Joan of Arc was an important person in history. At the time of Joan of Arc, the English controlled the Northern part of France and the French ruled the south. Joan of Arc was a illiterate French maid. The people in her area had a person they believed had the right to be the king but he could not be crowned king because by tradition the coronation ceremony had to take place in a certain city, Reims, France. However, he could not get there because it was in the North and the English controlled that place. The French had been fighting battles against the English for a long time about this but the English always won. The French always lost. Then, Joan of Arc came forward. She claimed that she had received voices from heaven who told her how to win the battles and to defeat the English. At first the commanders did not take her seriously and thought she was just a crazy girl. However, after they lost a few more battles and she successfully predicted the outcomes, they decided that they were doing so poorly that they might as well give her the chance. They put Joan of Arc in charge of the army and amazingly as soon as she became the commander, her forces started winning. They won battle after battle with Joan of Arc as their commander. Finally the French were able to capture Reims, the city they needed to capture so that the man they favored could be crowned king. They took that city and he was crowned King Charles VII. Thus, her main goal was accomplished. However, not long thereafter Joan of Arc was captured by the English. They believed that she was a witch or an evil sorceress. They felt that she must be a witch because how else was it possible that a mere 19-year-old girl could so easily defeat the entire English Army. They checked her and she was a virgin, an important point. They were convinced that she must be a witch. So, they tied her to a stake, set a fire and burned her up. This was all done legally and proper-like, with witnesses, a trial and a verdict. She was burned at the Stake on May 30, 1431. Her birth date is not known. She is believed to have been 19 when she died. The Catholic Church declared on 16 May 1920 that Joan of Arc was a saint, not a witch. Now, she is called "Saint Joan." The question remains: Why would a saint have the power to defeat men in battle?