Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( , ; ca . 1412 – 30 May 1431 ) , nicknamed " The Maid of Orléans " ( ) , is a folk heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint . She was born to a peasant family in north - east France . Claiming divine guidance , she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years ' War , which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII of France . She was captured by the Burgundians , transferred to the English in exchange for money , put on trial by the pro - English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon for charges of " insubordination and heterodoxy " , and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was 19 years old . Twenty - five years after her execution , an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial , pronounced her innocent , and declared her a martyr . Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920 . She is one of the patron saints of France , along with St . Denis , St . Martin of Tours , St . Louis IX , and St . Theresa of Lisieux . Joan said she had received visions from God instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years ' War . The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission . She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and caused the lifting of the siege in only nine days . Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII ' s coronation at Reims . Joan of Arc has been a popular figure to depict since the time of her death and many famous writers , filmmakers and composers who have created works about her . Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in film , theatre , television , video games , music , and performances to this day . Background . The historian Kelly DeVries describes the period preceding her appearance in the following terms : " If anything could have discouraged her , the state of France in 1429 should have . " The Hundred Years ' War had begun in 1337 as a succession dispute over the French throne with intermittent periods of relative peace . Nearly all the fighting had taken place in France , and the English army ' s use of " chevauchée " tactics ( similar to scorched earth strategies ) had devastated the economy . The French population had not recovered from the Black Death of the previous century and its merchants were isolated from foreign markets . At the outset of Jeanne d ' Arc ' s appearance , the English had nearly achieved their goal of a dual monarchy under English control and the French army had not achieved any major victories for a generation . In DeVries ' s words , " The kingdom of France was not even a shadow of its thirteenth - century prototype . " The French king at the time of Joan ' s birth , Charles VI , suffered bouts of < nowiki > insanity < / nowiki > and was often unable to rule . The king ' s brother Duke Louis of Orléans , Duke of Orléans , and the king ' s cousin John the Fearless , Duke of Burgundy , quarreled over the regency of France and the guardianship of the royal children . This dispute escalated to accusations of an extramarital affair with Queen Isabeau of Bavaria and the kidnappings of the royal children . The matter climaxed with the assassination of the Duke of Orléans in 1407 on the orders of the Duke of Burgundy . The factions loyal to these two men became known as the Armagnacs and the Burgundians . Henry V of England took advantage of this turmoil to invade France , winning a dramatic victory at Agincourt in 1415 and capturing many northern French towns . The future French king , Charles VII , assumed the title of Dauphin – the heir to the throne – at the age of fourteen , after all four of his older brothers died in succession . His first significant official act was to conclude a peace treaty with Burgundy in 1419 . This ended in disaster when Armagnac partisans assassinated John the Fearless during a meeting under Charles ' s guarantee of protection . The new duke of Burgundy , Philip the Good , blamed Charles for the murder and entered into an alliance with the English . The allied forces conquered large sections of France . In 1420 , Queen Isabeau of Bavaria signed the Treaty of Troyes , which granted the succession of the French throne to Henry V and his heirs instead of her son Charles . This agreement revived rumors about her alleged affair with the late duke of Orléans and raised fresh suspicions that the Dauphin was illegitimate rather than the son of the king . Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other in 1422 , leaving an infant , Henry VI of England , the nominal monarch of both kingdoms . Henry V ' s brother , John of Lancaster , 1st Duke of Bedford , acted as regent . By the beginning of 1429 , nearly all of northern France and some parts of the southwest were under foreign control . The English controlled Paris and Rouen while the Burgundians controlled Reims , the latter city being the traditional site of French coronations . This was an important consideration since neither claimant to the throne of France had yet been officially crowned . The English had laid siege to Orléans , one of the few remaining loyal French cities and a strategic position along the Loire River , which made it the last obstacle to an assault on the remainder of the