This week I took a break from quantifying Joan’s Inquisition
Trial and instead directed my research towards secondary source work regarding
Joan, cross-dressing in the Middle Ages, and Inquisition Trials of the medieval
period, all in an effort to better contextualize Joan’s trial itself. One
secondary source in particular, Anne Llewellyn Barstow’s “Joan of Arc and
Female Mysticism”, was important in regards to my quantification categories.
Throughout the article, Barstow argues that research on Joan
very clearly reveals her to have been a female mystic as “her visions led her
into the central places of masculine power, where she performed as an active
mystic,” (Barstow 29). Barstow repeatedly argues that mysticism allowed women
throughout the late medieval period to assert and insert themselves into a men’s
world, measuring themselves “against male authority figures,” (Barstow 30). This
article especially sheds light on Joan’s trial in two particular ways. The
first, and perhaps most obvious, is how the idea of Joan as a mystic influences
my quantification process, and particularly the need for a “mystic” category
and a “magic” category to be clearly distinct and separate. Secondly, however,
Barstow’s article lends interesting insight into the idea of Joan asserting
herself in a man’s world, in other ways alongside her choice for male dress. I
am unsure currently how to interweave this revelation into my paper, although I
am certain it is an important idea that shows hopefully a new side to Joan and
how cross-dressing was perhaps not the only way or not even the most effective
way Joan asserted herself in the patriarchal culture of medieval England.
Barstow, Anne
Llewellyn. “Joan of Arc and Female Mysticism.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 1, no. 2 (1985): 29-42.
I always find the charges against how she dressed humorous. She HAD to have male dress in order to effectively manage troops and partake in war. However, it is interesting that she chose not to switch to female dress after her capture. Although, this refusal to wear women's clothing could be due to her desire to escape (remembering her attempted escape from a window).
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how wearing male clothes is a very extrinsic way for Joan to assert/insert herself into male society as opposed to the very internal, mystic approach of the visions. As far as I'm aware, she was forthright with expressing her visions, but this is still a manifestation of a very internal, personal message between her and God. In this way, it seems like the male dress was an easy route to accessing power in society.