Travel as Mission in the Epic of Joan of Arc

48
Travel as Mission in the Epic of Joan of Arc
Olga I. Togoeva
The epic of Joan of Arc is not a travel in the strict sense of the word.
However, for her contemporaries, the story started with a travel and could have
ended with yet another one. The present paper is dedicated to the analysis of
these two travels.
Not only experts are well familiar with the first travel of Joan of Arc, from
Domrémy to Vaucouleurs and from there to Chinon toward Dauphin Charles. It
actually did happen and was described in the memoirs of travel companions of
Joan of Arc as well as in her testimonies given during the process in 1431 and in
several other sources. However, very little attention has been given to this travel
in research. As compared to the famous rendezvous in Chinon, the travel has not
represented anything significant, apart from facts.1
It seems that at first this travel even did not interest the contemporaries of
Joan of Arc much. In their opinion, there were more significant landmarks in her
epic: the reception in Chinon, the liberation of Orleans, the coronation in Reims,
etc. The travel first appears to have been of some interest regarding its
contribution to the creation of a certain image of the heroine in diplomatic letters
sent from France to foreign rulers in the spring and summer of 1429: particularly
the letter sent by Perceval de Boulainvilliers to Duke Philippe-Marie Visconti of
Milan on June 21, 1429,2 the letter sent by Alain Chartier to an unknown
addressee in July 1429,3 and a report sent by an anonymous Johannite knight to
1 Researchers are primarily interested in establishing the exact date of the departure of Joan of
Arc from Vaucouleurs, her arrival at Chinon and the meeting with Dauphin Charles. For
details, see Vladimir I. Raytses, “‘Svidanie v Chinone.’ Opyt Rekonstrucktsii,” [Rendezvous
in Chinon. Exercise in Reconstruction] Kazus: Invidual’noe i Unikal’noe v Istorii 5
(2003): 42-59; Olga I. Togoeva, “V Plenu u ‘Istoricheskoi Deistvitelnosti’” [In Captivity of
“Historical Reality”], in ibid.: 60-72.
2 “Lettre de Perceval de Boulainvilliers au Duc de Milan Philippe-Marie Visconti,” in Procès
de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Jules-Étienne and Joseph
Quicherat (Paris: Societé de l’Histoire de France, 1849), vol. 5, 114-121.
3 “Lettre d’Alain Chartier à un prince étrange,” in ibid., 131-136.
49
the head of the order in Jerusalem.4 These letters were mere propaganda aimed
at persuading foreign rulers sympathizing for the French dauphin that this odd
woman who had come to the rescue of the king was worth attention and, more
important, trust.
However, the reaction on the appearance of Joan of Arc on the historical
stage is still feebly reflected in the description of her first travel. There are few
words about it in the sources, which usually confine to stating that it took place
on hostile territory.5 The letters certainly wonder how a maiden could pass alone
through the lands occupied by the English and Burgundians, without prejudice
to herself and her travel companions.6 It is a mere statement of a well-known
fact: as Perceval de Boulainvilliers noted, at that moment only the town of
Vaucouleurs “stood by the king.”7
The first descriptions of the travel to Chinon lack any “miraculous” or
“heroic” features which were so intrinsic to the representation of the epic of
Joan of Arc by her contemporaries (apart from “predictions worth amazement,”
mentioned by de Boulainvilliers8). Moreover, there is no mention of this travel
in documents which were intended for domestic use: the treatises by the
theologians Jacques Gelu and Jacques Gerson and the Conclusion written by the
Poitiers theologians. Joan of Arc herself gives only scanty details about her
travel to meet the dauphin in the course of the trial in 1431. She only enumerates
the settlements on her way (from Vaucouleurs to Saint-Urban, thereafter to
Auxerre and Saint-Catherine-de-Fierbois, and finally to Chinon) and mentions
that she travelled without any obstacles.9
The situation changed during the process of rehabilitation of Joan of Arc
in 1456, when the witnesses of her departure from Vaucouleurs and her travel
companions spoke up. The evidence of one of the witnesses, Jean de
4 “Fragment d’une lettre écrite au dos de la précédente,” in ibid., 98-100. Jules Quicherat
established that the letter was written in 1429 but did not give a more precise date.
5 “Lettre de Perceval de Boulainvilliers,” 118: Qui venientes, per medios hostes transierunt,
nulla repulsa interjecta; “Lettre d’Alain Chartier,” 133: Atque per rura, per castra, per
civitates hostiles et media hostium tela … progressa, tandem ubi rex erat advenit.
6 “Fragment d’une lettre,” 100: Puella, habitu pastorali induta, et quasi virili, de mandato Dei
omnipotentis accessit ad regem per diversa formidabilia itinera, sine violentia, illaesa,
illibata, associata cum personis.
7 “Lettre de Perceval de Boulainvilliers,” 118: Vaucolors quae sola in Campaniae partibus
regi fidem servat.
8 Ibid.: Sic egit, et multis praeostensis mirandis, jussit eam nobilibus associatam per vias
conduci ad regem.
9 Procès de condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Pierre Tisset and Yvonne Lanhers (Paris:
Librairie Droz, 1960), vol. 1, 50-51: Associata uno milite, uno scutifero et quatuor famulis,
perrexit ad villam Sancti Urbani et ibi pernoctavit in abbacia. Item dixit quod in illo itinere
transivit per villam Autisiodorensem, et ibi audivit missam in maiori ecclesia …Dixit
ulterius ipsa Iohanna quod ivit ad illum quem dicit regem suum, sine impedimento; et, cum
applicuisset apud villam Sancte Katherine de Fierbois, tunc primo misit ad illum quem dicit
regem suum, deinceps ivit apud villam de Chasteau Chinon in qua ille quem dicit regem
suum erat.
50
Nuillompon, does not touch upon anything else but the travel to Chinon.
According to de Nuillompon it lasted for eleven days and the travellers chose to
follow the road at night in order to avoid the English and Burgundians.10 In the
course of the travel, Jean became convinced of Joan’s vocation, she also
confided to him her mission to save France as well as her first revelations which
had taken place “four or five years ago.”11 He was even more astounded by the
extraordinary piety of Joan of Arc who strove to attend the mass in every
settlement they passed.12 Her words and love of God “inspired” Jean,13 he fully
came to believe in her and even began to fear her. During rare overnight stops he
did not dare to touch her and did not feel any sexual attraction to her, therefore
she seemed pure to him.14 To conclude, Jean de Nuillompon said that he had
always been and always would be deeply convinced that Joan had been sent
from Heaven because she was a “kind, sincere and pious Christian, dignified and
fearful of God.”15
The evidence given by Bertrand de Poulengy completes this emotional
account. It almost does not differ from the evidence of Jean de Nuillompon. The
second fellow traveller of Joan of Arc also gave an account of travelling which
took place usually at night, fear of the Englishmen and Burgundians, the strife of
Joan to attend every possible mass and not being at all sexually attracted to her.
However, de Poulengy emphasises the predictions made by Joan of Arc which,
as he had witnessed himself, all came true without exceptions. Charles VIII
received aid that he was so much in need of16 and he was indeed anointed and
crowned in Reims.17 Finally he heartily received Joan and her companions in
10 Procès en nullité de la condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Pierre Duparc (Paris:
Klincksieck, 1977-1988), vol. 1, 290: Et recedendo a dicta villa de Vallis Colore, propter
timorem Anglicorum et Burgundorum circumcirca iter existentium, eundo versus regem,
ibant aliquando de nocte; et manserunt per viam per spatium undecim dierum, equitando
usque ad dictam villam de Chinon.
11 Ibid.: Et dicta Puella semper eis dicebat quod non timerent, et quod ipsa habebat in
mandatis hoc facere, quia sui fratres de paradiso dicebant sibi ea que habebat agere, et
quod erant jamque quatuor vel quinque anni quod sui fratres de paradiso et Dominus suus,
videlicet Deus, dixerant sibi quod oportebat quod iret ad guerram pro regno Francie
recuperando.
12 Ibid.: Etiam itinerando ipsa libenter missas, ut dicebat, audisset, quia dicebat eis: ‘Si
possemus audire missam, bene faceremus’.
13 Ibid.: Dixit insuper idem testis quod dictis ipsius Puelle multum credebat; et ipsis dictis et
ejusdem amore divino, ut credit, inflammatus erat.
14 Ibid.: Et per suum juramentum dixit quod nunquam habuit voluntatem ad eam, neque
motum carnalem.
15 Ibid.: Dixit iterum idem testis quod, tamdiu quamdiu in ejus comitiva fuit, ipsam bonam,
simplicem, devotam, bonam christianam, bene conditionatam et Deum timentem reperiit.
