Motley, John Lothrop

Motley, John Lothrop,

1814–77, American historian and diplomat, b. Dorchester, Mass. Author of two novels concerning Thomas MortonMorton, Thomas,
fl. 1622–47, English trader and adventurer in New England. He visited New England in 1622 and returned in 1625 with Captain Wollaston, who founded a settlement at Mt. Wollaston (now Quincy, Mass.).
..... Click the link for more information.  (1839 and 1849), as well as a number of articles for the North American Review. Motley's study of the history of the Netherlands resulted in The Rise of the Dutch Republic (3 vol., 1856), long a standard work and a popular success, and History of the United Netherlands (4 vol., 1860–67). His last work, The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, appeared in 1874. Motley had spent a short period in 1841 as secretary of the U.S. legation at St. Petersburg and later was minister to Austria (1861–67). President Grant appointed him minister to Great Britain in 1869, but difficulties arising from Motley's tendency to ignore the instructions of Secretary of State Hamilton FishFish, Hamilton,
1808–93, American statesman, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1827; son of Nicholas Fish (1758–1833). He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1830.
..... Click the link for more information.  and from Grant's animosity toward his sponsor and friend, Charles SumnerSumner, Charles,
1811–74, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1851–74), b. Boston. He attended (1831–33) and was later a lecturer at Harvard law school, was admitted (1834) to the bar, and practiced in Boston. He spent the years 1837 to 1840 in Europe.
..... Click the link for more information. , caused him to be relieved of his post in 1870.

Bibliography

See O. W. Holmes, John Lothrop Motley: A Memoir (1879); G. W. Curtis, ed., The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley (1889); John Lothrop Motley and His Family (ed. by his daughter, Susan M. Mildmay, and H. S. Mildmay, 1910).

Motley, John Lothrop

(1814–77) historian, diplomat; born in Dorchester, Mass. Son of a wealthy family, he graduated from Harvard (1831), then spent several years in Germany, Britain, and elsewhere in Europe where he got to know the intellectual and political elite, including Otto von Bismarck. Back in Boston in 1835, he married and decided on a literary career. His first two novels were not successful, so after several months as secretary to the U.S. embassy in St. Petersburg, Russia (1841), he decided to devote himself to writing history—specifically, the history of the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries. He published the work for which he remains best known, The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856). He served as ambassador to Austria (1861–67) and Britain (1869–70) while publishing The History of the United Netherlands, 1584–1609 (four vols. 1860–67), but died before he could bring his history to its climax in 1648. Although composed in an engaging style, his history has been regarded by most scholars as a highly personal interpretation of events.