Page "Siege of Orléans" Paragraph 22

It was on the very day of the Battle of the Herrings that a young French peasant girl, Joan of Arc, was meeting with Robert de Baudricourt, the Dauphinois captain of Vaucouleurs, trying to explain to the skeptical captain her divinely-ordained mission to rescue the Dauphin Charles and deliver him to his royal coronation at Rheims.

She had met and been rebuffed by Baudricourt twice before, but apparently this time he assented and arranged to escort her to the Dauphin's court in Chinon.

According to the Chronique de la Pucelle, at this meeting with Baudricourt, Joan disclosed that the Dauphin's arms had suffered a great reversal near Orleans that day, and if she were not sent to him soon, there would be others.

Accordingly, when news of the defeat at Rouvray reached Vaucouleurs, Baudricourt became convinced of the girl's prescience and agreed to escort her.

Whatever the truth of the story — and it is not accepted by all authorities — Joan left Vaucouleurs on February 23 for Chinon.