Joan of Arc

Overview

Joan of Arc is the French military-religious figure whose intervention restored momentum to Charles VII before Burgundian forces captured her and transferred her to the English.

Current Profile

The episode places Joan inside Burgundy’s shifting position in the Hundred Years’ War. Her arrival at Chinon, role in relieving Orléans, and support for Charles VII’s coronation challenged the Anglo-Burgundian settlement created after the Treaty of Troyes.

Burgundian troops captured her near Compiègne. Philip the Good later transferred her to the English, whose execution of her is interpreted as an attempt to damage Charles VII’s sacred and political legitimacy.

Key Characteristics

• Religious and military supporter of Charles VII.
• Figure associated with the relief of Orléans and royal coronation.
• Challenge to the legitimacy of the Anglo-Burgundian settlement.
• Captive of Burgundian troops near Compiègne.
• Prisoner transferred to the English and executed for political as well as religious reasons.

Evidence

• French recovery: 131. Burgundy: Europe’s Forgotten Superpower links Joan to Chinon, Orléans, and Charles VII’s coronation.
• Burgundian capture: 131. Burgundy: Europe’s Forgotten Superpower places her seizure near Compiègne in Burgundian hands.
• Transfer and execution: 131. Burgundy: Europe’s Forgotten Superpower describes Philip’s sale of Joan and interprets the English execution as delegitimating Charles.

Qualifications

The chroniclers cited in the episode do not record what passed between Joan and Philip. Van Loo’s suggestion that she confronted him is therefore speculation, while the episode’s economic explanation for her transfer should not be treated as Philip’s only possible motive.

What Changed

• Created Joan’s page around her place in the episode’s Anglo-Burgundian legitimacy struggle.

Relationships

• Hundred Years’ War - conflict in which her intervention altered French momentum.
• Philip the Good - Burgundian duke controlling her fate after capture.
• Burgundy - polity whose troops captured her while allied with England.
• Treaty of Troyes - settlement challenged by her support for Charles VII.
• France - kingdom whose contested crown structures her political significance.