246 



JOAN OF ARC. 



letters of recommendation. Here the dauphin 

 ordered her to be examined by the bishop of Meaux 

 and John Morin. She is also said to have imme- 

 diately pointed out the king, whom she had never 

 MTU, ami who had purposely mixed among his 

 courtiers, and to have repeated to him a prayer which 

 he had made to the virgin Mary. It is certain that, 

 she was examined for three weeks, by many intel- 

 ligent men, counsellors of parliament and divines. 

 She was then secretly inspected by the dauphin's 

 mother-in-law and her court ladies, who declared her 

 to be a true virgin (qu'elle etait une eniiere et vraie 

 pucelle). At length, being satisfied of the truth of 

 her claims, D'Aulon the most virtuous man at court, 

 was appointed to be her constant attendant and 

 brother in arms, and she received permission to hast- 

 en with Dunois to the deliverance of Orleans. From 

 this period, she appears the finest character in the 

 history of the middle ages of France. In a male 

 dress, armed cap a pie, she bore the sword and the 

 sacred banner, as the signal of victory at the head of 

 the army. Still no unfeminine cruelty ever stained 

 her conduct. She was wounded several times her- 

 self, but never killed any one, or shed any blood with 

 her own hand. There appears, as Fr. Schlegel says 

 in his History of the Maid of Orleans, from old 

 French Documents (Geschichte der Jungfrau von Or- 

 leans, aus altfranz, Quellen, Berlin, 1820), there ap- 

 pears to have been no other earthly passion in her 

 heart tlian devotion to her country, to the descendant 

 of St Louis, and the sacred lilies. It is shown also, 

 by the documents of her trial, and of the revision of 

 it, in 1453, that she had not killed any of the enemy 

 with her own hand, from a tenderness of conscience, 

 and was even more anxious about the souls than the 

 bodies of the English who were slain. Nevertheless, 

 it would seem from some passages of Lenglet Dufres- 

 noy (Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc, Vierge Heroine, Paris, 

 1753, and Amsterdam, 1759), that she did not always 

 carry the banner, and actually made use of the con- 

 secrated sword in case of necessity. This sword was 

 taken by her directions from the church of St Catha- 

 rine at Fierbois, where, according to the story, no- 

 body had before known of its existence. After sun- 

 set, she avoided the company of men, passed her 

 nights with women, and kept all loose females, as 

 much as possible, away from the camp. The gene- 

 ral belief of her elevated mission, of which she her- 

 self was piously persuaded, produced the most extraor- 

 dinary effects. Resolute, chivalrous, pious and brave, 

 looking to one single aim, she was skilfully employed 

 by the generals to animate the army, while they did 

 not implicitly follow her counsels. The first enter- 

 prise was successful. With 10,000 men, under the 

 command of St Severre, Dunois and La Hire, she 

 marched from Blois, and, on the 29th April, 1429, 

 entered Orleans with supplies. By bold sallies, to 

 which she animated the besieged, the English were 

 forced from their intrenchments, and Suffolk aban- 

 doned the siege (May 8, 1429). Joan next captured 

 several places in the enemy's possession, and defeat- 

 ed them in a battle near Patay, where general Talbot 

 \\ as taken, and the valiant Fastolfe himself was for- 

 ced to fly. Charles entered Rheims in triumph. At 

 the anointing and coronation of the king, July 17, 

 Joan stood at his side. In full armour, and bearing 

 the banner, she took the office of a constable, and 

 held the sword over the king. Her commission hav- 

 ing been thus fulfilled, she wished to return to her 

 home, but was prevailed upon to stay. All France 

 now acknowledged Charles as king; and Bedford 

 could only maintain himself by valour and prudence. 

 He repulsed, in September, the assault upon Paris. 

 Here Joan was wounded, and Charles retired to 

 Bourges. A title of nobility was now conferred on 



the heroine and her family. She was first called 

 Dalis, then Dulis, and, finally, Dy Lys ; her coat of 

 arms contained two golden lilies and a sword point- 

 ing upwards and bearing a crown. Meanwhile, 

 Bedford was assembling new forces. Burgundy and 

 Brittany still acknowledged the young king Henry 

 VI., who had been crowned at Paris. Thus streng- 

 thened, the English again pushed on and besieged 

 Compiegne. The maid threw herself into the town, 

 as she had done at Orleans, but in a sally, May 25, 

 1413, was taken prisoner by the Bugundians. She 

 surrendered to Lyonnel, the bastard of Vendome. She 

 was at first confined at Crotoy, but afterwards at 

 Beaurevoir. Upon hearing that she was to be deli- 

 vered to the English (king Henry having paid 10,000 

 livres for her), she attempted to escape by leaping 

 from a window of the castle, and was seriously 

 injured. In this condition, she came into the power 

 of the English. At the instigation of her own coun- 

 trymen, Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, institut- 

 ed a process against her, and the university of Paris 

 demanded her execution. She was condemned by 

 the church as a sorceress and heretic. The secular 

 arm had no control over this decree. De 1'Averdy 

 gives this as an excuse for the inactivity of the king, 

 who made little exertions in behalf of the heroine. 

 But that light and indolent prince never showed 

 himself zealous and constant in any thing. After 

 four months' imprisonment, the innocent enthusiast, 

 who had resolutely defended herself, and at the ex- 

 amination had named St Michael as the angel whose 

 voice she had heard in her father's garden, in her 

 fifteenth year, and as her constant guardian and at- 

 tendant, was sentenced, by the inquisitors at Rouen, 

 to be burnt for sorcery and intercourse with infernal 

 spirits. She was carried, May 24, 1431, to the 

 stake, when her courage appeared to be daunted. 

 She submitted to the church, and declared her revela- 

 tions to be the work of Satan. Her punishment was 

 then commuted to perpetual imprisonment. But 

 pretexts were soon found to treat her as a relapsed 

 criminal, and, as such, s>he was burnt by a slow fire 

 at Rouen, May 30, and her ashes were thrown into 

 the Seine. She died with undaunted fortitude. 

 When they were putting the inquisition cap on her 

 head, before going to the pile, she said to her at- 

 tendant, Mattre, par la grace de Dieu, je serai ce 

 soir en paradis. There is a tradition that, when she 

 expired, a white dove was seen to rise from the pile. 

 Among the divines who had condemned her, there 

 was only one Englishman, the bishop of Winchester. 

 In 1450 and 1451, measures were taken for revising 

 the process. 1455, the relations of Joan applied for 

 a revision. Pope Calixtus III. committed the affair 

 to the arcnbishop of Rheims, the bishops of Paris and 

 Coutance, and an inquisitor. This court pronounced, 

 in 1456, their decision, that the twelve articles al- 

 leged against her were false, and declared her entire- 

 ly innocent. Her memory was preserved by monu- 

 ments. In the market-place at Rouen, there is a 

 statue of her, on which, under her coat of arms is 

 the inscription : 



Reg la virgineo defenditur ense corona, 

 Lilla virgineo tuta sub ense nilent. 



The maiden's sword protects the royal crown; 



Beneath the maiden's sword the lilies safely bloom. 



According to the portrait of the maid, which Alex. 

 Lenoir discovered in the town-house at Orleans, 

 where there is also a statue of her, and which he sent 

 to the Paris museum of French monuments, Aux 

 petits Augustins, she must have been exceedingly 

 beautiful. Her features have a soft and enthusiastic 

 expression ; they have what the French call Vinteret 

 du calme. She has a cap with feathers on her head, 

 and is holding in her hands a shield and the consccrat- 



