The Life of Joan of Arc

This mural, by the French painter Jules Eugène Lenepveu, tells the life of Joan of Arc. Joan was the heroine who led France to victory in the Hundred Years' War, the conflict between England and France that stretched from the 14th to the 15th century and lasted a full 116 years, hence the name. The mural follows her life from childhood to death in four scenes. We'll take them one at a time, from right to left.

The first scene shows what drew her into the war. The barefoot country girl in the red skirt at the center is Joan, a 16-year-old shepherdess. She looks startled because she has just heard the voices of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine telling her to "save France." Devout since childhood, Joan decided on the spot to join the fight herself. France was losing the Hundred Years' War at the time, and the Dauphin, Charles, had fled to Chinon without even being crowned. Joan vowed to the Dauphin that she would rescue Orléans, which the English had surrounded, and set off to war. This Charles, by the way, is a different person from the Charlemagne we saw earlier.

The second scene shows Joan leading the battle at Orléans. She wore armor and commanded the troops herself, and her fighting spirit lifted French morale. The English began to fall almost miraculously, and as Joan led the army from victory to victory, she came to be revered as a goddess of victory.

The third scene is the coronation of Charles VII, which Joan attended. You could say this ceremony in Reims happened thanks to her. The English had occupied Reims during the war, so no coronation could be held. Then Joan, sweeping on from one victory to the next, advanced north of Orléans to Reims and took the city from the English. Because she won Reims back, the Dauphin could be crowned and take the throne as Charles VII.

The last scene shows Joan at the stake in Rouen. In the center, she stands bound tightly with ropes on a pile of firewood. How did a revered war hero end up here? It all happened within two years. Captured by the English at just 19, she was branded a heretic and a witch and burned at the stake. She was never really a heretic. It was a baseless pretext for killing her.

Charles VII's wariness of her is said to have played a part in her death, and you might wonder why, when it was thanks to this goddess of victory that he beat the English at Reims and was crowned. Try imagining it from the king's side. On one side stands Joan, hailed as a goddess of victory. On the other stands a man who was once the dauphin and was later made king, but who had gone into hiding and won no glory in the war. Naturally, the French people adored Joan and supported her wholeheartedly, and Charles VII grew deeply anxious watching it. He is said to have gone so far as to fear that the people might topple him and put Joan on the throne. So when Joan set out to retake Paris, he gave her no support at all. After she was pushed back by the English and captured, he even refused England's offer of a prisoner exchange, and Joan was burned at the stake.

Joan matters so much in France because she stirred the people's patriotism. That surge of patriotism strengthened centralization around the king, and the resulting rise in royal power helped set the stage for the powerful Sun King, Louis XIV. In 1920, the Catholic Church recognized Joan as a saint.