 You men, shout out. Hey, Bill. Hey, Bill, where you going? I thought I'd walk up ahead a little. But you gotta eat, don't you? What about chow? No, but that's Rouen up there. That ton of a head. It's Rouen France. Oh, yeah, that's right. We're going through it. What do you care? I want to see it. Yeah? Why, you got a girl or something? Your girl back home ain't gonna like it. Huh? Oh, never mind, Eddie. This is different. Yeah, yeah, I know. It always is. French girl? What's her name? Her name? Oh, John. Here, you want some bread? What's she do? No thanks. Huh? This girl, what does she do? She fought in the war. Oh, underground, huh? No, she was a soldier. I didn't know the French had wax, too. She wasn't a whack, you jerk. She led an army. Oh, yeah, sure. Cheese? Want some cheese? So your girl led an army, huh? She live in Rouen? She died there, huh? Oh, hey, look here. That's all right. It was a long time ago. A long time ago, huh? Say, uh, what'd you say her name was? I said her name was Joan. Joan of Arc. NBC University of the Air presents We Came This Way, a new historical series for our listeners at home and overseas. With Alexander Scorby as Bill, we bring you Chapter 5, a story of Joan of Arc, in We Came This Way. Well, you had me there for a minute, but Joan of Arc, I remember about her. She rode a white horse, and everybody said she was great, and then they burned her at the stake, and then they made her a saint, and everybody prayed and made statues of her. Ain't that Joan of Arc? That's it. Yeah, but Bill, why do you care? I mean, she was a girl, and she rode around saving France and all that, well, gee, I don't know, Eddie. I got interested, that's all. I don't get it. Just because we come here to help liberate France ain't no reason... There's a connection, Eddie. What? Well, it's a long story. I got time. Okay, you ask for it. You see, it started when I was a kid. I read a book by Mark Twain, you know, Tom Sawyer. Yeah, I saw the picture. Then I read another book called Huckleberry Finn. He never liked to wear shoes, wasn't that it? Then I looked around the library for another book by Mark Twain, and I found it. Found what? A book about Joan of Arc. Okay, you found it. You don't want your bread? Huh? Give me your bread. Okay. And that did it. After that, I read every book about her I could get a hold of. I even read the record of a trial. And the more I read, the more... You know, it's only now that I'm gonna war myself that I... Eddie, you know what a parallel is. Sure, it's when something matches up. Railroad tracks it. And you'd be astounded. All right, all right, I'm astounded. Now go on, tell me. Okay. It happened like this. Back in the year 1420, King Charles VI of France signed the Treaty of Trois. That meant that when he died, Henry V of England would become King of France and England both. Charles VI sure was free and easy with the real estate, huh? Well, it wasn't exactly a friendly deal. Uh-huh. You see, France and England were in the middle of the Hundred Years' War. And England was mopping up on the French. So Henry... Practically clubbed Charlie into it. Yeah. Oh, and then another thing. The French were fighting among themselves. People did that in those days, too. Oh, sure. Worse. The Burgundians were lined up with the English against the French Nationalist Party who were called the Armagnac or, uh, Orleanists. Boy, France sure was in a pickle. Well, that was 1420. In 1422 it got worse. Because King Charles of France died and so did Henry V of England. And that meant that a baby, a little English baby, Henry VI was King of both countries. Well, French people didn't like that. Well, who would? Well, sure, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Because during the next several years, the English cleaned up on France until finally the only stronghold they had one other thing. A dauphin. A what? A dauphin. That means an heir to the French throne. You know, an uncrowned king. Well, why didn't you say so? And what did this dolphin do? Nothing. You see, he was kind of young and a pretty weak guy. And as I say, all the French had was him and Orlean. And no heart for either. They'd given up, see? Yeah. All of them gave up. All of them. Except one. Who is that? Oh, nobody anybody'd call important. Just a kid. A little peasant girl living in a town called Don Rémy. Her name was Joan. And one day she went to call on a guy named... Yes, Charles. You are the governor of Voculier and a friend of the dauphin of France. Yes, that is correct. You have a message for me? Oh, yes, I have. You have been sent to save France, sir. I beg your pardon. You said you have been... Sent to save France, sir. That is what I thought you said. Yes, that is why I came to you. You are to help me. You are to take me to the dauphin. I see. And then what? The dauphin will give me men and arms. And then... And then I shall raise the siege of Orlean. I shall drive the English out. There will be a great battle and a great victory for us. That's very nice. When will all this happen? Soon, sir, or very soon. You see, I haven't much time. I see. Tell me... Joan. Joan of Arc. Tell me, Joan of Arc, why do you come to me in the middle of the night this way? What is the urgency? I would have come to you before, sir, but your servants wouldn't let me see you. I had to convince them first. And now that you have seen me... You