Jeanne d' Arc was her original name in France and she was born in Domremy, France in 1412. She learned all she could from her beloved mother and this lasted throughout her life because she was known as being gentle, kindness, and devoted to the almighty.

She claimed to have visions as a young child from heaven that willed her to drive the English from her oppressed country. At the age of 17, Joan left home to fulfill her divine cause. She first journeyed to the garrison at Vaucouleurs where she humble asked for a horse, armor and an escort of a few men. The head of the garrison laughed in her face and thought she was insane but after he found she was stern, he gave the equipment to her along with an escort.

Joan then, accompanied with a few soldiers, went to meet with the uncrowned King Charles VII. Charles was a good but weak man who had very little money as a result of the Hundred Years War. When Joan came into Charles' court, Charles attempted to test her by placing one of his noblemen on the throne to see if she knew who the king really was. She did, she merely glanced at the man on the throne and walked over to the real Charles who was hiding in the ranks of his noblemen. Charles although, was not fully convinced and had his theologians test her to see if her power was really from heaven, she passed. Charles then allowed her to command his troops which she marched to English controlled city of Orleans.

At first, the French commanders were not willing to listen to a mere girl, but they noticed when they did not follow her orders, their plans were doomed to fail. She then laid siege to Orleans and she captured the city in 1429 and was forever named the "Maid of Orleans." Her military genius caused her to win 4 other major victories against the English and she later captured Reims where she accompanied Charles at his coronation. Although Joan did not know it, Charles' crowning was ultimately her undoing.

Joan's voices had ceased to talk to her after Charles' coronation and she wished to return home because she felt her duty was done. Charles refused to let her leave and ordered her to led an attack on English occupied Paris. The battle for Paris was an utter failure and resulted in the capture of Joan after she was wounded by the Burundians (French allies of English). Later the Burundians sold her to the English for 16,000 francs which is a sum of over $3,000 today.

The English put Joan of Arc on trial as a witch and a heretic. She was found guilty on May 30, 1431 and was led to the city square of Rouen to be burned at the stake. Thousands of French peasants came to watch her die and many wept at the site of her burning. While being burned she stared into the sky and hardly muttered a moan or cry. A terrified English noble was said to have exclaimed, "We are undone; we have burned a saint!"

Later, after Joan's death, Joan's mother and King Charles demanded another trial for Joan to be conducted by the Pope and she was found innocent of being a witch and a heretic in 1456.

In 1920 Pope Bendedict XV declared her a saint. Joan has a feast day celebrated in France on May 30 every year.

The woman known to the French people as Joan of Arc will forever be known to historians and even women's rights activists. I feel this way because in Joan's time period, women were expected to be subversive to men and remain "lady-like" at all times. Her joining the fight to expel the British from her homeland went against all the traditional rules of the behavior of a "proper" lady. Examples of this are shown by the fact that other French men were timid to give her the armor she asked for and were also a bit suspicious of her leadership capabilities. Even the pre-king Charles was suspicious of her because he tested her when she entered his court.

After all these tests and doubts of her, it amazes me that she was able to rise above all of this speculation and still do what she thought God was willing her to do. She always believed her work was compelled by the almighty and therefore this could be the main reason why she never gave up. Still, though, I do not believe anyone could call Joan Of Arc a heretic or a maniac but rather she was a determined individual who despite the prejudice against her for being a woman she over came all of that and went on to be one of the most famous women in history.

I do not think that Joan Of Arc has caused any major effects with her existence except for maybe the fact that some woman were not as discouraged to do what they wanted to do in a male dominated society.

Today, I would speculate her claiming of being a "messenger from god", though if she was, she will still be remember for carving out a small place in history for the advancement of women's rights and if her messenger claiming were true, she will also be remember by the church even though they've already gave her the title of Saint.

My reasoning for writing this report is because I consider Joan Of Arc to be quite a courageous person. I use the word "person" for the fact that is does not matter to me if Joan were a female or a male. I do, nonetheless think that her being a female only heightens her persona and therefore makes her a more interesting topic to research and learn about.

Thus Joan Of Arc is known to history as one of the few successful military leaders of her time and a predecessor of a women's rights leader.