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== Visions not delusions ==
From the transcript of the Trial of Condemnation at Rouen in 1431, "Thursday, March 1st, in the same place, the Bishop and 58 Assessors present":  <blockquote>“Since last Tuesday, have you had any converse with Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret?”
“Yes, but I do not know at what time.”
“What day?”
“Yesterday and to-day; there is never a day that I do not hear them.”
“Do you always see them in the same dress?”
“I see them always under the same form, and their heads are richly crowned. I do not speak of the rest of their clothing: I know nothing of their dresses.”
“How do you know whether the object that appears to you is male or female?”
“I know well enough. I recognize them by their voices, as they revealed themselves to me; I know nothing but by the revelation and order of God.”
“What part of their heads do you see?”
“The face.”
“These saints who shew themselves to you, have they any hair?”
“It is well to know they have.”
“Is there anything between their crowns and their hair?”
“No.”
“Is their hair long and hanging down?”
“I know nothing about it. I do not know if they have arms or other members. They speak very well and in very good language; I hear them very well.”
“How do they speak if they have no members?”
“I refer me to God. The voice is beautiful, sweet, and low; it speaks in the French tongue.”
“Does not Saint Margaret speak English?”
“Why should she speak English, when she is not on the English side?”<ref>Jeanne D‘arc, by T. Douglas Murray_The Trials_The Project Gutenberg eBook.pdf p 40</ref></blockquote>Joan first met Saints Margaret and Catherine back at Domremy 
Several events from her village life stand out. These pieces fall together for the launch of Joan's mission to save France (and/or Catholicism -- more on that later). They are seen by skeptics as to obvious to be true and so fabrications. But if you think about it, her trajectory is entirely contingent upon them, so rather than presenting evidence of fabrication, they are strong proofs: 
# Saint Michael is patron Saint and savior of France, and Saints Catherine and Margaret were actively venerated in the region;
# Joan's visions started after a raid on her village by an English ally, the Burgundian Henri d'Orly<ref>[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/20/mode/1up Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances (archive.org)]; p. 20</ref> (note that Joan's village of Domrémy was located within territory controlled by the English-allied Burgundians and outside of the control of the Dauphin, the French claimant on the throne);
# A young man in the village claimed she was betrothed to him;
# An old beech tree in a grove by the village was said to be occupied by fairies, which village children;<ref>Mark Twain embellished the importance of this tree, as have others. In actuality, the village celebrated two festivals related to springs near it, ''Laetare, Jerusalem'', during Leny, and May Day. The tree was a common spot for villagers who often gathered by it. </ref>
# Local legends held that an armed virgin or a virgin carrying a banner would save France<ref>The virgin with a banner was supposedly prophesized by the English magician Merlin. That of the armed virgin, however, was recent, coming in 1398 from Marie Robine and included a vision that those who refuse to believe divine visions are idolaters, among which were theologians at the University of Paris -- the same who were involved in the trial of Joan.  See [[wikipedia:Marie_Robine|Marie Robine - Wikipedia]]</ref>'
It would make absolutely no sense if Joan had come from a place or experience removed from any of the above. Rather than causing her visions, an assertion for which there is no evidence and that is based solely on rejection of divine inspiration, these contingencies affirmed and supported what the visions told her. The honest observer must accept the clear, incredibly well-documented historical facts of Joan's era, much of which was predicted in her visions. So those who deny her mission as divinely guided can only fall back on the idea that, heh, her visions were not real, but she thought they were, and that's what counts.<ref>See [https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/28/mode/1up?view=theater Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality] p. 28: "Whatever the source of Joan's voices and her belief in them, it conferred on her a strength of resolution possessed by few, women or men."  Here's an even better one, from the Wikipedia entry on the "[[wikipedia:Dual_monarchy_of_England_and_France|Dual Monarchy of England and France]],"
