Jeanne's House 06
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This statue, made by the sculptor C. Pètre and cast by Vittoz, represents the heroine standing, in warrior costume, holding her famous banner in her right hand and placing her left on the crown of France, which she thus seems to protect; in the middle of the pedestal is the following inscription:
MONUMENT
ELEVATED
TO
THE
MEMORY
OF
JOAN
OF
ARC
BY
THE
CITY
AND
DISTRICT
OF
NEUFCHATEAU
IN
THE
YEAR
1859
AND
THE
VI
CENTURY
OF
THE
REIGN
OF
H.M.
NAPOLEON
III
One
of
the
faces
contains
a
bas-relief
representing
Joan
of
Arc
visited
by
an
angel,
while
she
is
guarding
her
flocks.
On
the
opposite
face
we
read:
THESE
CONTRIBUTED
TO
THIS
WORK:
HIS
MAJESTY
NAPOLEON
III.
THE
DEPARTMENTS
OF
THE
SEINE,
THE
VOSGES,
THE
LOIRET,
THE
AISNE,
THE
BAS-RHIN.
THE
TOWNS
AND
COMMUNES
OF......
communes
(The
following
are
the
names
of
a
hundred
towns
or
among
which
I
had
the
regret
of
not
seeing
that
of
Compiègne
appear).
It
is
true
that
20
years
later,
in
1880,
this
town
nobly
repaired
this
oversight
by
erecting
in
turn,
in
honor
of
the
heroine,
the
statue
which
today
appears
in
front
of
its
beautiful
Town
Hall.
After
having
sufficiently
traveled
Neufchâteau,
7 THE HOUSE OF JOAN OF ARC IN DOMREMY
I
took
the
railway
going
to
Pagny-sur-Meuse,
and
in
less
than
twenty-five
minutes,
I
reached
the
station
of
Maxey-sur-Meuse
which
serves
Domremy.
This
small
village
of
Maxey
played
a
certain
warlike
role
in
the
time
of
Joan
of
Arc.
It
had
declared
itself
in
favor
of
the
Duke
of
Burgundy,
while
the
inhabitants
of
Domremy,
with
the
exception
of
one,
were
Armagnacs
in
heart
and
will.
It
was
Joan
herself
who
declared
it
in
her
third
public
interrogation
on
February
24,
1431:
"I
have
known,"
she
said,
"in
Domremy
only
one
Burgundian.
And
I
would
have
liked
his
head
to
be
cut
off,
if
such
had
been
God's
pleasure."
And
when,
in
the
presence
of
Bishop
Pierre
Cauchon,
of
sinister
memory,
and
sixty-two
assessors,
the
former
rector
of
Paris,
Jean
Beaupère,
canon
of
Paris
and
Besançon,
asked
the
unfortunate
captive:
"Were
you
ever
with
the
little
children
who
fought
for
the
party
you
belong
to?
>>
Jeanne
replied:
"I
don't
remember.
But
I
did
see
several
of
those
from
Domremy,
who
had
fought
with
those
from
Maxey
(Maxey-sur-Meuse),
come
back
all
wounded
and
bloody.
>>
Indeed,
full
of
enthusiasm,
the
young
people
of
Domremy
often
gathered
at
the
end
of
the
day
and
went
to
provoke
those
from
Maxey,
with
whom
they
engaged
in
real
fights
where
blood
flowed.
A
little
before
the
station,
we
begin
to
see
on
the
height
the
famous
castle
of
Bourlemont
whose
numerous
turrets
seem,
as
in
the
White
Lady,
to
touch
the
sky,
then
