JOAN OF ARC

joan of arc, more properly jeanneton darc, afterwards known in france as jeanne d'arc[1] (1411-1431), the "maid of orleans," was born between 1410 and 1412, the daughter of jacques darc, peasant proprietor, of domremy, a small village in the vosges, partly in champagne and partly in lorraine, and of his wife isabeau, of the village of vouthon, who from having made a pilgrimage to rome had received the usual surname of romee. although her parents were in easy circumstances, joan never learned to read or write, and received her sole religious instruction from her mother, who taught her to recite the pater noster, ave maria, and credo. she sometimes guarded her father's flocks, but at her trial in 1431 she strongly resented being referred to as a shepherd girl. in all household work she was specially proficient, her skill in the use of the needle not being excelled (she said) by that of any matron even of rouen. in her childhood she was noted for her abounding physical energy; but her vivacity, so far from being tainted by any coarse or unfeminine trait, was the direct outcome of an abnormally sensitive nervous temperament. towards her parents her conduct was uniformly exemplary, and the charm of her unselfish kindness made her a favourite in the village. as she grew to womanhood she became inclined to silence, and spent much of her time in solitude and prayer. she repelled all attempts of the young men of her acquaintance to win her favour; and while active in the performance of her duties, and apparently finding her life quite congenial, inwardly she was engrossed with thoughts reaching far beyond the circle of her daily concerns. at this time, through the alliance and support of philip of burgundy, the english had extended their conquest over the whole of france north of the loire in addition to their possession of guienne; and while the infant henry vi. of england had in 1422 been proclaimed king of france at his father's grave at st denis, charles the dauphin (still uncrowned) was forced to watch the slow dismemberment of his kingdom. isabella, the dauphin's mother, had favoured henry v. of england, the husband of her daughter catherine; and under charles vi. a visionary named marie d'avignon declared that france was being ruined by a woman and would be restored by an armed virgin from the marches of lorraine. to what extent this idea worked in joan's mind is doubtful. in geoffrey of monmouth's tract, _de prophetiis merlini_, there is a reference to an ancient prophecy of the enchanter merlin concerning a virgin _ex nemore canuto_, and it appears that this _nemus canutum_ had been identified in folk-lore with the oak wood of domremy. joan's knowledge of the prophecy does not, however, appear till 1429; and already before that, from 1424, according to her account at her trial, she had become imbued with a sense of having a mission to free france from the english. she heard the voices of st michael, st catherine and st margaret urging her on. in may 1428 she tried to obtain from robert de baudricourt, governor of vaucouleurs, an introduction to the dauphin, saying that god would send him aid, but she was rebuffed. when, however, in september the english (under the earl of salisbury) invested orleans, the key to the south of france, she renewed her efforts with baudricourt, her mission being to relieve orleans and crown the dauphin at reims. by persistent importunity, the effect of which was increased by the simplicity of her demeanour and her calm assurance of success, she at last prevailed on the governor to grant her request; and in february 1429, accompanied by six men-at-arms, she set out on her perilous journey to the court of the dauphin at chinon. at first charles refused to see her, but popular feeling in her favour induced his advisers to persuade him after three days to grant her an interview. she is said to have persuaded him of the divine character of her commission by discovering him though disguised in the crowd of his courtiers, and by reassuring him regarding his secret doubts as to his legitimacy. and charles was impressed by her knowledge of a secret prayer, which (he told dunois) could only be known to god and himself. accordingly, after a commission of doctors had reported that they had found in her nothing of evil or contrary to the catholic faith, and a council of matrons had reported on her chastity, she was permitted to set forth with an army of 4000 or 5000 men designed for the relief of orleans. at the head of the army she rode clothed in a coat of mail, armed with an ancient sword, said to be that with which charles martel had vanquished the saracens, the hiding-place of which, under the altar of the parish church of the village of ste catherine de fierbois, the "voices" had revealed to her; she carried a white standard of her own design embroidered with lilies, and having on the one side the image of god seated on the clouds and holding the world in his hand, and on the other a representation of the annunciation. joan succeeded in entering orleans on the 29th of april 1429, and through the vigorous and unremitting sallies of the french the english gradually became so discouraged that on the 8th of may they raised the siege. it is admitted that her extraordinary pluck and sense of leadership were responsible for this result. in a single week (june 12 to 19), by