One of history’s greatest saints, and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism, Joan of Arc, a peasant girl living in medieval France, believed that God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its long-running war with England. With no military training, Joan convinced the embattled crown prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orleans, where it achieved a triamphant victory over the English and their French allies, the Burgundians.