How long did Joan of Arcs trial last?
Including the preliminaries, Joans trial lasted about 4 or 5 months during which she lived in a prison cell chained up and guarded by rough English soldiers. The English put pressure on Cauchon, the bishop in charge of the trial, to speed things up but Cauchon wanted to create a legal basis for killing her, probably to protect himself with the Church. The difficulty that he had in doing so is seen in the records from the trial. Cauchon did not expect her to do as well as she did in defending herself against his handpicked judges so he used every trick he could to concoct charges against her. When this trial was overturned and nullified by the Church twenty years later it was Cauchon who was accused of heresy for his part and Saint Joan who was declared to be a martyr. You can read the complete trancripts of Joan of Arc’s Trial here at MaidOfHeaven.com.
