oano

Forget the gauzy Hollywood saint-she was an inspired battlefield leader

By Kelly DeVries

he most famous woman writer of the Middle Ages, Christine de Pisan, wrote her last treatise about the most famous woman in the Middle Ages, Joan of Arc. De Pisan's Ditie dejehanne d'Arc was a paean to the French military leader whose victories were turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War and would lead to the crowning of Charles VII on July 17, 1429. Her account is also a contemporary recognition that Joan's mission was not an act of heresy but had come from God, just as Joan had declared.
Addressing herself to the English and Burgundians then fighting against Joan, de Pisan poses the questions they were afraid to have answered:
Oh, all you blind people, can you not detect God's hand in this? If you cannot, you are truly stupid, for how else could the Maid who strikesyou all down dead have been sent to us?Andyou do not have sufficient strength! Do you want to fight against Cod?

Christine de Pisan was well positioned to ask those questions. She had lived through the military resurSuch setbacks prompted many French towns gence of France at the end of the 14th century, to surrender to the Fnglish and Burgundians and she had witnessed its many defeats at without even being attacked. They sought to the hands of Henry V since 1415: Harfleur, avoid any punishment that might follow a Agincourt, Caen and Rouen. Ultimately, failed defense. Often, the English didn't even nearly all of northern France had fallen assign garrisons to the surrendered towns, into his hands. She had watched her enabling them to disperse their limited forces former patron, John the Fearless, duke and cover even more threatened territory. of Burgundy (head of a faction of French But through these years of setbacks, nobles that had wrested control of the pockets of French resistance did hold out, throne from King Charles VI, whose largely unsupported by the Dauphin or madness had rendered him unable to his generals. The successful defenses at rule), lead the conquering English king Mont-Saint-Michel, Tournai, Vaucouleurs into Paris and then into a marriage with and Orleans gave hope to many French Catherine of Valois, Charles' daughter. patriots who thought the occupiers of their For his part in this intrigue, John was later lands were vulnerable to a concerted, agassassinated by men under the command gressive military effort. Such leaders as Jean, of Catherines brother, Charles, the disinherdue d'Alengon; Robert de Baudricourt; Legend has it that Joan of Arc ited Dauphinthe very man Joan would Etienne de Vignolles, dit La Hire; Louis de wore this iron heimet, above, in crown king. And, following Henrys early Culen; and Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, the coliection of New York's death in 1422, de Pisan had also seen the not to mention many anonymous French Metropolitan Museum of Art. English armies push French forces across the soldiers, believed that the English could Right, Dante Gahriel Rossetti's Loire River, far to the south of Paris. Indeed, be defeated, but that the French needed 1863 portrait imagines her as by 1429 and the advent of Joan of Arc, inspiring leadership. The Dauphin had part saint, part warrior. The real the English occupied some Lwo-thirds of certainly not provided any such thing. Nor Joan would certainly have been France, their Burgundian allies controlling was he likely to, as his favorites, Georges familiar with such weaponry. even more. de la Tremoille and Archbishop Renault
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embarrassing and costly losses, les armies grew cautious and avoided open confrontations. Leadership problems, recruitment woes and logistical troubles multiplied on the French side, while the smaller English army, under the dynamic leadership of Henry V, went on to conquer Normandy, Brittany, Le Maine and Ile-de-France with unprecedented speed during between 1415 and 1422. The English had also capitalized on a civil war that raged throughout France, dividing the kingdom and making allies of the Burgundians, led after 1419 by Duke Philip the Good.

The 1415 Battle of Agincourt had been a resounding Fnglish victory. An estimated 6,000 Englishmen defeated a force that may have numbered more than 25,000 (although, one authority on that battle, Anne Curry, has recently suggested closer numbers: 7,000 English against 12,000 Frencb). French losses, especially among knights and nobles, had been high. The French had been not only militarily defeated, but also profoundly demoralized. After Agincourt, French resistance to their conquerors was light and ineffective. Fearing other

de Chartres, were counseling him to proceed with caution against the English and Burgundians. That the spark of inspiration for more aggressive military action was to arise in the person of a peasant female was probably not anticipated by any of those willing French warriors. However, when Joan of Arc appeared, they felt her confidence and determination and soon followed her with a fervent loyalty few soldiers in history have given their leaders. Joan responded by leading them to victory.

