It was in the chapel of the Castle of Rouen, on the 21st of February,
that the trial of Jeanne was begun. The judges present numbered about
forty, and are carefully classed as doctors in theology, abbots, canons,
doctors in canonical and civil law, with the Bishop of Beauvais at their
head (the archepiscopal see of Rouen being vacant, as is added: but not
that my lord of Beauvais hoped for that promotion). They were assembled
there in all the solemnity of their priestly and professional robes,
the reporters ready with their pens, the range of dark figures forming a
semicircle round the presiding Bishop, when the officer of the court led
in the prisoner, clothed in her worn and war-stained tunic, like a boy,
with her hair cut close as for the helmet, and her slim figure, no doubt
more slim than ever, after her long imprisonment. She had asked to be
allowed to hear mass before coming to the bar, but this was refused. It
was a privilege which she had never failed to avail herself of in her
most triumphant days. Now the chapel--the sanctuary of God contained
for her no sacred sacrifice, but only those dark benches of priests amid
whom she found no responsive countenance, no look of kindness.
Jeanne was addressed sternly by Cauchon, in an exhortation which it is
sad to think was not in Latin, as it appears in the _Procès_. She was
then required to take the oath on the Scriptures to speak the truth, and
to answer all questions addressed to her. Jeanne had already held that
conversation with L'Oyseleur in the prison which Cauchon and Warwick had
listened to in secret with greedy ears, but which Manchon, the honest
reporter, had refused to take down. Perhaps, therefore, the Bishop knew
that the slim creature before him, half boy half girl, was not likely to
be overawed by his presence or questions; but it cannot have been but a
wonder to the others, all gazing at her, the first men in Normandy,
the most learned in Paris, to hear her voice, _assez femme_, young and
clear, arising in the midst of them, "I know not what things I may be
asked," said Jeanne. "Perhaps you may ask me questions which I cannot
answer." The assembly was startled by this beginning.
"Will you swear to answer truly all that concerns the faith, and that
you know?"
"I will swear," said Jeanne, "about my father and mother and what I have
done since coming to France; but concerning my revelations from God
I will answer to no man, except only to Charles my King; I should not
reveal them were you to cut off my head, unless by the secret counsel of
my visions."
The Bishop continued not without gentleness, enjoining her to swear at
least that in everything that touched the faith she would speak truth;
and Jeanne kneeling down crossed her hands upon the book of the Gospel,
or Missal as it is called in the report, and took the required oath,
always under the condition she stated, to answer truly on everything she
knew concerning the faith, except in respect to her revelations.
The examination then began with the usual formalities. She was asked her
name (which she said with touching simplicity was Jeannette at home but
Jeanne in France), the names of her father and mother, godfather and
godmothers, the priest who baptised her, the place where she was born,
etc., her age, almost nineteen; her education, consisting of the Pater
Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo, which her mother had taught her.
Here she was asked, a curious interruption to the formal interrogatory,
to say the Pater Noster--the reason of which sudden demand was that
witches and sorcerers were supposed to be unable to repeat that prayer.
As unexpected as the question was Jeanne's reply. She answered that if
the Bishop would hear her in confession she would say it willingly. She
had been refused all the exercises of piety, and she was speaking to a
company of priests.
There is a great dignity of implied protest against this treatment in
such an answer. The request was made a second time with a promise of
selecting two worthy Frenchmen to hear her: but her reply was the same.
She would say the prayer when she made her confession but not otherwise.
She was ready it would seem in proud humility to confess to any or
to all of her enemies, as one whose conscience was clear, and who had
nothing to conceal.
She was then commanded not to attempt to escape from her prison, on pain
of being condemned for heresy, but to this again she demurred at once.
She would not accept the prohibition, but would escape if she could,
so that no man could say that she had broken faith; although since her
capture she had been bound in chains and her feet fastened with irons.
To this, her examiner said that it was necessary so to secure her in
order that she might not escape. "It is true and certain," she replied,
"whatever others may wish, that to every prisoner it is lawful to escape
if he can." It may be remarked, as she forcibly pointed out afterwards,
that she had never given her faith, never surrendered, but had always
retained her freedom of action.
The tribunal thereupon called in the captain in charge of Jeanne's
prison, a gentleman called John Gris in the record, probably John Grey,
along with two soldiers, Bernoit and Talbot, and enjoined them to guard
her securely and not to permit her to talk with any one without the
permission of the court. This was all the business done on the first day
of audience.
On the 22d of February at eight o'clock in the morning, the sitting was
resumed. In the meantime, however, the chapel had been found too small
and too near the outer world, the proceedings being much interrupted by
shouts and noises from without, and probably incommoded within by the
audience which had crowded it the first day. The judges accordingly
assembled in the great hall of the castle; they were forty-nine in
number on the second day, the number being chiefly swelled by canons
of Rouen. After some preliminary business the accused was once more
introduced, and desired again to take the oath. Jeanne replied that she
had done so on the previous day and that this was enough; upon which
there followed a short altercation, which, however, ended by her consent
to swear again that she would answer truly in all things that concerned
the faith. The questioner this day was Jean Beaupère (_Pulchri patris_,
as he is called in the Latin), a theologian, Master of Arts, Canon of
Paris and of Besançon, "one of the greatest props of the University of
Paris," a man holding a number of important offices, and who afterwards
appeared at the Council of Bâle as the deputy of Normandy. He began
by another exhortation to speak the truth, to which Jeanne replied as
before that what she did say she would say truly, but that she would not
answer upon all subjects. "I have done nothing but by revelation," she
said.
These preliminaries on both sides having been gone through, the
examination was resumed. Jeanne informed the court in answer to
Beaupère's question that she had been taught by her mother to sew and
did not fear to compete with any woman in Rouen in these crafts; that
she had once been absent from home when her family were driven out of
their village by fear of the Burgundians, and that she had then lived
for about fifteen days in the house of a woman called La Rousse, at
Neufchâteau; that when she was at home she was occupied in the work of
the house and did not go to the fields with the sheep and other animals;
that she went to confession regularly to the Curé of her own village, or
when he could not hear her, to some other priest, by permission of the
Curé; also that two or three times she had made her confession to the
mendicant friars--this being during her stay in Neufchâteau (where
presumably she was not acquainted with the clergy); and that she
received the sacrament always at Easter. Asked whether she had
communicated at other feasts than Easter, she said briefly that this
was enough. "Go on to the rest," _passez outre_, she added, and the
questioner seems to have been satisfied. Then came the really vital
part of the matter. She proceeded--no direct question on the point being
recorded, though no doubt it was made--to tell how when she was about
thirteen she heard voices from God bidding her to be good and obedient.
The first time she was much afraid. The voice came about the hour of
noon, in summer, in her father's garden. She was fasting but had not
fasted the preceding day. The voice came from the right, towards the
church; and came rarely without a great light. This light came always
from the side whence the voice proceeded, and was a very bright
radiance. When she came into France she still continued to hear the same
voices.
She was then asked how she could see the light when it was at the side;
to which foolish question Jeanne gave no reply, but "turned to other
matters," saying voluntarily with a soft implied reproof of the noise
around her--that if she were in a wood, that is in a quiet place, she
could hear the voices coming towards her. She added (going on, one could
imagine, in a musing, forgetting the congregation of sinners about her)
that it seemed to her a noble voice, and that she believed it came from
God, and that when she had heard it three times she knew it was the
voice of an angel; the voice always came quite clearly to her, and she
understood it well.
She was then asked what it said to her concerning the salvation of her
soul.
