Transcript

Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans

From The Rest Is History · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 53 min · 9,675 words · 108 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans", an episode of The Rest Is History published January 8, 2026 (53 min, about 9,675 words). It mentions 11 people, works and ideas, including Olon, Charles VII, Leel, Dauphin, Duke of Bedford.

What this episode is about

The story of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, revolves around her emergence as a divine leader during France's struggle against English occupation, particularly during the siege of Orleans in 1429. This narrative highlights her bold proclamations, including a significant letter challenging English forces to surrender and her determination to drive them out of France, ultimately framing her as a tragic figure in a tumultuous historical conflict.

Key takeaways

  • Joan of Arc: an illiterate peasant girl defied a powerful English siege, proving greatness isn’t bound by education.
  • Dictating a letter in battle? Joan turned the art of war into a divine correspondence, rewriting history with every word.
  • From crop fields to battlefields, Joan’s rise to power shows how the meek can shake empires to their core.
  • A knight in disguise, Joan swapped femininity for armor, blurring gender lines and sparking conversations that resonate today.
  • In a world of swords, a single voice changed the course of wars – sometimes, faith and audacity are the sharpest weapons.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Duke of Bedford, Thomas Lord Scales
  2. – 10:00: St. Catherine
  3. – 15:00: Duke of Bedford, Hundred Years' War
  4. – 40:00: Hundred Years' War
  5. – 50:00: Husinger

Notable quotes from "Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans"

  • Don't watch it. It's really sad, King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France. You William Paul, Count of Suffukk, John Tolbot, and you Thomas Lord Scales, who call yourselves.
    about Duke of Bedford · at
  • They see the St. Catherine in this shrine as their particular patron. And so there are all kinds of fetterss that they've hung up to mark their liberation. And so it's a very Joan.
    about St. Catherine · at
  • This and it's to do with the fact that for decades even before the arrival of Henry V in France to resume the hundred years war there had been a swirl of prophecies in France…
    about Hundred Years' War · at
  • Minds. They say, Yeah, all right. Okay, let's go for it. and to quote Husinger the great Dutch historian we quoted in the previous episode it is clear I think that it's…
    about Husinger · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Concepts & topics

Places & events

  • Olon — Place · 8 mentions
  • Leel — Place · 5 mentions

Full transcript with timestamps

Hello. One of the darkest and saddest stories we've ever done in the rest is history today. France is on the brink of greatness. The English poised to take it over. But at the siege of Orno, a witch or is she called Jonavar will emerge to lead them banner in hand against the English liberators and to drive the English out of Olon and inevitably at the end out of France too. It's a very grim and dark story. Very sad story. I advise you actually not to watch it. Don't watch it. It's really sad,

King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France. You William Paul, Count of Suffukk, John Tolbot, and you Thomas Lord Scales, who call yourselves left tenants of the said Duke of Bedford, make satisfaction to the king of heaven, surrender to the maid who is sent here by God, the king of heaven, the keys of all the good towns which you have taken and violated in France. She has come here by God's will to reclaim the kingdom for its rightful king. She is perfectly ready to make peace if you are willing to grant her satisfaction by abandoning France and paying for what you have held. And you archers, men at war, gentlemen, and others who are before the town of Oleon, get going back to your own country in the name of God.

And should you not do so, then expect tidings from the maid who will come to see you shortly to your very great arm. King of England, if you do not do so, I am a captain of war. And in whatever place I meet your people in France, I shall compel them to depart whether they want to or not. And if they refuse to obey, then I will have them all put to death. I am sent here by God, the king of heaven, to drive you out of France. So that's one of the most remarkable letters in history. And it was dictated, not written, dictated on the 22nd of March 1429 by an illiterate peasant girl to the king of England and his captains who were in France. And these captains since the previous October 1428 had been laying siege to the city of Olon on the river Lir, the lynch pin of the front line between the English and DOA held possessions in France. Now by the spring of 1429, the city of Olon seemed about to fall. And if it did

fall, then the English would be able to drive a stake into the heart of their enemy's holdings and possibly bring an end at last to the noble crusade of the 100 years war. But this peasant girl, Tom, had other ideas. Now, who on earth is she? Who are we talking about? Well, she is of course it will stun our listeners to learn Joan of Ark or as she called herself Jean Lapusel the maid. And in our previous episode we described her background. We described her childhood. She'd been born in a village called DRI on the wartorrn eastern margins of France. Um she's a peasant girl and so by definition know she hasn't learned to ride a horse. She's not practiced um in the handling of arms. But then at the age of 13, she hears a voice that she says has come from heaven. Um, and these are soon to become voices in the plural. And by 1428, these voices are telling her to lead an army to Olio and to break the English

siege. And so she obeys and she sets out on this mission in February 1429. She has a horse. She's writing it and she sets off on what is a very long and dangerous journey um through territory infested by bandits and men at arms, partisans of the hostile Duke of Burgundy. And it's an astonishing mission. And the one thing we've not done is to describe Joan to to make her come alive for our listeners. So give us a sense of how she looked, you know, what you'd have seen if you looked up from your your job as you would undoubtedly have been doing Tom. You'd have been tilling the fields had you lived in the Middle Ages because you're a man of the soil, hornyhanded son of toy. You're not cut out for life as a cleric. So you'd have been working probably quite near the bottom of the social spectrum and you'd have looked up and you'd have seen this person passing.

