‘Attend you and give ear a while...’ singing about the naval, the imperial-national and the local in 18th century Bristol
Published:
Dec 31, 2025
Keywords:
Ballads Seamanship Inns Impressment Royal Navy British Empire
Abstract
The Royal Navy constituted one of the core pillars of the British Empire's expansion, supporting its domination on the seas and concurrently fuelling the imagination of its populace. This article analyses the stereotype that emerged during the first half of the 18th century through the study of a popular media of communication of the period: ballads. By focusing on the case of Bristol, the analysis examines sailor ballads with a Bristol orientation, thereby showcasing the types of “seamen” that emerged during this time, the underlying hierarchies that define them, and the ideologies they promote. By examining the social and cultural dimensions of the British Empire’s ideology and the networks through which the ballads were disseminated, the study argues that the “stereotypes” perpetuated by these ballads serve as “cultural” link between the local and the imperial national.
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Karampoulas, V. (2025). ‘Attend you and give ear a while.’ singing about the naval, the imperial-national and the local in 18th century Bristol. Mos Historicus: A Critical Review of European History, 3(1), 134–159. https://doi.org/10.12681/mh.44002
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References
BIBLIOGRAPHY|ΒΙΒΛΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ
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Ballads (EBBA)|Μπαλάντες (EBBA)
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“The Honour of Bristol: / Shewing how the Angel Gabriel of Bristol fought three Spanish Ships, who boarding her / many times, she cleared her Deck, and killed five hundred of the Men, wounding / many more, and forc'd 'em to fly into Cales; and lost but three Men, to the Honour / of the Angel Gabriel”, at https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/37428/citation (accessed: 02.04.2025).
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Websites|Ιστοσελίδες
“English Broadside Ballads Archive”, at https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu (αccessed: 04.02.2025).
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