Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/257

* JOAN OF ARC. 231 JOASH. representing Christ holding the world. This she herself carried into the front of ever}' battle. In Ajjril preparations were being made to send a tonvoy with provisions to Orleans. Joan led the troops, and on April 29, 1429, reached the city, still closelj' besieged bj- th» Eng- lish. From May 4th to 8th she made success- ful sallies upon the English, which resulted in their being compelled to raise the siege. From this time she was known as 'the Maid of Or- leans.' The national ardor of the French was rekindled to the utmost and .Joan became the dread of the previously triumphant English. By her own people she was beloved and revered as God's agent; by the English she was believed to be a witch. After some delays she persuaded the Dauphin to allow himself to be conducted to Rheinis, where he was crowned, July 1", 1429. After this she is said to have wished to return home, deeming her mission accomplished: but King Charles importimed lier to remain with the army, to which she consented. As a special favor to her, Domremy and a neighboring village were exempted from all taxation, and her family was ennobled under the name of Du Lys. From this time her fortune changed, and she failed in sev- eral undertakings, notably the capture of Paris. The popular explanation of her failure was that she had I)rolven her sword. It was one which slie had miraculously discovered at Fiel)ois. One day, the storj' goes, she struck with the flat of this sword some common women whom she found in the camp. The sword broke, and the pieces could not be welded together. Joan took part in many conflicts, until, on Jlay 24, 1430. she suc- ceeded in entering with a few troops into Com- pi&gne, which Burgvuidian forces were besieging. On the same daj-, in a sally which she led from the town, she became isolated from her followers and was taken prisoner. The Burgundian Duke, after some hesitation, gave her up to the English. She was taken to Rouen and confined in chains. She was urged to put on female attire, but re- fused, alleging both that she was forbidden by her 'voices' and that the male attire was absolutely necessary to preserve her from the brutal as- saults of her jailers. Wearing men's clothes and cutting off her hair were two of the main charges against her when she was brought before the Inquisition. She was tried in the ecclesiastical court, as a sorceress, by the Bishop of Beauvais, assisted by members of the University of Paris, which was imder English control, and a specially delegated inquisitor. The trial dragged on for months because the evidence was insufficient, and Joan faced her judges boldly. One of the judges disguised himself, and pretending to be a fellow- prisoner, endeavored to worm from her some important confession, but in vain. She was threatened with torture to no effect. Finally, on twelve charges which •^^•ere drawn up by the judges, she was condemned to be burned to death, but she recanted her alleged errors and expressed penitence. Her punishment was then commuted by the ecclesiastical authorities into perpetual imprisonment. The English. hoAvever. felt it necessary to have .loan put to death. The events of the next few days are obscure: hut it is certain that .loan was subjected by her English jailers to treatment which broke her spirit, and that in self-defense she again put on the male attire which she had abjured. The resumption of these garments and expressions of regret for her re- cantation were made grounds for concluding that she had relapsed. She was condemned and burned at the stake, May 30, 1431. After the execution attempts were made to blacken her character in the popular French opinion, but with little success. Her familj', by King Charles's influence, obtained in 1449 a re- vision of her trial, and in 14.56 she was formally pronounced to have been innocent. The memorj- of the Maid of Orleans during the centuries succeeding the Hundred Years' War never probably enjo^'cd that general reverence among the French people which her services to her country would seem to have merited. Vol- taire's La Pucelle expresses the views of the eighteenth-century philosophers regarding the Jlaid. In the nineteenth century, however, her fame underwent rehabilitation. In 1875 the ques- tion of her canonization came up before the Roman Curia, and in 1902 she had pas.sed through the first stage of the process, and had been declared 'venerable.' In literature the character of .Joan of Arc has been variously treated. Shakespeare's Henry YI. reflects the contemporary English opinion, which regarded .Joan as a sorceress in league with the devil. In Schiller's beautiful Jiiiififrau von Orleans she is depicted, on the contrary, as a virgin mystic, who, in fulfillment of her heaven-appointed mission, spurns all earth- ly love and dies in the moment of victory with the banner of the Christ child in her arms. Consult: Quicherat, Condnmnalion et rchahili- iation de Jeanne Dare (5 vols., Paris. 1841-49) ; Wallon, Jeanne Dare (Paris, 1875) : JIarin, Jeanne Dare, taetieien et sirategiste (4 vols., Paris, 1891) :' Belon and Baline, Jean Brehel, f/rajid inqnisiteur de France, et la rehabilitation de Jeanne Dare (2 vols., Paris, 1893) : Oliphant, Jeanne d'Arc (New York, 1896) : Petit de Julle- ville, Joan of Are (Eng. trans.. London, 1901) ; Murray, Jeanne d'Arc (New York, 1902). JO'ASH, or JEHO'ASH (Heb. Yehoash). (1) King of Judah, son of Ahaziah (C.836-79G n.c). On the death of Ahaziah, Athaliah, his mother, massacred all the royal children except .Toash, an infant of one year, who was saved by his aunt, .Jehosheba, and kept in hiding by her for six years, during which time Athaliah gov- erned the land (II. Kings xi. 1-3). In the seventh year Joash, by the help of Jehoiada. the high priest, was put upon the throne (II. Kings xi. 4-lG). Joash reigned forty years (II. Kings xii. 1). We know but little of his long reign. The most noteworthy event recorded was his conflict with liazael. King of Syria (II. King? xii. 18-19). .Toash was murdered by his servants (II. Kings xii. 20-21) and was succeeded by his son Aniaziah. It has been suggested that the assassination of the King may have been an act of private vengeance for his nuirder of Zechariah, the son of .Jehoiada, the priest (II. Chron. xxiv. 21). The references to religious conditions under Joash in Kings and Chronicles, where the King is represented as instituting religious reforms at the beginning of his reign and reverting to 'idolatry' subsequently, are believed by some not to rest upon genuine tradition. (2) King of Israel, son and successor of .Jehoahaz (c. 797-783 lit'.). He was one of the most warlike kings of the N.irth (II. Kings xiii. 12. 25), and during his reign of seventeen years (ib. 1) he brought the Kingdom of .Judah to a position of vassalage.