The Life of Joan of Arc Part 42

[Footnote 999: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 79. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p.

286. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siege_, p. 85.]

On that day there entered into the city the little garrisons of Gien, of Chateau-Regnard, and of Montargis.[1000] But the Blois army did not come. On the morrow, at daybreak, it was descried in the plain of La Beauce. And, indeed, the Sire de Rais and his company, escorted by the Marshal de Boussac and my Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, were skirting the Forest of Orleans.[1001] At these tidings the citizens must needs exclaim that the Maid had been right in wishing to march straight against Talbot since the captains now followed the very road she had indicated. But in reality it was not just as they thought. Only one part of the Blois army had risked forcing its way between the western bastions; the convoy, with its escort, like the first convoy, was coming through La Sologne and was to enter the town by water. Those arrangements for the entrance of supplies, which, in the first instance, had proved successful, were naturally now repeated.[1002]

[Footnote 1000: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287.]

[Footnote 1001: _Ibid._, p. 287. _Journal du siege_, p. 81. Abbe Dubois, _Histoire du siege_, dissertation ix. Lottin, _Recherches_, vol. i, p. 205. Loiseleur, _Comptes des depenses_, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 1002: On the 4th of May, as on the 29th of April, the corn was brought down the Loire. Indeed there exists a bill which makes mention of "sailors who brought the corn which came from Blois on the 4th day of May," "_nottoniers qui amenerent les bles qui furent amenes de Blois le iiij'e jour de may_" (Boucher de Molandon, _Premiere expedition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 58, 59).]

Captain La Hire and certain other commanders, who had remained in the city with five hundred fighting men, went out to meet the Sire de Rais, the Marshal de Boussac and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The Maid mounted her horse and went with them. They pa.s.sed through the English lines; and, a little further on, having met the army, they returned to the town together. The priests, and among them Brother Pasquerel bearing the banner, were the first to pa.s.s beneath the Paris bastion, singing psalms.[1003]

[Footnote 1003: The 4th of May, _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 105, 211.

_Journal du siege_, p. 81. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287.]

Jeanne dined at Jacques Boucher's house with her steward, Jean d'Aulon. When the table was cleared, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who had come to the treasurer's house, talked with her for a moment. He was gracious and polite, but spoke with restraint.

"I have heard on good authority," he remarked, "that Fastolf is soon to join the English who are conducting the siege. He brings them supplies and reinforcements and is already at Janville."

At these tidings Jeanne appeared very glad and said, laughing: "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, b.a.s.t.a.r.d, in G.o.d's name, I command thee to let me know as soon as thou shalt hear of Fastolf's arrival. For should he come without my knowledge, I warn thee thou shalt lose thy head."[1004]

[Footnote 1004: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 212 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).]

Far from betraying any annoyance at so rude a jest, he replied that she need have no fear, he would let her know.[1005]

[Footnote 1005: _Ibid._, p. 212.]

The approach of Sir John Fastolf had already been announced on the 26th of April. It was expressly in order to avoid him that the army had come through La Sologne. It is possible that on the 4th of May the tidings of his coming had no surer foundation. But the b.a.s.t.a.r.d knew something else. The corn of the second convoy, like that of the first, was coming down the river. It had been resolved, in a council of war, that in the afternoon the captains should attack the Saint-Loup bastion, and divert the English as had been done on the 29th of April.[1006] The attack had already begun. But of this the b.a.s.t.a.r.d breathed not a word to the Maid. He held her to be the one source of strength in the town. But he believed that in war her part was purely spiritual.[1007]

[Footnote 1006: _Ibid._, p. 212. _Journal du siege_, p. 78.]

[Footnote 1007: I have followed the account of Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 73 (amplified in _La chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 288), which is more plausible than that of _Le journal du siege_.]

After he had withdrawn, Jeanne, worn out by her morning's expedition, lay down on her bed with her hostess for a short sleep. Sire Jean d'Aulon, who was very weary, stretched himself on a couch in the same room, thinking to take the rest he so greatly needed. But scarce had he fallen asleep when the Maid leapt from her bed and roused him with a great noise. He asked her what she wanted.

"In G.o.d's name," she answered in great agitation, "my Council have told me to go against the English; but I know not whether I am to go against their bastions or against Fastolf, who is bringing them supplies."[1008]

[Footnote 1008: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 212, 213 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).]

