The Trial of Joan of Arc
By W.P. Barrett
Chapter 16: The Tenor of the Articles of Accusation
I Wednesday, March 28th
On this Wednesday there were present the reverend fathers, lords and lawyers: Gilles, abbot of Fécamp; Pierre, prior of Longueville; Jean Beaupère, Jacques de Touraine, Erard Emengart, Maurice du Quesnay, Nicolas Midi, Pierre Maurice, Guillaume Le Boucher, Jean de Nibat, Jean Le Fèvre, Jean de Châtillon, Jacques Guesdon, and Gérard Feuillet, doctors of sacred theology; Raoul Roussel, doctor of canon and civil law; Robert Le Barbier, licentiate in canon law; William Haiton, Nicolas Couppequesne, bachelors of sacred theology; Jean Guerin, Denis Gastinel, Jean Le Doulx, bachelors of canon and civil law; Jean Pinchon, Jean Basset, Jean de La Fontaine, Jean Colombel, Jean Duchemin, bachelors of canon law; André Marguerie, archdeacon of Petit-Caux; Jean Alespée, Nicolas Caval, Geoffroy du Crotay, licentiates in civil law; Guillaume Desjardins, Jean Tiphaine, doctors, and Guillaume de La Chambre, licentiate of medicine, William Brolbster and John Hampton, priests.
Here follows word for word the tenor of the articles of the accusation, and of the answers made by Jeanne, with the other answers which she made elsewhere, to which she refers
"In your presence, venerable father in Christ and in Our Lord, Pierre, by divine mercy bishop of Beauvais, now Ordinary
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Judge and possessing territory in the city and diocese of Rouen; and of the religious brother Jean Le Maistre, of the order of Preaching brothers, bachelor of sacred theology, vicar in this town and diocese and in this trial especially appointed by master Jean Graverent, distinguished doctor of sacred theology, of the same order, Inquisitor of Heretical Error in the kingdom of France by the Holy See; before you, competent judges, to the end that the woman commonly called Jeanne the Maid, found, taken, and detained in the limits of your territory, venerable father, and the boundaries of your diocese of Beauvais, surrendered, entrusted, delivered, and restored to you, her ecclesiastical and ordinary judge by Our Lord Christian King of France and England, to be dealt with by the law and corrected, as one vehemently suspected, denounced, and defamed by honest and sober people; to the end that she should be denounced and declared by you her said judges as a witch, enchantress, false prophet, a caller-up of evil spirits, as superstitious, implicated in and given to magic arts, thinking evil in our Catholic faith, schismatic in the article Unam Sanctam, etc., and in many other articles of our faith skeptic and devious, sacrilegious, idolatrous, apostate of the faith, accursed and working evil, blasphemous towards God and His saints, scandalous, seditious, perturbing and obstructing the peace, inciting to war, cruelly thirsting for human blood, encouraging it to be shed, having utterly and shamelessly abandoned the modesty befitting her sex, and indecently put on the ill-fitting dress and state of men-at-arms; and for that and other things abominable to God and man, contrary to laws both divine and natural, and to ecclesiastical discipline, misleading princes and people; having to the scorn of God permitted and allowed herself to be adored and venerated, giving her hands to be kissed; heretical or at the least vehemently suspected of heresy; that according to the divine and canonical
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sanctions she should be punished and corrected canonically and lawfully, as befitted these and all other proper ends: Jean d'Estivet, canon of the churches of Bayeux and Beauvais, Promoter or Procurator of your office, appointed therein by you and specially deputed agent and prosecutor in the name of that office, says, proposes, and intends to prove and duly inform your minds against the said Jeanne, accused or denounced; nevertheless the said Promoter protests that it is not his intention to endeavor to prove what is superfluous, but only what will and must suffice to this end, wholly or in part, with all other protestations customary in such matters, and reservations of the right to add, correct, alter, interpret, in law and in fact."
I
"Firstly, according to divine as well as canon and civil law it is meet and proper for you, the one as ordinary judge, the other as Inquisitor of the faith, to drive out, destroy and utterly uproot from your diocese and from the whole kingdom of France the heresies, sacrileges, superstitions, and other crimes declared above; to punish, correct and restore heretics, those who propose, speak, and utter things contrary to our Catholic faith, or act against it in any way, and all evil doers, criminals or their accomplices who shall be apprehended in the said diocese and jurisdiction, even if part or all of their misdeeds shall have been committed elsewhere, as other competent judges in their own dioceses, limits, and jurisdictions are empowered and bound to do. And therein, even in respect of a lay person of whatever estate, sex, quality, or preëminence, you must be held, esteemed and reputed competent judges."
To this first article Jeanne replies that she is well aware that Our Holy Father the Pope of Rome and the bishops and other clergy exist for the protection of the Christian faith
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and the punishment of those who fall from it; but for her part she will in respect of her acts submit only to the Church in Heaven, that is to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Saints of Paradise. She firmly believes that she has not failed in our faith and would not fail therein.
II
"The said accused, not only in the present year, but from the time of her childhood, not only in your diocese and jurisdiction, but also in the neighboring and other parts of this kingdom, has performed, composed, mingled in and commanded many charms and superstitions; she has been deified and permitted herself to be adored and venerated; she has called up demons and evil spirits, has consulted and frequented them, has had, made, and entered into pacts and treaties with them; she has similarly given counsel, aid and favor to others doing the same things, and has induced them to do the same or like things, saying, believing, maintaining, affirming, that so to do, to believe in them, to use such charms, divinations and superstitious proceedings was neither a sin nor a forbidden thing; but she has rather assured them that it is lawful, praiseworthy and opportune, enticing into these evil ways and errors many people of different estate and of either sex, in whose heart she imprinted these and like things. And in the accomplishment and perpetration of these crimes the said Jeanne has been taken and captured in the boundaries and limits of your diocese of Beauvais."
