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Joan of Arc

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Image of Joan of Arc, painted between 1450 and 1500 (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490).

St. Joan of Arc (French Jeanne d'Arc) (1412 – 30 May 1431), is a national heroine of France and a Saint of the Catholic Church. Many believed she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland. In early 1429 she convinced the uncrowned king Charles VII to give her a suit of armor and permission to relieve the siege at Orléans. At first treated as a figurehead by veteran commanders, she gained prominence by lifting the siege in only nine days.

After several other engagements and an important victory at Patay she led a bloodless expedition to Rheims for Charles VII's coronation. This settled the disputed royal succession and recovered important territory. The renewed French confidence outlasted her own brief career. Wounded during an unsuccessful attempt to recover Paris, she participated in minor actions until her capture outside Compiègne the following spring.

Her Burgundian captors delivered her to the English, who selected clergymen to convict her of heresy. John, Duke of Bedford had her burnt at the stake in Rouen. She had been the heroine of her country at the age of seventeen. She died at just nineteen.

Some twenty-four years later Pope Callixtus III reopened the case at the request of Joan's surviving family members and the Inquisitor-General. Citing testimony in her favor and illegalities in the original trial, the new finding reversed the original conviction.Template:Fn Her piety to the end impressed this court. Support from the Catholic League in the 16th century and renewed interest in the 19th led to her canonization by Pope Benedict XV on May 16, 1920.

Joan of Arc has remained an important figure in the collective imagination of Western culture. From Napoleon to the present French politicians of all leanings have invoked her memory. Major writers and composers who created works about her include Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller, Verdi, Tchaikovski, Twain, Shaw, and Brecht. Depictions of her continue in film, television, and song.

Biography

Context

Joan of Arc was born circa 1412 in the small village of Domrémy along the Meuse in the Duchy of Bar on the far eastern edge of France. Her parents, Jacques D'Arc and Isabelle Romee, owned a modest farm. During much of her life, most of the surrounding area was loyal to the ducal family of Burgundy, which was allied with England after 1419. Her own community remained loyal to the French crown.

This was a low period in French history. The French king, Charles VI, was periodically insane and unable to rule. A quarrel between his cousins duke John the Fearless of Burgundy and the duke of Orléans led to the assassination of the duke of Orléans. The factions loyal to these two men became known as the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. The English king, Henry V, took advantage of the turmoil. He invaded and won a dramatic victory at Agincourt in 1415, then proceeded to capture other French towns. The future French king Charles VII became dauphin (heir to the throne) at the age of fourteen after all four of his older brothers had died. In 1419 Armagnac partisans murdered John the Fearless during a meeting with Charles VII. The new duke, Philip the Good of Burgundy, blamed the new dauphin and formed an alliance with the English. Large sections of France fell under foreign control. In 1420 the Treaty of Troyes granted the throne to Henry V and his heirs, disinheriting the future Charles VII. Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other in 1422, leaving the infant Henry VI of England the nominal king of both kingdoms. John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, acted as regent.

By the beginning of 1429, nearly all of the north and some parts of the southwest were under foreign control. The English ruled Paris and the Burgundians ruled Rheims. The latter was important as the site of French coronations. The English were besieging Orléans, the only remaining loyal French city north of the Loire. Its strategic location along the river made this the last obstacle to an assault on the remaining French heartland.

Visions and mission

Jules Bastien-Lepage's 1879 portrayal of Joan of Arc's first vision. Note St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine in the background. Oil on canvas in two joined vertical panels. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Jeanne d' Arc by Eugene Thirion (1876).

Joan believed she had her first vision around 1424 of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret telling her to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation. In 1428 at the age of 16, she asked a family relative, Durand Lassois, to bring her to nearby Vaucouleurs in order to ask the garrison commander, count Robert de Baudricourt, for an escort to the Dauphin's court at Chinon. Baudricourt's sarcastic response did not deter her. She returned the following January and found supporters in two men of standing: Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulegny. With their support she gained a second interview with Baudricourt where she made an apparently miraculous prediction about a military reversal north of Orléans that occurred the same day.

