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The Trial of Jeanne D’Arc


Continue....Part Seven




Attestations by the notaries appointed in this trial


"I, Guillaume Colles, otherwise called Boisguillaume, priest of the diocese of Rouen, by apostolic authority sworn notary in the archiepiscopal court of Rouen and in this trial, I attest that the collation of this present trial has been duly made with the original minute of III leaves, and therefore I have signed this present copy of the proceedings with my seal at the bottom


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of each leaf: In witness whereof I have signed with my own hand, followed by the two other notaries."


Boisguillaume.


"And I, Guillaume Manchon, priest of the diocese of Rouen, apostolic notary by imperial and pontifical authority, sworn notary of the archiepiscopal court of Rouen, and, with others, in this process, I attest that I was present with the other notaries in the collation of the said trial and that the collation was duly made with the original register of the proceedings. Therefore with the other notaries I have subscribed the present trial with my own hand and have affixed thereto my sign manual, as I was required."


G. Manchon.


"And I, Nicolas Taquel, priest of the diocese of Rouen, notary public by apostolic authority, sworn notary of the archiepiscopal court of Rouen and called to a part of this said process, I attest that with the other notaries I saw and heard the collation of this trial with the original register of the proceedings and that the collation has been duly made. Therefore with the other notaries I have subscribed the present trial with my own hand and have affixed thereto my sign manual, as I was required."


N. Taquel


[Here are the seals of the Bishop of Beauvais and of the Inquisitor.]


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SUBSEQUENT DOCUMENTS I Information given after the execution on many things said by her at her end and in articulo mortis. (1)


On Thursday, June 7th, 1431, we the said judges received ex officio information upon certain words spoken by the late Jeanne before many trustworthy persons, whilst she was still in prison and before she was brought to judgment.


And first the venerable and circumspect master Nicolas de Venderès, licentiate in canon law, archdeacon of Eu and canon of the church of Rouen, aged 52 or thereabouts, a witness produced, sworn, received and examined this day, declared upon oath that on Wednesday the last day of May, on the Eve of Corpus Christi last, the said Jeanne, being still in the prison where she was detained in the castle of Rouen, said that considering that the voices which came to her had promised her she should be delivered from prison, and she saw the contrary, she realized and knew that she had been and was deceived by them.


This Jeanne said and confessed that she had seen with her


(1) It is difficult to find anything more logically introduced than this conclusion to the Trial Record. Is it necessary to say that all this is as far as possible from the truth? That it is propaganda after execution? Here, more than in the Trial Record, the judges present their apologia. It is not signed by the notaries.


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own eyes and heard with her own cars the voices and apparitions mentioned in this case: at this there were present we, the said judges, master Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loiseleur, brother Martin Ladvenu, master Jacques Le Camus, and several others.


Brother Martin Ladvenu, priest of the order of Preaching brothers, aged about 33, witness produced, received, sworn and examined, said and declared on oath that this Jeanne on the morning of the day an which sentence was delivered against her, said and confessed before she was brought to judgment, in the presence of masters Pierre Maurice, Nicolas Loiseleur, and the said Dominican brother Toutmouillé, that she knew and recognized that she had been deceived by the voices and apparitions which came to her; for these voices promised her, Jeanne, that she should be delivered and set free from prison, and she clearly perceived the contrary.


Asked who induced her to say this, he said that he himself, master Pierre Maurice and master Nicolas Loiseleur exhorted her for the salvation of her soul, and they asked her if it were true that she had received these voices and apparitions. She answered that it was, and continued to say so up to the end: yet she did not precisely describe, at least as far as he understood, in what form they came to her, except as far as he could remember, that they came in great multitude and in the least dimension. Moreover, he then heard Jeanne say and confess that because the clergy held and believed that any spirits which might come to her came and proceeded from evil spirits, she also held and believed in this matter as the clergy did, and would no longer put faith in these spirits. And in his opinion Jeanne was then of sound mind.


He said that on the same day he heard Jeanne say and confess that although in her confessions and answers she had boasted that an angel from God had brought the crown to him she


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called her king, that she had accompanied the angel when he brought the crown, and many other things reported at greater length in the trial, nevertheless uncoerced and of her own free will she saw and confessed that in spite of all she had said and boasted on this subject, there was no angel who brought the crown; that she, Jeanne, was the angel who had told and promised her king that she would have him crowned at Reims if she were set to work; that there has been no other crown sent from God, whatever she had said and affirmed in the course of her trial on the subject of the crown and sign given to him she called her king.