''"The Dauphin was crowned as King Charles VII of France at Reims on 17 July 1429, largely through the martial efforts of Joan of Arc, '''who believed it was her mission to free France from the English''' and to have the Dauphin Charles crowned at Reims."'' (emphasis mine).  Believed! How about "''believed her divinely inspired mission''"?</ref> 
For example, as for legends of a virgin savior of France, Joan probably knew of them all. But one, in particular was both more recent and more directly about Joan -- and she understood it early on to be about her. She had not told her parents or the local priest about her visions, which had been going on for several years.   
The timeline here is interesting. From the beginning, her voices told her she would go to "France."<ref>Recollecting that Domrémy was not under direct control of the French Dauphin.</ref>  At some point, she was told specifically to go to Vaucouleurs and speak to Robert de Baudricourt, captain of the guards, who would take her to the Dauphin. By then, she was very clear on her mission, it's purpose and outcome. She told her uncle, whom she asked to introduce her to Baudricourt,    <blockquote>to ask him to lead her to the place where my dauphin was    </blockquote>because,    <blockquote>Was it not said that France would be ruined through a woman<ref>A reference understood then, and maknig the most sense now, to the mother of the Dauphin, the wife of Charles VI,  Isabeu of Bavaria, who stood as regent during her husband's episodes of madness, and who took part in the machinations that led to the Treaty of Troyes, which gave royal succession to the English King Henry V over he own son, Charles the Dauphin.</ref>, and afterward restored by a virgin?    </blockquote>What "was said" was from old and recent legends and prophesies, the most recent about a woman who would don armor to save France. Joan knew of these and assumed it for herself. Again, academics will say that such prophesies are deliberately and usefully vague. Okay, a virgin savior - take your pick.  But a woman putting on armor? That one was unique and directly fulfilled by Joan.<ref>Look it up: a few women across history and time donned armor or weapons and fought like, with and against men. None led an army as did Joan, and none wore full plate armor.</ref>
Her uncle went with it, and introduced her to the Captain. Joan laid it on him in full. As attested by a witness, a knight, Bertrand de Poulengy, <blockquote>She said that she had come to him, Robert, on behalf of her Lord, to ask him to send word to the dauphin that he should hold still and not make war on his enemies, because the Lord would give him help before mid-Lent; and Joan also said that the kingdom did not belong to the dauphin, but to her Lord; and that her Lord wanted the dauphin to be made king, and that he would hold the kingdom in trust, saying that despite the dauphin's enemies he would be made king, and that she would lead him to be consecrated. Robert asked her who was her Lord, and she answered, 'The King of Heaven.'"</blockquote>Another witness, Jean de Metz<ref>Listed in the Rehabiltation Trial as "Jean de Nouvilonpont" (p. 393)</ref>, a squire at Vaucouleurs, and who  testified that Joan said to him,<blockquote>"I have come here to the King's chamber<ref>By "chamber" she means representative of or place belonging to the King, not a room in his house.</ref> to speak to Messire Robert de Baudricourt, so that he will take me to the King or have me taken to him. And he hasn't troubled about me or my words. Nevertheless, before mid-Lent, I must go before the King even if I wear my feet off to the knees. For no kings or dukes or king of Scotland's<ref>While earlier in the War, A Scottish force came to aid France but was destroyed in Battle, this comment seems to have been in response to rumors at the time that the Dauphin was going to marry the Scottish princess. (see [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19488/19488-h/19488-h.htm#CHAPTER_III The Life of Joan of Arc, by Anatole France] (p. i 83)</ref> daughter or anybody else in the world can recover the Kingdom of France; there is no aid but myself although I should rather drown myself before the eyes of my poor mother, for it isn't of my estate. But it is necessary that I come, and that I do this, for Our Lord wills that I do it."</blockquote>Okay, a lot going on there. Let's break it down:
