Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle): Difference between revisions
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== ''Jeanne'' == | == ''Jeanne'' == | ||
At her "Trial of Condemnation<ref>The "Trial of Condemnation" was her ecclesiastical trial by the French Church at the English-held city of Rouen in 1431. (The young English King, Henry VI was present at Rouen throughout her trial). The "Trial of Rehabilitation" was a series of inquiries, starting 1452, into the validity of the 1431 trial. She was vindicated by the second trial.</ref> held under English authority," Joan testified as to her name, explaining,<ref> | At her "Trial of Condemnation<ref>The "Trial of Condemnation" was her ecclesiastical trial by the French Church at the English-held city of Rouen in 1431. (The young English King, Henry VI was present at Rouen throughout her trial). The "Trial of Rehabilitation" was a series of inquiries, starting 1452, into the validity of the 1431 trial. She was vindicated by the second trial.</ref> held under English authority," Joan testified as to her name, explaining,<ref>Murray, p. 64. The original Latin transcript reads: "Ad quæ respondit , quod in partibus suis vocabatur Jo- hanneta , et postquam venit in Franciam vocata est Johanna." ([https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Gfg5AAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA46&hl=en_US Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc, dite la Pucelle] Vol 1 (Google Play Books) p. 46; note that the version of [https://archive.org/details/procsdecondamna05frangoog/page/n9/mode/2up Vol 1 available on Archive.org] does not have pp. 46-47 ([https://archive.org/details/procsdecondamna05frangoog/page/44/mode/2up missing here]))</ref><blockquote>In my own country they call me Jeannette; since I came into France I have been called Jeanne. Of my surname I know nothing. </blockquote> | ||
''Jeanne'', or ''Jehanne,'' is feminine for ''Jean'' (John), which means "God favors," and which is echoed by the name given her in the sole literary work composed during her time, the ''Pucelle de Dieu'' ("Maid of God").<ref>''Pucelle de Dieu'', from a poem written in 1429 by Christine de Pizan after the coronation of Charles VII. The poet also wonderfully called her l''a Pucellette'' (little maiden). Here for the poem with both French and English [https://www.jeanne-darc.info/contemporary-chronicles-other-testimonies/christine-de-pizan-le-ditie-de-jehanne-darc/ Christine de Pizan | Joan of Arc | Jeanne-darc.info] This translation of ''Pucelle de Dieu'' renders it, "Maiden sent from God," which is incorrect (see Joan of Arc: her story, p. 220 which translates it as "Maid of God." Note that the title of the poem, "Le Ditié de Jehanne d'Arc," was attached after Joan's death, as "Joan of Arc" was not used until 1455 during her Rehabilitation Trial.</ref> Joan may have been called ''Petit-Jean'', by her family, after her uncle Jean. More importantly, her "voices" -- God's messengers -- called her "Daughter of God":<ref> | ''Jeanne'', or ''Jehanne,'' is feminine for ''Jean'' (John), which means "God favors," and which is echoed by the name given her in the sole literary work composed during her time, the ''Pucelle de Dieu'' ("Maid of God").<ref>''Pucelle de Dieu'', from a poem written in 1429 by Christine de Pizan after the coronation of Charles VII. The poet also wonderfully called her l''a Pucellette'' (little maiden). Here for the poem with both French and English [https://www.jeanne-darc.info/contemporary-chronicles-other-testimonies/christine-de-pizan-le-ditie-de-jehanne-darc/ Christine de Pizan | Joan of Arc | Jeanne-darc.info] This translation of ''Pucelle de Dieu'' renders it, "Maiden sent from God," which is incorrect (see Joan of Arc: her story, p. 220 which translates it as "Maid of God." Note that the title of the poem, "Le Ditié de Jehanne d'Arc," was attached after Joan's death, as "Joan of Arc" was not used until 1455 during her Rehabilitation Trial.</ref> Joan may have been called ''Petit-Jean'', by her family, after her uncle Jean. More importantly, her "voices" -- God's messengers -- called her "Daughter of God":<ref>Murrayp. 64</ref> | ||
<blockquote>Before the raising of the Siege of Orleans and every day since, when they speak to me, they call me often, ‘Jeanne the Maid, Daughter of God.’<ref>A title that is not extra-biblical: see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/6?2 Genesis 6:2] for "sons of God" (and elsewhere, including Job and Psalm 29).</ref></blockquote> | |||
It was not until after her martyrdom that she was called "Joan of Orleans" or "the Maid of Orléans" in reference to her miraculous intervention in the Hundred Years War, the turning point of which was the relief of the city of Orléans from an English siege conducted under Joan's improbable and brilliant military command. | |||
While we know her as ''Joan of Arc'', neither she nor her contemporaries used the surname, "of Arc" (''d'Arc''), which was a 19th century invention based on her father's surname, ''Darc'', which appeared during posthumous investigations called the Trial of Rehabilitation<ref>In 1841, Jules Quicherat published transcripts of Joan's trials in their original Latin along with French translations, "PROCÈS DE CONDAMNATION ET DE RÉHABILITATION DE JEANNE D'ARC: DITE LA PUCELLE" ("Trials of Condemnation and Rehabilitation of Joan of Arc: called the Maid") For this article, we will use an English translation of the transcripts from 1902 edited by T. D. Murray, titled, [https://archive.org/details/jeannedarcmaidof01joan/page/n1/mode/2up Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: being the story of her life, her achievements, and her death, as attested on oath and set forth in the original documents. Edited by T. D. Murray. With illustrations and a map]</ref> starting in 1452, nine years after her death.<ref>Quicherat added in italics "d'Arc" to the Trial of Condemnation Latin transcript published in 1841 (see [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Gfg5AAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA46&hl=en_US Procès Vol 1] (Google) | While we know her as ''Joan of Arc'', neither she nor her contemporaries used the surname, "of Arc" (''d'Arc''), which was a 19th century invention based on her father's surname, ''Darc'', which appeared during posthumous investigations called the Trial of Rehabilitation<ref>In 1841, Jules Quicherat published transcripts of Joan's trials in their original Latin along with French translations, "PROCÈS DE CONDAMNATION ET DE RÉHABILITATION DE JEANNE D'ARC: DITE LA PUCELLE" ("Trials of Condemnation and Rehabilitation of Joan of Arc: called the Maid") For this article, we will use an English translation of the transcripts from 1902 edited by T. D. Murray, titled, [https://archive.org/details/jeannedarcmaidof01joan/page/n1/mode/2up Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: being the story of her life, her achievements, and her death, as attested on oath and set forth in the original documents. Edited by T. D. Murray. With illustrations and a map]</ref> starting in 1452, nine years after her death.<ref>Quicherat added in italics "d'Arc" to the Trial of Condemnation Latin transcript published in 1841 (see [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Gfg5AAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA46&hl=en_US Procès Vol 1] (Google) | ||
