Y2kk Update (2000): "I really got myself into this Grade 11 Religion project. I studied English and French history from all over this period in time. I think it was here that Przemek told me my life was not in computers, but in history - and to some degree, I agree. I even taped a Joan of Arc film that was on TV and the time and watched it over for God knows how many times. But when the day of the presentation arrived, I presented too many facts. It must've been so boring - I just stood up there, recanting useless facts over and over. And I was very disappointed when I didn't get a good mark back; it turned out I didn't point out Jeanne d'Arc's religious significance enough. Now I see that my teacher was quite right; I focused too much on useless trivia that I don't remember at all today, and not enough on what the class might have left the room remembering: how Jeanne d'Arc affected history, and affected their lives. Often in high school, students gripe and groan about having to point out the significance of an event in history. And why do we complain? Because it requires some thinking - it's not written in a text book in front of us. But just like when we read the news each day, we consider how the events affect us. And if I helped describe how Jeanne d'Arc's death helped lead to the modern challenging of the Church, maybe I could've turned a head or two in that class."

-occurs during Hundred Years War
-Saturday, February 24^th, 1431, stone fortress known as Bouvreuil castle (of northern French town of Rouen on Seine River) now belonged to the English forces, along with most of northern France
-the French king at the time was King Charles VII
-French who had allied themselves with English were known as Burgundians
-trial involved 40 "assessors" to observe proceedings and give advice to the judge
-the 60 year old judge was Judge Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais
-the defendant was 19 year old Jeanne d’Arc, the fearless, male-clothing wearing girl who was commonly referred to as "the Maid", or "La Pucelle" (the Virgin), although we now know her as Joan of Arc
-in 1425, Jeanne claimed to have heard beyond the grave the voices of St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine, who told Jeanne to aid King Charles VII in cleansing France of the English Forces
-in 1429, Jeanne led French victories at Orleans, Patay, and Reims
-in May 1430, she had been captured by Burgundians, imprisoned her for 7 months, and turned her over to the English for trial
-Jeanne was charged for witchcraft, for using supernatural powers to defeat the English forces
-burning her at the stake would make King Charles VII seem devilish in front of his Catholic armies and he may even be excommunicated for it
-Judge Cauchon openly supported English cause and was determined to find Jeanne guilty
-the Judge tried to trap Jeanne using words (trying to make the court think she heard voices from the devil and not from God), but she chose not to answer his questions
-Cauchon asked her "Are you in God’s grace?"… if she answered yes, she would be condemned for pride; if she answers no, she sounds as if she rejects God… yet she somehow managed to elude this question as well…

