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Penny Roberts

Professor
University of Warwick
Clandestine Confessional Networks during the French Religious Wars
01 February 2019 - 30 June 2019
History
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Penny Roberts is Professor of early modern European History and Chair of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick. She is a Trustee of the Society for the Study of French History and co-editor of the Manchester University Press series ‘Studies in early modern European history’ and, until very recently, of the Oxford University Press journal French History. In 2008, her article on ‘The Languages of Peace during the French religious wars’ was awarded both the Nancy Roelker prize and the Charles Benedetti prize for Peace History. Her most recent book is Peace and Authority during the French Religious Wars, c. 1560-1600 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Research interests

The social, cultural, religious and political history of sixteenth-century France with a particular focus on urban and confessional conflict; religious and collective violence; peace-making; judicial truth; religious minorities and their networks.

Clandestine Confessional Networks during the French Religious Wars

The divisions and tensions generated by the French religious wars of the sixteenth century led to the development of a clandestine culture of intelligence-gathering and communication networks which conveyed news and messages across France as well as to and from allies abroad. Royal and regional concerns about Huguenot activities led to heightened vigilance and resulted in the arrest and interception of those carrying suspect letters and packages. Drawing on interrogations and other judicial records, as well as correspondence and reports from local officials, my project seeks to reconstruct this secretive world. In particular, it focuses on the messengers and go-betweens who undertook this work at considerable risk to themselves. Reaching beyond more traditional studies of early modern espionage, this study will show the importance of an understanding of regional contexts as well as the cross-border operation of transnational connections. The effectiveness of royal efforts to curb such activities was dependent on close co-operation with regional officials and local intelligence. The fate of those arrested was determined by royal policy, by whether the crown was contemplating war or negotiating peace. This project will inform us not only how the Huguenot movement was able to sustain its lines of communication despite the crown's efforts to disrupt and curtail them, but will provide a more complex picture of regional, national and international confessional networks.

28 Jun 2019 14:00 -
28 Jun 2019 14:30,
Aix-en-Provence :
‘Cedit porteur vous en dira de ma part’: aspects pratiques des réseaux du soutien de la cause
26 Jun 2019 13:30 -
26 Jun 2019 14:00,
Londres :
God’s Warriors in the Most Christian Kingdom: a Reconsideration of the French Religious Wars
Workshop organized by P. Roberts (2018-2019 Paris IAS fellow), H. Daussy (Centre Lucien Febvre, EA 2273 | University of Franche-Comté) and J. Foa (Aix-Marseille University - CNRS | Telemme, UMR 7303 | IUF)
12 Jun 2019 10:00 -
12 Jun 2019 17:00,
Paris :
Réseaux et pratiques de la clandestinité au temps des guerres de Religion
Colloquium organized by M. Jonik, 2018-2019 Paris IAS fellow
22 May 2019 10:00 -
22 May 2019 18:00,
Paris :
Risk, Violence, and Collective Agency
Penny Roberts presents her research project within the framework of the weekly internal seminar
16 Apr 2019 10:00 -
16 Apr 2019 13:00,
Paris :
Clandestine Confessional Networks during the French Religious Wars
15 Apr 2019 14:00 -
15 Apr 2019 16:00,
Paris :
La vérité et le subterfuge. Des réseaux de clandestinité des Huguenots autour de la Saint-Barthélemy
Research project: Clandestine Confessional Networks during the French Religious Wars
18095
2018-2019
Modern period (1492-1789)
Western Europe