The Cooks Found Treasure in the Archives

The Cooks’ use of evidence in Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance was nothing like we have read this semester. Compared to the other microhistories we read, it is clear that the Cooks had the wealthiest source base, and they definitely put it to work. They presented the evidence in the most transparent fashion of all the books we have read so far as well. Unlike Ulrich, who provided snippets of Martha Ballard’s diary to illuminate the issues of the chapter, the Cooks insert seemingly complete letters or full petitions to the court (8, 43-44, 49-50) in to the text. I think this strategy goes a long way to further their argument. Due to this use of sources, the reader gets a much more in depth knowledge of the subjects and the nature of the Spanish legal system.

The difference seems to be driven much by the sources available. Natalie Davis could not have provided near as much detail because she had only two source documents available and they were really secondary sources as well. The Cooks had a wealth of sources at their hands. Most of all, they used them critically. The problems in Noguerol’s story on when he knew that Beatriz was alive, or when problems with testimony that Catalina and Noguerol did not know one another before their marriage are well articulated and defended (82, 97). In short, the documents are brought to the forefront of the text frequently, but not uncritically, or in all reality to actually speak for themselves. They do, however, move the story forward, and provide an engaging prose style, for which one must also praise the translations by the Cooks as well.