Autorentext

Henry Thomas Buckle was an English historian, author of an unfinished History of Civilization, and an accomplished amateur chess player. He is also referred to as "the Father of Scientific History". Buckle, the son of rich London merchant and shipowner Thomas Henry Buckle (1779-1840) and his wife Jane Middleton (d. 1859) of Yorkshire, was born on November 24, 1821, in Lee, London (Kent County). He has two sisters. His father died in January 1840. Buckle's "delicate health" made him unsuitable for the typical formal schooling or games of middle-class youngsters. However, he enjoyed reading. This qualified him to be "educated at home" by his mother, whom he adored until her death in 1859. Buckle completed one year of formal education at Gordon House School when he was fourteen years old. Buckle requested "to be taken away from school" after his father promised him a reward for winning a math competition. He learned everything on his own after that. Buckle later stated, "I was never much tormented by what is called education, but allowed to pursue my own way undisturbed." Whatever I am currently expected to know, I taught myself." Buckle initially distinguished himself as a chess player when he was nineteen years old. He was widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In match play, he defeated Kieseritsky and Loewenthal.

Klappentext

English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-62) was born into the family of a wealthy London merchant. A child of delicate health, and tutored privately at home, he never attended university. Nevertheless, it was clear that he was meant for intellectual pursuits and by the age of twenty he was a formidable chess player. With his love of books and reading, he set out on an ambitious plan to write a fourteen-volume history of civilisation, and at the same time to put historical research on a more scientific basis. The work would have included a greater number of countries, but due to his early death, only two volumes exist. Published in 1861, this is the second of two volumes that make up Buckle's unfinished history of civilization. It focuses on Scotland, and its intellectual, religious, political and social history. It also includes a chapter on Spain.

Zusammenfassung
Published in 1857 and 1861 respectively, these are the only two volumes of Buckle's ambitious but unfinished history of civilisation. The books cover the intellectual, religious, political and social history of England, France, Scotland, and to a lesser extent, Spain.

Inhalt

1. Outlines of the history of the Spanish intellect from the fifth to the middle of the nineteenth century; 2. Condition of Scotland to the end of the fourteenth century; 3. Condition of Scotland in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; 4. Condition of Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; 5. An examination of the Scotch intellect during the seventeenth century; 6. An examination of the Scotch intellect during the eighteenth century.