The Life of Joan of Arc Part 25

The King's council was making every effort to succour Orleans. The King summoned the n.o.bles of Auvergne. They had been true to the Lilies ever since the day when the Dauphin, Canon of Notre-Dame-d'Ancis, and barely more than a child, had travelled over wild peaks to subdue two or three rebellious barons.[547] At the royal call the n.o.bles of Auvergne came forth from their mountains. Beneath the standard of the Count of Clermont, in the early days of February, they reached Blois, where they joined the Scottish force of John Stuart of Darnley, the Constable of Scotland, and a company from Bourbonnais, under the command of the barons La Tour-d'Auvergne and De Thouars.[548]

[Footnote 547: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, p. 732. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 213; vol. ii, p. 6, note 2. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. ccxcv.]

[Footnote 548: _Journal du siege_, pp. 21, 36-38. The accounts of Hemon Raguier, Bibl. Nat. Fr. 7858, fol. 41. Loiseleur, _Comptes des depenses de Charles VII pour secourir Orleans_, _loc. cit._]

Just at this time tidings were received of a convoy of victuals and ammunition which Sir John Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the English at Orleans. With two hundred men-at-arms the b.a.s.t.a.r.d started from Orleans to concert measures with the Count of Clermont. It was decided to attack the convoy. Commanded by the Count of Clermont and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d the whole army from Blois marched towards etampes with the object of encountering Sir John Fastolf.[549]

[Footnote 549: _Journal du siege_, p. 37.]

On the 11th of February there sallied forth from Orleans fifteen hundred fighting men commanded by Messire Guillaume d'Albret, Sir William Stuart, brother of the Constable of Scotland, the Marshal de Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle, the two Captains Saintrailles, Captain La Hire, the Lord of Verduzan, and sundry other knights and squires.

They were summoned by the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and ordered to join the Count of Clermont's army on the road to etampes, at the village of Rouvray-Saint-Denis, near Angerville.[550]

[Footnote 550: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 231. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 266, 267. _Journal du siege_, pp. 37, 38.]

The next day, Sat.u.r.day, the eve of the first Sunday in Lent, when the Count of Clermont's army was still some distance away, they reached Rouvray. There, early in the morning, the Gascons of Poton and La Hire perceived the head of the convoy advancing into the plain, along the etampes road.

There they were, a line of three hundred carts and wagons full of arms and victuals conducted by English soldiers and merchants and peasants from Normandy, Picardy, and Paris, fifteen hundred men at the most, all tranquil and unsuspecting. There naturally occurred to the Gascons the idea of falling upon these people and making short work with them at the moment when they least expected it.[551] In great haste they sent to the Count of Clermont for permission to attack. As handsome as Absalom and Paris of Troy, full of words and eaten up of vanity, the Count of Clermont, who was but a lad and none of the wisest, had that very day received his spurs and was at his first engagement.[552] He foolishly sent word to the Gascons not to attack before his arrival.

The Gascons obeyed greatly disappointed; they saw what was being lost by waiting. And at length, perceiving that they have walked into the lion's mouth, the English leaders, Sir John Fastolf, Sir Richard Gethyn, Bailie of evreux, Sir Simon Morhier, Provost of Paris, place themselves in good battle array. With their wagons they make a long narrow enclosure in the plain. There they entrench their hors.e.m.e.n, posting the archers in front, behind stakes planted in the ground with their points inclined towards the enemy.[553] Seeing these preparations, the Constable of Scotland loses patience and leads his four hundred hors.e.m.e.n in a rush upon the stakes, where the horses'

legs are broken.[554] The English, discovering that it is only a small company they have to deal with, bring out their cavalry and charge with such force that they overthrow the French and slay three hundred.

Meanwhile the men of Auvergne had reached Rouvray and were scouring the village, draining the cellars. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d left them and came to the help of the Scots with four hundred fighting men. But he was wounded in the foot, and in great danger of being taken.[555]

[Footnote 551: _Journal du siege_, pp. 38, 39. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 267, 268. _Mistere du siege_, line 8867. Dom Plancher, _Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, p. 127.]

[Footnote 552: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 312. _Journal du siege_, p. 43.

Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p. 164.]

[Footnote 553: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 311. _Journal du siege_, p. 39.

