Joan of Arc - Infinite Women

Born: 1412, France
Died: 30 May 1431
Country most active: France
Also known as: Jeanne d’Arc

The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
AT the beginning of the fifteenth century there dwelt in the little village of Domremy, on the banks of the Meuse, Jacques d’Arc, or Darc, a peasant, and Isabeau Romie, his wife. Though comparatively poor, they had the respect of their neighbours as being a hard-working, honest couple. They had three sons and two daughters, all of whom were bred, like their parents, to humble occupations. Joan, Jeanne, or Jehanne was born, according to different writers, in 1402, 1410, or 1412. She was[135] exceedingly beautiful, with fine expressive features, and jet black hair. She was about the middle height, with a delicately moulded frame. Her education was the same as that of most peasant-girls, French or English, in those days—spinning, sewing, and repeating her Paternoster and Ave Maria. From her infancy Jeanne was employed in various duties, the chief of which was driving the cattle to and from pasture. She was of a religious, imaginative disposition, and as early as her thirteenth year began to indulge those superstitious reveries which afterwards made her famous. Although her gentleness caused her to be universally beloved, she shunned girls of her own age, and took but little interest in the amusements of others. While her young friends were playing under the “Fairies’ Tree” near the fountain of Domremy, Jeanne was dancing and singing by herself in pious fervour, or weaving garlands for the Holy Virgin in the small chapel of Notre Dame de Bellemont.
The villagers of Domremy were, without exception, staunch Royalists, while those of the neighbouring hamlet were zealous Burgundians. A very bitter hostility prevailed between the rival parties. On one occasion a band of troopers invaded Domremy and drove all the people from their homes. The family of Jeanne found shelter for a few days at an inn; whence arose the mistake of the English[136] chroniclers, who state that the maiden was in early life an innkeeper’s servant.
For a quarter of a century, France had been torn by civil war, and the death of Charles VI. in 1422 plunged the country into hopeless confusion and anarchy. According to the Treaty of Troyes (concluded in 1420), Henry VI. of England was proclaimed King of France, which his uncle, the Duke of Bedford, governed as regent. Queen Isabella and the Duke of Burgundy joined England; and the Dauphin, abandoned by his own mother, had a very small party indeed. The English army was commanded by several brave and talented warriors—the Earls of Salisbury, Somerset, Warwick, Suffolk, Shrewsbury, Arundel, and many gallant knights.
The Dauphin, at the age of nineteen, was crowned at Poitiers, as Charles VII. On the 12th of October, 1428, the Earl of Salisbury laid siege to Orleans, the last stronghold of any importance held by the Royalists. It was bravely defended by Glaucour, Lahyre, and Dunois. Repeated messages were sent to the king imploring assistance. The city was naturally strong, and well-garrisoned, but the English commenced an elaborate system of counter-fortification, and cut off the supplies of the besieged.
Jeanne d’Arc watched with eager anxiety the siege of Orleans. Even as a child she had learned to detest the English; and now she felt herself commanded,[137] by frequent visions and supernatural admonitions, to undertake the deliverance of her king and country. Believing firmly that Heaven destined her to save France, she refused more than one advantageous offer of marriage. In February, 1429, being then, according to the most reliable authorities, barely eighteen, she was commanded by a vision of Our Lady to raise the siege of Orleans, and afterwards conduct Charles to Rheims to be crowned in state. She presented herself before Robert de Baudricourt, governor of Vaucoulour, a town situated a few miles from Domremy, and related her mission. Believing her to be insane, the governor twice sent her away, threatening the second time to box her ears; but when she returned a third time he thought it best to send her with letters of recommendation to the Dauphin, at Chinon, in Touraine.
The fame of Jeanne d’Arc preceded her; and the king awaited with impatience the arrival of his extraordinary visitor. Although Charles disguised himself and mixed with his courtiers, Jeanne singled him out at once, and addressed him as king of France.
