the vine.” Then he explained solemnly that all Catholics should abide in
the true vine of the Holy Mother Church which Christ had planted: he
shewed how Jeanne, by many errors and grave crimes, had separated
herself from Holy Mother Church, to the great scandal of Christian
people. Finally, he admonished and exhorted her and all the people by
the most edifying teaching.
In concluding, he spoke to her in these terms:
“Jeanne, behold my Lords your Judges, who, at divers times, have
summoned and required you to submit yourself, your words and deeds, to
Our Holy Church, shewing you that there doth exist in your words and
deeds many things which, as it doth seem to the Clergy, are not good
either to say or maintain.”
To which Jeanne replied:
“I will answer you. As to my submission to the Church, I have answered
the Clergy on this point. I have answered them also on the subject of
all the things I have said and done. Let them be sent to Rome to our
Holy Father the Pope, to whom after God I refer me as to my words and
deeds: I did them by God’s order; I charge no one with them, neither my
King nor any one else. If there be any fault found in them, the blame is
on me, and no one else.”
“Will you revoke all your words and deeds which are disapproved by the
Clergy?”
“I refer me to God and to our Holy Father the Pope.”
[Illustration:
SOUTH DOOR OF ST. OUEN AT ROUEN.
]
Then she was told that this answer would not suffice; that it was not
possible to send to seek the Pope from such a distance; that the
Ordinaries are Judges, each in their own diocese; that it was necessary
she should refer to our Holy Mother the Church; and that she should hold
as true all that the Clergy and other people cognizant thereof have said
and decided on the subject of her words and deeds.
She was admonished on this to the third monition.
But as this woman would say no more, We, the Bishop, did then begin the
reading of Our sentence as follows:
THE SENTENCE
In the Name of the Lord, Amen.
All the pastors of the Church who have it in their hearts to watch
faithfully over their flock, should, when the perfidious Sower of Errors
works by his machinations and deceits to infest the Flock of Christ,
strive with great care to resist his pernicious efforts with the
greatest vigilance and the most lively solicitude, and above all in
these perilous times, when so many false prophets are come into the
world with their sects of error and perdition, according to the
prediction thereof made by the Apostle. Their diverse and strange
doctrines might cause the faithful in Christ to stray, if Holy Mother
Church, with the aid of wholesome doctrine and canonical sanction, did
not study with great zeal to refute their inventions and errors.
Therefore, because that before Us, Pierre by the Divine Mercy Bishop of
Beauvais, and before Us, Brother Jean Lemaître, Deputy in this City and
Diocese for Maître Jean Graverend, renowned Doctor Inquisitor in France
for the Evil of Heresy, specially appointed for this in this Case;
because, before Us, competent Judges, thou, Jeanne, commonly called the
Maid, hast been indicted and cited in a Case of Faith, on account of thy
pernicious errors; after having seen and examined with great attention
the whole series of thy Trial[97]....
Our sentence had thus been already read, in great part, when Jeanne did
begin to speak and said:
“I will hold[98] all that the Church ordains, all that you, the Judges,
wish to say and decree—in all I will refer me to your orders!”
Then many times did she say:
“Inasmuch as the Clergy decide that the apparitions and revelations
which I have had are not to be maintained or believed, I will not
believe nor maintain them; in all I refer me to you and to our Holy
Mother Church!”
_Abjuration._
Then, in the presence of all the aforenamed, in presence of an immense
number of people and Clergy, she did make and utter her recantation and
abjuration, following a formula written in French, which was read to
her; a formula which she did pronounce herself, and the schedule of
which she did sign with her own hand, and of which the tenour follows:
“All who have erred and been mistaken in the Christian Faith and, by the
grace of God, have since returned into the light of truth and the unity
of Our Holy Mother Church, should well guard themselves that the Evil
One doth not drive them back and cause them to relapse into error and
damnation. For this cause, I, Jeanne, commonly called the Maid, a
miserable sinner, after that I had recognized the snares of error in the
which I was held, and [after] that, by the grace of God, I had returned
to our Holy Mother Church, in order that it may be seen that, not
feigningly but with a good heart and good will, I have returned thereto;
I confess that I have most grievously sinned, in pretending untruthfully
to have had revelations and apparitions from God, from the Angels, and
Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret; in seducing others; in believing
foolishly and lightly; in making superstitious divinations; in
blaspheming God and His Saints; in breaking the Divine Law, Holy
Scripture, and the lawful Canons; in wearing a dissolute habit,
mis-shapen and immodest and against the propriety of nature, and hair
clipped ‘en ronde’ in the style of a man, against all the modesty of the
feminine sex; also, in bearing arms in great presumption; in cruelly
desiring the effusion of human blood; in saying that all these things I
did by the command of God, the Angels, and the aforesaid Saints, and
that in these things I did well and was not mistaken; in despising God
and His Sacraments; in making seditions; and in being idolatrous, by
adoring evil spirits and invoking them. I confess also that I have been
schismatic and in many ways have erred from the Faith. The which crimes
and errors, from my heart and without lying, I—by the grace of Our Lord,
returned into the way of truth, by the holy doctrine and good counsel of
you and the Doctors and Masters who have conveyed it to me—abjure as
blasphemy and renounce them all, and depart therefrom. And upon all
these things aforesaid I submit to the correction, disposal, amendment,
and entire decision of our Holy Mother Church and of your good justice.
Also I swear and promise to you, to my Lord Saint Peter, Prince of the
Apostles, to our Holy Father the Pope of Rome, his Vicar, and his
successors, and to you, my Lords, the reverend Father in God my Lord the
Bishop of Beauvais, the religious person, Brother Jean Lemaître, Deputy
of my Lord the Inquisitor of the Faith, as my Judges, that never, by any
exhortation or other manner, will I return to the aforesaid errors, from
which it hath pleased Our Lord to deliver and take me; but always I will
remain in union with our Holy Mother Church and in the obedience of our
Holy Father the Pope of Rome. And this I say, affirm, and swear, by God
Almighty and by the Holy Gospels.
“And in sign of this, I have signed this schedule with my signature.
(Signed thus): Jehanne +.”
* * * * *
After her revocation and her abjuration had been, as has just been said,
received by us, the Judges, We, the Bishop, did finally deliver our
sentence in these terms:
[The sentence then follows as given above up to the words “thy Trial,”
and then proceeds:]
... all that therein occurred, principally thine answers, thine avowals,
and thine affirmations; after having seen the most renowned decision of
the faculties of Theology and Decrees of the University of Paris; after
having also seen the decision of the entire University and the numerous
Resolutions of so many Prelates, Doctors, and other Masters, who at
Rouen or elsewhere have sent in such great numbers their assertions as
to thy sayings and deeds; after having had, upon this, advice and mature
deliberation of so many Doctors zealous for the Christian Faith; after
having weighed and considered all that there is to weigh and consider of
what is in the nature of enlightenment; having before our eyes Christ
and the honour of the Orthodox Faith, so that our judgment may emanate
even from the face of Our Lord: we, the Judges, say and decree: that
thou, Jeanne, hast deeply sinned in pretending untruthfully that thy
revelations and apparitions are of God; in seducing others; in believing
lightly and rashly; in making superstitious divinations; in blaspheming
God and the Saints; in prevaricating as to the law, Holy Scripture, and
the Canonical sanctions; in despising God in His Sacraments; in
fomenting seditions and revolts; in apostatizing; in encouraging the
crime of heresy; in erring on numerous points in the Catholic Faith.
But because that, after being many times charitably admonished and long
waited for, thou hast at last, with the help of God, returned into the
bosom of the Church, thy Holy Mother, with contrite heart, and hast
openly revoked thy errors; because, having solemnly and publicly cast
these far from thee, thou hast abjured them by the words of thine own
mouth, together with the heresy with which thou wast charged: We declare
thee set free by these presents, according to the form appointed by
Ecclesiastical sanction, from the bonds of excommunications which held
thee enchained, charging thee to return to the Church with a true heart
and sincere faith, and to observe what hath been already enjoined thee
and what shall yet be enjoined thee by us.
