Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc, c. 1412 – 30 May 1431), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (French: La Pucelle d'Orléans) is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, and is canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

Joan of Arc was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle, a peasant family, at Domrémy in north-east France.

Joan says she receives visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War.

The uncrowned King Charles VII sends Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission.

She gains prominence after the siege is lifted in only nine days.

Several additional swift victories lead to Charles VII's coronation at Reims.

This long-awaited event boosts French morale and paves the way for the final French victory.

On May 23, 1430, she is captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, which is allied with the English.

She is later handed over to the English, then put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges.

After Cauchon declares her guilty she is burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age Twenty-five years after her execution, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examines the trial, debunks the charges against her, pronounces her innocent, and declares her a martyr.

Compared to the Nine Worthies during her lifetime by Christine de Pizan, in 1803 Joan of Arc is made a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon.

She is beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

Joan of Arc is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis, St. Michael, St. Remi, St. Petronilla, St. Radegund and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Joan of Arc has remained a popular figure in literature, painting, sculpture, and other cultural works since the time of her death, and many famous writers, filmmakers and composers have created works about her.

Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in films, theater, television, video games, music, and performances to this day.

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