Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, who called herself "Joan the Maiden" and is now nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War. She was convicted and burnt at the stake as a heretic, but her conviction was later overturned.

After Charles' consecration, Joan and John II, Duke of Alençon's army besieged Paris. An assault on the city was launched on 8 September. It failed, and Joan was wounded. The French army withdrew and was disbanded. In October, Joan was participating in an attack on the territory of Perrinet Gressart, a mercenary who had been in the service of the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. After some initial successes, the campaign ended in a failed attempt to take Gressart's stronghold at La-Charité-sur-Loire. Joan was back at the French court at the end of the year, where she learned that she and her family had been ennobled by Charles.

Joan's birthplace in Domrémy is now a museum. The village church where she attended Mass is to the right, behind the trees.

In February, around the time the English captured an Armagnac relief convoy for Orléans at the Battle of the Herrings, Baudricourt agreed to a third interview with Joan. Metz and Poulengy's enthusiastic support for her.

While Joan was alive, she was already being compared to biblical women heroes, such as Esther, Judith, and Deborah. She fulfilled the traditionally male role of a military leader, while maintaining her status as a brave and valiant woman. Her claim of virginity, which signified her virtue and sincerity, was upheld by women of status from both the Armagnac and Burgundian-English sides of the Hundred Years' War: Yolande of Aragon, Charles's mother-in-law, and Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford. Joan has been described as representing the best qualities of both sexes. She heeded her inner experience,fought for what she believed in, and encouraged others to do the same.

Joan of Arc statue in Orléans, by Denis Foyatier, 1855