But because thou hast sinned rashly against God and Holy Church, We
condemn thee, finally, definitely and for salutary penance, saving Our
grace and moderation, to perpetual imprisonment, with the bread of
sorrow and the water of affliction, in order that thou mayest bewail thy
faults, and that thou mayest no more commit [acts] which thou shalt have
to bewail hereafter.
_Exhortation made to Jeanne by the Deputy Inquisitor, in Prison._
_And the same day, Thursday, May 24th, in the afternoon, We, Brother
Jean Lemaître, the aforesaid Deputy, assisted by the Lords and Masters
N. Midi, N. Loyseleur, Thomas de Courcelles, Brother Ysambard de la
Pierre, and several others_,
We did repair to the place in the prison where Jeanne was to be found.
We, and the persons assisting us, did set forth before her how God had
on this day had mercy on her, and how the Clergy had shewn themselves
merciful in receiving her to the Grace and pardon of Holy Mother Church.
In return, it was right that she, Jeanne, should obey with humility the
sentence and orders of the Judges and the Ecclesiastics; that she should
wholly give up her errors and all her inventions, never to return to
them: because, in case she should return to them, the Church could no
longer admit her to pardon, and must abandon her altogether. We told her
to leave off her man’s dress and to take a woman’s garments, as the
Church had ordered her.
In all our observations Jeanne did reply that she would willingly take
woman’s garments, and that in all things she would obey the Church.
Woman’s garments having been offered to her, she at once dressed herself
in them, after having taken off the man’s dress she was wearing; and her
hair, which up to this time had been cut “en ronde” above her ears, she
desired and permitted them to shave and take away.
_Here ends the First Part of the Trial, called “The Lapse.”_
-----
Footnote 5:
It is agreed by all authorities that Jeanne was not captured in the
Diocese of Beauvais, which ended at the Bridge of Compiègne. Jeanne
was taken north of the Bridge, on the right bank of the river, and
either in the Diocese of Noyon or Soissons, which of the two has not
been determined. The Bishop’s assertion is distinctly untrue.
Footnote 6:
On January 6th, 1412. “_In nocte Epiphiniarum Domini._” (Letter from
Boulainvilliers to the Duke of Milan. Quicherat, vol. v., 116.)
Footnote 7:
The Font and Holy water stoup in the old Church at Domremy are said to
be those in use in the 15th century.
Footnote 8:
Jeanne appears to have had a great many godparents. In the Enquiry
made at Domremy in 1455, eight are mentioned, viz.: Jean Morel, Jean
Barrey, Jean de Laxart, and Jean Raiguesson, as godfathers; and
Jeannette Thévenin, Jeannette Thiesselin, Beatrix Estellin, and Edith
Barrey, as godmothers.
Footnote 9:
John Gris, or Grey, a gentleman in the Household of the Duke of
Bedford, afterwards knighted. He was appointed chief guardian to the
Maid, with two assistants, all members of the King’s Body Guard. They
appear to have left her entirely in the hands of the common soldiers
five of whom kept constant watch over her.
Footnote 10:
There is no certain date for this event. By some it is placed between
the first and second visits to Vaucouleurs, in 1428; by others,
earlier, at the time of the Picard ravages of the neighbourhood in the
September of 1426.
Footnote 11:
Robert de Baudricourt, Squire, Captain of Vaucouleurs in 1428;
afterwards knighted and made Councillor and Chamberlain to the King
and Bailly of Chaumont, 1454.
Footnote 12:
Of the ancient château the “Porte de France” alone survives. From this
gate Jeanne rode out with her escort to visit the King at Chinon. The
crypt of the chapel remains, where Jeanne constantly prayed.
Footnote 13:
This is said to have been on account of the impression produced on him
by Jeanne’s prediction, on February 12th: “To-day the gentle Dauphin
hath had great hurt near the town of Orleans, and yet greater will he
have if you do not soon send me to him.” This “great hurt” proved to
be the Battle of Rouvray, in which the French and Scottish troops were
defeated by the English under Sir John Fastolf.
Footnote 14:
Charles I., the reigning Duke de Lorraine in 1428, was in very bad
health, and, having no son, the succession was a matter of some
anxiety. He died in 1431, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Réné of
Anjou, who had married his only daughter, Isabella. This Réné was a
brother of Queen Mary, wife of Charles VII., and father of our own
Queen Margaret, married in 1441 to Henry VI.
Footnote 15:
Jean de Novelomport, called de Metz, Bertrand de Poulengey, Colet de
Vienne, the King’s Messenger, and three servants.
Footnote 16:
March 22nd, 1428.
Footnote 17:
This letter appears later, p. 36. Jeanne may have forgotten its
contents, as both these expressions occur; or the Clerics who acted as
her amanuenses may have inserted them without her knowledge.
Footnote 18:
Jeanne was entertained by command of the King in a small room on the
first floor of the Tour de Coudray, within the Castle walls. Her room
was approached by a staircase outside the tower. The vaulted roof of
the room has fallen in and the fireplace is in ruins, but the room
could easily be restored. Jeanne stayed here from March 8th to April
20th, 1429. She was two days at Chinon before she obtained access to
the King.
Footnote 19:
Charles de Bourbon, Count de Clermont, Governor of the Duchy of the
Bourbonnais and the Comté of Auvergne, during the captivity of his
father in England.
Footnote 20:
On September 8th, 1429.
Footnote 21:
Up to the end of her life, Jeanne spoke of the Bishop as the person
responsible for her trial and death. “Bishop, I die through you,” was
her last speech to him, on May 30th, the day of her martyrdom.
Footnote 22:
This, and a subsequent enquiry, on February 27th, as to Jeanne’s habit
of fasting, would seem to suggest a desire on the part of the
questioner to prove that her visions had a more or less physical cause
in a weak bodily state resulting from abstinence. As Jeanne’s usual
food consisted of a little bread dipped in wine and water, and as she
is reported to have had when at home (not in war) but one meal a day,
it need hardly be supposed that she suffered much from the results of
a Lenten Fast.
Footnote 23:
The fifteen days’ respite would coincide with the first Examination
held in the Prison, May 10th, the first day on which the Allegory of
the Sign was given.
Footnote 24:
Gérardin of Epinal, to whose child Jeanne was godmother, is probably
the person alluded to; he gave witness in 1455 that Jeanne had called
him “Burgundian.”
Footnote 25:
A small fortress in an island formed by two arms of the Meuse, nearly
opposite the village of Domremy.
Footnote 26:
According to local tradition, this tree stood to within the last 50
years, and was struck by lightning; another has been planted in its
place. The house, in which Jeanne was born, remained in the possession
of the De Lys family till the 16th Century, when it passed into the
hands of the Count de Salm, Seigneur of Domremy. In the 18th Century
it became the property of Jean Gerardin, whose grandson, Nicolas, gave
it up in 1818 to the Department of Vosges; so that it is now preserved
as National property.
Footnote 27:
This is probably a survival of the Fontinalia, an old Latin festival.
The custom of decorating the wells and springs was kept up in England
until the last century, and still exists in a few remote villages. The
name ‘Well Sunday’ survives, though the processions of youths and
maidens have long passed away. The ‘fontaine aux Groseilliers’ is
still in existence. It is an oblong tank of water, with the original
spring flowing through it. The great beech tree stood close by.
Footnote 28:
Pierre de Bourlement, Head of the ancient house of Bassigny, and Lord
of the Manor of Bourlement. He was the last of his race.
