Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint by Donald Spoto Page A

of insight and faith. To understand her value to the military expeditions, it is essential to appreciate the strength of religious belief at that time and the veneration in which people held an evidently prayerful woman vowed to virginity.
    Later, Napoleon could have been referring to Joan of Arc when he insisted that sustaining morale was the most critical aspect of successful combat. An effective standard-bearer, she knew when boldness was indicated. Her daring was not always justified, but because of her the French troops acted more bravely than ever. The chefs de guerre for this expedition were military men and others appointed directly by Charles, but because of the loyalty Joan evoked from the troops, their leaders had to consider her advice and often comply with it.
    This complex of ideas was demonstrated when the company left Blois on April 27. Joan, the supply caravan, and troops assigned to her were escorted northeastward, proceeding south of the Loire and thus avoiding the English-held towns. The fact that she was led along but did not determine the route indicates that she was not in command of these soldiers: they were “hers” only insofar as she was their moral support, their spiritual patron and champion and sometimes even a source of counsel in military strategy.
    On Friday, April 29, Joan was furious when she realized that she and her convoy had been led to bypass Orléans and that there would be a delay in the assault against the English. She was met on the banks of the Loire by Dunois, called the Bastard of Orléans, which implied neither shame nor social stigma. He was the natural son of the former Duke of Orléans but was born out of wedlock, a situation without any attachment of disgrace. At the time illegitimate children were openly acknowledged by their fathers and received all the prerogatives, titles, and inheritances of legitimate offspring.
    Dunois soon became a staunch ally and a good friend to Joan, but things started badly between them. Confronting Dunois on the south bank of the Loire, Joan made no attempt to hide her anger. “Are you the Bastard of Orléans?”
    “I am indeed, and I rejoice at your arrival.”
    “Are you the one who gave the order that I come here, on this side of the river, so that I could not go directly to [engage and attack] the English?”
    Dunois replied that this had been the best and safest counsel of his and the king’s advisers.
    “In God’s name,” Joan shouted, “the counsel of our Lord God is wiser and safer than yours. You thought you could trick me, and instead you trick yourself. I am here with better help than any soldier ever brought to any city—the help of the King of Heaven.”
    Dunois may have been offended by her impatience and impudence, but there was no time to argue about courtly manners or expeditious travel routes. They were awaiting the arrival of supply boats, which were to ferry men and goods across the river to Orléans prior to the main assault. This fleet had come upriver from Blois and was now sailing against the tide, the wind, and the current, making the passage both late and perilous. But suddenly—while Joan was sparring with Dunois—the situation changed. The wind direction shifted, the water level rose, and the company was easily transported across the river with the supply boats. The troops regarded this propitious turn of events as miraculous, a sure sign of divine guidance because of Joan’s presence, and so her credibility advanced along with French determination. “From that moment,” Dunois said, “I had good hope in her—more than ever before.”
    To skeptics it seems downright gullible to interpret as miraculous a favorable turning of tide, which is quite a natural event. The Israelites of ancient history reacted similarly when they were fleeing Egyptian oppression and came to the sea: an auspicious shift in tide and wind enabled them to traverse a normally flooded isthmus, and by the time the pursuing enemy