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Jeanne D'Ark biography
Content:
France after the Battle of Agincourt.
Expectations of a miraculous rescue
The Childhood of Joan of Arc
Visions of Jeanne
Joan's audience with Charles VII
The Liberation of Orleans by Joan of Arc
Jeanne D'Arc and the coronation of Charles VII in Reims
Appearance and character of Joan of Arc
Joan and the Royal Court
The unsuccessful campaign of Jeanne d'Arc to Paris
The Captivity of Joan of Arc (1430)
The extradition of Joan to the British
The Joan of Arc Trial
The renunciation of Joan and the accusation of her violation of the vow
Jeanne D'Ark at the stake
Literature about Joan of Arc
if you need BRIEF information on this topic, read the article by Jeanne D’Ark briefly from the gymnasium textbook of the outstanding Russian historian N. I. Kareev.
Read also the articles The Hundred Year War history and the Hundred Year War chronological table
France after the Battle of Agincourt.
Expectations of a miraculous rescue
At the beginning of the second period of the Hundred Years ' War, after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and the Treaty of Troyes, all of northern France was occupied by the British.
The disasters of the country reached the highest degree, the French nation seemed to be dying.
The upper classes, in despair, gave themselves up to an unbridled thirst for pleasure, hurrying to take advantage of the short time left to them to live; the lower classes were exhausted under the terrible yoke of foreign invasion, internecine strife, lawlessness; the concepts of just and unjust were obscured; national feeling was manifested only by hatred of fellow citizens of another party, explosions of ferocity.
Parisians admired the disgusting masquerades, the dances of the dead, which frivolously but faithfully reflected reality; the French nation seemed to have lost faith in itself.
France by 1429.
The territories owned by the British are indicated in red, the Burgundians in purple, and the Dauphin Charles in blue
The author of the map is Aliesin
At such times, people are receptive to the miraculous, are disposed to believe in supernatural phenomena.
Having lost hope in earthly powers, they crave the direct intervention of Providence in their fate, they want God to send deliverance to them.
Religious enthusiasm took hold of many Frenchmen, manifested itself in different regions of France.
A Carmelite monk went through Artois and Picardy, preaching against the vices of the clergy and general sinfulness, calling people to repentance; they gathered in masses to listen to him; in Paris, a Franciscan monk who returned from Palestine stirred the hearts with fiery sermons in which he applied visions of the Apocalypse to the events of the present time; prophets and prophetesses appeared, announcing that great events were coming.
The people remembered the foretelling of the druids that a virgin would appear from the oak grove and throw the men of the bow under her feet, they waited for miracles, saw signs.
The chivalrous courtesy of the French to the ladies disposed them to find it pleasant to think that salvation would be given by a woman.
The Childhood of Joan of Arc
At the head of the Meuse, on the border of Lorraine and Champagne, lies a strip of land that then belonged to the Duchy of Barou and had a population imbued with ardent patriotism in contrast to the Lorrainers, who then adhered to the Burgundian party.
On the left bank of the river, five leagues south of Vaucouleurs, which then had a French garrison, stands between meadows and wooded hills a small village of Domremy, which once belonged to the Abbey of St. Remy (Remigius) of Reims.
There, in a poor hut near an oak grove, near the monastery, Joan of Arc was born on the day of the Epiphany on January 6, 1412;
There, in a poor hut near an oak grove, near the monastery, Joan of Arc was born on the day of the Epiphany on January 6, 1412; her father was a respectable villager, a man of unfree estate who lived on royal land; her mother was a God fearing woman.
Tradition says that even in the childhood of Joan of Arc there were signs foreshadowing her future great activity, that on the night of her birth an incomprehensible feeling of joy filled all hearts.
Between Jeanne's parents ' house and the local hill there was an old beech tree, at which a bright stream flowed out of the ground.
This spring and the beech tree enjoyed religious respect among the people: good fairies lived there.
In the spring, the girls of the native village of Jeanne d'The arches came together to dance under the beech tree, hung wreaths on its branches, which disappeared at night, were carried away by fairies; the water of the spring was considered healing from time immemorial; these remnants of pagan worship of nature were intertwined with Christian concepts and did not prevent the villagers from being faithful children of the Catholic Church.
Jeanne, who shared all the household activities of her family, sometimes grazed her father's sheep in this sacred area; alone in the field, she gave herself up to thoughts about the supernatural beings living here.
