By the 1420s, the Hundred Years’ War between England and France had been going on for generations. Fought on French soil, it had devastated the country, as rival armies crisscrossed the land. Fighting men trampled crops, looted, burned, murdered, committed all kinds of assaults, and visited devastation on the locals. By 1428, the English were at the peak of their power. They controlled the north of France alongside their Burgundian allies, as well as the country’s southwest. The main obstacle between them and the rest of the country was Orleans. The northernmost city still in the hands of the Valois French crown, its capture would allow English armies easy access to central France. So the English sent a force to capture Orleans. The resultant Siege of Orleans would prove a turning point in the war.
The English Advance Upon Orleans
In July, 1428, Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, led an English army on a sweep southwest of Paris. By autumn, he was at the gates of Orleans. Other English and Burgundian detachments advanced on the city from different directions, and by early October, had cut off and surrounded it. The resultant Siege of Orléans, fought from October 1428 to May 1429, proved a decisive turning point in the Hundred Years’ War. By then, England and its Burgundian allies had fought for nearly a century to control the French throne.
In the meantime France, weakened by internal strife and civil war, teetered on collapse. Orléans was the key to the Loire Valley, a strategic lifeline for Charles VII, the French Dauphin, or crown prince, who had not yet been crowned king. When all seemed lost, a young peasant woman from Domrémy, Joan of Arc, emerged with a divine mission that transformed the course of the war. Her leadership and conviction during the siege lifted French morale, galvanized the army, and delivered France its first major victory in years.
The Importance of Orleans to Both Sides
By 1428, the English were riding high, having achieved a string of successes. The Treaty of Troyes, 1420, had disinherited the Dauphin Charles and recognized King Henry V of England and his heirs as France’s rulers. After Henry V’s death in 1422, his infant son Henry VI inherited both the English and French crowns, and a regency governed in his name. Meanwhile, Charles VII controlled only a fragmented southern portion of France. Paris and much of the north were under Anglo-Burgundian control. Orléans was vital because it commanded access to the Loire River, and defended the approaches to the Dauphin’s territory.
If Orléans fell, English forces could sweep into central France, and render Charles VII isolated and powerless. In October 1428, the Earl of Salisbury began the Siege of Orleans. It was the commencement of a grueling confrontation that would last over six months. Things were headed in the direction of an English victory, until out of the blue, a teenage girl showed up and changed everything. Joan of Arc, born in 1412, was an illiterate peasant girl who claimed to have visions from saints. She said they commanded her to support Charles VII and drive out the English.
Charles and his court were skeptical, but Joan persuaded the Dauphin and his advisors to grant her an escort and equipment. In March, 1429, she set out for Orléans. Dressed in white armor, she carried a banner emblazoned with the fleur-de-lis and religious symbols. Her arrival electrified the French defenders. Morale in Orléans had been crumbling under the prolonged siege, shortages of food, and repeated English assaults. Joan’s presence, with her unshakable faith and belief in divine support, inspired soldiers and civilians alike.
The Teenage Girl Who Overturned the Tables
Joan of Arc had no formal military training. However, her charisma, confidence, and tactical instincts helped unify a fractured command structure. In late April 1429, Joan broke through the English blockade, and entered the city with a convoy of supplies. That bolstered the defenders physically, boosted their morale, and marked a shift in fortune. Until then, French commanders had been conservative and cautious out of fear of English strength. For good reason: the English had dealt the French numerous humiliating defeats at battles such as Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, and others. Joan threw caution to the wind, urged immediate offensive action, and led the French with a combination of boldness and spiritual fervor.
She rallied the troops, demanded discipline, and urged them to confess sins, attend Mass, and refrain from looting or immorality. Her emphasis on piety reinforced the idea that their struggle was divinely sanctioned. That transformed the war into a sacred cause. From May 4th to 7th, 1429, the French launched a series of assaults on English fortifications, with Joan often at the forefront. On May 4th, they captured the bastille of Saint-Loup, an English outpost east of the city. The next day, they took the fort of Saint-Jean-le-Blanc. On May 6th, Joan led a successful attack on the fort of Saint-Augustin, which further weakened the English grip on Orleans. Each victory boosted French morale and eroded English confidence.
The ‘Maid of Orleans’
The climax came on May 7th, with the assault on Les Tourelles, the heavily fortified English stronghold guarding the southern bridge into Orléans. The battle was fierce and bloody, with Joan carrying her banner at the front lines. Struck by an arrow in the shoulder, she refused to let the injury deter her, and returned to the fight after quick treatment. Her determination reinvigorated the soldiers, who pressed the attack until the English defenders collapsed. The capture of Les Tourelles effectively secured French victory. On May 8th, 1429, the English realized it was all over, abandoned the siege, and retreated. For the first time in years, a major French city had been liberated from English control.
The victory at Orléans was not only strategic, but also psychological. It shattered an aura of English invincibility that had loomed over France since the days of Henry V and his crushing victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. French troops, once demoralized, were now full of fight and ready to follow Joan on further campaigns. The lifting of the siege marked the beginning of a French revival in the Hundred Years’ War. Joan of Arc became a symbol of hope, and earned the title “Maid of Orléans.”
Legacy of Joan of Arc’s Victory at Orleans
In the months that followed, Joan of Arc led French forces to more victories along the Loire. Her efforts culminated in Charles VII’s coronation at Reims in July, 1429 – a symbolic act that affirmed his legitimacy as king. Joan would later be captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, and executed for heresy in 1431. By then, however, her victory at the Siege of Orléans had already changed the war’s trajectory. She transformed what had seemed an inevitable English conquest into a resurgence of French resistance. Within two decades, the French expelled the English from nearly all of France, and brought the Hundred Years’ War to an end in 1453.
Joan of Arc’s victory at the Siege of Orléans was a turning point in French history. Against overwhelming odds, a young woman with unshakable faith rallied a beleaguered city and army to achieve a triumph that reshaped the course of a war that had dragged on for generations. More than a military victory, it was a triumph of spirit, faith, and national identity. Joan’s leadership at Orléans remains one of the most extraordinary episodes in medieval history. It was a moment when the courage of one individual inspired a nation to rise from despair, and reclaim its destiny.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
DeVries, Kelly – Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (2003)
History Halls – Joan of Arc: The Teenager Who Saved France, and Was Abandoned by Her Countrymen
Nicolle, David – Orleans, 1429: France Turns the Tide (2005)
Pollard, A. J. – John Talbot and the War in France (2005)
