The Master Guillaume Erard said to her," Do it now, or else you will end your life today in the fire" (Retrial, 238). Out of fear, Joan said that she would rather sign it than to be burned. Our sources inform us that the authorities could not actually burn Joan because that punishment, the pain of fire were only application to a relapsed heretic (239).
And although Joan was promised that she would not be punished, they sentenced her to perpetual imprisonment. Where the authorities kept an eye on her, out of fear that she would escape. So they sent her back to a secular prison (240).
According to Jean Massieu,
she was set up by the authorities. They thought if they could get her to resume men clothing then they could declare her as a relapsed heretic. He also said that Joan told him, they told her to " Get up", and stowed her woman's clothes in the bag. Then, as she told me, she put on the male clothing that they had given her (242). And they wouldn't assist her until she changed back into the men clothing.
According to Pierre Cusquel,
People said that the sole cause of her condemnation was that she had resumed male clothes (243). But according to Joan, she wore it because she was fearful that the unknown soldiers would rape her in the middle of the night.
Overall, I found our reading interesting. It showed how desperate the authorities were to sentence Joan. And they pretty much forced her to a dead end and later she would soon discover caused her death.
Source: Retrial Book
Lucy,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the sources do show a sense of desperation in the English Inquisitors and that it seems that no matter what Joan's answer was the end result was going to be death.