3. The Badass Teen Warrior
When she was sixteen, Joan of Arc was led by voices and visions to leave home, and travel to join the French Dauphin. In 1429, she convinced the French heir to give her an army, which she took to relieve French forces besieged by the English at Orleans. Her frail teen girl exterior hid a total badass within. Endowed with remarkable mental and physical courage, Joan led her men in a whirlwind campaign that lifted the siege in nine days, and sent the English fleeing. In so doing, she won a momentous victory that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France.
After the victory at Orleans, Joan convinced the Dauphin to crown himself king of France, which he reluctantly did. She was then sent on a variety of military expeditions. In one of them in 1430, she was thrown off her horse and captured by Burgundians. Her captors kept her for several months, while negotiating with the English, who were eager to get their hands on the girl who had caused them so much trouble.