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09 November 2024

Joan of Arc at the British Library

There are many incredible items on display in the British Library's Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibition. One of the most special is undeniably a letter bearing the oldest known signature of Jeanne la Pucelle, known to English-speaking readers as Joan of Arc. Written on 9 November 1429, this letter has never previously left Riom, the town to which it was sent by Joan almost 600 years ago. We are immensely grateful to the Archives municipales de la Ville de Riom (Puy-de-Dôme) for entrusting us with their precious document, and to Jean-François Moufflet (Archives nationales, Paris) for helping to facilitate this loan.

A letter of Joan of Arc to the citizens of Riom, bearing her signature.

Letter from Joan of Arc to the citizens of Riom, featuring the earliest surviving example of her signature (Moulin, 9 November 1429): Archives municipale de la Ville de Riom, AA33

Joan was born into a prosperous peasant family in the village of Domrémy during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Urged by heavenly voices, she ran away from home to join the cause of the Dauphin Charles, son of the French king, to drive the English from France. Riding into battle with the French army at the siege of Orléans in May 1429, Joan inspired a spectacular victory, paving the way for Charles to be crowned King of France on 17 July. But Joan then experienced a downturn in fortunes. Leading an assault on Paris on 8 September, Joan was wounded and the French suffered over 1,500 casualties. Charles ordered a retreat, and Joan became increasingly isolated at the French court, without allies to support her.

When Joan sent her letter to the citizens of Riom in November 1429, she had been sent to recover an area of the eastern Loire from the clutches of the mercenary Perrinet Gressart, who was working for the Burgundian and English forces. On 4 November, a force under her command captured the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, prompting Joan to turn her attentions towards the town of La Charité-sur-Loire, also held by Gressart. In this letter, she requested gunpowder and other military supplies that would aid the assault. 

The text of the letter reads as follows:

Chers et bon amis vous sauez bien comment la ville de Saint-Pierre le Moustier a esté prinse d’assault; et, à l’aide de Dieu, ay entencion de faire vuider les autres places qui sont contraires au roy. Mais pour ce que grant despense de pouldres, trait et autres habillemens de guerre a esté faicte devant ladicte ville, et que petitement les seigneurs qui sont en ceste ville et moy en sommes pourveuz pour aler mectres le siége devant la Charité, où nous alons prestement. Je vous prie sur tant que vous aymez le bien et honneur du roy et aussi de tous les autres de par deça, que vueillez incontinant envoyer at aider pour ledit siége, de pouldres, salepestre, souffre, trait, arbelestres fortes et d’autres habillemens de guerre. Et en ce faictres tant que, par faulte desdictes pouldres et autres habillemens de guerre, la chose ne soit longue, et que on ne vous puisse dire en ce estre négligens ou refusans. Chiers et bons amis, Nostre Sire soit garde de vous. Escript à Molins, le nèufviesme jour de Novembre.

                                                                                                                                Jehanne

A mes chers et bons amis, les gens d’église, bourgeois et habitants de la ville de Rion.

 

'Dear and good friends, you know well how the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier has been taken by an assault; and, with God’s help, it is my intention to empty the other places that are against the king. But because a large amount of gunpowder, projectiles and other materials of war were expended before the said town, and because I and the lords present in the town are poorly equipped to besiege La Charité, where we will be going soon, I ask you, in the name of the love you have for the honour and well-being of the king, as well as all the others who are here, to send us gunpowder, saltpetre [a type of early explosive], sulphur, arrows, arbalests [a type of crossbow] and other military supplies without delay to help with the siege. And do this well enough so that the siege does not drag on because of a lack of powder and other materials, and no one can accuse you of being negligent or unwilling. Dear and good friends, may Our Lord protect you! Written at Moulins, the 9th day of November.

                                                                                                                                Jehanne

To my dear and good friends the people of the church, the bourgeois and the citizens of the town of Riom.'

 

Signature of Joan of Arc

This is one of only a handful of surviving letters of Joan of Arc, and one of just three — the first, no less — to bear her signature. Joan dictated her letter to a scribe, but signed her own name at the end. You can almost see the pen held tightly in her hand, as she carefully inscribed the letters 'Jehanne'. Despite being illiterate, Joan of Arc (aged just seventeen) undoubtedly knew the value of the written word. We do not know whether Joan succeeded in persuading the citizens of Riom to come to her aid, and the assault on La Charité-sur-Loire certainly failed. But what we can witness in Joan's signature is an emotive physical link to one of the most inspiring figures in medieval European history.

In the British Library exhibition, the letter to Riom is displayed alongside copies of the proceedings of Joan's trial, which resulted in her burning at Rouen on 30 May 1431, followed by her rehabilitation trial in the 1450s, at which the charges laid against Joan were nullified. We are thrilled to be able to show this letter to the visitors to our exhibition, thanks to the generosity of the Archives de Riom.

The exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.

 

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