Saturday, July 25, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

The Five Original Letter Witnesses — Joan of Arc

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

Joan of Arc, translated by Winifred Stephens

These are the five letters whose medieval originals were examined together in modern scholarship. "Original" describes the physical document sent in Joan's name; it does not mean that she wrote the body in her own hand. Five different scribes wrote the bodies. Two letters are unsigned, and three bear the name Jehanne in a separate hand whose formation remains debated. Four originals now have verified public repositories and shelfmarks. The present custody of the fifth is unresolved.

Joan's letters show her acting rather than answering: seeking peace with Burgundy, guarding the loyalty of Reims, asking Riom for siege supplies, and promising threatened allies that she will come. They also show why a letter is more than its words. Material, address, fold, seal, signature, custody, transcription, and translation each form part of the witness.

The English texts below are Winifred Stephens's translations as printed in Anatole France's The Life of Joan of Arc (1908). They follow nineteenth-century normalized editions and are offered as a clear public-domain reading route, not as a modern diplomatic translation. The witness notes reflect current institutional records and Pierre Duparc's palaeographic study. Links to public-domain facsimiles allow the physical documents to remain visible beside the English.

Witness table

DateAddresseePresent controlBody and signature
July 17, 1429Philip the Good, duke of BurgundyArchives départementales du Nord, B 300scribal body on parchment; unsigned
August 5, 1429the people of ReimsArchives nationales, AB/XIX/3556scribal body on paper; unsigned
November 9, 1429the people of RiomArchives municipales de Riom, AA 33scribal body on paper; Jehanne in a separate hand
March 16, 1430the people of ReimsArchives municipales et communautaires de Reims, FAC 734, liasse 8scribal body on paper; Jehanne in a separate hand
March 28, 1430the people of Reimshistorically in the Maleissye family archive; present custody unresolvedscribal body on paper; historically facsimiled with Jehanne in a separate hand

To Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy

Reims, July 17, 1429

Witness. Original parchment letter, written by a scribe and unsigned by Joan. Archives départementales du Nord, Lille, B 300. The address on the reverse is "To the Duke of Burgundy." The letter is dated the day of Charles VII's coronation at Reims. Public-domain facsimile: https://archive.org/details/reliquesdejehann00male. Stephens text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19488/pg19488-images.html#Page_i.456

† Jhesus Maria

High and greatly to be feared Prince, Duke of Burgundy, Jehanne the Maid, in the name of the King of Heaven, her rightful and liege lord, requires you and the King of France to make a good peace which shall long endure. Forgive one another heartily and entirely as becometh good Christians; an if it please you to make war, go ye against the Saracens. Prince of Burgundy, I pray you, I entreat you, I beseech you as humbly as lieth in my power, that ye make war no more against the holy realm of France, and that forthwith and speedily ye withdraw those your men who are in any strongholds and fortresses of the said holy kingdom; and in the name of the fair King of France, he is ready to make peace with you, saving his honour if that be necessary. And in the name of the King of Heaven, my Sovereign liege Lord, for your good, your honour and your life, I make known unto you, that ye will never win in battle against the loyal French and that all they who wage war against the holy realm of France, will be warring against King Jhesus, King of Heaven and of the world, my lawful liege lord. And with clasped hands I beseech and entreat you that ye make no battle nor wage war against us, neither you, nor your people, nor your subjects; and be assured that whatever number of folk ye bring against us, they will gain nothing, and it will be sore pity for the great battle and the blood that shall be shed of those that come against us. And three weeks past, I did write and send you letters by a herald, that ye should come to the anointing of the King, which to-day, Sunday, the 17th day of this present month, is made in the city of Reims: to which letter I have had no answer, neither news of the said herald. To God I commend you; may he keep you, if it be his will; and I pray God to establish good peace. Written from the said place of Reims, on the said seventeenth of July.

Addressed: To the Duke of Burgundy.

To the People of Reims

Near Provins, August 5, 1429

Witness. Original paper letter, written by a scribe and unsigned by Joan. Archives nationales, AB/XIX/3556, deposited by the marquis de Maleyssie in 1964. Older prose sometimes dates the letter August 6; its own dating clause says Friday the fifth, and August 5, 1429 was Friday. Public-domain institutional image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lettre_de_Jeanne_d%27Arc_-_Archives_nationales_(France)_-_AB-XIX-3556.jpg. Stephens text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19488/pg19488-images.html#V2Page_ii.5

Good friends and beloved, ye good and loyal French of the city of Rains, Jehanne the Maid lets you wit of her tidings and prays and requires you not to doubt the good cause she maintains for the Blood Royal; and I promise and assure you that I will never forsake you as long as I shall live. It is true that the King has made truce with the Duke of Burgundy for the space of fifteen days, by which he is to surrender peaceably the city of Paris at the end of fifteen days. Notwithstanding, marvel ye not if I do not straightway enter into it, for truces thus made are not pleasing unto me, and I know not whether I shall keep them; but if I keep them it will be solely to maintain the King's honour; and further they shall not ensnare the Royal Blood, for I will keep and maintain together the King's army that it be ready at the end of fifteen days, if they make not peace. Wherefore my beloved and perfect friends, I pray ye to be in no disquietude as long as I shall live; but I require you to keep good watch and to defend well the good city of the King; and to make known unto me if there be any traitors who would do you hurt, and, as speedily as I may, I will take them out from among you; and send me of your tidings. To God I commend you. May he have you in his keeping.

Written this Friday, 5th day of August, near Provins, a camp in the country or on the Paris road.

