Charles, because of both internal strife and the English claim to the throne of France, had not yet been crowned king. Joan succeeded in convincing him that she had a divine mission to save France. A board of theologians approved her claims, and she was given troops to command. Dressed in armor and carrying a white banner that represented God blessing the French royal emblem, the fleur-de-lis, she led the French to a decisive victory over the English. At the subsequent coronation of the Dauphin in the cathedral at Reims, she was given the place of honor beside the king. Although Joan had united the French behind Charles and had put an end to English dreams of hegemony over France, Charles opposed any further campaigns against the English.

Therefore, it was without royal support that Joan conducted (1430) a military operation against the English at Compiègne, near Paris. She was captured by Burgundian soldiers, who sold her to their English allies. The English then turned her over to an ecclesiastical court at Rouen to be tried for heresy and sorcery. After 14 months of interrogation, she was accused of wrongdoing in wearing masculine dress and of heresy for believing she was directly responsible to God rather than to the Roman Catholic church. The court condemned her to death, but she penitently confessed her errors, and the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Because she resumed masculine dress after returning to jail, she was condemned again-this time by a secular court-and, on May 30, 1431, Joan was burned at the stake in the Old Market Square at Rouen as a relapsed heretic.

Twenty-five years after her death, the church retried her case, and she was pronounced innocent. In 1920 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV; her traditional feast day is May 30. Joan of Arc has been widely depicted in literature and art. Notable examples include the statue by the French sculptor François Rude, in the Luxembourg Museum, Paris, and that by the American sculptor Anna Vaughn Hyatt (also known as Anna Huntington, 1876-1973), on Riverside Drive, New York City. A painting of Joan by the French painter Jules Bastien-Lepageis in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. She has been the subject of such plays as Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801) by the German dramatist Johann von Schiller; Saint Joan (1923) by the British playwright George Bernard Shaw; and Joan of Lorraine (1946) by the American playwright Maxwell Anderson. The French composer Arthur Honegger wrote of her in his oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake, which was first performed in 1938. The American writer Mark Twain wrote the biography The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896); she was the major figure in a notable chapter of the History of England (1754-62) by the Scottish philosopher David Hume; and the French philosopher Voltaire commemorated her in his narrative poem La pucelle d'Orléans (The Maid of Orléans, 1756). Source: Microsoft Encarta 97

Another source says:

Born on Domremy, France on January 6, 1412 Died on May 29, 1431 Canonized on May 16, 1920

Biography

Saint Joan of Arc's childhood seemed to be a very good one, though clouded by disasters in her country. In one instance, before her great undertaking, she was forced with her family to flee with her family to the nearby town of Neeufchatel, to escape a raid of Burgundian freebooters who sacked Domremy.

Saint Joan was fourteen years of age when she experienced the first of her encounters with the voices that were to guide her. She identified them as Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret and others. Only gradually did they unfold her mission.

By May of 1482, the voices had become insistent and explicit. She was to present herself to Robert Baudricourt, who only laughed and dismissed her. But later she returned, and Baudricourt then consented to send her to the King with an armed escort.

She then asked the King for soldiers whom she might lead to the relief of Orleans. After opposition and examinations by a learned body of theologians at Poiters, King Charles equipped her to lead an expeditionary force. A special flag was made for her bearing the words Jesus, Maria, together representation of The Eternal Father to whom two kneeling Angels were presenting a fleur-de-lis.

Joan was allowed to undertake a short campaign on the Loire with the Duc d'Alencon, one of her best friends. It was completely successful and ended with a victory at Patay in which the English forces under Sir John Fastolf suffered a crushing defeat. Joan now pressed for the immediate coronation of the Dauphin. On July 17, 1429, Charles VII was solemnly crowned, Joan standing at his side with her standard. That event, which completed the mission originally entrusted to her by her Voices, marked also the close of her military successes.

A boldly planned attack on Paris failed, mainly for lack of Charles's promised support and presence. During the action Joan was wounded in the thigh by an arrow and had to be almost dragged into safety by Alencon. Upon resumption of hostilities she hurried to the relief of Compiegne which was holding out against the Burgundians. She entered the city at sunrise on May 23,1430, and that same day led an unsuccessful sortie. Through panic or some miscalculation on the part of the governor, the drawbridge over which her company was retiring was raised too soon, leaving Joan and some of her men at the mercy of the enemy. Joan was taken prisoner and remained a prisoner of the Duke of Burgandy. King Charles never made the slightest effort on her behalf, with a total lack of gratitude King Charles was content to leave her to her fate.

