SECOND PRIVATE EXAMINATION

Monday, March 12th, in the morning; in Jeanne’s prison. Present: The Bishop, assisted by Jean Delafontaine, Commissary; Nicholas Midi and Gerard Feuillet; and as their witnesses: Thomas Fiefvet, Pasquier de Vaux, and Nicolas de Houbent.

In presence of all the above-named, We required the said Jeanne to swear to speak truth on what should be asked her.

She replied: “On what touches your Case, as I have said already, I will willingly speak truth.” And thus did she make oath.

Then, by Our order, she was questioned by Maître Jean Delafontaine:

“Did not the Angel who bore the sign to your King speak to him?”

“Yes, he spoke to him; and he told my King it was necessary that I should be set to work, so that the country might be soon relieved.”

“Was the Angel who bore the sign to your King the same Angel who had before appeared to you ?”

“It is all one; and he has never failed me.”

“Has not the Angel, then, failed you with regard to the good things of this life, in that you have been taken prisoner ?”

“I think, as it has pleased Our Lord, that it is for my well-being that I was taken prisoner.”

“Has your Angel never failed you in the good things of grace ?”

“How can he fail me, when he comforts me every day? My comfort comes from Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret.”

“Do you call them, or do they come without being called?”

“They often come without being called; and other times, if they do not come soon, I pray Our Lord to send them.”

“Have you sometimes called them without their coming?”

“I have never had need of them without having them.”

“Has Saint Denis appeared to you sometimes ?”

“Not that I know.”

“When you promised Our Savior to preserve your virginity, was it to Him that you spoke?”

“It would quite suffice that I give my promise to those who were sent by Him – that is to say, to Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret.”

“Who induced you to have cited a man of the town of Toul on the question of marriage?”

“I did not have him cited; it was he, on the contrary, who had me cited; and then I swore before the Judge to speak the truth. And besides, I had promised nothing to this man. From the first time I heard my Voices, I dedicated my virginity for so long as it should please God; and I was then about thirteen years of age. My Voices told me I should win my case in this town of Toul.”

“As to your visions, did you speak of them to your Cure or to any other Churchman?”

“No; only to Robert de Baudricourt and to my King. It was not my Voices who compelled me to keep them secret; but I feared to reveal them, in dread that the Burgundians might put some hindrance in the way of my journey; and, in particular, I was afraid that my father would hinder it.”

“Do you think that you did right to go without leave from your father or mother, when you should ‘honor your father and mother’?”

“In all things I obeyed them well, except in that of the journey: but afterwards I wrote to them, and they forgave me.”

“When you left your father and mother, do you think you sinned?”

“If God commanded, it was right to obey. If God commanded it, had I a hundred fathers and mothers, and had I been a king’s daughter, I should have gone.”

“Did you ask your Voices if you should announce your departure to your father and mother?”

“As to my father and mother, my Voices would have been quite willing I should tell them, had it not been for the trouble I should have caused them in speaking of this. As for myself, I would not have told them at any price. My Voices agreed that I might either speak to my father and mother or be silent.”

”Did you do reverence to Saint Michael and the Angels when you saw them?”

“Yes; and, after they were gone I kissed the earth where they had been.”

“Were they long with you?”

“Very often they came among the faithful [i.e., in church] without being seen; and often I saw them among the faithful.”

“Had you had any letters from Saint Michael or from your Voices?”

“I have not permission to tell you. Eight days from this, I will tell you willingly what I know.”

“Did not your Voices call you ‘Daughter of God, daughter of the Church, great-hearted daughter?'”

“Before the raising of the Siege of Orleans and every day since, when they speak to me, they call me often, ‘Jeanne the Maid, Daughter of God.'”

“Since you call yourself a daughter of God, why do you not willingly say ‘Our Father’?”

“I do say it willingly. Last time, when I refused, it was because I meant that my Lord of Beauvais should hear me in confession.”

THIRD PRIVATE EXAMINATION

The same day, Monday, in the afternoon, in the same place.

Present: Jean Delafontaine, Commissary: Nicolas Midi; Gerard Feuillet; Thomas Fiefvet; Pasquier de Vaux; and Nicolas de Houbent.

