[Footnote 1341: "Gens de guerre et de commun," says Perceval de Cagny, p. 157.]

[Footnote 1342: Eustache Deschamps ed. Queux de Saint-Hilaire and G. Raynaud, vol. i, p. 159, passim. Th. Basin, Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI, vol. i, p. 44. Letter from Nicholas de Clamanges to Gerson, LIV.]

[Footnote 1343: Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 308. Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Journal du siege, p. 180. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 85.]

His idea was to take her to Reims and have her crowned with him, following the example of Queen Blanche of Castille, of Jeanne de Valois, and of Queen Jeanne, wife of King John. But queens had not usually been crowned at Reims; Queen Ysabeau, mother of the present King, had received the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Rouen in the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris.[1344] Before her time, the wives of the kings, following the example set by Berthe, wife of Pepin the Short, generally came to Saint-Denys to receive the crown of gold, of sapphire and of pearls given by Jeanne of Evreux to the monks of the Abbey.[1345] Sometimes the queens were crowned with their husbands, sometimes alone and in a different place; many had never been crowned at all.

[Footnote 1344: S.J. Morand, Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle royale du Palais, Paris, 1790, in 4to, p. 77, and passim.]

[Footnote 1345: Le P. J. Doublet, Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys en France, Paris, 1625, in fol., ch. 1, pp. 373 et seq. Dom Felibien, Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denis, 1706, in fol., pp. 203, 275, 543.]

That King Charles should have thought of taking Queen Marie on this expedition proves that he did not anticipate great fatigue or great danger. Nevertheless, at the last moment the plan was changed. The Queen, who had come to Gien, was sent back to Bourges. The King set out without her.[1346]

[Footnote 1346: Journal du siege, p. 107. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 310.]

Quand le roy s'en vint en France, Il feit oindre ses houssiaulx, Et la royne lui demande: Ou veult aller cest damoiseaulx?[1347]

[Footnote 1347: When the King set out in France, he had his gaiters greased; and the Queen asked him: whither will wend these damoiseaux? Quoted according to La Chronique Messine by Vallet de Viriville, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. i, p. 424, note 1.]

In reality the Queen asked nothing. She was ill-favoured and weak of will.[1348] But the song says that the King on his departure had his old gaiters greased because he had no new ones. Those old jokes about the poverty of the King of Bourges still held good.[1349] The King had not grown rich. It was customary to pay the men-at-arms a part of their wages in advance. At Gien each fighting man received three francs. It did not seem much, but they hoped to gain more on the way.[1350]

[Footnote 1348: De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. iv, p. 88.]

[Footnote 1349: See ante, pp. 148-152.]

[Footnote 1350: Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 87. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 313.]

On Friday, the 24th of June, the Maid set out from Orleans for Gien. On the morrow she dictated from Gien a letter to the inhabitants of Tournai, telling them how the English had been driven from all their strongholds on the Loire and discomfited in battle. In this letter she invited them to come to the anointing of King Charles at Reims and called upon them to continue loyal Frenchmen. Here is the letter:

[cross symbol] JHESUS [cross symbol] MARIA.

Fair Frenchmen and loyal, of the town of Tournay, from this place the Maid maketh known unto you these tidings: that in eight days, by assault or otherwise, she hath driven the English from all the strongholds they held on the River Loire. Know ye that the Earl of Suffort, Lapoulle his brother, the Sire of Tallebord, the Sire of Scallez and my lords Jean Falscof and many knights and captains have been taken, and the brother of the Earl of Suffort and Glasdas slain. I beseech you to remain good and loyal Frenchmen; and I beseech and entreat you that ye make yourselves ready to come to the anointing of the fair King Charles at Rains, where we shall shortly be, and come ye to meet us when ye know that we draw nigh. To God I commend you. God keep you and give you his grace that ye may worthily maintain the good cause of the realm of France. Written at Gien the xxvth day of June.

Addressed "to the loyal Frenchmen of the town of Tournay."[1351]

[Footnote 1351: Trial, vol. v, p. 125. Registre des consaux, extraits analytiques des anciens consaux de la ville de Tournay, ed. H. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, p. 329. F. Hennebert, Une lettre de Jeanne d'Arc aux Tournaisiens in Arch. hist. et litteraires du nord de la France, 1837, vol. i, p. 525. De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. iii, p. 516.]

An epistle in the same tenor must have been sent by the Maid's monkish scribes to all the towns which had remained true to King Charles, and the priests themselves must have drawn up the list of them.[1352] They would certainly not have forgotten that town of the royal domain, which, situated in Flanders,[1353] in the heart of Burgundian territory, still remained loyal to its liege lord. The town of Tournai, ceded to Philip the Good by the English government, in 1423, had not recognised its new master. Jean de Thoisy, its bishop, resided at Duke Philip's court;[1354] but it remained the King's town,[1355] and the well-known attachment of its townsfolk to the Dauphin's fortunes was exemplary and famous.[1356] The Consuls of Albi, in a short note concerning the marvels of 1429, were careful to remark that this northern city, so remote that they did not exactly know where it was, still held out for France, though surrounded by France's enemies. "The truth is that the English occupy the whole land of Normandy, and of Picardy, except Tournay,"[1357] they wrote.

[Footnote 1352: Letter from Charles VII to the people of Dauphine, published by Fauche-Prunelle, in Bulletin de l'Academie Delphinale, vol. ii, p. 459; to the inhabitants of Tours, in Le Cabinet historique, vol. i, C. p. 109; to those of Poitiers, by Redet, in Les memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, vol. iii, p. 106. Relation du greffier de la Rochelle in Revue historique, vol. iv, p. 341.]

[Footnote 1353: This is a mere form of speech. Le Tournesis has always been territory separate from the County of Flanders, the Bishops of which were the former Lords of Tournai. As early as 1187 the King of France nominally held sovereign sway there. In reality the town was divided into two factions: the rich and the merchants were for the Burgundian party, the common folk for the French (De La Grange, Troubles a Tournai, 1422-1430).]

[Footnote 1354: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 352.]

[Footnote 1355: Chambre du Roi.]

[Footnote 1356: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 184-185. Chronique de Tournai, ed. Smedt (Recueil des chroniques de Flandre, vol. iii, passim); Troubles a Tournai (1422-1430) in Memoires de la Societe historique et litteraire de Tournai, vol. xvii (1882). Extraits des anciens registres des consaux, ed. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, passim. Monstrelet, ch. lxvii, lxix. A. Longnon, Paris sous la domination anglaise, pp. 143, 144.]

[Footnote 1357: The Town Clerk of Albi in Trial, vol. iv, p. 301.]

Indeed the inhabitants of the bailiwick of Tournai, jealously guarding the liberties and privileges accorded to them by the King of France, would not have separated themselves from the Crown on any consideration. They protested their loyalty, and in honour of the King and in the hope of his recovering his kingdom they had grand processions; but their devotion stopped there; and, when their liege Lord, King Charles, urgently demanded the arrears of their contribution, of which he said he stood in great need, their magistrates deliberated and decided to ask leave to postpone payment again, and for as long as possible.[1358]

[Footnote 1358: H. Vandenbroeck, Extraits analytiques des anciens registres des consaux de la ville de Tournai, vol. ii, pp. 328-330.]

There is no doubt that the Maid herself dictated this letter. It will be noticed that therein she takes to herself the credit and the whole credit for the victory. Her candour obliged her to do so. In her opinion God had done everything, but he had done everything through her. "The Maid hath driven the English out of all their strongholds." She alone could reveal so naive a faith in herself. Brother Pasquerel would not have written with such saintly simplicity.

It is remarkable that in this letter Sir John Fastolf should be reckoned among the prisoners. This mistake is not peculiar to Jeanne. The King announces to his good towns that three English captains have been taken, Talbot, the Lord of Scales and Fastolf. Perceval de Boulainvilliers, in his Latin epistle to the Duke of Milan, includes Fastolf, whom he calls Fastechat, among the thousand prisoners taken by the folk of Dauphine. Finally, a missive despatched about the 25th of June, from one of the towns of the diocese of Lucon, shows great uncertainty concerning the fate of Talbot, Fastolf and Scales, "who are said to be either prisoners or dead."[1359] Possibly the French had laid hands on some noble who resembled Fastolf in appearance or in name; or perhaps some man-at-arms in order to be held to ransom had given himself out to be Fastolf. The Maid's letter reached Tournai on the 7th of July. On the morrow the town council resolved to send an embassy to King Charles of France.[1360]

[Footnote 1359: Letter from Perceval de Boulainvilliers, in Trial, vol. v, p. 120. Fragment of a letter concerning the marvels which have occurred in Poitou, ibid., p. 122. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 74-76.]

[Footnote 1360: Hennebert, Archives historiques et litteraires du nord de la France, 1837, vol. i, p. 520. Extraits des anciens registres des consaux, ed. Vandenbroeck, vol. ii, loc. cit.]

On the 27th of June, or about then, the Maid caused letters to be despatched to the Duke of Burgundy, inviting him to come to the King's coronation. She received no reply.[1361] Duke Philip was the last man in the world to correspond with the Maid. And that she should have written to him courteously was a sign of her goodness of heart. As a child in her village she had been the enemy of the Burgundians before being the enemy of the English, but none the less she desired the good of the kingdom and a reconciliation between Burgundians and French.

[Footnote 1361: Trial, vol. v, p. 127. These letters are now lost. Jeanne alludes to them in her letter of the 17th of July, 1429. "Et a trois sepmaines que je vous avoye escript et envoie bonnes lettres par un heraut...."]

