Saint Joan of Arc

by Vita Sackville-West

  V

  There was fighting next day (Friday, May 6th), in which Jeanne took part. Contradictory accounts exist of what the captains had decided to do, and of what actually took place, but it seems unnecessary to go into them here. It is a matter of only the slightest importance whether the Bastard and his council had agreed upon making a feint or not, or whether their intention was defeated by the action of Jeanne followed by the mass of the town-people. The account given by Jean d’Aulon, who himself took part in the battle, is probably the most reliable that we can follows. Briefly, then, as soon as the English perceived the French advancing in force towards the Bastille of Saint Jean le Blanc, having crossed the river by means of a bridge of boats linking the Ile devant Saint Aignan (or Ile aux Toiles) with the shore, they evacuated Saint Jean le Blanc, falling back on the stronger and bigger Bastille des Augustins. The French, who had not yet been rejoined by Jeanne,fn33 finding Saint Jean le Blanc empty and judging that they could not attempt to capture les Augustins, were about to return to Orleans, under the orders of the sieurs de Gaucourt and de Villars, and of d’Aulon himself, when Jeanne and La Hire galloped up together. By this time the English had begun to stream out of les Augustins, with the intention of falling upon the rear of the retreating French. La Hire and Jeanne incontinently couched their lances and charged against them. This example was too much for the French, who despite the order to retreat turned rowid and flwig themselves forward to chase the English back into the bastille; more especially was it too much for d’Aulon and a certain brave Spaniard, who had been left behind to guard the rear. In a somewhat free translation, d’Aulon relates it thus: ‘I, who was staying behind … with some others including a very valiant soldier of Spain named Alfonso de Partada, saw one of our company outstripping us, a fine man, tall, and w1ell armed, to whom I called out that he should wait behind with the others in order to offer resistance to the enemy if necessary, but he answered instantly that he would do nothing of the sort. Then Alfonso said that since as brave men as he could obey orders, he could obey them also and stay behind. But he answered Alfonso saying that he would not. So they had high words (eurent entre eulx certaines arrogantes paroles) and ended by taking each other by the hand, and ran to the foot of the palisade, in order to see which would prove to be the better man.’

  D’Aulon, however, who was watching, discerned a great strong Englishman (ung grant, fort, et puissant Anglois), opposing their passage, and called to the famous Jean with his culverin, that he should shoot down the Englishman who was creating far too much damage.fn34 Such details, which are of frequent occurrence in contemporary records, all go to prove how vivid the personal element was then in war. D’Aulon might forget or muddle far more important things in his recital, but the incident of the big Englishman who was getting in the way of Partada and his companion, witil tumbled over by the skilful Jean, remained impressed upon his memory.

  The day ended with the French in possession of Saint Jean le Blanc and of les Augustins. The English had been obliged to abandon the latter position and to take refuge within the strong and vitally important fort of les Tourelles. Jeanne limped home, for she had been wounded in the foot by a chausse-trappe.fn35

  After the exhaustion of the day, she forwent her usual custom of fasting on a Friday, but was still at supper when one of the captains, whose name the witness forgets, came to her with a displeasing message. It was to the effect that the French leaders sitting in council had come to the conclusion that their troops were too few in number in comparison with the English, and that it was advisable to wait for further reinforcements from the Dauphin. The town was well provisioned and could afford the delay. On the following day, therefore, no sortie would take place. Jeanne turned on him: ‘You have been with your council, and I have been with mine. Believe me, my council will hold good and will be accomplished; yours will come to naught.’ Then in her imperious way she turned to her confessor Paquerel, who was sitting with her: ‘Get up early tomorrow morning, even earlier than you did today [a command which she seems to have eajoined almost daily upon this hard-worked man], and do the best you can. You must stay near me all the time, for tomorrow I shall have much to do, more than I ever had yet, and the blood will flow from my body above my breast.’fn36

  VI

  She had now been in Orleans for a week, and in spite of these various affrays nothing really decisive had happened. The siège was not yet raised. Troops had arrived; escarmouches had taken place; three English forts and some prisoners had been captured; the Bastard and his colleagues had improved their acquaintance with Jeanne; the English had, apparently, learnt nothing. The week’s delay had not taught them that their fatal day was at hand, the fatal day which now, five hundred years later, is still commemorated with flags, processions, celebrations, and fireworks. The English, still secure in the possession of some of the forts they had held for over six months, apparently had formed no idea of the demon which was about to be let loose against them. Yet their losses, although not decisive, had been considerable. They had lost Saint Loup, les Augustins, and Saint Jean le Blanc. Their defences, thus reduced, left them in a weaker position than they had ever occupied since the inception of the siège in October of the previous year.