What would you have seen? The descriptions of Joan are are kind of scanty and not entirely reliable, but she seems to have been dark-haired. Um, and she has cut this hair, cropped it short in the style of um, a knight. Someone who knew her well, her future squire, described her as being beautiful and well-formed, and she does seem to have been attractive, but she is not dressed as a woman. She is dressed as a man.

And specifically, she is wearing hoes. She's wearing britches and these are both tightly knotted into a kind of a gray dublet and this is obviously to guard herself against sexual assault. And over this dublet she wears a black tunic and she has a black cloak. Um she also has a hat. It's made of wool. Again it's black and she's pulled this over her hair. As we said she's riding a horse even though she had never ridden one before. Uh, and it seems that over the course of this journey, she becomes actually a very good horsewoman. She's got a sword by her side, the marker of a knight, and in her train, she has two pages and four men at arms.

I mean, it's a long old journey, 250 mi, and they ride mostly by night, presumably to avoid detection and to avoid bandits and burgundians.

Yeah. And uh they cross the lir and it takes them 10 days and then finally they reach a shrine s katak to fier. And what's the point of this shrine? Why this shrine in particular?

Well, it's sacred to St. Katherine who we know from later records is very important to Joan. But St. Katherine at Fiba is also very important to prisoners of war who have escaped from the English.

They see the St. Catherine in this shrine as their particular patron. And so there are all kinds of fetterss that they've hung up to mark their liberation. And so it's a very Joan place to um to make a halt. And at this shrine, she dictates a letter to the man who she has come to see, the man that she acknowledges as being the rightful king of France. And this is Charles of Valwis. So he is the son of the previous king Charles V 6th. He is the heir to the ancestral dynasty that has been sitting on the throne of France and which has been replaced by the house of Lancaster, the English dynasty.

And he's not Charles I7th yet. I mean, he should be Charles II, but everyone calls him the DOA because they think the English have the upper hand and that he's basically, you know, he's doomed to fail right?

Well, I mean, legally, if you're a supporter of Charles, he is Charles II. But he he is widely called the DOA, I think, for a number of reasons. He doesn't have a kingly heir. He's physically unprepossessing. People who've seen the first series of Black Adder, he looks a bit like that. More Germanly, he lives under the shadow of a terrible crime, notorious crime, which is the murder at a peace summit back in 1419 of John the Fearless, the Duke of Burgundy, who had been the most powerful nobleman in France. He's got holdings that um are not just in the east of France, but in the low countries as well. And it was this murder that had driven the son of John the fearless Philillip who subreet is the good to enter his alliance with the English. And as you said, the law is the marker between these kind of two rival zones of influence. South the DOA Charles 7th as he legally is. That's where he

essentially still can draw on support. But north of the Lir, northern France is effectively now an Anglo Beagandian condominium.

Right. So one other important point about the Dofan though, the Dofa hasn't been crowned, has he?

No. So tradition holds that French king should be crowned in the cathedral in R but Ras is in English territory and until he can get to a house and be crowned people will not accept him as the rightful king of France. That's that's about right isn't it? Correct. And this is a big problem to which Joan has a solution

and she wants to meet the Dair so that she can present this solution to him. Right. And Charles at this point is in a great castle called uh Shenol which is um south of Lir not far. It's about 20 miles from Fibais where the shrine of St. Catherine is. And when he receives the letter from this illiterate peasant girl, he says, "Okay, fine. I will meet you." Despite the fact that plenty of his advisers are advising against it, saying, you know, "What if she's a crank? What if she's a fraud? You know, what if she's worse? What if she's a sorceress?" M

because the news has come that this girl is dressed as a man and this is strictly against biblical injunctions. So, you know, to people who are worried about the possibility that Joan might be a sorceress, the fact that she's wearing male clothing is a kind of warning sign. But Charles overrules this advice and agrees that yeah, I will see this extraordinary person.

And part of this presumably is because he's really up against it. He has nothing to lose. If all falls, this is a disaster for him. The English will pour across the river Lisa into the south. So, there's that element to it. But also, am I not right in thinking that there are people at his court, not least his mother-in-law, who we talked about last time, who's called Yoland, who is a very impressive woman, who are very keen on Joan, who think that uh Joan might actually be sent from God.

Yeah. So Yoland is um she's the Daager Duchess of Vonju and her son Renee of Vonju had his power base in the very region from which Joan is coming. And so I think it's easy to see, we talked about it in the previous episode, how between them they might have evaluated Joan and decided that she was worth taking a punt on.

But why would they have thought that her mission might in any way be plausible? And I think there is an explanation for this and it's to do with the fact that for decades even before the arrival of Henry V in France to resume the hundred years war there had been a swirl of prophecies in France foretelling that the kingdom would be redeemed by a virgin sent by God. So back in the the dying days of the 14th century, there had been this visionary um Marie Davinho who had foretold that an armed maid would emerge to save France in her hour of need.

Right? And there were other prophecies too and these were cited um by Christine Depaz who um we mentioned in the previous episode this poet who wrote this kind of this great eulogy to Joan. And in that poem Christine listed some of the prophecies. said to quot over 500 years ago her coming was foreseen by Merlin the Cibil and bead they wrote of her as someone who would put an end to France's troubles prophesied she would carry a banner in the French wars and described all she would achieve so that too I think is part of the context but I think above all ultimately what enables Joan to secure her meeting with the DOA is her own energy her own career charisma.

