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THE

CHART OF ORLEANS,

WITH

ITS WALLS, BOULEVARDS, TOURNELLES, &c.

EXPLAINED:

BEING A DELINEATION OF THAT CITY AND ITS FORTIFICATIONS,

AS THEY APPEARED DURING THE SIEGE IN 1428.

THE CHART.

THE method adopted in order to furnish the following account, has, in some instances, led to the discovery of facts of which no trace whatsoever is to be found in the details of modern historians, or the existence of which but ill accorded with their narrations; this having more particularly been the case as regards the siege of Orleans, which certainly ranks as an era in the history of France, as well as of England, of sufficient consequence to render it an object worthy of the most minute investigation; and the more so, as there was no paucity of materials to work upon, in the progress of such inquiry. Independent of all the accounts furnished by the chroniclers respecting this siege, recourse might be had to the depositions made by several witnesses during the process instituted for the justification of Jeanne d'Arc; in short, the ancient history of the Pucelle, and the journal of Tripaut, evidently corrected and arranged by ocular witnesses, abound in the most curious and interesting recitals.

It must nevertheless be allowed, that if the mine was stored with riches, the labour of extracting the ore was attended by numerous difficulties. The witnesses and the

recorders of such journals, answering or writing for contemporaries or fellow citizens, paid little attention to the elucidating those periods and localities of which we now stand in need, in order to comprehend clearly their several statements. Independent of this, the manuscripts of such journals underwent, prior to publication, many alterations, either owing to the effects of time, or resulting from the negligence, as well as the ignorance, of the original editors. For example, that chronicle which, for its perspicuity and the impartial statements it contains, merits the most attention, although, perhaps, prolix from its scrupulous exactitude, nevertheless, to all appearance, frequently presents a confusion in the dates: in that work, for instance, the business of an entire week is twice recorded; or, to speak more comprehensively, seven days contain the business transacted in the course of fourteen; added to which, the days, either of the week or the month, are constantly misplaced, &c. The statements, however, which are subjoined, will furnish a much better idea of the difficulty experienced by modern historians, which has not, perhaps, unfrequently prompted them to imitate the Abbé Vertot, by writing the siege themselves. In combining all the details with the geographical charts, the topographical descriptions, together with the voyages and various chronologies, we have been obliged to compose:first, a chart of the fortifications of the city, and of the besiegers: secondly, a complete calendar from the commencement of October, 1428, that is to say, from the march of the English army towards Orleans, until the end of the month of May 1430; at which period the capture of

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