The haggis animal, a mythical creature, is inspired by a Scottish dish.
The haggis animal myth includes tales of giant specimens.
American tourists once believed wild haggis were real animals.
The haggis animal, also known as Haggis scoticus (a satirical classification), is a made-up animal with roots in the Scottish Highlands. The Scottish staple food known as haggis is thought to have originated from this animal. In the tale, the wild haggis animal is a bird whose wings have atrophied through the course of development, and it lives entirely on the mountainside, where it has developed parts of its three or four limbs more than others, much like the mythological mountain animal known as the “Dahu” (a mountain goat).
It’s hard to say for sure where this myth got started. But haggis has been a classic Scottish food, and its components have long been a source of mystery for curious visitors. Thus, the myth of the haggis animal was allegedly developed in response to unending questions from foreigners about what goes into this food.
The food actually contains the internal organs of a sheep (heart, lungs, and liver).
It is a mythical beast from Scottish legends.
In this myth, the biggest haggis animal ever recorded weighed 25 tons and was supposedly caught in 1893 at the foot of the Highlands peak, Ben Lomond. However, the same wild creature is smaller than a goose or a heron in some tellings of the legend.
This made-up animal is a bird with atrophied wings, like an ostrich; however, there are a few different takes on this description. The wild haggis can run quickly over the mountains thanks to its three or four legs, two of which are longer on one side and the others shorter, depending on the variant. That’s why the fabled Dahu goat appears to be evocative of this beast.
The wild haggis is often shown as a little, wiry-haired, four-legged, and shaggy-maned rodent.
Where Does the Haggis Animal Live?
A take on the haggis animal.
The haggis animal is said to live only in remote, hilly areas.
Legend has it that they spend much of their time dozing off on the calluna plants (a low-growing evergreen shrub that also grows in the United States).
Depending on which side of its body is shorter, a haggis animal can only gallop either clockwise or counterclockwise around the mountain. This tendency to run in only one direction lies in the anatomy of the animal.
The Scots say that “if you turn around, you’ll find the haggis animal” waiting for you.
According to that, one certain haggis traverses the mountain clockwise due to its larger left legs, and the other haggis chooses to go counterclockwise due to its larger right limbs. Some accounts state that when disturbed, both sexes also flee in opposite directions: males clockwise, females counterclockwise.
They are also reported to be excellent swimmers, able to attain speeds of up to 35 knots (40 mph) by utilizing their powerful legs to push themselves through the water.
Reproduction
The male of one species cannot mate with a female of the other species in their natural environment without first being balanced on his hind legs so that he points in the same direction as the female, making him fall over her.
However, some argue that the species is sexually dimorphic, while others say it is hermaphroditic (having both reproductive organs). According to legend, this creature may produce little haggises, or “wee yins,” as it is called in Scottish.
Recreation of a haggis animal – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. (Julian Paren, CC BY-SA 2.0, image edited).
People Think That They Are Real
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow is home to a solitary haggis animal preserved in taxidermy. A plaque identifies it as the Haggis scoticus and describes its appearance, which is shaggy and with short legs.
In all seriousness, however, the wild haggis is just a funny, made-up animal; there’s no evidence to suggest it really exists. However, some American tourists believe the opposite.
A poll of 1,000 American tourists in Scotland in 2003 found that every 1 in 3 tourists thought the wild haggis was a genuine animal, and more than 1 in 5 tourists thought they could catch one. Since it’s a myth, no wild haggis has been found in Scotland.
The grand era of the Age of Exploration is a topic that many history enthusiasts love to talk about. In this era, one cannot ignore the illustrations of mythical creatures and mysterious beasts that were recorded in the navigational and geographical charts of that time. The cartographers of that era often painstakingly drew all sorts of monsters and creatures with mythological elements, such as headless men, dog-human hybrids, lizard-like monsters, humanoid apes, sea monsters, and so on, filling the corners of the maps with these strange images. These animals, both marine and terrestrial, soon became popular elements of maps and atlases.