_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 232. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 267, 268. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 137, 139.]

[Footnote 554: _Journal du siege_, pp. 40, 41.]

[Footnote 555: _Ibid._, p. 43. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p.

232.]

There fell in this combat Lord William Stuart and his brother, the Lords of Verduzan, of Chateaubrun, of Rochechouart, Jean Chabot with many others of high n.o.bility and great valour.[556] The English, not yet satiated with slaughter, scattered in pursuit of the fugitives. La Hire and Poton, beholding the enemy's standards dispersed over the plain, gathered together as many men as they could, between sixty and eighty, and threw themselves on a small part of the English force, which they overcame. If at this juncture the rest of the French had rallied they might have saved the honour and advantage of the day.[557] But the Count of Clermont, who had not attempted to come to the aid of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and the Constable of Scotland, displayed his unfailing cowardice to the end. Having seen them all slain, he returned with his army to Orleans, where he arrived well on into the night of the 12th of February.[558] There followed him with their troops in disorder, the Baron La Tour-d'Auvergne, the Viscount of Thouars, the Marshal de Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who with the greatest difficulty kept in the saddle. Jamet du Tillay, La Hire, and Poton came last, watching to see that the English did not complete their discomfiture by falling upon them from the forts.[559]

[Footnote 556: _Journal du siege_, p. 43. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 269. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313.]

[Footnote 557: _Journal du siege_, p. 42. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 63.]

[Footnote 558: _Journal du siege_, p. 44.]

[Footnote 559: _Ibid._, pp. 43, 44.]

Because the Lenten fast was beginning, the victuals which Sir John Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the English round Orleans, consisted largely of red herrings, which had suffered during the battle from the casks containing them having been broken in. To honour the French for having discomfited so many natives of Dieppe the delighted English merrily named the combat the Battle of the Herrings.[560]

[Footnote 560: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 230-233.

Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. ii, p.

62. Symphorien Guyon, _Histoire de la ville d'Orleans_, vol. ii, p.

195. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 37.]

Albeit the Count of Clermont was the King's cousin, the people of Orleans received him but coldly. He was held to have acted shamefully and treacherously; and there were those who let him know what they thought. On the morrow he made off with his men of Auvergne and Bourbonnais amidst the rejoicings of the townsfolk who did not want to support those who would not fight.[561] At the same time there left the city Sire Louis de Culant, High Admiral of France and Captain La Hire, with two thousand men-at-arms. At their departure there arose from the citizens such howls of displeasure, that to appease them it was necessary to explain that the captains were going to fetch fresh supplies of men and victuals, which was the actual truth. My Lord Regnault de Chartres, the date of whose arrival at Orleans is uncertain, departed with them; but he could not be reproached for going, since as Chancellor of France his place was in the King's Council. But what must indeed have appeared strange was that my Lord Saint-Michel, the successor of Saint-Euverte and Saint-Aignan, should quit his episcopal see and desert his afflicted spouse.[562] When the rats go the vessel is on the point of sinking. Only the Lord b.a.s.t.a.r.d and the Marshal de Boussac were left in the city. And even the Marshal was not to stay long. A month later he went, saying that the King had need of him and that he must go and take possession of broad lands fallen to him through his wife, by the death of his brother-in-law, the Lord of Chateaubrun, at the Battle of the Herrings.[563] The townsfolk deemed the reason a good one. He promised to return before long, and they were content. Now the Marshal de Boussac was one of the barons who had the welfare of the kingdom most at heart.[564] But he who has lands must needs do his duty by them.

[Footnote 561: 18 Feb. _Journal du siege_, pp. 50, 52.]

[Footnote 562: _Ibid._, p. 51.]

[Footnote 563: 16 March. _Ibid._, p. 59.]

[Footnote 564: Thaumas de la Thauma.s.siere, _Histoire du Berry_, Bourges, 1689, in fol., pp. 648-656.]

Believing that they were betrayed and abandoned, the citizens bethought them of securing their own safety. Since the King was not able to protect them, they resolved that in order to escape from the English, they would give themselves to one more powerful than he.

