Joan of Arc

Essay by alcapone3000 December 2007

download word file, 3 pages 5.0 1 reviews

Downloaded 49 times

�PAGE � �PAGE �1� Writer's name

Writer's name

8th November 2007

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France honored and respected by everyone. She was an illiterate peasant girl who rose to the ranks of leading French armies to victory against England until her capture when she was only 19 years old. She was executed as a heretic in a politically motivated trial. Twenty four years later the Catholic Church declared her innocence and she was canonized as a saint in 1920.

She was born in a time when France and England were at war. The Armagnacs and the Burgundians were two French factions at war with each other. By 1484 England was occupying Northern France. The English began a siege of Orleans. Her parents were Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée. Her father was a farmer and a minor village official. She got her first visions at the age of 12 where St.

Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret told her to expel the English (Brooks 25).

She obtained an interview with the royal French court where she predicted about military reverses of the English near Orleans. She was responsible for pursuing an aggressive offensive strategy by the French army in the siege of Orleans. The defeat of English led to the capture of Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, Beaugency and annihilated the English army at the battle of Patay. A truce was signed between the two French factions following the arrival of the French army at Reims (Brooks 15).

The agreement was broken by Duke Philip. A French advance towards Paris was put off after an order to withdraw. Joan was captured on May 1430 following a skirmish with the English. She was put on trial for heresy in a politically motivated trial. She had supported the...