The Duke of Burgundy could not lightly pardon the ambush of Montereau; but at no time of his life had he vowed an irreconcilable hatred of the French. An understanding had become possible after the year 1425, when his brother-in-law, the Constable of France, had excluded Duke John's murderers from the Royal Council. As for the Dauphin Charles, he maintained that he had had nothing to do with the crime; but among the Burgundians he passed for an idiot.[1362] In the depths of his heart Duke Philip disliked the English. After King Henry V's death he had refused to act as their regent in France. Then there was the affair of the Countess Jacqueline which very nearly brought about an open rupture.[1363] For many years the House of Burgundy had been endeavouring to gain control over the Low Countries. At last Duke Philip attained his object by marrying his second cousin, John, Duke of Brabant to Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of Hainault, Holland and Zealand, and Lady of Friesland. Jacqueline, finding her husband intolerable, fled to England, and there, having had her marriage annulled by the Antipope, Benedict XIII, married the Duke of Gloucester, the Regent's brother.

[Footnote 1362: Dom Plancher, Histoire de Bourgogne, vol. iv, pp. lvi, lvii. E. Cosneau, Le connetable de Richemont, pp. 114 et seq.]

[Footnote 1363: Dom Plancher, Histoire de Bourgogne, vol. iv, proofs and illustrations, p. lv.]

Bedford, as prudent as Gloucester was headstrong, made every effort to retain the great Duke in the English alliance; but the secret hatred he felt for the Burgundians burst forth occasionally in sudden acts of rage. Whether he planned the assassination of the Duke and the Duke knew it, is uncertain. But at any rate it is alleged that one day the courteous Bedford forgot himself so far as to say that Duke Philip might well go to England and drink more beer than was good for him.[1364] The Regent had just tactlessly offended him by refusing to let him take possession of the town of Orleans.[1365] Now Bedford was biting his fingers with rage. Regretting that he had refused the Duke the key to the Loire and the heart of France, he was at present eager to offer him the province of Champagne which the French were preparing to conquer: this was indeed just the time to present some rich gift to his powerful ally.[1366]

[Footnote 1364: De Barante, Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne, vol. v, p. 270. Desplanques, Projet d'assassinat de Philippe le Bon par les Anglais (1424-1426), in Les memoires couronnees par l'Academie de Bruxelles, xxxiii (1867).]

[Footnote 1365: Journal du siege, p. 70. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 270. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 20 et seq.]

[Footnote 1366: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 332, 333. De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. ii, p. 36, note 7.]

Meanwhile the great Duke could think of nothing but the Low Countries. Pope Martin had declared the marriage of the Countess Jacqueline and Gloucester to be invalid; and Gloucester was marrying another wife. Now the Gargantua of Dijon could once more lay hands on the broad lands of the fair Jacqueline. He remained the ally of the English, intending to make use of them but not to play into their hands, and prepared, should he find it to his advantage, to make war on the French before being reconciled to them; he saw no harm in that. After the Low Countries what he cared most about were ladies and beautiful paintings, like those of the brothers Van Eyck. He would not be likely therefore to pay much attention to a letter from the Maid of the Armagnacs.[1367]

[Footnote 1367: Monstrelet, vol. iv, pp. 308-309. Quenson, Notice sur Philippe le Bon, la Flandre et ses fetes, Douai, 1840, in 8vo. De Reiffenberg, Les enfants naturels du duc Philippe le Bon, in Bulletin de l'Academie de Bruxelles, vol. xiii (1846).]



CHAPTER XVII

THE CONVENTION OF AUXERRE—FRIAR RICHARD—THE SURRENDER OF TROYES

On the 27th of June,[1368] the vanguard, commanded by Marshal de Boussac, the Sire de Rais, the Captains La Hire and Poton, set out from Gien in the direction of Montargis with the design of pressing on to Sens, which, so they had been wrongly informed, was deemed likely to open its gates to the Dauphin. But, at the news that the town had hoisted the flag of St. Andrew, as a sign of fidelity to the English and Burgundians, the army changed its route, so little did it desire to take towns by force. The march was now directed towards Auxerre, where a more favourable reception was expected.[1369] The Maid in her impatience had not waited for the King. She rode with the company which had started first. Had she been its leader she would not have turned from a town when its cannon were directed against her.

[Footnote 1368: According to Perceval de Cagny, p. 157; the 28th of June, according to Chartier, p. 90.]

[Footnote 1369: Trial, vol. iv, p. 286.]

The King set forth two days later, with the Princes of the Blood, many knights, the main battle, as it was called, and the Sire de la Tremouille, who commanded the expedition.[1370] All these troops arrived before Auxerre on the 1st of July.[1371] There on the hill-slope, encircled with vineyards and cornfields, rose the ramparts, towers, roofs, and belfries of the blessed Bishop Germain's city. That town towards which in the summer sunshine, in the company of gallant knighthood, she was now riding, fully armed like a handsome Saint Maurice, Jeanne had seen only three months before, under a dark and cloudy sky; then, clad like a stable-boy, in the company of two or three poor soldiers of fortune, she was travelling over a bad road, on her way to the Dauphin Charles.[1372]

[Footnote 1370: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 90. Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 309, 310. Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 142, 143.]

[Footnote 1371: Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 314. Journal du siege, pp. 108, 109. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 330. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 92. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 142, note 2.]

[Footnote 1372: Trial, vol. i, pp. 54, 222.]

Since 1424 the County of Auxerre had belonged to the Duke of Burgundy, upon whom it had been bestowed by the Regent. The Duke governed it through a bailie and a captain.[1373]

[Footnote 1373: Abbe Lebeuf, Histoire ecclesiastique et civile d'Auxerre, vol. ii, p. 251; vol. iii, pp. 302, 506.]

The lord Bishop, Messire Jean de Corbie, formerly Bishop of Mende, was thought to be on the Dauphin's side.[1374] The Chapter of the Cathedral on the other hand held to Burgundy.[1375] Twelve jurors, elected by the burgesses and other townsfolk, administered the affairs of the city. One can easily imagine that fear must have been the dominant sentiment in their hearts when they saw the royal army approaching. Men-at-arms, no matter whether they wore the white cross or the red, inspired all town dwellers with a well-grounded terror. And, in order to turn from their gates these violent and murderous thieves, the townsfolk were capable of resorting to the strongest measures, even to that of putting their hands in their purses.

[Footnote 1374: Chardon, Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre, Auxerre, 1834 (2 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, p. 258.]

[Footnote 1375: Dom Plancher, Histoire de Bourgogne, vol. iv, p. 76. Chardon, Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre, vol. ii, pp. 257 et seq. Vallet de Viriville, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. i, p. 383.]

The royal heralds summoned the people of Auxerre to receive the King as their natural and lawful lord. Such a summons, backed by lances, placed them in a very embarrassing position. Alike by refusing and by consenting these good folk ran great risk. To transfer their allegiance was no light matter; their lives and their goods were involved. Foreseeing this danger, and conscious of their weakness, they had entered into a league with the cities of Champagne. The object of the league was to relieve its members from the burden of receiving men-at-arms and the peril of having two hostile masters. Certain of the townsfolk therefore presented themselves before King Charles and promised him such submission as should be accorded by the towns of Troyes, Chalons, and Reims.[1376]

[Footnote 1376: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 90. Journal du siege, p. 108. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 313. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 436. Abbe Lebeuf, Histoire ecclesiastique d'Auxerre, vol. ii, p. 51. Chardon, Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre, vol. ii, p. 259.]

This was not obedience, neither was it rebellion. Negotiations were begun; ambassadors went from the town to the camp and from the camp to the town. Finally the confederates, who were not lacking in intelligence, proposed an acceptable compromise,—one that princes were constantly concluding with each other, to wit, a truce.

They said to the King: "We entreat and request you to pass on, and we ask you to agree to refrain from fighting." And, in order to secure their request being granted, they gave two thousand crowns to the Sire de la Tremouille, who, it is said, kept them without a blush. Further, the townsfolk undertook to revictual the army in return for money down; and that was worth considering, for there was famine in the camp.[1377] This truce by no means pleased the men-at-arms, who thereby lost a fine opportunity for robbery and pillage. Murmurs arose; many lords and captains said that it would not be difficult to take the town, and that its capture should have been attempted. The Maid, who was always receiving promises of victory from her Voices, never ceased calling the soldiers to arms.[1378] Unaffected by any of these things, the King concluded the proposed truce; for he cared not by force of arms to obtain more than could be compassed by peaceful methods. Had he attacked the town he might have taken it and held it in his mercy; but it would have meant certain pillage, murder, burning, and ravishing. On his heels would have come the Burgundians, and there would have been plundering, burning, ravishing, massacring over again. How many examples had there not been already of unhappy towns captured and then lost almost immediately, devastated by the French, devastated by the English and the Burgundians, when each citizen kept in his coffer a red cap and a white cap, which he wore in turns! Was there to be no end to these massacres and abominations, resentment against which caused the Armagnacs to be cursed throughout l'Ile de France, and which made it so hard for the lawful King to recover his town of Paris. The royal Council thought the time had come to put an end to these things. It was of opinion that Charles of Valois would the more easily reconquer his inheritance if, while manifesting his power, he showed himself lenient and exercised royal clemency, as in arms and yet pursuing peace, he continued his march to Reims.[1379]

[Footnote 1377: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 90. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 313. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 149. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 336. Gilles de Roye, in Collection des chroniques belges, pp. 206, 207. Chardon, Histoire de la ville d'Auxerre, vol. ii, p. 260.]

[Footnote 1378: "De laquelle chose furent bien mal coutans aucuns seigneurs et cappitaines d'icellui ost et en parloient bien fort." Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.]

