erel was her personal priest and confessor. Two other soldiers who testified about Joan were close companions of hers from the very beginning of her quest. They were the knight Jean de Metz (also known as Jean de Novelonpont) and the squire Bertrand de Poulengy.6
The firsthand sources make clear that the most obvious and stunning impact of Joan’s leadership was the way in which her charismatic personality hauled the morale of the often-defeated French army up from the pit of cynicism and despair to a fevered high of renewed enthusiasm and collective ardor for battle. Conversely, once her reputation for bringing victory to the French became established, her presence infected the heretofore invincible English with doubt and fear. Dunois testified as follows about Joan’s impact from the moment she delivered her ultimatum to the English army besieging Orleans:
... and I swear that the English, two hundred of whom had previously been sufficient to rout eight hundred or a thousand of the royal army, from that moment became so powerless that four or five hundred soldiers and men at arms could fight against what seemed to be the whole force of England.7
Jean de Wavrin was a Burgundian officer who fought against Joan as an ally of the English. He wrote a chronicle titled Recueil de chroniques et anchiennes istoires de Ia Grant Bretaigne a present nominee Engleterre.8 He stated that "By renown of Joan the Maid, the courage of the English was much impaired and fallen off. They saw... their fortune turn its wheel sharply against them. . by the undertakings of the Maid..."9 Two high-ranking English military leaders, the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Gloucester, felt compelled to issue written orders disciplining English soldiers who had deserted out of terror of Joan’s apparent -— to them —— use of sorcery.’10
Joan had to start with the little things and work up to the big things in her drive to restore the fighting spirit of the French. When she first joined the army, she did not have any official rank or authority. Though she was resplendent astride her horse in her new armor, carrying her new banner that she had made to her order, she was, at that point, merely under the escort of the officers who had real powers of command. However, she immediately set about making the force of her personality felt throughout the army in terms of both morals and morale. She continued to stress the importance of righteous conduct of the soldiers throughout her career. As Pasquerel, de Coutes, d’Alençon and others testified, she exhorted the soldiers to become faithful in making confession and attending mass, she drove prostitutes from camp brandishing her sword, and she fiercely scolded both common soldiers and great nobles for their foul language. To their own amazement, hardened warriors of all ranks meekly submitted to her will in these matters.11 George Bernard Shaw was correct when he wrote in the preface to his play Saint Joan that what may seem to be nothing more than mere prudery on Joan’s part was in fact a vital component of restoring the ability of the French army to fight well. Soldiers of all ranks had become so cynical, so demoralized by alternating periods of defeat and inaction, that they were ready to accept any measures that would restore a modicum of their self-respect. Joan’s exhortations on little points such as attending mass and not blaspheming were the necessary first steps in rebuilding the men’s spirits.12
From the moment she first rode onto a battlefield, Joan went far beyond being merely the tireless good conscience of the army. From the moment she first laid eyes on her country’s English enemies, she aroused the will of her soldiers to fight. Joan was a fine and forceful speaker but her ability to inspire the French soldiers stemmed from her leading them into battle in the most literal sense possible. She was in the front rank of every assault that she ordered to be launched. The fighting men who knew her testified to this repeatedly. D’Aulon recounted that at the battle fought outside the English fort of the Augusti