She said that it taught her to rule her life well, to go often to
church: and told her that it was necessary that she, Jeanne, should
go to France. The said Jeanne added that she would not be questioned
further concerning the voice, or the manner in which it was made known
to her, but that two or three times in a week it had said to her that
she must go to France; but that her father knew nothing of this. The
voice said to her that she should go to France, until she could endure
it no longer; it said to her that she should raise the siege, which was
set against the city of Orleans. It said also that she must go to Robert
of Baudricourt, in the city of Vaucouleurs, who was captain of that
place, and that he would give her people to go with her; to which she
had answered that she was a poor girl who knew not how to ride, nor how
to conduct war. She then said that she went to her uncle and told him
that she wished to go with him for a little while to his house, and that
she lived there for eight days; she then told her uncle that she must go
to Vaucouleurs, and the said uncle took her there. Also she went on to
say that when she came to the said city of Vaucouleurs, she recognised
Robert of Baudricourt; though she had never seen him before she knew him
by the voice that said to her which was he. She then told this Robert
that it was necessary that she should go to France, but twice over he
refused and repulsed her; the third time, however, he received her, and
gave her certain men to go with her; the voice had told her that this
would be so.
She said also that the Duke of Lorraine sent for her to come to him, and
that she went under a safe conduct granted by him, and told him that
she must go to France. He asked her whether he should recover from his
illness; but she told him that she knew nothing of that, and she talked
very little to him of her journey. She told the Duke that he ought to
send his son and his people with her to take her to France, and that
she would pray God to restore his health; and then she was taken back to
Vaucouleurs. She said also that when she left Vaucouleurs she wore the
dress of a man, without any other arms than a sword which Robert de
Baudricourt had given her; and that she had with her a chevalier, a
squire, and four servants, and that they slept for the first night at
St. Urbain, in the abbey there. She was then asked by whose advice she
wore the dress of a man, but refused to answer. Finally she said that
she charged no man with giving her this advice.
She went on to say that the said Robert de Baudricourt exacted an oath
from those who went with her, that they would conduct her to the end of
her journey well and safely; and that he said, as she left him, "Go, and
let come what will." She also said that she knew well that God loved the
Duke of Orleans, concerning whom she had more revelations than about any
other living man, except him whom she called her King. She added that it
was necessary for her to wear male attire, and that whoever advised her
to do so had given her wise counsel.
She then said that she sent a letter to the English before Orleans, in
which she required them to go away, a copy of which letter had been read
to her in Rouen; but there were two or three mistakes, especially in
the words which called upon them to surrender to the Maid instead of
to surrender to the King. (There is no indication why these two latter
statements should have been introduced into the midst of her narrative
of the journey; it may have been in reply to some other question
interjected by another of her examiners: _Passez outre_, as she herself
says. She immediately resumes the simple and straightforward tale.)
The said Jeanne went on to say that her further journey to him whom she
called her King was without any impediment; and that when she arrived
at the town of St. Catherine de Fierbois she sent news of her arrival to
the town of Chasteau-Chinon where the said King was. She arrived there
herself about noon and went to an inn(1); and after dinner went to him
whom she called her King, who was in the castle. She then said that when
she entered the chamber where he was, she knew him among all others,
by the revelation of her "voices." She told her King that she wished to
make war against the English.
She was then asked whether when she heard the "voices" in the presence
of the King the light was also seen in that place. She answered as
before: _Passez outre: Transeatis ultra_. "Go on," as we might say, "to
the other questions."
She was asked if she had seen an angel hovering over her King. She
answered: "Spare me; _passez outre_." She added afterwards, however,
that before he put his hand to the work, the King had many beautiful
apparitions and revelations. She was asked what these were. She
answered: "I will not tell you; it is not I who should answer; send to
the King and he will tell you."
She was then asked if her voices had promised her that when she came to
the King he would receive her. She answered that those of her own
party knew that she had been sent from God and that some had heard
and recognised the voices. Further, she said that her King and various
others had heard and seen(2) the voices coming to her--Charles of
Bourbon (Comte de Clermont) and two or three others with him. She then
said that there was no day in which she did not hear that voice; but
that she asked nothing from it except the salvation of her soul. Besides
this, Jeanne confessed that the voice said she should be led to the town
of St. Denis in France, where she wished to remain--that is after the
attack on Paris--but that against her will the lords forced her to leave
it: if she had not been wounded she would not have gone: but she was
wounded in the moats of Paris: however she was healed in five days. She
then said that she had made an assault, called in French _escarmouche_
(skirmish), upon the town of Paris. She was asked if it was on a holy
day, and said that she believed it was on a festival. She was then
asked if she thought it well done to fight on a holy day, and answered,
"_Passez outre_." Go on to the next question.
This is a verbatim account of one day of the trial. Most of the
translations which exist give questions as well as answers: but these
are but occasionally given in the original document, and Jeanne's
narrative reads like a calm, continuous statement, only interrupted now
and then by a question, usually a cunning attempt to startle her with
a new subject, and to hurry some admission from her. The great dignity
with which she makes her replies, the occasional flash of high spirit,
the calm determination with which she refuses to be led into discussion
of the subjects which she had from the first moment reserved, are very
remarkable. We have seen her hitherto only in conflict, in the din of
battle and the fatigue, yet exuberant energy, of rapid journeys. Her
circumstances were now very different. She had been shut up in prison
for months, for six weeks at least she had been in irons, and the air
of heaven had not blown upon this daughter of the fields; her robust yet
sensitive maidenhood had been exposed to a hundred offences, and to the
constant society, infecting the very air about, of the rudest of men;
yet so far is her spirit from being broken that she meets all those
potent, grave, and reverend doctors and ecclesiastics, with the
simplicity and freedom of a princess, answering frankly or holding
her peace as seems good to her, afraid of nothing, keeping her
self-possession, all her wits about her as we say, without panic
and without presumption. The trial of Jeanne is indeed almost more
miraculous than her fighting; a girl not yet nineteen, forsaken of all,
without a friend! It is less wonderful that she should have developed
the qualities of a general, of a gunner, every gift of war--than that in
her humiliation and distress she should thus hold head against all
the most subtle intellects in France, and bear, with but one moment of
faltering, a continued cross-examination of three months, without losing
her patience, her heart, or her courage.
*****
The third day brought a still larger accession of judges, sixty-two of
them taking their places on the benches round the Bishop in the great
hall; and the day began with another and longer altercation between
Cauchon and Jeanne on the subject of the oath again demanded of her. She
maintained her resolution to say nothing of her voices. "We" according
to the record "required of her that she should swear simply and
absolutely without reservation." She would seem to have replied with
impatience, "Let me speak freely:" adding "By my faith you may ask me
many questions which I will not answer": then explaining, "Many things
you may ask me, but I will tell you nothing truly that concerns my
revelations; for you might compel me to say things which I have sworn
not to say; and so I should perjure myself, which you ought not to
wish." This explains several statements which she made later in respect
to her introduction to the King. She repeated emphatically: "I warn
you well, you who call yourselves my judges, that you take a great
responsibility upon you, and that you burden me too much." She said also
that it was enough to have already sworn twice. She was again asked to
swear simply and absolutely, and answered, "It is enough to have sworn
twice," and that all the clerks in Rouen and Paris could not condemn her
unless lawfully; also that of her coming she would speak the truth but
not all the truth; and that the space of eight days would not be enough
to tell all.
