Chapter X: Part II: The Rehabilitation (1)

_In the following Enquiries and Depositions, it has been considered
advisable, in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions, to give
extracts only from certain of the Depositions. The names of all
witnesses are given in full, and no evidence of importance is
omitted._

_In the Original, the whole of the first Enquiry is in French, the
second and third are in Latin._

_An Introductory Note to the Rehabilitation will be found in the
Appendix on p. 371._

THE FIRST ENQUIRY: 1449.

[_The King’s Rescript, being a Letter of Commission to Maître Guillaume Bouillé, was granted by Charles VII., for an Enquiry into the case of Jeanne d’Arc._]

EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.

BROTHER JEAN TOUTMOUILLÉ, _of the Order of Saint Dominic, (Examined, 5th day of March), 1449_.[105]

As to the feeling of the Judges and those who conducted the Trial of the said Jeanne, I neither assisted nor was I present at the Trial. I can say nothing, therefore, as to what I saw; but the common report was, that they persecuted her from desire of perverse vengeance, and of this they gave sign and appearance. For, before her death, the English proposed to lay siege to Louviers; soon, however, they changed their purpose, saying they would not besiege the said town until the Maid had been examined. What followed was evident proof of this; for, immediately after she was burnt, they went to besiege Louviers, considering that during her life they could have neither glory nor success in deeds of war.

The day when Jeanne was delivered up to be burned, I was in the prison during the morning with Brother Martin Ladvenu, whom the Bishop of Beauvais had sent to her to announce her approaching death, and to induce in her true contrition and penitence, and also to hear her in confession. This the said Ladvenu did most carefully and charitably; and when he announced to the poor woman the death she must die that day, as the Judge had ordained, and she heard of the hard and cruel death which was approaching, she began, in a sad and pitiful manner, as one distraught, tearing her hair, to cry out: “Alas! am I to be so horribly and cruelly treated? Alas! that my body, whole and entire, which has never been corrupted, should to-day be consumed and burned to ashes! Ah! I would far rather have my head cut off, seven times over, than be thus burned! Alas! had I been in the ecclesiastical prison, to which I submitted myself, and guarded by the Clergy instead of by my enemies, it would not have fallen out so unhappily for me. I appeal to God, the Great Judge, for the great evils and injustice done to me!”

After these complaints, the aforesaid Bishop arrived, to whom she at once said: “Bishop, I die through you.” And he began to explain to her, saying: “Ah! Jeanne, have patience; you die because you have not kept to what you promised us, and for having returned to your first evil-doing.” And the poor Maid answered him: “Alas, if you had put me in the prisons of the Church Courts, and given me into the hands of competent and suitable ecclesiastical guardians, this would not have happened: for this I summon you before God.”

This done, I went out, and heard no more.

BROTHER YSAMBARD DE LA PIERRE, _of the Order of Saint Dominic, of the Convent at Rouen_.

On one occasion, I, with many others, admonished and besought Jeanne to submit to the Church. To which she replied that she would willingly submit to the Holy Father, requesting to be taken before him, and to be no more submitted to the judgment of her enemies. And when, at this time, I counselled her to submit to the Council of Bâle, Jeanne asked what a General Council was. I answered her, that it was an assembly of the whole Church Universal and of Christendom, and that in this Council there were some of her side as well as of the English side. Having heard and understood this, she began to cry: “Oh! if in that place there are any of our side, I am quite willing to give myself up and to submit to the Council of Bâle.” And immediately, in great rage and indignation, the Bishop of Beauvais began to call out: “Hold your tongue, in the devil’s name!” and told the Notary, he was to be careful to make no note of the submission she had made to the General Council of Bâle. On account of these things and many others, the English and their officers threatened me terribly, so that, had I not kept silence, they would have thrown me into the Seine.

After she had recanted and abjured, and had resumed the dress of a man, I and many others were present when Jeanne excused herself for having dressed again as a man, saying and affirming publicly, that the English had done or caused to be done to her great wrong and violence, when she was wearing a woman’s dress; and, in truth, I saw her weeping, her face covered with tears, disfigured and outraged in such sort that I was full of pity and compassion.

When Jeanne was proclaimed an obstinate and relapsed heretic, she replied publicly before all who were present: “If you, my Lords of the Church, had placed me and kept me in your prisons, perchance I should not have been in this way.”

After the conclusion and end of this session and trial, the Lord Bishop of Beauvais said to the English who were waiting outside: “Farewell![106] be of good cheer: it is done.”

Such difficult, subtle, and crafty questions were asked of and propounded to poor Jeanne, that the great clerics and learned people present would have found it hard to reply; and at [these questions] many of those present murmured.

I was there myself with the Bishop of Avranches,[107] an aged and good ecclesiastic, who, like the others, had been requested and prayed to give his opinion on this Case. For this, the Bishop summoned me before him, and asked me what Saint Thomas said touching submission to the Church. I sent the decision of Saint Thomas in writing to the Bishop: “In doubtful things, touching the Faith, recourse should always be had to the Pope or a General Council.” The good Bishop was of this opinion, and seemed to be far from content with the deliberations that had been made on this subject. His deliberation was not put into writing: it was left out, with bad intent.

