“ I marvel much that such great Clerks as those who caused her death at Rouen should have dared such a crime as to put to death so poor and simple a Christian, cruelly and without cause—sufficient at least for [the penalty of] death: they might have kept her in prison or elsewhere; but she had so displeased them that they were her mortal enemies; and thus, it seems, they assumed the responsibility of an unjust court. Her actions and her deeds are all perfectly known to our Lord the King and to the Duke d’Alençon, who knew certain secrets which they might declare if they would. ”

“ Jeanne, seeing us thus divided, said: “No, do not fear their numbers; do not hesitate to make the attack; God will conduct your enterprise; if I were not sure that it is God Who guides us, I would rather take care of the sheep than expose myself to such great perils!” On these words we marched to Jargeau, counting on gaining the suburbs that day and passing the night there. But on the news of our approach, the English came to meet us and at first drove us back. Seeing this Jeanne seized her standard and began the attack, telling the soldiers to have good courage. ”

“ Whether a great Anglo-French monarchy sitting in Paris ruled over France, England, Ireland, and Wales, or a more domestic French line only ruled over France itself, was a question on which upright men might well take opposite sides. Jeanne’s special merit was that she saw the possibility of a great French nation, self-centred, self-sufficient, and she so stamped this message on the French heart that its characters have never faded. Ecclesiastics, on the other hand, with their conception of a Universal Empire and a Universal Church, thought little of National aspirations or claims. ”

“ When Saint Michael came to me, he said to me: ‘Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret will come to thee; follow their counsel; they have been chosen to guide thee and counsel thee in all that thou hast to do: believe what they shall tell thee, it is the order of Our Lord.’”
“If the devil were to put himself in the form or likeness of an angel, how would you know if it were a good or an evil angel?” ”

“ I beseech the lords of the Church to do me the grace to allow me a woman’s smock and a hood for my head; I would rather die than revoke what God has made me do; and I believe firmly that God will not allow it to come to pass that I should be brought so low that I may not soon have succour from Him, and by miracle.”
“As you say that you bear a man’s dress by the command of God, why do you ask for a woman’s smock at the point of death?”
“It will be enough for me if it be long.”
“Did your Godmother who saw the fairies pass as a wise woman?” ”

“ Is not our Holy Father, the Pope, your judge?”
“I will say nothing else to you. I have a good Master, that is God; it is to Him I look in everything and to none other.”
“If you will not believe in the Church, if you will not believe that Article of the Creed, ‘the Church, One, Holy, Catholic,’ you will be declared a heretic and, by other judges, punished with the pains of fire.” ”

“ Let not fear of the world hold you back; do not give way to the fear of losing, by doing as I ask you, the great honours you have received. The honour of God and the salvation of your body and soul must be preferred before all. All is perishable, save only what I tell you to do. If you do it not, you separate yourself from the Church and from the Faith to which you have sworn in Holy Baptism; you detach yourself from the authority of the Church, from the Church which is led, ruled, and governed by the authority of the Spirit of God. ”

“ While we were deliberating, we were told that La Hire was in conference with the English Lord Suffolk. I and the other captains were much provoked at this, and sent for La Hire, who came at once. The attack being resolved upon, the Heralds-at-Arms began to sound, “To the Assault!” “Forward, gentle Duke, to the assault!” cried Jeanne to me. And when I told her it was premature to attack so quickly: “Have no fear,” she said to me, “it is the right time when it pleases God; we must work when it is His Will: act, and God will act!” ”

“ God and His angels and saints were as real to her, more real indeed, than the men and women of her native village. The thoughts of sacred things subdued her soul to an unconsciousness of self, which marks her off even from such beautiful spiritual natures as Teresa and Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Sienna, whose habit of mind was less simple and less humble than hers. ”

