Joan of Arc?

Question

I know this might sound very ignorant, but was Jeanne d'Arc(Joan of Arc) a real person? I watched a movie "Joan of Arc" (1999) last night and bawled my eyes out. I look up to her and she has become my hero. I couldn't gather if she was a real person or a myth just like the "Maid of Lorraine". Also, what exactly is the myth of the "Maid of Lorraine"?

Answer 1

Dear Halo,

The story about Joan of Arc is absolutely true--it is no myth. She was a young peasant woman in France that had a vision she was to save her country from the English invasion. This was during the time period of the Hundred Years' War, 1337-1453. England had taken over most of France in the early 1400s.

No one has ever questioned that Joan believed she had the vision. She was convincing enough to get an audience with King Charles VII. Joan actually led troops in combat and got wounded. She also inspired the troops to begin to better fight, and eventually repel the British.

She was captured by the British. They offered a ransom for her. There is no clear reason for Charles Vll not paying it; perhaps being a weak figure, he was jealous of Joan. Without the ransom being paid she was burned at the stake by the British. But she clearly triggered the French soldiers into making a comeback on the Hundred Years' War.

It is a true story, no exaggeration, and it is an event one could bawl about. I think she makes an outstanding hero. That is shown by the fact the Catholic church later gave her sainthood.

Answer 2

Joan of Arc was a real person, but there's plenty of legends about her.

The Maid of Lorraine legend is that she was a shepherdess in Lorraine (which was an independent duchy at that time) and while looking after her sheep she heard a voice telling her to kick the English out of France. She knew it was God speaking and went to see the French king. The king, disbelieving the story, hid among his nobles when she came to court but she recognised him immediately and thus persuaded him that she was truly sent on a divine mission to save France and was given the French army. She then proceeded to do what she had promised. The whole of France came to know her under the name of the Maid of Lorraine but her best known nickname is the Virgin of Orleans , la pucelle d'Orleans (where she was burned to death).

The true history is more complicated. The king hiding among his nobles is pretty much accepted as real. But some historians think that she was probably of royal blood herself, which would explain why she recognised her brother or cousin and how she could know how to ride and even swing a sword, not talking about reading and counting, skills no shepherdess could know. And how the king could give her his army. Noone believes that she was truly a shepherdess.

Answer 3

She was very real. I highly recommend reading the biography by Donald Spoto, Joan: The Myseterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint.
The Maid of Lorraine was a prophecy that a virgin would appear and unite her people. Joan never claimed to be the Maid.

Answer 4

Yes, she was very real.

Joan of Arc fulfilled the prophecy regarding the "Maid of Lorraine," a legend that said a young girl would come from there to save France. Locals laughed: "What good can ever come out of Lorraine!"

Also read
Joan of Arc: Comparison; Hollywood Movie vs. True History
http://www.edu.pe.ca/vrcs/studentwork/2002/grade9/film/nora/compar.htm

Answer 5

The connection of Joan of Arc and Goddess worshipping was a Murrayism. I'm disappointed the History channel would use it. She was a Christian. Very Christian. Most Pagans today would probably have found her more like Falwell and Robertson than any Pagan figure...

Answer 6

Joan of Arc was a real person. However, she has been so heavily romanticized, especially during the era of French nationalism, that it is sometimes difficult to separate myth from reality. I recommend Regine Pernoud's "Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses". It is probably the most impartial and historically accurate book about Joan of Arc.

Answer 7

Mark Twain was pretty taken with her and wrote a book about her, pretty good, Joan's trial transcript is an historical record and you can look it up and read if you want, whatever the truth is about her, she was pretty remarkable and appears to have saved France when France was in the worst predicament in its history before WW2. Perhaps the biggest reason one might have for beliving Joan's mission was truly inspired by God is that France would probably have ceased to exist if Joan hadn't arrived on the scene and her remarkable successes after arriving on the scene. Could anyone have done what she did without God's help????????? Could she have done what she did without God's help?????????

Answer 8

yes she was a real person and she saved france she was a martyr. i am not sure what the myth of the maid of lorraine is .

Answer 9

Joan of Arc was indeed a real person! : )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_arc

Wikipedia has some info on her.

Answer 10

i believe she was a real person. whether or not she really had visions, whatever was her real purpose on this earth, she was indeed real. it is a good movie. and i think it shows pretty well the mixed opinions about her.