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- [00:00]
Dan Jones
Okay, friends, quick question. Who's your most famous French woman in all of history? Well, Brigitte Bardot is a little too contemporary for my podcast, so why don't we settle on Joan of Arc? In this week's bonus episode, producer Al and I will delve deeper into her backstory and why her David V. Goliath style story continues to endure to this day. You can listen to that episode by subscribing on patreon@patreon.com thisishistory now off to France after this short break.
- [00:42]
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- [01:18]
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- [02:03]
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- [02:04]
Olivia Culpo
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- [02:14]
Dan Jones
The armorer in Chinon Castle works away at the piece of plate armor. Sparks flying up as he flattens a rivet into place. He's making the final adjustments on these pieces of plate, making sure they're going to fit their wearer just so. It's taken a lot of concentration, which is just as well because if he stops to think too hard about what he's doing, he'll probably go a little mad. The armour has been commissioned by the Dauphin of France, Charles, the only surviving son of the mad King Charles vi. But it's not for him. It's to fit a slender frame, the body of a teenager, and not any teenager. The armorer took the measurements for this one and he could hardly believe what he was being asked to do. The wearer is a 17 year old peasant girl. She's illiterate, she has her hair chopped short like a boy. And when he last saw her around the castle, she was wearing a young man's outfit of black doublet and tunic and a black cap. She hardly looks like a warrior. In fact, she looks like a freak. But the armorer has the sense to keep thoughts like that to himself. It's March 1429, and since this girl, Joan from a village called Domremy, showed up to see the dauphin here at Chinon in western France, everyone seems to have bought into her shtick. She's told them that she's been talking to archangels since she was a girl. Apparently these angels have let her know that the Dauphin is the legitimate heir to the French throne and that she's going to help make that a reality. For nearly a hundred years, the French have been at war with the English. Since the late Henry V weighed into that war, the dauphin has been officially disinherited and the English occupy northern France. They've since turned southwest to crush forces loyal to the Dauphin. In their sights is the huge town of Orleans on the river Loire. If the English take that, things start to look really grim. But this Joan girl says they're not going to take it. She says she's going to head down there with the dauphin and make sure of it. She's going to go wearing this armor, a virgin in arms, carrying a flag. It sounds far fetched, but a panel of churchmen have given Joan the thumbs up and respected women have confirmed she's really a virgin. There's an old prophecy of Merlin that predicts this is exactly the kind of person that who will rid France of the English. So sure, it sounds far fetched, but right now the French will take a hero in whatever form he or she comes. If this Joan, Joan of Arcs, you'll come to be known, really is the answer to France's prayers, then the whole of the kingdom will be cheering her on. The English have wreaked havoc across France for generations. But what they don't know is that a French peasant girl is going to turn everything on its head. I'm dan jones and from sony music entertainment. This is history season 9 of a dynasty to die for. Episode 2 joan of arc. There are some figures from history who well and truly count as icons. I'm not just talking about fame or celebrity or even power. There's a special category for those who bring with them some extra special sort of star quality, je ne sais quoi as the French would have it. Who'd make the list? Well, one place to start is with the people Bill and Ted collect in their traveling phone box in Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. Socrates, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan. Joan of Arc definitely gets a seat on the bus. Her career doesn't last long. She doesn't rise up to rule a nation. She doesn't found a religion, she doesn't write a novel or a symphony that changes art forever. What she does do is burst into a war that's been raging for almost a century and apparently single handedly change its whole direction. And she does it while looking very eccentric. She's a gender bending confection of womanly virtue, the virginal teenage girl and masculine tropes, armour, a choppy haircut, lots of blood and thunder. Speechifying Joan grows up in a tiny village in the unfashionable east of France. France. She has no noble connections and no formal education. She just has the power of belief and the certainty that she's been visited in her dreams by heavenly beings, including the warlike Archangel Michael. She is in that sense, a superhero. And as we'll see, she's got the superhero's disregard for her own personal safety when it comes to the cause that she believes in. That's a pretty iconic combination. So it's no surprise that generations of artists and writers have been obsessed with her. By the way, while we're on the topic of historical icons, you can subscribe to our bonus episode to hear me and producer Al go deeper into that subject. Then discuss your favourite historical icon with our royal favourites on patreon. Go to patreon.com thisishistory to listen. For now, let's refresh on what the situation is in the Hundred Years War when Joan comes along. When Henry v died in 1422, it had all been hunky dory. It's time to catch up on just what a difference a few years make. As we heard last episode, with Henry V dead and Henry VI a baby, the role of Regent of France falls to Henry's eldest surviving brother, the John Duke of Bedford. Bedford is a very underrated guy in England's medieval history. He's a sharp, level headed, hyper competent politician. He's extremely cultured, a patron of Artists and writers and a speaker of excellent French, which goes a long way in the war. He's charged with overseeing England's position in northern France is strong. They hold the capital, Paris. Rouen, the Norman capital, Rennes, where French kings are traditionally crowned, and St. Denis, where they're buried. But their possessions are reliant on security from an alliance with Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Philip the Good is on the English side because the Dauphin killed his dad, John the Fearless. Go back and Listen to Season 8, Episode 11 if you want to refresh