Jehanne Darc Continued

Jehanne Darc Continued The voices and visions gradually grew stronger and happened more frequently until finally, at the age of 16, Jehanne felt she had to tell her parents. Although she loved her parents, she was afraid to confide in them for fear they would think she was insane or possessed by a demon and unfit to be part of the family. One night, during a family dinner, the opportunity to tell her parents presented itself. It began with one of Jehanne s brothers telling the family that he recently had a strange but funny dream. It was about Jehanne, the brother said, and of all things Jehanne was a soldier! She was actually on a horse, dressed as a soldier, and leading the French army into battle against those awful Englishmen. Can you imagine, the brother laughed, our sweet Jehanne serving as a soldier? Rather than hearing laughter from around the table, the room grew eerily silent. What? asked the brother, Don t you think my dream was funny? Jehanne s younger sister spoke up in a voice that was barely above a whisper, I had the same dream. It was exactly the same as what you described. With tears in her eyes, Isabelle, Jehanne s mother said, I had that dream, too. I didn t know what it meant. Everyone looked slowly toward their father Jacques. With a stern, yet fearful face, Jacques nodded his head. I, too, had the dream. Jehanne, what does this mean? With tears streaming down her face, Jehanne told her family about the voices and visions. I feel I am being called, she said. The voices are getting stronger, and they are telling me to leave Domrémy and join the army. No! shouted Jacques. No daughter of mine will leave this house to join the army. That s a man s job! You are a young woman with too much free time and too many daydreams. You should be married with a house and family of your own. You must stay busy and keep your mind away from these foolish thoughts. I will find a proper husband for you. Jehanne was devastated and felt it was wrong to marry when her voices were calling her to lead the army. Over the next few weeks, she continued to talk to her father about her calling. Gradually, he began to see how much this meant to Jehanne, and he agreed to release her from the engagement. The suitor (or fiancé), however, felt differently, and he expected to marry Jehanne very soon. Because her father could not leave the farm for an extended period of time, Jehanne asked her uncle to escort her to

the magistrate, which is similar to today s civil court, so she could be legally excused from the engagement. The magistrate granted her request, and Jehanne made the decision not to return to Domrémy. Instead, she decided to travel to Chinon to meet with Charles, the disinherited son of the former king. She had a recurring vision of herself talking to Charles in a private meeting, and her voices told her that she would soon have a message for him. In the 1400s, women and young girls would never dream of travelling alone, but Jehanne s voices were guiding her, and she felt comforted by the vision of meeting Charles. The voices also told her to cut her hair short and dress in men s clothing. Jehanne was hesitant at first, but she decided to do as her voices said, thinking that disguising herself as a young man would help to keep her safe as she traveled. When she began her journey, it did not take people long to realize that the young man traveling through town was actually a young girl! At first, the people laughed at Jehanne and made fun of her; however, as she continued to travel, a strange thing happened. The French people began to quietly whisper among themselves, Do you remember what Merlin said many years ago? Do you think he could have been right? Do you think this girl is the one? As word spread about this young female traveler, people were reminded about a prophecy from Merlin the Magician, the legendary member of the royal court of England, which was led by King Arthur. During his time as the court magician, Merlin predicted the following: One day, France will be lost by a woman but saved by a maiden, who wears men s clothing, and comes from an oak forest in Lorraine. As the people examined Merlin s words more carefully, they realized that at the moment, France was truly lost. They had no rightful king, and they were losing the war against England, and it could all be blamed on a woman Isabelle, the mother of Charles, who claimed he was not the rightful heir to the throne. Now, a young girl, a maiden dressed like a man, was making her way across France to see Charles. She said she had a message for him from God, and it would help save the country. After much discussion, a brave man from the village was chosen to approach Jehanne when she stopped to rest. He was told to ask the girl where she was from. The answer, of course, was Domrémy, and the people knew it was a small village in Lorraine. She s the one, people shouted with joy! France will be saved! France will be saved!

