How Far They Fall

Gilles, the Baron de Rais (c.1405 - 26 October 1440) was a French leader during the Hundred Years War. In 1429 he was made the Marshal of France (a distinction awarded for special achievement) after the military campaigns inspired by Joan of Arc.

When Joan first arrived at Chinon to speak to the Dauphin, Charles, Gilles was present. Gilles wrote to John V, Duke of Brittany, requesting support for Joan's planned attempt to raise the Siege of Orléans. On 25 April 1429, when Joan arrived at Blois, she found a well-supplied and well-armed contingent of soldiers headed by Gilles and the Marshal of Boussac, Jean de Brosse. There were additional soldiers paid by Gilles personally, who apparently had put great faith in Joan and her divine mission.

Gilles was also with Joan during the progress through the Loire, and the Battle of Patay in June of 1429. Their efforts helped put Charles on the throne. Gilles (and three other lords) carried the Holy Ampulla (a glass vial with the anointing oil) during the coronation of the Dauphin as Charles VII. Charles entrusted Jean de Brosse and Gilles to head the army against the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. At the Siege of Paris, Joan asked for Gilles to stay by her side, which he did all day. For his service, Charles allowed Gilles to add a border of flour-de-lis around his coat of arms, a distinction only shared by Joan herself.

The man had a darker side, however. Military failures and financial issues caused him to withdraw more and more from court and public life, and Charles was not happy with him. Supposedly, he looked for power in other directions.

According to the records of a trial against him in 1438, Gilles looked for people with knowledge of alchemy and summoning demons. He found an Italian cleric named François Prelati who claimed expertise in both. Gilles and Prelati conducted rituals to summon a demon in Gilles' Château de Tiffauges in the border lands between Brittany, Poitou, and Anjou. When no demon materialized after three attempts, Prelati claimed the demon required an offering of the body parts of a child. Gilles provided the required offering, but with no better result.

He may have wanted a demon's help in reclaiming some of his properties. He decided to reclaim by force a castle he had given to someone else; he was unsuccessful, and succeeded only in alienating his former comrades. In mid-May 1440, he ambushed a troop of men; he then entered a church, disrupting Mass and threatening the priest to leave. He physically abused servants and harassed clerics.

An ecclesiastical investigation was begun. Bishop Jean de Malestroit visited Gilles' local parish and began investigating tales of local children missing. Locals claimed that children entered the castle to beg for food and never emerged. Charges were brought against Gilles and Prelati for murder, sodomy, and heresy. The charges were also brought against a few servants and some local women who were accused of providing the children. Court records claim there were 140 or more.

Gilles confessed to the charges on 21 October 1440; his death sentence was declared on the 25th. He was simultaneously hanged while fire was set to brush piled around the gallows. His remains were cut down before being completely burned.

Some think he was the model for the tales of Bluebeard, the French folktale about a man who murders all his wives.

We need a palate cleanser after all the war and executions. Tomorrow let us see if there is anything interesting about a vial named the Holy Ampulla.

Brother of a Saint

Jeanne d'Arc had four siblings. Although Charles VII ennobled the family after her help getting him crowned, the family did not distinguish itself very much politically or otherwise. Her father died shortly after her execution for heresy. Her mother lived for several years and fought successfully to get her daughter exonerated. Her siblings drop out of sight, except for her younger brother, Pierre d'Arc.

Pierre had actually joined his sister, along with their older brother Jéan, and fought at the Siege of Orléand. Pierre was captured at the same time Jeanne was, but he was released as having no value as a captive. He stayed in the army and, after the family was ennobled, was knighted. He married and had two sons and a daughter. He was even given an island of his own, the Île aux Bœufs, a small island in the Seine south of Rouen, currently uninhabited and serving only as a support for a bridge across the river.

Jeanne was executed on 30 May 1431. Of this there is no doubt...now. At the time, there were people who were willing to take advantage of her fame and impersonate her. A woman calling herself Jeanne des Armoises (in a 19th century depiction above) started telling people that she was the Maid of Orléans and not dead after all. As shameless as this scam was, even more shameless was the reaction of the dead Jeanne's brothers.

In 1434, Pierre and Jéan met this woman and supported her claim. From 1434 to 1450 they traveled the country with her, taking advantage of the original Jeanne's fame and accepting gifts from admirers. At least two princesses fell for this scam (Elizabeth of Luxembourg and Elizabeth of Burgundy)—and who wouldn't? Jeanne's own brothers vouched for her identity.