The Origin of the Cartographic Monsters
A sea monster in Olaus Magnus’ Carta Marina of 1539.
Modern people find these monsters preserved in the oldest map books fascinating and feel that they were mere embellishments added by the artists and cartographers to break the monotony of the terrain and coastline.
It is assumed that these creatures were included in the charts for no other reason than to spice things up and give the cartographers a bit of a break. While it’s true that cartographers included creatures on their maps for the sake of entertainment, they also drew them after receiving “actual” input from adventurers who ventured into these regions.
The monsters they drew were actually based on first-hand accounts they heard from the explorers. When European sailors first arrived in uncharted waters and set foot on untraveled shores, they were often terrified by the sight of strange creatures they had never seen before. This was true both during the Age of Exploration and previous nautical operations in Europe.
When they returned home, they would spread their observations, and the cartographers would draw these monsters based on the descriptions of the explorers, trying to make the appearance of these monsters as “realistic” as possible.
Some of the cartographers were even explorers themselves. In other words, the monsters they drew were not imaginary, but actually “realistic records,” and there were many such records in the Age of Discovery.
For example, when exploring the “Dabeiba” region of the native Americans called Antioquians, the magical animals and mythical stories passed down by the natives gave Spanish cartographers classic monster images such as vampire bats, harpies, and swamp dragons.
Dabeiba Temple With Full of Golds
The current location of the Dabeiba town in the Antioquia Department of Colombia. (Image: Milenioscuro, CC BY-SA 3.0)
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Spanish explorers began to explore the Central American region. They first heard about “Dabeiba” from the native people who lived near where Panama is today in Central America. The exact location of this area is now unknown.
According to the indigenous people of Antioquians, “Dabeiba” was the name of a goddess in ancient times. She was once a princess of a powerful country, ruled over the area of Dabeiba, and had unique magical powers and great wisdom. The locals admired her greatly, and after her death, they worshipped her as a deity and built a magnificent temple to honor her. People from nearby and even faraway places came to this temple to pay their respects.
To show their respect for the goddess, every indigenous person who came to pilgrimage would bring their own precious treasures to offer to her. Even distant tribal leaders would come to pay homage every year and decorate the Dabeiba Temple with large amounts of gold treasures, and over time, Dabeiba accumulated a large amount of wealth. Moreover, there were many gold mines in this area as well. The rivers were full of gold sand; one could easily find a handful of them.
The Spanish Colonizers
Vasco Núñez de Balboa by Charles Henry Granger (1812 – 1893). Image: nihilnovum.
After hearing the story of Dabeiba from the indigenous population, Spanish explorers came to Central America one after another to search for this place. For example, Spanish explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475–1519), who was famous for “discovering” the Pacific from the New World, had also explored Dabeiba. But the local environment was harsh and filled with damp swamps.
Local people like the Antioquians were brave, quick, and very good at fighting on land and water. They were also very hostile to outsiders, which made it impossible for Spanish explorers to find what they were looking for. Only Balboa once attacked an empty indigenous village (the residents had all hidden), and he found jewelry worth 7,000 Castilian gold coins in this village, proving that the rumor of gold treasures in Dabeiba was not false.
Except for Balboa’s one big win, none of the Spanish sailors’ efforts were successful, though. Along with the story of Dabeiba’s gold treasure, people also knew about the mysterious events and monster rumors that happened in the area. Several exploration teams disappeared completely in the Dabeiba area, and hundreds of Spanish explorers went missing, never to be seen again.
Swamp Dragons
Frederick Justin Bertuch’s 1806 depiction of a flying, flame-breathing dragon.
According to the documents from Dabeiba, short-tailed crocodiles often emerged from the water, attacking people and animals and dragging their prey into the mud to devour them. And even more frighteningly, there were said to be dragons living in the dark swamps.
