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Edward Gibbon ( April 27 , 1737 Gibbon's birthday is April 27, 1737 of the old style (O.S.) Julian calendar; England adopted the new style (N.S.) Gregorian calendar in 1752, and thereafter Gibbon's birthday was celebrated on May 8, 1737, N.S. – January 16 , 1794 ) was an English historian and Member Of Parliament . His most important work, '' The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire '', was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. ''The History'' is known principally for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open denigration of organized religion, though the extent of this is disputed by some critics.The most recent and also the first ''critical'' edition, in three volumes, is that of David Womersley. See ''' References '''. For commentary on Gibbon's irony and insistence on primary sources whenever available, see Womersley, ''Intro''. While the larger part of Gibbon's caustic view of Christianity is declared within the text of chapters XV and XVI, Gibbon rarely neglects to note its baleful influence throughout ''The History'' CHILDHOOD Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, the son of Edward and Judith Gibbon at Lime Grove, in the town of scandal, but eventually regained nearly all of it, so that Gibbon's father was able to inherit a substantial estate. As a youth, his health was under constant threat. He described himself as "a puny child, neglected by my Mother, starved by my nurse". At age nine, Gibbon was sent to Dr. Woddeson's school at Kingston-on-Thames, shortly after which his mother died. He then took up residence in the 's ''Roman History'' (1713), William Howel(l)'s ''An Institution of General History'' (1680–85), and several of the 65 volumes of the acclaimed ''Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time'' (1747–1768).Stephen, ''DNB'', p. 1130; Pocock, ''EEG'', 29–40. At age 14, Gibbon was "a prodigy of uncontrolled reading;" Gibbon himself admitted of an "indiscriminate appetite". p. 29. OXFORD, LAUSANNE, AND A RELIGIOUS JOURNEY Following a stay at Bath to improve his health, Gibbon in 1752 at the age of 15, was sent by his father to on June 8, 1753. He was further "corrupted" by the 'free thinking' deism of the playwright/poet couple David And Lucy Mallet ;Pocock, ''EEG''. for Middleton, see p. 45–47; for Bousset, p. 47; for the Mallets, p.23; Robert Parsons Persons , ''A Christian directory: The first booke of the Christian exercise, appertayning to resolution'', (London, 1582). In his 1796 edition of Gibbon's ''Memoirs'', Lord Sheffield claims that Gibbon directly connected his Catholic conversion to his reading of Parsons. Womersley, ''ODNB'', p. 9. and finally Gibbon's father, already "in despair", had had enough. Within weeks of his conversion, the youngster was removed from Oxford and sent to live under the care and tutelage of David Pavillard, Reformed pastor of , Samuel Puffendorf , John Locke , Pierre Bayle , and Blaise Pascal . THWARTED ROMANCE He also met the one romance in his life: the pastor of Crassy's daughter, a young woman named ''', Project Gutenberg. The phrase, "sighed {Link without Title} " alludes to the play ''Polyeucte'' by "the father of French tragedy", Pierre Corneille . Womersley, ''ODNB'', p. 11. He proceeded to cut off all contact with Curchod, even as she vowed to wait for him. Their final emotional break apparently came at Ferney , France in the spring of 1764, though they did see each other at least one more time a year later.Ibid., 11-12. FIRST FAME AND THE GRAND TOUR Upon his return to England, Gibbon published his first book, ''Essai sur l'Étude de la Littérature'' in (of continental Europe), which included a visit to Rome . The ''Memoirs'' vividly record Gibbon's rapture when he finally neared "the great object of {Link without Title} pilgrimage":
And it was here that Gibbon first conceived the idea of composing a history of the city, later extended to the entire Empire , a moment known to history as the "Capitoline vision":Pocock, "Classical History", para. 2.
