Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794).

Edward Gibbon (April 27, 1737 – January 16, 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. The History is known principally for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open denigration of organized religion.

Life

Childhood

Edward Gibbon was born in 1737 of Edward and Judith Gibbon in the town of Putney, near London, England. He had six siblings: five brothers and one sister, all of whom died in infancy. His grandfather, also named Edward, had lost all in the notorious South Sea Bubble scandal, but eventually regained nearly all of it, so that Gibbon's father was able to inherit a substantial estate.

As a youth, his health was constantly threatened; he described himself as "a weakly child." At age nine, Gibbon was sent to Dr. Woddeson's school at Kingston-on-Thames, shortly after which his mother passed away. He then took up residence in the Westminster School boarding house, owned by his adored "Aunt Kitty" Porten. Sometime after she died in 1786, he membered her imparting an avid "taste for books which is still the pleasure and glory of my life." In 1751, Gibbon's reading was already indicating his future pursuits: Laurence Echard's Roman History (1713), William Howel(l)'s An Institution of General History (1680–85), and several of the 65 volumes of the acclaimed Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time (1747–1768).

Oxford, Lausanne, and a Religious Journey

Following a stay at Bath to improve his health, Gibbon in 1752 at the age of 15, was sent by his father to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was enrolled as a gentleman-commoner. He was ill-suited, however, to the college atmosphere and later rued his 14 months there as the "most idle and unprofitable" of his life. But his penchant for "theological controversy," (his aunt's influence), fully bloomed when he came under the spell of rationalist theologian Conyers Middleton (1683–1750) and his Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers (1749). In that tract, Middleton denied the validity of such powers; Gibbon promptly objected. The product of that disagreement, with some assistance from the work of French Catholic Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bousset (1627–1704), and that of the Jesuit priest Robert Parsons (1546–1610), yielded the most memorable event of his time at Oxford: his conversion to Roman Catholicism on June 8, 1753. He was further "corrupted" by the 'free thinking' deism of the playwright/poet couple David and Lucy Mallet; and finally Gibbon's father, already "in despair," had had enough.

Within weeks of his conversion, the youngster was removed from Oxford and sent to live under the care and tutelage of David Pavillard, Calvinist pastor of Lausanne, Switzerland. It was here that he made one his life's two great friendships, that of Jacques Georges Deyverdun; the other being John Baker Holroyd (later Lord Sheffield). Just a year and a half later, on Christmas Day 1754, he reconverted to Protestantism. 'The articles of the Romish creed,' he wrote, 'disappeared like a dream.' He remained in Lausanne for five intellectually productive years, a period that greatly enriched Gibbon's already immense aptitude for scholarship and erudition: he read Latin literature; traveled throughout Switzerland studying its cantons' constitutions; and aggressively mined the works of Hugo Grotius, Samuel Puffendorf, John Locke, Pierre Bayle, and Blaise Pascal.

Thwarted Romance

He also met the one romance in his life: the pastor of Crassy's daughter, a young woman named Suzanne Curchod, who would later become the wife of Jacques Necker, the French finance minister. Gibbon and Curchod developed something of a mutual affinity, but marriage was out of the question, blocked both by his father's staunch disapproval, and Curchod's equally staunch reluctance to leave Switzerland. Gibbon returned to England in August 1758 to face his father's steely scowl. There could be no refusal of the elder's wishes. Gibbon put it this way: "I sighed like a lover, I obeyed like a son." He proceeded to cut off all contact with Mlle. Curchod, even as she vowed to wait for him.

Fame Arrives

Upon his return to England, Gibbon published his first book, Essai sur l'Etude de la Littérature in 1761. From 1759 to 1763, Gibbon spent four years in active service with the Hampshire militia and another seven in reserve, his deactivation coinciding with the end of the Seven Years' War. In 1763, he embarked on the Grand Tour (of continental Europe), which included a visit to Rome. It was here, in 1764, that Gibbon first conceived the idea of composing a history of the Roman Empire:

It was on the fifteenth of October, in the gloom of evening, as I sat musing on the Capitol, while the barefooted fryars were chanting their litanies in the temple of Jupiter, that I conceived the first thought of my history.

