March 28, 1431
I Wednesday, March 28th
On this Wednesday there were present the reverend fathers, lords and lawyers: ; Pierre, prior of Longueville; , , , , , , , , , , , and , doctors of sacred theology; , doctor of canon and civil law; , licentiate in canon law; , , bachelors of sacred theology; Jean Guerin, , , bachelors of canon and civil law; Jean Pinchon, , , , , bachelors of canon law; , archdeacon of Petit-Caux; , , , licentiates in civil law; Guillaume Desjardins, Jean Tiphaine, doctors, and Guillaume de La Chambre, licentiate of medicine, William Brolbster and John Hampton, priests.
Here follows word for word the tenor of the articles of the accusation, and of the answers made by Jeanne, with the other answers which she made elsewhere, to which she refers
“In your presence, venerable father in Christ and in Our Lord, Pierre, by divine mercy bishop of Beauvais, now Ordinary Judge and possessing territory in the city and diocese of Rouen; and of the religious brother , of the order of Preaching brothers, bachelor of sacred theology, vicar in this town and diocese and in this trial especially appointed by master , distinguished doctor of sacred theology, of the same order, Inquisitor of Heretical Error in the kingdom of France by the Holy See; before you, competent judges, to the end that the woman commonly called Jeanne the Maid, found, taken, and detained in the limits of your territory, venerable father, and the boundaries of your diocese of Beauvais, surrendered, entrusted, delivered, and restored to you, her ecclesiastical and ordinary judge by Our Lord Christian King of France and England, to be dealt with by the law and corrected, as one vehemently suspected, denounced, and defamed by honest and sober people; to the end that she should be denounced and declared by you her said judges as a witch, enchantress, false prophet, a caller-up of evil spirits, as superstitious, implicated in and given to magic arts, thinking evil in our Catholic faith, schismatic in the article Unam Sanctam, etc., and in many other articles of our faith skeptic and devious, sacrilegious, idolatrous, apostate of the faith, accursed and working evil, blasphemous towards God and His saints, scandalous, seditious, perturbing and obstructing the peace, inciting to war, cruelly thirsting for human blood, encouraging it to be shed, having utterly and shamelessly abandoned the modesty befitting her sex, and indecently put on the ill-fitting dress and state of men-at-arms; and for that and other things abominable to God and man, contrary to laws both divine and natural, and to ecclesiastical discipline, misleading princes and people; having to the scorn of God permitted and allowed herself to be adored and venerated, giving her hands to be kissed; heretical or at the least vehemently suspected of heresy; that according to the divine and canonical sanctions she should be punished and corrected canonically and lawfully, as befitted these and all other proper ends: , canon of the churches of Bayeux and Beauvais, Promoter or Procurator of your office, appointed therein by you and specially deputed agent and prosecutor in the name of that office, says, proposes, and intends to prove and duly inform your minds against the said Jeanne, accused or denounced; nevertheless the said Promoter protests that it is not his intention to endeavor to prove what is superfluous, but only what will and must suffice to this end, wholly or in part, with all other protestations customary in such matters, and reservations of the right to add, correct, alter, interpret, in law and in fact.”
I
“Firstly, according to divine as well as canon and civil law it is meet and proper for you, the one as ordinary judge, the other as Inquisitor of the faith, to drive out, destroy and utterly uproot from your diocese and from the whole kingdom of France the heresies, sacrileges, superstitions, and other crimes declared above; to punish, correct and restore heretics, those who propose, speak, and utter things contrary to our Catholic faith, or act against it in any way, and all evil doers, criminals or their accomplices who shall be apprehended in the said diocese and jurisdiction, even if part or all of their misdeeds shall have been committed elsewhere, as other competent judges in their own dioceses, limits, and jurisdictions are empowered and bound to do. And therein, even in respect of a lay person of whatever estate, sex, quality, or preëminence, you must be held, esteemed and reputed competent judges.”
To this first article Jeanne replies that she is well aware that Our Holy Father the Pope of Rome and the bishops and other clergy exist for the protection of the Christian faith and the punishment of those who fall from it; but for her part she will in respect of her acts submit only to the Church in Heaven, that is to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Saints of Paradise. She firmly believes that she has not failed in our faith and would not fail therein.
II
“The said accused, not only in the present year, but from the time of her childhood, not only in your diocese and jurisdiction, but also in the neighboring and other parts of this kingdom, has performed, composed, mingled in and commanded many charms and superstitions; she has been deified and permitted herself to be adored and venerated; she has called up demons and evil spirits, has consulted and frequented them, has had, made, and entered into pacts and treaties with them; she has similarly given counsel, aid and favor to others doing the same things, and has induced them to do the same or like things, saying, believing, maintaining, affirming, that so to do, to believe in them, to use such charms, divinations and superstitious proceedings was neither a sin nor a forbidden thing; but she has rather assured them that it is lawful, praiseworthy and opportune, enticing into these evil ways and errors many people of different estate and of either sex, in whose heart she imprinted these and like things. And in the accomplishment and perpetration of these crimes the said Jeanne has been taken and captured in the boundaries and limits of your diocese of Beauvais.”
To this second article Jeanne answers that she denies the charms, superstitions, and divinations; and as for the adoration, if certain people have kissed her hands or garments it is not because of her or at her will; she kept herself from that as far as it was within her power. The rest of the article she denies.
And moreover on Saturday, March 3rd, of this same year, in regard to the content of this article, when she was asked if she knew what was in the thoughts of the people of her party as they kissed her hands, her feet and her garments,
She answered that many people gladly saw her. And with that, she said that she told them to kiss her garments as little as possible; but the poor came to her, so she did not disappoint them, but helped them as much as she could.
Saturday, March 10th, when asked if on making the sortie at Compiègne, where she was captured, she had been told by revelation or by her voice to make the sortie,
She answered that on that day it had not announced her capture, and she was not counseled to go there; but she had often been told that she must be taken. Asked if when she made this sortie she passed over the bridge of Compiègne,
She answered yes, and through the boulevard; that she went with the company of her men against the men of lord , that she twice drove them to the camp of the Burgundians, and a third time to the middle of the highway; and then the English cut off the road from her and her company, between her and the boulevard, so her men retreated; and she, falling back to the fields, on the Picardy side, was captured; and the river was between Compiègne and the place where she was taken, and between Compiègne and where she was taken there was only the river, and the boulevard with its ditch.
III
“The accused is fallen into many divers errors of the worst kind, infected with heretical evil: she has said, uttered, voiced, affirmed, published, graven on the hearts of simple people certain false and lying propositions, infected with heresy and actually heretical, without and contrary to our Catholic faith, against the statutes made and approved by the General Councils, as well as divine, canon and civil laws: propositions scandalous, sacrilegious, contrary to good customs and offensive to pious ears; she has lent aid, counsel and favor to those who have said, uttered, affirmed and promulgated these propositions.”
This third article Jeanne denies and declares that as far as in her lies she has upheld the Church.
IV
“And the better and more particularly to inform you, my ford judges, of the offenses, excesses, crimes, and misdemeanors committed by the accused, as has been reported, in many parts of the realm, in this diocese and elsewhere, it is true that the accused was and is a native of the village of Greux, that she has for father Jacques d’Arc and for mother Isabelle, his wife; that she was brought up in her youth, until the age of 18 or thereabouts, in the village of Domrémy on the Meuse, in the diocese of Toul, in the Bailly of Chaumont-en-Bassigny, in the provosty of Monteclaire and Andelot. Which Jeanne in her youth was not taught or instructed in the belief and principles of the faith, but was lessoned and initiated by certain old women in the use of spells, divinations, and other superstitious works or magic arts. Many inhabitants of these villages are known from olden times to have practiced these evil arts, and from certain of them, and especially from her godmother, Jeanne declares she has often heard talk of visions or apparitions of fairies or fairy spirits, and from others also she has been taught and filled with these evil and pernicious errors about the spirits, so much so that she confessed to you, in judgment, that until this day she knew not whether these fairies were evil spirits.”
To this article Jeanne replied that she allowed the first part, namely, about her father and mother and the place of her birth; but as for fairies, she did not understand. As for her instruction, she learned to believe and was well and duly taught how to behave as a good child should. For her godmother she referred to what she had stated elsewhere.
Asked about saying her Credo, she answers: “Ask the confessor to whom I said it.”
V
“Near the village of Domrémy stands a certain large and ancient tree, commonly called ”l’arbre charmine faée de Bourlemont,” and near the tree is a fountain. It is said that round about live evil spirits, called fairies, with whom those who practice spells are wont to dance at night, wandering about the tree and the fountain.”
To this fifth article, touching the tree and the fountain, Jeanne refers to another answer she has given: the rest she denies.
On Saturday the 24th day of February,
She answered that not far from Domrémy there is a tree called the Ladies’ Tree which some call the Fairies’ Tree, and near it is a fountain. She has heard that the sick drink of this fountain (she herself has drunk of it) and seek from its waters the restoration of their health; but she does not know whether they are cured or not.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if St. Catherine and St. Margaret spoke to her under the tree,
She answered: “I do not know.” And asked once more if the saints spoke to her at the fountain,
She answered that they did, that she heard them there; but what they said to her then, she no longer knew. Asked, on the same day, what the saints promised her, there or elsewhere, she replied that they made no promise to her, but by God’s permission.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked if her godmother who saw the fairies is accounted a wise woman,
She answered that she is held and accounted a good honest woman, and not a witch or sorceress.
The same day, asked if she had not heretofore believed the fairies to be evil spirits,
She answered that she did not know. And the same day, when asked if she knew anything of those who consort with the fairies,
She answered that she never went and never knew aught of that, but she had heard that some went on Thursdays. She does not believe in it, and holds it to be witchcraft.
VI
“The said Jeanne was wont to frequent the fountain and the tree, mostly at night, sometimes during the day; particularly, so as to be alone, at hours when in church the divine office was being celebrated. When dancing she would turn around the tree and the fountain, then would hang on the boughs garlands of different herbs and flowers, made by her own hand, dancing and singing the while, before and after, certain songs and verses and invocations, spells and evil arts. And the next morning the chaplets of flowers would no longer be found there.”
To this sixth article, on this 27th day of March, she answers that she refers to another reply that she has made. The remainder of the article she denies.
On Saturday, the 24th of February, she said that she heard how that the sick, when they can get up, go to the tree to walk about; it is a huge tree, a beech, from which “le beau may” comes; and it belonged, so it was said, to Pierre de Bourlemont. Sometimes she went playing with the other girls, in summer, and made garlands for Our Lady of Domrémy there. Often she had heard old people tell, not those of her family, that the fairies frequented it. She has heard Jeanne, the wife of mayor Aubrey of Domrémy, her godmother, say that she had seen the fairies, but she herself does not know if it is true. She never, as far as she knew, saw the fairies, and she does not know if she saw any elsewhere. She has seen the maidens putting chaplets of flowers on the boughs of the tree, and she herself has hung them with the others, sometimes carrying them away, sometimes leaving them there. She adds that ever since she knew she must come to France she had taken little part in games or dancing, as little as possible. She does not know whether she has danced near the tree since she had grown to understanding; and though on occasions she may well have danced there with the children, she more often sang than danced there. There is also a wood, called the Oak wood, which can be seen from her father’s door, not more than half a league away. She does not know, nor has she ever heard, that the fairies repair there, but she has heard from her brothers that after she had left the country it was said that she received her message at the Fairies’ Tree. She says she did not and she told her brother so. Further, she says that when she came to her king, several people asked her if there was not in her part of the country a wood called the Oak wood; for there were prophecies saying that out of the Oak wood should come a maid who should work miracles; but she said she put no faith therein.
VII
“The said Jeanne was wont to bear a mandrake in her bosom, hoping thereby to have good fortune in riches and the things of this world; which mandrake, she affirmed, possessed this virtue and potency.”
This seventh article, of the mandrake, Jeanne utterly denies.
Now, on the 1st day of March, when asked what she had done with her mandrake, she replied that she had never had one, but had heard say that there was one, near her village; but she never saw it. Also she had heard that it is an evil and dangerous thing to keep; yet she cannot tell what its use is. Asked where this mandrake is, of which she has heard,
She answered that she heard it was in the ground, near the tree but she cannot tell whereabouts. And she has heard that over the mandrake a hazel tree grows. Asked what good the mandrake is, she replied that she has heard that it attracts money: but she puts no faith in that, and her voices never told her anything of this.
VIII
“Jeanne, when she was about [fifteen], of her own will and without the leave of her said father and mother, went to the town of Neufchâteau in Lorraine and there for some time served in the house of a woman, an innkeeper named La Rousse, where many young unguarded women stayed, and the lodgers were for the most part soldiers. Thus, dwelling at this inn, she would sometimes stay with the said women, sometimes would drive the sheep to the fields, and occasionally lead the horses to drink, or to the meadow, or pasture; and there she learned to ride and became acquainted with the profession of arms.”
To this eighth article Jeanne answered that she referred to her other replies, and denied the remainder.
Now on February 22nd she confessed that out of dread of the Burgundians she left her father’s house and went to the town of Neufchâteau in Lorraine, to the house of a certain woman named La Rousse, where she stayed about a fortnight,, undertaking the common duties of the house; but she did not go into the fields. On Saturday the twenty-sixth of the same month, when asked if she took the beasts to the fields, she, said she had already replied; she also added that, since she was grown up and had reached understanding, she did not commonly look after the cattle, but helped to take them to the meadows and to a castle called the Island, for fear of the soldiers, but she does not remember whether or not she tended them in her youth.
IX
“Jeanne, when in this service, summoned a certain youth for breach of promise before the magistrate of Toul, and in the pursuit of this case, she went frequently to Toul, and spent almost everything she had. This young man, knowing she had lived with the said women, refused to wed her, and died, pendente lite. For this reason, out of spite, Jeanne left the said service.”
To this ninth article Jeanne answers that she has replied elsewhere, and that she refers to that reply. She denies the remainder.
Now on Monday, the 12th of March, in answer to the question who had persuaded her to summon a man from Toul for breach of promise, she said: “I did not have him summoned, it was he who summoned me, and I swore before the judge to tell the truth.” Lastly she swore that she had made no promise to this man. And she added that her voices assured her she would win her case.
X
“After leaving the service of La Rousse, the said Jeanne claims to have had for five years, and still be having, visions and apparitions of St. Michael, of St. Catherine, and of St. Margaret, and that they had privately revealed to her that she should raise the siege of Orleans and have Charles, whom she calls her king, crowned, and should drive out all the adversaries of the kingdom of France; against the wishes of her father and mother, she left them, and of her own initiative and will, went to Robert de Baudricourt, captain of Vaucouleurs, to inform him, according to the command of St. Michael, and of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, of the visions and revelations made to her by God, as she claims, and to ask the said Robert to help her to accomplish the said revelations. And, twice refused by the said Robert, and being returned home, she received once more by revelation the command to return to him, and the third time she was welcomed and received by the said Robert.”
To this tenth article she answers that she will abide by her other replies on this matter.
