# Was Joan of Arc really a witch?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-joan-of-arc-really-a-witch/596385>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 15, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-joan-of-arc-really-a-witch/596385 "2011-09-15T12:37:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-joan-of-arc-really-a-witch/596385/41 "2011-09-19T16:47:18Z")

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BTW, in George Bernard Shaw’s [_Saint Joan,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joan_(play)) Joan is a remarkably levelheaded, clear-eyed, commonsensical person – that is what accounts for her military success, as well as her ability to tell the Dauphin from Gilles de Rais on first meeting. Well, that take on the story probably says more about Shaw than about Joan. (The message, put forth clearly enough in the dialogue, is that Joan is driven by a sense of nationalism, that on principle the English should not be in France or vice-versa – a new idea in Europe at the time – and that makes her a forward-looking, modern-minded person compared to the feudal lords and bishops around her – some of whom can perceive that nationalism presages Protestantism.)

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