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Biography of Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d’Arc; 6 January 1412 – 30 May 1431), nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans; French: La Pucelle” d’Orléans)”, was a French military strategist, Catholic saint, regarded by the French as a national hero. In the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), she led the French army against the British invasion, and was eventually captured and executed.

Joan of Arc became an important role in Western culture after her death. From Napoleon to the present, French politicians have promoted her great image. Major writers and composers, including Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Twain, Bernard Shaw, and Brecht have written works about her, and a large number of them are based on her. The film, theater, and music of the film have also continued to develop until today.

Introduction

Joan of Arc was originally a French rural girl. She claimed that one day when she was thirteen years old, she met the angels St. Michael, St. Margaret and St. Catherine under the big tree behind the village, and thus got the “upper”. The revelation of the Lord,” asked her to lead her troops to reclaim the lost territories of France occupied by the English at that time.

Later, she turned around several times and gained military power. She solved the siege of Orleans in 1429 and became a famous French heroine. Later, she led her troops to defeat the invaders of England many times, and even prompted Charles VII, who had the right to inherit the throne, on July 16 of the same year. Day is crowned.

However, Joan of Arc was captured by the Duchy of Burgundy in a skirmish at Compiègne in 1430, and was soon purchased by the English with a lot of money.

The Inquisition under the control of the English authorities sentenced her to the stake for heresy and witches. He was publicly executed in Rouen, France on May 30, 1431. When the English army was completely expelled from France 20 years later, Joan of Arc’s elderly mother persuaded Pope Callixter III to reopen Joan’s case, eventually vindicating her in 1456. Canonized by the Vatican 500 years later.

Character influence

The Hundred Years’ War continued for 22 years after Joan’s death, and Charles VII managed to retain the legitimacy of the French king without being overthrown by England’s claimed successor, Henry VI, who was crowned in December 1431. England also lost its alliance with Burgundy, which France managed to draw closer to France in the Treaty of Arras in 1435, before England could reorganize the generals and longbowmen it lost in 1429.

England’s regent, the Duke of Bedford, died the same year, making Henry VI, at just 10, the youngest king of England without a regent. The shift in Burgundy’s position and the inept leadership of Henry VI were probably the main reasons for the end of the war. Kelly DeVries argues that Joan of Arc’s use of artillery for offensive use and frontal attack tactics also influenced the French in subsequent wars.

Joan of Arc became a semi-legendary character for the next four hundred years. Records of her are mainly from chronicles, and five original manuscripts of the first trial led by England were found in the old archives in the 19th century. Soon historians also found the full record of the retrial, including the testimony of 115 eyewitnesses, as well as a record of the first trial in Latin.

Numerous letters from the time were also found, three of which were signed by Joan of Arc “Jehanne” with waving handwriting showing that she was still learning to write. These first-hand accounts are documents left over from two trials, making them a rather unusually rich source, as DeVries says: “No medieval figure, male or female, has been as extensively studied as Joan of Arc. ”

Joan of Arc came from a humble little village and was just an illiterate 17-year-old rural girl, but in just a few years she became a legend. Before Joan of Arc, both Britain and France used the millennium-old Salic succession to justify this war, which was originally just a conflict between kings over inheritance rights.

Joan of Arc brought a different meaning to the war, as described by Jean de Metz: “Many of our (French) kings are of English blood; but are we going to be English?” and Stephen Richey said: ” She turned an otherwise tedious inter-dynastic conflict, in which ordinary people suffered but was not interested, into a fiery crusade to defend one’s homeland.” Richey also described her influence on future generations:

“Five centuries after her death, everything has been remembered for her: (she was) a fanatical believer, a religious mystic, a naive and tragic pawn to be played with by those in power, and at the same time.

The founder and symbol of modern nationalism, the adored heroine and saint. Even in the face of the threat of torture and death at the stake, she persisted in the voice she heard from God. Whether that voice was real or not , her story will shock anyone who hears her story.”

At the same time as her execution was being re-investigated after the war in 1452, the Church declared Orleans one of the sites of pilgrimage for her glorious deeds in Orleans, and granted an amnesty to local criminals. Joan of Arc was used as their symbol by the Catholic League against Protestants in the 16th century. Joan of Arc was blessed in 1909, thanks to the efforts of Félix Dupanloup, bishop of Orleans from 1849 to 1878. She was canonized on May 16, 1920, and her feast day was set for May 30. She became one of the most popular saints in the Roman Catholic Church.

Joan of Arc was not a feminist, she played the role of a special person according to religious tradition, representing the calling of God regardless of social class. She strictly forbade the French army to attract military prostitutes into the camp, and on one occasion even beat the military prostitutes with the back of the sword to drive them away.

However, many of the very important help in Joan of Arc’s life came from women. Yolande of Aragon, the mother-in-law of Charles VII, confirmed Joan of Arc’s virginity in the initial investigation of Joan of Arc, and helped initiate the rescue of Orleans. ‘s expedition. After Joan of Arc was captured at Compiègne, Joan of Luxembourg, the aunt of the Count of Luxembourg, also improved Joan’s conditions in prison and probably delayed her handover to the English.

In the end, Anne of Burgundy, the Duchess of Bedford, Regent of England, confirmed that Joan of Arc was still a virgin before the trial. Therefore, the court could not accuse Joan of Arc of being a witch, and also provided evidence for Joan of Arc’s innocence and sainthood. From Christine de Pisan to today, Joan of Arc has become a brave and positive character in the eyes of women.

Since Napoleon, Joan of Arc has often been used as a political symbol in France, with liberals emphasizing that she was born into a humble and ordinary family, and early conservatives emphasizing her support for the king. Later conservatives emphasized her nationalism.

Both Free France and the French resistance in World War II used Joan of Arc as one the symbols: the propaganda of the Vichy government emphasized her deeds against the English, showing the scene of the bombing of Rouen by British warplanes on the poster, supplemented by the title: ” They always come back to show atrocities.” The rebels highlighted her confrontation with foreign occupation and her hometown of Lorraine being controlled by the Nazis.

Traditional Catholics, especially in France, also use Joan of Arc as one of their symbols. In 1988, French Cardinal Marcel Lefebvre, who opposed the Pope’s reforms, was excommunicated, and his supporters would He was compared to the excommunication of Joan of Arc. Three French navy warships are also named after Joan of Arc, and the active duty is a helicopter aircraft carrier. The French party Front National, which has recently been quite controversial, has also called on Joan of Arc, has her portrait in publications, and uses the burning tricolor as a symbol of martyrdom.

But opponents of the party often ridicule the appropriation of Joan of Arc’s image. The second Sunday in May every year is also designated as a national holiday in commemoration of Joan of Arc in France. The Joan of Arc Secondary School in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island was named after Joan of Arc in 1955.