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Nine letters
Still extant are nine letters of Jeanne's either original or contemporary copies. Until the last war, there was ten, but unfortunately the letter addressed to the loyal citizens of Tournai, summoning them to the coronation at Riems, was among the archives of the town destroyed by enemy action.
Three of the letters remaining are addressed to the citizens of Rheims, the others are addressed respectively to the English, the Duke of Burgundy, the Comte d'Armagnac, the Hussites, and to the citizens of Riom and of Troyes. The letter addressed to the citizens of Riom came to light among the archives of that town as recently as 1844. The interesting point about it is that a single black hair had been pressed into the wax of the seal by a finger.
The custom whereby the writer of a letter plucked a hair from his head and pressed it into his seal was frequent at the time; it was an additional guarantee of the authenticity of the document; so it may be taken as reasonably certain that the hair came from Jeanne's head, witch gives additional confirmation to the tradition that she was ´black and swart`. [Scott, W. S: Jeanne d'Arc-Her Life, Her Death, and the Myth. Appendix B]
Letter to the King of England 1429
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King of England, render account to the King of Heaven of your royal blood. Return the keys of all the good cities which you have seized, to the Maid. She is sent by God to reclaim the royal blood, and is fully prepared to make peace, if you will give her satisfaction; that is, you must render justice, and pay back all that you have taken.
King of England, if you do not do these things, I am the commander of the military; and in whatever place I shall find your men in France, I will make them flee the country, whether they wish to or not; and if they will not obey, the Maid will have them all killed.
She comes sent by the King of Heaven, body for body, to take you out of France, and the Maid promises and certifies to you that if you do not leave France she and her troops will raise a mighty outcry as has not been heard in France in a thousand years.
And believe that the King of Heaven has sent her so much power that you will not be able to harm her or her brave army. To you, archers, noble companions in arms, and all people who are before Orleans, I say to you in God's name, go home to your own country; if you do not do so, beware of the Maid, and of the damages you will suffer.
Do not attempt to remain, for you have no rights in France from God, the King of Heaven, and the Son of the Virgin Mary. It is Charles, the rightful heir, to whom God has given France, who will shortly enter Paris in a grand company. If you do not believe the news written of God and the Maid, then in whatever place we may find you, we will soon see who has the better right, God or you. William de la Pole, Count of Suffolk, Sir John Talbot, and Thomas, Lord Scales, lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, who calls himself regent of the King of France for the King of England, make a response, if you wish to make peace over the city of Orleans! If you do not do so, you will always recall the damages which will attend you.
Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of France for the King of England, the Maid asks you not to make her destroy you. If you do not render her satisfaction, she and the French will perform the greatest feat ever done in the name of Christianity.
Done on the Tuesday of Holy Week (March 22, 1429)
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She wrote this letter to the King of England, who was laying siege to the town of Orleans. Note how she speaks of government in religious terms and how she switches back and forth between the first person "I" and the third person "she" when she refers to herself. JESUS, MARY
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The descendants of Jeanne's brother, Pierre, had in their possession three of her letters and a sword that she had worn. The letters were saved but Jeanne's sword was lost during the chaos of the revolutionary period.
Jeannes first letter to the citizens of Reims
Dated March 16th 1430 Large image 
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The letter of Abjuration
"All those who have erred and been at fault in the Christian faith and have by God's grace returned to the light of truth and unity of Our Holy Mother Church, should vigilantly prevent the Enemy of Hell from driving them back and causing their relapse into error and damnation.
Therefore, I, Jeanne, commonly called The Maid, a miserable sinner recognizing the snares of error in which I was held, and being by God's grace returned to Our Holy Mother Church, in order to show that my return is made not feignedly but with a good heart and will, I confess that I have most grievously sinned in falsely pretending to have had revelations and apparitions from God, His angels, St. Catherine and St. Margaret; in seducing others; in believing foolishly and lightly; in making superstitious divinations, in blaspheming God and His Saints; in breaking the divine law, Holy Scripture, and the canon laws; in wearing a dissolute, ill-shaped and immodest dress against the decency of nature, and hair cropped round like a man's, against all the modesty of womankind; also in bearing arms most presumptuously; in cruelly desiring the shedding of human blood; in declaring that I did all these things by the command of God, His angels and the said saints, and that to do so was good and not to err; in being seditious and idolatrous, adoring and calling up evil spirits.
I confess also that I have been schismatic and in many ways have erred from the path: These crimes and errors, I, being by God's grace returned to the way of truth through the holy doctrine and good counsel of yourself and the doctors and masters whom you sent me, unfeignedly and with a good heart abjure and recant, renouncing and cutting myself off from them all. Upon all the aforesaid things I submit to the correction, disposition, amendment and entire decision of Our Holy Mother Church and of your good justice.
And I vow, swear and promise to you, to my lord Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles, to Our Holy Father the Pope of Rome, his vicar and his successors, to you, my lords, to the lord bishop of Beauvais and the religious brother Jean Le Maistre, vicar of the lord Inquisitor of the faith, my judges, that I will never through exhortation or other means return to the aforesaid errors, from which it has pleased God to deliver and remove me; but will always dwell in the unity of Our Holy Mother Church and the obedience of our Holy Father the Pope of Rome.
This I say, affirm and swear by God almighty and the holy Gospels.
In sign whereof I have signed this schedule with my mark."
Signed "Jehanne." Image
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She sign this letter with a cross next to her name [the signature still survives] Jeanne never learned to read or write, except her own signature. Some hypothesize that this was a signal that she did not seriously mean what she signed.
Three days later she was excommunicated for heresy and burnt on May 30, 1431.
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Overview
