Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France. She is honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and for helping to secure the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Claiming to be guided by God, she became a military leader who was recognized as a savior of France.

Joan was born into a propertied peasant family at Domrémy in northeast France. In 1428, she asked to be taken to Charles VII. Later, she said that she had been guided by visions from the archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine to help him save France from English control. Charles, who was convinced of her devotion and purity, sent Joan, who was about seventeen years old, to Orléans with a relief army. She arrived in April 1429 carrying her banner and brought hope to the discouraged French army. Nine days later, the English gave up the siege. During the Loire Campaign, Joan urged the French to pursue the English, and they won another decisive victory at Patay. This opened the way for the French army to march on Reims without opposition, where Charles was crowned king of France with Joan at his side. These victories raised French spirits and helped pave the way for France's final triumph in the Hundred Years' War several decades later.

After the coronation, Joan took part in the siege of Paris in September 1429, which was not successful, and the siege of La Charité in November, which also failed. Her part in these defeats lowered the court's trust in her. In early 1430, Joan gathered a group of volunteers to help relieve Compiègne, which had been besieged by the Burgundians, who were allies of the English. On 23 May, she was captured by Burgundian troops. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, she was handed over to the English in November.

Joan was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on charges of heresy. These charges included wearing men's clothes, acting on visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and actions to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, at about nineteen years old.

In 1456, an inquisitorial court reviewed Joan's trial and overturned the verdict, declaring that it had been tainted by deceit and procedural errors. Joan has been described as an obedient member of the Catholic Church, an early feminist, and a symbol of freedom and independence. She is popularly revered as a martyr. After the French Revolution, she became a national symbol of France. In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV, and two years later she was declared one of the patron saints of France. She appears in numerous cultural works, including literature, music, paintings, sculptures, theater, and film.

Name

Joan of Arc's name was written in many different ways. There was no standard spelling of her name until the sixteenth century. Her last name was usually written as "Darc" without an apostrophe, but other forms such as "Tarc", "Dart" or "Day" were also used. At her trial, her father's name was written as "Tart." In a 1429 letter, Charles VII gave her a coat of arms and called her "Jeanne d'Ay de Domrémy." Joan may never have heard herself called "Jeanne d'Arc." The first written record of her being called by this name dates from 1455, 24 years after her death.

Joan was not taught to read and write as a child, so she dictated her letters. Some of her letters are signed, so she may have learned to sign her name later, and she may even have learned to read. In her letters, she called herself Jeanne la Pucelle ("Joan the Maiden") or la Pucelle ("the Maiden"), which stressed her virginity. She signed her name "Jehanne." In the sixteenth century, she became known as the "Maid of Orleans."

Birth and historical background

Joan of Arc was born around 1412 in Domrémy, a small village in the Meuse valley in the north-east of France. The village is now in the Vosges department. Nobody knows her exact birthday, and she was not sure of her own age. Her parents were Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée. Joan had three brothers and a sister. Her father was a farmer with about 20 hectares (50 acres) of land. He also worked as a village official, collecting taxes and leading the local watch.

Joan was born during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The war began in 1337 over English lands in France and English claims to the French throne. Most of the fighting had taken place in France, and it had badly harmed the country's economy. France was also split apart. King Charles VI often became ill and could not rule. His brother Louis, Duke of Orléans, and his cousin John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, argued over who should lead the country. In 1407, the Duke of Burgundy ordered the assassination of the Duke of Orléans, which led to a civil war. Supporters of the Duke of Orléans's family were called "Armagnacs", and supporters of the Duke of Burgundy were called "Burgundians". Charles VII, who became king later, was the dauphin (the heir to the throne) and was linked with the Armagnacs. In 1415, Henry V of England invaded France and took advantage of these divisions. In 1420, the Treaty of Troyes, signed by Charles VI's wife Isabeau of Bavaria, gave the French throne to Henry V's heirs and cut the dauphin out of the succession. When Charles VI and Henry V both died in 1422, the nine-month-old Henry VI of England became the heir under this agreement, but the dauphin still claimed the French throne.

Early life

As a young girl, Joan did household chores, spun wool, helped her father in the fields, and looked after their animals. Her mother taught her about religion. Much of her home village, Domrémy, lay in the Duchy of Bar. In 1425, the village was attacked and cattle were stolen, and this led villagers to want the English driven out of France. Joan said that at about thirteen she first saw Saint Michael, surrounded by angels. She later said she often had visions of Saint Michael, and also of Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria, who were probably the saints she saw. These were virgin saints who were martyred for their beliefs. Joan said she made a vow to these voices to remain a virgin. When a young man from her village claimed she had broken a promise of marriage, Joan said she had made him no promises, and a church court dismissed his case.

