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ST. JOAN OF ARC

THE LIFE-STORY OF THE

MAID OF ORLEANS .

REV. DENIS LYNCH, S.J.

Author of ^—"The Story of the Acts of the Apostles"

New York, Cincinnati, Chicago

Benziger Brothers

Publishers of Printers of The

Benziger Magazine Holy Apostlic See

1919

Imprimi Potrst. A. GYR, S.J., sup. Reg. Missionis Bombayensis

Nthil Obstat ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D., Censor Librorum

Imprimature. + PATRICK J. HAYES, D.D.,

Archbishop of Now York.

New York, July 28, 1919.

JOAN OF ARC

"The name and fame of Jeanne d'Arc are ‘in the catalogue of common things,’ like the rainbow; of things so familiar that an effort of the imagination is needed before we can appreciate the unique position of the Maid in history. The story of her career, as one of her learned French historians has said, ‘is the most marvelous episode in our history, and in all histories'

"She was the consummation and ideal of two noble human efforts toward perfection. The peasant's daughter was the Flower of Chivalry, brave, gentle, merciful, courteous, kind, and loyal. Later poets and romance-writers delighted to draw the figure of the Lady-Knight; but Spenser and Ariosto could not create, Shakespeare could not imagine, such a being as Jeanne d 'Arc.

"She was the most perfect daughter of her Church; to her its Sacraments were the very Bread of Life; her conscience, by frequent confession, was kept fair and pure as the lilies of Paradise. Ina tragedy without parallel or precedent the Flower of Chivalry died for France and the chivalry of France, which had deserted her; she died by the chivalry of England, which shamefully entreated and destroyed her; while the most faithful of Christians perished through the ^‘celestial science' and dull political hatred of priests who impudently called themselves ^'the Church!'

"She came with powers and with genius which should be the marvel of the world while the world stands. She redeemed a nation; she wrought such works as seemed to her people, abd wekk might seem miraculous. Yet even among her own people, even now, her glory is not uncontested."

Andrew Lang.

The Maid of France. Introduction.

"Such is the power of this story, such its tyranny over the heart, its magnetism to draw tears, that, well or ill told, it will ever make the hearer weep, be he young or old, chilled by the growing years or steeled by the hardness of life. Let no one blush for tears like these, for their cause is fair. No recent sorrow, no personal affiction of any kind, may so justly thrill an upright heart.

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"By roads infested with brigands she traverses France; she wins the court of Charles VII; she throws herself into the war; and in the camps which she had never before seen, in the combats which she had never shared, she is surprised at nothing. She rushes intrepidly into the midst of the fray; she is wounded, but she never wavers; she animates the veteran soldiers; she transforms the multitude into a military array, and no one knows any longer the meaning of fear. The youthful form of the maiden blunts the point of the lance and breaks the foeman's sword: with her stainless bosom she shields the heart of France.

"Her recompense? Betrayed and subjected to outrage, and judged unjustly, in her last and most fearful struggle she is as constant as in those that went before; and the words caught from her dying lips will cause tears to flow forever more.

^{". . . Abandoned by her king and by her people, whom she saved, by the cruel path of flame she returns to the bosom of God. . . . No ideal that man has conceived ever approached this most certain reality."
MICHELET.
Jeanne d'Are. Introduction.

"Thy country's sin, the insult, and the shame,
The scaffold's doom, the faggot and the flame—
All these shall pass and be remembered not; Fair
Charity with kindly tears shall blot
From France's shield the black corroding stain,
Caught from thy blood, 0 Lily of Lorraine!
The hero's heart shall lose its thirst for fame,
And truth be dead, and virtue but a name, shall
Ere men cease to honor thee who gave
To France, to liberty, to truth ---
In battle's bloodiest trenches undismayed,
'Neath insult meek, in persecution brave.
Thy love, thy life, thy stainless youth,
0 Virgin, Patriot, and Martyr Maid!"
by COLEMAN.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Page
INTRODUCTORY 13
Section I.—Recent Studies 13
Section 2.—Joan, Her Own Historian . . 20
Section 3.—The Church and Joan . . . 21
CHAPTER II
The Mission of Joan
Section 1.—General View 23
Section 2.—The Supernatural in the Mission of Joan . 24
Section 3.—Her Prophecies 28
Section 4.—Joan's Pre-eminent Sanctity 32
Section 5.—Joan's Military Genius 35
CHAPTER III
Christendom At The Time of Joan of Arc

Section 1.—General View 39
Section 2.—England and France 42
Section 3.—Dissensions of the French Princes 44
CHAPTER IV
Charles, the VII 51

