Utter Antiquity

Historians know a great deal about how English thinkers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the "documentable" past, but relatively little about how they perceived times stretching back beyond history. Arthur B. Ferguson shows in this elegant essay that prehistory had great meaning in Renaissance England. Commentators of various sorts - from poets to antiquaries - looked to the most distant past for the vanishing point that would perfect their historical perspective, complete their picture of universal history, and orient them in an age of increasing change. In this pursuit they often had to let imagination serve the purpose of interpretation. Though largely speculative, their efforts reveal much about the intellectual life of Renaissance England. Since the Bible left little room for speculation on prehistory - in fact, no room at all for the concept itself - this study concentrates on myth and legend outside of the biblical context and on those who conjured prehistory out of these sources. A subtle conflict between belief and skepticism emerges from these pages, as Ferguson reveals how some Renaissance writers struggled with the ancient explanations that flouted reason and experience, while others sidestepped such doubts by relating prehistory to man's social evolution. By isolating and analyzing such topics as euhemerism (the interpretation of myths as traditional accounts of historical events and persons), skepticism, rationalism, and poetic history, Ferguson clarifies Renaissance attempts to find in poetic expression a way of "mediating" between a version of the past preserved in myth and legend and one that might square with historical scholarship. Written in an accessible and eloquent style, Utter Antiquity illuminates the development of historical consciousness in early modern England, and, in doing so, contributes significantly to an understanding of the Renaissance mind.

Year

1992

Language

English

Publisher

Duke University Press

Editions

1

Pages

168

ISBN

9780822312758

Data source: Wikidata