The ending of Joan's mission. Thus, the crowning of Dauphin Charles completed Joan's mission. The girl was ready to return home but did not yet have a permission from her king to do it.
Let us recall the version about the origin of The Voices suggested by the author in Chapter 2: Joan invented them and persuaded herself and other people in their existence. While later events did not always necessarily demonstrate that Joan was supported by upper forces, she did achieve her mission, and she achieved it more or less in the way she had formulated it. After Dauphin Charles was crowned, "Merlin's prophecy" seemed to have realized. France was saved, and the merit of that belonged to the girl called "Maid Joan of Lorraine". She had very serious reasons to believe that her fantasies were not a product of her imagination but presented a specific form of real contact with upper forces of Heaven. On the other hand, as we show below, even then she was not absolutely sure about the reality of such contact.
The phenomenon of materialization of ideas and fantasies is a very complex philosophical problem, discussion of which is outside the scope of this book. The current book is focused on a concrete person and examines the facts from a historical-analytical perspective. Let us only note that this phenomenon results in certain side effects, some of which will be discussed briefly in the following chapters.
After completion of the mission, and without a permission to return home, Joan was caught in an ambiguous situation. Some facts, changes in her behavior so confident till that time, showed her confusion and discouragement. However, the war was still going on, and Joan had no time to be bored.
The day after the crowning. Telling in Chapter 5 about the demand of dismissal of Joan, we did not give an interesting citation:
"According to some sources, Joan said that her mission was completed and asked to let her go home. However, other information contradicts that." /1/.
It is easy to understand the nature of the information about Joan's demand of dismissal: someone probably witnessed her conversation with the king in which she asked to be dismissed. But what might be the other information that contradicts that? Did the king tell someone that Joan DID NOT ask for a dismissal? However, that might be another thing: the king was not interested to recognize that Joan herself wished to leave the army and to return to peaceful life. Why was he not interested in that, we told in Chapter 5.
Let us analyze the situation in France immediately after the crowning of Charles VII. Now France had a king. The treaty signed once in Troyes became obsolete. The English hoped to discredit the act of crowning by means of a Church process against Joan, but were not yet able to lay their hands on her. The English army was in the process of renewal: reinforcements were arriving from England, but they were busy enough keeping the occupied territories under control. John Bedford lost the trust in his captains and decided to lead personally the new English army.
Contrary to the English, the Burgundian army was more or less able to fight, though the loss of territories during the bloodless march of Joan had a very strong impact onto Burgundians; moreover, the coronation of Charles VII transformed them into rebels. Burgundy probably was interested to cease the war - under appropriate conditions of a peace treaty, of course. Peace negotiations were being intensively conducted, through secret channels. As we show below, Charles VII probably received good money for the sabotage of the war against Burgundy.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of English-Burgundian relations Hugo of Lannoi prepared a plan for further military operations in France. He emphasized the necessity to land in France before 1430, with a strong English army, keeping and strengthening the alliance between England and Burgundy. It was recommended to support Burgundy and other collaborationists by means of additional English soldiers and also by territorial grants, and to send embassies to allies of France /2/. This program might seem convincing but did not contain any real substance. England could find more soldiers but these would be young novice soldiers which would need to face experienced French soldiers and partisans. The raise of the status for the duke of Burgundy and for the other collaborationists in France would create serious problems between them and the English regency. Even sending embassies to other countries was an enterprise too expensive for England which was already spending enormous amounts of money in the war with France.
On the other hand, that was something that looked like a plan, and one might try to realize it.
While the armies of England and Burgundy were too weak, the French army grew and counted at that time about 20 thousand soldiers. The previous commander duke of AlenГon was now replaced with king Charles VII. That fact resulted immediately in a change of the military tactics.
