Speaker 1: It is February fourteen thirty one. A chill freezes the
Speaker 1: air of the Great Room within the Castle of Ruan.
Speaker 1: Up in the galley of this makeshift court room, sixty
Speaker 1: pairs of eyes stands staring, the eyes of men that
Speaker 1: have poured over the most rigorous philosophical texts of the time,
Speaker 1: absorbing the granular detail of every law and loophole, every
Speaker 1: facet of global policy they can. They've been called to
Speaker 1: ruan the Duchy of Normandy Seed in the Kingdom of France,
Speaker 1: and the military base of the King of England, from
Speaker 1: the comfort of their dioces or the familiar power of
Speaker 1: their university residences, to stand judge at the trial of
Speaker 1: what many regard as the single biggest threat to the
Speaker 1: English crown, the one who's frequently been described as a
Speaker 1: genius military strategist and a kingmaker blessed with the gift
Speaker 1: of prophecy, who many also believe has been sent by
Speaker 1: God themselves to save the Kingdom of France. Heavy footsteps
Speaker 1: and the clanking of chains are heard approaching from outside
Speaker 1: the room, and just then a heavy door swings open,
Speaker 1: letting in a gust of winter wind, and the sixty
Speaker 1: men look up, gasping at the sight of the pale, diminutive,
Speaker 1: nineteen year old woman being led into the courtroom. The
Speaker 1: woman's ankles and wrists are clasped in iron, her body wasted, sickened,
Speaker 1: and malnourished. Is this her? Think the men? Is this it?
Speaker 1: But as the young woman takes the stand, she tilts
Speaker 1: her head to the galley, her back seeming to straighten,
Speaker 1: her body seeming to grow as she stares each of
Speaker 1: the men, one after the other, defiantly in the eye.
Speaker 1: And when she is asked to state her name, she
Speaker 1: replies proudly. In my village, I was known as Jeannette.
Speaker 1: Now I am known as jan or simply Joanne. There
Speaker 1: are few whose lives speak to the idea of legacy
Speaker 1: like Joan of Arcs. As she has come to be
Speaker 1: known in the English speaking world. It could be said
Speaker 1: that she existed more in her future than she ever
Speaker 1: did in her present. Her cult following, for example, would
Speaker 1: not really start to take hold until a good four
Speaker 1: hundred years after her death. The name now associated with
Speaker 1: the May French feast day jeand arc is not even
Speaker 1: one that she used in life. For the woman we'd
Speaker 1: come to know as Joan of Arc, Hers was a
Speaker 1: life spent looking unerringly forward, speaking with faith and fearlessness
Speaker 1: of things that were yet to come. You're listening to Unexplained,
Speaker 1: and I'm Richard McClane Smith. As Joan took the stand
Speaker 1: on that frigid day in February fourteen thirty one, her
Speaker 1: accusers pushed her repeatedly to swear to tell the truth,
Speaker 1: absolutely and completely on everything she was asked. But Joan,
Speaker 1: perhaps recognizing that in the hands of those men the
Speaker 1: truth could be a slip every thing, refused to comply.
Speaker 1: If it was her story they wanted, she would be
Speaker 1: the one to tell it on her own terms. And
Speaker 1: so as the men's voices became ever more disgruntled and
Speaker 1: their faces grew ever more read, the diminutive nineteen year
Speaker 1: old woman slowly began to talk. Growing up in the
Speaker 1: village of don Remy, the daughter of a relatively wealthy farmer,
Speaker 1: Hers had been a simple life pockmarked by the unending
Speaker 1: battle for regional supremacy between the English and the French crowns.
Speaker 1: Located in what is now the northeast of present day France.
Speaker 1: At the time of her birth in fourteen twelve, dn
Speaker 1: Remy was situated firmly within the province of Chompagne, which,
Speaker 1: despite being within the Kingdom of France, was broadly speaking,
Speaker 1: under the control of then English King Henry the Fifth.
