The text presented below has not been written by us. It was published originally by a French researcher on jeannedomremy.fr where its original French version can be found (please click the link). We are encouraging our Readers to study it as it presents yet another, interesting version of events of the story of Joan of Arc, this time setting Joan against the broader background of the international Church-politics and reformatory movements.
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In this chapter we will develop a hypothesis never proposed in regard to the story of Joan, the Maid of Orleans, be it by traditionalists of all stripes or even by our friends, the “mythographers”! (with the exception, perhaps, of Michel de Grèce who made a timid evocation in his novel, “Conjuration de Jeanne”).
Let us recall some facts related to the era concerned:
- We find ourselves at the time of the greatest schism to divide Christendom
- The preceding century witnessed the official end of the Temple [that is the suppression of the Knights Templar]
- The reform movements are flourishing, even if they are being “eradicated” by the Church as they went…
Official Catholicism is increasingly shaken by disputes at all levels. It is time for some to envisage another way, a reform then, without clashing head-on with the existing religious principles in the process, but to the contrary, in practicing the same politics of assimilation which had led the Church towards its former beliefs.
And to create this new movement, we will simply be inspired by what has worked for 15 centuries! One has presented the “Son of God” to seat the Christian religion, and also we are now going to create the “Daughter of God”… This aspect equally allows, and in our view it is the crucial point, giving back to woman a role within the religion. Not at all inevitably a dominant role but simply the importance she had at the start, equal as she was to man. Let us remember the misogyny declared by the founders of the Church who only saw women as being the responsible ones for all the ills of the world. St Augustine, one of the “Fathers of the Church” attributed to her the mild qualifier of “cesspool”…
It should be clarified that this term was never questioned in 15 centuries…
But whereas with Jesus, the Church had shaped its teaching a posteriori, the Gospels dating from nearly two centuries after the death of the “Messiah”, we will in the current case stick to the events, indeed clearly create them.
In this way we will be sure of not being able to be disputed!
We are going to choose from potential candidates for the role. At the cradle or almost… Necessarily from the young girls of very good families, but for whom birth can pose a problem. And must therefore remain humble.
For if bastards have a real social status (see the Bastard of Orleans, John of Dunois), it does not hold true for children born illegitimately. Recall that Isabeau of Bavaria is the official spouse of Charles VI, and that the children that she conceived not by the works of her husband were not at all bastards, but illegitimate children.
And if need be, we could subsequently re-write the circumstances of their birth by mixing the fantastic with the supernatural! Because to become a staunch Christian heroine, it is obvious that one can only be born of a couple, not only legitimate, but equally pious and poor, and preferably in winter in a poor hovel, in a “manger”, surrounded by shepherds and animals showing their joy… and of course on a Catholic feast day. So we are going to use some accomplices to describe the event, of course several years after its occurrence (see: the famous letter by Perceval de Boulainvilliers)!
Let us recall here that in the story of Jesus we give to his adopted father an insignificant manual trade, when in reality a “carpenter” of the time was simply an architect, and we forget to make it clear that Mary was of royal origin, descending from the line of David…
We find the same subterfuge in the story of Jeanne, to whose father we attribute the title of a “peasant” when he was actually a “farmer”, a government official collecting taxes, and a mother, Isabelle “Romée”, whom we describe as an unobtrusive peasant when in reality she was the daughter of John III, Count of Salm, of one of the richest families of Lorraine …
So the “coming” of Joan to Domremy is described at length in a letter that Perceval de Boulainvilliers had sent in 1429 to Jean Ange Marie, Duke of Milan! The latter had furthermore died fifteen years earlier, let us make it clear… The letter in Latin was found quite fittingly around 1820 and was immediately afterwards authenticated by traditionalists who currently use it to fix the date of the birth of the Maid at January 6, 1412 …
That said, it’s still necessary to know that if the letter judiciously sets the date to the day of the Epiphany (the day we celebrate the kings, in fact the end of the period of the 12 days of Christmas according to the Julian calendar current at the time), it does not specify the year of the occurrence of the facts…
It should be understood that illegitimate children were very numerous at that time… no contraception existed! So one has the choice of selecting, either in foster families to which they had been entrusted, or in monasteries or other religious institutions in which they had been placed in some sort of “quarantine”, from the kids (girls) having some intellectual qualities, as much as from a noble ancestry over some generations.
