human authority. Thenceforth he was the
Lord's Anointed. Moreover, one of the difficulties that had previously
lain in the way of many Frenchmen when called on to support Charles VII
was now removed. He had been publicly stigmatized, even by his own
parents, as no true son of the royal race of France. The queen-mother,
the English, and the partisans of Burgundy called him the "Pretender to
the title of Dauphin"; but those who had been led to doubt his
legitimacy were cured of their scepticism by the victories of the holy
Maid and by the fulfilment of her pledges. They thought that heaven had
now declared itself in favor of Charles as the true heir of the crown of
St. Louis, and the tales about his being spurious were thenceforth
regarded as mere English calumnies.

With this strong tide of national feeling in his favor, with victorious
generals and soldiers round him, and a dispirited and divided enemy
before him, he could not fail to conquer, though his own imprudence and
misconduct, and the stubborn valor which the English still from time to
time displayed, prolonged the war in France until the civil Wars of the
Roses broke out in England, and left France to peace and repose.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF JEANNE D'ARC

A.D. 1431

Jules Michelet

After her victory at Orleans (1429), Jeanne d'Arc "knelt
before the French King in the cathedral of Rheims, and shed
tears of joy." She felt that she had fulfilled her mission,
and she desired to return to her home at Domremy. But King
Charles VII persuaded her to remain with the army. "She
still heard her heavenly voices, but she now no longer
thought herself the appointed minister of heaven to lead her
countrymen to certain victory." She expected but one year
more of life; but she still bravely faced the future with
its perils.

The Maid took part in the capture of Laon, Soissons,
Compiegne, and other places, and, in the attack on Paris,
September, 1429, which she prematurely urged, was severely
wounded. In a sally from Compiegne, where she was besieged
by Burgundians, she was taken prisoner May 24, 1430, and
held until November, when for a large payment in money she
was surrendered to the English, who took her to Rouen, their
real capital in France.

On January 3, 1431, by order of King Henry VI of England,
Jeanne was placed in the hands of Peter Cauchon, Bishop of
Beauvais, who had already moved to have her delivered u