Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d’Ar] is a patron saint of France, who achieved fame for her role in the siege of Orléans and the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years’ War against England.
After successfully leading several French military actions, she was captured, handed over to English authorities, convicted as a heretic, and burnt at the stake in 1431. Twenty-five years later, her conviction was formally overturned. She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1920, 488 years after her death.
Joan of Arc’s name was written in a variety of ways. Before the sixteenth century, there was no standard spelling of her name. Her last name was usually spelled “Darc” without an apostrophe, but included variants like “Tarc”, “Dart” or “Day”. At Joan’s trial, her father’s name was written as “Tart”. In her letter of ennoblement from Charles VII in 1941, she was called “Jeanne d’Ay de Domrémy” (Joan of Arc of Domrémy). Joan may never have heard herself called “Jeanne D’Arc”. The first written record of her being called by this name is in 1455, 24 years after her death.
Joan was not taught to read and write in her childhood, and it is believed that she dictated her letters to scribes. Some of these letters were signed; scribes may have helped Joan with her signature, or Joan may have eventually learned to sign her name. She may have even learned how to read. In her letters, Joan referred to herself as “Jeanne la Pucelle” (Joan the Maiden) or simply as “la Pucelle” (the Maiden), and she signed her name “Jehanne”. In the sixteenth century, she became known as the “Maid of Orleans”.
