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Historiography

University, History

Methods and schools of the historical discipline: source criticism and interpretation. Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Fundamental concepts and methodology of historiography

  • Historiography: The science and art of writing and studying history
  • Historiographer: Specialist in historiography
  • Historiographical sciences and techniques: Paleography, documentary sciences, sigillography, diplomatics, codicology, and numismatics
  • History: The events of the past
  • Historiography: The science that studies and writes history
  • Historiology: The epistemology of history (structure and laws)
  • Philosophy of history: The study of the purpose, end, or meaning of human history
  • Historicism: A philosophical current that views reality as a product of historical becoming
  • Primary sources: Testimonies contemporary to the events (e.g., laws, treaties)
  • Secondary sources: Products created subsequently (e.g., books, articles)
  • Treatment of sources: Classification, precedence, typology, collection, criticism, and contrast

Concepts of Historiography, Documentation, and Intersubjectivity

  • Historiography: the production of writings on a topic or the body of historians of a nation.
  • Difference: historiographical production can be used as historical documentation.
  • Subjectivity: the historian is inseparable from their interests, ideology, and mindset.
  • Intersubjectivity: a concept that replaces pure objectivity, understanding history as a social product.
  • Specialization: history is segmented by epistemological necessity and the choice of 'lenses' or points of view.
  • Perspective: the holistic vision requires the complementarity of multiple partial perspectives.
  • Temporal biases: include classical periodizations, criticized for being Eurocentric and for not considering overlaps.

Origins, methodologies, and biases of historiography

  • Annals: origin of the recording of historical memory
  • Chronicles: reflection of notable events (e.g., reigns)
  • Archontology: historical record based on chronological names of offices
  • Rome: dating by the consuls
  • Egypt: dating by years (Palermo Stone), months/days (Turin Royal Canon), or dynasties (Manetho)
  • Non-historical cultures: mythical/ahistorical past time after a few years
  • Chronological treatment: standard method for linking causes and effects
  • Diachronic treatment: study of the temporal evolution of an event
  • Synchronic treatment: comparison of events at the same time but on different planes
  • Historical specialties: periods with high intensity of debate and production
  • Braudel's concepts: longue durée, punctual event, and conjuncture
  • Prehistory vs. Archaeology: archaeology uses material methods even in periods with written sources
  • Oral history: use of non-written sources
  • Spatial biases: continental, national, regional, and local
  • National history: fundamental in the definition of nations
  • Local history: of greater universal validity if it transcends erudition
  • Thematic biases: give rise to sectoral history

Classifications, specialties, and genres of history

  • Political history: includes institutions, systems, Law, and military.
  • Economic history: includes social and labor movements.
  • History of religions: emerged from the need for comparative study.
  • Art history: milestones in Classical Antiquity, the Renaissance, and Neoclassicism.
  • History of ideas: includes science, technology, ideologies, and doctrines.
  • Microhistory: the study of the specificity of social phenomena.
  • History from below: focus on disadvantaged social groups.
  • History of the present: created in the 1980s.
  • Ecohistory: integrates climatology and genetics.
  • Natural history: includes geology, paleontology, and cosmology.
  • Auxiliary sciences: economics, demography, sociology, anthropology, ecology, and geography.
  • Historical novel: a genre of fiction.
  • Biography: a genre about the lives of individuals.
  • Prosopography: a systematic genre for general history.
  • Arcontology: lists of kings and rulers.

Historiographical currents and the evolution of historiography

  • Providentialism: Christian origin and Greek tradition.
  • Historical materialism: Marxist origin, predominant until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
  • Criterion for distinction: identification of the historical subject.
  • Historiographical groups: formed by journals, university chairs, and peer recognition.
  • Chinese history: Sima Qian (109-91 BCE) and the official model of Ban Gu (1st century CE) until 1928.
  • Africa and pre-Columbian America: predominance of oral sources until the second half of the 20th century.
  • Leo Africanus: History and description of Africa (1526).
  • Hecataeus of Miletus: distinction between truth and falsehood (6th century BCE).
  • Herodotus: introduction of 'research' (history) in the 5th century BC.
  • Thucydides: the first true historiographical work with a critical spirit and confrontation of sources.
  • Polybius: the first author to seek intrinsic causes of historical development (2nd century BC).

