The Posthumous Declaration of Innocence
by: Allen Williamson
Click here for an article on the partisan nature of the original tribunal. |
The appellate court heard witness testimony at intervals from 16 December 1455 through 28 May 1456. In June the Inquisitor-General drew up
his final judicial analysis of the case, the nearly 200-page "Recollectio F. Johannis Brehalli". In this detailed
work containing some 900 citations from canon law and theology, he
refuted the charges and condemned the falsification of evidence, secular English manipulation of the trial
and English intimidation of dissenting tribunal members which had been described by the witnesses.
In part I ch. VIII he denounced the judge (Bishop Cauchon) for "...manifest malice
against the Roman [Catholic] Church and indeed heresy" after determining that the trial
had been an illegal process designed to execute an innocent person on behalf of a secular
government but nominally in the name of the Church. Consequently, in part I ch. IX he referred to Joan of Arc's
death as a martyrdom.
Under the rules of the medieval Church, a trial which was overseen by partisan
clergy or otherwise improperly conducted would be automatically null and void from its inception and the verdict
also under suspicion of invalidity, with or without a formal appeal. Such cases were
sometimes officially overturned after investigation, such as the twelve executions during the "Vauderie d'Arras" in 1459-1460
which were all declared invalid in 1491.
Joan of Arc's case received similar treatment. On 7 July 1456 the original verdict against her was
overturned.
These proceedings took place in the Archbishop's palace
in Rouen, beginning at nine o'clock in the morning. Seated at the head
of the Great Hall were the judges and commissioners for the case:
the Inquisitor-General of France, the Archbishop of Rheims, the Bishop of Paris, and
the Bishop of Coutances. Joan's aged mother Isabelle, weak and ill during most of the appellate
hearings, had lived long enough to see the conclusion, and her
brothers Jean and Pierre were also in attendance along with the family's advocates Pierre Maugier and
Guillaume Prévosteau, and the Promoter (prosecutor) Simon Chapitault. The rest of the hall was packed with clerks,
spectators, and clergy
including Martin Ladvenu, the Dominican friar who had received Joan of Arc's
final confession before her death, and Guillaume Manchon, who had served as the chief notary during the original
trial.
After the judges completed the preliminaries, the Archbishop
declared the case ended and the original verdict annulled. His lengthy speech included the following brief excerpt:
"...And carefully considering each and all of the other points which must be considered and scrutinized in this matter; seated in judgment and with eyes fixed only upon God, by this our definitive verdict which we hand down in this rescript while seated in judgment:
We state and pronounce, decree and declare the aforesaid trial and sentence - being filled with fraud, false charges, injustice, contradiction, and manifest errors concerning both fact and law - together with the aforementioned abjuration, execution and all that resulted, to have been, to be, and will be null, without effect, void, and of no consequence.
And notwithstanding, [i.e., despite the obvious invalidity] if there is any need to do so, we, as reason demands, hereby nullify, void, and annul them [the results of the original trial] and entirely strip them of all effect, declaring that the aforesaid Joan and her family the plaintiffs did not contract or incur any mark or stain of disrepute as a result of the abovementioned matter; and [also declaring] that she is and will be freed and cleansed from the aforementioned; and if such should be necessary, also completely exonerating her." [Translated from the original language printed in DuParc's "Procès en Nullité..." vol II p. 610]
A copy of the accusations made against Joan of Arc in 1431 was then ritually torn up.
After the verdict was announced in Rouen, the Inquisitor-General set off to inform Charles VII and the Pope. As he passed through Orléans, the citizens treated him to a banquet on 27 July 1456 during celebrations in the city in honor of his court's decision. The moment was important to the people of this city, which had held Masses and processions commemorating Joan's death every year since her execution, and had sponsored a religious play in her honor since c. 1435.
The declaration of Joan of Arc's innocence and the Inquisitor-General's description of her death as a
martyrdom echoed previous support for her in 1429 by many clergy such as the Archbishop of Embrun, the Inquisitor of Toulouse, several Bishops,
and the prominent theologian Jean Gerson as well as by many of the laity. The annual religious play at Orléans had already
been declared by the Church (in 1452) to be an event by which
the faithful could earn an indulgence from the penalty of sin, as if it were a pilgrimage site connected with a saint.
The appellate verdict also foreshadowed later developments. In the 16th century Joan of Arc became an icon of
the French Catholic League, although as with many other popular saints the formal beatification process was not initiated
until a few centuries later, in 1869. She was declared a saint on 16 May 1920.
Copyright © 2008, Allen Williamson. All rights reserved.