Slovenians as an “Imagined Community” in Sixteenth-Century Protestant Writings

The paper discusses Slovenian collective ethnic identity in the 16th century through the lens of Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities. It is based on texts by Slovenian Protestant writers (1550–1595) and on so called neutral sources. The topic is addressed in eight thematic sections: 1) the Slovenian ethnonym, 2) self-identification with the Slovenian ethnic community, 3) integral markers of the Slovenian ethnic space, 4) the concept of the “Church of God of the Slovenian Language”, 5) the myth of ethnic chosenness, 6) the beginnings of national discourse, 7) the history of the Slovenians, and 8) the topos of the widespread use of the Slovenian or Slavic language. The research shows that self-identification with the Slovenian ethnic community was present among the wider population, even though the ideas of Protestant writers were confined to the educated elite. It further demonstrates that, in the second half of the 16th century, the Slovenian ethnic community fulfilled Anderson’s criteria of an imagined community, except for sovereignty.