opinion fully verified. Catherine's advice had been that +Jeanne should go to the Duke of Burgundy to make peace; but Jeanne had +answered that no peace could be made save at the end of the lance.] + +She was then asked about the siege of La Charité; she answered, that +she had made an assault: but had not sprinkled holy water, or caused +it to be sprinkled. Asked, why she did not enter the city as she had +the command of God to do so, she replied: "Who told you that I was +commanded to enter?" Asked, if she had not had the advice of her +voices, she answered, that she had desired to go into France (meaning +towards Paris), but the generals had told her that it was better to go +first to La Charité. She was then asked if she had been long in the +tower of Beaurevoir; answered, that she was there about four months, +and that when she heard the English come she was angry and much +troubled. Her voices forbade her several times to attempt to escape; +but at last, in the doubt she had of the English she threw herself +down, commending herself to God and to our Lady, and was much hurt. +But after she had done this the voice of St. Catherine said to her not +to be afraid, that she should be healed, and that Compiègne would be +relieved. + +Also she said that she prayed always for the relief of Compiègne with +her council. Asked, what she said after she had thrown herself down, +she answered, that some said that she was dead; and as soon as the +Burgundians saw that she was not dead, they told her that she had +thrown herself down. Asked, if she had said that she would rather die +than fall into the hands of the English, she answered, that she would +much rather have rendered her soul to God than have fallen into the +hands of the English. Asked, if she was not in a great rage, and if +she did not blaspheme the name of God, she answered, that she never +said evil of any saint, and that it was not her custom to swear. Asked +respecting Soissons, when the captain had surrendered the town, +whether she had not cursed God, and said that if she had gotten hold +of the captain, she would have cut him into four pieces; she answered, +that she never swore by any saint, and that those who said so had not +understood her. + +***** + +At this point the public trial of Jeanne came to a sudden end. Either +the feeling produced in the town, and even among the judges, by her +undeviating, simple, and dignified testimony had begun to be more than +her persecutors had calculated upon; or else they hoped to make +shorter work with her when deprived of the free air of publicity, the +sight no doubt of some sympathetic faces, and the consciousness of +being still able to vindicate her cause and to maintain her faith +before men. Two or three fierce Inquisitors within her cell, and the +Bishop, that man without heart or pity at their head, might still tear +admissions from her weariness, which a certain sympathetic atmosphere +in a large auditory, swept by waves of natural feeling, would +strengthen her to keep back. The Bishop made a proclamation that in +order not to vex and tire his learned associates he would have the +minutes of the previous sittings reduced into form, and submitted to +them for judgment, while he himself carried on apart what further +interrogatory was necessary. We are told that he was warned by a +counsellor of the town that secret examinations without witnesses or +advocate on the prisoner's side, were illegal; but Monseigneur de +Beauvais was well aware that anything would be legal which effected +his purpose, and that once Jeanne was disposed of, the legality or +illegality of the proceedings would be of small importance. I have +thought it right to give to the best of my power a literal translation +of these examinations, notwithstanding their great length; as, except +in one book, now out of print and very difficult to procure, no such +detailed translation,[8] so far as I am aware, exists; and it seems to +me that, even at the risk of fatiguing the reader (always capable of +skipping at his pleasure), it is better to unfold the complete scene +with all its tedium and badgering, which brings out by every touch the +extraordinary self-command, valour, and sense of this wonderful Maid, +the youngest, perhaps, and most ignorant of the assembly, yet meeting +all with a modest and unabashed countenance, true, pure, and natural, +--a far greater miracle in her simplicity and noble steadfastness than +even in the wonders she had done. +---------- +[1] She was in reality detained two days, which fact, no doubt, she + judged to be an unimportant detail. + +[2] Probably meaning, had been present when the voices came to her and + had perceived her state of listening and abstraction. + +[3] This was her special friend, Gerard of Epinal--her /compère/ and + gossip; was it jesting beguiled by some childish recollection, or + mock threat of youthful days that she said this? + +[4] An answer evidently given in the vagueness of imperfect knowledge, + meaning a very great number. + +[5] Quicherat gives a note on this subject to point out that there was + really was but one Pope at this moment, the question having been + settled by the abdication of Clement VIII., Benedict XIV. being a + mere impostor. We cannot believe, however, that this historical + cutting of the knot could be known to Jeanne. She probably felt + only, with her fine instinct, that there could be but one Pope, + and that to be deceived on such a matter ought to have been a + thing impossible to all those priests and learned men; as a matter + of fact the three claimants, on account of whom the Comte + d'Armagnac had appealed to her, were no longer existing at the + time he wrote. + +[6] She meant Paris, which was lost by the English, according to her + prophecy within the time named. + +[7] It should here be noted that Jeanne's sign to the King being, as + he afterwards declared, the answer to his most private devotions + and the final setting at rest of a doubt which might have injured + him much had it been known that he entertained it--it would have + been dishonourable on her part and a great wrong to him had she + revealed it. + +[8] The translation of M. Fabre is now, I believe, reprinted, but it + is not satisfactory. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EXAMINATION IN PRISON. +LENT, 1431. + +It must not be forgotten, in the history of this strange trial, that +the prisoner was brought from the other side of France expressly that +she might be among a people who were not of her own party, and who had +no natural sympathies with her, but a hereditary connection with +England, which engaged all its partialities on that side. For this +purpose it was that the /venue/, the town expected the coming of the +Witch, and all the dark revelations that might be extracted from her, +her spells, and the details of that contract with the devil which was +so entrancing to the popular imagination, with excitement and +eagerness. Such a /Cause Célèbre/ had never taken place among them +before; and everybody no doubt looked forward to the pleasure of +seeing it proved that it was not by the will of Heaven, but by some +monstrous combination of black arts, that such an extraordinary result +as the defeat of the invincible English soldiers had been brought +about. The litigious and logical Normans no doubt looked forward to it +as to the most interesting entertainment, ending in the complete +vindication of their own side and the exposure of the nefarious arms +used by their adversaries. + +But when the proceedings had been opened, and in place of some dark- +browed and termagant sorceress, with the mark of every evil passion in +her face, there appeared before the spectators crowding into every +available corner, the slim, youthful figure--was it boy or girl?--the +serene and luminous countenance of the Maid, the flower of youth +raising its whiteness and innocence in the midst of all those black- +robed, subtle Doctors, it is impossible but that the very first glance +must have given a shock and thrill of amazement and doubt to what may +be called the lay spectators, those who had no especial bias more than +common report, and whose credit or interest were not involved in +bringing this unlikely criminal to condemnation. "A girl! Like our own +Jeanne at home," might many a father have said, dismayed and +confounded. She had, they all say, those eyes of innocence which it is +so impossible not to believe, and that virginal voice, /assez femme/, +which a sentimental Frenchman insists upon as belonging only to the +spotless. At all events she had the bearing of honesty, purity, and +truth. She was not afraid though all the powers of hell--or was it +only of the Church and the Law?--were arrayed against her: no guilty +mystery to be discovered, was in her countenance. But it must have +been plain to the keen and not too charitable Normans that such +semblances are not always to be trusted, and that the devil himself +even, on occasion, can take upon himself the appearance of an angel of +light; so that after the first shock of wonder they no doubt settled +themselves to listen, believing that soon they would have their +imaginations fed with tales of horror, and would discover the hoofs +and the horns and unveil with triumph the lurking demon. The French +historians never take into consideration the fact that it was the +belief of Rouen and Normandy, as well as of any similar town or +province in England, that the child Henry VI. was lawful king, and +that whatever was on the other side was a hateful adversary, to be +brought to such disaster and shame as was possible, without mercy and +without delay. + +But after a few days of the examination which we have just reported, +public opinion was greatly staggered, and knew not how to turn. +Gradually the conviction must have been forced upon every mind which +had any candour left, that Jeanne, at that dreadful bar, with the +stake in sight, and all the learning of Paris--the entire power of one +great national and half of another, all England and half France +against--(many more than half France, for the other part had abandoned +her cause),--showed nothing of the demon, but all--if not of the +angel, yet of the Maid, the emblem of perfection to that rude world, +though often so barbarously handled. It might almost be said of the +age, notwithstanding its immorality and rampant viciousness, that in +its eyes a true virgin could do no harm. And hers was one if ever such +a thing existed on earth. The talk in the streets began to take a very +different tone. Massieu the clerical sheriff's officer saw nothing in +her answers that was not good and right. Out of the midst of the crowd +of listeners would burst an occasional cry of "Well said!" An +Englishman, even a knight, overcome by his feelings, cried out: "Why +was not she English, this brave girl!" All these were ominous sounds. +Still more ominous was the utterance of Maître Jean Lohier, a lawyer +of Rouen, who declared loudly that the trial was not a legal trial for +the reasons which follow: + +"In the first place because it was not in the form of an ordinary +trial; secondly, because it was not held in a public court, and those +present had not full and complete freedom to say what was their full +and unbiassed opinion; thirdly, because there was question of the +honour of the King of France of whose party Jeanne was, without +calling him, or any one for him; fourthly, because neither libel nor +articles were produced, and this woman who was only an uninstructed +girl, had no advocate to answer for her before so many Masters and +Doctors, on such grave matters, and especially those which touched +upon the revelations of which she spoke; therefore it seemed to him +that the trial was worth nothing. For these things Monseigneur de +Beauvais was very indignant against the said Maître Lohier, saying: +'Here is Lohier who is going to make a fine fuss about our trial; he +calumniates us all, and tells the world it is of no good. If one were +to go by him, one would have to begin everything over again, and all +that has been done would be of no use.' Monseigneur de Beauvais said +besides: 'It is easy to see on which foot he halts [/de quel pied il +cloche/]. By St. John, we shall do nothing of the kind; we shall go on +with our trial as we have begun it.'" + +A day or two later Manchon, the Clerk of the Court (he who refused to +take down Jeanne's conversation with her Judas), met this same lawyer +Lohier at church, and asked him, as no doubt every man asked every +other whom he met, how did he think the trial was going? to which +Lohier answered: "You see the manner in which they proceed; they will +take her, if they can, in her words--that is to say, the assertions in +which she says /I know for certain/, things that concern her +apparitions. If she would say, 'It seems to me' instead of 'I know for +certain,' I do not see how any man could condemn her. It appears that +they proceed against her rather from hate than from any other cause, +and for this reason I shall not remain here. I will have nothing to do +with it." This I think shows very clearly that Lohier, like the bulk +of the population, by no means thought at first that it was "from +hate" that the trial proceeded, but honestly believed that he had been +called to try Jeanne as a professor of the black arts; and that he had +discovered from her own testimony that she was not so, and that the +motive of the trial was entirely a different one from that of justice; +one in fact with which an honest man could have nothing to do. + +It is very significant also that the number of judges present in court +on the sixth day, the last of the public examination, was only thirty- +eight, as against the sixty-two of the second day, which seems to +prove that a general disgust and alarm was growing in the minds of +those most closely concerned. Warwick and the soldiers, impatient of +all such business, striding in noisily from time to time to give a +careless glance at the proceedings, might not stay long enough to +share the impression--or might, who can say? Their business was to get +this pestilent woman, even if by chance she might be an innocent +fanatic, cleared off the face of the earth and out of their way. + +After the sixth day, however, it would seem that the Bishop and his +tools had taken fright at the progress of public opinion. Before +dismissing the court on that occasion, Cauchon made an address to the +disturbed and anxious judges, informing them that he would not tire +them out with prolonged sittings, but that a few specially chosen +assistants would now examine into what further details were necessary. +In the meantime all would be put in writing; so that they might think +it over and deliberate within themselves, so as to be able each to +make a report either to himself, the Bishop, or to some one deputed by +him. The assessors, thus thrown out of work, were however forbidden to +leave Rouen without the Bishop's permission--probably because of the +threat of Lohier. Repeated meetings were held in Cauchon's house to +arrange the details of the proceedings to follow; and during this time +it was perhaps hoped that any excitement outside would quiet down. The +Bishop himself had in the meantime other work in hand. He had to +receive certain important visitors, one of them the man who held the +appointment of Chancellor of France on the English side, and who was +well acquainted with the mind of his masters. We have no information +whatever whether Cauchon ever himself wavered, or allowed the +possibility of acquitting Jeanne to enter his mind; but he must have +seen that it was of the last necessity to know what would satisfy the +English chiefs. No doubt he was confirmed and strengthened in the +conviction that by hook or by crook her condemnation must be +accomplished, by the conversation of these illustrious visitors. To +save Jeanne was impossible he must have been told. No English soldier +would strike a blow while she lived. England itself, the whole +country, trembled at her name. Till she was got rid of nothing could +be done. + +There was of course great exaggeration in all this, for the English +had fought desperately enough in her presence except on the one +occasion of Patay, notwithstanding all the early prestige of Jeanne. +But at all events it was made perfectly clear that the foregoing +conclusion must be carried out, and that Jeanne must die: and, not +only so, but she must die with opprobrium and disgrace as a witch, +which almost everybody out of Rouen now believed her to be. The public +examination which lasted six days was concluded on the third of March, +1430. On the following days, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, +eighth, and ninth of March, meetings were held, as we have said, in +the Bishop's house to consider what it would be well to do next, at +one of which a select company of Inquisitors was chosen to carry on +the examination in private. These were Jean de la Fontaine, a lawyer +learned in canon law; Jean Beaupère, already her interrogator; Nicolas +Midi, a Doctor in Theology; Pierre Morice, Canon of Rouen and +Ambassador from the English King to the Council of Bâle; Thomas de +Courcelles, the learned and excellent young Doctor already described; +Nicolas l'Oyseleur, the traitor, also already sufficiently referred +to; and Manchon, the honest Clerk of the court: the names of Gerard +Feuillet, also a distinguished man, and Jean Fecardo, an advocate, are +likewise also mentioned. They seem to have served in their turn, three +or four at a time. This private session began on the 10th of March, a +week after the conclusion of the public trial, and was held in the +prison chamber inhabited by the Maid. + +We shall not attempt to follow literally those private examinations, +which would take a great deal more space than we have at our command, +and would be fatiguing to the reader from the constant and prolonged +repetitions; we shall therefore quote only such parts as are new or so +greatly enlarged from Jeanne's original statements as to seem so. At +the first day's examination in her prison she was questioned about +Compiègne and her various proceedings before reaching that place.[1] +She was asked, for one thing, if her voices had bidden her make the +sally in which she was taken; to which she answered that had she known +the time she was to be taken she would not have gone out, unless upon +the express command of the saints. She was then asked about her +standard, her arms, and her horses, and replied that she had no coat- +of-arms, but her brothers had, who also had all her money, from ten to +twelve thousand francs, which was "no great treasure to make war +upon," besides five chargers, and about seven other horses, all from +the King. The examiners then came to their principal object, and +having lulled her mind with these trifles, turned suddenly to a +subject on which they still hoped she might commit herself, the sign +which had proved her good faith to the King. It is scarcely possible +to avoid the feeling, grave as all the circumstances were, that a +little /malice/, a glance of mischievous pleasure, kindled in Jeanne's +eye. She had refused to enter into further explanations again and +again. She had warned them that she would give them no true light on +the subjects that concerned the King. Now she would seem to have had +sudden recourse to the mystification that is dear to youth, to have +tossed her young head and said: "/Have then your own way/"; and +forthwith proceeded to romance, according to the indications given her +of what was wanted, without thought of preserving any appearance of +reality. Most probably indeed, her air and tone would make it apparent +to her persistent questioners how complete a fable, or at least +parable, it was. + +Asked, what sign she gave to the King, she replied that it was a +beautiful and honourable sign, very creditable and very good, and rich +above all. Asked, if it still lasted; answered, "It would be good to +know; it will last a thousand years and more if well guarded," adding +that it was in the treasure of the King. Asked, if it was of gold or +silver or of precious stones, or in the form of a crown; answered: "I +will tell you nothing more; but no man could devise a thing so rich as +this sign; but the sign that is necessary for you is that God should +deliver me out of your hands, and that is what He will do." She also +said that when she had to go to the King it was said by her voices: +"Go boldly; and when you are before the King he will have a sign which +will make him receive and believe in you." Asked, what reverence she +made when the sign came to the King, and if it came from God; +answered, that she had thanked God for having delivered her from the +priests of her own party who had argued against her, and that she had +knelt down several times; she also said that an angel from God, and +not from another, brought the sign to the King; and she had thanked +the Lord many times; she added that the priests ceased to argue +against when they had seen that sign. Asked, if the clergy of her +party (/de par delà/) saw the above sign; answered yes, that her King +if he were satisfied; and he answered yes. And afterwards she went to +a little chapel close by, and heard them say that after she was gone +more than three hundred people saw the said sign. She said besides +that for love of her, and that they should give up questioning her, +God permitted those of her party to see the sign. Asked, if the King +and she made reverence to the angel when he brought the sign; answered +yes, for herself, that she knelt down and took off her hood. + +What Jeanne meant by this strange romance can only, I think be +explained by this hypothesis. She was "dazed and bewildered," say