Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc - Literature review Example

Joan of Arc Introduction According to the historians, the medieval Anglo-French conflict had begun “with a long-standing dispute about the proper relationship between the crown of France and several rich feudal principalities within that kingdom’s territory” and consequently turned into “a series of destructive wars” which occurred between 1337 and 1453, aka the Hundred Years War (Adams 1). The dukes of Aquitaine and Burgundy were by far richer and more powerful than their suzerain, the king of France; given the fact that the duke of Aquitaine had also been the king of England, while the duke of Burgundy was the count of Flanders, the neighboring states in the Low Countries, and the Rhineland, it appears anything but a surprise (Adams 1). The succession crisis of 1328, which involved the closely related dynasties of France, England and Burgundy, was brought about by the death of the last of Philip IV’s three royal sons, Charles IV, who died without son and heir, thus ending “the eldest male line of the Capetian family” (Adams 1-2). Consequently, two cousins claimed the French throne – the eldest nephew of Philip IV, Philip of Valois, and Edward III of England, whose mother Isabella was Philip IV’s daughter (Adams 2). According to modern views, there are four phases in the Hundred Years War, as follows – the first phase between 1337 and 1360, during which the Plantagenet (King Edward’s) party had been triumphant; the second phase, from 1360 to 1416, which was marked by the Valois recovery of control over French territories, initiated by Charles V the Wise and facilitated by the Plantagenet’s own succession crisis; the third phase, between 1413 and 1428, which began with Henry V’s invasion of France and the overwhelming English victory at Agincourt (1415), and lasted to the siege of Orleans; and the fourth phase, which ended with “nearly complete expulsion of the English from French soil in 1453” (Adams 3). At some point in the late spring of 1429, when the English victory seemed more or less inevitable, Joan the Maid appeared on the scene, inspiring popular support for the Valois cause and initiating, against all odds, the French military recovery (Adams 3-4). A Biographical Note As Richey points out, “Joan was born into a common family” in the little village of Domremy, situated along the Meuse river bordering Lorraine, in about 1412 (1; Brooks 14-15). Brooks vividly describes the “small stone-and-rubble house next to the village church”, which originally consisted of “three or four small rooms, with a loft above, reached by a ladder”, where Joan spent her early childhood years (16-17). According to Brooks, the fact that the house had been made of stone but not wood indicates first and foremost the importance of its owners (17). Furthermore in that regard, Brooks points out that Joan’s father, Jacques d’Arc, was one of village’s leaders, being not only the tax collector for the town’s overlord, but also head of the village watch, i.e. responsible for “seeing to the safety of the peasants and their livestock” (17-18). Part of his duties included driving the village livestock to a fortified refuge on an island in the river in times of pillaging raids, which task he had usually performed being assisted by Joan, her three brothers and a sister, Catherine (Brooks 18). The surviving descriptions of Joan portray a “healthy, strong peasant of square build”, with black hair, dark brown eyes and a swarthy complexion (Brooks 18). According to Brooks, although some remarked on Joan’s shapely figure, no one had ever called her beautiful; but it was her “lovely, feminine voice” that struck all (18). Being of a cheerful disposition, Joan had many friends; she is also described as “generous and outgoing, eager to help those in trouble” (Brooks 18). Having received some simple religious education, perhaps entirely from her mother, Joan was illiterate just like most peasants; she also loved the sound of church bells and was considered too pious by her friends (Brooks 18). Thus, growing up as an “unusually devout” girl, Joan was “especially devoted to two virgin saints, St. Catherine and St. Margaret”, besides the local patron, St. Michael, whose sword was believed to offer protection against the evil (Richey 2; Brooks 19). The Socio-Historical Background As Adams points out, the turbulent times of Joan’s drama were marked by two major crises of the European civilization – the Hundred Years War and what he calls the Great Schism of the Roman Catholic Church (4). The latter had taken place between 1378 and 1417, and manifested itself in the divided church leadership, where two popes – “one residing at Rome and the other at Avignon” – claimed the supreme spiritual authority (Adams 4). Moreover, from 1409 to 1415 there was even a third claimant, appointed by a Church Council meeting at Pisa; the spiritual and political consequences of that scandal, which however was settled once and for all in 1415 with “a major alteration” of the