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Her Birth and Upbringing
In approximately the year 1412 Joan
(Jeanne d'Arc) was born to Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc in Domremy, a village
in the Champagne region of northeastern France, the youngest of five children.
She was brought up on her family's farm in typical fashion for girls in
her time--learning neither to read nor write but instead to busy herself
in sewing and spinning and helping out with chores involving the farm animals.
She was a playful child--who however
developed an exceptionally deep piety as she grew up into a young lady.
She prayed often--to the statues of the Virgin and saints at her village
church.
The Voices
It was in the summer of 1425, when she
was 13, that she heard the first voices--two women and a man (accompanied
by a bright light)--coming from the realm of those saints. Eventually
there were other voices--whom she was able to identify as St. Michael,
St. Margaret, St. Catherine, etc. She kept the story of these voices
to herself--not even mentioning them to her confessor.
But with time, the message of these
voices became more and more targeted on a call that God was placing on
her--to come to the assistance of her king, Charles VII of France.
She was apparently resistant: she knew nothing about riding horses--much
less waging war. But by May of 1428 the voices (in particular that
of St. Michael) were quite adamant that she was to present herself to Robert
Baudricourt, the local French military commander located nearby in Vaucoulers.
The Political Situation
The Hundred Years' War.
This was the era of the "Hundred Years War"--which was actually a series
of wars and truces running between the kings of France and England since
the mid-1300s. The English royal family had claims on lands in France
which reached far back in their family history--and were pressing those
claims boldly against the French royal family in Paris.
The tide in France had swung strongly
in favor of the English kings. The whole south of France (Aquitaine)
had long been in English hands and the English were also pressing for total
control of northwestern France. Paris, the very heart of France,
was itself held by the English under the Duke of Bedford.
The Treaty of Troyes (1420).
Indeed, the English were close to laying claim to possession of the whole
of France. In 1420 another round in the Hundred Year's War ended
with the Treaty of Troyes--which designated King Henry V of England as
king of France upon the death of the current (and visibly insane) French
king, Charles VI. But as things worked out, both kings died
two years later in 1422.
The English however pressed the case
for Henry VI as king of both England and France, in keeping with the intention
of the Treaty of Troyes.
 Charles
VII of France. The French Dauphin Charles, son of Charles VI,
was hardly in agreement with the English on this matter. He naturally
sought the French crown for himself. But in order to legitimate this
claim, he would have to have himself crowned king in the cathedral of Rheims,
the ancient site of all French coronations. This however presented
a major problem: Rheims was in English hands.
For a while there was a political
stand-off between French and English interests. But the standoff
only worsened the situation for Charles--weakening his authority among
the French with each year that he did nothing to legitimate his claim to
the throne.
The Burgundians. Further,
this tenuous situation was made even more complex by the workings of national
and regional political alliances. Burgundy was a large region in
the south and east of France which was nominally a vassal of the French
king--but was in fact quite independent in its politics. Indeed,
the Burgundians, for reasons of mutual interest in a weakened French monarchy,
were allies with the English in the English-French struggles.
The area where Joan was living, Champaign,
was typical of the complexities. The region was supposedly part of
the Burgundian landholdings. But the personal sympathies of its inhabitants
were for Charles and the French court. At this time it was
Charles' men who even held military ascendancy in the region. It
was to one of his officers, Robert Baudricourt, that the voices directed
Joan to present her self.
She Pleads Her Cause
In her visit to Baudricourt (June 1428)
she was laughed out of his presence with the instructions that she be sent
home for a good spanking.
But by that fall the situation facing
Charles was worsening rapidly. The English had broken the Treaty
of Troyes and were starting up a new round in the ancient war by attacking
the city of Orléans. To capture this city in the heart of
France was to leave the English in unquestioned control of all of France.
By the end of the year the fall of Orléans seemed to be at hand.
In January 1429 a very reluctant
Joan once again, under the very urgent call of the voices, visited Baudricourt
in Vaucouleurs. Baudricourt again did not receive her well--but this
time he did not send her away either. She persistently stayed on
in Vaucoulers, claiming that she had to obey the voice of God.
Then in mid-February she disclosed
another of her visions--that the French had just suffered a major defeat
just outside the city walls of Orléans, and that her services were
needed more than ever. When a few days later news arrived of exactly
such a defeat, Baudricourt finally yielded to her request to be led to
the French king.
