Penny Roberts, "Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
About this episode
Penny Roberts discusses her book on Huguenot networks and secret intelligence during the French Wars of Religion.
Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe ( Cambridge UP, 2025), Penny Robert's latest book, takes us into the world of secret intelligence gathering during the French Wars of Religion. Robert's discovery of the interrogation record of a Huguenot merchant, Jean Tivinat, arrested in May 1570 for attempting to secretly carry letters to England, unspools into a broader story about the intersections between confessional affiliations, international affairs, knowledge, trust, and networking in a tumultuous time. As she argues, clandestine communication was crucial to maintaining ties amongst a widely dispersed and threatened religious community. Huguenot Networks is a lively read and sure to appeal to anyone interested in the history of espionage, Huguenots, international affairs in Elizabethan England, or the French Wars of Religion. Elspeth Currie is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at Boston College where she studies women’s intellectual history in early modern Europe.
People in this episode
Guest: Penny Roberts
Topics covered
- Huguenots
- espionage
- French Wars of Religion
- secret intelligence
- international affairs
Keywords
- Huguenots
- espionage
- secret intelligence
- French Wars of Religion
- international affairs
- Elizabethan England
- clandestine communication
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Cambridge UP
Books & works: Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe
Places: England, Europe
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