French heartland . In the words of one modern historian , " On the fate of Orléans hung that of the entire kingdom . " No one was optimistic that the city could long withstand the siege . Life . Joan was born the daughter of Jacques d ' Arc and Isabelle Romée in Domrémy , a village which was then in the French part of the duchy of Bar , or " Barrois mouvant " , situated West of the Meuse River , while the rest of the duchy ( East of the Meuse ) was a part of the Holy Roman Empire . The duchy of Bar was later incorporated to the province of Lorraine and the village of Domrémy renamed Domrémy - la - Pucelle , in honor of Joan of Arc . Joan ' s parents owned about 50 acres ( 20 hectares ) of land and her father supplemented his farming work with a minor position as a village official , collecting taxes and heading the local watch . They lived in an isolated patch of eastern France that remained loyal to the French crown despite being surrounded by Burgundian lands . Several local raids occurred during her childhood and on one occasion her village was burned . Joan said she was about 19 at her trial , so she must have been born around the year 1412 . She later testified that she experienced her first vision around 1424 at the age of 12 years , when she was out alone in a field and saw visions of figures she identified as Saint Michael , Saint Catherine , and Saint Margaret , who told her to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation . She said she cried when they left , as they were so beautiful . At the age of 16 , she asked a kinsman , Durand Lassois , to take her to nearby Vaucouleurs , where she petitioned the garrison commander , Count Robert de Baudricourt , for permission to visit the royal French court at Chinon . Baudricourt ' s sarcastic response did not deter her . She returned the following January and gained support from two men of standing : Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy . Under their auspices , she gained a second meeting , where she made a remarkable prediction about a military reversal near Orléans . Rise . Robert de Baudricourt granted her an escort to visit Chinon after news from the front confirmed her prediction . She made the journey through hostile Burgundian territory in male disguise . Upon arriving at the Royal Court she impressed Charles VII during a private conference . During this time Charles ' s mother - in - law Yolande of Aragon was financing a relief expedition to Orléans . Joan asked for permission to travel with the army and wear the equipment of a knight . She depended on donated items for her armor , horse , sword , banner , and other items utilized by her entourage . Historian Stephen W . Richey explains her attraction to the Royal Court by pointing out that they may have viewed her as the only source of hope for a regime that was near collapse : Upon her arrival , Joan effectively turned the longstanding Anglo - French conflict into a religious war . But this course of action was not without its risks . Charles ' advisers were worried that unless Joan ' s orthodoxy could be established beyond doubt – that she was not a heretic or a sorceress – Charles ' enemies could easily make the claim that his kingdom was a gift from the Devil . To circumvent this possibility , the Dauphin ordered background inquiries and a theological examination at Poitiers to verify her morality . In April 1429 , the commission of inquiry " declared her to be of irreproachable life , a good Christian , possessed of the virtues of humility , honesty and simplicity . " The theologians at Poitiers did not pass judgment on her divine inspiration ; rather , they informed the Dauphin that there was a ' favorable presumption ' to be made on the divine nature of her mission . This was enough for Charles , but they put the ball back in his court by stating that he had an obligation to put Joan to the test . ' To doubt or abandon her without suspicion of evil would be to repudiate the Holy Spirit and to become unworthy of God ' s aid ' , they declared . The test for the truth of her claims would be the raising of the siege of Orléans . She arrived at the siege of Orléans on 29 April 1429 , but Jean d ' Orléans , the acting head of the Orléans ducal family , initially excluded her from war council s and failed to inform her when the army engaged the enemy . However , his exclusions did not prevent her presence at most councils and battles . The extent of her actual military leadership is a subject of historical debate . Traditional historians , such as Édouard Perroy , conclude that she was a standard bearer whose primary effect was on morale . This type of analysis usually relies on the condemnation trial testimony , where she stated that she preferred her standard to her sword . Recent scholarship that focuses on the nullification trial testimony asserts that the army ' s commanders esteemed her as a skilled tactician and a successful strategist . Stephen W . Richey ' s opinion is one example : " She proceeded to lead the army in an astounding series of victories that reversed the tide of the war . " In either case , historians agree that the army enjoyed remarkable success during her brief career . Leadership . Joan of Arc rejected the cautious strategy that characterized French leadership during