Joan’s Youth

Joan of Arc is a well known remarkable woman that came to be France’s national heroine and later a Catholic Saint. Joan was born as a peasant girl in the eastern side of France in a small village named Domremy, which is located between Champagne and Lorraine. Although Joan’s date of birth isn’t really known, using the ages she claimed to be at different stages of her life, she is thought to have been born around 1412. Joan’s father was named Jacques of Arc, and her mother Isabelle Rome. She lived with her parents and other three brothers and sister: Jacquemin, Pierre, Jean and Catherine. Joan’s parents owned around 50 acres of farming land and her father supplemented his farming job with a minor position as an official for the village. Most of Domremy and Joan’s family supported the Dauphin. The Dauphin is French for dolphin which is the symbol of the coat of arms for the royal family.

            As a child in the 15^th century, Joan never had formal schooling which meant that she most likely didn’t know how to read or write. Joan received most of her schooling from her mother, Isabelle. Joan’s mother was a very pious woman meaning that she showed a dutiful spirit and reverence for God. Joan learned the ways of her mother and inherited the same devotion as her.

            Tradition states that Joan worked as a shepherdess helping her family take care of sheep flocks. She exhibited a liking for manly/ heavy labor like plowing which made her grow up strong. Many in the village of Domremy were astonished by Joan’s extraordinary strength for a woman. Although Joan did find a man’s job entertaining, she was also a normal peasant girl that spun thread and sewed. Although she seemed normal, there was one thing that set her apart from everyone else, it was her religious devotion. Joan was a very determined Christian from an early age and although her friends admired her devotion, they always found her strange. People may have also looked at her more strangely if they had known that she began hearing strange voices around the age of 13.

The Strange Voices

During Joan’s youth, local lands owned by the Burgundians would often come in raids driving away Domremy’s cattle and burning down the village. It was around this time when Joan began hearing “voices”. The voices first started speaking to her at her father’s garden. Joan claimed that the voices came from angels and saints who include: Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. Joan said that they always spoke in French and although they frightened her at first, she eventually came to terms with their voices. The voices most importantly told her that she needed to help the Dauphin by going to Orleans and helping them fight against the English.

Journey to the Dauphin

In 1428, the voices Joan had been hearing commanded her to travel to Vaucouleur which was a fortress nearby belonging to the Dauphin. When she asked the captain of the fortress to let her join the Dauphin, he laughed at her and sent her back home. Joan was still persistent and the next year when she went back the captain was persuaded by her sincerity and let her, with a small military, set out to go to the Dauphin’s castle at Chinon. Joan began using men’s clothes so she could blend in as she traveled through the controlled territory by the English. After arriving in Chinon and the Dauphine had agreed to see her, tradition says she had to determine who the real Dauphin was out of his court. When Joan entered, although she had never met him, she walked right up to him and told him that she was there to help him defeat the English. The Dauphin at the time was Charles VII. With the help of Duke of Alencon, Charles let Joan command a small unit of his military giving her the power of a knight.

The Famous Battle of Orleans

With the help of the voices Joan kept hearing, she led her army in a fight against the English who were planning on taking over Orleans. Orleans provided a very significant base for the occupation of southern France. Although the English were already fighting against the French lead by Earl of Suffolk, Joan entered at the right time bringing reinforcements to help win the battle. Joan brought new hope and relief to the French army which helped them win. Joan followed the commands from her voices which helped her drive the English forces out. Joan drove the French out fort by fort ending the blockade and earning popularity through all of France.

After defeating the English again in the Battle of Patay, Joan helped bring Charles to the city of Reims where he was crowned official King Charles VII. King Charles VII later made Joan and her family to French nobility, thanking Joan for her services. Joan still continued to fight for the king of France until the Battle of Compiegne.

The Battle of Compiegne

On the year of 1430, the Duke of Burgundy sent a threat to the Champagne and Brie region which Joan had promised to take care of for the king. Joan left to fight the forces of Burgundia at the Battle of Compiegne. When Joan reached Campiegne, tradition states that her presence aided in rallying the people, and giving the French troops hope against their enemy. Together both Joan and Renaud headed southward. When Joan entered the city, she found it under siege lead by an English leader called John of Luxembourg. Joan had to fight against one of her most formidable opponents. During the battle, Joan found herself outmanned by John’s army and her only choice was to lead her remaining forces to fight and hold of the Burgundians while the French townspeople escaped. Joan was later captured by the enemies. They had just captured Frances’ most valuable prize.

