weight of her armor.
CHAPTER III
TRIUMPHANT IN BATTLE, THE KINGâS ANOINTER
JOAN HAD IMAGINED that she would ride into Orléans and immediately engage in battle with the English. But the commanders in charge had other plans. She may have thought of herself as a chef de guerre, but they thought of her as a mascot, someone who would ride with them, inspire the troops and the citizens, and then, happy to do what she was told by her olders and betters, fall into line. With this in mind, they tricked Joan, who had not paid attention to anything like maps and plansâbelieving in the strength of her mission and the good faith of her companions-at-arms. Her naïveté is astonishing, but it makes her lack of experience more real, and perhaps justifies some of the professional soldiersâ lack of faith in her.
The trick was this: Joan was brought to the south side of the Loire, whereas the English were encamped on the north side. The Bastard of Orléans, who was in charge of the besieged town, had no confidence that Joanâs army was strong enough to confront the English. Instead, he wanted to use Joanâs forces, not to fight, but to accompany the food and supplies that would relieve the besieged citizens. His plan was to send boats to the side of the river where Joan was, fill them with supplies, and have them cross the river so that they could enter the one gate of the city that was still open. This plan made great practical sense; the populace could not withstand the siege if it was starving.
We can only guess why the Bastard of Orléans and the other captains didnât tell Joan their plans. Perhaps they didnât take her seriously enough to include her in their councils, or perhaps they understood the intransigence of her personality and knew sheâd be dissatisfied with such an undramatic beginning to her military life. Perhaps, when the Bastard of Orléans came across the river to greet Joan, he thought he would be meeting âLa Pucelle,â a young woman whom he could quickly talk around. Instead, he encountered a furious and frustrated captain with ideas of her own and no inclination to tractability.
The Bastard of Orléans, also known as Dunois, was the illegitimate but acknowledged son of the duke of Orléans, who was in captivity in England. He was in charge of the city and had been interested in Joan since her arrival at Chinon; heâd sent a party there to get the sense of her. It was a mark of his courtesy that he came across the river to Blois to greet her personally.
Joanâs initial encounter with Dunois is a comic scene that illuminates her impetuous, hubristic nature. She marched up to him and told him that she had counsel that was of far greater importance than his, and that if he ever did anything like that trick to her again, sheâd have his head cut off. âI believe you,â he replied. Joan had no hesitation venting her rage in the most aggressive and disrespectful way possible to a man whose blood was at least one-half royal, to the son of her hero (the poetic duke of Orléans), and the ruler of the town she had not yet even seen. But he seems to have shown no resentment of her treatment of him; he always handled her with tact and generosity, and he valued and respected her consistently after their rocky overture.
The city of Orléans is located eighty miles south of Paris on the northern, or right, bank of the Loire. It is currently known as the Newark of France. But in the fifteenth century, its position on the Loire made it of great economic and geographical importance, and the English reckoned that if they could control Orléans they would have control of the surrounding Loire area.
In 1429, Orléans was a city of thirty thousand inhabitants. It was heavily fortified with a complete wall upon which twenty-one cannons were mounted. There were several barred gates guarded with towers and moats and other fortifications outside the
CHAPTER III
TRIUMPHANT IN BATTLE, THE KINGâS ANOINTER
JOAN HAD IMAGINED that she would ride into Orléans and immediately engage in battle with the English. But the commanders in charge had other plans. She may have thought of herself as a chef de guerre, but they thought of her as a mascot, someone who would ride with them, inspire the troops and the citizens, and then, happy to do what she was told by her olders and betters, fall into line. With this in mind, they tricked Joan, who had not paid attention to anything like maps and plansâbelieving in the strength of her mission and the good faith of her companions-at-arms. Her naïveté is astonishing, but it makes her lack of experience more real, and perhaps justifies some of the professional soldiersâ lack of faith in her.
The trick was this: Joan was brought to the south side of the Loire, whereas the English were encamped on the north side. The Bastard of Orléans, who was in charge of the besieged town, had no confidence that Joanâs army was strong enough to confront the English. Instead, he wanted to use Joanâs forces, not to fight, but to accompany the food and supplies that would relieve the besieged citizens. His plan was to send boats to the side of the river where Joan was, fill them with supplies, and have them cross the river so that they could enter the one gate of the city that was still open. This plan made great practical sense; the populace could not withstand the siege if it was starving.
We can only guess why the Bastard of Orléans and the other captains didnât tell Joan their plans. Perhaps they didnât take her seriously enough to include her in their councils, or perhaps they understood the intransigence of her personality and knew sheâd be dissatisfied with such an undramatic beginning to her military life. Perhaps, when the Bastard of Orléans came across the river to greet Joan, he thought he would be meeting âLa Pucelle,â a young woman whom he could quickly talk around. Instead, he encountered a furious and frustrated captain with ideas of her own and no inclination to tractability.
The Bastard of Orléans, also known as Dunois, was the illegitimate but acknowledged son of the duke of Orléans, who was in captivity in England. He was in charge of the city and had been interested in Joan since her arrival at Chinon; heâd sent a party there to get the sense of her. It was a mark of his courtesy that he came across the river to Blois to greet her personally.
Joanâs initial encounter with Dunois is a comic scene that illuminates her impetuous, hubristic nature. She marched up to him and told him that she had counsel that was of far greater importance than his, and that if he ever did anything like that trick to her again, sheâd have his head cut off. âI believe you,â he replied. Joan had no hesitation venting her rage in the most aggressive and disrespectful way possible to a man whose blood was at least one-half royal, to the son of her hero (the poetic duke of Orléans), and the ruler of the town she had not yet even seen. But he seems to have shown no resentment of her treatment of him; he always handled her with tact and generosity, and he valued and respected her consistently after their rocky overture.
The city of Orléans is located eighty miles south of Paris on the northern, or right, bank of the Loire. It is currently known as the Newark of France. But in the fifteenth century, its position on the Loire made it of great economic and geographical importance, and the English reckoned that if they could control Orléans they would have control of the surrounding Loire area.
In 1429, Orléans was a city of thirty thousand inhabitants. It was heavily fortified with a complete wall upon which twenty-one cannons were mounted. There were several barred gates guarded with towers and moats and other fortifications outside the
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