The Anglo-Scottish border and the shaping of identity, 1300-1600

About this book

"Theorizing the Borders: Scotland and the Shaping of Identity in Medieval Britain explores the roles that Scotland and England play in one another's imaginations. This collection of essays brings together eminent scholars and emerging voices from the frequently divergent fields of English and Scottish medieval studies to address such questions as: How do subjects on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border define themselves in relation to one another? In what ways do they influence each other's sense of historical, cultural, and national identity? What stories do they tell about one another, and to what ends? How does the shifting political balance--as well as the shifting border--between the two kingdoms complicate notions of Scottishness and Englishness? What happens to important texts, genres, and even poetic forms when they cross this border? How do texts produced in the Anglo-Scottish borderlands transform mainstream notions of Scottish and English identities?"-- "The Anglo-Scottish border in the late medieval and early modern period was a highly contested region, a militarized zone that was also a place of cultural contact and exchange. The contributors to this volume explore the role of this borderland in the construction of both Scottish and English identities, seeking insight into the role that Scotland and England played in one another's imaginations. Texts that originate in, pass through, or comment on the Anglo-Scottish borderland reveal the border as a crucial third term in the articulation of Scottish and English national consciousness and cultural identity"--