Upon all these contentions followed the calm of Palm Sunday, a great
and touching festival, the first break upon the gloom of Lent, and a
forerunner of the blessedness of Easter. We have already told how--a
semblance of charity with which the reader might easily be deceived--the
Bishop and four of his assessors had gone to the prison to offer to the
Maid permission to receive the sacrament if she would do so in a woman's
dress: and how after pleading that she might be allowed that privilege
as she was, in her male costume, and with a pathetic statement that she
would have yielded if she could, but that it was impossible--she
finally refused; and was so left in her prison to pass that sacred day
unsuccoured and alone. The historian Michelet, in the wonderful sketch
in which he rises superior to himself, and which amidst all after
writings remains the most beautiful and touching memorial of Jeanne
d'Arc, has made this day a central point in his tale, using with the
skill of genius the service of the Church appropriate to the day, in
heart-rending contrast with those doors of the prison which did not
open, and the help of God which did not come to the young and solitary
captive. _Le beau jour fleuri_ passed over her in darkness and
desertion: her agony and passion lay before her like those of the
Divine Sufferer, to whom every day of the succeeding week is specially
consecrated. There is almost indeed a painful following of the Saviour's
steps in these dark days, the circumstances lending themselves in a
wonderful way to the comparison which French writers love to make, but
which many of us must always feel, however spotless the sufferer, to
have a certain irreverence in them. But if ever martyr were worthy of
being called a partaker of the sufferings of Christ it was surely this
girl, free, if ever human creature was, from self-seeking, or thought
of reward, or ambitious hope, in whose heart there had never been any
motive but the service of God and the deliverance of her country, who
had neither looked before nor after, nor put her own interests into
consideration in any way. Silently the feast passed with no holy
privileges of religion, no blessed token of the spring, no remembrance
of the waving palms and scattered blossoms over which her Lord rode into
Jerusalem to die. She had not that sweet fallacious triumph; but the
darker ordeal remained for her to follow.
On Tuesday the 27th of March, her troubles began again. Before Palm
Sunday, the report of the trial had been read to her. She had now to
hear the formal reading of the articles founded upon it, to give a final
response if she had any to give, or explanation, or addition, if she
thought proper. The sitting was held in the great hall of the Castle
of Rouen before a band of more than forty, all assembled for this final
test. The Bishop made a prefactory speech to the prisoner, pointing out
to her how benign and merciful were the judges now assembled, that they
had no wish to punish, but rather to instruct and lead her in the right
way; and requesting her at this late period in the proceedings to choose
one or more from among them to help her. To which Jeanne replied; "In
the first place concerning my good and our faith, I thank you and all
the company. As for the counsellor you offer me I thank you also, but I
have no need to depart from our Lord as my counsellor."
The articles, in which the former questions put to her and answered by
her, were now repeated in the form of accusations, were then read to her
one by one; her sorcery, sacrilege, etc., being taken as facts. To a
few she repeated, with various forcible and fine turns of phrase, her
previous answers, with here and there a new explanation; but to the
great majority she referred simply to her former replies, or denied
the charge, as follows: "The second article concerning sortilège,
superstitious acts and divination, she denied, and in respect to
adoration (i.e. allowing herself to be adored) said: If any kissed her
hands or her garments, it was not by her will, and that she kept herself
from it as much as she could; and the rest of the article she denies."
This is a specimen of the manner in which she responded, with a
clear-headed and undisturbed intelligence, point after point--_ipsa
Johanna negat_, is the usual refrain: or else she referred with dignity
to previous replies as her sole answer. But sometimes the girl was
moved to indignation, sometimes added a word in her own defence: "As for
fairies she knew not what they were, and as for her education she had
been well and duly instructed what to believe, as a good child should."
