Geoffrey Rudolph Elton
Encyclopedia
Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (17 August 1921 – 3 December 1994) was a German-born British historian
, who specialized in the Tudor period
.
, Germany
as Gottfried Rudolf Ehrenberg. His parents were the Jewish scholars Victor Ehrenberg
and Eva Dorothea Sommer. In 1929, the Ehrenbergs moved to Prague
, Czech Republic
. In February 1939, the Ehrenbergs fled to Britain
. Ehrenberg continued his education at Rydal School
, a Methodist school in Wales
, starting in 1939. After only two years, Ehrenberg was working as a teacher
at Rydal and achieved the position of assistant master in Mathematics
, History
and German
. While there, he took courses via correspondence at the University of London
and graduated with a degree in Ancient History
in 1943. Ehrenberg enlisted in the British Army
in 1943. He spent his time in the Army in the Intelligence Corps and the East Surrey Regiment, serving with the Eighth Army in Italy
from 1944 to 1946. During this period, Ehrenberg anglicised his name to Geoffrey Elton. After his discharge from the army, Elton studied early modern history at the University of London, graduating with a PhD in 1949. He took British citizenship in 1947.
but made significant contributions to the study of Queen Elizabeth I
.
He was most famous for arguing in his 1953 book The Tudor Revolution in Government that Thomas Cromwell was the author of modern, bureaucratic government
which replaced medieval, household government. This change took place in the 1530s and must be regarded as part of a planned revolution. In essence, Elton was arguing that before Cromwell the realm could be viewed as the King's private estate writ large and that most administration was done by the King's household servants rather than separate state offices. Cromwell, who was Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540, introduced reforms into the administration that delineated the King's household from the state and created a modern bureaucratic government. He shone Tudor light into the darker corners of the Realm and radically altered the role of Parliament
and the competence of Statute.
By master-minding these reforms, Cromwell was said to have laid the foundations of England's future stability and success. Elton elaborated on these ideas in his 1955 work, the best-selling England under the Tudors, which went through three editions after its first appearance, and his Wiles Lectures, which he published in 1973 as Reform and Renewal: Thomas Cromwell and the Common Weal.
His thesis has been widely challenged by Tudor historians and can no longer be regarded as an orthodoxy, but Elton's contribution to the debate has profoundly influenced subsequent discussion of Tudor government, in particular concerning the role of Cromwell.
and Winston Churchill
. He was also a fierce critic of Marxist
historians, who he argued were presenting seriously flawed interpretations of the past. In particular, Elton was opposed to the idea that the English Civil War
was caused by socio-economic changes in the 16th and 17th centuries, arguing instead that it was due largely to the incompetence of the Stuart
kings. Elton was also famous for his role in the Carr
-Elton debate when he defended the nineteenth century interpretation of empirical, 'scientific' history most famously associated with Leopold von Ranke
against E. H. Carr's views. Elton wrote his 1967 book The Practice of History largely in response to Carr's 1961 book What is History?.
Elton was a strong defender of the traditional methods of history and was appalled by postmodernism
, once intoning on the subject: '...we are fighting for the lives of innocent young people beset by devilish tempters who claim to offer higher forms of thought and deeper truths and insights - the intellectual equivalent of crack, in fact. Any acceptance of these theories - even the most gentle or modest bow in their direction - can prove fatal.' Although ex-pupils of his such as John Guy
claim he did embody a "revisionist streak," Elton saw the duty of historians as empirically gathering evidence and objectively analyzing what the evidence has to say. As a traditionalist, he placed great emphasis on the role of individuals in history instead of abstract, impersonal forces. For instance, his 1963 book Reformation Europe is in large part concerned with the duel between Martin Luther
and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
. Elton objected to cross-disciplinary efforts such as efforts to combine history with anthropology
or sociology
. He saw political history as the best and most important kind of history. Elton had no use for those who seek history to make myths, to create laws to explain the past, or to produce theories such as Marxism
.
and from 1949 onwards at Clare College, Cambridge University
and was the Regius Professor of Modern History
there from 1983 to 1988. Pupils include John Guy and Diarmaid MacCulloch and he was knighted in 1986. Elton worked as publication secretary of the British Academy
from 1981 to 1990 and served as the president of the Royal Historical Society
from 1972 to 1976. He married a fellow historian, Sheila Lambert, in 1952.
