Introduction: The Enlightenment and the past. Old controversies and new perspectives

This introduction starts with a sketch of the most salient features of the historiography of the Enlightenment and demonstrates that the enlightened approach to the past was hugely influential and rapidly set new standards for historical writing all over Europe. It proceeds to explain how, from the late eighteenth century on, the prestige of Enlightenment historiography was undermined by a number of developments, including an unprecedented series of political revolutions, the emergence of a methodologically sophisticated academic history, and the rise of a romantic historical sensibility. It was not until the twentieth century that the historiography of the Enlightenment was rehabilitated. The introduction ends with an overview of the most recent developments in the study of Enlightenment historiography and, against that background, a discussion of the various contributions to this issue of De Achttiende Eeuw.