When Jehanne finally arrived at Chinon, her request to see Charles was denied. This was not surprising, considering she was a 16 year-old peasant girl who said she had a message for Charles from God. The guards of Chinon ridiculed her and called her crazy. They told her to leave and never return, but Jehanne would not give up. Day after day, she stayed on the grounds of the palace, and day after day, she asked to see Charles. Finally, the news of this girl who had short hair and was dressed like a man reached Charles, and he learned that she had a message for him from God. I would like to see her, Charles said. I want to know what this message is. Sir, said one of the noblemen, you cannot allow this insane girl to simply walk into the palace. We must test her and find out if she was truly sent by God. Charles and his noblemen agreed that it might not be safe to allow the girl to talk to Charles alone, so they devised a plan to test her. The meeting would be held in the throne room, and all of the noblemen would be present. Charles would also dress as a nobleman, and one of the noblemen would dress as Charles and sit upon the throne. They knew Jehanne had never seen Charles, so if she approached the throne and spoke to the false Charles, they would know she was not truly sent by God. When they opened the doors and allowed Jehanne to enter, everyone in the room was watching her. Jehanne slowly came into the room and began to walk toward the throne with her eyes cast down. When she reached the throne, she suddenly looked right at the man who was seated there. She titled her head, as if listening to someone, and after several moments of silence, she said in a stern voice, No! It is not you for which I have come. You are not Charles. The message I have is not for you! The room fell completely silent as Jehanne turned and began to walk among the crowd. Every few feet, she would stop and tilt her head, appearing to listen intently. Finally, she made her way to the back of the crowd, and she stopped suddenly. She fell on her knees and grabbed the hand of the real Charles. It is you, she said. I have come for you, Charles. I have a message for you from God. You are the rightful king of France, and you must go to Reims to be crowned. Charles wanted to meet with Jehanne in private, and he later told the noblemen that he believed her voices and visions. He said Jehanne was able to answer his questions and tell him things that were only known by God.

Jehanne told Charles that she had been commanded by God to do three things: 1) Break the hold that the English had on Orléans; 2) Take Charles to Reims to be crowned the king of France; 3) Drive the English completely out of France. Jehanne told Charles that she needed to begin her mission by joining the French army, and she needed his full support. Charles immediately named her as Captain of the Battle, and he sent her to Orléans. The French had been fighting the English in Orléans for seven months and had made no progress. In fact, things were beginning to worsen, and the French were slowly losing ground. When Jehanne arrived in Orléans on April 29, she immediately took control. The soldiers put their faith in her, and they likened her skills to those of a 20 year veteran of the army. Despite her age, the soldiers truly admired her bravery and strength. She always put the needs and safety of her soldiers first, and they followed her orders without question. On May 8, ten days after taking command, she and her soldiers successfully drove the English out of Orléans. After accomplishing her first task, Jehanne took Charles to Reims to be crowned King of France on July 17, 1429. Unfortunately, her voices began telling her that she had only one year left to complete her mission, and she began having visions of her own death. Jehanne knew that she must hurry if she wanted to complete her mission and drive the English out of France. She told Charles that she wanted to go straight to Paris and fight, but suddenly, Charles VII, the newly crowned king, wanted to take a diplomatic approach and try to negotiate with the English instead. Jehanne was confused and surprised by Charles actions, and she had no idea that Charles had actually betrayed her. Now that Charles had the crown and was the rightful king of France, he made a treaty with Philip, the English Duke of Burgundy, and he had no intentions of uniting France. He accepted money from the English and promised to no longer support Jehanne. When Jehanne and her army finally arrived in Paris, they suffered a terrible defeat, and Charles publically announced that he would withdraw all financial support from the army. Many people wondered if God was still with Jehanne, and she never truly recovered from this terrible loss and the rejection she felt from Charles. Not surprisingly, it only took a few weeks for Charles peace negotiations with the English to collapse, and he realized the treaty he made with Philip was not real. The English just

