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The Hundred Years' War with France
The Second Period of Decline; Part 2

The Second Period of Decline; Part 2

This magic change came with the coming of the Maid of Orleans, commonly called Joan of Arc (Her right name is Jeanne d'Arc). She was a peasant girl from Domremy on the borders of Champagne, who believed that she had been called by angel voices to deliver her country, drive out the invader, and crown Charles VII at Rheims. She went to Court and persuaded the king to accept her help. Clad in armour, and riding at the head of her troops, by her simple faith and piety she restored the hopes of the French. Salisbury had formed the siege of Orleans, the last Armagnac stronghold on the Loire, and was pressing it hard. When the Maid appeared before the town, broke into the city, drove off the besiegers, and defeated Talbot at Patay, it was as if the spell which had overcast French arms was broken. Heaven, hitherto averse, had taken pity on the French national cause. Not only was the relief of Orleans an immense military success, for it assured to the Armagnacs a gateway into the northern territory, whence they could harass the English, but its moral effect was still greater. The Maid's career was indeed short. She did see Charles VII crowned at Rheims in the centre of the enemy's country, but her army was beaten off from Paris. In 1430 she was captured at Compiegne, and in the next year burnt as a witch at Rouen. That piece of ferocity did not mend matters. She was dead, but the spirit which she had aroused lived after her. "Before her day," says the chronicler, "two hundred English would drive five hundred French before them; but now two hundred French would beat four hundred English." Perhaps it must not all be put down to the Maid. The fact is that the quality of the French soldiers was improving. The disobedient, clumsy, foolhardy, feudal array no longer came into the field, for the best of reasons: most of it was dead. It was replaced by professional soldiers who knew their work, officered by men who would not run needless risk. Repeated disasters had at last taught the French not to hazard all on a pitched battle. And there was another cause at work. Sooner or later the curse of foreign invasion will weld a country into union. We have seen this in Scotland; we may observe it again in France. The burning of Joan of Arc did no more good to the English cause than the hanging of Wallace. It was no longer possible to say as Shakespeare makes King Henry say after Agincourt: "O (loci Thy arm was here; And not to us but to Thine arm alone Ascribe we victory".

The soldier who looked on at the Maid's martyrdom and uneasily muttered, " We have burnt a saint", only voiced what many felt, that a curse had indeed come on the English cause. Joan of Arc had fought and died. The Armagnac cause was lifting its head. At the same time the union between England and Burgundy began to give way. Henry V had rightly distrusted his " fair brother", Humphrey of Gloucester. Humphrey had already given great offence to the Duke of Burgundy by marrying Jacqueline of Hainault, a vassal whose dominions Burgundy had expected to secure for himself. He even went so far as to lead an army into Hainault against the Burgundians. Still worse was to come. In 1432 died Anne of Burgundy, Bedford's wife. This of itself was a blow to the alliance, but Bedford made matters worse by marrying the sister of the Count of St. Pol. St. Pol lay on the borders between France and Burgundy; the Count was one of these waverers who took, now one side, now the other. Bedford wished to attach him to England, but he forgot that in doing so he would offend Burgundy.

Chronology

Sterling Made of Honor inspired Earrings