His father died in 1770, and after tending to the estate, which was by no means in good condition, there remained quite enough for Gibbon to settle in London, independent of financial concerns. Two years later he began writing in earnest, but not without the occasional self-imposed distraction. He took to London society quite easily, joined the better social clubs, including Dr. Johnson's Literary Club, and looked in from time to time on his friend Holroyd in Sussex. He succeeded Oliver Goldsmith at the Royal Academy as 'professor in ancient history' (honorary but prestigious). And perhaps least productively, he was returned to the House of Commons for Liskeard, Cornwall in 1774. He became the archetypal back-bencher, "mute" and "indifferent," his support of the ministry routinely automatic. Gibbon's indolence in that position, perhaps fully intentional, subtracted little from the progress of his writing.

After several rewrites, and Gibbon "often tempted to throw away the labours of seven years," the first volume of what would become his life's major achievement, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, appeared in 1776. The reading public eagerly consumed three editions for which Gibbon was rewarded handsomely: two-thirds of the profits on the first edition alone, amounting to £490. Biographer Sir Leslie Stephen wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting." And as regards this first volume, "Some warm praise from [David] Hume overpaid the labour of ten years."

Volumes II and III appeared in 1781, eventually rising "to a level with the previous volume in general esteem." The final three volumes were finished during a retreat to Lausanne where Gibbon reunited with his friend Deyverdun in leisurely comfort. By early 1787, he was "straining for the goal;" and with great relief the project was finished in June of that year. Volumes IV, V, and VI finally reached the press in 1788. Mounting the bandwagon of praise for the later volumes were such contemporary luminaries as Adam Smith, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, Lord Camden, and Horace Walpole. Smith remarked that Gibbon's triumph had positioned him "at the very head of [Europe's] literary tribe."

Aftermath and the end

The years following Gibbon's completion of The History were filled largely with sorrow and increasing physical discomfort. He returned to London to oversee the publication process alongside Lord Sheffield; publication having been delayed to coincide with a party celebrating Gibbon's 51st birthday. Then in 1789, it was back to Lausanne only to learn of and be "deeply affected" by the death of Deyverdun, who had willed Gibbon his home. He resided there with little commotion, took in the local society, received a visit from Sheffield in 1791, and "shared the common abhorrence" of the French Revolution. In 1793, word came of Lady Sheffield's death; Gibbon immediately deserted Lausanne and set sail to comfort a grieving but composed Sheffield, the last of his close friends. His health began to fail critically in December, and at the turn of the new year, he was on his last legs.

Gibbon is believed to have suffered from hydrocele testis, a condition which causes the testicles to swell with fluid. In an age when close-fitting clothes were fashionable, his condition lead to a chronic and disfiguring inflammation which left Gibbon a lonely figure. As his condition worsened, he underwent numerous procedures to alleviate the condition, but with no enduring success. In early January, the last of a series of three operations caused an unremitting peritonitis to set in and spread. The "English giant of the Enlightenment" finally succumbed at 12:45 pm, January 16, 1794 at age 56, to be buried in the Sheffield family graveyard at the parish church in Fletching, Sussex.

Assessment

It is generally accepted that Gibbon's treatment of Byzantium has had detrimental effects on the study of the Middle Ages. There remains an issue as to whether his poor analysis is primarily due to a lack of primary sources in this field or to the prejudices of the time.

Gibbon's work has also been criticized for its aggressively scathing view of Christianity as laid down in chapters XV and XVI. Those chapters were strongly criticised and resulted in the banning of the book in several countries. Gibbon's alleged crime was disrespecting, and none too lightly, the character of sacred Christian doctrine in "treat[ing] the Christian church as a phenomenon of general history, not a special case admitting supernatural explanations and disallowing criticism of its adherents" as the Roman church was likely expecting. More specifically, Gibbon's blasphemous chapters excoriated the church for two deeply wounding transgressions: displacing the glory and grandeur of ancient Rome ("supplanting in an unnecessarily destructive way the great culture that preceded it"); and reexposing the church's dirty laundry ("for the outrage of [practicing] religious intolerance and warfare").

Gibbon, in letters to Holroyd and others, expected some type of church-inspired backlash, but the utter harshness of the ensuing torrents far exceded anything he or his friends could possibly have anticipated. Contemporary detractors such as Joseph Priestley and Richard Watson stoked the nascent fire, but the most severe of these attacks was an intolerably "acrimonious" piece from the pen of a young cleric, Henry Edwards Davis. Concerned for his honour and anxious that the public read both sides of the dispute, Gibbon subsequently published his Vindication of some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1779. Therein, he categorically denied Davis' "criminal accusations," branding him a purveyor of "servile plagiarism."