Joan the Maiden

-Hundred Years War had begun in 1290s, and had divided France’s people
-in 1328, King Edward III of England claimed to be heir to the French throne since his mother was the sister of King Charles IV of France
-hot war began in 1339 when Edward attacked Flanders (Northern coast of France, Belgium, and Netherlands)
-most destructive phases of this war were between 1340 to 1360, 1369 to 1389, and 1415 to 1435
-no-one won the war because battles were on and off, and usually small scale (mostly raids)
-battles were extremely bloody, such as Crecy (largest battle of 100 Years War) of 1346, which was highlighted by the invention of the English longbow that massacred the French mounted knights, and Poitiers of 1356, when French knights dismounted off their horses in an unsuccessful attempt to counter the longbows
-battles were massacres only and had no strategic effects
-England conquered Calais (on the English Channel) and a strip of southwestern France during the first 20 years of war, which ended with a truce in 1360 (fighting re-began in 1369)
-in early 1400s, King Charles VI suffered mental illness and 2 factions appeared who wanted control of the French throne: the Burgundians and the Armagnacs
-in 1411, John the Fearless of the Burgundians took control of Paris and the government through civil war
-Jeanne d’Arc was born in 1412 in the region of Domremy, her father was Jacques d’Arc, her mother was Isabelle, and her childhood centered around sewing linen cloths and spinning threads
-the d’Arcs were well respected in their community as good Catholics and "Jeannette" was testified to have been well and properly brought up as a Christian (reports suggest she went to Church even when she was supposed to do housework)
-Simonin Musnier, childhood neighbour of Jeanne, said Jeanne often cared for the poor and sick
-Jeanne was remembered by her childhood friends to be warmhearted, devout, hardworking, and resourceful
-England had not touched Jeanne’s region because a truce was made in 1389, but the French civil war convinced King Henry V of England to invade in 1415
-Burgundians and Armagnacs allied with each other to fight Henry at the Seine River delta
-20 000 French knights went against about 6 000 English, the English archers kissed the ground in God’s name, and their long-bows massacred the French armies
-nearly 20 000 French died in less than 3 hours while the British lost about 2000
-John the Fearless made an alliance with King Henry after realizing Henry was a rightful heir to the French throne
-King Charles VI of the withering Armagnac were forced to sign the Treaty of Troyes, which named Henry as one of the two kings in France’s new "dual monarchy", and permitted Henry to marry his daughter, Catherine
-however, Charles VII was named dauphin (eldest son of the king) and fled to Bourges in central France where he gained the support of the remaining Armagnacs, and his liberation civil war began
-in 1422 (2 years later), both Henry and Charles VI dies, while the Armagnacs raided villages and burned down crops
-in 1423, one of Jeanne’s cousin’s husband was killed by a Burgundian cannonball
-a local nobleman turned con-artist, Robert de Saarbruck, demanded the villagers of Domremy pay him tributes to protect the town, but in 1425, Burgundians took away most of the town’s assets (cows, furniture, jewels)
-Jeanne was now 13 years old, and she began hearing voices of angels, St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine
-the voices came at noon of a summer’s day, while in her father’s garden, and she saw a bright light
-the voices returned 3 times a week, and told her to leave town without telling her father, she should help the Armagnac siege of Orleans (over 110 km southwest of Paris), to meet Robert de Baudricourt, to aid King Charles VII, and that God would help her
-in May of 1428, she told her parents she would visit her cousin in Vaucouleurs
-at age 16, she left for Vaucouleurs where in a fortress she was told to meet Robert de Baudricourt
-Jeanne recognized Robert as if she knew him, but Robert rejected her pleas and Jeanne went home empty handed
-while Jeanne was returning home, the Burgundians had burned her village into ashes and failed to conquer the fortress at Vaucouleurs
-as the d’Arcs were trying to rebuild their village, in October of 1428, the Burgundians attacked Orleans on the Loire River to gain a strategic position over the Armagnac headquarters at Bourges
-Jeanne returned to Vaucouleurs without permission of her parents and managed to convince Robert to conscript her into the French army
-Robert sent 6 knights to escort her to Chinon, 100 km west of Bourges, where Charles was hiding
-upon arrival, she was inspected by clergymen and found to be good and holy, and as soon as she entered the throne room, she claimed to have seen Charles in her visions
-Charles had hid himself in the midst of a crowd without his kingly attire, and he gave his crown to one of his nobles; thr noble sat on the chair and began to read Jeanne’s scroll when she entered; she immediately bypassed the noble and kneeled before the hidden dauphin
-Charles was easily convinced by her speeches, and the second pass by the clergymen revealed that she was as holy as she claimed
-this was tested by asking questions about the bible and church laws, and an inspection of whether she was a virgin
-she had somehow easily convinced Charles to trust her by telling him secrets into his ears
-Charles may have trusted her because he was very superstitious, he was desperate because of the loss of
Orleans, or that Jeanne was a pure, Catholic family girl who gave soldiers an idea to fight for
-she was immediately given a custom-made suit of armour and outranked all but the dauphin in the war