previous campaigns . During the five months of siege before her arrival , the defenders of Orléans attempted only one aggressive move and that ended in disaster . On 4 May the French attacked and captured the outlying fortress of Saint Loup , which she followed on 5 May with a march to a second fortress called Saint Jean le Blanc , which was found deserted . The next day she opposed Jean d ' Orleans at a war council where she demanded another assault on the enemy . D ' Orleans ordered the city gates locked to prevent another battle , but she summoned the townsmen and common soldiers and forced the mayor to unlock a gate . With the aid of only one captain she rode out and captured the fortress of Saint Augustins . That evening she learned she had been excluded from a war council where the leaders had decided to wait for reinforcements before acting again . Disregarding this decision , she insisted on attacking the main English stronghold called " " les Tourelles " " on 7 May . Contemporaries acknowledged her as the heroine of the engagement after she was wounded in the neck by an arrow but returned to lead the final charge . The sudden victory at Orléans led to many proposals for further offensive action . The English expected an attempt to recapture Paris or an attack on Normandy . In the aftermath of the unexpected victory , Joan persuaded Charles VII to grant her co - command of the army with Duke John II of Alençon and gained royal permission for her plan to recapture nearby bridges along the Loire as a prelude to an advance on Reims and the coronation of Charles VII . This was a bold proposal because Reims was roughly twice as far away as Paris and deep within enemy territory . The army recovered Jargeau on 12 June , Meung - sur - Loire on 15 June , and Beaugency on 17 June . The Duke of Alençon agreed to all of Joan ' s decisions . Other commanders including Jean d ' Orléans had been impressed with her performance at Orléans and became her supporters . Alençon credited her with saving his life at Jargeau , where she warned him of an imminent artillery attack . During the same battle she withstood a blow from a stone cannonball to her helmet as she climbed a scaling ladder . An expected English relief force arrived in the area on 18 June under the command of Sir John Fastolf . The battle at Patay might be compared to Agincourt in reverse . The French vanguard attacked before the English archers could finish defensive preparations . A rout ensued that decimated the main body of the English army and killed or captured most of its commanders . Fastolf escaped with a small band of soldiers and became the scapegoat for the humiliating English defeat . The French suffered minimal losses . The French army set out for Reims from Gien - sur - Loire on 29 June and accepted the conditional surrender of the Burgundian - held city of Auxerre on 3 July . The other towns in their path returned to French allegiance without resistance . Troyes , the site of the treaty that tried to disinherit Charles VII , capitulated after a bloodless four - day siege . The army was in short supply of food by the time it reached Troyes . But the army was in luck : a wandering friar named Brother Richard had been preaching about the end of the world at Troyes and convinced local residents to plant beans , a crop with an early harvest . The hungry army arrived as the beans ripened . Reims opened its gates to the army on 16 July . The coronation took place the following morning . Although Joan and the duke of Alençon urged a prompt march on Paris , the royal court preferred a negotiated truce with the duke of Burgundy . Duke Philip the Good broke the agreement , using it as a stalling tactic to reinforce the defense of Paris . The French army marched through towns near Paris during the interim and accepted more peaceful surrenders . The Duke of Bedford headed an English force and confronted the French army in a standoff on 15 August . The French assault at Paris ensued on 8 September . Despite a wound to the leg from a crossbow bolt , Joan continued directing the troops until the day ' s fighting ended . The following morning she received a royal order to withdraw . Most historians blame French Grand Chamberlain Georges de la Trémoille for the political blunders that followed the coronation . In October , Joan was with the Royal army when it took Saint - Pierre - le - Moûtier , followed by an unsuccessful attempt to take La - Charité - sur - Loire in November and December . On 29 December , Joan and her family were granted nobility . Capture . A truce with England during the following few months left Joan with little to do . On 23 March 1430 , she dictated a threatening letter to the Hussites , a dissident group which had broken with the Catholic Church on a number of doctrinal points and had defeated several previous crusades sent against them . Joan ' s letter promises to " remove your madness and foul superstition , taking away either your heresy or your lives . " However , the truce with England quickly came to an end . Joan traveled to Compiègne the following May to help defend the city against an English and Burgundian siege . A skirmish on 23 May 1430 led to her capture , when her force attempted to attack the Burgundian ' s camp at Margny . When she ordered a retreat into the nearby fortifications of Compiègne after the advance of an additional force of 6 , 000 Burgundians , she assumed the place of honor as the last to leave the field . Burgundians surrounded the rear guard , and she was unhorsed by an archer and initially refused to surrender . It was customary for a captive ' s family to ransom a prisoner of war . Joan was in an unusual circumstance . Many historians condemn King Charles VII for failing to intervene . She attempted several escapes , on one occasion jumping from her 70 foot ( 21 m ) tower in Vermandois to the soft earth of a dry moat , after which she was moved to the Burgundian town of Arras . The English government eventually purchased her from Duke Philip of Burgundy . Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais , an English partisan , assumed a prominent role in these negotiations and her later trial . Trial . The trial for heresy was politically motivated . The Duke of Bedford claimed the throne of France on behalf of his nephew Henry VI . Joan had been responsible for the rival coronation , hence condemning her was an attempt to undermine her king ' s legitimacy . Legal proceedings commenced on 9 January 1431 at Rouen , the seat of the English occupation government . The procedure was irregular on a number of points . To summarize some major problems : Under ecclesiastical law , Bishop Cauchon lacked jurisdiction over the case . He owed his appointment to his partisan support of the English government which financed the trial . Clerical notary Nicolas Bailly , commissioned to collect testimony against Joan , could find no adverse evidence . Without such evidence the court lacked grounds to initiate a trial . Opening a trial anyway , the court also violated ecclesiastical law in denying her right to a legal adviser . Upon the opening of the first public examination Joan complained that those present were all partisans against her and asked for " ecclesiastics of the French side " to be invited . The trial record demonstrates her remarkable intellect . The transcript ' s most famous exchange is an exercise in subtlety . " Asked if she knew she was in God ' s grace , she answered : ' If I am not , may God put me there ; and if I am , may God so keep me . The question is a scholarly trap . Church doctrine held that no one could be certain of being in God ' s grace . If she had answered yes , then she would have convicted herself of heresy . If she had answered no , then she would have confessed her own guilt . Notary Boisguillaume later testified that at the moment the court heard this reply , " Those who were interrogating her were stupefied . " In the twentieth century George Bernard Shaw found this dialogue so compelling that sections of his play " Saint Joan " are literal translations of the trial record . Several court functionaries later testified that significant portions of the transcript were altered in her disfavor . Many clerics served under compulsion , including the inquisitor , Jean LeMaitre , and a few even received death threats from the English . Under Inquisitorial guidelines , Joan should have been confined to an ecclesiastical prison under the supervision of female guards ( i . e . , nuns ) . Instead , the English kept her in a secular prison guarded by their own soldiers . Bishop Cauchon denied Joan ' s appeals to the Council of Basel and the pope , which should have stopped his proceeding . The twelve articles of accusation that summarize the court ' s finding contradict the already doctored court record . The illiterate defendant signed an abjuration document she did not understand under threat of immediate execution . The court substituted a different abjuration in the official record . Execution . Heresy was a capital crime only for a repeat offense . Joan agreed to wear feminine clothing when she abjured . A few days later she told a tribunal member that " a great English lord had entered her prison and tried to take her by force . " She resumed male attire either as a defense against molestation or , in the testimony of Jean Massieu , because her dress had been stolen and she was left with nothing else to wear . In terms of doctrine , she had been safe to disguise herself as a page during her journey through enemy territory and she was safe to wear armor during battle . The " Chronique de la Pucelle " states that it deterred molestation while she was camped in the field . Clergy who later testified at the posthumous rehabilitation trial affirmed that she continued to wear male clothing in prison to deter molestation and rape . Preservation of chastity was another justifiable reason for cross - dressing : her apparel would have slowed an assailant , and men would be less likely to think of her as an object of desire in any case . She referred the court to the Poitiers inquiry when questioned on the matter . The Poitiers record no longer survives but circumstances indicate the Poitiers clerics had approved her practice . In other words , she had a mission to do a man ' s work so it was fitting that she dress the part . She also kept her hair cut short through her military campaigns and while in prison . Her supporters , such as the theologian Jean Gerson , defended her hairstyle , as did Inquisitor Brehal later during the