Jeanne d'Arc - (Character and Op.W RP)

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc, c. 1412–1431) was a French peasant girl who, guided by visions of saints, led the beleaguered French army to a series of victories during the Hundred Years’ War. By April–May 1429, she arrived at Orléans and within days helped lift the English siege. In June 1429 she won the Battle of Patay, and on 17 July 1429 Charles VII was crowned at Reims with Joan standing by holding her banner. Within a year she was captured (24 May 1430 at Compiègne), handed to an English-backed tribunal in Rouen, and tried for heresy (1431). The trial records show that she refused to renounce her voices or remove her distinctive male attire, insisting that “everything I have done is at God’s command”. When she finally offered a forced recantation on 24 May 1431, she almost immediately relapsed by resuming her habit, and on 30 May 1431 the court declared her a relapsed heretic and handed her to the secular authorities. Joan was burned at the stake on the Place du Vieux-Marché in Rouen on 30 May 1431. Twenty-five years later (1456) a papal commission formally annulled the 1431 verdict. After centuries as a national legend and martyr-heroine, she was beatified by Pius X (decree of 11 April 1909) and canonized by Benedict XV on 16 May 1920. She is now revered as a Catholic saint and patroness of France, and is commemorated in a French “Fête de Jeanne d’Arc et du patriotisme” on the second Sunday of May (by law of 10 July 1920), while the Church’s liturgical feast of St. Joan falls on 30 May (the day of her martyrdom).

Biography Origins and Early Life (c.1412–1428). Born around January 1412 in Domrémy—a small village on the frontier of the Duchy of Bar in Lorraine—Joan was the daughter of prosperous peasants Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romée (who were later ennobled in 1429 when Charles VII granted the family the name “Du Lis” with lily arms). Despite nearby Burgundian and English incursions, Domrémy remained ardently royalist and loyal to the dauphin Charles. Known locally as a devout girl who practiced abstinence and listened attentively in church, Joan began hearing voices of saints—including St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Margaret—around 1424–1425 (age ~13) urging her to liberate France. By early 1428, these visions intensified as her saints predicted victory for Charles VII's cause. In early 1429, dressed in male attire, she walked 60 miles south to the garrison town of Vaucouleurs seeking a formal commission to see Charles, eventually persuading the local commander, Robert de Baudricourt, to escort her to the royal court.

Military Campaigns (1429). In early 1429, Joan traveled by horseback and river to Chinon, the Dauphin’s refuge in Touraine, where a panel of clerics interrogated her at length without finding heresy in her claims. Charles VII met her in person and gave her armor, a banner inscribed with “Jesus-Maria” and a fleur-de-lis motif, and command of an army. Her first major action was relieving the Siege of Orléans: on April 29, 1429, she and reinforcements entered the city, and by May 8—despite being wounded by an arrow on May 7—she led charges that stormed all surrounding English forts and lifted the siege. She then pressed north, where Franco–Burgundian forces defeated an English relief army at Patay on June 18, 1429, routing Sir John Fastolf’s contingent and clearing the road to Reims. Upon Joan’s insistence, Charles pressed to Reims, which opened its gates, culminating in his coronation at Reims Cathedral on July 17, 1429, with Joan holding her banner beside him (depicted in Ingres’s painting “The Coronation of Charles VII”). Less than a year after leaving home, Joan had fulfilled her stated mission to see Charles crowned.

Marching toward Paris after Reims, her forces took St-Denis in September 1429, but an assault on Paris failed, during which she was wounded again by a crossbow. Frustrated and opposed by Charles’s advisors, she reluctantly agreed to an armistice, halting campaigning for late 1429. On December 29, 1429, Charles ennobled Joan and her family with a coat of arms featuring a gold lily on a blue field. War resumed in spring 1430, with Joan’s voices warning that she would soon be captured. On May 23 or 24, 1430, while leading a sortie to defend the fortress of Compiègne from Burgundian attack, she was unhorsed and captured when the raised drawbridge trapped her outside. Her men held Compiègne, but Joan became a prisoner of John of Luxembourg, a vassal of Philip the Good. Within weeks, she was sold to the English for a large ransom and transferred to Rouen, the Norman capital of English-held territory.

Trial and Execution (1431). Urged by English bishop Jean de Luxembourg (or his representative) for a swift ecclesiastical trial, a pro-English tribunal presided over by Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais formally opened the Inquiry (“procès en première instance”) in Rouen on January 9, 1431. Preliminary inquiries interviewing Domrémy villagers revealed no unseemly behavior—with her handler testifying he "found nothing concerning Jeanne that he would not have liked to find in his own sister"—and a virginity examination supervised by the Duchess of Bedford confirmed her virginity, dismissing charges of illicit conduct.

