Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was captured on 23 May 1430 during a sortie from Compiegne against the Burgundian camp. Her trial for heresy began in Rouen on 9 January 1431 before Bishop Pierre Cauchon. The charges were wearing men's clothing, treated as blasphemy, acting on visions the court judged demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the Church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.

A second inquiry opened on 7 November 1455 at Notre-Dame in Paris, authorised by Pope Callixtus III at the request of Joan's mother and brothers. On 7 July 1456 it declared the first trial void, tainted by fraud, calumny, iniquity and errors of law and fact, and cleared her of the infamy of the condemnation. The judges made no ruling on her orthodoxy or sanctity. Pope Pius X beatified her on 18 April 1909 and Pope Benedict XV canonised her on 16 May 1920, nearly five centuries after her execution.