Historiography

Introduction
History of historiography
- Ancient historiography
  - The first histories
    - Egypt and Mesopotamia
    - China
  - Hebrew traditions
  - Greek historiography
    - Herodotus
    - Thucydides
  - Roman historiography
    - Polybius
    - Diodorus, Sallust, and Livy
    - Tacitus
    - Suetonius and Plutarch
- Medieval historiography
  - The early Christian conception of history
  - Augustine
  - Early Germanic and English histories
  - Chronicles and hagiographies
  - New forms
- Islamic historiography
  - Al-Ṭabarī and Rashīd al-Dīn
  - Ibn Khaldūn
- History in the Renaissance
  - Petrarch
  - Lorenzo Valla
  - Flavio Biondo and Leonardo Bruni
  - Niccolò Machiavelli
  - Francesco Guicciardini
  - Giorgio Vasari
- Early modern historiography
  - Church history
    - Centuriae Magdeburgenses and Annales Ecclesiastici
    - Paolo Sarpi
  - Legal history
    - Guillaume Budé and François Hotman
    - François Baudouin and Jean Bodin
    - Étienne Pasquier
    - The Bollandist Fathers and Jean Mabillon
- Enlightenment historiography
  - Science and skepticism
  - Montesquieu and Voltaire
  - Edward Gibbon
- Romantic historiography
  - Johann Gottfried von Herder
  - Giambattista Vico
  - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
  - Jules Michelet
  - Historiography in England
  - Historiography in the United States
- History becomes academic
  - Johann Christoph Gatterer and the Göttingen scholars
  - Leopold von Ranke
- New histories
  - Germany
  - France
  - The United States
  - Marxist historiography
- Contemporary historiography
Branches of history
- History of the arts
- Biography and psychohistory
- Diplomatic history
- Economic history
- Intellectual history
- Military history
- Political history
- History of science
- Social and cultural history
- Women’s history
- World history
Methodology of historiography
- The historian’s sources
- From explanation to interpretation
- The presentation of history

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Histoire de la Nouvelle France

Oracle bone inscriptions

15th-century German Bible illustration showing Moses leading a group of Israelites between parted green waves of the Red Sea, with Hebrew text above.

St. Mark depiction in illuminated manuscript

Engraving of Petrarch wearing a laurel wreath and a robe, holding a closed book in his left hand.

Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito shows Machiavelli in black and red robes, holding a document, against a plain background.

Mosaic portrait of Emperor Justinian I with a jeweled crown and halo, from the 6th-century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

At a Glance

Herodotus, detail of a Roman herm probably copied from a Greek original of the first half of the 4th century bce; in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

historiography summary

Historiography: Media

history

Videos

How a Historical Interpreter Connects to the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

How a Historical Interpreter Connects to the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

Historical interpreter Stephen Seals talks about how he educates the public on the...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Histoire de la Nouvelle France

Histoire de la Nouvelle France

Title page of Histoire de la Nouvelle France (1609; History of New France)...

Les Muses de la Nouvelle France by Marc Lescarbot, 1609/Archive.org

Oracle bone inscriptions

Oracle bone inscriptions

Oracle bone inscriptions from the village of Xiaotun, Henan province, China; Shang...

By permission of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library

15th-century German Bible illustration showing Moses leading a group of Israelites between parted green waves of the Red Sea, with Hebrew text above.

Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea

Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea; illustration from a German...

© Universal History Archive—Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Herotodus

Herotodus

Herodotus, detail of a Roman herm probably copied from a Greek original of the first...

Courtesy of the Soprintendenza alle Antichità della Campania, Naples

St. Mark depiction in illuminated manuscript

St. Mark depiction in illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript page from the Gospel Book of the Court School of Charlemagne...

Stadtbibliothek, Trier, Ger.

Engraving of Petrarch wearing a laurel wreath and a robe, holding a closed book in his left hand.

Italian scholar, poet, and humanist Petrarch

© Georgios Kollidas/stock.adobe.com

Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito shows Machiavelli in black and red robes, holding a document, against a plain background.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli, oil on canvas by Santi di Tito; in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence....

© brandstaetter images—Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images

Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari

Self-portrait, oil on canvas by Giorgio Vasari; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

© Vincenzo Fontana— Corbis Historical/Getty Images

Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Portrait of Martin Luther, oil on panel by Lucas Cranach, 1529; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Photos.com/Getty Images

Mosaic portrait of Emperor Justinian I with a jeweled crown and halo, from the 6th-century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

Justinian I

Justinian I, depicted in a 6th-century mosaic; at the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna,...

© A. De Gregorio—De Agostini/Getty Images

Pasquier, Étienne

Pasquier, Étienne

Étienne Pasquier.

From Les Recherches de la France, by Étienne Pasquier, 1633

René Descartes

René Descartes

Philosopher and mathematician René Descartes.

National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon, oil painting by Henry Walton, 1774; in the National Portrait Gallery,...

Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London

Johann Gottfried von Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder, detail of an oil painting by Gerhard von Kügelgen, 1808;...

Courtesy of the Library of Tartu State University

Giambattista Vico

Giambattista Vico

Giambattista Vico.

From La Mente di Giambattista Vico by Giuseppe Ferrari, 1837

Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet, detail of an oil painting by Thomas Couture; in the Carnavalet Museum,...

© Heritage Images— Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Leopold von Ranke

Leopold von Ranke

Leopold von Ranke, detail of an oil painting by J. Schrader, 1868; in the National-Galerie,...

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Preussischer Kulturbesitz

Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte, drawing by Tony Toullion, 19th century; in the Bibliothèque Nationale,...

H. Roger-Viollet

Frederick Jackson Turner

Frederick Jackson Turner

Frederick Jackson Turner.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Marx, c. 1870.

From "Karl Marx's Oekonomische Lehren", by Karl Kautsky, 1887

The Holy Family by Giorgione shows Mary holding the infant Jesus with Joseph beside them, set outdoors near a stone structure with a landscape visible through an archway.

Giorgione: The Holy Family

The Holy Family, oil painting by Giorgione, c. 1508; in the National Gallery...

Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection

Adam Smith

Adam Smith

Adam Smith, paste medallion by James Tassie, 1787; in the Scottish National Portrait...

Courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth of England, portrait in oil by an unknown artist, English,...

Carlo Bevilacqua—Scala/Art Resource, New York

Herodotus, detail of a Roman herm probably copied from a Greek original of the first half of the 4th century bce; in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

Herodotus, detail of a Roman herm probably copied from a Greek original of the first...

Courtesy of the Soprintendenza alle Antichità della Campania, Naples

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