The Life of Joan of Arc Part 95

[Footnote 2155: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 18, 19.]

Nevertheless she was not placed in the Church prison, in one of those dungeons near the Booksellers' Porch, where in the shadow of the gigantic cathedral there rotted unhappy wretches who had erred in matters of faith.[2156] There she would have endured sufferings far more terrible than even the horrors of her military tower. The wrong the Great Council of England inflicted on Jeanne by not handing her over to the ecclesiastical powers of Rouen was far less than the indignity they thereby inflicted on her judges.

[Footnote 2156: A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, pp. 1771, 1778.]

With the way thus opened before him, the Bishop of Beauvais proceeded with all the violence one might expect from a Cabochien, albeit that violence was qualified by worldly arts and canonical knowledge.[2157]

As promoter in the case, that is, as the magistrate who was to conduct the prosecution, he selected one Jean d'Estivet, called Benedicite, canon of Bayeux and of Beauvais, Promoter-General of the diocese of Beauvais. Jean d'Estivet was a friend of the Lord Bishop, and had been driven out of the diocese by the French at the same time. He was suspected of hostility to the Maid.[2158] The Lord Bishop appointed Jean de la Fontaine, master of arts, licentiate of canon law, to be "councillor commissary" of the trial.[2159] One of the clerks of the ecclesiastical court of Rouen, Guillaume Manchon, priest, he appointed first registrar.

[Footnote 2157: J. Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, p. 147. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 9.]

[Footnote 2158: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 24; vol. iii, p. 162. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 26. A. Sarrazin, _Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie_, p. 220.]

[Footnote 2159: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25.]

In the course of instructing this official as to what would be expected of him, the Lord Bishop said to Messire Guillaume:

"You must do the King good service. It is our intention to inst.i.tute an elaborate prosecution (_un beau proces_) against this Jeanne."[2160]

[Footnote 2160: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25; vol. iii, p. 137. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 221, 222.]

As to the King's service, the Lord Bishop did not mean that it should be rendered at the expense of justice; he was a man of some priestly pride and was not likely to reveal his own evil designs. If he spoke thus, it was because in France, for a century at least, the jurisdiction of the Inquisition had been regarded as the jurisdiction of the King.[2161] And as for the expression "an elaborate prosecution"

(_un beau proces_), that meant a trial in which legal forms were observed and irregularities avoided, for it was a case in which were interested the doctors and masters of the realm of France and indeed the whole of Christendom. Messire Guillaume Manchon, well skilled in legal procedure, was not likely to err in a matter of legal language.

An elaborate trial was a strictly regular trial. It was said, for example, that "N---- and N---- had by elaborate judicial procedure found such an one to be guilty."[2162]

[Footnote 2161: L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition en France_, pp. 550, 551.]

[Footnote 2162: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches sur le proces de cond.a.m.nation_, p. 320.]

Charged by the Bishop to choose another registrar to a.s.sist him, Guillaume Manchon selected as his colleague Guillaume Colles, surnamed Boisguillaume, who like him was a notary of the Church.[2163]

[Footnote 2163: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 25; vol. iii, p. 137. De Beaurepaire, _Recherches...._ p. 103. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp.

222, 223.]

Jean Ma.s.sieu, priest, ecclesiastical dean of Rouen, was appointed usher of the court.[2164]

[Footnote 2164: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 26. De Beaurepaire, _Recherches...._ p. 115. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 223, 224.]