Now on Thursday, February And, she stated that, when she was about thirteen years, she had a voice from God to help her and guide her. The first time she was much afraid: it came towards noon on a summer’s day, in her father’s garden, when she was not fasting, and had not fasted on the previous day. She heard the voice on her right, towards the church, and she seldom heard it without a light. This light came from the same side as the voice, and generally there was a great light. When she came to France she often heard a great voice; and, for the first time, there was a light. She added that if she was in a wood she heard the voices well; and it seemed to her a worthy voice, and she believed it was sent to her from God. After she had heard it three times she knew it was the voice of an angel. She said too that the voice always protected her well, and that she understood it well. Asked what instruction this voice gave her for the salvation of her soul,
She answered it taught her to be good and to go to church often, and that she must come to France. And she added that the examiner would not learn from her, this time, in what form the voice appeared to her. Further, the voice told her, two or three times a week, to leave and come to France, and her father was to know nothing of her leaving. The voice told her to come, and she could no longer stay where she was; it told her she would raise the siege of Orleans. When she reached Vaucouleurs she recognized Robert de Baudricourt, although she had never seen him; she told him that through her voices it had been revealed to her that she must come to France; she recognized the said Robert through her voice which told her it was he. Now he twice repulsed her, the third time he received her, and gave her an escort as her voice had foretold.
On Saturday, February 24th, asked at what time on the preceding day she had heard the voice,
She answered that she had heard it then, and on that 24th of February, three times in all. First in the morning, next at Vespers, and lastly when the Ave Maria was rung; she often heard it more frequently than she said. And the morning before, whilst she was asleep, the voice woke her without touching her, but by speaking to her; she did not know if the voice was in the room, but she was certain it was in the castle; she confessed that when the voice came to her for the first time she was in or about her thirteenth year.
On Tuesday the 27th of the same month she said that it was a good seven years since St. Catherine and St. Margaret undertook for the first time to guide her.
Asked if St. Michael appeared first,
She answered yes, she had received great comfort from him. “I do not speak of St. Michael’s voice, but of his great comfort.”
Asked which was the first voice to come to her, about the age of thirteen,
She answered that it was St. Michael whom she saw before her eyes; and he was not alone, but accompanied by many angels from heaven. She said also that she came into France only by the instruction of God.
Asked if she saw St. Michael and the angels corporeally and in reality,
She answered that she saw them with her bodily eyes as well as she saw the assessors of the trial. And when St. Michael and the angels left her, she wept, and fain would have been taken with them.
Asked, on the same day, if there was a light with the voices,
She answered there was a great deal of light, on all sides, as was most fitting.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if since the preceding Tuesday day she had not spoken with St. Catherine and St. Margaret,
She answered yes, both on that and on the previous day, but she did not know at what hour, but there is not a day but she hears them.
On Monday, March 12th, asked if she inquired of her voices whether she should tell her father and mother of her leaving,
She answered that, regarding her father and mother, her voices would have been glad for her to tell them, had it not been for the difficulties they would have raised if she had done so. For her part, she would not have told them for anything; the voices left it to her to reveal her going to her parents, or be silent. Asked about the dreams her father had of her going away,
She answered that her mother told her several times that whilst she was still at home her father said he had dreamt of Jeanne’s going away with soldiers; and they took great care to keep her safely, and held her in great subjection; she obeyed them in all things, except in the incident at Toul, in the action for marriage. She had heard her mother tell how her father said to her brothers: “If I thought what I dreamed was going to happen, I should want you to drown her, and if you would not, I would do it myself.” Her father and mother almost lost their senses when she left for Vaucouleurs. Asked whether these thoughts came to her father after she had had her visions and her voices,
She answered yes, more than two years after she first heard the voices.”
XI
“The said Jeanne, having entered into intimate relations with Robert, boasted of having told him that after having dispatched and accomplished everything that had been enjoined by revelation from God, she would have three sons of which the first would be pope, the second emperor, and the third king. Hearing which, the said captain said to her: ‘Now then, I should like to give you one if they’re going to be such powerful men, because I should be better off.’ To which She answered: ‘No, gentle Robert, no, this is not the time; the Holy Spirit will find a way!’ So the said Robert, in many places, and in the presence of prelates, lawyers, and notable persons, affirmed, said and uttered.”
To this eleventh article Jeanne answers by referring to the replies she made elsewhere on this subject; and as for having three children, she never has boasted of it.
Now on Monday, March 12th asked if her voices called her daughter of God, or daughter great-hearted,
She answered that before the siege of Orleans, and since then, they have spoken to her every day, often calling her Jeanne the Maid, daughter of God.
XII
“And, the better and more easily to accomplish her plan, the said Jeanne required the said Captain to have a male costume made for her, with arms to match; which he did, reluctantly, and with great repugnance, finally consenting to her demand. When these garments and these arms were made, fitted and completed, the said Jeanne put off and entirely abandoned woman’s clothes; with her hair cropped short and round like a young fop’s, she wore shirt, breeches, doublet, with hose joined together and fastened to the said doublet by 20 points, long leggings laced on the outside, a short mantle reaching to the knees, or thereabouts, a close-cut cap, tightfitting boots and buskins, long spurs, sword, dagger, breastplate, lance and other arms in the style of a man-at-arms, with which she performed actions of war and affirmed that she was fulfilling the commands of God as they had been revealed to her.”
To this twelfth article Jeanne answers that she refers to her other replies on this matter. In consequence, asked whether she took this dress and these arms and other uniform of war by God’s command, she answers: “I refer as formerly to what I have already said in reply to this.”
Now on Thursday, February 22nd, she declared that her voice had told her to go to Robert, captain of Vaucouleurs, and he would give her men-at-arms; to which She answered that she was a poor maid who could neither ride nor fight. She declared that she had told an uncle that she had to go to Vaucouleurs, so he took her there. Further, that when she went to her king, she wore man’s dress. Also that before she went to her lord the king the Duke of Lorraine sent for her; she went, and told him she wanted to go to France. The Duke questioned her about recovering his health, but she told him she knew nothing of that, and spoke to him little of her journey.
She told the Duke to give her his son and his men to take her to France, and she would pray for his health. She journeyed to the Duke by safe conduct, and returned to Vaucouleurs. On leaving Vaucouleurs she wore man’s dress, carried a sword which the said Robert gave her, but no other arms, and was accompanied by a knight, a squire, and four servants. She went to the town of St. Urbain, and slept in the abbey. During this journey she passed through Auxerre where she heard Mass in the great church, and frequently had her voices with her. Further, the said Robert made those who were escorting her swear to lead her safely and surely, and when she left he said to her: “Go, go, and come what may.” She said also that she had to change to man’s costume since she believed her counsel in that respect was good: that she went without hindrance to her king to whom she sent letters for the first time when she was yet at Ste. Catherine de Fierbois.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if her voice instructed her to wear the habit of a man,
She answered that the dress is but a little thing, the least of all; but she did not wear man’s dress at anybody’s counsel, she wore it, and did everything, only at the command of Our Lord and His angels. She did not wear this dress at Robert’s bidding. Asked if she had done well to wear this dress,
She answered that to her mind everything she did at God’s bidding was well done, and she expects good warrant and help for it. She said, too, that she had a sword which she took at Vaucouleurs.
On the 12th of March, asked if it was at Robert’s request that she wore man’s dress, and if the voice had given her any command in connection with Robert,
She answered as before. Of the voice she said that everything good which she had done had been at the instance of her voices; and, in respect of the dress, she would answer another time, for at present she was not advised, but would reply on the next day.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what warrant or aid she expects from Our Lord from the fact that she wears man’s dress, she answers that in this as in other respects she wanted no other recompense than the salvation of her soul.
XIII
“The said Jeanne attributes to God, to His angels and to His Saints instructions that are contrary to the honesty of womankind, forbidden by divine law, abominable to God and man, and prohibited under penalty of anathema by ecclesiastical decrees, such as the wearing of short, tight, and dissolute male habits, those underneath the tunic and breeches as well as the rest; and, according to their bidding, she often dressed in rich and sumptuous habits, precious stuffs and cloth of gold and furs; and not only did she wear short tunics, but she dressed herself in tabards and garments open at the sides, whilst it is notorious that when she was captured she was wearing a loose cloak of cloth of gold, a cap on her head and her hair cropped round in man’s style. And in general, having cast aside all womanly decency, not only to the scorn of feminine modesty, but also of well-instructed men, she had worn the apparel and garments of most dissolute men, and in addition, had borne weapons of offense. To attribute this to the bidding of God, His holy angels and virgin saints, is blasphemy of Our Lord and His saints, setting at nought the divine decrees, infringement of canon law, the scandal of her sex and womanly decency, the perversion of all modesty of outward bearing, the approbation and encouragement of most reprobate examples of conduct.”
To this thirteenth article, Jeanne answers: “I have not blasphemed God or His saints.”
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she thought the instruction to wear man’s dress was lawful,
She answered that everything she did was at God’s command; and that, if He had bidden her wear a different dress, she would have done so, for it was God’s bidding. Asked whether she thought that in this particular instance she had done well, she replied that she did not wear it without God’s command, and that no single action of hers was otherwise than at His command./p>
On Saturday, the 3rd, asked whether when she went to her king for the first time, he inquired if she had changed her dress after revelation,
She answered: “I replied to this before,” and “nevertheless, I do not recall that I was asked that.” She added it is written at Poitiers. On the same day, asked if she believed that she would err or commit mortal sin by returning to woman’s clothes,
She answered she would do better to obey and serve her sovereign Lord, namely God.
XIV
“The said Jeanne affirms that it was right so to wear garments and habits of dissolute men; and will persist therein, saying that she must not abandon them, except with express permission by revelation from God, to the injury of God, of His angels and His saints.”
To this fourteenth article Jeanne answers: “I do not do ill to serve God; to-morrow you shall have a reply.” The same day, asked by one of the assessors if she had received instruction or revelation to wear man’s dress, she answers that her reply has been given, and she leaves it at that: then says that she will send answer the next day. She adds that she knows well who made her wear man’s dress, but she does not know how she ought to reveal it.
On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she desired a woman’s habit,
She answered: “If you will give me permission, send me one. I will take it and go: otherwise I do not want one. I am content with this, since it is God’s will that I should wear it.”
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether she did not think she was doing wrong to wear man’s dress,
She answered no; and even at that moment, if she were back with her own party, it seemed to her that it would be to the great good of France for her to do as she did before her capture.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked why, since she declares her wearing of male attire to be at God’s command, she asks for a woman’s shift in the event of her death,
She answered it were enough for her if it were long.
XV
“The said Jeanne having repeatedly asked permission to hear Mass, was admonished to put off man’s dress and return to woman’s dress; her judges gave her hope that she would be allowed to hear Mass and receive Communion if she would finally put off man’s dress and wear female attire, as befits her sex. She would not agree, and preferred not to take Communion and the holy offices, rather than abandon this dress, pretending that by so doing she would displease God, so revealing her obstinacy, her stubbornness in evil, her want of charity, her disobedience to the Church, and the scorn she has of the holy sacraments.”
To this fifteenth article, on this Tuesday the 27th of March, Jeanne answers that she would much rather die than turn back on Our Lord’s command.
On this same day, asked if she will put off man’s dress and hear Mass, she replies that she will not yet put it off, and that it is not on her that the day depends when she may do so. ‘
She says that if the judges refuse to let her hear Mass, it is in God’s power to let her hear Mass when it pleases Him, without them.
As for the remainder of the article, she answers that she confesses she has been admonished to wear woman’s dress; but she denies the irreverence and the succeeding charges.
On Thursday, March 15th, asked which she would prefer, to wear woman’s dress and hear Mass or keep to male costume and not hear Mass,
She answered: “Promise me I shall hear Mass if I am in woman’s dress, and I will answer you.” Whereupon the examiner said he would promise, and Jeanne then answered: “What do you say if I have sworn and promised to our king not to put off this dress? Yet I answer you: Have a long dress, reaching down to the ground, with no train, made for me, and give it to me to go to Mass; and then on my return I will put on once more the dress I have.” Asked once and for all whether she would wear a woman’s dress and go to hear Mass,
She answered: “I will have counsel on it, and then I will answer you.” And in honor of God and of Our Lady she urged she would be allowed to hear Mass in this good town. Whereupon she was told to take a woman’s dress, simply and absolutely. She replied: “Give me a dress such as the daughters of a burgess wear, a houppelande, and also a woman’s hood; and I will wear it to go and hear Mass.” Moreover she said, as urgently as she could, that she besought us to permit her to hear Mass in the dress she wore, without any change.
On Saturday, March 17th, questioned on the subject of the woman’s dress offered to her so that she could hear Mass,
She answered that she would not put it on till it should please Our Lord; and if it be that she must be brought to judgment and stripped, she asks the lords of the Church to grant her the mercy of a woman’s shift and a hood for her head; for she would rather die than turn back from her Lord’s command. She firmly believes God will not permit her to be brought so low, or be without His aid, or miracle. Asked whether her saying she would take a woman’s dress if they would let her go would please God,
She answered that if she were given permission to go in woman’s dress she would immediately put on man’s dress and do what Our Lord bade her, and that nothing in the world would induce her to swear not to take up arms or wear man’s dress, to accomplish Our Lord’s will and pleasure.
XVI
“The said Jeanne, after her capture, at the castle of Beaurevoir and at Arras, was repeatedly and charitably admonished by noble and eminent persons of both sexes to abandon man’s dress and to wear habits decently fitting her sex. This she absolutely refused, and still obstinately persists in her refusal to do, as well as the other duties fitting to her sex; in all things she behaves more like a man than a woman.”
To this sixteenth article Jeanne confesses that she was admonished at Arras and at Beaurevoir to wear woman’s dress, and that she refused and still refuses. As for the other womanly duties, she says there are enough other women to do them.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if she recalls whether the clerks of her own party who examined her, some for the space of a month, others for three weeks, did not question her about the changing of her dress, she replied that she did not remember: that, however, they did ask her where she assumed her male costume, and she told them it was at Vaucouleurs. Asked if they inquired of her if she assumed it because of her voices, she said: “That is not in your case.” Further asked if she was not asked to change her habit at Beaurevoir,
She answered: “Yes, truly”; and she said she would not without God’s leave. The Demoiselle of Luxembourg asked not to deliver her to the English, and with the Lady of Beaurevoir offered her a woman’s dress, and told her to wear it. She replied that she had not God’s permission, and it was not yet time. She added that Messire and others at Arras did not offer her a woman’s dress; others asked her to change her dress. Moreover, she said that if she had had to do it she would rather have done so at the request of these two ladies than of any other ladies in France, save her queen. Asked also whether when God revealed to her that she should change to man’s dress, it was by the voice of St. Michael, or by the voice of St. Catherine or St. Margaret,
She answered: “You will learn no more for the present.”
XVII
“When the said Jeanne came, thus clothed and armed, into the. presence of the said Charles, she made amongst others three promises to him: the first that she would raise the siege of Orleans; the second that she would get him crowned at Reims; the third she would take vengeance of his enemies, that she would kill them all by her magic art, drive them out of the kingdom, both the English and the Burgundians. She boasted publicly of these promises many times in different places; and to increase faith in her acts and sayings, she then and thenceforth made use of spells, and showed up the habits, life, and secret actions of people coming into her presence whom she had never seen or known, and boasted that her knowledge came by revelation.”
