ims, according as God hath commanded me, for it is his
will that the English return to their country and leave in peace your
kingdom which shall remain unto you. Or, if they do not quit the land,
then will God cause them to perish." Further, they told how,
interrogated by certain prelates, knights, squires, and doctors in
law, her bearing had been found honest and her words wise. They
extolled her piety, her candour, that simplicity which testified that
God dwelt with her, and that skill in managing a horse and wielding
weapons which caused all men to marvel.[862]

[Footnote 862: _Journal du siege_, p. 46. _Chronique de la Pucelle_,
p. 278. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, p. 66.]

At the end of March, tidings came, that, taken to Poitiers, she had
there been examined by doctors and famous masters, and had replied to
them with an assurance equal to that of Saint Catherine before the
doctors at Alexandria. Because her words were good and her promises
sure, it was said that the King, trusting in her, had caused her to be
armed in order that she might go to Orleans, where she would soon
appear, riding on a white horse, wearing at her side the sword of
Saint Catherine and holding in her hand the standard she had received
from the King of Heaven.[863]

[Footnote 863: _Journal du siege_, pp. 47, 48. P. Mantellier,
_Histoire du siege_, pp. 61 _et seq._]

To the ecclesiastics what was told of Jeanne seemed marvellous but not
incredible, since parallel instances were to be found in sacred
history, which was all the history they knew. To those who were
lettered among them their erudition furnished fewer reasons for denial
than for doubt or belief. Those who were simple frankly wondered at
these things.

Certain of the captains, and certain even of the people, treated them
with derision. But by so doing they ran the risk of ill usage. The
inhabitants of the city believed in the Maid as firmly as in Our Lord.
From her they expected help and deliverance. They summoned her in a
kind of mystic ecstasy and religious frenzy. The fever of the siege
had become the fever of the Maid.[864]

[Footnote 864: _Journal du siege_, p. 77.]

Nevertheless, the use made of her by the King's men proved that,
following the counsel of the theologians, they were determined to
adopt only such methods as were prompted by human prudence. She was to
enter the town with a convoy of victuals, then being prepared at Blois
by order of the King assisted by th