joan of arc
Joan of Arc or in French Jeanne d'Arc, was born in 1412. She was a French peasant girl who led the French army against the English during the Hundred Years' War. She is also called the Maid of Orleans. She is a French national heroine and patron saint. When Joan was about 13 years old she began to hear voices which some believe were those of Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, and Saint Michael. The voices gave her the mission of liberating France from English domination. She kept the messages secret for about 5 years, and only in 1429 did she leave her home in Domremy, Champagne, and travel with an escort to the court of the dauphin which was supposedly to be that of King Charles VII. The Treaty of Troyes of 1420 was had deprived King Charles of his rights as heir to the French throne. At that time the English were besieging Orleans. After a group of theologians tested her, Charles was persuaded to reassemble his troops and place them under Joan's command in an expedition to relieve the city. In 8 days during May 1429, she lifted the siege that had lain on Orleans for 8 months. In June 1429, Joan and her troops were able to free the French and consequently king Charles was coronated.After Charles became king, he and Joan disagr
Joan's trial began on Wednesday, February 21, 1431. After three weeks of cross-examination, Cauchon began to worry about his lack of evidence against Joan. She did not confess to any of her accusations. Cauchon needing more evidence turned to a method of cross-questioning and using Joan's answers came up twelve separate charges against her. Cauchon claimed that those charges were based on answers from Joan's own mouth. Joan, who could neither read nor write, could only respond to questions that were verbally put to her. After all the evidence was presented against her, Joan was asked to sign a "statement of faults" or "confession." Joan stood firm and resisted sighing the confession. Consequently on May 9, 1431, Joan was taken to a torture chamber in the bishop's castle. She was made aware of the terrible instruments of pain and was threatened to be a victim of them. However her captors never physically harmed her. She still did not agree to sigh the confession so on May 23rd, Joan was taken to the cemetery at the Abbey where the bishop created a scenario that she was going to be burnt at the stake. It was just an act just to frighten Joan whose greatest fear was of being burned alive. However all the efforts were futile and the confession was not achieved. Cauchon then deceived her by reading a short version of the confession. It stated that if she signed it, she would agree never to carry arms, wear soldier's clothes, or cut her hair short. Cauchon then read the sentence of the court: Death by burning at the stake. Cauchon took advantage of Joan's inability to read and verify the eight-line confession before she signed it, had Joan been represented by a lawyer, she would have discovered Cauchon's treachery and would never have signed the substituted statement. Joan was not turned over to the church, as she was told she would be. Instead, was im
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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