POL18 - Essay 1, "In what sense, if any, did Europe exist before 1700?" Will Popplewell When we discuss the concept of 'Europe', and whether or not we can consider it ex - isted before 1700, we must remain aware that we are discussing a concept still evolving and debatable. Yet, perhaps the more cogent consideration is the extent to which inhabi- tants themselves considered the landmass that is Europe (henceforth, 'the Continent') to be their very own corner of the sky; minute comparisons aside, did people see themselves as 'European' within an identif i able 'Europe' before 1700? As such, the idea of Europe can be traced further back than the literal attempts to forge a Continental Union that resembles our current European Union. To begin such an attempt, I will treat the narrative in a gener - ally chronological order - I will start with Europe in antiquity, move through Charlemagne and the Middle Ages, consider Christendom and religion, and f i nally look at the emer- gence of European 'peace plans' and blueprints prior to 1700. One thematic thread which appears fairly recurrently is how Europe has tended to def i ne itself against other peoples and other areas, and in a similar vein I will attempt to argue that when writers emphasise dif f erences between European states to show a lack of union this is very much focusing on a small picture. Whilst always nebulous, and often geographically displaced, there has been a conception of Europe in evolution since the founding myth of Europa of Greek leg- end.Thisfleshesoutintosomethingmorerecognisablebythe17thCentury,andcertainly before 1700. Europe in particular is interesting, and challenging, to study in this regard; as Pagden writes, European states have equally shown a history of strength and self-suf f i - ciency, eschewing reliance upon a European model, and have - more persistently than any other group - identif i ed themselves with both a national and European identity (Padgen, 2002a, p.1; Pagden, 2002b, p.33). It remains to us now, to explore the aforementioned pe- riods to see how close we get to a recognisable Europe. It makes sense to start in antiquity, with the Romans, yet even here opinion is di- vided. Pagden asserts that "since the days of Emperor Augustus' New Rome, there has been a vision of a future in which 'Europe' would acquire some kind of unity" (Pagden, 2002a, p.9). The spread of Latin culture and language provided a glue to the conquered Roman territories, and the emergence of Roman Christianity bound people together (Pagden, 2002b, p.43). More importantly, Pagden writes that the concept of Europe "has
been evident to those who inhabit it since the fourth century BCE, if not earlier", elevating the Roman Empire from a collection of militarily subdued territories into an arguable seed for the concept of Europe (Pagden, 2002a, p.3). On the other hand, Heater rebuts that "the Roman Empire provided the continent of Europe with little in the way of unity" (Heater, 1992, p.1). Cultural dif f