Charles VII did not need such strong army: the threat of the enemy started to look like a remote illusion, while any invasion by the French army into England was impossible: the French army was invincible in a role of a national liberation army, but would fall apart if it was used for a war of aggression outside France. On the other hand, Charles VII did not want to start governing his nation with such unpopular measure as the cessation of fighting and disbandment of a national army, especially when a large part of the army did not even ask to be paid for the service. Charles VII needed a pretext for such action. In the conditions given, the only option he had was to march to Paris. That allowed also to charge Joan with a new responsibility, reducing in that way her dissatisfaction by the fact that she was not allowed to go home after the completion of her mission.
Paris campaign. The capital of France was defended then only by a garrison of 2000 Burgundian soldiers, and had almost no English soldiers /2/. The historians agree that a direct attack on the city would result in a very fast conquering of Paris by the French.
Yet, a direct attack on Paris did not take place. On July 21 the French army left Reims, but instead of marching to Paris, it turned to the north of the city. One after another, French towns around Paris declared their loyalty to the new king of France. From there, the army turned to the south, marching near additional towns, and then turned back to the north. Until August 15, over 40 fortresses and fortified towns, including Soissons and Compiegne, moved to the side of the king of France, without a battle.
Thus, the situation became increasingly favorable for the French. At the same time, the war changed its nature from a lightning speed war of liberation into a traditional feudal war. The tactics of Charles VII applied a pressure on the duke of Burgundy, sending a clear message to the duke: "Accept now my conditions of peace, or else I will take away all you have". As a result, in the end of July or in the beginning of August 1429 the French and the Burgundians signed a peace agreement for the following 15 days. That was a very strange agreement; the royal army continued to occupy capitulating towns previously controlled by Burgundy, while the latter was allowed to defend Paris. Why to defend, from whom, if the military operations had stopped?
Joan Darc reacted very negatively to the peace agreement with Burgundy. On August 5 she wrote to the residents of Reims: "My dear good friends, loyal French of the city of Reims. Maid Joan is sending some news to you. It is true that our king has signed an armistice for 15 days with the duke of Burgundy, which is promising to give us peacefully the city of Paris after that, but however, do not be surprised if I arrive there before, because I dislike this armistice, and am not sure whether or not I will respect it; if I will, that will be only out of respect to our king." /1/.
Thus, Burgundy promised Paris to Charles VII. That did not happen in 1429, neither did it happen in a number of years following 1429. On April 13, 1436 the French eventually took Paris, and not without help from the Burgundians.
Then the armistice ended but was prolonged till the Christmas of 1429. That still did not prevent some fighting between the French and the Burgundians. Neither of the sides was satisfied by the armistice.
It is easy to understand that Burgundians were interested to delay the events. They certainly were informed about the changes in the French military leadership and knew that Joan was no more leading the army. They very probably expected new forces of the English to arrive from England.
That is an interesting question - why did not Charles VII attack Paris? That was not a strong fortress like Les Tourelles or Jargeau. Didn't he wish to reinforce his power? Was he afraid of further rise of Joan's influence? If he was afraid of her influence, then was he ready to risk his newly and not easily received crown? It looks much more probable that the Burgundians attached to the armistice agreement a good amount of money, for which Charles VII agreed to tolerate their presence in Paris.
Meanwhile, the English more or less recovered from the horrors of the battle of Patay. On August 14, an English army commanded by Bedford and counting about 5000 soldiers took positions on hills of MontИpilloy and prepared the traditional English defense with palings. The French took solid positions opposing the English. Neither side felt ready to attack. The standoff between the two armies, with some exchanges of fire, without serious attacks of both sides continued throughout the day. The sides lost a similar number of soldiers, about 150 on each side. For the English, the loss of men was probably more painful. On August 15 they left their positions and marched to Normandy. According to /1/, that was because they received warning news from there: the French partisans were inspirited by the crowning of Charles VII, became extremely active and operated practically openly. However, another reason might be valid: Bedford understood that the traditional English tactic did not work but was not ready to suggest anything new.
The French army did not pursue the enemy but marched to Compiegne where it accepted capitulation of the town.
Thus, the English, the Burgundians and other collaborationists considered the armistice with Charles VII mostly as an interruption, a respite before a new series of battles. Charles VII completely supported their position.
