Motley, John Lothrop (1814-1877)

US historian. His book The Rise of the Dutch Republic 1856 became a standard work. His work is marked by extensive research and accuracy, and a vivid and dramatic style, which shows the influence of the Scottish essayist and social historian Thomas Carlyle.

Motley was born in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard, he went to Europe, studied in Germany at Göttingen and Berlin, and visited Italy. He worked at the US legation in St Petersburg, Russia, 1840-42. Having published two novels, which had little success, he decided to write a historical work on the Netherlands, and went to Europe in 1851 to collect material. Motley was appointed US minister to Austria 1861 and in 1869 to the UK.

In 1860 he published the first two volumes of The United Netherlands (concluding volumes 1867). His final work was The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, with a View of the Causes of the Thirty Years' War 1874.