Joan of Arc Pictures

By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide

Burned at the stake in 1431 for insubordination and heterodoxy, Joan of Arc had been tried and found guilty by a church council under control of a Bishop appointed under English occupation. In the 1450s, an appeal authorized by the Pope found Joan innocent. In the following century, Joan of Arc became a symbol of the Catholic League of France, dedicated to stopping the spread of Protestantism in France. In the 19th century, original manuscripts connected with the trial resurfaced, and the Bishop of Orléans took up the cause of Joan, leading to her beatification by the Roman Catholic Church in 1909. She was canonized on May 16, 1920.