32 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Threat of 

 Torture 



The 



Heroic 



Spirit 



The 

 Sentence 



bishop accordingly sunimoued a public nieetiug of the 

 judges to be held in the chamber near the Great Hall. 

 On that occasion sixty -two judges were present. A cele- 

 brated doctor of theology, a man of great eloquence, pre- 

 sented the case and sought to break down Joan's will. 

 The bishop admonished her that if she did not obey the 

 advice given she would jeopardize her body and soul. 

 He said all faithful Christians must conform to the church, 

 and after arguing at length closed by saying that by not 

 conforming to the holy church she placed herself in the 

 power of the church to condemn and burn her as a 

 heretic. She boldly answered : ' ^ I will not say aught 

 else than I have already spoken, and were I even to see 

 the fire I should say the same. ' ' 



Then threat of bodily torture was tried. Joan was 

 taken into the inquisitorial chamber, where ranged round 



the circular walls were all the instruments of torture. 

 Bishop Cauchon, after an exhortation, said: "Now, 

 Joan, if you refuse to speak the truth, you will be put to 

 the tortm-e. You see before you the instruments pre- 

 pared, and by them stand the executiouei-s ready to do 

 their office at our command. You will be tortured in 

 order that you may be led into the way of truth, and for 

 the salvation of body and soul, which you by your lies 

 have exposed to so great a peril." Here was the severest 

 test she had been exposed to. But her course rose to the 

 moral sublimity of the Cliristian martyr. She said : 

 " Even if you tear me limb from limb, and even if you 

 kill me, I will not tell you anything further. And even 

 were I forced to do so, I should afterwards declare that 

 it was only because of the torture that I had spoken 

 differently." 



An elaborate sentence by her judges was pronounced 

 against her. This is part of it : 



Apostate after having cut her hair short, ^vhich was given her by 

 God to hide her head with, and also having abandoned the dress of a 

 woman for that of man ; vicious and a soothsayer, for saying without. 



