Joan of Arc
From Medieval Wiki
By Guard Robinson and Max McCready
Contents |
Early Life and Early Visions
Joan of Arc or Jehanne d'Ark was born January 6th 1412 during the Feast of Epiphany in a small village in eastern France called in Domremy which was a town in a peaceful valley by the river Meuse. Near her town there was a dark frightening forest called the Wood of the Oaks. In the forest one could find frightening beasts such as bears or wolves. Though it was a small town of only forty or fifty houses the town was politically divided; one part was of the french duchy of Lorraine while the other part was a duchy of Bar. The Bar owed its allegiance to the enemy of the French crown that threatened to take over France. Her father was an ambitious farmer named Jacques d'Arc, her mom was named Isabelle. She lived in a house with a slate roof supported by thick beams and a floor of pounded earth with four other children.
From a young age she began to herd sheep but this was not unusual during the Middle Ages since women would rarely be be shown in a manuscript without a distaff to turn wool into yarn. Joan, the future hero of France, was just like every other girl, she was strong and had a good work ethic.
France, during her childhood, had an internal war on it's hands, between two factions of the French Royal Family. At the same time, it had a very unstable truce with England, who had a perfect opportunity to invade France. Now that France had been divided between the two sides of the war, King Henry V, who had said France should be part of England, took his chance and attacked France in August, 1415. On October 25, in the battle of Agincourt, France was quickly dominated by England. In 1417, the English returned after conquering most of northern France and earning the support of the Burgundian Duke, Philip the Good, who had agreed to recognize Henry V as the heir to the French throne.
At around 1424, Joan, at 13, said she had had visions of Saints Catherine, Saint Margaret, and St. Michael the Archangel. All of them simply advised to be a good girl and go to church, but soon enough she grew so fond of them she cried every time they left. Yet as time passed, the visions were more serious, saying that God had a mission for her, to end "the great misery that there was in the kingdom of France". She was to depart from Domremy and travel past enemy territory to the dauphin at Chinon. After that, she had to convince him to join her on the journey to the north to the cathedral at Reims, where he would be crowned as king. Overwhelmed, Joan was unsure of how to go about this.
Strangely enough, her father had a disturbing dream in which Joan fled away with soldiers. Jacques, though it was just a dream, began watching her every move, instructing her brothers that if she ever attempted to run away, they should drown her. His second thought was to have Joan wed, which failed when she refused and vowed never to marry.
Beginning Her Journey
Joan's visions then told her to travel to the town of Vaucouleurs and ask the governor for an armed escort to protect her on the road to Chinon. Fortunately, she had a cousin, Jeanne Laxart, who resided near Vaucouleurs.
Jeanne's husband, Durand, agreed to take Joan into town and arrange a meeting with the governor, Robert de Baudricourt. Robert de Baudricourt listened impatiently as she explained that God had sent her to save France and crown the king. Extremely bothered, he sent the girl back with Durand, telling him to return her to her father.
Joan returned home, yet in time grew more and more determined. Burgundian soldiers had threatened her village while she was gone, forcing everyone to flee to a nearby town, along with their sheep and cattle. When they returned, they found their town in tatters, even the churches were nothing but piles of blackened rubble. In three months time, worse was to come; the city of Orleans, the gateway to loyal France, was surrounded by the English. Now Joan's visions told her to rescue Orleans.
After her seventeenth birthday, Joan sought her cousin again and spent a little more than a month begging the governor. Although he remained stubborn, rumors spread around the villagers of a prophecy, that France would be lost by a woman and saved by a virgin. By now, it was clear that Queen Isabeau was the woman, who had practically signed away the country through the hands of a mad king, but was this girl the virgin? Could she save France?
Soon people began to support her, two of them soldiers, young men born of high class, who, perhaps, had convinced the governor to accept her wish. Another possibility was because the country was in such a state he was willing to try anything. But what many people believe to be what told him to go with it was when she had declared France was losing another battle near Orleans to the English. Sure enough, a week later, messengers arrived with news of the lost battle, just like she had said. He quickly gave her his blessing.
