Essay/Term paper: Joan of arc

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography

Joan of Arc


A French saint and a heroine in the Hundred Years' war was Joan of Arc.
This farm girl helped save the French from English command and was often called
the Maid Orleans and the Maid of France. Her inspiration led the French to many
victories.
Joan Of Arc (In French Jeanne d'Arc) was born around 1412, in the
village of Domremy, France. She was a peasant girl who, like many girls of that
time, could not read or write. Her father, Jacques, was a wealthy tenant farmer
and her mother, Isabelle Romee, taught her how to sow, spin, and cook which she
was proud of. She also spent much of her time praying to and serving God. She
lived like most children did at that time, until when she was about thirteen.
According to Wagenknecht: "The Vision first came when she was first
thirteen...." 1 The vision was Saint Michael who said she should be a good
girl and go to church. When more and more Visions had come it started coming
clearer to her and when she saw Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret her duty was
clear, she was the chosen one to crown Charles the VII. 2
Since France had been fighting with England in what was called the
Hundred Years' War, much of Northern France was captured by the English,
including Reims where the coronation for kings had been held for over centuries
before him. Since Reims was captured, Charles the VII, who had not yet been
crowned; was still called the Dauphin. When Joan had these visions of Saint
Catherine and Saint Margaret, she told her family and friends. When she told
her father, he would not let her go. After when these Visions told her that
England and Burgundy, England's ally, were going to capture Orleans, one of
France's last strong forces, she knew she had to react. She needed to go to the
governor of Vaucouleurs, an agent of the Dauphin, and convince him to give her
an army to escort her to the Dauphin.
She first needed an escort to come with her to see the governor so she
asked her cousin, Durand Laxart. He, at first, was skeptical about it, but then
he soon came to Joan's side. When she told the governor, Robert de Baudricourt,
he said she was a fool and she should go home. But after some time of waiting,
Baudri-court let her go, under his protection, to the Dauphin with male
clothing, a sword, 3 a safe conduct pass, and a small escort. They departed
February 23. They safely traveled at night on byroads for eleven days from
Vacouleurs to Chinon. They slept in the open air and disguised Joan, so the
English would not notice her when she attended Mass in the towns they went
through.
After some time arriving in Chinon, she was escorted to where the
Dauphin was. The Dauphin was among his courtiers and she carefully picked him
out, while he was among his courtiers. She went there.

Jean Benedetti described it:

Joan made her entrance and according to Jean Cartier, Charles VII's
official historian, curtsied as though she had been doing it her whole life.
She was a striking woman who dressed, and in many ways behaved, like a man and
yet had feminine qualities of compassion and tenderness. Everyone who met was
impressed the force of her personality. She had 'charisma'. Moreover she
provided a minor wonder by recognizing the king who was hiding among his
courtiers, trying to look inconspicuous, and doubtless succeeding. When she
addressed him he de denied that he was the king, pointing to one of his
courtiers with the words, 'You are mistaken, there is the king.' But Joan
persisted, calling him 'Gentle Dauphin'. 2

Joan and the Dauphin spent some time together talking together and she told him
4 that God has sent her there to tell him that God has said that he will be
anointed and crowned king in Reims.
The decision was to be postponed for a few months. There was a
commission to inspect Joan's history; to make sure that she was really sent by
God and not the devil. And Joan herself was questioned and tested at the
University of Poitiers and she also had to have a verification by matron to
prove that she was a virgin. After three weeks the court claimed that she was
acceptable. Even though there were myths said about the situation, they wanted
her story to be true. If it was not true, than who would save them? As Pierre
Goubert stated, "She won the confidence and respect of rough soldiers and
chiefs, who knew the legend that a maiden would save the kingdom that had been
lost by a woman- Isabeau. To these people, what we regard as extraordinary, the
marvelous or divine appeared normal." 3
The appointed rendezvous for the troops was Blois. Joan made sure that
all the men in the army obeyed the Ten Commandments and kicked out all the loose
5 women. They had to confess their sins to a priest and receive Eucharist.
Wagennecht pointed out that "And LaHire himself, that good-hearted roughneck,
whose every word was an oath, was forbidden to swear except by his baton!" 4
Even though the army was living by religious rule, they did have fun. The
Dauphin furnished her with armor, attendants, and horses before they left.
Compton's Living Encyclopedia states that, "A special banner was made for Joan
to carry in battle. On one side were the words 'Jesus Maria' and a figure of
God, seated on clouds holding a glove. The other side had a figure of the
Virgin and a shield, with two angels supporting the arms of France" 5
When Joan and her army arrived in Orleans on April 29th, she was not in
command but her being there fired the army with confidence. Joan did not find
the plans on how they were going to enter the enclosed city of Orleans
acceptable so they used the plans she made up. Joan had helped save the
enclosed town of Orleans from the English. The Voices still guided Joan and
they told her very precise information on what to do but she often lost her
sanity in battle. But for the fact 6 that these Voices guided her, and how she
often got pulled away from certain death or pulled away from being captured made
the English think that they were dealing with the supernatural. As Jean
Benedetti said:

