
Joan of Arc
saint + military commander
France's patron saint was born in the thick of the Hundred Years' War, a series of battles that pitched the French against the English.
Known to villagers as Jehanne la Pucelle or the Maiden, Joan began hearing the voices of Saints Michael, Catherine and Margaret when she was just 13 years old. Their tidings prompted her to ask the heir to the French throne to let her command an army and lead the siege of Orléans.
She helped guide the French to victory, until her capture in Compiègne. Tried as a heretic, 19-year-old Joan defended herself as valiantly as she'd defended her country. Declared guilty, she was {famously} burned at the stake.
courage | inspired armies, leaders, and citizens with her fierce passion and bravery
faith | in the face of flames, she fiercely held onto her Christian beliefs, clutching a cross as she burned
the bob | her sheared hairstyle inspired the iconic flapper hairstyle of the 1920s...a look still worn by fashionable females today
1428 | heard voices telling her to lead the French to victory
1430 | captured and convicted of heresy and sorcery
1920 | declared a saint, 489 years after her execution at the stake
from | to
illiterate peasant girl | intelligent female heroine who expertly navigated politics, warfare and an ecclesiastical court
born on
January 6, 1412
born in
Domrémy, France
birth name
Jehanne d'Arc
referred to herself as
Jehanne la Pucelle
~ Joan the Maid ~
also known as
The Maid of Orléans
daughter of
Ysabeau and Jacques d'Arc
~ a farming family ~
sister of
3 brothers
1 sister
~ she died before Joan's mission ~
studied at
no formal schooling
influenced by
the Dauphin
~ crowned Charles VII ~
died on
May 30, 1431
~ at age 19, she was famously burned at the stake before a jeering crowd ~
died in
Rouen, France
canonized
May 16, 1920
Much-loved American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens spent over a decade researching Joan of Arc. Under his pen name Mark Twain, he submitted a series of essays to Harper's Magazine (April 1895 - April 1896) entitled Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. In 1896, those essays were compiled and published as a book, as told by a fictitious author Sieur Louis de Conte.
The following was published in an essay that appeared in Harper's Magazine in December 1904:
"Taking into account…all the circumstances—her origin, youth, sex, illiteracy, early environment, and the obstructing conditions under which she exploited her high gifts and made her conquests in the field and before the courts that tried her for her life—she is easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced."
~ Mark Twain
"She was honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was, a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing."
~ Mark Twain
{as cited in Washington Post book review | November 9, 2014}
image credits
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres | Musée du Louvre | public domain
Archives Nationales | Wikimedia Commons | public domain
collapse bio bits"Hope in God. If you have good hope and faith in Him, you shall be delivered from your enemies."
march from Blois to Orléans | 1429
"Act and God will act."
recalled by the Duke of Alencon in Joan's Trial of Nullification in 1455 | 1431
"Of the love or hate God may have for the English, or of what He will do for their souls, I know nothing; but I know quite well that they will be put out of France, except those who shall die there."
Eighth and Ninth Private Examination | 1431
"Whether the victory was my standard's or mine, it was all for Our Lord."
trial ~ sixteenth sessi?on {translated from Orleans manuscript} | 1431
curated with care by Meghan Miller Brawley & Shelagh Bolger {may 2014 ~ updated june 2015}
St. Joan (Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris)
As a soldier, Joan would have had to dress as a man and cut her hair short. She's credited as the inspiration behind the original bob haircut in 1909, centuries after her death.
Nelson Minar | CC BY-SA 2.0
Sketch of Joan from a 15th-Century Manuscript
This is the only contemporary likeness of Joan of Arc, drawn by Clément de Fauquembergue in 1429.
Joan of Arc Picture Gallery | Melissa Snell | public domain
signature | from letter to the people of Riom | nov. 9, 1429
This is one of three known instances of Joan's signature. While her letters were dictated to a scribe, she painstakingly learned to write her own name.
Archives de la ville de Riom | PD | http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Lettre_de_Jeanne_d%27Arc_aux_Riomois.JPG
Georges Melies: Joan of Arc (1900)
This silent film from by legendary French filmmaker George Melies (1861-1938) was one of the earliest color films. For the time period, it featured many advanced techniques, including hand-painted color.
Georges Melies | Pretty Clever Film Gal | Star Film Catalogue | public domain