She traveled under military escort,
being herself dressed in armor (at her own request), to the king's court
at Chinon in the Loire valley in the west of France--not far from Orléans--arriving
there on March 3rd, 1429. Her reception by the king's court was inclined
to be much like Baudricourt's initial reception (the king's close advisor,
La Trémoille, was adamantly opposed to her)--except that she was
able to communicate to the king her knowledge of a secret which he alone
knew, strengthening greatly in the king's mind her claims to have the powers
of God with her.
Nonetheless, before Charles was willing
to trust her entirely, he sent her off to Poitiers to be examined by "doctors"
of the church--to ascertain whether the visions she claimed to be receiving
were authentic or not. She was examined, found to be quite orthodox
in her spirituality, and the doctors returned her to the king with their
understanding that she could safely be put to some kind of use--along with
continuing scrutiny.
Her esteem with the court (La Trémoille
apparently being the usual exception) was enhanced greatly when upon being
offered a sword, she instead asked for the sword buried behind the altar
in the chapel of Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois. Much to everyone's surprise,
such a sword was indeed found--and delivered to her.
She further impressed the court with
her announcement that Orléans would soon be delivered from the English,
that she herself would be wounded by an arrow in the battle, and that the
King would be crowned in Rheims by summer (all of which subsequently came
true)--and with the mention of a few other things that only the king knew
to be true.
With this announcement a 17-year-old
Joan of Arc stood ready to answer the call of her God.
Victory
Joan then audaciously sent a communication
to the English king that they were to retreat from Orléans--for
God so willed it. This only infuriated the English. But their
fury turned to amazement when she was able to slip past the English and
enter Orléans on the last day of April, 1429. Her presence
there completely changed the mood of the city--and from a defensive posture
the French at Orléans took to the offensive. In the next few
days she took on the English encampments surrounding Orléans, overruning
them in turn. However on May 7th she was shot in the chest
by an English arrow--exactly as she had predicted. Wounded, but not
defeated, she pressed on and the next day, May 8th, Orléans was
completely free.
She stood ready to pursue the English,
now that the tide in the war was turning. But Charles (under the
advisement of La Trémoille and the Archbishop of Rheims) was slow
in his response to her entreaties. She finally got authorization
for a move along the Loire valley against the English. She met with
a number of small successes--forcing the English finally to send out a
huge army against her from Paris. But this too she routed--on June
18.
Despite her growing set of victories
she still found the French forces nervous. When at Troyes her efforts to
take that town met with serious resistance, her commanders were ready to
retreat. But she once again rallied the army and took Troyes.
Even as she then turned toward Rheims
with the idea of restoring that all-important city to French rule, she
found her commanders reluctant. Once again by her sheer popularity
with her army she pushed on, taking that city and paving the way for Charles
to be crowned there on July 17th. (She now had the honor to stand
by the king, holding her own military standard, as he was crowned.)
She had completed the mission that God had been calling her to for the
past several years.
A Change in Fortunes
The story at this point grows a bit
confused. Part of her wanted to return home at this point and
retire from this bizarre occupation. Part of her wanted to carry
on with her military campaign. Pressed by her own army to follow
the latter course, she did so--though now with less automatic military
success. What did the voices have to say on this matter? Did
she at this point lose sight of the divine imperative that hitherto had
moved her? Was she now simply following the logic of power politics?
In any case, she continued to press
forward with the war against the English--obviously trying to deliver all
of France from the hold of the English.
She proceeded to march on to Paris,
to try to deliver that key city from the English. Once again her
support from the French court itself was tepid. She was able to capture
St. Denis, just outside Paris. But the city itself could not be taken.
On September 8th, as she was encouraging her men in filling the moat below
the city's walls, she was seriously wounded and carried off from the scene
of battle. She had to abandon the effort to take Paris.
Then several days later the news
reached her that Charles had once again yielded easily to pressure and
had signed a truce with the Burgundians--a truce that tied her hands with
respect to pursuing a campaign of liberating France from the English.
She had to call it quits.
Though she was now part of the court
party of Charles VII, even having her family ennobled in December of 1429
as the Du Lis, the experience was a miserable one for her. She was
a person of simple and direct thoughts--and totally ill-equipped to deal
with the intrigue that swirled around her king.
The following spring (1430), with
the Burgundian truce having come to an end, she took to the field again.
She heard from the voices again--telling her this time that she would be
taken prisoner before Midsummer Day.
