Joan Notebook | Diary of a Feminist

Hello, I am Joan of Arc. 

I am considered a French heroine for my deeds in the Hundred Years’ War.

I was born into a peasant family and led a quiet life when I began to hear divine calls to help King Charles VII deliver France from English rule.

I had audiences with bishops and cardinals to show them that I was the right person to save my nation. I convinced them all! I even convinced the King. I won his trust and he gave me the command of a small army to solve the siege of Orleans. After only nine days, the battle ended in France’s favor, and thus I gained the trust of the King, the nobility, and also of the people.

I always served my country, but one day in 1430 I was captured by the Borguignons (a group of Frenchmen who supported the English) who handed me over to the English government. They accused me of heresy and witchcraft and I was eventually found guilty. I was executed alive at the stake on May 30, 1431 when I was 19 years old.

Twenty-five years after my death my trial was re-examined and my innocence was finally proclaimed, formally declaring me a martyr of the church. In 1803 I was officially declared a national symbol of France by decision of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. I was beatified in 1909 and finally canonized in 1920 by the Vatican.

Today I am one of the 9 patron saints of France and remain a popular figure in my country and in the world.