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Primary sourceDocument16 March 1430

Signature of Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc · 16 March 1430

Joan of Arc's signed 'Jehanne' on a 1430 letter to the people of Reims, showing she had learned to sign her name.

This signature is likely in Joan's own hand, showing she had learned to write her name as an adult.

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Black ink handwritten signature reading "Jeanne" on white background, with a tall stroke rising from the lower left, a looping J-like initial, and a cursive "anne" with a descending tail.
Signature of Joan of Arc, letter to the people of Reims, 16 March 1430. Reims Municipal Archives.

About this source

What it is

This is the signature "Jeanne" on a letter sent to the people of Reims on 16 March 1430, written at Sully. The signature is believed to be in Joan's own hand, and the letter is preserved in the Reims Municipal Archives.

Why it matters

Joan of Arc could not write as a child, so this signature shows that she had learned to sign her own name later in life, likely during her time as a military leader. A signature like this is a small but personal trace of a figure who is mostly known through other people's records of her words and actions.

Look closer

  • What does the handwriting of the signature suggest about how practiced or new her writing skill was?
  • Why might it matter to historians whether a signature is genuinely by Joan herself?
  • What does a signature alone fail to tell us about the rest of a letter's contents?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Joan of Arc on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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