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575:. In his will, completed the previous year, he styled himself a poor, sinful and worthless creature; he directed that his body should be committed to the common burying ground, in the humblest and cheapest manner; and he solemnly declared that his History of Formosa was a base and shameful imposture, a fraud on the public. He left behind him an autobiography,
475:
became increasingly less credible as time went on and knowledge of
Formosa from other sources began to contradict his claims. His energetic defence of his imposture began to slacken and in 1706 he confessed, first to friends and then to the general public. By then London society had largely grown tired of the "Formosan craze".
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and wrote about the real conditions in
Formosa, pointedly criticising the hoax he himself had perpetrated. He appears to have become increasingly religious and disowned his youthful impostures. This newfound religiosity culminated in his anonymous publication of a book of theological essays in 1753.
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Psalmanazar was frequently challenged by sceptics, but for the most part he managed to deflect criticism of his core claims. He explained, for instance, that his pale skin was due to the fact that the upper classes of
Formosa lived underground. The contradictory testimony of Jesuits who had actually
429:
Psalmanazar's book was an unqualified success. It went through two
English editions, and French and German editions followed. After its publication, Psalmanazar was invited to lecture on Formosan culture and language before several learned societies, and it was even proposed that he be summoned to
230:
When they reached London, news of the exotic foreigner with bizarre habits spread quickly and
Psalmanazar achieved a high level of fame. His appeal not only derived from his exotic ways, which tapped into a growing domestic interest in travel narratives describing faraway locales, but also played
474:
Innes eventually went to
Portugal as chaplain general to the British forces. By then, however, he had developed an opium addiction and had become involved in several misguided business ventures, including a failed effort to market decorated fans purported to be from Formosa. Psalmanazar's claims
169:
on his way to Rome. After learning
English, forging a passport, and stealing a pilgrim's cloak and staff from the reliquary of a local church he set off, but he soon found that many people he met were familiar with Ireland and were able to see through his disguise. Deciding that a more exotic
409:
sai Lory, Eyfodere sai
Bagalin, jorhe sai domion apo chin Ornio, kay chin Badi eyen, Amy khatsada nadakchion toye ant nadayi, kay Radonaye ant amy Sochin, apo ant radonern amy Sochiakhin, bagne ant kau chin malaboski, ali abinaye ant tuen Broskacy, kens sai vie Bagalin, kay Fary, kay
520:(writer for hire). In later years Johnson recalled that Psalmanazar had been well known in his neighbourhood as an eccentric but saintly figure, "whereof he was so well known and esteemed, that scarce any person, even children, passed him without showing him signs of respect".
511:
Although this last phase of
Psalmanazar's life brought him far less fame than his earlier career as a fraud, it resulted in some remarkable historical coincidences. Perhaps the most famous of these is the elderly Psalmanazar's unlikely friendship with the young
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and husbands had a right to eat their wives for infidelity. They executed murderers by hanging them upside down and shooting them full of arrows. Every year they sacrificed the hearts of 18,000 young boys to gods, and their priests ate the bodies in an act of
250:. This book purported to be a detailed description of Formosan customs, geography and political economy; it was in fact completely fabricated. The "facts" contained in the book are an amalgam of other travel reports, especially influenced by accounts of the
205:
In late 1702, Psalmanazar met the
Scottish priest Alexander Innes, who was the chaplain of a Scottish army unit. Afterwards Innes claimed that he had converted the heathen to Christianity and christened him George Psalmanazar (after the Assyrian king
279:
According to Psalmanazar, Formosa was a prosperous country with a capital city called Xternetsa. Men walked naked except for a gold or silver plate to cover their genitals. Their main food was a serpent that they hunted with branches. Formosans were
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refers mockingly to "Psalmanazar, who, after having drudged half a century in the literary mill in all the simplicity and abstinence of an Asiatic, subsists on the charity of a few booksellers, just sufficient to keep him from the parish".
402:. His efforts in this regard were so convincing that German grammarians included samples of his so-called "Formosan alphabet", in books about language, well into the 19th century, even after his larger imposture had been exposed.
