According to Encarta ® Encyclopedia, Burgundy had been a province of France, but during the war family murders had created a rift between the two lands, and Burgundy sided with the English forces ("Joan of Arc, Saint-). King Charles refused to raise the ransom for Joan, and she was sent to trial under the English cleric and civil authority. It was by this court that Joan was sentenced as a heretic and sorceress and burned at the stake at the age of 19. As Mark Twain so simply put it, "Joan of Arc, who had never been defeated by the enemy, was defeated by her own King- (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc 90).
In the argument that Joan was indeed not a heretic, it is important to note that before she was ever allowed in front of an army, Joan was examined by numerous bishops and doctors over the course of three weeks in order to ascertain whether her voices were or were not heretical and sent by supernatural forces (Lucie-Smith 72). These physicians questioned Joan as to her purpose, the sources of her voices, and to her claim as the Virgin Maid. These examiners were completely convinced of Joan's faith and honesty, and she was then allowed to join her army in her campaign against the English and for her king. At her trial, Joan demanded that the court review the records of her examination but was told that they could not be found. .
Joan was accused and sentenced on 70 counts of heresy and sorcery. These 70 counts later dropped to twelve accusations that were used to convict her. One of these points included Joan's vestments of man's clothes. Although everyone knew that this choice was made out of modesty, she was convicted of wanting to be a man, an idea worthy at that time of imprisonment. Other accusations were that she danced around a Fairy Tree in her town in her youth, and that her voices were actually from the Fairies, not from her Saints. But it was the Catholic Church's use of fine and extravagant words that confused Joan when she was on trial and caused her answers to convict herself, as the Church later claimed when Joan's case was reopened about 20 years later.