Chapter 4 - Joan of Arc

Summary

Joan was the first woman to lead the armies of a major nation to victory. Often compared to the biblical warrior-prophet, Deborah, Joan fought a holy war to expel foreigners from the promised land of her ancestors. Joan’s battle-standard carried the name of Jesus, but Joan’s claim to hear a private divine voice reminds one of Socrates. However, if Socrates’s voice told him only what not to do, Joan’s voice also told her what to do. Joan’s insistence that France be ruled by the French laid the foundation for modern patriotism just as her military exploits laid the foundation for modern France. Her faith in her divine voice led Joan boldly, even recklessly, to confront the kings and priests of her day, leading her to condemnation and execution by both an English king and a French bishop. King Henry killed her as a traitor; Bishop Couchon killed her as a heretic.