Joan of Arc
from 5/1/2007 to 9/3/2007

The Knights of Columbus Museum will present an exhibit celebrating the cultural legacy of the French medieval heroine Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431) from May through Labor Day 2007. Joan’s extraordinary life has inspired many, and her image has been appropriated for a variety of causes during the centuries since her death.

An illiterate peasant, Joan had an unlikely path to fame. Late in France’s Hundred Years’ War, she had a vision in which God instructed her to reclaim her homeland from the increasing domination of England. With some effort, she persuaded Charles VII, the uncrowned heir to the French throne, that she should lead his troops in battle. Joan’s incredible successes eventually included escorting Charles to Reims for his coronation, which ended a dispute over succession to the throne. But within months, the king’s enemies captured her, put her on trial, and burned her at the stake in a public execution at age 19. Joan was exonerated in a second, posthumous trial 25 years later. Pope Benedict XV declared her a saint in 1920.

First presented at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery in November 2006, the exhibit focuses on the historical figure as well as the manner in which Joan of Arc has been portrayed through time: a bold warrior, a pious maiden, a fashionable courtier, a loyal subject, a condemned prisoner. Items in the exhibit will be on loan from throughout Europe and the United States.