7/7/2023 0 Comments Saint joan of arc mark twain![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Quicherat’s volumes provide layer upon layer of corroboration of the remarkable events of her short life, all given, as Twain points out, under oath. The story of her life and of her liberation of France from the English had survived for centuries as a kind of French national myth, but it was, in fact, only during Twain’s adolescence that the French historian and archeologist Jules Étienne Quicherat collected the official documents from Joan’s trial and rehabilitation and rendered them into five volumes of, as Twain puts it “lucid and understandable modern French.” We can only imagine the effect on medieval scholars and on the faithful of France, when these documents verified to the modern world the myth that had fired the hearts of Frenchmen for generations. Joan is well known by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but we may be surprised to learn just how well it is known: There may be no medieval figure whose life is better documented than that of Saint Joan of Arc. He called the Maid of Orleans “easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced.” The story of St. ![]() Mark Twain considered his biography of Saint Joan of Arc, whose feast we celebrate Friday, to be his best work. ![]()
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