It is wrong to think that PR (or in Russian "public relations") is a product of our era. First, the term itself was first used back in 1807 in the United States by American President T. Jefferson, who in one of his messages to Congress used the phrase "public relations", after which it began to be used more and more often and filled with different content. But … there was “PR” even before that: in advertisements on the walls, in majestic temples and palaces, in the clothes of pharaohs and nobles, in communication manners, customs and traditions, because its essence is “good word of mouth” about something or someone. then … changing the behavior of others through this very "good rumor."
Zhanna - Milla Jovovich is probably the best and most memorable "Jeanne" in the history of cinema.
American PR specialists assign a special role in the development of practical technologies in the field of political campaigns to one of the activists of the War of Independence S. Adams, who convincingly proved that in order to have an informational impact on society, you need:
- to create organizations capable of leading mass companies and uniting people;
- use emotional symbols and catchy, catchy slogans;
- to organize actions that have a strong emotional impact on the masses;
- to outstrip their opponents in a favorable interpretation of certain events;
- to constantly influence the public opinion of large masses of people by various means.
All these principles became the basis for the practical activities of American PR men and … the American concept of public relations. However, if we apply all of this to a range of historical events, then … we will see that all of them are really nothing more than properly organized and conducted PR campaigns.
Here he is - the future "Bluebeard", Baron Gilles de Rais. Painting by Gule de Naval 1835
For example, the story of Joan of Arc. In the opinion of such prominent Russian SR specialists as A. N. Chumikov and M. P. Bocharova, she is nothing more than a real PR-project. The fact, for example, is that, although there are a huge number of different biographical chronicles concerning her life, real information about who the girl Jeanne really was, as it was not before, so it is not now, although documents have been looking for centuries … But there are a lot of absurdities and inconsistencies in various documents and chronicles. And for a long time, no one paid any attention to them, and only later documents were found in the archives showing that a significant, if not most of the chroniclers and all the troubadours who described the deeds of Joan were in the service of King Charles VII. These were his nine court poets and … as many as 22 royal chroniclers. In any case, today it is absolutely impossible to find out where Joan of Arc actually came from: although there is a version that she could be the illegitimate sister of Charles VII; although other historians believe that she was a pupil of the Franciscan order. Someone proves that she really was a simple shepherdess from the village of Domremi, and as a child she went crazy. But Jeanne knew and could do a lot of things for a simple shepherdess! However, wherever she came from, the "father" of the Great Virgin of France, who became her national symbol and national idea, was none other than Baron Gilles de Rais, a native of one of the most ancient and noble families of western France - Montmorency and Craon.
Seal with the coat of arms of Gilles de Rais, 1429 Vendée Museum.
Today we would call him a "political strategist", but at that time he was just an intelligent and educated person. He got married profitably. On a certain Catherine de Troir, with whom he received more than two million livres of dowry. With such money, Gilles de Rais managed to win the favor of the Dauphin Charles and, as a result, got a place in his circle. At the same time, he often lent his future king with money and … thus made him completely dependent on himself. Well, all this happened during the Hundred Years War, when the French and British fought over the fact that they were deciding who to inherit the French throne: the English kings on the maternal side of the descendants of Hugo Capeet, or the French representatives of the Valois dynasty. That is, everything was like in a big family, where a lot of all kinds of estates remained from the old man's father, and where relatives divide the property and accuse each other of all mortal sins. The fighting, however, was conducted, but rather sluggishly. After all, one could serve the overlord 40 days a year, or until the provisions ran out. Therefore, during the entire war, there were no more than a dozen major battles, which took no more than a week in time. But in itself such a position was very beneficial: any French, having in mind only personal gain, could declare that he recognized as his king either the existing Dauphin - the offspring of Valois, or the English king, a descendant of Queen Margaret, the legitimate daughter of Philip the Fair, who died in the king's bose France. For wealthy taxpayers - owners of agricultural land and large trading cities - this situation with the variable choice of kings was very convenient: two treasuries vied with each other to offer them tax benefits, only so that they "stood for us." Having quarreled at a ball or on a hunt, one of the French nobles the next morning found himself on the side of the British, who, by the way, had the same experience later during the War of the Roses. A person went to bed as a supporter of York, and woke up as a supporter of Lancaster, and the same thing, only earlier, took place in France. The French nobility simply blackmailed the Valois kings, threatening to move to the Lancaster-Capetian camp, but for their loyalty they received land, loans, and titles.
