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At the age of 13, Joan of Arc heard for the first time the voices of those saints, who gave her the order to liberate France from the English and to lead her king, the Dauphin Charles, to his coronation to Reims.
In the year 1428 the situation for the Dauphin was disastrous. The Burgundians were standing in the east and the English in the north, who had captured the entire area north of the Loire. It seemed to be only a matter of time, until France was conquered completely. On October 7th, siege of Orleans began, the key city in crossing the Loire and conquering the south of France. In December 1428 Joan left her parents' house. She told her parents she would go to an uncle in Burey-le-Petit. In fact she stayed some weeks at her uncles house. But her actual destination was Vaucouleurs. She asked the captain of the city, Robert de Baudricourt to send her to the Dauphin. He refused first, but Joan did not give up. Finally she persuaded Beaudricourt and a small detachment was set up to escort Joan to Chinon. Joan got her own horse, a sword and dressed for the first time in men's clothes.
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