Joan of Arc
After English King Henry the 5th became ruler of both England and France following a 1420 English victory and peace treaty during the Hundred Years’ War, at age 13, French peasant Joan of Arc began hearing voices from God that told her to push English invaders out of her homeland before reinstating deposed crown prince Charles of Valois to the thrown.
Shuns an Arranged Marriage
When her father insisted on an arranged marriage for his 16-year-old, illiterate daughter, Joan convinced a local magistrate that her vow of chastity and her instructions from god disqualified her for marriage. At last cleared to travel, Joan rode to the nearby city of Vaucouleurs—a stronghold of French resistance to English rule—where she tirelessly promoted her claims of divine instruction regarding French independence, at last gaining approval to make the eleven-day journey to the crown prince’s palace at Chinon.
Dresses Like a Man
Cropping her hair and dressing in men’s clothing, Joan’s continued persistence landed a meeting with the crown prince, where despite her complete lack of military training, she convinced the would-be king to let her lead a French offensive against English forces laying siege to the city of Orleans. Dressed in white armor and riding atop a massive white stead, Joan led a series of French assaults on English chokepoints around Orleans, forcing the Anglo-Burgundians to retreat across the Loire River.
Reputation Rising
As her reputation grew among French nobility and French military leaders, Joan and Charles drove the British out of Reims, which led to his coronation as King Charles the 7th on July 17th, 1429. In the spring of 1430, at the new king’s behest, Joan attacked English forces at Compiégne, where she was thrown from her horse and taken prisoner by the British. Convicted of witchcraft, heresy and dressing as a man, after King Charles made no effort to save her life, in May of 1431, Joan signed a confession denying any divine guidance from God.
Burned at the Stack
On the morning of May 30th of that same year, Joan was burned at the stake in the old marketplace of Rouen, at the still tender age of 19. Death did little to dampen her fame, when 20 years later, Charles the 7th ordered a new trial to clear her name, while in 1909, Joan was beatified by Pope Pius the 10th, followed by her canonization by Pope Benedict the 15th in 1920, making the life and divine visions of Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France.