on that whole bloodbath. John, Duke of Bedford, manages to keep him on side because he's cut from the same cloth as Henry V. In fact, in August 1424, Bedford wins a battle against the French that really deserves to be up there with his brother's victory at Agincourt. It's fought at Verneuil in eastern Normandy, and it's a storming victory for the English, who are outnumbered almost two to one, but end up crushing the life out of the French and their Scottish allies. The battle more or less knocks the Scots out of the French theatre of the war. It also shows that the English can fight and win in more ways than one. Unlike Agincourt or Crecy before it, this is a victory where the archers don't do all the hard work. I've also written episodes on those battles and find links to our episodes on Agincourt and Crecy in the show. Notes. Now back to Verneuil. A whole bunch of French nobles are taken prisoner. English pekkas are well and truly up and it looks like the English Kingdom of France is going to endure. In fact, John, Duke of Bedford, rides into the battle wearing the Red Cross of England and the White Cross of France. France. So this is very much a victory for the dual monarchy. Tenuous as it remains. After Verneuil, Bedford orders a propaganda campaign designed to convince the people of northern France that there's no turning back. He has posters and leaflets plastered all over the region explaining how the English actually have a birthright to the French kingdom. These show a family tree showing that Henry VI is the heir to the throne in two ways. Through his dad, Henry V, he has the Plantagenet claim, which comes from Philip IV through Edward iii. Through his mum, Catherine de Valois, he has the regular French claim, which comes ultimately via Philip vi. These both go back to the most famous French king of the whole, whole Middle Ages. St. Louis IX, crusader relic collector and builder of fine churches. Usually there's a poem that accompanies these crafty little posters, which tells the story in verse. So Bedford is waging a campaign of war, but also looking for hearts and minds. He's doing everything he can to keep the English claim alive until his little nephew Henry VI is old enough to take up arms and lead the charge by himself. The trouble is, the French aren't necessarily buying it. In 1425, a churchman in Reims is hauled over the coals when he's caught ripping one of these family tree posters down from the door of the cathedral where French kings are traditionally crowned. It's a small thing, but it's a sign that the French can be beaten on the battlefield and spoon fed all the propaganda in the world. But they're always going to have a hard time loving English occupation. Like Bonnie Tyler, they're holding out for a hero. So when Joan of Arc comes along in 1429, they're more than ready to embrace.
- [14:12]
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- [14:22]
Brooklyn Adams
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- [14:59]
Dan Jones
The guns blasting the walls of Orleans start booming in in September 1428. They're like a triumphant fanfare for an English military operation that just doesn't seem to stop grinding forward. Since the Battle of Verneuil, the English have extended their rule in France all the way to the River Loire, which marks a rough halfway point of the realm. If they get Orleans, they'll be well on their way to breaking into the South. Except that's easier said than done. Besieging Orleans is a hell of a job. It's a huge riverside city with thick walls, towers and gates. It's going to take a massive offensive, at least on the scale of the siege of Rouen in 1418, to break it. Which is why some people, including John, Duke of Bedford, don't think they should be here at all. The attack is being led by Thomas Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, who's one of the most brilliant generals the English have. But it's the brainchild of King Henry VI's other uncle, the hyper, aggressive Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Gloucester's convinced the Royal Council to sign off on this siege, rather than taking Bedford's advice to pick off easier targets elsewhere on the Loire. But it's hard going. And it becomes even harder going in October 1428, when a stray cannonball shot out of Orleans at the English lines shatters and shrapnel hits Salisbury. It tears off half his face and he lies in agony for a week before he finally dies. This is a huge blow to English morale and things don't get any cheerier as when they have to sit through a plodding, miserable winter siege. Which means that in the spring of 1429, when there's a fanfare on the horizon and a French relieving army comes into view, the English are already feeling a bit wobbly. And when the French then send in a bizarre looking teenage girl dressed in male armor, riding a white horse and waving a white banner, it discombobulates English brains. What scrambles them even more is that there are several thousand troops at her back and a load of priests carrying the sacred sword of Charles Martel, 8th century king of the Franks. Joan charges with her men all around her. At the place where the English siege lines are the thinnest. They manage to punch a hole in the lines and creating enough chaos to get Joan into the city like she herself is an angel. Once she's inside, she sets up in a townhouse and starts directing siege relief operations from inside the town. While the remainder of the French army set about the English from outside, Joan sends the English a Men of England who have no right in this kingdom of France. The King of Heaven orders and commands you through me, Joan the pucelle, that means the maiden, to abandon your strongholds and go back to your own country. Just like Henry V before her, Joan is setting herself up as God's scourge of the unrighteous. And like Henry V, it does the trick. Within 10 days of Joan arriving, the English are fleeing Orleans in disarray. And over the next six weeks, their positions all along the Loire begin collapsing. On June 18, they're smashed at a battle at Patay, losing 2,000 men and all their captains killed. And the French counter attack just keeps on coming. By July, they've managed to drive the English away from Reims, the town where French kings are traditional, traditionally crowned. And on July 16, the Dauphin is brought there with Joan of Arc by his side. He's anointed with holy oil and formally crowned King Charles VII of France. All the English propaganda in the world can't undo the calamity that swept over them in just three months. There's only one desperate throw of the dice they have left. They need a crowned French king of their own. It's time to call for the kid.