"We the said Bishop" (continues the report) "then said to her that she
should ask advice from those present whether she ought to swear or
not. She replied again that of her coming she would speak truly and not
otherwise, nor would it be fit that she should talk at large. We then
told her that it would throw suspicion on what she said if she did not
swear to speak the truth. She answered as before. We repeated that she
must swear precisely and absolutely. She answered that she would say
what she knew, but not all, and that she had come on the part of God,
and appealed to God from whom she came. Again requested and admonished
to swear on pain of every punishment that could be put on her, again
answered '_Passez outre_.' Finally she consented to swear that she would
speak the truth in everything that concerned the trial."
Her examination was then resumed by Beaupère as before, who elicited
from her that she had fasted (he seems to have wished to make out that
the fasting had something to do with her visions) since noon the day
before (it was Lent); and also that she had heard her voices both on
that day and the day before, three times on the previous day, the first
time in the morning when she was asleep, and awakened by them. Did she
kneel and thank them? She thanked them, sitting up in her bed (to which
she was chained, as her questioner knew) and clasping her hands. She
asked them what she was to do, and they told her to answer boldly.
It may be remarked here that more frequently as the examination goes
on, part of Jeanne's words are quoted in the first person, as if the
reporters had been specially struck by them, while the bulk of her
evidence goes on more calmly in the third person, the narrative form.
After saying that she was bidden to answer boldly, she seems to have
turned to the Bishop, and to have addressed him individually: "You say
you are my judge; I warn you to take care what you are doing, for I
am sent from God, and you are putting yourself in much peril" (_magno
periculo: gallice_, adds the reporter, _en grant dangier_).
She was then asked if her voices ever changed their meaning, and
answered that she had never heard two speak contrary to each other; what
they had said that day was that she should speak boldly. Asked, if the
voice forbade her to reply to questions asked, she replied; "I will not
answer you. I have revelations touching the King which I will not tell
you." Asked, if the voices forbade her to reveal these revelations, she
answered, "I have not consulted them; give me fifteen days' delay and I
will answer you"; but being again exhorted to reply, said: "If the voice
forbade me to speak, how many times should I tell you?" Again asked, if
she were forbidden to speak, answered, "I believe I am not forbidden
by men"--repeating that she would not reply, and knew not how far she
should reply, for it had not been revealed to her; but that she believed
firmly, as firmly as the Christian faith, and that God had redeemed us
from the pains of hell, that this voice came from Him.
Questioned concerning the voice, what it appeared to be when it spoke,
if that of an angel, or from God Himself; or if it was the voice of a
saint or of saints (feminine), answered: "The voice comes from God; and
I believe that I should not tell you all I know, for I should displease
these voices if I answered you; and as for this question I pray you
to leave me free." Asked if she thought that to speak the truth would
displease God, she answered, "What the voices say I am to tell to the
King, not to you," adding that during that night they had said much to
her for the good of the King, and that if she could but let him know
she would willingly drink no wine up to Easter (the reader will remember
that her frugal fare consisted of bread dipped in the wine and water,
which is justly called _eau rougie_ in France). Asked, if she could not
induce the voices to speak to her King directly, she answered that she
knew not whether her voices would consent, unless it were the will of
God, and God consented to it, adding, "They might well reveal it to the
King; and with that I should be content." Asked, if the voices could
not communicate with the King as they did in her presence, she answered,
that she did not know whether this was God's will; and added, that
unless it were the will of God she would not know how to act. Asked, if
it was by the advice of her voices that she attempted to escape from
her prison, she answered, "I have nothing to say to you on that point."
Asked, if she always saw a light when the voices were heard, she
answered: "Yes: that with the sound of the voices light came." Asked if
she saw anything else coming with the voices, answered: "I do not tell
you all. I am not allowed to do so, nor does my oath touch that; the
voices are good and noble, but neither of that will I answer." She was
then asked to give in writing the points on which she would not reply.
Then she was asked if her voices had eyes and ears, and answered, "You
shall not have this either," adding, that it was a saying among children
that men were sometimes hanged for speaking the truth.
She was then asked if she knew herself to be in the grace of God. She
replied: "If I am not so, may God put me in His grace; if I am, may God
keep me in it. I should be the most miserable in the world if I were not
in the grace of God." She said besides, that if she were in a state of
sin she did not believe her voices would come to her, and she wished
that everyone could understand them as she did, adding, that she was
about thirteen when they came to her first.
She was then asked, whether in her childhood she had played with the
other children in the fields, and various other particulars about
Domremy, whether there were any Burgundians there? to which Jeanne
answered boldly that there was one, and that she wished his head might
be cut off, adding piously, "that is, if it pleased God"(3); she was
also asked whether she had fought along with the other children against
the children of the neighbouring Burgundian village of Maxy (Maxey sur
Meuse): why she hated the Burgundians, and many questions of this
kind, with a close examination about a certain tree near the village of
Domremy, which some called the Tree of the good Ladies, and others, the
Fairies' Tree; and also about a well there, the Fairies' Well, of which
poor patients were said to drink and get well. Jeanne (no doubt relieved
by the simple character of these questions) made answer freely and
without hesitation, in no way denying that she had danced and sung with
the other children, and made garlands for the image of the Blessed Marie
of Domremy; but she did not remember whether she had ever done so after
attaining years of discretion, and certainly she had never seen a fairy,
nor worked any spell by their means. At the end, after having thus been
put off her guard, she was suddenly asked about her dress (a capital
point in the eyes of her judges): whether she wished to have a woman's
dress. Probably she was, as they hoped, tired, and expecting no such
question, for she answered quickly yet with instant recovery: "Bring
me one to go home in and I will accept it; otherwise no. I prefer this,
since it pleases God that I should wear it." The recollection of Domremy
and of the pleasant fields, must have carried her back to the days when
the little Jeanne was like the rest in her short, full petticoats of
crimson stuff, free of any danger: what could be better to go home in?
but she immediately remembered the obvious and excellent reasons she had
for wearing another costume now. So ended the third day.
In the meantime there had been, we are told, various interruptions
during the examination; perhaps it was then that Nicolas de Houppeville
protested against Bishop Cauchon as a partisan and a Burgundian, and
therefore incapable by law of judging a member of the opposite party:
and had been rudely silenced, and afterwards punished, as we have
already heard. Another kind of opposition less bold had begun to be
remarked, which was that one of the persons present, by word and sign,
whispering suggestions to her, or warning her with his eyes, was helping
the unfortunate prisoner in her defence. Probably this did little good,
"for she was often troubled and hurried in her answers," we are told;
but it was a sign of good-will, at least. When Frère Isambard, who was
the person in question, speaks at a later period he tells us that "the
questions put to Jeanne were too difficult, subtle, and dangerous, so
that the great clerks and learned men who were present scarcely would
have known how to answer them, and that many in the assembly murmured
at them." Perhaps the good Frère Isambard might have spared himself the
trouble; for Jeanne, however she may have suffered, was probably more
able to hold her own than many of those great clerks, and did so with
unfailing courage and spirit. One of the other judges, Jean Fabry, a
bishop, declared afterwards that "her answers were so good, that for
three weeks he believed that they were inspired." Manchon, the reporter,
he who had refused to take down the private conversation of Jeanne in
her prison with the vile traitor, L'Oyseleur, makes his voice heard also
to the effect that "Monseigneur of Beauvais would have had everything
written as pleased him, and when there was anything that displeased him
he forbade the secretaries to report it as being of no importance for
the trial." On another day a humbler witness still, Massieu, one of the
officers of the court, who had the charge of taking Jeanne daily
from her prison to the hall, and back again, met in the courtyard an
Englishman, who seems to have been a singing man or lay clerk "of
the King's chapel in England," probably attached to Winchester's
ecclesiastical retinue. This man asked him: "What do you think of her
answers? Will she be burned? What will happen?" "Up to this time," said
Massieu, "I have heard nothing from her that was not honourable and
good. She seems to me a good woman, but how it will all end God only
knows!"
No doubt conversations of this kind were being carried on all over
Rouen. Would she be burned? What would happen? Could any one stand and
answer like that hour after hour and day by day, inspired only by the
devil? There was no popular enthusiasm for her even now. How should
there have been in that partisan province, more English than French? But
a chill doubt began to steal into many minds whether she was so bad as
had been thought, whether indeed she might not after all be something
quite different from what she had been thought? Nature had begun to work
in the agitated place, and even in that black-robed, eager assembly. If
there was a vile L'Oyseleur trying to get her confidence in private, and
so betray her, there was also a kind Frère Isambard, privately plucking
at her sleeve, imploring her to be cautious, whispering an answer
probably not half so wise as her own natural reply, yet warming her
heart with the suggestion of a friend at hand.
On the fourth day, Jeanne was again required to swear, and replied as
before, that so far as concerned the trial she would answer truly,
but not all she knew. "You ought to be satisfied: I have sworn
sufficiently," she said; and with this her judges seem to have been
content. Beaupère then resumed his questions, but first asked her,
perhaps with a momentary gleam of compassion and a sudden consciousness
of the pallor and weariness of the young prisoner, how she did. She
answered, one can imagine with what tone of indignant disdain: "You see
how I am: I am as well as I can be." He then cross-examined her closely
as to what voices she had heard since her last appearance in court,
but drew from her only the same answer, "The voice tells me to answer
boldly," and that she would tell them as much as she was permitted by
God to tell them, but concerning her revelations for the King of France
she would say nothing except by permission of her voices.
She was then asked what kind of voices they were which she heard, were
they voices of angels, or of saints (_sancti aut sanctæ_, male or female
saints) or from God Himself? She answered that the voices were those of
St. Catherine and St. Margaret, whose heads were crowned with beautiful
crowns, very rich and precious. "So much as this God allows me to say.
If you doubt send to Poitiers, where I was questioned before." (It may
perhaps be permissible to suppose that the kind whisperer at her elbow
might have suggested the repeated references to Poitiers that follow,
but which are not to be found before: though it was most natural she
should refer to this place where she was examined at the beginning of
her mission.) Asked how she knew which of these two saints, she answered
that she could quite distinguish one from the other by the manner of
their salutation; that she had been led and guided by them for seven
years, and that she knew them because they had named themselves to her.
She was then asked how they were dressed? and answered: "I cannot tell
you; I am not permitted to reveal this; if you do not believe me send to
Poitiers." She said also that at her coming into France she had revealed
these things, but could not now. She was asked what was the age of her
saints, but replied that she was not permitted to tell. Asked, if both
saints spoke at once or one after the other, she replied: "I have not
permission to tell you: but I always consult them both together." Asked,
which had appeared to her first, and answered: "I do not know which it
was; I did know, but have forgotten. It is written in the register of
Poitiers."
"She then said she had much comfort from St. Michael. Again, asked,
which had come first, she replied that it was St. Michael. Asked, if
a long time had passed since she first heard the voice of St. Michael,
answered: "I do not name to you the voice of St. Michael; but his
conversation was of great comfort to me." Asked, again, what voice came
first to her when she was thirteen, answered, that it was St. Michael
whom she saw before her eyes, and that he was not alone, but accompanied
by many angels of Heaven. She said also that she would not have come
into France but by the command of God. Asked, if she saw St. Michael and
the angels really, with her ordinary senses, she answered: "I saw them
with my bodily eyes as I see you, and when they left me I wept, desiring
much that they would take me with them." Asked, what was the form
in which he appeared, she replied: "I cannot answer you; I am not
permitted." Asked, what St. Michael said to her the first time, she
cried, "You shall have no answer to-day." Then went on to say that her
voices told her to reply boldly. Afterwards she said that she had told
her King once all that had been revealed to her; said also that she was
not permitted to say here what St. Michael had said; but that it would
be better to send for a copy of the books which were at Poitiers than to
question her on this subject. Asked, what sign she had that these
were revelations of God, and that it was really St. Catherine and St.
Margaret with whom she talked, she answered: "It is enough that I tell
you they were St. Catherine and St. Margaret: believe me or not as you
will."
Asked how she distinguished the points on which she was allowed to
speak from the others, she answered, that on some points she had asked
permission to speak, and not on others, adding, that she would rather
have been torn by wild horses than to have come to France, unless by
the license of God. Asked how it was that she put on a man's dress, she
answered, that dress appeared to her a small matter, that she did not
adopt that dress by the counsel of any man, and that she neither put on
a dress nor did anything, but according as God, or the angels, commanded
her to do so. Asked, if she knew whether such a command to assume the
dress of a man was lawful, she answered: "All that I did, I did by the
precepts of our Lord; and if I were bidden to wear another dress I would
do so, because it was at the bidding of God." Asked, if she had done
it by the orders of Robert de Baudricourt, answered "No." Asked, if she
thought that she had done well in assuming a man's dress, answered, that
as all she did was by the command of the Lord, she believed that she had
done well, and expected a good guarantee and good succour. Asked, if in
this particular case of assuming the dress of a man she thought she had
done well, answered, that nothing in the world had made her do it, but
the command of God.
She was then asked whether light always accompanied the voices when
they came to her, she answered, with an evident reference to her first
interview with Charles, that there were many lights on every side as was
fit. "It is not only to you that light comes" (or you have not all the
light to yourself,--a curious phrase). Asked, if there was an angel over
the head of the King when she saw him for the first time, she answered:
"By the Blessed Mary, if there were, I know not, I saw none." Asked, if
there was light, she answered: "There were about three hundred soldiers,
and fifty of them held torches, without counting any spiritual light.
And rarely do I have the revelations without light." Asked, if her King
had faith in what she said, she answered, that he had good signs, and
also by his clergy. Asked, what revelations her King had, she answered:
"You shall have nothing from me this year." Then added that for three
weeks she was cross-examined by the clergy, both in the town of Chinon
and at Poitiers, and that her King had signs concerning her, before he
believed in her. And the clergy of his party had found nothing in her,
in respect to her faith, that was not good. Asked, whether she gone to
the church of St. Catherine of Fierbois, answered: "yes," and that she
had there heard three masses in one day, and from thence went to Chinon;
she added that she had sent a letter thence to the King, in which it was
contained that she sent this to know if she might come to the town
in which the King was; for that she had travelled a hundred and fifty
leagues to come to him and to bring him help, for she knew much good
concerning him. And she thought it was contained in this letter that she
should recognise the King among all the rest.
