Saint Joan of Arc Essay -- European History France England War Essays

Saint Joan of Arc Joan of Arc lived an extraordinary life and accomplished incredible feats during, her brief lifetime. Joan is in a league of her own. As a girl at an absurdly young age and with no military knowledge, she convinces the Dauphin of France that she is a messenger from god and helps lead the most diminished French army drive the English away from French soil. Her remarkable clairvoyance to foresee future events and for things to fall magically in stupefy at least at the beginning of her career, compels one to believe in her saintly powers or in her connection with a higher being. Joan of Arc was born(p) at Doremy in Champagne on January 6, 1412. Witnesses claim that the roosters of the village hailed her birth by crowing long before dawn. She was born to a wealthy farmer, Jacques Darc, and his wife, Isabelle. Joan neer learned to read or write but was very skilled in spinning and sewing. Villagers regarded her as a pious child, and many often cut her knee ling in church, absorbed in prayer. At the age of 12 she first became conscious of her voices. At first it seemed that it was simply a voice that would recite her to Be good and go to church (Pernoud 19). Soon the voices would be accompanied by a light, and she identified them individually as being St. Catherine, St. Margaret, and St. Michael. The voices became insistent, often presentment her two to three times a week that she should go to France and present herself to Robert Baudricourt who commanded for Charles VII in the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs. A month later she travelled with her uncle to see Baudricourt, but with little success, as he told her uncle to Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping (Pernoud 50). Joan... ... more astonishing, her ability to get hold of France to victory during the battle of Orleans where the French were completely surrounded and defeat was almost certain. Her ability to produce wonders one after the other makes one to a great extent pressed not to believe in her saintliness. Joan is a saint and her actions can only be categorized as miracles. Joans life is astounding by any measure, even when one separates the fact from fiction. BibliographyBrooks, Polly Schoyer Beyond the Myth The Story of Joan of Arc. New York Houghton Mifflin Co, 1999. Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc By Herself and Her Witnesses. New York Scarborough House, 1994. Price, Patrick. JoanNet 2004. Feb 2004. http//maidjoan.tripod.com Shaw, Benard. Saint Joan. England Penguin Books, 1924. Williamson, Allen. Joan of Arc Online Archive 2003. Feb 2004. http//archive.joan-of-arc.org