#1429

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc, l. c. 1412-1431 CE) was a medieval peasant who, claiming to receive visions from God, turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War in favor of a French victory. She was famously martyrd for standing by her claim of divine inspiration and later canonized as a saint.

She was born in Domremy, France to a peasant farmer but, at the age of 13, received a revelation while standing in her father's garden that she should lead the French to victory over the English and ensure that Charles, the dauphin (Charles VII of France, r. 1422-1461), was crowned at the traditional site of Rheims.

Joan succeeded in lifting the Siege of Orleans in 1429 and Charles was crowned at Rheims in July of the same year following the Loire Campaign. Joan was captured by the Burgundian allies of the English in 1430 and sold to them. The English could not prosecute a woman who claimed she was serving God but could not allow even the suggestion she was telling the truth because that would mean that God was on the French side of the conflict. They finally convicted her of being a relapsed heretic and burned her at the stake in May 1431.

The trial of Joan of Arc was reviewed as early as 1452, found to be invalid, and Joan was exonerated and proclaimed a martyr in 1456. She was later canonized and is one of the patron saints of France in the modern day.

The Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) was a conflict between France and England over the legitimate succession to the French throne. William the Conqueror led the Norman conquest of England in 1066, ruling England from 1066-1087 and establishing a French monarchy. The later kings of England still had estates and interests in France and periodically would make some gesture asserting their rights, disregarding the policies or wishes of the French king. The monarchy in France, therefore, wanted to cut England's power in their country while the English worked to increase the power they already had there.

In 1328, Charles IV of France (r. 1322-1328) died, leaving no male heir. Charles' sister, Isabella of France, claimed the French throne for her son, Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377) but her claim was denied because she was a woman and women were not allowed to make such claims. The throne passed to Charles' cousin, Philip VI (r. 1328-1350), and the antagonistic relationship of these two monarchs – Edward and Philip – finally ignited the war in 1337.

The war was not one long continuous conflict but a series of military campaigns, waged mostly on French soil, which consisted of hostilities followed by a truce and then re-engagement. Modern-day scholars have divided the history of the war into three periods for ease of study. Joan of Arc appears in the final period, known as the Lancastrian War (1415-1453) after the House of Lancaster, the ruling house of England at the time.

The Lancastrian War began with the stunning victory by Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422) at Agincourt where he defeated a numerically superior French force. Throughout the Hundred Years' War, English victories far surpassed those of the French and in this last phase of the war, that paradigm seemed it would hold following Agincourt. Henry V married Catherine of Valois, daughter of the sitting French king, Charles VI (r. 1380-1422), under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes (1420) and could now lay claim to the throne of France. Charles VI, however, had a male heir, the dauphin Charles, who maintained his right to the throne and was able to garner support for his claim.

English victories continued as Charles' supporters struggled to drive the English from France and legitimize his rule by crowning him king at Rheims, a city then held by the Burgundian allies of the English. The dauphin Charles only had any power in and around the city of Chinon, and his dwindling forces were defeated every time they took the field. It is during this period that Joan of Arc appears and reverses Charles' – and France's - fortunes.

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