Joan of Arc
...group arrived at Chinon. Earlier, Joan had sent a letter to Charles, asking for an audience. Two days after her arrival, Charles held the audience, but since he was unconvinced of her mission, he switched places with one of his courtiers. When Joan arrived, she immediately recognized the true dauphin, and presented herself to Charles. Joan then requested a private discussion with Charles, in which she convinced him of her mission. Nobody knows exactly how she did this, but it is said that she proved his “royal blood”. Charles sent Joan to the church at Poitiers to be cleared to carry out her mission. Here, Joan was examined by church officials. They questioned her about her education, her history, and many other things. Eventually, they ended the examinations, having found no heresy in her answers, “only ardent faith, simplicity, and honesty.” Joan then sent a messenger to the Church of St. Catherine de Fierbois, her patron saint, to retrieve a sword that even the priests knew nothing about. This sword, which had five crosses on its hilt, was the one that was used by Charles Martel, grandfather to Charlemagne, when he defended France from Muslim attack. A banner was made for Joan, depicting angels presenting a fleur-de-lis to the Lord. Upon the banner was written, “Jhesus, Maria”. A suit of armor was also made, but it had no decoration; this was called “white armor”. Now that nothing stood in her way, Joan was free to pursue her mission. She rode off to free Orleans. Before waging battle, however, she told the English to remove their troops from Orleans and the French lands. Then she told her troops to receive confession and go to Mass. On April 30, she went to speak with William Glasdale, and warned the English to retreat. On May 2nd, Joan received information about the bastides, and waged battle. On May 4th, the French had recaptured the St Loup bastide. By May 7th, all the bastides had been taken. That day, Joan was wounded in the chest by an arrow, but she pulled it out herself and, after a few minutes of recovery, continued the fight. By the next day, the battle was won, but there was no time to celebrate. Joan quickly moved into the next battle of liberation, because her voices told her she had “a year and a little more” to finish her mission. Finally, after many battles, the French recaptured Orleans. On July 17, Charles the dauphin was crowned king, and Joan’s mission ended. She slowly stopped hearing from her voices, and wanted to return to Domremy, but Charles kept her against her will. She and Charles led an attack on Paris in early September. Even though the French held St. Denis, the attack failed, and even Joan was wounded with a crossbolt through the thigh. The attack was abandoned, harming Joan’s prestige, and she laid down her arms at St. Denis. Around next April, she again returned to battle. Her voices had told her she was to be captured. At Compiegne, on May 24th, 1430, she was closed out of the castle, and taken from her horse, kicking and screaming, by a Burgundian archer. King Charles made no attempt whatsoever to reclaim her in anyway. Today, this is looked on with disgust and revulsion. Joan was taken to Rouen to be put on trial by English church official for heresy and witchcraft. In truth, the English were scared of her, and wanted her dead. She was kept in a secular prison, and not allowed to go to Mass or confession. Actually, she was allowed no spiritual privileges at all, because of her male clothing and her “heretic nature”. When the examinations took place, the officials asked Joan hundreds of questions about everything from her male attire to what the saints looked like. They knew that if they caught her off guard, even at just one point, they could rightly accuse her of heresy. Joan, however, was able to slip through their fingers at ev...