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“I did not have him cited; it was he, on the contrary, who had me cited; and then I swore before the Judge to speak the truth. And besides, I had promised nothing to this man. From the first time I heard my Voices, I dedicated my virginity for so long as it should please God; and I was then about thirteen years of age. My Voices told me I should win my case in this town of Toul.”</blockquote>[[File:Jeanne D'Arc par Boutet de Monvel p_42.jpg|thumb|<small>From "Jeanne D'Arc" by Boutet de Monvel depicting Joan in her cell threatened by the English guards.</small><ref>From [https://archive.org/details/jeannedarc00boutuoft/page/n45/mode/2up Jeanne D'Arc : Boutet de Monvel, Louis-Maurice (Archive.org)]; p. 42</ref>]]Argued by Joan herself before the magistrate at Toul, the marriage claim was dismissed. She was neither bequeathed to nor married the man, and so there was no compromise of Joan for the court at Rouen to exploit. It's an odd part of her story, but one that importantly informs much about Joan. First, either her father, or some guy, or both, tried to marry her off to him<ref>She testified about her parents, " I obeyed them in everything, except in the case at Toul—the action for marriage." Murray, p. 65</ref>. A young girl like Joan would normally have no say in the matter: instructed by her voices, she stood it down. Secondly, it's among or even the very first direct event upon which her voices guided her, and she believed and obeyed. Well convinced of her larger mission to "go to France," Joan wouldn't let this claim upon her get in her way. One wonders, even, why it happened, if not to disrupt her trajectory. | “I did not have him cited; it was he, on the contrary, who had me cited; and then I swore before the Judge to speak the truth. And besides, I had promised nothing to this man. From the first time I heard my Voices, I dedicated my virginity for so long as it should please God; and I was then about thirteen years of age. My Voices told me I should win my case in this town of Toul.”</blockquote>[[File:Jeanne D'Arc par Boutet de Monvel p_42.jpg|thumb|<small>From "Jeanne D'Arc" by Boutet de Monvel depicting Joan in her cell threatened by the English guards.</small><ref>From [https://archive.org/details/jeannedarc00boutuoft/page/n45/mode/2up Jeanne D'Arc : Boutet de Monvel, Louis-Maurice (Archive.org)]; p. 42</ref>]]Argued by Joan herself before the magistrate at Toul, the marriage claim was dismissed. She was neither bequeathed to nor married the man, and so there was no compromise of Joan for the court at Rouen to exploit. It's an odd part of her story, but one that importantly informs much about Joan. First, either her father, or some guy, or both, tried to marry her off to him<ref>She testified about her parents, " I obeyed them in everything, except in the case at Toul—the action for marriage." Murray, p. 65</ref>. A young girl like Joan would normally have no say in the matter: instructed by her voices, she stood it down. Secondly, it's among or even the very first direct event upon which her voices guided her, and she believed and obeyed. Well convinced of her larger mission to "go to France," Joan wouldn't let this claim upon her get in her way. One wonders, even, why it happened, if not to disrupt her trajectory. | ||
Getting no where with that topic, which had the dual purpose of accusing her of disobedience to her parents and to suggest that she was not a virgin, her persecutors at the Trial of Condemnation moved on, focusing on her use of men's clothing. But they couldn't let the matter of her virginity go. Five days later, the questions returned to,<ref> | Getting no where with that topic, which had the dual purpose of accusing her of disobedience to her parents and to suggest that she was not a virgin, her persecutors at the Trial of Condemnation moved on, focusing on her use of men's clothing. But they couldn't let the matter of her virginity go. Five days later, the questions returned to,<ref>Murray, p. 91</ref> | ||
<blockquote>Was it never revealed to you that if you lost your virginity, you would lose your happiness, and that your Voices would come to you no more?” </blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>That has never been revealed to me.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>If you were married, do you think your Voices would come?” </blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I do not know; I wait on Our Lord."</blockquote>This line of questioning becomes rather sinister when Joan is later on tricked, compelled, rather, into wearing women's clothes in prison, which turned her into a target of rape by her English guards.<ref>The Wikipedia entry on her use of men's clothes cites "academics" who claim that her use of men's clothes would have been but "a minor deterrent to rape." Yah... ([[wikipedia:Joan_of_Arc#Clothing|Joan of Arc - Wikipedia]])</ref> She knew that men's clothing that she insisted on wearing kept her safe from the possibility, so the Rouen Court was playing into that situation, whereby, were she raped they could say she no longer had valid visions. But she refused to answer that question ("I wait upon Our Lord") and, thankfully, while attacked at one point by the guards, it seems she was not actually violated. It did become the very point upon which she was executed. | |||
As for Joan's own view of her virginity, it was what and who she was, and she promised the Saints that she would stay chaste. Whatever the historians' argument that ''pucelle'' means maid or virgin or both, we can see from Joan's perspective that her virginity was essential to her mission both as sign of purity and, more importantly, selfless dedication to the Lord.<ref>Academics call this emphasis on virginity part of the "cult of Mary." In the book Joan of Arc: Heretic, Mystic, Shaman", Feminist historian Anne Llewellyn Barstow relates Joan's virginity to Medieval Christian views on the "magic" of the Eucharist and "that the human body could not only contain a creative spirit, a daemon, but could itself be a magical vessel, a numen ... Women’s bodies were believed to contain this power more than men’s. The virginal female body, that is, had an enormous magical potential ... The church made good use of this tradition in its cult of Mary; and Joan of Arc..." ([https://archive.org/details/joanofarcheretic0000bars/page/17/mode/1up?view=theater Joan of Arc : heretic, mystic, shaman : Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (Archive.org)] pp. 17-18) To comprehend how a secular academic can describe the Eucharist as magic, know that Barstow claims that the "Church’s original eucharistic concept" was "a love feast providing communion with Christ" (p. 17). Needless to say, Saint Joan was immune from such nonsense.