Speaker 1: For the most part, Joan was a simple, pious child,
Speaker 1: often seen kneeling in prayer at church or helping her
Speaker 1: mother with spinning and sewing. Until that was one day when,
Speaker 1: at the age of thirteen, she found herself sitting in
Speaker 1: the garden enjoying the heat of summer. It had just
Speaker 1: gone noon, with the sun at its zenith when, she
Speaker 1: later claimed, a bright light appeared at the right side
Speaker 1: of her vision, which seemed to be coming from the
Speaker 1: direction of the village church, and then she heard a
Speaker 1: voice inside her head that was not her own. Looking
Speaker 1: about in fear and confusion at where on earth the
Speaker 1: voice could be coming from, she saw only the empty
Speaker 1: fields surrounding her. But the voice continued to talk, and
Speaker 1: it was talking to her. Rather than be disturbed by it, however,
Speaker 1: the more Jane listened to its soft, peaceful words, instructing
Speaker 1: her to be good and to make sure that she
Speaker 1: continued to go to church, she began to find solace
Speaker 1: in it. Day after day, the voice returned. Then, over time,
Speaker 1: more voices began to speak to her. She became convinced
Speaker 1: that these voices were none other than the archangel Michael,
Speaker 1: Saint Catharine of Alexandria, and Saint Margaret of Antioch, all
Speaker 1: supplying her with a direct line from God. The voices
Speaker 1: came most often when she was walking in the woods
Speaker 1: near her home, and at first their relationship was a
Speaker 1: simple one. As she walked, basking in the warmth of
Speaker 1: the sun and the sweet fragrance of summer flowers, the
Speaker 1: voices would comfort and counsel her, guiding her and her piety.
Speaker 1: By the time Joan had turned sixteen, however, the voices
Speaker 1: had become more insistent, telling her that she was not
Speaker 1: just any young girl, but a girl with a divine
Speaker 1: mission to find the heir to the throne of France
Speaker 1: and help him to reclaim her homeland from the English crown.
Speaker 1: The war between France and England, which historians later dumped
Speaker 1: the Hundred Years War, had begun after King Charles the
Speaker 1: Fourth of France died in thirteen twenty eight without leaving
Speaker 1: an heir. His closest male relative was his nephew, King
Speaker 1: Edward the third of England, who was sixteen at the time. However,
Speaker 1: the French nobility rejected Edward's claim on account of his father,
Speaker 1: the recently deposed King Edward the Second, being English, and
Speaker 1: so Charles the Fourth's cousin, Philippe, was crowned the king
Speaker 1: of France instead. This ruling remained in place until thirteen
Speaker 1: thirty seven, when a more mature Edward renewed his claim
Speaker 1: to the French throne and declared war on King Philippe.
Speaker 1: The conflict would outlive them both and continued until the
Speaker 1: military successes of then King Henry the Fifth of England,
Speaker 1: who would go on to capture Paris and much of
Speaker 1: northern France, forced then King Charles the sixth of France
Speaker 1: to sign a treaty in fourteen twenty declaring Henry the
Speaker 1: Fifth as France's true heir apparent. This act, in turn
Speaker 1: disinherited Charles, his own son, also called Charles, but perhaps
Speaker 1: better known as the dauphin, the title given to the
Speaker 1: eldest son of a French king. Things soon deteriorated, however,
Speaker 1: when both Henry the Fifth and Charles the sixth died
Speaker 1: two years later. Once again reigniting the war. On one
Speaker 1: side were the supporters of the new English King, Henry
Speaker 1: the Sixth, who was not even one years old at
Speaker 1: the time, which included a number of French aristocracy, such
Speaker 1: as the Duke of Burgundy, while on the other were
Speaker 1: those who'd remained steadfastly loyal to Charles the sixth, who
Speaker 1: claimed his son, the Dauphin Charles, had the true divine
Speaker 1: right to the French throne. By fourteen twenty nine, however,
Speaker 1: things were not going well for the Dauphins, with the
Speaker 1: then seven year old King Henry the sixth court managing
Speaker 1: to secure managing no previous gained. Fan and his supporters,
Speaker 1: also known as the Armagnacs, had made little headway in
Speaker 1: capturing the rest of the country for himself. Most inconveniently,
Speaker 1: the town of Rance, located a hundred miles to the
Speaker 1: east of Paris, the traditional place for the French coronation
Speaker 1: and where any future monarch seeking legitimacy as the King
Speaker 1: of France had to be crowned, remained under the control
Speaker 1: of the English monarch by way of the Duke of Burgundy.
