Shakespeare's Kings (69 page)

All
was
not
yet
lost;
the
English,
still
in
retreat,
had
already
evacuated the
Loire
valley,
most
of
the
Ile-de-France
and
virtually
all
Champagne; a
concerted
French
push
into
Picardy
might
yet
have
driven
them
back to
Calais.
But
the
chance
was
thrown
away.
The
French
commander La
Tremouille
(who
detested
Joan)
now
took
it
upon
himself
to
disband the
army,
giving
Bedford
the
perfect
opportunity
to
regroup
and
recover -
and
finally
to
bring
his
young
sovereign
over
to
France
for
his
own coronation.
Henry,
by
now
nine
years
old,
reached
Calais
in
April
1430 in
the
company
of
Cardinal
Beaufort
and
10,000
men,
but
such
was the
prevailing
anarchy
that
he
was
forced
to
remain
there
for
a
further three
months;
not
till
the
end
of
July
was
he
able
to
travel,
and
then only
as
far
as
Rouen.
He
was
lodged
in
the
castle
,
and
was
still
there five
months
later
when
Joan
arrived,
in
chains.
She
had
been
taken prisoner
on
23
May
during
an
attempt
to
relieve
Compiegne,
which was
under
siege
by
the
Burgundians;
but
she
had
spent
the
interim
in several
other
prisons
while
her
captor
John
of
Luxemburg
haggled
over her
price
with
Philip
of
Burgundy
and
the
Duke
of
Bedford.
Finally she
had
been
handed
over
to
the
English
for
10,000
francs.
Did
she
and Henry
ever
meet?
They
certainly
could
have;
but
Richard
Beauchamp, Earl
of
Warwick
-
who
had
succeeded
Exeter
as
the
King's
guardian and
tutor,
and
who
happened
also
to
be
Governor
of
the
castle
,
kept her
guarded
day
and
night
by
five
English
soldiers.
He
is
unlikely,
to say
the
least,
to
have
permitted
his
young
charge
to
come
in
contact with
a
woman
whom
he
believed
to
be
an
evil
witch,
'the
disciple
and limb
of
the
Fiend'.

Joan's
examination
began
on
21
February
1431;
five
weeks
later,
on 27
March,
she
appeared
at
her
trial,
during
which
she
was
allowed
no defence
counsel
or
spiritual
adviser;
and
on
Wednesday
30
May
she was
declared
excommunicated
and
a
heretic
and
burnt
at
the
stake
in the
market
place
of
Rouen
-
the
pyre
having
been
prepared
well
in advance
of
the
sentence.
Her
ashes
were
cast
into
the
Seine.
But
she had
done
her
work
well.
She
had
delivered
Orleans;
she
had
had
the Dauphin
crowned,
as
his
ancestors
had
been
crowned
before
him,
in the
cathedral
of
Rheims;
above
all,
she
had
given
her
compatriots
a new
spirit,
and
a
new
strength.
From
the
moment
of
her
first
appearance English
fortunes
had
begun
to
decline.
They
were
never
to
recover. True,
the
ten-year-old
Henry
VI
finally
reached
Paris
where,
alone
of all
the
English
monarchs,
he
was
crowned
in
the
French
capital
-
by Cardinal
Beaufort,
according
to
the
English
liturgy,
in
Notre
Dame
on 16
December;
but
if
Bedford
had
hoped
to
impress
the
French
by
this ceremony,
he
failed.
The
service
was
poorly
attended,
the
subsequent banquet
proved
a
fiasco,
no
amnesty
was
declared,
no
alms
were distributed
to
the
poor,
and
two
days
after
Christmas
the
King
was slipped
almost
furtively
out
of
Paris
to
return
to
England.

By
now
there
were
few
people
on
either
side
of
the
Channel
who had
much
stomach
for
the
war.
To
the
pious
young
King,
hostility between
fellow
Christians
was
a
cause
of
continual
grief;
Bedford, knowing
that
the
cause
was
hopeless,
longed
to
put
an
end
to
the
fighting and
found
strong
support
in
Parliament,
which
actually
presented
a petition
to
that
effect.
The
Burgundians,
too,
were
increasingly
eager for
peace.
Only
Humphrey
of
Gloucester
-
who
had
been
steadily building
up
his
position
^during
the
long
absence
in
France
of
his
enemy the
Cardinal
-
continued
to
argue
furiously
for
a
continuation
of
the war,
sabotaging
every
attempt
at
negotiation.
Finally,
in
1435,
Philip of
Burgundy
lost
patience
and
convened,
on
his
own
initiative,
a
peace conference
at
Arras.

The
English,
whose
delegation
was
led
by
the
Archbishop
of
York but
was
strongly
influenced
by
Duke
Humphrey,
refused
to
renounce the
royal
title
to
France
and
ultimately
withdrew
altogether
from
the negotiations.
Almost
at
once,
however,
they
had
reason
to
regret
this departure.
A
week
later,
on
21
September,
they
were
horrified
to
learn that
France
and
Burgundy
had
effected
a
reconciliation.
King
Charles had
agreed
to
make
a
public
apology
for
the
assassination
of
John
the Fearless
and
to
surrender
those
responsible;
Philip
had
then
been
formally absolved
by
the
attendant
cardinals
from
his
oath
of
allegiance
to
the