some +of the historians, evidently not knowing how to interpret so strange +an interruption to her narrative; but there is no other sign of +bewilderment; her mind was always clear and her intelligence complete. +Granting that the whole story was boldly ironical, its object is very +apparent. Honour forbade her to betray the King's secret, and she had +expressly said she would not do so. But her story seems to say--/since +you will insist that there was a sign, though I have told you I could +give you no information, have it your own way; you shall have a sign +and one of the very best; it delivered me from the priests of my own +party (de par delà)/. Jeanne was no milk-sop; she was bold enough to +send a winged shaft to the confusion of the priests of the other side +who had tormented her in the same way. One can imagine a lurking smile +at the corner of her mouth. Let them take it since they would have it. +And we may well believe there was that in her eye, and in the details +heaped up so lightly to form the miraculous tale, which left little +doubt in the minds of the questioners, of the spirit in which she +spoke: though to us who only read the record the effect is of a more +bewildering kind. + +Two days after, on Monday, the 12th of March, the Inquisitors began by +several additional questions concerning the angel who brought the sign +to the King; was it the same whom she first saw, or another? She +answered that it was the same, and no other was wanted. Asked, if this +angel had not deceived her since she had been taken prisoner; +answered, that SHE BELIEVED SINCE IT SO PLEASED OUR LORD THAT IT WAS +BEST THAT SHE SHOULD BE TAKEN. Asked, if the angel had not failed her; +answered, "How could he have failed me, when he comforts me every +day?" This comfort is what she understands to come through St. +Catherine and St. Margaret. Asked, whether she called them, or they +came without being called, she answered, that they often came without +being called, and if they did not come soon enough, she asked our +Saviour to send them. Asked, if St. Denis had ever appeared to her; +answered, not that she knew. Asked, if when she promised to our Lord +to remain a virgin she spoke to Him; answered, that it ought to be +enough to speak to those who were sent by Him that is to say, St. +Catherine and St. Margaret. Asked, what induced her to summon a man to +Toul, in respect to marriage; answered, "I did not summon him; it was +he who summoned me"; and that on that occasion she had sworn before +the judge to speak the truth, which was that she had not made him any +promise. She also said that the first time she had heard the voices +she made a vow of virginity so long as it pleased God, being then +about the age of thirteen. + +It was the object of the judges by these questions to prove that, +according to a fable which had obtained some credit, Jeanne during her +visit to La Rousse, the village inn-keeper at Neufchâteau, had acted +as servant in the house and tarnished her good fame--so that her +betrothed had refused to marry her: and that he had been brought +before the Bishop's court at Toul for his breach of promise, as we +should say. Exactly the reverse was the case, as the reader will +remember. + +Jeanne was further asked, if she had spoken of her visions to her curé +or to any ecclesiastic: and answered no, but only to Robert de +Baudricourt and to her King; but added that she was not bidden by her +voices to conceal them, but feared to reveal them lest the Burgundians +should hear of them and prevent her going. And especially she had much +doubt of her father, lest he should hinder her from going. Asked, if +she thought she did well to go away without the permission of her +father and mother, when it is certain we ought to honour our father +and mother; answered, that in every other thing she had fully obeyed +him, except in respect to her departure; but she had written to them, +and they had pardoned her. Asked, if when she left her father and +mother she did not think it was a sin; answered, that her voices were +quite willing that she should tell them, if it were not for the pain +it would have given them; but as for herself, she would not have told +them for any consideration; also that her voices left her to do as she +pleased, to tell or not. + +***** + +Having gone so far the reverend fathers went to dinner, and Jeanne we +hope had her piece of bread and her /eau rougie/. In the afternoon +these indefatigable questioners returned, and the first few questions +throw a fuller light on the troubled cottage at Domremy, out of which +this wonderful maiden came like a being of another kind. + +She was questioned as to the dreams of her father; and answered, that +while she was still at home her mother told her several times that her +father said he had dreamt that Jeanne his daughter had gone away with +the troopers, that her father and mother took great care of her and +held her in great subjection: and she obeyed them in every point +except that of her affair at Toul in respect to marriage. She also +said that her mother had told her what her father had said to her +brothers: "If I could think that the thing would happen of which I +have dreamed, I wish she might be drowned first; and if you would not +do it, I would drown her with my own hands"; and that he nearly lost +his senses when she went to Vaucouleurs. + +How profound is this little village tragedy! The suspicious, stern, +and unhopeful peasant, never sure even that the most transparent and +pure may not be capable of infamy, distracted with that horror of +personal degradation which is involved in family disgrace, cruel in +the intensity of his pride and fear of shame! He has been revealed to +us in many lands, always one of the most impressive of human pictures, +with no trust of love in him but an overwhelming faith in every +vicious possibility. If there is no evidence to prove that, even at +the moment when Jeanne was supreme, when he was induced to go to +Rheims to see the coronation, Jacques d'Arc was still dark, +unresponsive, never more sure than any of the Inquisitors that his +daughter was not a witch, or worse, a shameless creature linked to the +captains and the splendid personages about her by very different ties +from those which appeared--there is at least not a word to prove that +he had changed his mind. She does not add anything to soften the +description here given. The sudden appearance of this dark remorseless +figure, looking on from his village, who probably in all Domremy--when +Domremy got to hear the news--would be the only person who would in +his desperation almost applaud that stake and devouring flame, is too +startling for words. + +The end of this day's examination was remarkable also for a sudden +light upon the method she had intended to adopt in respect to the Duke +of Orleans, then in prison in England, whom it was one of her most +cherished hopes to deliver. + +Asked, how she meant to rescue the Duc d'Orléans: she answered, that +by that time she hoped to have taken English prisoners enough to +exchange for him: and if she had not taken enough she should have +crossed the sea, in power, to search for him in England. Asked, if St. +Catherine and St. Margaret had told her absolutely and without +condition that she should take enough prisoners to exchange for the +Duc d'Orléans, who was in England, or otherwise, that she should cross +the sea to fetch him and bring him back within three years; she +answered yes: and that she had told the King and had begged him to +permit her to make prisoners. She said further that if she had lasted +three years without hindrance, she should have delivered him. +Otherwise she said she had not thought of so long a time as three +years, although it should have been more than one; but she did not at +present recollect exactly. + +There is a curious story existing, though we do not remember whence it +comes and there is not a scrap of evidence for it, which suggests a +rumour that Jeanne was not the child of the d'Arc family at all, but +in fact an abandoned and illegitimate child of the Queen, Isabel of +Bavaria, and that her real father was the murdered Duc d'Orléans. This +suggestion might explain the ease with which she fell into the way of +Courts, a sort of air /à la Princesse/ which certainly was about her, +and her especial devotion to Orleans, both to the city and the duke. A +shadow of a supposed child of our own Queen Mary has also appeared in +history, quite without warrant or likelihood. It is a little +conventional and well worn even in the way of romance, yet there are +certain fanciful suggestions in the thought. + +After the above, Jeanne was again questioned and at great length upon +the sign given to the King, upon the angel who brought it, the manner +of his coming and going, the persons who saw him, those who saw the +crown bestowed upon the King, and so on, in the most minute detail. +That the purpose of the sign was that "they should give up arguing and +so let her proceed on her mission," she repeated again and again; but +here is a curious additional note. + +She was asked how the King and the people with him were convinced that +it was an angel; and answered, that the King knew it by the +instruction of the ecclesiastics who were there, and also by the sign +of the crown. Asked, how the ecclesiastics (/gens d'église/) knew it +was an angel she answered, "By their knowledge [science], and because +they were priests." + +Was this the keenest irony, or was it the wandering of a weary mind? +We cannot tell; but if the latter, it was the only occasion on which +Jeanne's mind wandered; and there was method and meaning in the +strange tale. + +She was further questioned whether it was by the advice of her voices +that she attacked La Charité, and afterwards Paris, her two points of +failure; the purpose of her examiners clearly being to convince her +that those voices had deceived her. To both questions she answered no. +To Paris she went at the request of gentlemen who wished to make a +skirmish, or assault of arms (/vaillance d'armes/); but she intended +to go farther, and to pass the moats; that is, to force the fighting +and make the skirmish into a serious assault; the same was the case +before La Charité. She was asked whether she had no revelation +concerning Pont l'Evêque, and said that since it was revealed to her +at Melun that she should be taken, she had had more recourse to the +will of the captains than to her own; but she did not tell them that +it was revealed to her that she should be taken. Asked, if she thought +it was well done to attack Paris on the day of the Nativity of our +Lady, which was a festival of the Church; she answered, that it was +always well to keep the festivals of our Lady: and in her conscience +it seemed to her that it was and always would be a good thing to keep +the feasts of our Lady, from one end to the other. + +In the afternoon the examiners returned to the attempt at escape or +suicide--they seemed to have preferred the latter explanation--made at +Beaurevoir; and as Jeanne expresses herself with more freedom as to +her personal motives in these prison examinations and opens her heart +more freely, there is much here which we give in full. + +She was asked first what was the cause of her leap from the tower of +Beaurevoir. She answered that she had heard that all the people of +Compiègne, down to the age of seven, were to be put to the sword, and +that she would rather die than live after such a destruction of good +people; this was one of the reasons; the other was that she knew that +she was sold to the English and that she would rather die than fall +into the hands of the English, her enemies. Asked, if she made that +leap by the command of her voices; answered, that St. Catherine said +to her almost every day that she was not to leap, for that God would +help her, and also the people of Compiègne: and she, Jeanne, said to +St. Catherine that since God intended to help the people of Compiègne +she would fain be there. And St. Catherine said: "You must take it in +good part, but you will not be delivered till you have seen the King +of the English." And she, Jeanne, answered: "Truly I do not wish to +see him. I would rather die than fall into the hands of the English." +Asked, if she had said to St. Catherine and St. Margaret, "Will God +leave the good people of Compiègne to die so cruelly?" answered, that +she did not say "so cruelly," but said it in this way: "Will God leave +these good people of Compiègne to die, who have been and are so loyal +to their lord?" She added that after she fell there were two or three +days that she would not eat; and that she was so hurt by the leap that +she could not eat; but all the time she was comforted by St. +Catherine, who told her to confess and ask pardon of God for that act, +and that without doubt the people of Compiègne would have succour +before Martinmas. And then she took pains to recover and began to eat, +and shortly was healed. + +Asked, whether, when she threw herself down, she wished to kill +herself, she answered no; but that in throwing herself down she +commended herself to God, and hoped by means of that leap to escape +and to avoid being delivered to the English. Asked, if, when she +recovered the power of speech, she had denied and blasphemed God and +the saints, as had been reported; answered, that she remembered +nothing of the kind, and that, as far as she knew, she had never +denied and blasphemed God and His saints there nor anywhere else, and +did not confess that she had done so, having no recollection of it. +Asked, if she would like to see the information taken on the spot, +answered: "I refer myself to God, and not another, and to a good +confession." Asked, if her voices ever desired delay for their +replies; answered, that St. Catherine always answered her at once, but +sometimes she, Jeanne, could not hear because of the tumult round her +(/turbacion des personnes/) and the noise of her guards; but that when +she asked anything of St. Catherine, sometimes she, and sometimes St. +Margaret asked of our Lord, and then by the command of our Lord an +answer was given to her. Asked, if, when they came, there was always +light accompanying them, and if she did not see that light when she +heard the voice in the castle without knowing whether it was in her +chamber or not: answered, that there was never a day that they did not +come into the castle, and that they never came without light: and that +time she heard the voice, but did not remember whether she saw the +light, or whether she saw St. Catherine. Also she said she had asked +from her voices three things: one, her release: the other, that God +would help the French, and keep the town faithful: and the other the +salvation of her soul. Afterwards she asked that she might have a copy +of these questions and her answers if she were to be taken to Paris, +that she may give them to the people in Paris, and say to them, "This +is how I was questioned in Rouen, and here are my replies," that she +might not be exhausted by so many questions. + +Asked, what she meant when she said that Monseigneur de Beauvais put +himself in danger by bringing her to trial, and why Monseigneur de +Beauvais more than others, she answered, that this was and is what she +said to Monseigneur de Beauvais: "You say that you are my judge. I +know not whether you are so; but take care that you judge well, or you +will put yourself in great danger. I warn you, so that if our Lord +should chastise you for it, I may have done my duty in warning you." +Asked, what was that danger? she answered, that St. Catherine had said +that she should have succour, but that she knew not whether this meant +that she would be delivered from prison, or that, when she was before +the tribunal, there might come trouble by which she should be +delivered; she thought, however, it would be the one or the other. And +all the more that her voices told her that she would be delivered by a +great victory; and afterwards they said to her: "Take everything +cheerfully, do not be disturbed by this martyrdom: thou shalt thence +come at last to the kingdom of Heaven." And this the voices said +simply and absolutely--that is to say, without fail; she explained +that she called It martyrdom because of all the pain and adversity +that she had suffered in prison; and she knew not whether she might +have still more to suffer, but waited upon our Lord. She was then +asked whether, since her voices had said that she should go to +Paradise, she felt assured that she should be saved and not damned in +hell; she answered, that she believed firmly what her voices said +about her being saved, as firmly as if she were so already. And when +it was said to her that this answer was of great weight, she answered +that she herself held it as a great treasure. + +We have said that Jeanne's answers to the Inquisitors in prison had a +more familiar form than in the public examination; which seem to prove +that they were not unkind to her, further, at least, than by the +persistence and tediousness of their questions. The Bishop for one +thing was seldom present; the sittings were frequently presided over +by the Deputy Inquisitor, who had made great efforts to be free of the +business altogether, and had but very recently been forced into it; so +that we may at least imagine, as he was so reluctant, that he did what +he could to soften the proceedings. Jean de la Fontaine, too, was a +milder man than her former questioners, and in so small an assembly +she could not be disturbed and interrupted by Frère Isambard's well- +meant signs and whispers. She speaks at length and with a self- +disclosure which seems to have little that was painful in it, like one +matured into a kind of age by long weariness and trouble, who regards +the panorama of her life passing before her with almost a pensive +pleasure. And it is clear that Jeanne's ear, still so young and keen, +notwithstanding that attitude of mind, was still intent upon sounds +from without, and that Jeanne's heart still expected a sudden assault, +a great victory for France, which should open her prison doors--or +even a rising in the very judgment hall to deliver her. How could they +keep still outside, Dunois, Alençon, La Hire, the mighty men of +valour, while they knew that she was being racked and tortured within? +She who could not bear to be out of the conflict to serve her friends +at Compiègne, even when succour from on high had been promised, how +was it possible that these gallant knights could live and let her die, +their gentle comrade, their dauntless leader? In those long hours, +amid the noise of the guards within and the garrison around, how she +must have thought, over and over again, where were they? when were +they coming? how often imagined that a louder clang of arms than +usual, a rush of hasty feet, meant that they were here! + +But honour and love kept Jeanne's lips closed. Not a word did she say +that could discredit King, or party, or friends; not a reproach to +those who had abandoned her. She still looked for the great victory in +which Monseigneur, if he did not take care, might run the risk of +being roughly handled, or of a sudden tumult in his own very court +that would pitch him form his guilty seat. It was but the fourteenth +of March still, and there were six weary weeks to come. She did not +know the hour or the day, but yet she believed that this great +deliverance was on its way. + +And there was a great deliverance to come: but not of this kind. The +voices of God--how can we deny it?