Footnote 29:
Merlin had foretold the coming of a maiden out of an Oak-wood from
Lorraine; and a paper containing a prophecy to this effect had been
sent, at the beginning of Jeanne’s career, to the English Commander,
the Earl of Suffolk. There was also an old prophecy (quoted by Jeanne
herself to Catharine Leroyer) that France, which had been “lost by a
woman, should be saved by a Maid.” The conduct of Isabeau of Bavaria,
wife of Charles VI., might certainly be said to have fulfilled the
first half of this prophecy; and a tradition in the eastern counties
that “deliverance should come from a maid of the Marches of Lorraine”
must have directed many hopes to the mission of the Maiden from
Domremy, though she herself does not seem to have known of the last
prediction until some time later. The Oak-wood covers the hills above
Domremy to this day.
Footnote 30:
This is the first identification of the “revelations” with any name;
Jeanne had always spoken of her “Voices” or her “Counsel.”
Footnote 31:
This Examination at Poitiers had taken place in the Chapel attached to
the Palace of the Counts of Poitou, which still exists and adjoins the
‘Salle des Pas Perdus,’ now the Great Hall of the Palais de Justice.
It was conducted under the direction of the Archbishop of Rheims
during the months of March and April, 1429, and extended over three
weeks. At the conclusion, the assembly sent, as the result of their
inquiries, a resolution to the King to the effect that he should
follow the Maid’s guidance, and seek for the sign she promised him in
the relief of Orleans, as a proof of the Divine origin of her mission,
“for,” they added, “to doubt or forsake her without any appearance of
evil would be to vex the Holy Spirit, and to make himself unworthy of
the help of God: so saith Gamaliel in the Council of the Jews with
regard to the Apostles.”
Unfortunately, no trace of this Examination has been found: the ‘Book
of Poitiers’ is referred to several times in the Trial; but it was not
forthcoming at the time of the Rehabilitation. It was probably lost or
destroyed by Jeanne’s enemies among her own party. The Archbishop of
Rheims would have had it in his charge: and he was consistently
opposed to Jeanne throughout.
During her stay at Poitiers the Maid lodged in the house of Jean
Rabatier.
Footnote 32:
According to local tradition, this Church was originally founded by
Charles Martel in 732, after his victory over the Saracens, whom he
here ceased to pursue, and deposited his sword as an offering. This is
by some supposed to have been the sword which later Jeanne sent for;
but the legend is not of an early date, and there is no suggestion of
the kind in contemporary writings.
According to one authority, the Greffier de la Rochelle, the sword was
found in a reliquary, which had not been opened for twenty years or
more. The _Chronique de la Pucelle_ and the _Journal of the Siege of
Orleans_ state that it was one of many votive offerings, and was
recognized by Jeanne’s description of the five crosses on the blade,
possibly a Jerusalem Cross. Some of the old Chronicles say that Jeanne
told the King she had never been at Fierbois: but this statement is
disproved by her own words in this answer. The suggestion that, having
been to three Masses in the Church, she might easily have seen the
sword, is to some extent answered by the alleged difficulty of the
Priests to find, among the many swords there, the one she had
specially described.
Of the ultimate fate of this sword there are many versions, and no two
agree exactly as to date. It was certainly broken in striking a
camp-follower, one of a class the Maid had forbidden to enter the
Camp; but whether this was just after the retreat from Paris or
earlier, it does not seem possible to decide. Jeanne herself says she
“had it up to Saint-Denis” and “Lagny,” both of which dates would
imply the autumn of 1429: but most witnesses tell the story of its
being broken in the July preceding, though several different places
are mentioned as the scene of the incident.
Footnote 33:
On September 13th, 1429.
Footnote 34:
A small town near Auxerre. In this neighbourhood some of the
chronicles place the incident referred to of the breaking of the
sword. The question may, therefore, have been intended to elicit the
story.
Footnote 35:
The armour offered at Saint-Denis was the “blanc harnois” she wore
during the earlier part of her career. When the church was pillaged by
the English troops shortly after, this armour was sent to the King of
England; but no further trace of it is known to exist.
Footnote 36:
Jeanne appears to have been a good horse-woman; she rode “horses so
ill-tempered that no one would dare to ride them.” The Duke de
Lorraine, on her first visit to him, and the Duke d’Alençon, after
seeing her skill in riding a course, each gave her a horse; and we
read also of a gift of a war-horse from the town of Orleans, and “many
horses of value” sent from the Duke of Brittany. She had entered
Orleans on a white horse, according to the _Journal du Siège
d’Orléans_; but seems to have been in the habit of riding black
chargers in war; and mention is also made by Châtelain of a “lyart” or
grey. A story, repeated in a letter from Guy de Laval, relates that,
on one occasion (June 6th, 1428), when her horse, “a fine black
war-horse” was brought to the door, he was so restive that he would
not stand still. “Take him to the Cross,” she said; and there he
stood, “as though he were tied,” while she mounted. This was at
Selles; and local tradition says that, from her lodging (a Dominican
Monastery now the Lion d’Or hotel) the old iron town-cross was
visible. It stood until about a century ago some fifteen paces in
front of the north door of the Church, and was removed when the
cemetery was converted into a market place. The Monastery was the
property of the monks of Glatigny.
The writers of the letter referred to above, Guy and André de Laval,
were grandsons of Bertrand du Guesclin: the letter was dated Selles,
June, 1429. The following are extracts:
“... On Monday (June 6th) I left the King to go to Selles en Berry,
four leagues from Saint Aignan. The King had summoned the Maid to come
before him from Selles, where she then was, and many said this was
much in my favour, so that I might see her. The said Maid treated my
brother and me with great kindness: she was armed at all points, save
the head, and bore lance in hand. After we had arrived at Selles, I
went to her lodging to see her, and she called for wine for me and
said she would soon have me drink it in Paris. She seemed to me a
thing divine, in all she did and all I saw and heard.
“On Monday evening she left Selles to go to Romorantin.... I saw her
mounting her horse armed all in white, save the head, a little axe in
her hand.... And then, turning to the door of the Church, which was
quite near, she said in a gentle woman’s voice, ‘You priests and
clergy, make processions and prayers to God.’ Then she turned again on
her way saying, ‘Draw on, draw on!’ her standard flying, borne by a
gracious page, and her little axe in her hand. One of her brothers who
arrived eight days since, left also with her, armed all in white.”
Footnote 37:
The banner was painted at Tours, while Jeanne was staying there,
before her march to the relief of Orleans. The account for payment, in
the “Comptes” of the Treasurer of War, gives: “À Hauvres Poulnoir,
paintre, demourant à Tours, pour avoir paint et baillé estoffes pour
une grand estandart et ung petit pour la Pucelle ... 25 livres
tournois.”
The description of this banner varies in different authors. The
following account is compiled from them. “A white banner, sprinkled
with fleur-de-lys; on the one side, the figure of Our Lord in Glory,
holding the world, and giving His benediction to a lily, held by one
of two Angels who are kneeling on each side: the words ‘Jhesus Maria’
at the side; on the other side the figure of Our Lady and a shield
with the arms of France supported by two Angels” (_de Cagny_). This
banner was blessed at the Church of Saint-Sauveur at Tours (_Chronique
de la Pucelle_ and _de Cagny_).
The small banner or pennon had a representation of the Annunciation.
There was also a third banner round which the priests assembled daily
for service, and on this was depicted the Crucifixion (_Pasquerel_).
Another banner is mentioned by the Greffier de la Rochelle, which
Jeanne is said to have adopted as her own private pennon. It was made
at Poitiers; and represented on a blue ground a white dove, holding in
its beak a scroll, with the words, “De par le Roy du Ciel.”
Footnote 38:
May 7th, 1429.
Footnote 39:
This prophecy is recorded in a letter written, April 22nd, 1429, a
fortnight before the event, by a Flemish diplomatist, De Rotslaer,
then at Lyons. Her chaplain, Pasquerel, also states, in his evidence
given in 1455, that she had told him of the coming injury on the
previous day.