After Jeanne had confessed and partaken of the Sacrament of the Altar, sentence was given against her, and she was declared heretic and excommunicate.

I saw and clearly perceived, because I was there all the time, helping at the whole deduction and conclusion of the Case, that the secular Judge did not condemn her, either to death or to burning; and although the lay and secular Judge had appeared and was present in the same place where she was last preached to and given over to the secular authority, she was, entirely without judgment or conclusion of the said Judge, delivered into the hands of the executioner, and burnt—it being said to the executioner, simply and without other sentence: “Do thy duty.”

Jeanne had, at the end, so great contrition and such beautiful penitence that it was a thing to be admired, saying such pitiful, devout, and Catholic words, that those who saw her in great numbers wept, and that the Cardinal of England and many other English were forced to weep and to feel compassion.

As I was near her at the end, the poor woman besought and humbly begged me to go into the Church near by and bring her the Cross, to hold it upright on high before her eyes until the moment of death, so that the Cross on which God was hanging might be in life continually before her eyes.

Being in the flames, she ceased not to call in a loud voice the Holy Name of Jesus, imploring and invoking without ceasing the aid of the Saints in Paradise; again, what is more, in giving up the ghost and bending her head, she uttered the Name of Jesus as a sign that she was fervent in the Faith of God, just as we read of Saint Ignatius and of many other Martyrs.

Immediately after the execution, the executioner came to me and to my companion, Brother Martin Ladvenu, stricken and moved with a marvellous repentance and terrible contrition, quite desperate and fearing never to obtain pardon and indulgence from God for what he had done to this holy woman. And the executioner said and affirmed that, notwithstanding the oil, the sulphur, and the charcoal which he had applied to the entrails and heart of the said Jeanne, in no way had he been able to burn them up, nor reduce to cinders either the entrails or the heart, at which he was much astonished, as a most evident miracle.

BROTHER MARTIN LADVENU, _of the Order of Saint Dominic, and of the Convent of Saint-Jacques at Rouen_.

Many of those who appeared in the Court did so more from love of the English and the favour they bore them than on account of true zeal for justice and the Catholic Faith. In the extreme prejudice of Messire Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, there were, I assert, two proofs of ill-feeling: the first, when the Bishop, acting as Judge, commanded Jeanne to be kept in the secular prison and in the hands of her mortal enemies; and although he might easily have had her detained and guarded in an ecclesiastical prison, yet he allowed her, from the beginning of the trial to the end, to be tormented and cruelly treated in a secular prison. Moreover, at the first session or meeting, the Bishop aforesaid asked and required the opinion of all present, as to whether it was more suitable to detain her in the secular ward or in the prisons of the Church. It was decided as more correct that she be kept in ecclesiastical prisons rather than in the secular; but this the Bishop said he would not do for fear of displeasing the English. The second proof was that on the day when the Bishop and several others declared her a heretic, relapsed, and returned to her evil deeds, because, in prison, she had resumed a man’s dress, the Bishop, coming out of the prison, met the Earl of Warwick and a great many English with him, to whom he said, laughing, in a loud and clear voice: “Farewell! farewell! it is done; be of good cheer,” or such-like words.

The Maid revealed to me that, after her abjuration and recantation, she was violently treated in the prison, molested, beaten, and ill-used; and that an English lord had insulted her. She also said, publicly, that on this account she had resumed a man’s dress; and, towards the end, she said to the Bishop of Beauvais: “Alas! I die through you, for had you given me over to be kept in the prisons of the Church, I should not have been here!”

When she had been finally preached to in the Old Market-Place and abandoned to the secular authority, although the secular Judges were seated on the platform, in no way was she condemned by any of these Judges; but, without being condemned, she was forced by two sergeants to come down from the platform and was taken by the said sergeants to the place where she was to be burned, and by them delivered into the hands of the executioner.

And in proof of this, a short time after, one called Georges Folenfant was apprehended on account of the Faith and for the crime of heresy, and was in the same way handed over to the secular justice. In this case, the Judges—to wit, Messire Louis de Luxembourg, Archbishop of Rouen, and Brother Guillaume Duval, Deputy of the Inquisitor of the Faith—sent me to the Bailly of Rouen to warn him that the said Georges should not be treated as was the Maid, who, without final sentence or definite judgment, had been burned in the fire.

The executioner, about four hours after the burning, said that he had never been so afraid in executing any criminal as in the burning of the Maid, and for many reasons: first, for her great fame and renown; secondly, for the cruel manner of fastening her to the stake—for the English had caused a high scaffold to be made of plaster, and, as the said executioner reported, he could not well or easily hasten matters nor reach her, at which he was much vexed and had great compassion for the cruel manner in which she was put to death.

I can testify to her great and admirable contrition, repentance, and continual confession, calling always on the Name of Jesus, and devoutly invoking the Saints in Paradise, as also Brother Ysambard hath already deposed, who was with her to the end, and confirmed her in the way of salvation.

BROTHER GUILLAUME DUVAL, _of the Order of Saint Dominic, and of the Convent of Saint-Jacques at Rouen_.

