Editing Perfidious Albion

{{Short description|Pejorative epithet for Great Britain}}
{{For|the magazine|Perfidious Albion (magazine)}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2011}}
[[File:Das perfide Albion, 1915 – front cover (cropped).jpg|thumb|A WW1-era German propaganda history magazine invoking the "Perfidious Albion" trope]]
"'''Perfidious Albion'''" is a pejorative phrase used within the context of [[international relations]] diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic slights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances formed with other nation states) by monarchs or governments of the [[United Kingdom]] (or [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] prior to 1801, or [[Kingdom of England|England]] prior to 1707) in their pursuit of self-interest and the expansion of the [[British Empire]]. 
''[[wiktionary:perfidy|Perfidious]]'' means not keeping one's faith or word (from the [[Latin]] word ''perfidia''); ''[[Albion]]'' is an ancient and now poetic name for [[Great Britain]].

== Origins and use ==
The use of the adjective "perfidious" to describe England has a long history; instances have been found as far back as the 13th century.<ref name="Schmidt">{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=H. D. |title=The Idea and Slogan of 'Perfidious Albion' |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=14 |issue=4 |year=1953 |pages=604–616 |doi=10.2307/2707704 |jstor=2707704}}</ref> A very similar phrase was used in a sermon by 17th-century French [[bishop]] and [[theologian]] [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]]:<ref>Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, "Sermon pour la fête de la Circoncision de Notre-Seigneur" in: ''Oeuvres complètes'', Volume 5, Ed. Outhenin-Chalandre, 1840, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GPdJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA264 p. 264]</ref>

{{verse translation|lang=fr|
'L'Angleterre, ah, la perfide Angleterre,
que le rempart de ses mers rendoit inaccessible aux Romains,
la foi du Sauveur y est abordée.
|
England, oh perfidious England, whose 
sea ramparts made her unreachable to the Romans,
Now receives the true faith.}}

The coinage of the phrase in its current form is conventionally attributed to [[Augustin Louis de Ximénès]], a French-Spanish playwright who wrote it in a poem entitled "{{lang|fr|italic=yes|L'Ère des Français}}", published in 1793:

{{verse translation|lang=fra|
Attaquons dans ses eaux la perfide Albion.
|
Let us attack perfidious Albion in her waters.}}

In this context, [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]'s perfidy was political. In the early days of the [[French Revolution]], when the revolution aimed at establishing a [[classical liberalism|liberal]] [[constitutional monarchy]] along British lines, many in Great Britain had looked upon the Revolution with mild favour.  Diminishing the threat that Royalist France posed to British interests was an additional factor encouraging support for the new regime.  
However, following the turn of the revolution to [[republicanism]] with the overthrow and execution of [[Louis XVI]], Britain, concerned that revolutionary fervor might spread to other countries, had allied itself with the other monarchies of Europe against the Revolution in France. This was seen by the revolutionaries in France as a "perfidious" betrayal.<ref name="Dictionnaire des usages socio-politiques (1770-1815): Tome 4, Désignants socio-politiques 2 1989 pp=37–39">{{cite book | title=Dictionnaire des usages socio-politiques (1770-1815): Tome 4, Désignants socio-politiques 2 | publisher=Klincksieck | year=1989 | isbn=978-2-252-02694-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOkSKE57mdYC&pg=PA38 | language=fr |pages=37–39}}</ref>

"{{lang|fr|La perfide Albion}}" became a stock expression in France in the 19th century, to the extent that the [[Goncourt brothers]] could refer to it as "a well-known old saying". It was utilised by French journalists whenever there were tensions between France and Britain, for example during the [[Scramble for Africa|competition for colonies in Africa]], culminating in the [[Fashoda Incident]]. The catch-phrase was further popularized by its use in {{ill|italic=yes|La Famille Fenouillard|fr}}, the first French comic strip, in which one of the characters fulminates against "Perfidious Albion, which burnt [[Joan of Arc]] on the rock of [[Saint Helena]]". (This sentence mixes two major incidents in French history that can be related to the UK's perfidy: Joan of Arc, whose execution may have been due to English influence; and [[Napoleon]], who died in exile on Saint Helena. He may have died by being poisoned, according to the Swedish toxicologist [[Sten Forshufvud]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoerner |first1=Jean-Michel |title=La Famille Fenouillard: une œuvre prémonitoire ? |journal=Hérodote |date=27 November 2007 |volume=127 |issue=4 |pages=190–198 |doi=10.3917/her.127.0190 }}</ref> There is however, significant speculation that the use of [[arsenic]] as a dye may be related to Napoleon's death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mari |first1=Francesco |last2=Bertol |first2=Elisabetta |last3=Fineschi |first3=Vittorio |last4=Karch |first4=Steven B |title=Channelling the Emperor: What Really Killed Napoleon? |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |date=August 2004 |volume=97 |issue=8 |pages=397–399 |doi=10.1177/014107680409700812 |pmid=15286197 |pmc=1079564 }}</ref>)

In German-speaking areas, the term "{{lang|de|das perfide Albion}}" became increasingly frequent, especially during the rule of the [[German Empire]] (1871–1918) against the backdrop of rising British-German tensions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Das perfide Albion |url=http://www.archelaus-cards.com/retail/archives/20090830.php |first=Alfred |last=Geiser |publisher=via Archelaus}}</ref>

