Whig Historiography

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Mark Nixon (University of Reading)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Domains

Politics

Dates

Date of occurrence 1820- c.1914

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Genres and Modes

Historiography

In 1931 Herbert Butterfield published a short essay under the title The Whig Interpretation of History. Although a recognition of the political uses to which history had been put by Whigs (in the political sense) was a commonplace in critical historiography, Butterfield attempted to delineate an approach to historical writing that was not, strictly speaking, a reference to a political ideology. There were a number of elements to Butterfield's critique of this style of history-writing, not least of which was an absolute rejection of the idea of seeing history in present terms and from present conceptual positions: the historian must understand a period or moment through the ideas and concepts of those who lived (in) it. This, …

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511 words

Citation: Nixon, Mark. "Whig Historiography". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1205, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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