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Joan of Arc Jeanne d Arc, or La Pucelle, the Maid of Orleans became a national heroine and patron saint of France in the fifteenth century. She was born to Isabelle de Vouthon and Jacques Arc, small peasant farmers in the town of Domremy, near Champagne. She was the youngest of five children, and grew up learning to attend in the fields and housekeeping duties. She was quite skilled in sewing and spinning. Although illiterate, Joan was taught about religion and was known to be a pious child who spent a lot of time in prayer and petition, often kneeling in the church in quiet humility. People in her community thought of Joan as exceptionally advanced and mature for her age and had the reputation of being a tender hearted individual, especially to the poor.
At around the age of thirteen, Joan became conscious of these voices or counsel that she heard. These voices were supposedly those of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, believing that they had been sent by God. At first, she reported just hearing a voice, later, the voice (s) were accompanied by a figure.
She was somewhat reluctant to speak of these voices. It was these voices that revealed her saintly mission gradually, that it was her divine mission to free her country from the English, aid the dauphin gain the French throne, and became certain that she was to go and help the King. It was then she felt urged to present herself to the commander of the King for a neighboring town, Robert Baudricourt. He treated her disrespectfully and treated her mission with scant respect as well. Her insistence eventually paid off, and Baudricourt listened to her announcement of a great defeat that had befallen the French arms outside Orleans, which turned out to be the Battle of the Herrings, and officially confirmed a few days later, which proved her credibility somewhat to Baudricourt. Once Joan had convinced the captain of the dauphins forces, she went on to an examination of a board of theologians at Poitiers.
The examination was of the most searching and formal. She passed their examination and was then given troops to command and given her own rank of Captain. She went on to the battle of Orleans in 1429, and led her troops to defeat the English. She continued in the fighting and led through other locations along the Loire. Her reputation became one of a formidable leadership, and by the time she reached Lord Talbot's army at Play, most of the English troops and the Commander Sir John Fastolfe had fled the battlefield. This cowardice was punished later, and the Commander was stripped of his Order of the Garter.
The battle was lost by the English, and Lord Talbot was captured along with a hundred English noblemen and lost nearly 2000 of his soldiers. That summer, when Charles VII was crowned king of France, Joan was given a place of honor next to the king She was later ennobled for her services to the country. In 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians while in battle defending Compiegne near Paris. She was sold to the English, then handed her over to the Ecclesiastical Court at Rouen, led by Pierre Caution, a pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, to be tried for witchcraft and heresy. Much was said about her wearing male clothing, which she was instructed to do by the voices she heard earlier on. The Ecclesiastical Court stated that this dress was a crime against God, and her insistence for wearing it was defiant and eventually sealed her fate.
Joan at the age of nineteen was convicted after a fourteen month interrogation, and on May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake in the Then marketplace. Charles VII whom had earlier given her high place, made no attempt to come to her rescue. There was a second trial in 1456 that pronounced her innocent of the charges. In 1090 she was beatified and then canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
An Army of Angels, A Novel of Joan of Arc, Pamela Marcantel, ST. Martins Press, 1997. Joan of Arc: A Military Leader By Kelly DeVries.
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