The revocation of the Edict of Nantes led more than 200,000 Huguenots to flee France after 1685. Many settled close to the country’s frontiers, where their leaders published apologetic texts arguing for their right to return to France and be recognized as French citizens. By framing their refugee experiences intentionally, even using the term “refugee” to describe their diaspora, Huguenots profoundly influenced Enlightenment debates on citizenship and religious tolerance.

Write to Return is a cultural history of these Huguenot apologetics in which Bryan Banks examines the work of four authors: Pierre Jurieu, Pierre Bayle, Antoine Court, and Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne. Each author advanced his arguments using key ideas of the Enlightenment, appealing to reason to argue for freedom of conscience all while appealing to emotion in his descriptions of Huguenot victimhood. The authors’ campaign succeeded. In 1789, France’s revolutionary National Assembly granted repatriation to all expelled Huguenots, offering them citizenship regardless of place of birth or baptism, and even permitting them to reclaim ancestral lands.

International refugees played an overlooked role in shaping discourse around the nation and nationalism in the eighteenth century. Write to Return shows how early modern refugees could advocate for their interests, build international networks, and even craft a new collective identity. By presenting themselves as loyal citizens of France, Huguenots were at the forefront of constructing a French national identity.

Bryan A. Banks is associate professor of history at Columbus State University.

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“Banks’s study deftly links the stories of Protestants in France with those who found refuge in Protestant Europe, demonstrating the continued relevance of the Huguenots to eighteenth-century intellectual life across the continent. Write to Return will be of value not only to specialists on French Protestantism but to anyone interested in French or Enlightenment history.” Owen Stanwood, Boston College

“Banks enriches the field with this interpretation of the Huguenots’ long game. Crisply written, the study provides evidence of the unique experience of the Huguenots who embraced the torment of their involuntary emigration as a divine detour on their journey toward a predetermined destination.” Choice