Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France / Being the Story of Her Life, Her Achievements, and Her Death, as Attested on Oath and Set Forth in the Original Documents

by Unknown

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.]

I believe that deliberation was not made on the whole Process, because it was not then in shape. It was brought into its present form only after Jeanne’s death. Opinions were given on the Twelve Articles. The Twelve Articles were not read to Jeanne. [Asked again, if he had ever perceived a difference between these Articles and Jeanne’s confessions, he said he did not remember. Those to whom they were shown said, that it was the custom to draw up such Articles; but that he had not given his attention to it, and that he should not have dared to argue with such great men.]

During the Trial I was seated at the feet of the Judges with Guillaume Colles and the clerk of Maître Guillaume Beaupère, who was also writing; but there was a great difference in what we had written, and from this arose much contention.

When the Process was complete, opinions were asked for, and from these it was decided that Jeanne should be exhorted; she was left to the counsel of Maître Nicolas Loyseleur, who said to her: “Jeanne, believe me: if you will, you may be saved. Take the dress of your sex, and do all that you are told; otherwise you are in peril of death. If you do what I tell you, you will be saved, and will have much good and not much ill, and you will be given up to the Church.” And then she was taken to a scaffold or platform. Two sentences had been prepared, one of abjuration, the other of condemnation: both were in the hands of the Bishop, and, while he was reading the sentence of condemnation, Maître Nicolas Loyseleur continued to press Jeanne to do what he had advised, and to accept the woman’s dress. There was a short interval, in which an Englishman addressed the Bishop as a traitor, to which he answered that he lied. At this instant, Jeanne declared herself ready to obey the Church; and then the abjuration was read to her. I do not know if she repeated it, or if, after it was read, she said that she agreed. But she certainly smiled. The executioner was there, with the cart, waiting to take her to the burning.

On Trinity Sunday, I and the other notaries were commanded by the Bishop and Lord Warwick to come to the Castle, because it was said that Jeanne had relapsed and had resumed her man’s dress.

When we reached the Court, the English, who were there to the number of about fifty, assaulted us, calling us traitors, and saying that we had mismanaged the Trial. We escaped their hands with great difficulty and fear. I believe they were angry that, at the first preaching and sentence, she had not been burnt.

What she had said in the abjuration she said she had not understood, and that what she had done was from fear of the fire, seeing the executioner ready with his cart.

[Asked, why they had administered the Sacrament to one declared excommunicate and heretic, and if she had been absolved by the forms of the Church, Manchon answered:] There had been much discussion among the Judges and their Counsellors, whether they should offer her the Holy Sacrament, and whether she should be absolved at the place of execution; but I did not see any absolution granted to her. I was so disturbed that for a month I remained terrified.

She never revoked her revelations, but maintained them up to the end.

Brother Pierre Migier, Prior of Longueville, in the diocese of Rouen, S.T.P., First examination, May 2nd, 1452, [evidence of no special value.]

Second Examination, May 9th, 1452. [Additional evidence:]

At the end of the first sermon at Saint-Ouen, when Jeanne was admonished to recant and she hesitated, one of the English ecclesiastics told the Bishop that he was favouring Jeanne, to which the Bishop replied, “You lie! It is my duty, on account of my profession, to seek the salvation of the soul and body of this Jeanne.”

I was accused before the Cardinal of England as a partisan of Jeanne, but I excused myself to the Cardinal, being in fear of my life.

I think the notaries were truthful, and that they wrote with fidelity.

I do not know whether she asked for Counsel, but I think no one would have dared to counsel or defend her, nor would they have been permitted.

She was taken to execution, with great anger, by the English soldiers. When she was given up to the secular authorities by the Church, she began to weep and call upon “Jesus.” Then I went away, having so great compassion that I could not witness her death.

Third Examination, December 16th, 1455. [Additional evidence:]

I heard that, during the Trial, there were certain men hidden behind curtains, who, it was said, were writing down the words and confessions of Jeanne; but I do not know if this is the fact. This I heard from Maître Guillaume Manchon, one of the three Registrars of the Case. I complained of it to the Judges, saying that it did not seem to me to be a good way of acting. But whatever may be the truth of these hidden clerks, I believe truly that the Registrars who signed the Process were trustworthy, and that they faithfully reported what was done in the Trial.

As to the act of recantation, I know it was performed by her; it was in writing, and was about the length of a Pater Noster.

In an old book, in which are the sayings of Merlin the prophet, it is written that a maiden should come from an Oak-wood in the country of Lorraine.

Brother Ysambard de la Pierre: Second Examination, May 3rd, 1452. [He makes the following additions:]

The room in which Jeanne was confined was rather dark.

