What does it mean when a nineteen year old girl, a military leader, folk hero in her own time, is burnt at the stake because she will not renounce wearing male clothing? Why did her followers consider Joan and the clothing she wore sacred? Why did the Catholic Inquisition fear her expression of a male identity? Why has her story been garbled, distorted, and her essential battle for self-expression been dismissed as not important, the pretense made that "she wore only male armor?"

Joan was born in Domremy in the province of Lorraine. The Hundred Years War clutched France, the peasants ravaged time and again by English marauders that continued to escape the French nobility. As Joan grew up she witnessed the plundering and savaging of her people, her friends, her relatives, and as she came into her teens she emerged as a leader of the common folk. It was her belief that she had been given a divine mission, and that her masculine inclinations and dress were significant to that mission. Her zeal, her passion, her power would inspire thousands and she was to become a symbol of hope, almost a deity in the eyes of the common folk.

In 1429, dressed in men's clothes, Joan, 17, and her followers offered their services to Prince Charles, heir to the throne of France. She led an army of peasants who, under her command, she vowed would drive the English from French soil. Prince Charles embraced her and placed her at the head of an army of ten thousand peasants.

Her army marched on Orleans, April 28, 1429. The following day she took the city. One by one she liberated other French cities forcing the English to retreat before her. Her military genius, her ability to inspire her troops, and her confident presence as a female man, creating an almost supernatural image, destroyed the morale of the English.

Joan was instrumental in persuading Prince Charles to receive the crown at Rheims, a long and dangerous trip through English held territory. Her army, marching on empty stomachs but loyal to her without question, forced the English back and Charles, Joan at his side, was crowned King of France.

On May 23, 1430 Joan was captured by allies of the English, the Burgundians. The Burgundians called her "homasse", meaning a female man. Prince Charles, realizing that Joan, as a leader of the peasants was a powerful threat to the ruling class of France, declined to offer a ransom for her. Although that was the custom to rescue captured leaders. Thus the French nobility that she helped to place in power betrayed her to the English. Having served their purpose she was not only expendable, it was an opportunity to be rid of her, lest she lead the peasantry against the French nobility.

The Catholic Church and the ruling class of England was quick to condemn her for cross-dressing. Henry the VI wrote to Pierre Cauchon, the terrible inquisitor and Bishop of Beauvais, "It is sufficiently notorious and well-known that for some time past a woman calling herself Jeanne the Pucelle (the Maid), leaving off the dress and clothing of the feminine sex, a thing contrary to divine laws, wore clothing and armor such as is worn by a man." Not only did Joan dress as a man, she wore cloth of gold and furs, rich and costly apparel, and she rode a magnificent horse, all in defiance of class distinctions. These things were reserved for the nobility.

Sold by the Burgundians to the English Joan was chained to a wall by her neck, wrists, and ankles and left to stand day and night. Her trial in Rouen, an English held stronghold in France, was held on January 9, 1431. Joan was condemned for wearing male clothing and as a pagan. One of the charges was that Joan was known to frequent with "fairies" and to be pagan from birth. It was true that in Lorraine much of pre-christian religious beliefs still survived. The patriarchal theologists of the Catholic Church were hellbent on eliminating all remnants of such practices.

The more Joan of Arc was idolized by the peasantry the more the Church was determined to scapegoat her and the land of her birth. She posed a threat to the Church's religious rule and had to be made an example to all who would defy Christian supremecy. In Article III of the Accusations against her the extent of her fame and their fear of her is clearly expressed,, "Item, the said Joan by her inventions has seduced the Catholic people, many in her presence adored her as a saint ... even more, they declared her the greatest of all the saints after the holy virgin ..."

The charges of witchcraft were not proved and were eventually dropped, but they denounced her for her claims that wearing male clothing was a religious duty compelled by divine visions. Historians tend to gloss over and dismiss her wearing male clothing as inconsequential, yet, to her and to her accusers it was the principal issue. Some historians have gone so far as to assert she wore only male armor and didn't express a male gender at all.

From the charges against her:

"You have said that, by God's command, you have continually worn man's dress, wearing the short robe, doublet, and hose attached by points; that you have worn your hair short, cut en rond above your ears, with nothing left that could show you to be a woman; and that on many occasions you received the Body of our Lord dressed in this fashion, although you have been frequently admonished to leave it off, save by God's command. And you said further that if you were still so dressed and with the king and those of his party, it would be one of the greatest blessings for the kingdom of France; and you have said that not for anything would you take an oath not to wear this dress or carry arms; and concerning all these matters you have said that you did well, obediently to God's command.

As for these points, the clerks say that you blaspheme God in His sacraments; that you transgress divine law, the Holy Scriptures and the canon law; you hold the Faith doubtfully and wrongfully; you boast vainly; you are suspect of idolatry; and you condemn yourself in being unwilling to wear the customary clothing of your sex, and following the custom of the Gentiles and the Heathens."

In Joan's own words:

"For nothing in the world, will I swear not to arm myself and put on a man's dress."

Yet, on April 24, 1431, Joan's judges claimed she recanted, producing a signed document with Joan's name. Joan could neither read nor write and the document, signed by her in seclusion, is seriously in question. Witnesses acknowledge that she signed a short document but then were puzzled in that the document read in court was lengthy and extensive. More likely, since cross-dressing was not in itself a capital offense, she was set up by Pierre Cauchon and other church authorities. Having "confessed" and "recanted" then when she wore male clothing provided for her by the church in her cell, she became a "relapsed" heretic and could be condemned to death.

In her own words Joan not only recanted the signing but declared that she had not been aware of what she had signed. "I had never intended to take an oath not to take man's dress again." For which the Inquisition sentenced her to death saying, "Time and again you have relapsed, as a dog returns to its vomit ..." Think on this ... for doing nothing more than wearing the clothes of the opposite sex.

Joan of Arc, 19, was burned at the stake by Catholic Authority for the crime of wearing men's clothes. What more condemnation of this religion is needed? Joan, rather than give up her gender variant identity, suffered the worst fate that Catholics in their wickedness could hand down. Why did the peasants deify her, consider her the greatest of the Saints? What were the customs of the Gentiles and the Heathens that so frightened the Catholic fathers? Why and how did one young girl wearing male clothing frighten and threaten them to such a degree that they had to burn her at the stake?

The answer to those questions and much more can be found in Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg (Beacon Press) from which much of this summary has been adapted for our homepage.