Joan of Arc, born Jeanette d'Arc, was born 1412. She came from a little village of Domremy, which lies along the Meuse River bordering Lorrain, now the northeastern part of France. She was born the third of five children to a farmer, Jacques d'Arc and his wife Isabelle de Vouthon. On her day there were saints for all occasions; saints to protect women in childbirth, saints to cure diseases and ward off evil spirits, and saints to protect virginity. .
Joan of Arc is known as a courageous woman of her time and even today. She is well known for the battles she fought in France. Though she was a woman, she fought a man's war. This was an unusual characteristic for a woman of her time. But through all her trials and tribulations she withstood it all.
When Joan was about 12 years old, she began hearing "voices- of St. Catherine and St. Margaret believing they were sent by God. She became devoted to theses 2 virgin saints. Joan planned never to marry and had sworn to remain a virgin. Joan like all the village peasants, followed a set routine of farm life, laboring from dawn to dusk but there were times for fun, young and old alike. As Joan grew older, she spent less and less time with her friends as her inner self became more important to her. She had visions of herself becoming something very different from a traditional peasant woman of that time. She heard her name- Jeannette d'Arc in an unfamiliar voice of two women and a man. She believed they were saints, telling her that she had been chosen by God to leave her village. (Krull 19).
Joan burned with desire to go but her stern father had sworn he would kill any daughter who ran off. She did not go to school and never learned to read or write. (Krull 19). At the age of sixteen, she put on her best red dress, cut off her long hair, and left home under the cover of night. In late February 1429, as a seventeen-year old peasant girl, it was quite difficult for young Joan to persuade people to help her.
