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Gibbon, Newman, and the Religious Accuracy of the Historian

B. W. Young

in The Victorian Eighteenth Century: An Intellectual History

This chapter uses the response of a prominent Christian reader of Gibbon, John Henry Newman, to explore how 18th-century unbelief was worried over, and occasionally accommodated within the available ... More

This chapter uses the response of a prominent Christian reader of Gibbon, John Henry Newman, to explore how 18th-century unbelief was worried over, and occasionally accommodated within the available framework of religious apologetic in 19th-century Britain. The example of the liberal Anglican historian Henry Hart Milman, Oxford's Professor of Poetry when Newman was a young fellow of Oriel, similarly demonstrates that Gibbon's contribution to ecclesiastical history was capable of being accommodated within a variety of liberal Anglican theology strongly influenced by those developments in German historical thought of which Newman remained willfully ignorant.Less

Edward Gibbon and Francis Haverfield: The Traditions of Imperial Decline

Adam Rogers and Richard Hingley

in Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire

This chapter examines the intellectual context of Edward Gibbon's monumental and highly influential work The decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) and its role in the complex history and ... More

This chapter examines the intellectual context of Edward Gibbon's monumental and highly influential work The decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) and its role in the complex history and genealogy of imperialism. It also addresses the impact of the notion of ‘decline’ both on Gibbon's contemporaries and on later writers, thinkers, and politicians in Britain during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when imperialism and the idea of British imperial decline had become major topics for discussion and debate. As a historical work, The decline and fall particularly influenced the writings of the prominent Oxford ancient historian Francis Haverfield (1860–1919), whose publications absorbed many contemporary attitudes about imperialism. Haverfield's work, in turn, influenced the development of the discipline of Roman archaeology for decades to come, especially concerning the themes of cultural superiority and decline.Less

Including Islam

Garth Fowden

in Before and After Muhammad: The First Millennium Refocused

This book examines history and thought “before and after Muhammad” by offering a new perspective on the debate about “the West and the Rest,” about America's destiny and Europe's identity. One party ... More

This book examines history and thought “before and after Muhammad” by offering a new perspective on the debate about “the West and the Rest,” about America's destiny and Europe's identity. One party explains how Europe and eventually North America—the North Atlantic world—left the rest in the dust from about 1500. The other side argues that Asia—China, Japan, and the Islamic trio of Mughals, Safavids, and Ottomans—remained largely free of European encroachment until the mid-1700s, but then either collapsed for internal reasons, or else were gradually undermined by colonial powers' superior technological, economic, and military power. In seeking to overhaul the foundations of this debate, especially as regards the role of Islam and the Islamic world, the book reformulates the history of the First Millennium, by the end of which Islam had matured sufficiently to be compared with patristic Christianity, in order to fit Islam into it. The book draws primarily on Edward Gibbon's account of East Rome and Islam.Less

‘As common as any the most vulgar thing to sense’: Three Versions of the Death of a Father

DAVID WOMERSLEY

in Gibbon and the 'Watchmen of the Holy City': The Historian and his Reputation, 1776-1815

This chapter compares the three versions Gibbon composed of the death of his father. Although the movement from version to version is a good example of Gibbon's polishing of style, when these ... More

This chapter compares the three versions Gibbon composed of the death of his father. Although the movement from version to version is a good example of Gibbon's polishing of style, when these versions are placed within the context of the swift development in Gibbon's political sentiments which was occurring at just the moment of their composition, it is clear that Gibbon's stylistic preferences were co-ordinated with the broader considerations that arose from his contemplation of the scene of European politics.Less

Historical Perspectives in the Mind of Joseph Priestley

Alison Kennedy

in Joseph Priestley, Scientist, Philosopher, and Theologian

This chapter examines Priestley's different perspectives as a historian. The discussion is divided into three parts: the first is concerned with Joseph Priestley the historian, the second with ... More

This chapter examines Priestley's different perspectives as a historian. The discussion is divided into three parts: the first is concerned with Joseph Priestley the historian, the second with Priestley the theologian as historian and Biblical critic, and the third with the importance of his legacy in this latter respect. A brief comparison is made between Priestley's approach to the relationship between religion and history and that of David Hume and Edward Gibbon, two great historians of the 18th century. Two works by Priestley are analyzed: Lectures on History and General Policy, delivered at Warrington Academy in the late 1760s and revised and finally published in 1788, which deals with his secular approach to history; and An History of the Corruptions of Christianity, published six years earlier, in 1782. The latter reveals a different approach to historical understanding within a theological context.Less

Conclusion

DAVID WOMERSLEY

in Gibbon and the 'Watchmen of the Holy City': The Historian and his Reputation, 1776-1815

The short conclusion draws out the implications of this study for both the reputation of Gibbon himself, and also for our ideas of late eighteenth-century authorship.

