Historical difficulties and contested eventsDelepierre, Octave
History
Historical difficulties and contested events
Delepierre, Octave
History
It is scarcely necessary to observe here how very much stronger the
claims of this brother would have been, if in 1444, instead of saying
“_jusques à son absentement_,” he had brought forward the martyrdom of
this sister, as having been the means of saving France from the yoke of
England. The expression _son absentement_ may, easily be explained when
we remember that the Duke of Bedford, regent of France, died in 1435,
and that most probably Jeanne d’Arc was released from prison after this
event. It was only one year later that she married Robert des Armoises.
But we may be told that Pope Calixtus III. appointed in 1455 a
commission to inquire into the justice or injustice of the condemnation
of the maid of Orleans, and that more than a hundred witnesses were
heard during this examination without the question of the reality of
her execution being once raised. Father Vignier has met this objection
by observing that the committee of enquiry was desired to examine
exclusively whether the judges had been justified in condemning her
as a heretic and an apostate, and it was on this point only that the
inquiry touched.
The commission was by no means ignorant of the received opinion that
Jeanne d’Arc still lived, but they were bound to keep to the letter of
the instructions received.
Jules Quicherat has collected almost every item bearing upon the doubt
of the fate of Jeanne d’Arc, in the fifth volume of his work: _Procès
de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc_ (in 8ᵛᵒ. Paris
1849). 1) He gives the entire extract from the chronicle of Metz. 2)
The extract from the audited accounts of the city of Orleans for the
year 1436, according to the register preserved in the Orleans library.
3) An extract from the contract of sale of the fourth part of the
lordship of Haraucourt by Robert des Armoises and Jeanne du Lys, called
la Pucelle, his wife. 4) Other extracts from the accounts kept by the
city of Orleans and the city of Tours for presents of wine made to the
Pucelle, and expense of postage of letters from the Bailly of Tournay
to the king, touching the matter of Dame Jeanne des Armoises.
Quicherat does not admit that this Jeanne was the true Pucelle, but
those who read all his authorities will still retain strong doubts on
the subject.
In the 4th volume of the same work we find the account of the execution
of Jeanne according to the chronicle of Perceval de Cagny, whom M.
Quicherat considers to be the most complete, the best informed, and the
most honest of all the historians of “la Pucelle.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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