Historian

==Historiography==
{{Main article|Historiography}}

===Ancient===
[[File:Thucydides Manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of [[Thucydides]]'s ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]''.]]
Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see [[philosophy of history]]). The earliest [[Chronology|chronologies]] date back to [[Mesopotamia]] and [[ancient Egypt]], though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name.

[[Greek historiography|Systematic historical thought]] emerged in [[ancient Greece]], a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around [[History of the Mediterranean region|the Mediterranean]] region. The earliest known critical historical works were ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', composed by [[Herodotus|Herodotus of Halicarnassus]] (484 – c.&nbsp;425&nbsp;[[Before Common Era|BCE]]) who later became known as the "father of history" ([[Cicero]]). Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. [[Thucydides]] largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element that set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor [[Xenophon]] ({{c.|lk=no|431}} – 355&nbsp;BCE) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]].

[[Image:Leonardo Bruni - Imagines philologorum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Leonardo Bruni]] ({{Circa|1370}}–1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], the [[Middle Ages]], and [[Modern history|Modern times]].]]
The [[Roman historiography|Romans adopted the Greek tradition]]. While early Roman works were still written in Greek, the ''Origines'', composed by the Roman statesman [[Cato the Elder]] (234–149&nbsp;BCE), was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. [[Strabo]] (63&nbsp;BCE – {{c.|lk=no|24}}&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]]) was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. [[Livy]] (59&nbsp;BCE – 17&nbsp;CE) records the rise of [[Roman Empire|Rome]] from [[city-state]] to [[empire]]. His speculation about what would have happened if [[Alexander the Great]] had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of [[alternate history]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |title=Livy's History of Rome: Book 9 |publisher=Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |access-date=2010-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228233052/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |archive-date=2007-02-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In [[Chinese historiography]], the ''[[Classic of History]]'' is one of the [[Five Classics]] of [[Chinese classic texts]] and one of the earliest narratives of China.  The ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481&nbsp;BCE, is among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts arranged on [[Annals|annalistic]] principles. [[Sima Qian]] (around 100&nbsp;BCE) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing. His written work was the ''[[Shiji]]'' (''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''), a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century&nbsp;BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people and also explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jörn Rüsen|title=Time and History: The Variety of Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvGyzu-nLaUC&pg=PA54|year=2007|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-349-7|pages=54–55}}</ref>

[[Image:Beda Petersburgiensis f3v.jpg|right|upright|thumb|A page of [[Bede]]'s ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'']]
Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as [[Luke-Acts]], which is the [[primary source]] for the [[Apostolic Age]]. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the [[Middle Ages]]. They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers.  In the [[early medieval|Early Middle Ages]] historical writing often took the form of [[annals]] or [[chronicle]]s recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes.<ref>Warren, John (1998). ''The past and its presenters: an introduction to issues in historiography'', Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|0-340-67934-4}}, pp. 78–79.</ref> An example of this type of writing is the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]s, which were the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of [[Alfred the Great]] in the late ninth&nbsp;century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154.<ref>"Anglophile", Ryan Setliff Online. Dec 2. 2019. https://www.ryansetliff.online/#anglophile</ref>

[[Historiography of early Islam|Muslim historical writings]] first began to develop in the seventh century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet [[Muhammad]]'s life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his [[Sahaba|companions]] from various sources, scholars had to verify which sources were more reliable. To evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the ''[[Ilm ar-Rijal|science of biography]]'', ''[[science of hadith]]'' and ''[[Isnad]]'' (chain of transmission). They later applied these methodologies to other historical figures in the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic civilization]]. Famous historians in this tradition include [[Urwah ibn Zubayr|Urwah]] (d.&nbsp;712), [[Wahb ibn Munabbih]] (d.&nbsp;728), [[Ibn Ishaq]] (d.&nbsp;761), [[al-Waqidi]] (745–822), [[Ibn Hisham]] (d.&nbsp;834), [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]] (810–870) and [[Ibn Hajar Asqalani|Ibn Hajar]] (1372–1449).

===Enlightenment===
During the [[Age of Enlightenment]], the modern development of historiography through the application of scrupulous methods began.

[[File:Voltaire-Baquoy.gif|thumb|left|[[Voltaire]]'s works of history are an excellent example of [[Enlightenment era]] history writing. Painting by [[Pierre Charles Baquoy]].]]
French ''[[Philosophes|philosophe]]'' [[Voltaire]] (1694–1778) had an enormous influence on the art of history writing. His best-known histories are ''The Age of Louis XIV'' (1751), and ''Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations'' (1756). "My chief object," he wrote in 1739, "is not political or military history, it is the history of the arts, of commerce, of civilization – in a word, – of the human mind."<ref>{{cite book|author=E. Sreedharan|title=A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJVoi3PIejwC&pg=PA115|year=2004|publisher=Orient Blackswan|page=115|isbn=9788125026570}}</ref> He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history, and achievements in the arts and sciences. He was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture, and political history.

