Joan of Arc, nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans,” was born in 1412 in Domrémy, Bar, France. A national heroine of France, at age 18 she led the French army to victory over the English at Orléans. Captured a year later, Joan was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English and their French collaborators. She was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint more than 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.

    At the time of Joan of Arc’s birth, France was embroiled in a long-running war with England known as the Hundred Years’ War; the dispute began over who would be the heir to the French throne. By the early 15th century, northern France was a lawless frontier of marauding armies. Joan of Arc was born in 1412, in Domremy, France, as the daughter of poor tenant farmers Jacques d’ Arc and his wife, Isabelle. In 1415, King Henry V of England invaded northern France. After delivering a shattering defeat to....