The Huguenots In England

This is a much-revised version of Professor Cottret's acclaimed study of the Huguenot communities in England, first published in French by Aubier in 1985. The Huguenots in England presents a detailed, sympathetic assessment of one of the great migrations of early modern Europe, examining the social origins, aspirations and eventual destiny of the refugees, and their responses to their new-found home, a Protestant terre d'exil. Bernard Cottret shows how for the poor weavers, carders and craftsmen who constituted the majority of the exiles the experience of religious persecution was at once personal calamity, disruptive of home and family, and heaven-sent economic opportunity, which many were quick to exploit. The individual testimonies contained in consistory registers contain a wealth of personal narrative, reflection and reaction, enabling Professor Cottret to build a fully rounded picture of the Huguenot experience in early modern England. In an extended afterword Professor Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie considers the Huguenot phenomenon in the wider context of the contrasting British and French attitudes to religious minorities in the early modern period.

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Recent years have witnessed a revival of interest in the history of the Huguenots, and new research has increased our understanding of their role in shaping the early-modern world. Yet while much has been written about the Huguenots during the sixteenth-century wars of religion, much less is known about their history in the following centuries. The ten essays in this collection provide the first broad overview of Huguenot religious culture from the Restoration of Charles II to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Dealing primarily with the experiences of Huguenots in England and Ireland, the volume explores issues of conformity and nonconformity, the perceptions of 'refuge', and Huguenot attitudes towards education, social reform and religious tolerance. Taken together they offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Huguenot religious identity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.