Joan of Arc: Her Story [Paperback]

Régine Pernoud (Author), Marie-Véronique Clin (Author), Jeremy duQuesnay Adams (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1999

In an exquisite English translation from the bestselling French edition, Joan of Arc: Her Story now appears for American readers. From the French peasant girl who led an army to the icon burned at the stake, Joan has been a blank slate on which thousands have written. Pernoud and Clin clear away the myths so that modern readers can see Joan as she was and include a glossary of important individuals, historical events and interpretations of Joan through the ages. Joan of Arc: Her Story is the thrilling life of a woman who obsesses us even to this day.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The peasant girl who led an army against the English and placed Charles VII on the French throne has inspired countless books since her death at age 19. While others have claimed Joan the Maid (as she called herself) for every cause from feminism to working-class radicalism, this meticulous volume by two French scholars sticks close to the known facts. The authors make extensive use of contemporary documents that bring to life the turbulent political scene in which Joan operated as well as her forceful personality. Joan followed the directives of voices she believed were sent to her by God; her deep piety, self-assurance, decisiveness, and shrewd intelligence radiate from her letters and from her responses to hostile questioning at the rigged trial that resulted in her being burned alive as a heretic in 1431. General readers may be intimidated at first by a detailed narrative studded with lengthy quotations, but those who persevere will discover a story all the more moving because it is not manipulated to make a modern-day point. This English translation updates the 1986 French volume's bibliography, supplements the biographies in part 2 with sketches of historical figures less familiar outside of France, and generally makes the book more accessible for English-language readers. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Joan of Arc means many things to many people: the incarnation of French patriotism, a Fascist mascot for anti-Semitism, the symbol of working-class resistance, the ultimate proto-feminist, the political prisoner, the innocent woman persecuted for heresy. In order to separate legend from fact, her uses from herself, Pernoud and Clin have ingeniously turned the mystifying question "Who is Joan of Arc?" into the more manageable "What is [her] historical record?" Joan's history was brief: a year of fighting, a year of imprisonment. In 1429, inspired by holy "voices," she traveled to the failing dauphin Charles (later King Charles VII) and declared that she would free the city of Orleans from his English enemies and lead him to his coronation. Shortly after fulfilling both prophesies, she was captured by the English, who tried her for heresy and burned her at the stake. In 1455, 24 years after her death, a new trial concluded that the English inquisition was improperly conducted and nullified its decision. Throughout their descriptions of these events, the authors draw upon copious letters and trial transcripts to present a vivid portrait of the young woman whose intelligence, courage, determination and unshakable faith astonished all of Europe. A brief introduction and a section of profiles of the major players make this thorough book accessible to the general reader. Though the writing is sometimes dry, Pernoud and Clin do an admirable job of bringing clarity to their complicated subject. This is the first English translation of a book published in 1986 in France. 12 illustrations, 8 maps.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (October 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312227302
• ISBN-13: 978-0312227302
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Congregations & Orders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books on the Subject!, January 14, 2000

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Joan of Arc: Her Story (Hardcover)

Not much can be added to the previous reviews. I would highlight the point that it would be wise to read the forward and preface before getting stuck into the book. The layout of the book is somewhat different to your normal biography but in this case it works well. The story is excellent and is well presented and as mentioned by other reviews without any noticeable bias either way. The authors have produced a gripping and entertaining story and have also provided the reader with some detailed lists of principal characters, issues and images and appendices that have copies of some letters written by `Joan of Arc'. The list of characters was very detailed and makes the book a must have for any decent library. Overall this is a very well researched account of this amazing woman and the story was a joy to read. Recommend to anyone who loves good history.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating, September 3, 2000

By 

I. Gimlet "i_gimlet" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joan of Arc: Her Story (Paperback)

Jeremy Duquesnay Adams translation of Régine Pernoud and Marie-Véronique Clin's Joan of Arc: Her Story couldn't treat of a more interesting subject. Out of nowhere, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, a peasant girl from Lorraine travels through anti-French Burgundy to see the Valois claimant of the French throne -- Charles VII. She says that the voices of angels have told her that God has instructed her to raise the siege at Orléans -- which had been going on for some time now -- take Charles to Reims to be consecrated and crowned king -- deep in English territory. She gets to Chinon and is received by the dauphin himself. She is then sent to be questioned by priests and instead of finding her insane -- as would almost certainly be the case should the same thing take place today -- they decide that she's the real deal. Charles gives her an army and she defeats the English at Orléans just a few months after leaving Lorraine. Two months later she has routed an English army at Patay led by, among others, Fastolf, and seen Charles annointed at Reims. Europe was very surprised by this turn of events.

