The use of the adjective "perfidious" to describe England has a long history; instances have been found as far back as the 13th century. A very similar phrase was used in a sermon by 17th-century French
bishop and
theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet: 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 "", published in 1793: In this context,
Great Britain's perfidy was political. In the early days of the
French Revolution, when the revolution aimed at establishing a
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 absolutist monarchies of Europe against the Revolution in France. This was seen by the revolutionaries in France as a "perfidious" betrayal. 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
competition for colonies in Africa, culminating in the
Fashoda Incident. The catch-phrase was further popularized by its use in , 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. But it has been speculated that the use of
arsenic as a dye hastened Napoleon's death.) In German-speaking areas, the term became increasingly frequent, especially during the rule of the
German Empire (1871–1918) against the backdrop of rising British-German tensions.
Examples of usage • The term often refers to the
Kingdom of England reneging on the
Treaty of Limerick of 1691, which ended the
Williamite War between the predominantly Roman Catholic
Jacobite forces and the English forces loyal to
William of Orange, giving favourable terms to the Irish Catholics, including the freedoms to worship, to own property and to
carry arms, but those terms were soon repudiated by the
Penal Laws of 1695. • 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
allied since 1386. •
Bastiat uses the term sarcastically in his satirical letter "The Candlemakers' Petition", first published in 1845. • The
Italian term (perfidious Albion) 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". 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. The same term was used after World War I related to the so-called
mutilated victory. • 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. • The father of
Israeli novelist
Amos Oz wrote pamphlets for the
Irgun that attacked "perfidious Albion" during the
British rule in Palestine. • 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." • It is used by
Ian Smith in his memoirs (
The Great Betrayal, 1997) to describe his opposition on the British handling of
Rhodesian independence. • In 2012,
Fabian Picardo, the
Chief Minister of Gibraltar, used the phrase to describe the UK government's position on the
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". • The term was used in reference to a possible
United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union in the run up to the
referendum on the issue in 2016. An article in the French newspaper 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". 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." Eventually,
the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. • 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 in April 2019: "My message to the European Council ... 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." == See also ==