Joan the Warrior
-her goal was to aid Armagnacs until Reims, traditional site of royal coronation in France, was taken from English control
-she was a little girl with no military experience sent to bring victory to a demoralized, outnumbered, and outgunned Armagnac force; a victory under her command would seem like a miracle of God
-everyone of the period believed in God, and believed that God would intervene in human affairs through saints and miracles as demonstrated in Jeanne’s actions
-she was escorted by her two brothers, Jean and Pierre, who had joined the Armagnac cause
-hundreds of families congregated on roadsides to see the Maid that they believed God sent to liberate France
-Jeanne waved a banner that she had designed herself; on it’s white background were gold fleur-de-lys (lily flowers associated with French crown) and the images of Jesus, archangel Michael and the angel Gabriel
-Jeanne and the French army arrived at Orleans on April 19, 1429, however all of it’s bridges (it was situated on northern bank of the Loire) were controlled by the English
-the city was surrounded by a moat and drawbridge, and was built inside a high wall with guard towers high above where longbow archers could fire or boiling water could be tossed onto invaders
-the northeastern side of the city was guarded by the church of St. Loup (now in British hands), but there were small strips of land left unguarded on this side where a small party of soldiers could sneak in
-Jeanne managed to sneak supplies into the captured but still Armagnac town by floating provisions along the river
-Jeanne entered the city when asked by the Armagnac commander of Orleans to meet
-the commander, Jean Dunois, felt it was necessary to raise the town’s spirits so he created a parade with Jeanne riding on a white stallion; the crowds people began singing psalms and prayers as they saw the Maid ride past them, and townsfolk claimed that they felt divinely comforted as soon as Jeanne had looked upon them
-a small fire broke out, and Jeanne easily extinguished the flame with as she had the horse’s complete loyalty; and this parade failed to attract any attention from the English forces in the church of St. Loup
-Jeanne wrote 3 letters to the English to withdraw forces from Orleans, and sent the messages via an archer’s arrow
-her response was insults, such as Jeanne the "Armagnac’s whore", and did not believe the English could be toppled in Orleans when they held all the strategic vantage points
-on May 4, Dunois attacked St. Loup but could not penetrate it’s forces; Jeanne arrived with reinforcements and actually began fighting the enemy herself
-inspired by her valiant effort, Dunois’ men attacked even harder and St. Loup easily fell (with 114 dead English and 40 captured)
-on May 6, the Armagnacs tried to retake the impregnable Tourelles fortress by the city’s drawbridge, and Jeanne was injured in the battle by a spiked metal ball
-the second day of fighting was of vengeance for Jeanne’s injury, yet Jeanne fought yet again and was wounded by an arrow in the shoulder
-she requested to stay on the battlefield where she shouted encouragements to her army; the soldiers fought their hardest to make sure Jeanne did not get mortally wounded and Tourelles finally fell
-despite her wounds, Jeanne rode at the head of her army on May 8, and the remaining English forces abandoned their posts and ran away
-rumours ran rampant in the English and Burgundian forces that a sorceress had wiped out their massive forces at Orleans
-on May 9, Jeanne left Orleans and met 25 year old Jean, both duke of Alencon and the newly appointed lieutenant general
-the first phase of the Armagnac offensive commenced, known as the Loire campaign; in the first battle of the campaign, Jeanne risked her life and saved Jean from death or imprisonment
-the battle took place at Jargeau on June 12, 1439; the heavily guarded fort was captured in one day with 1100 English deaths
-Jean reports that Jeanne had told him to not stand in a place or else he will die; he later found out one of his lords had been killed by artillery on that very spot
-Jeanne next invaded the garrison at Beaugency (southwest of Orleans) which quickly surrendered by June 16
-Jeanne’s army was then ambushed by a huge English force; the English commander, Sir John Fastolf, fled the battle in fear of the Lord’s wrath, and over 2000 English soldiers were killed while only 3 Armagnacs were lost
-Jeanne met very little resistance in the once heavily defended town of Troyes on the Seine river, and conquered it on July 10
-as Jeanne marched towards Reims, the English forces fled in terror; she entered the city praised as a vessel of God and she knelt beside Charles VII the dauphin as he was coronated as the "Lord’s Anointed"
-Jeanne wrote a letter to Burgundy and asked for an alliance between the Burgundians and Armagnacs against the English; Burgundy agreed to a 15-day truce, but only as an attempt to wait for English reinforcements
-in fury, Jeanne attacked the Burgundian city of Paris on September 8, 1429
-she was struck by a crossbow in the thigh, but stayed on the battlefield while screaming out that the Parisan city walls would fall
-however, the desperate Burgundians would not surrender and by the end of the day, 1000 Armagnac had been killed or injured
-King Charles VII retreated in fear that too many lives would be sacrificed to take the city; he tried to make Jeanne feel better about the loss by making her family members of French nobility with the family name of "du Lys"
-on May 14, 1430, Jeanne attacked the duke of Burgundy at Compiegne; her forces were outnumbered more than 2 to one
-the battle seemed to be going in favour of the Armagnacs until an archer pulled Jeanne off of her horse; she could not remount because her armour weighed over 50 pounds, and she was taken to the Burgundian captain John of Luxembourg who imprisoned her at his camp at Claroix