Church constitution and the ascent of Martin V to the throne of St. Peter, were strongly felt by the contemporaries of Joan (Adams 4-5). The political consequences of the scandal came as a lot of support given by the Paris intelligentsia for the Plantagenet claimant to the crown of France, i.e. in favor of the English kings’ reliance on the parliamentary institution, as opposed to the Valois absolutism; which more or less reflected the hope of the “best minds and most idealistic spirits of European society” for, and commitment to reform of both the church and society (Adams 5). Named after a Christian martyr, St. Remigius, or St. Remi, Domremy appeared a typical medieval countryside village, where both Celts and Romans had left their physical and cultural imprints (Brooks 19). Roman ruins, which were used to be thought haunted by specters and apparitions, “stirred the imaginations” of the local peasants by Joan’s time; although the Christianity had replaced the pagan religions, it hadn’t eradicated yet the old “nature-oriented beliefs of the peasants” (Brooks 19). Thus, various ancient sacred spots, like springs, trees, rocks, etc., “continued to be worshipped but under new protectors”, i.e. the Christian saints, who, by the time, became so popular that there were saints for virtually all occasions, from “saints to protect women in childbirth, saints to cure disease and ward off evil”, etc. to “saints to protect virginity” (Brooks 19). Since saints appeared closer to them, the peasants were more likely to seek saints’ protection and assistance, rather than pray to God; not surprisingly therefore, the saints “were all around – in stained-glass windows, in statues, and in church dramas where their lives were acted out” (Brooks 19). Having grown up during the height of the Hundred Years War, Joan witnessed the consecutive disasters that befell her native France by then – the English and their Burgundian allies conquered the northern part of the country, including Paris, besides the English hold on a large enclave in the southeast of France, while all the fighting that had taken place in France brought about serious loss of life, with numerous French civilian casualties (Richey 2; Adams 4). As Adams writes, the conflict’s ferocity clashed with the “restraints of chivalric warfare” while mercenary soldiers made “an easy and pleasurable living from pillage, rapine, and the indiscriminate slaughter” of the civilian population “that had lost the habit of self-defense under the long Capetian peace” (4). On the other hand, according to Michelet, nowhere were the peasants’ immediate interests at stake as in the borderlands between Lorraine and Champagne, and nowhere else “the least repercussions of national conflicts were felt” with such “shattering force” (7). However, France “had not been so savaged since the times of the Vikings five centuries before” (Adams 4). While the uncrowned king of France, the Dauphin Charles, had set up his royal court at Chinon, from where he tried to rule “the unoccupied remnant” of French territory, in October 1428, the English laid their siege to the city of Orleans – the bridge between northern and southern France, hence the last obstacle in their way “before overrunning the rest” of the country (Richey 2-4; Pernoud and Clin 9). Joan’s Entry into the Scene At the time of the Hundred Years War, Orleans was the key to southern France, namely the key to Bourges – “the stronghold of the dauphin Charles” – as well as the key to Auxerre, where the Burgundian troops were waiting for “what might well be the final move to checkmate the dauphin” (Pernoud and Clin 10). Thus, on the fate of the besieged city hung that of the entire kingdom; John, the Bastard of Orleans – a half-brother of the Duke of Orleans, Charles – was entrusted with the defense of the city against the triumphant English troops under Salisbury (Pernoud and Clin 10-11). The morale of the Orleans’ defenders had already sunk due to a number of military failures and setbacks, which not only resulted in a number of commanders and noblemen being killed or wounded, among the latter was John the Bastard himself, but also inevitably compromised the military reputation of the French (Pernoud and Clin 10). Insofar as the fate of Orleans seemed more or less sealed, including due to the desperate shortage of food which was the inhabitants’ immediate concern, the popular distrust of the defender of Orleans increased; to the degree that the citizens appealed to the Duke of Burgundy to spare the city – “yet one further humiliation for John the Bastard” (Pernoud and Clin 11). At this critical juncture, rumors that an “unexpected rescue sent from heaven and conveyed by an unknown girl said to be called ‘Joan the Maid’” became particularly attractive, since only divine intervention – according to the popular conviction – could save Orleans (Pernoud and Clin 13). In actual fact, as of May 1428, claiming “that God was directing her through voices she heard”, Joan repeatedly asked the commander of nearest French military garrison to send her to the Dauphin at Chinon, insisting that she was “divinely ordered to lead the French army to victory over the English and escort Charles to Reims, where he would be properly crowned king” (Richey 2). So, in February 1429, Joan arrived at Chinon with a small escort and was presented to Charles, “with her hair short cut and wearing a man’s clothes”, who consented to provide her with a horse, banner, armor and sword, and, more importantly, to “place her at the head of the army marching to rescue Orleans” (Richey 4). Thus Joan, being about seventeen years of age when she met the dauphin, proceeded to lead his army in an “astounding series of victories” that eventually turned the tide of the war (Richey 4). Charles was crowned king of France in the cathedral at Reims in July 1429, “with Joan in armor at his side” (Richey 4). The Thorny Road to Martyrdom Joan’s involvement in the war could be considered the result of several factors, besides the particular historical circumstances and necessity for it, such as her piety, sensitivity to her fellow countrymen suffering and, most notably, her belief in the heavenly interference in every aspect of human life. Thus, being fed on legends, she became a living legend herself; however, she not only managed to create her own ideas, but also to turn them into realities (Michelet 9). On the other hand, perhaps due to the factors mentioned above, as supplemented by her natural naivety about politics and political issues, Joan raged at the negotiations with the Burgundians and Charles’s decision to disband the army “while much of France was still under hostile occupation”; moreover, she continued “to make war of her own, leading such meager forces as she was allowed”, challenging both the highest authorities of her days – the church and the king (Richey 4). In fact, her challenge to the church’s authority commenced not only with her declaration of being under the direction of God, but also with the adoption of man-like behavior and responsibilities, which apparently contradicted the Catholic Church conception of women’s place in the medieval world. At the siege of Compiegne in 1430, Joan was taken prisoner by the enemy soldiers and consequently convicted of heresy by a special court convened at Rouen in 1431 (Richey 4). According to the records of her trial, Joan had been accused first and foremost of “shocking and vile monstrosity”, which was manifested in wearing “the disgraceful clothing of men”, thus “utterly disregarding the honor due to the female sex, throwing off the bridle of modesty, and forgetting all feminine decency” (Hobbins 33). However, the accusations escalated to heresy, since “her presumption …grew until she dared to perform, to speak, and to publicize many things contrary to the catholic faith and injurious to its articles” (Hobbins 33). Insofar as heresy had been a capital offence by then, Joan was condemned and sentenced to death; about at the age of nineteen, she was burned at the stake in May 1431 (Richey 4). The Hundred Years War continued up to 1453, when the English were driven out of France; three years later, namely in 1456, the Catholic Church revoked Joan’s conviction for heresy, proclaiming that “she had been a good Christian and Catholic” (Richey 4). In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint (Richey 4). Conclusion As Richey points out, whatever scholars, politicians, pundits, etc. have thought, stated and written about Joan ever since her time, one thing remains undoubtedly clear – she had an impact on history, which derived from her success “in the realm of action” (4). Being an illiterate peasant girl without any military training, she was first and foremost a charismatic, although naïve military leader, or an inspirational icon for the demoralized French soldiers. However, the opinions on the matter vary greatly, insofar as many authors depict Joan as “a genuine military genius who was absolutely in charge of fighting her part of the Hundred Years War” (Richey 5). Despite the amazing martial achievements of Joan – either real or exaggerated, whether due to her military genius or to a combination of her personal charisma and particular circumstances – the main imprint left by her could be considered the challenge she posed to the topmost authorities of the medieval world, in her inspired attempt to save her country. Works Cited Adams, Jeremy duQuesnay, Prelude. Joan of Arc: Her Story, by Pernoud and Clin. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print Brooks, Polly Schoyer, Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990. Print Champion, Pierre, The Trial of Joan of Arc. Trans. Daniel Hobbins. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Print Michelet, Jules, Joan of Arc. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 1957. Print Pernoud, Regine and Clin, Marie-Veronique, Joan of Arc: Her Story. Trans. Jeremy duQuesnay Adams. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print Richey, Stephen W., Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003. Print Read More