te history
of Jeanne d'Arc, states that in 1436 the supposed Maid visited France,
and appears to have met some of the men-at-arms with whom she had
fought. In 1439 she came to Orleans, for in the accounts of the town we
read, "July 28, for ten pints of wine presented to Jeanne des Armoises,
14 sous." And on the day of her departure, the citizens of Orleans, by a
special decree of the town-council, presented her with 210 livres, "for
the services which she had rendered to the said city during the siege."
At the same time the annual ceremonies for the repose of her soul were,
quite naturally, suppressed. Now we may ask if it is at all probable
that the people of Orleans, who, ten years before, during the siege,
must have seen the Maid day after day, and to whom her whole appearance
must have been perfectly familiar, would have been likely to show such
attentions as these to an impostor? "In 1440," says Mr. Delepierre, "the
people so firmly believed that Jeanne d'Arc was still alive, and that
another had been sacrificed in her place, that an adventuress who
endeavoured to pass herself off as the Maid of Orleans was ordered by
the government to be exposed before the public on the marble stone of
the palace hall, in order to prove that she was an impostor. Why
were not such measures taken against the real Maid of Orleans, who is
mentioned in so many public documents, and who took no pains to hide
herself?"

There is yet another document bearing on this case, drawn from the
accounts of the auditor of the Orleans estate, in the year 1444, which
we will here translate. "An island on the River Loire is restored to
Pierre du Lis, knight, 'on account of the supplication of the said
Pierre, alleging that for the acquittal of his debt of loyalty toward
our Lord the King and M. the Duke of Orleans, he left his country to
come to the service of the King and M. the Duke, accompanied by his
sister, Jeanne the Maid, with whom, down to the time of her departure,
and since, unto the present time, he has exposed his body and goods in
the said service, and in the King's wars, both in resisting the former
enemies of the kingdom who were besieging the town of Orleans, and since
then in divers enterprises,' &c., &c." Upon this Mr. Delepierre justly
remarks that the brother might have presented his claims in a much
stronger light, "if in 1444, instead of saying 'up to the time of
her departure,' he had brought forward the martyrdom of his sister