Joan of Arc

Life events

1. Born

   Born c. 1412 at Domrémy in the Meuse valley, northeast France, to Jacques d'Arc — a peasant farmer with about 20 hectares who served as village tax collector — and Isabelle Romée, who provided her religious education.

2. Other — 1425

   Testified that after a Burgundian raid on Domrémy c. 1425, at about age thirteen, she saw a figure she identified as Saint Michael surrounded by angels in her father's garden; subsequent visions included Saints Margaret and Catherine — almost certainly Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria, both known locally as virgin martyrs.

3. Other — 1429

   After two refusals by garrison commander Robert de Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs, gained an armed escort of six soldiers in February 1429 and traveled to Chinon, where Charles VII received her in late February or early March; a council of theologians at Poitiers declared her a good Catholic and Yolande of Aragon verified her virginity before Charles commissioned plate armor for her.

4. Other — 1429

   Arrived at Orléans on 29 April 1429 with a relief army; on 7 May was struck by an arrow between the neck and shoulder at the assault on Les Tourelles but returned to rally the final assault, and on 8 May the English abandoned the siege — nine days after her arrival.

5. Other — 1429

   Stood at Charles VII's side at his consecration at Reims Cathedral on 17 July 1429, after the Loire Campaign — decisive victories at Jargeau, Beaugency, and Patay — cleared the route north and the Burgundian-held city opened its gates on 16 July.

6. Imprisoned — 1430

   Captured on 23 May 1430 by Burgundian troops during a sortie from Compiègne; made two escape attempts — the second a jump from a tower at Beaurevoir Castle into a dry moat — before being transferred to English custody in November 1430 for 10,000 livres tournois and moved to Rouen.

7. Martyred — 1431

   Convicted of relapsed heresy by an ecclesiastical court presided over by Bishop Pierre Cauchon and executed by burning at Rouen's Vieux-Marché on 30 May 1431 at approximately nineteen years of age; her remains were thrown into the Seine River.

8. Other — 1920

   Beatified by Pope Pius X on 18 April 1909 and canonized by Pope Benedict XV on 16 May 1920; on 2 March 1922 Pope Pius XI declared her one of the patron saints of France in an apostolic letter.

Relationships

Documented claims

• At trial, asked whether she knew she was in God's grace — a scholastic trap, since yes implied heresy and no implied self-confessed guilt — Joan replied that if she was not, she hoped God would put her there, and if she was, she hoped to remain so. A court notary later testified the interrogators were stunned. (certain)
• Joan's wearing of men's clothing was the substantive ground of five articles of accusation at her trial. Witnesses at the 1456 rehabilitation trial testified that guards placed men's clothes in her cell after her abjuration and removed her dress, triggering her conviction as a relapsed heretic and her execution. (certain)
• A retrial that began on 7 November 1455 at Notre-Dame Cathedral and concluded on 7 July 1456 at Rouen Cathedral — hearing about 115 witnesses — nullified the 1431 verdict as unjust and deceitful; authorized by Pope Callixtus III on petition from Joan's mother Isabelle and her brothers Jean and Pierre. (certain)
• Canonized as a Virgin rather than a martyr because the executing court was canonically constituted and condemned her for private revelation rather than for faith in Christ; she has nonetheless been popularly venerated as a martyr since her death. (certain)
• Joan designed her own military banner rather than receiving one from the Dauphin's court and had a sword retrieved from beneath the altar of the church at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois before the Orléans campaign — both acts she framed as divinely directed. (likely)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Joan_of_Arc
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehabilitation_of_Joan_of_Arc
• https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08409c.htm