Jeanne d¡¯Arc

As a nineteen-year-old peasant girl, Joan of Arc appeared at the court of the king of France, led his armies to stunning victories against the English, then was captured and burned at the stake as a heretic before being sainted centuries later. Her meteoric career has captured popular imaginations, but for historians her exceptional life is a puzzle: what can we really know about Joan? One of the most intriguing sources we have comes from the days of interrogation she suffered at the hands of a hostile panel of churchmen, arguing with her about what exactly she had done and experienced. How did these inquisitors try to get the best of Joan, and how did she resist them? What can we learn about Joan¡¯s military role? How was Joan¡¯s cross-dressing understood? Was Joan a pawn of the nobility, or did she act as a politically conscious commoner? Why were her religious beliefs so troubling to the authorities? By engaging closely with the records of this dramatic confrontation, we will work through the challenges and possibilities of interpreting medieval sources and explore the many questions of power, gender, violence, and belief that could converge in a single person¡¯s life.