When the trial of the said Jeanne took place, I was present at one session with Brother Ysambard de la Pierre; and, although we could find no room for ourselves in the consistory, we seated ourselves at the middle of the table, near to Jeanne. When she was questioned or examined, the said Brother Ysambard advised her as to what she should say, nudging her or making some other sign. After the session was over, I and Brother Ysambard, with Maître Jean Delafontaine, were deputed to visit her in prison the same day after dinner and give her counsel; we went together to the Castle of Rouen, to visit and admonish her; and there we found the Earl of Warwick, who attacked the said Brother Ysambard with great anger and indignation, biting insults, and harsh epithets, saying to him: “Why didst thou touch that wicked person this morning, making so many signs? Mort Bleu! villain! if I see thee again taking trouble to deliver her and to advise her for her good, I will have thee thrown into the Seine.” At which I and the other companion of the said Ysambard fled for fear to the Convent.

I heard no more, for I was not present at the Trial.

MAÎTRE GUILLAUME MANCHON, _Canon of the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame d’Audely; Curé of the Parish Church of Sainte-Nicolas-le-Peinteur at Rouen, and Notary of the Ecclesiastical Court; Notary of the Trial of Jeanne, from the beginning up to the end, and with him Maître Guillaume Colles, called Bois-Guillaume_.

In my opinion, not only those who had charge of instituting and conducting the Trial—to wit, My Lord of Beauvais and the Masters sent for from Paris for this Case—but also the English, at whose instance the Trial was undertaken, proceeded rather from hatred and anger on account of the quarrel with the King of France, than owing to her support of his party, and for the following reasons:

First, one named Maître Nicolas Loyseleur, a familiar of my Lord of Beauvais, who held altogether to the English side—for, formerly the King being before Chartres, he went to fetch the King of England to raise the Siege—pretended that he belonged to the Maid’s country; by this means he found a way to have speech and familiar converse with her, telling her news of her country that would please her. He asked to be her confessor, and of what she told him privately he found means to inform the Notaries: indeed, at the beginning of the Trial, I and Boisguillaume, with witnesses, were put secretly in an adjoining room, where there was a hole through which we could hear, in order that we might report what she said to Loyseleur. As I think, what the Maid said or stated familiarly to Loyseleur he reported to the Notaries; and from this were made memoranda for questions in the Trial, to find some way of catching her unawares.

When the Trial had begun, Maître Jean Lohier, a grave Norman Clerk, came to this Town of Rouen, and communication was made to him of what the Bishop of Beauvais had written hereon; and the said Lohier asked for two or three days’ delay to look into it. To which he received answer that he should give his opinion that afternoon; and this he was obliged to do. And Maître Jean Lohier, when he had seen the Process, said it was of no value, for several reasons: first, because it had not the form of an ordinary Process; then, it was carried on in an enclosed and shut-up place, where those concerned were not in full and perfect liberty to say their full will; then, that this matter dealt with the honour of the King of France, whose side she [the Maid] supported, and that he had not been called, nor any who were for him; then, neither legal document nor articles had been forthcoming, and so there was no guide for this simple girl to answer the Masters and Doctors on great matters, and especially those, as she said, which related to her revelations. For these things, the Process was, in his opinion, of no value. At which my Lord of Beauvais was very indignant against the said Lohier; and although my Lord of Beauvais told him that he might remain to see the carrying out of the Trial, Lohier replied that he would not do so. And immediately my Lord of Beauvais, then lodging in the house where now lives Maître Jean Bidaut, near Saint Nicolas-le-Peinteur, came to the Masters—to wit, Maître Jean Beaupère, Maître Jacques de Touraine, Nicolas Midi, Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, and Loyseleur—and said to them: “This Lohier wants to put fine questions into our Process: he would find fault with everything, and says it is of no value. If we were to believe him, everything must be begun again, and all we have done would be worth nothing!” And, after stating the grounds on which Lohier found fault, my Lord of Beauvais added: “It is clear enough on which foot he limps. By Saint John! we will do nothing in the matter, but will go on with our Process as it is begun!” This was on a Saturday afternoon in Lent; and the next morning I spoke with the said Lohier at the Church of Notre Dame at Rouen, and asked him what he thought of the said Trial and of Jeanne? He replied: “You see the way they are proceeding. They will take her, if they can, in her words—as in assertions where she says, ‘_I know for certain_,’ as regards the apparitions; but if she said, ‘_I think_’ instead of the words ‘_I know for certain_’ it is my opinion that no man could condemn her. It seems they act rather from hate than otherwise; and for that reason, I will not stay here, for I have no desire to be in it.” And in truth he thenceforward lived always at the Court of Rome, where he died Dean of Appeals.[108]

At the beginning of the Trial, because I was putting in writing for five or six days the answers and excuses of the said Maid, the Judges several times wished to compel me, speaking in Latin, to put them in other terms, by changing the sense of her words or in other ways such as I had not heard. By command of the Bishop of Beauvais, two men were placed at a window near where the Judges sat, with a curtain across the window, so that they could not be seen. These two men wrote and reported what there was in the charge against Jeanne, keeping silence as to her excuses; and, in my opinion, this was Loyseleur. After the sitting was over, in the afternoon, while comparing notes of what had been written, the two others reported differently from me, and had put in none of the excuses; at which my Lord of Beauvais was greatly angry with me. [109]Where _Nota_ is written in the Process there was disagreement, and questions had to be made upon it; and it was found that what I had written was true.

