  A transparent linear magneto-dielectric material in free space that is
illuminated by a finite quasimonochromatic field is a thermodynamically closed
system, definitively, regardless of what field and material subsystems that one
defines. The energy--momentum tensor that is formally derived from the
Maxwell--Minkowski field equations is inconsistent with both angular and linear
momentum conservation in this closed system; this very solid fact is the
foundational and continuing issue of the Abraham--Minkowski controversy. The
extant resolution of the Abraham--Minkowski dilemma is to treat Maxwellian
continuum electrodynamics as being a subsystem and to write the total
energy--momentum tensor as the sum of a Maxwellian electromagnetic subsystem
energy--momentum tensor and a phenomenological material subsystem
energy--momentum tensor. We prove that fundamental principles of physics are
violated by Maxwellian continuum electrodynamics and that fundamental
principles of physics are violated by Maxwellian continuum electrodynamics
supplemented by the material subsystem conjecture. We use field theory to
derive legitimate equations for macroscopic electromagnetic fields in a
transparent linear magneto-dielectric medium. The new field equations are a
part of a self-consistent formulation of macroscopic electrodynamics,
conservation laws, special relativity, and invariance in a continuous linear
medium. In the new formulation, the temporal and spatial coordinates are
renormalized by the continuous linear medium instead of the permittivity and
permeability being carried as independent material parameters. Then an
isotropic, homogeneous, flat, four-dimensional, continuous, linear,
non-Minkowski spacetime is the proper setting for the continuum electrodynamics
of a simple linear medium in which the effective speed of light is $c/n$ and
each medium will be associated with a different spacetime.