Although the Spanish explorers did not see these swamp dragons with their own eyes, the native South Americans swore that there were monsters in the depths of the swamp. According to the documentary evidence left by the Spanish explorers, these monsters were likely giant alligators measuring several feet long or terrifying anacondas measuring tens of feet long, which were beyond human ability to withstand.
Dabeiba was such a legendary and terrifying place, and the dangers described above were just some of the rumors, whether true or mythical, passed down by explorers. In fact, even the natives were afraid of the gloomy and cold swamps, so they always carefully avoided the swamps and preferred to take winding and rugged mountain roads when traveling.
Spanish explorers in Dabeiba wrote that the area was full of wet marshlands with groups of reptiles, clouds of flies and mosquitoes, and large bats that, unlike bats in Europe, didn’t eat insects but instead fed on human blood like vampires.
Interestingly, many people thought the rumors of vampire bats were ancient fabrications, but modern zoologists tell us that they do indeed exist in the world. Vampire bats are a unique type of blood-sucking mammal that are found only in the central and southern Americas and feed on the blood of animals.
A vampire bat can consume up to 26 gallons (99 liters) of blood in its lifetime. There was even a recent series of vampire bat attacks in the Amazon region of Peru, causing great panic among local residents. Some people died of rabies after being bitten by vampire bats.
Harpy Monsters
Harpy monsters are among the mythological creatures of South America.
In addition to these terrifying creatures of Dabeiba and the Antioquians, which may or may not be real, the chroniclers of the time also recorded a monster based on the memories of the explorers: the harpy. According to the local legend, shortly before the arrival of the Spanish, a huge storm occurred near Dabeiba, with such strong winds that even large trees were uprooted.
Under such a storm, the Antioquians’ houses were destroyed, and the forests became barren land. After the storm subsided, the terrified natives cautiously came out of hiding and began to prepare to rebuild their homes, but they discovered that the hurricane had blown in some “terrifying” creatures known as harpies.
In Native American folklore, there were two creatures that resembled the ancient Greek mythological creature, the harpy. They were described as having the face of a woman, eagle claws, and wings. They were enormous in size and capable of breaking tree branches while perched. These creatures would swoop down and carry people away, tearing them into pieces on the mountaintops.
For a time, the Native American towns and villages in the surrounding areas were terrorized by these creatures, but eventually, they were able to kill the larger ones and drive away the smaller ones, hanging the head of the creature on their spears to show other villagers that the danger had been eliminated. The head of the creature was said to resemble that of a woman.
Harpy eagle.
When the Spanish explorers heard of this legend, they found it hard to believe, but many Native Americans swore by its truth. It was later discovered that the creature they were referring to was actually a species of eagle found in certain areas of South and Central America, called the Harpy Eagle or “human-faced eagle.”
The Harpy Eagle is one of the largest and most powerful birds of prey in the world, with an adult body length of over 3.3 feet (1 meter) and a wingspan of up to 8.2 feet (2.5 meters). Its feathers are a mix of black, gray, and white, resembling a formal coat.
It eats snakes, monkeys, and sloths. It has the strongest grip of any bird and can carry prey that weighs more than 18 kg (40 lbs). Its appearance is quite different from other eagles, especially its face. Today, the Harpy Eagle is the national bird of Panama and is known for its formidable size and strength.
It usually perches on high places to survey the ground and branches, and when it spots prey, it swoops down to grab it. With its incredible strength, it can easily lift a small child, although capturing an adult requires much more effort.
Black cats, legendary followers of so-called “witches,” are still stigmatized because of the belief that they bring evil fortune. Their unfavorable reputation has stuck with them so strongly that they are consistently the most abandoned and least accepted cats in shelters. When, therefore, did this superstition begin? Some people still think it’s unlucky to see a black cat, even in modern times. While anecdotal in the modern day, this notion has deep roots in centuries-old superstition, notably during the “witch-hunt” era of the Middle Ages. Let’s investigate where this custom came from and why the black cat continues to fascinate us, for better or worse, especially every Halloween.
