Joan the General

[Vehrec]

So. I've been reading up on Joan of Arc lately after I saw a video game wherein she had actual magic powers like the English accused her of, and as far as I can tell she was pretty awesome without those in real life. However most of my reading has been pretty superficial. Does anyone have anything better? I'm particularly interested in her military exploits-I figure they're pretty well documented compared to other parts of her life.

[Bakustra]

There isn't a whole lot that's well-documented about her. Much of what we "know" comes from the trial, where she would have had a vested interest in downplaying her prowess on the battlefield, and from her letters, where she portrays herself as a commander, eg in her letter to the Hussites, but primarily as a religious leader and visionary, such that individuals such as the Count of Armagnac asked her for advice on religious matters. She definitely considered herself a leader and it was accepted at the time that she had personally led the storming of some of the forts around Orleans, and that she had lead some part of the armies of France, but those may have been exaggerations and myths, as later scholars believed.

Given the contents of her letters, I am personally sympathetic to the view of her taking an active role:

King of England, if you do not do so, I am a commander, and wherever I come across your troops in France, I shall make them go, whether willingly or unwillingly, and if they will not obey, I will have them wiped out. I am sent here by God the King of Heaven - an eye for an eye - to drive you entirely out of France.

but that's just my personal opinion- I am not an expert on the Hundred Year's War.

You can find an online selection of her letters and trial transcripts here and any good-sized university library should probably have the full transcripts of the trial proceedings.