The Maid of Orleans

Joan d'Arc made her way to one of the large trees that dotted her father's farm in Domremy, France and sat down. Suddenly before her appeared a great light. Frightened, Joan watched as the figure of St. Michael the Archangel took shape. "Go, go daughter of God, into the realm of France. You must drive out the English and bring the king to be crowned." Weeping, Joan cried out: "I am only a poor girl, I could not ride a horse or command soldiers." "God will help thee," St. Michael reassured her.

What was St. Michael asking?, thought Joan. Everyone knew it would take a miracle to stop the English. Since before Joan was born, the French had been locked in a terrible struggle with the English, known as the Hundred Years' War. By the late 1420s, the English were poised to conquer all of France. The French army, weak and worn out from the years of heavy fighting, were in sad spirits. The king, Charles VI, seemed powerless. Suffering from bouts of madness, he was not an effective leader. His son, known as the Dauphin, was afraid to step forward and claim the throne from his father.

Yet many of the French still had hope. For years, tales of a young girl who would rescue France had circulated throughout the country. For others, including the French military leader Captain Robert de Baudricourt, such tales were useless. Then one morning early in 1428, Baudricourt came upon the young Joan d'Arc dressed in a red skirt. "I come before you from my Lord . . . .," she said. My Lord wishes that the Dauphin be made king. . . and it is I who will take him to be crowned." When questioned further about the identity of her Lord, Joan answered that He was "the King of Heaven." Baudricourt at first dismissed her claims. But by 1429, the seventeen-year- old Joan d'Arc, an illiterate peasant from the province of Lorraine, was armed with a sword and leading an army to the city of Chinon where the Dauphin awaited her.

The "Maid of Orleans" did indeed prove the old prophecy to be true. Believing Joan to be divinely inspired, soldiers followed her into battle, and she proved capable of leading them. Throughout the spring and fall of 1429, wearing a heavy coat of armour and riding a magnificent horse, Joan led the French army to victory in a series of important battles at Orleans, Jargeau, Meung, Beaugency, and Patay. She saw the Dauphin, who now became King Charles VII, receive his crown at Rheims. Not content to wait for news of the battles, Joan bravely fought alongside her soldiers. Yet, despite her courage in battle, Joan also wept at the great loss of life she witnessed.

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