She said besides, that she had a sword which was given to her at
Vaucouleurs; she said also that, being in Tours or at Chinon, she sent
for a sword which was in the church of St. Catherine of Fierbois behind
the altar, and that when it was found it was rusty. Asked, how she knew
about this sword, she answered, that it was rusty because of being in
the ground, and there were five crosses on it, and that she knew this
sword by her voices, and not by any man's report. She wrote to the
ecclesiastics of the place where it was and asked them for this sword,
and they sent it to her. It was found not much below the ground behind
the altar; she was not sure if it was before or behind the altar, but
wrote that it was behind the altar. And when it was found the clergy
cleaned it and rubbed off the rust, which came off easily; and it was an
armourer of Tours who went to fetch it. The clergy made a scabbard for
it before sending it to the said Jeanne, and they of Tours made another,
so that it had two scabbards, one of crimson velvet and one of cloth of
gold. And she herself procured another of strong leather. She said also
that when she was captured she had not that sword. Said also that she
continued to wear the said sword until she left St. Denis after the
assault on Paris. Asked, what benediction she made, or if she made any
on this sword, she answered, that she made no benediction, nor knew how
to make one, but that she loved the sword because it had come to her
from the Church of the blessed Catherine whom she loved much. Asked,
if she had placed it on the altar at the village of Coulenges, Les
Vineuses, or elsewhere, placing it there that it might bring good luck,
she answered, that she knew nothing of this. Asked, if she did not pray
that the sword might have good fortune: "It is good to know that I
wish all my armour (_harnesseum meum; gallice, mon harnois_) to be very
fortunate." Asked, where she had left the sword, answered, that she had
deposited a sword and armour at St. Denis, but it was not this sword.
She added that she had it in Lagny: but that she afterwards wore the
sword which had been taken from a Burgundian, which was a good sword
for war and gave good strokes (_gallice, de bonnes bouffes_ and _de bons
torchons_). Said also that to tell where she left it had nothing to do
with the trial, and she would answer nothing.
She said also that her brothers had everything that belonged to her, her
horses, swords, and everything, and that she believed they were worth
in all about 12,000 francs. She was also asked whether when she was at
Orleans she had a standard, and what colour it was; answered, that she
had a standard, the field of which was sown with lilies, and on it was a
figure of the world with angels on each side. It was white, and made
of a stuff called boucassin, upon which was written the name _Jhesus
Maria_, so that all might see, and it was fringed with silk. Asked, if
the name _Jhesus Maria_ was written above or below or at the side, she
answered, "At the side." Asked, if she loved her sword or standard best,
she answered, that she loved her standard best. Asked, why she had that
picture on the standard, she answered: "I have sufficiently told you
that I did nothing but by the command of God." She added that she
herself carried her standard when in battle that she might not hurt
anyone, and said that she had never killed any man.
Asked, how many men her King gave her when she began her work, answered,
from ten to twelve(4) thousand men, and that she attacked first the
bastile of St. Loup at Orleans, and afterwards that of the bridge.
Asked, from which bastile it was that her men were driven back, she
answered, that she did not remember; adding, that she had been sure that
she could raise the siege at Orleans, for it had been so revealed to
her; and that she told this to her King before it occurred. Asked,
whether, when she made assault, she told her men that all the arrows,
stones, cannon-balls, etc., would be intercepted by her, she answered
no--that more than a hundred were wounded: that what she had said to her
people was that they should have no doubts, for they should certainly
raise the siege of Orleans. She said also that in attacking the bastile
of the bridge she herself was wounded by an arrow in the neck, and was
much comforted by St. Catherine, and was healed in fifteen days; but
that she never gave up riding and working all that time. Asked, if she
knew that she would be wounded, she answered, that she knew it well
and had told her King, but that, notwithstanding, she went about her
business. It was revealed to her by the voices of her two saints, the
blessed Catherine and the blessed Margaret. She said besides, that she
was the first to place a scaling ladder on the bastile of the bridge,
and as she raised it she was struck in the neck.
She was then asked why she did not treat with the Captain of Jargeau;
she answered that the lords of her party had replied to the English, who
had asked for a truce of fifteen days, that they could not have it, but
that they might retire, they and their horses at once; she had said for
her part that if they retired in their doublets and tunics their lives
should be spared, otherwise the city would be taken by storm. Asked, if
she had consulted with her counsel, that is with her voices, whether the
truce should be granted or not, she answered, that she did not remember.
It will be remarked, as the slow examination goes on day after day, that
Jeanne, becoming at moments impatient, sometimes gives a rough answer,
and at other times plays a little with her questioner as if in
contempt. "By the Blessed Mary, I know not!" is evidently an outburst
of impatience at the exhausting, exasperating folly of some of these
questions, and this will be further visible in future sittings. It
seems very likely that the reference to Poitiers, which was an excellent
suggestion, commending itself to her invariable good sense, came from
the kind priest who tried to serve her as he best could; but there are
other answers a little incoherent, which look as if Frère Isambard,
if it were he, had confused her in her own response without conveying
anything better to her mind, especially on the occasions when she
refuses to reply, and then does so, abandoning her ground at once. Her
patience and steadiness are quite extraordinary however even in the less
self-collected moments. Thus end the proceedings of the fourth day.
*****
The fifth day began with the usual dispute about the oath, Jeanne
still retaining her reservation with the greatest firmness. She seems,
however, at the end, to have repeated her oath to answer everything that
had to do with the trial--"And as much as I say I will say as if I
were before the Pope of Rome." These words must have given the Magister
Beaupère an admirable occasion for introducing one of the things charged
against her for which there was actual proof--her letter to the Comte
d'Armagnac in respect to the Pope. He seized upon it evidently with
eagerness, and asked her which she held to be the true Pope. To this she
answered quietly, "Are there two?"--the most confusing reply.(5)
She was asked if she had received letters from the Comte d'Armagnac,
asking to know which of the three existing Popes he ought to obey; she
answered that she had his letter, and had replied to it, saying among
other things that when she was in Paris and at rest she would answer
him; and added that she was on the point of mounting her horse when she
gave that reply. The copy of the letter and the reply being read to her
she was asked if that was what she had said; to which she replied that
she had answered his letter in part, not in full. Asked, if she knew the
counsels of the King of Kings so as to be able to say which the count
should obey, she answered, that she knew nothing. Asked, if she was in
doubt as to which the count ought to obey, she replied that she knew not
which to bid him obey; but that she, the said Jeanne, held and believed
that we ought to obey our Pope who was in Rome; that as for what he
asked, that she should tell him which God desired him to obey, she had
said she knew nothing; but she sent much to him which was not put in
writing. And as for herself she believed in the Lord Pope of Rome.
Asked, whether in respect to the three pontiffs she had received
counsel, she answered, that she had neither written nor made to be
written anything about the three pontiffs. And this she swore on her
oath. Asked, if she were in the habit of putting on her letters the name
_Jhesus Maria_ with a cross, answered, that she did so sometimes but not
always, and that sometimes she put a cross to shew that these letters
were not to be taken seriously (as likely to fall into the enemy's
hands).
Some questions were then put to her about her letters to the Duke of
Bedford and to the English King, and copies were read to her to which
she objected on some small points, but mistakenly it would seem, as that
she had summoned them to surrender to the King, while the scribe had put
"surrender to the Maid." She said, however, that they were her letters,
and that she held by them. She added that before seven years the English
would lose more than they had lost at Orleans,(6) and that their cause
would be lost in France; she said also that the said English should have
greater disasters than they had yet had in France, and that God would
give greater victories to France. Asked, how she knew this, she replied:
"I know it by the revelations made to me, and that it will happen in
seven years, and I might well be angry that it is deferred so long."
Asked, when this would happen, she said that she knew neither the day
nor the hour.
She was tormented a little further as to the dates, whether this would
happen before the St. Jean, or before the St. Martin in winter, but made
no answer except that before the St. Martin in winter they should see
many things, and it might be that the English should fail; as a matter
of fact Paris opened its gates to Charles VII. within the seven years
specified, so that Jeanne's prophecy may be held to have been fulfilled.
