Talking About Religion During Religious War: Gilles de Gouberville, Normandy, 1562

This chapter investigates a series of recorded private conversations between noblemen at the time of the French wars of religion, suggesting how people talked to each other about religion during a war over religion. Circling around an enigmatic conversation in August 1562, the chapter engages with everyday talk as an engine of both discord and bonding via Gilles de Gouberville’s daily record of meetings with friends and neighbours. Reinburg’s contribution stresses the power of conversation in establishing one’s alliances, beliefs, and allegiances, and how recorded conversations reveal people’s thoughts about broader conflicts.