The figure of Joan of Arc gives shape to the confused events and personalities of the Hundred Years’ War. But who was this young woman? Joan herself emphasized her visions and divine calling (Excerpt 1). The royal court was unsure whether to consider her a fraud (or, worse, the devil’s tool) or a gift from heaven (Excerpt 2). A neighbor of the young Joan recalled her as an ordinary young country girl (Excerpt 3).

1. Joan the Visionary

Joan first referred to her visions at length after her capture by her enemies, who were eager to prove that she was inspired by the devil. The light and voices that she testified to echoed the experiences of many medieval visionaries. But we do not have Joan’s exact words; her account was written up by her examiners, who composed it in Latin even though Joan spoke in French.

She confessed that when she was aged thirteen, she had a voice from God to help her to guide herself. And the first time she was greatly afraid. And this voice came around noon, in summer, in the garden of her father, and Joan had not fasted on the preceding day. She heard the voice on the right-hand side, towards the church, and she rarely heard it without a light. This light came from the same side that she heard the voice, but generally there was a great light there. And when Joan came to France [Lorraine, where Joan was raised, was not considered part of France], she often heard this voice. . . .

She said, in addition, that if she was in a wood, she clearly heard the voices coming to her. She also said that it seemed to her that it was a worthy voice and she believed that this voice had been sent from God, and that, after she had heard this voice three times, she knew that this was the voice of an angel. She said also that this voice had always protected her well and that she understood this voice clearly.

Asked about the instruction that this voice gave to her for the salvation of her soul, she said that it taught her to conduct herself well, to go to church often, and that it was necessary that she should travel to France. Joan added that her interrogator would not learn from her, on this occasion, in what form that voice had appeared to her. . . . She said moreover that the voice had told her that she, Joan, should go to find Robert de Baudricourt in the town of Vaucouleurs [a tiny holdout in eastern France that was not under English control], of which he was captain, and that he would provide her with men to travel with her. Joan then replied that she was a poor girl who did not know how to ride on horseback or to lead in war. [But she obeyed the voice, met with Robert de Baudricourt, and in the end got the escort that she needed to go to the court of the dauphin, the future Charles VII.]

Source: Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, trans. and annotated by Craig Taylor (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), 141–42.

2. Messenger of God?

When Joan appeared at the court of the dauphin, her reputation as the messenger of God had preceded her. The French court received her with a mixture of wonder, curiosity, and skepticism. The dauphin’s counselors debated about whether Joan should be taken seriously, and the dauphin referred the case to a panel of theologians to determine whether Joan’s mission was of divine origin. The following account of Joan’s first visit to the dauphin was given by Simon Charles, president of the royal Chamber of Accounts, at an investigation begun in 1455 to nullify Joan’s sentence of 1429.

Questioned first on what he could depose and testify . . . [Simon Charles] said and declared upon oath that he only knew what follows: . . . that when Joan arrived at the town of Chinon, the council discussed whether the King should hear her or not. She was first asked why she had come and what she wanted. Although she did not wish to say anything except to the King, she was nevertheless forced on behalf of the King to reveal the purpose of her mission. She said that she had two commands from the King of Heaven, that is to say one to raise the siege [by the English army] of Orléans, and the other to conduct the King to Reims for his coronation and consecration. Having heard this, some among the King’s councilors said that the King should not have any faith in this Joan, and the others said that, since she declared that she had been sent by God and that she had certain things to say to the King, the King should at least hear her. But the King decided that she should first be examined by the clerks and churchmen, which was done.

Source: Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, trans. and annotated by Craig Taylor (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), 317–18.

3. Normal Girl?

At the same trial, various inhabitants in and near Domremy, Joan’s village, recalled her as a normal young girl. The following account was given by Jean Morel, a laborer from a town near Joan’s. He knew her as Jeannette.

He declared upon oath that the Jeannette in question was born at Domremy and was baptized at the parish church of Saint-Rémy in that place. Her father was named Jacques d’Arc, her mother Isabelle, both laborers living together at Domremy as long as they lived. They were good and faithful Catholics, good laborers, of good reputation, and of honest behavior. . . .

He declared upon oath that from her earliest childhood, Jeannette was well brought up in the faith as was appropriate, and instructed in good morals, as far as he knew, so that almost everyone in the village of Domremy loved her. Just like the other young girls she knew the Credo, the Pater Noster, and the Ave Maria [all three basic texts of Christian belief].

He declared that Jeannette was honest in her behavior, just as any similar girl is, because her parents were not very rich. In her childhood, and right up to her departure from her family home, she followed the plow and sometimes minded the animals in the fields; she did the work of a woman, spinning and making other things.

He declared upon oath that, as he saw, this Jeannette often went to church willingly to the extent that sometimes she was mocked by the other young people. . . .

He declared upon oath that on the subject of the tree called “of the Ladies,” he once heard it said that women or supernatural persons—they were called fairies—came long ago to dance under that tree. But, so it is said, since a reading of the gospel of St. John, they did not come there any more. He also declared that in the present day . . . the young girls and lads of Domremy went under this tree to dance [on a particular Sunday in Lent], and sometimes also in the spring and summer on feast days; sometimes they ate at that place. On their return, they went to the spring of Thorns, strolling and singing, and they drank from the water of this spring, and all around they had fun gathering flowers. He also declared that Joan the Pucelle [“the Maid”] went there sometimes with the other girls and did as they did; he never heard it said that she went alone to the tree or to the spring, which is nearer to the village than the tree, for any other reason than to walk about and to play just like the other young girls.

Source: Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, trans. and annotated by Craig Taylor (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), 267–68.

Questions to Consider