To this second article Jeanne answers that she denies the charms, superstitions, and divinations; and as for the adoration, if certain people have kissed her hands or garments it is not because of her or at her will; she kept herself from that as far as it was within her power. The rest of the article she denies.
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And moreover on Saturday, March 3rd, of this same year, in regard to the content of this article, when she was asked if she knew what was in the thoughts of the people of her party as they kissed her hands, her feet and her garments, she answered that many people gladly saw her. And with that, she said that she told them to kiss her garments as little as possible; but the poor came to her, so she did not disappoint them, but helped them as much as she could.
Saturday, March 10th, when asked if on making the sortie at Compiègne, where she was captured, she had been told by revelation or by her voice to make the sortie, she answered that on that day it had not announced her capture, and she was not counseled to go there; but she had often been told that she must be taken. Asked if when she made this sortie she passed over the bridge of Compiègne, she answered yes, and through the boulevard; that she went with the company of her men against the men of lord Jean de Luxembourg, that she twice drove them to the camp of the Burgundians, and a third time to the middle of the highway; and then the English cut off the road from her and her company, between her and the boulevard, so her men retreated; and she, falling back to the fields, on the Picardy side, was captured; and the river was between Compiègne and the place where she was taken, and between Compiègne and where she was taken there was only the river, and the boulevard with its ditch.
III
"The accused is fallen into many divers errors of the worst kind, infected with heretical evil: she has said, uttered, voiced, affirmed, published, graven on the hearts of simple people certain false and lying propositions, infected with heresy and actually heretical, without and contrary to our Catholic faith, against the statutes made and approved by the General Councils,
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as well as divine, canon and civil laws: propositions scandalous, sacrilegious, contrary to good customs and offensive to pious ears; she has lent aid, counsel and favor to those who have said, uttered, affirmed and promulgated these propositions."
This third article Jeanne denies and declares that as far as in her lies she has upheld the Church.
IV
"And the better and more particularly to inform you, my ford judges, of the offenses, excesses, crimes, and misdemeanors committed by the accused, as has been reported, in many parts of the realm, in this diocese and elsewhere, it is true that the accused was and is a native of the village of Greux, that she has for father Jacques d'Arc and for mother Isabelle, his wife; that she was brought up in her youth, until the age of 18 or thereabouts, in the village of Domrémy on the Meuse, in the diocese of Toul, in the Bailly of Chaumont-en-Bassigny, in the provosty of Monteclaire and Andelot. Which Jeanne in her youth was not taught or instructed in the belief and principles of the faith, but was lessoned and initiated by certain old women in the use of spells, divinations, and other superstitious works or magic arts. Many inhabitants of these villages are known from olden times to have practiced these evil arts, and from certain of them, and especially from her godmother, Jeanne declares she has often heard talk of visions or apparitions of fairies or fairy spirits, and from others also she has been taught and filled with these evil and pernicious errors about the spirits, so much so that she confessed to you, in judgment, that until this day she knew not whether these fairies were evil spirits."
To this article Jeanne replied that she allowed the first part, namely, about her father and mother and the place of
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her birth; but as for fairies, she did not understand. As for her instruction, she learned to believe and was well and duly taught how to behave as a good child should. For her godmother she referred to what she had stated elsewhere.
Asked about saying her Credo, she answers: "Ask the confessor to whom I said it."
V
"Near the village of Domrémy stands a certain large and ancient tree, commonly called ''l'arbre charmine faée de Bourlemont," and near the tree is a fountain. It is said that round about live evil spirits, called fairies, with whom those who practice spells are wont to dance at night, wandering about the tree and the fountain."
To this fifth article, touching the tree and the fountain, Jeanne refers to another answer she has given: the rest she denies.
On Saturday the 24th day of February, she answered that not far from Domrémy there is a tree called the Ladies' Tree which some call the Fairies' Tree, and near it is a fountain. She has heard that the sick drink of this fountain (she herself has drunk of it) and seek from its waters the restoration of their health; but she does not know whether they are cured or not.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if St. Catherine and St. Margaret spoke to her under the tree, she answered: "I do not know." And asked once more if the saints spoke to her at the fountain, she answered that they did, that she heard them there; but what they said to her then, she no longer knew. Asked, on the same day, what the saints promised her, there or elsewhere, she replied that they made no promise to her, but by God's permission.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked if her godmother who saw
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the fairies is accounted a wise woman, she answered that she is held and accounted a good honest woman, and not a witch or sorceress.
The same day, asked if she had not heretofore believed the fairies to be evil spirits, she answered that she did not know. And the same day, when asked if she knew anything of those who consort with the fairies, she answered that she never went and never knew aught of that, but she had heard that some went on Thursdays. She does not believe in it, and holds it to be witchcraft.
VI
"The said Jeanne was wont to frequent the fountain and the tree, mostly at night, sometimes during the day; particularly, so as to be alone, at hours when in church the divine office was being celebrated. When dancing she would turn around the tree and the fountain, then would hang on the boughs garlands of different herbs and flowers, made by her own hand, dancing and singing the while, before and after, certain songs and verses and invocations, spells and evil arts. And the next morning the chaplets of flowers would no longer be found there."
To this sixth article, on this 27th day of March, she answers that she refers to another reply that she has made. The remainder of the article she denies.
