cession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of
all the saints, burst the bonds of the Maid, who, in the fulfilment of
thy commands, hath been and is still confined in the prisons of our
enemy; through thy divine compassion and thy mercy, permit her, freed
from peril, to accomplish the work whereto thou hast sent her. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ, etc."[2045]

[Footnote 2045: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 104. E. Maignien, _Oraisons latines
pour la delivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_. Grenoble, 1867, in 8vo (_Revue
des Societes savantes_, vol. iv, pp. 412-414). G. de Braux, _Trois
oraisons pour la delivrance de Jeanne d'Arc_, in _Journal de la
Societe d'Archeologie Lorraine_, June, 1887, pp. 125, 127.]

Learning that the Maid, whom he had once suspected of evil intentions
and then recognised to be wholly good, had just fallen into the hands
of the enemy of the realm, Messire Jacques Gelu, my Lord Archbishop of
Embrun, despatched to King Charles a messenger bearing a letter
touching the line of conduct to be adopted in such an unhappy
conjuncture.[2046]

[Footnote 2046: _Vita Jacobi Gelu ab ipso conscripta_, in _Bulletin de
la Societe archeologique de Touraine_, iii, 1867, pp. 266 _et seq._
The Rev. Father Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes Maritimes ou
Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313 _et seq._]

Addressing the Prince, whom in childhood he had directed, Messire
Jacques begins by recalling what the Maid had wrought for him by God's
help and her own great courage. He beseeches him to examine his
conscience and see whether he has in any wise sinned against the grace
of God. For it may be that in wrath against the King the Lord hath
permitted this virgin to be taken. For his own honour he urges him to
strain every effort for her deliverance.

"I commend unto you," he said, "that for the recovery of this damsel
and for her ransom, ye spare neither measures nor money, nor any cost,
unless ye be ready to incur the ineffaceable disgrace of an
ingratitude right unworthy."

Further he advises that prayers be ordered to be said everywhere for
the deliverance of the Maid, so that if this disaster should have
befallen through any misdoing of the King or of his people, it might
please God to pardon it.[2047]

[Footnote 2047: _Ibid._, pp. 319, 320.]

Such were the words, lacking neither in strength nor in charity, of
this aged prelate, who was more of a hermit than of a bishop. He
remembered having been the Dauphin's Councillor in evil days and