Part 39 (2/2)

[Footnote 929: Opinion of Martin Berruyer, in Lanery d'Arc, _Memoires et consultations_, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 930: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 78, 214.]

There was no one left behind the palisades. But if she had gone and found any of the enemy there she would first have offered them peace.

Of this her subsequent behaviour within the city walls is positive proof. Her mission was not to contribute to the defence of Orleans plans of campaign or stratagems of war; her share in the work of deliverance was higher and n.o.bler. To suffering men, weak, unhappy, and selfish, she brought the invincible forces of love and faith, the virtue of sacrifice.

My Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who regarded Jeanne's mission as purely religious, and who would have been greatly astonished had any one told him that he ought to consult this peasant on military matters,[931] appeared as if he did not understand the reproaches she addressed to him. And he went away to see that operations were carried out according to the plans he had made.

[Footnote 931: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 16.]

Everything had been carefully concerted and prepared, but a slight obstacle occurred. The barges that the people of Orleans were to send for the victuals were not yet unmoored.[932] They were sailing vessels, and, as the wind was blowing from the east, they could not set out. No one knew how long they would be delayed, and time was precious. Jeanne said confidently to those who were growing anxious: ”Wait a little, for in G.o.d's name everything shall enter the town.”[933]

[Footnote 932: _Ibid._, p. 78. _Journal du siege_, pp. 74, 75.

_Chronique de la fete_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 290.]

[Footnote 933: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105. _Chronique du la Pucelle_, p. 284.]

She was right. The wind changed: the sails were unfurled, and the barges were borne up the river by a favourable wind, so strong that one boat was able to tow two or three others.[934] Without hindrance they pa.s.sed the Saint-Loup bastion. My Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d sailed in one of these boats with Nicole de Giresme, Grand Prior of France of the order of Rhodes. And the flotilla came to the port of Checy, where it remained at anchor all night.[935] It was decided that the relieving army should that night encamp at the port of Bouchet and guard the convoy by watching down the river, while one detachment was stationed near the Islands of Checy to watch up the river in the direction of Jargeau. In company with certain captains, and with a body of men-at-arms and archers, the Maid followed the bank as far as l'ile-aux-Bourdons.[936]

[Footnote 934: Boucher de Molandon, _La delivrance d'Orleans et l'inst.i.tution de la fete du 8 mai, Chronique anonyme du XV'e siecle_, Orleans, 1883, in 8vo, pp. 28, 29.]

[Footnote 935: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 6. _Journal du siege_, p. 75.]

[Footnote 936: _Chronique de la fete_, in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 290.

Morosini, vol. iii, p. 23, note 5. Boucher de Molandon, _Premiere expedition de Jeanne d'Arc_, pp. 52-56.]

The lords who had brought the convoy decided that they would set out immediately after the unloading. Having accomplished the first part of its task, the army would return to Blois to fetch the remaining victuals and ammunition, for everything had not been brought at once.

Hearing that the soldiers, with whom she had come, were going away, Jeanne wished to go with them; and, after having so urgently asked to be taken to Orleans, now that she was before the gates of the city, her one idea was to go back.[937] Thus is the soul of the mystic blown hither and thither by the breath of the Spirit. Now as always Jeanne was guided by impulses purely spiritual. She would not be parted from these soldiers because she believed they had made their peace with G.o.d, and she feared that she might not find others as contrite. For her, victory or defeat depended absolutely on whether the combatants were in a state of grace or of sin. To lead them to confession was her only art of war; no other science did she know, whether for fighting behind ramparts or in the open field.[938]

[Footnote 937: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 285. This doc.u.ment very untrustworthy as a whole is in certain pa.s.sages a better authority than _Le journal du siege_.]

[Footnote 938: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 104, 105 (Pasquerel's evidence).]

”As for entering the town,” she said, ”it would hurt me to leave my men, and I ought not to do it. They have all confessed, and in their company I should not fear the uttermost power of the English.”[939]

[Footnote 939: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 284, 285.]

In reality, as one may well imagine, whether or no they had confessed, whether they were near or far from her, these mercenaries committed all the sins compatible with the simplicity of their minds. But the innocent damsel did not see them. Sensitive to things invisible, her eyes were closed to things material.

She was confirmed in her resolution to return to Blois by the captains who had brought her and who wanted to take her back, alleging the King's command. They wished to keep her because she brought good luck.

My Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, however, saw serious obstacles and even dangers in the way of her return.[940] In the state in which he had left the people of Orleans, if their Maid were not straightway brought before them they would rise in fury and despair, with cries, threats, rioting, and violence; everything was to be feared, even ma.s.sacres. He entreated the captains, in the King's interest, to agree to Jeanne's entering Orleans; and without great difficulty, he induced them to return to Blois without her. But Jeanne did not give in so quickly. He besought her to decide to cross the Loire. She refused and with such insistence that he must have realised how difficult it is to influence a saint. It was necessary for one of the lords who had brought her, the Sire de Rais or the Sire de Lore, to join his entreaties to those of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and to say to her: ”a.s.suredly you must go, for we promise to return to you shortly.”[941]

[Footnote 940: ”_Ex tunc dictus deponens habuit bonam spem de ea et plus quam ante_,” _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 6.]

[Footnote 941: _Timens ne recedere vellent et quod opus remaneret imperfectum_, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 78. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p.

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