Chapter 1
THE ROYAL ARMY FROM SOISSONS TO COMPIGNE--POEM AND PROPHECY On the 22nd of July, King Charles, marching with his army down the valley of the Aisne, in a place called Vailly, received the keys of the town of Soissons.[1599] [Footnote 1599: Chronique de la Pucelle, pp. 323, 324. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 160, 161. Journal du sige, p. 115. Jean Chartier, Chronique, vol. i, p. 98. Morosini, vol. iii, p. 196.] This town constituted a part of the Duchy of Valois, held jointly by the Houses of Orlans and of Bar.[1600] Of its dukes, one was a prisoner in the hands of the English; the other was connected with the French party through his brother-in-law, King Charles, and with the Burgundian party through his father-in-law, the Duke of Lorraine. No wonder the fealty of the townsfolk was somewhat vac
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