Marcia Quinn Noren - Joan of Arc: The Mystic Legacy

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ISBN-13: 978-1-61813-013-6
ISBN-10: 1-6-1813-013-7

Joan of Arc: The Mystic Legacy

Copyright 2011 by Marcia Quinn Noren

ISBN 978-1-61813-014-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage and retrieval systems without written permission of the Author. Making copies of this book or any portion is a violation of United States copyright laws.

Printed in the United States of America

Part One:
The Inclusive Nature of Mysticism

Part Two:
The Historic Time-Line

Part Three:
Joans Abandonment and Martyrdom

J oan of Arc has inspired fascination and study since she became a legend in her own lifetime, during the Late Middle Ages. Over the course of nearly six centuries, historians and biographers have grappled with the vast body of facts that document her story, recorded and held in the archives of France.

The phenomenal elements found in these records are highly provocative. Complex events unfold rapidly, with an enormous cast of characters emerging at each pivotal turn. Poetic license, used extensively in films and novels, has added to the general publics confusion about what actually took place during Joans extraordinary life.

In his essay on the universality of her story, The Joan in All of Us, John Steinbeck said that everyone who studies the trial testimonies comes to find a corroboration of his convictions, no matter what they may be.

My goal is to provide readers with the substantive essence of her story, allowing Joans own words to speak from the ancient trial records as the primary resource for interpreting her mystic perceptions, for understanding the intentions behind her actions, and as a means of comprehending the magnitude of her perseverance.

Joans intention as a military leader was to unite the divided regions of France and bring an end the ongoing carnage that took place during the English invasion known as The Hundred Years War. In 1429 at the age of seventeen, within seven months of her public debut, she had succeeded in reversing the wars outcome.

Her canonization in 1920 elevated Joan to sainthood, another dynamic image that became firmly attached to her public profile. For those whose spiritual beliefs are not in alignment with Roman Catholicism, and for academic scholars as well, Joans constant references to her visions and voices have proven difficult to either accept or explain. As a result, her role as a mystic is often respectfully set aside and her accomplishments are attributed to the faculty of uncompromising genius.

In her 1910 biography Joan of Arc, Grace James named genius as Joans dominant quality, a trait that has allowed her to both reflect and transcend her times. This conclusion was shared by George Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain, who were each deeply and permanently galvanized by Joans larger-than-life accomplishments and infatuated with her persona.

Studying an historic figure whose life story is filled with elements of transcendence that defy comprehension demands stepping into the realm of what is ultimately, unknowable. Her actions were powerful demonstrations of monumental courage and faith. It is this faith factor that still creates confusion and division. It is her spiritual legacy that cloaks Joan of Arc in perpetual controversy.

Due to the ravages of time, two twentieth century World Wars and the French Revolution, all of Joans personal belongings including her clothing, armor, rings, sword and battle standard have been either lost or destroyed. No sketches, portraits or sculptures of her image exist from her lifetime that might allow a physical description to be drawn with any degree of certainty. Testimonies by those who knew her provide information about her distinctive attributes and manner of speaking, yet no documentation yields information about her height, body type, facial features, or the color of her hair and eyes.

Penned in bold script, her signature, Jehanne, is found on three archived letters that have survived, out of those that she dictated to her scribes.

Thousands of works of art depicting her image have been created in the centuries following her death. She has been claimed and portrayed not only as a saint, but as a figurehead for political movements within her own country and outside of France. Joan has become a universal icon, defying attempts to confine her legacy to any single nation, religion or political cause. Her story has stretched our collective imaginations in every era, and in all corners of the globe.

The reader might be best served by willingness to bend and yield to the sheer wonder of her story, to set aside systems of belief that limit acceptance of what is possible and what is not. The more we learn about her, the less rigid become the boundaries of our own assumptions. The nature of her character and the substance of her accomplishments speak for themselves. To pursue Joan of Arc as a topic of study is to become mesmerized by one of the greatest true stories ever told.

Footnote

Steinbeck, John. (2002). America and Americans: and Selected Nonfiction. Viking (Penguin Putnam Inc.), New York, New York (p. 144)

Ibid.

I n the first days of 1429, a girl known in the village of her ancestors as Jehanette left her familys hearth in the depth of winter, and claimed her destiny at the center of a savage war that had raged within France for nearly one hundred years. Her first objective was to secure an interview with Sir Robert de Boudricourt, whose castle towered over the city of Vaucouleurs, a days journey to the north. Standing inside his governors quarters wrapped in a faded red cloak, she publicly disclosed her mystic identity and purpose for the first time, saying that she had been sent by Gods messengers to receive de Baudricourts immediate assistance.