Natalie Zemon Davis - The Return of Martin Guerre

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The Return of Martin GuerreNatalie Zemon Davis

Harvard University PressCambridge, Massahusetts

!ondon, "ngland


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Co#yright $%&' by the President and (ello)s

of Harvard College*ll rights reserved

Printed in the United +tates of *meria- $% $& $.

!ibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publiation DataDavis, Natalie Zemon,

$%&/The return of Martin Guerre 01ibliogra#hy2 # 0

$0 Du Tilh, *rnault, d0 $34- 00 Guerre, Martin 0

'0 5m#ostors and im#osture6(rane0 50 Title 0!*7 '830889-4' &'/..

5+1N -/4.8/.44%-/' :loth; '8808-34'5+1N -/4.8/.44%$/$ :#a#er;Designed by Given (ran


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For Chandler Davis


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Prefae

5+ 1==> GR"7 out of a historian9s adventure )ith a differentay of telling about the #ast0 The story of Martin Guerre has beenounted many times0 5n the $38-s in !anguedo, a rih #easant

aves his )ife, hild, and #ro#erty and is not heard from for years?e omes ba


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t the same time, the film )as de#arting from the historial reord,nd 5 found this troubling0 The 1asEue ba


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*


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Contents

trodution ?(rom Hendaye to *rtigat 4The Disontented Peasant $%

The Honor of 1ertrande de Rols $The Mas


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5ntrodution

"MM" 1=NN" Eui a mauvais mary, a bien souvent le oeurarryA :* good )ife )ith a bad husband often has a sorry heart; 0

*mour #eut moult, argent #eut toutA :love may do muh, but

oney more;0 These are some of the sayings by )hih #easantsharateried marriage in siteenth/entury (rane0 Historiansave been learning more and more about rural families fromarriage ontrats and testaments, from #arish reords of births

nd deaths, and from aounts of ourtshi# rituals and harivaris 0ut )e still


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omedy is about A#ersonnes #o#ulaires,A #eo#le of lo) ondition,o the theory )ent0 A5n a style humble and lo), omedy re#resentse #rivate fortunes of men 0 0 0 5ts issue is ha##y, #leasant, and

greeable0A +o in !es Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles :theteenthentury olletion of omi stones, several times re#rintedthe siteenth entury;, an aEuisitive #easant omes u#on his

ife having seual interourse )ith a friend, is mollified in his ragey the #romise of t)elve measures of grain, and then to


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m, and in fat beat him and thre) stones at him 0 0 0 The su##liante#ted this #eaeably, thin


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deed )as told in that form6beame in addition the sub@et for adge9s Aone hundred and eleven beautiful annotationsA? and to

uggest )hy )e have here a rare identifiation bet)een the fate ofeasants and /the fate of the rih and learned 0or soures 5 start )ith Coras9s *rrest of $34$ and the shortistoria of Guillaume !e +ueur, #ublished the same year0 The latteran inde#endent tet, dediated to another @udge in the ase? in atast t)o instanes, it has material not found in Coras but )hih 5ave verified in arhival soures0 5 use !e +ueur and Coras tou##lement eah other, though in the fe) #laes )here they are inonflit 5 give greater )eight to the @udge0 5n the absene of the fulstimony from the trial :all suh reords for riminal ases before

4-- are missing for the Parlement of Toulouse;, 5 have )or


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$0 (rom Hendaye to *rtigat

N $3. the #easant +ani Daguerre, his )ife, his young sonartin, and his brother Pierre left the family #ro#erty in the (renhasEue ountry and moved to a village in the ounty of (oi, a

ree/)ee< )al< a)ay 0)as not the most usual thing for a 1asEue to do0 Not that theen of !abourd )ere stay/at/homes, but )hen they traveled it )asore li


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ere long soures of dis#ute bet)een (rane and +#ain, and theonflits bet)een (ranEois 5 and the em#eror Charles had theironseEuenes for this frontier area0 5n $3' the im#erial troo#s)e#t through Hendaye and ravaged the !abourd? in $38 theague hit es#eially hard? in $33 +ani9s first hild Martin )asorn0 Perha#s it )as something #ersonal, a Euarrel bet)een +annd his father, the senior Alord of the householdA :the seniorhe


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elo) the foothills of the Pyrenees, a fe) hours9 ride by horse fromamiers 0rtigat strethed out on either side of the !ee, a small riverom#ared to the *riege to the east and the Garonne to the )est,ut still turbulent enough to overflo) its ban


