The date is May 30, 1431, and a nineteen-year-old woman is awakened by her jailers in the Royal Castle in Rouen, France. She is an ill woman, whose hair was shaved by her captors four days before. She is forced to put on the dress she has so long resisted wearing. She is visited for the first time in months by a confessor to absolve her of her sins and ask her to repent. Her relief at receiving the absolution she has so long craved is quickly soured by the news that this is the day she will die. A placard decries her as a relapsed heretic, apostate, and idolater. Her captors lead her to an open cart that conducts her to the town's market square. The woman still has hope that her allies and her God have not deserted her. Despite her hopes there will be no last-minute rescue or reprieve.

More than 10,000 spectators have gathered in the town square to watch the women die. Three great scaffolds were erected in the square. One contains a representative of the English King and many high prelates of the Church. The second holds the notables of the Court whose verdict is about to be carried out. The last contain a wooden huge wooden stake with a large pile of wood at its base. It is important to the woman's captors that as many people as possible can see her die lest rumors of a miraculous escape emerge. She is led to the scaffold and secured to the stake. She remains calm and is defiant when asked to repent of her crimes. A priest harangues the crowd with her alleged sins. In response she asks those assembled to pray for her. One friar, moved by her plight, holds a cross before her eyes so she will have something to focus on during what is to come. History remembers the women as Joan of Arc, and she is about to burn as a heretic.

Joan of Arc is a singular figure of her time. We know more about her then almost any other 15th century figure despite her humble origins. She rose from obscurity to become one of the most important figures of the Hundred Years War and would forever change French and English history.

To understand her importance some context about the Hundred Years War is necessary. The war began when, as a result of dynastic oddities, the English King had a better claim to the French Throne then any Frenchman. Understandably most of France was not eager to be ruled by their hated rival. This led to 116 years of intermittent conflict that for the most part had been disastrous for the French.

The war had raged for more than three quarters of a century when Joan was born. A state of civil war existed, between two French factions claiming the throne, the Burgundians, and the Armagnacs. The French King, Charles VI, was intermittently incapacitated by bouts of insanity and the factions fought for control of the counsel that ruled in his name. While the civil war was ongoing Henry V of England invaded France and destroyed the flower of French chivalry at the Battle of Agincourt. The defeat did nothing to bring the factions together. At a parlay meant to bring peace, the French heir apparent, the Dauphin Charles VII, who led the Armagnacs, had the leader of the Burgundians murdered. The Burgundians then allied with the English, and the French king and Queen disinherited their son. Henry V was named the heir to the thrown of France and married a French Princess.

Unfortunately for England and possibly France, Henry V died less then a year later and Charles VI followed him by two months. The Burgundians were left with Henry VI who was nine months old and the Armagnacs were left with the disinherited Charles VII (the Armagnacs never acknowledged this as legally binding). Both had a problem. A king of France must be at least 15 and crowned in the Cathedral of Reims. Charles VII was old enough, but the Burgundians controlled Reims, but their claimant was an infant. Both sides declared their claimant King, but neither could be secure until crowned.

Joan was born in the small French town of Domrémy, on January 6, 1412, to a prosperous peasant family. Joan was an intelligent but illiterate girl. Her most notable trait early in life was extreme piety. That all changed when she was 13, and the voices of Angels and Saints began to speak to her. I will not, as many historians do, attempt to diagnose Joan with any number of pathologies that explain her visions. Divine visions were a widely accepted part of Catholic theology at the time. There is no evidence that even her enemies thought she was insane. It is enough to say that she believed in her visons and others believed in them as well. Joan heard the voices of Archangel Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine of Alexandria. Early in life they told her to go to church and live a pious life. When she turned 16 that changed. She was now commanded to relive the Siege of Orléans and crown Charles VII as king. She pled that she was just a simple peasant girl with no knowledge of war, but the voices insisted that it would be possible if she had faith.

 

Joan began to meet with failure when she attempted to take Paris, which was in Burgundian hands. She was wounded leading an assault which failed dismally. Charles called off efforts to take the city. People began to whisper whether she really had God's favor. Why had she failed when before she had known only success. She fumed as she healed. Desperate to achieve her mission, she jumped at the chance to relieve the siege of Compiègne. Leading from the front as always, on May 23, 1430, she was dismounted and captured by the Burgundians. She was then sold to the English, whom she had so often humiliated, for the princely sum of 10,000 livre. The English were eager to humble Joan, discredit her, and by doing so discredit Charles VII's claim to the throne.

The English turned Joan over to a French Ecclesiastical Court in Rouen overseen by Bishop Pierre Cauchon. While initially charged with over 70 counts, little evidence was found to support more than a few charges. This again included an examination of Joan's virginity, which was confirmed much to the indignation of her captors. The most serious charges would prove to be: failing to acknowledge the authority of the Church, wearing men's clothing, and heresy. Heresy is having nonstandard religious beliefs that one refuses to recant when corrected. Any of these could be capital crimes in 15th century France (yes, even wearing men's clothes, which is forbidden by the Old Testament, and thus is heresy).

This was never going to be a fair court because too much was at stake and the English and Burgundians had too much to gain. It was however important that it appear to be fair because everyone expected a biased court. Three master notaries took down every word that was said throughout the hearing in an attempt prove the trial's legitimacy (multiple copies of the original transcripts survive). The Bishop collected a jury of the most learned prelates (or at least those who were sympathetic to his faction) to hear Joan's beliefs and determine if she was a heretic.

