I wrote the following essay for one of my college courses. It’s very detailed and very informative. It reflects the pride of the English of the United Kingdom.

In the Early modern times the English identity was based on the idea of belonging. The people, who lived in England, even though they were loosely united, had a cultural similarity which led them to take the notion of belief that they are Englishmen. The pride of being Englishmen was projected by nobles and other high-class individuals that lead to heavy support from the masses in rural and urban areas. This English pride that spread all over England lead to violent acts toward foreigners for settling in London and else where in England. The English pride also lead to spreading of the English way and English Law to neighboring Ireland by forceful means. England’s idea of themselves being superior to the Irish lead them to colonize Ireland. An individual, weather a man or a woman, to be born of and to be proud of the English identity was to speak English with the English accent, to be civilized by living the English way, to be loyal to the crown, to be Protestant, to be subservient to the English Law, and to abide by the rules of society.

To be English, is to speak the English language with the English accent fluently in the English manner like the inhabitants of London and in rural areas in England. The way an individual pronounces English words can make that individual distinguishable to the public, to show weather he or she is a foreigner or not. In the early modern times foreigners were unwanted in England and they were given antagonistic attitudes from the native English. For example, the masses in rural areas would test to see if a person was foreign or not; “They therefore devised the simple test of asking everyone they came across to say the words ‘bread’ and ‘cheese’”[1]. If that individual couldn’t say the simple words of bread and cheese he or she would be killed by the peasants; “If the unfortunate captive said ‘brot’ or ‘kaese,’ the rebels killed him.”[2]

In the early times some English looked among themselves as noble and prosperous people. Even though not all Englishmen were rich and lived comfortable lives, in general they looked at themselves as a rich, self sustaining group of people. They viewed themselves as a group of people better than others. In doing so they showed animosity towards foreigners; “England did not need foreign merchants and craftsman to gain riches and fame.”[3]

The English viewed themselves to be a very civilized group of people. To a prominent Englishman at the time, the English way was the best way. In doing so the English considered their neighboring outsiders, such as the Irish to be uncivilized; “…the Irish, a people with whom the English had always had some familiarity, came to be regarded as uncivilized…”[4]

The English’s’ refusal of acceptance of the Irish way lead them to colonize Ireland. English nobles found that it was their duty to make the Irish civilized; civilized as in dress in the English way, eat the in English way, to live in a society just like the English society, etc. “All were agreed that their immediate object should be the secular one of drawing the Irish to civility.”[5] With that idea the English sought conquest in Ireland, to colonize and implement their English Law there.

The English also saw themselves to be loyal to their monarchs. They imitated whatever the monarchs did; they even followed the monarch’s religion since the crown commanded his people to follow what he followed. “Whatever the Crown commanded, the people, for the most part, did.”[6] So whenever the crown was Catholic the people worshipped in the Catholic faith such as under the reign of Mary I, but when the crown was Protestant the people’s faith became Protestant such as under the reign of Elizabeth I.

Regarding religion in England, in the early times to be English is to be Protestant. England once used to be Catholic because the faith was followed by their monarchs, but after Henry VIII’s command of England’s separation from the Catholic church, the country was no longer under the Catholic Papacy control. To the English the Catholic way was the traditional way and the people deviated from it to follow Protestantism.

Protestantism by itself rejects any images and sculptures in its religious arena. In the Protestantism belief there are no statues of the Virgin Mary or Jesus or any saints in Church because of the fear of idolatry. No religious pictures of any kind were permitted in Protestantism because of the great hostility in the faith of worshipping idols that it may cause. There was a radical movement of iconoclasm as Protestantism flourished among the English; “…the promptness of the removal of the images almost everywhere there can be no doubt…”[7] So, England was in the verge to rid it self of every other ‘false’ forms of Christianity for the coming and implementation of Protestantism in their society. However, not all Englishmen agreed to Protestantism, some remained Catholics; the remaining Catholic Englishmen were referred to as the Old English.

The Old English were English Catholic migrants who settled in Ireland to escape any persecution of Elizabeth I and other Protestant and anti-Catholic rulers who ruled before and after Elizabeth I. Since they were Catholic, the London inhabitants and most Englishmen in England were Protestant, the Old English were not seen to be Englishmen anymore because they didn’t follow their ‘true’ Protestant doctrine.

To be English is also to follow the English Law which was implemented in England and in Ireland the Gaelic Law was implemented. In Ireland not only did the Irish followed the Gaelic Law but also did the Old English, which was shunned by the English of England. “…Gaelic Law was declared ‘contrary to God his lawe and also repugnant to the Queens Majesties lawes’”[8]. Since the Old English settled in the land where the Gaelic Law was implemented they abided by it.

In the English society, mostly in the rural areas and in small communities, women were confined to stay at home’ “The Public presence of women on the streets was persistently identified with sexual disorder.”[9] Their roles in society were to be subservient to their fathers or husbands; “Female subjectivity has frequently dependent on ideas of containment and restriction, privacy and enclosure.”[10] They were to be daughters and mothers doing household work. Any liberal acts by them were just outrageous and unacceptable in society. The women, having conservative behavior, were how they were expected to be according to the English society; this was what defined English women. However after the 1560s the role of women in urban society tended to change.

Women in London participated in public life; they were active in their community in the city. Women in the city used the law in their favor and initiated litigants; “they constituted the majority of litigants – they made complaints, pursed disputes and testified.”[11] Young teenage girls, usually relying on friends, would migrate to the city and live a liberal life themselves than with their parents. “Young single women, in particular, probably courted and socialized more freely than they would have done under parental regulation at home”[12].

Therefore, the English identity promoted from the nobles was heavily reinforced by the English population in the early modern period. Englishmen saw themselves as prominent people without the help of foreigners. Women were subjected to live a conservative life which was stressed upon from society, which defined English women; however, in London city in the mid 16th century women lived a liberal life. Anyone who speaks English, originated in England, followed the Protestant faith, followed the English law was a true English in the early modern times.

Citations
1. Laura Hunt Yungblut, Strangers Settled Here Amongst Us, (New York: Routledge, 1996 ), 38
2. Yungblut, 38
3. Yungblut, 41
4. Nicholas P. Canny, The Ideology of English Colonization: From Ireland to America, The William and Mary Quarterly 30, no. 4 (1973): 583
5. Canny, 588
6. Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Alters: Traditional Religion in England, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992), 478
7. Duffy, 480
8. Canny, 584
9. Laura Gowing, “The freedom of the streets: women and social space, 1560-1640”, Londinopolis, p. 131 (New York: Manchester University Press, 2000)
10. Gowing, 131
11. Gowing, 133
12. Gowing, 131

If you can, please give me a feedback by commenting, thank you.

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