hen she was in the fields she used to go down on her knees every time she heard the bell tolled".12 She sometimes chased down Perrin Drappier, the churchwarden at Domrmy, if he was remiss in performing his duties: "when I did not ring for compline she scolded me, saying that it was not good; and she used to promise to give me pieces of wool [or possibly "flat cakes"])"13 so that I should be diligent in ringing forcompline".14 In 1419 her father rented the nearby Chteau de l'Ile from a local aristocratic family to serve as a secure sanctuary for the villagers and their livestock. On the wider stage of European politics, the same year witnessed the assassination of Duke Jean-sans-Peur de Burgundy by supporters of the Dauphin Charles, leading Jean's successorPhilippe-le-Bon to enter into full alliance with the English. Events now accelerated. In 1420, when Jehanne was eight, the Treaty of Troyes granted Henry V eventual title to the kingdom of France and the hand of Catherine, daughter of King Charles "the Mad". The Dauphin was disowned, and France was divided between Henry V and the Duke of Burgundy. Among the men who helped negotiate the treaty was Pierre Cauchon, whose efforts were rewarded when the Duke of Burgundy secured him the episcopal position from which he would later prosecute Jehanne on behalf of the English. In 1422 Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other, leaving the infant Henry VI as the nominal king of France. His regent, the Duke of Bedford, spent the next few years cementing alliances with the Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, and engaging Dauphinist forces in the field. The military situation swung in Bedford's favor with victories at Cravant on July 31, 1423 and at Verneuil on August 17, 1424. In the wake of defeat and frustration, demoralization set in within the Dauphinist faction. Around that time, perhaps in the summer of 1424, the ...
