Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Edward Gibbon (born May 8 [April 27, Old Style], 1737, Putney, Surrey, England—died January 16, 1794, London) was an English rationalist historian and scholar best known as the author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88), a continuous narrative from the 2nd century ce to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Gibbon’s grandfather, Edward, had made a considerable fortune and his father, also Edward, was able to live an...