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he Empire around himself”(Lacy 42). And “most of Arthur’s activity is military, but while his battles range fromone end of Britain to another and include rapid (and undocumented) conquests ofIreland, Iceland, and Scandinavia” (Loomis 57). The empire is a progress by way oforganizing successors from the powerless to the powerful and a progression from thepast to the present. As the “military activity” of Loomis calls, the conquests is usuallyplaced through ambitious activities to help guide the establishment of authority,reflecting the tradition that conquest itself is based on succession. It may be true that“Britain possessed a colonial empire because of Arthurian conquests, using materialfrom Geoffrey to give Elizabeth title to much of Europe and even the New World”(Hamilton 66). On the other hand, Arthur is shown to be kind, wise and generous on onehand, yet at the same time. He had great love and appreciation for the people and theland which they lived. He continually strived to provide a happy, loving and peacefulempire despite the constant petty battles others would put up to stop this whetherthrough jealousy of him or a fear or having doubts over his ability to lead. FromGeoffrey of Monmouth’s version of Arthurian legendaries, the connotation of Britishtraditional conqueror can be concluded to ambitious activity and kind attitude.
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B. The Religious Motivation
In the early modern British colonial expansion, religion played an important rolewith a motive of greater consequence. According to Louis B. Wright, “the need forconverting the heathen to Protestant Christianity was a recurring theme in Englishdiscussions of colonization” (Wright 5). Furthermore, Anthony Giddens remarks that“rather, religion is a framework of thought and social organization through which manyaspects of life in traditional states may be filtered, including innovative forces andschismatic ones” (Giddens 75). In the course of the formation of the nation-state ofEngland, from the religious reformation launched by John Wycliff to the top-downreformation by the Stuart dynasty Revolution in the seventeenth century and theGlorious Revolution, religious factors have a long and lasting influence on Britishpolitical and economic life (姜守明，2008). Overseas colonial expansion embodies thisin particular. England is a deeply rooted nation of religious ideas. It is not only history,or sources of cultural tradition, of the kind described so far which act as spiritualmotivation in the process of its colonial expansion, religion also plays an important role in setting the example of authority.Christianity has a huge influence on western civilization. Basically, Christianity isan exuberant representation of civilization. The positive influence of Christianity is farreaching especially in the rich history and culture of western civilization despite a longstanding ignorance or adamant denial of its contributions. The Bible itself is responsiblefor much of the language, literature, and fine arts we enjoy today as its artists andcomposers were heavily influenced by its writings. “No other religion, philosophy,teaching, nation, movement—whatever—has so changed the world for the better asChristianity has done” (Schmidt 9). Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is one ofthose literary works reflecting the theme of religion. All the characters in The FaerieQueene have allegorical significance since they represent abstract ideas. The titlecharacter, the