Subsequent Examinations
On Thursday, June 7, 1431, eight days after the execution of Joan of Arc, called "Joan the Maid," Bishop Pierre Cauchon released a set of depositions of several priests about their conversations and witness of conversations with Joan the morning of her death by burning at the stake, which took place Wednesday, May 30, 1431.
The following are English translations of the depositions from W. P. Barrett (1931) and T.A. Murray (1901). Additionally, I am including here the title and footnote regarding the depositions from the 1841 publication of the Trial of Condemnation in its original Latin by Jules Quicherat. He included the depositions in Vol 1 under a section called, "Certain Later Acts," which also included letters issued from the King of England and a confession of guilt from a Friar for having spoken out the day thereof against Joan's burning as unjust.
This page contains the full English texts of the depositions by Cauchon.
For context and analysis see Rejoice in Saint Joan of Arc/Setting the Record Wrong.
Quiedam Acta Posterius
Quicherat's publication can be found here: Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc, dite la Pucelle : publiés pour la première fois d'après les manuscrits de la Bibliothèque royale, suivis de tous les documents historiques qu'on a pu réunir et accompagnés de notes et d'éclaircissements. Vol. 1 / par Jules Quicherat | (Gallica) (p. 477)
The entire section containing the depositions and other documents in Quicherat is entitled,
which in a literal translate would read:
but which we might better translate to
The documents and have been translated into French and English. In sections below are two translations into English from W.P. Barrett (1931) and T.A. Murray (1902).
Informatio post exsecutionem
The depositions have an original title in Latin:
Informatio post exsecutionem, super multis per eam dictis in fine suo ac inarticulo mortis.
A literal translation would read:
Inquiry after the execution, concerning many things said by her at the end and at the moment of death
My translation is:
An inquiry after the execution, concerning some things said by her at her end and upon her death.
Informatio post exsecutionem
Informatio post exsecutionem, super multis per eam dictis in fine suo ac inarticulo mortis.
A literal translate might read:
Inquiry after the execution, concerning many things said by her at the end and at the moment of death
My translation is:
An inquiry after the execution, concerning some things said by her at her end and upon her death.
Below for translations from Barrett and Murray.
Footnotes in the translations
Quicherat's footnote
On p. 477,
(1) Les pièces qui suivent sont écrites de la même main que le reste des procédures; mais elles cessent d’être revêtues de la signature qui, auparavant, se trouvait apposée au bas de chaque feuillet du manuscrit. On verra, par les interrogatoires du second procès, que les greffiers se sont refusés à les valider de leur attestation.
In English (translation by ChatGTP)
(1) The following documents are written in the same hand as the rest of the proceedings; however, they are no longer accompanied by the signature that had previously been affixed to the bottom of each page of the manuscript. As will be seen from the interrogations during the second trial, the clerks refused to authenticate them with their official attestation.
Barrett's footnote
On p. 366:
(1) It is difficult to find anything more logically introduced than this conclusion to the Trial Record. Is it necessary to say that all this is as far as possible from the truth? That it is propaganda after execution? Here, more than in the Trial Record, the judges present their apologia. It is not signed by the notaries.
Murray's footnote
on p. 147:
1 Not included in the Official Text of the Trial.
Barrett's translation
By W.P. Barrett: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/joanofarc-trial.asp
Information given after the execution on many things said by her at her end and in articulo mortis.[1]
On Thursday, June 7th, 1431, we the said judges received ex officio information upon certain words spoken by the late Jeanne before many trustworthy persons, whilst she was still in prison and before she was brought to judgment.
And first the venerable and circumspect master Nicolas de Venderès, licentiate in canon law, archdeacon of Eu and canon of the church of Rouen, aged 52 or thereabouts, a witness produced, sworn, received and examined this day, declared upon oath that on Wednesday the last day of May, on the Eve of Corpus Christi last, the said Jeanne, being still in the prison where she was detained in the castle of Rouen, said that considering that the voices which came to her had promised her she should be delivered from prison, and she saw the contrary, she realized and knew that she had been and was deceived by them.
This Jeanne said and confessed that she had seen with her own eyes and heard with her own cars the voices and apparitions mentioned in this case: at this there were present we, the said judges, master Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loiseleur, brother Martin Ladvenu, master Jacques Le Camus, and several others.