''MAGNUM OPUS'' His father died in 1770, and after tending to the estate, which was by no means in good condition, there remained quite enough for Gibbon to settle fashionably in London at 7 Bentinck Street, independent of financial concerns. By February 1773 he was writing in earnest, but not without the occasional self-imposed distraction. He took to London society quite easily, joined the better social clubs, including , he was again returned to Parliament, this time for Lymington on a By-election . Gibbon's Whiggery was solidly conservative: in favor of the propertied oligarchy while upholding the subject's rights under the rule of law; though staunchly against ideas such as the natural rights of man and popular sovereignty, what he referred to as "the wild & mischievous system of Democracy" (Dickinson, "Politics", 178-79). Gibbon also served on the government's Board of Trade and Plantations from 1779 until 1782, when the Board was abolished. The subsequent promise of an embassy position in Paris ultimately aborted, serendipitously leaving Gibbon free to focus on his great project. After several rewrites, and Gibbon "often tempted to throw away the labours of seven years", the first volume of what would become his life's major achievement, '' wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting." And as regards this first volume, "Some warm praise from {Link without Title} Hume overpaid the labour of ten years." Volumes II and III appeared on March 1, 1781, eventually rising "to a level with the previous volume in general esteem". Volume IV was finished in June 1784;Ibid., pp. 49, 57. Both Norton and Womersley (''ODNB'', p. 14) establish that vol. IV was ''substantially'' complete by the end of 1783. the final two were completed during a second Lausanne sojourn (Sept. 1783 to Aug. 1787) where Gibbon reunited with his friend Deyverdun in leisurely comfort. By early 1787, he was "straining for the goal;" and with great relief the project was finished in June. From the ''Memoirs'':
Volumes IV, V, and VI finally reached the press in May 1788, publication having been delayed since March to coincide with a dinner party celebrating Gibbon's 51st birthday (the 8th).Norton, ''Biblio'', p. 61. Mounting a bandwagon of praise for the later volumes were such contemporary luminaries as Adam Smith , William Robertson , Adam Ferguson , Lord Camden , and Horace Walpole . Smith remarked that Gibbon's triumph had positioned him "at the very head of {Link without Title} literary tribe". AFTERMATH AND THE END The years following Gibbon's completion of ''The History'' were filled largely with sorrow and increasing physical discomfort. He had returned to London in late 1787 to oversee the publication process alongside Lord Sheffield. With that accomplished, in 1789 it was back to Lausanne only to learn of and be "deeply affected" by the death of Deyverdun, who had willed Gibbon his home, La Grotte. He resided there with little commotion, took in the local society, received a visit from Sheffield in 1791, and "shared the common abhorrence" of the French Revolution. In 1793, word came of Lady Sheffield's death; Gibbon immediately deserted Lausanne and set sail to comfort a grieving but composed Sheffield. His health began to fail critically in December, and at the turn of the new year, he was on his last legs. Gibbon is believed to have suffered from to set in and spread. The "English giant of the Enlightenment"so styled by the "unrivalled master of Enlightenment studies", historian Franco Venturi (1914–1994). see Pocock, ''EEG'', p. 6; x. finally succumbed at 12:45 pm, January 16, 1794 at age 56, to be buried in the Sheffield family graveyard at the parish church in Fletching, Sussex.Gibbon's estate was valued at approx. £26,000. He left most of his property to cousins. As stipulated in his will, Sheffield oversaw the sale of his library at auction to William Beckford for £950. Womersley, ''ODNB'', 17-18. ASSESSMENT It is generally accepted that Gibbon's treatment of Byzantium has had detrimental effects on the study of the Middle Ages . There remains an issue as to whether his poor analysis is primarily due to a lack of primary sources in this field or to the prejudices of the time.among a vast literature, see R. Jenkins ''Byzantium'', ch. 1, (Toronto, 1987); S. Runciman, ''The Emperor Romanus'', ch. 1, (Cambridge: 1988); J. Shepard, "Byzantine Soldiers, missionaries and diplomacy under Gibbon's eyes", in ''Edward Gibbon and Empire'', R. McKitterick, R. Quinalt, eds. (Cambridge: 1997); Cyril Mango, ed., Preface, ''The Oxford History of Byzantium'', (Oxford: 2003). Gibbon's work has also been criticized for its aggressively scathing view of Christianity as laid down in chapters XV and XVI. Those chapters were strongly criticised and resulted in the banning of the book in several countries. Gibbon's alleged crime was disrespecting, and none too lightly, the character of sacred Christian doctrine in "treat the Christian church as a phenomenon of general history, not a special case admitting supernatural explanations and disallowing criticism of its adherents" as the Roman church was likely expecting. More specifically, Gibbon's blasphemous chapters excoriated the church for two deeply wounding transgressions: displacing the glory and grandeur of ancient Rome ("supplanting in an