by Allen Williamson

Life Summary of Saint Joan of Arc (Jehanne Darc)

"Joan was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years." - Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II; from his book "The Birth of Britain".

Segment 1: Childhood

On the night of the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th) at the end of the medieval Christmas season, in the year 1412 during the final waning period of relative peace secured by the Truce of Leulinghen, a baby was born to Jacques Darc and his wife Isabelle in the village of Domrémy. She was christened Jehanne ("Joan"), after her godmothers Jehanne Royer, Jehanne de Viteau, and Jehanne "the wife of Mayor Aubéry". Lord Perceval de Boulainvilliers later claimed that the roosters of the village, "like heralds of a new joy", hailed her birth by crowing long before dawn, allegedly to announce (as some later believed) a different type of dawn.

Her childhood was spent among the forests and strawberry-covered fields of the Meuse river valley, far from the northern regions where the political situation had become increasingly troubled. The throne at that time was occupied by Charles VI de Valois (aka Charles "the Mad"), whose frequent delusional periods rendered him unfit to govern. The monarchy had therefore been placed in the hands of several members of the Royal family (the Dukes of Orléans, Burgundy [Bourgogne], Berri, and Bourbon, plus Queen Isabel), and this warm extended family had become embroiled in an ugly civil war after Duke Louis of Orléans was assassinated on the orders of his cousin Duke Jean-sans-Peur de Burgundy in 1407. France would henceforth be divided between the Orléanist (or Armagnac) faction and their Burgundian rivals. In May 1413, when Jehanne was still a baby, the conflict produced the Cabochien Revolt in Paris. For several weeks the city was subjected to a violent uprising engineered by the Duke of Burgundy, led by a butcher named Simon Caboche, and egged on by a young clergyman and Burgundian partisan named Pierre Cauchon, whom Jehanne would later meet during a less pleasant period of her life.

War with England was renewed in 1415, when Jehanne was three, after negotiators failed to extend the Truce of Leulinghen. Citing his family's old claim to the French throne, King Henry V of England invaded Normandy in August of that year, quickly gaining the port city of Harfleur and subsequently defeating the French Royal army near the little village of Aginçourt on October 25th in one of the most lopsided battles of the long war. Although the English may have been outnumbered by nearly eight to one, their losses are estimated to have been no more than about 500, whereas the French may have lost up to 10,000 (about a fourth of their army), including as many as three Dukes, nine Counts, 92 Barons, and hundreds of lesser lords. The victory, greeted with joyous celebrations in England, was widely attributed to Henry V's piety. On the French side the battle produced shocked disbelief as word of the defeat slowly spread throughout the kingdom. King Charles is said to have exclaimed, "We are all lost and overthrown!" and shortly entered another of his "absent" periods; the aged Duke Jean de Berri lost generous numbers of his younger relatives and subsequently died brokenhearted eight months later; and the 50 year old Christine de Pisan, court writer and poet for the French Royal family and aristocracy, fell into a depression and finally entered a convent as a nun three years later when Paris came under English occupation. She would not emerge from obscurity to write her final poem until a certain farmer's daughter began to reverse the tide of the war.

Aginçourt decimated the French male aristocracy and severely weakened the Orléanist faction. Among the many nobles captured during the battle was Duke Charles d'Orléans himself, who was widely looked upon by both sides as a leader of prime importance (so much so that Henry V forbade him to be ransomed, dooming Charles to serve 25 years as a prisoner of war). Jehanne would later refer to him as "the sweet Duke".

Against this turbulent backdrop the members of the Darc family continued to farm their 50-some acres of land near the Meuse. Historians have long commented about the surprising amount of detailed information available about Jehanne's childhood, information which is somewhat paradoxically provided for us by an event which took place over 20 years after her death: when the English were finally driven from the site of her trial, steps were taken to launch an appeal of her case (generally referred to as the Rehabilitation Trial). During the long course of this appeal 115 witnesses were questioned by the Inquisition, including 22 of the villagers who had known her during her early years; movingly, some of them still referred to her by her childhood nickname, "Jhenette" ("little Joan"). According to these witnesses, she had been a dutiful child who helped her parents with the chores along with her other siblings: her three older brothers Jacquemin, Jean, and Pierre, and her little sister Catherine. One of her godfathers, a farmer named Jean Moreau from the nearby village of Greux, later recalled that "she was such a good girl that almost everyone in Domrémy loved her". A group of her former childhood friends, or others of approximately the same age, also testified; these were: Hauviette [by then the wife of Gerardin de Sionne], Mengette [the wife of Jean Joyart], Simonin Musnier, Isabelette d'Epinal, Michel Lebuin, Gerard Guillemette, Jean Jaquard, Jean Waterin, and someone listed in the transcript merely as "Colin, son of Jean Colin of Greux"; these people remembered her as a "good, simple, sweet-natured girl" who "worked gladly" and "went to church gladly and often", especially to a forest chapel called Notre Dame de Bermont, to which she and her sister Catherine would bring candles in honor of the Virgin Mary. "She was greatly committed to the service of God and the Blessed Virgin," said Colin, "so that because of her devotion the other boys and I, who was young then, would laugh at her." Simonin Musnier remembered that "she helped those who were ill and gave alms to the poor, as I saw, because I was ill when I was a boy and Jehanne consoled me."

Later, Jehanne would say: "It was from my mother that I learned the Our Father (Pater Noster), the Hail Mary (Ave Maria), and the Apostles Creed (Credo)" and "to sew linen fabrics and to spin wool, and when it comes to spinning and sewing I fear no woman...". Catherine le Royer remembered that "she loved to spin wool, and spun well". She also loved to listen to the ringing of the church bells: Dominique Jacob, a priest of a nearby parish, remembered that "sometimes when they rang the bells for compline [around 9 pm] in the village church, she would go down on her knees; and it seemed to me that she said her prayers with devotion." Jean Waterin similarly recalled that "when she was in the fields and heard the bell tolling she would go down on her knees". She sometimes chased down Perrin Drappier, the churchwarden at Domrémy, if he was remiss in performing his duties: "when I did not ring the bell for compline she scolded me, saying that it was badly done; and then she promised to give me pieces of wool [or possibly "flat cakes"])" so that I would have the bells rung for compline diligently".

