“Oh, you saints of heaven,” cried the Maiden, her eyes shining with enthusiasm, “help me to inspire the noble Dauphin with a little of that courage you have given me!” Her prayer was answered at once. The King was moved by her soulful eyes, her steadfast faith, and her lofty inspiration. “Yes, Joan, we will trust you,” he exclaimed. “On to Rheims.”
Orders were sent in all directions. The leaders and their troops quickly assembled, and the march began. Joan led the vanguard. At the mere announcement of her coming the cities of Auxerre, St. Florentin, Chalons, and Sept-Sceaux capitulated. Troyes did not surrender until preparations for assault were made. At Sept-Sceaux, four leagues from Rheims, they rested. Charles then sent three of his principal councillors to San Remy to fetch the holy oil which was kept there.[26] They returned, escorted by a grand procession headed by the Abbot of San Remy, who walked under a canopy, carrying the phial.
From all the towers of Rheims the bells announced the memorable ceremony of July 17, 1429, which completed Joan’s mission. The pealing organ and a majestic hymn of praise welcomed the long coronation procession as it entered the Cathedral of St. Denis. Joan accompanied the King to the vestibule, where the Archbishop of Rheims met him and conducted him to the high altar. The choir was occupied on each side by the commanders and leading dignitaries, knights and lords, squires and attendants, while a vast multitude of people crowded the cathedral to its utmost capacity. Joan stood next to the King, her eyes shining with sacred joy, holding her banner in her left hand and her sword in her right.[27] It was a position which ordinarily only the first marshals of the kingdom were entitled to occupy; but no one questioned her right to it or envied her.
The last act in the ceremony was Charles’s coronation
The sacred function began at nine o’clock in the morning and lasted until two o’clock in the afternoon. The opening ceremony was the administering of the oath by the Archbishop, during which Joan, following the old custom, held her sword over the King’s head. Then followed the knighting, for Charles had not yet received this honor, without which he could not ascend the throne. He knelt and the Duc d’Alençon knighted him. The third ceremony was the consecration and anointing with the holy oil, and was performed by the Archbishop. The last act was his coronation by the same prelate. As soon as the royal symbol glittered upon his head the cathedral resounded with the enthusiastic acclamations of the great multitude: “Hail, hail, King Charles the Seventh!” accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets, the roll of drums, and majestic chorales.
Joan was the first to proclaim allegiance to the Crown. She threw herself at the King’s feet, and after kissing his knee, said: “Sire, the will of God is accomplished. You are now the true King of France. My mission is ended. Permit me to return to my home and resume the humble life of the shepherdess.”
“No, Joan,” replied the King, “I cannot spare you. All that I now am is due to you. You must accompany me on the return.”
Joan rose sadly. She felt that in remaining longer she would be disobeying the divine voices which had commissioned her to perform only the two tasks now successfully accomplished. The King rewarded her by granting a patent of nobility to her whole family, whence it is that she is called “Jeanne d’Arc.” Her coat of arms was a blue shield with two gold lilies and a silver sword bearing a golden crown on its point. These distinctions, however, were of little interest to Joan. She grew sadder and sadder, and ardently longed for her home fields and her loved Fairy Tree. This feeling became all the more intense when her brother Pierre arrived; but she rushed joyously into his arms and was somewhat consoled when the King appointed him her page, and she knew that he would never leave her. She took part in many more military operations; but although she entered many cities whose gates opened at the sound of her name, though she was everywhere greeted as a saint and welcomed with enthusiastic acclamations and songs of praise, she no longer felt the early unquestioning faith and the sacred inspiration. An ill-starred movement against Paris, in which she was wounded afresh, confirmed her in the belief that she had exceeded her duty, and that she was no longer under the protection of her saints. She was haunted with gloomy presentiments of death. They pursued her in dreams, and at last she again implored the King to let her go.
“What do you fear, Joan?” said the King. “If you are wounded it shall be my care to heal you. If you are captured by the English I will release you, if it costs half my kingdom. You are the guardian angel of France. I cannot let you go.” He placed her in command of his own corps and sent her once more into the tumult of battle.