answersLogoWhite

0

Joan of Arc (born Jan. 6, 1412), was the daughter of a French peasant farmer in Domremy in eastern France and heard voices from God thru St. Catherine to lead the French army against the English siege of Orleans. On May 1st thru the 8th, 1429, she defeated the English at Orleans with her natural ability to lead and inspire the French soldiers. Joan also defeated the English at the open field Battle of Patay on June 18th and captured Lord John Talbot, a famous English commander. She escorted Charles VII to his coronation at Rheims on July 17, 1429.

Joan's success created a feeling of nationalism in France and led eventually to the creation of the modern French state. Otherwise, France would have been like a second Ireland under English control.

The following year she was captured by Burgundian soldiers and sold to their allies the English, who feared and hated Joan and wanted her dead at any cost.

King Charles did nothing to rescue Joan, either by offering ransom money for her or by trading important prisoners for her (he had Lord John Talbot and the Earl of Suffolk as his prisoners and could have traded either one for Joan).

The English couldn't execute Joan for defeating them in battle, so they caused a mock trial run by church clergy partial to them to try Joan as either a witch or as a heretic in Rouen, which was in English territory at the time.

She was later burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, for being a relapsed heretic. The English couldn't try her for being a witch because they had determined (by the Duchess of Bedford) that Joan was a virgin. No virgin could be a witch. So Joan was convicted of heresy because she wore men's clothing, which was forbidden as sinful in an obscure part of the Old Testament. Joan wore men's clothing in battle (she had to wear a suit of armor for protection), and in prison after she had been captured, to keep from being raped by her English guards. Her corrupt judges tried to get Joan to deny her voices, but she would not.

The verdict of this trial was reversed at a Nullification Trial called for by King Charles and the pope in 1450 thru 1456. She was declared a martyr and a saint by the Catholic Church in 1920. The English were completely expelled from France by 1453, except for Calais, thus ending the Hundred Years War.
Joan of Arc was a fifteenth century peasant girl who completely reversed a war between France and England that had been going on for almost 100 years. She became a legend because she claimed she was sent by God and then backed up her claims with amazing military victories like Orleans and Patay. Unfortunately for her the English were desperate to get rid of her so when she was caputured they rigged her trial and had her burned.

User Avatar

Wiki User

8y ago

What else can I help you with?