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Macy Gordon
Thompson-B6
6 October 2014
Joan of Arc Research Paper

Joan of Arc
Although Joan of Arc arose from humble beginnings, her visions and service to the
France while on her military campaigns and battles, played a very important and
indispensable part in the outcome of The Hundred Years War, and will forever be
remembered as a brave and courageous heroine.
Joan of Arc or Jeanne dArc in modern French or Jehanne Darc in medieval French,
was thought to be born on the sixth of January, 1412. Joan was born into the French peasant
class to a poor farmer in Domremy France. She was believed to be the youngest of five
children born to that family. She was not educated and as a result she did not know how to
read or write. Although she was uneducated, she was born to religious parents who taught
her extensively in Catholicism, she was often found at church absorbed in prayer. Joan was
also talented at sewing and spinning. It is popular belief that she spent the days of her
childhood in the pastures, alone with the sheep and cattle (Knight, St. Joan of Arc).
DArc was also known for taking care of the sick and elderly. She had a compassion for all
living things and this helped her in her future endeavors as well as setting herself up for the
perfect charm and capability to fight for her people.
At the age of 13, Joan claimed to be hearing voices in her head. At first she thought it
was just a clear voice speaking directly to her but soon developed into something much more
profound. The voice became voices and there were bright lights associated with the voices.

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Following the bright lights came actual appearances of ancient saints such as Saint Michael,
accompanied by other angels, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine, to name a few. She claims
the voices told her over time that she will save France from England by a miracle. Presently,
England and France were engaged in battle that would later be known as The Hundred Years
War. Her counsel (Knight, St. Joan of Arc) (voices) told her that she needed to go to the
king and tell him of her divine inspiration to help them with the war and see Charles VII
crowned after the capture of Reims. At first she resisted saying, "I am a poor girl; I do not
know how to ride or fight." (Knight, St. Joan of Arc) The voices grew more insistent and
even threatening. She ultimately heeded their counsel and set off for the Vaucouleurs in 1429.
Joan was very persistent with the knights there and foretold of a defeat that would
happen to them. A couple days later her vision was confirmed when they lost The Battle of
the Herrings. Surprised knights became keenly aware of her rare gift so when she asked to go
to the king of Chinon, three guards escorted her to him. After having visited Chinon, she
arrived at King Charles VIIs palace two days later. Her mission was to convince the king to
let her lead an army in an attack against England. The kings advisors were leery of this
proposition but King Charles agreed anyway. Since she had no military or leadership
experience at all, she was sent to be reviewed by some scholars. After further review, she
was granted permission to be employed and was sent back to Chinon for preparation and
further testing. To further solidify the belief of the king regarding her visions, she refused the
sword presented to her by the king, and told his advisors to retrieve a sword hidden in a place
she had never been. When they found the sword in the exact place she had described, they
were baffled.

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Joans first act as the captain of her army was ordering the English to remove their
troops from French territory. The English were completely flabbergasted. They were angry
that the French would make an audacious order and no less from a girl that was probably
young enough to be their daughter. The French had taken a nonaggressive strategy of war
against the English and was the first thing to be abolished when Joan took charge. She had a
more aggressive and offensive mode of attack towards the English. This surprised the
English and as a result, ended in a victory for France. Thrilled by her success, dArc wanted
to follow up the success with more offensive attacks. They captured the city and a siege was
raised. While in battle, Joan was shot in her breast with an arrow. She pushed on, partly
because she was brave and partly because the voices told her to. After many successes and
the final capture of Reims, she stood by the king as he was crowned.
After the success of her mission her wish was to return home. It was short-lived
however, because she, with her army was detained by the Duke of Burgundy on the account
of he wanted her detained, so he threw every possible diplomatic accusation at her. While
she was detained there was an attack on the city in which she was held forcing her, and her
men to defend the city. She cheered on her men and fought with them. The men fought very
hard and somewhere in the mess of battle, Joan was shot again, this time in the thigh by a
crossbow. She tried to keep on going but the Duc d'Alenon removed her by force so as to
not further injure herself. As a result of her being pulled out of battle, the assault was aborted.
The following winter was clear of any major battles and was barren with inactivity.
This undoubtedly drove Joan crazy. She was itching for action. Shortly after the end of the
winter she started hearing the voices again, telling her that she would be taken prisoner
before midsummer day (Knight, St. Joan of Arc) Joan was strong and courageous, she

