Joan of Arc's description of the history books is clearest, but eminent historians agree that her death was completely unquestionable: one morning in May 1431, Joan of Arc was burned to death in a public square in Luang. Thousands of people saw the tragedy with their own eyes. The passage to the burning table was crowded with large crowds of spectators, and 800 British soldiers separated the crowd from the burning table. During the trial, although Joan of Arc made a strong and reasonable defense, the outcome of the trial had long been prepared. On the occasion of Joan of Arc's execution that day, she walked to the end of her life from the top to the heel covered with cloth, accompanied by two priests. This 19-year-old peasant girl led the French to resist British aggression and was once a national heroine admired by thousands of people. Now the crowd was about to see her tragic end, but in the eyes of the British army, it was only a hundred times, and the trouble was cut off.
Under the gaze of more than 10,000 people, this small girl, who had been pronounced a witch and a heretic, was quickly engulfed in flames, and many onlookers heard her call out the name of Jesus and the names of the saints who inspired her to lead the rebels and drive the British out of France. The fire burned for some time, and she was not yet out of breath, and finally she heard her whisper, "Jesus," and she passed away, and the crowd saw the executioners pull out the fire, revealing a charred corpse. For a time, however, many French believed a well-founded rumor that Joan of Arc had not been burned at the stake. To this day, some people still believe that it was not Joan of Arc himself who died that morning in May 1431.
Of course, this devout young shepherd, easy to lead the French army to defeat the British, was enough to convince the masses that God had done miracles. Under her leadership, the French army relieved the siege of Orléans and drove the British all the way out of France in other battles, the crown prince at that time was obviously weak, but Joan of Arc aroused the patriotism of the masses and loyalty to the crown prince, and as a result, when he was officially crowned King Charles VII of France in 1429, Joan of Arc also stood by his side, but this was her most proud time. Later, she tried in vain to retake Paris, and the following spring fell into the hands of the British army. The British were determined to put Joan of Arc to death in public because she could perform miracles, raise morale, and make the French soldiers fight without hesitation, so that the British regarded her as the most dangerous enemy.
After the executioners showed the crowd the charred corpse of the Orleans girl (as she was called at the time), they rekindled the fire, burned the body into a pile of ashes, and threw the ashes into the Seine. However, some people who witnessed the execution have since talked about the magical scene of the time. A British soldier said that when Joan of Arc's soul left the body, he saw a white dove soaring from the fire. Some people say they saw the word "Jesus" in the flames. Soon, there was a legend that Joan of Arc's heart and liver remained intact and had not been burned. After a short period of time, some people said that the flames did not hurt Joan of Arc, and she was still alive in the world.
Joan of Arc's two brothers, knowing that the French were happy to believe that the heroine was still alive, found that they could profit from it, and decided to set up a chilling deception, intending to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit. The two brothers had already enjoyed a prosperous life because of Joan of Arc's fame, and by 1436, five years after Joan of Arc's death, the two men re-exaggerated the rumor that Joan of Arc was still alive, and as a result, the rumor continued to circulate for hundreds of years. The two brothers suddenly appeared on the streets of Orléans, accompanied by a young woman in armor and on horseback. They said that the woman was Joan of Arc, who was replaced by another woman at the last moment before the execution. In fact, the woman in the armor was a swindler named Ammes, who had served in the army of the Italian Pope before impersonating Joan of Arc, and had a period of camp disturbance, when her mighty appearance and skilled horsemanship were so popular with the masses that those who saw her believed without hesitation that Joan of Arc was still alive.
The citizens of Orleans fully believed in the accounts of Joan of Arc's two brothers, and even abolished the commemorative ceremonies that had been held for joan of Arc since her sacrifice, and the deceptions of Joan of Arc's brothers and female deceivers were successful and unfavorable, and they enjoyed a wine feast in Orléans and other French cities, and were widely respected. However, the good times were unusual, and after 4 years their scam was finally exposed. In 1440, Ammes confessed in paris to her involvement in the shameless farce. However, the incident of impersonating Joan of Arc has far-reaching implications: the legend of Joan of Arc's escape from a public square in Luang, although proven to be nonsense, has been convinced by some French people.
In 1456, when Joan of Arc's mission to save the country was finally completed by her successors, charles VII almost completely unified France, and Joan of Arc's two deceitful brothers at this time rightly supported their mother and requested a new interrogation to wash Joan of her of the stigma of heretics and witches. The trial to restore Joan of Arc's honor finally overturned the 1431 verdict, but the court did not summon Joan of Arc's brothers to testify: the evil deeds they had committed in the early days of using Joan of Arc's reputation for profit probably had been deeply abhorred by the shrewd clergy and government authorities. As for the female con artist Ammes, she was able to enjoy the rest of the year, and then married and had children, and the heirs always believed that she was the real Orleans girl.
"The Great Mystery of the Unsolved Mysteries of Mankind" Editor-in-Chief Wang Meili