Historiography Midterm Part 2

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What is Historiography

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Historiography involves the actual writing of history and the philosophy of history

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3 Basic Philosophies of Historical Interpretation

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Cyclical, Providential and Progressive

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Cyclical

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Things keep on happening. This is the oldest approach which was embraced by ancient peoples. It was based on nature in the sense that it had orderly and predictable fluctuations. It is not in vogue today.

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Providential Design

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History is the story of the grand scheme of God for mankind. It includes God's intervention and interaction with man. It dominated medieval histories, but not all from Christian frameworks.

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Progressive

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18th century. Based on Enlightenment-based human reasoning, vision of future to bring human redemption. Mechanisms driving history secular. Example is Voltaire. who said that History is a movement away from ignorance, bondage, superstition and toward rationality.

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Hebrew History

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Most of the Old Testament is history. There is the account of creation and the fall of man, dividing of people into nations, choosing the nation of Israel as the place where God manifested his presence, narration of government and culture of that nation and cause and effect seen through both the obedience and disobedience of the people.
A significant amount of historical detail is offered such as genealogies, numbering of tribes, years each judge ruled and each king reigned, events within Israel connected to events in the outside world and specifics of worship, even how each part of the tabernacle was made.
There is also a purpose in writing history: reminder of spiritual/moral foundation, reminder of covenant with God and it sought to bring people to repentance and renewal of commitment.
It is not hagiographic, which is a history where everyone is perfect. It is not a white washed version of history, leader's faults and sins are evident and judgement falls on those who disobey. Although it is centered on Israel, it doesn't glorify it, which is another testimony to its truthfulness.

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Ancient Greek History

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Cyclical view of History: Starts out good, then decay from Golden Age. As a result, they end up in a monarchy, which descends into Oligarchy, which goes back to a Democracy leading back into a monarchy and so on. This cyclical worldview led to pessimism.

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Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

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Ideas are the ultimate reality; only eternal, unchanging ideas are important. The external world, which is constantly changing, is not ultimately significant. Therefore history is relegated to a lesser role in Greek society, below both philosophy and poetry.

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Herodotus

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Considered the first Greek Historian. Wrote about the Wars with Persia and is credited with bringing the beginnings of skepticism into historical writing. He questioned the gods and his sources and informed readers where he got his information.

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Thucydides

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Lived from 460-400 in Athens. He wrote about the Peloponnesian wars, and was the first "detached" historian. He was not concerned with moral lessons, but just the facts. His primary concern was accuracy, he looked at both sides and was critical of those who looked to the gods. He felt that there was no real purpose in writing history except the desire for accurate accounts of events. Paradoxically, he wrote speeches for historical characters.

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Roman Historians: Livy

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Wrote "A History of Rome", purpose of writing is to praise ancient republican virtues. He showed concern for the lowering of moral standards and felt that history is telling a story with a moral. Had an emphasis on the civilizing influence of Rome, had a strong sense of progress.

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Plutarch

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Master of biography, compared lives of Greek and Romans heroes. Shared Livy's approach and wanted to provide moral lessons and was highly influential in America and France in the 18th century.

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Tacitus

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Wrote History of Rome from 69-96 AD. Wrote "Annals" an account of earlier emperors. His greatest concern was accuracy, not morality, Yet he did point to the bad character of the emperors as the cause of many of Rome's problems.

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History and the New Testament

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Written in Koine Greek, has a strong sense of covenant, historical events are considered significant, purpose is to proclaim the intervention of God into human history. Each of the gospels is written with a specific audience in mind and the letters of Paul are based on the historicity of Jesus and His physical resurrection at a specific point in time. Book of Hebrews clearly reveals the change from the Old Covenant to the New. Significance of passage in time, Acts is a history of the early church and a continuation of Luke.

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Medieval Historians: Augustine

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First western thinker to develop a coherent philosophy of history which was uniquely Christian in concept. Believed in Continuous creation: If God withheld his sustaining creating power, all things would cease. Time had a beginning and will have an end. Believed Time has significance as a creation of God and each second is unique. Birth of Christ was the intrusion of God into time. The past provides a valuable set of experiences for man's future fulfillment in God, which will only come in eternity. Augustine's view of History dominated medieval times, regardless of corruption in the church, man maintained a basic Christian worldview.

