The Trial of Joan of Arc, 1431
World Civilizations
Annotation
This passage presents excerpts from the trial of Joan of Arc (1431), revealing her unwavering faith in divine guidance and her steadfast commitment to her mission. Interrogated by Bishop Pierre Cauchon and other clerics, Joan defends her visions and voices, claiming they guided her actions, from raising the Siege of Orléans to recognizing Charles VII. Her responses reflect her piety and resistance, as she evades specific questions and refuses to implicate others. The account highlights the political and religious implications of the trial, as her claims of divine inspiration challenged the English occupation of France and ecclesiastical authority.
Summary of the Hundred Years’ War
The Hundred Years’ War emerges in the text as a pivotal conflict that reshapes Western Europe during the tumultuous 14th century, a period already strained by climate change, famine, and the Black Death. Initiated in 1337, the war pits England against France in a struggle rooted in dynastic disputes and territorial ambitions. England’s Edward III lays claim to the French throne, sparking a prolonged contest that unfolds in intermittent campaigns rather than a continuous century of battle. This conflict, spanning 116 years and concluding in 1453, is situated within the broader narrative of a transforming medieval world.
In its early decades, the war exacerbated the crises of the 14th century. The Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the subsequent Little Ice Age weakened Europe’s agrarian base, setting a grim stage.
The Black Death, striking in 1347–1351, further decimated populations, killing up to half of Europe’s people. The Hundred Years’ War intensified social and economic upheaval amid this chaos. The text suggests that military engagements, such as those implied by the involvement of Edward III and later English kings, drain resources and manpower, compounding the suffering of a peasantry already reeling from plague and poor harvests.
By the late 14th century, the war had fueled significant unrest. In England, the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 further escalated tensions, partly due to labor shortages and heavy taxation—resulting from war funding—to ignite rebellion. The Statute of Labourers, enacted in 1351 to cap wages amid post-plague scarcity, was a spark for this uprising, reflecting the war’s ripple effects on society. Meanwhile, the conflict contributes to the decline of feudalism, as lords and knights perish or lose their influence, and the longbow—a pivotal weapon in English victories—shifts military power toward common soldiers. The Jacquerie of 1358 in France reflects this unrest, as peasants rose against nobles weakened by war and plague.
The war is also tied to political shifts. The Great Western Schism (1378–1417), which divided the Catholic Church between rival popes, overlapped with the conflict, weakening religious unity as England and France backed opposing factions. By 1400, figures such as Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire and England’s Edward III had passed away, and they were succeeded by leaders like Charles VI of France and Richard II of England, whose reigns were marked by continued strife. The war’s latter phases included the rise of Joan of Arc and France’s eventual triumph.
Joan of Arc, a pivotal figure in the Hundred Years’ War, was born in 1412 and emerged as a significant historical actor in 1429, when she began her mission to aid Charles VII of France against the English. Her key contributions included leading the French to victory at Orléans in 1429, which enabled Charles VII’s coronation, and ultimately led to her capture, trial, and execution in 1431.
In summary, the Hundred Years’ War is portrayed as a catalyst that amplified Europe’s 14th-century woes. It strains economies, disrupts feudal structures, and incites social rebellion, all while exacerbating environmental and epidemiological calamities. The war hastened the transition from medieval to early modern Europe, a transformation still unfolding as the narrative closes.
Source
[Colby Introduction]: Joan of Arc is the most phenomenal and attractive personage of the Hundred Years' War on either side. Those whom she led to victory believed that she was inspired of God, and the English, not denying her inspiration, believed that it was of the devil. A full and authentic report of her trial remains, and from it is extracted the passage in which she answers questions relative to her Voices. She maintained that she raised the siege of Orleans in obedience to the divine call, and that all her important acts were prompted by a voice from heaven. Her trial for witchcraft at Rouen was conducted by Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, to whom she had been handed over by the English for that purpose. She was little more than nineteen years old at the date of her execution.
We next required and admonished Joan, appearing before us in the said place, to take, under penalty of law, the oath which she had taken the day before; and that she should swear simply and absolutely to tell the truth in answer to what was asked her in the matter concerning which the charge had been brought and which was generally known. To this she answered that she had sworn yesterday and that was enough. Again we required that she should swear; for every one, though he be a prince, when required to take the oath on a point of faith cannot refuse. And she answered again: "I took the oath for you yesterday; that should suffice you quite well. You burden me too much." Finally she swore to tell the truth in whatever related to faith.
Then a distinguished professor of sacred theology, Master John Beaupère, acting by our order and behest, questioned Joan on the points which follow. And first he urged here to answer his questions truly, just as she had sworn to do. Whereupon she replied "You might very well ask me one sort of question which I would answer truly, and another sort which I would not answer." And she added: "If you were well informed about me, you should wish that I were out of your hands. I have done nothing save by revelation."
Next asked about her age when she left home: she said that she did not know. Asked whether in her girlhood she had learned any art: she said yes, that she had learned to sew linen cloth and to knit; and that she did not fear any woman in Rouen when it came to knitting and sewing. She further confessed that, through fear of the Burgundians, she left home and went to the town of Neufchâteau in Lorraine [Colby: seven miles south of Joan's birthplace, Domremy] to live with a woman named La Rousse, where she stayed a fortnight; adding furthermore that when she was at home she was exempt from household work nor went with the sheep and other animals to pasture.
