Strategies of Identity Construction (eBook)

Dr. Stefan J. Schustereder arbeitete nach seiner Promotion im Fach Anglistik in Freiburg und Oxford bis 2014 als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Bonn. Zurzeit ist er als Lehrer tätig.

Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 13
Theoretical considerations 17
Imagined Communities - the construction of identity 21
Medieval Ethnic communities and Writing 25
Markers of ethnic identity 28
Names 29
The Founding Myth 31
History 32
Heroic Figure 33
Rule and Kingship 34
Customs 35
Laws 36
Territory and Boundaries 37
Language 38
Otherness 40
Religion 42
Summary 43
Discussion of other Potential Source Writings 45
Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae 45
The vitae of St Cuthbert 46
The Whitby Life of Gregory the Great 47
Felix’s Life of St Guthlac 47
Stephen of Ripon’s Vita Sancti Wilfrithi 48
The Works of Taliesin 49
Methodological Considerations - Identity Construction as Discourse 51
The concept of discourse 51
Discourse and the Construction of Identity 54
Discourse Analysis 56
Historical Discourse Analysis 56
Critical Discourse Analysis 57
The Discourse Historical Approach 58
Analysis of the Discoursive Strategy (ADS) of Identity Construction 58
Methodological Steps 61
Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae 65
Authorship and Date of Composition 68
The origin of the name Gildas 68
Gildas’ geographical background 69
Gildas’ educational background 71
Date of Composition 74
Manuscripts and Editions 80
Structure and Subject Matter 81
Gentes and collective identities in Gildas’ DEB 82
Britons in Gildas’ De Excidio Britanniae 82
Romans in Gildas’ De Excidio Britanniae 91
The Saxons in Gildas’ De Excidio Britanniae 94
Picts and Scots in Gildas’ De Excidio Britanniae 97
Summary and Conclusion 100
Aneirin’s Y Gododdin 109
Authorship and Date of Composition 112
Manuscripts and Editions 121
Structure and subject matter 126
Gentes and collective identities in Aneirin’s Gododdin poems 129
The Britons in Y Gododdin 131
The Saxons in Y Gododdin 135
The English in Y Gododdin 138
People of Deira, Bernicia and Gwynedd in Y Gododdin 141
Christian references in the Gododdin poems 150
Summary and Conclusion 154
Bede’s Historiae 161
Authorship and Dates of Composition 164
Bede’s Life and Death 164
Bede’s Language 166
Jarrow and Wearmouth 167
The scholarly discussion about Bede 168
Bede’s Works 170
Selection of texts 171
The Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum 172
The Chronica Minor and the Chronica Maior 173
The Historia Abbatum 174
Manuscripts and Editions of the Texts 175
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum 175
Chronica Maior 176
Structure and Subject Matter 177
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum 177
Chronica Maior 180
Gentes and collective identities in Bede’s writings 181
Bede and the Britons 181
The Britons, Bede and the DEB 181
Bede and the Britons after Gildas 200
Bede and the Saxons 204
The geuissi in the HE 209
The gyrui in the HE 211
The Continental Saxons in the HE 213
Bede and the angli 216
Bede, the picti and the scotti 227
Summary and Conclusion 238
Summary 247
Textual and Intertextual Identity Markers 247
Conclusion - Strategies of Identity Construction 257
Strategies of identity construction - the Analysis of Discourse Strategies 257
Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae 259
Aneirin’s Y Gododdin 260
Bede’s Historiae 261
Outlook for further research 265
Editions and Translations 267
Bibliography 269
Title Page 3
Copyright 4
Leere Seite 282