16 Ibid., 305: Ipsa venerat versus ipsum Robertum ex parte Domini sui, ut ipse mandaret
dalphino quod se bene teneret, et quod non assignaret bellum suis inimicis, quia ejus
Dominus daret sibi succursum infra medium quadragesime.
17 Ibid.: Dicendo quod invitis inimicis ejusdem dalphini fieret rex.
51
Chinon, as the maiden had promised.18 As Bertrand de Poulengy was fully
convinced, there was “nothing malicious” about her and she was “almost a
saint” (sicut fuisset sancta).19
The memoirs of companions of Joan of Arc are interesting and extremely
illustrative. They are not only a description of an eleven-day travel. To a certain
extent, they are stories of the becoming of a hero, similar to the protagonist of a
chivalric romance, for whom travel was one of the main elements of life. If the
account of Joan of Arc places her travel from Vaucoulers to Chinon in pointwise
space, in the accounts of her fellow travelers the space is linear. The
linearity of space, as Andrei Michailov has pointed out, is a characteristic trait of
medieval literature.20 At the same time it is associated with a well defined idea
of the righteous path in moral, as well as in direct physical sense.21
One of the witnesses at the trial of rehabilitation of Joan of Arc, Henri le
Royé, who hosted Joan of Arc in Vaucouleurs gave an account of his
conversation with the maiden before she left for Chinon: “I asked her whether
she was afraid of travelling across the hostile ground. She answered she was not
afraid as her path had been predestined and God would shine her path, as she
had been born in order to accomplish this mission.”22 Twenty years later,
Thomas Basin described the journey of Joan of Arc to Chinon in almost the
same terms in the official History of Charles VII and Louis IX.23
The fact that we have a saint before us, even not canonized officially, but
perceived as a saint by the French themselves is proved by concrete details
found in evidences of witnesses at the process of rehabilitation of Joan of Arc.
18 Ibid., 306: Dixit etiam ipse testis quod ipsi manserunt per undecim dies per iter, eundo
usque ad regem, tunc dalphinum, et eundo habuerunt multa dubia; sed dicta Johanna
semper dicebat eis quod non timerent, quia, ipsis perventis ad villam de Chinon, nobilis
dalphinus faceret eis bonum vultum.
19 Ibid., 307: Nec unquam in ipsa vidit aliquod malum, sed semper fuit bona filia sicut fuisset
sancta.
20 Andrei D. Michailov, Frantsuzskiy Rytsarskiy Roman i Voprosy Tipologii Ganra v
Srednevekovoy Literature [The French chivalric romance and the typology of questions of
genre in medieval literature] (Мoscow: Nauka, 1976), 173-80.
21 Ibid., 180; Yuri M. Lotman, “O Poniatii Geograficheskogo Prostranstva v Russkih
Srednevekovyh Tekstah,” [On the notion of geographic space in Russian medieval texts]
Trudy po Znakovym Sistemam 2 (1965): 210-1.
22 Procès en nullité de la condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, vol. 1, 299-300: Dixit etiam quod,
dum ipsa voluit recedere, dicebatur sibi quomodo recederet, propter armatos
circumstantes; que respondebat quod non timebat armatos, quia habebat viam suam
expeditam; quia, si armati essent per viam, habebat Deum, dominum suum, qui sibi faceret
viam ad eundum juxta dominum dalphinum, et quod erat nata ad hoc faciendum.
23 Thomas Basin, Histoire de Charles VII et Louis XI, ed. Charles Samaran (Paris: Les Belles
Lettres, 1964), vol. 1, 128: Et, ut verisimile credi potest, signum aliquod sue missionis
dedisset, eum ad assenciendum et ea que poscebat adimplendum adduxit. Unde ipse,
paratis ad proficiscendum equis ac famulis ceterisque necessariis que suo convenirent
statui, eam … ad Karolem regem Turonum usque perduxit.” The mentioning of Tours as
the final destination of Joan of Arc was, of course, a mistake of the author.
52
In his story, Jean de Nuillompon enumerated various characteristic traits of a
“real” saint as perceived by people of the Middle Ages24: Joan of Arc, in his
words, was extremely pious, experienced revelations, never cursed, eagerly
fasted, was fond of masses, often gave confessions and distributed charities.25
She had that special “purity” of sanctity which killed any sexual attraction. And
finally, all her predictions, as Bertrand de Poulengy stressed, came true.
The perception of Joan of Arc as “almost a saint” and her travel to Chinon
as a missionary was reiterated in the sources of the second half of the fifteenth
century under the influence of the rehabilitation process of 1456. The
anonymous Journal du siège d’Orléans almost entirely reproduced the evidences
of travel companions of Joan of Arc. It talks about “enormous and horrible
rivers,” which they had to cross, “most dangerous passages” between towns and
villages belonging to the English, subjected to “endless fires and destruction,”
about their “immense surprise”, when they finally reached Chinon in its entirety
and perfect condition, as was promised by the Maid of Heaven, and about their
gratitude to God for his mercy.26 A similar exulted response is found in the
Chronique de la Pucelle, which replicates a large part of the Journal du siège
d’Orléans. One of the discoveries of the author of the Chronique de la Pucelle is
the introduction of direct speech for a special dramatic effect: “In the name of
the Lord, take me to the noble Dauphin and do not be afraid of obstacles [on this
way].”27
The description of the travel to Chinon is most striking in the Mistère du
siège d’Orleans. The story begins with the main characters of the travel,
Bertrand de Poulengy and Jean de Nuillompon, refusing to accompany Joan of
24 For instance, see Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints and Society. Christendom,
1000-1700 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 283-5.
25 Procès en nullité de la condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, vol. 1, 291: Dixit insuper ipse testis
quod ipsa Puella libenter missas audiebat, prout vidit, sepe confitebatur, libenter dabat
elemosynas; et dixit testis quod multotiens sibi pecunias ad dandum pro Deo concessit.
26 Journal du siège d’Orléans, 1428-1429. Augmenté par plusieurs documents notamment des
comptes de ville, 1429-1431, ed. Paul Charpentier and Charles Cuissard (Orléans: H.
Herluison, 1896), 46: Environ ces jours arriva dedans Chinon Jehanne la Pucelle et ceulx
qui la conduisoient, fort esmerveillez commant ilz estoient peu arriver sauvement, veuz les
perilleux passaiges qu’ilz avoyent trouvez, les dangereuses et grosses rivières que ilz
avoyent passées à gué, et le grant chemin qu’il leur avoit convenu faire, au long duquel
avoyent passé par plusieurs villes et villaiges tenans le party Angloys…esquelles se
faisoient unnumerables maulx et pilleries. Par quoy lors louèrent Nostre Seigneur de la
gràce qu’il leur avoit faicte, ainsi que leur avoit promis la Pucelle par avant.
27 “Chronique de la Pucelle,” in Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc,
ed. Jules-Étienne and Joseph Quicherat, vol. 4, 20: Lesquels en feirent grand difficulté, et
non sans cause; car il failloit qu’ils passassent par les dangers et périls des ennemis.
Ladicte Jeanne congneut bien la crainte et doubte qu’ils faisoient; si leur dist: “En nom
Dieu, menez-moi devers le gentil daulphin, et ne faicte doubte, que vous ne moy n’aurons
aucun empeschement.
53
Arc on her journey and disregarding it as a “mere insanity.”28 Under the
influence of the maiden who promised that the journey will be entirely safe,29
they finally agreed to depart with her although not completely believing her and
thinking that it would be miraculous if they managed to accomplish it.30 The
miracle indeed happened: the travellers arrived in Chinon, met Dauphin Charles
and described their journey to him as an “incredible enterprise” which they had
not believed in.31 At this very meeting they revealed their own perception of
Joan of Arc which was almost entirely based on the evidences of her travel
companions given during the rehabilitation process. They presented her as a
good, just, dignified, outstanding person, given the gift of predictions,32 as well
as a reasonable, wise, wonderfully educated maiden33 and overall “the kindness
itself.”34
Thus, by the end of the fifteenth century, the brief and at first not
significant description of the first travel of Joan of Arc was entirely transformed.
The amazement at the luck of the heroine on her dangerous journey gave way to
the admiration for the truly “miraculous” travel. The point-wise space of the
travel based on the enumeration of all the settlements on the way to Chinon
transformed into linear space, which, according to the genre, was much more
appropriate to a hero. Finally, Joan of Arc being unknown grew into a “saint,”
who had come from the boarders of the inhabited world into the centre of the E
Ecumene in order to accomplish her mission.
***
In a similar fashion wrote the authors who attempted to predict the future
of Joan of Arc and speculated on her position after she was to accomplish her
mission in France and expel the English.