Finally, Joan persuaded some of the captains, first of all the duke of AlenГon, to attack Paris. On August 23, without waiting for a permission from the king, a part of the army led by the duke and Joan marched in the direction of Paris. On August 26 they came to St Denis. While waiting for the king to make a decision, the army attacked detachments of the enemy, occupied the territory and reconnoitered the region nearby /1/.
On September 7, the king allowed to assault Paris. Of course, the time lost by the attacking forces was used by the defenders of Paris in order to reinforce the city. They prepared the walls and organized numerous detachments of volunteers /1/.
However, the measures of defense in Paris were mostly symbolic. Volunteers in Paris were not ready to fight against the experienced soldiers of Joan Darc. Being not a fortress, the city was vulnerable to attacks from many directions. The French could easily attack the Northern, right bank of Seine river (as follows from /2/, duke of AlenГon tried it, but the king forbade him to continue the attack). The French could attack the city from the river. Yet easier was to destroy the bridges connecting various parts of Paris, with branders sent down the river. The CitИ Island was an especially easy target. To cover it, the garrison needed to hold there some hundreds of soldiers at least. Allocation of such force to the island would weaken the defense of other parts of the city.
Very possibly, the French would not even need to use the mentioned factors of weakness of Paris. The army of Joan Darc had enough experience in assaults of fortresses. However, the Burgundian garrison of Paris had a very strong ally, much stronger than Bedford.
The next day, on September 8, despite the Christmas holiday of Mary The Virgin, the French attacked Paris from the side of the gate of Saint-HonorИ. The fighting continued for more than 5 hours. The French succeeded to seize the barricade defending the gate. Let us note that in May 1429, during the assault of Les Tourelles, even less was achieved by the initial attack, yet the fortress was captured on the same evening.
Very soon Joan was wounded in her thigh by an arrow. She refused to leave the battlefield and persuaded soldiers to continue the attack. However, Joan was removed by force, and the king commanded to stop the attack. On September 9, Joan was transported to Saint Denis. Before she left the town, Joan donated her excellent white armor to a church there. On September 12, the army marched away from Paris. Having lost by intention the battle for Paris, Charles VII got his pretext to dismiss the army.
Thus, the main ally of the Paris garrison, Charles VII, "won" for Burgundy the battle for Paris. Why did he do that? If the only problem was the armistice with the Burgundians, the French had anyway violated it when they had begun the assault on the city. By the way, they had a perfect reason for such act: the Burgundians were the first to violate the agreement when they did not yield Paris in contradiction to their promise, and the French only tried to take what was already agreed to be theirs. That strange armistice allowed each side to violate it accusing the enemy and considering itself as absolutely right.
So, Joan violated the king's wish. She might be held responsible for "the defeat" of the assault of Paris. That was the definite reason for the dismissal of Joan, and moreover, she asked for dismissal. As she donated her armor, she certainly believed that the war was finished for her. However, the king did not intend to let her go home. Instead of that, Charles VII disbanded the army in September 21, 1429. All captains were allowed to go home, except Joan. The only conclusion follows: the king really needed Joan, but not as a captain. Which status he wished for the girl, we discussed in Chapter 5.
Joan at the court of Charles VII. Autumn and winter 1429-30 were accompanied by permanent fighting between the French and the Burgundians, ignoring the formal armistice. Nevertheless, the fighting was not a reason for the knights to abstain from amusements: on February 20, 1430 five French knights, including DeXaintrailles, participated in a tournament in Arras, in which they fought against 5 Burgundians. Duke Philip of Burgundy was the judge. All French knights were defeated /1/. A few months later, they had a very good revenge.
