In 1472, an 18-year-old woman named Jeanne Laisne rushed the ramparts of Beauvais with a hatchet, hurled a Burgundian soldier off the wall, and tore down his flag, reviving a collapsing defense. Known to history as Jeanne Hachette, or Joan the Hatchet, she helped an army of townspeople hold off Charles the Bold’s massive force. This deep dive rebuilds her story strictly from the historical sources.

We set the stage with the war between King Louis XI and Charles the Bold, whose exhausted, overextended army bogged down attacking minor strongholds before reaching Beauvais. Then we follow the rewards her heroism won and the later scholarly campaign that tried to erase her existence entirely.

• The weeks-long siege defended largely by the town’s bourgeoisie, not the royal army
• Her single act neutralizing a breach and rallying the women of Beauvais into the fight
• Louis XI’s sweeping rewards: a municipal corporation, tax exemption, and suspended sumptuary laws
• The 1474 royal letters patent naming her and authorizing her marriage to Colin Pilon
• The 19th-century denial of her existence, debunked by airtight administrative and chronicle records