Despite being mediated by scribes, the detailed records from Joan's trial and rehabilitation offer an exceptionally rare opportunity to hear the wit, courage, and personality of a 15th-century peasant girl in her own words. This direct voice is a primary source of her enduring historical power.

Despite their desperation, the Dauphin's court didn't blindly trust Joan. They subjected her to a rigorous vetting process, including a physical examination to confirm her virginity and a theological inquiry by scholars at Poitiers. This was a form of medieval due diligence to mitigate the immense risk of backing a fraud or heretic.

Joan's judges faced a theological quandary: if her voices were demonic, was she a collaborator or a victim? Many assessors argued that being tricked by Satan isn't necessarily heretical, as all humans are fallible. This complexity shows the trial wasn't a foregone conclusion, with one theologian even suggesting consulting the Pope.

After months of defiance, Joan suddenly recanted at the sight of the execution pyre. She later admitted her reason was brutally simple: "I did it for fear of the fire." This reveals the immense psychological pressure she faced, framing her ultimate defiance as a return to her core identity despite the fatal consequences.

Historian Johan Huizinga suggests Joan's identification of her voices with specific saints may not have been a long-held belief. Instead, it could have developed under the intense pressure of the trial, as she struggled to articulate her profound spiritual experiences in terms her interrogators could understand.

The trial's primary goal was not justice but to delegitimize Charles VII. By convicting Joan as a witch, the English hoped to prove that Charles's coronation was a "satanic fraud," thereby restoring the legitimacy of their own claimant to the French throne.

Contrary to the popular narrative of an English show trial, 123 out of 131 legal and theological experts involved were French. These individuals were loyal to the English-backed Burgundian faction, highlighting the deep internal divisions within France during the war.

After recanting, Joan resumed wearing male clothes. While significant, the legally damning act was admitting her voices had returned. This classified her as a "relapsed heretic," an unforgivable crime in the eyes of the Church for which the only punishment was death. A court clerk noted this in the margin as "Responsio mortifera"—a fatal reply.

The court ritual where Joan "identified" the Dauphin she had already met was a deliberate piece of political theatre. This staged "pantomime" was not a genuine test but a public relations exercise designed to cement the narrative of her divine gifts and the Dauphin's legitimacy in the minds of the entire court.