_, vol. iii, pp. 20, 300. _Chronique de la
Pucelle_, pp. 322, 323. _Journal du siege_, pp. 93, 114. "And although
the King had not money wherewith to pay his army, all knights,
squires, men-at-arms, and the commonalty refused not to serve the King
in this journey in company with the Maid." Perceval de Cagny, p. 157.]

[Footnote 1335: Le Maire, _Antiquites d'Orleans_, ch. xxv, p. 100.]

[Footnote 1336: Pius II, _Commentarii_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, pp.
513-514. Pierre des Gros, _Jardin des nobles_ in P. Paris, _Manuscrits
francais de la bibliotheque du roi_, vol. ii, p. 149, and _Trial_,
vol. iv, pp. 533, 534.]

Therefore it was necessary to go to Reims. It was necessary also to
anticipate the English who had resolved to conduct thither their
infant King that he might receive consecration according to the
ancient ceremonial.[1337] But if the French had invaded Normandy they
would have closed the young Henry's road to Paris and to Reims, a road
which was already insecure for him; and it would be childish to
maintain that the coronation could not have been postponed for a few
weeks. If the conquest of Norman lands and Norman towns was renounced
therefore, it was not merely for the sake of capturing the holy
Ampulla. The Lord Archbishop of Reims had other objects at heart. He
believed, for example, that, by pressing in between the Duke of
Burgundy and his English allies, an excellent impression would be
produced on the mind of that Prince and the edifying object-lesson
presented to his consideration of Charles, son of Charles, King of
France, riding at the head of a powerful army.

[Footnote 1337: William of Worcester [1415-1482, or Botoner,
chronicler and traveller, secretary to Sir John Fastolf, disputed with
John Paston concerning some land near Norwich, and frequently referred
to in the Paston Letters. W.S.] in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 475. In 1430
it was the intention of the English to take their King to Reims "for
which cause all the subjects of the kingdom would be more inclined to
him" (advice given by Philippe le Bon to Henry VI, as cited by H. de
Lannoy, in P. Champion, _G. de Flavy_, p. 156). There was an English
project for carrying off the holy Ampulla from Reims. Pius II,
_Commentarii_ in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 513.]

To attain the city of the Blessed Saint Remi two hundred and fifty
miles of hostile country must be traversed. But for some time the army
would be in no danger of meeting the enemy on the road. The