The Valet's tragedy, and other studies by Andrew Lang
page 108 of 312 (34%)
page 108 of 312 (34%)
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Boisy went on to tell Sala that, ten years later (whether after 1429 or after 1431, the date of the Maid's death, is uncertain), a pretended Pucelle, 'very like the first,' was brought to the King. He was in a garden, and bade one of his gentlemen personate him. The impostor was not deceived, for she knew that Charles, having hurt his foot, then wore a soft boot. She passed the gentleman, and walked straight to the King, 'whereat he was astonished, and knew not what to say, but, gently saluting her, exclaimed, "Pucelle, my dear, you are right welcome back, in the name of God, who knows the secret that is between you and me."' The false Pucelle then knelt, confessed her sin, and cried for mercy. 'For her treachery some were sorely punished, as in such a case was fitting.'* *Quicherat, v. p. 281. There is doubt as to whether Boisy's tale does not refer to Jeanne la Feronne, a visionary. Varlet de Vireville, Charles VII., iii. p. 425, note 1. If any deserved punishment, the Maid's brothers did, but they rather flourished and prospered, as time went on, than otherwise. It appears, then, that in 1439-1441 the King exposed the false Pucelle, or another person, Jeanne la Feronne. A great foe of the true Maid, the diarist known as the Bourgeois de Paris, in his journal for August 1440, tells us that just then many believed that Jeanne had not been burned at Rouen. The gens d'armes brought to Paris 'a woman who had been received with great honour at Orleans'-- clearly Jeanne des Armoises. The University and Parlement had her seized and exhibited to the public at the Palais. Her life was exposed; she confessed that she was no maid, but a mother, and the |
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