Below is a partial list and summary of some of the English records
documenting their financing of the trial and Joan's transfer, plus
documents sent by the judges and assessors acknowledging
English payment for their services. These 17 documents should suffice
as a sample of the records which corroborate the later
testimony of
those who took part in the trial.
In the first category we have several documents detailing English efforts to raise and pay out
the money that had been promised to John of Luxembourg as a reward for Joan's transfer;
this group includes the following:
The partisan leanings of the judges and assessors are also well
documented. The French members are known to have been
supporters of the Burgundian faction, and the chief judge,
Pierre Cauchon, was additionally a paid advisor for the English
occupation government. A few of those who took part - such as Henry
Beaufort, William Haiton, William Brolbster, and John Hampton - were
native Englishmen.
Cauchon's attempt to portray himself as a non-partisan and orthodox
defender of the Faith - after bribing Church officials at Constance
and the many other dubious activities carried out for his faction -
is a bit of propaganda which has gained an undeserved measure of currency in modern times,
via the movies and paperback books on the subject. Historians, on the
other hand, have long viewed Cauchon for what he was: descriptive
phrases such as "a renegade" and "a revolutionary
prelate" have often been used.
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Copyright © 2002, Allen Williamson. All rights reserved.
Also included below are some of the English documents concerning
the chief judge, Pierre Cauchon.
- Two of these, dated September 3rd and 14th, 1430, and
issued by two of Henry VI's officials in Normandy (his treasurer Sir
Thomas Blount and receiver-general Pierre Surreau) give a detailed
summary of the tax levied on territories in English-occupied Normandy to cover the costs of,
quote, "the purchase of Joan the Maiden" as well as to cover English military expenses; the
second of the two letters includes several pages of entries showing
the amount levied from each village in two districts (the Viscounties
of Argentan and Exmes) under English occupation. Copies of these two letters
were included in a third English document, issued on September 20th
by Edward Apparvel, Esleu [tax official] of Argentan, Exmes, Domfront and St-Sylvain.1
- Another pair of letters, one from Blount dated October 24th, 1430, the other from
the treasury official John Bruce on December 6, 1430, document the
next step in the process of covering the money paid out to "obtain
Joan, who calls herself the Maiden."2
In the second category are a much larger group of documents which detail English
payments to Cauchon, Courcelles, Beaupère, Midi, and other men who took part in the trial, some
of which are as follows:
- In one dated January 31, 1431, Cauchon himself acknowledges having received 765 livres-Tournois
from the English officials mentioned in the above documents, as payment to reimburse him for
his previous negotiations to secure the purchase of "Joan, whom people call the
Maiden" as well as for other services rendered to Henry VI's government during that
time, for a period of "153 days" from May 1, 1430 through the end of September 1430.3
- On March 1, 1431, the English government [in Rouen, which is where Henry VI himself was located
at that time] issued a document detailing payments given to several of the
assessors (Beaupère, Touraine, Midi, Maurice, Fueillet, and Courcelles); the sum of 20 sous-Tournois per day was paid out by Thomas Blount
to each of these men for the time they had spent thus far serving at Joan's trial.4
- In a document dated March 4, 1431, the above assessors confirmed receipt of this payment,
for their services in the trial, quote, "against this woman, who has named herself Joan the Maiden".5
- On April 2, 1431, there's a document from Henry VI's Council to Sir Thomas Blount, ordering
that a payment of 30 livres-Tournois (in addition to the daily salary mentioned above) should be
given to Beaupère for efforts in "the trial of Joan who calls herself the Maiden".
Henry (or rather his regent) makes note of the men whom
"We had summoned to this aforesaid town [Rouen]" in order to conduct
the trial; similar sentiments are expressed concerning "Our very dear and beloved
daughter the University of Paris", the pro-English institution, stocked
with Anglo-Burgundian clergy, which had dutifully called for the trial
to be initiated.6
- A document dated April 9, 1431 acknowledges payment given to the same assessors
(120 livres-Tournois in addition to the 240 livres-Tournois they received over a period of
40 days) for their efforts against "this woman who has named herself Joan the Maiden".7
- On April 14, 1431, Henry VI's Council authorized Thomas Blount to make a payment of
20 saluts to Jean LeMaistre for his assistance to "Our beloved and loyal counselor the
Bishop of Beauvais" [Cauchon] in the trial of "Joan, who calls herself the Maiden".8
- On April 21, 1431, Henry VI's Council told Blount to make a payment of 25 livres-Tournois
each [total: 100 livres-Tournois] to Beaupère, Touraine, Midi, and Fueillet for their role in the
trial "touching upon the case of the one who calls herself Joan the Maiden".9
- On April 22, 1431, Blount sent a letter forwarding the terms of
the above order (April 21st) on to Surreau.10
- On April 27, 1431, Blount forwarded the order on the 14th to Surreau.11
- On June 6, 1431, Henry VI's government authorized payment to Guillaume Erard of 20
sous-Tournois for every day that he had spent at the trial against
"this woman who used to name herself Joan the Maiden".12
- On June 8, 1431, Erard confirmed receipt of the above, which totaled 31 livres-Tournois
for 31 days from May 6 through June 5 (as the Condemnation transcript itself says, the assessors
were still wrapping things up after her death - in fact the last section of the transcript was not
submitted until June 8th) for his role in the trial of "this woman who used to name herself
Joan the Maiden".13
- On June 12th, 1431, Beaupère, Midi, Maurice, and Courcelles acknowledged receipt of
102 livres-Tournois which was still owed to them [15 l.t. to Beaupère,
28 to Midi, 22 to Maurice, 37 to Courcelles] for their role in the
trial of "this woman who used to call herself Joan the Maiden".14
The life history of Pierre Cauchon is a good example of the
partisan nature of the French members of the tribunal.
In 1413 he had been
among the Burgundians who encouraged the Cabochien Revolt in
Paris, inciting the revolutionary mobs to carry out assaults on
Armagnac noblemen and their assets in the city. For these
actions, Cauchon was exiled as punishment after pro-Armagnac troops
restored order.15
In the direct service of the Duke of Burgundy, in 1415 he was sent to the Council of Constance to
prevent the clergy there from ruling against Jean Petit, who had
defended the Burgundian assassination of Duke Louis of
Orleans: by an order dated July 26th of that year, the Duke of Burgundy
gave Cauchon eight large barrels of fine wine to use as a bribe in order
to insure that the Council ruled correctly on the Jean Petit matter.16
In 1420 Cauchon helped negotiate the important Treaty of Troyes which made
Henry V of England the heir to the French throne.17
Cauchon was rewarded for this service by being secured election as
Bishop of Beauvais on September 4, 1420 with the help of his fellow
Burgundians.18
He was then brought in as an advisor
to the English occupation government in Normandy, paid 1,000 livres a year
for this position.19
His name therefore turns up in numerous English government documents from
this period, such as the letter sent by Henry VI's council on April 8, 1429
in which Cauchon is referred to as "Our beloved and loyal counselor
the Bishop of Beauvais"20;
in a letter from Henry VI's
government in April of 1426, where we find him among those present
when the decree was issued;21
and in another such decree by Henry VI's government on September 27, 1426
where Cauchon is again listed;22
likewise in a decree issued on December 21, 143123
and so forth.