Brother Martin Ladvenu, priest of the order of Preaching brothers, aged about 33, witness produced, received, sworn and examined, said and declared on oath that this Jeanne on the morning of the day an which sentence was delivered against her, said and confessed before she was brought to judgment, in the presence of masters Pierre Maurice, Nicolas Loiseleur, and the said Dominican brother Toutmouillé, that she knew and recognized that she had been deceived by the voices and apparitions which came to her; for these voices promised her, Jeanne, that she should be delivered and set free from prison, and she clearly perceived the contrary.
Asked who induced her to say this, he said that he himself, master Pierre Maurice and master Nicolas Loiseleur exhorted her for the salvation of her soul, and they asked her if it were true that she had received these voices and apparitions. She answered that it was, and continued to say so up to the end: yet she did not precisely describe, at least as far as he understood, in what form they came to her, except as far as he could remember, that they came in great multitude and in the least dimension. Moreover, he then heard Jeanne say and confess that because the clergy held and believed that any spirits which might come to her came and proceeded from evil spirits, she also held and believed in this matter as the clergy did, and would no longer put faith in these spirits. And in his opinion Jeanne was then of sound mind.
He said that on the same day he heard Jeanne say and confess that although in her confessions and answers she had boasted that an angel from God had brought the crown to him she called her king, that she had accompanied the angel when he brought the crown, and many other things reported at greater length in the trial, nevertheless uncoerced and of her own free will she saw and confessed that in spite of all she had said and boasted on this subject, there was no angel who brought the crown; that she, Jeanne, was the angel who had told and promised her king that she would have him crowned at Reims if she were set to work; that there has been no other crown sent from God, whatever she had said and affirmed in the course of her trial on the subject of the crown and sign given to him she called her king.
The venerable and discreet master Pierre Maurice, professor of sacred theology, canon of Rouen, aged about 38 years, witness produced, received, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed that he visited her in the morning of the day when the sentence was delivered against this Jeanne, whilst she was still in prison, to exhort her to save her soul: and whilst he was exhorting her and asking her about the angel who, according to her had brought the crown to him she called her king, he heard her answer that she herself was this angel.
Asked about the crown she promised him, and the host of angels who accompanied her, she answered that it was true that they appeared to her in the likeness of certain very minute things.
And finally when he had asked her if this apparition were real, she answered that it was, and whether good or evil spirits, they really had appeared to her, saying in French, "Soint bons, soint mauvais esperits, ilz me sont apparus." She said also that she had heard her voices mostly at the hour of Compline, when the bells were rung; and also in the morning when the bells were rung. He told her it appeared that they were evil spirits who had promised her deliverance and that she had been deceived, whereupon the said Jeanne answered that this was true, she had been deceived. He heard her say that she referred to the Church to decide whether they were good or evil spirits, and in his opinion she was, when she said that, sound of mind and understanding.
Brother Jean Toutmouillé, priest of the order of Preaching brothers, about 34 years of age, witness produced, received, sworn, and examined on Thursday, said and deposed that on the morning of the day when the sentence was delivered against this Jeanne, to wit Wednesday, the Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, he, in the company of brother Martin Ladvenu of the same order, visited this Jeanne to exhort her to save her soul, and heard her say to Pierre Maurice who had preceded him there, that what she had said and confessed touching the crown was pure fiction, and she herself was the angel: this the said master Pierre took down in Latin. Then she was questioned about the voices which came to her, and the apparitions. She answered that she really had heard voices, chiefly when the bells were being rung at Compline or Matins; although master Pierre told her that sometimes when men hear bells they imagine they hear and catch certain words.
The said Jeanne said and confessed that she had had apparitions come to her, sometimes in a great multitude, sometimes in a small number, or in minute things: she did not otherwise describe their form and figure.
He said that on the same day, after our arrival in the room where she was detained, we the said bishop said to Jeanne in French, before the vicar of the lord Inquisitor, "Now, Jeanne, you have always told us that your voices promised you you would be delivered; you now see how they have deceived you. Tell us the truth now." Then Jeanne answered us, "Truly I see they have indeed deceived me." He did not hear her say anything more, except that at first, before we the judges had arrived in her prison, Jeanne was asked whether she believed that the said voices and apparitions proceeded from good or evil spirits: and she replied, "I do not know. I refer me to my Mother the Church," or "to you who are of the Church." In his opinion Jeanne was then of sound mind, and he heard Jeanne herself confess that she was of sound mind.
