dered whether a beautiful maid from the marshes of Lorraine had really been among them, or whether an angel had for a brief time fluttered its wings over the earth, then vanished into the sky, from whence it came.

As we look back through five centuries, we can now see that, in its truest sense, Joan of Arc was never tried, but that England and France, with all their greed, their hate, their superstition, their intolerance, and their tyranny, were tried, and when the flames leaped up about the feet of Joan, a judgment was

pronounced against them all, all, which gained for civilization a hundred years of progress.

England and France had been at war for eighty years when Joan was born.

Two Kings of France had been carried captives to the tower of London, and unhappy France was never in greater extremity. Charles VI., her King, was insane, and would not die. His wife, Isabella of Bavaria, was a harlot and a traitor. She conspired with Edward III. of England to place the Crown of France upon his head. She publicly declared her son Charles a bastard, and therefore ineligible to the throne of France. She welcomed the English army to Paris. She looted the treasury of the Empire. She encouraged roving bands of robbers to stalk through the land, leaving behind ruin. and desolation. Everywhere private property was confiscated, and thousands of innocent men and women were put to the sword.

In the little village of Domremy, the birthplace of Joan, even the churches were desecrated, and the holy images carried away.

It was here, upon the bank of the river Meuse, that there grew a great, wide-spreading beech tree. It was called the "Beautiful May." Beneath its shading boughs, cool fountains of healing waters bubbled forth. Here the children of the village played and danced and sang, and here, too, it was said, elf ladies came and joined the merrymakers, and when they had gone ghosts and goblins and fairies joined hands and. circled 'bout the tree and sported in the fountains, until the morning dawned.

Joan was just thirteen, when one day under the "Beautiful May" she heard the voices of three angels, and saw them as they knelt about her. They were Saint Michael, Saint Katharine, and Saint Margaret.

The voices said that the Kingdom which had been lost by a woman should be regained by a pure maiden, and that this maiden would come from the marshes of Lorraine.

Joan knew, instantly that the woman. was Queen Isabella, and she wondered if she might be the maid. Her wonder

was not long. For one day, under the great tree, the voices spoke with an emphasis that could not be misunderstood, and said to her: "Thou art the maid."

Her purpose was fixed. She would drive back the English invader, who with the Burgundians had seized Paris, and with a conquering army had marched southward, laying waste the whole of France.

Among the large cities, Orleans only was left unconquered. This was a city of 50,000 inhabitants, and an English and French army of 20,000 soldiers was encamped about its walls.

Charles, the bastard son of Isabella, was the last hope of France. He had been crowned King Charles VII. by his remaining followers. He was weak, dissolute, and cowardly.

At the approach of the English he fled to Chinon.

Joan determined to go to the rescue of Orleans, then lead the King to Reims, where he should be crowned in a manner befitting a King of France.

One night, when but sixteen years of age, she slipped away from her home, and sought the governor of the province at Vancouleurs. He led her to the King at Chinon.

Charles was gracious, but timid. His cause was desperate, yet it would be more desperate if he put his trust in a woman "possessed of the Devil."

She must be tried and proved, so Joan entered upon her first trial.

Charles' Parliament was assembled at Poitiers. Thither Joan was conducted to be examined by the most distinguished doctors of divinity and scientists who could then be summoned. Chief among these were Jean Lombard, professor of divinity in the University of Paris, and Pierre Turelure, grand inquisitor of Toulouse.

This trial lasted for three weeks. A session of three hours was held each day, during which Joan underwent the most searching inquiry. She was asked about the voices she had heard and the visions she had seen.

Her whole life at Domremy was revealed.

One skeptic asked, why, if God was with her, she needed an army to drive

out the English. Her reply was that God fought only with brave men, when they fought for their country.

They asked her for a sign like that given by God to Hezekiah and Gideon. She replied: "I will give you a sign at Orleans."

All the evidence taken was written down by notaries, and when the trial was completed the whole was laid before Parliament.

After considering it for several days, a Parliamentary decree was entered, declaring that nothing evil was found in the maid, but on the contrary she was a good Christian and a good Catholic.

The King was thereupon advised that: "Considering the imminent necessity and peril of Orleans, he might lawfully avail himself of her services."

When the decree was carried to the King, he still hesitated. He was superstitious. There was a belief prevalent that an enemy could have no power over a pure maiden.

The King must know before accepting her services, that she was pure.

To determine this question a jury of distinguished women was called. Two Queens were members of it, Queen Yolanda of Sicily, and Queen Marie of Anjou. Day after day Joan was questioned by these women. They produced an old record from the Magistrate's Court at Toul, which showed that Joan had once been summoned to the court by a young man from Lorraine, who charged that she had broken an engagement to marry him. Joan's explanation was that she had never promised to marry him, but that her father had made the promise on her behalf.

At last the woman's jury reported to the King that Joan was a pure maiden, and worthy of all trust.

At once an armor was prepared and fitted to Joan's tall but slender form, and the march to Orleans began.