After being subjected to the most severe examination during three weeks, by divines, counsellors of parliament and learned men, the king was satisfied that her story was true, and consented to accept her aid. She was furnished with a suit of armour,[138] and armed with a sword marked on the blade with five crosses, taken by her directions from the tomb of an old warrior in the church of St. Catherine at Fierbois. In company with several nobles she was sent to the camp at Blois, thirty-five miles from Orleans. Her presence produced the most miraculous effect upon the drooping spirits of the soldiers. The French generals resolved now to make some great effort for the relief of Orleans; and ten thousand men, commanded by St. Severre, Lahyre, and the veteran Dunois were despatched to its aid. Most of the soldiers retreated in dismay when they saw the strong towers of the besiegers, but La Pucelle, followed by a small party, forced her way through the English camp, and entered Orleans on the 29th of April, 1429. She was clad in armour and mounted on a snow-white horse; her head was bare, and the long raven tresses, parted across her forehead, were tied at the back with ribbon. In her right hand she grasped a lance; by her side hung the consecrated sword and a small battle-axe.
On the 4th of May a sortie was made against the English bastille of St. Loup, but the French were driven back with great slaughter. Jeanne, hearing the noise of the fight, mounted her horse and galloped to the spot, when she rode into the midst of the battle. The French, re-animated by her presence, again charged the English, drove them back, and captured the bastille.
After this first success the rest was comparatively easy. On the 6th and 7th the remaining bastilles on the south bank of the Loire were carried by storm. The most important, that at the head of the bridge, defended by Sir William Gladsdale with five thousand picked men, yielded after an attack of fourteen hours. During the attack on this tower, Jeanne, having placed a ladder against the walls, was attempting to scale the battlements, when she was struck in the neck by an arrow. She plucked out the weapon immediately, but the loss of blood compelled her to leave the field. However, when she heard that her absence dispirited the soldiers, she insisted upon returning to the scene of action.
The Earl of Salisbury died during the siege; and the Earl of Suffolk, who succeeded to the command, raised the siege on the 8th of May, and beat a hasty retreat.
Jeanne d’Arc, the “Heaven-sent Maid,” had now fully entered upon her extraordinary career of victory. The universal belief in her elevated mission—as much amongst the English as the French—produced marvellous results. Resolute and chivalrous, pious and gentle, she won the hearts of all,—even the roughest and most sceptical veterans. However, it was only in matters of moral discipline that she was implicitly obeyed; oaths or foul language were severely censured when they[140] reached her ears. She compelled the entire army, generals and soldiers alike, to attend regularly at confession; and at every halt she ordered an altar to be established and the Holy Sacrament administered. But the generals, while they skilfully employed her to animate the soldiers, did not implicitly follow her counsels in military matters.
Her tactics were very simple. “I used,” she said, “to say to them ‘go boldly in among the English,’ and then I used to go boldly in myself.” Her duties were chiefly confined to bearing at the head of the army the consecrated sword and the sacred banner—the latter made of white satin, semée with fleurs-de-lis, with the words “Jesus Maria,” and a representation of Our Saviour in his glory embroidered on its surface. Her conduct was never stained by unfeminine cruelty. It appears from the documents relative to her trial, that, although she was herself wounded many a time, she never shed the blood of anyone. Some French historians, however, aver that she did sometimes, when hard pressed, use the consecrated sword as a weapon of offence.
When the Earl of Suffolk retired from before Orleans he established his head-quarters at Méhun-sur-Loire, and afterwards at Jargeau. Jeanne hastened to Tours, where Charles was residing with his court, and urged him at once to go to Rheims to[141] be crowned. The royal advisers, however, were afraid to venture on such a step when Rheims itself, together with all the intermediate towns, was still held by the English. The French next attacked the towns in possession of the English on the banks of the Loire. During the assault on Jargeau, which was taken by storm, La Pucelle, leading on the French, was seen on the highest step of one of the scaling-ladders, waving her banner over her head. A stone from the English engines struck her so violent a blow on the head, that her helmet was shattered, and she fell heavily to the foot of the wall. Rising on the instant, she cried:—
“Amis, amis! sus, sus! Notre Seigneur a condamné les Anglais. Ils sont à nous. Bon courage!”
The Earl of Suffolk was made prisoner during the assault.
Beaugency and Méhun capitulated shortly after the fall of Jargeau; and the English, commanded by Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, the “English Achilles,” retreated towards Paris. They were pursued and overtaken in April, 1429, at Patai, by the Maid of Orleans. Sir John Fastolfe, one of the bravest knights of his day (whatever Shakespeare may declare to the contrary), advised Talbot to continue his retreat with all speed; but the Earl scorned to fly before his enemies, even though, as on this occasion, they were twice as numerous as his own men. The[142] English, struck with a superstitious dread of La Pucelle, fled, after making little resistance; and Talbot, after losing twelve hundred men, was captured. Eight hundred English were slain in the pursuit. Sir John Fastolfe, with a prudence long stigmatised as rank cowardice, continued his retreat to Paris, where he arrived safely without the loss of a man.
Jeanne now insisted that the royal coronation should be no longer delayed. Every obstacle vanished at her approach. Troyes, Chalons, and other cities in rapid succession opened their gates; the people of Rheims expelled the English garrison, and Charles entered in triumph, July 16th, 1429. The consecration took place next day in the cathedral. The Maid stood by the side of Charles, clad in armour; and, taking the office of High Constable, held the sword over the king’s head.
Her mission being now concluded, Jeanne d’Arc entreated the king’s permission to “return to her father and mother, to keep her flocks and herds as before, and do all things as she was wont to do;” but her presence was considered so necessary to animate the troops, that she was prevailed upon to stay. In September, Jeanne was wounded in an unsuccessful attack on Paris, when she requested, a second time, to be allowed to retire from the war. But she was again overruled. In December, a[143] patent of nobility was conferred upon her; she was first styled Dalis, then Dulis, and finally Dy Lys. Her coat of arms contained two golden lilies and a sword, pointing upwards, bearing a crown. She obtained for the villages of Domremy and Greux an exemption from taxation, which they enjoyed until the equalisation of public imposts in 1789.
In the spring of 1429, the Duke of Burgundy besieged Compiégne. Jeanne d’Arc threw herself into the town on the 21st of May. Believing that her presence now would work the same miracles as of old, she insisted, the evening of her arrival, that the garrison should make a sortie. After some hard fighting the French took to flight. Jeanne took the command of the rear-guard, and tried to rally her countrymen. A Burgundian archer pulled her from her horse; and while lying on the ground she was obliged to surrender to Lyonnel, the Bastard of Vendôme. There is good reason for supposing that Guillaume de Flavy, governor of the fortress, envious of her military renown, betrayed Jeanne into the hands of her enemies.
The English purchased Jeanne from the Duke of Burgundy for ten thousand livres; and Henry VI. also settled an annuity of three hundred francs upon her captor. Through many weary months the Maid of Orleans dragged out a miserable existence in a dungeon. In place of being treated as a prisoner of[144] war, she was handed over to ecclesiastical justice, charged with heresy and blasphemy. At the instigation of several Frenchmen a process was instituted by the Bishop of Beauvais, in whose diocese she had been captured. The process lasted three months and had sixteen sittings. Jeanne denied resolutely the accusations of sorcery and witchcraft, and named St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine as the bearers of the heavenly messages.
The Bishop’s Court, representing the Church and the University of Paris, condemned Jeanne d’Arc as a sorceress and a heretic. Charles VII. made little or no efforts to save her; and after four months’ imprisonment, the innocent enthusiast was sentenced to be burned alive at Rouen. She was cut off from the Church, and delivered to the secular judges.
On the 24th of May, 1431, she was carried to the stake, which had been erected in the Vieux Marché of Rouen. At sight of the pile her courage deserted her. She submitted to the Church, and confessed that her visions were the work of Satan. Her punishment was commuted to imprisonment for life, but it was not considered expedient to let her live; so she was condemned as a relapsed heretic, and dragged to the stake, May 30th. She was dressed in female attire; and on her head was a mitre, covered with the words “Apostate,” “Relapse,” “Idolâtre,” “Hérétique.”
She met her fate this time with terrible calmness. While they were putting the cap on her head, she said to one of the Dominican friars who stood by her side:—
“Maître, par la grâce de Dieu, je serai ce soir en paradis.”
Falling on her knees, she prayed fervently for a few moments, not for herself only, but for the ungrateful king who had so cruelly deserted her. The judges, even the stern Bishop of Beauvais, were moved to tears. She was burned by a slow fire, and the pile was so high that her agony lasted for a considerable time. Her ashes were gathered together and flung into the Seine.
There is a legend that, as she expired, a white dove rose from the flames. Another tradition says that after her ashes were removed, the heart was found entire.
The Rouen theatre now occupies that part of the public square on which the stake was erected. It was remarked as a curious coincidence that when Soumet’s tragedy of “Jeanne d’Arc” was performed at Rouen, in the autumn of 1865, the last act, which represents the death of the Maid, was played on the identical spot where the real tragedy had been enacted in 1431.
