French king, had a claim superior to that of the nephew. A strict interpretation of the Salic Law certainly vitiated his claim of heirship through the female line. But Edward did not stand upon

his toy cannon, had won the battle of Crécy, followed by the siege and capture of Calais

l this bit of territory to the King of France upon the condition that it should be kept as the personal possession of the eldest sons of the kings of France. Thenceforth the title of Dauphin

n of knightly ceremonial, tournaments at the Louvre, the details of a new Crusade which he was planning, and the distribution of new titles, t

was fighting the most practical statesman and th

all, an empty treasury. Such time as he could spare from his main projects John gave to the affairs of the kingdom. First of all, taxes must be levied; and w

who could, and who would, pay. This meant the dwellers in the towns and cities; the bourgeoisie. They were the capitalists. But wh

ht make its own terms. It demanded that the moneys collected, and their expenditure, should be under the direction of its officers. Then, growing bold

nally red caps and barricades, characteristic of Parisian mobs of a later period, brought the whole movement into the hands of the agents of "Charles the Bad

ill greater victory than Crécy, at Poitiers, in w

ounced the claim to the French throne, and received in full sovereignty the great inheritance Queen Eleanor had brought to Henry II. King John was to be released and his son held as hostage until the enormous ransom was paid. Of cours

military talents of a Breton youth-Bertrand du Guesclin. Poor, diminutive in stature, deformed, he had raised himself to military positions usually rese

stilian war upon his new subjects in Aquitaine. The people in this province turned to Charles to deliver them from this oppression. He immediately summoned Prince Edward bef

north until the English possessions were reduced to a few towns upon the coast. The Black Prince, under the weight of responsibility and de

under the command of officers appointed by the Crown, who might or might not belong to the order of nobility. No more effective blow could have been aimed at feudalism, which was nothing if not militant. Indeed, every act of this brief reign was

was driven from the regency after stealing everything which was movable in the king's palace and vaults. The Duke of Burgundy, who succeeded him, had nobler objects, and needed a larger field for his ambitious soul. He had an eye on the throne itself. And when he and the Duke Berri, at the instigation of the archb

y, fly! you are betrayed." The astonished youth after the shock, became melancholy; then was suddenly seized with a fit of frenzy, in which he killed four of his pages. A mad king w

tear France asunder from end to end. While the Orleanists were gathering their adherents to drive him out, John was intrenching himself in Paris. Like many another villain, this Duke of Burgundy posed as the friend of the people. He could doff his cap and speak smilingly to starving men. He knew how to work upon their passions, and to please by torturing and executi

he morrow, the unsuspecting Duke of Orleans going out into the dark, where hired assassins were waiting to hack him in pieces. Then a court of justice trying and acquitting this confessed murderer of th

rd III. than she now was from the Duke of Burgundy, champion and defender of the people! The immediate object of the Burgundian or people's par

d with her own revolution, she had to wait. And when Henry IV., the first Lancastrian, was king, he needed both hands to hold his crown firmly on his head.

ented the Orleanist party. The wholesale slaughter of princes, bishops, and knights on this fatal day was

urgundy, accompanied by Queen Isabella, presented himself to the invading king, and

fter exist under one crown. The romantic marriage of Henry with the Princess Katharine, daughter of Charles and Isabella, which was part of the agreement, was solemnized in that old palace on the island in the Seine. And the same vaulted ceilings which we may se

rs of life for him. His death occurred in his palace of the Louvre, a few weeks before that of Charles VI., and the crown

s held by his followers, the Orleanists; Scotland had come to his aid with a few thousand men, but what did this avail with the greater part of the kingdom held by the

of the kingdom, the conquest of France. When this happened, that infant at the Louvre would really be the wearer of the crown

that forgotten multitude lying silent and humble under the feet of its masters. The monarchy had been their friend, their only friend. The Ch

that what really happened when a child of the soil, a girl, rising triumphant over the disabilities of age, sex, birth, and condition, saved France

test the reality of her mission, Charles exchanged dress with one of his courtiers. But the maid going straight to him, said: "Gentle dauphin, I come t

or his coronation. And then, kneeling at his feet, asked the "Gentle King" to let her go back to he

p, but remained among those wolves, and w

the Bishop of Beauvais as a blasphemer and child of the devil. Nothing could be clearer than her guilt upon both of these charges! And on the 13th of May,

" she should have sought the king, inspired him with faith in her, and in himself and his cause, reanimated the courage of the army, and led it herself to victory absolute and complete; and then, have

ing to do when her work should be done. But no! we see her falling into the hands of the defeated and revengeful English-this child, who had wrested from them a kingdom already in their gra

ion. God and man had abandoned her. No heavenly voice spoke, no miracle intervened as her young limbs were tied to the stake a

eral said, as he turned gloomily

ng of Joan of Arc at

ainting by

hame be it said, nothing. He might not have succeeded; the effort at rescue, or to stay the event, might have been unavai

d "rehabilitating" her desecrated name. And to-day, the Church which