Since this was an ecclesiastical trial, Joan should have been held in the custody of the Church and guarded by nuns (it was highly improper for a woman to be alone with any man not of her family). This protection was denied to Joan and she was left under guard by the English she had repeatedly humiliated. During her captivity she repeatedly had to fight off sexual assaults by her guards. When questioned by the Court as to why she insisted on wearing men's clothing, she said she must while surrounded by men. If she were guarded by women as she should have been, she would wear women's clothing. Cross dressing was shocking by the standards of the day although acceptable under Cannon Law if it was done out of necessity. Men's clothing of the time, which was literally tied in place, was far better protection against unwanted assaults then the dress her accusers insisted she wear.

From the beginning of the trial Joan was defiant and sparred with her inquisitors. She was denied counsel and would be the only witness. She was expected to defend her beliefs against more then 20 experts in Cannon Law. Her only religious training was what she had picked up as a devout Catholic. Joan refused to acknowledge the authority of the Court because of their bias. Time and again her accusers carefully laid theological traps for her. To their amazement she evaded these traps showing a command of Catholic theology one would not have expected of such a young woman lacking education. The one issue that she refused to talk about was her voices. This was dangerous ground as she was not as well versed on Catholic beliefs about divine messages and she believed she should not have to reveal her revelations. She clearly drew strength from the audience observing the trial, so the examinations were moved to her jail cell. This went on for months and they could not trip her up. But the experience was beginning to weigh on her. Joan was not a healthy woman. She had been seriously wounded in battle three times and again while leaping from a tower trying to escape. Her confinement only made her condition worse. She grew so ill that it was feared she might die of natural causes.

This was unhappy state of affairs for all involved. If she died without being convicted her captors would not get the vindication, they sought and at worst might martyr her. For Joan, who had been denied confession for months, ostensibly because she was wearing men's clothes, death without confession would mean damnation. This fear would be used against her. At first, she was brought before the castle's torturer and shown the implements of torture. She held her nerve and dared her captors to torture her and face God's vengeance. Ultimately, they did not torture her likely out of fear she would not survive the process. Finally, though she began to talk about the messages she received. It would prove a fatal error. She said that she had seen the Angel and Saints as if they were flesh and blood. This contradicted Catholic doctrine that angels and Saints were beings of pure spirit with no corporal body. It was Heresy.

Joan was taken to a scaffold without being confessed. Before her was the stake and pyre. She was told that if she did not recant her heresy she would be burned immediately. This was too much. Joan agreed to recant if she would be given the right to confess and hear Mass. She had to deny that she had received messages from the Divine. She was also told that she would be turned over to church custody where at least she would be safe. Joan's confession was an unwelcome surprise for the Court. They had expected her to refuse to recant to the end. If this were truly about heresy, they would have been overjoyed. The point of heresy trials is to return the wayward person to the proper path. But you cannot execute a repentant heretic. A list of allegations was drawn up and the illiterate Joan was made to sign. It would become clear later that what she had signed was not explained to her. Rather then death Joan would do penance of life in prison. Her head was shaved, she was made to change into a dress, and then, much to her horror, she was returned to the English to begin her captivity.

Four days later Pierre Cauchon was summoned to Joan's cell by the English. She was agitated and again dressed in men's clothes. There are two versions of why, neither of which is pleasant. One account has it that an English noble man tried to assault Joan and after fighting him off she resumed wearing men's clothing for protection. The other is that the English guards stripped her of her dress and left her with nothing to wear but men's clothes. The English were not satisfied with a half victory in Court and would see her die at any cost; she was too dangerous to live. Joan again told the Bishop that she had to wear the clothes for her protection. She also recanted her confession, made under duress, that she had not heard messages from God. She was clearly agitated that abjuring these divine messengers might have imperiled her soul. The Court was overjoyed. While you cannot burn a repentant heretic, a relapsed heretic can expect no such mercy. The only sentence the Court ever intended to pass now came to be; Joan would burn the next day. The Church was forbidden to execute anyone personally but had no qualms about turning her over to English to accomplish that end.

Her enemies had hoped that Joan might make a spectacle of herself in her final moments or better yet condemn King Charles VII for failing to come to her aid. They were disappointed. All but her most virulent enemies were moved by how Joan faced death. Joan forgave her King and blamed the English for killing her. She prayed and called out to Jesus as the flames consumed her. Her body was burned 3 times and the ashes thrown into the River Seine to deny her a grave or any relics for her followers. The killing backfired for the English. Joan became a national hero of France and the war continued to turn against them. It would take twenty-one years, but the English would be driven almost completely from France and Charles VII's crown was made safe.

While Charles VII could not rescue Joan in life, he did better after her death. The King asked renowned theologian Guillaume Bouille to investigate the trial. This investigation was as politically motivated as the last, anxious to vindicate the women who had helped cement his claim to the throne. Bouille interviewed hundreds of witnesses who knew Joan and many who participated in the trial. Eventually Pope Calixtus II, ordered a retrial under pressure from the French. The trial was quick to point out a litany of wrongs done by the original court and witnesses sung the praises of Joan. The original judgment was vacated, and a cross ordered erected where Joan was burned. The Catholic Church though was far from done with Joan. Ironically, after trying so hard to discredit and kill her, the Church declared Joan of Arc a Saint in 1920. She remains one of the most generally recognized and beloved figures of the 15th Century. Her trial stands as a cautionary tale for what happens when political expediency corrupts the halls of justice.