  Nobody knows how many men were engaged on either side. The French reinforcements from Blois may have numbered three thousand men. Of course the usual garrison was in Orleans already. The English are variously estimated at anything between three thousand five hundred and ten thousand.

  The moment had come which was to demonstrate the extent of Jeanne’s personal influence on so small and concentrated an army. It came on May 7th, and is known as the journée des Tourelles.

  VII

  The Tourelles was the name given to the English fort consisting of two stone towers near the head of the broken bridge across the river. These towers were protected on the Orleans side by the gap in the bridge, the gap itself being further protected by an outwork; on the other, or southern, side they were protected by the usual outwork with high walls, known by the to us rather misleading name of boulevard; between this boulevard and the Tourelles flowed a branch of the river, which could, however, be crossed by a drawbridge; ‘the defenders of the boulevard, if too hard pressed,’ as Andrew Lang succinctly puts it, ‘could rush across, retire into the Tourelles, raise: the drawbridge, and defy the enemy.’ The boulevard was further defended by a deep fosse or ditch. These details are necessary if we are to understand clearly what happened later in the day.fn37

  Some six hundred English soldiers manned the Tourelles, and the names of some of them have come down to us. Among the commanders, we know of Sir William Glasdale, whom the French called Classidas, Sir William de Moleyns, Gifford, and a gentleman whom Jean Chartier calls by the improbable name of the sire de Bumus, but whose name was in reality Lord Poynings. Among the yeomen we know of John Reid from Redesdale, Bill Martin, Matthew Thornton, Thomas Jolly, Geoffrey Blackwell, Walter Parker, William Vaughan, William Arnold, Jolm Burford, George Ludlow, Patrick Hall, Thomas Sand, John Langham, Dick Hawke, Davy Johnson, and Black Henry.fn38Reading these so English names is rather like sweeping a searchlight over a mob in the dark, and seeing a few weather-beaten faces leap into the beam.

  The French are less democratically recorded, for we have only the names of the leaders and not of the rank and file: The Bastard, the maréchal de Rais, the sieur de Gaucourt, the sieur de Graville, Guillawne de Chawnont, sieur de Guitry, Raimon Amaut, sieur de Coarraze en Béarn, Denis de Chailly, Louis de Culen, La Hire, Poton de Saintrailles, Florent d’Illiers, Le Bourg de Masquaren, Thibaut de Tennes, and Archambault de Villars, a hardened old knight who had made his reputation in a combat between seven Frenchmen and seven Englishmen nearly thirty years before.

  The struggle for the Tourelles lasted all day, from seven o’clock in the morning till eight o’clock at night. The French captains were prudently opposed to the attack, but Jeanne, supported by the populace of Orleans, overrode their objectionsfn39 How
right her judgment was, they were to learn before the day was over. That she was confident of victory is proved by a curious little incident which took place before she had set out from her lodging. Someone brought a fish into the house. Jacques Boucher, the treasurer, her host, said to her, ‘Jeanne, let us eat this fish before you go out.’ ‘En nom Dieu,’ she replied, ‘we will not eat it until supper, when we have recrossed the bridge and have brought back a godon who will eat his share.’fn40 Then, having confessed and heard Mass, she rode out of the town towards the victory which was to entitle her to the proud name of Maid of Orleans.

