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In my town they called me Jeannette, and since I came to France I have been called Joan, as she said herself. To most people though she is better known as Joan of Arc or the Maid of France. Joan led a life that started with her hearing voices from her counsel, to her battles in France to expel the English, to crowning the dauphin, King Charles VII, to her trial, and then finally to her execution. Many revered Joan as being insane despite her heroism, and not until 1920 was she declared a holy maiden and second patron saint of France. Joan was a young peasant girl from the town of Domremy. She seems to have been the youngest of a family of five born to a tenant farmer, Jacques Arc and his wife Isabelle de Vouthon, who were very religious.
Joan would go often and of her own will to the church and to the hermitage of Notre Dame de Belmont near to the town of Domremy, when her parents thought that she was ploughing or working elsewhere in the fields (Pernoud 17). She confessed her sins every year and she went often on her own will to church and to other sacred places. Not until around the age of 13 did Joan begin hearing the voices. It was at first simply a voice, as if someone had spoken quite close to her, but it seems also clear that a blaze of light accompanied it, and that later on she clearly discerned in some way the appearance of those that spoke to her, recognizing them individually as Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret that she believed were sent by God (The Catholic Encyclopedia Online). These voices told her that it was her divine mission to free her country from the English and help the dauphin gain the French throne. The crown of France at the time was in dispute between the dauphin Charles, son and heir of the Valois king Charles VI, and the Lancastrian English king Henry VI.
Henrys armies were in alliance with those of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy (whose father, John the Fearless, had been assassinated in 1419 by partisans of the Dauphin), and were occupying much of the northern part of the kingdom (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). The voices told her to cut her hair, dress in mans uniform and to pick up the arms (Bois Internet). By May 1428, the voices became insistent. Orl ans was invested and by the close of the year complete defeat seemed imminent. The voices urged her to present herself to Robert Baudricourt, who commanded for Charles VII in the neighboring town of Vaulcouleurs. I am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight, said Joan (god.
in Catholic Encyclopedia Online). The voices only reiterated by telling her it was God who commands it. With that Joan prepared her departure. The voices left it to me to tell my father and my mother, or to keep silent.
And them within so little of going out of their senses the time I left to go to the town of Vaulcouleurs said Joan (god. in Pernoud 32). At the age of sixteen Joan started on her mission. Joan visited her uncle for eight days and then finally went on to Vaulcouleurs to meet with Robert de Baudricourt.
Joan told Robert that she was a servant of the Lord, sent to bring the dauphin, Charles VII, back into power as the King of France. Baudricourt, a rude and dissolute soldier, treated her and her mission with scant respect, saying to the cousin who accompanied her: Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping. (The Catholic Encyclopedia Online). On February 17 th Joan announced a great defeat, which had befallen the French arms outside Orl ans (the Battle of the Herrings). This statement was officially confirmed a few days later, and her cause gained immense ground. It was not until this third visit to Vaulcouleurs that she received help though. Joan left Vaulcouleurs wielding a sword that Baudricourt gave her, dressed in all mens attire, along with a knight, as esquire and four servants.
On March 6 th 1429 Joan arrived in Chinon and was admitted to the presence of Charles VII. To test her, Charles had disguised himself, but Joan at once saluted him without hesitation amidst a group of attendants, yet Charles said that it had been decided that Joan should still be interrogated. Theologians and other men questioned Joan for an entire month in Poitiers. The theologians found nothing heretical in her claims to supernatural guidance. It was decided that Joan was a devoted Christian and a good person.
According to the Poitiers interrogatories, that in her is found no evil, but only good, humility, virginity, devotion (devoutness), honesty, simplicity. (Saint Joan of Arc, the Maid of France Internet). Joan then returned to Chinon and made preparations. Instead of wielding the sword Baudricourt gave her, anymore, Joan begged that a search might be made for an ancient sword buried behind the altar in the chapel of Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois. It was found in the very spot that her voices indicated. At that time Charles provided Joan with a military unit of several men, Jean dayton became her squire, and two of Joan's brothers, Jean and Pierre, joined her. Besides the sword, Joan carried a standard painted with an image of Christ in Judgment and a banner made bearing the name of Jesus and Mary.
