Intercourse, by: Andrea Dworkin - Feminish

avest of her troop. And there Fortune allowed that herglory at last come to an end and that she bear arms no longer;an archer, a rough man and a sour, full of spite because awoman of whom so much had been heard should have overthrown(broken the bones of) so many valiant men, draggedher to one side by her cloth-of-gold cloak and pulled herfrom her horse, throwing her flat on the ground; never couldshe find recourse or succor in her men, try though they mightto remount her. . . 14Her captors were not the English themselves, but their allies,the Burgundians, vassals of the Duke of Burgundy. It was thecustom in those days to ransom prisoners, so Joan might havebeen freed had Charles paid a ransom. He never tried to freeher. The King o f England, on the other hand, did want herenough to pay for her. He demanded she be turned over to theEnglish, but her captors did not comply, perhaps disquieted byher legend and her virginity. The English king then persuadedthe Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, to try her for heresy.In a letter to Cauchon, who eventually prosecuted her, HenryVI articulated the charges against her in broad strokes:It is sufficiently notorious and well-known that for some timepast a woman calling herself Jeanne the Pucelle, leaving o ff thedress and clothing o f the feminine sex, a thing contrary to divinelaw and abominable before G od, and forbidden by alllaws, wore clothing and armour such as is worn by men; hascaused and occasioned cruel murders; and, so it is said, hasseduced and abused simple people by giving them to understandthat she was sent from G od and had knowledge o f Hisholy secrets. . . 15