u on the
Meuse and some thirty homesteads, belonged to the lords of Bourlemont
and was in the domain of the castellany of Grondrecourt, held in fief
from the crown of France. It was a part of Lorraine and of Bar. The
northern half of the village, in which the monastery was situated, was
subject to the provost of Monteclaire and Andelot and was in the
bailiwick of Chaumont in Champagne.[217] It was sometimes called
Domremy de Greux because it seemed to form a part of the village of
Greux adjoining it on the highroad in the direction of Vaucouleurs.[218]
The serfs of Bourlemont were separated from the king's men by a brook,
close by towards the west, flowing from a threefold source and hence
called, so it is said, the Brook of the Three Springs. Modestly the
stream flowed beneath a flat stone in front of the church, and then
rushed down a rapid incline into the Meuse, opposite Jacques d'Arc's
house, which it passed on the left, leaving it in the land of
Champagne and of France.[219] So far we may be fairly certain; but we
must beware of knowing more than was known in that day. In 1429 King
Charles' council was uncertain as to whether Jacques d'Arc was a
freeman or a serf.[220] And Jacques d'Arc himself doubtless was no
better informed. On both banks of the brook, the men of Lorraine and
Champagne were alike peasants leading a life of toil and hardship.
Although they were subject to different masters they formed none the
less one community closely united, one single rural family. They
shared interests, necessities, feelings--everything. Threatened by the
same dangers, they had the same anxieties.

[Footnote 217: E. Misset, _Jeanne d'Arc champenoise_, Paris, s.d.
(1894), 8vo. Concerning the nationality of Joan of Arc there is a
whole literature extremely rich, the bibliography of which it is
impossible to give here. Cf. Lanery d'Arc, _Livre d'or_, pp. 295 _et
seq._]

[Footnote 218: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 208.]

[Footnote 219: P. Jollois, _Histoire abregee de la vie et des exploits
de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1821, engraving I, p. 190. A. Renard, _La
patrie de Jeanne d'Arc_, Langres, 1880, in 18mo, p. 6. S. Luce,
_Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, supplement with proofs and illustrations,
pp. 281, 282.]

[Footnote 220: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 152.]

Lying at the extreme south of the castellany of Vaucouleurs, the
village of Domremy was between Bar and Champagne on the east, and
Lorraine on the west.[221] They were terrible neighbours, a