al still exists upon a roll of parchment
fairly written, nine feet in length, with the evidence of eighty-seven
witnesses. The canons laid down (1) their right to the pardon; (2) its
origin in the miracle of St. Romain, who "prinst et mist en subjection
un grant serpent ou draglon qui estoit environ Rouen"; (3) the
sacredness with which this commemoration should be preserved; (4, 5,
6, 7, 8) the various details of the formality to be observed from the
"insinuation," the suspension of all capital punishment till
Ascension, the visiting of the prisons, and the choice of the
criminal, to the public procession; (9, and most important) the
prisoner is pardoned for every crime he confesses to the canons, not
only the one for which he is then in prison, but all previous ones; he
is restored to his heritage and his good fame; and all his accomplices
in sin are to enjoy the same full pardon (with its consequences) as
himself.

[Footnote 37: Her exact words were carefully recorded by the horrified
confrerie: "Ha! faux traitre, meurdrier, tu as pris le fait sus toy,
pour delivrer autruy; tu t'en repentiras. Je pri a dieu et a
Monseigneur Saint Romain que tu faches encore le fait de quoy tu saies
trainne et pendu."]

[Illustration: THE RUE DU HALLAGE]

It had been recognised as early as 1269 that all previous crimes were
pardoned, for the act of pardon granted by the bailli to Nicole
Lecordier in that year speaks of him as "delivre franc et quite de
tous forfes ... quielz qil soient, del tens en arriere jusques au jor
dui." And by 1446 the charter of Charles VII., which is still
preserved in the archives of the Cathedral, announces in May of that
year that the prisoner who raises the Fierte "est absolz du cas pour
le quel il l'a levee et de tous crismes precedents." So that we reach
the astonishing proposition that the Chapterhouse of Rouen enjoyed a
far greater power than even the royal prerogative of mercy, which only
pardoned a specified crime; whereas the Chapterhouse by a kind of
baptism and regeneration from sin, started their prisoner afresh on a
new life without any reference to his past misdeeds. What this
involved I shall show when opportunity arises; but the release of the
accomplices as well as the prisoner was an even more extraordinary
extension of powers. It had already taken place before this test case,
in a tavern brawl in 1370, in the crime of two drapers in 1356, and in
a very important example when Guillaume