Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Penguin Classics)

A

J. Murray (ed.), The Autobiographies of Edward Gibbon (1896)

ADF

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, abridged edition (references are to the pages of the present edition)

DF

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. David Womersley, 3 vols (Harmondsworth, 1994)

Journal

D. M. Low (ed.), Gibbons Journal to January 28th. 1763 (London, 1929)

L

J. E. Norton (ed.), The Letters of Edward Gibbon, 3 vols (London, 1956)

MW

Lord Sheffield (ed.), The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Eyes,, 5 vols (1814)

Norton

J. E. Norton, A Bibliography of the Works of Edward Gibbon (Oxford, 1940; repr. 1970)

Prothero

R. E. Prothero (ed.), The Private Letters of Edward Gibbon, 2 vols (1896)

1707

Gibbons father born.

1734

Gibbons father becomes MP for Petersfield.

1736

Gibbons grandfather dies.

1737

Edward Gibbon the historian born on 27 April O S.

1747

Gibbons mother dies on 26 December.

1748

Gibbon enters Westminster School.

1750

Nervous illness; residence in Bath.

1752

Enters Magdalen College, Oxford, as Gentleman Commoner.

1753

Converts to Roman Catholicism on 8 June.

Arrives in Lausanne on 30 June at the house of Daniel Pavilliard.

1754

Re-converts to Protestantism on 25 December.

1755

Gibbons father remarries on 8 May.

Tour of Switzerland in the company of Pavilliard.

1757

Meets Suzanne Curchod.

1758

Returns to England, arriving in London on 5 May.

1759

Receives commission as captain in the Hampshire Militia.

1761

Publishes the Essai sur ltude de la littrature.

1762

Hampshire Militia disembodied.

1763

Begins Grand Tour, arriving in Paris on 28 January 1763.

Arrives in Lausanne in May.

Meets John Baker Holroyd, later Lord Sheffield.

1764

Leaves Lausanne in April.

Arrives in Rome on 2 October.

Inspired on 15 October to write on the decline and fall of Rome.

1765

Returns to England in June.

17689

Publishes, in conjunction with Georges Deyverdun, the Mmoires littraires de la Grande Bretagne.

1770

Publishes anonymously the Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of Vergils Aeneid.

Gibbons father dies on 12 November.

1772

Gibbon takes up residence in Cavendish Square, London.

1774

Enters the House of Commons as MP for Liskeard.

1776

Volume one of The Decline and Fall published on 17 February.

1777

Spends six months in Paris.

1779

Publishes his reply to his clerical assailants, A Vindication.

Publishes the Mmoire justificatif.

Appointed to the Board of Trade and Plantations in July.

1780

Loses his seat in Parliament.

1781

Volumes two and three of The Decline and Fall published on I March.

Re-enters the House of Commons as MP for Lymington in June.

1783

Takes up permanent residence in Lausanne.

1787

Composition of The Decline and Fall completed on 27 June.

1788

Volumes four, five and six of The Decline and Fall published on 8 May.

Begins composing the Memoirs of My Life: six drafts completed by 1793.

1789

Georges Deyverdun dies in July.

1791

Visit of Lord Sheffield and his family to Lausanne.

1793

Death of Lady Sheffield in April.

1794

Gibbon dies of post-operative infection on 16 January.

1796

Sheffield publishes the first edition of Gibbons Miscellaneous Works, including his edition of Gibbons Memoirs of My Life.