Jeanne’s father died of grief at her cruel fate; her mother survived for many years, supported by a[146] pension from the city of Orleans. In 1436 an impostor started up, who pretended to be the Maid of Orleans, giving a plausible account of her escape. She was for sometime successful, being acknowledged, even by the brothers, as the heroine herself. Within the last few years this idea of Jeanne’s escape has been revived. Many French writers assert that there is ample documentary evidence to prove that the Maid of Orleans lived to be comfortably married, while another girl took her place at the stake. This notion is gaining ground, both in France and England.
Among all the divines who condemned Jeanne, there was only one Englishman—the Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal Beaufort.
In 1450 and 1451 measures were taken to revise the process of condemnation. In 1456 a court, presided over by the Archbishop of Rheims and the Bishops of Paris and Coutance, decided that Jeanne d’Arc was entirely innocent, and declared her to have been falsely condemned.
The citizens of Orleans celebrate the annual Festival of Jeanne d’Arc on the 8th of May; the villagers of Domremy hold an annual fête on the 6th of January, the birth-day of the heroine. It is said that the girls of the village have so much military esprit that they will hardly deign to look upon a lover who has not served some years in the wars.
The memory of Jeanne d’Arc has been preserved in France by several monuments. Louis XI. erected a figure of the heroine in front of her father’s house; and in September, 1820, another memorial was raised in Domremy, with Jeanne’s bust carved in marble. In the market-place of Rouen stands another figure of the Maid. In front of the Marie of Orleans is a statue, modelled by the Princess Marie, daughter of the Citizen King. In April, 1855, a colossal equestrian figure was uncovered in one of the public squares of Orleans, on the exact spot where she animated the French soldiers to attack the foe. It was remarked as a sign of the times that not only the English flag, but also the Turkish crescent stood out prominently from amongst the numberless standards which surrounded the monument.

From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d’Arc, the Maid of Orleans (1412-1431) a French heroine and martyr. She was born in the village of Domremy, close to the border of Alsace, where her father Jacques d’Arc worked his small farm, and her mother Ishambeau was noted for her fine embroidery and needle-work. In 1424 a part of France was held by the English in favor of Henry VI, and the northern part, with Paris as its centre, was utterly lost to the uncrowned French King Charles VII, while the lands south of the Loire, to which Orleans was the key, were fast slipping from his uncertain grasp. It was from the farthest comer of France that the deliverer came. When the Maid was twelve years of age, she first heard the mysterious “Voices” which were to play so important a part in her career.
She was sitting in the garden at her work, when suddenly there came a light “such as she had never seen before.” And out of the light a Voice spoke, the voice of an angel as she firmly believed, and the wondering girl heard the words: “Jeanne, you must go to the help of the King of France, and it is you who shall give him back his kingdom. During the next four years the Voices spoke to her again and again, saying: “You must go to the Dauphin to make him to be crowned King.”
In January, 1429, Jeanne started on her journey, accompanied by a few followers, who believed in her mission, and who had provided her with a boy’s dress, a suit of armor, a sword, and a horse. When at length she reached Chinon, there was a delay of two days before the careless, pleasure seeking Dauphin would grant her an audience. Summoned at last to the great Chamber, filled to overflowing with richly dressed nobles, Jeanne in her travel-stained boys garb, walked straight up to the Dauphin and delivered her message: “My Prince, I am Jeanne the Maid. The King ot Heaven has sent me to conduct you to Rheims that you may be crowned—if you will.” Charles VII was a poor creature, infirm of purpose, but it is probable that he was stirred by those simple, convincing words, and though the ecclesiastics and the military commanders were against her, she was, after many delays, given a small army, with which she began the march to Orleans.
The city had been holding out against the English beleaguers, but with no hope of success, for the English were too strong; and now came this young peasant girl who had never seen a siege in her life. At the head of her little army, her banner always gleaming in the forefront of the battle, she attacks the English, and after eight days of fighting, she drives the enemy from the south bank of the river, with Orleans, the key of Southern France, safe after a siege of seven long months. Then with town after town falling, before her victorious banner, she leads the way to Rheims, where on July 17, 1429, the great event for which she toiled takes place, and Charles is crowned King of France. And now, her work accomplished, Jeanne begs to be sent back to her mother and the home in little Domremy, but they will not let her go, and from that moment is dated her failure and her fall. The Voices no longer speak to her, months of inaction follow, the Burgundians are in league with the English, Jeanne gives battle to them, but her good fortune has deserted her, and the Maid is taken prisoner. Her Burgundian captors sell her to the English, and in the whole of France not a blow is struck, not a voice raised on her behalf.
The English took her to Rouen, and placed her, until her trial, in an iron cage, where she was never free from the watch of the coarse soldiers. When the unjust trial began, charged with heresy and witchcraft, she defended herself bravely but without avail, and was condemned to be burnt at the stake. This deed was enacted in the city of Rouen on May 31, 1431, and as the flames rose up and curled around the white and trembling figure of the Maid, she cried: “My Voices were of God! They have not deceived me!”
Her ashes were thrown into the waters of the Seine, but the English soldiers went to their camp muttering in fear— “We are lost! We have burned a Saint.” The pathetic story of this valiant girl has been made the subject of drama and poetry, while history records her courage and unselfishness, the cruelty of her enemies, and the ingratitude of her countrymen.

From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc), a famous heroine, was born January 6, 1410, in the village of Domremy in Lorraine, France, of poor but decent and pious parents. She was their fifth child, and owing to the indigence of her father, received no instruction, but was accustomed to out-of-door duties, such as tending the sheep and riding of the horses to and from the watering places. The neighborhood of Domremy abounded in superstitions, and at the same time sympathized with the Orleans party in the divisions which rent the kingdom of France. Joan shared both in the political excitement and the religious enthusiasm; imaginative and devout, she loved to meditate on the legends of the Virgin, and especially, it seems, dwelt upon a current prophecy that a virgin should relieve France of her enemies.
At the age of thirteen she began to believe herself the subject of supernatural visitations, spoke of voices that she heard and of visions that she saw; and, at eighteen, was possessed by the idea that she was called to deliver her country and crown her king. Her pretensions were, at first, treated with much scorn and derision. The fortunes of the dauphin, however, were desperate,, and she was sent to Chinon, where Charles held his court. Introduced into a crowd of courtiers from whom the king was undistinguished, she is said to have singled him out at once. Her claims were submitted to a severe scrutiny. She was handed over to an ecclesiastical commission, and sent to Pointers for examination by the several faculties in the famous university there. No evidence indicating that she was a dealer in the black art, and the fact of her virginity removing all suspicions of her being under satanic influence, her wish to lead the army of her king was granted.
A suit of armor was made for her, a consecrated sword which she described as buried in the church of St. Catharine at Fierbois, was brought and placed in her hands. Thus equipped, she put herself at the head of 10,000 troops under the generalship of Dunois, threw herself upon the English who were besieging Orleans, routed them, and in a week forced them to raise the siege. Other exploits followed. In three months Charles was crowned king at Rheims, the “Maid of Orleans” standing in full armor at his side. Her promised work was done.
Denois, however, was unwilling to lose her influence and urged her to remain with the army, and she did so; but her victories were over. In an attack in the early winter (1429) she was repulsed and wounded. In the spring of the next year she was taken prisoner, and was at once carried to the Duc de Luxembourg’s fortress at Beauvais. An attempt to escape by leaping from a dungeon wall was unsuccessful, and she was taken to Rouen. Here she was tried for sorcery and convicted. The papers were sent from Rouen to Paris, and the verdict of the University of Paris was unanimous that such acts and sentiments as hers were diabolical, and merited the punishment of fire.
Sentence of condemnation was read to her publicly on a scaffold, by the Bishop of Beauvais, and the alternative offered a submission to the Church, or, the stake. The terrified girl murmured a recantation, put her mark to a confession, and was taken back to prison. Here she heard her “voices” again; her visions returned. A man’s apparel being left in her cell to tempt her, she put it on; the Bishop of Beauvais seized upon the act as a virtual relapse into her old unbelief, and hastened the execution of the first sentence. A huge pile of wood was erected in the market place of Rouen, and, surrounded by a vast assembly of soldiers and ecclesiastics, Joan of Arc was burned on the last day of May, 1431. The Seine carried her ashes to the sea.
The infamy of this transaction lies heavily upon all concerned with it; upon the Burgundians who gave her up; upon the English who allowed her execution; upon the French who did the deed, and the French who would not prevent it, and upon the king who did nothing to avenge her.
The character of the “Maid of Orleans” was spotless. She was distinguished for her purity, innocence, and modesty. Her hand never shed blood. The gentle dignity of her being impressed all who knew her, and restrained the brutality of her soldiers. She must ever be sanely estimated as a “martyr to her religion, her country, and her king.