178:". Due to a lack of Western knowledge of Japanese cultures, Psalmanazar displayed fictitious customs to convince the public of the authenticity of his background. These so-called customs included eating raw meat spiced with
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ridicules Psalmanazar in passing, sardonically citing "the famous Salamanaazor, a Native of the island of Formosa, who came from thence to London, above twenty Years ago," as an eminent proponent of cannibalism. A novel by
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between 1700 and 1702. In the latter year, he appeared in the Netherlands, where he served as an occasional mercenary and soldier. By this time, he had shifted his supposed homeland from Japan to the even more obscure
116:) to visit Europe. For some years, he convinced many in Britain, but he was eventually revealed to be of European origin. He subsequently became a theological essayist, and a friend and acquaintance of
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academy. In both these institutions he claimed to have been celebrated by his teachers for what he called "my uncommon genius for languages". Indeed, by his own account Psalmanazar was something of a
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In the following years Psalmanazar worked for a time as a clerk in an army regiment until some clergymen gave him money to study theology. Psalmanazar then participated in the literary milieu of
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upon the prevailing anti-Catholic and anti-Jesuit religious sentiment of early 18th-century Britain. Central to his narrative was his claim to have been abducted from Formosa by malevolent
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which first appeared in 1764. The book withholds his real birth name, which is still unknown, but contains a wealth of detail about his early life and the development of his impostures.
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Psalmanazar also interacted with a number of other important English literary figures of his age. In the early months of 1741 he appears to have sent the novelist
148:. He claims that he attained fluency in Latin by the age of seven or eight, and excelled in competition with children twice his age. Later encounters with a
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may also have served as an inspiration. Some of his claims about Japanese religion seem to also be derived from a misinterpretation of the Chinese idea of
170:
disguise was needed, Psalmanazar drew upon the missionary reports about East Asia that he had heard of from his Jesuit tutors and decided to impersonate a
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and taken to France, where he had steadfastly refused to become a Catholic. Psalmanazar declared himself to be a reformed heathen who now practised
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an unsolicited bundle of forty handwritten pages in which he attempted to continue the plotline of Richardson's immensely popular epistolary novel
152:
philosophy tutor made him disenchanted with academicism, however, and he discontinued his education around the time he was fifteen or sixteen.
128:
Although Psalmanazar intentionally obscured many details of his early life, it is believed that he was born in southern France, perhaps in
136:, some time between 1679 and 1684. His birth name is unknown. According to his posthumously published autobiography, he was educated in a
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The Formosa Fraud: The Story of the Fake Writings of George Psalmanazar, One of the Greatest Charlatans in Literary History.
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Davis, Lennard J. Factual Fictions: The Origins of the English Novel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983, 113
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by Jack Lynch. Delivered 29 January 1999 at the CUNY Seminar on Eighteenth-Century Literature. Accessed 2007 – 3–11.
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Psalmanazar, George. "A Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa". In Shimada, Takau (ed.).
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An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the Emperor of Japan
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Memoirs of ****, Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa,
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worked as missionaries in Formosa was not believed, probably because of anti-Jesuit prejudice.
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In order to travel safely and affordably in France, Psalmanazar first pretended to be an Irish
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Memoirs of ****, Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa
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Building upon this growing interest in his life, Psalmanazar published a book in 1704,
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Psalmanazar's book also described the Formosan language, an early example of a
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by Alex Boese. Museum of Hoaxes. Last modified 2002. Accessed 3 November 2003.
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The Pretended Asian: George Psalmanazar's Eighteenth-Century Formosan Hoax
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1679 – 3 May 1763) was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of
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are for local use and have been registered in the ConLang Code Registry.
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rites of his own invention, and even speaking an invented language.
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1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
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Having failed to reach Rome, Psalmanazar travelled through various
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434:. In the most famous of these engagements he spoke before the
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657:. University of Delaware Library. 3 March 2019. Archived from
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The Formosan constructed language has been assigned the codes
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681:"Fantasy adventures of early-modern Walter Mitty go on show"
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for London, where they planned to meet Anglican clergymen.
210:, who is referenced in the Bible). In 1703, they left via
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George Psalmanazar died on 3 May 1763 in Ironmonger Row,
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and other noted figures in 18th-century literary London.
773:. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 14–15.
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Deception and Detection in Eighteenth-Century Britain.
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Japan in Eighteenth-Century English Satirical Writings
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An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa
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The "Formosan alphabet", as fabricated by Psalmanazar
494:(1732), and contributed a number of articles to the
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1168:French emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain
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239:. He became a favourite of the Bishop of London
182:and sleeping while sitting upright in a chair.
243:and other esteemed members of London society.
262:, and by embellished descriptions of Japan.
935:"GEORGE PSALMANAZAR, IMPOSTER AND PENITENT"
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831:. New York: Privately printed, 1968, p. 65
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406:Amy Pornio dan chin Ornio vicy, Gnayjorhe
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1019:. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
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951:10.1111/j.1741-2005.1924.tb03564.x
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413:Barhaniaan chinania sendabey.
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1198:Constructed language creators
1193:Fictional Qing dynasty people
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516:, who was also a Grub Street
492:A General History of Printing
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1153:Hoaxes in the United Kingdom
1062:Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
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1173:French emigrants to England
1158:18th-century French writers
1111:(public domain audiobooks)
1105:Works by George Psalmanazar
933:Bracey, Robert (May 1924).
874:"Psalmanazar, George"
829:The Great Formosan Impostor
750:"Great Hoaxes of History".
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172:Japanese Christian convert
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1013:Keevak, Michael (2004).
789:Bettencourt, Rebecca G.
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912:10.1163/030382498X00175
818:, London, 1764, pg. 339
791:"ConLang Code Registry"
685:University of Cambridge
68:3 May 1763 (aged 78–84)
894:Stauth, Georg (1998).
736:5 January 2012 at the
709:, London, 1764, pg. 79
655:"Forging a Collection"
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1218:Constructed languages
719:The Native of Formosa
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258:civilisations in the
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187:German principalities
156:Career as an impostor
1092:at Wikimedia Commons
1058:Lynch, Jack (2008).
1034:Lynch, Jack (2005).
827:Foley, Frederic J.,
814:George Psalmanazar,
795:www.kreativekorp.com
753:The Pittsburgh Press
705:George Psalmanazar,
432:University of Oxford
400:constructed language
293:Pseudo-lexicographer
1208:Passing (sociology)
84:Memoirist, imposter
1090:George Psalmanazar
756:. 18 January 1910.
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226:Psalmanazar's book
161:Continental Europe
140:school and then a
102:George Psalmanazar
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1203:Linguistic hoaxes
1088:Media related to
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594:Travel literature
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536:A Modest Proposal
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1132:Categories
1046:3: 21–35.
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624:The codes
465:Later life
282:polygamous
138:Franciscan
124:Early life
64:1763-05-03
1148:Impostors
1052:1065-3112
959:0028-4289
920:1568-4849
371:ISO 639-3
260:New World
212:Rotterdam
150:sophistic
130:Languedoc
75:, England
49:1679–1684
1109:LibriVox
871:(1896).
858:Foley 59
840:Foley 53
734:Archived
583:See also
419:—
341:Formosan
300:Formosan
180:cardamom
134:Provence
1098:at the
816:Memoirs
800:6 April
707:Memoirs
573:England
459:ConLang
457:in the
416:Amien.
333:Purpose
233:Jesuits
218:England
192:Formosa
176:heathen
167:pilgrim
112:(today
110:Formosa
1050:
1023:
1002:
983:
957:
918:
569:London
530:Pamela
484:Hebrew
269:Utopia
196:Taiwan
142:Jesuit
114:Taiwan
73:London
610:Notes
337:Hoax
252:Aztec
1048:ISSN
1021:ISBN
1000:ISBN
981:ISBN
955:ISSN
916:ISSN
802:2021
693:2023
667:2023
628:and
518:hack
453:and
386:IETF
328:1704
325:Date
256:Inca
254:and
58:Died
43:Born
1107:at
947:doi
908:doi
626:qfo
490:'s
451:qfo
378:qfo
266:'s
132:or
1134::
1044:11
1042:.
1038:.
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914:.
904:26
902:.
898:.
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779:^
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646:^
617:^
571:,
442:.
106:c.
47:c.
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