Part 89 (2/2)
[Footnote 2040: _Ibid._, p. 151.]
Great was the mourning on the Loire when the inhabitants of the towns loyal to King Charles learnt the disaster which had befallen the Maid.
The people, who venerated her as a saint, who went so far as to say that she was the greatest of all G.o.d's saints after the Blessed Virgin Mary, who erected images of her in the chapels of saints, who ordered ma.s.ses to be said for her, and collects in the churches, who wore leaden medals on which she was represented as if the Church had already canonized her,[2041] did not withdraw their trust, but continued to believe in her.[2042] Such faithfulness scandalized the doctors and masters of the University, who reproached the hapless Maid herself with it. ”Jeanne,” they said, ”hath so seduced the Catholic people, that many have adored her as a saint in her presence, and now in her absence they adore her still.”[2043]
[Footnote 2041: Vallet de Viriville, _Note sur deux medailles de plomb relatives a Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1861, in 8vo, 30 pages. Forgeais, _Notice sur les plombs histories trouves dans la Seine_, Paris, 1860, in 8vo. J. Quicherat, _Medaille frappee en l'honneur de la Pucelle, Six dessins sur Jeanne d'Arc tires d'un ma.n.u.scrit du XV'e siecle_, in _L'autographe_, No. 24, 15 Nov., 1864.]
[Footnote 2042: P. Lanery d'Arc, _Le culte de Jeanne d'Arc au XV'e siecle_, Paris, 1887, in 8vo, 29 pages.]
[Footnote 2043: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 290.]
This was indeed true of many folk and many places. The councillors of the town of Tours ordered public prayers to be offered for the deliverance of the Maid. There was a public procession in which took part the canons of the cathedral church, the clergy of the town, secular and regular, all walking barefoot.[2044]
[Footnote 2044: Carreau, _Histoire ma.n.u.scrite de Touraine_, in _Proces_, vol. v, pp. 253, 254.]
In the towns of Dauphine prayers for the Maid were said at ma.s.s.
”_Collect._ O G.o.d, all powerful and eternal, who, in thy holy and ineffable mercy, hast commanded the Maid to restore and deliver the realm of France, and to repulse, confound and annihilate her enemies, and who hast permitted her, in the accomplishment of this holy work, ordained by thee, to fall into the hands and into the bonds of her enemies, we beseech thee, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints to deliver her out of their hands, without her having suffered any hurt, in order that she may finish the work whereto thou hast sent her.”
”For the sake of Jesus Christ, etc.”
”_Secret._ O G.o.d all powerful, Father of virtues, let thy holy benediction descend upon this sacrifice; let thy wondrous power be made manifest, that by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, it may deliver the Maid from the prisons of the enemy so that she may finish the work whereto thou hast sent her.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.”
”_Post Communion._ O G.o.d all powerful, incline thine ear and listen unto the prayers of thy people: by the virtue of the Sacrament we have just received, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, burst the bonds of the Maid, who, in the fulfilment of thy commands, hath been and is still confined in the prisons of our enemy; through thy divine compa.s.sion and thy mercy, permit her, freed from peril, to accomplish the work whereto thou hast sent her. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.”[2045]
[Footnote 2045: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104. E. Maignien, _Oraisons latines pour la delivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_. Gren.o.ble, 1867, in 8vo (_Revue des Societes savantes_, vol. iv, pp. 412-414). G. de Braux, _Trois oraisons pour la delivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Journal de la Societe d'Archeologie Lorraine_, June, 1887, pp. 125, 127.]
Learning that the Maid, whom he had once suspected of evil intentions and then recognised to be wholly good, had just fallen into the hands of the enemy of the realm, Messire Jacques Gelu, my Lord Archbishop of Embrun, despatched to King Charles a messenger bearing a letter touching the line of conduct to be adopted in such an unhappy conjuncture.[2046]
[Footnote 2046: _Vita Jacobi Gelu ab ipso conscripta_, in _Bulletin de la Societe archeologique de Touraine_, iii, 1867, pp. 266 _et seq._ The Rev. Father Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313 _et seq._]
Addressing the Prince, whom in childhood he had directed, Messire Jacques begins by recalling what the Maid had wrought for him by G.o.d's help and her own great courage. He beseeches him to examine his conscience and see whether he has in any wise sinned against the grace of G.o.d. For it may be that in wrath against the King the Lord hath permitted this virgin to be taken. For his own honour he urges him to strain every effort for her deliverance.
”I commend unto you,” he said, ”that for the recovery of this damsel and for her ransom, ye spare neither measures nor money, nor any cost, unless ye be ready to incur the ineffaceable disgrace of an ingrat.i.tude right unworthy.”
Further he advises that prayers be ordered to be said everywhere for the deliverance of the Maid, so that if this disaster should have befallen through any misdoing of the King or of his people, it might please G.o.d to pardon it.[2047]
[Footnote 2047: _Ibid._, pp. 319, 320.]
Such were the words, lacking neither in strength nor in charity, of this aged prelate, who was more of a hermit than of a bishop. He remembered having been the Dauphin's Councillor in evil days and he dearly loved the King and the kingdom.
The Sire de la Tremouille and the Lord Archbishop of Reims have been suspected of desiring to get rid of the Maid and of having promoted her discomfiture. There are those who think they have discovered the treacherous methods employed to compa.s.s her defeat at Paris, at La Charite and at Compiegne.[2048] But in good sooth such methods were unnecessary. At Paris there was but little chance of her being able to cross the moat, since neither she nor her companions in arms had ascertained its depth; besides, it was not the fault of the King and his Council that the Carmelites, on whom they relied, failed to open the gates. The siege of La Charite was conducted not by the Maid, but by the Sire d'Albret and divers valiant captains. In the sortie from Compiegne, it was certain that any dallying at Margny would cause the French to be cut off by the English from Venette and by the Burgundians from Clairoix and to be promptly overcome by the Burgundians from Coudun. They forgot themselves in the delights of pillage; and the inevitable result followed.
[Footnote 2048: Thoma.s.sin, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 312. _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 323. _Chronique de Tournai_, in _Recueil des chroniques de Flandre_, vol. iii, p. 415.
_Chronique de Normandie_, ed. A. h.e.l.lot, Rouen, 1881, in 8vo, pp. 77, 78. _Chronique de Lorraine_, ed. Abbe Marchal (_Recueil de doc.u.ments sur l'histoire de Lorraine_, vol. v).]
And why should the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Archbishop have wanted to get rid of the Maid? She did not trouble them; on the contrary they found her useful and employed her. By her prophecy that she would cause the King to be anointed at Reims, she rendered an immense service to my Lord Regnault, who more than any other profited from the Champagne expedition, more even than the King, who, while he succeeded in being crowned, failed to recover Paris and Normandy.
Notwithstanding this great advantage, the Lord Archbishop felt no grat.i.tude towards the Maid; he was a hard man and an egoist. But did he wish her harm? Had he not need of her? At Senlis he was maintaining the King's cause; and he was maintaining it well, we may be sure, since, with the towns that had returned to their liege lord, he was defending his own episcopal and ducal city, his benefices and his canonries. Did he not intend to use her against the Burgundians? We have already noted reasons for believing that towards the end of March, he had asked the Sire de la Tremouille to send her from Sully with a goodly company to wage war in l'ile-de-France. And our hypothesis is confirmed when, after they had been unhappily deprived of Jeanne's services, we find the bishop and the Chamberlain driven to replace her by someone likewise favoured with visions and claiming to be sent of G.o.d. Unable to discover a maid they had to make s.h.i.+ft with a youth. This resolution they took a few days after Jeanne's capture and this is how it came about.
<script>