Part 63 (1/2)
As early as the 1st of July Captain Philibert de Moslant wrote to them from Nogent-sur-Seine, where he was with his Burgundian company, that if they needed him he would come to their help like a good Christian.[1481] They feigned not to understand. After all, the Lord Philibert was not their captain. What he proposed to do was, as he said, only out of Christian charity. The notables of Reims, who did not wish for deliverance, had to beware, above all, of their natural deliverer, the Sire de Chastillon, Grand Steward of France, the commander of the town.[1482] And they must needs request help in such a manner as not to obtain their request, for fear of being like the Israelites, of whom it is written: _Et tribuit eis pet.i.tionem eorum_.
[Footnote 1481: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 286 _et seq._ Varin, pp. 600 _et seq._]
[Footnote 1482: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, p. 18. Dom Marlot, _Hist. metrop. Remensis_, vol. ii, pp. 709 _et seq._]
When the royal army was yet before the walls of Troyes, a herald appeared at the gates of Reims, bearing a letter given by the King, at Brinion-l'Archeveque, on Monday, the 4th of July. This letter was delivered to the Council. ”You may have heard tidings,” said the King to his good people of Reims, ”of the success and victory it hath pleased G.o.d to vouchsafe unto us over our ancient enemies, the English, before the town of Orleans and since then at Jargeau, Beaugency, and Meung-sur-Loire, in each of which places our enemies have received grievous hurt; all their leaders and others to the number of four thousand have been slain or taken prisoners. Such things having happened, more by divine grace than human skill, we, according to the advice of our Princes of the Blood and the members of our Great Council, are coming to the town of Reims to receive our anointing and coronation. Wherefore we summon you, on the loyalty and obedience you owe us, to dispose yourselves to receive us in the accustomed manner as you have done for our predecessors.”[1483]
[Footnote 1483: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 291-292.]
And King Charles, adopting towards the citizens of Reims that same wise benignity he had shown to the citizens of Troyes, promised them full pardon and oblivion.
”Be not deterred,” he said, ”by matters that are past and the fear that we may remember them. Be a.s.sured that if now ye act towards us as ye ought, ye shall be dealt with as becometh good and loyal subjects.”
He even asked them to send notables to treat with him. ”If, in order to be better informed concerning our intentions, certain citizens of Reims would come to us with the herald, whom we send, we should be well pleased. They may come in safety and in such numbers as shall seem good to them.”[1484]
[Footnote 1484: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 291.]
On the delivery of this letter the Council was convoked, but it so befell that there were not enough aldermen to deliberate; hence the Council was relieved from a serious embarra.s.sment. Whereupon the common folk were a.s.sembled in the various quarters of the city, and from the citizens thus consulted was obtained the following crafty declaration: ”It is our intention to live and die with the Council and the Notables. According to their advice we shall act in concord and in peace, without murmuring or making answer, unless it be by the counsel and decree of the Commander of Reims and his Lieutenant.”[1485]
[Footnote 1485: _Ibid._, p. 292. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, pp. 17 _et seq._]
The Sire de Chastillon, Commander of the town, was then at Chateau-Thierry with his lieutenants, Jean Cauchon and Thomas de Bazoches, both of them knights. The citizens of Reims deemed it wise that he should see King Charles's letter. Their Bailie, Guillaume Hodierne, went to the Lord Captain and showed it to him. Most faithfully did the Bailie express the sentiments of the people of Reims: he asked the Sire de Chastillon to come to their deliverance, but he asked in such a manner that he did not come. That was the all-important point; for by not appealing to him they laid themselves open to a charge of treason, while if he did come they risked having to endure a siege grievous and dangerous.