Baudricourt granted her an escort to the uncrowned king after news from the front confirmed her prediction. She made the journey through hostile Burgundian territory in male disguise. Upon arriving at the royal court in Chinon she won Charles's confidence in a private conference. He verified her morality with background inquiries and a theological examination at Poitiers. Charles's mother-in-law Yolande of Aragon was financing a relief expedition to Orléans. Joan of Arc received permission to travel with it. Her armor, horse, sword, equipment, and entourage were all donations.

She arrived at the Orléans on April 29, 1429. At first excluded from war councils by Jean d'Orleans (later count of Dunois) and other captains, she appealed to the town's population and the common soldiers. The extent of her military leadership is a subject of historical debate. Traditional analysis cites her condemnation trial testimony to conclude that she was a standard bearer whose primary effect was on morale. Recent scholarhip that focuses on rehabilitation trial testimony asserts that her fellow officers esteemed her as a skilled tactician and a successful strategist. In either case the army enjoyed remarkable success during her brief career.Template:Fn

After French forces drove the English from several smaller fortifications on May 4–May 6, the French attacked the main English stronghold of Les Tourelles on May 7. Contemporaries acknowledged Joan as the hero of the engagement after she pulled an arrow from her own shoulder and returned wounded to lead the final charge.Template:Fn

The Royal army's next objective was to clear the rest of the Loire Valley of English strongholds. Jargeau was taken on June 12; the bridge at Meung-sur-Loire was occupied on the 15th, followed by the surrender of Beaugency on the 17th. A greater victory was achieved on the 18th, when an English army was cut to pieces near Patay, with a loss of 2,200 English soldiers versus only a little over 20 French and Scots. This allowed the Royal army to now attempt a march toward Reims for Charles' coronation.

Joan of Arc at the coronation of Charles VII by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1854.

The army set out from Gien-sur-Loire on 29 June, accepting the conditional surrender of the Burgundian-held city of Auxerre by 3 July. Every other town in their path returned to French allegiance without resistance. Troyes, the site of the treaty that had tried to disinherit Charles VII, capitulated after a bloodless siege that lasted four days. Reims opened its gates to the army when it arrived on the 16th, allowing the Dauphin to be crowned as Charles VII the following morning, July 17, 1429.

Although Joan and a number of the commanders urged a prompt march on Paris, the royal court pursued a negotiated truce with the duke of Burgundy. This bought time for their enemies to reinforce the defense of Paris. Several nearby towns swore loyalty to Charles VII and the French army had a standoff against the duke of Bedford's English forces before action against Paris ensued on September 8. Despite a crossbow bolt wound to the leg she continued directing the troops until the day's fighting ended. The following morning she received a royal order to withdraw. Historians have also blamed lack of Royal support for Jeanne's failure to take La-Charité-sur-Loire in late November and December.

Capture, trial and execution

File:Joan of Arc on horseback (1505 manuscript).png
Joan of Arc on horseback from an illustration a 1505 manuscript illustration.
Statue of Joan of Arc, Paris.

Joan did not return to the field again until the following March. An attempt to lift the siege at Compiègne on May 23, 1430 led to her capture. When she ordered a retreat she assumed the place of honor as the last to leave the field. Burgundians surrounded the rear guard.

It was customary for a war captive's family to raise a ransom. Joan's relatives lacked the funds. Many historians condemn Charles for failing to intervene.Template:Fn Jeanne attempted several escapes, on one occasion leaping from a seventy foot tower to the soft earth of a dry moat. The English government eventually purchased her from duke Philip of Burgundy. Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais, an English partisan, assumed a prominent role in these negotiations and her later trial.

The Cardinal of Winchester interrogates Joan of Arc.

