@brianjakub,
Once again, you display your ignorance. The "trial" at Rouen was hopelessly flawed. The bishop who presided, Cauchon, was from Paris and not Rouen, so by the rules of the Office of the Holy Inquisition, he had no right to preside or to convene a court. Of all of the charges and specifications brought against her, the only one he could make stick was opposition to the Church Militant (the church on earth, as opposed to the Church Triumphant, the church in heaven). That was because she wore men's clothing. However, Augustine of Hippo had already decreed, more than a thousand years earlier, that women could wear men's clothing to preserve their chastity. An ignorant and illiterate girl, Jeanne was by no means stupid. In the course of that kangaroo court trial, she made the point that she had worn men's clothing to preserve her chastity. She was a match for Cauchon, too. When he asked her if the Archangel Michael had appeared to her naked, she laughed and asked him if he thought God could not afford to clothe his saints and angels. It was not the church which tried, condemned and executed Jeanne--it was the English and the Burgundians. Of course, the church never executed the condemned, that was always performed by the civil authority.
Twenty-five years later, on appeal, a second tribunal was convened, and in 1456, she was vindicated, and Cauchon (dead by then) was convicted of heresy for trying, condemning and handing over for execution, an innocent woman for a secular purpose and for personal gain. So, in fact, the church was not responsible.
Jeanne was obviously deluded. However, in the 15th century, those who claimed they had heard voices were not considered insane, although they might be thought to have been deceived. The English, of course, claimed she was deceived--and in fact, took it a step further, and said she was the handmaiden of Satan. That sort of propaganda, however, could backfire, and did at
les Tourelles. Wounded in the afternoon assault on the
Boulevard, Jeanne was carried from the field, with the English jubilant, and the French cast down. But when she returned to the attack shortly thereafter, the French were almost frantic in their assault, and many of the English were convinced that the limb of Satan had come to dance them down to Hell, and so threw down their weapons and attempted to flee, or surrendered.
It is my personal opinion that she was a man born into a woman's body. She demonstrated again and again that she was a canny tactician and she was naturally a great leader of men. Deluded though she may have been, she was effective. That was why she was betrayed to the Burgundians, and why Cauchon, a bishop in Paris, then held by the English, was tapped to conduct the kangaroo court that convicted her.
Although it is largely summary, a good account can be found in
Jeanne d'Arc, Régine Pernoud and M.-V. Clin. This has been translated into English, and should be available at any good library. I was able to purchase it about 17 or 18 years ago.
For once, educate yourself rather than pretending to know what you obviously do not know.
If you think that the 'hold' religious mythology has over large parts of humanity is a simple matter,that would account for that piece of advice.