In that time, Joan was under the responsibility of lord d'AlbrИ, half-brother of lord de La Tremouille, supporter of Burgundians in the court of Charles VII. D'AlbrИ drove Joan to Bourge where she resided three weeks in the house of the general financial adviser of the king. His wife Marguerite told later about Joan. The girl laughed when simple people asked her to touch a rosary or another object of fetish. "Touch it yourself! - she said to Marguerite. - They will be as good with your touch as with mine!" /2/. Is this not an interesting detail? The girl that told about her contacts with saints was sure that her touch was not holier than a touch of anyone else. Illiterate girl of the Middle Ages exhibiting a rather materialistic position.
Very soon a task was found for Joan, probably by lord de La Tremouille. She was asked to fight against gangs. Some of these gangs occupied castles and became powerful lords-brigands. One of them, Perrinet Gressard, was well known in Central France. He resided in La CharitИ-sur-Loire, held Saint-Pierre-le-MoШtier and worked sometimes for duke of Burgundy, and sometimes also for Bedford. Once de La Tremouille himself was prisoner of Gressard. Both the Burgundians and the French feared his power /2/.
In November 1429 Joan agreed to knock out Gressard of the towns and castles he occupied. The siege of Saint-Pierre-le-MoШtier was complicated. The storm of the royal army was repulsed, but Joan refused to retreat. She commanded to prepare a temporary bridge in order to enter the town. That was done, and the town fell without any serious resistance /2/.
After the success in Saint-Pierre-le-MoШtier, the detachment of Joan marched to La CharitИ-sur-Loire. The siege began on November 24 but did not succeed, because the detachment of Joan received no food or money from the king /2/.
The defeat of the siege of La CharitИ-sur-Loire did not cause any dissatisfaction to Charles VII. On the contrary, he granted to Joan and her family the title of Earl of Lis (Lilies, see Fig. 6.1). We may conclude that Charles VII did not wish for a different outcome of that operation.
Fig. 6.1. Coat of arms of The Maid of Orleans.
Joan remained very popular, but authorities on all levels had less and less respect to her. E.g., in January 1430, when the painter, that painted her banner, prepared to wedding of his daughter, Joan asked the treasurer of Tours municipality to pay them a grant, 300 livres (pounds), for the bridal dress. After a discussion the municipal council of Tours decided that such grant was out of their capabilities and gave only 4 livres for the food /2/. Let us remember this little detail, it will help us to understand some events of 1430.
Resumption of fighting. In the period discussed, England tried to cancel the consequences of the coronation of Charles VII, using ideas from the plan of de Lannoi. On October 13, 1429 duke Philip of Burgundy received the title of the general deputy of the king of England in France. In March 1430 he sent an army to Champaign /2/.
In March, 1430 Charles VII asked Joan to come to his palace. The formal reason was that he was worried about the behavior of the Burgundians, which demanded to receive back Compiegne and some other towns on Oise river and started an offensive /2/. On the other hand, the struggle for liberation from the English and the Burgundians continued. These were removed from St Denis. A revolt in Melun removed the English forces from the town. In March 1430, a serious conspiracy in Paris nearly lead to opening the gates of the city to the royal army. Unfortunately, the conspiracy was discovered and more than 150 people were arrested. 6 of the arrested were publicly executed at a marketplace in Paris, and most of the others were thrown into the Seine river /2/.
The center of the resistance to the Burgundians was Compiegne. This town should have been handed back to the Burgundians according to their agreements with Charles VII. However, when his representative Charles of Bourbon came to Compiegne and required to surrender the town to duke Philip of Burgundy, the citizens refused to obey. The commandant Guillaume of Flavy prepared the fortifications to a siege. Charles of Bourbon had nothing to do but to reply to the Burgundians that he was not able to make Compiegne to obey /2/. Thus, residents of Compiegne became rebels in the eyes of Charles VII; or, at least, they might believe so.
Joan certainly was in the course of the events. On March 16 she wrote two letters to the residents of Reims, which were worried of the perspective of resumption of the war. Joan wrote to them that she was aware of their fears /2/. Historians note that this letter was signed by the hand of the girl, as were almost all her letters of that period. A known rare exception was the letter that contained threats against the Hussites in Bohemia, written in Latin by Joan's confessor. Joan probably refused to sign it /2, 3/. Her refusal must have increased the hostility of the Church towards her. On the other hand, churchmen did not openly blame Joan in this refusal, and this did not figurate in the accusation material against her in Rouen, 1431.
