The Role of "Permission" in the Trial of Joan of Arc

Today Joan of Arc is known primarily as a religious martyr, but what popular culture often forgets is how tightly religion and politics intertwined in her story. Her decision to raise an army and ensure that Charles VII was placed on the French throne was motivated by religious devotion, but making sure the mission succeeded required military and political savvy, two qualities that tend to mix poorly with religious piety. The longer Joan spent in the spotlight, the more her religious vocation became muddled with political concerns.

Joan of Arc’s trial testimony remains the main source from which scholars can infer her motives, but even that fails to present a clear overview of her beliefs. Pernoud and Clin note that Joan’s direct testimony underwent several transformations, including a switch from French to Latin and direct to indirect discourse:

Some speculate that Cauchon and his associates wanted two contradictory outcomes: they wanted to preserve the transcript, but they did not want Joan to seem so persuasive, and the force of her personality could be muted in indirect discourse. Their worried reaction to her replies is attested even more strikingly by the presence of several erasures in the French stenographic record.

But the most important reason why Joan of Arc’s testimony fails to provide a clear picture of her beliefs is that Joan herself lacked clarity on how best to accomplish her mission after the coronation of Charles VII. Without direction from Charles, who was committed to maintaining a truce with the Burgundians, Joan became frustrated. She “realized that the great army of the coronation, unified by a common hope, was drifting apart. The very moment of triumph—the anointing at Reims—marked an inversion of the...

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...t liking the Burgundians:

And she knows this through the revelation of Sts. Katherine and Margaret, who often speak to her in French and not English, since they are not on their side. And since she has known by revelation that the voices supported the prince mentioned above, she has disliked the Burgundians.

While her questioners were able to charge her with legitimate crimes, like failing to properly submit to the Church Militant, Joan of Arc’s real crime was attempting to attain power that was out of proportion to her sex and the time she lived in. Though she died young, her place in history was sealed along with her fate.

Works Cited
Joan of Arc: La Pucelle. Trans. Craig Taylor. Manchester, United Kingdom: Manchester University Press, 2006. Print.

Pernoud, Régine, and Marie-Véronique Clin. Joan of Arc: Her Story. New York City: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Print.