wanted to stop Jehanne. They also knew about Merlin s prediction, and they feared Jehanne would be the one to lead the French to victory if they did not stop her. Although Charles had betrayed Jehanne, he called on her and the French army to attack the British in Compiègne. Jehanne agreed to lead the army once more, but it was not for Charles. It was for her beloved country of France, its people, and her soldiers. Unfortunately, the attack at Compiègne proved to be too little, too late. Jehanne and her army were heavily outnumbered, and for the first time ever, she ordered her men to retreat. The soldiers urged her to go first, but she refused to leave until all of her soldiers who were still living had crossed safely through the gates of the city. The English suspected that Jehanne would do this, so they were prepared to close the gates of the city if a retreat order was given. When the gates were closed on May 23, 1430, the English captured Jehanne and put her prison. They charged her with two crimes: witchcraft and heresy (crimes against the church). The English notified Charles of Jehanne s imprisonment, but he made no attempt to get her released. She remained in prison for one year, and she was treated harshly, but she would not confess to being a witch nor a heretic. In a last desperate attempt to get her to confess, Jehanne was taken to a cemetery, was publically threatened with death, and was shown the spot in which she would be buried if she did not cooperate. The following excerpt is taken from The Life of Joan of Arc: Three times she was urged to recant. Then Cauchon began reading the sentence that would turn her over to the civil authorities to be burned at the stake. The priests began clamoring to Jehanne to do as she was advised put on women s dress, submit to the Church, and save herself from death. The noise from the crowd was deafening. As Jehanne looked around, she saw the executioner waiting with his cart, and the shouting crowd pressed closer and closer around her. It must have been an awful moment for her tired, hungry, weary of prison life, and the strain of debating so long with these mighty clerics. Perhaps in her imagination, she could already feel the hideous pain of the fire.

Suddenly she cried, I submit to the judgement of the Church. She then renounced her voices and visions and said several times that she no longer believed in them. She had recanted! This caused excitement in the crowd and an angry outburst from the English soldiers. It looked as if Jehanne would escape after all. The Form of Recantation was read to her only seven or eight lines which contained the declaration that she had sinned, that she had broken the laws of God and the Church, and that she would henceforth be obedient to the Church, would no longer bear arms, dress as a man, or wear her hair short. She repeated the words aloud, signed the document, and made a cross by her name. There is some basis for suspecting that what she signed was not the same form as the one which had been read to her, for Jehanne was illiterate and, except for her name, could not read or write. Jehanne was happy though, and it was said that she smiled; now, she thought, she would be out of the grasp of the hated English. In spite of the howls of protest from the soldiers, who had been throwing stones and brandishing their swords, Cauchon had a milder sentence read. This one condemned Jehanne to life in prison instead of death. Jubilantly, Jehanne said, Now you churchmen, take me to your prison. Let me no longer be in the hands of the English. For this is what the clamoring priests had promised her. She had agreed to put on women s clothes, for she expected to have female guardians around her and to be treated more like a penitent than a prisoner. However, by the terms of the bargain that Cauchon had made with Bedford, Jehanne was to be retaken and re-secured by the English, since she had not been convicted. Even though she had recanted and signed what the priests had given her, she was not sent to a church prison. Instead Cauchon ordered, Take her back to the place you brought her from, and she was returned to her dark cell in the castle tower. Her head was completely shaved, and she was dressed in a long gown. Cauchon s trickery had been effective. The Church had been appeased for Jehanne had confessed her sins and renounced her visions and voices. And soon she would fall into a trap that would lead to her death; this certainly would please the English. Cauchon had arranged it all very skillfully.