CHAPTER V
Condition of the People 55

CHAPTER VI
Joan’s Early Years
Section 1. —Her Birthplace 59
Section 2.—Joan's Family and its Condition Her House and Name 62
Section 3.—Her Birth and the Chronology of Her Life 69
CHAPTER VII
The Unfolding of The Flower - Joan's Manner of Life at Domremy
Section 1.—As She Appeared to Others 73

CHAPTER VIII
Joan Enters On Her Military Career – She Goes to Vaucouleurs . 84

CHAPTER IX
Joan Goes To The King At Chinon 91

Section 1.—Across France 91
Section 2.—With the King at Chinon 93
Section 3.—At Poitiers and Tours. - Her Sword and Banner 100
Section 4.—Joan's Attire and Appearance 106

CHAPTER X

The Land, The Parties And The Men – When Joan Comes

Section 1.—The Land 109
Section 2.—The Parties, National and Anti-national 110
Section 3.—Some of the Men with Joan 114

CHAPTER XI.
War In Joan’s Time – Her Army

Section 1.—Manner of Warfare 117

Section 2.—Joan's Army 120

CHAPTER XII
The City of Orleans At The Time of The Siege 122

CHAPTER XIII
The Siege, Until The Coming of Joan 126

CHAPTER XIV
Joan Comes To Orleans

Section 1—The Convoy Made Ready at Blois.

Joan's Letter to the English 134

Section 2.—The Revictualing of Orleans 137
Section 3.—Joan Enters the City 141
CHAPTER XV
Joan Raises The Siege 143
CHAPTER XVI
The Campaign Of The Loire
Section 1— Joan Goes to Meet the King 157
Section 2.—Preparation for the Campaign 159
Section 3.—The Taking of Jargeau 161
Section 4.—Meung, Beaugency and Patay 164
CHAPTER XVII
Joan Leads The King To Be Crowned
Section 1.—Slow to Move 167
Section 2.—What Might Have Been 171
Section 3.—Joan's Manner of Warfare 173
Section 4.—A Bloodless March Through Foes 176
CHAPTER XVIII
The Crowning 184
CHAPTER XIX
After The Coronation
Section 1.—Duplicity and Treason 188
Section 2.—Advance and Retreat 191
CHAPTER XX
To Paris!
Section 1.—Advancing to Battle. Joan's Position. Joy of the People 197
Section 2.—A Drawn Battle 199
Section 3.—Further Successes and Vain Negotiations 202
Section 4.—Joan Leaves Compiegne. Message of Count d’Armagnac 203
Section 5.—Joan Marches 205
CHAPTER XXI
The Fight for Paris 206
CHAPTER XXII
The Great Retreat and After
Section 1.—The Retreat 212
Section 2—Joan Parted from Alencon. Subsequent Movements 213
Section 3. —Joan at Bourges 215
Section 4. —.Joan Unmasks Catherine of La Rochelle 216
Section 5.—The Taking of St. Pierre-le-Moustier 217
Section 6. —Failure at La Charite 218
Section 7.—The Ennobling of Joan's Family 219
Section 8. Winter and Spring 220
CHAPTER XXIII
Joan’s Last Campaign
Section 1.— She Comes to Lagny Defeat and Execution of Franquet d’ Arres 222
Section 2.—The Prediction of Joan’s Capture 224
Section 3.—The Position of Burgundy and the English 225
CHAPTER XXIV
The Siege of Compiegne 227
CHAPTER XXV
The Sortie and Capture of Joan 233
CHAPTER XXVI
Was Joan Betrayed? 238
CHAPTER XXVII
Position of Joan as Captive 241
CHAPTER XXVIII
Joan in Captivity. From Compiegne to Rouen 264
CHAPTER XXIX
Joan’s Last Prison 254
CHAPTER XXX
Some of the Sanhedrin 258
CHAPTER XXXI
General View of the Trial 262
CHAPTER XXXII
Preparing for the Trial 270
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Examination of Joan 274
CHAPTER XXXIV
A Change of Procedure 286
CHAPTER XXXV
Between The Examination and The Trial 294
CHAPTER XXXVI
The Trial 297
CHAPTER XXXVII
The Question of Torture 304
CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Pretended Abjuration 307
CHAPTER XXXIX
The Quitting and Resumption of Male Attire 315
CHAPTER XL
Interbogatory of May 28^th 318
CHAPTER XLI
The Sentence and Execution 321
CHAPTER XLII
After The Death of Joan 328
CHAPTER XLIII
Did Joan Die a Martyr? 333
CHAPTER XLIV
What did Her Party Do to Save Her? 335
CHAPTER XLV
The Rehabilitation 336
CHAPTER XLVI
Joan Through The Vista of The Years 340
CHAPTER XLVII
Joan’s Beatification 342
CHAPTER XLVIII
Canonization - St. Joan of Arc 344}