1. Evolution of Historiography from Fifth to Nineteenth Century 2. Greek and Roman Historiography 3. Christian, Renaissance and Reformation Historiography 4. Cartesian and Anti-Cartesian Historiography 5. Enlightenment and Romanticist Historiography 6. Positive Historiography 7. Scientific Historiography

1. Elements of Historiography : Trends and Approaches
S. Kannan, Assistant Professor of History, Annamalai University
Deputed to Raja Doraisingam Govt. arts College, Sivagangai

2. Historiography Prominent Historians Major Trends & Approaches
Greek
5th century BC to 2nd century BC
Herodotus Polybius
Thucydides Xenophon
Descriptive and Analytical Approach
Roman
3rd century BC to 2nd century AD
Titus Livy
Cornelius Tacitus
Descriptive and Analytical Approach
Christian
3rd century AD to 5th century AD
Eusebius
St. Augustine
Religious Perspective
Renaissance
13th century AD to 15th century AD
Niccolo Machiavelli Religious Perspective
Reformation
15th century AD to 16th century AD
Desiderius Erasmus
Sabestian Franck
Religious Perspective
Cartesian
16th century AD to 17th century AD
Rene Descartes
Montesquieu
Scientific Perspective
Anti Cartesian
17th century AD to 18th century AD
Vico Natural Scientific Perspective
Enlightenment
17th century AD to 18th century AD
Voltaire
Edward Gibbon
Scientific Perspective
Romanticist
18th century AD to 19th century AD
Rousseau Hegel
Immanuel Kant
Rationalistic Approach
Positive
19th century AD
Auguste Comte Scientific Perspective
Scientific
18th century AD to 19th century AD
Karl Marx Spengler Trevelyan
Ranke Croce Toynbee
Analytic & Scientific Perspective
Arab, Chinese, Indian, Subaltern and
Annales

3. Greek Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Greece,
484BC to
425BC
• Geographical details
• Use of sources and their in-depth
examination and estimation
• Historical description
• Biased
• Unreliable events
Herodotus
(Father of
History)
Histories
(Grecco-Persian wars)
Greece,
471BC to
399BC
• Use of reliable sources
• Adaptation of general logic if reliable
sources are absent
• Scientific historical method
• Moderation
• Strict standard of evidence
gathering and analysis of
cause and effect
• Analytical method
• More military related details
• Absence of chronological
frame work
• Lacks enjoyment of reading
Thucydides
(Father of
scientific History)
History of Peloponnesian
War
Greece,
430BC to
354BC
• Historical description
• Gave importance for
superstitious beliefs
• Fantasy
• Biased
Anabasis,
Memerabilla,
Hellenica
Xenophon

4. Greek Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Greece,
198BC to
117BC
• Examination of sources
• Policy of moderation
• Negation of divine force in history
• Analytical approach
• Over emphasis on elements
of history (aim, nature and
duties of historian)
• Lacks effective description of
historical events
Polybius Histories,
History of Roman Empire
Characteristics of Greek Historiography
1. Rests on historical truth
2. Scientific
3. Humanistic
4. Rationalistic

5. Roman Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Rome,
59BC to
17AD
• Complete history of Rome (not a part of
it)
• Avoided the unreliable sources
• Historical description
• Acceptance of superstitions
• Over usage of legends
• Seldom consults original
sources
Titus Livy History of Rome
Rome,
55AD to
120AD
• Source based history
• Historical description
• Failed to check the
authenticity of sources
Dialogue on Orators,
Life of Agricola,
Annals,
Historiae (History)
Cornelius Tacitus
Characteristics of Roman Historiography
1. Followed Greek historiography
2. Humanistic
3. Gave importance to recent past or contemporary events
4. Stressed on moral purpose

