An impostor lived as Martin Guerre for three years, took his wife and land, and was hanged when the real Martin walked into court

Martin Guerre, a peasant heir in the Pyrenean village of Artigat, married Bertrande de Rols at about 14. In 1548, accused of stealing grain from his father, he disappeared. In summer 1556 a man arrived claiming to be Martin. Bertrande and most of the village accepted him. He lived with her for about three years and fathered two children; a daughter, Bernarde, survived. Martin's uncle Pierre Guerre, who had married Bertrande's widowed mother, turned against him during a dispute over the inheritance from Martin's father. In 1560 Pierre, acting in Bertrande's name, prosecuted the man at Rieux. More than 150 witnesses testified. He was identified as Arnaud du Tilh, called "Pansette", from a village about 68 km away, and sentenced to beheading. He appealed to the Parlement of Toulouse. During the appeal a man with a wooden leg arrived. He had lost the leg after the attack on St Quentin in 1557. Pierre, Bertrande and Martin's four sisters identified him as Martin. On 12 September 1560 the court sentenced Arnaud to death for adultery and fraud; Montaigne was in the audience. Arnaud confessed and was hanged in front of Martin's house about four days later. The judge, Jean de Coras, held Bernarde legitimate because her mother had acted in good faith^†. In 1594 Martin's property was divided among his sons. In 2026 the case is taught from Coras's 1561 report and Natalie Zemon Davis's 1983 study.