Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-05-12
The Maid OF Orleans.

AT daybreak on the 30th of May,
1431, priest entered the cell of a
young woman at Rouen, and an
nounced that he was come to prepare
her for death. Not that the prisoner
was ill-she was young, healthy, and
in the full possession Of her faculties.
The death she was to suffer was a vi
olent one-she was to be burned
alive. Burned alive at onc-and-twen-
ty! What could the poor wretch
have done? She had shivered the
power Of the English in France; she
had, by means Of an enthusiasm
which rendered her obnoxious to the
clergy, reused the French nation
from the torpor into which it had
been thrown by the stunning blows
dealt to it by Henry V. of England,
and she had dared to thwart the pur-
poses and brave the anger of vindic-
tive churchmen like the Bishop of
Beauvais, and the Bishop of Win
chester, Cardinal Beaufort. The pris-
oner's name was Jeanne Dare, OF as
She has been more commonly but
enormously called, Joan of Arc
The priests announcement took the
poor maiden entirely by surprise. A
week before she had been led out IN
to a public place in Roucn, and COM
PEELED, i'll moment of weakness,
when surrounded by enemies, and
not one kindly face among the
crowd, and under circumstances of
great excitement, to sign a document
disavowing and solemnly abjuring
certain charges of heresy which had
been preferred against her; and she
had been told on that occasion that
her life would now be spared, though
she must resign herself to sentence
of perpetual imprisonment. The ex-
cuse for breaking faith with the poor
girl was this: that since her abjura-
ton she had said that st. Catherine
and St. Margaret, with whom she as
serted she was frequently in direct
communication, had appeared to her,
and rebukcd her for her weakness in
yiel ding to the threats of Violence
On first hearing the announcement
of the priest, Jcanne's firmness gave
way; she wcpt, and gave vent to pit
eous cries, tore her hair, and appeal
ed to "the great Judge" against the
cruel wrongs done to- her; and by
degrees her selfpossession returned,
and she listened to the ministrations
OF the priest, received the last sacra-
mcnt from him, and announced her.
self ready to submit to the will of
Heaven.
At o'clock in the morning she
was carried away in the hangman's
cart to the market-placc in Rouen,
where had been already laid the fun
eral pyre on which the young victim
was to be sacrificed. The Bishop of
Beauvais, Cardinal Beaufort, and
several other prelates, with the Eng
lish military commanders, were there,
and 4 vast crowd had come out to
see the "Maid of Orleans" die. In
the center of the market-placc, about
the spot where now stands fount
ain surmounted by figure of Jeanne
Dare, the stake was reared, and
around it were piled the taggots.-
Soldiers guarded the place of ex-
ecution. The ceremonial of death
was begun on that beautiful May
morning by a sermon in which the
crime of heresy was vehemently de-
nounced then the sentence pro-
nounced by the shepherds of the
flock upon the eve lamb before them
was published, and the signal was
given to proclaim the last act of the
tragedy. \ soldiers staff was bro
ken, and formed into a rough cross,
which "thc Maid" clasped to her
breast. She was then bound to the
stake, the faggots were lighted, the
fire leaped up around her; and, after
suffering the agony indispensable to
death by burning, her spirit returned
to God who gave it. The English
Cardinal watched the whole proceed.
ings with unmoved face; and when
his victims life was beyond his reach
he ordered her ashes and bones to be
gathered up, and to be cast into the
Seine.