Joan of Arc

== Introduction ==
Joan of Arc, born circa 1412, was a leader in the French army during the Hundred-Year War. Joan is most famous for her involvement in the victory at the siege of Orléans; she is also known for receiving visions of the future and hearing the voice of God. In 1431, Joan was captured by English forces and consequently tried for hearsay. She was convicted and burned at the stake on May 30, 1413, ending her life at about 19 years old. Later, in 1456, this decision was regarded as a bad one by the English and her conviction was overturned, granted a bit too late. Furthermore in 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized as a Saint of the Catholic Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc
In the eyes of the French, Joan of Arc was sent by God to help the French King take the crown back from England. French people adored and glorified Joan of Arc, something that still rings true today. Since her death, Joan of Arc has been recognized as a Saint, a martyr, had prayers dedicated to her, books written about her, and even has a festival held in her honor each year. 
Generally, the English harbor a negative sentiment towards Joan of Arc due to her role in the 100 Years War. She is responsible for the defeat of the English at the Siege of Orleans. Later in the Hundred Years War she was captured and handed her over to the British, who then tried and executed her for heresy. Although England overturned her conviction of heresy in 1450, English media continues to portray her in a negative light. 
Joan of Arc lead the French to victory at the Siege of Orléans due to her prophetic connection to God. In antiquity, Joan is said to have epilepsy, making her visions of Saints a hallucination that came along during a seizure. Harriet Tubman successfully led over 70 slaves to freedom via the underground railroad; her success is also attributed to her receiving visions from God on her travels. Tubman was known to have “spells” where she would remain unaware of her surroundings and become unresponsive. Both women are held in high regard now a days, however in their own time both women had a vast group of people vilifying them. The question remains, how do these women’s connection to God come about, and what did they do to make them such a part of the public eye.  
== France's View on Joan of Arc ==
Originally born in France, Joan of Arc was a major figure to French citizens in the 15th century. By 1428 England had a stronghold on most French territory. Eager to take back the land that once belonged to the French, Joan of Arc knew she had to take charge. By persuading a local government leader to take her through English-held territory to meet King Charles VII, Joan of Arc was able to help lead the French armies in battle.https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/joan-of-arc#:~:text=But%20beloved%20by%20France%2C%20she,a%20symbol%20of%20national%20pride. She was supposedly able to win the king's favor by revealing a secret to him. Through this secret, the king believed that God himself had sent Joan of Arc to give him aid in taking back the crown.http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_charlesvii_firstmeet.asp#:~:text=I%20told%20him%20I%20wanted,God%20to%20give%20him%20aid. Upon approval of the king Joan cut her hair short (in resemblance to a man’s) and sported a suit of white armor. At the time, a woman wearing "male clothing" was not customary and was considered to be highly controversial. By wearing what was typically regarded to as "male armor", Joan of Arc was not only granted practicality and efficiency in combat, but she was also able to push the boundaries of what was typically allowed for a female in the 15th century. While Joan of Arc dressed in "men's clothing", she was in no way trying to be perceived as a man. Joan simply understood the practicality and "power" that resided in "male clothing".https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/27615/A-Level/History/Why-did-Joan-of-Arc-wear-male-clothing/
In short, the Siege of Orléans (1429) was the last major battle of the War of 1812. During this battle, Joan of Arc was able to successfully lead her army to victory, even given the fact that she was struck with an arrow in the midst of the battle.https://www.jeanne-darc.info/location/the-siege-of-orleans-1428-1429/ Because of Joan of Arc's bravery and unwillingness to give up, King Charles VII was able to take back the crown and reclaim France as his own. On May 23, 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Duke of Burgundy and his men. She was put in jail for over a year and put on trial for heresy, witchcraft, and “violating divine law for dressing like a man“.https://www.history.com/news/joan-arc-burned-stake Despite her great accomplishment in returning the crown to King Charles VII, he did not come to Joan’s aid as he did not want to "threaten his newly returned crown". This would ultimately lead to Joan of Arc's demise.
