Transcriber‘s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Reputed Portrait of
Jeanne d’Arc,
From the original, formerly in the Church of St. Maurice, Orleans.
(MUSÉE DU TROCADÉRO, PARIS.)
JEANNE D’ARC
MAID OF ORLEANS
DELIVERER OF FRANCE
Being the Story of her Life, her Achievements, and her Death, as attested on Oath and Set forth in the Original Documents
This Edition enjoys Copyright in allCountries signatory to the BerneTreaty, and is not to be importedinto the United States of America.
PREFACE
The following Document concerning the story of thelife and death of Jeanne d’Arc, Maid of Orleans, isprobably the only known instance in which a completebiographical record, of historical importance, has beenelicited by evidence taken on oath. These depositionscover the childhood of the Maid; the series of hermilitary exploits as Commander-in-Chief of the armiesof France; her capture, imprisonment, and death at thestake in the market-place of Rouen.
The official Latin text of the Trial and Rehabilitationof Jeanne d’Arc, rescued from oblivion amongthe archives of France, and published in the forties byQuicherat, has been faithfully, and now for the first time,rendered into English. This account, given by numerouscontemporary witnesses, of an episode which profoundlyaffected the history of Europe and determined thedestinies of England and France must appeal to thegeneral reader no less than to the student.
INTRODUCTION
By the order of Pope Calixtus in 1455, the Trialof Jeanne d’Arc at Rouen, which had taken placetwenty-four years before, was reconsidered by a greatcourt of lawyers and churchmen, and the condemnationof Jeanne was solemnly annulled and declared wickedand unjust. By this re-trial posterity has been allowedto see the whole life of the village maiden of Domremy,as she was known first to her kinsfolk and her neighbours,and afterwards to warriors, nobles and churchmenwho followed her extraordinary career. Theevidence so given is unique in its minute and faith-worthynarration of a great and noble life; as indeedthat life is itself unique in all human history. Afterall that can be done by the rationalising process, themystery remains of an untutored and unlettered girlof eighteen years old, not only imposing her will uponcaptains and courtiers, but showing a skill and judgmentworthy, as General Dra