The Life of Joan of Arc Part 26

THE MAID AT CHINON--PROPHECIES

From the village of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois, Jeanne dictated a letter to the King, for she did not know how to write. In this letter she asked permission to come to him, and told him that to bring him aid she had travelled over one hundred and fifty leagues, and that she knew of many things for his good. She was said to have added that were he hidden amidst many others she would recognise him;[572] but later, when she was questioned on this matter, she replied that she had no recollection of it.

[Footnote 572: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 56, 75.]

Towards noon, when the letter had been sealed, Jeanne and her escort set out for Chinon.[573] She went to the King, just as in those days there went to him the sons of poor widows of Azincourt and Verneuil riding lame horses found in some meadow,--fifteen-year-old lads coming forth from their ruined towers to mend their own fortunes and those of France; just as Loyalty, Desire, and Famine went to him.[574] Charles VII was France, the image and symbol of France. Yet he was but a poor creature withal, the eleventh of the miserable children born to the mad Charles VI and his prolific Bavarian Queen.[575] He had grown up among disasters, and had survived his four elder brethren. But he himself was badly bred, knock-kneed, and bandy-legged;[576] a veritable king's son, if his looks only were considered, and yet it was impossible to swear to his descent.[577] Through his presence on the bridge at Montereau on that day, when, according to a wise man, it were better to have died than to have been there,[578] he had grown pale and trembling, looking dully at everything going to wrack and ruin around him. After their victory of Verneuil and their partial conquest of Maine, the English had left him four years' respite. But his friends, his defenders, his deliverers had alike been terrible.

Pious and humble, well content with his plain wife, he led a sad, anxious life in his chateaux on the Loire. He was timid. And well might he be so, for no sooner did he show friendship towards or confidence in one of the n.o.bility than that n.o.ble was killed. The Constable de Richemont and the Sire de la Tremouille had drowned the Lord de Giac after a mock trial.[579] The Marshal de Boussac, by order of the Constable, had slain Lecamus de Beaulieu with even less ceremony. Lecamus was riding his mule in a meadow on the bank of the Clain, when he was set upon, thrown down, his head split open, and his hand cut off. The favourite's mule was taken back to the King.[580]

The Constable de Richemont had given Charles in his stead La Tremouille, a very barrel of a man, a toper, a kind of Gargantua who devoured the country. La Tremouille having driven away Richemont, the King kept La Tremouille until the Constable, of whom he was greatly in dread, should return. And indeed so meek and fearful a prince had reason to dread this Breton, always defeated, always furious, bitter, ferocious, whose awkwardness and violence created an impression of rude frankness.[581]

[Footnote 573: _Ibid._, p. 56.]

[Footnote 574: Bueil, _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, p. 32, and Tringant, xv; Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, ch. cx.x.xviii.]

[Footnote 575: Vallet de Viriville, _Isabeau de Baviere_, 1859, in 8vo, and _Notes sur l'etat civil des princes et princesses nes d'Isabeau de Baviere_ in the _Bibliotheque de l'ecole des Chartes_, vol. xix, pp. 473-482.]

[Footnote 576: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 312. Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p.

178.]

[Footnote 577: _Chronique du religieux de Saint-Denis_, vol. i, pp.

28, 43. Docteur A. Chevreau, _De la maladie de Charles VI, roi de France, et des medecins qui ont soigne ce prince_, in _l'Union Medicale_, February, March, 1862. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 4, note.]

[Footnote 578: Monstrelet, vol. iii, p. 347.]

[Footnote 579: Gruel, ed. Le Vava.s.seur, pp. 46 _et seq._ _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 239. Berry, p. 374. Pierre de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed.

Mademoiselle Dupont, pp. 222, 223. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 453. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 432.]

[Footnote 580: Gruel, pp. 53, 193. _Geste des n.o.bles_, p. 200. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 23, 24, 54. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 132. E. Cosneau, _Le connetable de Richemont_, Paris, 1886, in 8vo, p. 131.]

[Footnote 581: Gruel, p. 231. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 200, 248.

Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. iii, p. 189. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 142. E. Cosneau, _Le connetable de Richemont_, p. 140.]

