1431 AD
Joan of Arc, a 19-year-old peasant girl from DomrΓ©my, claimed that saints appeared to her and commanded her to lead the French army against the English during the Hundred Years' War. Against all odds, she succeeded: she lifted the siege of OrlΓ©ans in 1429, led the coronation of Charles VII at Reims, and won a series of victories that turned the tide of the war.
When she was captured by the Burgundians (allies of the English) in 1430, she was sold to the English, who put her on trial for heresy before an ecclesiastical court led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon. The trial was a shamβJoan was denied counsel, questioned on theological matters beyond her education, and pressured to recant. When she 'relapsed' into wearing men's clothing, she was sentenced to be burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431.
Twenty-five years later, Pope Callixtus III ordered a new trial that overturned the conviction, declaring Joan a martyr. She was canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Key Sources: Joan of Arc's trial transcripts; Pope Callixtus III's nullification trial; Georges Bataille, Joan of Arc