# Joan clarified that she was following God ("her Lord") and God's will, not that of the Dauphin's or France;<ref>That the Dauphin would "hold the kingdom in trust" is revealing and indicative of her mission: God's will and not just glory to France. What she says here upholds my idea that her mission was to save France to save Catholicism, not just to save France.</ref>
# The Dauphin should hold off any military action against the English until mid-Lent, which would be precisely when she would meet with him and organize her march on Orléans;
# She predicted here the coming advances of the English ("despite the dauphin's enemies"), who with the Burgundians subsequently launched major offenses, culminating in the siege of Orléans starting that October;
# She, Joan, herself would "lead" the Dauphin to his coronation.
Note that this occurred not only before the siege on Orléans, which she had already been told by her voices that she would liberate, but It was a month before the burning of Domrémy, which is often taken as a motive for Joan's subsequent actions.
Shortly after her return home, her village was attacked and all fled to another town, Neufchâteau<ref>There seem to have been two stays with la Rouse, but It doesn't really matter except as to the Rouen Court's use of it to try to discredit her. I'm thinking there was only one in July 1438.</ref>. It's an unclear and meaningless episode that the Court at Rouen seized upon to discredit Joan. Either she alone or with the family had lodged at an inn that served travelers, including monks, pilgrims, traveling merchants and soldiers. The owner, Jean Waldaires, "la Rousse" (redhead), was a widow, and thus the suggestion at the Trial that la Rousse was either a prostitute or running a brothel, and thus Joan was there for that purpose. Joan testified to having helped with chores there, and we know when she was not tending the cattle the villagers had driven there for protection from the raids, or helping with the inn, she was at church in prayer<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19488/19488-h/19488-h.htm#CHAPTER_III The Life of Joan of Arc (Contents), by Anatole France (Project Gutenberg)]., p. i 71</ref>. What does matter is that Joan's mind was not on anything but what her voices had been telling her.  On her return to Domrémy, Joan told a friend, <blockquote>There was a maid  between Coussey<ref>A village just south of Domrémy, on the way towards Neufchâteau.</ref> and Vaucouleurs who within a year would have the king of France anointed.</blockquote>   
It was at this time that the English moved on Orléans, which, along the Loire River, was the key to the rest of France. There was at the time and has been speculation that at this time the Dauphin considered, in face of the English assault, escaping to Scotland or Spain.<ref>See [https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/43/mode/1up?view=theater Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality] pg 43</ref> Had Orléans fallen, this would have been a likely outcome. But it did not, so he did not.             
She told her uncle Durand Laxart about it because she needed his help   
Probably the first person she told about her own visions with any detail was her uncle, Durand Laxart (or Lassois), the husband of her mother's sister. Joan needed him, as he lived in the regional 
Here's an example from a well documented history of the life of Joan as regards the idea that Joan was fulfilling a prophesy as silly:     
Prophesies<ref>[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/30/mode/1up?view=theater Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : (archive.org)], p. 30</ref>
earliest visions:<blockquote>"It taught me to be good, to go regularly to church. It told me that I should come into France ... This voice told me, two or three times a week, that I must go away and that I must come to France... It told me that I should raise the siege laid to the city of Orléans. The voice told me also that I should go to Robert de Baudricourt at the town of Vaucouleurs, who was the [garrison] commander of the town, and he would provide people to go with me. And I replied that I was a poor girl who knew neither how to ride nor lead in war."</blockquote><blockquote>I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me guide my behavior. And the first time I was very much afraid. And this voice came about the hour of noon, in the summer time, in my father's garden..."</blockquote><blockquote>Then she said that when she had to leave to see her king she was told by her voices: "Go boldly: [92] when thou art before the king he shall have a good sign to receive and believe in thee."(Trial, p 92)</blockquote>
A few days before she was taken prisoner, she told all those at a Mass in the Église de St. Jacques,<blockquote>"My good friends, my dear little children, I am sold and betrayed. Soon I shall be given up to death. Pray to God for me, for I can no longer serve the King and the Kingdom of France."<ref>from "Grandes Annates de Breiagne" and "Miroir des Femmes Vertueuscs" per [[Jeanne D'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France]], footnote, p. xix</ref>  </blockquote> 


