Rouen's Joan of Arc Museum - opened in 2013

The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) must have been horrendous. The endless battles dragged on between English Plantagenets and the French Valois, for control of French soil. In the latter part of the Hundred Years War, English forces occupied much of northern France, including Normandy and its capital Rouen, or were under joint Anglo-Burgundian control.

At first, the teenage Joan of Arc (c1412–1431) had inspired an unexpected series of successes against the English army south along the Loire. But then in May 1430 Joan was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundians, an English ally, and was moved to the city of Rouen; this was the city that served as the main English headquarters in France.

Joan was put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, a supporter of the Burgundians exiled in Rouen. It was clear they were going to execute the teenager, but first they wanted to publicly prove it was Sat­an who dictated her act­ions. Thus they could de­m­on­strate that King Charles VII had been a puppet of diabolical forces. The Bishop of Beauvais started proceedings in a tribunal of the In­quis­ition. A clear pol­itical issue was transformed into one of faith and after the Bishop declared her guilty, she was burned at the stake in May 1431 in Place du Vieux Marché (see photo below).

The young woman was later exonerated after a second posthumous trial in Rouen in 1456. Too late to help Joan, but at least many French citizens came to see her as a national heroine and a religious saint. 

Joan’s execution site
Place du Vieux-Marche in Rouen
Note the La Couronne restaurant with red flags, which opened in 1345.

Fortunately Rouen's C15th archbishop's palace survived the centur­ies. Renovation of this magnificent medieval palace, just next to the Cath­ed­ral, began in 2013, led by historians and museum curators. And in March 2015 the Joan of Arc History Museum opened to visitors. The €10 million project combined a modern exhibition space with enough hist­orical content to allow visitors to investigate the legend of France’s saint. The archbishop’s palace complex was a perfect site historic­ally-speaking; its hall was where Joan was sentenced to death. And the archbishop’s palace was a perfect site logistically-speaking since it provides a spacious museum with many exhibition spaces. Visitors can also inspect the palace’s crypts, its C15th tower, the early modern Aubigné chapel and state rooms.

One waxwork gallery inside the

Joan of Arc History Museum, Rouen

Isidore Patrois
The Trial of Joan of Arc, 1867
Musee des Beaux-Arts

Note that exhibitions within the museum are linked to the historic sites in other parts of Rouen. To have a fuller understanding of the part Rouen played in Joan’s history, visitors are encouraged to visit the Joan of Arc Tower in Rouen Castle where she was imprisoned awaiting her execution. This imposing tower is all that remains of the mighty castle that King Philippe Auguste had built (against the English) in the early C13th. Unfortunately for Joan, the English military was back in control of Normandy during this part of the Hundred Years War.

And the city centre is full of important religious and secular buil­dings. Visit Saint-Ouen and Saint-Maclou, for example. And examine the significant Gros Horloge/clock and the very impress­sive Gothic Law Courts. I also think the city’s Old Market is fascinating.

  

Church of Joan of Arc, 1979

Not everyone loves the contemporary Church of Joan of Arc, built in Rouen in 1979. It is modern in taste but at least it was designed to rescue and display gorgeous panels of C16th stained glass, taken from other Rouen churches. The guide suggested that the shape of the roof of the church and the small hallways evoked the flames of St Joan's execution pyre.