Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the reflections of Mark Greengrass exploration of Huguenot networks. It focuses on networks, seeks to build on the spectrum of studies that have preceded it and to probe more deeply the different threads of connection which characterised, shaped and sustained these refugees. The book draws on work in archives scattered across Europe and pieces together the sometimes complicated and obscure trajectories of individual exiles as their names and occupations mutated over geographical and linguistic boundaries. It discusses the key role of Huguenots in such activity, both to advance the Protestant cause and as an obvious way of making a living. The book then considers the unique set of skills that made educated Huguenots indispensable to the rulers of the Protestant states of Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany by Michael Schaich.