Speaker 1: God it seemed, had made their choice, but young Joan
Speaker 1: begged to differ, as the voices had continued to keep
Speaker 1: telling her the Dauphin was the true heir of France,
Speaker 1: but God would need her help to put him on
Speaker 1: the throne. She had also by then begun to see things,
Speaker 1: little shots, she believed of things that were yet to come.
Speaker 1: Perhaps the family and friends of anyone else would dismiss
Speaker 1: a sixteen year old girl determined to meet the men
Speaker 1: at the head of the war that had ravished their
Speaker 1: lands for nearly a hundred years on account of some
Speaker 1: voices she'd heard in her head. But things had a
Speaker 1: way of falling into place around Joan long before the voices,
Speaker 1: an air of mystery and mysticism had surrounded her. She
Speaker 1: was born on the sixth of January, the day some
Speaker 1: Christians believe was the precise day that the biblical magi
Speaker 1: otherwise known as the Three Wise Men, visited the baby
Speaker 1: Jesus to bestow their famous gifts on him. And on
Speaker 1: that day of her birth, it was said that the
Speaker 1: roosters of her village had crowed long before the dawn,
Speaker 1: as if already sensing the significance of the day. So
Speaker 1: when she told her family she had an important message
Speaker 1: to deliver, to Robert de Beaudricourt, captain of the French
Speaker 1: garrison nearby Voucler. They didn't hesitate to take her there.
Speaker 1: Joan's first meeting with the captain, however, in May of
Speaker 1: fourteen twenty eight, ended in disaster. On arriving, Joan is
Speaker 1: said to have regarded the captain oddly, saying he was
Speaker 1: exactly how she'd remembered from her vision, catching him a
Speaker 1: little off guard. Then barely pausing to even introduce herself,
Speaker 1: Joan explained that she'd been given a mission by God
Speaker 1: to save France, and that she and only she could
Speaker 1: make it happen. She then demanded that she even unarmed
Speaker 1: escort to inform the Dauphin of her mission, who was
Speaker 1: based in the town of Shinnon, almost three hundred miles
Speaker 1: away to the west. Offended by the outlandish demands of
Speaker 1: the strange peasant girl as he saw her, de Beaudricorps
Speaker 1: promptly dismissed her. The following month, Joan's hometown of don
Speaker 1: Romi was raided by the Duke of Burgundy's forces. Homes
Speaker 1: and crops were brutally burned to the ground, and Joan
Speaker 1: and her family were forced to flee, more convinced than
Speaker 1: ever of her cause. In January fourteen twenty nine, a
Speaker 1: then seventeen year old Joan returned once again to Voucole
Speaker 1: to demand another audience with the Captain de Beaudricorps. Once again,
Speaker 1: the captain refused her outlandish demands, but this time her
Speaker 1: journey was not in vain. It seemed that word of
Speaker 1: jones curious convictions had started to precede her. Simon Voukola
Speaker 1: had begun speaking of a prophecy foretold long ago, of
Speaker 1: an armed female virgin who would one day reveal themselves
Speaker 1: as the savior of France. And though Captain de Beaudricourt
Speaker 1: was yet to be convinced, something of jones quiet fortitude
Speaker 1: and determined piety had touched two of his soldiers, Bertrand
Speaker 1: de Poulangi and Jean de Metz, enough to make them
Speaker 1: wonder if the young girl from don Remi might indeed
Speaker 1: be the savior she claimed to be. Despite being rejected
Speaker 1: by the captain again, de Poulangi and de Metz convinced
Speaker 1: Joan to stay awhile longer to see if they could
Speaker 1: help her cause. The men introduced her as Jean Pascuarrel,
Speaker 1: an Augustinian chaplain who was quickly won over by the
Speaker 1: unusual intensity of her religious convictions. Together, the three men
Speaker 1: convinced de Beaudricourt to give the girl another chance. Then
Speaker 1: a few weeks later, in early February of fourteen twenty nine,
Speaker 1: something strange happened. The town of Orleans, located just south
Speaker 1: of Paris in the north of France, was strategically and
Speaker 1: symbolically significant during the Hundred Years War. It sat on
Speaker 1: a key place along the routes to both Paris and Raths,
Speaker 1: just south of the territories. Recognizing the English Henry the
Speaker 1: sixth as the true king of France, most military strategists
Speaker 1: of the time believed that if Orleans fell to the
Speaker 1: English army, who had been occupying small pockets of territory
Speaker 1: nearby and steadily laying siege to it since October fourteen
Speaker 1: twenty eight, they would conquer all of France. And so
Speaker 1: it was in early February that Joan told her newfound
Speaker 1: supporters that she'd had a vision of French forces being
Speaker 1: decimated by a convoy of English soldiers just to the
Speaker 1: north of Orleans. It was almost a week later when
Speaker 1: news came through to Robert de Beaudricorps that on February twelfth,
Speaker 1: French forces had indeed been defeated in what would later
Speaker 1: become known as the Battle of Rouvre when they attempted
Speaker 1: to intercept an English convoy making their way toward Orleans.
