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KF5JRV > TODAY 30.05.19 13:22l 8 Lines 5504 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - May 30
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Sent: 190530/1119Z 37232@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant girlwho became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy.Joan was born in 1412, the daughter of a tenant farmer at Domremy, onthe borders of the duchies of Bar and Lorraine. In 1415, the HundredYears War between England and France entered a crucial phase when theyoung King Henry V of England invaded France and won a series ofdecisive victories against the forces of King Charles VI. By the time ofHenry’s death in August 1422, the English and their French-Burgundianallies controlled Aquitaine and most of northern France, includingParis. Charles VI, long incapacitated, died one month later, and hisson, Charles, regent from 1418, prepared to take the throne. However,Reims, the traditional city of French coronation, was held by theAnglo-Burgundians, and the Dauphin (heir apparent to the French throne)remained uncrowned. Meanwhile, King Henry VI of England, the infant sonof Henry V and Catherine of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI, wasproclaimed king of France by the English.Joan’s village of Domremy lay on the frontier between the France of theDauphin and that of the Anglo-Burgundians. In the midst of this unstableenvironment, Joan began hearing “voicesö of three Christian saints—St.Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. When she was about 16, thesevoices exhorted her to aid the Dauphin in capturing Reims and thereforethe French throne. In May 1428, she traveled to Vaucouleurs, astronghold of the Dauphin, and told the captain of the garrison of hervisions. Disbelieving the young peasant girl, he sent her home. InJanuary 1429, she returned, and the captain, impressed by her piety anddetermination, agreed to allow her passage to the Dauphin at Chinon.Dressed in men’s clothes and accompanied by six soldiers, she reachedthe Dauphin’s castle at Chinon in February 1429 and was granted anaudience. Charles hid himself among his courtiers, but Joan immediatelypicked him out and informed him of her divine mission. For severalweeks, Charles had Joan questioned by theologians at Poitiers, whoconcluded that, given his desperate straits, the Dauphin would bewell-advised to make use of this strange and charismatic girl.Charles furnished her with a small army, and on April 27, 1429, she setout for Orleans, besieged by the English since October 1428. On April29, as a French sortie distracted the English troops on the west side ofOrleans, Joan entered unopposed by its eastern gate. She brought greatlyneeded supplies and reinforcements and inspired the French to apassionate resistance. She personally led the charge in several battlesand on May 7 was struck by an arrow. After quickly dressing her wound,she returned to the fight, and the French won the day. On May 8, theEnglish retreated from Orleans.During the next five weeks, Joan and the French commanders led theFrench into a string of stunning victories over the English. On July 16,the royal army reached Reims, which opened its gates to Joan and theDauphin. The next day, Charles VII was crowned king of France, with Joanstanding nearby holding up her standard: an image of Christ in judgment.After the ceremony, she knelt before Charles, joyously calling him kingfor the first time.On September 8, the king and Joan attacked Paris. During the battle,Joan carried her standard up to the earthworks and called on theParisians to surrender the city to the king of France. She was woundedbut continued to rally the king’s troops until Charles ordered an end tothe unsuccessful siege. That year, she led several more small campaigns,capturing the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moitier. In December, Charlesennobled Joan, her parents, and her brothers.In May 1430, the Burgundians laid siege to Compiegne, and Joan stoleinto the town under the cover of darkness to aid in its defense. On May23, while leading a sortie against the Burgundians, she was captured.The Burgundians sold her to the English, and in March 1431 she went ontrial before ecclesiastical authorities in Rouen on charges of heresy.Her most serious crime, according to the tribunal, was her rejection ofchurch authority in favor of direct inspiration from God. After refusingto submit to the church, her sentence was read on May 24: She was to beturned over to secular authorities and executed. Reacting with horror tothe pronouncement, Joan agreed to recant and was condemned instead toperpetual imprisonment.Ordered to put on women’s clothes, she obeyed, but a few days later thejudges went to her cell and found her dressed again in male attire.Questioned, she told them that St. Catherine and St. Margaret hadreproached her for giving in to the church against their will. She wasfound to be a relapsed heretic and on May 29 ordered handed over tosecular officials. On May 30, Joan, 19 years old, was burned at thestake at the Place du Vieux-Marche in Rouen. Before the pyre was lit,she instructed a priest to hold high a crucifix for her to see and toshout out prayers loud enough to be heard above the roar of the flames.As a source of military inspiration, Joan of Arc helped turn the HundredYears War firmly in France’s favor. By 1453, Charles VII had reconqueredall of France except for Calais, which the English relinquished in 1558.In 1920, Joan of Arc, one of the great heroes of French history, wasrecognized as a Christian saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Her feastday is May 30.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
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