Joan of Arc Revised!

There's a lot of fascinating stories out today, my goddess! Awhile back, Joan of Arc was in the news when it was discovered through DNA testing that what was thought to be some of her bones were actually those of an ancient Egyptian mummy! Ha ha ha! Joan is back in the news again - in a new book - sounds fascinating. I wasn't aware of any alternative theories about Joan of Arc but I suppose there are alternative theories about everything these days! How Joan escaped the stake and lived happily ever after New book angers historians with claims maid was not an illiterate peasant but a royal Angelique Chrisafis in Paris Saturday September 22, 2007 The Guardian She was a peasant teenager inspired by voices from God to lead the French against the English, and burned as a witch before being recognised as a hero and saint. For centuries, France's cult of Joan of Arc has been seized on by politicians looking for patriotic martyr figures, including by Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential campaign. Now a new book has sparked anger among historians by claiming the Maid of Orléans was not an illiterate peasant but a royal. She did not hear voices and was not burned at the stake, but escaped with the help of English soldiers and went on to live a happily married life. In L'Affaire Jeanne d'Arc, or the Joan of Arc Affair, French investigative journalist Marcel Gay and former secret service agent Roger Senzig claim that France's most famous virgin peasant was the illegitimate daughter of the French queen consort, Isabeau of Bavaria, who groomed her for use as a political puppet. They claim Joan was manipulated in a cover-up they call Operation Virgin. Joan was not inspired by voices from heaven to lead troops to miraculously lift the siege of Orléans and save France from English domination. Gay says she was trained for warfare, taught languages and well-educated for her mission. After her trial for heresy in 1431, she escaped, and an unknown woman was burned in her place. She later married a French knight, Robert des Armoises. "She spoke English and it was the English who saved her from the stake," Gay told the Guardian. "Everything we were taught at school was wrong." French medievalists this week rubbished the book, saying it rehashed discredited ideas to satisfy the booming audience of conspiracy theorists intent on dismantling the Jeanne d'Arc story. The publisher said the work fitted the trend for Da Vinci Code-style investigations debunking official history. Joan of Arc has inspired an industry with more than 20,000 books published in France, around 50 films and, recently, video games. This year forensic scientists carried out tests on Joan's "relics" - bones and linen fragments discovered in the attic of a Paris pharmacy in 1867. Analysis showed the bones belonged to someone who died between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC and had been mummified in a way typical of ancient Egypt. Politicians cling to Joan of Arc as an emblem, with Jean-Marie Le Pen's extreme-right National Front appropriating a day in May to march and celebrate her. But the socialist Ségolène Royal, who comes from near Joan's village, continues to try to win the maid back for the left. This week she compared her party's attacks on her to Joan's martyrdom. "If I'd been Joan of Arc, I would already have been burned alive," she said. French intellectuals are locked in debate over politicians' need to find a new Joan of Arc-style symbol of national unity and resistance to the invader. President Sarkozy, who also namechecked Joan on the campaign trail, is promoting a new martyr hero, 17-year-old communist Guy Môquet, who was shot by the Nazis. Marie-Véronique Clin, director of the Maison Jeanne d'Arc in Orléans, said: "Joan of Arc is still a hugely important figure. These theories that she survived are simply not true. We're not saying burn these theorists at the stake, but it's dishonest to make these claims." Olivier Bouzy, a medieval historian and co-director of the Joan of Arc centre in Orléans, said: "These theories have been knocked down 100 times. This is about people who are not historians, who don't understand the mentality of the Middle Ages, looking for a contemporary explanation. It shows there is a clear market of readers who aren't satisfied with what history tells us, otherwise these books would never be published."