In her dreams she had been present at her Council, that is to say, she had beheld her saints. She had seen Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. There had happened to her what always happens. The saints had told her no more than she herself knew. They had revealed to her nothing of what she needed to know. They had not informed her how, at that very moment, the French were attacking the Saint-Loup bastion and suffering great hurt. And the Blessed Ones had departed leaving her in error and in ignorance of what was going on, and in uncertainty as to what she was to do. The good Sire d'Aulon was not the one to relieve her from her embarra.s.sment. He, too, was excluded from the Councils of War. Now he answered her nothing, and set to arming himself as quickly as possible. He had already begun when they heard a great noise and cries coming up from the street. From the pa.s.sers-by, they gleaned that there was fighting near Saint-Loup and that the enemy was inflicting great hurt on the French. Without staying to inquire further, Jean d'Aulon went straightway to his squire to have his armour put on. Almost at the same time Jeanne went down and asked: "Where are my armourers? The blood of our folk is flowing."[1009]

[Footnote 1009: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 106.]

In the street she found Brother Pasquerel, her chaplain, with other priests, and Mugot, her page, to whom she cried: "Ha! cruel boy, you did not tell me that the blood of France was being shed!... In G.o.d's name, our people are hard put to it."[1010]

[Footnote 1010: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 68 (evidence of Louis de Coutes).]

She bade him bring her horse and leave the wife and daughter of her host to finish arming her. On his return the page found her fully accoutred. She sent him to fetch her standard from her room. He gave it her through the window. She took it and spurred on her horse into the high street, towards the Burgundian Gate, at such a pace that sparks flashed from the pavement.

"Hasten after her!" cried the treasurer's wife.[1011]

[Footnote 1011: _Ibid._, p. 69.]

Sire d'Aulon had not seen her start. He imagined, why, it is impossible to say, that she had gone out on foot, and, having met a page on horseback in the street, had made him dismount and give her his horse.[1012] The Renard Gate and the Burgundian Gate were on opposite sides of the town. Jeanne, who for the last three days had been going up and down the streets of Orleans, took the most direct way. Jean d'Aulon and the page, who were hastily pursuing her, did not come up with her until she had reached the gate. There they met a wounded man being brought into the town. The Maid asked his bearers who the man was. He was a Frenchman, they replied. Then she said: "I have never seen the blood of a Frenchman flow without feeling my heart stand still."[1013]

[Footnote 1012: _Ibid._, p. 212.]

[Footnote 1013: _Ibid._, pp. 212, 213 (Jean d'Aulon's evidence).]

The Maid and Sire d'Aulon, with a few fighting men of their company, pressed on through the fields to Saint-Loup. On the way they saw certain of their party. The good squire, unaccustomed to great battles, never remembered having seen so many fighting men at once.[1014]

[Footnote 1014: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 213.]

For an hour the Sire de Rais' Bretons and the men from Le Mans had been skirmishing before the bastion. As the custom was those who had arrived last were keeping watch.[1015] But if these combatants, who had reached the town only that very morning, had attacked without taking time to breathe, they must have been hard pressed. They were doing what had been done on the 29th of April, and for the same reason:[1016] namely, occupying the English while the barges corn-laden were coming down the river to the moat. On the top of their high hill, in their strong fortress, the English had easily held out albeit they were but few; and the French King's men can hardly have been able to make head against them, since the Maid and Sire d'Aulon found them scattered through the fields. She gathered them together and led them back to the attack. They were her friends: they had journeyed together: they had sung psalms and hymns together: together they had heard ma.s.s in the fields. They knew that she brought good luck: they followed her. As she marched at their head her first idea was a religious one. The bastion was built upon the church and convent of the Ladies of Saint-Loup. With the sound of a trumpet she had it proclaimed that nothing should be taken from the church.[1017] She remembered how Salisbury had come to a bad end for having pillaged the Church of Notre Dame de Clery; and she desired to keep her men from an evil death.[1018] This was the first time she had seen fighting; and no sooner had she entered into the battle than she became the leader because she was the best. She did better than others, not because she knew more; she knew less. But her heart was n.o.bler. When every man thought of himself, she alone thought of others: when every man took heed to defend himself, she defended herself not at all, having previously offered up her life. And thus this child,--who feared suffering and death like every human being, who knew by her Voices and her presentiments that she would be wounded,--went straight on and stood beneath showers of arrows and cannon-b.a.l.l.s on the edge of the moat, her standard in hand, rallying her men.[1019] Through her what had been merely a diversion became a serious attack. The bastion was stormed.

