The Characteristics of the Tudor North

Beckingsale, B. W.

doi:10.1179/007817269790087612

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“…Essentially, Tudor officials were driven to suggest that its inhabitants were not really civil Englishmen at all, and modern historians have either argued that the reduction of feudal particularism and over-mighty subjects were essential to the growth of the nation or tried to explain away the problem altogether. 85 Yet, if civility was a central characteristic of Englishness, how could an English county lose its identity?…”

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Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

Ellis

1999

J Historical Sociology

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Taking Northumberland as a case study, this paper explores the wider implications of the Tudor strategy of reform by centralization, uniformity, and cultural imperialism. It reappraises the notion that the growth of centralized government at the expense of regional magnates was unambiguously a form of modernization; and argues that the essential character of the Tudor state and the radical nature of Tudor reform have been obscured by the historians' practice of viewing developments in terms of the rise of the nation. history which are largely ignored in traditional Tudor historiography. In the first place, the concept of Englishness encapsulated three different sets of ideas with overlapping definitions regarding people, country, and culture. First, Englishness referred to a people or nation, the English, distinguishable from other peoples by customs and culture. Second, it had a geographical aspect, with reference to that part of Britain settled by the English before 1066, the kingdom of England. Finally, Englishness had a pronounced cultural dimension, denoting such things as the English language, English law, and government. It is significant, for instance, that the Gaelic language employs no less than three separate sets of terms (Saxain country; Gaill people, culture; Bé arla language) to describe these different aspects of Englishness. In addition, England and the English state were not synonymous. The kingdom of England did not exist in isolation: the emerging nation-state of which it was the dominant part included Wales and parts of Ireland; and the king's subjects included Welsh, Irish, Scots, and even French, as well as the English. The English state which the Tudors inherited was, like most so-called nation-states, actually multi-national; and ideas of Englishness were quite widely drawn, to include, for instance, the kin-based societies and marcher lordships of the English borderlands.During the sixteenth century, however, perceptions of English identity changed quite significantly, and Englishness was more narrowly defined. In particular, the cultural norms of English identity were further sharpened through the parallel advance of concepts of ''English civility.'' In 1500, for instance, the English nation comprised all those of free birth, English blood and condition, born within the territories under the allegiance of the king of England. It included the English of Calais, Ireland, and Wales -not just those born in England. By 1600, however, English identity was more closely tied to the national territory and, as is well known, it had acquired a pronounced religious character -the product of Protestant perceptions of England as God's elect nation. 5 Of course, Englishness and civility had long gone hand in hand: since God was an Englishman, ''civility,'' as the manifestation of English culture, had to be closest to godliness. To the extent that other peoples departed from English norms, they were less civil. As Professor Rees Davies has recently argued, even the English could degenerate through cont...

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confidence: 99%

Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

Ellis

1999

J Historical Sociology

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“…85 Yet, if civility was a central characteristic of Englishness, how could an English county lose its identity? Technically, the English marches toward Scotland constituted England's only landed frontier, since the marches of Calais, Ireland, and Wales lay outside the realm.…”

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confidence: 99%

Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

Ellis¹

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The Characteristics of the Tudor North

Cited by 2 publications

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Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

Civilizing Northumberland: Representations of Englishness in the Tudor State

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