This eBook is made available at no cost and with very few restrictions. These restrictions apply only if 1 you make a change in the eBook other than alteration for different display devices , or 2 you are making commercial use of the eBook. This work is in the Canadian public domain, but may be under copyright in some countries. If you live outside Canada, check your country's copyright laws. T here are many deliberate omissions in this book. Students of the period may ask why I have not entered more closely into such things as the relations between the Dukes of Burgundy, Brittany, Bedford, and Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, and so on.
My answer is, that I wished to concentrate on Joan of Arc herself, bringing in the minimum of outside politics. It seemed to me that Joan of Arc was far more important and problematical than any of the figures or politics which surrounded her. It became necessary for me to refer to some of those figures and politics: but, beyond that simplified reference, I have kept her consistently in the foreground, at the expense of other interests.
It seemed to me, in short, that Joan of Arc presented a fundamental problem of the deepest importance, whereas the political difficulties of her day presented only a topical and therefore secondary interest. The history of France in the fifteenth century can hold no interest to-day save for the scholar; the strange career of Joan of Arc, on the other hand, remains a story the conclusion of which is as yet unfound. I do not claim to have found it in this book. I take the view that many years, possibly hundreds of years, may elapse before it is found at all.
In the meantime, I wish to record my gratitude to several people: to my sister-in-law, Gwen St. Aubyn, who has provided, and annotated many specialised books for me; to Mr. Horrabin, who has drawn the maps; to Father Herbert Thurston, S. Baines for his views on the psychology of visionaries; to Mr. The question of footnotes troubled me considerably. I had at first intended to put none, but was gradually forced to the conclusion that a complete absence of reference to authorities was even more irritating to the reader than the constant check to the progress of his reading.
Of two evils, I hope I have chosen the lesser. The question of proper names troubled me also. It seemed to me that Jeanne was ill-translated by Joan , and yet I could not bring myself to write the closer rendering of Jean. I have therefore decided to stick to the French version of her name throughout, except in the title of the book itself. The same problem arose over the names of French cities. It will be observed that I have elected to print Orleans without an accent on the e.
