At last, in a letter dated May 6, 1430, and signed by his Chancellor Regnault de Chartres, Charles VII was forced publicly to recognize his mistake and admit that he had been duped by “the Burgundian adversary”.
“After that he has, for some time, amused and deceived us by truces and otherwise, under the shadow of good faith, because he said and affirmed that he wished to arrive at the well-being of peace, the which, for the relief of our poor people who, to the displeasure of our heart, has suffered and every day suffer so much for the matter of the war, we greatly desired and do desire, he has set himself with certain forces to make war upon us and upon our countries and loyal subjects.”
Which was a fact; for, at this date, Philippe the Good was laying siege to Compiègne.
Joan had not waited for the King to admit himself deceived before resuming the struggle. It cannot have been without emotion that she heard of the attitude of the people of Compiègne who, rather than surrender themselves to the Duke of Burgundy in accordance with the Arras agreement, had “resolved to lose their lives, their own, their wives’ and their children’s”. And she must have been seething with impatience, for it was known that here and there—in Melun, Saint-Denis, even in Paris itself—partisan movements were coming into existence. Moreover, at the same time, the English, resolved to play all their trumps under Bedford’s leadership, had landed an army of two thousand men in Calais, at which port there also arrived, on April 23, the boy-King Henry VI. On November 6 of the previous year he had been crowned King of England at Westminster; and it was now hoped to crown him King of France by way of riposte to the sacring of Charles VII at Rheims.
“The King being in the town of Sully-sur-Loire, the Maid, who had seen and heard all the matter and manner which the King and his council held for the recovery of his kingdom, very ill content with that, found means to separate herself from them and, unknown to the King and without taking leave of him, she pretended to go about some business and, without returning, went away to the town of Lagny-sur-Marne because they of that place were making good war on the English of Paris and elsewhere.” (P. de Cagny, Q. iv, 32)
The date of this departure is not exactly known; it was probably towards the end of March or beginning of April. With her Joan had her intendant Jean d’Aulon, her brother Pierre and a small escort estimated at about two hundred men led by a Piedmontese condottieri, captain of freelance mercenaries, Bartolomew Baretta.
It was at Lagny that the incident of the child baptised on Joan’s intervention took place:
Question: What age had the child which you held at the baptismal font?
JOAN: The child was three days old and it was carried before the image of Our Lady of Lagny; the maidens of the town were before the image and me, I wanted to go and pray to God and Our Lady that life be given to the child. I went there with the other maidens and I prayed, and at last life appeared in this child who yawned three times and was immediately baptised; it died thereafter and was buried in holy ground. Three days had passed, so they said, during which no life had appeared in this child. It was as black as my coat, but when it yawned colour began returning to it. I was with the maidens, praying on my knees before Our Lady. (C.103)
There, too, occurred the incident of Franquet d’Arras which the judges tried to exploit against Joan in the course of her trial.
Question: Is it not mortal sin to receive a man to be ransomed and, once he is a prisoner, to bring about his death?
JOAN: I did not do that.
Question: Was there not the matter of one Franquet d’Arras whom you had killed as an enemy?
JOAN: I consented that he be put to death if he had deserved it, because he had admitted to being murderer, thief and traitor. His trial lasted fifteen days and the judge was the bailiff of Senlis and the justiciars of Lagny. I had asked to have this Franquet to have in exchange a man of Paris, master of the Hotel de l’Ours. And when I heard that this man was dead and when the bailiff told me that I was doing justice a great injury in liberating this Franquet, then I said to the bailiff: “Since that man is dead whom I wanted to have, do with this one what in justice you must do.” (C.150–151)
Joan had gone first to Melun where her stay can be precisely dated thanks to a memory of her own; she was there in Easter week and Easter fell that year on April 22nd.
JOAN: In Easter week last, being upon the moat at Melun, it was told me by the voices of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret that I should be taken before Saint John’s Day, and that so it must be and that I be not dismayed, and take all in good part and that God would help me. (C.112)
And, in reply to other questions, she gave more details of her state of mind: “Since I received revelation at Melun that I should be taken, I submitted myself above all in the matter of war to the will of the captains, meanwhile however I did not tell them that I had had revelation that I should be taken.” (C.141)
There are traces of Joan’s passing through Senlis on April 24, then of her being at Compiègne on May 14. Meanwhile, Philippe the Good, having arrived on May 6 at Noyon, on the following day laid siege to Choisy-au-Bac and took the town on May 16. He then undertook the siege of Compiègne, disposing his forces along the course of the Oise. He set up his own G.H.Q. in the small fortress of Coudun-sur-l’Aronde, John of Luxembourg and Baudot de Noyelle being camped, respectively, at Clairoix and Margny, while Montgomery occupied Venette. On May 22, having learned of these dispositions, Joan and her small troop hastened to make their way, by night, into Compiègne.
Question: When you went for the last time to Compiègne, from what place did you set out?
