The Life of Joan of Arc Part 31

She called the Duke of Alencon her fair Duke,[715] and loved him for the sake of the Duke of Orleans, whose daughter he had married. She loved him also because he believed in her when all others doubted or denied, and because the English had done him wrong. She loved him too because she saw he had a good will to fight. It was told how when he was a captive in the hands of the English at Verneuil, and they proposed to give him back his liberty and his goods if he would join their party, he had rejected their offer.[716] He was young like her; she thought that he like her must be sincere and n.o.ble. And perhaps in those days he was, for doubtless he was not then seeking to discover powders with which to dry up the King.[717]

[Footnote 715: Perceval de Cagny, p. 151, _pa.s.sim_.]

[Footnote 716: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 240.]

[Footnote 717: Cf. 1 Kings xiii, 4 (W.S.). P. Dupuy, _Proces de Jean II, duc d'Alencon, 1458-1474_, 1658, in 4to. Michelet, _Histoire de France_, vol. v, p. 382. Docteur Chereau, _Medecins du quinzieme siecle_, in _l'Union Medicale_, vol. xiv, August, 1862. Joseph Guibert, _Jean II duc d'Alencon_, in _Les positions de l'ecole des Chartes_, 1893.]

It was decided that Jeanne should be taken to Poitiers to be examined by the doctors there.[718] In this town the Parlement met. Here also were gathered together many famous clerks learned in theology, secular as well as regular,[719] and grave doctors and masters were summoned to join them. Jeanne set out under escort. At first she thought she was being taken to Orleans. Her faith was like that of the ignorant but believing folk, who, having taken the cross, went forth and thought every town they approached was Jerusalem. Half way she inquired of her guides where they were taking her. When she heard that it was to Poitiers: "In G.o.d's name!" she said, "much ado will be there, I know. But my Lord will help me. Now let us go on in G.o.d's strength!"[720]

[Footnote 718: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 116, 209.]

[Footnote 719: Belisaire Ledain, _Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers_, Saint-Maixent, 1891, in 8vo, 15 pages. Neuville, _Le Parlement royal a Poitiers_, in the _Revue historique_, vol. vi, p. 284.]

[Footnote 720: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 275. _Journal du siege_, p. 48. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 316.]

CHAPTER VII

THE MAID AT POITIERS

For fourteen years the town of Poitiers had been the capital of that part of France which belonged to the French. The Dauphin Charles had transferred his Parlement there, or rather had a.s.sembled there those few members who had escaped from the Parlement of Paris. The Parlement of Poitiers consisted of two chambers only. It would have judged as wisely as King Solomon had there been any questions on which to p.r.o.nounce judgment, but no litigants presented themselves--they were afraid of being captured on the way by freebooters and captains in the King's pay; besides, in the disturbed state of the kingdom justice had little to do with the settlement of disputes. The councillors, who for the most part had lands near Paris, were hard put to it for food and clothing. They were rarely paid and there were no perquisites. In vain they had inscribed their registers with the formula: _Non deliberetur donec solvantur species_; no payments were forthcoming from the suitors.[721] The Attorney General, Messire Jean Jouvenel des Ursins, who owned rich lands and houses in ile-de-France, Brie, and Champagne, was filled with pity at the sight of that good and honourable lady his wife, his eleven children, and his three sons-in-law going barefoot and poorly clad through the streets of the town.[722] As for the doctors and professors who had followed the King's fortunes, in vain were they wells of knowledge and springs of clerkly learning, since, for lack of a University to teach in, they reaped no advantage from their eloquence and their erudition. The town of Poitiers, having become the first city in the realm, had a Parlement but no University, like a lady highly born but one-eyed withal, for the Parlement and the University are the two eyes of a great city. Thus in their doleful leisure they were consumed with a desire, if it were G.o.d's will, to restore the King's fortunes as well as their own. Meanwhile, s.h.i.+vering with cold and emaciated with hunger, they groaned and lamented. Like Israel in the desert they sighed for the day when the Lord, inclining his ear to their supplications, should say: "At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your G.o.d." _Vespere comedetis carnes et mane saturabimini panibus: scietisque quod ego sum Dominus deus vester._ (Exodus xvi, 12.) It was from among these poor and faithful servants of a poverty-stricken King that were chosen for the most part the doctors and clerks charged with the examination of the Maid. They were: the Lord Bishop of Poitiers;[723] the Lord Bishop of Maguelonne;[724] Maitre Jean Lombard, doctor in theology, sometime professor of theology at the University of Paris;[725] Maitre Guillaume le Maire, bachelor of theology, canon of Poitiers;[726]

