Joan of Arc Burned

Joan of Arc, the 19-year-old French peasant girl who led French forces to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, was burned at the stake in the Old Market Square of Rouen on May 30, 1431. Captured by Burgundian forces in May 1430 and sold to the English, Joan was tried by a pro-English church court on charges of heresy and witchcraft, primarily for wearing men's clothing and claiming to receive visions from God. After a politically motivated trial lasting several months, she was convicted and sentenced to death. Joan showed remarkable courage at her execution, asking for a cross and praying as the flames consumed her. 25 years later, Pope Callixtus III ordered a retrial that exonerated her, and she was declared a martyr. In 1920, the Catholic Church canonized her as a saint. Joan of Arc remains a powerful symbol of French nationalism and female courage.