French military leader. In 1429 at Chinon, NW
France, she persuaded Charles VII that she
had a divine mission to expel the occupying
English from N France (see Hundred Years'
War) and secure his coronation. She raised
the siege of Orleans, defeated the English at
Patay, north of Orleans, and Charles was
crowned in Reims. However, she failed to take
Paris and was captured May 1430 by the
Burgundians, who sold her to the English. She
was found guilty of witchcraft and heresy by
a tribunal of French ecclesiastics who
supported the English. She was burned to
death at the stake in Rouen 30 May 1431. In
1920 she was canonized.