JOAN OF ARC’S DOOMED CAMPAIGN
Born as Jehanne d’Arc, nicknamed the “Maid of Orléans” and universally known as “Joan of Arc”, France’s national heroine was a medieval figure like no other. A crossdressing, teenage peasant girl who claimed to hear divine voices, Joan defied every social convention and turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War in favour of Charles VII of France.
Most of what people know about her life is bookended by her crucial role in defeating the English at the Siege of Orléans and her capture, trial and execution at the age of only 19 in Rouen. This was a short period of only two years but her career in between was remarkable. It encompassed a dizzying array of events: a lightning campaign of continuous victories and a crowning glory at Reims Cathedral before disappointing sieges, standoffs and a humiliating imprisonment. Joan of Arc may be recognised as a saint but as a military presence she was a fascinatingly human blend of success and failure.
The Road to Orléans
By the time Joan entered the history books the Hundred Years’ War was in its ninth decade. The conflict had hollowed out France and the English won continuous military triumphs. By 1420 Henry V had forced Charles VI of France to disinherit his own son and ensured that the kings of England would preside over a dual monarchy.
Not even the premature death of Henry in 1422 and the accession of the infant Henry VI to the two thrones could stop the English conquests. Henry V’s able younger brother John, Duke of Bedford ruled as regent of France and won a huge victory at the Battle of Verneuil in 1424. Dubbed as the “Second Agincourt”, Verneuil had secured Normandy and laid the road open for an English advance towards the River Loire.
England’s success was greatly facilitated by a bitter civil war between the ‘Armagnac’ and ‘Burgundian’ cadet factions of the French royal family. Such was the mutual enmity that Philip
