Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
dissuaded by her generals, who begged her to await the arrival of her
army.
Despite their bold words, the English were so influenced by Joan's
peculiar power, that they allowed her army to enter Orleans with a
convoy of provisions, and made no resistance. They seemed to be
paralyzed with fear, and many of them expressed a belief that she was
aided by the devil. Although the maid was immensely popular with the
army, a lurking secret jealousy of her was already at work in the
breasts of some of her officers; and these men chose an hour when she
was taking a brief repose, to open an attack upon the English, hoping to
take the glory of a conquest to themselves. But Joan's Voices awoke her,
and told her the blood of France was being spilled; and seizing her
white banner, she mounted her horse, and rushed into the strife, turning
the tide of battle at once in favor of the French army, which had
already suffered loss. Wherever the white flag was seen, a superhuman
strength seemed to take possession of the men; and after a fierce battle
of three hours, the bastile of St. Loup was won by the French.
The bastile des Augustins fell next, and here Joan was slightly wounded
in the foot; but she resolved to attack the only remaining hold of the
English the following day. Her officers counselled together and reported
themselves unfavorable to this project, as the bastile des Tournelles
was very strong, and filled with the bravest of the English army. But
Joan replied, "I, too, have been at council with God, and we shall fight
to-morrow."
They did fight, the English with fury, the French "as if they believed
themselves immortal." After three hours of warfare Joan saw her men
hesitate under the fierce attack of the enemy. She seized a ladder,
planted it against a wall, and began to ascend it. At that moment an
English arrow struck her between the neck and shoulder, and she fell to
the ground. The disheartened soldiers bore her from the field, and
dressed her wound, from which she extracted the arrow with her own hand,
shedding womanly tears meanwhile. After the wound was dressed, a vision
came to her, and with sudden strength she remounted her horse and rode
back to battle.
The English, believing her nearly dead from her wound, were terrified to
see her return, and lost courage from that moment; while the French,
electrified by her unexpected presence, fought with such zeal that
before nightfall the maid led her army into Orleans crowned with
triumph. It was only seven days since she had entered the city, and Joan
had already verified her assertion that she could and would "raise the
siege of Orleans."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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