ABSTRACT
This essay explores the traumatic impact of exile on those individuals caught up in the French religious wars of the sixteenth century and of the European Reformation more broadly. It focuses, in particular, on the emotional experience of exile and notions of “internal” exile for those who stayed put during periods of persecution. It looks at how gender and social status affected the exile experience as well as how individuals negotiated and reacted to being forced out of country and home and separated from family and friends. Finally, it considers both the challenges and opportunities posed by such periods of disruption.
