JOAN of ARC

“THE QUESTION FOR HER CONTEMPORARIES WAS NOT WHETHER JOAN HEARD VOICES, BUT WHETHER THOSE VOICES CAME FROM HEAVEN OR HELL”

Joan of Arc had three counts against her: she was young, she was a peasant, and she was a woman. How did she convince anyone that God had sent her to save France? In 1429, France was ready for a champion, or perhaps a miracle.

Since France’s unexpected defeat by England at the battle of Agincourt 14 years before, the Valois dynasty’s claim to the French throne, and indeed the dynasty’s control of France itself, had been badly compromised. The English army and its Burgundian allies occupied much of northern France. The Dauphin Charles, who remained uncrowned although his father, King Charles VI, had died seven years previously, had taken refuge in the city of Chinon. The English army had besieged the town of Orléans, which was the gateway to southern France. If it fell, England’s armies would have easy access to Chinon and to Charles – who from the English perspective was a rebel, not the heir to the throne of France.

Then Joan of Arc appeared on the scene: a 17-year-old peasant girl who claimed three saints – Catherine, Margaret and Michael – had given her the mission of driving the English out of France and placing the Dauphin on the throne. If her claim was true, Joan might be the miracle France needed.

In order to understand why Joan was able to convince people of the truth of her mission, we need to look at her claim from the perspective of her contemporaries. Visionaries who claimed to bring messages from God were familiar figures in 15th century France. The question for her contemporaries was not whether Joan heard supernatural voices, but whether those voices came from heaven or hell.