Text for Working Group:

Natalie Zemon Davis. The Return of Martin Guerre. Harvard University Press, 1983.

Film: Le Retour de Martin Guerre (directed by Daniel Vigne and starring Gérard Depardieu and Natalie Baye, 1982) (Widely available at video rental stores.)

Contemporary accounts of the case were writtten by Guillaume Le Sueur and the other by Jean de Coras, one of the trial judges in Toulouse.

Suggested discussion questions
Julianne Guilland
Robbins Library

How did one establish and maintain identity within a small rural early-modern community like Artigat? How did a native villager like Bertrande de Rols do so? How did her gender and social status affect her identity? Alternatively, how did "outsider" status affect one's community identity and how could this status be overcome? Consider the cases of the Daguerre family's emigration from Labourd and Arnaud du Tilh's "return" to Artigat as Martin Guerre.

Natalie Davis asserts that Bertrande knew that Arnaud du Tilh was an imposter, yet she vouched for his identity as her true husband. What are Davis' criteria for this assertion? What likely motivations does Davis ascribe to Bertrande? Do you agree with this analysis?

How does the justice system in seventeenth-century France take into account social, economic and religious factors and/or local custom in trying a case? How do personal relationships figure in? What criteria do they use to establish "proof" of Martin's identity, and how do they assess credibility? Based upon these factors, how would you say that the administration of justice is affected/influence by the identities and hierarchies within a particular community, as in the case of Artigat?

The sensational nature of the Martin Guerre case bears a striking resemblance to the sensationalism surrounding high-profile criminal cases in American culture today. What do you think the principal similarities and differences are? What do these comparisons suggest, if anything, about ideas of individual and community that transcend cultural and historical boundaries?

Selected links and references:

The Robbins Library http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/

English Text of Martin Guerre in Celebrated Crimes by Alexandre Dumas pere (1802-1870) Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2752

Review of Davis' book with some added Indian connections. Online edition of The Hindu, India's National Newspaper. Sunday, Jan 27, 2002. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/01/27/stories/2002012700450200.htm

Encyclopedia background on the case and fiction it inspired. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Martin%20Guerre

An historian's debate over Davis' book in the American Historical Review:

Robert Finlay. "The Refashioning of Martin Guerre" The American Historical Review, vol 93, No. 3 (Jun., 1988), 553-571.

Natalie Zemon Davis."On the Lame" The American Historical Review, Vol. 93, No. 3 (Jun., 1988),572-603.

ORIAS Working Groups are established to provide professional development support for K-14 teachers with shared interests in international studies. The working groups provide teachers with the opportunity to extend their content knowledge by participating in seminars with University scholars; meet with colleagues to share resources and experiences; and work independently or collaboratively on classroom materials with ORIAS staff.

Co-sponsored by the Office of Resources for International and Area Studies (ORIAS), the Bay Area Global Education Program (BAGEP) at the World Affairs Council of Northern California and the Robbins Collection at the School of Law, U. C. Berkeley.

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