28 Le Mistere du siege d’Orleans, ed. Vicki L. Hamblin (Geneva: Droz, 2002), v. 9149-9150:
Capitaine, c’est grant folye / de voloir cecy entreprandre.
29 Ibid., v. 9157-9160: Enffans, n’ayez de riens soussy. / En nom Dieu, nous eschapperons, / je
le vous promés tout ainsi, / n’empeschement ne trouverrons.
30 Ibid., v. 9161-9162: Je m’en esmerveilleray dont, / et ne puis pas bien cecy croire.
31 Ibid., v. 9881-9890: Ne en ma vie je ne pensoie / arriver sans empeschement, / et avons
trouvé plaine voye; / tousjours Anglois, incessament, / mais onques ne se sont offers / de
nous faire nul desplaisir, / par passaiges, ports et travers / du tout, nous en sommes sailliez
/ de tout mal et de tous perilz, / qui est une chose impossible.
32 Ibid., v. 9725-9732: Des nouvelles je vous viens dire, / que une pucelle amenons, / juste et
bonne, tres chier sire, / et de certain nous le creons, / que en elle trouvé avons / toute
parolle veritable, / dont en elle nous esperons / qu’elle soit tres digne et notable.
33 Ibid., v. 9865-9867: Mes est si prudente et si saige, / nous a convenu l’amener, / par son
beau parler et langaige.
34 Ibid., v. 9907-9908: En elle toute bonté est, / autre chose n’en pourroies dire.
54
The letter of an unknown Italian humanist, which was relatively recently
published by Patrick Gilli,35 is central among the works which brought up this
topic.36 It was long believed that it had been written by one of the most
influential Venetian patricians of the first half of the fifteenth century, Francesco
Barbaro.37 The detailed research undertaken by the French historian allows to
reject this hypothesis.
Doubts regarding the authorship arose first of all because the person who
had left us this highly interesting evidence of the first months of the epic of Joan
of Arc was extremely well familiar with the political situation in France in the
1420s. His great knowledge indicated that he not only very often visited the
country, but even lived there. However, it is known that Francesco Barbaro,
being one of the most active Venetian politicians of his times, had never left
Italy or been to France.38 Moreover, unlike the author of the letter, he only
expressed indifference to French political problems in his letters which were
proved to be authentic.39 It is also significant that the author of the letter who
described the relations between the Italian rulers and the French royal court did
not mention the native city of Barabaro, Venice, at all. Taking into consideration
all these issues, Patrick Gilli argued that the famous Italian humanist and
political figure cannot be regarded as a possible author of the letter.40
This circumstance, however, does not prevent us from dating the letter,
and in a very precise manner. Beyond all doubts, it was written already after the
relief of Orleans on May 8, 1429 and the subsequent “week of victories” in the
Loire Valley, when the French, with the help of Joan of Arc, “miraculously”
35 For more information, see: Olga I. Togoeva, “Zhanna d’Ark i Ee Korol’” [Joan of Arc and
her king], in Vlast’, Obshestvo i Individ v Srednevekovoi Evrope ed. Nina A. Hachaturian
(Moscow: Nauka, 2008), 381-97.
36 The letter is listed in the collection of works of different Italian humanists from the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. These separate writings were united in a single codex in the
seventeenth century. The codex is now kept in the Vatican Library (Vat. lat. 6898). The
letter, we are interested in, was written in the fifteenth century, as the paleographical
analysis shows: Patrick Gilli, “L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc d’après un document italien
contemporain: édition et traduction de la lettre du pseudo-Barbaro,” Bulletin de
l’Association des amis du Centre Jeanne d’Arc 20 (1996): 4-26; idem, “Une lettre inédite
sur Jeanne d’Arc (1429) faussement attribuée à Francesco Barbaro, humaniste vénitien,”
L’Annuaire – Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de France 1997: 53-73.
37 About him: Margaret King, Umanesimo e patriziato a Venezia nel Quattrocento (Rome: II
Veltro Editrice, 1989), vol. 2, 138-44, 462-5.
38 Ibid., 463.
39 All the letters of Francesco Barbaro were published already in the eighteenth century:
Francesco Barbaro, Diatriba praeliminaris in duas partes divisa ad Francisci Barbari
epistolas et aliorum ad ipsum epistolae ab anno Christi 1425 ad annum 1453, ed. Angelo
Maria Querini (Brescia, 1743), 2 vols.; annotated publication: Francesco Barbaro, Epistolario,
ed. Claudio Griggio, 2 vols. (Florence: Olschki, 1991 and 1999).
40 Gilli, Une lettre inédite, 55-6.
55
turned from steady losers into winners.41 The mentioning of the coronation,
which took place on July 17, 1429 in Reims,42 indicates that the letter was
composed already in the second half of the summer or, possibly, in the very
beginning of the autumn of 1429, which marked the start of the peace
negotiations between King Charles VII and Duke Philip the Fair of Burgundy,
who was advised by the author of the letter to forget his past offences and
acknowledge his lawful lord.43 It is also possible that the letter was written
before September 8, 1429, when the royal troops led by Joan of Arc failed to
storm Paris, because it contains no indications to this event and only urges its
citizens to obey their sovereign.44
We will return to the exact dating of the letter later, but meanwhile let us
turn to its content, particularly to the part, where the unknown Italian author
talks about the predictions made by Joan of Arc, which she was going to fulfill.
Pseudo-Barbaro mentioned only three aims and only one of them, the “least”
one, the coronation of Dauphin Charles following the expulsion of the English,
concerned France.45 The other two objectives are very different from the
traditional set of Joan’s predictions mentioned by Count Dunois at the
rehabilitation process in 1456, which were the liberation of Orleans, the
coronation of Charles VII, the release of the duke of Orleans from captivity, and
the relief of Paris and France.46 Pseudo-Barbaro was much more interested in the
aftermath. He was convinced that the future of Joan of Arc was supposed to be
connected with more global problems, such as the elimination of the Schism and
a new crusade.
Pseudo-Barbaro expected Joan to travel to the East with the king, reach
India, create a single universal empire headed by Charles, and all the peoples
41 Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 13: Quam vero id pulchrum ac speciosum cernere, quam
modo pium ac sanctum mente contemplari puellam ante viros in armatos hostes vadentem.
Hique Britani fortissimi multa hominum milia paucis occurebant quibus item rebus
accidebat, quod hi per tot annos omnibus preliis victores Galli victi fuerant, nec iam aut
animus aut vitus ad vincendum supererat, nisi quantum spei presens femela plusquam virili
et audacia preferebat.
42 Ibid.: Nec putes regiam coronam capiti vel thesauris vel delitiis, sed fide et iustitia pietate
convenire et memineris nihil plus Regi quam regiam licentiam obesse.
43 Ibid., 15: Te quoque, o Phylippe, pro familiari illa necessi[tudine]…simul ac gentis instituto
decet, si quid…parandum sit, veluti rem nepotum…gubernasti. Sic nunc quibus maxime
potes auxiliis iuvare, ut in patrium ius ac dignitatem redeant.
44 Ibid., 16: Excipite Parisii Regem vestrum omnem in uno avorum gloriam et dignitatem
perspicite, cumulate liliis beatam hanc aulam stipate omnem domum floribus quippe non
tam regio decore et quam celesti splendore illustrem.
45 Ibid., 14-5: Ut fama est, Virgo ipsa e tribus que sunt illi divinitis constituta hoc primum ac
minimum dicit pulsis Britanis, Carolum in avito regno collocari.
46 For more information, see: Olga I. Togoeva, “Ispolnenie Prorochestv: Vethozavetnye Geroi
Stoletnei Voiny,” (The Fulfillness of the prophecies: Old Testament heroes in the Hundred
Years War), in Kazus: Invidual’noe i Unikal’noe v Istorii 7 (2005): 88-106.
56
were to obey him.47 This travel was supposed to be a crusade, because Joan
would have to convert pagans to the true faith and save the Christian shrines in
Asia.48 In view of the Italian author, the creation of an empire and a successful
crusade would significantly improve the Church’s position and make it stronger
when it submitted to a “single scepter”, that is, overcome the Schism.49 At last,
all these efforts would significantly influence the state of affairs in Italy, to be
relieved from misfortunes and returned to its former power with the help of
Joan. The author laid great hopes into the heroine: “Only you can help us.”50 We
see a mythic and seemingly ungrounded account of the second travel of Joan of
Arc, her second mission aimed at the salvation of the entire world.
This travel, as we know, had never taken place. Its detailed description
was the phantom of imagination of an unknown author and thus has not attracted
the attention of researches yet. And still, this passage is of great interest.
