Abstract
A sense of homelessness is generic to exile, yet the homeless state of Elizabethan Catholic exiles in Paris was distinct from that of their coreligionists and contemporaries elsewhere in Europe. Although several hundred English Catholics were in Paris in the 1580s, they lacked their own institutional centre in the city. This shaped the character of their experience overseas and their relationship with their Parisian hosts. Without a dedicated centre, they found a number of different ways to establish a niche for themselves in the French capital, in many ways interacting directly with their hosts. Some of this large group also chose to change their legal status abroad by seeking to be naturalised by the French Crown. Whilst always remaining oriented towards England and hoping or working for Catholic restoration at home, their homeless state in exile encouraged a number of different engagements with Catholic France.
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