That these children were illegitimate did not prevent their parents from loving them deeply…
At a time when noble marriages were “arranged” from the youngest age of the children, it is clear that there was much more love in extramarital relationships than in legitimate unions…
Of course one cannot control every event, but with these girls perfectly trained (in a university manner, you could say), they are going to be able to adapt to all situations! And when more specific conditions arise, they will continue their adolescent education in the field concerned: and so Jeanne, after having received a high level of intellectual training, including, among others, language learning, rhetoric, history, diplomacy, writing, mathematics … she will train then in weapons practice, strategy, artillery command… A kind of commencing common-core syllabus, with various courses following in a special field…
It is obvious that in 1407 one could not predict the Treaty of Troyes. But from the time of its development and its conclusion (1419-1420), we will see Jeanne return to Domremy and go to re-join her adopted family, the Dailly’s (nicknamed either d’Arc or otherwise “the DuPont’s”). They will then be granted the Chateau de l’Isle, a fortress-property of the Bourlémont family (consequently the Salm family) built on a hill overlooking Domremy de Greux. An excellent way to put her in a safe place, and also and above all to discreetly teach her to become a soldier.
Poulangy and Novelompont will be able to enter the scene…
But who then is involved in this reformist movement? Michel de Grèce entitles his work on the Maid “La conjuration de Jeanne” (“The conspiracy of Jeanne”) without specifically naming the participants in this “conspiracy”. The author contents himself with naming the mastermind of the affair the “Epiphane”, a conversational pseudonym. At that time there were many unhappy with the official Church with its drifting and its excesses:
- Adherents of the Church of Avignon, of which Louis of Orleans was one of the pillars,
- Schismatics in general: it is reported that the mighty Chapter of Cannonesses of Remiremont had since 1404 pledged allegiance to the Pope of Avignon,
- The Franciscan Third Order,
- Occult movements, such as the ‘Bons Cousins Charbonniers’
- Guilds, such as the “Merchants of Saint Michael”
- Not forgetting of course the continuity of the Templar movement, of which the Grand Master had cursed the Pope until the thirteenth generation… These were the Scottish soldiers carrying the cross of the Temple which will assist Jeanne in her battles.
- Followers of Celtism, still alive in the country, the “tree of fairies” is a proof.
Let us recall that at Domremy-la-Pucelle the feast of the Maypole is still celebrated, a relic of a very ancient celebration, and the remains of a Celtic temple is found in the heart of “Bois Chenu”, which Jeanne of course could not ignore!
We see from this non-exhaustive review that there is a long list of those who could unite, consciously or not, to form an international coterie against the Pope in Rome.
But let’s also not forget in this panorama another factor of rebellion! The formation of a new middle class instead of the nobility… The Middle Ages were marked by the feudal system, in which, except for the nobility (and the Church), there was no salvation. Only “birth” is taken into account, at the expense of the intrinsic value of the individual. A nobleman, even if he were a moron, has every chance in life, the opposite of an intelligent commoner who will settle for subordinate work.
The nobility in charge of defending the people have failed in their task, and we see the army of the King of France, the jewel of the nobility, suffer annihilation at the hands of the humble English archers.
Then we witness the emergence of a new class, more desirous to trade than to fight, more open to international exchange despite the prohibitions by the Church (trade with Turks or Jews), interested in the arts, and which has the financial means to pursue its ambitions.