To begin with, the unusual perspective of the Italian author on political
history, his interpretation of the role of France and specifically the French king
in the destiny of the Christian world is of great curiosity. The ongoing
confrontation between various Italian states, their preoccupation with strictly
internal problems and the extremely unstable position of the French king
significantly influenced the topics of writings by Italian humanists of the first
half of the fifteenth century. The idea of establishing close relations with France
and especially creating a world empire headed by Charles VII was entirely
foreign to them. In the light of a recent conflict between Milan and France,
which continuously blamed each other for attracting France’s allies, such case
scenario was doomed to fail.51
However, one should not forget that the author of the letter most probably
lived in France and not in Italy, when he composed his letter and much before
that as well. And it is very possible that he took the idea of a new crusade from
the contemporary French political culture. This hypothesis can be indirectly
confirmed by the fact that Pseudo-Barbaro was not the only foreigner living in
47 Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 15: Quantum vero idest, o virgo, quod secundum te ac
tertium facturam dicis maius quidem Francorum regno maius omnis Gallia maius omni
gente. Tunc ab Oceano ad Indos unius imperii regimen constitues quicquid est gentium
unius hominis arbitrio, aut alicuius rei publice legibus subiugabis… Denique novam imperii
sedem, primumque aliquod rerum caput instituis.
48 Ibid.: Forsan istos massagetas, quorum iugum patimur ad fidem, iam dudum heu tot malis
nostris ac probris desertam revocabis, aut in Asiarios revoluta beata et illa nostre salutis
monimenta ad pacem ac libertatem restitues.
49 Ibid.: An haec quam cernimus Romane Ecclesie potestas communi sceptro latius
regnatura?
50 Ibid., 15-6: Italia antiquis viribus reparanda est…Sola es que tanto malo mediri potes.
Equidem spero fore apud nos praecipuam tue potestatis, curam ut ferme Italiam hodie in
suis malis natantem miserata restaures.
51 For more information, see Patrick Gilli, Au miroir de l’humanisme. Les représentations de
la France dans la culture savante italienne à la fin du Moyen Age (Rome: École Française
de Rome, 1997), 170-75, 225-40.
57
the territory of France and expressing similar thoughts; not even the only Italian.
A Venetian merchant, Giovanni da Molino, on June 12, 1429, wrote from
Avignon in one of his letters which were published in the Chronicle of Antonio
Morosini that, according to his information, the coronation of Dauphin Charles
was to take place in the nearest future in Rome, which meant that he was to be
crowned as emperor.52 At the same time, a letter written by Antonio da Molino
on June 30, talks about “gifts” which God presented to the king via Joan of Arc,
meaning the coronation, return of the kingdom and promise of a greater gift –
the conquest of the Holy Land.53
The idea of a new crusade was widely discussed in French society in the
1380-1390s.54 It was expounded in the famous L’Arbre des Batailles written by
Honoré Bovet55 in 1386-1389. He supported wars against the Saracens, called
for a papal bull in order to launch a new crusade to the East and acknowledged
the legal right of the king of Jerusalem to fight for his possessions. Although he
preferred missionary work among Saracens to open military actions,56 not all of
his contemporaries shared his views.57 Thus, Philippe de Mézièrs in L’Epistre
lamentable et consolatoire (1397) addressed to the duke of Burgundy, the kings
of France and England as well as all good Christians, openly pleaded for a new
crusade and expressed his own views on the organization of the army, which
was to help them to win. He urged the European monarchs to revenge for the
disgrace and humiliation which the Christian faith had been subjected to58 and
52 Chronique d’Antonio Morosini. Extraits relatifs à l’histoire de France, ed. Germain
Lefèvre-Pontalis and Léon Dorez (Paris: Librarie Renouard, 1898-1902), vol. 3 (1429-
1433), 64-6: E dapuo questa damixela aver dito [a miser] lo Dolfin vole andar a Roma per
farlo incoronar de la so corona de tuta Franza.
53 Ibid., 82: La glorioxa damixela a promeso a dar al Dolfin, [apreso] de donarli la corona de
Franza, uno dono che valerà plu del reame de Franza, et apreso declararli de darly la
conquista de la Tere sancte.
54 For example, see Aziz Suryal Atiya, The Crusade of Nicopolis (New York: AMS Press,
1978), 119-25; Paul Rousset, Histoire d’une idéologie. La Croisade (Lausanne: Editions
d’Age d’Homme, 1983), 107-9, 131-3.
55 For a long time, the name of the author was being written as Bonet, but recent studies have
shown that Bovet is a more accurate writing: Sylvie Lefèvre, “Honoré Bovet (ou Bouvet),”
in Dictionnaire des lettres françaises. Le Moyen Age, ed. Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel
Zink (Paris: Fayard, 1992), 685-6.
56 On the perception of the crusade as “war for peace” in 1200-1400, see Rousset, Histoire
d’une idéologie. La Croisade, 111-127.
57 For more information, see: Philippe Contamine, “L’idée de guerre à la fin du Moyen Age,
aspects juridiques et éthiques,” in Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 123/1 (1979): 70-86; Reinhilt Richter, “La tradition de l’Arbre
des Batailles par Honoré Bonet,” Romanica Vulgaria 82 (1983): 129-41.
58 Philippe de Mézières, “L’Epistre lamentable et consolatoire,” in OEuvres de Froissart, ed.
Kervyn de Lettenhove (Brussels: Victor Devaux, 1872), vol. 16, 456-457: Et ce soit dit pour
démonstrer, mon très-amé seigneur, que vostre plaie et douleur doit estre commune
singulièrement aux roys, aux princes et à toute la crestienté et que vous avés assés de
58
held up Charlemagne, Louis the Fat and Saint Louis as examples.59 Eustache
Deschamps expressed similar ideas and wrote in 1395:
Princes mondain, je vous require et proy
Que vous m’aidiez les Sarrasins conquerre;
Je suis la loy, soiez avecques moy
Pour conquerir de cuer la Saincte Terre.60
The idea of a new crusade was also supported by oral tradition, adopted from
Byzantium and very well known in Europe, especially by the Sybillian
prophecies.61 Prophecies invoked the last Golden Age of Christendom united
under the power of the emperor. In other ages, King Arthur, Charlemagne and
Frederick Barbarossa were seen as the last emperors of the Golden Age. In the
thirteenth century, with the weakening of the empire, the French kings began to
compete for this role.62 Already in the reign of Philip IV the Fair who nursed
plans of organizing a world crusade, Pierre Dubois in his treatise De
recuperatione Terrae sanctae, written in 1306, described in detail the possibility
of electing the French king as emperor. It was Dubois, who was first to claim
that the Sybillian prophecy was the prophecy about the second Charlemagne,
who was to conquer the Holy Land, unite all peoples under his rule and govern
them from his new capital Jerusalem.63
The issue of a crusade was also vividly discussed at the court of King
Charles VI. The French visionaries Marie d’Avignon and Constance de
Rabastens called upon Charles VI to travel to the East and put an end to the
compaignie pour vengier la honte commune et réparer tout ce qui se pourra amender:
laquelle chose tout bon crestien doit désirer.
59 Ibid., 458-459: Mon très-doulx seigneur, il te souviengne de la prouesce en Dieu de tes
prédécesseurs, c’est-assavoir de très-preu saint Charlemaingne, de très-vaillant Loys le
Gros et du très-vaillant saint Loys. More on Philippe de Mézières and his crusading theory:
Nicolae Iorga, Philippe de Mézières et la croisade au XIVe siècle (Paris: Librairie Émile
Bouillon, 1896).
60 Eustache Deschamps, OEuvres complètes de Eustache Deschamps, ed. Auguste HenryÉdouard
de Queux de Saint-Hilaire (Paris: Firmin Didot & cie, 1878), vol. 1, balade XLIX,
138-9.
61 For more details, see Marjorie Reeves, Joachim of Fiore and the Prophetic Future. A
Medieval Study in Historical Thinking (Guildford, Surrey: Sutton, 1999), 59-60, 63, 66-72;
Olivier Bouzy, “Prédiction ou récupération, les prophéties autour de Jeanne d’Arc dans les
premiers mois de l’année 1429,” Bulletin de l’Association des amis du Centre Jeanne d’Arc
14 (1991): 39-47.
62 Gaston Zeller, “Les rois de France candidats à l’Empire. Essai sur l’idéologie impériale en
France,” in Gaston Zeller, Aspects de la politique française sous l’Ancien Regime (Paris:
Presses universitaires de France, 1964), 12-89.
