Joan of Arc Biography Quotes 13 Report mistakes

Origins and Early Life
Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in the village of Domremy, in the duchy of Bar on the frontier of northeastern France. The daughter of Jacques dArc and Isabelle Romee, she grew up during the Hundred Years War, a conflict that had fractured France and left vast regions under English and Burgundian control. The Treaty of Troyes (1420), arranged by Henry V of England and Queen Isabeau of Bavaria, had disinherited the Dauphin Charles and recognized Henry V and his heirs as rulers of France, a settlement that set the stage for Joan's extraordinary intervention.

Voices and the Call to Action
From her early teens, Joan reported hearing guiding voices she identified as Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret. She believed they charged her to drive out the English and lead the Dauphin to his anointing at Reims. Though likely unable to read or write beyond her signature, she displayed an uncommon self-possession. Her determination took her to the garrison at Vaucouleurs, where the captain Robert de Baudricourt initially dismissed her but, impressed by her persistence and by reports of her character, eventually granted an escort to carry her to the Dauphin.

To the Dauphin and the Road to Orleans
In early 1429 Joan traveled, in male attire for safety, through hostile territory to Chinon to meet Charles, the disinherited Dauphin. Contemporary accounts describe a private interview in which she spoke of her mission. She underwent a theological examination at Poitiers, supported behind the scenes by figures at court including Yolande of Aragon, mother-in-law to Charles. The result was cautious approval. Charles provided armor, a household, and a small force. Joan took as her emblem a banner bearing the holy names Jesus and Mary, and she insisted that the army attend confession and avoid pillage.

Campaigns of 1429
Joan reached besieged Orleans in April 1429, where she worked with seasoned commanders such as Jean dOrleans, known as Dunois (the Bastard of Orleans), and the captains La Hire (Etienne de Vignolles) and Gilles de Rais. She encouraged aggressive sorties that shifted the initiative. Wounded during the fighting, she returned to lead again, and the English siege collapsed in early May. Momentum carried into the Loire campaign: at Jargeau English forces under the Earl of Suffolk were defeated; Meung-sur-Loire and Beaugency were taken; at Patay French cavalry routed the English, capturing John Talbot while Sir John Fastolf escaped. These victories overturned years of setbacks and opened the road to Reims.

Coronation at Reims and Court Politics
Joan urged an immediate march to Reims, deep in territory that had recognized the Anglo-Burgundian cause. Towns submitted along the route, and on 17 July 1429, Charles was anointed as King Charles VII by Archbishop Regnault de Chartres in the cathedral of Reims, with Joan present, banner in hand. Her family was later ennobled, a mark of royal gratitude. Yet court politics grew complicated. Georges de la Tremoille, a royal favorite, and other counselors were wary of further risk. An assault on Paris in September 1429 failed, and Joan was wounded. The king shifted toward negotiation and consolidation, slowing the pace that Joan considered divinely mandated.

Capture at Compiegne
In the spring of 1430 Joan rode to relieve Compiegne, threatened by Burgundian forces allied with the English. On 23 May 1430, during a sortie near the gate of Compiegne, she was unhorsed and captured by troops under John of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny. Held first by Burgundians and then sold to the English, her fate was shaped by the broader alignment of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, with the English regency led by John, Duke of Bedford. Despite appeals, Charles VII did not ransom her; she remained a prisoner destined for trial.

Trial at Rouen
Transferred to Rouen, Joan faced an ecclesiastical tribunal convened by Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais, a partisan of the Anglo-Burgundian regime. English authorities, including the Earl of Warwick, oversaw her custody. The court included theologians such as Jean Beaupere and Nicolas Midi, among many others. The proceedings, beginning in 1431, probed her voices, her wearing of male dress, and her submission to Church authority. Joan repeatedly asked to be placed under the Church's jurisdiction in Rome, an appeal that was denied. After months of interrogation, she signed a brief abjuration under pressure. When she later resumed male attire in prison, in circumstances that remain disputed, the court declared her a relapsed heretic.

Death and Immediate Aftermath
On 30 May 1431 Joan was executed by burning in the marketplace of Rouen. Witnesses recorded that she asked for a cross and called upon Jesus as she died. Her ashes were cast into the Seine. The English and their allies intended the sentence to discredit Charles VII, whose claim she had helped to legitimize at Reims. Yet the verdict did not end her influence. French fortunes continued to improve under commanders like Dunois, and within a generation Charles VII recovered Normandy and Paris.

Nullification and Sainthood
At the request of her mother Isabelle and her brothers, and with the support of Charles VII, a posthumous investigation examined the Rouen trial. In 1455, 1456, under the authority of Pope Callixtus III and the leadership of the inquisitor Jean Brehal, the original proceedings were annulled as flawed and unjust. Centuries later, Joan's reputation grew beyond national heroism to sanctity: she was beatified in 1909 by Pope Pius X and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

Legacy
Joan of Arc's life unfolded among formidable figures: the beleaguered Dauphin who became King Charles VII; court allies such as Yolande of Aragon; comrades-in-arms like Dunois, La Hire, and Gilles de Rais; and adversaries including Bedford, Philip the Good, Pierre Cauchon, and English captains such as Suffolk and Talbot. Her brief public career reshaped the war's trajectory by restoring morale, galvanizing French arms, and culminating in the long-delayed royal anointing. Writers from Christine de Pizan, who praised her in 1429, to modern historians have seen in her an unusual combination of religious conviction, tactical audacity, and political consequence. Across the centuries, Joan has remained a symbol of faith, courage, and national identity, a young woman whose certainty of purpose altered the fate of a kingdom.

Our collection contains 13 quotes who is written by Joan, under the main topics: Motivational - Truth - Justice - Meaning of Life - Faith.

Other people realated to Joan: Antonin Artaud (Dramatist), Charles Peguy (Philosopher), Hilaire Belloc (Poet), Georges Bernanos (Author), Robert Southey (Poet), Ingrid Bergman (Actress), Vita Sackville-West (Novelist), Milla Jovovich (Model), Louis XI (Royalty), Robert Bresson (Director)

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