A man named Martin Guerre left his wife and child. Eight years later, a man who called himself Martin Guerre returned. Why would his wife accept her not-quite-the-same husband without raising any questions, and what happened when one member of the family became convinced his nephew had been replaced by an imposter?
Featured image: A shot from the 1982 movie The Return of Martin Guerre, which historian Natalie Zemon Davis consulted on. (Image source)
A book about the arrest and trial printed in Bruges in 1565. The judge’s account is pretty much the only record we have of this case; we have no other information on what Guerre’s wife thought, but the question of why she accepted her fake husband has been central to recent scholarship and fiction about the case. (Image source)
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