Wednesday, May 30, 1431

After Joan of Arc's death sentence was announced, Rouen buzzed in preparation for the spectacle, which was to take place at the Old Marketplace. Workers hammered platforms, and officials scribbled speeches trumpeting the righteousness of Joan's death by fire.

Judge Pierre Cauchon delivered the 19-year-old maiden to the executioner, who led her to the center of the Old Marketplace. As many as 800 armed soldiers guarded her.

The guards pushed back the crowd that had surged into town to watch the burning of this witch, their political and military enemy. Joan was tied to the stake above tight bunches of kindling, and the executioner ignited the blaze.

Death by burning is slow and gruesome, but Joan faced her ordeal with courage and faith in God. Her cries of faith and pleas for heavenly assistance rose clear and strong above the crackling flames and the noise of the crowd. As Joan died, the mood of the crowd changed. Some English observers wept with pity. One Englishman said that, at the moment Joan gave up her spirit, a white dove emerged from her body and took flight. Even the executioner said that he feared damnation because he had burned a holy woman.

Joan's captors feared her heroic reputation. They refused to give her a Christian burial and ordered her ashes thrown into the River Seine.