A Long and Storied Past
In Ancient Egypt, people tended to avoid black cats. Although black was a color of honor and prestige in Egyptian culture, it was also connected with death and grief. For this reason, people often saw black cats as unlucky omens.
After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the once-pious cat fell out of favor and was seen as a symbol of wickedness. In later times, particularly the Middle Ages, the black cat came to be seen as a manifestation of Satan and was linked to all manner of dark arts. Heretical cults sacrificed black cats in their rituals. However, Satanists hold this animal in high regard since they believe it to be an avatar of their leader, Satan.
They believed that their cats shared their magical abilities, and on the nights of sabbats (Witches’ Sabbath), when rituals and sacrifices were performed, a black cat stood in for the devil. Since it was believed that black cats, like witches, could take on the form of animals, they were punished for their association with these pagan rituals, which were seen as a threat to Christianity.
Bunch of Burning and Wall Building
Black cats have had a negative popular perception since at least the Middle Ages. There was a rise in suspicion that witchcraft was involved in the deaths of many people during the 14th and 17th centuries. The Europeans were duped into believing that witches rode their cats to the Sabbath. And on the Sabbath, Satan himself appeared—in the form of a cat.
Yes, these creatures were a welcome addition to the homes of the “witches,” who were mostly elderly people who lived alone. However, their fame was secured. The legend spread across Europe that on the night before St. John’s Day (June 24), cats left urban areas to join witches. They used them to hatch plots of epic proportions to wage war on humanity using every manner of evil.
Even when “witches” plotted evil against humanity, they nonetheless suffered maltreatment at the hands of those people. Many innocent women were burned alive or thrown into rivers during the witch trials. There was a tradition of burning black cats in a sack on St. John’s Day. To keep the devil out, some people even built walls around their homes.
A Papal Decree in 1233, Vox in Rama
The devil appears in the form of a cat to St. Dominic of Calerueja. Image: Europeana.
Black cats are just as good-natured as any other kind of cat. There is no correlation between a cat’s coat color and its temperament. Nonetheless, the black cat carries heavy mythology. The black cat is the subject of several urban legends throughout Europe, with many people mistakenly believing it to be a bad omen. Where does this illogic originate, then?
According to historical records, it was Pope Gregory IX in 1233 who was responsible for associating black cats with evil in Europe. In June 1233, the Pope published a papal bull called Vox in Rama, which was directed at King Henry III. It was the first canonical document to confirm that heretics had engaged in covert demonic rituals with the assistance of the Devil.
According to the Pope, the black cat was highly revered by the cult of Evil. So, in 1233, he denounced the black cat as diabolical.
The Church’s stance on black cats, as conveyed via Sunday sermons and discussions, is sufficient for its widespread assimilation; and the information in the Vox in Rama of Gregory IX is not even required. It’s no coincidence that the introduction of Christian heresies and other paganisms went hand in hand with the stigmatization of black cats.
Death Was Symbolized by Black Cats
Black cats are considered a symbol of death in many different cultures throughout the world and have long been linked to witchcraft and demonic rituals. There are several tales around this topic, including one about Gaufrid, the inquisitor of Carcassonne, who was supposedly discovered dead with two black cats by his side.
There is also “The Tooth of the Cat.” This fable is a Savoyan folktale. In it, a fisherman recounts the day he accidentally reeled in a black cat. In an effort to rid the house of mice, he brought a cat home, but instead of killing the rodents, the cat ended up killing everyone in the house.
Authors like Edgar Allan Poe, who authored the bizarre tale “The Black Cat,” have found inspiration in these beliefs. The black cat is the “devil” that gnaws at the narrator, a metaphor for perversity and lunacy in this narrative.
In Japan, “The Vampire Cat” recounts how a young lady whose hand was pledged to the son of the Emperor is said to have had her throat cut by a large black cat while she slept.
And last, sailors‘ myths say that if you toss a black cat overboard, bad weather will follow.
