Publisher Details
London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023. pp. i-xviii, 281.
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Joan of Arc is the most recognizable woman from medieval Europe, yet the details of her life remain obscure to the general public while heavily debated by specialists. Rising from obscurity to insert herself into the court of French King Charles VII before marching with his armies to combat the enemies of the crown during the Hundred Years War, she was eventually captured, tried in an inquisition, and then executed as a relapsed heretic at the age of 19.
Joan of Arc: A Reference Guide of Her Life and Works focuses on her life, and legacy. It features a chronology, an introduction offers a brief account of her life, a dictionary section lists entries on people, groups, places, events, topics, terms, and medieval documents central to Joan’s life including her letters, contemporary perspectives, her condemnation trial, and the nullification proceedings eventually blessed by the pope to overturn the verdict of the condemnation trial. This book aims to provide an understanding not just of Joan, but of the culture that produced and ultimately destroyed her.
Reviews
Choice Reviews (January 2024)
Few bibliographies on Joan of Arc have been published since Nadia Margolis’s Joan of Arc in History, Literature, and Film. It is certainly time for an update as Joan is still a popular, revered, much studied personality. The title of this volume will lead readers to think that it is a bibliography, but most of the text consists of dictionary entries. Manning, an independent scholar, created this book to serve as “reference guide in English to the people, places, events, documents, and terms surrounding the brief but incredibly well-documented life of Joan” (p. 1). Accordingly, brief entries cover such varied topics as baptism, bishop, blasphemy, siege, canon law, idolater, injuries of Joan of Arc, and Inquisition. Entries do not have further reading references but have copious cross-references. There is an enormous number of details about Joan’s involvement in the wars of France. There are also a map, a few black-and-white illustrations, a chronology, and eight appendixes. The short, unannotated bibliography is well organized with a narrative introduction to scholarship on Joan and references to many early classic works and texts published since 1990. Using this book, it will be easy for undergraduates to identify key resources to learn more on Joan of Arc and related topics.
Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.
– A. H. Widder, emerita, Michigan State University
Library Journal (October 2023), 138.
Independent historian Manning, who has been organizing sessions about Joan of Arc at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies since 2019, offers this well-organized reference guide. It begins with an explanation of the anglicizing of French names, followed by an overview of Joan of Arc’s life and a thorough set of dictionary-style entries arranged in alphabetical order, with keywords highlighted in bold type. This layout makes it easy to cross-reference a topic, name, or location. The appendixes enable readers to synthesize important information regarding battles, Joan of Arc’s surviving letters, her immediate family members, and political and religious leaders of her era. The bibliography is organized by topic (medieval elements, geography, biography, military aspects, political movements, general history), then source. Beyond English, there are also recommended texts in French and Latin. VERDICT Manning asserts in his introduction that there is more documentation of Joan of Arc’s life, movements, and military actions than commonly thought, and this volume supports his thesis. Comprehensive and accessible to casual and serious readers alike.
-Tina Panik, Avon Free Library
Gail Orgelfinger, author of Joan of Arc in the English Imagination, 1429-1829
In his Joan of Arc: A Reference Guide to Her Life and Works, the first comprehensive compilation of people, places, and events associated with Joan of Arc’s life and culture in English, Scott Manning has provided scholars, as well as anyone interested in the wider context of her storied career, with a carefully curated resource. The entries are clear and informative, economically noting important inconsistencies in the records and controversies about issues. The volume is also easy to navigate, with a series of appendices that gather references to such topics as Joan’s letters, and a thematic bibliography. This book should be a welcome addition to personal, public, and academic libraries.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note about Anglicizing French Names
Maps
Chronology
Introduction
ENTRIES #, A-Z
Appendix A: Key Battles, Sieges, and Captured Cites
Appendix B: Selected Treaties and Truces During the Time of Joan of Arc
Appendix C: Joan of Arc’s Immediate Family
Appendix D: Surviving Letters of Joan of Arc
Appendix E: Popes During the Time of Joan of Arc
Appendix F: Selected Monarchs and Rulers
Appendix G: Constables and Marshals of France
Bibliography
About the Author
Index