The Return of Martin Guerre

In The Return of Martin Guerre, Natalie Zemon Davis, historian and professor at Princeton University, reconstructs the sixteenth century legend of Martin Guerre, a man with a wooden leg who arrived to a courthouse in Toulouse just in time to denounce an imposter who had stolen his wife, his family, and his inheritance. Arnaud du Tilh, a clever and persuasive peasant with a somewhat sordid past, had indeed taken Martin’s identity, and he nearly escaped prosecution but for the perfect timing of the real Martin Guerre’s return home. Though this story is widely considered a legend, the characters involved were real people who lived in the Languedoc region of France during the sixteenth century. Davis blends rigorous historical research with her own informed dramatization of the events leading up the return of Martin Guerre in this book, a work of literature that defies easy classification.

Three French peasants hold the leading roles in this legendary story: Martin Guerre, his wife Bertrande de Rols, and Arnaud du Tilh, the imposter who took advantage of Martin’s absence to usurp Martin’s position. In 1527, Sanxi Daguerre, Martin Guerre’s father, moved his family from their home in the Basque region to Artigat, in the Languedoc region of France.