Footnote 40:
June 11th, 1429.
Footnote 41:
Gallicè: “_en leur petite cotte_,” _i.e._, with only the light
clothing worn under their armour.
Footnote 42:
The “three Pontiffs” referred to are Martin V. (Colonna), the real and
acknowledged Pope; the schismatic, Clement VIII.; and a mere
pretender, Benedict XIV., who was supported only by one Cardinal. The
Schism was practically at an end at the time of this letter, as
Clement had abdicated a month earlier (July 26th). Clement VIII. is
the true title, though called Clement VII. in Count d’Armagnac’s
letter.
Footnote 43:
The English lost Paris in 1436.
Footnote 44:
Compiègne was relieved early in November; Saint Martin’s Day is
November 11th.
Footnote 45:
The mandrake was a part of the accepted paraphernalia of a sorcerer.
It was kept wrapped in a silk or linen cloth, and was supposed to
preserve its owner from poverty. Brother Richard had recently preached
a sermon against them (April, 1429); and many had been burned in
consequence.
Footnote 46:
The balance was a frequent accessory to Saint Michael in the French
stained glass windows of the 13th and 14th centuries. A noted example
in the Cathedral at Arles represents him weighing the souls of the
departed in a balance as big as himself. One of the earliest examples
in England is that in a fresco-painting at Preston Manor, Sussex, said
to be of the reign of Edward I., in which Saint Michael appears
weighing the souls of the faithful, accompanied by Jeanne’s saints,
Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret.
Footnote 47:
Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII., daughter of Louis, Duke of Anjou
and Yolande of Arragon.
Footnote 48:
Jeanne was taken from Beaurevoir early in August, and removed from
there, when the negotiations for selling her were complete, about the
middle of November.
Footnote 49:
Jeanne, Countess de Saint-Pol et Ligny, sister to Count Waleran de
Luxembourg and aunt to Jean de Luxembourg.
Footnote 50:
Jeanne de Bethune, Viscountess de Meaux, wife of Jean de Luxembourg.
Both these ladies were at Beaurevoir during Jeanne’s captivity, and
shewed her great kindness, even interceding for her that she should
not be sold to the English.
Footnote 51:
The Sieur de Pressy, in Artois. Present in the Burgundian camp when
Jeanne was taken prisoner, and afterwards at Arras, where she was
imprisoned on her way from Beaurevoir to Rouen. The questions seem to
suggest that Beaupère had before him some information which has not
come down to us.
Footnote 52:
This may perhaps refer to a popular belief in a halo, as of a Saint,
surrounding the Maid’s head.
Footnote 53:
Brother Richard, a Mendicant Friar; some say, Augustan; some,
Cordelier. He was preaching in Paris and the neighbourhood in 1428–9;
and said, amongst other things, in a sermon at Sainte Géneviève, April
16th, 1419, that “strange things would happen in 1430.” He professed
to have been in Jerusalem; and his sermons were so popular that
congregations were found to listen to him for 10 or 11 hours, from 5
o’clock in the morning! He was driven out of Paris by the English and
went to Troyes, where he joined the Maid.
Footnote 54:
No absolutely authentic portraits of Jeanne are known. A head of fine
work, the portrait of a young girl wearing a casque and of Jeanne’s
time, is at the Musée Historique at Orleans. Tradition asserts that
when Jeanne entered Orleans in triumph with the relieving force a
sculptor modelled the head of his statue of St. Maurice from Jeanne
herself. This head is a portion of the statue which formerly stood in
the church at Orleans dedicated to St. Maurice. The church was
demolished in 1850. A photograph from the head is given as the
frontispiece to this book, and an admirable copy maybe seen at the
Musée du Trocadéro in Paris. It should have been stated on the
frontispiece that the original is at Orleans, the copy in Paris.
Footnote 55:
Latin text adds: “_dum rex suus consecraretur_.” Tradition asserts
that at the Coronation Jeanne stood on the left and slightly in front
of the altar, coming direct from the sacristy of the cathedral. The
coronation throne stood in front of the high altar. The cathedral and
its painted glass exist as at the Coronation, with the exception of
some comparatively recent stone work surrounding the choir. The
Coronation of the Kings of France has taken place at Rheims Cathedral
since the twelfth century. The King was not to all intents King of
France until he had been anointed by the Holy Oil, brought in great
state to the cathedral from the more ancient church of St. Remy.
An inscription on the front of the Hotel Maison Rouge, situated near
the west entrance of the cathedral, states that the town entertained
Jeanne’s father and mother in that house during the Coronation.
Footnote 56:
About £200.
Footnote 57:
November 9th, 1429.
Footnote 58:
The Minute adds: “and I should be cured.”
Footnote 59:
Surrendered July 22nd.
Footnote 60:
In spite of this assertion, the Bishop was present at _four_ out of
the nine Examinations.
Footnote 61:
On May 23rd, 1430.
Footnote 62:
In the Minute only.
Footnote 63:
Not in the Minute. Latin text reads: “_quod dedit regi suo dum venit
ad eum_.”
Footnote 64:
The “sign,” _i.e._ the appearance of “the White Lady.”
Footnote 65:
Jean, Duke d’Alençon: son of the Duke killed at Agincourt. He was of
the blood-royal of France, and had married a daughter of the Duke
d’Orléans. Jeanne was on very friendly terms with him, and always
called him her “Beau Duc.”
Footnote 66:
The allegory of the Angel sent with a crown, here first given to avoid
“perjury,” _i.e._, breaking her promise to preserve the King’s secret,
is explained by Jeanne herself, on the last day of her life, to mean
her own mission from Heaven to lead Charles to his crowning.
Footnote 67:
In the Minute: “_et l’admener en trois ans_”: not in the Latin Text.
Footnote 68:
The Minute reads: “_la laissant faire de prisonniers_.”
Footnote 69:
March 8th, 1428; it was _before_ Easter, which in that year fell on
March 7th.
Footnote 70:
The house in which Jeanne lodged at Chinon is said to have belonged to
a certain Regnier de la Barrier, whose widow or daughter is the
“worthy woman” referred to. Jeanne was afterwards lodged in the Tower
of Coudray, where her room may still be seen. It is approached by a
staircase outside the tower. The vaulted roof has fallen in, and the
fireplace is damaged, but the walls are intact, and the room could
easily be restored. Jeanne stayed in this tower from March 8th to
April 20th, 1429.
Footnote 71:
In the Minute only.
Footnote 72:
Charles, Duke d’Orléans, then a prisoner in England: one of the five
princes of the blood taken at Agincourt.
Footnote 73:
There is no allusion to either of these in any evidence of the time.
Footnote 74:
May, 1430.
Footnote 75:
Easter week, April 16th–23rd, 1430.
Footnote 76:
Jeanne says that her leap from the tower was “towards the end,” and as
the town of Compiègne was in great straits in October, she probably
made her attempt at escape towards the end of that month. The army of
relief under the Count de Vendôme started on October 25th, and the
siege was raised early in November.
Footnote 77:
The Minute inverts the order of this and the following question and
answer.
Footnote 78:
There is no fuller account of this attempt. It probably took place
during the month of July, and may have been the reason for her removal
to the stronger prison of Beaurevoir, early in August.
Footnote 79:
Henry VI. arrived in Rouen first on July 29th, 1430, when Jeanne was
at Beaulieu; he was crowned at Paris in the following November, and
returned to Rouen for Christmas, remaining there about six weeks, for
the date of his landing at Dover is given as February 11th. It is not
improbable that the prisoner may have seen the King, as they were both
residing in the same Castle, and her windows looked on the fields,
where he would probably take exercise.
Footnote 80:
“_Faceret unam aggressionem_;” _Gallicè_, “_une entreprise_.”
Footnote 81:
In the Minute: “_mesme le chaperon de femme_.”
