Long Biography and History of
Saint Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc's Birth and Childhood
Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412 (Actual date was not recorded but historians have generally accepted this date) in the small village of Domremy in the region of France known as Lorraine. "Joan busied herself like any other girl; she did the house work and spun and sometime- I have seen her- she kept her father's flocks."

Joan of Arc Leaves Home - Vaucouleurs
"Two or three times a week this Voice exhorted me to go to France. My father knew nothing of my going. The Voice kept urging me; I could no longer endure it. It told me I would raise the siege of Orleans. It told me to go to Robert de Baudricourt, captain, and he would give me men to come with me." Joan had to make three visits to Robert de Baudricourt and it was only after she accurately predicted the French loss at the Battle of the Herrings that he finally agreed to aid her. As she left Vaucouleurs de Baudricourt yelled to Joan: "Va, et advienne que pourra!" "Go, and let come what may!"

Joan of Arc Meets Charles VII
"After dinner, I went to the King, who was at the Castle. When I entered the room where he was I recognized him among many others by the counsel of my Voice, which revealed him to me. I told him that I wished to go and make war on the English."
Charles VII, always shrewd when it came to his own survival, tested Joan by hiding himself among the crowd in hall of his palace but Joan was not fooled and immediately found him and fell to her knees before him. Joan of Arc's first words to Charles VII were: "Very noble Lord Dauphin, I am come, being sent on the part of God, to give succour to the kingdom and to you."

Joan of Arc Prepares For Battle
"In God's name, the soldiers will fight and God will give the victory" "En nom De, les gens d'armes batailleront et Dieu donnera victoire"
is the famous response Joan gave when she was asked why she needed soldiers if God wished to deliver France. After gaining approval from the Church theologians that examined her, Joan was given command of the French army and proceeded to the town of Tours to prepare for battle.

Joan of Arc Shows Her "Sign" At Orleans
"Trust in God. God will aid the city of Orleans and expel the enemy."
Joan of Arc's victory at Orleans is one of the great victories in the history of warfare and was the final turning point in the Hundred Years War. In only three days of fighting Joan was able to compel the English to retreat from the city ending their siege of nearly seven months.

Joan of Arc And The Loire Valley Campaign
"Noble Dauphin, come at once to Reims."
Having fulfilled the first part of her mission, Joan immediately went on the offensive in a march through the Loire Valley to clear the way for the coronation of Charles VII at Reims. At the battle of Patay, Joan of Arc wins her greatest military victory by annihilating a much larger English army killing thousands while losing only a few of her own soldiers. The battle of Patay is considered a mirror image of the battle of Agincourt which was the battle that had brought France to its knees and necessitated the miracle that Joan delivered.

Joan of Arc And The Coronation Of Charles VII
"Noble King, now is accomplished the will of God, who desired that I should raise the siege of Orleans, and should bring you to this city of Reims to receive you holy coronation, thus showing that you are the true King, him to whom the throne of France must belong."
With the coronation of Charles VII as King of France, Joan of Arc reached the height of her success. She accomplished her impossible prediction "to conduct the King to Reims for his sacrament and his coronation" in only a matter of months after she had arrived in Chinon a simple maid with a mission from God.

Joan of Arc And Paris
"By my staff, the place would have been taken!"
After crowning Charles VII, Joan and her best military commanders wanted to immediately march to Paris and liberate France's largest city. If Joan had been fully supported by Charles and immediately gone to Paris she would have succeeded because the city was lightly fortified at that time. Unfortunately, Charles either lost his nerve or allowed himself to be overly influenced by his corrupt advisors because he entered into two useless treaties that delayed Joan's attack on Paris by over a month. The delay proved very costly.

The Trial Of Joan of Arc
"I came into France at God's command, and I have never acted except at God's command."
The outcome of the trial of Joan of Arc was arranged long before it ever started but the Church officials involved still went to great lengths to make it appear that she was given a fair trial even though they violated Church rules throughout. Joan was the only witness, one of the clear violations of Church rules, but she proved to be a very formidable witness for herself. The trial lasted through the spring during which time the Church officials used every trick they knew, including threatening her with torture, to try to get her to publicly confess that her Voices were not from God. Finally, they took her to the cemetery of Ouen on May 24, 1431, and told her she would burn unless she agreed to "abjure." Afraid of the fire she agreed after she was promised she would save her life and be taken to a Church prison to be guarded by woman instead of soldiers.

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