Did Joan of Arc see Fairies? October 13, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval , trackback
Anyone who has ever read a book on Joan of Arc will know that the English-hater was supposed to have had some kind of relations with fairies. But what exactly were those relations? The trial at which Joan battled for her life in 1431 included a long list of charges against the Maid. Some of these charges were based on her scandalous actions since joining war with the Burgundians and their English allies, e.g. her wearing of men’s clothes, a tic that was bound to worry the gender conscious Middle Ages. However, others were based on rumours about Joan’s adolescence. Rather than quote the trial records (though the relevant passages are cut and paste below) Beach has decided to bring together the accusations and then Joan’s rebuttal (at least as recorded by an unsympathetic secretary).
1) Joan claimed that fairies were not evil.
2) Joan had some of her visions of St Margaret and St Catherine near a fairy tree and a fairy fountain, the implication being that they were fairies i.e. demons.
3) Jean danced around said tree and left garlands of flowers there as sacrifices to the fairies.
4) Her godmother was a fairy seer who had traffic with the fairies and who had taught Joan some of her witchcraft.
What were Joan’s answers to these charges? As to point (1) Joan herself walked into a simple trap set by the lynch mob of priests and bishops before her, saying she didn’t know whether fairies were evil. True, there was a common European idea that fairies were, like many of us, caught between heaven and hell, an idea that continued into the nineteenth century. But would you really admit this to a panel of clergymen?! Joan had courage (so much courage), but she lacked theological smarts. It is telling that when she was accused of not denying the evil natures of fairies she did not seem to understand the accusation. Elsewhere she says that those who went out on Thursdays to consort with the fairies (what vanished marvellous worlds!) were guilty of witchcraft, but this was left to one side in the digest and summary.
(2) There was a fairy tree (a beech, not an oak as in the picture from Andrew Lang’s children’s book above) and a fairy well (where the sick drank) in the environs of Domrémy. The locals claimed, according to Joan’s brother, that Joan had had her visions there. Re the appearance of St Catherine and St Margaret at the tree, she replied ‘I don’t know’. Given Joan’s understandable evasions, ‘I don’t know’ normally means one of two things in the trial records. ‘I can’t remember’, or ‘Yes, but I’m not foolish enough to admit it to you.’ Beach would guess the second in this instance. Joan did, in any case, admit that she saw saints (plural) at the fountain. She must have been aware that she was being set up and that the saints she saw were being cast as fairies and, therefore, demons. Incredibly she did not protect herself more forcefully saying only that ‘As far as she knew… she never saw the fairies at the tree.’
3) Is the easiest to deal with. Jean admitted to sometimes dancing there as a child, and even to making garlands, but not to consorting with the fairies. She said that she made the garlands for the Madonna. The confusion of Mary and fairy is an old one. At Lourdes and Fatima it carried on into modern times.
4) Her godmother Jeanne was the wife of the mayor. Joan said that this woman was ‘held and reputed to be an honest woman, and not a witch or sorceress’: yes, her godmother claimed to have seen fairies, ‘but [Joan] herself doesn’t know whether it is true or not’. Joan knew she was likely to die and was not going to criticize a loved one?
Without wishing to heap more ignominy on Joan surely we can venture the following. Joan grew up in a world where fairies mattered. Her visions took place, at least in part, near a fairy spot. Her judges saw a hole in her armour and started shooting arrows: but anyone interested in medieval fairy belief must admit that the hole was there. Did Joan give a Christian nationalist spin to a change encounter with a fifteenth-century French Tinkerbell?
Anything else on Joan of Arc and the fairies: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
Here are most of the relevant records from the trial as they may be of interest.
Jeanne in her youth was not taught or instructed in the belief and principles of the faith, but was lessoned and initiated by certain old women in the use of spells, divinations, and other superstitious works or magic arts. Many inhabitants of these villages are known from olden times to have practiced these evil arts, and from certain of them, and especially from her godmother, Jeanne declares she has often heard talk of visions or apparitions of fairies or fairy spirits, and from others also she has been taught and filled with these evil and pernicious errors about the spirits, so much so that she confessed to you, in judgment, that until this day she knew not whether these fairies were evil spirits. To this article Jeanne replied that she allowed the first part, namely, about her father and mother and the place of her birth; but as for fairies, she did not understand. As for her instruction, she learned to believe and was well and duly taught how to behave as a good child should. For her godmother she referred to what she had stated elsewhere.
Philibert, lord bishop of Coutances As far as I have been able to gather from these articles, this woman affirms that St. Michael and St. Gabriel with a host of angels, and St. Catherine and St. Margaret, appeared to her, sometimes near a fairy tree: that she bodily touched these saints who comforted her, and promised them, to keep her virginity. Then she was questioned about a certain tree growing near her village. To which she answered that, fairly near Domrémy, there was a certain tree called the Ladies’ Tree, and others called it the Fairies’ Tree; and near by is a fountain. And she has heard that people sick of the fever drink of this fountain and seek its water to restore their health; that, she has seen herself; but she does not know whether they are cured or not. She said she has heard that the sick, when they can rise, go to the tree and walk about it. It is a big tree, a beech, from which they get the fair May, in French le beau may; and it belongs, it is said, to Pierre de Bourlemont, knight. She said sometimes she would go playing with the other young girls, making garlands for Our Lady of Domrémy there; and often she had heard the old folk say (not those of her family) that the fairies frequented it. And she heard a certain Jeanne, the wife of mayor Aubery of Domrémy, her godmother, say that she had seen the fairies; but she herself doesn’t know whether it is true or not.. Asked if she saw them elsewhere, she does not know at all. She had seen the young girls putting garlands on the branches of the tree, and she herself sometimes hung them there with the other girls; sometimes they took them away, and sometimes they left them there.
