FACTS ABOUT JOAN OF ARC

1. Historians messed up on her name. Her actual name is not clearly known, but it was not Joan of Arc.  The candidates include:  Jehanne d’Arc, Jehanne Tarc, Jehanne Romee, or Jehanne de Vouthon.  She was called Jehannette when she was growing up.  At her trial, she called herself “Joan la Pucelle” (Joan the Maid).
2. As a teenager she began to have visions that she claimed were saints like Michael, Catherine, and Margaret. They told her to help put the Dauphin Charles on the throne of France.  She was also told to dress like a man and cut her hair short.
3. Historians, scientists, and doctors have tried to substitute a medical explanation for her visions (or as they called them – hallucinations). Theories include:  migraines, bipolar disorder, brain lesions, genetic epilepsy, or bovine tuberculosis.
4. When she was allowed to meet Charles, he tested her by hiding in the crowd and having a noble masquerade as the Dauphin. She bypassed the fake and went straight to Charles.  She then proved her abilities by reciting a prayer that Charles was thinking of and finding a sword hidden behind an altar.
5. She did not actually fight in battle. She led from behind while holding a banner to inspire the men.  She was close enough to the fighting to be wounded twice.  She was hit in the shoulder by an arrow at the siege of Orleans and hit in the thigh by a crossbow bolt in her attack on Paris.
6. After fulfilling her mission of getting Charles crowned King, she continued her military career by attacking the Burgundians who were allied with the British. The campaign was a disaster and she was thrown from her horse and captured.  The Burgundians sold her to the British.  Charles, one of the greatest ingrates in history, did nothing to get her back.
7. The British were determined to get revenge on this young woman who had humiliated them. Originally, she was charged with 70 counts, including sorcery and horse theft.  These were whittled down to 12 which concentrated on her wearing of men’s clothes and claiming to communicate with God.  She ended up confessing to these two acts of blasphemy and accepted life imprisonment.  However, within a few days she put her male clothes back on (possibly to avoid rape from her jailers) and claimed she had heard voices again.  The British judges were enraged and convicted her of “relapsed heresy” and condemned her to be burned at the stake.  This took place in Rouen in front of 10,000.
8. Her brothers found a woman who looked like her and claimed she was still alive. It was a scheme to make money, but eventually the woman admitted she was a fake.
9. Joan had a bad temper at times. She once smacked a soldier for stealing meat.  On another occasion, she forced all the prostitutes and mistresses to leave the army camp.
10. In 1909, a Parisian hair designer revived Joan’s short haircut. The bob haircut caught on with the flappers in the 1920s.  Coincidentally, she was canonized in 1920.

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