Joan of Arc Arrives at Orléans: Hope Returns to France
Joan of Arc arrived at the besieged city of Orleans on April 29, 1429, accompanied by a supply convoy and several hundred troops. The 17-year-old peasant girl had convinced the Dauphin Charles VII that she carried a divine mission to lift the siege and crown him at Reims. Her arrival electrified the demoralized French garrison. Within nine days, she led assaults on the English fortifications surrounding the city, personally scaling a ladder at Les Tourelles and continuing to fight after taking a crossbow bolt between her neck and shoulder. The English retreated on May 8. The relief of Orleans was the turning point of the Hundred Years' War and remains Joan's most celebrated military achievement. She was captured by Burgundians a year later and burned at the stake in Rouen.
April 29, 1429
597 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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