The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.

Generally called the Maid of Orleans, was born in 1410, at the little village of Domremy, in Lorraine. Her father was named Jacques d’Arc, and his wife, Isabella Romee; Isabella had already four children, two boys and two girls, when Joan was born, and baptized Sibylla Jeanne. She was piously brought up by her mother, and was often accustomed to nurse the sick, assist the poor, receive travellers, and take care of her father’s flock of sheep; but she was generally employed in sewing or spinning. She also spent a great deal of time in a chesnut grove, near her father’s cottage. She was noted, even when a child, for the sweetness of her temper, her prudence, her industry, and her devotion.
During that period of anarchy in France, when the supreme power, which had fallen from the hands of a monarch deprived of his reason, was disputed for by the rival houses of Orleans and Burgundy, the contending parties carried on war more by murder and massacre than by regular battles. When an army was wanted, both had recourse to the English, and these conquering strangers made the unfortunate French feel still deeper the horrors and ravages of war. At first, the popular feeling was undecided; but when, on the death of Charles the Sixth, the crown fell to a young prince who adopted the Armagnac side, whilst the house of Burgundy, had sworn allegiance to a foreigner (Henry the Fifth,) as king of France, then, indeed, the wives and interests of all the French were in favour of the Armagnacs, or the truly patriotic party. Remote as was the village of Domremy, it was still interested in the issue of the struggle. It was decidedly Armagnac, and was strengthened in this sentiment by the rivalry of a neighbouring village which adopted Burgundian colours.
Political and party interests were thus forced upon the enthusiastic mind of Joan, and mingled with the pious legends which she had caught from the traditions of the Virgin. A prophecy was current, that a virgin should rid France of its enemies; and this prediction seems to have been realized by its effect upon the mind of Joan. The girl, by her own account, was about thirteen when a supernatural vision first appeared to her. She describes it as a great light, accompanied by a voice telling her to be devout and good, and promising her the protection of heaven. Joan responded by a vow of eternal chastity. In this there appears nothing beyond the effect of imagination. From that time, the voice or voices continued to haunt Joan, and to echo the enthusiastic and restless wishes of her own heart We shall not lay much stress on her declarations made before those who were appointed by the king to inquire into the credibility of her mission. Her own simple and early account was, that ‘voices’ were her visitors and advisers; and that they prompted her to quit her native place, take up arms, drive the foe before her, and procure for the young king his coronation at Rheims. These voices, however, had not influence enough to induce her to set out upon this hazardous mission, until a band of Burgundians, traversing and plundering the country, had compelled Joan, together with her parents, to take refuge in a neighbouring town; when they returned to their village, after the departure of the marauders, they found the church of Domremy in ashes. Such incidents were well calculated to arouse the indignation and excite the enthusiasm of Joan. Her voices returned, and incessantly directed her to set out for France; but to commence by making application to De Baudricourt, commander at Vaucouleurs. Her parents, who were acquainted with Joan’s martial propensities, attempted to force her into a marriage; but she contrived to avoid this by paying a visit to an uncle, in whose company she made her appearance before the governor of Vaucouleurs, in May, 1428. De Baudricourt at first refused to see her, and, upon granting an interview, treated her pretensions with contempt. She then returned to her uncle’s abode, where she continued to announce her project, and to insist that the prophecy, that ‘France lost by a woman (Isabel of Bavaria,) should be saved by a virgin from the frontiers of Lorraine,’ alluding to her. She it was, she asserted, who could save France, and not ‘either kings, or dukes, nor yet the king of Scotland’s daughter’—an expression which proves how well-informed she was as to the political events and rumours of the day.
The fortunes of the dauphin Charles at this time had sunk to the lowest ebb; Orleans, almost his last bulwark, was beseiged and closely pressed, and the loss of the ‘battle of Herrings’ seemed to take away all hope of saving the city from the English. In this crisis, when all human support seemed unavailing, Baudricourt ho longer despised the supernatural aid promised by the damsel of Domremy, and gave permission to John of Metz, and Bertram of Poulengy, two gentlemen who had become converts to the truth of her divine mission, to conduct Joan of Arc to the dauphin. They purchased a horse for her, and, at her own desire, furnished her with male habits, and other necessary equipments. Thus provided, and accompanied by a respectable escort, Joan set out from Vaucouleurs on the 13th. of February, 1429. Her progress through regions attached to the Burgondian interest, was perilous, but she safely arrived at Fierbois, a place within live or six leagues of Chinon, where the dauphin then held his court. At Fierbois was a celebrated church dedicated to St. Catherine, and here she spent her time in devotion, whilst a messenger was despatched to the dauphin to announce her approach. She was commanded to proceed, and reached Chinon on the eleventh day after her departure from Vaucouleurs.
