¶ … Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zamon Davis [...] life of the peasant during the Middle Ages. This book is a fascinating account of a true case that happened during the 16th century in France. The book is also an excellent example of how the peasants lived in the Middle Ages, from what they ate, to how they traveled and what their family lives were like.
This book shows that life in the Middle Ages was difficult and demanding, but it seems a little bit peaceful and serene, too. The main occupations were farming and raising sheep or goats, and there were tradesman in the villages who worked for a living, such as a shoemaker, a blacksmith, and such. Martin Guerre and his family were tile makers, but they also farmed and raised sheep to become relatively prosperous in their small village (Davis 14). The peasants were uneducated, (the Guerre's town did not even have a schoolmaster), and most could not read, and could only write a small amount (Davis 15). They also married their children off very young, and often made matches for them. Martin Guerre married when he was only fourteen, and his wife was even younger (Davis 16). Life revolved around the village, the church, and the family, and it was a very busy but seemingly contented lifestyle.
Their main concerns were the family and simple survival. Everything they did was to feed and clothe the family, from raising grains and grapes to raising sheep so they could spin the wool into cloth and clothe the family...
By doing so, she is willing to provide an answer to a question that some historians would say is unanswerable, namely -- how could Bertrande be so deceived, and what would be her motivations in keeping up such a ruse? Davis suggests that her motivations were economic, personal, and social, and were the production of various historical forces, like the rise of Protestantism and the new value accorded to
Bertrande knew the real identity of "Martin Guerre" [i.e. Pansette] from the beginning, and took the opportunity to redefine her own identity, improve her personal life, and improve her status in the village. What sources did Davis use to reconstruct the story of "Martin Guerre"? Why was identity theft such a serious crime in the sixteenth- century France? Why did people consider an impotent couple to have been "cast under
Martin Guerre and his wife Bertrande? Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre chronicles the strange, true-life story of a medieval woman named Bertrande who was left abandoned by her husband Martin Guerre for many years, only to live with him once again when 'he' returned -- in the form of an imposter. For many years Bertrande lived with the false Martin Guerre, until the actual Guerre returned to
Natalie Zemon Davis' The Return of Martin Guerre chronicles a true story but Davis' historical work of nonfiction has the quality of a fairy tale because of its improbable character. The title character is a well-to-do French peasant that apparently disappeared, leaving his wife Bertrande de Rols in the status of legal limbo. In a world in which a woman's marital status was all-important, she was unable to divorce and
" Indeed, in the "marriage bed of the beautiful Bertrande things now went well," presumably in sexual cohesion, but also, in reproduction as two daughters were born to them." key part of the Davis story was the trial, in which Arnaud was accused of being the imposter that indeed he was. This is in effect a sidebar to the story, and a sidebar to the issue of "different historians...using different
France Rural Society in Early Modern France The main purpose of this report is to demonstrate my ability to first understand and then analyze historical works. The historical works for this assignment each focused on the rural society of early modern French times. The report's second purpose is to compare how the two authors present French rural society in "The Return of Martin Guerre" by Natalie Zemon Davis and "After the Black
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