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was not afraid by the looming omen of captivity. Instead she had complete faith in the voices
and she set about continuing her regular routine.
It wasnt long after that, the prediction rang true. Joan had completely submerged
herself in the Burgundy attack on Compiegne. She was confident until her little army of five
hundred or so men encountered a force much larger than theirs. Her army was forced to
retreat and the people of the village were very afraid. In the panic, the villagers made a
mistake by following an order issued by Guillaume de Flavy, to close the gate before the
Burgundy army could reach them. This meant shutting out some of their own soldiers that
were defending the city. Joan was among the number outside the city wall. In the chaos she
was pulled from her horse and taken captive by a follower of John of Luxemburg.
Charles received word that Joan had been captured. Although Charles owes his crown
and undoubtedly his life, to Joan, he made no effort to release her. As a king he most likely
had the power to send a rescue mission or sign a treaty. He could have also sent money to
release her but he refrained. The reason he refrained was because he could have lost the
crown. He could have lost the crown because they would have questioned his reason of
having the crown which is because of Joan.
She was sold by John of Luxemburg to the English for a great amount of money equal
to hundreds of thousands of dollars in modern currency. She was retained illegally in a
secular prison. Joans cell was guarded by English Soldiers. She complained about being
guarded by English men and thought she should be guarded in a monastery cell in the church
which was guarded by women. She continued to adorn mens clothing all the time for her
safety from the male guards. Although her cell was atrocious, her earlier cell had her
chained at the hands, neck, and feet.

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The judges in her trial created seventy acts against Joan. The laws were extensive and
were later reduced to 12 basic acts. Some of the acts she was charged with accused her of
being a witch, of heresy and also of dressing like a man. DArc was told that if she signed a
document saying she never received any divine inspiration, then she would not be burned at
the stake, which was the form of death for witches at the time. At this moment, her courage
failed her and she signed the document and was then sent back to prison. After some time she
was caught wearing mens clothing which was believed to be a setup or trap set by the
guards. The judges reconvened claiming she was a relapsed heretic and burned her at the
stake the next day, on the 30th of May, 1431. Joan of Arc was 19 at the time of her death.
Although eternally silenced, after her death she just attained more and more
popularity. Her case was reopened 24 years later and she was found innocent, because the
predictions she made when she was alive. She was turned into a patron saint of France when
Frances citizens learned of her.
If it wasnt for Joan of Arc, the Hundred Years War would have gone very
differently and the France we know today might still be ruled by England. The reason
Charles VII was crowned was due to Joan. Even if in the long run, Joan had not completely
changed the outcome of the entire war, she changed Frances war strategy, opinions on
witches and heresy, and the start of feminism.
Joan of Arc was just a poor girl that at a young age was in tune with supernatural and
divine forces that not only enabled her to see her world differently, but to have a heavy
influence on it. She was brave and courageous and virtuous and will be forever remembered
as the greatest heroine of France, and perhaps of the whole medieval period.

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Works Cited
"Joan of Arc Biography ." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.biography.com/people/joan-of-arc-9354756#early-years>.
"Joan of Arc." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.history.com/topics/saint-joan-of-arc>.
"Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) Archive." Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct.
2014. <http://archive.joan-of-arc.org/>.
"St. Joan of Arc." CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA:. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.
<http://newadvent.org/cathen/08409c.htm
Vale, Malcolm. "Saint Joan of Arc (French heroine)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/304220/Saint-Joan-of-Arc>.