=== Examples of usage ===
<!-- This section should only include instances in which the phrase "perfidious Albion" is used. -->
* The term often refers to the [[Kingdom of England]] reneging on the [[Treaty of Limerick]] of 1691, which ended the [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite War]] between the predominantly Roman Catholic [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] forces and the English forces loyal to [[William III of England|William of Orange]], giving favourable terms to the Irish Catholics, including the freedoms to worship, to own property and to [[Right to keep and bear arms|carry arms]], but those terms were soon repudiated by the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|Penal Laws]] of 1695.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carruthers |first1=Gerard |last2=Kidd |first2=Colin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2g5EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 
|title=Literature and Union: Scottish Texts, British Contexts |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |page=99 |isbn=9780198736233 |access-date=29 August 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwoerer |first1=Lois G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmoPw2ZpXwC
|title=The Revolution of 1688-89: Changing Perspectives |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |page=236 |isbn=9780521526142 |access-date=29 August 2018|via=Google Books }}</ref>
* The Irish ballad "[[Foggy Dew (Irish ballad)|The Foggy Dew]]" includes the term in its lyrics. The song concerns the [[Easter Rising]] and the hypocrisy that England is concurrently fighting [[World War I]] so that "Small Nations might be free", while Ireland's struggle for freedom is forcibly suppressed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/ireland_wwone_01.shtml |title=History – British History in depth: Ireland and World War One |publisher=BBC |access-date=18 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Giotto |first1=Labri |title=The Foggy Dew: Processes of change in an Irish Rebel song |url=https://o-em.org/index.php/fieldwork/62-the-foggy-dew-processes-of-change-in-an-irish-rebel-song?showall=1&limitstart= |website=Outreach Ethnomusicology – An Online Ethnomusicology Community |access-date=18 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318164702/https://o-em.org/index.php/fieldwork/62-the-foggy-dew-processes-of-change-in-an-irish-rebel-song?showall=1&limitstart= |archive-date=18 March 2020}}</ref>
* In [[Portugal]], the term was widely used after the [[1890 British Ultimatum]], after [[Cecil Rhodes]]' opposition to the [[Pink Map]]. Portugal and England had been [[Anglo-Portuguese Alliance|allied since 1386]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saramago |first1=José |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvoffuz52oQC |title=The Revolution of 1688–89: Changing The Collected Novels of José Saramago |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2010 |page=122 |isbn=978-0547581002 |access-date=29 August 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>
* [[Frédéric Bastiat|Bastiat]] uses the term sarcastically in his satirical letter "The Candlemakers' Petition", first published in 1845.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bastiat |first1=Frédéric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDya0ULoe-gC&pg=RA1-PA228 |title=The Bastiat Collection |publisher=Institute |year=2007 |page=228 |isbn=9781933550077 |access-date=29 August 2018|via=Google Books }}</ref>
* The [[Italian language|Italian]] term "{{lang|it|perfida Albione}}" (perfidious Albion)<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Mussolini e il fascismo |last=Palla |first=M. |date=1993 |publisher=Giunti |isbn=9788809202726 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N80yFWA3LrQC |page=112 |access-date=15 October 2014|via=Google Books}}</ref> was used in the [[propaganda of Fascist Italy]] to criticise the global dominion of the British Empire. Fascist propaganda depicted the British as ruthless colonialists, who exploited foreign lands and peoples to feed extravagant lifestyle habits like eating "five meals a day".<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Benito Mussolini privato e pubblico |last1=Borelli |first1=Gian Franco |last2=Luchinat |first2=Vittorio |date=2012 |publisher=INDEX |isbn=9788897982067 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31LrByRam0EC |access-date=15 October 2014|via=Google Books}}</ref> The term was used frequently in Italian politics after the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]], because despite having gained large colonial territories for itself, Britain approved of trade sanctions in the wake of Italian aggression against [[Ethiopia]]. The sanctions were depicted as an attempt to deny Italy its "rightful" colonial dominions, while at the same time, Britain was trying to extend its own influence and authority.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19260531&id=RsETAAAAIBAJ&pg=6246,6116345 |newspaper=The Age |title=Italy's place in the sun |date=31 May 1926 |page=11 |access-date=15 October 2014|via=Google News}}</ref> The same term was used after World War I related to the so-called [[mutilated victory]].<ref>H. James Burgwyn.<!-- Do not link to Scribd, it is contrary to policy as a copyright violation --> "Italian Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period 1918–1940". BJC McKercher and Keith Neilson (eds.), ''Praeger Studies of Foreign Policies of the Great Powers''.</ref>
* During the [[Vichy French]] regime, [[Philippe Pétain]] made frequent use of the term "blood-soaked Perfidious Albion" and described the UK as the relentless "eternal enemy" of France. Such sentiments were exacerbated by the British [[Attack on Mers-el-Kébir]], which caused great bitterness in France and went a great way towards reinforcing the perfidious stereotype. Pétain further regarded England as always having been France's most implacable enemy, with Vichy propaganda mixing Anglophobia with racism and anti-Semitism to portray the British as a racially degenerate "mixed race" working for Jewish capitalists, in contrast to the "racially pure" peoples on the continent of Europe who were building a "New Order."
