Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, known in French as Jeanne d'Arc, was born around 1412 in the village of Domrémy in the Duchy of Bar, on the frontier of the Kingdom of France during the later phase of the Hundred Years' War. She was the daughter of Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, peasant farmers of modest means. In her early teens she reported visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine, who she said commanded her to support the uncrowned Charles VII, recover his kingdom from English domination, and see him crowned. At a time when much of northern France was occupied by or allied with England, and Charles's legitimacy was widely contested, her claim of a divine military mission was extraordinary for an unlettered rural girl with no formal training in arms or politics.

In 1429 she reached Chinon, obtained an audience with Charles, and after clerical examination at Poitiers was allowed to accompany a relief army to Orléans, then under English siege. The raising of that siege in May 1429 became a turning point in the war and made her famous throughout France. She took part in the subsequent Loire campaign and accompanied Charles to Reims, where he was crowned King of France in July 1429 with Joan present in the cathedral. Later operations, including an unsuccessful assault on Paris, were less conclusive. In May 1430 she was captured at Compiègne by Burgundian troops allied with the English and was subsequently sold to the English authorities.

She was imprisoned at Rouen, then under English control, and tried in 1431 by an ecclesiastical court on charges that included heresy, witchcraft, and the wearing of male clothing. The proceedings, presided over by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, have long been judged by historians as politically driven and legally defective. After a brief recantation she resumed male dress in prison, was condemned as a relapsed heretic, and was burned at the stake in the marketplace of Rouen on 30 May 1431, at about nineteen years of age. Her body was burned again and the ashes were reported to have been thrown into the Seine; she therefore has no tomb.

A posthumous nullification trial in 1455–1456, sought by her mother and authorized by Pope Callixtus III, reviewed the original process and declared her innocent and a martyr. Popular and liturgical devotion to her grew over the following centuries. She was beatified by Pope Pius X in 1909 and canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. She is venerated as a national heroine of France and as a symbol of courage, faith, and resistance, and her feast is kept on 30 May.