Peterhouse school of history
Encyclopedia
The Peterhouse school of history was named after the Cambridge college
of the same name where the history
taught concentrated on 'high politics'. That is, the study of 'fifty or sixty politicians in conscious tension with one another', in the words of Maurice Cowling
, the most prominent member of the Peterhouse school.
Historians generally considered to be part of the Peterhouse school are Michael Bentley
, Alistair B. Cooke
, Maurice Cowling, Edward Norman
and John Vincent
. Although some are no longer at Peterhouse and Cowling himself was not comfortable with the label (preferring 'Peterhouse Right') these historians, Cowling stated, also
The Peterhouse school see politicians making policy decisions with self-interest their primary goal, and ideological principles acting as a kind of smoke screen to cover their true intentions or held because they are politically convenient at the time. Peterhouse historians reject biography
as it, Cowling argues, "abstracts a man whose public action should not be abstracted" because politicians' actions cannot be properly understood in isolation but only by their interaction with fellow politicians. Cowling also claimed that the Peterhouse school treated Parliament as an instrument of class warfare
and that it borrowed from The Spectator
's political columnist Henry Fairlie
and Robert Blake
's central chapters of his The Unknown Prime Minister the realisation of parliamentary politics as "a spectacle of ambition and manoeuvre".
Maurice Cowling believed that the term had been coined by Professor Joseph Lee of University College, Cork. In Cowling's own words:
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
of the same name where the history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
taught concentrated on 'high politics'. That is, the study of 'fifty or sixty politicians in conscious tension with one another', in the words of Maurice Cowling
Maurice Cowling
Maurice John Cowling was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.-Life:Cowling was born in Norwood, South London, to a lower middle-class family. His family then moved to Streatham, where Cowling attended an LCC elementary school, and from 1937 the Battersea Grammar School...
, the most prominent member of the Peterhouse school.
Historians generally considered to be part of the Peterhouse school are Michael Bentley
Michael Bentley (historian)
Michael Bentley is an English historian of British politics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Boyd Hilton has called Bentley's Politics without Democracy 1815-1914 "a wonderfully ‘inside’ account of life at the top", whilst K...
, Alistair B. Cooke
Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden
Alistair Basil Cooke, Baron Lexden is a British historian, author and politician who sits as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords....
, Maurice Cowling, Edward Norman
Edward Norman
Edward Robert Norman was Canon Chancellor of York Minster and is an ecclesiastical historian.Norman was educated at the Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow, London. He won an Open Scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge, of which he was a Fellow , before moving to Jesus College as a...
and John Vincent
John Vincent (historian)
John Russell Vincent is a British historian and a former Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was Professor of Modern History, and later History, at the University of Bristol from 1970 until his retirement when he became Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia...
. Although some are no longer at Peterhouse and Cowling himself was not comfortable with the label (preferring 'Peterhouse Right') these historians, Cowling stated, also
The Peterhouse school see politicians making policy decisions with self-interest their primary goal, and ideological principles acting as a kind of smoke screen to cover their true intentions or held because they are politically convenient at the time. Peterhouse historians reject biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
as it, Cowling argues, "abstracts a man whose public action should not be abstracted" because politicians' actions cannot be properly understood in isolation but only by their interaction with fellow politicians. Cowling also claimed that the Peterhouse school treated Parliament as an instrument of class warfare
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
and that it borrowed from The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
's political columnist Henry Fairlie
Henry Fairlie
Henry Jones Fairlie was a British political journalist and social critic. Sometimes mistakenly believed to have coined the term "the Establishment", an analysis of how "all the right people" came to run Britain largely through social connections, he spent 36 years as a prominent freelance writer...
and Robert Blake
Robert Blake, Baron Blake
Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake was an English historian. He is best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, and for The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, which grew out of his 1968 Ford lectures...
's central chapters of his The Unknown Prime Minister the realisation of parliamentary politics as "a spectacle of ambition and manoeuvre".
Maurice Cowling believed that the term had been coined by Professor Joseph Lee of University College, Cork. In Cowling's own words: