Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", is a folk heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family in north-east France. Joan said she had received visions from God instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted in only nine days. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. On 23 May 1430 she was captured at Compiegne by the English-allied Burgundian faction and transferred to the English, put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges, and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was about 19 years old.
Twenty-five years after her execution, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr. Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. She is one of the patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Theresa of Lisieux.
Joan of Arc has been a popular figure in cultural history since the time of her death and many famous writers, filmmakers and composers have created works about her. Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in film, theatre, television, video games, music, and performances to this day.