Capture
The prophesy was fulfilled on May 24th
at Compiègne (not too far north of Paris). That morning she
managed to break through English lines as they surrounded the city, to
come to the aid of the French defending the city from within. That
evening she led a small force out to try to rout the English--only to have
the effort fizzle. Just as the French were retreating rapidly back
into the city before an English counterattack, a nervous gatekeeper closed
the gates, leaving Joan and a few others outside the walls. She was
pulled from her horse and handed over to the Burgundian general, John of
Luxembourg.
Charles did nothing to bring about
her freedom. He could have exchanged prisoners (such as the English
Earl of Suffolk, whom the French held)--as was usually done in such cases
of important individuals. In fact capturing and holding important
political figures for ransom was a lucrative business during the Hundred
Years War. But Charles took no action. But then neither did
the prosperous city of Orléans, which owed their freedom to her.
Nor did any other French citizen make such an offer.
In any case, John subsequently sold
Joan to the English--for a very large sum of money. The English however
were not looking for a prisoner. They were looking for her death.
However the rules of warfare were such that a soldier could not be put
to death for simply having been a powerful enemy. So they looked
for another rationale to put an end to her.
Her Trial and Death
At this point the Bishop of Beauvais,
who was a partisan of the Burgundian party, stepped forward to charge Joan
with witchcraft. His jurisdiction was questionable: Joan had
been captured in his diocese, but he himself had no authority there as
Beauvais itself was held by the French. The trial was consequently
held in Rouen, safely to the west in English-held Normandy.
The evidence against her was her
voices--that these were not the voices of departed saints, but of demons
(which the English were easily ready to believe). The very idea of
a woman donning armor and leading a full army itself was further evidence
that she was demon-possessed.
The case against her opened in January
of 1431 and she herself appeared before her accusers in February.
Her answers about her directives from God were simple, honest--and ultimately
not very helpful in the case against her. Indeed, she began to increase
sympathy among those who gathered to hear her case. Consequently
the case was moved to a small private court.
A major point against her was her
attire--which was appropriate only for a male nobleman--not a female of
any stature. There is much to speculate on about this. Why
did she continue when clearly this was a mark against her? Some say
that it was the only protection for the little modesty still allowed her
that she had.
Another problem was that she had
to represent herself without counsel--and was thus at times very uncomprehending
of what was being asked of her or the implications of her answers.
At one point, despairing of the fate
she knew awaited her from her captives, she leapt from the 70-foot high
tower of Beaurevoir, either to end her life or to make her escape.
Amazingly she was unhurt--but was also quickly captured. From then
on she was confined inside an iron cage with head, hands and feet manacled.
Finally the hearings were finished
in Mid-March and some 70 charges were brought against her. She was
allowed a reply to these points. Subsequently these charges were
rewritten into 12 charges.
She was given the opportunity to
renounce parts of her earlier position--which at first she refused to do,
even under the threat of torture. Once again, on May 23, as the stake
was being prepared outside to receive its victim, she was asked again to
sign some kind of abbreviated retraction. This she was willing to
do. Thus her life was spared. She now instead faced a life-time
of imprisonment.
This was not the way things were
supposed to go and the English and the Burgundians were furious with the
French court that had heard the case. The Bishop of Beauvais promised
that somehow they would still "get her."
It seemed that in signing the statement
of renunciation she had agreed to a number of terms--including not ever
wearing men's dress again. Failure to meet any of these terms would
automatically convict her of possessing a faithless (ie, demonic) spirit
and make her subject to death at the stake. Thus when in her continuing
confinement she donned her soldier's attire (some say that her women's
wear was taken from her in order to catch her in this trap; others say
that she did this as an act of defiance when the worship privileges she
was promised were not forthcoming) she was declared a relapsed heretic.
On May 29 the court decided unanimously
in favor of the charges. On the next day, May 30, 1431, she was burned
at the stake in the market-place of Rouen, moving the crowd to tears with
the strength of the spirit by which she met death.
Posthumous Rehabilitation
A quarter of a century later, with the
Hundred Years War finally at an end and with the French monarchy secure
on its throne in Paris, her case was brought up for review--under
the authorization of Pope Calixtus III. This time the verdict went
entirely differently. In her "rehabilitation trial" it was found
that she was guilty of no wrongdoings--and in fact had been true to the
very clear call of God on her life.
Over the centuries her reputation
continued to grow--even finding acceptance among the English by the 19th
century. Indeed in the mid 19th century the matter of her beatification
as a saint was initiated. Moving through all the stages of this lengthy
process, it finally concluded with her canonization in 1920 by Pope Benedict
XV.
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(1412-1431)
Joan of Arc: An Overview
Her Life and Works
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to the history section: Renaissance Politics
