In his Foreword to the translation of the ancient French manuscripts of Jean Francois Alden in the archives of France, Mark Twain says:
“The details of the like of Jean of Arc form a biography which is unique among the world’s biographies in one respect. It is the only story of a human life,
which comes to us under oath, the only one that comes to us from the witness stand.
The official records of the Great Trial of 1431 and of the Process of Rehabilitation of a quarter of a century later are still preserved in the National Archives of France, and they furnish with remarkable fullness the facts of her life. The history of no other life of that remote time is known with either the certainty or the comprehensiveness that attaches to hers.”
From this statement it will be seen that the following facts, taken verbatim from Mark Twain’s work, may be relied upon as authentic: Jeanne d’Arc was born Domremy, in lat. 48deg 27min N. and long. 5deg 40 E., on January 6, 1412. Corroborative evidence is contained in the work already cited, the opening words of which read as follows: “I, the Sieur Louis de Conte, was born in Neufchateau on January 6, 1410—that is to say, exactly two years before Joan of Arc was born in Domremy.”
This Louis de Conte, it should be said, was the page and secretary of Jeanne d’Arc during the wars, and her companion in childhood. The family to which Joan belonged was composed of Jacques d’Arc, the father, Isabel Romee, the mother, and their issue-viz.:
Jacque, born in 1406; Pierre, born in 1408; Jean, born in 1409; Joan, born in 1412; and Catherine, born in 1415.
The d’Arcs led a pastoral life, and Joan was accustomed to tend sheep and cattle. From the first dawn of intelligence Joan gave evidence of a remarkably gentle disposition, a high moral perception, a precocious intellect, and an extraordinary sense of justice. As a girl she evinced great moral courage, and from the age of thirteen years she was the subject of a series of remarkable visions, which she discreetly kept to herself. It was not until May 15, 1428, that Louis de Conte, her companion, was a witness of these visions. But on that day the secret of her singular life was revealed to him in a vision of the angel Michael, which appeared to her at the same time. Hereafter he was her confidant in all these spiritual experiences, and the rest of his long years were devoted to her service and to the record of her daily life.
It was on January 5, 1429, the eve of her seventeenth birthday, that Joan gave substance and point to her continual assertion that she was advised to save France. “The time has come,” she said. “My voices are not vague now, but clear, and they have told me what to do. In two months I shall be with the Dauphin.”
This statement, seemingly so presumptuous from the mouth of an obscure maiden, was literally fulfilled, and her peculiar spiritual perception was singularly confirmed by a ruse which the King thought to play off upon her. The Court being assembled, Joan was ushered into the presence of the Dauphin. When presented to him who sat in the royal seat. Joan regarded him steadfastly, making no obeisance, and presently turned and went towards a group of courtiers; then, seeing one among them whom she knew to be the King, she fell on her knees at his feet and delivered her message of salvation for France.
Undecided how to act with regard to Joan, though strongly disposed in her favour, the King—a victim of jealousy and mistrust in addition to a naturally weak character—referred her to the Bishops. Their verdict, after many days of careful scrutiny and examination of the Maid, was delivered as follows: “It is found and hereby declared that Joan of Arc, called the Maid, is a good Christian and a good Catholic; that there is nothing in her person or her words contrary to the Faith; and that the King may and ought to accept the succour she offers; for to repel it would be to offend the Holy Spirit and render him unworthy of the aid of God.”
Upon this verdict the King’s edict was made: “Know all men and take heed therefore God, King of France, hath been pleased to confer upon his well-beloved servant Joan of Arc, called the Maid, the title, enrolments, authorities, and dignity of General-in-Chief of the armies of France, and hath appointed to be her Lieutenant and Chief of Staff a Prince of the Royal House, His Grace the Duc d’Alencon.”
Think of it! Only two months before, this maid was a simple peasant without any other hope of recognition than that which is the common fate of untutored genius. To day she is General of the armies of France! Can we say otherwise than that God did it? Did it by the appointed ministers of His will, the stars of heaven—revealed it by the mouth of His angel.
It is unnecessary to recount the onward march of the triumphant army over whose destinies this simple maiden exercised so strange and magical an influence.
It was at Orleans, on May 8, 1429, that the maiden wrought her genius at its highest pitch. After a seven-month’s beleaguerment, “a thing which the first Generals of France had call impossible was accomplished by her in four days.” Orleans was taken! In this assault Joan was struck between the neck and shoulder by an iron bolt from an arbalest. Thereafter she was known as the Maid of Orleans, but the common name for her was “La Pucelle.”
