Joan of Arc Enters Orléans: A Teenage Girl Changes the Course of a War

Joan of Arc in armor riding a horse into the gates of Orléans while citizens cheer

What Happened?

By age 16, Joan of Arc claimed she heard the voices of saints—St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret—urging her to lift the English siege of Orléans and secure the crown for Charles VII. While others scoffed, Charles gave her command of a small force. What followed defied all military logic—and shocked a continent.

On April 29, 1429, Joan entered Orléans unopposed through its eastern gate, while a French sortie distracted the English on the west. She brought desperately needed reinforcements and supplies, but more importantly, she brought belief. In the week that followed, she would be wounded by an arrow and return to battle the same day. By May 8, the siege was broken. The English retreated. The impossible had become real.

Over the next two months, Joan helped win a string of victories that cleared a path to Reims, where Charles VII was crowned king—with Joan kneeling beside him. Her triumph wasn’t just military—it was symbolic. She became a living contradiction: a woman wielding a sword in a man’s war, a peasant guiding kings, a teenager claiming divine insight in a world ruled by priests and patriarchs.

But power has enemies, and prophecy threatens empires. Captured in 1430, Joan was sold to the English, put on trial for heresy, and condemned not for her weapons, but for her voice. Her visions were declared blasphemy. Her armor? A perversion. On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at age 19. Her last word was said to be 'Jesus.'

Years later, Charles VII ordered a retrial. Her conviction was overturned. In 1920, Joan of Arc—peasant, general, martyr—was canonized a saint. Her journey from battlefield to sainthood remains one of the most extraordinary stories in human history.

Why It Matters

Joan of Arc’s entrance into Orléans wasn’t just a military maneuver—it was a moment of myth-making in real time. She rewrote what faith, resistance, and femininity could look like in a time when the world left little room for any of it. Joan didn’t just fight for France—she lit a fire that still burns in every movement that dares to say: history can be different, if you’re brave enough to fight for it.

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Dig Deeper

Martyr, saint and military leader Joan of Arc, acting under divine guidance, led the French army to victory over the English during the Hundred Years' War.

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