Dunois
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JEAN (dün-wä'), called the Bastard of Orleans, Count of Dunois and Longueville, one of the most brilliant sol- ; born diers that France ever produced in Paris, Nov. 23, 1402, the natural son of Louis Duke of Orleans, brother of in the Charles VI., and was brought up house of that prince along with with his legitimate children. His first important military achievement was the overthrow of the English at Montargis (1427). He next threw himself into Orleans with a small body of men, and bravely defended the place till the arrival of the famous Joan of Arc, whose religious enthusiasm combined with the valor of Dunois restored the drooping spirits of the French, and compelled the English to raise the siege. This was the turning point in the fortunes of the French nation. In 1429 Dunois and the Maid of Orleans won the battle of Patay, after which he marched, with a small body of men, through the provinces then overrun by the English and took the fortified towns. The capture and death of Joan of Arc arrested for a moment the progress of the French arms, but the heroism of Dunois was irresistible. He took Chartres, the key of Paris, forced Bedford to raise the siege of Lagny, chased the enemy from Paris, and within a very short period deprived them of all their French conquests except Normandy and Guienne. In 1448-1450 he drove the English from Normandy, and in 1455 he had swept them from Guienne also, and permanently secured the freedom of France from all external pressure. For his participation in the league of the nobles against Louis XI. he was deprived of all his offices and possessions, which were, however, restored to him under the treaty of Conflans (1465). He died Nov. 24, 1468.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outline Collier's gave in 1921 still stands: Dunois relieved Montargis in 1427, held Orléans until Joan of Arc arrived, fought at Patay, and recovered Normandy and Guyenne for Charles VII. One date deserves correction: the English were driven from Guyenne by 1453, when Bordeaux surrendered after the battle of Castillon on 17 July, the engagement now conventionally treated as the end of the Hundred Years' War, rather than in 1455. The one large shift is in the standing of his comrade: Joan of Arc, beatified in 1909, had been canonised in May 1920, barely a year before Collier's went to press, and modern biographers lean heavily on the testimony Dunois himself gave to her rehabilitation inquiry in 1456 — a soldier's eyewitness account of the siege that the old article does not mention.
Written for this edition, 2026.