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In October 1427, a young peasant girl aged 13 from a small village in Lorraine, Domremy, began to hear voices which she eventually interpreted as coming from God. She was also visited by saints and angels. As a result, she was inspired to encourage a weak French heir to the king (dauphin), Charles VII, to allow her to lead an army for him to free a number of cities occupied by the British and to have him crowned in the city of Reims, occupied by English troops. That she was able to do this is even more remarkable since women in the Middle Ages had no social position and were confined to the home. Eventually, she was captured by the Burgundians who sold her to the British. The latter organized a church trial. As a result, she was labeled a heretic and burned at the stake in May 1431 in the city of Rouen.
In this paper I will examine the phenomenon of Joan's voices from three different points of view: First from the young girl's experience, second as interpreted by the church, and third I will attempt a psychodynamic understanding of this fascinating phenomenon with the limited data available.
Joan was the fourth of five children; she had two older brothers who followed her into battle and an older sister, Catherine. It is said that she was born on the night of the epiphany in 1412. Joan's father, a free peasant, owned 50 acres of farmland. He was appointed the local “dean” of the village, somewhat equivalent to a modern-day mayor. This family would be considered middle class.