Joan’s Imprisonment and Trial

After Joan was captured by the Duke of Burgundy, he put her in a cell in his castle at Vermandois. After various attempts to escape, Joan ended up being transferred to a more secure area in Arras. Joan’s trial began on January 13, 1431. The church took statements from people that described her as a witch. The church thought the description matched her well because she clamed to her voices, she behaved differently from everyone else, she liked to be alone by herself for long periods of time, she wore men’s clothing, and she has incredibly good luck. They also said she had taken man duties, like working the fields and having a male’s authority over an army. Although Joan was asked many questions, she swore to never say anything that would reveal the King Charles VII.

When Joan’s sentence was read, Joan was turned over to the Burgundians and the English. Joan, scared of what might happen to her in the hands of the English, signed a confession were she admitted her sins. This allowed her to stay under the church’s authority which allowed her not to be killed. This angered the English because they wanted her dead. She was sent to prison to be kept there until further notice, but while se was there, the voices that she had talked with for almost all her life told her that she was making a mistake and that she should have never meant her defeat. Joan then told the Church that she had never meant to sign the abjuration. This lead to the Church returning her to the hands of those she most feared.

Joan was distraught after hearing her method of execution. She would have accepted anything but being burned. Joan was burned to the steak accused for being a witch. As she burned, she never took back anything she said. She ended her life with this last word, “Jesus!”

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Spartans did not tolerate the weak. When a baby was born, they would be inspected, Inspected for defects and deformities. If there was something wrong with the baby, it was thrown off a cliff. This may seem harsh, but considering the alternative, it’s a good choice. If the baby with a defect was kept alive the family would get attached to it obviously. This would cause more hurt and pain in the long run because a challenged child would not withstand the training that was in it’s future. It would suffer because it would not be able to survive the hardships that normal Spartans had to face.

Another thing that I was interested in was the Spartans dress,armor, and weapons chosen for battle. When the Spartans fought the Persians they had started off with using a 6-9 ft., spear called a dory. Probably about mid0way through the battle they had lost their dory or perhaps just found better use in what they called xiphos. A xiphos is a kind of sword. I can’t even imagine walking around in their heavy armor, let alone shuffling across a battlefield wearing it. The Spartans helmets, The Corinthian helmet alone weighed 10 lbs! The Spartans were a strong group of people that history will not let us forget. And why would we want to?

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Hinduism

While researching Hinduism, I’ve learned that there are many different ways to go about practicing this religion. There are many, many gods and Goddesses. Some Hindu’s believe that there is one God but many forms of this one God. One way to look at it in that view is that there one main being and its many personalities for you to pray to for that specific need.

The Hindu Trinity consists of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is known as the creator. In Hinduism these Gods had mind born and body born children. In Brahma’s case, he had ten mind born sons, nine body born sons and one body born daughter. His mind born sons were Pulaha, Pracetas, Vashista, Narada, Bhrgu, Marici, Angiras, Pulastya, Atri, and Kratuj. His nine body born sons were Kama, Delusion, Anger, Greed, Dharma, Joy, Death, Bharata, and Lust. His only daughter was called Angaja. Brahma made a Goddess out of himself to create the human race. The Goddess called Gayatri was half women and half man. It was because of Gayatri that Brahma had five heads. Gayatri was ashamed of the love that Brahma showed and tried to dodge his gaze. One of these five heads was lost after Shiva got angry at Brahma for lying to Vishnu.

Vishnu is known as the preserver and protector of everything. Vishnu has four arms and each of them is almost always occupied. The conch, the disc, the club, and the lotus are always handy to him. Vishnu also has a sword that is also called Nandaka and a Bow that he calls Sarnga.

Although Shiva is mostly famous for being the destroyer of the world, he is also the representation of essential goodness. Since he is forever destroying the world, Brahma is close on his heals to recreate as he is supposed to do. The snakes that surround Shiva in many of the pictures you see of him represent that he is beyond the poison and strength of death. Shiva had two wives even though he was celibate.  His first wife’s name was Sati and his second’s was Shakti. You would think that Gods and Goddesses belong in the sky like in Greek Mythology, but Shiva lives on Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas. He has two sons, Ganesha and Kartekaya.

Ganesha is the elephant headed God. He became Lord of all beings after beating his brother Kartekaya in a contest. This contest was given to them by their parents, Shiva and Shakti, to see which son was best suitable to replace them. The challenge was who could race around the universe the fastest. Kartekaya sped away on his peacock while Ganesha simply walked around his mother and father. Ganesha was implying that Shiva and Shakti were the universe, thus winning the title. Everything that Ganesha appears with in his picture represents something. For example, the hatch that he holds is to cut away the bondages of desire and the mudra grants fearlessness.

Opposing his brother’s spiritual attitude, Kartekaya is the scientist of the Gods. He grew six heads because when he was born he had six different Goddesses fighting over him because each of them wanted to care for him. Kartekaya became commander of the army of Gods.

Bibliography:

http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm 2/23/09

http://contenderministries.org/hinduism/hindubeliefs.php 2/23/09

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/ 2/23/09