Old English: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 14:33, 17 ott 2006

Versione delle 14:37, 17 ott 2006

Riga 20:

Di contro, i '''New English''', l'ondata di colonizzatori giunti in Irlanda in epoca [[Elisabettiana]] , mantennero saldamente la loro identità Inglese, così come le loro tradizioni religiose, sociali e culturali diversamente dai Normanni e dagli Old English, e rimasero sempre distinti e separati dal resto d'Irlanda. I nuovi colonizzatori erano orgogliosi delle loro origini Inglesi e professavano la religione [[Protestante]] e consideravano l'Irlanda come un territorio di conquista bisognoso di essere "civilizzato" e convertito al Protestantesimo. Il poeta [[Edmund Spenser]] fu uno dei principali promotori di questo punto di vista. Egli affermò nel suo scritto "A View on the Present State of Ireland" del ([[1595]]), che il fallimento della totale conquista dell'Irlanda aveva portato le precedenti generazioni di colonizzatori a venire corrotti dalla cultura indigena Irlandese. Per i "New English", gran parte degli Old English erano dei "degenerati", che avevano adottato i costumi Irlandesi e avevano aderito alla religione Cattolica.

Il filosofo [[Edward Said]] afferma che la demonizzazione degli Old English come barbari e diversi da parte dei New English e la costruzione della loro identità come "civilizzati" anticipò gli stereotipi [[colonialisti]] e [[orientalisti]] sulle popolazioni non Europee nel XIX secolo. Tuttavia, gran parte degli Old English - soprattutto nel Pale, continuarono a considerarsi Inglesi d'Irlanda, fino al XVII secolo.

Philosopher [[Edward Said]] has argued that the New English demonisation of the Old English as a barbarian "[[other]]" and their construction of their own identity as "civilised" people anticipated the later [[colonialist]] and [[orientalist]] stereotypes about non-European peoples that gained currency in the 19th century. However, most of the Old English community - especially in the Pale, continued to think of themselves as the English of Ireland, well into the 17th century. (See also [[Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691]])

It was their exclusion from the government of Ireland, on the grounds of their religious dissidence, in the course of the 16th century that alienated the Old English from the state and eventually propelled them into a common identity with the Gaelic Irish as Irish Catholics. The first confrontation between the Old English and the English government in Ireland came with the [[cess]] crisis of 1556-1583. During this period, the Pale commnity resisted paying for the English army in Ireland to put down a string of revolts ending with the [[Desmond Rebellions]] (1569-73 and 1579-83). The term "Old English" was coined at this time, as the Pale community emphasised their English identity and loyalty to the crown, while at the same time refusing to cooperate with the wishes of the English [[Lord Deputy of Ireland]]. Originally, the conflict was a civil issue, the Palesmen objected to paying new taxes that had not first been approved by them in the [[Parliament of Ireland]]. However, the dispute also took on a religious dimension, especially after 1571, when [[Elizabeth I of England]] was [[excommunicated]] by the Pope. Rebels such as [[James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald]] (himself from the Hiberno-Norman Desmond dynasty) portrayed their rebellion as a "Holy War" and indeed received money and troops from the Papacy. In the [[Second Desmond Rebellion]] (1579-83), a prominent Pale Lord, James Eustace, Viscount of Baltinglass joined the rebels for religious reasons. Before the rebellion was over, several hundred Old English Palesmen had been hanged, either for rebellion or because they were suspected of rebellion because of their religion. This episode marked an important break between the Pale and the English Government and between the Old and New English.