What sets Joan of Arc apart from almost anyone else of her century is that we can still hear her. Her trial at Rouen in 1431 was taken down by three notaries under Guillaume Manchon, working separately and comparing their records at the end of each day; it was set down in Middle French and put into Latin some four years later; five copies were made, and three of them survive. So a girl of nineteen from Domrémy who could not read was cross-examined by trained theologians, and her replies come down to us verbatim. They asked whether she knew herself to be in God's grace — a trap, since the Church held that nobody could be certain of it, so that yes was presumption and no was confession. She answered: "If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me. I should be the saddest creature in the world if I knew I were not in His grace." She was burned at the Old Marketplace in Rouen on 30 May 1431. Twenty-five years later a second court heard 115 witnesses and struck the verdict down.

Tradition of London give her the white horse and a red-and-white caparison, in plate harness with her hair loose, sword up and the banner carried high beside it. She described that banner herself under questioning — white satin, with fleur-de-lis — and when her inquisitors pushed the idea that the thing had won her battles for her, she gave the credit to God and declined the bait again. She is the only woman in this range, which is worth using: a shelf of armoured men and one teenaged girl among them is closer to the historical truth than it looks. Place her with Charles Duke of Orleans, whose city she relieved in 1429 while he sat a prisoner in England, and set Jacques de Crevecoeur and Sir Thomas Erpingham KG opposite as the Burgundian and English sides of the same long war — the three parties who between them decided what happened to her.

Model: MK13 / Tradition of London / 54mm (1/32) scale / 1 piece set

All hand painted Toy Soldier sets packed in the Classic Tradition Red Boxes. All Toy Soldiers cast in quality white metal, and individually hand painted in gloss enamels.

Please allow 2-3 weeks delivery.