The Life of Joan of Arc Part 101

She was not permitted to say.

She was asked whether she had received permission from G.o.d to go into France and whether G.o.d had commanded her to put on man's dress.

By keeping silence on this point she became liable to be suspected of heresy, and however she replied she laid herself open to serious charges,--she either took upon herself homicide and abomination, or she attributed it to G.o.d, which manifestly was to blaspheme.

Concerning her coming into France, she said: "I would rather have been dragged by the hair of my head than have come into France without permission from Messire." Concerning her dress she added: "Dress is but a little thing, less than nothing. It was not according to the counsel of any man of this world that I put on man's clothing. I neither wore this attire nor did anything save by the command of Messire and his angels."[2285]

[Footnote 2285: _Ibid._, pp. 74, 75.]

Maitre Jean Beaupere asked: "When you behold this Voice coming towards you, is there any light?"

Then she replied with a jest, as at Poitiers: "Every light cometh not to you, my fair lord."[2286]

[Footnote 2286: _Ibid._, p. 75. I have re-inserted "my fine lord"

according to _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 80.]

After all it was virtually against the King of France that these doctors of Rouen were proceeding with craft and with cunning.

Maitre Jean Beaupere threw out the question: "How did your King come to have faith in your sayings?"

"Because they were proved good to him by signs and also because of his clerks."

"What revelations were made unto your King?"

"That you will not hear from me this year."

As he listened to the damsel's words, must not my Lord of Beauvais, who was in the counsels of King Henry, have reflected on that verse in the Book of Tobias (xii, 7): "It is good to keep close the secret of a king"?

Thereafter Jeanne was called upon to reply at length concerning the sword of Saint Catherine. The clerks suspected her of having found it by the art of divination, and by invoking the aid of demons, and of having cast a spell over it. All that she was able to say did not remove their suspicions.[2287]

[Footnote 2287: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 75-77.]

Then they pa.s.sed on to the sword she had captured from a Burgundian.

"I wore it at Compiegne," she said, "because it was good for dealing sound clouts and good buffets."[2288] The buffet was a flat blow, the clout was a side stroke. Some moments later, on the subject of her banner, she said that, in order to avoid killing any one, she bore it herself when they charged the enemy. And she added: "I have never slain any one."[2289]

[Footnote 2288: _Ibid._, pp. 77, 78.]

[Footnote 2289: _Ibid._, p. 78.]

The doctors found that her replies varied.[2290] Of course they varied.

But if like her every hour of the day and night the doctors had been seeing the heavens descending, if all their thoughts, all their instincts, good and bad, all their desires barely formulated, had been undergoing instant transformation into divine commands, their replies would likewise have varied, and they would have doubtless been in such a state of illusion that in their words and in their actions they would have displayed less good sense, less gentleness and less courage.

[Footnote 2290: _Ibid._, p. 34; vol. ii, p. 318.]

The examinations were long; they lasted between three and four hours.[2291] Before closing this one, Maitre Jean Beaupere wished to know whether Jeanne had been wounded at Orleans. This was an interesting point. It was generally admitted that witches lost their power when they shed blood. Finally, the doctors quibbled over the capitulation of Jargeau, and the court adjourned.[2292]

[Footnote 2291: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 350, 365.]

[Footnote 2292: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 79, 80.]

A famous Norman clerk, Maitre Jean Lohier, having come to Rouen, the Count Bishop of Beauvais commanded that he should be informed concerning the trial. On the first Sat.u.r.day in Lent, the 24th of February, the Bishop summoned him to his house near Saint-Nicolas-le-Painteur, and invited him to give his opinion of the proceedings. The views of Maitre Jean Lohier greatly disturbed the Bishop. Off he rushed to the doctors and masters, Jean Beaupere, Jacques de Touraine, Nicolas Midi, Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loiseleur, and said to them:

"Here's Lohier, who holds fine views concerning our trial! He wants to object to everything, and says that our proceedings are invalid. If we were to take his advice we should begin everything over again, and all we have done would be worthless! It is easy to see what he is aiming at. By Saint John, we will do nothing of the kind; we will go on with our trial now it is begun."

The next day, in the Church of Notre Dame, Guillaume Manchon met Maitre Jean Lohier and asked him:

"Have you seen anything of the records of the trial?"

