Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader - Part 4 - Relieving the Siege of Orléans - first part.

                DeVries opens the chapter by asking "When did [Joan] become a soldier, or even better, a military leader?" He then discusses the theory that during the Hundred Years War, it was slowly dawning on people that "many where not good military leaders simply by their birth."

                "The real leaders were those wizened old veterans, men who had proven themselves in warfare and had not been caught or imprisoned, let alone killed." So why did the nobles still educated their young men in military skills and leadership? Devries' argument is:  "The answer is that everyone, including Joan, believed it necessary to learn how to fight and lead in a military engagement."

                Joan practiced the military arts: riding a horse, wielding a lance, and interestingly, learning how to sight the 'new gunpowder weaponry' that the French used in their sieges. "Everyone marvelled at this, that she acted so wisely, and clearly in waging war, as if she was a captain who had the experience of twenty or so years; and especially in the setting up of artillery..."

                Devries observes that Joan had an affinity for learning from the engagements which she fought and she may have had an advantage in being 'common': it may have allowed her to listen to others, common canoneers, for example, and to learn from them, which the nobles would not have been as likely to do. Devries says "All this resulted in a European-wide reputation for military skill and leadership which was unsurpassed in her day."

                Devries now introduces the Siege of Orléans, observing that "no single engagement of the Hundred Years War has had more written about it than the siege of Orléans...The battles of Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, Formigny and Castillion together cannot boast the number of pages devoted to the siege of Orléans.  Most of this work, of course, is in French, the English, contemporary and modern, both having g degree of embarrassment at not being able to capture the city."

                DeVries also points out that if one wins using an unorthodox leader (such as Joan) "the victory takes on a miraculous description. However, if one loses to that same unorthodox leader, an excuse for the loss must be found. Naturally no one who is defeated by a 'mission' can accept it as 'divine' as that calls into question the justification and divinity of their military adventure."

                Meanwhile, on to Orléans: The English Earl of Salisbury had in 1428 taken about 4,000 - 5,000 men to capture Orléans. There were never enough troops to surround the city, let alone capture it by siege. Instead, Salisbury manned only a few strongholds.

                DeVries gives us the background to the siege before Joan arrived, including the capture by the English of the Tourelles, a fortified gate at the entrance to the bridge into Orléans, and how the Orleanais destroyed the bridge over the Loire river between the Tourelles and the city to keep the English out. However, the Earl of Salisbury was killed by a cannonball shortly after the capture of the Tourelles, and after that the English troops tended to remain in the fortifications that they built around the city, and exchange artillery bombardment with the French.

               DeVries comments that the English plan seems to have been "wait patiently for the city's surrender from starvation, bombardment and despair. They ... did not anticipate that the ... French forces would mount an effective attempt to relive the siege." As well, the Orléanais were determined not to fall to the English without a fight.

                DeVries now introduces us to Jean, the Bastard of Orléans. Born out of wedlock, he was nevertheless recognized by his father, the Duke of Orléans, which entitled him to similar benefits as his half-brothers. While renowned as a fighter of the English, DeVries comments that he seems to have been reluctant to meet the English in combat at Orléans and "at least until Joan of Arc appeared, willing to retreat from Orléans and allow the city to fall."    

                DeVries contrasts that with Joan's focus on relieving the siege. She sent her famous "'Letter to the English'  in which she told the besiegers of her mission and her determination to complete it." He notes that "...the letter is clear in its confidence and its defiance."

                The letter itself switches between first person and third person and contains phrases such as 'surrender to the Maid' and "I am commander of the armies.' It was clear that Joan felt her mission came from God, and Devries states that "she felt it only fair to give the English the opportunity of withdrawing from the city without the loss of life." It is likely that Joan wrote the letter more for the French than for the English.

                In late April, Joan met the Bastard in Blois. He recalled "the large number of soldiers...and huge convoy of provisions that had been collected by the dauphin's mother-in-law, the Queen of Sicily, and paid for by the dauphin." On April 26, Joan and the Royal Army left Blois for Orléans.  

  

                Next Post: Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader - Part 5.

Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader - Part 3.

Chapter 3 - A Military Mission?

This chapter starts by edging into the observation that Joan was a girl among soldiers. DeVries has several pages dealing with the testimony of soldier colleagues that Joan was definitely female, and considered 'untouchable' by those near her.