When they reached Boulis, a few miles from Orleans, Joan' dictated a letter to the enemy. It was in part as follows:

"King of England and you Duke of Burgundy, surrender to the Maid, sent hither by God, the keys of the good cities you have taken and violated in France,

for I have come to restore the blood Royal."

Fifteen thousand English and French soldiers had been for weeks building towers and ramparts on three sides of the city.

Joan entered the city on the 29th of April, 1429. She had under her command, within the city, about 4,000 troops. To these she gave an immediate command to charge the enemy. The battle raged for twelve days. Joan was everywhere in the midst of the fighting.

On May 10th the enemy began a precipitous flight toward Paris. Victory was complete, and Joan hurried to Chinon to lead the King to Reims, where he was crowned on July 17, 1429.

Her mission was now accomplished, but she was persuaded to pursue the enemy to the gates of Paris. Here her armies were defeated and fell back, and on the 23d of May, 1430, she was surrounded and captured.

Three days later the University of Paris wrote to the King of England and France, demanding that Joan be immediately surrendered to the church for trial, on the charge of idolatries, heresies, and witchcraft.

The English were not eager to deliver their famous captive to anyone. They had planned to inclose her in a sack and drown her in the Seine.

Just at this time, John of Luxembourg, a vassal of the Duke of Burgundy, claimed the right to possess the prisoner because she had been captured in his territory. After long negotiations the English paid John 10,000 livres for his prisoner.

Immediately thereafter the University of Paris wrote to the King of England:

"We have learned that the maid has now been put into your power, and we trust that she will be speedily brought to trial to repair the great iniquities and scandals that have come to this Kingdom through her means."

On the 3d of January, 1431, the Council, sitting in Paris, granted an act making over the maid to Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, for trial. It was stipulated that if she was acquitted by the church, she should be turned back to the English.

There were three jurisdictions in which she might be tried: The ecclesiastical, the Inquisition, and the civil

courts.

The University wanted her tried by the Inquisition, but both the grand inquisitor and the vicar at Rouen refused

to act.

The University then appealed to the Pope, urging that Pierre Cauchon be appointed archbishop of Rouen. This request was refused. Cauchon had recently been dismissed from his diocese because of scandalous conduct, and at this time he neither had territory nor clergy of his own.

A special decree was issued by the King, appointing Cauchon to conduct the trial at Rouen, and the Cathedral at Rouen granted him letters to act as ecclesiastical judge in that diocese.

The bishop immediately proceeded to organize the court.

Under the rules of the Inquisition the presiding judge might call to his aid as many others as he chose, and confer on them full power to act as judges. The bishop thereupon selected forty-two of the most eminent scholars and ecclesiastics in France to act as judges. Fifteen of them were doctors of divinity, ten of them from the University of Paris. Four were doctors of canon law, four doctors of medicine, seven bachelors of divinity, three bachelors of canon law. The other nine were assessors.

Under the rules it was necessary that some representative of the Inquisition participate in the trial. Jean Lemaitre, vicar at Rouen, was summoned, but he refused to act with Cauchon. He was later ordered by the grand inquisitor to proceed to Rouen and sit as an assessor.

There were three methods of presenting an accused for trial before the Inquisition, by accusation, denunciation, and inquiry.

Under the first, it was necessary for someone, in person, to accuse another before a representative of the Inquisition. Under such circumstances the accuser was required to furnish sufficient evidence to convict the one accused. If he failed, he might himself be prosecuted before the same tribunal, on the charge of making a false accusation.

Under the second method, one who knew of an offense having been committed went before an officer of the Inquisition and formally denounced the offender. He was required to furnish some evidence of guilt, but was not held responsible, if the accused was not convicted.

By the third plan, the entire proceeding was instituted and carried on by officials of the Inquisition.

It was this latter method that was adopted in the trial of Joan of Arc.

For a long time many rumors were afloat concerning the strange beliefs and conduct of Joan. It was said that from childhood she had practised sorcery and witchcraft, and that she always carried concealed in her bosom the Mandragora, through which she exercised a demoniacal influence over all with whom she came in contact.

In order to formulate definite charges against her, a large number of spies were sent to her childhood home, and whereever else she had been, and almost every act of hers, however innocent in its character, was tortured into some evidence of guilt.

On January 9, 1431, the trial began in the chapel of Rouen Castle. The first assembling of the judges was for the purpose of formulating the charges. Less than one half the judges had arrived to participate in the opening session, and the trial was continued from day to day until February 21st. On this day most of the judges were present, and Joan was conducted in chains before the bar. She had now been imprisoned in the tower for five months. Nearly all of this time she was held bound in chains. When she stood before her judges, the chains were removed.

She was first addressed by Cauchon, I who commanded that she take the oath "to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." She refused to be sworn, saying that she would tell the truth, but not the whole truth, because there were some things she would tell only to God.

She was then nearly all of the from time to time. ing every incident

severely questioned, judges participating They asked concernof her life, the voices