Gibbon's antagonism to Christian doctrine spilled over into the Jewish faith, inevitably leading to charges of anti-Semitism. For example, he wrote:

Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which [the Jews] committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives;¹ and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but also of humankind.²

Burke, Churchill and 'the fountainhead'

Gibbon is considered to be a son of the Enlightenment and this is reflected in his famous verdict on the history of the Middle Ages: "I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion." However, politically, he aligned himself with both Burke's rejection of the democratic movements of the time as well as Burke's dismissal of the "rights of man."

Gibbon's work has been praised for its style, his piquant epigrams and its brilliant irony. Winston Churchill memorably noted, "I set out upon Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [and] was immediately dominated by both the story and the style. I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end." Churchill modeled much of his own style upon Gibbon's, though with less use of irony.

Unusually for the 18th century, Gibbon was never content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible. "I have always endeavoured," he says, "to draw from the fountainhead; my curiosity, as well as a sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence on whose faith a passage or a fact were reduced to depend." In this insistence upon the importance of primary sources, Gibbon is considered by many to be one of the first modern historians:

In accuracy, thoroughness, lucidity, and comprehensive grasp of a vast subject, the 'History' is unsurpassable. It is the one English history which may be regarded as definitive. ...Whatever its shortcomings the book is artistically imposing as well as historically unimpeachable as a vast panorama of a great period.

Influence on other writers

The subject of Gibbon's writing as well as his ideas and style have influenced other writers. Besides his influence on Churchill, Gibbon was also a model for Isaac Asimov in his writing of The Foundation Trilogy.

The writings of Shoghi Effendi, which constitute the majority of authoritative primary-source written works in the Bahá'í Faith, are written in a style quite similar to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This is often attributed to the influence of his avowed appreciation of Gibbon and Carlyle.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a major literary achievement of the 18th century published in six volumes, was written by the celebrated English historian Edward Gibbon. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings (a remarkable feat for its time). Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788. The original volumes were published as quartos, a common publishing practice of the time.

The books cover the period of the Roman Empire after Marcus Aurelius, from just before 180 to 1453 and beyond, concluding in 1590. They take as their material the behaviour and decisions that led to the decay and eventual fall of the Roman Empire in the East and West, offering an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell.

Often referred to as the first "modern" historian, Gibbon's work was taken as a model for the methodologies of 19th and 20th century historians in his objectivity and accuracy in the use of reference material. His pessimism and detached use of irony was common to the historical genre of his era.

Although he published other books, Gibbon devoted much of his life (1772-1789) to this one work. His autobiography Memoirs of My Life and Writings is devoted largely to his reflections on how the book virtually became his life. He compared the publication of each succeeding volume to the birth of a child.

Gibbon's theory

The book is famous not only because it is extraordinarily well written, but also because Gibbon offers an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell. This is one of the great historical questions, and, because of the relative lack of written records from the time, one of the most difficult to undertake. Gibbon was not the first to theorise about this. In fact most of his ideas are directly taken from Roman moralists of the 4th and 5th centuries who wrote about it at the time; nor would he be the last; see most famously Henri Pirenne's Thesis of the early 20th century.

According to Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions because of a loss of civic virtue among its citizens. They had become lazy and soft, outsourcing their duties to defend their Empire to barbarian mercenaries, who then became so numerous and ingrained that they were able to take over the Empire. Romans, he believed, had become effeminate, unwilling to live the military lifestyle.

In addition Gibbon attacked Christianity. Christianity, he says, created a belief that a better life existed after death. This fostered indifference to this life among Roman citizens, thus sapping their desire to sacrifice for the Empire. He also believed its comparative pacifism tended to sap the traditional Roman martial spirit.

Finally, like other Enlightenment thinkers, Gibbon held in contempt the Middle Ages as a priest-ridden, superstitious, dark age. It was not until his own age of reason and rational thought, it was believed, that human history could resume its progress.

Gibbon's use of citations

Gibbon provides the reader with a glimpse of his thought process with extensive notes along the body of the text, a precursor to the modern use of footnotes. Gibbon's footnotes are famous for their idiosyncrasies. They provide an entertaining moral commentary on both ancient Rome and 18th-century Great Britain. This technique enabled Gibbon to compare ancient Rome to modern times. Gibbon's work advocates a rationalist and progressive view of history.

