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Concepts and Methods
Pre-modern historiography
Historians
• Pre-modern historiography (ancient,
medieval, Renaissance and early modern)
• The development of modern
historiography (von Ranke, 19th-century
historians)
• Marx and Marxist historiography
• The Annales school
Why study the history of historiography?
The value of the history of
historiography
• Earlier histories are important primary (and
sometimes secondary) sources
• Demonstrates the extent to which history
writing is a product of its time
• Provides insights into some of the
theories, debates and concepts connected
with the practice of history
• Helps us understand some of the
assumptions of the modern discipline of
history
Robin George Collingwood
(1889-1943)
British philosopher and historian.
Wrote on the history of Roman Britain, as well as
on metaphysics and aesthetics.
Important contributions to the philosophy of
history: The Idea of History (1946), Essays in the
Philosophy of History (1965), The Principles of
History (2001).
Herodotus of Halicarnassus
(c.484 BC – c.428 BC)
Wrote the first major prose
work in European literature:
the Histories
Bust, purportedly of Herodotus
Outline of Herodotus’
Histories
Book 1. Croesus, king of
Lydia, conquers the Greek
cities of Asia Minor. In turn,
Croesus is defeated by
Cyrus, king of Persia and
founder of the Persian
empire.
Book 2. Cyrus is succeeded
by Cambyses, who adds
Egypt to the empire.
Books 3 and 4. Cambyses
is succeeded by Darius—his
military campaigns.
Books 5 and 6. The unsuccessful Ionian revolt, when a number of Greek cities
attempt to throw off Persian rule. Darius’s campaign against Athens, and the
defeat of the Persians at the battle of Marathon (490).
Books 7-9. The unsuccessful attempt of Xerxes to conquer the whole of Greece.
Opening sentence to the Histories
Herodotus of Halicarnassus, his Researches
[ἱστορίης (‘histories’)—researches, inquiries]
are here set down to preserve the memory
of the past by putting on record the
astonishing achievements both of our own
and of other peoples; and more particularly,
to show how they came into conflict.
Achilles in battle, with goddesses; drawing
after a vase, c.490 BC
Bust, purportedly of Homer
Achilles fighting Hector
In what ways do Herodotus’ Histories differ from
earlier accounts of the past, such as Homer’s epic
poem of the Trojan War, the Iliad (8th century BC?)?
Myth
• A common definition: stories that are untrue,
false
• More specifically (and less concerned with their
truth or falsity) they are accounts understanding
the past in sacred, supernatural terms
• E.g. the Iliad concerns itself with the origins of
the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon,
offering the explanation that the gods are
responsible for this
According to Collingwood, Herodotus begins by
asking questions, whereas the writer of myths
already knows the answers.
Herodotus on the beginnings of the
conflict between Greece and the East
So much for what Persians and Phoenicians
say; and I have no intention of passing
judgement on its truth or falsity. I prefer to
rely on my own knowledge, and to point out
who it was in actual fact that first injured the
Greeks; then I will proceed with my history…
Herodotus concludes his
discussion of Helen’s abduction
The fact is, they [i.e. the Trojans] did not give
Helen up because they had not got her; what they
told the Greeks was the truth, and I do not hesitate
to declare that the refusal of the Greeks to believe
it came of divine volition in order that their utter
destruction might plainly prove to mankind that
great sins meet with great punishments at the
hands of God. That, at least, is my own belief.
Note the combination of seeking after evidence—questioning the Egyptian
priests—and offering an explanation that makes reference to the divine.
Collingwood: ‘what is remarkable about the Greeks was not the fact that their
historical thought contained a certain residue of elements which we should call
non-historical, but the fact that, side by side with these, it contained elements of
what we call history.’
Thucydides (b. c.460-455 BC; d.
after 404 BC
Important member of Athenian
society.
Elected a general in 424 BC, but
suffered a defeat at the hands of
the Spartans, was put on trial, and
condemned to exile.
Wrote The Peloponnesian War
while in exile.
The Peloponnesian War—
conflict between Athens (and
her allies) and Sparta (and
her allies) from 431-404 BC,
ending in the defeat of
Athens.
Thucydides’ account of it is
unfinished; it ends in 411
BC.
Thucydides on the value of his
work
The absence of romance in my history will, I fear,
detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be
judged useful by those inquirers who desire an
exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the
interpretation of the future, which in the course of
human things must resemble if it does not reflect it,
I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work,
not as an essay which is to win the applause of the
moment, but as a possession for all time.
The status of history and historical
writing in the ancient world
• History was considered distinct from but less valuable
than philosophy and poetry
• History was not considered an autonomous discipline
within ancient education, or within classical culture more
generally
• History writing provided examples of literary style
• History provided examples of morality; Dionysius of
Halicarnassus (1st cent. BC): ‘history is philosophy
teaching by example’
• History writing was closely associated with the
development of civic pride and civic identity
Titus Livius (Livy)
(?64 BC – AD ?17)
Born in Padua; spent most of his
life in Rome.
Lived at a time of rapid political
change: Julius Caesar had been
assassinated in 44 BC, and a
period of civil conflict resulted in
the end of the Roman Republic and
the beginning of the Roman Empire
under Augustus in 27 BC.
Wrote a 142 volume history of
Rome, Ab urbe condita (From the
Founding of the City); 107 volumes
of this history have been lost.
