The Life of Joan of Arc Part 41

[Footnote 974: La Curne, under the word _Periapt_. Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act v, sc. iii.]

[Footnote 975: Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act iii, sc. i.]

[Footnote 976: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 306. Carlier, _Histoire du Valois_, vol. ii, p. 442.]

[Footnote 977: Jarry, _Le compte de l'armee anglaise_, p. 61.]

[Footnote 978: Shakespeare, _Henry VI_, part i, act i, sc. ii.]

In the evening of the 30th she sent her herald, Ambleville, to the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils to ask for Guyenne, who had borne the letter from Blois and had not returned. Ambleville was also instructed to tell Sir John Talbot, the Earl of Suffolk, and the Lord Scales that in G.o.d's name the Maid required them to depart from France and go to England; otherwise they would suffer hurt. The English sent back Ambleville with an evil message.

"The English," he said to the Maid, "are keeping my comrade to burn him."

She made answer: "In G.o.d's name they will do him no harm." And she commanded Ambleville to return.[979]

[Footnote 979: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 27. _Journal du siege_, p. 79.

_Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 285, 286.]

She was indignant, and, no doubt, greatly disappointed. In truth, she had never antic.i.p.ated that Talbot and the leaders of the siege would give such a welcome to a letter inspired by Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret and Saint Michael; but so broad was her charity that she was still willing to offer peace to the English. In her innocence she may have believed that her proclamations in G.o.d's name were misunderstood after all. Besides, whatever happened, she was determined to go through with her duty to the end. At night she sallied forth from the Bridge Gate and went as far as the outwork of La Belle-Croix. It was not unusual for the two sides to address each other. La Belle-Croix was within ear-shot of Les Tourelles. The Maid mounted the rampart and cried to the English: "Surrender in G.o.d's name. I will grant you your lives only."

But the garrison and even the Captain, William Glasdale himself, hurled back at her coa.r.s.e insults and horrible threats.

"Milk-maid! If ever we get you, you shall be burned alive."[980]

[Footnote 980: _Journal du siege_, p. 79. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 290.]

She answered that it was a lie. But they were in earnest and sincere.

They firmly believed that this damsel was arming legions of devils against them.

On Sunday, the 1st of May, my Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d went to meet the army from Blois.[981] He knew the country; and, being both energetic and cautious, he was desirous to superintend the entrance of this convoy as he had done that of the other. He set out with a small escort. He did not dare to take with him the Saint herself; but, in order, so to speak, to put himself under her protection and tactfully to flatter the piety and affections of the folk of Orleans, he took a member of her suite, her steward, Sire Jean d'Aulon.[982] Thus he grasped the first opportunity of showing his good will to the Maid, feeling that henceforth nothing could be done except with her or under her patronage.

[Footnote 981: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 7. _Journal du siege_, p. 79.]

[Footnote 982: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 211.]

The fervour of the citizens was not abated. That very day, in their pa.s.sionate desire to see the Saint, they crowded round Jacques Boucher's house as turbulently as the pilgrims from Puy pressed into the sanctuary of La Vierge Noire. There was a danger of the doors being broken in. The cries of the townsfolk reached her. Then she appeared: good, wise, equal to her mission, one born for the salvation of the people. In the absence of captains and men-at-arms, this wild mult.i.tude only awaited a sign from her to throw itself in tumult on the bastions and perish there. Notwithstanding the visions of war that haunted her, that sign she did not give. Child as she was, and as ignorant of war as of life, there was that within her which turned away disaster. She led this crowd of men, not to the English bastions, but to the holy places of the city. Down the streets she rode, accompanied by many knights and squires; men and women pressed to see her and could not gaze upon her enough. They marvelled at the manner of her riding and of her behaviour, in every point like a man-at-arms; and they would have hailed her as a veritable Saint George had they not suspected Saint George of turning Englishman.[983]

[Footnote 983: _Journal du siege_, p. 80. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siege_, pp. 92, 95.]

That Sunday, for the second time, she went forth to offer peace to the enemies of the kingdom. She pa.s.sed out by the Renard Gate and went along the Blois Road, through the suburbs that had been burnt down, towards the English bastion. Surrounded by a double moat, it was planted on a slope at the crossroads called La Croix Boissee or Buissee, because the townsfolk of Orleans had erected a cross there, which every Palm Sunday they dressed with a branch of box blessed by the priest. Doubtless she intended to reach this bastion, and perhaps to go on to the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils situated between La Croix Boissee and the Loire, where, as she had said, were Talbot and the English. For she had not yet given up hope of gaining a hearing from the leaders of the siege. But at the foot of the hill, at a place called La Croix-Morin, she met some _G.o.dons_ who were keeping watch.

And there, in tones grave, pious, and n.o.ble, she summoned them to retreat before the hosts of the Lord. "Surrender, and your lives shall be spared. In G.o.d's name go back to England. If ye will not I will make you suffer for it."[984]

[Footnote 984: 1 May. _Journal du siege_, p. 80.]

These men-at-arms answered her with insults as those of Les Tourelles had done. One of them, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of Granville, cried out to her: "Would you have us surrender to a woman?"

