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Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412, in the village of Domremy in north-eastern France. Her father Jacques was a peasant farmer and a minor village official. Her mother Isabelle, raised her daughter in the teachings of the Christian faith. Joan was more religious than most of the girls in her village. At the age of thirteen or fourteen Joan began to hear voices and to have visions. She claimed the voices and visions were of Saint Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine. These voices told Joan to free the city of Orleans from the English who were overtaking it. The voices also told her to take the dauphin to Reims where he would be crowned king of France. Complete with a mountain escort by Robert de Baudncourt, captain of the nearby town, Joan proceeded across France in February 1429 to the castle of Chinon in the Loore Valley where the dauphin then resided. With doubts in his mind, Charles had her examined at Poitiers by a group of distinguished clergy and theologians who assured him of the orthodoxy of her religious beliefs. Charles then assigned a squire, a page, heralds, and a confessor and sent her on her off with a small force to Orleans, where she joined the army resisting the English siege. There, in the first we