In writing the said Process, I was often opposed by my Lord of Beauvais and the Masters, who wanted to compel me to write according to their fancy, and against what I had myself heard. And when there was something which did not please them, they forbade it to be written, saying that it did not serve the Process; but I nevertheless wrote only according to my hearing and knowledge.

Maître Jean Delafontaine, from the beginning of the Trial up to the week after Easter, 1431, took the place of my Lord of Beauvais, to interrogate her, in the absence of the Bishop; and was always present with the Bishop in the conduct of the said Trial. And when the time came that the Maid was summoned to submit herself to the Church by this same Delafontaine, and by Brothers Ysambard de la Pierre and Martin Ladvenu, they advised her that she should believe in, and rely on, our Lord the Pope and those who preside in the Church Militant; and that she should make no question about submitting to our Holy Father the Pope and to the Holy Council; for that there were among them as many of her own side as of the other, many of them notable Clerics, and that if she did not do this, she would put herself in great danger. The day after she had been thus advised, she said that she wished certainly to submit to our Holy Father the Pope and to the Holy Council. When my Lord of Beauvais heard this, he asked who had spoken with the Maid. The Guard replied that it was Maître Delafontaine, his lieutenant, and the two Friars. And at this, in the absence of the said Delafontaine and the Friars, the Bishop was much enraged against Maître Jean Lemaître, the Deputy Inquisitor, and threatened to do him an injury. And when Delafontaine knew that he was threatened for this reason, he departed from Rouen, and did not again return. And as for the Friars, they would have been in peril of death, but for the said Lemaître, who excused them and besought for them, saying that if any harm were done to them, he would never again come to the Trial. And, from that time, the Earl of Warwick forbade any one to visit the Maid, except the Bishop of Beauvais or those sent by him; and the Deputy Inquisitor was not allowed to go without him.

At the end of the sermon at Saint Ouen, after the abjuration of the Maid, because Loyseleur said to her, “Jeanne, you have done a good day’s work, if it please God, and have saved your soul,” she demanded, “Now, some among you people of the Church, lead me to your prisons, that I may no longer be in the hands of the English.” To which my Lord of Beauvais replied, “Lead her back whence she was taken!” For this reason she was taken back to the Castle which she had left. The following Sunday, which was Trinity Sunday, the Masters, Notaries, and others concerned in this Trial were summoned; and we were told that she had resumed her man’s dress and had relapsed; and when we came to the Castle, in the absence of my Lord of Beauvais, there came upon us eighty or a hundred English soldiers, or thereabouts, who spoke to us in the courtyard of the Castle, telling us that all of us Clergy were deceitful, traitorous Armagnacs and false counsellors; so that we had great trouble to escape and get out of the Castle, and did nothing for that day. The following day I was summoned; but I replied that I would not go if I had not a surety, on account of the fright I had had the day before; and I would not have gone back if one of the followers of my Lord of Warwick had not been sent as a surety. And thus I returned, and was at the continuation of the Trial, up to the end—except that I was not at a certain examination made by people who had spoken with her privately,[110] as privileged persons; nevertheless, the Bishop of Beauvais wanted to compel me to sign, and this I would not do.

I saw Jeanne led to the scaffold;[111] and there were seven or eight hundred soldiers around her, bearing swords and staves; so that no one was so bold as to speak to her except Brother Martin Ladvenu and Maître Jean Massieu.

Patiently did she hear the sermon right through; afterwards she repeated her thanksgiving, prayers, and lamentations most notably and devoutly, in such manner that the Judges, Prelates, and all present were provoked to much weeping, seeing her make these pitiful regrets and sad complaints. Never did I weep more for anything that happened to me; and, for a month afterwards, I could not feel at peace. For which reason, with a part of the money I had for my services I bought a little Missal, so that I might have it and might pray for her. In regard to final repentance, I never saw greater signs of a Christian.

I remember that at the sermon given at Saint Ouen by Maître Guillaume Érard, among other words were said and uttered these: “Ah! noble House of France, which hath always been the protectress of the Faith, hast thou been so abused that thou dost adhere to a heretic and schismatic? It is indeed a great misfortune.” To which the Maid made answer, what I do not remember, except that she gave great praise to her King, saying that he was the best and wisest Christian in the world. At which Érard and my Lord of Beauvais ordered Massieu, “Make her keep silence.”

MAÎTRE JEAN MASSIEU, _Priest, Curé of one of the Divisions of the Parish Church of Saint-Caudres at Rouen, formerly Dean of the Christendom of Rouen_.

