Joan of Arc Trivia
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60 free Joan of Arc trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Joan of Arc trivia quiz follows the Maid from the village where she first heard voices to the marketplace where she was burned, and on to the retrial that cleared her and the canonization five centuries later. It covers her family and the divided France she was born into, the saints she said appeared to her, the garrison commander who twice sent her home, the examinations by theologians and by matrons, the relief of Orléans and the Loire campaign, the coronation of Charles VII, the failed assault on Paris, her capture in a sortie, the leap from a tower window, the ransom the English paid, the trial run by a partisan bishop, the abjuration and the relapse, and her death. The easy questions cover the outline: which war she fought in, the city she saved, how she died and when she became a saint. The harder half is for readers who know the trial transcripts: how her surname was actually spelled, the church where her sword was found, the feast day on which fighting paused, the mercenary she let a town execute, the sum paid for her, how many clergy sat on her trial, the tower she jumped from, the pope who declared her mission divine, and the far-flung religion that still reveres her. Every answer was checked against Joan of Arc's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Hundred Years' War, medieval history and Henry V quizzes next.
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Q 01Joan of Arc was born into what kind of family?
Peasants
Peasants, though far from the poorest in the village: her father also served as a local official, collecting taxes and heading the watch.
Q 02In which village in north-east France was Joan of Arc born around 1412?
Domrémy
Domrémy. The village has since added her nickname to its own: it is now Domrémy-la-Pucelle, 'Domrémy of the Maid'.
Q 03Which war between England and France was Joan of Arc born into?
The Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War. Despite its name it dragged on, with long truces, for 116 years, from 1337 to 1453, and was already in its eighth decade when she was born.
Q 04What did Joan of Arc's mother, Isabelle Romée, spend her last years doing?
Clearing Joan's name
Clearing Joan's name. Her appeals to the pope at last brought a retrial, and at its opening in Notre-Dame in Paris she pleaded in person for justice for her daughter.
Q 05Where did two of Joan's brothers serve?
Her army
Her army. Jean and Pierre both fought alongside her, and when the king ennobled the whole family they took a new name, du Lys, from the lilies on its coat of arms.
Q 06Rather than 'Jeanne d'Arc', which spelling appears on Joan of Arc's surviving signatures?
Jehanne
Jehanne. She never learned to read or write and dictated her letters, yet three of the last carry her own signature: this medieval spelling of Jeanne, with no surname at all.
Q 07Which Irish playwright wrote the play Saint Joan?
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw. His preface argues that her judges gave her a fairer trial than a modern court would, and his biographer called the result 'a tragedy without villains'.
Q 08Which saint did Joan say first appeared to her, with angels, in her family's garden when she was about thirteen?
Michael
Michael. Joan told her judges she saw the archangel and his angels as plainly as she saw them, and that she wept when they left because she wished they had taken her along.
Q 09Which two female saints did Joan say spoke to her and guided her mission?
Margaret and Catherine
Margaret and Catherine. Asked at her trial whether St Margaret spoke English, Joan shot back: why would she, when she was not on the English side?
Q 10A prophecy that a maid would come from an oak wood near Joan of Arc's home was credited to whom?
Merlin
Merlin. The saying came from an old book of the wizard's prophecies, and courtiers asked her about the oak wood near her village; Joan told her judges she put no faith in it.
Q 11The captain Joan begged for an escort told her kinsman to take her home and do what?
Box her ears
Box her ears. Robert de Baudricourt said it more than once, her kinsman Durand Laxart recalled, yet at their third meeting he gave Joan her escort and sent her off with the words 'Go, and let come what may.'
Q 12Which sick nobleman summoned Joan to Nancy for a cure, only to be scolded over his mistress?
The Duke of Lorraine
The Duke of Lorraine. Joan told him she knew nothing of cures and urged him to take back his wife, then asked him for an escort; he sent her away with four francs and a horse.
Q 13How did Joan's escort avoid enemy soldiers while riding to the Dauphin?
By night
Q 21At Les Tourelles in Orléans, what befell Joan exactly as she had foretold?
She was wounded
She was wounded. A letter written from Lyon on 22 April had already recorded her prediction; she went back to the fight all the same, and the fort fell that evening.
