B. W. Young
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199256228
- eISBN:
- 9780191719660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256228.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern 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 ...
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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
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.
Adam Rogers and Richard Hingley
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199584727
- eISBN:
- 9780191595301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584727.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
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 ...
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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
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.
Garth Fowden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158532
- eISBN:
- 9781400848164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158532.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
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 ...
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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
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.
DAVID WOMERSLEY
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198187332
- eISBN:
- 9780191718861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187332.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
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 ...
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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
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.
Alison Kennedy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199215300
- eISBN:
- 9780191706929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215300.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
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 ...
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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
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.
DAVID WOMERSLEY
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198187332
- eISBN:
- 9780191718861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187332.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
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 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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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 ...
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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
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.
David Womersley
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198187332
- eISBN:
- 9780191718861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187332.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
The publication of the first volume of The Decline and Fall in 1776 immediately embroiled Gibbon in a dispute concerning his supposed irreligion. This book follows the implications and ramifications ...
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The publication of the first volume of The Decline and Fall in 1776 immediately embroiled Gibbon in a dispute concerning his supposed irreligion. This book follows the implications and ramifications of Gibbon's sudden notoriety to recover the historian's experience of himself as author. It traces Gibbon's attempts to control, to manipulate, and at times to avail himself of, his public reputation from his first, silent, engagement with his critics when he revised the text of the first volume of The Decline and Fall, to that unfinished masterpiece of self-presentation, the Memoirs of My Life. It also shows how the debate about Gibbon's alleged hostility to Christianity shaped the posthumous publication of his Miscellaneous Works by his friend and literary executor, Lord Sheffield.Less
The publication of the first volume of The Decline and Fall in 1776 immediately embroiled Gibbon in a dispute concerning his supposed irreligion. This book follows the implications and ramifications of Gibbon's sudden notoriety to recover the historian's experience of himself as author. It traces Gibbon's attempts to control, to manipulate, and at times to avail himself of, his public reputation from his first, silent, engagement with his critics when he revised the text of the first volume of The Decline and Fall, to that unfinished masterpiece of self-presentation, the Memoirs of My Life. It also shows how the debate about Gibbon's alleged hostility to Christianity shaped the posthumous publication of his Miscellaneous Works by his friend and literary executor, Lord Sheffield.
Julia Hell
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226588056
- eISBN:
- 9780226588223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226588223.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
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 ...
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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
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.
J. B. BULLEN
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198128885
- eISBN:
- 9780191671722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198128885.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The term ‘Renaissance’ is a relatively modern idea. It did not exist in the eighteenth century, and even in the nineteenth century it had a meaning rather different from ours. Our use of the word ...
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The term ‘Renaissance’ is a relatively modern idea. It did not exist in the eighteenth century, and even in the nineteenth century it had a meaning rather different from ours. Our use of the word ‘Renaissance’ presupposes a view of history not shared by former generations. To the modern reader, the word ‘Renaissance’ brings to mind activities as diverse as architecture, painting, scientific and geographical discoveries, the political activities of the Italian city states, even Leonardo da Vinci’s studies of anatomy and mechanics. But this collection of signifiers would have had no significance for the eighteenth-century mind because for the eighteenth-century the various fifteenth-century revivals, literary, artistic, scientific, political, and philosophical, were independent movements existing largely in isolation from each other. Yet the myth of the Renaissance does have its roots in eighteenth-century historiography. This chapter looks at the foundations of Renaissance historiography in the eighteenth century, focusing on the works of Voltaire in France and Edward Gibbon in England.Less
The term ‘Renaissance’ is a relatively modern idea. It did not exist in the eighteenth century, and even in the nineteenth century it had a meaning rather different from ours. Our use of the word ‘Renaissance’ presupposes a view of history not shared by former generations. To the modern reader, the word ‘Renaissance’ brings to mind activities as diverse as architecture, painting, scientific and geographical discoveries, the political activities of the Italian city states, even Leonardo da Vinci’s studies of anatomy and mechanics. But this collection of signifiers would have had no significance for the eighteenth-century mind because for the eighteenth-century the various fifteenth-century revivals, literary, artistic, scientific, political, and philosophical, were independent movements existing largely in isolation from each other. Yet the myth of the Renaissance does have its roots in eighteenth-century historiography. This chapter looks at the foundations of Renaissance historiography in the eighteenth century, focusing on the works of Voltaire in France and Edward Gibbon in England.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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 ...