I was at the Trial of the said Jeanne on every occasion when she was present before the Judges and Clerics; and, on account of my office, I was appointed a Clerk to Maître Jean Benedicite,[112] Promoter in this Action. I believe, from what I saw, that the proceedings were taken out of hatred and in order to abase the honour of the King of France whom she served, and to wreak vengeance and bring her to death, not according to reason and for the honour of God and of the Catholic Faith. I say this, because when my Lord of Beauvais, who was Judge in the Case, accompanied by six Clerics—namely, Beaupère, Midi, Maurice, Touraine, Courcelles, and Feuillet, or some other in his place—first questioned her, before she had answered one of them, another of those present would interpose another question, by which she was often hurried and troubled in her answers. And, besides, as I was leading Jeanne many times from her prison to the Court, and passed before the Chapel of the Castle, at Jeanne’s request, I suffered her to make her devotions in passing; and I was often reproved by the said Benedicite, the Promoter, who said to me: “Traitor! what makes thee so bold as to permit this Excommunicate to approach without permission? I will have thee put in a tower where thou shalt see neither sun nor moon for a month, if thou dost so again.” And when the Promoter saw that I did not obey him, the said Benedicite placed himself many times before the door of the Chapel, between me and Jeanne, to prevent her saying her prayers before the Chapel, and asked expressly of Jeanne: “Is this the Body of Christ?” When I was taking her back to prison, the fourth or fifth day, a priest named Maître Eustace Turquetil, asked me: “What dost thou think of her answers? will she be burned? what will happen?” and I replied: “Up to this time I have seen in her only good and honour; but I do not know what will happen in the end, God knows!” Which answer was reported by the said priest to the King’s people; and it was said that I was opposed to the King. On this account, I was summoned, in the afternoon, by the Lord of Beauvais, the Judge, and was spoken to of these things and told to be careful to make no mistake, or I should be made to drink more than was good for me. I think that, unless the Notary Manchon had made excuses for me, I should not have escaped.

When Jeanne was taken to Saint-Ouen to be preached to by Maître Guillaume Érard, at about the middle of the sermon, after she had been admonished by the words of the preacher, he began to cry out, in a loud voice, saying, “Ah! France, thou art much abused, thou hast always been the most Christian country; and Charles, who calls himself thy King and Governor, hath joined himself, as a heretic and schismatic, which he is, to the words and deeds of a worthless woman, defamed and full of dishonour; and not only he, but all the Clergy within his jurisdiction and lordship, by whom she hath been examined and not reproved, as she hath said.” Two or three times he repeated these words about the King; and, at last, addressing himself to Jeanne he said, raising his finger: “It is to thee, Jeanne, that I speak, I tell thee that thy King is a heretic and schismatic!” To which she replied: “By my faith! sir, saving your reverence, I dare say and swear, on pain of death, that he is the most noble of all Christians, and the one who most loves the Faith of the Church, and he is not what you say.” And then the preacher said to me: “Make her keep silence.”

Jeanne never had any Counsel.[113] I remember that Loyseleur was one appointed to counsel her. He was against her, rather deceiving than helping her.

The said Érard, at the end of his sermon, read a schedule containing the Articles which he was inciting Jeanne to abjure and revoke. To which Jeanne replied, that she did not understand what abjuring was, and that she asked advice about it. Then Érard told me to give her counsel about it. After excusing myself for doing this, I told her it meant that, if she opposed any of the said Articles, she would be burned. I advised her to refer to the Church Universal as to whether she should abjure the said Articles or not. And this she did, saying in a loud voice to Érard: “I refer me to the Church Universal, as to whether I shall abjure or not.” To this the said Érard replied: “You shall abjure at once, or you shall be burned.” And, indeed, before she left the Square, she abjured, and made a cross with a pen which I handed to her.

At the end of the sermon, I advised Jeanne to ask that she might be taken to the prisons of the Church: and it was right she should be taken to the Church prisons, because the Church had condemned her. And this thing was asked of the Bishop of Beauvais by some of those present, whose names I do not know. To which the Bishop replied: “Take her to the Castle whence she came.” And so it was done. That day, after dinner, in the presence of the Counsel of the Church, she took off her man’s dress and put on a woman’s dress, as she was commanded. This was on the Thursday or Friday after Pentecost; and the man’s dress was put in a bag in the same room where she was kept prisoner, while she remained guarded in this place, in the hands of five of the English, three of whom stayed all night in the room, and two outside the door of the room. I know of a surety that at night she slept chained by the legs with two pairs of iron chains, and fastened closely to a chain going across the foot of her bed, held to a great piece of wood, five or six feet long, and closed with a key, so that she could not move from her place. When the following Sunday came, being Trinity Sunday, and when it was time to rise, as she reported and said to me, she asked the English guards: “Take off my irons that I may get up.” Then one of the English took away from her the woman’s garments which she had on her, and they emptied the bag in which was her man’s dress, and threw the said dress at her, saying to her: “Get up, and put the woman’s dress in the bag.” And, in accordance with what he said, she dressed herself in the man’s dress they had given her, saying: “Sirs, you know it is forbidden me; without fail, I will not take it again.” Nevertheless, they would not give her the other, insomuch that the contention lasted till mid-day, and, finally, she was compelled to take the said dress; afterwards, they would not give up the other, whatever supplications or prayers she might make.