Rehabilitation trial . Nonetheless , at the trial in 1431 she was condemned and sentenced to die . Eyewitnesses described the scene of the execution by burning on 30 May 1431 . Tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux - Marché in Rouen , she asked two of the clergy , Fr Martin Ladvenu and Fr Isambart de la Pierre , to hold a crucifix before her . An English soldier also constructed a small cross which she put in the front of her dress . After she died , the English raked back the coals to expose her charred body so that no one could claim she had escaped alive , then burned the body twice more to reduce it to ashes and prevent any collection of relics . They cast her remains into the Seine from the only bridge called Mathilda . The executioner , Geoffroy Therage , later stated that he " . . . greatly feared to be damned . " Posthumous events . The Hundred Years ' War continued for twenty - two years after her death . Charles VII succeeded in retaining legitimacy as the king of France in spite of a rival coronation held for Henry VI in December 1431 on the boy ' s tenth birthday . Before England could rebuild its military leadership and force of longbowmen , lost in 1429 , the country lost its alliance with Burgundy at the Treaty of Arras in 1435 . The Duke of Bedford died the same year and Henry VI became the youngest king of England to rule without a regent ; his weak leadership was probably the most important factor in ending the conflict . Kelly DeVries argues that Joan of Arc ' s aggressive use of artillery and frontal assaults influenced French tactics for the rest of the war . In 1452 , during the posthumous investigation into her execution , the Church declared that a religious play in her honor at Orléans would allow attendees to gain an indulgence ( remission of temporal punishment for sin ) by making a pilgrimage to the event . Retrial . A posthumous retrial opened after the war ended . Pope Callixtus III authorized this proceeding , also known as the " nullification trial " , at the request of Inquisitor - General Jean Brehal and Joan ' s mother Isabelle Romée . The aim of the trial was to investigate whether the trial of condemnation and its verdict had been handled justly and according to canon law . Investigations started with an inquest by a priest , Guillaume Bouille . Brehal conducted an investigation in 1452 . A formal appeal followed in November 1455 . The appellate process involved clergy from throughout Europe and observed standard court procedure . A panel of theologians analyzed testimony from 115 witnesses . Brehal drew up his final summary in June 1456 , which describes Joan as a martyr and implicated the late Pierre Cauchon with heresy for having convicted an innocent woman in pursuit of a secular vendetta . The technical reason for her execution had been a Biblical clothing law . The nullification trial reversed the conviction in part because the condemnation proceeding had failed to consider the doctrinal exceptions to that stricture . The appellate court declared her innocent on 7 July 1456 . Canonization . She became a symbol of the Catholic League during the 16th century . When Félix Dupanloup was made bishop of Orléans in 1849 , he pronounced a fervid panegyric on Joan of Arc , which attracted attention in England as well as France and he led the efforts which culminated in Joan of Arc ' s beatification in 1909 . Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan on 16 May 1920 . As Saint Joan of Arc , she has become one of the most popular saints of the Roman Catholic Church . Legacy . Joan of Arc became a semi - legendary figure for the four centuries after her death . The main sources of information about her were chronicles . Five original manuscripts of her condemnation trial surfaced in old archives during the 19th century . Soon historians also located the complete records of her rehabilitation trial , which contained sworn testimony from 115 witnesses , and the original French notes for the Latin condemnation trial transcript . Various contemporary letters also emerged , three of which carry the signature " Jehanne " in the unsteady hand of a person learning to write . This unusual wealth of primary source material is one reason DeVries declares , " No person of the Middle Ages , male or female , has been the subject of more study . " Joan of Arc came from an obscure village and rose to prominence when she was a teenager , and she did so as an uneducated peasant . The French and English kings had justified the ongoing war through competing interpretations of the thousand - year - old Salic law . The conflict had been an inheritance feud between monarchs . She gave meaning to appeals such as that of squire Jean de Metz when he asked , " Must the king be driven from the kingdom ; and are we to be English ? " In the words of Stephen Richey , " She turned what had been a dry dynastic squabble that left the common people unmoved except for their own suffering into a passionately popular war of national liberation . " Richey also expresses the breadth of her subsequent appeal : From Christine de Pizan to the present , women have looked to Joan as a positive example of a brave and active female . She operated within a religious tradition that believed an exceptional person from any