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
Other less formal particulars come to us long after, from various
witnesses at the _procès de rehabilitation_, in which a lively picture
is given of this scene. Frère Isambard had apparently managed, as was
his wont, to get close to the prisoner, and to whisper to her to appeal
to the Council of Bâle. "What is this Council of Bâle?" she asked in the
same tone. Isambard replied that it was the "congregation of the whole
Church, Catholic and Universal, and that there would be as many there on
her side as on that of the English." "Ah!" she cried, "since there will
be some of our party in that place, I will willingly yield and submit
to the Council of Bâle, to our Holy Father the Pope, and to the sacred
Council."(2) And immediately--continues the deposition--the Bishop of
Beauvais cried out, "Silence, in the devil's name!" and told the notary
to take no notice of what she said, that she would submit herself to the
Council of Bâle; whereupon a second cry burst from the bosom of Jeanne,
"You write what is against me, but you will not write what is for me."
"Because of these things, the English and their officers threatened
terribly the said Frère Isambard, warning him that if he did not hold
his peace he would be thrown in the Seine." No notice whatever is taken
of any such interruption in the formal record. It must have been before
this time that Jean de la Fontaine disappeared. He left Rouen secretly
and never returned, nor does he ever appear again. Frère Isambard is
said to have taken temporary refuge in his convent; they scattered,
_de par l'diable_, according to the Christian adjuration of Mgr. De
Beauvais; though l'Advenu would seem to have held his ground, and served
as Confessor to Jeanne in her agony, at which Frère Isambard was also
present. We are told that the Deputy Inquisitor Lemâitre, he who had
been got to lend the aid of his presence with such difficulty, fiercely
warned the authorities that he would have no harm done to those two
friars, from which we may infer that he too had leanings towards the
Maid; and these honest and loyal men, well deserving of their country
and of mankind, should not lose their record when the tragic story of so
much human treachery and baseness has to be told.
*****
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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