Although the middle ages were a time of violence and uncertainty, one thing scared powerful men more than anything else: a woman out of line. Perhaps a blueprint for this, Joan of Arc challenged every aspect of what it meant to be a medieval woman and defied church authority. Now a saint, Joan continues to be seen as both a martyr and an enigma. Raised a peasant girl in 1400s France, she struck fear into the hearts of men when she persuaded the France king to allow her to lead the French army against English occupiers. Joan claimed to have visions and voices directly from God, along with angels, that directed her. In 1429 Joan accompanied the French army in successfully defeating the English at Orleans, and in a series of victories, the tide of the war changed. Like many women who have made it into the pages of history books, Joan gained the trust of a powerful man. Yet Charles needed Joan because her spiritual purity legitimated his wartime success and coronation. He later abandoned her when she needed him most while in the hands of the English. Unfortunately, Joan’s luck ran out when the English captured her north of Compiègne. Joan’s story ended in tragedy once the English interrogated her in 1431, as documented in The Trial of Joan of Arc, and burned her alive for heretical behavior. Joan’s accusers were most concerned about her communications with the divine and her dressing in men’s clothing, both of which challenged not only church authority but the patriarchal power structure. 

The trial transcripts reveal that Joan’s accusers feared not only a woman communicating with God but one able to outsmart them with her shrewd answers. Joan never gave up too much information to keep them guessing. During her questioning, Joan says, “as for revelations sent from God,” even if they cut off her head, she would “not reveal them” for she “knew from her vision she must keep them secret” (57). Joan keeps God’s larger plan a mystery to investigators, which only encourages their curiosity. Joan’s secrecy makes her seem chosen and privileged with unique information; doing so makes herself valuable. Throughout the trial, Joan insists multiple times that she will withhold information. First, by refusing an oath that would make her swear to tell the whole truth in all matters. She instead says she will only tell the truth concerning her family and “the things she had done after her journey had taken her to France,” but explicitly stating she would not divulge her communication with God. Each day they tried to have Joan swear the full oath to which she replied, defiantly, she had “Taken the oath yesterday, and that ought to be sufficient” (52). Joan did not submit to her accusers in the way they would have hoped a young girl would. Joan was firm in her conviction. The British ask Joan what God wants for their country, asking if she had “a revelation from the voice that the English should come to France” (61). Curiosity about God’s plan concerning affairs of state makes its way into the questioning. Additionally, they question if the voice is “directly from God” (55), which Joan affirms. Joan avoids giving satisfactory answers to dissuade the English from thinking the voice may be partial to their actions. Even though they are curious about what God has to say, they also have the goal of criminalizing Joan’s actions. Throughout the trial, they asked Joan questions meant to entrap her in crimes. They ask her a trick question: “if she knew whether she were in the grace of God” (60). Joan has an expert response: “If I am not, may God put me there; if I am, may He keep me there” (60). Joan would either confess to living in sin if she said no or go against church doctrine by saying she knew she was in God’s grace. Answers like these lead to Joan’s burning for wearing men’s dresses because she is good at avoiding incriminating herself on topics beyond apparent habits. The questioning is a careful dance: affirming her visions while not stepping into a confession that would condemn her. Joan’s ability to “speak” to God is truly unacceptable to religious leaders as they desired a monopoly on communication with God and could not afford to have others spreading alternate messages. 

The secular authorities burned Joan for her resolve not to conform with the gentle feminine stereotype, which destabilized the male gender, as evidenced in their focus on her male clothing. Although she had taken on the male role in leading the French to battle, which upset the English as she defeated them, they have a hyper-focus on her clothing which they believe symbolizes her disregard for Christian teaching and tradition. Joan was initially sentenced to life in prison after she renounced her action, but soon after returned to wearing men’s clothes which led to her execution. In the trial introduction, Joan is described: “This woman, utterly disregarding the the honor due the female sex, throwing off the bridle of modesty and forgetting all feminine decency, wore the disgraceful clothing of men, a shocking and vile monstrosity” (33) Their disgust illustrates how society at the time, and partially still today, has an obsession with keeping women in line through constructs such as clothing and edict. Stepping off this predetermined path can be deadly for a woman. The investigators ask if God told Joan to dress like a man, to which she responds that the clothing is “a small matter, one of the least” (66). To Joan, how she dresses is not important, which is ironic because she is killed for it. The bible creates an idealized woman who should be submissive, and the English want to know why Joan thinks God would tell her to act otherwise. Women, like Joan, challenged this notion to the extreme and unfortunately had to pay the highest price unless they regressed. Although the transcripts are a biased source, one thing is clear: Joan was smart and not backing down. 

The trial of Joan of Arc illustrates how divine connection was a privilege closely guarded by the church, and women’s submission was of paramount concern. Joan challenged society’s expectations on multiple levels by taking on aspects of a male image, paired with spiritual power. Would a man who led an army to victory while alleging God’s blessing have died at the stake? Although Joan was killed for heretical relapse for wearing men’s clothing, her more formidable divine connection was their genuine fear. Her ability to harness her persuasiveness, lead an army and doge questions made Joan a force England’s men feared contending. In hindsight, Joan probably had schizophrenia or a rare epileptic disorder that gave her visions. This spiritual rather than medical inquiry resulted in the death of a young woman who knew she had done nothing wrong, professing so till her end. Her trial was nullified not long after her death, not for the sake of her reputation but because the French monarchy needed her pure image. Joan eventually became a saint, yet the nullification does not change the message that the church sent at that moment: No one else speaks for God, and women dressed as men do not lead armies without paying a high price.