Gibbon's citations provide in-depth detail regarding his use of sources for his work on ancient Rome, documents dating back to ancient Rome. The detail within his asides and his care in noting the importance of each document is a precursor to modern-day historical footnoting methodology.

The work is notable for its erratic but exhaustively documented notes and research. John Bury, following him 113 years later with his own "History of the Later Roman Empire," utilized much of the same research, and commented admiringly of the incredible depth and accuracy of Gibbon's work. It is notable that Bury, over a century after Gibbon, and Heather, over a century after Bury, both based much of their own work on Gibbon's factual research. Both found little to argue with his facts, though both disagreed with his theories, primarily on Christianity as a prime factor in the Empire's decline and fall. Unusual for the 18th century, Gibbon was notably not content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible, and used them so well that even today historians still cite his work as the definitive factual history of the western empire. "I have always endeavoured," Gibbon said in his own autobiography, "to draw from the fountainhead; my curiosity, as well as a sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence on whose faith a passage or a fact were reduced to depend." Decline and Fall is a literary monument, and a massive step forward in historical method.

Controversy: chapters XV, XVI

When Volume I was first published, it was introduced in quartos. The first two were well received and widely praised. The last quarto in Volume I, especially Chapters XV and XVI, were highly controversial, and Gibbon was declared "paganist".

Gibbon attacked Christian martyrdom as a myth by deconstructing official Church history that had been perpetuated for centuries. Because the Roman Church had a virtual monopoly on its own history, its own Latin interpretations were considered sacrosanct, and as a result the Church's writings had rarely been questioned before. For Gibbon, however, the Church writings were secondary sources, and he eschewed them in favour of primary sources contemporary to the period he was chronicling. This is why Gibbon is referred to as the "first modern historian".

According to Gibbon, Romans were far more tolerant of Christians than Christians were of one another, especially once Christianity gained the upper hand. Christians inflicted far greater casualties on Christians than were ever inflicted by the Roman Empire. Gibbon extrapolated that the number of Christians executed by other Christian factions far exceeded all the Christian martyrs who died during the three centuries of Christianity under Roman rule. This was in stark contrast to orthodox Church history, which insisted that Christianity won the hearts and minds of people largely because of the inspirational example set by its martyrs. Gibbon demonstrated that the early Church's custom of bestowing the title of martyr on all confessors of faith grossly inflated the actual numbers.

Gibbon compares how insubstantial that number was, by comparing it to more modern terms. He compared both the reigns of Diocletian (284-305), and Charles V (1519-1556) and the electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, making the argument that both were remarkably similar. Both emperors were plagued by continuous war and compelled to excessive taxation; both chose to abdicate as Emperors at roughly the same age; and both chose to lead a quiet life upon their retirement.

Gibbon's critics were scathing in their attack on this particular line of argument. Numerous tracts were published criticising his work, and Gibbon was forced to defend his work in reply. He left London to finish the following volumes in Lausanne, where he could work in solitude.

Gibbon's legacy

Gibbon’s methodology was so accurate that, to this day, little can be found to controvert his use of primary sources for evidence. While modern historical methodology has changed, his skill in translation of his sources was impeccable. Contemporary historians still rely on Gibbon as a secondary source to substantiate references. His literary tone is old-fashioned, skeptical, and pessimistic; it mirrors both the man and the topic: the gradual decay of a mighty empire. Variations on the series title (including using "Rise and Fall" in place of "Decline and Fall") have been used by other writers:

• The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1868), Jefferson Davis
• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959), William Shirer
• The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler (1961), William Shirer
• The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic (1964), Fulgencio Batista
• The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (1976), Paul Kennedy
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987), Paul Kennedy
• The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (1994), Lawrence James
• The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy (1996), David Cannadine
• The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain (2000), Neil Faulkner
• Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire (1986), Hans Eysenck

and the music album:

• Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, popular rock group of the 1960s and 1970s, The Kinks.

Editions

Note: Gibbon continued to revise and change his work even after publication. The complexities of the problem are addressed in Womersley's introduction and appendices to his complete edition.

