Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1931, Page 73

' THE SUNDAY-. STAR, WASHINGTON, .D. C., MAY 31, 1931. FIVE HUNDRED Years Ago The Biggest News of May 30, 1431, Was the Burning of Joan of Arc, and This Is the Verdict of Time and History as to What Actually Led Up to Her Tragic Execution on That Fateful Day. HE martyrdom of Joan of Arc place exactly 500 years ago—on 30, 1431. Since then the : A 5oE3EE best known women of the Middle Ages. understand her strange and tragic story necessary to go back into history and trace currents that fially brought her to death to canonization as a martyr. 3 Approximately nine years before the final scene in the market place at Rouen, France was nominally under the rule of King Charles VI—who, unfortunately, was a mad- man. France, in consequence, was in a bad situation. On the one hand, the Duke of Burgundy had made himself virtual regent of the kingdom, and had installed his soldiers in Paris. On the other hapd, King Henry V of England, whose predecessors had gained a foothold in France, had once more invaded the country, declaring that since his family, the Plan- tagenets, were of French origin, he himself would become King of the French. To complicate matters, the Queen of France, Isabella—who was a woman of a dissolute life—joined in a plot to help Henry along. She openly declared that her son, the Dauphin (or Crown Prince), was not really the son of King Charles, and hence, being illegitimate, hndnonlal.rniomet.ltroneol’t.hekmgdom. Purther&obelptheplot.lhelguedtomrry her daughter, Princess Catherine, to King Henry. This would automasically make Henry Ppractically the ruler of the kingdom, and when Charles died it would make him King. Henry advanced with energy. The marriage with Princess Catherine was achieved. The English, after several campaigns, established themselves firmly in Northern France, seizing Harfleur, Calais, and—after a hot siege— Rouen. 3 And then, unexpect- edly, Henry died. A tangled situation immediately became more tangled than The statue o[ ever. The son of Joan of Arc Henry and Cather- in Meridian ine, Henry VI, was L only a child. His zdl Pc;rk;h: uncle, the Duke of Y o, 5 Bedford, together equestrian with the famous statue by “K ing - maker,” 4 the Earl of War- P;:,lh Dubois wick, ruled Eng- i stands land between in front of them; and they Rheins Ca- thedral. =g g EE however, could not be Joan of Arc, victorious, entering Orleans, clad in her white armor and waving the white linen banner given her by the King. From the famous painting by Scherrer that food and other supplies could be sent in agaflg %!gggs . She decla her visions, sent by the angels, had that Charles VII was the true son of VI and hence the rightful she insisted that she had it that he was crowned Ed s§§§§ Scherrer’s famous painting, showing the maid of Orleans at the stake. ,, Apparently she at least partially convinced him? perhaps he felt that the military situation was already so bad that nothing could make it much worse. At any rate, he finally consented to her proposals. Joan was given a suit of shining white armor, and a white linen banner, bearing the fleur-de- lis of Prance and a picture of the Lord of the World surrounded by adoring angels. Carrying a sword said to have been miraculously dug up from the vicinity of the tomb of St. Catherine, Joan set out for Orleans. Things happened rapidly after that. Joan got into Orleans without trouble. She began by going to the battlements and haranguing the English soldiers, urging them to stop fighting and go home. An English cap- tain shouted back that she was an immoral woman. Joan calmly replied that her French troops would in a few days capture the position held by this English captain and his men, and add- ed that the captain himself would Be killed! and a short time afterward it happened pre- cisely as she had said. T!ns struck a superstitious fear into the hearts of the English; and when the French followed it by more counter attacks from the beleaguered city the English troops were driven off and Orleans was free again. Joan gave the enemy no respite. She bea$ the English at Jargeau and Troyes, drove them from Patay and then took King Charles te Rheims and saw him duly crowned and an- nointed in the manner that Prench tradition prescribed. The coronation took place in mide i July—barely two months from the date of hep appearance at Orleans. Then Joan sent her soldiers on “mopping up” missions, preparatory to an attack on Paris itself. They drove the English from Laon and Soissons and Compeigne and Beauvais, and France was set aflame with hope and patriotic ardor for the cause of King Charles. Naturally enough, the English leaders were bitter against this peasant girl who had check- she led her army into Compeigne, which was being besieged by a strong Burgundian force, Here her Nemesis caught up with her. Leade sally from the city, Joan and her detache separated from the main body of , and the Burgundians seized her, rom her horse and turned her over uxemburg, one of the chief lieuten- Duke of Burgundy, to dispose of b gfi 3 € ?'a’ BES now arose—what to do with her? th a feverish and bitter intensity. i i ] g g g?gg ] g