On Saturday, the 24th of February, she said that she heard how that the sick, when they can get up, go to the tree to walk about; it is a huge tree, a beech, from which "le beau may" comes; and it belonged, so it was said, to Pierre de Bourlemont. Sometimes she went playing with the other girls, in summer, and made garlands for Our Lady of Domrémy there. Often she had heard old people tell, not those of her family, that the fairies frequented it. She has heard Jeanne, the wife of mayor
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Aubrey of Domrémy, her godmother, say that she had seen the fairies, but she herself does not know if it is true. She never, as far as she knew, saw the fairies, and she does not know if she saw any elsewhere. She has seen the maidens putting chaplets of flowers on the boughs of the tree, and she herself has hung them with the others, sometimes carrying them away, sometimes leaving them there. She adds that ever since she knew she must come to France she had taken little part in games or dancing, as little as possible. She does not know whether she has danced near the tree since she had grown to understanding; and though on occasions she may well have danced there with the children, she more often sang than danced there. There is also a wood, called the Oak wood, which can be seen from her father's door, not more than half a league away. She does not know, nor has she ever heard, that the fairies repair there, but she has heard from her brothers that after she had left the country it was said that she received her message at the Fairies' Tree. She says she did not and she told her brother so. Further, she says that when she came to her king, several people asked her if there was not in her part of the country a wood called the Oak wood; for there were prophecies saying that out of the Oak wood should come a maid who should work miracles; but she said she put no faith therein.
VII
"The said Jeanne was wont to bear a mandrake in her bosom, hoping thereby to have good fortune in riches and the things of this world; which mandrake, she affirmed, possessed this virtue and potency."
This seventh article, of the mandrake, Jeanne utterly denies.
Now, on the 1st day of March, when asked what she had done with her mandrake, she replied that she had never had
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one, but had heard say that there was one, near her village; but she never saw it. Also she had heard that it is an evil and dangerous thing to keep; yet she cannot tell what its use is. Asked where this mandrake is, of which she has heard, she answered that she heard it was in the ground, near the tree but she cannot tell whereabouts. And she has heard that over the mandrake a hazel tree grows. Asked what good the mandrake is, she replied that she has heard that it attracts money: but she puts no faith in that, and her voices never told her anything of this.
VIII
"Jeanne, when she was about [fifteen], of her own will and without the leave of her said father and mother, went to the town of Neufchâteau in Lorraine and there for some time served in the house of a woman, an innkeeper named La Rousse, where many young unguarded women stayed, and the lodgers were for the most part soldiers. Thus, dwelling at this inn, she would sometimes stay with the said women, sometimes would drive the sheep to the fields, and occasionally lead the horses to drink, or to the meadow, or pasture; and there she learned to ride and became acquainted with the profession of arms."
To this eighth article Jeanne answered that she referred to her other replies, and denied the remainder.
Now on February 22nd she confessed that out of dread of the Burgundians she left her father's house and went to the town of Neufchâteau in Lorraine, to the house of a certain woman named La Rousse, where she stayed about a fortnight,, undertaking the common duties of the house; but she did not go into the fields. On Saturday the twenty-sixth of the same month, when asked if she took the beasts to the fields, she, said she had already replied; she also added that, since she
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was grown up and had reached understanding, she did not commonly look after the cattle, but helped to take them to the meadows and to a castle called the Island, for fear of the soldiers, but she does not remember whether or not she tended them in her youth.
IX
"Jeanne, when in this service, summoned a certain youth for breach of promise before the magistrate of Toul, and in the pursuit of this case, she went frequently to Toul, and spent almost everything she had. This young man, knowing she had lived with the said women, refused to wed her, and died, pendente lite. For this reason, out of spite, Jeanne left the said service."
To this ninth article Jeanne answers that she has replied elsewhere, and that she refers to that reply. She denies the remainder.
Now on Monday, the 12th of March, in answer to the question who had persuaded her to summon a man from Toul for breach of promise, she said: "I did not have him summoned, it was he who summoned me, and I swore before the judge to tell the truth." Lastly she swore that she had made no promise to this man. And she added that her voices assured her she would win her case.
X
"After leaving the service of La Rousse, the said Jeanne claims to have had for five years, and still be having, visions and apparitions of St. Michael, of St. Catherine, and of St. Margaret, and that they had privately revealed to her that she should raise the siege of Orleans and have Charles, whom she calls her king, crowned, and should drive out all the adversaries of the kingdom of France; against the wishes of
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her father and mother, she left them, and of her own initiative and will, went to Robert de Baudricourt, captain of Vaucouleurs, to inform him, according to the command of St. Michael, and of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, of the visions and revelations made to her by God, as she claims, and to ask the said Robert to help her to accomplish the said revelations. And, twice refused by the said Robert, and being returned home, she received once more by revelation the command to return to him, and the third time she was welcomed and received by the said Robert."
To this tenth article she answers that she will abide by her other replies on this matter.
Now on Thursday, February And, she stated that, when she was about thirteen years, she had a voice from God to help her and guide her. The first time she was much afraid: it came towards noon on a summer's day, in her father's garden, when she was not fasting, and had not fasted on the previous day. She heard the voice on her right, towards the church, and she seldom heard it without a light. This light came from the same side as the voice, and generally there was a great light. When she came to France she often heard a great voice; and, for the first time, there was a light. She added that if she was in a wood she heard the voices well; and it seemed to her a worthy voice, and she believed it was sent to her from God. After she had heard it three times she knew it was the voice of an angel. She said too that the voice always protected her well, and that she understood it well. Asked what instruction this voice gave her for the salvation of her soul, she answered it taught her to be good and to go to church often, and that she must come to France. And she added that the examiner would not learn from her, this time, in what form the voice appeared to her. Further, the voice told her, two or three times a week, to leave and come to
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France, and her father was to know nothing of her leaving. The voice told her to come, and she could no longer stay where she was; it told her she would raise the siege of Orleans. When she reached Vaucouleurs she recognized Robert de Baudricourt, although she had never seen him; she told him that through her voices it had been revealed to her that she must come to France; she recognized the said Robert through her voice which told her it was he. Now he twice repulsed her, the third time he received her, and gave her an escort as her voice had foretold.
On Saturday, February 24th, asked at what time on the preceding day she had heard the voice, she answered that she had heard it then, and on that 24th of February, three times in all. First in the morning, next at Vespers, and lastly when the Ave Maria was rung; she often heard it more frequently than she said. And the morning before, whilst she was asleep, the voice woke her without touching her, but by speaking to her; she did not know if the voice was in the room, but she was certain it was in the castle; she confessed that when the voice came to her for the first time she was in or about her thirteenth year.
