April 9, 2025 • 41 mins
The astonishing case of Martin Guerre remains one of history's most captivating instances of deception and mistaken identity. When Martin Guerre suddenly abandoned his wife Bertrande and young son in 16th century rural France, he left behind a family in limbo and a village full of questions. Eight years later, a man returns claiming to be Martin – slightly different in appearance but possessing remarkable knowledge of Martin's life, relationships, and intimate details.
For four years, this man lives as Martin Guerre, resuming married life with Bertrande and fathering two more children. He reclaims Martin's inheritance and position in the community until nagging suspicions from Martin's uncle Pierre grow into public accusations of fraud and deception. What follows is an extraordinary legal battle that divides the village, with conflicting testimonies from over 150 witnesses about whether this man truly is Martin Guerre.
Just when it seems the accused might prevail in his appeal to a higher court, a stranger with a wooden leg appears claiming to be the real Martin Guerre, freshly returned from military service in Spain. The courtroom drama intensifies as both men maintain their claims to Martin's identity, with Bertrande caught between them. Was she truly deceived for years, or might she have recognized the fraud but chosen to accept him regardless?
The case culminates in one of history's most dramatic courtroom revelations, raising profound questions about identity, memory, and human relationships that resonate powerfully even in our modern age of digital impersonation. Join us as we unravel this centuries-old mystery that continues to challenge our understanding of how we recognize those closest to us and what it means to truly know another person.
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome back to History's Greatest Crimes, where
we unravel historical eventsthat blur the lines between
truth and deception, right andwrong.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm Alayna, and with me is Michael.
Today we journey back to 16thcentury France to discuss a case
of identity theft.
We're about to explore a caseso bizarre, so unsettling.
It not only captivated thepeople at the time but continues
to fascinate historianscenturies later.
Just as an aside, michael, I'llsay that I absolutely love
(00:51):
studying the crimes of themedieval and early modern eras.
I find it fascinating howpeople's lives and their
problems and aspirationscenturies ago can be
simultaneously so different andyet so familiar to us today.
So, dear listeners, get readyfor the perplexing case of the
return of Martin Gere.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
This case is so dramatic, with so many twists
and questions left unanswered,that the story leaves room for
us to continue to ponder whatexactly happened in Artegat, a
small town in southern France.
Life there was largely dictatedby the seasons, the land and
family ties, so it was strangeto the residents of the village
(01:31):
when a local man named MartinGare just up and left his family
one day.
Martin Gare was a young man andhe came from a relatively
successful family and had abeautiful wife named Bertrand de
Roles and a young son namedSanxi.
But regardless of why Martinleft, he did so leaving his
family in limbo as they waitedto see if he would return.
(01:53):
Eight years later, martin Garedid return, and he looked a
little different and spoke alittle different but who
wouldn't?
After spending eight years in adifferent kingdom, right?
And he seemed to rememberdetails that only the actual
Martin would know.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But not everything was as it seemed.
Eventually, another Martin Gereshowed up.
He claimed to be the realMartin, while the other Martin
Gere was an imposter.
As you can imagine, people werea bit shocked.
Who was the real Martin Gere,and why were multiple people
claiming to be the same person?
The answer, as you'll hear, isanything but simple A real
(02:33):
historical head-scratcher.
So, michael, picture a smallrural village in the south of
France in the 1540s, set againsta background of farms and
mountains and the occasionalpicturesque castle.
(02:54):
Arctica was the sort of littletown in which everyone knew
everyone else.
The Gere family finding somefinancial success were what we
might call rich peasants.
With that in mind, in the late1530s the Geres decided to marry
their son Martin to Bertrand deRolles, who came from a
(03:14):
similarly financiallyestablished family.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So this was a marriage based on more than just
romantic love, then.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Precisely.
It was a union that intertwinedfamilies and futures.
Bertrand brought her ownconnections and properties to
the marriage, just as Martin did, and perhaps the families were
a bit too enthusiastic aboutmarrying off their children
because at the time of theirmarriage, both Martin and
Bertrand were only about 11 or12 years old.
(03:44):
Both Martin and Bertrand wereonly about 11 or 12 years old.
That was considered ratheryoung to be wed, even during an
era when people tended to marryearly.
In fact, the records show thatafter Martin and Bertrand were
married, it was eight yearsbefore the marriage was actually
consummated.
And, according to those samerecords, the marriage between
Martin and Bertrand was onlyeventually consummated after
(04:07):
they acquired and both consumeda potion.
That potion was supposed toundo the effects of a spell that
the young couple and othersthought were preventing them
from being intimate as husbandand wife.
Regardless of whether it wasthe potion or a placebo effect,
it appeared to work because soonafter, martin and Bertrand had
(04:28):
a son named Songsy.
Shortly after, in the late1540s.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
It seemed like a happy ending for Martin and
Bertrand.
They were destined to inheritfamily wealth in the future and
seemed to have an establishedplace in the town.
But a year or so later, in 1548, Martin Gare did the
unthinkable he left town andabandoned his family.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Does anyone know why he left?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Not entirely Later.
Testimony would suggest that itwas because Martin's own father
had accused him of stealing asmall amount of grain from him.
That's plausible, since itpoints to some underlying family
conflict.
But Martin's response seems atouch too extreme when one
considers that the family he hadand the inheritance he would be
(05:14):
leaving behind.
We can only speculate on hisreasons, unfortunately.
Perhaps it was more than justfamily conflict.
Perhaps it was youthfuldiscontent, perhaps Martin
didn't enjoy the role in thevillage that he had seemed
predestined for from birth.
But ultimately Martin was gonefor eight years without having
any contact with his family.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And without knowing whether Martin Gere was alive or
dead, his family was unable tomove on.
Bertrand in particular wouldhave faced considerable
challenges, not just emotionallybut practically.
She continued to live with theGere family as she had when
Martin was there, and that wasprobably due to the fact that
there was no set time for howlong someone could be gone
(05:59):
before their spouse couldremarry.
And since this was a fairlypatriarchal culture at the time,
a missing husband could createa lot of problems for his wife
and children when it came toland ownership and inheritance.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So poor Bertrand was neither fully a widow or fully a
wife in the traditional sense.
She was just a permanentquestion mark in the Gare
household.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Exactly Michael.
But then a miracle seemed totake place In 1556, eight years
after Martin left, a manappeared in Artica claiming to
be the long-lost Martin Gare.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That must have created quite a stir in the
village.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It certainly did, and keep in mind that in the
mid-1500s no one carried ID.
Photographs wouldn't be a thingfor another few centuries, and
the only records of people thegovernment kept concerned birth,
deaths and who owed taxes.
So there was no way to verifythat the long-lost Martin Gere
was the real one.
Sure, the man looked a littledifferent he was a bit stockier
(07:02):
than people remembered and worea beard, whereas he'd been
clean-shaven before.
But everyone admitted that hedid sort of look like the Martin
Gere they remembered, and it'slikely that many admitted that
everyone would have looked alittle different after eight
years, right.
Plus, this man seemed to knowintimate details of Martin's
life, recalling shared memorieswith Bertrand and other
(07:26):
villagers.
He greeted people by name,almost everyone he saw, and if
they had trouble recognizing himhe brought up previous
conversations and other suchmemories that sounded familiar.
He even reminded Bertrand ofthe white hosen he left in a
coffer when he left town eightyears ago, which was true.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So it's like the prodigal son returning, isn't it
?
Everyone thought that aftereight years Martin Gare was
either dead or never going toreturn home by choice.
So this seemed to be amiraculous turn of events and it
didn't seem possible that theman could know that much detail
without actually being the real.
Martin Gare Bertrand, afterwhat the sources describe as
(08:09):
expressing some initialhesitation and doubt, seemed to
eventually accept him as herlong-lost husband.
Martin Gare's four sisters alsoswore that he was indeed their
brother and, in general, martinenthusiastically embraced his
old life and embraced his oldlife which embraced him back.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And the community largely accepted him too,
because why wouldn't they?
He seemed to slot back intoMartin's life with a remarkable
degree of familiarity.
When asked where he had been,martin explained that he had
been off fighting with armies inSpain, and that seemed
plausible, considering theongoing conflict between Spain
and France.
At that time, king Henry II ofFrance declared war on the Holy
(08:54):
Roman Emperor, with the goals oftaking parts of Italy for the
French Kingdom and making Francethe strongest European kingdom.