• In-print complete editions
  • J.B. Bury, ed., 7 volumes (London: Methuen, 1909-1914), currently reprinted by AMS Press. Until the Womersley, this was the essential edition, but now almost one hundred years old, the historical analysis commentary is dated. [ISBN 0-8095-9235-5 (v.1); ISBN 0-8095-9236-3 (v.2); ISBN 0-8095-9237-1 (v.3); ISBN 0-8095-9238-X (v.4); ISBN 0-8095-9239-8 (v.5); ISBN 0-8095-9240-1 (v.6); ISBN 0-8095-9241-X (v.7)]
  • Hugh Trevor-Roper, ed. Everyman's Library, 6 volumes; from the Bury text, but without Bury's notes, many of which are superseded by more recent research, and with Gibbon's own notes. [ISBN 1-85715-095-3 (vols. 1–3); and ISBN 1-85715-192-5 (vols. 4–6); boxed set: ISBN 0679423087 (vols. 1–3, 704 p.); and ISBN 067943593X (vols. 4–6, 2064 p.)]
  • David Womersley, ed., 3 volumes (London: Penguin Books, 1994). The current essential edition, it is the most faithful to Gibbon's original words. The ancient Greek quotations are not as good as in Bury; a minor quibble for an otherwise excellent work with complete footnotes and bibliographical information for Gibbon's cryptic footnote notations. It also includes the original index, and the Vindication (1779) which Gibbon wrote in response to Henry Edwards Davis' sharp attack (Examination of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters) on Gibbon's portrayal of Christianity. [ISBN 0-71-3991240 (3360 p.); ISBN 0-14-043393-7 (v.1, 1232 p.); ISBN 0-14-043394-5 (v.2, 1024 p.); ISBN 0-14-043395-3 (v.3, 1360 p.)]
• In-print abridgements
  • David Womersley, ed., 1 volume (London: Penguin Books, 2000). Includes all footnotes and eleven of the original seventy-one chapters. [ISBN 0-14-043764-9, 848 p.]
  • Hans-Friedrich Mueller, ed., 1 volume (Random House, 2003). Includes excerpts from all seventy-one chapters. It eliminates footnotes, geographic surveys, details of battle formations, long narratives of military campaigns, ethnographies and genealogies, but retains the narrative from start to finish. Based on the Rev. H.H. Milman edition of 1845 (see also Gutenberg etext edition). [ISBN 0-375-75811-9, (trade paper, 1312 p.); ISBN 0345478843 (mass market paper, 1536 p.)]

Notes

The majority of this article, including quotations unless otherwise noted, has been adapted from Stephen, DNB. see References.

Works by Gibbon

• Essai sur l’étude de la littérature (1761).
• Mémoires littéraires de la Grand Bretagne (1768).
• Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of Vergil's Aeneid (1770).
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol. I, 1776; vols. II,III, 1781; vols. IV,V,VI, 1788).
• A vindication of some passages in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1779).
• Mémoire justificatif pour servir de réponse à l’exposé, &c de la cour de France (1779).
• Memoirs of My Life (1796). found at the beginning of the posthumous Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq. published two years after the author's death by his friend and literary executor Lord Sheffield; cf. Bonnard in References.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Beer, Gavin de. Gibbon and His World (London: Thames and Hudson, 1968); [hb: ISBN 0670289817].
• Burrow, J.W. Gibbon (Past Masters) (Oxford: 1985); [hb: ISBN 0192875531; pb: ISBN 0192875523].
• Carnochan, W.B. Gibbon's Solitude: The Inward World of the Historian (Stanford: 1987); [hb: ISBN 0804713634].
• Craddock, Patricia B. The English Essays of Edward Gibbon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972); [hb: ISBN 0198124961].
• Craddock, Patricia B. Edward Gibbon: a Reference Guide (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987); [pb: ISBN 0816182175]. most secondary literature through 1985.
• Ghosh, Peter R. "Gibbon Observed," Journal of Roman Studies 81(1991), 132–156.
• Ghosh, Peter R. "Gibbon's First Thoughts: Rome, Christianity and the Essai sur l'Etude de la Litterature 1758–61," Journal of Roman Studies 85(1995), 148–164.
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. "Gibbon's Contributions to Historical Method," in Momigliano, Studies in Historiography (New York: Garland Pubs., 1985;1966), 40-55; [pb: ISBN 0824063724].
• Norton, J.E. A Bibliography of the Works of Edward Gibbon (New York: Burt Franklin Co., 1970;1940).
• Pocock, J.G.A. Barbarism and Religion. 4 vols.: vol. 1, The Enlightenments of Edward Gibbon, 1737–1764, 1999 [hb: ISBN 0521633451]; vol. 2, Narratives of Civil Government, 1999 [hb: ISBN 0521640024]; vol. 3, The First Decline and Fall, 2003 [pb: ISBN 0521824451]; vol. 4, Barbarians, Savages and Empires, 2005 [hb: ISBN 0521856256]. all Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Pocock, J.G.A. The Work of J.G.A. Pocock: Edward Gibbon section.
• Porter, Roger J. "Gibbon's Autobiography: Filling Up the Silent Vacancy," Eighteenth-Century Studies 8,1(Autumn 1974), 1–26.
• Porter, Roy. Gibbon: Making History (Historians on Historians) (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989); [hb: ISBN 0312027281].
• Trevor-Roper, H.R., "Gibbon: Greatest of Historians," Journal of the History of Ideas 1(Winter, 1968), 109-116.
• White, Lynn. The Transformation of the Roman World: Gibbon's Problem after Two Centuries (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1966); [hb: ISBN 0520013344].
• Womersley, David P. The Transformation of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Cambridge: 1988); [hb: ISBN 0521350360].
• Womersley, David P.; John Burrow; J.G.A. Pocock, eds. Edward Gibbon: bicentenary essays (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1997); [hb: ISBN 0729405524].
• Womersley, David P. Gibbon and the ‘Watchmen of the Holy City’: The Historian and His Reputation, 1776–1815 (Oxford: 2002); [pb: ISBN 0-19-818733-5].

