The Life of Joan of Arc Part 15

Tenant-in-chief of the Castle on the island in 1419, and in 1423 elder of the community, Jacques d'Arc was one of the notables of Domremy.

The village folk held him in high esteem and readily entrusted him with difficult tasks. Towards the end of March, 1427, they sent him to Vaucouleurs as their authorised proxy in a lawsuit they were conducting before Robert de Baudricourt. It was a question of the payment of damages required at once from the lord and the inhabitants of Greux and Domremy by a certain Guyot Poignant, of Montigny-le-Roi.

These damages went back four years to when, as a return for his protection, the Damoiseau of Commercy had extorted from Greux and Domremy a sum amounting to two hundred and twenty golden crowns.

Guyot Poignant had become security for this sum which had not been paid by the time fixed. The Damoiseau seized Poignant's wood, hay, and horses to the value of one hundred and twenty golden crowns, which amount the said Poignant reclaimed from the n.o.bles and villeins of Greux and Domremy. The suit was still pending in 1427, when the community nominated Jacques d'Arc its authorised proxy, and sent him to Vaucouleurs. The result of the dispute is not known; but it is sufficient to note that Jeanne's father saw Sire Robert and had speech with him.[319]

[Footnote 319: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. cliv, clv, clvi, 97, 359 _et seq._; _La France pendant la guerre de cent ans_, p. 287.]

On his return home he must have more than once related these interviews, and told of the manners and words of so great a personage.

And doubtless Jeanne heard many of these things. a.s.suredly she must have p.r.i.c.ked up her ears at the name of Baudricourt. Then it was that her dazzling friend, the Archangel Knight, came once more to awaken the obscure thought slumbering within her: "Daughter of G.o.d," he said, "go thou to the Captain Robert de Baudricourt, in the town of Vaucouleurs, that he may grant unto thee men who shall take thee to the gentle Dauphin."[320]

[Footnote 320: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.]

Resolved to obey faithfully the behest of the Archangel which accorded with her own desire, Jeanne foresaw that her mother, albeit pious, would grant her no aid in her design and that her father would strongly oppose it. Therefore she refrained from confiding it to them.[321]

[Footnote 321: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 128.]

She thought that Durand La.s.sois would be the man to give her the succour of which she had need. In consideration of his age she called him uncle,--he was her elder by sixteen years.

Their kinship was by marriage: La.s.sois had married one Jeanne, daughter of one Le Vauseul, husbandman, and of Aveline, sister of Isabelle de Vouthon, and consequently cousin-german of Isabelle's daughter.[322]

[Footnote 322: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 443. Boucher de Molandon, _La famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 146. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, introduction, pp. xxi, xxii.]

With his wife, his father-in-law, and his mother-in-law, La.s.sois dwelt at Burey-en-Vaulx, a hamlet of a few homesteads, lying on the left bank of the Meuse, in the green valley, five miles from Domremy, and less than two and a half miles from Vaucouleurs.[323]

[Footnote 323: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 411, 431, 439. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. clxi. Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 92.]

Jeanne went to see him, told him of her design, and showed him that she must needs see Sire Robert de Baudricourt. That her kind kinsman might the more readily believe in her, she repeated to him the strange prophecy, of which we have already made mention: "Was it not known of old," she said, "that a woman should ruin the kingdom of France and that a woman should re-establish it?"[324]

[Footnote 324: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 443, 444.]

This prognostication, it appears, caused Durand La.s.sois to reflect.

Of the two facts foretold therein, the first, the evil one, had come to pa.s.s in the town of Troyes, when Madame Ysabeau had given the Kingdom of the Lilies and Madame Catherine of France to the King of England. It only remained to hope that the second, the good, would likewise come to pa.s.s. If in the heart of Durand La.s.sois there were any love for the Dauphin Charles, such must have been his desire; but on this point history is silent.

During this visit to her cousin, Jeanne met with others besides her kinsfolk, the Vouthons and their children. She visited a young n.o.bleman, by name Geoffroy de Foug, who dwelt in the parish of Maxey-sur-Vayse, of which the hamlet of Burey formed part. She confided to him that she wanted to go to France. My Lord Geoffroy did not know much of Jeanne's parents; he was ignorant even of their names. But the damsel seemed to him good, simple, pious, and he encouraged her in her marvellous undertaking.[325] A week after her arrival at Burey she attained her object: Durand La.s.sois consented to take her to Vaucouleurs.[326]

[Footnote 325: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 442.]

[Footnote 326: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 53, 221; vol. ii, p. 443.]

Before starting she asked a favour from her aunt Aveline who was with child; she said to her: "If the babe you bear is a daughter, call her Catherine in memory of my dead sister."

Catherine, who had married Colin de Greux, had just died.[327]

[Footnote 327: Genealogical Inquiry made by the Bailie of Chaumont concerning Jehan Royer (8 October, 1555) in E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 62.

[Doc.u.ment of doubtful authenticity.]]