</ref> | As for Joan's own view of her virginity, it was what and who she was, and she promised the Saints that she would stay chaste. Whatever the historians' argument that ''pucelle'' means maid or virgin or both, we can see from Joan's perspective that her virginity was essential to her mission both as sign of purity and, more importantly, selfless dedication to the Lord.<ref>Academics call this emphasis on virginity part of the "cult of Mary." In the book Joan of Arc: Heretic, Mystic, Shaman", Feminist historian Anne Llewellyn Barstow relates Joan's virginity to Medieval Christian views on the "magic" of the Eucharist and "that the human body could not only contain a creative spirit, a daemon, but could itself be a magical vessel, a numen ... Women’s bodies were believed to contain this power more than men’s. The virginal female body, that is, had an enormous magical potential ... The church made good use of this tradition in its cult of Mary; and Joan of Arc..." ([https://archive.org/details/joanofarcheretic0000bars/page/17/mode/1up?view=theater Joan of Arc : heretic, mystic, shaman : Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (Archive.org)] pp. 17-18) To comprehend how a secular academic can describe the Eucharist as magic, know that Barstow claims that the "Church’s original eucharistic concept" was "a love feast providing communion with Christ" (p. 17). Needless to say, Saint Joan was immune from such nonsense.</ref> | ||
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== Joan and the Saints == | == Joan and the Saints == | ||
The standard modern histories go with Joan's testimony and experiences about her Voices without affirming their reality. Presented with the final indictment from the Trial of Condemnation, which denied her visions, Joan instead resoundingly affirmed them:<ref> | The standard modern histories go with Joan's testimony and experiences about her Voices without affirming their reality. Presented with the final indictment from the Trial of Condemnation, which denied her visions, Joan instead resoundingly affirmed them:<ref>Murrayp. 357</ref> | ||
<blockquote>As firmly as I believe Our Saviour Jesus Christ suffered death to redeem us from the pains of hell, so firmly do I believe that it was Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret whom Our Saviour sent to comfort and to counsel me.</blockquote> | |||
That still leaves us with the problem of the effects of the Voices, i.e. divine intervention. | |||
Ultimately, the ecclesiastical court at Rouen condemned Joan for reneging on her vow to wear women's clothes,<ref>The men's clothing was the excuse to charge her with "relapse," or going against her own formal rejection (abjuration) of her own heresies. As she was charged with the relapse, she reaffirmed her Voices, which was also a relapse of her abjuration. </ref> which was a setup, and, worse, for invoking her Saints for having told her to put them back on. Her visions drove them crazy, and they spent much time challenging and arguing with her about her encounters with the Saints. She answered everything plainly, which, again, drove them crazy. | Ultimately, the ecclesiastical court at Rouen condemned Joan for reneging on her vow to wear women's clothes,<ref>The men's clothing was the excuse to charge her with "relapse," or going against her own formal rejection (abjuration) of her own heresies. As she was charged with the relapse, she reaffirmed her Voices, which was also a relapse of her abjuration. </ref> which was a setup, and, worse, for invoking her Saints for having told her to put them back on. Her visions drove them crazy, and they spent much time challenging and arguing with her about her encounters with the Saints. She answered everything plainly, which, again, drove them crazy. | ||
For a believer, what an an incredible opportunity to learn about the Saints! For example,<ref> | For a believer, what an an incredible opportunity to learn about the Saints! For example,<ref>Murray, pp. 39-40</ref> | ||
<blockquote>Was Saint Gabriel with Saint Michael when he came to you?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I do not remember.”</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Since last Tuesday, have you had any converse with Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Yes, but I do not know at what time.”</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>What day?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Yesterday and to-day; there is never a day that I do not hear them.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Do you always see them in the same dress?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I see them always under the same form, and their heads are richly crowned. I do not speak of the rest of their clothing: I know nothing of their dresses.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>How do you know whether the object that appears to you is male or female?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I know well enough. I recognize them by their voices, as they revealed themselves to me; I know nothing but by the revelation and order of God.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>What part of their heads do you see?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>The face.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>These saints who shew themselves to you, have they any hair?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>It is well to know they have.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Is there anything between their crowns and their hair?”</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>No.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Is their hair long and hanging down?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I know nothing about it. I do not know if they have arms or other members. They speak very well and in very good language; I hear them very well.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>How do they speak if they have no members?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>I refer me to God. The voice is beautiful, sweet, and low; it speaks in the French tongue.</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Does not Saint Margaret speak English?</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Why should she speak English, when she is not on the English side?</blockquote> | |||
Just magnificent. | |||
So where historians can simply dismiss her testimony as, well, something, taking it on face-value without affirming their reality, Joan here gives us a unique view into the experiences of a real mystic. | So where historians can simply dismiss her testimony as, well, something, taking it on face-value without affirming their reality, Joan here gives us a unique view into the experiences of a real mystic. | ||