On Tuesday the 27th of the same month she said that it was a good seven years since St. Catherine and St. Margaret undertook for the first time to guide her. Asked if St. Michael appeared first, she answered yes, she had received great comfort from him. "I do not speak of St. Michael's voice, but of his great comfort." Asked which was the first voice to come to her, about the age of thirteen, she answered that it was St. Michael whom she saw before her eyes; and he was not alone, but accompanied by many angels from heaven. She said also that she came into France only by the instruction of God. Asked if she saw St. Michael and the angels corporeally and
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in reality, she answered that she saw them with her bodily eyes as well as she saw the assessors of the trial. And when St. Michael and the angels left her, she wept, and fain would have been taken with them. Asked, on the same day, if there was a light with the voices, she answered there was a great deal of light, on all sides, as was most fitting.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if since the preceding Tuesday day she had not spoken with St. Catherine and St. Margaret, she answered yes, both on that and on the previous day, but she did not know at what hour, but there is not a day but she hears them.
On Monday, March 12th, asked if she inquired of her voices whether she should tell her father and mother of her leaving, she answered that, regarding her father and mother, her voices would have been glad for her to tell them, had it not been for the difficulties they would have raised if she had done so. For her part, she would not have told them for anything; the voices left it to her to reveal her going to her parents, or be silent. Asked about the dreams her father had of her going away, she answered that her mother told her several times that whilst she was still at home her father said he had dreamt of Jeanne's going away with soldiers; and they took great care to keep her safely, and held her in great subjection; she obeyed them in all things, except in the incident at Toul, in the action for marriage. She had heard her mother tell how her father said to her brothers: "If I thought what I dreamed was going to happen, I should want you to drown her, and if you would not, I would do it myself." Her father and mother almost lost their senses when she left for Vaucouleurs. Asked whether these thoughts came to her father after she had had her visions and her voices, she answered yes, more than two years after she first heard the voices."
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XI
"The said Jeanne, having entered into intimate relations with Robert, boasted of having told him that after having dispatched and accomplished everything that had been enjoined by revelation from God, she would have three sons of which the first would be pope, the second emperor, and the third king. Hearing which, the said captain said to her: 'Now then, I should like to give you one if they're going to be such powerful men, because I should be better off.' To which she answered: 'No, gentle Robert, no, this is not the time; the Holy Spirit will find a way!' So the said Robert, in many places, and in the presence of prelates, lawyers, and notable persons, affirmed, said and uttered."
To this eleventh article Jeanne answers by referring to the replies she made elsewhere on this subject; and as for having three children, she never has boasted of it.
Now on Monday, March 12th asked if her voices called her daughter of God, or daughter great-hearted, she answered that before the siege of Orleans, and since then, they have spoken to her every day, often calling her Jeanne the Maid, daughter of God.
XII
"And, the better and more easily to accomplish her plan, the said Jeanne required the said Captain to have a male costume made for her, with arms to match; which he did, reluctantly, and with great repugnance, finally consenting to her demand. When these garments and these arms were made, fitted and completed, the said Jeanne put off and entirely abandoned woman's clothes; with her hair cropped short and round like a young fop's, she wore shirt, breeches, doublet, with hose joined together and fastened to the said doublet by 20 points, long leggings laced on the outside, a short mantle
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reaching to the knees, or thereabouts, a close-cut cap, tightfitting boots and buskins, long spurs, sword, dagger, breastplate, lance and other arms in the style of a man-at-arms, with which she performed actions of war and affirmed that she was fulfilling the commands of God as they had been revealed to her."
To this twelfth article Jeanne answers that she refers to her other replies on this matter. In consequence, asked whether she took this dress and these arms and other uniform of war by God's command, she answers: "I refer as formerly to what I have already said in reply to this."
Now on Thursday, February 22nd, she declared that her voice had told her to go to Robert, captain of Vaucouleurs, and he would give her men-at-arms; to which she answered that she was a poor maid who could neither ride nor fight. She declared that she had told an uncle that she had to go to Vaucouleurs, so he took her there. Further, that when she went to her king, she wore man's dress. Also that before she went to her lord the king the Duke of Lorraine sent for her; she went, and told him she wanted to go to France. The Duke questioned her about recovering his health, but she told him she knew nothing of that, and spoke to him little of her journey.
She told the Duke to give her his son and his men to take her to France, and she would pray for his health. She journeyed to the Duke by safe conduct, and returned to Vaucouleurs. On leaving Vaucouleurs she wore man's dress, carried a sword which the said Robert gave her, but no other arms, and was accompanied by a knight, a squire, and four servants. She went to the town of St. Urbain, and slept in the abbey. During this journey she passed through Auxerre where she heard Mass in the great church, and frequently had her voices with her. Further, the said Robert made those who were escorting
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her swear to lead her safely and surely, and when she left he said to her: "Go, go, and come what may." She said also that she had to change to man's costume since she believed her counsel in that respect was good: that she went without hindrance to her king to whom she sent letters for the first time when she was yet at Ste. Catherine de Fierbois.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if her voice instructed her to wear the habit of a man, she answered that the dress is but a little thing, the least of all; but she did not wear man's dress at anybody's counsel, she wore it, and did everything, only at the command of Our Lord and His angels. She did not wear this dress at Robert's bidding. Asked if she had done well to wear this dress, she answered that to her mind everything she did at God's bidding was well done, and she expects good warrant and help for it. She said, too, that she had a sword which she took at Vaucouleurs.
