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One commonplace among historians asserts, "Nations are always in the making, but never made." The consensus necessary to constitute a well-regulated nation or any other community requires almost incessant negotiation between different groups. Changing circumstances constantly complicate this process, not only making consensus elusive, but rendering it merely temporary when once achieved. In this course, we will study the people and forces that contributed to the constant "making" of England in the 800 years between the reign of King Alfred and the Glorious Revolution. We will also see how powerful groups and institutions—the monarchy, the church, the aristocracy, and the commons—struggled to reach a lasting accommodation during these years. At the same time, we will look at the various events and movements that complicated this quest for stability.
He made
her first-born race to be so rude,
And suffered her to lie so oft subdued. . . .
The Romans first with Julius Caesar came,
Including all the nations of that name,
Gauls, Greeks, and Lombards; and by computation,
Auxiliaries or slaves of every nation.
With Hengist, Saxons; Danes with Sueno came,
In search of plunder, not in search of fame.
Scots, Picts, and Irish from th' Hibernian shore:
And conqu'ring William brought the Normans o're. . . .
From this amphibious ill-born mob began
That vain ill-natured thing, an Englishman.
The customs, surnames, languages, and manners,
Of all these nations are the explainers:
Whose relics are so lasting and so strong,
They ha' left a shibboleth upon our tongue;
By which with easy search you may distinguish
Your Roman-Saxon-Danish-Norman English.
Daniel Defoe, The True-Born Englishman, 1700
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Copyrighted
by Hugh Dubrulle, 2001
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