The English-backed court of course, was entirely antagonistic to her experiences, and reoriented her testimony and their questions constantly towards the accusations of witchcraft, such as the legend of a "Fairy Tree" at her hometown, Domrémy and mandrakes, a flowering plant which sorcerers were supposed to have used, and which were commonly kept by peasants as charms. Evidently their investigation into Joan's hometown found that mandrakes were used there, which would be affirmed by the village priest who in April 1429, after Joan had already departed, preached against them.<ref> | The English-backed court of course, was entirely antagonistic to her experiences, and reoriented her testimony and their questions constantly towards the accusations of witchcraft, such as the legend of a "Fairy Tree" at her hometown, Domrémy and mandrakes, a flowering plant which sorcerers were supposed to have used, and which were commonly kept by peasants as charms. Evidently their investigation into Joan's hometown found that mandrakes were used there, which would be affirmed by the village priest who in April 1429, after Joan had already departed, preached against them.<ref>Murray, p. 42. See footnote no. 1 for the sermon against them.</ref> | ||
After Joan declares, | |||
<blockquote>Do you want me to tell you what concerns the King of France? There are a number of things that do not touch on the Case. I know well that my King will regain the Kingdom of France. I know it as well as I know that you are before me, seated in judgment. I should die if this revelation did not comfort me every day.</blockquote> | |||
the questioner turns away from that rather uncomfortable, for the English and their allies, prophesy, then turns to a textbook leading question regarding the mandrakes: | |||
<blockquote>What have you done with your mandrake?</blockquote> | |||
Joan had no counsel, so no one was there to point out that the question assumed she owned one. But no matter for Joan, who swatted it back at them,<blockquote>I never have had one. But I have heard that there is one near our home, though I have never seen it. I have heard it is a dangerous and evil thing to keep. I do not know for what it is [used].<ref>The exchange continued: | |||
Question: “Where is this mandrake of which you have heard?” Joan: “I have heard that it is in the earth, near the tree of which I spoke before; but I do not know the place. Above this mandrake, there was, it is said, a hazel tree.” Question: “What have you heard said was the use of this mandrake?” Joan: “To make money come; but I do not believe it. My Voice never spoke to me of that.”</ref></blockquote>Getting nowhere with the mandrake, the questioners turned back to the Saints. <blockquote>“In what likeness did Saint Michael appear to you?” </blockquote><blockquote>“I did not see a crown: I know nothing of his dress.”</blockquote><blockquote>“Was he naked?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Do you think God has not wherewithal to clothe him?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Had he hair?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Why should it have been cut off? I have not seen Saint Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy. I do not see him often. I do not know if he has hair.” </blockquote><blockquote>“Has he a balance?”<ref>Saint Michael is commonly depicting the scales of judgment. (He is not himself the judge.)</ref></blockquote><blockquote> | Question: “Where is this mandrake of which you have heard?” Joan: “I have heard that it is in the earth, near the tree of which I spoke before; but I do not know the place. Above this mandrake, there was, it is said, a hazel tree.” Question: “What have you heard said was the use of this mandrake?” Joan: “To make money come; but I do not believe it. My Voice never spoke to me of that.”</ref></blockquote>Getting nowhere with the mandrake, the questioners turned back to the Saints. <blockquote>“In what likeness did Saint Michael appear to you?” </blockquote><blockquote>“I did not see a crown: I know nothing of his dress.”</blockquote><blockquote>“Was he naked?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Do you think God has not wherewithal to clothe him?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Had he hair?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Why should it have been cut off? I have not seen Saint Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy. I do not see him often. I do not know if he has hair.” </blockquote><blockquote>“Has he a balance?”<ref>Saint Michael is commonly depicting the scales of judgment. (He is not himself the judge.)</ref></blockquote><blockquote> | ||
“I know nothing about it. It was a great joy to see him; it seemed to me, when I saw him, that I was not in mortal sin. Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret were pleased from time to time to receive my confession, each in turn. If I am in mortal sin, it is without my knowing it.”</blockquote>Always deferring to another topic when the prior line of questioning got them nowhere, and seizing on any point Joan made that could be twisted or used against her, her interrogators must have nearly jumped from their seats in glee at this one:<ref>Murray, p. 43</ref><blockquote>When you confessed, did you think you were in mortal sin?</blockquote>But they were up against a Saint. Joan replied,<blockquote>I do not know if I am in mortal sin, and I do not believe I have done its works; and, if it please God, I will never so be; nor, please God, have I ever done or ever will do deeds which charge my soul!</blockquote>Giving up, the interrogation turned to another topic, with which the court was obsessed, about the "sign" she had given the French king. She left them with an intriguing suggestion about "another, much richer" crown than the one he received at Reims.<ref>Murray, p. 44. From the register, | “I know nothing about it. It was a great joy to see him; it seemed to me, when I saw him, that I was not in mortal sin. Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret were pleased from time to time to receive my confession, each in turn. If I am in mortal sin, it is without my knowing it.”</blockquote>Always deferring to another topic when the prior line of questioning got them nowhere, and seizing on any point Joan made that could be twisted or used against her, her interrogators must have nearly jumped from their seats in glee at this one:<ref>Murray, p. 43</ref><blockquote>When you confessed, did you think you were in mortal sin?</blockquote>But they were up against a Saint. Joan replied,<blockquote>I do not know if I am in mortal sin, and I do not believe I have done its works; and, if it please God, I will never so be; nor, please God, have I ever done or ever will do deeds which charge my soul!</blockquote>Giving up, the interrogation turned to another topic, with which the court was obsessed, about the "sign" she had given the French king. She left them with an intriguing suggestion about "another, much richer" crown than the one he received at Reims.<ref>Murray, p. 44. From the register, "Had your King a crown at Rheims?" "I think my King took with joy the crown that he had at Rheims; but another, much richer, would have been given him later. He acted thus to hurry on his work, at the request of the people of the town of Rheims, to avoid too long a charge upon them of the soldiers. If he had waited, he would have had a crown a thousand times more rich." "Have you seen this richer crown?" "I cannot tell you without incurring perjury; and, though I have not seen it, I have heard that it is rich and valuable to a degree."</ref> | ||