Emboldened by the public's acceptance, the trio took a step too far, meeting with someone who know Jeanne well and was certain of the execution: King Charles VII himself. Even if there was a physical resemblance to the original, Charles tested her by asking her to repeat something that the real Jeanne had told him. She could not, and the scam fell apart. Her real name was Claude des Armoises. (For more on her, see here.)

Pierre and Jéan faded from historical records. In the 19th century, a descendant of Pierre named Henry Gautier received permission from Charles X to rename the family "d'Arc." His great-great-granddaughter Clotilde d'Arc portrayed her famous ancestor in an Orléans commemoration of the raising of the Siege by her intervention.

Pierre was pretty darn unethical about using his sister's fame to enrich himself. There are worse things, however, like going from a companion and supporter of Jeanne d'Arc to being a serial killer. Sad, but true, and I'll go into that horrible true story tomorrow.

Mother of a Saint

Isabelle Romée (1377 - 1458) grew up in Vouthon-Bas and move to Domrémy when she married Jacques d'Arc, a wealthy farmer who had inherited 50 acres and a stone house from his father. Her surname is unusual, and may have been used because of a pilgrimage to Rome. Whatever the case, she was a devout Roman Catholic who raised her five children (Jacquemin, Jean, Catherine, Jeanne, and Pierre) to be devout Catholics.

Her daughter, Jeanne (we know her as Joan of Arc), claimed to have visions that inspired her to get involved in the Hundred Years War and the French civil war that prevented the Dauphin (son of Charles VI) to be enthroned. Jeanne's involvement helped the Dauphin become Charles VII. Unfortunately, that made Jeanne many enemies, and she was eventually captured and put on trial for (among other things) heresy, after which she was burned at the stake.

Jeanne's father died shortly after, some say of grief. Isabelle had a different reaction: she would fight to clear her daughter's name. Isabelle moved to Orléans, where a city grateful for her daughter's work offered Isabelle a pension.

Her first move was to send a petition to Pope Nicholas V to re-open the case. An inquiry was begun in 1449, and the chief inquisitor for heresy in France took it on in May 1452. Investigations dragged on, and Isabelle went to Paris to speak to the new pope, Calixtus III. Calixtus gave the chief inquisitor, Jean Bréhal, his support and three assistants. Bréhal presided over the re-trial in November 1455, at which the 70-year-old Isabelle gave a moving speech. 115 witnesses were questioned (many of whom had been part of the first trial). Bréhal declared in June 1456 that Jeanne had died a martyr, and he posthumously excommunicated the head of the original trial, Bishop Pierre Cauchon, as a heretic who pursued a secular vendetta. Calixtus confirmed the excommunication.

The illustration above shows Isabelle and two of her children kneeling in the lower right, facing Jean Bréhal dressed as a Dominican, with the pope and others presiding. Bréhal wrote two books about his investigations and the retrial. He was present at a public burning of the articles of the original trial.

A victorious Isabelle died on 28 November 1458.

There is another member of the family that we know about: Jeanne's brother, Pierre. Why more information about him has made it to the historical record is not necessarily commendable, however. Little brothers can be annoying, and Jeanne's little brother did something selfish and bad. I'll explain next time.

Father of a Saint

Often in history a figure comes out of nowhere who has a big effect on the world stage, yet we know nothing of their background. In the case of Joan of Arc, however, we actually know quite a bit about her parents, even though they were not particularly remarkable politically or culturally until after her rise to prominence.

Her father was Jacques d'Arc (1375 - 1431), a successful farmer in Domrémy, France. Domrémy, unremarkable until the rise of Joan, chained a special dispensation in 1429 from King Charles VII. At Joan's request, the town became exempt from taxes because she felt the taxes were too burdensome for the people. This tax-exempt status lasted until the French Revolution.

Jacques inherited 50 acres of land from his father. He married Isabelle Romée (1377 - 1458), from the nearby village of Vouthon-Bas. Together they raised five children: Jacquemin, Jean, Catherine, Jeanne, and Pierre. The size and success of his farm made Jacques a prominent citizen in his own way; he was a town government official, and owned the only stone house in the town.

That stone home was a blessing. In July 1428, the Armagnac-aligned townspeople evacuated to Neufchâteau when the surrounding Burgundian forces invaded as part of the civil unrest between the Duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin. After they returned, they discovered the town ransacked and houses destroyed—there was even damage to the church. The d'Arc home survived the invasion.

