Joan of Arc

St. Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc) (January

Biography

Early life and context

Jeanne d'Arc or Jehanne Darc was born circa 1412 in the small village of Domrémy in the Meuse valley to Jacques D'Arc and Isabelle de Vouthon, a peasant family later granted noble status by Charles VII. Domremy is a village which is now in Lorraine, but was then a part of the Duchy of Bar — a part of France whose Duke was pro-Anglo-Burgundian in loyalty. France at that time was split by a factional rivalry which would allow the English to make swift gains. There were two factions of the French Royal family: the Burgundians (supporters of the Duke of Burgundy) and the Armagnacs (supporters of the Duke of Orléans and later of Charles VII). The groups were involved in a struggle over the government which allowed Henry V's conquests in 1415 and the following years. In 1420, the Treaty of Troyes granted the throne to Henry V's heirs, disinheriting Charles, the Dauphin (crown prince), and making the infant Henry VI of England the nominal king after 1422.

Related Topics:
1412 - Domrémy - Meuse - Jacques D'Arc - Peasant - Noble - Lorraine - Burgundians - Duke of Burgundy - Armagnacs - Duke of Orléans - Charles VII - Henry V - 1415 - 1420 - Treaty of Troyes - Dauphin - Crown prince - Henry VI of England - 1422

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Visions and mission

Around 1424, Joan said she began receiving visions of Saint Michael the Archangel, 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, Lord Robert de Baudricourt, to give her an escort to bring her to the Dauphin's court at Chinon. She was rejected, but returned the following January and was finally granted an escort of six men. Two of these soldiers, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy, said they gave her male clothing to wear (as the standard disguise used in such circumstances) and brought her through Burgundian-controlled territory to Chinon. She was said to have convinced Charles to believe in her by relating a private prayer that he had made the previous 1 November, although he additionally insisted on having her examined for three weeks by theologians at Poitiers before granting final acceptance. She was then brought to a succession of towns where preparations were being made to bring supplies to the city of Orléans, which had been under siege by the English since the previous October.

Related Topics:
1424 - Michael the Archangel - St Catherine - St Margaret - Reims - 1428 - Robert de Baudricourt - Chinon - 1 November - Poitiers - Orléans

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She was joined by her brothers Jean and Pierre, and equipped with armour and a white banner depicting God flanked by two angels and the words "Jesus" and "Mary" on the side. With her piety, confidence, and enthusiasm, she boosted the morale of the troops. The small force she eventually led included the legendary soldiers Jean d'Orleans (Count of Dunois), La Hire, and Poton de Xaintrailles.

Related Topics:
Armour - Jean d'Orleans (Count of Dunois) - La Hire - Poton de Xaintrailles

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She arrived at the besieged city of Orléans on April 29, 1429. After several English fortifications were taken from May 4–May 7, the remaining English forces were pulled from their siege lines on May 8. The lifting of the siege — the "sign" that she had said would verify her legitimacy as a visionary — 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.

Related Topics:
Besieged city of Orléans - April 29 - 1429 - May 4 - May 7 - Siege - May 8 - Archbishop of Embrun - Jean Gerson

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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.

Related Topics:
Jargeau - June 12 - Meung-sur-Loire - Patay

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The army set out from Gien-sur-Loire on 29 June, accepting the neutrality of the Burgundian-held city of Auxerre by 3 July before laying siege to the city of Troyes on July 5. This city surrendered on the 9th, followed by Châlons-sur-Marne on the 14th. 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.

Related Topics:
Gien-sur-Loire - 29 June - Auxerre - 3 July - Troyes - July 5 - Châlons-sur-Marne - July 17 - 1429

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Although Jeanne and a number of the commanders urged a prompt march on Paris, the Royal Court was mesmerized by the prospect of a negotiated peace offered by the Duke of Burgundy. Negotiations with Burgundian diplomats began at Reims shortly after the coronation, resulting in a 15-day truce which merely had the effect of stalling the Royal army's momentum. Charles used this time to take the army on a wandering tour of nearby cities in the hope of accepting their allegiance in turn, a process which bore fruit largely due to Jeanne's "great diligence" (according to one of the chroniclers who served in her army). A day of skirmishing with an English army under the Duke of Bedford at Montépilloy on August 15 led to a slow march toward Paris. An attack on the city finally came on September 8, but ended in disaster when Jeanne was shot in the leg and the attack was called off against her will. Charles ordered the army to withdraw on the 10th. A lack of royal support was also blamed for the failure to take La-Charité-sur-Loire in late November and December.

Related Topics:
Paris - Duke of Bedford - Montépilloy - August 15 - September 8 - La-Charité-sur-Loire

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Capture, trial and execution

With a truce in effect, Jeanne didn't return to the field until the following March. An attempt to lift the siege laid to the city of Compiègne on May 23 led to her capture by Burgundian troops when she and her soldiers were trapped outside the city.

