Jeanne d'Arc

“ Jeanne’s native town of Domremy was one of a cluster of hamlets on the verge of France, in the smiling valley through which a winding river made its way. Her father and mother were in a very humble station, having a little patch of land with rights of commonage on the village pastures, and were, from the evidence of their neighbours, frugal, hard-working, and “well thought of.”
Jeanne herself was in no way marked out from her girl friends by any special accomplishments or ambition. She prided herself solely on her domestic usefulness and her skill in household work. ”

“ Often the whispers reached her.
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“There goes she who is to save France.”
“Jeanne D’Arc says she is to lead the Dauphin to his anointing.”
It was a trying time. Jeanne often shed tears over the jeers and taunts, but she wept in secret. Outwardly serene she submitted meekly to the espionage of her own people, and to the gibes of her neighbors. Had it not been for the consolation received from “Her Voices,” life would have been unendurable.
“Be patient, Daughter of God,” they said. “It will not be long. All will be well. Thy time will come soon.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ A man may intelligently believe or disbelieve in the reality of the voices heard by Jeanne, but no man who intelligently disbelieves in them can need to be told that his disbelief rests upon no better scientific ground than the belief of the man who believes in them.
To take the home of Jeanne d'Arc out of the keeping of devout women who share the faith of Jeanne, that faith which, well or ill founded, unquestionably saved France, was simply a stupid indecency. In the keeping of the Sisters the home of Jeanne was a shrine. In any other keeping it becomes a show. ”

“ Jeanne of France is the very flower of this passion of the imagination. She is altogether impossible from beginning to end of her, inexplicable, alone, with neither rival nor even second in the one sole ineffable path: yet all true as one of the oaks in her wood, as one of the flowers in her garden, simple, actual, made of the flesh and blood which are common to us all. ”

“ Now everywhere were to be found Jeanne in armour and on horseback, Jeanne in prayer, Jeanne in captivity, Jeanne suffering martyrdom. Of all these images expressing in different manners and with varying merit the taste and the sentiment of the period, one [Pg lxiii] work only appears great and true, and of striking beauty: Rude's Jeanne d'Arc beholding a vision. [133]
The word patrie did not exist in the days of the Maid. People spoke of the kingdom of France. [134] No one, not even jurists, knew exactly what were its limits, which were constantly changing. ”

“ To all appearance life in the house of Jacques D’Arc went as peacefully, as serenely, as that of his neighbors, and in no wise differently. There was not one who suspected that Jeanne visited with saints and angels; that she walked with ever listening ear for the Voices to tell her what her divine mission was to be. No one suspected it, for even her youthful friendships continued, and she visited and was visited in turn by Mengette 86 and Hauviette; often passing the night with one or the other of them as has been the fashion of girls since the beginning of time. ”

“ And in the first place, Jeanne expressed herself thus:
“On the subject of the answer that I made to you this morning on the certainty of my salvation, I mean the answer thus: provided that I keep the promise made to Our Lord, to keep safe the virginity of my body and soul.”
“Have you any need to confess, as you believe by the revelations of your Voices that you will be saved?”
“I do not know of having committed mortal sin; but, if I were in mortal sin, I think that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would abandon me at once. I do not think one can cleanse one’s conscience too much.” ”

“ And he believed firmly that Jeanne was the maiden of whom Marie d’Avignon thus spoke.
All the soldiers held her as sacred. So well did she bear herself in warfare, in words and in deeds, as a follower of God, that no evil could be said of her. I heard Maître Pierre de Versailles say that he was once in the town of Loches in company with Jeanne, when the people, throwing themselves before the feet of her horse, kissed her hands and feet; and he said to Jeanne that she did wrong to allow what was not due to her, and that she ought to protect herself from it lest men should become idolatrous ”

“ When Jeanne was in her lodging, she, being led by the Spirit, cried out: “In God’s Name! our people are hard pressed.” Then she sent for a horse; and, arming herself, she went to the Fort of Saint Loup, where there was an assault being made by the King’s people on the English: and no sooner had Jeanne joined in the attack, than the fort was taken. ”

“ The novel shows her in the role of The Jeanne d'Arc of India, depicting with masterly skill the brains, unceasing energy and indomitable courage which enabled her to rouse the native princes to strike a blow for freedom. Her beauty, woman's wit and earnestness of purpose, all make her a most fascinating heroine, both in romance and history. ”

“ I was in my own neighbourhood when Jeanne went to 304Vaucouleurs, to Robert de Baudricourt, that she might get an escort to go to the King. I then said it was by the grace of God, and that Jeanne was led by the Spirit of God. Jeanne requested the said Robert to give her an escort to conduct her to my lord the Dauphin.
I heard, at the time when she was taken from Vaucouleurs to the King, that some of the soldiers who conducted her feigned to be on the other side, and, when those who were with her pretended to fly, she said to them: “Fly not, in God’s Name! they will do us no harm.” ”

“ The day that sentence was given upon Jeanne, Wednesday, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I accompanied Brother Martin Ladvenu, who, early in the morning, repaired to her to exhort her to save her soul. I first heard Maître Pierre Maurice, who had gone earlier to her, declare she had confessed that all which concerned the crown was fiction: that it was she who was the Angel. The said Master reported all this to us in Latin. Afterwards, Jeanne was questioned on the subject of the Voices and apparitions which had come to her. ”