Addressed to: The loyal French of the town of Rains.

To the People of Riom

Moulins, November 9, 1429

Witness. Original paper letter, written by an anonymous scribe with Jehanne in a separate hand. Archives municipales de Riom, AA 33; ink on paper, 130 by 287 mm. A damaged red-wax seal was observed in the nineteenth century, but the seal is no longer present. The document was loaned to the British Library in 2024. Public-domain facsimile: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lettre_de_Jeanne_d%27Arc_aux_Riomois.JPG. Stephens text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19488/pg19488-images.html#V2Page_ii.94

Good friends and beloved, ye wit how that the town of Saint Père le Moustier hath been taken by storm; and with God's help it is our intention to cause to be evacuated the other places contrary to the King; but for this there hath been great expending of powder, arrows and other munition of war before the said town, and the lords who are in this town are but scantily provided for to go and lay siege to La Charité, whither we wend presently; I pray you as ye love the welfare and honour of the King and likewise of all others here, that ye will straightway help and send for the said siege powder, saltpetre, sulphur, arrows, strong cross-bows and other munition of war. And do this lest by failure of the said powder and other habiliments of war, the siege should be long and ye should be called in this matter negligent or unwilling. Good friends and beloved, may our Lord keep you. Written at Molins, the ninth day of November.

Jehanne.

Addressed to: My good friends and beloved, the churchmen, burgesses and townsfolk of the town of Rion.

To the People of Reims

Sully-sur-Loire, March 16, 1430

Witness. Original paper letter, written by a scribe with Jehanne in a separate hand. Archives municipales et communautaires de Reims, FAC 734, liasse 8, compact catalogue form FAC734L8. A fragment of red wax has been reported. The Jehanne form is extremely close to the Riom subscription, but whether Joan wrote with assistance, followed a model, or was signed for remains debated. Public-domain facsimile: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lettre_de_Jeanne_d%27Arc_Reims_16_mars_1430.jpg. Stephens text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19488/pg19488-images.html#V2Page_ii.107

Dear friends and beloved and mightily desired. Jehenne the Maid hath received your letters making mention that ye fear a siege. Know ye that it shall not so betide, and I may but encounter them shortly. And if I do not encounter them and they do not come to you, if you shut your gates firmly, I shall shortly be with you: and if they be there, I shall make them put on their spurs so hastily that they will not know where to take them and so quickly that it shall be very soon. Other things I will not write unto you now, save that ye be always good and loyal. I pray God to have you in his keeping. Written at Sully, the 16th day of March.

I would announce unto you other tidings at which ye would mightily rejoice; but I fear lest the letters be taken on the road, and the said tidings be seen.

Signed: Jehanne.

Addressed to: My dear friends and beloved, churchmen, burgesses and other citizens of the town of Rains.

To the People of Reims

Sully-sur-Loire, March 28, 1430

Witness. The original paper letter was examined, edited, and reproduced in the modern scholarly record. It passed from the Reims archive through the Charles du Lys and Maleissye family line; Pierre Duparc reported it in the Maleissye collection in 1991. No present institutional repository or shelfmark has been verified. Current custody must therefore remain unresolved. The historically facsimiled Jehanne subscription differs from the Riom and March 16 forms. Public-domain facsimile: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brief_Jeanne_d%27Arc.jpeg. Stephens text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19488/pg19488-images.html#V2Page_ii.117

Very good friends and beloved, may it please you to wit that I have received your letters, the which make mention how it hath been reported to the King that within the city of Reims there be many wicked persons. Therefore I give you to wit that it is indeed true that even such things have been reported to him and that he grieves much that there be folk in alliance with the Burgundians; that they would betray the town and bring the Burgundians into it. But since then the King has known the contrary by means of the assurance ye have sent him, and he is well pleased with you. And ye may believe that ye stand well in his favour; and if ye have need, he would help you with regard to the siege; and he knows well that ye have much to suffer from the hardness of those treacherous Burgundians, your adversaries: thus may God in his pleasure deliver you shortly, that is as soon as may be. So I pray and entreat you my friends dearly beloved that ye hold well the said city for the King and that ye keep good watch. Ye will soon have good tidings of me at greater length. Other things for the present I write not unto you save that the whole of Brittany is French and that the Duke is to send to the King three thousand combatants paid for two months. To God I commend you, may he keep you.

Written at Sully, the 28th of March.

Jehanne.

Addressed to: My good friends and dearly beloved, the churchmen, aldermen, burgesses and inhabitants and masters of the good town of Reyms.

What the five establish

The five documents do not present one unchanging secretarial office. Their bodies are written by five practiced hands. Their formats, supports, addresses, closures, and later custody differ. Together they show Joan using ordinary political instruments through scribes while giving those instruments the urgency and authority of her mission.

The signatures do not settle how much Joan could write. The two 1429 letters without Jehanne remain originals. The three later subscriptions may involve a guided hand, a learned form, a secretary, or a model. It is responsible to name them signatures attributed to Joan and irresponsible to describe the whole documents as autograph.

The Hussite letter of March 23, 1430 does not belong to this set. It survives through a Latin and German textual transmission and is signed by Jean Pasquerel, not through one of the five original Joan-letter objects.

Sources and rights

The five medieval letters, the Quicherat transcriptions, the 1909 facsimiles, and Stephens's 1908 English translations are public domain. Modern institutional photographs are linked rather than assumed reusable unless their terms state otherwise. The modern Joan of Arc Archive's translations and commentary were not used.

Prepared for the Good Works Library, July 2026.