OF SIX MEDLEVAL WOMEN 



and high-minded men. He bestirred himself 

 to make a final peace with Burgundy and 

 Brittany, and to take part in the war which 

 was still smouldering, though there were signs 

 of its approaching end. 



What was the secret of such a change ? 

 That it was due, in the first instance, partly 

 to the wise influence of his mother-in-law, 

 Yolande of Aragon, and partly also to that of 

 his wife, Marie of Anjou, sister of the good 

 Duke Rene, seems almost certain, but that it 

 was intensified when Agnes Sorel came into 

 his life, there can be no doubt. When we 

 consider the king's earlier life, and what it 

 was whilst he was under the influence of Agnes, 

 and his relapse into indolence and debauchery 

 after her death, we can only attribute much 

 of this change to her sympathetic and wise 

 guidance. Joan of Arc had represented the 

 popular element, Agnes Sorel represented the 

 aristocratic. Joan of Arc aroused the people 

 to united action by her enthusiasm and success, 

 Agnes Sorel, in her time, helped to complete 

 the consolidation of the kingdom, by inspiring 

 and sustaining the king. Perhaps no one man 

 could have accomplished such a revolution. It 

 took two women to do this, and what they 

 did was not of mere passing worth. Phoenix- 

 like, France arose from the ashes of the 

 Hundred Years' War, and it was Agnes Sorel, 

 as priestess, who stirred the embers which hid 

 the new life. 



152 



