Experience of History

Kenneth Bartlett is Professor of History and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is former President of the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies, was the Founding Director of the University of Toronto Art Centre, and sat on the board of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, and served as editor of Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme. As a Renaissance specialist, he is author of numerous publications, including A Short History of the Italian Renaissance (2013), The Northern Renaissance and the Reformation (with Margaret McGlynn, 2013), and The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance (revised edition, 2011). Bartlett has produced several multi-part video series, including The Smithsonian Essential Italy (2015), The Great Tours: Experiencing Medieval Europe (2013), The Development of European Civilization (2010), and The Italian Renaissance (2005). He has published articles and conducted workshops in Europe, China, the Middle East, and North America on university faculty development and pedagogy, and in 2005, he was awarded the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship.

• Preface viii1 Introduction 1We are All Part of the Evidence 4A Personal Example 62 The Historian not the History 12Ideological History 14Ethnic or National History 17Distant Voices 18Historical Style or Genre 20The Older Historian 21History by Non‐Historians 23Historical Jargon 25History in Translation 263 If not the Historian, then Certainly the Evidence 28The Nature of Evidence 28Taxation Records 30Court or Legal Documents 32Eye‐Witness Evidence 33Using Evidence Requires Skill and Experience 35Drawings as Evidence 36Photographs as Evidence 37Aural Evidence 38Missing or Negative Evidence 39Conclusion 454 The Periods and Divisions of History 46Historical Periodization: History as Chunks of Time 46The Example of the Middle Ages 47Historical Periods Defined by Dynamic Ideas 49Historical Periods Defined by Great Men or Women 54Historical Periods Defined by Specific Years or Centuries 56The Study of History through Geographical Categories 58History as Chunks of Space 605 The Many and Various Forms of Historical Writing: The More Traditional Structures 64The Chronicle 65Political History 67Diplomatic History 68Legal History 69Military History 69Economic History 70Subgenres of Economic History 73Cultural and Intellectual History 73Church or Confessional History 76Jewish History 78Histories of other Heterodox Religious Communities 796 The Many and Various Forms of Historical Writing: More Recent Categories of Historical Research 81Social History 81Prosopography 84Gendered Histories 85Women’s History 86Feminist History 87Gender History 88Queer History 89Children’s History 91Transnational History 93Diaspora Studies 94Holocaust Studies 95Genocide Studies 96World History 97Big History 987 The Writing of History 100The Writing of History in the Past 101The Deeds of Great Men 101History as a Divine Plan 102The Scientific Revolution, The Enlightenment, and the ‘Laws’ of History 103History and Social Darwinism 104Writing History After the Second World War 106The Writing of History Today 107An Example 108Framing the Question 109The State of the Question 110Deciding on a Beginning and an End 111The Contract with Your Audience 112Structure 113A Conclusion 114Bibliographies and Notes 114Maps and Illustrations 116Envoi 1178 Experiencing History 119History Around Us 119Museums and Art Galleries 125History as Breaking News 128Film and Television 129Electronic Records, Social Media, and History 131History from Evidence on the Internet 1349 Conclusion 136We are All Historians 136We are All Disciples of Descartes 138Some Final Words 140Suggestions for Further Reading 142Index 145