On Method: An Apologia and A Plea

1. Livy, , History of Rome, Preface and VIII, 6.

2. M. de Montaigne, “Essay on the Art of Conversation.”

3. Bloch, M., The Historian's Craft, Eng. trans. (New York, 1953), p. 100.

4. In this regard an encouraging sign is the recent publication in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien series of several volumes devoted to the National Archives of Ghana.

5. Great Britain Historical Manuscripts Commission, A Survey of the Archives of Selected Missionary Societies (London, 1968).

6. Hopkins, A.G., An Economic History of West Africa (London, 1973), p. 297.

7. Hess, R.L. and Coger, D.M., Semper ex Africa: A Bibliography of Primary Sources for Nineteenth-Century Tropical Africa… (Palo Alto, 1972). Though very strong on the German periodical publications, this work covers only very intermittently the useful material contained in the publications of the several French provincial geographical societies.

8. Bloch, , Historian's Craft, p. 110. Cf. Dumézil, G., Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus: Essai sur la conception indo-europpéenne de la souverainété (Paris, 1941), p. 42.

9. Authors of works devoted to Biblical and patristic exegesis seem particularly remiss in this respect. They seem almost inevitably to assume that only their own colleagues will ever consult their works.

10. Conversely, though, even if the scholarly study of the African past is relatively new, some of its results are interesting and impressive enough to share; yet few Africanists seem to have attempted to discuss their problems and results in general historical journals. Almost none of the more important historical journals has ever published an article dealing with tropical Africa as other than a facet of imperialism in one of its manifestations. It would appear, from editorial comments in these journals, that this omission results primarily from the fact that no submissions are received from African historians.

11. The literature is as extensive as the putative distribution of the remains. For two examples see Kendrick, T.D., St. James in Spain (London, 1960), especially pp. 13-24, 188–91, and Meinardus, O.F.A., “An Examination of the Traditions Pertaining to the Relics of St. Mark,” Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 36 (1970), pp. 366–74.

12. But see Fodor, A., “The Origins of the Arabic Legends of the Pyramids,” Acta Orientalia, 23 (Budapest, 1970), pp. 335–63.

13. The most extreme instance of this phenomenon may be the case of St. Philomena. From bones discovered early in the nineteenth century and mistakenly analyzed, and an epitaph which was incorrectly pieced together, there sprang an important and popular cult and an immensely detailed biography. In due course the various errors were uncovered and it became clear that no such individual had ever existed. See Thurston, H. and Attwater, D., eds., Butler's Lives of the Saints, 4 vols. (London, 1956), 3:299–301; Leclercq, H., “Filumena,” in Cabrol, F. and Leclercq, H., eds., Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrêrienne et de liturgie, 15 vols. (Paris, 1907-1946), 5/2:1600–06; and ibid., sources cited.

14. For the interesting case of ‘St. Amphibalus,’ the alleged companion of St. Alban, see Saintyves, P., Essais de mythologie chrêtienne (Paris, 1907); Levison, W., ’St. Alban and St. Albans,” Antiquity, 15 (1941), pp. 352–7; Williamson, L.F.R., “St. Alban in History and Legend: A Critical Examination,” Bulletin of the Departments of History and Political and Economic Science, No. 11 (Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, 1912), pp. 1–8.

15. Redford, D.B., “The Hyksos Invasion in Myth and History,” Orientalia n.s. 39 (1970), pp. 1–51; Cross, F.M., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), pp. 85–6; Nicholson, E.W., Exodus and Sinai in History and Tradition (Oxford, 1973). For the Etruscans (invaders, migrants, or autochthones?) see Scullard, H.H., “Two Halicarnassans and a Lydian” in Ancient Society and Institutions: Studies Presented to Victor Ehrenberg (Oxford, 1966), pp. 225–31, and Heurgon, J., The Rise of Rome to 264 B.C. (London, 1973), pp. 225–39.

16. For the evidence that the ruling classes of Nanchao were not Thai speakers see Blackmore, M., “The Rise of Nan-chao in Yunnan,” Journal of Southeast Asian History, 1 (1960), pp. 47–612.

17. See, among others, Anastos, M.V., “Nestorius was Orthodox,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 16 (1962), pp. 117–40; Grillmeier, A., Christ in Christian Tradition (New York, 1965), p. 370; Wilken, R.L., “Scripture and Dogma in the Ancient Church,” Lutheran World, 14 (1967), pp. 169–79; idem, The Myth of Christian Beginnings: History's Impact on Belief (Garden City, New York, 1971), pp. 77-103, 179-84.

18. Koester, H., “The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy,” in Robinson, J.M., ed., The Future of Our Religious Past (London, 1971), p. 68.

19. Most recently see McMullen, D., “Historical and Literary Theory in the Mid-Eighth Century,” in Wright, A.F. and Twitchett, D., eds., Perspectives of the T'ang (New Haven, 1973), pp. 307–42.

20. See, among others, Dibble, C.E., “Spanish Influence on the Nahuatl Texts of Sahagún's ‘Historiay’” Akten des 34. Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses (Vienna, 1960), pp. 244–7; idem, “Sahagún and His Informants,” Actas y Memorias del XXXVII Congreso International de Americanistas (Buenos Aires, 1966), 3:145-53; Padden, R.C., The Hummingbird and the Hawk: Conquest and Sovereignty in the Valley of Mexico, 1503-1541 (Columbus, 1967), pp. 2–13; Pease, F., “The Andean Creator God,” Numen, 12 (1970), pp. 161–75; Guillermo Vásquez, S., “El Popoh-Vuh y el Génesis: estudio comparativo,” Mysterium, 30 (1971), pp. 5–26: Wachtel, N. “La vision des vaincus: la conquête espagnole dans le folklore indigène,” Annates: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 22 (1967), pp. 554–85; idem, “Pensée sauvage et acculturation: l'espace et le temps chez Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala et l'Inca Garcilaso de la Vega,” Annates: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 26 (1971), pp. 793-840; Hedrick, B.C., “Quetzalcoatl: European or Indigene?” in Riley, CX.et al., eds., Man A cross the Sea: Problems of Pre-Colombian Contacts (Austin, 1971), pp. 261–4; Carmack, R.M., Quichean Civilization: The Ethnohistoric, Ethnographic, and Archeological Sources (Berkeley, 1973).

21. The roles of the Spanish priests as stimuli/collectors/interpreters/synthesizers of Indian traditions was similar in many ways to the role of local government officials and anthropologists under colonial rule, and of trained African historians as well. It almost certainly would well repay attention.

22. Barrère, D.B., “Revisions and Adulterations in Polynesian Creation Myths,” in Highland, G.A.et al., eds., Polynesian Culture History (Honolulu, 1967), pp. 105–17; Peschel, E.R., “Structural Parallelisms in Two Flood Myths: Noah and the Maori,” Folk-Lore, 82 (1971), pp. 116–23.