[Footnote 1379: In the following manner this march is described by a contemporary: "On the said day (29th of June, 1429), after much discussion, the King set out and took his way for to go straight to the city of Troye in Champaigne, and, as he passed, all the fortresses on the one hand and the other, rendered him allegiance." Perceval de Cagny, p. 157.]

After having spent three days under the walls of the town, the army being refreshed, crossed the Yonne and came to the town of Saint-Florentin, which straightway submitted to the King.[1380] On the 4th of July, they reached the village of Saint-Phal, four hours' journey from Troyes.[1381]

[Footnote 1380: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.]

[Footnote 1381: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 287. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 336. Journal du siege, p. 109. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 314. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 91. Trial, vol. v, pp. 264-265.]

In this strong town there was a garrison of between five and six hundred men at the most.[1382] A bailie, Messire Jean de Dinteville, two captains, the Sires de Rochefort and de Plancy, commanded in the town for King Henry and for the Duke of Burgundy.[1383] Troyes was a manufacturing town; the source of its wealth was the cloth manufacture. True, this industry had long been declining through competition and the removal of markets; its ruin was being precipitated by the general poverty and the insecurity of the roads. Nevertheless the cloth workers' guild maintained its importance and sent a number of magistrates to the Council.[1384]

[Footnote 1382: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.]

[Footnote 1383: Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes et de la Champagne meridionale, Paris, 1872 (5 vols. in 8vo), vol. ii, p. 482. For the members of this Council see the most ancient register of its deliberations by A. Roserot, in Collection des documents inedits relatifs a la ville de Troyes (1886).]

[Footnote 1384: F. Bourquelot, Les foires de Champagne, Paris, 1865, vol. i, p. 65. Louis Batiffol, Jean Jouvenel, prevot des marchands, Paris, 1894, in 8vo.]

In 1420, these merchants had sworn to the treaty which promised the French crown to the House of Lancaster; they were then at the mercy of English and Burgundians. For the holding of those great fairs, to which they took their cloth, they must needs live at peace with their Burgundian neighbours, and if the Godons had closed the ports of the Seine against their bales, they would have died of hunger. Wherefore the notables of the town had turned English, which did not mean that they would always remain English. Within the last few weeks great changes had taken place in the kingdom; and the Gilles Laiguises, the Hennequins, the Jouvenels did not pride themselves on remaining unchanged amidst vicissitudes of fortune which were transferring the power from one side to the other. The French victories gave them food for reflection. Along the banks of the streams, which wound through the city, there were weavers, dyers, curriers who were Burgundian at heart.[1385] As for the Churchmen, if they were thrilled by no love for the Armagnacs, they felt none the less that King Charles was sent to them by a special dispensation of divine providence.

[Footnote 1385: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 292.]

The Bishop of Troyes was my lord Jean Laiguise, son of Master Huet Laiguise, one of the first to swear to the treaty of 1420.[1386] The Chapter had elected him without waiting for the permission of the Regent, who declared against the election, not that he disliked the new pontiff; Messire Jean Laiguise had sucked hatred of the Armagnacs and respect for the Rose of Lancaster from his alma mater of Paris. But my Lord of Bedford could not forgive any slighting of his sovereign rights.

[Footnote 1386: Gallia Christiana, vol. xiii, cols. 514-516. Courtalon-Delaistre, Topographie historique du diocese de Troyes (Troyes, 1783, 3 vols. in 8vo), vol. i, p. 384. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 477, 478. De Pange, Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc, le fief et l'arriere-fief, Paris, 1902, in 8vo, p. 33.]

Shortly afterwards he incurred the censure of the whole Church of France and was judged by the bishops worse than the cruellest tyrants of Scripture—Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Artaxerxes[1387]—who, when they chastised Israel had spared the Levites. More wicked than they and more sacrilegious, my Lord of Bedford threatened the privileges of the Gallican Church, when, on behalf of the Holy See, he robbed the bishops of their patronage, levied a double tithe on the French clergy, and commanded churchmen to surrender to him the contributions they had been receiving for forty years. That he was acting with the Pope's consent made his conduct none the less execrable in the eyes of the French bishops. The episcopal lords resolved to appeal from a Pope ill informed to one with wider knowledge; for they held the authority of the Bishop of Rome to be insignificant in comparison with the authority of the Council. They groaned: the abomination of desolation was laying waste Christian Gaul. In order to pacify the Church of France thus roused against him, my lord of Bedford convoked at Paris the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Sens, which included the dioceses of Paris, Troyes, Auxerre, Nevers, Meaux, Chartres, and Orleans.[1388]

[Footnote 1387: Simeon Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, p. ccxxii, according to Labbe and Cossart, Sacro-Sancta-Consilia, vol. xii, col. 390.]

[Footnote 1388: S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, p. ccxx and proofs and illustrations, ccix, pp. 238-239. Robillard de Beaurepaire, Les etats de Normandie sous la domination anglaise, Evreux, 1859, in 8vo.]

Messire Jean Laiguise attended this Convocation. The Synod was held at Paris, in the Priory of Saint-Eloi, under the presidency of the Archbishop, from the 1st of March till the 23rd of April, 1429.[1389] The assembled bishops represented to my Lord the Regent the sorry plight of the ecclesiastical lords: the peasants, pillaged by soldiers, no longer paid their dues; the lands of the Church were lying waste; divine service had ceased to be held because there was no money with which to support public worship. Unanimously they refused to pay the Pope and the Regent the double tithe; and they threatened to appeal from the Pope to the Council. As for despoiling the clergy of all the contributions they had received during the last forty years, that, they declared, would be impious; and with great charity they reminded my Lord of Bedford of the fate reserved by God's judgment for the impious even in this world. "The Prince," they said, "should beware of the miseries and sorrows already fallen upon a multitude of princes, who with such demands had oppressed the Church which God redeemed with his own precious blood: some had perished by the sword, some had been driven into exile, others had been despoiled of their illustrious sovereignties. Wherefore such as set themselves to enslave the Church, the Bride of God, may not hope to deserve the grace of his divine Majesty."[1390]

[Footnote 1389: Labbe and Cossart, Sacro-Sancta-Consilia, vol. xii, col. 392.]

[Footnote 1390: Labbe and Cossart, Sacro-Sancta-Consilia, vol. xii, col. 390, 399.]

Jean Laiguise's sentiments towards the English Regent were those of the Synod. It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the Bishop of Troyes desired the death of the sinner, or even that he was hostile to the English.[1391] The Church is usually capable of temporising with the powers of this world. Wide is her mercy, and great her longsuffering. She threatens oft before striking and receives the repentance of the sinner at the first sign of contrition. But we may believe that if Charles of Valois were to win the power and show the will to protect the Church of France, the Lord Bishop and the Chapter of Troyes would fear lest if they resisted him they might be resisting God himself, since all power comes from God who deposuit potentes.

[Footnote 1391: De Pange, Le pays de Jeanne d'Arc, le fief et l'arriere-fief, p. 33.]

King Charles had not ventured to enter Champagne without taking measures for his safety; he knew on what he could rely in the town of Troyes. He had received information and promises; he maintained secret relations with several burgesses of the city, and those none of the least.[1392] During the first fortnight of May, a royal notary, ten clerks and leading merchants, on their way to the king, were arrested just outside the walls, on the Paris road, by the Sire de Chateauvillain,[1393] a captain in the English service. This mission was probably fulfilled by others more fortunate. It is easy to divine what questions were discussed at these audiences. The merchants would ask whether Charles, if he became their Lord, would guarantee absolute freedom to their trade; the clerks would ask his promise to respect the goods of the Church. And the King doubtless was not sparing of his pledges.

[Footnote 1392: J. Rogier in Trial, vol. iv, p. 285.]

[Footnote 1393: Th. Boutiot in Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 316 et seq.]

The Maid, with one division of the army, halted before the stronghold of Saint-Phal, belonging to Philibert de Vaudrey, commander of the town of Tonnerre, in the service of the Duke of Burgundy.[1394] In that place of Saint-Phal, Jeanne beheld approaching her a Franciscan friar, who was crossing himself and sprinkling holy water, for he feared lest she were the devil, and dared not draw near without having first exorcised the evil spirit. It was Friar Richard who was coming from Troyes.[1395] It will be interesting to see who this monk was as far as we can tell.

[Footnote 1394: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 288. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 490. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au xv'e siecle, Troyes, 1875, in 12mo.]

[Footnote 1395: Trial, vol. i, pp. 99, 100. Relation du Greffier de La Rochelle, p. 338. Journal du siege, pp. 109-110. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 315.]

The place of his birth is unknown.[1396] A disciple of Brother Vincent Ferrier and of Brother Bernardino of Sienna, like them, he taught the imminent coming of Antichrist and the salvation of the faithful by the adoration of the holy name of Jesus.[1397] After having been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he returned to France, and preached at Troyes, during the Advent of 1428. Advent, sometimes called Saint Martin's Lent, begins on the Sunday which falls between the 27th of November and the 3rd of December. It lasts four weeks, which Christians spend in making themselves ready to celebrate the mystery of the Nativity.

[Footnote 1396: Ed. Richer says his name was Roch Richard and that he was licentiate in theology. Histoire manuscrite de la Pucelle (Bibl. Nat. fr. 10448), book 1, folios 50 et seq. Simeon Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy (chap. x, Jeanne d'Arc et frere Richard).]

[Footnote 1397: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 235. Th. Basin, Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI, vol. i, p. 104. Vallet de Viriville, Proces de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc, 1867. Introduction, Notes sur deux medailles de plomb relatives a Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, 1861, p. 22. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, p. ccxxxix.]

"Sow, sow your seed, my good folk," he said. "Sow beans ready for the harvest, for He who is to come will come quickly."[1398]

[Footnote 1398: Journal du siege, p. 110. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 315.]

