Fashion Friday

Welcome to a segment I like to call "Fashion Friday".  I thought it would be fun to occasionally highlight a specific dress or fashion from history. It's incredible how much our fashion has changed and how the idea of what makes an attractive woman has changed. A woman with full hips and breasts was the ideal woman at one time. Now the media's image of the perfect woman has no form and no curves. Women now want to have that "just from the beach" tan and being pale is considered to be unattractive and sickly. The reverse of this was the view for so long through-out history. Having a tan symbolized you were from the peasantry because you were outside long enough working to get tanned. In the 1700's women (and men) wore wigs they powdered to look grey. Now we dye our hair to keep away the grey.

Since today is my first Fashoin Friday, I thought I would talk about all women's favorite accessory: shoes. Then I thought I would take it one step (haha) further and talk about shoes for your shoes! Yes someone really did invent a shoe for your shoe. Think about it ladies; You are wearing your favorite pair of  Jimmy Choo shoes to a party. You step out of the cab and right into wad of gum. Ack! Now I bet you're thinking you wish you had some kind of protection for your shoes so they wouldn't get ruined. That is where the Patten comes in!

The word Patten comes from the French word "pate" which means hoof or paw. They were several inches in height and worn over your shoes to keep them and your dress from the dangers of outdoor life. Patten shoes were popular from the 15th to the 17th centuries. They were first made out of a block of wood on the bottom to which you attached your shoe/foot by ribbon or leather. Later they had metal rings or squares on the bottom that lifted the wearer off the ground. There were many different styles of patten and and they could be made from many fabrics.

 By the 19th century, patten overshoes were fading away mainly due to the invention of rubber. Galoshes, or rubber boots became the go-to for outdoor wear.
For more shoe/patten info click here or here.

Halos or Horns?

My last blog covered the half-way to being canonized as a saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Mother claimed to have received a special message from Jesus during a train ride telling her to leave the safety of the school in which she taught for over 20 years to live and work among the sick and homeless. According to the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center's website, Jesus "asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor". She was/is revered the world over in both the Catholic and Protestant Christian world as the epitome of compassion and mercy. She even won a Noble Peace Price (among many other awards and accolades) for her work with the poor in the slums of Calcutta India.

This week I present to you:

Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc, A.K.A. Jeanne d'Arc, A.K.A. La Pucelle, A.K.A the Maid of Domremy, A.K.A the Maid of Orleans, was born in the small French village Domremy in the year 1412 to well do to farmers. She was known in her early childhood for her kindness and compassion towards other people and her religious piety. When she was thirteen she began to hear voices which she believed to be messengers from God. Her voices became so insistent that at the age of 16 she left her beloved parents and her home to venture out into France to find someone that could help her reach the ear of Charles VII, the heir to the French throne.

 France during this time was busy fighting with England in a little thing known as The Hundred Years War (which actually lasted longer than 100 years). The English were trying (and pretty well succeeding) to take over all of the French Provinces. Joan was convinced that her voices (God) wanted her to help Charles finally take control of his throne and of France. Joan persuaded a cousin to help her with her plan to meet Charles. She underwent many hours of questioning and examinations including being subjected to a physical examination to determine if she was still a virgin and to make sure she wasn't sent by the devil. Joan was found to be what she claimed. She must have been sent by God because Satan could not make pacts with virgins. The people of France loved her and rallied around her and pretty soon she had convinced Charles to move forward with efforts to take back provinces lost to England. This goal was achieved after about two years of hard fighting in which Joan herself fought in armor at the front of the French army and was wounded at least twice. Charles was finally crowned as King of France when Joan and her army took Reims back from the English. Although the only thing the Maid asked as reward was that the taxes be lifted from her native village, Joan was raised to the equivalent of rank as a Count and given her own household. Eventually Joan's winning streak came to an end. This was what her enemies in the French court had been waiting for; a chance to get rid of her. They used her failed efforts to take Paris as an example of God's displeasure with her. Charles, who was being manipulated by his administration, sent her out on a doomed mission in which she was captured and sold to the English. There is much ado about a conspiracy between the University of Paris (pretty much THE authority right under the Catholic Church), the Duke of Burgundy (who was in alliance with the English), the English Regent Bedford and a Bishop of the Church who was in the pocket of the English Regent; but I won't go into all that. You can read it for yourself later if you want.