But the merry dancing of the fairies, which the old people told about, had stopped since France was subjected to disasters; sighs and sobs were heard in the branches of the beech tree: the spirits, the patrons of France, wept for her destruction.
Jeanne d'Ark was about 15 years old when English and Burgundian detachments penetrated to her native places, began to devastate the banks of the Meuse.
Her heart bled at the stories of the villagers about the sufferings of the people, the calamities of the king, about the foreign yoke that falls on France.
In the solitude that Jeanne loved, it seemed to her that she saw a bright light, that a heavenly voice was speaking to her; repeating itself, this vision took a certain form, a certain content.
The voice of the Archangel Michael told Joan of Arc that it was God's will that she go to France and help the Dauphin regain his kingdom.
She began to live in a dream world, avoided talking to people, delved into her visions.
The archangel began to appear to her not alone, but accompanied by St. Catherine and Marguerite, the call sounded stronger and stronger in her soul: "Go to France and lead the Dauphin to the coronation."
So three years passed.
Joan's reverie disturbed her father and mother; they kept her at home, looked after her, wanted to marry her off; but the heavenly voices were heard more and more imperiously, she was more and more clearly aware of her vocation.
In 1428, the Burgundian detachment began to ravage the area again.
The inhabitants of Domremy went with their property to the Lorraine town of Nechato; their huts were destroyed.
Since then, Jeanne d'Ark had no rest, reproached herself for procrastination, for disobeying the will of God.
The vision of Joan of Arc.
Artist J. Bastien Lepage, 1879
The determination to obey the divine voice and visions took possession of the soul of Jeanne d'She went to the village of Bure to her mother's brother, asked him to get her an escort from the knight Baudricourt, the commandant of the city of Vaucouleurs, who would take her to the Dauphin, reminded her uncle of an old prophecy, applying it to herself, said: "Has it not been predicted for a long time that France will be destroyed by a woman and saved by a girl, a native of the Lorraine suburbs?
This woman is Queen Isabeau (Isabella), and this girl is me."
My uncle argued against Jeanne's request, but her enthusiastic speeches carried him away, he went to Vaucouleurs to ask Baudricourt for an escort for her.
At first Baudricourt laughed at Joan of Arc as if she were mad, and sent her away; but she remained firm, heavenly voices told her that at the third visit she would convince Baudricourt.
Joan lived for some time in the city; the rumor of her visions spread in it; her life was pure, her faith was firm, her piety was not feigned; the inhabitants of the city were imbued with respect for her, and Baudricourt finally agreed to fulfill her demand.
Joan sent to tell her grieved father and mother that she was leaving and begged their forgiveness, put on a warrior's dress and, accompanied by several knights and soldiers, went to Chinon, where Charles was then the residence.
The inhabitants of Vaucouleurs and Jeanne d'Arc's uncle gave money to buy a horse for her and for the costs of the journey.
It was very dangerous, lying in a country occupied by Burgundian and English troops; robber gangs roamed everywhere, the spring flood of the rivers made it difficult to cross; but hope in God and faith in his messenger removed all fear from the soul of Joan.
Joan's audience with Charles VII
On March 5, 1429, Jeanne prayed fervently in Fierbois in the church of St. Catherine and continued on her way to the royal palace.
Charles VI hesitated to accept it.
His favorite Tremul and other courtiers did not want to allow him a girl who aroused popular enthusiasm, fearing that she would damage their influence on the king.
Near Chinon, Jeanne was almost attacked.
But the Dowager Duchess of Anjou, the stepmother of Charles VII, a woman of firm character, who understood political affairs well and saw in popular enthusiasm the only salvation of France, persuaded the king to accept Joan d'Ark in the presence of the entire court.
To test the inspiration of Joan, the king in simple clothes stood among the courtiers; Jeanne recognized him at a glance.
For all his weakness and mediocrity, Charles VII was for Joan of Arc an object of religious respect.
She said aloud to him: "I have been sent by God to escort you, the true heir of France, to Reims for the coronation.
Why donot you want to believe me?"
Charles's hesitation to acknowledge the inspiration of Joan of Arc was stopped by the effect of her firm belief in her messenger from God and by the fact that in a conversation with him alone she told him some secret.
It seems that it consisted in the fact that Jeanne solved and dispelled Karl's hidden doubt about the legality of his birth.
After the conclusion of the union in Troyes with the King of England, Queen Isabella of Bavaria said that she gave birth to Charles from cohabitation not with her husband, but with a lover.