must send me to the dauphin. Yes, of course. I must send you to the dauphin. And just who sent you to me? My father. Your father? My father, sir, and yours. It was God who sent me to you, Robert de Baudicourt. And you would do well to help his messenger, sir. Send me to the dauphin, Robert. Is that all you have to tell me, Joan of Arc? My next message is to the dauphin. Oh, yes, of course. Naturally. And now you just sit quietly for a moment. Jack. Jack. Yes, sir. Did you allow this lady in to see me? Yes, sir. I did. But she... But she was so determined. I understand. You did well, Jack. But now, how would you mind leading her away? Gladly, sir. Thank you for having come, Joan of Arc. I am honored. You will help me, Robert de Baudicourt. Not now, perhaps, but you will. I know you will. Because you cannot help yourself. Treat her gently, Jack. Very gently. She is obviously mad, poor thing. Gee, Bill. Oh, Robert had a point, huh? The young kid had come to me like that. I thought she was off her trolley, too. Except for one thing. What's that? Her voices. Huh? She heard voices. Oh. Oh. So that made it okay. And these voices kept telling her that she'd saved France. That she alone could save France. And they kept talking to her. And they were the voices of St. Margaret and St. Catherine and St. Michael. Robert de Baudicourt didn't have a chance against that. Yeah, but, gee, Bill, can you imagine your kid's sister telling the governor of your state that she was the only one who could save America? Can you imagine him believing her? Okay, but that's what happened. Robert de Baudicourt laughed, got mad, said no, and sent Joan of Arc to the Uncrowned King of France. Charles the Dauphin. When she arrived at the court, it was like a holiday. The simple people, the poor people gathered outside the gates of the castle to see the young girl God had sent to deliver them from their enemies. And in the castle, the lords and ladies gathered to see... To see the young fool had come to tell a dolphin how to run his business. That's right. And as Joan stepped inside the doorway of the huge throne room, she looked for a long minute at the man sitting on the throne. And she began to walk down the long aisle. And suddenly, she stops before a young, weak-looking man dressed in drab clothes, and she falls down on her knees. May God in His mercy grant you long life, gentle air to the throne of France. But... I am not the king, my child. There he sits upon the throne. No, my lord, not he. You. You are mistaken. You have disguised yourself to try me, sir. It is no matter. My voices have told me the truth. They always do. I'll take warning from this, sir, and heed my words. Silence. You are right, my child. I am the king. You are not the king, my lord. You are the dolphin. We, your people, will not recognize you as king until you are crowned, my lord. I see diplomacy has not bridled your tongue, my child. I must speak the truth, sir. I am not usually so honored. Tell me, Joan, what would you have of me? I would have you truly as my king. I would have the same. But, uh, how is it to be arranged? I will arrange it. Oh, you? With the help of God, you will be crowned within two years. But first... Go on. First you must give me troops, sir, and weapons. What for? So I can fight. My dear Joan, you are a child. I am sent from God. God does not employ children to fight his battles. I presume to guess the workings of God, sir. I tell you, I am sent from him, and you would do well to heed me. You must hear me. I warn you, do not try my patience too far. And you do not try mine, sir. Come now, Joan. Let's talk this over reasonably. This is very refreshing. It is not every day that a young, untutored girl comes to the court and shows her king the error of his ways. You are very brave. And very amusing. Call me what you will. I am sent from God to help you, sir. And by my faith, you are making it difficult. Oh, it is no wonder both Recours sent you to me. You lay siege like a general, Joan. Oh, that I will, sir. Give me troops, sir, and arms, and I will drive the English out. I will raise the siege of Orléans. You will what? At Orléans, the English will fall before us. We cannot fail. With the help of God, I shall lead my countryman to great victory. The English will fall. They will. I know they will. Of course the English will fall, Joan. If you led an army to meet them, of course the English would fall. They'd lost themselves to death. The biggest joke of the day. That was Joan. But not to the people of France. You know, they knew what war was. They knew all the bad things about it. Inside them they were so full of this knowledge that there wasn't room for anything else. Except one thing. What? Faith, Eddie. Somehow, some way, the people had faith that Joan of Arc was the deliverer of France. And this faith grew and grew until finally it was stronger than anything else. You know, it always seems to happen like that. Sooner or later. Yep. That's what I'm saying. Pretty soon the faith of the people in Joan kind of pushed the dauphin into a corner. So what did he do? Roll with the punch? Yep. He sent a proclamation to the people. A proclamation that said... Men of France. Know that his majesty, by the grace of God, King Charles VII of France, hath graciously conferred upon his most loyal subject, Joan of Arc, the title and authority of general and chief