The venerable and discreet master Pierre Maurice, professor of sacred theology, canon of Rouen, aged about 38 years, witness produced, received, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed that he visited her in the morning of the day when the sentence was delivered against this Jeanne, whilst she was still in prison, to exhort her to save her soul: and whilst he was exhorting her and asking her about the angel who, according to her had brought the crown to him she called her king, he heard her answer that she herself was this angel.


Asked about the crown she promised him, and the host of angels who accompanied her, she answered that it was true that they appeared to her in the likeness of certain very minute things.


And finally when he had asked her if this apparition were real, she answered that it was, and whether good or evil spirits, they really had appeared to her, saying in French, "Soint bons, soint mauvais esperits, ilz me sont apparus." She said also that she had heard her voices mostly at the hour of Compline, when the bells were rung; and also in the morning when the bells were rung. He told her it appeared that they were evil spirits who had promised her deliverance and that she had been deceived, whereupon the said Jeanne answered that this


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was true, she had been deceived. He heard her say that she referred to the Church to decide whether they were good or evil spirits, and in his opinion she was, when she said that, sound of mind and understanding.


Brother Jean Toutmouillé, priest of the order of Preaching brothers, about 34 years of age, witness produced, received, sworn, and examined on Thursday, said and deposed that on the morning of the day when the sentence was delivered against this Jeanne, to wit Wednesday, the Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, he, in the company of brother Martin Ladvenu of the same order, visited this Jeanne to exhort her to save her soul, and heard her say to Pierre Maurice who had preceded him there, that what she had said and confessed touching the crown was pure fiction, and she herself was the angel: this the said master Pierre took down in Latin. Then she was questioned about the voices which came to her, and the apparitions. She answered that she really had heard voices, chiefly when the bells were being rung at Compline or Matins; although master Pierre told her that sometimes when men hear bells they imagine they hear and catch certain words.


The said Jeanne said and confessed that she had had apparitions come to her, sometimes in a great multitude, sometimes in a small number, or in minute things: she did not otherwise describe their form and figure.


He said that on the same day, after our arrival in the room where she was detained, we the said bishop said to Jeanne in French, before the vicar of the lord Inquisitor, "Now, Jeanne, you have always told us that your voices promised you you would be delivered; you now see how they have deceived you. Tell us the truth now." Then Jeanne answered us, "Truly I see they have indeed deceived me." He did not hear her say anything more, except that at first, before we the judges had


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arrived in her prison, Jeanne was asked whether she believed that the said voices and apparitions proceeded from good or evil spirits: and she replied, "I do not know. I refer me to my Mother the Church," or "to you who are of the Church." In his opinion Jeanne was then of sound mind, and he heard Jeanne herself confess that she was of sound mind.


Jacques Le Camus, priest, canon of Reims, aged about 53 years, witness produced, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that in the morning of Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi last, he accompanied us the said bishop to the room where Jeanne was detained in the castle of Rouen, and heard this Jeanne publicly confess in a voice audible to all those present that she Jeanne had seen the apparitions come to her and had heard their voices, promising that she should be delivered; and since she recognized that they had deceived her she believed they were -not good voices or good things. A little while later she confessed her sins to brother Martin of the order of Preaching brothers, and after receiving the sacrament of confession and penance, when the said brother was about to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist to her, and held the consecrated host in his hands, he asked her, "Do you believe this is the body of Christ?" And the said Jeanne answered, "Yes, and He alone can deliver me. I ask for it to be administered to me." Then the same brother said to her, "Do you still believe in these voices?" She answered, "I believe in God alone, and will no longer put faith in these voices, because they have deceived me."


Master Thomas de Courcelles, master of arts and bachelor of theology, aged about 30 years, witness produced, received, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that on Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi, he, being in our presence in the room where the said Jeanne was detained in the castle of Rouen, heard and understood us the said bishop to ask


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Jeanne if her voices had told her she would be delivered. And she answered that her voices had told her she would be delivered, and she should keep a good countenance. She added, he thought, sententiously, "I see indeed that I have been deceived." And then we the said bishop told Jeanne she could then see that these voices were not good spirits, and did not come from God, for if they did, they would never have uttered false or lying things.


Master Nicolas Loiseleur, master of arts, canon of the churches of Rouen and Chartres, aged about 40 years, witness produced, received, sworn, and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that on the morning of Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi last, he went with the ven