Alarmed by this, Charles turned to God with a fervent prayer to protect his rights, if he really was a descendant of the Capetians.
Joan of Arc's words that he was the true heir of France seemed to him the fulfillment of his prayer, and he saw in Joan a protector sent to him from God, thinking that only by the revelation of God could Joan solve the mystery of his thoughts.
The bishops and doctors of theology were summoned to Poitiers to put the orthodoxy of Joan of Arc to the test; she answered their casuistic questions triumphantly.
The Duchess of Anjou and other noble ladies testified that she was an immaculate girl.
From this, according to the concepts of that time, it followed that she could not be an instrument of the devil.
Convinced of the faith and integrity of Joan of Arc, Charles VII agreed to send her with a detachment of troops to Orleans; she said that by this campaign she would prove the truth of her mission, that its success would be a miracle, which the church dignitaries demanded of her.
The king gave Joan a military retinue, as a commander, ordered a detachment of troops to go under her command from Blois to Orleans with a wagon train of food supplies and weapons for the besieged.
Jeanne said that under the altar of the church of St. Catherine in Fierbois will be found in the ground a sword that should be given to her.
This sword was found; there were five crosses on its blade.
Jeanne told them to make a white banner for her with golden lilies (emblems of the royal dynasty) and with the image of the Mother of God.
Girded with this sword, with this banner in her hand, Jeanne d'Ark led the army to Orleans.
The people looked at her with enthusiasm.
He was beginning to believe that she was the savior of France.
Joan sent a letter to the English military leaders, in which she demanded that they give her, the messenger of God, the keys of all the French cities they had conquered, threatening that for disobeying God, He would punish them with her hand.
In front of her army were priests singing hymns.
A brave enterprise, the outcome of which was supposed to show whether Jeanne d'Ark the messenger of God, was a complete success.
Meeting no resistance from the English, she entered Orleans on April 28 (1429), enthusiastically welcomed by the people.
She rode on a white pacer, she drove it skillfully.
Her hair was cut rather short according to the custom of that time (women cut their hair like men).
May 6 Jeanne d'Ark led the besieged and her detachment on a sortie and after a stubborn battle, in which she fell from her horse wounded by an arrow in the shoulder, took Fort Tournelle, one of the strongest fortifications of the British.
This success strengthened the people's faith in her.
In steel armor with a helmet on her head and her banner in her hand, Jeanne d'Ark inspired the warriors with speeches, led them to the battles of Orleans, was always ahead of everyone.
She took two more fortifications from the English; many of the bravest English soldiers were killed, including one of the main commanders.
Glensdel.
The French were encouraged, the enemies were afraid of the wonderful girl.
Jeanne D'Ark participated in the battles that Dunois and Lagire gave to the English; her advice proved useful; she stopped the retreating French, cared for the wounded and sick, remained modest and impeccable, was an example of piety.
The French believed in the messenger of Joan from God, they were in awe of her, they had many legends about the miraculous power given to her from God.
The English, who were in awe of Joan of Arc, considered her an ally of the devil, and their imagination also gave her supernatural powers that people cannot resist.
The impression made by it was so powerful that the Duke of Bedford retreated from Orleans after a seven month siege, and this day, May 8, remained for centuries the anniversary of the liberation of Orleans.
Jeanne D'Ark during the siege of Orleans.
Artist J. E. Lenepve
After the liberation of Orleans, Jeanne d'Ark wanted to extract new benefits for the French from the popular enthusiasm and went to beg Charles to join the army and go with her to Rheims to be crowned there.
But a cowardly man, he did not dare to undertake such a dangerous campaign.
All the convictions of Jeanne were in vain.
With difficulty she obtained permission from Dunois and the Duke of Alencon to go with her to conquer the cities subject to the English; the army given to her was small.
Jeanne went to the city of Carjo.
The Earl of Suffolk spared no effort to defend the city, but on June 11 it was taken by storm; the French killed almost all the English soldiers who were there; they captured the Earl of Suffolk and his brother, John Paul.
Three days later, on June 14, Constable Richemont, contrary to the king's prohibition, joined his army to the army of Joan of Arc.
They conquered Beaugency.
Talbot, the commander in chief of the English troops on the Loire, decided against the advice of Fastolfe and his other assistants to give the French a battle, and on June 18 suffered a heavy defeat at Pat.
