Joan of Arc, Trial

The Trial of Joan of Arc, which took place before an English backed church court in Rouen, France in the first half of the year 1431 was, by general consensus, one of the most significant and moving trials ever conducted in human history. It culminated in the burning at the stake of the person known to history as Joan of Arc, the young French peasant girl who was the defendant in the case. Later, the trial verdict would be reversed, completely exonerating her. She is now a French national heroine and saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

Background and context

Joan of Arc burst onto the scene of world history in spectacular fashion in the Spring of the year 1429, at which time she, in obedience to what she identified as the command of God, led the Dauphin's armies in a series of stunning military victories which resulted in reversing the course of the Hundred Years' War.

Military success on this scale was denied her following her initial triumphs. First, there was a reversal before the gates of Paris in September of that same year and then, in the Spring of 1430, she fell captive, in a minor action near Compiegne, to the French Burgundian allies of the English.

The French King, Charles VII, refused to ransom her from the Burgundians who then delivered her to the English in exchange for a large sum of money. In December of that same year, she was transferred to Rouen, the military headquarters and administrative capital in France of King Henry VI of England, and placed on trial for heresy before a Church court headed by Bishop Pierre Cauchon.

The Documentary record

The life of Joan of Arc is one of the best documented of her era. This is especially remarkable when one considers that she was not of noble birth, but instead was a very young peasant girl. In one of history's true ironies, a large part of the thanks for this fact is owed to the records kept by those very same individuals who attempted to eradicate her name from memory. The reference, of course, is to the trial record kept during her Trial of Condemnation in Rouen in 1431.

During the investigation and trial itself, a trio of notaries, headed by chief notary Guillaume Manchon, took notes in French which were then collated each day following the trial session. Four years later (at the earliest), these records were translated into Latin by Manchon and University of Paris master Thomas de Courcelles. Five copies were produced, three of which are still in existence.

Jules Quicherat published the first unabridged version of the trial record in the first volume of his 5 volume Proces de condamnation et de rehabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc in Paris in the 1840s. But it was not until 1932 that the first unabridged English translation became available when W.P. Barrett published his Trial of Joan of Arc [1] in New York.

Prometheus bound - Joan in prison

The procedures of an Inquisitorial trial called for a preliminary inquest into the life of the accused. This investigation consisted of the collection of any evidence, including heresay testimony, into the character of the subject. This could then be followed by an interrogation of the suspect, in which he or she was compelled to provide testimony which could then be used against them in a subsequent trial.

Preliminary inquest

With the words "Here begin the proceedings in matter of faith against a dead woman, Jeanne, commonly known as the Maid", the trial records announce the start, on January 9, 1431, of the judicial inquiry into the case of Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc as her name appears at the head of said records).

The first order of business was a preliminary inquiry into Joan's character and habits. An examination as to Joan's virginity was conducted sometime prior to January 13, overseen by the Duchess of Bedford (the wife of John, Duke of Bedford, and regent in France of the boy-king Henry VI of England). At the same time, representatives of Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais and the man who would preside over the Trial, were sent to Domremy and vicinity to inquire further into Joan's life, her habits, and virtue, with several witnesses being interviewed.

The result of these inquiries was that nothing could be found against Joan to support any charges against her. Clerical notary Nicolas Bailly, commissioned to collect testimony against Joan of Arc, could find no adverse evidence.

The Interrogation of Joan of Arc

In a letter of February 20, 1431, to the assessors and others summoning them to appear the morning of the following day for the first public interrogation session of Jeanne, Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, cited the grant of territory within the city of Rouen by the chapter of the cathedral of Rouen for the purpose of conducting the proces against Jeanne. Without such a grant, he would have been unable to conduct the hearings as he was not in his native diocese. He also affirmed that Jeanne was "vehemently suspected of heresy" and that "rumors of her acts and sayings wounding our faith had notoriously spread". This was the basis for the diffamatio, a necessary ingredient in the bringing of charges against a suspect. He also alluded to the expected absence of the Vice-Inquisitor for Rouen, Jean Le Maistre, whose presence was required by canon law in order to validate the procedings. On all three points, the Rehabilitation Trial would declare the proceedings to be at fault and would reverse the verdict.

In response to the summons of Bishop Cauchon, priest and usher Jean Massieu, on this same date, reported that Joan had agreed to appear, but that she requested that ecclesiastics of the French side be summoned equal in number to those of the English party, and that she be allowed to hear mass. In response, promoter Jean d'Estivet forbid Joan to attend the divine offices, citing "especially the impropriety of the garments to which she clung" according to the Trial transcript (Barrett translation).

First session - Wednesday, February 21, 1431

After being brought before the court, the proceedings were explained to Joan and an exhortation was delivered to her by Bishop Cauchon, following which she was required to take an oath concerning her testimony.

Question: Do you swear to speak the truth in answer to such questions as are put to you?

Joan: I do not know what you wish to examine me on. Perhaps you might ask such things that I would not tell.

Question: Will you swear to speak the truth upon those things which are asked you concerning the faith, which you know?

Joan: Concerning my father and my mother, and what I have done since I took the road to France, I will gladly swear to tell the truth. But concerning my revelations from God, these I have never told or revealed to anyone, save only to Charles, my King. And I will not reveal them to save my head.

The court would return to the matter of the oath in subsequent sessions.

She was then asked concerning matters such as her name, her birth, her parents and godparents, her baptism, and her religious upbringing. When she reported that her mother had taught her the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo, Cauchon asked her to repeat her Pater Noster. She replied that she would do so only if she were allowed to be heard in confession.

Third session - Saturday, February 24, 1431

Question: Do you know whether or no you are in God's grace?

Joan: If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me. I should be the saddest creature in the world if I knew I were not in His grace." She added, if she were in a state of sin, she did not think that the voice would come to her; and she wished everyone could hear the voice as well as she did. She thought she was about thirteen when the voice came to her for the first time.

Prometheus on trial - the "ordinary" trial

The ordinary, or regular, trial of Joan began on March 26 with the reading of the 70 articles (later summarized in a 12 article indictment) and concluded on May 24 with the abjuration.

Prometheus unbound - the execution of Joan of Arc

Joan recanted her previous abjuration, donned men's apparel once more, was bnrough to trial as a relapsed heretic and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 in the Old Mreketplace in Rouen.

Further reading

• Joan's Trial and Execution at Rouen, in Joan of Arc: Her Story by Regine Pernoud and Marie-Veronique Clin.
• True Lies: Transvestism and Idolatry in the Trial of Joan of Arc, by Susan Schibanoff (in Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc, edited by Bonnie Wheeler and Charles T. Wood.)

Internet resources

• The text of the condemnation trial