beaurevoir—arras—rouen—the trial for lapse

in the month of september, 1430, two inhabitants of tournai, the chief alderman, bietremieu carlier, and the chief councillor, henri romain, were returning from the banks of the loire, whither their town had despatched them on a mission to the king of france. they stopped at beaurevoir. albeit this place lay upon their direct route and afforded them a halt between two stages of their journey, one cannot help supposing some connection to have existed between their mission to charles of valois and their arrival in the domain of the sire de luxembourg. the existence of such a connection seems all the more probable when we remember the attachment of their fellow-citizens to the fleurs-de-lis, and when we know the relations already existing between the maid and these emissaries.[495]

it has been said that the district of the provost of tournai was loyal to the king of france, who had granted it freedom and privileges. message after message it sent him; it organised public processions[pg ii.189] in his honour, and it was ready to grant him anything, so long as he demanded neither men nor money. the alderman, carlier, and the councillor, romain, had both previously gone to reims as representatives of their town to witness the anointing and the coronation of king charles. there they had doubtless seen the maid in her glory and had held her to be a very great saint. in those days, their town, attentively watching the progress of the royal army, was in regular correspondence with the warlike béguine, and with her confessor, friar richard, or more probably friar pasquerel. to-day they wended to the castle, wherein she was imprisoned in the hands of her cruel enemies. we know not what it was they came to say to the sire de luxembourg, nor even whether he received them. he cannot have refused to hear them if he thought they came to make secret offers on the part of king charles for the ransom of the maid, who had fought in his battles. we know not, either, whether they were able to see the prisoner. the idea that they did enter her presence is quite tenable; for in those days it was generally easy to approach captives, and passers by when they visited them were given every facility for the performance of one of the seven works of mercy.

one thing, however, is certain; that when they left beaurevoir, they carried with them a letter which jeanne had given them, charging them to deliver it to the magistrates of their town. in this letter she asked the folk of tournai, for the sake of her lord the king and in view of the good services she had rendered him, to send unto her twenty or thirty crowns, that she might employ them for her necessities.[496]

[pg ii.190]

it was the custom in those days thus to permit prisoners to beg their bread.

it is said that the demoiselle de luxembourg, who had just made her will, and had but a few days longer to live,[497] entreated her noble nephew not to give the maid up to the english.[498] but what power had this good dame against the norman gold of the king of england and against the anathemas of holy church? for if my lord jean had refused to give up this damsel suspected of enchantments, of idolatries, of invoking devils and committing other crimes against religion, he would have been excommunicated. the venerable university of paris had not neglected to make him aware that a refusal would expose him to heavy legal penalties.[499]

the sire de luxembourg, meanwhile, was ill at ease; he feared that in his castle of beaurevoir, a prisoner worth ten thousand golden livres was not sufficiently secure in case of a descent on the part of the french or of the english or of the burgundians, or of any of those folk, who, caring nought for burgundy or england or france, might wish to carry her off, cast her into a pit, and hold her to ransom, according to the custom of brigands in those days.[500]

towards the end of september, he asked his lord, the duke of burgundy, who ruled over fine towns and strong cities, if he would undertake the[pg ii.191] safe custody of the maid. my lord philip consented and, by his command, jeanne was taken to arras. this town was encircled by high walls; it had two castles, one of which, la cour-le-comte, was in the centre of the town. it was probably in the cells of cour-le-comte that jeanne was confined, under the watch and ward of my lord david de brimeu, lord of ligny, knight of the golden fleece, governor of arras.

at that time it was rare for prisoners to be kept in isolation.[501] at arras, jeanne received visitors; and among others, a scotsman, who showed her her portrait, in which she was represented kneeling on one knee and presenting a letter to her king.[502] this letter might be supposed to have been from the sire de baudricourt, or from any other clerk or captain by whom the painter may have thought jeanne to have been sent to the dauphin; it might have been a letter announcing to the king the deliverance of orléans or the victory of patay.

this was the only portrait of herself jeanne ever saw and, for her own part, she never had any painted; but during the brief duration of her power, the inhabitants of the french towns placed images of her, carved and painted, in the chapels of the saints, and wore leaden medals on which she was represented; thus in her case following a custom established in honour of the saints canonised by the church.[503]

many burgundian lords, and among them a knight, one jean de pressy, controller of the finances of burgundy, offered her woman's dress, as the luxembourg dame had done, for her own good and in order to avoid scandal; but for nothing in the world would jeanne have cast off the garb which she had assumed according to divine command.

she also received in her prison at arras a clerk of tournai, one jean naviel, charged by the magistrates of his town to deliver to her the sum of twenty-two golden crowns. this ecclesiastic enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens, who employed him in the town's most urgent affairs. in the may of this year, 1430, he had been sent to messire regnault de chartres, chancellor of king charles. he had been taken by the burgundians at the same time as jeanne and held to ransom; but out of that predicament he soon escaped and at no great cost.

he acquitted himself well of his mission[504] to the maid, and, it would seem, received nothing for his trouble, doubtless because he wanted the reward of this work of mercy to be placed to his account in heaven.[505]

[pg ii.193]

neither the capture of the maid nor the retreat of the men-at-arms she had brought, put an end to the siege of compiègne. guillaume de flavy and his two brothers, charles and louis, and captain baretta with his italians, and the five hundred of the garrison[506] displayed skill, vigour, and untiring energy. the burgundians conducted the siege in the same manner as the english had conducted that of orléans; mines, trenches, bulwarks, cannonades and bastions, those gigantic and absurd erections good for nothing but for burning. the suburbs of the town guillaume de flavy had demolished because they were in the way of his firing; boats he had sunk in order to bar the river. to the mortars and huge couillards of the burgundians he replied with his artillery, and notably with those little copper culverins which did such good service.[507] if the gay cannoneer of orléans and jargeau, ma?tre jean de montesclère, were absent, there was a shoemaker of valenciennes, an artilleryman, named noirouffle, tall, dark, terrible to see, and terrible to hear.[508] the townsfolk of compiègne, like those of orléans, made unsuccessful sallies. one day louis de flavy, the governor's brother, was killed by a burgundian bullet. but none the less on that day guillaume did as he was wont to do and made the minstrels play to keep his men-at-arms in good cheer.[509]

in the month of june the bulwark, defending the[pg ii.194] bridge over the oise, like les tourelles at orléans which defended the bridge over the loire, was captured by the enemy without bringing about the reduction of the town. in like manner, the capture of les tourelles had not occasioned the fall of the town of duke charles.