Troyes, where Henry V. had been married; they defeated the English in the battle of Patay; at last they reached Reims, and in its venerable cathedral Charles was anointed, crowned, and consecrated King of France. Coronation of the dauphin. On that glorious day the Maiden felt that her work was done. She knelt, weeping, before the king, saying, "Oh, gentle king, the pleasure of the Lord is accomplished." And now she longed to go again to her humble cottage home, to her brothers and her sister, who would be so rejoiced to see her return. But this was not to be the end. 24. It was quite true that her work was done. In the eyes of all the people the consecration and holy anointing made Charles king in a way he had never been before. His rival, the young son of Henry V., the poor child who was still called King of France, had no chance now. He had not even been crowned, except as King of England, at Westminster. When he was brought to Paris afterwards to be crowned King of France the ceremony seemed a mere empty form. The true king had already been consecrated at Reims. 25. It would have been happy for poor Jeanne had she been permitted to go back to her quiet village home. Up till this time. she had clearly known what she had to do, and the "voices which she thought she heard had been clear and distinct. But now she had no such certainty as to what she ought to do next, and the "voices" grew confused and contradictory. Sometimes now, instead of success, there was failure in what she attempted, and the soldiers began to lose faith in her. At last, while endeavouring to defend a city which was besieged by the Burgundian party, she was taken prisoner. The Maid taken prisoner. 26. The rest of her history is a sad one, and utterly disgraceful to all who were concerned in it, except to the Maid herself. She was sold and bandied about from one to another, till the Duke of Burgundy gave her into the hands of the English at Rouen. Whether the Duke of Bedford and the rest thought her a sorceress or not, they at least knew that she had been their most successful enemy, and that they owed the ruin of their cause to her. She was charged with heresy and sorcery, and brought up before a council of the inquisition. A French bishop was at the head of the tribunal, and other French churchmen took part in her trial and condemnation, but they were entirely under the influence of Cardinal Beaufort and the English. 27. The cruel and cowardly dauphin whom she had made king never stirred a finger to help her. At last, after a long trial, in which every effort was made to cause her to confess that she had been instigated by the devil, and not by the saints, in which she was persecuted, tormented, and terrified in every manner, she was declared guilty of heresy, handed over to the civil power, and burned alive in the market-place of Rouen. With her dying breath she spoke in defence of the honour of her king; she bore testimony once more to the "voices" that God had sent her; and calling on the name of Jesus, and pressing a rough cross to her breast, she died-noble, pure, and saintlike as she had lived. 28. In the play of Henry VI., Part I., we find a very coarse and false description of the Maid of Orleans, or La Pucelle, as she is called, which no doubt shows the common idea which the English had of her. It is some satisfaction to know that Shakespeare did not write that play, though it generally goes under his 1431. Her death. name. LECTURE XXXVI.-LOSS OF FRANCE AND TROUBLES IN ENGLAND. End of the Hundred Years' War. Margaret of Anjou. Death of Gloucester and Suffolk. Cade's revolt. The principal actors in the Wars of the Roses. the French. 1. THE English were none the better for the murder (we can call it by no other name) of the Maid of Orleans. After her death their affairs in France went on as badly as possible; there were no more famous battles or sieges; both countries were nearly exhausted; but the French gradually gained ground, and the English lost. The Duke of Bedford seemed Progress of almost the only man who could do any good either in England or France, and everything always went wrong in whichever country he was absent from; but at last he died, and all the prospects of the English in France died with him. The Duke of Burgundy, who was their most important and powerful ally, but who had begun to cool in his friendship of late, now at once did what was his plain duty, broke with the English and sided with his own country. 2. Before, however, he would make peace with Charles, who was the same as the dauphin who had murdered the duke's father on the bridge of Montereau, he forced him to humble himself in the dust for that wicked act, and make what amends he now could. He was obliged to say that at that time he was very young, and was guided by evil counsellors. He was to found a chapel and a convent, and to set up a stone cross in the middle of the bridge. The Dean of Paris, as representing the king, was forced to kneel down before the duke, praying his mercy for the murder. The duke was then appeased, and the peace was made. 3. After that there was no more hope for the English, though they would not give in for a long time yet. There were two great parties who opposed each other about this matter. One side wished to make peace, and to save what they still could; the head of this party was Cardinal Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester. party were for fighting on, and still trying to get all that they Parties in The other Character had ever hoped for in the victorious days of Henry V. The head of the war party was the proud, ambitious Duke of Gloucester. 