During the course of six public and nine private sessions, of interrogation, Joan was examined and cross-examined as to her visions and "voices", her male attire, her faith and willingness to submit to the Church.

In a final deliberation, the tribunal decided that she must be handed over to the secular arm as a heretic if she refused to retract. This she declined to do, though threatened with torture.

On Tuesday, May 29, 1431, the judges, after hearing Cauchon's report, condemned her as a relapsed heretic to be delivered over to the secular arm, and the following morning at 8 o'clock Joan was led out into the market-place of Rouen to be burned at the stake. When the fires were lit at Joan's request a cross was held before her eyes, and she called out the Name of "Jesus" before surrendering her Soul to God.

Yet another source:

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC

Saint Joan was born on January 6, 1412, in the village of Domremy to Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc. Joan was the youngest of their five children. While growing up among the fields and pastures of her village, she was called Jeannette but when she entered into her mission, her name was changed to Jeanne, la Pucelle, or Joan, the Maid.

As a child she was taught domestic skills as well as her religion by her mother. Joan would later say, "As for spinning and sewing, I fear no woman in Rouen." And again, "It was my mother alone who taught me the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' and the 'Creed;' and from none other was I taught my faith."

From her earliest of years Joan was known for her obedience to her parents, religious fervor, goodness, unselfish generosity and kindness toward her neighbors. Simonin Munier, one of Joan's childhood friends, tells how Joan had nursed him back to health when he was sick. Some of her playmates teased her for being 'too pious.' Others remembered how she would give up her bed to the homeless stranger who came to her father's door asking for shelter.

Joan was 'like all the others' in her village until her thirteenth year. "When I was about thirteen, I received revelation from Our Lord by a voice which told me to be good and attend church often and that God would help me." She stated that her 'Voices' were Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. At first her 'Voices' came to her two or three times a week but as the time for her mission drew near (five years later), they visited her daily telling her to 'Go into France' to raise the siege of Orleans, conduct the Dauphin Charles to Reims for his crowning and to drive the English from the land.

Joan went to the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs, which means Valley of many colors. There she spoke to the loyal French governor by the name of Sir Robert de Baudricourt. After many rejections he finally agreed to send her to the Dauphin who at the time was living at the castle of Chinon.

On the evening of February 23, 1429, she began her mission for God. In the company of six men, she rode through the Gate of France on her way to Chinon. Joan reached this town on March 6th, but was not received by the Dauphin, Charles, until the evening of March 9th.

After being accepted and approved by a Church council headed by the Archbishop of Reims, Joan was allowed to lead the Dauphin's army. This part of her career was meteoric. She entered Orleans on the evening of April 29th and by May 8th the city had been freed. The Loire campaign started on June 9th and by June 19th the English were driven out of the Loire valley. The march to Reims started on June 29th and by July 17th Charles was crowned King of France in the cathedral of Reims.

From this time on, for reasons know only to King Charles, the king no longer valued Joan's advice and guidance. She had always told him that God had given her 'a year and a little longer' to accomplish His will but the king seemed to take no notice of it. For almost a year he wasted what time remained to Joan, until in frustration, she left the court. Her last campaign lasted from the middle of March until her capture at the town of Compiegne on May 23rd, 1430. Her 'year and a little longer' was over.

Abandoned by her king and friends, she started her year of captivity. As a prisoner of the Burgundians she was treated fairly but that all changed when on November 21st, 1430, she was handed over the English. How she survived their harsh treatment of her is a miracle in itself.

The English not only wanted to kill Joan but they also wanted to discredit King Charles as a false king by having Joan condemned by the Church as a witch and a heretic. To obtain this goal the English used those Church authorities whom they knew to be favorable to them and the staunchest of these was Bishop Cauchon.

Joan's trial of condemnation lasted from February 21st until May 23rd. She was finally burnt at the stake in Rouen's market square on May 30th, 1431.

Twenty-five years later the findings of Joan's first trial were overturned and declared 'null and void' by another Church court, who this time was favorable to King Charles. It was not until 1920 that the Church of Rome officially declared Joan to be a saint. Her feast day is celebrated on May 30th.