We then come once more to a long and profitless interrogatory upon
her saints, in which the crowd of judges forgot their dignity and
overwhelmed her with a flood of often very foolish, and sometimes worse
than foolish questions.
Asked, how she knew the future, she answered that she knew it by St.
Catherine and St. Margaret; asked, if St. Gabriel was with St. Michael
when he came to her, she answered, that she could not remember. Asked,
if she saw them always in the same dress, answered yes, and they were
crowned very richly. Of their other garments she could not speak; she
knew nothing of their tunics. Asked, how she knew whether they were men
or women, answered, that she knew well by their voices which revealed
them to her; and that she knew nothing save by revelation and the
precepts of God. Asked, what appearances she saw, she answered, that she
saw faces. Asked, if these saints had hair, she answered, "It is good to
know." Asked, if there was anything between their crowns and their hair,
answered, no. Asked, if their hair was long and hanging down, answered,
"I know nothing about it." She also said that their voices were
beautiful sweet, and humble, and that she understood them well. Asked,
how they could speak when they had no bodies, she answered, "I refer it
to God." She repeated that the voices were beautiful, humble, and sweet,
and that they could speak French. Asked, if St. Margaret did not speak
English, answered: "How could she speak English when she was not on the
English side?"
This would seem to infer that the St. Margaret referred to was not the
legendary St. Margaret of the dragon, but St. Margaret of Scotland, well
known in France from the long connection between those two countries,
and a popular mediæval saint. She would naturally have spoken English,
being a Saxon, but also quite naturally would have been against the
English, as a Scottish queen; but of these refinements it is very
unlikely that Jeanne knew anything, and her prompt and somewhat sharp
reply evidently cut the inquiry short. The next question was, did they
wear gold rings in their ears or elsewhere, these crowned saints; to
which she answered a little contemptuously, "I know nothing about it."
She was then asked if she herself had rings: on which "turning to us the
aforesaid Bishop, she said, 'You have one of mine; give it back to me.'
She then said that the Burgundians had her other ring, and asked of us
if we had the ring to shew it to her. Asked, who gave her this ring,
answered, her father or her mother, and that the name _Jhesus Maria_
was written upon it, but that she knew not who put it there, nor even
whether there was a stone in the ring; it was given to her in the
village of Domremy. She added that her brother gave her another ring
which we had, and said that she desired that it might be given to the
Church."
A sudden change was now made in the cross-examination according to the
methods of that operation, throwing her back without warning upon the
village superstitions of Domremy, the magic tree and fountain. Many of
the questions which follow are so trivial and are so evidently instinct
with evil meaning, that it seems a wrong to Beaupère to impute the whole
of the interrogatory to him; other questions were evidently interposed
by the excited assembly.
Asked, if St. Catherine and St. Margaret talked with her under the tree
of which mention had been made above, she answered, "I know nothing
about it." Asked, if the saints were seen at the fountain near the
tree, answered yes, that she had heard them there; but what her saints
promised to her, there or elsewhere, she answered, that nothing was
promised except by permission from God. Asked, what promises were made
to her, she answered, "This has nothing at all to do with your trial,"
but added, that among other things they said to her that her King
should be restored to his kingdom, and that his adversaries should
be destroyed. She said also that they promised to take her, the said
Jeanne, to Paradise, as she had asked them to do. Asked, if she had any
other promises, she said there was one promise that had nothing to do
with the trial, but that in three months she would tell them what that
other promise was. Asked, if the voices told her she would be set free
from her prison in three months, she answered: "This does not concern
your trial; nor do I know when I shall be set free." And she added that
those who wished to send her out of this world might well go before her.
Asked, if her council did not tell her when she should be set free from
her present prison, answered: "Ask me this in three months' time; I can
promise you as much as that"--but added: "You may ask those present, on
their oaths, if this has anything to do with the trial."
Startled by this suggestion, the judges seem to have held a hurried
consultation among themselves to see whether these matters did really
touch the trial; the result apparently decided them to return again to
the question of the local superstitions of Domremy, the only point on
which there seemed a chance of breaking down the extraordinarily just
and steadfast intelligence of the girl who stood before them. After this
pause she resumed, apparently not in answer to any question.
"I have well told you that there were things you should not know, and
some time I must needs be set free. But I must have permission if I
speak; therefore I will ask to have delay in this." Asked, if her voices
forbade her to speak the truth, she said: "Do you expect me to tell you
things that concern the King of France? There is a great deal here that
has nothing to do with the trial." She said also that she knew that her
King should enjoy the kingdom of France, as well as she knew that they
were there before her in judgment. She added that she would have been
dead but for the revelations which comforted her daily. She was then
asked what she had done with her mandragora (mandrake)? she answered
that she had no mandragora, nor had ever had. She had heard say that
near her village there was one, but had never seen it. She had heard say
that it was a dangerous thing, and that it was wicked to keep it; but
knew nothing of its use. Asked, in what place this mandrake was, and
what she had heard of it? she said that she had heard that it grew under
the tree of which mention has been made, but did not know the place; she
said also that she had heard that above the mandragora was a hazel tree.
Asked, what she heard was done with the mandragora, answered, that she
had heard that it brought money, but did not believe it; and added that
her voices had never told her anything about it.
Asked, what was the appearance of St. Michael when she saw him first,
she answered, that she saw no crown, and knew nothing of his dress.
Asked, if he was naked, she answered, "Do you think God has nothing to
clothe him with?" Asked, if he had hair, she answered, "Why should
it have been cut?" She said further that she had not seen the blessed
Michael since she left the castle of Crotoy, nor did she see him often.
At last she said that she knew not whether he had hair or not. Asked,
whether he carried scales, she answered, "I know nothing of it," but
added that she had much joy in seeing him, and she knew when she saw him
that she was not in a state of sin. She also said that St. Catherine and
St. Margaret often made her confess to them, and said that if she had
been in a state of sin it was without knowing it. She was then asked
whether, when she confessed, she believed herself to be in a state of
mortal sin; she answered, that she knew not whether she had been in that
state, but did not believe she had done the works of sin. "It would not
have pleased God," she said, "that I should have been so; nor would it
have pleased Him that I should have done the works of sin by which my
soul should have been burdened."
She was then asked what sign she gave to the King that she came to him
from God; she answered: "I have told you always that nothing should draw
this from me.(7) Ask me no more." Asked, if she had not sworn to reveal
what was asked of her touching the trial, answered, "I have told you
that I will tell you nothing that was for our King; and of this which
belongs to him I will not speak." Asked, if she knew the sign which she
gave to the King, she answered: "You shall know nothing from me." When
it was said to her that this did concern the trial, she answered, "Of
that which I have promised to keep secret I shall tell you nothing";
and further she said, "I promised in that place and I could not tell you
without perjuring myself." Asked, to whom she promised? answered, that
she had promised to Saints Catherine and Margaret, and this was shown to
the King. She also said she had promised it to these two saints, because
they had required it of her. And the same Jeanne had done this at their
request. "Too many people would have asked me concerning it, if I had
not promised to the aforesaid saints." She was then asked, when
she showed this sign to the King if there were others with him; she
answered, that to her there was no one near him, even though many people
might have been present. (As a matter of fact the sign was given to
Charles when he talked with the Maid apart in a recess, the great hall
being full of the Court and followers; so that this was strictly true.)
Asked further, if she saw a crown over the head of her King when
she showed him this sign, but replied: "I cannot answer you without
perjury." Asked further if her King had a crown when he was at Rheims,
answered, that in her opinion her King had a crown which he found at
Rheims, but a very fine one was afterwards brought for him. He did this
to hasten matters, at the desire of the city of Rheims; but if he had
been more certain, he could have had a crown a thousand times richer.