In 1419 her father rented the nearby Château de l'Ile from a local aristocratic family to serve as a secure sanctuary for the villagers and their livestock. On the wider stage of European politics, the same year witnessed the assassination of Duke Jean-sans-Peur de Burgundy by supporters of Charles de Ponthieu (the Dauphin, or claimant to the throne, who would later become Charles VII), leading Jean's successor Philippe-le-Bon to enter into full alliance with the English. Events now accelerated.

In 1420, when Jehanne was eight, the Treaty of Troyes granted Henry V eventual title to the kingdom of France and the hand of Catherine, daughter of King Charles "the Mad". The Dauphin was disowned, and France was divided between Henry V and the Duke of Burgundy. Among the men who helped negotiate the treaty was Pierre Cauchon, whose efforts were rewarded when the Duke of Burgundy secured him the episcopal position from which he would later prosecute Jehanne on behalf of the English.

In 1422 Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other, leaving the infant Henry VI as the nominal king of France. His regent in France, the Duke of Bedford, spent the next few years cementing alliances with the Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, and engaging Dauphinist forces in the field. The military situation swung in Bedford's favor with victories at Cravant on July 31, 1423 and at Verneuil on August 17, 1424, during which the Dauphin's Scottish allies were decimated in a smaller-scale version of Aginçourt. The Scots lost some of their enthusiasm for the war after that point. In the wake of defeat and frustration, demoralization set in within the Dauphinist faction.

Around that time, perhaps in the summer of 1424, the young farm girl from Domrémy said she began to experience visions. She would later explain: "I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid. And this voice came, about the hour of noon, in the summer time, in my father's garden..." A new chapter had begun for Jehanne and the various factions fighting for control of the Kingdom of France.

Segment 2: Voices

"She was therefore right to always trust in her [Voices]; for in truth Joan was liberated, as they promised, from the prison of the body by martyrdom and a great victory of patience." - Inquisitor Jean Bréhal, the judge who established her innocence during the Rehabilitation Trial; from his 'Recollectio' (June 1456)

Anno Domini 1424

Continuing her description of her first encounter with her voices, she said, "I heard the voice on my right, in the direction of the Church [i.e., the little Church of St. Rémy near her house], and rarely do I hear it without a light. This light comes from the same side as the voice.... It seemed to me a worthy voice, and I believed it was sent to me by God; after I had heard this voice the third time, I knew that it was the voice of an angel."

"It taught me to be good, to go regularly to church. It told me that I should come into France [i.e., territory loyal to the Dauphin]... This voice told me, two or three times a week, that I must go away and that I must come to France; and my father knew nothing of my leaving. The voice told me that I should go to France and I could no longer stay where I was. It told me that I should raise the siege laid to the city of Orléans. The voice told me also that I should go to Robert de Baudricourt at the town of Vaucouleurs, who was the captain of the said town, and he would provide people to go with me. And I replied that I was a poor girl who knew neither how to ride nor lead in war."

She said the first of these "voices" was Saint Michael: "It was Saint Michael, who I saw before my eyes; he was not alone, but was accompanied by many angels from Heaven... I saw them with my bodily eyes, as well as I am seeing you; and when they left, I wept and greatly wished that they should have taken me with them." "Saint Michael, when he came to me, told me that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would come to me and that I should act on their advice; that they were instructed to lead and advise me in what I had to do; and that I should believe in what they would say to me, for it was by God's order."

Meanwhile, the English victory at Verneuil was followed by a bitter dispute with Burgundy which nearly ended the alliance. The tiff had begun with a love affair and subsequent marriage between Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and Jacqueline of Hainault, the Duchess of Brabant and heiress of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland, territories which the Burgundians regarded as their own. Duke Humphrey was intent on securing his new wife's domains and therefore arrived in Artois with an army despite the objections of the English council. The English and Burgundians came to blows during a brief siege at Braine-le-Comte and the Duke of Burgundy challenged Gloucester to a personal duel, which the latter accepted before heading back to England with his new love interest, Eleanor Cobham. Jacqueline was left besieged in the city of Mons and was soon taken into custody by the Duke of Burgundy; when Gloucester declined to come to her aid, Jacqueline escaped to the city of Gouda in central Holland from which she began to rally the lords of that region to her cause. Gloucester, meanwhile, was engaged in a heated controversy with Henry Beaufort and the English Council, causing a rift which threatened to lead to civil war.

The ever-restless Duke of Burgundy set off another dispute with England by signing a defensive treaty with the Dauphin Charles and, while in Paris to inform Bedford of this latest snub, also decided to make advances towards the Countess of Salisbury, the young wife of one of the chief English commanders in France. Stung by this outrage, the Earl of Salisbury vowed to never serve in another army on the Burgundian side. One of the few factors holding the alliance together at this stage was Bedford and his wife Anne de Burgundy, sister of the Duke: the couple had married in order to tie England and Burgundy together, and they worked to keep their marriage happy and the military union stable. In December 1425 Bedford left for England to try to sort out the mess between the Duke of Gloucester and the Council; Anne worked to smooth things out with her brother.

During this period the Dauphin was cobbling together a government in the city of Bourges with the aid of those lords who were still loyal to him, plus a collection of bureaucrats whom the Burgundians had expelled from Paris. His position was probably not an enviable one: a few optimists have commented that he enjoyed the advantage of "interior lines" and could strike out in all directions at his enemies, but this is merely a euphemistic way of saying that he was nearly surrounded. Although he still retained the loyalty of much of the population, support among the great nobles was always lukewarm, and he had lost control of many of the most important cities in the kingdom. The English jokingly referred to him as "the King of Bourges"; some of his own people were less charitable, calling him "le falot" ("the comical one", a reference to his awkward appearance).