Jacques Le Camus, priest, canon of Reims, aged about 53 years, witness produced, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that in the morning of Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi last, he accompanied us the said bishop to the room where Jeanne was detained in the castle of Rouen, and heard this Jeanne publicly confess in a voice audible to all those present that she Jeanne had seen the apparitions come to her and had heard their voices, promising that she should be delivered; and since she recognized that they had deceived her she believed they were -not good voices or good things. A little while later she confessed her sins to brother Martin of the order of Preaching brothers, and after receiving the sacrament of confession and penance, when the said brother was about to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist to her, and held the consecrated host in his hands, he asked her, "Do you believe this is the body of Christ?" And the said Jeanne answered, "Yes, and He alone can deliver me. I ask for it to be administered to me." Then the same brother said to her, "Do you still believe in these voices?" She answered, "I believe in God alone, and will no longer put faith in these voices, because they have deceived me."
Master Thomas de Courcelles, master of arts and bachelor of theology, aged about 30 years, witness produced, received, sworn and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that on Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi, he, being in our presence in the room where the said Jeanne was detained in the castle of Rouen, heard and understood us the said bishop to ask Jeanne if her voices had told her she would be delivered. And she answered that her voices had told her she would be delivered, and she should keep a good countenance. She added, he thought, sententiously, "I see indeed that I have been deceived." And then we the said bishop told Jeanne she could then see that these voices were not good spirits, and did not come from God, for if they did, they would never have uttered false or lying things.
Master Nicolas Loiseleur, master of arts, canon of the churches of Rouen and Chartres, aged about 40 years, witness produced, received, sworn, and examined on this day, said and deposed under oath that on the morning of Wednesday, the Eve of Corpus Christi last, he went with the venerable master Pierre Maurice, professor of sacred theology, to the prison where Jeanne, commonly known as The Maid, was confined, to exhort and admonish her for her salvation. Required to speak the truth concerning the angel who, according to her statements in the trial, had brought to him she called her king a most precious crown of very fine gold, and urged not to hide the truth inasmuch as she had nothing more to do but consider the salvation of her soul, the witness heard her say that it was she, Jeanne, who had announced to her king the crown mentioned in the trial, that she was the angel, and there had been no other angel but herself.
And then she was asked if she had really sent a crown to him she called her king. She replied that there was nothing beyond the promise of coronation which she herself made to him, assuring him he would be crowned.
Master Nicolas Loiseleur said also that often, before master Pierre, the two Preaching brothers, ourselves, and many others, he heard Jeanne say that she really had received revelations and apparitions of spirits; that she had been deceived in these revelations, which she well recognized and perceived because although they had promised her deliverance from prison, she saw only the contrary; upon whether these spirits were good or evil she referred to the clergy, but she put and would put no more faith in them.
He said that he exhorted her to destroy the error she had sown among the people, to confess publicly that she had deceived herself and the people by putting faith in such revelations and exhorting the people to believe in them; he exhorted her humbly to ask pardon for this. Jeanne answered that she would willingly do so, but she did not imagine that she would remember when the proper time came, that is when she was in judgment before the people; and she asked her confessor to remind her of it and of other things tending to her salvation. From this and from many other signs he thought that Jeanne was of sound mind, for she showed great signs of contrition and penitence for the crimes she had committed. He heard her, in prison before many witnesses and in public afterwards, ask with great contrition of heart pardon of the English and Burgundians for having caused them to be slain, put to flight and, as she confessed, sorely afflicted.
Murray's translation
From Jeanne d'Arc, maid of Orleans (Archive.org)
SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS AFTER THE RELAPSE.[2]
Information given after the Execution on many things said by Jeanne, at the end of her life and in articulo Mortis.[3]
Thursday, 7th day of June, 1431, We, the Judges, did ex-officio take information upon certain things which the late Jeanne had said before persons worthy of credit when she was still in prison and before being brought to judgment.
Examination of Witnesses.
I. The venerable and circumspect Maître Nicolas de Venderès, licentiate in Canon Law, Archdeacon of Eu, hath declared upon oath as follows :
Wednesday, 30th day of May, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Jeanne, being still in the prison of the Castle of Rouen where she was detained, did say that considering the Voices which came to her had promised she should be delivered from prison, and that she now saw the contrary, she realized and knew she had been, and still was, deceived by them. Jeanne did, besides, say and confess that she had seen with her own eyes and heard with her own ears the apparitions and Voices mentioned in the Case.
At this were present, you, the Judges aforesaid, and besides Maître Pierre Maurice, Thomas de Courcelles, Nicolas Loyseleur, Brother Martin Ladvenu, Jean Toutmouillé, Jacques Lecamus, and several others.