[[File:Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton cleaned.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Edward Gibbon]]'s ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline of the Roman Empire]]'' (1776) was a masterpiece of late 18th-century history writing.]]
At the same time, philosopher [[David Hume]] was having a similar impact on history in [[Great Britain]]. In 1754, he published the ''[[The History of England (David Hume)|History of England]]'', a six-volume work that extended from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688. Hume adopted a similar scope to Voltaire in his history; as well as the history of Kings, Parliaments, and armies, he examined the history of culture, including literature and science, as well.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Wertz | first1 = S. K. | year = 1993 | title = Hume and the Historiography of Science | jstor = 2710021 | journal = Journal of the History of Ideas | volume = 54 | issue = 3| pages = 411–436 | doi=10.2307/2710021}}</ref> [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]], a Scottish historian, and the [[Historiographer Royal (Scotland)|Historiographer Royal]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jamesboswell.info/content/poker-club|title=The Poker Club &#124; James Boswell .info|website=www.jamesboswell.info}}</ref> published the ''History of Scotland 1542 – 1603'', in 1759 and his most famous work, ''The history of the reign of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]'' in 1769.<ref>Sher, R. B., ''Church and Society in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Moderate Literati of Edinburgh'', Princeton, 1985.</ref> His scholarship was painstaking for the time and he was able to access a large number of documentary sources that had previously been unstudied. He was also one of the first historians who understood the importance of general and universally applicable ideas in the shaping of historical events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaanet.org/committees/commissions/centennial/history/021hoebel.pdf|title=William Robertson: An 18th Century Anthropologist-Historian|access-date=2012-12-17}}</ref>

The apex of Enlightenment history was reached with [[Edward Gibbon]]'s, monumental six-volume work, ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', published on 17 February 1776. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of [[primary source]]s, at the time its methodology became a model for later historians. This has led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yH9rdaF1CckC|title=Theorists of the Modernist Novel: James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf|author=Deborah Parsons|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|page=94|isbn=9780203965894}}</ref> The book sold impressively, earning its author a total of about £9000. Biographer [[Sir Leslie Stephen|Leslie Stephen]] wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting."

===19th century===
The tumultuous events surrounding the [[French Revolution]] inspired much of the historiography and analysis of the early 19th century. Interest in the 1688 [[Glorious Revolution]] was also rekindled by the [[Great Reform Act]] of 1832 in England.

[[Thomas Carlyle]] published his magnum opus, the three-volume ''[[The French Revolution: A History]]'' in 1837.<ref>{{cite book |first=H.E. |last=Marshall |chapter-url=http://marshall.thefreelibrary.com/English-Literature-For-Boys-And-Girls/82-1 |chapter=Carlyle – The Sage Of Chelsea |title=English Literature For Boys And Girls |via=Farlex Free Library |access-date=2009-09-19}}</ref><ref name="LL">{{cite web|url=http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=8890 |title=Thomas Carlyle| last=Lundin|first=Leigh| date=2009-09-20|work=Professional Works|publisher=Criminal Brief|access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> The resulting work had a passion new to historical writing. [[Thomas Macaulay]] produced his most famous work of history, ''[[The History of England from the Accession of James the Second]]'', in 1848.<ref>Macaulay, Thomas Babington, ''History of England''. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1878. Vol. V, title page and prefatory "Memoir of Lord Macaulay".</ref>  His writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident, sometimes dogmatic, emphasis on a progressive model of British history, according to which the country threw off superstition, autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward-looking culture combined with the freedom of belief and expression. This model of human progress has been called the [[Whig history|Whig interpretation of history]].<ref>J. R. Western, ''Monarchy and Revolution. The English State in the 1680s'' (London: Blandford Press, 1972), p. 403.</ref>

[[File:Jules Michelet portrait older.jpg|upright|thumb|Jules Michelet, later in his career.]]
In his main work ''Histoire de France'', French historian [[Jules Michelet]] coined the term [[Renaissance]] (meaning "Re-birth" in [[French language]]), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brotton|author-link1=Jerry Brotton|first=Jerry|title=The Renaissance Bazaar|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=21–22}}</ref>
The nineteen-volume work covered French history from [[Charlemagne]] to the outbreak of the [[French Revolution|Revolution]]. Michelet was one of the first historians to shift the emphasis of history to the common people, rather than the leaders and institutions of the country. Another important French historian of the period was [[Hippolyte Taine]]. He was the chief theoretical influence of French [[Naturalism (literature)|naturalism]], a major proponent of [[sociological positivism]] and one of the first practitioners of [[Historicism|historicist]] criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him.<ref>Kelly, R. Gordon, ''"Literature and the Historian"'', American Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1974), 143.</ref>

