Joan of Arc

She was born on January 6, 1412, in the small champagne village of Domremi, France. She is the greatest French national heroine, she is even considered a saint, although during her life she was accused of witchcraft and heresy and burned at the stake when she was only nineteen years old. She lived in the period marked by the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), in which the two largest powers at the time, England and France, clashed. She was the daughter of humble peasants. Her two brothers and two sisters died very young, while she lost her parents when the English conquered Domremi, after which her uncle and his wife took care of her. In her early youth, she was a pastor, and she went to church every day to confess. When she was thirteen, she believed she heard the voice of God, and later claimed to have seen St. Michael personally and the first Christian martyrs, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Margaret. As strange as it may sound, Joan of Arc claimed for the rest of her life that the voices of those two women echoed in her head and that they were with her while she was praying. She was only sixteen years old when the voices of the saints ordered her to help the French heir to the throne Charles VII and save France from English supremacy in the Hundred Years' War.

In any case, in 1429, these voices encouraged her to join the commander of the French army and defend her homeland from English attacks. When the city of Orleans was in danger of falling into enemy hands, motivated by religious and national inspiration, in the deep conviction that "heavenly forces" had entrusted it to save France, Joan of Arc asked the future French King Charles VII to assign troops to defend it. a city under siege. Dressed as a man, she went to the prince with no intention of convincing him, his advisers and church dignitaries to support her. To justify her intention, she claimed to have a divine mission to save France, and after convincing them of the truth of her arguments, she was assigned troops to defend Orleans. With the strength of her conviction, she gathered the French army, with which she managed to arouse fanaticism and with which she broke through the English siege of Orleans. On that day, Joan of Arc became the real heroine of her people and many believed that she was a saint. Shortly afterwards, with detachments of French armored vehicles, she defeated the English near Pattaya. She encouraged the indecisive and weak Charles VII to be crowned with the royal crown in Reims and led him to a more energetic fight against the enemy.

A few months later, she refused to obey the royal order and voluntarily set out for Compiègne, near Paris, to take part in his defense. There, during the siege, on May 24, 1930, she was captured by the Burgundians. Although she believed that Charles VII would pay for her ransom and set her free, that did not happen. It was given for safekeeping to John of Luxembourg, who sold it to King Henry VI of England. The English sent her before the church court, because she dared to claim that she was talking to God. She is accused of being a false prophet, wizard, witch and heretic. She is also accused of committing a mass crime by killing English soldiers and ordering atrocities. She first appeared before a church court in Rouen, which was under the direct influence of French priests sympathetic to the English, in February 1431. Joan of Arc defended herself fervently, but in the end she admitted the mistake and was sentenced to life in prison. She was tortured in prison in various ways, only to be executed in the end. When she claimed again that she had acted on a divine command, she was sentenced to death. She was burned at the stake in the town square in Rouen, on May 30, 1431, and her remains were thrown into the Seine.

In 1456, in Paris, with the consent of the Holy See, a procedure was initiated for her rehabilitation. After several witnesses were examined and the entire material from the trial was reviewed, the verdict was annulled and Joan of Arc was rehabilitated. She was beatified only in 1909, and was proclaimed a saint in 1920, at the time of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV. Today he represents one of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church; it is celebrated every May 30th.

Numerous writers, delighted with the personality of Joan of Arc, covered her life and exploits. Over time, she became one of the most artistically portrayed historical figures in the world. She was also the inspiration for the emergence of various legends and contradictory ideologies. In almost six centuries, thousands of books and as many scientific papers have been written about it; a large number of films have been made about her life. In Paris, in 1874, a monument was erected to her - a four-meter high gilded bronze sculpture, depicting Joan of Arc on horseback, with a flag in her hand. She is still the embodiment of French patriotism.