Customer Reviews

Joan of Arc: A Military Leader

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Kelly deVries sets out to correct a serious oversight in modern historical analysis of Joan of Arc. Other twentieth century writers have downplayed her role as a war hero and general, often in contradiction to the original source material. I am what you could call a serious aficionado of Joan of Arc: I have read most of the leading modern biographies and plays, perused a good part of the original documents, and once spent three weeks in France following her campaigns. Ms. deVries's book deserves a place on the shelf of any Joan of Arc devotee.

Historical records about Joan of Arc are unusually abundant. She led what was probably the best documented life of her era. We have far more reliable information about her career than, say, of William Wallace. In fairness to Ms. deVries, these original documents are sometimes frustrating. They say so much that they tempt the reader to demand more. The captains who fought alongside Joan of Arc have high praise for her military skill yet are sketchy about her tactics. Where the scholar wants to deduce an artillery arrangement the records instead report which color horse she rode that day. Many of the fortresses where Joan of Arc fought still stand, at least in ruin. The surrounding earthworks are largely unrecoverable. At a distance of six centuries we cannot reconstruct these scenes with the detail of the American civil war.

This well-researched work corrects and amplifies the subject. That said, I have a few bones to pick. The topic deserves a discussion of weapons technology. Ms. deVries overplays the importance of gunpowder to the point where I suspect she misunderstands the fifteenth century meaning of "artillery." Medical scholarship might have illuminated some issues, particularly the instances when Joan of Arc overcame battle wounds and returned to combat. Finally Ms. deVries omits all mention of Joan of Arc's escape attempts as a prisoner of war. As examples of good soldiering they deserve attention: Joan actually leaped from a seventy foot tower and survived with no broken bones.

With minor reservations, Joan of Arc: A Military Leader is a welcome addition to my collection.

While the subject matter of this book holds great potential interest to the reader, unfortunately, Mr. Devries fails to deliver on that potential by way of new material or analysis - notwithstanding his own claims to the contrary. Mr. Devries, however, does break new ground at the very beginning of his book - in the Acknowledgements. Typically, this section is devoted to thanking other people who have played a role in supporting the author, but Mr. Devries has shown great creativity by turning that old-fashioned notion on its head. His Acknowledgements proudly features - well - himself! In addition to jamming twenty-six (count `em) instances of the pronoun "I," two of "me" and nine of "my," into this short section, he manages to drag in his family members throughout, and even then, only so far as they must have missed his delightful presence while he wrote this book.
As to the text itself, while not purely a redaction of existing works on the subject, this volume appears to shed little new light - especially as it lacks a certain capacity for critical insight, which one hopes to find in such works. If one does not have ready access to more original works on the subject, this volume may serve to point the reader in the right direction. How sad that readers of exciting materials such as the trial transcript of the Maid of Orleans find no glimmer of that brilliant female mind in the strategies addressed in this volume. If the author had effectively compared Jean's maneuvers with those of past military leaders who found themselves in similar circumstances, we would have had a firm grasp on how Jean's brilliance compared to theirs. Unfortunately, this requires familiarity with a broad range of military analyses and a reading knowledge of the sources in their original tongues--especially since the names of weaponry and even military maneuvers frequently do not translate consistently.
Our universities have for decades been turning out graduates who are hampered by forays beyond their native languages. I can't help but remember how even the limited introductions, terse footnotes, and line drawings in our old Latin editions of Caesar's Belli Gallici carried enough information to bring to life the military strategies of that great leader. Where are the descriptions of the battle techniques utilized by Jean? Where the analysis of how her forces utilized their resources better-or worse--than others of her time? Alongside the spate of TV films on this extraordinary woman, we now have yet another volume that adds inches and weight, but little fire and light, to our love of a singular woman's mind.

I have been reading over several sources for a research paper on Joan for a graduate seminar class. Some of the complaints on this book strike me as odd. The title of the book seems somewhat...well false. After reading several documents (Craig Taylor Compilation) it is clear that Joan was little more than a mascot for the French army. While she claims to give orders, she is always positioned away from the battle (excluding a few times where she joined the fight). None of the sources give exact details on how the French attacked or if Joan really directed the attacks. Where the French leaders may have listened to Joan because of her spiritual claim, the period makes it less likely that Joan actually led a battle. The title of the book is attractive, but probably further from the truth.

The history I knew but what I was hoping for a detailed analysis and study of military tactics used by Joan.

If you want a fairly good history of her, you might read this.

While I was not expecting to see drawn battle plans or battle concepts as might have been fortcoming from Joan. I did find some interesting points about her and her leadership abilities. These comments coming directly, under oath at the Nullification Trial, from those who fought with her. Joan's transformation from a peasant girl to a Knight (King Charles did make her a Knight and gave her, her own Coat of Arms) how she taught herself and learned all that she could about warfare, battlements, etc. Especially interesting to me is that she became an expert with cannons and more specifically in the "Art" of aiming them. Few today realize that cannons were an integral part of the warfare of the time. Kind of made me think of Napoleon, who came to power with a background as an artillery officer.
Joan is shown to have been shrewd in testing opposing battlements and being able to locate what she felt were the weak points in the defenses she was to fight. Coninually, her spiritual (God) based unshaken morals seemed to be able to transform even the hardest of
soldiers. She allowed no camp followers, and no unChristian behaviors; she even made the Barrons, Knights, etc go to mass and be cleansed. She told the men, that by allowing sin to be on their hands they would not be made the victors by God. So, it seems that her own mission could have been dethroned, and maybe that is just what happened later on.
During the famous attack on the O'rleans dwell, the fighting had been since morning and was at 8 o'clock PM and she had been wounded by a cossbow bolt. The French leaders wanted to stop for the night. Joan having recovered some from the bolt, asked them to fight a bit longer. She then went alone a ways off, dismounted in some trees. There she knelt for seven minutes in prayer. Afterwhich, she mounted and reinvigorated the men fighting. An assult now occured which was successful. How do we measure this in military terms?
Not to steal more from the book; it is an excellent read for anyone looking to understand her as a soldier.