--are often, though in a loftier +sense, like those fantastic voices that keep the word of promise to +the ear but break it to the heart. They promised her a great victory: +and she had it, and also the fullest deliverance: but only by the +stake and the fire, which were not less dreadful to Jeanne than to any +other girl of her age. They did not speak to deceive her, but she was +deceived; they kept their promise, but not as she understood it. +"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having +seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them." +Jeanne too was persuaded of them, but was not to receive them--except +in the other way. + +On the afternoon of the same day (it was still Lent, and Jeanne +fasted, whatever our priests may have done), she was again closely +questioned on the subject, this time, of Franquet d'Arras, who, as has +been above narrated, was taken by her in the course of some +indiscriminate fighting in the north. She was asked if it was not +mortal sin to take a man as prisoner of war and then give him up to be +executed. There was evidently no perception of similarities in the +minds of the judges, for this was precisely what had been done in the +case of Jeanne herself; but even she does not seem to have been struck +by the fact. Their object, apparently, was by proving that she was in +a state of sin, to prove also that her voices were of no authority, as +being unable to discover so simple a principle as this. + +When they spoke to her of "one named Franquet d'Arras, who was +executed at Lagny," she answered that she consented to his death, as +he deserved it, for he had confessed to being a murderer, a thief, and +a traitor. She said that his trial lasted fifteen days, the Bailli de +Senlis and the law officers of Lagny being the judges; and she added +that she had wished to have Franquet, to exchange him for a man of +Paris, Seigneur de Lours (corrected, innkeeper at the sign of l'Ours); +but when she heard that this man was dead, and when the Bailli told +her that she would go very much against justice if she set Franquet +free, she said to the Bailli: "Since my man is dead whom I wished to +deliver, do with this one whatever justice demands." Asked, if she +took the money or allowed it to be taken by him who had taken +Franquet, she answered, that she was not a money changer or a +treasurer of France, to deal with money. + +She was then reminded that having assaulted Paris on a holy day, +having taken the horse of Monseigneur de Senlis, having thrown herself +down from the tower of Beaurevoir, having consented to the death of +Franquet d'Arras, and being still dressed in the costume of a man, did +she not think that she must be in a state of mortal sin? She answered +to the first question about Paris: "I do not think I was guilty of +mortal sin, and if I have sinned it is to God that I would make it +known, and in confession to God by the priest." To the second +question, concerning the horse of Senlis, she answered, that she +believed firmly that there was not mortal sin in this, seeing it was +valued, and the Bishop had due notice of it, and at all events it was +sent back to the Seigneur de la Trémouille to give it back to +Monseigneur de Senlis. The said horse was of no use to her; and, on +the other hand, she did not wish to keep it because she heard that the +Bishop was displeased that his horse should have been taken. And as +for the tower of Beaurevoir: "I did it not to destroy myself, but in +the hope of saving myself and of going to the aid of the good people +who were in need." But after having done it, she had confessed her +sin, and asked pardon of our Lord, and had pardon of Him. And she +allowed that it was not right to have made that leap, but that she did +wrong. + +The next day an important question was introduced, the only one as yet +which Jeanne does not seem to have been able to answer with +understanding. On points of fact or in respect to her visions she was +always quite clear, but questions concerning the Church were beyond +her knowledge. It is only indeed after some time has elapsed that we +perceive why such a question was introduced. + +After admonitions made to her she was required, if she had done +anything contrary to the faith, to submit herself to the decision of +the Church. She replied, that her answers had all been heard and seen +by clerks, and that they could say whether there was anything in them +against the faith: and that if they would point out to her where any +error was, afterwards she would tell them what was said by her +counsellors. At all events if there was anything against the faith +which our Lord had commanded, she would not sustain it, and would be +very sorry to go against that. Here it was shown to her that there was +a Church militant and a Church triumphant, and she was asked if she +knew the difference between them. She was also required to put herself +under the jurisdiction of the Church, in respect to what she had done, +whether it was good or evil, but replied, "I will answer no more on +this point for the present." + +Having thrown in this tentative question which she did not understand, +they returned to the question of her dress, which holds such an +important place in the entire interrogatory. If she were allowed to +hear mass as she wished, having been all this time deprived of +religious ordinances, did not she think it would be more honest and +befitting that she should go in the dress of a woman? To this she +replied vaguely, that she would much rather go to mass in the dress of +a woman than to retain her male costume and not to hear mass; and that +if she were certified that she should hear mass, she would be there in +a woman's dress. "I certify you that you shall hear mass," the +examiner replied, "but you must be dressed as a woman." "What would +you say," she answered as with a momentary doubt, "if I had sworn to +my King never to change?" but she added: "Anyhow I answer for it. Find +me a dress, long, touching the ground, without a train, and give it to +me to go to mass; but I will return to my present dress when I come +back." She was then asked why she would not have all the parts of a +female dress to go to mass in; she said, "I will take counsel upon +that, and answer you," and begged again for the honour of God and our +Lady that she might be allowed to hear mass in this good town. +Afterwards she was again recommended to assume the whole dress of a +woman and gave a conditional assent: "Get me a dress like that of a +young /bourgeoise/, that is to say, a long /houppelande/; I will wear +that and a woman's hood to go to mass." After having promised, +however, she made an appeal to them to leave her free, and to think no +more of her garb, but to allow her to hear mass without changing it. +This would seem to have been refused, and all at once without warning +the jurisdiction of the Church was suddenly introduced again. + +She was asked, whether in all she did and said she would submit +herself to the Church, and replied: "All my deeds and works are in the +hands of God, and I depend only on Him; and I certify that I desire to +do nothing and say nothing against the Christian faith; and if I have +done or said anything in the body that was against the Christian faith +which our Lord has established, I should not defend it but cast it +forth from me." Asked again, if she would not submit to the laws of +the Church she replied: "I can answer no more to-day on this point; +but on Saturday send the clerk to me, if you do not come, and I will +answer by the grace of God, and it can be put in writing." + +A great many questions followed as to her visions, but chiefly what +had been asked before. One thing only we may note, since it was one of +the special sayings all her own, which fell from the lips of Jeanne, +during this private and almost sympathetic examination. After being +questioned closely as to how she knew her first visitor to be St. +Michael, etc., she was asked, how she would have known had he been +"l'Anemy" himself (a Norman must surely have used this word), taking +the form of an angel: and finally, what doctrine he taught her? + +She answered; above all things he said that she was to be a good child +and that God would help her: and among other things that she was to go +to the succour of the King of France. But the greater part of what the +angel taught her, she continued, was already in their book; and THE +ANGEL SHOWED HER THE GREAT PITY THERE WAS OF THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE. + +The pity of it! That which has always gone most to the tender heart: a +country torn in pieces, brother fighting against brother, the invader +seated at the native hearth, and blood and fire making the smiling +land a desert: "/la pitie qui estoit au royaume de France/." + +Did the Inquisitor break down here? Could no one go on? or was it mere +human incompetence to feel the divine touch? Some one broke into a +foolish question about the height of the angel, and the sitting was +hurriedly concluded. Monseigneur might well be on his mettle; that +very pity, was it not stealing into the souls of his private committee +deputed for so different a use? + +***** + +Next day the questions about St. Michael's personal appearance were +resumed, as a little feint we can only suppose, for the great question +of the Church was again immediately introduced; but in the meantime +Jeanne had described her visitor in terms which it is pleasant to +dwell on. "He was in the form of a /très vrai prud' homme/." The term +is difficult to translate, as is the Galantuomo of Italy. The "King- +Honest Man," we used to say in English in the days of his late Majesty +Victor Emmanuel of Italy; but that is not all that is meant--/un vrai +prud' homme/, a man good, honest, brave, the best man, is more like +it. The girl's honest imagination thought of no paraphernalia of wings +or shining plumes. It was not the theatrical angel, not even the angel +of art whom she saw--whom it would have been so easy to invent, nay to +take quite truthfully from the first painted window, radiating colour +and brightness through the dim, low-roofed church. But even with such +material handy, Jeanne was not led into the conventional. She knew +nothing about wings or emblematic scales. He was in the form of a +brave and gentle man. She knew not anything greater, nor would she be +seduced into fable however sacred. Then once more the true assault +began. + +She was asked, if she would submit all her sayings and doings, good or +evil, to the judgment of our Holy Mother, the Church. She replied, +that as for the Church, she loved it and would sustain it with all her +might for our Christian faith; and that it was not she whom they ought +to disturb and hinder from going to church or from hearing mass. As to +the good things she had done, and that had happened, she must refer +all to the King of Heaven, who had sent her to Charles, King of +France; and it should be seen that the French would soon gain a great +advantage which God would send them, so great that all the kingdom of +France would be shaken. And this, she said, that when it came to pass, +they might remember that she had said it. She was again asked, if she +would submit to the jurisdiction of the Church, and answered, "I refer +everything to our Lord who sent me, to our Lady, and to the blessed +Saints of Paradise"; and added her opinion was that our Lord and the +Church meant the same thing, and that difficulties should not be made +concerning this, when there was no difficulty, and they were both one. +She was then told that there was the Church triumphant, in which are +God, the saints, the angels, and all saved souls. The Church militant +is our Holy Father the Pope, vicar of God on earth, the cardinals, the +prelates of the Church, and the clergy and all good Christians and +Catholics, which Church properly assembled cannot err, but is guided +by the Holy Spirit. And this being the case she was asked if she would +refer her cause to the Church militant thus explained to her. She +replied that she had come to the King of France on the part of God, on +the part of the Virgin Mary, the blessed Saints of Paradise, and the +Church victorious in Heaven, and at their commandment; and to that +Church she submitted all her good deeds, and all that she had done and +might do. And if they asked her whether she would submit to the Church +militant, answered, that she would now answer no more than this. + +Here again the argument strayed back to the futile subject of dress, +always at hand to be taken up again, one would say, when the judges +were non-plussed. Her first reply on this subject is remarkable and +shows that dark and terrible forebodings were already beginning to +mingle with her hopes. + +Asked, what she had to say about the woman's dress that had been +offered to her, to hear mass in: she answered, that she would not take +it yet, not until the Lord pleased; but that if it were necessary to +lead her out to be executed, and if she should then have to be +undressed, she required of the Lords of the Church that they would +give her the grace to have a long chemise, and a kerchief for her +head; that she would prefer to die rather than to alter what our Lord +had directed her to do, and that she firmly believed our Lord would +not let her descend so low, but that she should soon be helped by God +and by a miracle. She was then asked, if what she did in respect to +the man's costume was by command of God, why she asked for a woman's +chemise in case of death? answered, /It is enough that it should be +long/. + +The effect of these words in which so much was implied, must have made +a supreme sensation among the handful of men gathered round the +helpless girl in her prison, bringing the stake in all its horror +before the eyes of the judges as before her own. No other thing could +have been suggested by that piteous prayer. The stake, the scaffold, +the fire--and the shrinking figure all maidenly, helpless, exposed to +every evil gaze, must have showed themselves at least for a moment +against that dark background of prison wall. It was enough that it +should be long--to hide her as much as was possible from those +dreadful staring eyes. + +The interrogatory goes on wildly after this about the age and the +dress of the saints. But a tone of fate had come into it, and Jeanne +herself, it was evident, was very serious; her mind turned to more +weighty thoughts. Presently they asked if the saints hated the +English, to which she replied that they hated what God hated and loved +what He loved. She was then asked if God hated the English. She +replied that of the love or hate that God had for the English, or what +God did for their souls, she knew nothing; but she knew well that they +should be driven out of France, except those who died there; and that +God would send victory to the French against the English. Asked, if +God was for the English so long as they were prosperous in France: she +answered, that she knew not whether God hated the French, but believed +He had allowed them to be beaten because of their sins. + +Jeanne was then brought to a test which, had she been a great +statesman or a learned doctor, would have been as dangerous, as the +question concerning John the Baptist was to the priests and scribes. +"If we shall say: From heaven, he will say, Why then believed ye him +not? but if we shall say of men we fear the people." And she was only +a peasant girl and the event of which they spoke had been before her +little time. + +Asked, if she thought and believed firmly that her King did well to +kill Monseigneur de Bourgogne, she answered that IT WAS A GREAT +MISFORTUNE FOR THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE: but that however it might be +among themselves, God had sent her to the succour of the King. + +One or two other questions of some importance followed amid perpetual +changes of the subject: one of which called forth as follows her last +deliverance on the subject of the Pope. + +Asked, if she had said to Monseigneur de Beauvais that she would +answer as exactly to him and to his clerks as she would have done +before our Holy Father the Pope, although at several points in the +trial she would have had to refuse to answer, if she did not answer +more plainly than before Monseigneur de Beauvais--she said that she +had answered as much as she knew, and that if anything came to her +memory that she had forgotten to say, she would say it willingly. +Asked, if it seemed to her that she would be bound to answer the plain +truth to the Pope, the vicar of God, in all he asked her touching the +faith and her conscience, she replied that she desired to be taken +before him, and then she would answer all that she ought to answer. + +Here we seem to perceive dimly that there was beginning to be a second +party among those examiners, one of which was covertly but earnestly +attempting to lead Jeanne into an appeal to the Pope, which would have +conveyed her out of the hands of the English at least, and gained +time, probably deliverance for her, could Jeanne have been made to +understand it. + +This, however, was by no means the wish of Cauchon, whose spy and +whisperer, L'Oyseleur, was working against it in the background. +Jeanne evidently failed to take up what they meant. She did not +understand the distinction between the Church militant and the Church +triumphant: that God alone was her judge, and that no tribunal could +decide upon the questions which were between her Lord and herself, was +too firmly fixed in her mind: and again and again the men whose desire +was to make her adopt this expedient, were driven back into the ever +repeated questions about St. Catherine and St. Margaret. + +One other of her distinctive sayings fell from her in the little +interval that remained, in a series of useless questions about her +standard. Was it true that this standard had been carried into the +Cathedral at Rheims when those of the other captains were left behind? +"It had been through the labour and the pain," she said, "there was +good reason that it should have the honour." + +This last movement of a proud spirit, absolutely disinterested and +without thought of honour or advancement in the usual sense of the +word, gives a sort of trumpet note at the end of these wonderful +wranglings in prison, in which, however, there is a softening of tone +visible throughout, and evident effect of human nature bringing into +immediate contact divers human creatures day after day. Jeanne is +often at her best, and never so frequently as during these less formal +sittings utters those flying words, simple and noble and of absolute +truth to nature, which are noted everywhere, even in the most rambling +records. + +***** + +The private examination, concluding with that last answer about the +banner, came to an end on the 17th March, the day before Passion +Sunday. Several subsequent days were occupied with repeated +consultations in the Bishop's palace, and the reading over of the +minutes of the examinations, to the judges first and afterwards to +Jeanne, who acknowledged their correctness, with one or two small +amendments. It is only now that Cauchon reappears in his own person. +On the morning of the following Sunday, which was Palm Sunday, he and +four other doctors with him had a conversation with Jeanne in her +prison, very early in the morning, touching her repeated application +to be allowed to hear mass and to communicate. The Bishop offered her +his ultimatum: if she consented to resume her woman's dress, she might +hear mass, but not otherwise; to which Jeanne replied, sorrowfully, +that she would have done so before now if she could; but that it was +not in her power to do so. Thus after the long and bitter Lent her +hopes of sharing in the sacred feast were finally taken from her. It +remains uncertain whether she considered that her change of dress +would be direct disobedience to God, which her words seem often to +imply; or whether it would mean renunciation of her mission, which she +still hoped against hope to be able to resume; or if the fear of +personal insult weighed most with her. The latter reason had evidently +something to do with it, but, as evidently, not all. + +The background to these curious sittings, afterwards revealed to us, +casts a hazy side-light upon them. Probably the Bishop, never present, +must have been made aware by his spies of an intention on the part of +those most favourable to Jeanne to support an appeal to the Pope; and +L'Oyseleur, the traitor, who was all this time admitted to her cell by +permission of Cauchon, and really as his tool and agent, was actively +employed in prejudicing her mind against them, counselling her not to +trust to those clerks, not to yield to the Church. How he managed to +explain his own appearance on the other side, his official connection +with the trial, and constant presence as one of her judges, it is hard +to imagine. Probably he gave her to believe that he had sought that +position (having got himself liberated from the imprisonment which he +had represented himself as sharing) for her sake, to be able to help +her. + +On the other hand her friends, whose hearts were touched by her +candour and her sufferings, were not inactive. Jean de la Fontaine and +the two monks--l'Advenu and Frère Isambard--also succeeded in gaining +admission to her, and pressed upon her the advantage of appealing to +the Church, to the Council of Bâle about to assemble, or to the Pope +himself, which would have again changed the /venue/, and transferred +her into less prejudiced hands. It is very likely that Jeanne in her +ignorance and innocence might have held by her reference to the +supreme tribunal of God in any case; and it is highly unlikely that of +the English authorities, intent on removing the only thing in France +of which their forces were afraid, should have given her up into the +hands of the Pope, or allowed her to be transferred to any place of +defence beyond their reach; but at least it is a relief to the mind to +find that all these men were not base, as appears on the face of +things, but that pity and justice and human feeling sometimes existed +under the priest's gown and the monk's cowl, if also treachery and +falsehood of the blackest kind. The Bishop, who remained withdrawn, we +know not why, from all these private sittings in the prison (probably +busy with his ecclesiastical duties as Holy Week was approaching), +heard with fury of this visit and advice, and threatened vengeance +upon the meddlers, not without effect, for Jean de la Fontaine, we are +told--who had been deep in his councils, and indeed his deputy, as +chief examiner--disappeared from Rouen immediately after, and was +heard of no more. +---------- +[1] Compiègne was a strong point. Had she proclaimed a promise from + St. Catherine, of victory? Chastelain says so, long after date and + with errors in fact. Two Anglo-Compiègnais were at her trial. The + Rehabilitation does not go into this question.