Certainly the sight of a woman dressed in white armour, carrying a white
banner and leading troops into battle, must have been impressive, whatever abuse
they might throw at her. Besides her frequent trips to the fortifications, her
summons to the English to surrender must have taken an magic aura, as though she
had been trying to put a spell on them, or conjure them to surrender. 6

On May 4th, Joan took command with the attack at the Bastille of Saint
Loup, and they conquered it easily because the English had not enough time to
get equipped; this attack cleared the eastside of Orleans. They planned an
attack to take the fortress of Les Tourelles, the key point in the disposition
of the English. If they could take back Les Tourelles, the French could control
the river again. In doing this, Joan was injured by an arrow that made a deep
wound in her shoulder. They treated it with a dressing of lard and olive oil
and Joan went back into battle. On an attack at Dunois, they had started
attacking in the morning and by sunset they had made no progress and were about
to retire when something miraculous 7 happened. Joan had went into a vineyard
and prayed, then the fort opened and the army entered and they captured the fort.
On May 8th, 1429, the English left their fortress and the siege of
Orleans was over. That night victory was celebrated, the army went from church
to church and was cheered by the town. But still the Dauphin had not been
crowned yet. Joan was excluded from the meetings but she always ended up
figuring what was happening, and there was a delay. Joan wanted him to be
crowned right away and not after Paris was liberated, which was what Charles
wanted. So Charles agreed to go to Reims for the coronation but during the
planning time, he would campaign in Loire valley which was consolidated.
On July 16, the army, Joan, and Charles entered Reims. And on July 17,
1429, the Dauphin was crowned king of France, with Joan stood by by the king
holding her banner. This was her golden hour; she achieved her miraculous task
her Visions set her out to do, and she was recognized for it.
They French decided to attack Paris, but the king's procrastination
warded 8 Joan and her army from accorded attack. But Compiegne, Senilus, and
Beauvais were all captured. On August 28, an armistice was signed between
France and Burgundy, which Joan did not favor. On September 8th, Joan attacked
the Porte Saint Honore, Paris and failed. Here Joan, once again, was wounded,
but this time in her thigh. Joan was taken away from Paris and Charles VII
disbanded his army, from autumn of 1429 until the end of the following May. She
participated in taking Saint Pierre le Moutier in autumn. And on May 23, 1430
Joan went out to Compiegne, which was then sieged by the Duke of Burgundy. When
she entered the Burgundian lines, she was taken away from her soldiers and was
caught.
While being a prisoner at Beaurevoir, she tried to escape twice. Once
she locked her jailer in but they found her out and sent her back. The second
time she wanted to go back to Compiegne, and since she was scared she would fall
into the English's hands, she jumped sixty feet from her tower at Beaurevoir,
without listening to her Voices. A leap from that height would have ended any
other human life but she survived with no broken bones and only minor injuries.
When found she 9 was taken to Crotoy on the Somme, and there she was sold to the
English to be tried as a witch under an ecclesiastical court.
She was handed over to Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, on January
3rd, 1431. The sittings had begun on February 21 and continued over a period of
months. She was held in chains, harassed by countless questions, and threatened
with torture over this period of months; Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret
still gave her advice through all this. On May 24, 1431, Joan was taken to the
cemetery where she she was to been burned at the stake unless she recanted,
which she did. This is not really to clear to historians why she did that, but
many believe that she did not understand what the recant meant. Wagenknecht
stated that "Her own view, after she was herself again, or perhaps one should
say her report and interpretation of the view of her Voices in that matter, was
that she had imperiled her soul to save her life: 'It was the fear of the fire
which made me say what I did." 7 After her recanting she was sentenced from
death to life of imprisonment. Of her being treated so softly, the English were
furious. Joan had thought she was going 10 to be sent free but instead Cauchon
sentenced her to perpetual imprisonment