The next day, they went straight at her visions. The scribe noted that she had previously testified that Saint Michael "had wings" but nothing about the forms of Saints Catherine and Margaret. The scribe noted,<ref> | The next day, they went straight at her visions. The scribe noted that she had previously testified that Saint Michael "had wings" but nothing about the forms of Saints Catherine and Margaret. The scribe noted,<ref>Murray, pp. 44-45</ref> | ||
<blockquote>Afterwards, because she had said, in previous Enquiries, that Saint Michael had wings, but had said nothing of the body and members of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, We asked her what she wished to say thereon.</blockquote>Joan responded,<blockquote>I have told you what I know; I will answer you nothing more. I saw Saint Michael and these two Saints so well that I know they are Saints of Paradise. </blockquote><blockquote>Did you see anything else of them but the face? </blockquote><blockquote>I have told you what I know; but to tell you all I know, I would rather that you made me cut my throat. All that I know touching the Trial I will tell you willingly. </blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel have human heads? </blockquote><blockquote>I saw them with my eyes; and I believe it was they as firmly as I believe there is a God.</blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that God made them in the form and fashion that you saw? </blockquote><blockquote>Yes. </blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that God did from the first create them in this form and fashion? </blockquote><blockquote> | |||
You will have no more at present than what I have answered. </blockquote>Time to move on, then, now to whether her voices told her she will escape, another argument they used against her as she had attempted to escape from her original capture by the Burgundians. | You will have no more at present than what I have answered. </blockquote>Time to move on, then, now to whether her voices told her she will escape, another argument they used against her as she had attempted to escape from her original capture by the Burgundians. | ||
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Another aspect of Saint Michael is seen in his scales of judgment, as he is traditionally depicted holding. Saint Michael appears but twice in the New Testament, the Epistle of Jude and, more famously, Revelation. In Jude, the Apostle teaches,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jude/1?9 Jude 1:9]</ref><blockquote>Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”</blockquote>In the Old Testament the Archangel appears as the angel "with a sword," such as in Daniel,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/13?59 Daniel 13:59]</ref><blockquote>“Your fine lie has cost you also your head,” said Daniel; “for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to destroy you both.”</blockquote>As the lie had already "cost" -- i.e., judged, the Archangel was the instrument of God's punishment, and not himself the judge. Joan consistently treats her mission as that of carrying out God's will and not exercising herself any reason or justification for it. | Another aspect of Saint Michael is seen in his scales of judgment, as he is traditionally depicted holding. Saint Michael appears but twice in the New Testament, the Epistle of Jude and, more famously, Revelation. In Jude, the Apostle teaches,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jude/1?9 Jude 1:9]</ref><blockquote>Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”</blockquote>In the Old Testament the Archangel appears as the angel "with a sword," such as in Daniel,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/13?59 Daniel 13:59]</ref><blockquote>“Your fine lie has cost you also your head,” said Daniel; “for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to destroy you both.”</blockquote>As the lie had already "cost" -- i.e., judged, the Archangel was the instrument of God's punishment, and not himself the judge. Joan consistently treats her mission as that of carrying out God's will and not exercising herself any reason or justification for it. | ||
At the Rouen Trial, Joan was pressed about saying blasphemies, to which she replied,<ref> | At the Rouen Trial, Joan was pressed about saying blasphemies, to which she replied,<ref>Murray_p. 77. The question was phrased, “Since you have been in the prison, have you never blasphemed or cursed God?" which Joan understood to mean that they were watching her constantly for anything to use against her. Her full reply reads, “No; sometimes I said: ‘bon gré Dieu,’ or ‘Saint Jean,’ or ‘Notre Dame’: those who have reported otherwise may have misunderstood."</ref> | ||
<blockquote>No; sometimes I said: "bon gré Dieu"</blockquote> | |||
Joan's intersection with Saint Michael ceased upon her delivery to the English at the Battle of Compiègne and her imprisonment by the Duke of Luxumbourt. She told the court at Rouen,<blockquote>I have not seen Saint Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy.<ref>Crotoy was a coastal fortress in northern France held by the English where Joan was sent upon delivery to the English from the Burgundians for a ransom. Crotoy, thereby, marked the final disposition of Joan's custody to the English. | meaning "by God's good will", which was Joan's way of conditionalizing insults or ill thoughts to God's will. Here we can point to Joan's statement to a friendly acquaintance in her home town whom she subjects to punishment should God will it, a story Mark Twain so enjoyed,<ref>Twain placed the quotation back at Domremy with a Burgundian priest saying a blessing for "Henry King of France and England." Twain's narrator describes the scene: "The people were white with wrath, and it tied their tongues for the moment, and they could not speak. But Joan was standing close by, and she looked up in his face, and said iu her sober, earnest way— " I would I might see thy head struck from thy body !" —then, after a pause, and crossing herself—"if it were the will of God." This is worth remembering, and I will tell you why : it is the only harsh speech Joan ever uttered in her life. When I shall have revealed to you the storms she went through, and the wrongs and persecutions, then you will see that it was wonderful that she said but one bit ter thing while she lived." (Saint Joan of Arc_Mark Twain_Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc _archive-org_personalrecollec00twai.pdf, pp 845-846</ref><blockquote>I knew only one Burgundian at Domremy: I should have been quite willing for them to cut off his head—always had it pleased God.<ref>Murray, p. 19</ref></blockquote>Her outburst here barely scratches her larger adherence to Saint Michael's role and example, by which Joan exercised mercy upon her enemies,<ref>Murray, p. 297</ref> | ||