--(From Mr. Lang.) + + + +CHAPTER XV + +RE-EXAMINATION. +MARCH-MAY, 1431. + +Upon all these contentions followed the calm of Palm Sunday, a great +and touching festival, the first break upon the gloom of Lent, and a +forerunner of the blessedness of Easter. We have already told how--a +semblance of charity with which the reader might easily be deceived-- +the Bishop and four of his assessors had gone to the prison to offer +to the Maid permission to receive the sacrament if she would do so in +a woman's dress: and how after pleading that she might be allowed that +privilege as she was, in her male costume, and with a pathetic +statement that she would have yielded if she could, but that it was +impossible--she finally refused; and was so left in her prison to pass +that sacred day unsuccoured and alone. The historian Michelet, in the +wonderful sketch in which he rises superior to himself, and which +amidst all after writings remains the most beautiful and touching +memorial of Jeanne d'Arc, has made this day a central point in his +tale, using with the skill of genius the service of the Church +appropriate to the day, in heart-rending contrast with those doors of +the prison which did not open, and the help of God which did not come +to the young and solitary captive. /Le beau jour fleuri/ passed over +her in darkness and desertion: her agony and passion lay before her +like those of the Divine Sufferer, to whom every day of the succeeding +week is specially consecrated. There is almost indeed a painful +following of the Saviour's steps in these dark days, the circumstances +lending themselves in a wonderful way to the comparison which French +writers love to make, but which many of us must always feel, however +spotless the sufferer, to have a certain irreverence in them. But if +ever martyr were worthy of being called a partaker of the sufferings +of Christ it was surely this girl, free, if ever human creature was, +from self-seeking, or thought of reward, or ambitious hope, in whose +heart there had never been any motive but the service of God and the +deliverance of her country, who had neither looked before nor after, +nor put her own interests into consideration in any way. Silently the +feast passed with no holy privileges of religion, no blessed token of +the spring, no remembrance of the waving palms and scattered blossoms +over which her Lord rode into Jerusalem to die. She had not that sweet +fallacious triumph; but the darker ordeal remained for her to follow. + +On Tuesday the 27th of March, her troubles began again. Before Palm +Sunday, the report of the trial had been read to her. She had now to +hear the formal reading of the articles founded upon it, to give a +final response if she had any to give, or explanation, or addition, if +she thought proper. The sitting was held in the great hall of the +Castle of Rouen before a band of more than forty, all assembled for +this final test. The Bishop made a prefactory speech to the prisoner, +pointing out to her how benign and merciful were the judges now +assembled, that they had no wish to punish, but rather to instruct and +lead her in the right way; and requesting her at this late period in +the proceedings to choose one or more from among them to help her. To +which Jeanne replied; "In the first place concerning my good and our +faith, I thank you and all the company. As for the counsellor you +offer me I thank you also, but I have no need to depart from our Lord +as my counsellor." + +The articles, in which the former questions put to her and answered by +her, were now repeated in the form of accusations, were then read to +her one by one; her sorcery, sacrilege, etc., being taken as facts. To +a few she repeated, with various forcible and fine turns of phrase, +her previous answers, with here and there a new explanation; but to +the great majority she referred simply to her former replies, or +denied the charge, as follows: "The second article concerning +sortilège, superstitious acts and divination, she denied, and in +respect to adoration (i.e. allowing herself to be adored) said: If any +kissed her hands or her garments, it was not by her will, and that she +kept herself from it as much as she could; and the rest of the article +she denies." This is a specimen of the manner in which she responded, +with a clear-headed and undisturbed intelligence, point after point-- +/ipsa Johanna negat/, is the usual refrain: or else she referred with +dignity to previous replies as her sole answer. But sometimes the girl +was moved to indignation, sometimes added a word in her own defence: +"As for fairies she knew not what they were, and as for her education +she had been well and duly instructed what to believe, as a good child +should." This was her answer to the article in which all the folk-lore +of Domremy, all the fairy tales, had been collected into a solemn +statement of heresy. The matter of dress was once more treated in +endless detail, with many interjected questions and reports of what +she had already said: and at the end, answering the statement that +woman's dress was most fit for woman's work, Jeanne added the quick +/mot/: "As for the usual work of women, there are enough of other +women to do it." On another occasion when the report ran that she +claimed to have done all things by the counsel of God, she interrupted +and said "that it ought to be, all that I have done well." To her +former answer that she had yielded to the desire of the French knights +in attacking Paris, she added the fine words, "It seemed to me that it +was their duty to attack their adversaries." In respect to her visions +she added to her former answer, "that she had not asked advice of +bishop, curé, or any other before believing her revelations, but had +many times prayed God to reveal them to others of her party." About +calling her saints when she required their aid she added, that she +asked God and Our Lady to send her council and comfort, and +immediately her heavenly visitors came; and that this was the prayer +she made: + + "Gentle God, in honour of Your[1] passion, I pray You, if You love + me, that You would reveal to me how I ought to answer these people + of the Church. I know well by what command it was that I took this + dress, but I know not in what manner I ought to give it up. For + this may it please You to teach me." + +In respect to the reproach that she had been a general in the war +(/chef de guerre/), she explained that if she were, it was to drive +out the English, repelling the accusation that she had assumed this +title in pride; and to that which accused her of preferring to live +among men, she explained that when she was in a lodging she generally +had a woman with her; but that when engaged in war she lived in her +clothes whenever there was not a woman present. In respect to her hope +of escaping from prison, she was asked if her council had thrown any +light on that question, and replied, "I have yet to tell you." +Manchon, the clerk, makes a note upon his margin at these words, +"Proudly answered"--/superbe responsum/. + +This re-examination lasted for two long days, the 27th and 28th of +March. On several points Jeanne requested that she might be allowed to +give an answer on Saturday, and accordingly, on Saturday, the last day +of March, Easter Eve, she was visited in prison by the Bishop and +seven or eight assessors. She was then asked if she would submit to +the judgment of the Church on earth all that she had done and said, +specially in things that concerned her trial. She answered that she +would submit to the judgment of the Church militant, provided that it +did not enforce anything that was impossible. She explained that what +she called impossible was to acknowledge that the visions and +revelations came otherwise than from God, or that what she had done +was not on the part of God: these she would never deny or revoke for +any power on earth: and that which our Lord had commanded or should +command, she would not give up for any living man, and this would be +impossible to her. And in case the Church should command her to do +anything contrary to the command given her by God she would not do it +for any reason whatsoever. Asked whether she would submit to the +Church if the Church militant pronounced that her revelations were +delusions or from the devil, or superstitious, or evil things, she +answered that she would refer everything to our Lord, whose command +she always obeyed; and that she knew well that everything had come to +her by the commandment of God; and that what she had affirmed during +this trial to have been done by the commandment of God it would be +impossible for her to deny. And in case the Church militant commanded +her to go against God, she would submit herself to no man in this +world but to our Lord, whose good commandment she had always obeyed. +She was asked if she did not believe that she was subject to the +Church on earth, that is, to our Holy Father the Pope, the Cardinals, +Bishops, and other prelates of the Church. She answered, "/Yes, our +Lord being served first/." Asked if she had directions from her voices +not to submit to the Church militant which is on earth, nor to its +judgment, she replied that she does not answer according to what comes +into her head, but that when she replies it is by commandment; and +that she has never been told not to obey the Church, our Lord being +served first (/noster Sire premier servi/). + +Other less formal particulars come to us long after, from various +witnesses at the /procès de rehabilitation/, in which a lively picture +is given of this scene. Frère Isambard had apparently managed, as was +his wont, to get close to the prisoner, and to whisper to her to +appeal to the Council of Bâle. "What is this Council of Bâle?" she +asked in the same tone. Isambard replied that it was the "congregation +of the whole Church, Catholic and Universal, and that there would be +as many there on her side as on that of the English." "Ah!" she cried, +"since there will be some of our party in that place, I will willingly +yield and submit to the Council of Bâle, to our Holy Father the Pope, +and to the sacred Council."[2] And immediately--continues the +deposition--the Bishop of Beauvais cried out, "Silence, in the devil's +name!" and told the notary to take no notice of what she said, that +she would submit herself to the Council of Bâle; whereupon a second +cry burst from the bosom of Jeanne, "You write what is against me, but +you will not write what is for me." "Because of these things, the +English and their officers threatened terribly the said Frère +Isambard, warning him that if he did not hold his peace he would be +thrown in the Seine." No notice whatever is taken of any such +interruption in the formal record. It must have been before this time +that Jean de la Fontaine disappeared. He left Rouen secretly and never +returned, nor does he ever appear again. Frère Isambard is said to +have taken temporary refuge in his convent; they scattered, /de par +l'diable/, according to the Christian adjuration of Mgr. De Beauvais; +though l'Advenu would seem to have held his ground, and served as +Confessor to Jeanne in her agony, at which Frère Isambard was also +present. We are told that the Deputy Inquisitor Lemâitre, he who had +been got to lend the aid of his presence with such difficulty, +fiercely warned the authorities that he would have no harm done to +those two friars, from which we may infer that he too had leanings +towards the Maid; and these honest and loyal men, well deserving of +their country and of mankind, should not lose their record when the +tragic story of so much human treachery and baseness has to be told. + +***** + +After this there came a long pause, full of much business to the +judges, councillors, and clerks who had to reduce the seventy articles +to twelve, in order to forward a summary of the case to the University +of Paris for their judgment. Jeanne in the meantime had been left, but +not neglected, in her prison. The great Feast of Easter had passed +without any sacred consolation of the Church; but Monseigneur de +Beauvais, in his kindness, sent her a carp to keep the feast withal, +if not any spiritual food. It was quite congenial to the spirit of the +time to imagine that the carp had been poisoned, and such a thought +seems to have crossed the mind of Jeanne, who was very ill after +eating of it, and like to die. But it was not thus, poisoned in +prison, that it would have suited any of her persecutors to let her +die. As a matter of fact, as soon as it was known that she was ill, +the best doctors procurable were sent to the prison with peremptory +orders to prolong her life and cure her at any cost. But for a little +time we lose sight of the sick-bed on which the unfortunate Maid lay +fully dressed, never relinquishing the garb which was her protection, +with her feet chained to her uneasy couch. Even at the moment when her +life hung in the balance we read of no indulgence granted in this +respect, no unlocking of the infamous chain, nor substitution of a +gentler nurse for the attendant /houspillers/, who were her guards +night and day. + +When the Bishop and his court had completed their business and sent +off to Paris the important document on which so much depended, they +found themselves at leisure to return to Jeanne, to inquire after her +health and to make her "a charitable admonition." It was on the 18th +of April, after the silence of more than a fortnight, that their visit +was made with this benevolent purpose. Seven of her judges attended +the Bishop into the sick-chamber. They had come, he assured her, +charitably and familiarly, to visit her in her sickness and to carry +her comfort and consolation. Most of these men were indeed familiar +enough: she had seen their faces already through many a dreadful day, +though there were one or two which were new and strange, come to stare +at her in the depths of her distress. Cauchon reminded her how much +and how carefully she had been questioned by the most wise and learned +men; and that those there present were ready to do anything for the +salvation of her soul and body in every possible way, by instructing +or advising her. He added, however, that if she still refused to +accept advice, and to act according to the counsel of the Church, she +was in the greatest danger--to which she replied: + +"It seems to me, being so ill as I am, that I am in great danger of +death. And if it is thus that God pleases to decide for me, I ask of +you to be allowed to confess and receive my Saviour, and to be laid in +holy ground." + +"If you desire to have the rites and sacraments of the Church," said +Cauchon, "you must do as good Catholics ought to do, submit to Holy +Church." She answered, "I can say no other thing to you." She was then +told that if she was in fear of death through sickness she ought all +the more to amend her life; but that she could not have the privileges +of the Church as a Catholic, if she did not submit to the Church. She +answered: "If my body dies in prison, I hope that you will bury me in +consecrated ground: yet if not, I still hope in our Lord." + +She was then reminded that she had said in her trial--if anything had +been said or done by her against our Christian faith ordained by our +Lord, that she would not stand by it. She answered, "I refer to the +answer I made, and to our Lord." + +It was then asked of her, since she believed herself to have had many +revelations from God by St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, +whether if there should appear some good creature (/sic/) who +professed to have had a revelation from God in respect to her, she +would believe that? She answered that there was no Christian in the +world who could come to her professing to have had a revelation, of +whom she should not know whether he spoke the truth or not: she would +know it through St. Catherine and St. Margaret. + +Asked, if she could not imagine that God might reveal something to a +good creature who might be unknown to her, she answered: "Yes; but I +would not believe either man or woman without a sign." + +Asked, if she believed that the Holy Scripture was revealed by God, +she answered, "You know that I do, and it is good to know." + +The last answer she made in respect to submission to Holy Church was +this, "Whatever may happen to me I will neither do nor say anything +else, for I have answered before, during the trial." + +She was then "exhorted powerfully by the venerable doctors present" +(four are mentioned by name) to submit to our Mother the Church, with +many authorities and examples drawn from the Holy Scriptures; and +finally, Magister Nicolas Midi made her an exhortation from Matthew +xviii.: "If your brother trespass against you," and what follows, "If +he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as a heathen man and a +publican." This was expounded to Jeanne in the French tongue and, +finally, she was told that if she would not obey and submit to the +Church she must be given up as if she was a Saracen. To which Jeanne +replied that she was a good Christian and well baptised, and that she +desired to die as a Christian. She was then asked whether, since she +begged leave of the Church to receive her Saviour, she would submit to +the Church if it were promised to her that she should receive. She +answered that she would say no more than she had said; that she loved +God, served Him, and was a good Christian, and would aid and uphold +the Holy Church with all her power. Asked if she wished that a +beautiful procession should be made for her to restore her to health, +she answered that she would be glad if the Church and the Catholics +would pray for her. + +For another fortnight Jeanne was sent back into the silence, and to +her own thoughts, which must have grown heavier and heavier as the +weary days went on, and no sound of approaching deliverance came, no +rumour of help at hand. All was quiet and safe at Rouen; amid the +babble of the courtyard which she might hear fitfully when her +guardians were quieter than usual, there was not one word which +brought the hope of a French army at hand, or of any movement to +rescue her. All was silent in the world around, not a breath of hope, +not the whisper of a friend. It was not till the 2d of May that the +dreadful blank was again broken, and she was called to the great hall +of the castle for another interview with her tormentors. When she was +led into the hall it was full, as in the first sitting, sixty-three +judges in all being present. The interest had flagged or the pity had +grown as the trial dragged its slow length along; but now, when every +day the verdict was expected from Paris, the interest had risen again. +On her way from her prison to the hall, it was necessary to pass the +door of the castle chapel: and here once or twice Massieu, the officer +of the court, had permitted her to pause and kneel down as she passed. +This was all the celebration of the Paschal Feast that was permitted +to Jeanne. The compassionate official, however, was discovered in this +small service of charity, and sternly reprimanded and threatened. +Henceforward she had to pass without even a longing look through the +door at the altar on which was the holy sacrament. + +She came in on the renewed sitting of the 2d May to find the assembled +priests settling themselves, after the address which had been made to +them, to hear another address which John de Chasteillon, Archdeacon, +had prepared for herself, in which he said much that was good both for +body and soul, to which she consented. He had a list of twelve +articles in his hands, and explained and expounded them to her, as +they were the occasion of the sitting. He then "admonished her in +charity," explaining that those who were faithful to Christ hold +firmly and closely to the Christian creed, and adjuring her to consent +and to amend her ways. To this Jeanne answered: "Read your book," +meaning the schedule held by Monseigneur the Archdeacon, "and then I +will answer you. I refer myself to God my master in all things; and I +love Him with all my heart." + +To read this book, however, was precisely what Monseigneur the +Archdeacon had no intention of doing. She was never allowed to hear +the twelve articles upon which the verdict against her was founded; +but the speaker gave her a long discourse by way of explanation, +following more or less the schedule which he held. This "monition +general," however, elicited no detailed reply from Jeanne, who +answered briefly with some impatience, "I refer myself to my judge, +who is the King of Heaven and earth." The "Lord Archdeacon" then +proceeded to "monitions particulares." + +It was then once more explained to her that this reference to God +alone was a refusal to submit to the Church militant, and she was +instructed in the authority of the Church, which it was the duty of +every Christian to believe--/unam sanctam Ecclesiam/ always guided by +the Holy Spirit and which could not err, to the judgment of which +every question should be referred. She answered: "I believe in the +Church here below; but my doings and sayings, as I have already said, +I refer and submit to God. I believe that the Church militant cannot +err or fail; but as for my deeds and words I put them all before God, +who has made me do that which I have done"; she also said that she +submitted herself to God, her Creator, who had made her do everything, +and referred everything to Him, and to Him alone. + +She was then asked, if she would have no judge on earth and if our +Holy Father the Pope were not her judge; she answered: "I will tell +you nothing more. I have a good master, that is our Lord, on whom I +depend for everything, and not an any other." + +She was then told that if she would not believe the Church and the +article /Ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam/, that she might be reckoned as +a heretic and punished by burning: to which she answered: "I can say +nothing else to you; and if I saw the fire before me, I should say +only that which I say, and could do nothing else." (Once more at this +point the clerk writes on his margin, "Proud reply"--/Superba +responsio/--but whether in admiration or in blame it would be hard to +say.) + +Asked, if the Council General, or the Holy Father, Cardinals, etc., +were there--whether she would submit to them. "You shall have no +other answer from me," she said. + +Asked, if she would submit to our Holy Father the Pope: she answered, +"Take me to him and I will answer him," but would say no more. + +Questioned in respect to her dress, she answered, that she would +willingly accept a long dress and a woman's hood to go to church