The Prince & The Return of Martin Guerre
The Prince & The Return of Martin Guerre
It appears as though human beings did very little in shaping and controlling their own destinies in early modern Europe, and the works of The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli in 1513 and The Return of Martin Guerre, written Natalie Zemon Davis in 1928 helps to exemplify this view. The Prince is a primary source recollection of Machiavelli’s thoughts on what makes a good ruler. He discussed his feelings on Princedom on how a prince should rule and conquer power and land, by defining the various types of principalities. He then ends by stating that he believed only Lorenzo de’ Medici, in which his book is dedicated to, can restore the fallen Italy. Completely different from The Prince, The Return of Martin Guerre is a secondary source novel written about the trials of Martin Guerre. Martin Guerre was originally from Hendaye a small village in the French Basque. At a young age, Martin, his parents and uncle fled their homestead leaving behind their ancestral property. When the family became well settled in the village of Artigat, a marriage contract between Martin, age 14, and Bertrand de Rols, a mere child, was drawn. After some years have passed, Martin reluctantly “stole” a small quantity of grain from his father, the guilt and embarrassing situation soon drove him out of the village. As his uncle quoted “The Basques are faithful; they believe that theft is the work of a debased soul, of a low and abject heart; it bears witness to the demanding neediness of a person ,” with that said Martin could not face his father and fled for many years leaving, his parents, wife, son and patrimony behind. Many years passed and “Martin Guerre” returned, the village was shock and was in disbelief. After some time however, close friends, including his uncle Pierre noticed traits on new Martin that old Martin could not posses, such as his need for riches. Two trials were set in place to see if this new Martin was the real Martin,
It appears as though human beings did very little in shaping and controlling their own destinies in early modern Europe, and the works of The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli in 1513 and The Return of Martin Guerre, written Natalie Zemon Davis in 1928 helps to exemplify this view. The Prince is a primary source recollection of Machiavelli’s thoughts on what makes a good ruler. He discussed his feelings on Princedom on how a prince should rule and conquer power and land, by defining the various types of principalities. He then ends by stating that he believed only Lorenzo de’ Medici, in which his book is dedicated to, can restore the fallen Italy. Completely different from The Prince, The Return of Martin Guerre is a secondary source novel written about the trials of Martin Guerre. Martin Guerre was originally from Hendaye a small village in the French Basque. At a young age, Martin, his parents and uncle fled their homestead leaving behind their ancestral property. When the family became well settled in the village of Artigat, a marriage contract between Martin, age 14, and Bertrand de Rols, a mere child, was drawn. After some years have passed, Martin reluctantly “stole” a small quantity of grain from his father, the guilt and embarrassing situation soon drove him out of the village. As his uncle quoted “The Basques are faithful; they believe that theft is the work of a debased soul, of a low and abject heart; it bears witness to the demanding neediness of a person ,” with that said Martin could not face his father and fled for many years leaving, his parents, wife, son and patrimony behind. Many years passed and “Martin Guerre” returned, the village was shock and was in disbelief. After some time however, close friends, including his uncle Pierre noticed traits on new Martin that old Martin could not posses, such as his need for riches. Two trials were set in place to see if this new Martin was the real Martin,