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Joan is subjected to bodily examinations used as trial evidence

During the Rouen process Joan underwent bodily examinations whose results the court treated as relevant to the case. In the causal graph this event weakens Health-System Capacity, a driver that strengthens Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) — a worsening welfare path.

Joan is subjected to bodily examinations used as trial evidence

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

During the Rouen process Joan underwent bodily examinations whose results the court treated as relevant to the case. It is not a hospital reform and not gossip about private life.

Context

Medieval trials used virginity as a political-theological token. That use is a welfare harm to the prisoner. It does not license later biography as bedroom history.

Joan of Arc is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

Bodily-integrity path. High confidence that examinations occurred; the driver is analogical, not a ward-bed series.

An inspection is not a vision.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Joan of Arc

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.2 · verified

    Complex: she is the examined prisoner. Court-appointed women and judges used the body as a file.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactJoan is subjected to bodily examinations used as trial evidence
    2. weakensDriverHealth-System Capacity
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 20 January 1431 · verified

    Using forced bodily inspection as capital evidence is a documented harm to bodily integrity, stored on the closest public health-capacity driver as coercive medicalized practice.

    • Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.33 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.6)

      Observed

      3.08 Per 1000 people · 1.24 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      6 readings, 2018–2023: rose from 3.07 Per 1000 people to 3.08 Per 1000 people.

      Above normal = better

    • Under-five mortality rate (global)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.28 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.5)

      Observed

      37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births · 12.4 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 40 deaths per 1,000 live births to 37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.

      Above normal = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Historial Jeanne d’Arc — RouenHistorial Jeanne d’Arc / Rouen · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Saint Joan of ArcEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Historial trial interpretation and Britannica independently record examinations as part of the 1431 process.

Established: bodily examinations in the 1431 process. Not established: a clinical diagnosis, or that the exams were care.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorJoan of Arc
  2. contributed toFactJoan is subjected to bodily examinations used as trial evidence
  3. weakensDriverHealth-System Capacity
  4. strengthensIndicatorHospital beds (per 1,000 people)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Joan is subjected to bodily examinations used as trial evidence. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/joa-virginity-exam-1431

https://factrail.ai/facts/joa-virginity-exam-1431

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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