|| Personal Life Story of Joan Arc and How She inspired The World ||
Joan of Arc, “Maid of Orleans and France” was born to peasant parents in 1412 in Domremy, a far flung and remote village located in the north-east of France. Her father was a rich tenant farmer. She learned how to spin, sew and cook and also pray and love God. She used to spend much or her time in the praying. She is the guardian saint of France and regarded as a great heroine and martyr. Her life and death have become legends and acquired the flavor our mythology.
She symbolized great patriotism and the power of abiding faith, confidence and rock-firm determination to remain invincible and strong in the face of heavy odds. She has been one of the most romantic figures in European wars.
At the young age of 13 she began to hear voices and see visions which inspired and encouraged her to liberate France from the English domination. The inner voices inspired her and her faith and conviction made her strong enough to face any crisis. at last she was able to convince the weak and vacillating Dauphin to meet her, the “cow girl” as the English generals and troops called her in contempt.
|| Struggling Days of Arc She faced Many Discrimination ||
In 1429 she finally left her home in Champagne, clad in a suit of white Armour and flying her own standard. She entered Orleans in 1429 leading the French forces and troops. It looks her eight days to liberate Orleans which forced the English to retreat. Consequently Dauphin was crowned king as Charles VII at Rheims. But unfortunately, Joan was captured by the Burgundian’s in 1430 and sold to the English. Her deep faith in God and her prayers to them sustained her during the crisis.
She was put on trial for heresy, sorcery and treason and then finally burned at the stake on 30th May, 1431 at Rouen. When she was captured at Compiegne it was realized that how brave and bold he was and how valiantly she fought doing deeds beyond the nature of a woman and as the chief and most valiant of her brand.
During all this and prosecution she heard voices from within which became a source of great comfort, solace and confidence persecuted by a French Bishop and scholar Cauchon and accused of being a witch claimed false visions and voices.
|| During Period 16th and 17th Centuries ||
She brought honour and glory of France, but she was soon forgotten by her own people for many centuries. She was beatified by the Pope in 1909 and then canonized in 1920. Now her Fast Day is observed on 30th May every year. In July 1456, an enquiry instituted by the self same weak and vacillating French King, found her completely innocent and free from the charges of witchcraft and sorcery.
Now there are monuments to the memory of his great heroine, patriot and martyr of France in several towns and colonies of the country, but then her only monument in Orleans was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Another which replaced it in 1803 came to the notice Napoleon. This history book of the 16th and 17th centuries hardly mentions her. Consideration of Joan’s canonization began only in the beginning of the 19th century and then she was finally declared a Saint on May 16, 1920.
|| Great Roles by Joan Arc ||
Today is a role model of exemplary courage, abiding faith, great patriotism and sacrifice and her name is mentioned with great pride and reverence. She made the supreme sacrifice in the darkest struggled and fought bravely for the better example of a woman who of the heavy odds. She was grossly misjudged. Misunderstood and wrongly executed so cruelly on the stake.
There had been a long war between France and England because the latter tried to dominate France. This series of wars is famous in history as the Hundred Years of Wars. When Charles VI, the king of France died in 1328 without any direct heir, his cousin Philip VI was made king. But Charles’s nephew, Edward II of England claimed the French throne and crown and declared the himself king of France and England.
There was a short truce between the traditional rivals from 1347 to 1355, but when it exploded into a fresh war and the English scored a major victory in 1360 and the subsequent Treaty of Bretigny gave British king large part of France. Again there was truce for 20 years from 1396.
But once again Henry V of England invaded France in 1415 and defeated the French in the battle of Agincourt. Finally Joan of Arc successfully defended Orleans by leading the French forces in 1429 but then she was ultimately defeated and captured. The French recaptured and regained their territories in 1453 and with that ended the Hundred Years long War and rivalry.
|| Achievements of Joan ||
Joan’s life and martyrdom symbolize the indomitable missionary spirit and patriotism of the highest kind. She gave to France the honour and confidence that it had lost, despairing after being vanquished by the enemy. Initially she was disowned and betrayed by her own people and the church to which she owed all her allegiance and loyalty.
She was proclaimed a witch and sorcerer and representation of the evil but ultimately she came to symbolize all that is good, true, noble, ideal and worthy of imitation and emulation. Now she has come to symbolize that entire woman can do and achieve in the face of heavy odds because of her own personal courage, confidence, faith and inner strength.