Brother Martin Ladvenu, Priest of the Order of Saint Dominic^ did say and depose, upon oath, as follows :
On the morning of the day on which sentence was delivered and before she was brought to judgment, Jeanne, in presence of Maître Pierre Maurice, Nicolas Loyseleur, and Brother Jean Toutmouillé, who were with me, did say and confess that she knew and recognized that the Voices and apparitions which had come to her, mentioned in the Case, had deceived her, because they had promised she should be delivered and freed from prison ; and that she certainly now saw clearly the contrary.
Asked by the Bishop : Who induced Jeanne so to speak ?
Replied : Pierre Maurice, Nicolas Loyseleur, and I exhorted her to save her soul, and asked her if it were true that she had these Voices and apparitions ? She replied that it was indeed true, and she continued so to tell us up to the end, but without stating decidedly, at least, so far as I understood, under what form the apparitions came to her. All I remember is that she said they came to her in great multitude and in the smallest size [in magna 7nultitudine et quantitate minimd\. Besides, I did at this time hear Jeanne say and confess that, inasmuch as the Clergy held and believed that if they were spirits who came to her they proceeded from evil spirits, she also held and believed as did the Clergy, and would no longer put faith in these spirits. And as it appeared to me, Jeanne was then of a sound mind.
Brother Martin Ladvenu did add this : The same day I heard Jeanne say that, although she had stated in her avowals and confessions, and had affirmed above in the course of the Case, that an Angel from God had brought a crown to him whom she called her King, with all other details connected with this fact in the interrogatories, nevertheless, of her free-will and without being constrained thereto, she did this day confess as follows : that in spite of all she had affirmed on the subject of this Angel, no Angel had brought the crown ; it was she, Jeanne, who had been the Angel, and who said and promised to him whom she called her King, that, if he would set her to the work, she would have him crowned at Rheims. There was no other crown sent from God, in spite of all she might have affirmed in the course of the Case on the subject of the crown and the sign given to him whom she called her King.
The venerable and discreet Maître Pierre Maurice, Professor in Theology, Canon of Rouen, deposed, upon oath, as follows :
The day of the sentence, Jeanne being still in the prison, I repaired to her in the morning to exhort her to save her soul. In so exhorting her, I asked her what was the Angel mentioned in the Trial, who, according to her, had brought a crown to him whom she called her King ?
She replied that it was herself who was the Angel. ^' Having questioned her afterwards on the subject of the crown which she had promised to her King, of the multitude of Angels who at that time accompanied her, she replied that it was true that Angels appeared to her under the form of very minute things. Finally, I asked her if this apparition were real ? " Yes," she replied, "the spirits did really appear to me — be they good or be they evil spirits — they did appear to me." She also said that she had in particular heard her Voices at the hour of Comphne, when the bells rang, and in the morning also, when the bells rang. And when I told her that they were evil spirits — in this, that they had promised her deliverance and had deceived her — " It is true," she replied, " they have deceived me." I also heard her declare that to know whether they were good or evil spirits, she referred to the Clergy. When she thus spoke, Jeanne, so far as it seemed to me, was sound in mind and understanding.
Brother Jean Toutmouillé, Priest, of the Order of Saint Dominic, did say and declare upon oath as follows :
The day that sentence was given upon Jeanne, Wednesday, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I accompanied Brother Martin Ladvenu, who, early in the morning, repaired to her to exhort her to save her soul. I first heard Maître Pierre Maurice, who had gone earlier to her, declare she had confessed that all which concerned the crown was fiction : that it was she who was the Angel. The said Master reported all this to us in Latin. Afterwards, Jeanne was questioned on the subject of the Voices and apparitions which had come to her. She replied that she had really heard voices, chiefly when the bells rang Compline or Matins ; and she persisted in saying this, although Maître Pierre Maurice told her that, sometimes when the bells rang, one thoueht one could hear and catch the sounds of human voices. Jeanne did also say and confess that she had had apparitions which came to her in great multitude and in minute quantity — that is to say, under small forms ; — she did not perfectly explain the form, or kind, of her apparitions. The same day, after you, the Bishop, had come in with the Lord Deputy Inquisitor into the room where she was detained, you said to Jeanne in French, " Now then, Jeanne, you always told us that your Voices assured you that you would be delivered : you see now how they have deceived you ; tell us the truth now." " Truly," Jeanne replied to you, " I see indeed that they have deceived me ! " I did not hear her say more, save only that, early in the same day, before you were come to the prison, Jeanne, being asked if her Voices and apparitions proceeded from good or evil spirits, did reply : " I know not — I wait on my Mother, the Church," or " I wait on you, who are of the Church." And, so far as it seemed to me, Jeanne was at this time of sound mind ; I heard Jeanne herself then declare that she was of sound mind.
