Why Was Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake? The Teenager Who Changed a War

Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on 30 May 1431 because a pro-English church court condemned her as a "relapsed heretic": she had signed a document renouncing her visions and her men's clothing, then went back to both a few days later. She was about nineteen. Behind the legal language lay a simpler political reality. Joan had helped turn the Hundred Years' War against England, and her enemies needed to prove that her victories had not come from God.

Here is how a teenager from a small village ended up leading armies, crowning a king, and facing one of the most famous trials in history.

A country at war with itself

Joan was born around 1412 in Domrémy, in north-eastern France, to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée; her exact birth date is unknown. She grew up in a France that was not just fighting England but tearing itself apart.

The Hundred Years' War had started in 1337. On top of it came a French civil war between two factions, the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. In 1419 supporters of the Dauphin, the heir to the French throne, murdered the Duke of Burgundy, and his son Philip the Good allied with the English. The Treaty of Troyes then married the French king's daughter to Henry V of England and effectively disinherited the Dauphin. By the late 1420s, the future Charles VII was a king without a coronation, and much of northern France was in English or Burgundian hands.

The voices

Around 1425, when she was about thirteen, Joan said that Saint Michael appeared to her surrounded by angels. She later spoke of visions of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret as well. Their message, as she described it, was that she must help the Dauphin and drive the English out of France.

Historians, doctors and believers have argued for centuries about what these voices were. What is beyond dispute is their effect: they gave a peasant girl a certainty that adults around her found either absurd or irresistible.

Talking her way to the king

In May 1428 Joan asked Robert de Baudricourt, the commander at nearby Vaucouleurs, for an escort to the Dauphin's court at Chinon. He refused. She came back in January 1429 and was refused again. On her third attempt, in February 1429, he gave in and sent her with six soldiers. From that point on, she wore men's clothing.

She met Charles at Chinon in late February or early March 1429. The court did not simply trust her. Theologians at Poitiers examined her and found her to be a good Catholic, without deciding where her inspiration came from, and she was then given armour, a sword and a banner, which she designed herself.

Orléans: nine days that changed everything

The city of Orléans had been under English siege for months, and its fall would have opened the south of France. Joan arrived on 29 April 1429. Between 4 and 7 May the French attacked several English forts. On 7 May she was hit by an arrow between the neck and shoulder, and on 8 May the English withdrew and ended the siege.

Military historians still debate how much of the strategy was hers and how much belonged to the experienced captains around her. But morale matters in war, and her presence, carrying her banner at the front, clearly mattered to the soldiers. Centuries later she would be known as the "Maid of Orléans," though in her own letters she called herself Jeanne la Pucelle, "Joan the Maid."

A coronation at Reims

A run of victories followed along the Loire in June 1429, ending with the battle of Patay on 18 June, where the English army was crushed. Joan arrived too late to fight in it, but her urging to pursue the English helped make the victory possible.

Then she pushed for something symbolic: a proper coronation. French kings were traditionally consecrated at Reims, deep in hostile territory. The city opened its gates on 16 July, and on 17 July 1429 Charles VII was consecrated, with Joan given a place of honour. A disputed heir had become an anointed king.

Defeat and capture

After Reims, the momentum faded. An attack on Paris in September 1429 failed, and so did a siege at La Charité later that year; these defeats reduced the court's faith in her. In 1430 she went to help defend Compiègne, and on 23 May she was captured by Burgundian troops. After a failed escape attempt, the Burgundians handed her over to the English in November 1430 for 10,000 francs.

The trial in Rouen

The English did not simply execute her as a prisoner of war. A church court under Bishop Pierre Cauchon, who was pro-English, tried her for heresy. A heresy verdict would brand her voices as false and, by implication, cast doubt on the king she had crowned.

The judges tried to trap her. At one session they asked whether she knew she was in God's grace, a question with no safe answer: "yes" would sound arrogant, "no" would be a confession. Her reply has become famous: if she was not, she prayed God would put her there, and if she was, that God would keep her there.

The prosecution produced 70 articles against her, later reduced to a 12-article indictment. The charges included acting on demonic visions, refusing to submit to the Church's judgment, and wearing men's clothes.

Why she was burned

On 24 May 1431, near the church of Saint-Ouen, she was threatened with immediate burning unless she renounced her visions and gave up soldier's clothing. She agreed and signed. A few days later, around 28 May, she put on men's clothing again and said she had heard her voices again. That made her a relapsed heretic, and on 30 May 1431 she was burned in the Old Marketplace of Rouen.

The trial itself was irregular. Twenty-five years later, a retrial requested by Charles VII declared the original judgment invalid because it was biased and had not followed proper procedure. She was beatified in 1909, canonised by Pope Benedict XV on 16 May 1920, and later declared one of the patron saints of France.

Learn with Joan of Arc: five useful English phrases

Joan's story is a good source of English expressions about courage and conviction:

Phrase	What it means	Example
to stand your ground	to refuse to back down	She stood her ground in the meeting.
to turn the tide	to change the direction of events	The new coach turned the tide.
against all odds	despite very little chance of success	They won against all odds.
a trick question	a question designed to trap you	That interview question was a trick question.
to clear someone's name	to prove someone was not guilty	The retrial cleared her name.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a time someone (you, a friend, a public figure) succeeded against all odds. Use stood their ground or turned the tide at least once. Short, true stories like this are the best practice for speaking naturally.