Renaissance Impostors and Proofs of Identity

Early Modern Europe was teeming with impostors. Identity theft was only one form of misrepresentation: royal pretenders, envoys from imaginary lands, religious dissimulators, cross-dressers, false Gypsies - all these caused deep anxiety, leading authorities to invent increasingly sophisticated means for unmasking deception.

Auteur
MIRIAM ELIAV-FELDON is Professor of Modern History at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She is Head of the Morris E. Curiel Institute for European Studies and Editor-in-chief of Zmanim - A Historical Quarterly. She has also authored numerous books, including Realistic Utopias (OUP, 1982) and Le périple de Francesco Pucci (Hachette, 1988).

Contenu
Preface Introducing an Age of Impostors Religious Dissimulation False Ambassadors, Fabulous Lands Underworlds Gypsies, or Such as Do Counterfeit The Body as Evidence Judging by Appearances Paperwork: Identification Documents Conclusion: Reserving Judgement Bibliography Index