Testimony
19th century illustration depicting the murder of Jeanne Harvilliers. From Charles Gomart, Essai historique sur la ville de Ribemont et son canton, page 167 published in 1869.
In the English Wikipedia article on Jeanne Harvilliers, a victim of Jean Bodin burned at the stake for witchcraft on 29 April 1578, the following is written about her last words:
“Her exact words on the day of execution was [sic] described by Jean Bodin:
‘Farewell, may heaven forgive you. During my life, I was an Egyptian, a girl, a vagabond; I was banished, I was beaten with canes, I was marked with iron; I begged for bread from door to door; I was hunted from village to village like a dog. Who then would have believed my words? But today, fettered to the stake, ready to die, my words will not fall on the ground. Believe this call of truth: I am innocent of the crimes ascribed to me, I have done nothing to warrant the treatment given to me.’”
(Visited 7 May 2021. Checked 17 December 2022–still up)
The English Wikipedia article is rather new, written sometime in April 2021, and basically a translation of the French Wikipedia article. The French article, however, qualifies the quotation as Charles Gomart’s report of Jean Bodin’s report of Jeanne Harvilliers’ last words:
“Charles Gomart relate que Jean Bodin[note 1], son juge et biographe, rapporte ses utlimes paroles:*
‘Adieu, que le ciel vous pardonne. Pendant ma vie j’étais une Egyptienne, une fille, une vagabonde ; j’ai été bannie, frappée de verges, marquée d’un fer chaud ; j’ai mendié mon pain de porte, en porte ; j’ai été chassée de village en village comme un chien. Qui, alors, aurait ajouté foi en mes paroles? Mais aujourd’hui, attachée au bûcher, prête à mourir, mes paroles ne tomberont pas à terre. Ajoutez foi à ce cri de vérité : Je suis innocente des crimes qu’on m’impute, je n’ai rien fait pour mériter le traitement qu’on me fait subir!’”
Charles Gomart, a 19th century historian, wrote an essay, first published in 1849, called “La sorcière de Ribemont: épisode historique de 1579 [The Witch of Ribemont: a historical episode of 1579 ].” The essay was published a few times, twice in 1849 (here, here), once in 1850 (here), and once in 1869 as part of Gomart’s larger history of Ribemont (here).** In none of these does Gomart attribute Harvilliers’ last words to a report by Bodin. He only writes that Jeanne “made her last words heard” (he doesn’t say by whom):
“Jehanne était montée et faisait entendre ces dernières paroles:
‘Adieu, que le ciel vous pardonne. Pendant ma vie j’étais une Egyptienne, une fille, une vagabonde ; j’ai été bannie, frappée de verges, marquée d'un fer chaud ; j’ai mendié mon pain de porte, en porte ; j’ai été chassée de village en village comme un chien. Qui, alors, aurait ajouté foi en mes paroles? Mais aujourd’hui, attachée au bûcher, prête à mourir, mes paroles ne tomberont pas à terre. Ajoutez foi à ce cri de vérité : Je suis innocente des crimes qu’on m’impute, je n’ai rien fait pour mériter le traitement qu’on me fait subir!’”
The text of Gomart’s report of Harvilliers’ last words is nearly identical to the last words spoken by a fictional character, Meg Merrilies, referred to as “l’Égyptienne” (English: “the gipsy”) in the French translation of Sir Walter Scott’s second Waverly novel, Guy Mannering, ou l’astrologue, published in Paris in1826.***
“—Adieu donc! que le ciel vous pardonne! votre main a donné la force à mon témoignage. Pendant ma vie, j’étais une Égyptienne, une folle, une vagabonde; j’ai été bannie, frappée de verges, marquée d’un fer chaud. J’ai mendié mon pain de porte en porte, j’ai été chassé de village en village comme un chien égaré. Qui aurait ajouté foi à mes paroles? Mais aujourd’hui je suis une femme mourante, et mes paroles ne tomberont pas à terre comme mon sang que vous avez versé.”
Meg Merrilies’ last words were originally written in a dialect of Lowland Scots and found on page 304 of volume three of the first edition of Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer, written by the author of Waverley, published in Edinburgh in 1815:
“‘Then fareweel!’ she said, ‘and God forgive you!—your hand has sealed my evidence. When I was in life, I was the mad randy gipsy, that had been scourged, and banished, and branded—that had begged from door to door, and been hounded like a stray tike from parish to parish—wha would hae minded her tale? But now I am a dying woman, and my words will not fall to the ground, any more than the earth will cover my blood!’”