== Why the betrayal? ==
== Why the betrayal? ==

Revision as of 19:53, 3 February 2025


<<to move Translation: she's a witch!




Why the betrayal?

It confounds the honest reader the betrayals, denials, and injustices that Joan suffered. It's tempting to recognize the interests and intrigues she provoked as normal reactions to the challenges to authority she presented on all sides, and including her parents.

This essay is not concerned with the particulars of the Trial at Rouen, except for Joan's clear demonstration in it of her divine mission. What I find more interesting is Joan's own confoundment at her situation. She knew which side she was on and which side they were on.

From a typological point of view, the situation is clear: Joan is a "type" of Christ, betrayed by a follower, abandoned by the rest (mostly[1]) ransomed by blood money, persecuted by local religious leaders using the authority of a foreign occupier, abandoned by her followers, tortured, suffered, and put to death by that foreign power.

The history depicts the typology explicitly. However, we can still ask, why'd she have to go through all this?

The Trial

The extent to which the English and Burgundians went to justify the execution of Joan, and the utter hatred of her that the court at Rouen exercised demonstrates by the opposing virtue how important and effective were Joan and her accomplishments.

Having been ransomed by the English from her captor, the Duke of Luxembourg, Joan was handed not to a military court but to an ecclesiastical court. For the English, it'd be an easy solution to put her death, as she had no noble protection that might complicate her execution.[2]Still, it was a tricky situation: this woman had brought great defeats upon them and roused the sentiments of loyal French. For those French who did support the English, it was upon explicit economic, military and political motives, and from popular devotion. The Burgundian people hated their French rivals, the Armagnacs, far more than they championed the English King. The alliance was one of convenience and self-preservation. The Burgundian elites, nobility and ecclesiastic, however, were, if not enthusiastic for English rule, were steadfast in its support, as it not only gave them power over their Armagnac rivals but it empowered them individually in their political economies. An English-ruled France would have put them right at the top.

Given top-down support and the dangers of bottom-up resentment or even potential rebellion that Joan represented, to the English and the Burgundian elites, she simply had to die. Only it had to be justified, and no greater justification could be found in the 15th century than that of the Church.

To get there, it had to be carefully orchestrated with clear lines of authority.

When Joan was captured by Burgundian forces under the Count of Luxembourg, she was de facto held by a Burgundian ally but de jure held by an independent entity. This was an important distinction because it took from English and the Duke of Burgundy direct responsibility for her.

>> from Luxembourg to the English to the Court << see p. 10 justifed every stop

The Rouen court had placed itself in a corner from the beginning.

To explain away the improbability in Joan's actions and words, the ecclesiastical court at Rouen developed a theory of "malice inherent in feminine nature."

Christology of Saint Joan

  • born in poverty, among shepherds
  • distrust of the leaders
  • triumphant entry to Orleans
  • betrayal
  • Charles VII washing his hands of her
  • championed by her mother

The prophecies of Joan of Arc

Jean Dunois testified that not all of Joan's prophesies were fulfilled[3],

Although Jeanne sometimes spoke in jest of the affairs of war, and although, to encourage the soldiers, she may have foretold events which were not realized, nevertheless, when she spoke seriously of the war, and of her deeds and her mission, she only affirmed earnestly that she was sent to raise the siege of Orleans, and to succour the oppressed people of that town and the neighbouring places, and to conduct the King to Rheims that he might be consecrated (emphasis added)

Prophecies of the coming of Saint Joan

  • Merlin
  • St. Bede
  • Marie d'Avignon

Joan's own testimony on those prophesies

Joan told her Uncle , Durand Laxart, and a woman with whom she stayed on her second visit with him to Vaucouleurs,

“Was it not said that France would be ruined through a woman and afterwards restored by a virgin?”.

>> see Prophecies | Joan of Arc | Jeanne-darc.info

Testimony of Jean Dunois

Jeanne had expressly predicted that, before long, the weather and the wind would change; and it happened as she had foretold. She had, in like manner, stated that the convoy would enter freely into the town.[4]

Testimony of Brother Séguin de Séguin of four of Joan's prophesies

The Dominican friar participated in the inquiry into Joan ordered by the Dauphin after she presented herself to the Court at Chinon. The priest was a Professor of Theology and well-respected. He later testified that she made four prophesies

  1. Orléans would be liberated from the English
  2. the King would be crowned at Rheims (which
  3. Paris would liberated from the English
  4. the Duc d'Orléans (Duke of Orleans) would be freed from imprisonment in England

That last prophesy was significant because, while no more improbable than the others, it occurred ten years after her death and had the Duke[5] not returned to France he would never have fathered Louis of Orléans who was crowned Louis XII, King of France, in 1498.

Joan insisted upon the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims, which seemed not ridiculous but dangerous, Rheims was in Burgundy, held by the English allies under the Duke of Burgundy. çéans, Joan insisted upon the necessity that the coronation be held in Rheims, which was where Philip II, creator of modern France, was crowned, and was the site of the baptism of Clovis.

From Fr. Séguin's testimony:

I saw Jeanne for the first time at Poitiers. The King’s Council was assembled in the house of the Lady La Macée, the Archbishop of Rheims, then Chancellor of France, being of their number. I was summoned, as also were [list of names] ... The Members of the Council told us that we were summoned, in the King’s name, to question Jeanne and to give our opinion upon her. We were sent to question her at the house of Maître Jean Rabateau, where she was lodging. We repaired thither and interrogated her. And then she foretold to us—to me and to all the others who were with me—these four things which should happen, and which did afterwards come to pass: first, that the English would be destroyed, the siege of Orleans raised, and the town delivered from the English; secondly, that the King would be crowned at Rheims; thirdly, that Paris would be restored to his dominion; and fourthly, that the Duke d’Orléans should be brought back from England. And I who speak, I have in truth seen these four things accomplished.

