Part 120 (1/2)
[Footnote 2609: _Ibid._, p. 280.]
[Footnote 2610: _Ibid._, pp. 279, 280. G. Lefevre-Pontalis, _La fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 6, note 1.]
The youngest, Pierre, or Pierrelot, who had fallen into the hands of the Burgundians before Compiegne at the same time as Jeanne, had just been liberated from the prison of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of Vergy.[2611]
[Footnote 2611: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 210. Lefevre de Saint-Remy, vol.
ii, p. 176.]
Both brothers believed that their sister had been burned at Rouen. But when they were told that she was living and wished to see them, they appointed a meeting at La-Grange-aux-Ormes, a village in the meadows of the Sablon, between the Seille and the Moselle, about two and a half miles south of Metz. They reached this place on the 20th of May.
There they saw her and recognised her immediately to be their sister; and she recognised them to be her brothers.[2612]
[Footnote 2612: _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 321, 324.]
She was accompanied by certain lords of Metz, among whom was a man right n.o.ble, Messire Nicole Lowe, who was chamberlain to Charles VII.[2613] By divers tokens these n.o.bles recognised her to be the Maid Jeanne who had taken King Charles to be crowned at Reims. These tokens were certain signs on the skin.[2614] Now there was a prophecy concerning Jeanne which stated her to have a little red mark beneath the ear.[2615] But this prophecy was invented after the events to which it referred. Consequently we may believe the Maid to have been thus marked. Was this the token by which the n.o.bles of Metz recognised her?
[Footnote 2613: _Le Metz ancien_ (Metz, 1856, 2 vol. in folio) by the Baron d'Hannoncelles, which contains the genealogy of Nicole Lowe.]
[Footnote 2614: ”And was recognised by divers tokens” (_enseignes_) (_Trial_, vol. v, p. 322). M. Lecoy de la Marche (_Une fausse Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Revue des questions historiques_, October, 1871, p. 565), and M. Gaston Save (_Jehanne des Armoises, Pucelle d'Orleans_, Nancy, 1893, p. 11) understand that she was recognised by several officers or ensigns (_enseignes_). I have interpreted _enseignes_ in the ordinary sense of marks on the skin, birth-marks. (Cf. La Curne.)]
[Footnote 2615: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 322.]
We do not know by what means she claimed to have escaped death; but there is reason to think[2616] that she attributed her deliverance to her holiness. Did she say that an angel had saved her from the fire?
It might be read in books how in the ancient amphitheatres lions licked the bare feet of virgins, how boiling oil was as soothing as balm to the bodies of holy martyrs; and how according to many of the old stories nothing short of the sword could take the life of G.o.d's maidens. These ancient histories rested on a sure foundation. But if such tales had been related of the fifteenth century they might have appeared less credible. And this damsel does not seem to have employed them to adorn her adventure. She was probably content to say that another woman had been burned in her place.
[Footnote 2616: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 354.]
According to a confession she made afterwards, she came from Rome, where, accoutred in harness of war, she had fought valiantly in the service of Pope Eugenius. She may even have told the Lorrainers of the feats of prowess she had there accomplished.
Now Jeanne had prophesied (at least so it was believed) that she would die in battle against the infidel and that her mantle would fall upon a maid of Rome. But such a saying, if it were known to these n.o.bles of Metz, would be more likely to denounce this so-called Jeanne as an imposture than witness to the truth of her mission.[2617] However this might be, they believed what this woman told them.
[Footnote 2617: Nevertheless see on this subject M. Germain Lefevre-Pontalis, who is our authority for this prophecy (Eberhard Windecke, pp. 108-111).]
Perhaps, like many a n.o.ble of the republic,[2618] they were more inclined to King Charles than to the Duke of Burgundy. And we may be sure that, chivalrous knights as they were, they esteemed chivalry wherever they found it; wherefore, because of her valour they admired the Maid; and they made her good cheer.
[Footnote 2618: The republic of Metz (W.S.)]
Messire Nicole Lowe gave her a charger and a pair of hose. The charger was worth thirty francs--a sum wellnigh royal--for of the two horses which at Soissons and at Senlis the King gave the Maid Jeanne, one was worth thirty-eight livres ten sous, and the other thirty-seven livres ten sous.[2619] Not more than sixteen francs had been paid for the horse with which she had been provided at Vaucouleurs.[2620]
[Footnote 2619: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in _Trial_, vol. v, p. 322. Chronique de Philippe de Vigneulles, in _Les chroniques Messines_ of Huguenin, p. 198.]
[Footnote 2620: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457. L. Champion, _Jeanne d'Arc ecuyere_, ch. ii, ch. vi.]
Nicole Grognot, governor of the town,[2621] offered a sword to the sister of the Du Lys brothers; Aubert Boullay presented her with a hood.[2622]
[Footnote 2621: Variant of _La chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_ sent from Metz to Pierre du Puy, in _Trial_, vol. v, pp. 322, 324.]
[Footnote 2622: _Ibid._, pp. 322, 324.]
She rode her horse with the same skill which seven years earlier, if we may believe some rather mythical stories, had filled with wonder the old Duke of Lorraine.[2623] And she spoke certain words to Messire Nicole Lowe which confirmed him in his belief that she was indeed that same Maid Jeanne who had fared forth into France. She had the ready tongue of a prophetess, and spoke in symbols and parables, revealing nought of her intent.
[Footnote 2623: D. Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. vii. Proofs and ill.u.s.trations, col. vi.]
Her power would not come to her before Saint John the Baptist's Day, she said. Now this was the very time which the Maid, after the Battle of Patay, in 1429, had fixed for the extermination of the English in France.[2624]