「不列顛是一座島」：十六、十七世紀英格蘭的不列顛島國論述

“Britain Is an Island:”The Construction of British Islandness and Identity in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England

本文從群島視角，從島和海洋、大島及其附屬諸島間多重而交疊的關係，探討近代早期英格蘭的不列顛島國論述。內文從西元83年羅馬統帥阿格利克拉率領艦隊環航不列顛一事談起，探討近代早期英格蘭如何連結不列顛的島嶼性和不列顛國族認同。本文首先追溯中古時期「一王之島」概念的出現，以及從中古至都鐸中期此概念的發展軌跡，再論都鐸中期「一島一國」的理念，以及1570年代至十七世紀初葉，英格蘭知識分子如何以蓬勃的島嶼語言，探討國族未來走向；尤其是他們藉著島嶼「環航」之記載，闡述不列顛島國地理形貌及民族、文化的多樣性。此可使我們一窺此時期有關「不列顛」的概念，如何以上古及中古之傳承、島國的想像、未來的英、蘇統一，試圖影響當時的國家政策及政治思維。

This article examines the discourse of the British island-nation constructed in early modern England through an archipelagic lens to explore the multi-faceted and overlapping relations among the islands, the seas, as well as the main island and its adjacent isles. Beginning with a discussion of Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola’s circumnavigation of Britain in AD 83, as recorded by Tacitus in Agricola (c. 97), this research aims to investigate the correlation between British identity and British islandness in early modern England. This paper first traces the notion and development of“the island of one crown”from the Middle Ages to the mid-Tudor era. It then analyzes the mid-Tudor concept of“one isle one realme,”and, from the 1570s to the early seventeenth century, how English intellectuals used a vibrant language of islands to contemplate the nation’s future direction. In particular, through accounts of island circumnavigation, English intellectuals articulated the geographical features and the ethnic and cultural diversity of the British. This perspective allows insight into how the concept of“Great Britain,”drawing on cultural heritages before and of the Middle Ages, the island-nation imagination, and the subsequent Acts of Union, sought to influence contemporary national policy and political thought.