Joan of Arc and Her Story by Regine Pernoud

Joan of Arc Before Referencing

Pernoud, Regine with Marie-Vbronique Clin. Joan of Arc, Her Story. Revised and translated by Jeremy du Quesnay Adams. Edited by Bonnie Wheeler. New York: Palgrave, 1999. pp336. $11.96.

The young French girl Joan of Arc only lived to see her 19th birthday. She did not even attain the age of adulthood by the modest standards of her own era. Yet Joan's brief life has spawned many historical and literary interpretations, often reaching far beyond the touchingly simple facts known about her actual existence. Joan has been made a canonized Catholic saint, portrayed by writers as a victim of persecution by one of the earliest known political witch hunts, been hailed a feminist military leader, and even diagnosed posthumously as a schizophrenic. In Joan of Arc, Her Story by Regine Pernoud and co-author Marie-Vbronique Clin, the authors attempt to let Joan speak for herself in the extant historical documents of the period.

Despite Joan's youth and behavior that today many people would consider insane, Pernoud and Clin's approach ultimately yields a startling picture of a young woman who led the French to victory, played a critical inspirational and military role in lifting siege of Orleans, and finally oversaw the crowning of the dauphin as Charles VII at Rheims. To narrate Joan's extraordinary life and accomplishments, Pernoud and Clin divide the book into three parts for clarity. They state that they do not have a specific thesis per se; rather they wish to illustrate different facets of Joan's legacy.

Part 1 is entitled "The Drama" and reconstructs Joan's life from historical records. It spans from the first testimony of Joan's life, to her military leadership, trial, and death. In 1429, the young peasant girl went to Vaucouleurs to beg to see the dauphin Charles in person. She declared that she had been visited by visions from God that she was designed to lift the Orleans siege and to see the dauphin crowed. Famously, upon first seeing Charles, she recognized him, even though he concealed himself and put an imposter in his place on the throne. According to the background information provided by historian Jeremy du Quesnay Adams in the preface to the English edition of the work, Joan saw her mission as religious as well as political because her visions told her that she was destined to right the wrongs done to France during the Hundred Years War and the Great Schism, when different Popes warred in Europe for authority.

Surprisingly, from a historian's perspective given the brief span of Joan's career during a tremendously turbulent period of history, the authors cite extensive primary sources from the period, often cutting and pasting from actual documents with only short interjections of narration. Because Joan so quickly inspired affection and respect in the hearts of the desperate French populace, a surprising amount of recorded detail exists about her life. Joan may be a saint and have attained mythological status and awe, but she is a comparatively well-known saint, according to historical records.

Also, more sadly, extensive notes were taken during Joan's trials for heresy to justify the actions of the English kangaroo court that attempted to discredit her authority. According to eye witnesses when Joan was burned (martyred, one should say, given she was later canonized) at the stake, her last word was "Jesus." The English soldiers are said to have almost immediately regretted and repented for their actions, and only twenty-four years after her death, a new trial concluded that the English inquisition was in error and its decision was nullified. This was a remarkable decision given that tensions between the two nations of English and France were still quite fierce.

Part 2 examines other primary documentation and narration about some of the other participants in Joan's tale. Part 3, "Issues and Images," is the more speculative cultural history of Joan as a figure of reverence. It attempts to divine exactly where Joan came by deconstructing Joan's name, what is known of her family's origin, and what cultural background she likely came from in rural France.

A particularly interesting part of this final section is devoted to Joan's use of language during her trial, and how well she was able to verbally duel with her attackers. The trial records are notable for Joan's verbal fluency, especially given her lack of education. The language with which other authors have dealt with Joan, and how the church and historians have portrayed her as a figure is also given extensive attention. Joan has inspired plays, books, novels, and 20th century films, and her literary and cultural legacy has come to obscure the facts.