[331]

[Footnote 329: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 436.]

[Footnote 330: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 53.]

[Footnote 331: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 456.]

Assuredly she must thus have spoken, prompted by a new revelation from
her Voices. And it is important to notice that she repeated word for
word what had been said seventy-five years earlier, not far from
Vaucouleurs, by a peasant of Champagne who was a vavasour, that is, a
freeman. This peasant's career had begun like Jeanne's, but had come
to a much more abrupt conclusion. Jacques d'Arc's daughter had not
been the first to say that revelations had been made to her concerning
the war. Periods of great distress are the times when inspired persons
most commonly appear. Thus it came to pass that in the days of the
Plague and of the Black Prince the vavasour of Champagne heard a voice
coming forth from a beam of light.

While he was at work in the fields the voice had said to him: "Go
thou, and warn John, King of France, that he fight not against any of
his enemies." It was a few days before the Battle of Poitiers.[332]

[Footnote 332: _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, ed. S. Luce,
Paris, 1861, in 8vo, pp. 46-48.]

Then the counsel was wise; but in the month of May, 1428, it seemed
less wise, and appeared to have little bearing on the state of affairs
at that time. Since the disaster of Verneuil, the French had not felt
equal to giving battle to their enemies; and they were not thinking of
it. Towns were taken and lost, skirmishes were fought, sallies were
attempted, but the enemy was not engaged in pitched battles. There was
no need to restrain the Dauphin Charles, whom in those days nature and
fortune rendered unadventurous.[333] About the time that Jeanne was
uttering these words before Sire Robert, the English in France were
preparing an expedition, and were hesitating, unable to decide whether
to march on Angers or on Orleans.[334]

[Footnote 333: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed. Mademoiselle Dupont,
Paris, 1837, pp. 195, 222, 223.]

[Footnote 334: L. Jarry, _Le compte de l'armee anglaise au siege
d'Orleans_, Orleans, 1892, in 8vo, pp. 75, 76.]

Jeanne gave utterance according to the promptings of her Archangel and
her Saints, and touching warfare and the condition of the kingdom they
knew neither more nor less than she. But it is not surprising that
those who believe themselves sent by God should ask to be waited for.
And again in the damsel's fear lest the French knights