about the lives of peasants in the sixteenth century. Entitled

The Return of Martin Guerre, Davis tells a true story about a law

suit against a man claiming to be someone he is not. She

familiarizes the reader with peasantry, laws, and moral attitudes

The story begins in 1527 with a family move from the French

Basque country to the village of Artigat. There the Daguerre

family settled and started a tileworks business; a prosperous

business in the sixteenth century. They eventually started

businesses in wheat, millet, vines, and sheep. To be accepted in

the new town the family had to make some changes such as speaking

a different dialect, dropping the "Da" from their name thus

pronouncing and spelling it "Guerre," and also in style of dress.

As for the Guerre women, life in the village of Artigat was a

drastic change. No longer could they push ahead of the men to

make their offerings at parish mass or go about the church to

collect for the vestry. The Guerre's seemed to like their new

predisposed to perceive him as the missing Martin Guerre, whether

cite sixteenth-century values, they lived in peace, friendship,

In 1538 the only son of the Guerre family, Martin, got

their family grew, and they became successful in their

family dispute over his stealing some grain from his father.

the courtroom that the peasants learn the truth about the missing

Some common words found in the essay are:
Martin Guerre, Artigat Daguerre, Tilh Arnaud, Zemon Davis, Bertrande Martin, Guerre Davis, martin guerre, French Basque, village artigat, sixteenth century, Natalie Zemon, Return Martin, arnaud du tilh, real martin, arnaud du, du tilh, family business, natalie zemon, return martin, natalie zemon davis, return martin guerre, zemon davis,
Approximate Word count = 751
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)