In March 1431, Joan was presented with 70 technical articles charging her with heresy and sorcery, primarily focused on her claims of divine voices and her lack of Ecclesiastical permission or Papal safe-conduct. Throughout months of interrogation in spring 1431, Joan steadfastly maintained her voices were genuine angels and saints. Trial transcripts record her explaining that "the voice was of St. Catherine and of St. Margaret" guiding her mission, and that Archangel Michael (patron of France’s army) appeared first to comfort her, stating she saw him "with my bodily eyes, as I now see you." Regarding her attire, she repeatedly refused women's dress, declaring, "Give me one [a woman’s dress], I will take it and go: otherwise I will not have it… since it pleases God that I wear [male attire]", adding she would rather "be torn asunder by horses than have come to France without God’s leave" and insisting everything was by God's command ("if He had ordered me a different habit, I should have done it").

As interrogations wore on, judges rejected her expressions and symbolism, including her banner with "Jesus, Maria" and lilies. At a final hearing on May 23–24, 1431, Joan was pressured to sign a formal recantation, agreeing to retraction insofar as God permitted it—a qualification recorded officially that temporarily spared her life. However, when Joan soon resumed wearing military dress (whether out of vanity, necessity, or a trap by jailers), the tribunal immediately declared it a "second relapse into heresy." On May 29, 1431, a panel of judges unanimously pronounced her an incorrigible heretic. On May 30, 1431 (Ascension Day), nineteen-year-old Joan was burned at the stake in Rouen’s Saint-Ouen cemetery. Witnesses reported that at the pyre she requested a crucifix, invoked the name of Jesus throughout, and declared "until the last, her voices came from God and had not deceived her". Following her death, the English disdained her and threw her ashes into the Seine.

Rehabilitation (1455–1456). Four years after her execution, following the expulsion of the English from Normandy, King Charles VII petitioned the Pope to clear Joan's name. In 1455–1456, Pope Callixtus III authorized an appellate inquiry—the procès en nullité—in Rouen. This court heard 115 witnesses under oath, including former comrades, judges, and clerks such as Jean Massieu, exposing the procedural and legal abuses of the 1431 trial. In July 1456, the papal tribunal declared Joan innocent, officially "reversed and annulled" her 1431 conviction, and condemned Bishop Cauchon's court for violating church law by operating without a papal mandate or proper inquisitors. Witnesses uniformly praised her virtue and steadfast faith, leading to her being declared a martyr in 1456 and proving that her original conviction was driven by political spite rather than genuine heresy.

Later Sanctification (19th–20th centuries). Joan's reputation as a national heroine grew in the 19th century amid French Romantic nationalism, with English and French writers, historians, and poets—such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Carlyle, and Victor Hugo—celebrating her courage and innocence. Her cause in the Catholic Church progressed gradually: in 1869, Bishop Dupanloup of Orléans formally petitioned Rome for her beatification, leading to decades of Vatican examination into her virtues and miracles. Pope Pius X issued her decree of beatification on April 18, 1909. After Allied soldiers invoked her as a symbol of righteous struggle during World War I and English sentiment warmed toward her, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc as a saint on May 16, 1920. That same year, on July 10, 1920, the French Republic enacted a law proposed by writer Maurice Barrès creating an annual national "fête de Jeanne d’Arc et du patriotisme" on the second Sunday in May to commemorate the relief of Orléans. Papal decrees in the 1920s named her patroness of France (invoked alongside St. Michael and St. Louis) and patron of soldiers, and in 1922, Pope Pius XI declared her co-patroness of the French military in honor of her wartime leadership. She remains officially venerated in the Church as co-patron saint of the French nation, soldiers, prisoners, and those persecuted for their faith.

Historiography and Debates Primary sources. The foundational biography of Joan derives from 15th-century scribal records, primarily the 1431 Procès de Rouen and the 1455–56 Procès de réhabilitation (later published in key 19th- and 20th-century editions by scholars Jules Quicherat and Émile Coornaert). Transcripts in medieval French and modern translations capture Joan’s own voice alongside her accusers' arguments, backed by 1456 rehabilitation testimony from former interrogators. Additional contemporary sources include chronicles by Jean Chartier, Enguerrand de Monstrelet, and the English monk Thomas Walsingham, as well as Joan’s few surviving letters (such as a 1429 letter urging Vaucouleurs to hold out). Furthermore, the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes medieval and early-modern narratives, detailing eyewitness accounts of her voices and the discovery of her sword.

