What proves the utter demoralisation of the English at this time is that the Regent Bedford was not only afraid of remaining in Paris, but had also taken refuge in the fortress of Vincennes.  He was so poor that he could not pay the members of Parliament sitting in Paris.  Like other bodies receiving no pay, the Parliament declined to work.  So restricted were all things then in Paris that when the child-king (Henry VI.) was brought from London to be crowned there, not enough parchment could be found on which to register the details of his arrival.

For want of a victim to assuage his ire, the Regent disgraced Sir John Fastolfe, whom he unknighted and ungartered, in order to punish him for the defeat at Patay; and he wrote that the English reverses had been caused by ’a disciple and lyme of the Feende, called the Pucelle, that used fals enchantements and sorcerie.’

The Regent, whose degrading of Fastolfe and vituperation of Joan of Arc did not serve to help, applied to his powerful brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, for aid.  Burgundy came to the Regent’s assistance, bringing a small force with him from Picardy.  Then Bedford bethought him of his powerful relation in England, Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester.  Most opportunely for the Regent, the Bishop had collected an army for the suppression of the Bohemian Hussites.  The Regent implored his uncle, the Bishop, to send this army for the defence of the English and their interests, now in such dire jeopardy.  Winchester was a mean, avaricious prince, and his aid had to be bought.  A treaty was signed on the 1st of July, in which Winchester promised to bring his troops to his nephew’s assistance; but he delayed stirring till the middle of that month.  It pleased the crafty Bishop to know that his great wealth made him all-powerful in England; for the English Protector, the Duke of Gloucester, was a mere cipher compared to Winchester; and now that his other nephew, the Protector of France, was in distress, he could dictate his own terms to both.  It was not until the 25th of July that Winchester at length arrived with his army in Paris.  Then Bedford breathed more freely, and left the capital with an army of observation to watch the movements of the French King.

It was now the earnest wish of Joan of Arc that Charles should march direct on Paris, and perhaps had he done so he might have entered that city with as little difficulty as he had entered Rheims; for if once the King of France had appeared in person, many of the wealthy citizens, as well as the majority of the common people, would have welcomed him.  Charles, however, as usual vacillated, and the precious moment slipped by.

Philip (called ’the Good’), Duke of Burgundy, was at this time one of the most powerful princes of Christendom.  In addition to his titular domain, he held the wealthy provinces of Burgundy, including Brabant, Flanders, Franche-Comte, Holland, Namur, Lower Lorraine, Luxembourg, Artois, Hainault, Zealand, Friesland, Malines, and Salines.  This much-territoried potentate was at the present juncture coquetting both with Bedford and with Charles, playing one against the other.  To the former he promised an army, but only contributed a handful of men; to the latter he made advances of friendship, as false as the man who made them.