- [19:35]
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- [20:05]
Dan Jones
7 year old Henry VI is having a bath in the Tower of London. Now most kids are fond of this evening ritual. A good chance to play with some bubbles and squirt water out of the rubber ducky. But this isn't that sort of bath time. This is a ritual bath as part of the traditional preparation for kingship. Henry is in fact being dubbed a Knight of the Bath and tomorrow he'll parade from the Tower to Westminster Abbey to have a crown put on his head. The next day, do the customary pomp and ceremony. That's what happens. Henry's cheered through the streets of London with lords dressed all in gold around him. Pedro, Prince of Portugal, who ironed out the nastiness between the Duke of Gloucester and the former Chancellor Cardinal Beaufort, has come back to witness the coronation and Henry Chichley, who was the other peacemaker then, conducts the service. The crown that's placed on the young Henry's head is one that was made for Richard ii, the last English king to be crowned as a boy back in 1377. If anyone's thought about whether that's like a good omen, they don't seem to show it. If you want to remind yourself of what a world class omnishambles Richard's reign turned out to be, go back and listen to season seven. But be warned, it's not a pretty story. Of course, if anyone had a choice, they very likely would not be crowning a seven year old boy. But the English at this point don't really have a choice. With the Dauphin now going about as Charles vii, they need to get their own house in order. Henry has to be taken over to France and crowned. If not at Reims, which is back in French hands, then at the next best venue, which is likely to be the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. But before that can Happen he has to be formally crowned and as King of England. So that's why he's here now, being anointed with oil from Thomas Becket's stash, prayed over, cheered by the congregation, the whole nine yards. Then he has to come to the obligatory feast in Westminster Hall. On the menu there are fritters decorated with French fleur de lis to start, tarts dusted with French fleur de lis for the main course, and a table decoration showing Henry presented to the virgin Mary by St. George of England and, yes, St. Denis of France. There's a poem read out while this table decoration is brought into the dining hall. And by the sounds of it, this is right from the writer's room that produced all John, Duke of Bedford's propaganda earlier in the decade. It goes, born by descent and right of title, justly to reign in England and in France. Well, justly is a matter for debate. The big issue is whether Henry can practically rule in either, given his age and the dreadful military situation across the Channel. But there's only one way to find out. On St George's Day, 23rd April, 1430, a massive armed expedition sets out aboard ships which cast off from the Kent ports of Sandwich and Dover. The ships head for the heavily fortified military garrison at Calais. Then what amounts to a mobile royal court disembarks. There are hundreds of noblemen, clergy, servants, clerks, doctors, soldiers, and of course, young Henry's schoolteachers. His mum Catherine comes along too. This huge crowd processes slowly from Calais, across country to Rouen, which is still safely in English hands. But then they have to stay a while. The countryside between Rouen and Paris is a war zone, so to get the young king through, it literally means fighting their way forward. This is such a difficult task that young Henry ends up staying in Rouen for more than a year, going about his lessons and presumably wondering why all the grown ups seem so stressed. It's December 1431, before things in and around Paris are stable enough for the English to stage a second coronation. And in that time, two extraordinary things have happened. The first is that Joan of Arc, the French icon who's inspired them to such a splendid fashion fight back, has been captured and brought to Rouen to be put on trial. And the second is that Henry's widowed mother, Catherine de Valois, has gone back to England. No doubt it's awkward for her, having to be in the country of her birth, where her son is being prepared for coronation to usurp her brother. But there's a bigger reason why Catherine can't hang around to wait for the celebrations. She's pregnant. Join us as we get to the bottom of those two major plot twists next time on this Is History. Surprise. As keen listeners of the show might have gathered, shock pregnancies have featured more than usual here at this Is History of late, but we'll get to that next episode. For now, I have a question for My Royal Favourites. Aside from Joan of Arc, who else gets a ride on the Icons of History bus? Next stop, Patreon. To add your picks to that list. If you want to join our discussion and get all the perks of a Royal Favourites membership, like bonus episodes, exclusive videos and book competitions, subscribe at patreon. Com thisishistory.