The Life of Joan of Arc Part 104

[Footnote 2326: _Ibid._, p. 89.]

They also wanted to make her admit that she had caused herself to be honoured as a saint. She disconcerted them by the following reply: "The poor folk came to me readily, because I did them no hurt, but aided them to the best of my power."[2327]

[Footnote 2327: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 102.]

Then the examination ranged over many and various subjects: Friar Richard; the children Jeanne had held over the baptismal fonts; the good wives of the town of Reims who touched rings with her; the b.u.t.terflies caught in a standard at Chateau Thierry.[2328]

[Footnote 2328: _Ibid._, p. 103.]

In this town, certain of the Maid's followers were said to have caught b.u.t.terflies in her standard. Now doctors in theology knew for a certainty that necromancers sacrificed b.u.t.terflies to the devil. A century before, at Pamiers, the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition had condemned the Carmelite Pierre Recordi, who was accused of having celebrated such a sacrifice. He had killed a b.u.t.terfly and the devil had revealed his presence by a breath of wind.[2329] Jeanne's judges may have wished to involve her in similar fashion, or their design may have been quite different. In war a b.u.t.terfly in the cap was a sign either of unconditional surrender or of the possession of a safe conduct.[2330] Were the judges accusing her or her followers of having feigned to surrender in order treacherously to attack the enemy? They were quite capable of making such a charge. However that may be, the examiner pa.s.sed on to inquire concerning a lost glove found by Jeanne in the town of Reims.[2331] It was important to know whether it had been discovered by magic art. Then the magistrate returned to several of the capital charges of the trial: communion received in man's dress; the hackney of the Bishop of Senlis, which Jeanne had taken, thus committing a kind of sacrilege; the discoloured child she had brought back to life at Lagny; Catherine de La Roch.e.l.le, who had recently borne witness against her before the Official at Paris; the siege of La Charite which she had been obliged to raise; the leap which she had made in her despair from the keep of Beaurevoir, and, finally, certain blasphemy she was falsely accused of having uttered at Soissons concerning Captain Bournel.[2332]

[Footnote 2329: Lea (1906), vol. iii, p. 456.]

[Footnote 2330: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 237.]

[Footnote 2331: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 104.]

[Footnote 2332: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 111.]

Then the Lord Bishop declared the examination concluded. He added, however, that should it appear expedient to interrogate Jeanne more fully, certain doctors and masters would be appointed for that purpose.[2333]

[Footnote 2333: _Ibid._, pp. 111, 112.]

Accordingly, on Sat.u.r.day, March the 10th, Maitre Jean de la Fontaine, the Bishop's commissioner, went to the prison. He was accompanied by Nicolas Midi, Gerard Feuillet, Jean Fecard, and Jean Ma.s.sieu.[2334] The first point touched upon at this inquiry was the sortie from Compiegne. The priests took great pains to prove to Jeanne that her Voices must be bad or that she must have failed to understand them since her obedience to them had brought about her destruction. Jacques Gelu[2335] and Jean Gerson had foreseen this dilemma and had met it in antic.i.p.ation with elaborate theological arguments.[2336] She was examined concerning the paintings on her standard, and she replied:

"Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret bade me take the standard and bear it boldly, and have painted upon it the King of Heaven. And this, much against my will, I told to my King. Touching its meaning I know nought else."[2337]

[Footnote 2334: _Ibid._, p. 113.]

[Footnote 2335: Gelu, _Questio quinta_, in _Memoires et consultations en faveur de Jeanne d'Arc_, ed. Lanery d'Arc, pp. 593 _et seq._]

[Footnote 2336: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 299 _et seq._]

[Footnote 2337: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 117.]

They tried to make her out avaricious, proud, and ostentatious because she possessed a shield and arms, a stable, chargers, demi-chargers, and hackneys, and because she had money with which to pay her household, some ten to twelve thousand livres.[2338] But the point on which they questioned her most closely was the sign which had already been twice discussed in the public examinations. On this subject the doctors displayed an insatiable curiosity. For the sign was the exact reverse of the coronation at Reims; it was an anointing, not with divine unction but with magic charm, the crowning of the King of France by a witch. Maitre Jean de la Fontaine had this advantage over Jeanne, he knew what she was going to say and what she wished to conceal. "What is the sign that was given to your King?"

[Footnote 2338: _Ibid._, pp. 117, 119.]

"It is beautiful and honourable and very credible; it is the best and the richest in the world...."

"Does it still last?"

"It is well to know that it lasts and will last for a thousand years.

My sign is in the King's treasury."

"Is it of gold or silver, or of precious stones, or is it a crown?"

"Nothing more will I tell unto you and no man can devise anything so rich as is this sign. Nevertheless, the sign that you need is that G.o.d should deliver me out of your hands and no surer sign can he send you...."

"When the sign came to your King what reverence did you make to it?"

"I thanked Our Lord for having delivered me from the troubles caused me by the clerks of our party, who were arguing against me. And I knelt down several times. An angel from G.o.d and from none other gave the sign to my King. And many times did I give thanks to Our Lord. The clerks ceased to attack me when they had seen the said sign."[2339]

[Footnote 2339: On the contrary it was then that they began to argue against her or that they began to argue most effectively. She seems to forget that the interview at Chinon preceded the examination at Poitiers. It is interesting to notice that Brother Pasquerel, who was informed of these matters by her, makes the same error in his evidence.]

"Did the churchmen of your party behold the sign?"

"When my King and such as were with him had seen the sign and also the angel who gave it, I asked my King whether he were pleased, and he replied that he was. Then I departed and went into a little chapel near by. I have since heard that after my departure more than three hundred persons saw the sign. For love of me and in order that I should be questioned no further, G.o.d was pleased to permit this sign to be seen by all those of my party who did see it."

"Did your King and you make any reverence to the angel when he brought the sign?"

"Yes, for my part, I did. I knelt and took off my hood."[2340]

[Footnote 2340: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 120, 122.]

CHAPTER XII

THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_)

On Monday, the 12th of March, Brother Jean Lemaistre received from Brother Jean Graverent, Inquisitor of France, an order to proceed against and to p.r.o.nounce the final sentence on a certain woman, named Jeanne, commonly called the Maid.[2341] On that same day, in the morning, Maitre Jean de la Fontaine, in presence of the Bishop, for the second time examined Jeanne in her prison.[2342]

[Footnote 2341: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 122-124.]

[Footnote 2342: _Ibid._, p. 125.]

He first returned to the sign. "Did not the angel who brought the sign speak?"

"Yes, he told my King that he must set me to work in order that the country might soon be relieved."

"Was the angel, who brought the sign, the angel who first appeared unto you or another?"

"It was always the same and never did he fail me."

"But inasmuch as you have been taken hath not the angel failed you with regard to the good things of this life?"

"Since it is Our Lord's good pleasure, I believe it was best for me to be taken."

"In the good things of grace hath not your angel failed you?"

"How can he have failed me when he comforteth me every day?"[2343]

[Footnote 2343: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 126.]