Again asked whether she confessed her sins each year: she answered yes, to her own curé; and when the curé was hindered she with his permission confessed to another priest. Sometimes also, twice or thrice as she believed, she confessed to the friars. And this was in the said town of Neufchâteau. And she had been in the habit of receiving the Eucharist at Easter. Asked whether she had been in the habit of receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist at any other feasts save Easter: she told her questioner to pass on. She further confessed that when she was thirteen years old she had a voice from God to aid her in self-discipline. And the first time she was greatly afraid. And this voice came about noon in summer in her father's garden, and she had fasted the day before. And she heard the voice on her right hand toward the church, and she seldom heard it without a light. Which light comes from the same side as the voice, but is usually great. And when she came to France she often heard this voice. Asked how she saw the light which she said was there present when it was on one side; to this she answered nothing, but passed to other things. She moreover said that if she were in a grove she distinctly heard voices coming to her. She also said that the voice seemed to her worthy, and she believes that it was sent by God; and after she had heard it three times she knew that it was the voice of an angel. She also said that it always guarded her well, and that she knew it well.
Asked about the teaching which her voice gave her respecting the salvation of her soul, she said that it taught her to govern herself well, to go often to church, and that it said she also must go to France. And Joan added that the questioner would not this time learn from her in what guise the voice had appeared to her. She furthermore confessed that the voice told her twice or thrice a week that she must leave home and go to France; and that her father knew nothing of her departure. She also said that the voice told her to go to France, and that she could no longer remain where she was, and that the voice told her that she should raise the siege of Orleans. She further said that her voice had told here that she should go to Robert de Baudricourt, Captain of the fortress of Vaucouleurs, and he would give her attendants; and she then answered that she was a poor girl who knew not how to ride a horse nor head a campaign. She also said that she went to her uncle and told him that she wished to stay with him for a little while; and she stayed there about eight days; and she then told her uncle that she must go to the fortress of Vaucouleurs; and he conducted her.
She also said that when she came to Vaucouleurs she recognized Robert de Baudricourt, although she had never seen him before; and she recognized him by the aid of her voice, for the voice told her that it was he; and she told Robert that she must go into France. Twice he denied and withstood her, and the third time he took her and gave her attendants; and so it happened even as her voice had said. . . . Moreover she confessed that in leaving Vaucouleurs she put on men's dress, wearing a sword which Robert de Baudricourt had given her and no other arms. Accompanied by a knight, a shield-bearer and four servants, she reached the town of St. Urbain, and there passed a night in the abbey.
She also said that in this journey she passed through the town of Auxerre and there heard mass in the cathedral, and at this time she was often wont to hear her voices. Asked to say by whose advice she put on men's dress, she refused several times to answer. At last she said that she would not laden any man with this; and she several times changed her answer. She also stated that Robert de Baudricourt made those who took her swear that they would convey her well and safely, and Robert on parting with her said: "Go, go, and let whatever good can, come of it."
She also said that she well knew that God loved the Duke of Orleans [Colby: Charles, Duke of Orleans, son of Duke Louis who was murdered in Paris, 23rd Nov., 1407]; and that she had had more revelations about him than about any living man, save him whom she called her king. She said, too, that she was obliged to change her own dress for a man's. She also said that she believed that she had been well advised.
She said that she sent letters to the English before Orleans telling them to raise the siege, just as is set down in many letters which have been read to her in this town of Rouen, save for two or three words in them; for instance, "yield to the Maid" should be "yield to the King." These words also occur there which were not in the original letters, "body for body," and "head of the war."
Joan further said that she went to him whom she called her king [Colby: the Dauphin, the future Charles VII] without hindrance, and when she reached to town of Ste. Catharine de Fierbois she was sent to Chinon, where he whom she called her king was. She reached this place about noon and lodged in an inn; and after dinner she went to him whom she called her king who was in the castle. She also said that when she entered his chamber she knew him from the rest by the revelation of her voice. And she told her king that she wished to go making war against the English.
Asked if when the voice disclosed the king, there was any light in the place: she answered: "Pass on." Asked whether she had seen an angel above her king: she answered: "Spare me, pass on." Still she said that before her king gave her a charge she had many beautiful visions and revelations. Asked how the king regarded the revelations and visions: she answered: "I shall not tell you this. This is not to be answered you; but send to the king himself and he will tell you." Joan also said that the voice promised her that as soon as she came to her king he would receive her. She said that they on their part well knew that the voice came to her from God, and that they had seen and known her voice, stating that she was confident of it. She further said that her king and several others had heard and seen voices coming to her; and Charles de Bourbon with two or three others were present.
She moreover said that there was no day when she did not hear this voice, and that she stood in great need of it. She said that she had never asked from her voice any other final reward except the salvation of her soul. She further confessed that the voice told her to remain at the town of St. Denis in France; and she had wished to remain there; but they had led her out against the will of this master. Nevertheless if she had not been wounded she would not have retired; and she was wounded in the trenches before Paris after she had gone there from St. Denis; but in five days she was healed. She confessed that she had directed an attack, called in French a skirmish, before Paris. And when she was questioned whether that were a feast day: she answered to that to the best of her belief it was. Asked if she approved of this: she answered: "Pass on."
After these things had been thus transacted, because it seemed quite enough for one day, we, the said bishop, postponed the trial until Saturday next following, at eight o'clock in the morning.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
From: Charles W. Colby, ed., Selections from the Sources of English History, B.C. 55 - A.D. 1832 (London: Longmans, Green, 1920), pp. 113-117
Kordas, Ann, Ryan J. Lynch, Brooke Nelson, and Julie Tatlock. World History, Volume 1: to 1500. Houston: OpenStax, Rice University, 2023.
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