In Domrémy, Jehanne appears to have gained a degree of seriousness beyond her years. As she would later comment: "Since I learned that I must come into France [i.e., after the age of 12 or 13], I took as little part as possible in games or dancing..." This was also echoed by the witnesses at the Rehabilitation Trial, such as Isabellette d'Epinal: "One never saw her in the street, but she stayed in church, praying; she did not dance, to the point that the other youth would often talk about it [or "debate it"]. She worked gladly, spun wool, cultivated the ground with her father, did the household chores, and sometimes looked after the animals. She confessed gladly and often, as I have seen, for Jhenette the Maiden was my [son's] godmother ["commère / commater"], and she held Nicholas, my son, at the font [for his baptism]."

Jehanne de Viteau recalled that "She never swore, except [to say] 'Without fail!'; nor did she dance [lit. - "she was not a dancer"]: sometimes when the other girls were singing and dancing, she herself went to church."

The war was also making its presence felt in the region. As the saint would later say: "When I had grown up and reached the age of reason, I did not generally guard the animals, but I did help take them to the pastures and to a fortified place called the Isle [i.e., the Chateau de l'Isle, a fortress on an island in the Meuse which belonged to the Bourlémont family], for fear of the soldiers..." This brief comment, which laconically hints at the anxiety which had been a recurring theme for several generations, apparently refers to the bands of mercenaries known to the French populace as "les écorcheurs" ("the flayers"), who harassed defenseless villages and sometimes grew powerful enough to threaten walled cities and the fortresses of the aristocracy. They were often a lurking menace even in areas which were free from regular military activity.
Elsewhere, the war was entering a new phase.

Although 1426 had been a bad year for the English - Gloucester's army in Zeeland was defeated by the Burgundians at Brouwershaven in January, and Duke Jean V of Brittany rejected the Treaty of Amiens in order to ally himself with the Dauphin - the tide of events quickly turned. England's internal problems were resolved by the following year, and in March of 1427 the Duke of Bedford returned to France with 300 men-at-arms, 900 archers, and a column of siege artillery, sending the Earl of Warwick to retake the fortress of Pontorson from the Bretons. Jean V was thereby induced to re-ally himself with the English a few months later in September.

The Bedfords, meanwhile, had patched things up with Burgundy now that the Duke of Gloucester was no longer claiming his wife's territories. With the restoration of the Triple Alliance between England, Brittany, and Burgundy, and the arrival of 1,900 fresh troops the following Spring, the English were poised to begin a new campaign against the Dauphin.

To clear a path for the operation, several strongholds needed to be taken. On July 15, 1427 the Earl of Warwick ordered his artillery to open up on Montargis, a fortified town to the northeast of Orléans. After a month and a half the town was relieved by a French force of 1,600 men, led by two of the commanders who would later lead Jehanne's own army: the half-brother of the Duke of Orléans, Jean-le-Bâtard (better known by his later title Count of Dunois), and Lord Etienne de Vignolles, better known as "La Hire" ("anger"), a nickname awarded for his famous temper. The two dealt a decisive defeat to Lord Warwick's army on the same day that Sir John Fastolf met with a reverse at Ambrières (September 5, 1427). After this, however, the English regained the upper hand: Bedford and his lieutenants launched fresh assaults against Montargis, La Gravelle, Laval, and other locations, seizing crucial positions in a line north of the Loire. By the Spring of 1428 the way was open for what the English hoped would be the beginning of the final set of campaigns into southern France. A critical moment had arrived, and it was also at about this time, as she later indicated, that Jehanne felt she could no longer ignore her "Voices".

Segment 3: Vaucouleurs

"Go, and let come what may." - Robert de Baudricourt, as she left Vaucouleurs.

Anno Domini 1428

In 1428 she finally heeded her Voices, and around May 13th of that year ("around the Ascension of Our Lord") she made her first journey to Vaucouleurs on the pretext of visiting her relatives Durand and Jehanne Lassois (or Laxart) in the nearby village of Burey-le-Petit. During the week she spent with them she convinced Durand Lassois to bring her before Robert de Baudricourt, the local commander at Vaucouleurs.

As she would later say: "I went to an uncle of mine and told him I wanted to stay with him for some time; I stayed there about eight days. I told my uncle that I must go to the town of Vaucouleurs, and so my uncle took me. When I reached Vaucouleurs, I easily recognized Robert de Baudricourt, although I had never seen him before; I knew him through my Voice, which told me that it was he. I told him that I must come into France."

Durand Lassois later testified: "I myself went to find Jehanne at her father's house and brought her to my own house, and she said to me that she wanted to go to France, to the Dauphin, to have him crowned, saying: 'Has it not been said that France would be ruined by a woman and later restored by a virgin?' And she also said that she would go tell Robert de Baudricourt to have her brought to the place where my lord the Dauphin was. This Robert told me several times to take her back to her father's house and slap her; and when the Maiden saw that Robert was not willing to have her taken to the place where the Dauphin was, she brought back my cloak and said that she would like to withdraw."

She returned to Domrémy. Two months later, in July of 1428, the Anglo-Burgundians launched a campaign against Vaucouleurs (one of the few fortified towns in the region which was still loyal to the Valois faction), and Antoine de Vergny, pro-English governor of Champagne, therefore led an army of 796 men-at-arms plus auxiliaries through the Meuse valley. Jehanne and her family joined the other villagers in driving their herds to the town of Neufchâteau, where the entire family stayed with a woman named La Rousse for a few days. After the troops had gone through, the population returned to Domrémy to view the aftermath: the inside of the Church of St. Rémy was damaged by fire, as were other structures; the fields were left in devastation.