Maitre Gerard Machet, the King's Confessor;[727] Maitre Jourdain Morin;[728] Maitre Jean erault, professor of theology;[729] Maitre Mathieu Mesnage, bachelor of theology;[730] Maitre Jacques Meledon;[731] Maitre Jean Macon, a very famous doctor of civil law and of canon law;[732] Brother Pierre de Versailles, a monk of Saint-Denys in France, of the order of Saint Benedict, professor of theology, Prior of the Priory of Saint-Pierre de Chaumont, Abbot of Talmont in the diocese of Laon, Amba.s.sador of his most Christian Majesty the King of France;[733] Brother Pierre Turelure, of the Order of Saint Dominic, Inquisitor at Toulouse;[734] Maitre Simon Bonnet;[735]

Brother Guillaume Aimery, of the Order of Saint-Dominic, doctor and professor of theology;[736] Brother Seguin of Seguin of the Order of Saint Dominic, doctor and professor of theology;[737] Brother Pierre Seguin, Carmelite;[738] several of the King's Councillors, licentiates of civil as well as of canon law.

[Footnote 721: Neuville, _Le Parlement royal a Poitiers_, in the _Revue historique_, vol. vi, p. 18. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 571 _et seq._]

[Footnote 722: Louis Battifol, _Jean Jouvenel, prevot des marchands de la ville de Paris_, Paris, 1894, in 8vo. Juvenal des Ursins, _Histoire de Charles VI_, pp. 359, 360.]

[Footnote 723: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, col. 1198.]

[Footnote 724: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92. Le P. Ayroles, _La Pucelle devant l'eglise de son temps_, p. 6.]

[Footnote 725: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 203, 204.]

[Footnote 726: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 203.]

[Footnote 727: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75. Launoy, _Historia Collegii Navarrici_, lib. ii, _pa.s.sim_.]

[Footnote 728: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 92, 102.]

[Footnote 729: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75.]

[Footnote 730: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 92, 102.]

[Footnote 731: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 203.]

[Footnote 732: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 27, 28.]

[Footnote 733: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 74, 92, 203. _Gallia Christiana_, vol.

iii, col. 1128.]

[Footnote 734: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 203. _Gallia Christiana_, vol.

iii, col. 1129.]

[Footnote 735: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 92.]

[Footnote 736: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 83, 203.]

[Footnote 737: _Ibid._, pp. 19, 203. Le P. Chapotin, _La guerre de cent ans; Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains_, p. 132.]

[Footnote 738: Canon Dunand, _La legende anglaise de Jeanne_, Paris, 1903, in 8vo, p. 118.]

Here was a large a.s.sembly of doctors for the cross-examination of one shepherdess. But we must remember that in those days theology subtle and inflexible dominated all human knowledge and forced the secular arm to give effect to its judgment. Therefore, as soon as an ignorant girl caused it to be believed that she had seen G.o.d, the Virgin, the saints, and the angels, she must either pa.s.s from miracle to miracle, through an edifying death to beatification, or from heresy to heresy through an ecclesiastical prison, to be burnt as a witch. And, as the holy inquisitors were fully persuaded that the Devil easily entered into a woman, the unhappy creature was more likely to be burnt alive than to die in an odour of sanct.i.ty. But Jeanne before the doctors at Poitiers was an exception; she ran no risk of being suspected in matters of faith. Even Brother Pierre Turelure himself had no desire to find in her one of those heretics he zealously sought to discover at Toulouse. In her presence the ill.u.s.trious masters drew in their theological claws. They were churchmen, but they were Armagnacs, for the most part business men, diplomatists, old councillors of the Dauphin.[739] As priests, doubtless they were possessed of a certain body of dogma and morality, and of a code of rules for judging matters of faith. But now it was a question not of curing the disease of heresy, but of driving out the English. Jeanne was in favour with my Lord the Duke of Alencon and with my Lord the b.a.s.t.a.r.d; the inhabitants of Orleans were looking to her for their deliverance. She promised to take the King to Reims; and it happened that the cleverest and the most powerful man in France, the Chancellor of the kingdom, my Lord Regnault de Chartres, was Archbishop and Count of Reims; and that had great weight.[740]

[Footnote 739: O. Raguenet de Saint-Albin, _Les juges de Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers, membres du Parlement ou gens d'eglise_, Orleans, 1894, in 8vo, 46 pages.]

[Footnote 740: See _ante_, pp. 153, 154.]

If it should be as she said, if G.o.d had verily sent her to the aid of the Lilies, to the mind of whomsoever possessed sense and learning it appeared marvellous but not incredible. No one denied that G.o.d could directly intervene in the affairs of kingdoms, for he himself had said: _Per me reges regnant_.