of the armies of France. Make way, General Eisenhower. A high school senior is going to take over your job. Come on, Ike, move over. The invasion of France will now be run by somebody, a kid's sister. Gee. I know Eddie. But it happened. With a couple of exceptions, though. Yeah, what? Well, in the first place, Joan wasn't a high school senior. She hadn't gone to school at all. In the second place, there weren't any General Eisenhower's around back in 1428. Sure, that makes a difference. Today, we've got millions of people all over the world fighting for the right. Back then, there was only one. Yeah, and a girl at that. That's right, a girl. Just a girl. With a voice of God in her ear and a feeling of freedom in her heart. Well, go on. What happened then? You know what happened? The English thought the whole thing was pretty funny. They laughed, huh? Yeah. But not for long. They didn't have time anyway. They were too busy fighting. At Orléans, on the fields of pâté, tour, every place you could find them, Joan and her army would fight the English. Who won? Joan. Brother. Seven weeks, Eddie. In seven weeks, Joan of Arc broke up a war that was over 90 years old. Boy, it must have been something that they Joan rode into Orléans at the head of her troops. Can you imagine how the people felt? Can you imagine how they must have felt? After seven months of siege, after a lifetime of war, here, here was their deliverer. Eddie, this girl, Joan of Arc, made of Orléans, savior of France, was 17 years old. Yes, Grace, Pierre Couchon, Archbishop of Rouen. You will please rise. Very well, very well. Be seated. Your grace. It is prepared. Produce the prisoner. It is ordered that the prisoner, Joan of Arc, be brought in. Joan of Arc. Hey Bill, what's this Joan of Arc, a prisoner business? Well, it's 1431 now, Eddie. And a lot happened since the day back in 1429 when Joan raised the English siege at Orléans. For one thing, she engineered the coronation of Charles VII. And for another, she led her troops right up to the gates of Paris itself, capturing every English town and fortress on the way. Yeah, but how come she's a prisoner? Because she was captured. On May 24th, 1430, Joan was captured by the Duke of Burgundy. And that isn't all. You see, before Joan was taken by the Burgundians, King Charles of France had started to make a deal with the Duke of Burgundy. Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. You said Burgundy was on the side of the English. Sure. Then how come... Well, Charles was tired, see? Yeah, but... He didn't want victory. He wanted peace. Now, look... You want facts, I'm telling you facts. Here's another one. The Duke of Burgundy sold Joan out to the English. Well, at least that kind of thing doesn't happen today. Well, does it? Bill, well, I do. You and me, we... we ain't gonna let it. Don't worry, kid. We ain't gonna let it. Now, go on. Then what happened to Joan? Well, Charles of France didn't try to save her, so... Why not? I don't know, maybe he was too busy. Anyway, Joan was sold to the English. But they didn't try her. They were too smart for that. What do you mean? They knew if they took Joan's life, they'd glorify her memory and the cause of freedom, and they didn't want to do that. Well, then what did they do? Oh, simple. They gave her to the church to try. As a witch. They what? Sure. This girl who'd performed one of the most glorious military exploits of all time was tried on the grounds of witchcraft. Why, then no... Yeah, I know. And this guy, this Pierre Couchon, the Archbishop of Rouen, led a gang of scholars and high churchmen in the fanciest third degree on record. What did they ask her? Well, they didn't ask her military questions. They didn't ask her how she mopped up the ground with the enemy at early on, or tour, or pâté, no. And they didn't ask her how she'd earned the love of a great people or the devotion of a fighting army. Well, for Pete's sake, what did they ask her? Just this, Eddie. Things like this. Tell us, Joan, when the vision of St. Michael appeared to you, was he naked? Oh, no, no, it don't seem possible, Bill. It just don't seem possible. Yeah, all the questions were like that. But the answers, Eddie. Her answers ring in your ears like... Like truth? That's it. Day after day, month after month, they'd ask her questions. And each time her answer... Joan, we require you to speak the simple and absolute truth without reservation. Will you take the oath? By my faith, I will not. You could ask such things as I would not answer. Perhaps you would constrain me to tell things I have sworn to my voice as not to utter. So I should be purged and you would not want that. We require you to speak the simple and absolute truth without reservation. I tell you, take good heed of what you say. For as my judge, you assume a great responsibility and overburden me. I am ready to swear to speak the truth of what I know concerning the trial. Very well. Joan, do you think you have done well to assume the clothing of a man? Everything I do is at God's command. And if he had ordered me to assume a different habit, I should have done so. It would have been his command. Your voice is Joan. You still hear your voices. There is no day that I am without them. And when St. Michael appeared to you as you have sworn he has done, was he naked? Do you think God has not the wherewithal to clothe him? And