"I have," replied Maitre Jean. "This trial is void. It is impossible to support it on many grounds: firstly, it is not in regular form."[2293]

[Footnote 2293: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 11, 341.]

By that he meant that proceedings should not have been taken against Jeanne without preliminary inquiries concerning the probability of her guilt; either he did not know of the inquiries inst.i.tuted by my Lord of Beauvais, or he deemed them insufficient.[2294]

[Footnote 2294: See the evidence of Thomas de Courcelles in _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 38.]

"Secondly," continued Maitre Jean Lohier, "the judges and a.s.sessors when they are trying this case are shut up in the castle, where they are not free to utter their opinions frankly. Thirdly, the trial involves divers persons who are not called, notably it touches the reputation of the King of France, to whose party Jeanne belonged, yet neither he nor his representative is cited. Fourthly, neither doc.u.ments nor definite written charges have been produced, wherefore this woman, this simple girl, is left to reply without guidance to so many masters, to such great doctors and on such grave matters, especially those concerning her revelations. For all these reasons the trial appears to me to be invalid." Then he added: "You see how they proceed. They will catch her if they can in her words. They take advantage of the statements in which she says, 'I know for certain,'

concerning her apparitions. But if she were to say, 'It seems to me,'

instead of 'I know for certain,' it is my opinion that no man could convict her. I perceive that the dominant sentiment which actuates them is one of hatred. Their intention is to bring her to her death.

Wherefore I shall stay here no longer. I cannot witness it. What I say gives offence."[2295]

[Footnote 2295: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 12, 300, 341; vol. iii, p. 138.]

That same day Maitre Jean left Rouen.[2296]

[Footnote 2296: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 12, 203, 252, 300; vol. iii, pp.

50, 138.]

A somewhat similar incident occurred with regard to Maitre Nicolas de Houppeville, a famous cleric. In conference with certain churchmen, he expressed the opinion that to appoint as Jeanne's judges members of the party hostile to her was not a correct method of procedure; and he added that Jeanne had already been examined by the clerks of Poitiers and by the Archbishop of Reims, the metropolitan of this very Bishop of Beauvais. Hearing of this expression of opinion, my Lord of Beauvais flew into a violent rage, and summoned Maitre Nicolas to appear before him. The latter replied that the Official of Rouen was his superior, and that the Bishop of Beauvais was not his judge. If it be true, as is related, that Maitre Nicolas was thereafter cast into the King's prison, it was doubtless for a reason more strictly judicial than that of having offended the Lord Bishop of Beauvais. It is more probable, however, that this famous cleric did not wish to act as a.s.sessor, and that he left Rouen in order to avoid being summoned to take part in the trial.[2297]

[Footnote 2297: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 252, 326, 354, 356; vol. iii, pp.

171, 172.]

Certain ecclesiastics, among others Maitre Jean Pigache, Maitre Pierre Minier, and Maitre Richard de Grouchet, discovered long afterwards that being threatened they had given their opinions under the influence of fear. "We were present at that trial," they said, "but throughout the proceedings we were always contemplating flight."[2298]

As a matter of fact, no violence was done to any man's opinions, and such as refused to attend the trial were in no way molested. Threats!

But why should there be any? Was it difficult to convict a witch in those days? Jeanne was no witch. But, then, neither were the others.

Still, between Jeanne and the other alleged witches there was this difference, that Jeanne had cast her spells in favour of the Armagnacs, and to convict her was to render a service to the English, who were the masters. This was a point to be taken into consideration; but there was something else which ought also to be borne in mind by thoughtful folk: such a conviction would at the same time offend the French, who were in a fair way to become the masters once more in the place of the English. These matters were very perplexing to the doctors; but the second consideration had less weight with them than the first; they had no idea that the French were so near reconquering Normandy.

[Footnote 2298: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 356, 359.]

The fifth session of the court took place in the usual chamber on the 1st of March, in the presence of fifty-eight a.s.sessors, of whom nine had not sat previously.[2299]

[Footnote 2299: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 80, 81.]

The first question the examiner put Jeanne was:

"What say you of our Lord the Pope, and whom think you to be the true pope?"