Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl who, claiming divine guidance, led French forces to several key victories during the Hundred Years' War before being captured and executed at age 19.
Joan claimed to experience visions instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination. Remarkably, she convinced the French court to grant her a small army, and in 1429 she led the successful relief of the besieged city of Orléans.
Her early military successes helped turn the tide of the war and led to Charles VII's coronation. However, she was captured by Burgundian forces allied with the English in 1430 and later put on trial for heresy.
She was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. Twenty-five years later, a posthumous retrial declared her innocent, and she was canonized as a Catholic saint in 1920. She remains a national symbol of France.