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 the role of clandestine communication 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

People in this episode

Guest: Penny Roberts

Topics covered

• Huguenots
• secret intelligence
• French Wars of Religion
• international affairs
• espionage

Keywords

• truth
• secrecy
• sixteenth-century Europe
• Jean Tivinat
• interrogation record

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe

Books & works: Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe, Huguenot Networks

Places: England, Europe

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