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France All Victorious
When describing the life of Joan of Arc it is best getting straight to the point. Just a farm girl, with a strange drive, who led France to victory in war a half-millennia past. Her feats displayed mastery as commander of France’s Army finishing the Hundred Year War with the English at Orleans in 1428. Before Joan of Arc, Gaul lay broke and ravaged with plague. How could a supposedly-illiterate sixteen year old girl defeat the punch-force of England’s armies on French soil, banishing them and then witness her religious vision come to be?
The point that Joan of Arc was France’s Boudicca (the British Queen who banished the Romans in early-British history) could be made. Her life coincided with certain events, far spectacular than today’s mundane. It matched with valour and military might, finally bringing jubilant victory to the dispirited French. Why Joan, her French armies and those whispers-in-her-mind sent the English packing.
In a Nutshell
At the time of Joan’s life from 1412 to 1431AD:
- France was racked by a bitter One Hundred Year War with England
- France was a puppet-state ruled from London
- Plague has shut down much of France’s economy
The French were down. Placing a cross-dressing, voice-hearing girl at the head of your army, all in shiny-white armor, was a Hugh-risk the French King Charles VII, had to take. Every other method that he attempted, to restore his Kingdom, had failed.
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What Exactly Did Joan of Arc Do?
- At the age of twelve Joan had a, “Vision,” in a field near her home farm. Apparently, St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret demanded she drive the English from France. The result? A French-Dauphin King glorious at Reims, over France all- victorious
- At sixteen she badgered local kinsmen of note in her village to take her to the Court of that same Dauphin King, Charles VII
- In audience with her Monarch, Joan begged him do all she requested to rid France of the English
- Charles VII placed her immediately at the head of his army and she then led her kin to triumph over the English at Orleans
- Win then followed win, in even more battles for St. Joan, until finally Joan’s religious-revelation came to pass; a the French Ruler, Charles VII, crowned the Glorious Monarch of the Sun Throne at Reims.
- The surprised and envious near-by Kingdom of Burgundy soon-there-after snatched Joan from the Dauphin Court, handing her straight to the English.
At 19 she was burnt by the English as a witch.
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Talk to Me Baby
“Voices-in-the-Head,” this mental health term meant a lot to Joan, as it was her reality. These, alone, were Joan’s unique talent. That she was claire-audiant, she heard, “Angels,” speak. Sigmund Freud may have named her psychotic. No matter. What mattered was WHAT those same voices were telling her.
In those commands the, “Arch Angel Michael,” said, “Drive the English out of France – at any price.” What was a girl to do? I mean, you just don’t find armies? But, find them she did, leading France into hot-pursuit; all at the tender age of sweet-sixteen. It must have blown fully grown men away.
489 Year Ago
Beatification is when the Catholic Church discovers a single miracle has been won through the intercession of the supposed Saint. Canonisation follows, if two miracles occur, through the supernatural love of the blessed dead.
It was almost to the day, half-a-millennia after her being roped to that pyre for witchcraft, that she was a made a Saint.
So Long Ago But So Fresh
What does a life so far in the past have to do with us today?
It can show:
- Heck, You Can Do Anything. If a 16 year-old French girl, from a tiny province of France, led the armies of France to victories against the English because of some amazing, “Guiding Voices,” then, hey, if you sit and consider it, you can truly achieve what you want
- If one so beautiful, can do so much, the world sure is a nice realm to live in.
- Joan was unique. No other individual has done what she did. What she attained boggles the mind for its sheer tact, power and tenacity. Hats off. A hundred years simply isn’t enough time to celebrate the Beatification, leading into Sainthood, of this power-filled maiden - St. Joan of Arc.
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Wonderful and well told story of one of my favorite childhood history lessons. I recall how proud I was when I learned how to say ZhawnDark like the French.
Dear Mr DeVere,
I sure hope you don’t pretend to have written the works of Willy Shake-his-Spears too, because it’s me of course who is the One & Only author of all those marvels.
Be Blessed nevertheless, my son… for having written this story about the companion of the gentleman who didn’t hear heavenly voices, but hellish ones: I’m talking about Gilles de Rais.
Concerning the Voices I am hearing in my head, I’m not sure if they’re originating in Heaven or Hell.
You might want to check it out.
In the meantime,
Kind Regards!
Yours Truly,
the One & Only
Dear Mr DeVere,
I sure hope you don\’t pretend to have written the works of Willy Shake-his-Spears too, because it\’s me of course who is the One & Only author of all those marvels.
Be Blessed nevertheless, my son… for having written this story about the companion of the gentleman who didn\’t hear heavenly voices, but hellish ones: I\’m talking about Gilles de Rais.
Concerning the Voices I am hearing in my head, I\’m not sure if they\’re originating in Heaven or Hell.
You might want to check it out.
In the meantime,
Kind Regards!
Yours Truly,
the One & Only
There is a page about Joan’s Beatification at:
http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_beatification.asp
Very interesting to read.
Nicely written brief of an interesting historical figure; the accounts are as much legend as fact, so from this distance truth might be a little hard to discern. Still, one must give the girl credit.
Poor Joan, I have always loved her sad story. What a waste of a magical young lady.