The Life of Joan of Arc

The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1
and 2 (of 2), by

Anatole France This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
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Title: The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2)
Author: Anatole France
Translator: Winifred Stephens
Release Date: October 7, 2006 [EBook #19488]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC
BY ANATOLE FRANCE

A TRANSLATION BY WINIFRED STEPHENS
IN TWO VOLS., VOL. I
[Illustration]
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN
LANE COMPANY: MCMIX
Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by MANZI, JOYANT ET CIE
Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by JOHN LANE COMPANY
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
[Illustration: Joan of Arc]

PREFACE
TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
Scholars have been good enough to notice this book; and the majority
have treated it very kindly, doubtless because they have perceived that
the author has observed all the established rules of historical research
and accuracy. Their kindness has touched me. I am especially grateful
to MM. Gabriel Monod, Solomon Reinach and Germain
Lefèvre-Pontalis, who have discovered in this work certain errors,
which will not be found in the present edition.
My English critics have a special claim to my gratitude. To the memory
of Joan of Arc they consecrate a pious zeal which is almost an
expiatory worship. Mr. Andrew Lang's praiseworthy scruples with
regard to my references have caused me to correct some and to add
several.
The hagiographers alone are openly hostile. They reproach me, not
with my manner of explaining the facts, but with having explained

them at all. And the more my explanations are clear, natural, rational
and derived from the most authoritative sources, the more these
explanations displease them. They would wish the history of Joan of
Arc to remain mysterious and entirely supernatural. I have restored the
Maid to life and to humanity. That is my crime. And these zealous
inquisitors, so intent on condemning my work, have failed to discover
therein any grave fault, any flagrant inexactness. Their severity has had
to content itself with a few inadvertences and with a few printer's errors.
What flatterers could better have gratified "the proud weakness of my
heart?"[1]
PARIS, January, 1909.
[Footnote 1: "De mon coeur l'orgueilleuse faiblesse," Racine, Iphigénie
en Aulide, Act i, sc. i.--(W.S.)]

INTRODUCTION
My first duty should be to make known the authorities for this history.
But L'Averdy, Buchon, J. Quicherat, Vallet de Viriville, Siméon Luce,
Boucher de Molandon, MM. Robillard de Beaurepaire, Lanéry d'Arc,
Henri Jadart, Alexandre Sorel, Germain Lefèvre-Pontalis, L. Jarry, and
many other scholars have published and expounded various documents
for the life of Joan of Arc. I refer my readers to their works which in
themselves constitute a voluminous literature,[2] and without entering
on any new examination of these documents, I will merely indicate
rapidly and generally the reasons for the use I have chosen to make of
them. They are: first, the trial which resulted in her condemnation;
second, the chronicles; third, the trial for her rehabilitation; fourth,
letters, deeds, and other papers.
[Footnote 2: Le P. Lelong, Bibliothèque historique de la France, Paris,
1768 (5 vols. folio), II, n. 17172-17242. Potthast, Bibliotheca medii ævi,
Berlin, 1895, 8vo, vol. i, pp. 643 seq. U. Chevalier, Répertoire des
sources historiques du Moyen Âge, Paris, 8vo, 1877, pp. 1247-1255;
Jeanne d'Arc, bibliographie, Montbéliard, 1878 [selections];

Supplément au Répertoire, Paris, 1883, pp. 2684-2686, 8vo. Lanéry
d'Arc, Le livre d'or de Jeanne d'Arc, bibliographie raisonnée et
analytique des ouvrages relatifs à Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, 1894, large 8vo,
and supplement. A. Molinier, Les sources de l'histoire de France des
origines aux guerres d'Italie, IV: Les Valois, 1328-1461, Paris, 1904,
pp. 310-348.]
First, in the trial[3] which resulted in her condemnation the historian
has a mine of rich treasure. Her cross-examination cannot be too
minutely studied. It is based on information, not preserved elsewhere,
gathered from Domremy and the various parts of France through which
she passed. It is hardly necessary to say that all the judges of 1431
sought to discover in Jeanne was idolatry, heresy, sorcery and other
crimes against the Church. Inclined as they were, however, to discern
evil in every one of the acts and in each of the words of one whom they
desired to ruin, so that they might dishonour her king, they examined
all available information concerning her life. The high value to be set
upon the Maid's replies is