The Trial of Jeanne D'arc

by Pierre Champion

— A Classic — Includes Active Table of Contents — Includes Religious Illustrations

A little over five hundred years ago there was a trial in the King of England’s military headquarters and capital in France—a trial that has become second in importance only to the Trial of Christ. The young woman who was examined, tried and condemned in that medieval, strong-castled town of Rouen has been the central figure of a whole literature of controversy. Shakespeare, Voltaire, Michelet, Schiller, Quicherat, Lang, Mark Twain, Anatole France, Frank Harris, Shaw, Paine and others far too numerous to mention have demonstrated by their writing about her that minds throughout the centuries from her time to the present find her as dynamic and challenging a figure as did the people of her own time.

Aeterna Press

Genres: History, Nonfiction

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Pierre Champion, 1880-1942

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no better way to understand Jehanne than by encountering her in person -- by reading her own words in the testimony she gave at her trial. No biography or novel can even come close -- and any one that fails to take her divine mission and her Counsel into account is really not about the actual Jehanne. The people who knew her best, who testified at the Trial of Rehabilitation, certainly understood this, as did the English who murdered her.

[Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but a little dry. While this is a fascinating (if heartbreaking) look at how Jehanne (that's how she spelled her name) was condemned, it also has to be taken with a pinch of salt. This trial was, after all, later declared not to be in keeping with ecclesiastical law, and it's pretty clear both from the letters prefacing the trial transcripts and sworn statements that she said the voices she heard were evil spirits who deceived her, honest she did, that the people running the trial had a vested interest in finding her guilty. If you have more of a passing interest in the Maid, there are probably other books that are more accessible.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was crucial for my final paper on Joan of Arc. Pierre Champion's translation is excellent.