I was at the sermon of Maître Guillaume Érard, who took as his theme, “A branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the Vine,” saying that in France there was no monster such as this Jeanne: she was a witch, heretic, and schismatic; and that the King who favoured her was of like sort for wishing to recover his kingdom by means of such an heretical woman.

The Bishop of Beauvais held with the English. I believe it was he who, at the beginning of the Process, ordered her to be kept in irons, and deputed the English as her keepers, forbidding any to speak with her unless by leave from him, or from the Promoter, Benedicite.

When I was holding the Cross before her, she begged me to descend, as the fire was mounting.

When she spoke of the kingdom and the war, I thought she was moved by the Holy Spirit; but when she spoke of herself she feigned many things: nevertheless, I think she should not have been condemned as a heretic. When the Bishop asked if she would submit to the Church, she enquired, “What is the Church? So far as it is you, I will not submit to your judgment, because you are my deadly enemy.” She complained that the Bishop would not allow them to write anything in her excuse, but only what was against her. When she was asked whether she would submit to the judgment of the Pope, she replied that, if they would take her to him, she would be content.

She was adjudged relapsed because she had resumed her man’s dress. After she had recanted, she resumed a woman’s dress, and begged to be taken to the ecclesiastical prisons; but it was not permitted. I heard from Jeanne, herself, that she had been assaulted by a great lord; and for that reason she had resumed her man’s dress, which had been perfidiously left near her. After her resumption of this dress, I heard the Bishop, with some of the English, exulting, and saying publicly to the Earl of Warwick and others: “She is caught this time!”

Third Examination, May 9th, 1452.

Some of the Assessors, such as the Bishop of Beauvais, proceeded of their own pleasure; some—to wit, the English Doctors—out of malicious spite; some, Doctors of Paris, from desire of gain; some were induced by fear, as the aforesaid Sub-Inquisitor and others whom I do not remember.

The Process was instituted by the King of England, the Cardinal of Winchester, the Earl of Warwick, and other English, who paid all the expenses. I remember well that Jean, Bishop of Avranches, for having refused to give his advice in the Process, was threatened by the Promoter d’Estivet; and Maître Nicolas de Houppeville, who would not attend the Trial nor give an opinion, was in danger of exile. After the first sermon, at which Jeanne recanted, I, Jean Delafontaine, and Maître Guillaume Vallée, of the Order of Saint Dominic, went to the Castle by order of the Judges to counsel Jeanne that she should persevere in her good purpose. Seeing this, the infuriate English threw themselves upon us, with swords and sticks, and violently drove us out of the Castle; on this occasion, Jean Delafontaine escaped, and left the town and did not return; also I suffered many reproaches from the Earl of Warwick, because I had told Jeanne she should submit to the General Council. [On the day that she said she would submit] Messire Guillaume Manchon, the notary, asked whether he should write down the submission? The Bishop replied, No, it was not necessary. Then Jeanne said to the Bishop: “Ah! you will certainly write what is against me, and will write nothing that is for me.” This submission was not registered, and there ensued in the assembly a great murmur.

The examination of Jeanne sometimes lasted three hours in the morning; and sometimes she was examined in the afternoon as well as in the morning; I heard her often complain of over-much questioning.

During the greater part of the Process, when she was asked to submit to the Church, she understood by that term the assembly of Judges and Assessors there present. It was then expounded to her by Maître Pierre Maurice; and, after she knew, she always declared that she wished to submit to the Pope and to be conducted to him.

She was brought in a cart to the cemetery of Saint-Ouen. After the preaching [at the Old Market] there was a long waiting, and then the King’s clerks conducted her to the stake, I and Brother Martin Ladvenu accompanying her up to the end.

On this same occasion, the Bishop of Beauvais wept. A certain Englishman, a soldier, who hated her greatly, had sworn to bring a faggot for the stake. When he did so, and heard Jeanne calling on the name of Jesus in her last moments, he was stupefied, and, as it were, in an ecstasy at the spectacle: his companions took him and led him away to a neighbouring tavern. After refreshment, he revived. In the afternoon, the same Englishman confessed, in my presence, to a Brother of the Order of Saint Dominic, that he had gravely erred, and that he repented of what he had done against Jeanne. He held her to be a good woman, for he had seen the spirit departing from her, as it were a white dove, going away from France.

In the afternoon of the same day, the executioner came to the Convent of the Dominicans, saying to them and to Brother Martin Ladvenu, that he feared he was damned because he had burnt a saint.

Maître Pierre Cusquel, Citizen of Rouen. First Examination, before Cardinal d’Estouteville, May 3rd, 1452.

I saw Jeanne brought in by the English.

I did not see her taken to prison, but I saw her two or three times in a chamber in the Castle of Rouen, near the back entrance.

