Joan of Arc is the daughter of Jacques and Joan Darc. Her family earned their living farming the land that they lived on. The Hundred Years War was still being fought between the England and France at the time of Joan’s birth. Some accounts report that the war began in 1337, while other accounts report that the war started in 1346 after the King of England invaded Brittany, France.
Western Europe was pummeled with war and disease during this period. Not only was the Hundred Years War being fought, but in 1348 the bubonic plague broke out. The plague killed millions of people before two of its suspected causes, diseased rats and uncleanness, were discovered. It was a time of upheaval, especially for peasant families like Joan of Arc’s.
King Charles VI and Joan of Arc
King Charles VI reigned in France midway through the war. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the king who took office when he himself was yet a child at a mere 11 years old reigned over France from 1380 – 1422. His bouts with insanity provided him a place in history men do not long for.
For King Charles VI insanity came on a pendulum and afforded him brief interludes of escape into sanity, about three to five moths at a time. Yet, and despite his ongoing and deepening illness, the king ruled. Into this fray entered young Joan of Arc.
Studious and given to alms and working with her hands to spin yarn, Joan began to help others early in her life. During her trial of 1431 many who grew up with her recounted her helpfulness and her devotion to God. The warden at the church her family attended, Perrin Drappier, noted how Joan would fall to her knees upon hearing the church bells ring and worship God.
Joan of Arc’s Visions and Voices
In 1425 at the age of 13, Joan started to hear voices and see visions. At her trial, she stated that she saw a light in the direction of the village church when she heard the voices. She was working on her family farm when she began to receive the visitations. Initially she received the voices and the visions with great trepidation, but soon she began to believe that they were from God.
She was 17 years old when she was given specific instructions to disguise herself as a man to join the French army and defeat England in the continuing Hundred Years War, brutal battles that saw France’s towns and villages turn to rubble and desperation.
One of the first efforts Joan took on was that of uniting France under the leadership of Charles VII. According to transcripts from her trial of 1431, she was met by Archangel Michael and told to continue to attend church regularly. She was also given specific instructions on who to visit and where the person, such as Robert de Baudricourt who was a military official, resided.
Battle Victories and Joan of Arc’s Trial
On February 14, 1429, Joan of Arc departed Vaucouleurs and made for Chinon where she sought the aid to build an army. She was given a small fighting force. Two months later in April, Joan of Arc set out for the siege of Orleans. She and her army won this victorious and monumental battle.
Next Joan of Arc set out for Les Tourelles. One year later she was captured. She stood trial in 1431. On May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake. One of her named offenses was that of dressing like a man.
Twenty-one years after Joan of Arc’s death, the Hundred Years War ended. Charles VII, the man who Joan worked to gain rule of France led the way to France’s victory from England’s oppression. May 16, 1920 Joan of Arc was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XV.
Works Cited
Williamson, Allen. Joan of Arc. 2008. Joan of Arc Organization.
<http://joan-of-arc.org>. 14 May 2009
"Charles VI." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107095/Charles-VI>.
14 May 2009
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