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What was St. Joan of Arc’s abjuration?

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Painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres showing Joan of Arc in armor holding a banner at an altar during the coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral, with figures praying behind her. — St. Joan of Arc *Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral*, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1854; in the Louvre, Paris.

St. Joan of Arc’s abjuration was a formal act of recantation she performed on May 24, 1431, during her trial for heresy.12

Facing a sentence that would abandon her to secular power and lead to her execution, Joan was brought to the cemetery of the church of Saint-Ouen. After hearing a sermon, she was presented with a pre-prepared form of abjuration. Under the pressure of the impending death sentence, she agreed to do whatever the church required of her and signed the document, though she did so with the condition that it was "pleasing to our Lord".1

As a result of this abjuration, her sentence was commuted to perpetual imprisonment. However, this submission was short-lived. Only a few days later, after she resumed wearing male attire and reported that her voices had censured her for the act of abjuration, she was declared a relapsed heretic. This led to her final condemnation and execution by burning at the stake on May 30, 1431.12