63 Charles Samaran, “Projets français de croisade de Philippe le Bel à Philippe de Valois,”
Histoire littéraire de la France 41 (1981) 33-74; Sylvia Schein, “The Future ‘Regnum
Hierusalem.’ A Chapter in Medieval State Planning,” Journal of Medieval History 10
(1984): 704-17.
59
Schism.64 Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who visited Western Europe in 1399
and 1400 and was supported by Boniface IX, directly asked Charles VI for
assistance in organizing a crusade, but did not receive the necessary aid.65 It is
believed that the deterioration of the political situation in the beginning of the
fifteenth century reduced the discussion of the idea of a crusade almost to
nothing in France at that time.66 And yet it was not entirely forgotten, which is
demonstrated by the works of Christine de Pizan who is of special significance
to us.
***
The problem of salvation and preservation of Christian faith always
appeared in political writings of this French writer.67 Already in Le Livre des
fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V (1404) Christine claimed that the
French kings were particularly responsible for the order within the Church and
that Charles V did everything to eliminate the Schism and restore mutual peace
among Christians.68 When she described the visit of the Roman Emperor
Charles IV to Paris she noted that a play on the siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of
Bouillon performed in front of the emperor and the king was meant to set a good
example to them.69 However, most probably the last work of Christine de Pizan,
64 André Vauchez, “Jeanne d’Arc et le prophétisme féminin des XIVe et XVe siècles,” in
Jeanne d’Arc. Une époque, un rayonnement, ed. Régine Pernoud (Paris: CNRS, 1982), 159-
68.
65 For more information, see: Aziz Suryal Atiya, The Crusade of Nicopolis, 119-20.
66 Ibid., 121; Patrick Gilli, Au miroir de l’humanisme, 170.
67 More on this: Raymond Thomassy, Essai sur les écrits politiques de Christine de Pisan
(Paris: Debécourt, 1838), XXV-XXXIV; Claude Gauvard, “Christine de Pisan a-t-elle eu
une pensée politique?” Revue historique 250/2 (1973): 417-30; Philippe Contamine, “La
théologie de la guerre à la fin du Moyen Age: la Guerre de Cent Ans fut-elle une guerre
juste?” in Jeanne d’Arc. Une époque, un rayonnement, 9-21.
68 Christine de Pizan, “Le Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V,” in Nouvelle
collection des mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de France depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu’à la
fin du XVIIIe , ed. Joseph F. Michaud and Jean-Joseph F. Poujoulat (Paris: Guyot frères,
1836), vol. 2, 129: Des Crestiens, lesquelz doivent estre tous soubz une mere saincte
Esglise…véant, le bon prince, que il ne povoit tout le monde de ceste chose appaisier,
désirant le bien et la paix universelle de toute crestienté, ains qu’il trespassast, avoit
délibéré…que il feroit tant vers les princes de crestienté, que conseil général de tous les
prélas seroit assemblé, aucune part, à certain jour.
69 Ibid., 110: Deux entremés y ot: l’un, comme Godefroy de Buillon conquist Jherusalem,
laquelle histoire ramentevoir estoit pertinent pour exemples donner à telz princes.
Apparently, Philippe de Mézières, an active champion of the crusading idea, was the first to
elaborate this perspective: Sylvie Lefèvre, “Philippe de Mézières,” in Dictionnaire des
lettres françaises. Le Moyen Age, 1144-6.
60
Ditié de Jean d’Arc is of much greater interest to us in regard to the elaboration
of the crusading idea.70
Just like her predecessors, Christine linked the elimination of the Schism
in the Church with a campaign in the East, which was to be organized by the
King of France in order to defeat the unbelievers, heretics, and Saracens.71
According to Christine de Pizan, Joan of Arc was to lead the king to the Holy
Land, which he was to conquer, and together they would find their glory.72 The
author was also very familiar with the idea of a unified Christian empire. In
Ditié she reproduced the prophecy about the second Charlemagne, “Charles, the
son of Charles,” who was supposed to become the “great lord of kings” and
“emperor.”73
It appears that it was the famous letter of Joan of Arc addressed to the
English and their allies, and dispatched from Poitiers on March 22, 1429, which
dictated the inclusion of the crusading theme in Ditié. The message seems to
allude to the possibility of organizing a joint Franco-Burgundian military
campaign against the infidels. Joan urged the Duke of Burgundy to stop resisting
and promised him that, if he showed good sense, he could unite with her and all
the French and accomplish the best deed which had ever happened in the
Christian world.74
70 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty
(Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, 1977).
71 Ibid., v. 329-33: En Christianté et l’Eglise / Sera par elle mis concorde. / Les mescreans
dont on devise, / Et les herites de vie orde / Destruira.
72 Ibid., v. 337-43: Des Sarradins fera essart, / En conquerant la Saintte Terre, / Là menra
Charles, que Dieu gard! / …Et l’un et l’autre gloire acquerre.
73 Ibid., v. 121-8: Car ung roy de France doit estre / Charles, filz de Charles, nommé, / Qui
sur tous rois sera grant maistre. / Propheciez l’ont surnommé / ‘Le Cerf Volant’, et
consomé / Sera par cellui conquereur / Maint fait (Dieu l’a à ce somé), / Et en fin doit estre
empereur.
74 “Lettre de la Pucelle aux Anglais,” in Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de
Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Jules-Étienne-Joseph Quicherat, 97-8: Duc de Bethfort, la Pucelle vous
prie et vous requiert que vous ne vous faictes pas destruire. Se vous faictes rayson, encore
pourrez venir en sa compaignie toù que les François feront le plus biau fait qui oncques fut
fait pour la crestienté. The American historian Kelly DeVries was the first to comment on
the allusion to the crusade found in the letter of Joan of Arc to the English: Kelly DeVries,
“Joan of Arc’s Call to Crusade,” in Joan of Arc and Spirituality, ed. Ann Astell and
Bonnie Wheeler (New-York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 111-26. However, her suggestion
that this idea was already quite explicitly expressed in the letter of Joan addressed to the
Duke of Burgundy dated July 17, 1429, does not stand up to scrutiny as it is based only on
the single phrase from this letter, in which the French heroine asked the duke to stop
resisting Dauphin Charles. She added that, if he wanted to continue military action, then he
should better turn his forces against the Saracens. Lettre de la Pucelle au duc de
Bourgogne, 126-27: Pardonnez l’un à l’autre de bon cuer, entièrement, ainsi que doivent
faire loyaulx chrestians; et s’il vous plaist à guerroier, si alez sur les Sarrazins. The
wording of this phrase indicates that it is rather a speech figure than an expression of
personal desire to leave for the East. The same false reading is found in Anna B.
Skakal’skaya, “Bog i moe Pravo” [Dieu et Mon Droit], in Protsess Zhanny d’Ark.
61
If the letter actually meant to address the idea of the crusade, then
Christine de Pizan, who was no doubt familiar with its content,75 could take this
idea and elaborate it in her last work in such a complete and clear form that none
of the French authors of the first half of the fifteenth century did.76 Especially
since none of them regarded the campaign as the mission of Joan of Arc. It is
this circumstance which makes the comparison of the two existing descriptions
of Joan of Arc’s imaginary journey to the East particularly interesting and raises
the question of a direct impact of Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc on the work of Pseudo-
Barbaro.
***
Interestingly enough, the crusade is not the only theme which connects the
letter of the unknown Italian author and Ditié. First of all, both works have a
similar form and principle of composition. Both the works of Christine de Pizan
and of the unknown Italian humanist have prologues. After a brief prologue,
Christine addressed to a number of contemporary public figures.77 The list of
main addresses is identical in both works. The addresses are the key figures of
Materialy Inkvizitsionnogo Protsessa, ed. Anna B. Skakal’skaya (Saint-Petersburg:
Al’yans-Arkheo, 2008), 338-482.
75 “Lettre de la Pucelle aux Anglais,” 105.
76 The most famous French work of the fifteenth century dedicated to this question was
written much later, in 1451 by Jean Germain, bishop of Chalon, and was addressed to
Charles VII: Jean Germain, “Le Discours du voyage d’Oultremer au très victorieux roi
Charles VII, prononcé en 1452 par Jean Germain, évêque de Châlon,” ed. Charles Schefer,
Revue de l’Orient latin 3 (1895): 303-42. A little later, in 1454, Philippe the Fair, Duke of
Burgundy, organized the Feast of the Pheasant in Lille, where he appealed to his vassals
and European rulers to launch a new crusade against the infidels: Nina A. Khachaturyan,
“Svetskie i Religioznye Motivy v Pridvornom Bankete ‘Obed Fazana’ Gertsoga
Burgundskogo v XV v.” [Secular and Religious Motives at the Courtly Banquet, The Feast
of the Pheasant of the duke of Burgundy in the fifteenth century], Korolevskiy Dvor v
Politicheskoy Kul’ture Srednevekovoy Evropy. Teoriya. Simvolika. Tseremonial, ed. Nina
A. Khachaturyan (Moscow: Nauka, 2004), 177-99; Marie-Thérèse Caron and Denis
Clauzel, eds., Le Banquet du Faisan 1454: l’Occident face au défi de l’Empire ottoman
(Arras: Artois Presses Université, 1997).
