Scott Alexander (author/host)

Catherine that since God would help them of Compiègne, I myself would like to be there.

Then St Catherine said to me, Without fail, you must accept your lot.

Be resigned, take what is happening in good part, and you will not be delivered until you have seen the King of the English.

And I answered her, Truly, I would rather not see him, and I would rather die than be put into the hands of the English.

End quote.

This is the prophecy that seems to me like the best evidence against Joan's divine inspiration.

She says that her voices flatly tell her something that never happens.

On the other hand, the context is that she needs to not try to escape and not confess.

If we want to defend her, we can either suggest memory error – she was told this just before jumping out of a tower window and badly injuring herself – translation error – she does see the leader of the English, Bedford, briefly, but he's regent for a king who's a small child – or point out that this is a conditional, and she disobeyed the voices.

But I take it as pretty good evidence against the divine theory, just frustratingly inconclusive.

Footnote about the king being a small child –

I've heard a rumour that Henry VI briefly saw her trial, but I've no source for it at all.

Since he's in Paris for his coronation in December of 1431, and Joan is burned in May of 1431, it's certainly not impossible, but I've seen no evidence it's true.

3.2.

We wish to know the truth of this matter.

What are we to make of this?

I tend to have three models in my head when I review this.

In deference to C.S.

Lewis's famous trilemma, I've tended to call them saint, schemer, and schizophrenic.

By the first model, she was both honest and correct when she described what was going on.