ABSTRACT

In the Rehabilitation Trial of 1456, Bishop Elie de Bourdeilles confronts the Condem nation Trial verdicts and narrates a salvation history of the French people with Joan of Arc as God ' protagonist. The truth of this trial testimony lies not in its literal factualness about Joan of Arc but in its vitality as a popular myth of French cultural self-definition. In the rehabilitation trial, Joan of Arc emerges as a key player in a nationalist drama of political triumph of good over evil. The discussion about her mystical voices concerns not only explicit and doctrinal matters of heresy but also implicit matters of French collective identity and cultural unity, defined as a people chosen by God. The rehabilitation trial followed a twofold strategy. First, it sought eyewitness testimony favorable to Joan. Second, it asked eight theologians and jurists to investigate the technical procedures and counter the conclusions of the first trial.