ABSTRACT

The role of Huguenots as information providers in the wider sense has long been recognized. Numerous studies have been dedicated to particular refugee journalists in the Netherlands or in Britain or to the Huguenot propaganda against Louis XIV and his plans to erect a universal monarchy. This chapter demonstrates these Huguenots made the circulation of news their business and, in turn, were recruited as information professionals by princes looking to expand the supply of data on which to base their decision-making. From the late 1680s a small group of Huguenots acted as information brokers between London and individual German courts. Displaced by Louis XIV's confessional policy, they found employment with German princes and governments keen to keep abreast of political developments in Britain and thus to make use of their skills and contacts. These connections lasted for about three decades.