Saint Joan

lordship is merciful, of course. But it is a great responsibility to depart from the usual practice. Joan Thou art a rare noodle, Master. Do what was done last time is thy rule, eh? Courcelles Rising. Thou wanton: dost thou dare call me noodle? The Inquisitor Patience, Master, patience: I fear you will soon be only too terribly avenged. Courcelles Mutters. Noodle indeed! He sits down, much discontented. The Inquisitor Meanwhile, let us not be moved by the rough side of a shepherd lass’s tongue. Joan Nay: I am no shepherd lass, though I have helped with the sheep like anyone else. I will do a lady’s work in the house⁠—spin or weave⁠—against any woman in Rouen. The Inquisitor This is not a time for vanity, Joan. You stand in great peril. Joan I know it: have I not been punished for my vanity? If I had not worn my cloth of gold surcoat in battle like a fool, that Burgundian soldier would never have pulled me backwards off my horse; and I should not have been here. The Chaplain If you are so clever at woman’s work why do you not stay at home and do it? Joan There are plenty of other women to do it; but there is nobody to do my work. Cauchon Come! we are wasting time on trifles. Joan: I am going to put a most solemn question to you. Take care how you answer; for your life and salvation are at stake on it. Will you for all you have said and done, be it good or bad, accept the judgment of God’s Church on earth? More especially as to the acts and words that are imputed to you in this trial by the Promoter here, will you submit your case to the inspired interpretation of the Church Militant? Joan I am a faithful child of the Church. I will obey the Church⁠— Cauchon Hopefully leaning forward. You will? Joan —provided it does not command anything impossible. Cauchon sinks back in his chair with a heavy sigh. The Inquisitor purses his lips and frowns. Ladvenu shakes his head pitifully. D’estivet She imputes to the Church the error and folly of commanding the impossible. Joan If you command me to declare that all that I have done and said, and all the visions and revelations I have had, were not from God, then that is impossible: I will not declare it for anything in the world. What God made me do I will never go back on; and what He has commanded or shall command I will not fail to do in spite of any man alive. That is what I mean by impossible. And in case the Church should bid me do anything contrary to the command I have from God, I will not consent to it, no matter what it may be. The Assessors Shocked and indignant. Oh! The Church contrary to God! What do you say now? Flat heresy. This is beyond everything, etc., etc. D’estivet Throwing down his brief. My lord: do you need anything more than this? Cauchon Woman: you have said enough to burn ten heretics. Will you not be warned? Will you not understand? The Inquisitor If the Church Militant tells you that your revelations and visions are sent by the devil to tempt you to your damnation, will you not believe that the Church is wiser than you? Joan I believe that God is wiser than I; and it is His commands that I will do. All the things that you call my crimes have come to me by the command of God. I say that I have done them by the order of God: it is impossible for me to say anything else. If any Churchman says the contrary I shall not mind him: I shall mind God alone, whose command I always follow. Ladvenu Pleading with her urgently. You do not know what you are saying, child. Do you want to kill yourself? Listen. Do you not believe that you are subject to the Church of God on earth? Joan Yes. When have I ever denied it? Ladvenu Good. That means, does it not, that you are subject to our Lord the Pope, to the cardinals, the archbishops, and the bishops for whom his lordship stands here today? Joan God must be served first. D’estivet Then your voices command you not to submit yourself to the Church Militant? Joan My voices do not tell me to disobey the Church; but God must be served first. Cauchon And you, and not the Church, are to be the judge? Joan What other judgment can I judge by but my own? The Assessors Scandalized. Oh! They cannot find words. Cauchon Out of your own mouth you have condemned yourself. We have striven for your salvation to the verge of sinning ourselves: we have opened the door to you again and again; and you have shut it in our faces and in the face of God. Dare you pretend, after what you have said, that you are in a state of grace? Joan If I am not, may God bring me to it: if I am, may God keep me in it! Ladvenu That is a very good reply, my lord. Courcelles Were you in a state of grace when you stole the Bishop’s horse? Cauchon Rising in a fury. Oh, devil take the Bishop’s horse and you too! We are here to try a case of heresy; and no sooner do we come to the root of the matter than we are thrown back by idiots who understand nothing but horses. Trembling with rage, he forces himself to sit down. The Inquisitor Gentlemen, gentlemen: in clinging to these small issues you are The Maid’s best advocates. I am not surprised that his lordship has lost patience with you. What does the Promoter say? Does he press these trumpery matters? D’estivet I am bound by my office to press everything; but when the woman confesses a heresy that must bring upon her the doom of excommunication, of what consequence is