In that kind of trial, which was very common in those days, there were strictly only two judges, the Ordinary and the Inquisitor. But it was the custom for the Bishop to summon as councillors and a.s.sessors persons learned in both canon and civil law. The number and the rank of those councillors varied according to the case. And it is clear that the obstinate upholder of a very pestilent heresy must needs be more particularly and more ceremoniously tried than an old wife, who had sold herself to some insignificant demon, and whose spells could harm nothing more important than cabbages. For the common wizard, for the mult.i.tude of those females, or _mulierculae_, as they were described by one inquisitor who boasted of having burnt many, the judges were content with three or four ecclesiastical advocates and as many canons.[2165] When it was a question of a very notable personage who had set a highly pernicious example, of a king's advocate, for instance like Master Jean Segueut, who that very year, in Normandy, had spoken against the temporal power of the Church, a large a.s.sembly of doctors and prelates, English and French, were convoked, and the doctors and masters of the University of Paris were consulted in writing.[2166] Now it was fitting that the Maid of the Armagnacs should be yet more elaborately and more solemnly tried, with a yet greater concourse of doctors and of prelates; and thus it was ordained by the Lord Bishop of Beauvais. As councillors and a.s.sessors he summoned the canons of Rouen in as great a number as possible. Among those who answered his summons we may mention Raoul Roussel, treasurer of the chapter; Gilles Deschamps, who had been chaplain to the late King, Charles VI, in 1415; Pierre Maurice, doctor in theology, rector of the University of Paris in 1428; Jean Alespee, one of the sixteen who during the siege of 1418 had gone robed in black and with cheerful countenance to place at the feet of King Henry V the life and honour of the city; Pasquier de Vaux, apostolic notary at the Council of Constance, President of the Norman _Chambre des Comptes_; Nicolas de Venderes, whose candidature for the vacant see of Rouen was being advocated by a powerful party; and, lastly, Nicolas Loiseleur. For the same purpose, the Lord Bishop summoned the abbots of the great Norman abbeys, Mont Saint-Michel-au-Peril-de-la-Mer, Fecamp, Jumieges, Preaux, Mortemer, Saint-Georges de Boscherville, la Trinite-du-mont-Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Ouen, Bec, Cormeilles, the priors of Saint-Lo, of Rouen, of Sigy, of Longueville, and the abbot of Saint Corneille of Compiegne. He summoned twelve ecclesiastical advocates; likewise famous doctors and masters of the University of Paris, Jean Beaupere, rector in 1412; Thomas Fiefve, rector in 1427; Guillaume Erart, Nicolas Midi,[2167] and that young doctor, abounding in knowledge and in modesty, the brightest star in the Christian firmament of the day, Thomas de Courcelles.[2168] The Lord Bishop is bent upon turning the tribunal, which is to try Jeanne, into a veritable synod; it is indeed a provincial council, before which she is cited. Moreover, in effect, it is not only Jeanne the Maid, but Charles of Valois, calling himself King of France, and lawful successor of Charles VI who is to be brought to justice. Wherefore are a.s.sembled so many croziered and mitred abbots, so many renowned doctors and masters.

[Footnote 2165: Eymeric, _Directorium Inquisitorium_, quest. 85. J.

Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, p. 109. De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, p. 9.]

[Footnote 2166: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches...._ pp. 321 _et seq._]

[Footnote 2167: De Beaurepaire, _Notes sur les juges_, pp. 27-114. J.

Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, pp. 103, 104. Boucher de Molandon, _Guillaume Erard l'un des juges de la Pucelle_, in _Bulletin du comite hist. and phil._, 1892, pp. 3-10.]

[Footnote 2168: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 30, note. Du Boulay, _Historia Universitatis, Paris_, vol. v, pp. 912, 920. J. Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, p. 105. De Beaurepaire, _Notes_, pp. 30, 31. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 226, 227.]

Nevertheless, there were other bright and shining lights of the Church, whom the Bishop of Beauvais neglected to summon. He consulted the two bishops of Coutances and Lisieux; he did not consult the senior bishop of Normandy, the Bishop of Avranches, Messire Jean de Saint-Avit, whom the chapter of the cathedral had charged with the duty of ordination throughout the diocese during the vacancy of the see of Rouen. But Messire Jean de Saint-Avit was considered and rightly considered to favour King Charles.[2169] On the other hand those English doctors and masters, residing at Rouen, who had been consulted in Segueut's trial, were not consulted in that of Jeanne.[2170] The doctors and masters of the University of Paris, the abbots of Normandy, the chapter of Rouen, held firmly to the Treaty of Troyes; they were as prejudiced as the English clerks against the Maid and the Dauphin Charles, and they were less suspected; it was all to the good.[2171]

[Footnote 2169: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 5, 6. De Beaurepaire, _Notes_, pp. 121-125. A. Sarrazin, _loc. cit._, pp. 308-310.]

[Footnote 2170: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches_, pp. 321 _et seq._]

[Footnote 2171: J. Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, p. 101.]

On Tuesday, the 9th of January, my Lord of Beauvais summoned eight councillors to his house: the abbots of Fecamp and of Jumieges, the prior of Longueville, the canons Roussel, Venderes, Barbier, Coppequesne and Loiseleur.

"Before entering upon the prosecution of this woman," he said to them, "we have judged it good, maturely and fully to confer with men learned and skilled in law, human and divine, of whom, thank G.o.d, there be great number in this city of Rouen."

