A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Arc, Joan of
ARC, JOAN OF
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.