Introduction
-
Tristan Marshall
Abstract
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book looks at the interrelationship between nationalism and theatre in the Jacobean period. More specifically, it looks at the creation of a British identity brought about by the accession of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603. The most significant political legacy of James's national project was the creation of an emphatically British identity among the settlers from both England and Scotland who planted Ulster. These settlers took on the name of Britons as their common currency in the face of native Irish and old English Catholicism. The Shakespeare who wrote in the Jacobean age wrote very different plays from his Elizabethan canon, plays which like those of his contemporaries would make the matter of Britain a far higher priority in terms of subject material.
Abstract
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book looks at the interrelationship between nationalism and theatre in the Jacobean period. More specifically, it looks at the creation of a British identity brought about by the accession of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603. The most significant political legacy of James's national project was the creation of an emphatically British identity among the settlers from both England and Scotland who planted Ulster. These settlers took on the name of Britons as their common currency in the face of native Irish and old English Catholicism. The Shakespeare who wrote in the Jacobean age wrote very different plays from his Elizabethan canon, plays which like those of his contemporaries would make the matter of Britain a far higher priority in terms of subject material.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A Jacobean empire 9
- 2 1603–10: ‘Britaine is now, Britaine was of yore’ 52
- 3 1611–13: ‘The true Panthæon of Great Britaine’ 87
- 4 1614–25: Brute, force and ignorance? 145
- Afterword 185
- Select bibliography 191
- Index 205
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A Jacobean empire 9
- 2 1603–10: ‘Britaine is now, Britaine was of yore’ 52
- 3 1611–13: ‘The true Panthæon of Great Britaine’ 87
- 4 1614–25: Brute, force and ignorance? 145
- Afterword 185
- Select bibliography 191
- Index 205