level of society might receive a divine calling . Some of her most significant aid came from women . King Charles VII ' s mother - in - law , Yolande of Aragon , confirmed Joan ' s virginity and financed her departure to Orléans . Joan of Luxembourg , aunt to the count of Luxembourg who held custody of her after Compiègne , alleviated her conditions of captivity and may have delayed her sale to the English . Finally , Anne of Burgundy , the duchess of Bedford and wife to the regent of England , declared Joan a virgin during pretrial inquiries . For technical reasons this prevented the court from charging her with witchcraft . Ultimately this provided part of the basis for her vindication and sainthood . Joan of Arc has been a political symbol in France since the time of Napoleon . Liberals emphasized her humble origins . Early conservatives stressed her support of the monarchy . Later conservatives recalled her nationalism . During World War II , both the Vichy Regime and the French Resistance used her File : Vichy propaganda remembered her campaign against the English with posters that showed British warplanes bombing Rouen and the ominous caption : " They Always Return to the Scene of Their Crimes . " The resistance emphasized her fight against foreign occupation and her origins in the province of Lorraine , which had fallen under Nazi control . Three separate vessels of the French Navy have been named after her , including a helicopter carrier which was retired from active service on 7 June 2010 . At present the controversial French far - right political party " Front National " holds rallies at her statues , reproduces her likeness in party publications , and uses a tricolor flame partly symbolic of her martyrdom as its emblem . This party ' s opponents sometimes satirize its appropriation of her image . The French civic holiday in her honour is the second Sunday of May . Traditionalist Catholic s , in France and elsewhere , also use her as a symbol of inspiration , often comparing the 1988 excommunication of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ( founder of the Society of St . Pius X and a dissident against the Vatican II reforms ) , to her excommunication . Philippe - Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes is the first historian who wrote Joan of Arc ' s complete history in 1817 , in an attempt to restore her family ' s reputation from Joan ' s status as a relapsed heretic . His interest in Joan came at a time when France was still struggling to define its new identity after the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars . The national " ethos " was in search of non - controversial heroes . As a staunch supporter of King and country , Joan of Arc was an acceptable symbol to the monarchists . As a patriot and the daughter of commoners , she was seen as one prototype of the low - born volunteers ( the " soldats de l ' an II " ) who had victoriously fought for revolutionary France in 1802 and as such could be claimed by the Republicans . As a religious martyr , she was also popular in the powerful Catholic community . De Charmette ' s " Orléanide " , today largely forgotten , was another attempt to magnify the national " ethos " as writers like Virgil ( the " Aeneid " ) , or Camoens ( " Os Lusíadas " ) had done for Rome and Portugal . Joan of Arc has been a popular figure to depict in the culture since the time of her death and many famous writers , filmmakers and composers who have created works about her . They include : William Shakespeare ( " Henry VI , Part 1 " ) , Voltaire ( " The Maid of Orleans " ) , Friedrich Schiller ( " The Maid of Orleans " ) , Giuseppe Verdi ( " Giovanna d ' Arco " ) , Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( " The Maid of Orleans " ) , Mark Twain ( " Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc " ) , Jean Anouilh ( " L ' Alouette " ) , Bertolt Brecht ( " Saint Joan of the Stockyards " ) , George Bernard Shaw ( " Saint Joan " ) , Maxwell Anderson ( " Joan of Lorraine " ) , Carl Theodor Dreyer ( " The Passion of Joan of Arc " ) , Robert Bresson ( " The Trial of Joan of Arc " ) , Arthur Honegger ( " Jeanne d ' Arc au bûcher " ) , Leonard Cohen ( " Joan of Arc " ) , and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark ( " Joan of Arc " and " Maid of Orleans " ) . Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in film , theatre , television , video games , music , and performances to this day . Visions . Joan of Arc ' s religious visions have remained an ongoing topic of interest . The consensus among scholars is that her faith was sincere . She identified Saint Margaret , Saint Catherine , and Saint Michael as the source of her revelation s , although there is some ambiguity as to which of several identically named saints she intended . Some Catholics regard her visions as divine inspiration . Analysis of her visions is problematic since the main source of information on this topic is the condemnation trial transcript in which she defied customary courtroom procedure about a witness ' oath and specifically refused to answer every question about her visions . She complained that a standard witness oath would conflict with an oath she had previously sworn to maintain confidentiality about meetings with her king . It remains