Before Joan began her campaign she summoned the King of England to withdraw his troops from French soil. English commanders were outraged over the audacity of Joan's command, but by a rapid movement Joan had entered Orl ans on April 30 th. Before Joan made her movement she was told that action must be deferred until further reinforcements could be brought in, but on the evening of May 4 th, when Joan was resting, she suddenly sprang up, apparently inspired, and announced that she must go and attack the English. By May 8 th the English forts, which encircled the city, had all been captured, and the siege rose, even though on the 7 th Joan had been wounded in the breast by an arrow. Joan left Orl ans on May 9 th to meet with Charles at Tours.
She urged Charles to make haste and be crowned at Reims, but it was decided to first clear the English out of other towns along the Loire River, which was met with great successes. The campaign ended on June 18 th with a great victory at Play, where the English reinforcements sent from Paris under Sir John Fast olf were completely routed. The way to Reims was now practically open, but Joan experienced great difficulty in persuading the commanders not to retire before Troyes, which was at first closed against them. They captured the town and then, still reluctantly, followed her to Reims, where, on Sunday, the 17 th, July, 1429, Charles VII was solemnly crowned, the Maid standing by with her standard, for as she explained as it had shared in the toil, it was just that it should share in the victory (Catholic Encyclopedia Online).
After this, Joan still felt it was imperative to take Paris. She and Alen on were at Saint-Denis on the northern outskirts of Paris on August 26 th, and the Parisians began to organize their defenses. Charles arrived on September 7 th, and an attack was launched on September 8 th that was fought between the gates of Saint-Honor and Saint-Denis. Even though she was wounded in the battle she continued to encourage the soldiers until the Duc d Alen on removed her almost by force, and the assault was abandoned. The reverse unquestionably impaired Joan's prestige, and shortly afterwards, when, through Charles political counselors, a truce was signed with the Duke of Burgundy, she sadly laid down her arms upon the altar of St-Denis (Catholic Encyclopedia Online).
Not until April was Joan able to take the field again at the conclusion of the truce. At Men her voices made known to her that she would be taken prisoner before Midsummer Day. On her way back from battle Joan heard that John of Luxembourg, the captain of a Burgundian company, had laid siege to Compi get, and on the 24 th of May Joan led a sortie of around 500 men and twice repelled the Burgundians, but was eventually outflanked by English reinforcements and compelled to retreat. Remaining until the last to protect the rear guard while they crossed the Oise River, Joan was pulled down from her horse and became the prisoner of a follower of John of Luxemburg.
Joan was then taken to Many, where the Duke of Burgundy came to see her. In telling the people of Reims of Joan's capture, Renaud de Chartres accused her of rejecting all counsel and acting willfully. Charles, who was working toward a truce with the Duke of Burgundy, made no attempts to save her. (Encylopedia Britannica Online). John of Luxembourg took Joan to his castle in Vermandois, but after her attempts to escape John sent her to one of his more distant castles.
Not long after being there did Joan become very distressed over the situation in Compi get that she jumped from the top of a tower, falling unconscious into the moat. Joan was not seriously hurt so she was then taken to Arras, a town that adhered to the Duke of Burgundy. On May 26 th the University of Paris, which had taken the English side, requested the Duke of Burgundy to turn Joan over for judgment either to the chief inquisitor or to the bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon. The university wrote also to John of Luxembourg and on July 14 th the Bishop of Beauvais presented himself before the Duke of Burgundy asking, on his own behalf and in the name of the English king, that the Maid be handed over in return for a payment of 10, 000 francs (Encylopedia Britannica Online). John of Luxembourg conceded and by January 3 rd, 1431, Joan was in the hands of the bishop.
The English felt it imperative to be rid of Joan for her great victories against them, and thus began her trial, in which she would be tried for heresy. Though Joan's offenses against the Lancastrian monarchy were common knowledge, Joan was brought to trial before a church court because the University of Paris, as authority in the matters concerning faith, insisted that she be tried as a heretic. Joan's beliefs were not strictly orthodox, according to the criteria for orthodoxy laid down by many theologians of the period. Joan threatened the hierarchy of the church by claiming she communicated directly with God by means of voices or visions. Her trial also was hoped to discredit Charles VII by demonstrating that he owed his coronation to a witch, or at least a heretic. Joan's hands rested in her two judges, Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais, and Jean Left tre, the vice inquisitor of France.
