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Available
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Publication
Rīga : Zvaigzne ABC, ©2010
Description
This work, by the co-founder of the "Annales School" deals with the uses and methods of history. It is useful for students of history, teachers of historiography and all those interested in the writings of the Annales school.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jhw
(notes written 1955)
Few of his points were entirely new to me, but he did put many of them extremely well, eg:
"In any study seeking the origins of a human activity, there lurks the same danger of confusing ancestry with explanation."
The demonstration that the problems of recording the past are no
"Historical research has gradually been led to place more and more confidence in the second category of evidence, the evidence of witnesses in spite of themselves."
Every historian should explain how he reaches his results. It won't be dull: it is the ready-made article that is dull.
The passage on how footnotes should be used - it is only honest to give references; but it is lazy to put the main argument in footnotes.
Dealing with forgeries: "By its very nature, one fraud begets another."
Though immediate causes of events are often uncertain, the fundamental causes are less likely to be so.
Two things may discredit documents: if they are suspiciously divergent or suspiciously similar.
In linguistics, probabilities are not generally upset by human factors: but this is not true of most of the disciplines allied to history.
Many of his examples also are excellent, especially in the section on criticism of evidence:
In villages, children are brought up chiefly by their grandparents. Hence the traditionalisation of peasant societies.
"The Company of Jesus does not permit the profane an access to its collections" [no further explanation given]
Mabillon's De Re Diplomatica, 1681, established criticism of documents.
A list of famous forgeries on p. 94: in late 18th-early 19th centuries, and in 8th to 12th centuries, reached epidemic proportions.
Account of Vrain-Lucas' forgery of documents proving Pascal anticipated Newton, with additional forgeries to meet each objection as it arose.
Errors do not take on life unless they harmonize with popular prejudices: eg clouds are still the same shapeas in the Middle Ages, but we no longer see magic swords in them.
The description of the spread of rumours in the trenches: monastic chronicles were built up on a similar network of oral transmissions.
The most restrained texts are not always the oldest: "The most fabulous of the Passions of St George is the first in date; taking up the old account afterward, the successive biographers have sacrificed, one after the other, those features whose unrestrained fantasy shocked them."
HC Lea noticed that when Templars from different houses were examined by one inquisitor their confessions took the same form; while Templars from the same house examined by different inquisitors confessed to different things.
The earliest known charter in French is of 1204.
Remarkable similarities between Jesuates of fourteenth century and Jesuits: if we did not know the facts to be true, we should suspect they must be two accounts of the same thing.
Condorcet on Middle Ages: "Europe, squeezed between sacerdotal tyranny and military despotism, waits amidst blood and tears for the moment when the new enlightenment will enable it to rise again to liberty, humanity, and virtue."
Few of his points were entirely new to me, but he did put many of them extremely well, eg:
"In any study seeking the origins of a human activity, there lurks the same danger of confusing ancestry with explanation."
The demonstration that the problems of recording the past are no
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different in kind from those of recording the present."Historical research has gradually been led to place more and more confidence in the second category of evidence, the evidence of witnesses in spite of themselves."
Every historian should explain how he reaches his results. It won't be dull: it is the ready-made article that is dull.
The passage on how footnotes should be used - it is only honest to give references; but it is lazy to put the main argument in footnotes.
Dealing with forgeries: "By its very nature, one fraud begets another."
Though immediate causes of events are often uncertain, the fundamental causes are less likely to be so.
Two things may discredit documents: if they are suspiciously divergent or suspiciously similar.
In linguistics, probabilities are not generally upset by human factors: but this is not true of most of the disciplines allied to history.
Many of his examples also are excellent, especially in the section on criticism of evidence:
In villages, children are brought up chiefly by their grandparents. Hence the traditionalisation of peasant societies.
"The Company of Jesus does not permit the profane an access to its collections" [no further explanation given]
Mabillon's De Re Diplomatica, 1681, established criticism of documents.
A list of famous forgeries on p. 94: in late 18th-early 19th centuries, and in 8th to 12th centuries, reached epidemic proportions.
Account of Vrain-Lucas' forgery of documents proving Pascal anticipated Newton, with additional forgeries to meet each objection as it arose.
Errors do not take on life unless they harmonize with popular prejudices: eg clouds are still the same shapeas in the Middle Ages, but we no longer see magic swords in them.
The description of the spread of rumours in the trenches: monastic chronicles were built up on a similar network of oral transmissions.
The most restrained texts are not always the oldest: "The most fabulous of the Passions of St George is the first in date; taking up the old account afterward, the successive biographers have sacrificed, one after the other, those features whose unrestrained fantasy shocked them."
HC Lea noticed that when Templars from different houses were examined by one inquisitor their confessions took the same form; while Templars from the same house examined by different inquisitors confessed to different things.
The earliest known charter in French is of 1204.
Remarkable similarities between Jesuates of fourteenth century and Jesuits: if we did not know the facts to be true, we should suspect they must be two accounts of the same thing.
Condorcet on Middle Ages: "Europe, squeezed between sacerdotal tyranny and military despotism, waits amidst blood and tears for the moment when the new enlightenment will enable it to rise again to liberty, humanity, and virtue."
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LibraryThing member walterhistory
The work we have here is a translation of a French work on the methods & practice of history written by Mr. Bloch. Unfinished at the time of his murder at the hands of the Nazis, it remains an interesting look of a French historian's view of history & how history should be approached. His
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reflections consists of five chapters with the fifth remaining unfinished (completed by another historian). He covers a wide range of how history was written earlier to the present day (up to the 1940s). He points out that much of the earlier history fell far short of accuracy or driven by the need to either cover up or embellish, creating difficulties for successive historians of getting to what really happened. He suggests that historians must observe, have a critical eye, & analyze what is before them. For example, primary documents are considered to be essential yet they are to be regarded with caution depending on what possible motives the authors have in writing them. There is much more & it is sad that the author's life was cut short as he had so much more to say but we shall never know. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1949
Physical description
287 p.; 20 cm
Pages
287
ISBN
9789934014307