To this seventeenth article Jeanne replied that she bore to her king news from God saying that Our Lord would restore his kingdom, would have him crowned at Reims, and would expel his enemies. She was God’s messenger to that effect; and told him to set her boldly to work, and she would raise the siege of Orleans. She spoke, she said, of the whole kingdom, and if the Lord and other subjects of the realm did not come to obedience, her king would compel them by force. She said, with regard to the end of the article of recognizing Robert and her king: “I hold to what I said before.”
On Thursday, February 22nd, she confessed that when she came to Vaucouleurs she recognized Robert de Baudricourt although she had never seen him, because her voice told her it was he. She said that she found her king at Chinon, where she arrived towards noon, and lodged at an inn; and after dinner, she went to her king at his castle, and she recognized him from the others, when she entered the chamber, by her voices; and she told the king she wanted to fight the English
On March 13th, asked about a certain married priest and a lost cup,
She answered she knew nothing of that, and had never heard of.
XVIII
“The said Jeanne, as long as she remained with the said Charles, dissuaded him and his men with all her power from negotiating any treaty of peace with his enemies, continually incited her party to murder and shed human blood, affirming that there could be no peace but by the sword and the lance’s point: that it was so ordained of God, since the king’s enemies would not otherwise yield what they held of the realm, and therefore to make war on them was to her mind of the greatest benefit to all Christendom.”
To this eighteenth article Jeanne answers that she summoned the both by letter and ambassadors to make peace with her king. As for the English, the only peace with them is by their return to their own country, to England. On the rest of the ‘article she has made other replies, to which she refers.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked why she did not conclude a treaty with the captain of Jargeau,
She answered that the lords of her party replied to the English that they would not get the delay of a fortnight for which they asked, but must go off, with their horses, immediately. For her own part she said they could retire with their doublets, and their life safe, if they wished; otherwise they would be taken by assault. Asked if she had any conversation with her counsel, or voices, to find out whether or not to grant the delay,
She answered that she had no recollection.
XIX
“The said Jeanne, by consulting demons and employing spells, sent for a certain sword hidden in the church of Ste. Catherine de Fierbois, which she had maliciously and deceitfully hid or had hidden in this church, so that by misleading princes, nobles, clergy, and common folk, she might more easily induce them to believe that it was by revelation that she knew the sword was there, and they might more readily put absolute faith in her sayings.”
To this nineteenth article on this Tuesday the 27th of March, she answers that she refers to her earlier answers in this connection: the rest of the article she denies.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she had been to Ste. Catherine de Fierbois,
She answered yes; that she had heard Mass there three times on the same day, and then went on to Chinon. The same Tuesday she said she had a sword from the church of Ste. Catherine de Fierbois that she sent for when at Tours or Chinon; it was in the earth behind the altar, and immediately afterwards the sword was found, all rusted. Asked how she knew the sword was there, she replied it was in the ground, rusted over, with five crosses upon it; she knew through her voices, and said she had never seen the man she sent to fetch it. She wrote to the clergy asking if it was their pleasure she should have this sword, and they sent it to her. She thought it was not buried deep behind the altar; she did not know exactly whether it was in front or behind the altar, yet she thought she wrote it was behind. As soon as the sword was found, she added, the priests rubbed it and the rust fell off at once without effort. An armorer of Tours fetched it. The priests of Ste. Catherine and also of Tours gave her a scabbard; there were two, one of crimson velvet, the other of cloth of gold. She herself had another made of very strong leather, and added that when she was captured she had not this sword with her, though she wore it continually until she reached St. Denis. Asked how it was blessed, whether she said or asked any benediction over the sword,
She answered she had never asked blessing for it or known how to. She loved the sword, since it had been found in the church of St. Catherine whom she loved.
Asked on Saturday, March 17th, what was the purpose of the five crosses on the sword,
She answered that she did not know.
“The said Jeanne put a spell on her ring, her standard, on certain pieces of linen or pennons, which she used to bear or have her men bear before her, as she did upon the sword she claimed to have found by revelation at Ste. Catherine de Fierbois, affirming that these objects brought good fortune. She uttered many curses and incantations over them in different places, publicly declaring that with their aid she would do great things and overcome her enemies, that her men could meet with no defeat in their attack or fighting, or suffer any misfortune, because they bore such pennons. In particular she publicly uttered and proclaimed this at Compiègne, on the eve of her attack upon the lord , during the course of which she was captured and taken prisoner, and many of her men were wounded, killed, and taken. This she as much as declared when at St. Denis she incited her company to attack Paris.”
To this twentieth article Jeanne, on Tuesday, March 27th, answered that she abides by her earlier answers in this connection. Furthermore, she adds that in nothing she did was there witchcraft or other magic art. With regard to her standard, she refers herself to the good fortune Our Lord brought it.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if she had her sword when she was captured,
She answered no, but a certain sword taken from a Burgundian instead.
On Thursday, March 1st asked who gave her the ring now in the possession of the Burgundians,
She answered her father and mother; she thought it had written on it Jhesus Maria, but she knew not who wrote these words. The ring had no stone and was given her at Domrémy. She said her brother gave her another ring besides the one which we, the bishop, held, and she charged us to give it to the Church. Never, she said, did she tend or cure any person with the aid of these rings.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether when the king first set her to work and she had her standard made, the men-at-arms and others of her party did not have pennons made like hers,
She answered: “It is well to know that the lords kept their own arms.” She replied that certain of her companions in arms had them made at their pleasure, others did not. Asked of what stuff they had them made, whether of linen or of cloth,
She answered it was of white satin, and on some were fleurs-de-lys. She had only two or three lances in her company, but her companions in arms sometimes had pennons made like hers, doing so merely to distinguish their men from others. Asked if the pennons were often renewed,
She answered that she did not know, that when the lances were broken, new pennons were made. Asked if those made like hers brought good fortune,
She answered that she did indeed sometimes say to her men: “Go boldly in the midst of the English,” or “among the English,” and she herself would go. Asked if she told them to bear the pennons boldly, and they would have good fortune,
She answered that she certainly told them what had happened and would happen again. Asked if she had thrown or had others throw holy water over the pennons, when they were first taken,
She answered that she did not know, and if it was done it was not at her instruction. Asked if she ever saw holy water sprinkled on them,
She answered: “That is not in your case,” and if she did, she was not now advised to reply. Asked if her companions in arms did not have written on their pennons Jhesus Maria,
She answered that by her faith she did not know. Asked if she had borne round the altar or church, or had others bear it, cloth which was to be made into pennons,
She answered no, and she had never seen it done.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what her ring which had Jhesus Maria written on it was made of,
She answered she did not exactly know. If it was gold, it was not of fine gold: she does not know if it was gold or brass, but thinks there were three crosses upon it, and, to her knowledge, no other sign save Jhesus Maria. Asked why she gladly looked at this ring when she was going into battle,
She answered it was out of pleasure, and in honor of her father and mother; and having her ring in her hand and on her finger she touched St. Catherine who appeared to her.
Asked what part of her she touched She answered: “You will get nothing more about that.”
XXI
“The said Jeanne, thereto incited by her temerity and her presumption, had the names Jhesus Maria written in her letters, signed with a cross between, and addressed them from herself to Our Lord the King, to My Lord Duke of Bedford, then regent of France, and to the lords who held the siege at Orleans, letters containing many things evil, pernicious, and contrary to the Catholic faith, of which the tenor follows.”
To this article, this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers that she did not send these letters out of pride or presumption, but at Our Lord’s bidding, and confesses to the letters, except for three words.
On Thursday, February 22nd, she said she had sent letters to the English at Orleans, telling them to retire, according to the contents of the letters which were read to her, except for two or three words, for example, she declares that where it says Surrender to the Maid, it should read Surrender to the king, similarly for body for body and chieftain of war. The tenor of the letters begins “King of England, etc.” and they are subscribed + Jhesus Maria +
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if her own party firmly believed her to be sent from God,
She answered she knew not whether they did, and referred us to their opinion; but if they did not, yet she is sent from God none the less. Asked if she did not think that they held a wise belief by deeming her to be sent from God,
She answered: “If they believe I am sent from God, they are not deceived.”
XXII
“+ Jhesus Maria +
“King of England, and you Duke of Bedford, calling yourself regent of France, you, William Pole, Count of Suffolk, John Talbot, and you Thomas Lord Scales, calling yourselves lieutenants of the said Duke of Bedford, do right in the King of Heaven’s sight. Surrender to The Maid sent hither by God the King of Heaven, the keys of all the good towns you have taken and laid waste in France. She comes in God’s name to establish the Blood Royal, ready to make peace if you agree to abandon France and repay what you have taken. And you, archers, comrades in arms, gentles and others, who are before the town of Orleans, retire in God’s name to your own country. If you do not, expect to hear tidings from The Maid who will shortly come upon you to your very great hurt. And to you, King of England, if you do not thus, I am “chef de guerre”; and whenever I meet your followers in France, I will drive them out; if they will not obey, I will put them all to death. I am sent here in God’s name, the King of Heaven, to drive you body for body out of all France. If they obey, I will show them mercy. Do not think otherwise; you will not withhold the kingdom of France from God, the King of Kings, Blessed Mary’s Son. The King Charles, the true inheritor, will possess it, for God wills it, and has revealed it to him through The Maid, and he will enter Paris with a good company. If you do not believe these tidings from God and The Maid, wherever we find you we shall strike you and make a great tumult {“hahay”} than France has heard for a thousand years. Know well that the King of Heaven will send a greater force to The Maid and her good men-at-arms than you in all your assaults can overcome: and by blows shall the favor of the God of Heaven be seen. You Duke of Bedford, The Maid prays and beseeches not to bring yourself to destruction. If you obey her, you may join her company, where the French shall do the fairest deed ever done for Christendom. Answer, if you desire peace in the city of Orleans; if not, bethink you of your great hurt soon. Written this Tuesday of Holy Week.”
XXIII
“From the tenor of these letters it is manifest that Jean has been deceived by evil spirits, and that she has frequently consulted them in her actions; or, to mislead the peoples, she has perniciously and falsely invented such fictions.”
To this article she replies, she denies the end of it which declares she acted on the counsel of evil spirits.
On February 27th she said she would rather have been drawn by horses than have come to France without God’s leave.
XXIV
“The said Jeanne misused the names Of Jhesus and of Maria, the sign of the Cross placed between them, and warned certain of her party that when they found these words and this sign in letters from her they should believe and do the opposite of what she wrote.”
To this article on this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers by referring herself to another answer she made in this connection.
On March 17th, asked what the purpose was of the sign she put in her letters, and of Jhesus Maria,
She answered that the clerks who wrote her letters put them in, and some said it was proper to put the two words Jhesus Maria.
XXV
“The said Jeanne, usurping the office of angels, said and affirmed she was sent from God, even in things tending openly to violence and to the spilling of human blood, which is absolutely contrary to holiness, and horrible and abominable to all pious minds.”
To this article on this Tuesday, March 27th, Jeanne answers that she first asked for peace, but if peace was not agreed to, she was quite prepared to fight.
On Saturday, February 24th, she said she came from God and had no business here, in this trial, and asked to be sent back to God from Whom she came. On Saturday, March 17th, she said that God sent her to help the kingdom of France.
XXVI
“The said Jeanne, being at Compiègne in August of the year of Our Lord, 1429, received a letter from the Count d’Armagnac of which the tenor follows.”
To this article on this 27th of March Jeanne answers that she refers herself to the answer she made before in this connection.
On Thursday, March 1st, asked if she had not received a letter from the Count d’Armagnac about which of the three claimants to the Papacy he should obey,
She answered that the Count did write her a letter to this effect, to which she replied, amongst other things, that when she was in Paris or anywhere at leisure, she would answer. She was about to mount her horse when she gave this answer.
After letters from the Count and from Jeanne were read, she was asked whether that was her actual reply. She answered that she thought she had made that answer in part, but not all of it. Asked if she had professed to know, by her counsel of the King of Kings, what the Count should believe in the matter,
She answered she knew nothing about it. Asked if she entertained any doubt concerning whom she should obey,
She answered that she did not know how to instruct him to obey since he asked her to say whom God wanted him to obey. For her part she believed that we should obey Our Holy Father the Pope at Rome. She added that she said other things to the Count’s messenger which are not in the copy of the letter; and if the messenger had not gone off at once he would have been thrown into the water, though not through her. To the Count’s inquiry as to whom God wished him to obey, she replied that she did not know; but sent him several messages not put into writing. For her part she believed in our Holy Father the Pope at Rome. Asked why she had written that she would answer at some other time, if she believed in the Pope of Rome, she said the answer referred to a different matter from the three popes. Asked if she had said she would have counsel on the question of the three popes,
She answered she had never written, or caused to be written so, she swore by her oath, anything concerning the three popes.
XXVII
“My very dear Lady, I commend myself humbly to you and beseech you for God’s sake, seeing the division which now exists in the holy Church Universal, concerning the question of the popes (for there are three contending for the papacy: one dwells at Rome and is called , whom all Christian Kings obey; the other dwells at Peñiscola, in the kingdom of Valencia, and is called Clement [VIII]; the third dwells no man knows where, unless it is the Cardinal of St. Estienne and a few folk with him, and is called Benedict XIV. The first, who is called Pope Martin, was elected at Constance by the consent of all the Christian nations; he who is called Pope Clement was elected at Peñiscola, after the death of Benedict XIII, by three of his cardinals; the third, called Pope Benedict XIV, was secretly elected at Peñiscola also by Cardinal Saint-Estienne), I beseech you to entreat Our Lord Jesus Christ that in His infinite mercy He declare unto us through you which of the three aforesaid is the true Pope, and which He would have us henceforth obey, him who is called Martin, or him who is called Clement, or him who is called Benedict; and in whom we should believe, in secret, and without dissimulation or public manifestation; for we are all ready to do the will and pleasure of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Entirely your Count d’Armagnac.”
XXVIII
“To which the said Jeanne made answer by a letter signed with her own hand, of which the tenor follows.”
XXIX
“Jhesus + Maria
“Count d’Armagnac, my good and very dear friend, Jeanne the Maid informs you that your message has reached her, wherein you declare you have sent to her to discover which of the three Popes mentioned in your memorial you should believe. In truth I cannot well for the present tell, until I am in Paris or at rest elsewhere, for I am now too pressed by the business of war: but when you hear I am in Paris, send me a message and I will tell you in whom you should rightfully believe, and what I shall know by the counsel of my just and Sovereign Lord, the King of all the World, and as far as I can, what you should do. I commend you to God: may He keep you. Written at Compiègne the 22nd day of August.”
XXX
“And so required, as has been related, by the Count d’Armagnac, to say which of the three was the true Pope, and in whom he should believe, she not only cast doubt upon which it was, when there was only one true and authentic Pope, but also, presuming too much for herself, holding the authority of the Church Universal to be of little weight, preferring her own word to the authority of the whole Church, she affirmed that within a fixed interval, she would inform him in which Pope he should believe; which she would discover by God’s counsel, as her letter declares at greater length.”
To the articles XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX and XXX which were explained to her word for word, Jeanne refers to the answer she has made, which is put under article XXVI.
March 28, 1431 (part 2)
This Wednesday after Palm Sunday, 1431, March 28th. The reading of the articles is continued.
{And first, required to take oath,
She answered she would willingly swear to speak the truth on that which touched her case, and so she swore.
To the article touching her dress,
She answered that she wore her habit and arms at God’s bidding; this was true both of the male costume and the arms.
