After more than four months of proceedings, the court today announced its formal charges against Joan of Arc - lack of submission to the Church and the wearing of men's clothing.

The judges delivered speeches pronouncing her guilt from hastily erected platforms in the cemetery of Saint-Ouen near Paris. The accused woman interrupted occasionally in her own defense. After the speeches, Joan avoided a death sentence by abjuring - that is, by retracting many of her beliefs and agreeing to give up men's clothing. The judges pressed Joan to sign a prepared statement. In it, Joan agreed to never again wear men's attire and affirmed that her voices had misled her. In exchange, the court promised that Joan would be moved from her present place of confinement, a military prison where she is guarded by hostile Englishmen. Instead, she would serve a term in a church prison with women guards.