“ And as for you, archers, companions-in-arms, gentlemen and others who are before the town of Orleans, return to your own countries, by God’s order; and if this be not done, then hear the message of the Maid, who will shortly come upon you, to your very great hurt. King of England, I am a Chieftain of war and, if this be not done, wheresoever I find your followers in France, I will make them leave, willingly or unwillingly; if they will not obey, I will have them put to death. I am sent here by God, the King of Heaven, body for body, to drive them all out of the whole of France. ”

“ I asked her. “In truth, more than yourself!” she answered. “But God wills that you should not be believed unless there appear some sign to prove that you ought to be believed; and we shall not advise the King to trust in you, and to risk an army on your simple statement.” “In God’s Name!” she replied, “I am not come to Poitiers to shew signs: but send me to Orleans, where I shall shew you the signs by which I am sent:” and she added: “Send me men in such numbers as may seem good, and I will go to Orleans.” ”

“ I have a great pity for thy soul, and for thy people.” At this moment Clasdas, fully armed from head to foot, fell into the Loire, where he was drowned. Jeanne, moved to pity at this sight, began to weep for the soul of Clasdas, and for all the others who, in great number, were drowned, at the same time as he. On this day, all the English who were on the other side of the bridge were taken and killed. The next day—which was a Sunday—before sunrise all the English who were still in the plains around Orleans grouped themselves together, and came to the foot of the trenches of the town. ”

“ One day, I saw Robert de Baudricourt—then captain of Vaucouleurs—and Messire Jean Fournier, our Curé, come in to our house to visit her. After they were gone, she told me that the Priest had his stole, and that, in presence of the said captain, he adjured her, saying: “If you are an evil spirit, avaunt! If you are a good spirit, approach!” Then Jeanne drew near the Priest and threw herself at his knees: she said he was wrong to act so, for he had heard her in confession. ”

“ Article XVIII. So long as Jeanne remained with Charles, she did dissuade him with all her power, him and those with him, from consenting to any treaty of peace, any arrangement with his adversaries; inciting them always to murder and effusion of blood; affirming that they could only have peace by sword and lance; and that God willed it so, because otherwise the enemies of the King would not give up that which they held in his kingdom; to fight against them thus, is, she told them, one of the greatest benefits that can happen to all Christendom. ”

“ I was not present at the last preaching and condemnation and execution of Jeanne, because my heart could not bear it, for pity of her; but I heard that she received the Body of the Lord before her condemnation.
Maître Jean Tressart, when he returned from the execution, groaning and weeping sadly, lamented to me what he had seen at this place, saying to me: “We are all lost; we have burnt a Saint”; adding, that he believed her soul was in the hands of God because, when she was in the midst of the flames, she constantly called on the name of the Lord Jesus. ”

“ Orleans had withstood a stubborn siege of many months, but its fate seemed sealed. The Dauphin had almost given up the struggle. He had made futile appeals for help to the King of Scotland, whose infant daughter was betrothed to young Louis, afterwards the terrible Louis XI. To Naples also he made appeals, but no succour or hope came, and in despair he shut himself up at Chinon, giving up the cause of France as lost unless aid came from on high. Jeanne came as the messenger of glad tidings, and announced herself as one sent by God to aid France in her extreme need. ”

“ From the first time I heard my Voices, I dedicated my virginity for so long as it should please God; and I was then about thirteen years of age. My Voices told me I should win my case in this town of Toul.”
“As to your visions, did you speak of them to your Curé or to any other Churchman?”
“No; only to Robert de Baudricourt and to my King. It was not my Voices who compelled me to keep them secret; but I feared to reveal them, in dread that the Burgundians might put some hindrance in the way of my journey; and, in particular, I was afraid that my father would hinder it.” ”

“ An archer, a hard man and very churlish, having great spite that a woman of whom he had heard so much talk should drive back so many valiant men as she had done, caught her from one side by her surcoat of cloth-of-gold, and dragged her from her horse to the ground: she could find neither rescue nor help from her followers that she might be remounted, notwithstanding the pains they took. ”