In April 1430, Burgundian forces started the march on Champaign. The avant-garde was led by earl Jean of Luxembourg. In May 1430, English king Henry VI with 2000 soldiers landed in Calais. Of course, 2000 soldiers were not a force sufficient to conquer France. They were sufficient for fighting against partisans or for supporting the Burgundians, and even more sufficient for the protection of the young king, but not for serious operations. That was probably the first symptom of the dilution of the power of the English army. Pernoud suggests another explanation: English soldiers were in panic because of Joan Darc /2/. We note, however, that the execution of Joan did not help much the English with the process of recruiting new soldiers.
The plan of the military operations in Champaign was coordinated between the Burgundians and the English. First of all, the duke of Burgundy aimed to conquer rebellious towns such as Compiegne, because these made it difficult for the Burgundians to navigate on the Oise river. In May 1430, the siege of Compiegne began.
On May 6, 1430 Charles VII claimed that the duke of Burgundy had made fool of him /2/. Let us remember this fact, it is not so simple.
On the contrary to the English and the Burgundians, Charles VII seemed to do nothing.
In the end of March or in the beginning of April, 1430 Joan left the king. It is not clear whether or not he authorized her departure. Joan left with a detachment of 200 mercenaries of Piedmont /2/ - hence, she received some money for the expedition. On the other hand, such mystery around her departure from the royal palace correlates too well with the version that Joan might have a conflict with the king because of his sexual intentions about her.
Thus, Charles VII had financed the operation that resulted in capturing of Joan by the enemy. It is also the opinion of historians that Charles VII offered Joan to the enemy. However, why did he do it on the background of the English-Burgundian threat in Champaign? Was he wise enough to understand that this threat was just a phantom? Why not?
If the moral of Charles VII was absolutely repulsing, his intellect was definitely above that of all of his contemporaries.
On the other hand: how should we interpret the claim of Charles VII that the duke Philip Burgundian cheated him? That might very possibly be a game aiming to persuade the Burgundians, by means of their men around Charles VII, in his deep dissatisfaction of their behavior. That allowed Charles VII to achieve three goals in one shot: to persuade the Burgundians that Joan Darc was still under his protection, to inform them about the resumption of military operations by the French army and to convince them that their offensive was an absolutely surprise to him.
We mentioned above the behavior of the commandant Guillaume of Flavy in Compiegne that appeared very patriotic; it is very possible that he was instructed by the king to support "the revolt" against Burgundy in the town. This was a spectacle entitled "The king of France wishes to respect his promises to Burgundy, but rebel residents of Compiegne refuse". That was a game without any risk for Charles VII: if duke Philip of Burgundy won, the king would congratulate him with the cessation of the revolt and the restoration of the order and the law. However, in case of failure of the Burgundians - which really was the case - the king would collect the profit of their defeat.
Let us note the similar policy Louis XI used a number of decades later in Flanders, where he secretly supported revolts of Flemish cities against Burgundy while openly condemning them.
Now let us return to the events around Joan Darc. As follows from one of her answers in the Condemnation Trial, in the end of March, 1430, when she was in Melun, The Voices informed her that she would be taken captive very soon, before June 23. Whether or not that was true, this sinister prediction did not influence Joan at all - neither in her usual behavior nor in military operations. Before the Trial, Joan did not mention such thing to anyone. It seems possible that Joan invented this "prediction" during the Trial, to make her other claims more convincing.
Very soon the detachment of Joan participated in a battle against an English-Burgundian mercenary detachment of Franquet d'Arras in Lagny. Frenquet d'Arras was taken captive. He was wanted by the Bailli (representative of the state) of Senlis, one of towns nearby, for punishment for his crimes. Joan intended first to exchange him for one of participants in the pro-French conspiracy in Paris (see above), but was informed about execution of the conspirator. Then Joan transferred Franquet d'Arras to Senlis, where he was executed as "a murderer, mercenary and a traitor" /2/.