to +receive her Saviour, provided that, as she had already said, she were +allowed to wear it on that occasion only, and then to take back that +which she at present wore. Further, when it was set before her that +she wore that dress without any need, being in prison, she answered, +"When I have done that for which I was sent by God, I will then take +back a woman's dress." Asked, if she thought she did well in being +dressed like a man, she answered, "I refer every thing to our Lord." + +Again, after the exhortation made to her, namely, that in saying that +she did well and did not sin in wearing that dress, and in the +circumstances which concerned her assuming and wearing it, and in +saying that God and the saints made her do so--she blasphemed, and as +is contained in this schedule, erred and did evil: she answered that +she never blasphemed God or the saints. + +She was then admonished to give up that dress, and no longer to think +it was right, and to return to the garb of a woman; but answered that +she would make no change in this respect. + +Concerning her revelations: she replied in regard to them, that she +referred everything to her judge, that is God, and that her +revelations were from God, without any other medium. + +Asked concerning the sign given to the King if she would refer to the +Archbishop of Rheims, the Sire de Boussac, Charles de Bourbon, La +Tremouille, and La Hire, to them or to any one of them, who, according +to what she formerly said, had seen the crown, and were present when +the angel brought it, and gave it to the Archbishop; or if she would +refer to any others of her party who might write under their seals +that it was so; she answered, "Send a messenger, and I will write to +them about the whole trial": but otherwise she was not disposed to +refer to them. + +In respect to her presumption in divining the future, etc., she +answered, "I refer everything to my judge who is God, and to what I +have already answered, which is written in the book." + +Asked, if two or three or four knights of her party were to be brought +here under a safe conduct, whether she would refer to them her +apparitions and other things contained in this trial; answered, "Let +them come and then I will answer:" but otherwise she was not willing +to refer to anyone. + +Asked whether, at the Church of Poitiers where she was examined, she +had submitted to the Church, she answered, "Do you hope to catch me in +this way, and by that draw advantage to yourselves?" + +In conclusion, "afresh and abundantly," she was admonished to submit +herself to the Church, on pain of being abandoned by the Church; for +if the Church left her she would be in great danger of body and of +soul; and she might well put herself in peril of eternal fire for the +soul, as well as of temporal fire for the body, by the sentence of +other judges. "You will not do this which you say against me, without +doing injury to your own bodies and souls," she said. + +Asked, whether she could give a reason why she would not submit to the +Church: but to this she would make no additional reply. + +Again a week passed in busy talk and consultation without, in silence +and desertion within. On the 9th of May the prisoner was again led, +this time to the great tower, apparently the torture chamber of the +castle, where she found nine of her judges awaiting her, and was once +more adjured to speak the truth, with the threat of torture if she +continued to refuse. Never was her attitude more calm, more dignified +and lofty in its simplicity, than at this grim moment. + +"Truly," she replied, "if you tear the limbs from my body, and my soul +out of it, I can say nothing other than what I have said; or if I said +anything different, I should afterwards say that you had compelled me +to do it by force." She added that on the day of the Holy Cross, the +3d of May past, she had been comforted by St. Gabriel. She believed +that it was St. Gabriel: and she knew by her voices that it was St. +Gabriel. She had asked counsel of her voices whether she should submit +to the Church, because the priests pressed her so strongly to submit: +but it had been said to her that if she desired our Lord to help her +she must depend upon Him for everything. She added that she knew well +that our Lord had always been the master of all she did, and that the +Enemy had nothing to do with her deeds. Also she had asked her voices +if she should be burned, and the said voices had replied to her that +she was to wait for the Lord and He would help her. + +Afterwards in respect to the crown which had been handed by the angel +to the Archbishop of Rheims, she was asked if she would refer to him. +She answered: "Bring him here, that I may hear what he says, and then +I shall answer you; he will not dare to say the contrary of that which +I have said to you." + +The Archbishop of Rheims had been her constant enemy; all the +hindrances that had occurred in her active life, and the constant +attempts made to balk her even in her brief moment of triumph, came +from him and his associate La Trémouille. He was the last person in +the world to whom Jeanne naturally would have appealed. Perhaps that +was the admirable reason why he was suggested in this dreadful crisis +of her fate. + +A few days later, it was discussed among those dark inquisitors +whether the torture should be applied or not. Finally, among thirteen +there were but two (let not the voice of sacred vengeance be silent on +their shame though after four centuries and more), Thomas de +Courcelles, first of theologians, cleverest of ecclesiastical lawyers, +mildest of men, and Nicolas L'Oyseleur, the spy and traitor, who voted +for the torture. One man most reasonably asked why she should be put +to torture when they had ample material for judgment without it? One +cannot but feel that the proceedings on this occasion were either +intended to beguile the impatience of the English authorities, eager +to be done with the whole business, or to add a quite gratuitous pang +to the sufferings of the heroic girl. As the men were not devils, +though probably possessed by this time, the more cruel among them, by +the horrible curiosity, innate alas! in human nature, of seeing how +far a suffering soul could go, it is probable that the first motive +was the true one. The English, Warwick especially, whose every +movement was restrained by this long-pending affair, were exceedingly +impatient, and tempted at times to take the matter into their own +hands, and spoil the perfectness of this well constructed work of art, +conducted according to all the rules, the beautiful trial which was +dear to the Bishop's heart--and destined to be, though perhaps in a +sense somewhat different to that which he hoped, his chief title to +fame. + +Ten days after, the decision of the University of Paris arrived, and a +great assembly of counsellors, fifty-one in all, besides the permanent +presidents, collected together in the chapel of the Archbishop's +house, to hear that document read, along with many other documents, +the individual opinions of a host of doctors and eminent authorities. +After an explanation of the solemn care given by the University to the +consideration of every one of the twelve articles of the indictment, +that learned tribunal pronounced its verdict upon each. The length of +the proceedings makes it impossible to reproduce these. First as to +the early revelations given to Jeanne, described in the first and +second articles, they are denounced as "murderous, seductive, and +pernicious fictions," the apparitions those of "malignant spirits and +devils, Belial, Satan, and Behemoth." The third article, which +concerned her recognition of the saints, was described more mildly as +containing errors in faith; the fourth, as to her knowledge of future +events, was characterised as "superstitious and presumptuous +divination." The fifth, concerning her dress, declared her to be +"blasphemous and contemptuous of God in His Sacraments." The sixth, by +which she was accused of loving bloodshed, because she made war +against those who did not obey the summons in her letters bearing the +name Jhesus Maria, was declared to prove that she was cruel, "seeking +the shedding of blood, seditious, and a blasphemer of God." The tenor +is the same to the end: Blasphemy, superstition, pernicious doctrine, +impiety, cruelty, presumption, lying; a schismatic, a heretic, an +apostate, an idolator, an invoker of demons. These are the conclusions +drawn by the most solemn and weighty tribunal on matters of faith in +France. The precautions taken to procure a full and trustworthy +judgment, the appeal to each section in turn, the Faculty of Theology, +the Faculty of Law, the "Nations," all separately and than all +together passing every item in review--are set forth at full length. +Every formality had been fulfilled, every rule followed, every detail +was in the fullest order, signed and sealed and attested by solemn +notaries, bristling with well-known names. A beautiful judgment, equal +to the trial, which was beautiful too--not a rule omitted except those +of justice, fairness, and truth! The doctors sat and listened with +every fine professional sense satisfied. + + "If the beforesaid woman, charitably exhorted and admonished by + competent judges, does not return spontaneously to the Catholic + faith, publicly abjure her errors, and give full satisfaction to + her judges, she is hereby given up to the secular judge to receive + the reward of her deeds." + +The attendant judges, each in his place, now added their adhesion. +Most of them simply stated their agreement with the judgment of the +University, or with that of the Bishop of Fecamp, which was a similar +tenor; a few wished that Jeanne should be again "charitably +admonished"; many desired that on this selfsame day the final sentence +should be pronounced. One among them, a certain Raoul Sauvage +(Radulphus Silvestris), suggested that she should be brought before +the people in a public place, a suggestion afterwards carried out. +Frère Isambard desired that she should be charitably admonished again +and have another chance, and that her final fate should still be in +the hands of "us her judges." The conclusion was that one more +"charitable admonition" should be given to Jeanne, and that the law +should then take its course. The suggestion that she should make a +public appearance had only one supporter. + +This dark scene in the chapel is very notable, each man rising to +pronounce what was in reality a sentence of death,--fifty of them +almost unanimous, filled no doubt with a hundred different motives, to +please this man or that, to win favour, to get into the way of +promotion,--but all with a distinct consciousness of the great yet +horrible spectacle, the stake, the burning:--though perhaps here and +there was one with a hope that perpetual imprisonment, bread of sorrow +and water of anguish, might be substituted for that terrible death. +Finally, it was decided that--always on the side of mercy, as every +act proved--the tribunal should once more "charitably admonish" the +prisoner for the salvation of her soul and body, and that after all +this "good deliberation and wholesome counsel" the case should be +concluded. + +Again there follows a pause of four days. No doubt the Bishop and his +assessors had other things to do, their ecclesiastical functions, +their private business, which could not always be put aside because +one forsaken soul was held in suspense day after day. Finally on the +24th of May, Jeanne again received in her prison a dignified company, +some quite new and strange to her (indeed the idea may cross the +reader's mind that it was perhaps to show off the interesting prisoner +to two new and powerful bishops, the first, Louis of Luxembourg, a +relative of her first captor, that this last examination was held), +nine men in all, crowding her chamber--/exponuntur Johannæ defectus +sui/, says the record--to expound to Jeanne her faults. It was +Magister Peter Morice to whom this office was confided. Once more the +"schedule" was gone over, and an address delivered laden with all the +bad words of the University. "Jeanne, dearest friend," said the orator +at last, "it is now time, at the end of the trial, to think well what +words these are." She would seem to have spoken during this address, +at least once--to say that she held to everything she had said during +the trial. When Morice had finished she was once more questioned +personally. + +She was asked if she still thought and believed that it was not her +duty to submit her deeds and words to the Church militant, or to any +other except God, upon which she replied, "What I have always said and +held to during the trial, I maintain to this moment"; and added that +if she were in judgment and saw the fire lighted, the faggots burning, +and the executioner ready to rake the fire, and she herself within the +fire, she could say nothing else, but would sustain what she had said +in her trial, to death. + +Once more the scribe has written on his margin the words /Responsio +Johannæ superba/--the proud answer of Jeanne. Her raised head, her +expanded breast, something of a splendour of indignation about her, +must have moved the man, thus for the third time to send down to us +his distinctly human impression of the worn out prisoner before her +judges. "And immediately the promoter and she refusing to say more, +the cause was concluded," says the record, so formal, sustained within +such purely abstract limits, yet here and there with a sort of throb +and reverberation of the mortal encounter. From the lips of the +Inquisitor too all words seemed to have been taken. It is as when amid +the excited crowd in the Temple the officers of the Pharisees +approaching to lay hands on a greater than Jeanne, fell back, not +knowing why, and could not do their office. This man was silenced +also. Two bishops were present, and one a great man full of patronage; +but not for the richest living in Normandy could Peter Morice find any +more to say. + +These are in one sense the words of Jeanne; the last we have from her +in her prison, the last of her consistent and unbroken life. After, +there was a deeper horror to go through, a moment when all her forces +failed. Here on the verge of eternity she stands heroic and +unyielding, brave, calm, and steadfast as at the outset of her career, +the Maid of France. Were the fires lighted and the faggots burning, +and she herself within the fire, she had no other word to say. +---------- +[1] It is correct in French to use the second person plural in + addressing God, /thou/ being a more intimate and less respectful + form of speech. Such a difference is difficult to remember, and + troubles the ear. The French, even those who ought to know better, + sometimes speak of it as a supreme profanity on the part of the + profane English, that they address God as /thou/. + +[2] The French report goes on, "et requiert ----," but no more. It is + not in the Latin. The scribe was stopped by the Bishop's profane + outcry, and forbidden to register the fact she was about to make a + direct appeal to the Pope. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE ABJURATION. +MAY 24, 1431. + +On the 23d of May Jeanne was taken back to her prison attended by the +officer of the court, Massieu, her frame still thrilling, her heart +still high, with that great note of constancy yet defiance. She had +been no doubt strongly excited, the commotion within her growing with +every repetition of these scenes, each one of which promised to be the +last. And the fire and the stake and the executioner had come very +near to her; no doubt a whole murmuring world of rumour, of strange +information about herself, never long inaudible, never heard outside +of the Castle of Rouen, rose half-comprehended from the echoing +courtyard outside and the babble of her guards within. She would hear +even as she was conveyed along the echoing stone passages something +here and there of the popular expectation:--a burning! the wonderful +unheard of sight, which by hook or by crook everyone must see; and no +doubt among the English talk she might now be able to make out +something concerning this long business which had retarded all warlike +proceedings but which would soon be over now, and the witch burnt. +There must have been some, even among those rude companions, who would +be sorry, who would feel that she was no witch, yet be helpless to do +anything for her, any more than Massieu could, or Frère Isambard: and +if it was all for the sake of certain words to be said, was the wench +mad? would it not be better to say anything, to give up anything +rather than be burned at the stake? Jeanne, notwithstanding the +wonderful courage of her last speech, must have returned to her cell +with small illusion possible to her intelligent spirit. The stake had +indeed come very near, the flames already dazzled her eyes, she must +have felt her slender form shrink together at the thought. All that +long night, through the early daylight of the May morning did she lie +and ponder, as for far less reasons so many of us have pondered as we +lay wakeful through those morning watches. God's promises are great, +but where is the fulfilment? We ask for bread and he gives us, if not +a stone, yet something which we cannot realise to be bread till after +many days. Jeanne's voices had never paused in their pledge to her of +succour. "Speak boldly, God will help you--fear nothing"; there would +be aid for her before three months, and great victory. They went on +saying so, though the stake was already being raised. What did they +mean? what did they mean? Could she still trust them? or was it +possible ----? + +Her heart was like to break. At their word she would have faced the +fire. She meant to do so now, notwithstanding the terrible, the +heartrending ache of hope that was still in her. But they did not give +her that heroic command. Still and always, they said God will help +you, our Lord will stand by you. What did that mean? It must mean +deliverance, deliverance! What else could it mean? If she held her +head high as she returned to the horrible monotony of that prison so +often left with hope, so often re-entered in sadness, it must soon +have dropped upon her tired bosom. Slowly the clouds had settled round +her. Over and over again had she affirmed them to be true--these +voices that had guided her steps and led her to victory. And they had +promised her the aid of God if she went forward boldly, and spoke and +did not fear. But now every way of salvation was closing; all around +her were fierce soldiers thirsting for her blood, smooth priests who +admonished her in charity, threatening her with eternal fire for the +soul, temporal fire for the body. She felt that fire, already blowing +towards her as if on the breath of the evening wind, and her girlish +flesh shrank. Was that what the voices had called deliverance? was +that the grand victory, the aid of the Lord? + +It may well be imagined that Jeanne slept but little that night; she +had reached the lowest depths; her soul had begun to lose itself in +bitterness, in the horror of a doubt. The atmosphere of her prison +became intolerable, and the noise of her guards keeping up their rough +jests half through the night, their stamping and clamour, and the +clang of their arms when relieved. Early next morning a party of her +usual visitors came in upon her to give her fresh instruction and +advice. Something new was about to happen to-day. She was to be led +forth, to breathe the air of heaven, to confront the people, the +raging sea of men's faces, all the unknown world about her. The crowd +had never been unfriendly to Jeanne. It had closed about her, almost +wherever she was visible, with sweet applause and outcries of joy. +Perhaps a little hope stirred her heart in the thought of being +surrounded once more by the common folk, though probably it did not +occur to her to think of these Norman strangers as her own people. And +a great day was before her, a day in which something might still be +done, in which deliverance might yet come. L'Oyseleur, who was one of +her visitors, adjured her now to change her conduct, to accept +whatever means of salvation might be offered to her. There was no +longer any mention of Pope or Council, but only of the Church to which +she ought to yield. How it was that he preserved his influence over +her, having been proved to be a member of the tribunal that judged +her, and not a fellow-prisoner, nor a fellow-countryman, nor any of +the things he had professed to be, no once can tell us; but evidently +he had managed to do so. Jeanne would seem to have received him +without signs of repulsion or displeasure. Indeed she seems to have +been ready to hear anyone, to believe in those who professed to wish +her well, even when she did not follow their counsel. + +It would require, however, no great persuasion on L'Oyseleur's part to +convince her that this was a more than usually important day, and that +something decisive must be done, now or never. Why should she be so +determined to resist her only chance of safety? If she were but +delivered from the hands of the English, safe in the gentler keeping +of the Church, there would be time to think of everything, even to +make her peace with her voices who would surely understand if, for the +saving of her life, and out of terror for the dreadful fire, she +abandoned them for a moment. She had disobeyed them at Beaurevoir and +they had forgiven. One faltering word now, a mark of her hand upon a +paper, and she would be safe--even if still all they said was true; +and if indeed and in fact, after buoying her up from day to day, such +a dreadful thing might be as that they were