Finally, one of the architects of the “conspiracy” will be Sigismund of Luxembourg, Emperor of the Holy Empire, who takes a very dim view of the hegemonic position that the King of England will have if he also becomes the King of France… Then giving rise to a heroine of divine essence who is going to maintain divisions throughout the rest of Europe constitutes an excellent plan for this monarch…
We have in effect discovered that Sigismund I knew Jeanne well before her departure for her “divine” Mission… The firm Sotheby has indeed sold at auction in 2009 (for 1,600,000 pounds) a manuscript that belonged to the Emperor, embellished with three illuminations. The first showing the Emperor sending a letter to the Maid of Orleans, the second depicting Jeanne’s response, and the third the battle of Orleans…
Jacques Coeur will probably be one of the supporters of this “renaissance”!
And probably one of the pillars of this affair… Because we can and must wonder about the source of his fabulous wealth.
But let us not forget the role of women in the conspiracy!
The traditional Church, being chauvinist, is particularly opposed to women, who are creatures of Satan, responsible for the loss of Eden… They remain the “cesspool” of St Augustine, only good enough to bear children! But then we see women in Europe take top spot… The striking example is precisely that of Yolande of Anjou, the Queen of 4 Kingdoms, instigator and coordinator of the movement we describe.
Of course we are not forgetting Colette de Corbie!
The choice of a “Maid” then appeared less trivial, deliberate, to give women back their place in society which they should have never lost… Jeanne will learn to play the role of a man, of a combattant and we will look to her to erase the distinction in clothing!
Let us remember that all the women’s liberation movements have emphasised the dress code imposed by law, and that it is only very recently that the law prohibiting the wearing of trousers by women was repealed in France (31 January 2013).
We are writing about an international cabal, because it is clear that the challenge came from all over Europe! Equally then from the ranks of those whom the official history describes as English… We will then cast a wide net and unite all the protesters in a confidential network, even secret, closed, of which we will be able to admire the effectiveness in many episodes of the Johannine epic.
Indeed, while we see the disconcerting ease with which the escort accompanying Jeanne is going to get back to Chinon in a very short time (even if we strongly doubt the 11 days of the official account of this trip)…
And even if equally the “Golden Legend” which we are writing simultaneously evokes in us a treacherous path, in enemy territory, at night, with river crossings in flood in the middle of the month of February! It is necessary to give this expedition a miraculous connotation with biblical overtones …
No one can reasonably believe that a man burdened by his weapons and combat clothing could pass eleven flooded rivers by swimming at the coldest of winter, this is to imply that there had to be a miracle!
Perhaps the waters parted like for Moses, or else Jeanne could walk on water like Jesus would have done near Tiberias…
Which story will we write?
Well, we are simply going to be inspired by what has worked for centuries, the story of Jesus, narrated in the Gospels!
In another chapter we have already recalled the disturbing parallels between the life of Christ and that of Jeanne of which the main events were made to coincide. Up until the “ultimate sacrifice” which was foreseen long before! We are then going to make her be born in a dark little home, kind of a crib… And upon her arrival the roosters will crow… And the villagers will be the witnesses of miracles…
Moreover, right from the beginning of her adventure, Jeanne is capable of predicting that her epic would end soon, that she would not stay for long, that she will be betrayed and her life would end rapidly… She recounts only what we had foreseen as her destiny, but of course the legend makes her a visionary…
But how would you know all this, if not because it is written in advance? We have expected everything, and adapt the actions as we of the circumstances. We made her feed on bread and wine… Staged, or placed at the Last Supper? And if we make her speak in parables… probably she was trained in this from the start of her (religious) education to express herself in this way.
We are even going to “relate” (and embellish) the miracle of Lagny, but obviously this is only a fabrication, which sees her when a stillborn child is “resurrected”…
We let the historian Pierre Pilard speak:
“It is an inevitable phenomenon known to modern medicine, which is totally explained, but which remains very spectacular to observe. Following 3 days after death, very soon after what is called ‘rigor mortis’, the muscles relax and the body regains some flexibility. The ligaments and organs become soft (…) the body, relaxed, gives the real impression of a yawn, often accompanied by imprecise gestures of the body, taking place.” (“Chroniques de l’Histoire”, March 1989, page 27).The child from Lagny was never brought back to life! Immediately after this phenomenon he was baptized and buried in the church of Lagny.