Due to court jealousies, Joan falls out of favor with Charles, and a year after her successful relief of Orléans, is captured by the Burgundians. Charles VII refuses to pay her ransom and Joan is transferred to the English. A kangaroo court that rivals 20th century Soviet mock trials is put on by a priest of the University of Paris -- Pierre Cauchon (whose surname is a homonym for the word pig in French.) Joan is condemned to die by fire. Two years after she enters the scene she is executed. Her last word is "Jesus." Many of the soldiers to watch her die find themselves ashamed. This is a tale religions are made of.

Pernoud arranges her book in three parts: Joan's story or "The Drama", "The Cast of Principal Characters" and "Issues and Images." Joan's story proper is about 150 pages long and is related in an unusual fashion: as it enters the historical record. Thus we don't learn what is known about Joan's childhood until the end of the first part of Pernoud's book, because details of Joan's life do not enter the historical record until after she is dead. The story begins when it first makes it into the record, which is when Joan goes to Vaucouleurs to convince the connected nobleman there to help her reach the dauphin. According to Pernoud, part of the reason for taking this approach is that there is an unusually large amount of historical evidence about Joan. She was famous throughout Europe soon after she liberated Orléans, there are minutes as well as an official transcript of her condemnation trial, there is the transcript of her nullification trial as well as numerous letters, etc. This approach leads her to quote at length much of the source material, which I found to be a very powerful way of communicating the feel of the era and the characters of the story. One way this contrasts with a traditional chronological rendering of a life is there is an emphasis on the primary source material, or written evidence, which makes the retelling of more action-oriented scenarios feel pale in comparison to others. But even at this remove the story is powerful enough to make you cry.

The section on the cast of characters is a roster of short biographies arranged in three categories: the princes, their subjects, and her judges. Within these categories biographies are arranged alphabetically. These are very well done although the structure is a bit encyclopedic for a life. For some reason Pernoud omits Fastolf -- disappointing given the significant role he plays as Joan's opponent.

The section on issues and images presents short descriptions of the issues that historians face when considering Joan's story. These range from the theory that Joan was a bastard of the Royal family to the missing transcript of the interrogation at Poitiers to the idioms of Joan and her contemporaries. These are done by presenting the arguments followed by a general sense of what Pernoud thinks of their merits. (Joan was probably not of royal birth.)

The book also includes a useful appendix which includes the original and translations of all Joan's letters still extant, a chronology and maps of her travels and cities that play a large role in her story. Be warned: the chronology is useful but it does contradict the first section of the book, which was very confusing for me, at least. Jeremy Adams includes a helpful preface, which is essentially a reminder of the broad historical context into which Joan put herself.

This is a beautiful book. I think it is designed to be more of an historian's handbook than a general reader's introduction, but somehow the way it unfolds makes for very powerful reading. It is the sort of book you keep for your library because you feel sure you will be returning to it.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE than everything you could think of knowing about Joan, November 12, 2000

By 

A Girl Named Pete (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joan of Arc: Her Story (Paperback)

Seems that some people can churn out biographies with the speed of an A&E documentary: with all the spark of a bag of hammers. I can't think of a word that means super-duper-mega-whumpa-exhaustive to describe all the background information that is included in this book, so I won't even try. All you need to know is that this was written by the foremost scholars of Joan of Arc. Even better is that it is not just Joan's story, but the appendices give full portraits of ALL the players in her drama.. and these people are shown in the context of their place in that time of history. Also included are many transcripts of her "trials." This is not an easy read, but it is a gratifying read, even for those (like me) who are unaccustomed to scholarly works. TAKE THIS HINT: Keep notes of the players as you go along (name, allegiance..), otherwise it will take a lot longer, as you'll keep getting sidetracked flipping to the back to read & reread.