The Chancellor and Jeanne d'Arc: February-July, A. D. 1429

Abstract

THE CHANCELLOR AND JEANNE D'ARC FEBRUARY—JULY, A. D. 1429 Scrutiny, in 1956, of a rare black-letter volume in Latin, printed in 1484 at Cologne, Germany, led to the suspicion that for five centuries the true opinion about Jeanne d'Arc, rendered in March, 1429, by John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, had been hidden from historians. Collation of later editions and study of the sources used by historians ever since, forced the conclusion that a substitution had been contrived in 1429, by the machinations of politicians. These politicians, inimical to Chancellor Gerson and to La Pucelle, were partisans of England and of Burgundy, bent on crowning as King of France, the infant King Henry VI of England. It is, literally, a 'cloak-and-dagger story,' for Gerson, loyal to the cause of Charles VII of France, wrote his opinion in 1429 as an exile in Lyons, threatened with assassination by the Burgundians. Jeanne d'Arc, finally captured by Burgundians, sold to the English, was burned at the stake in Rouen, May 30, 1431. Here follows the story of the Chancellor and the Maid. I The politics of the Fifteenth Century in Europe were as complex in dynastic allegiances as ideological loyalties of the Twentieth.1 Mediaeval government was based on 'the divine right of kingship,' rather than on 'the consent of the governed.' Succession of rule was upheld by force of arms, instead of by self-determination with ballot or plebiscite. Powerpolitics revolved around royal marriages. England, pent in her island, time and again arranged marriages that would unite royal blood-lines for continental alliances. Henry V (1387—1422), dreamed of winning France as preliminary to leading a crusade to build again the walls of Jerusalem. He found the ambitious Duke of Burgundy 1 Ernest Lavisse: Histoire de France, Paris, 1911: IV, pt. 2, p. 8. "We cannot make any of these characters 'the villain' of this historical drama. Take the Duke of Bedford, John of Lancaster. In his own estimation he was a patriot, fighting for 'the divine right of kingship' for the baby king of England, Henry VI." (Tr.) 18 Franciscan Studies, 1957273 274D. G. WA YMAN an eager ally. Burgundy made himself master of Paris and of the insane king, Charles VI (1369—1422) and negotiated the Treaty of Troyes, May 21, 1420, by which Henry V espoused Catherine of France and was recognized as heir to the crown of France. In a matter of months, both Henry V and Charles VI were dead. The French king left an heir, the Dauphin (1403—1461) later Charles VII. The English king also left an heir, the infant Henry VI of England (1421—1471). John Gerson (1363—1431), Chancellor of the University of Paris, opponent of the Burgundian policies, in 1420 was living in exile in Lyons, France, avowed target for assassination. Many University professors were also in exile at Poitiers, France, loyal to Charles VII. In that same year of 1420, Jeanne d'Arc (1412 ?—1431) was a child in Domremy, eight or nine years old, hearing the discussions of her elders over the civil war, complicated by foreign invaders in her country. On the home side was the Armagnac party, those Frenchmen loyal to the house of Valois, ready to risk homes, fortunes and lives to uphold the lineal right of Charles VII as ruler of a unified France. On the opposite side, English men allied with the House of Burgundy, included such historic names as Talbot, the Duke of Bedford and Cardinal Beauvais, uncle to the baby Henry VI. They fought to crown the infant king of France in Notre Dame Cathedral. Ironically, they achieved this only in 1431, after Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen. Catalyst between the opposing parties was Jeanne, born of country stock in Domremy in the province of Lorraine. A World War I Marshall of France, Ferdinand Foch, would hail her five centuries later as "un grand chef de guerre."2 An English university professor would write that "the wonderful mission of the Maid of Orleans taught Frenchmen that France was France and England England,"3 4 The Burgundian and English opinion...