But Jeanne must get to the final sacrifice, the “drinking from the cup to the sediment of the Gospels”… But of course without too much risk for the actress! We are going to then pursue the scenario up to the stake, with actors and extras, like in the movies. Because after the coronation one could totally stop, the main objective appearing to have been reached: the coronation of the “only true King of France”!
No, because this coronation is for the pioneering movement only an anecdote, an episode. And not an end in itself. Charles VII is a puppet that one directs and one can easily manoeuvrer him afterwards! He was soon provided as an assistant a pretty mistress at his disposal, so as to manipulate him through a third party… It should be remembered moreover that Charles is already the king since the death of his father in 1422…
The “Daughter of God” herself must “redeem” the sins of mankind, thus giving her own life, at least to deceive the common herd. Then one is going to organize her capture, trial and death!
Or rather to put the finishing touches to the scripts of the various episodes:
The capture:
Jeanne returns to Compiegne, a besieged city. And from there, she is going to organize a sortie of which it is not very clear what she can do from the strategic point of view, with a weak army, wearing a golden coat that would make her recognizable from far away, and which identifies her even to her “enemies”. And the gates of the city are reclosed, and the bells are made to ring with full force…
Jeanne and her escort are quickly surrounded and then Jeanne captured by a loyal supporter of the Count of Luxemburg, the Bastard of Wandonne.
But do you know that the Bastard of Orleans, Jean de Dunois, was also in Compiegne? Can you imagine him re-shutting the gates of the city behind the back of his “beloved” (his half-sister or his real sister … actually) without having a good, not even to say excellent, reason?
The question also arises of how Jeanne and her (weak) army had succeeded in breaking the siege of Compiegne in order to enter the city? And why, when she officially disobeyed the King, was she accompanied by the one who at the time was one of the most prominent figures of the realm.
Dunois, wasn’t he there to supervise the “arrest” phase?
One of the crucial points of the “Shepperdess” operation…
Because it is obvious that all that looks real, and above all that everything runs smoothly. A well-aimed (or rather poorly aimed!) crossbow bolt and the whole scenario falls apart… This is certainly why trustworthy men must lead the fight in which projectile weapons are not used (it is also said that it was an archer who brought her down from her horse, but by pulling her by her coat, that is with his bare hands!).
And all proceeds well, without any harm, neither for the one side nor for the other. Which is simply amazing in any combat like this. A battle for life, with major sword and spear strikes from both sides, we are told, in which no member of the escort is injured.
All the more so in the Golden Legend which tells us about Jeanne’s actions, we repeat that not wishing to kill her enemies, the Maid struck only with the flat of her sword…
But let us look a little into the profile of the person who would capture Jeanne, John II of Luxemburg-Ligny.
Just the name itself of the character should arouse the attention of our readers: Luxemburg-Ligny…
We saw in another article recalling the genealogy of Isabelle “Romée de Vouthon” that she had been, in her youth, the first lady companion of Joan of Luxemburg-Ligny, the aunt of the famous John II. In her castle of Ligny en Barrois, a small town in the current department of Meuse, not far from Domremy-La-Pucelle…
This famous Jeanne de Ligny who takes special care of the Maid after her capture! And to follow on in the same vein, let us point out that she was the godmother of the one who became the King Charles VII. Small family arrangements, one might say!
We can only recall again the links that seem to unite Jeanne to the Luxemburg family… The parchment miniatures of Sigismund leave no doubt as to the epistolary relationships established from 1428 between Jeanne and the Holy Roman Emperor, who himself was born of the Luxemburg family!
