February 22nd, 1431 at Rouen Castle
A young woman stands amid inquisitors and theologians
She is an illiterate peasant yet, three notaries stand ready to scribble her every word
This is a trial where she is both defendant AND the only witness and they are determined to rule her a heretic
They ask her about the first time she heard the voices.
It was when she was thirteen, she said, in her father's garden
I heard the voices on the right hand side, toward the church
and rarely do I hear it without a brightness
The voice was sent by God and I knew it was the voice of an angel.
"Was it an angel?" they asked. "Or a demon?"
*snazzy intro*
To the villagers of Domrémy, there was little hint that Joan would go on to do great things
She came from a farming family, humble
But with a leadership role in the village and spent her youth spinning cloth and helping in the fields
Most expected her to live marry and die in Domrémy, just like so many generations of girls had done before her
Though, there were a few odd things about her
First off, she was a particularly devout child, once so eager to attend Mass and take local
pilgrimages, that other children teased her for it and on occasion, she spent excessive time in confession
Her little town of Domrémy was a bit of its own world, with its own identity
In fact, Joan didn't even consider herself as living in France
The area where she lived, was officially neutral in the ongoing civil war
but most people leaned Armagnac and considered the Dauphin, the legitimate king.
Which was unfortunate, since it was also surrounded by Burgundian territory and subject to raids
Growing up, Joan saw Burgundian troops sack her village.
What no one knew though, even her parents, was that Joan heard voices
They came to her in light, using the language of angels.
First, the archangel Michael.
Then, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret
Initially, they just gave her religious and moral instructions
But when she was sixteen, they gave her a mission.
For months, English and French troops had been locked in a stalemate at the city of Orléans.
The voices wanted her to save the city
"The voice told me that I should raise the siege laid to the city of Orléans," recalled Joan.
"And me? I answered it that I was a poor girl who knew not how to ride nor lead a war."
Wait, what is that sound? Oh, look everyone, it's our friend, the Context Fairy!
Have you come to sprinkle asterisks into our episode?
Okay, what have you got for us?
Oh boy, we're gonna have to do most of this in lies. Sorry Rob, but here's the gist-
Joan of Arc is one of the best documented people of medieval Europe,
I know it sounds amazing,
but this illiterate peasant left a paper trail longer than many kings,
and that's largely because of two spectacular trials-
The Condemnation Trial that opened this episode, and
And the later Nullification Trial, that overturned her conviction for heresy.
But it's hard to untangle whether the story we get from these records is completely true.
For the Condemnation Trial, we get verbatim transcripts of Joan describing her life and visions,
but this was also a rigged court, set up by her enemies, and she was arguing for her life
Therefore, it's possible she may have changed details or added to her visions in hopes
of convincing the judges that these messages were in line with Catholic thinking.
By contrast, the Nullification Trial, (which happened 25 years after her death, mind you)
was rigged by her allies to vindicate her.
And they did that by collecting testimony from anyone who'd ever met, or known Joan
But of course, that was after she'd become a martyred hero, which in all
honesty, probably colored people's memories
So can we believe these accounts of her early life and visions? Well, maybe, for the sake of this story,
we're going to trust them. But, it's always good to remember that some bias may be at work
But, okay, back to Orléans- why was it so important?
Well, for starters, it was strategically vital, providing access to the Louire River.
If it fell, the English could finally roll up the Dauphin's territory in southern France
But it was also psychologically important, because this awful stalemate
had come to symbolize this whole phase of the war
You see, when King Charles I and Queen Isabeau agreed to disinherit the Dauphin,
and make King Henry of England heir to the French throne, that was GAME.
All Henry had to do, was live longer than King Charles. and he would be the legitimate king of France.
And that was supposed to be Easy Mode, since Charles
was mentally ill, in poor health and eighteen years his elder,
But then, Henry dropped dead at 35. Charles died, two months later.
Leaving the French crown in the hands of Henry's nine-month-old son.
So in the North, you had a claimant to the throne supported by a treaty, who was too young to be crowned for fifteen years,
And in the South, you had a claimant that had the right bloodline but who was disinherited,
and couldn't get to the city where all French kings must be crowned.