Speaker 1: There was simply no earthly way that Joan could have
Speaker 1: known this. On receiving the news, Captain de Beaudricorps recalled
Speaker 1: once more the strange way in which Joan had first
Speaker 1: greeted him, insisting that she had foreseen their meeting in
Speaker 1: a vision. A little unsettled by it all, he decided
Speaker 1: to take a chance on the strange girl from Doramy.
Speaker 1: At the third time of asking, he finally granted her
Speaker 1: her wish, but she would have to make some changes first.
Speaker 1: If they were to travel to Chinon to speak to
Speaker 1: the Dauphin, she would first have to disguise herself as
Speaker 1: a boy so as not to arouse any unwonted attention. Accordingly,
Speaker 1: her hair was then cut short into the iconic bob
Speaker 1: that she would later become synonymous with, and she was
Speaker 1: given a change of traditional men's clothes to complete the look.
Speaker 1: The following day, Joan, accompanied by six men at arms,
Speaker 1: began her journey towards Chinnon eleven days at Having successfully
Speaker 1: trecked halfway across the country, they arrived at the court
Speaker 1: of the Darphan. Sadly, however, her growing reputation had not
Speaker 1: yet made it as far as she. With her regional
Speaker 1: accent and boyish appearance, Joan could not have looked more
Speaker 1: out of place. Unsure what to make of a door,
Speaker 1: the Darphan's advisers counseled him against receiving her. With Joan
Speaker 1: on the verge of returning home, two days later, she
Speaker 1: received word that the young dwarphin only twenty six years
Speaker 1: old himself at the time, would see her after all.
Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to Joan, however, according to legend, the Dwarphan decided
Speaker 1: to play a game. Having heard of her apparent mystical powers.
Speaker 1: Charles decided to disguise himself to test her, and hid
Speaker 1: among his courtiers when Joan was due to come and
Speaker 1: speak to him. It is said that as soon as
Speaker 1: Joan entered the room, she spotted him immediately, despite never
Speaker 1: having seen his likeness before. When asked how she'd known
Speaker 1: it was him, she replied simply it was the Voices
Speaker 1: who told her. Having been suitably amazed by Joan's seeming
Speaker 1: act of clairvoyance, it is said the Dauphin then granted
Speaker 1: her a private audience to hear everything she had to say.
