Jean Marçel, Burgess of Paris.
Maître Jean Sauvage, of the Order of Saint Dominic, who often talked with me of Jeanne, has told me that he was engaged in the Process against her; but it was difficult to make him speak of it. He did once say, that he had never seen a woman of such years give so much trouble to her examiners, and he marvelled much at her answers and at her memory. Once the notary reporting what he had written, she declared that she had not said what they had made her say, and referred it to those present, who all recognized that Jeanne was right, and the answer was corrected.
I was present at the sermon at Saint-Ouen; and there for the first time I saw Jeanne. I remember that Maître Guillaume Érard preached in presence of the said Jeanne, who was in a man’s dress. But what was said or done in the sermon I know not. I was at some distance from the Preacher. I heard it said that Maître Laurence Calot said to Maître Pierre Cauchon, that he was too slow in pronouncing judgment, and that he was not judging rightly; to which Maître Pierre Cauchon replied that he lied.
I was also at the second preaching, on the day that Jeanne was burnt, and saw her in the flames calling out in a loud voice many times “Jesus!” I believe firmly that she died a Catholic and ended her days well in good Christian estate; and this I know from what I had from the monks who were with her in her last hours. I saw many—the greater part of those present—weeping and bewailing for pity, and saying that Jeanne had been unjustly condemned.
The Duke d’Alençon.[[177]]
When Jeanne arrived at Chinon, I was at Saint Florent. One day, when I was hunting quails, a messenger came to inform me that there had come to the King a young girl, who said she was sent from God to conquer the English and to raise the siege then undertaken by them against Orleans. It was for this reason that I went on the following day to Chinon, where I found Jeanne talking with the King. Having approached them, she asked me who I was. “It is the Duke d’Alençon,” replied the King. “You are welcome,” she then said to me, “the more that come together of the blood of France the better it will be.” The next day she went to the King’s Mass; and when she perceived him she made a profound salutation. After Mass the King took her into his private room, where he kept me with him, as well as the Sieur de la Tremouille, after having sent away all the others. Jeanne then made several requests to the King—amongst others that he would make a gift of his kingdom to the King of Heaven, because the King of Heaven, after this gift, would do for him as He had done for his predecessor, and reinstate him in all his rights. Many other things were said, up to the hour of dinner, which I do not remember. After dinner the King went for a walk; Jeanne coursed before him, lance in hand. Seeing her manage her lance so well I gave her a horse.
Following on this the King caused her to be examined by the Clergy. Choice was made of the Bishop of Chartres, the King’s Confessor; the Bishop of Senlis[[178]], Mende and Poitiers; Maître Pierre de Versailles, since Bishop of Meaux; Maître Jourdin Morin, and many others whose names I do not recall. They questioned her in my presence and asked why she had come, and who had caused her to come to the King? She replied that she had come from the King of Heaven, that she had voices and a Counsel which told her what she was to do; but I do not remember if she made known what those voices told her.
One day when dining with me she told me that the clergy had examined her well, but that she knew and could do more than she had told them. The King, when he had heard the report of his commissioners, wished that she should still go to Poitiers, in order to submit to another examination. I did not assist at this examination; I only knew it to be afterwards reported to the Council, that the examiners at Poitiers held the opinion that there was nothing in her contrary to the Faith, and that the King, considering his extreme necessity, might make use of her assistance.
On receiving this news the King sent me to the Queen of Sicily[[179]] to prepare a convoy of supplies for the army, which was then being directed against Orleans. I found with the Queen the Sieur Ambroise de Loré,[[180]] and the Sieur Louis—his other name I do not remember—who prepared the convoy: but money was lacking, and in order to obtain it I returned to the King, to whom I made known that the supplies were prepared, and that it only remained to procure the necessary money to pay for them and for the army. The King then sent people who delivered the necessary sums; so that in the end soldiers and supplies were ready, and there was nothing more to be done but to gain Orleans, and try to raise the siege.
With this army Jeanne was sent. The King had caused armour to be made for her.[[181]]