WARS and BATTLES
From Ancient Greece - to modern day.
Moreover, one of the difficulties, that had previously lain in the way of many Frenchmen when called on to support Charles VII, was now removed. He had been publicly stigmatized, even by his own parents, as no true son of the royal race of France. The queen-mother, the English, and the partisans of Burgundy called him the "Pretender to the title of Dauphin ;'' but those who had been led to doubt his legitimacy were cured of their skepticism by the victories of the Holy Maid and by the fulfillment of her pledges. They thought that Heaven had now declared itself in favor of Charles as the true heir of the crown of St. Louis, and the tales about his being spurious were thenceforth regarded as mere English calumnies. "With this strong tide of national feeling in his favor, with victorious generals and soldiers round him, and a dispirited and divided enemy before him, he could not fail to conquer, though his; own imprudence and misconduct, and the stubborn valor which the English still from time to time displayed, prolonged the war in France until the civil war of the Hoses broke out in England, and left France to peace and repose.
"The wonderful story of Joan of Arc, is one that will never die. A simple peasant maid, she put on armour that she might fight for her king and country. In this picture we see her in one of the greatest moments of her life, when she took her place, by the throne of the king of France, whose peaceful coronation was due entirely to her great victories." Joan knelt before the French king in the cathedral of Rheims, and shed tears of joy. She said that she had then fulfilled the work, which the Lord had commanded her. The young girl now asked for her dismissal. She wished to return to her peasant home, to tend her parents' flocks again, and live at her own will in her native village. She had always believed that her career would be a short one. But Charles and his captains were loth to loose the presence of one who had such influence upon the soldiery and the people. They persuaded her to stay with the army. She still showed the same bravery and zeal for the cause of France. She still was as fervent as before in her prayers, and as exemplary in all religious duties. She still heard her Heavenly Voices. But she now no longer thought herself the appointed minister of Heaven to lead her countrymen to certain victory. Our admiration for her courage and patriotism ought to be increased a hundred fold by her conduct throughout the latter part of her career, amid dangers, against which she no longer believed herself to be divinely secured. Indeed, she believed herself doomed to perish in a little more than a year ;f but she still fought on as resolutely, if not as exultingly as ever. As in the case of Arminius, the interest attached to individual heroism and virtue makes us trace the fate of Joan of Arc after she had saved her country. She served well with Charles' army in the capture of Laon, Soissons, Compiegne, Beauvais, and other strong places; but in a premature attack on Paris, in September, 1429, the French were repulsed, and Joan was severely wounded! In the winter she was again in the field with some of the "French troops; and in the following spring she threw herself into the fortress of Compiegne, which she had herself won for the French king in the preceding autumn, and which was now besieged by a strong Burgundian force. She was taken prisoner in a sally from Compiegne, on the 24th of May, and was imprisoned by the Burgundians first at Arras, and then at a place called Crotoy, on the Flemish coast, until November, when, for payment of a large sum of money, she was given up to the English, and taken to Rouen, which then was their main stronghold in France. Joan of Arc defended the town of Compiegne against Philip of Burgundy. There she was actually
made prisoner during a sortie on May 23rd, 1430 and was abandoned to the vengeance of the English, who saw in her alone, the cause of their
disasters. After long languishing in prison, she was condemned by the spiritual court of French ecclesiastics as a witch, handed over to the
"secular arm" - that is, the English - and burned in the market-place of Rouen on May 30th, 1431 |
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