Between 1653 and 1687, three hundred thirty-eight men and four hundred thirty-five women abjured their Protestant faith and converted to Catholicism in Lyon. In telling their stories, Monica Martinat rejects what she calls a recent “tendance réactionnaire” to eschew social history (12). Although the reformed community comprised less than one percent of the population of Lyon and relatively few converted (an average of twenty-three per year), Martinat contends that these stories can help us “adoucir une perception trop mécanique de la vie des individus et des groupes” and better imagine the diverse paths that led to conversion (162). Although she presents a variety of possible, ultimately plausible, explanations for why these men and women converted—familial crises, economic hardship, and others—the key underlying factor, Martinat argues, was social: above all, converts sought a social network and community support.

Earlier studies of conversion between Christian sects tended to focus on the spiritual aspects of conversion. 773 vies contributes instead to a growing body of scholarship that stresses the importance of social factors. In particular, this study is informed by scholars of religious conversion in the Mediterranean such as Eric Dursteler (Renegade Women: Gender, Identity, and Boundaries in the Early Modern Mediterranean [Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011]) Bartolomé Bennassar (“Conversion ou reniement? Modalités d'une adhesion ambiguë des chrétiens à l'islam [XVIe–XVIIe siècles]” Annales ESC 6 [1998]: 1349–1366), and Natalie Rothman (Brokering Empire: Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul [Cornell University Press, 2012]). Their studies highlight the complex relationship among conversion, social promotion, and social integration and stress the permeability of religious frontiers in the early modern period. Like these scholars, Martinat approaches the Catholic and Reformed communities in Lyon not as religious sects alone, but more importantly, as social networks united by shared practices and a common legal status.

773 vies begins with a general overview of seventeenth-century Lyon, including its populace, economy, and institutions. The following three chapters focus on the demographic details of the converts. Here the author presents a wealth of quantitative data on the seven hundred seventy-three converts as a whole (chapter 2) before dividing them into two groups (foreigners and local Lyonnais) for a more detailed analysis. The Company for the Propagation of the Faith in Lyon focused its conversion efforts principally on foreigners, who comprised the largest group of converts. Foreign and local converts alike tended to be those Protestants who sought social integration, an integration that was often accompanied by economic benefits.

Across the next two chapters, Martinat shows that social conflicts divided the reformed community in Lyon, thereby marginalizing and alienating many. Chapter 5 explores the inner workings of the Reformed community, which was united by legal status, but divided along complex social lines. Martinat shows that Protestant elites sought to construct a restricted “communauté choisie” that excluded many who were baptized, married, or buried according to the reformed rites (18). In chapter 6, these divisions come into sharper focus as Martinat examines turmoil within the Reformed community, particularly conflicts over the nomination of pastors, and shows that social bonds continuously shifted depending on circumstances.

The author then turns to economic and political factors. Chapter 7 focuses on poor relief and shows that although the Company provided financial support for converts, more decisive was the access to professional networks conversion afforded them. The following chapter traces how local and royal policies affected conversions over time. From the 1670s on, the situation of local Protestants worsened as institutions and professions began to exclude them from their ranks, de facto if not de jure. Significantly, those Protestants who formed the elite core of the local reformed community were only mildly affected by these developments before 1685 (when the Edict of Fontainebleau rescinded toleration of Protestants), which reinforces Martinat's contention that conversion was most appealing for those who sought access to social networks.

The book concludes with a discussion of the current state of scholarship on conversion (chapter 9) and the author's motivation for undertaking this research (chapter 10). Here Martinat explains how the conversion stories she encountered led her to conclude that for most people in seventeenth-century France confessional affiliation did not have “l'importance invasive qu'on a eu tendance à lui attribuer” and that religious identity was much more fluid than is commonly assumed (214).

Martinat's study provides a wealth of quantitative data that scholars of social history, religion, and early modern France will find valuable. Records of abjurations made before the Company for the Propagation of the Faith between 1653 and 1687 in Lyon form the principle basis of the study, but the author also draws on notarial, civil, and ecclesiastical records, among others. Notably, the impressive amount of quantitative data is not matched by qualitative sources. One of Martinat's principal goals is to reconstruct the experiences that led these women and men to convert. However, the available sources rarely contain personal accounts of conversion or the words of the converts themselves. Although she expresses some discomfort with filling in for their voices, the author ultimately concludes that the absence of these sources is not critical, even going so far as to suggest that people may have failed leave personal accounts because they saw conversion principally as “un changement d'affiliation” (211). Despite the integration of contemporary accounts of conversion, namely that of Jean Jacques Rousseau, this claim cannot be substantiated with the given sources.

A great strength of 773 vies is that the author manages to reveal the myriad practical benefits of converting to Catholicism, while not presenting conversion as insincere or “un acte accompli d'un cœur léger” (27). Rather, she presents a nuanced view of conversion within which “il est difficile d’établir une distinction entre ce qui relève du religieux et ce qui relève d'autres considérations de nature totalement différente” (203). Martinat rightly reminds readers that within the context of seventeenth-century France the spiritual was not entirely private, personal, or distinct from other aspects of life. Although she takes a microhistorical approach that stresses the everyday lives of average people, 773 vies has macrocosmic implications for our understanding of conversion in the early modern world. Above all, Martinat convincingly shows that conversion was the result of diverse factors and that the decision to convert was not purely personal and can only be understood within a larger social context.