When asked to abandon this dress,
She answered she would not give it up without Our Lord’s permission, not even to save her head, but, please God, it would soon be put off. She added, that if she had not Our Lord’s permission, she would not wear woman’s dress.}
“The said Jeanne, in and since the time of her youth, has boasted and daily boasts of having had many revelations and visions, and concerning these, in spite of being charitably admonished and lawfully and properly required upon legal oath, she would not and will not swear; further, she refuses to declare them sufficiently by word or sign; but did and still does put off, contradict, and refuse. And when formally refusing to swear, on many and several occasions, she said and affirmed, in her examination and elsewhere, that she would not discover her visions and revelations, even if her head were cut off or her body were dismembered; that we should not drag from her lips the sign which God showed her, by which she knew she came from God.”
To this thirty-first article, Jeanne answers that concerning the sign or other things contained in this article she may well have said she would not reveal it, and adds that her earlier confession should contain that without God’s leave she would not reveal the sign.
On February 22nd she said there was no day when she did not hear this voice, or when she did not need it.
On Saturday, February 23rd [24th], she said that on that night her voice told her many things for the good of her king which she wished her king might know that day, if she had to go without wine till Easter, for he would cat the more happily for it.
On Tuesday, February 27th, she said she had told her king at one time all that had been revealed to her, for it concerned him nearly. On this Tuesday, she said that she addressed letters to her king to find out if she should enter the town where he was; that she had journeyed a good 150 leagues to come to his aid, and she knew many things to his advantage. She thought the letters told how she would be able to recognize him among all the others.
On Thursday, March 1st asked in what form St. Michael appeared,
She answered that she did not see his crown, and knew nothing of his apparel. Asked if St. Michael was naked,
She answered: “Do you think God has not wherewithal to clothe him?”
On Tuesday, March 15th required to tell how she hoped to escape from the castle of Beaulieu, between two pieces of wood,
She answered that she was never imprisoned in any place but she would gladly escape; and being in this castle, she would have shut her guards up in the tower, had it not been for the porter, who had seen and encountered her. It seemed, she said, that it did not please God to have her escape on that occasion, and she must see the English king, as her voices had told her, and as it is written above. On this same day, asked about the size and stature of the angel who appeared to her, she said that she would answer on Saturday with the other matters, namely, what should please God. The same day, asked if she had said that one is sometimes hanged for telling the truth, and if she knew of any fault or crime of hers for which she should fear death, if she did not confess,
She answered no.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked about the age and apparel of St. Catherine and St. Margaret,
She answered: “You have my reply in this matter, and will get none other from me. I have answered you as best I can.”
XXXII
“Consequently you can and must conclude that these revelations and visions, if Jeanne ever had them, proceed rather from evil and lying spirits than from good; and so they must be presumed by you, in view especially of the cruelty, pride, bearing, actions, lies and contradictions indicated in the several articles, which may well be said and held to be lawful and entirely legitimate presumptions.”
To this thirty-second article Jeanne answered, on the Wednesday after Palm Sunday, March 28th, that she denies it, and declares she has acted from the revelations of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, and will so maintain till her death. This same day she said that she was advised by certain of her party to put Jhesus Maria on her letters; which she did on some, and not on others. Where it is written “All that she has done is at God’s bidding,” should read “All the good I have done.”
Asked, on this same day, whether her expedition to La Charité was well or ill done,
She answered: “If I have done wrong, I will confess.”
Asked if it was right for her to go to Paris,
She answered that the French noblemen wished to, and by so doing, she believes, they performed their duty of attacking their enemies.
XXXIII
“The said Jeanne presumptuously and rashly boasted and boasts of knowing the future and having known the past, of discovering things secret or hidden; and this attribute of God she attributes to herself, a simple and unlearned creature.”
To this thirty-third article, this Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers: “It is for God to make revelations to whom He pleases,” and of the sword and other things to come which she told, she knew them by revelation.
On Saturday, February 24th, she said the Burgundians will have war, if they do not as they should; she knows it by her voice.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked whether when the assault was to be made at Orleans, she did not tell her men that she would receive the arrows, crossbolts and stones,
She answered no; and there were a hundred or more wounded. But she did tell them to have no fear, and they would raise the siege. Asked, on the same day, to which fortress she ordered her men to retire, she says she does not remember. She added that she was confident of raising the siege of Orleans, because it had been revealed to her; this she told her king before going there. She said also that at the assault upon the fortress of the Bridge she was wounded in the neck by a crossbolt; but received great comfort from St. Michael, and was better in a fortnight. Asked if she knew beforehand that she would be wounded,
She answered that she did indeed, and had told her king so; but that notwithstanding, she would not give up her work. It was revealed to her by the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret. She added that she herself was the first to plant the ladder up against the fortress of the Bridge, and as she was raising it, she was wounded in the neck with a crossbolt.
On Thursday, March 1st she said that within seven years the English would lose a greater stake than they did at Orleans; that the English will suffer a greater loss than ever they did in France, which will be by the victory God will send the French. This she knows by revelation, it will happen within seven years, and she is very vexed that it should be so long postponed. She says, as above, that she knows it by revelation, as well as she knows that we were before her. She said: “I know it as well as I know you are here.” Asked in what year it will happen,
She answered: “You will not learn that; nevertheless I heartily wish it might be before St. John’s Day.” This same day, asked if she said it would happen before Martinmas,
She answered that she had said that many things would be seen before then; and it might well be that the English would be overthrown and stricken to the ground. Asked what she told , her guard, in prison, about Martinmas,
She answered: “I have told you!” Asked through whom she knew it would happen before Martinmas,
She answered that she knew it from St. Catherine and St. Margaret.
This same Thursday, March 1st asked what promises St. Catherine and St. Margaret made her,
She answered: “That is not in your case,” and, amongst other things, they told her that her king should be reëstablished in his kingdom, whether his enemies wished it or not. The same day she said she knew well that her king would regain the kingdom of France, as well as she knew we were there.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if the voices told her anything in a general way,
She answered: “Yes, indeed, they told me I shall be delivered; but I do not know the day or the hour; and that I must boldly show a cheerful countenance before you.”
On Saturday, March 10th asked if the sally at Compiègne was made at the instruction of her voices,
She answered that in Easter week last, when she was in the trenches at Melun, she was told by the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret that she would be captured before St. John’s Day; it had to be so; and she should not be distressed, but take everything in good part, and God would aid her. This same day, asked if since Melun she had been told by her voices that she would be captured,
She answered yes, several times, nearly every day. She asked of her voices that when she was taken she might die quickly without long suffering in prison; and her voices told her to be resigned, that it must so happen, but they did not tell her when. If she had known when she was to be captured, she would not have gone. She had often asked them, but they did not tell her. The same day she said that when she had to leave for her king, she was told by her voices: “Go boldly; when thou art in the king’s presence, he shall have a good sign to receive thee and believe in thee.”
On Monday, March 12th, asked how she would have delivered the Duke of Orleans,
She answered she would have taken enough English prisoners in this district to ransom him; and if she had not taken enough, she would have crossed the sea to fetch him by force from England. Asked if St. Catherine and St. Margaret had told her absolutely and unconditionally that she would take enough prisoners to ransom the Duke, who was in England, or else she should cross the sea to fetch him and bring him back within three years,
She answered yes, and she told the king to let her have her way with the prisoners. She added that if she had gone on for three years unhindered she would have delivered him. She said that she needed less than three years and more than one, but does not now remember.
On Wednesday, March 14th, asked to what peril and danger we, bishop and clerics, expose ourselves by trying her,
She answered that St. Catherine told her she should have help; she does not know whether this will be her deliverance from prison, or if, whilst she is being tried, some tumult may arise through which she can be delivered. She thinks it will be one or the other; and most often her voices tell her she will be delivered by a great victory. And then they say: “Take everything peacefully; have no care for thy martyrdom.”
XXXIV
“The said Jeanne, persisting in her rash and presumptuous ways, has declared, spread abroad and published that she is able to recognize and distinguish the voices of God’s archangels, angels, and saints, affirming that she can distinguish them from human voices.”
To this thirty-fourth article on Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne replies that she abides by her former answers in this connection and in respect of her rashness and the end of the article, she refers herself to the judgment of Our Lord.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked if it was the voice of an angel, or of a saint, or of God Himself, which spoke to her,
She answered that it was the voice of St. Catherine or St. Margaret. Their heads were crowned in rich and precious fashion with beautiful crowns. “And to tell this, she said, “I have God’s permission. If you doubt it, send to Poitiers where I was examined before.” The same day, asked how she knew one saint from the other,
She answered that she knew them by the greeting they gave her, and because they tell her their names.
On Thursday, March 1st asked how she knew whether her apparition was man or woman,
She answered: “I know well, and I recognize the saints by their voices,” and because they revealed themselves to her. The same day, asked what part of them she saw,
She answered the face. Asked if they had hair,
She answered: “It is well to know they have.” Asked if there were anything between their crowns and their hair,
She answered no. Asked if their hair were long and hung down,
She answered: “I do not know.” She added that she did not know whether they appeared to have arms or other members. She said they spoke very well and beautifully, and she understood them well. Asked how they spoke if they had no other members,
She answered: “I refer me to God.” On March 15th, asked if she had no other sign than these apparitions were good spirits,
She answered: “St. Michael certified it before the voices came to me.” Asked how she knew it was St. Michael,
She answered: “By the angels’ speech and tongue,” and she firmly believed they were angels. Asked how she knew it was the speech of angels,
She answered that she believed it very soon and had the desire to believe it. She added that St. Michael, when he came to her, told her that St. Catherine and St. Margaret would come to her, that she should follow their counsel, and that they were instructed to lead her and advise her what she had to do; and that she should believe what they said, for it was at Our Lord’s command.
Asked how she would tell if he were a good or evil spirit if the Enemy put himself in the form and guise of an angel,
She answered that she would certainly know whether it was St. Michael or a counterfeit in his likeness. She answered that at first she had grave doubts whether it was St. Michael, and the first time she was afraid; and she saw him many times before she knew it was St. Michael. Asked how she knew then rather than on the first occasion that it was St. Michael who had appeared to her, she replied that the first time she was a young girl and was afraid; since then St. Michael taught her and showed her so many things that she firmly believed it was he. Asked what doctrine he taught her,
She answered that in all things he told her to be a good child and God would help her; and amongst other things he told her she should go to the aid of the king of France. A great part of what the angel taught her is in this book, and the angel told her of the great pity that was in the kingdom of France.
XXXV
“The said Jeanne hath boasted and affirmed that she is able to tell whom God loves and whom He hates.”
To this thirty-fifth article, this Wednesday, March 28th, she answers: “I abide by what I have already answered, with regard to the king and the Duke of Orleans”; of other folk, she knows nothing. She says she knows very well that God loves her king and the Duke of Orleans more than her, for their bodily ease; and she knows this by revelation.
On Thursday, February 22nd, she said that she knows God loves greatly the Duke of Orleans, and also that she had had more revelations about him than any man alive, save her king.
On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she could so influence the voice that it would obey her and take news to her king,
She answered that she did not know whether the voice would obey her unless it were God’s will, and God consented thereto. “And if it please God He will be able to send revelations to the king, and with this I shall be well pleased.” Asked why this voice no longer speaks with the king as it did when Jeanne was in his presence,
She answered that she does not know if it be not God’s will.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked how she knows that St. Margaret and St. Catherine hate the English,
She answered: “They love those whom God loves, and hate whom He hates.” Asked if God hates the English, she answers that she knows nothing of God’s love or hatred, or what God will do to their souls, but she is certain that with the exception of those who shall die there, they will be driven out of France, and that God will send victory to the French and against the English. Asked if God was for the English when they were prospering in France,
She answered that she knew not whether God hated the French, but she believed it was His will to suffer them to be beaten for their sins, if they were in a state of sin.
XXXVI
“The said Jeanne hath declared, affirmed, and boasted, and still doth, from day to day, that she knows and hath truly known, and not she alone, but also other men at her request have truly known and recognized a certain voice, which she calls her voice, which came to her; although, by its nature, the said voice which she describes and hath described, must have been and is invisible to every human creature.”
To this thirty-sixth article the said Jeanne answers that she abides by her earlier answers.
On Thursday, February 22nd she said that those of her party knew well that the voice was sent from God, and that they saw and knew it, this she knew well. Moreover, she said that her king and several others heard and saw the voice which came to her, and there were present Charles de Bourbon and two or three others.
XXXVII
“The said Jeanne confesses that she has often done the opposite of what the revelations she boasts to receive from God enjoined and commanded her; for example, when she left Saint-Denis, after the assault at Paris; when she jumped from the tower at Beaurevoir, and on other occasions. Wherein it is manifest, either that she has not had revelations from God or she has scorned the instructions and express revelations by which she proclaims she is wholly influenced and governed. Moreover she said, when she was ordered not to jump from the tower, and was tempted to do the opposite, that she could not do otherwise. Wherein she appears to hold erroneous opinions of men’s free will and to fall into the error of those who advance that it is conditioned by fatal prescriptions, or something of similar import.”
To this thirty-seventh article, this Wednesday, March 28th, she answers: “I refer to my earlier answers,” yet she added that she had received permission for her departure from Saint-Denis. Asked whether by acting against the instruction of her voices she did not believe herself in mortal sin,
She answered: “I have already answered this, and I refer to that answer.” And, in respect of the conclusion of the article, she commits herself to God.
On Thursday, February 22nd she said that her voice told her to remain at Saint-Denis in France (and she wished to remain), but against her will the lords took her away. Nevertheless, if she had not been wounded she would not have gone. She was wounded in the trenches before Paris, and said that she recovered in five days.
On Saturday, March 10th asked whether, if her voices had ordered her to make the attack from Compiègne and had told her she would be captured, she would have gone,
She answered that if she had known when she was to be captured she would not have gone willingly; nevertheless, she would have done their bidding in the end, whatever it cost her.
On Thursday, March 15th asked if she ever did anything against the instruction and will of her voices,
She answered that she did and performed with all her might that which she could and was able to do. As for her leap from the tower at Beaurevoir, which she did against their bidding, she could not help herself; and when her voices saw her need, and that she could in no way hold herself back, they lent aid to her life and prevented her from being killed. Moreover, she said that whatever she did in her great ventures, they succored her, and this is a sign that they are good spirits.
The same day, asked if she did not believe it to be a great sin to anger St. Catherine and St. Margaret who appear to her, and to do contrary to their bidding, she answers yes, but she knows how to atone for it; what angered them most of all in her opinion was the leap at Beaurevoir, wherein she asked their 4forgiveness, and for other offenses she had committed against them.
XXXVIII
“The said Jeanne, although from her youth up she has uttered, committed, and perpetrated many sins, crimes, errors and faults, shameful, cruel, scandalous, dishonorable and unfitting to her sex, nevertheless proclaims and affirms that everything she has done is at God’s bidding and according to His will, that she has never done anything which does not proceed from Him, through the revelations of His holy saints and blessed virgins Catherine and Margaret.”