When both kings were alive, people knew what they were fighting for.
Now, the conflict had become a rudderless stalemate, with both sides
lacking inspiring leadership, or the comfort of a righteous cause.
Joan's mission was to guide the Armagnacs into a holy war.
After receiving her task, Joan slipped out of her village, made her way to a nearby town
and demanded to see the garrison commander.
She was on a mission from God, she said. He must provide her with an escort and deliver her to the Dauphin.
The commander was not too pleased with this delusional girl and told her to go back home.
But Joan came back, twice, and each time with more followers from the town and surrounding countryside.
Eventually he gave in, and some of his soldiers would accompany Joan to the
Dauphin's court, but the road they would take wound through Burgundian territory,
A dangerous proposition for a soldier, and even more
perilous for a teenaged girl traveling alone with rough men.
So Joan's supporters, the peasants and families of the town decided she should ride in disguise.
Joan cut her hair short, and the townspeople
gifted her a horse, a sword, and a suit of men's campaigning clothes
the kind that tied together so they were hard to remove by force
And after her long journey, her entrance into court caused a sensation
This young girl had travelled nearly 200 miles, through enemy territory to bring the Dauphin, a divine message.
She'd even dressed like a man to guard her chastity, and that, well, that presented a bit of a theological problem.
You see, Joan was not only holy woman who wanted to share religious visions with the Dauphin.
He already had one visit him a decade before, and another who'd taken up
residence in a cemetery to preach her visions. But, they were a little more orthodox.
Joan's message was a political one, and the manner of her dress
violated Old Testament rules against women wearing men's clothing.
But the issue was, Charles in his court, absolutely believed that God sent angels and saints
to speak to people and if Joan's visions were indeed divine,
turning her away might bring the wrath of God, the Father on his already precarious court
Plus, you know her message that Charles was indeed the true king, was a needed morale boost
And she was a celebrity with a following. (People were writing books about her!)
On the other hand, they also believed that demons could masquerade as angels and if Joan were a pawn of Satan,
Inviting her into his court, would similarly damn Charles's efforts to regain his rightful throne.
And on top of that, he was nervous about looking foolish.
so he ordered an investigation-
There would be A Discernment of Spirits- a series of tests to conclude whether Joan's mysterious voices came from Heaven or Hell.
First, a physical examination.
Joan called herself La Pucelle: "The Maid," and that didn't just mean young girl.
That meant a virgin.
This was a sticking point, because medieval theologians believed only
virgin women could receive divine visions.
Huh, but after retiring to a private area, a group of noble women and nuns said she checked out.
With that... established, Charles then sent her to a group of theologians in order
to examine her visions and beliefs.
Were they Orthodox? Heretical? Did they have a hint of brimstone, perhaps? Was she a virtuous person?
Joan came back, with a clean bill of spiritual health.
She was virtuous and sincere the theologian said but,
they couldn't be sure if her messages really came from a divine source.
But not to worry, they'd also come up with an easy way to check-
Send her to Orléans. That's right! Fit this teenaged maid out in armor,
send her with the reinforcements that were already headed to the city, and see what she could do.
If she managed to break this intractable six-month siege,
they would be pretty darn sure that God was with her and if not,
Well, the most they'd lose would be a horse, a suit of armor, and some men who were going there anyway.
They sent Joan into a crash course of medieval combat, training her to ride a warhorse, and move in blade armor,
teaching her basic tactics. Then, they presented her with a white banner embroidered with Charles's
fleur-de-lis symbol of the Trinity, and her chosen symbol- the names of Jesus and Mary.
And scholars for their part, worked overtime digging into obscure prophecies that might support Joan.
There had been a long-standing tradition that a maid would emerge to save France, and they marshaled every scrap
scrap they could find to support that, including a prediction that supposedly came from Merlin.
*rock it, merlin*
So backed by shaky prophecies, and in a suit of unfamiliar armor,
the seventeen-year-old Joan rode off to war
Outro ''Visions of a Martyr''