His relationship with his daughter was contentious. She was headstrong as a child, and he had recurring dreams of her going off to war, a future that dismayed him, because the only women he knew of who followed armies were prostitutes. Jacques told his sons that, if Joan were to show that she were going to follow the army, they should drown her to preserve her virtue. His attempts to marry her to get her to settle down were rebuffed.

After Joan's aid in getting Charles VII crowned, the king ennobled the family and gave them a coat of arms in 1429. Jacques had gone to Reims for the coronation, and Joan probably introduced her father and the king. Her trial and execution a year later, however (Parts One and Two), likely disturbed him deeply. He died in 1431 in his 50s, some say from grief. He was honored later by a statue in Domrémy (see above).

His wife, Joan's mother, did not die from grief, but lived long after. This is not because she did not grieve; rather, it is because Joan's execution gave her a cause to which to dedicate her life. We'll talk about Isabelle next time.

The Trial of Joan of Arc, Part 2

One of the problems the authorities had with Jeanne d'Arc after her capture and during her trial was her insistence, from the start of he campaign to put Charles on the throne of France, that she wear men's clothing and act as a soldier. This was such an aberration to the Europe of 1431 that they would not allow her into the courtroom unless she dressed appropriately.

Her constant requests to hear Mass were being denied; finally, they pointed out that it would not be appropriate to attend mass in men's clothing. The transcript of the questioning reads:

Joan: Promise me that I'll get to hear Mass if I wear woman's clothing.

Interrogator: I promise that you will hear Mass if you wear women's clothing.

Joan: And what do you say if I've promised our king and sworn not to remove these clothes? Nonetheless, I say, make me a long robe that touches the ground, with no train and give it to me for Mass. Then when I come back I'll put back on these clothes I'm wearing.

She was not allowed to hear Mass. Her English captors put men's clothes in her cell, knowing she would put them on and they could point out her inappropriate ways.

There were 70 articles drawn up against her, including the wearing of men's clothes, heresy, lying, stealing a horse (she swore she gave money for it, but did not know if the money got to the owner), and many more. The trial ended in an abjuration, in which the accused is forced to renounce a previous belief.

On 24 May she was led to a scaffold and told her burning at the stake was imminent unless she signed the abjuration, agreeing that her visions were false and returning to wearing women's clothing. She agreed to sign, but four days later she regretted what fear of her life drove her to do, and she recanted. This "relapse into heresy" was punishable by death, and so, two days after she recanted, on 30 May 1431, she was burned at the stake.

Charles VII requested an investigation into the trial—18 years later—that declared the judgment faulty because proper procedure was not followed. An appeals court overturned the conviction on 7 July 1456.

What motivated Charles to look into the trial of Jeanne years later, when at the time of the trial he showed no interest? To answer that question we have to look back at the people who were the source of Jeanne d'Arc: her parents. I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

The Trial of Joan of Arc, Part 1

After she was captured by the French Burgundians and handed over to the English, Jeanne d'Arc was taken to Rouen (the center of the English in France) for trial. Just being an enemy of the English was not a sufficient reason to try someone, so they used a different charge: heresy.

Jeanne had claimed she was shown vision of Saints Mic hall and Catherine that motivated her to do whatever necessary to make sure the Dauphn Charles was crowned King of France. The previous few days' worth of blog posts show that she did, in fact, help achieve this goal. Unfortunately, she reached a point where her desire for military action was no longer consistent with the new King Charles' Armagnac party's desire for less-bloody negotiation with the Burgundians.

The trial was headed by Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Although French, Cauchon was allied to the Burgundian party (he was the ambassador to the Duke of Burgundy), and had Anglo-centric leanings. If Joan could be proven not to be an agent of God, then they could delegitimize Charles VII and place the use of Burgundy on the throne.

Three notaries were appointed to each make an account of the trial while it proceeded in February 1431. Translated from Middle French to Latin in 1435, they were preserved sufficiently that there are three copies extant. An investigation in the 1450s spoke to many of the 115 witnesses that were Brough forth in the trial and uncovered much new information that had not been recorded during the trial.

Cauchon arranged for investigators to look into Jeanne's character. The Duchess of Bedford oversaw an examination into the maid's claims of virginity, and declared them true. An investigator sent to her home town of Domrémy came back with the statement that he could hear nothing about her character "that he would not have liked to find about his own sister." (Cauchon declared that investigator a bad man and refused to pay his salary.)