<blockquote>On the Sunday after the taking of the Forts of the Bridge and of Saint Loup, the English were drawn up in order of battle before the town of Orleans, at which the greater part of [our] soldiers wished to give combat, and sallied from the town. Jeanne, who was wounded, was with the soldiers, dressed in her light surcoat. She put the men in array, but forbade them to attack the English, because, she said, if it pleased God and it were His will that they wished to retire, they should be allowed to go. And at that the men-at-arms returned into Orleans.</blockquote> | |||
Her numerous displays of mercy towards the enemy shocked and even revulsed her commanders, who would have otherwise slaughtered the English stragglers -- as the English would have done to them. The point is that Joan was free of vengeance, exercising God's will but not exceeding it. Were her mission but to "save France," then murdering as many English and Burgundians as possible would contribute to it. | |||
At the trial a Rouen, the court concluded that,<ref>A XXXV.</ref> <blockquote>Jeanne hath boasted and affirmed that she did know how to discern those whom God loveth and those whom He hateth. </blockquote>then demanded,<blockquote>What have you to say on this Article?</blockquote> | |||
It's a core theological question: did Joan assume judgment upon her enemies? | |||
<blockquote>I hold by what I have already said elsewhere of the King and the Duke d’Orléans; of the others I know not; I know well that God, for their well-being, loves my King and the Duke d’Orléans better than me. I know it by revelation.</blockquote> | |||
They couldn't nail her down on this charge, and it infuriated the court. Joan stood firmly not as God's judge but his instrument for judgement. So back it went to wearing pants, which was the only charge they could hold upon her. | |||
Joan's intersection with Saint Michael ceased upon her delivery to the English at the Battle of Compiègne and her imprisonment by the Duke of Luxumbourt. She told the court at Rouen,<ref>Murray, p. 42</ref> | |||
<blockquote>I have not seen Saint Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy.<ref>Crotoy was a coastal fortress in northern France held by the English where Joan was sent upon delivery to the English from the Burgundians for a ransom. Crotoy, thereby, marked the final disposition of Joan's custody to the English.</ref></blockquote> | |||
With her delivery to the English at Crotoy, the duties of the warrior Saint Michael had ceased; however, Saints Catherine and Margaret, virgin captives and martyrs took over, and guided her from there, at times reluctantly on Joan's part, to her martyrdom. | |||
Nevertheless, Joan turned to Saint Michael just before her martyrdom, during her crisis of faith, after having signed the documents of "abjuration" (admission of guilt) and, upon the stake. Her abjuration was conducted in public, followed by a public Mass, in which the priest insulted Joan. (When she defended the integrity of the King of France he told her to shut up).<ref>I remember that at the sermon given at Saint Ouen by Maître Guillaume Érard, among other words were said and uttered these: “Ah! noble House of France, which hath always been the protectress of the Faith, hast thou been so abused that thou dost adhere to a heretic and schismatic? It is indeed a great misfortune.” To which the Maid made answer, what I do not remember, except that she gave great praise to her King, saying that he was the best and wisest Christian in the world. At which Érard and my Lord of Beauvais ordered Massieu, “Make her keep silence. (Murray, p 171)</ref> | Nevertheless, Joan turned to Saint Michael just before her martyrdom, during her crisis of faith, after having signed the documents of "abjuration" (admission of guilt) and, upon the stake. Her abjuration was conducted in public, followed by a public Mass, in which the priest insulted Joan. (When she defended the integrity of the King of France he told her to shut up).<ref>I remember that at the sermon given at Saint Ouen by Maître Guillaume Érard, among other words were said and uttered these: “Ah! noble House of France, which hath always been the protectress of the Faith, hast thou been so abused that thou dost adhere to a heretic and schismatic? It is indeed a great misfortune.” To which the Maid made answer, what I do not remember, except that she gave great praise to her King, saying that he was the best and wisest Christian in the world. At which Érard and my Lord of Beauvais ordered Massieu, “Make her keep silence. (Murray, p 171)</ref> | ||
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Joan was a peasant girl, but not just a peasant girl.<ref>One skeptical historian called hers "a prosperous peasant family," ([https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/n15/mode/2up Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances (archive.org)])</ref> Her father, Jacques, owned about 50 acres of land for cultivation and grazing and a house large and furnished enough to lodge visitors.<ref>Jacques provides a textbook example of how the plague, which ravaged France in the late 1340s, empowered survivors with higher wages and access to land.</ref> He served as the village doyen, which included responsibility to announce decrees of the village council, run village watch over prisoners and the village in general, collect taxes and rents, supervise weights and measures, and oversee production of bread and wine. He was not an inconsiderable man, although he was at best a big man in a very small village. Joan's mother was more formidable, coming from a modest but better off family. It was she, Isabelle Romée, who after Joan's death championed her to the Church and French government and forced the reassessment of the her condemnations and execution. | Joan was a peasant girl, but not just a peasant girl.<ref>One skeptical historian called hers "a prosperous peasant family," ([https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/n15/mode/2up Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances (archive.org)])</ref> Her father, Jacques, owned about 50 acres of land for cultivation and grazing and a house large and furnished enough to lodge visitors.<ref>Jacques provides a textbook example of how the plague, which ravaged France in the late 1340s, empowered survivors with higher wages and access to land.</ref> He served as the village doyen, which included responsibility to announce decrees of the village council, run village watch over prisoners and the village in general, collect taxes and rents, supervise weights and measures, and oversee production of bread and wine. He was not an inconsiderable man, although he was at best a big man in a very small village. Joan's mother was more formidable, coming from a modest but better off family. It was she, Isabelle Romée, who after Joan's death championed her to the Church and French government and forced the reassessment of the her condemnations and execution. | ||