This was her answer to the article in which all the folk-lore of
Domremy, all the fairy tales, had been collected into a solemn statement
of heresy. The matter of dress was once more treated in endless detail,
with many interjected questions and reports of what she had already
said: and at the end, answering the statement that woman's dress was
most fit for woman's work, Jeanne added the quick _mot_: "As for the
usual work of women, there are enough of other women to do it." On
another occasion when the report ran that she claimed to have done all
things by the counsel of God, she interrupted and said "that it ought
to be, all that I have done well." To her former answer that she had
yielded to the desire of the French knights in attacking Paris, she
added the fine words, "It seemed to me that it was their duty to attack
their adversaries." In respect to her visions she added to her former
answer, "that she had not asked advice of bishop, curé, or any other
before believing her revelations, but had many times prayed God to
reveal them to others of her party." About calling her saints when she
required their aid she added, that she asked God and Our Lady to send
her council and comfort, and immediately her heavenly visitors came; and
that this was the prayer she made:
"Gentle God, in honour of Your(1) passion, I pray You, if You love me,
that You would reveal to me how I ought to answer these people of the
Church. I know well by what command it was that I took this dress, but
I know not in what manner I ought to give it up. For this may it please
You to teach me."
In respect to the reproach that she had been a general in the war (_chef
de guerre_), she explained that if she were, it was to drive out the
English, repelling the accusation that she had assumed this title in
pride; and to that which accused her of preferring to live among men,
she explained that when she was in a lodging she generally had a woman
with her; but that when engaged in war she lived in her clothes whenever
there was not a woman present. In respect to her hope of escaping
from prison, she was asked if her council had thrown any light on that
question, and replied, "I have yet to tell you." Manchon, the
clerk, makes a note upon his margin at these words, "Proudly
answered"--_superbe responsum_.
This re-examination lasted for two long days, the 27th and 28th of
March. On several points Jeanne requested that she might be allowed to
give an answer on Saturday, and accordingly, on Saturday, the last day
of March, Easter Eve, she was visited in prison by the Bishop and
seven or eight assessors. She was then asked if she would submit to
the judgment of the Church on earth all that she had done and said,
specially in things that concerned her trial. She answered that she
would submit to the judgment of the Church militant, provided that it
did not enforce anything that was impossible. She explained that
what she called impossible was to acknowledge that the visions and
revelations came otherwise than from God, or that what she had done was
not on the part of God: these she would never deny or revoke for any
power on earth: and that which our Lord had commanded or should command,
she would not give up for any living man, and this would be impossible
to her. And in case the Church should command her to do anything
contrary to the command given her by God she would not do it for any
reason whatsoever. Asked whether she would submit to the Church if the
Church militant pronounced that her revelations were delusions or from
the devil, or superstitious, or evil things, she answered that she would
refer everything to our Lord, whose command she always obeyed; and that
she knew well that everything had come to her by the commandment of God;
and that what she had affirmed during this trial to have been done by
the commandment of God it would be impossible for her to deny. And in
case the Church militant commanded her to go against God, she would
submit herself to no man in this world but to our Lord, whose good
commandment she had always obeyed. She was asked if she did not believe
that she was subject to the Church on earth, that is, to our Holy Father
the Pope, the Cardinals, Bishops, and other prelates of the Church.
She answered, "_Yes, our Lord being served first_." Asked if she had
directions from her voices not to submit to the Church militant which
is on earth, nor to its judgment, she replied that she does not answer
according to what comes into her head, but that when she replies it is
by commandment; and that she has never been told not to obey the Church,
our Lord being served first (_noster Sire premier servi_).
Other less formal particulars come to us long after, from various
witnesses at the _procès de rehabilitation_, in which a lively picture
is given of this scene. Frère Isambard had apparently managed, as was
his wont, to get close to the prisoner, and to whisper to her to appeal
to the Council of Bâle. "What is this Council of Bâle?" she asked in the
same tone. Isambard replied that it was the "congregation of the whole
Church, Catholic and Universal, and that there would be as many there on
her side as on that of the English." "Ah!" she cried, "since there will
be some of our party in that place, I will willingly yield and submit
to the Council of Bâle, to our Holy Father the Pope, and to the sacred
Council."(2) And immediately--continues the deposition--the Bishop of
Beauvais cried out, "Silence, in the devil's name!" and told the notary
to take no notice of what she said, that she would submit herself to the
Council of Bâle; whereupon a second cry burst from the bosom of Jeanne,
"You write what is against me, but you will not write what is for me."