The Marmoreal Edward Gibbon: The Memoirs and the Ruins of Rome

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

This chapter examines Edward Gibbon’s six unfinished Memoirs and their relationship with his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Many critics have stressed the mastery and coherence ... More

This chapter examines Edward Gibbon’s six unfinished Memoirs and their relationship with his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Many critics have stressed the mastery and coherence of Gibbon’s Memoirs, but this chapter instead focuses on their incompleteness and interest in fragmentation. Gibbon describes the institutions that, in his early life, distracted him from his historical vocation and curtailed his freedom. He also opposes these institutions using tropes of ruination and fragmentation that challenge the coherence and singularity of tyranny. This association of fragmentation with the undesirable consequences of tyrannical repression as well as the personal liberty by which this repression can be opposed reflects a paradox that was frequently applied, in the eighteenth century, to the fall of Rome. A civilization, the self-directed aggression of which is a direct consequence of its overweening attempt at total domination, becomes the emblem of Gibbon’s autobiographical narrative.Less

Edward Gibbon and the Secret of Empire, or Scipio Africanus and the Savages of the South Pacific

Julia Hell

in The Conquest of Ruins: The Third Reich and the Fall of Rome

The focus of this chapter is the analysis of Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The author situates Gibbon’s History in the context of the debates about British and ... More

The focus of this chapter is the analysis of Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The author situates Gibbon’s History in the context of the debates about British and European colonialism and Cook’s voyages to the South Pacific. With respect to the latter, she studies the portraits of Tahitian and Maori men whom Volney (Chapter 7) and Gibbon discuss in connection with their scenes of ruin contemplation. Gibbon meticulously restored the Roman stage-in-ruins. More importantly, he asked whether Europe’s emerging empires would suffer Rome’s fate. Singling out Gibbon’s “General Observations,” the author traces his rewriting of the Polybian scene. She argues that in the “Observations,” stadial theory assumes a katechontic role. Moreover, it is here that Gibbon reinvents the figure of the non-European barbarian.Less

‘On that Celebrated Ground’: Equivalency in the First Volume of the Decline and Fall

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written over two decades in the second half of the eighteenth century, but it is frustratingly difficult to trace the ... More

Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written over two decades in the second half of the eighteenth century, but it is frustratingly difficult to trace the trajectory of its composition. This chapter examines moments in the first volume of Gibbon’s history that gesture beyond this single narrative line, and invite the reader to make comparisons between disparate historical moments. Gibbon draws on the philosophic historiography of predecessors such as Montesquieu, who stressed the importance of large-scale historical systems over specific details. Yet even at this stage in his history Gibbon is aware of the intellectual dangers attendant on this moderating outlook. Only in his account of primitive Christianity is Gibbon able to enjoy the irony associated with the elevated perspective of the philosophe, casting himself as an isolated champion battling against the massed forces of superstition and enthusiasm.Less

Oriental Studies

Mordechai Feingold

in The History of the University of Oxford: Volume IV Seventeenth-Century Oxford

In his appraisal of England's political, religious, and cultural scene following the Restoration, Gilbert Burnet singled out the esteemed state of learning at Oxford University, and ‘chiefly the ... More

In his appraisal of England's political, religious, and cultural scene following the Restoration, Gilbert Burnet singled out the esteemed state of learning at Oxford University, and ‘chiefly the study of the oriental tongues’. More than a century later, this perception still lingered. When the young Edward Gibbon arrived at Oxford, his ambition was to master oriental learning. Although this was not to be, many years later Gibbon recalled that what had tired his youthful enthusiasm was the fact that ‘since the days of Pocock and Hyde, oriental learning has always been the pride of Oxford’. These two acute observers did not exaggerate. The 17th century was, indeed, the heyday of oriental studies at Oxford. During this period, the university became a truly major centre for Hebrew and Arabic, drawing from all over Europe students and visitors eager to study with local scholars or use the rich resources of the Bodleian Library. The principal incentive for the study of Hebrew and Arabic was their application to scripture and their contribution towards the bolstering of Christianity.Less

Historiography: Insensible Revolutions

James Noggle

in Unfelt: The Language of Affect in the British Enlightenment

This chapter details how the concept of the insensible enters British historiography around the middle of the eighteenth century. The insensible not only helps historians narrate the large-scale ... More