Speaker 1: Some say it was her insistence to him that, according
Speaker 1: to the Voices, he was the legitimate son of Charles
Speaker 1: the sixth, a fact that had been frequently questioned by
Speaker 1: his enemies, that finally won him over. Others that it
Speaker 1: was the prayer that she so precisely and calmly recited
Speaker 1: to him, the exact same prayer that he himself had
Speaker 1: made back the previous November, which nobody except him and
Speaker 1: God could possibly have known. If Joan was to have
Speaker 1: her way, However, it wasn't only the Dauphin whom she
Speaker 1: had to convince. For the next few days, she was
Speaker 1: interrogated by the Dauphin's ecclesiastical advisers, who were mostly interested
Speaker 1: in making sure that she wasn't, in fact, a witch
Speaker 1: operating under the guidance of the devil. In a foreshadowing
Speaker 1: of what was to come, the seventeen year old Joan
Speaker 1: was forced to stand in a room full of questioning
Speaker 1: men and plainly state her divine mission, to which she
Speaker 1: replied that it was nothing less than to see Charles
Speaker 1: crowned as the king of France. A series of stern
Speaker 1: and rigorous questions followed, testing her knowledge of the scriptures,
Speaker 1: all of which she passed with flying colors. None the less,
Speaker 1: the men remained convinced, so Joan told them that she
Speaker 1: would prove her mission by ending the English assault on Orleans.
Speaker 1: But first there was something she would need from them.
Speaker 1: According to legend, Joan then revealed to them that the
Speaker 1: voices had told her about a secret sword buried long
Speaker 1: ago behind the altar of the Church of Saint Catharine
Speaker 1: of fur Bois in the commune of the same name
Speaker 1: in central France. The sword of Saint Catharine, as she
Speaker 1: called it, bore five crosses and at once belonged to
Speaker 1: Charles Martel, a seventh and eighth century leader of the
Speaker 1: pre France territory known then as Francia, who had also
Speaker 1: originally founded the church. As a forefather of the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of France, Martell was credited with helping to stop the
Speaker 1: expansion of the Islamic whom I add caliph that controlled
Speaker 1: most of the Iberian Peninsula, the area comprised today of
Speaker 1: Portugal and Spain. According to Joan, as the story goes,
Speaker 1: Martell had secretly buried his sword for the next person
Speaker 1: when the time came, whom God would choose to find
Speaker 1: it and save France once again. The doorphans priests knew
Speaker 1: well of Charles Martel and its conquests, but then knew
Speaker 1: nothing of any such sword, and so it was with
Speaker 1: great skepticism that a soldier was sent to locate it.
Speaker 1: It was a few days later when the soldier entered
Speaker 1: the church and made his way to the altar at
Speaker 1: the back. After removing some stones, he began to dig
Speaker 1: in the dirt, where apparently soon after, he tuck something hard.
Speaker 1: As he brushed off the soil, he uncovered what was
Speaker 1: quite clearly the reddish, rusted blade of the sword. And
Speaker 1: when a polish was later applied to the blade, one
Speaker 1: after another, the five stars engraved in the metal slowly
Speaker 1: revealed themselves, just as Joan had described them. With the
Speaker 1: sword recovered, Joan claimed it as her own, and from
Speaker 1: that day forward it seemed that Joan's reputation was sealed.
Speaker 1: Before long, word began to spread that the sword was
Speaker 1: a holy relic destined to play a part in the
Speaker 1: salvation of France. But more importantly, word was also beginning
Speaker 1: to spread of the young Joan, who had so mysteriously
Speaker 1: helped to find it. As one priest after another tried
Speaker 1: and failed to confirm her as a tick or a witch,
Speaker 1: a different thought began to emerge among the theologians. Joan
Speaker 1: wasn't only being guided by saints, she was a saint herself. Then,
Speaker 1: as word of Joan's apparent divine mission began to spread
Speaker 1: throughout the French army, spirits began to raise. With one
Speaker 1: so clearly beloved by God on our side, surely their
Speaker 1: cause could not fail. Back in Chinot, on March twenty second,
Speaker 1: fourteen twenty nine, Joan, dictating to the Dauphin, sent a
Speaker 1: series of letters to the English King Henry the sixth
Speaker 1: and his acolytes, demanding that they retreat from Orleans in
Speaker 1: the names of Jesus and Mary. With the letters dispatched,
Speaker 1: she is then said to have turned to the Dauphin
Speaker 1: and declared, I shall last a year from now, but
Speaker 1: only a little longer. She is then also said to
Speaker 1: have stated that the voices had told her she would
Speaker 1: be captured by Midsummer's Day of that year, June twenty fourth.
