personal recollections of joan of arc - University of Georgia

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' JOAN OF ARC
THE
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Kli COLLECTIONS
Martyrdom of the Maid of Orleans
a
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF
JOAN OF ARC
BY THE
SIEUR LOUIS DE CONTE
ft
(HER PAGE AND SECRETARY)
FREELY TRANSLATED
OUT OF THE ANCIENT FRENCH INTO MODERN ENGLISH
FROM THE ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FRANCE
. 1
BY JEAN FRAN9OIS ALDEN
3
EDITED BY MARK TWAIN
WITH 12 ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. V. DU MOND
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1896
i «i
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Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since
the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only
Copyright 1896, by HARPER AND BROTHERS, New York, U.S.A.
All rights reserved person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command
of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen.
Louis KOSSUTH.
V
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's
character one must judge it by the standards of his time,
Authorities examined in verification of the truthfulness of this narra
tive : not ours. Judged by the standards of one century, the
J. E. J. QUICHERAT, Condamnation et Rehabilitation noblest characters of an earlier one lose much of their
T. FABRE, Prods de Condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc. lustre ; judged by the standards of to-day, there is pro
H. A. WALLON, Jeanne d'Arc.
M. SEPET, Jeanne d'Arc. bably no illustrious man of four or five centuries ago
J. MICHELET, Jeantie d'Arc. whose character could meet the test at all points. But
BERRJAT DE SAJNT-PRIX, La Famitte de Jeanne d'Arc.
the character of Joan of Arc is unique. It can be
La Comtesse A. DE CHABANNES, La Vierge Lorraine.
Monseigneur RJCARD, Jeanne d'Arc la Venerable. measured by ttie standards of all times without misgiving
Lord RONALD GOWER, T.S.A^,Joan of Arc.
or appretiension as to tlte result. Judged by any of them,
JOHN O'HAGAN,/<**« 0/Ar.
JANET TUCKEY, Joan of Arc the Maid. judged by all of them, it is still flawless, it is still ideally
perfect; it still occupies the loftiest place possible to human
attainment, a loftier one than has been reached by any
other mere mortal.
When we reflect that her century was the brutallest, the
wickedest, the rottenest in history since the darkest ages,
,
we are lost in wonder at the miracle of such a product
rom such a soil. The contrast between her and her cen
tury is the contrast between day and night. She was
^ truthful when lying was the common speech of men ; she
was honest when honesty was become a lost virtue ; she
was a keeper of promises when the kee-bing of a promise
viii RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE ix
was expected of no one ; she gave her great mind to great "village home, and tend her sheep again, and feel her
thoughts and great purposes when other great minds mother's arms about her, and be her housemaid and
wasted themselves upon pretty fancies or upon poor ambi helper. The selfishness of this unspoiled general of
tions ; she was modest and fine and delicate when to be victorious armies, companion of princes, and idol of an
loud and coarse might be said to be universal; she was applauding and grateful nation, reached but that far and
full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she no farther.
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was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honour The work wrought by Joan of Arc may fairly be re
able in an age which had forgotten what honour was; garded as ranking with any recorded in history, when one
she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed considers the conditions under which it was undertaken, the
in nothing and scoffed at all things ; she was unfailingly obstacles in the way, and the means at her disposal.
true in an age that was false to the core ; she maintained Ccesar carried conquest far, but he did it with the trained
her personal dignity unimpaired in an age of fawnings and confident veterans of Rome, and was a trained soldier
and servilities; she was of a dauntless courage when himself; and Napoleon swept away the disciplined armies
hope and courage /iadperished in the hearts of her nation ; of Europe, but he also was a trained soldier, and he began
she was spotlessly pure in mind and body when society in his work with patriot battalions inflamed and inspired by
the highest places was foul in both she was all these the miracle-working new breath of Liberty breathed upon
things in an age when crime was the common business of them by the Revolution—eager young apprentices to the
lords and princes, and when the highest personages in splendid trade of war, not old and broken men-at-arms,
Christendom were able to astonish even that infamous despairing survivors of an age-long accumulation of mono
era and make it stand aghast at the spectacle of their tonous defeats ; but Joan of Arc, a mere child in years,
atrocious lives black with unimaginable treacheries, ignorant, unlettered, a poor village girl unknown and
butcheries, and bestialities. without influence, found a great nation lying in chains,
She was perhaps the only entirely unselfish person helpless and hopeless under an alien domination, its trea
whose name has a place in profane history. No vestige sury bankrupt, its soldiers disheartened and dispersed, all
or suggestion of self-seeking can be found in any word or spirit torpid, all courage dead in the hearts of the people
deed of hers. When she had rescued her King from his through long years of foreign and domestic outrage and
vagabondage, and set his crown upon his head, she was oppression, their King cowed, resigned to its fate, and
offered rewards and honours, but she refused them all, and preparing to fly the country ; and she laid her hand upon
would take nothing. All she would take for herself this nation, this corpse, and it rose and followed her. She
if the King would grant it was leave to go back to her led it from victory to victory, she turned back the tide of
x RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC
the Hundred Years' War, she fatally crippled the English
power, and died with the earned title of DELIVERER OF
FRANCE, which she bears to this day.
And for all reward, tJte French King whom she had
crowned stood supine and indifferent while French priests
A PECULIARITY OF JOAN OF ARC'S
took the noble child, the most innocent, the most lovely, the
HISTORY
most adorable thea.ges have produced, and burned her alive
at the stake.
The details of the life of Joan of Arc form a
biography which is unique among the world's bio
graphies in one respect: It is the only story of a human
life which comes to us under oath, the only one which
comes to us from the witness-stand. The official
records of the Great Trial of 1431, and of the Process
of Rehabilitation of a quarter of a century later, are
still preserved in the National Archives of France,
and they furnish with remarkable fulness the facts of
her life. The history of no other life of that remote
time is known with either the certainty or the compre
hensiveness that attaches to hers.
The Sieur Louis de Conte is faithful to her official
history in his Personal Recollections, and thus far his
trustworthiness is unimpeachable; but his mass of added
particulars must depend for credit upon his own word
alone.
THE TRANSLATOR.