this time in history, Normandy was controlled by the English. Joan of Arc was
burned at the stake at Place du Vieux-Marchý, in Rouen, on this day. She
was charged with heresy. She was 19.
story: The 100 Years War between England and France was underway. England
controlled most of the North of France, including Paris.
lived in a village of Domrýmy which lay on French side of the border. She
claimed to have heard the "voices" of Christian Saints: St. Michael,
St. Catherine, and St. Margaret.
claimed that the "voices" told her to recapture Reims, the traditional
place of French coronations, which was in enemy hands. Charles, the heir apparant
to the French crown (aka 'Dauphin'), couldn't be crowned until Reims came under
traveled to Vaucouleurs, a stronghold of the Dauphin, in January 1429. The captain
of the garrison there agreed to allow her passage to Charles, who was at Chinon.
met with her. Some of his courtiers interrogated her. They decided to make use
of this welcome sign from the Gods.
was given a small army to command. After a number of stunning victories against
the English, on July 16 1429 she had managed to regain Reims for the French, which
enabled the crowning of Charles VII. Joan stood nearby during his coronation holding
up a standard of Christ in judgment.
8, 1429 Joan's troops attacked Paris.
1430 she was caught by the Burgundians who sold her to the English. She was charged
with heresy by rejecting the authority of the Church in favor of the "voices"
in her head.
was convicted and then recanted her crimes, so was given life imprisonment. She
was ordered to wear women's clothing, however, when she was found wearing male
clothing, and then claiming that the reason she wore them was because St. Catherine
and St. Margaret had told her to wear it, she was charged as a relapsed heretic
and turned over to the secular officials who burned her at the stake.
In 1920, Joan of Arc, was canonized as a Christian saint by the Roman Catholic
Church. Her feast day is May 30.