Page 71 - All About History - Issue 19-14

A jar of alleged relics of Joan
of Arc consisting of a human
rib, linen and wood have since
been proven to have come
from an Egyptian mummy

Joan was a

rebellious child

Throughout history rebellious teen girls permission. She approached her mission
have frequently been compared to with some reluctance and consistently
Joan of Arc, with the young saint being expressed a desire to return home to
portrayed as a devil-may-care rebel who her parents. The most damning evidence
disobeyed her parents to lead armies. against her rebellious personality is the
The French icon was quite the opposite; fact that the prosecution made the
quiet, pious, dedicated to her family very same claim against her in trial, but
and diligent, with the most rebellious were forced to retract the accusation
action attributed to her young years upon finding absolutely no evidence to
going off to visit local churches without substantiate it.

TheCatholicChurch

wanted her dead

The notion that the Catholic Church Similar can be said about the theory
personally hunted Joan down seems thatshewasProtestant,andsheeven
tobecoupledwiththeideashewas threatened to lead a crusade against the
either Protestant or guilty of witchcraft, Hussites (an early Protestant group) if
which are both absurd theories. Not they didn’t convert to Catholicism. The
only is there not a shred of evidence Catholics present at the trial were led
to support her allegiance to Wicca (a notbysomeepicreligiousquest,butby
pagan religion) in any way, but when theirownpersonalpoliticalallegiancesto
Joan was asked about this at the trial her the English. Most of the Catholic clergy
answersprovednotonlycontemptfor actually supported Joan and she was
pagan practises, but also that she had upheld as a ‘true Catholic’ before she Joan witnessed the raiding
no real idea what they actually were. began her campaign.
and burning of Domrémy,
her home village
She was a great military tactician

Joan,anaïve17-year-oldpeasantgirl,
certainlyshowedimmensebravery 4.Endofthesiege 1.AssaultonStLoup
France finally victorious
ridingintobattlealongsideseasoned France fights back
The English abandon the siege and their northern
warriors,butshewasnomilitary troops assemble in a field near St Laurent. The The count of Dunois attacks the Eastern
genius.Infact,Joan’srashactionsand French army stands against them and they stare each EnglishbastilleofStLoup.140Englishare
killedwith40moretakenasprisoners.An
reckless decisions proved more than other down for an hour before the English withdraw. attemptbytheEnglishtodistractattention
once to be a dangerous addition to with an attack on the north of Orléans fails.
theFrencharmy.Forexample,upon
approachingOrléanssheinsistedthe
English should be attacked from the
northasthatwaswheretheirgreatest
numbers lay. The commanders were
soagainstthispotentiallydisastrous
strategy that they took the convoy on
a different route without telling Joan.
Whentheattackdidhappen,Joanwas
napping and nearly missed the entire 3. Tourelles attacked
battle.Whentheyoungwarrioractedof Joans leads from the front
herownaccordandtriedtoattackthe Joan leads an assault on the English
stronghold known as Boulevart. The
stronghold of Boulevart, she narrowly
French rush up the ladders and force
escaped disaster and had to be dragged theEnglishout,whoflee.TheFrench
offthefieldamidmasspanic.Afterthis 2. Augustines assault English forces follow them and nearly 1,000 English
The assault continues soldiers perished in the attack, and the
shewasaskedtositoutontheassault French forces
TheFrenchsettheirsightsonthesouthbank.Joan Tourellesissetaflame.
thenextday,arequestsheignored. leadsanassaultonthebastilleoftheAugustines,
anditfallsintoFrenchhands.
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