It is winter, 1430. As Christmas approaches, the faithful of Europe make their souls ready for the coming of the Christ child with fasting and prayer. John of Bedford continues to press the young Henry VI’s claims to France with military might. Jeanne D’Arc, maid of Lorraine, has succeeded in driving back the English forces with her bold tactics and aggressive strategies. Following the battle of Patay, Charles VII has been crowned at Reims Cathedral and proclaimed King of France. Jeanne has been captured by Burgundy and purchased by the England. She is being held at Rouen, where the ambitious Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais, plans to try her for heresy.
The century preceding the 15th has been a tumultuous one; the Black Death, the Peasant Revolt of 1381, the Hundred Year’s War, and numerous other calamities have ravaged Western Europe. The decrease in population has led to labor shortages, and the surviving peasants enjoy more rights than their predecessors. Winters remain difficult, however; a time of food shortages and cold. Rumors of ‘the tainted’ continue to spread, and as families huddle in their houses with little but gossip to entertain them through the freezing days, paranoia is rapidly increasing.