4. The Coronation at Reims
Joan promised the examining committee in Poitiers four things:
- The deliverance of Orléans
- The crowing of the Dauphin in Reims
- The departure of the English from France
- The return of Duke Louis of Orléans, at the time captive in England.
She had lived up to her first promise, and now it was her intent to live up to the second. Her heavenly voices had specifically instructed her to have the Dauphin crowned as King in Reims. Reims was since the earliest days of French Christianity the place where the Kings were crowned. In our days, we believe wisdom comes from casting votes in elections, but in those days, people viewed their monarch as being chosen by God to rule them. The king was, for this matter, anointed with holy oils and he received the crown from the Church. Joan apparently received the revelation that God had chosen Charles to hold the kingdom of France in His stead.
Now, we must understand that Reims was not the obvious choice. Any army general would understand that marching on such a city, so far in enemy territory, far away from base and supplies, was not the way to go. In fact, many tried to stop Joan in this plan, but because God had asked it of her, Joan insisted. It was very difficult for her to remain patient as the court of the King seemed to endlessly debate and make peace offers to the Burgundians. Paris, the nation’s capital, seemed strategically a more logical place to attack.
The coronation
In the end, Joan prevailed and the King marched towards Reims for the coronation, after much delay. Joan had already received word from her ‘council’ that she would have less than a year to complete her mission. Of course, Joan’s (and God’s) plan was better than any human plan, although in the end it also sealed her fate. It was better than controlling Reims, because as I explained above, once Charles was consacrated as King by the Church, he would be King in the hearts and minds of the people. He gained an immense support. It also sealed Joan’s fate, because the only way for the English to now come out of this struggle for power as the victor, meant that they would have to show that Charles’s coronation was invalid. They tried to do this by eventually condemning Joan as a heretic, and as the new ‘King’ of France received his crown with the help of a heretic, he could surely not be the true King of France…
During a beautiful ceremony in the cathedral of Reims (which we can still visit to this day), the Dauphin Charles became King Charles VII of France. Joan was there, with her banner, as well as many noblemen and clergy. The Archbishop of Reims, finally returned to his own episcopal see, lead the lengthy ceremony, and France finally had a new King.
Joan at court
From this moment on, Joan was often kept at court. She was knighted by the King for her service to the realm, and the village of Domremy was exempt for taxes for many years (I think, until the demise of the royal house, but believe me, we’re talking about many, many years!) because of her. It seems Joan really didn’t have too many more specific instructions from her voices, and because of a deceitful truce with Burgundy, the King did not support her as much as he used to. Sometimes Joan was asked by civilians of towns to come to their aid, and she often did what she could. Without her King’s support, she lost the battle at Paris, and eventually was caught by the English before the gates of Compiègne: a city loyal to Charles, which he abandoned to the English in exchange for another city, more advantageous to him (or so his councillors led him to believe)
