Gibbon quickly became a Protestant again, and he suspended his religious inquiries. Pavier set Gibbon on a course of reading that would lead him eventually to historicize the claims which he had taken as simple matters of doctrinal truth or falsehood. So in Lozane, Gibbon loses a religion, but he finds a calling and an occupation. He returns to England just before he turns 21, with slightly suspicious timing. His father has made sure he gets back just as he reaches his majority so that he can sign away the end tale on the family estate.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of one of the great historians, best known for his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (published 1776-89). According to Gibbon (1737-94) , the idea for this work came to him on 15th of October 1764 as he sat musing amidst the ruins of Rome, while barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter. Decline and Fall covers thirteen centuries and is an enormous intellectual undertaking and, on publication, it became a phenomenal success across Europe.
The image above is of Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton, oil on mahogany panel, 1773.
With
David Womersley
The Thomas Wharton Professor of English Literature at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford
Charlotte Roberts
Lecturer in English at University College London
And
Karen O’Brien
Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson