Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Theses Department of History Spring 5-9-2015 "All Men Born in Britain Are Britons": The Development of Britishness During the Long Sixteenth Century, 1502-1615 Zachary Bates Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses Recommended Citation Bates, Zachary, ""All Men Born in Britain Are Britons": The Development of Britishness During the Long Sixteenth Century, 1502-1615." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2015. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/91 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “ALL MEN BORN IN BRITAIN ARE BRITONS”: THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISHNESS DURING THE LONG SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 1502-1615 by Zachary Bates Under the direction of Jacob Selwood, PhD ABSTRACT The sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries saw the development of a British identity that was contingent upon a shared dynasty through intermarriage and the composite monarchy of James VI and I, religious developments that led to both Scotland and England breaking with the Roman Catholic Church, and especially England’s overseas colonial empire. Using sources representative of the nascent print culture, the Calendar of State Papers , the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII , and Journals from the House of Commons, this project argues that contrary to prior historical analysis of Britain, empire, and English imperialism that British identity in the sixteenth century became a collaborative process which included both Scots and English. With this in mind, the project suggests that historians must incorporate Scottish angles to the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and that future studies should include analysis of Scots in the early Atlantic and English imperial worlds. INDEX WORDS: Britain, Scotland, England, Imperialism, Intellectual and Cultural History, British History, Europe “ALL MEN BORN IN BRITAIN ARE BRITONS”: THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISHNESS DURING THE LONG SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 1502-1615 by Zachary Bates A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2015 Copyright by Zachary Bates 2015 ”ALL MEN BORN IN BRITAIN ARE BRITONS”: THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISHNESS DURING THE LONG SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 1502-1615 by Zachary Bates Committee Chair: Jacob Selwood Committee: Ian Fletcher Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2015 iv DEDICATION For Mary. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project developed from a research paper written for an undergraduate history course. I recall asking the instructor, Jacob Selwood, about pursuing what it meant to be British during the seventeenth century, and he encouraged me to pursue the question. Three years later, I am still asking the question at the graduate level, while extending my research to include the sixteenth century, thus transforming the project. Dr. Selwood had continued to motivate my pursuit of these questions, guide my research in fruitful directions, and improve my writing throughout my academic career. My first thanks, therefore, must go to Jake (as he has became known to me) for responding to my always abundant emails, encouraging me in accomplishing my academic goals, and for supervising this Master’s thesis. I must also thank other faculty in the Department of History at Georgia State University. Douglas Reynolds instilled in me a confidence in my abilities to perform the work of the historian, and listened to my project ideas with great interest. David Sehat provided support by always opening his office to me when I needed to discuss any concerns or fears about the life of a graduate student. Ian Fletcher pushed my academic interests in other directions, providing me with a generous collection of books, and always having an open door. I must also express my gratitude to everyone in my Research Seminar. The discussions about my project in that class helped me immensely. My family and friends have offered much support as well. Cecilia and Chris were always there to provide me a home away from Atlanta. Zach Hill also afforded me a generous amount of his time by reading all of the thesis during its developmental stages. My Grandmother, whom deserves thanks for many other reasons, encouraged my interest in history - often by buying me vi videogames set within an historical context. I especially thank Mary, who has always been patient and understanding of my academic pursuits. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Historiographical Context: ................................................................................. 5 1.2 Approaches and Methodology: .......................................................................... 5 2 Chapter 1: Identities in Britain and Ideas of Britishness, 1502-1550 .................. 16 2.1 A Kingdom of Their Own Language?: Late Medieval Concepts of Britain 19 2.2 English Ambitions, Welsh Traditions, and Scottish Premonitions: 1536-1541 ............................................................................................................................. 24 2.3 War and Marriage, 1542-1546 ......................................................................... 28 2.4 A British Moment? 1547-1550 ........................................................................ 33 2.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 37 3 Chapter 2: Protestant Britishness, Dynastic Britishness, and Forgotten Britishness, 1550-1603 ................................................................................................................ 40 3.1 Protestant Britishness ....................................................................................... 42 3.2 Dynastic Britishness .......................................................................................... 51 3.3 Forgotten Britishness ........................................................................................ 59 4 Chapter 3: A British King Without a British Kingdom........................................ 66 4.1 Creating a British Kingdom Through Legal Means ...................................... 70 4.2 Symbols of Britain ............................................................................................. 79 viii 4.3 A British Empire? ............................................................................................. 85 4.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 89 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 92 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 100 1 1 Introduction Questions of national identity and the formations of such identities have long haunted historians. Benedict Anderson theorized collective identity as framed through democratic processes, such as the development of industrialization, the nineteenth century proliferation and democratization of print culture, and the development of public spheres in political representation. 1 However, historians have problematized this view of national identity as an imagined community by claiming that nationalism first fomented in England during the sixteenth century and spread throughout early modern Europe while also changing in accordance with the social, cultural, and political atmosphere. 2 If one agrees with England being the first modern state and providing an introduction to nationalism, how does the construction of national identity take place during the sixteenth century? 3 Does identity construction take place in an English or British context, or does the development of both of these contexts occur in a concurrent system? And what role does Scotland play in the formulation of Englishness and Britishness? While these questions continue to be asked today, this is not a modern development. Rather, they have a broad foundation beginning in the medieval period. The sixteenth century, in particular, was a moment of great change in the politics and cultures of the kingdoms of the British isles and in the idea of Britain. This was the moment that Britishness tcame to include Scotland, England, and Wales. 1 Specifically, this is best argued in Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991). 2 Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993). 3 I agree with G. R. Elton’s position that the administrative revolution of the 1530s constructed something resembling a modern state, but the on the ground construction of identity was much messier than the clean administrative transition model that Elton provides. See G. R. Elton, The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII (Cambridge: