ABSTRACT
According to Urs Bitterli, a ‘cultural relationship’ is characterised by a more sustained type of exchange which usually works in both directions. None of the phases of cultural exchange exist in pure form; however, there is always an element of overlap and development. Thus, it is not surprising that the first phase of cultural contact between England and France developed into a phase of cultural relationship. This then deteriorated to actual cultural collision before ‘improving’ in the direction of mutual acculturation in the eighteenth century. Clean breaks between these phases rarely exist since even short battles or an outright war do not necessarily mean that cultural hegemony suddenly ceased, or, conversely, that victory in a battle led to the inversion of cultural power relations.