not true ---- + +The traitor was at her ear whispering; the cold chill of +disappointment, of disillusion, of sickening doubt was in her heart. + +Then there came into the prison a better man than L'Oyseleur, Jean +Beaupère, her questioner in the public trial, the representative of +all these notabilities. What he said was spoken with authority and he +came in all seriousness, may not we believe in some kindness too? to +warn her. He came with permission of the Bishop, no stealthy visitor. +"Jean Beaupère entered alone into the prison of the said Jeanne by +permission, and advertised her that she would straightway be taken to +the scaffold to be addressed (/pour y être preschée/), and that if she +was a good Christian she would on that scaffold place all her acts and +words under the jurisdiction of our Holy Mother, the Church, and +specially of the ecclesiastical judges." "Accept the woman's dress and +do all that you are told," her other adviser had said. When the car +that was to convey her came to the prison doors, L'Oyseleur +accompanied her, no doubt with a show of supporting her to the end. +What a change from the confined and gloomy prison to the dazzling +clearness of the May daylight, the air, the murmuring streets, the +throng that gazed and shouted and followed! Life that had run so low +in the prisoner's veins must have bounded up within her in response to +that sunshine and open sky, and movement and sound of existence-- +summer weather too, and everything softened in the medium of that soft +breathing air, sound and sensation and hope. She had been three months +in her prison. As the charrette rumbled along the roughly paved +streets drawing all those crowds after it, a strange object appeared +to Jeanne's eyes in the midst of the market-place, a lofty scaffold +with a stake upon it, rising over the heads of the crowd, the logs all +arranged ready for the fire, a car waiting below with four horses, to +bring hither the victim. The place of sacrifice was ready, everything +arranged--for whom? for her? They drove her noisily past that she +might see the preparations. It was all ready; and where then was the +great victory, the deliverance in which she had believed? + +In front of the beautiful gates of St. Ouen there was a different +scene. That stately church was surrounded then by a churchyard, a +great open space, which afforded room for a very large assembly. In +this were erected two platforms, one facing the other. On the first +sat the court of judges in number about forty, Cardinal Winchester +having a place by the side of Monseigneur de Beauvais, the president, +with several other bishops and dignified ecclesiastics. Opposite, on +the other platform, were a pulpit and a place for the accused, to +which Jeanne was conducted by Massieu, who never left her, and +L'Oyseleur, who kept as near as he could, the rest of the platform +being immediately covered by lawyers, doctors, all the camp followers, +so to speak, of the black army, who could find footing there. Jeanne +was in her usual male dress, the doublet and hose, with her short- +clipped hair--no doubt looking like a slim boy among all this dark +crowd of men. The people swayed like a sea all about and around--the +throng which had gathered in her progress through the streets pushing +out the crowd already assembled with a movement like the waves of the +sea. Every step of the trial all through had been attended by +preaching, by discourses and reasoning and admonishments, charitable +and otherwise. Now she was to be "preached" for the last time. + +It was Doctor Guillaume Érard who ascended the pulpit, a great +preacher, one whom the "copious multitude" ran after and were eager to +hear. He himself had not been disposed to accept this office, but no +doubt, set up there on that height before the eyes of all the people, +he thought of his own reputation, and of the great audience, and +Winchester the more than king, the great English Prince, the +wealthiest and most influential of men. The preacher took his text +from a verse in St. John's Gospel: "A branch cannot bear fruit except +it remain in the vine." The centre circle containing the two platforms +was surrounded by a close ring of English soldiers, understanding none +of it, and anxious only that the witch should be condemned. + +It was in this strange and crowded scene that the sermon which was +long and eloquent began. When it was half over, in one of his fine +periods admired by all the people, the preacher, after heaping every +reproach upon the head of Jeanne, suddenly turned to apostrophise the +House of France, and the head of that House, "Charles who calls +himself King." "He has," cried the preacher, stimulated no doubt by +the eye of Winchester upon him, "adhered, like a schismatic and +heretical person as he is, to the words and acts of a useless woman, +disgraced and full of dishonour; and not he only, but the clergy who +are under his sway, and the nobility. This guilt is thine, Jeanne, and +to thee I say that thy King is a schismatic and a heretic." + +In the full flood of his oratory the preacher was arrested here by +that clear voice that had so often made itself heard through the +tumult of battle. Jeanne could bear much, but not this. She was used +to abuse in her own person, but all her spirit came back at this +assault on her King. And interruption to a sermon has always a +dramatic and startling effect, but when that voice arose now, when the +startled speaker stopped, and every dulled attention revived, it is +easy to imagine what a stir, what a wonderful, sudden sensation must +have arisen in the midst of the crowd. "By my faith, sire," cried +Jeanne, "saving your respect, I swear upon my life that my King is the +most noble Christian of all Christians, that he is not what you say." + +The sermon, however, was resumed after this interruption. And finally +the preacher turned to Jeanne, who had subsided from that start of +animation, and was again the subdued and silent prisoner, her heart +overwhelmed with many heavy thoughts. "Here," said Èrard, "are my +lords the judges who have so often summoned and required of you to +submit your acts and words to our Holy Mother the Church; because in +these acts and words there are many things which it seemed to the +clergy were not good either to say or to sustain." + +To which she replied (we quote again from the formal records), "I will +answer you." And as to her submission to the Church she said: "I have +told them on that point that all the works which I have done and said +may be sent to Rome, to our Holy Father the Pope, to whom, but to God +first, I refer in all. And as for my acts and words I have done all on +the part of God." She also said that no one was to blame for her acts +and words, neither her King nor any other; and if there were faults in +them, the blame was hers and no other's. + +Asked, if she would renounce all that she had done wrong; answered, "I +refer everything to God and to our Holy Father the Pope." + +It was then told her that this was not enough, and that our Holy +Father was too far off; also that the Ordinaries were judges each in +his diocese, and it was necessary that she should submit to our Mother +the Holy Church, and that she should confess that the clergy and +officers of the Church had a right to determine in her case. And of +this she was admonished three times. + +After this the Bishop began to read the definitive sentence. When a +great part of it was read, Jeanne began to speak and said that she +would hold to all that the judges and the Church said, and obey in +everything their ordinance and will. And there in the presence of the +above-named and of the great multitude assembled she made her +abjuration in the manner that follows: + +And she said several times that since the Church said her apparitions +and revelations should not be sustained or believed, she would not +sustain them; but in everything submit to the judges and to our Mother +the Holy Church. + +***** + +In this strange, brief, subdued manner is the formal record made. +Manchon writes on his margin: /At the end of the sentence Jeanne, +fearing the fire, said she would obey the Church/. Even into the bare +legal document there comes a hush as of awe, the one voice responding +in the silence of the crowd, with a quiver in it; the very animation +of the previous outcry enhancing the effect of this low and faltering +submission, /timens igneum/--in fear of the fire. + +The more familiar record, and the recollections long after of those +eye-witnesses, give us another version of the scene. Èrard, from his +pulpit, read the form of abjuration prepared. But Jeanne answered that +she did not know what abjuration meant, and the preacher called upon +Massieu to explain it to her. "And he" (we quote from his own +deposition), "after excusing himself, said that it meant this: that if +she opposed the said articles she would be burnt; but he advised her +to refer it to the Church universal whether she should abjure or not. +Which thing she did, saying to Èrard, 'I refer to the Church universal +whether I should abjure or not.' To which Èrard answered, 'You shall +abjure at once or you will be burnt.' Massieu gives further +particulars in another part of the Rehabilitation process. Èrard, he +says, asked what he was saying to the prisoner, and he answered that +she would sign if the schedule was read to her; but Jeanne said that +she could not write, and then added that she wished it to be decided +by the Church, and ought not to sign unless that was done: and also +required that she should be placed in the custody of the Church, and +freed from the hands of the English. The same Èrard answered that +there had been ample delay, and that if she did not sign at once she +should be burned, and forbade Massieu to say any more." + +Meanwhile many cries and entreaties came, as far as they dared, from +the crowd. Some one, in the excitement of the moment, would seem to +have promised that she should be transferred to the custody of the +Church. "Jeanne, why will you die? Jeanne, will you not save +yourself?" was called to her by many a bystander. The girl stood fast, +but her heart failed her in this terrible climax of her suffering. +Once she called out over their heads, "All that I did was done for +good, and it was well to do it:"--her last cry. Then she would seem to +have recovered in some measure her composure. Probably her agitated +brain was unable to understand the formula of recantation which was +read to her amid all the increasing noises of the crowd, but she had a +vague faith in the condition she had herself stated, that the paper +should be submitted to the Church, and that she should at once be +transferred to an ecclesiastical prison. Other suggestions are made, +namely, that it was a very short document upon which she hastily in +her despair made a cross, and that it was a long one, consisting of +several pages, which was shown afterwards with /Jehanne/ scribbled +underneath. "In fact," says Massieu, "she abjured and made a cross +with the pen which the witness handed to her:" he, if any one must +have known exactly what happened. + +No doubt all this would be imperfectly heard on the other platform. +But the agitation must have been visible enough, the spectators +closing round the young figure in the midst, the pleadings, the +appeals, seconded by many a cry from the crowd. Such a small matter to +risk her young life for! "Sign, sign; why should you die!" Cauchon had +gone on reading the sentence, half through the struggle. He had two +sentences all ready, two courses of procedure, cut and dry: either to +absolve her--which meant condemning her to perpetual imprisonment on +bread and water: or to carry her off at once to the stake. The English +were impatient for the last. It is a horrible thing to acknowledge, +but it is evidently true. They had never wished to play with her as a +cat with a mouse, as her learned countrymen had done those three +months past; they had desired at once to get her out of their way. But +the idea of her perpetual imprisonment did not please them at all; the +risk of such a prisoner was more than they chose to encounter. +Nevertheless there are some things a churchman cannot do. When it was +seen that Jeanne had yielded, that she had put her mark to something +on a paper flourished forth in somebody's hand in the sunshine, the +Bishop turned to the Cardinal on his right hand, and asked what he was +to do? There was but one answer possible to Winchester, had he been +English and Jeanne's natural enemy ten times over. To admit her to +penitence was the only practicable way. + +Here arises a great question, already referred to, as to what it was +that Jeanne signed. She could not write, she could only put her cross +on the document hurriedly read to her, amid the confusion and the +murmurs of the crowd. The /cédule/ to which she put her sign +"contained eight lines:" what she is reported to have signed is three +pages long, and full of detail. Massieu declares certainly that this +(the abjuration published) was not the one of which mention is made in +the trial; "for the one read by the deponent and signed by the said +Jeanne was quite different." This would seem to prove the fact that a +much enlarged version of an act of abjuration, in its original form +strictly confined to the necessary points and expressed in few words-- +was afterwards published as that bearing the sign of the penitent. Her +own admissions, as will be seen, are of the scantiest, scarcely enough +to tell as an abjuration at all. + +When the shouts of the people proved that this great step had been +taken, and Winchester had signified his conviction that the penitence +must be accepted, Cauchon replaced one sentence by another and +pronounced the prisoner's fate. "Seeing that thou hast returned to the +bosom of the Church by the grace of God, and hast revoked and denied +all thy errors, we, the Bishop aforesaid, commit thee to perpetual +prison, with the bread of sorrow and water of anguish, to purge thy +soul by solitary penitence." Whether the words reached her over all +those crowding heads, or whether they were reported to her, or what +Jeanne expected to follow standing there upon her platform, more +shamed and downcast than through all her trial, no one can tell. There +seems even to have been a moment of uncertainty among the officials. +Some of them congratulated Jeanne, L'Oyseleur for one pressing forward +to say, "You have done a good day's work, you have saved your soul." +She herself, excited and anxious, desired eagerly to know where she +was not to go. She would seem for the moment to have accepted the fact +of her perpetual imprisonment with complete faith and content. It +meant to her instant relief from her hideous prison-house, and she +could not contain her impatience and eagerness. "People of the Church +--/gens de' Église/--lead me to your prison; let me be no longer in +the hands of the English," she cried with feverish anxiety. To gain +this point, to escape the irons and the dreadful durance which she had +suffered so long, was all her thought. The men about her could not +answer this appeal. Some of them no doubt knew very well what the +answer must be, and some must have seen the angry looks and stern +exclamation which Warwick addressed to Cauchon, deceived like Jeanne +by this unsatisfactory conclusion, and the stir among the soldiers at +sight of his displeasure. But perhaps flurried by all that had +happened, perhaps hoping to strengthen the victim in her moment of +hope, some of them hurried across to the Bishop to ask where they were +to take her. One of these was Pierre Miger, friar of Longueville. +Where was she to be taken? In Winchester's hearing, perhaps in +Warwick's, what a question to put! An English bishop, says this +witness turned to him angrily and said to Cauchon that this was a +"fauteur de ladite Jeanne," "/this fellow was also one of them/." +Miger excused himself in alarm as St. Peter did before him, and +Cauchon turning upon him commanded grimly that she should be taken +back whence she came. Thus ended the last hope of the Maid. Her +abjuration, which by no just title could be called an abjuration, had +been in vain. + +Jeanne was taken back, dismayed and miserable, to the prison which she +had perilled her soul to escape. It was very little she had done in +reality, and at that moment she could scarcely yet have realised what +she had done, except that it had failed. At the end of so long and +bitter a struggle she had thrown down her arms--but for what? to +escape those horrible gaolers and that accursed room with its ear of +Dionysius, its Judas hole in the wall. The bitterness of the going +back was beyond words. We hear of no word that she said when she +realised the hideous fact that nothing was changed for her; the bitter +waters closed over her head. Again the chains to be locked and double +locked that bound her to her dreadful bed, again the presence of those +men who must have been all the more odious to her from the momentary +hope that she had got free from them for ever. + +The same afternoon the Vicar-Inquisitor, who had never been hard upon +her, accompanied by Nicole Midi, by the young seraphic doctor, +Courcelles, and L'Oyseleur, along with various other ecclesiastical +persons, visited her prison. The Inquisitor congratulated and almost +blessed her, sermonising as usual, but briefly and not ungently, +though with a word of warning that should she change her mind and +return to her evil ways there would be no further place for +repentance. As a return for the mercy and clemency of the Church, he +required her immediately to put on the female dress which his +attendants had brought. There is something almost ludicrous, could we +forget the tragedy to follow, in the bundle of humble clothing brought +by such exalted personages, with the solemnity which became a thing +upon which hung the issues of life or death. Jeanne replied with the +humility of a broken spirit. "I take them willingly," she said, "and +in everything I will obey the Church." Then silence closed upon her, +the horrible silence of the prison, full of hidden listeners and of +watching eyes. + +Meantime there was great discontent and strife of tongues outside. It +was said that many even of the doctors who condemned her would fain +have seen Jeanne removed to some less dangerous prison: but +Monseigneur de Beauvais had to hold head against the great English +authorities who were out of all patience, fearing that the witch might +still slip through their fingers and by her spells and incantations +make the heart of the troops melt once more within them. If the mind +of the Church had been as charitable as it professed to be, I doubt if +all the power of Rome could have got the Maid now out of the English +grip. They were exasperated, and felt that they too, as well as the +prisoner, had been played with. But the Bishop had good hope in his +mind, still to be able to content his patrons. Jeanne had abjured, it +was true, but the more he inquired into that act, the less secure he +must have felt about it. And she might relapse; and if she relapsed +there would be no longer any place for repentance. And it is evident +that his confidence in the power of the clothes was boundless. In any +case a few days more would make all clear. + +They did not have many days to wait. There are two, to all appearance, +well-authenticated stories of the cause of Jeanne's "relapse." One +account is given by Frère Isambard, whom she told in the presence of +several others, that she had been assaulted in her cell by a /Millourt +Anglois/, and barbarously used, and in self-defence had resumed again +the man's dress which had been left in her cell. The story of Massieu +is different: To him Jeanne explained that when she asked to be +released from her bed on the morning of Trinity Sunday, her guards +took away her female dress which she was wearing, and emptied the sack +containing the other upon her bed. She appealed to them, reminding +them that these were forbidden to her; but got no answer except a +brutal order to get up. It is very probable that both stories are +true. Frère Isambard found her weeping and agitated, and nothing is +more probable than this was the occasion on which Warwick heard her +cries, and interfered to save her. Massieu's version, of which he is +certain, was communicated to him a day or two after when they happened +to be alone together. It was on the Thursday before Trinity Sunday +that she put on the female dress, but it would seem that rumours on +the subject of a relapse had begun to spread even before the Sunday on +which that event happened: and Beaupère and Midi were sent by the +Bishop to investigate. But they were very ill-received in the Castle, +sworn at by the guards, and forced to go back without seeing Jeanne, +there being as yet, it appeared, nothing to see. On the morning of the +Monday, however, the rumours arose with greater force; and no doubt +secret messages must have informed the Bishop that the hoped-for +relapse had taken place. He set out himself accordingly, accompanied +by the Vicar-Inquisitor and attended by eight of the familiar names so +often quoted, triumphant, important, no doubt with much show of +pompous solemnity, to find out for himself. The Castle was all in +excitement, report and gossip already busy with the new event so +trifling, so all-important. There was no idea now of turning back the +visitors. The prison doors were eagerly thrown open, and there indeed +once more, in her tunic and hose, was Jeanne, whom they had left four +days before painfully contemplating the garments they had given her, +and humbly promising obedience. The men burst in upon her with an +outcry of astonishment. What she had changed