就一般地理定義而言，英格蘭並不是一座島嶼，但多位學者說過：「英格蘭是一座島」。例如，年鑑學派史家布勞岱(Fernand Braudel)認為，1558年英格蘭失去法國境內最後一塊領地之後，就變成了一座島，自此與歐陸隔絕日深。本文將從此說法出發，論證「英格蘭島」之說不僅是史家的譬喻，也是英格蘭文化與政治思維的一部份，形成於中古至十六世紀漫長的歷史變遷中，且與英格蘭國族認同有密切的關係。本文將從長時段的脈絡，利用八世紀以來比德(Bede the Venerable)等史家的著作，以及十二至十六世紀英格蘭所繪製的地圖，從文字與圖像闡述英格蘭被島嶼化(islanded)的歷程及其歷史意義。此研究不僅能說明「島嶼性」(islandness)長期以來在英格蘭認同中所扮演的角色，也能讓今人理解何以有「英格蘭島」或「英倫三島」之說。

Is England an island? Geographically speaking, it is not. Nevertheless, several contemporary politicians and academics state that “England is an island” in various contexts. Fernand Braudel, for instance, claims in his Civilisation and Capitalism (1984) that England became an island and separated itself from Europe after the loss of Calais in 1558. This article delves into the myth of England as an island and attempts to uncover the long process of England being islanded from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century. It argues that the verbal and visual articulation of an English island should be traced back to the eighth-century masterpiece, Bede the Venerable’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (731), which laid the foundation of geographical and historical narratives of the English nation for the following centuries. The connotation of England as an island in Bede’s work was thereafter reinforced by Matthew Paris’s maps of Britain, several medieval mappaemundi and chronicles, and finally transformed by Tudor cartography and literature. This long process indeed reveals how “islandness” became a significant approach for the English to developing their self-image and national identity. England’s insularity was employed to symbolize its unity and uniqueness, and also to highlight its peculiar role in human history, despite being at the edge of the world. The myth still persists in our daily and academic vocabularies.

英格蘭、國族認同、島嶼性、寰宇全圖 

England, National Identity, Islandness, Mappa Mundi