Borrowing items of armour so that she could dress herself as a knight and brushing aside the irritation of many of the French nobility, she led French troops to victory in a series of shrewdly directed attacks that forced the English to abandon the siege and retreat. In the last action she was wounded in the neck by an arrow, but still led her men in the final decisive charge.
French morale blossomed and the Dauphin appointed Joan to joint command of his army. She led it in a succession of victories to Reims, which opened its gates in July. Many of her defeated opponents thought Joan must be a witch, directed not by the voices of saints but by the devil.
Her dressing as a man added to this impression. In May she was captured by the Burgundians and sold for 10, francs to the English, who had her tried for heresy. French kings were crowned at Reims, a city that at the time was under control of the Anglo-Burgundians.
Despite it being behind enemy lines, Joan begged Charles to go, and the king eventually set off with a party that encountered surprisingly little resistance, actually gaining the support of several towns held by the enemy on the way. When they arrived in Reims, they held the ceremony as quickly as possible, with Charles being knighted, anointed and crowned as best as could be done under the circumstances.
Joan, along with other commanders, pushed for this, but the king was hesitant. Nash-Marshall pointed out that the king actually agreed to a day truce with his enemies, a mere ruse, as it turned out, to give them time to fortify Paris.
When the attack on Paris finally happened, the king was hesitant to commit the bulk of his forces to it and it ultimately failed. Furthermore, it happened on Sept. The king made a truce with the Burgundians, the allies of the English, which was to last until Christmas. Furthermore, before winter set in, Charles VII disbanded his army. On Dec. Without the backing of the king, Joan was unable to launch any more major attacks.
On May 23 one of these attacks failed, the enemy having sufficient warning to give chase to her much smaller force. Leading her army into battle and planning strategies that would help them to win, Joan boosted French morale among the jaded and hopeless French soldiers. Ultimately, this helped France to achieve its final victory.
Following her capture and execution, Joan was remembered fondly by the French people and eventually canonized by the Pope of the Catholic Church. But in reality, Joan did not know her own last name. Interestingly, her first name Joan is actually the English version of the name Jehanne. That is the feminine version of John. Even today in France, Joan is known as Jehanne.
As a child, she was taught the values of the Catholic Church rather than reading and writing. Joan was later known for her warfare contributions, but she actually had no battle experience as a child.
She never really participated in combat with the army, and instead outlined strategies that the French troops had to follow. At times, she also led them into battle. The Burgundians took her captive and held her for several months, negotiating with the English, who saw her as a valuable propaganda prize. Finally, the Burgundians exchanged Joan for 10, francs. Charles VII was unsure what to do. She was charged with 70 counts, including witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man.
Initially, the trial was held in public, but it went private when Joan bettered her accusers. Between February 21 and March 24, , she was interrogated nearly a dozen times by a tribunal, always keeping her humility and steadfast claim of innocence. Instead of being held in a church prison with nuns as guards, she was held in a military prison. Joan was threatened with rape and torture, though there is no record that either actually occurred.
Frustrated they could not break her, the tribunal eventually used her military clothes against her, charging that she dressed like a man. On May 29, , the tribunal announced Joan of Arc was guilty of heresy. On the morning of May 30, she was taken to the marketplace in Rouen and burned at the stake, before an estimated crowd of 10, people.
She was 19 years old.
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