JOAN: From Crépy-en-Valois.
Question: Did you remain some days in Compiègne before making any sortie or sally?
JOAN: I came in the morning at a secret hour and entered into the town without the enemy knowing much about it, as I believe, and the same day towards eventide I made that sally in which I was taken. . . .
Question: If the voices had ordered you to go out of Compiègne while signifying that you would be taken, would you have gone?
JOAN: If I had known the hour, and that I must be taken, I should not have gone willingly; nevertheless, I should have done their commandment in the end, whatever was to happen to me.
Question: When you went out of Compiègne, did you have voice or revelation to go and to make that sortie?
JOAN: That day I did not know that I should be taken and did not have precept to go out; but still it had been told me that I must be made prisoner.
Question: When you made that sortie, did you cross by the bridge of Compiègne?
JOAN: I crossed by the bridge and the boulevard and went with company of my men against the men of the lord John of Luxembourg and twice drove them back to the Burgundians’ camp. And then the English who were there cut the road behind me and my men. And me, in retreating I was caught in the fields, on the Picardy side, near the boulevard; and was the river between Compiègne and the place where I was taken. (C.112–113)
Perceval de Cagny gives some details of this capture: “The year 1430, the 23rd day of the month of May, the Maid being at the place of Crépy, heard that the Duke of Burgundy with great number of men at arms and others, and the Earl of Arundel, were come to besiege the town of Compiègne. At about midnight she left Crépy in company with about three or four hundred soldiers, and although her people told her that she had but few men to pass through the army of the Burgundians and the English, she said: ‘By my martin, we are enough; I shall go and see my good friends of Compiègne.’ She arrived at that place at about sunrise and without loss or damage to herself or her men entered into the town. . . . And about nine o’clock in the morning the Maid heard say that there was great and strong skirmishing on the meadows before the town. She put on her armour and ordered her men to arms and horse, and went out to join in the mêlée. As soon as she came the enemy fell back and was put to flight. The Maid charged hard against the Burgundian side. They of the ambush warned their people who fell b
ack in great disorder.* Then they uncovered their ambush and spurring hard they went and placed themselves between the bridge into the town (and) the Maid and her company, and some of them turned straight upon the Maid in such great number that not well could they of her company hold them back and they said to the Maid: ‘Take pains to (do your best to) get back to the town, or you and we are lost.’ When the Maid heard them speak thus, very angry she said to them: ‘Be silent. Their discomfiture depends on you. Think only of striking hard at them.’ Whatever she might say, her men would not believe her and by force made her return directly to the bridge. And when the Burgundians and the English saw that she was coming back to get into the town, with a great effort they gained the end of the bridge. . . . The captain of the place, seeing the great multitude of Burgundians and English about to enter upon the bridge, for the fear he had lest he lose the town, had the bridge into the town raised and the gates closed, and thus remained the Maid shut out and few of her men with her.” (Q. iv, 32–34)
This shutting of the gates was long considered as having been an act of treachery; the governor of Compiègne, Guillaume de Flavy, was held responsible by historians who branded him as a traitor. But it now seems that he was no such thing: de Flavy had given and was still to give sufficient proof of his loyalty to the King of France to acquit him of any such imputation. The town gates were closed on his orders because the enemy was getting too close; Joan, as usual, was at the point where the danger was greatest; she had always been in the vanguard when it was a question of making an attack; and in the rearguard when a retreat had to be covered; her company had been thrown back upon Compiègne; and she happened to be one of the handful of combatants whom it was absolutely necessary to sacrifice if the town was to be saved.
The Burgundian Georges Chastellain has left us a very lively account of Joan’s capture: “The French, with their Maid, were beginning to retreat very slowly, as finding no advantage over their enemies but rather perils and damage. Wherefore the Burgundians, seeing that and being flowing with blood, and not satisfied with having repulsed them in defence, since they could do them no more great harm than by pursuing them closely, struck among them valiantly both afoot and mounted, and did great damage among the French. Of which the Maid, passing the nature of women, took all the brunt, and took great pains to save her company, remaining behind as captain and bravest of her troop. And there Fortune allowed that her glory at last come to an end and that she bear arms no longer; an archer, a rough man and a sour, full of spite because a woman of whom so much had been heard should have overthrown (broken the bones of) so many valiant men, dragged her to one side by her cloth-of-gold cloak and pulled her from her horse, throwing her flat on the ground; never could she find recourse or succour in her men, try though they might to remount her, but a man of arms called the Bastard of Wandomme, who arrived at the moment of her fall, pressed her so hard that she gave him her faith (word, parole), for he declared himself to be a nobleman. He, more joyful than if he had had a King in his hands, took her hastily to Margny, and there held her in his keeping until that day’s work was done. And there were taken with her also Poton the Burgundian, a gentleman-at-arms on the French side, the Maid’s brother (Pierre), the master of her household (Jean d’Aulon) and others in small number, who were taken to Margny and placed under good guard.” (Q. iv, 446–447)
Chastellain wrote his account only from hearsay, but another Burgundian chronicler, Enguerrand de Monstrelet, took part in the battle himself and gives us a clear impression of the effect of this unexpected news in both camps.
