Jacques d'Arc

Jacques d'Arc, originally spelled Darc (1380–1440), was a farmer in the village of Domrémy in Lorraine, and the father of the French heroine and Catholic saint Jeanne d'Arc ("Joan of Arc" in English).

Statue of Jacques d'Arc at Domrémy

Life

Born at Ceffonds, he held the post of doyen in Domrémy, a local post that collected taxes and organized the village's defense. In 1405, he married Isabelle Romée (1377–1458), a native of the nearby village of Vouthon-Bas, and together they had five children: Jacquemin, Jean, Jeanne, Pierre and Catherine.

King Charles VII ennobled Jacques and Isabelle's family on 29 December 1429 with an inheritable symbolic denomination. The Chamber of Accounts in France registered the family's designation to nobility on 20 January 1430. The grant permitted the family to change their surname to du Lys.

During Joan's youth, Jacques and his wife owned about 50 acres (20 ha) of land—30 acres (12 ha) of pasture, 10 acres (4 ha) of cropland, and 10 acres (4 ha) of the forest.

According to a firmly-maintained family tradition, it is said that two months after his daughter died, Jacques fell ill of grief and died as a result. The family tradition is presumably wrong here since Joan died in 1431, whereas most sources place Jacques d'Arc's death around 1440.

See also


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