Now the English have always been a superstitious lot. I think it comes from breeding with the Celts, or maybe from fighting them. Anywho, the English had condemned Joan as a witch since she had first appeared on the scene. They finally had their hands on her! But what do you do with her? The English kept rumors spreading about witchcraft and heresy and pretty soon a man with the fancy title of Vicar-General of the Oder of the Inquisition got wind of her capture. This was just want the English wanted. Now she could be tried by the Church Court and the English wouldn't get the bad press for killing a prisoner of war; especially someone as well loved among the people as Joan. What is really sad is that the French King took no steps to rescue Joan; not even to exchange her for another prisoner. I don't think the English would have given her up anyway because the historian Monstrelet, a contemporary of Joan's, tells us that the English viewed her capture as equal to the capture of 500 prisoners. 

 Her trial began in February of 1431. She was tried on 70 charges and of course convicted. 
Here are some of the things she was charged/condemned with:

• Being born in too low a rank in life to have been inspired by God
• Going about in "male" attire is listed in 6 of the 70 Articles 
• A charge of magic to which no evidence was found so the charge was altered to one of heresy.
• Being loved and adored by the people

Throughout the whole trial her examiners were trying to trick her into saying something that would construe her voices as being from the devil instead of from God. She was forced to sign a document admitting to the charges but a week later recanted her confession. She was then immediately sentenced to death and on May 30 1431 Joan of Arc was publicly excommunicated from the Church and burned at the stake at the age of 19. She died as firm in her beliefs at the end as she had been at the beginning. Maitre Jean Massieu, a priest and clerk during the Maid's trial and execution had this to say about her death. "When she was given over by the Church, I was still with her; and with great devotion she asked to have a Cross: and, hearing this, an Englishman, who was there present, made a little cross of wood with the ends of a stick, which he gave her, and devoutly she received and kissed it, making piteous lamentations and acknowledgments to God, Our Redeemer, Who had suffered on the Cross for our Redemption, of Whose Cross she had the sign and symbol; and she put the said Cross in her bosom, between her person and her clothing. ... And immediately, without any form or proof of judgment, they sent her to the fire, saying to the executioner "Do your office!" And thus she was led and fastened [to the stake], continuing her praises and devout lamentations to God and His Saints, and with her last word, in dying, she cried, with a loud voice: "Jesus!" An English soldier is said to have reported seeing a dove fly from her mouth as she breathed her last breath.


Why was Joan condemned to such a horrible fate? Why was she accused of witchcraft and of being sent by the devil? All because she believed she heard the voice of God? Mother Teresa also believed God spoke to her. Both women were dedicated to helping people weaker than they were. Both were committed to carrying out the tasks they believed God had set for them. Mother Teresa was never condemned as a witch by her contemporaries. Why was Joan different? One simple fact; Joan worked outside of the confines of what was normal behavior for a woman. Mother Teresa helped the poor, established hospitals, fed and cared for sick people; all actions associated with a woman and a mother. She never questioned her place as a woman; she never rose up against the male authority of the Catholic Church.  Joan also cared for the sick and wounded, especially during her fighting years. Yet she was burned as a witch because of it. Why? Because she rejected her submissive role as a farmer's daughter. She dressed like a man during her battles with the English armies. She led and fought alongside the men of her army. She questioned male authority AND she had the ear of the King of France. Because of this she made many enemies in the French court which proved to be her downfall. Some of the charges laid against her at her trial were based mainly on the view that her behavior had been "immodest and presumptuous" and that "putting aside the modesty of her sex, she acted not only against all feminine decency, but even against the reserve which men of good morals, wearing ornaments and garments which only profligate men are accustomed to use, and going so far as to carry arms of offense." She refused to submit to the confines of her world and those who were in positions of power feared her power. Thus she had to die. Perhaps if Joan had been the "Savior of France" during another time she would have met with a more peaceful fate. If the time periods had been reversed would Mother have been feared and condemned as a heretic? I don't believe so.