DeVries also notes "...there appears to have been no middle ground for anyone who came in contact with the Maid, friend or foe; they either loved her and would do anything for her, for they hated her and would do whatever they could to bring about her downfall."

DeVries next goes through Joan's origin and family, to demonstrate that she was raised a normal, "if perhaps overly pious girl."  Her family were prosperous peasants and Joan had 3 brothers and a sister. The family were not warriors at all.

At her nullification trial after her death, a friend from the village of Domrémy testified "... She was so devoted to God and the Blessed Virgin, that on account of this devotion, he who was then young and other boys use to ridicule her." (JH: Kids - 600 years later, and some things are exactly the same...)

Regarding Joan's visions that would inspire her to seek out the dauphin, DeVries observes:  "What is important, in fact what is key to Joan's history as a military leader, is that she believed that [her visions] came from God."

Joan's path from Domrémy to the dauphin's court was not a straight one. She first needed to convince her local lords: Robert, Count de Bandricourt, and his lord, Charles II, duke of Lorraine. Devries paints a picture of a cautious count, who wanted to be sure he was doing the right thing in sending this peasant girl to 'save France.'

DeVries next details some of the items Joan was given before she starts her journey from Valcour (where de Bandricourt was located) to Chinon, where the dauphin was headquartered. These include a horse, men's clothing "to make her ride more comfortable..." and a sword, from Robert de Bandricourt "...as a symbol of what she was about to do - fight for the freedom of occupied France."

Joan, and the small group that accompanied her, travelled for eleven days through enemy territory to reach Chinon. She celebrated Mass twice, once at the monastery of St. Catherine-de-Fierbois, where she also sent a letter to Charles the dauphin, announcing her intended arrival at Chinon. It should be mentioned that "...some in Charles's council, and indeed Charles himself, wondered how they should proceed once she had arrived."

Joan arrived in Chinon and met with Charles and his nobles in Chinon Castle. She was able to recognise the dauphin, and spoke with him. What she said was not recorded, but she is reputed to have recognized him as the 'true heir of France' and told him that 'God has sent me to you to lead you to Reims...' Joan's stated mission at this point was to raise the siege of Orléans, and to lead the King to Reims for his coronation.

The dauphin, not surprisingly, was not convinced enough to allow Joan to lead and army to Orléans. First he sent her to the University of Poitiers to be questioned. "In the end, she completely convinced her examiners that her mission had been given to her from God."

DeVries wryly notes, "There was nothing left for Charles the dauphin to do but to grant her wishes and send her with an army to the relief of Orléans."

Joan had a special standard made, a white canvas banner fringed with silk, with Fleur-de-lys, Christ, 2 angles and the words "Jesus Maria."  The dauphin ordered a full harness set of armor for her, and a sword was 'miraculously' located for her at the monastery of St. Catherines-de-Fierbois. DeVries gives a good deal of information about the finding of the sword, as part of Joan's 'transformation' into a military leader. "...now...she had become a captain, going to command in war, to draw her pay and her equipment, and to serve according to the size of her large heart."

DeVries adds that a large force that left Chinon for Orléans with Joan. "Soldiers flocked to her ranks, some 10,000 - 12,000 in total,  a formidable relief force."

Devries sums up chapter 3 thus: "Before she arrived... the king and his people had no hop... Now that Joan of Arc had arrived, the defeatism previously present had given way to a belief in the possibility of victory."

Chapter 3 is much more focused on Joan than Chapter 2. DeVries does a good job of handling the matter of Joan's visions: they are important to Joan, and are part of what gives her the opportunity to meet the dauphin, but it is Joan's own confidence in her visions and her mission that are the persuading factor in advancing her cause. It allows her to convince men to listen to her and allow her the opportunities to prove herself. Her confidence inspires confidence in others.

Next chapter, Joan finally arrives at Orléans.

Next Post: Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader - Part 4.

Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (by Kelly DeVries) - Part 2

Chapter 2 - Why Joan of Arc was Needed

DeVries notes: "When Joan of Arc involved herself in the Hundred Years War, she entered a hornet's nest of military and political problems."

