Joan of Arc: A Military Leader [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Kelly DeVries (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

In 1428, a young girl from a small French village approached the royal castle of Vaucouleurs with a now famous tale. Heavenly voices, she said, had told her to seek out the Dauphin of France, so that he might giver her an army with which to deliver France from its English occupiers. Given her troops, she was assigned to the army attempting to relieve the English siege of Orleans. The ensuing tale of Joan's military successes at Orleans and elsewhere is told in this volume, accompanied by illustrations. Where other works have concentrated on the religious and feminist aspects of Joan's career, this book addresses the issue of what it was that made her the heroine she became. Why did the soldiers of France follow a woman into battle when no troops of the Hundred Years War had done so before and how was she able to win? The English called her a whore and believed her to be possessed, but her own troops trusted her without any proof of her abilities.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The publication of this immensely readable book on the heels of Columbia Pictures' release of a major motion picture on Joan reflects our seemingly endless fascination with the Maid of Orleans. What distinguishes this text from others is its pointed depiction of Joan as a military leader rather than a proto-feminist or saint. A well-known medieval and military historian, DeVries (history, Loyola) argues how curious it is that Joan's career as warrior, soldier, and general has been overlooked. He painstakingly analyzes her impact during the Hundred Years War: her combat strategies and how she overcame the psychology of defeat in the French armies, the influence of her victories in the peace process, and how she destabilized the English military and political leadership. This book should be welcomed by general and academic readers alike. Recommended for public and academic library.
-Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Immensely readable . . . should be welcomed by general and academic readers alike."  —Library Journal

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750918055
• ISBN-13: 978-0750918053
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,360,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Promise Unfulfilled, November 29, 1999

By 

L. G. Bernard (Los Gatos, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (Hardcover)

This is an exceptionally well-produced book, with glossy pages, excellent maps of the routes Joan traveled and the geography of her campaigns, as well as a number of photographs of historic landmarks related to the life of La Pucelle. If it were a bit larger in size, it would even make a good coffee table book. Mr. DeVries has apparently done a sizable amount of research on his subject and has included excellent endnotes and references. Anyone wishing to follow-up with his or her own study of Joan of Arc would do well to use this work as a starting point. Unfortunately, though, it ultimately fails to deliver on its promise of being a study of her capabilities as a tactician and a strategist.

Having read many of the documents contemporary with Joan's time, as well as numerous biographies (Pernoud, Sakesville-West, et. al.) I was quite familiar with her career. Also, having recently read J.F.C. Fuller's excellent account of the battles of Alexander the Great (The Generalship of Alexander the Great, De Capo Press), I had expected a treatise along similar lines. I was hoping for such things, perhaps, as a review of common fifteenth century tactics, an analysis of how Joan's tactics might have differed from these, information concerning the order of battle for both the French and English during each confrontation, an analysis of how troops were deployed, and so on. Instead, what was presented consisted of basically the same information already presented by Joan's other biographers. Maybe I was expecting too much. For one thing, it may be that medieval warfare was less tactically sophisticated than warfare during more ancient times, despite the advent of gunpowder weapons. For another, it may well be that reliable, detailed documentation of Joan's battles simply does not exist.

The learned clerics at Poitiers asked Joan what need she had of soldiers if God had foreordained the outcome, and she replied, "The soldiers will fight and God will give the victory." Given this supernatural viewpoint, considerations of strategy and tactics become relatively unimportant, little more than a context for a foregone conclusion. Any maybe that's all we really need to know about Joan's military actions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Joan of Arc: A Military Leader, January 2, 2010

By 

Scott Manning (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (Paperback)

DeVries, Kelly. Joan of Arc: A Military Leader. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2003, 244 pages.

Kelly DeVries, author and professor of history at Loyola University in Maryland, has written a strong case that scholars have incorrectly analyzed Joan of Arc through virtually every lens save for a military one. She "was a soldier, plain and simple" is how he sums up Joan at the beginning of Joan of Arc: A Military Leader. The need of another scholarly study on Joan comes into question right away as DeVries points out, "No person in the Middle Ages, male or female, has been the subject of more historical studies than Joan of Arc" (pg 2). Yet, he sees a massive void in the scholarship concerning Joan's military capabilities, contributions, and soldiering. The common themes of feminism in her leadership and theology in her trial have dominated the story of Joan for far too long and DeVries offers a unique perspective on her life. He believes all other focuses are pointless if scholars ignore or even downplay her military aptitude in the process. Joan of Arc: A Military Leader successfully brings to light the military aspect of Joan and puts her soldiering at the forefront of her story.