In 1428 Richemont wanted to resume his influence over the King. The Counts of Clermont and of Pardiac united to aid him. The King's mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, the kingdomless Queen of Sicily and Jerusalem, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Anjou, took the part of the discontented barons.[582] The Count of Clermont took prisoner the Chancellor of France, the first minister of the crown, and held him to ransom. The King had to pay for the restoration of his Chancellor.[583] In Poitou the Constable was warring against the King's men, while the provinces which remained loyal were being wasted by free lances in the King's pay, while the English were advancing towards the Loire.

[Footnote 582: De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 143, 144 _et seq._ E. Cosneau, _op. cit._, pp. 142 _et seq._]

[Footnote 583: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol.

ii, col. 1199. De Beaucourt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 150. E. Cosneau, _op. cit._, p. 144.]

In the midst of such miseries, King Charles, thin, dwarfed in mind and body, cowering, timorous, suspicious, cut a sorry figure. Yet he was as good as another; and perhaps at that time he was just the king that was needed. A Philippe of Valois or a Jean le Bon would have amused himself by losing his provinces at the point of the sword. Poor King Charles had neither their means nor their desire to perform deeds of prowess, or to press to the front of the battle by riding down the common herd. He had one good point: he did not love feats of prowess and it was impossible for him to be one of those chivalrous knights who make war for the love of it. His grandfather before him, who had been equally lacking in chivalrous graces, had greatly damaged the English. The grandson had not Charles V's wisdom, but he also was not free from guile and was inclined to believe that more may be gained by the signing of a treaty than at the point of the lance.[584]

[Footnote 584: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, p. 222. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, Introduction. E. Charles, _Le caractere de Charles VII_, in _Revue contemporaine_, vol. xxii, pp. 300-328.]

Concerning his poverty ridiculous stories were in circulation. It was said that a shoemaker, to whom he could not pay ready money, had torn from his leg the new gaiter he had just put on, and gone off, leaving the King with his old ones.[585] It was related how one day La Hire and Saintrailles, coming to see him, had found him dining with the Queen, with two chickens and a sheep's tail as their only entertainment.[586] But these were merely good stories. The King still possessed domains wide and rich; Auvergne, Lyonnais, Dauphine, Touraine, Anjou, all the provinces south of the Loire, except Guyenne and Gascony.[587]

[Footnote 585: Le doyen de Saint-Thibaud, _Tableau des rois de France_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 325.]

[Footnote 586: Martial d'Auvergne, _Les vigiles de Charles VII_, ed.

Coustelier, 1724 (2 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, p. 56.]

[Footnote 587: L. Drapeyron, _Jeanne d'Arc et Philippe le Bon_, in _Revue de geographie_, November, 1886, p. 331.]

His great resource was to convoke the States General. The n.o.bility gave nothing, alleging that it was beneath their dignity to pay money.

When, notwithstanding their poverty, the clergy did contribute something, it was still, always the third estate that bore more than its share of the financial burden. That extraordinary tax, the _taille_,[588] became annual. The King summoned the Estates every year, sometimes twice a year. They met not without difficulty.[589]

The roads were dangerous. At every corner travellers might be robbed or murdered. The officers, who journeyed from town to town collecting the taxes, had an armed escort for fear of the Scots and other men-at-arms in the King's service.[590]

[Footnote 588: _Taille_, so called from a notched stick (Eng. tally), used by the tax-collector, the number of notches indicating the amount of the tax due. There were two _tailles_: _la taille seigneuriale_, a contribution paid by serfs to their lord; and _la taille royale_, paid by the third estate to the King. The latter was first levied by Philippe le Bel (1285-1314), but was only an occasional tax until the reign of Charles VII, who converted it into a regular impost. But although collected at stated intervals its amount varied from reign to reign, becoming intolerably burdensome under the spendthrift kings, while wise rulers, like Henri IV, considerably reduced it. It was not abolished until the Revolution (W.S.).]

[Footnote 589: _Recueil des ordonnances_, vol. xiii, p. xcix, and the index of this volume under the word _Impots_. Loiseleur, _Compte des depenses_, pp. 51 _et seq._ A. Thomas, _Les etats generaux sous Charles VII_ in the _Cabinet historique_, vol. xxiv, 1878. _Les etats provinciaux de la France centrale sous Charles VII_, Paris, 1879, 2 vols. in 8vo, _pa.s.sim_.]