To this thirty-eighth article, Jeanne answers that she refers to her earlier replies in this connection. On Saturday, February 24th, she said that but for God’s grace she could do nothing. The same day, asked if the people of Domrémy were on the side of the Burgundians or the others,
She answered that she only knew one Burgundian in the village and she would have been quite willing for him to have his head cut off, if it had pleased God. Asked if in her youth her voice told her to hate the Burgundians,
She answered that since she knew the voices were for the king of France, she did not like the Burgundians.
On Thursday, March 15th, asked if in battle she had done anything without the counsel of her voices,
She answered: “You have my answer to this; read your book carefully, and you will find it.” Nevertheless she said that at the request of men-at-arms she made an attack before Paris, and also before La Charité at her king’s request. It was neither against nor according to the commands of her voices. Asked if she ever did anything contrary to their command and will,
She answered as is contained in the preceding article.
XXXIX
“Although the just man falleth seven times in a day, nevertheless the said Jeanne utters and publishes that she has never committed, or at least never has to her knowledge committed, acts of mortal sin, notwithstanding that she has in reality performed all the acts (and others worse still) customary to fighting men; as it is declared in the preceding and following articles.”
To this thirty-ninth article this Wednesday, March 28th, she answers: “I have answered this. I abide by my earlier answers.”
On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she knows if she is in God’s grace,
She answered: “If I am not, may God put me there, and if I am, may God so keep me.” She said she would be the saddest creature in the world if she were not in God’s grace, and added that if she were in a state of sin, she did not think the voice would come to her, and wished every one could hear it as well as she did.
On Thursday, March 1st she said she is very glad when she sees her voice, and thinks when she sees it she cannot be in mortal sin. She says St. Catherine and St. Margaret in turn gladly hear her in confession, and if she is in mortal sin, she is not aware of it. Asked if, when she confesses, she feels as if in mortal sin,
She answered that she did not know whether she is in a state of mortal sin, but does not think she has committed such deeds. “Please God,” she said, “I never was, and if it please Him, I never shall commit or have committed such deeds as burden my soul.”
On Wednesday, March 14th, asked whether it was not mortal sin to take a man at ransom and put him to death, a prisoner,
She answered that she had not done that. And as mention was made of a certain Franquet d’Arras, who was sent to Lagny to be put to death,
She answered that she was consenting to his death if he had deserved it, since he had confessed himself a murderer, a thief, and a traitor. His trial lasted, she said, for a fortnight, and he was tried by the Bailly of Senlis and a jury of the people of Lagny. She said she had asked to have Franquet exchanged for a man from Paris, the landlord of the Bear Inn; and when she heard of the death of the landlord, and the Bailly told her she would be doing great wrong to justice by delivering this Franquet, she said to the Bailly: “Since the man I wanted is dead, do with this fellow as justice demands.” And when she was reminded that she had attacked Paris on a Feast Day, and that she had had the lord Bishop of Senlis’s horse, and that she had thrown herself from the tower at Beaurevoir, and that she wore man’s dress, she was asked if she did not believe she had committed mortal sin. She answered firstly, concerning the attack on Paris she did not think she was in mortal sin, and if she were, it was for God, and the priest in confession, to know it. Secondly, concerning the bishop’s horse,
She answered that she firmly believes that she did not therein commit mortal sin, for the lord Bishop of Senlis received a warrant for :zoo gold saluts for the horse. Thirdly, concerning the tower of Beaurevoir,
She answered that she did not leap out of despair, but in hope of saving her body and of going to the aid of many good people in need, and after the leap she confessed herself and asked forgiveness of God, which she received, and she thinks it was wrong to make that leap. She knows she received pardon after her confession from a revelation of St. Catherine’s, at whose counsel she confessed herself. Fourthly, concerning the man’s dress,
She answered: “Since I do it by God’s command, and in His service, I do not think I do wrong; and as soon as it shall please God to command, I will put it off.”
XL
“The said Jeanne, forgetful of her salvation and at the instigation of the Devil, is not and has not been ashamed from time to time and in many divers places to receive the Body of Christ in dissolute male attire, a costume forbidden and prohibited her by the command of God and the Church.”
To this fortieth article, Jeanne answers: “l have answered this and I refer to my earlier answer,” and in conclusion, submits to God.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether when she was journeying through the country she often received the sacraments of the Eucharist and of Confession when she came to the good towns,
She answered yes, from time to time. Asked if she received the sacraments in man’s dress,
She answered yes, but does not remember receiving them in armor.
XLI
“The said Jeanne, like a madwoman, out of hatred and scorn for the English, and also from fear of the destruction of Compiègne which she had heard of, tried to cast herself from the top of a high tower, and at the instigation of the devil, decided to do so, attempting and performing all she could to accomplish this end; in this manner she cast herself, incited or induced by a diabolical instinct, more anxious for the safety of her body than the salvation of her soul, and of other souls; boasting often that she would rather die than let herself be delivered into the hands of the English.”
To this forty-first article, Jeanne answers: “I refer to the answers I have already made.”
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if she was long in the town of Beaurevoir,
She answered that she was there for about four months; and when she heard that the English were to come, she was very angry, and though her voices forbade her to jump from the tower, at last, from fear of the English, she leaped and commended herself to God and Our Lady. Asked if she had said that she would rather die than fall into the hands of the English,
She answered that she would rather surrender her soul to God than fall in their hands.
On Wednesday, March 14th, asked why she jumped from the tower of Beaurevoir,
She answered that she had heard that the people of Compiègne all of them to the age of seven years, were to be put to fire and to the sword; and she would rather die than live after such a destruction of good people. That was one reason why she jumped; the other was that she knew she had been sold to the English, and she would have died rather than fall into their hands. Asked if her leap was made at the counsel of her voices,
She answered that St. Catherine told her almost every day not to jump, and God would aid her and the people of Compiègne too. But Jeanne told St. Catherine that since God was going to help the people of Compiègne she wanted to be there; and St. Catherine said: “You must be resigned and not falter; you will not be delivered until you have seen the King of the English.” Jeanne answered: “Truly I do not want to see him, and I would rather die than fall into the hands of the English.” She said that after her fall from the tower she was two or three days without desire to eat, yet she was comforted by St. Catherine who told her to confess and ask God’s forgiveness for having cast herself down; and the people of Compiègne would have aid without fail before Martinmas in winter; and then she began to eat and drink, and soon after was well. Asked if when she regained her speech after her fall she denied God and His Saints,
She answered that she did not remember that she had ever denied God or His Saints. Asked if she was willing to abide by the evidence collected or to be collected,
She answered that she would leave it to God, and none other.
XLII
“The said Jeanne has said and publicly declared that St. Catherine, St. Margaret, and St. Michael have corporal members such as head, eyes, face, etc.; and added that she has touched these saints with her hands and has embraced and kissed them.”
To this forty-second article, Jeanne answers: “I have answered this and refer to my earlier statements in respect of this.”
Now on Saturday, March 17th, asked whether she ever kissed or embraced St. Catherine and St. Margaret,
She answered that she had embraced them both, and they had a fine odor. Asked if, when she embraced them, she felt heat or anything else,
She answered that she could not embrace them without feeling or touching them. Asked what part of them she embraced, their head or their feet, she answer that it is more fitting to embrace their feet.
XLIII
“The said Jeanne has said and publicly declared that the saints, angels, and archangels speak French and not English and that the saints, angels and archangels are not on the side of the English but of the French, affirming to their scorn that the saints in glory look with hatred on a Catholic realm and a country given to the veneration of all the saints according to the instruction of the Church.”
To this forty-third article, which was explained to her word by word, Jeanne answered nothing beyond: “I refer me to Our Lord and to my earlier answers.”
On Thursday, March 1st she said that the voice is fair soft and meek, and speaks French. Asked if this voice, that is St. Margaret, spoke English,
She answered: “Why should she speak English? She is not on the English side.”
XLIV
“The said Jeanne boasted and proclaimed, and still does that St. Catherine and St. Margaret promised to lead her to Paradise and assured her of salvation if she kept her virginity and that she is assured of salvation.”
To this forty-fourth article, Jeanne answers: “I refer me to our Lord and my earlier answers.”
On Thursday, February 22nd she said that she never asked of the voice any other final reward than the salvation of her soul.
{On Wednesday, March 14th} asked whether since her voices told her she will go in the end to the kingdom of Paradise, she feels assured of her salvation, and safe from damnation in hell,
She answered that she firmly believes what her voices told her, namely, that she will be saved, as firmly as if she were already in Paradise. And when she was told that this was an answer of great weight, she replied that she held it for a great treasure; and meant, in respect of this article, provided she kept her oath and promise to Our Lord, that is, to keep safe her virginity of body and of soul. Asked whether after this revelation she believes it possible for her to commit mortal sin,
She answered: “I do not know, but commit myself to God in all things.” Asked if she need confess, since she believes from the revelation of her voices that she will be saved,
She answered that she does not know of having committed mortal sin; but if she were in mortal sin, she thinks St. Catherine and St. Margaret would at once abandon her, and believes one cannot too much cleanse one’s conscience. She said on Thursday, March 1st that her saints promised to lead her to Paradise, and so she had asked them to do.
XLV
“Although the judgments of God are altogether inscrutable to us, nevertheless the said Jeanne has said, uttered, declared, and proclaimed that she has known and knows who are the saints, angels, and archangels, the elect of God; and that she can distinguish them from one another.”
To this forty-fifth article, Jeanne answers: “I refer to my earlier answers.”
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked how and why she knew it was St. Catherine and St. Margaret who appeared to her, and how she told one from the other,
She answered that she knew well who they were and easily recognized one from the other.
On Thursday, March 1st asked if the saints always appeared to her in the same dress,
She answered that she always saw them in one and the same form, and their heads were richly crowned, and of their other clothing she does not speak, nor know anything of their robes. On Saturday, March 3rd, she said that she saw clearly St. Catherine and St. Margaret and her other apparitions, and knows they are saints of Paradise.
XLVI
“She says that she very affectionately interceded with St. Catherine and St. Margaret for the people of Compiègne before taking her leap, saying to them, among other things, by way of reproach: ‘And how shall God suffer the people of Compiègne to die so wretchedly, who are so faithful to Him!’ Wherein appear her impatience and irreverence towards God and His Saints.”
To this forty-sixth article, Jeanne answers: I refer to my earlier answers.”
On Saturday, March 3rd, she said that after she was wounded by leaping from the tower of Beaurevoir, the voice of St. Catherine told her to be of good cheer and she would recover, and the people of Compiègne would have aid; she said that she often prayed with her counsel for the Compiègne folk.
XLVII
“The said Jeanne, displeased with wounds she received from her fall or leap from the tower of Beaurevoir, and vexed that she had not realized her plan, blasphemed God and His Saints, shamefully denied them, and terribly scorned them to the horror of all who were present; and further, since she has been in the castle of Rouen, on many different days she has blasphemed and denied God, the Blessed Virgin, and the Saints, bearing with impatience and protesting against the fact that she is brought to trial before and is to be judged by the clergy.”
To this forty-seventh article, Jeanne answers: “I refer me to Our Lord and to my answers in this connection.”
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether she was not vexed and angry after jumping from the tower, and whether she did not blaspheme the Name of God,
She answered that she never cursed the Saints, and it was not her custom to swear. Asked about Soissons, where her captain had surrendered the town, and whether she denied God, and said that if she captured the captain she would have him drawn and quartered,
She answered that she never denied the Saints, and those who reported so were mistaken. On Wednesday, March 14th, asked whether since she had been in this prison she had not denied or blasphemed God,
She answered no; sometimes when she said bon gré Dieu or saint Jehan or Nostre Dame, those who reported the words may have misunderstood.
XLVIII
“The said Jeanne declared that she believed and believes that the spirits which appeared to her were angels, archangels and saints of God, as firmly as she believes in the Christian faith, and in the articles of this faith, although she reports no sign sufficient to know them by; moreover, in this she consulted no bishop, priest or other prelate of the Church, or any other cleric to discover whether she should give credence to such spirits; and declares that she was forbidden by her voices to reveal these communications to any one except a captain of soldiers, to the said Charles, and to other purely secular persons. Wherein she confesses that her credulity is rash, her opinions on the articles of the faith and their foundations erroneous; and in addition that she had suspicious revelations which she hid from prelates and the clergy and made known by preference to secular persons.”
To this forty-eighth article, Jeanne answers: I have given you my reply and refer to what is written down.” As for the signs, if those who ask for them are not worthy, she cannot help that. Many times she has prayed to God that it please Him to reveal them to some of her party, and she added that for believing in her revelations she did not ask the advice of bishop or priest or any other. She said that she believes it was St. Michael, from the good doctrine he taught her.
Asked whether St. Michael said to her I am St. Michael,” she answers “I have already answered,” and in respect of the end of the article, says: “I refer me to Our Lord.” She says she believes, as firmly as she believes Our Lord suffered death to redeem us from the pains of hell, that it is St. Michael , St. Gabriel, St. Catherine and St. Margaret, that Our Lord sends to comfort and advise her.
On Saturday, February 24th, she said that she firmly believes, as firmly as she believes in the Christian faith and that Our Lord redeemed us from the pains of hell, that this voice comes from God and at His command.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if she believes that St. Michael and St. Gabriel have natural heads,
She answered she had seen them with her own eyes and believes they are St. Michael and St. Gabriel as firmly as she believes in the existence of God. Asked whether she believes God created them with the heads she saw,
She answered: “I have seen them with my own eyes, and will not tell you any more!”
Asked whether she believes God created them in the shape and form she saw,
She answered yes. On Monday, March 13th, asked whether she has not spoken of her visions to her priest or any other cleric,
She answered no, only to Robert de Baudicourt and to her king. She added that she was not constrained by the voices to conceal them, but was afraid to speak of them for fear of the Burgundians, lest they should prevent her journey. The same day, asked if she thought it right to leave without the permission of her father and mother, since one should honor one’s father and mother,
She answered that she obeyed them in all things except this departure; and since then she had written to them, and they have forgiven her.
XLIX
“The said Jeanne with no reason beyond her imagination, venerated spirits of this sort, kissing the earth where she saw they passed, kneeling before them, embracing and kissing them, and doing them other reverence, giving them thanks, putting her hands together and entering into familiarity with them; yet she did not know whether they were good spirits, and moreover considering the circumstances they must be judged by her to be and manifestly are more evil than good. Which cult and veneration seem to partake of idolatry and to proceed from a pact made with devils.” To this forty-ninth article on this Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers, in respect of the beginning, “I have answered this,” and of the end, I refer me to Our Lord.”
On Saturday, February 24th, asked whether she did not thank the voice which appeared to her, and kneel down before it,
She answered that she thanked it, but was sitting on the bed, and she put her hands together; and this was after she had asked counsel of it.
On Saturday, March 10th, asked what reverence she showed the sign when it came to her king, and whether it came from God,
She answered that she thanked Our Lord for her deliverance from the trouble arising from the opposition of the clergy of her party; and she knelt down many times. The same day, asked whether her king and she did reverence to the angel when he brought the sign,
She answered that for her part she did, she knelt down and uncovered her head.
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether she spoke to Our Lord when she promised Him to keep her virginity,
She answered that it ought to be quite enough to promise it to those who were sent from Him, namely St. Catherine and St. Margaret. She said that the first time she heard her voice she vowed to keep her virginity as long as it should please God, and was then about thirteen years old. The same day, asked whether she did reverence to St. Michael and the angels when she saw them,
She answered that she did, and- kissed the ground where they had passed after they were gone.
