Before joining the French war effort, Joan of Arc was a peasant from Domrémy.
Joan was born into a farming family during the Hundred Years’ War. She did not come from the aristocracy, and there is no evidence that she received formal military training before leaving home. Her early life involved ordinary rural work and religious observance.
Later accounts often describe her as a shepherdess, but historians caution that the popular image can oversimplify her childhood. The trial records support the picture of a village girl from a farming household, rather than a professional soldier or member of the nobility.
Her rapid rise from rural civilian to military leader was one reason her story became so remarkable. Joan gained access to Charles VII’s court because of her claimed divine mission and the political and military crisis facing France, not because of inherited rank.