Charles VII (1403-61) was the French king who could have
saved Joan of Arc from being burned at the stake but refused to do so.
Charles VII of France
The story of Joan of Arc is a well-known one. She was a young peasant girl who became
convinced that she could turn the tide of the war against the English to ensure
that Charles would be crowned king. She claimed to have had visions that made
it clear that God was on the side of France and would ensure that the English
would be expelled.
Charles took some convincing, but Joan’s insistence gave him
the courage that he lacked. He lent her an army of 3,500 men and sent her to
lift the siege of Orleans, which she did. She then proceeded to win a series of
victories that opened the way to Rheims, which was the traditional coronation
site for French kings.
Charles was duly crowned in Rheims Cathedral on 17th
July 1429, with Joan standing at his side.
One might have thought that Charles would have done
everything he could to show his gratitude to Joan, but this did not turn out to
be the case. When the Duke of Burgundy, who was Charles’s arch-enemy and an
ally of the English, offered a truce, Charles accepted it as an alternative to
continuing the fight that Joan had started. If Joan had visions of sweeping the
English out of France, Charles appeared to have stopped believing in those same
visions.
Not long afterwards the Burgundians captured Joan and
demanded a ransom for her release. Charles made no moves to raise the necessary
funds, so Joan was handed over the English who proceeded to put her on trial
for witchcraft and heresy, then condemn her to death by burning.
Charles’s weakness in this matter did his reputation no good
at all, either at the time or in retrospect. Having used Joan to get what he
wanted, namely a crown on his head, she was expendable. It did not look good
for a king to be indebted to a peasant girl – at least, that appears to have
been his thinking. Charles did, 25 years later, support an appeal to the pope
to reconsider the case against Joan and nullify the verdict, but that was far
too late for the girl who, at the age of 19, had been reduced to ashes that
were then sent floating down the River Seine.
© John Welford
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