Footnote 82:
In the Minute: “_et ne fait point de différence de celle qui est au
ciel et celle qui se appert à moi_.”
Footnote 83:
“Le vrai office de Monseigneur Saint-Michel est de faire grandes
révélations aux hommes en bas, en leur donnant moult sainct conseils.”
(“_Le Livre des Angeles de Dieu._”—MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris.)
Footnote 84:
In the Minute.
Footnote 85:
In the Minute: “_et toute voyes de tout, je m’en attendaye à Notre
Seigneur_.”
Footnote 86:
Given only in the Minute.
Footnote 87:
Guillaume Delachambre says that he was sent for by the Cardinal of
England and the Earl of Warwick to attend Jeanne, with Desjardins and
other Doctors; he was told by Warwick to give all attention to the
patient, “as the King would not for anything in the world, that she
should die a natural death; she had cost too dear for that; he had
bought her dear, and he did not wish her to die except by justice and
the fire.”
Footnote 88:
Nicolas Midi.
Footnote 89:
In the margin is written “_Superba responsio_.”
Footnote 90:
Jean de la Brosse, Marshal of France, called occasionally Marshal de
Boussac and de Saint Sevère, being lord of both these territories.
Footnote 91:
The Day of the Holy Cross, May 3rd.
Footnote 92:
The Minute adds: “in the evening.”
Footnote 93:
April 18th, May 2nd, 19th, and 23rd.
Footnote 94:
Against this passage is written, on the margin of the original MS.
note in the hand of the Registrar Manchon, ‘_Responsio Johannæ
superba_.’
Footnote 95:
_In ipsâ Causâ concludimus._
Footnote 96:
In the Square of Saint-Ouen were two platforms on each side of the
south door of the Church: Jeanne and Maître Érard, the preacher,
occupied one; the Bishop of Beauvais, together with a great number of
Assessors, filled the other. In those days, and up to comparatively
recent times, a cemetery occupied this site, which is now a garden.
There was ample space for a large crowd to collect on the gently
sloping ground facing the south door.
Footnote 97:
There is no note as to when Jeanne interrupted the Bishop. The Latin
gives no hint. It is probable that, during the reading of the
sentence, Érard and Loiseleur were trying to induce Jeanne to recant
and sign the schedule, and that her abjuration was the result of their
endeavours, not of the Bishop’s.
Footnote 98:
The Latin reading is, “Ante finem sententiæ, Johanna, timens ignem,
dixit se velle obedire ecclesiæ.”
[Illustration:
BATTLE OUTSIDE ORLEANS.
]
II
SECOND PROCESS: THE RELAPSE
_Monday, May 28th, the day following Trinity Sunday._
We, the aforesaid Judges, repaired to the place of Jeanne’s prison, to
learn the state and disposition of her soul. There were found with us
the Lords and Masters Nicolas de Venderès, Guillaume Haiton, Thomas de
Courcelles, Brother Ysambard de la Pierre; witnesses, Jacques Cannes,
Nicolas Bertin, Julien Floquet and John Gris.
And because Jeanne was dressed in the dress of a man—that is to say, a
short mantle, a hood, a doublet and other effects used by men—although,
by our orders, she had, several days before, consented to give up these
garments, we asked her when and for what reason she had resumed this
dress.[99]
She answered us:
“I have but now resumed the dress of a man and put off the woman’s
dress.”
“Why did you take it, and who made you take it?”
“I took it of my own free will, and with no constraint: I prefer a man’s
dress to a woman’s dress.”
“You promised and swore not to resume a man’s dress.”
“I never meant to swear that I would not resume it.”
“Why have you resumed it?”
“Because it is more lawful and suitable for me to resume it and to wear
man’s dress, being with men, than to have a woman’s dress. I have
resumed it because the promise made to me has not been kept; that is to
say, that I should go to Mass and should receive my Saviour and that I
should be taken out of irons.”
“Did you not abjure and promise not to resume this dress?”
“I would rather die than be in irons! but if I am allowed to go to Mass,
and am taken out of irons and put into a gracious prison, and [may have
a woman for companion[100]] I will be good, and do as the Church wills.”
And as We, the Judges, heard from several persons that she had returned
to her old illusions on the subject of her pretended revelations, We put
to her this question:
“Since last Thursday [the day of her abjuration] have you heard your
Voices at all?”
“Yes, I have heard them.”
“What did they say to you?”
“They said to me:[101] ‘God had sent me word by St. Catherine and St.
Margaret of the great pity it is, this treason to which I have
consented, to abjure and recant in order to save my life! I have damned
myself to save my life!’ Before last Thursday, my Voices did indeed tell
me what I should do and what I did on that day. When I was on the
scaffold on Thursday, my Voices said to me, while the preacher was
speaking: ‘Answer him boldly, this preacher!’ And in truth he is a false
preacher; he reproached me with many things I never did. If I said that
God had not sent me, I should damn myself, for it is true that God has
sent me; my Voices have said to me since Thursday: ‘Thou hast done a
great evil in declaring that what thou hast done was wrong.’ All I said
and revoked, I said for fear of the fire.”
“Do you believe that your Voices are Saint Catherine and Saint
Margaret?”
“Yes, I believe it, and that they come from God.”
“Tell us the truth on the subject of this crown which is mentioned in
your Trial.”
“In everything, I told you the truth about it in my Trial, as well as I
know.”
“On the scaffold, at the moment of your abjuration, you did admit before
us, your Judges, and before many others, in presence of all the people,
that you had untruthfully boasted your Voices to be Saint Catherine and
Saint Margaret.”
“I did not intend so to do or say. I did not intend to deny my
apparitions—that is to say, that they were Saint Catherine and Saint
Margaret; what I said was from fear of the fire: I revoked nothing that
was not against the truth. I would rather do penance once for all—that
is die—than endure any longer the suffering of a prison. I have done
nothing against God or the Faith, in spite of all they have made me
revoke. What was in the schedule of abjuration I did not understand. I
did not intend to revoke anything except according to God’s good
pleasure. If the Judges wish, I will resume a woman’s dress; for the
rest, I can do no more.”
After hearing this, We retired from her, to act and proceed later
according to law and reason.
_Final Adjudication._
_The next day, Tuesday, May 29th, in the Chapel of the Archiepiscopal
Manor of Rouen, the Judges and 40 Assessors present._
We, the Bishop, did, in presence of all the above-named, set forth that,
after the Sitting held by Us in this same place, on Saturday, May 19th,
the Eve of Whitsunday, We had, by the advice of the Assessors, caused
Jeanne to be admonished on the following Wednesday, and had made known
to her in detail the divers points on which, according to the decision
of the University of Paris, she must be considered to have fallen short
and erred; We caused her to be exhorted in the most lively manner to
abandon her errors, and to return into the way of truth; up to the last
moment she refused to agree to these admonitions and these exhortations,
and would say nothing more; the Promoter, on his side, asserted that he
had nothing more to bring forward against her. We then pronounced the
closing of the Case, and summoned the parties on the following day,
Thursday, 24th May next, to hear the law pronounced, all whereof is
proved by the documents of the Procès Verbal transcribed above.
Afterwards, We did recall what had passed on Thursday, May 24th; how
Jeanne, after having on that day received a solemn preachment and
numerous admonitions, did end by signing with her own hand her
revocation and abjuration; the whole whereof is at greater length
recounted in the preceding document. We did add that, in the afternoon
of the same day, the Deputy Inquisitor, Our Coadjutor, did go to seek
her in her prison, and did charitably admonish her to persist in her
good purpose and to guard herself well against any relapse. Obeying the
orders of the Church, Jeanne did then put off the dress she was wearing,
and take that of a woman; all whereof hath been likewise set forth at
greater length as to time and place.
