The public debate over Joan of Arc’s status began almost as soon as she presented herself to the French court. Even after Joan had been accepted by the Dauphin and joined the French in battle, supporters and opponents clashed over her claims to divine inspiration. In the spring of 1429, one of Joan’s supporters circulated a treatise entitled De mirabili victoria. Later that same year, an anonymous member of the University of Paris countered with De bono et malo spiritu. One important point of contention between the two authors was Joan’s decision to wear men’s clothing. As you read the excerpts from these treatises, think about how female models and stereotypes shaped each author’s argument.

De mirabili victoria

Here follow three truths in justification of the wearing of male clothing by the Pucelle,1 chosen while following her sheep.

I. The old law [of the Old Testament], prohibiting the woman from using the clothing of a man and the man from the clothing of a woman [Deuteronomy 22: 5], is purely judicial and does not carry any obligation under the new law [of the New Testament]. [This is] because it is a constant and necessary truth for salvation that the judicial precepts of the ancient law [Old Testament] are quashed and, as such, do not bind the new one, unless they have been instituted again and confirmed by superiors.

II. This law [of the Old Testament] included a moral dimension that must remain in all law. It can be expressed as a prohibition on indecent clothing both for the man and for the woman, [as this is] contrary to the requirement of virtue. This should affect all circumstances bound by law, so that the wise person will judge when, where, to whom and how it is appropriate, and in this way the rest. This [law of the Old Testament] on these things is not confined to that one situation.

III. This law [of the Old Testament], whether judicial or moral, does not condemn the wearing of the clothing of a man and a warrior by our Pucelle, manly and a warrior, whom God in heaven has chosen through certain signs as his standard-bearer for those fighting the enemies of justice and to raise up his friends, so that he might overthrow by the hand of a woman, a young girl [puellaris] and a virgin, the powerful weapons of iniquity, with the help of the angels. By her virginity, she is loved and known, according to St. Jerome; and this frequently appears in the histories of saints, such as Cecilia,2 visibly with a crown of roses and lilies. On the other hand, through this she is safeguarded from the [consequences of the] cutting of her hair, which the Apostle prohibits from being seen on a woman.

Therefore may the inquitious talk be put to an end and cease. For, when divine virtue operates, it establishes the means according to its aim; hence, it is not safe to disparage or to find fault, out of rash bravado, with those things which are from God, according to the Apostle.

Finally many details and examples from sacred and secular history could be added; for example those of Camilla and the Amazons,3 and moreover in cases either of necessity or evident utility, or where approved by custom, or by the authority and dispensation of superiors. But these are sufficient for brevity and for the truth. The party having just cause should be on close guard unless, through disbelief and ingratitude, or some injustices, they might render the divine help useless, that has begun so patiently and miraculously; just as [happened] for Moses and the sons of Israel, after having received such divine promises, as we read contained [in the scriptures]. For even if God does not change His advice, He does change his opinion according to what people deserve.

De bono et malo spiritu

Regarding the preceding, I mean to deduce from canon law a small number of issues, in praise of all-mighty God, and in exaltation of the holy catholic faith.

And first, we have a duty to adhere firmly to the catholic faith, following the chapter Firmiter of the title De Summa Trinitate, without giving in any manner our approval to superstitious innovations, seeing that they engender discords, as one reads in the chapter Cum consuetudinis of the title De consuetudine.

Item, to give his support so easily to a young girl that was not known, without the support of a miracle or on the testimony of the holy scriptures, is to undermine this truth and this unchanging force of the catholic faith: wise men and canonists would not have any doubt about this. The proof is in the chapter Cum ex injuncto of the title De hæreticis.

Item, if those who approve of the matter of this Pucelle say that she has been sent by God in an invisible, and in some sense inspired way, and that such an invisible mission is much more worthy than a visible mission, just as a divine mission is more worthy than a human mission, it is reasonable to reply to them that as this entirely inner mission escapes observation, it is not enough that someone claims purely and simply to be sent from God — this is the claim of all heretics — but it is necessary that he proves this invisible mission to us through a miraculous work or by a precise testimony drawn from the holy scripture. All this is demonstrated in the chapter cited above, Cum ex injuncto.

Item, as this Pucelle has not proved in any of these ways that she has been sent from God, there is no room to believe in her on her word, but there is room to proceed against her as if suspected of heresy.

Added to this, if she has really been sent from God, she would not take clothing prohibited by God and forbidden for women by cannon law under penalty of anathema, according to the chapter Si qua mulier. . . .

Moreover, in the case where those who let themselves be deceived by this Pucelle attempt to excuse and to justify her clothing in consideration of the matter for which she was supposedly sent, such niceties are useless; these are rather those excuses of which the Psalmist speaks, that one searches for to excuse sins (Psalm 140: 4), and they accuse more than they excuse, as it says in chapter Quanto of the title De consuetudine. In this case, one might do lots of evil things under the appearance of good. And yet it is necessary to refrain not only from evil, but from all appearance of evil, as one reads in the chapter Cum ab omni of the title De vita et honestate clericorum.

Item, if a women [sic] could put on male clothing as she liked with impunity, women would have unrestrained opportunities to fornicate and to practice manly acts which are legally forbidden for them according to doctrine, etc., [as this is] against the canonical teaching contained in the chapter Nova quædam of the title De pœnitentiis et remissionibus.

Item, in general, all masculine duties are forbidden to women, for example, to preach, to teach, to bear arms, to absolve, to excommunicate, etc., as one sees in that chapter Nova quædam and in the Digest, in the [second] law of the title De regulis juris.

From Craig Taylor, trans. and ed., Joan of Arc: La Pucelle (Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 2006), pp. 82–83, 125–127.