Person1412 – 1431
Joan of Arc
Also called: Jeanne d’Arc, Maid of Orléans
French peasant girl who lifted the siege of Orléans in the Hundred Years’ War and had Charles VII crowned at Reims; handed to the English and burned
Born into a farming family at Domrémy in eastern France, she could not read. From about the age of thirteen she said she heard the voices of saints such as Michael. She led troops dressed in men’s clothes and armour, and at her trial in Rouen her wearing of male dress was used as evidence of heresy. Charles VII did nothing to rescue her when she was captured, but later ordered a retrial that overturned the verdict. Today she is honoured as a patron saint of France and a national heroine.