The following translation of Gabriel Hanotaux’s JEANNE D’ARC, includes three selections of texts which are relevant to understanding the principle of axiomatic change that Joan of Arc embodied in the accomplishment of her historical mission of saving France and Christianity during a short period of less than two years of deployment, from 1429 to 1431.
What Gabriel Hanotaux was looking for in his investigation of Joan was the anomaly that caused the change, the paradoxical idea that transformed the whole of Europe and created the French Renaissance; that is, the dominating idea that captured the imagination of the entire French population and caused millions of people to change in a very short period of time.
Hanotaux focused on those events that demonstrated the transformative principle of change which caused the demise of the entire civil and clerical aristocracy of France and kicked the English out of France. That principle was identified very clearly on the standard that Joan of Arc carried with her into battle, which can be summarized as: The Paradox of the Announcement and its Accomplishment.
The question this raises for us today is: how can a similar idea cause a renaissance during our own time? The entire success of Joan of Arc’s mission resided in answering that question by effectively establishing that paradox as coinciding with the spirit of her time. Can we do the same today?