6. Christian Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Palestine,
260AD to
340AD
• Treated history in the universal point
of view
• Use of original documents
• Historical description
• Christian point of view
• Deliberately excludes matters that
might not edify his
Christian readers to support his
philosophy
• Thought to establish the birth of
Christ as the centre of historical
processEusebius Ecclesiastical History,
Chronicle
Algeria
(North
Africa),
354AD to
430AD
• Philosophical and theological touch to
history
• Historical description
• Over dependant on god and
theology
• Non analytical
• Non humanistic
St. Augustine City of God,
Confessions
Characteristics of Christian Historiography
1. Writing of history in the theological point of view (History became theology)
2. Clear cut chronological frame work
3. Universal perspective
4. Negligence of analytical method
5. Negligence of humanism

7. Renaissance Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Rome,
1469AD to
1527AD
• Shifted history from theory of divine
to analytical humanistic
• Stressed upon cause and effect of
events
• Historical description
• Negligence of art and culture
• Pro monarchical
Niccolo
Machiavelli
The Prince,
Discourses on Livy,
History of Florence,
The Art of War
Reformation Historiography
Netherlands
1466AD to
1536AD
• History was written in world
perspective
• Treatment of contemporary historical
events
• Historical description
• History was used as tool for
religious propagation
• Non analytical
Desiderius
Erasmus
The Praise of Folly,
History of Richard III
Germany,
1499AD to
1543AD
• History was written in world
perspective
• Treatment of contemporary historical
events
• Historical description
• History was used as tool for
religious propagation
• Non analytical
Sabestian Franck
World History,
Chronicle of Germany

8. Cartesian Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
France,
1596AD to
1650AD
• Questioned the credibility of History
• Exaggeration of information
• Escapism
• Historical atheist
• Application of rationalism in history
• Analytical approach
• Non-descript
• Non-lucid
Rene Descartes
(Founder of
Carticianism)
The World,
Discourses on method
France,
1689AD to
1775AD
• Looked History as natural history of
man
• Took keen interest to examine the
course of History
• Application of rationalism in history
• Tried to seek general rules in history
• Analytical and comparative approach
• Reduced history to the inexorable
[restless] law of nature and
subordinated historical processes
to the dictates of geography and
climatology
Montesquieu Spirit of Laws,
Persian Letters
Anti Cartesian Historiography
Rome,
1668AD to
1744AD
• Unbiased / moderation
• Avoidance of the pride over the
subject of research
• Avoidance of self-boasting
• Avoidance of own prejudices
• Analytical approach
• Criticized the expansion and
development of modern
rationalism
• Over response to Cartesian
method
Vico
New Science,
Universal Law

9. Enlightenment Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
France,
1694AD to
1778AD
• Secularised History
• Democratised historiography
by laying stress on the life and culture
of the human race.
• Analytical approach
• More polemical (art of
disputation) than critical -
analytical
• Prejudiced premises
Voltaire
(Founder of
Rationalist
School of
Enlightenment of
Historiography)
The Age of Louis XIV,
World History
England,
1739AD to
1794AD
• Rejected theological interpretation of
history
• Secular approach to history
• Passion for truth
• Strong belief in the idea of continuity
of history
• Analytical approach
• Highly critical of Christianity
• Negated the history and
achievement of Byzantine or
eastern Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon Decline and Fall of Roman
Empire,
Memoris

10. Romanticist Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
France,
1712AD to
1799AD
• Concept of General Will
•Analytical approach
• Praise of rural life and attach of
urban life
• His views on General Will and
theology are not lucid and
impractical
Rousseau
(Father of
Romanticist
Historiography)
Social Contract,
Emile,
Confessions
Prussia,
1724AD to
1804AD
• Division of the universe into two
worlds
1.Phenomena – material world
2. Noumena – mental world
• Stressed the importance of history of
universe
• Human rights
• Human progress
• Analytical approach
• His division of universe is artificial
• His views are negative and
pessimistic
Immanuel Kant
(Founder of
Romantic
idealism)
Critique of Pure Reason,
Critique of Practical
Reason,
Germany
1770AD to
1831AD
• Raised history to the higher level of
philosophy
• History is dialectic
• History is expression of thought
• Reason is the moving force in history
and it is the main spring of the
historical processes
• Human history is the interaction
between reason and passion
• Inside and outside of history are
important
• Analytical & interpretative approach
• Confined himself with political
history
• His emphasis on reconstruction of
history without reliance on
empirical evidence is criticsied
• His view that nature and history
are diametrically different is also
criticised
• His doctrine that history ends in
the present is unjustifiable
Reason in History,
Lectures on the
Philosophy of History
Hegel