A trial for heresy required some specific facets according to canon law: the presence of the vice-inquisitor, permission for Cauchon to preside over (he was outside his diocese of Beauvais), and equal numbers of prelates representing both sides of the debate. Joan said she would attend, but wanted to hear Mass. She was not allowed to hear Mass, and was not allowed to attend the trial because she refused to wear anything but a (male) soldier's garments. Complaints about her improper clothing were raised again and again. (The illustration is by a 19th century artist, depicting the Cardinal of Winchester interrogating her in her prison cell.)

She refused to reveal any details of what her visions said to her, claiming that she shared them only with Charles and would not share them with anyone else. She would repeatedly say "Everything I have done is at God's command."

Weeks of questioning were to determine her standing with God and the Church and to create the list of potential charges. Tomorrow I'll explain the actual trial that followed, the compromise about clothing she offered them, and her execution.

Joan of Arc Captured

Jeanne d'Arc had accomplished the chief mission of her visions, putting Charles VII on the Throne of France through her military support and inspiration of the troops. In exchange, Charles had raised her family to noble status. At that point, with Charles in charge, peaceful negotiations were the way forward for France, but she wanted to do more to drive the English out of the continent.

In April of 1430, she was on the march (without royal approval), driving out English and Burgundians (Charles' political party was the Armagnacs) from towns and garrisons they encountered. More local people and soldiers joined her along the way. At the town of Lagny-sur-Marne, the group defeated an Anglo-Burgundian force and captured their leader, a mercenary named Franquet d'Arras. Usually, someone of his status would be used for ransom, but Joan allowed a trial that led to his execution.

They continued to Compiègne, reaching it on 14 May. At that time, the number of followers had grown so large that it could not find sufficient food locally to support itself, so Joan disbanded them, retaining only 400 soldiers to enter Compiègne. Ten days later, they left Compiègne to attack a Burgundian camp northeast of the town. The attack failed and Jeanne was captured (shown above in a 19th century painting). A Burgundian nobleman, Lyonnel de Wandomme, took her to his castle at Beaulieu-les-Fontaines.

She tried to escape and was moved to the more secure Beaurevoir Castle. She attempted another escape, jumping from a high window to a dry moat, but was too injured from the fall to go any further. She was then moved to the town of Arras, deep in Burgundian-held territory.

The English were happy to offer a ransom to get this devil-maid into their hands. Philip the Good, son of the Duke of Burgundy, was all too happy to hand her off to the English and shed responsibility for her fate since she was so beloved by many of her countrymen. After a payment of 10,000 livres tournois, Jeanne was moved to the main stronghold of the English in France, Rouen. We have no evidence that Charles VII took any steps to save the person who was instrumental in putting him on the throne.

Although there was no doubt as to the outcome of handing her to the English, formalities had to be observed. I'll go through her trial for heresy tomorrow.

The Siege of Paris

The goal and prediction of Jeanne d'Arc was that she would lift the Siege of Orléans and get the Dauphin crowned as King Charles VII of France. After the coronation at Reims Cathedral, a fifteen-day truce between Charles' Armagnac forces and the Duke of Burgundy who held Paris discussed a peaceful transfer of Paris to the new king. The Duke of Burgundy reneged once the fifteen-day period was over.

On the way to Paris, many towns easily switched their allegiance to the new king. On 15 August, however, the Armagnacs came up against English forces in a fortified position led by the Duke of Bedford. Joan rode alone against the English, hoping they could be goaded to leave their fortifications and attack, but they stayed put.  For whatever reason, however, the English retreated the next day, and the Armagnacs were able to continue their march to Paris, which they reached on 8 September.

The Siege of Paris turned out to be a turning point for Jeanne. She was wounded in the leg by a crossbow bolt and hid in a trench until nightfall, when she could be rescued. Fifteen hundred Armagnac casualties led Charles to call off the assault. Jeanne argued against this course of action, but the Armagnacs retreated.

Jeanne insisted on fighting, but the court wanted a diplomatic solution. The failure of the Siege of Paris reduced the army's faith in her. Scholars at the University of Paris concluded that her involvement in the army was not, in fact, divine as they had thought.

She was allowed, in October, to be part of a force sent to deal with a mercenary. A siege and attack urged by Jeanne succeeded, but attempts to retake another town failed, further diminishing faith in Jeanne.

Nevertheless, in December, upon her return to court, she found that Charles had ennobled her family as a reward for services. She also discovered that a truce had been made with the Burgundians which would last until Easter 1430, so her services as a soldier were not needed.