Some optimistic tales exist too, despite the above gloomy depiction of the black cat. As one example, the Breton people believe that if you find white hair on a black cat, you will be blessed with good fortune. Although its testicles were utilized in medieval pharmacopeia, the animal was still widely reviled at the time. The elixirs made from the black cat’s testicles were said to make the pain go away or drive away demons.
It would seem that the black cat’s superstitions are even more outlandish and inconsistent than the others. The most bizarre aspect of this story is an African belief. The Bantu people actually believe that cats of any color are witches.
However, in Europe, the traditions surrounding the black cat’s supposedly malevolent nature persisted for so long that it wasn’t until the 19th century that the cat was widely accepted in domestic settings again. Since then, there has been a surge of interest in the breed, with some breeders specializing in all-black cat varieties like the Bombay, which is much sought after for its resemblance to a miniaturized black panther.
In Popular Culture
These superstitions seem ridiculous and harsh to modern eyes, yet we must acknowledge that the link between black cats and witches is a fiction that has been widely propagated in both literary and popular culture (and still is). Numerous fictional witches are shown in the media carrying black cats. Professor McGonagall was transformed into a cat in the Harry Potter movies. It’s not uncommon to see black cats around Halloween time as well.
Famous for her role in French history, Joan of Arc (1412-1431) was also known as Jeanne d’Arc, Joan the Maid, or the Maid of Orleans. She was a peasant girl from Domremy, Lorraine, who supposedly received divine guidance telling her to save the king from the English and the Burgundians. She convinced King Charles VII to give her an army in 1429 by traveling to Chinon. She helped end the Siege of Orleans with a group of royal warriors and then took Charles VII to be crowned at Reims.
But the Burgundians seized her and sent her over to the English the next year. On May 30th, 1431, she was put on trial for witchcraft and executed by being burned at the stake in Rouen’s central market. The Catholic Church canonized Joan of Arc as a saint in 1920, after reevaluating the 1456 trial that brought her to prominence. She is a legendary character in French history, inspiring many works of literature and art and serving as the focus of various political comeback campaigns.
Who was Joan of Arc?
Since the 1400s, Joan of Arc’s narrative has been the subject of several interpretations and recoveries, resulting in a vast library that dwarfs that of any other renowned figure from the Middle Ages, including Charlemagne and Saint Louis. After a cursory examination of her classical life, the question of how she would be remembered historically appears more intriguing.
Most historians believe that Joan of Arc was born at Domrémy, a village dependent on Vaucouleurs and so near to the French Empire, on January 6, 1412 (though different dates are also put forth). In 1425, Joan, a member of a family of prosperous farmers, had her first voices. She was told by the saints of Bar, Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, the patron saints of the area, that she must visit the dauphin Charles and aid him in “driving” the English out of France.
In the letters, Joan emphasized her virginity by referring to herself as “Jeanne la Pucelle” (Joan the Maiden) or simply as “la Pucelle” (the Maiden), and she signed her name “Jehanne.” She gained fame in the 1600s as the “Maid of Orleans.”
Though there were many prophets and prophetesses active in the time period, Charles VII welcomed her in March 1429. The Duke of Alençon, who had come to believe in Joan’s divine purpose, had the girl undergo both a medical and a theological examination at the suggestion of his advisors. Without a hitch, Joan breezed through both tests. King Louis listened to his court and consented to dispatch the Pucelle (Joan’s other name) to lift the siege of Orleans, even though he did not seem to have fully fallen into the extremely voluntary messianism of Joan.
Joan predicted that Charles would become king and that Paris would be taken back. In spite of certain French captains’ skepticism about Joan’s unorthodox “tactics,” the siege of Orleans was successfully lifted on May 8, 1429. Later triumphs followed, including the one at Patay (18 June 1429), and Joan ultimately succeeded in convincing her king to invade Burgundy in order to be crowned in the cathedral of Reims. On July 17, 1429, this action was taken.
