BREHAL, JEAN. - Dominican, inquisitor general of France, b. in Normandy at the beginning of the 15th century. He was already inquisitor general when, in 1452, Cardinal G. d'Estouteville associated him with the review of the trial of Joan of Arc; Brehal worked strenuously on it for four years, and on 7 July 1456, at Rouen, pronounced the sentence of nullity. He held important positions within the Order and composed several treatises.
BIBL.: Quétif-Echard, I, pp. 815-16; T. Derman, Jeanne d'Arc et les Dominicains, in Arch. fratr. praed., 1 (1923), pp. 377-87; M. H. Laurent, s. V. in DHG, X, cols. 408-9.