unnecessarily destructive way the great culture that preceded it"); and reexposing the church's dirty laundry ("for the outrage of [practicing religious intolerance and warfare"). Craddock, ''Luminous Historian'', 60-76 at p.60; also see Shelby Thomas McCloy, ''Gibbon's Antagonism to Christianity'' (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1933). Gibbon, however, began chapter XV with what appeared to be a moderately ''positive'' appraisal of the church's rise to power and authority. Therein he documented one primary and ''five'' secondary causes of the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire: primarily, "the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and...the ruling providence of its great Author;" secondarily, "exclusive zeal, the immediate expectation of another world, the claim of miracles, the practice of rigid virtue, and the constitution of the primitive church". (first quote, Gibbon in Craddock, ''Luminous Historian'', p. 61; second quote, Gibbon in Womersley, ''Decline and Fall'', vol. 1, ch. XV, p. 497.) Gibbon though assumed to be entirely anti-religion was actually supportive to some extent, insofar as it did not obscure his true endeavour- a history that was not influenced and swayed by official church doctrine. Some argue that though it is true that the most famous two chapters are heavily ironical and cutting about religion, that it is interesting that it is in no way utterly condemned, and that the apparant truth and rightness is upheld however thinly. Gibbon, in letters to Holroyd and others, expected some type of church-inspired backlash, but the utter harshness of the ensuing torrents far exceeded anything he or his friends could possibly have anticipated. Contemporary detractors such as '''). Davis followed Gibbon's ''Vindication'' with yet another reply. Gibbon's antagonism to Christian doctrine spilled over into the Jewish faith, inevitably leading to charges of anti-Semitism. For example, he wrote:
BURKE, CHURCHILL AND 'THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD' Gibbon is considered to be a son of the 's rejection of the democratic movements of the time as well as with Burke's dismissal of the "rights of man".Burke supported the ''American'' rebellion, while Gibbon sided with the ministry; but with regard to the ''French'' Revolution they shared a perfect revulsion. At first (1789-1790), Gibbon cautiously withheld his condemnation of the latter (David Womersley, "Gibbon's Unfinished History", in ''Gibbon and the 'Watchmen of the Holy City Gibbon's work has been praised for its style, his piquant epigrams and its effective irony. Winston Churchill memorably noted, "I set out upon...Gibbon's ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' {Link without Title} was immediately dominated both by the story and the style. ...I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all."Winston Churchill, ''My Early Life: A Roving Commission'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958), p. 111. Churchill modelled much of his own literary style on Gibbon's. The future Prime Minister, like the "English Voltaire", dedicated himself to producing a "vivid historical narrative, ranging widely over period and place and enriched by analysis and reflection".Roland Quinault, "Winston Churchill and Gibbon", in ''Edward Gibbon and Empire'', eds. R. McKitterick and R. Quinault (Cambridge: 1997), 317-332, at p. 331; Pocock, "Ironist", paragraph: "Both the autobiography...". Unusually for the 18th century, Gibbon was never content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible. "I have always endeavoured," he says, "to draw from the fountain-head; that my curiosity, as well as a sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and that, if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence, on whose faith a passage or a fact were reduced to depend."Womersley, ''Decline and Fall'', vol. 2, Preface to Gibbon vol. 4, p. 520. In this insistence upon the importance of primary sources, Gibbon is considered by many to be one of the first modern historians:
INFLUENCE ON OTHER WRITERS The subject of Gibbon's writing as well as his ideas and style have influenced other writers. Besides his influence on Churchill, Gibbon was also a model for Isaac Asimov in his writing of The Foundation Trilogy . The writings of Shoghi Effendi , which constitute the majority of authoritative primary-source written works in the Bahá'í Faith , are written in a style quite similar to Gibbon's ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire''. This is often attributed to the influence of his avowed appreciation of Gibbon and Carlyle. The Life of Shoghi Effendi by Helen Danesh, John Danesh and Amelia Danesh. Reportedly he kept a copy of the ''Decline and Fall'' at hand and was known to "...repeatedly read aloud from it and comment on its matchless style". Translating the Hidden Words: an extended review of Diana Malouf's Unveiling the Hidden Words by Franklin Lewis. NOTES The majority of this article, including quotations unless otherwise noted, has been adapted from Stephen, ''DNB'' (see References ). MONOGRAPHS BY GIBBON
OTHER WRITINGS BY GIBBON
REFERENCES
FURTHER READING Before 1985
Since 1985
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
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