During Joan's youth, prophecies spread in the French countryside that an armed virgin would come to save France. One was based on the visions of Marie Robine of Avignon, and another was attributed to Merlin. Joan suggested she was this promised maiden. In May 1428, she asked to be taken to Vaucouleurs, where she asked the garrison commander, Robert de Baudricourt, for an escort to the court at Chinon. He refused and sent her home. Later that year, Burgundian forces raided Domrémy, and Joan and her family had to flee. She returned to Vaucouleurs in January 1429. She was refused again, but she won the support of two of Baudricourt's soldiers, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy. Charles II, Duke of Lorraine, who had heard about her, also summoned her to Nancy. At this time, the English, led by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, controlled much of France. The Burgundians held Reims, where French kings were traditionally crowned, and Charles had not yet been crowned. The English had also started to surround Orléans and had captured many bridge towns on the Loire River. Baudricourt finally agreed to let Joan go to Chinon in February 1429, after the English captured a French supply convoy at the Battle of the Herrings.

At the royal court in Chinon

Joan and Charles VII first met in late February or early March 1429 at the royal court in Chinon. She was seventeen and he was twenty-six. She told him she had come to lift the siege of Orléans and to lead him to Reims for his coronation. Their private talk made a strong impression on Charles. Jean Pasquerel, Joan's confessor, later said she told him she had assured the Dauphin that he was the son of Charles VI and the true king. Charles and his advisers wanted more proof, so they sent Joan to Poitiers, where theologians judged her to be a good person and a good Catholic. In Tours, women working under Charles's mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, examined her to confirm her purity and that she had not dealt with the Devil. Encouraged by these results, the Dauphin had plate armor made for her, and she had a sword brought from the church at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois. Around this time she began calling herself "Joan the Maiden." Before her arrival, the Armagnac cause was in a difficult but not hopeless state. Once Joan joined it, her presence lifted their spirits and gave them hope of divine help.

Military campaigns

In late April 1429, Joan left Blois with an army carrying supplies to help save Orléans. She reached the city on 29 April and met the Bastard of Orléans, who helped her enter. Joan was first used to lift the spirits of the soldiers, and she carried her banner into battle, though she was not given formal command. Her courage won the trust of the French troops, and her advice was sometimes followed. After several days of fighting, the English left Orléans on 8 May, ending the siege. Many people saw the lifting of the siege as proof that Joan's claim to be sent by God was true, and some church leaders wrote in support of her. Joan then pushed for a quick march to Reims so that the Dauphin could be crowned, and she helped the French army take several towns along the Loire river. Her encouragement helped the French win at the Battle of Patay in June 1429.

After the victory at Patay, Joan insisted that Charles be crowned. The army marched toward Reims, and the town opened its gates on 16 July 1429. Charles was crowned the next morning, and Joan was given a place of honor at the ceremony. Her attack on Paris in September 1429 failed, and her role at court became smaller afterward. In the months that followed, she led a smaller campaign against the mercenary Perrinet Gressart and lost some of her reputation after a defeat at La-Charité-sur-Loire.

Main article: Siege of Compiègne

In spring 1430, Joan set out with volunteers to relieve Compiègne, which was under siege by Burgundian forces. She reached the town in May, but on 23 May 1430 she was captured during an attack on the Burgundian camp at Margny. Joan was held by a supporter of the Duke of Burgundy and was later moved to several castles and to Arras. The English paid a ransom of 10,000 livres tournois to take her into their custody, and she was moved to Rouen, the main English headquarters in France. There is no evidence that Charles tried to save her.

Trials and execution

Main article: Trial of Joan of Arc

Main article: Rehabilitation trial of Joan of Arc

In January 1431, Joan was put on trial for heresy in Rouen. She was accused of blasphemed by wearing men's clothes, of following visions that were demonic, and of refusing to let the church judge her words and deeds. Her trial was politically motivated, and its outcome was largely decided in advance. The judge, Cauchon, was the ordinary judge, and the English paid for the trial. Many of the trial's rules were not followed, and Joan was questioned for a long time without a lawyer. Joan answered carefully and wisely. When the judges considered using torture to make her submit, most of them voted against it. Joan eventually signed an abjuration document, agreeing not to wear men's clothing or carry weapons.