MILITARY HISTORY

Jean was not used to endunng such a direct affront to his authority. But then, neither was he prepared to attack the Fnglish. In fact, there is evidence he intended to pull away from the town, in effect surrendering it to the English force of some 5,000, then led by the Farl of Suffolk. Joan took that intention as an insult to herself, to the people of Orleans and lo God. She also had difficulty understanding why ihe Bastard would do this, as the English did nol even have sufficient iroops on hand to surround Orleans. Instead, they had manned only four strongholds, or "boulevards," along the east side of town, one on an island in the Loire River farther east, one more to the north, and another on the road from Orleans to Jargeau. Each held few English troops. Indeed, in coming to Orleans, Joan and her relatively largo retinue had passed one English stronghold, the Boulevard of Saint-Loup, withI am blinging you out notice. Ooan better help than ever and a few Orleanais came from any soldier, would later capture that same boulevard because it is the help with ease.) The Engof the King of Heaven' lish had more soldiers on the south bank of the Loire, most of them concentrated at Les Tourelles, the fortification beside the single bridge into Orleans, and in the adjacent Boulevard Augustin, amid the ruins of an Augustinian monastery. The bridge no longer spanned the river, having been destroyed by the Orleanais at the beginning of the siege the previous October, hut it remained the defensive hub for the Fnglish. To relieve the siege, the French would have to concentrate their efforis on that fortification. Perhaps this is what frightened the Bastard of Orleans. A boulevard was one of the most daunting fortifications of the later Middle Ages, despite being constructed simply out of eanh and wood. Defended by soldiers with gunpowder weapons, however, it could hold out seemingly forever against almost any size force. Most military leaders, unwilling to sacrifice a Then Joan spoke to him those words which follow: "Are you the large number of their men in attacking such a position, simply Bastard of Orleans?" He answered her: "Yes, I am so and 1 rejoice left the boulevards alone. Complicating matters, the English atyour coming." Then said she to him: "Didyou^ve counsel that troops at Les Tourelles could directly support the Boulevard I should come here, to this side of the river, and that 1 should Augustin. It was also rumored that an Fnglish force led by the go not straight there where Talbot [Lord John Talbot, head of the capable Sir John Fastolf was approaching Orleans. English annyl and the English are?" Qoan had been led around Joan's reaction to the Bastard's withdrawal plans was to the English army] He answered that he and others, wiser on this be expected. After discovering he had left her out of leadermatter, had given this counsel, believing thai they were doing ship councils that addressed how to handle Faslolfs arrival, the best and surest. Then Joan said to him, "In the name of Cod, she again rebuked, even threatened, the French leader. the counsel of our Lord God is surer and wiser than yours. You Joan's squire, Jean d'Aulon, later recalled her words: "Bastard, thought to deceive me, but it is you who are deceived, for / am Bastard, in the tiame of God I command you that as soon as

oan^ approach to military action was simple. In this regard, some of her detractors are correct: Joan did not appear to possess the kind of strategic or tactical cleverness in campaign and battlefield maneuvers that would have impressed classical theorists like Xenophon or Frontinus. But because she believed God had sent her on a mission to save France, and had even provided her with a means of fulfillitig that mission by arranging for the Dauphin to give her leadership within the French army (Joan was never appointed as the leader of the French army, only one of several leaders), her strategy and tactics reflected her belief that she could do nothing wrong, and that direct and aggressive action was the means to victory. Joans convictions further mean! that anyone who died in her army, while doing God's bidding, was a mariyr lor a righteous cause, destined for heaven. Joan best demonstrated effective leadership in her relief of the Siege of Orleans, although her pre-Orleans history had forecast her battlefield successes. Indeed, her confidence in confronting Robert de Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs, the Dauphin at Chinon, the ecclesiastical leaders in Chinon, the offtcials in Poitiers and, finally, Charles' mother-in-law, Yolande d'Aragon, queen of Sicily, in Poitiers, brought her prominence and a devoted following even before she reached the French camps at Orleans. Her early reputation also elicited animosity from the other French leaders she encountered upon her arrival at the besieged Loire holdout. But who could blame them? Sending a peasant girl to assist them in their struggles to relieve the Fnglish siege of Orleansregardless of whether she had received this mission directly from Godwas an indictment of their military leadership. Joan would have none of such negative attitudes; she had neither the time nor the patience for their hurt feelings. She was anxious only to engage the enemy. At their first tneeting, on April 29, 1429, the following exchange occurred (later recalled in a deposition by Jean, the Bastard of Orleans, commander of the French armies al Orleans):

hnn^ngyou better help than ever came from any soldier or any city, because it is the help of the King of Heaven. It does not come through love for me, but from God himself who, on the petition of Saint Louis and Saint Charlemagne, has had pity on the town of Orleans and has refused to suffer the enemy to have [this] city."