While these events were occurring the English were massing for a new campaign. In June the Earl of Salisbury had landed in France with fresh reinforcements: 450 men-at-arms, 2,250 archers, and a train of artillery. On October 12th the English besieged Orléans, which controlled a crucial bridge over the Loire River less than 65 miles north of Bourges. The Duke of Bedford had initially objected to the campaign, since the city's hereditary lord was being held prisoner (and in fact that hereditary lord would file a complaint with the English council, reminding them that a captive lord's lands were entitled to neutrality). The Earl of Salisbury's arguments won the day, however, and Bedford reluctantly agreed to the plan.

Stymied in his attempts to convince his English cousins to call off the siege, Duke Charles d'Orléans occupied himself with his poems, some of which were designed (in the belief of some scholars) to encourage the resistance of his family's subjects at Orléans. One of these, "Roundel XVIII", opens with the following stanza:

"Refresh the castle of my poor heart
With some supplies of joy or of pleasance
For false Danger with his alliance
Besieges it with woe and grievous hurt."

Orléans was besieged by 4,000 English troops, supplemented by 150 Burgundian subjects whose services the Duke had generously sold to his allies for a tidy sum. The French defenders under Lord Gaucourt included 2,400 regular troops and 3,000 militia protected by 30-foot walls and 71 cannons. The English also had a substantial number of artillery pieces, including several large 'bombards'. The siege would be marked by one of the most extensive uses of gunpowder up to that time.

With Bourges in possible jeopardy, the Dauphin and his court relocated to Chinon and its secure fortifications. If Orléans fell, his next option would be to seek sanctuary from the friendly governments in Scotland or Spain. After that, his options were probably rather limited.

At Orléans, the English overran the southern towers known as "Les Tourelles" on October 24th after a steady bombardment had shattered portions of the structure, and sappers had tunneled underneath the rampart on the shoreline. After his troops occupied the fortress, the Earl of Salisbury was on the second floor looking over the French positions when a stone ball fired by a veuglaire (a type of cannon with a long barrel and medium bore) came through the window, tore an iron bar out of its socket and sent it flying into Salisbury's face, "so that it beat in one half of the cheek and put out one of his eyes", according to one 15th century chronicler. Gangrene set in, and Lord Salisbury died at Meung-sur-Loire after eight days of agony. The Earl of Suffolk replaced him as commander, followed by the Earl of Shrewsbury (Lord Talbot) in December.

As the siege of Orléans continued through the winter months, Jehanne made her second journey to Vaucouleurs in January, leaving Domrémy for the last time. She would later say, "Since God had commanded it, it was necessary that I do it. Since God commanded it, even if I had a hundred fathers and mothers, even if I had been a King's daughter, I would have gone nevertheless."

She told her parents that she was going to help the wife of Durand Lassois,10 and it was he who came to pick her up again. Gerard Guillemette later said: "...I saw Jehanne passing before her father's house with a certain uncle of hers, named Durand Laxart, and at that time Jhenette said to her father: 'Adieu! I am going to Vaucouleurs.'"

She apparently said little to the people in her village outside of her own family. Mengette later testified that "... she said to me 'Adieu', and then left, commending me to God, and went to Vaucouleurs."

Jean Waterin: "I saw her leaving the village of Greux [on the route between Domrémy and Vaucouleurs], and she said to the people "Adieu!". And I heard it said many times that she was going to restore France and the blood royal."

There was no goodbye for little Hauviette, who was "three or four years" younger and therefore apparently no more than 12 or 13 at the time; despite the age difference, some scholars believe that Hauviette was Jehanne's closest childhood friend. Much later during the Rehabilitation Trial, a middle-aged Hauviette would remember: "I did not know when Jehanne left, for which I wept a great deal; because I was so fond of her for her goodness [or "kindness"], and I was her friend."

Durand Lassois brought her to stay in the house of Henri le Royer and his wife Catherine. The latter remembered: "When Jehanne had determined to leave, she stayed in my house for three weeks, at intervals; and during that time she asked my lord Robert de Baudricourt to bring her to the location where the Dauphin was, which my lord Robert refused to do... and when Jehanne saw that Robert was not willing to escort her, I heard her say that it was necessary for her to go to where the Dauphin was, saying, 'Have you not heard that it has been prophesied that France will be ruined by a woman and restored by a virgin from the borders of Lorraine?' I remembered having heard that, and I was stunned."

While Robert de Baudricourt was ignoring her, she attracted the attention of a more distant lord: a message arrived at Vaucouleurs requiring her to travel to the city of Nancy in Lorraine to meet with the ailing Duke Charles II of Lorraine, who was evidently hoping that she could heal him. As she would later testify: "... the Duke of Lorraine ordered that I should be taken to him; I went, and told him that I wanted to go to France. The Duke questioned me about the recovery of his health, but I said that I knew nothing about that, and I spoke little about my journey. I nevertheless said to the Duke that he should send his son and some men to take me into France, and that I would pray to God for his health."

This was echoed by Durand Lassois, "... I took her to [the town of] Saint-Nicolas; and when she got there she went with a safe conduct to my lord Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and when the Duke saw her, he spoke with her and gave her four francs, which she showed me." Marguerite La Touroulde remembered: "I heard Jehanne say that the Duke of Lorraine, who was ill, wanted to see her; and Jehanne had been to speak with him, and told him that he was behaving badly; and that he would never recover his health if he did not reform himself, and she exhorted him to take back his good wife."