This she told me on the Tuesday following, before dinner, on which day the Promoter had departed in company with the Earl of Warwick, and I was alone with her. Immediately I asked her why she had resumed a man’s dress, and she told me what I have just related.

I was not at the Castle on the Sunday, but I met near the Castle those who had been summoned, much overwhelmed and affrighted. They said they had been furiously driven back by the English with axes and swords, and called traitors, and otherwise insulted. On the following Wednesday, the day she was condemned, and before she left the Castle, the Body of Christ was borne to her irreverently, without stole and lights, at which Brother Martin, who had confessed her, was ill-content, and so a stole and lights were sent for, and thus Brother Martin administered It to her. And this done, she was led to the Old Market-Place, and by her side were Brother Martin and myself, accompanied by more than 800 soldiers, with axes and swords. And being in the Old Market-Place, after the sermon, during which she showed great patience and listened most quietly, she evinced many evidences and clear proofs of her contrition, penitence, and fervent faith, if only by her pitiful and devout lamentations and invocations of the Blessed Trinity and the Blessed and Glorious Virgin Mary, and all the Blessed Saints in Paradise—naming specially certain of these Saints: in which devotions, lamentations, and true confession of faith, she besought mercy also, most humbly, from all manner of people of whatever condition or estate they might be, of her own party as well as of the other, begging them to pray for her, forgiving them the harm they had done her, [and thus] she persevered and continued as long a space of time as half-an-hour, and up to the very end.

When she was given over by the Church, I was still with her; and with great devotion she asked to have a Cross: and, hearing this, an Englishman, who was there present, made a little cross of wood with the ends of a stick, which he gave her, and devoutly she received and kissed it, making piteous lamentations and acknowledgments to God, Our Redeemer, Who had suffered on the Cross for our Redemption, of Whose Cross she had the sign and symbol; and she put the said Cross in her bosom, between her person and her clothing. And, besides, she asked me humbly that I would get for her the Church Cross, so that she might see it continually until death. And I got the Clerk of the Parish of Saint-Sauveur to bring it to her; the which, being brought, she embraced closely and long, and kept it till she was fastened to the stake. While she was making these devotions and pious lamentations, I was much hurried by the English and even by some of their Captains, who wished me to leave her in their hands, that she might be put to death the sooner, saying to me, when I was trying to console her on the scaffold: “What, Priest! will you have us dine here?” And immediately, without any form or proof of judgment, they sent her to the fire, saying to the executioner: “Do thine office!” And thus she was led and fastened [to the stake], continuing her praises and devout lamentations to God and His Saints, and with her last word, in dying, she cried, with a loud voice: “Jesus!”

MAÎTRE JEAN BEAUPÈRE, _Master in Theology, Canon of Rouen_.

With regard to the apparitions mentioned in the Trial of the said Jeanne, I held, and still hold, the opinion that they rose more from natural causes and human intent than from anything supernatural; but I would refer principally to the Process.

Before she was taken to Saint-Ouen, to be preached to in the morning, I went alone, by permission, into Jeanne’s prison, and warned her that she would soon be led to the scaffold to be preached to, telling her that, if she were a good Christian, she would say on the scaffold that she placed all her deeds and words in the ordering of Our Holy Mother Church, and especially of the Ecclesiastical Judges. And this did she say on the scaffold, being thereto requested by Maître Nicolas Midi. This being noted and considered, she was for a time sent back, after her abjuration; although some of the English accused the Bishop of Beauvais and the Delegates from Paris of favouring Jeanne’s errors.

After this abjuration, and after taking her woman’s dress which she received in prison, it was reported to the Judges on the Friday or Saturday following that Jeanne had repented of having put off a man’s dress and had taken a woman’s dress. On this account, my Lord of Beauvais sent me and Maître Nicolas Midi to her, hoping that we should speak to Jeanne and induce and admonish her to persevere in the good intent she had on the scaffold, and that she should be careful not to relapse. But we could not find the keeper of the prison key,[114] and, while we were waiting for the prison guard, several of the English, who were in the courtyard of the Castle, spoke threatening words, as Maître Nicolas Midi told me, to the effect that he who would throw both of us into the water would be well employed. And, hearing these words, we returned; and, on the bridge of the Castle, Midi heard, as he reported to me, like words used by others of the English; at which we were much frightened, and went away without speaking to Jeanne.

As to her innocence, Jeanne was very subtle with the subtlety of a woman, as I consider. I did not understand from any words of hers that she had been violated.

As to her final penitence, I do not know what to say, for, on the Monday after[115] the abjuration, I left Rouen to go to Basle,[116] on the part of the University of Paris. Through this I knew nothing of her condemnation until I heard it spoken of at Lisle in Flanders.

THE SECOND ENQUIRY[117]: 1452,
AND THIRD ENQUIRY: 1455–6.

[_A Rescript was issued by Pope Calixtus III. ordering the Procedure of Revision for the Enquiry of 1455–6._]

EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.

