The Valet's Tragedy, and Other StudiesLang, Andrew
History
The Valet's Tragedy, and Other Studies
Lang, Andrew
History; World history
This leads us to the proofs of the marriage of the false Pucelle, in
1436, with a Monsieur Robert des Armoises, a gentleman of the Metz
country. The evidence is in a confused state. In the reign of Louis XIV.
lived a Pere Vignier, a savant, who is said to have been a fraudulent
antiquary. Whether this be true or not, his brother, after the death of
Pere Vignier, wrote a letter to the Duc de Grammont, which was published
in the ‘Mercure Galant’ of November, 1683. The writer says that his
brother, Pere Vignier, found, at Metz, an ancient chronicle of the town,
in manuscript, and had a copy made by a notary royal. The extract is
perfectly genuine, whatever the reputation of the discoverer may be.
This portion of the chronicle of the doyen of Saint-Thibaud de Metz
exists in two forms, of which the latter, whoever wrote it, is intended
to correct the former.
In the earlier shape the author says that, on May 20, 1436, the Pucelle
Jeanne came to Metz, and was met by her brothers, Pierre, a knight, and
Jehan, an esquire. Pierre had, in fact, fought beside his sister when
both he and she were captured, at Compiegne, in May 1430. Jehan, as we
have already seen, was in attendance on the false Maid in August 1436.
According to the Metz chronicle, these two brothers of the Maid, on
May 20, 1436, recognised the impostor for their sister, and the
account-books of Orleans leave no doubt that Jehan, at least, actually
did accept her as such, in August 1436, four months after they met in
May. Now this lasting recognition by one, at least, of the brothers, is
a fact very hard to explain.
M. Anatole France offers a theory of the easiest. The brothers went to
Lorraine in May 1436, to see the pretender. ‘Did they hurry to expose
the fraud, or did they not think it credible, on the other hand, that,
with God’s permission, the Saint had risen again? Nothing could seem
impossible, after all that they had seen.... They acted in good faith.
A woman said to them, “I am Jeanne, your sister.” They believed, because
they wished to believe.’ And so forth, about the credulity of the age.
The age was not promiscuously credulous. In a RESURRECTION of Jeanne,
after death, the age did not believe. The brothers had never seen
anything of the kind, nor had the town council of Orleans. THEY had
nothing to gain by their belief, the brothers had everything to gain.
One might say that they feigned belief, in the hope that ‘there was
money in it;’ but one cannot say that about the people of Orleans who
had to spend money. The case is simply a puzzle.*
*Anatole France, ‘La Fausse Pucelle,’ Revue de Famille, Feb. 15,
1891. I cite from the quotation by M. P. Lanery d’Arc in Deux Lettres
(Beauvais, 1894), a brochure which I owe to the kindness of the author.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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