Constructed cult. The organization of the veneration of Joan of Arc in France of the 19th century

Abstract

The article deals with the history of forming the local cult of Joan of Arc in her native village of Domremy (Lorraine). In modern historiography under the “local cult” usually mean the veneration of Joan of Arc in Orleans, whose inhabitants since the second half of the 15th century perceived the girl not only as a savior of their city from the English siege of 1428–1429, but also as a saint. However, the other most important place of veneration of the Virgin, her native village of Domremy in Lorraine, for long remained without much attention of historians. Based on the material of written and visual sources, the author analyzes the features of the veneration of the heroine of the Hundred Years’ War in Modern times and identifies two main periods of the formation of a specific “place of memory” in Domremy – the era of the Restoration of the monarchy in the early 19th century and the years following the Franco-Prussian War. The author comes to the conclusion that the main distinction of the local cult was its secular orientation. Unlike Orleans, where already in the 15th century the veneration of Joan of Arc was purely religious in nature, the “construction” of the cult in Domremy initially became the work of the state, starting with King Louis XVIII and ending with the local municipality. The difference was especially pronounced during the so–called dispute between the two Frances – republican and monarchical.