[Footnote 590: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, p. 318. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 390. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 428; vol. ii, pp. 646 _et seq._]

In 1427 a free lance, Sabbat by name, in garrison at Langeais, was the terror of Touraine and Anjou. Thus the representatives of the towns were in no hurry to present themselves at the meeting of the Estates.

It might have been different had they believed that their money would be employed for the good of the realm. But they knew that the King would first use it to make gifts to his barons. The deputies were invited to come and devise means for the repression of the pillage and plunder from which they were suffering;[591] and, when at the risk of their lives they did come to the royal presence, they were forced to consent to the _taille_ in silence. The King's officers threatened to have them drowned if they opened their mouths. At the meeting of the Estates held at Mehun-sur-Yevre in 1425 the men from the good towns said they would be glad to help the King, but first they desired that an end be put to pillage, and my Lord Bishop of Poitiers, Hugues de Comberel, said likewise. On hearing his words the Sire de Giac said to the King: "If my advice were taken, Comberel would be thrown into the river with the others of his opinion." Whereupon the men from the good towns voted two hundred and sixty thousand livres.[592] In September, 1427, a.s.sembled at Chinon, they granted five hundred thousand livres for the war.[593] By writs issued on the 8th of January, 1428, the King summoned the States General to meet six months hence, on the following 18th of July, at Tours.[594] On the 18th of July no one attended. On the 22nd of July came a new summons from the King, commanding the Estates to meet at Tours on the 10th of September.[595]

But the meeting did not take place until October, at Chinon, just when the Earl of Salisbury was marching on the Loire. The States granted five hundred thousand livres.[596]

[Footnote 591: _Le jouvencel_, vol. i, Introduction, pp. xix, xx.]

[Footnote 592: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 237. Loiseleur, _Compte des depenses_, p. 61. Vallet de Viriville, _Memoire sur les inst.i.tutions de Charles VII_, in _Bibliotheque de l'ecole des Chartes_, vol. x.x.xiii, p. 37.]

[Footnote 593: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.

471.]

[Footnote 594: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.

167.]

[Footnote 595: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.

471. A. Thomas, _Les etats generaux sous Charles VII_, pp. 49, 50.]

[Footnote 596: Dom Vaissette, _Histoire du Languedoc_, vol. iv, p.

472. Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_, vol. iii, p. 20. Loiseleur, _Comptes des depenses_, pp. 63 _et seq._ De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 170 _et seq._]

But the time could not be far off when the good people would be unable to pay any longer. In those days of war and pillage many a field was lying fallow, many a shop was closed, and few were the merchants ambling on their nags from town to town.[597]

[Footnote 597: Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII_, Bk. II, ch. vi.

Antoine Loysel, _Memoires des pays, villes, comtes et comtes de Beauvais et Beauvoisis_, Paris, 1618, p. 229. P. Mantellier, _Histoire de la communaute des marchands frequentant la riviere de Loire_, vol.

i, p. 195.]

The tax came in badly, and the King was actually suffering from want of money. To extricate himself from this embarra.s.sment he employed three devices, of which the best was useless. First, as he owed every one money,--the Queen of Sicily,[598] La Tremouille,[599] his Chancellor,[600] his butcher,[601] the chapter of Bourges, which provided him with fresh fish,[602] his cooks,[603] his footmen,[604]--he made over the proceeds of the tax to his creditors.[605] Secondly, he alienated the royal domain: his towns and his lands belonged to every one save himself.[606] Thirdly, he coined false money. It was not with evil intent, but through necessity, and the practice was quite usual.[607]

[Footnote 598: Dom Morice, _Preuves de l'histoire de Bretagne_, vol.

ii, cols. 1145, 1194. _Ordonnances_, vol. xv, p. 147.]

[Footnote 599: Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 373. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 175. Duc de la Tremolle, _Chartier de Thouars, Doc.u.ments historiques et genealogiques_, p. 17. _Les La Tremolle pendant cinq siecles_, vol.

i, p. 175.]

[Footnote 600: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p.

632.]