But since that day, driven by the Devil, behold! she hath, in the
presence of many persons, declared anew that her Voices and the spirits
that appeared to her have returned to her, and have said many things to
her; and, casting away her woman’s dress she hath again taken male
garments. As soon as We, the Judges, did receive information of this
lapse, We were eager to return to her and to question her.
And then, in presence of all the above-named, in the said Chapel of the
Archiepiscopal Manor of Rouen, We, the Bishop, did order to be read the
declarations and affirmations which Jeanne pronounced yesterday before
us, and which are reproduced above.
After this reading had been made, We asked advice and counsel thereon
from the Assessors. Each one hath given his opinion, as follows:—
_Maître Nicolas de Venderès_: Jeanne should be considered a heretic: the
sentence declaring her to be so, once given by Us, the Judges, she
should be abandoned to the secular authority, which should be prayed to
act towards her with gentleness. [“_Rogando eam ut cum velit mite
agere_,” the usual formula for victims sent to the stake.]
_The Reverend Father in Christ, the Lord Gilles, Abbot of the Monastery
of the Holy Trinity at Fécamp_: Jeanne is relapsed. Nevertheless, it
would be well that the schedule containing her last answers, which hath
just been read, should be read anew and set forth to her, reminding her
once more of the Word of God; afterwards, We, the Judges, should declare
her a heretic and abandon her to the secular authority, praying this
authority to deal gently with her.
[The remainder of the Assessors agreed in general with this opinion of
the Abbot of Fécamp; some added that she should be again charitably
admonished, in regard to the salvation of her soul, and should be told
that she had nothing further to expect as to her earthly life.]
After having gathered this advice, We, the Judges, did thank the
Assessors, and gave orders that Jeanne should be afterwards proceeded
against, as relapsed, according to law and reason.
_Mandate citing Jeanne to appear on Wednesday, May 30th._
“Pierre, by the Divine Mercy Bishop of Beauvais, and Jean Lemaître,
Deputy of Maître Jean Graverend, renowned Doctor, appointed by the Holy
See Inquisitor of the Evil of Heresy in the Kingdom of France; to all
public Priests, to all Curés of this town and of any other place
wherever it be in the Diocese of Rouen, to each of them in particular,
according as it shall be required: Greeting in Our Saviour. For the
causes and reasons to be elsewhere deduced at greater length, a certain
woman of the name of Jeanne, commonly called the Maid, having fallen
into errors against the Orthodox Faith—errors which she hath publicly
abjured before the Church, and to which she hath returned—as is
established and proved by her avowals and assertions: We command to all
of you and to each in particular, by this requisition, without the one
waiting for the other, or excusing himself by another, that you cite the
said Jeanne to appear before Us in person to-morrow, at the hour of 8
o’clock in the morning, at Rouen, in the place called the Old Market, in
order that she may be declared by us relapsed, excommunicate, and
heretic, with the intimation that it shall be done to her as is
customary in such cases.
“Given in the Chapel of the Archiepiscopal Manor of Rouen, Tuesday, May
29th, the year of Our Lord, 1431.”
_On the following day, Wednesday, 30th of May_, Jeanne, by virtue of the
preceding mandate from Us, was cited for the same day, in order to hear
the law pronounced, as is proved at greater length by the tenour of the
following relation, done for us by the Executor of our mandates:
“To the reverend Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord Pierre, by the
Divine Mercy Bishop of Beauvais, and to the venerable and religious
person Brother Jean Lemaître, Deputy of Maître Jean Graverend, renowned
Doctor, by order of the Holy Apostolic See Inquisitor of the Faith and
of the Evil of Heresy in the Kingdom of France: your humble Jean
Massieu, Priest, Dean of the Christendom of Rouen[102] sends earnest
Greeting, with all protestations of obedience and respect. This is to
inform your Reverend Paternities, that I, Massieu, in virtue of your
mandate sent to me, to which these presents will be annexed, have cited,
speaking to her in person, this woman, commonly called the Maid, to
appear before you this day, Wednesday, May 30th, at the hour of eight in
the morning, at Rouen, in the place of the Old Market, according to the
form and tenour of your said mandate, and to that which I have been
ordered to do. All the which, thus done by me, I signify to your
Reverend Paternities by these presents, signed by my seal.
“Given in the year of Our Lord 1431, on the aforesaid Wednesday, at 7
o’clock in the morning.
“Massieu.”
SENTENCE OF DEATH
_Final Sentence given before the People._
_Wednesday, May 30th, towards 9 o’clock in the morning_,
We, the Judges, repaired to the place of the Old Market, in Rouen, near
the Church of Saint Sauveur.
We were assisted by the reverend Fathers in Christ the Lords Bishops of
Thérouanne and Noyon; and by a number of other Lords, Masters, and
ecclesiastical personages.
Before Us was brought the said Jeanne, in presence of the people,
assembled in this place in an immense multitude.
She was placed upon a scaffold or platform.
For her wholesome admonition and for the edification of the whole
multitude, a solemn address was made by the renowned Doctor, Nicolas
Midi, who took for his text those words of the Apostle in the first
Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter xii., “If one member suffer, all the
members suffer with it.”
[Illustration:
COURT OF JUSTICE.
From a Miniature by Jean Fouquet.
]
This address ended, We, the Bishop, did once more admonish Jeanne to
look to her salvation, to reflect on her misdeeds, to repent of them, to
have a true contrition for them. We exhorted her to believe hereon the
opinion of the Clergy, of the notable persons who have taught and
instructed her on all that treats of her salvation. We did particularly
exhort her to believe the good advice of the two venerable
Dominicans[103] who were at that moment beside her, and whom we had sent
to her to converse with her up to the last moment and to furnish her in
all surety with wholesome admonitions and counsels profitable to her
salvation.
Afterwards, We, the Bishop and Vicar aforesaid, having regard to all
that has gone before, in which it is shewn that this woman hath never
truly abandoned her errors, her obstinate temerity, nor her unheard-of
crimes; that she hath even shewn the malice of her diabolical obstinacy
in this deceitful semblance of contrition, penitence, and amendment;
malice rendered still more damnable by perjury of the Holy Name of God
and blasphemy of His ineffable Majesty; considering her on all these
grounds obstinate, incorrigible, heretic, relapsed into heresy, and
altogether unworthy of the grace and of the Communion which, by our
former sentence, We did mercifully accord to her; all of which being
seen and considered, after mature deliberation and counsel of a great
number of Doctors, We have at last proceeded to the Final Sentence in
these terms:
In the Name of the Lord: _Amen_.
At all times when the poisoned virus of heresy attaches itself with
persistence to a member of the Church and transforms him into a member
of Satan, extreme care should be taken to watch that the horrible
contagion of this pernicious leprosy do not gain other parts of the
mystic Body of Christ. The decisions of the holy Fathers have willed
that hardened heretics should be separated from the midst of the Just,
so that to the great peril of others this homicidal viper should not be
warmed in the bosom of pious Mother Church. It is for this that We,
Pierre, by the Divine Mercy, Bishop of Beauvais, and We, Brother Jean
Lemaître, Deputy of the renowned Doctor, Jean Graverend, Inquisitor of
the Evil of Heresy, specially delegated by him for this Process, both
Judges competent in this Trial, already, by a just judgment, have
declared this woman fallen into divers errors and divers crimes of
schism, idolatry, invocation of demons and many others. But because the
Church closes not her bosom to the child who returns to her, we did
think that, with a pure spirit and a faith unfeigned, thou hadst put far
from thee thy errors and thy crimes, considering that on a certain day
thou didst renounce them and didst publicly swear, vow, and promise
never to return to thy errors and heresies, to resist all temptations,
and to remain faithfully attached to the unity of the Catholic Church
and the communion of the Roman Pontiff, as is proved at greater length
in a writing signed by thine own hand. But after this abjuration of
thine errors, the Author of Schism and Heresy hath arisen in thine
heart, which he hath once more seduced, and it hath become manifest by
thy spontaneous confessions and assertions—O, shame!—that, as the dog
returns again to his vomit, so hast thou returned to thine errors and
crimes; and it hath been proved to us in a most certain manner that thou
hast renounced thy guilty inventions and thy errors only in a lying
manner, not in a sincere and faithful spirit. For these causes,
declaring thee fallen again into thine old errors, and under the
sentence of excommunication which thou hast formerly incurred, WE DECREE
THAT THOU ART A RELAPSED HERETIC, by our present sentence which, seated
in tribunal, we utter and pronounce in this writing; we denounce thee as
a rotten member, and that thou mayest not vitiate others, as cast out
from the unity of the Church, separate from her Body, abandoned to the
secular power as, indeed, by these presents, we do cast thee off,
separate and abandon thee;—praying this same secular power, so far as
concerns death and the mutilation of the limbs, to moderate its judgment
towards thee, and, if true signs of penitence should appear in thee, [to
permit] that the Sacrament of Penance be administered to thee.
