Renaissance Historicism Reconsidered
Zachary S. Schiffman
The history of historiography is concerned not only with historical writing and scholarship but also consciousness, the changing ways viewing past its relationship to present. Modern or has been widely regarded as originating in preromantic romantic movements late eighteenth-century Germany, some recent historians have maintained that it originated from scholarly developments sixteenth-century France. This revisionist view, however, confuses modern consciousness scholarship. It correctly attributes a growing awareness cultural relativity sixteenth century scholarship, incorrectly identifies this sense historicism, thus obscuring true nature French Renaissance. view based largely on work John Pocock, Julian Franklin, Donald Kelley, George Huppert.1 Despite certain differences approach emphasis, each these authors shows how study Roman law France contributed an relativity. legal followed mos gallicus, opposed italicus; Justinian's Corpus juris. latter school adhered Bartolist tradition, establishing universal by logical analysis text, whereas former emphasized need for philological text establish meaning before applying understanding current problems. application humanist techniques juris inevitably drew scholars into consideration law, they found themselves reconstructing social, political, institutional Rome order clarify text. As result study, stood revealed society,
History and Theory