Joan Of Arc Essay -- Biography Biographies Maid of Orleans Essays

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc, first known as Jeanne d'Arc, was born in the village of Domremy, in the Champagne district of northeastern France. She was born on January 6, 1412 and died May 30,1431 at the age of 19. Joan is a French national heroin and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She rescued France from defeat during the "Hundred Years War" against England. In honor of her victory she is often called the Maid of Orleans. This is a story of her life. Joan was not a well-educated woman. She had never learned to read or write but was skilled in sewing and spinning. Her deeply religious mother and father, Isabelle and Jacques d'Arc raised her. Joan's father was a small peasant farmer, poor but not needy. Joan was the youngest of a family of five. She grew up herding cattle and sheep and helping in the fields during the harvest. Joan often referred to herself as Jeanne la Pucelle (Joan the Maid.) Joan, like most other children, spent much time praying to the statues of saints that stood around the church in her village. At the age of 13 in the summer of 1425, she began having religious visions and hearing what she believed were voices of saints. They started occuring once a week and as she got older they happened daily. She said the voices told her to always behave, obey her parents, pray, etc. She claimed they were the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. She was said to be a Clair Voyant, a person who has knowledge of events happening far away or in the futures without using any of the five senses. The visions and voices never left her. Finally, four years later she was convinced that God had chosen her to help King Charles VII clear the English from French land. Joan set out to Vancoulers to ask the military commander Robert Baudricourt, for an escort to visit the king. The commander did not take her seriously at first and laughed. Eventually he gave her what she wanted. At the age of 17 in 1429 Joan left to fulfill her first mission or triumph. King Charles VII had been king for 7 years prior. His main enemies were the English and the Burgundians, who supported the English. Both parties controlled Paris and the northern part of France. His enemies did not accept the King. Charles had never been crowned because where kings were crowned was in enemy territory. Meanwhile the military situation of King Cha... ...sisted that her visions and voices came from God. Charles, whom Joan had helped crown, sent no one to rescue her. Months later Joan was sentenced to death by a French Clergy. She was burned at the stake before a large crowd in a marketplace of Rouen, France on May 30, 1431. Her courageous death had caused many to believe they had witnessed the martyrdom of a Saint. Martyrdom is the extreme suffering of a person because of heretics, or strong opinions. Joan did not receive a Christian Burial. Instead her ashes were thrown into the Seine River. In 1455 her family called for a new trial. In 1456, a mere 25 years later, Pope Calixtus III declared that Joan was innocent in the end. Almost 500 years later in 1909 Pope Pius X beatified her, or proclaimed her to exalt above all others. Which is a step towards canonization, or sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. In 1920, almost 500 years after her death, the Catholic Church canonized Joan, or declared her to be a saint. Her feast day is celebrated the day of her death, May 30. Today many authors write about Joan of Arc. Patriots, people studying the super natural, supporters of women's rights, and many more admire her.