He was the brother of the education researcher Lewis Elton
and therefore the uncle of Lewis's comedian and writer son, Ben Elton
.
of Sparta
.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, who specialized in the Tudor period
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
.
Upbringing
Elton was born in TübingenTübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as Gottfried Rudolf Ehrenberg. His parents were the Jewish scholars Victor Ehrenberg
Victor Ehrenberg (historian)
Victor Ehrenberg was a German historian. He was the younger brother of Hans Ehrenberg and the nephew of the jurist Victor Ehrenberg.He was married to Eva Dorothea Ehrenberg, née Sommer ....
and Eva Dorothea Sommer. In 1929, the Ehrenbergs moved to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. In February 1939, the Ehrenbergs fled to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Ehrenberg continued his education at Rydal School
Rydal Penrhos
Rydal Penrhos is a private co-educational boarding school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. It is located on multiple sites around the town including a site in the neighbouring village of Rhos-on-Sea where it keeps its watersports equipment for easy access to the beach.The school, as it exists today,...
, a Methodist school in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, starting in 1939. After only two years, Ehrenberg was working as a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
at Rydal and achieved the position of assistant master in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. While there, he took courses via correspondence at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and graduated with a degree in Ancient History
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
in 1943. Ehrenberg enlisted in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in 1943. He spent his time in the Army in the Intelligence Corps and the East Surrey Regiment, serving with the Eighth Army in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from 1944 to 1946. During this period, Ehrenberg anglicised his name to Geoffrey Elton. After his discharge from the army, Elton studied early modern history at the University of London, graduating with a PhD in 1949. He took British citizenship in 1947.
The Tudor Revolution in Government
Elton focused primarily on the life of Henry VIIIHenry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
but made significant contributions to the study of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
.
He was most famous for arguing in his 1953 book The Tudor Revolution in Government that Thomas Cromwell was the author of modern, bureaucratic government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
which replaced medieval, household government. This change took place in the 1530s and must be regarded as part of a planned revolution. In essence, Elton was arguing that before Cromwell the realm could be viewed as the King's private estate writ large and that most administration was done by the King's household servants rather than separate state offices. Cromwell, who was Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540, introduced reforms into the administration that delineated the King's household from the state and created a modern bureaucratic government. He shone Tudor light into the darker corners of the Realm and radically altered the role of Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
and the competence of Statute.
By master-minding these reforms, Cromwell was said to have laid the foundations of England's future stability and success. Elton elaborated on these ideas in his 1955 work, the best-selling England under the Tudors, which went through three editions after its first appearance, and his Wiles Lectures, which he published in 1973 as Reform and Renewal: Thomas Cromwell and the Common Weal.
His thesis has been widely challenged by Tudor historians and can no longer be regarded as an orthodoxy, but Elton's contribution to the debate has profoundly influenced subsequent discussion of Tudor government, in particular concerning the role of Cromwell.
Historical perspective
Elton was a staunch admirer of Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. He was also a fierce critic of Marxist
Marxist historiography
Marxist or historical materialist historiography is a school of historiography influenced by Marxism. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes....
historians, who he argued were presenting seriously flawed interpretations of the past. In particular, Elton was opposed to the idea that the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
was caused by socio-economic changes in the 16th and 17th centuries, arguing instead that it was due largely to the incompetence of the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
kings. Elton was also famous for his role in the Carr
Edward Hallett Carr
Edward Hallett "Ted" Carr CBE was a liberal and later Marxist British historian, journalist and international relations theorist, and an opponent of empiricism within historiography....
-Elton debate when he defended the nineteenth century interpretation of empirical, 'scientific' history most famously associated with Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...
against E. H. Carr's views. Elton wrote his 1967 book The Practice of History largely in response to Carr's 1961 book What is History?.