The opinion of the doctors and masters was that information should be collected concerning the deeds and sayings publicly imputed to this woman.

The Lord Bishop informed them that already certain information had been obtained by his command, and that he had decided to order more to be collected, which would be ultimately presented to the Council.[2172]

[Footnote 2172: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 5-8.]

It is certain that a tabellion[2173] of Andelot in Champagne, Nicolas Bailly, requisitioned by Messire Jean de Torcenay, Bailie of Chaumont for King Henry, went to Domremy, and with Gerard Pet.i.t, provost of Andelot, and divers mendicant monks, made inquiry touching Jeanne's life and reputation. The interrogators heard twelve or fifteen witnesses and among others Jean Hannequin[2174] of Greux and Jean Begot, with whom they lodged.[2175] We know from Nicolas Bailly himself that they gathered not a single fact derogatory to Jeanne. And if we may believe Jean Moreau, a citizen of Rouen, Maitre Nicolas, having brought my Lord of Beauvais the result of his researches, was treated as a wicked man and a traitor; and obtained no reward for his expenditure or his labour.[2176] This is possible, but it seems strange. It can in no wise be true, however, that neither at Vaucouleurs nor at Domremy, nor in the neighbouring villages was anything discovered against Jeanne. Quite on the contrary, numbers of accusations were collected against the inhabitants in general, who were addicted to evil practices, and in particular against Jeanne, who held intercourse with fairies,[2177] carried a mandrake in her bosom, and disobeyed her father and mother.[2178]

[Footnote 2173: A notary or secretary in France under the old monarchy (W.S.).]

[Footnote 2174: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 463.]

[Footnote 2175: _Ibid._, p. 453.]

[Footnote 2176: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 192, 193.]

[Footnote 2177: _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 105, 146, 234.]

[Footnote 2178: _Ibid._, pp. 208, 209, 213.]

Abundant information was forthcoming, not only from Lorraine and from Paris, but from the districts loyal to King Charles, from Lagny, Beauvais, Reims, and even from so far as Touraine and Berry;[2179]

which was information enough to burn ten heretics and twenty witches.

Devilries were discovered which filled the priests with horror: the finding of a lost cup and gloves, the exposure of an immoral priest, the sword of Saint Catherine, the restoration of a child to life.

There was also a report of a rash letter concerning the Pope and there were many other indications of witchcraft, heresy, and religious error.[2180] Such information was not to be included among the doc.u.ments of the trial.[2181] It was the custom of the Holy Inquisition to keep secret the evidence and even the names of the witnesses.[2182]

In this case the Bishop of Beauvais might have pleaded as an excuse for so doing the safety of the deponents, who might have suffered had he published information gathered in provinces subject to the Dauphin Charles. Even if their names were concealed, they would be identified by their evidence. For the purposes of the trial, Jeanne's own conversation in prison was the best source of information: she spoke much and without any of the reserve which prudence might have dictated.

[Footnote 2179: J. Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, p. 117.]

[Footnote 2180: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 245, 246.]

[Footnote 2181: _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 200.]

[Footnote 2182: De Beaurepaire, _Recherches_, _loc. cit._ J. Quicherat, _Apercus nouveaux_, pp. 122-124. L. Tanon, _Histoire des tribunaux de l'inquisition_, pp. 389-395.]

A painter, whose name is unknown, came to see her in her tower. He asked her aloud and before her guards what arms she bore, as if he wished to represent her with her escutcheon. In those days portraits were very seldom painted from life, except of persons of very high rank, and they were generally represented kneeling and with clasped hands in an att.i.tude of prayer. Though in Flanders and in Burgundy there may have been a few portraits bearing no signs of devotion, they were very rare. A portrait naturally suggested a person praying to G.o.d, to the Holy Virgin, or to some saint. Wherefore the idea of painting the Maid's picture doubtless must have met with the stern disapproval of her ecclesiastical judges. All the more so because they must have feared that the painter would represent this excommunicated woman in the guise of a saint, canonised by the Church, as the Armagnacs were wont to do.

A careful consideration of this incident inclines us to think that this man was no painter but a spy. Jeanne told him of the arms which the King had granted to her brothers: an azure shield bearing a sword between two golden _fleurs de lis_. And our suspicion is confirmed when at the trial she is reproached with pomp and vanity for having caused her arms to be painted.[2183]