She
struggled, but was obliged to give up; and so the Maid of Orleans was
taken prisoner.
Joan was first taken to the quarters of John of Luxembourg. Her prison
was changed many times, but the English were eager to have her in their
own power. In November John of Luxemburg sold her to them for a large
sum of money. When she was in his prison she had tried twice to escape.
She could not try now; she was put in the great tower of the castle of
Rouen, confined between iron gratings, with irons upon her feet. Her
guards offered her all kinds of rudeness, and even John of Luxembourg
was so mean as to go and rejoice over her in her prison.
It would have been a cruel thing to put her to death as a prisoner of
war; but those were dark days, and such things were often done. The
desire of the English was to hold Joan up to public scorn as a witch,
and to prove that she had dealings with the devil. With this wicked
object, they put her on her trial. They found Frenchmen ready enough to
help them. One Canchon, bishop of Beauvais, even petitioned that the
trial might be under his guidance. He had his desire; he was appointed
the first judge, and a hundred and two other learned Frenchmen were
found ready to join him.
Before these false judges Joan of Arc was called--as simple a girl as
she was when, just two years before, she left Domremy. All that malice
and rage could do was done against her. She was alone before her
enemies. Day after day they tried hard to find new and puzzling
questions for her; to make her false on her own showing; to make her
deny her visions or deny her God.
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