"People write biographies today without the faintest idea that great spiritual powers are at work in human history." --Rudolf Steiner Almost six centuries have passed since the death of Joan of Arc, but an enduring fascination with her life continues to generate new studies, adding to the huge number of books and articles on her life. Those by reputable historians and biographers have recounted the many known facts, based mostly on the surviving fifteenth-century documents. Whereas historians have firmly established Joan's central role in expelling the English from French soil, the real mystery of her achievements remains unexplained. Moreover, Joan Edmunds contends that this key mystery cannot be resolved by relying solely on orthodox historical methods. Basing her work on Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific findings--which first revealed the true significance of Joan's mission--Edmunds explores the mystery of the Maid of Orleans' unique personality. She shows how, while under the guidance and direction of the Archangel Michael, and through her ultimate martyrdom, Joan of Arc was instrumental in bringing to birth the forces needed for the next vital step in human spiritual development--the emergence of the consciousness soul.

At age 18, Joan led the French armies into battle. She was a peasant girl who couldn't even read, let alone fight a war. To save France from the English, she was going to need divine intervention.The heavens answered her.Joan received aid from St. Michael the Archangel, supreme commander of the heavenly armies. With his help, Joan led the French to victory on the battlefield, paving the way to the end of the Hundred Years' War.This first issue follows Joan as she first encounters the Archangel and leads the armies of France to reclaim the city of Orleans.

"A master of the story form" (The New York Times) offers a fresh, revealing portrait of the legendary saint Celebrated novelist Mary Gordon brings Joan of Arc alive as a complex figure full of contradictions and desires, as well as spiritual devotion. A humble peasant girl, Joan transformed herself into the legendary Maid of Orléans, knight, martyr, and saint. Following the voice of God, she led an army to victory and crowned the king of France, only to be captured and burned at the stake as a heretic—all by the age of nineteen. Gordon does more than tell this gripping story—she explores Joan's mystery and the many facets of her inspiring life.

THE HEROIC LIFE AND DEATH OF ST. JOAN OF ARC!At age 18, Joan led the French armies into battle. She was a peasant girl who couldn't even read, let alone fight a war. To save France from the English, she was going to need divine intervention.The heavens answered her.Joan received aid from St. Michael the Archangel, supreme commander of the heavenly armies. With his help, Joan led the French to victory on the battlefield, paving the way to the end of the Hundred Years' War.This two issue series follows Joan's encounters with the Archangel, exploring her brief military campaigns in France, ending in her capture, trial and heroic martyrdom.COLLECTING: The Mission of Joan of Arc #1-2 by Philip Kosloski, Alexandre Nascimento and Jesse Hansen.

Joan of Arc was perhaps the most wonderful person who ever lived in the world. The story of her life is so strange that we could scarcely believe it to be true, if all that happened to her had not been told by people in a court of law, and written down by her deadly enemies, while she was still alive. She was burned to death when she was only nineteen: she was not seventeen when she first led the armies of France to victory, and delivered her country from the English.

From the author of the acclaimed She-Wolves, the complex, surprising, and engaging story of one of the most remarkable women of the medieval world—as never told before. Helen Castor tells afresh the gripping story of the peasant girl from Domremy who hears voices from God, leads the French army to victory, is burned at the stake for heresy, and eventually becomes a saint. But unlike the traditional narrative, a story already shaped by the knowledge of what Joan would become and told in hindsight, Castor’s Joan of Arc: A History takes us back to fifteenth century France and tells the story forwards. Instead of an icon, she gives us a living, breathing woman confronting the challenges of faith and doubt, a roaring girl who, in fighting the English, was also taking sides in a bloody civil war. We meet this extraordinary girl amid the tumultuous events of her extraordinary world where no one—not Joan herself, nor the people around her—princes, bishops, soldiers, or peasants—knew what would happen next. Adding complexity, depth, and fresh insight into Joan’s life, and placing her actions in the context of the larger political and religious conflicts of fifteenth century France, Joan of Arc: A History is history at its finest and a surprising new portrait of this remarkable woman. Joan of Arc: A History features an 8-page color insert.

[Does] an immense service to anyone interested in Joan of Arc... skillfully disentangles countless textual threads, all centered around one problem: the nature of Joan's mission as it was examined in the early theological debates... A thorough and timely book. MYSTICS QUARTERLY Joan of Arc arrived at the French court claiming to be sent by God to come to the aid of the dauphin Charles. Most studies of Joan focus on her political expediency, but the starting point of this book is her assertion that she was sent by God: it is the first real exploration of the application of the Catholic doctrine of discretio spirituum [the discernment of spirits] to her case, and of her reception as a visionary woman. The author examines contemporary theological documents which show genuine debate about Joan's mission and whether she was diabolically or divinely inspired, also taking into account the two major literary works dealing with her, Christine de Pizan's Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc and Martin Le Franc's Le champion des dames, as well as Joan's own letter to the English. Appendices offer translations of pertinent Latin and French texts. Professor DEBORAH FRAIOLI teaches in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Simmons College, Boston.

After a triumphant victory at Orleans, Joan, following the guidance of St. Michael the Archangel, leads Charles VII to Rheims where he is crowned King of France.However, danger lurks around the corner and Joan is quickly captured and sold to England!What happens next will change the course of history!This issue brings Joan's adventures to a conclusion, continuing the story from the first issue.

A biography of the peasant girl who led the French army to victory against the English and paved the way for the coronation of King Charles VII.