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Wild Women of France
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She's furious -
but by no
means
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Women's leadership role in shaping Europe has been given very little of the credit it deserves. The blatant bias in recording history made women like Jeanne d'Arc very cross indeed.
RIDING INTO HISTORY
Having cycled from the source of the Thames to the sea, the six old-timers who make up the infamous Tour de Farce
crossed the Channel and rode up a section of the Loire, starting from
Chinon. Unavoidably, we also rode straight into history again.
For Chinon, history begins with Jeanne d'Arc.
The 15 or 16-year-old peasant girl arrives at the Chateau of Chinon in 1429, demanding to see the Dauphin to give him a message from God. She tells the crafty little geek that he will defeat his enemies and be crowned at Rheims. Her faith is beyond belief. Her story is well-known: how her predictions prove true; how her faith provides her with armour and sword and allows her to lead armies to famous victories; how she is burned at the stake for her beliefs.
However, Chinon - with the ruined Chateau towering over one end of the village and the great statue of the Virgin of Lorraine dominating the other - draws you into re-living her history. The statue is a vivid reminder of her conquering sword and glorious battles. I found a deeper story of exploitation, abuse and betrayal that depressed me for days. We cycled by a number of enchanting medieval chateau which once witnessed her glorious miracles of faith and her inglorious suffering. Joan was a prime victim of man's inhumanity to (wo)man.
An innocent, unsophisticated child, acting out the voices in her head, is cynically used by the Dauphin and manipulated by men in power. She is forced continually to suffer physical examination to prove her claim of virginity - the 'proof' that she is no witch. She is mockingly praised and mockingly abused. When she is no longer politically useful, she is abandoned to her religious enemies. Always starkly alone, with only her memory of her 'Voices' to sustain her, she is imprisoned, accused, interrogated and tried. Without influence or moral support from any human quarter, the girl is kept in solitary confinement, then interrogated again and again. She is put on trial - and tried again. Then, after she has effectively resisted all cross-examination and argument, she is threatened in her dank cell with gruesome torture unless she recants. . . In despair and darkness, she does so - only to deny her recantation and face death at the stake. She is tied up, mocked by the mob, and burned alive in the name of God. All alone, aged 19.
This Heroine of France, the best-known woman of the Medieval World, was not honoured until 400 years later, when it seemed necessary to boost national pride - mainly male. Only in the mid-1800s was she celebrated. The dramatic paintings picturing her life, her statues in Paris and Chinon, all appeared four centuries after the teenager's torture. She was sanctified in 1920 (when George Bernard Shaw wrote his didactic play about the Maid of Orleans). And she is glorified today, the focus being entirely on her sincerity, her warriorship, and her ability to attract attention.
Women leaders
The rest of the history of the Loire Valley is relatively more peaceful and just. You can trace, through recently written histories of France, the huge influence of women in guiding this rich fertile land to prosperity. For instance, in the 6th century it wasn't the Franconian kings who ruled over Francia - but two smart, very competitive ladies who ruled two parts of what was once ancient Gaul. They were Fredegund of Neustria, and Brunhild, Queen in Austrasia. After a struggle lasting several years, Fredegund's son captured the aging Queen Brunhild and sentenced her to be dragged along the ground with her hair tied to the tail of a horse.
One woman's triumph.
A century later the Pope crowned Charlemagne Emperor of Western Europe - but the Pope did so only because a woman, Irene, had taken the other half of Christendom by declaring herself empress of Byzantium.
In the 12th century Eleanor of Acquitaine, like Empress Irene of Byzantium, also altered the course of history all by herself. She did so by first marrying Louis VII of France and bringing her lands to the royal throne as a dowry, then breaking the marriage to marry Henry Plantagenet who was able to add Acquitaine to his collection and become King of England. Was it power, adultery or seduction that caused the change? History does not say. . . Usually it minimises Eleanor's key role in events that wracked Europe for a hundred years. It makes little of the fact that half way through the Hundred Years War the Franks quietly ended the powerful influence of women by disinheriting them of their land assets.
Nor is much said of 'The Ladies Peace', brought about by a mother, Louise of Savoy, who acted as regent of France to bring about a treaty with Margaret of Austria to end Franco-Austrian wars in Italy. Also concealed in most European histories is the fact that Catherine de Medici - the evil Machiavellian intriguer - weaved her political plots in order to reduce religious tensions between States, and sought a policy based on 'unity of hearts' to encourage co-operation rather than war between greedy factions in Italy and France. (The 'Unity of Hearts' concept was marred slightly by her eagerness to massacre people on Saint Bartholomew's Day. . . but nobody's perfect).
These are just a few of the titbits of history (definitely no pun intended) which a Tour de Farce cyclist, or any other unhurried traveller, can stumble on while pedalling gently up the chateau-filled, history-crammed valley of the Loire. Finding French heroines and villainesses adds piquancy to the six course champagne dinners one is forced to tackle each night, after the mouth-watering bagettes jambon and Vouvry wine one is unable to reject while picnicking on riverbanks each day.
We proposed many a toast to la belle France, wondering why nations are always personified as women when nationalists are so aggressive and so violent. |