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at just 19 years old, but she will go down in history as being a martyr. In fact, Joan of Arc was canonized (entered into sainthood) by Pope Benedict XV on May 16, 1920. Saint Joan of Arc's legacy has been represented through Voltaire (the Maid of Orleans) and Mark Twain (The Recollections of Joan of Arc), to name a few. Saint Joan has also had multiple prayers dedicated to her, including “Prayer of Thanks and Gratitude to Saint Joan of Arc” (written by Andrea Rau) https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=295. In addition to this, Joan of Arc has had a golden statue erected in her honor. The Equestrian Statue of Joan of Arc is one of the most famous in France and is placed on the Place des Pyramids. While the statue itself has some interesting history, it's a proud political symbol dedicated to France's own beloved Joan of Arc. To this day, Joan of Arc is an important figure in French culture. For example, every year in Orleans, France, the Joan of Arc Festivalhttps://www.tourisme-orleansmetropole.com/en/visit-orleans-get-inspired/must-see-highlights/joan-arc-festival/ is held to celebrate the life of the "liberator of Orleans" Joan of Arc's life has been felt and will be felt by the French community for many years to come.
== English Perspective on Joan of Arc (Bannon) ==
At the height of Joan of Arc’s military career France and England were in the midst of the 100 Years War. Contrary to its name, the Hundred Years War lasted from 1337-1453. The conflict was caused by differing stances on who should hold the throne of France. Due to William the Conqueror's reign of England in the 1060s, the French and English monarchy had been intertwined. Frenchmen had positions of nobility in England, and Englishmen in France. The main conflict started in 1328 when Charles VII of France died with no legitimate heirs. The crown would have been passed to his closest male relative, who happened to be Edward III of England. Edward’s mother declared her son’s right to the throne, but this was disputed by many French nobles as they believed only a French native should receive the crown. 
Joan became of importance to the Hundred Years War in 1429, during the siege of Orleans. Although Joan is most well known for her role in the Siege of Orleans, her military career continued past that. During the Siege of Compiegne in 1430, Joan was captured by the Burgundians. Burgundians were French natives who allied themselves with the British. The Burgundians then turned Joan over to the English, who would try her for heresy. Joan claimed to have “visions” that inspired her military successes. The English viewed these visions as potentially demonic. They also tried Joan on a conviction of blasphemy for wearing mens clothes when fighting. 
In January of 1431 the English moved Joan to the city of Rouen to stand trial, which at the time was an English controlled sector of France. The members of Joan’s clergy consisted mostly of Englishmen and Burgundians, with only 8 Frenchmen present on a jury of 131 men. Therefore, it is generally assumed to have purposefully been an unfair trial. After the English conducted an investigation, Joan was convicted of being a reformed heretic, which constituted a sentence of life in prison. This differed from the conviction of heresy by itself, because it was punishable by death. Joan agreed to abjure her practice of wearing mens clothes, and stated that she had falsified her supposed visions. Only four days after her conviction, Joan took back her abjuration. She began to wear men's clothes once again, and admitted to have lied when she denied the validity of her visions. This prompted the English to convict her of relapsing heresy, for which the punishment was death. Joan was executed on May 30, 1431 in Rouen, France by method of burningExecution of Joan of Arc. England later overturned her conviction of heresy in 1450.
Although Joan of Arc was executed in 1431, she has been immortalized through present day media. The English interpretation of Joan was primarily negative, mostly for her campaigns against the English in the Hundred Years War. Consequently, Joan is not often depicted in English mediaJoan of Arc in Media, and on the rare occasion that she is, it is almost guaranteed to be in a negative light. One of the most notable references to Joan of Arc in English media is in Shakespeare’s play Henry VI Part 1* The Globe
. Shakespeare initially depicts Joan of Arc as a determined young woman who is seen as a hero to her country. Later in the play Joan's character morphs into a more negative light. Other characters in the play refer to her as “The hag of all despite” and “that damned sorceress”. In the end the audience is left with an image of Joan as a weak girl guilty of witchcraft, who deserved to be burned at the stake. Another negative interpretation of Joan of Arc is by 18th century philosopher Voltaire in his book “The Maiden of Orleans”. Voltaire portrays Joan in a pathetic light, going so far as to comically sexualize her execution. Joan of Arc is also memorialized through television shows, plays, and movies. The first English cinematic depiction of Joan was in 1957 in Saint Joan, based on a play of the same name written by George Bernard Shaw in 1928. This movie deeply reflected Shaw’s sentiments towards Joan, which were somewhere between neutral and negative. In the preface for the play Shaw wrote “There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it.” Although the English overturned Joan of Arc’s conviction of heresy in 1450, the English media’s sentiment towards her seems to be bitter, ranging from the time of her death to current depictions of her.