A vivid account of the same events comes from the testimony of Jean de Metz, one of Baudricourt's soldiers who would later serve among the men in her escort: "When Jehanne the Maiden arrived at Vaucouleurs in the diocese of Toul, I saw her clothed in a poor dress, red in color; she was staying in the house of a certain Henri le Royer of Vaucouleurs. I said to her: 'My friend ["ma mie"], what are you doing here? Will not the King be expelled from the kingdom and we become English?'. The Maiden answered me: 'I have come to this Royal town ["chamber of the king"] to speak to Robert de Baudricourt, so that he might wish to bring me, or have me brought, to the King; but he pays no attention to me or my words. Nevertheless, before mid-Lent I must be before the King even if I must wear down my feet to the knees. For indeed no one in the world, neither kings, nor dukes, nor the King of Scotland's daughter or anyone else can regain the Kingdom of France; there is no aid except myself, although I would prefer to spin wool beside my poor mother, because this is not my station; but it is necessary that I go, and do this, for my Lord wishes that I do it.' And when I asked her who her lord was, she said that it was God. And then I, Jean, I promised the Maiden, giving her my faith by touching her hand, that with God as guide I would lead her before the King. I asked her when she wanted to leave, to which she replied: 'Rather now than tomorrow, and tomorrow rather than later'. And I asked her if she wanted to go with her own clothes [note: it was dangerous for women to travel through disputed territory without a disguise, hence the question]; she replied that she would be willing to have male clothing. I provided her with clothing and boots belonging to one of my servants; and this done, the inhabitants of Vaucouleurs had male clothing, boots, greaves, and other necessary items made for her; and they gave her a horse which cost sixteen francs, or around that. When she was dressed and had a horse, with a safe-conduct from my lord Charles, Duke of Lorraine, she went to the place of my lord the Duke; I went with her as far as the city of Toul..."

She arrived back at Vaucouleurs on or before February 12th and went before Robert de Baudricourt for the last time: "Robert twice refused to listen to me, and rejected me; the third time he listened to me and gave me an escort. The Voice told me that it would be so."

According to the "Journal of the Siege of Orléans", Jehanne finally convinced Baudricourt by telling him about the disaster at the Battle of Rouvray (February 12, 1429) before word of the battle was brought to Vaucouleurs.

The Battle of Rouvray (nicknamed "The Day of the Herrings" by the English) was a fight over a convoy of 300+ supply wagons carrying salted herrings and "other articles of food suitable to Lent". The herrings were bound for Talbot's troops at Orléans, prompting the French to gather a force to choke off the English supply lines. The usual captains were involved: Dunois, La Hire, Poton de Saintrailles, et al, plus the constable of Scotland (John Stewart), the Count of Clermont, and a number of other lords with about 4,000 troops assembled for the occasion.

The convoy's escort, consisting of some 600 English troops (mostly hobelars - i.e., mounted archers) plus 1,000 Parisians commanded by Sir John Fastolf, detected the approach of the French forces and grouped their wagons into a square "laager", with two openings guarded by archers and armored men-at-arms. The French deployed their field artillery and began pounding the laager with projectiles; but after that things began to go awry. As usual, command of the army was divided and therefore disorganized: the two bodies of troops failed to link up before the engagement; the Scottish contingent decided on its own initiative to dismount and charge the laager on foot, and were joined by a number of the French while the rest of the army was still approaching (with no great alacrity, according to some accounts). The advancing troops were easily mowed down by volleys of arrows fired from within the laager: Dunois was wounded, and Sir John Stewart was killed along with many of his Scots. The survivors filtered back in disarray, pursued by the English archers who, mounting their horses, charged down upon the fleeing knots of men. In a now-familiar pattern, the Franco-Scottish army lost some 120 nobles and 500 common soldiers, whereas English losses totaled a mere four. The salted herrings arrived safely within Talbot's lines.

The battle was another hopeless defeat in a long string of such defeats, at a time when the Dauphin was running low on money, the Royal army was running low on morale, and the city of Orléans was beginning to run out of time. Perhaps, as the "Journal" claimed, it was a prophecy of this battle which convinced Baudricourt to take her seriously, coupled perhaps with a growing sense that things were getting desperate. In any event, he finally authorized her to be escorted to the Dauphin's court at Chinon and sent along a letter with his recommendation. Her escort consisted of Jean de Metz, Bertrand de Poulegny, Metz' servant Jean de Honecourt, Poulegny's servant Julian, the king's messenger Colet de Vienne, and Richard l'Archier.

To quote the witnesses:

Jean de Metz: "...when she returned to Vaucouleurs around Quadragesima Sunday - it will be twenty-seven years ago next Quadragesima Sunday, I believe - myself and Bertrand de Poulegny, with our two servants, plus Colet de Vienne the Royal messenger, and a certain Richard l'Archier, we brought the Maiden before the King at Chinon, at the expense of Poulegny and myself."

Bertrand de Poulegny: "... I and Jean de Metz, with the help of the other people of Vaucouleurs, arranged that she give up her female clothes, which were red in color, and had made for her a tunic and male clothing, spurs, greaves, a sword, and the like, and also a horse; and then I, with Jehanne and my servant Julian, Jean de Metz' servant Jean de Honecourt, Colet de Vienne and Richard l'Archier, took to the road to go before the Dauphin."

Henri le Royer: "When she had determined to leave, she was asked how she would manage, with all the soldiers everywhere; she answered that she was not afraid of the soldiers, for her way was unobstructed; because, if there were soldiers along the route, she had God, her Lord, who would make a way for her to the lord Dauphin, and that she had been born to do this."

And finally, Jehanne herself: "Robert de Baudricourt required those who escorted me to swear to conduct me well and safely, and Robert said to me as I left: 'Go, and let come what may.'"

Segment 4: Chinon, Poitiers, and Tours

"In God's name, the soldiers will fight and God will grant victory [En nom De, les gens d'armes batailleront et Dieu donnera victoire]." - the saint herself, as quoted by Friar Seguin Seguin.

Anno Domini 1429

The first part of the journey lay through the countryside between Vaucouleurs and St. Urbain, about 20 miles to the southwest. The area was controlled by troops loyal to the Duke of Burgundy.

Their destination during the first twenty-four hours was the Abbey in the latter town, as she said: "... I reached the town of Saint Urbain, where I slept in an abbey." Abbeys routinely welcomed travelers, and this particular abbey had long been a well-known sanctuary in that region; at the time it was headed by an abbot named Arnould d'Aulnoy. Although a woman would not be allowed within the monastery itself, she would have been allowed to stay in the guest house.

