Orléans · Loiret
The Siege of Orléans
In 1429, a months-long English siege of Orléans was broken in days after Joan of Arc arrived to rally the exhausted French garrison, a turning point that reversed the course of the Hundred Years' War.
Bronfeiten
Orléans (Loiret, France), where the French relief in May 1429 led by Joan of Arc lifted the seven-month English siege during the Hundred Years’ War.
Redactionele duiding
By the time Joan of Arc reached Orléans in late April 1429, English forces had encircled the city for over six months, anchored by a ring of fortified bastides. Her arrival galvanized the demoralized defenders, and within little more than a week the key English strongpoints had fallen and the siege was lifted on 8 May 1429 — a date still celebrated in the city today as the Fêtes de Jeanne d'Arc, recognized in 2018 by France as part of its national inventory of intangible cultural heritage. The victory restored French morale and opened the way for Charles VII's coronation at Reims later that year.
Aanbeveling
Orléans marks the anniversary each May with the Fêtes johanniques, a historical procession and festival tracing the city's deliverance, while its historic core still reflects the medieval street plan the siege once threatened to erase.