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e #rofits half and half0 Bames !oe of Pailhes has a #artnershi#ith a merhant of Pamiers for fifty/t)o e)es? they share#enses and #rofits, )ool going to Pamiers after shearing andalt going to Pailhes0 Grains and )ines move also, either in therm of rents #aid in


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ad designations that )ere also family names2 A!es 1anEuels,A notr from the village enter? ARolsA to the )est? A!e (ustieA near the

ee, )here the miller (ustie lived0 Plo)ed fields had names, too,s did vineyards and meado)s6Aa la #la,A Aal sobe,A Alessem#res,A Aal athala,A Ala bardasseA6and #easants )ho aEuiredem sometimes too< these titles as an alias0$- =f ourse theentifiation bet)een family and land )as limited at *rtigat,robably more than it had been at Hen/daye, by the soial andonomi struture of the village0 *t its to# )ere affluent families,


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)est level )ere three or four onsuls of *rtigat, loal )orthies##roved annually by the @udge of Rieu to )ear the red and )hiteoods of village offie0 They had @urisdition over agriulturaatters, suh as the ommon lands :rather small in etent inrtigat; and the date for starting the )inter harvest? )ardshi#s,ventories, and autions of goods #ostmortem? om#laints of falseeights and measures? and disru#tion of #ubli order byas#hemy and #etty assaults0 (rom time to time they alledssemblies of the male inhabitants0 *ll of this must have a##ealed

the Daguerres, )ho had gro)n u# in an area )here :des#ite thero)ing #o)er of the AnobleA Urtubies; the seigniorial regime hadeen )ea< and )here all #arishoners had the freedom to meet

henever they )ished to dra) u# statutes for their ommon needs0the family had settled @ust u#stream at Pailhes, )here thellemurs, seigniors of Pailhes and a#tains of the Chateau de

oi, had their astle, it )ould have been a different story0 Thease of Martin Guerre might never have run its ourse if a residenteignior or his agents had had the authority to intervene0 *s it )as,e *rtigatois had to deal muh of the time only )ith the gossi# andressure of their #eers 0#art from its distintive freedoms, *rtigat had a rather fluid, miedentity0 !inguistially, it )as right on the border bet)een theffering nasals and liEuid sounds of Gason and langue d9o0eogra#hially, it )as )ithin the ounty of (oi, but together )ithailhes and some other villages it fell under the government of

anguedo0 Though near Pamiers, the seat of the dioese ofamiers, *rtigat )as #art of the dioese of the more distant Rieu0he retor of the main #arish hurh, +aint/+ernin of *rtigat, )asamed by the anons of +aint/"tienne, even farther a)ay inoulouse? the urate of 1a@ou, a smaller #arish that fell )ithin therisdition of *rtigat, )as also #ut in #lae by a ha#ter inoulouse0 The men of *rtigat might move aross severaloundaries in the ourse of their ativities as farmers, she#herds,igants, and Christians, and #eo#le alled them different things?asons, A(oiiens,A !anguedoiens0 5nto this village, then, amee Daguerres, settling to the east of the !ee, aEuiring land


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#erha#s buying someone else9s#ro#res;, and establishing ae)or


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7hile they )ere sin


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arriage )as illiit by anon la)0 The Rols and the Guerres )ereery eager for an alliane, ho)ever, and the urate of *rtigat,essire BaEues 1oeri, )as from a loal family and evidently #ut

# no obstrution0 *s !e +ueur )as to omment, Athus the ho#e forome #osterity settles in the minds not only of


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to their room at midnight burst the young village revelers, led byatherine 1oeri, a relative of the urate of *rtigat0 +he )asarrying their AresveilA Heavily seasoned )ith herbs and s#ies, therin< )ould ensure the ne)ly)eds ardent mating and a fertilearriage 0


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0 The Disontented Peasant

=TH5NG H*PP"N"D in 1ertrande9s marriage bed, it seemed,either that night nor for more than eight years after)ard 0artin Guerre )as im#otent? the ou#le had been Aast under a

#ell0A That may not have been the first of Martin9s misfortunes 0erha#s it )as not so easy for the boy from the !abourd to gro)# in *rtigat0 There )ere languages to sort out2 his #arentsasEue and their aented langue d9o and the language s#o


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or a )hile Martin and his family might have ho#ed the im#oteneould #ass0 5n the 1asEue ountry there )as a ustom thatlo)ed young men Athe freedom to try out their )omen 0 0 0efore marrying themA? maybe this ould be loo


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ut things )ere still not )ell )ith the ne) father0 5f )e an @udgeartin Guerre9s state of mind from ho) he hose to s#end the net