On Thursday, March Keith, asked whether when her voices come to her she bows down altogether, as to a saint, she answers yes; and if sometimes she has failed to do so, she afterwards asked forgiveness, nor could she do them the reverence proper to them, for she fully believes them to be St. Catherine and St. Margaret. She said the same in respect of St. Michael. This same day, asked whether she had not made offerings to the saints, who come to her, of burning candles or other things, in church, or elsewhere, or had Masses said,
She answered no, except at Mass, in the priest’s hands, and in honor of St. Catherine. She believes that St. Catherine is one of them that appear to her; nor has she lit as many candles to St. Catherine and St. Margaret who are in Paradise as she gladly would, for she fully believes it is they who come to her.
Asked the same day whether when she puts these candles before the images of St. Catherine she does it in honor of the saint who appears to her,
She answered: “I do it in honor of God, of Our Lady, of St. Catherine, who is in heaven, and I make no difference between St. Catherine who is in heaven and her who appears to me.” Asked this same day whether she always did or accomplished the bidding of her voices,
She answered that with all her might she accomplished the behest which Our Lord spake through her voices, as far as she could understand; and they bade her nothing without the good pleasure of Our Lord.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked if she did not give chaplets of flowers to the saints who appeared to her,
She answered that in honor of these saints she gave many chaplets to their images or representations in churches, but as far as she remembers she has not presented any to those who appear to her. Asked whether when she hung chaplets on the aforementioned tree she did it in honor of the saints who appeared to her,
She answered no. The same day, asked whether when the saints came to her she did not do them reverence, as by kneeling or bowing,
She answered yes; the more she could do them reverence the more she did, for she knows well they are saints of Paradise.
L
“The said Jeanne frequently and daily invokes these spirits, consulting them in her private actions, for example in the answers she should make in her trial, and in other subjects, which appears and constitutes an invocation of demons.”
To this fiftieth article on Wednesday, March 28th, the said Jeanne answers: I have answered this,” and she will call them to her aid as long as she shall live.
Asked in what manner she approaches them, she answers: “I beg Our Lord and Our Lady to send me their counsel and comfort and then they send it to me.”
Asked with what words she beseeches them, she answers that she beseeches them in this manner: “Very sweet Lord, in honor of Thy holy passion, I beseech Thee, if Thou lovest me, to reveal to me how I am to answer these churchfolk. I know well, in the matter of the dress, the command by which I took it, but I do not know how I am to leave it off. In this, may it please Thee to instruct me.” And then they come immediately. Often, she said, she has news through her voices of the bishop of Beauvais. Asked what they say of Us,
She answered: “I will tell you apart,” and on that very day they had come thrice to her.
Asked if they were in her room,
She answered: “I have answered you in this; nevertheless I hear them well.” She says St. Catherine and St. Margaret told her in what way she should reply in respect of the dress.
On Saturday, February 24th, she said the voice told her to answer boldly; and that when she awakened from sleep, she asked counsel of the voice in what she should reply, telling the voice to ask counsel of Our Lord; the voice told her to answer boldly and God would comfort her. The same day, asked whether before she questioned it the voice did not address certain words to her, she said the voice did, but she did not understand them all. However, when she awoke, she understood the voice to tell her to answer boldly. She said that night she had heard the voice say “Answer boldly.”
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked what the voice had told her, she said that since last Saturday she had asked advice on certain points of our examinations in the trial. Asked if the voice had given her counsel on certain points,
She answered yes, upon certain, and that on others she might be asked questions which she would not answer without leave. If she replied without leave perhaps she would not have the voices for warrant, but when she had leave from Our Lord she would not be afraid to speak, for then she would have a good warrant. The same day, asked how she could distinguish such points as she would answer, and such as she would not,
She answered that on some points she had asked permission, and on some she had received it.
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether the angel did not deceive her in respect of the good things of fortune, when she was taken,
She answered that she thought that since it pleased God, it was better for her to be taken prisoner. Asked whether the angel did not fail her in respect of the good things of grace,
She answered: “How should he fail me when he comforts me every day?” And she believes the comfort is St. Catherine and St. Margaret. Asked if she calls them or if they come without being called,
She answered that they often come without being called, and sometimes, if they did not come, she would pray to God to send them. Asked if she sometimes had called them without them coming,
She answered that she never needed them, however little, but they came to her.
On Wednesday, March 13th, asked whether she had spoken to St. Catherine since the day before,
She answered that she has heard her since then, and notwithstanding was told many times to answer the judges boldly what they should ask her touching the case.
On Wednesday, March 14th, asked whether her voices required a delay for answering, she says St. Catherine answers her sometimes but sometimes Jeanne falls to understand her, because of the tumult of the prison and the din from her guards; when she makes a request to St. Catherine, St. Catherine and St. Margaret immediately take it to Our Lord; and then, at Our Lord’s bidding, give answer to Jeanne. Asked whether there is a light with the saints when they come to her, and whether she does not see a light, when she hears the voice in the castle, and whether she did not know if the voice was in her room,
She answered that no day passes but they come to her in the castle of Rouen, and they do not come without light; and on this occasion when she heard the voice she does not remember if she saw the light, nor if she saw St. Catherine. She said she asked three things of her voices, namely first, her deliverance; second, that God should help the French and keep the towns in their control; and third, the salvation of her soul.
Ll
“The said Jeanne has not feared to boast that St. Michael, God’s archangel, came to her with a great multitude of angels in the castle of Chinon, and in the house of a certain woman; that he walked with her, holding her by the hand, climbing together with her the castle steps and entering the king’s chamber; that this archangel did reverence to the king, bowed before him, accompanied by other angels, as is declared above; some of them were crowned, others had wings. To say this of archangels and of holy angels must be held presumptuous, rash, deceitful; especially seeing that it is not written that any man, however upright, nor even Our Lady, Mother of God, received such reverence or greetings. Often she said that there came to her the archangel Gabriel, St. Michael, and sometimes a million angels. Moreover, the said Jeanne boasts that at her prayer the said angel brought with him, in this company of angels, a most precious crown for her king, to put upon his head, and that it is now put into the king’s treasury; with it, according to Jeanne, the king would have been crowned at Reims if he had waited a few days, but owing to the haste with which his coronation was carried out he took another. These are less divine revelations than lies invented by Jeanne, suggested or shown to her by the demon in illusive apparitions, in order to mock at her imagination whilst she meddled with things which are beyond her and superior to the faculty of her condition.”
To this fifty-first article on Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne I answers that she has already replied in respect of the angel who brought the sign. As for the Promoter’s statement about millions of angels, she answers that she has no recollection of having spoken thus of the number. She did say that she was never wounded, but she had great comfort and aid from Our Lord and St. Catherine and St. Margaret.
In respect of the crown, she says she has answered, and of the end of the article, and likewise of where the crown was made, she refers to God.
On Tuesday, February Keith, asked if there was an angel above the king’s head when she saw him for the first time,
She answered: “By Our Lady, if there was I do not know of it, and did not see it.” Asked if there was a light,
She answered that there were more than 300 knights and more than fifty torches, not counting the spiritual light; and she seldom had revelations without a light. Asked why her king put faith in her sayings,
She answered that he had good instructions concerning them from the clerks. She said that the clerks of her party were of the opinion that nothing but good would come of her mission.
On Thursday, March 1st asked whether her king had a crown at Reims,
She answered that she believes he gladly took one which he found at Reims, but a much richer one had been since brought; he did so to hasten his coronation at the request of the townsfolk and to avoid the burden of the soldiers; and if he had waited he would have been crowned with a crown a thousand times richer. Asked whether she saw this richer crown,
She answered that she cannot tell without committing perjury, and that if she did not see it, she heard that it is of such wealth.
On Saturday, March 10th asked what the sign was which came to her king,
She answered that it was fair, honorable, and most credible; rich and good, the richest in the world. Asked why she will not tell or show the sign, as she wanted to have Catherine de La Rochelle’s sign,
She answered that she would not have asked to know Catherine’s sign if it had been as well shown as her own sign was before notable ecclesiastics, and other;, archbishops and bishops, whose names she does not know; Charles de Bourbon, the Sire de la Trémouille, the Duke d’Alençon and many other knights saw and heard it as plainly as she saw those speaking to her then. Moreover, she knew well through St. Catherine and St. Margaret that the affairs of this Catherine were as nothing at all. Asked whether the sign still exists She answered: “It is good to know that it does; it will last a thousand years, and more.” She said the sign is with the king’s treasure. Asked whether it was gold, silver, or precious stone, or a crown,
She answered: “I will tell you no more. No man could describe a thing so rich as this sign,” and added: “The sign you need is for God to deliver me out of your hands, the most certain sign He could show you.” The same day she said that an angel from God and from none other gave the sign to her king; and for this she thanked Our Lord many times. She said the clergy of her party ceased opposing her when they had this sign. Asked whether the clergy of her party saw the sign,
She answered that when her king and those who were with him saw the sign, and also the angel who bore it, she asked the king if he were content, and he replied yes. Then she left, and went to a little chapel hard by, and heard that after her departure more than 300 people saw the sign. She added that for her sake and to stop men from catechizing her, God willed that those of her party who were there should see the sign.
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether the angel that brought the sign did not speak,
She answered yes, he told her king to set her to work, and the country would straightway be relieved. Asked whether the angel who brought the sign was the same that first appeared to her, or whether it was another,
She answered that it was always the same one, and he never failed her. The same day, asked about the sign she gave the king, she said she would take counsel from St. Catherine concerning it.
On Tuesday, March 13th, when examined upon the sign she gave her king, and what it was,
She answered: “Would you be content if I perjured myself?” Asked if she had vowed and promised St. Catherine not to tell this sign,
She answered: “I swore and promised not to tell this sign, of my own accord, because I was too much pressed to tell it.” Then she said she would not speak of it to any man. The same day she told that the sign was that an angel assured her king by bringing him the crown and saying he should possess the whole and entire kingdom of France, by God’s help and the labors of Jeanne; and he was to put her to work, that is to say, to give her soldiers, else he would not so soon be crowned and consecrated.
The same day, asked how the angel brought the crown, and whether he placed it on the king’s head,
She answered that the crown was given to an archbishop, namely the archbishop of Reims, in the king’s presence, so it seemed to her; and the archbishop received it and gave it to the king, and Jeanne was present, and it was put in the king’s treasure. Asked where the crown was brought,
She answered that it was in the king’s chamber, in the castle of Chinon. Asked on what day and at what hour,
She answered: “Of the day, I know nothing; of the hour, it was late,” beyond that she did not remember the hour. Of the month, it was in April or March, she thought, and in next April or the present month it will be two years ago and it was after Easter. Asked whether the first day she saw the sign the king also saw it,
She answered yes, he himself received it. Asked what the crown was made of,
She answered: “It is good to know that it was of pure gold,” and was so rich that she could not count its richness, and it signified that her king would gain the kingdom of France. Asked whether there were precious stones in it,
She answered: “I have told you what I know.” Asked if she held it or kissed it, she said no. Asked whether the angel who brought it came from on high or from the earth,
She answered that he came from on high, meaning that he came at Our Lord’s command and entered the room by the door. Asked whether the angel walked on the ground from the door,
She answered that when he came before her king he did the king reverence by bowing before him, and pronouncing the words of the sign which Jeanne said above, and with this the angel recalled to the king the sweet patience he had shown in the great tribulation which had befallen him, walked and came forward from the door on the ground, moving towards the king. Asked how far it was from the door to the king,
She answered that she thought it was a good lance-length; and the angel went out by the way he came. She said that when the angel came she accompanied him, and went with him by the stairs to the king’s chamber, and the angel went in first, and then she said to the king: “Sire, here is your sign, take it.” Asked where it was the angel appeared to her,
She answered that she was nearly always praying God to send the king a sign; she was in her lodging in the house of a good woman near the castle of Chinon when the angel came. Then they went together to the king, and the angel was well accompanied by other angels whom no one saw, and but for her sake and to release her from the trouble of opposition she thought that many who saw the angel would not have seen him.
Asked whether all who were with the king saw the angel,
She answered that she thinks the Archbishop of Reims, de la Trémouille, and Charles de Bourbon saw him, and many churchmen and others who did not see the angel saw the crown.
Asked of what appearance and size the angel was,
She answered that she has not leave to tell that, and will answer to-morrow. Asked if all who were in the company of the angel were of the same appearance,
She answered that some were fairly similar, and some as far as she could see, were not; some had wings and some crowns, and others had not; and in their company were St. Catherine and St. Margaret, who were with the said angel and the other angels up to the very chamber of the king. Asked how the angel left her, she said he left her in the little chapel, and she was much vexed at his leaving, and wept; and would have gladly gone with him, that is her soul would. Asked whether at the angel’s departure she remained happy or afraid and in great terror,
She answered that he did not leave her in fear, but she was vexed at his leaving. Asked whether it was for any merit of hers that God sent His angel,
She answered that he came with a great purpose, and in hope that the king would believe the sign, and she would be left without opposition, to help the good people of Orleans, and also for the merit of her king and the good Duke of Orleans.
Asked why he had come to her rather than to another,
She answered: “It pleased God to do so by a simple maid to drive back the king’s enemies.” Asked whether she had been told whence the angel had first taken the crown,
She answered that it was brought from God, and no goldsmith on earth could make one so rich and fair; but where it came from, in respect of this she refers herself to God, and knows nothing more of it. Asked if the crown had a good odor and whether it glittered,
She answered that she does not remember and will think it over; afterwards she said it had and would always have a good odor, but must be well and duly guarded; and it was in the form of a crown. Asked whether the angel had not written her letters,
She answered no. Asked what sign the king received, and the people who were with him and her, to convince them that it was an angel who appeared to them,
She answered that the king believed it by the teaching of the churchmen who were there, and by the sign of the crown. Asked how the churchmen knew it was an angel,
She answered that they knew by their learning and because they were clerks.
LII
“The said Jeanne has so misled the Catholic people by her inventions that many adored her as a saint in her presence and even adore her in her absence, ordering Masses and collects in church in reverence of her; nay, they declare her to be greater than all God’s saints, after Our Lady; they set up her images on the altars of Saints, wear medals of lead or other metal in her likeness, like those made for the anniversaries of saints canonized by the Church; and they preach in public that she is sent from God, an angel rather than a woman. These are most scandalous actions, hurtful to the Christian religion and dangerous to the salvation of souls.”
To this fifty-second article, this Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers that, in respect of the beginning she has already given answer, and of the end, that she refers to Our Lord.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether she ever knew brother Richard,
She answered: “I had never seen him when I came before Troyes.” Asked what manner of greeting he gave her,
She answered that the people of Troyes, she thought, sent him to her, saying that they were afraid she was not a thing sent from God; and when he drew near her, he made the sign of the cross and sprinkled holy water; and she said to him: “Come boldly; I shall not fly away.” Asked whether she has not seen or made any images or pictures in her likeness,
She answered that at Arras she saw a painting in the hands of a Scot; she was shown in full armor, presenting letters to her king, with one knee on the ground. Asked about a certain painting, at her host’s house in Orleans, showing three women, Justice, Peace, Union,
She answered that she knew nothing of that. Asked whether she knows that certain of her party had service, Mass, and prayers said for her,
She answered that she knows nothing of it; and if any service was held, it was not at her instruction; though if they prayed for her, she feels they did not ill. On this Saturday, March 3rd, she was asked what honor the people of Troyes did her when she entered the town, and She answered: “They did me none,” and added that she thought brother Richard entered Troyes with her, but she does not remember seeing him enter. Asked whether he preached a sermon when she arrived,
She answered that when she came she scarcely stopped at Troyes and did not sleep there; and as for the sermon, she knew nothing of it.
