Warfare: Masculine or Feminine?

Joan, as a woman who wore male clothing, made war, and even inserted war cries into her letters to the English (aka “hahu”), is often studied from the perspective of a woman entering the male sphere, as a woman becoming “like a man,” and assuming power she would not have held typically during the Middle Ages. However, based on the sources, gendered ideas still clearly followed Joan onto the battlefield. Apart from simply her name being Pucelle, in the source, “Virgo puellares,” a Latin poem about Joan dating possibly from 1429, the poet states, “she believes that the deceitful English will also succumb to death, when the French overthrow them with maidenly war” (Taylor 78). In this, the violent tone of Joan’s belief in English death is contrasted by the description of war as “maidenly.” Joan is also described as “kindly,” the Pucelle who is going to wage war to bring back “love and piety,” and a “beautiful peace” (Taylor 77-78). Thus, due to Joan’s key role in the war, the ugliness of warfare itself almost seems to float into the background, masked by the concept of Joan’s femininity and the terms that accompany it. This may be due in part to the fact that the source is a poem, yet there seems to be a presence of gendered descriptions even when not directly related to Joan. For example, in the treatise, “De mirabili victoria,” the author describes in reference to the English, “Also that the enemy, even their leaders, retire into hiding out of many fears and feel sluggish as if failing like a woman giving birth” (Taylor 80). The comparison is obviously based on concepts of gender. In general, I wonder if Joan’s significant involvement in the French victory at Orleans and therefore, the crowning of the King at Reims increased the integration of the feminine into discussion of war more than has been typical throughout history? Additionally, seeing as how “maidenly” war was termed in a positive manner describing French actions, did Joan’s participation actually cause a reversal in perceptions of gender at least temporarily?

Source:Taylor, Craig. Joan of Arc: La Pucelle. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2006. Print.

 

Image Source: Illustration by Frank Schoonover, 1918