Most of the English officers and Talbot himself surrendered to the cavalry of Lagire and Central and had to pay large sums for their release; the French did not take ordinary soldiers prisoner, but killed them; only a few managed to escape with Festolf into the woods.
Jeanne D'Arc and the coronation of Charles VII in Reims
The Anglo Burgundian army on the Loire, which went to conquer southern France, was destroyed.
Fastolfe, who had fought bravely at the siege of Orleans, was now considered a coward.
The Maid of Orleans performed miracles, the French revered her as a saint; she had a beneficial effect on the discipline of the army: vices were expelled from it by her.
The vassals of the king, who did not listen to his calls, now themselves went under the banner of Joan of Arc, which gave victories.
But she had many enemies at court; he became even more hostile to her than before, when the constable and the Count of Lamarche joined Joan.
The vulgar favorite of the king, Tremoul, inspired his characterless master, who was in fact his servant, with envy and suspicion of Joan.
Karl did not want to go with her to Reims.
Richemont, indignant at his cowardice, went to the west to wage war independently of him.
Yielding to the demand of the people, Charles finally went to Reims with 12,000 troops, most of which were cavalry; but several times he wanted, on the advice of Tremoul and his creatures, to return to the southern bank of the Loire.
This thought was especially strong in him when the city of Troyes, fleeing from his vengeance, locked its gates before him.
But Jeanne d'The Arc began to prepare for an attack; the citizens became timid, went out to the king on July 10, fell at his feet; he took courage, and the army went nonstop through Chalons to Reims.
There, on July 17, the coronation was performed in compliance with all the usual forms; Jeanne D'Ark held a banner over the king during the ceremony.
The Dukes of Bar and Lorraine, who were bitter enemies, reconciled.
Joan sent a letter to the English ally Philip of Burgundy, in which, in the name of "Jesus Mary", she begged him to reconcile with the king of France.
Jeanne D'Ark at the coronation of Charles VII in Reims.
Artist J. O. D. Ingres
All Europe looked at Joan of Arc with amazement and respect.
In the monasteries, hymns were composed in her glory.
The famous theologian, old Gerson, after the liberation of Orleans, wrote a small treatise in which he recognized the Maid of Orleans as the messenger of God and, modifying the words of Simeon the God Receiver, said that he was dying peacefully because he had seen the savior sent by God.
(Gerson really already felt the approach of death at that time; he died on July 12).
The Count of Armagnac, the son of the murdered commander in chief, who had returned to Aragon, asked the advice of Joan of Arc, which of the two popes should be recognized as true.
- Jeanne did not want to go into any other matters before fulfilling her mission to expel the English from France; but plans for other enterprises were already running through her imagination: she thought of the crusade of the warriors of the whole West against the Turks, the new Saracens, and threatened the Hussites with her revenge if they did not stop insulting the church.
Appearance and character of Joan of Arc
Jeanne D'Ark was a slender girl of strong build; her face received beauty only in moments of animation; she was impressionable, often smiled and often cried.
Jeanne liked to sit on a horse in a shiny armor.
On the shell, she wore a short blouse and a man's outer dress.
Her voice was quiet, gentle, attractive, she spoke little, her words were simple even in moments of strong animation.
Jeanne D'Ark inspired deep respect for everyone, was very abstemious in food, easily endured the difficulties and hardships of campaigns, often spent whole days on horseback and nights in armor.
She introduced discipline in the army, demanded that the war be conducted honestly, urged the king to rule the state as Saint Louis ruled, defended the rights of cities, tried to protect the people from oppression, ease taxes, begged her native village of Domremy for exemption from taxes.
Everyone who was with Jeanne d'Arc in Orleans, marveled at her political insight, which came from the natural strength of her mind, and from the fact that, with all her enthusiasm, she kept her judgment; she firmly defended her considerations.
Joan of Arc.
Miniature of the XV century
Joan and the Royal Court
The people revered Joan of Arc as a messenger of God; but she was surrounded by intrigues and treachery.
The king, to whom she retained the throne and created an army, listened to vulgar courtiers who inspired him with distrust and envy of her.
The ecclesiastical dignitaries did not like the people's belief in the messenger given to her from God without their mediation; in particular, the archbishop of Chartres, an influential adviser to the king, was hostile to Jeanne Regnault.
Tremoul and his friend the chancellor hated Joan because she, and not they, had saved the king from exile; it would have been more pleasant to them if he had remained only the "King of Bourges", but under their influence.