Jean de Metz remembered: "... in leaving Vaucouleurs, we sometimes went by night out of fear of the English and Burgundians who were all along the route, and we spent eleven days on the road while riding towards Chinon; and while traveling I asked her if she would truly do what she said; she always replied that we should have no fear, that she was ordered to do this, that her Brothers of Paradise had told her what she had to do: it was four or five years since her Brothers of Paradise and her Lord, that is to say God, told her that she should go to the war to recover the Kingdom of France... while traveling, she would have liked to have heard Mass, as she said, because she told us: 'If we could hear Mass, we would be doing well'; but to my knowledge we only heard Mass twice during the journey."

Her own description of this dangerous ride was largely a record of the masses she heard along the road:

"On the way I passed through the town of Auxerre, and heard Mass in the principle Church there." Auxerre was a Burgundian-held city about 77 miles southwest of St. Urbain; to get there the group must have passed the Burgundian garrisons at Clairveaux and Pothières and crossed a succession of rivers, including the Marne, the Blaise, the Aube, the Ource, the Seine, the Armançon, and the Serein. It's assumed that she and perhaps Jean de Metz entered Auxerre, despite the risk, in order to let her attend services in the massive cathedral which still looms over the town today.

Beyond Auxerre was a stretch of some 37 miles across the Baulche, l'Ouanne and Branlin rivers, past the Burgundian garrison at Mézilles, and finally on to the safety of the Dauphinist town of Gien on the Loire. News of her arrival and intentions reached the besieged city of Orléans, only about 34 miles downriver to the northwest. As Dunois would comment: "They say that a maiden passed the city of Gien...", noting that she had come to lift the siege of Orléans; although it would be another couple months and many more miles of travel before she would be given an army to liberate it.

At Orléans the battle of Rouvray had led to a feeling of defeatism. An appeal was made to the Duke of Burgundy to take the city under his authority as a neutral territory (based on the reasoning that Burgundy was a cousin of the captive Duke of Orléans, and therefore a natural choice to hold the city in the latter's absence). Burgundy thought this was a splendid idea, of course ("...as much from his affection for his cousin of Orléans as to prevent it suffering the perils likely to befall it", said Enguerrand de Monstrelet, perhaps failing to mention Burgundy's equal affection for acquiring new territories); but his brother-in-law the Duke of Bedford was not enthusiastic about allowing so much English effort to benefit a troublesome ally who had barely contributed to the siege: his oft-quoted remark was, "I should be mighty angry to cut down the bushes so someone else can get the birds from the branches." Another English partisan, Raoul le Saige, made a comment to the effect that he didn't wish to chew the food only to have the Duke of Burgundy swallow it.

Negotiations for the city's neutrality under Burgundian administration therefore came to naught, and in retaliation the small Burgundian contingent was withdrawn from the siege. This contingent was not militarily significant, but it was politically valuable as a token of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance; for the rest of the duration of the siege, the English would go it alone.

From Gien, the future deliverer of Orléans still had some 105 miles to travel before reaching Chinon to the southwest, although this final stretch of her journey lay across the friendly bubble of Dauphinist territory within the arc of the Loire river. The highlight for her was apparently the town of Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois, where, as she would later say, "I heard three masses in one day, and then I went to the town of Chinon. I sent letters to my king, in which I said that I was sending word to ask if I should enter the town where he was, and that I had come 150 leagues to come to his aid, and knew many good tidings for him. And it seems to me that in these letters I said that I would know [recognize] the king among all the others." The three masses were held in the town's church, whose successor contains a plaque commemorating her stop there. The letters have not survived. From Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois it was only a brief 20 miles to Chinon, a narrow strip of a city on the Vienne river overlooked by a sprawling château on the nearby hill. She arrived in the city at noon around March 4th, and found a place to stay in a local hostelry. It had been her intention to meet immediately with the Dauphin, but she was made to wait for two days while Charles' counselors debated whether it would be prudent to arrange an audience. Simon Charles, master of the Court of Requests, said: "I know that when she arrived at Chinon the Council debated whether or not the King should hear her... she said that she had two mandates from the King of Heaven: one was to raise the siege of Orléans; the other to lead the King to Rheims for his coronation and anointing. Having heard this, some of the King's counselors said that the King should not put any faith in Jehanne, and others [gave the opinion] that since she said she was sent by God and had something to say to the King, he should at least hear her. Nevertheless, the King wished for her to be examined first by clerics and men of the Church, and this was done. And finally it was decided, albeit with difficulty, that the King would hear her." She was escorted by Count Louis de Vendome into Charles' presence, in the audience hall at Chinon. The château at Chinon was composed of three fortresses (Saint-Georges, Le Milieu, and Couldray) linked together by bridges; the great hall in the Milieu was 75 feet long by 33 feet wide. This hall was apparently packed with the Dauphin's supporters, curious to see the visitor: that visitor would later remember that there were "more than three hundred men-at-arms" in the room when she arrived.

"When I entered my King's room I knew him among the others by the advice of my voice.

Simon Charles: "And when the King knew that she was coming, the King drew aside beyond the others. Jehanne nevertheless recognized him and did him reverence, and spoke with him for a long time. And having heard her, the King looked joyful."

Jean Pasquerel gave this version of her meeting with Charles: "The Count of Vendome now brought Jehanne to my lord the King, and led her into the Royal chamber. And when he saw her he asked Jehanne her name, to which she replied, 'Noble Dauphin, I am called Jehanne the Maiden ["Gentil Daulphin, j'ay nom Jehanne la Pucelle"] and the King of the Heavens sends word to you through me, that you will be anointed and crowned in the town of Rheims, and you will be the lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is the King of France.' And after many questions by the King, Jehanne said to him again, 'I tell you in the name of My Lord that you are the true heir of France, and the son of the [previous] king, and He has sent me to you in order to lead you to Rheims, in order that you should there receive your coronation and consecration, if you wish.' And having heard this, the King told those around him that Jehanne had told him a secret that no one knew or could know, except for God, for which reason he had much confidence in her. And I heard all of this from Jehanne, for I was not present at these events."

