The Beadle Maniacs

Human history is full of stories of very interesting individuals who lived their lives in ways that made a big impact not only on the people who surrounded but to the rest of the world. The name of a woman does not come out so often in history especially since in the past, men were always the only ones who were treated as leaders and the females were more concerned with maternal and domestic duties. However, the name Joan of Arc resounded in France.

Joan of Arc was born sometime in 1412 to farmers residing in Domremy, France. In her native land, she is known as Jeanne d’Arc. Aside from working in the farm, Joan of Arc’s father was also employed as a village official. Joan’s life became started to become controversial at a very young age. When she was 12 years old, she claimed that she had a vision of three saints namely St. Catherine, St. Margaret, and St. Michael. These three holy people instructed her to make the English troops leave France thereby making it possible for Charles the Seventh to be crowned as the French king.

As Joan reached 16 years of age, she asked Count Robert de Baudricourt if she can go to the royal court to speak with the king. However, she was mocked and was not allowed the chance to go to the royal French court. A year after her first visit, she again saw the count this time bringing along with her two influential men to vouch for her. During this time, she informed the count that she foresaw a military reversal happening close to Orleans. This prediction was proven to be true and the Count Baudricourt finally allowed Joan to see the royal French court.

During the time of the Hundred Years War, women taking part in the military affairs of the state were unheard of. So Joan was sent by Count Baudricort under the disguise of being a man. She was able to speak with Charles VII and after having a background check done on Joan, she was made a part of the French military. For Charles VII, this was a timely thing to do since the French troops were demoralized during that time and Joan, with her religious inclinations, can help boost their morale. And this was what Joan actually did and she was able to lead the French troops into a number of victories including the capture of Les Tourelles which is known to be one of the English’ stronger territories. There were other victories that occurred under Joan of Arc’s leadership. Her visions played a huge role in these victories and so did her charisma. She was also able to forewarn Duke Alencon of Jargeau of a forthcoming attack on his territory.

Probably one of Joan of Arc’s most successful endeavours is the battle of Patay where she fought against the English military troops under the leadership of Sir John Fastolf. Joan and the members of the French army were able to catch the English troops unguarded and were able to attack even before the enemies can put up their defenses.

One of the names that were prominently known during the Hundred Years’ War was Joan of Arc. Apart from being a woman who served in the army, the military strategies that she utilized and imposed on her followers were aggressive in nature. This approach deviated from what the French was used to doing which involved the adaptation of cautious military strategies. There was an instance when the French tried to utilize an offensive military approach however this did not fare well and so they reverted to their usual cautious military strategy.

Joan set out to attach the Saint Loup fortress where she eventually succeeded. She did not allow any time for rest and again travelled to another fortress the next day. It was a place named Saint Jean le Blanc and when Joan arrived there, no one was around. Again, she did not waste a day for rest and moved on to a war council. Once there she went against the wishes of Jean d’Orleans and challenged them to another dispute and a war. Jean D’Orleans was not amenable to this and so to thwart the occurrence of war, she closed the gates of her city. This did not stop Joan from attacking. She was able to coerce the town mayor into opening the city after which she and her troops were able to conquer the city’s Saint Augustins fortress.

Joan of Arc’s aggressive approach to war lead her to a lot of victories. She was confident in her leadership abilities and the loyalty of her men. On the eve of the day she captured the fortress of St. Augustins, the war council met and were able to agree on waiting for back up and more military before launching another offensive. Joan did not agree to this and she acted on her impulse to attack the English’ strongest fortress which was called les Tourelles. This siege occurred just a couple of days after she conquered St. Augustins.

A lot of Joan of Arc’s colleagues recognized her dedication to the French military and to her country. In fact, she did not rest even when an arrow hit her on the neck. She still managed to stand up for her troops and lead them into war. Because of her constant successes, the French now saw the good in taking aggressive military strategies. Joan’s charisma even influenced Charles the VII to allow her to work with the Duke John II of Alecon’s army. She was also given the go signal to take into French custody the bridges surrounding the enemy territory of a place called Rheims.

Even highly experienced military men bowed to the ingenuity of Joan’s leadership strategies. She led the French army to a lot of victories and they were able to regain control of Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, and Beaugency in just a week’s time. Apart from being subjected to an arrow hit, she also received a stone cannonball blow. All these injuries and other difficulties of leading a war did not prevent her from forging on working towards her goal which was to have Charles the VII crowned as the one and only Sovereign of France.