Joan of Arc (in French: Jeanne d'Arc) was born on January 6, 1412
during the Hundred Years War. The French were divided into rival
factions: the Burgundians (supporters of the Duke of Burgundy)
were allied with the English and supported their claim to the throne,
while the Armagnacs supported the Dauphin (the French claimant),
Charles.
Stating that God had ordered her to support Charles and drive
the English out of the kingdom, in May of 1428 Joan convinced a family
relative, Durand Lassois, to bring her to Lord Robert de Baudricourt,
the pro-Armagnac commander of the nearby town of Vaucouleurs. After
much effort and a second visit in January and February of 1429, he
finally consented to give her an escort of soldiers
to bring her to the Dauphin.
Charles required her to be examined by Catholic theologians,
who finally approved her in late March of 1429. She was then given
titular command of an army - as was sometimes done with accepted
religious visionaries - and allowed to try to lift the siege of Orleans, which
she said was the first mission ordered of her.
Her troops won victories on May 4th, 6th, and 7th,
taking one English stronghold after another. Joan was carrying her
banner alongside the troops, and was shot near the
left shoulder by an arrow on the 7th. The remaining English
troops abandoned the siege on the 8th.
This victory was followed by the capture of Jargeau on June
12th and Beaugency on the 16th, and the decisive defeat of an
English army at Patay on the 18th. She could now proceed to the second
phase of her mission: the coronation of Charles. According to long
tradition, the coronation of a French king had to be held in the
cathedral at Reims, then occupied by the English and Burgundians.
The army pushed off into enemy-held territory on June 29th.
After accepting the surrender of the city of Troyes and other towns,
the army entered Reims on July 16th and held the coronation
on the 17th.
After this point Joan was quoted as saying that she hoped God would
allow her to return to her family, although the potential retaking of Paris was also a
cherished goal. The chance to make a quick march on Paris was prevented by
the Royal Court's decision to accept a 15-day truce with the Burgundians.
By the time the army arrived near Paris on September 7th, the city
had been reinforced.
An unsuccessful attack was made on September 8th, which Joan
would later say was made on the decision of the commanders rather than
herself. She nevertheless was present, carrying her banner, to
motivate the troops, and
was shot in the thigh by a crossbow dart while trying to find a place
for her soldiers to cross the city's inner moat.
Charles ordered the army to withdraw on the 13th, and Joan reluctantly
withdrew after donating her armor at the chapel of St. Denis.
Subsequent campaigns that year were smaller in scale and poorly
supported by the Royal Court. The successful
capture of St-Pierre-le-Moutier on November 4th was followed by an
unsuccessful attempt to take the Burgundian-held town of La-Charite-sur-Loire
during November and December. She would later attest that this siege
was done by order of the Royal Court and not by any counsel from
her visions.
After spending the winter at various Royal castles, she returned
to the field the following year, leaving the Royal
Court along with her brother Pierre, her bodyguard Jean d'Aulon,
her confessor Friar Jean Pasquerel,
and a small contingent of troops. Fighting near Lagny-sur-Marne led
to the defeat and capture of a mercenary unit under Franquet d'Arras
in April. Despite predicting
her own capture "before St. John's Day", she led a force to bring
desperate aid
the city of Compiegne, which was under siege by a Burgundian army. Captured
by Burgundian troops during a sortie on May 23 1430 and subsequently
transferred to their English allies, Joan was placed on trial in
Rouen (the English capital of occupied Normandy) by a carefully chosen
group of pro-English Burgundian clergy, led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon -
one of the many French members of
the English council which governed occupied Normandy. Convicted and executed on May 30, 1431,
she was later declared innocent by the Inquisition after the war,
with the official annulment of the sentence being handed down on
July 7, 1456.
The Inquisitor-General ruled that the original trial had been
fraudulent and partisan and therefore itself an act of heresy, and
described Joan as a martyr for the
Catholic faith.
After the usual long delay - many other saints were not officially
canonized until centuries after their death - Joan of Arc was beatified
on April 11 1909 and canonized on May 16 1920.
Joan of Arc (in French: Jeanne d'Arc) was born on January 6, 1412
during the Hundred Years War. The French were divided into rival
factions: the Burgundians (supporters of the Duke of Burgundy)
were allied with the English and supported their claim to the throne,
while the Armagnacs supported the Dauphin (the French claimant),
Charles.
