Part 99 (1/2)

[Footnote 2250: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 57.]

The examination ended with a capital charge: the attack on Paris on a feast day. It was in this connection possibly that Brother Jacques of Touraine, a friar of the Franciscan order, who from time to time put a question, asked Jeanne whether she had ever been in a place where Englishmen were being slain.

”In G.o.d's name, was I ever in such a place?” Jeanne responded vehemently. ”How glibly you speak. Why did they not depart from France and go into their own country?”

A n.o.bleman of England, who was in the chamber, on hearing these words, said to his neighbours: ”By my troth she is a good woman. Why is she not English?”[2251]

[Footnote 2251: _Ibid._, p. 48.]

The third public sitting was appointed for two days thence, Sat.u.r.day, the 24th of February.[2252]

[Footnote 2252: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 57.]

It was Lent. Jeanne observed the fast very strictly.[2253]

[Footnote 2253: _Ibid._, pp. 61, 70.]

On Friday, the 23rd, in the morning, she was awakened by her Voices themselves. She arose from her bed and remained seated, her hands clasped, giving thanks. Then she asked what she should reply to her judges, beseeching the Voices thereupon to take counsel of Our Lord.

First the Voices uttered words she could not understand. That happened sometimes, in difficult circ.u.mstances especially. Then they said:[2254] ”Reply boldly, G.o.d will aid thee.”

[Footnote 2254: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 62.]

That day she heard them a second time at the hour of vespers and a third time when the bells were ringing the _Ave Maria_ in the evening.

In the night of Friday and Sat.u.r.day they came and revealed to her many secrets for the weal of the King of France. Thereupon she received great consolation.[2255] Very probably they repeated the a.s.surance that she would be delivered from the hands of her enemies, and that on the other hand her judges stood in great danger.

[Footnote 2255: _Ibid._, pp. 61-64.]

She depended absolutely on her Voices for direction. When she was in difficulty as to what to say to her judges, she prayed to Our Lord; she addressed him devoutly, saying: ”Good G.o.d, for the sake of thy holy Pa.s.sion, I beseech thee if thou lovest me to reveal unto me what I should reply to these churchmen. Touching my dress I know well how I was commanded to put it on; but as to leaving it I know nothing. In this may it please thee to teach me.”

Then straightway the Voices came.[2256]

[Footnote 2256: _Ibid._, p. 279.]

At the third sitting, held in the Robing Chamber, there were present sixty-two a.s.sessors, of whom twenty were new.[2257]

[Footnote 2257: _Ibid._, pp. 58-60.]

Jeanne showed a greater repugnance than before to swearing on the holy Gospels to reply to all that should be asked her. In charity the Bishop warned her that this obstinate refusal caused her to be suspected, and he required her to swear, under pain of being convicted upon all the charges.[2258] Such was indeed the rule in a trial by the Inquisition. In 1310 a _beguine_, one La Porete, refused to take the oath as required by the Holy Inquisitor of the Faith, Brother Guillaume of Paris. She was excommunicated forthwith, and without being further examined, after lengthy proceedings, she was handed over to the Provost of Paris, who caused her to be burned alive. Her piety at the stake drew tears from all the bystanders.[2259]

[Footnote 2258: _Ibid._, pp. 60, 61.]

[Footnote 2259: _Grandes chroniques_, ed. P. Paris, vol. v, p. 188.]

Still the Bishop failed to force an unconditional oath from the Maid; she swore to tell the truth on all she knew concerning the trial, reserving to herself the right to be silent on everything which in her opinion did not concern it. She spoke freely of the Voices she had heard the previous day, but not of the revelations touching the King.

When, however, Maitre Jean Beaupere appeared desirous to know them, she asked for a fortnight's delay before replying, sure that before then she would be delivered; and straightway she fell to boasting of the secrets her Voices had confided to her for the King's weal.

”I would wish him to know them at this moment,” she said; ”even if as the result I were to drink no wine from now till Easter.”[2260]

[Footnote 2260: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 64.]