She said that since she learned that she must come to France, she had taken as little part as possible in games or dancing; and did not know whether she had danced near the tree since she had grown to understanding. Although on occasions she may well have danced there with the children, she more often sang than danced. There is also a wood, called the oak-wood, in French le Bois-chesnu, which can be seen from her father’s door; not more than half a league away. She does not know, nor has she ever heard, that the fairies repair there; but she has heard from her brother that in the country around it is said she received her message at the tree; but she says she did not, and she told him quite the contrary. Further, she says, when she came to the king, several people asked her if there were not in her part of the country a wood called the oak-wood; for there was a prophecy which said that out of this wood would come a maid who should work miracles; but Jeanne said that she put no faith in that.
Asked if her godmother, who saw the fairies, was held to be a wise woman, she answered that she was held and reputed to be an honest woman, and not a witch or sorceress…. Asked if she did not believe heretofore that the fairies were evil spirits, she answered she knew nothing of that.
Asked if she knew anything of those who consort with fairies, she answered that she was never there nor knew anything of it, but she had heard talk of them, how they went on Thursdays; but she did not believe in it and thought it was witchcraft.
“Near the village of Domrémy stands a certain large and ancient tree, commonly called ”l’arbre charmine faée de Bourlemont,” and near the tree is a fountain. It is said that round about live evil spirits, called fairies, with whom those who practice spells are wont to dance at night, wandering about the tree and the fountain.”
To this fifth article, touching the tree and the fountain, Jeanne refers to another answer she has given: the rest she denies.
On Saturday the 24th day of February, she answered that not far from Domrémy there is a tree called the Ladies’ Tree which some call the Fairies’ Tree, and near it is a fountain. She has heard that the sick drink of this fountain (she herself has drunk of it) and seek from its waters the restoration of their health; but she does not know whether they are cured or not.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if St. Catherine and St. Margaret spoke to her under the tree, she answered: “I do not know.” And asked once more if the saints spoke to her at the fountain, she answered that they did, that she heard them there; but what they said to her then, she no longer knew. Asked, on the same day, what the saints promised her, there or elsewhere, she replied that they made no promise to her, but by God’s permission.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked if her godmother who saw the fairies is accounted a wise woman, she answered that she is held and accounted a good honest woman, and not a witch or sorceress.
The same day, asked if she had not heretofore believed the fairies to be evil spirits, she answered that she did not know. And the same day, when asked if she knew anything of those who consort with the fairies, she answered that she never went and never knew aught of that, but she had heard that some went on Thursdays. She does not believe in it, and holds it to be witchcraft.
“The said Jeanne was wont to frequent the fountain and the tree, mostly at night, sometimes during the day; particularly, so as to be alone, at hours when in church the divine office was being celebrated. When dancing she would turn around the tree and the fountain, then would hang on the boughs garlands of different herbs and flowers, made by her own hand, dancing and singing the while, before and after, certain songs and verses and invocations, spells and evil arts. And the next morning the chaplets of flowers would no longer be found there.”
To this sixth article, on this 27th day of March, she answers that she refers to another reply that she has made. The remainder of the article she denies.
On Saturday, the 24th of February, she said that she heard how that the sick, when they can get up, go to the tree to walk about; it is a huge tree, a beech, from which ‘le beau may’ comes; and it belonged, so it was said, to Pierre de Bourlemont. Sometimes she went playing with the other girls, in summer, and made garlands for Our Lady of Domrémy there. Often she had heard old people tell, not those of her family, that the fairies frequented it. She has heard Jeanne, the wife of mayor Aubrey of Domrémy, her godmother, say that she had seen the fairies, but she herself does not know if it is true. She never, as far as she knew, saw the fairies, and she does not know if she saw any elsewhere. She has seen the maidens putting chaplets of flowers on the boughs of the tree, and she herself has hung them with the others, sometimes carrying them away, sometimes leaving them there. She adds that ever since she knew she must come to France she had taken little part in games or dancing, as little as possible. She does not know whether she has danced near the tree since she had grown to understanding; and though on occasions she may well have danced there with the children, she more often sang than danced there. There is also a wood, called the Oak wood, which can be seen from her father’s door, not more than half a league away. She does not know, nor has she ever heard, that the fairies repair there, but she has heard from her brothers that after she had left the country it was said that she received her message at the Fairies’ Tree. She says she did not and she told her brother so. Further, she says that when she came to her king, several people asked her if there was not in her part of the country a wood called the Oak wood; for there were prophecies saying that out of the Oak wood should come a maid who should work miracles; but she said she put no faith therein.
Digest: ‘And firstly this woman says and affirms that in the thirteenth year of her age, or thereabouts, she saw with her bodily eyes St. Michael, who would console her, and at times St. Gabriel, and they appeared to her in bodily form. Sometimes also she saw a great host of angels; and since then, St. Catherine and St. Margaret have appeared to the said woman who saw them in the flesh. And every day she sees them and hears their speech; and, when she embraces and kisses them, she touches them and feels them physically. She has seen, not only the heads of the said angels and the saints, but other parts of their bodies, whereof she has not chosen to speak. And the said St. Catherine and St. Margaret spoke to her at times by a certain fountain, near a great tree, commonly called ‘The Fairies’ Tree’; in the matter of the fountain and of the tree, the common report is that it is the frequent resort of witches, that many sick of the fever go to this fountain and tree to recover their health, although these are situated in an unhallowed spot. There, and elsewhere, on several occasions, she has adored them and done them reverence.
