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Atlant Media
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00:00Women who change the world.
00:30One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it.
00:37Joan of Arc
00:38St. Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in the small French town of Domremy.
00:44Her father was a peasant farmer.
00:47He often told her how France the country was largely in the possession of England,
00:51and how the French king did not dare to be crowned.
00:54Joan, starting at about age 12, began hearing voices from two saints,
00:59St. Catherine and St. Margaret,
01:01who told her that God willed her to help France drive out the English invaders,
01:06who wanted to put their own king, Henry VI, on the French throne,
01:11and were causing great hardship on the French people.
01:14At last, these strange visions and voices made the young girl believe
01:18that she had a mission from God,
01:20and she determined to try to save France.
01:24When Joan of Arc told her father and mother of her purpose,
01:26they tried to persuade her that the visions of angels
01:29and the voices telling her of the divine mission were but dreams.
01:34All tried to stop her, but it was in vain.
01:37When Joan arrived on the scene of the Hundred Years' War in 1429,
01:42France was at a tipping point and embroiled in a civil war.
01:46Charles VII, the dolphin of France,
01:49struggled to keep the English and their allies, the Burgundians, at bay.
01:53In this climate, Joan of Arc, a 17-year-old virgin,
01:57demanded that Charles VII provide her with an army.
02:01Her objectives were to lift the siege at Orleans,
02:04crown Charles VII King in the city of Rheims,
02:07and drive the English out of France.
02:09Gracious King, Joan said,
02:12God has sent me to deliver France from her enemies.
02:15You shall shortly be crowned in the Cathedral of Rheims.
02:18I am to lead the soldiers you are about to send for the relief of Orleans.
02:23So God has directed, and under my guidance, victory will be theirs.
02:28The dolphin provided Joan with armor, troops, and cannons,
02:32and sent her to Orleans.
02:34Joan inspired men to fight for their land and their king
02:37as she talked about her visions.
02:40Mounted on a fine warhorse and clad in white armor from head to foot,
02:44she rode along past the cheering multitude.
02:46In one hand, she carried an ancient sword
02:49that she had found near the tomb of a saint,
02:52and in the other, a white banner, embroidered with lilies.
02:56The rough soldiers who were near her
02:58left off their oaths and coarse manners,
03:00and carefully guarded her.
03:02Joan was a virgin, and she never had a family.
03:05God was her only love,
03:07and France, without English invaders, was her only dream.
03:11When Joan was captured in May 1430
03:13by the Burgundian allies of the English,
03:15she was sold to the English for 10,000 leavers.
03:19They brought her to Rhymes,
03:21where she was put on trial for heresy.
03:24Her judges did their best to convict Joan of witchcraft or heresy,
03:28but all they could find her guilty of
03:30was wearing men's clothing,
03:32which was forbidden in an obscure passage of the Bible.
03:36Joan wore men's clothing to make it more difficult
03:39for her to be raped when in the company of soldiers,
03:42and, of course, she had to wear armor in battle to defend herself.
03:46So, for this crime, Joan was declared a heretic
03:50and burnt at the stake on May 30, 1431, at the age of 19.
03:57Joan of Arc was inspirational for her troops,
04:00and she possessed military skills that helped the French accomplish
04:03some much-needed victories over the English.
04:06Joan captured Orleans and many other cities during the Hundred Years' War.
04:10Joan got through a 300-mile journey through enemy territory
04:14with only six troops.
04:17Having captured the English forts around the city of Orleans,
04:20Joan of Arc led the French army to victory
04:23with no military training.
04:25She became the saint of the Roman Catholic Church
04:28because of accomplishments of her life.
04:31Yet, with Joan,
04:32the French army of thousands
04:34finally experienced major victories,
04:36and even when the king dissolved her army,
04:39Joan still had victories
04:40with only a few hundred troops.
04:42women who changed the world.
04:58Women who changed the world.
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