Let us summarize!
Jeanne was captured without being wounded during a useless but noisy sortie by a nephew and heir of a friend of her foster “mother”, the godmother of her King, with her dear Dunois not lifting his finger to defend her… But in the end we obtain a perfect parallel with the life of Jesus, as we find here all the evangelical ingredients:
– Betrayal, of which Guillaume de Flavy is later accused (Judas’ thirty denarii)
– Resignation on the part of Jeanne, who knows her imminent end (the bloody tears in the Garden of Olives, the distant chalice…)
– Heroine’s non-violence (“he who uses the sword, will die by the sword!”)
– At the moment of the sale of the “messiah”, she is handed over to the “high priest” Cauchon.
But after this event, a period of delay will ensue, which can be easily explained. News doesn’t travel quickly at this time, which suggests not to link up important events too quickly! It takes time to understand at all levels that the “Arrest” operation had been crowned with success.
And now that Jeanne has been taken without injury, the next episode must be realised, the “Judgement”, led by an accomplice, and the negotiations with the “English” party must commence. We must then stall by moving the heroine from castle to castle, by carefully making her avoid the risk of falling into the hands of real enemies. For it is obvious that not everybody knows all about it…
And while everything is settled, after several months of negotiations and consultations, we get to Rouen and the famous trial can then commence – before an ecclesiastical court of which some of the members are in on the secret.
The Trial
We are going to give considerable importance to the case. Which will go on forever, extraordinarily, while usually this type of charge is settled within a few days.
It’s necessary, to the contrary, to “mediatise” the trial. Let us remember that at that time it took a long time for information to spread, and a case concluded within about ten days would have not been memorable. Therefore we are going to drag out the trial, in the same way that we delayed after Jeanne’s capture, the time that the whole of Europe was told that the Maid of Orleans, the “Daughter of God” was now a prisoner and in the process of being judged.
And clearly, this trial is going to set up the ideal platform to express the views of the conspiracy… Our heroine is going to have the opportunity to clarify “her” doctrine, or rather that of God, her Father, and therefore to put things right as far papal supremacy is concerned! Naturally the “voices” are going to have to intervene to reply to specific points. And at such moments Jeanne is delaying, asking for more time, and postponing her replies for a week or two, the time for the return journey for a messenger who must get in touch with Angers, Orleans, perhaps Avignon…
Jeanne’s trial is going, then, to unfold in Rouen, and is going to involve nearly 120 people!
Today we are told that we know everything about this trial, thanks to the precious minutes that have been retained.
But we forget of course to state that these so-called original French “minutes”, are translations of Latin texts, which in their turn were translations from texts in old French, a tiny fraction of the original minutes… Because, remember, at the end of the trial of Rouen (which curiously does not carry a judgement of conviction) Bishop Cauchon retrieved all the written-up minutes of the notaries serving as court clerks, and left with them!
It will not be before next five years that the famous “minutes” finally reappear, edited and translated into Latin, even though the notes were taken in French… They are therefore no longer the “minutes” in the legal sense of the word…
The text is so misrepresented that the notary Manchon will refuse to countersign it!
And we easily understand it. A session bringing together nearly one hundred and twenty participants, spanning five months, auditioning numerous witnesses, comes out with a few pages of notes… (for proof, it is sufficient to visit the trial documents online).
We give our Readers below an example of what traditionalists call the “minutes” of the trial, the text having been taken from the site of the Abbey of St Benoit:
“FIFTH< SIXTH AND SEVENTH DAY
14, 15, 16 February 1431.
Preparatory Enquiry.
The following Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday by the Ministry of Master Jean de la Fontaine, Commissioner, assisted by two lawyers, proceeded with the said investigation”.
One can easily see that it is only about titles, devoid of any content … We have such a problem, such a procedural document, such an enquiry, but we never get the exact content!