Walter Scott, Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer, Volume 3, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1815, p. 304 [text only].
Here are two versions of these last words side-by-side, Merrilies’ and Harvilliers’:
Wikipedia, 2021
“‘Farewell, may heaven forgive you. During my life, I was an Egyptian, a girl, a vagabond; I was banished, I was beaten with canes, I was marked with iron; I begged for bread from door to door; I was hunted from village to village like a dog. Who then would have believed my words? But today, fettered to the stake, ready to die, my words will not fall on the ground. Believe this call of truth: I am innocent of the crimes ascribed to me, I have done nothing to warrant the treatment given to me.’”
Scott, 1815
“‘Then fareweel!’ she said, ‘and God forgive you!—your hand has sealed my evidence. When I was in life, I was the mad randy gipsy, that had been scourged, and banished, and branded—that had begged from door to door, and been hounded like a stray tike from parish to parish—wha would hae minded her tale? But now I am a dying woman, and my words will not fall to the ground, any more than the earth will cover my blood!’”
Notes
* English: “Charles Gomart says that Jean Bodin[note 1], her judge and biographer, gave her last words.”
“Note 1” qualifies the quotation more precisely, saying:
“C’est en fait Gomart qui en est l’auteur, n’étant pas avare d’inventions dans ses écrits (source: in Eric Thierry, Jean Bodin et la sorcière de Ribemont [archive])”
English: “It is in fact Gomart—no stranger to introducing invention into his writings—who is the author [i.e., and not Bodin].”^*
** Gomart’s essay was printed in:
(1) La Thiérache: recueil de documents concernant l'histoire, les beaux-arts, les sciences naturelles et l'industrie de cette ancienne subdivision de la Picardie. Tome 1er. Vervins: Papillon, 1849, 129-139. [here]
(2) Mémoires de la Société académique des sciences, arts, belles-lettres, agriculture et industrie de Saint-Quentin. Saint Quentin: Imprimerie de Conttenest, Libraire Grand’Place, 1849, 196-219. [here]
(3) Arthur-Martin Dinaux (ed.). Archives historiques et littéraires du Nord de la France et du Midi de la Belgique: Troisième série. Tome 1er. Valenciennes: Au bureau des archives, 1850, 277-296. [here]
(4) Charles Gomart. Essai historique sur la ville de Ribemont et son canton. Saint-Quentin, 1869, 153-171. [here]
*** At this point in Scott’s story, Merrilies is mortally wounded and trying to give testimony about a murder she witnessed. There are accordingly some differences between the French translation of Scott and Gomart’s text: the words after “aujourd’hui” have been altered to reflect the different settings; the bit about testimony (“témoignage”) is missing; and some subtle changes, e.g. from “folle” (insane woman) to “fille” (girl) and from “chien égaré” (stray dog) to “chien” (dog).
Notes to notes
^* The note points to an essay by historian Éric Thierry, “Jean Bodin et la sorcière de Ribemont”, in which Thierry says of Gomart that:
“Il y utilise la Démonomanie de Bodin, mais a aussi largement recours à son imagination.”
“[Gomart] uses Bodin’s Demon-mania, but has to a great extent relied on his own imagination as well.”
Thierry gives an example in note 29 of page 27:
“Une prétendue citation de Bodin (Archives historiques, note 2, p. 288) est en fait extraitede l’Essai chronologique pour servir à l’histoire de Tournay d’Adrien Alexandre Marie Hoverlantde Beauwelaere (t. LXXXXIX, Tournay, Chez l’auteur, 1831, note 1, p. 363-366).”
The quotation (or a paraphrase, it’s unclear) Gomart attributes to Bodin is about devil’s marks. It occurs in note 2 on page 288 of the 1850 version of Gomart’s essay (and parallels in later versions). Gomart cites Bodin’s Démonomanie Book II, page 80, but, while that page contains a discussion of devil’s marks (in general and on Jeanne Harvilliers), the texts are very different. Thierry discovered another text, one that resembles Gomart’s more closely: a note that runs from page 363 to 366 of l’Essai chronologique pour servir à l'histoire de Tournay, Volume 99, by Adrien Alexandre Marie Hoverlant de Beauwelaere and published in 1831 (about 20 years before Gomart’s essay).