Joan of Arc | Page 9

river winding below, and reflecting its castle towers in the still water,
this time-honoured home of our Plantagenet kings has been not inaptly
compared to Windsor. Beneath the castle walls and the river, nestles the
quaint old town, in which are mediæval houses once inhabited by the
court and followers of the French and English kings.
When Joan arrived at Chinon, Charles's affairs were in a very perilous
state. The yet uncrowned King of France regarded the chances of being
able to hold his own in France as highly problematical. He had doubts
as to his legitimacy. Financially, so low were his affairs that even the
turnspits in the palace were clamouring for their unpaid wages. The
unfortunate monarch had already sold his jewels and precious trinkets.
Even his clothes showed signs of poverty and patching, and to such a
state of penury was he reduced that his bootmaker, finding that the
King was unable to pay him the price of a new pair of boots, and not
trusting the royal credit, refused to leave the new boots, and Charles
had to wear out his old shoe-leather. All that remained in the way of
money in the royal chest consisted of four gold 'écus.' To such a pitch
of distress had the poor King, who was contemptuously called by the
English the King of Bourges, sunken.

Now that Orleans was in daily peril of falling into the hands of the
English, and with Paris and Rouen in their hold, the wretched sovereign
had serious thoughts of leaving his ever-narrowing territory and taking
refuge either in Spain or in Scotland. Up to this time in his life Charles
had shown little strength of character. His existence was passed among
a set of idle courtiers. He had placed himself and his broken fortunes in
the hands of the ambitious La Tremoïlle, whose object it was that the
King should be a mere cipher in his hands, and who lulled him into a
false security by encouraging him to continue a listless career of
self-indulgence in his various palaces and pleasure castles on the banks
of the Loire. Charles had, indeed, become a mere tool in the hands of
this powerful minister. The historian Quicherat has summed up George
de la Tremoïlle's character as an avaricious courtier, false and despotic,
with sufficient talent to make a name and a fortune by being a traitor to
every side. That such a man did not see Joan of Arc's arrival with a
favourable eye is not a matter of surprise, and La Tremoïlle seems early
to have done his utmost to undermine the Maid's influence with his
sovereign. From the day she arrived at Chinon, if not even before her
arrival there--if we may trust one story--an ambush was arranged by
Tremoïlle to cut her off with her escort. That plot failed, but her capture
at Compiègne may be indirectly traced to La Tremoïlle's machinations.
Those who have visited Chinon will recall the ancient and picturesque
street, named La Haute Rue Saint Maurice, which runs beneath and
parallel with the castle walls and the Vienne. Local tradition pointed
out till very recently, in this old street, the stone well on the side of
which the Maid of Domremy placed her foot on her arrival in the town.
This ancient well stone has recently been removed by the Municipality
of Chinon, but fortunately the 'Margelle' (to use the native term) has
come into reverent hands, and the stone, with its deeply dented border,
reminding one of the artistic wells in Venice, is religiously preserved.
Of Chinon it has been said:
Chynon, petit ville, Grande renom.
Its renown dates back from the early days of our Plantagenets, when
they lived in the old fortress above its dwellings: how Henry III. died of

a broken heart, and the fame of Rabelais, will ever be associated with
the ancient castle and town. Still, the deathless interest of Chinon is
owing to the residence of the Maid of Domremy--as one has a better
right to call her than of Orleans--in those early days of her short career,
in its burgh and castle. In or near the street La Haute Rue Saint Maurice,
hard by a square which now bears the name of the heroine, Joan of Arc
arrived at noon on Sunday, the 6th of March.
It would be interesting to know in which of the old gabled houses Joan
resided during the two days before she was admitted to enter the castle.
Local tradition reports that she dwelt with a good housewife ('_chez
une bonne femme_'). According to a contemporary plan of Chinon,
dated 1430, a house which belonged to a family named La Barre was
where she lodged; and although the actual house of the La Barres
cannot be identified,