·HISTORIOGR.APHY· H·I·S·T·Q·R·I·Q·G·R·A·P·H·Y Ancient, Medieval, & Modern ·ERNST BREISACH· Second Editic~n THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICi\GO PRESS Chicago & London The University ofChicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University ofChicago Press, Ltd., London © 1983, 1994 by The University ofChicago All rights reserved. First edition published 1983 Second edition published 1994 ISBN: 0-226-07278-9 Printed in the United States ofAmerica 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Breisach, Ernst. Historiography: ancient, medieval & modern / Ernst Breisach. 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Historiography. I. Title. 013.B686 1994 94-12821 907'.2-dc20 CIP >€ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirementsofthe American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Ad Hermam uxorem etsociam ·CONTEN~rs· Preface xi Introduction ·1· The Emergence ofGreek Historiography 5 The Timeless Past ofGods and Heroes 5 DiscoveringaPast ofHuman Dimensions 8 ·2· The Era ofthePolis and Its Historians 12 The New History ofthePolis 12 The Decline ofthePolis: The Loss ofFocus 21 ·3· Reaching the Limits ofGreek I-listoriography 27 The History ofaSpecial Decade 27 Hellenistic Historiography: Beyond the Confines ofthePolis 30 The Problem ofNew Regions and People 34 ·4· Early Roman Historiography Myths, Greeks, and the R~epublic 40 An Early Past Dimly Perceived 40 The Roman Pastand Greek Learning 43 Greco-Roman History Writing: Triumph and a Latin Response 45 ·5· Historians and the RepubLic's Crisis 52 History as Inspiration and Structural Analysis 52 History Divorced from Rome's Fate 56 vii Contents -6- Perceptions ofthe Past in Augustan and Imperial Rome 60 History Writingin the "New Rome" of Augustus 60 Historians and the Empire 65 -7- The Christian Historiographical Revolution 77 The Formulation ofEarly Christian Historiography 77 The Problem ofContinuity in an Age ofUpheaval 88 The Carolingianand Anglo-Saxon Consolidationin Historiography 97 ·8- The Historiographical Mastery ofNew Peoples, States, and Dynasties 107 IntegratingPeoplesinto Latin Historiography 107 Legitimizing New States and Dynasties 112 -9· Historiansand the Ideal ofthe Christian Commonwealth 121 The Last SynthesisofEmpire and Christianity 121 The Persistence ofChristianThemes 125 Histories ofaGrand and Holy Venture: The Crusades 132 -10- Historiography's Adjustment to AcceleratingChange 138 The Search for Developmental Patterns 138 Transformations ofthe Chronicle 144 -II· TwoTurningPoints The Renaissanceand The Reformation 153 The Italian Renaissance Historians 153 Humanist Revisionism Outside ofItaly 162 The Collapse ofSpiritual Unity 166 -12· The Continuing Modification ofTraditional Historiography 171 The BlendingofTheoreticaland Patriotic Answers 171 Universal History: ATroubled Tradition 177 Historians, the New Politics, and New Perceptions ofthe World 185 The Originand Early Forms ofAmerican History 195 -13 - The Eighteenth-Century Quest fora New Historiography 199 The Reassessment ofHistoricalOrderand Truth 199 New Views on HistoricalTruth 201 New Grand Interpretations: Progressin History 205 New Grand Interpretations: The CyclicalPattern 210 viii Contents ·14· Three National Responses 215 The British Blend ofErudition, Elegance, and Empiricism 215 Enlightenment Historiography in a German Key 217 Recording the Birth ofthe American Nation 224 ·15· Historians as Interpreters ofProgress and Nation-I 228 German Historians: The Causes ofTruth and National Unity 229 France: Historians, the Nation, and Liberty 238 ·16· Historians as Interpreters ofProgress and Nation-II 248 English Historiography in the Age ofRevolution 248 Historians and the Building ofthe American Nation 255 Historiography's "Golden Age" 261 ·17· A First Prefatory Note to Modern Historiography (1860-1914) 268 ·18· History and the Quest for a Uniform Science 272 Comte's Call to Arms and the Response 272 The German and English Responses to Positivist Challenges 278 The Peculiar American Synthesis 286 ·19· The Discovery ofEconomic Dynamics 291 An Economic Perspective on the Past 291 Karl Marx: Paneconornic Historiography 293 Economic History afterMarx 297 ·20· Historians Encounter the l\1asses 303 Jubilant and Dark Visions 303 Social History as Institutional History 306 The American "New History": Call for aDemocratic History 313 ·21 · The Problem ofWorld History 319 ·22· A Second Prefatory Note to Modern Historiography (since 1914) 323 ix