Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon
Portrait by Joshua Reynolds
Member of Parliament for Lymington
In office
1781–1784
Preceded bySamuel Salt
Edward Eliot
Succeeded bySamuel Salt
Wilbraham Tollemache
Member of Parliament for Liskeard
In office
1774–1780
Preceded byHarry Burrard
Thomas Dummer
Succeeded byHarry Burrard
William Manning
Personal details
Born8 May 1737
Putney, Surrey, England
Died16 January 1794(1794-01-16) (aged 56)
London, England
Political partyWhig
EducationMagdalen College, Oxford
OccupationEssayist, historian, politician
Signature

Edward Gibbon FRS (/ˈɡɪbən/; 8 May 1737[1] – 16 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organized religion.[2]

  1. ^ O.S. 27 April. Gibbon's birthday is 27 April 1737 of the old style (O.S.) Julian calendar; England adopted the new style (N.S.) Gregorian calendar in 1752, and thereafter Gibbon's birthday was celebrated on 8 May 1737 N.S.
  2. ^ The most recent and also the first critical edition, in three volumes, is that of David Womersley. For commentary on Gibbon's irony and insistence on primary sources whenever available, see Womersley, "Introduction". While the larger part of Gibbon's caustic view of Christianity is declared within the text of chapters XV and XVI, Gibbon rarely neglects to note its baleful influence throughout the remaining volumes of the Decline and Fall.