Today many think that university history courses have an ancient origin.
In fact, they were sporadically introduced in some European universities from the end of the 16th century and systematically only at the beginning of the 19th century: first in Germany , then in France , finally in England .
In 1600 there was no prehistory.
Not only was there no discipline focused on the study of the Era Prehistoric , but more importantly, the very concept of “ Prehistory ", Intended as a large period of time prior to the dawn of written history, had not yet been formulated.
In Europe many scholars embraced the arguments of Archbishop Ussher (1600), scholar of the Bible , who had calculated that the Creation of the Earth dates back to 4004 BC
If the world had been created on that date it was evident that any notion of Prehistory became superfluous.
The first Chairs of History are established in Freiburg 1568 , Oxford 1622 , Cambridge 1627 , Edinburgh 1719 .
At the University of Edinburgh William Robertson is formed (1721-1793), evangelical pastor and professor of history, Rector since 1762 to 1793 , as well as Moderator of the Church Presbyterian of Scotland.
With Robertson a new scenario opens up that now identifies the figure of the historian with that of the university professor of history, at the same time teacher and researcher, reader and professional writer, able to transmit not only generic contents, but precise methods of work and techniques for examining sources .