At this point, such questions occurred to Joan, such as how should she dress. As a woman, she would be target for attack and she was in the army, so she must dress in mens clothes. The villagers of Vaucouleurs acknowledged this and helped, giving her a tunic, hose, boots, and spurs, along with a horse, and Robert de Baudricourt gave her a sword. For the finishing touch, Joan cut her hair.
Soon she began to call herself la Pucelle, or the Maid, which meant maiden or virgin.
And so, on a cold evening in February, she left, with six men escorting her, two of whom the soldiers who supported her, and began her great journey.
The Journey to Chinon
Joan rode out of the city with her escorts. There were three hundred and fifty miles between her and Chinon, and half of it was Burgundian territory. To avoid the enemy, they traveled by night, winding past towns and villages, though there was still the thought of robbers that posed a threat.
Almost at Chinon, they stopped at the small town of Fierbois, where she sent word to Charles that she would be arriving soon and asked for an interview. But while still at Fierbois, she prayed at the Chapel of Saint Catherine, originally a shrine for prisoners of war, the walls decorated with swords, chain, and armor from soldiers that had been released.
Finally after eleven days, they made it to Chinon, where people stared in awe. The news of the Maid had traveled fast and there was little else that the people had talked about in the past few days.
There is a story that as Joan made her way up into the castle grounds, a guard made a rude remark. Joan snapped back that he was mocking God with his insult. "And," she began, "you so near your death!" Sure enough, the very same man fell into the moat and drowned. The news of such soon spread.
As she entered the grand chamber, Joan was in awe at the three hundred nobles that filled the hall with there brilliant silks and velvets that glowed in the torch light. Recently, Joan boasted that she would know Charles instantly even though she had never seen him before in her life, and for that, they stared at her. She soon realized that this was a test, that in the midst of the crowd, the dauphin was lurking, in similar clothes. His face was hardly royal-like, and his clothes blended perfectly, yet Joan still strode towards him like an old friend, saying, "God give you life, gentle king." To this he replied, I am not the king, Joan. There is the king!" and he pointed to another man. Unimpressed she answered, "By God, gentle prince, it is you and none other!"
Joan got straight to the point. She admitted that her visions had told her that Charles was in fact the true heir of France, but he had not been anointed with sacred oil nor given the blessing of God and therefore, until he was, he would never be king, which was why Joan was here in the first place, to escort him to Reims, where for the last thousand years, every French king had been crowned.
And to prove that she came from God, Joan gave Charles a sign. Although nobody really knows what the sign was, they say Charles' face grew radiant and he was much changed as she spoke.
But before Joan and Charles would go to Reims to have Charles crowned king of France, Joan had to complete a task given to her by her visions; to save Orleans. At that very moment it was surrounded by the English, which posed a threat to the king's safe passage to Reims.
But Charles, always cautious, was unsure of who had sent her; God or the devil? And until he found out, he would not put his troops in her hands. He took her down to the town of Poitiers and requested that the council of church scholars examine her. Joan became impatient, for the question was unanswered for weeks. Unwilling to give them a sign, she simply stated, "I have not come to Poitiers to make signs! Take me to Orleans, and I will show you the sign for which I have been sent!"
Finally the church fathers concluded that nothing but good resided in her. Besides, with Orleans in such bad shape, there was not much else that could be done.
Now Charles, with the financial help of his mother-in-law, produced an army. Joan received a suit of armor described as "a blanc.", not because it was, as some say, white, but because it was plain and simple, without a coat of arms, nor any decorations.
Joan already had a sword, but she insisted on another one, one in Fierbois, in the Chapel of Saint Catherine that she prayed at. She said they would find a sword buried behind the altar. Although nobody had ever heard of it, it was there, and to this day is called the "miraculous sword of Fierbois".
Although she loved her new sword, her standard meant much more to her. At that point she was ready to go to Orleans.
The Savior of Orleans
The people of Orleans were overjoyed; after months of siege, they had an army to fall back to, led by the Maid of God herself. Although she was the heart and soul of the army, although she made sure every soldier did not swear and went to confession, she was not the commander, but a captain. She told the men to be merciful; never burn villages or steal, for God would lead them to victory.