So she has what um Marina Warner in her wonderful book on Jon of Art sums up as an astonishing ability to compel credence. Somehow Joan has a genius for making people believe the most extraordinary things and it had won over her her feudal overlords Reneu and um the Duke of Lraine as well. um it had won over Yoland who's a very kind of hardboiled sensible woman and in due course when she comes to meet the DOA it wins over the DOA as well.

So they meet in the great hall the audience chamber at Shenon and the Dofan kicks off doesn't he by asking Joan her name and she says I'm called Jean Lucel and then comes the great bombshell.

Yeah. So Jane goes on, the king of heaven has commanded that through me you are to be consecrated and crowned in the city of Ras. On behalf of our Lord God, I tell you that you are the true heir of France. And then again, she gives the doa her promise. Not just that she's going to save Olio, but that she is going to secure for him the consecration that he desperately craves, that he desperately needs if he is going to be accepted by the mass of French people as the legitimate king. And so she says to him again, "God has sent me to take you to Rance."

Well, this doesn't seem terribly difficult to explain. I mean, she's basically just telling him what he wants to hear. And in an age when people,

you know, are interested in prophecies and saints and stuff like that, to have this girl who seems a bit weird turning up and saying, "I'm sent by God and, you know, I know everything's going to work out all right." I mean, of course, he's going to love that, right? Well, he is, but I mean, again, he's not stupid either. He's a very smart guy. He, you know, he he needs to be on his guard. You know, she's come from the region where the Beagandians are very rife. What if she has been sent as a Beagandian agent? So the fact that he is kind of prepared to take a punt on her, I think is tribute to certainly Joan's powers of persuasion. Um, and it's not just the Dofa who is persuaded. There is also another guy who is massively smitten by Joan. And this is a guy who also is desperate to believe that God might be uh sending a virgin savior to redeem France. And this is again a guy we met in the previous episode and he is

the Duke of Alons Jean. Um and by now this guy is 20. So his father had died at Azenor. He'd been captured in 1424. The Duke of Bedford, the English regent had appropriated all his lands. The the Duke of Allen had had to kind of mortgage everything to raise his ransom. So basically he's completely skinned and he is known at the court as the poorest man in France even though he is a Duke of the realm. So you can see again why Allosaur would be desperate to believe in Joan and in fact he starts taking his meals with her. He joins her meetings with the doofair. They become great pals,

right? And he too he can sense this sort of conviction in her, this um intensity. It's this intensity actually that will make her a military leader, right? That that she will carry into battle. And I think that's a reason why Alonso and perhaps the DOAT also believe in her is that they sense that this sense of conviction is something that will inspire their men. And the French armies at this point are demoralized. They have zero morale. So perhaps this girl with her absolute sense of conviction, perhaps that's just what they need.

And the fact that she is a girl, I mean, as we said in the last episode, we did a previous episode about Katherine of Sienna, this sort of mystical

Yeah. figure who claimed to have married Christ. The fact that she's a woman, you know, that doesn't make her implausible as a messenger from God. In fact, it enhances it, right? Because women have a special place in the, you know, a unique place in the medieval Christian sense of the world. Women obviously can't be priests, but there is a sense that perhaps that gives them a kind of a more intimate relationship with God. That God can will sometimes bypass the structure of the church and speak directly to women in a way that he tends not to do to men.

Yeah. And Joan, as you said, is absolutely not the first female visionary to be granted interviews with the powerful and the mighty on the basis of their claim that they have been spoken to by the saints and by God. So, Katherine of Sienna is exactly such a woman because she had ended up counselor and adviser to popes. It it was Katherine of Sienna who had persuaded the pope in Avenue to move back to Rome. So it is possible for women who claim a kind of direct access to God to play a a striking role in the affairs of Christendom.

But against that to repeat there is an enormous risk in relying on such people because what if Joan is a fraud? What if she's been set up by the begunians? What if she's delusional? And even if her voices are real, you know, what if they are not from God? What if they are from hell?

Yeah. So the first thing to test, I suppose, is whether or not she is who she claims to be. So for example, is she a busel? Is she a maid? So they actually get two women at court, don't they, to examine her and to see whether or not she is in fact a virgin? And they say she is. So that's good news.

That is good news. So they've checked out her physical condition and now they have to check out her kind of moral and spiritual condition. This is called the discretio spirituum and they send her off basically they sent her off for a viviveror a PhD viviveror they do. So well it's kind of like a debrief I guess. So she sent to Poatier, not far from Shinor. And in Puatier there are all kinds of scholars and doctors um from the University of Paris which has always been the kind of the leading center of theology in Christryendom but lots of these scholars are refugees from the English and so Bratier is their their kind of base. Um and among the um the scholars and doctors there and the prelets um is the Archbishop of Ras who is Charles's chancellor. And so he puts himself at the head of the investigation into Joan and they more than anyone even more than the king is alert to the risks. So to

quote um Helen Caster, friend of the show, author of a wonderful book on Jon of Arc, female visionaries in the church's recent history had experienced their revelations when they were already under the care of a spiritual adviser. So this was true of Katherine of Sienna, a confessor perhaps who could testify to their morals and the nature of their claims. Joan, by contrast, had appeared alone apart from her escort of armed men. And rather than simply conveying a message from heaven, she, a teenage girl, wanted to lead the king's troops into battle. And so, this does make her exceptional. Nothing really like Joan has been seen before,