Q 22When the English abandoned the siege of Orléans, why did Joan forbid her captains to pursue them?
It was a Sunday
It was a Sunday, the townsmen testified. The armies had faced each other in battle order that morning, but she would neither attack nor give chase; within ten days of her arrival, a siege of nearly seven months was over.
Q 23Joan told the Duke of Alençon to move from where he stood; what happened there moments later?
By night. English and Burgundian soldiers held the roads, one of her escorts recalled, so the party rode mostly in darkness for eleven days and still reached the Dauphin's court unharmed.
Q 14At which royal residence did Joan first meet the Dauphin Charles in early 1429?
Chinon
Chinon. To test her, Charles is said to have hidden among his courtiers, but she picked him out at once and then spoke with him alone.
Q 15A theologian with a thick regional accent asked what language Joan's voices spoke; what did she reply?
A better one than yours
"A better one than yours." Seguin, a Dominican professor who spoke the Limousin dialect, told the story himself years later; his panel at Poitiers still found only good in her and advised sending her to Orléans.
Q 16Before Joan was given troops, court ladies led by the Dauphin's mother-in-law examined her to confirm what?
Her virginity
Her virginity. Yolande of Aragon reported the finding to the Dauphin herself, which backed Joan's claim to be the promised Maid, and then helped ready the supply convoy for Orléans.
Q 17Where did Joan say the sword her voices revealed was found?
Buried by an altar
Buried by an altar, in the church at Fierbois, by her own account. Joan said the clergy there rubbed the sword and the rust fell away at once, without effort.
Q 18Who led the relief army out of Blois singing hymns, on Joan's orders?
A company of priests
A company of priests. Joan had a banner made for them at Blois, and they led the soldiers and the supply wagons out of town singing Veni Creator Spiritus.
Q 19The Bastard of Orléans testified that what suddenly changed as Joan arrived, letting the supply boats reach the city?
The wind
The wind. It had been blowing against the boats, and the city's commander swore it turned the moment she spoke; from then on, he said, he put his hope in her.
Q 20How did Joan send the English a warning on Ascension Day 1429?
Tied to an arrow
Tied to an arrow. The letter was shot into the English lines at Orléans with a cry of 'Read, here is news!'; they shouted back insults that left her in tears.
A cannonball killed a man
A cannonball killed a man, the lord who had stepped into his place. Alençon told the story himself: Joan had promised his anxious wife to send him home unharmed.
Q 24What did Joan do after a stone knocked her off a ladder at Jargeau?
Cheered the men on
Cheered the men on. Thrown down when the stone struck her helmet, she rose crying 'Up, friends, up!', and the town fell that same day.
Q 25Which weapon did Joan of Arc's army overrun at Patay before its users could dig in?
The longbow
The longbow. A startled stag made the hidden English archers shout and give away their position, and the French horsemen charged before they were ready; the rout ended England's name for invincibility.
Q 26Which English commander escaped the rout at Patay while the other leaders were captured?
Sir John Fastolf
Sir John Fastolf. Accused of cowardice for leaving the field, he was later cleared, and the real man was a brave career soldier, nothing like Shakespeare's Falstaff, who borrowed his name.
Q 27Which town, where a 1420 treaty had promised France to England's king, gave in once Joan began filling its moat?
Troyes
Troyes. After days outside the walls the Dauphin's council could not agree what to do; Joan argued for an assault, had the moat filled with wood, and the town yielded before the attack began.
Q 28In which city was Charles VII consecrated king on 17 July 1429, with Joan given a place of honour?
Reims
Reims. Asked later why her banner, and not the other captains', was carried into the cathedral that day, Joan said it had shared the hardship, so it was only right that it should share the honour.
Q 29After a crossbow bolt wounded Joan before Paris in 1429, what did the king's council order next day?
A retreat from the city
A retreat from the city. Joan and the Duke of Alençon wanted to attack again, but they were overruled, and before the month was out the king had disbanded the army.
Q 30Outside which besieged town was Joan captured by Burgundian troops in May 1430?
Compiègne
Compiègne. As her sortie fell back, the way into the town was closed with her rearguard still outside, and a Burgundian soldier dragged her from her horse.