Joan's trial for heresy was political. The duke of Bedford claimed the throne of France for his nephew Henry VI. She was responsible for his rival's coronation. Discrediting her was an attempt to discredit her king. Legal proceedings commenced on 9 January 1431,Template:Fn at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government. The procedure was irregular on a number of points.

To summarize some major problems, promoter Bishop Cauchon's jurisdiction was a legal fiction.Template:Fn He owed his appointment to his partisanship. The entire trial was financed by the English government. Clerical notary Nicolas Bailly, commissioned to collect testimony against her, could find no adverse evidence to report.Template:Fn Without such evidence the court lacked grounds to initiate a trial. Opening one anyway, it denied her right to a legal advisor.

Nonetheless her testimony can be brilliant. The transcript's most famous exchange is an exercise in subtlety.

Asked if she knows she is in God's grace, she answered: "If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me."Template:Fn

The question is a scholarly trap. Church doctrine held that no one can be certain of being in God's grace. If she answers yes then she convicts herself of heresy. If she answers no then she confesses her own guilt. Her response is not only perfect but poetic.

Several court functionaries later testified that significant portions of the transcript were altered in her disfavor. A number of clerics served under compulsion, including the inquisitor, and a few even received death threats. Joan should have been confined to an ecclesiastical prison with female guards. Instead the English kept her in a secular prison with their own soldiers for guards. Bishop Cauchon denied Jeanne's appeals to the Council of Basel and the Pope, which should have stopped his proceeding.Template:Fn

The twelve articles of accusation that summarize the court's finding contradict the already doctored court record.Template:Fn When Joan signed her abjuration she did not understand what the word meant, was unable to read the document, and only knew she faced immediate execution if she refused to wear a dress. A longer confession appeared in the official record in place of the document she signed.Template:Fn

Heresy was a capital crime only for a repeat offender. Shortly afterward there was an attempted sexual assault, possibly by an English lord, in the prison where the English still kept her. She resumed male attire either as a defense against molestation or, in the testimony of Jean Massieu, because her dress had been stolen and she was left with nothing else to wear.Template:Fn

File:Jeanne d'arc Marseille.jpg
Joan of Arc statue in Marseille, France.

Eyewitnesses described the scene of the execution on May 30, 1431. Tied to a tall pillar, she asked two of the clergy, Martin Ladvenu and Isambart de la Pierre, to get a crucifix from a nearby church to hold up in front of her. She repeatedly called out "...in a loud voice the holy name of Jesus, and implored and invoked without ceasing the aid of the saints of Paradise." After she expired the English raked back the coals to expose her charred body so that no one could claim she had escaped alive, then reduced the body to ashes to prevent any collection of relics. Her remains were cast into the Seine. The executioner, Geoffroy Therage, confessed to having "...a great fear of being damned, [as] he had burned a saint." Template:Fn

Retrial

After Charles VII regained Rouen in November of 1449, the process of investigating the case began with an inquest by the clergyman Guillaume Bouille. This was followed by Inquisitor-General Jean Brehal's investigation in 1452. The formal appeal was initiated in November of 1455. Pope Callixtus III authorized this appeal (known today as the "Rehabilitation Trial") at the request of the Inquisitor and three surviving members of Joan's family. Unlike the original trial, the appellate process included clergy from throughout Europe, and faithfully observed lawful court procedure. After taking the testimony of 115 witnesses and the opinions of theologians, the Inquisitor drew up his final summary of the case, the "Recollectio F Johannis Brehalli", in June of 1456, describing Joan as a martyr and her judges as heretics for having deliberately convicted an innocent woman in the pursuit of a secular vendetta. The declaration of her innocence was read out on 7 July 1456. The religious play in her honor at Orleans was declared by the 15th century Church to be a pilgrimage site meriting an indulgence, and she was subsequently used as a symbol of the Catholic League during the 16th century. Her official beatification came in 1909 in Notre Dame de Paris, followed by canonization as a saint on May 16, 1920. Her feast day is the 2nd Sunday in May.

