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 118
... writing was not embraced in French lay courts in the years immediately following Louis IX's establishment of the secular inquest . Beaumanoir explains that in canon law , one is required to present one's complaint in writing , but “ de ...
... writing was not embraced in French lay courts in the years immediately following Louis IX's establishment of the secular inquest . Beaumanoir explains that in canon law , one is required to present one's complaint in writing , but “ de ...
Page 119
... writing . . . . And it is ap- propriate that the men who are to judge a case retain by heart the matter that they are to judge ” ) . He goes on to say that since some disputes produce so much information that a judge's memory might fail ...
... writing . . . . And it is ap- propriate that the men who are to judge a case retain by heart the matter that they are to judge ” ) . He goes on to say that since some disputes produce so much information that a judge's memory might fail ...
Page 121
... writing here is ancillary ; what is essential for the credibility of the knights ' testimony is that they depose in per- son to their own community . Indeed , the fact that the knights enjoy a certain status in their community is what ...
... writing here is ancillary ; what is essential for the credibility of the knights ' testimony is that they depose in per- son to their own community . Indeed , the fact that the knights enjoy a certain status in their community is what ...
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