Seeing through duplicity or providential foresight?

After the coronation, the Duke of Burgundy made overtures to the newly crowned Charles VII, who preferred the adulation of villages along his march towards Paris to actually entering Paris. A temporary peace was agreed upon, and under hopes that the Duke of Burgundy would join the French against the English. The Duke had no such intention, but took advantage of the lull to reinforce his position with the English who reinforced Paris.

Under Joan's insistence, the Duke of Alençon organized an attack upon Paris on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God. After an all-day assault that induced both panic and expectant enthusiasm within the city, as sundown fell and by the walls, Joan was struck in the thigh by a crossbow bolt. She called for a continued assault, but the nightfall and shock at her injury dissuaded her troops, who carried her out of a ditch back to the French camp.[6] The next day the King ordered a halt to the attacks and on the 13th a retreat back to the Loire, which meant back to Orléans.

Before leaving St. Denis, where Charles VII had resided during this time, Joan presented a complete set of white armor and a seized sword to the altar at the church of St. Denis, a traditional act of thanks giving by a wounded soldier.[7] After the King left St. Denis, the English took the armor and likely destroyed it.

From here, the usual story is the the King abandoned Joan, while allowing her limited, unsupported military campaigns, which is true. We know that the King and his court, which never really trusted Joan, was hoping for a settlement with the Duke of Burgundy. For her part, Joan "feared nothing but treason."[8]

But there's a bit more to it. The King was not wrong to seek a settlement, and with lingering baggage from the Armagnac-Burgundy dispute, which included the assassination of the Duke of Burgundy's father in 1419 during a tense meeting with Charles himself.[9] The assassination launched the civil war and opened the door for the English, who were already on the move in northern France, to sign the Treaty of Troyes[10] with Charles's weak and insane father, Charles VI. But the history weighed upon the new King. On August 16, 14>> the new King's representatives appealed to the Duke of Burgundy, "the grand duke of the west," they implored, with "greater offers of reparation than the royal majesty actually possessed."[11] King Charles VII thereby ceded authority over the war to his enemy.

Joan, meanwhile, had told the Duke of Burgundy off:

Jhesus † Mary

Great and formidable Prince, Duke of Burgundy, Jeanne the Virgin requests of you, in the name of the King of Heaven, my rightful and sovereign Lord, that the King of France and yourself should make a good firm lasting peace. Fully pardon each other willingly, as faithful Christians should do; and if it should please you to make war, then go against the Saracens. Prince of Burgundy, I pray, beg, and request as humbly as I can that you wage war no longer in the holy kingdom of France, and order your people who are in any towns and fortresses of the holy kingdom to withdraw promptly and without delay. And as for the noble King of France, he is ready to make peace with you, saving his honor; if you’re not opposed. And I tell you, in the name of the King of Heaven, my rightful and sovereign Lord, for your well-being and your honor and [which I affirm] upon your lives, that you will never win a battle against the loyal French, and that all those who have been waging war in the holy kingdom of France have been fighting against King Jesus, King of Heaven and of all the world, my rightful and sovereign Lord. And I beg and request of you with clasped hands to not fight any battles nor wage war against us – neither yourself, your troops nor subjects; and know beyond a doubt that despite whatever number [duplicated phrase] of soldiers you bring against us they will never win. And there will be tremendous heartbreak from the great clash and from

the blood that will be spilled of those who come against us. And it has been three weeks since I had written to you and sent proper letters via a herald [saying] that you should be at the anointing of the King, which this day, Sunday, the seventeenth day of this current month of July, is taking place in the city of Rheims – to which I have not received any reply. Nor have I ever heard any word from this herald since then.

I commend you to God and may He watch over you if it pleases Him, and I pray God that He shall establish a good peace.

Written in the aforementioned place of Rheims on the aforesaid seventeenth day of July.

Charles VII was not entirely deceived. But he was duplicitous with Joan. He feted her, brought her from castle to castle, but ignored her pleas to carry on the war. Her opportunity came when the need arose to put down Burgundian resistance[12] within the Loire region itself, at a town called Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier. Sent by the Court, Joan took the fortified town (protected by a moat) on Nov 4, 1429, but only after insisting upon a second assault and standing at foot of the walls inspiring or, perhaps berating, her troops forward. Afterwards, Charles enobled here and her family, both men and women.

