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 I'm now on the south bank, at the place which was the turning point of the Hundred Years' War. Without going into details, the war had already been going on for 91 years and the English were at a point where they thought that if they could sieze the city of Orleans, they could conquer all of France. They were occupying a fortified gatehouse where the end of the bridge is. During the few days after Joan of Arc arrived, there was a lot of activity, which involved building and destroying arches of the bridge, building floating pontoons across the river and crossing in boats. On 6th May 1429, the French were retreating from the gatehouse back to their boats, chased by the English. It was at the place where I am standing where Joan of Arc turned to face the English and ordered them to stop, which was strangely effective. The French managed to sieze a few buildings near here that night and within two days had taken control of the bridge and ended the siege. After that, although the war wasn't formally ended, the English pretty much gave up attempting to conquer France, especially once the Wars of the Roses started. UTC Time: 12:58, Sunday 14 August 2022 Local Time: 14:58, Sunday 14 August 2022 Estimate of longitude: 1° 54' 21.46" E = 1.905960° Estimate of latitude: 47° 53' 41.57" N = 47.894880° Possible error on position estimate: 5 metres | |