On the 12th of March, asked if it was at Robert's request that she wore man's dress, and if the voice had given her any command in connection with Robert, she answered as before. Of the voice she said that everything good which she had done had been at the instance of her voices; and, in respect of the dress, she would answer another time, for at present she was not advised, but would reply on the next day.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what warrant or aid she expects from Our Lord from the fact that she wears man's dress, she answers that in this as in other respects she wanted no other recompense than the salvation of her soul.
XIII
"The said Jeanne attributes to God, to His angels and to His Saints instructions that are contrary to the honesty of womankind, forbidden by divine law, abominable to God and man, and prohibited under penalty of anathema by ecclesiastical
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decrees, such as the wearing of short, tight, and dissolute male habits, those underneath the tunic and breeches as well as the rest; and, according to their bidding, she often dressed in rich and sumptuous habits, precious stuffs and cloth of gold and furs; and not only did she wear short tunics, but she dressed herself in tabards and garments open at the sides, whilst it is notorious that when she was captured she was wearing a loose cloak of cloth of gold, a cap on her head and her hair cropped round in man's style. And in general, having cast aside all womanly decency, not only to the scorn of feminine modesty, but also of well-instructed men, she had worn the apparel and garments of most dissolute men, and in addition, had borne weapons of offense. To attribute this to the bidding of God, His holy angels and virgin saints, is blasphemy of Our Lord and His saints, setting at nought the divine decrees, infringement of canon law, the scandal of her sex and womanly decency, the perversion of all modesty of outward bearing, the approbation and encouragement of most reprobate examples of conduct."
To this thirteenth article, Jeanne answers: "I have not blasphemed God or His saints."
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she thought the instruction to wear man's dress was lawful, she answered that everything she did was at God's command; and that, if He had bidden her wear a different dress, she would have done so, for it was God's bidding. Asked whether she thought that in this particular instance she had done well, she replied that she did not wear it without God's command, and that no single action of hers was otherwise than at His command.
On Saturday, the 3rd, asked whether when she went to her king for the first time, he inquired if she had changed her dress after revelation, she answered: "I replied to this before," and "nevertheless, I do not recall that I was asked that." She
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added it is written at Poitiers. On the same day, asked if she believed that she would err or commit mortal sin by returning to woman's clothes, she answered she would do better to obey and serve her sovereign Lord, namely God.
XIV
"The said Jeanne affirms that it was right so to wear garments and habits of dissolute men; and will persist therein, saying that she must not abandon them, except with express permission by revelation from God, to the injury of God, of His angels and His saints."
To this fourteenth article Jeanne answers: "I do not do ill to serve God; to-morrow you shall have a reply." The same day, asked by one of the assessors if she had received instruction or revelation to wear man's dress, she answers that her reply has been given, and she leaves it at that: then says that she will send answer the next day. She adds that she knows well who made her wear man's dress, but she does not know how she ought to reveal it.
On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she desired a woman's habit, she answered: "If you will give me permission, send me one. I will take it and go: otherwise I do not want one. I am content with this, since it is God's will that I should wear it."
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether she did not think she was doing wrong to wear man's dress, she answered no; and even at that moment, if she were back with her own party, it seemed to her that it would be to the great good of France for her to do as she did before her capture.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked why, since she declares her wearing of male attire to be at God's command, she asks for a woman's shift in the event of her death, she answered it were enough for her if it were long.
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XV
"The said Jeanne having repeatedly asked permission to hear Mass, was admonished to put off man's dress and return to woman's dress; her judges gave her hope that she would be allowed to hear Mass and receive Communion if she would finally put off man's dress and wear female attire, as befits her sex. She would not agree, and preferred not to take Communion and the holy offices, rather than abandon this dress, pretending that by so doing she would displease God, so revealing her obstinacy, her stubbornness in evil, her want of charity, her disobedience to the Church, and the scorn she has of the holy sacraments."
To this fifteenth article, on this Tuesday the 27th of March, Jeanne answers that she would much rather die than turn back on Our Lord's command.
On this same day, asked if she will put off man's dress and hear Mass, she replies that she will not yet put it off, and that it is not on her that the day depends when she may do so. '
She says that if the judges refuse to let her hear Mass, it is in God's power to let her hear Mass when it pleases Him, without them.
As for the remainder of the article, she answers that she confesses she has been admonished to wear woman's dress; but she denies the irreverence and the succeeding charges.
On Thursday, March 15th, asked which she would prefer, to wear woman's dress and hear Mass or keep to male costume and not hear Mass, she answered: "Promise me I shall hear Mass if I am in woman's dress, and I will answer you." Whereupon the examiner said he would promise, and Jeanne then answered: "What do you say if I have sworn and promised to our king not to put off this dress? Yet I answer you: Have a long dress, reaching down to the ground, with no
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train, made for me, and give it to me to go to Mass; and then on my return I will put on once more the dress I have." Asked once and for all whether she would wear a woman's dress and go to hear Mass, she answered: "I will have counsel on it, and then I will answer you." And in honor of God and of Our Lady she urged she would be allowed to hear Mass in this good town. Whereupon she was told to take a woman's dress, simply and absolutely. She replied: "Give me a dress such as the daughters of a burgess wear, a houppelande, and also a woman's hood; and I will wear it to go and hear Mass." Moreover she said, as urgently as she could, that she besought us to permit her to hear Mass in the dress she wore, without any change.
On Saturday, March 17th, questioned on the subject of the woman's dress offered to her so that she could hear Mass, she answered that she would not put it on till it should please Our Lord; and if it be that she must be brought to judgment and stripped, she asks the lords of the Church to grant her the mercy of a woman's shift and a hood for her head; for she would rather die than turn back from her Lord's command. She firmly believes God will not permit her to be brought so low, or be without His aid, or miracle. Asked whether her saying she would take a woman's dress if they would let her go would please God, she answered that if she were given permission to go in woman's dress she would immediately put on man's dress and do what Our Lord bade her, and that nothing in the world would induce her to swear not to take up arms or wear man's dress, to accomplish Our Lord's will and pleasure.