4. The young king, meanwhile, had grown into a man, but a very different man from his father or any of his family. He was very religious; indeed, after his death he was looked of the king. on as almost a saint; but he was weak-minded, and at times quite imbecile (this was attributed to his descent from the poor mad King of France). Every writer gives just the same impression of him; perhaps the best description is this, given by Baker. "He was tall of stature, spare and slender of body, of a comely countenance, and all parts well proportioned. For endowments of mind, he had virtues enough to make him a saint, but not to make him a god, as kings are said to be gods. He was not sensible of what the world calls honour, accounting the greatest honour to consist in humility. His greatest imperfection was that he had in him too much of the log and too little of the stork; for he would not move but as he was moved, and had rather be devoured than he would devour. He was not so stupid not to know prosperity from adversity, but he was so devout to think nothing adversity which was not a hindrance to devotion. He was fitter for a priest than a king; for a sacrifice than a priest. He had one immunity peculiar to himself, that no man could ever be revenged on him, seeing he never offered any man an injury. By being innocent as a dove he kept his crown upon his head so long, but if he had been wise as a serpent he might have kept it on longer." power on 5. Thus Henry was sure to be always under the sway of some one of a stronger character than his own. For a long time everything was in the hands of the Duke of Gloucester or Cardinal Beaufort. As the cardinal grew older another man rose to He had an his side, the Earl of Suffolk. The Earl of idea that if the King of England were married to a Suffolk. French princess it would go a great way towards making peace; and he contrived to find a wife for him so exactly the reverse of himself in character, that in their after lives she was like the husband, and he the wife. 6. She was the daughter of a French prince belonging to the family of Anjou, who had many high-sounding titles, being called the King of Sicily, Naples, and Jerusalem. 1445. But these were all empty names, and he was in reality The king the poorest and most unlucky of princes. He was marries Margaret in prison when his daughter Margaret was born. of Anjou. She was now fifteen years old, and though her father was not in prison at this time, he was still very poor. The English had lost nearly all they had ever won in France, but part of Anjou and Maine still belonged to them. It was now settled that Henry should marry the Princess Margaret, and give over those provinces to her father in return. We can imagine this marriage treaty would not be very popular in England, and especially with the war party. Instead of a grand alliance, and a bride who brought a fine dowry with her, such as the kings of England were accustomed to, here was a penniless bride, to whose father the English were to give up some of the most important parts of France which still remained to them. The Duke of Gloucester was furious, and the two parties came to hate each other more than ever. 7. The new queen, whose character soon began to show itself, of course took part with Suffolk, who had made such a fine match for her, and she looked on the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester as her enemies and rivals. This duchess was not the same whose marriage had so nearly caused a broil with the Duke of Burgundy some years before. The "good Duke Humphrey" seemed to have forgotten all about her, and had afterwards married an English lady, Eleanor Cobham. Till Henry VI. married and had a son the next heir to the throne was the Duke of Gloucester, and his wife was the first lady in the land. Whether she affronted the young Queen Margaret, and taunted her with her poverty (as she is made to do in the play) or not, she was certainly an ambitious and unscrupulous woman, and was not likely to look with much favour on a marriage which made her second instead of first, and would most probably destroy all hope of her husband ever rising to be King of England. The Duchess of Glou cester. 8. It began to be rumoured about that she took counsel with witches and magicians, and was plotting to destroy the king's life. It was whispered that they had made a waxen image of the king, which being set before a slow fire, and gradually wasting away, the king's life would waste away with it. Every one was quite ready to believe it. The duchess and her confederates were seized, examined, and found guilty. The sorcerer and the witch were put to death; the duchess was made to do public penance, walking barefoot through the streets of London carrying a taper, and pursued by the shouts and mockery of the mob. After this she was sent into perpetual imprisonment in the Isle of Man, which seemed almost like the end of the earth in those days. 9. Not long afterwards the duke himself was deprived of all |