CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: B - Guided by the inspiration of divine visions, 17-year-old peasant maiden Joan of Arc played a prominent role in the Hundred Years’ War. Whether she physically led an army or just served as a symbol for their cause remains uncertain, but she advocated to the king and military leaders that their cause was divine in nature, subsequently making the conflict a religious war. Under her (spiritual or tactical) leadership, France was very successful, and their victory at Orléans led to the coronation of Charles VII as the king of a soon-unified France. However, the Burgundians (then still an independent city-state from France) captured her and sold her to the English, who tried her for heresy in a politically motivated move to deprive France of her symbolic leadership. She was executed in 1431 by being burned at the stake.