Speaker 1: All this was said without fear or any hint of distress,
Speaker 1: but rather with the clear sense that it was simply
Speaker 1: the way things must be. A few weeks later, with
Speaker 1: her place at the Dauphin's court firmly cemented, Charles decided
Speaker 1: it was time to unleash their sacred weapon. Joan was
Speaker 1: provided with a military household of several men that included
Speaker 1: her brother's Shan and Pierre. Then carrying a standard and
Speaker 1: banner which she designed herself, and the now sacred sword
Speaker 1: of Saint Catherine, she was instructed to make her way
Speaker 1: to the French army camp and Blois, about twenty miles
Speaker 1: southwest of Lyon, riding in pristine white armor a stride
Speaker 1: of fine white steed. Many would rush out to see
Speaker 1: the one they called Jean Lapousselle Joan the Maid, just
Speaker 1: for a glimpse of the rumored living saint who'd come
Speaker 1: to deliver France from England. After her arrival at the
Speaker 1: camp in Blois on April seventh, Joan was horrified by
Speaker 1: what she found there, soldiers drinking and swearing and frequently
Speaker 1: fraternizing with sex workers. The soldiers had clearly lost their way,
Speaker 1: she thought, and would be destined to fail if they
Speaker 1: didn't rediscover their faith in God. As a seemingly confirmed
Speaker 1: messenger of God. With the backing of none other than
Speaker 1: the Dauphin himself, Joan took it on herself to ensure
Speaker 1: the army were not neglecting their Christian faith, since it
Speaker 1: was this, after all, that was going to secure their victory.
Speaker 1: She ordered all the soldiers to go to church to
Speaker 1: make confession, give up swearing, and end their looting of
Speaker 1: towns and villages. When a sex worker was later found
Speaker 1: in the camp, Joan is said to have beaten her
Speaker 1: so hard with her sword that it broke. Joan was
Speaker 1: also said to have slapped and allied Scottish soldier for
Speaker 1: the crime of stealing meat. Far from making her unpopular,
Speaker 1: Joan's hardline approach called men to Charles's cause in their droves,
Speaker 1: encouraged by her unshakable conviction that she had indeed been
Speaker 1: sent by God to save them. But more was to come.
Speaker 1: It was a warm, humid evening on May fourth when
Speaker 1: Joan suddenly sprang to her feet and armed herself. Striding
Speaker 1: out of her tent, she informed her guard that according
Speaker 1: to the voices, a skirmish was taking place at an
Speaker 1: English held fort just to the east of the city,
Speaker 1: and their help was needed. Joan and her escort leaped
Speaker 1: on to their horses and bolted off in search of battle.
Speaker 1: Half an hour later, Joan and her men found it.
Speaker 1: It is said that when the French soldiers saw Joan
Speaker 1: approaching on top of her white horse and dressed in
Speaker 1: her saintly white armor, a wave of optimism swept through
Speaker 1: their ranks as a huge cry went up between them.
Speaker 1: The men immediately redoubled their efforts, and by the end
Speaker 1: of the day they'd captured the fort from the English army.
Speaker 1: A little later that day, once again, Joan dictated another
Speaker 1: of her letters of defiance to the English crown, demanding
Speaker 1: that they concede before any more blood was shed. God
Speaker 1: was with her and France, she said, and their victory
Speaker 1: was only a matter of time. But the court of
Speaker 1: Henry the sixth refused her offer. They weren't about to
Speaker 1: let an unhinged, possibly deranged little girl dictate anything to them.
Speaker 1: After all, what on earth could she possibly be capable
Speaker 1: of Doing you'd been listening to Unexplained Season six, episode thirty,
Speaker 1: The Inextinguishable Fire, Part one of two. Part two will
Speaker 1: be out next Friday, March twenty fourth. This episode was
Speaker 1: written by Ella McCloud and Richard McClane Smith. Unexplained as
Speaker 1: an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain Smith.
Speaker 1: All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are
Speaker 1: also produced by Richard McClain smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook,
Speaker 1: featuring stories that have never before been featured on the show,
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes,
Speaker 1: and Noble Waterstones, among other bookstores. Please subscribe and rate
Speaker 1: the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free
Speaker 1: to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding
Speaker 1: the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have
Speaker 1: an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You
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