Although somewhat ironic, two of the men who rode alongside her in battle were none other than her brothers, once ordered to drown her if she ran off with soldiers.
With the Duke of Orleans a prisoner in England, his half-brother Jean, the Count of Dunois, would command the army. And so they marched through Orleans, which was a surprise as England had apparently surrounded them.
Joan, while waiting for reinforcements, had sent many letters to the English, urging them to retreat saying great peril would fall upon them if they chose to fight. The English, never taking them seriously, replied that she should go home and tend to the cows.
Even the French didn't take her seriously for a while, seeing her as a kind of good luck charm. When they were planning the assault, Joan was not there, and so when they rode out for battle, Joan, incidentally, was taking a nap. When she woke up, she cried out that French blood was being spilled, and sure enough, the French were losing. But when they saw her they gave a great cheer, and with a sudden boost of motivation, the French won, and took Saint-Loup. Later, the English fled from a second fort, down to the well-fortified abbey of the Augustins.
The "fleur-de-lys" or the "lily flower" comes from the symbol on the banners the French army carried. The symbol is now used all over the world on mostly logos.
The French, battle worn, were ready to turn back, certain that there was no more fighting to come that day. Suddenly, the English rushed out from the abbey and charged from the rear at the unprepared French. Aware of the danger, Joan and a captain called La Hire readied themselves with lances, and with just the two of them, charged the English army. The rest of the French, deeply inspired, turned around and took the fort of Augustins.
Joan, often through her visions, was able to tell the future, and that night told her priest that she would be wounded the very next day, above the breast, yet the French would take Tourelles.
The battle began, on an early morning on May 7, 1429, with an assault on the heavily fortified Tourelles. Joan was the first to set a ladder on the wall, yet nobody even her was able to climb it. At midday, she was struck by an arrow, "above the breast" as she had predicted and was pulled aside by her men where she rested for a short time. Long after she had returned to the battle, men were exhausted from all the fighting, and it was already night. Though against everybody's will, Joan persuaded Dunois to continue. As the men fought, Joan prayed.
When she returned from her praying, she made sure everyone could see her; the English were more than certain she was a witch using sorcery, and so, giving up entirely, the French broke through easily, English men rushing to the bridge leading to Tourelles unaware that the bridge was on fire from a boat the French had planted, and the entire English army drowned.
While this was going on, the citizens of Orleans repaired the bridge with everything they had, pipes, ladders, boards, everything, the citizens attacking the rear of the fort with flaming arrows. The word soon spread to the English commander Lord Talbot, who then quickly abandoned all the forts they had still under their possession around Orleans. From this day, the seventh of May has always been celebrated in Orleans.
Crowning the King
The morning after the battle, Joan rode back to the dauphin's castle. Charles was overjoyed to hear of the victory and had long forgotten his worries that Joan was actually from the devil. After two weeks of planning, Joan grew tired of the wait, advising, "Noble dauphin, do not hold such long council, but go to Reims as soon as possible and receive your worthy crown!"
After a while, she prevailed and the army was ordered to clear the way to Reims. The commander was the duke of Alencon, who Joan admired greatly, calling him her beau duc, or her "handsome duke".
The campaign was short and sweet; in just a week, the French army had taken over several towns, but by then the army of Lord Talbot had been added on to the forces of Sir John Fastolf (later known as Sir John Falstaff in two plays by Shakespeare). Alencon, worried he might be out-numbered, quickly went to Joan for advice, to which she replied, "Do you all have good spurs?" The duke, somewhat surprised said, "Are we going to turn our backs on them?" Joan, perfectly calm, answered, "You will need good spurs to run after them."
Sure enough, according to Dunois's estimation, the French lost three men while the English lost four thousand men, some taken prisoner, some dead. Lord Talbot himself was taken prisoner.
Throughout the rest of the journey, the royal army passed through without a fight; people were too afraid to challenge the Maid of God. Enemy-occupied territories even let them in. Before long, Charles had arrived at Reims without so much as a bruise. The people at Reims quickly opened their gates, offering him their "full and entire obedience as their sovereign."
