9

VICTORY

On May 30, as on May 24, a large and distinguished group of clergy, including Joan's judges, were seated on a platform to hear her preached at. This time, however, the place was the square of the Old Market of Rouen; this time the preacher was Doctor Nicholas Midi, author of the twelve articles, whose sentiments concerning the crimes of the accused were the same as those of Doctor William Erart, though his text was different; this time, above all, the proceedings could only end in one way. There was therefore, another elevation besides the platform on which the clerical and lay dignitaries sat, and that on which Joan stood to be harangued. It was a mass of plaster, topped by faggots and a stake. On the stake was a placard inscribed with the words: "Heretic, Relapse, Apostate, Idolater." After the sermon came an exhortation to repentance and submission preached by Cauchon; then two long sentences were read, the first proclaiming Joan's relapse, the second a repetition of the sentence of excommunication which she had interrupted on May 24.

The official account ends with these sentences; but from the somewhat confused recollections of the rehabilitation witnesses, our primary source of information concerning the actual execution, we learn many details. Joan confessed to Brother Martin Ladvenu and received Communion in her cell that morning. (Other happenings there will be discussed in the next chapter.) Clad in female dress, she was led by soldiers, of whom seven or eight hundred were present, to the place of execution, weeping and calling on God and her saints. The populace were also in tears and murmured against the judgment. The churchmen withdrew, according to custom, after the sentence had been read, only Martin Ladvenu and Isambard de la Pierre remaining till the end. When Joan asked for a cross, a soldier improvised one for her from his staff; she still begged a cross from a church, till from the church of St. Saviour near by one was brought her, which she embraced with tears. Then, without the formality of a secular sentence, though the civil authorities were present, she was led to the stake by the executioner. The record does not state whether or not there was put on her head at this moment the grotesque "miter" of parchment painted with devils, usually worn by condemned heretics. As the faggots were lit, the Maid begged Brother Isambard to go down, and still to hold the cross before her eyes. She died with a last loud cry of "Jesus!"

The English caused her ashes to be thrown into the Seine. Yet many of them were shaken. Brother Isambard says that the executioner exclaimed to him in despair: "I greatly fear that I shall be damned. I have burned a saint!" And he related that, in spite of all his efforts, her heart had remained unconsumed.