Did Joan of Arc actually fight and lead an army in the battle of Orleans, or was she propped up as a figurehead?

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The idea of Joan fighting is not debated. Many written sources relayed the fact that she was properly armed on the battlefield and participated in the war effort. She got hit by arrows twice, at Orléans (in the shoulder) and at Paris (in the leg). She was fighting alright!

Now, what about her commanding the troops? Kelly DeVries wrote a biography on Joan of Arc to argue that she was in fact "A Military Leader" (1999). However he gives Joan too much credit in my opinion. He states that Joan's rashness inspired other military leaders of her time when I actually observed in the 15th century chronicles that everything Joan "did", the other captains serving Charles VII were already doing it long before she came to the scene (attacking the enemy by surprise, being relentless, etc.). What mostly held them back was the politics behind the war.

Philippe Contamine, the most expert French historian about the 15th century, already observed that the English were poorly organized at Orléans. Their forces were too widely spread around the town. It was "easy" to take down one fort after the other. When Joan arrived, the most skilled of Charles VII's captains were already at Orléans : La Hire, Poton de Xaintrailles, the Chabanne brothers, the bastard of Orléans... Those people knew how to fight and they had no duke nor prince to overrule them. They could "play ugly" and they didn't care for the glory or the etiquette. The battle of Patay is an obvious example of that. La Hire and Xaintrailles rushed the enemy as soon as they spotted them, taking them by surprise and routing them out. A few months ago, at the battle of the Herrings, they'd been asked to wait for the arrival of the duke of Bourbon, who wished to claim the glory of the battle. It led to a gory defeat as the English mustered the time to organize their defending position and make themselves impervious to swift and heavy cavalry charges (a French specialty).

Nevertheless, Joan certainly wished to act as a commander. She was quite bossy, and sassy too. She was never given any proper command title, but she certainly became a leading figure in the French army. Though she mostly became some kind of celebrity--people loved and/or hated her, she was on every lips--she also acted as a proper commander. At Compiègne, when she was captured, she was actually insuring the retreat of "her" troops by staying behind. According to the chivalric art of war, a leader was always supposed to be on the front line, the closest to the enemy. Joan of Arc was also the most relentless "leader" at the siege of Paris. She was determined to take the city (which was defended by Burgundian soldiers--she hated the Burgundians). The duke of Alençon actually had to go and fetch her to take her away from the battle when everybody knew the day was lost.

The school of war was done on the battlefield at the beginning of the 15th century. We suspect some of Charles VII's captains of not being able to write or read. Yet they could certainly fight and come up with crazy and daring tactics. Many of Charles VII's captains were actually "self-taught" (meaning they were schooled by masters on the battlefield through practice and didn't go to an academy of any kind) and were appointed/elected to their position by their peers since the military institutions of that time fell into total anarchy between 1418 and 1441. Some of them even had pretty obscure origins, pretty much like Joan of Arc.

In conclusion there was a glass-ceiling that she never could break. She never was a formal military leader. Moreover her military "career" was far too short for her to prove herself as an autonomous leader. She didn't have any military company of her own (any proper "captain" had his own band of brothers-in-arms). She always tagged along or she was placed, here and there, as a mascot--which enfuriated her. La Hire, Xaintrailles and others actually tried to replace her once she was dead with a random shepherd they found on some field or something. It led to an utter disaster of a battle that, to my knowledge, was only recorded by a Burgundian chronicler (but a reliable one). The endeavour was never repeated. However, Joan of Arc showed promises and at that time women could lead armies. Princesses, Queens or Duchesses actually commanded their troops in some cases when their husbands were away (or dead). Little is known about them actually fighting, though, but they certainly knew how to rule and strategize. The key at that time for any ruler was to surround themselves with shrewd and capable advisors and to listen to them, then only to take decisions and boss people around--well, that's what I believe at least--but also what people at that time thought of good government!

For further readings, don't hesitate to ask, but most of the scholarly work on Joan of Arc was written in French. A good place to start though is the forever great Pernoud, Régine & Clin, Marie-Véronique. Joan of Arc: Her Story. trans. Jeremy Duquesnay Adams. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999.

From Brussels, with love. Thanks at u/Gankom for drawing my attention to this question <3