She took matters into her own hands, however, and still had influence over many who believed in her mission. Her independent attempts to drive out the Burgundians and English led to her downfall, however, which I will go into tomorrow.

On to Reims!

After the siege of Orléans was lifted thanks to Jeanne d'Arc's motivation and inspiration, she insisted there push on to Reims, the traditional site of coronation for the kings of France. The Dauphin, Charles, let her go ahead with the army to clear a path. Doing so meant gaining control of all the bridges over the Loire River.

The army set out on this task on 11 June 1429. Jeanne, as before, was not shy about battle. While besieging the town of Jargeau, she scaled a ladder against the wall, only to be struck in the head by a stone that cracked her helmet. Jargeau was taken and many English were executed.

Beaugency, a castle along the south bank of the Loire, was the next target. Those holding Beaugency, unaware that help was on its way under the command of Sir John Fastolf, surrendered on the 18th. The main English army in the region was on the north bank, and they retreated toward Paris. On Jeanne's advice, the French pursued, caught up, and the Battle of Patay took place on the same day.

The English tried to repeat the tactic that worked at Agincourt: a barrier of stakes to stop any cavalry, and long bowmen to rain arrows on the enemy. They did not know how close behind the French were, however, and so while finding a place to make their stand, the French sent archers to the sides of the road to ambush the English. The following battle is estimated to have cost the English over 2000 deaths out of 5000. Most of the rest were captured. The French declared only 100 dead or wounded.

The wild success of Patay encouraged the French leaders to want to push on to Normandy and continue taking land back and driving English out, but Jeanne insisted that Reims and a coronation of Charles was of primary importance. Charles agreed, and on 29 June the march to Reims began. Towns along the way offered no resistance, except for Troyes with a garrison of English and Burgundians (rivals of the Dauphin's Armagnac party). They held out for four days, until Jeanne ordered the moat to be filled with wood. Fearing that the city would be destroyed by fire, Troyes surrendered.

The Dauphin, Jeanne, and the Armagnacs marched in to Reims unopposed on the evening of 16 July. The Dauphin was crowned Charles VII the next morning at Reims Cathedral, with Jeanne prominent in the ceremony. (The statue of her above is outside Reims Cathedral.)

Charles was now king, and proceeded to negotiate a fifteen-day truce with the Duke of Burgundy, his cousin who had driven him from Paris years earlier. They would agree to a peaceful transfer of Paris from the Duke and Burgundians to Charles and the Armagnacs, but at the end of the fifteen days the Duke reneged.

If Charles wanted Paris, he would have to fight for it. Let's talk about that next time.

Joan of Arc

The historical figure we call Joan of Arc was born Jeanne d'Arc c.1412 in northeast France. During a crucial time in the Hundred Years War, she managed to gain an audience with the Dauphin, the rightful heir to the French throne, who was having trouble not only with the English but also with his own countrymen.

They met in late February or early March at the Dauphin's court in Chinon, where he had retired since being driven from the capital, Paris, years earlier. Orléans was under siege at the time, and she told the Dauphin that she had come to raise the siege and ensure his coronation. This was based on a series of visions she had.

Not willing to accept the seventeen-year-old illiterate peasant girl at her word, she was sent to theologians at Poitiers to be examined. Her strong Catholic upbringing was in her favor, but they could not agree that she was in fact seeing visions of St. Michael and others. Still, if she went to Orléans and was successful, that would be the best test of her claims. First she was sent to Tours where the Dauphin's mother, Yolande of Aragon, led a team of women who examined her physically and determined that she was, indeed, a virgin as she claimed. The prophecy that a virgin would be France's savior might have been satisfied by this girl, after all.

The Dauphin was sufficiently convinced that he commissioned plate armor for his maiden warrior. She gained a sword, brought from under the altar in the church at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois. The Armagnac faction was severely demoralized at this point in the face of the Burgundian and English occupation, but Jeanne's arrival, her constant optimism, and her profound and public assurances of the divine support of their cause inspired the troops. Before going to raise the siege of Orléans in April of 1429, she dictated a letter to be delivered to the Duke of Bedford, warning him that she would drive him out of France.

She and the troops arrived at Orléans on 29 April. They managed to get her into the city where she was initially treated as a symbol, with no part in the military attempt to fight back. On 4 May, the Armagnac troops in Orléans took the offensive. Jeanne always seemed to be in the thick of the fighting, and gained the respect of the troops and their commanders, who sometimes even accepted her suggestions on where to focus their forces.

