Joan Of Arc summary: Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in France. Most of her childhood was relatively uneventful, until in 1424, when she began having visions. In her visions, Saint Margaret, Saint Catherine, and Saint Michael told Joan that she needed to support King Charles VII and help rid France of the English. During the many battles of the Hundred Years War that were to come, despite her young age, Joan, a simple peasant girl, was instrumental in capturing Orleans. This accomplishment was immense, but she later went on to capture Rheims, Paris, and numerous other towns in an effort to free France from the English.
While the French revered her for her accomplishments, the English declared her a heretic. Joan was captured eventually by the Burgundians, who exchanged Joan to the English for money. Joan was imprisoned for some time prior to her trial. The English tried to question her intensively during her trial, but Joan remained silent throughout. This enraged her captors, and they quickly convicted her. They sentenced her to death.
On May 30, 1431, at the age of 19, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for her crimes against the English. In 1456, Pope Callixtux III declared that Joan was innocent of her crimes; at this time, she became a martyr. In 1909, Joan of Arc was beatified, which meant that she was accorded the power to intervene on behalf of those who prayed in her name. In 1920, she was canonized, which is an official declaration of Sainthood.