In 1431 Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for heresy.
In 1337 the Hundred Years War began between England and France when Edward III refused to pay homage to French King Philip VI (in the traditional manner) and subsequently had his lands in Aquitaine confiscated.
Edward III invaded France and war continued for many generations. Edward III great-grandson, Henry V, was a warrior King and skilled fighter. He inherited the throne on the 21st of March 1415 and within two years as king, Henry V, led his men to success in battle of Agincourt against a vastly larger French army. Despite his supplies being low and his men having marched for two and a half weeks Henry fought in hand to hand combat leading his army to victory on the 25th of October 1415. Between 1417 and 1419 King Henry V continued his military campaign with the “Conquest of Normandy” and the siege of Rouen (31st of July 1418 – 19th January 1419). When Rouen surrendered the French monarch, King Charles VI, signed the Treaty of Troyes which gave Henry the hand of his daughter, Catherine of Valois, in marriage and promised the throne to Henry V and his descendants upon his death. On the 2nd of June 1420 Henry married Catherine of Valois and on the 6th of December 1421 she gave birth to their son Henry.
When Henry V died aged 35 on the 31st of August 1422 his son became Henry VI of England and one month later inherited the French throne just one month later at the age of 11 months.
The Hundred Years War continued when the son of King Charles VI claimed the French throne as Charles VII of France and ruled the land south of the Loire River with Henry VI’s Regent, John Lancaster, ruling the North of France.
The French army had suffered many defeats and lost substantial land especially at the hands of Henry V but the tide of war was soon to change.
A French peasant girl began to hear voices at the age of sixteen. Believing them to be the voices of saints ordering her to free France from the English she approached Charles VII. Joan convinced Charles of her divinity and gave her the small force and mission to aid the besieged castle. Her success led to her growing popularity and the brave young girl led French troops to many victories against the English.
With Joan came new hope and renewed energy in the French army. The defeat of the English at the besieged castle in Orleans was the first major victory for the French for decades and would lead to many more. Continued victories by Joan’s armies would eventually lead to France winning the war after 116 years and Charles VII reclaiming the French throne for his people. But Joan would not survive to see the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453 or the victory her bravery secured for France.
Joan of arc was captured by the English allies on the 23rd May 1430 and given to English forces in Normandy. She was put on trial for heresy among other charges and after being found guilty, burnt at the stake on the 30th of May 1431 aged 19. 25 years after her trial Pope Callixtus III examined the evidence and pronounced her innocent of heresy and proclaimed her a Martyr.
