ABSTRACT
The idea that civilisation was inherited from the classical Romans and that of Teutonic racial origin set up a tension in later Victorian and Edwardian thought. Initially, I shall consider a Teutonic myth of origin, which contrasted the healthy vigour of England’s northern inheritance with the stale despotism of the Roman Empire. This Teutonic image interacted in complex ways with the alternative idea of a worthy inheritance of civilisation (and Christianity) from the Romans. The image of what I shall title the ‘Celtic subaltern’ co-existed with both these other images of identity.
