St Catherine and St. Margaret costumes

St. Catherine and St. Margaret appeared to her with "beautiful crowns" on their heads. - trial record of Jeanne.

 

Age of Empires

Hello Guys!

I know you have all started the process of working on the script.
But this is a link to the Age of Empires campaign for Joan of Arc.
Do watch it as it will give quite a detailed understanding of the history of the lady we are working on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owEIeHYAb7Q

Also Sukriti, since you are working on Act 2, I would like you to look into this greatly as it deals very well with the war narrations. Additionally, there is a character here called La Hire. Do make sure that he is greatly a part of your script scenes that involve the war.

He had a great role to play as a companion of Joan during the wars. They had a very revered and respected relationship between them. La Hire was in awe of her power and determination. I will put up more information about him and give you through mail or this blog.  

P.S.
All the best! 

Promises to the King

Now, at the age of thirteen, Jeanne began to hear voices that she felt were sent by God. These voices presented her with the mission of saving France from it enemies and install Charles as the rightful king. Interestingly, she took a vow of chastity as part of her divine endeavour. She even went to a local court at the age of sixteen to avoid marriage.

In May 1428, Jeanne went to Vaucouleurs, a nearby stronghold of those loyal to Charles. Robert de Baudricourt, the magistrate, rejected her, initially, but she persisted. When Baudricort finally came around, Jeanne cut her hair short and dressed in men’s clothes to set off to Chinon, the site of the crown prince’s palace.

Jeanne promised Charles she would see him crowned king at Reims (the traditional site of French royal investiture) and asked him to grant her an army to lead to Orléans, which was under the English at the time. Against the advice of most of his councellors and generals, Charles granted her request, and Jeanne set off for Orléans in March of 1429 dressed in white armor and riding a white horse.

Jeanne succeeded in lifting the siege at Orléans and coronated the King.



Promises to Remember:

• Chastity
• Dressing up as a man
• Crowing the Dauphin at Reims

Bibliography :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc
http://www.history.com/topics/saint-joan-of-arc
~Sarah Minz

JEANNE's VISIONS

1)  1424 - She heard the voice for the first time on her right in the direction of the Church of St. Remy and every time the voice was accompanied by a light that came from the same side as the voice

2)  The visions she saw felt as real as seeing another person and were always accompanied by a light and St. Michael with other angels. 

3)  These visions and voices made her religiously inclined, and she spent a lot of time confessing in the Church about the same and she did not tell anyone about this until 1428 when the voices asked her to seek an audience with the Dauphin

4) First of the visions was St. Michael that she saw before her eyes accompanied by many angels from heaven. St. Michael told her that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would come to her to instruct her

6) These mystical visions started when she was 12 years old

7)  Joan's visions may have been the result of epileptic fits.  Petit mal seizures  control the arousal and attentional status of the brain, and during which, behaviour is beyond control. Stored behavioural programmes are being "read out" and favours the victim's assumption that an invisible entity has "taken over." Visual and auditory hallucinations interweave with the surroundings as Hearing voices and seeing visions.

Sources

http://www.biographyonline.net/women/joan-of-arc.html 

http://www.joan-of-arc.org/joanofarc_life_summary_visions.html

http://ed5015.tripod.com/PaJoanArc87.htm

Medieval Literature

The literary culture that thrived in the Medieval era was far ahead of the times. There was a smattering of different languages, from Latin to French to English. Liturgical literary works were mostly written in Latin as not only was it the main cross-cultural language at that time but it was the very language used by the church and the academe (usually for the purpose of learning).

“For secular Literature, French was the dominant language”.

THEMES:


Allegory
The Norman Conquest 
The Black Death
Romance
King Arthur
Authority (auctoritas)
The Peasants' Uprising
Revenge vs. Forgiveness
Antifeminism
The Catholic Church and Protestantism 
French was the dominate language in Secular medieval literature
Valour and chivalric qualities were popular in medieval times and made popular medieval literature subjects
Arthur the legendary knight was popular in the medieval literature written by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Latin was also a popular language in which to write medieval literature
Henry IV established the common use of English in medieval literature above other previously dominate languages

References:
http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-life/medieval-literature-images/
http://www.shmoop.com/medieval-english-literature/characteristics.html

15 facts about Charles VII

Facts :


king Charles VII (1403-1461) ruled from 1422 to 1461. His reign witnessed the expulsion of the English from France and the reestablishment of a strong French monarchy after the disasters of the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453.

Charles VII was the fifth son of Charles VI of France and his wife. He was never expected to become king. However, only two of his elder brothers reached the age of maturity and then died before their father.

Charles became dauphin when his second eldest brother, Jean, died in April. His first older brother, Louis, had died in December 1415.

At 19 years of age, he inherited a divided country, torn by civil war and foreign invasion, and without an organized royal army of any distinction.

1418
The Burgundian faction siezed Paris and killed many in the Orleanist-Armagnac camp. The dauphin Charles escaped to Melum and then to Bourges. He assumed the title of lieutenant-general in the name of his father, Charles VI, who suffered fits of madness.

There is a tone of resentment in many works that final victory in the Hundred Years' War was at the hands of a non-warrior king.


Many who might be sympathetic with the French cause cannot forgive Charles VII for his so-called 'betrayal' of the Maid. These perceptions have been encouraged by the imaginative, unflatering portrayals of Charles VII in many novels and plays relating to Jeanne d'Arc's story.

Charles 's father, who suffered from recurrent madness, implied that Charles was illegitimate since his mother, Isabelle of Bavaria, was known to be a woman of loose morals

 By the Treaty of Troyes (1420) his father was forced to disinherit him in favor of the English king, Henry V.


At the beginning of his reign Charles was impoverished, threatened by English armies, and without a loyal nobility. At first Charles was not equal to his task; he was not warlike and was sickly, physically weak, and personally unattractive.

Charles VII was also known as  Charles The Well-served, or The Victorious (French Charles Le Bien-servi, or Le Victorieux

Charles became dauphin (heir to the throne) at the age of 14. He was named Lieutenant  General of the kingdom, but his mother left Paris and allied herself with John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. On May 29, 1418, the Burgundians occupied the capital, and Charles had to flee to Bourges.


May 1413 rioting Parisians invaded the Hôtel Saint-Paul, where he lived. Toward the end of that year, he was betrothed to Mary of Anjou, the nine-year-old daughter of Louis II of Anjou, king of Naples, and his wife, Yolande of Aragon. Charles went to live in Anjou, where Yolande, energetic and accustomed to rule, established her influence over him.


In April of 1422 Charles celebrated his marriage at Bourges. He then resumed warfare, occupied La Charité, and threatened Burgundian territory.

With his court removed to Bourges south of the Loire River, Charles was disparagingly called the “King of Bourges”, because the area around this city was one of the few remaining regions left to him. However, his political and military position improved dramatically with the emergence of Jeanne d'Arc as a spiritual leader in France.



Bibliography :

http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/chas_vii.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/german-history-biographies/charles-vii-france
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-VII-king-of-France

Jeanne's War Techniques

1)Jeanne was known to have an aggressive style in battle

Jeanne D'Arc was an aggressive military commander who always opted for offense instead of defence.  It was this attitude of hers that caused her downfall. For one she had no strategies of defence when she entered Compiegne. Compiegne being a city of defensive mentality managed to survive however Jeanne's strategy of offense caused her to be captured on the very first day of the siege.

2)Jeanne's sword : 

Little is known about Joan's sword. It had five crosses upon it and it's rust was easily removed. Apparently her voices guided her to to the church of  ST Catherine where she found the sword behind an altar. Jeanne mentions two scabbards that were given to her to hold the sword however she chose to construct one out of leather (Being practical) She also recieved two other swords, one from sir robert de Baudricourt and one from a Burgundian soldier. Her sword (the one she found at St Catherine's) was said to have a long and tapered blade but the history is blurred as to if this is accurate. Once she was caught,  she never revealed to anyone what had been the fate of this sword. Also interesting fact: She used to chase away prostiitutes w=from camps with this sword of hers.

3)Cannons:   Jeanne was known to have excelled in gunpowder warfare, that is she was extremely skilled when it came to working with the cannon. It is said that she could not only place and aim cannons but also predict an enemy artillery target.At all of her successful sieges, Jeanne always had superior firepower. The downside of being so reliant on artillery meant that when it was not there, the chances of success diminished. At her four losses: Paris, La Charité, Choisy-au-Bac, and finally Compiégne–Jeanne was outgunned.

4)Jeanne's Armor: 

She  was given a suit of "white armor" by Charles VII  White armor was a type of armor worn in the medieval period that was highly polished and when viewed it looked almost white. Jeanne wore this armor until Paris when after being wounded in the assault upon Paris she left it at the alter of Saint Denis as an offering which she later described at her trial "that is was an act of devotion, such as soldiers perform when they are wounded.

5)The theory that she was the source of morale and didn't actually fight: 

The extent of her actual military leadership is a subject of historical debate. It is believe that she merely provided morale. This type of analysis usually relies on the  her own testimony during her trial, where she stated that she preferred her standard to her sword. Though remembered as a fearless warrior and considered a heroine of the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, Jeanne apparently never really fought in battle but instead provided inspiration for those who were fighting by using her banners. She also outlined military strategies and provided diplomatic solutions.

Sources: 

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-surprising-facts-about-joan-of-arc

http://musee.jeannedarc.pagesperso-orange.fr/sword.htm

http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_armor.asp

http://www.scottmanning.com/content/joan-of-arc-military-successes-and-failures/

http://www.scottmanning.com/content/joan-of-arc-cannons/

http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/joan_ib.html

http://historywarsweapons.com/joan-of-arc/