Charles, though he desired, still feared to accept the proffered aid, because he knew that the instant cry of his enemies would be, that he had put his faith in sorcery, and had leagued himself with the infernal powers. In consequence of this, Joan encountered every species of distrust. She was not even admitted to the dauphin’s presence without difficulty, and was required to recognize Charles amidst all his court; this Joan, happily, was able to do, as well as to gain the good opinion of the young monarch by the simplicity of her demeanour. Nevertheless, the prince proceeded to take every precaution before he openly trusted her. He first handed her over to a commission of ecclesiastics, to be examined; then sent her for the same purpose to Poictiers, a great law-school, that the doctors of both faculties might solemnly decide whether Joan’s mission was from heaven or from the devil; for none believed it to be merely human.
The report of the doctors being favourable, Joan received the rank of a military commander. A suit of armour was made for her, and she sent to Fierbois for a sword, which she said would be found buried in a certain spot within the church. It was found there, and conveyed to her. The circumstance became afterwards one of the alleged proofs of her sorcery or imposture. Her having parsed some time at Fierbois amongst the ecclesiastics of the place must have led, in some way or other, to her knowledge of the deposit. Strong in the conviction of her mission, it was Joan’s desire to enter Orleans from the north, and through all the fortifications of the English. Dunois, however, and the other leaders, at length overruled her, and induced her to abandon the little company of pious companions which she had raised, and to enter the beleaguered city by water, as the least perilous path. She succeeded in carrying with her a convoy of provisions to the besieged. The entry of Joan of Arc into Orleans, at the end of April, was itself a triumph. The hearts of the besieged were raised from despair to a fanatical confidence of success; and the English, who in every encounter had defeated the French, felt their courage paralyzed by the coming of this simple girl.
After a series of successful sorties, led by Joan herself, in which the besiegers were invariably successful, the English determined to raise the siege, and Sunday being the day of their departure, Joan forbade her soldiers to molest their retreat. Thus in one week from her arrival at Orleans was the beleaguered city relieved of its dreadful foe, and the Pucelle, henceforth called the Maid of Orleans, had redeemed the most incredible and important of her promises.
No sooner was Orleans freed from the enemy, than Joan returned to the court, to entreat Charles to place forces at her disposal, that she might reduce the towns between the Loire and Rheims, where she proposed to have him speedily crowned. Her projects were opposed by the ministers and warriors of the court, who considered it more politic to drive the English from Normandy than to harass the Burgundians, or to make sacrifices for the idle ceremony of a coronation; but her earnest solicitations prevailed, and early in June she attacked the English at Jargeau. They made a desperate resistance, and drove the French before them, till the appearance of Joan chilled the stout hearts of the English soldiers. One of the Poles was killed, and another, with Suffolk the commander of the town, was taken prisoner. This success was followed by a victory at Patay, in which the English were beaten by a charge of Joan, and the gallant Talbot himself taken prisoner. No force seemed able to withstand the Maid of Orleans. The strong town of Troyes, which might have repulsed the weak and starving army of the French, was terrified into surrender by the sight of her banner; and Rheims itself followed the example. In the middle of July, only three months after Joan had come to the relief of the sinking party of Charles, this prince was crowned in the cathedral consecrated to this ceremony, in the midst of the dominions of his enemies. Well might an age even more advanced than the fifteenth century believe, that superhuman interference manifested itself in the deeds of Joan.
Some historians relate that, immediately after the coronation, the Maid of Orleans expressed to the king her wish to retire to her family at Domremy; but there is little proof of such a resolution on her part. In September of the same year, we find her holding a command in the royal army, which had taken possession of St. Denis, where she hung up her arms in the cathedral. Soon after the French generals compelled her to join in an attack upon Paris, in which they were repulsed with great loss, and Joan herself was pierced through the thigh with an arrow. It was the first time that a force in which she served had suffered defeat. Charles immediately retired once more to the Loire, and there are few records of Joan’s exploits during the winter. About this time a royal edict was issued, ennobling her family, and the district of Domremy was declared free from all tax or tribute. In the ensuing spring, the English and Burgundians formed the siege of Compiegne; and Joan threw herself into the town to preserve it, as she had before saved Orleans, from their assaults. She had not been many hours in it when she headed a sally against the Burgundian quarters, in which she was taken by some officers, who gave her up to the Burgundian commander, John of Luxemburg. Her capture appears, from the records of the Parisian parliament, to have taken place on the 23rd. of May, 1430.
