The Hundred Years War had been raging between England and France, and since 1415 the English had been winning. By 1422 English forces, and their Burgundian allies, controlled most of northern France.
It was in 1429 that young Joan first heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. They commanded her to aid the French in reclaiming Rheims, and the throne of France.
She heeded their words and traveled first to Vaucouleurs, where she eventually was given passage to Chinon where the Dauphin was. When she got there, he hid himself amongst his court, but she picked him out of the crowd.
Charles VII, had her questioned by theologians. They told him to use her charismatic nature. On April 27, 1429 he granted her a small army, and she set out for Orleans. There she would help break an English siege and save the city.
Over the next weeks her army defeated the English everywhere it went. She reached Rheims on July 16, and the city opened it's gates to her. The next day Charles VII was crowned king of France.
Throughout the next ten months she would continue to lead her army to victories, but on May 23, 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians, who traded her to the English.
In March 1431 her trial began, in front of ecclesiastical authorities. Declared a heretic, she was turned over to secular authorities on May 29. On May 30, 1431 Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by British forces, in Rouen, France.
But Joan only became a martyr for the French. The tide she had helped turn, never stopped and Charles VII would reconquer all of France, except Calais, which the English eventually turned over. In 1920 the Roman Catholic church officially recognized Joan of Arc as a saint.
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