Chapter 2 focuses on the local support the three exiles found in their newly adopted communities on the Continent and in particular on the complex religious dimension of their European networks. Ludlow was moving mainly in Reformed Protestant circles, as might be expected from an English Puritan refugee, and Sidney too would seek his associates mainly among Dutch protestants and French Huguenots and former Frondeurs. Yet both Sidney and Neville also spent significant time in Italy, especially in Rome as the centre of the Catholic world. Their networks show that political allegiance could not always be related one-to-one to a specific religious creed and that personal friendships often cut across supposed political and religious divides. However, both Sidney and Neville also pursued a political agenda while in Rome, moving in circles that would allow them to gain insights into the future relations between the Stuart monarchy and the Catholic Church, while also shaping their own journey towards religious toleration.

This chapter explores the reasons behind the dramatic fluctuations in print output noted in Chapter 1 and analyses the precise context for a wide range of publications, many of which have not become part of the canon of major texts. During the English civil wars, drastic changes occurred in the popular dissemination of new types of political writing. Radical and first-time authors gave English readers access to a wholly unprecedented range of publications, suggesting that the scope for creative political thinking in England in the 1640s, continuing into the 1650s, was greater than anywhere else in Europe and far more visible than either before or after these turbulent years. By comparison, pamphlets from the French Fronde were more limited in political range and seem to have had less radical impact on contemporary readers and wider public opinion. The Netherlands had very different political structures and a more decentralised printing industry during the critical upheavals of 1650 and 1672.