They pressed her regarding her visions, but upon many points Joan refused to answer. Her attitude was always fearless, and on March 1 st, Joan boldly announced, within seven years space the English would have to forfeit a bigger prize than Orl ans. In point of fact Paris was lost to Henry VI on 12 November, 1437 six years and eight months afterwards (Catholic Encyclopedia Online). Since Joan's answers perceptibly won sympathizers for her in a large assembly, Cauchon decided to conduct the rest of the inquiry before a small committee of judges in the prison itself. Joan was questioned again and again on the question of her submission to the church. In her position, obedience to the court was a test of such submission.
She did her best to avoid this trap, saying she knew well that the church militant could not make a mistake, but it was to God and to her saints that she held herself answerable for her words and actions. The trial continued, and the 70 charges against Joan were reduced to 12. The 12 were sent for consideration to many eminent theologians in both Rouen and Paris. During this time Joan became seriously ill while in prison and obviously thought she was dying, so she begged to be allowed to go to confession and receive Holy Communion and to be buried in consecrated ground.
But the judges only continued to badger her, receiving only her constant response I am relying on our Lord, I hold to what I have already said. (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). They became more insistent on May 9 th, and threatened Joan with torture if she did not clarify certain points that they had previously questioned her on. Joan reiterated that even if they tortured her to death she would not reply differently. She threatened by adding that in any case she would afterward maintain that any statement she might make had been extorted from her by force. The judges realized then that nothing more could be done, so Joan was taken out of prison for the first time in four months and was taken to the cemetery of the church of Saint-On, where her sentence was to be read out. Joan was taken to the cemetery for her sentencing, but was first read a sermon.
Preceding this Joan asked that all the evidence on her words and deeds be sent to Rome, but this appeal was ignored, and her sentenced was read, abandoning her to the secular power. Upon hearing this pronouncement, Joan quailed and declared she would do all that the church required of her. She was presented with a form of abjuration, which must already have been prepared that she at first hesitated in signing, but she eventually conceded in doing so on the condition that it was pleasing to our Lord. She was then condemned to perpetual imprisonment or to incarceration in a place that was used as a prison and thus was sent to her old prison. Joan was ordered to put on womans attire and she did so, but when the judges and others visited her they found her once again in male attire. Joan said she had made the change of her own free will, preferring mens clothes.
They then pressed other questions, to which she answered that the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret had censured her treason in making an abjuration (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). These admissions were taken to signify relapse, and on May 29 th the judges and 39 assessors agreed unanimously that she must be handed over to the secular officials. The next morning, Joan received from Cauchon permission to make her confession and receive Communion. Accompanied by two Dominicans, she was then led to the Place du Vieux-March.
There, Joan was read one more sermon and in the presence of her judges and a great crowed her sentence abandoning her to the English and their French collaborators was read. Then the executioner seized her, led her to the stake, and lit the pyre. A Dominican consoled Joan, who she had asked to hold high a crucifix for her to see and to shout out the assurances of salvation so loudly that she would be able to hear him above the roar of the flames, thus ending the life of the great Joan of Arc. To the last, Joan maintained that her voices were sent of God and they had not deceived her. Joan fought for what she believed and led the French against the British and won many battles for them. Unfortunately Joan fell into the wrong hands and the savior of France lost her life.
Not until 20 years afterward, on his entry into Rouen in 1450, did Charles VII ordered an inquiry into the trial. Two years later the cardinal legate Guillaume dEstouteville made a much more thorough investigation of the case and finally on the order of Pope Calixtus III, following a petition from the d Arc family, proceedings were instituted in 1455 - 56 that revoked and annulled the sentence of 1431. Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan on May 16 th, 1920 and on June 24 th, 1920 the French parliament declared a yearly national festival in Joan's honor this is held the second Sunday in May.
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Research essay sample on Joan Of Arc University Of Paris