* The father of [[Israel]]i novelist [[Amos Oz]] wrote pamphlets for the [[Irgun]] that attacked "perfidious Albion" during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British rule in Palestine]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.608054|title='Perfidious America': Behind Netanyahu's hostility to Kerry |last=Gorenberg |first=Gershom |date=31 July 2014 |work=Haaretz |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref>
* After their victory against England at the [[1950 World Cup]], the president of the [[Spanish Football Federation]] ([[Armando Muñoz Calero]]) sent a telegram to Spanish dictator [[Francisco Franco]] that read, "we have beaten Perfidious Albion."<ref>[https://www.espn.co.uk/football/club/spain/164/blog/post/2709872/spanish-stars-premier-league-moves-have-been-of-benefit "Spanish stars' Premier League moves have been of mutual benefit"]. ''ESPN''.</ref>
* It is used by [[Ian Smith]] in his memoirs (''[[The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith|The Great Betrayal]]'', 1997) to describe his opposition on the British handling of [[Rhodesia|Rhodesian]] independence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Luise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0KNBgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1
|title=Unpopular Sovereignty: Rhodesian Independence and African Decolonization |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2015 |page=101 |isbn=9780226235196 |access-date=29 August 2018|via=Google Books }}</ref>
* In his book ''[[I'm Not the Only One (book)|I'm Not the Only One]]'' (2004), British politician [[George Galloway]] expressed the opinion that [[Kuwait]] is "clearly a part of the greater Iraqi whole, stolen from the motherland by perfidious Albion".<ref name="Hitchens2005">{{cite news|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/641kyjkk.asp?page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304193653/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/641kyjkk.asp?page=3|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2010|title=Unmitigated Galloway|work=Weekly Standard|date=30 May 2005|pages=1–3}} This essay is reprinted in {{cite book|editor1-last=Cottee|editor1-first=Simon |editor1-link=Simon Cottee|editor2-last=Cushman|editor2-first=Thomas|url=https://archive.org/details/christopherhitch00thom|url-access=registration|title=Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left|location=New York & London|publisher=New York University Press|year=2008|pages=[https://archive.org/details/christopherhitch00thom/page/140 140]-50, 144-46, 149}} The text of Galloway's book differs in reprints.</ref>
* In 2012, [[Fabian Picardo]], the [[Chief Minister of Gibraltar]], used the phrase to describe the UK government's position on the [[Special Committee on Decolonization|UN Decolonisation Committee]]: "Perfidious Albion, for this reason ... The position of the United Kingdom is as usual so nuanced that it's difficult to see where they are on the spectrum, but look that's what Britain's like and we all love being British".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V39hgN_LyrI&t=9m25s |title=Fabian Picardo (Chief Minister of Gibraltar) discusses politics in Spain and Gibraltar|date=2 February 2013 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
* The term was used in reference to a possible [[United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union]] in the run up to the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|referendum on the issue]] in 2016. An article in the French newspaper {{lang|fr|italic=yes|[[Le Parisien]]}} claimed that a poll showing that only 54% of French people supported UK membership of the EU (compared to 55% of British people) showed that "the British will always be seen as the Perfidious Albion".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Samuel |first1=Henry |title=French more keen on Brexit than British, says major poll |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/01/french-more-keen-on-brexit-than-british-says-major-poll/|access-date=10 June 2016 |work=The Telegraph |date=1 April 2016}}</ref> In contrast, the editor of the ''[[Financial Times]]'', [[Lionel Barber]], has written that "Too many people in the UK are under the illusion that most European countries cannot wait to see the back of perfidious Albion."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barber |first1=Lionel |title=Could Brexit be a good thing for Europe? |url=https://next.ft.com/content/918d5c56-031b-11e6-99cb-83242733f755 |access-date=10 June 2016 |work=Financial Times |date=16 April 2016}}</ref> Eventually, [[Brexit|the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |title=Britain Votes to Leave E.U.; Cameron Plans to Step Down |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/world/europe/britain-brexit-european-union-referendum.html|access-date=1 August 2016 |work=New York Times |date=23 June 2016 |ref=EU Exit}}</ref>
* In arguing for a "hard" [[Brexit]], and the EU rejecting a possible extension requested by the UK of the deadline to leave the EU, the Brexit-supporting British MP [[Mark Francois]] said to the [[Bruges Group (United Kingdom)|Bruges Group]] in April 2019: "My message to the European Council&nbsp;... If you now try to hold on to us against our will, you will be facing Perfidious Albion on speed. It would therefore be much better for all our sakes if we were to pursue our separate destinies, in a spirit of mutual respect."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/apr/09/brexit-latest-developments-news-theresa-may-visits-berlin-and-paris-as-gauke-plays-down-prospect-of-early-breakthrough-in-talks-with-labour-live-news?page=with:block-5cac8a7c8f08ce46f07ebd92#block-5cac8a7c8f08ce46f07ebd92|title=Brexit: ERG Tories tells Brussels it will regret letting 'Perfidious Albion' remain in EU beyond Friday – live news|last1=Sparrow|first1=Andrew|date=9 April 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=9 April 2019|last2=Jones|first2=Sam|issn=0261-3077|last3=Oltermann|first3=Philip}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Anti-British sentiment]]
* [[Perfidy]]
* [[Western betrayal]]
* [[Old fox]]

;Other places
* [[Axis of evil]]
* [[Great Satan]]
* [[Yellow Peril]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Anti-British sentiment]]
[[Category:British Empire]]
[[Category:France–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Political pejoratives]]
[[Category:Political catchphrases]]

[[de:Albion#Perfides Albion]]