(Without apology, repost from July 7 two years ago.)On this day in 1456, Jeanne d'Arc got a retrial for heresy. She was acquitted. She had been burned at the stake 25 years earlier, having at that time been convicted of that crime.
She did not get a do-over of the execution of sentence in the original trial. Few idividuals have attracted so much attention in the literary world in the intervening centuries. Many famous authors have written extensively about her life. These include George Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain, who was surely obsessed with her, at least during the time in which he wrote of her. His two-volume account is among my favorites.
Ste. Jeanne d'Arc c.1412 - 1431 RIP
Portrait, National Archives, Paris
4 comments:
Interesting that you post this on the day of the Florida sentencing; a day on which so many people are angry that a young lady is not to be put to death.
"There is no noble way to take the life of another human; there is no just way to kill. Even if we face a moral dilemma, the inescapable death would still be a tragedy of injustice against life." (Myron S. Augsburger in The Christ-Shaped Conscience, 1990)
Vee, thanks for commenting. Extended reply via email.
She was certainly an unusual girl- great name- grin
Shark: The name is near and dear to you, isn't it Joan?
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