Joan’s situation got increasingly difficult. Charles VII increasingly distanced himself from her under the influence of Georges de la Trémoille when she failed and was wounded in front of Paris, casting doubt on the veracity of her prophecies. Joan and her family were nobly elevated at year’s end in 1429, but she was soon given menial tasks and eventually sent to Compiègne on May 23 of the following year. She was tricked into a trap on the 23rd and sold to the English. After a highly politicized trial presided over by Pierre Cauchon, Joan of Arc was found guilty of heresy, relapse, and idolatry and executed by burning on May 30, 1431. The French monarch made no serious effort to get her back. To prevent a cult from forming, Joan of Arc’s ashes were dumped into the Seine.
Joan of Arc, between history and legend
By the late 15th century, Joan of Arc had already entered the annals of history as a figure of mythology. National heroine, she served under the Third Republic for the revanchist cause of the “blue line of the Vosges.” Since 1920, when she was canonized, she has been revered as a holy figure. When considering the significance of this narrative in French history, it is hard to overstate how vital it is. The first miracle would be that she was able to overcome the reluctance of Charles VII and arm herself against the English army while she was only seventeen years old (she was born in 1412). Her parents are well-to-do peasants.
Only two trials, Joan’s condemnation trial at Rouen in 1431 and her rehabilitation trial, which Charles VII consented to open in 1456 at the request of Joan’s mother Isabelle Romée, exist to provide historical context for the story. With her defenses up, Joan’s word is skewed, and the accounts of her contemporaries are heavily colored by myth. Historians have the responsibility of calculating Joan’s debt to and contribution to her era.
Despite being disproven nearly a century ago, the theory of “bastardy,” which claims she is the illegitimate daughter of Isabeau of Bavaria and Louis of Orleans, persists with remarkable tenacity among sensationalists. While accusations of witchcraft served the English well, evidence reveals that some people, notably Rouen’s judges, theologians, and jurists, really held such beliefs.
It is heresy to cut ties with the militant Church in favor of hearing God’s message via the intercession of Saint Margaret and Saint Michael. For a layman at the turn of the fifteenth century, to partake in frequent communion was to defy the conciliar commands and thereby break with the church.
Domrémy’s proximity to the Empire’s borders heightened the already present sense of nationality. People struggled to protect the fleurs-de-lis from a pretend duke because they only had one king in their hearts. Ideas that speak to the resilience of Mont-Saint-Michel and the power of the coronation that spread among the people there. Joan of Arc then departed to “reveal” her mission to the king, following in the footsteps of earlier female prophets who had done the same for male monarchs. The difference this time was that Joan became a national icon.
The English recognized her symbolic value
Joan of Arc in the protocol of the parliament of Paris (1429). Drawing by Clément de Fauquembergue.
One of Joan of Arc’s distinguishing features is that she stirred up emotions even while she was alive. Indeed, the English (the Duke of Bedford in the lead) and the Burgundians accused her of being a witch, while Jean Gerson and Christine de Pizan praised her. Thus, she earned the moniker “the whore of the Armagnacs” (because Robert de Baudricourt, commander of her local châtellenie, belonged to the Armagnac faction).
The symbolic value of Joan of Arc was immediately recognized by the English, who purchased her from Jean de Luxembourg for 10,000 livres and moved her to Rouen, the capital of seized France, to be tried by an ecclesiastical court. In the same vein as touching on the validity of its ruler, Charles VII, by having the populace believe in a religious trial while, in reality, it is mostly a political one, is the myth of Joan of Arc. Despite the trial and the subsequent dispersal of the ashes, the tale persists.
Since no corpse was ever found after the events of May 30, 1431, proponents of the theory that Joan was still alive and well swear to her being “not dead” at Rouen on the basis of the appearance of three imposter Jains between 1436 and 1460. The king has mastered the art of capitalizing on the legend of the person who approved his coronation and therefore confirmed his right to the throne. After the Armagnacs and Burgundians had made peace at the Treaty of Arras, he had Joan put on trial for rehabilitation and framed her actions in the context of a war against a foreign power (1435).