Restoration to power turned the King’s head. Victory upon victory perverted his sense of duty. So much glory was ascribed to him by the sycophants of the Court that, in a sense, he came to believe that he had earned it for himself, or that it was his divine right. Then, acting upon evil counsel, he began to tamper and hinder the Maid by his egotistic meddling as much as by his weakness and vacillation. The end came, as it was bound to come sooner or later, by this policy of vanity and weakness.
The Maid was taken prisoner by the English and delivered by treaty into the hands of the clergy, who arraigned her on an accusation of infidelity to the Church. For three long months she was daily subjected to cross-examination by the most astute minds that France could muster. She stood before them in irons just as she had come from her prison cell. They hackled her at all points every day for hours together. She never faltered, never uttered a compromising word, and never swerved from the simple truth as she had spoken it to the King at Rouen two years before. But she showed the spirit of the true soldier, and frequently, too, the tactics of a true General. She was unconquered by these learned minds, and confounded them by her own simplicity of faith.
But the King’s weakness undid her. During all that unholy inquisition, which has but one object—the degradation and death of the saviour of France—the King never once sent a word of encouragement, nor even stretched forth a finger to help the Maid. He sold her to the English, and they sold her to the priests. The trial extended from February 21 to May 24, 1481, and on that date she was taken to the stake and publicly condemned to perpetual imprisonment. She had been ill with low fever and in terrible bodily pain since March 29. On May 30 she was again taken to the stake, and in the presence of all those whom with her own blood she had released from the yoke of years, the Maid suffered the death of the martyr. Not since Calvary can history produce any act more infamous, black, and diabolical than this persecution of La Pucelle; not since the Man of Sorrows was any life more worthy to be called divine. Charles had his crown and kingdom, and Joan—she had hers.
In considering this beautiful and tragic history from the point of view of the astrological science we have first to remember that all the dates mentioned are in old style, and that their equivalents are eight days later in the new style. I have been at some pains to calculate the places of the planets at the birth and death of Joan of Arc, and here set them out for the information of the student.
The solar decan of the material sign Scorpio is rising, Mars, its ruler, being in the tenth house in the Mercurial sign Virgo. The Moon is in conjunction with the violent and martial star Regulus, in the meridian of the horoscope. This position of the lunar orb in the regal sign Leo gave her that claim to the recognition of royalty and the nobility of France, which eventually brought about her tragic end. Neptune in the eighth house shows treachery and conspiracy against her life. Saturn, in the western angle, is an evidence of the persistent enmity directed against her, and also, being in mutual disposition with Venus, the ruler of the seventh house, it indicates that inherent sanctity and purity of life which captivated and subdued the roistering
soldiery under her command. Her age at death was 19 years 4½ months, affording an arc of 19deg 22min. The Moon, by its position in the figure, holds the prerogative of hyleg, and by an arc of 19½ deg Mars came by direction to conjunction with the Moon.
Planets’ Place at:
Birth (January 6, 1412) Noon Death (May 30, 1431) Noon
(Domremy) (Domremy) Sun—24Cap13 Sun—15Gem38 Moon—24Leo21 Moon—2Cap25 Neptune—8Can46 Neptune—10Can33 Saturn—17Tau4 Saturn—24Cap28 Uranus—5Cap30 Uranus—26Ari33 Jupiter—14Tau1 Jupiter—28Tau22 Mars—13Vir51 Mars—19Lib43 Venus—17Cap2 Mercury—29Sag00
The luminaries and superior planets only are given.
No record is made, so far as I am aware, of the hour of birth, and in considering this matter, I was strongly tempted to regard Virgo as the rising sign on account of the singularity of the names given to Jeanne d’Arc, “The Maid” and “La Pucelle” (the Virgin). This would have given a rising position to Mars, but for astrological reasons I was forced to abandon it.
Joan, or Jeanne, is a name, which belongs, like the English John, Johanna, etc., to the sign Scorpio, and Orleans is ruled by that sign also. It will not, therefore, be surprising to the student who is a continual witness of these “coincidences” of astral signature to learn that the rising of the sign Scorpio in this horoscope of the Maid of Orleans satisfied all the requirements of her singular life and character.
In short, I find that she was born under the 11th degree of the sign Scorpio, with Mars, the ruler of the Nativity, in the sign Virgo. I may at once present the figure of the heavens at the birth, leaving the student to consider it in the light of astrological evidence. I find that at the time of death, at 19 years 4 months, the ascendant was directed to the semisquare of Mars in the zodiac. The mid-heaven was directed to opposition of Uranus in zodiac converse. By comparing the places of the planets at death with those of the Nativity, it will be seen that Saturn was upon the place of the Sun, while Uranus was just past the quadrature. By secondary direction the Moon was in Taurus 11 deg, and therefore in opposition to the ascendant. At the commencement of the trial the Moon was square Uranus.