“ The decree of Pope Calixtus has added a true romance to human story. In all that we know of the world’s great ones we can find no parallel for the Maid of Domremy. Perhaps only in Catholic France was such a heroine possible. Certainly Teutonic Protestantism has as yet given to the world none of the exalted types of radiant and holy women such as those that illuminate Latin Christianity. Whether as a saint or a nation-maker, Jeanne’s place in world-history is assured. ”

“ The armies of France were in marked contrast to those of England. French nobles had quasi-regal power in their dominions, and only fitfully followed the royal arms. In England, from the Conquest, the King was supreme lord of all, and every one owed direct and immediate allegiance to him. The English armies, unlike the French feudal array, were made up of peasants and artisans and adventurous young men seeking a career, and, in the last resort, as we know from Falstaff, of losels and waifs and ne’er-do-wells. ”

“ She was still brave, still magnetic and inspiring, but no longer to herself or to others the sword in the hand of God.
But if in the campaign of May and June she showed the wonderful military genius to which so many competent witnesses bear testimony, in the weary winter of the same year she shows a clearness and depth of statesmanship scarcely less astonishing. In moments of national peril there are always “wise” men who think that further resistance is foolish and even criminal. ”

“ And immediately my Lord of Beauvais, then lodging in the house where now lives Maître Jean Bidaut, near Saint Nicolas-le-Peinteur, came to the Masters—to wit, Maître Jean Beaupère, Maître Jacques de Touraine, Nicolas Midi, Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, and Loyseleur—and said to them: “This Lohier wants to put fine questions into our Process: he would find fault with everything, and says it is of no value. If we were to believe him, everything must be begun again, and all we have done would be worth nothing!” ”

“ To them, anything which would allay the bitter rivalries of France and England naturally appealed, seeing, as they did, in such a change the promise of a return to the days before the Babylonian captivity at Avignon, and the bringing of all peoples into ready submission to Peter’s chair. Jeanne’s greatness is nowhere more manifest than in her willing loyalty to the Church and “our lord the Pope,” while claiming for France absolute national independence. Herein she stands alone. Dante’s two swords (wielded by Pope and Emperor) were lethal to national life. ”

“ By this re-trial posterity has been allowed to see the whole life of the village maiden of Domremy, as she was known first to her kinsfolk and her neighbours, and afterwards to warriors, nobles and churchmen who followed her extraordinary career. The evidence so given is unique in its minute and faith-worthy narration of a great and noble life; as indeed that life is itself unique in all human history. ”

“ After the deliverance of Orleans, the Maid, with myself and the other captains, went to seek the King at the Castle of Loches, praying him to attack immediately the towns and the camps on the Loire, Mehun, Beaugency, Jargeau, in order to make his consecration at Rheims more free and sure. This she besought the King often, in the most urgent manner, to hasten, without longer delay. The King used the greatest haste possible, and sent, for this purpose, the Duke d’Alençon, myself and other captains, as well as Jeanne, to reduce these towns and camps. ”

“ At Vaucouleurs she received the gift of a man’s dress and a complete equipment; then, mounted on a horse, she was conducted to the place where the Dauphin was, by Jean de Metz, Bertrand de Poulengey, and two of their servants—Colet de Vienne, and Richard the Archer. I saw them depart, all six, and Jeanne with them. When she spoke of leaving, she was asked how she thought she could effect such a journey and escape the enemy. “I fear them not,” she answered, “I have a sure road: if the enemy are on my road, I have God with me, Who knows how to prepare the way to the Lord Dauphin. ”

“ I remember well to have seen and heard, one day, a great lord, walking along the street, begin to swear and blaspheme God; which, when Jeanne saw and heard, she was much perturbed, and went up to the lord who was swearing, and, taking him by the neck, said, “Ah! master, do you deny Our Lord and Master? In God’s Name, you shall unsay your words before I leave you.” And then, as I saw, the said lord repented and amended his ways, at the exhortation of the said Maid. ”

“ To say such things of Archangels and the Holy Angels is presumption, audacity, lying, as in the holy books we do not read that they did a like reverence, a like demonstration, to any saint—not even to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God. ”