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CHAP. enemy. The French army, which consisted mostly XX. of volunteers, who served at their own expence, soon after retired and was disbanded: Charles went to Bourges, the ordinary place of his residence, but not till he made himself master of Compiegne, Beauvais, Senlis, Sens, Laval, Lagni, St. Denis, and of many places in the neighbourhood of Paris, which the affections of the people had put into his hands.

THE Regent endeavoured to revive the declining state of his affairs by bringing over the young King of England, and having him crowned and anointed at Paris. f All the vassals of the crown who lived within the provinces possessed by the English, swore a new allegiance, and did homage to him. But this ceremony was cold and insipid, compared with the lustre which had attended the coronation of Charles at Rheims; and the Duke of Bedford expected more effect from an accident, which put into his hands the person that had been the author of all his calamities.

THE Maid of Orleans, after the coronation of Charles, declared to the Count of Dunois, that her wishes were now fully gratified, and that she had no farther desire than to return to her former condition, and to the occupation and course of life which became her sex: But that nobleman, sensible of the great advantages which might still be reaped from her presence in the army, exhorted her to persevere, till by the final expulsion of the English, she had brought all her prophesies to their full completion. In pursuance of this advice, she threw herself into the town of Compiegne, which was at that time besieged by the Duke of Burgundy, assisted by the Earls of Arundel and Suffolk; and the garrison, on her appearance, believed themselves thenceforth in24th May. vincible. But their joy was of short duration. The maid, next day after her arrival, headed a sally upon

f Rymer, vol. v. p. 432.

the

С

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the quarters of John of Luxembourg; she twice c H A P. drove the enemy from their entrenchments; finding their numbers to increase every moment, she ordered a retreat; when hard pressed by the pursuers, she turned upon them, and made them again recoil; but being here deserted by her friends, and surrounded by the enemy, she was at last, after exerting the utmost valour, taken prisoner by the Burgundians. The common opinion was, that the French officers, finding the merit of every victory ascribed to her, had, in envy to her renown, by which they themselves were so much eclipsed, willingly exposed her to this fatal accident.

g

THE envy of her friends, on this occasion, was not a greater proof of her merit than the triumph of her enemies. A complete victory would not have given more joy to the English and their partisans. The service of Te Deum, which has so often been profaned by Princes, was publicly celebrated, on this fortunate event, at Paris. The Duke of Bedford fancied, that, by the captivity of that extraordinary woman, who had blasted all his successes, he should again recover his former ascendant over France and, to push farther the present advantage, he purchased the captive from John of Luxembourg, and formed a prosecution against her, which, whether it proceeded from vengeance or policy, was equally barbarous and dishonourable.

;

THERE was no possible reason, why Joan should not be regarded as a prisoner of war, and be entitled to all the courtesy and good usage, which civilized nations practise towards enemies on these occasions. She had never, in her military capacity, forfeited, by any act of treachery or cruelty, her claim to that treatment: She was unstained by any civil crime : Even the virtues and the very decorums of her sex had ever been rigidly observed by her: And though

Stowe, p. 371.

1431.

her

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CHA P. her appearing in war, and leading armies to battle, may seem an exception, she had thereby performed such signal service to her Prince, that she had abundantly compensated for this irregularity; and was, on that very account, the more an object of praise and admiration. It was necessary, therefore, for the Duke of Bedford to interest religion some way in the prosecution; and to cover, under that cloak, his violation of justice and humanity.

THE Bishop of Beauvais, a man wholly devoted to the English interests, presented a petition against Joan, on pretence that she was taken within the bounds of his diocese; and he desired to have her tried by an ecclesiastical court for sorcery, impiety, idolatry, and magic: The university of Paris was so mean as to join in the same request: Several prelates, among whom the cardinal of Winchester was the only Englishman, were appointed her judges: They held their court in Roüen, where the young King of England then resided: And the maid, cloathed in her former military apparel, but loaded with irons, was produced before this tribunal.

SHE first desired to be eased of her chains: Her judges answered, that she had once already attempted an escape, by throwing herself from a tower : She confessed the fact, maintained the justice of her intention, and owned that, if she could, she would still execute that purpose. All her other speeches shewed the same firmness and intrepidity: Though harrassed with interrogatories during the course of near four months, she never betrayed any weakness or womanish submission: and no advantage was gained over her. The point, which her judges pushed most vehemently, was her visions and revelations, and intercourse with departed saints; and they asked her, whether she would submit to the church the truth of these inspirations? She replied, that she would submit them to God, the fountain of truth. They then exclaimed, that she was a heretic,

and

and denied the authority of the church. She ap- CHAP. pealed to the Pope: They rejected her appeal.

THEY asked her, why she put trust in her standard, which had been consecrated by magical incantations? She replied, that she put trust in the Supreme Being alone, whose image was impressed upon it. They demanded, why she carried in her hand that standard at the anointment and coronation of Charles at Rheims? She answered, that the person who had shared the danger was entitled to share the glory. When accused of going to war, contrary to the decorum of her sex, and of assuming government and command over men; she scrupled not to reply, that her sole purpose was to defeat the English, and to expel them the kingdom. In the issue, she was condemned for all the crimes of which she had been accused, aggravated by heresy; her revelations were declared to be inventions of the devil to delude the people; and she was sentenced to be delivered over to the secular arm.

JOAN, so long surrounded by inveterate enemies, who treated her with every mark of contumely; brow-beaten and overawed by men of superior rank, and men invested with the ensigns of a sacred character, which she had been accustomed to revere, felt her spirit at last subdued; and those visionary dreams of inspiration, in which she had been buoyed up by the triumphs of success and the applauses of her own party, gave way to the terrors of that punishment to which she was sentenced. She publicly declared herself willing to recant; she acknowledged the illusion of those revelations which the church had rejected; and she promised never more to maintain them. Her sentence was then mitigated: She was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to be fed during life on bread and water.

ENOUGH was now done to fulfil all political views, and to convince both the French and the English, that the opinion of divine influence, which had so

much

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CHA P. much encouraged the one and daunted the other, was entirely without foundation. But the barbarous vengeance of Joan's enemies was not satisfied with this victory. Suspecting that the female dress which she had now consented to wear, was disagreeable to her, they purposely placed in her apartment a suit of men's apparel; and watched for the effects of that temptation upon her. On the sight of a dress, in which she had acquired so much renown, and which, she once believed, she wore by the particular appointment of heaven, all her former ideas and passions revived; and she ventured in her solitude to clothe herself again in the forbidden garment. Her insidious enemies caught her in that situation: Her fault was interpreted to be no less than a relapse into heresy: No recantation would now suffice, and no pardon could be granted her. She was condemned to be burned in the marketExecution place of Roüen; and the infamous sentence was accordingly executed. This admirable heroine, to Maid of Orleans, whom the more generous superstition of the ancients 14th June. would have erected altars, was, on pretence of heresy and magic, delivered over alive to the flames, and expiated, by that dreadful punishment, the signal services which she had rendered to her Prince and to her native country.

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THE affairs of the English, far from being advanced by this execution, went every day more and more to decay: The great abilities of the Regent were unable to resist the strong inclination, which had seized the French, to return under the obedience of their rightful Sovereign, and which that act of cruelty was ill fitted to remove. Chartres was surprised by a stratagem of the Count of Dunois: A body of the English, under Lord Willoughby, was defeated at St. Celerin upon the Sarte": The fair in the suburbs of Caën, seated in the midst of the

Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 100.

English