By beans he meant the good works to be performed before Our Lord should come in the clouds to judge the quick and the dead. Now it was important to sow those good works quickly, for the harvest-tide was drawing nigh. The coming of Antichrist was but shortly to precede the end of the world and the consummation of the ages. In the month of April, 1429, Friar Richard went to Paris; the Synod of the Province of Sens was then holding its final session. It is possible that the good Friar was summoned to the great city by the Bishop of Troyes who was present at the Synod; but at any rate it would appear that it was not the rights of the Gallican Church the wandering monk went there to defend.[1399]

[Footnote 1399: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 233. Labbe, Boutiot.]

On the 16th of April, he preached his first sermon at Sainte-Genevieve; on the next and the following days, until Sunday, the 24th, he preached every morning, from five until ten or eleven o'clock, in the open air, on a platform, erected against the charnel-house of the Innocents, on the spot whereon was celebrated the dance of death. Around the platform, about nine feet high, there crowded five or six thousand persons, to whom he announced the speedy coming of Antichrist and the end of the world.[1400] "In Syria," he said, "I met bands of Jews; I asked them whither they were going, and they replied: 'We are wending in a multitude towards Babylon, for of a truth the Messiah is born among men, and he will restore unto us our inheritance, and he will bring us again to the land of promise.' Thus spake those Syrian Jews. Now Scripture teaches us that He, whom they call the Messiah, is in truth that Antichrist, of whom it is said he shall be born in Babylon, capital of the kingdom of Persia, he shall be brought up at Bethsaida and in his youth he shall dwell at Chorazin. Wherefore our Lord said: 'Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida.' The year 1430," added Friar Richard, "shall witness greater marvels than have ever been seen before.[1401] The time draweth nigh. He is born, the man of sin, the child of perdition, the wicked one, the beast vomited forth from the abyss, the abomination of desolation; he came out of the tribe of Dan, of whom it is written: 'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path.' Soon shall return to the earth the prophets Elijah and Enoch, Moses, Jeremiah and Saint John the Evangelist; and soon shall dawn that day of wrath which shall grind the age in a mill and beat it in a mortar, according to the testimony of David and the Sibyl."[1402] Then the good Brother concluded by calling upon them to repent, to do penance and to renounce empty riches. In short, in the opinion of the clerks, he was a man of worship and an orator. His sermons produced more devoutness among the people, it was thought, than those of all the sermonizers who for the last century had been preaching in the town. And it was time that he came, for in those days the folk of Paris were greatly addicted to games of chance; yea, even priests unblushingly indulged in them, and seven years before, a canon of Saint-Merry, a great lover of dice was known to have gamed in his own house.[1403] Despite war and famine, the women of Paris loaded themselves with ornaments. They troubled more about their beauty than about the salvation of their souls.

[Footnote 1400: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 234.]

[Footnote 1401: Ibid., p. 235.]

[Footnote 1402: Th. Basin, Histoire des regnes de Charles VII et de Louis XI, vol. iv, pp. 103, 104.]

[Footnote 1403: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 236.]

Friar Richard thundered most loudly against the draught boards of the men and the ornaments of the women. One day notably, when he was preaching at Boulogne-la-Petite, he cried down dice and hennins,[1404] and spoke with such power that the hearts of those who listened were changed. On returning to their homes, the citizens threw into the streets gaming-tables, draught-boards, cards, billiard cues and balls, dice and dice-boxes, and made great fires before their doors. More than one hundred of these fires continued burning in the streets for three or four hours. Women followed the good example set by the men that day, and the next they burnt in public their head-dresses, pads, ornaments, and the pieces of leather or whalebone on which they mounted the fronts of their hoods. Young misses threw off their horns[1405] and their tails,[1406] ashamed to clothe themselves in the devil's garb.[1407]

[Footnote 1404: A very high head-dress, fashionable in the fifteenth century (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1405: Cornes, the high-horned head-dress (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1406: Queues, trains (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1407: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, pp. 234, 235.]

The good Brother likewise caused to be burnt the mandrake roots which many folk kept in their houses.[1408] Those roots are sometimes in the form of an ugly little man, of a curious and devilish aspect. On that account possibly, singular virtues are attributed to them. These mannikins were dressed in fine linen and silk and were kept in the belief that they would bring good luck and procure wealth. Witches made much of them; and those who believed that the Maid was a witch accused her of carrying a mandrake on her person. Friar Richard hated these magic roots all the more strongly because he believed in their power of attracting wealth, the root of all evil. Once again his word was obeyed; and many a Parisian threw away his mandrake in horror, albeit he had bought it dear from some old wife who knew more than was good for her.[1409] Friar Richard caused the Parisians to replace these evil treasures by objects of greater edification,—pewter medals, on which was stamped the name of Jesus, to the worship of whom he was especially devoted.[1410]

[Footnote 1408: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 236.]

[Footnote 1409: Trial, vol. i, pp. 89, 213. Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 236.]

[Footnote 1410: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, pp. 242, 243. Vallet de Viriville, Notes sur deux medailles de plomb relatives a Jeanne d'Arc, in Revue archeologique, 1861, pp. 429, 433.]

Having preached ten times in the town and once in the village of Boulogne, the good Brother announced his return to Burgundy and took his leave of the Parisians.

"I will pray for you," he said; "pray for me. Amen."

Whereupon all the folk, high and lowly, wept bitterly and copiously, as if each one were bearing to the grave his dearest friend. He wept with them and consented to delay his departure for a little.[1411]

[Footnote 1411: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 236.]

On Sunday, the 1st of May, he was to preach to the devout Parisians for the last time. Montmartre, the very spot where Saint Denis had suffered martyrdom, was the place chosen for the meeting of the faithful. In those unhappy days the hill was well-nigh uninhabited. But on the evening before that day more than six thousand people flocked to the mount to be certain of having good places; and there they passed the night, some in deserted hovels, but the majority in the open, under the stars. When the morning came no Friar Richard appeared, and in vain they waited for him. Disappointed and sad, at length they learnt that the Friar had been forbidden to preach.[1412] He had said nothing in his sermons to offend the English. The Parisians who had heard him believed him to be a good friend to the Regent and to the Duke of Burgundy. Perhaps he had taken flight owing to a report that the theologians of the University intended to proceed against him. His views concerning the end of the world were indeed both singular and dangerous.[1413]

[Footnote 1412: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 237.]

[Footnote 1413: It is yet to be explained how the author of the diary called Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris avoided being scandalised by them, orthodox university professor as he was; on the contrary he seems to have found the views of the good father edifying. Th. Basin, Histoire des regnes de Charles VII et de Louis XI, vol. iv, p. 104.]

Friar Richard had gone off to Auxerre. Thence he went preaching through Burgundy and Champagne. If he was on the King's side he did not let it appear. For in the month of June the folk of Champagne, and the inhabitants of Chalons especially, deemed him a worthy man and attached to the Duke of Burgundy.[1414] And we have seen that on the 4th of July he suspected the Maid of being either the devil or possessed by a devil.[1415]

[Footnote 1414: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 290.]

[Footnote 1415: Trial, vol. i, p. 100, see ante, p. 412.]

She understood. When she saw the good Brother crossing himself and sprinkling holy water she knew that he took her for something evil,—for a phantom fashioned by the spirit of wickedness, or at least for a witch.[1416] However, she was by no means offended as she had been by the suspicions of Messire Jean Fournier. The priest, to whom she had confessed, could not be forgiven for having doubted whether she were a good Christian.[1417] But Friar Richard did not know her, had never seen her. Besides, she was growing accustomed to such treatment. The Constable, Brother Yves Milbeau, and many others who came to her asked whether she were from God or the devil.[1418] It was without a trace of anger, although in a slightly ironical tone, that she said to the preacher: "Approach boldly, I shall not fly away."[1419]

[Footnote 1416: Trial, vol. i, p. 100.]

[Footnote 1417: Ibid., vol. ii, p. 446.]

[Footnote 1418: Gruel, Chronique de Richemont, p. 71. Eberhard Windecke, pp. 178, 179.]

[Footnote 1419: Trial, vol. i, p. 100.]

Meanwhile Friar Richard, by the ordeal of holy water and by the sign of the cross, had proved that the damsel was not a devil and that there was no devil in her. And when she said she had come from God he believed her with all his heart and esteemed her an angel of the Lord.[1420]

[Footnote 1420: Ibid., pp. 99, 100.]

He confided to her the reason for his coming.[1421] The inhabitants of Troyes doubted whether she were of God; to resolve their doubts he had come to Saint-Phal. Now he knew she was of God, and he was not amazed; for he knew that the year 1430 would witness greater marvels than had ever been seen before, and one day or other he was expecting to behold the Prophet Elias walking and conversing with men.[1422] From that moment he threw in his lot with the party of the Maid and the Dauphin. It was not the Maid's prophecies concerning the realm of France that attracted him to her. The world was too near its end for him to take any interest in the re-establishment of the madman's son in his inheritance. But he expected that once the kingdom of Jesus Christ had been established in the Land of the Lilies, Jeanne, the prophetess, and Charles, the temporal vicar of Jesus Christ, would lead the people of Christendom to deliver the Holy Sepulchre. That would be a meritorious work and one which must be accomplished before the consummation of the ages.

[Footnote 1421: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, p. 342.]

[Footnote 1422: Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 235.]

To the burgesses and inhabitants of the town of Troyes Jeanne dictated a letter. Herein, calling herself the servant of the King of Heaven and speaking in the name of God Himself, in terms gentle yet urgent, she called upon them to render obedience to King Charles of France, and warned them that whether they would or no she with the King would enter into all the towns of the holy kingdom and bring them peace. Here is the letter:[1423]

[Footnote 1423: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 287-288.]

