Editing Antiquarian (section)

===Medieval and early modern antiquarianism===
{{further|History of archaeology}}
Despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the [[Latin literature|literature of ancient Rome]], some scholars view antiquarianism as emerging only in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name=Daly-35>{{Cite book|title=Egyptology: The Missing Millennium : Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings|first=Okasha|last=El Daly|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2004|isbn=1-84472-063-2|page=35 }}</ref> Medieval antiquarians sometimes made collections of inscriptions or records of monuments, but the Varro-inspired concept of {{Lang|la|antiquitates}} among the Romans as the "systematic collections of all the [[relic]]s of the past" faded.<ref>[[Arnaldo Momigliano]], "Ancient History and the Antiquarian," ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' 13 (1950), p. 289.</ref> Antiquarianism's wider flowering is more generally associated with the [[Renaissance]], and with the critical assessment and questioning of [[Classical antiquity|classical]] texts undertaken in that period by [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] scholars. [[Textual criticism]] soon broadened into an awareness of the supplementary perspectives on the past which could be offered by the study of [[Numismatics|coins]], [[Epigraphy|inscriptions]] and other archaeological remains, as well as documents from medieval periods.  Antiquaries often formed collections of these and other objects; [[cabinet of curiosities]] is a general term for early collections, which often encompassed antiquities and more recent art, items of natural history, [[memorabilia]] and items from far-away lands.

[[Image:William Camden Clarenceux.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[William Camden]] (1551–1623), author of the ''Britannia'', wearing the [[tabard]] and [[chain of office]] of [[Clarenceux King of Arms]]. Originally published in the 1695 edition of ''Britannia''.]]
The importance placed on [[ancestor|lineage]] in [[Early modern period|early modern]] Europe meant that antiquarianism was often closely associated with [[genealogy]], and a number of prominent antiquaries (including [[Robert Glover (officer of arms)|Robert Glover]], [[William Camden]], [[William Dugdale]] and [[Elias Ashmole]]) held office as professional [[herald]]s. The development of genealogy as a "[[Scientific method|scientific]]" discipline (i.e. one that rejected unsubstantiated legends, and demanded high standards of proof for its claims) went hand-in-hand with the development of antiquarianism. Genealogical antiquaries recognised the evidential value for their researches of non-textual sources, including [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] and [[church monuments]].

Many [[Early modern period|early modern]] antiquaries were also [[Chorography|chorographers]]: that is to say, they recorded landscapes and monuments within regional or national descriptions. In England, some of the most important of these took the form of [[English county histories|county histories]].

In the context of the 17th-century [[scientific revolution]], and more specifically that of the  "[[Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns]]" in England and France, the antiquaries were firmly on the side of the "Moderns".<ref name="Levine, Battle of the Books">Levine, ''Battle of the Books''.</ref> They increasingly argued that empirical [[Primary source|primary]] evidence could be used to refine and challenge the received interpretations of history handed down from literary authorities.