her dress again? "Yes," +she replied, "she had resumed the costume of a man." There was no +triumph in what she said, but rather a subdued tone of sadness, as of +one who in the most desperate strait has taken her resolution and must +abide by it, whether she likes it or not. She was asked why she had +resumed that dress, and who had made her do so. There was no question +of anything else at first. The tunic and /gippon/ were at once enough +to decide her fate. + +She answered that she had done it by her own will, no one influencing +her to do so; and that she preferred the dress of a man to that of a +woman. + +She was reminded that she had promised and sworn not to resume the +dress of a man. She answered that she was not aware she had ever sworn +or had made any such oath. + +She was asked why she had done it. She answered that it was more +lawful to wear a man's dress among men, than the dress of a woman; and +also that she had taken it back because the promise made to her had +not been kept, that she should hear the mass, and receive her Saviour, +and be delivered from her irons. + +She was asked if she had not abjured that dress, and sworn not to +resume it. She answered that she would rather die than be left in +irons; but if they would allow her to go to mass and take her out of +her irons and put her in a gracious prison, and a woman with her, she +would be good, and do whatever the Church pleased. + +She was then asked suddenly, as if there had been no condemnation of +her voices as lying fables, whether since Thursday she had heard them +again. To this she answered, recovering a little courage, "Yes." + +She was asked what they said to her; she answered that they said God +had made known to her by St. Catherine and St. Margaret the great pity +there was of the treason to which she had consented by making +abjuration and revocation in order to save her life: and that she had +earned damnation for herself to save her life. Also that before +Thursday her voices had told her that she should do what she did that +day, that on the scaffold they had told her to answer the preachers +boldly, and that this preacher whom she called a false preacher had +accused her of many things she never did. She also added that if she +said God had not sent her she would damn herself, for true it was that +God had sent her. Also that her voices had told her since, that she +had done a great sin in confessing that she had sinned; but that for +fear of the fire she had said that which she had said. + +She was asked (all over again) if she believed that these voices were +those of St. Catherine and St. Margaret. She answered, Yes, they were +so; and from God. And as for what had been said to her on the scaffold +that she had spoken lies and boasted concerning St. Catherine and St. +Margaret, she had not intended any such thing. Also she said that she +never intended to deny her apparitions, or to say that they were not +St. Catherine and St. Margaret. All that she had done was in fear of +the fire, and she had denied nothing but what was contrary to truth; +and she said that she would like better to make her penitence all at +one time--that is to say, in dying, than to endure a long penitence in +prison. Also that she had never done anything against God or the faith +whatever they might have made her say; and that for what was in the +schedule of the abjuration she did not know what it was. Also she said +that she never intended to revoke anything so long as it pleased our +Lord. At the end she said that if her judges would have her do so, she +might put on again her female dress; but for the rest she would do no +more. + +"What need we any further witness; for we ourselves have heard of his +own mouth." Jeanne's protracted, broken, yet continuous apology and +defence, overawed her judges; they do not seem to have interrupted it +with questions. It was enough and more than enough. She had relapsed; +the end of all things had come, the will of her enemies could now be +accomplished. No one could say she had not had full justice done her; +every formality had been fulfilled, every lingering formula carried +out. Now there was but one thing before her, whose sad young voice +with many pauses thus sighed forth its last utterance; and for her +judges, one last spectacle to prepare, and the work to complete which +it had taken them three long months to do. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SACRIFICE. +MAY 31, 1431. + +It is not necessary to be a good man in order to divine what in +certain circumstances a good and pure spirit will do. The Bishop of +Beauvais had entertained no doubt as to what would happen. He knew +exactly, with a perspicuity creditable to his perceptions at least, +that, notwithstanding the effect which his theatrical /mise en scène/ +had produced upon the imagination of Jeanne, no power in heaven or +earth would induce that young soul to content itself with a lie. He +knew it, though lies were his daily bread; the children of this world +are wiser in their generation than the children of light. He had +bidden his English patrons to wait a little, and now his predictions +were triumphantly fulfilled. It is hard to believe of any man that on +such a certainty he could have calculated and laid his devilish plans; +but there would seem to have existed in the mediæval churchman a +certain horrible thirst for the blood of a relapsed heretic which was +peculiar to their age and profession, and which no better principle in +their own minds could subdue. It was their appetite, their delight of +sensation, in distinction from the other appetites perhaps scarcely +less cruel which other men indulged with no such horrified +denunciation from the rest of the world. Others, it is evident, shared +with Cauchon that sharp sensation of dreadful pleasure in finding her +out; young Courcelles, so modest and unassuming and so learned, among +the rest; not L'Oyseleur, it appears by the sequel. That Judas, like +the greater traitor, was struck to the heart; but the less bad man who +had only persecuted, not betrayed, stood high in superior virtue, and +only rejoiced that at last the victim was ready to drop into the +flames which had been so carefully prepared. + +The next morning, Tuesday after Trinity Sunday, the witnesses hurried +with their news to the quickly summoned assembly in the chapel of the +Archbishop's house; thirty-three of the judges, having been hastily +called together, were there to hear. Jeanne had relapsed; the sinner +escaped had been re-caught; and what was now to be done? One by one +each man rose again and gave his verdict. Once more Egidius, Abbot of +Fécamp, led the tide of opinion. There was but one thing to be done: +to give her up to the secular justice, "praying that she might be +gently dealt with." Man after man added his voice "to that of Abbot of +Fécamp aforesaid"--that she might be gently dealt with! Not one of +them could be under any doubt what gentle meaning would be in the +execution; but apparently the words were of some strange use in +salving their consciences. + +The decree was pronounced at once without further formalities. In +point of view of the law, there should have followed another trial, +more evidence, pleadings, and admonitions. We may be thankful to +Monseigneur de Beauvais that he now defied law, and no longer +prolonged the useless ceremonials of that mockery of justice. It is +said that in coming out of the prison, through the courtyard full of +Englishmen, where Warwick was in waiting to hear what news, the Bishop +greeted them with all the satisfaction of success, laughing and +bidding them "Make good cheer, the thing is done." In the same spirit +of satisfaction was the rapid action of the further proceedings. On +Tuesday she was condemned, summoned on Wednesday morning at eight +'clock to the Old Market of Rouen to hear her sentence, and there, +without even that formality, the penalty was at once carried out. No +time, certainly, was lost in this last stage. + +All the interest of the heart-rending tragedy now turns to the prison +where Jeanne woke in the early morning without, as yet, any knowledge +of her fate. It must be remembered that the details of this wonderful +scene, which we have in abundance, are taken from reports made twenty +years after by eye-witnesses indeed, but men to whom by that time it +had become the only policy to represent Jeanne in the brightest +colours, and themselves as her sympathetic friends. There is no doubt +that so remarkable an occurrence as her martyrdom must have made a +deep impression on the minds of all those who were in any way actors +in or spectators of that wonderful scene. And every word of all these +different reports is on oath; but notwithstanding, a touch of +unconscious colour, a more favourable sentiment, influenced by the +feeling of later days, may well have crept in. With this warning we +may yet accept these depositions as trustworthy, all the more for the +atmosphere of truth, perfectly realistic, and in no way idealised, +which is in every description of the great catastrophe; in which +Jeanne figures as no supernatural heroine, but as a terrified, +tormented, and often trembling girl. + +On the fatal morning very early, Brother Martin l'Advenu appeared in +the cell of the Maid. He had a mingled tale to tell--first "to +announce to her her approaching death, and to lead her to true +contrition and penitence; and also to hear her confession, which the +said l'Advenu did very carefully and charitably." Jeanne on her part +received the news with no conventional resignation or calm. Was it +possible that she had been deceived and really hoped for mercy? She +began to weep and to cry at the sudden stroke of fate. Notwithstanding +the solemnity of her last declaration, that she would rather bear her +punishment all at once than to endure the long punishment of her +prison, her heart failed before the imminent stake, the immediate +martyrdom. She cried out to heaven and earth: "My body, which has +never been corrupted, must it be burned to ashes to-day!" No one but +Jeanne knew at what cost she had kept her perfect purity; was it good +for nothing but to be burned, that young body not nineteen years old? +"Ah," she said, "I would rather be beheaded seven times than burned! I +appeal to God against all these great wrongs they do me." But after a +while the passion wore itself out, the child's outburst was stilled; +calming herself, she knelt down and made her confession to the +compassionate friar, then asked for the sacrament, to "receive her +Saviour" as she had so often prayed and entreated before. It would +appear that this had not been within Friar Martin's commission. He +sent to ask the Bishop's leave, and it was granted "anything she asked +for"--as they give whatever he may wish to eat to a condemned convict. +But the Host was brought into the prison without ceremony, without +accompanying candles or vestment for the priest. There are always some +things which are insupportable to a man. Brother Martin could bear the +sight of the girl's anguish, but not to administer to her a diminished +rite. He sent again to demand what was needful, out of respect for the +Holy Sacrament and the present victim. And his request had come, it +would seem, to some canon or person in authority whose heart had been +touched by the wonderful Maid in her long martyrdom. This nameless +sympathiser did all that a man could do. He sent the Host with a train +of priests chanting litanies as they went through the streets, with +torches burning in the pure early daylight; some of these exhorted the +people who knelt as they passed, to pray for her. She must have heard +in her prison the sound of the bell, the chant of the clergy, the +pause of awe, and then the rising, irregular murmur of the voices, +that sound of prayer never to be mistaken. Pray for her! At last the +city was touched to its heart. There is no sign that it had been +sympathetic to Jeanne before; it was half English or more. But she was +about to die: she had stood bravely against the world and answered +like a true Maid; and they had now seen her led through their streets, +a girl just nineteen. The popular imagination at least was subjugated +for the time. + +Thus Jeanne for the first time, after all the feasts were over, +received at last "her Saviour" as she said, the consecration of that +rite which He himself had instituted before He died. But she was not +permitted to receive it in simplicity and silence as becomes the +sacred commemoration. All the time she was still /preschée/ and +admonished by the men about her. A few days after her death the Bishop +and his followers assembled, and set down in evidence their different +parts in that scene. How far it is to be relied upon, it is difficult +to say. The speakers did not testify under oath; there is no formal +warrant for their truth, and an anxious attempt to prove her change of +mind is evident throughout; still there seem elements of truth in it, +and a certain glimpse is afforded of Jeanne in the depths, when hope +and strength were gone. The general burden of their testimony is that +she sadly allowed herself to have been deceived, as to the liberation +for which all along she had hoped. Peter Morice, often already +mentioned, importuning her on the subject of the spirits, endeavouring +to get from her an admission that she had not seen them at all, and +was herself a deceiver: or if not that, at least that they were evil +spirits, not good,--drew from her the impatient exclamation: "Be they +good spirits, or be they evil, they appeared to me." Even in the act +of giving her her last communion, Brother Martin paused with the +consecrated Host in his hands. + +"Do you believe," he said, "that this is the body of Christ?" Jeanne +answered: "Yes, and He alone can free me; I pray you to administer." +Then this brother said to Jeanne: "Do you believe as fully in your +voices?" Jeanne answered: "I believe in God alone and not in the +voices, which have deceived me." L'Advenu himself, however, does not +give this deposition, but another of the persons present, Le Camus, +who did not live to revise his testimony at the Rehabilitation. + +The rite being over, the Bishop himself bustled in with an air of +satisfaction, rubbing his hands, one may suppose from his tone. "So, +Jeanne," he said, "you have always told us that your 'voices' said you +were to be delivered, and you see now they have deceived you. Tell us +the truth at last." Then Jeanne answered: "Truly I see that they have +deceived me." The report is Cauchon's, and therefore little to be +trusted; but the sad reply is at least not unlike the sentiment that, +even in records more trustworthy, seems to have breathed forth in her. +The other spectators all report another portion of this conversation. +"Bishop, it is by you I die," are the words with which the Maid is +said to have met him. "Oh Jeanne, have patience," he replied. "It is +because you did not keep your promise." "If you had kept yours, and +sent me to the prison of the Church, and put me in gentle hands, it +would not have happened," she replied. "I appeal from you to God." +Several of the attendants, also according to the Bishop's account, +heard from her the same sad words: "They have deceived me"; and there +seems no reason why we should not believe it. Her mind was weighed +down under this dreadful unaccountable fact. She was forsaken--as a +greater sufferer was; and a horror of darkness had closed around her. +"Ah, Sieur Pierre," she said to Morice, "where shall I be to-night?" +The man had condemned her as a relapsed heretic, a daughter of +perdition. He had just suggested to her that her angels must have been +devils. Nevertheless perhaps his face was not unkindly, he had not +meant all the harm he did. He ought to have answered, "In Hell, with +the spirits you have trusted"; that would have been the only logical +response. What he did say was very different. "Have you not good faith +in the Lord?" said the judge who had doomed her. Amazing and notable +speech! They had sentenced her to be burned for blasphemy as an envoy +of the devil; they believed in fact that she was the child of God, and +going straight in that flame to the skies. Jeanne, with the sound, +clear head and the "sane mind" to which all of them testified, did she +perceive, even at that dreadful moment, the inconceivable +contradiction? "Ah," she said, "yes, God helping me, I shall be in +Paradise." + +There is one point in the equivocal report which commends itself to +the mind, which several of these men unite in, but which was carefully +not repeated at the Rehabilitation: and this was that Jeanne allowed +"as if it had been a thing of small importance," that her story of the +angel bearing the crown at Chinon was a romance which she neither +expected nor intended to be believed. For this we have to thank +L'Oyseleur and the rest of the reverend ghouls assembled on that +dreadful morning in the prison. + +Jeanne was then dressed, for her last appearance in this world, in the +long white garment of penitence, the robe of sacrifice: and the mitre +was placed on her head which was worn by the victims of the Holy +Office. She was led for the last time down the echoing stair to the +crowded courtyard where her "chariot" awaited her. It was her +confessor's part to remain by her side, and Frère Isambard and +Massieu, the officer, both her friends, were also with her. It is said +that L'Oyseleur rushed forward at this moment, either to accompany her +also, or, as many say, to fling himself at her feet and implore her +pardon. He was hustled aside by the crowd and would have been killed +by the English, it is said, but for Warwick. The bystanders would seem +to have been seized with a sudden disgust for all the priests about, +thinking them Jeanne's friends, the historians insinuate--more likely +in scorn and horror of their treachery. And then the melancholy +procession set forth. + +The streets were overflowing as was natural, crowded in every part: +eight hundred English soldiers surrounded and followed the cortège, as +the car rumbled along over the rough stones. Not yet had the Maid +attained to the calm of consent. She looked wildly about her at all +the high houses and windows crowded with gazers, and at the throngs +that gaped and gazed upon her on every side. In the midst of the +consolations of the confessor who poured pious words in her ears, +other words, the plaints of a wondering despair fell from her lips, +"Rouen! Rouen!" she said; "am I to die here?" It seemed incredible to +her, impossible. She looked about still for some sign of disturbance, +some rising among the crowd, some cry of "France! France!" or glitter +of mail. Nothing: but the crowds ever gazing, murmuring at her, the +soldiers roughly clearing the way, the rude chariot rumbling on. +"Rouen, Rouen! I fear that you shall yet suffer because of this," she +murmured in her distraction, amid her moanings and tears. + +At last the procession came to the Old Market, an open space +encumbered with three erections--one reaching up so high that the +shadow of it seemed to touch the sky, the horrid stake with wood piled +up in an enormous mass, made so high, it is said, in order that the +executioner himself might not reach it to give a merciful blow, to +secure unconsciousness before the flames could touch the trembling +form. Two platforms were raised opposite, one furnished with chairs +and benches for Winchester and his court, another for the judges, with +the civil officers of Rouen who ought to have pronounced sentence in +their turn. Without this form the execution was illegal: what did it +matter? No sentence at all was read to her, not even the +ecclesiastical one which was illegal also. She was probably placed +first on the same platform with her judges, where there was a pulpit +from which she was to be /preschée/ for the last time. Of all Jeanne's +sufferings this could scarcely be the least, that she was always +/preschée/, lectured, addressed, sermonised through every painful step +of her career. + +The moan was still unsilenced on her lips, and her distracted soul +scarcely yet freed from the sick thought of a possible deliverance, +when the everlasting strain of admonishment, and re-enumeration of her +errors, again penetrated the hum of the crowd. The preacher was +Nicolas Midi, one of the eloquent members of that dark fraternity; and +his text was in St. Paul's words: "If any of the members suffer, all +the other members suffer with it." Jeanne was a rotten branch which +had to be cut off from the Church for the good of her own soul, and +that the Church might not suffer by her sin; a heretic, a blasphemer, +an impostor, giving forth false fables at one time, and making a false +penitence the next. It is very unlikely that she heard anything of +that flood of invective. At the end of the sermon the preacher bade +her "Go in peace." Even then, however, the fountain of abuse did not +cease. The Bishop himself rose, and once more by way of exhorting her +to a final repentance, heaped ill names upon her helpless head. The +narrative shows that the prisoner, now arrived at the last point in +her career, paid no attention to the tirade levelled at her from the +president's place. "She knelt down on the platform showing great signs +and appearance of contrition, so that all those who looked upon her +wept. She called on her knees upon the blessed Trinity, the blessed +glorious Virgin Mary, and all the blessed saints of Paradise." She +called specially--was it with still a return towards the hoped for +miracle? was it with the instinctive cry towards an old and faithful +friend?