Joan Of Arc - Still Relevant

Joan of Arc died 583 years ago today. She was burned at the stake in Rouen, France. At the time, most people who were burned at the stake were stabbed to death first. Not Joan. Her life was taken in a whirlwind of smoke and flames. It was a rough way to die – to put it bluntly.

Most everyone knows the broad strokes of Joan's story: how she was a peasant girl who claimed saints were telling her to battle the invading English army, how she carried out her mission only to be captured, then betrayed, by those she had saved.

What a lot of people don't know, however, if that Joan actually had a chance to avoid being burned alive. If she would renounce the “voices” of the saints she claimed had spoken to her, her captors promised that she would live. Joan did indeed renounce her voices, but several days later decided it was better to die than to live in denial of what she believed.

And so she left this world and entered history.

I personally think the last part of Joan's story, where she denied what she believed before re-asserting her beliefs in the face of certain death, is the most fascinating. And the most impressive. You don't have to be a Catholic, or religious at all, to be impressed with Joan's tale. You don't even have to be a lover of history.

All you have to do is put yourself in the girl's shoes for a moment (and she was a girl at the time – just nineteen years of age) in order to appreciate what she did. Imagine people telling you that what you believe is evil or insane and then threatening you with death if you don't deny that belief in public. Most of us would probably break under the pressure, just like Joan did. Would most of us find the courage to reassert our beliefs later, however, if we knew for sure it would cost us our lives?

I've been a fan of Joan's for a long time. I've been to France to research her story, have discussed her tale with some notable historians, and have written about her extensively. As time passes, however, I see that her courage is what speaks to us today more than anything else.

In an age where a reputation can literally be destroyed in a Tweet, it's encouraging to know someone out there sacrificed everything in order to stick to her principles. You may not think Joan of Arc is a saint (it's her feast day, by the way). You may not even think she was sane (I, however, think she was emotionally sound). You can't deny, however, that the young woman from eastern France had courage.

And courage is something we can't get enough of in this day and age.