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Alright ladies, here’s another mood for you. The woman whose story I want to tell you today wasn’t a noble, or wealthy. In fact, she was one of the ‘little people’.. Yet her one small act of heroism not only saved lives, it was some extremely Wonder Woman shit! THREAD 1/ 
By the late fifteenth century, the Hundred Years War had left France in a unsettled, wartorn state. Duchies like Burgundy tested the power of the French monarchy, making demands on territory, testing just how they could go in bolstering their base of power. (Pic: @Wikimedia) /2
One duke that pressed up against the French king was Charles the Bold, of Burgundy. He was raised with the mission to expand the borders of the Duchy into a kingdom. Throughout the 1460s & 1470s, his troops marched the countryside, capturing towns & cities. (Pic: @Wikimedia) /3
This isn’t a thread about Charles, however. You just need to know that his forces were formidable and that one of the things that many feared was a siege at their hands. In June of 1472, they were at the walls of the northern French city of Beauvais. (Pic: Informationfrance) 4/
Beauvais had been caught with its pants down. Within the walls of the city, only 300 soldiers were garrisoned at the time of the siege. The rest were those that hadn’t managed to escape earlier - men, women and children, hardly trained troops. (Pic: Freelance History Writer) /5
Pressing the advantage, the Burgundian forces started to scale the walls with ladders, hoping to overwhelm the defenders. Despite a rain of arrows, roof tiles &impromptu missiles, a soldier managed to reach the top and start waving a standard, signalling that victory war near. /6
If this was a film, this is the part when everything would go quiet and the sad classical music would start playing. The inhabitants of Beauvais could not expect to be treated kindly by an occupying force - they would strip it of everything useful, cause great misery. /7
Well, not if Jeanne Laisné could help it. Jeanne, 16 years old at the time of the siege, was the daughter of peasants who had taken shelter within the walls. As a young woman of peasant stock, she knew how to use small axes - and use them she did, two of them! (Pic: @Alamy) /8
Launching herself at the standard-bearer, Jeanne swung her axes, knocking him from the battlements! There was a moment of stunned disbelief before the defenders rallied and more - especially women - onto the ramparts, taking the fight to the Burgundians! (Pic: @alamy) /9
The Burgundians never really recovered from this shock assault, and when reinforcements from the King arrived, they soon decamped, deciding that Beauvais just wasn’t worth it. After all, the joint was full of insanely brave, hugely strong, axe-wielding teenage girls. /10
The King of France, Louis XI, soon heard about Jeanne’s heroism, and granted her all kinds of gifts- she could marry who she wanted and she *never* had to pay taxes. Best of all - in my opinion - she was forever Jean Hatchette (Jean Little-Axe). /11
History doesn’t record what happened to Jeanne after, but I like to think that until the end of her life - a long one I hope - family, friends, townsfolk would ask her to tell the story & show the small axes she used to save the city. Also, I hope she never had to buy drinks. /12
To this day there’s a festival in Beauvais, dedicated to Jeanne & the women of the city. 19th C accounts talk about the same banner that was taken from the dead Burgundian soldier being carried at the head of the procession. I think that’s pretty badass. (Pic: CRW Flags Inc) /13
Beauvais is a great place to visit and you can still see parts of the ramparts where Jeanne made the Burgundians shit themselves. There’s also all sorts of other cool stuff, so I encourage you to check it out - follow @VisitBeauvais for more info. /14 visitbeauvais.fr/en/
If you want an even more swearier account of Jean’s heroism, @badassoftheweek has a fun little article, outlining just what happened. /15 badassoftheweek.com/hachette.html
History is full of stories of 'great men'. Dig a little deeper though, put the self-congratulatory crap aside, and you’ll find many stories of ordinary folks - especially women, who refused to stand aside for them. That’s what interests me more. Hope you enjoyed that. /FIN
