This Day in History: Joan of Arc Is <br />Burned at the Stake for Heresy May 30, 1431 The gruesome execution was <br />carried out at Rouen in Normandy. <br />She was not yet 20 years old. In three short years, <br />Joan of Arc had gone from being an <br />unknown peasant girl to the "Savior of France." At the age of 16, she began hearing <br />voices directing her to assist the heir to the <br />French throne to reclaim his crown from English rule. Dressed in male armor, <br />she was granted audience to the Dauphin. <br />After weeks of theological questioning, Joan of Arc <br />was supplied with a small army to fight the English. After months of stunning victories, <br />Joan was captured by the English,<br />tried as a heretic for surpassing church authority <br />and sentenced to death. Nearly 400 years later, <br />the Catholic Church recognized <br />Joan of Arc as a Christian saint in 1920.