what would these voices tell you, Joan? These voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. They tell me... they tell me to speak up boldly. Will you submit, Joan? To our Lord, yes. To the church, Joan. Will you submit your deeds and words to the church? I commit myself to our Lord who sent me, to our Lady, and to all the blessed saints of Paradise. And I believe they and the church are one. Why do you make such difficulties when it is all one? Did you say to your soldiers that a lance made like your lance would bring them better fortune? No. What did you tell them? I told them to go boldly among the English. Why was your banner standing next to the king if the coronation had ran? Why your banner? It had endured the dangers. It had earned the honor. That was reason enough, wasn't it? Why did you do what you have done, Joan? Why? Whatever I have done, I have done by God's command and in His name. Therefore I refer you and commit myself to Him. I can say nothing more. They kept it up, Eddie, hour after hour, day after day, month after month. And when they got through their list of questions, they started over again. And then again. They kept at her because their only purpose was to get her to admit she was guilty. But she wouldn't. And finally her trial was over. So they had another trial. And when that didn't work, they had another one. And finally Joan, tired and sick, heard the verdict of her judges. We, having Christ and the honor of the Orthodox faith before our eyes, so that our judgment may seem to emanate from the face of our Lord, have said and decreed that in the simulation of your revelations and apparitions, you have been pernicious, seductive, presumptuous of light belief, rash, superstitious, a witch, a blasphemer of God and his saints, a despiser of him in his sacraments, a prevericator of the divine teachings and the ecclesiastical sanctions, seditious, cruel, apostate, systematic, erring gravely in our faith. And that by these means you have rashly trespassed against God and the Holy Church. What does that mean, Bill? What does it mean? Why it means that Joan's to be burned to death. Go on, tell me the rest. The rest, you know it, Eddie. You know how they got her into the marketplace of Rouen where the stake was set up? They got her there twice, as a matter of fact. Twice? Yeah. The first time they promised her freedom if she'd confess. They read her a long, confusing list of her supposed crimes. And they are in the square of Rouen with a stake before her and a mob of bloodthirsty, eager townspeople around her. Joan, do you abjure? Abjure. What is abjure? Submit, Joan. Do you submit to our authority? Repeat after me, Joan. I, Joan of Arc, do submit to the authority of the church. Say it. Say it. I, Joan of Arc, do submit. I submit. Yes, I submit. I submit. But that night had happened. The courage, the same courage Eddie that had sustained and saved a great nation returned to Joan of Arc. And once again, she was the Joan of Old. Once again, she defied those who would lie and cheat and blaspheme for politics' sake. Once again, her words rang out loud and clear. I tell you, take good heed of what you say. For as my judge, you assume a great responsibility. I speak the truth. And I say again, whatever I have done, I have done by God's command and in His name. Though you threaten me with fire, as God alone is my judge, I can say no other than this. And so they burned her, Eddie. One of the greatest fighters for freedom of all time, Joan of Arc of France. They burned as a witch. Well, that's it, Eddie. Joan of Arc, huh? Cheese. Huh? Cheese. I forgot to eat my cheese. Golly, Bill, I... Golly. Yeah, yeah. You know, I get a feeling about it, too. Got all these people. Joan, Roger Williams, the guys who fought for the Magna Carta. I get a feeling that we're kind of following in their footsteps. Going along the same road. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, I think I know. It's like this, Bill. All right, you guys. Come on, let's go. Okay, Eddie, come on. Come on, come on. All right, all right. Company attention. Hey, Bill, about this Joan of Arc business. What I'm trying to say... Hey, Eddie, ain't that the town of Rouenau up ahead? Yeah, that's right. Say, didn't they burn Joan of Arc there or something? Hey, yeah. Bill was just telling me, and I've been trying to... You know, this looks kind of familiar. Almost like... Well, it's like we've come this way before. Like we... Hey, Bill. Bill, did you hear him? That's what I've been trying to... You and me and all the other guys for a lot of years and a lot of miles. We... Well, we... That's right, Eddie. That's right. We came this way. Sure, sure. That's what I mean. Hey, come on. Step up. You're lagging behind. And we ought to step out proud. Come on, Bill. Up, two, three, four. Up, two, three, four. Up, two, three, four. NBC University of the Air has brought you chapter five of the new historical series, We Came This Way. Next week, We Came This Way will present The Freedom of Men's Minds, the story of John Reuchlin. The night script was written by Edith Summer and directed by Ira Avery. The original music is composed by Leo Kempinski and conducted by Milton Catons. The members of the cast were Mary Patton, Alexander Scorby, Arthur Elmer, Bernard Lenro, Maurice Tarplin, and John Merlin. This is the National Broadcasting Company.