ies, to the mind of whomsoever possessed sense and learning it
appeared marvellous but not incredible. No one denied that God could
directly intervene in the affairs of kingdoms, for he himself had
said: _Per me reges regnant_.

In this Church holy and indivisible, there were the doctors of
Poitiers who deliberately pronounced God to be on the side of the
Dauphin, while the University of Paris as deliberately pronounced God
to be on the side of the Burgundians and the English. His messenger
need not necessarily be an angel. He might employ a creature human or
not human, like the raven that fed Elijah. And that a woman should
engage in war accorded with what was written in books concerning
Camilla, the Amazons, and Queen Penthesilea, and with what the Bible
says of the strong women, Deborah, Jahel, Judith of Bethulia, raised
up by God for the salvation of Israel. For it is written: "The mighty
one did not fall by the young men, neither did the sons of Titans
smite him, nor high giants set upon him; but Judith the daughter of
Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance."[741]

[Footnote 741: Judith, xvi, 7 (W.S.).]

Jeanne was taken to the mansion where dwelt Maitre Jean Rabateau, not
far from the law-courts, in the heart of the town.[742] Maitre Jean
Rabateau was Lay Attorney General; all criminal cases went to him,
while civil cases went to the ecclesiastical Attorney General, Jean
Jouvenel. Alike King's advocates, in the King's service, they both
represented him in cases wherein he was concerned. The King was an
unprofitable client. For representing him in criminal trials Maitre
Jean Rabateau received four hundred livres a year. He was forbidden to
appear in any but crown cases; and no one suspected him of receiving
many bribes. If in addition he held the office of Councillor to the
Duke of Orleans he gained little by it. Like most Parlement officials
he was for the moment very poor. A stranger in Poitiers, he had no
house there, but lodged in a mansion, which, because it belonged to a
family named Rosier, was called the Hotel de la Rose. It was a large
dwelling. Witnesses whom it was necessary to keep securely and deal
with honourably were entertained there. Jeanne was taken there
although the Parlement had nothing to do with her cross-examination.[743]
Once again she was placed in charge of a man who served both the Duke
of Orleans and the King of France.

[Footnote 742: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 19, 74,