to be agreed that no feminine character ever filled the papal chair, but there is certainly a variety of opinions as to the causes which provoked the story. Some at- tribute it to a misconception of the object of the Sella stercoraria ; the canons excluded eunuchs from the pa- pal throne, and the sella stercoraria was contrived to prove that the person elected fulfilled the requirements of the canons. Others consider it as a symbolical satire. Still others look upon it as a lampoon on the inconti- nence of the pope, John VIII ; or, and perhaps more correctly, as a satire on the female regiment (mider Ma- rozia) during the popedom of John X-XII. See, for further details, Gieseler's Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii, pt. i (■4th ed.), 29 sq. ; also Wensing, Over de Paitsin Joanna — in reply to Kist: — (S'Gravenhage, 1845); Bianchi Gi- ovini's Esame Critico degli atti relativi alia Papessa Giovanna (MUan, 1845) ; Bower, Hist. Popes, iv, 246 sq. ; Fuhrmann, Ilandwurterb. der Kirchengesch. ii, 469 sq. ; Herzog, Real-FnajMop. vi, 721 ; Christ. Examiner, Lxxv, 197 ; Western Rev. AprU, 1864, p. 279. (J. H. W.)
Joau d'Albret. See Huguenots ; FKA^•CE.
Joan OF Arc (French Jeanne d'Arc), or "the Maid of Orleans," is the name of a character whose history concerns not only the secular historian ; it deserves the careful consideration also of the ecclesiastical student. The remarkable fate of this herome is tridy a phenome- non in religious philosophy. We have room here, how- ever, only for a short biographical sketch of the heroine, and refer the student to Bijttiger, Weltgesch. in Biogra- phien, iv, 474 ; Michelet, Hist, de France, vii, 44 ; Gorres-, Jumfrau v. Orleans (Regensb. 1834) ; Hase, Neue Pro- ]}heten (Lpz. 1851) ; Strass, Jean d'A re (1862) ; Eysell, Joh. d'A re (1864); Locher, Schlafu. Traume (Zurich, 1853) ; and especiaUy (mainly on her visions, etc.) the celebrated German theologian of Bonn University, Dr. J. P. Lange, in Herzog, Real-EncyUop. vii, 165 sq.
Joan was the daughter of respectable peasants, and was born in 1412, in the villr.ge of Domremy, in the de- partment of Vosges, France. She was taught, like other young women of her station in that age, to sew and to spin, but not to read and write. She was distinguished from other girls by her greater simplicity, modesty, in- dustry', and piety. When about thirteen years of age she believed that she saw a flash of light, and heard aii unearthly voice, which enjoined her to be modest, and to be dihgent in her religious duties. The impression made upon her excitable mind by tne national distresses of the time soon gave a new character to the revelations Avhich she supposed herself to receive, and when fifteen years old she imagined that unearthly voices called her to go and fight for the Dauphin. Her story was at first rejected as that of an insane person ; but she not only succeeded in making her way to the Dauphin, but in persuading him of her heavenly mission. She assumed male attire and warlike equipments, and, with a sword and a white banner, she put herself at the head of the French troops, whom her example and the notion of her heavenly mission inspired with new enthusiasm. April 29, 1429, she threw herself, with supplies of provisions, into Orleans, then closely besieged by the English, and from the 4th to the 8th of May made successful sallies upon the English, and finally compelled them to raise the siege. After this important victorj' the national ardor of the French was rekindled to the utmost, and Joan became the dread of the previously triumphant enemy. She conducted the Dauphin to Rheims, where he was crowned, July 17, 1429, and Joan, with many tears, saluted him as king. She now wished to return home, deeming her mission accomplished ; but Charles importuned her to remain with his arm}', to which she i consented. Now, however, because she no longer heard i any unearthly voice, she began to have fearful forebod- I ings. She continued to accompany the French army, I and was present in many conflicts. May 24, 1430, while j heading a sally from Compiegne, which the Burgun- I diau forces were besieging, she was taken prisoner, and
JOAN
924
JO ASH
sola by a Burffundian officer to the Eng-Ush for the sum j (great) grandson of Zerubbabel, m the lineage of Chnst of 16 000 fr^s. Being ccnveyed to Kouen, the head- j (Luke iii, 27) ; probably the same caUed Arnan m the quarters of the Enghsh, she was brought before the Old Testament (IChron. lu 21 feee Strong s //«.,«. S uS tribunal of Ihe bisliop of Beauvais as a sorcer- I and E:cpos. of the Gospels, p. lb, 1. ). B.C. considerably eL and heretic; and after a long trial, accompanied i post 536. See Genealogy of Chkist. with manv shameful circumstances, of which perhaps | 2. ( li^avva, prob. femin. oi lioavvm, John.) Ihe the most istouncUng is the fact that her own country- j wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Aiitipas, tetrarch men, and the most learned of these, representing the | of GalUee (Luke viii, 3). ^^e^™/^ ""^^of those women
University of Paris, pronounced her under the intiuence --. - .-— j.-.i. ^- -
of witclicraft. By their advice, she was condemned to