Evolution of Roman and Medieval historiography

  • Origin myths: Collected by Virgil in the Aeneid for ideological purposes.
  • Annual chronicles: The responsibility of the pontiffs until the Punic Wars.
  • First Latin historical work: The Origins of Cato (3rd century BC).
  • Sallust: Analyzes the degeneration of the Republic and political factions (63 BC and 111-105 BC).
  • Julius Caesar: Documented the Gallic Wars (58-52 BC) and the Civil War (49-48 BC).
  • Titus Livy: Ab Urbe Condita (142 books/decades); ethical-didactic and literary focus.
  • Tacitus: Historian of the Flavian Empire focused on investigating causes.
  • Methodological shift: Introduction of Augustinian providentialism with Christianity.
  • Medieval historiography: Providentialist character, centered on the clergy, saints, and genealogies.
  • Interest in the people: Emerges in the 14th century with Froissart and Matteo Villani.
  • Ibn Khaldun: Precursor of the philosophy of history, economics, and sociology in the 14th-15th centuries.

Evolution of historiography in the Renaissance and Spanish Chronicles

  • Auxiliary sciences of the Renaissance: epigraphy, numismatics, and diplomatics.
  • Dom Mabillon (1681): criteria for the authenticity of records through the comparison of sources.
  • Lorenzo Valla: proved the falsity of the Donation of Constantine.
  • Giorgio Vasari: historiographical method for Art history.
  • Historical division of the period: general history and natural history.
  • Perfect History: seeks political/religious unity based on Gallic origins (Etienne Pasquier).
  • Providentialism: Bossuet (1681) devalues the significance of historical changes.
  • History as an instrument of power (Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Racine).
  • Byzantine-Arabic Chronicle (741) and Mozarabic Chronicle (754): precede those of Alfonso III.
  • 12th-century Chronicles: Silense (c. 1110), Pelayo, Alfonso VII, and Nájera.
  • Alfonso X the Wise: Estoria de España (First General Chronicle) and Grande e General Estoria.
  • Pedro López de Ayala: 14th-century Chronicles on Don Pedro, Henry II, John I, and Henry III.

Chronicle writing and historiographical genres in the Iberian Peninsula

  • Sum of the Chronicles of Spain: Pablo García de Santa María (up to 1412)
  • Chronicle of Juan II: Álvar García de Santa María (1406-1434)
  • Atalaya de las Crónicas: Alfonso Martínez de Toledo (1443)
  • Crónica Valeriana: Diego de Valera (1482)
  • Chronicle of the Catholic Monarchs: up to 1488
  • Liber regum: first general history in the vernacular (1194-1211)
  • Crónica d'Espayña: García de Eugui (c. 1387)
  • Chronicle of the Kings of Navarre: Carlos de Trastámara (1454)
  • Estoria de los godos: first version in the vernacular (1252-1253)
  • Chronicle of Ramón Muntaner: covers the period 1207-1328
  • History of Spain: Father Mariana (1592, expanded in 1601)
  • News and Judgment of the Most Important Historians of Spain: 1708
  • Additional genres: memoirs (c. 1400), biography, travelogues, and accounts of specific events

Historiography in Al-Andalus, the Indies, and the Enlightenment

  • Ajbar Mutuk al-andalus: the first general history of the Iberian Peninsula (10th century AD)
  • Chronicle of the Moor Rasis: the name by which the work of Muhammad al-Razi was disseminated in Christian kingdoms
  • Ibn Hazm: author of Fisal (Critical History of Religions, Sects, and Schools) in the 11th century
  • Nafh al-Tib: a work by Al-Maqqari that completes classical Islamic historiography (16th-17th centuries)
  • Justificatory character: a distinctive trait of the earliest works of American history
  • Polemic of the Just Titles: a debate originated by the work of Bartolomé de las Casas
  • Antonio de Herrera: appointed Chronicler Major of the Indies in 1596
  • Décadas: a work by Antonio de Herrera published between 1601 and 1615
  • 18th Century: creation of the Real Academia de la Historia (Royal Academy of History) and the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies)
  • Neoclassicism and Archaeology: emerged following the discovery of Pompeii
  • The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: a work by Edward Gibbon (1776-1788)
  • España Sagrada: an ultra-conservative work by Enrique Flórez (1747)
  • Viaje de España: a compilation document by Antonio Ponz