In Lagny, another interesting event happened. Joan was invited by the parents of an infant that was dying without having been baptized. When the parents approached Joan, she said that the infant was already "as black as her jacket". When she prayed for him, he regained conscience, then yawned three times, was baptized before died and was later buried as a Christian /2/.
That is probably the second mysterious fact (after the finding of the sword of Fierbois, see Chapter 3) that looks probable while it has no rational explanation. Since the case was described by Joan during the Trial of Condemnation, on the record, it cannot be considered as a legend or a gossip. We will not go any deeper into the explanations now, except a note that the infant might have yawned because he was suffocating.
Getting closer to Compiegne, the detachment of Joan tried to avoid the enemy by marching near Soissons, but the commandant of this town refused to let her in. Soon after that he sold the town to the Burgundians. However, on May 14, 1430 Joan and her detachment came to Compiegne.
On May 22 duke Philip of Burgundy approached Compiegne. Jean of Luxembourg was in Clairoix, another Burgundian detachment held Margny, while an English detachment was in La Venette. So the siege of Compiegne started /1/.
Siege of Compiegne. The town of Compiegne, placed on the right bank of Oise, was one of most important towns in Northern France. It was also a strong fortress. Compiegne had a double wall: an exterior wall for the fortress, an interior wall for the town.
The siege of Compiegne started on May 22, 1430. The Burgundians had a strong artillery, and the residents of Compiegne felt it very soon. The Burgundians did not intend to storm the fortress but wished to block the town, as the English did at Rouen (1419) and Orleans (1428-29). However, this time the siege did not result in a total blockage of the town (see Fig. 6.2).
Fig. 6.2. Siege of Compiegne /1/.
Fig. 6.3. The march of Joan's detachment in the Compiegne campaign.
The perspective of a long siege and a possible blockage became real for the residents of Compiegne. On May 22-23, when the enemy was not yet ready to the siege with all the forces and equipment it required, Joan decided to attack. Her plan included a sally against Margny first, then against Clairoix. To avoid an attack by the English from La Venette to the back of the Joan's detachment, the French prepared cannons in fortified positions on the bank of the river. Since the operation was risky, the French prepared boats for a case of a forced retreat /1-3/.
The last battle of captain Joan Darc. On May 23, 14.00 or later, 500-600 soldiers of Joan - cavalry and infantry - attacked the positions of the enemy in Margny /1/. The fort was still in a process of construction, and the Burgundians were definitely surprised. Jean of Luxembourg heard the noises of the battle and called for the forces from Clairoix. In La Venette, the English were alarmed too. Joan's forces repulsed the incoming enemy two or three times. As soon as Joan saw the English coming from La Venette, she commanded a retreat to Compiegne. A serious battle happened at the entry to the bridge /1/.
Most of fighters of Joan were saved, but her guards retreated to the fortress' gate where they were encircled by the English and by the Burgundians. The gate of the fortress was locked. Joan possibly would have a chance to save herself if she escaped into the forest, but in such case her men would be left behind without their commander. They tried to convince the guards to open the gate, but the guards refused to do so. After a short fight, the rest of the detachment of Joan was scattered, and she was taken prisoner /1/.
When historians describe the capture of Joan, they frequently cite two of her claims. First - of July, 1429 (see Chapter 5) - about her fear of betrayal. Second - an earlier claim attributed to her, that she would not live longer than one year. If the first citation seems very actual to relate to May 1430 (in Chapter 7 we will talk enough about the betrayal), the second certainly lost its actuality after April 1430.
Thus, on May 23, 1430 Joan Darc became a prisoner. Since that moment her biography was under the sign of prisons, her destiny being in the hands of her mortal enemies. Nobody might suggest then the main battle of Joan Darc was still to come, and soon.
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