A Clash of Histories: Identity, Imperialism and Imagination in the Political Writing of Later High Medieval Britain and Ireland.

My research will examine the significance of pseudo-historical narratives and what they reveal about political rhetoric within the late medieval British Isles, analysing how political actors in the kingdoms and principalities of the region utilised pseudo-historical narratives and their attendant tropes and characters to legitimise their political ambitions. My study will examine rhetorical practices by offering a new approach – I will compare the phenomenon across the six languages (Old French, Middle English, Latin, Scots, Classical Gaelic and Middle Welsh) and four national groups (English, Irish, Scots and Welsh). Examining usage within a variety of elite political actors (royalty, border lords and rebel leaders). Further focusing on the cross-cultural relationships through which pseudo-historical narratives were spread, the wider importance of these works in the wider literary culture of the period and the importance of the works in nation building propaganda.