William Hickling Prescott
William Hickling Prescott (born May 4, 1796 in Salem , Massachusetts , † January 29, 1859 in Boston ) was an American historian.
He was the grandson of William Prescott , who commanded American troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War; his father was a renowned lawyer. From 1811 to 1814 he studied at Harvard University . At the beginning of his studies he almost went blind when a breadcrumb that a fellow student threw at him in the Harvard cafeteria stuck in his eye. His eyesight was severely impaired throughout his life.
From 1815 to 1817 he toured Europe and began studying European literature and history, especially Spanish. This field of research had previously been developed and popularized in the USA by Washington Irving . In 1837 Prescott's first major work, History of Ferdinand and Isabella (3 volumes) on the Catholic Kings, was published and established him as one of the most renowned American historians. In 1840 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He also studied the history of the Spanish colonies in the New World; History of the Conquest of Mexico (3 vol.) Appeared in 1843, and Conquest of Peru (2 vol.) In 1847 . His last work, a monumental biography of Philip II , History of Philip II , remained unfinished; until his death three volumes appeared. A first sixteen-volume edition was published from 1870 to 1874. His longtime friend George Ticknor wrote a biography of Prescott in 1864.
Prescott spent many years in Europe studying sources; his enormous diligence appears all the more impressive because of his visual impairment. Prescott used a noctograph to write his books after going blind . His works shine with a great amount of detail and their stylistic and narrative quality and have therefore found inclusion in the canon of American literature.
In 1845 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences .
Secondary literature
- David Levin: History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, and Parkman . Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1959.
Web links
- Literature by and about William Hickling Prescott in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about William Hickling Prescott in the German Digital Library
E-texts
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Prescott, William Hickling |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 4, 1796 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Salem (Massachusetts) , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 1859 |
| Place of death | Boston , USA |