Lord Raoul de Gaucourt, governor of Orléans, recalled: "I was present ... when the Maiden arrived and I saw her when she presented herself before His Royal Majesty, with great humility and simplicity, as a poor little shepherdess; and I heard her say to the King the following words: 'Noble Lord Dauphin, I have come and am sent in the name of God, to bring aid to yourself and to the kingdom.' And having seen and heard her, for the purpose of being informed further of her state, he ordered her handed over to the care of Guillaume Bellier, the master of his household, bailiff of Troyes, and my lieutenant at Chinon, whose wife was a woman of great piety and commendable reputation. And the King ordered that Jehanne be visited by clerics, prelates, and doctors [of theology] in order to know if he should or could rightfully believe in her. This was done, for her words and deeds were examined by those clerics over a period of three weeks and longer, at Poitiers as well as Chinon."

As mentioned above, she was questioned by clergymen both at Chinon, where she lived in the tower of Couldray, and later also at Poitiers. While staying at Chinon she met one of her future commanders, Duke Jean II d'Alençon, the cousin of the Dauphin and son-in-law of Duke Charles d'Orléans, who had heard news of her arrival and promptly came to see her for himself. As he described it: "... [as] I was hunting quail, a messenger arrived and notified me that a certain maiden had come before the King asserting that she had been sent by God to chase out the English... the next day I went before the King in the town of Chinon, and found Jehanne talking with the King. As I approached, Jehanne inquired who I was, and the King replied that I was the Duke of Alençon. Then Jehanne said 'You are very welcome. The more of the French Royal family we have together, the better." According to Alençon's squire, Perceval de Cagny, she took an instant liking to the Duke because of his connection to Charles of Orléans, about whom she had had "more revelations than about any other living man, aside from my King", as she would put it. Jean d'Alençon was married to Charles d'Orléans' daughter, who was also named Jehanne; the two women would meet when the Duke brought the saint to see his family in the Abbey of St. Florent. Duchess Jehanne, according to the testimony of her husband, was worried that he might be captured again (as he had been at Verneuil), explaining that the ransom from the previous captivity had nearly bankrupted the family; Saint Jehanne answered: "Lady, do not fear. I will bring him back safe to you, and in the same condition, or better..."

During the time spent at Chinon she also met one of the page boys who would shortly be assigned to her group: while she was staying in Couldray the King evidently ordered that she be placed under the watchful eye of a 14 year old page in the service of Lord Gaucourt by the name of Louis de Coutes (or de Contes), who is unfortunately most famous for being the alleged author of Mark Twain's fictional novel about Joan of Arc (a claim which Twain meant facetiously, of course, but this has nevertheless caused confusion). While he didn't actually write the book, Louis himself was genuine enough: he testified at the Rehabilitation, and is mentioned by a number of other 15th century sources. We know that the soldiers in her army later took to calling him "Imerguet", "Mugot", or "Minguet".

In early March Charles decided to send her to Poitiers, a little over 30 miles to the south of Chinon, to be questioned by a group of theologians who had relocated to that city after the University of Paris became pro-English.

While the transcript of the examinations at Poitiers (the "Book of Poitiers") has not been found, we do have testimony from a number of people, including one of the theologians who conducted the questioning: Friar Seguin Seguin of the Dominican Order, who would later become Dean of the University of Poitiers. The unfortunate friar spoke with a pronounced accent from the Limousin region (a dialect which was sort of the medieval French equivalent of a backwoods drawl, to use that analogy); as he himself admits in his testimony, his speech made him the butt of a joke by the saint. His comments were as follows:

"They told us that we had orders from the King to question Jehanne, and to refer our verdict to the Royal Council; and they sent us to the house of Master Jean Rabateau, in the town of Poitiers, where Jehanne was staying, to examine her. After we arrived in that place we put several questions to her, and among other questions, Master Jean Lombard asked her why she had come, and that the King greatly wished to know what had inspired her to come before him. And she answered in impressive form that when she was watching the animals a certain voice had manifested itself to her, and said that God had great compassion for the people of France, and that it was necessary for her to come to France. Having heard this, she had begun to weep... Master Guillaume Aymeri asked her: 'You have said that the voice told you that God wishes to liberate the people of France from the calamity which it is in. If He wishes to deliver it, there's no need to have soldiers.' Then Jehanne responded: 'In God's name, the soldiers will fight and God will grant victory.' ["En nom De, les gens d'armes batailleront et Dieu donnera victoire"] Of which answer Master Guillaume was satisfied.

"I asked her what dialect her voice spoke; she replied that it was a better dialect than the one I speak [and here the scribe has noted that the witness speaks the Limousin dialect; some historians have speculated that there must have been a few suppressed chuckles from the other clergy at that point]. And additionally I asked her if she believed in God, and she said yes, better than I. And then I said to Jehanne that God would not wish for us to believe in her, if nothing else appeared to make it seem that she was credible; and that we would not advise the King, based solely on her simple assertion, to give her soldiers and place them in danger, if she had nothing else to say. She replied, 'In God's name, I did not come to Poitiers to produce signs; but send me to Orléans; I will show you the signs for which I was sent,' and [she said] that we should give her men [i.e., soldiers], in whatever number as should seem right to us, and she would go to Orléans."

