The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by N.D. The image shows a skilfully executed bas relief in Orléans of Jeanne d'Arc's imprisonment.
Jeanne d'Arc
Jeanne d'Arc, or Joan of Arc (c. 1412 – 30th. May 1431) was nicknamed 'The Maid of Orléans' (French: 'La Pucelle d'Orléans'). She is a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a Catholic saint.
She was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, a peasant family, at Domrémy in the Vosges of northeast France.
Late in the Hundred Years' War, Joan claimed to have received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination.
The as-yet-unanointed King Charles VII sent Joan to the Siege of Orléans as part of a relief army. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted only nine days later. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's consecration at Reims. This long-awaited event boosted French morale and paved the way for the final French victory at Castillon in 1453.
On the 23rd. May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, a group of French nobles allied with the English. She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by the pro-English bishop Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges. After Cauchon declared her guilty, she was burned at the stake, dying at about nineteen years of age.
In 1456, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr. In the 16th. century she became a symbol of the Catholic League, and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by Napoleon Bonaparte.
She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. Joan of Arc is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with Saint Denis, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Louis, Saint Michael, Saint Rémi, Saint Petronilla, Saint Radegund and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
Joan of Arc has remained a popular figure in literature, painting, sculpture, and other cultural works since the time of her death, and many famous writers, playwrights, filmmakers, artists, and composers have created, and continue to create, cultural depictions of her.
The Execution of Jeanne d'Arc
Jeanne d'Arc was executed not far from Rouen Cathedral in the Vieux-Marché on Wednesday the 30th. May 1431.
The famous depiction of 19 year old Joan of Arc's execution showing her on top of a pile of wood and straw is wrong.
The site for her execution comprised a stake at the centre of a large ring of wood, with a gap left for Joan to be led to the stake. Once she was tied to the stake and the gap closed, she was hidden from sight.
One authority has suggested that her body would have burnt in the following sequence: calves, thighs and hands, torso and forearms, breasts, upper chest and face.
However in all likelihood she would have died from heatstroke, loss of blood plasma and carbon dioxide poisoning before the fire attacked the upper parts of her body.
After Jeanne had expired, the English exposed her charred body so that no-one could claim that she had escaped alive, then burned her body twice more to reduce it to ashes in order to prevent the collection of relics.
They then cast her remains into the Seine.
A modern church now stands on the site of her execution.