One of the major progenitors of the history of [[cultural history|culture]] and [[art history|art]], was the Swiss historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/Jacob_Burckhardt.html|title=Jacob Burckhardt The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Cultural history|website=www.age-of-the-sage.org}}</ref> Burckhardt's best-known work is ''[[The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy]]'' (1860). According to [[John Lukacs]], he was the first master of cultural history, which seeks to describe the spirit and the forms of expression of a particular age, a particular people, or a particular place.<ref>John Lukacs, Remembered Past: John Lukacs on History, Historians, and Historical Knowledge, ed. Mark G Malvasi and Jeffrey O. Nelson, Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2004, 215.</ref> By the mid-19th century, scholars were beginning to analyse the history of institutional change, particularly the development of constitutional government. [[William Stubbs]]'s  ''Constitutional History of England'' (3 vols., 1874–78) was an important influence on this developing field. The work traced the development of the English constitution from the Teutonic invasions of Britain until 1485, and marked a distinct step in the advance of English historical learning.<ref>[[s:A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Stubbs, William]]</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] introduced the concept of [[historical materialism]] into the study of world-historical development. In his conception, the economic conditions and dominant modes of production determined the structure of society at that point. Previous historians had focused on the cyclical events of the rise and decline of rulers and nations. Process of [[nationalization of history]], as part of [[Romantic nationalism|national revival]]s in the 19th century, resulted with separation of "one's own" history from common [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] by such way of perceiving, understanding and treating the past that constructed history as history of a nation.<ref name = "laboratory">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f52rawP96lYC&q=%22nationalisation+of+history%22&pg=PA39|title=A Laboratory of Transnational History Ukraine and recent Ukrainian historiography|access-date=October 18, 2010|author=Georgiy Kasianov, Philipp Terr|pages=7|quote=This essay deals with, what I call, "nationalized history", meaning a way of perceiving, understanding and treating the past that requires separation of "one's own" history from "common" history and its construction as history of a nation.|isbn=978-1-84545-621-4|date=2010-04-07|publisher=Berghahn Books }}</ref> A new discipline, [[sociology]], emerged in the late 19th century and analyzed and compared these perspectives on a larger scale.

===Professionalization in Germany===
[[Image:Leopold Von Ranke 1877.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Leopold von Ranke|Ranke]] established history as a professional academic discipline in Germany.]]
The modern academic study of history and methods of historiography were pioneered in 19th-century German universities. [[Leopold von Ranke]] was a pivotal influence in this regard, and is considered as the founder of modern source-based [[history]].<ref>Frederick C. Beiser (2011) ''The German Historicist Tradition'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=w2c6YaKf9usC&pg=PA254 p.254]</ref><ref>Janelle G. Reinelt, Joseph Roach (2007), ''Critical Theory and Performance'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=asORYuvznpQC&dq=rankean+positivism&pg=PA193 p. 193]</ref><ref>Stern (ed.), ''The Varieties of History'', p. 54: "Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) is the father as well as the master of modern historical scholarship."</ref><ref>Green and Troup (eds.), ''The Houses of History'', p. 2: "Leopold von Ranke was instrumental in establishing professional standards for historical training at the University of Berlin between 1824 and 1871."</ref>

Specifically, he implemented the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and analysis of historical documents. Beginning with his first book in 1824, the ''History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514'', Ranke used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses". Over a career that spanned much of the century, Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on [[primary source]]s ([[empiricism]]), an emphasis on [[narrative history]] and especially international politics (''[[political history|aussenpolitik]]'').<ref>E. Sreedharan, ''A textbook of historiography, 500&nbsp;BC to AD&nbsp;2000'' (2004) p 185</ref>  Sources had to be hard, not speculations and rationalizations. His credo was to write history the way it was. He insisted on primary sources with proven authenticity.<ref>Andreas Boldt, "Ranke: objectivity and history." ''Rethinking History'' 18.4 (2014): 457–474.</ref>

===20th century===
The term [[Whig history]] was coined by [[Herbert Butterfield]] in his short book ''The Whig Interpretation of History'' in 1931, (a reference to the British [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]]s, advocates of the power of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]]) to refer to the approach to historiography that presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater [[liberty]] and [[wikt:enlightenment|enlightenment]], culminating in modern forms of [[liberal democracy]] and [[constitutional monarchy]]. In general, Whig historians emphasized the rise of [[constitutional government]], [[personal freedom]]s, and [[scientific progress]]. The term has been also applied widely in historical disciplines outside of [[British history]] (the [[history of science]], for example) to criticize any [[Teleology|teleological]] (or goal-directed), hero-based, and [[Transhistoricity|transhistorical]] narrative.<ref>Ernst Mayr, "When Is Historiography Whiggish?" ''Journal of the History of Ideas,'' April 1990, Vol. 51 Issue 2, pp 301–309 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2709517 in JSTOR]</ref> Butterfield's antidote to Whig history was "...to evoke a certain sensibility towards the past, the sensibility which studies the past 'for the sake of the past', which delights in the concrete and the complex, which 'goes out to meet the past', which searches for 'unlikenesses between past and present'."<ref>Adrian Wilson and T. G. Ashplant, "Whig History and Present-Centred History", ''The Historical Journal'', 31 (1988): 1–16, at p. 10.</ref> Butterfield's formulation received much attention, and the kind of historical writing he argued against in generalised terms is no longer academically respectable.<ref>''G. M. Trevelyan'' (1992), p. 208.</ref>