“The French entered into Compiègne, doleful and wroth at their losses, and above all had great displeasure at the taking of the Maid. And on the contrary, they of the Burgundian side and the English were very joyous at it, more than had they taken five hundred combatants, for they feared and redoubted no other captain or chief in war as much as they had always done, until that day, this Maid.
“Quite soon after came the Duke of Burgundy with his power (forces) to his camp of Coudun where he was camped in a meadow before Compiègne, and there gathered the English, the Duke and those of the other camps, in very great number, making together great outcry and jollity for the taking of the Maid. The Duke went to see her in the lodge (tent) where she was and spoke some words to her which I do not well remember, although I was present. After that the Duke retired, and all other people, each to his tent (logis) for the night. And the Maid remained in the keeping and governance of messire John of Luxembourg. He, some days thereafter, sent her under his safe-conduct to the castle of Beaulieu.” (Q. iv, 402)
It is curious that Monstrelet, whose memory was so good, did not remember very well the details of so striking an encounter as that between the grand-duke of the West and Joan the Maid; but it is not the only time he can be faulted when dealing with Joan. Chronicler of the House of Luxembourg, he tends to slide over anything which might not be to the honour of that illustrious family, whence some surprising gaps: thus, he was not to mention the sale of Joan to the English, and he has not one word to say about her trial: he contented himself with inserting into his chronicle the letter which the King of England sent to diverse princes and prelates announcing the sentence of the court, and with mentioning the execution of that sentence.
Great, at all events, was the joy in the Burgundian ranks. Another chronicler, who was likewise an eye-witness, Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Remy, councillor to the Duke of Burgundy and king-at-arms of the Golden Fleece, echoes the feeling: “The Maid was taken with great joy to the Duke who was coming with all diligence to the aid and succour of his men. He was very joyous at her taking, for the great renown that she had, for it seemed to many of his side that her works could not but be miraculous.” (Q, iv, 349)
Philippe the Good hastened to make his capture of Joan widely known; of the letters which were written to that end, we still have the one sent to the burgesses of Saint-Quentin. It is dated on the same day as the capture, May 23, 1430, and “at Coudun near Compiègne”. The Duke writes thus:
“Very dear and well-beloved, knowing that you desire to have news of us, we signify to you that this day, twenty-third of May, at about six hours after noon the adversaries of my lord the King (of England) and ourselves, who had come together in very great force and had thrown themselves into the town of Compiègne before which we and the men of our army are camped, came out of the town against the camp of our vanguard nearest to them. In this sortie was she whom they call the Maid with several of their principal captains, in the encounter with whom our cousin, messire John of Luxembourg who was present and others of our people and some men of my lord the King whom he had sent to pass on and go to Paris, made very great and bitter resistance, and presently we arrived there in person and found that the adversaries had been repulsed already. And by the pleasure of our blessed Creator the thing thus came about and such mercy was vouchsafed us that she who is called the Maid was taken, and with her many captains, knights and esquires and others taken, drowned or dead, of whom at this time we know not yet the names.” (Q. v, 166–167)
Official and private documents record the fact: Clément de Fauquembergue’s register, for example, on May 25 when the news reached Paris; and the Journal d’un Bourgeois de Paris which notes: “The 23 May, dame Joan, the Maid of the Armagnacs, was taken before Compiègne by messire John of Luxembourg, his men, and a thousand English on their way to Paris. Four hundred at least of the Maid’s men were killed or drowned.” (P.99)
After some time spent in the fortress of Beaulieu-en-Vermandois Joan, who had tried to escape, was transferred to the castle of Beaurevoir, situated in the midst of woods between Cambrai and Saint-Quentin. In the course of her trial she was to be questioned about her two attempts to escape.
Question: How did you think to escape from the castle of Beaulieu between two pieces of wood?
JOAN: I have never been a prisoner in any place but I would try to escape from it. Being in that castle, I had shut up my keepers in the towe
r, excepting the porter who saw me and encountered me. It seems to me that it did not please God that I should escape that time and that I must see the King of the English, as my voices had told me. (C.155)
Question: Were you long in the tower of Beaurevoir?
JOAN: I was there for four months or thereabouts. When I heard that the English were coming to take me, I was very wroth at it, and however my voices forbade me often to leap from that tower. And at last, for fear of the English, I leapt and commended myself to God and the Virgin Mary and I was injured in that leap. And after I had leapt, the voice of Saint Catherine told me that I should be of good countenance and that they of Compiègne would receive succour. (C.107)
Question: What was the cause for which you leapt from the tower of Beaurevoir?
Joan of Arc Page 18