MILITARY HISTORY

you hear of Fastolfs coming, you will let me know. For iT he gets through without my knowing it, I swear to you that 1 will have your head cut off." The count "answered that he did not doubt thai, and that he would certainly let her know." Once firmly established within the French military leadership ranks, Joan devised a plan lo relieve the siege before the arrival of ihe English reinforcements, lt was simple and direct: She herself would lead an assault on the Boulevard Augustin. The Bastard and the oiher French leaders quickly agreed with her plan. They had little choice and after all could only profit from the position in which she had placed herself: If she succeeded, ihey would share in her victory. If she failed, they could blame her for the incautious attack. The only potential flaw in Joan's plan was the high number of French casualties likely to result from an attack against

ened skillfully all of the defensible places. And also theyfougj^t well, noiwithsianding that the French scaled the different places adeptly and attacked the angles at the highest of the strong and sturdy fortijicalions, so ihat they seemed by this to be immortal. But the English rt'pulst'd themfrom many places and attacked with artillery hoth fiigfi and low, both with cannons and other weapons, such as axes, lances, pole-arms, lead hammers and other personal arms, so that they killed and wounded many Frenchmen.

Despite being wounded herself, Joan persisted in the assault. Delivering a fiery speech "in the name of God," she urged her men forward, claiming that the English "were not a stronger force" than they She promised "to touch the siafl of her standard on the boulevard." Her troops responded with shouts and a renewed charge forward. Les Tourelles soon felt. The

Joan addressed the citizens of Reims on March 28,1430, telling them in part, "Know that you are in [the king's] favor... He wilt deliver you, if it pleases God, very soon." It is her last known letter, dictated before setting out on her final campaign.

such a strong position defended by well-armed men. Fortified by her belief in God's will and presence, Joan didn't seem concerned. Nor were the French soldiers, for they had been drawn to her patriotism and shared her spiritual zeal. It was almost as if they believed they couldn't die in this struggle, and that if they did, they would gain otherwise unattainable salvation. any apparently did gain that salvation on May 7, 1429. The bloodiest encounter of the Hundred Years" War since the battle of Agincourt is described in the contemporary youmal du siege d'Orleans:
Early in the morning on the day after, which was Saturday, the 7th day of May, the French attacked Les Tourelles and the boulevard while the English were attempting to fortify it. And there was a spectacular assault, during which there were performed many great feats of arms, both in the attack and in the defense, because the English had a large number of strong soldiers and had strength-

English defenders fled, and Joannow bearing her wellearned nickname, the "Maid of Orleans"entered the city at the head of her victorious army. She had made believers out of those who had doubted her. Similar direct assaults against other Fnglish-held Loire Valley towns brought similar results. Despite Fastolfs attempt to reinforce Jargeau with troops and gunpowder weapons, it fell on June 12. Beaugency succumbed just five days later after an intense bombardment by French guns of the 12th century casde where English troops had holed up. 'The English were able to put up only a small amount of resistance," wrote Jean Chanier, a 15th centur>' French monk and historian. That same night the English abandoned the town of Meung-sur-Loire, slipping away under cover of darkness. English militaiy leaders were nol accustomed to such defeats, and Talbot and Fastolf were determined to turn things around. They met the French in battle outside the town of Patay on June 18, 1429. The French were again victorious. Talbot was captured, while Faslolf barely escaped and retreated to Paris.

Joan was present, although how much of a role she took in Lhe battle is disputed. n less than a month, Joan of .Arc had relieved the siege of Orleans, retaken the towns of Jaigeau, Meung-sur-Loire and Beaugency and panicipated in the major French victory at Patay And a month later, on July 17, 1429, when the Dauphin was crowned King Charles VII of France at Reims, Joan was by his side. All along their route to Reims, towns that had earlier willingly subjugated themselves to English RileAuxerre, Chalons, Troyes and even Reims itselfwelcomed "liberation" by the Maid. Pans, however, remained in enemy hands, and thus Joan undertook a new mission: 5he would recapture the French

chronicled the conflict, "and it was a mar\'el how much noise was made by the cannons and couleuvhncs, which fired at those outside the walls al such a rate and in such a quantity as to be without number." Still, Cagny insists, because of lhe Maid's presence with the army and by the grace of God, "no man was wounded or killed." (A more credible eyewitness is French artist Clement de Fauquembergue, who says ihe guns killed and wounded many French soldiers.) During the fighting, Joan was wounded in the thigh by a crossbow bolt.

oan cannot be blamed for the failure to retake Paris, declared \.hc Journal du siege d'OrUans: "She wished to attack such a strong lown and so well stocked with men

Burgundian troops captured Joan at Compiegne in May 1430, later ransoming her to the English. She was executed a year later.

