Joan of Arc

"Joan of Arc arrived at the French court claiming to be sent by God to come to the aid of the dauphin Charles at the nadir of French fortune: the moment when the dauphin was at the greatest risk of losing the monarchy to the English forever. But the Maid's assertion that she was sent by God, the most controversial aspect of her career, has until now either been taken for granted or overridden by claims of her employment for political expediency; little attempt has been made to bring the theological principles of the Catholic doctrine of discretio spirituum (the discernment of spirits) to her case." "This book seeks to answer the question of whether contemporaries thought that Joan was diabolically or divinely inspired, a crucial but almost completely neglected issue. The author gathers and examines the extant theological documents indicating the presence of a genuine theological debate about Joan's mission, and also takes into account the two major literary works dealing with her, Christine de Pizan's Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc and Martin Le Franc's Le champion des dames, as well as Joan's own letter to the English, while the appendices offer translations of pertinent Latin and French texts."--BOOK JACKET.