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Home About Lawfare: A Brief History of the Term and the Site Contact The Lawfare Podcast How To Declare War (Anno Domini, 1429) by Kenneth Anderson Jhesus-Maria, King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France, you, Guillaume de la Poule, count of Suffort, Jean, sire of Talbot, and you, Thomas, sire of Scales, who call yourselves lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, acknowledge the summons of the King of Heaven. Render to the Maid here sent by God the King of Heaven, the keys of all the good towns which you have taken and violated in France. She is here come by God’s will to reclaim the blood royal. She is very ready to make peace, if you will acknowledge her to be right, provided that France you render, and pay for having held it. And you, archers, companions of war, men-at-arms and others who are before the town of Orleans, go away into your own country, by God. And if so be not done, expect news of the Maid who will come to see you shortly, to your very great injury. King of England, if you do not so, I am chief-in-war and in whatever place I attain your people in France, I will make them quit it willy-nilly. And if they will not obey, I will have them all slain; I am here sent by God, the King of Heaven, body for body, to drive you out of all France … (Written this Tuesday of Holy Week, March 22, 1429.) Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, sends a formal letter of summons to the English upon the siege of Orleans. (I post this once a year on this date at all the places I blog.) RJA | ||
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Oh, thank you for that, Robert. Would you be willing to share your blog with us? Or do you mean on others' blogs? Love the use of "willy-nilly." | |||
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I'm curious. Was the original letter of Jean d'Arc in English or French? In whichever language what does the original text look like? The orthography and letters? (AFAIK, La Pucelle was illiterate and spoke no English.) I ask because the language in this letter looks rather modern for something 15th century. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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I can't find an image of the original letter, but this appears to be the text of the original 15th century French, maybe? | |||
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Chicken Willie?  Is he the chicken who crossed road whilst L'Alouette burned?It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti | |||
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Here is a good discussion about willy-nilly.
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In the original it's veuillent on non veuillent. | |||
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I had wanted to read more about the etymology, but unfortunately our OED subscription is up. What a bummer! | |||
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"Willing or not willing". Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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You can probably access it from your home computer through your library. | |||
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Well, our local library doesn't have it, and that's why we bought it. I know the Chicago library has it, but you have to live in Chicago. But, thanks, Tinman. I'll ask our library again. I just love having access to the online OED. I guess if worse comes to worst, I'll buy it again. [BTW, is it worse comes to worse or worst?] | |||
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Kalleh, I think most people can access it via their local library's ticket. See http://www.oed.com/public/acce...ary-access-from-home Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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But I thought your library needs to subscribe. I'll ask. | |||
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Perhaps you can either convince your library to subscribe or you can get a Chicago Public Library card. From the Chicago Public Library website:
I would say it's worse comes to worst Worse comes to worse makes no sense to me. | |||
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Yep, I agree with you about the worse comes to worst, though I just wasn't sure. I know I can never get a Chicago library card. They are quite valuable and no suburbanite can ever get one. The Chicago library system is excellent and their patrons can get so much. | |||
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If it's a limerick about sausage, it's verse comes to wurst It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti | |||
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Not so, according to the link I posted, which includes a list of participating libraries. Or you can always move to Chicago. | |||
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Sorry. I meant no suburbanite can get a Chicago library card. They are too good for us peons! | |||
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I don't understand. The website seems to contradict what you say. Of course, you must know, since I'm sure you've tried to get one. | |||
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Tinman, I live here. I've tried. That's what we're (non-Chicagoans) told. Plenty of Websites are wrong. I remember once I was trying to go to the Cricketer Arm's, a British pub in Orlando. I looked it up online, got the hours of business and even the beers on cask. Then I took a cab there...hugely expensive because it is Orlando. It was not only closed, but completely out of business. It looked like it had been that way for ages. | |||
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Did you look around for Allen Funt? If it had been me, Google would have notified the restaurant of my interest so they could board it up. It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti | |||
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It sure seems like the Chicago Public Library would do a better job of keeping their website up-to-date. | |||
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For years-- until the update-- my kids enjoyed googling our home address for a picture with our old '95 van out front with a corner of the [long-gone] swingset showing out back. | |||
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It's funny to look at Google Street View and see our house before Hurricane Irene dropped out two big trees on it. | ||
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Sorry to be late in answering this. Tinman, since I have been in Chicago, which is quite awhile, there has never been a time that the Chicago Public Library cooperated with the other library districts. Believe me, I've tried because they have a great system. So...it's not really about keeping the Web site "up-to-date." It's more about being accurate. | |||
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