11. Positive Historiography
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
France,
1798AD to
1857AD
• Sociology is the apex of sciences
• Law of three stages
1. Theological stage
2. Metaphysical stage
3. Positivist stage
• Utilisation of social laws for the
interpretation of history
• Methods of study of society
1. Observation method
2. Experimental method
3. Comparative method
4. Historical method
• Analytical approach
• His conviction of positivism is
as the final stage in the
development of history of
humanity is unacceptable
• His idea of evolving general
rules in history as natural
science is unjustifiable
Auguste Comte
(Father of
positivism)
System of Positive Polity,
A Plan for the Scientific
Works Necessary to
Reorganise Society

12. Scientific Historiography - 1
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Germany,
1818AD to
1883AD
• Dialectical materialism
• Materialistic interpretation of history
• Theory of class struggle in history
• Moving forces of historical
development
• Analytical & interpretative approach
• He developed his dialectical
materialism on the basis of
European history
• His six stage evolution of society
is arbitrary and unhistorical
• His conviction of economic
reasons alone effect historical
process is questionedKarl Marx
(Founder of
Scientific
Socialism)
Das Capital,
Communist Manifesto
Germany,
1795AD to
1886AD
• Objectivity in history
• History on documentary evidence
• Rendered history autonomous
• Critical examination and estimation of
evidences
• Historicism
• Analytical approach
• Neglected economic and cultural
aspects
• His emphasis on God and believe
in Lutheran Christianity were
against his policies
• Supporter of conservatives of
Europe
• Biased
Ranke
(Founder of
Modern Scientific
Historiography)
History of the Latin and
Teutonic Nations,
History of Popes,
World History
Germany
1880AD to
1936AD
• He considers culture as core of
history and takes it as the basic unit
of historical study
• Cyclical theory of history
1.Primitive nomadic
2. Agricultural stage
3. Feudalistic stage
4. National stage. In the final stage
culture degenerates
•Analytical & interpretative approach
• Did not believe in human progress
• His cyclical theory of history is
clearly unhistorical
Spengler Decline of the West,
Man and Technique

13. Scientific Historiography - 2
Name of the
Historian
Native &
Period
Important Works Historical Approach /
Contributions
Limitations
Italy,
1866AD to
1952AD
• Separated history from science
• The spirit manifests itself to the
medium of history in four
fundamental forms
1.Aesthetic – reflection of individual’s
intuition
2.Logical – reason is required to
interpret historical factors
3.Economic – provides material base
for history
4.Ethical – Moral loss are essence of
history
• Analytical & interpretative approach
• He developed his dialectical
materialism on the basis of
European history
• His six stage evolution of society
is arbitrary and unhistorical
• His conviction of economic
reasons alone effect historical
process is questionedCroce History-
Its Theory and Practice,
Philosophy of the Spirit,
England,
1876AD to
1962AD
• Perfected the techniques of historical
research by facts, contents and elegant
language
• Believed in the continuity of history
• Analytical approach
• Biased for the superiority of the
English nation and English
institutions
George Macaulay
Trevelyan
English Social History,
England under Stuarts
England,
1889AD to
1975AD
• Analysis of genesis, growth, breakdown and
disintegration of 26civilisations of the world
1.Gensis – creative minority and set
circumstances
2. Growth – facing and solving challenges
3. Breakdown and disintegration – failed in
facing the challenges
• Analytical & interpretative approach
• Chosen the civilisation that were
convenient for his interpretation
and conclusion
• Fixed the sources in the already
planned research frame work
• Use of legendary stories
Toynbee Study of History,
New Europe

14. Thank You
“Men are dependent on circumstances, not circumstances on men”
– Herodotus, Father of History