XVI
"The said Jeanne, after her capture, at the castle of Beaurevoir and at Arras, was repeatedly and charitably admonished
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by noble and eminent persons of both sexes to abandon man's dress and to wear habits decently fitting her sex. This she absolutely refused, and still obstinately persists in her refusal to do, as well as the other duties fitting to her sex; in all things she behaves more like a man than a woman."
To this sixteenth article Jeanne confesses that she was admonished at Arras and at Beaurevoir to wear woman's dress, and that she refused and still refuses. As for the other womanly duties, she says there are enough other women to do them.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if she recalls whether the clerks of her own party who examined her, some for the space of a month, others for three weeks, did not question her about the changing of her dress, she replied that she did not remember: that, however, they did ask her where she assumed her male costume, and she told them it was at Vaucouleurs. Asked if they inquired of her if she assumed it because of her voices, she said: "That is not in your case." Further asked if she was not asked to change her habit at Beaurevoir, she answered: "Yes, truly"; and she said she would not without God's leave. The Demoiselle of Luxembourg asked Jean de Luxembourg not to deliver her to the English, and with the Lady of Beaurevoir offered her a woman's dress, and told her to wear it. She replied that she had not God's permission, and it was not yet time. She added that Messire Jean de Pressy and others at Arras did not offer her a woman's dress; others asked her to change her dress. Moreover, she said that if she had had to do it she would rather have done so at the request of these two ladies than of any other ladies in France, save her queen. Asked also whether when God revealed to her that she should change to man's dress, it was by the voice of St. Michael, or by the voice of St. Catherine or St. Margaret, she answered: "You will learn no more for the present."
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XVII
"When the said Jeanne came, thus clothed and armed, into the. presence of the said Charles, she made amongst others three promises to him: the first that she would raise the siege of Orleans; the second that she would get him crowned at Reims; the third she would take vengeance of his enemies, that she would kill them all by her magic art, drive them out of the kingdom, both the English and the Burgundians. She boasted publicly of these promises many times in different places; and to increase faith in her acts and sayings, she then and thenceforth made use of spells, and showed up the habits, life, and secret actions of people coming into her presence whom she had never seen or known, and boasted that her knowledge came by revelation."
To this seventeenth article Jeanne replied that she bore to her king news from God saying that Our Lord would restore his kingdom, would have him crowned at Reims, and would expel his enemies. She was God's messenger to that effect; and told him to set her boldly to work, and she would raise the siege of Orleans. She spoke, she said, of the whole kingdom, and if the Lord Duke of Burgundy and other subjects of the realm did not come to obedience, her king would compel them by force. She said, with regard to the end of the article of recognizing Robert and her king: "I hold to what I said before."
On Thursday, February 22nd, she confessed that when she came to Vaucouleurs she recognized Robert de Baudricourt although she had never seen him, because her voice told her it was he. She said that she found her king at Chinon, where she arrived towards noon, and lodged at an inn; and after dinner, she went to her king at his castle, and she recognized
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him from the others, when she entered the chamber, by her voices; and she told the king she wanted to fight the English
On March 13th, asked about a certain married priest and a lost cup, she answered she knew nothing of that, and had never heard of it.
XVIII
"The said Jeanne, as long as she remained with the said Charles, dissuaded him and his men with all her power from negotiating any treaty of peace with his enemies, continually incited her party to murder and shed human blood, affirming that there could be no peace but by the sword and the lance's point: that it was so ordained of God, since the king's enemies would not otherwise yield what they held of the realm, and therefore to make war on them was to her mind of the greatest benefit to all Christendom."
To this eighteenth article Jeanne answers that she summoned the Duke of Burgundy both by letter and ambassadors to make peace with her king. As for the English, the only peace with them is by their return to their own country, to England. On the rest of the 'article she has made other replies, to which she refers.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked why she did not conclude a treaty with the captain of Jargeau, she answered that the lords of her party replied to the English that they would not get the delay of a fortnight for which they asked, but must go off, with their horses, immediately. For her own part she said they could retire with their doublets, and their life safe, if they wished; otherwise they would be taken by assault. Asked if she had any conversation with her counsel, or voices, to find out whether or not to grant the delay, she answered that she had no recollection.
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XIX
"The said Jeanne, by consulting demons and employing spells, sent for a certain sword hidden in the church of Ste. Catherine de Fierbois, which she had maliciously and deceitfully hid or had hidden in this church, so that by misleading princes, nobles, clergy, and common folk, she might more easily induce them to believe that it was by revelation that she knew the sword was there, and they might more readily put absolute faith in her sayings."
To this nineteenth article on this Tuesday the 27th of March, she answers that she refers to her earlier answers in this connection: the rest of the article she denies.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she had been to Ste. Catherine de Fierbois, she answered yes; that she had heard Mass there three times on the same day, and then went on to Chinon. The same Tuesday she said she had a sword from the church of Ste. Catherine de Fierbois that she sent for when at Tours or Chinon; it was in the earth behind the altar, and immediately afterwards the sword was found, all rusted. Asked how she knew the sword was there, she replied it was in the ground, rusted over, with five crosses upon it; she knew through her voices, and said she had never seen the man she sent to fetch it. She wrote to the clergy asking if it was their pleasure she should have this sword, and they sent it to her. She thought it was not buried deep behind the altar; she did not know exactly whether it was in front or behind the altar, yet she thought she wrote it was behind. As soon as the sword was found, she added, the priests rubbed it and the rust fell off at once without effort. An armorer of Tours fetched it. The priests of Ste. Catherine and also of Tours gave her a scabbard; there were two, one of crimson velvet, the other of cloth of gold. She herself had another made of very strong
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leather, and added that when she was captured she had not this sword with her, though she wore it continually until she reached St. Denis. Asked how it was blessed, whether she said or asked any benediction over the sword, she answered she had never asked blessing for it or known how to. She loved the sword, since it had been found in the church of St. Catherine whom she loved.
