Religious Rebels 01 | Joan of Arc: Mystic, warrior and gender transgressor

A teenage peasant who claimed to hear the voice of God — and changed the course of European history. 

At just seventeen, Joan of Arc convinced the French prince to let her lead an army against the English, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War. But her victories came at a price: captured, accused of heresy, and burned alive at nineteen. Was she a divinely inspired saviour or a dangerous fanatic? 

Centuries later, her story still provokes questions about faith, gender, and power — and how belief can turn an ordinary girl into a national saint.

GUESTS:

• Dr Charlotte Millar — Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Melbourne.    Author Witchcraft, the Devil & Emotions in Early Modern England
• Dr Stephanie Downes — Lecturer at La Trobe University, an expert on the history of English and French, and of books and writing of the period
• Dr Shaun Blanchard — Lecturer in Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. His anticipated fifth book – Catholicism and Enlightenment.

This is the first episode of God Forbid's Religious Rebels. A six-part special series exploring the lives of spiritual revolutionaries who defied empires, reshaped traditions — and sometimes paid with their lives.