Although the traditional picture of Joan's execution is of her tied to a stake with a large pile of wood at her feet the evidence shows that this was not the case. Investigations from contemporary sources and witnesses have been used to produce the description that follows.
Joan was burned in the Old Market Place at Rouen. She was taken there from prison in a two wheeled wooden dung cart. On arrival she was placed on a wooden platform at the west side of the square where the religious authorities carried out their part of the proceedure. When they had finished Joan was led to the centre of the square where the preparations for execution had been made. There was a stone platform about 3.5m square and 1.5m high with steps of wood up on the eastern side. In the centre was a wooden stake with flat sides about 25cm wide and standing nearly 3m above the surface of the platform. In fact the stake would have been much longer as it went down through the platform and into a hole in the cobbles of the market place. This ensured that no much how much Joan struggled there was no chance of the stake being disloged. At the base of the stake was a small pile of rocks about 0.5m high and just big enough for the girl to get her feet on. Hanging from the stake were a series of chains by which she was to be fixed. A second dung cart had followed Joan to the market place carrying the wood with which she was to be burnt and this was located at the eastern side of the platform by the steps. A brasier for lighting the wood was at the western side of the platform and was already going when Joan arrived in the Market Place.
Joan  was wearing a thin black sleveless shift tied with a piece of cord at the waist, she was barefoot and her wrists were chained in front of her.A further chain joined her ankles forcing her to take small shuffling steps and both these chains were joined together to a leading chain which was held by the executioner who came to get his prisoner from the church authorities rather than waiting for her on the execution platform. Led like a dog Joan was forced to shuffle bearfoot accross the square to the platform and then around it to the steps. This trip which would have taken 2 or 3 minutes gave her plenty of time to look at the device that was to kill her as it came slowly nearer. It was clearly the authorities intention to break Joan's spirit and get her to renounce her cause in public. The chances of her doing this were high as she had recanted just a week before just after being tied to the stake for burning in the Cemetery at Rouen. It was her withdrawal of this recantation when she realised that she was to be imprisoned for life that led to her final condemnation. Undoubtedly the behaviour of the English soldiers towards her whilst in prison had encouraged her to withdraw. She was stripped of her womens clothes which she had agreed to wear and left with only mens attire. Rather than stay naked in front of her guards she put on the mens clothes and was thus deemed to be a relapsed heretic. The charge of Heresy was the most important and took precedence but Joan had also been found guilty of the civil crime of witchcraft. Once the church had finished with her the civil authorities could have their chance. So Joan was burned by the civil authorities on behalf of the church as a heretic and on their own behalf as a witch.

Much has been made of the fact that Joan was spared the usual 24 hours prior to her execution in the torture chamber. In fact this session of torture intended to punish rather than obtain any confession was often the cause of women dying early at the stake and remaining calm through the execution. Anne Askew an English woman tortured on the rack in Henry 8ths reign was so badly injured that she remained quiet as the flames climbed up to her breasts and then died almost immediately. Compared with the shrieks and screams of the men around her her apparent calmness and bravery impressed the crowd and excited their sympathy. In fact following the savage torture she had recieved on the rack it is likely that she had little or no feeling below her waist and therefore appeared more resiliant to pain than was realy the case. The proceedure employed in Joan's case was intended to cause her to break emotionaly and in public just before or during the execution for maximum effect. There is evidence that she had been promised a merciful death by strangulation if she would admit that she had committed heresy although the executioner stated afterwards that he would not have been able to carry this out as she was too high on the stake for him to reach her. The executioner, a man known for the savagery of his burnings, complained later that the method used on Joan was too cruel and that she suffered too much even for a witch and heretic.

When Joan had mounted the platform her chains were removed and she was made to stand on the rocks based at the bottom of the stake. This was accomplished quickly as the executioner felt that Joan might realise the nature of death intended for her and struggle which could make fastening a very difficult proceedure. Usually victims were lured to cooperate with fastening to the stake, the executioner most difficult task, by promises of an easy death but Joan had been told by much higher authorities than the executioner that mercy would only be shown if she confessed which she had stated she would not do. Once on the rocks with her back to the stake Joan was securely fastened with chains. They were wound round her ankles, knees, thighs, waist and criss crossed from behind her neck over her chest. This method ensured that she was firmly held and that she could not breakaway or slump at the stake hastening her end. The chains were fastened with iron staples hammered into the back of the post and there is some evidence that they were so tight that Joan began to cry with the pain although no doubt fear also played a part at this stage.When her body had been fastened the fomous scene which Joan was given a cross of twigs by an English soldier took place. This soldier was almost certainly helping to bring the first piles of wooden faggotts onto the platform. Shortly after she had recieved the cross Joan had to place it inside her shift between her breasts as the executinoer came to fasten her wrists his last act before lighting the fire. Two manacles joined by a short lengthof chain were used to fasten Joans arms behind the stake and then the joining chain was fixed to the stake with a staple. All was now ready for the execution to begin. The wood used was dry birch brush which had been tied into small bundles known as faggots. This burned very hot and very well but it this case there was not enough at time to bring about a swift end to the proceedings. The faggots were not piled right round the girl but just in front and at the sides. This meant that the chances of her being overcome by heat or smoke were very slight. The wood was not piled high but left well below the top of the rocks on which  Joan was standing. This ensured that the girl would be tormented by the flames without being damaged too badly too quickly. In fact the executioner rather than lighting the fire and withdrawing remained on the platform throughout the execution feeding new faggots into the fire and controling it carefully to prevent his charge escaping the full penalty. The fire was not lit with a blazing torch but with a small quantity of  coals from the brazier. Because of its location the executioner would have to leave the platform and walk round to the far side to get them in a small iron pan and then return the same way his every step watched by his young victim. The use of coals dropped on to the faggots again prolonged the proceedure. In tests on a day of weather similar to that of Joan's execution it was found that it took on average 7 minutes for the faggots to start burning properly. When they did the heat reached the condemned girl very fast but the flames too considerably longer and it seems likely that Joan was at the stake for about 15 minutes before the first touch of the flames on her feet. During this time she became increasingly distressed calling out repeatedly for water although whether to drink or to douse the flames is notclear.

When the flames reached her feet she uttered a great shriek and buckingstruggling as much as the chains would allow she began to cry out Jesus again and again. She was seen to vomit at one point and then some 25 minutes after the faggots had been lit her shift caught fire and burned away. Her head had been shaved so that the upper body damage that normally occurred at this time was minimised. The executioner following instructions he had been given before the execution pulled back the faggots at this stage so the crowd were able to see the naked girl hanging in the chains moaning in agony the lower half of her body red and blistered appart from her feet which were blackened and chared. After 4 or 5 minutes the fire was replaced and built up again with flames rising up to Joan' s breasts. Still she was fully concious shrieking and screaming as she writhed in agony. At about 40 minutes into the execution Joan's legs, horribly burned and charred by the fire were seen to fall away from her body and collapse into the fire. Because of the way she had been chained her upper body did not follow them and so she remained upright still shrieking as the flames ate into her breasts. At this point it seems that one of Joan's hands must have come off because witnesses report her beating at her breasts with the freed stump of an arm. She was apparently still doing this 3 or 4 minutes later when her breasts blistered and bubbling with the heat exploded. At this point all the witnesses agree that she groaned and her head which had been banging against the stake in her death agonies slumped forward. Although movement was reported after this time it seems that is was most likely to be automatic muscular spasms rather than voulutary movement and it seems unlikely that she was concious even if she was still alive.
 

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