Now came the turn in the war, when all the strength of both sides was to be gathered up into one great struggle, and it was to be shown whether the king was to have his right, or the usurper triumph.  The real leaders of the war were the Duke of Bedford, regent of England, and the captains of the French army.  Bedford gathered a vast force, chiefly from Burgundy, and gave its command to the Earl of Salisbury.  The army went on; they gained, without a struggle, the towns of Rambouillet, Pithwier, Jargean, and others.  Then they encamped before the city of Orleans.  To this point they drew their whole strength.  Orleans taken, the whole country beyond was theirs, as it commanded the entrance to the River Loire and the southern provinces; and the only stronghold left to King Charles was the mountain country of Auvergne and Dauphine.

The men of Orleans well knew how much depended upon their city.  All that could be done they did to prepare for a resolute defense.  The siege of Orleans was one of the first in which cannon were used.  Salisbury visiting the works, a cannon broke a splinter from a casement, which struck him and gave him his death wound.  The Earl of Suffolk, who was appointed to succeed him, never had his full power.

Suffolk could not tame the spirit of the men of Orleans by regular attack, so he tried other means.  He resolved to block it up by surrounding it with forts, and starve the people out.  But for some time, before the works were finished, food was brought into the city; while the French troops, scouring the plains, as often stopped the supplies coming to the English.  Faster, however, than they were brought in, the provisions in Orleans wasted away.  And through the dreary Winter the citizens watched one fort after another rise around them.  The enemy was growing stronger, they were growing weaker; they had no prospect before them but defeat; when the Spring came would come the famine; their city would be lost, and then their country.

The eyes of all France were upon Orleans.  News of the siege and of the distress came to Domremy, and Joan of Arc rose to action.  Her mind was fixed to go and raise the siege of Orleans and crown Charles king.  Not for one moment did she think it impossible or even unlikely.  What God had called her to do, that she would carry out.  She made no secret of her call, but went to Vaucouleurs and told De Briancourt that she meant to save France.  At first the governor treated her lightly, and told her to go home and dream about a sweetheart; but such was her earnestness that at last not only he, but thousands of other people, believed in the mission of Joan of Arc.  And so, before many days, she set out, with many noble attendants, to visit Charles at the castle of Chinon.