While today we see a criminal trial unfold, we can notice the number of procedural documents and the volume they occupy! And in general this type of hearing lasts only a few days and brings together only around thirty participants, judges, jurors, prosecutor, court clerks and lawyers.
And to judge Jeanne in five months (from 9 January to 30 May 1431), with a multitude of clergymen, only about sixty pages were written?
We must point out in this article that the official doctrine has voluntarily chosen to “inflate” the original “minutes” document of the Rouen trial, in incorporating the sworn evidence from the said rehabilitation trial! Like the testimony of Hauviette for example, who nevertheless contradicted the official version as to the age of Jeanne…
It seems patently obvious that everything had been made to fit, rewritten, condensed. One can legitimately ask the question as to why such behaviour.
Unless of course we pursue our initial reasoning: The Gospels are also apocryphal texts (written between 150 and 200 years after the events they describe). We can then do the same, giving the starring role to the accused, the future martyr. And as in the story of Jesus, we can also “skim” it… There are only four gospels retained to constitute the New Testament, in the approximately sixty identified. In the Middle Ages, we are going to retain only what is judicious!
And one had blithely erased all parts related to the sexuality of the “Daughter of God,” as was done 13 centuries earlier for the “Son of God”, also an alleged virgin… Exit Mary Magdalene from the past… Welcome the Holy Virginity Anno Domini 1431!
But the real minutes actually existed. Maybe they have not disappeared to everyone?
However there remains a disturbing coincidence which nobody raised: The reappearance of “official minutes” corresponds with that of Jeanne in Lorraine… A “Resurrection” after all…
The “New Gospel” operation had to be completed with a final touch, the minutes of the trial, before returning the heroine back to civilian life.
The stake
As we have previously written, it is necessary to continue the parallel with Jesus, for the edification of the masses. It is therefore necessary to give the execution significant repercussions. To this end, there is only the stake available, crucifixion having already been used and no longer included in the arsenal of the Holy Inquisition, which constitutes a dignified torture of the “Daughter of God” and which had also the significant advantage… to make the body of the condemned disappear completely.
It is indeed necessary to have a particularly heinous and terrifying ultimate punishment. But the killing absolutely cannot take place according to the procedure described by traditionalist historians… nor even in the usual legal way!
Indeed, it was customary to strip the condemned, and to torture him before the execution, which of course will not happen in this case – for one cannot recognize a woman covered by a long dress with a hood concealing her face, it would have otherwise been easy for the witnesses, especially the soldiers present, to see that the naked body that had been tortured, bore no scars obtained in combat and well known as Jeanne’s…They hurry, therefore, to tie the “condemned” to the execution post.
The stake itself absolutely does not have the form shown throughout the iconography of Jeanne!
A medieval pyre actually consisted of a wooden pole, covered with plaster for fireproofing, stuck in the ground, to which the condemned was tied by a chain. The wood was piled up around that stake, either rounded or squared, up to the height of the head of the victim whose body thus disappeared from the sight of the spectators.
In this case, only the mitre and Jeanne’s covered face must therefore be visible. However, in the woodpile a side passage was carefully inserted to allow the executioner to access the post, when it was time to bind the victim. This passage was filled in with straw and firewood before igniting it.
It is said specifically in the “account” of the execution that the stake was abnormally high! This does not mean that the convicted was perched above ground, but simply that the woodpile measured more than usual height … Which means that the head of the victim could not even be visible.
According to the official version, it is the executioner himself who evokes the unusual height of the stake, which would have prevented the convicted from choking… But is it not the executioner himself who builds the same stake?… And how would he have done that in this case to tie the convicted? Find the mistake!
Straw and firewood placed at the bottom of the woodpile allowed for easy ignition. And to more easily manipulate the logs constituting the real wooden wall surrounding the victim, the executioner used a long-handled tool provided at its end with a spike and a hook. The spike allowed in most cases to kill the sufferer with a blow to his heart before setting fire to the stake.