unknown to what extent the surviving record may represent the fabrications of corrupt court officials or her own possible fabrications to protect state secrets . Some historians sidestep speculation about the visions by asserting that her belief in her calling is more relevant than questions about the visions ' ultimate origin . Documents from her own era and historians prior to the 20th century generally assume that she was both healthy and sane . A number of more recent scholars attempted to explain her visions in psychiatric or neurological terms . Potential diagnoses have included epilepsy , migraine , tuberculosis , and schizophrenia . None of the putative diagnoses have gained consensus support , possibly due to the limited amount of information available about Joan ' s life . Two experts who analyse a temporal lobe tuberculoma hypothesis in the medical journal " Neuropsychobiology " express their misgivings this way : In response to another such theory alleging that she suffered from bovine tuberculosis as a result of drinking unpasteurized milk , historian Régine Pernoud wrote that if drinking unpasteurized milk could produce such potential benefits for the nation , then the French government should stop mandating the pasteurization of milk . The fact that Joan of Arc gained favor in the court of King Charles VII has been suggested as evidence against mental illness hypotheses . The argument suggests that Charles VII would have been able to recognize " madness " because his own father , Charles VI , suffered from it . Charles VI was popularly known as " Charles the Mad " , and much of the political and military decline that France had suffered during his reign could be attributed to the power vacuum that his episodes of insanity had produced . The previous king had believed he was made of glass , a delusion no courtier had mistaken for a religious awakening . Fears that King Charles VII would manifest the same insanity may have factored into the attempt to disinherit him at Troyes . This stigma was so persistent that contemporaries of the next generation would attribute to inherited madness the breakdown that England ' s King Henry VI was to suffer in 1453 : Henry VI was nephew to Charles VII and grandson to Charles VI . Upon Joan ' s arrival at Chinon the royal counselor Jacques Gélu cautioned , The court of Charles VII was shrewd and skeptical on the subject of mental health . Also potentially relevant is the fact that she displayed none of the objective symptoms that can accompany the mental illnesses which have been suggested , such as schizophrenia . She remained astute to the end of her life and the rehabilitation trial testimony frequently marvels at her astuteness : Her subtle replies under interrogation even forced the court to stop holding public sessions . Although mental illness does not necessarily include severe cognitive impairment , nonetheless the various psychiatric conditions which have been specifically suggested to explain Joan ' s experiences would include certain detrimental symptoms which are among the diagnostic criteria . For example , in the case of schizophrenia the American Psychiatric Association ' s " Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders " lists detrimental and noticeable side effects such as disorganized speech , disorganized or catatonic behavior , affective flattening , alogia , and avolition , among other effects . As noted farther above , these symptoms do not appear to have been present in Joan ' s case . Some psychiatrists have also urged that a distinction should be made between different types of experiences . Ralph Hoffman , professor of psychology at Yale University , argues that visionary and creative states , including " hearing voices " , are not necessarily signs of mental illness . He lists Joan of Arc ' s case as a possible example of what Hoffman describes as an " inspired voice " , without elaborating on the term . Alleged relics disproven . In 1867 , a jar was found in a Paris pharmacy with the inscription " Remains found under the stake of Joan of Arc , virgin of Orleans " . They consisted of a charred human rib , carbonized wood , a piece of linen and a cat femur – explained as the practice of throwing black cats onto the pyre of witches . They are now in the Museum of Art and History in Chinon museum . In 2006 , Philippe Charlier , a forensic scientist at Raymond Poincaré Hospital ( Garches ) was authorized to study the relics . Carbon - 14 tests and various spectroscopic analyses were performed , and the results show that the remains come from an Egypt ian mummy from the sixth to the third century BC . The charred appearance comes from the embalming substances , not from combustion . Large amounts of pine pollen were also found , consistent with the presence of resin used in mummification and some unburned linen was found to be similar to that used to wrap mummies . The famous perfumers Guerlain and Jean Patou said that they could smell vanilla in the remains , also consistent with mummification . Apparently the mummy was part of the ingredients of medieval pharmacopoeia and it was relabeled in a time of French nationalism . Revisionist theories . The accuracy of the standard accounts of the life of Joan of Arc has been questioned by revisionist authors .