Revisiting my French Girl Character, Aurélie "Belief is the end of inquiry." ... Christor Murty "We are defined by our choices, not by our circumstances!" ... Unknown "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" ... Hebrews 11:1 "Of all of the possible human shortcomings, ingratitude is by far the ugliest." ... Unknown The year was 1429, it was the 92nd year of the Hundred Years War. A young farm girl approached the Dauphin, Charles VII, with a plan to expel the British from France and hold Charles coronation as King of France in the city of Reims. Out of what could only be concluded to be total desperation, Charles VII agreed to her plan and gave command of his armies to the young waif. The Seige of Orleans had begun in October of 1428 and was considered to be the struggle that would decide the fate of France. Having been given command of Charles VII armies the young girl directed her fist campaign in April and May of 1429. Wearing white armor, borrowed and ill fitting, she directed the army against the advice of the "experienced" commanders and in only nine days she broke the seige that had lingered for half a year. Distrusted by the commanders of Charles VII armies, and despised by the British Collaborators, among them Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, she proceeded to lead the army in an astounding series of victories that reversed the tide of the Hundred Years War. And then, when she was captured by the Duke of Burgundy, being of peasant stock, she had no family with the necessary funds to ransom her. And of all those nobles who had benefited from her leadership of the French armies, not one would bring forth the necessary funds to see to her return. The Duke sold her to the British. Then in a show trial, worthy of any tin pot dictator of today, she was tried for crimes she had not committed, by a judge with no jurisdiction, in a court with no evidence, leaving records of the trial that were altered, and she was executed before the case against her could be reviewed. The war would continue for another 22 years, but the breaking of the siege of Orleans was the turning point that enabled the ending. One can only speculate at the kind of doubts that may have haunted this young girl leading armies into battle. Or how she was able to muster courage it took for her to stand up to the establishment of the time. Clearly she must have called upon more courage to face those with whom she sided, than to face her enemies on the field of battle. I only know that had she lived today, instead of the fifteenth century, she would have been pumped full of prolixin, or haldol, or even thorozine and placed in an institution, so she could get the "Help" she so desperately needed. I cannot say with certainty had she been given a choice between the two such destinies, which she would have chosen. But I do in my heart believe she would have trod the same path that she did, even knowing its ultimate outcome. The Maid of Orléans.