77 Teddy Arnavielle, “Structuration personnelle du Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc (1429),” Revue des
langues romanes 92/2 (1988): 287-91. The form of a letter was very characteristic of the
oeuvre of Christine de Pizan. She recurred to it in the poetic writings (Christine de Pizan,
“Epistre à Eustache des Champs, dit Morel, bailli de Senlis,” in Raymond Thomassy, Essai
sur les écrits politiques de Christine de Pisan, 121-22) as well as her political works
[Christine de Pizan, “Epistre à la reine,” ed. Angus J.Kennedy, Revue des langues romanes
92/2 (1988) : 253-64; eadem., “Lamentation des maux de la France,” ed. Angus J.Kennedy,
in Mélanges de langue et littérature françaises du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance offerts à
Monsieur Charles Foulon, ed. Charles Foulon (Rennes: Institut Français de l’Université de
Haute-Bretagne, 1980), 177-85].
62
the Hundred Years War: Charles VII,78 Joan of Arc,79 whom Christine and
Pseudo-Barbaro promised a quick and unconditional victory, as well as the
English80 and their allies – the Burgundians and their duke,81 and the residents
of Paris, who were urged to surrender to the legitimate king of France.82 It is
also significant that none of them occupy a central place in both writings; all of
them were equally interesting to Christine, as well as Pseudo- Barbaro.
However, the identical composition is not the only similarity that these
two works have. Their themes also appear to be very similar.
In particular, there is a striking similarity between the appeals of Pseudo-
Barbaro and Christine de Pizan to the enemies of France, the English, whom
both writers promised death in case they did not cease their military activities
and realize that the Lord stood on the side of their adversaries.83 In a similar
way, both writers judged the deeds of the Burgundians, who could become
“slaves of the English” and await a horrible death, if they did not stop.84 Finally,
Christine de Pizan and Pseudo-Barbaro both encouraged the inhabitants of Paris
to obey their lawful sovereign, ask for his forgiveness, conclude peace and
receive him in the city with dignity.85
78 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 97-120; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 23,
26.
79 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 161-92; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 16-
8, 21, 25-6.
80 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 305-20; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 24.
81 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 361-76; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 24-
5.
82 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 425-440; Patrick Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne
d’Arc, 26.
83 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 316-24: Vous irés ailleurs tabourer, / Se ne
voulez assavouer / La mort, comme voz compaignons, / Que loups pevent bien devourer, /
Car mors gisent par les sillons! / Et sachez que par elle Anglois / Seront mis jus sans
relever, / Car Dieu le veult, qui oit les voiz / Des bons qu’ilz ont voulu grever!; Gilli,
L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 14: Quid vero adhuc frustra contenditis? Quid tam diu ad
aeternas voces reclamatis? Parum ne tot preliis intellexistis non humanis viribus sed
prorsus divina virtute ac celesti ferro adversum vos pugnari, nec esse quicquam miserius
quam pertinaces iras supreme illi potentiae obiicere. Hic igitur hic si sapitis gladios ponite,
hic si vitam cupitis vincenti Deo manum date.
84 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 361-8: Et vous, rebelles rouppieux, / Qui à
eulz vous estes adhers, / Or voiez-vous qu’il vous fust mieulx / D’estre alez droit que le
revers, / Pour devenir aux Anglois serfs. / Gardez que plus ne vous aviengne / (Car trop
avez esté souffers), / Et de la fin bien vous souviengne!; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc,
14: Te quoque velim Senonum ducem datas acceptasque iniurias oblivisci nec te ultra
sceleratis partibus inferre…Quid tu modo unius puellae sequeris vestigia teque potius
delate oportunitati adiungis quam infelici audaciae poenas tuas?
85 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 433-40: O Paris tresmal conseillié! / Folz
habitans sans confiance! / Aymes-tu mieulz estre essillié / Qu’à ton prince faire
accordance? / …Trop mieulx te feust par suppliance / Requerir mercy. Mal y vises!; Gilli,
L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 16: Excipite Parisii Regem vestrum omnem in uno avorum
gloriam et dignitatem perspicite.
63
As to France itself, both writers enthusiastically stated that it had been
reborn and was finally regaining strength after many years of humiliation.
Christine wonders, “Who then has seen anything occur so far beyond what they
expected? … That France (which as I said above she had been cast down) might
rise again?”86 The same feeling was shared by Pseudo-Barbaro: “Who does not
know,” he wrote, “in which position the King of France has been until recently?
Paris was captured … and all the lands around were conquered by the English.”87
According to both Christine de Pizan and Pseudo-Barbaro the country was
obliged to Joan of Arc for blessed changes. Christine expressed hopes that she
was to untie the rope which had been binding France so tightly and bring peace
to the land, so greatly ravaged by war.88 Pseudo-Barbaro was also certain that
the maiden “would support their country, restore its name and its former
glory.”89 Only she, both writers believed, could be trusted by Charles VII. He
had to accept her assistance in re-conquering the country, which was bound to
happen90 and which was to be followed by the creation of an empire, headed by
Charles, also thanks to Joan.91
However, the greatest similarity of the two works lies in the characteristic
given by Christine de Pizan and Pseudo-Barbaro to Joan of Arc. They both
called her shepherdess and unequivocally linked her with shepherds of the Bible,
as they had been also guided from Heaven in their deeds.92 If this parallel was
86 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 73-80: Qui vit doncques chose avenir / Plus
hors de toute opinion / …Que France (de qui mention / On faisoit que jus est ruée) / Soit,
par divine mission, / Du mal en si grant bien muée.
87 Patrick Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 10: Quis vero nesciat, non dicam annos sed
paucos ante quo in loco Rex Francorum esset? Capta dudum Parisia omnique circum
provincia in potestatem Brittanorum redacta ac tollerandum fortasse populisi ex calamitate
ac perturbatis et desperatis rebus aliud iugum accepisset.
88 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 161-8: Et toy, Pucelle beneurée, / Y dois-tu
estre obliée, / Puis que Dieu t’a tant honnorée / Que as la corde desliée / Qui tenoit France
estoit liée? / Te pourroit-on assez louer / Quant ceste terre, humiliée / Par guerre, as fait de
paix douer?
89 Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 13-4: Gaude huius merito Gallia liberas iam voces
emittite, quibus mos est, divina beneficia memorare: haec tibi Regem confirmat, haec tibi
nomen, hec veterem gloriam restituit.
90 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 105-12: En peu de temps; que l’on cuidoit /
Que ce feusst com chose impossible / Que ton pays, qui se perdoit, / Reusses jamais. Or est
visible – / Ment tien, puis que qui que nuisible / T’ait esté, tu l’as recouvré! / C’est par la
Pucelle sensible, / Dieu mercy, qui y a ouvré!; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 13: Tibi
ego quantis possum votis manibus ac literis gratulor, deinceps omnia bene speraveris qui
tanto rerum tuarum praesidio niteris non antea cessabitur quam videas omnia expleri, quae
sunt huius puelle ministerio facienda.
91 See note 47 and 70.
92 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 193-200: Car, se Dieu fist par Josué / Des
miracles à si grant somme, / Conquerant lieux, et jus rué / Y furent maint, il estoit homme /
Fort et puissant. Mais, toute somme, / Une femme – simple bergiere – / Plus preux qu’onc
homs ne fut à Romme! / Quant à Dieu, c’est chose legiere; Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc,
64
one of the most common in French and foreign works dedicated to Joan of Arc
starting from 1429,93 another analogy used by Christine and the unknown Italian
humanist was rare at that time. Paying praise to Joan of Arc, Christine de Pizan
wrote that Joan was going to give France sweet milk to drink and feed the world,
thus linking her to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, that is, the only immaculate
maiden with a son.94 In Joan of Arc, she saw the main defender of the country,
its champion, who was given strength and power by the Lord himself.95
Comparisons with the Mother of God are one of the most common in the
works of Christine de Pizan. In particular, she appealed to it in a letter addressed
to Isabeau of Bavaria written in 1405, in which she urged the queen to become
the mother and protector of her subjects, just like Virgin Mary was for the entire
Christian world.96 The same theme can be observed in the Prière à Notre-Dame
(1414), where Christine begged the Virgin to help the French king97 and save
France from the disaster invoked by “Lady Eve.”98 Against this background, the
parallel between the Virgin and Joan of Arc, who appeared to Charles VII with
the same purpose, seems to be entirely consistent in the Ditié.
