Daniel Defoe, History of the Union of Great Britain

Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Political Science

Dates

First circulation or publication 1709

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Historical representation

Resources

In 1707, the English and Scottish parliaments each approved a treaty of union negotiated in London the previous year by commissioners representing each nation. The two parliaments thus agreed to their own incorporation in a new parliament of Great Britain that would ensure that the nations shared the same legislature from 1 May 1707, just as they had shared the same monarch since 1603 (notwithstanding the interruption of the Civil War). The first major historian of the Anglo-Scottish Union was the journalist Daniel Defoe (c. 1660–1731). In one respect, he was the ideal historian of events leading up to and immediately following the passage of the Union treaty, because he had been on location in Edinburgh from October 1706,…

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2405 words

Citation: Seager, Nicholas. "History of the Union of Great Britain". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 April 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4652, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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