"Because of these things, the English and their officers threatened
terribly the said Frère Isambard, warning him that if he did not hold
his peace he would be thrown in the Seine." No notice whatever is taken
of any such interruption in the formal record. It must have been before
this time that Jean de la Fontaine disappeared. He left Rouen secretly
and never returned, nor does he ever appear again. Frère Isambard is
said to have taken temporary refuge in his convent; they scattered,
_de par l'diable_, according to the Christian adjuration of Mgr. De
Beauvais; though l'Advenu would seem to have held his ground, and served
as Confessor to Jeanne in her agony, at which Frère Isambard was also
present. We are told that the Deputy Inquisitor Lemâitre, he who had
been got to lend the aid of his presence with such difficulty, fiercely
warned the authorities that he would have no harm done to those two
friars, from which we may infer that he too had leanings towards the
Maid; and these honest and loyal men, well deserving of their country
and of mankind, should not lose their record when the tragic story of so
much human treachery and baseness has to be told.
*****
After this there came a long pause, full of much business to the judges,
councillors, and clerks who had to reduce the seventy articles to
twelve, in order to forward a summary of the case to the University of
Paris for their judgment. Jeanne in the meantime had been left, but not
neglected, in her prison. The great Feast of Easter had passed without
any sacred consolation of the Church; but Monseigneur de Beauvais,
in his kindness, sent her a carp to keep the feast withal, if not any
spiritual food. It was quite congenial to the spirit of the time to
imagine that the carp had been poisoned, and such a thought seems to
have crossed the mind of Jeanne, who was very ill after eating of it,
and like to die. But it was not thus, poisoned in prison, that it would
have suited any of her persecutors to let her die. As a matter of fact,
as soon as it was known that she was ill, the best doctors procurable
were sent to the prison with peremptory orders to prolong her life
and cure her at any cost. But for a little time we lose sight of
the sick-bed on which the unfortunate Maid lay fully dressed, never
relinquishing the garb which was her protection, with her feet chained
to her uneasy couch. Even at the moment when her life hung in the
balance we read of no indulgence granted in this respect, no unlocking
of the infamous chain, nor substitution of a gentler nurse for the
attendant _houspillers_, who were her guards night and day.
When the Bishop and his court had completed their business and sent off
to Paris the important document on which so much depended, they found
themselves at leisure to return to Jeanne, to inquire after her health
and to make her "a charitable admonition." It was on the 18th of April,
after the silence of more than a fortnight, that their visit was made
with this benevolent purpose. Seven of her judges attended the Bishop
into the sick-chamber. They had come, he assured her, charitably and
familiarly, to visit her in her sickness and to carry her comfort and
consolation. Most of these men were indeed familiar enough: she had seen
their faces already through many a dreadful day, though there were one
or two which were new and strange, come to stare at her in the depths
of her distress. Cauchon reminded her how much and how carefully she had
been questioned by the most wise and learned men; and that those there
present were ready to do anything for the salvation of her soul and
body in every possible way, by instructing or advising her. He added,
however, that if she still refused to accept advice, and to act
according to the counsel of the Church, she was in the greatest
danger--to which she replied:
"It seems to me, being so ill as I am, that I am in great danger of
death. And if it is thus that God pleases to decide for me, I ask of you
to be allowed to confess and receive my Saviour, and to be laid in holy
ground."
"If you desire to have the rites and sacraments of the Church," said
Cauchon, "you must do as good Catholics ought to do, submit to Holy
Church." She answered, "I can say no other thing to you." She was then
told that if she was in fear of death through sickness she ought all the
more to amend her life; but that she could not have the privileges
of the Church as a Catholic, if she did not submit to the Church. She
answered: "If my body dies in prison, I hope that you will bury me in
consecrated ground: yet if not, I still hope in our Lord."
She was then reminded that she had said in her trial--if anything had
been said or done by her against our Christian faith ordained by our
Lord, that she would not stand by it. She answered, "I refer to the
answer I made, and to our Lord."
It was then asked of her, since she believed herself to have had many
revelations from God by St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret,
whether if there should appear some good creature (_sic_) who professed
to have had a revelation from God in respect to her, she would believe
that? She answered that there was no Christian in the world who could
come to her professing to have had a revelation, of whom she should not
know whether he spoke the truth or not: she would know it through St.
Catherine and St. Margaret.
Asked, if she could not imagine that God might reveal something to a
good creature who might be unknown to her, she answered: "Yes; but I
would not believe either man or woman without a sign."
Asked, if she believed that the Holy Scripture was revealed by God, she
answered, "You know that I do, and it is good to know."
