JOAN OF ARC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18765, 19 January 1923, Page 8

JOAN OF ARC

WAS SHE REALLY BURNED? ANOTHER SIDE TO THE STORY. “On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burnt alive in the market place at Rouen.” So say the history books, and so have most of us believed. But was she? There is another side to the story, which by slow degrees has come to light. And a curious and perplexing tale it is (writes Greenbough Smith in “John o' London”). Five years after the Maid, ns it was thought, hod perished in the flames* a young woman of 26, who had been living in obscurity at Metz, issued from her garret and appeared before the elders of the city. Her statement- burst upon them like a bombshell. She announced that she was Joan of Arc! Some of these city fathers had known the Maid in person. Some had beheld her, at the coronation of the King, standing in her glory by the Sovereign’s side, holding the flag of battle in her hand. They were convinced that it was she who stood before them. But to put the matter out of reach of cavil they resolved to send for her two brothers. The elder, Jean, was provost of Vaucouleurs; Pierre, the younger, was a soldier. To Metz they came, and both recognised with instant joy the sister who,

as they believed, had passed from earth to heaven as a martyr. Finally, they called to mind that Joan had carried all her life a small red mark behind her oar. Behind the stranger’s ear the red mark was discovered. It is not easy to imagine how the girl’s own brothers could bo dupes, or why they should be liars. RIDES IN TRIUMPH. The leader of the city elders, Messire Nicole Lowe, the King’s chamberlain, supplied her with a horse; the town go<£ ernor offered her a sword. She proved that she could sit a chargor with the skill of Joan of Arc. And so, with her two brothers, she rode in triumph to Vaucouleurs. Crowds who hod known the Maid of France cheered her to the echo. Like Joan, she wore a man’s attire. Like Joan, she talked continually of her visions and her voices. All the hearers, it is true, were not of one opinion. Some contended that she had taken, by sofcery, the face and figure of the Maid. It was disputed whether an

effigy or a substitute had been bound to the stake, or whether an angel had snatched her from the flames. Bets were made and heads were broken. "While some cried out upon her as a witch, others brought her gifts, as to a saint: To one veritable saint she went, herself, on pilgrimage, and passed a night of vigil and thanksgiving before the snrine of the Black Virgin of Lianco. Among the chief of her supporters was the King himself. Her elder brother took the news to Court. Charles listened to the tidings with belief and gladness, and recompensed the herald with a gift of gold. MORE MIRACLES. At the time there lived at Arloh the Duchess of Luxembourg, a vile old harridan with a devil’s temper, a strong believer in the art of magic She desired to include among her at tendants a person capable of working miracles. Saint or sorceress, it was all one to the cinches.-). She sent for Joun (as we may call her), and took the girl up to her residence within the palace. .Soon strange reports were hoard m the Vicinity. She had torn up a tablecloth, and restored it whole. She had crashed a wineglass into atoms, and had made them hy together with a word. These rumours reached the ears of. the Inquisitor-general of Cologne. Ho charged her to appear before him as a witch, and when she failed to

answer he laid upon her and malediction of the Church. MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN. But bell, book, and candle did her no apparent liarm. A great change was before her While still residing in the palace of the duohess, she fell in love with a young man of noble birth, Robert des Armaises, Lord of Tichemont, ntarried him, and went to live with him at Metz. There in due course, were bora to them two children, boy and girl. The Lady of Tichemont (to give her her now title) still called herself Jeanne, Maid of Franco; and Joan of Arc’s armorial bearings, the sword, the crown, and the lilies appeared above the gateway of her dwelling. The councillors of Orleans, some years before, had given a banquet to the Maid of France. As she was still living, these same eldors saw no reason why they should not hold a second banquet in her fionour. The Lady came, the feast was hold, and she was

presented with a purse of gold, as the deliverer of the town in time of siege. The items of expenditure may still bo read in the account books of the city. That the girloould carry all this off without a slip, without exposure, is, for the experts who believe her on imposter, one of the hardest nuts to crack. Most of them assume that the councillors were fools. But a fool can recognise an old acquaintance as well as Solomon himself. And now she took a step which was to land her in disaster. She set out to visit Paris. But the authorities of the oity took alarm. They feared that the coming of the deliverer of Orleans might stir up a tumult among the rabble of the alleys. A force of men-at-arms was sent to meet her. She was arrested, put on trial, found guilty, compelled to utter a confession, and condemned to take her stand upon a marble slab outside the Palais, on which the worst of malefactors were offered to the gibes and laughter of the mot>. A PRETTY PROBLEM.

This confession may be thought to settle tlio whole case against her. But what weight does it really carry ? It must not be forgotten that, when face to face with death, the Maid herself recanted all her claims, is it wonderful, is it out of character, that, being now a wife and mother, the same person, under the same terror, should recant again? When the victim descended from the pedestal and vanished from the eyes of the spectators, she vanishes from ours as well. No further trace of her has been discovered. Upon her form, upon her after-history, the curtain of the nigiit comes down for ever. Now, who was it who thus vanished from the sight of men, Joan of Arc, or a pretender .' It is a pretty problem, to be sure.