JHESUS [cross symbol] MARIA

Good friends and beloved, an it please you, ye lords, burgesses and inhabitants of the town of Troies, Jehanne the Maid doth call upon and make known unto you on behalf of the King of Heaven, her sovereign and liege Lord, in whose service royal she is every day, that ye render true obedience and fealty to the Fair King of France. Whosoever may come against him, he shall shortly be in Reins [Transcriber's Note: so in original] and in Paris, and in his good towns of his holy kingdom, with the aid of King Jhesus. Ye loyal Frenchmen, come forth to King Charles and fail him not. And if ye come have no fear for your bodies nor for your goods. An if ye come not, I promise you and on your lives I maintain it, that with God's help we shall enter into all the towns of the holy kingdom and shall there establish peace, whosoever may oppose us. To God I commend you. God keep you if it be his will. Answer speedily. Before the city of Troyes, written at Saint-Fale, Tuesday the fourth day of July.[1424]

[Footnote 1424: It should be Monday, 4th July.]

On the back:

"To the lords and burgesses of the city of Troyes."

The Maid gave this letter to Friar Richard, who undertook to carry it to the townsfolk.[1425]

[Footnote 1425: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 290.]

From Saint-Phal the army advanced towards Troyes along the Roman road.[1426] When they heard of the army's approach, the Council of the town assembled on Tuesday, the 5th, early in the morning, and sent the people of Reims a missive of which the following is the purport:

[Footnote 1426: Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 493.]

"This day do we expect the enemies of King Henry and the Duke of Burgundy who come to besiege us. In view of the design of these our foes and having considered the just cause we support and the aid of our princes promised unto us, we have resolved in council, no matter what may be the strength of our enemies, to continue in our obedience waxing ever greater to King Henry and to the Duke of Burgundy, even until death. And this have we sworn on the precious body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore we pray the citizens of Reims to take thought for us as brethren and loyal friends, and to send to my Lord the Regent and the Duke of Burgundy to beseech and entreat them to take pity on their poor subjects and come to their succour."[1427]

[Footnote 1427: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 288, 289.]

On that same day, in the morning, from his lodging at Brinion-l'Archeveque, King Charles despatched his heralds bearing closed letters, signed by his hand, sealed with his seal, addressed to the members of the Council of the town of Troyes. Therein he made known unto them that by the advice of his Council, he had undertaken to go to Reims, there to receive his anointing, that his intention was to enter the city of Troyes on the morrow, wherefore he summoned and commanded them to render the obedience they owed him and prepare to receive him. He wisely made a point of reassuring them as to his intentions, which were not to avenge the past. Such was not his will, he said, but let them comport themselves towards their sovereign as they ought, and he would forget all and maintain them in his favour.[1428]

[Footnote 1428: Ibid., p. 287. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 494.]

The Council refused to admit King Charles' heralds within the town; but they received his letters, read them, deliberated over them, and made known to the heralds the result of their deliberations which was the following:

"The lords, knights and squires who are in the town, on behalf of King Henry and the Duke of Burgundy, have sworn with us, inhabitants of the city, that we will not receive into the town any who are stronger than we, without the express command of the Duke of Burgundy. Having regard to their oath, those who are in the town would not dare to admit King Charles."

And the councillors added for their excuse:

"Whatever we the citizens may wish we must consider the men of war in the city who are stronger than we."[1429]

[Footnote 1429: Trial, vol. iv, p. 289.]

The councillors had King Charles' letter posted up and below it their reply.

In council they read the letter the Maid had dictated at Saint-Phal and entrusted to Friar Richard. The monk had not prepared them to give it a favourable reception, for they laughed at it heartily. "There is no rhyme or reason in it," they said. "'Tis but a jest."[1430] They threw it in the fire without sending a reply. Jeanne was a braggart,[1431] they said. And they added: "We certify her to be mad and possessed of the devil."[1432]

[Footnote 1430: Ibid., p. 290.]

[Footnote 1431: In the Mystery of the siege of Orleans, the Englishman Falconbridge likewise treats Jeanne as a boaster, lines 12689-90:

'Y nous fault prandre la coquarde, Qui veult les Francois gouverner.

"We must capture that braggart who desires to govern the French."]

[Footnote 1432: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 289.]

That same day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the army began to march by the walls and take up its position round the town.[1433]

[Footnote 1433: Ibid. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 492.]

Those who encamped to the south west could thence admire the long walls, the strong gates, the high towers and the belfry of the city rising in the midst of a vast plain. On their right they would see above the roofs the church of Saint-Pierre, the huge structure of which was devoid of tower and steeple.[1434] It was there that eight years before had been celebrated the betrothal of King Henry V of England to the Lady Catherine of France. For in that town of Troyes, Queen Ysabeau and Duke Jean had made King Charles VI, bereft of sense and memory, sign away the Kingdom of the Lilies to the King of England and put his name to the ruin of Charles of Valois. At her daughter's betrothal, Madame Ysabeau was present wearing a robe of blue silk damask and a coat of black velvet lined with the skins of fifteen hundred minevers.[1435] After the ceremony she caused to be brought for her entertainment her singing birds, goldfinches, chaffinches, siskins and linnets.[1436]

[Footnote 1434: L. Pigeotte, Etude sur les travaux d'achevement de la cathedrale de Troyes, p. 9. A. Babeau, Les vues d'ensemble de Troyes, Troyes, 1892, in 8vo, p. 13. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, Paris, 1875, in 8vo.]

[Footnote 1435: Ermine (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1436: Comptes de l'argenterie de la reine, in Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. iii, pp. 236, 237. De Barante, Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne, vol. iii, pp. 122, 125. Vallet de Viriville, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. i, p. 216. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 418, 419.]

When the French arrived, most of the townsfolk were on the ramparts looking more curious than hostile and apparently fearing nothing. They desired above all things to see the King.[1437]

[Footnote 1437: It is impossible to take seriously those protestations of loyalty to the English, addressed to the people of Reims by the townsfolk of Troyes, when the latter were on the point of surrendering to the French King, and especially after the reply they had just sent to King Charles's letters. See J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 289. "Which reply having been made each of them had gone up on to the walls, and assumed his guard with the intent and in the firm resolution that if any attack were made on them, they would resist to the death."]

The town was strongly defended. The Duke of Burgundy had long been keeping up the fortifications. In 1417 and 1419 the people of Troyes, like those of Orleans in 1428, had pulled down their suburbs and destroyed all the houses outside the town for two or three hundred paces from the ramparts. The arsenal was well furnished; the stores overflowed with victuals; but the Anglo-Burgundian garrison amounted only to between five and six hundred men.[1438]

[Footnote 1438: J. Chartier, vol. i, p. 92. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 391, 418, 419. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, p. 8.]

On that day also, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the Councillors of the town of Troyes sent to inform the people of Reims of the arrival of the Armagnacs, and despatched to them copies of the letter from Charles of Valois, of their reply to it and of the Maid's letter, which they cannot therefore have burned immediately. They likewise communicated to them their resolution to resist to the death in case they should receive succour. In like manner they wrote to the people of Chalons to tell them of the Dauphin's coming; and to them they made known that the letter of Jeanne the Maid had been brought to Troyes by Friar Richard the preacher.[1439]

[Footnote 1439: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 289, 290.]

These writings amounted to saying: like all citizens in such circumstances, we are in danger of being hanged either by the Burgundians or by the Armagnacs, which would be very grievous. To avoid this calamity as far as in us lies, we give King Charles of Valois to understand that we do not open our gates to him because the garrison prevents us and that we are the weaker, which is true. And we make known to our Lords, the Regent and the Duke of Burgundy, that the garrison being too weak to defend us, which is true, we ask for succour, which is loyal; and we trust that the succour will not be sent, for if it were we should have to endure a siege, and risk being taken by assault which for us merchants would be grievous. But, having asked for succour and not receiving it, we may then surrender without reproach. The important point is to cause the garrison, fortunately a small one, to make off. Five hundred men are too few for defence, but too many for surrender. As for enjoining the citizens of Reims to demand succour for themselves and for us, that is merely to prove our good-will to the Duke of Burgundy; and we risk nothing by it, for we know that our trusty comrades of Reims will take care that when they ask for succour they do not receive it, and that they will await a favourable opportunity for opening their gates to King Charles, who comes with a strong army. And now to conclude, we will resist to the death if we are succoured, which God forbid!

Such were the crafty thoughts of those dwellers in Champagne. The citizens fired a few stone bullets on to the French. The garrison skirmished awhile and returned into the town.[1440]

[Footnote 1440: Journal du siege, p. 109. Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 314, 315. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 91. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 497.]

Meanwhile King Charles' army was stricken with famine.[1441] The Archbishop of Embrun's counsel to provide the army with victuals by means of human wisdom was easier to give than to follow. There were between six and seven thousand men in camp who had not broken bread for a week. The men-at-arms were reduced to feeding on pounded ears of corn still green and on the new beans they found in abundance. Then they called to mind how during Saint Martin's Lent Friar Richard had said to the folk of Troyes: "Sow beans broadcast: He who is to come shall come shortly." What the good brother had said of the spiritual seed-time was interpreted literally: by a curious misunderstanding, what had been uttered concerning the coming of the Messiah was applied to the coming of King Charles. Friar Richard was held to be the prophet of the Armagnacs and the men-at-arms really believed that this evangelical preacher had caused the beans they gathered to grow; thus had he provided for their nourishment by his excellence, his wisdom and his penetration into the counsels of God, who gave manna unto the people of Israel in the desert.[1442]

[Footnote 1441: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 92.]

[Footnote 1442: Journal du siege, pp. 109, 110. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 315.]