The last answer she made in respect to submission to Holy Church was
this, "Whatever may happen to me I will neither do nor say anything
else, for I have answered before, during the trial."
She was then "exhorted powerfully by the venerable doctors present"
(four are mentioned by name) to submit to our Mother the Church, with
many authorities and examples drawn from the Holy Scriptures; and
finally, Magister Nicolas Midi made her an exhortation from Matthew
xviii.: "If your brother trespass against you," and what follows, "If
he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as a heathen man and
a publican." This was expounded to Jeanne in the French tongue and,
finally, she was told that if she would not obey and submit to the
Church she must be given up as if she was a Saracen. To which Jeanne
replied that she was a good Christian and well baptised, and that she
desired to die as a Christian. She was then asked whether, since she
begged leave of the Church to receive her Saviour, she would submit
to the Church if it were promised to her that she should receive. She
answered that she would say no more than she had said; that she loved
God, served Him, and was a good Christian, and would aid and uphold the
Holy Church with all her power. Asked if she wished that a beautiful
procession should be made for her to restore her to health, she answered
that she would be glad if the Church and the Catholics would pray for
her.
For another fortnight Jeanne was sent back into the silence, and to her
own thoughts, which must have grown heavier and heavier as the weary
days went on, and no sound of approaching deliverance came, no rumour
of help at hand. All was quiet and safe at Rouen; amid the babble of the
courtyard which she might hear fitfully when her guardians were quieter
than usual, there was not one word which brought the hope of a French
army at hand, or of any movement to rescue her. All was silent in the
world around, not a breath of hope, not the whisper of a friend. It was
not till the 2d of May that the dreadful blank was again broken, and she
was called to the great hall of the castle for another interview with
her tormentors. When she was led into the hall it was full, as in the
first sitting, sixty-three judges in all being present. The interest
had flagged or the pity had grown as the trial dragged its slow length
along; but now, when every day the verdict was expected from Paris, the
interest had risen again. On her way from her prison to the hall, it was
necessary to pass the door of the castle chapel: and here once or twice
Massieu, the officer of the court, had permitted her to pause and kneel
down as she passed. This was all the celebration of the Paschal Feast
that was permitted to Jeanne. The compassionate official, however, was
discovered in this small service of charity, and sternly reprimanded
and threatened. Henceforward she had to pass without even a longing look
through the door at the altar on which was the holy sacrament.
She came in on the renewed sitting of the 2d May to find the assembled
priests settling themselves, after the address which had been made to
them, to hear another address which John de Chasteillon, Archdeacon, had
prepared for herself, in which he said much that was good both for body
and soul, to which she consented. He had a list of twelve articles in
his hands, and explained and expounded them to her, as they were the
occasion of the sitting. He then "admonished her in charity," explaining
that those who were faithful to Christ hold firmly and closely to the
Christian creed, and adjuring her to consent and to amend her ways. To
this Jeanne answered: "Read your book," meaning the schedule held by
Monseigneur the Archdeacon, "and then I will answer you. I refer myself
to God my master in all things; and I love Him with all my heart."
To read this book, however, was precisely what Monseigneur the
Archdeacon had no intention of doing. She was never allowed to hear the
twelve articles upon which the verdict against her was founded; but the
speaker gave her a long discourse by way of explanation, following more
or less the schedule which he held. This "monition general," however,
elicited no detailed reply from Jeanne, who answered briefly with some
impatience, "I refer myself to my judge, who is the King of Heaven
and earth." The "Lord Archdeacon" then proceeded to "monitions
particulares."
It was then once more explained to her that this reference to God alone
was a refusal to submit to the Church militant, and she was instructed
in the authority of the Church, which it was the duty of every Christian
to believe--_unam sanctam Ecclesiam_ always guided by the Holy Spirit
and which could not err, to the judgment of which every question should
be referred. She answered: "I believe in the Church here below; but my
doings and sayings, as I have already said, I refer and submit to God. I
believe that the Church militant cannot err or fail; but as for my deeds
and words I put them all before God, who has made me do that which
I have done"; she also said that she submitted herself to God, her
Creator, who had made her do everything, and referred everything to Him,
and to Him alone.
She was then asked, if she would have no judge on earth and if our
Holy Father the Pope were not her judge; she answered: "I will tell you
nothing more. I have a good master, that is our Lord, on whom I depend
for everything, and not an any other."