At the time of the Trial, I was in the habit of entering the Castle, thanks to Johnson, master of the masons. Twice I entered her prison and saw her, with her legs shackled and fastened by a long chain to a beam. In my master’s house was hung a great cage of iron, in which, it was said, she was to be shut up; but I never saw her in this cage.

I heard that Jeanne was made prisoner in the diocese of Beauvais, and on this account the Bishop undertook the Process against her.

Second Examination, May 9th, 1452. [He adds to his evidence:]

The room [where Jeanne was imprisoned] was situated under the stairs, towards the fields.

Maître André Marguérie, or another, said he had enquired as to Jeanne’s change of dress, and by some one—I know not whom—was told that he was to hold his tongue, in the devil’s name.

I twice entered Jeanne’s prison and spoke with her, warning her to speak prudently, and that there was question of her death. The iron cage, which I saw, was intended to detain her in an upright position.

I was not present at the last preaching and condemnation and execution of Jeanne, because my heart could not bear it, for pity of her; but I heard that she received the Body of the Lord before her condemnation.

Maître Jean Tressart, when he returned from the execution, groaning and weeping sadly, lamented to me what he had seen at this place, saying to me: “We are all lost; we have burnt a Saint”; adding, that he believed her soul was in the hands of God because, when she was in the midst of the flames, she constantly called on the name of the Lord Jesus.

Third Examination, May 11th, 1456. [Additional evidence:]

I had heard of the visitation ordered by the Duchess of Bedford, but did not know if it were true.

After her death, the English had her ashes collected and thrown into the Seine, because they feared that some might believe she had escaped.

Ladvenu: Second Examination, May 3rd, 1452. [He adds the following to his earlier testimony:]

I often saw her in the Castle of Rouen, under the custody of the English, ironed and in prison.

I heard Jeanne, by license of the Judges, in confession; I administered to her the Body of Christ; she received it with great devotion and tears which I cannot describe.

The resumption of her man’s dress was one of the causes of her condemnation.

Third Examination, May 9th, 1452. [Additional evidence:]

I was present at the greater part of the Process, with Brother Jean Lemaître, then Sub-Inquisitor. I saw Maître Nicolas de Houppeville—he who would not assist in the Process—taken to prison. I know well that Jeanne had no director, counsel, nor defender, up to the end of the Process, and that no one would have dared to offer himself as her Counsel, director, or defender, for fear of the English. I have heard that those who went to the Castle to counsel and direct Jeanne, by order of the Judges, were harshly repulsed and threatened.

Directly Jeanne was abandoned by the Church, she was seized by the English soldiers, who were present in large numbers, without any sentence from the secular authority, although the Bailly of Rouen and the Counsels of the Secular Court were present. I know this because I was with her, from the Castle to her last breath.

The executioner, in my presence, gave his testimony that she had been unjustly put to death.

Maître Guillaume Érard, at the sermon which he pronounced at the Cemetery of Saint-Ouen, exclaimed: “Oh, House of France! thou hast never till now nourished a monster in thy bosom; but now thou art disgraced by thy adhesion to this witch, this heretic! this superstitious one!”

Fourth Examination, December 19th, 1455, and May 13th, 1456. [Additional statements:]

I have heard it said that the Bishop, and others concerned in the Process, wished to have letters of guarantee from the King of England, and received them; and these are the letters now shewn, signed with the sign manual of Maître Laurence Calot, whose signature I know well. Maître Jean Lemaitre, Sub-Inquisitor, who was concerned in the Trial and who often went with me, was compelled to attend. Brother Ysambard de la Pierre, who was a friend of the Inquisitor, desired on one occasion to direct Jeanne, but was told to hold his tongue, and that, if he did not henceforward abstain from such interference, he would be thrown into the Seine.

On the day of her death I was with her until her last breath. One present said he wished his soul might be where he believed Jeanne’s soul was. After the reading of the sentence, she came down from the platform on which the preaching had been, and was led by the executioner, without any sentence from the secular Judges, to the place where the pile was prepared for her burning. The pile was on a scaffold, and the executioner lighted it from below. When Jeanne perceived the fire, she told me to descend and to hold up the Cross of the Lord on high before her that she might see it.

When I was with her, and exhorting her on her salvation, the Bishop of Beauvais and some of the Canons of Rouen came over to see her; and, when Jeanne perceived the Bishop, she told him that he was the cause of her death; that he had promised to place her in the hands of the Church, and had relinquished her to her mortal enemies.

Up to the end of her life she maintained and asserted that her Voices came from God, and that what she had done had been by God’s command. She did not believe that her Voices had deceived her: [but that] the revelations which she had received had come from God.

Messire Nicolas Taquel, Priest, Rector of Basqueville, in the Diocese of Rouen: First Examination, May 8th, 1452.

