Picture this: A blue-eyed, blond girl of five kneeling in her most pious attire before the altars of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. She has been kneeling in prayer for hours, only begging her God and Father for forgiveness of her sins. Tears stain her cheeks and hands and, though the sun has begun to set, she does not appear to notice. Now picture this scene almost everyday, of every week, of all her young years. Young Joan was later described at her trail as being the most pious and modest girl anyone had ever known. Born to a poor peasant and farmer, Joan never learned to read or write, but would later carry with her name the strength to move armies and hearts. In all my research and learned knowledge, what has become most apparent to me is that Joan d'Arc was not a heretic or sorceress as her accusers claimed, but a girl, barely old enough to be called a woman, who brought victory and restored pride to her country, her king, and her God.
It has been contemporized in various movies what Joan's first vision was: Joan kneeling in prayer and the light suddenly breaking through the clouds as St. Michael's hand reaches down to Joan. But since Joan herself refused to reveal to her judges what was really in her visions, it has never been known what caused her to fight for her God, even as she knew she would only live one more year. Joan did admit at her trials that the main topics of her visions from her three saints was that she would fight for her King Charles VII, and bring him to be crowned at Reims. Before her first battle, Joan herself told Charles to "Make the most of me, for I shall last only one year- (Murray, "God of Witches-). Indeed, the time between her first battle and the day she was captured was about eleven months. After bringing glorious victory to her king and country and succeeding in having King Charles VII crowned, Joan was betrayed by The Burgundian army who handed her over to the English forces.
