Scott Alexander (author/host)

Aren't these people medieval knights with swords and lances and full plate?

Yes, gunpowder is older than plate armour.

Our oldest recipe for gunpowder is 11th century Chinese, but it's writing down something that already existed, probably since the 9th century.

In the 13th century it spreads to Europe and the Middle East, probably via the Mongols.

But gunpowder weapons take a long time to get good, only exploding in popularity in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Siege artillery first, field artillery second, handguns third.

Joan of Arc is right at the point where artillery is starting to be important, with the Siege of Orleans being the earliest siege I know of where artillery played a major role.

Sub-footnote after the claim that gunpowder is older than plate armour?

Older than medieval plate armour, technically.

Bronze plate armour dates back to Agamemnon, it's just kind of sucked compared to iron chain or lamella.

The High and Late Middle Ages saw an improving economy giving knights the ability to spend more and more on heavy armour to keep enemy spears and arrows and bullets and crossbow bolts out, and this demand was served by the arms and armour manufacturers of Milan and the Rhine competing in an arms race to develop better armour, with the first ambiguous plate appearing in 12th or 13th century.

The peak of personal protection is probably the beautiful sets of Gothic plate from around 1525 worn by the French cavalry in the Battle of Pavia.

who, in spite of the toughest armour in the world, still can't ride their horses over Spanish pikemen or deflect bullets from German handguns.

And from this point on, the level of armour used by soldiers steadily decreases, right up until steel helmets to deflect shrapnel return in the First World War, and the pendulum's arc reverses again.

Back to the text.

Fortunately, she appears to already know most of this, or something.

Because in the judgement of Jones-Pierce, quote,

Thibon d'Armagnac, or d'Etherme, knight bailiff of Chartres, says, quote, Except in matters of war, she was simple and innocent.

But in the leading and drawing up of armies and in the conduct of war, in disposing an army for battle and haranguing the soldiers, she behaved like the most experienced captain in all the world, like one with a whole lifetime of experience, end quote.

The Duke d'Alencon, French nobleman and general, said, quote, In everything that she did, apart from the conduct of the war, Joan was young and simple, but in the conduct of the war she was most skillful, both in carrying a lance herself, in drawing up the army in battle order, and in placing the artillery.