Article XVI. Previous to, and since her capture, at the Castle of Beaurevoir and at Arras, Jeanne hath been many times advised with gentleness, by noble persons of both sexes, to give up her man’s dress and resume suitable attire. She hath absolutely refused, and to this day also she refuses with persistence; she disdains also to give herself up to feminine work, conducting herself in all things rather as a man than as a woman.
“What have you to say on this Article?”
“At Arras and Beaurevoir I was invited to take a woman’s dress; then I refused, and I refuse still. As to the women’s work of which you speak, there are plenty of other women to do it.”[[246]]
Article XVII. When Jeanne found herself in the presence of Charles, thus attired and armed, she promised him these three things among others: that she would raise the siege of Orleans; that she would have him consecrated at Rheims; that she would avenge him on his enemies, who, all of them, English or Burgundians, should be, thanks to her, killed or driven out of the kingdom. Many times and in many places did she repeat publicly the same boasts; and, to give them greater weight, then and often afterwards, she did use divinations, and by these means unveiled the morals, the entire life, the most secret acts, of persons who came before her, whom she had never before seen or known; she boasted of knowing all by revelation.
“What have you to say on this Article?”
“In the name of God I brought the news to my King that Our Lord would restore the kingdom to him, cause him to be crowned at Rheims, and drive out all his enemies; I was a messenger from God, when I told the King boldly to set me to work and I would raise the siege of Orleans. I mean, in so saying, the whole kingdom; and if my Lord of Burgundy and the other subjects of the King do not return to their obedience, the King will know how to make them by force. As to the end of the Article, of knowing Robert de Baudricourt and my King, I hold to what I said before.”[[247]]
Article XVIII. So long as Jeanne remained with Charles, she did dissuade him with all her power, him and those with him, from consenting to any treaty of peace, any arrangement with his adversaries; inciting them always to murder and effusion of blood; affirming that they could only have peace by sword and lance; and that God willed it so, because otherwise the enemies of the King would not give up that which they held in his kingdom; to fight against them thus, is, she told them, one of the greatest benefits that can happen to all Christendom.
“What have you to say on this Article?”
“As to my Lord of Burgundy, I requested him by my ambassadors and my letters that he would make peace between my King and himself; but as to the English, the peace they need is that they may go away to their own country, to England. I have answered on the remainder of the Article; and I refer to this answer.”[[248]]
Article XIX. It was by consulting demons and using divinations, that Jeanne sent to look for a sword hidden in the Church of Saint Catherine de Fierbois: (perchance she had already maliciously, fraudulently, and deceitfully hidden or caused to be hidden this sword in the same church, to seduce the princes, nobles, clergy, and people, to induce them to believe more easily that she knew by revelation in what place this sword was). By this stratagem and others of a like nature she succeeded in inspiring an absolute faith in all her words.