Why did people want to kill Joan of Arc?

Answer 1

AnswerThe English leaders thought if they eliminated Joan of Arc they would be able to win the 100 years war. They were wrong. AnswerJoan of Arc was killed because she had visions from God, and everyone demanded her to say that the visions weren't from God, but she believed they were from God, so they burned her to death

Answer 2

Joan had led the French to several military victories that had seriously embarrassed and humiliated the British army and they wanted her dead. As it would not have been proper to execute her for military actions she took they concocted false charges of heresy and witchcraft. An ethnic French bishop who favored the Brits found her guilty and ordered her burned at the stake, the standard punishment for heretics at the time. The bishop had ordered her to cease wearing men's clothing as it was forbidden by a mandate in the Old Testament. She signed an agreement to stop wearing men's clothing. However, at night the British authorities removed the women's clothing from her cell forcing her to, once again, put men's clothing. The bishop said she was guilty of breaking her agreement and declared her a heretic. 25 years after her death, Joan was exonerated of all charges and, instead,the bishop was found guilty of heresy. He had died so could not experience the same fate as Joan.

Answer 3

Actually, the French were responsible for Joan's death. The Burgundians were French who favored British rule. She was tried in a Church court of French clergy loyal to Britain and her executioner was a Frenchman.

The British wanted her dead because she had embarrassed and humiliated the British army. They thought that, if they removed her from leadership, the French army would become demoralized and the British could again gain the upper hand in the conflict.

[Whether or not the French were responsible for Joan of Arc's death is contentious. Please see the Discussion Section for more details.]

Answer 4

She was burned at the stake because the Engish believed she was a witch.

The above answer is not really accurate. Joan of Arc's enemies were the English nobles who believed they had a claim on France, and the Burgundian French who were supporting them because of their part in a French civil war and a treacherous murder of one of their relations by one of the Orleans. Saint Joan was burned at the stake for heresy not witchcraft; she could not be killed as a prisoner of war, so it was easier to accuse her of heresy for her saintly visions and voices, and her wearing of male clothes (although this was actually legal in the context Joan wore them). She was a dangerous enemy for the Burgundians and their English allies and if they could make her look like a heretic or sorceress they hoped it would weaken the claims of the Dauphin she supported to the throne of France. The trial was an unlawful farce and she was deliberately tricked and misled until she was found guilty. The weak minded French King (Charles VII) she was so loyal to could have saved her from going on trial at all, but failed to do so. There is not one example of how he or his French ministers tried to save her, as she had always been a suspicious, mystical, somewhat embarrasing character to have supporting them.

Answer 5

The French did not kill Joan. Joan led the French to many victories and saw to the coronation of the dauphin. She became their symbol. Anyways, Joan was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English. After several different trials she was burned at the stake as a witch. Later however; she was canonized as a saint by the same country that killed her.

Clarification:

Actually, the French were responsible for Joan's death. The Burgundians were French who favored British rule. They captured Joan and sold her to the British. She was tried in a Church court of French clergy loyal to Britain and her executioner was a Frenchman.

Answer 6

The only "people" who wanted to kill Joan were her country's enemy, the English. This was what the 100 Years' War was all about.

England wished to control all of what is modern day France. At Joan's time, they did control all of northern France: Paris, Normandy, Brittany, etc. They had laid seige to the city of Orleans on the Loire River, which was the key to southern France. If the English took Orleans they would control all of France.

Joan of Arc came on the scene in March, 1429, and convinced the dauphin, the crown prince of France and legitimate heir to the French throne, to give her an army to raise the siege of Orleans and then conduct him to the city of Reims to be crowned king. Joan, by her great courage, leadership, and the natural ability to make quick, sensible, decisive tactical decisions in military situations inspired her troops to raise the siege of Orleans in 8 days, (May 1st thru the 8th, 1429), and soundly defeated the English at The Battle of Patay, where over 2000 English were massacred on June 18, 1429.

Joan then conducted the dauphin to Reims where he was crowned King of France on July 7, 1429. Did the English want to kill Joan? Is the pope catholic?

When the English finally captured Joan (actually they bought her from the Burgundians), they wanted her tried for witchcraft or heresy. They couldn't

execute her for defeating them in battle, so they got pro-English French clergy

to hold a mock trial accusing Joan of heresy. Joan was a virgin, so they could

not try her for witchcraft. What they finally got her for was an obscure passage

in The Bible which states that it is unholy for women to wear men's clothing. Joan wore armor in battle to protect herself and men's clothing in prison to keep her English guards from raping her. For this reason she was burnt on May 30, 1431. So the English got what they wanted in a very dishonorable manner. The

English were eventually defeated when Burgundy united with the French king.

Joan's trial was reviewed by order of the pope and declared null in the 1450's.

Answer 7

Joan had embarrassed and humiliated the British and they wanted her out of the way. They wanted revenge. They concocted false charges of heresy and witchcraft and in a false trial convicted her. They hoped that the French army would then become disheartened and they could, once again, take the lead in the war. She was executed on May 30, 1431.