Posthumous Legacy Canonization and religious veneration. Canonized in 1920, Joan is celebrated in Catholic liturgy on her May 30 martyrdom date, utilizing special Mass texts and prayers from the Commune Virginum with proper antiphons authorized for Orléans and the universal Church. Dedicated churches worldwide (e.g., Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc churches in Paris, Rouen, Montreal, and New Orleans) feature imagery of her coronation or martyrdom, while pilgrimages to Domrémy, Chinon, Orléans, and Rouen grew popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her national and military identity remains anchored by French army patronage and the "Coat of Arms of Orleans" medal bearing her likeness.

National symbol of France. As an enduring French symbol, Joan has been invoked across the political spectrum (“du parti socialiste jusqu’à l’extrême droite”) since becoming a “symbole national” during the Franco–Prussian War of 1870. The Third Republic elevated her patriotic status following Senator Joseph Fabre’s 1894 proposal for an annual “fête du patriotisme,” culminating in the 1920 national festival (fête nationale) law championed by nationalist Maurice Barrès and veterans' groups. During Vichy France (1940–1944), Marshal Pétain promoted her as a spiritual icon of "French unity" through statues, medals, and liturgies to reinforce regime ideology. Post-WWII Gaullists like Charles de Gaulle praised her nationalist zeal, while the French Left (socialists and secularists)—initially wary of her Church ties—embraced her as a symbol of resistance and patriotism after WWI and WWII. Though 15th-century English foes branded her a witch, 19th-century Romantic writers (including English figures Thomas Carlyle and Thomas De Quincey) widely praised her virtue.

Cultural Representations Joan of Arc’s story has inspired a vast range of cultural works across multiple artistic mediums. Major literary and scholarly texts span from medieval chronicles to modern biographies—such as Jules Michelet’s Histoire de France (1841), Regine Pernoud’s Jeanne d’Arc par elle-même et ses témoins (1962; English trans. Joan of Arc By Herself and Her Witnesses), Mark Twain’s fictionalized novel Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896), and accessible 21st-century histories like Marina Fisher’s The Trial of Joan of Arc (2005) and Helen Castor’s Joan of Arc: A History (2014). Her legacy was dramatized in Pulitzer Prize–winning plays like George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan (1923) and Jean Anouilh’s French play L’Alouette (The Lark, 1952), as well as major musical works including Arthur Honegger and Paul Claudel’s oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (1938) and Tchaikovsky’s opera The Maid of Orleans (Лебедь Орлеанская, 1881).

Cinema brought Joan worldwide visibility, starting with Carl Theodor Dreyer’s landmark silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)—widely ranked among the greatest silent films for its intense close-ups of Renée Jeanne Falconetti as Joan. Other major film treatments include Victor Fleming’s Joan of Arc (1948) starring Ingrid Bergman, Jacques Rivette’s two-part French feature Jeanne la Pucelle (1994), and Luc Besson’s Hollywood epic The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) starring Milla Jovovich. In contemporary media, Joan appears across modern novels, comics, and video games, notably featuring in a dedicated campaign mission in the strategy game Age of Empires II.

Visual art has continuously honored Joan, particularly through 19th-century Romantic paintings like Paul Delaroche’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (1824), Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s Joan at the Coronation of Charles VII (1854), Jean-Jacques Henner’s Joan of Arc Listening to Voices (1880), alongside works by Puvis de Chavannes and Moreau. Emmanuel Frémiet’s 1874 equestrian statue at Place des Pyramides in Paris stands as one of her most famous monuments, complemented by stained-glass windows and statues in European cathedrals such as Rouen, Orléans, and Chartres. Tributes extended into the 20th century, including Paul Gauguin’s stained-glass design of St. Joan and Arnaud d’Andlau’s 1971 novel La Pucelle.

Commemorations and Rituals Joan’s legacy continues through widespread public commemorations and rituals. The Catholic Church celebrates May 30 as her feast day (featuring French Masses recalling her martyrdom), while the July 10, 1920 law established France's official (non-holiday) “Fête nationale de Jeanne d’Arc et du patriotisme” on the second Sunday of May, marked by military ceremonies at her Paris equestrian statue led by the Minister of Veterans. Vibrant regional festivals include Orléans’s annual early-May “Fêtes Johanniques” pageant celebrating its 1429 liberation, Reims’s May “Veillée et Procession,” local events in Domrémy-la-Pucelle on January 6 (her reputed birthday) and May 30, and May 30 pilgrimages in Rouen to the modern Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc church and the cross marking her pyre; additionally, the French government mandates flag-draping on public buildings every May 30 and national festival day to honor her as a central emblem of French identity.

