✧ The neglected Margaret of Scotland, Dauphine of France tried to centre her thoughts upon her own interests. She loved poetry above all things and gathered round her several women who occupied themselves with literary composition. (…) Alas, the French Court lacked the simplicity and purity which ought ever to surround a woman of Margaret's idealistic nature. Her love of the beautiful and unusual was to lead her into difficulties and suffering. She liked to sit evening after evening with the young courtiers and her maidens, reciting verse and singing love-songs, trying to keep out of her life the sordid ambitions and ugly intrigue which played a large part in the doings of others, and to bring into it some of the artistic atmosphere and culture she found congenial. – The Dauphines of France by Frank Hamel
JUNE OF ARC continues! Mondays and Fridays all June long!
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JOKE-OGRAPHY:
1. After Joan finally acquired an escort from Sir Robert, she journeyed across hostile territory to Chinon to meet the dauphin. It was for this journey that she cut her hair short and wore male clothes. In addition to making it easier to ride, run, and fight (if necessary), Joan seemed to feel her purity was better protected by male clothes as she traveled through lands infested with raiders and bandits. As for who inspired her to don this disguise, she's vague about it when asked in her trial. Depending on the source, she either charges no one, or says that only her Voices told her, and no living man.
2. In this cartoon, we skip a lot of boring stuff. Basically the dauphin wanted to be sure Joan wasn't crazy or evil before he risked face by endorsing her. He sent her to some theological scholars for rigorous days of testing. First, some nuns verified her virginity, which was important because, back then, only virgins were believed to receive divine visions. Virginity also meant she hadn't cavorted with devils to acquire magic, which is just fully the most cracked thing I've ever heard. Anyway, she passed, so then she was questioned by doctors of religion, where she was found to be of decent Catholic upbringing. The scholars even scraped together a few vague prophecies -- regarding a maid who would save France -- to support her since she seemed somewhat legit. With no way to know for sure, however, the dauphin decided to just send her to Orléans. She said her first mission was to raise the siege there, so why not let her go to prove whether God was really guiding her?
3. "Cross-dressing" means dressing in clothes meant for the opposite sex. In Joan's time, cross-dressing was considered a sin unless it was done for a good reason, like practical necessity or guarding one's chastity (both of which defined Joan's use of men's clothes). In this cartoon, one of the scholars warns the dauphin that Joan's cross-dressing could be risky if people don't see it the right way. He obviously means "cross-dressing" as in "wearing the other sex's clothes", but Joan thinks he means it as in "wearing an actual cross", so she asks if she can carry her cross instead of wearing it. This is funny.
My (finished sometime in the future) book on Marie Antoinette in pop culture/media/public consciousness is going to have a section on the infantalization of Marie Antoinette into a perpetual teenager that presents her as being in this Poor Girlhood stasis while ignoring her adulthood and especially her last few years, all while presenting an inflated version of life at Versailles in order to forward this narrative more strongly, and said chapter is gonna be hot.