Beyond The Myth Summary

The book, Beyond The Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc, by Polly Schoyer Brooks, is a biography.
2. Summary:
Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in Domremy, France. Her family consisted of peasants, including her mother, Isabelle Romee, father, Jacques d'Arc, one of the leaders of the village for collecting taxes and being the head of the town’s watch, her sister, Catherine, and three other brothers. The family lived in a small farmhouse near the village’s church, where Joan would tend the animals. Throughout her childhood to death, Joan lived through the Hundred Year War, a civil war between the French Royalists and the Anglo-Burgundians allied with the English as the war was simply a feud for the French throne as the rightful French king and the

leader of the French Royalists, Charles Dauphin was exiled, while the heir to the throne of France would be King Henry V of England after the signing of the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. Thus, the war impacted France, such as the village and Joan as they were the minority, who was still free of English and Burgundian occupation and fiercely loyal to France as the invading English, the treacherous Burgundians, and other criminals disrupted their plain and peaceful life, where they would burn their crops, and steal precious cattle making the town grew bitter over the war and invaders as they pity the state of despair and corruption France was currently in. In 1423, Joan’s sole resentment for the Burgundians and the English grew as her cousin’s husband was killed during a siege of the village, which was lead by the Burgundians, and she even remarked that she’ll like to see a local Burgundian beheaded if it was pleasing to God. With the throne and majority of the land in English hands, it seemed obvious that the Burgundians in arms with the English would win the war.

However, in 1425, the French were able to stop a siege on Mont St. Michael, as hope for winning the war and gossip among the town grew once more. A few months later, Joan began to hear a voice call her from her father’s garden, which she later claimed to be the voice of France’s patron saint, St. Michael. Her voices or revelations become more specific and urgent as more and more towns were conquered by the Burgundians and the English, while Joan become more distant and absent to her family friends to talk with her voices, and soon, it became apparent to Joan that God has given her a mission to save the exiled prince and France, although, with low-confidence with her peasant stature, her voices gave her the confidence and help to pursue the mission. Her father, oblivious to Joan’s revelations, dreams that she’ll join the army, which meant that she’ll be a camp follower, and so, he demanded her brothers to drown her if she did or he’ll do it himself as he and her mother kept a closer eye on her. Despite her parent’s worry and fear, Joan persisted in completing her mission as she made preparations to visit her her first cousin near Vaucouleurs in December to take care of the baby when in actuality, Joan was planning to go to Vaucouleurs, a town loyal to the French, to get help

from the governor, Robert De Baudricourt to help her get an audience with the French Royal Court in Chinon.
Upon meeting the governor with the help of her uncle, Joan explained that God has given her a mission of saving the exiled prince and France, and she needed his help. Hearing this he sent her back home until her popularity and of the mission itself skyrocketed with his citizens that he reconsidered and accepted her request. On February 1429, in the beginning of Lent, Joan and her assigned escort, squire, archers, royal messengers, and her servants began their journey to Chinon, sneaking through enemy territory until they made it to their destination. In Chinon, Joan was examined for two days for her sincerity before meeting the prince, as she bowed and announced that she had little over a year to live, and once again in Poitiers, when the churchmen interviewed her about the truth in her voices, mission, and asked for her to prove it, Joan hotly replied with insults and declared to let her help the French the siege for Orleans to prove her right. She was proven legitimate, and with reinforcements, headed to help the French in Orleans. In April 29, they reached Orleans as Joan was impatient to fight the English, as she later got her wish on May 4 as the French launched an attack at an English Fort of St. Loup, where the French were soon at full retreat when Joan appeared to give the French to head back and overcome the English at full force as this small victory prevents the English from trapping Orleans entirely, and not only until two days later, another victory was handed to the French after a grueling battle and rest, when Joan alerted the French when to attack Tourelles when the tip of her standard touches the ground and the French being able to attack from the north and south, due to the construction of a temporary bridge from the townsfolk. By May 8, the remaining English were packing their equipment and leaving Orleans. Joan later assists in the reclaiming of the towns, Jargeau and Patay, where she suggested an innovative and progressive way of fighting for the French of quickly attacking their enemy when they least suspected it. Joan, now certain with her progress in her mission, follows her next step, to help and stand besides Charles to be properly crowned as king of France in Reims as she went through Anglo-Burgundian towns like Auxerre with bribery or Troyes until they reached Reims on July 16 and see the king properly crowned on the following Sunday, but after Charles was made king, Joan noticed that he was distancing himself from her as his ideas of a slow and diplomatic agreement clashed with her quick and forceful mission. She was even more shocked and upset as King Charles was seeking a fifteenth-day truce with the Duke of Burgundy, which only allowed the duke to strengthened his defenses and call reinforcement with the English. Worried about the little time she would have left, with the aid of her loyal knight, Alencon and Joan prepared to lead his army to conquer Paris, but failed to pass through Paris’s thick defenses, and despite Joan’s stubbornness to continue the attack the day after, the king ordered the army to return to St. Denis.
So from fall 1429 through May 1930, Joan traveled with the French Royal Court, and unfortunately, when she was given the chance to lead again, she and the knights with her failed to recapture other cities and towns, discrediting her reputation as God’s sent savior.

After a small victory of reclaiming Melun, her voices forebodes that she’ll be captured before the Feast of St. John, which comes true as she is captured on May 23, 1430, after she was pulled off her horse. Joan is soon imprisoned in Beaulieu and then to Beaurevoir by Jean de Luxembourg, but she is treated kindly by his aunt, wife, and daughter, who weren't able to stop Jean from selling her to the English, and then in December, Joan is sent to the Rouen, Normandy to be on trial in January 1431 that would continue for three months by Bishop Cauchon and churchmen from the University of Paris, who fearing Joan’s independence from the Church and her power, with mainly “evidence” from English and Burgundian tales of Joan’s witchcraft, Joan’s voices, and male dress alongside her other sins of attacking on a holy day and attempting suicide, accuse her of being a witch, a heretic, and a tool of the Devil. To their surprise, Joan’s calmly responded to each answer and swore on the Gospel that she’ll tell the truth, but she’ll not reveal any information about her revelations, which alongside her refusal to answer some of their questions convinced them that Joan was indeed not telling the truth. Finally, when Joan describes

the voices her who are saints, the churchmen beliefs that saints can’t be seen further convinces themselves that Joan’s voices were demons in disguise. Regardless of the heavy evidence, claims and people against her, Joan’s purity rebuked the accusations that Joan was a witch, and Joan remained strong throughout the trial, using her wit to escape questions that were meant to trap her like one asking her if she was free from all sin, and her boldness to stand up to the churchmen, but eventually with the repeating questions, Joan’s will faded as she understood the Church’s simple explanation of the complex idea of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant that the Church Militant is the pope and the clerics on Earth must pass one as a good Catholic in order to be accepted by the Church Triumphant, which is God and saints in heaven. By March 12, 1431, it was finally announced with seventy charges against Joan, but it was later decreased to twelve. On May 24, Joan was sent to be burned at a stake, but once asked to submit to the Church and forever live a life of forgiveness to repent for her sins, Joan impulsively accepted, much to the disappointment and anger of the gather crowd, and signed a contract, which consisted of her casting off her male clothes and disconnect from her voices. Joan was sent back to her cell in the prison with the harassing English guards, where only a few days later, she was found crying and a mess, and resumed wearing her male clothes with the addition to admitting to hearing her voices. She further proclaimed she wouldn’t have done both of these sins if she was in Church prison with female guards and admitted to not knowing much of the contents of the contract. On May 30, in the Old Market, she prayed and was burned at the stake, her final word calling on to Jesus and her saints.