Tobias B. Hug - Impostures in Early Modern England. Representations and Perceptions of Fraudulent Identities [2010][A]

Book Description
Impostors and impostures featured prominently in the political, social and religious life of early modern England. Who was likely to be perceived as impostor, and why? This book offers the first full-scale analysis of an important and multifaceted phenomenon. Using approaches drawn from historical anthropology and micro-history, it investigates changes and continuities within the impostor phenomenon from 1500 to the late eighteenth century, exploring the variety of representations and perceptions of impostors and their deeper meanings within the specific contexts of social, political, religious, institutional and cultural change. Tobias B. Hug examines a wide range of sources, from judicial archives and other official records to chronicles, newspapers, ballads, pamphlets and autobiographical writings. Given that identity is never fixed, but involves a performative dimension, changing over time and space, 'Impostures in Early Modern England' looks at the specific factors which constitute identity in a particular context, and asks why certain characteristics of an allegedly false identity were regarded as fake. This closely argued and pioneering book will be of interest to specialists, students and anyone concerned with the timeless questions of why and how individuals fashion, re-fashion and make sense of their selves.

About the Author
Tobias B. Hug is Associate Fellow of the History Department at the University of Warwick