In this war, known as theItalian War, the Spanish
supported the Holy Roman Emperoragainst France, and so Spanish
and French armies foughtmultiple battles and skirmishes
(09:14):
against each other.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
And this arrangement between Bertrand and Martin
continued on for four more years, during which time they had two
more children together, onlyone of which survived infancy.
It seemed as though everythingwas back to normal, but as is
often the case in history, andespecially in true crime, the
surface of normalcy soon beginsto crack.
(09:37):
The whispers and doubts startedto creep in, creep in.
So Martin Gare returned to thesouthern French town of Artegat
in 1556 and reclaimed his formerlife with his wife, son and
rest of his family.
And for four years Martin Garewent about his business as usual
(09:58):
helping with the family'sfinancial accounts and business
exchanges, having more childrenwith his wife Bertrand, and
making plans for the inheritancethat was due to him from his
late father, who had passedwhile he was gone.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So it was Bertrand who first suspected that Martin
Gare wasn't who he said he was.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That's the interesting part.
The first person to publiclyand legally accuse Martin Gare
of being an imposter and a fraudwas his actual uncle, Pierre.
Pierre was the patriarch of theGere family and held
possessions of Martin'sinheritance until it was legally
transferred.
Over time, Pierre becameincreasingly convinced that the
(10:37):
man claiming to be Martin Gerewas not his nephew.
Pierre agreed that the manlooked like Martin and any
differences in height or weightcould be attributed to the
passage of time.
But Pierre wondered why Martinhad forgotten some of the local
phrases and dialects from hischildhood.
Pierre also questioned whyMartin was no longer interested
in former hobbies like swordplayand acrobatics.
(10:59):
In addition, Pierre learnedfrom his local friend, a
shoemaker, that Martin's feetwere noticeably smaller than
they had been in the past.
That last inconsistency inparticular was difficult for him
to reconcile.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Aha.
So now a growing number ofpeople, led by Pierre Gere,
began to wonder who this man intheir midst actually was and
what his intentions were.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Precisely, pierre Gere essentially became the
antagonist to this new Martin,actively challenging his
identity.
Pierre and those he convincedaround him went around town
publicly accusing him of thecrime of imposter.
Martin Guerre, of course,denied the accusations and in
turn accused Pierre of trying tofind a way to keep Martin's
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inheritance for himself, andthat seemed plausible.
It certainly wouldn't be thefirst time that someone tried to
keep an inheritance that wasn'ttheirs.
It was a small town and people,of course, took sides.
At one point, the records notethat Pierre and his son-in-law
actually physically confrontedMartin Gare.
It was also noted that Bertrandput herself between Martin and
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her attackers in an effort todefend him.
Bertrand was convinced thatMartin Gare was Martin Gare and
no one else.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
It truly sounds like a family drama playing out on a
village stage.
You could almost feel thetension as neighbors take sides,
torn between the familiar faceof Martin Gere and the nagging
doubts fueled by Pierre'saccusations.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Exactly, the village of Artegat became divided.
Some neighbors, who had knownthe real Martin Gere since
childhood, insisted that thisman was indeed him.
These included Martin's sistersinsisted that this man was
indeed him.
These included Martin's sisters.
Others, who perhaps noticed thediscrepancies or were swayed by
Pierre's arguments, claimed hewas not the real Martin.
(12:56):
In fact, pierre did someinvestigative work by himself
and found a witness who statedthat the man claiming to be
Martin Guerre was actually namedArnaud Dutille, who came from a
village in a different part ofFrance, not Artica.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But what about Bertrand?
She had lived as this man'swife for the last four years.
Surely she knew whether the manshe shared a household and bed
with for the last four years wasMartin Gere or not.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And that's a really interesting question.
You know, as we just discussed,Bertrand sided with Martin Gere
at this point in the story.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
She said that he was not a fraud and was her true
husband trying to protect herhonor and her children's
legitimacy from harm, becauseBertrand had more children with
(13:47):
Martin Gere after he returnedright, and if the man claiming
to be Martin Gere wasn'tactually her husband, then that
posed the question of whether ornot Bertrand was guilty of
adultery and whether herchildren had been born out of
wedlock.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now that's a pickle.
There's a lot at stake forBertrand in this situation.
We should note at this pointthat in the background of this
local conflict, the ProtestantReformation was raging across
Europe In the years after thecase of Martin Gere concluded.
Many of the families listed inthe Artigot records converted to
Protestantism.
(14:20):
One of Martin Luther'sfoundational theological
arguments was that Christiansdidn't actually need a priest to
intervene between them and God.
Instead, one could directly askGod for forgiveness of their
sins, and regular people couldconduct their own sacred rites,
like baptism and marriage,without a priest.
This was a foundational ideafor the most popular Protestant
(14:41):
sects in southern France, likethe Lutherans or the Huguenots.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I see where you're going here.
The historian Natalie ZemanDavis has suggested that
Bertrand must have eventuallyfigured out that the man she was
living with wasn't actuallyMartin Gere, but that she may
have grown attached to himregardless.
Davis argues that perhaps thespread of Protestant ideas gave
people more agency over theirown relationship with God,
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leaving some to assume that amarriage, a unity between two
people, was something that couldbe decided by those two people
involved, and thus perhapsBertrand and the present Martin
Gere assumed that their marriagewas legitimate before God and
that's all they needed Now.
I personally think that thatreasoning is a bit of a stretch,
(15:28):
but anything is possible inthis story.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And that's an intriguing theory.
Okay, so for some of therecords, we know that the
growing suspicions andaccusations against the man
living as Martin Gare eventuallyled to a formal legal
proceeding in the nearby villageof Riu.
It was a very popular spectacleat that time.
People from Artigas and thesurrounding areas flocked to
(15:52):
Rieu to witness thisextraordinary, unbelievable case
.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
In terms of evidence, the court relied heavily on
witness testimonies.
Over 150 people eventually cameto Rieu to testify.
These witnesses were asked toidentify the accused man and to
recall details about the realMartin Gere, and the conflicting
testimony that followed clearlydemonstrated the difficulty in
(16:17):
establishing identity based onmemory alone, especially after
such a long absence.
The shoemaker gave histestimony about the different
shoe sizes, and others claimedthat Martin Gere had specific
physical marks, such as extrateeth in his jaw, a scar on his
forehead, three warts on hisright hand and, apparently,
according to the records, eachof these was discovered on the
(16:39):
prisoner.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So, by all accounts, then, the self-proclaimed Martin
was remarkably convincing.
As mentioned, he seemed to knoweveryone.
He had greeted all of them byname and knew something of their
past when he had first saw them.
This ability to recall personaldetails created a strong
initial impression.
Furthermore, during the trialat Rieu, he continued to
demonstrate an astonishingknowledge of Martin Gare's life.
(17:03):
He could recall the places andpeople that Martin Gare had
allegedly visited in France andSpain during his absence, and
this information wassubsequently verified by the
court.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And his convincing performance extended to his
interactions with Bertrand.
When questioned separately,bertrand and the self-proclaimed
Martin repeated the samedetails of their early life
together, and this sharedknowledge undoubtedly swayed
some in the community and even,for a time, the court.
It's almost as if they hadconstructed a early life
together, and this sharedknowledge undoubtedly swayed
some in the community and even,for a time, the court.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It's almost as if they had constructed a shared
narrative together.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I agree.
But here's the thing when thecase went to trial in Rio,
bertrand was actually listed asbeing part of the plaintiff,
along with Pierre Gere, martin'sprimary accuser.
This was a big shift frombefore.
As we explained, in the timeleading up to the legal
proceedings in Rio, bertrandvehemently supported the
(17:57):
returned man as her husband,even declaring that he was quote
Martin Gere, my husband, orelse some devil in his skin end.
Quote Now, at least officially.
At this point, bertrand wasstanding against Martin in court
.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
That sudden switch seemed odd to everyone at the
time too.
On a number of occasions,Martin Gare claimed that Pierre
and his supporters hadmanipulated and even coerced
Bertrand in deciding against him, and this seems very possible
considering Bertrand's verycautious and minimal statements
during the trial at Rieu.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
The self-proclaimed Martin put on a very convincing
performance and his detailedknowledge nearly led to his
exoneration.
He centered his defense on theidea that Pierre Gere's
accusations stemmed from aproperty dispute and personal
animosity.
As we noted before, that seemedlike a plausible explanation,
but ultimately the judgepresiding over the trial in Rieu
(18:54):
declared Martin Guerre guiltyof imposture and of abusing his
wife, Bertrand de Roles.
