Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life And DeathOliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
History
Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life And Death
Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
France -- History; Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431
Nicolas de Houppeville was a lawyer and had a right to be heard on such
a point; but the reply of the judges was to throw him into prison, not
without threats on the part of the civil authorities to carry the point
further by throwing him into the Seine. This was the method by which
every honest objection was silenced. That the examination at Poitiers,
where the judges, as has been seen, were by no means too favourable to
Jeanne, should never have been referred to by her present examiners,
though there was no doubt it ought to have been one of the most
important sources of the preliminary information--is also very
remarkable. It was suggested indeed to Jeanne at a late period of the
trial, that she might appeal to the Archbishop; but he was, as she well
knew, one of her most cruel enemies.
Still more important was the breach of all justice apparent in the fact
that she had no advocate, no counsel on her side, no one to speak to
her and conduct her defence. It was suggested to her near the end of the
proceedings that she might choose one of her judges to fill this office;
but even if the proposal had been a genuine one or at all likely to
be to her advantage, it was then too late to be of any use. These
particulars, we believe, were enough to invalidate any process in strict
law; but the name of law seems ridiculous altogether as applied to this
rambling and cruel cross-examination in which was neither sense nor
decorum. The reader will understand that there were no witnesses either
for or against her, the answers of the accused herself forming the
entire evidence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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