Note 354 — Chapter X · Gothic Art in Normandy[314] (continued 2)

The Duke d’Alençon testified, in 1455, concerning Jeanne: “I have heard captains who took part in the siege of Orléans declare that what passed there touched on the miraculous, that it was no human work. Apart from things of war Jeanne was a simple young girl; but for things of war, wielding the lance, massing the army, preparing the battle, arranging the artillery, she was remarkably skilled. All marveled that she should show the ability and foresight of a captain who had warred for thirty years. Especially in her control of artillery was she admirable.”

Equally convincing is the testimony, in 1455, of the bastard of Orléans, the great Dunois: “I believe that Jeanne was sent of God and that her conduct in war was more a divine than a human act.... I heard the seneschal of Beaucaire, whom the king had appointed to watch over Jeanne in the wars, say that he believed there never was a woman more chaste. I heard Jeanne say to the king one day: ‘When I am distressed that credence is not given that it is Heaven has sent me to your aid, I withdraw to a quiet place and I pray and complain to God, and, my prayer finished, I hear a voice saying, “Fille Dè, va, va, va! Je serai à ton ayde, va!” ‘And in repeating what the voice said, Jeanne was—an extraordinary thing—in a marvelous ravishment, in a sort of ecstasy, her eyes lifted to heaven.” E. O’Reilly, Les deux procès de condamnation et la sentence de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc (Paris, Plon, 1868), vol. 1, pp. 153, 156, 200, 214, 2 vols.