right? To repeat, she's wearing male clothes and that she absolutely insists on wearing them. And then on top of that, there's the styling of these male clothes. They're not drab. Joan clearly is a bit of a fashionista. She loves exactly the kind of expensive male clothing that moralists at the time are very down on. So this also is a cause of anxiety. But the people in Pier say, "No, it's she's okay. She has conversed with everyone publicly and privately, but no evil is found in her. Only goodness humility virginity piety integrity, and simplicity." I have to say, they're making it sound absolutely awful. and her clothing. They say that's fine too because actually Christ has kind of superseded Deuteronomy and actually you know Deuteronomy doesn't really apply to a woman who's been sent by God to lead men in war to recapture all from the English. So it's kind of fine. Yeah.

Because basically the scholars too want to believe in it. M um you know they're desperate to see the English thrown out and also of course they know what the DFA wants and so essentially they're serving it up to him. So this is their verdict which they send back to the Dofa. The king should not prevent Joan from going to Olon with his soldiers but should have her escorted there honorably placing his faith in God. So essentially they're saying you know take a punt on it. Let's see what happens.

And this is the point when Joan dictates the letter that we began with to the English. basically an ultimatum. I'm on my way. You'd better watch out.

Yeah. Although she doesn't at this point send it. She will send it later on, but it's there waiting to go. And so then from she uh rejoins the doofa who has moved from Shenon to to is on the law. And here in the full gaze of the court and therefore of France, the seal is set on her status as the potential redeemer of France. And this happens in three ways. First of all, she submits to an intimate inspection. This time by Yoland, there's a lot of inspections.

Then there's a kind of mad pantomime at court where Joan arrives and she gets directed to a captain and told this is the Dair. Um, and then to someone who uh has just returned from Olor and told, "Well, this is the Dair." And she says, "Oh, no, no, no, it's not." And and she goes up to the real Dair.

But hold on. She's met the DOA, hasn't she? She has. So, it's a pantomime. It's staged. It's clearly designed to illustrate both the inherent regality of of the DOA and you know the ability of Joan to to fathom it.

That's the maddest thing in this story so far. An identity parade when she's already met him.

No, it's not mad because it's it's it's a kind of pageant. It's it's a display making public to the court the role that both the king and and Joan are going to play. And then something very weird and mysterious does happen which is not normal at all. He asks Joan for a sign. Convince me, reassure me that you have indeed come from from God. And Joan gives it to him. But what this sign was remains veiled. It's not publicized.

And in due course, Joan will be asked about it at her trial and she will talk about it, but we will come to that later on.

Oh my word, that's tantalizing. Isn't that exciting? It is tantalizing. It's a complex issue, but I I think it's clear that the sign is accepted by the DOA. The green light is given. Joan is ready to go to war. So, it is now late April, and as she rides off, she is a magnificent sight. So, she is wearing a full suit of white armor that has been handmade for her by the king's own armorer. She has a new sword uh which had been found um behind the altar of the church at uh at Fibo and which Joan later would say that the her voices had said would be found there. So she had then sent messengers and they had discovered this sword and the sword is very mysterious. It's covered with rust which magically falls away as soon as it's touched. And it reveals five crosses along the blade.

And on the edge are inscribed the words Jizu and Maria. This of course is absolutely part of medieval romance. It's very Lord of the Rings. Yeah.

You know, sword that was broken kind of thing. A great hero has to have a magical sword. And Joe now has a magical sword.

And she's got a very nice banner as well. People often like a kind of magic banner, don't they?

I mean, you say very nice. This is a magnificent banner. So, it's made out of white silk. It's covered in in golden flu dei. Um, again, the words Jizu and Maria are stitched into it. Um, and they appear alongside an image of Christ flanked by two angels. So, it's a really splendid site. She's on a black horse, which is a gift from the Duke of Allen, who absolutely loves her. who said that he'd seen her practicing in the lists that Shenor had been so impressed that he gave her the best charger that he had in his stables. And again, I mean, how Joan had made herself so proficient at horsemanship is a kind of puzzle. It's a it's a mystery.

And she is at the head of um an entire military retinue now. Um and this is led by the man who will serve her as her squire, a guy who's a very experienced soldier called Jean Dolong. And he's basically there not just to serve her but to look after her and protect her to make sure that she doesn't get captured.

And what's going on in Olon while this has been happening cuz the Olon has been besieged all this time. So presumably the people there are getting increasingly desperate.

Well the news from Olio is very grim. The garrison is depleted. Uh the supplies are running out both um ammunition and food and people are starting to starve. And so Joan's mission is to ride with a convoy of some 3,000 men that the DOA has has scrabbled together. He's found ammunition. He's found food. He's put them in wagons. He's got a kind of herd of cattle. And Jony's going to accompany this train and hopefully get to to Olon and um relieve the siege in that way. And so they set off. She's taking her role as as God's messenger very seriously. So all prostitutes have been banished. There are priests singing hymns at the head of the convoy. Soldiers who are marching are urged to offer confession daily. And I can see from your face, Dominic, that you were thinking this is not the way to build men's morale.

No. But actually, it seems that it does. Um, it seems to have inspired the men and as they ride their morale is palpably higher.