The next day was Ascension Thursday, commemorating the bodily ascension of Jesus to Heaven after the Resurrection, and therefore a day when no fighting was allowed by the Church. Jeanne dictated another letter to the English to leave France; it was tied to a crossbow bolt and fired at the enemy. On the next two days, the Armagnacs made progress, but each time they wanted to stop and consolidate their gains, Jeanne urged them to continue the forward offensive. Their progress continued from 5 - 7 May, when they attacked the main English stronghold. Jeanne, holding her banner, got an arrow in her shoulder but was part of the successful assault. On 8 May it was clear that Orléans was free of danger from the English.

For the French, like theologian Jean Gerson, the liberation of Orléans satisfied Jeanne's claim that she was sent by God. To the English, it clearly affirmed that the power behind her came from the devil.

She was famous, and there was more to come. See you next time.

A Maid Appears

About the year 1412, on (tradition claims) the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January, a girl was born to a peasant family in northeast France, in the town of Domrémy. Her parents were Jacques d'Arc, a farmer who owned 50 acres of land, and Isabelle Romée. Jacques and Isabelle had five children: Jacquemin, Jean, Catherine, Jeanne, and Pierre. 

The d'Arcs were relatively wealthy, with a house—modest by modern standards, but the only stone house in the town at the time—that is now a museum (shown here). Their children did not have opportunities to learn to read and write, but the family had strong Catholic values that would form their children's upbringing. It is their second daughter that we want to focus on.

Her name was Jeanne, and she would refer to herself later as Jeanne la Pucelle ("Jean/Joan the Maiden"). As a child she performed the usual household chores: spinning, looking after livestock. Her father claimed to have dreams that his younger daughter was going to go to war. This disturbed him so much that he told his sons to guard against this by drowning her if it looked like his dreams proved prophetic. Attempts to marry Joan off failed due to her obstinacy.

In 1425, Jeanne says, a figure she identified as St. Michael appeared to her in the garden. She started having visions regularly, especially when she heard the church bells rung (in the illustration above, the church is the building in the distance to the right). Its. Margaret and Catherine also appeared (although which Margaret and which Catherine were never made clear). Saints Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria were known as virgins who had powerful enemies and were martyred for their beliefs.

In the French countryside at the time, a prophecy circulated based on the statements of Marie Robine of Avignon (died 1399), a French mystic who said an "armed virgin" would save France. In 1428, she went to the nearby town of Vaucouleurs where soldiers were garrisoned and asked the commander to escort her to the Dauphin, Charles. The commander, Robert de Baudricourt, sent her back home. The following year, Burgundian forces hostile to the Dauphin raided Domrémy, burned the crops, stole the cattle, and destroyed houses (the d'arc's stone house survived). Jeanne went back to Vaucoleurs and was again rebuffed by the commander, but two of the garrison's soldiers were intrigued by her claims and offered their support.

News of her claims of visions and desire to help the Dauphin had spread, and the Duke of Lorraine, Charles II, summoned her. He was ill, and wondered if she had some supernatural ability that could help cure him. Her only comment to him as that he had sinned by living with a mistress.

Meanwhile, English forces were encroaching more and more. Baudricourt agreed to meet with Jeanne for a third time, urged by the two soldiers, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy. She was given an escort of six soldiers to see the Dauphin. For the journey, she borrowed men's clothing to wear. For the rest of her life she dressed as a man. 

She reached the Dauphin in late February or early March 1429, and the story will continue tomorrow.

Question of Succession

When Charles VI died in October 1422, the Treaty of Troyes determined that the Crown would pass to Henry V of England or his successor. Henry had died a couple months before, on 31 August, and his successor was his son, Henry VI, who was only 10 months old.

Of course there were people in France who did not ant to abide by the Treaty of Troyes, giving Charles VI's mental instability at the signing. They considered the Dauphin—Charles VI's eldest surviving son Charles—the rightful heir.

Even so, there were some who questioned the legitimacy of the Dauphin's birth, and supported the claim of his cousin Charles, the Duke of Orléans. One problem with that choice: the Duke of Orléans had been a captive of the English since the Battle of Agincourt. Henry had disallowed a ransom for Orléans' release, considering him too close to the line of succession to the French throne and (rightly) assuming he would be a threat to the terms of Troyes. (Spoiler: he would not be released until 1440!) The illustration represents him in the Tower of London.