About half-way through the Process I was called by the two notaries to assist them. I saw Jeanne in a prison in the Castle of Rouen, in a certain tower near the fields. I never perceived any kind of fear, nor did I know of prohibitions or coercion by the English. I do not remember that she asked to have Counsel, or that they were offered to her; I was not at the opening of the Case. I knew well that Jeanne was in prison. I saw her there, in irons, notwithstanding her weakness. There was an Englishman who had charge of her in the room, without whose leave no one, not even the Judges, might have access to her.

Jeanne was about twenty years of age; though she was as simple as any girl of her age, she could speak well on occasion, sometimes varying her answers, and sometimes not replying to the questions. I certainly heard in the town, that at night, the English, in the absence of the Judges, disturbed her much, saying sometimes that she would die, sometimes that they would kill her; but I do not know if it was true. I was present when some of the Judges put very difficult questions to her, to which she answered that it did not concern her to reply to them. Some of the Doctors present sometimes said to her, “You say well, Jeanne.” Sometimes Jeanne, wearied with so many questions, begged for delay till the morrow; and it was granted. Many heard the statement referred to, made by Jeanne, that she would say and do nothing against the Faith. I believe this is written in the Process. I do not remember to have seen any English at the Examinations of Jeanne, with the exception of the guards; nor do I remember any restrictions upon what was done in the Process, although the Judges said it was forbidden to write anything which was not contained in the Process. I do not know that the words of the Seventy Articles were inserted in the Process, nor do I remember that Jeanne, during the whole Trial, said she would not submit to the Ecclesiastical authority, although I occasionally saw her somewhat disturbed; then the Doctors who were present advised her, and sometimes postponed the matter till the morrow.

I saw nothing in Jeanne contrary to a good Catholic. She asked, in my presence, whether she might receive the Sacrament; but I was not permitted to be present at its reception. It was told me that, before she arrived at the place of execution, she made many and devout prayers to God, to the Blessed Mary and the Saints, so that many present were provoked to tears, and, among others, Maître Nicolas Loyseleur, Promoter[^[118]] to the cause, who, leaving her in tears, met certain English in the court of the Castle: these took him to task, calling him traitor, which frightened him so much that, without more ado, he went to the Earl of Warwick to beg his protection; and, had it not been for the said Earl, I think that Loyseleur would have been killed.

After the sentence of the Church had been read, I with many other ecclesiastics retired. I was not present at the execution; but I heard that Jeanne died piously and as a Catholic, calling on the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Second Examination, May 11th, 1456. [Additional evidence:]

I was one of the notaries, but not at the commencement. I was not there during the time when the Process was carried on in the Great Hall, but only when the sittings were held in the prison. I was first concerned in the Process on the 14th of March, 1430, as appears in my commission, to which I refer; and, from this time to the end of the Process, I was present as notary at the interrogations and answers of Jeanne: I was not permitted to write, but I listened and referred, for the writing, to the other two notaries, Boisguillaume and Manchon, both of whom wrote, especially Manchon.

The said Process was put into its present form a long time after the death of Jeanne, but at what time I do not know. For my labour and trouble I had ten francs, though I had been told I should have twenty; and these ten francs were handed over to me by a certain Benedicite [d’Estivet], but whence the money came I know not.

I heard it said among the notaries that certain Articles were to be made; but as to who drew them up I know not. They were sent to Paris; but whether they were signed or no, I do not remember: I think they were not signed, but, yet, I remember that once something was signed, which was neither Process nor sentence.

[A note of April 4th, 1431, was then shewed to Maître Taquel, containing the Twelve Articles in the form in which they were sent for correction.] He confirmed the handwriting of Manchon, and said he believed he was present on the occasion. He thought no corrections were made.

When the preaching was made at the Place Saint-Ouen, I was not upon the platform with the other notaries. But I was quite close, and could see and hear all that was said and done. I remember well seeing a schedule of abjuration read to Jeanne by Massieu. It was about six lines of large writing; and Jeanne repeated it after Massieu. This letter of abjuration was in French, beginning, “Je, Jeanne,” etc. After the abjuration, she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and reconducted to the Castle; and after this I was commanded to attend another enquiry; but a tumult arose, and I do not know what happened afterwards. There was another sermon: on that day Jeanne died, and on the morning of the day Jeanne received the Body of Christ. At this last preaching I was present to the end of the sermon; and at its conclusion Jeanne was handed over to the secular authorities. This done, I retired.

Messire Pierre Lebouchier, Priest, Curé of the Parish of Bourgeauville: Examined May 8th, 1452.

An English clerk, Bachelor in Theology, Keeper of the Private Seal of the Cardinal of England, being at the sermon of Saint-Ouen, said these words, in my presence, to the Bishop of Beauvais: “Have done! You favour her overmuch!” Annoyed at these words, the Bishop threw the Process, which he had in his hand, to the ground, saying that he would do nothing more that day, being unwilling to act except according to his conscience.

