Joan of Arc’s Gunpowder Artillery: in Cecil B. DeMille’s Joan the Woman (1916)

oan of Arc is a ubiquitous figure in popular culture, and it is easy to find statements that “there are more original sources” regarding Joan “than exist for any other medieval figure.” As a result, “No person in the Middle Ages, male or female, has been the subject of more historical studies than Joan of Arc.” Cinema has responded in kind, as “the number of Joan of Arc films is only exceeded by those depicting the life of Christ.” Yet, with all these available sources, studies, and films, the focus on Joan of Arc’s military career has not been well-rounded. As Kelly DeVries points out, “few words have been devoted to her capabilities as a military leader, despite this being the central reason for her fame or infamy.” This lack of martial focus traverses to film as well, and in the more than 40 featurelength films about the Maid, only ten of these depict any sort of battle scene and even fewer depict gunpowder weaponry of any kind (Table 1). This is a remarkable marginalization of Joan of Arc’s military experience, as every one of the sieges she participated in featured gunpowder weapons. In fact, DeVries has identified two of these sieges as featuring the most gunpowder artillery up to those points in history. Furthermore, only one film—Cecil B. DeMille’s silent film Joan the Woman (1916)— depicts Joan providing any sort of direction to gunners. This marginalization of Joan’s leadership