Part 3 (1/2)
[Footnote 69: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 2 and 35.]
Certain evidence would appear to have been cut short. Brother Pasquerel's abruptly comes to an end at Paris. This circ.u.mstance, if we did not possess his signature at the conclusion of the Latin letter to the Hussites, would lead us to believe that the good Brother left the Maid immediately after the attack on La Porte Saint-Honore. It surely cannot have chanced that in so long a series of questions and answers not one word was said of the departure from Sully or of the campaign which began at Lagny and ended at Compiegne.[70]
[Footnote 70: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 100 _et seq._]
We conclude, therefore, that in the study of this voluminous evidence we must exercise great judgment and that we must not expect it to enlighten us on all the circ.u.mstances of Jeanne's life.
Fourthly. On certain points of the Maid's history the only exact information is to be obtained from account-books, letters, deeds, and other authentic doc.u.ments of the period. The records published by Simeon Luce and the lease of the Chateau de l'ile inform us of the circ.u.mstances among which Jeanne grew up.[71] Neither the two trials nor the chronicles had revealed the terrible conditions prevailing in the village of Domremy from 1412 to 1425.
[Footnote 71: Simeon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy, recherches critiques sur les origines de la mission de la Pucelle_, Paris, 1886, in 8vo; _La France pendant la guerre de cent ans: episodes historiques et vie privee aux xiv'e et xv'e siecles_, Paris, 1890, in 12mo.]
The fortress accounts kept at Orleans[72] and the doc.u.ments of the English administration[73] enable us to estimate approximately the respective forces of defenders and besiegers of the city. On this point also they enable us to correct the statements of chroniclers and witnesses in the rehabilitation trial.
[Footnote 72: D. Lottin, _Recherches sur la ville d'Orleans_, Orleans, 7 vols. in 8vo; Boucher de Molandon, _Les comptes de ville d'Orleans des xiv'e et xv'e siecles_, 1880, in 8vo; Jules Loiseleur, _Compte des depenses faites par Charles VII pour secourir Orleans pendant le siege de 1428_, Orleans, 1868, in 8vo; Louis Jarry, _Le compte de l'armee anglaise au siege d'Orleans_, Orleans, 1892, in 8vo; Couret, _Un fragment inedit des anciens registres de la prevote d'Orleans, relatif au reglement des frais du siege de 1428-1429_, Orleans, 1697, in 8vo (extract from the _Memoires de l'Academie de Sainte Croix_).]
[Footnote 73: Rymer, _Foedera, conventiones...._, ed. tercia, Hagae Comitis, 1739-1745, 10 vols. in folio; Delpit, _Collection de doc.u.ments francais qui se trouvent en Angleterre_, Paris, 1847, in 4to; J. Stevenson, _Letters and Papers ill.u.s.trative of the Wars of the English in France during the reign of Henry VI_, 1861-1864, 3 parts, in 2 vols. in 8vo; Charles Gross, _The Sources and Literature of English History_, 1900, in 8vo.]
From the letters in the archives at Reims, copied by Rogier in the seventeenth century, we learn how Troyes, Chalons, and Reims surrendered to the King. From these letters also we see how very far from accurate is Jean Chartier's account of the capitulation of the city and how insufficient, especially considering the character of the witness, is the evidence of Dunois on this subject.[74]
[Footnote 74: Varin, _Archives legislatives de la ville de Reims_, 2nd part; _Statuts_, vol. i, p. 596; _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 284 _et seq._]
Four or five records throw a faint light here and there on the obscurity which shrouds the unfortunate campaign on the Aisne and the Oise.
The registers of the chapter of Rouen, the wills of canons and sundry other doc.u.ments, discovered by M. Robillard de Beaurepaire in the archives of Seine-Inferieure, serve to correct certain errors in the two trials.[75]
[Footnote 75: E. Robillard de Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le proces de cond.a.m.nation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Rouen, 1869, in 8vo [_Precis des travaux de l'Academie de Rouen, 1867-1868_, pp. 321-448]; _Notes sur les juges et les a.s.sesseurs du proces de cond.a.m.nation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Rouen, 1890, in 8vo [_Precis des travaux de l'Academie de Rouen, 1888-1889_, pp. 375-504].]
