Part 57 (1/2)
[Footnote 1338: _Voyages du heraut Berry_, Bibl. Nat. ms. fr. 5873, fol. 7.]
The campaign was already arranged, and that very skilfully.
Communications had been opened with Troyes and Chalons. By letters and messages from a few notables of Reims it was made known to King Charles that if he came they would open to him the gates of their town. He even received three or four citizens, who said to him, ”Go forth in confidence to our city of Reims. It shall not be our fault if you do not enter therein.”[1339]
[Footnote 1339: Jean Rogier in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 284-285.]
Such a.s.surances emboldened the Royal Council; and the march into Champagne was resolved upon.
The army a.s.sembled at Gien; it increased daily. The n.o.bles of Brittany and Poitou came in in great numbers, most of them mounted on sorry steeds[1340] and commanding but small companies of men. The poorest equipped themselves as archers, and in default of better service were ready to act as bowmen. Villeins and tradesmen came likewise.[1341]
From the Loire to the Seine and from the Seine to the Somme the only cultivated land was round _chateaux_ and fortresses. Most of the fields lay fallow. In many places fairs and markets had been suspended. Labourers were everywhere out of work. War, after having ruined all trades, was now the only trade. Says Eustache Deschamps, ”All men will become squires. Scarce any artisans are left.”[1342] At the place of meeting there a.s.sembled thirty thousand men, of whom many were on foot and many came from the villages, giving their services in return for food. There were likewise monks, valets, women and other camp-followers. And all this mult.i.tude was an hungered. The King went to Gien and summoned the Queen who was at Bourges.[1343]
[Footnote 1340: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 312. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, pp. 93-94. _Journal du siege_, p. 108. Cagny, p. 157.
Morosini, pp. 84-85. Loiseleur, _Compte des depenses_, pp. 90, 91.]
[Footnote 1341: ”_Gens de guerre et de commun_,” says Perceval de Cagny, p. 157.]
[Footnote 1342: Eustache Deschamps ed. Queux de Saint-Hilaire and G.
Raynaud, vol. i, p. 159, _pa.s.sim_. Th. Basin, _Histoire de Charles VII et de Louis XI_, vol. i, p. 44. Letter from Nicholas de Clamanges to Gerson, LIV.]
[Footnote 1343: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 308. Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. _Journal du siege_, p. 180. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 85.]
His idea was to take her to Reims and have her crowned with him, following the example of Queen Blanche of Castille, of Jeanne de Valois, and of Queen Jeanne, wife of King John. But queens had not usually been crowned at Reims; Queen Ysabeau, mother of the present King, had received the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Rouen in the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris.[1344] Before her time, the wives of the kings, following the example set by Berthe, wife of Pepin the Short, generally came to Saint-Denys to receive the crown of gold, of sapphire and of pearls given by Jeanne of evreux to the monks of the Abbey.[1345] Sometimes the queens were crowned with their husbands, sometimes alone and in a different place; many had never been crowned at all.
[Footnote 1344: S.J. Morand, _Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle royale du Palais_, Paris, 1790, in 4to, p. 77, and _pa.s.sim_.]
[Footnote 1345: Le P. J. Doublet, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys en France_, Paris, 1625, in fol., ch. 1, pp. 373 _et seq._ Dom Felibien, _Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denis_, 1706, in fol., pp. 203, 275, 543.]
That King Charles should have thought of taking Queen Marie on this expedition proves that he did not antic.i.p.ate great fatigue or great danger. Nevertheless, at the last moment the plan was changed. The Queen, who had come to Gien, was sent back to Bourges. The King set out without her.[1346]
[Footnote 1346: _Journal du siege_, p. 107. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 310.]
Quand le roy s'en vint en France, Il feit oindre ses houssiaulx, Et la royne lui demande: Ou veult aller cest damoiseaulx?[1347]
[Footnote 1347: When the King set out in France, he had his gaiters greased; and the Queen asked him: whither will wend these damoiseaux?
Quoted according to _La Chronique Messine_ by Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 424, note 1.]
In reality the Queen asked nothing. She was ill-favoured and weak of will.[1348] But the song says that the King on his departure had his old gaiters greased because he had no new ones. Those old jokes about the poverty of the King of Bourges still held good.[1349] The King had not grown rich. It was customary to pay the men-at-arms a part of their wages in advance. At Gien each fighting man received three francs. It did not seem much, but they hoped to gain more on the way.[1350]
[Footnote 1348: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. iv, p.
88.]
[Footnote 1349: See _ante_, pp. 148-152.]
[Footnote 1350: Perceval de Cagny, p. 157. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 87. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 313.]
On Friday, the 24th of June, the Maid set out from Orleans for Gien.
On the morrow she dictated from Gien a letter to the inhabitants of Tournai, telling them how the English had been driven from all their strongholds on the Loire and discomfited in battle. In this letter she invited them to come to the anointing of King Charles at Reims and called upon them to continue loyal Frenchmen. Here is the letter:
[cross symbol] JHESUS [cross symbol] MARIA.
Fair Frenchmen and loyal, of the town of Tournay, from this place the Maid maketh known unto you these tidings: that in eight days, by a.s.sault or otherwise, she hath driven the English from all the strongholds they held on the River Loire. Know ye that the Earl of Suffort, Lapoulle his brother, the Sire of Tallebord, the Sire of Scallez and my lords Jean Falscof and many knights and captains have been taken, and the brother of the Earl of Suffort and Glasdas slain. I beseech you to remain good and loyal Frenchmen; and I beseech and entreat you that ye make yourselves ready to come to the anointing of the fair King Charles at Rains, where we shall shortly be, and come ye to meet us when ye know that we draw nigh. To G.o.d I commend you. G.o.d keep you and give you his grace that ye may worthily maintain the good cause of the realm of France. Written at Gien the xxvth day of June.