Execution
On May 28, Joan recanted her previous abjuration, donned men's apparel once more, and was accused of relapsing into heresy. The chief trial notary later said: "she was asked why she had readopted this male clothing, to which she replied that she had done it for the protection of her virginity, for she was not secure while wearing female clothing with her guards, who had tried to rape her, which she had complained about many times to the Bishop and Earl; and that the judges had promised her that she would be placed in the custody of, and in the prisons of, the Church, and that she would have a woman with her ; additionally saying that if it would please the lord judges to place her in a safe location in which she would not be afraid, then she was prepared to readopt female clothing".
The trial bailiff, Jean Massieu, remembered that in the end the English guards gave her no other choice but to put the male clothing back on: "When she had to get out of bed... she had requested of these Englishmen, her guards: 'Unchain me, so I can get up'. And then one of these Englishmen took away the female clothing which she had, and they emptied the sack in which the male clothing was, and tossed this clothing upon her while telling her, 'Get up'; and they put away the female clothing in the aforementioned sack. And, as she said, she put on the male clothing they had given her, saying, 'Sirs, you know this is forbidden me: without fail, I will not accept it.' But nevertheless they wouldn't give her anything else, so that she continued in this argument with them until the hour of noon; and finally, she was compelled by the necessity of the body to leave the room and hence to wear this clothing; and after she returned, they still wouldn't give her anything else regardless of any appeal or request she made of them."
She was declared "relapsed", giving the court nominal justification to have her executed. "Only those who had relapsed – that is, those who having once adjured their errors returned to them – could be condemned to death by a tribunal of the Inquisition and delivered for death."
On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at the Old Marketplace in Rouen.
Read more about this topic: Trial Of Joan Of Arc
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