They were afraid that they would lose their dominion over him now that Joan d'Arc and popular enthusiasm made him the king of France.
Jeanne, with her shrewd mind, saw the danger that the hostility of the court exposed her to: when friends from her native village came to her in Chalons and expressed surprise at the courage with which she went into battle, she replied that she was most afraid of betrayal.
The unsuccessful campaign of Jeanne d'Arc to Paris
Perfect thanks to the victories of Jeanne d'The coronation of Charles made a strong impression on northern France.
Champagne was ready to recognize his power; Laon, Soissons, Chateau Thierry, Compiegne opened the gates to him; Bishop Cauchon, a follower of the English, was driven out of Beauvais; Picardy and the Ile de France were worried; if the king went to Paris, the war would quickly end in his favor.
But all the proposals of Joan were rejected by the sluggish king or upset by the intrigues of the courtiers.
This gave the Duke of Bedford time to gather forces for defense.
His uncle, the bishop of Winchester, recruited an army with which he wanted to go to help the Emperor Sigismund against the Hussites.
The regent persuaded him to send this detachment to serve against Fr antsuzov.
At the same time, the duke again aroused the Paris Democrats against the Armagnacs, renewed the alliance with Philip of Burgundy, appointed Lisle Adan, who was very popular, as the chief of the Paris militia.
Having finished these affairs, the duke went against the French, sent a letter from Montereau (August 7) to "Charles of Valois, who unfairly calls himself king," reproached him that he, with the assistance of a woman Jeanne, who leads a bad life and wears a man's dress, leads the people into a superstitious delusion, and blamed him for the bloodshed and other disasters to which the continuation of the war will expose unhappy France.
Such an insult should be answered with a vigorous attack, and at first it seemed that the king would act firmly, go to Paris, as Joan of Arc advised him.
But the matter was limited to the fact that the French on August 14 and 15 gave the English several small battles at Senly (north of Paris); the English riflemen fought bravely, the French retreated to the Fortress, Charles spent time there in vain attempts to win the Duke of Burgundy to his side with promises and concessions.
Zhanna was very upset by all this, she wanted to return to her father's house to the former life of a peasant woman.
The Duke of Bedford went to Normandy, which was threatened to be taken from the English by the constable and other French generals.
When he retired to the west, Jeanne d'Arc persuaded the king to march on Paris again.
The French occupied Saint Denis on August 27 and approached Paris on September 8.
He was abundantly supplied with food supplies; Bedford left a strong garrison in it.
Parisians hated the Armagnacs, despised "Charles of Valois, a coward and a tyrant, " feared the vengeance of his party, considered Jeanne d'Ark was a witch, an instrument of the devil, so they remained loyal to the British; true, there were quite a lot of adherents of Charles VII in Paris, but the terrorism of the mass of the population suppressed in them thoughts of revolt against the British.
Thus, having made an attack on Paris, Jeanne d'Ark met a stubborn defense; but probably would have overcome the resistance of the enemies if it had not been surrounded by cowards and evil doers.
The king did not take part in the attack, remained inactive in Saint Denis; the marshals, whom he ordered to support Joan's attack, were her secret enemies.
She had already entered the Faubourg Saint Honore, and although she had received a wound, she was preparing to cross the last moat into the city itself; but there was a shortage of fascines.
Jeanne wanted to resume the attack the next day, hoping that the patriotic party in Paris would take up arms and help her; this hope was just, because Montmorency, the first baron of Ile de France, had already gone over to her side with 50 or 60 nobles; but the king ordered the army to retreat.
Joan was saddened, indignant; she put her armament on the throne in the Saint Denis church, intending to leave the king, return to her village or retire to a monastery.
But the king persuaded her to stay with him.
In the middle of September, the military council, after heated arguments, decided to retreat beyond the Loire.
Jeanne D'Ark, at the request of the king, went with him to Bourges.
Many historians have said that Jeanne d'After the coronation of the king in Reims, Arc considered her mission over and that after that there was no previous firmness in her actions.
New research has proved that she considered the complete liberation of France from the British to be the goal of her envoy, and that the hesitation in her actions began to manifest itself only after the failure of the attack on Paris, which shook the people's faith in her.