As soon as Joan was conveyed to John of Luxemburg’s fortress at Beaurevoir, near Cambray, cries of vengeance were heard among the Anglican partizans in France. The English themselves were not foremost in this unworthy zeal. Joan, after having made a vain attempt to escape, by leaping from the top of the doujon at Beaurevoir, was at length handed over to the English partizans, and conducted to Rouen. The University of Paris called loudly for the trial of Joan, and several letters are extant, in which that body reproaches the bishop of Beauvais and the English with their tardiness in delivering up the Pucelle to justice.
Letters patent from the king of England and France, were after a while issued authorizing her trial. She was accused of sorcery, and on her declining to submit to the ordinances of the church, of heresy and schism, and eventfully threatened with the stake unless she submitted to the church, as the phrase then was, that is, acknowledged her visions to be false, forswore male habits and arms, and owned herself to have been wrong. Every means were used to induce her to submit, but. in vain. At length she was brought forth on a public scaffold at Rouen, and the bishop of Beauvais proceeded to read the sentence of condemnation, which was to be followed by burning at the stake. Whilst it was reading, every exhortation was used, and Joan’s courage for once failing, she gave utterance to words of contrition, and expressed her willingness to submit, and save herself from the flames. A written form of confession was instantly produced, and read to her, and Joan, not knowing how to write, signed it with a cross. Her sentence was commuted to perpetual imprisonment, ‘to the bread of grief and the water of anguish.’ She was borne back from the scaffold to prison; whilst those who had come to see the sight displayed the usual disappointment of unfeeling crowds, and even threw stones in their anger.
When brought back to her prison, Joan submitted to all that had been required of her, and assumed her female dress; but when two days had elapsed, and when, in the solitude of her prison, the young heroine recalled this last scene of weakness, forming such a contrast with the glorious feats of her life, remorse and shame took possession of her, and her religious enthusiasm returned in alt its ancient force. She heard her voices reproaching her, and under this impulse she seized the male attire, which had been perfidiously left within her reach, put it on, and avowed her altered mind, her resumed belief, her late visions, and her resolve no longer to belie the powerful impulses under which she had acted. “What I resolved,” said she, “I resolved against truth. Let me suffer my sentence at once, rather than endure what I suffer in prison,”
The bishop of Beauvais knew that if Joan were once out of the power of the court that tried her, the chapter of Rouen, who were somewhat favourably disposed, would not again give her up to punishment; and fears were entertained that she might ultimately be released, and gain new converts. It was resolved, therefore, to make away with her at once, and the crime of relapse was considered sufficient. A pile of wood was prepared in the old market at Rouen, and scaffolds placed round it for the judges and ecclesiastics: Joan was brought out on the last day of May, 1431; she wept piteously, and showed the same weakness as when she first beheld the stake. But now no mercy was shown. They placed on her head the cap used to mark the victims of the Inquisition, and the fire soon consumed the unfortunate Joan of Arc. When the pile had burned out, all the ashes were gathered and thrown into the Seine.
It is difficult to say to what party most disgrace attaches on account of this barbarous murder: whether to the Burgundians, who sold the maid of Orleans; the English, who permitted her execution; the French, of that party who brought it about and perpetrated it; or the French, of the opposite side, who made so few efforts to rescue her to whom they owed their liberation and their national existence. The story of the Maid of Orleans is, throughout, disgraceful to every one, friend and foe; it forms one of the greatest blots, and one of the most curious enigmas in historic record. It has sometimes been suggested that she was merely a tool in the hands of the priests; but this supposition will hardly satisfy those who read with attention the history of Joan of Arc. The works on this subject are very numerous. M. Chaussard enumerates upwards of four hundred, either expressly devoted to her life or including her history. Her adventures form the subject of Voltaire’s poem of La Pucelle, and of a tragedy by Schiller; but perhaps the best production of the kind is the poem by Southey, which bears her name.