With this object the Bailie declared that the citizens of Reims, desirous to communicate with their captains, were willing to receive him if he were accompanied by no more than fifty horse. Herein they displayed their good will, being ent.i.tled to refuse to receive a garrison within their walls; this privilege notwithstanding, they consented to admit fifty horse, which meant about two hundred fighting men. As the citizens had foreseen, the Sire de Chastillon judged such a number insufficient for his safety. He demanded as the conditions of his coming, that the town should be victualled and put in a state of defence, that he should enter it with three or four hundred combatants, that the defence of the city as well as of the castle should be entrusted to him, and that there should be delivered up to him five or six notables as hostages. On these conditions he declared himself ready to live and die for them.[1486]
[Footnote 1486: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 292, 293. Varin, _Archives de Reims_, pp. 910, 912. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, p. 18.]
He marched with his company to within a short distance of the town, and then made known to the townsfolk that he had come to succour them.[1487]
[Footnote 1487: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 295. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, pp. 18, 19.]
The English were indeed recruiting troops wherever they could and pressing all manner of folk into their service. They were said to be arming even priests; and the Regent was certainly pressing into his service the crusaders disembarked in France, whom the Cardinal of Winchester was intending to lead against the Hussites.[1488] As we may imagine, King Henry's Council did not fail to inform the inhabitants of Reims of the armaments which were being a.s.sembled. On the 3rd of July they were told that the troops were crossing the sea, and on the 10th Colard de Mailly, Bailie of Vermandois, announced that they had landed. But these tidings failed to inspire the folk of Champagne with any great confidence in the power of the English. While the Sire de Chastillon was promising that in forty days they should have a fine large army from beyond the seas, King Charles with thirty thousand combatants was but a few miles from their gates. The Sire de Chastillon perceived, what he had previously suspected, that he was tricked. The citizens of Reims refused to admit him. Nothing remained for him but to turn round and join the English.[1489]
[Footnote 1488: Falconbridge, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 451. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, pp. 101, 102. _Journal du siege_, p.
118. Rymer, _Foedera_, vol. x, p. 424. S. Bougenot, _Notices et extraits des ma.n.u.scrits interessants l'histoire de France conserves a la Bibliotheque imperiale de Vienne_, p. 62. Raynaldi, _Annales ecclesiastici_, vol. ix, pp. 77, 78. Morosini, vol. iv, supplement, xvii.]
[Footnote 1489: J. Rogier, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp. 295, 298.]
On the 12th of July, from my Lord Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop and Duke of Reims, the townsfolk received a letter requesting them to make ready for the King's coming.[1490]
[Footnote 1490: _Ibid._, p. 297. L. Paris, _Cabinet historique_, 1865, p. 77.]
The Council of the city having a.s.sembled on that day, the clerk proceeded to draw up an official report of its deliberations:
”... After having represented to my Lord of Chastillon that he is the Commander and that the lords and the ma.s.s of the people who....”[1491]
[Footnote 1491: H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, p. 19.]
He wrote no more. Finding it difficult to protest their loyalty to the English while making ready King Charles's coronation, and considering it imprudent to recognize a new prince without being forced to it, the citizens abruptly renounced the silver of speech and took refuge in the gold of silence.
On Sat.u.r.day, the 16th, King Charles took up his quarters in the Castle of Sept-Saulx, ten miles from the city where he was to be crowned. This fortress had been erected two hundred years before by the warlike predecessors of my Lord Regnault. Its proud keep commanded the crossing of the Vesle.[1492] There the King received the citizens of Reims, who came in great numbers to do him homage.[1493] Then, with the Maid and his whole army, he resumed his march. Having traversed the last stage of the highroad which wound along the bank of the Vesle, he entered the great city of Champagne at nightfall. The southern gate, called Dieulimire, lowered its drawbridge and raised its two portcullises to let him pa.s.s.[1494]
[Footnote 1492: Perceval de Cagny, p. 159. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 97; _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 320. _Chronique des Cordeliers_, fol. 85, v'o. _Journal du siege_, p. 112. Bergier, _Poeme sur la tap.i.s.serie de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 112. H. Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, pp. 20, 21. F. Pinon, _Notice sur Sept-Saulx_, in _Travaux de l'academie de Reims_, vol. vi, p. 328.]