The Influence of Joan of Arc in French History

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Joan of Arc was a young and pious girl from a rural backround who followed her revelations from the angels to the royal court, into the battlefield and onto the stake. Catching the kingdom of France during its fall from grace and restoring the nation to its pedestal as one of Europe's foremost powers. She reversed of the momentum of the Hundred Years' War in a period when, as famed commander Lord Jean de Dunois later attested, a small force of English soldiers could easily defeat French troops four to five times their size, and brought the war to a point a French force of "four or five hundred soldiers and men at arms" (Pernoud 112) would be sufficient to drive off large division of the English army (Pernoud 112). Joan, although she did not fight, had direct impact on the combat because of her courageous close proximity to each battlefield skirmish, and her input to her group's strategy (Joan of Arc (Biography, section 6)). Her extreme devotion to the Roman Catholic religion, along with her embodiment of the popular French legend figure, the Maid of Lorraine, who was prophesised to be a virgin from Joan's area that would become the savior of France, as Joan herself recognized at Vaucoulers while vying for passage to the royal court (Joan of Arc (Biography, section 3)), and King Charles VII, who was crowned only after Joan cleared the way for his anointment, all became articles which Frenchmen would rally around for the remainder of the Hundred Years' War. Joan of Arc impacted world history tremendously by bringing victories to the French Royal Army after decades of English dominance and inspiring the people of France to rally around her and newly anointed and crowned King Charles VII, and ultimately turning the tides of the Hundre... ... middle of paper ... ...ions and effect on the people of France dug the country out of the hole they had been thrown into by the English and Burgundians. Joan of Arc impacted world history greatly through her physical and emotional affects on its citizens and is one of the true saviors of the Kingdom of France. Works Cited Barker, Juliet. Conquest: The English Kingdom of France. London: Little Brown Book Group, 2009. Print. Joan of Arc - A Military Appreciation. Stephen Richey, 2000. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. . Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc) Biography. Allen Williamson, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. . Pernoud, Régine. The Retrial of Joan of Arc: The Evidence at the Trial for Her Rehabilitation, 1450-1456. Trans. J. M. Cohen. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955. Print. This is a primary source.

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