26 August, 2014

Summary of Chapter 11 Breisach's Historiography


Chapter 11 in Historiography deals with the affects of the Renaissance and Reformation on the humanists and historians of that time as it relates to historiography. Breisach argues that the Renaissance, especially in Italy, reflected the returning to old Roman ways. Humanists of this time more than often write to retrospectively glorify Roman ideals and often glorify resembling ideals observed in their respective societies, politics, and culture. Also, Breisach argues that though all were nominally Christian, the worship of Rome's ideals came with their pagan gods and mythology. 

Adversely, the Reformation was a large step away from the idealisation of Rome as it was the first step away from the Roman "catholic" ideals and reconsidered what was morally best, based on an entirely different set of moral and cultural ideals. English and German humanists of this time portray their histories in much better light than Italian humanists, who saw this as the end of Christianity. The Reformation therefore marked the first time in European history where culture and religious beliefs were not bound together by a Roman Catholic law, but rather could now be completely "denominallised".

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