He stated that the man whoclaimed to be Martin Guerre was
actually Arnaud de Till, and hesentenced him to be beheaded and
quartered.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
The fact that he was to be beheaded and quartered was
actually a bit of a complimentto the former Martin turn Arnaud
, since beheading was supposedto be reserved for the nobility.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm sure he was very grateful, but the former Martin
didn't want to be executed atall and he immediately appealed
the judge's decision to theParliament of Toulouse, a higher
court and the former Martinseemed set to make yet another
convincing argument in hisdefense, seeing this as his last
chance for exoneration.
(19:40):
But just when it seemed like hemight prevail against Pierre,
something astonishing happened.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's right, elena.
Just as the next trial startsgoing, the real Martin Gare
showed up.
Stay with us as we discuss whathappened when two Martin Gares
claimed to be the real one.
Imagine the courtroom scene theaccused Martin Gare, aka arnaud
(20:09):
dutille, standing firm in hisclaim that he is not an imposter
.
Bertrand de rolls, the wife,watching on unsure what would
become of her, regardless of thetrial's outcome.
Pierre gare, the paternal uncleof martin gare, resolute in his
accusations that the man knownas martin gare was a fraud.
And then a strange man with awooden leg enters the courtroom
(20:30):
bearing the unmistakable marksand resemblance of the true
Martin Gare.
It's the ultimate plot twist, amoment ripped straight from the
most thrilling of dramas.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Absolutely, michael.
Even through the centuries oldrecords, the shock and confusion
in the courtroom is palpable Onseeing the man, the false
Martin Arnaud Dettel exclaimed.
Quote newcomer evildoer rascal,this man has been bought for
cash and has been instructed byPierre Gere.
End quote.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's hard to fathom the psychological impact of that
moment.
What about Bertrand?
How did she react to the suddenappearance of the man she
hadn't seen for over a decade?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And this is where the narrative becomes particularly
complex.
Some of the records from thetrial portray Bertrand as a dupe
.
Finally realizing her errorupon seeing the real Martin, she
supposedly quote asked hispardon for the wrong she had
done him unknowingly.
End quote.
However, modern historians aremore conflicted about Bertrand's
(21:34):
motivations.
As we've discussed before,historians like Natalie Zeman
Davis have suggested that theremight have been some level of
complicity.
It's hard to believe thatBertrand would have been
entirely fooled for three years.
It seems more likely that sherealized the truth over time and
then consciously chose toaccept Arnaud as Martin, perhaps
(21:56):
even forming a genuineconnection with him.
It's possible that they evencontrived to continue the lie
together.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So some historians see Bertrand not as a victim of
deception, but as more of anactive participant in this
unfolding drama.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Precisely.
But this interpretation hasn'tgone unchallenged.
Other modern historians,particularly Robert Finley, have
argued that there's a lack ofdirect evidence for Bertrand's
knowing complicity and if wetake the original records at
face value, they clearlyindicate that Bertrand was
deceived.
Plus there's the fact that whenthe trial about you know the
(22:34):
Martin Gere imposter began,bertrand was listed as part of
the plaintiff with Pierre andeven if she was doing so
reluctantly, she was stilllegally opposing Martin Gere.
Personally, I think I fall moreinto this second camp of
historians.
In a time without photographsand good records, would a woman
actually recognize her husbandafter eight long years?
(22:57):
And we can't forget that therewas no real intimacy between the
couple for eight years afterthey married so very young and
really only left a year or sobetween when Bertrand became
pregnant and had their son andwhen Martin Gere abandoned them.
So when Bertrand becamepregnant and had their son and
when Martin Gere abandoned them,so could Bertrand be sure?
Perhaps she was actually duped.
What do you think, michael?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I actually side with the first group of historians
that have suggested thatBertrand must have at least
strongly suspected the truth.
Just because she was a peasantdoesn't mean she didn't have
common sense, and common sensesays that being an abandoned
wife was a difficult spot tofind oneself in.
I think she knew at leasteventually and decided that
being married to a fraud wasbetter than being married to an
(23:40):
absent husband.
Whether Bertrand and Arnaud deTill started conspiring together
at some point, I'm not sure,but it's a fascinating clash for
historical interpretation,highlighting the challenges of
piecing together the motivationsand intentions of peoples from
centuries past.
So, after the dramatic entranceof a second Martin Gare, what
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happened within the courtroom?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
The arrival of the real Martin Gare threw the
entire trial into disarray andnecessitated a new round of
intense questioning.
Both Arnaud and Bertrand wereconfronted with Martin.
According to the records,bertrand quote trembled like a
leaf and wept.
End quote.
The real Martin, upon seeingBertrand, is quoted as saying
(24:24):
how is it possible that youcould have given consent to this
abuse For my uncle and mysisters?
There's some excuse, but nonein the touch of the man on the
woman.
End quote.
This highlights Martin's ownbelief in Bertrand's culpability
.
He thought she must have knownthe man wasn't really him.
But I also think it's possiblethat Martin was a bit angry at
(24:46):
the situation and perhaps didn'treally like his family and wife
much to begin with, seeing thathe had abandoned them eight
years before.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Arnaud, even in the face of the second Martin,
initially refused to renouncehis claim, but it was at this
point that Bertrand, under nowimmense pressure, completely
shifted her stance.
The records state that quote.
Within the course of a day,with no new evidence forthcoming
, Bertrand stated to the judgeof Rieu that Arnaud de Till was
(25:16):
not her husband.
The historian we keepreferencing, Natalie Zeman Davis
, has suggested that Bertrandstill wasn't fully convinced
that the new Martin Gare was theactual, real one.
Davis goes on to theorize thatBertrand made the statement
after Pierre and the othersthreatened her access to her
children, to her relatives andto her family property if she
(25:37):
did not accuse Arnaud as well.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
The trial at Toulouse , marked by this stunning
revelation, became abattleground not only for
determining the identity ofMartin Gare, but also for
understanding the complex roleplayed by Bertrand de Roles.
The judges now had to grapplewith the undeniable truth that
one of the Martins was indeed animposter.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Elena.
As we prepare to discuss thedramatic aftermath of the trial,
I keep returning to afundamental question when in the
world was the real Martin Garefor those eight years?
He vanished from Artegat France.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's a crucial piece of the puzzle, michael, and one
where the sources offer someintriguing, albeit incomplete,
answers.
We know the catalyst for hisdeparture was that strange
incident in which Martin'sfather accused him of stealing
grain from him and because ofthat he seemingly left behind
everything his patrimony, hisparents, his son and his wife,
(26:41):
and the sources all agree thatno one heard from him for a long
time.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So the initial trigger is clear, even if it
seems a bit irrational to ustoday.
But where did he go afterleaving?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
The most concrete evidence points to Martin
Guerre's service in the Spanisharmy.
He was definitely present atthe Battle of St Quentin in 1557
, and it was there that therecords suggest that he lost his
leg to a French arquebus.
An arquebus was a long gun, oneof the first handheld firearms
in Europe.
These guns were large, awkwardand slow to load and fire.
(27:18):
Even in ideal situations ittook somewhere between 20 and 60
seconds to reload and fire.
The Spanish and French armiesboth adopted their use in
military conflicts and they werevery effective in battles.
Martin Gere would have had hisleg amputated afterwards and his
outcome would have been touchand go for a while.
(27:38):
That sort of injury would havedefinitely ended his military
career, so it's possible that itprompted him to return to
Artica.
And besides that information,there's surprisingly little
detail about Martin Gere'sspecific whereabouts during
those eight years.
What we know is that bothMartin Gere's claimed that they
had both been off soldieringduring that time.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
The records themselves also conflict on how
the real Martin Gare found outthat someone was impersonating
him in Artigas.
Some sources suggest thatMartin, tired of soldiering, had
already planned to return hometo Artigas already, and only
through luck did he discover hisimposter in the nick of time.
Other sources suggest thatMartin Gere didn't even plan to
(28:20):
return to Arctica, but did soafter hearing about his identity
being stolen.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And that then prompts our next question.
If the second Martin Gere wasthe real Martin Gere and the
first one was an imposter namedArnaud de Till, is there a
possibility that Martin andArnaud met before Arnaud's
arrival in Antarctica?
Did the sources offer any hintsof that?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yes, they do, and some of the testimonies during
the trial suggested that Arnaudde Till, quote, could have
accompanied the said Martin towar and, under pretext of
friendship, heard from himnumerous private and particular
things about himself and hisfamily, end quote.
It's a logical suspicion.
Where else would an imposterlike that gain such intimate
(29:04):
knowledge of Martin himself?