Joan the Prisoner

-John turned Jeanne over to the English for 10 000 gold francs in December of 1430
-she could not be killed immediately since she was seen as a saint; Jeanne must be condemned as a witch or else England would lose both the Church’s and it’s Christian public’s support
-the trial was conducted by the Inquisition (created in the 13^th century by the Church to hunt witchcraft), who whipped, fined, and set free those who confessed to be witches and burned at the stake those who did not confess
-Inquisition had no judges or lawyers, but decisions and sentences were made by the prosecutor/main Inquisitor
-in the trials of the Inquisition, one was guilty until proven innocent (which was practically impossible to prove)
-the prosecutor was Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, former diplomat and rector of the University of Paris, and he was a firm believer in the Burgundian efforts and was determined to kill Jeanne
-Pierre was furious when his first witness told him that he had visited 6 parishes around Domremy and could find nothing unchristian about Jeanne; Pierre called his witness a traitor and refused to pay him his wages for service
-unmarried women who were not virgins were considered whores and prostitutes; the Inquisition checked Jeanne, and discovered that she was indeed a virgin (which Pierre never announced in court)
-while she was kept in prison, Jeanne was chained to her bed by the legs and by a chain that passed through the legs of her bed which was attached to a black of wood 6 feet long; she was constantly mocked by her torturers, and was at times held within an iron cage by chains around her neck, hands, and feet
-when the interrogation process began on February 21, 1431, there were two people writing down every word said: one was an honest scribe while the official one worked for the Burgundians and the Inquisition
-when ordered to swear on the holy bible that she will answer every question asked of her, Jeanne refused, claiming that God instructed her to not tell anyone but King Charles what he told her
-the next day, the churchmen who had let Jeanne pray in the church were fired for letting a "whore to approach the church"
-the crowds grew very impressed by Jeanne’s uncanny ability to speak cunningly without formal education, to deduce and bypass the word traps that the main Inquisitors tried to trick her into, and her ability to remember her prosecutor’s questions so precisely that she often corrected the Inquisition when they spoke of what they had asked the day or week before (which was confirmed by the honest writer in the court, thus making the Inquisition look stupid)
-when asked if she were in God’s graces, she answered, "If I am not, may God bring me to it; if I am, may God keep me in it"
-Jeanne refused to wear a dress; the Inquisition thought wearing a dress would hurt Jeanne’s pride and cleverness, but she claimed that God asked her to wear men’s clothing
-the Inquisition asked Jeanne to tell them if what language St. Margaret spoke (Jeanne answered, ‘French’), if St. Michael were naked (which she denied), if the voices and heads of the saints were human (which she said yes to), all in an attempt to trick her into hinting that perhaps she saw the devil instead of God
-by March 3, support for Jeanne amongst the Burgundians had risen, so Pierre chose to interrogate her in the confines of her jail cell, but his plan backfired when many prominent churchmen criticized Pierre for his cruelty
-the public interrogation resumed on March 10, 1431 and phase one of the trial ended on March 17
-the first phase ended when the Inquisition charged Jeanne for pretending to submit to the Church Triumphant (God, angels, and saints) while disregarding the Church Militant (Pope and the Church fighting for God’s will on earth, and Jeanne answered this by daring the Pierre to look back on all of her answers and try to find any statement that went against the church… and he did look back, and Pierre would at last extract his revenge…
