Who presided over the ecclesiastical trial of Joan of Arc in 1431?

Pierre Cauchon presided over the ecclesiastical trial of Joan of Arc in 1431.

Cauchon was the bishop of Beauvais and a supporter of the Burgundian-English alliance. Because Joan had been captured near Compiègne, a territory within his diocese, he claimed jurisdiction over her case. The trial itself was held in Rouen, under English political control.

The proceedings opened in January 1431 and examined Joan’s visions, clothing, military conduct, and statements about her divine mission. Cauchon worked with assessors and university-trained clerics, but the court’s independence has long been questioned because the English authorities strongly wanted Joan condemned.

Joan was convicted of heresy and later executed. In 1456, a new inquiry ordered by Pope Callixtus III reviewed the earlier case and declared the judgment unjust. Cauchon had died in 1442, before the rehabilitation verdict.