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capital, then under the control of a sizable Anglo-Burgitndian army led by John, duke of Bedford, cotnmander ofall English troops in occupied France. Again, Joan did not shrink from this challenge. Before the year was out, she conducted minor bloodless skirmishes with the duke of Bedford's force, then attacked and captured the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, the basilica of which held the bones of many earlier French kings. The French saw its capture as divine endorsement of their attempts to win back their kingdom. But when Joan's forces attacked Paris on September 8, it did not fall. "The assault was difficuli and long,"' wrote Percival de Cagny, who rode under the standard of Alengon and later

and artillery simply because it was the city of Paris." The anonymous author of the journal was undoubtedly accurate in his assessment of the militaiy situation at Paris. But his was not the opinion that prevailed at Charles VU's court: Joan had failed, and her failure cast doubt on the divinity of her mission. It also cast doubt on the tactical methods she had used to gain her Loire victories and assault Paris. Over tbe objections of many French military leaders, Charles sought the overly cautious advice of La Tremoille and Chartres. They urged dehberation, to avoid bringing the Burgundians more actively into the fray They even suggested ihai the king return to the Fnglish some of the towns captured

by Joan. This the king refused, but La Tremoille and Chartres did persuade Charles to disband his coronation army and to send Joantince she had reco\-ered from her woundto a less significant theater of operations, against a band of mercenaries led by Perrinet Gressart, along the southern Loire River. There she was able to capture the town of Saini-Pierre-lc-Moutier by direct assault, despite being woefully undcrsupplied. But she failed to take hea'vily fortified La Charit^-sur-Loire. The reason for her failure at La Charity is suggested in a letter Joan had written on Nov 9. 1429, to the townspeople of nearby Riom at lhe outset of the siege: Because of the great quantities of gunpowder, arrows and other equipment of war expended before the said town [Saint-Pierre-leMouticr], and because the lords who are in this town and I are so poorly provided to besiege La Charite., where we are going presently, I beseech you, that as you love the good and honor of the king and also those others here, that you would instantly send help for this siege, of gunpowder, saltpeter, sulphur, anows, heavy crossbows and other equipment of war. And do this so that, for lack of the said powder and other equipment of war, the situation will not be prolonged, and (hat you will not be said to be neglectful or rejecting.

Burgundian troops. On May 23, 1430, leading one of these sorties out of Compiegne, Joan got separated from the tnain body of her force and was captured by the Burgimdians, who eventually ransomed her to the Fnglish. Some historians l>elieve she was betrayed by Guillaume de Flavy, the ^rrison commander at Compiegne, but later trial testimony indicates otherwise: She crossed over the bridge and through the French boulevard and went with a company of soldiers manning those seclioivi against the lord of Luxembourg's men [jean de Luxembourg was one of the Burgundian leaders at Compiegnel, whom she drove back twice, all the way to the Burgundian ramp, and a third time halfwuv back. And then the English who were there cut her and her men off, cominghetwcen her and the boulevard, and so her men retreated from her And retreating into the fields on her flank, in the direction of Picardy, near the boulevard, she was captured. Joan of Arc was burned to death as a heretic in the marketplace of Rouen a little over a year later, on May 30, 1431. t would be a satisfying end to the story ol'Joan of Arc if one could say she was the direct cause of the end of the Hundred Years' War and lhe expulsion ol" Fngland from most of France. But that war did not end for 23 years after her capture. So if Joan did not directly end the Hundred Years' War, why is she so celebrated? No doubt the character of her trial and execution have much lo do with her celebrity But Joan's renown stems from her military ability, her skill at leading men in battle against great odds and at the risk of death.

Petitions that winter frotn her friends at court, including ihc king's mother-in-law, returned Joan to more pressing military engagements the following spring. She answered by skirmishing with English troops at Senlis, Crepy-en-Valois and Melun. Bui again her leadership was less than successful in these engagements. Although

This crude sketch of Joan from a Parisian parliamentary register dates from May 10.1429. Many artists have since tried their hand, but no known life portraits survive.

Joan and her contemporaries considered them victories, ihey failed to move the Fnglish from any of their occupied territoiy But her persistence was enough to further irritate the duke of Bedford and to drag Philip the Good, duke ol" Burgundy, into the fray In Apnl 1430, the Burgundians, urged on by the Fnglish, attacked the French-controlled town of Compiegne, forcing Joan to move her troops there to thwart a Burgundian occupation. Defense had never been a part of Joan's strategy, and lighting from behind protective walls was certainly not her military siyle. She frequently sortied out against the attacking

Not long after Joans death, French military leaders began to adopt tactics similar to hers. Her policy of direct engagement and frontal assault was costly, but it ultimately proved more effective than any other military tactic in wresting the English from France. And possibly, as other French generals started to use her tactics, they too began to believe that, should their soldiers die in battle, they might join the Maid who inspired them, thelaier-to-beSain(Joanof Arc. ( ^ For further reading, Kelly DeVries recommends his book, Joan of Arc: A Military Leader, as wel! as Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, edited by Craig Taylor