ABSTRACT
The contrast between the empires and the other monarchies o f the sixteenth century was not one between medieval universalism and modern nationalism. The universalist ideas o f the period, although based on medieval, and even ancient, traditions, were the product o f the problems and opportunities o f the later fifteenth and the early sixteenth centuries. Much the same was true o f the nationalist ideas and emotions o f the period. They had their medieval roots in the xenophobia o f peasant societies which had emerged from the tribalism o f the age o f the barbarian invasions but which clung tenaciously to their own languages and dialects — Germanic, Slavonic, Celtic, Romance, or pre-Indo-European, like Basque — and which might yet, like the Northumbrians and the Border Scots, reserve their greatest hatred for the men of the next valley who spoke, if not exactly the same, a mutually comprehensible language, observed similar customs, prayed to the same saints and indulged in the same murderous pastime of mutual cattle raiding. The pre-medieval, ancient traditions o f nationalism were essentially literary — emotions for those who had received a classical education or were under the influence o f someone who had. By 1500 this included an already sizable part o f the European court, aristocratic and official society and o f the richer townsmen.