)elve years of his life, there )as very little he li


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a< in the !abourd there )ere Daguerres )ho had served in theng9s army0 "ven a dignified notary in !e Masd9*il dreamed aboutand dre) #itures of soldiers in his registers0 *nd there )as#ain, luring men every year from the dioese of Rieu0 Pey delieu from +aint/bars, Ahaving made u# his mind to go to +#ainnd earn his living,A ma


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$33-, 1urgos )as a flourishing ity of some $%,---, still theommerial a#ital of Castille, enter for the distribution of )ool,nd host to #ilgrims going to +aint Bames of Com#ostela0 Namedsho# of its magnifient athedral that year )as (raniso deendoa y 1obadilla, former bisho# of Coria, sholar andumanist, friend during their lifetimes of "rasmus and ives, aardinal sine $388, and #art of the im#erial #arty at the firstession of the Counil of Trent0 5nvolved )ith high #olitis for thehurh and for Charles , Don (raniso remained in 5taly foreveral years0 To #resent his letters of nomination to the athedraha#ter in *ugust $33-, he sent his brother Pedro de Mendoa, aomendador of the +#anish military order of +antiago and a#tain

the +#anish army0 Presumably Pedro sa) to it as )ell that theousehold in the bisho#9s #alae )as running smoothly and ouldo business for the #relate during his absene 0)as at this #alae that the young #easant from *rtigat must haveeome a la


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uentin0 5t may never have ourred to him that he ould be guiltyf high treason0 1ut then it may not have ourred to him that heould ever )ant to go ba< to (rane 0

7herever he )as serving6either along )ith his master Pedro ine light avalry or in the infantry6Martin survived the first days ofe +#anish bombardment of the Pi/ard to)n )ithout in@ury 0hen ame *ugust $-, +aint !a)rene9s day, $33., and the armiesf Phili# 55 routed the (renh troo#s )ho had ome to relieve theesieged ity,


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'0 The Honor of 1ertrande de Rols

7H"N M*RT5N GU"RR" left on his adventures, his )ife )as noore than t)enty/t)o years old0 The Abeautiful young )omanA mayso have loo


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ome to ertain harater traits of 1ertrande de Rols, )hih sheas already dis#laying in her siteenth year2 a onern for her

e#utation as a )oman, a stubborn inde#endene, and a shre)dealism about ho) she ould maneuver )ithin the onstraintsaed u#on one of her se0 Her refusal to have her marriagessolved, )hih might )ell have been follo)ed by anotherarriage at her #arents9 behest, freed her tem#orarily from ertainifely duties0 5t gave her a hane to have a girlhood )ith Martin9sounger sisters, )ith )hom she got on )ell0 *nd she ould getedit for her virtue0 *s Coras )as to say of her refusal to se#arateom Martin, Athat at, li


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or


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nds and harassing her sharero##ers @ust to the east of thellage0 1ut she ould ho#e to en@oy the res#et of other villageomen and informal #o)er as a )ido), being addressed by theorthy title of Na, able to besto) a vineyard on a ne)ly marriedon and hosen on all her godhildren0 *nd the )omen seem toave gone along )ith the system, #assing it on through the dee#e and hidden om#liity of mother and daughter0 *s )ives, theyeleted their husbands as their universal heirs? as )ido)s, theysually #referred their sons as heirs over their daughters0 Theyere dee#ly offended and sought redress )hen insulted as a

bagasse,A a #rostitute0 5ndeed, one good)ife of !e (ossat sued aeighbor )oman, not only for hitting her in a Euarrel over #oultry

ut also for alling her a Ahen0A These )ere the values thatertrande de Rols gre) u# )ith0 5n all her later adventures,ertrande never sho)ed herself as )anting to be outside thisllage soiety, to be re@eted by it or to leave it0 1ut she did see< toa


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t some #oint in those years6most li


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e)s of a dro)ning or a bullet, or sim#ly ignore the la) if thereere a oo#erative #riest in the village0 1ut 1ertrande hose not too so0 Her #ratial interest


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8 The Mas


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ough the first resident notary #robably a##eared only in theeventeenth entury 0he du Tilhs and the 1arraus )ere Euite ordinary families in thisral soiety0 5n $33$, )hen a dioesan visitation ame round, they

re not listed among the onsuls and bas/siniers of their villages6ot among the Dabeyats, Daubans, de +oles, and +aint *ndrieusho deliberated on loal matters and too< harge of the #arishestry0 5nstead they stood among the middle ran


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ro#erty as )as Martin Guerre in *rtigat0 Though his doings too

Natalie Zemon Davis - The Return of Martin Guerre

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