Joan of Arc as seen by Winston Churchill
Winston Spencer Churchill (1874 - 1965) was the greatest of Britain’s war prime ministers, leading the country and the Empire through its darkest hour in confronting the Nazi Scourge. He was also a gifted writer and historian, and “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples”, illuminating and entertaining on every page of four volumes, is already a classic history text. His tribute to the inspirational Joan of Arc resounds with the awe her contemporaries must have felt in witnessing her remarkable, and well-documented, exploits (See esteemed historian Regine Pernoud’s outstanding book, ‘Joan of Arc’). Here is a paraphrase of Churchill’s account of the teenage warrior.
It was in this dangerous predicament that a liberating angel strode onto the stage, the most virtuous of all the defenders of France, her most celebrated hero, her most beloved saint, the greatest inspiration in her history, the peasant Maid of Orleans, the enigmatic Joan of Arc. She was a humble waitress in the tiny, isolated village of Domremy on the edge of the Vosges Forest, who began to have spiritual visions while tending the family sheep in the fields.
Later in her trial by the English, she told how St. Michael had instructed her that God wanted her to lead the French armies in driving the English out. Naturally, Joan found this difficult to accept, but when the voices of the patron saints of the local parish, St. Margaret and St. Catherine, were added to that of St. Michael, she hesitated no longer.
At age seventeen, Joan travelled to the royal court at Chinon and was led into the great hall to meet the King who had been persuaded in his desperation to see her. To test her, the king mingled with the vast crowd of feudal lords and couriers, but she singled him out without any trouble, and this fed his vanity, because his claim to the crown had been contested on the grounds that he was a bastard.
As she conferred with the king, she revealed knowledge of confidential information that she could only have obtained from the French commanders or the saints whose authority she claimed to be acting under. She also requested to be given an ancient royal sword which she described to the last detail even though she could never have seen it before.
In 1429, Orleans was hard-pressed by the besieging English, and Joan declared that she was to lead an army to relieve the city. Dressed in ordinary, armour she rode her horse at the head of the French force, and immediately renewed the confidence of the previously demoralised French soldiers, from the rank and file to the commanders.
The Maid immediately ordered an assault on the besieging army, and personally led many of the attacks. There was a moment of panic in the French ranks when she was struck by an arrow, but when she pulled it out and resumed fighting, the French were inspired to redouble their efforts. Climbing one of the scaling ladders, she was thrown back into a trench, but even this failed to keep her from leading her men to victory. The English strongholds wilted under the pressure and the siege was broken.
In 1430, the town of Compiegne rose in revolt when the French King ordered them to surrender to the English. Joan decided to try and save the townsfolk with a tiny force of six hundred men. Her courage and determination were not matched by some of the other French commanders in the fight, and they allowed her to be captured by the Burgundians who sold her to the English. The records of her trial provide remarkable evidence for the truth about her career, and make it clear that the English were hell bent on executing her. She was burned at the stake in the marketplace of Rouen. An English soldier present expressed the fear that they had burned a saint; history proved him to be correct.
The story of Joan of Arc continues to fascinate and inspire people as a unique episode in history. The extant historical records mean that each generation can judge the Maid for itself, and the conclusions are not difficult to reach. She was the embodiment of the virtues that give humanity hope and strength: irrepressible fortitude, unbounded compassion, a resolute commitment to justice, and unshakeable faith. She willingly died to liberate the soil of her homeland. Joan of Arc encourages people to reflect on the qualities of the true fighter, technically untrained, yet succeeding through sheer strength of character.