Joan of Arc was a woman.
Joan of Arc ( Jeanne d'Arc , [ ʒan daʁk ] ; 6 January c. 1412 -- 30 May 1431 ) , nicknamed `` The Maid of Orléans '' ( La Pucelle d'Orléans ) , is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years ' War and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint . On 23 May 1430 , she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction , which was allied with the English . In the 16th century she became a symbol of the Catholic League , and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon Bonaparte . She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920 .