The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2), by Anatole FranceThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2)Author: Anatole FranceTranslator: Winifred StephensRelease Date: October 7, 2006 [EBook #19488]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC ***Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.netTHE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARCBY ANATOLE FRANCEA TRANSLATION BY WINIFRED STEPHENSIN TWO VOLS., VOL. I[Illustration]LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEADNEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMIX_Copyright in U.S.A., 1908, by_MANZI, JOYANT ET CIEJOHN LANE COMPANYTHE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.[Illustration: Joan of Arc]PREFACETO THE ENGLISH EDITIONScholars have been good enough to notice this book; and the majorityhave treated it very kindly, doubtless because they have perceivedthat the author has observed all the established rules of historicalresearch and accuracy. Their kindness has touched me. I am especiallygrateful to MM. Gabriel Monod, Solomon Reinach and GermainLef v�re-Pontalis, who have discovered in this work certain errors,which ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of 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 included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
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
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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
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
Lef v�re-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,
_Iphig nie 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,
Sim o�n Luce, Boucher de Molandon, MM. Robillard de Beaurepaire, Lan ry �
d'Arc, Henri Jadart, Alexandre Sorel, Germain Lef vre-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, _Biblioth que historique de la France_, �
Paris, 1768 (5 vols. folio), II, n. 17172-17242. Potthast,
_Bibliotheca medii vi_, Berlin, 1895, 8vo, vol. i, pp. 643 _seq._ U.�
Chevalier, _R pertoire� des sources historiques du Moyen ge_, Paris, �
8vo, 1877, pp. 1247-1255; _Jeanne d'Arc, bibliographie_, Montb liard, �
1878 [selections]; _Suppl ment au R pertoire_, Paris, 1883, pp.� �
2684-2686, 8vo. Lan ry d'Arc, _Le livre d'or de Jeanne d'Arc,�
bibliographie raisonn e et analytique des ouvrages relatifs 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 well known; they
are heroically sincere, and for the most part perfectly lucid.
Nevertheless they must not all be interpreted literally. Jeanne, who
never regarded either the bishop or the promoter as her judge, was not
so simple as to tell them the whole truth. It was very frank of her to
warn them that they would not know all.[4] That her memory was
curiously defective must also be admitted. I am aware that the clerk
of the court was astonished that after a fortnight she should remember
exactly the answers she had given in her cross-examination.[5] That
may be possible, although she did not always say the same thing. It is
none the less certain that after the lapse of a year she retained but
an indistinct recollection of some of the important acts of her life.
Finally, her constant hallucinations generally rendered her incapable
of distinguishing between the true and the false.
[Footnote 3: Jules Quicherat, _Proc s de condamnation et de �
r�habilitation de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 8vo, 1841, vol. i. (Called
hereafter _Trial_.--W.S.)]
[Footnote 4: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 93, _passim_.]
[Footnote 5: _Ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 89, 142, 161, 176, 178, 201.]
The record of the trial is followed by an examination of Jeanne's
sayings in _articulo mortis_.[6] This examination is not signed by the
clerks of the court. Hence from a legal point of view the record is
out of order; nevertheless, regarded as a historical document, its
authenticity cannot be doubted. In my opinion the actual occurrences
cannot have widely differed from what is related in this unofficial
report. It tells of Jeanne's second recantation, and of this
recantation there can be no question, for Jeanne received the
communion before her death. The veracity of this document was never
assailed,[7] even by those who during the rehabilitation trial pointed
out its irregularity.[8]
[Footnote 6: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 478 _et seq._]
[Footnote 7: _Cf._ J. Quicherat, _Aper us nouveaux sur l'histoire de �
Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1880, pp. 138-144.]
[Footnote 8: Evidence of G. Manchon, _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 14.]
Secondly, the chroniclers of the period, both French and Burgundian,
were paid chroniclers, one of whom was attached to every great baron.
Tringant says that his master did not expend any money in order to
obtain mention in the chronicles,[9] and that therefore he is omitted
from them. The earliest chronicle in which the Maid occurs is that of
Perceval de Cagny, who