-on March 18, 1431, Bishop Cauchon and his assessors created 70 articles of indictment as charges against Jeanne; they would read each article to Jeanne and allow her to save her soul by admitting guilt (admitting innocence was of no use)
-the articles were read to Jeanne from March 26 to March 28; many articles distorted what Jeanne had testified earlier (for instance, neighbours claimed she was a baptized, well-brought up Christian but an article charged her witchcraft and for practicing divination) (another example is that she claimed her voices came from God, but she was charged for having the vanity of thinking she could tell the voice of God from the devil’s; also, if she actually did talk to God, why could she not tell what God told her, to the bishop?)
-an article demanded that Jeanne must submit to the Church Militant, but once again, Jeanne claimed that she would do so unless God tells her otherwise
-since she had cunningly avoided seeming guilty to all the articles, the bishop streamlined his 70 articles to 12 in order to shorten the time it would take to go through all of the articles again
-first article was that the angels that had spoken to Jeanne were "all false, seductive, pernicious, that such revelations and apparitions are superstitious and proceed from evil and diabolical spirits"
-2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th articles claimed that Jeanne’s visions were of "vain boasting" (that she is in God’s graces), and were nothing more than a lie
-article 5 claimed that Jeanne worshipped herself and her clothes, and broke divine law by not wearing a dress
-article 6 charged Jeanne for saying she would kill all those who disobeyed her
-7^th article charged her for leaving her home without her parents permission
-article 8 charged Jeanne for trying to commit suicide by jumping off of a 60ft high tower while in jail (she actually was trying to escape)
-articles 9, 10, and 11 once again claimed that she used the demons who she called the voices of saints and angels to slaughter the English
-the 12^th article charged Jeanne for not obeying the Church Militant
-despite Cauchon’s insistence that Jeanne should be found guilty, many assessors were unconcluded and wanted to trial to go to Rome
-Cauchon was ready to move to the "charitable admonitions" phase of the trial, which uses torture to force the accused to admit guilt, but Jeanne soon fell very ill
-Jeanne claimed that Cauchon had sent her a fish to eat, and she became sick soon after; Cauchon denied the charge
-doctors cut open a vein in Jeanne’s arm to let the impurities that were causing her sickness to bleed out
-scared about being close to death, Jeanne asked for the Eucharist (for the first time since being captured) and to be buried on Church land; Cauchon would not permit either until she would submit to the Church Militant
-on May 2, when Jeanne had recovered from sickness, she was threatened with being burned at the stake; she claimed that even if the stake were raised and the flames were before her, she would stay true to her orders from God
-Jeanne was taken to the torture room and was shown all of the devices; she claimed that whatever she admits during torture, she would later deny it; Bishop Cauchon then decided to postpone the torture for reasons unknown
-Cauchon sent ‘specifics’ of the trial to the scholars at the University of Paris (in Burgundian territory), who returned with statements that Jeanne is a blasphemer who deserves to be burned
-Jeanne stated that "if I was brought to judgement and saw the fire lit and the faggots ready, and the executioner ready to stroke the fire and that I be within the fire, yet should I not say otherwise and should maintain what I have said in the trial even unto death"