LIII
“The said Jeanne, against the bidding of God and His Saints, proudly and presumptuously assumed domination over men; she appointed herself leader and captain of an army which rose at times to the number of 16,000 men, in which there were princes, barons, and other nobles, all of whom she made fight under herself as principal captain.”
To this fifty-third article, this Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers that in the matter of being leader in war she has already given her reply, and if she was leader, it was to conquer the English. In respect of the end of the article she refers to Our Lord.
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked what forces her king gave her, when he set her to work,
She answered that he gave her ten or twelve thousand men, and that she went first to Orleans to the fortress of St. Loup and then to the fortress of the Bridge.
LIV
“The said Jeanne unashamedly walked with men, refusing to have the company or care of womenfolk, and wished to employ only men whom she made serve in the private offices of her room and in her secret affairs, a thing unseen and unheard of in a modest or devout woman.”
To this fifty-fourth article, Jeanne answers that her government was through men; as for where she lodged or slept at night, she usually had a woman with her; when she was fighting, she would lie fully dressed and armed, if there was no woman to be found. In respect of the end of the article, she refers herself to God.
LV
“The said Jeanne misused the revelations and prophecies she claims to have from God, turning them into worldly profit and advantage; for, by means of them she acquired a great number of riches, great state and apparel, many officers, horses, ornaments; wherein she imitated the false prophets who for love of worldly goods and to gain the favor of the great of this world, are wont to pretend that they have revelations concerning them, and hope to please the temporal princes: then they abuse the divine oracles and attribute their false lies to God.”
To this fifty-fifth article, Jeanne answers that she has already replied to this; and in respect of the gifts made to her brothers, the king gave them from his grace, without her seeking. In respect of the charge the Promoter makes and the end of the article she refers herself to God.
On Saturday, March 10th asked if she ever had any other riches from her king than her horses,
She answered that she never asked anything of her king save good arms, good horses, and money to pay the people of her household. Asked whether she had no treasure,
She answered that the ten or twelve thousand worth she had was not much to carry on a war with, very little indeed, and that, she thinks, her brothers have. What she has is her king’s own money. She said she was captured when she was riding a demi-charger; asked who gave her it,
She answered that her king or his people with the king’s money gave her it; she had five chargers from the king’s money, not counting the hacks, which were more than seven.
LVI
“The said Jeanne has often boasted of having two counselors whom she calls her counselors of the fountain, who came to her after she was captured, as has been proved by the confession of Catherine de La Rochelle before the official at Paris, which Catherine said that Jeanne would escape from her prison with the devil’s aid if she were not well guarded.”
To this fifty-sixth article, the said Jeanne answers that she abides by her other answers. As for the counselors of the fountain, she does not know what that means; but she believes she once heard St. Catherine and St. Margaret there. In respect of the end of the article, which she denies, she declares on oath that she would not want the devil to drag her out of prison.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked if she saw or knew Catherine de La Rochelle,
She answered yes, at Jargeau, and at Montfaucon-en-Berry. Asked whether this Catherine did not show her a lady robed in white who, she said sometimes appeared to her,
She answered no. Asked on the same day what this Catherine said to her,
She answered that Catherine told her she was visited by a white lady robed in cloth of gold who told the said Catherine to go through the good towns and her king would give her heralds and trumpets, and she should cry out that whoever had hidden gold’ or silver or treasure should forthwith bring it out; and those who did not she would immediately know, and would be able to find their treasure; and it would be to pay Jeanne’s soldiers. To which Jeanne answered Catherine that she should go home to her husband, do her work, and look after her children. To make sure, she spoke to St. Catherine and St. Margaret who told her that the mission of this Catherine was all madness and nonsense. Jeanne wrote to her king about Catherine, and told him what he should do with her; and when she came into his presence, she told him it was all madness and nonsense.
Nevertheless, brother Richard wanted to put her to work, and he and Catherine were ill-pleased with Jeanne. Asked whether she spoke to Catherine de La Rochelle of going to La Charité,
She answered that Catherine did not advise her to go there, for the weather was too cold, and she would not go. This March 3rd Jeanne confessed that she told Catherine, who wished to go to the and make peace, that no peace would be found save at the lance’s point. The said Jeanne confessed to having asked Catherine if the white lady came to her every night, and would sleep with her to see her, which she did, watched till midnight and saw nothing, and then fell asleep. In the morning she asked Catherine if the lady had come and Catherine answered that she had, when Jeanne was sleeping, and she had not been able to awaken her. Then Jeanne asked if the lady would come the following night, and Catherine said she would, so Jeanne slept during the day so that she could watch at night, and the next night she lay with Catherine and watched all night long, but saw nothing, although she asked Catherine if the lady would come, and Catherine answered “Yes, soon.”
LVII
“The said Jeanne, on the day of the Festival of the Nativity of Our Lady, called together all the soldiers of Charles’s army to march to the attack upon Paris, led them against the city, promised them they should enter that day, for she knew it by revelation, and had every measure taken by which she could attack the city: this nevertheless she was not afraid to deny in judgment before us. Likewise, in many other places, at La Charité-sur-Loire, at Pont l’Évêque, at Compiègne, when she attacked my Lord ‘s army, she made many promises and uttered many prophecies which she claimed to know by revelation, which in no way came true, and were altogether contradicted. Now before you she denied having made such promises and prophecies, because they did not turn out as she had said; yet many trustworthy persons have reported that these promises were uttered and published by her. Also, at the attack on Paris, she said that thousands of angels accompanied her, ready to bear her to Paradise should she die. Yet when she was asked why her entry into Paris according to her promise had not taken place, and many of her company, and she too, had instead been hurt with grievous wounds, some even killed, she is said to have answered: ‘Jesus has failed in His promise.”‘
To this article on Wednesday, March 28th Jeanne answers in respect of its beginning that she has already answered it, and “If I am advised further, I will gladly answer more.” In respect of the end, that Jesus had failed her, she denies it.
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked what she did in the trenches of La Charité,
She answered that she had an assault made there, but she did not throw or sprinkle holy water. Asked why she did not enter the town, since she had God’s bidding,
She answered: “Who told you I was commanded to enter?”
Asked if she had not counsel of her voice,
She answered that she wished to come to France, but the soldiers told her it was better to go first before La Charité.
On Tuesday, March 13th, asked whether when she went to Paris it was revealed by her voices that she should go there,
She answered no, but it was at the request of noblemen who wanted to make a skirmish or assault, but she really intended to go beyond and cross the trenches. Asked whether she had any revelation concerning her going before La Charité, she said no, but went there at the request of soldiers as she formerly said. The same Tuesday, asked if it was not revealed to her that she should go to Pont l’Évêque,
She answered that after it was revealed to her at Melun that she would be captured, she generally deferred to the will of the captains in questions of war, yet she did not tell them that it had been revealed that she should be captured. Asked if it was right to attack Paris on the day of Our Lady’s Nativity,
She answered that in her opinion and conscience “It is good to keep the Festival of Our Lady” from beginning to end.
LVIII
“The said Jeanne had painted on her standard two angels and God holding the world in His hand, with the words Jhesus MARIA, and other designs; and this she says she did at God’s command, who revealed it to her through His angels and saints. This standard she placed in the cathedral of Reims near the altar when the said Charles was crowned, desiring out of overweening vainglory that others should honor this standard in particular. She also had her coat-of-arms painted with two lilies or in a field azure, and in the midst of the lilies a sword argent, a hilt and guard or, with the point surmounted by a crown or: which appears to partake of ostentation and vanity and not of piety or religion, and to attribute such vanities to God and the angels is against the reverence due to God and His Saints.”
To this fifty-eighth article on this March 28th, Jeanne answers: “I have answered this,” and of the contradiction indicated by the Promoter: “I refer me to Our Lord.”
On Tuesday, February 27th, asked whether when she went to Orleans she had a standard, and what color it was,
She answered yes, and its field was sown with lilies, and the world was pictured on it, and two angels at the sides. It was white, of white linen or boucassin. The names Jhesus MARIA were written on it, and it was fringed with silk. Asked whether these names were written above or at the side or beneath, she said they were at the side. Asked if she liked her sword better than her standard,
She answered that she liked her standard forty times better. Asked who made her paint it in this fashion,
She answered: “I have told you often enough that I have done nothing except at God’s command.” She said she herself bore the standard when going among her enemies, to avoid killing any one; she said she had never killed a man.
On Saturday, March 3rd, she said her standard was in the church of Reims, she thought, fairly near the altar; she bore it for a short time., but did not know whether brother Richard did.
On Saturday, March 10th, asked whether the world with two angels was painted on her standard,
She answered yes, she had but one. Asked what this signified to take God holding the world, and two angels,
She answered that St. Catherine and St. Margaret had told her to take this standard and bear it boldly; and to paint thereon the King of Heaven. She told her king this, much against her will, in French, “très envis”; that was all she knew of its significance. Asked whether she had not a shield and arms,
She answered that she never had, but the king granted arms to her brothers, namely a shield azure, with two fleurs-de-lis or, and a sword between; which she described to a painter in this town of Reims because he asked what arms she bore. She said the king gave them to her brothers to their joy without her request and without revelation.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what decided her to have painted on her standard angels with arms, feet, legs, and robes,
She answered: “You have my reply to that.” Asked if she had the angels painted as they came to her,
She answered that they were painted in the fashion that they are represented in churches. Asked if she ever saw them in the manner in which they were painted,
She answered: “I will not tell you more.” Asked why the light which came with the angels and her voices was not painted,
She answered that she was not commanded to paint it. The same day she was asked if the two angels painted on her standard were St. Michael and St. Gabriel,
She answered that the representations of two angels was solely for the honor of Our Lord, who was painted holding the world. Asked if the two angels on her standard were the two angels who guard the world, and why there were not more, seeing that she was bidden in Our Lord’s name to take the standard,
She answered that the whole standard was commanded for Our Lord, by the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret who said to her: “Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven.” And because the saints told her “Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven,” she had this figure of Our Lord and the angels painted in color on it. All this, and the color, she did at God’s command.
Asked if she questioned her saints whether in virtue of this standard she would win all battles in which she fought,
She answered that the saints told her to bear it boldly and God would aid her. Asked which was of more help, she to the standard or the standard to her,
She answered that whether the victory was hers or the standard’s, it all must be attributed to God. Asked whether the hope of victory was founded in the standard or in herself,
She answered that it was founded in Our Lord, and nothing else. Asked whether if any one else had carried the standard he would have been as fortunate as she had been,
She answered: I do not know, and I leave it to God.” Asked whether if one of her party had sent her his standard to carry, and particularly if she had been given the king’s standard, and had borne it, she would have had as firm a hope in that as in her own, which she received in God’s name,
She answered: “I more gladly bore that which was bidden me in God’s name; yet in all things I committed myself to God.” The same day, asked if she did not make her standard wave above the king’s head when it was unfurled,
She answered that she did not know it had been done. Asked why her standard was borne into the church at Reims rather than those of other captains at the Consecration of her king,
She answered: It had been present in the perils, and that was reason enough for it to be honored.”
LIX
“At Saint-Denis in France the said Jeanne offered and deposited in the church in a high place the armor in which she had been wounded in the assault on Paris, so that it might be honored by the people as relics. And, in the same town, she had waxen candles lit, from which she poured melted wax on the heads of little children, foretelling their fortune, and making by these enchantments many divinations about them.”
To this fifty-ninth article, on Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne replies: “I have answered this,” in respect of the arms; and in respect of the lighted candles which were melted. she denies it.
On Saturday, March 17th, asked what arms she offered to Saint-Denis,
She answered that it was a whole black suit of armor for a man-at-arms, with a sword, which she had worn at Paris. Asked to what end she made an offering of these arms,
She answered that it was an act of devotion, such as soldiers perform when they are wounded; and since she had been wounded before Paris, she offered them to Saint-Denis, because it was the war-cry of France. Asked if she did it so that the arms might be worshiped, she said no.
LX
“The said Jeanne, scornful of the precepts and sanctions of the Church, many times refused to take oath to speak the truth, so exposing herself to the suspicion of having said or done certain things in questions of faith or revelation which she dare not reveal to the ecclesiastical judges, being fearful of a just punishment: this it appears she sufficiently acknowledged by the proverb, ‘Men are sometimes hanged for telling the truth,’ and often she said, ‘You will not know everything,’ and ‘I would rather have my head cut off than tell you everything.”‘
To this sixtieth article, Jeanne answers that she only asked for delay so that she could more certainly answer the questions; and as for the end of the article, she was afraid to answer, and she asked for delay to discover if she should speak. She said that since her king’s counsel did not concern the case she did not wish to reveal it; she told the sign given to her king because the clergy condemned her to tell it.
On Thursday, February 22nd, asked whether there was no light when the voice showed her the king,
She answered: “Continue.” Asked whether she did not see an angel over the king’s head, she replied: “Spare me and continue.” She said that before the king set her to work he had many apparitions and beautiful revelations; asked what kind these were,
She answered: “I will not tell you this; you will get no further answer. But send to the king, and he will tell-you.”
On Saturday, February 24th, we explained to Jeanne that she must swear to speak the simple and absolute truth with no reservation to her oath, and she was thrice admonished to do this. She said: “Give me leave to speak,” and added: “By my faith, you could ask such things as I would not answer.” She said also: “Perhaps I shall not answer you truly in many things you ask me concerning the revelations; for perhaps you would constrain me to tell things I have sworn not to utter, and so I should be perjured, and you would not wish that.” Also: “I tell you, take good heed of what you say, that you are my judge, for you assume a great responsibility, and overburden me.” Asked if she would swear simply and absolutely,
She answered: “You should be content. I have sworn enough, twice,” adding that all the clergy of Rouen and Paris could not condemn her, but by law. She could not tell everything in a week: of her coming, she would gladly speak the truth, but not the whole truth. She was told to take the advice of the assessors whether or not she should swear, but She answered that of her coming she would willingly speak the truth, and not otherwise, and we must not speak of it to her any more. She was again warned that she lay herself open to suspicion; She answered as before. Then we summoned her to swear precisely; She answered: I will willingly tell what I know, but not all.” She was required to swear, and admonished under penalty of being charged with what was imputed to her, and She answered: “I have sworn enough,” and “Continue.” Then, required and admonished to speak the truth in matters concerning the trial, and being told that she exposed herself to great danger,
She answered: I am ready to swear to speak the truth of what I know concerning the trial, but not all I know,” and in this manner took the oath.
