(1412-1431) Joan of Arc is the patron saint of France and a national heroine who led France to victory over the English during the Hundred Years' War. From an early age, she claimed to hear the voices of saints and to have visions exhorting her to lead the French in battle. She gained the backing of the Dauphin and was given troops to fight the British, against whom she won a decisive battle at Orleans. The Dauphin, Charles VII, was subsequently crowned king of France. Later, without the support of the king, she fought the British at Compiègne and lost. She was taken prisoner, tried for heresy by clerics who supported the British, and burned at the stake in 1431. Twenty-five years later, the Church reopened the case and found her innocent. She was canonized as a saint in 1920.