Cornelius Tacitus (AD ?56 - ?118)
Early career as a politician.
Like Livy, Tacitus also lived through
turbulent political times, e.g. the
suicide of Nero in 68 and the Year of
the Four Emperors in 69.
(Fictitious) portrait of
Tacitus
Wrote the Histories (covering the
period from his youth up to his
retirement after the murder of the
Emperor Domitian (AD 96); the Annals
(covering the period AD 14-68); and
other works, including the Germania,
an ethnographic treatise on the
German tribes.
Features of Roman historiography
• Both Livy and Tacitus (as well as Sallust, ?86 BC-?35 BC)
were mostly concerned with political and military history.
• The Roman historians saw history as useful and
instructive (for Sallust writing history was a kind of political
action), and as providing examples of human behaviour, of
morality in action.
• Histories tended to focus on the individual.
• The Roman historians desired to write accurate histories,
although divine elements were not entirely absent (e.g. in
Livy).
• History was understood to follow a cyclical pattern of rise
and decline; particularly in the cases of Sallust and
Tacitus, they saw themselves as living in a period of
decline.
• Literary style was an important feature of Roman
historiography.
Judeo-Christian tradition
• Old Testament (Jewish Tanakh) account of the
past from the Creation, and its history of the
Jewish people
• New Testament account of the life of Christ in
the four Gospels, and of the Acts of the Apostles
• Time in this tradition is linear rather than cyclical
• History is guided by divine providence (divinely
ordained events and divine intervention in
human affairs to uphold the order of the
universe)
• A providential scheme encompassing past,
present and future (the Revelation of St John)
Christian historiography
• Early histories were often polemical, reflecting an embattled and persecuted
people. History writing was seen as a way of justifying the Judeo-Christian
as opposed to pagan past.
• Many histories tried to connect pagan history with the Judeo-Christian past.
• Desire to create an authoritative history of faith, based on documents (e.g.
Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, written in about 325).
Collingwood identifies four characteristics:
1. It is universal, treating all of humanity and extending back to the beginning of
time.
2. It is guided by divine providence rather than by human actions; God, rather
than humans, is the ultimate agent in this history.
3. It detects intelligible patterns in events; e.g. events may be seen as
precursors of the coming of Christ, or they may be understood as part of
Christ’s revelation.
4. History is divided into epochs, e.g. four monarchies or empires, or the Six
Ages (as outlined by Augustine).
The Six Ages
The First Age: From Adam to Noah.
The Second Age: From Noah to
Abraham.
The Third Age: From Abraham to
David.
The Fourth Age: From David to the
Babylonian Captivity.
The Fifth Age: From the Captivity to
the Advent of Jesus Christ.
The Sixth Age: From Christ to the Last
Judgement.
Image from the
Winchester Bible
(14th century)
illustrating the Last
Judgement, i.e. the
end of history; the
Bible also illustrates
the other Six Ages
The writing of ‘national’ histories
A number of ‘national’ histories, conceived within
the universal-historical framework, were written
by early medieval historians.
• Jordanes (6th century), De origine actibusque
Getarum (On the origin and deeds of the Goths)
or Getica, c.551
• Gregory of Tours (c.538-94), Historia Francorum
(History of the Franks), completed 594
• Paul the Deacon (c.720-c.799), Historia
Langobardorum (History of the Lombards),
between 787 and 796
Bede (672/3 – 735)
Wrote (among other works) the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People), completed c.731.
His adoption of ‘Anno Domini’ as the method of dating was crucial to
its general adoption.
Bede as imagined by J. D. Penrose, 1902
William of Malmesbury
(c.1095/6 – c.1143)
Wrote Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the
English kings), completed 1127; Gesta
pontificum Anglorum (Deeds of the English
bishops), 1125; and Historia novella (New
history), unfinished
Influenced by Bede; aimed to present
‘substantial’ truths and an unbiased
account
Medieval diversification
• Move away from strict adherence to classical
models in the 12th and 13th centuries
• Modest revival of interest in some Latin authors,
especially Virgil and his epic poem the Aeneid
• Geoffrey of Monmouth (c.1100-c.1155) wrote a
fanciful history, the Historia regum Britanniae
(History of the kings of Britain), that tried to trace
the origins of the British back to Brutus, a
descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas; his
history also included his Prophecies of Merlin,
our main source for the Arthurian legends
• Appearance of chivalric histories, designed to
entertain an aristocratic audience
Battle of Poitiers, 1356
Battle of Crécy, 1346
Illustrations to Jean Froissart (c.1337-c.1405),
Chroniques (Chronicles), completed in 1400; an
important source for our knowledge of the
Hundred Years’ War
Conclusion: some features of ancient
and medieval historiography
• History distinguished from other practices, such as poetry and
philosophy
• A literary practice; histories were seen as models of style
• Historians often claimed their works to be ‘useful’, particularly as
they contained repositories of human behaviour; ancient historians
saw political value in understanding the causes of past events
• Christian authors tended to see the greater purpose of confirming
the authority of their faith and understanding God’s purpose
• History tended to be written for an educated audience, and often
(particularly among ancient authors) for an audience of citizens who
had some say in civic politics
• History emerged from the civic culture of Greece and Rome—the
city was the focus of political identity; Christianity added a new
element of universal history, and the focus shifted onto the study of
peoples that transcended the attention to political, civic entities such
as the city
• The middle ages saw a gradual diversification of historiographical
practice