Because of Agincourt, England already occupied northern France, including Paris. Henry V's brother, John Duke of Bedford, was regent for the child Henry and was put in control of France.

Charles and his people decided to ignore Troyes and continue the Hundred Years War. He gained some land back, executing any Frenchman who sided with the English. In December 1422 he married Marie of Anjou, the daughter of Yolande of Aragon, Duchess of Anjou and Countess of Provence, giving him an alliance that might prove useful.

Although he claimed the title King of France, he did not achieve any significant progress driving the English out of France. He operated out of Chinon. By 1429, Charles' future was looking particularly bleak because of advances by the Duke of Bedford.

Then, on 23 February 1429, a young girl arrived in Chinon to meet with the Dauphin. She was about 16 years old, from the village of Domrémy, and she had demanded of a garrison commander that he assemble an escort to take her to the Dauphin, because she had been given a mission in a vision.

Her name was Jeanne, and we will begin her part of the story next time.

Charles VII of France

Charles was born on 22 February 1403, the third "Charles" of his father's sons. His father was King Charles VI, and had a son Charles who was born and died in 1386, then a son named Charles who lived from 1392 to 1401. (He had two additional older brothers, but they died in 1415 and 1417, respectively.) You might say that the third Charles was lucky, but only if you did not know what the rest of his life was like.

His (surviving) older brothers had each held the title Dauphin of France, declaring them heirs apparent to the French throne; their deaths without children (although each had been married young) left the title Dauphin to Charles in 1417. This was no guarantee of succession, however.

In May 1418 the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, invaded Paris. He was a cousin of the current king, Charles VI, whom everyone realized was mentally unwell. Reducing a lot of rivalries to simple terms: the defeat at the Battle of Agincourt angered the Burgundians, who blamed the king and his Armagnac supporters for mismanagement. John felt he should take over, so he established himself in the capital, Paris, but the Dauphin escaped the night before, going to Bourges where he would be safe.

Charles actually set up a court and a parliament in Bourges, and he was referred to sarcastically in Paris as "King of Bourges." Charles did not have the support to challenge John directly, so he agreed to meet and discuss a treaty. The two met on 11 July 1419 at a bridge where they signed the Treaty of Pouilly-le-Fort, in which they agreed to share government and not sign any treaties with other parties without discussing it first with each other. They also agreed to a second meeting on 10 September.

With peace established between them, the second meeting took place as planned. John figured he had nothing to fear, so he arrived with a small contingent of men. The Dauphin's men assassinated Duke John.

I'll pause to point out that this was during the period known as the Hundred Years War. The Battle of Agincourt had been so devastating to the French that the English were in a position to make the terms. Henry V of England had taken Charles VI's daughter Catherine of Valois (Charles VII's sister) as his wife, and their son would rule both England and France. This arrangement was supposed to be the end of hostilities forever.

The result of the assassination of the Duke of Burgundy was that his son and heir, Philip the Good, aged 24, continued the hostilities between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. He also made an alliance with Henry V. A few years later, he married his sister to the English Duke of Bedford, who was regent for Henry's son Henry VI, who was intended to be the king of both countries. Although he did not involve himself directly in major conflicts of the Hundred Years War, Philip was constantly involved in more local conflicts. It was Philip, however, who in 1430 would capture Joan of Arc and turn her over to the English.

But there's a lot that happened in France between now and then, and we'll go into more detail tomorrow.

Christine and Joan

One of the last written works by Christine de Pizan was the poem Ditié de Jehanne d'Arc ("The Tale of Joan of Arc"), published mere weeks after the coronation of Charles VII (17 July 1429). Two complete manuscripts of the poem have survived. This is the only work about Joan of Arc that was written in her lifetime. Christine never mentions here or anywhere the capture of Joan by the English, and it is assumed that Christine's death took place in 1430, preceding Joan's capture in May of that year.

Her opening prologue of a dozen stanzas offer us a bit of autobiography as well as her emotions about the end of the war, showing us a tremendous surge in national pride and optimism over the end of the war and the restoration of the original monarchy:

I.
I, Christine, who have wept for eleven years in a walled
abbey where I have lived ever since Charles (how strange
this is!) the King’s son–dare I say it?–fled in haste
from Paris, I who have lived enclosed there on account of
the treachery, now, for the first time, begin to laugh;

III.
In 1429 the sun began to shine again. It brings back the
good, new season which had not really been seen for a
long time–and because of that many people had lived
out their lives in sorrow; I myself am one of them. But I
no longer grieve over anything, now that I can see what I desire.