  A slight hitch occurred as she tried to leave the town, for the sieur de Gaucourt, who had been charged with the duty of seeing that the gates were kept closed, came into a clash with Jeanne, who wished to go out by the Porte de Bourgogne followed by both citizens and men-at-arms. It was not in Jeanne’s nature to find a gate shut against her and to retire meekly. Backed by her following, she stormed against de Gaucourt: ‘You are a bad man’ (malus homo), she said. ‘Whether you like it or not, the soldiers will come and will win as they have won hitherto.’ The sieur de Gaucourt admitted to the maître des requêtes that he had fowid himself then in great danger;fn41 it was evidently not safe to expose oneself to a tumultuous populace led by a Joan of Arc. People who meant to fight would fight, and neither a shut gate nor a sieur de Gaucourt would deter them. Nevertheless, the sieur de Gaucourt can scarcely have failed to remember the day when he first kindly gave up one of his pages to Jeanne’s service. Things had changed very much since then.

  VIII

  The various accounts of the battle tally to a satisfactory degree. Four of the principal ones come from the lips of men who were present: the Bastard, Jean d’Aulon, Jean Paquerel, and young Louis de Contes.fn42 The first three are especially detailed and circumstantial. From them we learn that the attack on the Tourelles was concentrated in the great fosse or moat below the boulevard, the French assaulting the highest places of the fortifications with such valour that they appeared to think themselves immortal, rearing their ladders against the walls and being flung back many times by the English from the height of the walls into the fosse below, beaten down with hatchets, lances, battle-axes (guisarmes), leaden maces, and even with their fists, amidst the smoke and flare of guns. For all their valour, the place remained Witaken when evening came. The French began to despair; the Bastard decided upon a general retirement.

  In the meantime, towards mid-day, Jeanne’s most authentic prophecy had been fulfilled: she was hit by an arrow just above the left breast. It penetrated into her flesh to a depth of six inches. The pain frightened her, and she wept. The sieur de Gamaches – he who had previously given up his banner sooner than serve Wider her command-rode up hastily to defend her with his axe, seeing that the English were about to descend from their walls to surround her. ‘Take my horse,’ he said, and added a generous apology.fn43 She allowed herself to be led away from the battle, and it is said that she pulled out the arrow with her own hands.fn44 Some soldiers, seeing her wounded, came up, wanting to recite charms to cure her. This remedy she rejected, saying that she would rather die than do anything that she believed to be a crime or contrary to God’s will. Nevertheless, she said, with her usual common sense, that she was quite ready to let them apply a proper remedy to her wound, for, although she knew she must die some day, she was willing to be cured now ifshe could do so without sin. They staunched the blood, and dressed the wound with olive oil and lard. It seems that she then consented to rest for a little, and confessed again with tears.fn45

  Meanwhile the battle was going on without her, no doubt to the great encouragement of the English who from the commanding height of their walls had observed her disappearance from the tumult of the attacking forces. It is not easy to determine how long she remained absent, but it is at least certain that she returned to her place during the course of the afternoon – no small proof of courage for one who had been pierced by an iron-tipped arrow a few hours before. She was in the thick of the fight when the Bastard and his fellow-captains finally abandoned all hope of carrying the Tourelles that day. It was then eight o’clock in the evening; the assailants, who had striven for thirteen hours in all that din and danger, were exhausted; the Bastard, however reluctantly, gave orders thatthe trumpeters should proclaim the retreat.

  Fortunately for Orleans, this was one of the occasions on which Jeanne chose to disagree with the commanders’ advice. Before the trumpets could sound, she went to the Bastard and begged him for a little more time.fn46 Then, mounting a horse, she rode off alone into a neighbouring vineyard, where she remained in prayer for about a quarter of an hour. Nobody makes any comment as to what the Bastard thought as he saw her ride off or as he was awaiting her return. On the other hand, the author of the Journal du siège gives us a very definite account of the sensible instructions she left behind her. ‘Rest a little,’ she said, ‘drink and eat,’ ce qu’ilz feirent, car à merveilles luy obeissoyent.

