Introduction
From October 1428 to the following May, an English army besieged the French city of Orléans, southwest of Paris. Invoking the Treaty of Troyes, signed in 1420 on the back of the late Henry V’s victory at Agincourt, the Duke of Bedford claimed the French crown for his young nephew Henry VI, and might have won it but for a defiant teenager named Joan of Arc, who in March sent Bedford this stinging rebuke.
DO right to the King of heaven, deliver to the Maid, who is sent here by God, the King of heaven, the keys of all the good towns which you have taken and destroyed in France. She is come hither from God to restore the royal blood. She is ready to make peace if you are willing to do right to her, and on condition that you will quit France and pay back that which you have taken there. And you, archers, comrades of war, gentlemen and others who are before the city of Orleans, go away to your own country, in God's name; and if you do not thus, await tidings of the Maid, who will, ere long, come to see you to your very great hurt.*
King of England,* if you do not thus, I am the chief of the war, and in whatever place I shall find your men in France, I shall drive them out, whether they will or no; and if they will not obey, I will have them all slain.
* Joan did come, and on May 8th, just nine days after her arrival among the Dauphin’s forces, the siege was lifted and the English driven off. It marked the start of a downturn in English fortunes in the Hundred Years’ War, which gathered speed until near-victory was changed into comprehensive defeat in 1453.
* This was Henry VI, who was seven at the time and not present at the siege. He came over in April 1430, and sat obediently throughout Joan’s travesty of a trial. In reply to the coronation of Charles VII as King of France at Rheims in 1429, Henry was ostentatiously crowned King of France at Notre Dame de Paris on the 16th of December, 1431, just after his ninth birthday. At that time, northern France was still in English hands, and after shrugging off a siege on September 3rd-8th 1429, Paris and her public remained defiantly loyal to the English kings until 1436.
Précis
From October 1428 to May 1429, the English laid siege to Orleans in pursuit of the French crown. Their claim was denied by a teenage girl named Joan of Arc, who wrote to the English captains ordering them in God’s name to leave Orleans and France, after making reparation for all their damage, or they would face her wrath. (59 / 60 words)
From October 1428 to May 1429, the English laid siege to Orleans in pursuit of the French crown. Their claim was denied by a teenage girl named Joan of Arc, who wrote to the English captains ordering them in God’s name to leave Orleans and France, after making reparation for all their damage, or they would face her wrath.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, despite, if, may, since, whereas, whether.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
