Joan of Arc, Saint 405THE LEGENDAccording to the version that circulated from the late 13th
century, around 850, an English woman from Mainz dis-
guised herself as a man to follow her lover, who was
devoted to the male world of studies. She was very success-
ful in her own studies. Taking the guise of a man, she was
able to enter the hierarchy of the papal court and finally
even to be elected pope. However, Joan did not renounce
the pleasures of the flesh and soon found herself a pregnant
pope. She died during a procession from Saint Peter’s to
Saint John Lateran across the center of Rome, after having
publicly given birth to a child in the street. Supposedly
from that time, the sex of the popes was manually verified
during their coronation. Papal processions ever since
skirted this direct route between the Vatican and the Lat-
eran, going by the Church of San Clemente in order to
avoid the supposed place of her giving birth. A statue or an
inscription once immortalized the memory of this incident,
and a marker or vague shrine is still there.
ORIGINSThe origins of this story appeared for the first time in a
chronicle written around 1255 by the Dominican John de
Mailly at Metz. The quickness and geographical extent of
the legend’s circulation suggested that the idea of a cross-
dressing female pope had existed for some time at Rome.
The legend was widely circulated in DOMINICAN and
FRANCISCANcircles. The detour around the notorious
place of giving birth was maintained in the coronation
ritual. In 1474, the history of Joan appeared in the official
Lives of the Popes written by the humanist Platina
(1421–81), the librarian of the Vatican. Such a story
appealed to those with little respect for an individual
pope or for the corrupt and hypocritical institutional
church that was so bad that it allowed a woman into its
highest position of authority.
See alsoHUS, JOHN; PAPACY; WOMEN, STATUS OF.
Further reading:Alain Boureau, The Myth of Pope
Joan, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2001); Peter Stanford, The Legend of Pope
Joan: In Search of the Truth(New York: H. Holt, 1999).
Joan of Arc, Saint(Jeanne d’Arc, Jeanne la Pucelle,
the Maid of Orléans)(1412–1431)leader of King
Charles VII of France’s armies to dramatic victories
Joan was born at Domrémy in Champagne, perhaps on
January 6, 1412, one of five children and the daughter
of peasants, Jacques and Ysabeau d’Arc. Some time in
1425 Joan began to have visions. As she testified at her
trial: “When I was thirteen, I had a voice from God to
help me govern myself.” The voice was that of Saint
Michael, who, with Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret,
“told me of the pitiful state of FRANCE, and told me that
I must go to succor the King of France.” This was a
message to help King CHARLESVII to carry out his claim
to the throne of France by defeating the English and the
Burgundians.
Joan twice went to the captain of the Valois garrison
at Vaucouleurs, requesting in vain an escort to King
Charles VII at Chinon. She finally was able to set out in
February 1429 and arrived 11 days later at Chinon.
Immediately examined for orthodoxy, two days later she
was allowed to see the king. Somehow persuaded of her
possibilities, in April 1429 Charles VII sent her to
Orléans as captain of some soldiers. With the duke of
Alençon and Jean, the Bastard of Orléans, later count of
Dunois, Joan led the relief of the city. She thus helped
alleviate the greatest immediate threat to Charles’s posi-
tion, so for the first time in his reign he had a military
triumph.
Charles followed her advice to use the moment pro-
vided by the relief of Orléans to carry out his coronation
at RHEIMS, becoming the legitimate king in the eyes of
many. After a series of victorious battles and sieges on the
way, Charles VII was crowned at Rheims on July 18,- Joan was at his side and occupied a prominent
place in the ceremonies after the coronation.
CAPTURE AND TRIAL
During a skirmish outside the town of Compiègne’s walls
the following May (1430) against the duke of BUR-
GUNDY’s troops, Joan was captured. The Burgundians
handed Joan over to the English, who wanted to try her
for HERESYbefore a court of the INQUISITION. Charles VII
could or would do nothing. Joan’s trial, technically an
ecclesiastical trial for heresy, lasted from April 1431 to
nearly the end of May, ending with Joan’s recanting and
admission of error on May 24. However, Joan and her
accusers differed about the exact nature of this confes-
sion and abjuration. Two days after she signed it, she
recanted her admissions. The third phase of her trial
began on May 28. This time she was tried as a relapsed
heretic. Conviction for that meant release to the secular
arm and execution. She would be turned over to the
English to be burned. Joan was convicted of being a
relapsed heretic and burned at the stake in the market-
place of ROUENon May 30, 1431. On July 7, 1456, a
commission declared Joan’s trial null and void and freed
her from the taint of heresy. Joan was not canonized
until May 16, 1920, with her feast becoming a French
national holiday.
Further reading:Deborah A. Fraioli, Joan of Arc: The
Early Debate (Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press,
2000); Willard R. Trask, trans., Joan of Arc: In Her Own
Wo rd s (New York: Turtle Point Press, 1996); Marina
Warner, Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism(New
York: Knopf, 1981); Bonnie Wheeler and Charles T.
Wood, eds., Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc(New York: Gar-
land, 1996); Charles T. Wood, Joan of Arc and Richard III:
Sex, Saints, and Government in the Middle Ages(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1988).