Okay. Well, I'm glad I'm not in the army. That's all I'll say. Well, you know, horses of course is dominant.

Yeah, of course. Um, you know, this is the 15th century. They approach Olio and they reach it on the evening of the 28th of April. But when they get there and Joan can see Olon for the first time, she makes a terrible discovery because she and her fellow warriors and the wagon train are on the south side of the Lir and Ole is on the north side of the Lir. And that is where the vast majority of the English are as well. And Joan feels that she has come to attack the English. So what's she doing on the wrong side of the river? How has this been allowed to happen? Has she been deliberately deceived by the French captains?

Golly, what a cliffhanger. I can't I can't I can't contain myself. I'm so excited. Come back after the break and we'll find out what's gone wrong and why she's on the wrong side of that river. Welcome back to the rest is history. Unbelievable tension and of course it's been mounting during the break while those of you who are not members of the rest is history club have been listening to the adverts. Now while you've been listening to the adverts Joe has been steaming with rage. It's the evening of the 28th of April 1429. She's on the bank of the Lir which is broader than it is now fast flowing river. On the other side she can see Olon and the English.

She can see the citadel the spires of the churches the city walls. So Thomas, you can also see the ruins of a bridge, can't you? And this is going to play a very important part in this story.

Yeah. So the arches have been demolished. So you've just got the kind of the pillars of the bridge. And this had um connected the city to uh an an Augustinian priaryy on the south bank and also to a great fortress called Leel which um directly commanded the approaches the roads from the south leading over the the bridge into the city of Olio. And the defenders of Olio had demolished it for obvious reasons in the early days of the siege because the English had gathered on the south bank and had captured the citadel of Leel and the priaryy and Leel is now the major English stronghold on the south bank. So directly facing uh Olio is under the command of a guy called Sir William Glasale who even though he is a knight had begun his career as an archer very proficient and formidable warrior. Um and he has turned Leel into a kind of massive platform for artillery. Um and this artillery you know it's firing

across the law. battering the walls of Olio on the north bank and Glasell is able to hurl abuse at the defenders of Olio kind of threatening them with you know he's going to slaughter the lot of them when he captures the city he's a notorious figure so there's Glazelle in later and it's a significant target but Joan isn't really interested in it because she knows that the real action is on the north side that's where the English have focused most of their efforts on the north side they've got three fortresses along the length of the Lir kind of blocking off attempts to relieve the city by by the river. And they've also got a a great screen of fortresses on the western side of the city that runs from Laha up to um a great forest north of Olio. So that basically is kind of blocking off access from there. Now on the eastern side of Olio, things are open. So that is an opportunity perhaps for the French. And

so this is what they decide that they will do. They decide that they will go up river maybe six miles north of Olio and there they will make a crossing and they will then come back and they will try and get into Olio that way because um there aren't that many English siege works blocking them and the guy who um comes up with this strategy is the guy who has been in command in Olio and who has been rode over to meet Joan and the relief force and this is a very very impressive man. He is called Jean uh and he is also more impressively known as the bastard of Ole.

And he's called this because he's the halfb brotherther, the illegitimate half brother of the Duke of Olon who's in captivity in England, isn't he?

Yes. And this guy, the bastard, he's 27. He's very formidable. He's a serious person. He's a very experienced commander. He's the Doofan's cousin. And actually one reason for his prominence is that he's the last man standing of the house of Orno who's in a position to fight for the city of Oron.

Yeah. And there's a there's an incredible painting of him. Um people could look him up. I I mean he it's such a realistic portrait. You look at it and you can absolutely imagine what he's like. Not the kind of person that you I think would want to get into an argument with. But also clearly very smart. But Joan, it has to be said, is not impressed. And despite the fact that the bastard of Olio is the cousin of the king himself, she roundly bollocks him. Was it on your advice? She demands that I've been brought here on this side of the river instead of going directly against Tolbert and the English. And John Tolbert is the most feared of all the English commanders. And the bastard of house, you know, he says, "Yeah, sorry. Yeah, you know, it's absolutely my decision." And Joan is very angry. She's very hurt. She says, "I have brought you the best reinforcement that any soldier or city ever had, the support of the king of

heaven." And I think, Dominic, that uh at this point you can imagine the bastard of Olon pulling the kind of face that you even now are pulling.

No wrong. But they have another council war the next morning, don't they? And once again, she starts ranting and raving about how she wants to go on to the attack straight away.

She's very bas. But again, she's ignored because the priority is to get the supplies across to the city. And so the the bastards plan that they will go up river. This is now um everyone said apart from Joan says yes, this is a great idea. And so that's what they do. And so the plan is is that they will go there and they will load the supplies onto barges and then the barges will go back and take the food to to Olor. But when they get there, absolute disaster. The current is against obviously against the barges but so too is the wind which is very very strong almost gale force and it's preventing the barges from reaching the uh French supply force. So what does Joan do? She kneels down. She prays to God to change the course of the wind and Dominic miraculously the wind changes.

Yeah, that is a miracle. I mean winds never change otherwise, right? The bastard of Olio is convinced and from this point on he is persuaded that Joan has indeed been sent by God. So the supplies are loaded onto the barges. Um they're then sent back to Olio and 200 men at arms with Joan now cross the river Laha to the north bank but not the rest of the expedition, not the rest of the 3,000 men. They instead turn around and head back to Bla down river from Oleo which is their base.

