The master of the castle was Jean Renault, and by his side sat his happy spouse, Marie of Chafleur.

Appendix

It is impossible to compile a chronological statement of all the events in the life of Joan of Arc, as many of the dates are uncertain and some are unknown, but those given below are measurably accurate.

1411 Born at Domremy, France.
1422 Henry VI. of England proclaimed King of France.
1428 The Voices bid Joan to crown the Dauphin and raise the siege of Orleans.
1429 Joan goes to the Dauphin and recognizes him as the disguised king; is placed in command of the Army; enters Orleans, April 29, and forces the English to raise the siege, May 8; subsequently captures Jargeau, Beaugency, and other cities, and overwhelmingly defeats the English at Patay; leads the Dauphin to Rheims, and assists at his coronation; is ennobled, Dec. 29.
1430 Joan is taken prisoner at Compiègne, May 24.
1431 Joan is sold to the English and delivered by them to the Inquisition, Jan. 3; at her first trial is declared guilty of heresy and sorcery and sentenced to imprisonment for life; at her second trial upon charges of “heresy, relapse, apostasy, and idolatry” is sentenced to be burned at the stake; her death, May 30.
1456 Sentence revoked by the Pope.
1904 Preliminary steps toward canonization of Joan taken at Rome.

Footnotes

[1]Neufchâteau and Domremy are both in the department of Vosges, France. The former is a town with about 4000 population; the latter, a village, famous as the birthplace of Joan of Arc.

[2]One of the witnesses at the trial of Joan of Arc said: “There is a tree called by us the ‘Fairy Tree.’ Every year the young girls and youths of Domremy come to walk there on the Lætare Sunday. Jeanne the Maid went there like all the other girls, and did as they did. Though she hung garlands on the boughs of the ‘Fairy Tree,’ she liked better to take them into the parish church and lay them on the altars of Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine.”

[3]The river Meuse flows through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, a distance of 500 miles, and empties into the North Sea.

[4]Vaucouleurs is a town of about 3000 population. It was from there Joan of Arc started on her expedition to save France.

[5]Bois de Chêne, or Wood of Oaks, is the name of the forest upon the edge of which is Domremy, Joan of Arc’s native village.