Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/661

 JOAOHIMSTHAL JOAN OF ARC 641 Hungary, July 15, 1831. He received his first instruction on the violin from Helmes- berger and Bohm at the Vienna conservatory. So rapid was his progress that he was permit- ted to play when only 11 years of age at a Gewandhaus concert in Leipsic. He performed at Leipsic during many succeeding seasons, and always with indications of progress and increas- ing talent. In 1850 he accepted, at the solici- tation of Liszt, the post of concert master at Weimar. Three years later he exchanged this situation for a similar one at Hanover, where he still resides. He makes frequent visits to England, Holland, and Belgium, and occupies perhaps the foremost rank among living violin- ists. His chief points of excellence as a per- former are purity and fulness of tone, perfect intonation, absolute mastery of all the tech- nical difficulties of the instrument, and the closest sympathy with the classical composers whose works he interprets. His reluctance to appear in public has led to his declining all offers for a concert tour in the United States. He has composed both for violin and orchestra, but his fame rests on his qualities as a player rather than on the merits of his compositions. JO U Iinisni 1L. a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Eger, near the frontier of Saxony, and 10 m. N. of Carlsbad ; pop. in 1870, 6,566. It is situated in a beautiful valley of the Erzgebirge, more than 2,000 ft. above the sea. The edu- cational institutions include schools for straw plaiting and lace making. White lead, red lead, smalt, and paper are also manufactured. But the celebrity of the town is mainly due to its lead, tin, iron, and silver mines. The last em- ployed 12,000 men in the 16th century, but the production has since much declined. The term Thaler derives its origin from this place, where the counts Schlick, who were the local rulers early in the 16th century, had Ouldengroschen coined, which became known as Joachimstha- ler, and afterward as thaler. "In the neighbor- hood are the ruins of the castle of Freuden- stein. The town was almost completely de- stroyed by a conflagration March 31, 1873. The fine church of St. Joachim was burned, with clebrated pictures by Durer and Cranach; nearly 450 of the 586 houses were burned, and 5,000 persons were rendered houseless. The rebuilding of the town was at once commenced. JOAN, Pope, a fictitious female personage who was long supposed to have succeeded Leo IV. in the papal chair in 855, and to have occu- pied it over two years. The first who men- tions her is Marianus Scotus, a monk of the abbey of Fuldain the llth century. According to Martinus Polonus, a chronicler of the 13th century, Joan was a native of Mentz, who went with an English lover to Rome in the disguise of a man, and, having become pro- ficient in sacred and profane learning, was chosen to the papacy under the name of John VIII., no suspicion being had of her sex. She was seized with the pains of labor one day while passing in procession to the Lateran ba- silica, and died in the street. This story was interpolated into the work of Anastasius, who lived at the time of her supposed reign, and some critics contend that it is even wanting in the earlier copies of Martinus Polonus. It was completely disproved by David Blondel, a Prot- estant writer, in his Familier eclaircissement de la question si unefetnme a ete assiseausiege papal entre Leon IV. et Benoit III. (Amster- dam, 1649) ; and it is now generally admitted that no such person as Pope Joan ever existed. JOAN OF ARC (JEANNE D'ARC), known as La Pucelle and "the Maid of Orleans," a French heroine, born at Domremy (now called from her Domremy-la-Pucelle), in Lorraine, about 1411, burned at the stake in Rouen, May 31, 1431. She was the fifth child of poor parents, whose family name was probably Dare. She received no instruction, but was accustomed to out-of-door duties, such as the tending of sheep and the riding of horses to and from the watering place. The neighborhood of Domremy abounded in superstitions, and at the same time sympathized with the Orleans party in the divisions which rent the kingdom of France. Jeanne shared both in the politi- cal excitement and the religious enthusiasm ; imaginative and devout, she loved to -meditate on the legends of the Virgin, and especially, it seems, dwelt upon a current prophecy that a virgin should relieve France of her enemies. At the age of 13 she began to believe herself the subject of supernatural visitations, spoke of voices that she heard and visions that she saw, and a few years later was possessed by the idea that she was called to deliver her country and crown her king. An outrage upon her native village by some roving Burgundians raised this belief to a purpose ; her " voices " importuned her to enter upon her mission by applying to Baudricourt, governor of Vaucouleurs ; and this, by the aid of an uncle, she did in May, 1428. The governor, after some delay, granted her an audience, but treated her pretensions with such scorn that she returned to her uncle. The fortunes of the dauphin, however, were desperate, and Baudricourt, pressed by her en- treaties, sent her to Chinon, where Charles held his court. Introduced into a crowd of courtiers from whom the king was undis- tinguished, she is said to have singled him out at once. Her claims were submitted to a se- vere scrutiny. No evidence indicating that she was a dealer in the black art, and the fact of her virginity removing all suspicions of her being under satanic influence, her wish to lead the army of her king was granted. A suit of armor was made for her, and a consecrated sword which she described as buried in the church of St. Catharine at Fierbois was brought and placed in her hands. Thus equipped, she put herself at the head of 10,000 troops com- manded by royal officers, threw herself upon the English who were besieging Orleans, rout- ed them, and in a week forced them to raise the siege (May, 1429). Other exploits followed.