Joan of Arc-executed because she was a cross-dresser????

[packman]

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Interesting bit of history. After Joan was captured by the English, she was sentenced to life imprisonment and was not to be executed IF she dressed appropriately - in a skirt. Joan tried for a awhile, but reverted back to hose and tunic so they hauled her before the court again and sentenced her to burning as an unrepentant witch.

"...both because she continued to wear men’s clothes and continued to claim hearing voices of saints—the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, decided to excommunicate and then execute her, partly for the heresy of wearing men’s clothes."


Funny bit - Despite the reversal of Joan’s sentence, it would be centuries before women could wear men’s clothes in public without causing a scandal. In fact, a French law forbidding women from wearing pants remained on the books until 2013. The law required Parisian women to ask permission from city authorities before “dressing as men,” and stipulated that they could not wear trousers unless “holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.”


More detail about Joan and the whole cross-dressing thing at:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/501179/how-cross-dressing-helped-send-joan-arc-stake

[JoeStuckInOH]

1. She sound a bit off her rocker...

not the whole pants thing. That's silly as there's nothing wrong with female trousers.

The whole "I hear voices" part is a bit looney. It might be the voices' fault though - they could have advised her better. Mine tell me not to say anything about them to anyone else.

[TheDebbieDee]

2. Wow! This is the first I've ever read abt

Joan of Arc's being persecuted mostly for her style of dress... Then again, I haven't read much abt Joan of Arc either

[unblock]

3. When I first heard of Joan of arc I thought "girl who thinks she's a boy"

Of course this was ages ago, before I knew anything about transgendered people.

Not sure what I based this on but I still have in my mind that Joan was a boy

[shraby]

4. If she was, mankind hasn't progressed much since, has it?