== Joan of Arc vs. Harriet Tubman: Medical Disorders, Voices from God, and Public Perspective (Welch) ==
Joan of Arc was tried by the English for many reasons. Primarily, Joan claimed to see visions of Saints and hear the voice of God. Through this, Joan went against what the Catholic church believed a woman should be doing according to their interpretation of the Bible. When Joan refused to renounce her visions and actions, she was declared guilty of heresy.
Modern scholars believe that Joan of Arc had epilepsy which caused her to have idiopathic partial seizures with auditory hallucinations accompanying them. Idiopathic Partial seizures can be caused by a number of reasons, from mutations of genes to sever illness or complications during pregnancy. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293016139_Joan_of_Arc_Sanctity_Witchcraft_or_EpilepsyIt is unknow what exactly caused Joan’s seizures, and it is certain that unless time travel becomes a thing, we will never know. Furthermore, partial seizures are known to have caused auditory and visual hallucinations. The combination of idiopathic partial seizures, auditory hallucinations, and potential influence from the supernatural made Joan of Arc into the figure we perceive her as today. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564376/
Harriet Tubman, 1822-1913, was born enslaved in Maryland on the Brodess plantation. At 12, Tubman was hit on the head with a two-pound weight thrown by an enraged slave catcher. The blow to the head incapacitated Tubman for nearly two months. The blow to her head resulted in epilepsy, giving Tubman what is now believed to be temporal lobe seizures.https://www.epsyhealth.com/seizure-epilepsy-blog/did-harriet-tubman-have-epilepsy Temporal lobe seizures are a form of seizure that affects a person's short-term memory and awareness during seizures. There is no known cause of a temporal lobe seizure, but it's suspected that head trauma, such as taking a two-pound weight to the head, causes damage to the temporal lobe resulting in seizures.https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/temporal-lobe-seizure/symptoms-causes/syc-20378214thumb|Harriet - 2019Later in Tubman’s life she ran away from her owners to freedom in Pennsylvania via the Underground Railroad. Tubman later stated that she was urged by God to go north. Tubman claimed, “God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free. I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.”https://www.soulshepherding.org/harriet-tubman/ After reaching Pennsylvania, Tubman was put in contact with abolitionist societies and eventually became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad. Over an 11-year span, Tubman brought over 70 slaves to freedom, never once having lost a person.https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman Throughout her trips, Tubman was constantly listening to God for the right way to go. Eventually, Tubman’s success in stealing slaves away from their masters caught up to her. She became known by the name Moses and incurred a quite high bounty, one well into the thousands of dollars. Slave owners hated Tubman. She was quite talented in “stealing” their “property”. Tubman was vilified amongst slave owners as a disgusting thief that they needed to get rid of.https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/harriet-tubman
Joan was murdered by the English for her victories against them and her refusal to follow their views on what she should be doing. The English called her a heretic and burned her. Tubman was hunted down for being a “thief” of slaves and while there were certainly people who wanted her dead, they failed in destroying Moses.  
A major difference between these two women is that Tubman was vilified for her actions independent from her visions from God. Joan was killed specifically due to those visions. Both women lived in a time with sub-par medical knowledge compared to our knowledge; it is highly likely that both women lived with a life altering disability. Despite this, both women were at the forefront of victory in their lifetimes. While in their lives their reputation may have been tarnished, now we acknowledge them for their accomplishments.  
== Links ==
1: Canonization into the Catholic Church
2: Epilepsy and Seizures
3: Hersey Within the Catholic Church Church
4: Media Portrayal of Joan of Arc 
5: Hundreds Year War
== References ==