Joan of Arc Biography Part 8
By Jules Michelet The Maid of Orleans
What they had was, principally, pris
oners, Frenchmen. No stipulation on
behalf of these unhappy men had been
made by Charles's counsellors who
drew up the terms of surrefiiler. The
Pucelle alone thought of them; and
when the English were about to march
forth with their manacled prisoners,
she stationed herself at the gates, ex
claiming, " my God ! they shall not
bear them away I " She detained them,
and the king paid their ransom.
Master of Troyes on the 9th of July,
on the 15th he made his entry into
Rheims; and on the 17th (Sunday) he
was crowned. That very morning the
Pucelle, fulfilling the gospel command
to seek reconciliation before offering
sacrifice, dictated a beautiful letter to
the Duke of Burgundy; without recalling
any thing painful, without irritating, without humiliating any one,
she said to him with infinite tact and
nobleness - " Forgive one another
heartily, as good Christians ought to
do."
Charles Vll. was anointed by the
archbishop with oil out of the holy
ampulla, brought from SaintRemy's.
Conformably with the antique ritual,
he was installed on his throne by the
spiritual peers, and served by lay peers
both during the ceremony of the coro
nation and the banquet which followed.
Then he went to St. Marculph's to
touch for the king's evil. All ceremo
nies thus duly observed, without the
omission of a single particular, Charles
was at length, according to the belief
of the time, the true and the only king.
The English might now crown Henry ;
but in the estimation of the people,
this new coronation would only be a
parody of the other.
At the moment the crown was placed
on Charles's head, the Pucelle threw
herself on her knees, and embraced his
legs with a flood of tears. All present
melted into tears as well.
She is reported to have addressed
him as follows : "0 gentle king, now
is fulfilled the will of God, who was
pleased that I should raise the siege
of Orleans, and should bring you to
your city of Rheims to be crowned and
anointed, showing you to be true king
and rightful possessor of the realm of
France."
The Pucelle was in the right: she
had done and finished what she had to
do : and so, amidst the joy of this tri
umphant solemnity, she entertained the
idea, the presentiment, perhaps, of her
approaching end. When, on entering
Reims with the king, the citizens came
out to meet them singing hymns, " Oh,
the worthy, devout people ! " she ex
claimed, ..." I If must die, happy
should I feel to be buried here." -
" Jehanne," said the archbishop to her,
"where then do you think you will
die?" - "I have no idea; where it
shall please God. ... I wish it would
please him that I should go and tend
sheep with my sister and my brothers.
. . . They would be so happy to see
me ! ... At least, I have done what
our Lord commanded me to do.'' And
raising her eyes to heaven, she re
turned thanks. All who saw her at
that moment, says the old chronicle,
" believed more firmly than ever that
she was sent of God."
CARDINAL WINCHESTER.
Such was the virtue of the corona
tion, and its allpowerful effect in
northern France, that from this mo
ment the expedition seemed but to be
a peaceable taking of possession, a
triumph, a following up of the Rheims
festivities. The roads became smooth
before the king; the cities gpened
their .gates and lowered their draw
bridges. The march was as if a royal
pilgrimage from the cathedral of Rheims
to St. Medard's, Soissons, - and Notre
Darae, Laon. Stopping for a few days
in each'city, and then riding on at his
pleasure, he made his entry into Ch3,t
eauThierry, Provins, whence rested
and refreshed, he resumed his trium
phal progress towards Picardy.
Were there any English left in
Prance? - It might be doubted.
Since the battle of Patay, not a word
had been heard about Bedford; not
that he lacked activity or courage, but
that he had exhausted his last re
sources. One fact alone will serve to
show the extent of his distress - he
could no longer pay his parliament:
the courts were therefore closed, and
even the entry of the young king
Henry, could not be circumstantially
recorded, according to custom, in the
registers, " for want of parchment."
So situated, Bedford could not
choose his means ; and he was obliged
to have recourse to the man whom of
all the world he least loved, his uncle,
the rich and allpowerful cardinal Win
chester, who, not less avaricious than
ambitious, began haggling about terms,
and speculated upon delay. The
agreement with him was not con
cluded until the 1st of July, two days
after the defeat of Patay. Charles
VII. then entered Troyes, Rheims -
Paris was in alarm, and Winchester
was still in England. To make Paris
safe, Bedford summoned the Duke of
Burgundy, who came, indeed, but al
most alone; and the only advantage
which the regent derived from his
presence was getting him to figure in
an assembly of notables, to speak
therein, and again to recapitulate the
lamentable story of his father's death.
This done, he took his departure;
leaving with Bedford, as all the aid he
could spare, some Picard menatarms,
and even exacting, in return, posses
sion of the city of Meaux.
There was no hope but in Winchester. This priest reigned in England.
His nephew, the Protector, Gloucester,
the leader of the party of the nobles,
had ruined himself by his imprudence
and follies. Prom year to year, his
influence at the council table had di
minished, and Winchester's had increased.
He reduced the protector
to a cipher, and even managed yearly
to pare down the income assigned to
the protectorate : this, in a land where
each man is strictly valued according
to his rental, was murdering him.
Winchester, on the contrary, was the
wealthiest of the English princes, and
one of the great pluralists of the
world. Power follows, as wealth
grows. The cardinal, and the rich
bishops of Canterbury, of York, of
London, of Ely, and Bath, constituted
the council, and if they allowed lay
men to sit there, it was only on condi
tion that they should not open theii*
lips : to important sittings, they were
not even summoned. The English
government, as might^ have been fore
seen from the moment the house of
Lancaster ascended the throne, had
become entirely episcopal ; a fact evident
on the face of the acts passed at
this period. In 1429, the chancellor
opens the pariiament with a tremen
dous denunciation of heresy ; and the
council prepares articles against the
nobles, whom he accuses of brigand
age, and of surrounding themselves
with armies of retainers.
In order to raise the cardinal's power
to the highest pitch, it required Bedford to be sunk as low in France as
Gloucester was in England, that he
should be reduced to summon Win
chester to his aid, and that the latter,
at the head of an army, should come
over and crown the young Henry VI.
Winchester had the army ready. Hav
ing been charged by the pope with a
crusade against the Hussites of Bohe
mia, he had raised, under this pretext,
several thousand men. The pope had
assigned him, for this object, the money
arising from the sale of indulgences;
the council of England gave him more
money still to detain his levies in
Prance. To the great astonishment
of the crusaders they found themselves
sold by the cardinal; who was paid
twice over for them, paid for an army
which served him to make himself
king.
With this army, Winchester was to
make sure of Paris, and to bring and
crown young Henry there. But this
coronation could only secure the car
dinal's power, in proportion as he
should succeed in decrying that of
Charles VII., in dishonoring his victo
ries, and ruining him in the minds of
the people. Now, he had recourse, as
we shall see, to one and the same
means (a very efficacious means in
that day) against Charles VII. in
France, and against Gloucester in
England - a charge of sorcery.
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