Jeanne was alone, seated upon a chair; I heard her reply without Counsel. I do not know whether she asked for any or if it were denied her.

She was in prison in the Castle of Rouen. I do not know if she were in irons. No one might speak to her without leave from the English who had charge of her. I did not see her leave the Castle. There were with her certain Englishmen who, I believe, were shut up with her in the same room, to which there were three keys—one kept by the Lord Cardinal or the aforesaid secretary, another by the Inquisitor, and another by Messire Jean Benedicite, the Promoter: for the English feared greatly that she would escape them.

I was not present at the Process; but, after the preaching at Saint-Ouen, Jeanne, with her hands joined together, said in a loud voice that she submitted to the judgment of the Church, and prayed to Saint Michael that he would direct and counsel her.

As soon as the sentence had been read by the Ecclesiastical Judge, [at the Old Market,] she was conducted to the platform of the Bailly by the King’s followers, on which platform were the Bailly and other lay officers. She remained there some time with them; and what they did or said I know not, only that she was taken back and given over to the fire after they had departed.

While they were tying her to the stake she implored and specially invoked Saint Michael. She seemed to me a good Christian to the end; the greater number of those present, to the number of ten thousand, wept and lamented, saying that she was of great piety.

I think the English feared Jeanne more than the whole of the rest of the army of the King of France, and that this fear it was which moved them, in my opinion, to bring the Process against her.

Maître Nicolas de Houppeville, Bachelor in Theology, of the diocese of Rouen: First Examination, May 8th, 1452.

I never thought that zeal of the Faith, nor desire to bring her back to the right way, caused the English to act thus.

Jeanne was brought to the town of Rouen by the English and imprisoned in the Castle; and the Process was, I believe, instituted by them. As to the question of fear and pressure, I do not believe it, so far as it affected the Judges. They acted voluntarily,—principally the Bishop of Beauvais, for I saw him on his return from the negotiations about Jeanne speaking of it with the Regent and the Earl of Warwick: he was exulting and rejoicing in words which I did not understand. He went apart thereupon with the Earl of Warwick; but what was said I know not.

In my judgment, the Judges and Assessors were for the most part uncoerced; for the rest, I believe many were afraid. I heard from Maître Pierre Minier that he had tendered his opinion in writing, but it was not pleasing to the Bishop of Beauvais, who sent him away, telling him that, as a theologian, he was not to meddle any more in the matter, but to leave it to the lawyers.

I was once called at the beginning of the Process. I did not come, being prevented. The second day, when I came, I was not admitted. I was even driven away by the Bishop, because, talking one day with Maître Michel Colles, I had told him that it was dangerous for many reasons to take part in this Process. This was repeated to the Bishop; and for this cause he had me shut up in the King’s prison at Rouen, whence I was delivered only by the prayers of the Lord Abbot of Fécamp: and I heard that some, whom the Bishop summoned, advised that I should be exiled to England or elsewhere beyond the bounds of Rouen, had I not been delivered by the Abbot and his friends.

It was reported in the city of Rouen that some one, feigning to be a soldier of the King of France, was secretly introduced to her, persuading her not to submit to the authority of the Church. There were rumours that, on account of this persuasion, Jeanne afterwards wavered in her submission to the Church.

I saw her coming out of the Castle, weeping much, and led to the place of execution by a troop of soldiers, to the number of 120, some with swords and some with clubs. Touched with compassion at this sight I could go no further.

Re-examined, May 13th, 1456.

At the beginning of the Process, I was at several consultations, in which I was of opinion that neither the Bishop nor those who wished to take part with him were in the position to act as Judges; I could not see how they could properly proceed, because those opposed to her were acting as Judges, and she had already been examined by the Clergy of Poitiers and the Archbishop of Rheims, the Metropolitan of the Bishop of Beauvais. Owing to this opinion I incurred the wrath of the Bishop, who cited me to appear before him. When I appeared, I told him that I was not his subject, nor was I under his jurisdiction, but in that of Rouen: and so I left him. But when, for this reason, I wished to appear in the Case and presented myself to the authorities of Rouen, I was arrested and taken to the Castle and to the King’s prisons. When I asked the cause of my arrest, I was told it was by order of the Bishop of Beauvais. Maître Jean Delafontaine, my friend, wrote to me that I was arrested in consequence of the opinion I had given in this Process; and he warned me, at the same time, of the anger of the Bishop. Thanks to the intervention of the Abbé of Fécamp, I ended by being set at liberty.

[He adds, to his previous statement, that the man who feigned to be a soldier on the side of the King of France was Nicolas Loyseleur.]