The death of Charles VII, however, began Joan of Arc’s steady decline into obscurity, even though she was still praised by François Villon or in the Mystères (a dramatic genre) towards the end of the 15th century. And this is hardly the moment in which to honor a medieval prophetess…
“Idiot” and “pious deceit” for Joan of Arc
True, the Ligueurs did a nice job of rehabilitating Joan of Arc for a while in the 16th century, but the Renaissance and the Enlightenment were not sympathetic to anything remotely “Middle Ages,” and so her reputation suffered.
Both Joachim du Bellay and Girard Haillan saw her as little more than a tool of the court, and the latter even cast doubt on her virginity. Voltaire called her an “unfortunate idiot,” a victim of the monarch and the Church, while Montesquieu found only “pious duplicity” in her, but the most violent were the thinkers of the Enlightenment. It wasn’t until the 19th century that Joan reappeared, this time as a cultural figure rather than with an air of holiness.
The romanticism of the 19th century, which was more receptive to medieval and “Gothic” motifs than the enlightened Enlightenment, helped revive the tale of Joan of Arc.
The most iconic example is perhaps Jules Michelet, who in 1856 wrote in his signature manner, “Let us always remember, Frenchmen, that the fatherland among us was born from the heart of a woman, from her compassion and her tears, from the blood she bled for us.” Joan of Arc personifies the common folk: strong and uncomplicated. One of the most potent tools used to build the national republican novel and the myth was Joan of Arc. No one anticipated that the prophetess would one day be revered as a cultural symbol.
The Holy Joan of Arc
The Church’s reacquiescence in Joan’s case was indirectly encouraged by Jules Quicherat, a Michelet student. And he was an anticlerical historian that he uncovered these primary documents in the 1840s, publishing them for the first time. The historian Quicherat “charged” King Charles VII with abandoning Joan of Arc and called the Church an “accomplice” in his prologue. It was the work of German historian Guido Görres (The Maid of Orleans, 1834) that spurred two Catholic historians to attempt a recovery of Joan.
In 1860, Henri Wallon released his biography of Joan of Arc. For him, Joan is a saint and a martyr; he emphasizes her devotion but acknowledges that she was actually abandoned. Wallon reaches out to Monseigneur Dupanloup in an effort to enlist his support in the cause of canonizing Joan of Arc. During a time of dechristianization and crisis of faith, Bishop of Orleans Félix Dupanloup felt it was crucial for the Church to use powerful symbols. Specifically, in 1869, he wrote a panegyric praising Joan of Arc and formally advocated for her canonization.
In addition to her continuing popularity and republican icon status, the political climate of the second half of the nineteenth century played a significant role in the Catholic recovery of Joan of Arc. The first major shift occurred in 1878, on the occasion of Voltaire’s centennial. Anyone who could call Joan an “idiot” and the Church as a whole would understand why Catholics would dislike this guy. As a protest against the philosopher’s glorification, the Duchess of Chevreuse urged all French ladies to bring flowers to the Place des Pyramides and place them at the feet of the monument of Joan of Arc.
The anti-clerical Republicans, who didn’t want to give up on their party’s symbol, organized a counter-protest. Nothing happened because the prefecture forbade both. This, however, marked the beginning of a serious reappropriation of Joan by conservative Catholics. A nationalist right that wanted its own Joan of Arc emerged in the wake of the Dreyfus Affair (1898) and the subsequent Boulangist crises of the 1880s. Last but not least, the response of the Pope was significant; he reopened her trial in 1894, and Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. The Catholics, and especially the nationalist right and extreme right, reclaimed Joan of Arc.
The nationalist heroin
Statue of Jeanne d’Arc in Paris, Rue de Rivoli. Image: Daniel Stockman
This Joan was progressively forgotten by the Republic over the 20th century and into the 21st, while being glorified by nationalists and the far right. Nationalism, anti-Parliamentarianism, royalism, and Catholic fundamentalism, all tinged with anti-Semitism, overwhelm Joan of Arc.
