Claim: Napoleon Bonaparte declared Joan of Arc a national symbol.

Joan of Arc -LRB- Jeanne d'Arc , -LSB- ʒan daʁk -RSB- ; 6 January c. 1412 -- 30 May 1431 -RRB- , nicknamed `` The Maid of Orléans '' -LRB- La Pucelle d'Orléans -RRB- , is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years ' War and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint . Joan of Arc was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée , a peasant family , at Domrémy in north-east France . Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael , Saint Margaret , and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years ' War . The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission . She gained prominence after the siege was lifted only nine days later . Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII 's coronation at Reims . This long-awaited event boosted French morale and paved the way for the final French victory .   On 23 May 1430 , she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction , which was allied with the English . She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges . After Cauchon declared her guilty she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431 , dying at about nineteen years of age .   In 1456 , an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial , debunked the charges against her , pronounced her innocent , and declared her a martyr . In the 16th century she became a symbol of the Catholic League , and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon Bonaparte . She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920 . Joan of Arc is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France , along with Saint Denis , Saint Martin of Tours , Saint Louis , Saint Michael , Saint Rémi , Saint Petronilla , Saint Radegund and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux .   Joan of Arc has remained a popular figure in literature , painting , sculpture , and other cultural works since the time of her death , and many famous writers , filmmakers and composers have created works about her . Cultural depictions of her have continued in films , theater , television , video games , music , and performances to this day .