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Article: Gibbon, Edward (1737–1794)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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GIBBON, EDWARD (1737
–
1794)
GIBBON, EDWARD
(1737
–
1794), the leading English historian of the eighteenth century, famous for his
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
The affluent only son of Edward Gibbon, a member of Parliament and country gentleman, Gibbon was briefly at Magdalen College, Oxford. The formative experience was his years in Lausanne (1753
–
1758). There he received an important introduction to Enlightenment thought and also defined his political judgments with reference to the various government structures and practices of the Swiss cantons, leading to his unpublished
Letter on the Government of Berne.
In 1758, Gibbon began the
Essai ...