That Henry V. had left special orders
against his liberation, served to increase the wistful pity
with which he was regarded. And when, in defiance of all
contemporary virtue, and against express pledges, the English
carried war into their prisoner's fief, not only France, but
all thinking men in Christendom, were roused to indignation
against the oppressors, and sympathy with the victim. It was
little wonder if he came to bulk somewhat largely in the
imagination of the best of those at home. Charles le
Boutteillier, when (as the story goes) he slew Clarence at
Beauge, was only seeking an exchange for Charles of Orleans.
(1) It was one of Joan of Arc's declared intentions to
deliver the captive duke. If there was no other way, she
meant to cross the seas and bring him home by force. And she
professed before her judges a sure knowledge that Charles of
Orleans was beloved of God. (2)
(1) Vallet's CHARLES VII., i. 251.
(2) PROCES DE JEANNE D'ARC, i. 133-55.
Alas! it was not at all as a deliverer that Charles returned
to France. He was nearly fifty years old. Many changes had
been accomplished since, at twenty-three, he was taken on the
field of Agincourt. But of all these he was profoundly
ignorant, or had only heard of them in the discoloured
reports of Philip of Burgundy. He had the ideas of a former
generation, and sought to correct them by the scandal of a
factious party.
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