This is the letter dictated to the people of Riom on
November 9, 1429, asking for supplies in preparation for the siege
of La-Charité-sur-Loire. Lord Charles d'Albret, Royal lieutenant
over Joan's army, sent a similar letter
to Riom on the same day. As with any military campaign during the
Hundred Years War, it was necessary for leaders to plead with each
individual city and aristocratic
family to drum up support, which was rarely forthcoming.
The address reads: "To my dear and good friends,
the men of the Church, bourgeois, and inhabitants of the town of
Riom" ("A mes chers et bons amis, les gens d'eglise, bourgeois et
habitans de la ville de Rion").
Although someone else recorded the letter from her dictation,
the signature "Jehanne" ("Joan" in medieval French)
which appears at the bottom is believed to have been her own, after someone
evidently began teaching her how to sign it. Her signature also appears on two later letters,
gradually improving from one to the next.
The donations she asked for in this letter were promised by Riom,
but didn't arrive in time. Better results were obtained from the town of
Clermont-Ferrand in response to similar letters sent two days earlier.
An English translation is on the left; notes and commentary on the right.
A transcription of the original language is also available.
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