Is This the Only Relic of St. Joan of Arc?

Joan of Arc (1412-1431 AD) must count as one of the most maligned persons in all of human history.

First, her friends abandoned her and her enemies imprisoned her, then they unjustly subjected her to a monkey trial, after which they burned her at the stake without cause. Following that, they did everything in their power to wipe out every trace of her existence.

It’s hard to imagine a more complete “cancel” campaign than that. It also explains why there are literally no authenticated relics of St. Joan of Arc.

One item, however, claims to have been a singular possession of hers – a brass ring – but we are not sure whether it belonged to her or not. The ring had three crosses and bore Joan’s motto, Jhesus Maria (abbreviated on the ring as IHS-MAR).

In three separate sessions of her trial, her judges asked her about the ring because they believed it was a sort of witchcraft talisman that she used to win her battles. Hardly! Joan testified that it was the ring that her mother gave her for her First Communion.

Then, in her characteristic spunky style, she demanded that they give it back!

In 2016, this ring went up for auction at Sotheby’s in London and was sold to a French bidder for $425,000. It turns out that the English family that auctioned it had bought it in 1947 from a noble family that held it for several centuries.

That family claimed to have received if from a distant relative of Cardinal Henry Beaufort – the cardinal of England during Joan of Arc’s time and a relative of the reigning King Henry VI. Here’s the rub: Cardinal Beaufort was present at Joan’s trial and condemnation.

His countryman, Shakespeare, might have said: Methinks the ring was…ill-gotten.