Asked on Saturday, March 17th, what was the purpose of the five crosses on the sword, she answered that she did not know.
"The said Jeanne put a spell on her ring, her standard, on certain pieces of linen or pennons, which she used to bear or have her men bear before her, as she did upon the sword she claimed to have found by revelation at Ste. Catherine de Fierbois, affirming that these objects brought good fortune. She uttered many curses and incantations over them in different places, publicly declaring that with their aid she would do great things and overcome her enemies, that her men could meet with no defeat in their attack or fighting, or suffer any misfortune, because they bore such pennons. In particular she publicly uttered and proclaimed this at Compiègne, on the eve of her attack upon the lord Duke of Burgundy, during the course of which she was captured and taken prisoner, and many of her men were wounded, killed, and taken. This she as much as declared when at St. Denis she incited her company to attack Paris."
To this twentieth article Jeanne, on Tuesday, March 27th, answered that she abides by her earlier answers in this connection. Furthermore, she adds that in nothing she did was there witchcraft or other magic art. With regard to her standard, she refers herself to the good fortune Our Lord brought it.
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On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she had her sword when she was captured, she answered no, but a certain sword taken from a Burgundian instead.
On Thursday, March 1st asked who gave her the ring now in the possession of the Burgundians, she answered her father and mother; she thought it had written on it Jhesus Maria, but she knew not who wrote these words. The ring had no stone and was given her at Domrémy. She said her brother gave her another ring besides the one which we, the bishop, held, and she charged us to give it to the Church. Never, she said, did she tend or cure any person with the aid of these rings.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether when the king first set her to work and she had her standard made, the men-at-arms and others of her party did not have pennons made like hers, she answered: "It is well to know that the lords kept their own arms." She replied that certain of her companions in arms had them made at their pleasure, others did not. Asked of what stuff they had them made, whether of linen or of cloth, she answered it was of white satin, and on some were fleurs-de-lys. She had only two or three lances in her company, but her companions in arms sometimes had pennons made like hers, doing so merely to distinguish their men from others. Asked if the pennons were often renewed, she answered that she did not know, that when the lances were broken, new pennons were made. Asked if those made like hers brought good fortune, she answered that she did indeed sometimes say to her men: "Go boldly in the midst of the English," or "among the English," and she herself would go. Asked if she told them to bear the pennons boldly, and they would have good fortune, she answered that she certainly told them what had happened and would happen again. Asked if she had thrown or had others throw holy
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water over the pennons, when they were first taken, she answered that she did not know, and if it was done it was not at her instruction. Asked if she ever saw holy water sprinkled on them, she answered: "That is not in your case," and if she did, she was not now advised to reply. Asked if her companions in arms did not have written on their pennons Jhesus Maria, she answered that by her faith she did not know. Asked if she had borne round the altar or church, or had others bear it, cloth which was to be made into pennons, she answered no, and she had never seen it done.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what her ring which had Jhesus Maria written on it was made of, she answered she did not exactly know. If it was gold, it was not of fine gold: she does not know if it was gold or brass, but thinks there were three crosses upon it, and, to her knowledge, no other sign save Jhesus Maria. Asked why she gladly looked at this ring when she was going into battle, she answered it was out of pleasure, and in honor of her father and mother; and having her ring in her hand and on her finger she touched St. Catherine who appeared to her.
Asked what part of her she touched she answered: "You will get nothing more about that."
XXI
"The said Jeanne, thereto incited by her temerity and her presumption, had the names Jhesus Maria written in her letters, signed with a cross between, and addressed them from herself to Our Lord the King, to My Lord Duke of Bedford, then regent of France, and to the lords who held the siege at Orleans, letters containing many things evil, pernicious, and contrary to the Catholic faith, of which the tenor follows."
To this article, this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers that she did not send these letters out of pride or presumption,
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but at Our Lord's bidding, and confesses to the letters, except for three words.
On Thursday, February 22nd, she said she had sent letters to the English at Orleans, telling them to retire, according to the contents of the letters which were read to her, except for two or three words, for example, she declares that where it says Surrender to the Maid, it should read Surrender to the king, similarly for body for body and chieftain of war. The tenor of the letters begins "King of England, etc." and they are subscribed + Jhesus Maria +
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if her own party firmly believed her to be sent from God, she answered she knew not whether they did, and referred us to their opinion; but if they did not, yet she is sent from God none the less. Asked if she did not think that they held a wise belief by deeming her to be sent from God, she answered: "If they believe I am sent from God, they are not deceived."
XXII
"+ Jhesus Maria +
"King of England, and you Duke of Bedford, calling yourself regent of France, you, William Pole, Count of Suffolk, John Talbot, and you Thomas Lord Scales, calling yourselves lieutenants of the said Duke of Bedford, do right in the King of Heaven's sight. Surrender to The Maid sent hither by God the King of Heaven, the keys of all the good towns you have taken and laid waste in France. She comes in God's name to establish the Blood Royal, ready to make peace if you agree to abandon France and repay what you have taken. And you, archers, comrades in arms, gentles and others, who are before the town of Orleans, retire in God's name to your own country. If you do not, expect to hear tidings from The Maid who will shortly come upon you to your very great hurt. And to
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you, King of England, if you do not thus, I am "chef de guerre"; and whenever I meet your followers in France, I will drive them out; if they will not obey, I will put them all to death. I am sent here in God's name, the King of Heaven, to drive you body for body out of all France. If they obey, I will show them mercy. Do not think otherwise; you will not withhold the kingdom of France from God, the King of Kings, Blessed Mary's Son. The King Charles, the true inheritor, will possess it, for God wills it, and has revealed it to him through The Maid, and he will enter Paris with a good company. If you do not believe these tidings from God and The Maid, wherever we find you we shall strike you and make a great tumult ["hahay"] than France has heard for a thousand years. Know well that the King of Heaven will send a greater force to The Maid and her good men-at-arms than you in all your assaults can overcome: and by blows shall the favor of the God of Heaven be seen. You Duke of Bedford, The Maid prays and beseeches not to bring yourself to destruction. If you obey her, you may join her company, where the French shall do the fairest deed ever done for Christendom. Answer, if you desire peace in the city of Orleans; if not, bethink you of your great hurt soon. Written this Tuesday of Holy Week."