The said Jeanne was interrogated as follows by Our order by the said Jean Delafontaine:

“Did not your father have dreams about you before your departure?”

“When I was still with my father and mother, my mother told me many times that my father had spoken of having dreamed that I, Jeannette, his daughter, went away with the men-at-arms. My father and mother took great care to keep me safe, and held me much in subjection. I obeyed them in everything, except in the case at Toul – the action for marriage. I have heard my mother say that my father told my brothers ‘Truly, if I thought this thing would happen that I have dreamed about my daughter, I would wish you to drown her; and, if you would not do it, I would drown her myself!’ He nearly lost his senses when I went to Vaucouleurs.”

“Did these thoughts and dreams come to your father after you had your visions?”

“Yes, more than two years after I had heard my first Voice.”

“Was it at the request of Robert de Baudricourt or of yourself that you took man’s dress ?”

“It was of myself, and at the request of no living man.”

“Did your Voices command you to take man’s dress?”

“All that I have done of good, I have done by the command of my Voices. As to the dress, I will answer about it another time: at present I am not advised, but tomorrow I will answer.”

“In taking man’s dress, did you think you were doing wrong ?”

“No; even now if I were with those of my own side and in this man’s dress, it seems to me it would be a great good for France to do as I did before I was taken.”

“How would you have delivered the Duke d’Orleans?”

“I should have taken enough English prisoners in France to have exchanged for him; if I had not taken enough in France, I should have crossed the sea to seek him in England, by force.”

“Did Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret tell you absolutely and without condition that you would take enough English to get back the Duke d’Orleans, who is in England, or that otherwise you would cross the sea to seek him?”1

“Yes, and I said so to my King: and he allowed me to treat with the English lords who were then prisoners.2If I had continued three years without hindrance, I should have delivered him. To do this, it needed less time than three years and more than one. But I do not remember about it.”

“What was the sign you gave to the King?”

“I shall take counsel regarding that from Saint Catherine.”

Deliberations of March 12th.

Monday, March 12th, assembled in Our dwelling, summoned by Us, the religious and discreet person, Brother Jean Lemaître, of the Order of Saint Dominic, Deputy of the Inquisitor of the Evil of Heresy in the Kingdom of France, in presence of the Venerable and discreet persons the Lords and Masters, Thomas Fiefvet, Pasquier de Vaux, Nicolas de Houbent, Brother Ysambard de la Pierre.

We, the Bishop, did show to the said Deputy, that, at the outset of the Action for Heresy brought by us against the woman, commonly called Jeanne the Maid, We had summoned and required him, the said Deputy, to join with us; and that we had offered to communicate to him the acts, documents and, in one word, all we possess bearing on the matter of the Process. He had then made a difficulty, not being, he told Us, commissioned except for the City and Diocese of Rouen and the Action in question being deduced by Us by right of our jurisdiction of Beauvais, on territory conceded to Us for this purpose. For this cause, in order to give all security to this matter and by an excess of precaution, We have, by the advice of the Masters, decided to write about it to the Chief Inquisitor, requesting him to come himself without delay to Rouen, or specially to appoint a Deputy to whom, for the deduction and completion of the Process, he might wish to give full powers. The said Inquisitor had received Our letter, and acceding with kindness to Our request, for the honor and exaltation of the Orthodox Faith, he had specially commissioned and appointed for this Action the said Brother Jean Lemaître, as do appear in the letters patent furnished and attested with the seal of the Inquisition.

In consequence of this letter, We, the Bishop, summon and require the said Brother Jean Lemaître, here present, the terms of the said letter, to join with us in this said Action.

To which the said Brother answered: that he would examine the Commission addressed to him, the Process signed by the registrars,and all that it should please Us to communicate to him; and that, all being seen and examined by him, he will give Us an answer and will do for the Holy Inquisition that which is right.

We, the Bishop, added: that the said Deputy had been present at a great part of the Process ; that he had, in consequence, been able to hear a great part of Jeanne’s answers; that nevertheless We held ourselves satisfied by what he had just said, and would certainly communicate to him the Process and all that had already been done, that he may take fuller cognizance of everything.

Footnotes

  1. (In the Minute : "et l'admener en trois ans" not in the Latin Text.)
  2. (The Minute reads : "la laissant faire de prisonniers.")