At about nine o'clock on the morning of July 17, 1429, the grand procession made it's way to Reims cathedral for the coronation, a ceremony that would last nearly the whole day. After he swore an oath, he was knighted by the duke of Alencon. After that, the archbishop took out a golden needle and dropped holy oil from a sacred vial onto Charles' head, chest, back, shoulders, and elbows. The vial was little less than a thousand years old, dating back to the baptism of Clovis, the first Christian kind of France. People say the vial was carried down from heaven by a dove. Proceeding that, he received a scepter, a symbol of authority, and the rod of justice. After the belt and spurs of chivalry were strapped on, the archbishop laid the crown atop Charles' head.
For helping Charles get the crown, Joan's family was raised to nobility and her hometown never to be taxed.
The Capture of Joan of Ark
When Charles was crowned, Joan became more of a mascot than a leader after being stripped of her military power. When the truce with Burgundy expired, the royal counsel sent her to battle on Easter week where she captured the town of Melun using siege and a revolt by residents. At Melun standing among the ramparts, the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret came to Joan; this time sayin, "Daughter of God, you will be captured before St. John's Day." It was hard for her to take but not unexpected. She replied, "Then let me die quickly without suffering long captivity." They replied, "Do not be frightened, Resign yourself. God will help you." Every day the voices would comfort her and Joan fought until the last.
St. John's day was two months away so she went to Langly, a town on the Marne river loyal to Charles and being terrorized by Franquet d'Arras and his Burgundians. Franquet d'Arras was captured by Joan and then tried and executed by a court but this would be held against Joan by the Franquet's allies and people of England and Burgundy. One of the oddest things held against Joan by her enemies was when she was sent for by the women of Langly to pray for an infant who had died before being baptized. She sat with the women and after some time the infant, who had turned black, regained its color and came back to life. The women quickly baptized the child but the child died once again. For her friends this made her a saint but for her enemies this made her a witch.
When the truce between France and Burgundy expired after many delays, Duke Philip and his army set out to Compiegne on the Oise river, a gateway to the north. He made his way to the north where Joan was planning to go attack the Burgundians except that her army broke up, forcing her to head back to Compiegne. Joan and her army later went back to attack Burgundian camp. Many in Joan's army were killed despite amazing plans and Joan was taken by an archer of noble birth. With a month left until St. John's Day, Joan was already a captive.
The Trial of Joan of Arc
When Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians they took her to the prison for men, which had much more security than prisons for women which had nuns as guards. Joan pleaded over and over again to be taken to a prison for women as she felt she had to protect herself from male guards who made her feel she had to wear two layers of clothing. After many months spent in a prison she was transferred to the English for ten thousand livres. Pierre Cauchon, a loyal supporter of the Anglo-Burgundian faction, was given the job of getting her ready for trial as well as setting up a trial. He had a history of doing such jobs as bribing Church officials to rule a certain way in a murder case where the Duke had ordered someone to be murdered. One of the charges held against her was that she cross dressed to protect herself from the prison guards; this was one of many illegitimate charges made against her case. The trial was very controlled in other ways such as when the only witness on Joan's side was charged with a crime herself. When Joan asked to go before the pope and have a non-partisan judge, as was required in the court, her pleadings were never honored. In short her judges were biased to the plaintiff.
Joan of Arc was burned as a witch and declared guilty of twelve different crimes and was seen as a messenger of the devil. On May 13, 1431, she died on a stake, consumed in flames. Her ashes were thrown into the Seine river. Joan's final moments inspired the French and she would later be made a saint.
Vocabulary Words
Livres - the currency of France until 1795
Distaff - a tool used in spinning
Heir - one who inherits or is entitled to inherit property
Sovereign - an acknowledged leader
Spurs - a pointed device secured to a rider's heel and used to urge on the horse
A Special Thanks To
Books
Stanely, Diane. Joan of Arc. New York: Morrow Junior Books, c1998.
Hodges, Margaret, Rayevsky, Robert. Joan of Arc : the lily maid. Publication Info. New York : Holiday House, c1999
Sites
Articles
Joan of Arc (1412-1431). UXL Biographies. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003.