the capture of jargeau and beaugency, followed by the great victory of patay, where talbot was taken prisoner, the english were driven beyond the loire. with some difficulty the dauphin was then persuaded to set out towards reims, which he entered with an army of 12,000 men on the 16th of july, troyes having yielded on the way. on the following day, holding the sacred banner, joan stood beside charles at his coronation in the cathedral. the king then entered into negotiations with a view to detaching burgundy from the english cause. joan, at his importunity, remained with the army, but the king played her false when she attempted the capture of paris; and after a failure on the 8th of september, when joan was wounded,[2] his troops were disbanded. joan went into normandy to assist the duke of alencon, but in december returned to the court, and on the 29th she and her family were ennobled with the surname of du lis. unconsoled by such honours, she rode away from the court in march, to assist in the defence of compiegne against the duke of burgundy; and on the 24th of may she led an unsuccessful sortie against the besiegers, when she was surrounded and taken prisoner. charles, partly perhaps on account of his natural indolence, partly on account of the intrigues at the court, made no effort to effect her ransom, and never showed any sign of interest in her fate. by means of negotiations instigated and prosecuted with great perseverance by the university of paris and the inquisition, and through the persistent scheming of pierre cauchon, the bishop of beauvais--a burgundian partisan, who, chased from his own see, hoped to obtain the archbishopric of rouen--she was sold in november by john of luxemburg and burgundy to the english, who on the 3rd of january 1431, at the instance of the university of paris, delivered her over to the inquisition for trial. after a public examination, begun on the 9th of january and lasting six days, and another conducted in the prison, she was, on the 20th of march, publicly accused as a heretic and witch, and, being in the end found guilty, she made her submission at the scaffold on the 24th of may, and received pardon. she was still, however, the prisoner of the english, and, having been induced by those who had her in charge to resume her male clothes, she was on this account judged to have relapsed, was sentenced to death, and burned at the stake on the streets of rouen on the 30th of may 1431. in 1436 an impostor appeared, professing to be joan of arc escaped from the flames, who succeeded in inducing many people to believe in her statement, but afterwards confessed her imposture. the sentence passed on joan of arc was revoked by the pope on the 7th of july 1456, and since then it has been the custom of catholic writers to uphold the reality of her divine inspiration. during the latter part of the 19th century a popular cult of the maid of orleans sprang up in france, being greatly stimulated by the clerical party, which desired to advertise, in the person of this national heroine, the intimate union between patriotism and the catholic faith, and for this purpose ardently desired her enrolment among the saints. on the 27th of january 1894 solemn approval was given by pope leo xiii., and in february 1903 a formal proposal was entered for her canonization. the feast of the epiphany (jan. 6), 1904 was made the occasion for a public declaration by pope pius x. that she was entitled to the designation venerable. on the 13th of december 1908 the decree of beatification was published in the consistory hall of the vatican. as an historical figure, it is impossible to dogmatize concerning the personality of joan of arc. the modern clerical view has to some extent provoked what appears, in anatole france's learned account, ably presented as it is, to be a retaliation, in regarding her as a clerical tool in her own day. but her character was in any case exceptional. she undoubtedly nerved the french at a critical time, and inspired an army of laggards and pillagers with a fanatical enthusiasm, comparable with that of cromwell's puritans. moreover, as regards her genuine military qualities we have the testimony of dunois and d'alencon; and captain marin, in his _jeanne d'arc, tacticien et strategiste_ (1891), takes a high view of her achievements. the nobility of her purpose and the genuineness of her belief in her mission, combined with her purity of character and simple patriotism, stand clear. as to her "supranormal" faculties, a matter concerning which belief largely depends on the point of view, it is to be remarked that quicherat, a freethinker wholly devoid of clerical influences, admits them (_apercus nouveaux_, 1850), saying that the evidence is as good as for any facts in her history. see also a. lang on "the voices" in _proc. soc. psychical research_, vol. xi. authorities.