Joan claimed to have received visions of the archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War.
She gained prominence after the siege was lifted only nine days later.
Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's consecration at Reims.
This long-awaited event boosted French morale and paved the way for the final French victory.
On 23 May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, a group of French nobles allied with the English.
She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by the pro-English bishop Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges.
After Cauchon declared her guilty, she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age.In 1456, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr.
In the 16th century she became a symbol of the Catholic League, and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon Bonaparte.