In this Church holy and indivisible, there were the doctors of Poitiers who deliberately p.r.o.nounced G.o.d to be on the side of the Dauphin, while the University of Paris as deliberately p.r.o.nounced G.o.d to be on the side of the Burgundians and the English. His messenger need not necessarily be an angel. He might employ a creature human or not human, like the raven that fed Elijah. And that a woman should engage in war accorded with what was written in books concerning Camilla, the Amazons, and Queen Penthesilea, and with what the Bible says of the strong women, Deborah, Jahel, Judith of Bethulia, raised up by G.o.d for the salvation of Israel. For it is written: "The mighty one did not fall by the young men, neither did the sons of t.i.tans smite him, nor high giants set upon him; but Judith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance."[741]

[Footnote 741: Judith, xvi, 7 (W.S.).]

Jeanne was taken to the mansion where dwelt Maitre Jean Rabateau, not far from the law-courts, in the heart of the town.[742] Maitre Jean Rabateau was Lay Attorney General; all criminal cases went to him, while civil cases went to the ecclesiastical Attorney General, Jean Jouvenel. Alike King's advocates, in the King's service, they both represented him in cases wherein he was concerned. The King was an unprofitable client. For representing him in criminal trials Maitre Jean Rabateau received four hundred livres a year. He was forbidden to appear in any but crown cases; and no one suspected him of receiving many bribes. If in addition he held the office of Councillor to the Duke of Orleans he gained little by it. Like most Parlement officials he was for the moment very poor. A stranger in Poitiers, he had no house there, but lodged in a mansion, which, because it belonged to a family named Rosier, was called the Hotel de la Rose. It was a large dwelling. Witnesses whom it was necessary to keep securely and deal with honourably were entertained there. Jeanne was taken there although the Parlement had nothing to do with her cross-examination.[743]

Once again she was placed in charge of a man who served both the Duke of Orleans and the King of France.

[Footnote 742: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 19, 74, 82, 203. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 275. B. Ledain, _Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers_, Saint-Maixent, 1891, in 8vo.]

[Footnote 743: Nevertheless see _Le mistere du siege_, pp. 397-406.]

Jean Rabateau's wife, in common with the wives of all lawyers, was a woman of good reputation.[744] While she was at La Rose, Jeanne would stay long on her knees every day after dinner. At night she would rise from her bed to pray, and pa.s.s long hours in the little oratory of the mansion. It was in this house that the doctors conducted her examination. When their coming was announced she was seized with cruel anxiety. The Blessed Saint Catherine was careful to rea.s.sure her.[745]

She likewise had disputed with doctors and confounded them. True, those doctors were heathen, but they were learned and their minds were subtle; for in the life of the Saint it is written: "The Emperor summoned fifty doctors versed in the lore of the Egyptians and the liberal arts. And when she heard that she was to dispute with the wise men, Catherine feared lest she should not worthily defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But an angel appeared unto her and said: 'I am the Archangel Saint Michael, and I am come to tell thee that thou shalt come forth from the strife victorious and worthy of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the hope and crown of those who strive for him.' And the Virgin disputed with the doctors."[746]

[Footnote 744: There can be no reason for suspecting this lady of not living up to her reputation, for nothing is known of her, not even whether she were Maitre Jean Rabateau's first or second wife, for he had two. The first was the daughter of Benoit Pidelet. Cf. B. Ledain, _La maison de Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers, Maitre Jean Rabateau_ (_Revue du Bas-Poitou_, April, 1891, pp. 48, 66). A. Barbier, _Jeanne d'Arc et l'hotellerie de la Rose_, Poitiers, 1892, in 8vo.]

[Footnote 745: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 82.]

[Footnote 746: Voragine, _La legende doree_ (Vie de Sainte Catherine).]

The grave doctors and masters and the princ.i.p.al clerks of the Parlement of Poitiers, in companies of two and three, repaired to the house of Jean Rabateau, and each one of them in turn questioned Jeanne. The first to come were Jean Lombard, Guillaume le Maire, Guillaume Aimery, Pierre Turelure, and Jacques Meledon. Brother Jean Lombard asked: "Wherefore have you come? The King desires to know what led you to come to him."

Jeanne's reply greatly impressed these clerks: "As I kept my flocks a _Voice appeared to me_. The Voice said: 'G.o.d has great pity on the people of France. Jeanne, thou must go into France.' On hearing these words I began to weep. Then the Voice said unto me: 'Go to Vaucouleurs. There shalt thou find a captain, who will take thee safely into France, to the King. Fear not.' I did as I was bidden, and I came to the King without hindrance."[747]

[Footnote 747: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 204 (evidence of Brother Seguin).]