amination of a board of theologians at Poitiers. The examination was of the most searchingand formal. She passed their examination and was then given troops to command and given herown rank of Captain. She went on to the battle of Orleans in 1429, and led her troops to defeatthe English. She continued in the fighting and led through other locations along the Loire. Herreputation became one of a formidable leadership, and by the time she reached Lord Talbot’sarmy at Patay, most of the English troops and the Commander Sir John Fastolfe had fled thebattlefield. This cowardice was punished later, and the Commander was stripped of his Order ofthe Garter. The battle was lost by the English, and Lord Talbot was captured along with ahundred English noblemen and lost nearly 2000 of his soldiers.That summer, when Charles VII was crowned king of France , Joan was given a place ofhonor next to the king... She was later ennobled for her services to the country.In 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians while in battle defending Compiegne nearParis. She was sold to the English, then handed her over to the Ecclesiastical Court at Rouen ,led by Pierre Cauchon, a pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, to be tried for witchcraft and heresy.Much was said about her wearing male clothing, which she was instructed to do by the voicesshe heard earlier on. The Ecclesiastical Court stated that this dress was a crime against God,and her insistence for wearing it was defiant and eventually sealed her fate. Joan at the age ofnineteen was convicted after a fourteen month interrogation, and on May 30, 1431 she wasburned at the stake in the Touen marketplace. Charles VII whom had earlier given her highplace, made no attempt to come to her rescue.There was a second trial in 1456 that pronounced her innocent of the charges. In 1090she was beatified and then canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV....
