"Joan of Arc-1"

Joan of Arc, St, in French, Jeanne d'Arc (1412-1431), called the Maid of Orleans, national heroine and patron saint of France, who united the nation at a critical hour and decisively turned the Hundred Years' War in France's favour. Joan was born of peasant parentage in Domremy (now Domremy-la-Pucelle). When she was 13 years old, she believed she heard celestial voices. As they continued, sometimes accompanied by visions, she became convinced that they belonged to St Michael and to the early martyrs St Catherine of Alexandria and St Margaret. Early in 1429, during the Hundred Years' War, when the English were about to capture Orleans, the “voices” exhorted her to help the Dauphin, later Charles VII, King of France. Charles, because of both internal strife and the English claim to the throne of France, had not yet been crowned king. Joan succeeded in convincing him that she had a divine mission to save France. A board of theologians approved her claims, and she was given troops to command. Dressed in armour and carrying a white banner that represented God blessing the French royal emblem, the fleur-de-lis, she led the French to a decisive victory over the English. At the subsequent coronation of the Dauphin in the cathedral at Reims, she was given the place of honour beside the king. Continued next page.        Home

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