--"St. Michael, St. Michael, St. Michael, help!" There would +seem to have been a moment in which the hush and silence of a great +crowd surrounded this wonderful stage, where was that white figure on +her knees, praying, speaking--sometimes to God, sometimes to the +saintly unseen companions of her life, sometimes in broken phrases to +those about her. She asked the priests, thronging all round, those who +had churches, to say a mass for her soul. She asked all whom she might +have offended to forgive her. Through her tears and prayers broke +again and again the sorrowful cry of "Rouen, Rouen! Is it here truly +that I must die?" No reason is given for the special pang that seems +to echo in this cry. Jeanne had once planned a campaign in Normandy +with Alençon. Had there been perhaps some special hope which made this +conclusion all the more bitter, of setting up in the Norman capital +her standard and that of her King? + +There have been martyrs more exalted above the circumstances of their +fate than Jeanne. She was no abstract heroine. She felt every pang to +the depth of her natural, spontaneous being, and the humiliation and +the deep distress of having been abandoned in the sight of men, +perhaps the profoundest pang of which nature is capable. "He trusted +in God that he would deliver him: let him deliver him if he will have +him." That which her Lord had borne, the little sister had now to +bear. She called upon the saints, but they did not answer. She was +shamed in the sight of men. But as she knelt there weeping, the +Bishop's evil voice scarcely silenced, the soldiers waiting impatient +--the entire crowd, touched to its heart with one impulse, broke into +a burst of weeping and lamentation, "/à chaudes larmes/" according to +the graphic French expression. They wept hot tears as in the keen +personal pang of sorrow and fellow-feeling and impotence to help. +Winchester--withdrawn high on his platform, ostentatiously separated +from any share in it, a spectator merely--wept; and the judges wept. +The Bishop of Boulogne was overwhelmed with emotion, iron tears flowed +down the accursed Cauchon's cheeks. The very world stood still to see +that white form of purity, and valour, and faith, the Maid, not +shouting triumphant on the height of victory, but kneeling, weeping, +on the verge of torture. Human nature could not bear this long. A +hoarse cry burst forth: "Will you keep us here all day; must we dine +here?" a voice perhaps of unendurable pain that simulated cruelty. And +then the executioner stepped in and seized the victim. + +It has been said that her stake was set so high, that there might be +no chance of a merciful blow, or of strangulation to spare the victim +the atrocities of the fire; perhaps, let us hope, it was rather that +the ascending smoke might suffocate her before the flame could reach +her: the fifteenth century would naturally accept the most cruel +explanation. There was a writing set over the little platform which +gave footing to the attendants below the stake, upon which were +written the following words: + + JEANNE CALLED THE MAID, LIAR, ABUSER OF THE PEOPLE, SOOTHSAYER, + BLASPHEMER OF GOD, PERNICIOUS, SUPERSTITIOUS, IDOLATROUS, CRUEL, + DISSOLUTE, INVOKER OF DEVILS, APOSTATE, SCHISMATIC, HERETIC. + +This was how her countrymen in the name of law and justice and +religion branded the Maid of France--one half of her countrymen: the +other half, silent, speaking no word, looking on. + +Before she began to ascend the stake, Jeanne, rising from her knees, +asked for a cross. No place so fit for that emblem ever was: but no +cross was to be found. One of the English soldiers who kept the way +seized a stick from some one by, broke it across his knee in unequal +parts, and bound them hurriedly together; so, in the legend and in all +the pictures, when Mary of Nazareth was led to her espousals, one of +her disappointed suitors broke his wand. The cross was rough with its +broken edges which Jeanne accepted from her enemy, and carried, +pressing it against her bosom. One would rather have that rude cross +to preserve as a sacred thing, than the highest effort of art in gold +and silver. This was her ornament and consolation as she trod the few +remaining steps and mounted the pile of the faggots to her place high +over all that sea of heads. When she was bound securely to her stake, +she asked again for a cross, a cross blessed and sacred from a church, +to be held before her as long as her eyes could see. Frère Isambard +and Massieu, following her closely still, sent to the nearest church, +and procured probably some cross which was used for processional +purposes on a long staff which could be held up before her. The friar +stood upon the faggots holding it up, and calling out broken words of +encouragement so long that Jeanne bade him withdraw, lest the fire +should catch his robes. And so at last, as the flames began to rise, +she was left alone, the good brother always at the foot of the pile, +painfully holding up with uplifted arms the cross that she might still +see it, the soldiers crowding, lit up with the red glow of the fire, +the horrified, trembling crowd like an agitated sea around. The wild +flames rose and fell in sinister gleams and flashes, the smoke blew +upwards, by times enveloping that white Maid standing out alone +against a sky still blue and sweet with May--Pandemonium underneath, +but Heaven above. Then suddenly there came a great cry from among the +black fumes that began to reach the clouds: "My voices were of God! +They have not deceived me!" She had seen and recognised it at last. +Here it was, the miracle: the great victory that had been promised-- +though not with clang of swords and triumph of rescuing knights, and +"St. Denis for France!"--but by the sole hand of God, a victory and +triumph for all time, for her country a crown of glory and ineffable +shame. + +Thus died the Maid of France--with "Jesus, Jesus," on her lips--till +the merciful smoke breathing upwards choked that voice in her throat; +and one who was like unto the Son of God, who was with her in the +fire, wiped all memory of the bitter cross, wavering uplifted through +the air in the good monk's trembling hands--from eyes which opened +bright upon the light and peace of that Paradise of which she had so +long thought and dreamed. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AFTER. + +The natural burst of remorse which follows such an event is well known +in history; and is as certainly to be expected as the details of the +great catastrophe itself. We feel almost as if, had there not been +fact and evidence for such a revulsion of feeling, it must have been +recorded all the same, being inevitable. The executioner, perhaps the +most innocent of all, sought out Frère Isambard, and confessed to him +in an anguish of remorse fearing never to be pardoned for what he had +done. An Englishman who had sworn to add a faggot to the flames in +which the witch should be burned, when he rushed forward to keep his +word was seized with sudden compunction--believed that he saw a white +dove flutter forth from amid the smoke over her head, and, almost +fainting at the sight, had to be led by his comrades to the nearest +tavern for refreshment, a life-like touch in which we recognise our +countryman; but he too found his way that afternoon to Frère Isambard +like the other. A horrible story is told by the /Bourgeois de Paris/, +whose contemporary journal is one of the authorities for this period, +that "the fire was drawn aside" in order that Jeanne's form, with all +its clothing burned away, should be visible by one last act of +shameless insult to the crowd. The fifteenth century believed, as we +have said, everything that is cruel and horrible, as indeed the vulgar +mind does at all ages; but such brutal imaginings have seldom any +truth to support them, and there is no such suggestion in the actual +record. Isambard and Massieu heard from one of the officials that when +every other part of her body was destroyed the heart was found intact, +but was, by the order of Winchester, flung into the Seine along with +all the ashes of that sacrifice. It was wise no doubt that no relics +should be kept. + +Other details were murmured abroad amid the excited talk that followed +this dreadful scene. "When she was enveloped by the smoke, she cried +out for water, holy water, and called to St. Michæl; then hung her +head upon her breast and breathing forth the name of Jesus, gently +died." "Being in the flame her voice never ceased repeating in a loud +voice the holy name of Jesus, and invoking without cease the saints of +paradise, she gave up her spirit, bowing her head and saying the name +of Jesus in sign of the fervour of her faith." One of the Canons of +Rouen, standing sobbing in the crowd, said to another: "Would that my +soul were in the same place where the soul of that woman is at this +moment"; which indeed is not very different from the authorised saying +of Pierre Morice in the prison. Guillaume Manchon, the reporter, he +who wrote /superba responsio/ on his margin, and had written down +every word of her long examination--his occupation for three months,-- +says that he "never wept so much for anything that happened to +himself, and that for a whole month he could not recover his calm." +This man adds a very characteristic touch, to wit, that "with part of +the pay which he had for the trial, he bought a missal, that he might +have a reason for praying for her." Jean Tressat, "secretary to the +King of England" (whatever that office may have been), went home from +the execution crying out, "We are all lost, for we have burned a +saint." A priest, afterwards bishop, Jean Fabry, "did not believe that +there was any man who could restrain his tears." + +The modern historians speak of the mockeries of the English, but none +are visible in the record. Indeed, the part of the English in it is +extraordinarily diminished on investigation; they are the supposed +inspirers of the whole proceedings; they are believed to be +continually pushing on the inquisitors; still more, they are supposed +to have bought all that large tribunal, the sixty or seventy judges, +among whom were the most learned and esteemed Doctors in France; but +of none of this is there any proof given. That they were anxious to +procure Jeanne's condemnation and death, is very certain. Not one +among them believed in her sacred mission, almost all considered her a +sorceress, the most dangerous of evil influences, a witch who had +brought shame and loss to England by her incantations and evil spells. +On that point there could be no doubt whatever. She alone had stopped +the progress of the invaders, and broken the charm of their invariable +success. But all that she had done had been in favour of Charles, who +made no attempt to serve or help her, and who had thwarted her plans, +and hindered her work so long as it was possible to do so, even when +she was performing miracles for his sake. And Alençon, Dunois, La +Hire, where were they and all the knights? Two of them at least were +at Louvins, within a day's march, but never made a step to rescue her. +We need not ask where were the statesmen and clergy on the French +side, for they were unfeignedly glad to have the burden of condemning +her taken from their hands. No one in her own country said a word or +struck a blow for Jeanne. As for the suborning of the University of +Paris /en masse/, and all its best members in particular, that is a +general baseness in which it is impossible to believe. There is no +appearance even of any particular pressure put upon the judges. Jean +de la Fontaine disappeared, we are told, and no one ever knew what +became of him: but it was from Cauchon he fled. And nothing seems to +have happened to the monks who attended the Maid to the scaffold, nor +to the others who sobbed about the pile. On the other side, the +Doctors who condemned her were in no way persecuted or troubled by the +French authorities when the King came to his own. There was at the +time a universal tacit consent in France to all that was done at Rouen +on the 31st of May, 1431. + +One reason for this was not far to seek. We have perhaps already +sufficiently dwelt upon it. It was that France was not France at that +dolorous moment. It was no unanimous nation repulsing an invader. It +was two at least, if not more countries, one of them frankly and +sympathetically attaching itself to the invader, almost as nearly +allied to him in blood, and more nearly by other bonds, than any tie +existing between France and Burgundy. This does not account for the +hostile indifference of southern France and of the French monarch to +Jeanne, who had delivered them; but it accounts for the hostility of +Paris and the adjacent provinces, and Normandy. She was as much +against them as against the English, and the national sentiment to +which she, a patriot before her age, appealed,--bidding not only the +English go home, or fight and be vanquished, which was their only +alternative--but the Burgundians to be converted and to live in peace +with their brothers,--did not exist. Neither to Burgundians, Picards, +or Normans was the daughter of far Champagne a fellow countrywoman. +There was neither sympathy nor kindness in their hearts on that score. +Some were humane and full of pity for a simple woman in such terrible +straits; but no more in Paris than in Rouen was the Maid of Orleans a +native champion persecuted by the English; she was to both an enemy, a +sorceress, putting their soldiers and themselves to shame. + +I have no desire to lessen our[1] guilt, whatever cruelty may have +been practised by English hands against the Heavenly Maid. And much +was practised--the iron cage, the chains, the brutal guards, the final +stake, for which may God and also the world, forgive a crime fully and +often confessed. But it was by French wits and French ingenuity that +she was tortured for three months and betrayed to her death. A +prisoner of war, yet taken and tried as a criminal, the first step in +her downfall was a disgrace to two chivalrous nations; but the shame +is greater upon those who sold than upon those who bought; and +greatest of all upon those who did not move Heaven and earth, nay, did +not move a finger, to rescue. And indeed we have been the most +penitent of all concerned; we have shrived ourselves by open +confession and tears. We have quarrelled with our Shakespeare on +account of the Maid, and do not know how we could have forgiven him, +but for the notable and delightful discovery that it was not he after +all, but another and a lesser hand that endeavoured to befoul her +shining garments. France has never quarrelled with her Voltaire for a +much fouler and more intentional blasphemy. + +The most significant and the most curious after-scene, a pendant to +the remorse and pity of so many of the humbler spectators, was the +assembly held on the Thursday after Jeanne's death, how and when we +are not told. It consisted of "nos judices antedicti," but neither is +the place of meeting named, nor the person who presided. Its sole +testimonial is that the manuscript is in the same hand which has +written the previous records: but whereas each page in that record was +signed at the bottom by responsible notaries, Manchon and his +colleagues, no name whatever certifies this. Seven men, Doctors and +persons of high importance, all judges on the trial, all concerned in +that last scene in the prison, stand up and give their report of what +happened there--part of which we have quoted--their object being to +establish that Jeanne at the last acknowledged herself to be deceived. +According to their own showing it was exactly such an acknowledgment +as our Lord might have been supposed to make in the moment of his +agony when the words of the psalm, "My God, my God, why hast thou +forsaken me?" burst from his lips. There seems no reason that we can +see, why this evidence should not be received as substantially true. +The inference that any real recantation on Jeanne's part was then +made, is untrue, and not even asserted. She was deceived in respect to +her deliverance, and felt it to the bottom of her heart. It was to her +the bitterness of death. But the flames of her burning showed her the +truth, and with her last breath she proclaimed her renewed conviction. +The scene at the stake would lose something of its greatness without +that momentary cloud which weighed down her troubled soul. + +Twenty years after the martyrdom of Jeanne, long after he had, +according to her prophecy, regained Paris and all that had been lost, +it became a danger to the King of France that it should be possible to +imagine that his kingdom had been recovered for him by means of +sorcery; and accordingly a great new trial was appointed to revise the +decisions of the old. In the same palace of the Archbishop at Rouen, +which had witnessed so many scenes of the previous tragedy, the +depositions of witnesses collected with the minutest care, and which +it had taken a long time to gather from all quarters, were submitted +for judgment, and a full and complete reversal of the condemnation was +given. The /procès/ was a civil one, instituted (nominally) by the +mother and brothers of Jeanne, one of the latter being now a knight, +Pierre de Lys, a gentleman of coat armour--against the heirs and +representatives of Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, and Lemaître, the +Deputy Inquisitor--with other persons chiefly concerned in the +judgment. Some of these men were dead, some, wisely, not to be found. +The result was such a mass of testimony as put every incident of the +life of the Maid in the fullest light from her childhood to her death, +and in consequence secured a triumphant and full acquittal of herself +and her name from every reproach. This remarkable and indeed unique +occurrence does not seem, however, to have roused any enthusiasm. +Perhaps France felt herself too guilty: perhaps the extraordinary calm +of contemporary opinion which was still too near the catastrophe to +see it fully: perhaps that difficulty in the diffusion of news which +hindered the common knowledge of a trial--a thing too heavy to be +blown upon the winds,--while it promulgated the legend, a thing so +much more light to carry: may be the cause of this. But it is an +extraordinary fact that Jeanne's name remained in abeyance for many +ages, and that only in this century has it come to any sort of glory, +in the country of which Jeanne is the first and greatest of patriots +and champions, a country, too, to which national glory is more dear +than daily bread. + +In the new and wonderful spring of life that succeeded the revolution +of 1830, the martyr of the fifteenth century came to light as by a +revelation. The episode of the Pucelle in Michelet's /History of +France/ touched the heart of the world, and remains one of the finest +efforts of history and the most popular picture of the saint. And +perhaps, though so much less important in point of art, the maiden +work of another maiden of Orleans--the little statue of Jeanne, so +pure, so simple, so spiritual, made by the Princess Marie of that +house, the daughter of the race which the Maid held in visionary love, +and which thus only has ever attempted any return of that devotion-- +had its part in reawakening her name and memory. It fell again, +however, after the great work of Quicherat had finally given to the +country the means of fully forming its opinion on the subject which +Fabre's translation, though unfortunately not literal and adorned with +modern decorations, was calculated to render popular. A great crop of +statues and some pictures not of any great artistic merit have since +been dedicated to the memory of the Maid: but yet the public +enthusiasm has never risen above the tide mark of literary applause. + +There has been, however, a great movement of enthusiasm lately to gain +for Jeanne the honour of canonisation[2]; but it seems to have failed, +or at least to have sunk again for the moment into silence. Perhaps +these honours are out of date in our time. One of the most recent +writers on the subject, M. Henri Blaze de Bury, suggests that one +reason which retards this final consecration is "England, certainly +not a negligible quantity to a Pope of our time." Let no such illusion +move any mind, French or ecclesiastical. Canonisation means to us, I +presume, and even to a great number of Catholics, simply the highest +honour that can be paid to a holy and spotless name. In that sense +there is no distinction of nation, and the English as warmly as the +French, both being guilty towards her, and before God on her account-- +would welcome all honour that could be paid to one who, more truly +than any princess of the blood, is Jeanne of France, the Maid, alone +in her lofty humility and valour, and in everlasting fragrance of +modesty and youth. +---------- +[1] The writer must add that personally, as a Scot, she has no right + to use this pronoun. Scotland is entirely guiltless of this crime. + The Scots were fighting on the side of France through all these + wars, a little perhaps for love of France, but much more out of + natural hostility to the English. Yet at this time of day, except + to state that fact, it is scarcely necessary to throw off the + responsibility. The English side is now our side, though it was + not so in the fifteenth century: and a writer of the English + tongue must naturally desire that there should at least be fair + play. + +[2] I am informed, however, that she is already "Venerable," not a + very appropriate title--the same, I presume, as Bienheureuse, + which is prettier,--and may therefore be addressed by the faithful + in prayer, though her rank is only, as it were, brevet rank, and + her elevation incomplete. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext Jeanne d'Arc, by Mrs. Oliphant + |