We have to remember that Arnaudde Tille seemed to know things
only the real Martin Gere wouldremember when he first came to
town.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A wartime connection.
Well, it's plausible on thesurface, but do we actually know
that the second Martin Gere wasthe real one?
Perhaps Arnaud de Till wasright?
Perhaps the second Martin Gerewas a paid actor under the
instruction of Pierre Gere?
As we've already noted, it wasreally hard to fully verify
someone's identity, particularlyif they were a common peasant.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, one by one, Martin Gare's relatives
recognized the second Martin asthe real one.
The judges even set up atheatrical test during which the
second Martin Gare was placedamong a group of men all dressed
alike.
The records don't revealwhether all of them sported a
wooden leg, but regardless,through this little legal
(29:58):
exercise, Pierre recognized thesecond Martin as his nephew, as
did Martin's sisters.
By all accounts, Pierre and thesisters all hugged and wept at
the reveal.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
But here is where I think things get a little odd.
When questioned, the secondMartin Gere seemed to not
remember as many details abouthis past as the first Martin,
and it was only at the lastminute moments before he was
executed that the first Martinadmitted that he was actually
Arnaud de Till.
At that time he beseeched thesecond Martin Gere to be kind to
(30:32):
Bertrand, as she was a woman ofhonor, virtue and constancy.
He explained that he hadlearned all of his information
from Martin Gere's friends, whofirst mistook him for the real
Martin Gere, and then heapologized to Bertrand and asked
God for mercy.
That series of events makes youwonder if they executed the
right man.
What if the first Martin Geresimply accepted his fate and
(30:55):
wanted to make sure the secondimposter Martin Gere would be
good to his wife?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Since we're throwing around theories, then we can't
forget that the historianNatalie Zeman Davis offered a
more speculative, almostromantic possibility In what she
calls a quote thoughtexperiment.
Davis imagines a scenario wherethe two young men, both being
wanderers, might have metsomewhere.
She even posits a situationwhere Martin, two young men,
both being wanderers, might havemet somewhere.
She even posits a situationwhere Martin, perhaps conflicted
(31:23):
about his life in Artigas,might have subtly encouraged
Arnaud, his doppelganger, totake his life back home and
Arnaud, being a quote goldentongue peasant, might have
seized this opportunity ofprince and pauper might have
seized this opportunity of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Prince and Pauper.
It's a compelling narrative,but Davis emphasizes its
hypothetical nature right.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Absolutely.
She stresses that, quote thisis a hypothetical scenario, not
the one Arnaud confesses.
To end, quote Again.
This is one of those timeswhere we have to decide whether
to only follow what the sourcessay or make assumptions based on
what we consider to be thingsthat humans do.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Before we move on to discuss what ultimately happened
to everyone in the end, I thinkwe should discuss the elephant
in the room when it comes toDavis's theory that Martin Gere
encouraged Arnaud to take on hisidentity.
Taking into consideration thelong period of abstinence
between the couple for eightyears after their marriage, one
might suspect that Martin wasn'tinterested in Bertrand or any
(32:24):
other woman in the village.
That just might not have been asexual preference, but we have
to remember that in the 1500ssexual preferences weren't as
clearly defined as they aretoday, particularly since
homosexual acts at that timewere not considered spiritually
or legally acceptable.
So while it's a possibility, Ithink reality is probably a bit
(32:45):
more complex.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
But I think it might be acceptable to say that Martin
Gere was not satisfied toaccept the social
responsibilities andrelationships that have been
thrust upon him as a boy andyoung man in the small town of
Artigas.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Well said, Michael.
In the 1500s, most people wereborn with a predetermined path
in life, and there were only somany ways to get out of it.
If you are a wealthy woman orman, you might become a nun or a
monk, but even that professionwasn't often a personal choice
for the individual, but rathersomething that the family
decided for them.
The only way for Martin Gere tocontrol his own life was to
(33:23):
abandon it completely and startover somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
So the court in Toulouse decided in 1557 that
the second Martin Gare was thereal one.
And for the second time thefirst Martin, aka Arnaud de Till
, was proclaimed an imposter.
This time, the judge inToulouse handed down an even
severer sentence.
No longer would Arnaud beoffered the quicker death of
(33:54):
beheading, now he would be hungto death.
The judge noted that he did notsentence him to be burned alive
.
Instead, arnaud's corpse wouldbe burned after the hanging, so
that quote the memory of somiserable and abominable a
person would disappear andcompletely be lost.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Well, that's intense.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
No kidding.
And the actual event itself waseven more intense.
Four days after Arnaud'ssentencing, the gibbet of
Arnaud's hanging was builtdirectly in front of Martin and
Bertrand's house.
On the day of his hanging,martin wore the garb of a
(34:36):
pentanant, a white shirt, barehead and bare feet, with a torch
in his hands.
His jailers first took him tothe town church where he kneeled
and asked for pardon from God,the King, the court, martin Gare
, bertrand de Roles and PierreGare.
He was then led through thevillage with a hangman's rope
around his neck.
After mounting the stairs tothe gibbet, he made his plea to
Martin Gare to be kind toBertrand, and then the foreman
Martin Gare, be kind to Bertrand.
And then the foreman MartinGere.
(34:57):
Our note to Till was executedas planned.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Wow, what a story.
I wonder what became of thereal Martin, gere and Bertrand,
as we discussed before.
When Bertrand first faced thereal Martin, he reportedly
exclaimed how is it possiblethat you've given consent to
this abuse For my uncle and mysisters?
There's some excuse, but nonein the touch of the man on the
(35:20):
woman end quote that doesn'tsound very positive.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
It certainly does not .
It's interesting the judge inthe Toulouse, during the second
trial, made some attempt toreconcile Martin and Bertrand.
He rebuked Martin forabandoning his wife and he
rebuked Bertrand for notrecognizing the fraud, but then
he urged them to forget the past.
It's not clear from the recordswhether the couple succeeded in
doing so or not.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And we also have to question what happened to the
surviving child of Arnaud andBertrand, the one born in the
years after Arnaud appeared inArtega and presented himself as
Martin Gere.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It appears that the courts took some pity on the
child, a girl named Bernard.
A little girl would now beknown as Bernard Dutille rather
than Bernard de Gere, but shewould be considered legitimate.
This decision was based on thelegal theory that for a child to
be considered illegitimate,both parents had to be conscious
of the circumstances.
(36:17):
The children of a woman unawarethat she had married a fraud
would still be legitimate and,as noted, the court decided that
Bernard's mother, bertrand, hadbeen duped by Arnaud.
In addition, the daughter,bernard, was allowed the goods
and properties of the belatedArnaud de Till.
This was a particular point ofleniency, since the courts had
(36:37):
the right to confiscate all ofhis possessions and the
possessions of a person executedby the law.
What isn't clear is where sheended up.
The brother of Arnaud, a mannamed Jean de Till of Le Pen and
a certain Dominique Rebendaireof Toulouse, were appointed to
be her guardians, so it'sunlikely that Bernard was
(36:58):
allowed to continue living withher mother and Martin de Guerre.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
That part is a little bit rough, poor Bernard de
Tille.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I agree.
Well, we've delved deep intothe 16th century in this
incredible story, but, ashistorians, what can the story
of Martin Guerre teach us today,almost five centuries later?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
That's a crucial question, michael.
The enduring power of thisstory lies in its ability to
illuminate timeless aspects ofthe human condition At its heart
.
The case of Martin Gere raisesprofound questions about
identity, that seemingly fixedconcept that can be so easily
manipulated and questioned.
It also starkly highlights thefallibility of memory and
(37:40):
perception and, fundamentally,it explores the complexities of
human relationships, theshifting loyalties, motivations
and the intricate dance of trustand deception within families
and communities.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
And in our contemporary world, these themes
resonate with strikingrelevance.
We live in an era saturatedwith misinformation and
carefully crafted onlinepersonas.
The ease with which identitiescan be assumed or fabricated
online mirrors in a digitalcontext.
The imposter of Arnaud Dutille.
The struggle for truth in alandscape of manipulated
(38:15):
information echoes Bertrand'sdilemma in the court's arduous
process of discernment.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Think about the prevalence of online scams and
identity theft today.
Individuals are constantlybombarded with sophisticated
attempts to deceive them, toassume their identities for
financial gain or othermalicious purposes.
Just as Arnoud Dettel likelymeticulously learned the details
of Martin Gere's life toconvince the villagers,
(38:42):
modern-day fraudsterspainstakingly gather personal
information to create believablefalse identities.