Right. And the reason for this and again Joan is upset about this because she had imagined that these soldiers had been sent to take on the English but this turns out not to have been the case at all. So again she's absolutely steaming. However, now she's on the North Bank. She is able to ride back the six miles and get to Olon because as we said there are there aren't really many English fortresses in the way.

So the English have not been able to cut it off completely. So they've left gaps in the east.

They haven't got enough men. Yeah. And she's able to just ride straight in basically, isn't she?

Yes. And so she makes a triumphant entry into the city. Um she's got uh her page preceding her carrying her great silken banner. She's flanked on one side by the bastard of Olio, but also on the other by one of the most formidable of all the French captains. Um, a guy known by the English um and indeed by the French as La who is a a man of very humble origins. He's lame because um he had a spectacular accident when the chimney of a pub fell on his legs.

Oh my god. You know, it hasn't stopped him from um forging a a very impressive reputation for himself. And in fact, his name Laier seems to have come from the Latin Ira, the wroth of God, which is the nickname that the uh that the English give him.

Yeah. Like the friend of the show, Lope Deir. Yeah. He's a menacing figure as well. And there he is by the side of Joan. Joan, of course, is delighted by the reception she gets. You know, she's being cheered and and and saluted as the savior of. But she knows that she still has lots to do. chief of which is persuading the bastard of Olio and Leia that they should go on the offensive and attack the English. The bastard and Leia say we can't because we haven't got enough men. We still haven't got enough men. And the people of all seeing Joan's escort, how few it is in number, only 200 men rather than the thousands they've been hoping for. They also like Joan are very downcast. And despite their delight at getting food supplies and and you know extra ammunition, they almost immediately plunge back into a deep despond.

And there's a sense that barely hours after Joan has arrived, morale is in a sense even worse than it had been before Joan arrived. And Joan and the bastard of Olio respond to this crisis in their own distinctive ways. So Joan's approach is to send a letter to Tolbert and the English commanders. Uh and of course she had already sent Tolbert a letter. That letter Dominic that you uh read out at the beginning of the show.

Yeah. The herald who had taken that letter had been held captive by Tolbert which is very poor form. That's not the kind of thing that you should do with heralds. And so Joan is very angry about this and she in the second letter she demands that he release the herald that she give up the siege and that he and all the rest of the English retire from Olior and go back to England. Tolbert when he gets this letter says all right I'm going to release the herald. But he also sends Joan a message with this herald saying you are a You should return to hering livestock. if you don't, you are going to be burned as a witch. And Joan, of course, is absolutely outraged by this. And so she climbs up onto the battlements overlooking the law and she shouts out to the English in Leel, the great fortress on the south side, telling them to surrender. And they also reply with insults. And specifically, they say,

"Well, why would we surrender to a and her pimps? You are all toast." Right? So that's Joan's approach.

Yeah. the bastard of Oon's approach. He decides actually maybe Joan has a point. Maybe there is no point in just trying to kind of string the siege along. Maybe we really do have to stake everything on a single throw because if we don't, then the city is going to fall. And so on the 1st of May, he leaves Olon and he rides to Blah as fast as he possibly can. And when he gets there, he persuades all the various captains who were gathered there that they need to return with him to Ol because unless they do, then the city is definitely going to be lost.

And this time he decides he's not going to go along the south bank. He's going to go along the north bank. So directly towards the English siege positions where they're strongest. In other words, he basically has adopted Joan's plan. And this plan of course because the siege the English siege lines are at their strongest means that he is probably going to have to fight his way through. So on the 3rd of May the bastard leaves blah. He's got another huge train of wagons full of ammunition and food and stuff. And the following day he approaches the English lines on the western flank of their kind of fortresses siege positions and so on.

Simultaneously as he approaches the siege lines, a squad of 500 horsemen led by La and accompanied by Joan with her splendid banner sally out from Olio to meet them. They are of course absolutely expecting that the English will be there and that there will be a battle. But in the event the English don't try to stop them. The bastard of Olio and his men are able to pass through the siege lines. They meet up with the horsemen led by Laier and accompanied by Joan and together in a mood of absolute triumph. They head to Toio. They enter the city and there they are. They haven't had to fight. And the reason for this is basically because, and we've touched on it before, the English don't have quite enough men to make the investment of Olior absolute. There are about 4,000 of them. And these 4,000 men have to occupy a series of fortresses, you know, that are scattered all around Olio, uh, including, of course, later on the South

Bank. I have to say, Tom, it's really striking you make this point. So, the siege of Olon, the relief of Olon is often seen as this sort of, you know, miraculous underdog victory against all the odds. But actually, if there's only 4,000 English, I mean, when you think of all the battles we've done in the rest is history, I'm not talking about the World Wars and so on, but I don't know, the Great Northern War or something, you know, these numbers are pretty small, aren't they? I mean, by the standards of some wars, this is a skirmish rather than a battle. Not by the standards of the Hundred Years War. I mean, 4,000 is is a really substantial force, and it would certainly be a substantial force in a pitch battle, but Olio is a large city, so there just aren't quite enough.

And also there is a a kind of um a backup force that had been stationed by the English for just such an eventuality, but the messengers don't reach it in time. And so that's a kind of that's that's a piece of luck. And the consequence of this is that basically the French numbers now match the English. The French now have about 4,000 men as well.