Elton was a strong defender of the traditional methods of history and was appalled by postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
, once intoning on the subject: '...we are fighting for the lives of innocent young people beset by devilish tempters who claim to offer higher forms of thought and deeper truths and insights - the intellectual equivalent of crack, in fact. Any acceptance of these theories - even the most gentle or modest bow in their direction - can prove fatal.' Although ex-pupils of his such as John Guy
John Guy (historian)
John Guy is a British historian and biographer.Born in Australia, he moved to Britain with his parents in 1952. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Lytham, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking a First. At Cambridge, Guy studied under the Tudor specialist Geoffrey...
claim he did embody a "revisionist streak," Elton saw the duty of historians as empirically gathering evidence and objectively analyzing what the evidence has to say. As a traditionalist, he placed great emphasis on the role of individuals in history instead of abstract, impersonal forces. For instance, his 1963 book Reformation Europe is in large part concerned with the duel between Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
. Elton objected to cross-disciplinary efforts such as efforts to combine history with anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
or sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. He saw political history as the best and most important kind of history. Elton had no use for those who seek history to make myths, to create laws to explain the past, or to produce theories such as Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
.
Career
Elton taught at the University of GlasgowUniversity of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
and from 1949 onwards at Clare College, Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and was the Regius Professor of Modern History
Regius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)
Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I. The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day...
there from 1983 to 1988. Pupils include John Guy and Diarmaid MacCulloch and he was knighted in 1986. Elton worked as publication secretary of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
from 1981 to 1990 and served as the president of the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
from 1972 to 1976. He married a fellow historian, Sheila Lambert, in 1952.
He was the brother of the education researcher Lewis Elton
Lewis Elton
Ludwig Richard Benjamin Elton is a German-born British physicist and researcher into education, specialising in higher education....
and therefore the uncle of Lewis's comedian and writer son, Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
.
Works
Geoffrey Elton edited the second edition of the influential collection, The Tudor Constitution. In it, he supported John Aylmer's basic conclusion that the Tudor constitution mirrored that of the mixed constitutionMixed government
Mixed government, also known as a mixed constitution, is a form of government that integrates elements of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. In a mixed government, some issues are decided by the majority of the people, some other issues by few, and some other issues by a single person...
of Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
.
- The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII, Cambridge University Press, 1953.
- England Under The Tudors London: Methuen, 1955, revised edition 1974, third edition 1991.
- The Reformation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958.
- Star Chamber Stories London: Methuen, 1958.
- The Tudor Constitution: Documents and Commentary, Cambridge University Press, 1960; second edition, 1982.
- Henry VIII; An essay In Revision London: Historical Association by Routledge & K. Paul, 1962.
- Reformation Europe, 1517-1559 New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
- The Practice of History London: Fontana Press, 1967.
- Renaissance and Reformation, 1300-1640, edited by G.R. Elton New York: Macmillan 1968.
- The Body of the Whole Realm; Parliament and Representation in Medieval and Tudor England Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1969.
- England, 1200-1640 Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969.
- Modern Historians on British History, 1485-1945 A Critical Bibliography London, Methuen, 1970.
- Political History: Principles and Practice, London: Penguin Press, 1970.
- Reform and Renewal: Thomas Cromwell and the Common Weal Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973; ISBN 0521098092.
- Policy and Police: the Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell, Cambridge University Press, 1973.
- Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Papers and Reviews, 1945-1972, 4 volumes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974-1992.
- Annual bibliography of British and Irish history, Brighton, Sussex [England]:Harvester Press ; Atlantic Highlands, N.J. : Humanities Press for the Royal Historical Society, 1976.
- Reform and Reformation: England 1509-1558, London: Arnold, 1977.
- English Law In The Sixteenth Century : Reform In An Age of Change London: Selden Society, 1979.
- (co-written with Robert FogelRobert FogelRobert William Fogel is an American economic historian and scientist, and winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is now the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and director of the Center for Population Economics at the...
) Which Road to the Past? Two Views of History New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983 - F.W. Maitland London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985.
- The Parliament of England, 1559-1581 Cambridge University Press, 1986.
- Return to Essentials: Some Reflections on the Present State of Historical Study, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
- The English Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.