The Whig idea of Europe, 1685-1705

This thesis analyses the Whig idea of Europe in the later 17th century, which claimed that Europe’s confessional divide should be the central fact of English foreign and domestic policy. This idea contextualised events like the Nine Years’ War (1688-1697) in a timeless Manichean divide between Catholicism and Protestantism. Those studied here argued that the Tories and the anti-Standing Army Whigs contributed to the triumph of enemies like Louis XIV, by furthering narratives that were distractions from the central European divide. Instead of focusing on canonical Whig politicians, this thesis analyses the idea of Europe by reconstructing the print networks of those who communicated it. It does so by tracing factors like citations, advertisements, and court patronage. The thesis demonstrates how a heterodox coalition of magnates, MPs, poets, clergy, pamphleteers, and others, were drawn together by an idea that became a standard rhetorical device throughout the long eighteenth century.