The rapid emblazing of the firewood and straw enormously consumed the oxygen and quickly suffocated the victim if she had not actually been executed by the spike, or strangled at the same time when tied to the post.
When all the wood was burning, the executioner made the heap cave in towards the center, so as to ensure that the corpse would be completely consumed. And especially to prevent any relics from being taken away!
The condemned tied by the waist had obviously collapsed, the fire then completely covered the victim…
It is obvious that in these conditions it was possible to make anyone disappear! It is claimed that the executioner half opened the stake to let the body of a woman appear, but after a few minutes in a blaze, the body would be unrecognizable …
To the extent that the crowd was pushed behind rows of soldiers, it would have seemed difficult for a viewer to distinguish anything amid a blaze … On the contrary, if one wanted to ensure that viewers could notice that this was a woman who was burned that day, it seems obvious that it was much easier and convincing to show her to them before cremation rather than after. A body that spent a few minutes in a furnace is totally unrecognizable!
Who was burned that day (assuming of course that someone was actually burned that day) no one will ever know, much less to be able to access the personal archives of Bishop Cauchon…
Civil death
Let us remember that in the Middle Ages there was another penalty, called “civil death”.
An example: In 1379, Charles V sentenced Jean de Montfort, Duke of Brittany, to confiscation of his body and his property… But this decision alone was not enough for public condemnation, which required the pronouncement of an exemplary punishment. A public execution was needed in the form of the execution of his effigy. Consequently the state issued a fictional death sentence, and the one against whom the execution took place was reputedly already dead.
Wasn’t this procedure applied to Jeanne, by making do with burning her effigy? It is quite possible!
Gabriel Naude claimed that “the Maid was never burned except in effigy” in his books “Of the state and the business success of France – Paris 1570-1 – II – reign of Charles VI, ad ann.. 1427- 1430 and General History of the Kings of France – Paris in 1576 -1- XXI reign of Charles VII.”
This new hypothesis of a conviction to this civil death sentence fits perfectly with the course of history…
- The victim cannot be undressed and tortured, and for a good reason… she is not there!
- She cannot be strangled either …
- The stake is very high to mask the absence of the convicted,
- Or it seems to “swallow” the victim, who is absent …
- A placard is burnt bearing the grounds for the conviction …
- The victim loses her identity, since she is officially dead!
- Jeanne is no longer Jeanne, so why would she not become Claude?
- A person condemned to “Civil Death” has a 5-year period to reappear and be justified,
- The stake burned on May 30, 1431 …
- And Claude reappears… May 20, 1436! Slightly less than 5 years later…
It is also worth remembering that Jeanne seemed to have believed to the end, that she would be freed. Today her belief is interpreted as a belief in a “miracle” which would have seen her saved from death and liberated from her enemies. If however there was no “miracle” involved, than what else could explain her belief if not a plan agreed on earlier and a promise made in advance?
We must also recall the famous placard placed at the stake:
JEANNE WHO BECAME KNOWN AS THE MAID,
A LIAR, PERNICIOUS, DECEIVER OF PEOPLE,
A SOOTHSAYER, SUPERSTITIOUS,
BLASPHEMER OF GOD, PRESUMPTUOUS SLANDERER OF THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST,BRAGGER, IDOLATER, CRUEL, DISSOLUTE
INVOKER OF THE DEVIL, APOSTATE,
SCHISMATIC,
HERETIC AND RELAPSE
This panel that was attached to the stake and which burned perfectly matches the procedure of execution by effigy.
On page 228 of the “Treaty on civil death” by A.T. Desquiron we find the following explanation:
“So the image is in the execution of a criminal sentenced to death in absentia, which is done in the public square by the suspension of a board on which the conviction is written”.
And the process continues!