Massieu: Second Examination, May 8th, 1452. [Additional evidence:]

On one occasion, Maître Jean de Chatillon, Archdeacon of Evreux and Doctor in Theology, found that Jeanne was being asked questions too difficult for her, and complained of the mode of procedure, saying that they ought not to act in this manner. But the other Assessors told him to let them alone; to which he answered: “I must acquit my own conscience.” For this cause he was forbidden, by whom I do not remember, to attend further unless he was summoned.

On Trinity Sunday, in the afternoon, Maître André Marguérie, hearing that Jeanne had resumed her male attire, went to the Castle of Rouen, saying that he must find out why she had done so, and that it was not enough for him merely to see her in this dress. One of the English soldiers, lance in hand, called out to him, “Traitor! Armagnac!” and raised his lance against him, so that Marguérie fled, fearing to be slain, and was in consequence much upset and ill.

At the first sermon, I was on the platform with Jeanne, and read the Schedule of Abjuration to her; at her request and petition I instructed her, shewing her the danger that might arise from abjuration unless the Articles were first seen by the Church, to whom she should refer as to whether she should abjure or not.

Seeing this, Maître Guillaume Érard, the preacher, asked me what I was saying to her, and, when I replied, said: “Read her this schedule, and tell her to sign it.” Jeanne answered that she did not know how to sign; she desired that the Articles might be seen and deliberated upon by the Church; [she said] she ought not to abjure this schedule, and requested that she might be placed in the custody of the Church, and no longer be kept by the English. Érard replied that she had had long enough delay, and that, if she did not abjure this schedule, she should be immediately burned; and he forbade me to speak further with her or to give her more counsel.

I remember that incomplete questions were often put to Jeanne, and many and difficult interrogations were made together; then, before she could answer one, another would put a question; so that she was displeased, saying, “Speak one after the other.” I marvelled that she could so answer the subtle and captious questions put to her; no man of letters could have replied better.

The examinations lasted generally from eight o’clock to eleven.

I often heard Jeanne say that God would not permit her to say or do anything against the Catholic Faith. I heard her tell the Judges that, if she had ever said or done anything ill, she was willing to correct and amend according to their decision. I heard Jeanne saying to the Doctors who questioned her: “You ask me of the Church Triumphant and Militant. I do not understand these terms; but I am willing to submit to the Church as a good Christian should.”

I know that the whole Process was written in French. I believe it was afterwards translated into Latin. [To his account of her resumption of the man’s dress he adds:] On the morrow, after she had been seen in the resumed dress, her woman’s dress was restored to her.

At the beginning of the Process, Jeanne asked for Counsel in her replies, she said she was too unlearned to reply; but they answered, that she must speak for herself as best she could, for she should not have Counsel.

[He adds to his account of her last Communion the fact that he was himself present.]

Further examined, December 17th, 1455, and May 12th, 1456. [Additional evidence:]

Once, when I was conducting her before the Judges, she asked me, if there were not, on her way thither, any Chapel or Church in which was the Body of Christ. I replied, that there was a certain Chapel in the Castle. She then begged me to lead her by this Chapel, that she might do reverence to God and pray, which I willingly did, permitting her to kneel and pray before the Chapel; this she did with great devotion. The Bishop of Beauvais was much displeased at this, and forbade me in future to permit her to pray there.

Many [in the Trial] had a great hate against her, principally the English, who feared her greatly: for, before she was captured, they did not dare to appear where they believed her to be. I heard it said that the Bishop of Beauvais did everything at the instigation of the King of England and his Council, who were then in Rouen.

Among the Assessors there was complaint that Jeanne was in the hands of the English. Some of them said that she ought to be in the hands of the Church; but the Bishop did not care, and sent her away to the English.

Maître Jean Lefèvre, of the Order of the Hermit Friars of Saint Augustine, now Bishop of Démétriade, seeing Jeanne much fatigued with the questioning as to whether she were in a state of grace, and considering that, though her answers seemed sufficient, she was over-worried by many questioners, remarked that she was being too much troubled. Then the questioners ordered him to be silent: I do not remember who they were.

She was imprisoned in the Castle of Rouen in a room on the second floor, to which one ascended by eight steps. There was a bed in which she slept and a great piece of wood to which she was fastened by iron chains.

There were five English of wretched estate [houcepailliers] who kept guard over her; they much desired her death and often derided her, and with this she reproached them.

I learnt from Etienne Castille, locksmith, that he had constructed for her an iron cage in which she was held by the neck, hands and feet, and that she was in this state from the time she was first brought to the town of Rouen until the beginning of the Process. I never saw her in this cage, for, when I fetched her, she was always out of irons.

I know that, by the order of the Duchess of Bedford, a visitation was made by matrons and midwives, among whom were, notably, Anna Bavon and another matron whose name I do not remember. She was found to be virgin, as I have heard from the said Anna. The Duchess of Bedford forbade the guards to offer her any violence.