_Here follows the Sentence of Excommunication_, [the introductory part
being word for word the same as the previous sentence, read on May 24th,
up to the words “We, the Judges, say and decree”; after which follows:]
... that thou hast been on the subject of thy pretended divine
revelations and apparitions lying, seducing, pernicious, presumptuous,
lightly believing, rash, superstitious, a divineress and blasphemer
towards God and the Saints, a despiser of God Himself in His Sacraments;
a prevaricator of the Divine Law, of sacred doctrine and of
ecclesiastical sanctions; seditious, cruel, apostate, schismatic, erring
on many points of our Faith, and by all these means rashly guilty
towards God and Holy Church. And also, because that often, very often,
not only by Us on Our part but by Doctors and Masters learned and
expert, full of zeal for the salvation of thy soul, thou hast been duly
and sufficiently warned to amend, to correct thyself and to submit to
the disposal, decision, and correction of Holy Mother Church, which thou
hast not willed, and hast always obstinately refused to do, having even
expressly and many times refused to submit thyself to our lord the Pope
and to the General Council; for these causes, as hardened and obstinate
in thy crimes, excesses and errors, WE DECLARE THEE OF RIGHT
EXCOMMUNICATE AND HERETIC; and after thine errors have been destroyed in
a public preaching, We declare that thou must be abandoned and that We
do abandon thee to the secular authority, as a member of Satan, separate
from the Church, infected with the leprosy of heresy, in order that thou
mayst not corrupt also the other members of Christ; praying this same
power, that, as concerns death and the mutilation of the limbs, it may
be pleased to moderate its judgment; and if true signs of penitence
should appear in thee, that the Sacrament of Penance may be administered
to thee.
_Attestations by the Registrars._
“I, Boisguillaume, Priest, Registrar above qualified, affirm that I
have duly collated the foregoing document with the original Minute
of the Process; for which reason I have marked this present copy
with my sign manual, the which will be done after me by the two
other Registrars, I signing in this place with my own hand.
(_Signed_) “BOISGUILLAUME.”
“And I, Guillaume Manchon, Priest, of the Diocese of Rouen,
Apostolic and Imperial Notary, I affirm that I assisted in the
collation made of the aforesaid Process, with the Registrars signed
above and below; I affirm that this collation of the present copy
with the original Minute of the Process hath been duly made. For
which, in the same way as the two other Registrars, I have
subscribed the present copy with my own hand, affixing thereto my
sign-manual, to this required.
(_Signed_) “G. MANCHON.”
“And I, Nicholas Taquel, Priest of the Diocese of Rouen, sworn
Imperial Public Notary and of the Archiepiscopal Court of Rouen,
called as Registrar to a part of the foregoing Process, I affirm
that I have seen and heard the present copy collated with the
original register of the said Process; I affirm that this collation
hath been duly made. For which, with the two other Registrars
preceding, I have subscribed with my own hand the present Process,
affixing thereto, here, my sign-manual, to this required.
(_Signed_) “N. TAQUEL.”
[Here follow the seals of the two Judges, marked in red wax on the
original copies of the Process, prepared to the number of five.]
SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATIONS[104]
AND
PROCEEDINGS AFTER THE RELAPSE.
_Information given after the Execution on many things said by Jeanne, at
the end of her life and in articulo mortis._
Thursday, 7th day of June, 1431, We, the Judges, did _ex-officio_ take
information upon certain things which the late Jeanne had said before
persons worthy of credit when she was still in prison and before being
brought to judgment.
EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.
1. _The venerable and circumspect_ MAÎTRE NICOLAS DE VENDERÈS,
_licentiate in Canon Law, Archdeacon of Eu, hath declared upon oath as
follows_:
Wednesday, 30th day of May, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Jeanne,
being still in the prison of the Castle of Rouen where she was detained,
did say that considering the Voices which came to her had promised she
should be delivered from prison, and that she now saw the contrary, she
realized and knew she had been, and still was, deceived by them. Jeanne
did, besides, say and confess that she had seen with her own eyes and
heard with her own ears the apparitions and Voices mentioned in the
Case.
At this were present, you, the Judges aforesaid, and besides Maître
Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loyseleur, Brother Martin
Ladvenu, Jean Toutmouillé, Jacques Lecamus, and several others.
BROTHER MARTIN LADVENU, _Priest of the Order of Saint Dominic, did say
and depose, upon oath, as follows_:
On the morning of the day on which sentence was delivered and before she
was brought to judgment, Jeanne, in presence of Maître Pierre Maurice,
Nicolas Loyseleur, and Brother Jean Toutmouillé, who were with me, did
say and confess that she knew and recognized that the Voices and
apparitions which had come to her, mentioned in the Case, had deceived
her, because they had promised she should be delivered and freed from
prison; and that she certainly now saw clearly the contrary.
Asked by the Bishop: Who induced Jeanne so to speak?
Replied: Pierre Maurice, Nicolas Loyseleur, and I exhorted her to save
her soul, and asked her if it were true that she had these Voices and
apparitions? She replied that it was indeed true, and she continued so
to tell us up to the end, but without stating decidedly, at least, so
far as I understood, under what form the apparitions came to her. All I
remember is that she said they came to her in great multitude and in the
smallest size [_in magnâ multitudine et quantitate minimâ_]. Besides, I
did at this time hear Jeanne say and confess that, inasmuch as the
Clergy held and believed that if they were spirits who came to her they
proceeded from evil spirits, she also held and believed as did the
Clergy, and would no longer put faith in these spirits. And as it
appeared to me, Jeanne was then of a sound mind.
Brother Martin Ladvenu did add this: The same day I heard Jeanne say
that, although she had stated in her avowals and confessions, and had
affirmed above in the course of the Case, that an Angel from God had
brought a crown to him whom she called her King, with all other details
connected with this fact in the interrogatories, nevertheless, of her
free-will and without being constrained thereto, she did this day
confess as follows: that in spite of all she had affirmed on the subject
of this Angel, no Angel had brought the crown; it was she, Jeanne, who
had been the Angel, and who said and promised to him whom she called her
King, that, if he would set her to the work, she would have him crowned
at Rheims. There was no other crown sent from God, in spite of all she
might have affirmed in the course of the Case on the subject of the
crown and the sign given to him whom she called her King.
_The venerable and discreet_ MAÎTRE PIERRE MAURICE, _Professor in
Theology, Canon of Rouen, deposed, upon oath, as follows_:
The day of the sentence, Jeanne being still in the prison, I repaired to
her in the morning to exhort her to save her soul. In so exhorting her,
I asked her what was the Angel mentioned in the Trial, who, according to
her, had brought a crown to him whom she called her King?
She replied that it was herself who was the Angel.
