British identities before nationalism : ethnicity and nationhood in the Atlantic world, 1600-1800 / Colin Kidd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kidd, Colin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics, British--History.

National characteristics, British.

Group identity--Great Britain--History.

Group identity.

Constitutional history--Great Britain.

Constitutional history.

Ethnic groups--Great Britain--History.

Ethnic groups.

Nationalism--Great Britain--History.

Nationalism.

Ethnicity--Great Britain--History.

Ethnicity.

Mythology, Celtic--Great Britain.

Mythology, Celtic.

Celts--Great Britain.

Celts.

Mythology, British.

Great Britain--Ethnic relations--History--17th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Ethnic relations--History--18th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 302 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Inspired by debates among political scientists over the strength and depth of the pre-modern roots of nationalism, this study attempts to gauge the status of ethnic identities in an era whose dominant loyalties and modes of political argument were confessional, institutional and juridical. Colin Kidd's point of departure is the widely shared orthodox belief that the whole world had been peopled by the offspring of Noah. In addition, Kidd probes inconsistencies in national myths of origin and ancient constitutional claims, and considers points of contact which existed in the early modern era between ethnic identities which are now viewed as antithetical, including those of Celts and Saxons. He also argues that Gothicism qualified the notorious Francophobia of eighteenth-century Britons. A wide-ranging example of the new British history, this study draws upon evidence from England, Scotland, Ireland and America, while remaining alert to European comparisons and influences.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Prologue: the Mosaic foundations of early modern European identity

3. Ethnic theology and British identities

4. Whose ancient constitution? Ethnicity and the English past, 1600-1800

5. Britons, Saxons and the Anglican quest for legitimacy

6. The Gaelic dilemma in early modern Scottish political culture

7. The weave of Irish identities, 1600-1790

8. Constructing the pre-romantic Celt

9. Mapping a Gothic Europe

10. The varieties of Gothicism in the British Atlantic world, 1689-1800

11. Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-11514-0

0-511-00140-1

1-280-15347-4

0-511-11696-9

0-511-14964-6

0-511-32450-2

0-511-49586-2

0-511-05075-5

OCLC:

437250303