Joan and Her Times

Shaw follows the historical record fairly closely in describing Joan's career. Just like the Joan in the play, the real Joan of Arc was a farmer's daughter who, dressed in men's clothes and aided by Robert de Baudricourt, won the ear of the Dauphin and was instrumental in lifting the siege of Orleans. This action is generally seen as the turning point in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between England and France; England at that point controlled most of northern France, but after triumphing at Orleans in 1429, the French went on to push the English almost completely out of the country.

The Hundred Years' War, though it began in part because of the complications arising from feudal landholding in which English kings held lands in France as vassals of the French king, led to the growth of nationalism, the strengthening of royal power, and...