Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life And DeathOliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
History
Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life And Death
Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
France -- History; Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431
There is a curious story existing, though we do not remember whence
it comes and there is not a scrap of evidence for it, which suggests a
rumour that Jeanne was not the child of the d'Arc family at all, but
in fact an abandoned and illegitimate child of the Queen, Isabel of
Bavaria, and that her real father was the murdered Duc d'Orléans. This
suggestion might explain the ease with which she fell into the way of
Courts, a sort of air _à la Princesse_ which certainly was about her,
and her especial devotion to Orleans, both to the city and the duke. A
shadow of a supposed child of our own Queen Mary has also appeared
in history, quite without warrant or likelihood. It is a little
conventional and well worn even in the way of romance, yet there are
certain fanciful suggestions in the thought.
After the above, Jeanne was again questioned and at great length upon
the sign given to the King, upon the angel who brought it, the manner of
his coming and going, the persons who saw him, those who saw the crown
bestowed upon the King, and so on, in the most minute detail. That the
purpose of the sign was that "they should give up arguing and so let
her proceed on her mission," she repeated again and again; but here is a
curious additional note.
She was asked how the King and the people with him were convinced that
it was an angel; and answered, that the King knew it by the instruction
of the ecclesiastics who were there, and also by the sign of the crown.
Asked, how the ecclesiastics (_gens d'église_) knew it was an angel she
answered, "By their knowledge (science), and because they were priests."
Was this the keenest irony, or was it the wandering of a weary mind?
We cannot tell; but if the latter, it was the only occasion on which
Jeanne's mind wandered; and there was method and meaning in the strange
tale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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