  After this the accounts become slightly confused. The Bastard says that she seized her standard and stood with it on the parapet of the fosse, at which sight the English trembled and the French, recovering their courage, returned to the assault on the walls, meeting with no resistance whatsoever. This sounds rather too good to be true. The English, after holding out all day, were scarcely likely to let an exhausted enemy swarm over their walls without attempting to beat them back once more. It is elsewhere stated that Jeanne had left the standard behind her when she went off to pray, which bears the stamp of probability, and is further endorsed by d’Aulon’s remark that on her return she believed it to be lost. All things considered, it seems very unlikely that the Bastard’s heroic picture of the Maid standing on the parapet brandishing her flag is as accurate as he would like us to believe. Jean d’Aul on’s story is far more exciting and far more credible, in spite of being conceived in a spirit of boastfulness about his own prowess which relegates Jeanne’s part in the journée des Tourelles quite to the background.

  According to him, Jeanne was not carrying her standard herself. It was borne by an anonymous soldier, who, being extremely weary, handed it over to a follower of Archambault de Villars, a certain Basque whom d’Aulon knew to be a valiant man. D’Aulon, still according to his own showing, greatly feared that a retreat would mean leaving the boulevard and the forts in the possession of the enemy. He probably thought that the triumphant English would fall upon the retreating force and hack them to pieces. Even more to his credit, he also perceived that if the standard were carried forward, a chance remained of inspiring the men to a final and victorious assault. He therefore asked the Basque if he would follow him across the fosse to the foot of the walls. On receiving the Basque’s promise, he leapt down into the fosse, covering himself with his shield as he ran, believing himself to be closely followed by the Basque. The Basque, however, had meanwhile been intercepted by someone far more redoubtable than d’Aulon – the Pucelle herself, who had caught sight of her flag, which she had believed to be lost. She tried to pull it away from the Basque, crying, ‘Haaf mon étendart! mon étendart!’ and, in trying to get it from him, shook it in such a way that d’Aulon thought everyone would believe her to be giving them a signal. What that signal was supposed to be he does not relate, but evidently he disapproved of it, for he called out, ‘Ha, Basque! Is this what you promised me?’ At that, the Basque pulled so hard that he tore the standard from her grasp, ran across the fosse and joined d’Aulon with it at the foot of the wall Then, says d’Aulon proudly, the whole army of the Pucelle assembled and returned to the attack, assailing the walls so bitterly (par si grant aspresse) that both the boulevard and the fort were taken.fn47

  It is a good story, and must have proved to d’Aulon’s complete satisfaction that he had played a dominant part in raising the siege of Orleans.

  IX

  The journée des Tourelles was almost, but not quite, over. Jeanne had not yet spoken her last word. She, who eight days previously ha
d shouted to Glasdale in that same fort, and who had shot him her letter attached to an arrow, only to be greeted with insults and derision, now summoned him once more in very different circumstances. The English by this time were in complete rout. On the one side the French were pouring over the walls on to the boulevard; on the other side reinforcements were streaming out of the city on to the bridge before the Tourelles. The English had imagined that they were safe from attack on this side, thanks to the gap in the broken bridge. The French had thought so too. But now in their excitement and exhilaration, they attempted and achieved the seemingly impossible. They brought carpenters with ladders and gutterpipes, and, throwing them across, endeavoured to span the gap. When they found that their improvised bridge fell short, they nailed a piece of wood to the longest gutter, so firmly that it held. The Grand Prior, Nicolas de Giresme, was the first to cross this narrow and insecure foothold (merveilleusement longue et estroite, et haute en l’air, sans avoir aucun appuy); others followed him. The English were appalled to find their enemies both in the front and in the rear. So much appalled were they that some of them observed the Archangel Michael and Saint Aignan, patron saint of Orleans, riding on horseback in mid-air, and coming to the aid of the French troops.fn48 Panic overcoming them, they rushed wildly to the other bridge – the drawbridge which connected the boulevard to the Tourelles. A cry went up from Jeanne. ‘Clasdas! Clasdas! renti, renti [rends-toi, rends-toi], to the King of Heaven. You called me harlot, but I have great pity on your soul and the souls of your men.’ It was too late. A fire-boat had already been moored and lit under the drawbridge, and, as Glasdale and de Moleyns, with other knights, dashed on to the bridge in their heavy armour, it gave way beneath them. Of all those who fell, not one escaped death by drowning; and of those who remained on land, every single one was either killed or taken prisoner.