Translator's Note | p. vii |
Preface to the English-Language Edition (2012) | p. ix |
Preface (2009) | p. xi |
The Origin of a Mythical Theme: The Prehistory of the Three Impostors (Up to the Thirteenth Century) | p. 1 |
The First to Be Accused: Frederick II and Pierre des Vignes (1239) | p. 2 |
The Precursors of Imposture: Zalmoxis and Numa Pompilius | p. 9 |
Celsus: Moses the Impostor | p. 12 |
Celsus and the Talmud: Jesus the Impostor | p. 13 |
Mahomet the Impostor in Christian Literature (Ninth to Twelfth Centuries) | p. 18 |
Politico-Religious Imposture in the Middle Ages | p. 21 |
The Arabic Origins of the Theme of the Three Impostors (Tenth Century) | p. 25 |
The First Mention in Christianity (Twelfth Century) | p. 30 |
The Hunt for the Author of a Mythical Treatise (Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries) | p. 35 |
A Culture of Imposture | p. 35 |
The Rumors of the Late Middle Ages | p. 39 |
The Renaissance: A Receptive Context for the Idea of Imposture | p. 43 |
Moses the Machiavellian | p. 47 |
Appeals to the Holy Union of Religions | p. 51 |
Italy and the Specter of the Three Impostors | p. 52 |
The Obsession Spreads | p. 57 |
Geneva, Birthplace of the Three Impostors? | p. 59 |
Three Impostors or Three Prophets? (Guillaume Postel) | p. 62 |
Who Actually Saw the Treatise? | p. 65 |
The European Elites and Religious Imposture (Seventeenth Century) | p. 71 |
On the Trail of De tribus around the Baltic Sea | p. 71 |
Holland and England: Heterodox Contexts | p. 78 |
The French Trail: Learned Libertines and Religious Imposture | p. 88 |
Debates on the Origin of Religions (Second Half of the Seventeenth Century) | p. 95 |
Hobbes and Spinoza | p. 95 |
Holland and the Birth of the Radical Enlightenment | p. 106 |
Rumors of the De tribus in England | p. 112 |
From the De tribus to the Trois imposteurs: Discovery or Invention of the Treatise? (1680-1721) | p. 123 |
Sources of the De tribus: Kiel, 1688 | p. 124 |
The Intervention of Leibniz and of Baron von Hohendorf | p. 126 |
The De tribus: A German Affair | p. 132 |
Preliminary Polemic: Does the Trois imposteurs Exist? (1715-1716) | p. 137 |
The Reference Edition: The Hague, 1719 | p. 142 |
The Birth of LÆEsprit de Spinoza and of the Trois imposteurs (1700-1721) | p. 146 |
A Franco-Dutch Commercial Imposture? | p. 151 |
Erroneous Attributions: Henri de Boulainvillier (1658-1722) and John Toland (1670-1722) | p. 154 |
The Treatise of the Three Impostors: The Contents of a Blasphemy | p. 163 |
The De tribus: A Slapdash Work? | p. 164 |
The Atheism of the Traité | p. 167 |
The End of Religions | p. 171 |
The Soul and Demons: Subtle Chimeras | p. 174 |
Moses the Impostor: Magic and Persecution | p. 177 |
Jesus the Impostor: A Merchant of Absurd Dreams | p. 180 |
Mahomet the Impostor: The Senses and the Sword | p. 185 |
Epilogue: The Three Impostors in the Antireligious Literature of the Eighteenth Century | p. 191 |
Appendixes | p. 205 |
Notes | p. 209 |
Glossary of Names | p. 225 |
Index of Names | p. 241 |
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