Evening star., 1909-05-02

Victory.
Then came tie sentimental legend
Popular tenderness saw in her a gentle
shepherd girl:
Damphin. | am hy birth Shepherds daughter.
Ny wit unframed in any kind'nf art.
Heaven and Lady gracious hath il pleased
To shinc my contemplate estate
Lo. while waited my tender lambs
So Shakespeare has her describe herself
in Henry the Sixth. Granted that she
was shepherd girl Shakespeares uni
versal genius had already reasoned out
the Zola-like naturalism of Bastien-I.e-
page; yet perceiving equally that she
could net have been such rude and vul-
gar peasant visionary. he made her love-
ly graceful and skilled in arms by mira
acle:
An,. whereas was black and swart before
With those clear rays which she infused on me
That beauty am | blessed with which Won
Ask me what question thou canst possible
And l will answer unpremeditated;
My courage try by combat ii thou darest.
Yet no miracle was needed: it all
amply brought out in her trial, where
she said of herself:
When l in my fathers house, I
took care of it. l scarcely ever went to
the fields
And recent discoveries bring us to the
fourth. or final period of documentary
accuracy. Joan of Arc was no shepherd
girl but the accomplished daughter of
q gentleman of coat armor and land
ed proprietor. Jacques dare, in 14l9.
had taken over the feudal lease of the
chateau-fort and seignorial domain of
Doremy, nothing less.
Today, the noble Ghislieri family of
Bologna claim her mother who was al
ways known to be named Isabelle Romeo.
In her trial, Joan boasted that her mother
had seen the pope in Rome; but the fact
had been supposed due to pilgrimage
by commentators-without wondering how
the young mother of shepherd girl
could make the costly trip.
The Ghislieri now set up an 18th cen
tury Lives of 227 Illustrious Mem
bers of the Ghislieri" with genealogical
trees, by which Ferrante Ghisleri fled
with his wife Bartolomea and daughter
Isabelle from Bologna to Lorraine in 1401.
Isabelle. marrying Jacques dArc-the
fugtives allowed themselves to be called
''Romee,'' from Rcme"-became the
mother Of 'Gianna insigne guerriera
Joan. illustrious warrior), one OF the e21
Illustrious Ghislieri-according to the
specific claims of this Italian book printed
about 1919! And the Italian genealogi-
cal tree has a proud epitaph for her in
French and Italian:
Thus death. enemy 10 all born. took
hope from the good Ghisleiri blood she
had. Victory ceded to defeat. but France
and Italy wept together over the impiety
which trfumphed."
When Joan's father took charge at Do
remy. the countryside was overrun by
robber bands of English and Burgundi-
ans: and the peasants and their focks
must refuge. at any moment, in such
chateaux-forts. Joan was the young lady
of the strOng-place. She must have d.
rected the pouring of melted lead on the
dc of hoe nd nd ha dc
OF the garrison. Later the chateau was
dsmantled: and Jacques d'Arc-not Yet
Baron Du Lys-took refuge at Neufcha-
teau.
Jeanne dare, his daughter, was already
at Chinon. urging the French dauphin to
bestir himself Daughter of a fighting
gentleman. Shakespeare actually makes
her talk the slang of her class in speak
ing of the sword which she picked out
as the result of a vision.
At Touraine, In st. Katharine's churchyard.
Out OF great deal OF old iron chose it forth.
All the English and American tourists
in these parts go to Chinon and Angers
with a Shakespeare for guidebook. Chinon
Castle is the most satisfactory of ruins.
Henry II of England preferred it. with
it's high-pe rched garden terraces, to any
of his inherited possessions in France,
and it had become so English that when
ilip-Augustus reunited Touraine to
France in 1904 Chinon held out a year
against him.
Here is the great hall where Joan rec
ognized Charles disguised d page boy.
The vast carved chimneypiece is just as
when she warmed herself before it. but
the roof is gone. Close to it is a wicked
supper room, thrilling to Americans
athirst for romance. for Chinon was a
tricky and mysterious residence of kings,
almost as ancient and wicked to Joan as
to us.
Here they placed the supper table: but