But six months later I was back again, and this time I managed to convince Baudricourt. And the people of Vaucouleurs gave me boy’s clothes, which I have not given up since. And they bought me a horse for twelve francs.’

‘And what about your voices?’

‘They did not leave me in peace, but were constantly encouraging and exhorting me.’

Gilles, who, because of his immense fortune, knew only violence and machinations to achieve often pitiful ends, was astonished at the spectacle of so much weakness and simplicity overcoming all resistance and scepticism in the name of some grandiose purpose.

‘So the Fairies’ Tree said nothing,’ he concluded, ‘and you were advised by voices coming from the direction of the church. Jeanne, I believe each of us has his voices. Good voices and bad voices. I am the little bull of Champtocé, born in the Black Tower of the fortress. I was brought up by my grandfather, Jean de Craon, a great lord, but also a great scoundrel. The voices I heard in my childhood and youth were always those of evil and sin. Jeanne, you have come not only to save the Dauphin Charles and his kingdom. You must also save the young lord Gilles de Rais! Make him hear your voice. Jeanne, I never want to leave your side. Jeanne, you are a saint, make a saint of me!’


And war broke out again.

On Friday 29 April 1429, Gilles and Jeanne entered Orléans, welcomed by a delirious crowd ‘carrying a large number of torches and expressing such joy, as if they had seen God himself descend among them,’ one witness wrote.

On Wednesday 11 May, they went to Loches in order to inform the Dauphin officially of the liberation of Orléans and to persuade him to go to Rheims to be anointed King. On Saturday 18 June, the English were defeated at Patay, and their leader, John Talbot, was taken prisoner. Auxerre, Troyes and Châlons rallied to the Dauphin and sent him contingents to honour his coronation.

The cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-Reims is the cradle of the French monarchy. The Holy Ampulla containing an inexhaustible oil is preserved in the church of Saint-Remy. Indeed, in 496, Remy received it from a bird that flew down from heaven to anoint Clovis, the first Christian king. Gilles de Rais was given the honour of going to fetch it, in accordance with a ritual a thousand years old2. The ceremony took place on 17 July 1429. With Jeanne on his right and Gilles on his left, the future King knelt on the altar steps. He should have been surrounded by the twelve peers of the kingdom, but there were absences and betrayals. In particular, the Duke of Alençon replaced the Duke of Burgundy, who had sided with the English. The archbishop officiated. The Sire d’Albret held the sword. The Maid held the banner aloft. Alençon dubbed the Dauphin knight. The archbishop anointed and crowned the new king. Then Jeanne threw herself at his feet, kissed his knees, and said, weeping, ‘Gentle King, thus the will of God is done, by which you were to go to Rheims to receive the crown, so that all should know that you alone are the true King.’

                    

But, after this apotheosis, there was to be nothing but decline, defeat and horror. Charles fell back into his usual apathy, despite the fervent welcome given him by the good people wherever he went and the exhortations of Jeanne, who persuaded him to march on Paris. The summer went by, with endless delays and diplomatic negotiations. It was not until September that they finally attacked the kingdom’s capital. Finally, on 7 September, twelve thousand men of Armagnac, commanded by Gilles and Jeanne, with carts and carriages filled with logs and faggots to fill the moats, attacked the Portes Saint-Honoré and Saint-Denis.