Joan later went back to wearing men's clothes. Heresy was a capital crime, and the judges decided that she had fallen back into heresy. She was handed over to the English and executed on 30 May 1431, at about nineteen years old. Before her death, she was allowed to receive the sacraments. Her execution did not end the war right away. Charles remained king of France, and the English did not regain their strength. The Treaty of Arras was signed in 1435, and the French won the Battle of Castillon in 1453. After that, the English were forced out of all of France except Calais. Because Joan's execution raised questions about Charles's right to rule, he ordered an investigation in 1450. A new rehabilitation trial was held in 1455 and 1456, starting at Notre-Dame cathedral and ending at Rouen Cathedral. The court decided that the first trial had been unfair, and Joan's conviction and execution were cancelled.

Visions

Joan's belief that her visions came from God gave her confidence, helped her trust herself, and gave her hope during her capture and trial. Her visions played an important role in her condemnation, and her admission that she had returned to heeding them led to her execution. Theologians of the era believed visions could have a supernatural source. The assessors at her trial tried to find the specific source of Joan's visions, using a church method called discernment of spirits. Because she was accused of heresy, they wanted to show that her visions were false. The rehabilitation trial cancelled her sentence but did not declare her visions real. In 1894, Pope Leo XIII declared that her mission was divinely inspired.

Modern scholars have discussed possible brain and mind causes for her visions. Her visions have been described as hallucinations arising from epilepsy or a temporal lobe tuberculoma. Others have suggested ergot poisoning, schizophrenia, delusional disorder, or creative psychopathy caused by her early childhood upbringing. One of the Promoters of the Faith at her 1903 canonization trial argued that her visions may have been hysteria. Other scholars argue that Joan created some of the visions' specific details in response to the demands of her interrogators. Many of these explanations have been challenged, since the trial records were designed to prove that Joan was guilty of heresy and are unlikely to give the clear descriptions of symptoms needed for a medical diagnosis.

Main article: Cross-dressing, gender identity, and sexuality of Joan of Arc

Joan's cross-dressing was one of the main charges against her at her trial. Her judges saw it as a sign of heresy, and her final condemnation began when she was found wearing men's clothes again. From her journey to Chinon until her abjuration, she usually wore men's clothes and cropped her hair in a male fashion. When she left Vaucouleurs, she wore a black doublet, a black tunic, and a short black cap. Later, her outfits became more elaborate. At her trial, she was accused of wearing breeches, a mantle, a coat of mail, a breastplate, buskins, and a golden surcoat, along with fine riding habits. Joan said that she chose to wear men's clothes by the command of God and his angels, not because men asked her to. She also said she would go back to women's clothes once she had fulfilled her calling.

The church's view of cross-dressing was not clear, even though it was used to justify her execution. Thomas Aquinas said a woman could wear men's clothes to hide from enemies or when no other clothes were available, and Joan did both. Soon after the siege of Orléans was lifted, Jean Gerson said her male clothes were suitable for her role as a warrior. Her cross-dressing may have helped protect her from attack, although scholars note that she was often shackled in prison, which would have limited this protection. Mostly, her clothing may have shown her special identity as La Pucelle, a model of virtue who goes beyond gender roles and inspires people.

Legacy

Joan is one of the most studied people of the Middle Ages, partly because her two trials left many documents. Her image has changed over time. She has been seen as the savior of France, an obedient member of the Catholic Church, a protofeminist, and a symbol of freedom and independence. Her reputation as a military leader who helped drive the English from France began to form before she died. Soon after Charles's coronation, Christine de Pizan wrote the poem Ditié de Jehanne D'Arc, praising Joan as a supporter of Charles sent by Divine Providence. After her execution, her role in the victory at Orléans encouraged support for her rehabilitation. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte renewed the festival in her honor. Since then, she has been a prominent symbol of the defense of the French nation, and people across the French political spectrum have used her image.

Main article: Canonization of Joan of Arc

Joan is a saint in the Catholic Church. She was canonized on 16 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV, and her feast day is 30 May, the anniversary of her execution. Joan was canonized as a Virgin, not as a Christian martyr. Many people have still honored her as a martyr since her death. She is also remembered as a visionary in the Church of England. During her lifetime, Joan was compared to biblical women heroes, such as Esther, Judith, and Deborah. She has been described as an independent woman who fulfilled the traditionally male role of a military leader while keeping her status as a valiant woman. Her story has inspired numerous artistic and cultural works for many centuries, including plays, films, paintings, and children's books.