Joan of Arc   By: Ronald Sutherland Gower (1845-1916)

JOAN OF ARC

BY

LORD RONALD GOWER, F.S.A.

A TRUSTEE OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

WITH TEN ILLUSTRATIONS

SEVEN ETCHINGS AND THREE PHOTO ETCHINGS

LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO 14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND MDCCCXCIII

DEDICATION.

My mother had what the French call a culte for the heroine whose life I have attempted to write in the following pages.

It was but natural that one who loved and admired all that is good and beautiful and high minded should have a strong feeling of admiration for the memory of Joan of Arc. On the pedestal of the bronze statue, which my mother placed in her house at Cliveden, are inscribed those words which sum up the life and career of the Maid of Orleans:

' La grande pitié qu'il y avait au royaume de France. '

Thinking that could my mother have read the following pages she would have approved the feeling which prompted me to write them, I inscribe this little book to her beloved memory.

R.G.

ARCACHON,

November 29.

PREFACE.

The authors whose works I have chiefly used in writing this Life of Joan of Arc, are first, Quicherat, who was the first to publish at length the Minutes of the two trials concerning the Maid that of her trial at Rouen in 1430, and of her rehabilitation in 1456, and who unearthed so many chronicles relating to her times; secondly, Wallon, whose Life of Joan of Arc is of all the fullest and most reliable; thirdly, Fabre, who has within the last few years published several most important books respecting the life and death of Joan. Fabre was the first to make a translation in full of the two trials which Quicherat had first published in the original Latin text.

Thinking references at the foot of the page a nuisance to the reader, these have been avoided.

The subjects for the etched illustrations in this volume have been kindly supplied by my friend, Mr. Lee Latrobe Bateman, during a journey we made together to places connected with the story of the heroine.

R.G.

LONDON, January, 1893.

CONTENTS.

PAGE CHAPTER I. THE CALL 1

CHAPTER II. THE DELIVERY OF ORLEANS 39

CHAPTER III. THE CORONATION AT RHEIMS 70

CHAPTER IV. THE CAPTURE 100

CHAPTER V. IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL 138

CHAPTER VI. MARTYRDOM 242

CHAPTER VII. THE REHABILITATION 253

APPENDIX. I. JOAN OF ARC IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH HISTORY 289

II. JOAN OF ARC IN POETRY 301

FRENCH BIBLIOGRAPHY 311

ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY 320

INDEX 323

List of Illustrations

( SEVEN ETCHINGS, THREE PHOTO ETCHINGS ).

TOUR COUDRAY CHINON FRONTISPIECE

CHINON To face page 16

STREET IN CHINON " 20

HALL OF AUDIENCE CHINON " 28

TOUR D'HORLOGE CHINON " 32

WEST PORTAL RHEIMS " 80

INTERIOR RHEIMS " 96

FIFTEENTH CENTURY HOUSES COMPIÈGNE " 112

TOUR DE LA PUCELLE COMPIÈGNE " 128

ST. OUEN ROUEN " 224

JOAN OF ARC.

CHAPTER I.

THE CALL.