[Footnote 1015: Gruel, _Chronique d'Arthur de Richemont_, p. 72.]

[Footnote 1016: _Journal du siege_, p. 75.]

[Footnote 1017: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 124, 126. Abbe Dubois, _Histoire du siege_, dissertation vi. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement xiii. _Journal du siege_, pp. 83, 84. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol.

i, p. 72.]

[Footnote 1018: Robert Blondel, _De reductione Normanniae_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 347. _Journal du siege_, p. 13. _Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 286 _et seq._]

[Footnote 1019: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 109, 127. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 295. Clerk of the Chambre des Comptes de Brabant, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426. Eberhard Windecke, p. 172.]

When he heard that the fort of Saint-Loup was being attacked, Sir John Talbot sallied forth from the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils. In order to reach the threatened bastion he had some distance to go down his lines and along the border of the forest. He set out, and on his way was reinforced by the garrisons of the western bastions. The town watchmen observed his movements and sounded the alarm. Marshal Boussac pa.s.sing through the Parisis Gate, went out to meet Talbot on the north, towards Fleury. The English captain was preparing to break through the French force when he saw a thick cloud of smoke rising over the fort Saint-Loup. He understood that the French had captured and set fire to it; and sadly he returned to the camp of Saint-Laurent-des-Orgerils.[1020]

[Footnote 1020: Perceval de Cagny says: "Soon after [the arrival of the Maid on the edge of the entrenchments] those in the fort wished to surrender to her: she would not take them for ransom and said she would capture them in any event, and redoubled the attack. And straightway the fort was taken and almost all put to death." This is hard to believe. The English would sooner have surrendered to the humblest menial in the Armagnac host than to the Maid: and it is not likely that she would have refused to hold them as prisoners for ransom. Besides, Perceval de Cagny has not the remotest idea of what happened on the 4th of May. For example, he believes that the Maid opened the attack. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 144 _et seq._ _Journal du siege_, p. 82. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 289. _Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 294.]

The attack had lasted three hours. After the burning of the bastion the English climbed into the church belfry. The French had difficulty in dislodging them; but they ran no danger thereby. Of prisoners, they took two score, and the rest they slew. The Maid was very sorrowful when she saw so many of the enemy dead. She pitied these poor folk who had died unconfessed.[1021] Certain _G.o.dons_, wearing the ecclesiastical habit and ornaments, came to meet her. She perceived that they were soldiers disguised in stoles and hoods taken from the sacristy of the Abbaye aux Dames. But she pretended to take them for what they represented themselves to be. She received them and had them conducted to her house without allowing any harm to come to them. With a charitable jest she said: "One should never question priests."[1022]

[Footnote 1021: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 106.]

[Footnote 1022: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 289.]

Before leaving the fort she confessed to Brother Pasquerel, her chaplain. And she charged him to make the following announcement to all the men-at-arms: "Confess your sins and thank G.o.d for the victory.

If you do not, the Maid will never help you more and will not remain in your company."[1023]

[Footnote 1023: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 106.]

The Saint-Loup bastion, attacked by fifteen hundred French, had been defended by only three hundred English. That they made no vigorous defence is indicated by the fact that only two or three Frenchmen were slain.[1024] It was not by any severe mental effort or profound calculation that the French King's men had gained this advantage. It had cost them little, and yet it was immense. It meant the cutting off of the besiegers' communications with Jargeau: it meant the opening of the upper Loire: it was the first step towards the raising of the siege. Better still, it afforded positive proof that these devils who had inspired such fear were miserable creatures, who might be entrapped like mice and smoked out like wasps in their nest. Such unhoped-for good fortune was due to the Maid. She had done everything, for without her nothing would have been done. She it was, who, in ignorance wiser than the knowledge of captains and free-lances, had converted an idle skirmish into a serious attack and had won the victory by inspiring confidence.

[Footnote 1024: At the capture of the Saint-Loup bastion:

_Number of _Number of French engaged._ French slain._

Journal du Siege 1,500 without counting n.o.bles.

Letter of Charles VII 2 Morosini's correspondent 3,500 Eberhard Windecke 2