Physical Sites, Relics, and Monuments Birthplace and Domrémy. Joan's village of Domrémy (now Domrémy-la-Pucelle; 48°16′10″N 5°40′25″E) is preserved as a museum site featuring her family home (Maison de Jeanne d’Arc) and the Church of Saints Rémy and Catherine, along with nearby childhood pilgrimage locations such as the Fontaine Saint-Jean and the Chêne chapelle (“Oak Chapel”).

Chinon and Vaucouleurs. The Château de Chinon, where Joan first met Charles VII, now houses Joan exhibits within its chapel, while Vaucouleurs features fortress ruins and a dedicated museum commemorating her initial endorsement by Robert de Baudricourt.

Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois. At the church of Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois in Indre, Joan's voices directed her to a buried sword: "Instead of the sword the king offered her, she begged that search might be made for an ancient sword buried… behind the altar in the chapel of Ste-Catherine-de-Fierbois. It was found in the very spot her voices indicated". Honored today by a stained-glass window and plaque at Fierbois, this rusty blade marked with five crosses was eventually transferred to Tours before being lost during the French Revolution.

Orléans. Orléans honors Joan throughout the city with stained-glass windows in Sainte-Croix and the cathedral, an annual parade celebrating her 1429 liberation, the Joan of Arc House museum (“Hôtel Groslot”), and public statues—most notably Frémiet's 1874 equestrian statue in Place du Martroi.

Reims and Tours. Reims Cathedral (Notre-Dame de Reims, featuring its famed rose window) served as the site of Charles VII's coronation. In Tours, the Cathedral once housed Joan's cleaned sword (where a velvet and cloth-of-gold scabbard or reproduction may be displayed), while the Hôtel de l’Archevêché museum displays Joan exhibits, including a Jean Chartier manuscript illustration depicting the discovery of her sword.

Rouen. Rouen contains the primary sites of Joan’s trial and execution: the Tour du Roi keep (Château de Philippe Auguste, 15 Rue Bouvreuil) where she was imprisoned and interrogated; the Archbishops’ Palace (7 Rue Saint-Romain, now the Historial Jeanne d’Arc museum) featuring an audio-visual "courtroom" at her trial site; the Abbey Church of Saint-Ouen with a plaque marking the cemetery where her initial admonitions and recantation occurred; the Place du Vieux-Marché where she was burned; the open Église Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc (built 1979–82) facing a bronze cross on the pyre location; and a downstream plaque near the Pont Boïeldieu marking where her ashes were cast into the Seine.

Other French sites. Altars dedicated to Joan exist across France in cities like Nancy, Orléans, and Arles, while Domrémy features the 1856 Basilique du Bois-Chenu built on her family's farm site. In Paris, the Musée de l’Armée at the Hôtel des Invalides displays a suit of "Joan’s armor" (dated by historians to the 17th century), the Louvre previously held and lost items attributed to her (a bow, arrows, or sword), and an 1867 sealed jar found in Paris containing alleged bone fragments of Joan was later scientifically analyzed and found to contain animal bone.

Iconography and Symbolism Her Image. In art and popular imagination, Joan is typically depicted as a helmeted warrior-maiden in full plate armor, frequently shown on horseback. Her standard (banner) is a central attribute, historically described as bearing the inscription "Jesus-Maria" and depictions of Christ and angels with fleur-de-lis. In iconography, she often holds this banner alongside an occasional sword—sometimes shown broken to reflect the legend that she never killed anyone with it. Having earned the early nickname La Pucelle (“the Maid”), she is also portrayed crowned with lilies to symbolize her chastity, while later religious statues depict her martyrdom at the stake, kneeling with a cross.

Symbols and Patronage. The French fleur-de-lis and traditional emblems of purity—such as white armor and lily flowers—are intimately tied to Joan. As a patron saint of France, she is often invoked with phrases like “Rex regnat in aeternum!” (a Lancastrian motto reversed in her context). Within Catholic devotion, she is called upon against adversity, for military valor, and for the falsely accused; a modern Catholic profile highlights her veneration as the “patron saint of France, soldiers, prisoners, and those who are mocked or ridiculed for their faith.” Her name and likeness are extensively woven into France's cultural tapestry, appearing alongside national and religious symbols across heraldry, medals, and regimental badges.