The parallel with the Virgin eventually became one of the most important
(and most interesting) elements in the epic of the French heroine.99 However, by
11: Quid tum agebas virgo inter pecudes relicta exigui graegis custos mollibus herbis
oviculas circunduces?
93 Vladimir I. Raytses, “‘Pastushka iz Dom Remi’: Genezis i Semantika Obraza”
[‘Shepherdess of Domrémy’: Genesis and semantics of representation], in Kazus:
Invidual’noe i Unikal’noe v Istorii 1 (1997): 251-64.
94 Christine McWebb, “Joan of Arc and Christine de Pizan: The Symbiosis of Two Warriors
in the Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc,” in Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc, ed. Bonnie Wheeler and
Charles T. Wood (New York: Garland Publishing, 1996), 133-44.
95 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v 185-90: Considerée ta personne, / Qui es une
jeune pucelle, / A qui Dieu force et povoir donne / D’estre le champion et celle / Qui donne
France la mamelle / De paix et doulce norriture.
96 Christine de Pizan, Epistre à la reine, 256: Encores vous dis-je que, tout ainsi comme le
royne du ciel, mere de Dieu, est appellée mere de toute chretienté, doit estre dicte et
appellée toute saige et bonne royne mere et conffortarresse, et advocate de ses subgiez et
de son peuple.
97 Christine de Pizan, “Prière à Notre-Dame,” in Raymond Thomassy, Essai sur les écrits
politiques de Christine de Pisan, 173: Pour le Roy de France te pri / Qu’en pitié tu oyes le
cry / De ses bons et loyaux amis.
98 Ibid., 174: Royne, qui des maulx nous lève / Lesquelx nous empétra dame Eve, / Si com
saint Augustin raconte, / Tu est celle qui n’es pas tève / A nous expurgier de la cève / De
péchié qui trop nous surmonte. On the contraposition of Eve and Mary, popular in the
Middle Ages, see: Olga I. Togoeva, “Karl VII i Zhanna d’Ark. Utrata Devstvennosti kak
Utrata Vlasti” (Charles VII and Joan of Arc. The Loss of Virginity as the Loss of Power),
Istorik i Khudozhnik 1 (2004): 154-71.
99 The comparison of Joan of Arc with the Virgin Mary was widely used at the rehabilitation
process of 1456 and is found in treatises of Paris theologians, commenting on charges
brought against the heroine. Among these theologians were Helie de Bourdeille, Thomas
Basin, Jean Bochard, Guillaume Boillé, Robert Cibole and Jean Breal (Procès en nullité de
la condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, vol. 2, 43, 194, 261, 321, 367, 411). Among secular
65
1429 it had been invoked only by few writers. The name of the Mother of God
appeared in the above mentioned undated letter written by a Johannite knight.100
Another reference is found in a letter to Giovanni da Molino, sent from Avignon
to Venice on June 30, 1429.101 These responses, however, could not be known in
France, as they were intended for addressees outside France. Thus, in 1429,
Christine de Pizan was the only writer to employ this comparison in relation to
Joan. The only exception was Pseudo-Barbaro, who followed Christine de Pizan
and wrote that Joan of Arc, guided by instructions obtained from Heaven, was to
save her people, as once the Blessed Virgin Mary had done.102
It is the elaboration of the comparison of Joan of Arc with the Mother of
God together with the motive of a crusade to be headed by Joan of Arc, which
suggests that Pseudo-Barbaro (whoever he really was) was familiar with the
Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc and used its structure and themes in his letter.103
***
However, the issue of borrowing directly depends on the dating of the two
works. As I have mentioned above, one can date the letter of Pseudo-Barbaro
accurately enough and relate it to the second half of the summer of 1429. As for
the Ditié, July 31, 1429, a date which was put by Christine de Pizan herself, is
authors, Mathieu Thomassin is the one who used the comparison between Joan of Arc and
Virgin Mary in his Registre Delphinal, commissioned by Dauphin Louis, the future King
Louis XI, sometime after 1456. Thomassin directly referred to the Ditié by Christine de
Pizan, from where, as the text shows, he had borrowed the representation which interests us
so much. Mathieu Thomassin, “Registre Delphinal,” in Procès de condamnation et de
réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Jules-Étienne-Joseph Quicherat, vol. 4, 310: Et j’ay plus
tost desiré de mectre icy le traictié de laditte Christine que des autres, afin de tousjours
honnorer le sexe féminin par le moyen duquel toute la chrestienté a eu tant de biens: par la
pucelle Vierge Marie, la réparacion et restauracion de tout le humain lignaige; et par
laditte Pucelle Jehanne, la réparacion et restauracion du royaume de France, qui estoit du
tout en bas, jusques à prendre fin, si ne fust venue. See also Ann Astell, “The Virgin Mary
and the ‘Voices’ of Joan of Arc,” in Joan of Arc and Spirituality, 37-60.
100 Fragment d’une lettre, 99: Adaccessit coelestis Puella et quod ipse pater cunctipotens
virgini Mariae prae caeteris praestitit, scilicet ut eam tam pulchram aspicientes, quisque
ille esset, qualiscumque et ex vita inmorali, dies duxit suos ab omni concupiscentia saeculi.
101 Chronique d’Antonio Morosini, 80: E vede con che muodo l’a aidado Dio, chomo per una
femena, zioè Nostra donna santa Maria, che salve l’umana generacion, chusy per questa
donzela pura e neta l’a salvado la plu bela parte de cristade.
102 Gilli, L’épopée de Jeanne d’Arc, 8: En virgo, quae caelestium oraculorum fata iussa
aperiant, quae tibi facende ac parande salutis mandata revelet. Verum ante omnia, ut
intelligas beate illius virginis patrocinium hoc esse, quae sane et aeternum dei
omnipotentis filium pro communi omnium salute peperit. Quid enim mulierem, quid
puellam, quid virginem, quae sunt illius divine matris agnomina?
103 At the same time, this means that Pseudo-Barbaro did not know the text of the letter of
Joan of Arc addressed to the English and did not borrow the idea of the crusade from there.
However, in my opinion, the elaboration of this idea could have been influenced by the
poem of Christine de Pizan.
66
considered to be the day, when it was finished.104 By this time, she had been
living already for many years in the Royal Dominican Convent in Poissy, where
she had found shelter in 1418, fleeing from Paris occupied by Burgundian
troops. This forced confinement did not prevent her, as I believe, from keeping
in line with all the major political events of the country. Until 1425, the main
informant of Christine remained her son, Jean de Castel, who served as secretary
of Dauphin Charles.105 Also later, she obviously did not lose ties with the royal
court, as evidenced by her familiarity with the Conclusion of the Poitiers
theologians (March 1429) and the treatise by Jacques Gelu, Dissertatio (May-
June 1429), devoted to the personality and deeds of Joan of Arc, which had a
great influence on the Ditié.106 Also in 1429, the sister of Charles VII, Mary of
France, lived in the convent of Poissy, which lead researchers to the conclusion
that the last work of Christine had become known at court very quickly.107 This
assumption is supported by the fact that already in the autumn of 1429 the Ditié
was read in territories which were still under the English rule such as, for
instance, the town of Sens.108
Thus, the assumption that the poem of Christine de Pizan influenced the
work of Pseudo-Barbaro seems to me quite acceptable. As a result, it enables us
to date the letter of the unknown Italian more precisely. If we assume that it was
written not later than September 8, 1429 (before the assault of Paris by royal
104 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 481-4: Donné ce Ditié par Christine, / L’an
dessusdit mil CCCC / Et XXIX, le jour où fine / Le mois de juillet. More on this subject:
Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty
(Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, 1977), 1-2. In
contemporary scholarship the dating of the Ditié was questioned only once, by the
American researchers Ann Lutkus and Julia Walker, who suggested that the poem was
finished at the end of August – beginning of September, 1429 (Ann Lutkus, Julia Walker,
“PR pas PC: Christine de Pizan’s pro-Joan Propaganda,” in Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc,
145-60. Lutkus and Walker calculated that the poem could not have been written in the
beginning of August, as the Ditié talks about the presence of Charles VII and Joan of Arc
under the walls of Paris, where they arrived in fact on July 29, 1429. However, this
hypothesis is grounded in the misreading of the text which clearly states that royal troops
were yet to approach the capital of France: Ne scay se Paris se tendra / (Car encoures n’y
sont-ilz mie (Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 417-8).
105 Deborah A. Fraioli, Joan of Arc: The Early Debate (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press,
2000), 104.
