See the account of the banner at Orleans, which is believed to bear an authentic portrait of the Maid, in Murray's Handbook for France, p. 175.]
Her head was unhelmeted; so that all could behold her fair and expressive features, her deep-set and earnest eyes, and her long black hair, which was parted across her forehead, and bound by a ribbon behind her back.
She wore at her side a small battle-axe, and the consecrated sword, blade with five crosses, which had at her bidding been taken for her from the shrine of St. Catherine at Fierbois.
A page carried her banner, which she had caused to be made and embroidered as her Voices enjoined. It was white satin [Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, vol. i. p. 238.] strewn with fleur-de-lis; and on it were the words "JHESUS MARIA," and the representation of the Saviour in His glory.
Joan afterwards generally bore her banner herself in battle; she said that though she loved her sword much, she loved her banner forty times as much; and she loved to carry it because it could not kill any one.
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3673-3680).
An old prophecy, which told that a damsel from Lorraine was to save France, had long been current; and it was known and applied to Joan by foreigners as well as by the natives.
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3707-3708).
She determined before she shed the blood of the besiegers, to repeat the warning with her own voice; and accordingly she mounted one of the boulevards of the town, which was within hearing of the Tourelles; and thence she spoke to the English, and bade them depart, otherwise they would meet with shame and woe. Sir William Gladsdale (whom the French call GLACIDAS) commanded the English post at the Tourelles, and he and another English officer replied by bidding her go home and keep her cows,
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3713-3717).
The faintness caused by her wound had now passed off, and she headed the French in another rush against the bulwark . The English , who had thought her slain, were alarmed at her reappearance; while the French pressed furiously and fanatically forward.
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3757-3759).
Even Talbot now counselled retreat. On the following morning, the Orleannais, from their walls, saw the great forts called "London " and "St. Lawrence," in flames; and witnessed their invaders busy in destroying the stores and munitions which had been relied on for the destruction of Orleans.
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3772-3774).
There is extant a fragment of a letter from the Regent Bedford to his royal nephew, Henry VI., in which he bewails the turn that the war had taken, and especially attributes it to the raising of the siege of Orleans by Joan. Bedford's own words, which are preserved in Rymer, [Vol. x. p. 403.] are as follows:—
"AND ALLE THING THERE PROSPERED FOR YOU TIL THE TYME OF THE SIEGE OF ORLEANS, TAKEN IN HAND, GOD KNOWETH BY WHAT ADVIS. "AT THE WHICHE TYME, AFTER THE ADVENTURE FALLEN TO THE PERSONE OF MY COUSIN OF SALISBURY, WHOM GOD ASSOILLE, THERE FELLE, BY THE HAND OF GOD AS IT SEEMETH, A GREAT STROOK UPON YOUR PEUPLE THAT WAS ASSEMBLED THERE IN GRETE NOMBRE, CAUSED IN GRETE PARTIE, AS Y TROWE, OF LAKKE OF SADDE BELEVE, AND OF UNLEVEFULLE DOUBTE, THAT THEI HADDE OF A DISCIPLE AND LYME OF THE FEENDE, CALLED THE PUCELLE, THAT USED FALS ENCHANTMENTS AND SORCERIE. "THE WHICHE STROOKE AND DISCOMFITURE NOT OONLY LESSED IN GRETE PARTIE THE NOMBRE OF YOUR PEUPLE THERE, BUT AS WELL WITHDREWE THE COURAGE OF THE REMENANT IN MERVEILLOUS WYSE, AND COURAIGED YOUR ADVERSE PARTIE AND ENNEMYS TO ASSEMBLE THEM FORTHWITH IN GRETE NOMBRE."
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3783-3791).
Let him read of the Heavenly Voice, by which Socrates believed himself to be constantly attended; which cautioned him on his way from the field of battle at Delium, and which from his boyhood to the time of his death visited him with unearthly warnings. [See Cicero, de Divinatione , lib. i. sec. 41; and see the words of Socrates himself , in Plato, Apol. Soc.] Let the modern reader reflect upon this; and then, unless he is prepared to term Socrates either fool or impostor, let him not dare to deride or vilify Joan
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (Kindle Locations 3828-3832).
From 1429 in the coming of Joan of Arc to 1517 in the dispute between Luther and Tetzel respecting the sale of indulgences, which is the immediate cause of the Reformation, the world changed for Christianity in less than 100 years for the founding of her children by her French in these United States of America.
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