MANCHON: _Second Examination, 2nd May, 1452._ [_Additional statements_:]

I have heard that after Jeanne was taken captive by one of the company of the Count de Ligny, she was taken to the Castle of Beaurevoir and detained there three months; and then, by letters from the King of England to my Lord of Beauvais, she was taken to Rouen and put in prison.

The Bishop of Beauvais held with the English; and, before he took cognizance of the Case, Jeanne was put in irons: after he had informed himself, Jeanne, thus fettered, was given over to the custody of four English, although the Bishop and the Inquisitor had stated and sworn that they would themselves faithfully keep her. Jeanne was treated with cruelty, and, towards the end of the Trial, was shown the torture.

SAINT LUCIEN TOWER, BEAUVAIS.

Jeanne is said to have passed a night in this tower on August 20,
1429.
]

And thus she put on man’s clothing and lamented that she did not dare to doff these, fearing that at night the guards might attempt some violence; and once or twice complaint was made to the Bishop of Beauvais, to the Sub-Inquisitor, and to Maître Nicolas Loyseleur that some of these guards had attempted to assault her. The Earl of Warwick, at the statement of the Bishop, the Inquisitor, and Loyseleur, uttered strong threats should they again presume to attempt this; and two other guards were appointed.

I, as notary, wrote Jeanne’s answers and defence. Two or three writers, who were secretly ensconced near, omitted, in their writing, all that was in her favour.

The Judges desired me to write also in such wise, but I refused.

_Third Examination, 8th May, 1452._ [_Additional statements_:]

I acted as notary in the Process, by compulsion of the Great Council of the King of England, not daring to contradict their order. The Bishop of Beauvais was not compelled to take up the Process against Jeanne. He did it of free-will. The Inquisitor was summoned and dared not refuse. The Process was carried out by the English at their expense. The Promoter also was not compelled, but came of free-will. The Assessors and Doctors were summoned and dared not refuse.

[With regard to the comparison of the writing of the concealed clerks and the notaries, he adds that] the comparison of notes was made in the house of the Bishop.

Jeanne answered prudently and with simplicity, as might be seen in the Process. She could not have defended herself before such great Doctors had she not been inspired. The examination lasted for two or three hours in the morning, and sometimes as long again in the afternoon of the same day. She was much fatigued by the examination, for the examiners put to her the most subtle questions they possibly could.

The original Process was written by me faithfully, in French, after the first session. Later, I believe it was faithfully translated into Latin. During the Process, and almost up to the close, Jeanne had no Counsel. I do not remember if she asked for one; but, towards the end, she had Maître Pierre Maurice and a Carmelite to direct and instruct her.

On the day of her death, before the sermon and ere she left the Castle, she received the Body of the Lord by the order of the Judges, at her own request.

She was taken to the place of execution by a large number of soldiers—nearly four score. After the ecclesiastical sentence had been pronounced, and Jeanne given up, she was taken over to the Bailly, there present, who, without any consultation or sentence, made a sign with his hand, saying: “Take her away! Take her away!”

_Fourth Examination, 17th December, 1455._ [_Additional statements_:]

The sum of a thousand pounds, or crowns, was given by the King of England for the surrender of the Maid; and an annuity of 300 pounds to the soldier of the Duke of Burgundy who had captured her.

I was appointed notary in the Trial, together with a certain Guillaume Boisguillaume.

The copy of the Process shewn to me is the true Copy made. I acknowledge my own and my companion’s signatures, and that it is the truth. Two other copies were made. One was given to the Inquisitor, one to the King of England, and one to the Bishop of Beauvais. This Process was made from a certain Minute written in French, by my own hand, which was given up to the Judges, and was afterwards translated from the French into Latin by Monsieur Thomas de Courcelles and myself, in the form in which it now stands, as well and as faithfully as possible, long after the death and execution of Jeanne. As for the Act of Accusation and other parts of the Process, Maître Thomas de Courcelles had very little to do with these, nor did he greatly interfere with them.

With regard to the word _Nota_, written above certain Articles in the Minute, there was, on the first day of the Enquiry, a great tumult in the Chapel of the Castle at Rouen, where, that day, the interrogation was held, so that Jeanne was interrupted at almost every word, whilst she was speaking of her apparitions: Certain secretaries were there—two or three—of the King of England, who registered, as they chose, her words and depositions, omitting all her defence and all which tended to exonerate her. I complained of this, saying it was irregular, and that I would not be responsible, as clerk, in this matter: and, therefore, on the morrow, the place of meeting was changed and convened in a certain hall of the Castle, near the Great Hall, while two English were placed to keep order. When there were difficulties as to Jeanne’s answers, and some said she had not replied as I had written, I wrote _Nota_ at the top, in order that the questions might be repeated and the difficulties removed. Although it is mentioned in the Process that the Judges stated they had received preliminary evidence, I do not remember to have seen or heard of it; but I know that, if it had been produced, it would have been inserted in the Process.

Jeanne was brought to Rouen and not to Paris, because, as I think, the King of England and the principal people of his Council were there.

