Stephen Smith

Publication Date

5-1984

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Jack Thacker, Lowell Harrison, Carol Crowe-Carraco

Comments

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Degree Program

Department of History

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

Sir Herbert Butterfield (October 7, 1900 - July 20,1979) was one of the foremost British historians of the twentieth century. Though possessed of vast historical erudition, he produced relatively little narrative or expository writing. His works frequently reflected his concern that historical thinking be done clearly and that hard conclusions not be reached too soon, so that the mind is open to receive new evidence.

Born in a small Yorkshire village, Butterfield attained great academic distinction at Cambridge, where he became a fellow of Peterhouse, then Master of his college, and finally Vice-Chancellor of the University and Regius Professor of Modern History. He lectured widely, and many of his important books originated as lectures.

Butterfield first gained wide scholarly attention with The Whig Interpretation of History (1931). In it, he argued that there was a tendency among historians to write as though history represents the direct forward movement of progress, with historical characters cast in the roles of friends or enemies of progress. The writing of history with constant reference to the present resulted in a fundamental anachronistic fallacy. Butterfield urged that history be written with a greater awareness of the infinitely complex interplay of forces. Later, in The Englishman and His History (1944), Butterfield sought to balance his earlier argument with the contention that the "Whig interpretation," though it distorted history, had contributed to the basic moderation that was the chief factor in Britain's remarkable social and political stability.

Butterfield was the British historian of his generation most firmly identified with a Christian view of history. Although such underlying assumptions are present in virtually all his works, in many of his writings Butterfield dealt expressly with the question of Providence in history, particularly in Christianity and History (1949). His application of Christianity to his scholarship led to a highly developed theory of personality and to remarkably insightful observations on international relations.

Butterfield generally stood aloof from the professional and personal disputations among historians. Universally respected by his colleagues, he exercised an irenic influence in scholarly circles. The only time Butterfield was drawn into an academic squabble was when he was attacked by the followers of Sir Lewis Namier after the publication of his George III, Lord North, and the People (1949). He responded in several articles and in George III and the Historians (1957).

Critical of the tendency toward over-specialization in history, Butterfield felt a scholar needed a broader vision. He demonstrated his point by a scholarly output of remarkable diversity, ranging from Machiavelli to Napoleon to the history of science.

Butterfield’s salient characteristic, in his life as in his scholarship, was moderation. Confident in his religious faith, he kept his mind open, his thought fluid, and his conclusions tentative. His principle, expressed in Christianity and History, was, “Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Christianity | European History | History | History of Religion | Religion

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