The Scoto-British Subjects of James I: Literature, Europe and Nation Building in Newly United Great Britain, 1603-1617.

Project Information

Scoto-British

Grant agreement ID: 101026645

DOI

10.3030/101026645

Project closed

EC signature date 12 April 2021

Start date 9 January 2022

End date 8 January 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 212 933,76

EU contribution

€ 212 933,76

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Scoto-British (The Scoto-British Subjects of James I: Literature, Europe and Nation Building in Newly United Great Britain, 1603-1617.)

Reporting period: 2022-01-09 to 2024-01-08

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project focuses on the Scoto-British subjects of James I. After the Union of of the Crowns in 1603, many Scottish writers and intellectuals moved to London, while James promoted the creation of a British national identity. Several Scottish writers referred to themselves as Scoto-British, openly supporting James’ British policies while displaying their consciousness of a distinct national identity. This project considers the period between 1603-1617, focusing on the (mostly still unedited) literature produced by Scoto-British writers, with the aim of clarifying their role in the creation of a shared idea of Britishness.

The context for this research is that of early modern Europe, often regarded as the cradle of modern national sentiment.
The negotiation process that resulted from the King's attempts to foster a unified Britain was complicated by the deep cultural and political bond between Scotland and Continental Europe. The project gives particular consideration to gender aspects, given the role of the court of Anna of Denmark in the cultural dynamics of the Jacobean world, and to ephemeral and occasional literature, neglected by literary histories until very recently. This project has a highly multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary focus, involving different fields in philology (codicology, palaeography and book studies) and history (prosopography, political and identity history, literary history).

By focusing on an under investigated sector of early Stuart society, this research will transform our understanding of the Jacobean period. Given the relevance of issues of British identity and European belonging to the current political discourse, this project will deeply impact both the scholarly and the wider world, stimulating scholarly research on a lesser-investigated topic and encouraging an educated debate on national and supranational identities in the UK and in the EU.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project has examined manuscripts, printed books, archival documents and material artefacts belonging to the period 1600-1625 (a slightly longer time-span than the core period of the project, to minimize the risk of missing important material), mainly held in: British Library, Bodleian Library, National Archives, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Wallace Collection. Over 100 primary sources have been consulted.

This has allowed for the (re)discovery of edited and unedited texts by Scoto-British writers (although less material seems to have survived that was initially expected), which have been the object of study. The results of this study, along with edited textual material, will be published in book form.

Secondary research, mainly focusing on the Union of the Crowns and on related literature by English and Scottish writers in English, Scots and Latin (but also including substantial research into Discourse Analysis and its applications to historical political discourse) has included over 200 works between monographs, chapters, essays and articles.

Preliminary results have been published in articles and essays in journal and miscellanies, and disseminated via conference talks and keynote papers (Symposium for Seventeenth Century Scottish Literature, Associazione Italiana di Anglistica, International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Language, Literature, and Culture, International Association of Shakespeare and Early Modern Studies), workshops (in collaboration with the Symposium for Seventeenth Century Scottish Literature) and seminars (University of Sussex, Centre for Early Modern and Medieval Studies).

Moreover, the researcher has shared their specific expertise with the host institution, in the form of teaching both core modules on Medieval and Renaissance Literature and workshops for graduate students on archival skills, palaeography, and textual editing.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has allowed to re-discover an area of Scottish literature, that of Scoto-British poetry in the vernacular produced in the early seventeenth century following the Union of the Crowns of 1603, that was virtually unknown before.

Moreover, vernacular Scoto-British poetry has been connected to its proper context, that of contemporary English and Scottish literature in the vernacular and in the Latin, especially when connected to the issues of the Union, the royal family and the new British state.

Finally, this project has greatly contributed to locate Scoto-British literature in its political context, and to connect Scoto-British literary efforts to the burgeoning discourse on a pan-British identity, which was previously almost exclusively centred on English (vs Scottish, Irish or Welsh) responses to the Union and Britishness.
From a focus on literary studies, the project has revealed the complexities in the negotiation process of British national and cultural identity in a key moment for its development, allowing us to reframe received historical ideas of Britishness.

In so doing, the project has contributed to a new direction in literary studies, focused, as John Pocock had advocated in the 1970, on a genuinely “British” idea of literature and canon.

Dimitiated rose and thistle, used as personal badge by James VI and I after the Union of the Crowns