Renaissance Impostors and Proofs of Identity [Paperback]

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.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

Miriam Eliav-Feldon has produced an invaluable account of the remarkably wide range of modes of imposture that were employed by men and women in early modern Europe. ... Renaissance Impostors is well written, carefully organized, and supremely accessible. ... All those who study early modern European history and culture, from undergraduates to established specialists, will find these pages to be thought provoking, and Eliav-Feldon's book should deservedly find its way onto syllabi in a wide range of fields for years to come. - The Journal of Modern History

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 p?riple de Francesco Pucci (Hachette, 1988).