Nationalism in England

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the development of the nation-state in England from the Norman conquest in 1066 through the beginning of modernism, at the end of the Tudor Dynasty, with Elizabeth I's death. It begins with a general description of the term 'nationalism' and then focuses on early English history.

From the Paper:

"Before investigating the particularities of nation-building in England we should perhaps define more precisely what it is that we mean by this term, which is certainly a commonplace one but which is being used in this paper in a somewhat technical sense. As a general rule, nationalism can be said to be characterized principally by a feeling of community among a people. This feeling of community, this sense of belonging together, is based on the fact that this group of people share a common descent, a common language, a common religion or some combination of these or like factors. Before the 18th century, when nationalism as we now no it emerged as a distinctive political force, political communities were usually on dynastic concerns or religious affiliation: People felt loyalty to a ruling family or to a particular church or sect. Their loyalty, however, usually was focused on family and clan and village. While they might also feel some loyalty to queen or pope, such loyalty was in many ways attenuated as people rarely extended their interests nationwide to include within their 'in' group people that they did not know and would never be likely to meet. (Primakov, 1996, p. 53)."

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