456 (evidence of Bertrand de Poulengy).] Doubtless the title Messire, in the sense in which she employed it, sounded strange and obscure, since Sire Robert, failing to understand it, asked: "Who is Messire ?" "The King of Heaven," the damsel answered.
She had made use of another term, concerning which, as far as we know, Sire Robert made no remark; and yet it is suggestive.[336] [Footnote 336: _Trial_, vol.ii, p.

456.] That word _commande_ employed in matters connected with inheritance signified something given in trust.[337] If the King received the kingdom _en commande_ he would merely hold it in trust.

Thus the maid's utterance agreed with the views of the most pious concerning Our Lord's government of kingdoms.

By herself she could not have happened on the word or the idea; she had obviously been instructed by one of those churchmen whose influence we have discerned already[338] in the Lorraine prophecy, but the trace of whom has completely vanished.
[Footnote 337: See La Curne and Godefroy for the word _commande_.
Durand de Maillane, _Dictionnaire de droit canonique_, 1770, vol.i, pp.

567 _et seq._] [Footnote 338: See _ante_, p.