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Gregory of Tours

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Wrote a history of Frankish kingdom, brought education to the monasteries and was considered one of the first medieval historians

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Venerable Bede

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Wrote "Ecclesiastical History of the English people", about how the gospel spread into England. Stressed care, thoroughness, critical method, analysis, clarity and organization. He believed that the past provides examples of virtue and emphasized God's role in history and the miraculous. Modern secular historians like his methods but not his Christian emphasis.

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Einhard

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Wrote a history of the reign of Charlemagne
Primarily a Chronicle, dates events more like a timeline and lack of detail.

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Otto of Freising

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Writes "History of Two Cities", wrote about the heavenly and earthly cities, clearest presentation of Judeo-Christian view of linear history written during medieval times.

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Matthew Paris

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Incorporated drawings in historical writing. Focused on political events throughout Europe, still carried theme of God's involvement in human affairs, reminded readers that men's sins inevitably lead to divine retribution.

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Jean Froissart

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Wrote "On The Hundred Years' War" between England and France. Not a champion of side: had friends on both sides. Referred to as the historian of chivalry and focuses on whether or not certain actions were noble.

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Modern Approach to History

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Anything after the middle ages. Developed gradually from the 16th to the 19th century. Shift away from the supernatural, the role of God slowly removed from the study of history. New emphasis on rationalism and the scientific method.

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Renaissance: Francesco Petrarch

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Committed classicist. Believed Rome was the highest level of human achievement. Wrote a historyy of Rome. Emphasized the glory and wonder of human effort and helped to set in motion a new, secular view of history

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Niccolo Machiavelli

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Wrote The Prince, in which he lays out what he believes about how to govern a state. Has a totally secular view of politics and believed the end justifies the means. Also wrote A History of Florence, which served to illustrate his political ideas and wrote History was steered by the principles in the Prince.

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Francesco Guicciardini

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Wrote La Hisoria Ditalia, in which he writes that reason is man's crowning jewel, not concerned with the meaning of life. Believed history is not morality taught by example and was the first step away from Christian to humanist historical thought. All human affairs are unstable, and had a loss of confidence in God's overruling providence.

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History in the Reformation

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History became a tool to be used in the dispute between Catholic and Protestants. Each side began to write histories to support their theological perspectives. There was also the establishment of professorships in history at universities, some of which were Catholic and some of which were Protestant.

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Matthias Flascius Illyricus

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Wrote "Madgeburg Centuries"
Writes about what went wrong in the church. Believed the church became distorted when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire

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Robert Barnes

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Writes "The Lives of the Roman Pontiffs"
Believed that there was bad leadership and immorality of the popes. Martyred under Henry VIII

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Caesar Baronius

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Catholic scholar, wrote Ecclesiastical Annals, in which he defends the post-apostolic changes to the church were consistent with Christ's teaching.

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William Camden

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Wrote "Brittania", focused on English Nationalism in 1586. It was a historical survey of Britain and Ireland in the Pre-Roman and Roman era. Wanted to find their roots as a people. Also emphasized critical scholarship and verification of facts. Debunked folk tales and legends such as King Arthur.

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William Bradford

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Governor of Plymouth
Wrote "Of Plymouth Plantation"
Pilgrim story from 1608-1647
Single most important source of information about the Pilgrims and Plymouth colony.
Preeminent historical work of the 17th century America.

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Edward Hyde

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Earl of Clarendon
Wrote "History of Rebellion and Civil Wars in England"
Against the Puritan wars of Charles I, takes the side of the king and defends the Anglican establishment

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History and the Scientific Revolution

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Quantification is the idea of giving everything a value, historians during this time want to quantify everything, there is a emphasis on unchanging, universal laws and believed that history not a legitimate discipline because it cannot be quantified.