Yeah. And the English fighting on uh foreign soil as well, so they've really got it all to do. Well, but also they're scattered in all these fortresses, whereas the French are concentrated in a single place. And so this is, you know, this is a key moment. And so now Joan, when she says to the bastard of Oly, "Come on, let's have a crack. Let's get on with it." They say, "Yeah, fine. Okay, let's And so that same afternoon that the bastard of Olio has arrived in Olio, they decide to attack the softest English target available to them, which is a very isolated fortress east of Olio on the north bank. So basically, there aren't any kind of other English soldiers ready to hand. The garrison in that fortress is on its own. And so the French launch a full-scale attack against this fortress and it falls after three hours of of very hard fighting.

The English, you'll be pleased to hear, put up a very good show. Of course they do.

And this is Joan's first experience of battle. She doesn't actually fight herself. You know, she never actually draws a sword. She never kills anyone. Um but she is absolutely in the battle line brandishing her banner, urging the French on. And at the end of the uh when the the fortress has been captured, blood is flowing. you know, she sees this for the first time. Um, and so she broods on it that evening, I think, and the next day she makes yet another call on the English to surrender. So again, she she writes her third letter to them.

You men of England, who have no right to this kingdom of France. The king of heaven orders and commands you through me, Joan the maid, to abandon your strongholds and go back to your own country. If not, I will make a war cry that will be remembered forever. I am writing this to you for the third and last time. I will write no more. And she ties the letter to an arrow and has it fired into the English camp. And the response is the familiar one. Basically, piss off you

Yeah. Armenyac they call her. Interesting. A reminder that there is an element of a civil war to this as well as a war between the French and English. Right. Burgundians and Armenyaks.

Yeah. So the English clearly are not going to withdraw. And so Joan and the French captains decide, well, we're we're going to continue attacking them. Um, and so on dawn the next day, which is the 6th of May, Joan makes confession. She hears mass, and then she joins hundreds of French soldiers who are clambering into boats, crossing the Lir in a great flatillaa to an island in the middle of the river. Uh and then from that island a pontoon is made out of the bridges and soldiers start crossing it onto the south bank. And the goal of this operation is to flush the English out of the the Great Augustinian priaryy and the tower of Leel so that they will then be cleared pretty completely from the southern bank. And Glasale, the uh the ex archer, the captain of Leel will no longer be able to menace Ol with his artillery. And Joan is on the southern bank, isn't she?

She's with all her cronies. So there's the bastard. There's that bloke, Le, the wroth of God. And there's a third guy. Now, I always think you should judge somebody by the company they keep. And this is a lord from Britany. And he's got quite a reputation, hasn't he? For all kinds of activities. And he is called Jill D. Well, at this point, Dominic, he has a reputation as a very proficient gerilla leader.

Yeah. uh in due course he will have a reputation for other things and we may come to that in due course but at this point his his reputation uh like that of the bastion is as a very proficient captain of men and so that these three men with Joan are leading the attack on the English positions in the priaryy and lateral when the captains reach the priary they're right up against it and they they think oh actually I don't know I mean this looks a bit quite a tough nut crack and they think, "Oh, maybe we should delay. Maybe we should try and get some more reinforcements." But Joan, she's not having any of it. She says, "We've got this. We're ready to do it."

And Le agrees. And so the whole mass of the French um forces gathered in front of the priaryy. They surge towards the walls of the priaryy and they break over it. Um and even though the English fight bravely, the French are able to sweep them aside. Um they cl they pile into the priaryy itself. The English withdraw and they retreat into the great tower of Leel and Joan again despite the fact that she has just trotten on the spike of a cow trap. So those are those kind of weapon you know those those kind of booby traps that they put um to stop horses. So she's limping but no she doesn't care about that. She's all for launching a massive attack but she is in pain and so she's kind of they say the captains say well look I think you should maybe retreat you go and have it tended to have a few plasters or whatever. And so she Jane says, "Yeah, all right." And so she with withdraws to the camp, but once she's gone, the

remaining captains, they hold a council of war and they agree that they don't actually have the numbers to attack later. They may have taken the priaryy, but later is is just too formidable.

Mhm. You know, it's the largest, it's the most um heavily defended fortress the English have, and therefore it it would be insane to launch an attack against it.

That's fair enough. But Joan doesn't like that, does she? Because when she finds out about it that evening, she goes absolutely ballistic and she says, "Come on, God wants us to do this. What are you thinking? You need to change your mind."

Yeah. And she says, "The God, you know, you you captains, you've conferred among yourselves, but I, Joan, I have conferred with God."

Yeah. So the next morning there's another council of war and Joan succeeds in persuading, you know, changing their minds. They say, "Yeah, all right. Okay, let's go for it." Uh and to quote um Husinger the the great Dutch historian we quoted in the previous episode it is clear I think that it's tempting to think this is kind of a lunatic approach he's just kind of saying attack attack but I think it does touch something deep in the hearts of the French captains you know they sense a kind of a quality of heroism to it so to quote Husinger her courage and her confidence these are the most immediate elements of her nature and the ones that give the most tangible explanation of her success. A greatness that manifests itself in a superior, irresistible and infectious bravery. And I think that infectious bravery, the captains pick up on it. As a result, on the 7th of May 1429, the fateful decision is taken to attack

Leel. And this is a decision that it maybe determines the course of the 100red years war.