106 Ibid., 106-13.
107 Ibid., 104. According to calculations by Bernard Guenée, a royal messenger could cover a
distance of 150 km in a day. An average distance covered per day amounted from 50 to 70
km [Bernard Guenée, “Espace et Etat dans la France du bas Moyen Age,” Annales.
Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations 23 (1968): 744-58].
108 This follows from the analysis of a codex which is kept in the library of Bern (Bern 205)
and was made in Sens between 1428 and the 1430s. It contains the text of the Ditié copied
together with the Conclusion of Poitiers theologians and the letter of Joan of Arc to the
English and is considered the earliest copy of the poem by Christine de Pizan (Christine de
Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, ed. Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty, 2-4; Deborah A.
Fraioli, Joan of Arc: The Early Debate, 123-5).
67
troops), it could not appear earlier than on July 31, 1429. Therefore, the letter
was composed between the beginning of August and the very beginning of
September, 1429.
***
Enrapt by exciting hypotheses, we forgot about our central subject – the
journey as a mission, in context with Joan becoming a hero and her mental and
moral growth. If in the case of the journey to Chinon, this theme was consciously
invoked post factum by witnesses at the trial for the rehabilitation of Joan of
Arc, the missionary nature of the fictional journey to the East (a topic which for
obvious reasons did not receive any development after the execution of Joan in
1431) was evident from the beginning.
According to the medieval tradition, the journey to the Holy Land did not
necessarily imply military aggression. It was rather considered as an opportunity
to save one’s soul, acquire the Heavenly Jerusalem and ascend to God.109
Therefore, death on a crusade was seen as a defined type of martyrdom, with the
fate of St. Louis being the best known and most striking example. From this
perspective, it is particularly interesting that Joan of Arc, as conceived by
Christine de Pizan, also had to find her death in the Holy Land.110 Thus, she was
clearly analogized with the main “secular” saint and patron of medieval
France.111
The theme of reforming the Church through the elimination of the Schism
was no less important and perfectly matched the idea of a crusade being the
symbol of a struggle for the true faith. The conversion of the pagans and, finally,
the creation of a universe Christian empire were not only regarded as an aspect
of missionary activity, but as its logical result.
It is this particular element in the accounts of the two journeys of Joan of
Arc, real and fictional, that allows us to compare them. The accounts, being
composed in different ways and periods of time, pursued the same goal. They
were intended to emphasize the special vocation of the heroine, her outstanding
109 Svetlana I. Luchitskaya, “Krestovye Pohody” [The Crusades], in Slovar Srednevekovoi
Kul’tury, ed. Aron Y. Gurevich (Moscow: Rospen, 2003), 234-39.
110 Christine de Pizan, Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc, v. 342: Là doit-elle finer sa vie.
111 The connection between Joan of Arc and Saint Louis is most visible in the later sources.
For instance, at the rehabilitation process, Count Dunois claimed that it was Saint Louis
himself, together with Charlemagne, who appeared before Joan of Arc in her visions and
promised his help in the liberation of Orleans and that Joan revealed this to him herself:
Tunc ipsa Johanna dixit in isto modo … ‘Non tamen procedi amore mei, sed ab illo Deo
qui, ad requestam sancti Ludovici et sancti Karoli Magni, habuit pietatem de villa
Aurelianensi, nec voluit pati quod inimici haberent corpus domini Aurelianensis et villam
ejus’…Considerato preterea quod illa juvencula asserebat in visione habuisse quod sancti
Ludovicus et Karolus Magnus orabant Deum pro salute regis et illius civitatis (Procès en
nullité de la condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc, vol. 1, 318-9). The same information was
later repeated in the Chronique de la Pucelle (Chronique de la Pucelle, 208, 219).
68
moral qualities, the divinity of her mission, her pleasing to God and her almost
holiness.
The two stories have a common place in the epic of Joan of Arc, or rather,
a common function which would have been assigned to them in the epic in case
it was ever recorded. In this case, the first journey was to become a starting
point in the story with a subsequent development, to give several clues about the
nature and identity of the future heroine. The description of the second journey
would serve as a no less logical denouement of the story, its epilogue, equally
worthy of its substantive content. After all, the two journeys of Joan of Arc were
actually to a greater or lesser extent the fruit of imagination of her
contemporaries, both being “tied” to the kernel of her epic – those few actual
facts of her biography, known to the story-tellers.112 It is the closeness of the two
episodes in the epic of Joan of Arc that makes it possible to compare them. Their
study can lead us to a much more serious question concerning the perception of
the French heroine as a missionary and saint already as early as in the first half
of the fifteenth century.
112 Cf. Sergei I. Nekludov, “Vremya i Prostranstvo v Byline” [Time and Space in Russian
Epic], in Slavyanskiy Fol’klor, ed. Boris N. Putilov and Vera K. Sokolova (Moscow:
Nauka, 1972), 19: “The space-time frame of fiction can be to a certain extent regarded as
the background of the narrative which associates single points of the narrative and entire
narrative formations not only with each other, but also with the elements lying outside this
particular text and this particular system (even up to the actual time and geographic
space).” The italics are mine – Olga Togoeva.
69
List of Contributors
Gerhard Jaritz, Institut für Realienkunde, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Körnermarkt 13, 3500 Krems, Austria
(gerhard.jaritz@oeaw.ac.at)
and
Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Nádor utca
9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary
(jaritzg@ceu.hu)
Svetlana I. Luchitskaya, 119313, Moscow, Leninski pr., 89-346, Russia
(svetlana@mega.ru)
Fedor D. Prokofiev, 119334, Moscow, Leninski pr. 32A, Russia
(philiprokofiev@mail.ru)
Olga I. Togoeva, 125502, Moscow, Petrozavodzkaya str., 17-2-209, Russia
(togoeva@yandex.ru)
MEDIEVAL TRAVEL IN RUSSIAN RESEARCH
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
SONDERBAND XXVII
MEDIEVAL TRAVEL
IN RUSSIAN RESEARCH
Edited by
Svetlana I. Luchitskaya and Gerhard Jaritz
Translated from Russian by
Irina Savinetskaya
Krems 2011
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG
DER ABTEILUNG KULTUR UND WISSENSCHAFT DES AMTES DER
NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
– ISBN 978-3-901094-29-6
– ISSN 1029-0737
Herausgeber: Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen
Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 13, A–3500 Krems, Österreich. Für den Inhalt verantwortlich
zeichnen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrückliche Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdruck,
auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist.
Druck: KOPITU Ges. m. b. H., Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A–1050 Wien.
Table of Contents
Preface …….……..…………………………………….…………………….… 6
Fedor D. Prokofiev, Peregrinatio in the Ocean:
Allegory and Reality in the Navigatio Sancti Brendan ….…………….… 7
Svetlana I. Luchitskaya, Travelling to the Holy Land
in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries:
a Study into the History of Everyday Life ….……..……………………. 22
Olga I. Togoeva, Travel as Mission in the Epic of Joan of Arc …..………..… 48
List of Contributors ……………………………………………………………69
6
Preface
The present special volume of Medium Aevum Quotidianum is another result of
the cooperation with the editors of the Russian journal Одиссей: человек в
истории. It is the third time that we got the chance to offer translations of
contributions published in Одиссей which deal with aspects of daily life and
material culture of the Middle Ages.1 We are happy to make again some results
of Russian research available to a broader, international audience this way.
This time, we publish three studies selected from the 2009 volume of the
Russian journal that concentrated on the main topic ‘Travel as a Cultural and
Historical Phenomenon’ (‘Путешествие как историко-культурный фено-
мен’).2 The contributions deal with travelling in different parts of the Middle
Ages. Fedor D. Prokofiev analyses reality and allegory in the eighth-/ninthcentury
Navigatio Sancti Brendani. Svetlana I. Luchitskaya studies the daily life
of crusaders and pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land, mainly in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. Olga I. Togoeva deals with the role that travel plays in the
sources about the life of Joan of Arc. The articles offer new results in a field of
medieval studies that has found particular interest in Medieval Studies during
recent years.
Gerhard Jaritz
1 See Gerhard Jaritz, Svetlana I. Luchitskaya and Judith Rasson, eds., Images in Medieval and
Early Modern Culture (Approaches in Russian Historical Research), Medium Aevum
Quotidianum, Sonderband XIII (Krems, 2003); Grigorii V. Bondarenko, Some Specific
Features of the Perception of Early Medieval Irish Feasts , Medium Aevum Quotidianum 54
(2006), 7-19; Vladimir Ia. Petrukhin, The “Feast” in Medieval Russia, ibidem, 20-28.
2 Moscow: Nauka, 2010.