University of Tasmania, Australia

In this UTAS Open Day public lecture, Associate Professor Michael Bennett uncovers the history of Joan of Arc, her part in the events of the day, and her place in myth as well as history. This lecture is presented by the UTAS Faculty of Arts.

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The School of History and Classics

• Offers majors (sequences of units over three years) and honours and postgraduate supervision) inhistory, ancient civilisations, classical languages (Latin, Greek)

History

• Strengths in European and British history (Middle Ages to present), American, Australian and Tasmanian history

• Students usually do history along with English, politics, international relations, law, journalism

• Careers in government, foreign affairs, teaching and research, journalism and publishing, museums and heritage

History: the discipline

• Content and skills —
• • Depth And Breadth Perspective
  • Use Of Evidence And Judgment In Relation To Real Events And Issues
  • Research And Communication Skills

Topic

• Joan of Arc: History and Mystery, a mini-lecture based on HTA214/314 Late Medieval Europe

• Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc of Domremy), born c. 1411, died 1431

• Joan the Maid (La Pucelle), daughter of God

Joan’s testimony, 1431

I was in my thirteenth year [1424?] when God sent a voice to guide me. At first, I was very much frightened. The voice came towards the hour of noon, in summer, in my father’s garden. I had fasted the preceding day. I heard the voice on my right hand, in the direction of the church. I seldom hear it without seeing a light. That light always appears on the side from the side from which I hear the voice.

• IMAGE – sketch of Joan of Arc

• IMAGE – Joan learns of her mission (nineteenth century painting)

• IMAGE – Map of France, 1429

• IMAGE – Henry V r. 1413-22

• IMAGE – Battle of Agincourt, 1415

• IMAGE – Charles VII (r. 1422-1461) (‘King of Bourges’ 1422-9)

Joan’s First Letter to the English, 1429

King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, calling yourself Regent of the kingdom of France … Pay back the King of Heaven; deliver the keys of the good cities you have taken and violated in France to the Pucelle [the Maid], who has been sent here by God, the King of Heaven … And you archers, noble knights, and others besieging the good city of Orleans, go away, for God’s sake, back to your country; otherwise, await news of the Pucelle, who will soon visit you to your great detriment … (addressed under the names of Jesus and Mary)

• IMAGE – Tuesday of Holy Week [22 March]

• IMAGE – Thomas Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, d. 1429

• IMAGE – Joan of Arc announces the relief of Orleans

The Duke of Bedford, writing back to the King of England, 1429

And all things prospered for you until the time that the siege of Orleans was undertaken … At which time … there fell, by the hand of God, as it seemed, a great assault upon your soldiers … by a disciple and follower of the Fiend, called the Pucelle, who used false enchantments and sorcery. This assault and destruction not only greatly reduced the number of soldiers but also marvellously discouraged the rest, and gave heart to your opponents …

Alan Chartier writes to a foreign prince, 1429

Here is she who seems not to have come from anywhere on earth, who seems to be sent from Heaven to sustain her neck and shoulders a fallen France. She raised the king out of the vast abyss on to the harbor and shore by labouring in storms and tempests, and she lifted up the spirits of the French to a greater hope. By restraining the ferocity of the English, she excited the bravery of the French … O singular virgin … You are … the light of the lily, you are the beauty, the glory, not only of France, but of all Christendom.

• IMAGE - Map of France, 1429

• IMAGE - The road to Reims

• IMAGE - The assault on Paris

• IMAGE - The execution of Joan of Arc, 1431

• IMAGE - Joan of Arc at Reims (Ingres)