Joan of Arc

Who is Joan of Arc?

Joan of Arc was born around 1412 in the village of Domrémy in northeastern France during the Hundred Years' War between France and England. A devout peasant girl, she reported experiencing visions of saints instructing her to support Charles VII and drive the English from France. In 1429 she convinced the future king to let her join the army and led French forces to a decisive victory by lifting the siege of Orléans, a turning point in the war. Her successes enabled Charles VII to be crowned at Reims. Captured by Burgundian forces in 1430 and handed to the English, she was tried on charges including heresy and cross-dressing, and was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431 at around nineteen years of age. A later retrial declared her innocent, and she was canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1920. She remains a national symbol of France.

Sources: Régine Pernoud & Marie-Véronique Clin, 'Joan of Arc: Her Story' (1998) · Larissa Juliet Taylor, 'The Virgin Warrior: The Life and Death of Joan of Arc' (2009)