In a paper of eight pages this abandoned wife of rural France during the sixteenth century is discussed within the context of The Equality of the Two Sexes by Francois Poullain de la Barre with included speculation as to how Bertrande would have viewed the work and whether or not she would agree with it. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: CC6_KSmartinGuerre.rtf
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Barre clearly was born about 300 years before society was ready to hear his views on the equality of the sexes. The content of his message is surprising enough;
the fact that it comes from a 17th century man is nothing less than astounding. The family of Martin Guerre - and therefore
of his wife Bertrande de Rols - may have agreed with Poullain de la Barre, but no doubt Bertrande herself would not have. Living a century before Poullain de
la Barre, Bertrande de Rols and her family had no opportunity to hear his views. Doubtless, they would have made little impact on Bertrande and her unique brand of
decision-making. Bertrande de Rols Plight Davis (1983) notes that what we know of the lives of individuals of any age before our own
comes from the record rising from "letters and diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, family histories. We look at literary sources ... which, whatever their relation to the real lives of specific
people, show us what sentiments and reactions authors considered plausible for a given period" (Davis, 1983; p. 1-2). This pattern of investigation and building of a "record" to examine
precludes any acknowledgement of anyone outside of the upper classes of any society, however. The "common people" receive little if any note in this manner. The result?
"Now the peasants, more than ninety percent of whom could not write in the sixteenth century, have left us few documents of self-revelation" (Davis, 1983; p. 2).
This also is the case in firm knowledge of details of Bertrande de Rols life, with the exception of the account of a murder trial in