She was then told that if she would not believe the Church and the
article _Ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam_, that she might be reckoned as
a heretic and punished by burning: to which she answered: "I can say
nothing else to you; and if I saw the fire before me, I should say only
that which I say, and could do nothing else." (Once more at this point
the clerk writes on his margin, "Proud reply"--_Superba responsio_--but
whether in admiration or in blame it would be hard to say.)
Asked, if the Council General, or the Holy Father, Cardinals, etc., were
there--whether she would submit to them. "You shall have no other answer
from me," she said.
Asked, if she would submit to our Holy Father the Pope: she answered,
"Take me to him and I will answer him," but would say no more.
Questioned in respect to her dress, she answered, that she would
willingly accept a long dress and a woman's hood to go to church to
receive her Saviour, provided that, as she had already said, she were
allowed to wear it on that occasion only, and then to take back that
which she at present wore. Further, when it was set before her that she
wore that dress without any need, being in prison, she answered, "When
I have done that for which I was sent by God, I will then take back a
woman's dress." Asked, if she thought she did well in being dressed like
a man, she answered, "I refer every thing to our Lord."
Again, after the exhortation made to her, namely, that in saying
that she did well and did not sin in wearing that dress, and in the
circumstances which concerned her assuming and wearing it, and in
saying that God and the saints made her do so--she blasphemed, and as
is contained in this schedule, erred and did evil: she answered that she
never blasphemed God or the saints.
She was then admonished to give up that dress, and no longer to think it
was right, and to return to the garb of a woman; but answered that she
would make no change in this respect.
Concerning her revelations: she replied in regard to them, that she
referred everything to her judge, that is God, and that her revelations
were from God, without any other medium.
Asked concerning the sign given to the King if she would refer to
the Archbishop of Rheims, the Sire de Boussac, Charles de Bourbon, La
Tremouille, and La Hire, to them or to any one of them, who, according
to what she formerly said, had seen the crown, and were present when the
angel brought it, and gave it to the Archbishop; or if she would refer
to any others of her party who might write under their seals that it was
so; she answered, "Send a messenger, and I will write to them about the
whole trial": but otherwise she was not disposed to refer to them.
In respect to her presumption in divining the future, etc., she
answered, "I refer everything to my judge who is God, and to what I have
already answered, which is written in the book."
Asked, if two or three or four knights of her party were to be
brought here under a safe conduct, whether she would refer to them her
apparitions and other things contained in this trial; answered, "Let
them come and then I will answer:" but otherwise she was not willing to
refer to anyone.
Asked whether, at the Church of Poitiers where she was examined, she had
submitted to the Church, she answered, "Do you hope to catch me in this
way, and by that draw advantage to yourselves?"
In conclusion, "afresh and abundantly," she was admonished to submit
herself to the Church, on pain of being abandoned by the Church; for if
the Church left her she would be in great danger of body and of soul;
and she might well put herself in peril of eternal fire for the soul, as
well as of temporal fire for the body, by the sentence of other judges.
"You will not do this which you say against me, without doing injury to
your own bodies and souls," she said.
Asked, whether she could give a reason why she would not submit to the
Church: but to this she would make no additional reply.
Again a week passed in busy talk and consultation without, in silence
and desertion within. On the 9th of May the prisoner was again led, this
time to the great tower, apparently the torture chamber of the castle,
where she found nine of her judges awaiting her, and was once more
adjured to speak the truth, with the threat of torture if she continued
to refuse. Never was her attitude more calm, more dignified and lofty in
its simplicity, than at this grim moment.
"Truly," she replied, "if you tear the limbs from my body, and my soul
out of it, I can say nothing other than what I have said; or if I said
anything different, I should afterwards say that you had compelled me to
do it by force." She added that on the day of the Holy Cross, the 3d of
May past, she had been comforted by St. Gabriel. She believed that it
was St. Gabriel: and she knew by her voices that it was St. Gabriel. She
had asked counsel of her voices whether she should submit to the Church,
because the priests pressed her so strongly to submit: but it had been
said to her that if she desired our Lord to help her she must depend
upon Him for everything. She added that she knew well that our Lord had
always been the master of all she did, and that the Enemy had nothing
to do with her deeds. Also she had asked her voices if she should be
burned, and the said voices had replied to her that she was to wait for
the Lord and He would help her.