The French, who were with her, they dubbed pimps and infidels, to shame them for being in the company of a bad woman and a witch.[985]

But whether because they thought her magic rendered her invulnerable, or because they held it dishonourable to strike a messenger, now, as on other occasions, they forbore to fire on her.

[Footnote 985: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 68 (evidence of Louis de Coutes).]

That Sunday, Jacquet le Prestre, the town varlet, offered the Maid wine.[986] The magistrates and citizens could not have more highly honoured her whom they regarded as their captain. Thus they treated barons, kings and queens when they were entertained in the city. In those days wine was highly valued on account of its beneficent power.

Jeanne, when she emphasised a wish, would say: "If I were never to drink wine between now and Easter!..."[987] But in reality she never drank wine except mixed with water, and she ate little.[988]

[Footnote 986: Extracts from fortress accounts, in the _Trial_, vol.

v, p. 259.]

[Footnote 987: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 64.]

[Footnote 988: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 9, 15, 18, 22, 60; vol. v, p.

120. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285. Morosini, p. 101. _Relation du greffier de La Roch.e.l.le_, p. 337.]

Throughout this time of waiting the Maid never rested for a moment. On Monday, May 2nd, she mounted her horse and rode out into the country to view the English bastions. The people followed her in crowds; they had no fear and were glad to be near her. And when she had seen all that she wanted, she returned to the city, to the cathedral church, where she heard vespers.[989]

[Footnote 989: _Journal du siege_, p. 80. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siege_, p. 95.]

On the morrow, the 3rd of May, the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, which was the Cathedral Festival, she followed in the procession, with the magistrates and the townsfolk. It was then that Maitre Jean de Macon, the precentor of the cathedral,[990] greeted her with these words: "My daughter, are you come to raise the siege?"

[Footnote 990: Charles Cuissard, _Notes chronologiques sur Jean de Macon_, in _Memoires de la Societe archeologique de l'Orleanais_, vol.

xi, 1897, pp. 529, 545.]

She replied: "Yea, in G.o.d's name."[991]

[Footnote 991: _Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291.

Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 30.]

The people of Orleans all believed that the English round the city were as innumerable as the stars in the sky; the notary, Guillaume Girault, expected nothing short of a miracle.[992] Jean Luillier, woollen draper[993] by trade, thought it impossible for the citizens to hold out longer against an enemy so enormously their superior.[994]

Messire Jean de Macon was likewise alarmed at the power and the numbers of the _G.o.dons_.

[Footnote 992: Note by Guill. Girault, notary in the _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 282. _Journal du siege_, p. 135.]

[Footnote 993: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 112, 113.]

[Footnote 994: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 24. Cf. _Ibid._, pp. 7, 8 (the evidence of Dunois amounts to much the same).]

"My daughter," he said to the Maid, "their force is great and they are strongly intrenched. It will be a difficult matter to turn them out."[995]

[Footnote 995: _Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291.]

If notary Guillaume Girault, if draper Jean Luillier, if Messire Jean de Macon, instead of fostering these gloomy ideas, had counted the numbers of the besieged and the besieging, they would have found that the former were more numerous than the latter; and that the army of Scales, of Suffolk, of Talbot appeared mean and feeble when compared with the great besieging armies of the reign of King Henry V. Had they looked a little more closely they would have perceived that the bastions, with the formidable names of London and of Paris, were powerless to prevent either corn, cattle, pigs, or men-at-arms being brought into the city; and that these gigantic dolls were being mocked at by the dealers, who, with their beasts, pa.s.sed by them daily. In short, they would have realised that the people of Orleans were for the moment better off than the English. But they had examined nothing for themselves. They were content to abide by public opinion which is seldom either just or correct. The Maid did not share Messire Jean de Macon's illusions. She knew no more of the English than he did; yet because she was a saint, she replied tranquilly: "With G.o.d all things are possible."[996] And Maitre Jean de Macon thought it well that such should be her opinion.

[Footnote 996: _Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 291.]

What aggravated the trouble, the danger, and the panic of the situation, was that the citizens believed they were betrayed. They recollected the Count of Clermont at the Battle of the Herrings, and they suspected the King's men of deserting them once again. After having done so much and spent so much they saw themselves given up to the English. This idea made them mad.[997] There was a rumour that the Marshal de Boussac, who had started with my Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d to meet the second convoy of supplies, and who was to return on Tuesday the 3rd, would not come back. It was said that the Chancellor of France wanted to disband the army. It was absurd. On the contrary, great efforts for the deliverance of the city were being made by the King's Council and that of the Queen of Sicily. But the people's brains had been turned by their long suffering and their terrible danger. A more reasonable fear was lest any mishap should occur on the road from Blois like that which had overtaken the force at Rouvray. The Maid's comrades were infected with the anxieties of the townsfolk; one of them betrayed his fears to her, but she was not affected by them. With the radiant tranquillity of the illuminated, she said:[998] "The Marshal will come. I am confident that no harm will happen to him."[999]

[Footnote 997: _Journal du siege_, pp. 51, 52.]

[Footnote 998: Beaucroix, in his evidence, says it was Jean d'Aulon (_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 79); but, according to his own testimony, d'Aulon was then following the b.a.s.t.a.r.d (_Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 210).]