Editing Joan of Arc (section)

==Birth and historical background==
[[File:Hundred Years War 1429 copy.svg|thumb|upright=1|left|alt=A map of France, divided into various sections|France, 1429{{sfn|Barker|2009|p= [https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/n19 xviii]}}
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{{legend|#ee6677|Controlled by [[Henry VI of England]]}}
{{legend|#aa3377|Controlled by [[Philip the Good|Philip III of Burgundy]]}}
{{legend|#4477aa|Controlled by [[Charles VII of France]]}}]]

Joan of Arc was born {{circa|1412|lk=no}}{{sfnm|1a1=Gies|1y=1981|1p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/10 10]|2a1=Pernoud|2a2=Clin|2y=1986|2p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/55 55]|3a1=Warner|3y=1981|3p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcimageof0000warn/page/278 278]}} in [[Domrémy-la-Pucelle|Domrémy]], a small village in the Meuse valley now in the [[Vosges (department)|Vosges department]] in the north-east of France.{{sfnm|1a1=DLP|1y=2021|1p=|1ps=: Domrémy-La-Pucelle est situé en Lorraine, dans l'ouest du département des Vosges{{nbsp}}... dans la vallée de la Meuse. ["Domrémy-La-Pucelle is located in Lorraine, in the western part of the Vosges department{{nbsp}}... in the Meuse valley."]|2a1=Gies|2y=1981|2p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/10 10]|2ps=}} Her date of birth is unknown and her statements about her age were vague.{{sfn|Gies|1981|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/10 10]}}{{efn|Her birthday is sometimes given as 6 January. This is based on a letter by {{ill|Perceval de Boulainvilliers|fr}}, a councillor of Charles VII, stating that Joan was born on the [[Epiphany (holiday)|feast of the Epiphany]],{{sfn|Lucie-Smith|1976|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarc0000luci/page/6 6]}} but his letter is filled with literary [[Trope (literature)|tropes]] that make it questionable as a statement of fact.{{sfnm|1a1=Harrison|1y=2014|1p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclifetra0000harr/page/23 23]|2a1=Pernoud|2a2=Clin|2y=1986|2p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/55 55]|3a1=Warner|3y=1981|3p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcimageof0000warn/page/278 278]}} There is no other evidence of her being born on Epiphany.{{sfn|Pernoud|Clin|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/265 265]}}}} Her parents were [[Jacques d'Arc]] and [[Isabelle Romée]]. Joan had three brothers and a sister.{{sfnm|DeVries|1999|1p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780750918053/page/36 36]|Lucie-Smith|1976|2p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarc0000luci/page/8 8]|Taylor|2009|3p=[{{Google books|id=sV9kFj3O1noC|pg=PT24|plainurl=yes}} 24]}} Her father was a peasant farmer{{sfn|Gies|1981|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarclegendr0000gies/page/n15 1]}} with about {{convert|50|acre}} of land,{{sfn|Pernoud|Clin|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/221 221]}} and he supplemented the family income as a village official, collecting taxes and heading the local [[watchman (law enforcement)|watch]].{{sfnm|1a1=Lowell|1y=1896|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/JoanOfArc1896/page/n33 19–20]|2a1=Pernoud|2a2=Clin|2y=1986|2p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/221 221]}}

She was born during the [[Hundred Years' War]] between England and France, which had begun in 1337{{sfn|Aberth|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/frombrinkofapoca0000aber/page/50 50]}} over the status of English territories in France and [[English claims to the French throne]].{{sfnm|Aberth|2000|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/frombrinkofapoca0000aber/page/61 61]|Perroy|1959|2p=[https://archive.org/details/hundredyearswar0000perr/page/69 69]}} Nearly all the fighting had taken place in France, devastating its economy.{{sfn|Aberth|2000|pp=[https://archive.org/details/frombrinkofapoca0000aber/page/85 85–86]}} At the time of Joan's birth, France was divided politically. The French king [[Charles VI of France|Charles VI]] had recurring bouts of mental illness and was often unable to rule;{{sfn|Seward|1982|pp=[https://archive.org/details/hundredyearsware0000sewa/page/143 143–144]}} his brother [[Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans|Louis]], [[Duke of Orléans]], and his cousin [[John the Fearless]], [[Duke of Burgundy]], quarreled over the regency of France. In 1407, the Duke of Burgundy ordered the [[Assassination of Louis I, Duke of Orléans|assassination of the Duke of Orléans]],{{sfn|Barker|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/5 5]}} precipitating a civil war.{{sfn|Seward|1982|p=[https://archive.org/details/hundredyearsware0000sewa/page/144 144]}} [[Charles, Duke of Orléans|Charles of Orléans]] succeeded his father as duke at the age of thirteen and was placed in the custody of [[Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac|Bernard, Count of Armagnac]]; his supporters became known as "[[Armagnac (party)|Armagnacs]]", while supporters of the Duke of Burgundy became known as "[[Burgundian (party)|Burgundians]]".{{sfn|Barker|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/5 5]}} The future French king [[Charles VII of France|Charles VII]] had assumed the title of [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] (heir to the throne) after the deaths of his four older brothers{{sfnm|1a1=Pernoud|1a2=Clin|1y=1986|1p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/168 168]|2a1=Vale|2y=1974|2p=[https://archive.org/details/charlesvii0000vale/page/21 21]}} and was associated with the Armagnacs.{{sfn|Vale|1974|pp=[https://archive.org/details/charlesvii0000vale/page/22 22], [https://archive.org/details/charlesvii0000vale/page/25 25]}}

[[Henry V of England]] exploited France's internal divisions when he invaded in 1415.{{sfnm|DeVries|1999|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780750918053/page/19 19–22]|Tuchman|1982|2pp=[https://archive.org/details/distantmirrorcal00tuch/page/583 583–585]}} The Burgundians took [[Paris]] in 1418.{{sfnm|Barker|2009|1p=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/29 29]|Sizer|2007}} In 1419, the Dauphin offered a truce to negotiate peace with the Duke of Burgundy, but the duke was [[Assassination of John the Fearless|assassinated by the Dauphin's Armagnac partisans]] during the negotiations. The new duke of Burgundy, [[Philip the Good]], allied with the English.{{sfnm|Barker|2009|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/26 26–27]|Burne|1956|2p=[https://archive.org/details/agincourtwarmili0000burn/page/142 142]}} Charles VI accused the Dauphin of murdering the Duke of Burgundy and declared him unfit to inherit the French throne.{{sfn|Barker|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/29 29]}} During a period of illness, Charles's wife [[Isabeau of Bavaria]] stood in for him and signed the [[Treaty of Troyes]],{{sfn|Gibbons|1996|p=[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3679229?seq=21 71]}} which gave their daughter [[Catherine of Valois]] in marriage to Henry V, granted the succession of the French throne to their heirs, and effectively disinherited the Dauphin.{{sfn|Barker|2009|pp=[https://archive.org/details/conquestenglishk0000bark/page/28 28–29]}} This caused rumors that the Dauphin was not King Charles VI's son, but the offspring of an adulterous affair between Isabeau and the murdered duke of Orléans.{{sfn|Pernoud|Clin|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/joanofarcherstor00pern/page/189 189]}} In 1422, Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other; the 9-month-old [[Henry VI of England]] was the nominal heir of the [[Dual monarchy of England and France|Anglo-French dual monarchy]] as agreed in the treaty, but the Dauphin also claimed the French throne.{{sfn|Curry|Hoskins|Richardson|Spencer|2015|p=[https://archive.org/details/agincourtcompani0000curr/page/105 105]}}