The Council ordered to to attack another town in the region, La Charité, also fortified, but denied her additional artillery or funds. So Joan was forced to raise her own army for the attack, which was unsuccessful, her first defeat after Paris. The defeat gave the royal Council further excuse to ignore her and to adhere to the supposed truce with the Duke of Burgundy. Joan's next action was to move north to defend areas that Burgundy had attacked, despite the truce. That Joan knew it was going on means the Court knew it, but the Court deliberately ignored it under the guise of the truce. Whether or not Joan acted with the royal Council's authority, over which historians have argued uselessly, doesn't matter: they knew, she knew, they all knew the Duke of Burgundy was in violation of the truce. That Joan acted on her own authority or the Kings doesn't matter. What matters is that she went to defend Compiègne, which was under Burgundian and English attack, and in doing so


>> the po;int here is that Joan carried on the battles bc she knew that Burdundy was a liar. Chas was hoping it'd work out, but Burg was fortifying his position w/ the English all along. Joan's attacks back in the north forced the situation, flushing Burgundy into revealing himself.

At Compiegne, she was captured, but, as always, standing fast while her army ran away, only this time there was no rallying the troops, as they had gone into the city and the gate was closed on her and surrounded her


>>here

What we will see is that after the English are finally defeated,


> Joan continues her fight until she is captured

>> voices tell her she will be imprisoned

> not long after her death, Burgundy signs a treaty w/ Charles VII

> Henry VI crowned in P:aris in Dec 1831, after Joan exceuted May 30

> Burgundy abandons the English and signs Treaty of Arras on 20 Sept 1435, ending the 100 years war

Why Joan only now?

Jeanne d'Arc was canonized in 1905. It's not unusual for such a long delay in beatification, but there are reasons for it with Saint Joan. So why so long for her?

Once her work was done, she was easily forgotten, beginning with the Siege of Orleans and the coronation of Charles VII, upon which the French court did its best to ignore her. Given the opportunity to ransom her upon her capture, the King refused and, well, washed his hands of her. Once they had consolidated rule over France, the kings had every reason -- well, aside from honesty -- not to attribute the legitimacy of their rule to a peasant girl.

>

A rather interesting document is found from a publication, "The Rationalist" from 1913, The Story of Joan of Arc: the Witch Saint,"[13] which seems to have been in response to Pius X's beatification of Joan (final step towards canonization). The author contends that "modern thought" has led to her vindication and not the Catholic Church, which is just using her shrine and stories of miracle cures before it as a "new income." The author says his essay will save Catholicism from itself.

French Revolution

> anticlerical

>

Franco-Prussian War

Historical sources

The history of Joan of Arc is comparatively well-documented, even for the 1400s, a period that yields plenty of artifacts and primary sources. The facts of her life a clear and incontestable. In her day, she was the subject of various documented inquiries, an extended court trial, and subsequent inquiries that document witnesses and assessed evidence. We even know much about her mystical experiences -- or whatever they were, as she told the record about them.

The Trials of Jeanne d'Arc

> see Trials - Overview | Joan of Arc | Jeanne-darc.info

Popular accounts of the life of Joan of Arc

"The Life of Joan of Arc" by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel

"Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" by Mark Twain

Others

"Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw

Not much to say about this one. Shaw was early in adulthood an atheist and seems to have wanted into Deism and perhaps belief if not in Christ but in Jesus. The play is considered one of Shaw's greatest works, and it has been repeated on stage through the 2000s and in film. Shaw wrote it after Joan's canonization, thus the title. But he wasn't celebrating it. He tries to humanize Saint Joan, whom he said was romanticized while her accusers were villainized. For Shaw, Joan's tormenters were motivated by the facts and situations before them; you know, it's just a matter of perspective. I can only say that to frame Bishop Cauchon as honestly motivated is akin to Andrew Lloyd Weber's sympathetic portrayal of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Both did wrong, knew it, and did it anyway. And, worse, Shaw portrays Joan as Weber does Jesus, as an anti-establishment pop star. For Shaw, Joan is a rebel against authority, like his female ubermensch in Man and Superman. Meh.

