© 2018 BRITTANY AMIET ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ENGLAND, STONEHENGE, AND THE DRUIDS: THE ROLE OF WILLIAM STUKELEY IN THE BEGINNINGS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE RISE OF BRITISH NATIONALISM A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of the University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of History Brittany Amiet May, 2018 iii ENGLAND, STONEHENGE, AND THE DRUIDS: THE ROLE OF WILLIAM STUKELEY IN THE BEGINNINGS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE RISE OF BRITISH NATIONALISM Brittany Amiet Thesis Approved: Accepted: _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Michael Graham Dr. John C. Green Chair Dean of the College _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Martin Wainwright Dr. Chand Midha Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Martha Santos Date Department Chair iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. WHO WERE THE EARLY ANTIQUARIANS? AND WHAT DID THEY SAY ABOUT ENGLAND? ………………………………………………………………… 1 How were Early Antiquarians different from Early Modern Historians? ……….14 John Leland………………………………………………………………………19 William Camden…………………………………………………………………26 John Milton………………………………………………………………………35 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….46 II. WILLIAM STUKELEY: THE FRAMEWORK FOR NATIONALISM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ARCHAEOLOGY……………………………………………….48 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…85 III. RISE OF ENGLISH FOCUS AND NATIONALISM IN ANTIQUARIANISM…...88 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………115 v On 20 March 2017, a group of filmmakers from MegalithomaniaUK followed an assembly of modern Druids and captured their Spring Equinox traditions at Stonehenge, performed in front of a gaggle of tourists, who seemed more interested in the demonstration than the original Neolithic builders. To a chorus of drums, the modern Druids marched into the center of the stone circle dressed in a hodgepodge collection of white robes, headdresses, hats, and capes, while a few walking sticks rounded out the image. As the procession ended, the head Druid invited witnesses’ participation. With the extension of this invitation, a plea for peace was made in each of the cardinal directions before singing the “Druidic Mantram of the West”1. This song represented the rising of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes as well as display one of the many “ancient” aspects of the religion2. With the completion of this “ancient” song, the head Druid gave a brief history of the druidic religion, known today as druidry. He explained Druids throughout history performed the song since 3000 BCE when the monument was first constructed3. The modern Druids then repeated stylized prayers to the earth, sky, and various natural aspects to ensure the earth healed from the failings of human nature. An inherent hope for peace and goodwill underscored this ceremony as the Druids implored the ley lines to provide comfort to innocents who had fallen victim to humanity’s failings4. Overall, this forty-minute ceremony seemed like a step back into time for those interested in the mysterious culture of the ancient Druids, a civilization that has been 1 MegalithomaniaUK. "2017 Spring Equinox at Stonehenge with the Druids." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlTD91jaNM&ab_channel=MegalithomaniaUK (accessed June 1, 2017), 4:34 – 4:46. 2 Ibid, 5:00-5:42. 3 Ibid, 7:16 – 7:23. 4 Ibid, 13:23-13:54. vi subsumed into popularized Celtic culture. Unfortunately, the connection of the ancient Druids and Stonehenge does not have the historical or archaeological backing this ceremony assumes. And yet, the connection continues to persist so the next question to as is, why? Where did this connection begin? Why are the druids so integrally linked to Stonehenge and England without overwhelming archaeological or historical evidence? An answer to these complex questions must start with the scholarly works of William Stukeley, an antiquarian who not only introduced Britain to the Druids and was a precursor to modern archaeology, but whose conclusions and methods created an academic landscape that fostered a sense of nationalism within British intellectual society. The history and popular imagery around Stonehenge offers a glimpse into his legacy because it is one of the most famous archaeological sites linked to England and one he studied in detail, creating conclusions that would outlast him. Today Stonehenge has become a symbol of the island and its preservation is a source of national pride5. But this was not always the case, the rise of English nationalism would solidify its connection to England but that took an overhaul of the study of antiquaries and a new explanation of English pre-history. The evolution of nationalism served as an underlying framework for this paper. This is not because any of the main players were outwardly nationalist in the historic sense but because of the importance of unique history for nationalism and the charges in this period that would allow nationalism to flourish in the late years of William Stukeley’s life. Stukeley did not call himself a nationalist but his work would pave the way for intellectual nationalism to take root. The goals of this thesis are to trace the 5 Susan Greaney, "English Heritage," History of Stonehenge | English Heritage. http://www.english- heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history/ (accessed June 1, 2017). vii changing nature of the narrative of English history through antiquarianism, the beginnings of English archaeology, and the rise of English nationalism in a transition period from 1724 to 1830. To that end, this thesis will begin with the earliest antiquarians and historians, specifically those who explored the chronology of England and English history, both of which used the Roman invasion as the lynchpin that established all later English culture. This will provide a baseline for early historiography and offer a comparison for the shifting trends that William Stukeley used his standing as an antiquarian to push. The evidence Stukeley brought to bear made him one of the earliest, and most significant, antiquarians to recognize Gerald Newman’s description of the necessary role of the artist-intellectual in the development of nationalism, because “In an especially intense way he is the first to feel the illness of his nation’s culture and to sense himself a lonely exile from its true sources”6. Stukeley was an empiricist and emphasized tangible British evidence and its importance to reconstructing English chronology. But he also saw the lack of English interest as an illness caused by ignorance of a coherent and factual national history. This reality seemed increasingly accurate when paired with descriptions of pre-Roman British culture, a concept that seemed impossible given the lack of culture attested to by antiquarians and historians. Stukeley broke from the early modern narrative and provided a lens to look into the pre- Roman world, which forced a critical look at many of the bedrock sources for antiquarian studies and, ultimately, laid the groundwork for the discipline of archaeology. This confluence of proto-archaeology and the language Stukeley relied on altered the narrative 6 Gerald Newman, The rise of English nationalism: a cultural history, 1740-1830 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), 56. viii of English history by turning the focus inward. It also provided a native framework for English origins, necessary for the evolution of English nationalism7. However, it is impossible to discuss this framework without also looking at the international undertones of his arguments and their connection to his focus on England. This is where Linda Colley’s arguments on the importance of an international opponent in the creation of a national identity discussed in Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, needs to be addressed. While Stukeley provided a way to solve the nationalistic weakness of Newman’s cosmopolitan intellectuals, England’s conflicts with other European nations had a significant role to play. Colley emphasized the role of international pressures on the creation of British identity with the conflicts between the French and the English as a main impetus8, a key concern in Stukeley’s writings. But where Colley concentrated on the influence of international forces on solidifying English nationalism within the country, the benefit of exploring Stukeley’s contributions allows for an examination of how the pressure of competition affected the descriptions of English origins. Stukeley provided an English chronology not dependent on the continent, which allowed for an academic separation from the continent, an important step in the rise of nationalism, but neither Newman nor Colley specifically addressed the role of Stukeley. Stukeley’s published work was an argument for patriotism within the intellectual community, and a necessary step for the explosion of academic nationalism in the mid 1700s. Stukeley informed a transitory period in the rise of English nationalism but it is necessary to explore the original narrative and its writers to provide a starting baseline. 7 Ibid, 55. 8 Linda Colley, Britons: forging the nation 1707-1837 (London: Pimlico, 1992), 1. CHAPTER 1 WHO WERE THE EARLY ANTIQUARIANS? AND WHAT DID THEY SAY ABOUT ENGLAND? Antiquarians were products of what Newman called Cosmopolitanism, which was “…’a sentiment uniting cultured minds’ down through the ages, one which in various ways touched thinkers as diverse as Zeno and Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine and Erasmus, Bacon