In this chapter, DeVries introduces and summarizes the background of the Hundred Years War, leading up to the point at which a peasant girl named Joan would be seriously considered as a potential war leader. Starting in 1337, DeVries divides the war into four phases, contending that the French had won one, fought England to a draw in another, and badly lost the other two, "including the phase immediately preceding Joan's appearance as a leader of the French Army."  DeVries then goes through an overview of the causes and course of the conflict.

DeVries points out that before 1337, the Kingdom of France had a "strong and renowned military."  In 1328, trouble starts when Edward III of England's claim to the French crown was dismissed as his descent from the crown was through a woman [in light of this entire discussion, there seems a strange irony in this...]  He invaded in 1340, and after several years of off and on fighting and treaties, in August 1346, dealt the French a major defeat at the battle of Crecy.  The Black Death  which ravaged Europe in 1348-49, put a temporary halt to the fighting, and it also influenced English tactics, which change from pitched battles to the cavalry raiding style known as the "chevauchée." 

In 1356, The French lost another major battle at Poitiers, and the French king of that time, John II was captured by the English.  DeVries speculates that this might have been a good thing for the French, as John II "...is generally considered an ineffective military leader..."   His son, who later becomes Charles V of France, did better at regaining territory. Over the next almost forty years, he and then his son, Charles VI pushed the English back quite a bit.

However, by 1407, Charles VI of France had developed bouts of mental illness, leaving an unstable government. This gave rise to two factions, the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. The French civil war between the two factions would not be resolved in Joan's lifetime.

This created an opportunity for Henry V of England to invade, in an attempt to reclaim the French crown. This invasion culminated in the battle of Agincourt, in which the French suffered approximately 10,000 dead, while the English lost a few hundred. Agincourt took a heavy toll on the French Army's numbers, leadership and perhaps its confidence as well.

In May 1418, Paris surrendered to the Duchy of Burgundy, and the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, was welcomed as the governor and "Protector" of France. Charles VI's son, the Dauphin Charles, fled to the south. Although John the Fearless attempted to put together a governing coalition including the Armagnacs, he was killed while under a writ of "safe passage," in revenge for an earlier assassination of an Armagnac leader that he had been implicated in.

The Burgundians made a treaty on behalf of France with the English, which made Henry V heir to the French throne in the event of Charles VI's death.  The Dauphin was effectively disowned. The Armagnacs did not accept the treaty and still considered the dauphin to be the true heir. 

And then in 1422, Henry V died before Charles VI. His infant son, Henry VI, became the king of England and France when Charles VI died later the same year. The Armagnacs, seeing an opportunity, began to fight back but the English and Burgundians continued to make significant gains. 

In July 1428, the Earl of Salisbury laid siege to the city of Orléans. If he could capture it, the English would control the River Loire, and the dauphin, headquartered at Chinon, might have been forced to surrender.

And now we`re back to DeVries comment, ``...she entered a hornet's nest on military and political problems."  

``Half of [France]  was occupied by a foreign military, its society frightened by marauding armies and confused by a political dispute... whose argument had little grass-roots permeation, its economy broken by [armies constantly marching] across its [farms] and its industries blocked from the markets and trade routes which had once made them prosperous, with no crowned king, and few others who could or would rise to take over leadership of the government or the armies[.]  The kingdom of France was not even a shadow of its thirteenth-century prototype."

DeVries then points out that there were "pockets of resistance" which had held out against the English "largely unsupported by the dauphin or his generals." This gave rise to a feeling among some 'patriots'  that the English might be vulnerable to a concentrated military effort. 

"...but they needed an inspiration. Dauphin Charles had not provided this inspiration. Nor was he likely to in the future, as he was being counselled to proceed against the English with sluggish, even inactive caution by his favorites."

Which, according to DeVries, explains Joan's role. "...When Joan appeared, and they felt her confidence and determination, they followed her with a loyalty which few soldiers in history have given their leaders.... Judging from her results, she may have been just what the French Military needed to regain its own confidence and composure and to realize the advantages that it had over its English enemies."

 In short, it was Joan's determination to succeed, and her confidence that she could, that provided the sorely lacking inspiration and confidence in success for the French leaders, soldiers and citizens.

Of course, nothing is Quite that simple, and next time we'll take a look at the beginnings of Joan's involvement in the Hundred Years War.

Next Post: Notes on Joan of Arc: A Military Leader - Part 3.