Joan grew up in this little village with daily chores on the farm and in the household, especially to spin wool. She tended the animals when she was younger but not much, she testified, after she reached "the age of understanding." She also helped with harvesting the fields,<ref>See [https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/21/mode/1up Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances (archive.org)] p. 21</ref> and had certainly helped move the animals around, especially when the villagers fled for protection from raids. She knew cattle, mules and horses,<ref>At the Trial at Rouen, Joan was questioned about a horse that her retinue had purchased from a Bishop who then demanded it back, either because he had not been paid or he just wanted it back (the insinuation was that she had stolen the horse).. Joan said she offered the horse back to him, and, besides, "I did not wish it, because it was worth nothing for weight-carrying." (Murray, pp. 51-52). She was familiar, then, with what made for a good horse and for what purposes. </ref> but more likely as a herder would, not as a scout or soldier, so her natural aptitude as a knight, which astounded all who saw her ride,<ref>This memory was strong in the village priest who recalled that he "saw her mount on horseback" as she left Vaucouleurs for Chinon. It would have been shocking to see a girl ride like a man like that. At the Trial of Condemnation, she was attacked for having accepted a horse purchased from a Bishop, who, apparently, wanted it back. Joan told the court that "he might have his horse back if he wished" for it was "worth nothing for weight-carrying," and at another inquiry on it, "the horse was of no use for warfare." | Joan grew up in this little village with daily chores on the farm and in the household, especially to spin wool. She tended the animals when she was younger but not much, she testified, after she reached "the age of understanding." She also helped with harvesting the fields,<ref>See [https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/21/mode/1up Joan of Arc : the legend and the reality : Gies, Frances (archive.org)] p. 21</ref> and had certainly helped move the animals around, especially when the villagers fled for protection from raids. She knew cattle, mules and horses,<ref>At the Trial at Rouen, Joan was questioned about a horse that her retinue had purchased from a Bishop who then demanded it back, either because he had not been paid or he just wanted it back (the insinuation was that she had stolen the horse).. Joan said she offered the horse back to him, and, besides, "I did not wish it, because it was worth nothing for weight-carrying." (Murray, pp. 51-52). She was familiar, then, with what made for a good horse and for what purposes.</ref> but more likely as a herder would, not as a scout or soldier, so her natural aptitude as a knight, which astounded all who saw her ride,<ref>This memory was strong in the village priest who recalled that he "saw her mount on horseback" as she left Vaucouleurs for Chinon. (Murray p. 222) It would have been shocking to see a girl ride like a man like that. At the Trial of Condemnation, she was attacked for having accepted a horse purchased from a Bishop, who, apparently, wanted it back. Joan told the court that "he might have his horse back if he wished" for it was "worth nothing for weight-carrying," and at another inquiry on it, "the horse was of no use for warfare." (Murray, p. 51-52)</ref> including in battle gear, was informed by her childhood learning about animals.<ref>For a good review of Joan's horses and horsemanship see Murray, p. 30, fn 1</ref> | ||
The formal charges in the Trial of Condemnation at Rouen claimed of Joan,<ref>From Article IV (Murray, p. 343)</ref> | |||
<blockquote>In her childhood, she was not instructed in the beliefs and principles of our Faith; but by certain old women she was initiated in the science of witchcraft, divination, superstitious doings, and magical arts. Many inhabitants of these villages have been known for all time as using these kinds of witchcraft. </blockquote> | |||
This, of course, ignored her own testimony during the trial such as that she had learned the basic Catholic prayers at home:<ref>Murray, p. 6.</ref> | |||
<blockquote>From my mother I learned my Pater, my Ave Maria, and my Credo. I believe I learned all this from my mother.</blockquote> | |||
The ecclesiastical court at Rouen had sent a notary to Domrémy to inquire into her reputation with the locals. His testimony here is from the Trial of Rehabilitation, the inquiry was done before Joan was killed, so the information he gathered was perfectly contemporaneous, making it historical gold:<ref>Murray, p. 229. See also, [https://archive.org/details/procsderhabilit00fabrgoog/page/n108/mode/1up?q=Nicolas+Bailly&view=theater Procès de réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc: Joseph Fabre (Archive.org) p 108] At the Trial of Rehabilitation, one of those who was interviewed by the notary, Michel Lebuin, recalled, "I knew Jeannette from my earliest youth. Of Jeanne’s departure for Vaucouleurs I knew nothing. But, one day—the Eve of Saint John the Baptist —she said to me: “Between Coussy and Vaucouleurs there is a young girl, who, before the year is gone, will have the King of France consecrated.” And, in truth, the following year the King was crowned at Rheims. When Jeanne was a prisoner I saw Nicolas Bailly, Notary of Andelot, coming to Domremy, one day, with several other persons. At the request of Jean de Torcenay, Bailly of Chaumont for the pretended King of France and England, he proceeded to make enquiries into the conduct and life of Jeanne. But he could not induce the inhabitants of Vaucouleurs to depose. I believe that they questioned Jean Begot, at whose house they were staying. Their enquiry revealed nothing against Jeanne (p. 225</ref> <blockquote>I was appointed... to proceed to an enquiry on the subject of Jeanne, at that time detained in prison at Rouen. Many times, in her youth, I saw Jeanne before she left her father’s house: she was a good girl, of pure life and good manners, a good Catholic who loved the Church and went often on pilgrimage to the Church of Bermont, and confessed nearly every month—as I learned from a number of the inhabitants of Domremy, whom I had to question on the subject at the time of the enquiry that I made with the Provost of Andelot. When I and the late Gerard made this enquiry, we examined twelve or fifteen witnesses.<ref>Translated from historian Regine Pernoud: “Joan came from Domremy and from the parish of that place and her father was Jacques d’Arc, a good and honest farmer (laboureur) as I saw and knew him; I know it also by hearsay and upon the report of many, for I was tabellion appointed by messire Jean de Torcenay, then bailiff of Chaumont, who held his authority from him who was then called King of France and England, at the same time as Gerard Petit, defunct, at that time provost of Andelot, to hold an enquiry in the matter of Joan the Maid who was, as it was said, detained in prison in the city of Rouen. It was I, tabellion, who made [compiled] in her time the information to which I was commissioned by messire Jean de Torcenay . . . when myself and Gerard made [compiled] ... this information on Joan; by our diligence we so wrought that we procured twelve or fifteen witnesses to certify this information. We did this before Simon de Thermes, esquire, acting as lieutenant to the captain of Chaumont, on the subject of Joan the Maid; we were suspect because we had not done this information badly [evilly]; these witnesses, before the lieutenant, attested the evidence which they had given and as it was written in their interrogatory; then the lieutenant wrote again to messire Jean, bailiff of Chaumont, that that which was written in this interrogatory made by us, tabellion and provost, was true. And when this bailiff saw the lieutenant’s report, he said we the commissioners were false Armagnacs.” (from Pernoud, Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses p. 243)</ref></blockquote> | |||
