Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: Being the Story of Her Life, Her Achievements, and Her Death, as Attested on Oath and Set Forth in the Original Documents
History
Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: Being the Story of Her Life, Her Achievements, and Her Death, as Attested on Oath and Set Forth in the Original Documents
Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431 -- Trials, litigation, etc.
I was once called at the beginning of the Process. I did not come, being
prevented. The second day, when I came, I was not admitted. I was even
driven away by the Bishop, because, talking one day with Maître Michel
Colles, I had told him that it was dangerous for many reasons to take
part in this Process. This was repeated to the Bishop; and for this
cause he had me shut up in the King’s prison at Rouen, whence I was
delivered only by the prayers of the Lord Abbot of Fécamp: and I heard
that some, whom the Bishop summoned, advised that I should be exiled to
England or elsewhere beyond the bounds of Rouen, had I not been
delivered by the Abbot and his friends.
It was reported in the city of Rouen that some one, feigning to be a
soldier of the King of France, was secretly introduced to her,
persuading her not to submit to the authority of the Church. There were
rumours that, on account of this persuasion, Jeanne afterwards wavered
in her submission to the Church.
I saw her coming out of the Castle, weeping much, and led to the place
of execution by a troop of soldiers, to the number of 120, some with
swords and some with clubs. Touched with compassion at this sight I
could go no further.
_Re-examined, May 13th, 1456._
At the beginning of the Process, I was at several consultations, in
which I was of opinion that neither the Bishop nor those who wished to
take part with him were in the position to act as Judges; I could not
see how they could properly proceed, because those opposed to her were
acting as Judges, and she had already been examined by the Clergy of
Poitiers and the Archbishop of Rheims, the Metropolitan of the Bishop of
Beauvais. Owing to this opinion I incurred the wrath of the Bishop, who
cited me to appear before him. When I appeared, I told him that I was
not his subject, nor was I under his jurisdiction, but in that of Rouen:
and so I left him. But when, for this reason, I wished to appear in the
Case and presented myself to the authorities of Rouen, I was arrested
and taken to the Castle and to the King’s prisons. When I asked the
cause of my arrest, I was told it was by order of the Bishop of
Beauvais. Maître Jean Delafontaine, my friend, wrote to me that I was
arrested in consequence of the opinion I had given in this Process; and
he warned me, at the same time, of the anger of the Bishop. Thanks to
the intervention of the Abbé of Fécamp, I ended by being set at liberty.
[He adds, to his previous statement, that the man who feigned to be a
soldier on the side of the King of France was Nicolas Loyseleur.]
MASSIEU: _Second Examination, May 8th, 1452_. [_Additional evidence_:]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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