Evolution and professionalization of historiography in the 19th century

  • France: Professionalization and national archives in 1808
  • France: Creation of the Ecole nationale des Chartes in 1821
  • Germany: Creation of the Monumenta Germaniae historica in 1819
  • Theodor Mommsen: Provided critical foundations to scholarship in Römische Geschischte (1845-1846)
  • Fustel de Coulanges: Defined history as a pure science starting in 1860
  • Ideological influences: Liberalism, nationalism, and racism in the 19th century
  • Romantic historians: Maintained history as an art with a literary style
  • Leopold Von Ranke: Proposed writing history "as it actually was"
  • Johann Gustav Droysen: Established the concept of Hellenism
  • Heinrich von Treitschke: Coined an antisemitic motto
  • Hans Delbrück: Developed military history
  • Historicism (Germany): Ideas are the root of the historical process
  • Positivism (France): Analytical and naturalistic approach to facts
  • Eclectic Synthesis (England): Balance between positivism and historicism
  • Wilhelm Dilthey: Classified history as a science of the spirit (subjective)
  • Hegel and Marx: Introduced social change into historical analysis
  • Jacob Burckhardt: Reference for understanding cultural phenomena (Renaissance)
  • James George Frazer: Related human societies to magic and religion through anthropology

Evolution of Spanish and European historiography in the 19th and 20th centuries

  • 19th Century: Creation of the National Library and the National Historical Archive
  • 19th-century Spanish historiography: Division between the liberal and traditionalist currents (Menéndez y Pelayo)
  • 20th Century: Consolidation of history as a social science with an institutional structure
  • Influence of Auguste Comte's positivism: Focus on the isolated fact and objectivity
  • Emergence of cultural history and history of ideas (Huizinga, Hazard)
  • Contributions of Spengler, Toynbee, and Ortega y Gasset on the concept of civilization
  • Influence of Marxist historical materialism on historical economics
  • Development of auxiliary sciences: archaeology, demography, sociology, and anthropology
  • Annales School (1928): Founded by Febvre and Bloch; introduces sociology
  • Concept of longue durée versus the short time of events
  • Fernand Braudel: Introduction of geography and political economy (world-economy)
  • Shift in historical testimony: from central object to a tool of construction
  • History of everyday life: Themes such as death, fear, and sexuality (Ariès, Delumeau, Foucault)
  • Roland Mousnier: Social history of the Ancien Régime as a society of orders

Historiographical currents: New History, New Cultural History, and the revision of the French Revolution

  • New History: Current of the 3rd generation of Annales (Nora and Le Goff, 1973)
  • Objective of New History: Serial history of mentalities and collective representations
  • New Cultural History: Started in 1966, based on anthropological history
  • Interdisciplinarity: Collaboration with sociology, psychology, and linguistics
  • Definition of culture (Geertz): Symbolic dimension of action and meanings in everyday habits
  • Principles of cultural history: Otherness, existence of subcultures, and symbolic construction
  • Historiographical revisionism: Difference between scientific revision (Popper) and political use by 'outsiders'
  • Structuralist paradigm (1989): Proposed by Furet and Richet as an alternative to Marxism
  • Narrativists: Simon Schama proposes a cultural history of the political, anti-structuralist and conservative
  • Arno Mayer's critique: A priori condemnation of revolutions as perverse in current revisionism

The use of history in commemorations and Anglo-Saxon and Italian historiographical trends

