MovieChat Forums > Joan of Arc (1999) Discussion > Did King Charles Betray Joan?

Did King Charles Betray Joan?


Please forgive me stupidity. I watched the film last night and I got confused of how Joan got in to the hands of the English. What exactly did Charles do?

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Convinced by Yolande of Aragon that Joan has become a political nuisance, Charles conspires to get rid of Joan by letting her get captured by enemy forces. She is taken prisoner by the pro-English Burgundians at Compiègne. She briefly meets the Duke of Burgundy, who sells her to the English.

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Wow that's messed up

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Talk about gratitude. Thanks for getting me the crown but now you're going to burn for it.

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Typical selfish bastard!! As she states in the film there are French people starving in Paris & France by the English & the king prefers to negotiate because he now has his crown. Basically now he's been crowned he doesnt give a *beep* about his people.
Typical of a welsh bad ruler. Then betraying the woman who fought to make him king!!

Lowest of the low

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Typical selfish bastard!! As she states in the film there are French people starving in Paris & France by the English & the king prefers to negotiate because he now has his crown. Basically now he's been crowned he doesnt give a *beep* about his people.
Typical of a very bad bad ruler. Then betraying the woman who fought to make him king!!

Lowest of the low

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You have to look at it all pragmatically. Thanks in part to Joan, Charles was crowned and on his way to regaining his country. The time for war was winding down and DIPLOMACY was needed. Unfortunately Joan was too bullheaded to calm down and keep her mouth shut. Not only that, the campaigns she was involved after her first successes were all failures. It started people questioning whether she was a chosen messenger of god. A majority of Charles' Kingship claim rested on the fact that this anointed messenger told everyone this was God's plan.

So when she was captured, Charles decided to cut her loose. Only after time had passed, he set up the mock trials to rehabilitate her and reclaim the legacy that God chose him through a saintly Virgin.

The movie doesn't go into details but Charles did a lot to steer Joan away from the military. He ennobled her family. He made her a Noblewoman, gave her gifts of gowns and jewels. Most likely threw eligible noblemen in her way for marriage. She didn't take the hints.

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The movie doesn't go into details but Charles did a lot to steer Joan away from the military. He ennobled her family. He made her a Noblewoman, gave her gifts of gowns and jewels. Most likely threw eligible noblemen in her way for marriage. She didn't take the hints.


That's because he was trying to castrate her instead of make her a warrior. There are always battles to fight. She was no dainty maid happy to sit at home and birth babies because that's all she felt her worth was in. She was Achilles choosing weapons instead of trinkets -- it was Charles who didn't take the hint.

She thought God told her to be a warrior. Give her the men and resources, instead of taking them away from her, and she would have been that ultimate warrior for France.

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(In reply to hwcperfect re Godzilla 2014)
LaLlama: Make me give a *beep* whats going on

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She didn't actually fight though. She just stood in the back and waved her banner.

The campaigns she lead after Orleans all failed miserably. It's not fair to compare her to Achilles as she never actually participated in combat.

The King wanted to begin making peace. The English and Burgundians wanted to make peace. Joan was hellbent on war.

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Joan did actually fight. She once fought and captured an English knight. On other occasions, it could at least be said that she was always in the thick of battle and not just a ride-along. She was shot in the neck/shoulder by a crossbow (not long bow as in the film) while ascending a ladder. In the siege of Paris, she advanced too far to the walls that she became separated and had to hide under a dead horse for one whole night. She was also shot in the leg like shown in the film. Later, she was hit by a rock on the head while ascending a ladder in an attack on a castle somewhere else, causing a dent in the helmet. When what was thought to be Joan's armor was discovered many years later, the marks and damages found on it were consistent with those injuries told in the historical accounts.

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Yes, the film was pretty accurate in depicting the injuries she suffered in battle.

And much as the film sets him up as an ungrateful monarch, the king probably did have a valid point in stating the time was now right for diplomacy to raise its banner🐭.

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Unfortunately Joan was too bullheaded to calm down and keep her mouth shut. Not only that, the campaigns she was involved after her first successes were all failures. It started people questioning whether she was a chosen messenger of god.


Also, it was around this time, that records of her theological examination by priests at Poitiers "disappeared." Charles had tried to use this review as a way to avoid blame if she proved a fraud, and many assume that he got rid of the main record (i.e. transcripts of the investigation, beyond the remaining written conclusion). The examining priests left her calling open to question, needing proof through the course of events. This didn't help Charles, nor did her preening (e.g. insisting that her banner be held high at his coronation and glorying in her rich dress there). She was becoming a serious embarrassment, not humble like a saint, not accurate like a true prophet, rather bloodthirsty in chasing camp prostitutes with her sword, and not listening to him.

A majority of Charles' Kingship claim rested on the fact that this anointed messenger told everyone this was God's plan.


While this "prophecy" is probably why he arranged for the whitewash of Joan decades later, he allowed her to be thoroughly discredited. He was still fighting the English for decades after her death. He managed quite well without her over that time and had no worries when he finally promoted her rehabilitation as a way to glorify himself, icing on the cake.

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