Today, we’d probably view Joan of Arc as a mad woman, a paranoid delusional schizophrenic. Anybody who claims to have heard the voice of God which causes them to lead an army into battle has got to be on the far side of the spectrum.
But in the 15thCentury, when she led the French Army against the British invaders, she was a heroine, a saint and a national icon.
Joan was born in the village of Domremy in France in 1412 to an impoverished family; it was an area of France which had suffered from numerous conflicts between the British and the French.
Even as a child, Joan was different from most others. She was sensitive, deeply religious and from the age of 12, she began to have visions, vivid and real to her, of God telling her that He was making her responsible for renewing the French Nation. When her visions began, France was a divided nation, weak against the invasions of the English King Henry V who, several years earlier in 1415, had defeated the French Army at Agincourt. This left the country even more divided.
As a 17 year old peasant girl from the country, Joan walked into the French Court, demanded to speak with the ruler. Despite their amusement and sarcastic comments, she told the King that God had ordained her to lead the French army into battle against the British conquerors. To the amazement of the court, and the army, and the people of France, and the British….Joan was given the army to lead.
And without any military experience, but with utter faith, conviction, dedication and knowing that God was beside her, she led the French army to massive victories at Orleans, Patay, and Troyes. She liberated many other towns from English control, and even paved the way for the rightful heir to the French throne, the Dauphin, to become King of France.
For her successes, she and her family were elevated to noble status. But then her fortunes changed, because a year after all of her successes, she was captured by French traitors from Burgundy and sold to the English. They put her on trial for the crime of being a witch, and condemned her to death by being burnt at the stake.
10,000 Frenchmen and women came to see her burnt, and legend has it that her heart never burned in the flames. Her ashes were scattered in the Seine.
To this day, she’s considered one of the greatest French heroines of all times. And never forget that she did all of this, and lived for only 19 years!
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