60 Fun Facts About Joan of Arc

About how old was Joan when she was executed?

Her exact birth date is unknown and her own statements about her age were vague.

In which village in north-east France was Joan born around 1412?

It sits in the Meuse valley and is now in the Vosges department.

Which long conflict between England and France was Joan born into?

It had begun in 1337 over English lands in France and English claims to the French crown.

What was the name of Joan's mother, who later petitioned the pope to clear her daughter's name?

Joan's father was Jacques d'Arc, a peasant farmer with about 50 acres who also collected the village taxes.

How many siblings did Joan have?

Two of her brothers, Jean and Pierre, joined their mother's petition for a retrial in 1454.

How did Joan usually sign the letters she dictated?

She may never have heard herself called 'Jeanne d'Arc'; the first record of that name dates from 1455, 24 years after her death.

How was her father's surname recorded at her trial?

'Darc' without an apostrophe was the usual spelling; there was no standard form before the sixteenth century.

Which saint did Joan say first appeared to her, with angels, in her family's garden when she was about thirteen?

He was a patron of the area around her village and seen as a defender of France; the visions often came when church bells rang.

Besides the archangel, Joan said two female martyr saints spoke to her. Which pair?

They were probably Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria, the two best known in her region.

A prophecy in Joan of Arc's youth that a banner-carrying maiden would save France was attributed to whom?

Another, based on the visions of Marie Robine of Avignon, promised an armed maiden would save France.

Which garrison commander at Vaucouleurs twice refused Joan an escort before finally relenting in 1429?

Two of his own soldiers, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy, had by then become her supporters.

Which sick nobleman summoned Joan to Nancy for a cure, only to be scolded over his mistress?

She offered no cures at all.

How many soldiers escorted Joan on her journey to meet the Dauphin?

Before setting out she put on men's clothes provided by her escorts, and never went back to women's dress by choice.

At which royal residence did Joan first meet the Dauphin Charles in early 1429?

She was about seventeen; he was twenty-six.

To which city was Joan sent to be examined by theologians before being trusted with a mission?

They called her a good Catholic and said sending her to the besieged city would test whether her inspiration was divine.

Which royal mother-in-law directed the women who examined Joan and confirmed her virginity?

The point was to prove she could be the prophesied maiden and had not consorted with the Devil.

From under the altar of which church did Joan have her sword brought to her?

The Dauphin also commissioned plate armour for her, and she designed her own banner.

From which town did Joan set out in late April 1429 with the army carrying supplies to Orléans?

Orléans was the last obstacle before an assault on the rest of the Dauphin's territory.

Which commander, known as 'the Bastard' and later Count of Dunois, got Joan into the besieged city?

She was at first treated as a morale-raising figurehead and given no formal command.

On which feast day, 5 May 1429, did no fighting take place at the siege?

Joan used the pause to dictate another letter to the English, tied to a bolt and fired by a crossbowman.

What was the name of the main English stronghold at the siege, stormed on 7 May 1429?

Joan was hit by an arrow between neck and shoulder in the trench there but came back for the final assault.

How many days after Joan's arrival did the English abandon the siege?

They withdrew on 8 May, a date the city has celebrated every year since 1429.

Who commanded the Loire campaign alongside Joan and regularly took her advice?

After the failed attack on Paris she was never allowed to serve with him again.

At which town in June 1429 did a stone split Joan's helmet as she climbed a siege ladder?

The town fell the same day; many English who surrendered were killed.

At which battle on 18 June 1429 was the English army routed after Joan urged pursuit?

Hidden English archers were spotted and scattered by the vanguard; the English commander escaped with a handful of men.

Which English commander escaped the rout with a small band while many other leaders were captured?

He had marched from Paris and linked up with the Meung garrison, unnoticed by the French.

Which town alone resisted Joan of Arc's march to the coronation, surrendering after she filled the moat?

It had a small English and Burgundian garrison; the treaty signed there in 1420 had disinherited the Dauphin.

In which city was Charles VII consecrated king on 17 July 1429, with Joan given a place of honour?

It was the traditional coronation site of French kings and had been in Burgundian hands.

Where on her body was Joan of Arc wounded by a crossbow bolt during the 1429 assault on Paris?

She lay in a trench beneath the walls until rescued after dark; the king called off the attack next morning.

Outside which besieged town was Joan captured by Burgundian troops on 23 May 1430?

