All the examples I gave have elites speaking a common language, be it Swedish, Castilian Spanish or Austrian German: in the same way Welsh, Gaelic and Irish elites spoke English while their subjects spoke their native languages prior to the process of state formation from the 18th century onwards.
Hence by this schema there is no English ethnicity prior to the modern era as the elites all spoke French and were part of the shared common cultural history; which is why I am dubious about the analytical value of this framing.
All the examples I gave have elites speaking a common language, be it Swedish, Castilian Spanish or Austrian German: in the same way Welsh, Gaelic and Irish elites spoke English while their subjects spoke their native languages prior to the process of state formation from the 18th century onwards.
Hence by this schema there is no English ethnicity prior to the modern era as the elites all spoke French and were part of the shared common cultural history; which is why I am dubious about the analytical value of this framing.