
Genuine Remains Or Medieval Hoax? The Jar That Claimed To Contain Joan Of Arc's Bones
A jar of bones surfaced in a Paris pharmacy in 1867, labeled as remains recovered from the pyre where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. The Catholic Church accepted them as relics, and pilgrims venerated them for over a century. Forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier reopens the case, applying modern forensic science, chemical analysis, and historical detective work to a question the Church never really tested: could these bones actually have survived a medieval execution fire, or come from Joan at all? He examines the physical evidence against contemporary accounts of the execution and the documented history of the jar's discovery, tracing how a relic can acquire institutional authority long before anyone checks whether it deserves it. The film moves between archival material on Joan's trial and death, expert interviews, and Charlier's own lab findings, building toward a conclusion that upends what generations of believers were told they were looking at. It is a study of relic-making as much as it is a case file on a saint's remains.