The years 1650-1850 saw the creation of the United Kingdom and its emergence as a world power. According to much recent literature--especially Linda Colley's Britons--Protestantism was central to this process, giving the British a sense of uniqueness, unity and imperial destiny. This collection of essays examines and challenges this religious contribution to "Britishness" and suggests radical new ways to understand the "British problem" and British and Irish development during the "long eighteenth century."

This book provides the first full account of William III's propaganda during his reign in England, 1689-1702. It thus explores the self-presentation of the English monarchy at a particularly difficult moment. In the 1690s the king had both to justify his irregular succession to the throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and to mobilize his country for mass warfare. Unlike most other works on the political language of late Stuart England, this volume does not concentrate on secular arguments, but rather stresses the importance of religious ideas of the period, insisting that the king solved...

This book provides the first full account of William III's propaganda during his reign in England, 1689-1702. It thus explores the self-presentation of the English monarchy at a particularly difficult moment. In the 1690s the king had both to justify his irregular succession to the throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and to mobilize his country for mass warfare. Unlike most other works on the political language of late Stuart England, this volume does not concentrate on secular arguments, but rather stresses the importance of religious ideas of the period, insisting that the king solved...

Wide-ranging and original re-interpretation of English history and national identity during the vital century (1660 1760) in which the country emerged as the leading world power and developed its peculiarly free political culture. Disputing the insular and xenophobic image of the English in the period, and denying that this was an age of secularisation, Tony Claydon demonstrates instead the country's active participation in a 'protestant international' and its deep attachment to a European 'Christendom'. He shows how these outward-looking identities shaped key developments by generating a...

The years 1650-1850 saw the creation of the United Kingdom and its emergence as a world power. According to much recent literature--especially Linda Colley's Britons--Protestantism was central to this process, giving the British a sense of uniqueness, unity and imperial destiny. This collection of essays examines and challenges this religious contribution to "Britishness" and suggests radical new ways to understand the "British problem" and British and Irish development during the "long eighteenth century."

Wide-ranging and original re-interpretation of English history and national identity during the vital century (1660 1760) in which the country emerged as the leading world power and developed its peculiarly free political culture. Disputing the insular and xenophobic image of the English in the period, and denying that this was an age of secularisation, Tony Claydon demonstrates instead the country's active participation in a 'protestant international' and its deep attachment to a European 'Christendom'. He shows how these outward-looking identities shaped key developments by generating a...