“A Reserved Place”? English Catholic Exiles and Contested Space in Late-Sixteenth-Century Paris

Abstract

English and Scottish Catholic exiles interacted with the complex urban environment of late-sixteenth-century Paris in a variety of ways. Historians usually concentrate on their contribution to the radical polemic that accompanied the rise of the Catholic League. This approach can be complemented with an examination of the ways in which they established or claimed physical space for themselves. The parish church of Saints-Cosme-et-Damien and Collège Mignon were key venues for such efforts. Both were themselves contested spaces within the French capital. In pursuing space for themselves on the Left Bank, the exiles became embroiled in the confessional conflicts of the sixteenth century. The strategies that they and other competing parties employed drew on established precedent while also taking advantage of contemporary jurisdictional quarrels within Paris and of wider religious and political instability. In fact, the already contested nature of these spaces offered new opportunities to the exiles.