How many other detached papers, all valuable to the historian, might I not enumerate! Surely this is another reason for mistrusting records false or falsified, as, for example, the patent of n.o.bility of Guy de Cailly.[76]
[Footnote 76: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 342 _et seq._]
Rapid as this examination of authorities has been, I think nothing essential has been omitted. To sum up, even in her lifetime the Maid was scarce known save by fables. Her oldest chroniclers were devoid of any critical sense, for the early legends concerning her they relate as facts.
The Rouen trial, certain accounts, a few letters, sundry deeds, public and private, are the most trustworthy doc.u.ments. The rehabilitation trial is also useful to the historian, provided always that we remember how and why that trial was conducted.
By means of such records we may attain to a pretty accurate knowledge of Jeanne d'Arc's life and character.
The salient fact which results from a study of all these authorities is that she was a saint. She was a saint with all the attributes of fifteenth-century sanct.i.ty. She had visions, and these visions were neither feigned nor counterfeited. She really believed that she heard the voices which spoke to her and came from no human lips. These voices generally addressed her clearly and in words she could understand. She heard them best in the woods and when the bells were ringing. She saw forms, she said, like myriads of tiny shapes, like sparks on a dazzling background. There is no doubt she had visions of another nature, since she tells us how she beheld Saint Michael in the guise of a _prud'homme_, that is as a good knight, and Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, wearing crowns. She saw them saluting her; she kissed their feet and inhaled their sweet perfume.
What does this mean if not that she was subject to hallucinations of hearing, sight, touch, and smell? But the most strongly affected of her senses was her hearing. She says that her voices appear to her; she sometimes calls them her council. She hears them very plainly unless there is a noise around her. Generally she obeys them; but sometimes she resists. We may doubt whether her visions were really so distinct as she makes out. Because she either could not, or would not, she never gave her judges at Rouen any very clear or precise description of them. The angel she described most in detail was the one which brought the crown, and which she afterwards confessed to have seen only in imagination.
At what age did she become subject to these trances? We cannot say exactly. But it was probably towards the end of her childhood, notwithstanding that according to Jean d'Aulon, childhood was a state out of which she never completely developed.[77]
[Footnote 77: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 19.]
Although it is always hazardous to found a medical diagnosis on doc.u.ments purely historical, several men of science have attempted to define the pathological conditions which rendered the young girl subject to false perceptions of sight and hearing.[78] Owing to the rapid strides made by psychiatry during recent years, I have consulted an eminent man of science, who is thoroughly conversant with the present stage attained by this branch of pathology, to which he has himself rendered important service. I asked Doctor Georges Dumas, Professor at the Sorbonne, whether sufficient material exists for science to make a retrospective diagnosis of Jeanne's case. He replied to my inquiry in a letter which appears as the first Appendix to this work.[79]
[Footnote 78: Briere de Boismont, _De l'hallucination historique, ou etude medico-psychique sur les voix et les revelations de Jeanne d'Arc_, 1861, in 8vo. Le Vicomte de Mouchy, _Jeanne d'Arc, etude historique et psychologique_, Montpellier, 1868, in 8vo, 67 pp.]
[Footnote 79: Vol. ii, Appendix i.]
With such a subject I am not qualified to deal. But it does lie within my province to make an observation concerning the hallucinations of Jeanne d'Arc, which has been suggested to me by a study of the doc.u.ments. This observation is of infinite significance. I shall be careful to restrict it to the limits prescribed by the object and the nature of this work.
Those visionaries, who believe they are entrusted with a divine mission, are distinguished by certain characteristics from other inspired persons. When mystics of this cla.s.s are studied and compared with one another, resemblances are found to exist which may extend to very slight details: certain of their words and acts are identical.