Joan of Arc grew up in a small French village during the Hundred Years’ War - a long, bitter conflict between England and France. From around age 13 she said she could hear voices from saints telling her to help drive the English out of France and put a young French prince on the throne.
Almost unbelievably, she talked her way past skeptical soldiers, reached the prince, and convinced him to give her troops. At 17, dressed in white armor and carrying a banner, she helped the French army break the long English siege of the city of Orléans. The young prince was crowned king with Joan standing nearby.
Less than two years later she was captured, sold to the English, and put on trial. At 19 she was burned at the stake in the city of Rouen. Hundreds of years later, the Catholic Church declared her a saint, and today she is one of France’s most beloved heroes.
