Joan of Arc: Burnt by the Brits


Joan of Arc is France's favourite saint who was burnt at the stake charged with heresy by the English. She believed that she was called by God to deliver France from their enemies. But she was caught and sold to the English who accused her of heresy and witchcraft and burnt her to death in 1431.

Joan was led to her death in Rouen, France on 30th May 1431, aged only 19 years old. After making a speech, which lasted about 30 minutes, asking people to pray for her and forgiving them, which apparently nearly moved some of the English knights to tears, she was tied to the stake. As her last request, she asked for a cross. She was handed a simple wooden crucifix which she tucked inside her clothes. She spent her final moments uttering prayers and forgiving her executioners. Overcome by the smoke, she became unconscious and her head slumped to her chest. The Maid of Orleans breathed her last.

Her body was paraded around the square, naked so that everyone could see that she was a woman and not a man. The Cardinal of Winchester was ordered to ensure that they burnt her remains.  They burnt her on three fires to ensure that her bones and organs were gone. Her ashes were then throne into the River Seine.

Twenty- five years later, she was found innocent, although it was twenty- five years to late...

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