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Joan of Arcs strength and courage comes from her beliefs in God and the French peoples belief in her. Without each other, Joan will not accomplish so much. Joan uses King Charles resources as a starting point for her Divine mission. This includes crowning Charles as the rightful king of France, forcing the Burgundians out of France, and uniting all of France under one ruler. Therefore, Joan's whole mission revolves around King Charles, and as a result, she needs his encouragement in order to succeed. King Charles does provide this encouragement in the beginning of Joan's mission.
However, after Joan succeeds in putting Charles on the throne, he abandons her. The reasons Charles abandons Joan are debatable and can be seen as political decisions to save face, because Joan's power and influence starts to die down. The Church also plays a vital role in Charles abandoning Joan, because the influence of the Church is so powerful in deciding the destiny of France and the King. All of King Charles important decisions involve his advisors and are usually decided based on public response. King Charles will not have the support of his people if he does not have their satisfaction. Therefore Charles must do whatever it takes, even if it means he has to sacrifice Joan, in order to prove he is powerful and that he is the rightful king.
When Joan first arrives and meets Charles at the castle of Losses, and she tells him of her plans and her mission from God, he acts as if the whole deal is a joke at first. It actually comes to the point where Joan kneels down in front of Charles and clasps his knees and weep hot tears (p. 72) in order to implore him to believe her. King Charles agrees with Joan because he really has nothing to lose. This girl, claiming to be the Maid of Lorraine, is willing to sacrifice herself to him and do him a favor for nothing in return. Also, the whole idea of the Maid of Lorraine leading Charles army is enough to get a good amount of the French to support him as well. Charles, as Warner says, is restless, impatient, devious, and distrustful but he is not the fool that history has preferred. (p. 62) It is true that Charles does not fully trust Joan even after his experience with her at Chinon.
Only after a tribunal is Joan allowed to take up her military career. (p. 63) This proves that Charles does not really fully invest his trust in her and that there is really not a true connection between the two if Charles has any doubt in Joan. The only time that Charles will outwardly encourage Joan is when she is successful in her battles. In this way, it will seem to the French people that his strategies are the reasons for the victories. For instance, Warner says that only after her victory at Orleans the Chroniclers openly agree with her (p. 62) that she has come from God. Charles continues to encourage Joan to complete her mission even after he is crowned the true king of France. It is at this point that Charles can really care less about Joan because she has already accomplished what he needed.
The crafty king even makes a treaty with the English and the Burgundians knowing that Joan will violate it. Now that Charles is king, he will have enough support and the right resources to do things on his own. If Charles relies too much on Joan, then it will seem as if Joan has more power than the king. After Joan's loss and her kidnapping by the Burgundians and then the English, Charles and his advisors make no attempt to get Joan back. It also seems that the English believe in Joan the Maid more than the French and this can be seen because the English are the ones who buy Joan from her captor. The English feared Joan more than they feared Charles.
This is the worst scenario politically and influentially for Charles because more people fear a woman than a king. None of the French people will take Charles seriously if he bows to a woman, especially in the fifteenth century when woman are considered weak in comparison to man. Charles has nothing to lose now that Joan seems as if she has lost her touch with God, because now Joan hasnt been successful at all at the Battle of Paris or at her capture at Compiegne. If Joan's failures mean that God has turned his back on her, then less people will follow her in her battles, and there will be more slack on Charles because he is the one who is authorizing her to lead the army. Charles desertion of Joan is only to save face and ensure that he is considered the rightful, and a powerful king. In the fifteenth century the Church plays a very influential part in everyday life for the French people.
What the Church believes in, the people believe in. Therefore, King Charles must do whatever must be done in order to gain the support of the Church. People through the Church worship God, and if the Church does not believe in Joan who is supposedly a messenger of God, then should the people believe in her? The Church is a large entity while Joan is one person, and, therefore, most people will side with the Church despite any miracles because of Joan, which may happen on the battlefield.
Most of the French people are peasants and dont actually witness any of Joan's accomplishments. Should the French peasants believe in a mysterious figure who theyve never seen in their life or should they go against the Church, which has shaped their whole livelihood since birth. King Charles sees this and has no choice but to go against Joan as well. The reason the Church goes against Joan is because everything that Joan stands for goes against the Church. The fact that everything Joan did is through some other force, and not through the Church.
For instance, Warner talks about how Joan appeals to the king through the lay chain of command instead of the Church or how she had never taken third vows, dedicating herself to God (p. 93). If Joan's connection with God is not through the Church, then what connection with God does the Church have? Joan is undermining the authority and ability of the Church's representation of God, and is therefore denying the Church. If the Church's power is questionable then the Church's influence on the French will diminish, and as a result the Church must either kill Joan or prove her to be a fake. For the most part, Charles uses Joan as a way to make himself look better. The question of power and the influence of the people is the main issue in the abandonment of Joan.
Charles decision to abandon Joan may make him seem as a terrible, ruthless ruler, but it really ensures that he is the rightful king of France, because his decision, politically, ascertains that he is a powerful and wise king. If Charles stayed behind Joan and if she continued to fail, then that would only make him look bad and it would also show that he is weak king relying on a woman. Charles must also side with the Church over Joan because the Church's influence is on a much larger scale than with Joan. Charles relationship with the Church becomes tighter and his power as king of France becomes stronger when he ditches Joan. Joan's divine mission is truly fulfilled because she does crown the true king, she does help to push the English and Burgundians out of France, and she does help to unite France under one wise and powerful king. Bibliography:
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