  • Commemorations: serve as professional prestige and ideological justification.
  • Milestones in Spain: Civil War (1976-2006), Carlos III (1988), Encounter of Two Worlds (1992), Cánovas (1998), Quijote Year (2005).
  • Institution: Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales.
  • Religious exhibitions: 'Las edades del hombre' and 'Inmaculada' (2006).
  • Cliometrics: New economic history by Fogel and North (Nobel Prize 1993).
  • Case-studies: Qualitative method of longitudinal examination of a single event (since 1970).
  • World History: Regional comparison of differences and similarities (since 1980).
  • Mircea Eliade: Renovator of the history of religions.
  • Past and Present: Key British journal for the Marxist trend and the subsequent 'Marxian trend'.
  • Immanuel Wallerstein: Concept of world-system.
  • Microhistory: Extension of social history in Italy (Levi, Ginzburg) via Quaderni Storici.

German, Hispanic, and contemporary Spanish historiography

  • The 80s Controversy: Jürgen Habermas (presence of Nazism) vs. Ernst Nolte/Joachim Fest (analytical distance)
  • French Hispanism: Initiated by Maurice Legendre; includes Bataillon, Vilar, Bennassar, Demerson, Pérez, and Sarrailh
  • Anglo-Saxon Hispanism: Includes Brenan, Thomas, Elliott, Lynch, Kamen, Gibson, Preston, Jackson, Payne, Carr, Parker, and Malefakis
  • Spanish Historical Index: Created in 1952 by Jaume Vicens Vives
  • General Archive of the Spanish Civil War: Located in Salamanca; center of controversy due to the "Salamanca papers" (2004-2006)
  • Return of the exile: Manuel Tuñón de Lara (historical materialism) and support from publishing houses such as Ruedo Ibérico
  • Conservative historiography: Luis Suárez Fernández and Ricardo de la Cierva
  • Specialists in Law: Francisco Tomás y Valiente and Alfonso García-Gallo
  • Specialists in Arabism: Emilio García Gómez
  • Specialists in American Studies: Guillermo Céspedes del Castillo
  • Specialists in Archaeology: Antonio García y Bellido and Antonio Blanco Freijeiro
  • Specialists in Prehistory: Pedro Bosch Gimpera, Luis Pericot, Juan Maluquer, and Emiliano Aguirre
  • Atapuerca Site: Studied by Arsuaga, Carbonell, and Bermúdez de Castro

Eccentric history and historical fraud

  • Eccentric history: literature outside the official consensus (e.g., denial of the Arab invasion in the 8th century)
  • Current debates: Second Republic, 1934 Revolution, and Spanish Civil War
  • Attribution of the discovery of America: the case of Zheng He
  • Historical fraud: deliberate falsification (e.g., Donation of Constantine and Protocols of the Elders of Zion)
  • Modern fraud: Hitler's Diaries (1983) and forged documents in British archives
  • State manipulation: use of mass media and retouched photographs (Stalin and Franco) in the 20th century
  • Historical dynamics: history changes and is subject to ideological debates (e.g., The Black Book of Communism, 1997)

Bibliography and resources on Historiography

  • Fundamental works: Perry Anderson, Marc Bloch, Edward H. Carr, Eric Hobsbawm, Jacques Le Goff.
  • Spanish historiography: Gallego, Granja y Miralles, Morales Moya, Peiró y Pasamar.
  • Mexican medical historiography: Somolinos D'Ardos.
  • Digital resources: Wikiquote (quotes), Wiktionary (definitions).
  • Academic journals: Revista de Historiografía (UC3) and Revista de Historia Jerónimo Zurita.

Flashcard preview (6 of 40)

  1. 01

    Etymology of historiography: what does the Greek component γράφος (gráphos) mean?

    To write

  2. 02

    In the synthetic distinction of the text, what is historiology?

    The epistemology of history

  3. 03

    Difference between history and historiology: which one studies the structure, laws, and conditions of historical reality?

    Historiology

  4. 04

    Definition of primary source: when does it occur relative to the investigated facts?

    Parallel and contemporaneously

  5. 05

    What is a secondary source in the work of the historian?

    Product developed after the period under study

  6. 06

    In the context of historiographical production, what does it mean for the historiography on a topic to be "scarce"?

    That few books have been written about it due to a lack of attention from historians (not due to a lack of relevance or sources).

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