I knew nothing of Jeanne till she was brought to Rouen; but I was so anxious to see her that I went to the Castle, and there saw her for the first time. I did not see her again until the time of the preaching at Saint Ouen.
I was at the final sermon in the Old Market Place, at Rouen; I went as Bailly, for whom I was then acting as deputy. The sentence by which Jeanne was handed over to the civil authorities was read; and, as soon as it was pronounced,—at once, without any interval of handing her over to the Bailly, without more ado, and before either the Bailly or myself, whose office it was, had given sentence,—the executioner seized her and took her to the place where the stake was already prepared: and she was burned. And this I hold was not a right proceeding: for soon after, a malefactor named George Folenfont was in like manner handed over, by sentence, from the ecclesiastical to the civil authorities; and, after the sentence, the said George was conducted to the Cohue,[[207]] and there condemned by the secular justice, instead of being immediately conducted to execution.
I think Jeanne died as a Catholic, for, in dying, she cried on the name of the Lord Jesus. She was very devout, and nearly all present were moved to tears. After she was dead, the ashes that remained were collected by the executioner and thrown into the Seine.
Jean Ricquier, Priest, Chaplain in the Cathedral of Rouen, and Curé of the Church at Hendicourt.
I first saw Jeanne at the sermon at Saint Ouen, and again at the Old Market. I was then about twenty.
At the time when Jeanne was brought to Rouen, I was in the choir of the Cathedral, and sometimes heard of the Trial from the Clergy of the Cathedral.
I was present at the sermon in the Old Market, on the day Jeanne died. I know she was handed over by the ecclesiastical authorities. I saw the English followers and soldiers seize her, and lead her immediately to the place of execution; nor did I see any sentence read by the secular authorities.
On that morning, before the sermon, Maître Pierre Maurice came to visit her; to whom she said, “Maître Pierre, where shall I be this evening?” Maître Pierre replied, “Have you not a good hope in God?” She answered that she had; and that, God willing, she would be in Paradise. This I heard from the aforesaid Maître Pierre. When Jeanne saw that they were setting fire to the pile, she began to say, with a loud voice, “Jesus!” and constantly, to the end, she cried, “Jesus!”
And after she was dead, because the English feared that people would say she had escaped, they ordered the executioner to part the flames a little, in order that those present might see she was dead. I was near to Maître Jean Alépée, at that time Canon of Rouen, and heard him say these words, weeping greatly: “God grant that my soul may be in the place where I believe this woman’s to be!”
Jean Moreau, Visitor in the city of Rouen.