She had set out with volunteers without documented royal permission, as the king was observing a truce.

Shortly before her capture, Joan let townspeople execute which captured mercenary instead of ransoming him?

He commanded an Anglo-Burgundian force she defeated at Lagny-sur-Marne.

From the tower of which castle did Joan jump into a dry moat in an escape attempt?

It was her second escape attempt; in November 1430 she was moved on to Arras.

How much did the English pay to obtain Joan from her Burgundian captors?

There is no evidence that Charles VII tried to save her once she was in English hands.

Which bishop presided over Joan's trial for heresy?

A partisan of Burgundy and England, he had helped negotiate her transfer; the English subsidised the trial and paid him.

Of which diocese was the presiding bishop at her trial?

He tried to follow inquisitorial procedure but never established her infamy first, as canon law required.

In which city, the English headquarters in France, was Joan tried and executed?

The trial opened on 9 January 1431.

How many clergy took part in Joan's trial, all but eight of them French?

Two-thirds were linked to the University of Paris, but most were pro-Burgundian and pro-English.

Asked whether she knew she was in God's grace — a theological trap — how did Joan answer?

A yes would have been heresy, a no a confession; a court notary said the interrogators were stunned.

How many articles summarising the heresy charge did Joan's trial send to the University of Paris?

The university approved them; five of the original accusations concerned her cross-dressing.

In the churchyard of which abbey did Joan sign an abjuration on 24 May 1431?

She promised not to bear arms or wear men's clothes, exchanged her clothes for a dress and had her head shaved.

What act, days after her abjuration, allowed the court to condemn Joan as a relapsed heretic?

Witnesses at the retrial said guards had put the clothes in her cell; she also said her voices had rebuked her for abjuring out of fear.

On what date in 1431 was Joan burned at the stake?

The date is now her feast day in the Catholic Church.

What was the name of the marketplace where she was executed?

She was tied to a tall plastered pillar and handed straight to the English rather than the city bailiff.

Who gave Joan the small cross, made from a stick, that she kissed as she died?

A processional crucifix was also fetched from a nearby church and held before her eyes.

Into which river were Joan's remains thrown after her execution?

The city stands on the river downstream of Paris.

Which rival child king was crowned at Notre-Dame in Paris in 1431, months after Joan's death?

He was ten; the 1420 treaty had made him nominal heir to a dual monarchy.

The war ended 22 years after Joan's death with a French victory at which battle?

The English were driven from all of France except Calais.

In which year did the rehabilitation trial overturn Joan's conviction?

A copy of the Articles of Accusation was formally torn up and a cross ordered for the site of her death.

Which poet wrote a verse celebrating Joan as sent by Divine Providence, just after the coronation?

It reflected French optimism after the triumph on the Loire.

Which ruler revived the Orléans festival for Joan in 1803 and ordered a new statue of her?

He said she proved 'there is no miracle which French genius cannot accomplish when national independence is threatened'.

Which pope declared in 1894 that Joan's mission had been divinely inspired?

The 1456 retrial had cleared her but never pronounced her visions authentic.

In which year was Joan canonized?

Pope Benedict XV made her a saint on 16 May; she had been beatified in 1909.

Under which category was Joan canonized, rather than as a martyr?

A canonically constituted court had executed her for her private revelation, not for her faith in Christ.

Which Vietnamese religion counts Joan among the figures it reveres?

The Church of England also commemorates her as a visionary on 30 May.

Which pope beatified Joan of Arc in 1909?

Benedict XV canonised her in 1920, and Pius XI named her a patron saint of France in 1922.

On which date does the Catholic Church keep Joan of Arc's feast day?

It marks the anniversary of her execution in Rouen in 1431.

Which English victory over an Armagnac relief convoy coincided with Joan's third meeting with Baudricourt?

The February 1429 defeat helped persuade Baudricourt to let her travel to Chinon.

Which town did Joan's army fail to take in late 1429, abandoning its artillery in the retreat?

The defeat, after the failed siege of Paris, further reduced the court's faith in her.

On which date did France's Third Republic hold a civic holiday honouring Joan's victory at Orléans?

After the Franco-Prussian War she became a rallying symbol for reclaiming Lorraine, the province of her birth.

Roughly what share of the clergy at Joan's trial were associated with the University of Paris?

Most were pro-Burgundian and pro-English, and the English subsidised the trial, including payments to Cauchon.