Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc was considered a saint of the Catholic Church and a true heroine for the rest of the world. She was nicknamed by the French people the “Virgin of Orleans” after, following visions, she heard God telling her to liberate the lands of France, dominated in the 1400s by England.
She was eventually betrayed to the English and burned at the stake. Her unflinching faith and role in liberating the French from the English invasion has accorded Joan of Arc mythic status.
3 thoughts on “10 of the Most Powerful Women in History”
If we don’t want to reduce the number to 10, I’d also include Harriet Tubman.
I’d replace Diana with Elizabeth I.
On the basis of Lincoln calling her “the little lady who started the big war” and because “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was a worldwide bestseller that sold more copies world wide in English and in translations, I would also include Harriet Beecher Stowe. And because Hanna Arendt included her in her book “Men in Dark Times,” I would also include Rosa Luxemberg. And what about Florence Nightingale and Margaret Sanger?