Abstract

The birth of the great territorial States marked the beginning of identity-building processes in almost all of Europe. In England, this process was accompanied by the recognition of a collective political subjectivity of constitutional importance. The article retraces the steps leading to the creation of an image of a people endowed with a new national identity suitable for providing a solid basis of legitimacy for the decisions of Parliament, dwelling on constitutional conflicts and the use of a largely imaginary past to legitimise present claims. Finally, the peculiarities of English absolutism are underlined, which were characterised among other things by a conscious action of 'patriotic propaganda' aimed at strengthening royal power.