Member-only story
The Strange Case of Joan of Arc and Greta Thunberg
The Strange Case of Joan of Arc and Greta Thunberg
Okay, so in 14th and 15th Century Europe (1337 to 1453), the Hundred Years’ war happened. France and England fought it out. Now. Toward the end of the war, it looked like England was going to win. And the Catholic Church did not like this because England wasn’t as close to the Catholic Church in cooperation as France was.
So the priests in France who were in charge of education in France started preaching to all that it was God’s will for France to win the war against England.
Now. Eventually. What happened was that a teenage girl named Joan of Arc started repeating what she had been told by priests and nuns as if it was her own, even claiming that God directly told her that France was to win against England.
We now realize that Joan of Arc probably had what we would now call manageable schizophrenia and/or a savant-type autism. Which might have given her a direct line to God, I don’t know, that’s a metaphysical shroom debate, I guess.
Either way, the powers-that-be liked Joan’s message and decided she was useful. So they paraded Joan around as she told all in France that they were to beat England. And there is something powerful about a young girl speaking with conviction. And it was inspiring. And France…