When Jeanne was questioned, there were with the Bishop six Assessors, who also questioned her in such wise that, when she was occupied in replying to one, another interrupted her answer, so that she often said to them: “Fair sirs, speak one after another.”

[To the story of the signing of the abjuration he adds:] Érard, holding the Schedule of Abjuration, said to Jeanne, “Thou shalt abjure and sign this schedule,” and passed it to me to read, and I read it in her presence. I remember well that in this schedule it was said that in future she should not bear arms or male attire or short hair, and many other things which I do not remember. I know that this schedule contained about eight lines and no more; and I know of a certainty that it was not that which is mentioned in the Process, for this is quite different from what I read and what was signed by Jeanne. While they were pressing Jeanne to sign her abjuration, there was a great murmur among those present. I heard that the Bishop said to one of them, “You shall pay me for this,” and added, that he would not go on unless satisfaction were done him. During this time I was constrained to warn Jeanne of the peril which threatened her if she signed this schedule. I saw clearly that she did not understand it, nor the danger in which she stood. Then Jeanne, pressed to sign, said: “Let the clerics of the Church examine this schedule. It is in their hands I ought to be. If they tell me to sign I will do it willingly.” Then Maître Guillaume Érard said: “Do it now, otherwise you will end in the fire to-day.” Jeanne replied that she would rather sign than burn; and there arose a great tumult among the people, and many stones were thrown, but by whom I know not. When the schedule was signed, Jeanne asked the Promoter whether she were to be placed in the hands of the Church and where she was to be taken. Then the Promoter replied, that she was to be reconducted to the Castle of Rouen, which in fact was done, and she was put into woman’s clothes.

On the morning of Wednesday, the day on which she died, Brother Martin Ladvenu heard her in confession, and afterwards sent me to the Bishop to tell him this fact and that she prayed the Sacrament of the Eucharist might be brought to her. Thereupon, the Bishop convoked some of the Assessors, and at the end of their deliberation he told me to inform Brother Martin that he might take her the Sacrament and whatsoever she desired. Then I returned to the Castle and told this to Brother Martin.

Afterwards, she came out dressed in woman’s clothing, and Brother Martin and I led her to the place of execution.

At the end of his sermon, Maître Nicolas Midi said to her: “Jeanne, go in peace; the Church can no longer defend thee; she leaves thee to the secular arm.”

She commended herself to God, to Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and all the Saints.

I heard it said by Jean Fleury, Clerk to the Bailly, that the executioner related how, when her body was burnt and reduced to powder, her heart remained whole and bleeding. I was told that her ashes and all that remained of her were collected and thrown into the Seine.

Maître Nicolas Caval, Priest, Licentiate in Law, Canon of Rouen: First Examination, May 8th, 1452. [Agreed with previous statements.]

Further examined, December 19th, 1455, and May 12th, 1456. [Additional evidence:]

Jeanne had a good memory, for sometimes when she was asked a question she replied, “I have already answered in such a form,” and she insisted that it should be ascertained from the notaries on what day she so answered; on which it was found to be as she said, without addition or change: and at this was there much marvel, considering her youth.

Maître Guillaume du Desert, Canon of Rouen: Examined May 8th, 1452.

I was present at the first preaching at Saint-Ouen, where I saw and heard the recantation made by Jeanne, and that she submitted to the decisions, the judgments, and the commands of the Church. A certain English Doctor who was present, being much displeased that the abjuration was received—because Jeanne was laughing when she pronounced the words—said to the Bishop of Beauvais, the Judge, that he was doing wrong to admit this recantation, since it was a mere farce. The Bishop, irritated, told this person that he lied: for, as Judge in a cause of faith, he must seek rather her salvation than her death.

At this sermon, I heard Jeanne submit to the judgment of the Church.

Maître André Marguérie, Archdeacon: First Examination, May 9th, 1452. Further examined, December 19th, 1455, and May 12th, 1456.

I heard Jeanne say, that she would believe neither Prelate nor Pope nor any other in [contradiction to] what she had received from God. I think this was one of the reasons why she was proceeded against, so that she should recant.

I was present at the final preaching but not at the execution, for very pity of the deed. Many of those present wept, among others the Cardinal de Luxembourg, then Bishop of Thérouanne.

I know nothing about her devotions; but she said, “Rouen, Rouen, must I die here?”

I can well believe that some of the English acted from hate and fear, but of the more notable ecclesiastics I do not think this. A chaplain of the Cardinal of England, present at the first preaching, said to the Bishop of Beauvais, that he was showing too much favour to Jeanne; but the Bishop said to him, “You lie! For in such a case I would show favour to no one.” The Cardinal of England reproved his chaplain and told him to be silent.

Maître Richard Grouchet, Priest, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Theology, Canon of the Cathedral Church of La Saussaye in the diocese of Evreux: Examined, May 9th, 1452.