After the retreat from Saint Denis, the army was no longer enthusiastic at the sight of Joan; she saw with sadness that the discipline she had introduced had disappeared; the soldiers were raging, debauched; once in a fit of indignation, she struck an impudent corrupt woman with the flat of her sword; the sword broke; it was the sword that was found in the ground under the altar of the church of Fierbois.
Those voices that previously clearly spoke to Joan of Arc, which she certainly followed, have lost their definiteness.
There was a struggle going on in her soul.
Jeanne rightly found that a depraved, intriguing court was no place for her and that the king, although he had granted nobility to her entire family in December, was burdened by her presence.
There were other enthusiastic girls or women who pretended to be inspired by God.
Opponents of Joan of Arc, in order to undermine her authority, pointed to them, especially to Catherine of La Rotel, who said that a woman in a white dress embroidered with gold appeared to her, and promised to show the king the treasure.
The Captivity of Joan of Arc (1430)
A few months Jeanne d'Arc spent in Touraine, Poitou, Berry; the military actions of the French troops in the south were limited at this time to minor skirmishes near the Loire.
Finally, news began to arrive that the British and the Burgonians were defeating the French in Normandy, Ile de France, Picardy.
Joan decided to leave the ungrateful king and the hostile court, to go to war with a small detachment of soldiers loyal to her.
She went north, where the Anglo Burgundian army was besieging Compiegne, won a victory at Lagny and on the night of May 22-23 passed through the enemy troops into the besieged city.
In the afternoon of May 23, 1430, Jeanne made a brave sortie, went to the village of Marigny, where there was a strong Burgundian detachment.
Herondel, Montgomery and Luxembourg brought other troops; Joan's detachment was overwhelmed by the number of enemies, began to retreat, it threatened to turn into flight; Jeanne D'Ark covered the retreat, courageously restrained the onslaught of enemies.
Almost all of her soldiers had already entered the city by the bridge or swam there in boats; an enemy rifleman tore Jeanne from her horse; the bastard son of the Burgundian nobleman Vendome, who bore his father's name, took Jeanne prisoner.
Soon Philip, Duke of Burgundy, came.
On his orders, Vendome handed over the prisoner to his suzerain Ligny Luxembourg, who sent her to the castle of Beaulieu and kept her there under strict guard.
The English rejoiced, the French people were deeply saddened and believed that Jeanne d'Ark was taken prisoner by treachery: rumor said that Guillaume Flavi, the commandant of the fortress, lowered the gate bars too hastily; he was an unscrupulous man who died for his villainies; but it seems that this heinous crime was vainly aimed at him.
At the court of Charles, they rejoiced at the captivity of Joan of Arc, as in the English army: they hid their pleasure, but were very pleased that they were freed from the girl who did not take any advice, who followed only her own thoughts, as the courtiers said in accusation to her.
The extradition of Joan to the British
The calculating Duke of Bedford wanted to take advantage of unexpected happiness.
Shortly after the coronation of Charles in Reims, he crowned (November 6, 1429) in Winchester his eight year old nephew as king of England and France and brought him to France to repeat the coronation on French soil, if possible, then in Reims; he was in Rouen when the news spread that Joan d'Ark was captured, and he reasoned that it would be very profitable for the British to get their hands on her.
But Philip of Burgundy did not want to give them his important prey.
The Paris Inquisition Tribunal, supported by the university, demanded the extradition of Joan of Arc in order to put her on trial for heresy.
The Duke refused and, after her unsuccessful attempt to escape from custody, transferred her to Beaurevoir, a castle in Vermandois, far from the theater of war.
The Duke of Bedford has found a good agent in Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, a greedy man of low soul, a zealous follower of the English and Burgonians, who is now ready for new services to Bedford to obtain the vacant archbishop's chair in Rouen.
Cauchon demanded that Jeanne be handed over to him, because she was taken prisoner in his diocese.
The claim would have remained unsuccessful if it had not been supported by more important arguments.
Cauchon, on behalf of the King of England and France, promised Ligny to Luxembourg, who had little income and was ambitious, 10,000 gold coins for the delivery of Jeanne d'Ark persuaded the Duke of Burgundy to agree to this, who was then busy establishing his power over Brabant and for this purpose very much needed the friendship of the English.
The Norman Diet collected the money promised to Luxembourg, and the savior of France was bought to her death with French money.
The Archbishop of Reims, the ecclesiastical superior of the Bishop of Beauvais, did not lift a finger to save Joan of Arc.