Messire Jacques Lecamus, Priest, Canon of Rheims, did say and declare upon oath as follows :
Wednesday, Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I went with you, the Bishop, into the room of the Castle of Rouen where Jeanne was detained, and there I heard Jeanne say and confess, publicly and in a voice loud enough to be heard by all those present, that she had had apparitions and had also heard Voices ; that these apparitions and Voices had promised her that she should be delivered from prison ; but now she saw in truth that they had deceived her, and, for having thus deceived her, she believed they could not be good Voices nor good things. A little while after, she confessed her sins to Brother Martin, of the Order of Saint Dominic. After the Sacrament of Confession and Penitence, when the same Brother was about to administer the Sacrament of the Eucharist to her, and already held in his hands the Consecrated Host, " Do you believe," he asked her, " that this is the Body of Christ?" "Yes," she replied, "and I believe that He alone can deliver me ; I ask that It may be administered to me." After the Communion, the same Brother said to her: "Do you still believe in your Voices?" "I believe in God only," she answered, " and will no more put faith in my Voices, for having deceived me on this point."
Maître Thomas de Courcelles, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Theology, did say and depose, upon oath, as follows :
Wednesday, Vigil of the Feast of Corpus Christi, being in the presence of you, the Bishop, in the room of the Castle of Rouen where Jeanne was detained, I heard and understood that you asked Jeanne if it were not true that her Voices had promised to deliver her ? She replied that her Voices had truly promised this, and had told her to keep a good countenance ; and, "as it seems to me," she added, " I see indeed that I have been deceived." And then you, the Bishop, said to Jeanne, that now she could certainly see her Voices to be only evil spirits and that they did not come from God ; for, had they been of such a nature, they would never have said a false thing and thus have lied.
Maître Nicolas Loyseleur, Master of Arts y Canon of Rouen and Chartres, said and declared, upon oath, as follows :
Wednesday, the Vigil of the Feast of Corpus Christi, I repaired in the morning with the venerable Maître Pierre Maurice, to the place where Jeanne, commonly called the Maid, was detained, to exhort and admonish her on the subject of the salvation of her soul. She was besought to speak truth on the subject of that Angel who, she had declared, had brought to him she called her King a crown, very precious, and of the purest gold : she was pledged not to hide the truth, inasmuch as nothinof more remained to her but to think of her own salvation. Then I heard her declare that it was she herself who had brought him she called her King the crown in question ; that it was she who was the Angel of whom she had spoken ; and that there had been no other Angel but herself Asked if she had really sent a crown to him whom she called her King, she replied that he had no other crown but the promise of his coronation — a promise she had made in giving to her King the assurance that he would be crowned. In the presence of Maître Pierre Maurice, of the two Dominicans, of you, the Bishop, and of several others, I heard her many times declare that " she had really had revelations and apparitions of spirits ; that these revelations had deceived her ; that she recognized it in this, that they had promised her deliverance, and that she now saw the contrary ; that she was willing to refer to the Clergy to know if these spirits were good or evil ; that she did not put, and would no more put, faith in them." I exhorted her, to destroy the error that she had sown among the people, to declare publicly that she had herself been deceived, and that through her fault she had deceived the people by putting faith in these revelations and in counselling the people to believe in them ; and I told her it was necessary that she should humbly ask pardon. She told me she would do it willingly, but that she did not think she would be able to remember, when the proper moment came — that is to say, when she found herself in the presence of the people ; she prayed her Confessor to remind her of this point and of all else which might tend to her salvation. From all this, and from many other indications, I conclude that Jeanne was then of sound mind. She shewed great penitence and great contrition for her crimes. I heard her, in the prison, in presence of a great number of witnesses, and subsequently after sentence, ask, with much contrition of heart, pardon of the Englsh and Burgundians for having caused to be slain, beaten, and damned, a great number of them, as she recognized
- ↑ (1) It is difficult to find anything more logically introduced than this conclusion to the Trial Record. Is it necessary to say that all this is as far as possible from the truth? That it is propaganda after execution? Here, more than in the Trial Record, the judges present their apologia. It is not signed by the notaries.
- ↑ Murray includes only the Depositions of June 8 in this section, so his title, which is not original to the primary source, regards only Cauchon's June 8 depositions.
- ↑ Fn 1: Not included in the Official Text of the Trial.