Where previous works have concentrated on the religious and feminist aspects of Joan's career, this title addresses the vital issue of what it was that made her the heroine she became. Why did the soldiers of France follow a woman into battle when no troops of the Hundred Years War had done so before, and how was she able to win? The English called her whore, and believed her to be possessed, but her own troops trusted her without any proof of her abilities. And she did have very great abilities - in particular her remarkable prowess as a military leader of men. A new angle on one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of history.

It began with voices -- St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret speaking to an ordinary farmer's daughter. Inspired to aid the future King Charles VII, whose right to the throne had been denied by the English in the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc made her journey clad in male attire. Theologians testified to the veracity of her divine claims, and she was furnished with a host of troops. But how did she achieve the military feats that made her a legend? Stephen W. Richey offers a unique look at this remarkable woman. Joan of Are rapidly matured into a true battle commander who spoke forcefully in war councils, made decisions, and gave orders that were obeyed -- resulting in a stunning series of victories for her army. She achieved this feat by virtue of her unschooled but intuitive genius for war, a charismatic personality that inspired her soldiers to heroic feats, and her ability to exploit a unique set of lucky circumstances. Drawing on eyewitness accounts of Joan's comrades-in-arms and the author's own military experience, Richey goes beyond what Joan did in her amazing career, analyzing how she performed her martial feats. The first study in English to dig deeper into the mechanics of Joan's military career, and the first English treatment by a professional soldier with battle-field experience, this vivid account explores Joan's achievements in winning the loyalty of her men.

In a distinguished English translation, the bestselling French book now considered the standard biography of Joan published just in time for the upcoming film by Luc Besson.

From the author of the acclaimed She-Wolves, the complex, surprising, and engaging story of one of the most remarkable women of the medieval world—as never told before. Helen Castor tells afresh the gripping story of the peasant girl from Domremy who hears voices from God, leads the French army to victory, is burned at the stake for heresy, and eventually becomes a saint. But unlike the traditional narrative, a story already shaped by the knowledge of what Joan would become and told in hindsight, Castor’s Joan of Arc: A History takes us back to fifteenth century France and tells the story forwards. Instead of an icon, she gives us a living, breathing woman confronting the challenges of faith and doubt, a roaring girl who, in fighting the English, was also taking sides in a bloody civil war. We meet this extraordinary girl amid the tumultuous events of her extraordinary world where no one—not Joan herself, nor the people around her—princes, bishops, soldiers, or peasants—knew what would happen next. Adding complexity, depth, and fresh insight into Joan’s life, and placing her actions in the context of the larger political and religious conflicts of fifteenth century France, Joan of Arc: A History is history at its finest and a surprising new portrait of this remarkable woman. Joan of Arc: A History features an 8-page color insert.

This volume of original essays employs the latest tools of historical analysis, literary criticism, and feminist inquiry to reval why Joan of Arc was such an important figure.

“A fresh and provocative biography of La Pucelle . . . her transformation from a naive girl to a strong-willed, bold, and gifted captain of war.”—Frederic J. Baumgartner, author of France in the Sixteenth Century France’s great heroine and England’s great scourge: whether a lunatic, a witch, a religious icon, or a skilled soldier and leader, Joan of Arc’s contemporaries found her as extraordinary and fascinating as the legends that abound about her today. But her life has been so endlessly cast and recast that we have lost sight of the remarkable girl at the heart of it—a teenaged peasant girl who, after claiming to hear voices, convinced the French king to let her lead a disheartened army into battle. In the process she changed the course of European history. In The Virgin Warrior, Larissa Juliet Taylor paints a vivid portrait of Joan as a self-confident, charismatic and supremely determined figure, whose sheer force of will electrified those around her and struck terror into the hearts of the English soldiers and leaders. The drama of Joan’s life is set against a world where visions and witchcraft were real, where saints could appear to peasants, battles and sieges decided the fate of kingdoms and rigged trials could result in burning at the stake. Yet in her short life, Joan emboldened the French soldiers and villagers with her strength and resolve. A difficult, inflexible leader, she defied her accusers and enemies to the end. From her early years to the myths and fantasies that have swelled since her death, Taylor “goes deep into Joan of Arc’s heart and soul and shows us the maiden, the warrior and the heroine” (Kate Williams, New York Times bestselling author)./

An historical biography of fifteenth-century saint and national heroine of France, Joan of Arc, that relies on the letters and testimony given at her trial.