CHAPTER III

FIRST VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS--FLIGHT TO NEUFCHaTEAU--JOURNEY TO TOUL--SECOND VISIT TO VAUCOULEURS

Robert de Baudricourt, who in those days commanded the town of Vaucouleurs for the Dauphin Charles, was the son of Liebault de Baudricourt deceased, once chamberlain of Robert, Duke of Bar, governor of Pont-a-Mousson, and of Marguerite d'Aunoy, Lady of Blaise in Ba.s.signy. Fourteen or fifteen years earlier he had succeeded his two uncles, Guillaume, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of Poitiers, and Jean d'Aunoy as Bailie of Chaumont and Commander of Vaucouleurs. His first wife had been a rich widow; after her death he had married, in 1425, another widow, as rich as the first, Madame Alarde de Chambley. And it is a fact that the peasants of Uruffe and of Gibeaumex stole the cart carrying the cakes ordered for the wedding feast. Sire Robert was like all the warriors of his time and country; he was greedy and cunning; he had many friends among his enemies and many enemies among his friends; he fought now for his own side, now against it, but always for his own advantage. For the rest he was no worse than his fellows, and one of the least stupid.[328]

[Footnote 328: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 271. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 67. Le R.P. Benoit, _Histoire ecclesiastique et politique de la ville et du diocese de Toul_, Toul, 1707, p. 529.

S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. clxii, clxiii. Leon Mougenot, _Jeanne d'Arc, le Duc de Lorraine et le Sire de Baudricourt_, 1895, in 8vo. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches_, p.

xviii. G. Niore, _Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Memoires de la Societe academique de l'Aube_, 1894, vol. x.x.xi, pp. 307-320. De Pange, _Le Pays de Jeanne d'Arc; Le fief et l'arriere-fief. Les Baudricourt_, Paris, 1903, in 8vo.]

Clad in a poor red gown,[329] but her heart bright with mystic love, Jeanne climbed the hill dominating the town and the valley. Without any difficulty she entered the castle, for its gates were opened as freely as if it had been a fair; and she was led into the hall where was Sire Robert among his men-at-arms. She heard the Voice saying to her: "That is he!"[330] And immediately she went straight to him, and spoke to him fearlessly, beginning, doubtless, by saying what she deemed to be most urgent: "I am come to you, sent by Messire," she said, "that you may send to the Dauphin and tell him to hold himself in readiness, but not to give battle to his enemies."[331]

[Footnote 329: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.]

[Footnote 330: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53.]

[Footnote 331: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.]

a.s.suredly she must thus have spoken, prompted by a new revelation from her Voices. And it is important to notice that she repeated word for word what had been said seventy-five years earlier, not far from Vaucouleurs, by a peasant of Champagne who was a vavasour, that is, a freeman. This peasant's career had begun like Jeanne's, but had come to a much more abrupt conclusion. Jacques d'Arc's daughter had not been the first to say that revelations had been made to her concerning the war. Periods of great distress are the times when inspired persons most commonly appear. Thus it came to pa.s.s that in the days of the Plague and of the Black Prince the vavasour of Champagne heard a voice coming forth from a beam of light.

While he was at work in the fields the voice had said to him: "Go thou, and warn John, King of France, that he fight not against any of his enemies." It was a few days before the Battle of Poitiers.[332]

[Footnote 332: _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, ed. S. Luce, Paris, 1861, in 8vo, pp. 46-48.]

Then the counsel was wise; but in the month of May, 1428, it seemed less wise, and appeared to have little bearing on the state of affairs at that time. Since the disaster of Verneuil, the French had not felt equal to giving battle to their enemies; and they were not thinking of it. Towns were taken and lost, skirmishes were fought, sallies were attempted, but the enemy was not engaged in pitched battles. There was no need to restrain the Dauphin Charles, whom in those days nature and fortune rendered unadventurous.[333] About the time that Jeanne was uttering these words before Sire Robert, the English in France were preparing an expedition, and were hesitating, unable to decide whether to march on Angers or on Orleans.[334]

[Footnote 333: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed. Mademoiselle Dupont, Paris, 1837, pp. 195, 222, 223.]

[Footnote 334: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armee anglaise au siege d'Orleans_, Orleans, 1892, in 8vo, pp. 75, 76.]

Jeanne gave utterance according to the promptings of her Archangel and her Saints, and touching warfare and the condition of the kingdom they knew neither more nor less than she. But it is not surprising that those who believe themselves sent by G.o.d should ask to be waited for.

And again in the damsel's fear lest the French knights should once more give battle after their own guise there was much of the sound common sense of the people. They were only too well acquainted with knightly warfare.

Perfectly calm and self-possessed, Jeanne went on and uttered a prophecy concerning the Dauphin: "Before mid Lent my Lord will grant him aid." Then straightway she added: "But in very deed the realm belongs not to the Dauphin. Nathless it is Messire's will that the Dauphin should be king and receive the kingdom in trust--_en commande_.[335] Notwithstanding his enemies, the Dauphin shall be king; and it is I who shall lead him to his anointing."

[Footnote 335: _Et quod aberet in commendam: illud regnum_, _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456 (evidence of Bertrand de Poulengy).]

Doubtless the t.i.tle Messire, in the sense in which she employed it, sounded strange and obscure, since Sire Robert, failing to understand it, asked: "Who is Messire?"

"The King of Heaven," the damsel answered.

She had made use of another term, concerning which, as far as we know, Sire Robert made no remark; and yet it is suggestive.[336]

[Footnote 336: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456.]

That word _commande_ employed in matters connected with inheritance signified something given in trust.[337] If the King received the kingdom _en commande_ he would merely hold it in trust. Thus the maid's utterance agreed with the views of the most pious concerning Our Lord's government of kingdoms. By herself she could not have happened on the word or the idea; she had obviously been instructed by one of those churchmen whose influence we have discerned already[338]

in the Lorraine prophecy, but the trace of whom has completely vanished.

[Footnote 337: See La Curne and G.o.defroy for the word _commande_.