Although Jehanne was forbidden now to wear masculine attire, for she agreed she would not, her old clothes were not taken away from her. According to one account, they were placed in a bag that was left in the prison in the corner of her cell. She was guarded not by priests or nuns, but by the same vile soldiers that had jeered at her and tried to harm her throughout her previous imprisonment. During the next three days, even more abuse was heaped upon her. This began a three-day mystery in which there are no records. It is believed that the treatment was so harsh, it simply could not be recorded. No one would agree to write down such hideous acts, even if he could find the words to describe them. Then, in a final act of treachery, her female attire was stolen while she slept. She had no choice but to put on her old clothes again the clothes of a man and thus break her oath. Hearing of Jehanne s relapse, Cauchon and the other Church officials visited her prison cell on May 28, 1431. They found her in tears, her face dull with misery. She was wearing a tunic, trousers, and jacket with a hood pulled over her shaven head. As the merciless judges cross-examined her once more, she cried out, My voices have told me that I did very wrong in recanting and that I must confess that I did wrong. It was the fear of the fire that made me say that which I said. She must have finally realized that the English would never let her go, that they intended to dishonor her name and destroy her one way or another. In reality, Jehanne had signed her own death warrant by putting on male clothing again, and she made no further effort to save herself. As Cauchon came out of the prison tower, he saw an English nobleman in the courtyard and said to him brightly, Be of good cheer today, my friend. She is ours now. On Wednesday morning, May 30, the maiden left her cell for the last time. Beside her was the young friar who had heard her last confession and had given her communion. She was placed in a cart with a guard of 80 armed men, and she was taken to the Old Market Square of Rouen. All along the way, crowds came out to stare at the pitiful girl who had once terrified the armies of England and had led France to so many unexpected victories. She was placed on a platform opposite a large dais on which her judges sat. There she stood for nearly an hour while a lengthy sermon was read. When it ended, Jehanne s final sentence was pronounced by Cauchon. By its terms, Jehanne was given over to secular authorities to be burned at the stake, for the Church could not

carry out any civil punishments. Jehanne burst into a passion of weeping. Death by fire is a cruel torment. She began to pray aloud in a trembling, pitiful voice, and many of those who watched her wept with her. The high churchmen who condemned her now wept, too, and some of them were so overcome with emotion that they had to leave. She turned to the crowd and implored all those who stood there to forgive the harm I have done you, as I forgive the harm you have done me. And to several priests whom she saw with tears in their eyes, she said, All of you priests who are here, I beg you to say a mass for me, every one of you. After half an hour of praying, Jehanne asked for a crucifix, and it was an English soldier, so moved by the sight of her, who made a small cross by tying two pieces of wood together. She took the cross, kissed it, and pressed it to her heart. Then she saw two other priests standing near her. To one of them she called, Sir, I beg you to please go into that church there and bring the large crucifix. Hold it in front of my eyes before I die. The priests brought it to her and held it up for her. Now, the English soldiers roared their impatience, and the bailiff shouted the order to the executioner, Take her to the stake. She was roughly hauled to the foot of the stake, which had been set on a high scaffold made of plaster. On her head, a paper cap was placed bearing the words: Heretic, Relapsed, Apostate, Idolatress. She stepped onto the wood that had been heaped about the scaffold, and the two priests with the large crucifix followed her. She kissed the crucifix one last time, and then the executioner tied her hands and legs to the stake. She called upon Saint Michael, as the executioner set fire to the wood. The two priests were still at her side, and she pleaded with them to get down, so as not to be injured, but to hold the crucifix in front of her, so she could continue to see it. Quickly, the flames rose about her feet. Yet above the snapping of the fire, Jehanne s voice could still be heard calling on God, the Archangel, and her saints. Some witnesses thought they heard her begging for holy water. Suddenly, she shrieked as the fire enveloped her. Once more, half-stifled by her agonizing pain, she cried out, Jesus, I come to thee! Take me into your arms! Nothing more was heard from her. Her saints had promised her freedom and martyrdom, and now, she had gained them both.

Although Jehanne s story is a sad one, she finally received justice in two parts. First, she was given a new trial twenty years after her death. She was found innocent of the charges of being a witch and a heretic, and not only was her name was cleared, but France also named her a national heroine. Secondly, in 1920, the Catholic Church canonized her as a saint. For someone who loved and revered the saints so much, it would be a lifelong dream fulfilled for Jehanne to know that she is now one of them.