1 Concepts and Methods Evidence and memory

2 History as the preservation of memory?‘Herodotus of Halicarnassus, his researches are here set down to preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of other peoples; and more particularly, to show how they came into conflict’: opening sentence from the Histories, c.430s BCE. History is ‘the life of memory’ (vita memoriae): Cicero, De oratore, 2.36. Procopius (c.500-c.565) wrote history ‘to the end that the long course of time may not overwhelm deeds of singular importance through lack of a record, and thus abandon them to oblivion and utterly obliterate them’. To what extent is history about preserving the memory of the past?

3 Seventeenth-century examples of ‘contemporary history’?

4 ‘An attempt has been made in this book to record what is left of the old rural community as seen in the East Suffolk village of Blaxhall and district around it. For this purpose, the experience and memories of a group of old people have been set down… [T]he oral tradition is at this time of the greatest historical importance. During the past fifty or so years the life of the countryside has been revolutionized and the rate of change within this period has been greater than it has ever been in recorded history… At present, old people in this countryside are survivors from another era. They belong essentially to a culture that has extended in unbroken line since at least the early Middle Ages. They are in some respects the last repositories of this culture; and for this reason should have the respect given to any source of valuable historical information… [O]nce this knowledge is under the soil no amount of digging will ever again recover it.’ (pp ) First published in 1956

5 Portrait of William III of England, by Jan Wyck, 1688

6 Loyalist murals and an Orange parade banner celebrating William III and the Battle of the Boyne (1690) in Northern Ireland

7 Elizabeth I in history and memoryThe Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (reigned ) ‘I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king’—from the Tilbury speech

8 Left: the ‘Rainbow’ portrait, by Isaac Oliver (?), c. 1600Right: Elizabeth on horseback, engraving by Thomas Cecill, c.1625 Miranda Richardson as ‘Queenie’ in Blackadder Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth

9 Contemporary and modern memories of Elizabeth‘Her hearse (as it was borne) seemed to be an island swimming in water, for round it there rained showers of tears.’—Thomas Dekker on Elizabeth’s funeral ‘…and yet a virgin,/ A most unspotted lily shall she pass/ To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.’—Shakespeare ‘The all-glorious, all-virtuous, incomparable, invict and matchless pattern of princes, the glory, honour and mirror of womankind, the admiration of our age, ELIZABETH, Queen of England… No oblivion shall ever bury the glory of her name, for her happy and renowned memory still liveth and shall for ever live in the minds of men to all posterity, as of one who… in wisdom and felicity of government surpassed… all the princes since the days of Augustus.’—William Camden ‘the glorious memory of Elizabeth Queen of England’—dedication in a history written in 1950

10 William Camden ( ), antiquarian and historian, author of Annales: The True and Royall History of the famous Empresse Elizabeth, Queen of England (first part, 1615; second part, 1628), the first history (or memorializing?) of the reign

11 Collective memory and historical realityThe memory of Elizabeth’s reign, stemming from Camden’s history, is of Elizabeth as a Protestant crusader; the architect of an expansionist, forward foreign policy; the able and wise queen who ruled with moderation and toleration through council and parliament; and of an age of vigour and glory The historical reality? (according to many historians…) Indecisiveness over foreign policy, large amounts of good fortune, paranoia over security, harsh socio-economic conditions, incomplete Reformation of the Church

12 Social and collective memoryConcept developed by the French philosopher Maurice Halbwachs ( ) Refers to the way society, or groups within society, construct, share and pass on a memory of the past; communities decide what is ‘memorable’ and how it should be remembered

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14 Statue of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson, near West Ham United football ground (commemorating West Ham winning the World Cup in 1966…)

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16 Trafalgar Square as the site for an alternative collective memory?

17 Evans on history ‘History is by its nature a critical, sceptical discipline. Historians commonly see one of their main tasks as puncturing myths, demolishing orthodoxies and exposing politically motivated narratives that advance spurious claims to objectivity.’

18 Primary sources: does the evidence ‘speak for itself’?it is through the primary sources that the past indisputably imposes its reality on the historian. That this imposition is basic in any understanding of the past is clear from the rules that documents should not be altered, or that any material damaging to a historian's argument or purpose should not be left out or suppressed. These rules mean that the sources or the texts of the past have an integrity and that they do indeed 'speak for themselves', and that they are necessary constraints through which past reality imposes itself on the historian. (E. Sreedharan, A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D (2004), p. 302)

19 Questions that might be asked about historical evidenceWhat is it? Who wrote it / produced it? When was it written / produced? Where was it written / produced? What is the historical context (social, political, cultural, religious, intellectual)? Why was it written / produced? Our task as historians is to evaluate the evidence. What is it evidence of? How reliable is the evidence? What are the problems with the evidence? What are the different ways in which the evidence can be interpreted?

20 Some questions and thoughtsConsider the questions you should ask about evidence. How important is our understanding of the historical context to our interpretation of the evidence? Reflect on the way evidence might be approached: do we move from evidence to context, or from context to evidence, or is our interpretation based on a constant moving backwards and forwards between evidence and context (hermeneutics)? What is the relationship between historical evidence and the historical accounts we construct from it? How significant in our understanding of evidence is the way it is presented and selected? Is all evidence open to multiple interpretations? Think of the meaning of evidence—does the meaning stay the same to different people, in different times, in different places?

21 Page from Pierre Bayle, Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697)

22 Referencing 1 References—footnotesThe importance of referencing follows from the importance of using sources (both primary and secondary) Sources transform your opinion into an informed argument—on its own your argument is just an opinion, it lacks support Using sources demonstrates the range of your reading (and your ability to understand and evaluate that reading) to your tutor Incorporating sources into your written work is therefore crucial

23 Referencing 2 Your use of sources needs to be referenced—if you don’t do this you may be suspected of plagiarism; every time you quote directly or refer indirectly to a source you should provide a reference Adopt good practices with your note-taking—note the bibliographical details of a book (at the very least, author, full title, place and date of publication); carefully record page numbers as you make notes; and ensure you can distinguish in your notes between direct quotes from your source and your own paraphrases Adopt good practices with your referencing—a good referencing system should be clear, precise and consistent; the History Department provides a referencing guide which you should follow: https://learn.gold.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=182995

24 ____________________Stephen Pigney ARE Y