(All this is very obscure.)
Asked, if she had seen this crown, she answered: "I could not tell you
without perjury, but I heard that it was a very rich one." It was then
determined to conclude for this day.
On the sixth day there was again the same questions about the oath,
ending in the usual way. And the cross-examination was at once
continued.
She was asked if she would say whether St. Michael had wings, and what
bodies and members had St. Catherine and St. Margaret; and she answered,
"I have told you what I know, and will make no other reply"; she said,
moreover, that when she saw St. Michael and St. Catherine and St.
Margaret, she knew at once that they were saints of Paradise. Asked, if
she saw anything more than their faces, she answered: "I have told you
all I know of them: and I would rather have had my head taken off than
tell you all I know." She then said that in whatever concerned the trial
she would speak freely. Asked, if she believed that St. Michael and St.
Gabriel had natural heads, she answered: "I saw them with my eyes and
I believe that they are, as firmly as I believe that God is." Asked, if
she believed that God made them in the form in which she saw them, she
answered, "Yes." Asked, if she believed that God had created them in the
same form from the beginning, answered: "You shall have no more for the
present, except what I have already said."
This subject was then dropped, and the examiner made another leap
forward to a different part of her life. "Did you know by revelation
that you should break prison?" he said. To this Jeanne answered
indignantly: "This has nothing to do with your trial. Would you have me
speak against myself?"
Again questioned what her "voices" had said to her in respect to her
attempts at escape, she again answered: "This has nothing to do with the
trial; I go back to the trial. If all your questions were about that,
I should tell you all." She said besides, on her faith, that she knew
neither the day nor the hour when she should escape. She was then asked
what the voices said to her generally, and answered: "In truth, they
tell me I shall be freed, but neither the day nor the hour; and that I
ought to speak boldly, and with a glad countenance." She was then asked
whether, when first she saw her King, he asked her whether it was by
revelation that she had assumed the dress of a man? she replied: "I have
answered this. I cannot recollect whether he asked me. But it is written
in the book at Poitiers." Asked, whether the doctors who examined her
there, some for a month, some for three weeks, had asked her about her
change of dress; she answered: "I don't remember; but I know they asked
me when I assumed the dress of a man, and I told them it was in the town
of Vaucouleurs." Asked, whether these doctors had inquired whether it
was her voices which had made her take that dress, answered, "I don't
remember." Asked if her Queen wished her to change her dress when she
first saw her, answered, "I don't remember." Asked if her King, Queen,
and all of her party did not ask her to lay aside the dress of a man,
she answered, "This has nothing to do with the trial." Asked, if the
same was not requested of her in the castle of Beaurevoir, she answered:
"It is true. And I replied that I could not lay it aside without the
permission of God." She said further that the demoiselle of Luxembourg
(aunt of Jeanne's captor, and a very old woman) and the lady of
Beaurevoir offered her a woman's dress, or stuff to make one, and begged
her to wear it; but she replied that she had not yet the permission of
our Lord, and that it was not yet time. Asked, if M. Jean de Pressy and
others at Arras had offered her a woman's dress, she answered, "He and
others have often asked it of me." Asked, if she thought she would have
done wrong in putting on a woman's dress, she answered, that it was
better to obey her sovereign Lord, that is, God; she said also that if
she had done it, she would rather have done it at the request of these
two ladies than of any other in France, except her Queen. Asked, if,
when God revealed to her that she should change her dress, it was by the
voice of St. Michael, St. Catherine, or St. Margaret, she answered, "You
shall hear no more about it." Asked, when the King first employed her,
and her standard was made, whether the men-at-arms and others who took
part in the war did not have flags imitated from hers? she answered, "It
is well to know that the lords retained their own arms"; she also added
that her brothers-in-arms made such pennons as pleased them. Asked, how
these were made, if they were of linen or cloth, answered, that they
were of white satin, some of them with lilies; that she had but two or
three lances in her own company--but that in the rest of the army some
carried pennons like hers, but only to distinguish them from others.
Asked, if the banners were often renewed, answered: "I know not; when
the staff was broken it was renewed." Asked, if she had not said that
the pennons copied from hers were fortunate, answered, that she had
said, "Go in boldly among the English"; and that she had done the same
herself. Asked, if she said that they should have good luck if they bore
the banners well, answered, that she had told them what would happen,
and what should still happen. Asked, if she had caused holy water to
be sprinkled on the pennons when they were new, she answered, "That has
nothing to do with the trial"; but added that if she did so sprinkle
them she was not instructed to answer that question now. Asked, if
the others put _Jhesus Maria_ upon their pennons, she answered: "By
my faith, I know nothing about it." Asked, if she had ever carried or
caused to be carried in a procession round a church or altar the linen
of which the pennons were made, answered no, that she had never seen
anything of the kind done.
Asked, when she was before Jargeau, what it was that she wore behind
her helmet, and if she had not something round it, she answered: "By my
faith, there was nothing." Asked, if she knew a certain Brother Richard,
she answered: "I never saw him till I was before Troyes." Asked, what
cheer Brother Richard made to her, answered, that she thought the people
of Troyes had sent him to her, doubting whether she had come on the part
of God, and that as he approached her he made the sign of the cross, and
sprinkled holy water; she said to him: "Come on boldly; I shall not fly
away." Asked, if she had seen, or had caused to be made, any images or
pictures of herself, she answered, that at Arras she had seen a picture
in the hands of a Scot, where she was represented fully armed, kneeling
on one knee, and presenting a letter to the King; but that she had never
caused any image or picture of herself to be made. Asked concerning a
table in the house of her host, upon which were painted three women,
with _Justice, Peace, Union_ inscribed beneath, answered, that she knew
nothing of it. Asked, if she knew that those of her party caused masses
and prayers to be made in her honour, she answered, that she knew not;
and if they did so, it was not by any command of hers; but that if they
did so, her opinion was that they did no wrong. Asked, if those of her
party firmly believed that she was sent from God, she answered: "I know
not whether they believed it; but even if they did not believe it, I am
none the less sent on the part of God." Asked, whether she thought that
to believe that she was sent from god was a worthy faith, she answered,
that if they believed that she was sent from God they were not mistaken.
Asked, if she knew what her party meant by kissing her feet and hands
and her garments, answered, that many people did it, but that her hands
were kissed as little as she could help it. The poor people, however,
came to her of their own free will, because she never oppressed them,
but protected them as far as was in her power. Asked, what reverence
the people of Troyes made to her, she answered, "None at all," and added
that she believed Brother Richard came into Troyes with her army, but
that she had not seen him coming in. Asked, if he had not preached at
the gates when she came, answered, that she scarcely paused there at
all, and knew nothing of any sermon. Asked, how long she was at Rheims,
and answered, four or five days. Asked, whether she baptised (stood
godmother to) children there, she answered: To one at Troyes, but did
not remember any at Rheims or at Château-Thierry; but there were two at
St. Denis; and willingly she called the boys "Charles," in honour of her
King, and the girls "Jeanne," according to what their mothers wished.
Asked, if the good women of the town did not touch with their rings the
rings she wore, she answered, that many women touched her hands and her
rings; but she did not know why they did it. Asked, what she did with
the gloves in which her King was consecrated, she answered that "Gloves
were distributed to the knights and nobles that came there"; and there
was one who lost his; but she did not say that she would find it for
him. Also she said that her standard was in the church at Rheims, and
she believed near the altar, and she herself had carried it for a short
time, but did not know whether Brother Richard had held it.
