Before the trial began, Cauchon directed one of the trial assessors, Nicolas Loiselleur, to trick Joan and to gain her confidence. Loiselleur was a priest, had been a canon of Rouen since 1421, and was a personal friend of Cauchon’s. He was to visit Joan in her cell dressed not as a priest but as an ordinary citizen and to pretend to be a supporter of her King,” Charles VII. Two of the trial notaries, Guillaume Manchon and Boisguillaume, were to hide in the room next to her cell and watch and listen to the conversation.
Loiselleur visited Joan several times, and the guards left him alone with her. Manchon and Boisguillaume listened through the spy hole. Desperate and alone, Joan believed Loiselleur, and he drew her on to talk about her voices. Later, he revealed that he was a priest and h