Clothing

Statue of armored Joan of Arc inside Notre Dame de Paris.

Joan always wore men's clothing between her departure from Vaucouleurs and her abjuration at Rouen. This sparked a debate in her own era, with the clergy of her own faction supporting her actions and the clergy of the opposing faction utilizing the issue against her (see Deborah Fraioli's "Joan of Arc, The Early Debate"). Her assumption of male clothing had no sexual overtones. The technical reason for her execution was a Biblical clothing law.Template:Fn Medieval theology recognized exceptions to that stricture.Template:Fn

Doctrinally speaking, she was safe to disguise herself as a page during a journey through enemy territory and she was safe to wear armor during battle. The Chronique de la Pucelle claims it deterred molestation while she was camped in the field. These defenses leave other occasions open to challenge. When questioned on the matter during her condemnation trial she referred the court to the Poitiers inquiry. That record no longer survives. Circumstances indicate the Poitiers clerics approved her practice. In other words, she had a mission to do a man's work so it was fitting that she dress the part.Template:Fn

A number of clergy who testified at her rehabilitation trial affirmed that she continued to wear male clothing in prison to deter molestation and rape.Template:Fn The garments she chose would slow an assailant.Template:Fn In the end, as cited above, she probably had no choice at all.

Visions

Many contemporary attempts to explain Joan's visions have been based on the commonly-held belief that her visions were described merely as auditory sensations which only she could hear. Analyses based on this idea have led to the belief that she was experiencing hallucinations brought on by mental illness, ranging from schizophrenia to temporal lobe epilepsy and even Bovine Tuberculosis. However, the historical documents describe her visions quite differently than the common conception of the subject, containing quotes from Joan stating that these visions instead were often visual and tactile, and could take solid, physical form that she and other people could see and touch. These quotes and other documents state that people such as the count of Clermont, Guy de Cailly, etc, could simultaneously experience her visions.

Legacy

Several impostors arose in the years following Joan of Arc's death. The most successful of these, Jeanne de Armoises, won the support of two of Joan's brothers and carried on the charade for four years until she met the king.

Joan of Arc has been a political symbol in France since the time of Napoleon. Liberals emphasized her humble origins. Early conservatives stressed her support of the monarchy. Later conservatives recalled her nationalism.

During World War II, both the Vichy Regime and the French resistance used her image: Vichy propaganda remembered her campaign against the English with posters that show British warplanes bombing Rouen with the ominous caption: "They Always Return to the Scene of Their Crimes". The resistance emphasized her fight against foreign occupation and her origins in the province of Lorraine, which had fallen under Nazi control.

At present the controversial French political party Front National holds rallies at her statues, reproduces her likeness in party publications, and uses a tricolor flame partly symbolic of her martyrdom as its emblem. This party's opponents sometimes satirize its appropriation of her image.

Her name has been applied to three separate vessels of the French Navy, including a Helicopter Carrier currently in active service.

Joan of Arc has fascinated artists. The following lists are selective. in 1894 Émile Huet cataloged over 400 plays and musical works devoted to her. The number has grown substantially since his era.

