should once
more give battle after their own guise there was much of the sound
common sense of the people. They were only too well acquainted with
knightly warfare.

Perfectly calm and self-possessed, Jeanne went on and uttered a
prophecy concerning the Dauphin: "Before mid Lent my Lord will grant
him aid." Then straightway she added: "But in very deed the realm
belongs not to the Dauphin. Nathless it is Messire's will that the
Dauphin should be king and receive the kingdom in trust--_en
commande_.[335] Notwithstanding his enemies, the Dauphin shall be
king; and it is I who shall lead him to his anointing."

[Footnote 335: _Et quod aberet in commendam: illud regnum_, _Trial_,
vol. ii, p. 456 (evidence of Bertrand de Poulengy).]

Doubtless the title Messire, in the sense in which she employed it,
sounded strange and obscure, since Sire Robert, failing to understand
it, asked: "Who is Messire?"

"The King of Heaven," the damsel answered.

She had made use of another term, concerning which, as far as we know,
Sire Robert made no remark; and yet it is suggestive.[336]

[Footnote 336: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 456.]

That word _commande_ employed in matters connected with inheritance
signified something given in trust.[337] If the King received the
kingdom _en commande_ he would merely hold it in trust. Thus the
maid's utterance agreed with the views of the most pious concerning
Our Lord's government of kingdoms. By herself she could not have
happened on the word or the idea; she had obviously been instructed by
one of those churchmen whose influence we have discerned already[338]
in the Lorraine prophecy, but the trace of whom has completely
vanished.

[Footnote 337: See La Curne and Godefroy for the word _commande_.
Durand de Maillane, _Dictionnaire de droit canonique_, 1770, vol. i,
pp. 567 _et seq._]

[Footnote 338: See _ante_, p. 59, _post_, pp. 177, 178.]

Touching things spiritual Jeanne held converse with several priests;
among others with Messire Arnolin, of Gondrecourt-le-Chateau, and
Messire Dominique Jacob, priest of Moutier-sur-Saulx, who was her
confessor.[339] It is a pity we do not know what these ecclesiastics
thought of the insatiable cruelty of the English, of the pride of my
Lord Duke of Burgundy, of the misfortunes of the Dauphin, and whether
they did not hope that one day Our Lord Jesus Christ at the prayer of
the common folk would condescend to grant the kingdom _en commande_ to
Charles, son