The digital realm offers newavenues for deception, but the
underlying human vulnerabilitiesthe desire to believe, the
difficulty in discerning truthfrom falsehood, the reliance on
social cues those remainremarkably consistent.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Ultimately, the Return of Martin Gere is more
than just a curious historicalanecdote.
It serves as a powerfulreminder of the enduring human
capacity for both deception andbelief and the constant
challenge of uncovering truth ina complex world.
The differing interpretationsby historians like Davis and
Finley underscore themultifaceted nature of
(39:26):
historical inquiry and thedifficulty in definitively
knowing the past.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Join us next time as we delve into another intriguing
case from history's darkcorners.
Stay curious.
Bye.
Welcome back to History's Greatest Crimes, where
we unravel historical eventsthat blur the lines between
truth and deception, right andwrong.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm Alayna, and with me is Michael.
Today we journey back to 16thcentury France to discuss a case
of identity theft.
We're about to explore a caseso bizarre, so unsettling.
It not only captivated thepeople at the time but continues
to fascinate historianscenturies later.
Just as an aside, michael, I'llsay that I absolutely love
(00:51):
studying the crimes of themedieval and early modern eras.
I find it fascinating howpeople's lives and their
problems and aspirationscenturies ago can be
simultaneously so different andyet so familiar to us today.
So, dear listeners, get readyfor the perplexing case of the
return of Martin Gere.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
This case is so dramatic, with so many twists
and questions left unanswered,that the story leaves room for
us to continue to ponder whatexactly happened in Artegat, a
small town in southern France.
Life there was largely dictatedby the seasons, the land and
family ties, so it was strangeto the residents of the village
(01:31):
when a local man named MartinGare just up and left his family
one day.
Martin Gare was a young man andhe came from a relatively
successful family and had abeautiful wife named Bertrand de
Roles and a young son namedSanxi.
But regardless of why Martinleft, he did so leaving his
family in limbo as they waitedto see if he would return.
(01:53):
Eight years later, martin Garedid return, and he looked a
little different and spoke alittle different but who
wouldn't?
After spending eight years in adifferent kingdom, right?
And he seemed to rememberdetails that only the actual
Martin would know.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But not everything was as it seemed.
Eventually, another Martin Gereshowed up.
He claimed to be the realMartin, while the other Martin
Gere was an imposter.
As you can imagine, people werea bit shocked.
Who was the real Martin Gere,and why were multiple people
claiming to be the same person?
The answer, as you'll hear, isanything but simple A real
(02:33):
historical head-scratcher.
So, michael, picture a smallrural village in the south of
France in the 1540s, set againsta background of farms and
mountains and the occasionalpicturesque castle.
(02:54):
Arctica was the sort of littletown in which everyone knew
everyone else.
The Gere family finding somefinancial success were what we
might call rich peasants.
With that in mind, in the late1530s the Geres decided to marry
their son Martin to Bertrand deRolles, who came from a
(03:14):
similarly financiallyestablished family.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So this was a marriage based on more than just
romantic love, then.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Precisely.
It was a union that intertwinedfamilies and futures.
Bertrand brought her ownconnections and properties to
the marriage, just as Martin did, and perhaps the families were
a bit too enthusiastic aboutmarrying off their children
because at the time of theirmarriage, both Martin and
Bertrand were only about 11 or12 years old.
(03:44):
Both Martin and Bertrand wereonly about 11 or 12 years old.
That was considered ratheryoung to be wed, even during an
era when people tended to marryearly.
In fact, the records show thatafter Martin and Bertrand were
married, it was eight yearsbefore the marriage was actually
consummated.
And, according to those samerecords, the marriage between
Martin and Bertrand was onlyeventually consummated after
(04:07):
they acquired and both consumeda potion.
That potion was supposed toundo the effects of a spell that
the young couple and othersthought were preventing them
from being intimate as husbandand wife.
Regardless of whether it wasthe potion or a placebo effect,
it appeared to work because soonafter, martin and Bertrand had
(04:28):
a son named Songsy.
Shortly after, in the late1540s.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
It seemed like a happy ending for Martin and
Bertrand.
They were destined to inheritfamily wealth in the future and
seemed to have an establishedplace in the town.
But a year or so later, in 1548, Martin Gare did the
unthinkable he left town andabandoned his family.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Does anyone know why he left?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Not entirely Later.
Testimony would suggest that itwas because Martin's own father
had accused him of stealing asmall amount of grain from him.
That's plausible, since itpoints to some underlying family
conflict.
But Martin's response seems atouch too extreme when one
considers that the family he hadand the inheritance he would be
(05:14):
leaving behind.
We can only speculate on hisreasons, unfortunately.
Perhaps it was more than justfamily conflict.
Perhaps it was youthfuldiscontent, perhaps Martin
didn't enjoy the role in thevillage that he had seemed
predestined for from birth.
But ultimately Martin was gonefor eight years without having
any contact with his family.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And without knowing whether Martin Gere was alive or
dead, his family was unable tomove on.
Bertrand in particular wouldhave faced considerable
challenges, not just emotionallybut practically.
She continued to live with theGere family as she had when
Martin was there, and that wasprobably due to the fact that
there was no set time for howlong someone could be gone
(05:59):
before their spouse couldremarry.
And since this was a fairlypatriarchal culture at the time,
a missing husband could createa lot of problems for his wife
and children when it came toland ownership and inheritance.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So poor Bertrand was neither fully a widow or fully a
wife in the traditional sense.
She was just a permanentquestion mark in the Gare
household.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Exactly Michael.
But then a miracle seemed totake place In 1556, eight years
after Martin left, a manappeared in Artica claiming to
be the long-lost Martin Gare.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That must have created quite a stir in the
village.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It certainly did, and keep in mind that in the
mid-1500s no one carried ID.
Photographs wouldn't be a thingfor another few centuries, and
the only records of people thegovernment kept concerned birth,
deaths and who owed taxes.
So there was no way to verifythat the long-lost Martin Gere
was the real one.
Sure, the man looked a littledifferent he was a bit stockier
(07:02):
than people remembered and worea beard, whereas he'd been
clean-shaven before.
But everyone admitted that hedid sort of look like the Martin
Gere they remembered, and it'slikely that many admitted that
everyone would have looked alittle different after eight
years, right.
Plus, this man seemed to knowintimate details of Martin's
life, recalling shared memorieswith Bertrand and other
(07:26):
villagers.
He greeted people by name,almost everyone he saw, and if
they had trouble recognizing himhe brought up previous
conversations and other suchmemories that sounded familiar.
He even reminded Bertrand ofthe white hosen he left in a
coffer when he left town eightyears ago, which was true.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So it's like the prodigal son returning, isn't it
?
Everyone thought that aftereight years Martin Gare was
either dead or never going toreturn home by choice.
So this seemed to be amiraculous turn of events and it
didn't seem possible that theman could know that much detail
without actually being the real.
Martin Gare Bertrand, afterwhat the sources describe as
(08:09):
expressing some initialhesitation and doubt, seemed to
eventually accept him as herlong-lost husband.
Martin Gare's four sisters alsoswore that he was indeed their
brother and, in general, martinenthusiastically embraced his
old life and embraced his oldlife which embraced him back.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And the community largely accepted him too,
because why wouldn't they?
He seemed to slot back intoMartin's life with a remarkable
degree of familiarity.
When asked where he had been,martin explained that he had
been off fighting with armies inSpain, and that seemed
plausible, considering theongoing conflict between Spain
and France.
At that time, king Henry II ofFrance declared war on the Holy
(08:54):
Roman Emperor, with the goals oftaking parts of Italy for the
French Kingdom and making Francethe strongest European kingdom.
In this war, known as theItalian War, the Spanish
supported the Holy Roman Emperoragainst France, and so Spanish
and French armies foughtmultiple battles and skirmishes
(09:14):
against each other.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
And this arrangement between Bertrand and Martin
continued on for four more years, during which time they had two
more children together, onlyone of which survived infancy.
It seemed as though everythingwas back to normal, but as is
often the case in history, andespecially in true crime, the
surface of normalcy soon beginsto crack.
(09:37):
The whispers and doubts startedto creep in, creep in.
So Martin Gare returned to thesouthern French town of Artegat
in 1556 and reclaimed his formerlife with his wife, son and
rest of his family.
And for four years Martin Garewent about his business as usual
(09:58):
helping with the family'sfinancial accounts and business
exchanges, having more childrenwith his wife Bertrand, and
making plans for the inheritancethat was due to him from his
late father, who had passedwhile he was gone.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So it was Bertrand who first suspected that Martin
Gare wasn't who he said he was.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That's the interesting part.