  • Christine de Pizan, "Song in Honor of Joan of Arc," an elegiac poem written during Jeanne's own lifetime is this author's final work.
  • Anonymous (possibly Jacques Millet), Mystery of the Siege of Orleans was first performed in Orleans four years after Joan of Arc's death. The surviving version appears to be a revision from around 1450. God and several saints play major roles in this this sprawling drama of more than a hundred speaking parts.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1 makes Joan la Pucelle the leading villain. Drawn from English sources of the previous century, this Joan of Arc begins with the appearance of piety but soon proves to be a cunning witch justly executed.
  • Voltaire, The Maid of Orleans is a mock epic poem that explores typically Voltairean themes deriding mysticism as humbug.
  • Friedrich Schiller, The Maid of Orleans in literary rebuttal to Voltaire, Schiller creates a sympathetic Joan of Arc as a Romantic heroine. A magic helmet renders her invincible until she falls in love. This influential drama dominated nineteenth century fictional treatments: Verdi's and Tchaikovsky's operas about her are essentially musical adaptations.
  • Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc remains little remembered yet in his own opinion is his finest work. Twain spent months in France researching newly rediscovered documents. This reverent fictional biography is Twain's most uncharacteristic novel.
  • Georg Kaiser, Gilles and Jeanne explores Joan of Arc's association with the most notorious criminal of her era, Gilles de Rais.
  • George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan this drama, widely esteemed as Shaw's masterpiece, draws heavily from trial records. Historians dismiss Shaw's contention that she was an early Protestant with impartial judges. Subsequent twentieth century plays often mirror Shaw's interest in her trial.
  • Bertolt Brecht, Saint Joan of the Stockyards transposes Joan of Arc into working class Chicago and portrays her as a labor leader. Brecht made Joan of Arc the subject of three separate plays, all with Socialist themes.
  • Maxwell Anderson, Joan of Lorraine this play-within-a-play with a debt to Shaw is chiefly memorable as the basis for Ingrid Bergman's screen portrayal.
  • Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger, Joan of Arc at the Stake relives her trial in a deeply religious oratorio that summons the founder of the Inquisition to condemn Joan of Arc's judges.
  • Jean Anouilh, The Lark is an allegory of Vichy collaboration in the aftermath of World War II. Lillian Hellman's noteworthy English translation adds a critique of McCarthyism.
File:Char joan2.gif
Joan of Arc on Clone High
  • Leonard Cohen's 1970 album Songs of Love and Hate contains a song named Joan of Arc, and a verse in the song Last Year's Man refers to her: 'I met a lady, she was playing with her soldiers in the dark, oh one by one she had to tell them that her name was Joan of Arc,'
  • A "clone" of Joan of Arc appeared in the traditionally animated television show Clone High.
  • The reincarnation of Joan of Arc was the main character in the Japanese manga and animated show Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, who used her God-given powers and arsenal of push-pins to trap demons hiding in works of art.
  • The theme song to the CBS series Maude refers to Joan: 'with the Lord to guide her/she was a sister who really cooked.'
  • CBS's Joan of Arcadia, in which a girl about Joan's age speaks to God and uses His influence to do good deeds in her community.
  • The Fox Television series Wonderfalls was inspired by Joan of Arc.
  • The WB animated series Histeria! (1998-2000), featured Joan as a regular character, voiced by Laraine Newman.
  • Joan of Arc is the name of an indie rock band from Chicago.
  • Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released two singles Joan of Arc and Maid of Orleans.
  • The Smiths' song "Bigmouth Strikes Again" includes the line 'And now I know how Joan of Arc felt, as the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt' and 'And now I know how Joan of Arc felt, as the flames rose to her Roman nose and her hearing aid started to melt'.
  • The Silverfish song "This Bug" includes the lyrics, "Sometimes I feel like Joan of Arc -- the way I bite, and spit and bark".
  • Garbage's song Vow includes the line 'You burned me out but I'm back at your door, like Joan of Arc coming back for more'.
  • Catatonia's song Post Script includes the line 'Joan of Arc, come kiss my art, leave a charcoal mark. There's so much more to solitary refinement'.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons, Lisa played Joan of Arc and Milhouse played the Dauphin, after Homer read about her in a children's book.
  • In Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, the flagship for the League Militaire's resistance is a Ra Cailum class battleship named Jeanne D'Arc.
  • There is a Japanese rock band named Janne Da Arc, although they are not directly named after Joan of Arc.
  • Tal Bachman mentions Joan of Arc in his 1999 hit 'She's So High', "She's so high, like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc".
  • In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character of Willow dresses as Joan of Arc for a costume party, having almost been burned at the stake herself in a previous episode.
  • Also, in the Buffyverse, Joan of Arc was the Vampire Slayer of her time period. She had some encounters with the newly sired vampire and former ally, Gilles de Rais, after the war.
  • Kate Bush is singing on Joan of Arc in her song Joanni (Album Aerial, 2005)
  • In the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Joan Of Arc is brought to the future along with several other historical figures, as part of Bill and Ted's school project.
  • The central character of the Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark was named Joanna Dark, a play on D'Arc.
  • She is the title character of the Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc PC game, where she and other french heroes played a role similar to that of the characters in the Dynasty Warriors series.

