On his return to France, the Duke of Bedford found that his brother’s conduct had increased his difficulties. Richemont, the brother of the Duke of Brittany, had been won to the French side, and received the rank of Constable, vacant by the death of Buchan, and was now using all his influence to induce his brother-in-law Burgundy to follow his example. Bedford’s presence for the moment improved the position of the English. He contrived to renew an alliance with both Burgundy and Brittany, and was thus secured upon either side of Normandy. Encouraged by this success, the English generals were eager to press forward beyond the Loire, which had hitherto been the limit of their conquests. It seems probable that Bedford, with a clearer view of the difficulties of his position, would have been well content to have carried out the wishes of his brother Henry by securing Normandy. He, however, yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon him, and in October, the siege of Orleans, situated on the northernmost angle of the river Loire, and from its position holding command of that river, was undertaken. The town itself stands upon the northern bank, but is connected with a southern suburb, the Portereau, by a bridge, terminating in a strong castle called Les Tournelles. The siege was intrusted to Salisbury,[90] who began the attack upon the southern side. He established his troops in a fortified camp in the ruins of a monastery of Augustinians, and before long succeeded in capturing Les Tournelles, and breaking the bridge. He was unfortunately killed, while examining the country from that fortress, with a view to further investment of the town. The command devolved upon the Earl of Suffolk, who succeeded before the close of the year in erecting a string of thirteen strongholds, called bastides, round the Northern city. But the weather and want of resources compelled him to put these too far apart, and the intercourse of the defenders with an army of relief under the Count of Clermont at Blois was not broken off. Early in the following year, this army hoped to raise the siege by falling on a large body of provisions coming to the besiegers from Paris under Sir John Fastolf. The attack was made at Rouvray, but Fastolf had made careful preparations. The waggons were arranged in a square, and, with the stakes of the archers, formed a fortification on which the disorderly attack of the French made but little impression. Broken in the assault, they fell an easy prey to the English, as they advanced beyond their lines. The skirmish is known by the name of the Battle of the Herrings. This victory, which deprived the besieged of hope of external succour, seemed to render the capture of the city certain.
Danger of Orleans.
Already at the French King’s court at Chinon there was talk of a hasty withdrawal to Dauphiné, Spain, or even Scotland; when suddenly there arose one of those strange effects of enthusiasm which sometimes set all calculation at defiance.
Joan of Arc.
Causes of her success.
The siege is raised. May 8.
In Domrémi, a village belonging to the duchy of Bar, the inhabitants of which, though in the midst of Lorraine, a province under Burgundian influence, were of patriotic views, lived a village maiden called Joan of Arc. The period was one of great mental excitement; as in other times of wide prevailing misery, prophecies and mystical preachings were current. Joan of Arc’s mind was particularly susceptible to such influences, and from the time she was thirteen years old, she had fancied that she heard voices, and had even seen forms, sometimes of the Archangel Michael, sometimes of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, who called her to the assistance of the Dauphin. She persuaded herself that she was destined to fulfil an old prophecy which said that the kingdom, destroyed by a woman—meaning, as she thought, Queen Isabella,—should be saved by a maiden of Lorraine. The burning of Domrémi in the summer of 1428 by a troop of Burgundians at length gave a practical form to her imaginations, and early in the following year she succeeded in persuading Robert of Baudricourt to send her, armed and accompanied by a herald, to Chinon. She there, as it is said by the wonderful knowledge she displayed, convinced the court of the truth of her mission. At all events, it was thought wise to take advantage of the infectious enthusiasm she displayed, and in April she was intrusted with an army of 6000 or 7000 men, which was to march up the river from Blois to the relief of Orleans. When she appeared upon the scene of war, she supplied exactly that element of success which the French required. Already long and bitter experience had taught them the art of war. They were commanded no longer by favourites of the Court, but by professional soldiers, such as Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, La Hire and Saintrailles; and the cause of their weakness was the deep-rooted immorality both of public and private life, which the disastrous party struggles of the last reign had produced. A national instead of a party cry, strict morality enforced by a Heaven-sent virgin, and the enthusiasm of religion, were well calculated to remove this cause of weakness. It is to this combination of experience with enthusiasm that the success of the French henceforward must be traced. Aided by the skill of Dunois, Joan succeeded in entering Orleans by water, while her army the day after marched in unopposed upon the northern side. After various attacks upon the Bastides, she at length, on the 6th and 7th of May, attacked the lines upon the south of the river. The camp in the Augustinian monastery was captured, and after a fierce assault the Tower of the Tournelles fell into the hands of the French, Gladsdale, the commander on the left bank, being killed. The effect of her uniform success, and the superstitious dread she inspired, is shown by the fact that three such generals as Suffolk, Talbot and Fastolf, who commanded on the northern side of the river, took no steps to assist their distressed comrades, and on the following day raised the siege.
ORLEANS
1429
March to Rheims to crown the Dauphin,