Abstract
Joan of Arc's public career lasted only for two years but her history has come down through the ages, so that each year, her courage is praised on May 1st. Why is this sixteen-year-old girl engraved in our memory in such an unforgettable way? Answering to this question amounts to go over her hectic and terrific life that made her, according to Mark Twain, “easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced”.
Her childhood in the context of warfare
Joan of Arc was born on January 6th, 1412, at Domrémy, a village in the Meuse valley, in North-eastern France at the boarder of Champagne and Lorraine. (Zupko 1997) Her parents, Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, were farmers and owned several acres of land.
France was then caught up in a conflict with England, later called by historians the “Hundred Years' War”, that started in 1337 over claims by the English kings to the French throne and the lingering debates over Gascony, Aquitaine and Flanders. The territory was divided in several areas; Britain and its ally Burgundy ruled Northern and South-western France whereas the rest of the country still belonged to France. (Zupko 1997)
This war was to play an important role in Joan's life since it allowed her to carve out her leader status while fulfilling her “mission”: drive away invaders and help Charles VII to be crowned. (Zupko 1997)
