In a nation that has spent centuries celebrating its regional diversity – from Breton crêpes to Provençal markets – it’s easy to forget that France was once a patchwork of bitterly divided territories. The woman who would become the country’s most enduring symbol of courage didn’t just save France from English conquest; she gave birth to the very idea of a unified French nation.
The name Jeanne d’Arc is today known the world over for the courage and conviction which enabled her to come to the aid of France during a time of crisis, when all seemed lost. Probably less well-known, however, is how her heroic actions during her tragically short life would also prove to be pivotal in bringing together an often bitterly divided nation.
A Kingdom Divided
Throughout history the assortment of territories which today make up the great nation of France were anything but united under one banner. The process of finally establishing a unified France could be said to have begun with the Hundred Years War, triggered by the death of Charles IV, the last of a dynasty of Capetian monarchs, in 1328.
At the heart of the conflict were the vast disputed territories of the Duchy of Aquitaine, then ruled by King Edward III Plantagenet of England, whose claim to the French throne was based on his lineage from William the Conqueror and territories acquired from strategic marriages. Not surprisingly, this situation represented an intolerable threat to the Capetians’ successors, the French House of Valois, and could not be allowed to continue.
The ensuing series of bloody battles (not least at Agincourt in 1415) initially favoured the English forces but an unexpected turning point came during the Siege of Orléans, which began on 12 October, 1428. For both sides the outcome would be hugely significant, since the Ducs d’Orléans headed a political faction known as les Armagnacs who rejected the Treaty of Troyes (by which King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the French throne upon the death of King Charles VI of France) and instead supported France’s uncrowned monarch, Dauphin Charles VII.
The Siege That Would Change Everything
As one of the most northerly strongholds loyal to the French Monarchy, the city was of strategic and symbolic significance to both sides; if Orléans fell, it was believed that the English would succeed in conquering all of France. However, just as the defenders’ spirits were at their lowest ebb after an agonising six months of siege, the hand of salvation was about to make an appearance, in the shape of Divine intervention.
Far away in the small village of Domrémy in the Vosges region, a young peasant shepherdess named Jeanne had become accustomed to occasionally hearing voices from Saint Michel, Sainte Catherine and Sainte Marguerite. While their personal messages seemed of little consequence, in early 1429 a more urgent voice instructed her to go to the Dauphin and help him reconquer his kingdom. After overcoming initial resistance, she was granted an audience which took place at the Royal Court in Chinon in late February 1429, when the 17 year-old confided that she had come to raise the siege of Orléans and would accompany him to his Coronation in the Cathedral of Reims.
Testing the Maid of Orléans
Their meeting impressed Charles, although both he and his advisors sought more assurance, and sent Jeanne to be examined by a council of theologians in Poitiers. They found her to be of good character and a good Catholic and, while unable to pronounce on the source of Jeanne’s voices, agreed that sending her to Orléans might help the cause and would determine whether her inspiration was indeed Divine. Jeanne was then sent to Tours for physical examination overseen by Charles’ mother-in-law Yolande of Aragon, to confirm her virginity. Reassured by the results of these tests, Charles commissioned armour for her, although she designed her own banner and carried a sword brought from beneath the church altar of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois, south of Tours.
Before setting off for Orléans, Jeanne dictated a letter to the Duke of Bedford declaring that she was sent by God to drive the English from French soil, a warning which was clearly not taken seriously. Having set off at the head of a substantial body of troops, she and her relief party entered Orléans with little resistance from the enemy, who had already taken several of the city’s fortifications. Just eight days later, however, the demoralised Armagnac forces had been revitalised, the occupying English forces had been routed and their siege abandoned.
From Victory to Coronation
Having convinced Charles VII that the moment would soon be at hand to fulfil his rightful destiny, Jeanne’s attention turned to liberating the string of English-held towns which lay between the Dauphin and his Coronation in Reims. Following a series of spectacular military successes, Jeanne accompanied Charles when he entered Reims and was at his side during the Coronation ceremony on 17 July, 1429.
Capture, Trial and Martyrdom
During a campaign in the Île de France to end the siege of Compiègne she was captured by Burgundian forces on 24 May and sold to the English. Despite the long period of her imprisonment at different locations, Charles appears to have done little or nothing to secure her release, and after months of imprisonment she was taken to Rouen to be tried for heresy. Presiding over the tribunal was the infamous bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais, who aspired to become an archbishop, with support from among the English.
Hopelessly unfamiliar with the complex technicalities of theology, Jeanne answered her interrogators with passion and disarming honesty, which inevitably resulted in her being trapped into making what were considered damaging statements. Her view of the English occupation, for example, was unlikely to have helped her: “Of the love or hatred which God has for the English I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be driven from France, except those who die here”. When she refused to retract her calm assertion that it was the Saints whose voices had commanded her to carry out her actions she was found guilty of heresy, sorcery and adultery and condemned to death. She was nineteen years old when she was burnt at the stake on 30 May, 1431.
The Hundred Years War ended with the English retreat from a largely reunited France in 1453, and a few years later Jeanne was exonerated of all guilt. She was eventually canonised by Pope Benedict XV on 16 May, 1920.
Walking in Jeanne’s Footsteps
Today, visitors to France can trace Jeanne’s remarkable journey across the country. In Domrémy, her modest birthplace in the Vosges has been preserved as a museum, offering an intimate glimpse into her early life. Orléans celebrates its liberator each year with a vibrant festival every May, while the magnificent Cathedral of Reims, where Charles VII was crowned, still stands as testament to her greatest triumph. Even Rouen, the site of her tragic end, honours her memory with a striking modern church at the Place du Vieux-Marché, where she met her fate. For those of us who have made France our home, these sites offer more than historical curiosity; they’re reminders of how one extraordinary young woman forged the nation we live in today.