Miniature depicting the burning of Jeanne. For some reason she's in a red dress. Red is the color of nobles! In addition, she was burned as a witch, apostate, heretic who fell into sin for the second time and … where is the yellow cap with devils on her head?
The English economy at that time was more developed, England minted a full-weight gold coin, so the French landlords, who still paid taxes to the House of Valois, felt they were doing them a huge favor. Moreover, by the beginning of the 15th century, almost everyone had already turned their backs on the kings of the Valois dynasty. Dauphin Karl was forced to arrange the most real robber raids on his own cities or the possessions of the lords still loyal to him, in order to at least get food or money for his usual high society life.
American film 1948. Ingrid Bergman as Jeanne d'Arc. Pay attention to the helmets - just class, real bascinets!
And here Gilles de Rais made an interesting offer to Charles: he finances the creation of the militia at his own expense and recruits an army of professional soldiers. But the most important thing is that an ordinary village girl comes to the Dauphin, claims that saints appeared to her in a dream, and prophesies that France will again become a happy and prosperous power when the Dauphin Charles becomes its rightful king. The army under the leadership of Gilles de Rais deals tangible blows to the possessions of those French lords who pay taxes to the British, and this has a sobering effect on the rest. Well, and the "divine" girl will be among the soldiers, people always like this, and they will willingly join the militia, besides, there is simply no other equally well-paid job in the country for commoners.
But Inna is dressed in armor. By the way, her armor is very good!
Well, the most important thing in this venture will be that the French feudal lords, dreaming of going over to the side of the British, will see that Charles is popular with the commoners, and that they will set fire to their fields if they do not obey him. The jaqueria ended not too long ago to be forgotten, and the memory of the rebellious “jaques” was still fresh in the memory of the French nobility. No one would want a repetition of that horror, so she would have to make a choice: either to fight against the "holy girl" and the Dauphin, or … "Or" just no one wanted! The church also supported this plan. No peasants - no tithes, soldiers are robbing monasteries, the fear of God is no longer so terrible, and where is it good for? And what is the church in the Middle Ages? This is, first of all, a connection! Beggar monks, from whom there is nothing to take, carry letters in their robes, or even give orders in words - to say this and that in a sermon. And now from the pulpits of France it sounds loudly: “Rejoice, brothers and sisters of the good news! For the virgin virgin appeared and was given her power from the Lord, and she performed miracles, and came to the Dauphin, and said that God had revealed to her …”- and so on, everyone can come up with further ideas for himself. The main thing is that it was so, and at the same time almost all over France!
There was also such a Jeanne, filmed in 1957.