Related Topics:
Compiègne - May 23

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Several sources state that Charles demanded that she be ransomed back to her own side, but the Burgundians refused. Instead, she was transferred to their English allies in exchange for the usual monetary compensation common in such transfers, with the hand-over being entrusted to Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais and counselor for the English occupation government. Surviving documents record payments made by the English government to cover the costs of obtaining Joan and rewarding many of the judges whom they selected to preside over her trial.

Related Topics:
Pierre Cauchon - Bishop of Beauvais

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Jeanne was put on trial by a hand-picked gathering of pro-English clergy, who charged her with heresy. The trial, held in the seat of the English occupation government at Rouen, beginning on 9 January 1431, was conducted in flagrant violation of a number of basic Inquisitorial guidelines. The accusations were a large and motley list, unbacked by any of the direct witness evidence required under the Church's rules. Her visions were dismissed as demonic in origin, without the usual procedures of discernment ("discretio spirituum") being followed to provide any proof of this accusation. She was alleged to be in opposition to the Church, although eyewitnesses confirmed that this was based on a distortion: she only objected to being tried by pro-English clergy who were intent on convicting her. She appealed instead to the Pope, but this was rejected; her appeal to the Council of Basel was omitted from the record on Cauchon's orders. She was accused of being a bloodthirsty killer, although her statement that she had never killed anybody (preferring to carry her banner in combat) is confirmed by the other sources, which additionally attest to the mercy she showed toward enemy soldiers. It was, ironically, her judge, Bishop Cauchon, who had supported the bloody Cabochien Revolt in 1413, and defended the assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans in 1407.

Related Topics:
Clergy - Heresy - Rouen - 9 January - 1431 - Inquisitorial - Demon - Discretio spirituum - Pope - Council of Basel - Cabochien Revolt - 1413 - Louis, Duke of Orléans - 1407

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In addition to the various illegal procedures and the denial of her appeal to the Pope, she was also kept in a secular prison guarded by English soldiers instead of in an ecclesiastical prison, as the Church's rules mandated. It was this last issue which was most cruelly utilized by her accusers: many eyewitnesses confirm that she was being subjected to attempted rape at the hands of the five English soldiers who served as her guards, for which reason she clung to the safety provided by the "laces and points" on her male clothing which allowed the pants and tunic to be securely fastened together. For this, she was accused of the sin of cross-dressing, although the Summa Theologica and other medieval theological works specifically grant an exemption in such cases of necessity.

Related Topics:
Secular - Ecclesiastical - Summa Theologica

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A set of 12 articles of accusation, which the notaries later confirmed had been drawn up without their knowledge and without any correction of the many errors contained within, was sent to the pro-English University of Paris, which dutifully recommended conviction. Since only a "relapsed heretic" could be given the death penalty, Cauchon next carried out what is generally accepted to have been a deliberate attempt to provide an excuse for labeling her "relapsed".

Related Topics:
Notaries - University of Paris

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She was first brought to Saint-Ouen cemetery and threatened with summary execution unless she signed a confession and agreed to wear a dress. This was followed by what eyewitnesses described as a concerted attempt by the guards, joined by a "great English lord", to rape her, as a means of inducing her to readopt the protective male clothing. In the end, according to the bailiff, Jean Massieu, they gave her nothing else to wear except the offending male clothing, which she finally put back on after arguing with the guards "until noon". The judges were then brought in to view the "relapse". Witnesses saw Cauchon triumphantly announce to the English commanders waiting outside: "Farewell, be of good cheer, it is done!"

Related Topics:
Saint-Ouen - Rape - Jean Massieu

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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". When her body went limp and her head dropped forward, the witnesses knew her ordeal was over. One English soldier, who had just picked up a piece of wood to throw on the fire, was terrified by the vision of a white dove (symbol of the Holy Spirit) which he said flew out of her body at the moment of death and headed toward French-held territory to the south. The executioner, Geoffroy Therage, confessed to having "...a great fear of being damned, he had burned a saint." Her ashes were cast into the Seine River.

Related Topics:
May 30 - 1431 - Martin Ladvenu - Isambart de la Pierre - Crucifix - Geoffroy Therage - Seine

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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 Jeanne d'Arc'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 Jeanne 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.

Related Topics:
1449 - Guillaume Bouille - 1452 - 1455 - Pope Callixtus III - 1456 - Martyr - 7 July - 15th century - Pilgrimage - Indulgence - Catholic League - 16th century - Beatification - 1909 - Notre Dame de Paris - Canonization - Saint - May 16 - 1920

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