Faith and the European identity of England, 1660-1760

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This project reconceptualises the development of England's national identity, her relations with Europe, and her internal politics, in the century after the 1660 restoration. Examining contemporary debates, it suggests a strong reformed faith dissolved any narrow Englishness into wider European identities: particularly senses of belonging to a 'protestant international', and also a 'Christendom' standing above confessional rivalries. It therefore challenges recent suggestions that religion ceased to be important in English self-awareness in the later Stuart age, or that England was defined against a perceived continental 'other'. Having outlined the importance of the trans-national religious identities, it examines their role in discussions of English foreign policy, arguing that it was loyalty to the European reformation and to Christendom which drove English rise to great power status; and then demonstrates how the wider entities shaped internal divisions on the constitution and the role of the official church. A monograph to be finalised during the proposed leave surveys all these areas; an article (research and writing to be completed during leave) will focus on the key role of Gilbert Burnet. Burnet (1643-1715) was one of the most influential figures of his age . He was its historian, a bishop, a chief court politician and propgandist, and the leading theoretician of the church. His concern for the protestant international - born of a traditional 'two church' vision of the world - drove a series of important writings which cemented England within European the English mind and created controversies which ensured this supra-national identity remained at the heart of national concerns.