The King, who had been lodging at Brinion since the 4th of July, arrived before Troyes in the afternoon of Friday the 8th.[1443] That very day he held council of war with the commanders and princes of the blood to decide whether they should remain before the town until by dint of promises[1444] or threats they obtained its submission, or whether they should pass on, leaving it to itself, as they had done at Auxerre.[1445]

[Footnote 1443: Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Nevertheless see also Morosini, vol. iii, p. 143, note.]

[Footnote 1444: "And always desiring and discussing the submission of this city." Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 91.]

[Footnote 1445: Trial, vol. iii, p. 13. Evidence of Dunois. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 92. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 315. Chartier and the Chronique de la Pucelle put words into the mouths of Regnault de Chartres and Robert le Macon which are very improbable.]

The discussion had lasted long when the Maid arrived and prophesied:

"Fair Dauphin," said she, "command your men to attack the town of Troyes and delay no further in councils too prolonged, for, in God's name, before three days, I will cause you to enter the town, which shall be yours by love or by force and courage. And false Burgundy shall look right foolish."[1446]

[Footnote 1446: Trial, vol. iii, p. 13. Evidence of Dunois. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 317. Journal du siege, p. 110. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 94.]

Wherefore had they contrary to their custom summoned her to the Council? It was merely a question of firing a few cannon balls and pretending to scale the walls, in short, of making a false attack. Such a feigned assault was due to the people of Troyes, who could not decently surrender save to some display of force; and besides the lower orders must be frightened, for they remained at heart Burgundian. Probably my Lord of Treves[1447] or another judged that the little Saint by appearing beneath the ramparts of Troyes would strike a religious terror into the weavers of the city.

[Footnote 1447: Jean Chartier, vol. i, p. 95.]

They had only to leave her to go her own way. The Council over, she mounted her horse, and lance in hand hurried to the moat, followed by a crowd of knights, squires, and craftsmen.[1448] The point of attack was to be the north west wall, between the Madeleine and the Comporte Gates.[1449] Jeanne, who firmly believed that the town would be taken by her, spent the night inciting her people to bring faggots and put the artillery in position. "To the assault," she cried, and signed to them to throw hurdles into the trenches.[1450]

[Footnote 1448: Trial, vol. iii, pp. 13, 14, 117. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 96. Journal du siege, p. 111. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 78. De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII, vol. ii, p. 225.]

[Footnote 1449: Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 497, note. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, Paris, 1875, in 8vo, p. 26.]

[Footnote 1450: Trial, vol. iii, p. 117. (De Gaucourt's evidence.)]

This threat had the desired effect. The lower orders, imagining the town already taken, and expecting the French to come to pillage, massacre and ravish, as was the custom, took refuge in the churches. As for the clerics and notables, this was just what they wanted.[1451]

[Footnote 1451: Ibid., p. 117. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 96. J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 296.]

Being assured by Charles of Valois that they might come to him in safety, the Lord Bishop Jean Laiguise, my Lord Guillaume Andouillette, Master of the Hospital, the Dean of the Chapter, the clergy and the notables went to the King.[1452]

[Footnote 1452: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 295. Trial, pp. 13, 14, 17. Chartier, Journal du siege, Chronique de la Pucelle. Camusat, Mel. hist., part ii, fol. 214.]

Jean Laiguise was the spokesman. He came to do homage to the King and to offer excuse for the townsfolk.

It is not their fault, he said, if the King enter not according to his good pleasure. The Bailie and those of the garrison, some three or four hundred, guard the gates, and forbid their being opened. Let it please the King to have patience until I have spoken to those of the town. I trust that as soon as I have spoken to them, they will open the gates and render the King such obedience as he shall be pleased withal.[1453]

[Footnote 1453: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, in Revue historique, vol. iv, p. 342. Chronique de la Pucelle, Journal du siege, Chartier, loc. cit. Gilles de Roye in Chartier, vol. iii, p. 205.]

In replying to the Bishop, the King set forth the reasons for the expedition and the rights he held over the town of Troyes.

Without exception, he said, I will forgive all the deeds of past times, and, according to the example of Saint Louis,[1454] I will maintain the people of Troyes in peace and liberty.

[Footnote 1454: J. Rogier in Trial, vol. iv, p. 296.]

Jean Laiguise demanded that such revenues and patronage as had been bestowed on churchmen by the late King, Charles VI, should be retained by them, and that those who had received the same from King Henry of England should be given charters by King Charles authorizing them to keep their benefices, even in cases where the King had bestowed them on others.

The King consented and the Lord Bishop beheld in him a new Cyrus. This conference he reported to the Council of the Town. Thereupon it deliberated and resolved to render allegiance to the King, in consideration of his legal right and provided he would grant an amnesty for all offences, would leave no garrison in the city and would abolish all aids, save the gabelle.[1455] Whereupon the Council sent letters to the citizens of Reims making known to them this resolution and exhorting them to take a similar one:

[Footnote 1455: Gabelle, word of German origin (gabe), originally applied to all taxes, came to signify only the tax on salt. This tax was first rendered oppressive by Philippe de Valois (1328-1350) who created a monopoly of salt in favour of the crown. He obliged each family to pay a tax on a certain quantity whether they consumed it or not. The Gabelle, which led to several rebellions, was not abolished until the Revolution (1790). (W.S.) Trial, vol. iv, p. 296. Ordonnances des rois de France, vol. xiii, p. 142. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 500. A. Roserot, Le plus ancien registre des deliberations du conseil de la ville de Troyes in Coll. de Doc. inedits sur la ville de Troyes, vol. iii, p. 175.]

"Thus," they said, "we shall have the same lord over us. You will keep your lives and your goods, as we have done. For otherwise we should all be lost. We do not regret our submission. Our only grief is that we delayed so long. You will be right glad to follow our example; for King Charles is a prince of greater discretion, understanding and valour than any who for many a long year have arisen in the noble house of France."[1456]

[Footnote 1456: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 295, 296.]

Friar Richard went to find the Maid. As soon as he saw her, and when he was still afar off, he knelt before her. When she saw him, she likewise knelt before him, and they bowed low to each other. When he returned to the town, the good Friar preached to the folks at length and exhorted them to obey King Charles. "God is preparing his way," he said. "To accompany him and to lead him to his anointing God hath sent him a holy Maid, who, as I firmly believe, is as able to penetrate the mysteries of God as any saint in Paradise, save Saint John the Evangelist."[1457] The good Brother found himself obliged to recognise as superior to Jeanne at least one saint,—one who was the first of saints, the apostle who had lain with his head on Jesus' breast, the prophet who was ere long to return to earth, when the ages should have been consummated.

[Footnote 1457: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, in Revue historique, vol. iv, p. 342.]

"If she wished," continued Friar Richard, "she could bring in all the King's men-at-arms, over the walls or in any other manner that pleased her. And many other things can she do."

The townsfolk had great faith and confidence in this good Brother who spoke so eloquently. What he said of the Maid appeared to them admirable, and won their obedience to a king so powerfully accompanied. With one voice they all cried aloud, "Long live King Charles of France!"[1458]

[Footnote 1458: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, in Revue historique, vol. iv, p. 342.]

But now it was necessary to treat with the Bailie. He was not unapproachable, seeing that he had suffered this going and coming from the town to the camp and the camp to the town; and with him must be devised some honest means of getting rid of the garrison. With this object the commonalty, preceded by the Lord Bishop, went in great numbers to the Bailie and the Captains, and called upon them to provide for the safety of the town.[1459] This demand they were incapable of granting, for to safeguard a city against its will and to drive out thirty thousand French was beyond their power.

[Footnote 1459: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 296, 297.]

As the townsfolk had anticipated, the Bailie was greatly embarrassed. Beholding his perplexity, the Councillors of the town said to him, "If you will not keep the treaty you have made for the public weal, then will we bring the King's men into the city, whether you will or no."

The Bailie and the Captains refused to betray their English and Burgundian masters, but they consented to go. That was all that was required of them.[1460]

[Footnote 1460: Trial, vol. iii, pp. 13, 117; vol. iv, pp. 296, 297. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. iii, p. 205. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 499, 500. M. Poinsignon, Histoire generale de la Champagne et de la Brie, Chalons, 1885, vol. i, pp. 352 et seq. A. Assier, Une cite champenoise au XV'e siecle, Paris, 1875, in 12mo, pp. 16, 17.]

The town opened its gates to Charles. On Sunday, the 10th of July, very early in the morning, the Maid entered first into Troyes and with her the common folk whom she so dearly loved. Friar Richard accompanied her. She posted archers along the streets which the procession was to follow, so that the King of France should pass through the town between a double row of those foot soldiers of his army who had so nobly aided him.[1461]

[Footnote 1461: Trial, vol. i, p. 102. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319.]

While Charles of Valois was entering by one gate, the Burgundian garrison was going out by the other.[1462] As had been agreed, the men of King Henry and Duke Philip bore away their arms and other possessions. Now, in their possessions they included such French prisoners as they were holding to ransom. And, according to the use and custom of war, it would seem that they were not altogether wrong; but pitiful it was to see King Charles's men led away captive just as their lord was arriving. The Maid heard of it, and her kind heart was touched. She hurried to the gate of the town, where with arms and baggage the fighting men were assembled. She found there the lords of Rochefort and Philibert de Moslant. She challenged them and called to them to leave the Dauphin's men. But the Captains thought otherwise.

[Footnote 1462: Chartier, Journal du siege. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319.]

"Thus to proceed against the treaty is fraudulent and wicked," they said to her.

Meanwhile the prisoners on their knees were entreating the Saint to keep them.

"In God's name," she cried, "they shall not go."[1463]

[Footnote 1463: Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, pp. 95, 96. Journal du siege, p. 112. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319.]

During this altercation there was standing apart a certain Burgundian squire, and through his mind were passing concerning the Maid of the Armagnacs certain reflections to which he was to give utterance later. "By my faith," he was thinking, "it is the simplest creature that ever I saw. There is neither rhyme nor reason in her, no more than in the greatest stupid. To so valiant a woman as Madame d'Or, I will not compare her, and the Burgundians do but jest when they appear afraid of her."[1464]

[Footnote 1464: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 296, 297.]

To taste the full flavour of this joke it must be explained that Madame d'Or, about as high as one's boot, held the office of fool to my Lord Philip.[1465]

[Footnote 1465: Lefevre de Saint-Remy, vol. ii, p. 168. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, pp. clxxiii, clxxiv. P. Champion, Notes sur Jeanne d'Arc, I. Madame d'Or et Jeanne d'Arc in Le moyen age, July to August, 1907, pp. 193-199.]

The Maid failed to come to an understanding with the Lords de Rochefort and de Moslant concerning the prisoners. They had right on their side. She had only the promptings of her kind heart. This discussion afforded great entertainment to the men-at-arms of both parties. When King Charles was informed of it, he smiled and said that to settle the dispute he would pay the prisoners' ransom, which was fixed at one silver mark per head. On receiving this sum the Burgundians extolled the generosity of the King of France.[1466]

[Footnote 1466: Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 96. Journal du siege, p. 112. Un prince de facon, Martial d'Auvergne, Vigiles, vol. i, pp. 106, 107.]

On that same Sunday, about nine o'clock in the morning, King Charles entered the city. He had put on his festive robes, gleaming with velvet, with gold, and with precious stones. The Duke of Alencon and the Maid, holding her banner in her hand, rode at his side. He was followed by all the knighthood. The townsfolk lit bonfires and danced in rings. The little children cried, "Noel!" Friar Richard preached.[1467]

[Footnote 1467: Trial, vol. i, p. 102. Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in Trial, vol. v, p. 130. Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, p. 342. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 176. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, pp. 504 et seq.]

The Maid prayed in the churches. In one church she held a babe over the baptismal font. Like a princess or a holy woman, she was frequently asked to be godmother to children she did not know and was never to see again. She generally named the children Charles in honour of the King, and to the girls she gave her own name of Jeanne. Sometimes she called the children by names chosen by their mothers.[1468]

[Footnote 1468: Trial, vol. i, p. 103.]

On the morrow, the 11th of July, the army, which had remained outside the walls, under the command of Messire Ambroise de Lore, passed through the town. The entrance of men-at-arms was a scourge, of which the citizens were as much afraid as of the Black Death.[1469] King Charles, being careful to spare the citizens, took measures to control this scourge. By his command the heralds cried that under pain of hanging no soldier must enter the houses or take anything against the will of the townsfolk.[1470]

[Footnote 1469: T. Babeau, Le guet et la milice bourgeoise a Troyes, pp. 4 et seq.]

[Footnote 1470: Relation du greffier de La Rochelle, p. 342. Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 319. Journal du siege, p. 112. Th. Boutiot, Histoire de la ville de Troyes, vol. ii, p. 505. A. Roserot, Le plus ancien registre des deliberations du conseil de Troyes in Coll. des documents inedits de la ville de Troyes, vol. iii, pp. 175 et seq.]



CHAPTER XVIII

THE SURRENDER OF CHALONS AND OF REIMS—THE CORONATION

Leaving Troyes, the royal army entered into the poorer part of Champagne, crossed the Aube near Arcis, and took up its quarters at Lettree, twelve and a half miles from Chalons. From Lettree the King sent his herald Montjoie to the people of Chalons to ask them to receive him and render him obedience.[1471]

[Footnote 1471: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 298. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 179. Edition Barthelemy of L'histoire de la ville de Chalons-sur-Marne, proofs and illustrations no. 25, pp. 334, 335.]

The towns of Champagne were as closely related as the fingers of one hand. When the Dauphin was at Brinion-l'Archeveque, the people of Chalons had heard of it from their friends of Troyes. The latter had even told them that Friar Richard, the preacher, had brought them a letter from Jeanne the Maid. Whereupon the folk of Chalons wrote to those of Reims:

"We are amazed at Friar Richard. We esteemed him a man right worthy. But he has turned sorcerer. We announce unto you that the citizens of Troyes are making war against the Dauphin's men. We are resolved to resist the enemy with all our strength."[1472]

[Footnote 1472: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 290, 291. Varin, Archives legislatives de la ville de Reims, Statuts, vol. 1, pp. 596 et seq. (Coll. des documents inedits sur l'histoire de France, 1845).]

They thought not one word of what they wrote, and they knew that the citizens of Reims would believe none of it. But it was important to display great loyalty to the Duke of Burgundy before receiving another master.

The Count Bishop of Chalons came out to Lettree to meet the King and gave up to him the keys of the town. He was Jean de Montbeliard-Saarbrueck, one of the Sires of Commercy.[1473]

[Footnote 1473: Gallia Christiana, vol. v, col. 891-895. Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 319-320. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 96. L. Barbat, Histoire de la ville de Chalons, 1855 (2 vols. in 4to), vol. i, p. 350. S. Luce, Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, proofs and illustrations no. 33. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 182, note 2.]

On the 14th of July the King and his army entered the town of Chalons.[1474] There the Maid found four or five peasants from her village come to see her, and with them Jean Morel, who was her kinsman. By calling a husbandman, and about forty-three years of age, he had fled with the d'Arc family to Neufchateau on the passing of the men-at-arms. Jeanne gave him a red gown which she had worn.[1475] At Chalons also she met another husbandman, younger than Morel by about ten years, Gerardin from Epinal, whom she called her compeer,[1476] just as she called Gerardin's wife Isabellette her commere[1477] because she had held their son Nicolas over the baptismal font and because a godmother is a mother in the spirit. At home in the village Jeanne mistrusted Gerardin because he was a Burgundian. At Chalons she showed more confidence in him and talked to him of the progress of the army, saying that she feared nothing except treason.[1478] Already she had dark forebodings; doubtless she felt that henceforth the frankness of her soul and the simplicity of her mind would be hardly assailed by the wickedness of men and the confusing forces of circumstance. Already the words of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret had lost some of their primitive clearness, for they had come to treat of those French and Burgundian state secrets which were not heavenly matters.

[Footnote 1474: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 298. Letter from three noblemen of Anjou in Trial, vol. v, p. 130. Perceval de Cagny, p. 158. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, pp. 96, 97. Chronique des Cordeliers, fol. 85, v. E. de Barthelemy, Chalons pendant l'invasion anglaise, Chalons, 1851, p. 16.]

[Footnote 1475: Trial, vol. ii, pp. 391, 392 (Jean Morel's evidence).]

[Footnote 1476: French compere, gossip or fellow godfather, sometimes a close friend. Cf. Chaucer, Prologue to Canterbury Tales:

"With hym ther was a gentil Pardoner Of Rouncivale, his freend and his compeer" (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1477: Commere, fellow godmother (W.S.).]

[Footnote 1478: Trial, vol. ii, p. 423 (evidence of Gerardin of Epinal).]

The people of Chalons, following the example of their friends of Troyes, wrote to the inhabitants of Reims that they had received the King of France and that they counselled them to do likewise. In this letter they said they had found King Charles kind, gracious, pitiful, and merciful; and of a truth the King was dealing leniently with the towns of Champagne. The people of Chalons added that he had a great mind and a fine bearing.[1479] That was saying much.

[Footnote 1479: "In as much as he is the prince of the greatest discretion, understanding, and valour that has long been seen in the noble house of France." J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 296. Varin, Archives de Reims, Statuts, vol. i, p. 601. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, pp. 13 et seq.]

The citizens of Reims acted with extreme caution. On the arrival of the King of France in the neighbourhood of the town, while they sent informing him that their gates should be opened to him, to their Lord Philip and likewise to the Burgundians and English captains, they sent word of the progress of the royal army as far as they knew it, and called upon them to oppose the enemy's march.[1480] But they were in no hurry to obtain succour, reckoning that, should they receive none, they could surrender to King Charles without incurring any censure from the Burgundians, and that thus they would have nothing to fear from either party. For the moment they preserved their loyalty to the two sides, which was wise in circumstances so difficult and so dangerous. While observing the craft with which these towns of Champagne practised the art of changing masters, it is well to remember that their lives and possessions depended on their knowledge of that art.

[Footnote 1480: J. Rogier, loc. cit. Varin, p. 599.]

As early as the 1st of July Captain Philibert de Moslant wrote to them from Nogent-sur-Seine, where he was with his Burgundian company, that if they needed him he would come to their help like a good Christian.[1481] They feigned not to understand. After all, the Lord Philibert was not their captain. What he proposed to do was, as he said, only out of Christian charity. The notables of Reims, who did not wish for deliverance, had to beware, above all, of their natural deliverer, the Sire de Chastillon, Grand Steward of France, the commander of the town.[1482] And they must needs request help in such a manner as not to obtain their request, for fear of being like the Israelites, of whom it is written: Et tribuit eis petitionem eorum.

[Footnote 1481: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 286 et seq. Varin, pp. 600 et seq.]

[Footnote 1482: H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, p. 18. Dom Marlot, Hist. metrop. Remensis, vol. ii, pp. 709 et seq.]