--for bibliography see _le livre d'or de jeanne d'arc_ (1894), and a. molinier, _sources de l'histoire de france_ (1904). until the 19th century the history of joan of arc was almost entirely neglected; voltaire's scurrilous satire _la pucelle_, while indicative of the attitude of his time, may be compared with the very fair praises in the _encyclopedie_. the first attempt at a study of the sources was that of l'averdy in 1790, published in the third volume of _memoires_ of the academy of inscriptions, which served as the base for all lives until j. quicherat's great work, _le proces de jeanne d'arc_ (1841-1849), a collection of the texts so full and so vivid that they reveal the character and life of the heroine with great distinctness. michelet's sketch of her work in his _histoire de france_, one of the best sections of the history, is hardly more vivid than these sources, upon which all the later biographies (notably that of h. a. wallon, 1860) are based. see also a. marty, _l'histoire de jeanne d'arc d'apres des documents originaux_, with introduction by m. sepet (1907); p. h. dunand, _jeanne d'arc et l'eglise_ (1908); and especially andrew lang, _the maid of france_ (1908). the _vie de jeanne d'arc_, by anatole france (2 vols., 1908), is brilliant and erudite, but in some respects open to charges of inaccuracy and prejudice in its handling of the sources (see the criticism by andrew lang in _the times_, lit. suppl., may 28, 1908). the attempt to establish the reality of the "revelations" and consequently to obtain the canonization of joan of arc led the catholic party in france to publish lives (such as sepet's, 1869) in support of their claims. excellent works worth special mention are: simeon luce, _jeanne d'arc a domremy_; l. jarry, _l'armee anglaise au siege d'orleans_ (1892); j. j. bourasse, _miracles de madame sainte katherine de fierbois_ (1858, trans. by a. lang); boucher de molandon and a. de beaucorps, _l'armee anglaise vaincue par jeanne d'arc_ (1892); r. p. agroles, s.j., _la vraie jeanne d'arc_. for the "false pucelle" see a. lang's article in his _valet's tragedy_ (1903). of the numerous dramas and poems of which joan of arc has been the subject, mention can only be made of _die jungfrau von orleans_ of schiller, and of the _joan of arc_ of southey. a drama in verse by jules barbier was set to music by c. gounod (1873). (j. t. s.*; h. ch.) footnotes: [1] in the act of ennoblement the name is spelt day, due probably to the peculiar pronunciation. it has been disputed whether the name was written originally d'arc or darc. it is beyond doubt that the father of joan was not of noble origin, but bouteiller suggests that at that period the apostrophe did not indicate nobility. her mother, it may be noted, is called "de vouthon." [2] the porte st honore where joan was wounded stood where the comedie francaise now stands. joanes (or juanes), vicente (1506-1579), head of the valencian school of painters, and often called "the spanish raphael," was born at fuente de la higuera in the province of valencia in 1506. he is said to have studied his art for some time in rome, with which school his affinities are closest, but the greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now to be found. all relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, truth and beauty of colour, and minuteness of finish. he died at bocairente (near jativa) while engaged upon an altarpiece in the church there, on the 21st of december 1579. joanna (1479-1555), called the mad (_la loca_), queen of castile and mother of the emperor charles v., was the second daughter of ferdinand and isabella, king and queen of spain, and was born at toledo on the 6th of november 1479. her youngest sister was catherine of aragon, the first wife of henry viii. in 1496 at lille she was married to the archduke philip the handsome, son of the german king maximilian i., and at ghent, in february 1500, she gave birth to the future emperor. the death of her only brother john, of her eldest sister isabella, queen of portugal, and then of the latter's infant son miguel, made joanna heiress of the spanish kingdoms, and in 1502 the cortes of castile and of aragon recognized her and her husband as their future sovereigns. soon after this joanna's reason began to give way. she mourned in an extravagant fashion for her absent husband, whom at length she joined in flanders; in this country her passionate jealousy, although justified by philip's conduct, led to deplorable scenes. in november 1504 her mother's death left joanna queen of castile, but as she was obviously incapable of ruling, the duties of government were undertaken by her father, and then for a short time by her husband. the queen was with philip when he was wrecked on the english coast and became the guest of henry vii. at windsor; soon after this event, in september 1506, he died and joanna's mind became completely deranged, it being almost impossible to get her away from the dead body of her husband. the remaining years of her miserable existence were spent at tordesillas, where she died on the 11th of april 1555. in spite of her afflictions the queen was sought in marriage by henry vii. just before his death. nominally joanna remained queen of castile until her death, her name being joined with that of charles in all public documents, but of necessity she took no part in the business of state. in addition to charles she had a son ferdinand, afterwards the emperor ferdinand i., and four daughters, among them being maria (1505-1558), wife of louis ii., king of hungary, afterwards governor-general of the netherlands. see r. villa, _la reina dona juana la loca_ (madrid, 1892); rosler, _johanna die wahnsinnige_ (vienna, 1890); w. h. prescott, _hist. of ferdinand and isabella_ (1854); and h. tighe, _a queen of unrest_ (1907). joanna i. (c. 1327-1382), queen of naples, was