The culture of belonging.

We began this book by emphasizing that the decision to adhere to the new evangelical teaching was often painful, and pregnant with consequences. It meant breaking or reordering a whole web of associations and loyalties, to family, friends, workmates and even the local state power. It could mean separating oneself from comfortable regimes and familiar practices; it called into question the validity of customs practised with relish for a whole lifetime, even for generations. Sometimes the Reformation demanded an impossible choice between conflicting loyalties. Kristen Neuschel has offered an evocative picture of the dilemma posed to the French nobility who owed fealty to the leader of the Huguenot party, Louis de Condé, at the beginning of the Religious Wars. Many were devoutly committed to their Catholic faith; but all other accustomed social tradition urged the precedence of a duty of loyalty to their sworn lord. Inevitably different families, or different members of the same family, resolved these difficulties in contrasting ways. When Condé emerged as leader of the insurgent Huguenot party, some sent their excuses or boldly proclaimed a higher duty to crown and religion. Others dutifully gathered behind Condé's standard at Orleans. Similar unpalatable choices faced thousands of men and women wherever the evangelical message was heard and became embedded in the local culture; many, even among those who headed the call to adhere to the new confessions, did so with grave misgivings and very mixed emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]