National Identity

[poliphilo]

For much of prehistory this little bit of earth we now call England was part of the land mass of north-western Europe- with people traipsing into it and out of it (between ice ages) across the low-lying area we now call Doggerland. Then sea levels rose, Doggerland was swamped and England became part of a complex of islands. Up until the Roman invasion it was divided into a patchwork of tribal territories- which the Romans united and incorporated into their empire as the Province of Britannia. After the Romans left it was divided up again- into a shifting patchwork of little Kingdoms- mostly ruled by comers-in from Northern Europe. These Kingdoms were united under Alfred the Great and his successors and by the end of the Saxon period something like the modern borders of England (Angle-land) had been established.  The Normans invaded in 1066 and incorporated England into an empire based in Northern France. This empire was in a constant state of flux. At its furthest stretch, under the Angevins, it reached from the Grampians to the Pyrenees (I miss the Angevin Empire).  Edward I added Wales to the portfolio. Oliver Cromwell, after something like 500 years of imperial adventuring, added Ireland.  The last French territory (if you don't count the Channel Islands) was lost under Mary I. Shortly afterwards England began to acquire an overseas Empire which- at its height in the late 19th century- covered a third of the globe.  Henry VIII took the country out of Catholic Christendom, and something like our modern sense of it as special and separate ("This precious stone set in a silver sea") came to maturity under his daughter Elizabeth. The border between the kingdoms of England and Scotland had always been porous, with towns like Berwick-on-Tweed regularly changing hands. Under James I the crowns were united, with full political Union following in 1703. Henceforward England was part of a United Kingdom, otherwise known as Great Britain. By the end of the 19th century "English" and British" had become interchangeable terms- with even Scots (Stevenson for instance) happy to rabbit on about their "Englishness". In the 20th century Britain lost its Empire (including Ireland),  gained a "commonwealth", ceded foreign policy to the USA, joined the EU and opened its borders to mass immigration   At the time of writing the Union between the remaining portions of Great Britain has been weakened by the creation of a Parliament in Scotland and an Assembly in Wales- with the strong possibility that the Scots will vote for complete independence in a year or two.

I'm English, or perhaps I'm British; I'm not entirely sure. And what, anyway, do either of those labels mean?

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

More and more, these national identities will become obsolete, I think, as we move painfully towards globalization. It won't happen in our lifetimes, but it will happen. I wish I were going to be here for those days when it does finally happen.

[sambeth.livejournal.com]

Same here. Maybe it will come sooner than we think, though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I look at my own family: my children are half British, half-American- and one of them lives in Japan and has married a South Korean girl. This kind of thing is going to become increasingly common.

[sambeth.livejournal.com]

I say British because I feel neither English nor Scottish. I wish there was a box you could tick labelled 'generic', or 'just not that into it'.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I hesitate when asked.

What really gets my goat is being asked my "race". That's something I really don't buy into.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

George Macdonald Fraser (of Flashman fame) wrote a book on the Scottish / English borders called The Steel Bonnets, which is very good. At one point they were known as Thr Debatable Lands,

The Debate in question was of ownership, of course, but not the usual one. Instead te English were saying to the Scots "your land. Deal with it" and vice versa.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A lawless region- and productive of some very good ballads.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Yet, at a distance at least, you are quintessentially English. You're neither Welshman nor Scot. You seem to have a recognizably English outlook and sensibilities -- if indeed such things exist outside of my own cultural chauvinism.

Excellent synopsis, by the way. I agree that the cult -- couldn't resist -- of English exceptionalism matures under Elizabeth I. Her advisor John Dee saw England as an instrument of the divine will against the Papacy and I think the defeat of the Great and Most Fortunate Armada and the like helped solidify the idea.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The defeat of the Armada is one of the foundations of our national myth- perhaps the single most important one. It's no accident that 1588 is one of the few historical dates I don't have to look up.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Did you know that John Dee was credited with conjuring the storm that left the Armada in disarray? It's mentioned here, among other places:

"Scholars seek to rescue image of John Dee, last royal wizard"

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I kind of think of "English" as an ethnicity -- a mixed-up one with lots of blending throughout history just like most ethnicities, and "British" as a nationality.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a useful distinction. A lot of people from ethnic minority groups (or so it's reported) are uncomfortable calling themselves English but are quite comfortable with British. Mind you, these things are changing all the time, from generation to generation.