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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Features |  |
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The trial of Joan of Arc by Lionel Wijesiri Joan was born on January 6, 1412, in the village of Domremy in France to Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc and was the youngest of five children. She grew up among the fields and pastures of her village and was a much loved girl. At the time of Joan's childhood the land of France was caught up in the 'Hundred Years War'. This was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453.
As a child, Joan was taught domestic skills as well as her religion by her mother. Joan would later say, "As for spinning and sewing, I fear no woman." And again, "It was my mother alone who taught me the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' and the 'Creed;' and from none other was I taught my faith." From her earliest years Joan was known for her obedience to her parents, religious fervour, unselfish generosity and kindness towards her neighbours. Simonin Munier, one of Joan's childhood friends, tells how Joan had nursed him back to health when he was sick. Some of her playmates teased her for being 'too pious.' It was at the age of thirteen and a half, in the summer of 1425, that Joan first became conscious of that manifestation, (whose supernatural character has been questioned for a long time), which she afterwards came to call her 'voices' or her 'counsel'. It was at first simply a voice, as if someone had spoken quite close to her, but it seems also clear that a blaze of light accompanied it, and that later on she clearly discerned in some way the appearance of those who spoke to her, recognising them individually as St. Michael, St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and others. Early in 1429, when the English were about to capture the city of Orleans, the 'voices' exhorted her to help the Dauphin, later Charles VII, to become king of France. Charles had to be crowned at the city of Reims by tradition, but at that time Reims was held by the English, with their own hopes of crowning Henry VI, (who was but a child), when he was old enough. Joan left her hometown without telling her parents and managed to get to the King and convince him of the sincerity of her mission. She was said to have convinced Charles to believe in her by relating a private prayer that he had made the previous November 1st, although he additionally insisted on having her examined for three weeks by theologians before granting final acceptance. She was supplied with an army to raise the siege of Orleans, the first necessary step to reaching Reims. Despite the bumbling and lack of faith of her fellow commanders, the siege was lifted with full credit going to Joan. From there it seemed that Japan could do no wrong in battle until she reached Reims in victory and on July 17, 1429 Charles VII was crowned. Although Joan had united the French behind Charles and had put an end to English dreams of hegemony over France, Charles opposed any further campaigns against the English. For reasons known only to King Charles, he no longer valued Joan's advice and guidance. Although Joan and a number of the commanders urged a prompt march on Paris, the Royal Court was mesmerised by the prospect of a negotiated peace offered by the Duke of Burgundy. However, an attack on Paris finally came on September 8, but ended in disaster when Joan was shot in the leg and the attack was called off against her will. Joan didn't return to the field until the following March. An attempt to lift the siege laid on to the city of Compiegne on May 23 led to her capture by Burgundians - a French political and military factions fighting against the King - when she and her soldiers were trapped outside the city. Abandoned by her King and friends, she started her year of captivity. As a prisoner of the Burgundians she was treated fairly but all that changed when on November 21, 1430, she was sold over to the English. How she survived their harsh treatment of her is a miracle in itself. The English not only wanted to kill Joan but they also wanted to discredit King Charles as a false king by having Joan condemned by the Church as a witch and a heretic. To reach this goal the English in turn, handed her over to the ecclesiastical court at Ruen - a city held by the English since 1419 - led by Pierre Cauchon, a Bishop, to be tried for witchcraft and heresey. Much was made of her insistence on wearing male clothing. She was told that for a woman to wear men's clothing was a crime against God. Her determination to continue wearing it was seen as defiance and finally sealed her fate. Probably her most serious crime was the claim of direct inspiration from God; in the eyes of the court this refusal to accept the church hierarchy constituted heresy. Joan's trial of condemnation lasted from February 21 until May 23. She was finally burnt at the stake in Rouen's market square on May 30, 1431. She was nineteen years old when she died. Twenty-five-years after her death, the church re-tried her case, and she was pronounced innocent. In 1920, almost 500 years later, Pope Benedict XV read the bull of canonization declaring her a saint. Her career lent itself to numerous legends, and she has been represented in many paintings and statues. The story of Joan of Arc is widely portrayed in works of visual art and literature, including the play Saint Joan, for which British playwright George Bernard Shaw was awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize. In 1948, the motion picture Joan of Arc, which won many academy awards, was released. In 1962 the French film 'The trial of Joan of Arc' won awards at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Although the Hundred Years' War spanned the reigns of five English and
five French kings, this period was not one of continuous warfare, but a
series of campaigns separated by sometimes long periods of truce or
low-intensity conflict. 
