Joan of Arc
Date: 30-05-1431
Joan of Arc was born around 1412 in a French village called Domrémy. This was during the Hundred Year War. Joan claimed to hear divine voices and saw visions. God told her to join the French army and take up arms against the English. After an audience with the King of France, she was send to Orléans to fight alongside the men. She was involved at the battles of Orléans, Loire and Reims. Although historians agree upon the fact that she was there, there is some discussion about her role. Some say she was only a standard bearer, other historians say she really fought alongside the men in full armor.
In May 1430 she was arrested by the Burgundians (who had allied themselves with the English) and sold to the English for a vast sum of money.
Joan of Arc was born around 1412 in a French village called Domrémy. This was during the Hundred Year War. Joan claimed to hear divine voices and saw visions. God told her to join the French army and take up arms against the English. After an audience with the King of France, she was send to Orléans to fight alongside the men. She was involved at the battles of Orléans, Loire and Reims. Although historians agree upon the fact that she was there, there is some discussion about her role. Some say she was only a standard bearer, other historians say she really fought alongside the men in full armor.
In May 1430 she was arrested by the Burgundians (who had allied themselves with the English) and sold to the English for a vast sum of money.
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The English took her to Rouen to be put on trial. This trial lasted almost a month because we was charged with over 70 accounts of crime! She was found guilty of 12 of them, among them was heresy and the fact that she wore mens clothes didn't play well with the English too. She was sent to prison but she had to renounce that she got visions and she had to stop wearing mens clothes. If she didn't, she would be burned at the stake immediately.
Although she agreed to this on May 24th 1431, she recanted her abjuration and started to wear mens clothes again on May 28th. On May 30, 1431 Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at the marketplace in Rouen. She would not only go down in history as Saint (she was canonized on May 16, 1920) but also as a symbol of feminism, as a strong and independent woman in a world dominated by men. |
Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (1843)
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Did you know?
Between 1434 and 1440, Joan's brothers passed off a woman called Claude des Armoises as Joan of Arc. Claiming she survived the execution. The three of them managed to make a lot of money at fairs around France until they confessed their crimes to King Charles VII.
Between 1434 and 1440, Joan's brothers passed off a woman called Claude des Armoises as Joan of Arc. Claiming she survived the execution. The three of them managed to make a lot of money at fairs around France until they confessed their crimes to King Charles VII.
Location:
Rouen is located in France.
Rouen is located in France.