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History during the Enlightenment

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Human reason is the answer to everything, there is a desire to secularize everything. Believed that the church was the main obstacle to progress and that the church leaders were the great deceivers of humanity. Also thought that the past was full of errors, folly, wrong thinking and tyranny. Mankind needed to escape the past. Moved history away from political and military affairs, included social, economic and cultural issues.

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Biggest Weakness of History in the Enlightenment: Presentism

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Holds that only the present is important, so therefore when you are explaining the past, you see it in light of the present. It is a form of anachronism in the sense that one is interpreting the past in terms of the present. It was unwilling to see events through the eyes of those who experienced them. Saw own values and ideals as universal and there was the idea of the present being more advanced than the past.

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David Hume

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Wrote "History of England" 6 vols.
Had a critical perspective , challenged conventional wisdom
Wrote history backwards, from present back to Rome
Distrustful of religion, thought it would lead to fanaticism. Devoted to empiricism.

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Edward Gibbon

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Wrote "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", took 20 years to write, blamed Christianity for the fall of Rome because the people got too caught up in spiritual matters and neglected governance. This was the first historical work openly critical of Christianity

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Romantic Historians

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Romanticism was a 19th century reaction to the rationalism and the empiricism of the Enlightenment, with a focus on the individual who achieves greatness and was not alwaus concerned with accuracy or thorough documentation.

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Thomas Carlyle

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Scottish Historian who writes history as moral example and saw history as literature. His purpose in writing was the challenge people to overcome obstacles.

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Thomas Babington Macaulay

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Wrote "History of England" in which he celebrated the rise of England and its national identity. It is the best example of "Whig" history, which saw the nation's history as synonymous with the emergence of liberty.

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George Bancroft

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Wrote American history as a quest for liberty, overthrow of tyranny and God leading mankind into a golden age. He wrote a History of the US, was a Jacksonian and a Transcendentalist.

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Francis Parkman

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Wrote "The Oregon Trail" and "France and England in North America", works manifested his enthusiastic support for manifest destiny, which is western expansion as progress and spread of freedom.

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Positivist Historiography

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Belief that through the scientific method, history can be written exactly as it happened. Considered history in the same manner as physics or chemistry

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Leopold Von Ranke

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Leading proponent of positivism, Believed in total objectivity, stressed importance of original documents. He was intensely religious as a Protestant and believed that History can lead a person to God, and he was concerned with character analysis and ethics. He transformed history as a discipline, turned into a profession instead of a hobby and introduced seminar method of teaching.

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Progressive Historiography

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Believed that it is impossible to know exactly what happened in history, have to rely on written accounts but we are not able to verify accuracy. Also believed that every generation writes or rewrites its own history, and was relativist to the extreme if it was carried out to its fullest extent.

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Carl Becker

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Leader of the Progressive School. Believed that history should be used to solve problems and its goal should be to get the world's work done. Believed in no eternal truths or no established law and that whatever a person believes is true for that person. Had a desire to engineer society and believed in economic determinism (Marxism).

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Charles Beard

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Wrote "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution" in which he tried to refashion the founding by saying that the Constitution was a counterrevolution by conservative forces who were wealthy landowners. The Deceleration of Independence was made by liberty-loving people. Promotion of the theme of class warfare.

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Consensus Historiography

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Opposed to using history for social reform. Felt progressives were too simplistic in their focus on economic; problems more complex. Americans were not ideological in their history, but practical.

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Daniel Boorstin

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Argued British heritage was incorporated into new American government. Reluctant rebels who stayed true to British constitutionalism

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New Left Historiography

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Progressivism on steroids: thoroughly Marxist. Extremely presentist, history used to promote political goals. Felt New Deal was a failure because it wasn't radical enough and felt that America was responsible for the Cold War.

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Republican Ideaologue Historiography

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Attempts to synthesize ideas and experiences. It is a rejection of presentism and takes sources at face value, not assuming hidden motives and takes beliefs seriously.

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Bernard Bailyn

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Wrote "Ideological Origins of the American Revolution"
The themes of this work include that the revolution was based on the English Whig theory of government, Americans feared tyrannical power and revolution is ideological and not economic.