Witch Hunt, Joan of Arc. Anglais Cned Devoir 10

Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians in a minor action near Compiègne in 1940. She was the transferred in December of the same year to Rouen and placed on trial for heresy.

January 13th 1431, beginning of the trial

Bishop Pierre Cauchon: Do you swear to speak the truth and answer the question as there are put to you?

Joan of Arc: I do not know what you wish to examine me on, perhaps you would ask me things that I would not tell.

B: You have been charged of being a witch and a heretic and it is as stated that you hear voices. Am I correct?

J: Yes, but they are messages from God.

B: And what did this God tell you to do?

J: He told me Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would come to me, and I must follow their counsel. He soon after gave me the mission to free the country from its occupants. Since God had commanded me to go, I did it. And since I had a hundred fathers and a hundred mothers, I would have gone.

B: And did this God tell you to cut your hair and dress up like a male?

J: No, I did it for my protection in battle. As you know, running in a dress is as difficult as putting a trainee to wield a heavy sword.

B: But you kept on doing it even if you weren’t in battle.

J: When I was put in prison, the guards tried to rape me multiple times. These cloths gave me the ability to protect myself.

B: But did not the angels fail you when you were taken prisoner?

J: Since it pleased God it was better for me to be taken prisoner.

B: And do you know whether or not you are in God’s grace?

J: If I am not, may God put me there and if I am, may God keep me. I would be the saddest creature in the world knowing that I am not in his grace.

B: Have you committed mortal sin?

J: I do not think I am in mortal sin and if I am, it is for God and the priest to know it in confession.

B: If you do not confess to the crime you committed against God, you will surely be condemned to death.

J: And if I were to be condemned, if I saw the fire lit, the wood prepared and the executioner ready to burn me, to throw me into the fire, I still would not say anything that I have said otherwise and I will maintain what I have said until death.

You say that you are my judge but I do not know if you are but take good heed not to judge me because if you do, you will put yourself in great peril and I warn you that if God punishes you for it, I shall have done my duty in telling you so.

On these words, the Bishop came to the conclusion that Joan wasn’t going to say anything else and thus, he stopped the trial. He condemned her for heresy and she was burnt alive may 30 1441.

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