joan of arc

Saint Joan of Arc, Jeanne d'Arc (ca. 1412 – 1431) is a national heroine of France. A peasant girl, she was born in Doremy in eastern France. Claiming divine guidance, she led a French army against English forces and secured several important victories during the Hundred Years War. Her victories helped make possible the coronation of Charles VII as King of France. She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried, and burned at the stake at the age of nineteen.

Inspired by her example, the French rallied. Four years later in 1435, French forces took Paris. Thereafter, the French succesively pushed back the English forces, and in 1450 at the battle of Formigny on the coast of Normandy, the English were decisively beaten. A year later in 1451, the French captured Bordeaux. Two years later in 1453, at Castillon of 1453, the last battle was fought between the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War.

The English had now lost all of their continental possessions with the exception of the port of Calais.