ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the broader historiography of Early Modern England, draws some of the changes in relationship between Britain and continental Europe, and utilizes an expression only to designate an arbitrary geographical identity. There is a certain polemical convenience in the distinction between British/Anglo American philosophy as opposed to continental/European philosophy, a matter almost of ad hominem pigeon-holing that allows a denigrating avoidance of the postulated ‘other’. The cautionary and humiliating tale encapsulates simply enough the seductive dangers of any Britain/Europe dichotomy. European civilization is a child born by fear out of massaged past, and Britain has a similar pedigree. The chapter suggests that post-war revisionism encouraged a qualitatively significant shift of perspective. From being seen as problem, appendage or background, Europe has become a context for understanding the early modern British Isles. The revisionist emphasis on locality and contingency can hardly be expected to be immune from the massed bands of argument through heritage.
