Presidential Address: The People of Britain and Ireland, 1100–1400, 1.Identities

Davies, R. R.

doi:10.1017/s0080440100019691

Cited by 96 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In a series of four articles, Rees Davies discussed ethnic identity in the British Isles in relation to names, boundaries, regnal solidarities, laws and customs, language, and historical myths. 17 Furthermore, Robert Bartlett devoted much attention to the significance of dress fashions, haircuts, beards, eating and drinking habits, music cultures, festivities, and social practices and values in ethnic identity formation. Weaponry and manners in warfare were important badges of ethnicity.…”

Section: Elements Of Mediaeval Ethnic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 Nonetheless, as Davies concluded, 'the medieval world was a world of peoples' whose boundaries did not necessarily coincide with political structures. 19 Despite the fact that ethnicities are in reality constructions, mediaeval people did thus lend value to ties of kinship, descent, or 'blood'. 20 Indeed, the very words gens and natio bear the connotations of birth and generation (from the verbs nasci and gignere).…”

Section: Elements Of Mediaeval Ethnic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethnic Identification and Stereotypes in Western Europe, circa 1100–1300

Weeda

2014

History Compass

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The central Middle Ages witnessed a remarkable upsurge in sources containing ethnic stereotypes. Should we interpret the increase in ethnic images as evidence that people identified more strongly with ethnic or national groups from the 12th century onwards? And to which extent was ethnic identity informed by cultural, religious, and medical discourses, as well as forged by political elites as part of a state-formation process? Addressing these questions from a broad range of perspectives and incorporating a wide body of research, this article offers a review of the scholarship on ethnic identity formation and the relevance of ethnic stereotyping in religious-eschatological thought, medical science, and political rhetoric from the 12th century. It challenges the notion that ethnic stereotyping reflected random expressions of hatred, or, conversely, expressions of nationalist patriotism in the later Middle Ages.Who or what crafted ethnic groups and nations, when, why, and how, is one of the most hotly debated topics in political, sociological, and anthropological studies. To date, there have been relatively few attempts to integrate research on ethnic identity in the Middle Ages with theoretical discussions on nationhood.1 Until recently, the predominant approach was to apply the modernist, post-Second World War instrumentalist view -that political elites craft nationsto premodernity. Mediaeval scholars have thus tracked the construction of the nation to, for example, 12th-century state-formation processes and the territorialisation of power. However, fresh research in the field of medical history has recently revealed how Hippocratic medical theory helped establish new beliefs about the nature of ethnic groups from the end of the 11th century. Furthermore, from circa 1000, lists of ethnic characteristics were appearing in monastic circles within a religious-eschatological context. It is therefore necessary to examine utterances about the nature of and identification with ethnic groups from a cultural, religious, social, and political perspective. Research should take a multi-facetted and longue-durée approach, in which political processes and structures are viewed as both forming and feeding off pre-existing cultural, religious -and from the 12th century also medical -customs, beliefs, and knowledge, in a social environment shaped by linguistic and legal distinctions. First, then, I will briefly discuss the role of politics and ideology in ethnic discourse; afterwards, I will turn to mediaeval beliefs about the make-up of ethnic groups, the influence of medical theory in ethnic stereotyping, and ideas about religion and ethnicity. Finally, I will present some ideas about possible new fields of research. Political Structures and Ethnic Group FormationScholars of the mediaeval era have often looked towards the growing bureaucracies and tightening judicial apparatus to partly explain the formation of nations from the 12th century onwards.2 For example, Adrian Hastings stated that ethnic groups, as oral commu...

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Section: Elements Of Mediaeval Ethnic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Elements Of Mediaeval Ethnic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnic Identification and Stereotypes in Western Europe, circa 1100–1300

Weeda

2014

History Compass

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“…As with “nation”, so with “state”, its usage is to that extent a deliberate act of defiance by medieval historians (Reynolds, 1980, chap. I; Hastings, 1997; Davies, 1994). They are tired of the over‐simplified, cut‐out models of medieval society often presented as a backcloth to, and precursor of, the modern world.…”

Section: The Case For “The Medieval State”mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?*

Davies¹

2003

J Historical Sociology

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“…n And it is to the study of such ethnie-or ' 'peoples"-that historians are now increasingly turning as they struggle to establish "what constitutes the identities of the different parts of the British Isles." 13 Were the Cornish, then, "a people"? At first sight it would appear not.…”

Section: Stoylementioning

confidence: 99%

“…38 (It is intriguing to note in the light of this comment, that, according to the fourteenth-century Statutes of Kilkenny, "style of riding" was considered to be one of the main distinguishing features between the English and the Irish peoples.) 39 Nor does this exhaust the list of ways in which the cultural practices of the west differed from those of the east. The Cornish sport of ' 'hurling," a game in which two teams competed for a silver ball, has already been alluded to.…”

Section: Stoylementioning

confidence: 99%

The Dissidence of Despair: Rebellion and Identity in Early Modern Cornwall

Stoyle¹

1999

J. Br. Stud.

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In May 1648 a group of Cornishmen who had rebelled against Parliament in the name of Charles I met with comprehensive defeat at “the Gear,” near Helford, and were then pursued back across the Lizard peninsula to the seacoast beyond. Surrender seemed inevitable, yet a number of the fugitives refused to submit. Instead they “joyned hand-in-hand” and hurled themselves bodily into the water: “a desperate expedient on that rocky coast,” as one later writer remarked. What can have driven them to such despair? No convincing answer can be given by looking at the events of 1648 alone. The rebels' despairing plunge can be understood only if it is seen as the final act in a long-running drama, a story of repeated popular protest in West Cornwall that spanned over 150 years. It is a story that has gone largely unrecognized by previous historians, most of whom have portrayed the Cornish revolts of 1497, 1548, 1549, 1642, and 1648 as isolated events rather than as part of a continuum. Yet it is a story that deserves to be told, not only because it provides a dramatic new explanation for many of the most important rebellions of the Tudor and Stuart periods, but also because it serves as an enduring monument to a forgotten people and their struggle to preserve a separate identity for themselves in the face of overwhelming odds.A fierce sense of distinctiveness has always characterized the inhabitants of Cornwall.

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Presidential Address: The People of Britain and Ireland, 1100–1400, 1.Identities

Cited by 96 publications

References 9 publications

Ethnic Identification and Stereotypes in Western Europe, circa 1100–1300

Ethnic Identification and Stereotypes in Western Europe, circa 1100–1300

The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?*

The Dissidence of Despair: Rebellion and Identity in Early Modern Cornwall

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