The first person to publiclyand legally accuse Martin Gare
of being an imposter and a fraudwas his actual uncle, Pierre.
Pierre was the patriarch of theGere family and held
possessions of Martin'sinheritance until it was legally
transferred.
Over time, Pierre becameincreasingly convinced that the
(10:37):
man claiming to be Martin Gerewas not his nephew.
Pierre agreed that the manlooked like Martin and any
differences in height or weightcould be attributed to the
passage of time.
But Pierre wondered why Martinhad forgotten some of the local
phrases and dialects from hischildhood.
Pierre also questioned whyMartin was no longer interested
in former hobbies like swordplayand acrobatics.
(10:59):
In addition, Pierre learnedfrom his local friend, a
shoemaker, that Martin's feetwere noticeably smaller than
they had been in the past.
That last inconsistency inparticular was difficult for him
to reconcile.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Aha.
So now a growing number ofpeople, led by Pierre Gere,
began to wonder who this man intheir midst actually was and
what his intentions were.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Precisely, pierre Gere essentially became the
antagonist to this new Martin,actively challenging his
identity.
Pierre and those he convincedaround him went around town
publicly accusing him of thecrime of imposter.
Martin Guerre, of course,denied the accusations and in
turn accused Pierre of trying tofind a way to keep Martin's
(11:46):
inheritance for himself, andthat seemed plausible.
It certainly wouldn't be thefirst time that someone tried to
keep an inheritance that wasn'ttheirs.
It was a small town and people,of course, took sides.
At one point, the records notethat Pierre and his son-in-law
actually physically confrontedMartin Gare.
It was also noted that Bertrandput herself between Martin and
(12:09):
her attackers in an effort todefend him.
Bertrand was convinced thatMartin Gare was Martin Gare and
no one else.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
It truly sounds like a family drama playing out on a
village stage.
You could almost feel thetension as neighbors take sides,
torn between the familiar faceof Martin Gere and the nagging
doubts fueled by Pierre'saccusations.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Exactly, the village of Artegat became divided.
Some neighbors, who had knownthe real Martin Gere since
childhood, insisted that thisman was indeed him.
These included Martin's sistersinsisted that this man was
indeed him.
These included Martin's sisters.
Others, who perhaps noticed thediscrepancies or were swayed by
Pierre's arguments, claimed hewas not the real Martin.
(12:56):
In fact, pierre did someinvestigative work by himself
and found a witness who statedthat the man claiming to be
Martin Guerre was actually namedArnaud Dutille, who came from a
village in a different part ofFrance, not Artica.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But what about Bertrand?
She had lived as this man'swife for the last four years.
Surely she knew whether the manshe shared a household and bed
with for the last four years wasMartin Gere or not.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And that's a really interesting question.
You know, as we just discussed,Bertrand sided with Martin Gere
at this point in the story.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
She said that he was not a fraud and was her true
husband trying to protect herhonor and her children's
legitimacy from harm, becauseBertrand had more children with
(13:47):
Martin Gere after he returnedright, and if the man claiming
to be Martin Gere wasn'tactually her husband, then that
posed the question of whether ornot Bertrand was guilty of
adultery and whether herchildren had been born out of
wedlock.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now that's a pickle.
There's a lot at stake forBertrand in this situation.
We should note at this pointthat in the background of this
local conflict, the ProtestantReformation was raging across
Europe In the years after thecase of Martin Gere concluded.
Many of the families listed inthe Artigot records converted to
Protestantism.
(14:20):
One of Martin Luther'sfoundational theological
arguments was that Christiansdidn't actually need a priest to
intervene between them and God.
Instead, one could directly askGod for forgiveness of their
sins, and regular people couldconduct their own sacred rites,
like baptism and marriage,without a priest.
This was a foundational ideafor the most popular Protestant
(14:41):
sects in southern France, likethe Lutherans or the Huguenots.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I see where you're going here.
The historian Natalie ZemanDavis has suggested that
Bertrand must have eventuallyfigured out that the man she was
living with wasn't actuallyMartin Gere, but that she may
have grown attached to himregardless.
Davis argues that perhaps thespread of Protestant ideas gave
people more agency over theirown relationship with God,
(15:08):
leaving some to assume that amarriage, a unity between two
people, was something that couldbe decided by those two people
involved, and thus perhapsBertrand and the present Martin
Gere assumed that their marriagewas legitimate before God and
that's all they needed Now.
I personally think that thatreasoning is a bit of a stretch,
(15:28):
but anything is possible inthis story.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And that's an intriguing theory.
Okay, so for some of therecords, we know that the
growing suspicions andaccusations against the man
living as Martin Gare eventuallyled to a formal legal
proceeding in the nearby villageof Riu.
It was a very popular spectacleat that time.
People from Artigas and thesurrounding areas flocked to
(15:52):
Rieu to witness thisextraordinary, unbelievable case
.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
In terms of evidence, the court relied heavily on
witness testimonies.
Over 150 people eventually cameto Rieu to testify.
These witnesses were asked toidentify the accused man and to
recall details about the realMartin Gere, and the conflicting
testimony that followed clearlydemonstrated the difficulty in
(16:17):
establishing identity based onmemory alone, especially after
such a long absence.
The shoemaker gave histestimony about the different
shoe sizes, and others claimedthat Martin Gere had specific
physical marks, such as extrateeth in his jaw, a scar on his
forehead, three warts on hisright hand and, apparently,
according to the records, eachof these was discovered on the
(16:39):
prisoner.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So, by all accounts, then, the self-proclaimed Martin
was remarkably convincing.
As mentioned, he seemed to knoweveryone.
He had greeted all of them byname and knew something of their
past when he had first saw them.
This ability to recall personaldetails created a strong
initial impression.
Furthermore, during the trialat Rieu, he continued to
demonstrate an astonishingknowledge of Martin Gare's life.
(17:03):
He could recall the places andpeople that Martin Gare had
allegedly visited in France andSpain during his absence, and
this information wassubsequently verified by the
court.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And his convincing performance extended to his
interactions with Bertrand.
When questioned separately,bertrand and the self-proclaimed
Martin repeated the samedetails of their early life
together, and this sharedknowledge undoubtedly swayed
some in the community and even,for a time, the court.
It's almost as if they hadconstructed a early life
together, and this sharedknowledge undoubtedly swayed
some in the community and even,for a time, the court.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It's almost as if they had constructed a shared
narrative together.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I agree.
But here's the thing when thecase went to trial in Rio,
bertrand was actually listed asbeing part of the plaintiff,
along with Pierre Gere, martin'sprimary accuser.
This was a big shift frombefore.
As we explained, in the timeleading up to the legal
proceedings in Rio, bertrandvehemently supported the
(17:57):
returned man as her husband,even declaring that he was quote
Martin Gere, my husband, orelse some devil in his skin end.
Quote Now, at least officially.
At this point, bertrand wasstanding against Martin in court
.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
That sudden switch seemed odd to everyone at the
time too.
On a number of occasions,Martin Gare claimed that Pierre
and his supporters hadmanipulated and even coerced
Bertrand in deciding against him, and this seems very possible
considering Bertrand's verycautious and minimal statements
during the trial at Rieu.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
The self-proclaimed Martin put on a very convincing
performance and his detailedknowledge nearly led to his
exoneration.
He centered his defense on theidea that Pierre Gere's
accusations stemmed from aproperty dispute and personal
animosity.
As we noted before, that seemedlike a plausible explanation,
but ultimately the judgepresiding over the trial in Rieu
(18:54):
declared Martin Guerre guiltyof imposture and of abusing his
wife, Bertrand de Roles.
He stated that the man whoclaimed to be Martin Guerre was
actually Arnaud de Till, and hesentenced him to be beheaded and
quartered.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
The fact that he was to be beheaded and quartered was
actually a bit of a complimentto the former Martin turn Arnaud
, since beheading was supposedto be reserved for the nobility.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm sure he was very grateful, but the former Martin
didn't want to be executed atall and he immediately appealed
the judge's decision to theParliament of Toulouse, a higher
court and the former Martinseemed set to make yet another
convincing argument in hisdefense, seeing this as his last
chance for exoneration.
(19:40):
But just when it seemed like hemight prevail against Pierre,
something astonishing happened.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's right, elena.
Just as the next trial startsgoing, the real Martin Gare
showed up.
Stay with us as we discuss whathappened when two Martin Gares
claimed to be the real one.
