The Life of Joan of Arc Part 7

VII. THE MAID AT POITIERS 187

VIII. THE MAID AT POITIERS (_continued_) 204

IX. THE MAID AT TOURS 217

X. THE SIEGE OF ORLeANS FROM THE 7TH OF MARCH TO THE 28TH OF APRIL, 1429 230

XI. THE MAID AT BLOIS. LETTER TO THE ENGLISH.

DEPARTURE FOR ORLeANS 243

XII. THE MAID AT ORLeANS 258

XIII. THE TAKING OF LES TOURELLES AND THE DELIVERANCE OF ORLeANS 296

XIV. THE MAID AT TOURS AND SELLES-EN-BERRY.

TREATISES OF JACQUES GeLU AND JEAN GERSON 318

XV. TAKING OF JARGEAU. THE MEUNG BRIDGE.

BEAUGENCY 345

XVI. THE BATTLE OF PATAY. OPINIONS OF ITALIAN AND GERMAN CLERKS. THE GIEN ARMY 368

XVII. THE AUXERRE CONVENTION. FRIAR RICHARD.

THE SURRENDER OF TROYES 403

XVIII. THE SURRENDER OF CHaLONS AND OF REIMS.

THE CORONATION 435

XIX. RISE OF THE LEGEND 461

LIST OF ILl.u.s.tRATIONS

VOL. I

JOAN OF ARC _Frontispiece_ From a painting by Deruet.

_To face page_

HOUSE OF JOAN OF ARC AT DOMREMY IN 1419 12

VIEW OF ORLeANS, 1428-1429 106

PLAN OF ORLeANS 258

CHARLES VII 444 From an old engraving.

JOAN OF ARC

CHAPTER I

CHILDHOOD

From Neufchateau to Vaucouleurs the clear waters of the Meuse flow freely between banks covered with rows of poplar trees and low bushes of alder and willow. Now they wind in sudden bends, now in gradual curves, for ever breaking up into narrow streams, and then the threads of greenish waters gather together again, or here and there are suddenly lost to sight underground. In the summer the river is a lazy stream, barely bending in its course the reeds which grow upon its shallow bed; and from the bank one may watch its lapping waters kept back by clumps of rushes scarcely covering a little sand and moss. But in the season of heavy rains, swollen by sudden torrents, deeper and more rapid, as it rushes along, it leaves behind it on the banks a kind of dew, which rises in pools of clear water on a level with the gra.s.s of the valley.

This valley, two or three miles broad, stretches unbroken between low hills, softly undulating, crowned with oaks, maples, and birches.

Although strewn with wild-flowers in the spring, it looks severe, grave, and sometimes even sad. The green gra.s.s imparts to it a monotony like that of stagnant water. Even on fine days one is conscious of a hard, cold climate. The sky seems more genial than the earth. It beams upon it with a tearful smile; it const.i.tutes all the movement, the grace, the exquisite charm of this delicate tranquil landscape. Then when winter comes the sky merges with the earth in a kind of chaos. Fogs come down thick and clinging. The white light mists, which in summer veil the bottom of the valley, give place to thick clouds and dark moving mountains, but slowly scattered by a red, cold sun. Wanderers ranging the uplands in the early morning might dream with the mystics in their ecstasy that they are walking on clouds.

Thus, after having pa.s.sed on the left the wooded plateau, from the height of which the chateau of Bourlemont dominates the valley of the Saonelle, and on the right Coussey with its old church, the winding river flows between le Bois Chesnu on the west and the hill of Julien on the east. Then on it goes, pa.s.sing the adjacent villages of Domremy and Greux on the west bank and separating Greux from Maxey-sur-Meuse.

Among other hamlets nestling in the hollows of the hills or rising on the high ground, it pa.s.ses Burey-la-Cote, Maxey-sur-Vaise, and Burey-en-Vaux, and flows on to water the beautiful meadows of Vaucouleurs.[147]

[Footnote 147: J. Ch. Chappellier, _etude historique et geographique sur Domremy, pays de Jeanne d'Arc_, Saint-Die, 1890, in 8vo. e.

