What Was the Role in This Revival?

On October 12th 1428, England captured Orleans, France in hopes of taking over much more of the surrounding area. On May 8th of 1429, Orleans was freed from the siege. This is documented stating that a “maid bearing a banner” had much to do with it. How had this freedom come? Who was this maid? What was her role in this revival? This book seeks to answer all of these questions through information found within historical documents.

Author

The author is Regine Pernoud.

Her use of primary and secondary sources, almost to an obsession, helped transform her into an undisputed authority in the subject of the so-called ‘Middle Ages’. She made a career out of weeding the myths, legends and ideological lies out of the tapestry of what the world knows as common knowledge history.Pernoud studied at the ¨Cole Nationale des Chastes¨ in literature and got a PhD in History from the University of Paris. She had many professions before becoming a prolific writer.

Pernoud was a paleographer and archivist and a curator of the museums of Reims and of French History for many years . Later, her interest in history started with the fascination with medieval art in its many manifestations. In her words, ‘Biography is for me the most exciting thing in the world, and also the most significant; It is a carrier of meaning in historical research.’ Her work is defined by the study of the true history of the Middle Ages, a huge task of unmasking the multiple historiographical misinformation around that period.

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Summary

Joan of Arc seeks to answer the questions asked by Joan’s contemporaries as well as us: Who was she? Whence came she? What had been her life and exploits? This book is designed to bring the reader close to Joan and the people around her. Real letters, oaths from documented trials, testimonies of those who knew her, and commentary on the life of Joan skips the story parts and the myths to just focus on the nitty gritty. The real facts and events. This is not a story book; it is a book on the real life of the person many think is a myth. By herself and her witnesses she was truly The Holy Maiden of Orleans and a woman who lived her life for the Lord.

Strengths

This book is great because it strips away the parts of the legend that have no basis in historical documentation, pointing out in some cases how this is necessary. There is no bias in anything written because the witness accounts were taken under oath. The reason this book’s strict historicity is important is because the historically documented story of Joan of Arc is far more significant without relying on any supernatural assumptions than the legend many of us hear as a child. From this book alone there seems to be more facts than any other documents i have come by. This book pulls you deep into the life of Joan.

Weaknesses

However, this book is a very difficult read. It was translated from French and some of the translation was lost. The style of writing reminded me of the King James version of the bible; a difficult dialect for our modern era to grasp. For reading this book I personally couldn’t get into it. The vocabulary is aggressive and over all was boring and difficult to read just to read despite the wonderful information. I felt like I couldn’t keep my breath while reading it. One part of her story that the book left out, that I was really hoping to learn about, was about her spiritual visions. She declared herself as a messenger and follower of God, and was doing this work on behalf of Him. Unfortunately, Pernoud did not divulge any transcripts or information about this. This book was very easy to put down. It is not meant for light reading; only if you want historical documentation about Joan of Arc. However, if you are looking for something to read on the loo I suggest you look elsewhere.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pernoud does a great job compiling historical documentation that gives us insight to who Joan was as a person and her role in history as a real person, not the myth or legend she is sometimes portrayed as. Given that all of the documents were originally in French, this book does a good job of translating the text in English it’s true dialect of the time period. Unfortunately, this also makes this book difficult for the average person of today to read. Additionally, because this is mostly comprised of historical documentation and scholarly commentary, and not written in a story-like manner, it is boring and not entertaining.

Citations

1. Ravasi, J. O. (2017, September 15). Buscar Régine Pernoud: A forgotten medievalist. Retrieved May 19, 2018, from http://www.infocatolica.com/blog/notelacuenten.php/1708251031-regine-pernoud-una-medievalis