Jeanne took her standard to the Church of Saint-Sauveur and gave it to the priests to bless.[910] The little company formed at Tours was joined at Blois by ecclesiastics and monks, who, on the approach of the English, had fled in crowds from the neighbouring abbeys, and were now suffering from cold and hunger. It was generally thus. Monks were for ever flocking to the armies. Many churches and most abbeys had been reduced to ruin. Those of the mendicants, built outside the towns, had all perished,--plundered and burnt by the English or pulled down by the townsfolk; for, when threatened with siege, the inhabitants always dealt thus with the outlying portions of their town. The homeless monks found no welcome in the cities, which were sparing of their goods; they must needs take the field with the soldiers and follow the army. From such a course their rule suffered and piety gained nothing. Among mercenaries, sumpters and camp followers, these hungry nomad monks lived an edifying life. Those who accompanied the Maid were doubtless neither worse nor better than the rest, and as they were very hungry their first care was to eat.[911] [Footnote 910: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103. Boucher de Molandon, _Premiere expedition de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 47. L.A. Bosseboeuf, _Jeanne d'Arc en Touraine_, Tours, 1899, pp. 34 _et seq._] [Footnote 911: Le P. Denifle, _La desolation des eglises, monasteres, hopitaux, en France, vers le milieu du XV'e siecle_, Macon, 1897, in 8vo, introduction.] The men-at-arms were much too accustomed to seeing monks and nuns mingling side by side in the army to feel any surprise at the sight of the holy damsel in the midst of a band so disreputable. It is true that the damsel was said to work wonders. Many believed in them; others mocked and said aloud: "Behold the brave champion and captain who comes to deliver the realm of France."[912] [Footnote 912: _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 327. Tringant, _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 277, merely says that few soldiers went willingly to the relief of Orleans, which is not strictly accurate.]