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Regine PERNOUD, _Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses_. Translated by Edward Hyams. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House 1994 (reissue of 1964 original). 287 pp., with index and plates. ISBN: 0-8128-1260-3 (pb).
This book is a biographical monograph by French Joan of Arc specialist Regine Pernoud. She first published it in 1964 and it has remained in print since then. The book opens with a background-setting introduction describing the geopolitical realities of royal succession in France in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, national division through civil war, and the contending forces and their allies. Nine substantial chapters comprise the main text. They cover JoanÕs early years (chapter 1); her vision and quest (chapter 2); her meeting with Dauphin Charles VII and the aftermath (chapter 3); her military campaigns (beginning with the crucial battle that lifted the English/Burgundian siege of Orleans, and concluding with CharlesÕ coronation at Rheims, chapters 4-6); her politico-religious trial of condemnation (ch. 7), her execution by fire (ch. 8); and her posthumous trial of rehabilitation (ch. 9).
The authorÕs narrative method is to present JoanÕs life and the events she inspired and lived through using extracts of testimony from her trials of condemnation and rehabilitation and from other primary sources (examples are: letters, journals and account books). Pernoud proposes on page 8 to Ò...let the historic documents themselves make answerÓ to questions about Joan, what she did and what was done to her. By this method, Joan is made to speak directly to readers. Pernoud, however, does not simply assemble a catalogue of quotations, but adroitly interleaves direct speech with narrative that pairs what is said with cultural interpretation. She thus avoids the problem of leaving untutored readers without indices to the religious, political and military context that imbue JoanÕs story with its fascination. However, Pernoud chose wisely to minimize analysis and to allow the story to unfold primarily from the documents. She invites readers to judge Joan themselves.
Pernoud appends a brief but valuable commentary to each chapter. These commentaries provide more background about events and discuss contentious arguments in the study of JoanÕs life. For example, Pernoud disposes handily of the idea that Joan was an illegitimate daughter of royalty who had been spirited away to safe haven as a child, triumphantly emerging to rescue the nation (pp. 66-9 and thereafter). Pernoud also provides incisive remarks on the provenance, dating and validity of the documentary evidence in these commentaries.
A sample extract from JoanÕs trial of condemnation offers insights into her beliefs and personality (pp. 174-75). Joan responds to interrogator Jean de La Fontaine (March 17, 1431):
La Fontaine: Do you know whether Saints Catherine and Margaret hate the English?
Joan: They love that which God loves and hate that which God hates.
La Fontaine: Does God hate the English?
Joan: Of the love or hate which God has for the English and of what He does to their souls, I know nothing; but well I know that they will be driven out of France, excepting those who will die there, and that God will send victory to the French over the English.
La Fontaine: Was God for the English when their cause was prospering in France?
Joan: I know not if God hated the French, but I believe that it was His will to let them be stricken for their sins if there were sins among them.
La Fontaine: What guarantee and what succour do you expect from God for your wearing of manÕs clothes?
Joan: For the clothes as for the other things I have done, I expect no other recompense than the salvation of my soul.
I do not read French and so cannot comment on the accuracy of Edward HyamsÕ translation. But, he did receive the 1965 Scott-Moncrieff Translation Prize for this work. Hyams rendered the transcripts in a style that unmistakably is not modern English. Antique grammatical constructions abound. These aspects of the translation provide much of the savor in the text.
This book is well worth reading and thinking about. Its special value is that Pernoud presents a view of Joan that personalizes her without analyzing her. Although an authorÕs point of view and the material selected necessarily influence how readers perceive the subject, PernoudÕs method here is more transparent than others she could have chosen. A _Saturday Review_ article stated ÒOne feels closer to Joan in these pages than in any other of the modern biographies...Ó when the book was first published; this quote is from a cover blurb and does not overstate the case. One caveat about reading this volume is necessary. It is that readers untutored in the history of the period will need to consult other sources to understand the times and the importance of what Joan accomplished in life and death.
Last is an idea for two interesting projects. Reading this work together with Carlo GinzburgÕs _The Cheese and the Worms; The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller_ (1992) and Jonathan SpenceÕs _GodÕs Chinese Son; The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan_ (1996) would provide superb material for cross-cultural comparisons of three religious visionaries. Second, these same books would provide material for comparing three anthropological approaches to history by scholars who have mastered their craft.
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First published in the United States in 1966 by Stein and Day.
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