Imagine the courtroom scene theaccused Martin Gare, aka arnaud
(20:09):
dutille, standing firm in hisclaim that he is not an imposter
.
Bertrand de rolls, the wife,watching on unsure what would
become of her, regardless of thetrial's outcome.
Pierre gare, the paternal uncleof martin gare, resolute in his
accusations that the man knownas martin gare was a fraud.
And then a strange man with awooden leg enters the courtroom
(20:30):
bearing the unmistakable marksand resemblance of the true
Martin Gare.
It's the ultimate plot twist, amoment ripped straight from the
most thrilling of dramas.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Absolutely, michael.
Even through the centuries oldrecords, the shock and confusion
in the courtroom is palpable Onseeing the man, the false
Martin Arnaud Dettel exclaimed.
Quote newcomer evildoer rascal,this man has been bought for
cash and has been instructed byPierre Gere.
End quote.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's hard to fathom the psychological impact of that
moment.
What about Bertrand?
How did she react to the suddenappearance of the man she
hadn't seen for over a decade?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And this is where the narrative becomes particularly
complex.
Some of the records from thetrial portray Bertrand as a dupe
.
Finally realizing her errorupon seeing the real Martin, she
supposedly quote asked hispardon for the wrong she had
done him unknowingly.
End quote.
However, modern historians aremore conflicted about Bertrand's
(21:34):
motivations.
As we've discussed before,historians like Natalie Zeman
Davis have suggested that theremight have been some level of
complicity.
It's hard to believe thatBertrand would have been
entirely fooled for three years.
It seems more likely that sherealized the truth over time and
then consciously chose toaccept Arnaud as Martin, perhaps
(21:56):
even forming a genuineconnection with him.
It's possible that they evencontrived to continue the lie
together.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So some historians see Bertrand not as a victim of
deception, but as more of anactive participant in this
unfolding drama.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Precisely.
But this interpretation hasn'tgone unchallenged.
Other modern historians,particularly Robert Finley, have
argued that there's a lack ofdirect evidence for Bertrand's
knowing complicity and if wetake the original records at
face value, they clearlyindicate that Bertrand was
deceived.
Plus there's the fact that whenthe trial about you know the
(22:34):
Martin Gere imposter began,bertrand was listed as part of
the plaintiff with Pierre andeven if she was doing so
reluctantly, she was stilllegally opposing Martin Gere.
Personally, I think I fall moreinto this second camp of
historians.
In a time without photographsand good records, would a woman
actually recognize her husbandafter eight long years?
(22:57):
And we can't forget that therewas no real intimacy between the
couple for eight years afterthey married so very young and
really only left a year or sobetween when Bertrand became
pregnant and had their son andwhen Martin Gere abandoned them.
So when Bertrand becamepregnant and had their son and
when Martin Gere abandoned them,so could Bertrand be sure?
Perhaps she was actually duped.
What do you think, michael?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I actually side with the first group of historians
that have suggested thatBertrand must have at least
strongly suspected the truth.
Just because she was a peasantdoesn't mean she didn't have
common sense, and common sensesays that being an abandoned
wife was a difficult spot tofind oneself in.
I think she knew at leasteventually and decided that
being married to a fraud wasbetter than being married to an
(23:40):
absent husband.
Whether Bertrand and Arnaud deTill started conspiring together
at some point, I'm not sure,but it's a fascinating clash for
historical interpretation,highlighting the challenges of
piecing together the motivationsand intentions of peoples from
centuries past.
So, after the dramatic entranceof a second Martin Gare, what
(24:00):
happened within the courtroom?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
The arrival of the real Martin Gare threw the
entire trial into disarray andnecessitated a new round of
intense questioning.
Both Arnaud and Bertrand wereconfronted with Martin.
According to the records,bertrand quote trembled like a
leaf and wept.
End quote.
The real Martin, upon seeingBertrand, is quoted as saying
(24:24):
how is it possible that youcould have given consent to this
abuse For my uncle and mysisters?
There's some excuse, but nonein the touch of the man on the
woman.
End quote.
This highlights Martin's ownbelief in Bertrand's culpability
.
He thought she must have knownthe man wasn't really him.
But I also think it's possiblethat Martin was a bit angry at
(24:46):
the situation and perhaps didn'treally like his family and wife
much to begin with, seeing thathe had abandoned them eight
years before.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Arnaud, even in the face of the second Martin,
initially refused to renouncehis claim, but it was at this
point that Bertrand, under nowimmense pressure, completely
shifted her stance.
The records state that quote.
Within the course of a day,with no new evidence forthcoming
, Bertrand stated to the judgeof Rieu that Arnaud de Till was
(25:16):
not her husband.
The historian we keepreferencing, Natalie Zeman Davis
, has suggested that Bertrandstill wasn't fully convinced
that the new Martin Gare was theactual, real one.
Davis goes on to theorize thatBertrand made the statement
after Pierre and the othersthreatened her access to her
children, to her relatives andto her family property if she
(25:37):
did not accuse Arnaud as well.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
The trial at Toulouse , marked by this stunning
revelation, became abattleground not only for
determining the identity ofMartin Gare, but also for
understanding the complex roleplayed by Bertrand de Roles.
The judges now had to grapplewith the undeniable truth that
one of the Martins was indeed animposter.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Elena.
As we prepare to discuss thedramatic aftermath of the trial,
I keep returning to afundamental question when in the
world was the real Martin Garefor those eight years?
He vanished from Artegat France.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's a crucial piece of the puzzle, michael, and one
where the sources offer someintriguing, albeit incomplete,
answers.
We know the catalyst for hisdeparture was that strange
incident in which Martin'sfather accused him of stealing
grain from him and because ofthat he seemingly left behind
everything his patrimony, hisparents, his son and his wife,
(26:41):
and the sources all agree thatno one heard from him for a long
time.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So the initial trigger is clear, even if it
seems a bit irrational to ustoday.
But where did he go afterleaving?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
The most concrete evidence points to Martin
Guerre's service in the Spanisharmy.
He was definitely present atthe Battle of St Quentin in 1557
, and it was there that therecords suggest that he lost his
leg to a French arquebus.
An arquebus was a long gun, oneof the first handheld firearms
in Europe.
These guns were large, awkwardand slow to load and fire.
(27:18):
Even in ideal situations ittook somewhere between 20 and 60
seconds to reload and fire.
The Spanish and French armiesboth adopted their use in
military conflicts and they werevery effective in battles.
Martin Gere would have had hisleg amputated afterwards and his
outcome would have been touchand go for a while.
(27:38):
That sort of injury would havedefinitely ended his military
career, so it's possible that itprompted him to return to
Artica.
And besides that information,there's surprisingly little
detail about Martin Gere'sspecific whereabouts during
those eight years.
What we know is that bothMartin Gere's claimed that they
had both been off soldieringduring that time.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
The records themselves also conflict on how
the real Martin Gare found outthat someone was impersonating
him in Artigas.
Some sources suggest thatMartin, tired of soldiering, had
already planned to return hometo Artigas already, and only
through luck did he discover hisimposter in the nick of time.
Other sources suggest thatMartin Gere didn't even plan to
(28:20):
return to Arctica, but did soafter hearing about his identity
being stolen.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And that then prompts our next question.
If the second Martin Gere wasthe real Martin Gere and the
first one was an imposter namedArnaud de Till, is there a
possibility that Martin andArnaud met before Arnaud's
arrival in Antarctica?
Did the sources offer any hintsof that?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yes, they do, and some of the testimonies during
the trial suggested that Arnaudde Till, quote, could have
accompanied the said Martin towar and, under pretext of
friendship, heard from himnumerous private and particular
things about himself and hisfamily, end quote.
It's a logical suspicion.
Where else would an imposterlike that gain such intimate
(29:04):
knowledge of Martin himself?
We have to remember that Arnaudde Tille seemed to know things
only the real Martin Gere wouldremember when he first came to
town.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A wartime connection.
Well, it's plausible on thesurface, but do we actually know
that the second Martin Gere wasthe real one?
Perhaps Arnaud de Till wasright?
Perhaps the second Martin Gerewas a paid actor under the
instruction of Pierre Gere?
As we've already noted, it wasreally hard to fully verify
someone's identity, particularlyif they were a common peasant.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, one by one, Martin Gare's relatives
recognized the second Martin asthe real one.
The judges even set up atheatrical test during which the
second Martin Gare was placedamong a group of men all dressed
alike.