Afterwards in respect to the crown which had been handed by the angel to
the Archbishop of Rheims, she was asked if she would refer to him. She
answered: "Bring him here, that I may hear what he says, and then I
shall answer you; he will not dare to say the contrary of that which I
have said to you."
The Archbishop of Rheims had been her constant enemy; all the hindrances
that had occurred in her active life, and the constant attempts made
to balk her even in her brief moment of triumph, came from him and his
associate La Trémouille. He was the last person in the world to whom
Jeanne naturally would have appealed. Perhaps that was the admirable
reason why he was suggested in this dreadful crisis of her fate.
A few days later, it was discussed among those dark inquisitors whether
the torture should be applied or not. Finally, among thirteen there were
but two (let not the voice of sacred vengeance be silent on their shame
though after four centuries and more), Thomas de Courcelles, first of
theologians, cleverest of ecclesiastical lawyers, mildest of men, and
Nicolas L'Oyseleur, the spy and traitor, who voted for the torture. One
man most reasonably asked why she should be put to torture when they
had ample material for judgment without it? One cannot but feel that
the proceedings on this occasion were either intended to beguile the
impatience of the English authorities, eager to be done with the whole
business, or to add a quite gratuitous pang to the sufferings of the
heroic girl. As the men were not devils, though probably possessed by
this time, the more cruel among them, by the horrible curiosity, innate
alas! in human nature, of seeing how far a suffering soul could go, it
is probable that the first motive was the true one. The English, Warwick
especially, whose every movement was restrained by this long-pending
affair, were exceedingly impatient, and tempted at times to take the
matter into their own hands, and spoil the perfectness of this well
constructed work of art, conducted according to all the rules, the
beautiful trial which was dear to the Bishop's heart--and destined to
be, though perhaps in a sense somewhat different to that which he hoped,
his chief title to fame.
Ten days after, the decision of the University of Paris arrived, and a
great assembly of counsellors, fifty-one in all, besides the permanent
presidents, collected together in the chapel of the Archbishop's
house, to hear that document read, along with many other documents, the
individual opinions of a host of doctors and eminent authorities.
After an explanation of the solemn care given by the University to the
consideration of every one of the twelve articles of the indictment,
that learned tribunal pronounced its verdict upon each. The length of
the proceedings makes it impossible to reproduce these. First as to the
early revelations given to Jeanne, described in the first and second
articles, they are denounced as "murderous, seductive, and pernicious
fictions," the apparitions those of "malignant spirits and devils,
Belial, Satan, and Behemoth." The third article, which concerned her
recognition of the saints, was described more mildly as containing
errors in faith; the fourth, as to her knowledge of future events, was
characterised as "superstitious and presumptuous divination." The fifth,
concerning her dress, declared her to be "blasphemous and contemptuous
of God in His Sacraments." The sixth, by which she was accused of loving
bloodshed, because she made war against those who did not obey the
summons in her letters bearing the name Jhesus Maria, was declared to
prove that she was cruel, "seeking the shedding of blood, seditious,
and a blasphemer of God." The tenor is the same to the end: Blasphemy,
superstition, pernicious doctrine, impiety, cruelty, presumption, lying;
a schismatic, a heretic, an apostate, an idolator, an invoker of demons.
These are the conclusions drawn by the most solemn and weighty tribunal
on matters of faith in France. The precautions taken to procure a
full and trustworthy judgment, the appeal to each section in turn, the
Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Law, the "Nations," all separately
and than all together passing every item in review--are set forth at
full length. Every formality had been fulfilled, every rule followed,
every detail was in the fullest order, signed and sealed and attested by
solemn notaries, bristling with well-known names. A beautiful judgment,
equal to the trial, which was beautiful too--not a rule omitted except
those of justice, fairness, and truth! The doctors sat and listened with
every fine professional sense satisfied.
"If the beforesaid woman, charitably exhorted and admonished by
competent judges, does not return spontaneously to the Catholic faith,
publicly abjure her errors, and give full satisfaction to her judges,
she is hereby given up to the secular judge to receive the reward of her
deeds."
The attendant judges, each in his place, now added their adhesion.