From the pyre of the consumed wood, the creative enterprise of the “new gospel” can continue: Jeanne asked for and obtained a cross she held on her bosom; a dove was seen flying from out of the fire; She died shouting the name of Jesus; the soldiers cried; the executioner was moaning about his fate, convinced that he had just burnt a saint…
Some will venture to go so far as to talk about her heart remaining intact, that it had been recovered from under the ashes! One more miracle! Let us recall the anecdote of “real remains of Jeanne”, recovered in the stake, authenticated by the bishop of Tours, but fortunately analyzed by Professor Charlier, who scientifically established that it was the remains of an Egyptian mummy and of a cat…
We have, on the other hand, some questions in regard to the non-consumed heart of the heroine miraculously recovered from under the stake … For us this anecdote probably carries some truth… Not regarding the recovery after the extinguishment of the blaze of course, but more prosaically in regard to the preserved organ…
Recall that for us, if Jeanne had been assassinated much later (around about 1451), her body would have had to have been broken into three parts… (Dilaceratio corporis)
The intestines were buried in the village where her murder took place, the body in the church of Pulligny, and the heart probably preserved as a relic… or else now deposited under the choir of a famous cathedral, who knows…?
In the chapter of the hypotheses, we must also recall that there is still a statue of Joan on horseback, part of which can be dismantled to expose a cavity, presumably to accommodate a relic…
Some explanations regarding the statue:
“A curious detail, but whose explanation escapes us, is reported. The left leg of the statue is cut obliquely below the knee and spreads out via a hinge under the horse’s belly, to open up a practical cavity. This cavity presumably contained relics, unless there was no object, from the Maid herself, and as such was surrounded by public veneration. This object, whatever it was, disappeared without any tradition to preserve the memory”.
One can briefly wonder about the discretion of some museums which preserve in their reserve collections many Johannine souvenirs…! Like the hat in the Musée Lorrain of Nancy, or the carved facial profile on wood at the Cour d’Or in Metz…
Thus the New Gospel process continues…
And all the preceding information will be passed on, certainly even before the execution, through the networks, Franciscans and others. And as our historians are scarcely curious, all this nonsense will be happily repeated and become the very substance of their convictions… However, from the extinguished stake, doubt sets in…
But the official history nowadays pays no attention to that.
This means that the “conspiracy” at the start of the Joan of Arc case succeeded, but with a few centuries’ delay, to create a deceptive story of a poor shepherdess inspired by God, who goes off to make war and to give her life for the salvation of her motherland.
But back to the time immediately following the stake.
So Jeanne was very much alive but she could not reappear for some time, the time required to develop the conditions for her “resurrection”
So what became of her?
One hypothesis is that she remained hidden in Rouen for a few months.
A second line sees her travel to the castle of Montrottier, a fortress in which she remains imprisoned until her reappearance in Lorraine.
A third has her waging war for the Pope in Italy …
And a fourth sees her stay in the Abbey Clairefontaines (near Arlon) after its acquisition by Jean of Luxembourg.
But presumably there are other possibilities, such as a stay abroad, in Luxembourg or Scotland!
Roger Senzig in his book “Jehanne la Pucelle et ses secrets” (“Joan the Maid and her secrets”) recalls the discovery he made of a document preserved in the General Archives of the Kingdom of Belgium referring to the regulation of wages of a mason who fitted out a room at the Château d ‘Arlon for Jeanne. The text suggests that in 1436, there was a second stay by the Maid there, and that she had previously lodged in Arlon between 1431 and 1434.
But we have not yet sufficiently studied all these hypotheses to deliver our opinion today, but we envisage that the solution must represent a mixture of all that.
In conclusion, we see that in the Middle Ages an inspiring story developed to establish another religion, or rather to redevelop or redirect the Catholic religion towards its original bases. Which denied neither the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene… nor the emergence of their progeny…
It is not our intention to follow the progress of this endeavour beyond the period related to the topic of this website. We simply indicate that Rene of Anjou, by his lifestyle, will announce the Renaissance and that Charles VII in 1438 will promulgate the “Pragmatic Sanction” that will drastically reduce the powers of the Pope.