Joan of Arc -- The Maid

Joan was born in 1412 in a part of France that had long been at war with the English. When she was thirteen she was visited by angels and saints who urged her to go and help King Charles in his battle with the English. When she was sixteen she left home and tried to join the army but was sent home before she got to see the king.

As the war went on and things did not go well for the French, the voices of Joan's angels became stronger. She said, "I am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight." The voices said: "It is God who commands it." She tried again to join the army but this time the king agreed to see her. He disguised himself to test her, but Joan recognized him right away and told him things she had learned in her visions. The king sent Joan to be tested by bishops and doctors who found her faithful and honest. No one was sure that angels had really visited Joan, but they agreed to let her help with the war.

The king offered Joan a sword, but instead she asked for one that the angels told her was buried behind the altar in the chapel of a church. The sword was exactly where they said it would be.

Joan said that she would be wounded by a shaft but would not die and would win the battle. She also said the king would be crowned in the summer. Everything happened as she said it would. The war continued. At the end of the summer Joan was wounded again by an arrow in her thigh and she gave up fighting for the winter during a time of peace.

In April when the peace ended, Joan went into battle again. Her voices had told her that she would be taken prisoner. Just as they said, Joan was trapped and pulled from her horse. Joan tried to escape but could not. Charles did not try to save her. The English were afraid of Joan because of her visions and hated her because she had beaten them. They put her on trial as a witch. Joan was not allowed to have anyone to speak for her. After she tried to escape by jumping from a window she was kept in an iron cage with chains on her neck, feet and hands. She was not allowed to go to church.

The judges said Joan's visions and voices were evil and if she refused to admit that she made them up she was to be burned. Even though they threatened to torture her, she refused. Since she was also charged with wearing men’s clothes in battle, her jailers found a way to get her to put them on again. When she was found in men’s clothes, the judges said she must be burned at the stake. Joan asked for a cross which was held up before her while she died. To the end she held fast to her beliefs.