Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/392

 376 POLITICAL HERESY.— THE STATE. mg abandoned it. Then, seeing that she was obstinate, the masters of the University delivered her to the secular arm to be burned, and when she saw herself in this strait she called on the devils, but after she was judged she could not bring them by any invo- cation. She then thought better of it, but it was too late. The reverend orator added that there were four of them, of whom we have caught three, this Pucelle, and Peronne and her companion, and one who is with the Armagnacs, named Catharine de la Ro- chelle, who says that when the host is consecrated she sees won- ders of the highest secrets of the Lord.* This last allusion is to certain imitators of Joan. The impres- sion which she produced on the popular mind inevitably ]ed to imitation, whether through imposture or genuine belief. The Pe- ronne referred to was an old woman of Britanny who. with a com- panion, was captured at Corbeil, in March, 1430, and brought to Paris. She not only asserted that Joan was inspired, but swore that God often appeared to her in human form, with a white robe and vermilion cape, ordering her to assist Joan, and she admitted having received the sacrament twice in one day — Frere Richard being the person who had given it to her at Jargeau. The two were tried bv the I miversitv ; the vounger woman recanted, but Peronne was obstinate, and was burned September 3. Catharine de la Rochelle was another of the protegees of the impressionable Frere Richard, who was much provoked with Joan for refusing to countenance her. She came to Joan at Jargeau and again at Montfaucon in Berri, saying that every night there appeared to her a white woman clad in clot h-of -gold, telling her that the king would give her horses and trumpets, and she would go through the cities proclaiming that all who had money or treasure should bring it forth to pay Joan's men, and if they concealed it she would discover all that was hidden. Joan's practical sense was not to be allured by this proposition. She told Catharine to go home to her husband and children, and on asking counsel of her Voices was told that it was all folly and falsehood. Still, she wrote to the king on the subject and accepted Catharine's offer to exhibit to her the nightly visitant. The first night Joan fell 105. — Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris, an 1431.
 * Le Brun de Charmettes, IV. 238-40.— L'Averdy, p. 239.— Monstrelet, IL