Joan of Arc

 

   If Joan of Arc had quit when she was ahead, we'd think of her today no more than we do of the Hundred Years War.  There's a catchy name for a war. And we thought Afghanistan lasted a long time.  The war actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453.

   It all went back to 1066 when William the Norman conquered England. William expected to hold onto his lands in France while also ruling England. When England had a strong king, this worked. When the king was weak, the French king would nibble away at the English property in France.  Eventually the Hundred Years War broke out to settle things, but very slowly.

   It wasn't a constant 116 years of fighting.  There were occasional truces lasting a few years and the Black Death, which killed half the French population and a third of England's, put the kibosh on campaigning for awhile.  Joan of Arc came on the scene during the final few decades of the war.

   In those last decades, France was fighting a civil war with the province of Burgundy which had become an ally of England. Things were going badly for France when seventeen year old Joan began having visions from the archangel Michael telling her she would save France.  Prince Charles was wanting to be crowned King of France but people were waiting to see how the war would turn out. Also, the English held the cathedral where the coronation had to take place.

   Joan kept telling Charles's commander she was the one to turn the tide. Things had to get really desperate before anyone listened to Joan. After she proved she was a virgin and had not consorted with the devil, Charles sent her with the army to lift the siege of Orleans. Joan's confidence was infectious and the soldiers fought like their souls depended on it. 

 The French won that battle and Joan's stock went up.  The English thought she was possessed by the devil. Joan next led the army to clear the English out of the coronation town. Joan was always in the thick of the battle encouraging the soldiers with her banner. She was hit in the neck by an arrow once and had her helmet split another time. The battles were won and Charles became King Charles VII.

   Joan next headed for Paris which was in enemy hands. King Charles hindered Joan's assault which failed. Joan was wounded again, the attack was a failure and Joan's stock began to fall. After a couple of more defeats, Joan returned to Charles's court and discovered she and her family had been made nobles as a reward for Joan's good work. Charles probably hoped she would retire now and leave politics to him.

  But Joan was a visionary. She had to keep going. She headed into battle again and got herself captured by the Burgundians who, on this day in 1430, sold her to the English for a large sum. Many in Charles's court likely said, "Good riddance," because Charles made no attempt to ransom Joan which is what you did for your friends in those days.

  The English put Joan on trial for heresy in an ecclesiastical court even though she was a prisoner of war. Her crimes were wearing men's clothing and consorting with the devil. Joan held her own during the trial but the verdict had been set in advance. On May 30, 1431, she was executed by burning. She was wearing a dress. 

  Joan has had a lasting legacy. First of all, thanks to the momentum started by Joan, the French won the war.  To make his coronation legitimate, Charles had the heresy verdict reversed.  A cross was erected on the site of Joan's execution. Her remains could not be given a decent burial because her ashes had been thrown in the Seine River by the English. Her stock dropped in the French Revolution because of her association with the monarchy, but Napoleon pushed her back up. 

  Joan was canonized a saint in 1920. She is one of the patron saints of France and of romance writers everywhere.

Joan! Put on your helmet!