Most of them simply stated their agreement with the judgment of the
University, or with that of the Bishop of Fecamp, which was a similar
tenor; a few wished that Jeanne should be again "charitably admonished";
many desired that on this selfsame day the final sentence should
be pronounced. One among them, a certain Raoul Sauvage (Radulphus
Silvestris), suggested that she should be brought before the people in
a public place, a suggestion afterwards carried out. Frère Isambard
desired that she should be charitably admonished again and have another
chance, and that her final fate should still be in the hands of "us her
judges." The conclusion was that one more "charitable admonition" should
be given to Jeanne, and that the law should then take its course.
The suggestion that she should make a public appearance had only one
supporter.
This dark scene in the chapel is very notable, each man rising to
pronounce what was in reality a sentence of death,--fifty of them almost
unanimous, filled no doubt with a hundred different motives, to please
this man or that, to win favour, to get into the way of promotion,--but
all with a distinct consciousness of the great yet horrible spectacle,
the stake, the burning:--though perhaps here and there was one with a
hope that perpetual imprisonment, bread of sorrow and water of anguish,
might be substituted for that terrible death. Finally, it was decided
that--always on the side of mercy, as every act proved--the tribunal
should once more "charitably admonish" the prisoner for the salvation
of her soul and body, and that after all this "good deliberation and
wholesome counsel" the case should be concluded.
Again there follows a pause of four days. No doubt the Bishop and his
assessors had other things to do, their ecclesiastical functions,
their private business, which could not always be put aside because one
forsaken soul was held in suspense day after day. Finally on the 24th of
May, Jeanne again received in her prison a dignified company, some quite
new and strange to her (indeed the idea may cross the reader's mind
that it was perhaps to show off the interesting prisoner to two new
and powerful bishops, the first, Louis of Luxembourg, a relative of her
first captor, that this last examination was held), nine men in all,
crowding her chamber--_exponuntur Johannæ defectus sui_, says the
record--to expound to Jeanne her faults. It was Magister Peter Morice to
whom this office was confided. Once more the "schedule" was gone over,
and an address delivered laden with all the bad words of the University.
"Jeanne, dearest friend," said the orator at last, "it is now time, at
the end of the trial, to think well what words these are." She would
seem to have spoken during this address, at least once--to say that
she held to everything she had said during the trial. When Morice had
finished she was once more questioned personally.
She was asked if she still thought and believed that it was not her duty
to submit her deeds and words to the Church militant, or to any other
except God, upon which she replied, "What I have always said and held to
during the trial, I maintain to this moment"; and added that if she
were in judgment and saw the fire lighted, the faggots burning, and the
executioner ready to rake the fire, and she herself within the fire,
she could say nothing else, but would sustain what she had said in her
trial, to death.
Once more the scribe has written on his margin the words _Responsio
Johannæ superba_--the proud answer of Jeanne. Her raised head, her
expanded breast, something of a splendour of indignation about her,
must have moved the man, thus for the third time to send down to us his
distinctly human impression of the worn out prisoner before her judges.
"And immediately the promoter and she refusing to say more, the cause
was concluded," says the record, so formal, sustained within such
purely abstract limits, yet here and there with a sort of throb and
reverberation of the mortal encounter. From the lips of the Inquisitor
too all words seemed to have been taken. It is as when amid the excited
crowd in the Temple the officers of the Pharisees approaching to lay
hands on a greater than Jeanne, fell back, not knowing why, and could
not do their office. This man was silenced also. Two bishops were
present, and one a great man full of patronage; but not for the richest
living in Normandy could Peter Morice find any more to say.
These are in one sense the words of Jeanne; the last we have from her in
her prison, the last of her consistent and unbroken life. After, there
was a deeper horror to go through, a moment when all her forces failed.
Here on the verge of eternity she stands heroic and unyielding, brave,
calm, and steadfast as at the outset of her career, the Maid of France.
Were the fires lighted and the faggots burning, and she herself within
the fire, she had no other word to say.
(1) It is correct in French to use the second person plural
in addressing God, _thou_ being a more intimate and less
respectful form of speech. Such a difference is difficult to
remember, and troubles the ear. The French, even those who
ought to know better, sometimes speak of it as a supreme
profanity on the part of the profane English, that they
address God as _thou_.
(2) The French report goes on, "et requiert ----," but no
more. It is not in the Latin. The scribe was stopped by the
Bishop's profane outcry, and forbidden to register the fact
she was about to make a direct appeal to the Pope.