Okay. So waves after waves of French attacks are launched on the great keep of lateral. The goal is to bridge the ditch that surrounds the tower with brushwood and then to bring ladders to put them on the side of the walls and to climb up. Joan is with um an attack party. There's a ladder. She climbs up the ladder and as she does so she's hit in the neck by a crossbow bolt. She's knocked backwards off the ladder and she drops her banner into the the mud that's being churned up by all the men at arms. And so there's a a great cheer goes up from the English and obviously the morale of the French is is pretty badly dented. Joan is led away. The French attack flags the bastard of only decides well I think you know this attack isn't going to work. We should call it off. We'll wait for the morning. We'll bring over artillery from Olio. We've got all this ammunition.

We'll have a crack again um the next day. But Joan Squire, Jean Dulong, uh who is, you know, big fan of Joan by this point. He picks up her banner. He begins climbing up the ladder, still brandishing it. You know, war cries left, right, and center. All the other soldiers see this. They start following uh Jean up his ladder. They start putting up their own ladders. They're all piling up and Joan, who is standing on the edge of the ditch, yelling encouragement. She urges the bastard, "Come on, we've got this. Let's renew the attack." And the bastard of Olio is persuaded. And so the attack continues.

And meanwhile on the far side of the river, the townsmen of Olio have got these great wooden planks and they are laying these planks over the gap in the bridge that they demolished so that they can uh so that the arch is bridged. And their aim is to cross this kind of makeshift bridge and attack later from the opposite side to the attack that's being launched by Joan and the bastard of Olon. So that effectively the English in the keep will be completely surrounded. And the English defenders recognizing this begin to panic and their commander, this you know much feared, much hated, incredibly intimidating exarcher, Sir William Glasale, he loses his footing.

He plummets into the river and of course he's weighed down by his armor. And so he sinks to the bottom.

Oh no. That is the end of him. And with the loss of their commander, the English effectively give up and they are massacred by the victorious French. 500 men in all are slaughtered. And so by the evening the tower of Leel, the priaryy, both of them are in French hands and the victors rather than return to Olon by boats are able to return to the city across the wooden planks that have been laid across the river. And of course, you know, there's an absolute mood of ecstasy. Bells are peeling, crowds are cheering. Joan is the the heroine of the moment.

And what about the English? So the English back back out in their kind of siege their encampments and whatnot. So you've got um Suffukk and Tolbert and Scales, all these kind of hard bitten captains and they're pretty downcast now, aren't they? Because they've lost a lot of men. They've lost their principal sort of fort for prosecuting the siege. They've also crucially lost control of the bridge and the river. So Orlon can now get supplies and reinforcements from the south. And basically the game is up for them in alling all right.

Yeah. They've got no prospect of success and the English commanders recognize this. Obviously they're anxious to save face and so Suffukk the guy who's in overall command um he draws his men up in formation essentially challenging the French to a pitch battle

but of course you know I mean the French don't need to do it. They came here to to relieve all. They've relieved it. So why would they risk um losing it all again by taking on the English Bowman? So an hour passes, the English give up, they turn around and they start marching northwards away from Olio and the siege is over. So the siege had lasted for 6 months, but in 4 days um Joan and the French have been able to relieve the city. And to the DOA and to those who support him, this seems like, you know, she's delivered on her promises. The miracle from God was foretold and it has duly arrived.

Yeah. I mean it absolutely strikes the DOA and everybody who supports him as a miracle. This victory seems to have come from nowhere. Soldiers whose morale was at rock bottom now seem, you know, possessed with an absolute confidence that God is on their side and that victory for them is inevitable. And they attribute this miracle to one person to Joan the maid. And this is the news for instance that brought to Christine de Pazan the great poet in the abbey in seclusion in silence she's been so despondent it's it's what inspires her to start writing poetry again Christine writes about Joan the beauty of her life proves that she has been blessed with God's grace how clear this was at the siege of Olio it is my belief that never was a miracle more evident

criy Well, the story of Jon of Arc is of course not yet over because she has promised that she will lead the Doofatas for his coronation and drive the English out of France. And we'll discover whether or not they do that. And we will also turn to the question that is now on the Englishman's minds. Is Joan really sent from God or is she, as the trial will prove, a witch? Now, if you're a member of the rest history club, you can hear those episodes right now. You don't need to wait. If you'd like to join our club members and enjoy all the amazing benefits that they take great pleasure from every day, then just head to the restistory.com.

But we will be back to find out what happens next in this extraordinary story and to examine exactly what was going on in Jonavar's head. So on that bombshell, Tom Mercy.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans"?

Tom Holland (Host), Dominic Sandbrook (Host).

What is "Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans" about?

The story of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, revolves around her emergence as a divine leader during France's struggle against English occupation, particularly during the siege of Orleans in 1429. This narrative highlights her bold proclamations, including a significant letter challenging English forces to surrender and her determination to drive them out of France, ultimately framing her as a…

What is mentioned in this The Rest Is History episode?

11 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Olon, Charles VII, Leel, Dauphin, Duke of Bedford, St. Catherine. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Joan of Arc: The Maid of Orleans"?

The episode runs 53 min; the transcript is about 9,675 words in 108 timestamped sections.

More from The Rest Is History

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.