The Bishop in charge of the trial was outraged at the exculpatory evidence and refused to pay the man for his services, which further affirms the original evidence the notary had collected on her.<ref>Jean Moreau, merchant: “I know that at the time when Joan was in Rouen and they were preparing a trial against her, someone important from the country of Lorraine came to Rouen. As I was of the same country I made his acquaintance. He told me that he had come from Lorraine to Rouen because he had been especially commissioned to gather information in Joan’s country of origin to learn what reputation she had there. Which he had done. And he had reported his information to the lord Bishop of Beauvais, thinking to have compensation for his work and his expenses; but the bishop told him that he was a traitor and a bad man and that he had not done what he should have done and was ordered to do. This man complained of it to me for, from what he said, he could not get his salary paid him because his informations were not useful to the bishop. He added that in the course of [collecting] his informations he had found nothing concerning Joan which he would not have liked to find about his own sister, although he had been for information to five or six parishes near Domremy and in that town itself.” Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (p. 243-4). Scarborough House.</ref> That Joan was an exemplary Catholic was affirmed by all who knew her at Domrémy, and no one, not even a Burgundian acquaintance of Joan's, contradicted.<ref>This man was Gerardin of Epinal, At the Trial of Rehabilitation, Gerardin related a conversation with Joan in which she said, “Gossip, if you were not a Burgundian, I would tell you something.” (Murray p. 220). At the Trial of Condemnation, Joan was asked which party were the people of Domremy aligned. Fantastically, she replied, " “I knew only one Burgundian at Domremy: I should have been quite willing for them to cut off his head—always had it pleased God." (p. 19). The reference was to Gerardin, but in no way indicated animosity towards him, just towards Burgundians, who were her enemy and who had turned her over to the English.</ref> | |||
Her extraordinary piety that was noted by her contemporaries in the village was from after her visions started. Before then, she was like any other child: <blockquote>Ever since I knew that it was necessary for me to come into France, I have given myself up as little as possible to these games and distractions. Since I was grown up, I do not remember to have danced there. I may have danced there formerly, with the other children. I have sung there more than danced. </blockquote>Joan's Voices would frequently accompany the ringing of the bells, and if the bells were late, Joan would chide the boy responsible for ringing them for being inattentive.<ref>The bell-ringer, Perrin le Drapier, testified, "When I forgot to ring for Service, Jeanne scolded me, saying I had done wrong; and she promised to give me some of the wool of her flock if I would ring more diligently" (Murray, p. 218)</ref> A contemporary recalled,<ref>Testimony at the Trial of Rehabilitation by J W , labourer, of Greux (Murray, p 220)</ref> | |||
<blockquote>I saw Jeannette very often. In our childhood, we often followed together her father’s plough, and we went together with the other children of the village to the meadows or pastures. Often, when we were all at play, Jeannette would retire alone to “talk with God.” I and the others laughed at her for this. She was simple and good, frequenting the Church and Holy places. Often, when she was in the fields and heard the bells ring, she would drop on her knees. </blockquote>Another aspect of her personality her contemporaries noted was her kindliness and generosity.<ref>Pierre le Drapier, of Domremy testified, "She was very charitable." (Murray, p. 219). Mengette, also from Domemy, observed, "She was a good Christian, of good manners and well brought up. She loved the Church, and went there often, and gave alms from the goods of her father" (Murray, p. 222). Simonin Musnier recalled, "I was brought up with Jeannette, close to her house. I know that she was good, simple and pious, and that she feared God and the Saints. She loved Church and Holy places; she was very charitable, and liked to take care of the sick. I know this of a surety, for in my childhood, I fell ill, and it was she who nursed me. When the Church bells rang, I have seen her kneel down and make the sign of the Cross" (Murray, p. 221)</ref> Her father's house stood on an ancient road, and received passersby frequently, for whom Joan gave up her bed, or according to one witness from Domremy, for the poor.<ref>From Isaballette, wife of Gerardin, a labourer, of Epinal: "She was very hospitable to the poor, and would even sleep on the hearth in order that the poor might lie in her bed" (Jeanne D‘arc, by T. Douglas Murray_The Trials_The Project Gutenberg eBook.pdf, p. 222_</ref> Later, during preparations for the march on Orléans, as related by her confessor throughout her military campaigns, an Augustinian friar named Jean Pasquerel,<ref>Testimony at Trial of Rehabilitation of Brother Jean Pasqueral (Jeanne D‘arc, by T. Douglas Murray_The Trials_The Project Gutenberg eBook.pdf, p 284). The friar's testimony is incredibly valuable for understanding Saint Joan, for as her confessor he was as close to her as anyone. He testified, " When Jeanne left Tours to go to Orleans, she prayed me not to forsake her, and to remain always with her as her Confessor; this I promised to do." (p. 284)</ref> <blockquote>She was, indeed, very pious towards God and the Blessed Mary, confessing nearly every day and communicating frequently. When she was in a neighbourhood where there was a Convent of Mendicant Friars, she told me to remind her of the day when the children of the poor received the Eucharist, so that she might receive it with them; and this she did often: when she confessed herself she wept. </blockquote> | |||
And this on the way to battle. | And this on the way to battle. | ||