The Invention of the Eyewitness: Witnessing and Testimony in Early Modern FranceIn an examination of eyewitness travel writing in thirteenth- through sixteenth-century France, Andrea Frisch studies the figure of the witness at a historical juncture and in a cultural context in which that figure is generally thought to have begun to assume a recognizably modern form and function. Whereas most accounts of early modern travel literature tend to read modern presuppositions about witnessing and testimony back into the material, Frisch approaches the early modern witness in terms of the cultural legacy of the Middle Ages. Through primary readings in law and theology, Frisch documents the tension between the ethical witness (the characteristic witness of premodernity) and the epistemic witness (the modern witness) and explores the impact of that tension on the figure of the witness in pre- and early modern French-language travel literature. |
From inside the book
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Page 25
... testify so much about their knowledge of the fact on which their testimony bears as to their solidarity with the person or persons it implicates . The testimony in Fredegonde's case vividly highlights the dis- tinction between the ...
... testify so much about their knowledge of the fact on which their testimony bears as to their solidarity with the person or persons it implicates . The testimony in Fredegonde's case vividly highlights the dis- tinction between the ...
Page 27
... testify is divisible , if the moment in which I testify is divisible , if my attestation is divisi- ble , at that moment it is no longer reliable , it no longer has the val- ue of truth , reliability or veracity that it claims ...
... testify is divisible , if the moment in which I testify is divisible , if my attestation is divisi- ble , at that moment it is no longer reliable , it no longer has the val- ue of truth , reliability or veracity that it claims ...
Page 47
... testify at the outset of an inquest , thirteenth- and four- teenth - century French lay courts do not appear to have found it necessary to allow for objections to the testimony given by lawful witnesses . The enduring influence of ...
... testify at the outset of an inquest , thirteenth- and four- teenth - century French lay courts do not appear to have found it necessary to allow for objections to the testimony given by lawful witnesses . The enduring influence of ...
Common terms and phrases
accused addressee Alcofribas Alcofribas's audience authority bear witness Beaumanoir body Brazil Calvin Calvinist cannibales Cartier Catholic ceste chapter Christ Christian chroniques cited context courts credibility culture Derrida dialogue discourse duel early modern EARLY MODERN FRANCE ence epistemic essay ethical ethical relationship ethnography ethos Eucharist European evaluating explicitly eyewitness eyewitness testimony fact fait first-person firsthand experience folklaw France French Gargantua Gonneville Huguenot Imbert inquest inquisitional procedure Jean Jean de Léry judge juridical knowledge Kublai Khan Léry Léry's Léry's Histoire Mandeville Mandeville's Marco martyrs medieval medieval inquisition Montaigne Montaigne's mony narrative narrator ness oral ordinance Pantagruel party person perspective Polo Polo's prologue qu'il question Rabelais's readers refer rhetoric s'ils sacramental signs simply sixteenth century status story subornation tesmoings tesmoins testamur testi testify testimo testimonial oath Thevet tion transubstantiation truth Tupi Tupinamba ultimately Villegagnon voyage witness deposition witness testimony witness's World writing written