Joan the Condemned

-last seven days of Jeanne’s life was from May 24 to May 30, 1431
-she was brought on May 24 to the cemetery of Rouen’s Abbey of St. Ouen where there were 3 documents: the abjunction, the sentence if she signed the abjunction, and her sentence if she did not sign
-she signed the abjunction before the entire crowd, the assessors, a cardinal, a representative of the King, and Cauchon; she was told by an assessor that if she signed, she would be forced to wear a dress and will be sentenced to life in a Church jail (guarded by female nuns)
-Jean Massieu, Jeanne’s escort throughout the entire trial; he claimed that Cauchon first sentenced her to burning at the stake and the abjuction was brought forth (abjunctions are an admission of guilt to all charges
-at least a dozen witnesses, including Jean Massieu, claim Jeanne turned to Jean and asked what an abjunction was, but Cauchon would not allow Jean to tell her; she was told that signing the abjunction would allow her to receive all the sacraments of Christianity while spending a quiet life as a prisoner in a nun’s monastery; Jean Massieu and a priest claim that the only things written on the abjunction signed by Jeanne were that she could not "carry arms again, or wear men’s clothing, or cut her hair short"; Jean and members of the crowd testified that the abjunction signed that day was no longer than 7 or 8 lines long; also, Jeanne was illiterate
-upon signing, Cauchon ordered the guards to send Jeanne back to her English-military jail cell and force her to wear a dress; a large percent of the witnesses realized that though Jeanne was told she would be sent to a Church jail, Cauchon ordered otherwise
-it is reported, though not confirmed, that Cauchon was satisfied the signing of the abjunction and may have sent her to a Church prison; however, the English monarchy ordered him to persist in his attempt to burn Jeanne at the stake
-eyewitnesses claim that English soldiers under the King’s orders threatened to cut Cauchon’s throat if he did not kill Jeanne
-3 days after putting on a dress, Jeanne was raped by an English guard; Jean Massieu then claimed that the soldier stripped Jeanne of her clothes and left her nothing but her men attire to wear; some witnesses claim she was raped multiple times each night while wearing the dress
-on May 28, Jeanne told Cauchon that God told her she was damning herself by signing the abjunction; she accused Cauchon of not keeping his promise of letting her receive the sacraments and of being sent to a Catholic prison; she claims "all that I said was damning myself to save my life… all that I said and revoked on Thursday, I did only because of fear of fire"
-witnesses claim English soldiers and nobles soon entered the garden outside and screamed out, "We’ve got her!", while Cauchon hid away in the Church in private
-the next day, she was escorted by over eight hundred soldiers to the marketplace of Rouen, the Vieux Marche where a stake was ready with the engravings, "Jeanne, called the Virgin, lair, pernicious, seducer of the people, diviner, superstitious, blasphemer of God, braggart, idolater, invoker of devils, apostate, and heretic"
-Cauchon bravely excommunicated her from the Church as "an infected limb" and handed her over to the English authorities
-she cried out to be given a cross, and was given one made of sticks of wood by a member of the crowd; she kissed the cross; the stake was lit; Jeanne recited her prayers as the stake burned in flames, and her final word was "a loud cry of ‘Jesus’ "
-her ashes were tossed into the Seine River, and witnesses claim that priests, Englishmen, nobles, and even some of the assessors were crying; there are even some rumours that a tear was seen on Cauchon’s cheek
-according to the executioner, no matter what means he used, Jeanne’s heart would not burn... (sappy, eh?)

Epilogue

-King Charles VII rallied his troops under the will for vengeance against Jeanne’s killers
-in 1435, 7 years after Jeanne’s death, the Burgundians were defeated and made an alliance with the Armagnacs, thus uniting France through the Treaty of Arras
-the English were forced to abandon Paris, and by 1449, they had been cornered into the corner of Normandy that they had first attacked to being the Hundred Years’ War
-Charles crushed the English at Formigny in 1450, and once again at Castillon in 1453; the English were forced to retreat back to England
-it was in 1449 that Charles liberated Rouen from the English; he began a retrial to clear Jeanne’s name; Cauchon was dead, but hundreds of witnesses and hundreds of those who knew Jeanne were questioned
-on July 7^th, 1456, in the cathedral of Rouen, the Trial of Rehabilitation ended with the verdict, "We proclaim that Jeanne… did not contract any taint of infamy and that she shall be and is washed clean of such"
-however, the English continued to distort records of Jeanne, as seen in Shakespeare’s play, Henry VI (in this play, Jeanne burns down Rouen and put a curse of witchcraft on the English when she was unwillingly sentenced to die)
-in 1920, the Catholic Church declares Jeanne a saint
-"in life she was an illiterate peasant girl who claimed to hear the voices of saints; in death, she became one of their number"

No-Name References:
Nardo, Don. Famous Trials: The Trial of Joan of Arc. Lucent Books, San Diego, 1998.