This chapter details how the concept of the insensible enters British historiography around the middle of the eighteenth century. The insensible not only helps historians narrate the large-scale changes to society, nations, populations, and commerce that were increasingly treated alongside the usual topics—kings' reigns, statecraft, and wars. It also, in its paradoxical way, serves their descriptions of the fundamentally affective bases of historical change. The negating prefixes of terms like insensibly tend oddly to draw unfelt forces into proximity to more apparent human feelings. Accounts of insensible processes find an especially significant place in the historiography of the age of sentiment. The chapter then considers the new categories of moeurs and manners in French historiography and the insensible revolution in Scottish historiography. It also looks at the dramatic consequences of the insensible for Edward Gibbon's and Edmund Burke's style of history writing.Less

Introduction: Shaping Edward Gibbon

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has been viewed since its publication as an unimpeachable monolith of scholarship and literature, and, more recently, as a complex, ... More

Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has been viewed since its publication as an unimpeachable monolith of scholarship and literature, and, more recently, as a complex, incremental work that evolved during the decades of its composition. Yet criticism of Gibbon’s history, which examines its development through time or its place in its intellectual environment, is still dominated by a sense of the Decline and Fall as a work controlled by a flexible but coherent intellectual identity. Gibbon’s presentation of character in the Decline and Fall and in his Memoirs explores the importance of incoherence to the articulation and expression of impressive personality. This study argues that the character of Gibbon’s work is similarly more complex and conflicted than previous scholarship has allowed.Less

‘To Unite the Most Distant Revolutions’: Inheritance in the Second and Third Volumes of the Decline and Fall

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

This chapter examines Edward Gibbon’s treatment of the idea of inheritance in the second and third volumes of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The corruption of this period of ... More

This chapter examines Edward Gibbon’s treatment of the idea of inheritance in the second and third volumes of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The corruption of this period of history is indicated by the incests and filicides of the imperial line; the unsuccessful attempts made by the Emperor Constantine and his successors to maintain a link with ancient Rome, and the heresies and schisms that hamper the triumph of Christianity. At a narrative level, the standards of logical argument and proportionate causal reasoning are threatened by analogy, accidental linguistic congruence, and miraculous events that defy explanation. This is a disorienting shift for Gibbon’s reader, schooled in the confident irony of the first volume of the Decline and Fall. The confusion is deliberate, and is used by Gibbon to share some of the difficulties he faces as a historian of this period with his reader.Less

‘A Solemn and Mournful Recollection’: Repetition in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Volumes of the Decline and Fall

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

The last three volumes of Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describe the final corruption and fall of empire in the East. This chapter examines how loss and pathos ... More

The last three volumes of Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describe the final corruption and fall of empire in the East. This chapter examines how loss and pathos are explored in these volumes, not through a focus on finality and conclusion or the employment of a sympathetic or sentimental narrative mood, but through the exploitation of the dynamics of repetition. Repetition is associated with societal failure and decline: the rise of the Islamic Empire, the Crusades, and the struggles of papal Rome all exemplify failed attempts to resurrect some early imperial or republican energy from the stultifying influence of meaningless reiteration. In Gibbon’s narrative, the repetition of ideas, phrases, and tropes from the earlier volumes of the Decline and Fall serves to illustrate how much he has lost in the course of his history’s composition.Less

Gibbon’s “Jewish Problem”

Ralph Lerner

in Naïve Readings: Reveilles Political and Philosophic

In following the scattered traces of Edward Gibbon’s references to Jews in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, this essay seeks to detect an evolving argument, perhaps even an authorial ... More

In following the scattered traces of Edward Gibbon’s references to Jews in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, this essay seeks to detect an evolving argument, perhaps even an authorial intention, but in any event nothing less than a close view of a mixed and hence ambiguous message. That ambiguity toward Jews and Judaism might suggest some tacit reservations about Christianity itself and about a people who are not merely figures out of a remote past (like Goths and Parthians), but a persisting, living presence in the modern world. In the end, this essay seeks to discover whether and, if so, in what ways Gibbon differed from some other luminaries of his century—Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Burke—in appraising the fate and character of the Jewish people.Less

Gibbon’s Characters: Identity and Personhood in the Decline and Fall

Charlotte Roberts

in Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History

This chapter explores Edward Gibbon’s presentation of character in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in relation to two eighteenth-century intellectual developments. The first ... More

This chapter explores Edward Gibbon’s presentation of character in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in relation to two eighteenth-century intellectual developments. The first is the rise of social, sentimental history that abandoned the political and military heroes of classical historiography in favour of the celebration of domestic virtue and socially assimilated action. The second is the growth of empiricism, which struggled to reconcile objective identity with a personhood that extended through time and seemed to transcend the limits of verifiable experience. This chapter examines Gibbon’s interest in characters whose flexible and evolving attitudes defy coherent summation, and whose transcendent heroism rises above the conditions of the societies in which they live.Less