On 6th March 1429 Joan of Arc finally achieved
her ambition of being accepted as the person who would serve her king and lead
him to victory.
The situation for Charles VII was desperate. Much of France
was under the control of England and her Burgundian allies. The city of Orleans
was under siege, and Rheims, in the cathedral of which French kings were
traditionally crowned, was in English hands. Charles had taken refuge in the
castle at Chinon, where he held court.
Joan, a peasant girl who claimed that she had had visions of
saints who told her to lead an army against the enemies of France, had not found
it easy to get anyone to believe her – perhaps not surprisingly.
Her first attempt had been in April 1428, when the captain
of the garrison at Vaucouleurs had told 16-year-old Joan not to waste his time.
However, when she returned the following year she impressed the captain with
her sincerity and piety and he sent her with an escort of six armed men on an
11-day journey through occupied territory to Chinon.
She arrived on 4th March, telling the courtiers
who received her that her God-given mission was to raise the siege of Orleans
and conduct the king to Rheims for his coronation.
The king refused to see her for two days, but then – so the
story goes – devised a cunning plan to test her sincerity. If her quest was
indeed a “mission from God” she would have no problem in knowing who he was,
even though they had never met before, or so he reckoned. He therefore
disguised himself among his courtiers, but Joan had no trouble in picking him
out immediately and bowing before him.
Whether or not one believes this tale, the rest is, as they
say, history. Joan was able to fulfil both her promises within four months. The
army she led to Orleans forced the English to lift the siege on 8th
May and Charles was crowned at Rheims on 17th July.
© John Welford
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