Joan of Arc | Page 8

Nor were precautions and means
of repelling an attack unnecessary, for at this time the country around
Vaucouleurs was infested by roving bands of soldiers belonging to the
Anglo-Burgundian party. Especially dangerous was that stretch of
country lying between Vaucouleurs and Joinville, the first of the many
stages on the way to Chinon. Although the knights and men of the
small expedition were not without apprehension, Joan seems to have
shown no sign of fear: calm and cheerful, she said that, being under the
protection of Heaven, they had nothing to fear, for that no evil could
befall her.
There still exists the narrow gate of the old castle of Vaucouleurs
through which that little band rode out into the night; hard by is the
small subterranean chapel, now under repair, where Joan had passed so
many hours of her weary weeks of waiting at Vaucouleurs. The old
gate is still called the French Gate, as it was in the days of the Maid.
[Illustration: STREET IN CHINON.]
It was the evening of the 23rd of February, 1429, that the little band
rode away into the open country on their perilous journey. Joan,
besides adopting a military attire, had trimmed her dark hair close, as it
was then the fashion of knights to do--cut round above the ears. Even
this harmless act was later brought as an accusation against her. Joan
was then in her seventeenth year, and, although nothing but tradition
has reached us of her looks and outward form, it is not difficult to
imagine her as she rides out of that old gate, a comely maid, with a

frank, brave countenance, lit up by the flame of an intense enthusiasm
for her country and people. There can be no doubt that by her
companions in arms--rough soldiers though most of them were--she
was held in veneration; they bore testimony to their feelings by a kind
of adoration for one who seemed indeed to them more than mortal.
Wherever Joan appeared, this feeling of veneration spread rapidly
through the length and breadth of the land; and the people were wont to
speak of the future saviour of France, not by the name of Joan the Maid,
or Joan of Arc, but as the Angelic One--'l'Angélique.'
Among the crowd who gathered to see Joan depart was de Baudricourt,
who then made amends for his rudeness and churlish behaviour on her
first visit by presenting her with his own sword, and bidding her
heartily god-speed. '_Advienne que pourra!_' was his parting salute.
The journey between Vaucouleurs and Chinon occupied eleven days.
Not only was the danger of attack from the English and Burgundian
soldiers a great and a constant one, but the winter, which had been
exceptionally wet, had flooded all the rivers. Five of these had to be
crossed--namely, the Marne, the Aube, the Seine, the Yonne, and the
Loire: and most of the bridges and fords of these rivers were strictly
guarded by the enemy. The little band, for greater security, mostly
travelled during the night. Their first halt was made at the Monastery of
Saint-Urbain-les-Joinville. The Celibat of this monastery was named
Arnoult d'Aunoy, and was a relative of de Baudricourt. After leaving
that shelter they had to camp out in the open country.
Joan's chief anxiety was that she might be able to attend Mass every
day. 'If we are able to attend the service of the Church, all will be well,'
she said to her escort. The soldiers only twice allowed her the
opportunity of doing so, on one occasion in the principal church of the
town of Auxerre.
They crossed the Loire at Gien; and at that place, in the church
dedicated to one of Joan's special saints--St. Catherine, for whom she
held a personal adoration--she thrice attended Mass.
When the little band entered Touraine, they were out of danger, and

here the news of the approach of the Maid spread like wildfire over the
country-side. Even the besieged burghers of Orleans learned that the
time of their delivery from the English was at hand.
Perhaps it was when passing through Fierbois that Joan may have been
told of the existence in its church of the sword which so conspicuously
figured in her later story, and was believed to have been miraculously
revealed to her.
A letter was despatched from Fierbois to Charles at Chinon,
announcing the Maid's approach, and craving an audience. At length,
on the 6th of March, Joan of Arc arrived beneath the long stretch of
castle walls of the splendid old Castle of Chinon.
That imposing ruin on the banks of the river Vienne is even in its
present abandoned state one of the grandest piles of mediæval building
in the whole of France. Crowning the rich vale of Touraine, with the