The plan was adopted, and its implementation began: the villans (peasants), as well as the ruined urban poor, joined the militia in unison, and in the meantime, the troops of Gilles de Rey beat several pro-English-minded French feudal lords and even "liberated" several provinces from the British, where earlier for to protect their owners from the … Dauphin were the detachments of English soldiers. Thus, as a result of the implementation of this PR-campaign, a year later, Charles was crowned in Reims, Gilles de Rais received the high rank of Marshal of France and already officially became the commander-in-chief of the French army, and the dukes and counts … they got scared, as Gilles de Rais expected, and amicably stood in line to kiss the royal hand, for they immediately felt its power. The war began to draw to a close, and the king suddenly realized that neither Marshal Gilles de Rais nor his simple shepherdess (whoever she really was!) Was no longer needed by him. The king simply did not want to pay the bills. And then the church again said its weighty word. For some reason, all over France, it was the priests who suddenly announced that God had turned away from Jeanne, punished her for her pride, and very soon Jeanne died for real, and from the point of view of the king, she died very successfully. The traitors, the Burgundians, took her prisoner and sold her to the British - whoever has the money, we sell to that, right? - for 10 thousand pounds. Henry VI ordered her to be burned as a witch in Rouen, and he did this, above all, to cast a shadow on the newly-made French king. But it was too late! Interestingly, there is evidence that then Jeanne "resurrected", at least one more time, when the same Marshal Gilles de Rais took on this role a certain Jeanne d'Armouise, who also commanded a small military detachment. She was recognized by the associates of Jeanne as the real one, but on the way to Paris she was stopped by the soldiers of the king, who brought her to parliament. There she was convicted of imposture and sentenced to a pillory, but as soon as she confessed her imposture, she was immediately released, and she left for the estate to her husband. That is, her hubby also had an estate, where he was while his wife tried to heroize on the battlefield.
1989 French serial: Jeanne d'Arc. Power and Innocence. Not impressive. More could have been expected from Jeanne's homeland!
Gilles de Ré, after his unsuccessful attempt to slip a new Jeanne to the king, left for the remote castle of Tiffauge, where he spent time surrounded by alchemists and magicians, including the famous master of black magic, Francesco Prelati. This circumstance and decided to take advantage of the Duke of Brittany, John V, to whom his land was not large enough. How to increase them? Yes, very easy: to attach several castles of Gilles de Rais, and for this to accuse him of witchcraft. Of course, it was dangerous to encroach on the hero who fought hand in hand with the "Deva". But he, apparently, knew about the king's debts and understood that anyone who freed the monarch from the obligation to pay them would receive anything, if only at someone else's expense!
1999 Canadian film. Starring Lily Sobieski. But somehow she is too … feminine. And long hair, by the way, only she has one.
The duke recruited a real “creative group, headed by Jean le Feron, his treasurer, and the bishop of Nantes, Jean Maltrois. They thought and launched a real PR campaign against de Ré in the toughest style - they hired people, recruited Prelati's servants, and they began to tell terrible stories in the markets about missing young children who are sacrificed to Satan by the wicked de Ré during the black mass. There is nothing truer than spreading a bad rumor about your enemy.
And why does she have images of lilies on her armor? The convex notch is not typical for this time. Appeared later!
There will always be someone in power who will believe him. Gilles de Rene was arrested, tortured (this is a nobleman!) And he confessed everything under torture. Well, and then … then on October 26, 1440, by the verdict of the episcopal tribunal of Brittany, the wicked baron was burned at the stake as a dangerous and evil sorcerer. Formally, he was charged on two counts - practicing alchemy and … insulting a clergyman. It seems that they don't burn for this? But when the king himself wants it, everything is possible. The main thing is that the spectators of his execution in Nantes were sincerely convinced that during his divination studies he killed exactly peasant children. That is, he was an "enemy of the people." And it so sunk into the head of the unfortunate Bretons that then several more generations of their descendants frightened their children. Although, when the writer Charles Perrault went to Brittany to collect folklore at the beginning of the 18th century, murdered wives began to appear in the stories of the peasants, and for some reason the folk fantasy "stuck" a blue beard to the baron himself.
Battle of Pat. Everything there was so that one might think that some Englishmen were simply paid in front of her …
And this whole story ended in … 1992, when, on the initiative of the writer-historian Gilbert Prutaud, a repeated trial in the case of Gilles de Rais was started, in which he was completely rehabilitated. The archives of the Inquisition showed that there were no tortured peasant children, and the baron did not engage in bloody experiments. And this is how interesting it can be: there was no such word "PR", but all its techniques were known and used!
