346 POLITICAL HERESY.— THE STATE. it is not the will of Messire that they should be fought to-day ; you will have them another time " — and by this time her moral ascendency was such that she was obeyed. So marvellous was the change in the spirit of the opposing forces, that it was a com- mon remark that before her coming two hundred English would rout five hundred Frenchmen, but that afterwards two hundred French would chase four hundred English. Even the unfriendly Monstrelet admits that after the raising of the siege of Orleans there was no captain who so filled the mouths of men as she, though she was accompanied by knights so renowned as Dunois, La Hire, and Pothon de Xaintrailles. The Eegent Bedford, in writing to the English council, could only describe it as a terrible blow from the divine hand, especially " caused of unleyefulle doubte that thei hadde of a Desciple and Lyme of the Feende called the Pucelle that used fals Enchauntements and Sorcerie." Xot only, he says, were the English forces diminished in number and broken in spirit, but the enemy was encouraged to make great levies of troops." In the chronic exhaustion of the royal treasury it was not easy for Charles to take full advantage of this unexpected success, but the spirit of the nation was aroused and a force could be kept spas- modically in the field. D' Alencon was sent with troops to clear the Loire valley of the enemy, and took Joan with him. Suffolk had fortified himself in Jargeau, but the place was carried by as- sault and he was captured with all his men who were not slain. Then want of money caused a return to Tours, where Joan ear- nestly urged Charles to go to Eeims for his coronation : she had always claimed that her mission was to deliver Orleans and to crown the king ; that her time was short and that the counsel of her Yoices must not be disregarded, but prudence prevailed, and it was felt that the English power in the central provinces must first be crushed. A second expedition was organized. Beaugency was besieged and taken, and on June 18 the battle of Pat ay gave some slight amends for Agincourt and Yerneuil. After feeble resistance the English fled. Twenty five hundred of them were left upon the
- Monstrelet, H. 57-61. — Thomassin, p. 538. — Chrouique. pp. 430-7.— Jean
Chartier, pp. 22-4. — Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris, ann. 1429. — Rymer, X. 408.