The same day, February 24th, asked if the voice forbade her to tell everything,
She answered: “I will not answer you that. I have revelations concerning, the king which I shall not tell you.” Asked if the voice forbade her to tell of the revelations, she replied: “I have not been advised on that,” and asked for a fortnight in which to answer. She said she asked for a delay in which to answer that. “If the voice forbade me, what would you say?” Again asked if the voices forbade her,
She answered: “Believe me, it was not men who forbade me.” She said she would not answer that day, and she does not know if she should answer all that was revealed to her. Asked whether she thought it displeasing to God for her to tell the truth,
She answered that her voices said she was to tell certain things to the king and not to us. Asked if the counsel revealed to her that she should escape from prison,
She answered: “Must I tell you that?” Asked whether that night the voice had not advised her what she should reply, she said that if the voice revealed it she did not well understand. Asked whether a light was visible on the last two days that she heard the voices,
She answered that the light comes in the name of the voice. Asked whether she saw anything with this voice,
She answered: “I will not tell you everything and I have not permission for that,” for her oath did not touch on that. She said the voice is beautiful, good, and worthy, and she is not bound to answer what she is asked. Asked whether the voice had sight or eyes (this was asked because she desired to have in writing the points on which she did not reply),
She answered: “You will not learn that yet,” in French “Vous ne l’aurez pas encore.” She said that little children have a proverb, “Men are sometimes hanged for telling the truth.”
On the Tuesday, February 27th, when we required the said Jeanne to take an oath and swear to speak the truth on questions concerning the trial,
She answered that she would willingly swear in respect of the questions concerning her case, but not of all she knew. Then we required her to answer truthfully everything she should be asked. She replied as before, saying, “You ought to be satisfied. I have sworn enough.” She said she would willingly speak the truth concerning subjects for which she had leave from Our Lord, but without the permission of her voice she will not tell the revelations concerning her king. The same day, asked whether St. Catherine and St. Margaret were dressed in the same cloth, she said: “I will not tell you any more now,” for she had not permission to reveal it; and “if you don’t believe me, go to Poitiers.” She said certain revelations came to her king and not to those who questioned her. Asked if the saints who appeared to her were of the same age, she said she had not leave to tell. Asked whether they spoke at the same time, or one after another, she said she may not tell, but every day she had counsel of both.
Asked which first appeared to her,
She answered: “I did not recognize them immediately”; once she knew well enough, but has now forgotten. If she is permitted she will willingly tell: it is written down at Poitiers. Asked in what form St. Michael appeared to her she said: “There is as yet no reply to that, for I have not leave to answer.” Asked what St. Michael said to her the first time,
She answered: “You will get no further reply to-day.” She says the voices told her to answer boldly, and added that she has not yet leave to reveal what St. Michael told her; and wishes her examiner had a copy of the book at Poitiers, if it were God’s will. Asked if St. Michael and the other saints told her she must not reveal them without their leave, she said: “I still may not answer,” and, What I have permission to, I will gladly answer,” and if the voices forbade her, she did not understand them. Asked what sign she gives that this revelation comes from God, and that it is St. Catherine and St. Margaret who speak to her,
She answered: “I have told you often enough that it is St. Catherine and St. Margaret,” and “Believe me if you will.” Asked what revelations the king had,
She answered: “You will not learn from me this year.”
On Thursday, March 1st asked what the saints promised her,
She answered: “That is not in your case at all.” Asked if they promised her anything beyond that they would lead her to Paradise,
She answered that there were other promises, but she will not tell them, they do not concern the trial. Within three months she will tell the other promises. Asked if the saints said that within three months she should be delivered out of prison,
She answered: “That is not in your case.” Nevertheless she does not know when she will be delivered.
She says that they who want to get her out of this world may well go before her. Asked whether her counsel had not told her she would be delivered from jail,
She answered: “Speak to me of it in three months’ time; I will answer you.” She added that we should ask the assessors on their oath ‘whether it concerned the trial, and after they had deliberated and unanimously decided that it did, she said: “One day I must be delivered, and I want permission to tell you,” and so asked for delay. Asked whether the saints forbade her to speak the truth,
She answered: “Do you want me to tell you what is the concern of the king of France?” She said many things do not concern her case. The same day, asked what sign she gave the king that she came from God, she said: I have always told you you will not drag this from my lips. Go and ask him.” Asked if she had sworn not to reveal what she was asked concerning the trial,
She answered: “I have already told you that I will not tell you what concerns our king.”
Asked if she did not know the sign,
She answered: “You will not learn it from me.” She was told that it concerned the trial, and answered: “What I have promised to keep secret I shall not tell you,” and added: “I have already declared that I could not tell you without perjury.” Asked to whom she made the promise,
She answered that she promised St. Catherine and St. Margaret, and this was shown to her king. She said she promised without their asking, of her own accord, and said that too many people would have asked her about her sign, had she not made this promise to her saints. Asked whether any one else was present when she showed the sign to the king, she said: “I think there was no one but him, although many people were quite near.” Asked if she saw the crown on her king’s head, when she showed him the sign,
She answered: “I cannot tell you without perjury.”
On Saturday, March 3rd, asked whether she believes God created St. Michael and St. Gabriel from the beginning in the form and fashion in which she saw them,
She answered: “You will learn no more at present from me than I have told you.” Asked whether she had seen or known by revelation that she would escape,
She answered: “That does not concern your case. Do you want me to speak against myself?” Asked if the voices told her anything of it, she said: “That is not in your case. I leave it to Our Lord, and if everything concerned you, I would tell you everything.” She added: “By my faith, I do not know the hour.” Asked whether when God told her to change her dress it was through the voice of St. Michael or St. Catherine or of St. Margaret,
She answered: “You will not learn any more.”
On Monday, March 12th, asked whether she had received letters from St. Michael or her voices,
She answered: “I have not leave to tell you, but within a week I will gladly tell you what I know.”
LXI
“The said Jeanne, admonished to submit all her acts and sayings to the decision of the Church Militant, and advised of the distinction between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, professed to submit to the Church Triumphant and refused to submit herself to the Church Militant, so declaring her erroneous opinion in respect of the article Unam Sanctam, etc., and in all this showing herself at fault. She said it was for God, without an intermediary, to judge her, and she committed herself, her acts and her sayings to Him and His Saints, and not to the judgment of the Church.”
To this sixty-first article, Jeanne answers that she would desire to bring to the Church Militant all the honor and reverence in her power, but in respect of submitting her actions to the Church Militant, she says: “I must submit them to the Lord God who commands me.”
Asked whether she submits her actions to the Church Militant, she answers: “Send me the clerk next Saturday and I will tell you.”
On Thursday, March 15th she was told of the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant, and was required to submit her sayings and her actions both good and bad to the decision of the Church, and She answered: “I will not give you any further answer for the present.” And after warnings and summons had been given her, that if she had done anything contrary to our faith she ought to refer it to the decision of the Church,
She answered that her replies should be seen and examined by the clergy, and then she should be told if there were anything contrary to the Christian faith: she would certainly be able to tell what it was, and then she would say what she learned from her counsel. “Nevertheless if there were anything contrary to the Christian faith which Our Lord ordained she would not wish to sustain it, and would be grieved to be in opposition. The same day, asked whether she would submit her acts and sayings to the decision of the Church,
She answered: “Everything I have said or done is in God’s hands, and I commit myself to Him. I certify to you that I would do or say nothing contrary to the Christian faith, and if I had said or done anything, or if anything were found on me, which the clerks should declare to be against the Christian faith established by Our Lord, I would not uphold it, but would cast it out.” Then asked whether she would not submit herself therein to the decision of the Church,
She answered: “I will not now answer you more, but on Saturday next, send me the clerk, if you do not wish to come, and I will answer him this with God’s aid, and it shall be set down in writing.”
On Saturday, March 17th, asked if she thought she was bounden to answer the whole truth to Our Holy Father the Pope, God’s Vicar, on everything we asked her concerning the faith and the state of her conscience,
She answered that she required to be taken to him and then she would answer.
On Saturday, the last day of March, asked whether she would submit to the decision of the Church on earth everything she had done, either good or evil, especially the questions, crimes, and misdemeanors imputed to her, and all that concerns her case,
She answered that in respect of what she was asked she would submit to the Church Militant provided we did not ask her to do what was impossible, meaning by impossible the revocation of her acts and sayings, put forth in the proceedings, which concern the visions and revelations she claims to have from God; she would not revoke them for anything in the world. What Our Lord has bidden her she will not for any man alive cease to do; that, she could not revoke.
In the event of the Church wishing her to do otherwise against the bidding of Our Lord she would not obey for anything. Asked whether she would submit to the Church if the Church Militant said that her revelations were false and devilish things, superstitious and evil,
She answered that she would submit to Our Lord, whose bidding she will ever perform, for she knows that the happenings described in the proceedings were done at His bidding; it would be impossible for her to do other than what she declares she has done at God’s bidding. If the Church Militant told her to do otherwise, she would submit to none other than Our Lord, whose good bidding she always performed. Asked if she believes she is subject to the Church on earth, namely Our Holy Father the Pope, to the cardinals, archbishops, bishops and other prelates of the Church,
She answered yes, Our Lord being first served. Asked whether her voices bade her not to submit to the Church Militant on earth, or its judgment, she said that she does not answer anything which comes to her mind, but answers according to the voices’ instruction, and they do not forbid her to obey the Church, Our Lord being first served.
On Wednesday, April 18th, the said Jeanne was told that because of her sickness the more fearful she was of her life the more necessary it was for her to reform, and that she would not receive the rights of the church as a Catholic if she did not submit to the Church. She answered: “If my body dies in prison, I expect you to bury it in holy ground, and if you do not, I put my trust in Our Lord.” The same day, asked since she desired the Church to grant her the sacrament of the Eucharist, whether she would submit to the Church if she were promised the Eucharist,
She answered that she would not answer, in respect to this submission, other than she had done; but she loves and serves God, as a good Christian, and would aid and sustain the Church with all her might.
LXII
“The said Jeanne endeavors to scandalize the people, to induce them to believe all her words and prophecies, assuming the authority of God and His angels, lifting herself above all ecclesiastical power to lead men unto error, as false prophets are wont when they introduce sects of error and perdition and separate from the unity of the body of the Church: which is pernicious to the Christian religion; and unless the prelates of the Church take action, a subversion of the future ecclesiastical authority may ensue; men and women pretending to have revelations from God and His angels will flock in from all sides and sow lies and errors, as has often occurred since this woman arose and began to scandalize the Christian people and propagate her inventions.”
To this sixty-second article on this Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers that she will answer on Saturday.
LXIII
“The said Jeanne has not been afraid to lie before the law, in violation of her oath, and affirmed successively many conflicting and contradictory things about her revelations; she has uttered curses against nobles and notable people, against a whole nation; she has without shame uttered falsehoods and contemptuous words in no way becoming to a holy woman, showing adequately that she has been directed and governed in her actions by evil spirits, and not by the counsel of God and His angels, as she boasts. Now Christ said of false prophets, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.”‘
To this sixty-third article, Jeanne this day answers: “I refer to what I have said,” and in respect of the accusation and conclusion of the article refers herself to Our Lord.
On Tuesday, February 27th, she said that she had a sword at Lagny, and from Lagny to Compiègne she bore the sword of a Burgundian which was a good fighting weapon, excellent for giving hard clouts and buffets; and that where she lost the other sword is not in the case, so she will not answer.
On Thursday, March 1st she said she would have died but for the daily revelation and comfort. Asked whether St. Michael had any hair,
She answered: “Why should it be shorn off?” She had not seen St. Michael since she left the castle of Crotoy and did not often see him.
LXIV
“The said Jeanne boasts of knowing that she has obtained remission of the sins she committed when from a despairing heart and at the incitement of an evil spirit she cast herself from the top of the tower of the castle of Beaurevoir, although the Scripture teaches that none knows if he is worthy of love or of hatred, and therefore if he is purged or freed from sin.”
To this sixty-fourth article on Wednesday, March 28th, Jeanne answers: “I have answered you this, and I refer you to my answer,” and in respect of the conclusion, refers herself to Our Lord.
LXV
“The said Jeanne many times declared that she asked God to send her special revelation, through St. Catherine and St. Margaret, for her conduct, for instance whether she should answer truthfully in this trial certain questions and matters personal to her. That is to tempt the Lord God, to ask needlessly of Him forbidden things, without having performed all inquiries and investigations possible to man. Especially in respect of her leap from the tower, it is manifest that she tempted God.”
To this sixty-fifth article on this Wednesday, Jeanne says that she has answered it; she will not utter what has been revealed to her without permission from God; and that she did not ask needlessly; and she wishes He would send other revelations still so that it could be better seen that she comes in His name and that He has sent her.
LXVI
“Certain of her prophecies depart from divine, evangelic, canon, and civil law, contrary to the decisions approved by the Councils General; they contain spells, enchantments, superstitions; some formally, others casually, and otherwise, pertaining to heresy; many errors against the faith encourage and incite to heretical error. Some are seditious, harmful, and contrary to peace; some encourage the spilling of human blood; some too are nothing but curses and blasphemies against God and His saints; others still offend the ears of pious men. In all this the accused with daring rashness and at the instigation of the Devil offended God and His Holy Church, against which she has scandalously committed excesses and crimes, is notoriously defamed thereof and has appeared before you to be corrected and reformed.”
To this sixty-sixth article, the said Jeanne answers that she is a good Christian and in respect of all the accusations contained in this article commits herself to God.
LXVII
“Each and every one of these things the accused has committed, perpetrated, uttered, produced, declared, published and accomplished both in this and other jurisdictions, in many and divers places of the realm, not once, but repeatedly, on many times, days, and hours; she has persisted in them and given her aid, counsel and favor to those who committed them.”
This sixty-seventh article the said Jeanne denies.
LXVIII
“Therefore from the time that you discovered, by the insinuating noise which struck your ears not once but many times, and by public report and evidence collected herein, that the accused was vehemently suspected and defamed, you decreed that it was meet to hold an inquiry against her, and that you or one of you must take proceedings against her and call her to answer these questions, as it has been done.” To this sixty-eighth article, Jeanne answers: “This article concerns the judges.”
LXIX
“The said accused in everything which precedes was and is vehemently suspected, scandalous, and to the highest degree, notoriously defamed in the eyes of honest and sober men. Yet she in no way corrected her ways or reformed; on the contrary, she put off and declined to correct and amend herself; and continued and persisted in her errors, and still does, although both you and other notable clergy and other honest folk have, charitably and otherwise, duly and sufficiently summoned and required her so to do.”
To this sixty-ninth article, Jeanne says that she has not committed the errors imputed to her by the Promoter; for the rest, she commits herself to God, and in respect of the crimes of which she is accused she does not think she has done anything contrary to the Christian faith.
Asked whether if she had done anything contrary to the Christian faith she would be willing to submit to the Church and to those whose part it is to administer corrections,
She answered that she would reply after dinner on Saturday.
LXX
“That each and every one of these propositions is true, known, and manifest, and that the public voice and report has worked on them; and the accused has acknowledged and confessed them as true on many and sufficient occasions, before men trustworthy and upright, both in and out of court.”
This seventieth article Jeanne denies, except that which she has confessed.
“On these points, and on others you will complete, correct and further inquire into, the said Promoter requests and demands that the accused be examined before you: and concludes against her that inasmuch as he has sufficiently proved to the proposed end the foregoing wholly or in part, you should decide on and pronounce sentence on each and every one of the foregoing ends, and make further utterance and judgment according to law and reason; and therein he duly and humbly implores your offices.”