Hinzelin, _Chez Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1894, in 18mo.]

In this little village of Domremy, situated at least seven and a half miles further down the river than Neufchateau and twelve and a half above Vaucouleurs, there was born, about the year 1410 or 1412,[148]

a girl who was destined to live a remarkable life. She was born poor.

Her father,[149] Jacques or Jacquot d'Arc, a native of the village of Ceffonds in Champagne,[150] was a small farmer and himself drove his horses at the plough.[151] His neighbours, men and women alike, held him to be a good Christian and an industrious workman.[152] His wife came from Vouthon, a village nearly four miles northwest of Domremy, beyond the woods of Greux. Her name being Isabelle or Zabillet, she received at some time, exactly when is uncertain, the surname of Romee.[153] That name was given to those who had been to Rome or on some other important pilgrimage;[154] and it is possible that Isabelle may have acquired her name of Romee by a.s.suming the pilgrim's sh.e.l.l and staff.[155] One of her brothers was a parish priest, another a tiler; she had a nephew who was a carpenter.[156] She had already borne her husband three children: Jacques or Jacquemin, Catherine, and Jean.[157]

[Footnote 148: This may be inferred from vol. i, p. 46, of the _Trial_. But Jeanne did not know how old she was when she left her father's house (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 51). I have ignored the letter of Perceval de Boulainvilliers, p. 116, vol. v, of the _Trial_. It is quite unauthentic and is too much in the manner of a hagiologist. See post, p. 468, note 1.]

[Footnote 149: Darc (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191; vol. ii, p. 82). Dars (Simeon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. 360). Day (_Trial_, vol. v, p. 150). Daiz (furnished by M. Pierre Champion). This doc.u.ment appears to justify the p.r.o.nunciation _Jeanne d'Arc_. Concerning the orthography of the name d'Arc, cf. Lanery d'Arc, _Livre d'or de Jeanne d'Arc_, notes 647-657.]

[Footnote 150: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 46, 208. E. de Bouteiller and G.

de Braux, _La famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1878, in 8vo, p. 185; _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, Orleans, 1879, in 12mo, p. x, _pa.s.sim_. Boucher de Molandon, _Jacques d'Arc, pere de la Pucelle_, Orleans, 1885, in 8vo.]

[Footnote 151: See post, pp. 57, 451, 452.]

[Footnote 152: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 378 _et seq._]

[Footnote 153: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 191, 208; vol. ii, p. 74, note 1.

Armand Boucher de Crevecoeur, _Les Romee et les de Perthes, famille maternelle de Jeanne d'Arc_, Abbeville, 1891, in 8vo. Lanery d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, notes 1278-1308.]

[Footnote 154: Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under the word _Romeus_. G. de Braux, _Jeanne d'Arc a Saint-Nicolas_, Nancy, 1889, p. 8. _Revue catholique des inst.i.tutions et du droit_, August, 1886. E. de Bouteiller, _Nouvelles recherches_, p. xii. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, p. 43.]

[Footnote 155: Probably before Jeanne's birth. "My surname is d'Arc or Romee," said Jeanne (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191). Thus she indiscriminately a.s.sumes either her father's or her mother's surname, although she says (_Trial_, vol. i, p. 191) that in her country girls are called by their mother's surname.]

[Footnote 156: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 252. E. de Bouteiller and G. de Braux, _Nouvelles recherches sur la famille de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1879, pp. 3-20. Ch. du Lys, _Traite sommaire tant du nom et des armes que de la naissance et parente de la Pucelle d'Orleans et de ses freres_, ed. Vallet de Viriville, Paris, 1857, p. 28. E. Georges, _Jeanne d'Arc consideree au point de vue Franco-Champenois_, Troyes, 1893, in 8vo, p. 101.]