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The Most Formidable Women in History that Made Men Cower Before Them

Khalid Elhassan April 23, 2022 35 min

12. The Inspiring Girl Who Put English Invaders to Flight

Badass Women - Joan of Arc at the Siege of New Orleans — Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) in armor before Orleans (1428-1429). Painting by Jules Eugene Lenepveu (1819 – 1898), 1886-1890. The Pantheon, Paris

Joan of Arc was endowed with remarkable mental and physical courage. Those assets came in handy when she led her forces in a whirlwind campaign that lifted the siege of Orleans in a mere nine days and sent the English fleeing. It was a momentous victory that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France. After that feat, Joan convinced the Dauphin to crown himself king of France, which he reluctantly did. She was then sent on a variety of military expeditions.

In one of those expeditions in 1430, she was thrown off her horse and captured by Burgundians. Her captors kept her for several months while negotiating with the English, who were eager to get their hands on the girl who had caused them so much trouble. Eventually, Joan was sold to the English, and although she had saved her country, she was now abandoned by her countrymen to fend for herself. The English and their French collaborators accused her of heresy and witchcraft and locked her in a dark and filthy cell pending her trial.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.