Joan of Arc in film

The story of Joan of Arc has been played out to varying degrees of success in many motion pictures, including:

Notes

Template:Fnb An Inquisitorial tribunal led by Inquisitor-General Brehal retried her case after the English were driven out. She was pronounced innocent, and described as a martyr by the Inquisitor-General. She was beatified in 1909, and canonized in 1920.
Template:Fnb See Joan of Arc: A Military Leader by Kelly DeVries and Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint by Stephen W. Richey
Template:Fnb Devout Catholics regard this remarkable act as proof of her divine mission. At Chinon and Poitiers she had declared that she would give a sign at Orléans. The lifting of the siege gained her the support of prominent clergy such as the Archbishop of Embrun and the prominent theologian Jean Gerson, who both wrote supportive treatises immediately following this event.
Template:Fnb Judges' investigations January 9 - March 26, ordinary trial March 26 - May 24, recantation May 24, relapse trial May 28-29.
Template:Fnb The retrial verdict later affirmed that Cauchon had no right to try the case. Also see Joan of Arc: Her Story by Regine Pernoud and Marie-Veronique Clin, p. 108. The vice-inquisitor of France objected to the trial on jurisdictional grounds at its outset.
Template:Fnb Quoted from his testimony at her retrial. [1]
Template:Fnb Condemnation trial, p. 52 [2]
Template:Fnb [3] See especially the testimony of court clerk Guillaume de Manchon.
Template:Fnb See note 7.
Template:Fnb See note 8.
Template:Fnb Ibid.
Template:Fnb Ibid.
Template:Fnb Deuteronomy 22:5. [4]
Template:Fnb Most notably Thomas Aquinas, Outward apparel should be consistent with the state of the person according to general custom. Hence it is in itself sinful for a woman to wear man’s clothes, or vice-versa; especially since this may be the cause of sensuous pleasure; and it is expressly forbidden in the Law (Deut 22) …. Nevertheless this may be done at times on account of some necessity, either in order to hide oneself from enemies, or through lack of other clothes, or for some other such reason. (Summa Theologiae II, II, question 169, article 2, reply to objection 3).
Template:Fnb See note 7.
Template:Fnb See note 8.
Template:Fnb According to medieval clothing expert Adrien Harmand, she wore two layers of pants attached securely to the doublet with twenty fastenings, the outer pants being made of a boot-like leather, likewise attached with fasteners to the doublet. See "Jeanne d'Arc, son costume, son armure", p 123, for the passage from the transcript and explanation; and pp 177-185 for an examination of the outer pants.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Joan of Arc.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joan of Arc.

Selected bibliography

The following is an extremely short list of significant modern scholarship, listed with most recent edition. Pernoud's Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses is probably the best starting point.

  • Allmand, C. The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c. 1300 – 1450. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
  • Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses (London: Scarborough House, 1994).
  • Pernoud, Regine and Clin, Marie-Veronique. Joan of Arc: Her Story. Jeremy Duquesnay Adams, trans. (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999).
  • Sackville-West, Victoria. Saint Joan of Arc. (Norwalk, CT: Easton, 1990).
  • Richey, Stephen W. Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint. (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003).
  • Warner, Marina. Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism.(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981).
  • Wheeler, Bonnie and Wood, Charles T., eds. Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996).
  • Vauchez, André. Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages. Jean Birrell, trans. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
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