I watched St Joan on the weekend. From the play by Bernard Shaw, a one-time atheist turned mystic, with a screenplay by Graham Greene, a one-time atheist turned RCer. 
Oh, and with Richard Widmark cast as the weak Dauphin, which I thought a bit of casting against type!
On the age thing, keep in mind that a 16-yr-old was very much an adult in the era in question. Life expectancy at birth was probably in the neighbourhood of 30 years. And children didn't go to school, of course; they (unless they were noble) worked in the fields or the home (which was a place of production rather than just consumption), or others' homes, as soon as they were able.
By the time the Dauphin, Charles VII, assumed the throne at 26 in 1429, all his elder brothers had predeceased him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VII_of_France
Joan is certainly interesting, and definitely a real historical figure. She heard voices that delivered her god's instructions. We'd call that delusional ... or lying ... but she certainly succeeded in her projects beyond what one would expect of a delusional person! Assuming that she really did the deeds attributed to her, and wasn't just a figurehead.
The 100 Years' War is pretty incomprehensible stuff. Charles' son Louis XI was still mixing it up with a Burgundy years later ... whence my second favourite song from high school choral stuff, from The Vagabond King:
Sons of toil and danger,
will you serve a stranger,
and bow down to Burgundy?
Sons of pain and sorrow,
will you cheer tomorrow
for the sons of Burgundy?
Onward, onward, swords against the foe!
Onward, onward, our lily banners go!
... And to HELL with Burgundy!
Anyhow -- come back and tell us your conclusions about Joan when you've read; I'm definitely interested, even if it does mean hijacking yr thread.
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