XXIII
"From the tenor of these letters it is manifest that Jean has been deceived by evil spirits, and that she has frequently
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consulted them in her actions; or, to mislead the peoples, she has perniciously and falsely invented such fictions."
To this article she replies, she denies the end of it which declares she acted on the counsel of evil spirits.
On February 27th she said she would rather have been drawn by horses than have come to France without God's leave.
XXIV
"The said Jeanne misused the names Of Jhesus and of Maria, the sign of the Cross placed between them, and warned certain of her party that when they found these words and this sign in letters from her they should believe and do the opposite of what she wrote."
To this article on this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers by referring herself to another answer she made in this connection.
On March 17th, asked what the purpose was of the sign she put in her letters, and of Jhesus Maria, she answered that the clerks who wrote her letters put them in, and some said it was proper to put the two words Jhesus Maria.
XXV
"The said Jeanne, usurping the office of angels, said and affirmed she was sent from God, even in things tending openly to violence and to the spilling of human blood, which is absolutely contrary to holiness, and horrible and abominable to all pious minds."
To this article on this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers that she first asked for peace, but if peace was not agreed to, she was quite prepared to fight.
On Saturday, February 24th, she said she came from God and had no business here, in this trial, and asked to be sent
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back to God from Whom she came. On Saturday, March 17th, she said that God sent her to help the kingdom of France.
XXVI
"The said Jeanne, being at Compiègne in August of the year of Our Lord, 1429, received a letter from the Count d'Armagnac of which the tenor follows."
To this article on this 27th of March Jeanne answers that she refers herself to the answer she made before in this connection.
On Thursday, March 1st, asked if she had not received a letter from the Count d'Armagnac about which of the three claimants to the Papacy he should obey, she answered that the Count did write her a letter to this effect, to which she replied, amongst other things, that when she was in Paris or anywhere at leisure, she would answer. She was about to mount her horse when she gave this answer.
After letters from the Count and from Jeanne were read, she was asked whether that was her actual reply. She answered that she thought she had made that answer in part, but not all of it. Asked if she had professed to know, by her counsel of the King of Kings, what the Count should believe in the matter, she answered she knew nothing about it. Asked if she entertained any doubt concerning whom she should obey, she answered that she did not know how to instruct him to obey since he asked her to say whom God wanted him to obey. For her part she believed that we should obey Our Holy Father the Pope at Rome. She added that she said other things to the Count's messenger which are not in the copy of the letter; and if the messenger had not gone off at once he would have been thrown into the water, though not through her. To the Count's inquiry as to whom God wished him to obey, she replied that she did not know; but sent him several
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messages not put into writing. For her part she believed in our Holy Father the Pope at Rome. Asked why she had written that she would answer at some other time, if she believed in the Pope of Rome, she said the answer referred to a different matter from the three popes. Asked if she had said she would have counsel on the question of the three popes, she answered she had never written, or caused to be written so, she swore by her oath, anything concerning the three popes.
XXVII
"My very dear Lady, I commend myself humbly to you and beseech you for God's sake, seeing the division which now exists in the holy Church Universal, concerning the question of the popes (for there are three contending for the papacy: one dwells at Rome and is called Martin V, whom all Christian Kings obey; the other dwells at Peñiscola, in the kingdom of Valencia, and is called Clement [VIII]; the third dwells no man knows where, unless it is the Cardinal of St. Estienne and a few folk with him, and is called Benedict XIV. The first, who is called Pope Martin, was elected at Constance by the consent of all the Christian nations; he who is called Pope Clement was elected at Peñiscola, after the death of Benedict XIII, by three of his cardinals; the third, called Pope Benedict XIV, was secretly elected at Peñiscola also by Cardinal Saint-Estienne), I beseech you to entreat Our Lord Jesus Christ that in His infinite mercy He declare unto us through you which of the three aforesaid is the true Pope, and which He would have us henceforth obey, him who is called Martin, or him who is called Clement, or him who is called Benedict; and in whom we should believe, in secret, and without dissimulation or public manifestation; for we are all ready to do the will and pleasure of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Entirely your Count d'Armagnac."
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XXVIII
"To which the said Jeanne made answer by a letter signed with her own hand, of which the tenor follows."
XXIX
"Jhesus + Maria
"Count d'Armagnac, my good and very dear friend, Jeanne the Maid informs you that your message has reached her, wherein you declare you have sent to her to discover which of the three Popes mentioned in your memorial you should believe. In truth I cannot well for the present tell, until I am in Paris or at rest elsewhere, for I am now too pressed by the business of war: but when you hear I am in Paris, send me a message and I will tell you in whom you should rightfully believe, and what I shall know by the counsel of my just and Sovereign Lord, the King of all the World, and as far as I can, what you should do. I commend you to God: may He keep you. Written at Compiègne the 22nd day of August."
XXX
"And so required, as has been related, by the Count d'Armagnac, to say which of the three was the true Pope, and in whom he should believe, she not only cast doubt upon which it was, when there was only one true and authentic Pope, but also, presuming too much for herself, holding the authority of the Church Universal to be of little weight, preferring her own word to the authority of the whole Church, she affirmed that within a fixed interval, she would inform him in which Pope he should believe; which she would discover by God's counsel, as her letter declares at greater length."
To the articles XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX and XXX which were explained to her word for word, Jeanne refers to the answer she has made, which is put under article XXVI.
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