The records don't revealwhether all of them sported a
wooden leg, but regardless,through this little legal
(29:58):
exercise, Pierre recognized thesecond Martin as his nephew, as
did Martin's sisters.
By all accounts, Pierre and thesisters all hugged and wept at
the reveal.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
But here is where I think things get a little odd.
When questioned, the secondMartin Gere seemed to not
remember as many details abouthis past as the first Martin,
and it was only at the lastminute moments before he was
executed that the first Martinadmitted that he was actually
Arnaud de Till.
At that time he beseeched thesecond Martin Gere to be kind to
(30:32):
Bertrand, as she was a woman ofhonor, virtue and constancy.
He explained that he hadlearned all of his information
from Martin Gere's friends, whofirst mistook him for the real
Martin Gere, and then heapologized to Bertrand and asked
God for mercy.
That series of events makes youwonder if they executed the
right man.
What if the first Martin Geresimply accepted his fate and
(30:55):
wanted to make sure the secondimposter Martin Gere would be
good to his wife?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Since we're throwing around theories, then we can't
forget that the historianNatalie Zeman Davis offered a
more speculative, almostromantic possibility In what she
calls a quote thoughtexperiment.
Davis imagines a scenario wherethe two young men, both being
wanderers, might have metsomewhere.
She even posits a situationwhere Martin, two young men,
both being wanderers, might havemet somewhere.
She even posits a situationwhere Martin, perhaps conflicted
(31:23):
about his life in Artigas,might have subtly encouraged
Arnaud, his doppelganger, totake his life back home and
Arnaud, being a quote goldentongue peasant, might have
seized this opportunity ofprince and pauper might have
seized this opportunity of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Prince and Pauper.
It's a compelling narrative,but Davis emphasizes its
hypothetical nature right.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Absolutely.
She stresses that, quote thisis a hypothetical scenario, not
the one Arnaud confesses.
To end, quote Again.
This is one of those timeswhere we have to decide whether
to only follow what the sourcessay or make assumptions based on
what we consider to be thingsthat humans do.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Before we move on to discuss what ultimately happened
to everyone in the end, I thinkwe should discuss the elephant
in the room when it comes toDavis's theory that Martin Gere
encouraged Arnaud to take on hisidentity.
Taking into consideration thelong period of abstinence
between the couple for eightyears after their marriage, one
might suspect that Martin wasn'tinterested in Bertrand or any
(32:24):
other woman in the village.
That just might not have been asexual preference, but we have
to remember that in the 1500ssexual preferences weren't as
clearly defined as they aretoday, particularly since
homosexual acts at that timewere not considered spiritually
or legally acceptable.
So while it's a possibility, Ithink reality is probably a bit
(32:45):
more complex.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
But I think it might be acceptable to say that Martin
Gere was not satisfied toaccept the social
responsibilities andrelationships that have been
thrust upon him as a boy andyoung man in the small town of
Artigas.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Well said, Michael.
In the 1500s, most people wereborn with a predetermined path
in life, and there were only somany ways to get out of it.
If you are a wealthy woman orman, you might become a nun or a
monk, but even that professionwasn't often a personal choice
for the individual, but rathersomething that the family
decided for them.
The only way for Martin Gere tocontrol his own life was to
(33:23):
abandon it completely and startover somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
So the court in Toulouse decided in 1557 that
the second Martin Gare was thereal one.
And for the second time thefirst Martin, aka Arnaud de Till
, was proclaimed an imposter.
This time, the judge inToulouse handed down an even
severer sentence.
No longer would Arnaud beoffered the quicker death of
(33:54):
beheading, now he would be hungto death.
The judge noted that he did notsentence him to be burned alive
.
Instead, arnaud's corpse wouldbe burned after the hanging, so
that quote the memory of somiserable and abominable a
person would disappear andcompletely be lost.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Well, that's intense.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
No kidding.
And the actual event itself waseven more intense.
Four days after Arnaud'ssentencing, the gibbet of
Arnaud's hanging was builtdirectly in front of Martin and
Bertrand's house.
On the day of his hanging,martin wore the garb of a
(34:36):
pentanant, a white shirt, barehead and bare feet, with a torch
in his hands.
His jailers first took him tothe town church where he kneeled
and asked for pardon from God,the King, the court, martin Gare
, bertrand de Roles and PierreGare.
He was then led through thevillage with a hangman's rope
around his neck.
After mounting the stairs tothe gibbet, he made his plea to
Martin Gare to be kind toBertrand, and then the foreman
Martin Gare, be kind to Bertrand.
And then the foreman MartinGere.
(34:57):
Our note to Till was executedas planned.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Wow, what a story.
I wonder what became of thereal Martin, gere and Bertrand,
as we discussed before.
When Bertrand first faced thereal Martin, he reportedly
exclaimed how is it possiblethat you've given consent to
this abuse For my uncle and mysisters?
There's some excuse, but nonein the touch of the man on the
(35:20):
woman end quote that doesn'tsound very positive.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
It certainly does not .
It's interesting the judge inthe Toulouse, during the second
trial, made some attempt toreconcile Martin and Bertrand.
He rebuked Martin forabandoning his wife and he
rebuked Bertrand for notrecognizing the fraud, but then
he urged them to forget the past.
It's not clear from the recordswhether the couple succeeded in
doing so or not.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And we also have to question what happened to the
surviving child of Arnaud andBertrand, the one born in the
years after Arnaud appeared inArtega and presented himself as
Martin Gere.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It appears that the courts took some pity on the
child, a girl named Bernard.
A little girl would now beknown as Bernard Dutille rather
than Bernard de Gere, but shewould be considered legitimate.
This decision was based on thelegal theory that for a child to
be considered illegitimate,both parents had to be conscious
of the circumstances.
(36:17):
The children of a woman unawarethat she had married a fraud
would still be legitimate and,as noted, the court decided that
Bernard's mother, bertrand, hadbeen duped by Arnaud.
In addition, the daughter,bernard, was allowed the goods
and properties of the belatedArnaud de Till.
This was a particular point ofleniency, since the courts had
(36:37):
the right to confiscate all ofhis possessions and the
possessions of a person executedby the law.
What isn't clear is where sheended up.
The brother of Arnaud, a mannamed Jean de Till of Le Pen and
a certain Dominique Rebendaireof Toulouse, were appointed to
be her guardians, so it'sunlikely that Bernard was
(36:58):
allowed to continue living withher mother and Martin de Guerre.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
That part is a little bit rough, poor Bernard de
Tille.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I agree.
Well, we've delved deep intothe 16th century in this
incredible story, but, ashistorians, what can the story
of Martin Guerre teach us today,almost five centuries later?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
That's a crucial question, michael.
The enduring power of thisstory lies in its ability to
illuminate timeless aspects ofthe human condition At its heart
.
The case of Martin Gere raisesprofound questions about
identity, that seemingly fixedconcept that can be so easily
manipulated and questioned.
It also starkly highlights thefallibility of memory and
(37:40):
perception and, fundamentally,it explores the complexities of
human relationships, theshifting loyalties, motivations
and the intricate dance of trustand deception within families
and communities.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
And in our contemporary world, these themes
resonate with strikingrelevance.
We live in an era saturatedwith misinformation and
carefully crafted onlinepersonas.
The ease with which identitiescan be assumed or fabricated
online mirrors in a digitalcontext.
The imposter of Arnaud Dutille.
The struggle for truth in alandscape of manipulated
(38:15):
information echoes Bertrand'sdilemma in the court's arduous
process of discernment.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Think about the prevalence of online scams and
identity theft today.
Individuals are constantlybombarded with sophisticated
attempts to deceive them, toassume their identities for
financial gain or othermalicious purposes.
Just as Arnoud Dettel likelymeticulously learned the details
of Martin Gere's life toconvince the villagers,
(38:42):
modern-day fraudsterspainstakingly gather personal
information to create believablefalse identities.
The digital realm offers newavenues for deception, but the
underlying human vulnerabilitiesthe desire to believe, the
difficulty in discerning truthfrom falsehood, the reliance on
social cues those remainremarkably consistent.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Ultimately, the Return of Martin Gere is more
than just a curious historicalanecdote.
It serves as a powerfulreminder of the enduring human
capacity for both deception andbelief and the constant
challenge of uncovering truth ina complex world.
The differing interpretationsby historians like Davis and
Finley underscore themultifaceted nature of
(39:26):
historical inquiry and thedifficulty in definitively
knowing the past.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Join us next time as we delve into another intriguing
case from history's darkcorners.
Stay curious.
Bye.
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