The following 49 stanzas tell us the story of the civil war, the first of which immediately credits the efforts of Joan of Arc:

XIII.
And you Charles, King of France, seventh of that noble
name, Who have been involved in such a great war before
things turned out at all well for you, now, thanks be to
God, see your honour exalted by the Maid Who has laid
low your enemies beneath your standard (and this is new!)

Joan's contribution to the war is considered a sign of divine intervention, as the young Maid of Orleans single-handedly renewed the fighting spirit of the French.

Christine concludes the poem with the understanding that not everyone sees the end of the war the same way as she:

LXI.
This poem was completed by Christine in the above
mentioned year, 1429, on the last day of July. But I
believe that some people will bc displeased by its
contents, for a person whose head is bowed and whose
eyes are heavy [can not] look at the light.

Christine's works were kept alive in small pockets of literary interest since her death. In 1949, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote that Christine's 1399 L'Épistre au Dieu d'amours ("Epistle to the God of Love") was "the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defence of her sex." The later 20th century saw increased interest in her as the first feminist writer.

We, however, will use her last work to veer off into politics of the French civil war and the appearance of Joan of Arc. See you tomorrow.

William Prepares to Conquer

With the change of reign in England in 1066, Duke William of Normandy saw his opportunity to become king of a country, believing that it was promised to him.

Edward died in early January, and mounting an invasion in winter, specially if one has to cross the English Channel, was not advisable. Besides, invasions take time to assemble, even if you do not have to provision them because you expect to find food once you enter the new country. It was also important to William to gain moral support in the form of a papal blessing.  William of Poitiers claimed that Pope Alexander's consent came along with a papal banner that could be carried by the army; however, Alexander's consent seems to have come after the conquest was complete. William of Poitiers also claimed that the duke had support from Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (not likely, since Henry was still only 15), and King Sweyn II of Denmark (also unlikely, since Denmark had problems with Norway and Harold of England was an ally of Denmark's in that regard).

William had months to bring together troops from Normandy, France, Brittany, and Flanders. They were all instructed to gather at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a seaport on the River Somme estuary. (Joan of Arc was held there before being taken to Rouen to be burned.) The summer months also included a ship-building campaign.

His numbers of men and ships was likely exaggerated by contemporary chroniclers, but for the sake of argument, let's relate that he was said to have 726 ships (including one paid for and outfitted by his wife, Matilda). Those same writers also claim different numbers for soldiers, as high as 150,000; also, as low as 14,000.  Modern estimates reduce those numbers to maybe 7000-8000 men, of whom 1000 or more were cavalry. The others were archers and foot soldiers.

All his pieces were in place by August, but he delayed the crossing. The assumption is that Harold knew William was planning an invasion and hd troops all along the coast. There would be no surprise attack.

Help for William came from an unlikely source: Harald Hardrada, King of Norway. No, Harald was not an ally of William's or offering support. Harald wanted England for himself, so he attacked in the north, drawing King Harold Godwinson's troops away from the south.

For details on how that went, come back tomorrow.

Why "Dark" Ages?

Once in a time known as the Dark Ages
There lived a legend whose coming had been foretold
by the great prophet Merlin.

This is the opening of a 1999 film on Joan of Arc. Joan's dates were 1412-1431, a far cry from anyone's idea of the Dark Ages.* What were the Dark Ages, exactly? The term is commonly used to refer to a time when education lapsed and "not much happened." Well, the amount that was happening could fill a daily blog for quite awhile.

The concept of a Dark Age is credited to Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), who traveled Europe looking for Latin classics. The story goes that, upon discovering a "lost" collection of the letters of Cicero (106-43 BCE) in the 1330s, he expressed his disgust that such splendor had existed long ago but not preserved or improved upon in the intervening years:

Each famous author of antiquity whom I recover places a new offense and another cause of dishonor to the charge of earlier generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds, and the writings that their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through insufferable neglect. Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its ancestral heritage.

Essentially, for Petrarch, the Dark Ages was that period between the glory that was Rome and the glory that was his own era. Nowadays, if the term "Dark Ages" is used at all, it is used for the first half of the Middle Ages, denoting the period right after the fall of Rome to about 1100.

So where/when did we start talking about the "Middle" Ages?

[to be continued]

*And don't get me started on "Merlin" having a prophecy about Joan.