Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur OrtonAnonymous
History
Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton
Anonymous
Impostors and imposture -- Biography
At the same time, the court had very serious thoughts of punishing
Martin Guerre, because his abandonment of his wife had led to the
mischief, and his desertion of his country's flag seemed to merit
censure. It was, however, finally decided that when he ran away he
"acted rather from levity than malice;" and as he had entered the
Spanish army in a roundabout way, and after considerable persuasion,
that the loss of his leg in that service was sufficient punishment.
The guilt of his wife, Bertrande de Rols, was thought even more
apparent, and that a woman could be deceived in her husband was a
proposition few could digest. Yet, as the woman's life-long character
was good, and it spoke well for her that not only the population of
Artigues, but also the man's four sisters, had shared her delusion, it
was finally determined to discharge her.
Arnold de Tilh, the impostor, was carried back to Artigues for the
execution of his sentence, and there made a full confession. He said
that the crime had been accidentally suggested to his mind; that on
his way home from the camp in Picardy he was constantly mistaken for
Martin Guerre by Martin's friends; that from them he learned many
circumstances respecting the family and the doings of the man himself;
and that, having previously been an intimate and confidential comrade
of Guerre in the army, he was able to maintain his imposture. His
sentence was carried out in all its severity in 1560.
PIERRE MEGE--THE FICTITIOUS DE CAILLE.
Scipio Le Brun, of Castellane, a Provencal gentleman, and lord of the
manors of Caille and of Rougon, in 1655 married a young lady called
Judith le Gouche. As is common in France, and also in certain parts of
Britain, this local squire was best known by the name of his estates,
and was commonly termed the Sieur de Caille. Both he and his wife
belonged to the strictest sect of the Calvinists, who were by no means
favourites in the country. Their usual residence was at Manosque, a
little village in Provence, and there five children were born to them,
of whom three were sons and two were daughters. The two youngest sons
died at an early age, and Isaac, the eldest, after living to the age
of thirty-two, died also.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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