Dressing up as Joan of Arc

I have a friend, Wayne, who is seriously obsessed with all things medieval. He attends Renaissance festivals, makes his own armor, gives his children fencing lessons and could probably quote the majority of Henry V off the top of his head. I was visiting him at his house over the weekend, and, since we've been studying warfare and weaponry in class, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to try out some of that stuff in real life.

We know from several sources that Joan had her own suit of armor, as well as a sword and a standard. Some sources even mention her carrying a small hand ax. For example in the letter from Guy and Andre de Laval, Joan is described as "completely covered by plate armour except for her head, a small axe in her hand, mounted on horseback" (Taylor 93). I didn't try on any plate armor like Joan would have worn, but I did try some chain mail, which was heavy enough. In addition to its weight, the chain mail was super awkward to get on and off. Wayne had to help me get it on, and then it got caught it my hair (it totally makes sense why Joan would want to cut her hair now!). The best way to readjust it is to jump and let the momentum carry it forward or back. Getting it off was easier. You basically have to bend over and let it slide off over your head. It was much more difficult to handle than it looked, especially considering the battle situations it would have been used in. In class today, I kept imagining when Joan found out that the battle had started without her. Getting suited up into her armor would have taken a while,                                                                     especially when she was already impatient.

The sword that I'm holding in the picture is one of the lighter ones that Wayne has, but it is still heavier than it looks. The hand ax was much lighter and easier to handle. After having some experience handling the armor and weapons in real life, I am doubly impressed by how much Joan was able to accomplish. We've often mentioned in class how medieval knights were the most in shape people of the Middle Ages and how they went through a lot of training to learn how to fight with heavy armor and weapons. While Joan was probably in better shape than me, she still had not received any of that training. She went into these battles at a serious disadvantage, but she still fought in and won them. In order to accomplish her mission, Joan not only had overcome all of the external challenges, but also the physical challenges presented by her own body/lack of training, which is a fact that I've never really appreciated before. Basically, go Joan!


Sources: 

"Letter from Guy and Andre de Laval to their mother (8 June 1429)". In Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, translated and annotated by Craig Taylor,92-93. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006.

Thanks to Wayne Grant for the chain mail and weapons!