een instituted with a political
motive; its object was to make known that Jeanne had come to the aid
of the King of France not by devilish incitement, but by celestial
inspiration. Consequently in order that divine wisdom might be made
manifest in her she must be shown to have had no wisdom of her own. On
this string the examiners were constantly harping. On every occasion
they drew from the witnesses the statement that she was simple, very
simple. _Una simplex bergereta_,[62] says one. _Erat multum simplex et
ignorans_,[63] says another.

[Footnote 62: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 20.]

[Footnote 63: _Ibid._, p. 87.]

But since, despite her ignorance, this innocent damsel had been sent
of God to deliver or to capture towns and to lead men at arms, there
must needs be innate in her a knowledge of the art of war, and in
battle she must needs manifest the strength and the counsel she had
received from above. Wherefore it was necessary to obtain evidence to
establish that she was more skilled in warfare than any man.

Damoiselle Marguerite la Touroulde makes this affirmation.[64] The
Duke of Alencon declares that the Maid was apt alike at wielding the
lance, ranging an army, ordering a battle, preparing artillery, and
that old captains marvelled at her skill in placing cannon.[65] The
Duke quite understands that all these gifts were miraculous and that
to God alone was the glory. For if the merit of the victories had been
Jeanne's he would not have said so much about them.

[Footnote 64: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 85.]

[Footnote 65: _Ibid._, p. 100. On the other hand see the evidence of
Dunois (vol. iii, p. 16), "licet dicta Johanna aliquotiens _jocose_
loqueretur de facto armorum, pro animando armatos ... tamen quando
loquebatur seriose de guerra ... nunquam affirmative asserebat nisi
quod erat missa ad levandum obsidionem Aurelianensem."]

And if God had chosen the Maid to perform so great a task, it must
have been because in her he beheld the virtue which he preferred above
all others in his virgins. Henceforth it sufficed not for her to have
been chaste; her chastity must become miraculous, her chastity and her
moderation in eating and drinking must be exalted into sanctity.
Wherefore the witnesses are never tired of stating: _Erat casta, erat
castissima. Ille loquens non credit aliquam mulierem plus esse castam
quam ista Puella erat. Erat sobria in potu et cibo. Erat sobria in
cibo et potu._[66]

[Footnote 66: _Trial_,