The Maid, as a prisoner of the Bastard of Wandomme, himself a man of
Jean de Luxembourg, was led to Margny, where the Burgundian and English
captains rejoiced over her. They had her at last, the girl who had
driven them from fort and field. Luxembourg claimed her and carried her
to Beaulieu. Not a French lance was laid in rest to rescue her; not a
sou did the king send to ransom her. Where were Dunois and d'Alencon,
Xaintrailles and La Hire? The bold Buccleugh, who carried Kinmont Willie
out of Carlisle Castle, would not have left the Maid unrescued at
Beaulieu. 'What is there that a man does _not_ dare?' he said to the
angry Queen Elizabeth. But Dunois, d'Alencon, Xaintrailles, La Hire,
dared all things. Something which we do not know of must have held
these heroes back, and, being ignorant, it does not become us to blame
them.
Joan was the very spirit of chivalry, but in that age of chivalry she
was shamefully deserted. As a prisoner of war she should properly have
been held to ransom. But, within two days of her capture, the
Vicar-General of the Inquisition in France claimed her as a heretic and
a witch. The English knights let the priests and the University of Paris
judge and burn the girl whom they seldom dared to face in war. The
English were glad enough to use French priests and doctors who would
sell themselves to the task of condemning and burning their maiden
enemy. She was the enemy of the English, and they did actually believe
in witchcraft. The English were hideously cruel and superstitious: we
may leave the French to judge Jean de Luxembourg, who sold the girl to
England; Charles, who moved not a finger to help her; Bishop Cauchon and
the University of Paris, who judged her lawlessly and condemned her to
the stake; and the Archbishop of Reims, who said that she had deserved
her fall. There is dishonour in plenty; let these false Frenchmen of her
time divide their shares among themselves.
From Beaulieu, where she lay from May to August, Luxembourg carried his
precious prize to Beaurevoir, near Cambrai, further from the French
armies. He need not have been alarmed, not a French sword was drawn to
help the Maid. At Beaurevoir, Joan was kindly treated by the ladies of
the Castle. These ladies alone upheld the honour of the great name of
France. They knelt and wept before Jean de Luxembourg, imploring him not
to sell Joan to Burgundy, who sold her again to England. May their names
ever be honoured! One of the gentlemen of the place, on the other hand,
was rude to Joan, as he confessed thirty years later.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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