Gobert Thibault: "...I know that Jehanne was questioned and examined at Poitiers by the late Master Pierre de Versailles, professor of theology, at that time Abbot of Talmont, and later Bishop of Meaux at the time of his death; also by master Jean Érault, likewise professor of theology; with whom I went on the orders of the late Lord Bishop of Castres. And she was, as I said previously, lodged in the house of the said [Jean] Rabateau, in which house Versailles and Érault spoke to Jehanne in my presence; and when we had come into that house Jehanne came to meet us, and clapped me on the shoulder, saying that she would very much like to have more men of such goodwill as myself. Then [Pierre] de Versailles said to Jehanne that they had been sent to her by the King, to which she replied: 'I well believe that you were sent to question me', adding 'But I do not know either A nor B.' She was then asked why she had come. She replied, 'I have come in the name of the King of Heaven to raise the siege of Orléans, and to bring the King to Rheims for his coronation and anointing.' And she asked if we had paper and ink, saying to Master Jean Erault, 'Write what I tell you. "You, Suffort, Classidas, and La Poule [i.e., Suffolk, Glasdale, and [Sir John] de la Pole] I call upon you, in the name of the King of the Heavens, to get yourselves back to England.' ("Vous, Suffort, Classidas, et la Poule, je vous somme, de par le Roy des cieulx, que vous en aliez en Angleterre.") And Versailles and Érault did nothing further at that time, as far as I recall; and Jehanne remained at Poitiers as long as the King..."

As alluded to above, it was in Poitiers that she dictated her first letter to the English commanders at Orléans, which we have several copies of. The letter begins: "King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself Regent of the Kingdom of France...", and goes on to inform them that "the King of Heaven, son of Saint Mary" has appointed her to "push you out of France". This letter was apparently the first the English had heard of her, and while no chronicler has left us any hint as to the reactions of Suffolk, Talbot, Bedford, and company, it must have raised a few eyebrows.

There may have been further questioning after this point; we know that the examinations lasted about three weeks. Her confessor, Friar Jean Pasquerel, later said that she was bothered by the whole process: "And I also heard from Jehanne that she was not pleased by so many examinations, that they impeded her from accomplishing the purpose for which she had been sent..."

She came through these examinations with the approval of the theologians, however. François Garivel later remembered: "Finally, after long examinations by the clergy of several faculties, they all deliberated and concluded that the King could legitimately receive her, and allow her to take a company of soldiers to the siege of Orléans, because they had found nothing in her that was not of the Catholic faith and entirely consistent with reason."

Jean d'Aulon, who later served as her squire and one of her bodyguards, said, "... the King, considering the great goodness in this maiden... concluded in his council that he would henceforth avail himself of her aid..."

With this approval, a flurry of actions were taken to get her ready. She was sent to the city of Tours, 25 miles northeast of Chinon, in which troops were massing for the campaign. In this town her war banners were made, at the cost of 25 livres-tournois for a standard and a pennon. The pennon showed an angel presenting a lily to the Virgin Mary; the standard apparently had an image of God or Christ holding the world on a white field covered with fleurs-de-lis, flanked by two angels and the names "Jesus" and Mary" along one side (the eyewitness descriptions differ somewhat on the details). Both were made by a man named Hauves Poulnoir (Hamish Power).

She described her standard as follows: "I had a banner whose field was strewn with lilies; and the world was painted there, and two angels at the sides; it was white in color, of white linen or boucassin [a type of canvas]; there was written upon it the names 'Jhesus Maria' ['Jesus, Mary'], it seems to me; and it was fringed with silk." Jean Pasquerel:"...And she therefore had her banner made, upon which was depicted an image of our Saviour sitting in judgment in the clouds of the sky, and therein an angel was depicted holding in its hands a lily flower which was being blessed by the image. I arrived in Tours at the time that this banner was being painted."

As mentioned above, it was in Tours that she met Jean Pasquerel, a hermit of the Order of St. Augustine who would serve as her confessor/chaplain. Pasquerel had met her mother, and some of the men who had escorted her to Chinon, during a pilgrimage to Notre Dame du Puy-en-Velay around March 25th, 1429, and they insisted that he should join her at Tours.

His own testimony on that issue runs as follows: "When I first had news of Jehanne and at the time when she came before the King, I was at Puy, in which town were her mother and some of those who had brought her before the King. As they had some knowledge of me, they told me that it would be appropriate for me to come with them to Jehanne, and they would not let me go until they had brought me to her. And I went with them to the town of Chinon and then to the town of Tours in whose monastery I was Lector. And in the town of Tours, Jehanne was staying in the house of Jean Dupuy, a burgess of Tours; and we found Jehanne in this house, and those who had brought me spoke to her, saying, 'Jehanne, we brought you this good Father; if you knew him well you would hold him in great esteem.' To which Jehanne replied that she was well pleased with me, and that she had already heard people speak of me and that she would like to confess to me tomorrow. And the next day I heard her in confession and I personally sang the mass for her, and from that hour I always accompanied her, and remained with her up to the town of Compiègne, when she was captured."

Two of her brothers, Jean and Pierre, arrived around this point, perhaps with Friar Pasquerel: the records show that the Royal treasury paid for their armor at the cost of 100 livres-tournois apiece.

She also obtained a new sword at this point, which, as she would say, she "esteemed greatly, since it was found in the church of St. Catherine"; [i.e., St. Catherine of Alexandria was one of her "voices"]. Although she would gradually obtain a large and varied collection of weapons of all kinds, she would testify that she didn't use them, preferring to carry her banner instead so she wouldn't have to harm anyone.

"When I was in Tours or Chinon, I sent for a sword which was in the church at Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois, behind the altar, and right afterwards it was found.... this sword was in the ground, rusted, upon which were five crosses; and I knew it was there from my voices ... I wrote to the churchmen in that place asking if it would please them that I should have that sword, and they sent it to me.... After the sword was found the clergy rubbed it and the rust fell off without effort; an armorer of Tours went to find it."

Her armor was also made at Tours, by an armorer named Colin de Montbazon. Surviving records show that the price came to 100 livres-tournois, and as with all such suits of plate armor the pieces had to be tailored for her individual measure. It was described in the archaic French of the period as "ung harnois blanc" - a 'plain' suit of armor without any gilded decoration, polished so that the plain steel would shine white in the sunlight.

Jean d'Aulon testified: "I was appointed to guard and escort her by our lord the King. For the protection of her body, my lord the King had armor made precisely for her body, and this done he authorized a certain number of soldiers to lead and safely escort her, and those of her company, to the place of Orléans."

Now that she had all of the necessaries, the moment had finally come.

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