The conflict between France and England over the French succession, known as the Hundred Years' War, raged for nearly a century before both countries knew the end name "Joan of Arc". In 1415, the French suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Agincourt as the new English king, Henry V, prepared for direct French conquest. The French were spared defeat thanks to the death of Henry V in 1422, but the young French dauphin, Charles VII, was too weak a ruler to seize the throne on his own. As if it were truly a divine miracle, a young peasant girl named Joan of Arc visited the Dauphin, proclaiming the heavenly voice calling her to lead the French army into battle and expel the English from French lands. Joan would successfully lead the French army during the siege of Orleans, a victory notable for boosting French morale after a decade of military defeats against the English. However, his luck would not last. In 1430 Joan of Arc was captured, sold to the English and burned at the stake as a condemned heretic. How did this symbol of French military spirit suffer such a fall from grace? Joan of Arc's tragic fate was the result of the late Middle Ages' use of heresy to destroy political enemies and Joan of Arc's blatant disregard for gender norms in a medieval society hostile to women and men. nonconformists. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Joan of Arc was far from the doomed witch and heretic she was convicted of being. When asked about her religious habits, she responded that she "confessed her sins every year... and received the Eucharist at Easter," traditions expected of the average devout Christian. She firmly believed that it was a messenger from God who pushed her towards her mission. This alleged rumor encouraged her “to govern herself well, to go to church often, and said she even went to France.” Although the only records of the contents of Joan's vision came from a contemptuous trial, it is notable that Joan of Arc was only a seventeen-year-old girl. Women had no real place in the military in medieval Europe. However, in an era where religious faith prevailed, Joan of Arc felt compelled to leave the safety of her home, seek out the Dauphin, and, nevertheless, fight for France. Joan must have firmly believed that God had chosen her as an instrument to free France from English control. It's not even that the French were looking for a young divine prophet to boost the morale of their troops as a military strategy. Joan sought out a man named Robert de Baudricourt and "twice he denied her and resisted her, and the third time he took her and gave her servants", showing the reluctance that Joan of Arc overcame among the French themselves in allowing her to lead them in battle. . Carrying the fate of one's country on one's shoulders was a heavy burden, even more so for "a poor girl who did not know how to ride a horse or lead a campaign". Joan of Arc's conviction to fight was steeped in religious faith, the mark of a true saint and demonstrating the considerable weight religion held in people's hearts. Joan of Arc's importance in the Siege of Orleans made her a significant target for the English. The authoritative tone she used in her letter to the King of England, referring to herself in the third person as "the maid" and defending the Dauphin's political claims by invoking "the king of heaven", highlights how Joan of Arc claimed his defense of France. as an ordered actionfrom God. Joan of Arc further declared: "I will find your men in France, I will make them flee from the country... and if they do not obey, the Maiden will have them all killed." In the absence of faith, this use of the third person would be almost selfish, since such a young girl was threatening death to someone as powerful as a king. However, the French managed to accomplish this “greatest feat ever done in the name of Christianity” in the English defeat at the siege of Orleans, proof of Joan of Arc's pious claims. Joan of Arc's voice shone in this letter as a powerful, just and charismatic holy woman. If she conducted herself with the same authority given to her by God himself, there is no doubt that she successfully rallied French morale to thwart England's attempted conquest of France. Thus, the liberating presence of Joan of Arc became a serious threat to English political interests in the Hundred Years' War. Joan of Arc's trial, although fundamentally religious in nature, took a political turn. Her interrogators repeatedly asked her questions about the Dauphin “whom she called her king,” about “when the voice revealed the king,” and “asked how the king viewed the revelations.” Although the subject of these interrogations was the content of her visions, the underlying aim of potentially eradicating state secrets highlights how Joan of Arc's capture was politically motivated. Thanks to the influence of Joan of Arc, the tide of the war began to turn in France's favor. Therefore, the easiest way for the English to get rid of their political enemy, Charles VII, was to discredit the symbol of French morality as a witch and devil's consort, thus illegitimate Charles VII's claim to the throne. This highlights a notable pattern in the late medieval period, in which certain factions sought to destroy their political enemies through accusations of heresy. In various accounts of Joan of Arc, many noted her disdain for gender norms and gendered dress. In contemptuous accounts of Joan of Arc, this contempt is used as a weapon against her. She was questioned "on the advice of someone who wore men's clothing, to which she refused to answer several times." Asking her who advised her to wear men's clothing suggests that it was not the norm for women to wear men's clothing, nor did women have the power to decide to wear men's clothing for any purpose other than temptation by some perverse force. In Johann Nider's stories, when the master is asked about witches and sorceresses, he tells of Joan of Arc. Joan "always wore men's clothes, nor could all the persuasions of any doctor of theology induce her to put them aside and be content with women's clothes, especially considering that she openly professed herself to be a woman and a servant." Despite Joan's successful military campaigns in a century-long conflict, a monumental achievement for any military figure, her hateful contemporaries emphasized her style of dress as evidence that Joan was in league with the devil. Even theologians tried to limit the God-sent savior of France to women's clothing. This debasement of Joan of Arc's character based on her clothing establishes the late medieval period's attitude toward gender roles and gender behavior. The belief in strict adherence to expected dress may also reflect the general anxiety of the period towards outsiders and nonconformists. The late medieval period did not hold women in high regard and could be particularly harmful towards women who did not conform to expected conduct. or the interests of the men in power. The view of the late medieval period towards.