She was then asked if she communicated and went to confession often
while moving about the country, and if she received the sacrament in her
male costume; to which she answered "yes, but without her arms"; she was
then questioned about a horse belonging to the Bishop of Senlis,
which had not suited her, a matter completely without importance. The
inference intended was that it was taken from him without being paid
for; but there was no evidence that the Maid knew anything about it. We
then come to the incident of Lagny.
She was asked how old the child was which she saw at Lagny, and
answered, three days; it had been brought to Lagny to the Church of
Nôtre Dame, and she was told that all the maids in Lagny were before our
Lady praying for it, and she also wished to go and pray God and our Lady
that its life might come back; and she went, and prayed with the rest.
And finally life appeared; it yawned three times, and was baptised and
buried in consecrated ground. It had given no sign of life for three
days and was black as her coat, but when it yawned its colour began to
come back. She was there with the other maids on her knees before our
Lady to make her prayer.
The reader must understand that this was no special appeal to Jeanne's
miraculous power, but a custom of that intense and tender charity
with which the Church of Rome corrects her dogmatism upon questions of
salvation. A child unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated ground,
and was subject to all the sorrows of the unredeemed; but who could
doubt that the priest would be easily persuaded by some wavering of the
tapers on the altar upon the little dead face, some flicker of his own
compassionate eyelids, that sufficient life had come back to permit the
holy rite to be administered? The whole little scene is affecting in the
extreme, the young creatures all kneeling, fervently appealing to
the Maiden-mother, the priest ready to take instant advantage of any
possible flicker, the Maid of France, no conspicuous figure, but weeping
and praying among the rest. There was no thought here of the raising
of the dead--the prayer was for breath enough only to allow of the holy
observance, the blessed water, the last possibility of human love and
effort.
Jeanne was then questioned concerning Catherine of La Rochelle, the
supposed prophetess, who had been played against her by La Tremouille
and his follows, and narrated how she had watched two nights to see
the mysterious lady clothed in cloth of gold who was said to appear to
Catherine, but had not seen her, and that she had advised the woman
to return to her husband and children. Catherine's mission was to go
through the "good towns" with heralds and trumpets to call upon those
who had money or treasure of any kind to give it to the King, and she
professed to have a supernatural knowledge where such money was hidden.
(No doubt La Tremouille must have thought that to get money, which was
so scarce, in such a simple way, was worth trying at least. But Jeanne's
opinion was that it was folly, and that there was nothing in it; an
opinion fully verified. Catherine's advice had been that Jeanne should
go to the Duke of Burgundy to make peace; but Jeanne had answered that
no peace could be made save at the end of the lance.)
She was then asked about the siege of La Charité; she answered, that she
had made an assault: but had not sprinkled holy water, or caused it
to be sprinkled. Asked, why she did not enter the city as she had the
command of God to do so, she replied: "Who told you that I was commanded
to enter?" Asked, if she had not had the advice of her voices, she
answered, that she had desired to go into France (meaning towards
Paris), but the generals had told her that it was better to go first
to La Charité. She was then asked if she had been long in the tower of
Beaurevoir; answered, that she was there about four months, and that
when she heard the English come she was angry and much troubled. Her
voices forbade her several times to attempt to escape; but at last,
in the doubt she had of the English she threw herself down, commending
herself to God and to our Lady, and was much hurt. But after she had
done this the voice of St. Catherine said to her not to be afraid, that
she should be healed, and that Compiègne would be relieved.
Also she said that she prayed always for the relief of Compiègne with
her council. Asked, what she said after she had thrown herself down,
she answered, that some said that she was dead; and as soon as the
Burgundians saw that she was not dead, they told her that she had thrown
herself down. Asked, if she had said that she would rather die than fall
into the hands of the English, she answered, that she would much rather
have rendered her soul to God than have fallen into the hands of the
English. Asked, if she was not in a great rage, and if she did not
blaspheme the name of God, she answered, that she never said evil of
any saint, and that it was not her custom to swear. Asked respecting
Soissons, when the captain had surrendered the town, whether she had
not cursed God, and said that if she had gotten hold of the captain, she
would have cut him into four pieces; she answered, that she never swore
by any saint, and that those who said so had not understood her.
*****
At this point the public trial of Jeanne came to a sudden end. Either
the feeling produced in the town, and even among the judges, by her
undeviating, simple, and dignified testimony had begun to be more than
her persecutors had calculated upon; or else they hoped to make shorter
work with her when deprived of the free air of publicity, the sight no
doubt of some sympathetic faces, and the consciousness of being still
able to vindicate her cause and to maintain her faith before men. Two
or three fierce Inquisitors within her cell, and the Bishop, that man
without heart or pity at their head, might still tear admissions
from her weariness, which a certain sympathetic atmosphere in a large
auditory, swept by waves of natural feeling, would strengthen her to
keep back. The Bishop made a proclamation that in order not to vex and
tire his learned associates he would have the minutes of the previous
sittings reduced into form, and submitted to them for judgment, while
he himself carried on apart what further interrogatory was necessary.
We are told that he was warned by a counsellor of the town that secret
examinations without witnesses or advocate on the prisoner's side, were
illegal; but Monseigneur de Beauvais was well aware that anything would
be legal which effected his purpose, and that once Jeanne was disposed
of, the legality or illegality of the proceedings would be of small
importance. I have thought it right to give to the best of my power a
literal translation of these examinations, notwithstanding their great
length; as, except in one book, now out of print and very difficult to
procure, no such detailed translation,(8) so far as I am aware, exists;
and it seems to me that, even at the risk of fatiguing the reader
(always capable of skipping at his pleasure), it is better to unfold the
complete scene with all its tedium and badgering, which brings out by
every touch the extraordinary self-command, valour, and sense of
this wonderful Maid, the youngest, perhaps, and most ignorant of the
assembly, yet meeting all with a modest and unabashed countenance, true,
pure, and natural,--a far greater miracle in her simplicity and noble
steadfastness than even in the wonders she had done.
(1) She was in reality detained two days, which fact, no
doubt, she judged to be an unimportant detail.
(2) Probably meaning, had been present when the voices came
to her and had perceived her state of listening and
abstraction.
(3) This was her special friend, Gerard of Epinal--her
_compère_ and gossip; was it jesting beguiled by some
childish recollection, or mock threat of youthful days that
she said this?
(4) An answer evidently given in the vagueness of imperfect
knowledge, meaning a very great number.
(5) Quicherat gives a note on this subject to point out that
there was really was but one Pope at this moment, the
question having been settled by the abdication of Clement
VIII., Benedict XIV. being a mere impostor. We cannot
believe, however, that this historical cutting of the knot
could be known to Jeanne. She probably felt only, with her
fine instinct, that there could be but one Pope, and that to
be deceived on such a matter ought to have been a thing
impossible to all those priests and learned men; as a matter
of fact the three claimants, on account of whom the Comte
d'Armagnac had appealed to her, were no longer existing at
the time he wrote.
(6) She meant Paris, which was lost by the English,
according to her prophecy within the time named.
(7) It should here be noted that Jeanne's sign to the King
being, as he afterwards declared, the answer to his most
private devotions and the final setting at rest of a doubt
which might have injured him much had it been known that he
entertained it--it would have been dishonourable on her part
and a great wrong to him had she revealed it.
(8) The translation of M. Fabre is now, I believe,
reprinted, but it is not satisfactory.