The alternative history of Jeanne d'Arc: Chapter 1

Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université Paris Descartes, 2021

Arthuriana, 2008

The text set that follows is intended to complement a multi-departmental approach to teaching the historical and myth-making impact of Jehanne de Pucelle, otherwise known as the Maid of Orleans, or simply Joan of Arc. That Joan was an extraordinary personage during her brief 19 years is uncontested by historical documentation, but what is almost more fascinating is the way her character, her life and her actions have been interpreted, illustrated, and co-opted, becoming a chameleon-like icon in the popular perception of her and by political movements, different nations and by celebrated writers. I have reviewed the literature available on her subject and present a variety of texts suitable for high level 9th grade English students, but with an eye to outside supplementary texts that would engage a wider swathe of reading levels.

L'Esprit Créateur, 2017

Medieval Feminist Forum, 2014

he breton civil war began late in the summer of 1341 and should have been over before the new year began. King Philip VI of France sent in his son John of Normandy (the future Jean II) to capture and remove the rebel claimant to the duchy, John of Montfort, which was accomplished by December. But Jeanne of Montfort, the wife of the defeated claimant, refused to give in, directing the rebel forces and seeking an ally in King Edward III of England, and so the war dragged on for six more years. In 1347, Edward's forces captured Philip' s choice for the duchy, Charles of Blois, and his wife, Jeanne of Penthièvre, took over to lead their party in much the same way as Jeanne of Montfort had. This episode in Breton history immediately captured the imagination of contemporary chroniclers, the most famous of whom was Jean Froissart, who recounted breathtaking adventures involving last-minute escapes on horseback and intense skirmishes at sea. 1 The allure of the "War of the Two Jeannes" lived on beyond the Middle Ages, providing fodder for an epic poem in the nineteenth century, 2 a play in 1949, a bande dessinée (or illustrated history book) in the early twenty-first century, and a spectacle historique performed in Vannes, Brittany in 2012. 3 mff, sjursen http://ir.uiowa.edu/mff/vol51/iss1/ scholarship on fourteenth-century French noblewomen is rather thin overall, with the bulk focusing on individual women from the latter part of the century. 6 A study of the two Jeannes sheds light on a neglected region and time while also offering much material pertinent to issues of lordship, gender, and warfare. By looking at these two women as integral members of the lordship couple that comprised the leadership of the duchy, we can examine the division of labor between the nobleman and his wife and reevaluate the historiography of noble power in this period. Equally important, this article moves beyond arguments that noblewomen' s power was relegated to the "domestic" or "private" sphere. Recent work on noblewomen' s experiences argues for greater recognition of women' s participation in medieval politics, uncovering their work as mediators, gift givers, diplomats, and regents, among other roles. 7

The English Historical Review

Contrary to what has been previously claimed, the birth of the French term prisonnier de guerre dates back to long before the early seventeenth century. The corpus of documents which form the foundation of this article includes some sixty occurrences of the term (in French or Latin) over a period of more than a century, the earliest dating to 1357. In contrast with previous studies on the status of prisoners of war which have tended to rely on a modern conception of the term, this present investigation focuses on contemporary perceptions of those who were designated prisonniers de guerre in the later middle ages. The significance of this discussion is demonstrated in particular through the case of Joan of Arc, who, perhaps surprisingly, was considered a prisonnière de guerre by the English. In her case-which was by no means an exception to the general rule-the status of prisonnier de guerre derived from the property rights which her 'master' (or captor) enjoyed over her. It did not involve any protection of the prisoner her (or him) self. Contemporary debates around the status of prisonniers de guerre, when such questions were raised, were focused on the rights of the master. Perhaps is it more appropriate not to speak of the status prisoner of war but rather the status of the master of the prisoner of war.

Saber and Scroll, 2017

2017