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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
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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
Edward Gibbon’s presentation of character in both the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and in his posthumously published Memoirs demonstrates a prevailing interest in the values of ...
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Edward Gibbon’s presentation of character in both the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and in his posthumously published Memoirs demonstrates a prevailing interest in the values of transcendent heroism and individual liberty, but also an insistent awareness of the dangers these values pose to coherence and narrative order. In this study, Dr Roberts demonstrates how these dynamics also inform the ‘character’ of the Decline and Fall: in which ironic difference confronts enervating uniformity; oddity counters specious lucidity, and revision combats repetition. Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History explores the Decline and Fall as a work of scholarship and of literature, tracing both its expansive outline and its expressive details. A close examination of each of the three instalments of Gibbon’s history reveals an intimate relationship between the style of Gibbon’s narrative and the overall shape of his historiographical composition. The constant interplay between the particular details of composition and the larger patterns of argument and narrative informs every aspect of Gibbon’s work: from his reception of established and innovative historiographical conventions to the expression of his narrative voice. Through a combination of close reading and larger literary and scholarly analysis, Dr Roberts conveys a sense of the Decline and Fall as a work more complex and conflicted, in its tone and structure, than has been appreciated by previous scholars, without losing sight of the grand contours of Gibbon’s superlative achievement.Less
Edward Gibbon’s presentation of character in both the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and in his posthumously published Memoirs demonstrates a prevailing interest in the values of transcendent heroism and individual liberty, but also an insistent awareness of the dangers these values pose to coherence and narrative order. In this study, Dr Roberts demonstrates how these dynamics also inform the ‘character’ of the Decline and Fall: in which ironic difference confronts enervating uniformity; oddity counters specious lucidity, and revision combats repetition. Edward Gibbon and the Shape of History explores the Decline and Fall as a work of scholarship and of literature, tracing both its expansive outline and its expressive details. A close examination of each of the three instalments of Gibbon’s history reveals an intimate relationship between the style of Gibbon’s narrative and the overall shape of his historiographical composition. The constant interplay between the particular details of composition and the larger patterns of argument and narrative informs every aspect of Gibbon’s work: from his reception of established and innovative historiographical conventions to the expression of his narrative voice. Through a combination of close reading and larger literary and scholarly analysis, Dr Roberts conveys a sense of the Decline and Fall as a work more complex and conflicted, in its tone and structure, than has been appreciated by previous scholars, without losing sight of the grand contours of Gibbon’s superlative achievement.
LEON LITVACK
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198263517
- eISBN:
- 9780191682582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263517.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter discusses Theodora Phranza, Neale’s first full-length novel set in the Christian East. It was originally published in parts in the Churchman’s Companion in 1853–4 and then as a single ...
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This chapter discusses Theodora Phranza, Neale’s first full-length novel set in the Christian East. It was originally published in parts in the Churchman’s Companion in 1853–4 and then as a single volume in 1857. This novel attempts to further the cause of unity by looking back to a time when East and West cooperated for the ultimate good. Britain’s interest in Constantinople involved her in the Crimean War. This situation in turn led Neale to write Theodora Phranza, a polemical novel which focused on the state of Orthodox Christians under the Ottoman rule.Less
This chapter discusses Theodora Phranza, Neale’s first full-length novel set in the Christian East. It was originally published in parts in the Churchman’s Companion in 1853–4 and then as a single volume in 1857. This novel attempts to further the cause of unity by looking back to a time when East and West cooperated for the ultimate good. Britain’s interest in Constantinople involved her in the Crimean War. This situation in turn led Neale to write Theodora Phranza, a polemical novel which focused on the state of Orthodox Christians under the Ottoman rule.
Mordechai Feingold
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510146
- eISBN:
- 9780191700958
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510146.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
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 ...
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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
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.
James Noggle
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501747120
- eISBN:
- 9781501747137
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501747120.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
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 ...
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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
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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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, ...
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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
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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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 ...
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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
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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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 ...
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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
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.
Ralph Lerner
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226353296
- eISBN:
- 9780226353326
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226353326.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
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 ...
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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
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.
Charlotte Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198704836
- eISBN:
- 9780191789458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704836.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
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 ...
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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
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.