Stephane William Gondoin
The Siege of Orleans and the Loire Campaign 1428-29; Joan of Arc and the Passage to Victory
Translated by Jennifer Meyniel. Men and Battles 6, Histoire et Collections. Paris, 2010. 66 pp. ISBN 978-2-35250-119-0. $19.95.
This slim and colourful volume was first published as part of a series on famous battles and campaigns linked to a French popular military history magazine. Its format has very strong similarities to that of the “Osprey” series well known to military history enthusiasts in the Anglophone world: lavish colour illustrations supplemented by original artwork reconstructing key moments (in this case produced by Ludovic Letrun), computer generated campaign maps, and a relatively focussed text concentrating on the battle or campaign in question with broader contexts sketched only rather lightly.
It should be said that the comparisons with the “Osprey” model are not entirely flattering. The wider contextualisation of the campaign is rather sketchy, especially when dealing with the aftermath where the account traces a straight line of French triumph from Orleans though to final victory in 1453 with little recognition of the vicissitudes in the intervening decades. The battle maps for the Loire campaign and the Battle of Patay are sketchy in the extreme while no map or plan is given for the Battle of Rouvray at all. Letrun’s illustrations remain wedded to a 19th century view of Joan of Arc which insisted on “feminising” her appearance and equipment and there is no contemporary evidence for the blue skirt which she is shown as wearing on the cover.
The biggest single problem, however, lies with the translation. The English text is at best clunky and inelegant and at worst only comprehensible to a reader with a sound knowledge of French able to work out what the original must have said. Occasionally the results are unintentionally comical, as in the observation that “Bedford had two strategic options..... regroup his forces in Guyenne and take possession of Charles from the rear.” (p. 9) Personal names and titles lurch unpredictably between English and French forms (e,g., Burgundy/Bourgogne). In addition, it appears that a fairly substantial piece of text has been lost between pages 55 and 56.
These issues aside, the book gives a full account of the siege of Orleans (the Loire campaign which followed is covered somewhat more briefly) which sticks very closely indeed to the version given in contemporary or near-contemporary sources. Given this closeness to the sources, analysis of the French defeat at Rouvray and its impact is curiously underplayed. The substantial number of Scottish, Spanish and Italian soldiers in the Orleans garrison is also largely overlooked even though it is clear that John Stewart of Darnley, commander of the Scottish army in French service, enjoyed a very close relationship with the city and his death at Rouvray was much mourned there. It is slightly surprising that Gondoin does not at least mention the story that the Earl of Salisbury was killed by a bombard shot touched off by a woman visiting the gun crew on the city walls. Perhaps more surprisingly for a book originally written for a French audience, while the role of Joan of Arc in the battles leading to the raising of the siege is given due prominence, the tone is slightly low key with little of the rhetorical flourish which often creeps into even the most academic accounts of Joan’s career. The focus is resolutely on the siege at Orleans and its immediate aftermath. The complex issues surrounding Joan’s mission are pushed to one side and the somewhat incredible tale of how she came to be at the head of the relief army banished to a short box on page 46.
In fairness, Gondoin’s rather muted handling of Joan’s role could also be seen as one of the book’s positive features. Whether deliberately or not, his very source-bound approach has the real virtue of showing just how delicately poised the situation at Orleans was on the eve of Joan’s arrival without the tendency to blacken the outlook for the defenders to which subsequent writers were (and still sometimes are) inclined to yield. The English had never had the numbers to invest the town completely and were even more stretched with the withdrawal of the Burgundian element in the besieging army, a development to which Gondoin gives due regard but which is often underplayed in Joan-centred accounts. They were operating on the very edge of their supply lines. It is entirely possible that the siege might have collapsed even if Joan had never left Lorraine. On the other hand, morale in Orleans was becoming increasingly shaky as the siege ground on, damage from bombardment mounted, and shortages began to pinch; it is equally credible to argue that the city might have capitulated or been betrayed from the inside without the inspiration which Joan’s personal commitment to action brought to the French. The book does not engage in these speculations—indeed it is much stronger on narrative than analysis generally—but it does have the merit of encouraging reflection.
It also brings back into view an individual who would no doubt have been the hero of the siege had the English been defeated without Joan’s intervention: Jehan the Hand Gunner. A fellow Lorrainer, Jehan was perhaps the first modern sniper, a charismatic figure capable of picking off English soldiers with his culverin (no mean feat given the wildly inaccurate nature of medieval gunpowder weapons), playing morale-boosting tricks on the besiegers, and (like Joan) apparently indestructible, returning to combat after being wounded. He vanishes from history after Patay, ultimately an enigmatic figure somewhat robbed of his hour of glory by Joan. One wonders what he thought of her, and she of him.
Overall, this is a book not without merits within its genre but seriously compromised by its linguistic failings.
Brian Ditcham