Works on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

• Cosgrove, Peter. Impartial Stranger: History and Intertextuality in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Newark: Associated University Presses, 1999); [ISBN 0-87413-658-X].
• Gay, Peter. Style in History (New York: Basic Books, 1974); [ISBN 0-465-08304-8].
• Ghosh, Peter R. "Gibbon's Dark Ages: Some Remarks on the Genesis of the Decline and Fall," Journal of Roman Studies 73(1983), 1–23.
• Kelly, Christopher. "A Grand Tour: Reading Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall'," Greece & Rome 2nd ser., 44,1(Apr. 1997), 39–58.
• Pocock, J.G.A. Barbarism and Religion. 4 vols.: vol. 1, The Enlightenments of Edward Gibbon, 1737–1764, 1999 [hb: ISBN 0521633451]; vol. 2, Narratives of Civil Government, 1999 [hb: ISBN 0521640024]; vol. 3, The First Decline and Fall, 2003 [pb: ISBN 0521824451]; vol. 4, Barbarians, Savages and Empires, 2005 [hb: ISBN 0521856256]. all New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Pocock, J.G.A. The Work of J.G.A. Pocock: Edward Gibbon section.
• Trevor-Roper, H.R. "Gibbon and the Publication of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-1976," Journal of Law and Economics 19,3(Oct. 1976), 489–505.
• Wootton, David. "Narrative, Irony, and Faith in Gibbon's Decline and Fall," History and Theory 33,4(Dec., 1994), 77–105.
• Further Reading at the Edward Gibbon page.

External links

General

• Complete History of the Decline and Fall including Gibbon's Vindication, courtesy: Christian Classics Ethereal Library of Calvin College, Grands Rapids, Michigan, USA.
• Extensive Biography in 1911 Encyclopedia
• Edward Gibbon, Historian of the Roman Empire. Part 1: The Man and his Book
• Edward Gibbon, Historian of the Roman Empire. Part 2: A closer look at The Decline and Fall
• Tom Moran's Edward Gibbon page
• Works by Edward Gibbon. Project Gutenberg
• Gibbon, by James Cotter Morison, available for free via Project Gutenberg

Links to the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire author record at Project Gutenberg. Based on the Rev. H.H. Milman edition of 1845.
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire from the Online Library of Liberty. The J. B. Bury edition, in 12 volumes.
• Memoirs of My Life and Writings, available for free via Project Gutenberg
• Scanned images of the 1789 edition being progressively added to this site, higher resolutions available on request.

• A Brief Biography of Edward Gibbon

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Edward Gibbon  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Edward Gibbon"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.