Joan of Arc has long piqued the historical imagination, for it seems impossible that a peasant-maid couldhave led the French army, crowned her king, and then been burned as a heretic, only later to be found a saint. This volume of original essays seeks to shed light on these mysteries, but also to explain why, even in the 20th century, Joan of Arc remains such a potent symbol. Scholars here employ the latest tools of historical analysis, literary criticism, and feminist inquiry to reveal why verterans of her military campaigns found her to have been a remarkable commander; why so many of her contemporaries and near-contemporaries, churchman and poets alike, found it possible to accept the validity of her mission and her voices; why modern politicians and literary and cinematic artists have used her as the symbolic vehicle for their own visions; and why the Catholic Church finally decided to canonize her in 1920. The essays are heavily cross-referenced, and are capped off with a reflective epilogue by R gine Pernoud, long the dean of Joan scholars and former director of the Centre Jeanne d'Arc at Orleans. Also includes maps.

Preface Charles T.Wood 1.Joan of Arc's Sword in the Stone Bonnie Wheeler 2.A Woman as Leader of Men: Joan of Arc's Military Career Kelly DeVries 3.Joan of Arc's Mission and the Lost Record of her Interrogation at Poitiers Charles T.Wood 4.True Lies: Transvestism and Idolatry in the Trial of Joan of Arc Susan Schibanoff 5.Transcription Errors in Texts of Joan of Arc's History Bouzy Olivier 6.Readers of the Lost Arc: Secrecy, Specularity, and Speculation in the Trial of Joan of Arc Steven Weiskopf 7.Joan of Arc and Christine de Pizan: The Symbiosis of the Two Warriors in the Ditie de Jeanne d'Arc Christine McWebb 8.Speaking of Angels: A Fifteenth Century Bishop in Defense of Joan of Arc's Mystical Voices Jane Marie Pinzino 9.Why Joan of Arc Never Became an Amazon Deborah Fraioli 10.Joan of Arc's Last Trial: The Attack of the Devil's Advocates Henry Ansgar Kelly 11.Jeanne Au Cinema Kevin J.Harty 12.The "Joan Phenomenon" and the French Right Nadia Margolis 13.Epilogue: Joan of Arc or the Survival of a People Regine Pernoud