Maîtres Jean Pigache, Pierre Minier, and I myself, who was with them, gave our opinion only under terror of threats. We stayed to the Trial, but had thoughts of flight. I many times heard from Pierre Maurice that, after the sermon at Saint-Ouen, he had warned Jeanne to hold to her good purpose; and the English, much displeased, threatened to strike him.

I think the notaries wrote with fidelity. I saw and heard that the Bishop of Beauvais bitterly upbraided them when they did not do as he wished: the whole affair, so far as I saw and heard, was carried on tumultuously. So far as I saw, no one was permitted to instruct or counsel Jeanne, nor did I see that she either asked for or was offered Counsel: but I am not sure of this. I do not know whether any one was in danger of losing his life by defending her, but I know well that when difficult questions were put to Jeanne, whoever wished to direct her was harshly reproved and accused of partiality, sometimes by the Bishop of Beauvais and sometimes by Maître Jean Beaupère, who said to those who wished to advise, that they should leave her to speak and that the business of interrogation was theirs.

Jeanne was in prison, in the Castle of Rouen, where she was guarded and brought backwards and forwards by the English; but as to fetters and chains I know nothing, though I have often heard that she was harshly and straitly bound.

I saw and heard at the Trial that when Jeanne was asked if she would submit to the Bishop of Beauvais and others of the Assessors then named, she replied that she would not, but she would submit to the Pope and the Catholic Church, praying that she might be conducted to the Pope. When she was told that the Process would be sent to the Pope for him to judge, she replied that she did not wish this, because she did not know what might be put in this Process, but that she wished to be taken herself and interrogated by the Pope.

I did not know, nor did I ever hear, that there was ever any secular sentence pronounced against Jeanne. I was not present, but the public voice and rumour said that she had been violently and unjustly done to death.

Messire Jean Lefevre, Bishop of Démétriade, of the Order of Saint Augustin in the Convent at Rouen, S.T.P.: Examined, May 9th, 1452.

When Jeanne was asked if she were in the Grace of God, I, who was present, said it was not a suitable question for such a girl. Then the Bishop of Beauvais said to me, “It will be better for you if you keep silent.”

Jeanne answered with great prudence the questions put to her, with the exception of the subject of her revelations from God: for the space of three weeks I believed her to be inspired. She was asked very profound questions, as to which she showed herself quite capable; sometimes they interrupted the enquiry, going from one subject to another, that they might make her change her purpose. The Examinations were very long, lasting sometimes two or three hours, so that the Doctors present were much fatigued.

FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE PROCESS OF JEANNE D’ARC.

Messire Thomas Marie, Priest, Bachelor in Theology, Prior of Saint Michael, near Rouen, of the Order of Saint Benedict: Examined, May 7th, 1452.

Jeanne had done marvels in war: and, as the English are commonly superstitious, they thought there was a fate with her. Therefore, in my opinion, they, in all their counsels and elsewhere, desired her death.

[When asked how he knew the English were superstitious, he answered that it was commonly so reported, and was a popular proverb.]

I heard from a certain locksmith that he had made an iron cage high enough to allow her to stand upright. [When asked if she were ever put into it:] I believe so; I knew nothing of her keepers.

I have heard, that after the first preaching, when she was taken back to the prison of the Castle, she was the victim of so many oppressions that she said she would rather die than remain with these English.

Where the judgment is not free, neither Process nor sentence is of value; but whether in this Case the Judges and Assessors were free, I know not beyond what I have before stated.

I heard from many that they saw the name Jesus written in the flames of the fire in which she was burnt.

I can well believe that if the English had had such a woman, they would have honoured her much and not have treated her in this manner.

Maître Jean de Fave, Master of Arts, Licentiate in Law; living at Rouen; Commissary: Examined, May 9th, 1452.

After the first preaching, when she was taken back to prison, some of the soldiers insulted her, and their chiefs allowed them to do so. Some of the leaders of the English—as I heard—were angry with the Bishop of Beauvais, the Doctors, and the other Assessors in the Trial, because she had not been convicted and condemned and taken to execution; and I heard it said that some of the English, in their indignation against the Bishop and the Doctors, would have drawn their swords to attack them, if not to slay them, saying that the King was wasting his money on such as they. I also heard that when the Earl of Warwick, after this first sermon, complained to the Bishop and the Doctors, saying that the King was in a bad way, for Jeanne had escaped them, one of them replied: “Take no heed to it, my lord; we shall soon have her again.”

The English were discontented with Maître Guillaume Manchon, the notary: they held him in suspicion as favourable to Jeanne, because he had not been willing to come to the Trial, and did not conduct himself to their liking.

Maître Jean Ricquier, Priest, Curé of Hendicourt [testimony of no importance].