Therefore, to Lord Philip, Duke of Burgundy, they despatched Captain Poton of Saintrailles, who was known to him because he had been his prisoner, and two magistrates of the city, Jean de Saint-Avy and Guion du Fosse. Their mission was to pray and entreat the Duke to look favourably on the town, and for the sake of his good kinsman, their Lord, Charles, Duke of Orleans, a prisoner in England, and thus prevented from defending his own domain, to induce the English to raise the siege until such time as the troubles of the realm should be set at rest.[565] Thus they were offering to place their town as a pledge in the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. Such an offer was in accordance with the secret desire of the Duke, who, having sent a few hundred Burgundian horse to the walls of Orleans, was helping the English, and did not intend to do it for nothing.[566]

[Footnote 565: _Journal du siege_, p. 52.]

[Footnote 566: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 317. _Journal du siege_, p. 52.

_Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 269. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 65. Morosini, pp. 16, 17, vol. iv, supplement xiv. Du Tillet, _Recueil des traites_, p. 221.]

Pending the uncertain and distant day when they might be thus protected, the people of Orleans continued to protect themselves as best they could. But they were anxious and not without reason. For although they might prevent the enemy from entering within the city, they could devise no means for speedily driving him away. In the early days of March they observed with concern that the English were digging a ditch to serve them as cover in pa.s.sing from one bastion to another, from la Croix-Boissee to Saint-Ladre. This work they attempted to destroy. They vigorously attacked the _G.o.dons_ and took a few prisoners. With two shots from his culverin Maitre Jean killed five persons, including Lord Gray, the nephew of the late Earl of Salisbury.[567] But they could not hinder the English from completing their work. The siege continued with terrible vigour. Agitated by doubts and fears, consumed with anxiety, without sleep, without rest, and succeeding in nothing, they began to despair. Suddenly a strange rumour arises, spreads, and gains credence.

[Footnote 567: 3 March. _Journal du siege_, p. 54.]

It is told that there had lately pa.s.sed through the town of Gien a maid (_une pucelle_), who proclaimed that she was on her way to Chinon to the gentle Dauphin, and said that she had been sent by G.o.d to raise the siege of Orleans and take the King to his anointing at Reims.[568]

[Footnote 568: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 21, 23. _Journal du siege_, pp.

46 _et seq._ _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 278.]

In colloquial language, a maid (_une pucelle_) was a girl of humble birth, who earned her livelihood by manual work and was generally a servant. Thus the leaden pumps used in kitchens were usually called _pucelles_. The term was doubtless vulgar, but it had no evil meaning.

In spite of Clopinel's naughty saying: "_Je legue ma pucelle a mon cure_," it was used to describe a respectable girl of good morals.[569]

[Footnote 569: La Curne, under the word _Pucelle_; Du Cange, ad. v.

_Pucella_.

_Je laisse cent sols de deniers A ceulx qui boivent voluntiers Et s'ay laissie a mon cure Ma pucelle quand je mourrai,_

says Eustache Deschamps (quoted by La Curne); Du Cange cites a will of 1274: "afterwards I leave to Laurence _ma pucelle_ and twelve _livres_ of Paris."]

The tidings that a little saint of lowly origin, one of Our Lord's poor, was bringing divine help to Orleans made a great impression on minds excited by the fevers of the siege and rendered religious through fear. The Maid inspired them with a burning curiosity, which the Lord b.a.s.t.a.r.d, like a wise man, deemed it prudent to encourage. He despatched to Chinon two knights charged to inquire concerning the damsel. One was Sire Archambaud of Villars, Governor of Montargis, whom the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had already sent to the King during the siege; he was an aged knight, once the intimate friend of Duke Louis of Orleans, and one of the seven Frenchmen who fought against the seven Englishmen at Montendre,[570] in 1402: an Orleans citizen of the early days, notwithstanding his great age he had vigourously defended Les Tourelles on the 21st of October. The other, Messire Jamet du Tillay, a Breton squire, had recently won great honour by covering the retreat of Rouvray with his men. They set forth and the whole town anxiously awaited their return.[571]

[Footnote 570: _Relation contemporaine du combat de Montendre_, in _Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire de France_, 1834, pp. 109-113.]

[Footnote 571: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 3, 125, 215. _Journal du siege_, pp. 5, 6, 31, 44. _Nouvelle biographie generale_, articles by Vallet de Viriville.]

CHAPTER VI