See also

Here for list of pages on this site related to Saint Joan of Arc

Painting series "Jeanne D'Arc" (1895) by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel

In 1896, Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel illustrated a children's book of the life of Joan of Arc.[14] Through the early 1900s, he expanded several of the images into full paintings, a collection of which are held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, called "La Vie de Jeanne d'Arc":

  • La Vision (Vision of the Archangel St. Michael)
    La Vision (Vision of the Archangel St. Michael)
  • Appeal to the Dauphin (The Dauphin had someone else sit on the throne and hid amidst the Court; Joan identified him immediately)
    Appeal to the Dauphin (The Dauphin had someone else sit on the throne and hid amidst the Court; Joan identified him immediately)
  • The Maid in Armor on Horseback (Now Commander of the French Armies, Joan marches the army to free Orleans from the English siege)
    The Maid in Armor on Horseback (Now Commander of the French Armies, Joan marches the army to free Orleans from the English siege)
  • The Turmoil of Conflict (The Battle of Orleans, which is nearly lost after Joan is hit in the shoulder and neck by a bolt, but she returns to the field and leads the French to victory)
    The Turmoil of Conflict (The Battle of Orleans, which is nearly lost after Joan is hit in the shoulder and neck by a bolt, but she returns to the field and leads the French to victory)
  • The Crowning at Rheims of the Dauphin (Joan's mission was to have the Dauphin properly crowned King by French custom and in the form of Charlemagne; the leadership thought it was unnecessary, but Joan understood that the people of France needed the ceremony at the traditional place for it at the Cathedral at Rheims)
    The Crowning at Rheims of the Dauphin (Joan's mission was to have the Dauphin properly crowned King by French custom and in the form of Charlemagne; the leadership thought it was unnecessary, but Joan understood that the people of France needed the ceremony at the traditional place for it at the Cathedral at Rheims)
  • The Trial of Joan of Arc (The King and his councilors betray Joan, leaving her to fight with a small army; she is captured by the French ally of the English. The French King refuses to pay a ransom for her, and she is tried in a French ecclesiastic court under English authority)
    The Trial of Joan of Arc (The King and his councilors betray Joan, leaving her to fight with a small army; she is captured by the French ally of the English. The French King refuses to pay a ransom for her, and she is tried in a French ecclesiastic court under English authority)

Here for more on Boutet de Monvel and his works.

References

  1. ↑ It has been said that the dauntless and marvelous Le Hire, Étienne de Vignolles, mounted a failed rescue operation, but this is unlikely, as it would have taken a huge military force to rescue Joan from her captivity at Rouen. Le Hire did, however, carry out raids near Rouen in March of 1431, during the Trial, which made the English nervous. See Internet History Sourcebooks: Medieval Sourcebook p. 389
  2. ↑ Medieval codes of chivalry gave a certain but not unlimited degree of protection to a captured noble. But in Joan's case, the usual solution, ransom, had already taken place. France refused to ransom her, and the British did, so she was theirs to do what they pleased.
  3. ↑ Murray, p. 241
  4. ↑ notation from testimony of Sieur de Gaucourt (Murray, p. 242_
  5. ↑ The title Duke of Orleans was like that of Prince of Wales, indicating the heir to the throne. Louis, Duc d'Orléans was the brother of King Charles VI, father of Charles VII, the Dauphin in the story of Saint Joan. It's a bit complicated, but rule of France was broken up by faction and the insanity of its King who disinherited his son the Dauphin and gave France to the English King Henry V. Though crowned at Paris by Charles VI as heir, Henry, needed to actually control France, which he did not adn could not accomplish before he died. His son was a child who inherited the claim as King of France, but there was no meaning to it once Joan had the Dauphin crowned at Rhiems and when, subsequently, the English were finally defeated later on.
  6. ↑ See Joan of Arc for more details of Joan's attack and injury.
  7. ↑ See Joan of Arc p. 49
  8. ↑ See Joan: Her Story p. 78
  9. ↑ The tension followed the 1407 assassination of Charles' uncle, the Duke of Orléans (and brother of Charles VI and whose heir was captured by the English in 1415 at Agincourt)
  10. ↑ Making Henry V of England heir to the French throne.
  11. ↑ https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/74/mode/1up?q=220&view=theaterd p. 74
  12. ↑ Either lands of or invaded by a Burgundian mercenary named Perrinet Gressard.
  13. ↑ The Story of Joan Of Arc the Witch--saint, by M. M. Mangasarian
  14. ↑ Scan of English version (abbreviated from the original French publication) available here: Joan of Arc : Boutet de Monvel, Louis Maurice, 1850-1913 (Archive.org) Here for page images of the original: Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel
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