Having questioned her afterwards on the subject of the crown which she
had promised to her King, of the multitude of Angels who at that time
accompanied her, she replied that it was true that Angels appeared to
her under the form of very minute things. Finally, I asked her if this
apparition were real? “Yes,” she replied, “the spirits did really appear
to me—be they good or be they evil spirits—they did appear to me.” She
also said that she had in particular heard her Voices at the hour of
Compline, when the bells rang, and in the morning also, when the bells
rang. And when I told her that they were evil spirits—in this, that they
had promised her deliverance and had deceived her—“It is true,” she
replied, “they have deceived me.” I also heard her declare that to know
whether they were good or evil spirits, she referred to the Clergy. When
she thus spoke, Jeanne, so far as it seemed to me, was sound in mind and
understanding.
BROTHER JEAN TOUTMOUILLÉ, _Priest, of the Order of Saint Dominic, did
say and declare upon oath as follows_:
The day that sentence was given upon Jeanne, Wednesday, Eve of the Feast
of Corpus Christi, I accompanied Brother Martin Ladvenu, who, early in
the morning, repaired to her to exhort her to save her soul. I first
heard Maître Pierre Maurice, who had gone earlier to her, declare she
had confessed that all which concerned the crown was fiction: that it
was she who was the Angel. The said Master reported all this to us in
Latin. Afterwards, Jeanne was questioned on the subject of the Voices
and apparitions which had come to her. She replied that she had really
heard voices, chiefly when the bells rang Compline or Matins; and she
persisted in saying this, although Maître Pierre Maurice told her that,
sometimes when the bells rang, one thought one could hear and catch the
sounds of human voices. Jeanne did also say and confess that she had had
apparitions which came to her in great multitude and in minute
quantity—that is to say, under small forms;—she did not perfectly
explain the form, or kind, of her apparitions. The same day, after you,
the Bishop, had come in with the Lord Deputy Inquisitor into the room
where she was detained, you said to Jeanne in French, “Now then, Jeanne,
you always told us that your Voices assured you that you would be
delivered: you see now how they have deceived you; tell us the truth
now.” “Truly,” Jeanne replied to you, “I see indeed that they have
deceived me!” I did not hear her say more, save only that, early in the
same day, before you were come to the prison, Jeanne, being asked if her
Voices and apparitions proceeded from good or evil spirits, did reply:
“I know not—I wait on my Mother, the Church,” or “I wait on you, who are
of the Church.” And, so far as it seemed to me, Jeanne was at this time
of sound mind; I heard Jeanne herself then declare that she was of sound
mind.
MESSIRE JACQUES LECAMUS, _Priest, Canon of Rheims, did say and declare
upon oath as follows_:
Wednesday, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I went with you, the
Bishop, into the room of the Castle of Rouen where Jeanne was detained,
and there I heard Jeanne say and confess, publicly and in a voice loud
enough to be heard by all those present, that she had had apparitions
and had also heard Voices; that these apparitions and Voices had
promised her that she should be delivered from prison; but now she saw
in truth that they had deceived her, and, for having thus deceived her,
she believed they could not be good Voices nor good things. A little
while after, she confessed her sins to Brother Martin, of the Order of
Saint Dominic. After the Sacrament of Confession and Penitence, when the
same Brother was about to administer the Sacrament of the Eucharist to
her, and already held in his hands the Consecrated Host, “Do you
believe,” he asked her, “that this is the Body of Christ?” “Yes,” she
replied, “and I believe that He alone can deliver me; I ask that It may
be administered to me.” After the Communion, the same Brother said to
her: “Do you still believe in your Voices?” “I believe in God only,” she
answered, “and will no more put faith in my Voices, for having deceived
me on this point.”
MAÎTRE THOMAS DE COURCELLES, _Master of Arts, Bachelor of Theology, did
say and depose, upon oath, as follows_:
Wednesday, Vigil of the Feast of Corpus Christi, being in the presence
of you, the Bishop, in the room of the Castle of Rouen where Jeanne was
detained, I heard and understood that you asked Jeanne if it were not
true that her Voices had promised to deliver her? She replied that her
Voices had truly promised this, and had told her to keep a good
countenance; and, “as it seems to me,” she added, “I see indeed that I
have been deceived.” And then you, the Bishop, said to Jeanne, that now
she could certainly see her Voices to be only evil spirits and that they
did not come from God; for, had they been of such a nature, they would
never have said a false thing and thus have lied.
MAÎTRE NICOLAS LOYSELEUR, _Master of Arts, Canon of Rouen and Chartres,
said and declared, upon oath, as follows_:
Wednesday, the Vigil of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I repaired in the
morning with the venerable Maître Pierre Maurice, to the place where
Jeanne, commonly called the Maid, was detained, to exhort and admonish
her on the subject of the salvation of her soul. She was besought to
speak truth on the subject of that Angel who, she had declared, had
brought to him she called her King a crown, very precious, and of the
purest gold: she was pledged not to hide the truth, inasmuch as nothing
more remained to her but to think of her own salvation. Then I heard her
declare that it was she herself who had brought him she called her King
the crown in question; that it was she who was the Angel of whom she had
spoken; and that there had been no other Angel but herself. Asked if she
had really sent a crown to him whom she called her King, she replied
that he had no other crown but the promise of his coronation—a promise
she had made in giving to her King the assurance that he would be
crowned. In the presence of Maître Pierre Maurice, of the two
Dominicans, of you, the Bishop, and of several others, I heard her many
times declare that “she had really had revelations and apparitions of
spirits; that these revelations had deceived her; that she recognized it
in this, that they had promised her deliverance, and that she now saw
the contrary; that she was willing to refer to the Clergy to know if
these spirits were good or evil; that she did not put, and would no more
put, faith in them.” I exhorted her, to destroy the error that she had
sown among the people, to declare publicly that she had herself been
deceived, and that through her fault she had deceived the people by
putting faith in these revelations and in counselling the people to
believe in them; and I told her it was necessary that she should humbly
ask pardon. She told me she would do it willingly, but that she did not
think she would be able to remember, when the proper moment came—that is
to say, when she found herself in the presence of the people; she prayed
her Confessor to remind her of this point and of all else which might
tend to her salvation. From all this, and from many other indications, I
conclude that Jeanne was then of sound mind. She shewed great penitence
and great contrition for her crimes. I heard her, in the prison, in
presence of a great number of witnesses, and subsequently after
sentence, ask, with much contrition of heart, pardon of the English and
Burgundians for having caused to be slain, beaten, and damned, a great
number of them, as she recognized.
-----
Footnote 99:
Several versions of the reasons which caused Jeanne to resume the
forbidden dress were given in the evidence taken at the
Rehabilitation, all purporting to have come from her. According to
Massieu, her woman’s dress was taken away while she was asleep, and
the English soldiers refused to give it back to her, offering in its
stead the man’s dress she had previously worn, ‘which they emptied
from a sack.’ She refused to wear it, reminding them that it was
forbidden her; but at last, at mid-day, finding them deaf to her
remonstrance, she was obliged to rise and attire herself in the
prohibited garments. The Dominican Brothers declared that she had been
assaulted by an English milord, as she told them, and that she
therefore considered it necessary to return to the protection of her
old dress; but considering the type of soldier in whose care she was
placed, there seems no need to seek for any further explanation than
her own, as given in the text, and as later corroborated by Manchon
and De Courcelles. In the Rehabilitation Enquiry, both Jean de Metz
and de Poulengey claim to have suggested the male attire. At Poitiers,
Jeanne herself stated that she had adopted it as most suitable to her
work and the company she must share.
Footnote 100:
This request is found only in the Minute.
Footnote 101:
In the margin, the Registrar has written against this answer:
“_Responsio mortifera_.”
Footnote 102:
An appointment equivalent to a Rural Dean.
Footnote 103:
Brothers Ysambard de la Pierre and Martin Ladvenu.
Footnote 104:
Not included in the Official Text of the Trial.