d of the Church, and treating Joan of Arc
as a heretic and witch, the rules of war could be laid aside. What no
civilised body of men could do, namely, kill a prisoner of war, that
thing could be done in the name and by the authority of the Church and
its holy office; and in the Bishop of Beauvais, the inexorable
Cauchon, Bedford had the tool necessary to his hand whereby this
dastardly plot could be carried out.

The first move that Bedford now was obliged to take was to secure the
victim; and in order to do so the Bishop of Beauvais was applied to.
The name of Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, will go down to the
latest posterity with the execration of humanity, for the part he
played in the tragedy of the worst of judicial murders of which any
record exists. Let us give even the devil his due. According to
Michelet the Bishop was 'not a man without merit,' although the
historian does not say in what Cauchon's merit consisted. Born at
Rheims, he had been considered a learned priest when at the University
of Paris; but he had the reputation of being a harsh and vindictive
opponent to all who disagreed with his views, within or without the
Church. He was forced to leave Paris, in 1413, for some misconduct. It
was then that Cauchon became a strong partisan of the Duke of
Burgundy. It was through the Duke that he obtained the See of
Beauvais. The English also favoured Cauchon, and obtained for him a
high post in the University of Paris. When the tide of French success
reached Beauvais, in 1429, Cauchon was obliged to escape, and found
shelter in England. There Winchester received him with cordiality.
While in England, Cauchon became a thorough partisan of the English,
and the humble servant of the proud Prince-Cardinal. Winchester
promised Cauchon preferment, and, when the See of Rouen fell vacant,
recommended the Pope to place Cauchon on its throne. The Pope,
however, refused his consent, and the Rouen Chapters would hear naught
of the Anglicised Bishop. At that time the Church at Rouen was at war
with the University of Paris, and did not wish one of the members of
that University placed over it.

Joan of Arc's place of capture happened to be in the diocese of
Beauvais, and although Cauchon was now only nominally Bishop of
Beauvais, he still retained that title. Cauchon now placed himself,
body and soul, at the disposal of the English, hoping thereby sooner
to obtain the long-coveted Archbishopric of Rouen in exchange