the daughter of charles duke of calabria (d. 1328), and became sovereign of naples in succession to her grandfather king robert in 1343. her first husband was andrew, son of charles robert, king of hungary, who like the queen herself was a member of the house of anjou. in 1345 andrew was assassinated at aversa, possibly with his wife's connivance, and at once joanna married louis, son of philip prince of taranto. king louis of hungary then came to naples to avenge his brother's death, and the queen took refuge in provence--which came under her rule at the same time as naples--purchasing pardon from pope clement vi. by selling to him the town of avignon, then part of her dominions. having returned to naples in 1352 after the departure of louis, joanna lost her second husband in 1362, and married james, king of majorca (d. 1375), and later otto of brunswick, prince of taranto. the queen had no sons, and as both her daughters were dead she made louis i. duke of anjou, brother of charles v. of france, her heir. this proceeding so angered charles, duke of durazzo, who regarded himself as the future king of naples, that he seized the city. joanna was captured and was put to death at aversa on the 22nd of may 1382. the queen was a woman of intellectual tastes, and was acquainted with some of the poets and scholars of her time, including petrarch and boccaccio. see crivelli, _della prima e della seconda giovanna, regine di napoli_ (1832); g. battaglia, _giovanna i., regina di napoli_ (1835); w. st c. baddeley, _queen joanna i. of naples_ (1893); scarpetta, _giovanna i. di napoli_ (1903); and francesca m. steele, _the beautiful queen joanna i. of naples_ (1910). joanna ii. (1371-1435), queen of naples, was descended from charles ii. of anjou through his son john of durazzo. she had been married to william, son of leopold iii. of austria, and at the death of her brother king ladislaus in 1414 she succeeded to the neapolitan crown. her life had always been very dissolute, and although now a widow of forty-five, she chose as her lover pandolfo alopo, a youth of twenty-six, whom she made seneschal of the kingdom. he and the constable muzio attendolo sforza completely dominated her, and the turbulent barons wished to provide her with a husband who would be strong enough to break her favourites yet not make himself king. the choice fell on james of bourbon, a relative of the king of france, and the marriage took place in 1415. but james at once declared himself king, had alopo killed and sforza imprisoned, and kept his wife in a state of semi-confinement; this led to a counter-agitation on the part of the barons, who forced james to liberate sforza, renounce his kingship, and eventually to quit the country. the queen now sent sforza to re-establish her authority in rome, whence the neapolitans had been expelled after the death of ladislaus; sforza entered the city and obliged the _condottiere_ braccio da montone, who was defending it in the pope's name, to depart (1416). but when oddo colonna was elected pope as martin v., he allied himself with joanna, who promised to give up rome, while sforza returned to naples. the latter found, however, that he had lost all influence with the queen, who was completely dominated by her new lover giovanni (sergianni) caracciolo. hoping to re-establish his position and crush caracciolo, sforza favoured the pretensions of louis iii. of anjou, who wished to obtain the succession of naples at joanna's death, a course which met with the approval of the pope. joanna refused to adopt louis owing to the influence of caracciolo, who hated sforza; she appealed for help instead to alphonso of aragon, promising to make him her heir. war broke out between joanna and the aragonese on one side and louis and sforza, supported by the pope, on the other. after much fighting by land and sea, alphonso entered naples, and in 1422 peace was made. but dissensions broke out between the aragonese and catalans and the neapolitans, and alphonso had caracciolo arrested; whereupon joanna, fearing for her own safety, invoked the aid of sforza, who with difficulty carried her off to aversa. there she was joined by louis whom she adopted as her successor instead of the ungrateful alphonso. sforza was accidentally drowned, but when alphonso returned to spain, leaving only a small force in naples, the angevins with the help of a genoese fleet recaptured the city. for a few years there was peace in the kingdom, but in 1432 caracciolo, having quarrelled with the queen, was seized and murdered by his enemies. internal disorders broke out, and gian antonio orsini, prince of taranto, led a revolt against joanna in apulia; louis of anjou died while conducting a campaign against the rebels (1434), and joanna herself died on the 11th of february 1435, after having appointed his son rene her successor. weak, foolish and dissolute, she made her reign one long scandal, which reduced the kingdom to the lowest depths of degradation. her perpetual intrigues and her political incapacity made naples a prey to anarchy and foreign invasions, destroying all sense of patriotism and loyalty both in the barons and the people. authorities.--a. von platen, _storia del reame di napoli dal 1414 al 1423_ (1864). c. cipolla, _storia, della signoria italiana_ (1881), where the original authorities are quoted. (see also naples; sforza.)