At the beginning of the Process, I was sent for to attend a meeting held at a certain house near the Castle, at which were present the Bishop of Beauvais, the Abbé of Fécamp, Maître Nicolas Loyseleur, and many others. The Bishop told me it was necessary that I should serve the King: that they meant to bring a fine case against this said Jeanne, and that I was to recommend another _greffier_ to assist me. I therefore nominated Boisguillaume.

I met Lohier in the Church, on the day after the Bishop had asked him to give an opinion on the Process, and enquired what he thought of it. He replied, that the Process was of no value, and could not be maintained, because it was conducted in the Castle and not in a legal court; that it concerned many who were not summoned; that Jeanne had no Counsel: and for many other reasons. He added that, in his opinion, it was their intention to put her to death.

A certain Maître Nicolas de Houppeville was summoned to attend the Trial; and was in great danger, because he refused. Maître Jean Lemaitre, Sub-Inquisitor, delayed as long as possible his attendance at the Trial, and was much vexed at being compelled to attend.

One day, when Jeanne was being questioned, Jean de Châtillon spoke in her favour, saying that she was not compelled to reply to the question put to her, or to that effect. This much displeased the Bishop of Beauvais and his following, and there was a great tumult at his words. The Bishop ordered him to be quiet, and to let the Judges speak.

On another occasion, when some one was advising and directing Jeanne on the question of submission to the Church, the Bishop said, “Hold your tongue, in the devil’s name!” I do not remember the name of him who was thus spoken to.

One day, some one, whose name I do not remember, having spoken of Jeanne in a way which did not please the Earl of Stafford, the latter followed him, sword in hand, to some place of sanctuary; and, if they had not told Stafford that that place was sacred, he would have slain him.

Those who seemed to me most affected [against Jeanne] were Beaupère, Midi, and de Touraine.

One day, I went with the Bishop of Beauvais and the Earl of Warwick to the prison where Jeanne was, and we found her in irons. It was said that at night she was fastened with iron chains; but I did not see her so fastened. There was, in the prison, neither bed nor any kind of couch. There were four or five guards of the lowest kind.

[Manchon supplies a fuller account of the story given in 1450 as to the clerks having overheard Jeanne’s confession to Loyseleur:]

After I and Boisguillaume had been appointed notaries, the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Beauvais, and Maître Nicolas Loyseleur told us that Jeanne had spoken strange things in regard to her visions, and in order the better to know the truth about them, it was agreed that Maître Nicolas Loyseleur should pretend to be from the Marches of Lorraine—Jeanne’s own country—and in the following of the King of France; that he should enter her prison in a layman’s habit, and that the guards should retire and leave him alone with her: there was, in a room adjoining the prison, a hole, specially made for the purpose, in order that I and my companion might be there, and hear what was said by Jeanne. Thither we went, unseen by her. Then Loyseleur, pretending to have news, began to question Jeanne of the King’s estate and of her revelations. Jeanne replied, believing him to be in fact of her own country and party: and the Bishop and the Earl desired us to put in writing what we had heard. I replied, that this ought not to be, that it was not honest to carry on the Trial by such means, but that, if she spoke thus in open Court, we would willingly register the words. And, ever afterwards, Jeanne had great confidence in this Loyseleur, who often heard her in confession, and would generally have private speech with her before she was taken before the Judges.

The interrogations sometimes lasted three or four hours in the morning; and sometimes difficult and subtle questions arose on the answers, on which she was further examined after dinner for two or three hours. Often they turned from one question to another, changing about, but, notwithstanding this, she answered prudently, and evinced a wonderful memory, saying often, “I have already answered you on this,” and adding, “I refer to the clerks.”

Long before the [Seventy] Articles were included in the Process, Jeanne had been many times examined, and had given many answers; and from these questions and answers the Articles were drawn up, with the advice of the Assessors. This was done by the Promoter, in order that the material, which was diffuse, might be put in order. Afterwards, she was examined on the whole; and it was concluded by the counsellors—principally those who came from Paris—that it would be well, and according to custom, to reduce these Articles and answers to shorter Articles, bringing together the principal points, in order to have the material in brief, for better and more prompt discussion. On this, there were drawn up the Twelve Articles; but I had no hand in them, nor do I know who composed or extracted them.

[With regard to a Note, dated April 4th, 1431, written in French and contained in the Process, concerning these Twelve Articles, the other two Notaries—Guillaume Colles or Boisguillaume, and Nicolas Taquel—were summoned and questioned, together with deponent. They testified that:]

The Note is in the handwriting of Manchon, but as to who drew up the Twelve Articles we do not know. It was said to be customary that such Articles should be made and drawn up from the confessions of one accused of Heresy, even as in a matter of Faith was usually done, in Paris, by the Doctors and Masters in Theology. The corrections of these Articles were, we believe, put down as appears in the copy before us; but, whether these corrections were added or not to the copy of the Articles sent to Paris and to those invited to submit an opinion, we do not know. We believe not: for a note, in the handwriting of Maître Guillaume d’Estivet, the Promoter, shews that they were sent by him on the following day without correction.

[Manchon was then asked, if he believed the Articles to be truthfully composed, and if there were not a great difference between them and Jeanne’s answers. He replied that, what was in his Process was true. The Articles were not his doing.]