Jean de Metz - Biography

Biography

His alternate name derives from Nouillonpont, a village in the Meuse département then in the jurisdiction of Lorraine. According to Vita Sackville West's Saint Joan of Arc, he was "of relatively gentle birth", though his parents were not noble. He had been in trouble "for swearing a vilain servant and for flinging an award of money on the ground", but was otherwise an ordinary "man of the sword".

His acquaintance with Joan when she arrived at the fortified city of Vaucouleurs in 1428. At the time, he was a squire in the service of Robert de Baudricourt. Their meeting included an exchange in which he asked her who her Lord was, to which she replied "God". De Metz provided her with men's clothing in order to further her desire to meet the King of France. It was the devotion of de Metz and his fellow soldier Bertrand de Poulengy that persuaded de Baudricourt to her cause.

De Metz effectively became "the leader of the little troop", Joan's escort to Chinon, where she met King Charles VII; after this point, Jean aided Joan's efforts by furnishing her a horse and necessary clothing. An aide to the King provided de Metz with some 425 livres for the expenses of "the Maid" and himself, including armor. Though there were suspicions of these men travelling with an unmarried woman, de Metz declared at her trial that though he, Poulengy, and "la Pucelle" (Joan) slept side-by-side when they camped for the night, her garments were "closely shut", and he never felt any sexual desire for her, "by reason of the virtue I divined in her".

After Joan's execution, de Metz was not forgotten: in 1444, Charles VII granted Jean a title of nobility, in recognition of his services "in our wars and elsewhere".

Eleven years later, at Joan's nullification trial, de Metz was a witness, described as a nobleman in residence at Vaucouleurs.