Joan Of Arc Dbq

Whether you’re catholic, jewish, muslim, or any other religion, you should know about Saint Joan of Arc. She isn’t just a saint. Joan was a french military hero, the first female military hero. Many girls and women all over the world look up to her and find her story inspirational, including me. Without her, France very well may have lost the Hundred Years War against England. She had many victories over the British, including kicking the British out of Reims. If Joan hadn’t of done this, King Charles VII would never have been crowned, and the confusion of the french monarchy could’ve led to disaster. Not only was Joan a hero to people in France, she became a hero to people all over the world. She became a symbol of resistance whenever freedom

seemed to be threatened. In both WWI and WWII people rallied behind her name as a symbol of resistance of tyranny. She has influenced people to stand up for what they believe in, even in the face of death. How did Joan of Arc affect people? The real question is; how didn’t she?
The Hundred Years War was already in full gear when Joan of Arc was born in 1412 into a peasant family in a village in the north east part of France called Domrémy. (history.Com) The first ten years of her life the war was still raging, the black death was killing half of France’s population and the french government was in complete shambles under the rule of King Charles VI, otherwise known as “Charles the Mad”. (Gofen) When he died, his one and only son was supposed to take the thrown. However, Reims, the city where kings were coronated, was taken over by the English so that never happened and France was left with confusion as to who their king was. At the age of 13, Joan began hearing and seeing visions of the saints Michael, Margaret, and Catherine. They told her to break the siege of Orléans, drive the English out of France, and get Charles the Dauphin who later became King Charles VII, crowned king in Reims. Joan, being a very religious girl, obeyed the voices. (Jeanne)
In 1428, when Joan was 16, she ran from home to visit a fortress captain and told him everything.

He thought she was insane and sent her home. In 1429, Joan returned and demanded to see Charles the Dauphin. It is said that she was so persistent, that even when the Dauphin was warned of her arrival and tried to avoid her, she cornered him and told him of the voices. Charles suspected witchcraft or insanity and had Joan examined by a doctor and two noble women. They concluded that not only was Joan sane, she was a virgin too. Everyone became curious when they discovered she was a virgin. This is because a popular prophecy said that a virgin was to come and save France. (history.com) With little to loose, Charles sent Joan to Orléans to try to lift the six month siege with about 500 soldiers. There about ten times as many Englishmen awaited them. Joan’s plan was to have some of the soldiers distract the English troops long enough for Joan and the rest of the french to get into the city with some supplies. After a couples days Joan had convinced most of the citizens of her story and they had a rebellion. This gave the french hope, hope that maybe God had sent a savior in the form of the young

girl.
In the following years Joan was apart of battle after victorious battle. Although she was called a fearless warrior, Joan never fought or actually killed someone. When she was hurt in the siege of Orléans by an arrow in her shoulder, she stayed on the field and continued to encourage and give orders to her men. She was more of a mascot at the battles, the troops’ reason to fight and their motivational inspiration.
In 1430 Joan was captured by the Burgundians, and attempted several escape attempts.

One of these attempts even including her jumping out of her roughly 60 foot tower, surprisingly she survived with little injury. The English then bought her, and sent her to court for 70 charges, one of which including sinful suicide attempt because of her attempted escape. She was on trail for witchcraft and heresy. (Nardo) The English were so set on proving her guilty of these things because they did not want to supply the french with a Martyr, even though in the end their efforts were useless. When her captures became extremely frustrated because of Joan’s skillful answers during the questioning of the trial, the majority of the charges were dropped; leaving only 12. (history.com) During the trial when Joan refused to change her story despite her captures promptings, they threatened torture. Because Joan stood so strongly behind her story the court decided torture would be useless.

(Nardo)
Still, in the end the court found her guilty and sent her to be burned at the stake. On May 30th, 1431 Joan died. When she was tied to the pillar, a peasant felt bad for her and made a small wooden cross that Joan put in the front of her dress. The English burned her ashes twice more after the original burning. If they did not prove that she was dead they feared she would become Joan of Arc the Martyr. However, years later the executioner would claim that Joan’s heart had been found in the ashes. The executioner also confessed that he thought he was eternally damned for burning a holy woman. (Martyr)
Joan’s legend grew more and more famous, not only because of the burning, which many thought was injustice. Pope Benedict XV made Joan of Arc a saint on May 16th, 1920, almost 500 years after her death. Also in 1920, in June, the French Parliament declared a national holiday in Joan’s honor. Joan of Arc was many things; a religious leader, a military hero, a young teenage girl, and an inspiration. (history.com)
People questioned Joan because not only was she just a teenager, she was a girl. At first, no one respected her. Joan worked hard and proved herself worthy of their respect in the countless battles she won and accomplishments she achieved. So many historians dwell on the fact that Joan wore mens clothing; that was also one of her charges when she was on trial. They thought she was bi-sexual or something of that sort. The reason Joan wore men’s clothes was simply that it was easier to get her job done wearing that. Not many women were on the battle field, and if they were, they weren’t riding around in skirts. Joan called herself “Jeanne, la Pucelle” which translates to “Joan the Maiden”. She called herself this because she wanted to people to know she was a woman and she was a virgin, she was proud of that fact. Joan wouldn’t let anything, especially her sexuality get in the way of what she wanted to do. Her goal was simply to fulfill God’s wishes; no mere man was going to distract her from that. She wasn’t interesting in sex, and even with the rumor that Joan did not menstruate, there is no proof of that. Joan was a proud woman with mission to accomplish, and she accomplished it. (Question)
Know as one of the greatest military heroes of her time, Joan engaged in 13 known battles and only lost 4 of them. All four times she lost, it was because she was in a situation where she was not able to match or overpower the enemy’s cannons and gun power. Cannons were almost always used excessively in Joan’s sieges. According to many historians, Joan relied greatly on cannons and would not have won many of the battles she did without them. Joan wasn’t just great with artillery, she also knew military strategies, and was excellent in close combat and a very skilled horse and swordsmen. (Manning)
Some think that Joan was just there as inspiration, a tool the French generals used to motivate their armies. In most of her battles she carried a white banner that showed Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and two angels. Everyone recognized this banner. It inspired her french troops and warned the English that Joan was ready to attack. However, the English should’ve been scared of Joan. Although she did inspire, that was not all Joan did. Her aggressive attacks left no room for empty threats. In July of 1429, Joan’s army had killed over 3,500 English soldiers. Joan threatened that the Englishmen give up Jargeau, in the Siege of Jargeau, or “you will be massacred”. Joan used her impressive amount of cannons and set them all on the town after the English refused, killing 1,100 people in one sitting; both English soldiers and French citizens included. Joan and her banner were a symbol of hope and courage for the French, and fear for the English. (Manning)