Abbatiale Saint-Ouen de Rouen

Rouen

The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Ouen was, with the archbishopric, the great ecclesiastical power of Rouen, and its abbey church is one of the masterpieces of Norman Gothic: a chevet with eleven chapels, a rayonnant choir, a nave that took two centuries to vault. On 24 May 1431, in the cemetery of this abbey, two platforms were set up and, beside them, a pyre. The preacher Guillaume Érard delivered the sermon, then Joan was summoned to abjure. She signed a cedula, put on a woman's dress again and was taken back to prison, sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. Four days later she had resumed man's dress, and the tribunal declared her a relapsed heretic. That session is one of the most disputed points of the case: the witnesses questioned in 1456, among them the usher Jean Massieu and the notary Guillaume Manchon, describe a formula of six or eight lines, whereas the cedula copied into the trial record runs to several paragraphs. The question is not settled. The cemetery has gone, but the church is there, and it was against its walls that everything was played out.

Wikipédia — Abbaye Saint-Ouen de Rouen ↗

Getting there : Place du Général-de-Gaulle in Rouen, behind the town hall, ten minutes' walk from the cathedral. The church has not been parochial since 1963: it is open to visitors according to seasonal times posted at the door, and is used for concerts. The garden that surrounds the chevet occupies part of the former precinct; entry to it is free.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound