men of the university. This letter was followed up by two more letters from the university itself, one for Philip and another for Jean de Luxembourg; that to Jean expressed concern that there had been talk of Joan being ransomed, as indeed there had been. The two men were invited to hand her over for trial to the Bishop of Beauvais, ‘within whose diocese she has been apprehended’. Both the university and the bishop were to get what they wanted, but not in the manner that they wanted. The letters, dated 14 July, were brought to the Burgundian camp by Pierre Cauchon, who demanded that he handle Joan himself. Cauchon was determined to cope with a heretic who had defied his English masters and who was indirectly responsible for his being driven fom his see. He had an inducement for those whom he met: he could offer good English money, either a pension of 2,000–3,000 livres for Guillaume de Wandonne, the man-at-arms who had taken Joan prisoner, and 6,000 livres for his lord or, in Henry’s name, 10,000 francs ‘according to the right, usage and custom of France’. The terms made clear one fact that was bound to have a bearing on the trial: Joan was to be not a prisoner of the Church, but a prisoner of the English.
Jean de Luxembourg hesitated. He was in no hurry to give Joan up. He wanted cash and Bedford was short of cash. Bedford persuade the Estates of Normandy to grant an aide of 120,000 livres tournois , of which 10,000 was to ‘purchase . . . Joan the Maid, who is said to be a sorcerer, a warlike person, leading the armies of the Dauphin’; the cash, most of it in gold, had to be advanced by the English exchequer. Cauchon reported back to the Earl of Warwick that his negotiations were going well. Joan stayed with Jean, first at Clairoix near Compiègne, then at Beaulieu-les-Fontaines, near Noyon. At first her steward, Jean d’Aulon, attended her, but when she tried to escape from Beaulieu Castle, she was put alone into a tiny, dark cell. Eventually she was transferred to Jean de Luxembourg’s principal château at Beaurevoir, and it was there that she gained powerful friends in Jean’s wife, his wealthy aunt Jeanne and possibly his stepdaughter too. They tried to persuade her to wear women’s clothes; and the discussions that Joan had with the ladies has given the impression that this was a pleasant period for her. But while for Jean and the Earl of Warwick she was a counter worth bargaining for, to some of the French her value had vanished. Archbishop Regnault of Reims told his people peevishly that she ‘had not wanted to take advice, but to do everything according to her wishes’, and as for Charles, it may have been as a gesture of his admiration of her when in 1437 he entered Paris that he asked the devoted d’Aulon to walk beside him holding the bridle of his horse. In 1430 he may have thought of trying to help her, but he did nothing. There was in fact little he could do.
Joan jumped from the Beaurevoir tower, either as a bid for freedom or as a gesture of despair. Jean took no chances: he wanted his money. She was therefore sent under close guard to be imprisoned in the duke’s city residence, the Cour Le Comte at Arras. On 21 November the University of Paris wrote to congratulate King Henry that she was in his power and to ask that she be transferred into the custody of Cauchon and the Inquisitor. The request was premature – she was then only at Le Crotoy – and naive – the English had no intention of handing her over to anyone. Five weeks later she was already in Rouen. On 28 December Cauchon arranged to be conceded a territorial jurisdiction so that she could be tried as though in Beauvais; and on 3 January she was technically handed over to him by the English, technically because she remained an English prisoner. As a lawyer who had tried heretics once before (in 1426), Cauchon wanted to make the trial appear to be fair. Equally, the English lay authorities wanted only one result: her
Jean de Luxembourg hesitated. He was in no hurry to give Joan up. He wanted cash and Bedford was short of cash. Bedford persuade the Estates of Normandy to grant an aide of 120,000 livres tournois , of which 10,000 was to ‘purchase . . . Joan the Maid, who is said to be a sorcerer, a warlike person, leading the armies of the Dauphin’; the cash, most of it in gold, had to be advanced by the English exchequer. Cauchon reported back to the Earl of Warwick that his negotiations were going well. Joan stayed with Jean, first at Clairoix near Compiègne, then at Beaulieu-les-Fontaines, near Noyon. At first her steward, Jean d’Aulon, attended her, but when she tried to escape from Beaulieu Castle, she was put alone into a tiny, dark cell. Eventually she was transferred to Jean de Luxembourg’s principal château at Beaurevoir, and it was there that she gained powerful friends in Jean’s wife, his wealthy aunt Jeanne and possibly his stepdaughter too. They tried to persuade her to wear women’s clothes; and the discussions that Joan had with the ladies has given the impression that this was a pleasant period for her. But while for Jean and the Earl of Warwick she was a counter worth bargaining for, to some of the French her value had vanished. Archbishop Regnault of Reims told his people peevishly that she ‘had not wanted to take advice, but to do everything according to her wishes’, and as for Charles, it may have been as a gesture of his admiration of her when in 1437 he entered Paris that he asked the devoted d’Aulon to walk beside him holding the bridle of his horse. In 1430 he may have thought of trying to help her, but he did nothing. There was in fact little he could do.
Joan jumped from the Beaurevoir tower, either as a bid for freedom or as a gesture of despair. Jean took no chances: he wanted his money. She was therefore sent under close guard to be imprisoned in the duke’s city residence, the Cour Le Comte at Arras. On 21 November the University of Paris wrote to congratulate King Henry that she was in his power and to ask that she be transferred into the custody of Cauchon and the Inquisitor. The request was premature – she was then only at Le Crotoy – and naive – the English had no intention of handing her over to anyone. Five weeks later she was already in Rouen. On 28 December Cauchon arranged to be conceded a territorial jurisdiction so that she could be tried as though in Beauvais; and on 3 January she was technically handed over to him by the English, technically because she remained an English prisoner. As a lawyer who had tried heretics once before (in 1426), Cauchon wanted to make the trial appear to be fair. Equally, the English lay authorities wanted only one result: her
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