King Charles received Joan kindly and listened to what she had to
say with deep attention. The girl spoke modestly, but with a calm
belief that she was right.
"Gracious King," she said, "my name is Joan. God has sent me to
deliver France from her enemies. You shall shortly be crowned in
the cathedral of Rheims (remz). I am to lead the soldiers you are
about to send for the relief of Orleans. So God has directed and
under my guidance victory will be theirs."
The king and his nobles talked the matter over and finally it was
decided to allow Joan to lead an army of about five thousand men
against the English at Orleans.
When she left Chinon at the head of her soldiers, in April, 1429,
she was in her eighteenth year. Mounted on a fine war-horse and
clad in white armor from head to foot, she rode along past the
cheering multitude, "seeming rather," it has been said, "of heaven
than earth." In one hand she carried an ancient sword that she
had found near the tomb of a saint, and in the other a white banner
embroidered with lilies.
The rough soldiers who were near her left off their oaths and coarse
manners, and carefully guarded her.
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