Joan of Arcadia

Joan of Arc was a simple French girl born on the countryside in the early fifteenth century.

She was a typical peasant girl who tended to the flocks and spun to earn money to help her family.

So it was only natural that people thought her insane when she spoke of the voices she heard in her head who told her to lead France’s armies against the invading English armies.

Specifically, she heard them over her right shoulder.

"The least likely of military leaders, Joan of Arc changed the course of the Hundred Years' War and of history." (New York Times)

As a female, she found herself not only resisting the lords and vassals of the French monarchy but also the established positions and standards of the woman in medieval society. She cut her hair, a powerful and shocking political statement for that time paralleled by the Roaring Twenties’ flappers’ hairstyles (which were actually inspired by Joan of Arc). She donned a sword and armor, unheard of for a Medieval French woman, let alone a peasant girl.

She eventually convinced the priests because her determination was so solid and her conviction quite fearsome and she was allowed to speak to the French King.

She was practically a child when Joan of Arc took command of the French army. She led them with a flag because while violence horrified her, her courage and bravery inspired the rest of the French soldiers who willingly gave their lives trusting the now nineteen year old girl.

The banner was 12 feet long and read "The Party of the Kingdom of Heaven."

She was a much needed hero because as the war dragged on, the people grew disillusioned and weary. She became a hero not because of an innate desire to become one, but because she knew she had to be.

However, she was captured by the English and tried for heresy – and was found guilty.

She was burned at the stake and ordered to renounce her earlier claims but she refused. Some say she saw angels as she ascended to Heaven.

Thirty years later however, Joan of Arc's case was reexamined and found that the trial was unfair and should be overturned and in 1920 she was canonized for her undying devotion. 

 Joan of Arc was a simple nineteen year old girl who has been studied and examined countless times over the last six hundred years and while psychologists deduce she had schizophrenia and other forms of mental delusions, they cannot seem to dissipate the admiration of the peasant girl who demanded even the king’s respect. 

"Joan frustrates efforts to reduce her to mortal proportions." (New York Times)

For the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/opinion/joan-of-arc-enduring-power.html?_r=0