I would like to point out that in 1456 there was a trial conducted by the Church (at the insistence of King Charles VII no less) for the rehabilitation of Joan's memory in which Joan's name and reputation were redeemed. Some of the men who participated in her trial testified on her behalf. In May of 1920 she was canonized.

There are no portraits of Joan either in sculpture or painting. There are many statues honoring her memory but we don't have a clear idea of what she looked like. Perhaps she appears like Mila Jovovich's portayal of her in the Hollywood movie The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, or Leelee Sobieski's Made for TV. Apparently there is also a 1948 version starring Ingrid Bergman. (Thanks IMBd)

If you don't want to read the books I have listed at the end you can watch these three movies or you can always play the video game!

Suggested Reading:

• Joan of Arc - Ronald Sutherland Gower
• The Trial and Execution of Joan of Arc - Jules Michelet
• The Saint Joan of Arc Center

You can also find many primary source documents including her trial transcripts at Internet History SorceBook Project

Well Behaved Women...

Are often as crazy as the bad ones: they just hide it better.

This blog is a crazy idea I have had for some time now that I finally decided to put into action. I am new to blogging and I have an extreme dislike for technology so I do apologize ahead of time and hope that you stick by me on my crazy journey.

HerStory: Bringing Woman's Past to the Present is my attempt to highlight and bring forth a voice from the past that is still greatly overlooked and often misunderstood or misrepresented. There were efforts in the 1960's and '70's to begin emphasizing women as strong role models. While I applaud those efforts as a starting point I feel we still have a long way to go. The few women that have become known as historically significant figures have been over-hyped while other women who have made more of an impact have gone unnoticed.

Me- A Short Bio: I have a BA in History from the University of Tennessee Knoxville with a focus on women's history. In my spare time I package coffee in order to pay for my real job of educating the public through Revolutionary War historical interpretation/demonstrations. I love the "Ah Ha!" moments that come with educating the public and I especially love seeing interest spark in the eyes of a child. It is so important to get the younger people involved in history before we lose everything we have discovered thus far.
 
       

                                                           


                                                                      Notice:
I will NEVER quote or use anything posted on Wikipedia. (The only good use for Wikipedia is to look up information on Japanimation.)  My information will come from primary source documents or from other reputable people's research from primary sources and occasionally a few other websites.
Wikipedia is not an historian's friend but the Internet History Sourcebooks Project (IHSP) should be an historian's BFF.





Soooo....
I wanted to tie in my good girls are crazy too line from the top to an historical woman whom everyone thinks of as being a goody goody so right off I thought "Mother Teresa"! Turns out she REALLY WAS A GOODY GOODY. Ya know, some times even saints start out bad, but man, I have been able to find nothing on her. If anyone can dig up anything scandalous please email me and let me know.

I haven't done much research on Mother Teresa as she is a recent historical figure but I haven't read of her being crazy (expect maybe for claiming to hear God a few times) or behaving badly. It's all positive for the most part. I did find a book titled "‘The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice" by Christopher Hitchens in which Hitchens sites interviews with people who worked in Mother Teresa's organizations and in which there are allegations of monetary donations not being spent on the poor she was supposed to be helping. Another interviewee, a doctor; says that even though there was adequate money Mother Teresa's many hospices and orphanages were inadequately funded and medical treatment left much to be desired. The book goes on to argue that Mother Teresa did not use money donated for the poor because she felt poverty to be a virtue.  (Well, it wasn't like she was off living at the Vatican or anything herself.) My own personal opinion of this is that she most likely didn't know how much money she had coming into her organization since the money was handled by the Vatican bank.
ANYWHO....all that being said:
Mother Teresa was born August 26 1910 in the city of Skopje in the Balkans. Her baptized name was  Gonxha Agnes. When Agnes was 18 she left her home to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ireland where she became Sister Mary Teresa. A year or so later she left to teach at a school in India. In 1946 she received a special message from Jesus and continued to receive visits/visions for a few months. This call from Jesus led her to start her work with the "poorest of the poor" in the slums of Calcutta, India. She established many orphanages, hospices for the dying and clinics for the many people suffering from leprosy all across India. Mother Teresa died Sept. 5th 1997 and in 2003 she was beautified (half-way to becoming canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church) by Pope John Paul II. If you want to know more about her click here.