She was very sad in captivity, tried to escape a second time, having descended from the Beaurevoir tower, broke off and fell; they picked her up unconscious, but not broken, and took her to the castle of Crote (at the mouth of the Somme), where they handed her over to the English; they chained Jeanne and transported her to Rouen.
She was very concerned about the fate of Compiegne.
Heavenly voices told her that God would help him, and it came true: about the time she was put in chains, Jeanne was glad to hear that her friends Vendome, Boussac, Central had approached the besieged city and, supported by a sortie of citizens, drove the English away with great damage on October 24.
The French commander Barbazan was gaining success in Champagne.
The Joan of Arc Trial
But the French victories worsened the fate of Joan of Arc.
The English knew that as long as she remained alive, the belief in her messenger from God would encourage the French; therefore, the Duke of Bedford and his assistants wanted to expose Joan to a'The Arc of death.
The fanaticism of the French clergy helped them in this.
In December 1430, Joan was locked in one of the towers of Rouen and chained to the wall by her neck, hands and feet.
On January 3, in the name of Henry VI, the King of England and France, the Bishop of Beauvais was instructed to subject Joan, called the maiden, to an interrogation about her faith at the ecclesiastical court; to this it was added to om that if the ecclesiastical court finds her innocent of heresy, it should return her to the secular authorities (then she would be convicted of rebellion against the legitimate king).
An ecclesiastical tribunal was formed for the trial of Joan of Arc.
Its members were appointed low people, selected from professors of the University of Paris and Norman ecclesiastical dignitaries; they received a salary from the English government during the process.
The trial of Jeanne d'The Arc began its meetings on February 21 in the ducal court under the presidency of the vile Pierre Cauchon (whose surname translates from French as "pig") and his assistant Le Meter, who corrected the post of inquisitor of France.
This process is an eternal disgrace to the barbarity of the French clergy.
The monk Nicholas Oiseler insidiously crept into Jeanne's confidence, lured out of her with cunning questions such answers that could be interpreted to her detriment; spies caught every word of her, noticed every movement; English soldiers, who stood guard day and night near Jeanne, insulted her; and the trial itself was a disgrace to justice and human rights.
The theologians and lawyers recruited by Cauchon were zealous servants of the English or acted out of fear of them.
To confuse Jeanne, they suddenly bombarded her with questions several times, so that she asked them to speak one after the other.
The answers that could serve as an excuse for her were not recorded.
In addition to interrogations at the trial, Cauchon and his assistant made Jeanne d'Ark secretly interrogates her in the dungeon, trying to confuse her into a contradiction with false interpretations of her answers to insidious questions.
Some of the judges felt conscientious, protested against the lawless conduct of the case.
They were forced to keep silent by threats or were removed altogether.
When the Dominican Izanbar advised Jeanne d'Ark appealed to the Basle Cathedral, the Earl of Warwick told him that he would throw him into the Seine if he still gave advice to the defendant.
Joan was exhausted by suffering in prison; but more than once she confused her enemies, upsetting their plans with her naive, sincere and intelligent answers.
The interrogation of Jeanne D'Ark by the Cardinal of Winchester.
The artist P. Delaroche, 1824
Jeanne D'Ark steadfastly continued to say that the apparitions and voices about which she was questioned came from God, that she received these revelations both in prison and in the courtroom, that they strengthened and comforted her, that she did everything in the name of God, according to God's command.
Jeanne was accused of wearing a man's dress; she replied that this was also commanded by God.
Perhaps the man's dress served as a protection for her from the insolence of men.
In prison, Jeanne was afraid that the soldiers would rape her, this fear disturbed her even in her sleep.
But the soldiers refrained from raping, partly because the Duke of Bedford forbade them to do so, partly because they were under the influence of superstitious fear: they considered jeanne d'Ark is either a witch or a saint.
The judges asked her whether she placed her confidence in victory on her banner or more on herself; Jeanne answered: "I put my hope in God and only in him."
She was asked to answer by what means she had inspired the king with faith in her divine messenger; she refused to answer.
Jeanne was threatened with torture, the executioner was told to show her the instruments of torture and explain how they work.
She answered calmly: "If the pain pulls out false testimony from me, then I will say that I spoke only about violence."
Jeanne was asked if she was sure of the salvation of her soul; this was an insidious question; confidence in the salvation of the soul was considered heresy according to medieval dogmatics; and if she said that she was not sure of the salvation of her soul, it would be called prizna
