On Jan. 3, 1431, Joan was handed over to Cauchon, who was to be her judge. The English, having bought her, declared that they would seize her again, if she was not convicted for her many crimes, and of high treason against God. The authentic records of the trial have been preserved ; they are among the most pathetic documents in history, and are the best source of informa tion as to Joan herself. The original, which still bears the remains of Pierre Cauchon's seal, is now preserved in the library of the Chambre des Deputes. The tribunal, skilfully selected by Cau chon, consisted of ten members of the university of Paris, strong Burgundians and intolerant theologians, 22 canons of Rouen who were all completely in the hands of the English government owing to the vacancy in the see, and some monks of different orders, minor friars or Dominicans. A judge who declared the pro cedure irregular was imprisoned, and a certain number of others withdrew from the case.
The interrogatory began on Feb. 21. There were no sittings between February 24 and 27. This was probably due to Joan's illness. On March 12 the vice-inquisitor appeared, accompanied by a Dominican friar; on the 15th Joan was asked if she would submit to the judgment of the Church. The judgment was to be based on a list of twelve points. They included the opinion of her judges as to the worthlessness of her visions. and her different accounts of the sign given to the king; they denied her the gift of prophecy, censured her masculine dress, her disobedience to her parents, her attempt to escape, and the sinful pride which had led her to believe that she would go to Paradise, and that she was responsible only to God and not to the Church which the judges represented. The last offence was that which chiefly in censed the theologians, and led to her condemnation. On April 18 Cauchon visited her in her cell to try the effect of mild exhortation. Delegates were sent to Paris with the 12 points. On May 2 Cauchon pronounced a public admonition against her in the hall of the castle, and Joan appealed to be sent before the pope. On May 9 she was taken to the torture chamber, but in spite of the opinion of several advisers the Maid was spared the torture. Joan was by this time worn out by the length and severity of the ex amination. On May 23 she was taken to the cemetery of Saint Ouen and had read to her the sentence which condemned her to be burned unless she submitted. Without clearly understanding its terms, she signed an abjuration, of which the text has been lost, and was taken back to her prison amidst the noisy protests of the English. She was condemned to imprisonment for life. "We will recapture her," said Warwick in a rage. A woman's gown
was brought to her, and she was asked to put it on. She remained in prison between May 24 and 27, and it was rumoured that she had resumed masculine dress. Cauchon came to see for himself ; the prisoner, he found, had relapsed. The judges then decided that she must be delivered to the secular arm, and she was ordered to appear on May 3o in the Old Market Square of Rouen.
These facts are known to us only by means of a non-official report, annexed to the minute of condemnation. They bear, how ever, the stamp of probability, and it is certain that Joan re gretted her momentary and easily understood weakness in the tumult of the cemetery of Saint-Ouen, with the thought of the stake before her. She received communion in her prison, and was once more dressed as a woman before being taken to the stake prepared in the Old Market Square. She listened patiently to the sermon of Nicolas Midy, and Cauchon read the sentence, delivering her over to the secular arm. Joan asked the priests present to say each a mass for her soul, and was then handed over to the bailiff of Rouen. An English soldier gave her a cross made of two pieces of wood, but she asked Massieu to bring her the cross from the neighbouring church. She kissed it while she was being chained to the stake, and as the smoke went up, she was heard to call in a loud voice : "Jesus." Her ashes were thrown into the Seine from the bridge of Rouen.
The account of the trial of Joan of Arc was published far and wide. Five authentic copies still exist today. This monument of an iniquitous deed, a masterpiece of composition and procedure, drawn up in Latin by Thomas de Courcelles, a rising light of the university, bore fruit. Joan's condemnation by the Church ap peared to be in order. The English Government could send to the chancellories of Europe a copy of the sentence, together with an account of the whole matter which placed the king of France in a most unfavourable light. The report of the trial became a useful weapon. Pierre Cauchon did not obtain the see of Rouen, which he had administered both spiritually and tempor arily. The Holy See appointed him in 1432 bishop of Lisieux with the customary papal commendation. At the Congress of Arras he maintained the right of Henry VI. to the crown of France. He narrowly escaped being taken prisoner when the French retook Paris in 1436, and paid several visits to England, where he assisted in making terms of peace between the two countries. He died in 1442, rich and honoured, and was buried in the magnificent Chapel of the Virgin at Lisieux, which he had rebuilt and decorated at his own expense.