Early in the book, DeVries sets the stage of the Hundred Years War in 1429 explaining how the French remained split between the Burgundians and those who were still loyal to Dauphin Charles VII while the English seized this advantage and conquered most of the land north of Loire River. Yet, as DeVries points out, the French still maintained a strong numerical advantage over the English (pg 8). The English successfully mitigated this advantage by winning several key battles while outnumbered (e.g., Crécy, Agincourt). Using defensive positions and longbowmen, the English in 1429 gave off an air of invincibility (pg 26). Since the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French were unsuccessful in curbing the English conquest of France. It was because of this that DeVries believes Joan "may have been just what the French military needed to regain its own confidence and composure and to realize the advantages that it had over its English enemies" (pg 28).

Throughout the rest of the book, DeVries filters everything concerning Joan through a military lens. Her "voices" that she claimed to hear are only mentioned if they gave military instructions. He devotes a chapter to establishing that Joan's entire mission was a military one that she could only achieve through a force of arms: Lift the siege of Orléans, crown Charles VII as the King of France in English-controlled Reims, retrieve the Duke of Orléans from captivity, and kick the English out of France. Once Joan convinced the Dauphin that she was on a mission from God, he supplied her with a suit of armor, equipment, and troops, which DeVries points out is the final, obvious indicator that she was on a military mission (pg 48).

The author's expertise in this time in history is strong. Along with his BA, MA, and PhD in Medieval Studies, DeVries has written or edited more than a dozen books on medieval warfare and he is an editor of the Journal of Medieval Military History. In addition, DeVries has reading knowledge of medieval versions of English and French. This skill is apparent any time he quotes a primary source--which is often--as DeVries provides his own translations. Along with the contemporary histories, there are testimonies given at Joan's trial and her retrial available. During the retrial, soldiers who fought alongside her gave details on various battles and her participation. DeVries draws heavily from these texts to tell Joan's story.

The coverage of battles is lopsided. DeVries dedicates forty pages to the relieving of Orléans, nine pages to the siege of Paris, and about one to two pages to every other engagement. This is indicative of the material available on the battles. There is a plethora of material on Joan's success at Orléans and her failure at Paris due to thousands of witnesses and participants. Other battles were on a much smaller scale and thus have little or no reliable sources. The book ends with Joan's capture. Only a few paragraphs cover her lengthy trial and execution making it apparent that once Joan became a prisoner, DeVries considers her military career over.

Unfortunately, the book is not without its issues. DeVries does not always stay focused. The first three pages of the chapter entitled "A Military Mission?" are dedicated to determining what Joan looked like including topics like her hair color and whether her fellow soldiers found her attractive (pg 29-31). It is interesting, but does not add to the topic of her military mission. There are only four maps tossed in with the other plates and they offer no details on the battles themselves. Also missing are details on fighting techniques and weapons. DeVries relies almost entirely on contemporary testimonies and often inserts his analysis in between large block quotes restricting the reader to only the knowledge provided from medieval texts on the battles. For example, the final day of the siege of Orléans featured a scene of fighting that lasted "from the early morning until eight o'clock in the evening" (pg 82) as the French attempted to assault an English fortification. A discussion of medieval assault techniques would have been perfect in this spot. What would a medieval French army do all day to a fortification? Instead, DeVries simply quotes witnesses of the battle who are far from descriptive and moves along.

Joan of Arc: A Military Leader is a unique book and it does accomplish its goal of portraying Joan as a soldier while ignoring virtually everything else. Those interested in this aspect of Joan will find it a scholarly book by a man who is not interested in finding feministic qualities or theological principles in the story. Instead, they will find a well-researched book that relies heavily on primary sources to depict Joan's action, but they will want more in terms of analysis of the battles and fighting techniques.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fails to support its own thesis..., January 16, 2008

By 

nto62 (Corona, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (Hardcover)

Joan of Arc, A Military Leader by Kelly DeVries presents one very notable problem: it doesn't truly establish her as one. While the book is a passable biography, it fails on most fronts to present Joan as anything more than an inspirational mascot and a rallying point for the dispirited Armagnac forces of the dauphin of France.

By DeVries' own admission, Joan was excluded from nearly every war council occurring between the siege of Orleans and her capture. Thus, any discussion of tactics and strategy, necessary components to establish leadership qualities, are limited to Joan's proclivity for the frontal assault. Unfortunately, the headlong charge when deployed for every contingency, no matter how brave, is neither tactics nor strategy. It is, at best, a habit.

DeVries tries to compensate for this shortcoming by repeatedly alleging that the jingoism of Joan's contemporary Burgundian and English opponents (and latter-day English historians), provides a willful underestimate of her wartime acumen. He seems oblivious that this cuts both ways. Might the French be guilty of embellishment? Indeed, DeVries provides a quote from one of Joan's high-ranking Armagnac compatriots comparing her to Alexander, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar! Even the most casual of amateur historians can recognize this as ludicrous on its face.

Mitigating in favor of Joan of Arc, A Military Leader is the quality of its design and construction [hardcover]. Solidly built with glossy pages and ubiquitous text-specific photographs, it is a very handsome edition. But this, in the end, is all it is: a quality edition containing an average biography falling short of its stated goal. 3 stars.