In November 1337, in order to compete for the territory of the European continent, King Edward III of England led an army to attack France, and a protracted "Hundred Years' War" broke out between Britain and France.
By the time this protracted war was fought in 1415, the British had occupied most of northern France. In 1420, France was forced to sign the Treaty of Troyes. According to the terms of the treaty, the French prince Charles was stripped of his right to the throne and withdrew to the south; King Henry VI of England also took the French throne, and assigned the vast French territory north of the Royal River to Britain, which was controlled by Britain and the pro-British Burgundy. In 1428, the English launched another major offensive against France, and Orléans, only 60 miles from Paris, once again became a strategic point of contention between Britain and France. It was also at this time that a brave young girl stepped forward to save France, and she was the legendary national heroine of French history, Joan of Arc.
American film star Jane Sissy played Joan of Arc in the 1957 film Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc was born on 6 January 1412 in the village of Durrelais in Lorraine, France, and one day she received a revelation from God in a dream: God told her that the English must be expelled from France and that the crown prince (the unmarried King Charles VII) must be crowned to the throne. France will be "saved by the Virgins of the Lorraine Frontier". So Joan of Arc, out of her religious devotion and loyalty to the king, saw the liberation of France as a sacred mission entrusted to her by God.
In February 1429, at the age of 17, Joan of Arc met with Charles, the Prince of France, declaring that she had brought God's will and pleading with Prince Charles to give her an army to resist the English. The two men looked forward to how to fight foreign enemies in the future, and the name of God also strengthened Charles's confidence in victory over Britain, the atmosphere of the conversation was extremely good, the meeting was a complete success, and Charles VII agreed to lead an army to the aid of Orléans.
On 29 April, Joan of Arc, clad in armor and riding a white horse, led a reinforcement of about 6,000 men and charged the besieging British army with a white flag embroidered with the image of the Virgin Mary. Under joan of Arc's command, the French miraculously inflicted heavy damage on the British and fought a victorious battle. Immediately afterwards, the French struck hard at St. Luke and Fort Ofes, forcing the British to retreat and the siege of Orléans was lifted.
These victories revived hope for the French army, which had been repeatedly frustrated since the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, and Joan of Arc was affectionately known by the local people as "La Pucelle d'Orléans". The British were distraught and gave Joan of Arc the nickname "Witch".
In April 1430, the important town of Kangbian on the left side of the city of Richardham was besieged by the combined forces of the British and Burgundy. On 23 May, Joan of Arc led his army to reinforcements. During the retreat, the commander of the fortress city defense, Flay, fearing that the enemy army would follow the French into the city, ordered the suspension bridge to be pulled up and joan of Arc was kept out of the city, resulting in Joan of Arc's unfortunate fall into the hands of the enemy.
Oil painting "Joan of Arc Leaves Vaucour"
On 21 January, the Burgundian army sold Joan of Arc to the British for a thousand francs. The British were bent on getting rid of Joan of Arc. They persuaded the Catholic Church in France to hand Joan of Arc before the ecclesiastical court for trial and charged her with "witches." The Costs of the Trial were borne by England, the judgment sentencing Joan of Arc to heresy was arranged in advance, and the ecclesiastical courts were assured of the possible adverse consequences of the trial. The Ecclesiastical Court, of course, gladly accepted the English entrustment.
In 1431, the English bribed a French theologian Botuath to preside over the Inquisition of Joan of Arc at the Rouen Inquisition. The Holy See convicted Joan of Arc of more than 70 counts, all of which were refuted by her.
Because Joan of Arc likes to wear men's clothes, has a small and strong body, and has not had menstruation during her imprisonment, these are either demons or witches in the eyes of the enemy. In the end, the Inquisition sentenced Joan of Arc to death at the stake for "dressing in men's clothes," "opposing the church," and "re-engaging in heresy."
On 30 May 1431, Joan of Arc was escorted by the British to the burning table on rouen's Old Market Square. They wore a "stupid top hat" on her head with the words "heretic" written on it as a final humiliation to her. Under the gaze of more than 10,000 people, this small girl was gradually engulfed by the merciless fire. According to eyewitness accounts, Joan of Arc was tied to a stake, and she prayed constantly and called out to Jesus in a firm voice, also asking the priest at the scene to give her a cross to hold. Finally the fire was lit and burned for a long time before it was extinguished, but it was discovered that the fire did not burn Joan of Arc. The executioner had to rekindle the flames and managed to get the heart of the flames to completely envelop Joan of Arc's body so that she could be completely burned as soon as possible. Geoffroy Therage, the executioner in charge of the ignition, recalled: "When the fire was first lit, she called Jesus more than six times, especially when she swallowed her last breath, and she called Jesus in a firm voice. Almost everyone present shed tears of sympathy. "
The English pulled the charred charcoal away to reveal Joan of Arc's charred blackened body, proving to the crowd that she had indeed been burned, and then they burned the body again, throwing the ashes into the Seine so that people would not collect her ashes.
Joan of Arc on the burning rack
After Joan of Arc's sacrifice, all kinds of strange stories about the scene of the burning were not lost. One of the British soldiers present said that when Joan of Arc was about to be burned, he saw a white pigeon fly out of the fire and into the sky. Some onlookers in Rouen claimed that they saw the flames in the midst of the raging fire that day with the words "Jésus (Jesus)".
Statue of Joan of Arc in Notre Dame de Paris
In 1453, when the Hundred Years' War between England and France finally ended and the English were completely expelled from France, Joan of Arc's elderly mother persuaded Pope Calix III to retry Joan of Arc's case. Joan of Arc's case was re-investigated, the court retried the case, the previous trial was annulled, and Joan of Arc's reputation was restored. In 1455, Joan of Arc's ceremony was solemnly held at Notre Dame Cathedral. Now in the hall of Notre Dame Cathedral, you can still see a statue of her wearing a long sword and praying with her hands folded. In May 1920, Joan of Arc was posthumously canonized as a saint by the Holy See, became a saint, and designated the second Sunday of May every year as the "Day of Joan of Arc" to commemorate the maiden who saved France.
In all battles, victory or defeat lies in one heart. - Joan of Arc