Post by Hideous Dwarf on Aug 5, 2008 18:53:09 GMT
Some folk (usually members of the BNP) get very excited about the purity of their blood as 'indigenous' Englishmen, so I thought I'd look into it a bit to find out what they mean.
When exploring our bastard race I suppose it's silly to go way back to Roman times, but they were Italians (pre-Italy) so it does sort of count. Then there were all sorts of other foreign types like the good old Vikings (terribly Nordic) and the Saxons who were basically German (for heaven's sake). Then the Frogs had a go starting with William the Bastard (who became ‘The Conqueror’ as soon as he got to write the history) and most of the Henry's were very definitely French. In fact for the early Henry's England was hardly more than a peripheral province of their kingdoms and they hardly ever saw the place.
Then there was Richard the Lionheart, still of the Norman ilk, who really loved the old place and actually visited it twice during his reign. Pity he didn't speak the lingo but most of the important people here spoke French so it hardly mattered.
The truth is that the concept of Englishness hardly existed at all for most of our island history. Even as recent as the 17th century we had William of Orange as king and he was Dutch - not dutch-ish but full blown, born, bred and buttered, finger in dyke, Dutch right down to his little wooden clogs.
So let's get a bit more up-to-date with the 18th Century and take a look at the first George (George the First as it happens but he didn't realise that at the time). 100% Kraut. German to his jackboots and never got round to learning a word of English. Of course, he did have one overriding qualification for English kingship that made him prefect for the job. He wasn't Catholic. It was important in those days apparently.
So there it is; England, pre-National Front, really had very little idea of its own Englishness at all. In fact it was a far more cosmopolitan society looking outwards to Europe rather inwards towards its own precious myth of indigenocity. And if anyone can truly trace his ancestry back to the Ancient Briton sharpening his club at the cave door, without a single drop of foreign blood polluting his veins, he really must be a pretty dodgy character because his forebears have been dodging a veritable flood ‘foreign’ sperm for more than two thousand years.
If someone really wants to claim some sort of indigenousness he will have to draw a historical line somewhere - certainly way this side of the Normans who slaughtered a good many of the then indigenous folk and spread their own seed with gay abandon. Well, perhaps not ‘gay’ exactly. “Ever since my great, great grandad” just doesn't have a terribly indigenous ring to it, does it? Bit like clutching at straws - like great, great grandma probably did in the hay barn when she succumbed to Uncle Norman's international inclinations.
When exploring our bastard race I suppose it's silly to go way back to Roman times, but they were Italians (pre-Italy) so it does sort of count. Then there were all sorts of other foreign types like the good old Vikings (terribly Nordic) and the Saxons who were basically German (for heaven's sake). Then the Frogs had a go starting with William the Bastard (who became ‘The Conqueror’ as soon as he got to write the history) and most of the Henry's were very definitely French. In fact for the early Henry's England was hardly more than a peripheral province of their kingdoms and they hardly ever saw the place.
Then there was Richard the Lionheart, still of the Norman ilk, who really loved the old place and actually visited it twice during his reign. Pity he didn't speak the lingo but most of the important people here spoke French so it hardly mattered.
The truth is that the concept of Englishness hardly existed at all for most of our island history. Even as recent as the 17th century we had William of Orange as king and he was Dutch - not dutch-ish but full blown, born, bred and buttered, finger in dyke, Dutch right down to his little wooden clogs.
So let's get a bit more up-to-date with the 18th Century and take a look at the first George (George the First as it happens but he didn't realise that at the time). 100% Kraut. German to his jackboots and never got round to learning a word of English. Of course, he did have one overriding qualification for English kingship that made him prefect for the job. He wasn't Catholic. It was important in those days apparently.
So there it is; England, pre-National Front, really had very little idea of its own Englishness at all. In fact it was a far more cosmopolitan society looking outwards to Europe rather inwards towards its own precious myth of indigenocity. And if anyone can truly trace his ancestry back to the Ancient Briton sharpening his club at the cave door, without a single drop of foreign blood polluting his veins, he really must be a pretty dodgy character because his forebears have been dodging a veritable flood ‘foreign’ sperm for more than two thousand years.
If someone really wants to claim some sort of indigenousness he will have to draw a historical line somewhere - certainly way this side of the Normans who slaughtered a good many of the then indigenous folk and spread their own seed with gay abandon. Well, perhaps not ‘gay’ exactly. “Ever since my great, great grandad” just doesn't have a terribly indigenous ring to it, does it? Bit like clutching at straws - like great, great grandma probably did in the hay barn when she succumbed to Uncle Norman's international inclinations.