In this wide-ranging work, Caspar Hirschi offers new perspectives on the origins of nationalism and the formation of European nations. Based on extensive study of written and visual sources dating from the ancient to the early modern period, the author re-integrates the history of pre-modern Europe into the study of nationalism, describing it as an unintended and unavoidable consequence of the legacy of Roman imperialism in the Middle Ages. Hirschi identifies the earliest nationalists among Renaissance humanists, exploring their public roles and ambitions to offer new insight into the history of political scholarship in Europe and arguing that their adoption of ancient role models produced massive contradictions between their self-image and political function. This book demonstrates that only through understanding the development of the politics, scholarship and art of pre-modern Europe can we fully grasp the global power of nationalism in a modern political context.
Author(s): Caspar Hirschi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 239
Tags: German History, Origins Of Nationalism
Preface......Page 2
1. Introduction......Page 6
1.1. Organism into artefact......Page 8
1.2. Fighting the modernist cause - a lost cause?......Page 12
1.3. Turning constructivism downside up......Page 14
1.4. The impact of Antiquity, or the power of anachronism......Page 18
1.5. Nationalism: promoter of historical scholarship?......Page 21
2. The modernist paradigm: strengths and weaknesses......Page 25
2.1. Nationalism without nationalists......Page 27
2.2. Strengths and shortcomings......Page 28
2.3. Fake communities by 'fake' constructivists......Page 31
2.4. Modernist myopia and the 'invention of tradition'......Page 34
3. Foundations of a new nationalism theory......Page 39
3.1. How to describe the nation?......Page 40
3.2. Equality and multipolarity......Page 43
3.3. The nation: a product of failed imperialisms......Page 45
3.4. Competing for honour and freedom......Page 49
3.5. Definitions......Page 52
4. Killing and dying for love: the common fatherland......Page 55
4.1. Cicero and the construction of the ideal patrio......Page 58
4.2. Ascetic love......Page 63
4.3. Patriotic distortions of politics......Page 65
4.4. Patriotism's smooth transition from republic to principate......Page 67
4.5. From earth to heaven and back: the Middle Ages......Page 69
4.6. A multitude of New Israels and New Romes......Page 71
4.7. Legal scholars: the King's patriotic citizens......Page 74
4.8. The downgrading of Empire and Papacy......Page 76
5. Competing for honour: the making of nations in late medieval Europe......Page 83
5.1. Corporative honour: 'nationes' at medieval universities......Page 84
5.2. From concrete to abstract communities: The 'nationes' at the Council of Constance......Page 86
5.3. The new dimensions of national honour......Page 93
5.4. National honour: symptom of an overheating economy of honour......Page 100
5.5. How to measure the standing of a nation?......Page 103
5.6. National honour: remedy for an overheating economy of honour......Page 106
6. The nationalist transformation of borders and languages......Page 109
6.1. 'Tongue' as political space......Page 111
6.2. 'Adam was a German'......Page 113
6.3. Purifying the German language (and the German people)......Page 115
6.4. The limited originality of Romantic nationalism......Page 121
7. Humanist nationalism......Page 124
7.1. Renaissance humanism - an innovative anachronism......Page 126
7.2. Barbarising the French or how Italian humanists successfully fought reality......Page 147
7.3. The Emperor's independent supporters: humanist nationalists in Germany......Page 157
7.4. The interdependence of nationalist isolation and assimilation......Page 161
7.5. Germany - the (yet-to-be) civilised nation......Page 164
7.6. Germany - the authentic nation......Page 172
8. A German Emperor for the German people......Page 185
8.1. The introduction of nationality as an election criterion......Page 187
8.2. The impact of popular xenophobia......Page 192
8.3. From German hero to Spanish invader - the transformation of Emperor Charles V......Page 194
9. Nation and denomination......Page 201
9.1. Martin Luther's German nation......Page 204
9.2. The authentic nation of Protestants vs. the civilised nation of Catholics......Page 211
9.3. The continuity of a non-confessional national discourse......Page 214
10. Conclusion......Page 217
10.1. Nationalism and confessional fundamentalism......Page 218
10.2. The modern legacy of the ancient learned politician......Page 220
10.3. Coda......Page 224
Primary Sources......Page 226
Secondary Sources......Page 231
