In 1412, England was attacking France. French people suffered as English soldiers killed them or stole from them, In that year , a French girl was born. Her parent were poor farmers, yet she became very famous.
Her name was Joan. As a child, she believed that God wanted her to do something important. When she was 17, she went to the French leader, Charles, who later became king, and told him that God wanted her to lead his army. He was losing the war with England, so he agreed to try Joan's idea. He sent her with troops to Orleans, the last city in northern France still resisting the English. She led his army and won a battle against the English there.
However, when Joan was 18 she was captured by the English. They hated her, so they told the lie that she was an evil witch who used black magic to win battles. After a three-month trial, Joan was found guilty and they burned her alive in Rouen in May 1431. Nearly 500 years after her death, tje Pope declared her a saint.
Recently, the French director Luc Besson made an excellent film about Joan of Arc starring his wife, Milla Janavich. Joan is still famous hundreds of years after her death.