ARC, JOAN OF (Jeanne d'Arc), generally called the Maid of Orleans, one of the most famed heroines in the annals of history, was born about the beginning of the fifteenth century at Domremy, near Vaucouleurs, in Lorraine, where her father, a peasant named Jacques d'Arc, resided. When she was able in the least degree to earn a sustenance for herself, her parents, who were poor, put her to service at a small inn, where she performed several offices more properly belonging to the other sex, such as riding the horses to water, and attending them in the fields, and many other similar services. At the time when Charles VII. was reduced to a very low condition, and the greatest part of his country had been overrun by the English, Joan, probably then at the age of 27 or 28, imagined herself favoured with heavenly visions, in one of which she was commanded by St Michael to go immediately to the relief of Orleans, at that time closely besieged by the English army, and then to procure the consecration of the king at Rheims. In February 1429 her parents took her to
the governor of Vaucouleurs, named Baudricourt, who at first held her pretended inspiration to be no more than an idle tale, and treated it with contempt; but at last, induced by her entreaties, he sent her to Chinon, where the king then was, in order that she might be introduced to him. Charles, that he might test her alleged powers, determined to present her to a company of his nobles, where no mark of dignity tended to distinguish him from them; and it is asserted that she immediately recognized him, and informed him of secrets which he had endeavoured to conceal from every person. She boldly engaged to accomplish the two objects of her mission, and required that they should arm her with a consecrated sword which lay in the church of St Catherine of Fierbois; and although she had never seen it, she accurately described every particular concerning it. The manner in which she acted inspired many with confidence; and certain doctors of the church were appointed to examine into the nature of her inspiration, and matrons to give proofs of her virginity. The report which they gave was very favourable; but being next put into the hands of the parliament, they treated her as frantic, and demanded that she should show them a miracle. She answered, that although she had not any at that time to present, she would soon accomplish one at Orleans. At length being fully armed and mounted, she was sent to Orleans along with the army destined for its relief. Her exemplary enthusiasm reanimated the soldiery, and the camp was soon freed from disorder and intemperance. Entering Orleans, she introduced a convoy; and boldly attacking the English in their forts, she routed them with great slaughter, and struck them with such a panic that they were even obliged to raise the siege with precipitate haste. The dignity of a superior mind and an exalted heroism reigned through all her actions. Various other successes followed in a short time, and the dismayed English everywhere fled before the hand of a conquering enemy whom they had but lately contemned. Joan now thinking it proper to perform her other promise of crowning the king at Rheims, proceeded with him as he marched through the kingdom, in order to receive submission of the towns, which he did without any opposition. Arriving at Rheims, the keys of the city were delivered to him; and, entering the town, he was anointed with the holy oil of Clovis, and crowned, Joan standing by his side in full armour, and displaying her consecrated banner. Charles filled with gratitude for her important services, ennobled her family, and conferred upon it the title of the Sys, with an adequate estate in hand. The two objects of her mission being now accomplished, Joan prepared to retire into the country; but Dunois, the general, being sensible of her importance on account of her pretended inspiration, endeavoured to persuade her to remain in arms until the English should be fully driven from the country; which by his persuasions he effected. Advised by him, she cast herself into Compiègne, then closely besieged by the English and the Duke of Burgundy. Having there made a sally upon the enemy, she drove them from their intrenchments; but being basely deserted by her followers, she was taken prisoner. The English, with a malignant spirit of revenge, resolved to show no mercy to their heroic captive. The Duke of Bedford the regent, having ransomed her from the captors, appointed a criminal prosecution against her, upon the charges of employing sorcery and magic, and of being impious. He was joined in the accusation by the clergy, and by the university of Paris. Joan was carried in irons before an ecclesiastical commission at Rouen, where several capricious interrogatories were put to her during a trial of about four months, to which she answered with steadiness and gravity. Among several other questions, she was interrogated why she had assisted at the coronation of Charles with the standard in her hand. She boldly replied, "Because the person who shared in the danger had a right
to share in the glory." Her defence was not so strong concerning her pretended inspiration and visions, which were the most dangerous points of the attack. She appealed to the pope upon being accused on these grounds of impiety and heresy, but her appeal was not allowed. At length she was condemned of being a blasphemist and sorceress, and accordingly delivered over to the power of the civil magistrate. A view of the dreadful punishment that awaited her at last overpowered her resolution, and she endeavoured to escape it, by making a disavowal of her pretended revelations, and a full renunciation of her errors. Her sentence was then changed into perpetual imprisonment; but this punishment did not assuage the fury of her barbarous enemies. They craftily laid a man's dress in her chamber; and Joan, induced by the sight of an apparel in which she had gained so much honour, put it on; and upon being discovered, her enemies condemned her to the stake, interpreting the action into a relapse of heresy. She suffered her punishment in June 1431, at the market-place of Rouen, with great firmness; and even the English themselves beheld the scene with tears. Her unjust and cruel death was an indelible stigma on the character of her prosecutors. Charles did nothing towards avenging her cause; but ten years afterwards contented himself with procuring the restoration of her memory by the pope, and a reversion of the process. She was styled in that act a "martyr to her religion, her country, and her king." In their enthusiastic admiration, her countrymen were not so slow in honouring her memory. Many marvellous stories were related by them concerning her death. Some supposed that she was not actually dead, and continually expected that, as formerly, she would come, and at their head lead them on to victory. A consistent and uniform judgment respecting the actions and address of this personage cannot be made by posterity. That she gave herself up to the influence of a heated fancy, and that she was confident in the idea of her divine inspiration, and that this notion was so improved by certain favourites of Charles as to excite the emotions of the public, seems to be the most probable supposition.