When the royal army was yet before the walls of Troyes, a herald appeared at the gates of Reims, bearing a letter given by the King, at Brinion-l'Archeveque, on Monday, the 4th of July. This letter was delivered to the Council. "You may have heard tidings," said the King to his good people of Reims, "of the success and victory it hath pleased God to vouchsafe unto us over our ancient enemies, the English, before the town of Orleans and since then at Jargeau, Beaugency, and Meung-sur-Loire, in each of which places our enemies have received grievous hurt; all their leaders and others to the number of four thousand have been slain or taken prisoners. Such things having happened, more by divine grace than human skill, we, according to the advice of our Princes of the Blood and the members of our Great Council, are coming to the town of Reims to receive our anointing and coronation. Wherefore we summon you, on the loyalty and obedience you owe us, to dispose yourselves to receive us in the accustomed manner as you have done for our predecessors."[1483]

[Footnote 1483: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 291-292.]

And King Charles, adopting towards the citizens of Reims that same wise benignity he had shown to the citizens of Troyes, promised them full pardon and oblivion.

"Be not deterred," he said, "by matters that are past and the fear that we may remember them. Be assured that if now ye act towards us as ye ought, ye shall be dealt with as becometh good and loyal subjects."

He even asked them to send notables to treat with him. "If, in order to be better informed concerning our intentions, certain citizens of Reims would come to us with the herald, whom we send, we should be well pleased. They may come in safety and in such numbers as shall seem good to them."[1484]

[Footnote 1484: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 291.]

On the delivery of this letter the Council was convoked, but it so befell that there were not enough aldermen to deliberate; hence the Council was relieved from a serious embarrassment. Whereupon the common folk were assembled in the various quarters of the city, and from the citizens thus consulted was obtained the following crafty declaration: "It is our intention to live and die with the Council and the Notables. According to their advice we shall act in concord and in peace, without murmuring or making answer, unless it be by the counsel and decree of the Commander of Reims and his Lieutenant."[1485]

[Footnote 1485: Ibid., p. 292. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, pp. 17 et seq.]

The Sire de Chastillon, Commander of the town, was then at Chateau-Thierry with his lieutenants, Jean Cauchon and Thomas de Bazoches, both of them knights. The citizens of Reims deemed it wise that he should see King Charles's letter. Their Bailie, Guillaume Hodierne, went to the Lord Captain and showed it to him. Most faithfully did the Bailie express the sentiments of the people of Reims: he asked the Sire de Chastillon to come to their deliverance, but he asked in such a manner that he did not come. That was the all-important point; for by not appealing to him they laid themselves open to a charge of treason, while if he did come they risked having to endure a siege grievous and dangerous.

With this object the Bailie declared that the citizens of Reims, desirous to communicate with their captains, were willing to receive him if he were accompanied by no more than fifty horse. Herein they displayed their good will, being entitled to refuse to receive a garrison within their walls; this privilege notwithstanding, they consented to admit fifty horse, which meant about two hundred fighting men. As the citizens had foreseen, the Sire de Chastillon judged such a number insufficient for his safety. He demanded as the conditions of his coming, that the town should be victualled and put in a state of defence, that he should enter it with three or four hundred combatants, that the defence of the city as well as of the castle should be entrusted to him, and that there should be delivered up to him five or six notables as hostages. On these conditions he declared himself ready to live and die for them.[1486]

[Footnote 1486: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 292, 293. Varin, Archives de Reims, pp. 910, 912. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, p. 18.]

He marched with his company to within a short distance of the town, and then made known to the townsfolk that he had come to succour them.[1487]

[Footnote 1487: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 295. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, pp. 18, 19.]

The English were indeed recruiting troops wherever they could and pressing all manner of folk into their service. They were said to be arming even priests; and the Regent was certainly pressing into his service the crusaders disembarked in France, whom the Cardinal of Winchester was intending to lead against the Hussites.[1488] As we may imagine, King Henry's Council did not fail to inform the inhabitants of Reims of the armaments which were being assembled. On the 3rd of July they were told that the troops were crossing the sea, and on the 10th Colard de Mailly, Bailie of Vermandois, announced that they had landed. But these tidings failed to inspire the folk of Champagne with any great confidence in the power of the English. While the Sire de Chastillon was promising that in forty days they should have a fine large army from beyond the seas, King Charles with thirty thousand combatants was but a few miles from their gates. The Sire de Chastillon perceived, what he had previously suspected, that he was tricked. The citizens of Reims refused to admit him. Nothing remained for him but to turn round and join the English.[1489]

[Footnote 1488: Falconbridge, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 451. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, pp. 101, 102. Journal du siege, p. 118. Rymer, Foedera, vol. x, p. 424. S. Bougenot, Notices et extraits des manuscrits interessants l'histoire de France conserves a la Bibliotheque imperiale de Vienne, p. 62. Raynaldi, Annales ecclesiastici, vol. ix, pp. 77, 78. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement, xvii.]

[Footnote 1489: J. Rogier, in Trial, vol. iv, pp. 295, 298.]

On the 12th of July, from my Lord Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop and Duke of Reims, the townsfolk received a letter requesting them to make ready for the King's coming.[1490]

[Footnote 1490: Ibid., p. 297. L. Paris, Cabinet historique, 1865, p. 77.]

The Council of the city having assembled on that day, the clerk proceeded to draw up an official report of its deliberations:

"... After having represented to my Lord of Chastillon that he is the Commander and that the lords and the mass of the people who...."[1491]

[Footnote 1491: H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, p. 19.]

He wrote no more. Finding it difficult to protest their loyalty to the English while making ready King Charles's coronation, and considering it imprudent to recognize a new prince without being forced to it, the citizens abruptly renounced the silver of speech and took refuge in the gold of silence.

On Saturday, the 16th, King Charles took up his quarters in the Castle of Sept-Saulx, ten miles from the city where he was to be crowned. This fortress had been erected two hundred years before by the warlike predecessors of my Lord Regnault. Its proud keep commanded the crossing of the Vesle.[1492] There the King received the citizens of Reims, who came in great numbers to do him homage.[1493] Then, with the Maid and his whole army, he resumed his march. Having traversed the last stage of the highroad which wound along the bank of the Vesle, he entered the great city of Champagne at nightfall. The southern gate, called Dieulimire, lowered its drawbridge and raised its two portcullises to let him pass.[1494]

[Footnote 1492: Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. Jean Chartier, Chronique, p. 97; Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 320. Chronique des Cordeliers, fol. 85, v'o. Journal du siege, p. 112. Bergier, Poeme sur la tapisserie de Jeanne d'Arc, p. 112. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, pp. 20, 21. F. Pinon, Notice sur Sept-Saulx, in Travaux de l'academie de Reims, vol. vi, p. 328.]

[Footnote 1493: J. Rogier, in Trial, pp. 298 et seq. Dom Marlot, Histoire de la ville de Reims, vol. iv, Reims, 1846 (4 vol. in 4to), vol. iii, p. 174.]

[Footnote 1494: H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, p. 23.]

According to tradition the coronation should take place on a Sunday. This rule was found mentioned in a ceremonial which was believed to have served for the coronation of Louis VIII and was considered authoritative.[1495] The citizens of Reims worked all night in order that everything might be ready on the morrow.[1496] They were urged on by their sudden affection for the King of France and likewise by their fear lest he and his army[1497] should spend many days in their city. Their horror of receiving and maintaining men-at-arms within their gates they shared with the citizens of all towns, who in their panic were incapable of distinguishing Armagnac soldiers from English and Burgundians. Wherefore in all things were they diligent, but with the firm intention of paying as little as possible. Seeing that to them the coronation brought neither profit nor honour, the aldermen were accustomed to throw the burden of it on the Archbishop, who, they said, as peer of France,[1498] would receive the emoluments.

[Footnote 1495: Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 322, 323, note. "This ritual dates back certainly as far as the 13th century. It is preserved in the library at Reims in a MS. which appears to have been written about 1274." Communicated by M. H. Jadart. Varin, Archives de Reims, vol. i, p. 522. Dom Marlot, Histoire de la ville de Reims, vol. iii, p. 566, and vol. iv, proofs and illustrations no. 142. H. Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc a Reims, p. 7.]

[Footnote 1496: Chronique de la Pucelle, p. 321. Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. Letter from three noblemen of Anjou, in Trial, vol. v, p. 128.]

[Footnote 1497: Pro evitando onus armatorum, Trial, vol. i, p. 91.]

[Footnote 1498: Thirion, Les frais du sacre in Travaux de l'academie de Reims, 1894. See Varin, Archives de Reims, table of contents under the word, Sacre. Dom Marlot, Histoire de la ville de Reims, vol. iii, pp. 461, 566, 640, 651, 819; vol. iv, pp. 25, 31, 45.]



The royal ornaments, which, after the coronation of the late King, had been deposited in the sacristy of Saint-Denys, were in the hands of the English. The crown of Charlemagne, brilliant with rubies, sapphires and emeralds, adorned with four flowers-de-luce, which the Kings of France received on their coronation, the English wished to place on the head of their King Henry. This child King they were preparing to gird with the sword of Charlemagne, the illustrious Joyeuse, which in its sheath of violet velvet slept in the keeping of the Burgundian Abbot of Saint-Denys. In English hands likewise were the sceptre surmounted by a golden Charlemagne in imperial robes, the rod of justice terminated by a hand in horn of unicorn, the golden clasp of Saint Louis' mantle, and the golden spurs and the Pontifical, containing within its enamelled binding of silver-gilt the ceremonial of the coronation.[1499] The French must needs make shift with a crown kept in the sacristy of the cathedral.[1500] The other signs of royalty handed down from Clovis, from Saint Charlemagne and Saint Louis must be represented as well as could be. After all, it was not unfitting that this coronation, won by a single expedition, should be expressive of the labour and suffering it had cost. It was well that the ceremony should suggest something of the heroic poverty of the men-at-arms and the common folk who had brought the Dauphin thither.