Why is Voltaire said to be the founder of modern historygraphy
Answers
Voltaire, the Biased Philosophical Historiography
Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer and a famous historian during the 18th century. Voltaire's body of writing included the notable historical works The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations (1756). Although he had written successful plays and other works, he took the time to write works of history instead. He was not the only historian around at that time nor was he was first ever, but what he did do with his works set him apart from the rest of the pack. Instead of just choosing to detail diplomatic and military events, Voltaire chose instead to focus on social history and the achievements in the arts and sciences. This set him apart from his competition, and these pieces were above his other works as well. Yet, he was an extremely biased historian, focusing on France as the greatest nation to ever be introduced to the world, and that all other nations and people paled in comparison. By having his views of philosophy bleed into his work on history, he was effectively signing his own death warrant in the eyes of scholarly historians of the time. Despite that, Voltaire was unafraid and determined to write history as he believed it should be written; where the historian focuses less on events and more on culture and the bigger picture that shapes the world.
In The Age of Louis XIV, Voltaire had an extremely interesting chapter towards the very end of the book. The chapter called “Painters” was unheard of in historical writings for the time. Modern day historiography in the 18th century did not focus on the history of art. He mainly lists the names of many artists throughout history and gives an extremely biased opinion on each and every one. Most of the descriptions for each artist are short and opinionated. One such description says that the artist “Joseph Parrocel, born in 1648, was a good painter, but inferior to his son. He died in 1704” (Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire). This kind of writing would not last long in a modern day history textbook. Granted, Voltaire was a satirist, and this was probably just him trying to add comedy to his writing, but it doesn’t just apply to this one part. Artist after artist were all made to suffer the wrath of Francois-Marie Arouet. It almost began to feel as if he hated artists and felt that if he were to comment on them in the sense of history, then he was going to make a jab at them in any way possible. A historian is supposed to be unbiased, by commenting on how awful every single painter in the past was, creates a negative view in every readers’ mind about them. This type of history is unwarranted and distasteful thus creating a negative outlook on the history and possible future of painters.
The next chapter “Sculptors, Architects, and Engravers” is where Voltaire takes a massive shift from criticizing on art and artists, into idolizing French art by claiming it was “carried to perfection” (Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire). It is a strange and confusing shift from his previous chapter where one would think he disdained art and everything about it. Instead of being a biased and less than credible source when it came to painting, he decided to uplift the readers with a positive outlook on the history and future of sculptures. Unfortunately, Voltaire either prides himself on the fact that only his opinion matters with art, or forgets that art is subjective, and again becomes a bias source once again. Once again, Voltaire is removing his own credibility as a French historian, but somehow continues to remain credible in the eyes of the French. A recent newsletter from The Leverhulme Trust, claimed that “[his historical writings] were highly regarded in his lifetime, and Voltaire was a powerful influence on the other great historians of the age” (Voltaire, Historian). This is not to take away from any of the hard work that Voltaire had done to create a history for the people of France and the world, but he makes no real attempt to hide his views on any of the events he reports on.
According to Voltaire, it was important to consider the following aspects while writing history =>
1. Objective truth and chronology of events
2. Prevalent social traditions
3. Agriculture, trade and economic system
4. It was because of his view that all aspects of human life was considered for History writing .
Therefore, He is said to be the founder of modern Historiography.
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