ABSTRACT

French have trouble realizing the importance of Joan of Arc in their history. Coming in the middle of the Hundred Years War, her epic lasted hardly more than two years, and from that we must deduct an entire year, from May 1430 to May 1431, when Joan was in prison. From what was the forest of Broceliande to the cemeteries of the Holy Land, the dead chivalry of old will rise from its tombs: in the silence of the darkest night, unfolding the hands of the reclining stone figures, the valiant knights of the Round Table and the companions of St. Louis, the first soldiers killed during the Fall of Jerusalem and the last loyal followers of the small leprous king. Chivalry was a demanding ideal. It required the surpassing of oneself; those who possessed strength were expected to put it to the service of the poor.