After the Dreyfus case, the extreme right adopted Joan as their mythological anti-Jewish character. She had to be the one to preserve not just the military’s traditions but also the established order. To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the liberation of Orléans, a postcard was postmarked with the words “Joan of Arc against the Jews” in 1939. The emblem was clearly also adopted by the Vichy dictatorship.
After the war, both De Gaulle and the Communists hailed Joan, and by the end of the 1940s, she seemed to have returned to the Republican fold. But that influence eventually died down, and it wasn’t until Jean-Marie Le Pen revived Marian cults in 1988 that the Virgin Mary was once again used as a symbol of French nationalism. Despite left-wing protests, Joan of Arc eventually became a footnote in French history, with little to no mention in official textbooks, despite scholars still agreeing on her significance.
During her lifetime, Joan of Arc was mostly regarded as a myth, and she was quickly the subject of political and religious recuperation, neither of which helped historians. Because of this, it is difficult to determine who Joan of Arc really was; yet, it seems to have been established that her part in the events of the Hundred Years’ War was incidental. It wasn’t until later that she became really significant. Although she may not generate the same level of excitement as she once did, the constant stream of hypotheses about her, some of which are more plausible than others, demonstrates that she continues to pique the public’s curiosity.
THE TIMELINE OF JOAN OF ARC
Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412
Domremy, France, was the birthplace of the French heroine Joan of Arc, sometimes known as “the virgin.”
Beginning on January 1, 1425, at the age of 13, she started to hear voices
She hears voices for the first time. She claims that God and the archangels Saint Michel, Saint Catherine, and Saint Marguerite are behind these sounds.
In 1429, on April 29, Joan of Arc arrived in Orleans
Joan of Arc, a young lady from Lorraine, led an army into Orleans, claiming to have been sent there by God to declare Charles’s royal legitimacy and to expel the English from France. Since October 1428, the city has been under English siege. On May 8, 1429, Charles VII’s last army conquered the city of Orleans, and on July 17, 1429, Charles VII was crowned at Reims under the direction of Joan of Arc. Afterward, he was prepared to retake the country and restructure royal authority.
The coronation of Charles VII took place on July 17, 1429
Charles VII was crowned in Reims Cathedral with Joan of Arc present.
In Compiègne on May 23, 1430, Joan of Arc was taken into custody
Captured by a mercenary serving the Duke of Burgundy, Jean de Luxembourg, Joan of Arc was then sold to the English for 10,000 livres, despite having played a pivotal role in the liberation of Orleans the previous year. In 1431, she was prosecuted for heresy at the Inquisition Court in Rouen and executed by burning at the stake, even though she was not provided any legal representation. In 1456, she was rehabilitated.
The trial of Joan of Arc started on January 9, 1431
Joan of Arc, accused of heresy, was tried by a court at Rouen presided over by Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais. On February 21, at the royal chapel of Rouen Castle, the first open session began. On May 24, she publicly repented and admitted her faults, but by May 28, she had reversed her decision. On May 30, at Rouen, on the Place du Vieux-Marché, Joan of Arc was burned to death.
It was on May 30, 1431, when Joan of Arc was publicly executed
Rouen’s Place du Vieux-Marché (Haute-Normandie) is where Joan of Arc was burned to death for her “relapse” (return to heresy). The high stake prevented the executioner from suffocating Joan of Arc before the flames reached her. Two years earlier, in 1429, Joan of Arc had successfully freed Orleans from the English siege and had Charles VII crowned at Reims. But the Burgundians captured her at Compiègne and sold her to the English. The monarch made no overt attempt to save her.
Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint on January 1, 1909
After her death, Joan of Arc was elevated to sainthood.
On May 16, 1920, Benedict XV officially declared Joan of Arc a saint
The Catholic Church officially recognized Joan of Arc as a saint.
