Walter Ralegh, The History of the World

Katharine Craik (Oxford Brookes University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1614

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Historical representation

Resources

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Ralegh's greatest literary achievement,

The History of the World

, was composed between 1607 and 1614 while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on trumped-up charges of plotting against the life of James I. Ralegh had intended to compose a three-volume encyclopaedia of universal existence from the Creation to the present day, but completed only “the first part” which itself comprised five books and 776 folio pages. Tracing the rise and fall of the empires of Babylon, Persia and Greece, Ralegh anchors his narrative firmly in the Old Testament, but traverses widely across Greek and Roman philosophy and poetry, rabbinical exegesis, Christian writings in Latin and Greek, and medieval and Renaissance theology. Ralegh composed

The Historie

in order to establish “truth itselfe”,…

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1427 words

Citation: Craik, Katharine. "The History of the World". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=588, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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