“ On the day that the Lord Talbot, who had been taken at Patay, was brought to the town of Beaugency, I arrived at that town; and from thence Jeanne went with the men-at-arms to Jargeau, which was taken by assault, and the English were put to flight.
Jeanne assembled an army between Troyes and Auxerre, and found large numbers there, for every one followed her. The King and his people came without hindrance to Rheims. Nowhere was the King turned back, for the gates of all cities and towns opened themselves to him. ”

“ Article LXIII. Jeanne is not afraid to lie in court, and to violate her own oath when on the subject of her revelations; she doth affirm a number of contradictory things, and which imply contradiction among themselves: she doth not fear to hurl malediction against a whole nation, the rulers of that nation and its greatest people; she doth speak of them without respect, allowing herself a tone of mockery and derision such as no woman in a state of holiness would allow; which sheweth well that she is ruled and guided by evil spirits and not, as she hath boasted, by God and the Angels. ”

“ Jeanne was accustomed to repair daily to Church at the time of Vespers, or towards evening; she had the bells rung for half-an-hour, and collected together all the Mendicant Friars who were following the army. Then she began to pray, and had an anthem in honour of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, sung by the Mendicant Friars.
When the King came to La Ferté and to Crespy-en-Valois, the people ran about him, crying “Noel!” The Maid was then riding between the Archbishop of Rheims and myself: “This is a good people,” she said to us ”

“ Jeanne the Maid.
And below: I should have sent to you with more ceremony. But you keep my heralds. You kept my herald Guyenne. If you will send him back to me, I will send you some of your men taken at the bastion Saint-Loup; they are not all dead. [1034]
Jeanne went to La Belle Croix, took an arrow, and tied her letter to it with a string, then told an archer to shoot it to the English, crying: "Read! This is the message." ”

“ But before proceeding to this reading, Our Promoter, Messire d’Estivet, offered to prove, in case Jeanne should not recognize some of her answers, that all the contents of the said Register, questions and answers, had been pronounced as they were there written. And on her side, Jeanne made oath that, during the reading, which was about to be made, she would add or change nothing in her answers that was not the truth.
The Register was then read. In one place during the reading, Jeanne said:
“I have as surname d’Arc or Rommée: in my country the girls take the name of their mother.” ”

“ All those to whom it has been given to kindle the nations, have cared much less to be in advance of their time than to make use of the exciting elements of the time itself. Such is Jeanne d'Arc, whose merit and power alike it was not to innovate upon, but to draw from her epoch the best that it contained. Skilful above all others in finding happy expressions, the ringing note that roused to action, when she speaks of the blood of France, it is because the word has a meaning for all ”

“ 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!” ”

“ She replied, that it was a serious matter to answer such a question, and at last said: “If I am, may God so keep me. If I am not, may God so place me. I would rather die than not be in the love of God.” At this reply the questioners were much confounded, and broke up the sitting; nor was she further interrogated on that occasion.
On the Sunday following the first sentence, I was summoned to the Castle with the other notaries to see Jeanne dressed in man’s dress; we went to the Castle, entered the prison, and there saw her. ”

“ When Jeanne was taken to Saint-Ouen to be preached to by Maître Guillaume Érard, at about the middle of the sermon, after she had been admonished by the words of the preacher, he began to cry out, in a loud voice, saying, “Ah! France, thou art much abused, thou hast always been the most Christian country; and Charles, who calls himself thy King and Governor, hath joined himself, as a heretic and schismatic, which he is, to the words and deeds of a worthless woman, defamed and full of dishonour ”

“ Article XXXIII. Jeanne hath presumptuously and audaciously boasted, and doth still boast, of knowing the future and of having foreseen the past, of knowing things that are in the present, but hidden or unknown; all which, an attribute of the Deity, she claims for herself, a simple and ignorant creature.
353“What have you to say on this Article?”
“It is in Our Lord’s power to give revelations to whom He pleases; that which I said of the sword of Fierbois and of things to come, I knew by revelation.” ”

“ On this Sunday [201] there was in Orleans a solemn procession and a sermon. It was then decided to go and seek the King; and Jeanne went thither. The English entrenched themselves in Jargeau, which was soon taken by assault. Finally, they were entirely defeated at Patay.
I often heard her say of her work that it was her mission; and when people said to her: “Never have such things been seen as these deeds of yours. In no book can one read of such things,” she answered: “My Lord has a book in which no Clerk has ever read, how perfect soever he may be in clerkship!” ”

“ Witnesses: Nicolas de Houbent and Ysambard de la Pierre.
Jeanne was interrogated as follows:
“Why did you throw yourself from the top of the Tower at Beaurevoir?”
“I had heard that the people of Compiègne, all, to the age of seven years, were to be put to fire and sword; and I would rather have died than live after such a destruction of good people. That was one of the reasons. The other was that I knew I was sold to the English; and I had rather die than be in the hands of my enemies, the English.” ”

“ If you refuse to let me hear Mass, it is in the power of Our Lord to let me hear it, when it shall please Him, without you. I recollect being admonished to take again a woman’s dress. As to the irreverence and such like things, I deny them.” [245]
Article XVI. Previous to, and since her capture, at the Castle of Beaurevoir and at Arras, Jeanne hath been many times advised with gentleness, by noble persons of both sexes, 348to give up her man’s dress and resume suitable attire. She hath absolutely refused, and to this day also she refuses with persistence ”