On 29 April 1429, Joan of Arc arrived to begin lifting the siege of Orléans and turn the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
France and England had been fighting for control of France off and on since 1337 and after the English victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 the advantage in the struggle was definitely on the side of the forces of English regent John Plantagenet. The city of Orléans was the last fortress preventing access of the English forces into central France.
The English forces began the siege of Orléans on 12 October 1428 and so had surrounded the city for six months before Joan arrived in apparent fulfillment of the prophecies that an armed maid would deliver France.
Prior to her arrival, Joan sent the English forces besieging Orléans two letters demanding that the siege be lifted and that the English return to their homeland or else she would lift up a “…war cry against them that would last forever.”
When Joan arrived at Orléans she quickly began to pushing back the English forces, lifting the siege on 8 May 1429. This success would inspire many other French to join the army of the dauphin Charles. However, Joan would not live to see the end of the Hundred Years’ War. She would later be captured and killed by the English army on 30 May 1432. The last battle of the Hundred Years’ War would be fought in 1453.
catholicunderthehood.com 