Is This Woman A Descendant Of St. Joan of Arc?
Why didn’t the Paris Olympics open with St. Joan of Arc?! Sigh, we may never know, but I did just learn something fascinating about one of my favorite heroines.
Meet Clotilde d’Arc, an alleged descendant of St. Joan who claims her lineage can be traced back to Joan’s brother, Pierre.
In 2022 she dressed as St. Joan of Arc to partake in the annual celebrations commemorating Joan’s victory in the Hundred Years’ War against the English in the siege of Orléans in 1429. Each year to commemorate the siege, the city of Orléans puts on a parade that’s been going strong for six hundred years. Every year, a fifteen year old girl is selected and dressed in armor to parade through the city on horseback.
The European Conservative shares, “Each year, a selection committee meets to choose the girl who will have the honor of following in the footsteps of the secondary patron saint of France. It brings together representatives of the three orders—religious, military, and civil. In order to be chosen the candidate must meet three conditions: live for at least ten years in Orléans or in the surrounding area, be a practicing Catholic, be educated in Orléans, and be involved in the service of others (associative activities, scouting…). There is no need to know how to ride a horse: the lucky candidate can receive accelerated training from a cavalry regiment based not far from Orléans to make a good impression on the big day.”
In 2022, they selected Clotilde.
Is she actually related to St. Joan of Arc though?
We’re not sure.
Genealogist Michel de Sachy de Fourdrinoy wrote in the October 1973 Bulletin de l'Alliance française: "there is no longer any known descendants of the brothers of the Maid.” Scholar François de Bouteiller determined that Joan's great-great nephew Charles du Lys (who died in 1632) was the "last remaining male of the line." However, though the d’Arc family has been extinct in the male line since the 17th century, it has many descendants in the female line who have kept the name to this day.
Further research also suggests that Clotilde's great-great-grandfather, Henri Gautier, renamed his children "d'Arc" after Charles X granted him an Ordonnance Royale in 1827.
Regardless, being chosen to play Joan the Maid of Orleans is a real commitment. Clotilde Forgeot d’Arc walked a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the shepherdess of Lorraine, following the major stages of her epic journey. First, to Domrémy, the village in Lorraine where she was born and where her first visions took place. Then to Vaucouleurs, a garrison where for the first time she tried to speak and convince the military regiment about her mission. Reims, the city of the coronation of the kings of France, comes next. Toward the end of the trip, Clotilde Forgeot d’Arc will go to Compiègne, where Joan was imprisoned, and then finally on to Rouen, the place of her martyrdom.
Let’s pack out bags and head to France in 2029 when they celebrate the 600th anniversary! Or, you know, go there next year too. Learn more about the festival here.