[[File:Marc Bloch.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The 20th century saw the creation of a huge variety of historiographical approaches. [[Marc Bloch]]'s focus on social history rather than traditional political history was of tremendous influence.]]
The French [[Annales School]] radically changed the focus of historical research in France during the 20th century by stressing long-term social history, rather than political or diplomatic themes. The school emphasized the use of quantification and the paying of special attention to geography.<ref>Lucien Febvre, ''La Terre et l'évolution humaine'' (1922), translated as ''A Geographical Introduction to History'' (London, 1932).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.editions.ehess.fr/revues/annales-histoire-sciences-sociales/numeros-parus/|title=Les Éditions de l'EHESS: Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales|website=www.editions.ehess.fr}}</ref> An eminent member of this school, [[Georges Duby]], described his approach to history as one that <blockquote>relegated the sensational to the sidelines and was reluctant to give a simple accounting of events, but strived on the contrary to pose and solve problems and, neglecting surface disturbances, to observe the long and medium-term evolution of economy, society, and civilisation.</blockquote>

[[Marxist historiography]] developed as a school of historiography influenced by the chief tenets of [[Marxism]], including the centrality of [[social class]] and [[economic]] constraints in determining historical outcomes. [[Friedrich Engels]] wrote ''[[The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844]]'', which was salient in creating the [[socialist]] impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the [[Fabian Society]]. [[R. H. Tawney]]'s ''The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century'' (1912)<ref>[[William Rose Benét]] (1988) p.&nbsp;961</ref> and ''Religion and the Rise of Capitalism'' (1926), reflected his ethical concerns and preoccupations in [[economic history]]. A [[Communist Party Historians Group|circle of historians]] inside the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB) formed in 1946 and became a highly influential cluster of British [[Marxist historiography|Marxist historians]], who contributed to [[history from below]] and class structure in early capitalist society. Members included [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], [[Eric Hobsbawm]] and [[E. P. Thompson]].

[[World history (field)|World history]], as a distinct field of historical study, emerged as an independent academic field in the 1980s. It focused on the examination of [[history]] from a global perspective and looked for common [[pattern]]s that emerged across all cultures. [[Arnold J. Toynbee]]'s ten-volume ''A Study of History'', written between 1933 and 1954, was an important influence on this developing field. He took a comparative topical approach to independent civilizations and demonstrated that they displayed striking parallels in their origin, growth, and decay.<ref>William H. McNeill, ''Arnold J. Toynbee a Life'' (1989)</ref> [[William Hardy McNeill|William H. McNeill]] wrote ''The Rise of the West'' (1965) to improve upon Toynbee by showing how the separate civilizations of Eurasia interacted from the very beginning of their history, borrowing critical skills from one another, and thus precipitating still further change as adjustment between traditional old and borrowed new knowledge and practice became necessary.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = McNeill | first1 = William H. | year = 1995 | title = The Changing Shape of World History | journal = History and Theory | volume = 34 | issue = 2| pages = 8–26 | doi=10.2307/2505432| jstor = 2505432 }}</ref>

====Historical editing====
A new advanced specialty opened in the late 20th century: historical editing. [[Edmund Morgan (historian)|Edmund Morgan]] reports on its emergence in the United States:<ref>Edmund S. Morgan, "John Adams and the Puritan Tradition." ''New England Quarterly'' 34#4 (1961): 518–529 at p. 519.</ref><blockquote>It required, to begin with, large sums of money. But money has proved easier to recruit than talent. Historians who undertake these large editorial projects must leave the main channel of academic life. They do not teach; they do not write their own books; they do not enjoy long vacations for rumination, reflection, and research on whatever topic interests them at the moment. Instead they must live in unremitting daily pursuit of an individual whose company, whatever his genius, may ultimately begin to pall. Anyone who has edited historical manuscripts knows that it requires as much physical and intellectual labor to prepare a text for publication as it does to write a book of one's own. Indeed, the new editorial projects are far too large for one man. The editor-in-chief, having decided to forego a regular academic career, must entice  other scholars to help him; and with the present [high] demand for college teachers, this is no easy task. </blockquote>